st albans high school for girls september 2013 newsletter

September 2013Newsletter

“We could not be happier with these two outstanding sets of results.

Achieving top scores at A Level, GCSE and the more rigorous IGCSE

takes enormous enthusiasm, commitment and dedication from the

girls and also from their teachers and parents who support and

encourage them. We are therefore delighted to see the efforts of all

the girls so richly rewarded” Rosemary Martin

I am delighted to inform you that

Dorothy Henderson, following a

successful period shadowing as

Chairman Elect, will take up the

role of Chairman of Governors

from September. Dorothy has

been a Governor for four years

and has recently been working

with fellow Governors on the

strategic vision for the school

going forward. Dorothy is a

solicitor and currently sits as a

part-time Employment Tribunal

Judge, having formerly been a

partner in a leading City firm.

I, on the other hand, have been looking back at my

tenure with a sense of privilege and joy at the

continuing accomplishments of St Albans High School

for Girls and the changes which I hope you agree

enhance not only the education and experiences the

girls have here but the environment too on both sites.

I have been fortunate to work with committed and

supportive Governors, dedicated Staff, and wonderful

Headmistresses. The leadership and example they all

set should never be underestimated and I have greatly

appreciated the positive underpinning they have all

given me in my time as Chairman and in enabling me

to do that job.

I am confident I leave the High School in good heart

and that it and the girls will continue to flourish.

I wish everyone all the best for the future.

Welcome to the new look termly Newsletter!

In line with the design of our new prospectus

and website, we have made some slight

changes to the format of the newsletter which

continues to demonstrate the breadth and

depth of activities and achievements of the

girls.

I feel proud and privileged to have witnessed

the joy on the faces of our girls as they

opened their A Level and GCSE examination

results last month. This year’s results were

outstanding and testament to the hard work

and dedication of the girls and their teachers

and I would like to warmly congratulate them

on their achievements.

In the middle of September we shall be

welcoming a representative from the Good

Schools Guide to the school. Following the

visit, reviews of both the Senior and

Preparatory School will be published in next

year’s edition of this well-respected

educational publication. What a wonderful

opportunity this will be for the girls to

demonstrate the pride they have in

their school.

Finally, I would like to

take this opportunity to

welcome all new pupils,

staff and parents and

hope they will enjoy

being a part of the High

School community.

Mrs Rosemary Martin

Headmistress

Dear ParentsH

ead

mistr

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’s L

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September 2013 | Newsletter

2 St Albans High School for Girls

Sixth Form students

celebrated a joyous day as

they received record-

breaking A Level results in

August. With 37% of all

grades at A* and 82% at

A*/A, the results were especially rewarding as a nationwide

decrease in the proportion of A Levels awarded top grades was

recorded for the second year in a row, with just 7.6% of entries

gaining the elite A* grade. 97% of students are going on to their

first choice university, including 11% who have been successful

in gaining places at Oxford or Cambridge.

A Level and GCSE results- a record-breaking year!

Mrs Jacqui Boulton

Following record-breaking A

Level results the previous week,

our GCSE pupils were delighted

that they too had achieved a

stunning set of results. 59% of

grades were at A*, 99% A*/B

and 100% A*-C. With 18 girls

getting straight A* across a variety of subjects, these results

proved to be the best ever for the High School.

A* successat A Level

Another stunning set ofGCSE results for 2013!

JacquiBoulton

DorothyHenderson

Chairman ofGovernors

Life has also emerged out of the ‘Grow your

Own’ garden, with ripe red strawberries,

clambering runner beans and fresh greenery

from the potatoes and pumpkins. Year 3

planted the potatoes in recycled tyres and

we are hoping to harvest enough potatoes

in the autumn to eat them!

The Science lab sprang into life during

Trinity term with the arrival of seven

chicken eggs. After what seemed to the

girls like a very long wait (19 days) we

were blessed with the arrival of three

chicks, one of which hatched in front of

the teachers! The chicks are thoroughly

enjoying the girls’ company and are being

superbly looked after by our Year 5 pupils.

St Albans High School for Girls | Prep 3

During Design and Technology lessons, girls

in Reception enjoyed designing flip flops and

choosing which materials they would use to

make them. They had great fun taking part in

their own fashion show!


