Minerva 1

MINERVA AUTUMNÂ 2018

Award-winning playwright and OHS alumna Nina Raine visits the school

CONTENTS Greg James at the Oxfordshire Book Awards

Oxfordshire Book Awards The Positive Programme Grease The Town Hall Concert Swimming to the Nationals

NEWS

NEWS

The States We’re In

From the Headmaster

As one surveys the disorderliness of the Brexit saga it is all too easy to sink into a slough of despond, particularly as the nights draw in and the mercury drops. Freshly armed as we are, however, by the Positive Programme, in finding effective ways to move our emotional barometer, I trust that this first issue of Minerva will help in gently lifting you to the top right!

When we reviewed the aims and values of the school last year we determined to emphasise explicitly the aim to cultivate in our girls, ‘The drive and determination to change the world for the better’. So many of our alumnae have exemplified this, most recently Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, whose ground-breaking book on the adolescent brain has just been awarded the Royal Society’s Prize for Science Book of the Year.

But, of course, it is our current students to whom we look for the latest embodiment of this ideal.

You will find plenty of evidence of it scattered throughout the following pages, in sporting successes, scientific innovation and fearless, outspoken creativity. You will also see evidence of how we seek to unleash that potential, whether by offering Mandarin classes to all girls, breaking ground on our new Arts and Sixth Form Centre or through our packed calendar of residential trips, science talks, community partnership initiatives and outstanding music and drama.

So, as our thoughts turn towards the festive season, we wish you and your family a restful holiday and we look forward to welcoming you back in the New Year, refreshed for all the challenges that await.

2

A League of Their Own

At the end of the half-term break, Sixth Form Politics, Economics and RS students returned to Heathrow from their American tour positively bursting at the seams with knowledge, souvenirs and the awesome impact of American portion sizes.

These Girls Can Huge Oxford High congratulations to Emily Coulcher-Porter (Year 6), on being ranked British No. 1 in Girls’ U11 Squash this summer. Congratulations, also, to her fellow squash star, Evie Coxon (Year 13), who has been ranked No. 1 in all respective age groups from U11 to U17 and has this season graduated to the U19

age group, where she has so far won the Welsh Junior Open and come third in the British Championships. Hot off the press, we are also delighted to announce that Evie has recently been offered a sports’ scholarship to Harvard starting next year, where we wish her every success!

A Night to Remember This year’s Town Hall Concert provided music aficionados with a wonderfully diverse showcase of the music department’s work this term. Taking place as usual within the softly gleaming grandeur of Oxford Town Hall, the event took on a distinctly Central European flavour under the influence of new Director of Music, Dr Foster. This emphasis was most audible in the first orchestral piece (Brahms’ ‘Hungarian Dance No. 5’) and the Senior Choir’s breath-taking selections from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Between these forays into the dark soundscapes of central Europe, the audience was treated to an eclectic series of pieces including an Aretha Franklin tribute and the string orchestra’s stunning rendition of Grieg’s Holberg Suite. What unified all these performances, however, was not so much a particular theme as the seamless cohesion of the various groups and the brilliance of the players – well done, all!

Building on Oxford High School’s strong track-record in STEM subjects, two Year 12 students have this term gained recognition for their outstanding achievements in STEM. Jo Baptista, one of the Headmaster’s STEM scholars and winner of the 2017 Women of the Future award, was invited to speak at the Inspiring Fifty ‘Girls in Code’ event in Amsterdam. Jo’s speech saw her envisage a future in which the ubiquity of AI in our factories, hospitals and homes will mean that we are defined less by what we do than who we are. As such, Jo argued, emotional intelligence will be essential and women must claim a larger stake in an industry where, at present, only 10% of women occupy senior positions.

Jo at Inspiring Fifty

Meanwhile, Elizaveta Sheremetyeva was this term the delighted recipient of a prestigious Awkwright Scholarship. This national award seeks to identify future leaders in engineering, and during the ceremony Elizaveta was paired with her new sponsors, the Oxfordshire-based engineering firm, Reaction Engines.

Being pioneers in next-generation propulsion systems for space access and high-speed flight, we trust that Reaction Engines will help propel Elizaveta’s career to infinity and beyond!

