Newsletter — December 2016

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Dame Alice Owen’s School

Letter from the Head, Hannah Nemko Dear Parents

What an honour it was for the whole school community to be awarded the title of State School of the Year 2017 by the Sunday Times last month. This is the first time that a school which is only partially selective has achieved this title. The editor of this section of the Sunday Times said “Looking at [the school’s] results year on year, it is hard to tell the school apart from those which select their entire intake on an academic basis.” He continued to explain that the award came, not simply as a result of our consistently excellent achievements but also due to the opportunities and enrichments we offer our young

people. As you will see from the newsletter, this term has been no exception!

Whilst I cannot mention everything you will read in the pages which follow, it falls to me to outline some of the highlights.

November was an exciting month for the school; we appointed a wonderful Deputy Headteacher, Stephen Fry, who will be joining the school after the Easter break. Stephen is currently assistant headteacher at Watford Grammar School for Girls. At interview we were all impressed with his clarity of thought, deep understanding of teaching, learning and empathy for others. We appreciated his integrity and his dry sense of humour! We are very pleased we held out for that special person to join our special school.

As a geographer, he would have been impressed by the assembly Mr Titley led with a selection of students who accompanied him to Iceland over the half term break. Whilst the audience were less convinced about the existence of Elves, Trolls and Fairies than he may have hoped, we were all mesmerised by the footage of the natural beauty participants experienced and we all felt he was FAR too excited to have walked in the path of Justin Beiber under ‘that’ waterfall, no matter what he claimed! Thank you to Mr Titley, Dr Gillman, Mr Stegner, Mrs Tsiakli and Miss Kent for giving our students the opportunity to see some of the world’s most exciting geography.

November also saw our Senior Strings open the Music for Youth Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. They played a piece which has been specially written for them by Timothy Jackson for the occasion and were truly fantastic! Thanks go to Mr Widden and his team for preparing the students so thoroughly for this wonderful event where they all did themselves proud!

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Owens has established its first Ski team who have trained and raced on the very glamorous (dry) slopes of Hemel Hempstead. Our maiden venture into this sport, led by Mrs Wootton and Mrs Davighi bodes well with us recently coming third in the all–London championships. I am sure the cup will be ours very soon.

Congratulations go to Sarah Fishwick and Adam Ashling, both in Year 13 who are our most recent students to have completed their Duke of Edinburgh Gold award. This is a remarkable achievement as many students do not manage to complete the award until they have finished school. Thanks go to Ms English, Ms Lord and Mr Titley, all of whom help run this fantastic programme.

We have not hidden away from politics these last months and our sixth form were lucky enough to have had the opportunity to sit and discuss a wide variety of issues with Nick Robinson as well as with Oliver Dowden MP in the houses of Parliament. As you would expect, debate was lively and both Mr Robison and Mr Dowden were impressed by the manner in which our students really do take an interest in the world around them. Thanks go to Ms Cornejo for arranging these visits and for giving the MPs a feel for the next generation of voters!

From Politics to Economics; Mr Mahajan led a team of 6 students who took part in the Target Two Point Zero challenge, which saw them beat off competition from more than 250 schools to secure a place in the Area championships. The students had to analyse the current economic climate in order to present a 15 minute report to a team of judges from the Bank of England. This terminated in our students explaining what interest rate they would set to achieve the Government’s 2% inflation target and their linked economic plan. Rumour has it that The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP was at the back scribbling notes but we can’t be sure…

Congratulations go to Jannes Van Winden, Annabel Hall, Ava Lily Read and Maya Korouei whose innovative design has been shortlisted from 10,000 entries from 240 different schools for the Design Ventura competition hosted by the Design Museum. This is the second year in a row that Owen’s has made it through to the prestigious final, a rare event so I am to believe, so well done to Ms Chan, Mrs Davighi and the whole design team, good luck with the next round!

