Issue 12 December 2012 1 Issue 12 December 2012 HEADITORIAL Dear Parents and Students, I sat in on a Year 9 English class yesterday. They were doing a session on media analysis and part of the lesson involved a study of the Christmas TV advert for a large supermarket chain – the one where a frazzled mum manically does everything to ensure her family have a perfect Christmas, including sitting herself down for lunch, puppy-like on a cushion, while everyone else has a proper chair. All this to a soundtrack of a speeded-up Silent Night! The girls in the class engaged in a marvellous debate about gender roles and consumerism, but the advert made me reflect on how frenetically busy everyone is at this time of year – not least the girls themselves. During this fortnight the girls at the Junior School have performed in nativity plays and carol concerts (royally entertaining everyone!), our Senior choirs have sung in carol concerts, our girls have been performing in the hugely popular Peter Pan, on Tuesday girls from across the school will put on a tea party Music News I hope that you will be able to join us for the Carol Service at All Saints’ Hove at 18:00 next Tuesday. We are getting in early with our recognition of the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten with a performance of his ‘Ceremony of Carols’. It should be a fabulous way to start the run-up to Christmas; the choirs are singing well and they will be accompanied throughout by the harp. Having just attended a fantastic Junior School Christmas Concert – many congratulations to Mrs Roberts and the girls – I thought I would gently remind parents of their responsibilities at the Senior Carol Service. You will be required to perform the congregational carols lustily, especially when the girls move on to the descants, otherwise I may have to keep you all back for a carol practice after the service!! There is still time for the senior girls to get involved in the forthcoming choir tour to Prague. If you require a letter please collect one from me next week. Finally some sad news; this week has seen the death of two musical greats. Dave Brubeck of ‘Take Five’ fame and Ravi Shankar who popularised the sitar to the wider European public through his work with the Beatles in the 60’s will be greatly missed. It will be of interest to music students that neither could read music and in fact Brubeck was nearly expelled from college in California when this ‘failure’ was discovered. Mr Lloyd Dance Conference Last Friday saw the Year 11 GCSE Dancers off up to London to the Keynote ‘Every Mark Matters’ conference where our very own Year 12 dancers had been asked to perform exemplar pieces of work from last year by the Chief Examiner. All the girls had a really productive day and were a credit to the school. Miss James, Head of Dance COMPETITIONS FOR ALL Over Christmas keep those creative juices flowing with all the competitions we’re promoting on the English Department’s competition page on the portal: Please click here. These include two fantastic Trust competitions for our 140th anniversary celebrations: a creative writing competition and a competition to make a short film. The creative writing competition invites students to write on any subject or topic, either fictional or factual, based around the themes of ‘Celebration’, ‘Girls’, ‘Anniversary’, ‘Birthday’ or ‘Trust’. We will keep you posted on full details of support next term for the film making competition but, in the meantime, do check out the portal for the full, inspirational details of these and other competitions. Mrs K. Ashdow Physics Olympiad The British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) aims to encourage the study of Physics and recognise excellence in young physicists. Three of our Year 13 girls have risen to the challenge and entered this demanding, national competition. They attempted a strenuous and complex exam paper designed to highlight the best physics minds in the country and the results are in... Huge congratulations to Meera Patel who has achieved a Bronze I award. This places her within the top 500 students from a field of over 1800. This is a massive achievement and reflects her skill as a real-world problem solver. Congratulations also go to Charlotte Redstone and Yassi Vaziri who were both awarded commendations. These girls are both going to continue their study of Physics at university next year and their participation in this competition is testament to their keen interest in the subject. Well done girls! Peter Pan cast and crew are proud to support the important work of Great Ormond Street. In addition, last Friday, the girls and staff from the senior school dressed as their favourite character from Peter Pan boosting the donation to GOSH by £350. Next term the Year 9 and 10 Sixth Form Evening scheduled for Thursday 10 th January has been cancelled. This event will now be replaced by a Year 10 off-timetable day on Thursday 18 th April the focus of which will be the sixth form.
