Inside Heathfield issue 61

Issue Number 61 14 March 2017

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As ever the range of activities available for the girls is astonishing and the breadth of this newsletter demonstrates it all. From the intellectual rigour of the Psychology trip to Colleton School in Twyford and the work experience for our aspiring medics, from the Geography Climate Change conference to hugging a lamb at Rushall Farm, Heathfield continues to offer a huge spread of opportunities to the girls.

We are hugely grateful to Victoria Milligan who came in to talk to girls and parents about resilience and to share her experience of having to cope with great hardship and life­changing events for both her and her family. I know I speak for everyone when I say how moving and inspiring her talks were and how lucky we are as a school to be able to be guided by such generosity in coming to Heathfield.

The girls have been incredibly busy on the sporting front; National Schools’ Lacrosse at which the girls did so very well, Interhouse Netball, and the polo at Rugby where 41 teams competed and our team came second (YES!) and locally where in the Harrow versus Heathfield polo we gave them a ‘harrow­ing’ defeat. I was thrilled that I was there to watch.

Franny Hunt Davis deserves a mention too for her very moving speech on Open Morning and for her speech at ARTiculation, a national Art competition, where she represented the school well in the District Round.

A huge thank you as ever to the girls for their great efforts across the board and to the staff and parents who support. We are a lucky school indeed.

Best wishes,

Mrs Gardiner Legge – Headmistress

The Royal Meteorological Society Climate Conference: Can we make a difference?

On Thursday 9 March the LVI Geog Squad made their way to Reigate School for their first ever Climate Conference. Our first speaker, Dr Timothy Lane, introduced us to aspects of climate change and the carbon cycle from his perspective. Dr Lane then explained his research on Greenland where 80% of the island is covered by ice, making the Geog Squad dream about visiting Greenland on a school trip.

We then listened to Professor Terry Callaghan who spoke about changes to the Arctic region as he had personally seen effects of climate change on the Arctic over the last 50 years. For example, there used to be six herbivore and six carnivore species but now there are only two of each. In July 2012 95% of the surface had melted whilst 20­50% of the Russian Arctic has been lost since 1972, with reindeer numbers diminishing.

This followed on to various breakout sessions, which were very helpful as we were able to share individual views on the topics. For example, Professor Callaghan believed that one of the only ways we will help to reduce Climate Change is by teaching about it in schools and then for the children to teach the older generations. We also discussed the use of political pressure groups and how organisations such as Greenpeace did not appear interested in helping the people affected by climate change, but were only on a mission to stop climate change. The conclusion the Geog Squad reached after the Climate Conference is that we need to concentrate on how climate change is going to affect us as humans, because the earth itself can survive climate change, though in a changed state. We all decided that political pressure groups can lead to people thinking views are not neutral, therefore we all need to get on a plane to Greenland and start researching for ourselves. We learned some astonishing facts about climate change in the Arctic and Greenland and felt lucky to be able to listen to the views of people so dedicated to reversing the effects of climate change. Mrs Mason is hopeful that the conference will stimulate excellent responses in the A Level examination next year!

Kitty, Geography Prefect

ARTiculation Regional Heat On Tuesday 7 March, Franny (LVI) travelled to Roche Court for the ARTiculation Regional Heat. The adjudicator Hadrian Ellory­van Dekker thanked Franny for revisiting an ‘old and dear friend’ and offering a really interesting perspective, making it fresh again for the audience. Although Franny will not be going through to the next round, we are very proud of her for reaching this stage of the competition; it is an exceptional feat. Well done for all your hard work, Franny.

Form I explore Rushall Farm to report on an Organic Mixed Farm On Tuesday 21 February Form I, antennae at the ready, enjoyed a day of combined Geography and Science when they visited Rushall Farm in Bradfield, Berkshire. The day consisted of a variety of tasks such as lamb­cuddling, soil testing, land­use identification, chicken and donkey feeding, pig befriending, farm processes learning, grass identification, tractor trailing, the art of flying like a bird, bull observing, more lamb­cuddling and of course last but not least – witnessing the birth of a lamb!

