PIPERS POST SUMMER 2022 HIGHLIGHTS § World Earth Week § Sports Day § Refugee Awareness Week § Art Exhibition FOLLOW US
REFUGEE AWARENESS WEEK INSPIRES
Students from across the whole School were engaged in a variety of activities in many subjects during Pipers Refugee Awareness Week in June. The aim of the week is to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and to celebrate the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. In Business and English lessons students produced insightful posters and magazines, while in Food Technology students baked biscuits from Syria, Ukraine and Iran. Year 7 and 8 even held a Talent Show in order to raise funds for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UHRC). The activities for Refugee Awareness Week culminated in a moving art installation created by both students and staff in a school-wide project to further highlight the struggle faced by those forced to leave their home. During the week, every member of the Pipers community had the opportunity to sculpt an individual clay figure, each one representing a refugee. The poignant piece was inspired by the work of artist Antony Gormley; creator of the Angel of
the North. The individual and unique figures were displayed in a line that snaked along the pathway outside the Arts Centre, giving the sense that the community of figures were on a journey. Pre-Prep students were also involved in the project as they sculpted clay dogs and suitcases to accompany the figures, providing an additional sense of realism to the collective piece. Once the figures had been fired in the kiln, Year 13 student, Katy, created a final special figure along with some ceramic doves, inspired by the story of Alia, a real refugee from Aleppo. Katy’s figure and the doves were made in white clay, contrasting to the colour of the other figures in the piece, an idea inspired by the little girl in the red dress in the film Schindler’s List. Our community of refugees remains on display in the grounds as a reminder of how our Pipers community came together to recognise the hardship and resilience of those people forced to leave their home. Katy’s white clay figure standing amongst the refugees
From Pipers to Paris, our Arts Centre Café was transported to France; serving croissants and drinks from a French menu to our Year 5 students who were treated as customers. The students were able to practise their skills by ordering from the menu and speaking French to one another in the café-style setting. Year 5 were served their French treats by our A Level French students who also enjoyed the opportunity to practise their language skills.
Pipers Gardening Club had a very exciting end to the Summer Term as they were one of just ten schools to have been selected to have their bug house showcased at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2022.
Sarah also visited the Prep Department to discuss the history of plastic, why it is an issue for many species
Pre-Prep students were captivated as they enjoyed listening to Sarah read her first ever book ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’ and speak about its important message of how plastic affects our oceans. Inspired by Sarah’s story and the videos she showed them of her adventures around the world, the Pre-Prep students spent time making jellyfish out of yoghurt pots and recycled paper.
The Gardening Club students enjoyed a fun day out visiting their ‘Cycle of Life’ house for bees which was exhibited at the festival. They worked together to create their bug house, which was made from recycled old bike parts and even included a raft for the bees! and what we can do to help. Prep students were keen to share their thoughts and ideas around sustainability and protecting our environment. This exciting and informative day ended with us welcoming families with young children into the School where they started their session with a fresh fruit smoothie and cookie. The group then joined Sarah for an exciting storytelling session and she treated everyone to not one, but two of her acclaimed books. It was then time to head into our woodland to take part in some Forest School activities which included fire lighting and making willow crowns, before finishing with a picnic on the terrace lawn.
A TASTE OF FRANCE
On 9 June we were delighted to welcome children’s author, naturalist and eco-journalist, Sarah Roberts, for an interactive Storytelling Event with Pre-Prep and Prep.
ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING EVENT
RHS BEE HOUSE
We were delighted to mark the end of another fantastic year at Pipers in true celebratory fashion at our Speech Day and we were fortunate enough to welcome RAF Fast-Jet Pilot, Mandy Hickson as our guest of honour.
