Dr. Challoner's Curve Magazine - 2021/2022

THE

CURVE 60th Anniversary Edition

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2021-2022

The Curve - 2021/2022 Contents A message from your editors An Introduction from Mr Roe A History of Dr Challoner's High School The Social Construct of Embarassment Challoner's Artwork The Wonderful World of Sally Rooney The Dead Poets Societey Thirty Years a Masterpiece Fluorescent: Spreading Light on Mental Health Issues COVID-19 Consequences

Challoner's Artwork Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?

Desensitised and Despondent - A generation brought up on sensationalist news Subjects at DCHS Teacher Personality Quiz Sixth Form Centre Challoner's Artwork Writing Competition Challoner's Top 10

Model UN Queer Fashion Throughout the Ages House Events 2021/2022 Recycled Fashion Show - Green Week Clothes Exchange Challyfest University Challenge

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A message from your Editors <3 Tasha : As this year’s editor, I’ve been so excited to have such an amazing team of people to help bring this magazine to life. After COVID, it’s been wonderful to see the school continue to hold internal events that have continued to increase the school spirit. A massive thank you goes out to all of the contributors, competition candidates, our sponsors, and the fantastic people who helped to create this year’s Curve. We hope you enjoy reading the magazine as much as we enjoyed creating it; happy 60th birthday to DCHS! Jia Xin : Being part of the editorial team this year has been an incredible experience. I want to give a massive shout-out to Tasha for keeping us on track and trusting us with the process. In addition, a big thank you to Arunima, who has done a stunning job formatting the magazine. Also, thank you to Jaina and Maija, who I worked with to edit the articles and do other vital bits and bobs. Many thanks to all the students who have contributed and this year's generous sponsors. I hope everyone enjoys reading the magazine!

Arunima : I have had the most amazing time as the designer of the 2021-2022 Curve. It was a true pleasure to work with such amazing people, and write about all the incredible things that happened this academic year. I can't wait to share our hard work with you :)

Maija : Working on this year’s edition of the Curve Magazine has been an amazing experience with an incredible team. Because of the effort put in by editors and contributors, we’ve had consistent success in hosting competitions and gaining sponsorship - thank you all so much! I hope the 2022 Curve is the revival the school magazine needs after its brief hiatus, and that it’s an enjoyable read!

Jaina : It has been so fun to create the DCHS magazine for this year as I've got to work with the most amazing people, especially our magazine team working extremely hard to make this year’s edition a reality. I loved to see the talent in our school, including drawings, creating writing entries, and articles demonstrating our school's greatest achievements this year! I can’t wait for you to read all about it!

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his year, 2022, marks 60 years since our school was opened and we could not be more excited about our Diamond Jubilee. Here at Dr Challoner’s High School, we both value community highly and love the chance to celebrate, so here is a great opportunity to do both. The very word Jubilee creates visions of joy, togetherness and parties and

this is what we all need in our lives, this year possibly even more than ever.

Our alumnae programme has put us in contact with so many past students who are giving their time and expertise to share their life experiences with our current students. This is what it means to be a Chally Girl both now and for the last 60 years of our school’s history. We act as a community; we look out for each other and we share our knowledge and our skills.

If we can do all that whilst also having a jolly good time, then so much the better!

Dr Challoner’s High School has had a tradition of excellence for six decades and we will never stop being intellectually ambitious for all our students.

Alongside this ambition though we also celebrate individuality and students’ right to choose their own path; we educate girls for life after school and as our alumnae have shown us, this can take you anywhere.

So, happy 60th birthday to everyone in our school community, both past and present; to everyone who shares our joyful vision of education through collaboration and celebration.

Alan Roe Headteacher

Rumaysa

A History of Dr Challoner’s High School

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ince its opening in the solemn September of 1962, our school has earned a big name for itself: a top-performing secondary school in Buckinghamshire; a specialist school in Sports and Languages; home to famous alumni such as the brilliant barrister — Amal Clooney — and the notorious X Factor contestant — Honey G. Our school is an encouraging environment, with fantastic facilities, perfect for young girls in Buckinghamshire to flourish and rise to their full potential. But how did we get here?

It all began with a 16th -century education enthusiast — Dr Robert Chaloner. Chaloner, a devout member of the Church, was appointed as the rector of Amersham in 1576. With this newfound role, a crucial responsibility had fallen upon him: educating the children of Amersham. This task immediately captivated Chaloner, so he hired a tutor and provided the Church House as a location for his endeavour. Chaloner’s pursuit of improving education has still affected our lives today, even if it only occupied a small part of his life.

His will has had a particularly huge impact, in which he provided £20 in the request of establishing a free grammar school. In 1624 — three years after his death — Chaloner’s wish was granted.

The original Dr Challoner’s Grammar School was situated in Old Amersham as a boys’ school — in the very same Church House previously used. It remained this way until the glowing days of 1905, wherein the school transferred to

its present site and welcomed both sexes: it also later became a County Grammar School. Following a high demand for grammar school places in the early ‘60s, the governors decided to open a separate girls’ school in Little Chalfont and allow the Amersham institution to revert to being solely for boys. To maintain a connection with the original title, they coined the name Dr Challoner’s High School and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, opened the school officially on May 7th 1964.

Our school, in the beginning, only consisted of the Humanities block and the Science block, but over the years, we have had some amazing additions. The Curve building in the early ‘80s (with further extensions in 1992 and 1998); the MFL block, which also contains the Music rooms; the Sports Hall

in 2002; the Courtyard in 2009 and the exciting, upcoming Sixth Form centre. Over these long, successful years, our school has been led by nine praiseworthy people, from the school’s very first headmistress — Agnes McMaster — to our iconic Mr Roe. We have also housed fiftyeight head girls in the history of our school, including our most recent one — Megan Cockram — and we have now published sixty editions of The Curve magazine!

And that is how Dr Challoner’s High School has grown from the humble seeds of a 17th-century bequest, sown by Dr Chaloner himself, to the bright and blossoming haven of learning it is today.

‘Dr. Challoner’s High School’, which opened on September 11th, 1962

Frankie

The Social Construct of Embarrassment

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hat do you do when people sing Happy Birthday to you?

Most of us will opt for perching unobtrusively on your chair, swerving eye contact, face flushed all shades of red, your hesitant smile beginning to ache by the “hip, hip, hooray! It seems that even on a supposedly sentimental and exciting day like your birthday, a tender song of celebration still manages to spike embarrassment.

So why, even when we should be enjoying ourselves, do we find ourselves wanting to dig ourselves a hole and sit in it forever?

Every person on earth experiences embarrassing incidents on a weekly basis, ranging from slight blushing of the cheeks to knee-buckling humiliation. Teenagers especially experience unnecessary embarrassment during dayto-day tasks, during moments which would be preordained typical behaviour. Why do we feel pressure to avoid making mistakes? Why do we fear any slight slip or miscalculation of our actions?

It seems that it’s not a negative experience we are terrified of but a disruption of the smooth social interaction expected of us. Our behaviour is supposed to mirror a standard formed by what society deems as socially appropriate.

If we misalign marginally with this impossible image of how we should act, we submerge ourselves in shame.

As young people, besides coping

with the pressure of school, home stresses and more, we’re active on social media every day. We use it to perform. We dress up in our costumes, do our makeup, and play the character we’ve always dreamed of being. Our flawless, charismatic selves are streamed, posted, and observed every minute of every day. We live in a society that requires extroversion, the kind seen in the media. You never see superheroes with social anxiety or high school populars struggling to communicate how they feel.

Fictional characters on television make mistakes with grace and act with social fluency, confident in every situation. Normal humans do not.

In fear of misaligning with the behaviour society expects of us, we find ourselves analysing our actions, not after they happen, but while they play out! It’s insane that we worry about how people perceive us and how people will react to how we are, all the while we attempt to maintain our authenticity.

We’re critiquing the scene while we act it out.

It is a mess.

Embarrassment is ubiquitous and inevitable. It is the anticipation of negative evaluation formed by images of how you should react. As physical pain alerts us to the threat to our physical wellbeing, embarrassment alerts us to a threat to our social wellbeing. We judge each other,

but only in resentment of watching someone else escape the tight grasp of societal norms. You might have come across this article accidentally, or you may have been intrigued by the title, or maybe you had no intention of reading the words I’m writing. Regardless, whether it is for your mental health or to help set a new social standard of communication, stop trying to act as you think you should. Stop beating yourself up when you mess up. You’re only messing up at something falsely created just to make you feel stupid for acting like a human. Say the wrong thing.

Trip up over your thoughts. Be too loud. Take up too much space.

Embarrass yourself. And don’t feel bad for it.

Because everyone deserves to enjoy having Happy Birthday sung to them.

Challoner's Artwork

Eliza Year 11

Fatima - Year 11

Alyssa - Year 11

Sreeja

The Wonderful World of Sally Rooney

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he world of Sally Rooney is an entrancing one; one that leaves you thinking about nothing and everything, with carefully crafted, complex characters that don’t escape your mind. Rooney strikes an impressive balance in her writing between intellectual introspection and genuinely entertaining plot, gripping the reader not to necessarily find out what happens next but to engage more deeply with her novels. What strikes me as unique about Rooney’s writing is how she manages to seamlessly articulate the nuanced emotions we feel in common life, such as when navigating both family and friendship dynamics, and how we respond to the inherent complications within these relationships. She writes the kind of books that have an uncanny resonance towards you individually, yet a universality. She also manages to build these eccentric, dynamic characters with remarkable detail to their individual life stories, which somehow, we all can relate to ourselves. As we shift into a new period of our lives at Secondary School, Sally Rooney’s novels become all the more relevant, with our previously ‘simple’ lives becoming much trickier, striking that balancing act between our growing friendships, family dynamics and the stresses of school life.

Rooney’s second and most widely acknowledged novel, ‘Normal People’, centres an onagain/off-again romance between two high school and then college sweethearts. What has rendered this novel so widely appreciated

is the emphasis on thoughts and feelings rather than dialogue, highlighting the difficulty in communication and expressing these most-inner, personal thoughts to others and, consequently, the ramifications of miscommunication upon your relationships. In ‘Normal People’, the central protagonists always seem to misunderstand each other at some crucial moment. At one point, Connell loses his job and can’t pay rent for the summer in Dublin. He tries to ask to stay with Marianne, his love interest, but she thinks that he is saying he wants to leave town. They break up. This represents both their different insecurities and personality traits - Marianne’s lack of independence and Connell’s lack of courage.

Issues in their relationship are aggravated by their social and financial class, and through this on again/off again relationship, the reader is positioned to feel frustrated at how this intense love is expressed, despite it seeming practically impossible.

The romanticisation of this portrayal of love — in which people hurt each other but still mean a great deal to each other, and in which even relationships that are clearly doomed can go on and on and on beyond the novel’s last page — feels both fresh whilst also a little old-fashioned, like something out of a 19th-century marriage novel.

‘Normal People’ feels like an ode to its forebears in that it draws some interesting parallels with Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with themes of social class and a will-they-won’tthey romance, which Rooney seems to consider both deeply important and humiliatingly trivial.

In Rooney's most recent novel, ‘Beautiful World, where are You’, Rooney repeatedly touches upon the conflict between moral/political duty and pleasure. I find what makes Sally Rooney’s books so distinctive is that they offer us the possibility of allowing pleasure to be important, even above our better judgement. We can recognize a relationship is doomed and still let it make us happy for the moment.

We can be smart enough to recognize the historical calamity of the moment and still care about art. The decision between duty and pleasure are ever-so important to consider when it comes to our own lives and aspirations, when we come to choose what we wish to pursue in the future, or perhaps what we decide to do in uncertain times such as these. These vexed compromises can be fraught and unstable — but it’s what books like ‘Normal People’ are able to put in front of us. Rooney deems her own books as “art in the midst of mayhem and political corruption” and yet I view her books to have a touching honesty and truthfulness, along with a quiet brilliance, and that itself seems valuable for art to offer amid the anguished state of the world: to show how we live, to ask how we can live. “I find my own work morally and politically worthless,” … “and yet it’s what I do with my life, the only thing I want to do.”

Maryam

The Dead Poets Society

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Thirty years a Masterpiece

he 80s were a decade renowned for their explosive cinematic content. Profuse advancements in CGI and special effects allowed fantastical ideas of myth and monster to come to fruition onscreen, while alluring plotlines conjured by the likes of Spielberg and Zemeckis carved a new path into the world of sci-fi and fantasy film. But alongside these groundbreaking releases (‘E.T.’ and ‘The Terminator’, to name but a few), Hollywood still provided its audience with some traditional, more dramatic films, devoid of visual thrills or supernatural enticement. One such film is Dead Poets Society, a timeless movie hailed to this day as one of the most memorable cinematic spectacles.

Set in 1959 at Welton Academy, an austere and stifling boarding school for boys in Vermont, this coming-of-age film directed by Peter Weir relates the story of a group of students who, at the hands of their new English teacher Mr Keating (played by Robin Williams) and his unorthodox teaching methods, find themselves developing into daring intellectuals with a renewed passion for learning and living. Dreams and aspirations are hurled into a reality, sometimes with dire consequences that each student must learn to cope with for himself.

Neil Perry, played by Robert Sean Leonard, acts as the foremost member of his group of friends and is responsible for the resurrection of the Dead Poets Society, a former organisation at Welton Academy consisting of rebellious individuals with a fierce love for

literature. Ex-member and founder of the association Mr Keating, famously says ‘We were romantics.