Our winter sports progamme has started well. With over 100 students (boys and girls) participating in sports fixtures every Saturday alongside all those who participate throughout the week. With such dedication it is unsurprising that we have already made it to the U14 and U16 girls cross country regional final and that the year 8 and 1st XI football teams have made it to the quarter finals of the county cup. Well done to all who have played this term and to the fabulous PE department who have trained and supported the students so well.

After having whet our appetite with a teaser assembly, Ms Govier and her cast of The Crucible did not let us down with a very dramatic and emotional interpretation of this fantastic

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play. Thanks go to the upper school students, Ms Govier, Mr Baliey, the Tech Crew, front of house and back stage staff as well as to the caretaking staff who all helped bring the performance to life.

Finally, a huge thank you goes to the OSA whose quiz was, once again, an excellent event. Somehow, the teacher’s table managed to snatch last minute defeat from the jaws of victory and blow our tightly held lead away on the marathon round… The success of the quiz has allowed the OSA to make another very generous donation to the school which will help us continue to provide students with the best education we can. Please do look out for their next event in February.

Until then, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and a relaxing break.

Hannah Nemko

News from the Maths Department

Maths Trips this half term The maths department took students on three visits this half term.

On 7th November 26 year 12 Further Mathematicians visited the Institute of Education for a series of talks from leading mathematicians. James Grime demonstrated the Enigma machine used by Germany during the Second World War and gave a fascinating insight into the world of code breaking. The always entertaining Hannah Fry (UCL) linked mathematics to dating web sites, catching criminals and traffic jams, while David Acheson (Oxford) showed how mathematics plays such an important part in music. He demonstrated this by playing his electric guitar!

On 14th November the senior maths team took part in the regional final of the UK maths trust competition. The team of four 6th formers consisted of Mateo Anastasio, Elen Hughes, George Watson and Rachel Hughes. Our students performed excellently, coming second to City of London Boys’. We are still waiting to hear if our high score has got us into the national final.

Also on 14th November 15 year 11 students went to the Institute of Education for a Maths inspiration day. The day consisted of a number of talks/demonstrations on topics ranging from Guy Martin’s Wall of Death, to Mathematical Obsession with Blue Peter presenter Steve Mould and the great unsolved puzzles.

All the students involved had enjoyable, challenging and fascinating days.

Online shopping with Amazon? Help raise funds for the library. You can find the catalogue link on the new Life VLE homepage, or by clicking

http://daos.koha-ptfs.eu and choosing the Amazon link on the right hand side.

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English Enrichment News – KS3 The English department have enjoyed a busy and thoroughly enriching term, hosting visiting theatre companies and travelling to see a performance of The Woman in Black at The Fortune Theatre in London, tailored to support the Year 9 curriculum of study.

We have enjoyed visits from Rupert @ Redheart Theatre Company, performing an exhilarating Gothic storytelling showcase, and Ginificicent Theatre Company, who performed Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

During Wednesday lunchtimes , the Creative Writing Club takes place, where all students wishing to write freely, gain in confidence in their writing and enter regional and national competitions. The club has grown in size this year and is a popular choice for creative and experimental writers amongst KS3.

Many of the students attending have found it a place where they can ‘let their imagination run wild’ where they have found that their ‘confidence has been boosted’ and a place where they find ‘inspiration to experiment’ with their writing.

Mrs E Friel

News from the Science Department

Science Lectures On Tuesday 1st November Professor Turnock of Southampton University came to give a lunch time lecture on “Head first to success - Engineering excellence in performance sport - Olympics & more!” - Plus advice on applying for Engineering at University

He started with his history, sharing his experience of engineering in ship designs and the vast number of disciplines required to engineer a boat. The professor then talked about his work for the Olympic cycling team and skeleton teams. He explained the engineering and physics involved in designing an improved slider for the Olympic Skeleton team leading to Team GB winning medals at the Winter Olympics.