Our trip had a particular focus on memory, with moving visits to Arlington Cemetery, the 9/11 memorial and the Holocaust memorial, where we were all sobered by the weight of such events. In addition to looking back, there was also a focus on moving forward, as we enjoyed talks about the important work of the UN and the World Bank. Visiting key political sites such as the Senate and Supreme Court filled some with bureaucratic ambitions, while a visit to the White House filled others with slightly more radical ones.

There was, of course, plenty of fun with friends, not least during the basketball game of the season at Madison Square Garden, but it was ultimately the teachers who held it all together, for which our very sincere thanks!

Carys Bufford (Year 13)

3

NEWS

NEWS

In the Spotlight: Physics Gillian Barbour joins Oxford High School from Uppingham School, where she was also Head of Physics. Here she tells us why she is delighted to be pioneering the transition at Sixth Form from A Level Physics to the CIE Pre-U Physics course.

She Raines Supreme Year 13 English Literature students were thrilled to receive a visit this term from Nina Raine (1994), whose award-winning play Tribes they are currently studying. Nina, whose latest play Stories is currently playing at The National, gave up a whole morning to discuss the key themes, inspirations and obstacles in staging her 2010 play, which won, among other plaudits, the 2012 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. To hear an author speak so articulately yet honestly about how her writing is achieved was an inspiring and empowering experience that they will never forget. Nina subsequently joined the Year 11 Book Group for a discussion of life in the theatre, in which she provided a packed room of aspiring playwrights, directors and actors with some incredibly practical and hard-won lessons on how to succeed as a female creative in the contemporary theatre.

Girl on the Ball

Congratulations to Sports award-holder, Georgia Brown on her selection for the Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) U18 National Representative Team and her recent receipt of an ISFA England Cap. The ISFA has been working with the FA for over a century to promote football and bring wider access to the game, so these are highly prestigious honours. Georgia herself has been playing brilliantly this season, training with both the Oxford United first team and playing for Cheltenham Ladies’, with the latter of whom Georgia has enjoyed an eight-

Good Vibrations In October, Oxford High School hosted an event with the Positive Group showcasing the innovative pastoral programme currently being rolled out to all students from Reception to the Sixth Form. The Positive Group specialises in using the latest psychological research to create its own ‘behavioural toolkits’ and app, and already has existing partnerships with the BBC, NHS, both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and Google. The evening featured two keynote addresses, the first by Dr Carole Edmond, CEO of The Regard Group, on the types of inequality that limit female attainment, and the second, from Dr Brian Marien, co-founder of The Positive Group, on his belief that emotional literacy should be added ‘to the water’ of mainstream education to prevent mental-health issues later in life. These fascinating ideas fed into a lively discussion by students and teachers of the practical ways in which the Positive Programme has changed how Oxford High School is talking about emotion, including a demonstration of the Positive app’s ‘emotional barometer’, which enables users to track, and talk more freely about, positive and negative emotions.

One of the common observations about Pre-U Physics is that it reintroduces students to what Physics is all about. Was this important in your decision to embrace the new qualification?

game unbeaten streak, reaching the first round of the FA Cup and scoring five goals in a recent county game!

We hope Georgia’s example will continue to inspire other students, as Oxford High School’s ‘Girls on the Ball’ programme initiative has expanded this year to encompass hockey, netball and cricket, offering sporting opportunities to girls from over 25 local primary schools.

As such, we are always on the lookout for enthusiastic coaches – if you’re interested, please speak to Mr Gilbert!

Absolutely. The course has an excellent balance of both classical and modern physics, looking at Newtonian Mechanics and taking this further than most A-level courses by looking at rotational dynamics. Alongside this, the course also includes several topics on newer ideas in physics such as Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. The mathematical demands of the course are also unique in that it does not shy away from using calculus as a tool to explain phenomena.

As such, it gives students a real sense of

the history of the subject and a realistic impression of what physics/engineering would be like for further study.

The Personal Investigation is often cited as a key advantage of Cambridge Pre-U Science qualifications. What are its main advantages?