We didn’t just read poetry. We let it drip from our tongues like honey’. As the film progresses, we learn that it is through Keating’s philosophy that each student finds the confidence to begin to achieve a personal milestone. For Neil, it’s endeavouring to break through the mould his father has so unmercifully cast upon him, whereas for newcomer Todd Anderson it’s something seemingly as simple as being able to speak his mind to his peers.

Dead Poets Society is a film positively brimming with perennial themes that still happen to be relevant to modern day society.

One recurrent theme of the film is that of conformity and its rejection by the characters. This theme exhibits itself in many ways throughout the film. The film poses the idea of conformity as something unfavourable and, perhaps, the true villain of the movie - an obvious example of this being Keating’s encouragement of the boys expressing their ideas through the Dead Poets Society.

The boys sneak out at night where they read poetry in a cave, breaking the rules of Welton. Another subtler example is a quote repeated on numerous occasions: ‘I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.’ This quote from Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ expresses the author’s wish to choose his path of life independently, subject to his own decisions and no one else’s.

From the title alone, it is clear

that such a film as ‘Dead Poets Society’ is bound to be awash with literary references, ranging from Walt Whitman to Shakespeare.

Each of these are implemented in unique ways that are integral to the plot of the film. Towards the end of the film, Neil decides to go against his father’s wishes by acting in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

The consequences of his decision are detrimental to both himself and those around him, however there is a sense of catharsis in the fact that he has flouted the rules of conformity thrust upon him by his father, and that his actions are his own.

Upon each rewatch, Dead Poets Society proves itself to be just as, if not more, immersive and thought-provoking as it was at its release. The viewer has the ability to delve deeper into the themes of the film, whilst also inferring areas of foreshadowing that lead to the film’s conclusion. Despite its maledominated cast and setting, Dead Poets Society’s appeal is universal and has even inspired a book adaptation written by female author N.H. Kleinbaum.

One of the film’s greatest associations is with the Latin phrase ‘Carpe Diem’, meaning ‘seize the day’. This is apt considering idealism and youth - themes woven throughout - go hand in hand.

Another phrase that embodies the beauty of the film is ‘ad vitam aeternam’ meaning ‘to eternal life’; those who have been lost live on in memory, and Robin Williams, too, makes his mark in this masterpiece.

O Captain!

My Captain

Lila

Fluorescent:

Spreading Light on Mental Health Issues

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n recent years, especially during the pandemic, mental health has become a more prevalent topic in our society.

People are becoming more accepting of mental health issues and much more supportive of each other. The rise in mental health awareness has helped reduce the social stigma created in the media, which has led to people feeling comfortable enough to speak up about their own experiences.

However, we still need to continue to spread mental health awareness and show support to those who need it. Therefore, our Young Enterprise team, Fluorescent, has focused our company on the theme of mental health to show those struggling that they are not alone. Our company has designed images representing a range of mental health illnesses and printed them onto tote bags and badges. We based our designs around The Heart Project, which was created in July 2017 by Beyond Blue and is a charity that focuses on mental health awareness. This project aimed to help people stop hiding behind the shame and stigma associated with mental health.

From 10th - 15th July 2017, they asked as many people as possible to draw hearts on their wrists, arms, and ankles. Each mental health illness and mental healthrelated condition/disability had a different coloured heart. One heart or more, people drew the hearts which applied to them.

For those not suffering from a mental health condition, they still drew hearts to show support to family, friends or people in general who struggle. They posted it on Facebook using the tag #TheHeartProject to get friends and family to join and show support.

Along with each tote bag and badge, we will also be giving A5 information cards. On the front will be the design made by our creative director, Yvonne Fa, and on the back, it will have information on the mental illness represented. The reason behind our colourful designs is to remove the dark stigma and tear down the harmful stereotypes people associate with mental illnesses. We also incorporated hidden symbols and intentional colour schemes, for example, semicolon bees, to represent suicide survivors.

whole process and being a part of Fluorescent. In the words of Jaya Bhardwaj, Managing Director of Fluorescent, “Being part of team Fluorescent has been and continues to be a fantastic journey. I love working with such hardworking and creative people.

From formulating our brand and completing Dragons’ Den to creating our products, Young Enterprise has not only taught me more about the business world, but it has also been an extremely fun and exciting experience.”

Lumie the Bear is Fluorescent’s mascot, whose aim is to spread light on undiscussed issues linked to mental health issues and to show people we do not have to combat our disorders alone. We chose a bear because they represent love, reassurance and security, which is crucial for those struggling with mental health.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Tote bag worn by our Digital Marketing Director Dalena

Tote bag modelled by our Creative Director Yvonne

Follow our Instagram @fluorescent_uk and dm us to place orders or get more information.

Mridula

COVID-19 Consequences

WORLDWIDE, STUDENTS FACED SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS DUE TO LOCKDOWN AND REMOTE LEARNING

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ately, we have all been heavily inundated by the pandemic both physically and mentally. I am sure you would all agree, right? A few years ago, we would have never expected anything like this – yet here we are, our daily lives disrupted. When the pandemic began, we were all forced to minimise travel, observe social distancing and stay at home as much as possible. While the pandemic has tormented our lives in many ways, there are some benefits to consider as well.

SCHOOLS SHUT AND MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTED One of the major impacts of this crisis was schools and offices closing due to lockdown.

Education and work were both disrupted equally, but it’s believed that children and teenagers were affected the most. Schools and colleges play a vital role in supporting young people with their mental health. By providing trusted adults and pastoral support, students are seamlessly cared for at school. According to a recent survey, “85% of teachers and school staff agreed that schools shutting throughout lockdown has had a scarring impact on the mental health of young people”. Most people are concerned because many pupils were restricted from attending school and lacked the necessary resources and materials to aid their learning. This caused a massive gap in their education, and hence, their academic attainment was significantly affected.

DURING LOCKDOWN …

At first, it was relaxing to attend school from the comfort of our homes and with learning being a new concept, exciting too. But as the months dragged by, I started to miss the bustling environment at school, lunchtimes especially, when we had the opportunity to spend time with our friends for a whole hour, without learning coming amidst it. I remember one of my friends saying, “I really miss the residential school trips that we had in Year 7”. I also yearned for fun clubs that I used to do at school and events such as House Dance and House Music.

Whilst live-streaming in the lockdown, we could still access all the learning resources we would have at school, but there lacked engagement. There was often a lack of connectivity with the teaching, and other students, especially with all the cameras turned off.

BENEFITS OF LOCKDOWN Despite these negative consequences, COVID and lockdown have not been a complete disaster in our lives.

It has been beneficial for us to break from our arduous school life. We have saved so much time in the mornings and evenings from travelling to and from school. Above all, the quality time spent with families has increased significantly. Assuredly, spending time with our loved ones can reduce stress and anxiety. For a recent survey, many people

expressed that spending time with their families has helped to strengthen their relationships.

CONCLUSION I think we can agree that we have all clearly been affected by this crisis. I’m sure many students, like myself, are glad to be back in school, to spend time with their friends and learn more efficiently.

