Inside Heathfield enews issue 44

Issue Number 44 November & December 2015

A message from Mrs Jo Heywood, Headmistress I always seem to start these newsletters by saying what a busy term it has been, but this term has really been exceptionally full, with Bonfire Night & fireworks, the annual GCSE Presentation Lunch, Nicky Stalls, the reception for parents at The Lansdowne and the school Carol Service, in addition to all the usual activities. You will read about some of these events in this newsletter, which gives a good indication of just how much there is going on at this busy school. No wonder your daughters are tired by the end of term!

All these events take a great deal of planning and organisation, and I take this opportunity to thank the Heathfield staff who work tirelessly throughout the year, and also to thank the parents, who support the school so generously.

Our school production takes place next term, on 4 and 5 February; rehearsals have been underway since September, and those of you who have seen our productions before will know that the standard is always remarkably high. We’re in for another treat with Thoroughly Modern Millie, so save the dates, and I hope to see many of you there.

House Shield, Mary Grant Cup and Heathfield Highflyers The final Assembly was a great celebration of the girls’ achievements throughout the term. Highflyer Awards were given to two girls in each Faculty who produced an exceptional piece of work: Creative Arts Faculty awards went to Amber Walduck (Form III) and Angela Liang (Form IV).

Humanities Faculty awards went to Constance Kidston (Form III) and Grace Beckwith-Moore (LVI).

The Languages and Society Faculty award went to Sophie Goschen (LVI).

STEM Faculty awards went to Paloma Guerrero (Form I) and Grace Congreve (Form IV).

The Mary Grant Cup for making the most of her talents, for determination and resilience and for cheerfulness and compassion was presented to Izzy Colley (LVI).

To conclude the Assembly, the House Shield winners were announced: Seacole.

Key dates for your diary Staff Focus Days: Monday 4 January and Tuesday 5 January Return of all girls: Tuesday 5 January Closed Weekend: Saturday 9 January – Sunday 10 January Exeat: Friday 22 January – Sunday 24 January Half Term: Friday 12 February – Sunday 21 February Exeat: Friday 4 March – Sunday 6 March Closed Weekend: Saturday 19 March – Sunday 20 March End of Term: Wednesday 23 March *Please see school calendar for details of other events

Issue Number 44 St Nicholas Stalls — Saturday 28 November On Saturday 28 November Heathfield’s annual St Nicholas’s Stalls took place. Following Heathfield tradition, Mrs Heywood opened the doors together with the youngest girl in the school, Paloma (Form I), to the excitement of the Heathfield girls, their families, staff and Old Girls. Austen girls sang a welcome to everyone whilst De Valois welcomed visitors of all ages into their Santa’s Grotto. 28 independent stall holders attracted buyers with their array of goods and were offered a selection of sandwiches and soup with a glass of champagne. We were particularly proud to have on sale for the first time our own Heathfield Honey, which sold out very quickly.

The Sports Hall was a hive of activity as the four Houses worked tremendously hard to raise money for their chosen charities. Austen was supporting Maggie’s Centre, De Valois was fundraising for Plan UK, Seacole had chosen Huntington’s Disease Association and Somerville selected BEAT. Money raised from donations from the tea and coffee stall will be donated to the school charity, Youth at Risk. In the Sports Hall there were stalls of donated goods, bottle and sweet tombolas, raffles, silent auctions, and much more. As ever the event was a huge success, wonderfully supported by our generous parents, and although money is still coming in, we are likely to have raised well over £14,000 – a staggering total and a great testimony to the hard work of girls and staff.

This year’s whole school show will be the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Based on a 1956 British musical Chrysanthemum and then the1967 film starring Julie Andrews as the eponymous heroine, this romantic comedy tells the story of Millie Dillmount, a thoroughly ‘modern girl’ who arrives in New York, determined to marry for money rather than love. Needless to say after a few twists and turns, including a narrow escape from the scheming landlady’s determined efforts to sell Millie’s friends off to the white slave trade, love wins out in the end.

Auditions and rehearsals for the 30 strong cast began in earnest as soon as we got back to school in September and it is very exciting to announce that several of our new girls have been brave enough to get involved. As well as Ms O’Connor (Director) and Mrs Dance (Musical Director) we are also delighted to be working with Jane du Toit, our Choreographer, who is teaching the girls to tap dance.

The performances will take place on 4 and 5 February 2016 so please save the date!

Form I sing to Residents at The Priory—10 December First Form went to The Priory Nursing Home, where we were greeted with many smiling faces and we performed an array of Christmas carols such as Once In Royal David’s City and Silent Night. I then sang my own version of White Christmas before we chatted and introduced ourselves to the residents. It was an hour of joy and merriment for the elderly people and Form I. We thank The Priory for allowing us in to spread some Christmas cheer! We wish everyone there a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Phoebe Parker, Charitable Events Prefect and Music Captain

Maths Challenge Four Sixth Form girls competed for Heathfield against 25 other schools in the Maths Challenge held at St John the Baptist School in Woking on 2 December.

