High News 24 November 2017

We are delighted to announce that two of our elite sportswomen are among the eight shortlisted by the GDST to attend the BT Women in Sport Action Awards. The BT Women Sport Action Awards celebrate the achievements of incredible and inspiring female athletes. Sixth Formers Ellie and Kirstin have been selected to attend the Awards ceremony which, this year, is being held at the BT studios in Stratford at the Olympic Park on Monday 4 December. The girls will have the opportunity to tour the studios and meet Clare Balding before the Awards ceremony; they will then be present throughout the event, with the opportunity to meet and mingle with the elite sportswomen afterwards.

Viewers can watch the Awards live on BT Sport 2, as well as online at BTSport.com and on the BT Sport app. The ceremony will also feature the Lifetime Achievement and Team of the Year Awards – as well as the public vote for Action Woman of the Year.

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport

Tuesday 28 November

U5 Elevate Study Skills
Rotary Youth Speak Competition

Wednesday 29 November

Senior School Christmas Concert

Friday 1 December

GCSE and A Level Food Trip (Good Food Show)

Wednesday 29 November

Wellingborough, Hockey (H) U12A U3, U12B U3, U13A L4, U13B L4

Thursday 30 November

Akeley Wood, Hockey (H) Senior U14 U4

Saturday 2 December

Loughborough High School, Hockey (A) U14 U4, U13A/B L4

Loughborough High School, Hockey (H) U18 U5 & 6F, U15 L5

Join us for a spectacular Christmas themed exploding demonstrations on Monday 4 December 2017 from 3.45pm — 5.00pm in the Senior Hall.

If you are interested, please reply by signing the list outside Science 7.

Mrs Hodgetts-Tate, Head of Science Faculty

Yesterday Femsock organised a treasure hunt to celebrate diversity. Posters of key LGBTQIA+ icons were placed around the school (including RuPaul at the top of the Christmas tree!) and great fun was had by all in the search to identify where the hidden posters could be found.

On Friday Femsock delivered an informative assembly celebrating 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967. Rainbow accessories were worn by students and face painting raised more money for two local charities, The Lowdown and Q-Space. At lunchtime a guest speaker delivered a talk to girls in Upper Fifth, 6.1 and 6.2, which many found revelatory and informative. Femsock have worked hard to launch the School’s first Pride Day and look forward to it becoming an annual event in the school calendar, celebrating all sexualities and genders.

Ms Heimfield, Teacher of English, and Miss Robinson, Subject Leader Theology & Philosophy, on behalf of Femsock

This week all Sixth Form students had the chance to build and develop their online profiles via our 360 Degree Me Portfolios programme. These are individual websites which help students to curate their learning journeys in an online record of their successes, aims and aspirations. In these sites, or ePortfolios, the students collect together academic and interests pages reflecting their experiences and links to their studies, as well as a log of voluntary work and achievements.

For the 360 Degree Me Portfolios, we use a dedicated online Google setting which is only available to those in the GDST. The fact that the websites cannot be searched externally means they are a safe environment for experimentation and sharing in a supportive network. We also use them to inform tutorial sessions and to help us decide which Northampton Laureates will be awarded at the end of the Sixth Form. When students eventually leave school, of course, the ePortfolios can be transferred easily into a public setting as a kind of digital CV, an increasingly popular approach to showcase achievements to employers and educational bodies.

Mr Rickman, Academic Deputy Head

On Wednesday 22 November, a number of girls (ranging from U4 to Sixth Form) were given the opportunity to attend a speed networking workshop, which would allow us to listen and ask questions of a number of people all in different careers.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I am sure that everyone who attended did too. I was very grateful to be able to speak to a range of different people, whether they were telling me about a career I already knew about or one that was totally new to me. I now have more of an idea of what I would like to be when I’m older… although I’m struggling to choose, as every speaker made their job sound really interesting!

My friends and I not only found out about each of the speakers’ jobs and what they entailed, but we also got to ask questions, giving us an insight into how we might follow in their footsteps. The event was absolutely amazing and one I hope is held again next year; I would recommend going if it is!

A special thanks goes to all of the excellent speakers who gave up their time to come and speak to us as well as a massive thank you to the teachers who organised the event. I would also like to thank the catering staff for their excellent drinks and cookies (as usual!).

Amelia Smart and the rest of the Café Sci Team

6.2 are currently receiving offers from their chosen universities and we will be sharing their plans and destinations with you over the coming weeks.
Our photo features six of our 12 Oxford and Cambridge University applicants. We wish them every success as they prepare for their interviews.