Dear ParentsDuring last term the Prep School made the most

of the summer weather. We have been growing our

own fruit and vegetables and we saw the complete

lifecycle of the butterfly. A highlight was hatching

our own chicks and watching them emerge from

their eggs and develop into fluffy, highly curious,

energetic balls of fun! There were many moments

of sporting excellence from the girls at our Sports

Days and various events locally and nationally. The

additional outdoor pursuits included into the PE

programme, such as skiing, rock climbing and water

sports, proved very popular with Years 3 – 6. Many

creative projects were undertaken from Reception

through to the top of the school, as well as

educational visits and theme days. We hope you

will enjoy reading about some of the activities that

the girls have been involved in.

In closing, this academic year the Prep School

celebrates ten years in Wheathampstead and 125

years of the High School as a whole. There will be

various events arranged throughout the school

year to mark our tenth birthday, which we will

share in future newsletters.

With best wishes

Ms Gillian Bradnam

Head of the Preparatory School

Cre

ativ

ity

Here

comes

summer

New Life Grow your OwnYear 1 had an exciting time learning

about the lifecycles of different

creatures including chickens and

frogs. During Science lessons, the

girls were fascinated to see the

transformation of caterpillars into

Painted Lady butterflies and then

watched them being released into

the school grounds! Every girl kept

a diary of what she had observed

to record what they had learnt.

We made our own boats using recycled

materials. Then we raced the boats in our water

tray by blowing very hard. It was great fun!

Year 1 enjoyed learning about Queen Elizabeth II. They wrote a

letter to Her Majesty asking her a question about her life and

were all thrilled to receive a reply from Buckingham Palace.

Com

munity

O.H.M.S.


4 St Albans High School for Girls | Prep

As part of our Mexican topic, Year 2explored maps and used books and theinternet to find out what life is like in thelittle village of Tocuaro. The girls haveparticularly enjoyed creating their ownmask designs and joining in with theMexican Fiesta.

Eco Warriors

A party was held to celebrate 60 years since The Queen’s

Coronation. We wrote invitations to our teddy bears so they

could join us for our special afternoon and made crowns, flags

and sandwiches.

¡Hola!

Year 3 went on an exciting adventure to the indoor

Snow Centre as part of our Fit for Life week. All the

girls had a memorable day taking part in learning how

to ski safely and sledge in style.

Snow Joke

In Geography, Year 3 have been studying why it is

important to care for our environment. The girls were

set the task to design and create their own outfit

using only recycled materials. During Independent

Learning Week, the girls shared their knowledge and

views with members of the local community.

Year 4’s Trip to the Zoo

Josie and Claudia

were runners-up of

the Mini Green event

at the Hertfordshire

Aegon Schools Mini

Tennis tournament.

Year 6 performed their

end of year production

– Olivia Twirl.

SportsRoundup

Olivia Twirl

Year 5 had great fun working collaboratively on a

Thinking Skills project during their PSHEE lessons.

Each group was given a different characteristic

such as persistence, originality or risk-taking. They

were set the task of coming up with a character

to define their trait. The girls created fun and

inspiring cartoons on paper and performed a role

play to the year group. There were some inspiring

tales told and great fun was had by all!

This was a story of Olivia, an orphan

who escaped from an orphanage and

made her way to London. There she met

a number of characters including Eliza

Doolittle, Fagin, Dodger, Scrooge and

Sherlock Holmes. She eventually finds

her mother, Annie, when they discover

they both wear matching lockets.

Taking time to think

We were blessed with fabulous weather for Prep

School Sports Day. This year Mandeville House

were victorious winning both the Relay Cup and

the Sports Day Cup. Well done to all Prep girls

who contributed to a great day of Athletics. The

super weather held for Pre-Prep Sports Day and

it was another great afternoon with Julian House

being victorious.

At the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing

Academy, (the venue for the 2012 Olympics),

Penelope and Eleanor represented the High School

for the first time in this event. They faced very

difficult conditions during the morning race, with

gale force six winds and hail! The girls came an

excellent 5th place. This was a fantastic result and

the girls should be very proud of their strength of

character and achievements.

Sports Days

IAPS Sailing

As part of our legacy for London

2012 – to give the girls wider

sports opportunities and to

enhance pupil resilience – we

have introduced a number of

outdoor pursuits sessions for KS2

ranging from water sports, to

skiing and climbing. All these

session were a great success.

For the first year we entered the

London Prep Schools Athletics

Championships. A team from Year

5 and a team from Year 6 travelled

to Eton to compete. 32 schools

entered the competition and our

girls recorded some great results.

We recorded similar success at the

District Athletics Championships.

As a result of fabulous team

performances the girls won the

trophy and are the Girls District

Athletics Champions.