Theo Charalambous Year 12 On Wednesday 2nd November Dr Cummings gave a lecture on “The Science of HPV & why you should get vaccinated” as well as giving advice on a Career in Surgery. The talk was very interesting, as she covered a lot of aspects of medicine within a seemingly small subject. During the talk, she covered the staggering amount of strains of HPV, the use of statistics and probability to reduce the amount of vaccination a person needs against the harmful strains of HPV. She emphasised the importance of getting vaccinated to prevent a number of forms of cancer, the vast majority of which are not gender specific. She also threw light on the social and political aspects affecting the UK vaccination scheme, and the gender disparity within that. Boys in the US and Australia are vaccinated against the

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disease but only girls in the UK. In the second half of the talk, we had a Q&A session on surgery, and she answered all our questions in an informative and passionate way. Everyone was very inspired and informed by the end of the talk, on both a career in surgery and the science of HPV

Daniel Ly Year 12

On Wednesday 9th November Ralph Haynes from Environmental Health at Barnet Council gave a lecture on “Acoustics, Air Quality & Health”. He gave us a flavour of all aspects of the job which include pest control, accumulated refuse disposal, blocked drains, dealing with land contaminations, noisy neighbours, new building developments and more! He talked through some of the science behind air pollution and land contamination and ran through some of Barnet Councils measures to rectify and/or reduce problems. He also gave advice on routes into a career in Environmental Health and how the sciences and geography all provide a platform from which to move into Environmental Health.

Anon

On Thursday 10th November Jonathan Males a sports psychologist gave a talk on “Achieving Peak Performance, Lessons from the Olympics”. We were really lucky to be able to attend the lecture as he was a really engaging speaker and made the talk interactive with demonstrations – one of the best we have ever been to! The talk started with a brief history of his Olympic experience and why he trained as a sports psychologist. Different aspects of the job were covered using examples from real life and he gave us tips on experience we could gain that would help us pursue a career in this profession.

Molly Woods

On Wednesday 23rd November Dr Paulo Oliva from Queen Mary University came to give a lecture on “The Mind of the Machine – Artificial Intelligence”. His talk was interesting and engaging taking us through the history of artificial intelligence and recent breakthroughs including a robot that ‘understands’ human emotion, reacting to tone of voice with it’s own facial expressions! The talk was fascinating and explained what artificial intelligence really is and how different a human’s intelligence is compared to a computer’s intelligence. Furthermore, the talk gave an insight into the research so far and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Already many human jobs have been replaced by machines that can do the work much faster. Perhaps computers will even replace medical consultants in the future as they are able to look for patterns quickly and will be able to read x-rays and scans far more accurately and efficiently than a human.

Oliver Pressland Yr 13

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News from the Psychology Department This term the Psychology department has offered several lunchtime talks from a wide variety of professionals. We are very grateful to all of them for giving up their time to share their expertise with us. We are always looking for volunteers and if the idea of speaking about your career for our motivated students appeals, do contact rutlina@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk. Topics have ranged from ‘tales from an army

forensic psychiatrist’ , ‘dealing with adolescent mental health’ , ‘music and your brain’ and culminated with Dr Guy Sutton’s brain workshop for year 12s and open talk on ‘the criminal brain’. One student said ‘The talk by Guy Sutton was very enlightening. It included various topics on the brain and very recent research and developments into how the brain works and how we can use technology with our own brain to overcome

various obstacles. It sparked a fresh interest into the workings of the brain’. Another said ‘ … very interesting and really enjoyed it (much more than I thought I would)’, and ‘…it gave us an idea what it would be like to study Psychology at a higher level of education’. The special Christmas award for maximum attendance to Psychology enrichment lectures goes to Ethan Kyiet.

Mrs Rutlin

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News from the Food & Textiles Department

Textiles Students bid a fond farewell to the Clothes Show Live On Tuesday 6th December the Textiles department took 40 students to the last ever Clothes Show Live exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham. The show has been going for 27 years and it has introduced hundreds of our students to the wonderful world of fashion, for most being their first experience of watching a professional catwalk show. Unfortunately, the show is moving to Liverpool and has been re-named The Style Collective.