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Transcript
Issue 12 December 2012 1
Issue 12 December 2012
HEADITORIAL
Dear Parents and
Students,
I sat in on a Year 9 English
class yesterday. They
were doing a session on
media analysis and part
of the lesson involved a
study of the Christmas TV
advert for a large
supermarket chain – the
one where a frazzled
mum manically does
everything to ensure her
family have a perfect
Christmas, including
sitting herself down for
lunch, puppy-like on a
cushion, while everyone
else has a proper chair.
All this to a soundtrack of
a speeded-up Silent
Night!
The girls in the class
engaged in a marvellous
debate about gender
roles and consumerism,
but the advert made me
reflect on how
frenetically busy
everyone is at this time of
year – not least the girls
themselves. During this
fortnight the girls at the
Junior School have
performed in nativity
plays and carol concerts
(royally entertaining
everyone!), our Senior
choirs have sung in carol
concerts, our girls have
been performing in the
hugely popular Peter
Pan, on Tuesday girls
from across the school
will put on a tea party
Music
News
I hope that
you will be
able to join
us for the
Carol
Service at
All Saints’ Hove at 18:00 next
Tuesday. We are getting in
early with our recognition of the
centenary of the birth of
Benjamin Britten with a
performance of his ‘Ceremony
of Carols’. It should be a
fabulous way to start the run-up
to Christmas; the choirs are
singing well and they will be
accompanied throughout by
the harp. Having just attended
a fantastic Junior School
Christmas Concert – many
congratulations to Mrs Roberts
and the girls – I thought I would
gently remind parents of their
responsibilities at the Senior
Carol Service. You will be
required to perform the
congregational carols lustily,
especially when the girls move
on to the descants, otherwise I
may have to keep you all back
for a carol practice after the
service!! There is still time for the
senior girls to get involved in the
forthcoming choir tour to
Prague. If you require a letter
please collect one from me
next week. Finally some sad
news; this week has seen the
death of two musical greats.
Dave Brubeck of ‘Take Five’
fame and Ravi Shankar who
popularised the sitar to the
wider European public through
his work with the Beatles in the
60’s will be greatly missed. It will
be of interest to music students
that neither could read music
and in fact Brubeck was nearly
expelled from college in
California when this ‘failure’
was discovered.
Mr Lloyd
Dance Conference
Last Friday saw the Year 11
GCSE Dancers off up to London
to the Keynote ‘Every Mark
Matters’ conference where our
very own Year 12 dancers had
been asked to perform
exemplar pieces of work from
last year by the Chief Examiner.
All the girls had a really
productive day and were a
credit to the school.
Miss James, Head of Dance
COMPETITIONS FOR ALL
Over Christmas keep those
creative juices flowing with all
the competitions we’re
promoting on the English
Department’s competition
page on the portal: Please click
here.
These include two fantastic
Trust competitions for our 140th
anniversary celebrations: a
creative writing competition
and a competition to make a
short film. The creative writing
competition invites students to
write on any subject or topic,
either fictional or factual,
based around the themes of
‘Celebration’, ‘Girls’,
‘Anniversary’, ‘Birthday’ or
‘Trust’. We will keep you posted
on full details of support next
term for the film making
competition but, in the
meantime, do check out the
portal for the full, inspirational
details of these and other
competitions.
Mrs K. Ashdow
Physics Olympiad
The British Physics Olympiad
(BPhO) aims to encourage the
study of Physics and recognise
excellence in young physicists.
Three of our Year 13 girls have
risen to the challenge and
entered this demanding,
national competition. They
attempted a strenuous and
complex exam paper designed
to highlight the best physics
minds in the country and the
results are in...
Huge congratulations to Meera
Patel who has achieved a
Bronze I award. This places her
within the top 500 students from
a field of over 1800. This is a
massive achievement and
reflects her skill as a real-world
problem solver.
Congratulations also go to
Charlotte Redstone and Yassi
Vaziri who were both awarded
commendations. These girls are
both going to continue their
study of Physics at university
next year and their
participation in this competition
is testament to their keen
interest in the subject.
Well done girls!
Peter Pan cast and crew are
proud to support the important
work of Great Ormond Street. In
addition, last Friday, the girls
and staff from the senior school
dressed as their favourite
character from Peter Pan
boosting the donation to GOSH
by £350.
Next term the Year 9 and 10 Sixth Form Evening scheduled for Thursday 10
th January has been cancelled. This event will now be
replaced by a Year 10 off-timetable day on Thursday 18th