TeenTech Awards 2016, Monday 20 June
Congratulations to Millie Geddes (LVI) who was awarded Highly Commended for her innovative concept designed to help dementia sufferers at a national technology awards for teenagers founded by the former Tomorrow’s World presenter Maggie Philbin. Millie beat off tough opposition from hundreds of teenagers across the UK to win through to the national final of the TeenTech Awards 2016.
The TeenTech Awards challenge youngsters aged 11-18 years old to use technology to solve real-world problems by researching current markets and gleaning advice from industry experts.
The awards were set up to excite young people about the everexpanding career possibilities available in the fields of science, engineering and technology, with TeenTech events taking place across the UK throughout the year – seeing hundreds of schools benefit from hands-on exhibits and challenges.
Millie’s design for an Alzheimer’s App to help sufferers manage their own needs and give them vital independence was nominated in the ‘Best Innovation’ category, winning a prestigious ‘Highly Commended’ in the final. Millie’s App works by a combination of wearable technology and sensors. Her concept and design was so strong because the technology exists to implement it but it has not necessarily been applied before.
Millie travelled to the Royal Society in London for the final where she was one of 120 teenagers presenting their pioneering ideas to a team of judges made up of celebrity science presenters, journalists and eminent academics including co-founder of TeenTech Maggie Philbin, Professor Brian Cox, theoretical physicist and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili, BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, Channel 4 News’ Geoff White, science and tech reporter Dallas Campbell, Gemma Morris from SKY, Fran Scott, CBBC Science Presenter and Jo Johnson MP.
All the teenagers also had the opportunity to showcase their designs in front of the businesses and individuals who can help commercialise them and make them a reality.
With National Women in Engineering day coming up just after the TeenTech Finals, TeenTech also announced more girls than boys had reached the final and that 8 of the 20 category prizes were won by teams of girls.
A TeenTech spokesman said: ‘These positive female numbers clearly demonstrate that girls are just as enthusiastic as boys when it comes to developing tech ideas that will change our world. Over 800 girls across the UK participated in the competition.’
Professor Brian Cox, said: ‘I always look forward seeing what the students at TeenTech come up with and I’m never disappointed. We are seeing the next generation of scientists and engineers, and it fills me with optimism.’
‘The Awards offer an incredible opportunity for businesses, and academics to get a genuine insight into just how entrepreneurial and techsavvy the youngsters of today can prove to be,’ said TeenTech’s founder and CEO, Maggie Philbin.
Rushi Millns, Subject Leader ICT
Key dates for your diary
2 July, 1pm - END OF TERM
6 September - Return of LVI & new Form III
7 September - Return of current girls & new Form IV
8 September - Start of new Forms I & II
10 - 11 September - Closed weekend
23 - 25 September - Exeat
7 - 9 October - Exeat
15 October - Open Morning
21 October - Half Term begins
1 November - Half Term ends
26 November - St Nicholas’ Stalls
30 November - Fellowship Carol Service
15 December - Carol Service
15 December - END OF TERM
Form I Independent Learning Project, Monday 13 June
Form I were given the task of ‘Marketing Heathfield’ for their Independent Learning Project this Summer Term. The girls were given presentations by Miss White on how to use images for marketing and publicity and by Director of Marketing and Admissions Anna Morgan and Director of Communications Liz Ivens on Marketing and PR. The girls then worked in groups for several hours to decide on their own Marketing Strategy and to do some research into how Heathfield is currently marketed and publicised and how they would do it if they were in charge!
In front of an audience including Mrs Heywood, and Mrs Gardiner Legge, each group gave a presentation on their findings and their ideas for the way forward. Each group produced their own school videos alongside their strategies which they took turns to present. One group was also particularly praised for redesigning a new logo for the school to include crossed Lacrosse sticks in honour of the school’s excellence at Lacrosse. They were challenged by Mrs Heywood to work on that logo to also include other areas of excellence within the school. Mrs Heywood said: ‘The quality of the work produced was outstanding and visually stunning. The girls put real thought into their strategies and we were all extremely impressed. After a week of hard work in the examination hall, this project gave girls the chance to use their creativity to produce some impressive results.’
Anita Diaz & Rachel Oakley
Form I History Project, June 2016
During the last two weeks of term, Form I embarked on a project to create a completely new Board game all about the Spanish Armada. The criteria for winning the competition were based on the girls’ presentations, accuracy, historical content, how easy to understand the rules are and how simple it is to play.