We had quite an eventful start to the day as we woke to heavy fog and the coach arrived at school to collect us one hour late! The students had begun to panic a little but we soon got on board and were quickly on our way. The highlight of the day was the catwalk show in the arena which mixed live music, fashion and dance in an extravagant show which lasted nearly an hour. In the main halls students had the opportunity to watch smaller catwalk shows and see interviews with industry professionals, many of whom gave great tips of how to get into the fashion industry. Many of the top design courses had stands at the exhibition and this gave us the opportunity to speak to tutors and degree students and to gain a wider understanding of the courses available for those wishing to study one of the many areas of fashion at university.

Of course there was also the opportunity to meet a few celebrities and stock up on make-up and beauty products just in time for Christmas! Ms Cerny was a little disappointed that none of our students decided to opt for a ‘glitter lips’ make-over! All in all it was a great day out and we all felt a little sad to say goodbye to The Clothes Show Live for the very last time.

Ms Cerny Head of Food and Textiles

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A Level Textiles visit to Citlites Clothing Company On Thursday 3rd November, year 12 and 13 textiles students had the opportunity to visit a clothing design and manufacturing studio in Finsbury Park, North London. The visit was organised by Peter Knell who is the link governor for the Food and Textiles department. Peter had a long and successful career in the fashion industry and was able to share his knowledge with students during this visit.

Citilites London, is a Boutique Design and Manufacturing Company which offers both womenswear and childrenswear. The company covers every aspect of the design and manufacturing process, from initial design ideas to end production. With over 40 years of experience, they deliver best-selling lines to both High street and Online Retailers throughout the UK, Europe and USA. For most of the students this was the first time they had visited a textiles company and found the experience provided them with a very valuable insight into the fashion industry.

The day began with a very informative talk from Jonathon Swead, Sales Director, who spoke to students about the day to day running of the company which involves lots of hard work and travelling across Europe, the USA and the Far East. He talked about the manufacturing process and working with factories in Sri Lanka, Romania and the UK. It was very interesting for students to learn about the High Street end of the fashion industry and the amount of travel that is involved.

We also had talks from the Head of Design, Print Designer and Garment Technologist. The students found this part of the day particularly informative as it gave them a much more detailed insight into particular job roles. The ladies who spoke to us also talked about their journey into the fashion industry including degree courses, internships and work experience.

We finished our day with a tour of the building and students were able to see the design studios and workrooms which was all very exciting for them. The company is unique in that it has it’s own highly skilled team of pattern cutters, machinists and garment technologists working on site and it was fascinating for students to be able to see this area of the business at first hand.

The students were really inspired by the day out and it has further fuelled the desire of many of them to go on to study this subject at degree level and eventually work in the fashion industry.

Ms Cerny Head of Food and Textiles

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News from the D&T Department

Royal Institution Masterclasses in Engineering Congratulation to Year 9 girls Maya Korouei, Laura Boscott and Mia Claudia Petri for completing the prestigious Royal Institution Masterclasses in Engineering this term at Leonardo in Luton. These classes took place on Saturday mornings over a period of six weeks during October and November with the aim of bringing engineering to life through a range of interesting topics.

In summing up their time in the classes Maya said; “We learned about encryption, using Python, sound, wings, melting phones and we created binary counters and had the opportunity to use an Enigma machine. We all enjoyed this course very much and learned things we hadn’t learned in school. The course was overall very fun.”

Maya and Mia with Mr Stensel at the Celebration Event after the final Masterclass.

Y12/13 Product Design Trip -UCL Institute of Education -NOV 25th 2016 A level -Product Design in Action: Inspired by Design We attended an engaging and interactive Product Design inspiration day taking students to the cutting edge in Design thinking.

Five renowned speakers from a diverse range of studios gave the students their inside story. Award-winning, world-class speakers, cutting-edge content, thought-provoking demos and presentations, examination hints, tips.

Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard discussed their use of innovative materials and their success in designing elegant, otherworldly furniture.

Six ways to think about design / Emily Campbell. Products? Process? People? How do you think about design? She explained a radically but simple framework.

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Daniel Charny gave an interesting lecture was on contemporary design.

Carlo Brandelli, award-winning fashion designer, gave an exposition of how he set up his own studio and ended up with his designs held in collections around the world, including The Design Museum in London.