The Personal Investigation is a very special feature of the course. In addition to the normal practical work that would take place in any Sixth Form course, it provides a further opportunity for students to plan and carry out their own detailed investigation into any aspect of physics that interests them.

Do universities welcome students with the Pre-U Physics qualification and can it enhance their chances of entrance?

Many top universities were consulted when the Pre-U courses were conceived, meaning that they have been designed to provide a clear stepping stone from school to further education. The

grading system is also different, giving Distinction, Merit and Pass grades (similar to music exams) instead of A*-E. This alternative grading structure allows top students to really shine and is well known to universities, with the new UCAS tariff system clearly showing the points allocation for each grade.

The physics course in particular is very highly regarded by universities, due to the mathematical rigour, challenge of the exam papers, and enhanced practical elements.

Sunflowers vs. Tulips This year’s hockey tour to the Netherlands set off at a frankly unspeakable hour of the morning, the negative effects of which were soon alleviated by the appearance of a portable speaker and some very spirited karaoke from Miss Lowe. Before the hockey began in earnest, we were honoured to receive two coaching sessions from Dutch professionals that combined fun drills like ‘Hockey Tennis’ with gruelling attacking exercises, many of which we applied in subsequent games. Our first match against Rotterdam, one of the best hockey clubs in the world, was the toughest, resulting in A and B losses. Our second match against Barendrecht gained us a 1-0 victory for the As, plus a newfound love of stroopwafels. Our final match against Cartouche garnered the As a triumphant 6-1 victory and the Bs a narrow 1-0 defeat. Between games, we visited both The Hague (for some excellent clothes shopping) and Amsterdam, where we were moved by the Anne Frank house and bought some terrible souvenirs.

Our thanks to the sports teachers for organising this unforgettable trip.

Savannah Culpepper (Year 10) 5

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Farewell to Mrs Gater

The end of the Autumn Term marks the departure of Mrs Kate Gater as Head of our Junior School. Kate is leaving us for High March School, where she will begin as Head in September 2019.

Kate’s time at Oxford High has seen significant development across both

Hill End Trip In October, Year 1 were thrilled to go on a trip to Hill End Outdoor Learning Centre to learn about their senses. They used eagle eyesight to navigate their way up a dried-out river bed, made smelly perfumes using the different things they found in the forest and practised listening as they stayed quiet for a whole three minutes, absorbing all the noises of the woodland! Finally, taste buds were set a-tingling by roasting marshmallows over an open fire at the end of our busy day.

Woodstock and Bardwell Road sites, providing a clear focus and real sense of purpose to the Junior School. Under her leadership, the academic curriculum has developed substantially, particularly in Maths, English and Languages. The girls, we know, will miss her tremendously,

Year 2 had a captivating morning with Science Oxford learning about the science behind their history project on the Great Fire of London. They saw paper Tudor houses being set on fire, learned what is needed to cause a fire to spread and learned how different coloured flames are produced through the addition of elements such as copper and sodium. Having learned all about fire and watched a ‘bounce or break’ experiment, the morning ended with the girls creating their own favourite material: slime!

and we will all look back with immense fondness at the innovation and warmth she has brought to the Junior School.

We wish her every possible success and happiness in her new role at High March.

The Great Fire of… Oxford?

Year 4 Head To Dorchester The October sun shone warmly as forty-nine excited Year 4 girls and their teachers arrived in Dorchester and were greeted in Anglo-Saxon by Morwenna, Sylvana and Ealswith. Our guides proceeded to introduce us to different aspects of life on a farm in Anglo-Saxon times, including Lucet Weaving and Brooch-Making, as well as a storytelling session on the life of King Alfred the Great. After lunch in the cloister garden, girls took part in a short play on the conversion to Christianity of King Cynegils of Wessex. At the end of the day, we gathered in the abbey, where a candle was lit and everyone reflected quietly on what they had learned and contemplated the needs of others in our society today.

What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us? This term Year 3 were thrilled to visit the Corinium Museum in Cirencester, where they navigated their way through the Museum trail, dressed up as ancient Romans and used mosaic pieces to create their own artwork.