Our team performed very well, particularly on Crossnumber (which is similar to a crossword but with numbers), scoring 58 out of 60 points. This was one of three rounds. Charterhouse were the overall winners.

Well done team Kate Wiwatdirekkul, Diana Chinalieva from UVI and Anastasia Fedotova and Millie Geddes from LVI. John Doyle, Head of House - Somerville

Issue Number 44 A trip to Andalucia for Form V In October, 16 of us went to Andalucia in Spain. The main focus of the trip was to improve our Spanish for our GCSE. Every day we interacted with Spanish native speakers and practised role-plays. We all found this very helpful to evolve our speaking skills in this chosen language.

We viewed other parts of the area to further explore the Spanish culture. We visited Jerez de la Frontera, the city known as the world capital of sherry wine. We visited the Williams & Humbert Winery dedicated to the production of sherry wines and brandies and other liqueurs. It was founded in 1877.

We also had the opportunity to watch an equestrian show in which we saw one of the horses of The Royal School dance. The group also took a boat trip along the Bay of Cadiz.

During our trip we went to the beautiful historic town of Ronda. Around the city are the remains of prehistoric settlements dating to the Neolithic Age. However, Ronda was first settled by the early Celts.

Grace, Angelina and Georgie Form V

Le Cordon Bleu, Paris I am currently studying patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and it is my aim to complete the Dipl么me de Patisserie in August 2016, followed by a 2 month internship.

The certificate I am holding is the first part of the diploma, Patisserie de Base or basic patisserie. I was delighted to achieve a score of 2nd out of 118 students. I will go on to complete Intermediate and Superior certificates during 2016.

The course has been fantastic so far and I have learnt so much already from some of the best chefs in Paris. I am very much looking forward to returning in January.

Emily Shepherd, leaver 2015

Upper VI Gallery Trip On Monday 23 November Miss White and Louise Champion took the U6 Photography girls on a gallery trip to London. First we visited the National Portrait Gallery to look at the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition where we were able to get inspiration for our next photoshoot and take into consideration the size and impact each image had, and how the detail in the images could influence our own work.

We then went on to the V&A Museum to look at the Richard Learoyd: Dark Mirror exhibition and the Contemporary Portraiture display. The images were mesmerising as they were displayed in extremely large white deep frames, focusing your eye and enhancing the content and interest of the images. Miss White then took the girls out for a delicious supper at Bella Italia. The trip was greatly enjoyed, giving us all the opportunity to include primary research in our course work.

Daisy Cave & Kim Ravenscroft

Issue Number 44 The Athena Society On 19 November the Athena Society met in the Library for a talk given by the Classics and Archaeology speaker Professor Anna Smith and our own Mr Mitchell, on our namesake, the Greek goddess Athena, and Nationalism respectively. The erudite atmosphere in the room was intensified as the many attributes of one of the most famous figures of Greek mythology were explained and discussed, and we were all captivated as our speakers explored the links between their seemingly distant subjects, perhaps the most significant to us being the roles of women in both tangible society and fantastic mythos.

After an hour and a half of fascinating address, our speakers left us with a few challenging questions to discuss over a mouth-watering dinner. The lively conversation was kept up between mouthfuls, as we dived further into the depths of subjects such as feminism, tradition, fables and patriotism, and their interwoven connections with the topics of our talk. The evening was highly enjoyable socially and intellectually, as avenues of thought never explored before were opened to us, along with new ideas to mull over.

Our thanks go to Mr Mitchell, for his enlightening talk on Nationalism, Mrs Bramley, and our Chairwoman Anna Fenwick, not to mention our caterers, without whom this evening would not have been possible, and finally to our captivating speaker, Professor Anna Smith for her excellent talk on Athena and allowing us to pick her brains!

Miss J Meeson Teacher in Charge of History of Art Lower VI Photography trip On Monday 30 November, our Lower Sixth Photography class went on an exciting trip to London, South Kensington. The aim of this trip is to collect primary research from both the Natural History and the V&A Museums. Although the day was cloudy and miserable, everybody looked forward to their first ever photography trip. We went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in the Natural History Museum first to see all sorts of breath-taking amateur photographs on display.

Some of the most incredible images were taken by people our age! Everybody was amazed by those photographers’ images and it encouraged us to work harder to become more creative and professional with our own work. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the V&A Museum looking around three smaller photographic exhibitions: Richard Learoyd: Dark Mirror, Facing History: Contemporary Portraiture and the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. We worked independently in this gallery to find photographs that would inspire and influence our next photo-shoot.

After a hard working afternoon , we had a nice supper together before heading back to school. Everyone enjoyed themselves a lot.

Lily Yang, Photography Scholar & Prefect Windsor Festival Schools’ Programme Last month saw the winners of the Windsor Festival Schools’ Programme, a creative competition for Royal Borough secondary schools, collect their awards at a prestigious prize-giving in Windsor Castle.

Overall, 27 students whose art, creative writing and music compositions had been selected by a panel of creative experts, were invited to Norman Tower, the home of Admiral Sir James Perowne KBE, Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle.

Andrew Try, founder of competition sponsor ComXo, congratulated the winners on their achievements whilst highlighting how important the arts and creative thinking are to the world of business today.