Our Oxbridge applicants this year are:

Emma Bird, Philosophy, Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Jodie Clare, Geography, Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
Anya Douras, Classics, Corpus Christi, Oxford
Annabel Green, Medicine, Newnham, Cambridge
Katarina Hutchin, Natural Sciences, St Catherine’s, Cambridge
Idil Mohammed, Medicine, St Johns, Cambridge
Anne-Sophie Pierre, Psychological and Behavioural Sciences, Downing, Cambridge
Lara Piezcka, Linguistics, Gonville and Caius, Cambridge
Katie Ratcliffe, Music, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Sarah Seleim, French, St Catherine’s, Oxford
Caitlin Urquhart, Engineering Science, Newnham, Cambridge
Julia Wardley-Kershaw, Human, Social and Political Sciences, Churchill, Cambridge
Ellen Watson, Modern and Medieval Languages, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Mrs Cantwell

On Friday 17 November, we held our ‘Man vs. Food’ event for Great Ormond Street Hospital and it was a spectacular success.

We would like to thank the brave students and teachers who participated in a series of challenging food eating competitons. The event involved the participants guessing various flavours of baby food after having a taste, blindfolded, having their faces covered in whipped cream and making sculptures out of Spam, to name but a few!

We are very grateful to everyone who came to support our cause and for every donation made; it will mean a great deal to the children and families who benefit from the care and treatment offered at Great Ormond Street. The atmosphere during the event was brilliant, and we hope that the experience has inspired girls to think of inventive ways to raise money for charity.

Ella McManus

This term in Knitting Club we have welcomed several new members from U3 and L4. It has been great to see how quickly the girls have picked up the basic stitches and put them to good use. We have made 2 colourful, warm scarves (pictured below). These scarves, together with others knitted by Dr Stringer, Mrs Waterworth and Mrs Scanlan’s Mum, have been donated to The Hope Centre in Northampton, which works with the homeless, vulnerable and disadvantaged in the area. We also provided other food and non-food items that the Centre needs which were kindly donated by members of staff.

Well done and thank you to everyone involved!

Mrs Waterworth, Cover Leader

Christmas Special Offer – One month trial for only £15 as a one off payment, open to all over 16s. This great offer is available to purchase from Friday 1 December until Friday 5 December, giving you membership until 23 December – that’s less than £1 per day!

Please look for the special offer rate on our website: www.northamptonhigh.co.uk/sports-centre/ or contact the Sports Centre on 01604 – 547884 or sportscentre@nhs.gdst.net.

Mr Robinson-Smith
Fitness Centre Manager

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry – recommended for U4 and above

London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne’s controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis – a curious, obsessive boy – she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge.

On arrival, rumours reach them that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist with no patience for superstition, is enthralled, convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter’s vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith.

As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both.

Mrs Buxton, Librarian

Our swimmers set the standard this week with superb performances at their swim meet at the weekend. Highlights were for Charlotte Fletcher Stables who swam in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke. She won both of these events, breaking and resetting the county record in all three events. Ellie Robinson continued her success in the S6 swimming category and won the 50m fly, the 100m fly, the 50m freestyle and the 100m freestyle, setting new British Records in all four. In the 50m fly and 100m freestyle she even beat the World Record, however,  unfortunately this was not an official meet so cannot be counted; however a superb achievement for both girls, nonetheless. Congratulations also go to Phoebe Haynes, who won her individual event at the Warwick 50s Swimming Gala on Thursday.

Our school Hockey teams also performed well, with the 1st XI Hockey team having a wonderful match against Stowe on Tuesday, winning 6-1. We await news of our U12 team at the National Finals today, and wish all the best to our U14 team going to Royal High School, Bath, for a tour weekend.

Mrs Hackett, Director of Sport

Hockey

On 21 November, the U18 Hockey team played against Stowe. We started the match strongly, scoring two goals in the first ten minutes with some excellent goals from Fran Cook and Rena Baines. Unfortunately, Stowe then scored a goal, however, thanks to some excellent breaks up the wings by Frankie Musson and Ellie Pilling, Ellie scored the third goal of the half – making the half time score 3-1.

The second half started excellently with some great attacking runs and fabulous defence. Our attacking runs lead to another goal from Fran Cook, and in the last 5 minutes Tess Heaton-Harris scored two excellent goals from the post. This lead to the final score being 6-1 to the U18 team – well done to everyone who played!

Amelia Simpson