Outdoor Pursuits

St Albans High School for Girls | Prep 5


District

Athletics

Championships

On 1 July, Quantum Theatre Company

gave a lively and energetic performance

of ‘Twelfth Night’ to Year 8 pupils. There

were just four members performing

which entailed many quick costume

changes in order for all the characters

to appear. We had been studying the

play and therefore had some prior

knowledge and found it really

entertaining and easy to follow.

Year 10 and 11 GCSE Drama

students enjoyed an exciting inclusive

dance performance on aerial skills by

ActOne ArtsBase, who provide

dance classes, training and

performance opportunities for

disabled and vulnerable young people

throughout Hertfordshire. The

students were given the opportunity

to explore the themes of the piece

through a dance workshop and to

test out their own aerial skills using

ladders. The Drama Department have

been raising money for a number of

years for ActOne ArtsBase with the

total currently standing at £1755.


Showcasing Art – GCSEThe eagerly awaited summer exhibition of

GCSE art, showcasing some excellent pieces

of work, was extremely well attended by the

High School extended community in May.

6

A Sense ofBeauty

St Albans High School for Girls | Senior

An alternative‘Twelfth Night’By Amy, Year 8

As part of National Schools Sports Week,

over 100 pupils in Years 7-9 competed in a

team handball tournament. Forming four

teams per year group, the girls were very

competitive and worked very hard throughout

the tournament

to present an

exciting week

of handball.

Congratulations

to the winning

teams.

Sports Day proved to be

a memorable occasion

mainly due to the

number of records

broken. Honours were

shared between Verulam

and Paris Houses with

Paris winning the House Jumping Cup and Middle

School Cup, and Verulam winning the Senior School

Cup and the Combined School Cup.

On 18 June, Year 7 ventured on a Geography day

trip to Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. Walton has

many geographical features, such as cliffs that have

eroded over hundreds of years and these showed

clearly the different layers, for example, silt, red crag,

London clay and gravel. This was a perfect trip

because we were learning about the erosion of cliffs.

We felt the London clay and could see how wet it

was and therefore how easily it helped the cliffs to

slump. We then measured how much the cliff had

eroded by counting how many steps it took from

where the edge of the cliffs are now, to the sea. We

then went on a hunt for fossil and found fossilised

wood and thousands of years old dinosaur poo!

Following completion of our worksheets we

analysed sea defences and after lunch had a chance

to paddle in the sea, ending the day with a sandcastle

competition before making our way back home.

At this year’s Old Girls’ Tennis Match it was lovely

to see so many familiar faces, including Lauren

Hewitt who is competing at university level in

America. The Old Girls were victorious and were

presented with a new trophy.

We are delighted that both individual and team talentsand achievements in sport were recognised last term.

Going the extra mile

Harpenden

Doubles U16

Runners-up

Lucy &

Georgie

U15 Aegon

Division 1

Tennis team

County

Runners-up


FieldworkBy Jeea, Year 7

7St Albans High School for Girls | Senior

At the Herts

Advertiser School

Awards Lucy and

Sophie received

runners-up awards

in the Sporting

Achiever Categories.

At the District Sports Awards,

numerous awards were made, including to the

U19 Netball team who were named School

Team of the Year, with Olympic Gold Medal

Winner, Peter Wilson presenting the award.

Year 9 pupil, Isobel received a recognition

award for U21 Elite Athlete of the Year. SportsDay

The sporting season finished on a high with wins in both the U14 & U16County Athletics Finals. Over 50 schools competed in both leagues, witheight schools reaching the finals in which our girls took home all thetrophies. Earlier in the season the School also won the Overall DistrictChampionships Trophy, in addition to the Year 8, 9 & Senior team trophies.

U14, U13 & Overall District

AthleticsChampions

Handball Winning Teams

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

OGA vs

STAHS

The Mathematics ofSudoku and MagicSquares; Superheroes –the Science andMathematics and AlanTuring and the EnigmaMachine engaged and

challenged 24 Year 10

girls just before the end

of the summer term

when they experienced

a maths enrichment day

at the University of

Hertfordshire. All the

girls enjoyed their

experience including

Corinne, Nina and

Rebecca – winners of

the lunchtime quiz.

EnrichingMaths


My Ganesh Statue

For our last RS lesson last term, I brought in my statue of Ganesh – the

elephant God of Hinduism, who has many features which represent

different things. Mrs Patel said that it is important to ‘live’ a religion every

day and wanted some of us to bring in artefacts that we use as part of

our religion.

The Hindu god, Ganesh, has a trunk which can pick up big or small things.

