Pipers Post Spring 2022

PIPERSPOST SPRING 2022

HIGHLIGHTS

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UKRAINE VIGIL SCIENCE WEEK DANCE SHOWS PERFORMING ARTS 1 CAREERS

@PipersSixthForm Sixth Form students led the Vigil, giving speeches and reciting poems on the Arts Centre balcony in front of the whole school.

STUDENTS ORGANISE VIGIL FOR UKRAINE

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vents in Europe have been at the forefront of students’ minds over the past few months. The outbreak of conflict motivated our students to find ways to show their support.

With support from staff, students developed multiple initiatives, aimed at raising awareness and to raise money for the United Nations Refugee Crisis.

Students formed a group, ‘Pipers for Peace’, to devise a plan to best support the developing refugee crisis. Having liaised with a contact at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), we were informed that physical donations of food were not what was most needed. Instead the UNHCR would benefit more from monetary donations, so they can work on distribution and re-stocking supplies.

in packed lunches and mufti donations was also donated to the UNHCR. The vigil took place for the duration of the lunch break, with every year group participating and sitting outside the Arts Centre. Sixth Form students took to the balcony, reading headlines from the news, giving speeches and reciting poems. All students were invited to the microphone to speak, with many of our young Prep students volunteering to bravely read in front of the whole school community.

Efforts to raise awareness are ongoing. In the lead up to the vigil, students painted pebbles blue and yellow, which will form a permanent part of our Pipers landscape.

The total amount raised from these initiatives exceeded £3,000. We are incredibly grateful to our community for supporting our students’ fundraising activities.

Head Girl Grace lighting candles

As a result, Year 7 produced blue and yellow ribbons with a suggested £2 donation. Year 8 students organised a bake sale, which proved very popular. On top of these initiatives, a student-led peace vigil, where all students came in blue and yellow mufti and there was no lunch service for that day - the money saved from bringing

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Left: Pebble painting initiative, Year 3 students recite poem promoting peace, Ukraine Vigil after school.

PERFORMING ARTS CAREERS EVENT

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fter two challenging years for the Performing Arts industry, we were delighted to host a careers evening to discuss the endless possibilities in this rewarding industry.

With a diverse range of attendees, spanning both on-stage and back-stage roles, students and parents heard about the exciting opportunities in Performing Arts.

Delegates included our alumnae who had gone into stage management, acting and musical theatre. Also speaking on

stage were an Emmy-winning producer and Oscar-winning film editor. Other attendees included a hair and make-up artist, an acting coach, cultural education consultant and a representative from the Central School of Speech and Drama.

It was an excellent event, students heard about the varied career journeys of those speaking, and the resilience required to succeed in this sector.

SOUTH CENTRAL HOCKEY RUNNERS UP T

he U14 Hockey Team (with involvement from some U13s) competed at the South Central district competition in March. In their pool, they drew with Sir William Borlase, then went on to beat Wycombe High and Chesham High.

In the semi-finals against Aylesbury High it went to penalty flicks, our goal keeper Charlotte remained impeccably composed. After five penalty flicks each, the match went to sudden death from which Pipers was victorious.

@PipersSenior

In the final moments against Sir Willam Borlase, we conceeded a late goal and lost 0-1, securing a runners-up spot. An incredible result nonetheless, for an immensely talented and determined team.

ALUMNAE EVENT To support our Sixth Form students with their highereducation decisions, we invited recent leavers back to Pipers to discuss their university choices. Alumnae discussed their chosen subject and how they came to their decision, and then university life at their chosen institution.

Our Alumnae represented a wide variety of subjects, including Business Management, Graphic Design Communication and Education. One of our recent alumnae discussed her degree apprenticeship with Microsoft - gaining paid work experience and a degree. The event came at the perfect time to help our Year 13 students make their decisions for September - as the year group received a total of 160 offers on UCAS.

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@PipersPrep Year 6 investigating solar power with energy kits.

SCIENCE WEEK

Year 4 with their motorised brush monsters.

British Science Week is a celebration of all things Science, encompassing Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. Our Science department developed an incredible programme of activities, to share their passion and encourage an enthusiasm for Science.

Activities were run for all students across the School, from Pre-Prep through to Sixth Form. Prep students made motorised brush monsters, raced balloons and made their own solar panels. They also created lava lamps, using food dye and oil, and worked with our Sixth Form Science students to create fizztastic bath bombs.

Unseen Forces Pre-Prep

Pre-Prep had a session on unseen forces, creating bubbles and observing how objects sink and float. Senior students created colourful DNA models and used Hooke’s Law to work out the mass of a jar of sweets - the first group to correctly guess the answer won the contents! Our Biology students were given the opportunity to dissect a heart.

Year 10 students were able to meet scientists, learning about their day-to-day jobs and career journey. Physics students were treated to a talk from the Forensics Team at Thames Valley police.

Form room doors were decorated to commemorate famous Scientists, including Thomas Edison, known for inventing the light bulb, Marie Curie, a pioneering researcher for radioactivity, and Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut to go into space in 1992.

Heart dissection with Year 9 and Year 3 balloon rocket racing

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Left: Hooke’s Law, DNA models, Fizztastic bath bombs.

@PipersPrePrep Year 5 Lava lamps and Pre-Prep Unseen Forces experiment

UP AND ATOM JUNIOR DANCE

Cross-curricular shows: connecting Science and Dance

IMAGINE, INVENT, INSPIRE SENIOR DANCE

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BRAIN DAY I n March, Sixth Form Psychology and Biology students were involved with Brain Day - with students participating in a special tutorial with Dr Guy Sutton, who demonstrated a brain dissection.

CASTLE COMP

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istory was brought to life in the form of beautifully constructed model castles as part of the Year 7 Castle Competition. Peers voted for their favourite castles, unsurprisingly the cake castles proved very popular especially with the addition of miniature animals.

After school, Dr Sutton delivered a fascinating lecture reviewing the history of forensic science, covering famous individuals such as Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes.

A GREAT DEBATE FOR HEAD GIRL

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ongratulations to Head Girl Grace, who made it through to the Historical Association’s Great Debate Final in March. Competing against 23 other teenagers in Windsor, Grace delivered an excellent speech discussing the changes of her local area, Aylesbury, over the past 70 years.

Grace focused on the impact of Scan this QR code to immigration on her community, listen to Grace’s speech: drawing upon the experiences and memories of her grandma Hazel. From German Prisoners of War, the influx of West-Indian nurses in the 1950s and the importance of immigration to the Aylesbury community. Grace’s excellent speech gained her a runners-up spot.

NSPCC NUMBER DAY S Y tudents in the Pre-Prep department came in dressed as their favourite number, ready to add, subtract, divide and multiply their way through a day of mathematical activities.

Students used addition in bowling to generate some very high scores and competed against one another in Who Wants to be a Math-illionaire. Mufti donations went to the NSPCC, to make a difference to other children’s lives.

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PREP SKI TRIP

ear 6 students called the slopes of Austria their home for a week in January, and they demonstrated bravery and finesse as they mastered skiing. By day four, all students were skiing in the same area, encouraging one another with plenty of positivity. A spectacular trip generating life-long memories and showcasing the enthusiasm and resilience of our Prep students.

PREP ART DAY The return of our annual Art Day saw students producing paintings, drawings and sculpture to feature as part of two murals on the theme of ‘Creation Stories of Faith and Folk Tradition’. The murals, featured clay relief tiles made by Years 3 and 4, impressed with animals, insects and birds.

Year 6 students produced circular compositions inspired by the Christian creation story, scratching away clay to reveal a darker base. They also created silk paintings, considering the similarities between creation stories, by adding sun, stars, clouds and animals.

NATURAL GRAFFITI IN FOREST SCHOOL

EUROPEAN COACHING PROGRAMME

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n Forest School we encourage the students to use natural resources around them to change and alter the landscape.

Year 2 were particularly excited to use homemade charcoal (leftover from S’mores and hot chocolate) and the trunks as nature’s canvas. They also used alder to develop a natural ink, producing beautiful paintings of our woodlands.

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iss Brennan is one of only three GB coaches to be nominated to be a part of the prestigious European Hockey Federation’s coaches programme in 2022. The twoyear programme will include mentoring and seminars from renowned coach developers across Europe.

WORLD BOOK DAY

F YEAR 12 CLAY WORKSHOP

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ormer student, Meghan Durham, led a ceramics workshop with our Year 12 students. Meghan is a thirdyear Fine Art student at Central St Martins, and has undertaken some exciting ceramics projects throughout her degree.

Meghan has an experimental approach with ceramics, and the theme of the session was bodily forms, and she demonstrated a variety of techniques to create unique and interesting textures.

or World Book Day, a Read Aloud week was organised, where members of staff volunteered to read from their most beloved books.

A firm favourite among students was Mr Bryson’s rendition of The Gruffalo’s Child in Doric Scots.

A LEVEL ART

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annah, a Year 13 Art student, produced a sculpted installation to represent a sense of sound. The models were placed on the ground in the morning sun, casting long shadows across the floor. Hannah’s work is testament to her creativity and innovation.

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SPORT It has been a fantastic season for the Sports Department, especially with the excellent result for our U14 Hockey team and the news of Miss Brennan participating in a prestigious hockey coaching programme.

In Netball, our U12A team roundedoff the season with an excellent result as runners-up in the District tournament. Our Prep Netball teams also showed excellent promise, with the U8 team ending their tournament undefeated, and our U11 and U10 teams coming runners-up in their tournaments.

Year 13 Big Bang experiment Year 13 First Aid Course

Stroke Awareness Mufti

New Sustainable Playground

Magazine Design

Junior Theatre Company

Wicked Musical Workshop

Pre-Prep Easter Crafts

Prep Art Showcase Cocker Spaniel Harvey visits Prep

CANSAT project

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Year 5 learning about Vikings at Ufton Court

Pipers Corner School, Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire HP15 6LP

01494 718255

www.piperscorner.co.uk

theschool@piperscorner.co.uk

A Level Spanish Theatre Trip

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