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Lent term seems to have flown by in no time although so much has happened this term, some of which is recorded in this newsletter. The Lent term can seem rather long but our girls have been bright and busy and have had a happy term. One of the highlights must surely be Founder’s Day on 2nd February, which was a joyful celebration exclusively for girls and staff, and much enjoyed by all. In addition, by the time you read this we will also have experienced another wonderful Confirmation and Form III will have been on their much-anticipated trip to Barcelona. So another full and busy term for your daughters – I hope you enjoy reading the highlights in this newsletter. With best wishes

A busy term at Heathfield started with the senior girls taking mock and externally set examinations whilst revising in preparation for the summer exams. These preparations included a trip for some GCSE girls to Science Live in Oxford, where they listened to several different speakers talking about their experiences, experiments and theories.

Many sporting events have taken place both at school and away, and congratulations must go to both the 1st and U15 lacrosse teams for doing extremely well in the annual National Lacrosse Tournament. Other sporting successes include the ski-racing trip to Flaine where eight girls shone in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Parallel Slalom races and all girls must also be congratulated for their efforts in the House Swimming event.

Other interhouse events such as House Maths and House Music took place this term, allowing girls to showcase more of their talents.

For the first time ever at Heathfield an Arts Conference was held and we were delighted to welcome other local schools to Heathfield. The conference gave us all an insight into curating, conservation, restoration and exhibitions. The speakers included a fine art conservator and restorer and two Heathfield old girls who now work at the V&A.

Various drama trips have taken place which included trips to The Woman In Black, House of Bernarda Alba and a production connected with a Heathfield Old Girl – The Trial of Ubu.

But the highlight of the term definitely has to be Founder’s Day.

After morning lessons, girls and staff were captivated and inspired by a very personal and motivating talk given by our guest speakers Sarah and Annie, who came from Kids Company. After their talk Mrs Heywood’s office was a sea of Sixth Formers and Form V girls all eager to find out how to volunteer for Kids Company. The girls then enjoyed high tea in their Houses and then changed into their white dresses for White Chapel and Candlemas. White Chapel was a breathtaking sight and a very special, prayerful service which allowed the whole school to pause and reflect. The day came to a climax with

a celebratory supper followed by ‘Party in the PAC’ in the St Mary’s Theatre where the girls showcased their outstanding singing and dancing talents. An unforgettable day was had by all, and certainly celebrated the school’s founding in true Heathfield style.

Founder’s Day

Top 12, Mrs Dance, Father Roger, Kitty, Ali and Alicia after White Chapel

Founder’s Day was a wonderful occasion, a day of education, entertainment and emotion.

Headmistress’s Introduction

Mrs Jo Heywood Headmistress

Head Girl’s Overview

LVI girls entertain during ‘Party in the PAC’

Our guest speakers and girls in Mrs Heywood’s Office

Tallulah, Head Girl

16th April 2012 – Start of the Summer Term10th May 2012 – Careers Fair 1st June-10th June 2012 – Half Term16th June 2012 – Sports Day26th-28th June 2012 – Form IV into Sixth Form30th June 2012 – Parents’ Day, Leavers’ Service and End of Term

*Please see school calendar for more details of other events

Key Dates for Summer Term 2012*

Little Shop of

Heathfield School Carol Service

There was hardly a spare seat in the theatre and the staff choir (with a few borrowed male vocalists) lifted the whole audience. Throughout the service there was also a fantastic display of the girls’ musical talents with both vocal and instrumental performances from all years. A number of readings captured the essence of Christmas and the service concluded with baby Jesus being laid in the manger in the historic Heathfield crib. An impressive sum of £917 was raised for Crisis during the collection which went to help the homeless throughout the festive period.

Heathfield’s Carol Service was the perfect conclusion to the Michaelmas term and it was tremendous to see so many parents and siblings enjoying the Carol Service alongside the girls and staff.

On the last day of the Michaelmas Term Mrs Barber retired from main school. She was presented with a number of gifts throughout the day which included the coveted Lily Badge and Heathfield pill-box for her hard work, commitment and dedication to the school over many years. Mrs Barber is already greatly missed by all but we look forward to seeing her in the lead-up to and during Summer School where she will continue her role as Summer School Registrar.

Mrs Barber retires after 12 years at Heathfield

The Top 12 and accompanying musicians

The staff choir

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Mrs Barber with her Lily Badge, Heathfield pill-box

and retirement cake

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Horrors On 8th and 9th December the

St Mary’s Theatre was invaded by a ‘strange and interesting

new breed of plant life’ for this year’s school production, Little

Shop of Horrors.

Top clockwise: Esme as Seymour Krelborn, Ali as Orin Scrivello with girls from the UVI as Orin’s Dental Nurses, Tiana as Chiffon, Phoebe as Ronnette, Tallulah as Crystal.

