notting hill and ealing high school We began our trip to the Tower of London by walking the Walls and were able to go to all the various towers and see some of the defences of this ancient fortress, as well as medieval toilets and a menagerie! At the Education Centre, we handled artefacts found at the Tower over the years and we had to decide what they were, what we thought they had been used for and what they could tell us about the Tower of London. These artefacts included a small cannon ball, a piece of pottery and a tile. We then set off towards the Crown Jewels. Upon entering the Jewel House we viewed a series of screens showing all the monarchs who had worn the jewels. We walked through several different displays and finally entered the crown jewels showcase itself. It was amazing to move along the travelator seeing all of the crown jewels one by one. The golden structures and the jewels were set against rich purple velvet and each crown and every jewel was perfectly displayed with their Year 7 History at The Tower Freya McNeill and Aliyyah Tahir intricate designs shown from every angle. Next, we walked excitedly to the White Tower where we were met by the sight of racks of armour – so much of it that the room seemed rather daunting. The White Tower has been used to store armour, weaponry and artillery for over 500 years. These displays were a brilliant way for us to visualise how people would have looked and acted on the battlefield and during training. Upstairs we were able to see The Line of Kings, the longest running tourist attraction in the world! We followed the display with its armour, model horses and carved heads of various kings marvelling that this attraction has been running since 1660. The Tower of London was full of breath‐taking sights and fabulous artefacts all of which helped to expand our knowledge of Medieval life. It was a ‘historic’ opportunity for Year 7 and one we truly enjoyed. Senior School Newsletter Autumn 2015
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notting hill and ealing high school
We began our trip to the Tower of
London by walking the Walls and
were able to go to all the various
towers and see some of the
defences of this ancient fortress,
as well as medieval toilets and a
menagerie!
At the Education Centre, we
handled artefacts found at the
Tower over the years and we had
to decide what they were, what
we thought they had been used
for and what they could tell us
about the Tower of London. These
artefacts included a small cannon
ball, a piece of pottery and a tile.
We then set off towards the
Crown Jewels. Upon entering the
Jewel House we viewed a series of
screens showing all the monarchs
who had worn the jewels. We
walked through several different
displays and finally entered the
crown jewels showcase itself. It
was amazing to move along the
travelator seeing all of the crown
jewels one by one. The golden
structures and the jewels were set
against rich purple velvet and each
crown and every jewel was
perfectly displayed with their
Year 7 History at The Tower Freya McNeill and Aliyyah Tahir
intricate designs shown from
every angle.
Next, we walked excitedly to the
White Tower where we were
met by the sight of racks of
armour – so much of it that the
room seemed rather daunting.
The White Tower has been used
to store armour, weaponry and
artillery for over 500 years.
These displays were a brilliant
way for us to visualise how
people would have looked and
acted on the battlefield and
during training. Upstairs we
were able to see The Line of
Kings, the longest running
tourist attraction in the world!
We followed the display with its
armour, model horses and
carved heads of various kings
marvelling that this attraction
has been running since 1660.
The Tower of London was full of
breath‐taking sights and
fabulous artefacts all of which
helped to expand our
knowledge of Medieval life. It
was a ‘historic’ opportunity for
Year 7 and one we truly enjoyed.
Senior School Newsletter Autumn 2015
Charities Update Louise O’Leary and Anousha Baboolall
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Year 11 got charity fundraising off
to a great start this term with
over £1500 (and counting) raised
for their chosen charities.
11LE collected of clothing for
CalAid, the charity working to
provide humanitarian assistance
to refugees in Calais. They girls
chose the charity because of what
many of them had seen passing
through Calias this summer en
route to family holidays. They
packed Miss Eells car with bags of
donated clothing and their ‘own
clothes’ day was as a huge
fundraising success.
11AR also feel they have a
personal connection with their
chosen charity. They were raising
money in aid of Motor Neurone
Disease which is one of the
causes being supported by our
own Mr Kerrison as he
undertakes the challenge of the
round‐the‐world Clipper Race.
They also reprised the
fantastically popular ‘Throw a
Sponge at a Teacher’ introduced
by Mr Kerrison’s form last year.
Thank you all those teachers who
agreed to get soaked in a great
cause!
11SL offered teachers the chance
to order a custom made cake
(always a sure fire winner). The
highlight of their week in
support of their chosen charity,
Aware NI, the mental health
charity for young people, was
their Friday Event, a game of
“Ninjas” the stealth spy game.
Meanwhile, 11PQ’s Friday Event
was a lunchtime edition of
‘Teacher Take Me Out’ in aid of
Cardiac Risk in the Young, and in
which they had secured the
(willing?) participation of a large
panel of teachers.
Finally, the whole school came
together for Harvest. Everyone
brought in donations of food and
we collected a total of
155.55 kilos in support of the
Ealing Food Bank.
Year 11, you’ve been great! A
huge thank you to girls, parents
and staff for buying the raffle
tickets, eating the cakes, making
donations of all kinds and turning
out in support of all the Friday
Events.
After half‐term it’s the turn of
Year 10.