Ben Wilson a 3D Industrial designer working with mass produced products, one-off handmade commissions and interiors projects. Ben revealed his individual approach to design and talked about the journey from early works to larger projects. Students really were inspired by his innovative bicycle designs, certainly the highlight of the day.

Y12 Dhivan Shah - The DT trip was an enjoyable experience that improve and widened my knowledge of the types of designers and the majority of different types of ways that designers can design. There were designers which had a very hands on approach to designing and their speeches really resonated with me as something that i wouldn't mind as a career further on in life.

Mrs A Davighi

News from the Art Department On Thursday December 8th, 17 Year 12 students attended the Creative Process Study Day at UCL Institute of Education. It was an exciting and visually stimulating programme with inspirational speakers from the Art world that included: Turner Prize winning contemporary artist Grayson Perry who entertained us with his talk about the creative process. Abstract artist Fiona Rae talked about the expressive possibilities of paint. Calligrapher and Textile artist Rosalind Wyatt brought together three elements of her work – art, life and lettering. Photographer Martin Parr showed his highly entertaining, original photographs and discussed how they reflect how we present ourselves and what we value. The day provided variety, innovation and the opportunity to hear how ideas become art. “The day provided us with great stimulus, motivation and encouragement in our own work.” Akunma.

Mrs Wagstaffe

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News from the Computer Science Dept: Sebastian Kretuz-Wellsted in Year 10 recently took part in a Computational Thinking competition in which he performed extremely well. He has been asked to attend the National Finals being held in Oxford in January. We wish him the Best of Luck and a Huge Congratulations for getting his name on their wall of Fame!

Here’s the link: http://www.bebras.uk/hall-of-fame.html

News from MFL

Year 12 French Exchange Back in November I accompanied our Year 12 students on our annual pilgrimage to Vannes to visit our partner school Lycée Saint Paul. This time, it was our turn to visit France on the first leg. The journey albeit long, went relatively smoothly, although the Paris Metro, decided to close part of our line to do some annual works on the very line we needed to take! Fortunately, we still managed to make it in good time to Montparnasse our next destination.

Somewhat apprehensive upon arrival in Vannes, the students were nevertheless delighted to finally meet their exchange partners. The weekend was spent “en famille” and then on Monday was the shock of starting school at 8am!! This really was a culture shock. However, the students managed to cope magnificently well and followed a programme of special lessons given by members of staff at Saint Paul and following normal school lessons in France. Our students were able to see at close hand the difference in class sizes, and curriculum followed by fellow sixth form French students.

Yameera Patel and Livvia Barreca were also asked to take part in a live recording on the school’s radio. They managed to answer all the questions with great aplomb!

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During the week, we also visited the lovely town of Nantes, together with a visit to Vannes, culminating in a reception at the Town Hall with the local press in attendance.

The students by the end of the short stay had gained so much and their confidence in both speaking and listening had greatly increased.

May I thank both Aminata the French assistant for her invaluable help and our students for their exemplary behaviour during the week away.

Mrs F Gillingham Head of French

Here are the thoughts of Yameera and Livvia on their week in Vannes.

Back in November we accompanied Mrs Gillingham to France as part of our Year 12 French Exchange to Vannes, each of us staying with our very welcoming host families. We followed their routine and discovered what French life was like.

Throughout the week, we did a whole range of exciting activities both with and without our French exchange partners, including going to school with them, spending time on the local beaches and visiting picturesque towns. The biggest shock was the length of the school day, which was incredibly long compared with our school day. We would start at 8 in the morning and finishing at 6pm in the evening. Fortunately, during the long lunch time (to compensate for such a long day) we would go and relax with our partners at the local scenic port, which was situated next to the school.

Even though it was an intense week, we all learnt so much and had a great time!

Liva Barreca 12KDO/SNL

During our week in Vannes we (Year 12 French students) stayed with our exchanges and their families, which allowed us to practise listening to and speaking French.

We went to school for a couple of the days where we sat in lessons that ranged from their equivalent of Year 11 to Year 13. We also got the chance to explore the towns of Vannes and Nantes, visiting historic parts of the towns and buying souvenirs.

It was a great experience and it definitely helped us all develop our skills in French.

Yameera Patel 12FS

News from the Library

Author visit: Tamsyn Murray The highlight of the end of term in the library was the visit from Hertfordshire author Tamsyn Murray. Tamsyn had a Literary Lunch with members of the Book Club who were particularly enthralled to hear about her career as a writer, as well as finding out about

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her books. Our budding authors are always keen to pick up writing tips, and meeting an author over lunch is a brilliant way to do this. Tamsyn later spoke to some Year 7 students in the Edward Guinness Hall. The EGH was completely silent as they listened with rapt attention while she read from her latest book “Instructions for a second-hand heart”. Tamsyn was very impressed by the level of questions from our students. We are very grateful to Elaine Penrose for facilitating Tamsyn’s visit.

Happy Christmas reading

Mrs S Compton

News from the Geography Department

Geography Worldwise Competition – 19 October 2016 The Worldwise Geography Competition is an annual competition for schools from London

and Hertfordshire. This year it was held at Watford Grammar School for Girls. For the last three years it has been won by Westminster School. However, a new name will added to the trophy as the Dame Alice Owen’s Team consisting of Louis Hurrey, Daniel Hitch and Samuel Hewson won this year. The competition tested student’s knowledge on a wide range of different issues including: UK landmarks and OS maps. The challenge will be repeated next year at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet where we will once again hope to ‘never let our ardour cool for the honour of our school’.

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This year 50 GCSE Geographers were given the opportunity to go on another exciting and adventurous trip to Iceland during October half term.

During our time in Iceland, we witnessed many geographic wonders bringing the subject to life. These wonders included: walking over a Glacier, stacks visible from the black volcanic beaches, a volcanic Crater Lake, hot spring geysers and waterfalls. Once again we experience the geothermal pools of the blue lagoon this was combined with an awesome sunset.

This year, we were also extremely lucky and overwhelmed to see the Northern Lights on two days from outside our hotel– a sight many of us will not forget lightly!

The students were a pleasure to take on this memorable trip and it was a great sight as a teacher to see the students embracing the local customs and traditions. Big thank you to everyone involved in making this trip a success, including all the students.

Mr R Titley Head of Geography

Iceland 2016

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News from Social Sciences

Bank of England 2.0 Interest Rate Challenge This term we have seen our economists take part in the Bank of England Interest Rate Challenge. This is an annual event that challenges students to come up with a decision on interest rates, QE and other guidance that the Bank of England might make, in order to achieve their inflation rate target of 2%. This year our team consisted of 4 presents: Callum Brooks (captain), Greg Young, Mimi Zhao and Jack Larsson and 2 researchers: Chloe Harris and Tim Crook-Sycamore. In a very competitive Regional Final we are absolutely delighted to report that we beat QE Boys and other schools to progress to the Area Final. We have achieved this feat around 4 times since I’ve been here and therefore it is an impressive performance. Well done to the team and to Mr Mahajan, who led them so well and we wish them all the best in the Area Final. We have never got a team to the National Final but maybe this is our year!

Mr Mahajan, Jack Larsson, Tim Crook-Sycamore, Mimi Zhao, Greg Young, Callum Brooks (Captain), Chloe Harris (Head of Research)

DAOS Economics Society I’m also delighted to report that this year we have seen the DAOS Economic Society set up by a number of our students and they have been holding events on Friday lunchtimes. This included a screening of ‘Poverty Inc’ (a controversial film about aid in Africa) and a talk on the housing market by Kristian Niemetz from the IEA. They have already got plans for other talks and I hope the Y12 students carry on this excellent Society.

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Young Enterprise Company Programme

A number of our Year 12 Business students have set up their own company called ‘Young Empire’ and are actively trading as part of the Young Enterprise Company programme. Students raised their registration fee by selling food and drink at recent school events and won the ‘star of the event’ at a trade fair in Ware, at which they sold handmade key rings using off cuts from the D&T department and recycled Christmas decorations. The students aim to focus on higher value items to sell at forthcoming trade fairs in the New Year. Special thanks goes to Simon Allen, their wonderfully committed business advisor.