This represents his consideration. With his big ears he can listen and filter

out all the bad things people say so he can see the best in everyone.

Sometimes Ganesh has a mouse sitting at his left foot and this shows that

he cares about small things in life. I choose to worship Ganesh because I

like the way he has many meanings and symbols which represent

thoughtfulness and kindness. It is important for all people, not just Hindus,

to be reminded of these virtues every day.

8 St Albans High School for Girls | Senior

On 1 July, 96 Year 7 students

travelled to the Château du

Tertre, in Northern France to

experience French life and to

practise their language skills by

purchasing items from the

local market and French shops.

A host of challenging individual

and team building activities

were also enjoyed including

archery and raft building.

Foreign Shores

By Isobel, Year 7

Senior


On 4 and 5 July, a group of Sixth Form

reporters transformed the Rotunda into ‘The

Newsroom’, in order to keep staff, parents and

Governors up to date with what was

happening during Year 7-10 Activity Days. The

Newsroom was humming with activity with its

bank of laptops and a supply of food and drink

helping to fuel a steady flow of news

throughout the day!

The Virtual Learning Environment was put to

very effective use with the creation of The

Newsroom website which required reporters

from all year groups to be efficient and

discerning when gathering their information

and reporting back to the team. The

experience helped them to develop important

skills such as time management and working

to deadlines, juggling (in more ways than one!)

as well as interview techniques. As the news

went live, there was little time for editing so it

was important to get it right in the first takes.

The Sixth Form reporters in particular, who

were in The Newsroom as part of their work

experience, greatly enjoyed the opportunity

to develop skills specific to journalism and also

learning more about just how much work

goes into producing pages for the school VLE.

All the girls involved were very grateful to

have the opportunity to be a part of

something that was challenging, fun and

different and that everyone could appreciate

and get involved in.

By Katherine, Year 12

St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth 9

Pupils in Years 7-10 enjoyed two

very different school days during

the first week of July. On day one

they spent a day in school learning

a variety of circus skills with the

Shooting Stars Circus Skills

company. On day two they enjoyed

a whole host of activities at an

outdoor activity centre in Watford.

Activity Days

The team was made up of:

(some but not all featured below)

Amy, Katherine, Lagshiga, Annabel, Evie,

Georgina, Mitzi, Holly, Millie, Adele, Rebecca,

Alice, Alysia, Oyinlola, Marianne, Francesca,

Alicia, led by Mrs Wright, Mr Ramsbottom

and Mr Corcoran.

The Newsroom

Community


National Youth Theatre Placement

Held

for the

first time in

the bright, airy

space of the

Jubilee Centre, the

AS/A2 Level Art exhibition

showcased a variety of

inspiring pieces of work.

10 St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth

Beautiful renditions of pieces including Tchaikovsky’s

Hymn of the Cherubim, Schaffer’s Bavarian Rhapsody,

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite

and Howard Shore’s Suite from Lord of the Rings were

performed by the Intermediate Orchestra, Lower

Strings Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and the Senior

Choir at this year’s Summer Orchestral Concert.

A confident and stylistic performance by Georgina of

the first movement from the Hummel trumpet

concerto (1803), accompanied by the Chamber

Orchestra opened the second half of the concert.

Arnold’s A Grand, Grand Overture brought the concert

to a surreal yet fantastic end. Featuring a few

unexpected guests – namely three vacuum cleaners

and a floor polisher, this was written for one of the

famous Hoffnung Concerts in 1956, with the various

cleaning implements brutally silenced towards the end

of the piece by four rifles. A spectacular concert indeed!

Sixth Form student Aurélie has gained a place

at the prestigious National Youth Theatre to

study set design. Aurélie, who had been

studying stage design through the AS Level

Theatre Studies course, is very excited at the

prospect of spending her summer with the

company.

Orchestral ConcertShowcasing Art – A Level By Rachel, Year 12

Senior


Race for Life

St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth 11

Despite overcast skies on Sunday 23 June,

nothing could dampen the spirits of the Year

12 students who gathered at Stockwood Park,

Luton for the Race for Life.

AlumnaeNews

Congratulations to

former pupil Janine

Gray who has

achieved a first in her

examinations for Part

1B of the Natural

Sciences Tripos at

Newnham College,

Cambridge.

Talented musician

Chloe Rush wants to

use her High School

education to help

those less fortunate

than herself by

spending her summer

teaching at a school

outside Kathmandu.