Each girl posed for the obligatory photo with a lamb and appreciated the insight Cliff, the site education instructor, gave into the working of this productive and fascinating farm. The

challenge is on to produce a report by the end of term whether the most detailed, most creative or the most original. Certainly an opportunity for a Highflyer award!

Basia Mason, Head of Humanities and Subject Leader ­ Geography

Lunchtime Concert On Wednesday 22 February the Music Department held a Lunchtime Concert in the Chapel.

It was a wonderful afternoon featuring various soloists, the Form III Junior Band, Wind & String Ensemble and Form I and II grouping together to sing All of Me by John Legend.

Thank you very much to all the girls who performed, as well as Mrs Dance and Miss Kong for organising the event.

Victoria Milligan: Facing Adversity with Positivity and Resilience On Wednesday 22 February, Victoria Milligan spoke on resilience and positivity when facing hardship. She discussed her own personal, traumatic experiences, and how she carried on after these life­changing events.

Victoria talked the girls through some steps which helped her deal with her loss, and while her personal experiences may be more unique, she adapted her points to make these applicable to the day­to­day struggles young girls could face. These included setting small, achievable goals, learning to reach out for help, understanding that the perfect images you see on social media aren’t accurate depictions of real life, and learning to appreciate what you have.

We are so grateful to Victoria for taking the time to come and speak to us. The talks were extremely moving, and Victoria herself is an inspiring lady.

Devizes Eisteddfod, Class Winners' Concert Following her win in the Devizes Eisteddfod in November in the Grade 5/6 Woodwind category, Katharine (Form II) had the honour of playing her flute in the Class Winners’ Concert on Sunday 26 February. Katharine has excelled in her music endeavours, and has also been awarded a Music Scholarship for the next academic year. Well done Katharine!

World Book Day 2017 On Thursday 2 March schools united across the nation to celebrate World Book Day 2017.

Students and teachers alike were encouraged to dress up as their favourite characters from literature, and each participant donated £1 which will be donated to Book Aid International, whose proceeds go towards sending books to libraries in Africa.

First Aid Training On Sunday 5 March a group of students took part in a First Aid Course. They were taught a whole range of important and life­saving skills, from cleaning and bandaging wounds to CPR and mouth­to­mouth. The CPR training materials were all provided free of charge from the British Heart Foundation for which we are most grateful.

Self Defence Workshops On Saturday 4 March, Mrs de Ferrer organised two self­defence workshops for the students.

It was incredibly practical and the girls were taught a whole range of techniques to aid their safety. It was so beneficial and so thoroughly enjoyed that the staff are hoping to organise a workshop for themselves also.

PADI Open Water Course Across the weekend of 4 and 5 March, four girls and one member of staff completed their PADI Open Water referral course. The theory side of the course had already been completed online which meant that more time could be spent practising skills in the pool. Everyone was pleased to pass and all are now looking forward to completing their four open water dives. Well done to all and thank you to Caroline and idiveteam.

Polo Success Our polo teams are busier than ever with some very exciting fixtures which have taken place this term. On Sunday 5 March, Victoria, Angelina and Kitty took part in the SUPA Senior Schools Arena Championships, where they were placed an outstanding second! They all played hard and were extremely tired after their long day. Well done, girls!

On Thursday 9 March, Kiki, Victoria and Angelina set off for Emsworth Polo Arena where they had a fantastic afternoon of playing polo in the sunshine against Harrow. Everyone played so well but our girls prevailed with a 14­10 win. Excellent work!

RAD Ballet Results On February 5, Form II student Isabel sat her Royal Academy of Dance Grade 4 Ballet Examination. We have had to wait quite a while for the results, but we are very happy to report that we have just been informed that Isabel has been awarded a Distinction.