Having studied the Romans in class, this experience brought their learning brilliantly to life, and the coach-ride home was full of talk about what it must really have been like to live in their world.

The Modern Woman Hard Times Year 5 students took a trip back in time this term at The Black Country Museum to complement their classroom project on the Victorians. During the course of the day they explored shops and homes from the Victorian era, played in the street with Victorian toys, donned hard-hats for their descent into a coal mine and even visited a Victorian cinema. The highlight, however, had to be their lesson in a real Victorian schoolroom, where they were all suitably terrified by the imposing figure of the School-Master!

66

This term Year 6 have been thinking about ‘The Modern Woman’. They have challenged stereotypes, investigated the lives of inspirational historical women and analysed the social conventions many women still have to confront today.

Alongside this work, they have been receiving visits from inspiring female role models from a variety of professions.

These inspiring women have come from the worlds of politics, musical theatre, science and industry, and all have spoken passionately about how they attained their goals despite the obstacles in their way. Seen here is Holly Watson Nall, an autonomous vehicle engineer who spoke to Year 6 about her job training F3 racing cars to drive themselves!

7

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Russian Conference

This term, Oxford High School hosted a conference for over 50 A Level students currently studying Russian at OHS, Harrow, Hampton and St Paul’s.

Organised by our Russian Department, the day featured a range of fascinating talks from local academics covering such diverse topics as Gorbachev’s perestroika, how to translate Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita and – from our very own Head of Russian, Katya Solovyova – a talk on the untranslatability of certain words between our two

Grease Audiences were catapulted back to a world of Brylcreem and bobby socks for this term’s whole-school production of Grease. The OHS cast was joined by two male players, Lucas Leuna from the Warriner School (Danny), and Ioan Oosthuizen from Abingdon and Witney College (Kenickie), who must both be congratulated for their warm and charismatic performances. However, it was, if possible, even more thrilling to witness the humour, generosity and skill with which our own girls adapted to the challenges of playing strong male and female characters.

They treated us to melancholy torch songs, hugely ambitious set-pieces choreographed by Mr Lewin, hilarious cameos and plenty of sassy dialogue.

Of course, a venture on such a scale simply would not be possible without the vision of Miss Bramall, the harmonies of Dr Foster and his band or the tireless efforts of the wardrobe, production and technical teams, all of whom worked feverishly over the three nights of performance to ensure that every beat and bar were popping, every costume was perfect and every one of the 100+ cue calls to lighting and sound came off without a hitch. It seems that Grease really is the word.

8

languages. The event culminated in some inspirational words from Anton Chesnokov, the Director of Rossotrudnichestvo (Russian Culture House). For several fortunate students, however, the day didn’t end there, as they and their teachers (alongside the ever-obliging Mr Chesnokov), were invited to the local studios of BBC Radio Oxford, where they joined DJ James Watt and spoke a few words of Russian live on the radio! Поздравляем!

Welcome to the Machine

talk by local Brontë expert, Sue Newby.

The afternoon was spent walking the moors towards High Withens, popularly acknowledged as the inspiration for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, where the students read the two poems of that name by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.

The group’s final day invoked the spirit of Plath and Hughes still further through a visit to Heptonstall, Hughes’ birthplace and Plath’s burial site, where a great many thoughts about the importance of place in literature coalesced under an atmospheric sky and the skeletal remains of Heptonstall Old Church.

Whipworm Genome Club is for anyone in Years 10-13 with an interest in biology and scientific research. The ultimate aim of the project is to identify every single one of the 15,000 genes in the human whipworm genome, and thereby develop a cure for Trichuriasis, a Neglected Tropical Disease that contributes to malnutrition and poverty in large parts of the world.

Our job as whipwormers is to annotate genes from our section of the genome using a programme called Apollo, so scientists from the Wellcome Genome Campus can select which ones to target with drugs in order to cure the infection.