Mr Mitchell kindly helped to judge and the winners were chosen on the strength of decisions of the staff and the pupils who also commented on the different games. Congratulations to Tamara and Scarlett who were the winners, based on their game’s historical content, good presentation and being fun to play.
Lesley Worrall, Teacher of Geography & History
Form III Independent Learning Project, Tuesday 28 June
PSHE education includes teaching young people about managing money in preparation for their adult lives. This includes topics such as budgeting, saving and borrowing and the social responsibility of giving money to charity. In Form III these topics were explored through an activity that involved Planning A Prom.
Form III showed a high level of skill, creativity and originality during their Planning A Prom activity. With diverse themes such as Over the Rainbow, Masquerade and a Yule Ball the girls had to plan a prom that would make money, be safe and where everyone would have fun. They also had to consider how to promote their prom and what charity they would give any money raised to. The groups all worked with admirable independence and collaborated well together. The presentations at the end of the activity were all very good and each group had something they had done particularly well.
Mrs Frier, the Bursar, had a very difficult job as judge but in the end decided that the close runners-up were the group who had planned the Yule Ball - Clemmie, Vas, Aisha and Hum as Mrs Frier particularly like their clear and confident presentation without any notes.
As overall winners, Mrs Frier chose the group who had planned a Masquerade ball. This group had done a lot of research and had found an excellent package to help make their ball easy to organise and run and to help them raise a good profit for their chosen charity. Well done to Floria, Maria, Amber and Flavia!
Anita Diaz, PSHE
SeeWomen, Thorpe Park, Thursday 23 June - National Women in Engineering Day
The opening of our new STEM facility this year has led to a host of opportunities for Heathfield girls in and out of school, with more and more people now aware of Heathfield’s growing reputation in the Sciences including the Girls’ Schools’ Association (GSA).
The GSA invited Heathfield not only to send some of its own girls to a high profile science event sponsored by Siemens UK on June 23 but also suggested Heathfield should invite pupils from a local state school to attend too.
Heathfield Forms II and III – along with their guests, Newlands’ Girls School in Maidenhead – joined forces to attend the SeeWomen event at Thorpe Park – which was set up to celebrate National Women in Engineering Day.
The event was devised by Great Scott Productions for Siemens UK, which is headed by TV scientist Fran Scott.
It was raining but that didn't dampen the girls' spirits. Great Scott Productions introduced the event by talking about some great female scientists to inspire the girls: for example - Sylvia Earle, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society and Dr Helen Sharman, a chemist, who was the first British woman in space.
The girls were then treated to some live experiments: for example –they heard about the work of Professor Jackie Akhavan, who is an expert on explosives, before seeing balloons filled with Butane explode and lids fly off metal tins.
They also heard from Siemens Engineering apprentices (16+, 18+ and graduate entrants) about working at Siemens and how they got there and what their aspirations are. Girls were told there were many advantages to working as an engineer – not least good pay and worldwide demand!
Siemens has double the number of female engineers than the average engineering company – but that is only 6% as compared to 3% - so they admitted it’s still not enough!
Rushi Millns, Subject Leader ICT
Highflyers, Summer Half Term
Many congratulations to Lily Jevons and Diana Chinalieva who both received Highflyer awards during Assembly at half term. Lily was awarded her Highflyers by the Languages and Society Faculty for French and Diana by the Expressive Arts Faculty for Music. Well done!
Fourth into Sixth, 27 30 June
This week Form IV have been living like VI Form. On Monday we had a Photography taster lesson with Ms White. We were split into groups and had to take a series of 7 or 8 photos that tell a story using the props which we were given. These props had to be featured in all of our photos. For example, De Valois were given bunny ears, a sword and a butterfly, so we decided that we would focus on creating a murder scene. We were given an hour to complete this task, which would be judged at a later date.
On Tuesday, we had a careers talk where we discussed the options after A Levels. The speaker highlighted how important it is to keep your options open and not to rush into a course. After this we set off to Mytchett Lake, where we performed team building activities. These included raft building and team games that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Teamwork was key and it made for a great atmosphere! Afterwards, two people from each House went to Tesco’s with Dr. Harden and Mr. Moore to buy our ingredients for cooking dinner in our Houses. On Tuesday night, Austen and Seacole cooked dinner and then Somerville and De Valois on Wednesday night. This was a great experience as we had never cooked dinner for a large group before and it was especially entertaining as we could invite guests.
