Headmistress’ End of Term Message

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As the Spring Term comes to an end, it feels almost impossible to keep track of all the amazing things our school community has achieved. In three months, success – within and outside the classroom - is as abundant as the daffodils that have been popping up across campus, a sure sign that Spring is finally with us (even if the weather seems to disagree). It has been a pleasure to see all our students continue to progress and embody our values as the academic year continues. Their sense of community never wavers; an important feeling for us at Habs since that is one of the bases our foundation is laid upon.

Our community starts with all the hard work that Mrs Rana and her team put into our admissions process. The Spring Term is always an incredibly busy time for our Admissions team, who organise, and execute smoothly, 294 interviews. They reach out to our teaching and administrative staff who also commit their time and effort, as well as our prefect team – who are our best ambassadors for the school.

Then, visible to all our Habs community, is the further dedication and diligence of staff and student alike who put so much into the events that we hope you, as parents, can thoroughly enjoy.

I mentioned earlier that sense of community, and it was so clear to see this across all the members of the Habs family this term. Our second-ever Giving Day, organised by our fantastic Development team, was a great success. So much so that a new record was set by all those who ran in one of the Dashes and donated. The schools’ are also delighted to announce that our Partnerships team have been recognised with a Herts Civic Award for all their fantastic work.

It always makes me so proud to see our Habs community thrive as it does. Whether it be with dedicating time and effort to philanthropy or those within our community. From the Mencap Talent Show to the phenomenal amount of money raised over the last 10 years for St Martin in the Fields, to celebrating each other’s differences during Neurodiversity Celebration Week. It is always touching to see just how much care and consideration that is within the school.

Beyond this, there has been much to cover in this end of term newsletter! Our departments have all been incredibly busy putting on productions, preparing for fixtures, readying for events or welcoming speakers.

We had a wonderful production of Matilda the Musical which involved over 90 students from Years 7 to 9 and we were treated to multiple music events over the Spring Term alone: Haberdashers’ Young Musician of the Year, the Jazz Concert, Chamber Concert, Spring Concert to name but a few. We also had a successful Drama and Dance showcase along with a packed programme for our Junior Performing Arts Evening.

The success and level of achievement did not stop there. In the sports section of the school, our 1st Team for Lacrosse finished 7th out of 53 schools in the U19A National Schools Lacrosse tournament. During the tournament, they played 2nd in their pool and earned themselves a spot in the Championship division – this is the highest ranking for them since 2014. Meanwhile, our 2nd Team placed 11th out of 28 schools in the U19B National Schools tournament.

Our trampolining teams did fantastically this term, with an U13, U15 and U18 team competing at a regional competition. Our U15 team secured themselves a place at Nationals later in the year. We saw multiple Personal Bests achieved in swimming and we hosted our annual Haberdashers’ Netball Tournament for all schools in the Haberdashers’ family of schools.

Our GCSE Presentation ceremony was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all the achievements of our students, now in Lower Sixth, and welcome Naomi Sesay as our keynote speaker. Naomi is currently the Head of Creative Diversity at Channel 4 but has dedicated her career to the advocacy of diversity and inclusion over two decades in television and media. Other speakers this term included Professor Figes for our students and Dr Hope Virgo for a parent information evening, joint with the Boys’ School.

After such a purposeful and productive Spring Term, the next promises to be even more fulfilling. Our students only continue to display their curiosity, ambition and courage and I am excited to see what awaits us all next term.

I wish you and your families a restful and happy Easter holiday and look forward to welcoming you all back to Habs for the Summer Term.