Under Northern Skies On a bright morning in September, the English Department headed north with twelve A Level English scholars to explore the links between great literature and the places that inspire it. The trip started with a visit to Lyme Park to experience the Regency home typical of an Austen heroine, during which much fun was had with bonnets and parasols. The first day concluded with the group’s arrival in Haworth and an eerie, late-night reading of ‘Christabel’ and other Gothic poems in a suitably rain-soaked graveyard. Saturday saw the group explore Haworth and the Brontë parsonage, including a superb

Cracking the Code

In early November, the Drama Department staged an ambitious production: a bleak and minimalistic companion piece to the technicolour extravaganza that was Grease. Machinal is the story of a woman revolting against her time, her class and society’s expectations of her. In this respect, the play (which was written in 1928) presages the great existentialist works

of the forties and fifties by presenting a protagonist who is unmoved by society’s demands, yet remains unable or unwilling to explain why. The evening was brilliantly staged by Mr Pelling with the assistance of Mr Hay, and the ensemble of actors delivered a stark, poignant and often challenging dramatic experience to a packed room.

To date we’ve curated 1,000 genes using this method, which is about 17% of the 6,000 completed so far. This is the first time anyone has attempted to curate the entire genome of a parasitic worm, and it has given us an amazing insight into how research is conducted in reallife situations that will have a genuine impact on people around the world.

Marielle Lee and Freya Goodman (Year 11) 9

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

CAREERS, ALUMNAE AND OTHER NEWS:

The Science of Partnership Our sixth triannual JEMS (‘Juniors doing Engineering, Maths and Science’) Morning was another great success this term. Inspired by the theme of construction, the event saw more than one hundred Year 5 pupils from ten different primary schools conduct a range of experiments on design, construction and substances. Maria Whittington, who organises the event, noted that ‘being able to share our

A Date for Your Diaries

terrific facilities with the wider community is part of what makes us such a great school – and our own students love the chance to work and interact with younger children.’ This certainly seemed the case, as the amazing 8G gave up an entire morning to act as mentors to their sub-groups, showing once again the commendable maturity and unlimited potential of an OHS girl who learns without limits!

This year’s Alumnae Reunion will take place on Saturday 18th May 2019, and tickets are now available from the Box Office. This very special day, which is always an occasion for lots of laughter and stories of high-jinks back in the day, will occur as usual in the cosy, informal settings of the school, providing ample opportunities to look around and reminisce.

Breaking New Ground

On Happiness: A Lecture from Professor Hills

As many of you will have seen (and some of you will have heard), work has now begun on our new Sixth Form Centre and Arts Block. The new building, which is scheduled to open in January 2020, will bring a new sense of identity and purpose to our Sixth Formers and arts students. Comprising new Art and Design facilities, a photography and animation suite, a robotics lab, a juice and panini bar, seminar spaces and a new auditorium in which, among others, National Theatre Live performances will be screened, it will, we are confident, be well worth the wait and the noise!

We have been amazed by the generous response to our fundraising so far, but still need to raise a further £100,000 to complete this incredibly ambitious project. If you would like to make a donation, please do so either online via www.gdst.net/donate or by contacting us on development@oxf.gdst.net.

We are, as always, hugely grateful for your support!

Did you leave OHS in 1979, 1994 or 2014?

If so, this year marks either your 40 Years On, 25 Years On or 5 Years On anniversary! As per tradition, 2014 Leavers are entitled to free entry (though we do still ask that you register your interest via the Box Office). Tickets are available at oxfordhigh.gdst.net/box-office/

From the Careers Department Oxfordshire Book Awards This year’s Oxfordshire Book Awards at Oxford High School was bigger than ever. Fifty-eight schools from all over the county came to hear how the votes of a whopping 3,573 students would affect the fate of their favourite books.

The event also provided an opportunity to hear from the authors themselves, including an illustration masterclass from Matt Carr (highly commended in the Picture Book category for Superbat), a hilarious series of anecdotes from local author Matt Brown about how he based the silly names in When Aliens 10

Invaded My Talent Show on previous school visits and a moving talk by Tom Pollock on mental health issues as they pertain to his novel White Rabbit, Red Wolf (nominated in the Secondary category). However, the clear favourites of the afternoon were Greg James and Chris Smith, whose Kid Normal romped home to victory in the Junior Category, and who proved themselves quite the comedic team as they cracked jokes and treated the audience to an exclusive excerpt from the third instalment of the Kid Normal series.