Chloe, who plays the

violin, saxophone and

piano and is studying

music at Cambridge,

raised funds for the

school in Nepal and is

looking forward to

teaching English and

also music particularly

when a language

barrier exists.

Final Farewell

Year 13 girls bade a final, fond farewell to the

High School on Friday 21 June at their Leavers’

Lunch, the last official day of their school

careers. This followed on from the hugely

successful Leavers’ Ball in May, where the

paparazzi jostled to get photos of a seemingly

endless stream of elegant High School girls. We

wish all of Year 13 the very best.The girls showed great tenacity and true High

School spirit in their support for each other on

the day. A member of 'the team' ran the race

before she set off to visit Durham University and

another took public transport all the way from

Southgate, encountering problems along the way,

to arrive in time for the start!

One of the Mums, who ran with the girls

commented, “the girls were an absolute credit to

the High School and it was a pleasure and a

privilege to run with them”. The money that they

raised will go towards Cancer Research UK; a

very worthwhile cause which is close to the heart

of many.Chal

lenge

On 25 June, Badac Theatre Company visited Year

9 to talk about a topic that we are currently

studying in RS and had previously studied in

History: the Holocaust. The Director, Steve

began by talking about when Hitler became

Chancellor of Germany and how the situation

started to change in Germany to become anti-

semitic. We were given in depth detail about the

events including the Kristellnacht, Night of the

Shattered Glass. It was shocking to hear that

there were only six death camps as we had

expected many more considering that such a

high number of people, six million, had died.

Throughout the talk, Steve asked us questions

to see how much we already knew, and he made

sure that we were clear about the facts.

Afterwards we were split up into smaller groups

and were told to come up with a freeze frame

of what we imagined to happen in the camps.

Some of the still images consisted of people

dying in the gas chambers, people working in the

concentration camps and the physical

examination queue which decided if you were

well enough to work or if you were to be gassed

straight away. After the groups had displayed

their still image, Steve discussed with us the

reality of the image and went into more detail

about each one whilst adding in true stories to

increase our understanding of the tragic events.

After lunch, we went back into the School Hall

to watch the Ashes to Ashes play on the

Holocaust. Two large metal rectangles had been

hung from the ceiling to represent the bodies of

two Jewish prisoners. The play examined the

daily routine of life in a concentration camp:

wake up, roll call, exercise tests (to check if the

prisoners were still capable to work) hard

labour, ‘coffee’ breaks in which the workers were served

muddy water as a cruel joke; labour, food, where the

prisoners were given extremely watery soup which had

next to no substance and a slice of bread. The same routine

would be repeated day after day until the person is

incapable of working any longer. The officers in charge often

misused their power and made the prisoners undertake

humiliating and exhausting acts in front of others just for

their personal entertainment.

The two metal hangings were struck repeatedly throughout

the play to symbolise how the officers beat Jewish prisoners

and each time the metal would make an incredibly harsh

clanging noise which made everyone flinch. However, no

one could find it in themselves to complain once they

realised that the sound represents the pain that would be

inflicted on the bodies of the weakened prisoners.

At the end of the play, the two prisoners were gassed

because they had become too weak to work. After the play,

everyone felt that, to some extent, they could now imagine

how absolutely horrific the Holocaust had been and we all

felt extremely sorry for those who had had to go through

it. Badac Theatre Company left us all with an understanding

of how the prisoners must have felt and how we, as part of

the new generation, could not let something as terrible as

this happen ever again.

Ashes to AshesFe

ature


12 St Albans High School for Girls

By

Arv

een, Year

9

We extend a warm welcome to Mrs Laura Lord who will

be joining the High School this term as the Association

Officer for the newly created St Albans High School

Association. This will be an overarching organisation to

which all former pupils, current and former parents, current

and former members of staff, Governors and all Friends of

the School belong. It will maintain communication between

all these groups and the School, establishing a careers

network between present and former pupils, as well as

running social events and working with the Old Girls’

Association to organise reunions for former pupils, in

addition to many other initiatives.

Photo by kind

permission of the

Badac Theatre

Company

Headmistress:

Rosemary Martin MEd NPQH FRSA

[email protected]

www.stahs.org.uk

We said goodbye

to Mrs Mitchell in

the Mathematics

Department, who

has worked at the

High School for 26

years and wish her

well on her

retirement.

St AlbansHigh SchoolAssociation

MrsMitchell

st albans high school for girls september 2013 newsletter

Documents

efforts of allthe girls

level results inaugust

newsletter whichcontinues

achievements of thegirls

senior andpreparatory

new pupils

new look

experiences thegirls