High News 23 February 2018

Events and activities

Monday 26 February – Friday 2 March

6:2 Mock Exams

Tuesday 27 February

Read to relax form time U5N
Bake sale for Zanzibar trip

Wednesday 28 February

GCSE & A Level Drama trip to see Hamlet

Thursday 1 March

World Book Day
Drop Everything and Read breakfast

Friday 2 March

Whole School Production Rehearsal (Weekly Event)
Sweet Sale for Guide Dogs for the Blind
3KS3 netball weekend at Condover Hall

Saturday 3 March

KS3 netball weekend at Condover Hall

Sunday 4 March

KS3 netball weekend at Condover Hall

Sports Fixtures

Tuesday 27 February

Oundle, Netball (H) U15A L5, U15B L5, U14A U4, U14B U4

Friday 2 March

IAPS Regional Round, Netball (A) U13A L4

Friday 2 March – Sunday 4 March

GDST Tournament, Netball (A) U12A U3

Saturday 3 March

Uppingham School, Netball (A) U15A L5th, U15B L5

During February half term, 14 girls from Year 10, 11 and 12, kindly accompanied by Mrs James and Mrs Hill, travelled to the town of Montpellier in Southern France, to take part in our debut foreign homestay trip. As we arrived at the airport we gingerly met our hosts, whom we were staying with in pairs, with a clumsy ‘enchanté’ and said ‘au revoir’ to the English language. The next morning we awoke to the calls of ‘petit déjeuner’ to fill us up for the day trip, jointly with St Albans High School, to the nearby Roman town of Nîmes, where we took an audio tour, with many of us choosing the French option.

We then travelled to the Pont du Gard, a beautiful Roman Aqueduct, where, due to the underestimated chill of Southern France in February, many of us soon retreated to the onsite crêperie. After this long day we spent the evening conversing with our families with many of us immersing ourselves completely by watching some French television with the family. In the morning of each weekday we had language lessons with a company called LSF, Learn French in Southern France. We all enjoyed the quirky way of teaching and all benefited greatly by being thrown into the deep end with a teacher who refused to speak much English for our own benefit. In the afternoons we did various activities. On Monday we took a guided tour of Montpellier in the glorious sunshine, followed by a private tasting session of local produce in a delicatessen in the city centre. Tuesday saw us watching a French film in the cinema followed by some free time for shopping and exploring; we also got to experience Pancake Day at a local crêperie where we were all treated to both savoury and sweet crêpes. After our language lesson in the morning of Wednesday we said ‘à bientôt et merci beaucoup’ to our hosts for the 4 night stay, and travelled home. On behalf of everyone who went on the trip I would like to profoundly thank Mrs James and Mrs Hill for organising this trip, it gave invaluable experience for improvement of our language via total immersion, but also great opportunities to begin to truly understand French culture outside the classroom.

Carrie Whittaker, Year 11

We are delighted to report that Annika Dani (U3) was recently invited to Oxford University to participate in the finals of the BEBRAS Computational Thinking Competition which is run by the Computing Department at Oxford University.

During the first round, which took place in school, Annika gained a score of 194 points. This put her in the top 10% in the country for her age category, out of over 41,000 participants. Students completed as many online computational thinking challenges as they could in the 40 minutes allocated. This is the first time that we have entered the Bebras Challenge and are delighted at not only Annika’s results but those of all of the girls in U3, L4, L5 and U5 who participated in the challenge.

Mr Martin and Mrs O’Doherty

On Monday 26 February, Professor Matthew McCormack from the University of Northampton will be visiting the school to talk about Warfare and Soldiering in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

The talk will be held from 4pm until 5pm in E6 and will be suitable for U4, L6, U5 and Sixth Form students. Please do come along.

