NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Vice-Principal - introductionDear Parents,

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! - November!

So wrote the popular Victorian lyricist, Thomas Hood, and it is easy to see November as a time of greyness and gloom. What better time than this, then, to celebrate the many colourful aspects of life in the Senior School?

Just a few examples from recent days give a hint of the vibrancy of daily life within the School. The first is the Year 7 inter-disciplinary projects day, an annual fixture in the calendar which is a great favourite with students and which, this year, was on the theme of Illusions. The Head of Visual Arts reports, ‘one group examined contemporary art by the German artist Clemens Behr, who uses a striking colour palette in his mixed media installations. Stu-dents from the L6 gave workshops about shape and colour, introducing the girls to German vocabulary on colour.’ The finished piece, a striking installa-tion, was exhibited in the Hall for parents to admire at the end of the day. In Chemistry Week this week, the girls have enjoyed the pyrotechnic possibili-ties of chemical elements – exploding coloured hydrogen balloons and set-ting fire to a potassium compound (thereby producing a beautiful lilac flame, as well as fizzes and bangs). All this will surely whet the appetites of Year 8s who will explore the theme of Colour in their Science Sleepover in March.

To watch the Chemistry Week cannon fire ex-periment explo-sion click on the video link below:

The L6 installation

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Photos taken byMr Ben Keeble

Photos from page one takenby Ms Mimi Castiglione

Encounters with colour extend outside the classroom too. On Monday, Year 9 travelled to two London galleries to examine, on the one hand, the use of brash, bold and bright colour in the Pop Art movement of the ‘60s as a means to grab attention, sell products and identify brands and, on the other, the techniques of the German artist, Paul Klee, whose work is a subtle and imaginative journey through colour harmony. In German Club, girls are busily making colourfully decorated Hexenhäuser to brighten homes and class-rooms in the run-up to Christmas. The Singers gathered in the Grand Arcade on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the illumination of the Christmas lights there and the U14 netball team pinned the Stephen Perse colours on the county champions trophy. Students in 8G picked up on the theme with their colour blast cake sale and Mr Jackman’s team have added a hint of winter cheer with their colourful designer desserts – from winterberry cheesecake to lemon meringue pie. The natural turn of the seasons, combined with Mr Jackson’s artful planting scheme, has ensured that our grounds remain a vivid canvas even as winter fast approaches.

From the quirky humour of the graffiti wall to the bold glamour of the drama photographs in the corridors, from the primary shades of our Dining Room to the visual richness of the apps, eBooks and iBooks we use every day, colour enlivens and enhances our learning experiences and our lives.

Kind regards,

Dr Helen StringerVice-Principal, Curriculum

Vice-Principal - introduction

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Netball news

U16 County Netball TournamentHaving qualified for the tournament in April, coming a satisfying 4th out of 5, knocking out The Leys in the process, the hotly anticipated County Netball tournament crept up on us somewhat silently.

The team list appearing 4 days before our tournament, we realised with some trepidation that we had never actually played in this team before. Not to worry, a few roughly scheduled practices during morning break intermingled with a Biology controlled assessment, and we were soon up to speed on centre passes and set plays....

To find out how Stevie P got on, by reading the full report from Milly Lee on our news pages, click here.

U14 County Netball Tournament Match ReportOn Saturday 16th the U14 team played in the county netball tournament against eight schools from Cam-bridgeshire.

We started off well winning our first match. We had two more wins and then we had our match against Kings Ely, who we had tied against in the previous tournament. We started our match with a bang, snatching the ball from the Kings Ely team and Phoebe Dix, Phoebe Knott and Izzy Williams getting all of our shots in. We finished our match with a win. This gave us huge positivity for the rest of the tournament. We then won match after match with great defending from Amber Elliot and Zoe Clark, attacking from Olivia Sherwin, Amy Farmer and Darcie Tickner and shooting from Phoebe Dix, Phoebe Knott and Izzy Williams...

The full match report, by Millie Nathan, for the U14 team (who won the County Tournament and are now off to the Regional Tournament in January!) can be read on our news pages: click here.

It should also be noted that Phoebe Dix stepped in at the last minute and was great (as she is a year younger) as two of our shooters could not attend... The team were brilliant!

The U14 team with their shield

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Classics success in Senior Reading Competition

Year 9 trip to London galleriesThe year nine trip to the London galleries saw them examine the use of brash bold and bright colour in the pop art movement of the 60s, as a means to grab attention, sell products and identify brands. In contrast the work of the German artist Paul Klee was a subtle and imaginative journey through colour harmony. This major exhibition at the Tate modern encouraged students to think of Klee’s inspirational teaching methods including his use of subtle gradations and layers of changes in colour.