I, for one, can say that I definitely missed my friends. Even if I preferred learning comfortably at home, it just doesn’t match up to the environment in school. I gain much more at school than I would ever at home. I cannot be more pleased that the vaccines are readily available, allowing us to learn at school safely.

Mariam

MUN / HABSMUN ‘ You can’t change the future for the youth, but you can change the youth for the future’ - Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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etween the 11th and 13th of March, the Challoner’s High Model United Nations team attended their first debating conference at Haberdashers’ Boys’ School.

Model United Nations (MUN) allows students to simulate the activity of the United Nations.

Each student represents a country and debates issues ranging from climate change mitigation to solving the crisis in Yemen.

Through this, students can learn about diplomacy, international relations and nuances of negotiation. It’s also a great mechanism that enables us to keep on top of the world’s current affairs.

The Challoner’s High Model United Nations club was formed in October last year. Since then, it has held weekly training sessions every Friday at lunchtime. Each

week the students are presented with a new topic to research prior to the session. The opportunity is then given for delegates to make speeches for or against the resolution (the document with proposed solutions), with their aim being to persuade the rest of the room to eventually either vote in favour or against the resolution.

Delegates prepared themselves for the event with HABSMUN by researching topical issues.

These ranged from the question of mandatory vaccines to putting an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

While this may sound incredibly serious, I think the delegates will happily tell you that MUN is actually quite fun.

As well as contributing to an excellent standard of debate, the delegates at HABSMUN also got to participate in various

fun activities. They got to sit through an Olympic style opening ceremony and met Revishaan. They also participated in and spectated drumming competitions, rap battles and plank wars. There was also a very entertaining gossip box.

Besides helping you improve your confidence and public speaking, MUN can also help you expand your knowledge on global issues affecting our planet today. Additionally, you will learn how to increase your diplomacy and negotiation skills to convince other delegates to see your point of view. Overall, MUN is a valuable experience. It can help improve your articulation and inspire you to shape the world, as we all know Challoner’s girls will go on to do.

Parnika

Queer Fashion Throughout the Ages

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hroughout history, mainstream fashion has always been a world of restrictions. The oppressive nature of the industry is such that you have no choice but to blindly follow those around you. More often than not, these ‘rules’ were created on the basis of heteronormativity, racist beliefs, and with a binary view on the world. So, naturally, black, brown, and queer spaces started to rebel these norms: creating subcultures and communities that allowed them to display their identities with the clothes they wore. Today, we have a variety of staples in the queer wardrobe that are influenced by queer icons in these subcultures.

a stand against the restrictive and ‘flattering’ standards of dresses placed upon women. During and after the times of the Lesbian Feminist Movement, overalls proved to be quite useful as they became a uniform amongst queer women and helped them find each other in day-to-day life.

fact bisexual). The mullet was an extremely controversial haircut at this time as it combined ‘women’s’ long hair with ‘men’s’ short hair.

Gender-bending and blurring haircuts such as this caught on with the lesbian community and eventually a large majority of the queer and trans community. In more recent years, the mullet has made a comeback, especially amongst non-binary people as it provides a rather androgynous look - defying the social stereotypes of gender.

The Lesbian Community and Overalls

Overalls (or dungarees) first made their debut in the late 1700s across the USA when they were worn by enslaved people. As these denim garments proved to be sturdy and practical for manual labour. Soon, overalls became a uniform amongst the black working class of America.

Then, in 1954, the Civil Rights movement utilised overalls as a symbol of its fight. This was a pivotal moment as the symbolism of overalls became synonymous with hard work and revolution.

Inspired by this message, the Lesbian Feminist Movement of the 70s used dungarees in a similar manner- practicality in both work and activism. In addition to this, dungarees were

Mullets – Blurring the Lines Between Gender Binaries

The mullet has been a staple queer and trans haircut for decades and was mentioned as early as Homer’s Iliad (an ancient Greek epic poem with some of the most famous examples of queer love). However, it was in 1972, when David Bowie released Ziggy Stardust, that the mullet gained traction. In this period, Bowie had come out as gay (this was before he clarified he was in

Lavender and LGBTQ+ Activism

Like many other aspects of queer culture in Western society, we can trace the emphasis on the colour Lavender back to the 7th century BC poet Sappho. Other examples of her influence over the community include the word Sapphic deriving from her name

(relating to sexual attraction or

gain visibility through protests such as the Stonewall Riot of 1969, many protestors would wear lavender sashes to reclaim the colour and transform it into a symbol of power. After several years of struggle and reform, the colour lavender started to make its way into clothing to show pride in the LGBTQ+ community as they became more recognized, welcomed and accepted.

As the LGBTQIA+ community continued to face persecution throughout the 20th century, Gay men started to be taunted for having a ‘streak’ of lavender and the penalization of Gay men in America was dubbed as the ‘Lavender Scare’. As the Queer and Trans community fought to

Our society still has a long way to go when it comes to destigmatizing ideas surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community, but these examples of fashion statements, made by past members of the community, show us that continued activism and challenging the status quo

activity between women). She was from the island of Lesbos whose residents were called Lesbians.

Sappho wrote about lesbian love and portrayed her relationships in a way which still resonates with queer women. Sappho wrote about her love for women with ‘violet tiaras’ and this inspired a gifting of violets amongst Lesbians as an expression of their Sapphic interest in the 1920s.

Scenes from the 2019 London Queer Fashion Show

is worth it in creating a more liberated and accepting world. So, keep wearing your overalls, get a mullet, and most importantly wear whatever makes you feel the truest version of yourself.

House Events 2021/2022

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s Head of Houses, I have had the privilege to organise and run inter-year Houses events with the school in the last year. I have had the most amazing time as Head of Houses, and the joy, camaraderie and talent I have witnessed in these events have been stellar.

The first big House event of my term was Sports Day. Despite a slightly colder than usual July day, the enthusiasm and joy were still buzzing. Seeing students cheer on their teammates and even run with them in the gruelling 1800 metres to cheer them on was a wonderful thing to witness. The day was also filled with laughter and joy from the Year 12 Pirate themed sports day where the ‘man overboard’ slip-and-slide made for some very soapy smiles by the end of the day!

The next big House event was House Dance in the Autumn term. The hall was decked out with coloured lights, tinsel curtains, banners and all kinds of colourful decorations. This vibrancy was matched with the energy from both the dancers and the audience. The encouraging cheers and shouts from students as they supported people in other years performing just highlighted how well Houses Events bring together students from different years. The day was packed with incredible performances from all

acts, but the house spirit didn’t stop there. At lunch, teacher dance was played, featuring teachers from all departments dancing to everything from One Direction to Taylor Swift. The day was an incredible show of house spirit from teachers and students and enthusiasm spreading throughout the school.

The latest and final event for my term as Head of Houses was House Music. The decorations were brought back out again with some added new ones.

