High News 5 January 2018

Monday 8 January

L5 and 6.1 Textiles Trip

Montpellier Trip Information Evening

Thursday 11 January

Whole school musical auditions

Whole school production rehearsal

6.2 Parents’ evening

Friday 12 January

U3 Entrance Assessment day

Saturday 13 January

King Henry VIII Netball (A)
U12A U3, U12B U3, U13A L4, U13B L4

King Henry VIII Netball (H) U18A Sixth Form,
U18B U5, U15A L5, U15B L5, U14A U4, U14B U4

On the penultimate day of the autumn term we hosted our second Santa Run to raise funds for our staff charity, the Cynthia Spencer Hospice.

Staff were invited to form teams of four and compete, in Christmas-themed fancy dress, in a short run and obstacle course.  Those members of staff not taking up the running challenge took charge of the marshaling, timekeeping and recording of scores, as well as counting the bonus golden coins strewn along the ‘track’.

The whole school came out in strong voice to support the event and heartily cheer on the teams.  The excitement was palpable. A sterling effort was made by all involved and congratulations go to all participants. The final results were:

1st Artemistletoes
2nd Ho Ho Hestia
3rd The Pudettes
4th Deermeter
5th The Linguists
6th The Jingle Belles
7th Selene Sleigh Bells
8th The Three Wise Men & Baby Evan
9th Sugar Plum Fairies
10th Santa’s Little Helpers
11th Festive Fantastical Beasts
12th Tinsel Toes
13th Thems-Elves
14th Christmas Dinner
15th Selection Box
16th The Mince π’s

The staff charity activities has already raised over £620 so far this academic year and much more is planned for the months ahead.

U4 gave several convincing, polished and humorous versions of the tripartite play “Amor Omnia Vincit” (which they had first translated accurately), weaving the arrogance of the swaggering Roman soldier Modestus, the love of the vain and foolish Vilbia and the cunning and trickery of the British magician Bulbus into a comic performance fit for Plautus himself.  We await the performance of “tres porculli” (The Three Little Pigs) in the GDST languages festival in February with bated breath.

Miss Mason, Teacher of Classics

The next Senior School Swap Shop will be held on Wednesday 17 January.

The Senior School Swap Shop is run on a voluntary basis by Senior School parents and sells good quality second hand uniform to Senior School girls.

It opens once every term, usually during the first full school week from 1.00pm-2.15pm.

Girls can purchase items from the shop during their lunch break and parents are also welcome to come along.

Payments can be made by cash or cheque (sorry, no cards) and returns are only possible on the day. Items of uniform cannot be held without payment.

The Selling Process

Should you wish to sell any items of uniform, Swap Shop tags can be obtained through Senior School reception and filled out accordingly.  We price the items and 20% of the item goes to the Senior School fund, which in turn is donated to the Senior School.  The remaining proceeds are paid back to the parent.

Should you have any items of uniform for the Swap Shop, please bring them into School (Senior School reception) on the day of the Swap Shop.

Please make sure that if you are new to using Swap Shop, that you also attach your name and address (on a separate piece of paper) to the item of uniform so that we know where to send the cheque.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Senior School reception team who can forward a message to us.

Nicola Mitchell and Shelia Mellish

Art Classes for 8-13 year olds will be held in the Wake Wing Art Room on Saturday 20 and 27 January and Saturday 3 February, from 9.30am-11.30am.

We will be exploring pattern and colour to create our own Klimt inspired artwork.

For more details and to book a place contact at emmalindsay65@hotmail.com or on 07570 772334.

I am also running some taster art sessions in the Junior School on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 January.

Mrs Lindsay

The Senior School will be holding a Charity Quiz Fundraiser event on Friday 19 January 2018. The event will begin at 6.00pm, 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. The evening is likely to finish by 9.00pm.

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

Please order tickets by Friday 12 January at the latest. To place an order for the tickets, please email b.saunders@nhs.gdst.net. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bethany Saunders, Head Girl Team

Costa Book Awards 2017, Children’s Book Winner: The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

From his seat in the tiny aeroplane, Fred watches as the mysteries of the Amazon jungle pass by below him. He has always dreamed of becoming an explorer, of making history and of reading his name amongst the lists of great discoveries. If only he could land and look about him.

As the plane crashes into the canopy, Fred is suddenly left without a choice. He and the three other children may be alive, but the jungle is a vast, untamed place. With no hope of rescue, the chance of getting home feels impossibly small.

Except, it seems, someone has been there before them .

Miss Buxton, Librarian

Swimming

We are delighted to announce that Eleanor Robinson has been selected for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games swimming squad. The announcement was made today and we would like to congratulate her on her selection.

Mrs Hackett

Contemporary Dance

The new extracurricular Contemporary Dance Class will begin on Thursday 11 January with a new teacher. Please click on the link below to see the full extracurricular timetable.

Extracurricular timetable.

Shooting sucesses

The 2017 shooting season has now come to a close and, with the last couple of Regional and National competitions done, the County held its annual awards evening last weekend. Kirstin was presented with the trophies for the 8 County competitions that she won and was named as the Northamptonshire Ladies Supreme Champion for the 4th year running.

In the East Midlands Region, as a result of her consistency and scores throughout the year across all disciplines, Kirstin has also been crowned as both Ladies and Junior Regional Supreme Champion. This is the first time a junior girl has won both of these titles at the same time. She will receive her prizes for this in the New Year.

It’s been a fantastic season for Kirstin, with 8 County, 4 Regional and 3 Intercounty team titles won, but she has also been taking part in some independent schools competitions under the High School banner. The first of these was the British Schools and Young Shots Championship. She managed to win not only the Ladies title, but also set the highest score on the course for the event (and we won the parent / child sub-competition too, so a clean sweep). This was a great achievement against some very good opposition. Also, in December, she competed at The Schools Challenge Grand Final, having qualified after a series of 9 events held throughout 2017. After a morning’s shooting she reached the Super Final, a deciding round featuring the top 5 shots of the day. After a tense competition, she finished in 3rd place, only a couple of targets behind the winner. Again, this is a great achievement considering that it was in a discipline that Kirstin does not focus on.

Mr Vogel