The story focuses on a young nerdy orphan, Seymour Krelborn, who invents and nurtures a new plant. However, the plant needs blood to survive and quickly develops a mind of its own as it manipulates Seymour and forces him to do awful things in order to make, as he thinks, a better life for himself.

Involving girls from Form II up to UVI, audiences cheered and clapped as the girls sang, danced and acted their way through this wonderful musical. They never fail to impress and I continue to be filled with pride when working with each and every one of them! Thanks must go to Mrs Dance and Mr Myers for the musical direction and continued hard work and also to parents, family, friends and guests for their constant support.

Mr Brant Actor/Director in Residence

This term Isabella and Matilde from Form III and Maya, Form II along with ourselves chose Robotics Club as our Friday activity. During this we built two robots. The robots were like big puzzles and we had the choice of building vehicles, machines, animals or humanoids. Both groups chose to build humanoids. We started off by actually building the robot according to the instructions. We then added more features, such as walking, seeing, talking, hearing and feeling. After finishing it we programmed it on the computer, you could choose from a wide variety of commands like making the robot say ‘hello’ or having it show a smiley face on its display. You can also program it to walk along a black line. We also decided to call our robot ‘Nicky’ after Dr. Harden who was a great help in building the robot, especially finding the right bits and pieces.

Kate and AnnikaForm III

During half term we took delivery of and deployed our first batch of exciting new Lenovo all-in-one computers in the Art & Photography Departments. These powerful machines feature a combined large screen and computer with wireless keyboard and mouse, meaning that messy cabling is a thing of the past. Supporting Windows 7, Office 2010 and Adobe Photoshop now, they are ready for the forthcoming new Windows 8 operating system with its Metro interface in the future. Over a period of time, all our old computers will be replaced with new all-in-one machinery in order to best support the delivery of IT lesson content into the classroom.

Mr Taylor Director of IT

Focus on Friday Activities

- Heathfield girls share their love of creative writingEach non-exeat Friday Heathfield girls from across all age groups join together in the RS room to develop their love for, and ability in, creative writing. Each week Miss Sass presents us with a story topic, idea, title or game involving characters and then our pens are put to the test.

Scribblers is not about how many big words you know; that would be preposterous! Instead, Scribblers’ focus is on encouraging people to write creatively in whichever way they wish. International girls sometimes write in their native tongue as creative writing is not just about skill in English but also an outpouring of emotion and expression.

Some highlights of Scribblers have been the magic sweets game, where one sweet gave us powers for good but the other powers for evil, and the task of describing a photograph. The pieces below are taken from these tasks. Perhaps, more importantly, the real highlight is the discovery of new talent within our small community.

Janet Form V

So there I was, staring

up at this huge building,

admiring the harsh corners

that still seemed to flow

with an unearthly grace.

I thought about Sophia

and how she would love

to see this, to see

with her own eyes what

architects can do with

wood and concrete, what

she could achieve with

a few years of training.

As I thought this, I

closed my eyes, tilted

my head up towards the

sky and felt a flicker

of light bash through

the inside of my head

as something fluttered

against my palm. Looking

down I saw the most

perfect representation

of the spectacle, the

photograph on a piece

of glassy paper resting

in my hand, glinting in the

sunshine. Did I take this?

Is this real? I heard a

voice that said, “give this

to Sophia, it was meant

for her”. An excerpt from My Magic Power by Janet Form V

The dark sky, dotted with twinkling lights, looks down on these sandy lands. The rock towers over the trees below, tall and terrifying, like an ink blot on a pristine white page. Arching high in the sky, the rock meets with its other half, forming a bridge.The curves and shadowy corners cast mysterious, wandering shapes down the precipice; the golden sand below beholds the arch above it in awe. I stand, staring up at the manifestation before me, contemplating every detail, every scratch, each hidden or unobvious structure in the scenery unfolding before my eyes. I smile to myself and reach instinctively for my camera, capturing the scene in a flash.

Untitled by Alessandra, Form III

The new Lenovo all-in-one computers

Robotics Club

Scribblers Club

Art & Photography take delivery of fabulous new computers

The girls programming their robot

Heathfield’s First Arts ConferenceCurating, Exhibitions and Restoration

The Arts Conference focused on the themes of Curating, Exhibitions and Restoration and we were delighted to welcome back Old Girls Dr Tessa Murdoch (nee Mayer, Heathfield 1966-1971) and Victoria Broackes (Heathfield 1973-1979) both from the Victoria and Albert Museum who came to present alongside Valentine Walsh a Conservator and Restorer of Fine Art. Dr Tessa Murdoch holds the position as Deputy Keeper, Department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass at the V&A and Victoria Broackes is the Head of London Design Festival at the V&A and Head of Exhibitions, Theatre & Performance. All three talks were fascinating and inspiring and certainly captivated the audience. In addition, some of the girls were extremely fortunate to have been offered internships. To conclude the evening Valentine Walsh kindly presented the school with a book entitled Pigment Compendium which is now housed in the school library for all to read.