Congratulations Isabel, your hard work has certainly paid off!

RIBI Young Musician District Round Our two girls who qualified through to the District round of the RIBI Young Musician Competition in January performed on Saturday March 11. Charlotte (LVI) played her violin wonderfully, while Phoebe (UVI) sang her heart out. Unfortunately there was fierce competition so they will not be continuing through to the next round, however they have done exceptionally well to get so far.

The Most Successful Nationals Ever……

The second half of this term has been dominated by National Schools’ Lacrosse for the 1st, 2nd and U15 teams. Following their successes at the South West Schools’ Tournaments the teams were in fine form, both mentally and physically.

The 2nd team, ably led by Holly and Millie (UVI), faced extremely tough opposition on their day’s play: Caterham, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Godolphin, Guildford High, Queen Anne’s, St. George’s, Harpenden, St. Mary’s Calne, and Wycombe Abbey. I must make special mention of Millie in goal, Holly (UVI) and Catharine (Form V) in defence and Minna (Form V) in attack for their exceptional play.

The 1st team tournament is played over two days, the first of which saw them take on Abbot’s Hill, Fettes, Harrogate Ladies’ College, St. Catherine’s Bramley and St. Paul’s. Their finishing position in this group would determine which division they would find themselves for Saturday’s play. Defeats against St. Catherine's, St. Paul's and Fettes meant the team had to beat Abbot's Hill and at least draw with Harrogate in order to reach the Division 2 play­ off, which is a division higher than they qualified in last year. The team beat Abbot's Hill 2­ 0 and after a highly competitive and closely fought match against Harrogate, the teams drew 2­2. The whole team played well but without Alex in goal, the team would not have held on to the draw.

Division 2, here we come! Drawn against Haileybury, Queen's Chester and Westonbirt the aim was to make it through to the quarter­finals and then from there anything is possible!

Despite going a goal down against Queen's the team fought back to win 3­2 with some great saves from Tromans and goals from Honor and Ella. After an hour, the team took to the pitch to play Haileybury and were a little slow to get going. A 1­3 defeat meant that victory against Westonbirt was imperative. 2­0 victory!

St. Bart's were the opposition for the first knock­out round, and having lost heavily to them in a school match the week before nerves were high. This is where true team spirit and the desire to win really have to kick in – and they did, resulting in a 2­1 victory. We achieved our aim – a place in the quarter­finals against Marlborough. Despite huge efforts Marlborough proved too good on the day and the team lost 0­3.

The U15 team's performance epitomises how far they have come this year, confirmed by

comments from staff at other schools saying how good our team was. With a tough selection including Putney, Moreton Hall, Benenden, Queen Anne's, Marlborough, Malvern St. James’s, only two teams were sure to qualify for the knockout stage plus the best third placed teams from 4 of the 6 sections.

The day started with a 1­2 loss against Putney High, which certainly gave them a scare and a game we could have won. Next came Moreton Hall but an hour’s rest did not help us as the team took a while to get going and we lost 1­3. Next came QAS who were too strong, leading to a 2­5 loss. The team picked themselves up, however, and defeated Malvern St. James’s 5­ 0. A tight closely contested game against Benenden saw us winning 2­1 until we had a player sent off: a 2­2 draw was the great result. The final game was against Marlborough, and our 6­0 win was a fabulous way to finish the day. There is so much of which we can be proud.

This is an outstanding achievement by all three teams and a group of girls who have helped turn Heathfield lacrosse round and set the bar of expectation higher than ever before. Thank you ladies, it’s official: you are the best three lacrosse teams Heathfield have produced to date!

Wendy Reynolds, Director of Sport

Heathfield Achieves SafetyMARK Award We are pleased to announce that Heathfield School has been recognised by The National Safety Certification Scheme for Schools, known as SafetyMARK, as having ‘excellent’ safety standards. The SafetyMARK scheme aims to provide guidance for schools and to recognise and reward those schools that have gone the extra mile to create a safe environment for staff, pupils, visitors and contractors. After a rigorous independent audit the school was able to

demonstrate that it has first class levels of safety management and compliance and, in doing so, achieved the SafetyMARK award for Excellence.