Mr Donaldson, Head of History

Imagine a world in which the Suffragettes failed and 100 years later women have yet to achieve the vote…
• Make an original short film of 2-3 minutes in length
• Prizes for KS2 (Years 5 & 6), KS3 (U3, L4 & U4), KS4 (L5 & U5) and KS5 (Sixth Form) entries
• Deadline: 20 April 2018

For more information see https://northamptonhigh.fireflycloud.net/film/nhs-film-competition or email l.heimfeld@nhs.gdst.net see Ms Heimfeld in C2.

The Senior School Charity Quiz Fundraiser event has been rearranged and will now be held on Friday 9 March 2018. The event will begin at 7.00pm, hosted in the Senior School hall. Tickets will cost £10 per adult and £6 for students.

To enter as a team you will need a maximum of 8 people per table. The entry fee will include pizza and hot dogs during the interval, and a Peroni beer or canned drink of your choice. On the night, there will be a raffle taking place and a licensed bar.

All of the funds raised from the evening will go towards the whole School charity, Plan International UK: Because I am a girl.

Plan International UK is a children’s charity that strives to advance children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. 58 million girls have been reached through their global ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign and 93,000 children in 50 countries are currently being sponsored through Plan International UK. As a school we are currently sponsoring Monique Boni Dassogui, a 12 year old girl from Benin, West Africa. Our sponsorship has enabled Monique to attend a primary school which takes her less than 30 minutes to reach. As a result of our sponsorship, we have not only benefited the life of Monique, but also the area of PU Nord by investing in projects for the whole community that include:

• Provision of medicines and supplies
• Activities to raise awareness on the health of children below 5 years of age
• Training for adolescents on reproductive health
• Provision of play and arts materials for schools
• Capacity building and support to women’s self-help groups

To place an order for the tickets, please email admin@nhs.gdst.net. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bethany Saunders, Head Girl Team

A reminder about our clothing recycling facility at school. We have teamed up with Starlight Children’s Foundation, a charity that brightens the lives of seriously and terminally ill children, so that for every kilo of clothing and other items recycled, Starlight receives 10p and FoNHS receives 40p.

Through our recycling efforts over the last three or so years, we have raised over £2,000 for FoNHS so a huge thank you to everyone who uses the facility – over 5 tonnes of items going to good use (and possibly saved from landfill) and a huge boost to FoNHS funds at the same time, and we are also supporting Starlight’s incredible work with every kilo of items we recycle.

So if you can, please do consider using the recycling facility whenever you have a clear out. The collection “bank” is bright yellow and is situated on the pathway alongside the Junior School car park. The recycling company accepts all men’s, ladies’ and children’s clothing, paired shoes (tied together please), handbags, bags, ties, belts, towels and bedlinen. Any uniform carrying school or team logos is not accepted. Please put all items in a plastic bag before depositing them in case the bank is not watertight.

Thank you very much for your support.

FoNHS

From Saturday 24 February, I will be running 3 x weekly art classes in the Wake Wing. The creative and fun classes take inspiration from artists past and present. Learn new skills and unleash your creativity!

For more details, please contact me on Facebook @ArtWorkshopsWithEmma, or by email on emma.lindsay65@hotmail.com.

Emma Lindsay

The winning number for the South Africa Tour Group 50-50 draw is 38. Congratulations go to Izzy Greenslade!

Don’t forget the Fashion Show on Tuesday 6 March – you can buy tickets from Mrs Ford or any of the girls going on tour!

Swing Time by Zadie Smith – recommended for U4 and above

Two brown girls dream of being dancers – but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, black bodies and black music, what it means to belong, what it means to be free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten either.

Bursting with energy, rhythm and movement, Swing Time is Zadie Smith’s most ambitious novel yet. It is a story about music and identity, race and class, those who follow the dance and those who lead it . . .

Miss Buxton, Librarian

We have been pleased to be back in school this week and back to training.

The gymnastics squad are working hard in preparation for their GDST rally in the coming weeks. The U13B netball team put in a good win against Pitsford School A team on Wednesday. We are looking forward to our last block fixture of the term tomorrow, when 8 teams are playing against Ratcliffe College.

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport