The Gazette

DATES FOR THE DIARY 23.10.15 TED (School closed to pupils) 26 to 30.10.15 HALF-TERM 02.11.15 Return to School Week One 03.11.15 Year 12 Parents’ Evening (Tutors) 12.11.15 Year 9 Parents’ Evening (Tutors) 26.11.15 An Evening of Music from PHHS 30.11.15 TED (School closed to pupils) 01.12.15 Year 11 Mock Exams begin 08.12.15 Year 10 Parents’ Evening 16.12.15 Christmas Concert

18.12.15 Term Ends 04.01.16 Spring Term begins Week Two 04.01.16 Year 12/13 Mock Exams begin 19.01.16 Year 12 Parents’ Evening 26.01.16 Entry to the Sixth Form Evening 11.02.16 Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Autumn Term 2015

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE

We have had a busy start to the year with 17 Year 9 Student Librarian volunteers who will be helping in the LRC once a week at break or lunchtime. Book token prizes have been presented in assembly for the best two entries in the Summer

Reading Log competition. Alistair Witheford 9Z and Emily West 9G won the competition jointly for their excellent entries.

TANZANIA 2015

The Tanzania trip in 2015 was full of

unforgettable experiences beginning with

the first few days spent in luxury in

Zanzibar, where we got a taste of the

tourist attractions on the beautiful island.

These included snorkelling, a tour teaching us all about the history of the

island, specifically Stone Town where we stayed; and meal where we

were required to remove our shoes and sit on the floor in true Swahili

style, whilst enjoying a wide range of traditional dishes. However, we

didn’t fully experience Africa until we got to Tanzania, where we were

thrown into the life of the locals. We were all filled with appreciation

when happily embraced by the local villagers where we were staying, and

all had a great time playing with

the young village children every

evening, teaching them classic

English rhymes such as the ‘hokey

cokey’. We then learnt how

different the education system was

when we were given the chance to

teach. This was one of our

favourite parts of the trip, as we all

felt grateful for the opportunity not only to share new knowledge with the

students but also be able to learn from them and see how grateful they

were for the chance to get an education. We were able to raise money

for the school through fundraising which enabled us to supply every

student with a new exercise book, pen

and pencil. Whilst there we were also

able to see what the local markets were

like, visit local hospitals, go on a safari,

re-paint the blackboards and hike up a

local mountain site, Morningside.

Although diving into a completely

different way of life proved to have its

struggles, such as no hot water (or

sometimes no working showers at all), we all pulled together and all felt

we had personally grown from the experience, feeling very touched by

the gratitude each student had for the many things we take for granted

back in our everyday lives in England. It really was a remarkable trip,

which all of us feel has offered us a new prospective on the world.

Georgia Davis

EVESHAM ROBOTICS COMPETITION

This year saw the inaugural Evesham Robotics Competition held at Prince Henry’s in June. The aim was to stretch the computing skills of pupils from some of our first and middle feeder schools. Ten schools took part with 97 pupils and their teachers. The first challenge was to build a robot from all the parts. Most of the teams successfully completed the first challenge and then got on with the job of programming the robot to carry out progressively more and more complex tasks. The teachers and our Year 12 Computing group were on hand to help out when things got a bit tricky and also to score each team’s efforts at the end of each challenge. We had a winning team in each year group (4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) but everyone worked so hard that they all really deserved some kind of an award for their achievements. The members of each winning team received a prize to take home and every team got to keep their robot. Hopefully this has kick-started some interest in robotics and computing in our feeder schools.

CONGRATULATIONS! Henry Talbot, now in Year 12, won a Bronze medal in the Junior Commonwealth Games in Cape Town in July. Henry was representing Wales in the Junior Men’s Sabre (U20) competition. Well done, Henry!

TRIP OF A LIFETIME A Year 10 student dedicated to Girl Guides has been selected to travel to the USA to take part in a trip of a lifetime. Olivia Edwards is member of 1st Ashton-under Hill Guides and is set for an American adventure next August on a trip to celebrate the Centenary of the Senior Section. During her 11 day trip she will travel to New York, Ontario and Massachusetts with five other girls from Worcestershire to participate in many challenges and to work with a charity of her group’s choice. To fund the trip, the 14-year-

old needs to raise £2,300, which she plans to do by hosting dinner parties, organising a car wash, selling cakes and bag packing at local supermarkets with her unit. Olivia says “I am really looking forward to this rare trip and hope that it will help me to build my confidence and thrive in a more challenging environment than that of a usual classroom or work space.”

INSPIRATIONAL VISIT

Volunteers, Supporters and two

students from Prince Henry’s High

School visited The Tracy Sollis

Laboratory on Monday 12th October to

see donated research equipment in use.

The party of fifteen travelled to London

by mini bus supplied by Evesham Self

Drive. The Tracy Sollis Laboratory is

situated in the Anthony Nolan Research

Institute which is run by Professor

Alejandro Madrigal and stands in the

grounds of The Royal Free Hospital

London. Founder Member of The Trust

and mother of Tracy Sollis, Sue said “It

was a most comprehensive tour of the

whole research institute with all in

attendance overwhelmed by the work

carried out.” Amongst the equipment

donated by The Trust was a Plate

Reader costing £25,000 and a Fragment

Analyser costing £29,255. The trip was

of special significance to Jemima

Hutchison and Will MacMorland from

Prince Henry’s High School. Both are

final year A level students who intend to

work in the field of Biochemistry.

Jemima described the visit as

“fantastic”.

WORLD CHALLENGE EXPEDITION 2015 In July of this year, a team of 18 students, 2 teachers and our expedition leader travelled to Costa Rica for what would be a life changing experience. After two years of hard work raising £4000 each to cover the cost of the expedition, we were all very excited to finally be starting our adventure. We spent a month trekking through tropical rainforests, living and working with locals and generally operating as a team to organise our own food, accommodation and transport for the duration of the trip. A large proportion of our time in Costa Rica was spent completing short day treks in various locations in the north from

La Fortuna to Rincon de Vieja, and later a 5 day main trek across the Osa Peninsula in the south of the country. Although the temperatures were high and the trails muddy, the treks never failed to be an enjoyable experience where we could appreciate incredible landscapes such as volcanoes cloaked by

rainforests and breath-taking waterfalls; not to mention our countless encounters with various different creatures including snakes, hummingbirds, monkeys and sloths. We also spent a week working with a local tribe, painting classrooms in their primary school and working in the Banana Plantations. The tribe shared their homes and their culture with us and it was a fascinating experience for which we were all extremely grateful. However it wasn’t all treks and tribes; whilst we were on expedition the team found time to take days out for some extreme activities such as white water rafting and treetop zip wiring which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Overall the expedition was an amazing and unforgettable experience for the whole team, and we have countless photos and memories to treasure. Georgia Wilcox

YEAR 12 LIFE DRAWING WORKSHOP During the summer term Year 12 Art students took part in a life drawing workshop. The students worked in a variety of drawing and painting materials and with an expert tutor at the Cheltenham School of Art. The workshop focused on developing observational skills working from a life model. The work was challenging but all of the students worked brilliantly and made fantastic progress as a result.