The students who attended the trade fair included Alex McMinn, Jack Chapman, Luke Murphy, Alexia Koumi, Dhivan Shah and Tom Hadden.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas from the Social Sciences team!

Mr Simpson

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News from the PE Department

Highlights of the Term Our U14s and U16s Girls reached the regional stage of the cross country cup

performing extremely well. The U16s narrowly missed out on a place at the national finals by just a single place. Well done to all girls involved.

All netball teams from all ages have performed well in the district league. We are on track to progress to knockout rounds for all age groups.

Year 7, 8 and 10 Hockey have won all of their competitive games in Hockey. Year 9 and Seniors have won all but 1 game. A very successful term for our Hockey girls.

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The end of term sees the end of the competitive Saturday morning rugby program which was an extremely successful one. Good job from the boys involved.

Year 8 and Senior Football Teams are going strong in the County Cup. We are hopeful of reaching the later rounds in both age groups.

Let’s Dance Our annual ‘Let’s Dance’ competition took place last week! Congratulations to Year 9 girls Mia Sung, Livia Dunkin and Hannah Penney who won with a contemporary dance ‘Scars’. Year 8 students Lucy McClean and Zoe Gunsaya came 2nd with their street dance and Anna Judson and Regan Hart from Year 9 came 3rd with their dance entitled ‘Angel vs Devil’! Well done to all performers!

Miss Coakley, Mr Dugan and Year 13 student, Georgia Choudhuri had the difficult task of judging the talented entries from Years 7-9.

Many thanks to Miss Coakley who arranged the event for students and Mr Gamester (back by popular demand!) for compering!

Things To Look Forward To Gym And Dance! Our annual Gym and Dance display will take place on Wednesday

1st March and Thursday 2nd March with auditions taking place after Christmas on Wednesday 11th January.

After Christmas sees the boys Saturday morning fixtures change from rugby to football. We will look to replicate our successes from rugby.

Old Owenians December Newsletter! For news and reviews, please see: http://damealiceowens.web-intouch.com/ and click on the Newsletters tab!

Items in this, our 20th edition (!), include: Message from our new Head, A Retiring Summer!, Michaelmas Day remembered!, Generous Donation to the Music Department, War Memorial gets a makeover!, From the Arrow Magazine November 1916—in remembrance, State Secondary School of the Year – 2017 – Dame Alice Owen’s School!, Harold Moore Luncheon Annual Reunion 2016 —for all Old Owenians!, Old Owenians Business Directory!, Captain Keith Godfrey, Brandon and Troy Sampath, Former Parent, Nick Robinson, visits DAOS for talk on Democracy!, Old Owenian paints Head’s portrait!, The Arrow Magazine 2016, Login Protection!, Old Owenian pub owner gets award!, Help us with our Foreign Coin Collection!, Old Owenian lawyer also gets award!, New General Teaching Building, DAWES FAMILY—all Old Owenians!, Old Owenians Cricket Club (OOCC) Winter Newsletter 2016, New Premises Manager!, Golf at DAOS!, Duke of

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Edinburgh’s Gold Awards!, Changes to A Levels at DAOS from September 2017, Old Owenian aid worker reports on Typhoon Haiyan, Alumni contributions, And finally…400th Anniversary DVD’s, Old Owenians Careers Talks Week—Mon-Thurs 6-9th March—our seventh year!, Old Owenians London Network Reception at Brewer’s Hall: Monday 8th May!, Anticipating Christmas!, Seasonal Recipe Recommendation!, Deadline for articles for next edition Monday 12th June 2017.

Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award! This term, 27 students in Year 12 have signed up to meet the challenge of the Gold level. They’ll be taking two tough expeditions to the Brecon Beacons and the Lake District next year (training in January/February), have started on their other activities in the Physical, Volunteering and Skills sections and are hopefully planning their Residential trip! Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, we’re proud to support this scheme, which is “...the world’s leading youth achievement award, giving millions of 14 to 24-year-olds the opportunity to be the very best they can be.” (DofE website)

If anyone’s a fan of the GBBO (Great British Bake Off), you might have picked up that this year’s finalist, Andrew Smyth, (Cambridge graduate), also has the Gold DofE!!!!!

News from the OSA Fund Raising – If there is anyone out there who has left their shopping this late and is ordering presents online, please remember to go via www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ and select Owens School Association as your charity. For those already thinking about holidays, lots of travel companies take part in the scheme. It’s a great way to raise funds for the school at no extra cost to yourself.

OSA Events - The quiz night in November was a huge success with over 250 guests attending. Thanks to everyone who helped to run this event and to all those who took part in the quiz and helped to raise over £3,500 for the school.

The next event is scheduled for February, snow permitting, so look out on the OSA website for more details.

Refreshments – As usual any help is much appreciated. So, if you are able to help with drinks at any of the concerts/events or Parents’ Evenings next term please could you please email sarahl@theosa.org.uk.

Foreign Currency Collection – Please remember to bring any unwanted foreign currency or obsolete coins or notes and hand them into the school office. Last year we raised £1031 for the school through the foreign currency collection.

The Owen’s School Association

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Book Covers – As a reminder book covers are available for sale during the year and an order form can be found on the OSA website, www.theosa.org.uk. Alternatively a paper copy of the order form can be found in a yellow folder in the OSA box. Please mark any envelopes ‘book cover order’.

Matched Funding – If you are employed by a company that is able to offer matched funding and would like to make a donation to Owen’s School Association please contact sarahl@theosa.org.uk.

200 Club – The OSA operate a 200 club and two prizes are drawn on a monthly basis, plus an extra draw takes place in December. Annual membership is £12 per number. For further details please contact Bev King via 200club@theOSA.org.uk.

School Uniform – Should your son/daughter have outgrown any of their old school uniform could we ask you to think about donating it. Good quality previously owned school uniform is available throughout the year by contacting Julia Clews. School uniform will be available to purchase at Parents’ Evenings. All items are carefully displayed and prices are very reasonable. Payment can be made by cash or cheque (payable to Owen's School Association). Of course all funds raised go back to the school. Stock is made up of donations and uncollected items of lost property stored in the school office at the end of each academic year.

Donations of good quality items can be handed into the school office, in a suitable bag, labeled for the attention of Julia Clews "OSA Nearly New", throughout the year.

OSA Committee – It was wonderful to welcome so many new people to the November meeting. If anyone who would like to attend an OSA committee meeting and help raise funds for the school, then meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 8pm in The Old Library. You can attend as a one off or join the committee, it’s up to you. The next meeting is scheduled for 9th January 2017. We would love to see some more new faces and look forward to welcoming you.

OSA

easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/

December 2016 Page 21 of 21

Music and Drama 2016-2017 Spring Term

Wednesday 1st February at 7.30pm

Senior Chamber Concert Edward Guinness Hall

Tickets available through online booking*

Wednesday 8th February at 7.30pm Junior Chamber Concert

Edward Guinness Hall Tickets available through online booking*

Wednesday 22nd February at 7.30pm

Soul Band Evening Main School Hall

Tickets available on the door

Wednesday 8th March at 7.30pm Piano Concert

Edward Guinness Hall Tickets available through online booking*

Wednesday 15th March at 7.30pm

Senior Ensembles Concert Edward Guinness Hall

Tickets available through online booking*

Week of Monday 20th March Associated Board Music Examinations

Edward Guinness Hall

Wednesday 22nd March Choirs to compete at the Mid-Somerset Festival

Bath, England

Thursday 23rd – Saturday 25th March at 7.30pm Spring Production

Main School Hall Tickets available by sending the form and cheque to Mrs Khan in the Main Office

Wednesday 29th March at 7.30pm

Concerto Concert Edward Guinness Hall

Tickets available through online booking*