As well as presenting a variety of awards and prizes, Mandy gave an inspirational address to the audience in which she spoke of her dreams of becoming a pilot and the barriers she faced in order to become one of the first female Fast-Jet Pilots in the RAF. Mandy reflected on her time serving within the Royal Air Force as well as going on to become a volunteer teacher once leaving the RAF, inspiring the future generation of female pilots. Mandy’s speech was engaging, entertaining and inspirational, demonstrating the huge amount of commitment, determination and resilience she has showed throughout her career. In addition to the prize-giving ceremony, the audience were treated to four performances from our flagship shows this year, including medleys from ‘Grease’, ‘Matilda JR.’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as well as a performance of ‘The Women Who Changed the World’ by Year 2. After much anticipation, the Headmistress announced the Head Girl Team for the next academic year. We would like to congratulate the 2022-23 Prefect Team and look forward to welcoming our new Head Girl, Jada, and her team back in September for what will no doubt be another successful year at Pipers.
SPEECH DAY MARKS END OF ANOTHER YEAR
Aweek of exciting and insightful activities was organised by our Helping Others Protect the Environment (HOPE) environmental group to celebrate our second annual World Earth Week, for which this years’ theme was “We Are All Global Citizens”. Year 5 students took part in a virtual “Action Speaks Louder” eco-conference with other local schools in which they discussed climate change, sustainability and environmental issues, while Year 7 students took to the School grounds and enjoyed conducting a wildlife audit which included finding a lizard amongst an abundance of flora and fauna. Year 3 had the opportunity to spend some time discussing pollination and the importance of bees with the sustainability specialist from Holroyd Howe, our School’s catering team, while our HOPE group were fortunate enough to also have a talk from her about the sustainability of consumable products and career opportunities specialising in sustainability.
was both educational and exciting for all Pipers students and concluded with some members of our HOPE group joining a beach clean in Brighton which had been organised by Surfers Against Sewage and the Marine Conservation Society; taking part in this activity really emphasised to everyone the importance of coming together as a community to help protect our planet and that every positive action really does help the environment.
WE ARE ALL GLOBAL CITIZENS
During the week, Pipers students were incredibly excited to hear from Amazonian Indian and friend of Pipers, Juan, who sent a personal message straight from the Amazon supporting our World Earth Week initiative. Our Sixth Form HOPE members provided students and staff with the opportunity to write down their own personal message to World Leaders, sharing their hopes and thoughts for the future of our Theplanet.week
MATILDA JR. MIDDLE SCHOOL PRODUCTION THE WIZARD OF OZ YEAR 6 PRODUCTION
The Long Jump event saw the debut of our brand-new long jump pit which was officially opened on 21 June by Great British Olympic Athlete, Lorraine Ugen. The students were inspired by Lorraine, who spoke about her experience as an athlete and we are sure they channelled their inner Olympic athlete when taking part in the Sports Day long jump competition.
Our campus was filled with anticipation, House Spirit and sporting achievement when we held yet another exhilarating Sports Day here at Pipers. Hampden were thrilled to have won both the Junior and Senior Sports Days, securing the overall victory as House Champions for 2022. New records were set across the School in a variety of disciplines including Discus by Zoe in Year 6 and Ellie in Year 9, Javelin by Darcey in Year 9 and the 200m race by Year 10 Aoife who was also crown Victrix Ludorum.
SPORTS ACHIEVEMENT AND HOUSE SPIRIT
CELEBRATIONS
FORUM DEBATE
Drawing on their own personal experiences, our Theatre Company’s incredible performance of ‘Brainstorm’ is filled with unflinching honesty about the enormous changes we all go through as a teenager. It is a unique theatrical investigation which is cleverly interwoven with research from cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore that looks at why teenagers behave the way they do.
The students performed two showings of Brainstorm at our Theatre in May and are now preparing for their performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. If you’re headed to the popular festival, make sure you book your tickets to see them in action | www.edfringe.com
Once again, our enthusiastic and innovative Sixth Form Young Enterprise teams - Huggy and Inside the Box - achieved great success at the Company of the Year Showcase Area Finals, coming home with an impressive total of six trophies between them! This is no doubt due to the dynamic, forward-thinking and enthusiastic nature of both teams.