The young creatives were also treated to a private tour of the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. All of the prize winning and commended work will be on display in an exhibition at the London offices of Herbert Smith Freehills from November 21 until the end of January 2016.

Georgie Drysdale – Portrait of a Father, Anna Fenwick – Bodyscapes, Chi-Chi Nelson-Moore – Nigeria: Apart and Together, Lily Yang – Still Life

Issue Number 44 Netball Congratulations to the U15B Netball Team who won the SE Berkshire Plate event. The results were as follows: St. George's, Ascot 5 - 1 The Holt 2 - 1 The Marist 5 - 1 The Abbey 6 - 3 St Mary's, Ascot 6 - 2 In the Final they played against Luckley and won 8 - 3 From left to right back row: Flora Dundas, Zofia Beilby, Lily Hearn, Nurshahar Izbasar, Harriet Colley Front Row: Georgie Kelly, Nicole Ferber, Kate Thompson The U12 Netball team played extremely well too, and reached the semifinal of the SE Berkshire Plate competition. Well done girls!

Carol Service From Sasha Khaneeva’s beautiful artwork on the front of the order of service to the final congregational Hosanna in Excelsis the Carol Service on Friday 11 December provided an apt end to a busy Michaelmas term and a perfect start to the eagerly anticipated Christmas holiday. Contributions from Mrs Heywood, Father Tim, Mrs Dance, Miss Kong, readers, singers, instrumentalists and the gathered congregation all combined to focus hearts and minds on the birth of Jesus Christ at this important time in the Christian calendar.

Parents, guests, staff and students were treated to live, festive music in the St Mary’s Theatre and foyer before and after the service, setting a mood of worship and joyous celebration. The service itself was a mixture of well-established tradition, such as the opening solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City, beautifully sung by Scarlett Owen (Form I); favourite carols including O Come All Ye Faithful; the more unusual This Little Babe by Benjamin Britten; and the popular carol O Holy Night performed by choir prefects Holly Allen and Phoebe Parker. Father Tim’s address was typically entertaining and thought-provoking – I’m sure many of the congregation identified with the need for another sherry to cope with Uncle Bert’s vagaries! As always, thanks and credit must go to Mrs Dance and Miss Kong, whose hard work and dedication over the past weeks of preparation and whose skill a nd mu sic ia nshi p i n conducting and accompanying brought out the best in all who participated before, during and after the service.

Janet Liepa Form V Housemistress

Austen weekend - 21 and 22 November The week before Nicky Stalls meant that the girls needed to work together to produce their posters for the various stalls, games and prizes on offer. The Houses were represented by their own colours, with each trying to out-do the others with the amount of glitter used. Thank you so much to all the girls for their tireless work in what was great preparation for the fair.

After lunch, Heathfield took on St Mary’s Calne in a number of lacrosse fixtures. Form I and II, playing away, only had a little time afterwards to get themselves ready to greet the boys from Sunningdale for dinner, party games and a disco.

On the Sunday, the lower school visited Winchester Cathedral where they enjoyed the Christmas markets whilst the older girls visited Basingstoke. That evening, the House Captains hosted a beautiful service in the Chapel, bringing their own music for the occasion. Thanks to all Austen staff and the Housemistresses for making the weekend a great one.

Issue Number 44 Upper VI Christmas Cake Competition Leiths U6 Christmas Cakes 2015 Assembly Friday 11 December Olamide Ogundare Annika Schaefer Mrs Blackburn and Ms Fairclough are very pleased with the Leith’s U6 Christmas cakes this year. It is another great year, with a high technical standard and plenty of creativity and originality. Surfing the net was very helpful for starting ideas, but all the finished designs were unique to the creator. All were accomplished with calm efficiency. So huge congratulations to the Leiths students: with authorisation from Mrs Gardiner Legge they have all been awarded lots and lots of merits. The results of the competition, as judged by all the staff, are: The Most Technically Skilled cake: Annika Schaefer and the Most Creative and Original cake: Olamide Ogundare

Kimberley Ravenscroft

Kate Wiwatdirrekul

Christy Leung

Isabella Andrew

De Valois Weekend , 5 & 6 December 2015 The final weekend of the Michaelmas Term saw the Christmas Festivities begin with First and Second Form heading to Windsor for the Santa and Reindeer Parade while the Third and Fourth Form enjoyed trampolining in the Sports Hall. That evening the de Valois House Captains, Honor and Tattie, organised a Christmas inspired disco. Santa and his various helpers looked fabulous on the dance floor. On Sunday the Junior School headed to the pool to master the inflatable obstacle course and avoid the cold water hose. After lunch Santa came to Heathfield and hosted a Christmas Party and games followed by a movie in the Assembly Hall. At the same time, the Third Form and above headed into Windsor to show off their talents on the ice rink. That evening the girls adorned their Christmas jumpers and hats for festive songs and carols for the ‘Now that’s what I call Christ-Mass’ Service in the Chapel.

Miss J Talbot Head of House – De Valois and Teacher of PE

@HeathfieldAscot

Heathfield School

Heathfield Blog