Mrs Meeson Teacher in Charge of History of Art and Old Girls Co-ordinator

Florence, in February – what a time to travel! With snow in Ascot and snow in Italy, would we even be able to fly? However, with no more snow flurries, we had a pleasant journey. Once settled, a brisk evening walk to the Ponte Vecchio was in order to see the Medici walkways and learn a little about the origination of the jewellery shops lining both sides of the bridge. On Saturday morning we visited the Tuscan hillside village of San Gimignano where we took plenty of photos. In the afternoon we went to the medieval town of Siena whose intricate streets and picturesque alleyways provided everything needed for individual photo-shoots. However, although providing a stunning setting within the Piazza del Campo, the minus temperatures caused some of the cameras to stop working! After supper in Siena we then stopped at the Piazalle Michelangelo to photograph the views over Florence at night. On Sunday we stayed in Florence visiting the galleries that would provide necessary influential research; at the Galleria dell Academia we contextualised

Michelangelo’s statue of David and at the Uffizzi, Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’. To complete this cultural day, all the girls climbed the 414 steps of Giotto’s Campanile, next to the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), to shoot the breathtaking views from the top. Monday brought sunshine and warmth and everyone explored the markets, streets, churches and buildings that make up the city of Florence, to complete any final photo-shoots. That afternoon we learnt that our flight was delayed; however, just a couple of hours behind schedule with tired bones and extremely chapped lips, we landed.

Miss WhiteTeacher in Charge of Photography

Heathfield held its first Arts Conference in the St Mary’s Theatre and welcomed girls from the UVI, LVI and Form V along with governors, parents, staff as well as guests from neighbouring schools including St Mary’s, Ascot, Windsor Girls’, LVS and Ranelagh.

Valentine presenting her book to UVI girls Tessa and Bella

Our guest speakers

Photography Trip to Florence

Ali and Ameila keep warm in Florence

The Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore)

Heathfield GivingI had an amazing and uplifting opportunity to volunteer at Sure24 based in Nakuru, Kenya during half term. Sure24 (part of Rain Edge UK/International) is a Christian school, orphanage and home to children aged between 2 and 18, who were street kids. Street children in Nakuru spend most of their lives on the streets often being abused or taken advantage of, surviving by begging or scavenging through rubbish for food.

Whilst in Kenya I also volunteered at the Jamii Centre, which works in partnership with Sure24. The Jamii Centre is a rehabilitation centre which helps support the children before they go on to Sure24 and is currently undergoing refurbishment.

I went with a group of twelve others, only two of whom I knew and who worked for the charity in England. During our time we visited children at the ‘dump’ to give them food, and at Sure24 we played games with the children, taught sport, art, English and reading. We also spent time at the Jamii Centre where we sanded down and painted walls and replaced windows (which took forever!). Hopefully very soon the Jamii Centre will be ready for street children to go to before Sure24.

Before the trip Heathfield held a mufti day where we raised £200. The other people I travelled with also raised money giving us a total of £1000. This money was well spent and provided food to be distributed at the ‘dump’, paid for the decorating materials we used and covered the costs of school equipment to cover the needs for the rest of this academic year, eight beds plus mattresses, pillows and linen for the eight girls who joined the centre from the ‘dump’. We also cooked an ‘English’ meal. The new girls were blown away by not only the meal but obviously having a bed to sleep in. These girls are now looked after and educated by the orphanage.

Not only was this trip personally enriching, it also made us all realise how so little can do so much. All the children were extremely thankful for all the clothes, shoes and books I brought out that I collected from girls, staff and parents at Heathfield – thank you.

Taisie Form UVI

Little Pillowcase Dresses

Taisie’s visit to Sure24, Nakuru, Kenya

As part of the Woodland Trust Jubilee Woods project in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee the Trust has kindly given Heathfield three of their Hedge Packs. Each pack contains hawthorn, hazel, holly, dog rose and dogwood, plus a royal oak sapling and these will be planted by the girls and staff on the school’s perimeter alongside Priory Road. Once the packs are planted they will create a traditional hedgerow which is a perfect habitat for wildlife.

An Eco Schools Committee has also been formed and there is at least one representative on the committee from each year group. The committee will ultimately enable the school to achieve its Eco Schools status by running awareness campaigns and will help to make the school a greener place.

Between 12th and 16th March 2012 the school took part in a national Waste Week campaign. During this week a number of events took place in and out of the classroom to raise awareness about how much we waste and how we could renew, reuse or recycle our waste.