On Wednesday morning we had taster lessons of other new A Level subjects including Graphic Design, Politics, History of Art, Leiths and Psychology. They were really useful, as everyone now understands what the subject is actually about and what it would involve. Our favourite lesson was Politics because we worked together on deciding the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the EU. In the afternoon we had time to complete our projects and experience VI Form life.
On Thursday morning we did our Education projects. We were split into four groups and our task was to explain what education meant to us and to explore the different aspects of it. Later on, our parents arrived to watch our presentations and videos. We ended the week with a BBQ outside Wyatt House, attended by staff and parents. Thank you Dr. Harden and all other staff for organising this amazing week, we had so much fun.
Lydia Manduca, Form IV
UVI Lily Ball, Wednesday 29 June
The Lily Ball was held on Wednesday 29 June at the wonderful Bodo’s Schloss, a little bit of alpine Austria in the heart of Kensington. The girls had brushed up nicely and some of the staff didn’t look too bad as well. Smiles and laughter beamed and rang out throughout the evening, the photo-booth saw a constant stream of eager models and conversation flowed as we sat down for dinner. Dancing began soon after and girls, parents and staff all took to the floor for their favourite numbers. Before we knew it, the witching hour was upon us and guests began to drift off into the night. A handful of survivors continued to celebrate until they too faded into the night mist. Another Lily Ball, another exemplary group of girls.
Jeremy Hart, Director of Sixth Form
Lower VI Geography Trip, Wednesday 22 June
Lower VI Geographers braved the variable British weather to visit 3 sea-side resorts in one day: Eastbourne, Brighton and Bognor Regis.
The aim of the day was to collect data for their A2 Unit 4A fieldwork paper, next summer. The obvious honeypot site at each resort was its pier, so this marked the starting place for pedestrian and traffic counts, environmental quality transects as well as questionnaires on people’s perceptions of the effect of tourism and any possible conflicts.
Rose, Honor, Maria and Nicole kept their focus at each site and experienced, first-hand, the differing attractions of each particular place and the effects of tourism on the local environment. An appreciation of the British seaside resort was enhanced by the lunchtime attention of local seagulls – an experience to be remembered!
Lesley Worrall and Basia Mason
Forms I IV Music & LAMDA Concert, Friday 24 June
On Friday night, we enjoyed our final Music/LAMDA concert of the year, comprising four dance items from Form I, including the fabulous Broken Hearts duet performed by Isabel and Lucia, The Cane Dance solo performed by Isabel, a trio called No by Lucia, Lily and Paloma and another duet by Lucia and Lily called Cheap Thrills.
There were three instrumental items, firstly a euphonium solo played by Matilda Shelton-Agar: Song to the Moon from the opera, Rusalka by Dvorak, the haunting Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission by Ennio Morricone and River Flows in You played by Angela on the piano, accompanied by Jasmine on the drums.
LAMDA items included a song by Charlotte, My Brother Lived, and the very funny dialogue, Stowaway performed by Tansy and Phoebe. Form II opened and closed the concert with Singin’ in the Rain and finally, The Megamix from Grease. Our next Music/LAMDA concert will be on Friday 4 November at 7.30 in the theatre.
Julie Dance, Director of Music
Science
Following on from the success of hatching chicks last year, Lower VI Biology were particularly keen to hatch ducklings this year. So in early June, we took delivery of 7 duck eggs which we incubated and kept an eye on via a live web cam and we were all thrilled when they started to hatch resulting in 7 healthy, beautiful ducklings. Each year group named a duckling with girls taking it in turn to care for them. They proved to be a great therapy during the pressure of the public exams! I am pleased to report that they have all got excellent homes with members of staff and pupils and we look forward to seeing reports on their progress.
Clare Wells, Head of Science
Data Protection and Safeguarding at Heathfield
It’s not a glamorous subject, but one which we take very seriously at Heathfield. Recent legislation means that we have to be more vigilant than ever about concerns over privacy and safeguarding the children in our care. The Data Protection Act lays out our duty to protect girls’ privacy. To this end, we have encrypted all our laptops and tablets and now enforce the encryption of USB drives. E-mail is secured, too, as is remote access to our systems. This ensures that any device falling into the wrong hands cannot be accessed and information regarding our students is kept safe.
More legislation on safeguarding is coming in September 2016. We adhere to best practices in ensuring that students may access only age-appropriate material, while acknowledging that Heathfield is their home, too. More access to leisure time activities has been a feature of the last year, together with BYOD Wi-Fi for their phones and tablets. However, balancing that is the need to protect them from exploitation and to adhere to the needs of the PREVENT initiative to stop radicalisation. Ultimately, our aim is to provide a fulfilling but safe internet experience to help students with their studies and to provide them with leisure entertainment, too.