3
Pi Club has got off to a fantastic
start this year. Every Friday we
have had about 20 extremely
enthusiastic Year 7 students
coming along to make some
beautiful polyhedra just by
folding paper. Students seem to
During September Year 11 girls
completed their Futurewise
interviews with professional
careers advisers.
These interviews are part of the
personalised and practical
career‐related service offered to
our students by the company
be turning up earlier each
week to ensure they get a seat!
The photo shows some of the
members at the recent open
evening practising their new
skills.
Lunch time— netball clubs
Pi Club Helen Critcher
Year 7 Sports lesson—fitness training
Year 11 Futurewise Christine Maynard
Inspiring Futures. The interviews
aim to help girls formulate a
general plan which, coupled
with the A Level advice offered
by tutors and Heads of
Department and opportunities
to discuss courses at the Into the
Sixth evening, will help them
move forward with their
planning for the Sixth Form and
beyond.
Year 9 PE lesson—trampolining
Da Vinci Club Iva Grujic and Shalini Chohan
The Da Vinci Club session run by
Mr Smith explored the origins
of all Proto‐Indo European
languages (Sanskrit and
European languages). We began
by going to early languages,
such as Ancient Greek and
Latin, and comparing words as
well as sounds to modern
English. For example we took
the word for father in Latin and
Greek, pater, and looked at the
transformation from that to the
modern English equivalent,
father.
Doing this showed how sounds
have changed and evolved over
the centuries, for example the
sound p to f. We then came to
learn that sound changes were
mostly regular. Then we
questioned “If we can work out
how languages link together,
can we trace back to the very
first dialect that split into all
these different languages across
Europe and North India?” We
then formulated some words
that could have been used in
the first ever dialect spoken,
and some rules to accompany
our words. Finally, at the end of
this, we asked ourselves how
realistic our representations of
the first words were. Eventually,
we came to the conclusion that
languages do not evolve at the
same rate over centuries, but
grow exponentially.
We learnt how languages are
constantly evolving, even if we
don’t realise it. For example, the
word factory; most people do
not pronounce how it is spelt
anymore, maybe because of its
constant use, or the rate at
which we say it. Nevertheless,
this is only one of thousands of
words that are being moulded
and changed into different
words and sounds.
We found this session a really
fascinating experience and feel
much more knowledgeable
about languages in general now
and how they link, as well as
how we can use other languages
to decipher words we don’t
know. Thank you Mr Smith!
Year 12 Art Year 12 art students joined their teachers at the
Royal Academy for two exhibitions: the
exquisite boxes of Joseph Cornell and Ai Wei
Wei’s monumental installations, which explore
his uneasy relationship with his homeland.
In the afternoon, we gathered to sketch at the
extraordinary Hunterian Museum, which is
tucked away within the Royal College of
Surgeons.
Sophie Plowden
GDST Rally Our U15 netballers put in a strong performance
to finish fifth out of 24 teams at the GDST
Sports Rally hosted by Nottingham High on
5 October.
Friday Night Presents Lucia Hull
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When word got out that three
Old Girls, now professional
performers, were returning to the
NHEHS studio theatre for a
special Friday night show it wasn’t
long before tickets were sold out
Pippa Evans, host for the evening,
opened the show in front of an
audience largely made up of
other Old Girls, their parents and
former staff by proudly declaring
that she had been Head Girl back
in 2000. Now a comedian and
improvised comedy star, Pippa is
a regular on BBC 4’s Now Show,
LSE Lectures James Adams
and a member of the cast of
Showstopper! The Improvised
Musical, currently at the Apollo
Theatre. As well as reminiscing
about her schooldays she
introduced the audience to a
number of her comic characters
with wickedly funny, improvised
songs and routines.
Rachel Mars, performance maker
with a background in theatre, live
art and comedy, started with a bit
of stand up built around how odd
it was to be back at school, 17
years after leaving, performing
In front of former teachers and
fellow Old Girls. Her set included
a Pecha Kucha on heroism and
courage.
Pippa and Rachel were joined by
comedy guest, Liz Mee and, after
the short interval, a change of
pace and style was provided by
Philippa Boyle. A classically
trained opera singer Phillipa gave
us a bravura performance singing
in Italian and Russian before
rounding off her performance
with a bit of Cole Porter. It was a
remarkable experience to hear
such a sublime voice in the
relatively intimate space of the
studio theatre.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable
evening. It gently poked fun at
many of the quirky NHEHS
traditions we Old Girls remember
but what shone through, was the
affection in which these Old Girls
(and their audience) still hold
their school.
Year 13 Economics and Government and Politics students went to the LSE to hear Professor Simon Hix talk
about the future of the UK and EU. Professor Hix has written several books on EU and comparative politics
and this was an excellent lecture discussing possible options for the reform of Britain’s relationship with
the EU and the likely long‐term consequences for the UK and the EU of a Yes or a No vote.
Year 12 Economics students have also been to the LSE, this time to hear Harvard’s Dani Rodrik talk about
his new book The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science. This was an accessible introduction to the
strengths of the discipline of economics and why it is so often misunderstood, not least by its practitioners.