The room was made even more vibrant by the sea of students, all in their house colours for the House Music mufti day. The day consisted of both fantastic ensemble performances as well as solos. There was also a ‘finish the lyric’ game, which students eagerly volunteered to take part in for extra house points. Throughout the event, students encouraged and cheered on the acts. This camaraderie and joy culminated in a conga-line forming during the ‘singalong’ part of the day. This show of enthusiasm and house spirit has to be a highlight of my time as Head of Houses and is a memory I will cherish for a long time.

The House Events bring so much joy and teamwork on the day. But the lead up to these events also shows a remarkable display of house spirit. Teachers and students alike make these events happen, with their enthusiasm, generosity of time, as well as belief in the joy these events can bring. This year’s House Events have been the most incredible experience, and I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped make them happen. From audience members to maintenance staff to acts to teachers, thank you! You are all stars!

- Zoë , Year 13 (Deputy Head Girl for Houses)

R ecycled Fashion Show Green week

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he Recycled Fashion Show proved to be a colourful and vibrant night, a fitting showcase for the talent and creativity displayed by our students. Sources of inspiration were immensely varied, and we went from an exploration of the Yuanyang rice terraces in China to somewhere a little closer to home, our student’s heritage and culture.

We kicked off the night with a fantastic talk by our keynote speaker, Madelyn Postman, who provided our audience with helpful swaps and alternative options for a more sustainable shopping experience.

Our following speakers built on her talk. Giles Roberston took us through a timeline of his inspiration for sustainability (with a fun quiz at the end!), and Mr Lovewell gave us an insight into fashion’s journey through sustainability.

Undoubtedly, the stars of the night were our models and designers.

The models displayed charisma and confidence as they sashayed down the catwalk before presenting to the judges. All the while, they were cheered on by the audience and designers. The uniqueness of each design was apparent. The designers displayed exquisite craftsmanship to turn materials such as crisp packets, bottle lids and aluminium cans into elegant and stylish pieces.

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to organise our school’s Green Week. The Recycled Fashion Show was the perfect finale to a week of learning and collaboration to incorporate a bit more sustainability into all our lives.

Prakriti, Year 13 (Deputy Head Girl for Sustainability).

Clothes Exchange

I

n the summer, Challoner’s High hosted its very first Clothes Exchange.

The event encouraged the school community to get involved and sustainably update their wardrobes. The courtyard was filled with an array of clothing and style advice whilst the girls visited at different intervals in the day, exchanging their tokens for new outfits. Our goal was to provide an exciting and enjoyable opportunity for all girls to change their clothes while educating them about fast fashion. The event even extended into the following day, allowing as many girls to get involved as possible. All that was left were smiling faces & empty clothing racks! Thank you to all those that helped ensure it was a success.

-Lara, Year 13 (Deputy Head Girl for Fundraising and Partnerships)

Challyfest

D

uring the last two weeks before the February half term, we celebrated the new Challoner’s tradition of ChallyFest. During lockdown in 2021, ChallyFest was created to celebrate form spirit, creativity and talent. Over the two weeks, we saw both Challoner’s staff and students getting involved, earning points for their forms, and raising money.

Whilst making sure everyone was having fun and getting in the form spirit, we also wanted to commemorate Safa and Kirsty. Safa and Kirsty passed away around this time last year. There were book donations on Wednesday, inspired by Safa’s love for our library. On Friday’s mufti day, everyone showed their support by wearing purple for Kirsty and scrunchies for Safa. We raised £1,028 from the mufti day and £293 from the Cupid Candy hearts sales, adding up to £1,321 in total to divide between the Encephalitis Society and Brain Tumour Research.

We had outstanding participation throughout ChallyFest 2022, with 268 people at the Chally Dance Party, 332 at the Chally Karaoke and many more watching the Teacher Game Show. In PE lessons, you competed in the Winter Challympics, overseen by the fantastic PE department. In addition, love was in the air on Challentines Day when the Cupid Candy Hearts were received, and everyone had the chance to partake in ‘Spread Some Love’. Students demonstrated form spirit in the Codebreaking Challenge, talent in the Chally’s Got Talent entries, and creativity in the

Creative Challenge, with Conon, Seren and Pahul with the best entries.

However, all good things must come to an end. On the last Thursday of half term, we concluded ChallyFest 2022 on a high with the Chally’s Got Talent Final and the announcement of the overall ChallyFest winners. Everyone voted for their favourite talent show entry, 9N, and watched Mr Bird and Mr Roe on their mission around the school to award the Overall ChallyFest Trophy to 9C! Well done to all the winners and everyone who participated. And a massive thank you to all the staff who helped make ChallyFest 2022 such a success!

- The Challyfest team

Carla

University Challenge

I

n April 2022, DCHS were delighted to take home the University Challenge trophy for the third year in a row.

We finished with a respectable win, 755-675 points. Years 7-11 faced some tough competition in their rounds but kept their heads up, eager to see their peers compete in the coming rounds. The Sixth Form team fought with vigour against DCGS and held the lead until the final question, finishing the round just 10 points behind the boys. The staff team were on top form from the first buzzer, finishing their round with a landslide victory of 340-80. Participants and spectators enjoyed

Team Members Yr 7-9

Yr 10-11 Sixthfform Sixth

Jemma Y11 Lucy Y11 Madeleine Y11 Evie Y11 Daisy Y10 Lila Y10 Anna Y13 Connie Y13 Charis Y13 Imaan Y12 Milni Y12 Verity Y12 Ms de Alwis, Maths Mr Kingdon, Chemistry Mr Cox, Latin & Classics Mr Parsons, History & Politics

a nail-biting battle between the teams and the evening closed with high spirits for all. Congratulations and thanks go out to those who were involved in the event. Roll on the double hat-trick!

Carla, Year 13 (Deputy Head Girl of Extra-Curricular)

Challoner's Artwork

Dhun - Year 7

left : City in Spring , right : Inner Nature

Lizzie- Year 11

Lila - Year 12

Sreeja & Jasmitha

W

Isn’t It Good, Norwegian Wood?

hat to Expect?

‘Norwegian Wood’, a book that derives its name from a famous Beatles song that was a hit more than five decades ago. Set in Japan of the 1960s,it conveys what it was like to be an adult during this time period. The song ‘Norwegian Wood’ opens with the line “I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me,” perfectly encapsulating the relationships within the novel - both the women captivate the protagonist in their own way, and by the end of the novel, it’s clear he will never be the same after having known them. The book is a dark, melancholic coming-of-age book narrative that depicts the struggles of adulthood while facing school and everyday life, with a sorrowful twist.

The Plot

The novel begins with 19-year-old Toru Watanabe, in the midst of student life following the sudden passing of his close friend, Kizuki, a few years prior. He spends most of his time studying, working at a record shop, and speaking with a girl named Naoko, who was Kizuki’s girlfriend before his death.

