Day School & Sixth Form Newsletter - 19 March 2021

Day School & Sixth Form Newsletter 19 March 2021

The Head-Line The end of another busy, bustling, brilliant week at ArtsEd and it really has been a joy to hear so much song, laughter, and Tap fill the air!

I hope you like the new format for our Newsletter, as with all things we are always looking for ways to be even better, do let us know if you like the changes and please do send in any ideas for articles, features, or new elements you’d like us to add – we want it to be a communication for our community, so feel free to get in touch!

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the weather!

Adrian Blake Headteacher

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting You only have to let the soft animal of your body Love what it loves Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you about mine Meanwhile the world goes on Meanwhile the sun and clear pebbles or rain Are moving across the landscapes

Over the prairies and the deep trees The mountains and the rivers Meanwhile the wile geese, high in the clear blue air Are heading home again Whoever you are, no matter how lonely The world offers itself to your imagination Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and sunny exciting Over and over announcing your place In the family of things.

Coping with Anxiety Fight, Flight, Freeze are the three natural responses to danger. Your brain sends signals of dangers and your body reacts using one of the three responses that feels most apt.

• Your heart beats faster.

• Your breathing speeds up.

• Your vision expands.

• Your hearing is on alert.

• Your skin gets sweaty.

• Your hands and feel get cold.

Our bodies have been conditioned to the fight, flight, freeze response since the days of the cavemen. It is a survival response to fight an enemy, run from an avalanche or run from a predator. We have the same feeling of fear when we feel anxious. If we are able to bring awareness to these feelings we can monitor whether to respond to our caveman reaction or whether to breathe and release.

Task: Write down a memory that you are going to store in your internal treasure chest. Something that will be there for you in dark times to bring you light, joy and warmth.

Attention is key Use your breath as your guide and anchor

Engage your senses to help you embrace the present moment

Bring awareness to your body and environment

What you have inside of you is yours.

Anything outside of us can always be destroyed be taken away.

If you had nothing if you had things taken away what would you have inside of you that you could rely on.

- Jennette Winterson

Hourglass Meditation 1) The Check In How am I doing?

2) Breathing Focus all of your attention on your breath.

Notice how your breath is and now regulate it by counting inhales for 5 and exhales for 5, ten times.

3) Body Now use your breath to move your body and bring awareness to your breath leading your body, your feet touch the ground and the feeling of moving in the space 4) Attention Bring your attention back out to the environment keeping your breath with you as an anchor and a guide

Sixth Form Update This week, we had an assembly to mark ‘International Women’s Day’, and were treated to a brilliant talk by Lauren Ronan and Jo Ryan. Among other issues, they shared with students what feminism means to them and opened a dialogue with the Sixth Form that has seen some engaging debate and the forming of the FemPower Club. This will be a group where feminist and women’s issues will be discussed in a sensitive and

safe way. There are more informative and insightful assemblies coming up this term, so watch this space for updates.

It has also been great to see the Sixth Form back in Enrichment lessons. Watching students enjoy extra-curricular activities again, many trying something new, has been a joy and something I know we have all missed over recent months. We all look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour later in the year.

Lastly, you are invited to take a look at this guide, which aims to give students practical tips and guidance on what steps they should take to help improve their mental health and development, in the context of coming out of lockdown.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Warren Turner Sixth Form SENDCO and Year 13 Senior Tutor

Sixth Form Pupils of the Week Layla Armstrong-Hughes | Daisy Williams | Mia Shah For Year 12 Musical Theatre Principles of Acting Assessment

Thomas Bennett For improved posture and weight placement in ballet. Well done Tom.

Alistair Hendry | Scarlet Churchhouse | Grace Caine | Florence Macleod For their work in curating the 100 Careers in film display

Cassandra Del Busso For impressive academic improvement in her written work and continued high levels of engagement English

Day School Pupils of the Week Ike Machie - Year 7

Kirsten Davies

For the most complete working outs in his assessment - Mathematics

For outstanding progress made in her last assessment. Well done, Kirsten. Keep it up!

History

Julia Svensson - Year 7 For finishing all the set assessments Mathematics

Olivia Smedley - Year 11 For being on top of her revision Mathematics

Ian Veirs - Year 8 For fantastic contributions to classroom discussions on Gothic Literature English

Polly Holmes Jessica Tickel - Year 9 For persisting with balancing equations Mathematics

Thomas Allam - Year 11 For independant revision Mathematics

Edith Gray - Year 11 Exemplary private revision and diligent preparation for upcoming Mock Examinations.

English

Sisi Byrt - Year 9 For completing all of the online tasks on Google Classroom Mathematics

Agnes Beuselinck - Year 9 For improving during the struggles of lockdown classes Ballet

Sofia Viggers - Year 10 Writing an excellent analytical Macbeth essay independently which demonstrated significant improvement English

Alice Silver - Year 11 For constant hard work during ballet showing great improvement in both technique and confidence.

Ballet

DANCE CAPTAIN

By Sasha Angell

The Dance Captain Duties They work closely with the Associate Director to communicate and preserve the artistic vision of the Creative Team.

Set up any extra rehersal times Ensure all members of the company are performing the choreography correctly and in sync Be able to demonstrate choreography On Broadway, serving as a dance captain adds $406.80 to a weekly salary (dependant on show) however, on West End an extra £91!!

Most dance captains are also dancers within the show.

This means they can get understudies or swings to play their role one night so they can watch and make notes on the show. Following this, they use their notes to refine and maintain choreography. Sometimes they have to work out who plays what role if a dancer is absent.

"Tim Stanley (Mamma Mia): "You are able to provide the glue which keeps the show running"

Training and qualifications: To become a dance captain, it's not essentially to have a proper qualification or degree but the job highly demands the advanced training background in: Classical Ballet Musical Theatre Jazz Tech Styles relevant to appropriate show Broadway Dance Captain Patrick O' Neill on an interview with BACKSTAGE said the thing he loves most about being a dance captain is being able to play an "active role in the development of a show".

Job Discription The Dance Captains job in a company is to oversee and maintain the artistic standards of the choreography and musical staging in a production. They supervise rehersal in order to preserve the vision of the creative team by; cleaning the routine and demonstrating.

In a company, some Dance Captains would have worked up the ranks. Starting as just a dancer, then assistant Dance Captain

Being Dance Captain can also lead to jobs such as Associate Choreographer, Choreographer, Artistic Director and later on a dance teacher or Ballet Master

LEARN TO GROW YOUR OWN...

Giant Sunflower!

Come and make your own sustainable seedling starter pot, sow some seeds and learn to care for your flowers. We will also discuss the science behind germination and why planting bee-friendly plants is important for our environment.

WHEN: Wed 24th March at 12:15PM WHERE: 135 - main Art room Add your name to the SIGN UP SHEET - no previous experience required!