Philippa Boyle, Pippa Evans and Rachel Mars Photo: Rebecca Cousins
HOAC Kitty Scales
Year 7 enjoyed a day at Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre in a chance make new friends, get to know their
tutors and have fun at the end of their exciting first week at NHEHS.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the girls enjoyed activities such as orienteering, mathematical problems,
and even seeing how many girls they could fit onto a square foot of tarpaulin. The rafting was excellent. The
girls built their own rafts out of barrels, rope and lengths of wood and for the first time in some years we
managed to have an actual rafting race rather than the activity disintegrating (along with the rafts) and the
activity turning into a swimming race.
The girls had a wonderful positive attitude throughout the day, working together brilliantly with a good
sense of competitiveness and fun.
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Euripides’ Bakkhai at the Almeida Ashani Benning and Emma Bamber
On arriving at the Almeida
Theatre, we immediately
warmed to the atmosphere and
were struck by the simple
staging which depicted a
mountainous setting. Thanks to
our teachers’ planning, we had
front row seats, which helped
make for an exceptional
experience.
The play started off with the god
of wine, Dionysus, returning to
his birthplace, Thebes. He
introduced himself to the
audience in human form. He
had returned to punish the city
for not allowing people to
worship him. This law was
enforced by Pentheus, a true
opponent of Dionysus’ morals
and life‐style. The plot
continued to show the ongoing
quarrel between the two.
The cast of three actors each
took several roles which showed
their excellent skills and was
possibly how the play would
have been performed in
Euripides’ time. Another
highlight was the continuous
input from the chorus,
entirely made up of women.
They provided an
explanation of the plot,
acting as narrators;
however, not in the way you
would expect. Their creative
harmonies and innovative
use of sound made them a
focal point of the
performance. They used
props such as wooden sticks,
as well as using their hands
as instruments.
Overall, our trip was a huge
success. Although the play is
“a tragedy” and billed as
“... a struggle between
freedom and restraint, the
rational and the irrational,
man and god ...” we
Thoroughly recommend it to
anyone wanting to be
entertained!
Jack Dash On a sunny afternoon at the end of
September, girls from Years 3‐6 from the
NHEHS Junior School and their parents joined
Sophie Plowden, our Head of Art, in the
balloon‐filled atrium of the Senior School.
They came to celebrate the launch of Sophie’s
new children’s book, Jack Dash and the Magic
Feather.
A carnival atmosphere prevailed, with food
and drink and entertainment provided by a
magician and face painting by sixth form art
students. The author gave a reading and the
book signing queue was possibly the longest
we’ve ever seen.
This is the first in a series of stories to feature
Jack, who finds a magic quill pen which makes
everything he draws come to life. The only
problem is Jack isn’t very good at drawing
(not having had Miss Plowden’s excellent
teaching!) and chaos and a series of hilarious
adventures quickly ensue.
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Year 11 Geography Christine Maynard
Year 12 Oxford Classics Trip On 8th October, 6 Year 12 Latin girls gathered at
school prior to setting off for Hillingdon to catch
the Oxford Tube. After a comfortable journey,
looking at the scenic views from the motorway,
we arrived in Oxford. We quickly grabbed a
coffee, and then headed to the Ashmolean
Museum for our Classics lectures.
The first two lectures were about Greek and
Roman civilisation, focusing on the Macedonians’
love of drinking, hunting and fighting, as well as
the role of every individual within the Roman
Familia. The next lecture gave us an insight into
the Classics courses offered at Oxford University,
which I found particularly interesting.
We had a quick lunch, after being treated to a
tour of Christchurch, and then returned to the
museum for some interesting group workshops.
The professor who discussed Roman and Greek
coins made the session particularly enjoyable by
asking us to consider the agenda behind the
images struck on the coin faces.
The final session of the day was about Linear B
(the earliest deciphered Greek script), which,
although we have never studied it, was very
interesting and helped us to understand the
origins of Greek language.
This day offered a great opportunity to further
explore Classics, and the courses offered in the
subject at Oxford University.
Ciara Paris
The Year 11 Geographers went to
the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset on
Friday and Saturday
11/12th September. The purpose
of the visit was to collect primary
and secondary data for their GCSE
Controlled Assessment the title of
which is 'To investigate the positive
and negative economic impacts of
tourism in a rural area'.
The weather was perfect and the
students worked very hard with
excellent spirits to gather
information for their research. The
weekend was also made special by
the presence of a large film
crew in Lulworth Cove who
were filming a major
Bollywood film. The presence
of 'stars' was thrilling for many
of us and certainly added a bit
of 'sparkle' to the traditional
views in the area.
The fieldwork and data
collection went well. The girls
are now in the midst of
completing their investigations
and should be commended on
their dedicated approach to
this important element of their
GCSE course.
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Parents’ Guild—Save the Date
Saturday 14th November Parents' Quiz Curry Night
£22.50 per head. Individual tickets or a table of 8 or 10