He reflects on the awkwardness of this as he mentions “My warmth was not what [Naoko] needed, but the warmth of someone else.

I felt almost guilty being me.” Yet, Naoko and Toru both happen to be suffering from the unprecedented loss of Kizuki. As loneliness emanates from the pages, the two become closer until eventually, on Naoko’s 20th birthday, the two spend the night together. Soon

Naoko disconnects from Toru, explaining via a letter that she needs time alone. Unfortunately, that is where things take a turn for the melancholic.

The fragile and sympathetic Naoko is forced to leave college and receives therapy in a sanitarium.

It is secluded, clean, peaceful, and more of a community, living where the lines between doctors and patients are blurred. While back in Tokyo, Toru finds Midori Kobayashi, his ‘History of Drama’ classmate. Midori is an enigmatic and witty character who directly contrasts Naoko. Despite her own problems with her family, boyfriend, and family bookstore, she manages to help Toru to live through his lonely days while he still yearns for Naoko. Toru is attracted to both Naoko and Midori, for different reasons. The story progresses as he sways back and forth and spends time with Naoko and Midori alternatively.

Our Reflections

In some ways it's a melancholic, elegiac book. In other ways, it's thoughtful and optimistic – it more so depends how you look at it, or in what mood you are when you read it. Murakami has an exceptional style that makes it very readable.

And he's got a "touch" too - his writing feels like a work of art that sticks with you. It’s the kind of book that you find yourself thinking about long after finishing the last page.

One of the ways that “Norwegian Wood” intrigued us was its setting in the past, as it invites us to consider not merely our own

individual conception of time, but also the overarching questions of how to find one’s identity, live life and cope with the loss of loved ones. Toru’s struggle is not merely idyllic nostalgia, but rather a desperate attempt to preserve the past: “I straightened up and looked out of the window at the dark clouds hanging over the North Sea, thinking of all I had lost in the course of my life: times gone forever, friends who had died or disappeared, feelings I would never know again.” That’s precisely why Toru turns to literature and writes this book. It is “to think.

To understand. It just happens to be the way I’m made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.”

The motif of music was also something that stood out in the book, as the themes of art, literature and music don’t only

draw allegorical lines with the

situations that the characters are in, but also help them come to terms and convey thoughts that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to articulate. As Midori explains: “‘I don’t know, I feel like this isn’t the real world. The people, the scene: they just don’t seem real to me.’ Midori rested an elbow on the bar and looked at me. ‘There was something like that in a Jim Morrison song, I’m pretty sure.’ ‘People are strange when you’re a stranger.’ ‘Peace,’ said Midori. ‘Peace,’ I said.” His change from being a teenager into adulthood, his profound struggles in coping with loss, and love, are all inevitable aspects of adulthood, and the roles of music, film, art, and literature all combine to help him establish an identity for himself. All the 60’s pop culture references had their unique places as a way to dig deeper into the inner worlds of

the characters unconfined by the biased narration of Toru.

Murakami conveys this frightening message of what it is like to lose somebody, and how one loss can lead to another.

Through such events, ‘Norwegian Wood’ touches upon the idea of change, and how people around us can change and will change. How everything is in constant motion and nothing can stop the flow of time - not even death. It depicts the reality of true love, how it is tied to with a strong sense of loss, sacrifice and understanding, and the inherent fragility to it.

Toru’s humanity and deeply flawed nature makes this piece of literature incredibly relatable.

The same goes for emotionally unstable Naoko and the vibrant but saddened Midori, two girls suffering with what seems to

be the tip of the iceberg. Each moment in Toru’s Norwegian Wood of memory speaks to our own life cycles, yet in an idiosyncratic way for every single one of us. It all feels so desperately unresolved towards the end of the story. But isn’t that life? How often may we truly resolve our own issues, and feel satisfied with the way things went? The universal appeal of ‘Norwegian Wood’ is the way it may speak to a reader as they compare their own situation to those depicted in the novel. Sure, it’s likely less dramatic, but the need to move on while being weighed against a past that hangs over us, whatever that past may be, is certainly a challenge most of us will face in our own transitions into adulthood.

“I once had a girl Or should I say She once had me She showed me her room Isnʼt it good Norwegian Wood”

Emma

Desensitised and Despondent

E

a generation brought up on sensationalist news

ndless ‘doom scrolling’ and constant exposure to tragedy has left most of Gen Z with a strange relationship with grief.

In 18 years on this planet, I’ve seen my fair share of ‘doom and gloom’ news. The first major event I remember hearing about was the Global Financial Crash of 2008, the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression, though at 4-years-old I doubt I had a complete grasp on the gravity of the situation. Since then, all of us have developed a knowledge of world events, and with that has come a constant barrage of media sensationalism; with inflammatory headlines such as the BBC’s “IPCC report warns of irreversible impacts of climate change” or The Globe’s succinct “World War 3!” being hurled at us constantly, it isn’t difficult to understand how our generation has gradually become desensitised to major crises.

Gen Z’s desensitisation to disaster has long been acknowledged but has become more and more prevalent over the last 3 years. A barrage of tragic events has hit the world recently; ranging from wildfires scorching over 4 million acres of land in California, taking the lives of 31 people, to political struggles such as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan or the war in Ukraine – and of course, the Covid-19 pandemic. And how has Gen Z responded?

Jokes and memes at the least, and posts about how “special” the “apocalypse vibes” are at worst.

With the exception of the insensitive and ignorant ‘war aesthetic’ posts, a large portion of Gen Z has leant on ‘dark humour’ to cope with the waves of tragedy. In North America especially, Twitter saw an influx of comments regarding getting drafted; they all echoed the same sentiment as one user who tweeted “If the draft happens idc about women’s rights. I’ll gladly stay in the kitchen”, a rather tonedeaf post from someone living roughly 6,000 miles away from the conflict. Casey Aonso termed this phenomena “meme-ification” and describes how many people use it as a coping mechanism for

their anxiety surrounding world events. With real-time news updates bombarding our feeds, it’s easy to feel as though you’re experiencing events first-hand and are personally affected enough to make light of the situation.

And these senseless responses aren’t restricted to war. The same “meme-ification” took place after the heart-breaking events at the Astroworld concert – in which 10 people lost their lives. The same day as this tragedy occurred, there were already memes and jokes online trivialising the incident. No time had passed for the families or the world to grieve, yet people were ready to makes jokes because they didn’t know how else to cope; however insensitive, the world seems a lot less scary if you can

laugh about it.

Duncan Kastner’s quote “we are constantly exposed to

horrifying stories of death, and the callousness of how casual it’s become has affected how we converse online with others” perfectly sums up how our generation has been trained to respond to tragedy. When the horrors of the world seem so innate and casual, it becomes inevitable that to discuss them people will turn to a form of communication that is equally as informal.