Last week saw some terrific performances in the Cambridge Schools Classical Association Latin and Greek Senior Reading Competition, held this year in the Classics Faculty in the inspiring setting of the Museum of Classical Archaeology on Wednesday 13 November 2013.

Our three Greek readers carried off top prizes: Dasha Antonova and Leonie Woodland won first and second prizes with stunning performances in the Intermediate Section with their readings from the Odyssey and Lavinia Abell won first prize in the Senior Reading with an equally brilliant rendition from the last book of the Iliad.

In the Latin competition there was tough opposition and also more superb performances - Natalia Abell and Cecily Polonsky shared second prize in the Senior Prose Reading and second prize in the Intermediate Latin Prose went to Anastasia Kell. Jessica Binks must also be congratulated on her commendation in the Intermedi-ate Verse.

An outstanding success all-round and thanks to all who participated!

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Holiday OrchestraThe Cambridge Holiday Orchestra Christmas Course runs from 30 – 31 December and 2 – 3 January at West Road Concert Hall. This long-established Cambridge organisation runs courses every holiday for students aged 7+. There is a very wide range of activities, including orchestra, wind bands, choir and recorder groups for all ages. Visit www.holidayorchestra.co.uk to find out more.

Backstage Club

This term in Backstage Club we have been making puppets for use with UV lights. Each group chose a theme or story and then created their own puppet sequence; we then dressed everyone up in black so that they could not be seen and performed the sequences under UV light. You can see some of the magical results here:

Ghost Train UV puppets

Harry Potter UV puppets

Perseus and Medusa UV puppets

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Year 11 Students help at St Paul’s Primary SchoolThirteen year 11 students volunteered to help at St Paul’s Primary School during lunchtimes this term – Florence Allwood, Erin Brown, Alice Buchanan, Immy Holder, Sophia Keynes, Rose Last, Flora McCorquodale, Milly Parker, Anna Pearson, Manisha Swaminthan, Alicia Tickle, Alexia Wilson and Leonie Woodland.

Immy Holder has written the following on behalf of the group:

‘Whenever we go to St Paul’s Primary School we are greeted with a smile and feel immedi-ately at ease. Our duties involve supervising in the playground which means we have the opportunity to play with and get to know many of the children. The relationships you form are invaluable and to have them makes going to mentor all the more enjoyable.

It is a great experience and I have gained a lot of skills from it. On behalf of myself and the rest of the year 11’s who mentor at St Paul’s we would like to say a huge thank you to the staff and children who have made our time there so great. This is an opportunity I would recom-mend to anyone due to the rewarding nature of what we have been able to experience.’

 

Eight of the Year 11 volunteers.Back row – Leonie Woodland, Flo Allwood, Milly Parker, Sophia KeynesFront row – Alicia Tickle, Immy Holder, Alice Buchanan, Erin Brown

Parents and students please note that all JCQ documents intended for public exam candidates have been posted on the portal for your information.

Public exam dates for Summer 2014 are now available on the portal.

Public Examinations

Book ClubOur next meeting will be on Monday, 6th January, at 8pm (contact Sarah Beeson, 01223 294108). We will dis-cuss ‘Stoner’ by John Williams and ‘The Humans’ by Matt Haig. We always have a lively discussion and are keen to welcome new members. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Martha Crouch for details (020 7638 6983, martha.crouch@btinternet.com)

NewsletterIssue No 5 / 2013-14 Friday 22 November 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Stuffed toy plea!

The PFA would be extremely grateful for any donations of stuffed toys in good condition for the Junior School and Pre-Prep Christmas Fair. Your old toys will find new homes with the fair-goers, who will be overjoyed to win them at the Teddy Bear Draw stall. Please bring your stuffed toys to Senior School Reception by Wednes-day 4 December. Thank you!

Metamorphoses - tickets now on sale!

MetamorpHosesBased on the Myths of Ovid

Written and originally directed by Mary Zimmerman

Stephen Perse Foundation presents

Thursday 5 & Friday 6 December7.30pm

Senior School HallTickets £5 adults, £2.50 concessions

This term’s main school production is Metamorphoses, a modern reworking of the original tales from Ovid.

There are some fantastic stories of love, loss, greed, revenge and foolishness, all played out around an ancient pool of water.

We are staging the performance in the centre of the Hall with the audience on two sides so it will be quite unique!

The production also incorporates original music composed by alumna Anna Wells.

The performances take place on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 December at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £2.50 for children and conces-sions and £5 for adults and are being sold at the Senior School and Sixth Form College receptions.