Martin Taylor, Director of IT
Sports Day, Saturday 18 June
Our annual sports day was held once again at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre and we had all been anxiously looking at the weather forecast wondering whether we would make it through without any rain - and we did!
It was fabulous to see every girl competing and representing her House and the morning flew by. Junior teams are Forms I and II with Senior being Forms III, IV and LVI. The results are as follows:
Junior Hurdles = Minty Clarry
Senior Hurdles = Hum Hunt-Davis
Junior 100m = Florence Wingfield-Digby
Senior 100m = Katy Smyth-Osbourne
Junior 200m = Isabella Baillieu
Senior 200m = Aisha Edwards
Senior 300m = Flora Dundas
Junior 800m = Isabella Baring
Senior 800m = Hum Hunt-Davis
Junior 1500m = Scarlett Owen
Senior 1500m = Scarlett O’ Toole - a new record
Junior High Jump = Minty Clarry
Senior High Jump = Scarlett O’ Toole and Katy Smyth-Osbourne
Junior Long Jump = Minty Clarry
Senior Long Jump = Hum Hunt-Davis
Junior Shot = Florence Wingfield-Digby
Senior Shot = Nicole Ferber
Junior Discus = Olivia Milligan
Senior Discus = Olympia von Woellwarth-Lauterburg
Junior Javelin = Sophie Drysdale
Senior Javelin = Amber Walduck
Junior Relay = De Valois
Open Relay (fastest runners in the House) = De Valois
Wendy Reynolds, Director of Sport
Sport round-up
Many congratulations to Florence, Sophie, Minty and Olivia who played in the Berkshire U13 semi-final of the Aegon Cup tennis tournament against The Abbey on Monday 20 June. They won 8 – 4 and then faced Newlands School in the final. After the first round of matches, points were tied at 8-8 and so a deciding Championship tie-breaker had to be played. Despite a valiant effort and some excellent tennis, Minty and Florence lost 8 – 10.
On Saturday 11 June, the U15, U14, U13, U12 Rounders teams and the U15 tennis team played at home against Holyport. The U13 and U12 teams unfortunately lost but the U14 and U15 teams won. The U15 tennis team played an extremely strong game resulting in a win for them too.
On Tuesday 21 June, the U12 Rounders team played in the Ascot Schools’ Tournament. Sadly they lost to St. George’s by ½ a rounder who finished 2nd overall and The Marist who won but beat LVS / St. Mary’s A / Marist B / St. George’s B to finish 3rd overall – well done to everyone who played.
The U15 rounders team played well against St Mary’s Ascot on Tuesday 28 June and on Thursday 30 June, the U15,U14,U13 and U12 teams all played against the Marist.
Wendy Reynolds, Director of Sport
Prep Taster Day, Wednesday 22 June
Year 4 and 5 girls from a selection of Prep Schools were invited for a day of fun learning activities and to get a taste of what life is like at Heathfield. The girls all thoroughly enjoyed their day which included Maths, History, Music, Science and PE. The girls’ parents were invited in for tea in the library at the end of the day, where their daughters joined them, very excited about their goodie bags!
Prep Drama, Thursday 23 June
Accompanied by their teacher, 10 girls from Coworth Flexlands school visited Heathfield for a lively afternoon Drama Workshop. With the opportunity to learn new drama techniques, the girls explored what it might have been like to be an evacuee from London during WWII. Parents came to pick their daughters up and to watch a little of what they had learned. A very successful session.
Kathryn de Ferrer, Director of Pastoral and Co-Curricular Activities
Heads to Heathfield, Thursday 23 June
Despite the atrocious weather conditions we were delighted to welcome Heads from a selection of Prep schools to Heathfield. The Heads met with their old girls who enjoyed showing them all around the school. The Heads were most impressed with their old girls and their confidence when discussing things as they walked around. They were also impressed with the extensive facilities and in particular the new STEM building. We look forward to inviting more Heads to Heathfield later on in the year.
Equestrian - SUPA National Schools Girls Championships, Sunday 26 June
Overnight storms and a deluge of rain created havoc at the original venue for the SUPA National Schools’ Girls’ Challenge last Sunday. With the support of SUPA's friends in the polo world, their members were given the amazing opportunity to play at the stunning Black Bears arena at Henley-on-Thames at incredibly short notice. Set amongst the pristine Black Bears grounds this jewel of an arena provided a superb all weather surface for the SUPA summer girls’ championships.