March Open Morning On Saturday 4 March Heathfield hosted an Open Morning to showcase our wonderful school to prospective new students and families. We had 9 more families than this time last year which we were thrilled about, and the girls did an excellent job of touring and showing everyone why we are such an excellent choice. Thank you very much to the girls who gave up their time on Saturday to help out, as well as Brookwood Catering for the fantastic lunch they provided.

Somerville Weekend, 25 & 26 February Saturday morning began with Interhouse Netball, which drew a lot of enthusiasm and competitiveness from the girls despite the less than ideal weather conditions.

Congratulations to de Valois who were the overall winners. A group of the girls who were not participating in netball welcomed in the weekend by taking part in the Bracknell Parkrun 5km race.

Form I and II spent the early afternoon baking, while Form V helped Sandy and the catering team set up for the formal dinner with Harrow that evening. Forms III and IV spent the evening at an overnight Duke of Edinburgh training weekend at Marlow Outdoor Centre.

As the evening approached the Dining and Assembly Halls looked incredible, decorated to the theme of Arabian Nights. 30 Harrow boys joined our Form V for a candlelight meal, which carried on into a disco afterwards. Many thanks to Sandy who organised a fantastic meal and mocktails for the evening.

After Chapel on Sunday morning, Forms I and II made fabric flowers, followed by a game of dodgeball after lunch. We were delighted to welcome the Rattle and Roll theatre group to Heathfield in the afternoon, who performed excerpts from several of Shakespeare’s plays in piece called Shakespeare’s Dreams and Nightmares. LVI enjoyed pizza in their common room followed by a cinema trip to Bracknell. Overall it was a fantastic and very busy weekend; thank you to all the staff who made it possible.

John Doyle, Head of House – Somerville

de Valois Weekend, 4 & 5 March 2017 As the 1st and 2nd Lacrosse teams were out taking part in the fiercely competitive National Schools’ Tournament and Form III were experiencing the highlights of Barcelona, it was up to the rest of the school to welcome potential new girls at our Open Morning.

Following a delicious lunch all girls had the opportunity to learn the merits of clever self­ defence first­hand from a Black Belt Tae Kwon Do instructor. The girls came away with valuable examples to deal with real life examples and we are looking to get Tim back in to work further with the girls and even any staff who may be interested.

With the highly anticipated Fashion Show drawing ever closer, the girls also had an opportunity to further develop their creations with Mrs Feilen and Miss James in preparation for the big day on March 17. On Saturday evening the LVI played host to the younger ones and put on a movie with popcorn and treats in their common room followed by an impromptu singalong to Mama Mia.

First thing on Sunday morning the Senior Polo Team, consisting of Angelina, Kitty and Tori, headed off to compete in the SUPA National Arena Polo Championships, while the rest of the school attended Chapel. We were treated to a stunning performance by Tansy, and a huge thank you must also go to Anastasia, Eva, Gina and Sophie for giving the reading and prayers.

Forms I and II made cards in the Art room while Sister Emma ran First Aid training for the senior girls. Thanks to the British Heart Foundation for providing Heathfield with the CPR training materials free of charge. It was a fantastic afternoon that was as enjoyable as it was educational.

After lunch girls headed off to the movies to see either Lion or Sing – both of which proved to be emotional rollercoasters! To round the weekend off the pool and Water Walkers were in action and a great time was had.

Janet Talbot, Head of House – de Valois

17 March – LAMDA, Music & Fashion Show 24 March – End of term 18 April – Start of Summer term 29 & 30 April ­ Exeat 6 May ­ Fellowship Day 13 & 14 May ­ Exeat 20 May ­ Open Morning 26 May ­ Half Term

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