Mrs HuntDuke of Edinburgh Co-ordinator

Heathfield’s Eco School efforts continue

If you would like to know more about Sure24 please visit

www.rainedgeuk.org

Taisie visiting children at the ‘dump’

Throughout the term Mrs Rutili collected old pillowcases so that

Form III girls during one of their weekend activities could produce

Pillowcase Dresses for children in Africa who live in poverty. The

dresses will now be sent to Africa via the charity Little Dresses for

Africa. Thank you to everyone for your pillowcase donations; they

will really brighten up a child’s day.

Every Saturday Heathfield lacrosse teams have taken to the field, (apart from when they have been covered in snow!) and have been victorious on many occasions. On Saturday 25th February Heathfield hosted its annual invitational lacrosse tournament and we had some fantastic results with the U15 team coming 1st, the U13 team coming 2nd and both the U12 and U14 teams coming 3rd.

Currently three Form IV girls, Emily, Daisy and Harriette are representing Berkshire County lacrosse at U15 level and Daisy (Form III) and Emily (Form LVI) are currently part of the Centex development programme.

This term has seen the introduction of a new Ascot netball league involving the U15 and U18 teams and Heathfield has performed well against some tough local opposition. All other age groups continue to have regular fixtures and both the U13 and U14 sides have been able to put out both A and B teams as a result of their enthusiasm and commitment. Notable successes have been the U15 team who won the plate division at the SE Berkshire Tournament.

Heathfield girls have competed at the highest level in swimming, with galas every Monday and regular successes with strong swims from all year groups. The interhouse swimming was a huge success with nine school records being broken, and congratulations must go to Austen for a fantastic effort for victory.

On January 26th, eight girls from Forms III, IV and LVI and two staff departed to compete at the British Schoolgirls Ski Races in Flaine. The girls skied extremely well in both Slalom and Giant Slalom with Emily (Form IV) coming 3rd in the combined class for her age group. She was also awarded a training scholarship with The Kandahar ski club as the best unregistered racer.

Five girls represented Heathfield at Sparsholt National Schools Show Jumping Qualifier. Emma (Form I) with her pony Milo completed a fantastic clear round in their class and came an impressive 7th place. Then the remaining four girls, Charlotte and Octavia (LVI), Harriette and Chloe (Form IV) who made up Heathfield’s team, entered the fourth and fifth classes and despite the very cold and wet conditions the team were delighted to learn they had been placed third.

Overall this term has been highly successful with all age groups competing in local fixtures and in both regional and national tournaments showing continuing progression. We look forward to a busy and competitive summer term.

Ocky and Emily Sports Prefects, Form LVI

Heathfield School, London Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8BQTelephone: +44 (0)1344 898 343 Fax: +44(0) 1344 890 689Email: registrar@heathfieldschool.netWebsite: www.heathfieldschool.netWhy not follow us on twitter @HeathfieldAscot

On 26th January 2012 the Lower School Interhouse Poetry Declamation competition took place in the St Mary’s Theatre. Students chose their poems with a bit of advice from their English teachers, Mr Grey and Mrs Buckley, and some useful independent research, which involved trips to the library to review the work of a range of poets. The girls then memorised the poems and worked on their posture, tone and expression when reciting these. When the competition came around the poems were delivered with great expression and interpretation and thanks must go to all of the girls for their hard work and preparation, especially those girls who overcame illness and terrible nerves to deliver superb performances. The twelve finalists read a diverse range of poems which made deciding on a winner a real challenge for the judges, Miss Sass and Miss Lloyd. Congratulations to the overall winner Antonia from Somerville as well as individual year winners, Amber (Form I), Maya (Form II) and Alessandra (Form III).

Miss SassPoetry Declamation Judge and Subject Leader of Religious Studies

Each House was given the theme ‘Journey’. They then embarked on the challenge of devising a piece of theatre based around this theme. The only compulsory condition was that each piece had to include a compass, a skull and a picture of Dame Judi Dench.

So with the ground rules established and the plays written, the whole school came together to witness House Drama 2012. De Valois started the evening off with a kidnapping plot of mistaken identities and bold personalities to comic effect. Then came Austen with their own twist to the Cinderella story, which was followed by Somerville’s witty Heaven and Earth adventure. The performances came to an end with Seacole’s tale of searching and reconciliation.

The judge had a very difficult task of picking a winner but finally awarded the prize to Somerville, with Clemmie being awarded the prize for Best Actress.

All Houses worked incredibly hard to produce a wonderful evening of entertainment.

Mr Brant Actor/Director in Residence

Sporting Success

Heathfield skiers in Flaine

House CompetitionsInterhouse Poetry Declamation

House Drama

The twelve Poetry Declamation finalists

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De Valois during their House Drama performance