The competition comprised of twelve all-girl teams playing in four divisions: Heathfield, Wycombe Abbey and Downe House fielded 2 teams each. The other 6 teams were combinations of players from Heathfield, Rugby, St Swithuns, St Edwards, St George’s Ascot, St Mary’s Ascot, Stowe, Marlborough, Bradfield, Sedburgh and Coworth Flexlands.
Heathfield Diamonds: Marybelle, Olivia and Boots played in the Beginners division which they won convincingly with a score of 10 - 2 after 3 chukkas against Wycombe Abbey.
Heathfield Rubies: Kitty, Tilly and an old friend and Heathfield girl Izzy Holman-West all played well but were thwarted by their rivals on this occasion.
Minty played to her strength in the SUPA team at Novice level, playing a strong game with her 'new' teammates on the day.
All were rewarded with prizes and copies of the Polo Times. Everyone had a fantastic day with some impressive competitive play throughout the 36 chukkas. The SUPA national Polo tournaments give parents a great opportunity to come and watch the polo players of the future.
SUPA Senior Schools Girls Championships, Sunday 19 June
The Heathfield Senior Polo team were out in action again, competing in the SUPA Senior Schools National Championships held at Kirtlington Park Polo Club. Against tough competition in the Intermediate division against Marlborough, Cheltenham College, Stowe and St George’s, the girls played well. Some great tactics were witnessed on the field and strong play by each of the Heathfield members, Tilly, Kitty, Angelina and Victoria.
Congratulations to Rose who has been selected as first reserve for the GB Junior Dressage team, an amazing achievement on a horse she is training herself. She had a wonderful time at Team camp, her 4th year there, and she and Flo couldn't have done any more, having consistently produced solid and reliable scores. Well done Rose!
Gill Glimmerveen, Equestrian Co-ordinator
Royal Ascot Procession, Tuesday 14 June
On the appropriately named Watersplash Lane the Heathfield Form II girls had an excellent position to watch the Royal Procession on its way to Ascot Racecourse for the first day of the Royal meeting.
Although the carriages needed their roofs up to protect the Royal family from the rain, we still had a perfect view of not only the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, but also Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice.
The girls were rewarded by waves from passengers within the carriages and enjoyed the sight of the large support of Royal cars, horse boxes and police out riders who all formed part of this spectacular event.
Gill Glimmerveen, Equestrian Co-ordinator
12km charity run, Wednesday 22 June
Very well done to Lydia who ran 12km to raise money for the charity Funding Neuro. The charity helps children with the rare form of cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, an extremely rare pediatric brain tumor about which very little is known. Only 300 children in the USA are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year. This cause is very close to her and her family’s heart and she is determined to raise as much money as possible to help the charity fund more vital research.
If you would like to support Lydia’s endeavours, please donate by clicking on this link, thank you: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/lydiamanduca
Race for Life, Sunday 26 June
Miss Wells, Alison, Louise, Form III and Sophie and Maya in Lower VI took part in the 5km Race For Life in Guildford at 11am on Sunday, in aid of Cancer Research UK. Events like this are vital in funding Cancer Research UK's lifesaving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. By sponsoring, we can all unite and create an army that cancer can't ignore and we will beat cancer sooner.
The team has raised over £500 so far. If you would like to support them, please do so by clicking on the link below, thank you.
http://www.justgiving.com/janettalbot4
Janet Talbot, Head of House - de Valois
De Valois Weekend, 25 & 26 June
As the intrepid Fourth Formers headed off on their overnight expedition for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award the junior school headed off on their own adventures. Forms I & II went snow tubing and exhausted themselves traipsing up and down a dry ski slope with large tubes.
Form III headed off to Liquid Leisure to climb, bounce, jump, slide and splash on the Aqua Park. On Saturday evening Katy and her team of LVI helpers ran a whole school game of ‘sardines’ in the grounds. The girls proved to be strategic in their hiding and well done to Scarlett for being awarded the best ‘sardine’ for her efforts hiding high up in a tree.
It was an early start for the girls on Sunday with Chapel at 8:30am in order that the III and VI Form girls could head off to Guildford to take part in the 5km ‘Race for Life’. Floria and Scarlett crossed the line first for Heathfield while Amber and Emily completed the course three legged! A very well done to all those that took part and thank you to all those that have donated to Cancer Research UK.
Forms I & II spent the day at Liquid Leisure with a Picnic Lunch and action on the Aqua Park. A great weekend to round up the summer term.
Janet Talbot, Head of House, De Valois