It’s important, in these times very much not of the ‘precedented’ nature, to remain conscious of the power these jokes may hold and how deeply one’s dismissal of hardship can affect another. The internet fosters the perception of a shared experience, which has inadvertently crafted an environment where it is appropriate to undermine the trauma real people are left with in

the aftermath of disaster.

Although, from previously mentioned actions, it may be fair to brand clusters of Gen Z as unempathetic, it would hardly be apt to describe us as apathetic.

The unusual way in which many have dealt with the distress of the last few decades is not reflective of our overall commitment to making the world a better place.

From Greta Thunberg’s climate activism to Stella Keating’s campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights – or even smaller actions such as the school’s bake sales raising funds for global refugee crises – there are almost endless examples of our generation unifying for a greater cause. Having faced many unique challenges and confronted countless ‘once in a lifetime’ events; it can only be hoped that this generation’s universally complex relationship with grief can be used as a stepping-stone for change – and maybe because of it we can come together as a more united world and improve it little by little.

SUBJECTS AT DCHS

MATHS

‘In Maths, our aim is for everyone to fulfil their potential and to find confidence in a subject that is crucial for almost everything we do in life’

HISTORY

‘Enriching, Empowering, Emboldening’

physics

‘The Physics is theoretical, but the fun is real.’

BIOLOGY ‘Life, Vital Intricate Creative, Open, Wise’

ART

‘Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind.

As the sun colours flowers, so does art colour life’

CLASSICS

‘Omnia vincit amor’ (love conquers all).

MFL

‘That Modern Languages magic!

It begins with a simple greeting, and ends in a debate. We release your inner actress, and layer the building blocks of cultural understanding.’

CHEMISTRY

‘All sorts of things can happen when you're open to new ideas and playing around with things’

PSYCHOLOGY

‘It’s a community that goes above and beyond to ensure each individual is happy and achieving their level best.

The teachers work tirelessly to ensure learning is not only effective but interactive too ’

GEOGRAPHY ‘Exploration, Discovery, Stewardship’

‘Creative, Solutions, Future’

ENGLISH

‘But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think’

DRAMA

‘Groundbreaking, Challenging, Vivacious’

RELIGIOUS STUDIES ‘Philosophical, Ethical, Reflective’

music

‘Music is the universal language of mankind’

SUBJECTS AT DCHS

IT

teacher personality quiz find out which pop culture icons teach you!

We asked the teachers to take a personality quiz to reveal which fictional character is most like them!

Ms de Alwis: Dana Scully X files “Mulder, the Internet is not good for you.”

Mr Mann: Miles O’Brien Star Trek "Should've transferred to a cargo drone.

No people, no complaints.”

Mr Grant: Jason Mendoza The Good Place “Claustrophobic?

Who would ever be afraid of Santa Claus?”

Dr Ahmadi: Doc Brown Back to the Future “Great Scott!”

Mr Cox: Luna Lovegood Harry Potter "All my shoes somehow magically disappeared..."

Mr Kingdon: Professor X X Men "The next time you feel like showing off ... don't."

Miss Raja: Cece Parekh New Girl "Babies wreck you."

Miss Brown: Monica Geller Friends “Rules are good.

Rules help control the fun.”

try it yourself!

teacher personality quiz

Jia Xin

The Sixth Form Centre

A

s a student who has been part of the student partnership and fundraising board since its founding in 2016, I have had the pleasure to help bring several projects to life. The new Sixth Form Centre is undoubtedly the most extensive project yet. As a long-awaited goal, it is finally coming together.

The new Sixth Form Centre will provide sixth-formers with an inspiring and stimulating space for their academics and a place to prepare for life beyond Challoner’s.

The building will have a multitude of different rooms designed for various uses. There will be study rooms, which are areas to work independently. These will enable students to further delve into their subjects and reach their full potential. In addition, there will be social areas for more collaborative work or catching up with friends and the carefully designed interior aims to reflect the collaboration between students.

A predominant focus for the Sixth Form Centre is healthy body, healthy mind. There will be a fully kitted out gym, a café and an eating area, which will emphasise this concept of healthy minds

and healthy bodies. The new café facilities will focus on healthy eating. Furthermore, the fitness suite and exercise studio will be open for sixth-formers to use in their free time.

Sixth-form is a bridge between school and life beyond Challoner’s.

Ensuring the school can support students to prepare for the transition is very important.

Therefore, a Connections Room will form part of the Sixth Form Centre. With our new alumnae platform (The Challoner’s High Network) in place, it will be possible to invite alumnae to hold sessions and interact with current students. The Connections Room will give sixth-formers a chance to obtain invaluable advice and realistic insights into life after Challoner’s. Students can also further their understanding of the different pathways after sixth-form.

In addition, the city office space feel of the centre will replicate a workplace setting, allowing students to experience what it is

like to work in an office.

The new Sixth Form Centre will prove a fantastic facility for sixthformers for years to come. It will undoubtedly enhance the sixthform experience at Challoner’s alongside supplementing students’ learning and personal development.

Challoner's Artwork

Abinya- Year 11

Golssa - Year 11

Shakthi - Year 13

Vaishnavi - Year 11

Lime Tree Court We are delighted to be able to donate to the Curve this year. We are a small residential care home in North Buckinghamshire specialising in the care of those living with dementia. All the residents are particularly interested to hear about what is happening in the school community, but over the last two years that has never been more important.

When care homes were well and truly in “lockdowns” the joy that was spread from the girls at DCHS to the residents at Lime Tree Court cannot be underestimated. Lime Tree Court joined in with the school assemblies, we had zoom calls with girls and boys from DCHS and DCGS – quizzes, singing, chats about homework. Cakes, artwork, individual letters were sent to our residents weekly.

This letter was sent to us in December 2020 from a year 12 student. When I read this out to the residents you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone stopped what they were doing, we were all transfixed and deeply touched. Six months on I was tidying one of our residents bedside tables, I found the letter - dog eared and clearly cherished. The resident told me she reads it each night, it was treasured and re-read daily. What she didn’t know is that I had taken a copy and I had also read it many times a week when the responsibility of owning and managing a care home in a pandemic was overwhelming. That letter touched so many of us. Over the last seven years as my daughter has been part of DCHS and as she prepares to leave DCHS I know that she has gained so much more from this school than just exceptional teaching, DCHS girls really can shape the world.

Keep spreading your love and magic, With love from Melissa Laing and the residents at Lime Tree Court.

I am so thrilled to be writing to you and I can’t imagine how you must be feeling with the recent announcement of another lockdown before Christmas, which is, in my opinion, the best time of the year. So, I hope this letter can make you smile somehow. Now, how to begin…

I really hope that you are keeping yourself warm and comfortable this season, I find it rather sad that the trees aren’t decorated with crimson leaves anymore, it’s the floor instead. I love spending Saturday mornings with a cup of tea and a hot water bottle in bed – a cuddly panda while watching Netflix. Chilly mornings cannot compete with the comfort of your blankets. I am also seeing the moon much more these days. When I see it in the daylight it reminds me of the “DreamWorks” boy who sat on the moon fishing for the stars. It makes me smile sometimes. I remember reading a book once and the protagonist's name was Cassie, short for Cassiopeia, like the constellation, I thought it was so beautiful and ever since I’ve tried to find stories in the constellations. there’s a lot of Greek mythology hidden in the stars. I admire humanity's ability to make life so beautiful all the time. Whether it is romantic or philosophical, it inspires me to be better every day.