Professor Alison Hills of St John’s College, Oxford (Portsmouth High School, 1994) visited OHS this term to deliver a lecture on utilitarianism to an audience of sixth form Philosophy students from Oxford High, Putney High and the Cherwell School.

Professor Hills, who specialises in ethics and moral philosophy, provided an engaging survey of utilitarianism’s origins and evolution, including the enduring value of the questions posed by utilitarianism to contemporary philosophical debate.

The Careers Department was thrilled this term on its successful reassessment for the Quality in Careers Standard by the IIC (Investor in Careers).

Head of Careers, Claudia Strobel, has also been busy managing a packed schedule of life lunches. Talks this term have covered a huge range of territory, from political activism and female representation (Virginia Crosbie) to unexpected career paths (Imogen Gardam, Edelman PR), Medicine (Dr. Jessica Rudnay), Fashion (Ms Zoe Souter, CondéNast College of Fashion & Design), and Leadership & Resilience (Vicky Moriarty). It has been wonderful to see so many alumnae return to Oxford

High this term (both Imogen and Vicky are old girls), but I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all parents who spoke this term or who have offered to volunteer their time for the upcoming Careers Fair (7th February) or give a talk in forthcoming terms.

We are still looking for Work Experience Placement Providers and for stallholders for the Careers Fair to allow the students to find out more about the working world - so do get in touch! Careers at Oxford High can be followed on twitter (@ohs_careers) or you can volunteer by writing to careers@oxf.gdst.net 11

SPORT

Swimming to the Nationals Well done to Maya, Pearl, Bella and Freya of the Junior Swimming Team on their debut at the ESSA National Finals on Saturday 17th November. The girls did incredibly well to get there – besting 1,000 other schools to gain a place in the top thirty – and learned a tremendous amount from their experience of

swimming at this level. Furthermore, considering that this age group is open to U12 & 13, the fact that three out of the four girls are still in Year 7 makes the prospect of next year’s events very exciting indeed!

Queen’s Gambit Now for sporting prowess of a very different, and peculiarly Oxford High School, variety. Elizaveta Sheremetyeva (Year 12) and Tashika Arora (Year 6) have both been making waves in the world of competitive chess. Despite her age, Tashika has already amassed a dragon’s hoard of trophies and medals for her chess-playing, of which the most notable successes this year are the Oxfordshire Mega Final Suprema Trophy (U10), the English Chess Championship’s Best Girl Trophy (U11) and the UK Delancey Chess Challenge Giga Final Ultima Trophy (U10). Elizaveta, meanwhile,

who started playing chess in Russia aged 6 (and who recently received an Arkwright Scholarship – see News), has seen her game going from strength to strength this year. At the start of the year she was seeded number 3 in the U18 girls’ chess rankings, before being selected to go to the European Chess Championships in Riga as the official selection for the U18 girls.

Elizaveta tells us that games here lasted four hours, on average, and the championship was essentially two solid weeks of training and playing – an amazing, if tiring, experience!

U16 County Netball Tournament

It was a bright cold day in November as the U16 Netball team headed off to compete in the Oxfordshire County Netball Tournament. The girls, under the able captaincy of Amy Durand, played some tremendous netball in a series of tough matches. The team made a strong start with a 16-4 win against Lord Williams, which led into a decisive second match against Headington. This game was nail-biting in the extreme, with upsets and goals galore right until the last minute, when the girls succeeded in clinching an epic 11-10 win. The girls’ third game against SHSK proved difficult, with an even score line at half-time ending in a 12-6 defeat. However, the final two games against North Oxford Academy and Cokethorpe saw two superb victories of 10-6 and 14-1, respectively. This secured OHS the runners’ up position required to progress to the Regionals next term.

Annie Wakefield, Cathryn Peake, Emma Klenerman, Mabel Brown, Beth Warren, Amy Durand (C) and Zahra Badawi

Minerva is the termly newsletter of Oxford High School, Belbroughton Road, Oxford, OX2 6XA www.oxfordhigh.gdst.net oxfordhigh@oxf.gdst.net 01865 559888 Sincere thanks to all students and staff who contributed articles this term.