I hope Christmas is beautiful around you this year. I hope that you are surrounded by joy, music, laughter and kindness and that you remember how loved you all are.

I took this chance to make a chatterbox, at least this is what we called them in primary school with some positive messages for you to open, either with a friend or on your own when you need them.

I hope this finds you well Your friend, Tasha

Writing Competition Year 7-9 Creative Writing : Fairy tales Your prompt for this year is to reinvent your favourite fairy tale! It’s up to you how you interpret this prompt. You didn’t like the ending of the story? Change it! Do you think it would be more interesting set in a different period of history? Rewrite it! Was the setting a little unoriginal? Choose a new one! This extends to characters too, the possibilities are endless!

Year 10-13 Creative Writing : Flash Fiction Your prompt for this year is to write a 99-word piece of flash fiction! The theme is up to you, but the final product must be 99 words or less.

Year 7 - 9

winner

The Snow White A rough wind blew from the south- pushing the ship further to its destination. The Snow White was not a weak little ship. No. It was strong- made of silver with only the merest rust and trademark blood red sails. Like the war ship it had been destined to become. Still, this was not a war but a mere escapade. The queen had become more and more powerful and with it, her care for her subjects had vanished, and so they decided to face their destiny. To find a new destination. A new kingdom where nobody would ever find them.

The captain smiled as she peered over the horizon and pointed to the icy island. Seiven Dvarfs, they had called it.

A place of sanctuary named for its dwarf-like statues each thought to give worshippers a different quality. Upon hearing of it, cult-like crowds filled with enthrallment had poured onto the ship, in search of better land. But now the water grew colder and colder as the winds became sharper as they voyaged further into the north. Soon, it began to snow and the crew huddled for warmth as a chilling storm brewed. Ice leapt from the rocking waves and the captain called for the sails to be lowered. But it was too late.

Ice pummelled the ship, smashing against every floorboard, desperately trying to loosen the screws. The crew ran for cover as the golden apple flag was ripped from it’s mast by the sheering winds. It draped the ship, like a gauze for its silken wounds and the ship crashed into a statue. Sleep, it beckoned. Sleep. The captain’s eyelids fluttered.

And one by one, the crew panicked and then they all began to drop. Some fell over the edge and others landed on the deck, fast asleep, waiting for the ice to take them. Their tears turned into crystal and hearts to snow. It was as if they had been poisoned by the ice or storm. Or even the statue itself.

Years later, I stand here. In front of the ice sculptures. Waiting to be awoken.

Arushi 9B.1

Year 7 - 9

commendation

A Beastly Beginning “Show me”, said the girl, “let me understand!” “ You never will, Belle. To you, I could never be more than a Beast.”

He was right. Even the candles flickered with sheer fear every time he entered a room. His low, menacing growl sent rumbles through the ground. His very existence sent shivers running through her heart. But she had to know - why was he like this?

“That’s not true!” she lied through her teeth, “I-I care about you!”

For a moment, his icy facade lowered and he turned to her, thick eyebrows unfurrowed and critical glare softened. “ You do?”

Now he was no longer a draconian, minatory monster, but a defenceless, vulnerable boy.

“I do. A-and I always will.”

He paused, touched, as what she had said sunk in.

“This,” he took a small, unimportant-looking book from his faded velvet pocket, “this is my childhood.”

He hesitantly, almost reluctantly, opened the diary, as if questioning his choice to show her.

What happened next was a blur to Belle. They were no longer in the luxurious castle but in a rotting wooden cabin, stocked with nothing but a rusted coal burner, lacking coal, and two straw mattresses. And there was a boy. There was something about that boy - something about his eyes. It was “Me.” The Beast’s mournful voice resonated around her and she was suddenly overwhelmed by a sick feeling from the pit of her stomach. He was not a spoiled brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth like she had thought. He knew what it was like to be poor. To have to beg for the scraps. To rely on every last franc as though his life depended on it, because it did.

Belle was silent, her mouth for once, shut.

“Now you see. Before my mother’s identity as France’s Queen was revealed, I lived here, with my father, a hard-hearted man. I guess having only the stony figure of my father for company and this inadequate shack as my home hardened me. So when the enchantress cursed me, all she did was turn me inside out.”

Anaiya 8T

Year 10 - 13

winner

Gravity He lived in different places; he lived everywhere and nowhere.

A pair of lungs occupied a spaceship a few hundred light years from the planet of his birth, one shattered pelvis floated in the wreckage of a newly dead blue giant, and his eyes lived everywhere, observing it all. His body was scattered across the cosmos, and every day the pieces of him moved closer together, farther away, oscillating between far and near. Every day they played the same game: shall I try to fix myself, or shall I continue to drift apart?

Every day, the same answer: both.

Maddie 11C

Year 10 - 13

commendation

Choices Perhaps there is no such thing as morality or sin, simply the abiding products of choices we make. Residues of regret, gnawing teeth of guilt, strangling forces of repent that we grapple against with futile motions, until we choke out a blistering virtue. Whether these decisions stem from ill intent or naive stupidity, the consequences inevitably shroud the perpetrator a suffocating act seeking bitter revenge.

I wouldn’t say I’m a bad person. That being said, I wouldn’t say I’m a good person. I’m merely a person who has made choices.

The choices we make are the ultimate sacrifices.

Aditi 12.1

Celebrities

Films

your favourite things We’ve compiled answers from a school-wide survey to find out your favourite things in pop culture!

TV SHows

6

ry

nivers n A h a t 0

The Importance of STEM STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths Agricultural Scientist Robotics Engineer

Climate Change Researcher

48% of entry-level jobs requiring a bachelor‘s degree or higher are in STEM fields.1 A typical STEM college graduate starts with a salary advantage of 30%.2

Marine Biologist

Medical Nanotechnologist

Physician Assistant 1 2

Environmental Specialist

Roller Coaster Designer

Cybersecurity Analyst

Burning Glass Technologies, 2014.

Harvard University, STEM Careers and Technological Change, September 2018.

STEM STEM Car�rs

Car�rs

Mathnasium is... + Learn from the comfort of your home or in our centre in Amersham + + Open 6 days a week for face-to-face instruction + + Highly trained instructors + + Personalised Learning Plans for each individual student + + Years 1-11, GCSE prep and 11+ prep + + Build confidence, catch up, get ahead +

Mathnasium of Amersham 01494 729 726 | www.mathnasium.co.uk/amersham