The Area Finals took place at Bucks New University and involved each team presenting their product to a panel of judges. Huggy (pictured right), were winners of the Eden Centre Award for best marketing, manufacturing and corporate image, as well as the Area Finals categories for best presentation and interview. Inside the Box (pictured left) were awarded four trophies, including the Eden Centre award for best team work, Area Finals for best company report. They were also crowned the overall champions and were chosen to represent High Wycombe at the Regionals at which they were presented with the Regional Sustainability Award and narrowly missed out on a place in the National Finals.
ENTERPRISEYOUNGROEVWADE
INSIDE A TEENAGE BRAIN
The Pipers community enjoyed their own Jubilee celebrations at the end of May which included a delicious BBQ out in the sunshine, with candyfloss and royal cupcakes available too. It was an afternoon fit for a JUBILEEQueen!
At the end of June, our Year 10 and 12 students came together in the theatre for a student-led forum where the students openly discussed the recent US supreme court ruling on the Roe v Wade decision. Led by a panel of staff and Year 10 students on the stage, they discussed the recent decision and individual students had the opportunity to take to the microphone to put across their own opinion on the matter. It was great to see all students from both Year groups take an active role in the discussion, shedding light on the impacts of the decision and openly discussing their own opinions.
Our annual Art, Textiles and Design Exhibition was back with full force, with artwork from the past year beautifully curated for families and visitors to view and enjoy at various venues across the campus. The event also included a Textiles Showcase at which Senior and Sixth Form students took to the catwalk to model their work.
We are delighted that two Pipers students became winners of the District Level Rotary Club Young Artist Competition this term. Sophie from Year 8 was awarded winner of the District Intermediate category while Daisy from Year 6 took first place in the Junior category. They were presented with their trophies and certificates by members of the Amersham Rotary Club at a small ceremony in May.
culturaldevelopencouragingAwardandrecognitionawardedPipersCOMPETITIONisdelightedtohavebeentheArtsmarkatGoldLevel,inofourexceptionalprovisioncommitmenttotheArts.TheArtsmarkisacreativestandardforschools,educationalsettingstotheircommitmenttotheartsandeducation.GOLDLEVELAWARD
ROTARY ART
ART, DESIGN AND TEXTILES EXHIBITION
Congratulations and well done to the Prep Department for such a fantastic year of fundraising for Young Carers Bucks.
PREP CHARITY INITIATIVE
Further Prep Department fundraising this year included the Prep House Days where each House set up stalls during lunchtime to raise more funds. Each House had great fun running a variety of stalls which included a hanging doughnut eating challenge, pin the tail on the unicorn, raffles, stalls selling tasty treats and even the chance to soak their teachers with water!
We have welcomed Teen Personal Security Oxfordshire into school twice this term; firstly for a session with our Year 10s and then more recently with the Lower Sixth students. They have delivered insightful, practical workshops looking at how to read a potentially dangerous situation and the best practice to avoid conflict. They also gave practical training on effective self-defence techniques skills which could be invaluable one day.
LEARNING THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE
The Prep Department have raised an incredible total of £4,475 this year through their fundraising efforts for Young Carers Bucks, their chosen charity for 202122. A year of fundraising events culminated in the return of the annual Prep Captains’ Challenge, which took place at the end of June. Year 6 worked hard to plan and organise this event for parent guests which included drinks outside the Arts Centre, live music, homemade canapés, a bingo game and finally an auction.
Led by their Prep Captain Team, the students were able to host an excellent evening, enjoyed by all who attended. Thanks to the generosity of the guests, a total of £2,742 was raised from that evening alone for Young Carers Bucks.
Assisted by a team of Year 6 students, they then carried out magical experiments; there were bubbling potions created through mixing bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, marbling magic using shaving foam and food colouring to create patterns on paper, coloured milk explosions which explored surface tension, rainbow potions which used red cabbage water to investigate pH levels, and invisibility writing where the students had to use UV pens to reveal hidden letters and then solve the anagram! What a magical way to explore Science.
An exhilarating week was had by Year 5 at Blackland Farm, where students developed their teamworking skills and learnt to be more independent through the enjoyment of activities such as canoeing, abseiling, log-walking, the crate stack challenge, archery and orienteering.
There was magic in the air as our Year 3 and 4 students embarked on a Magical Science Lunchtime organised by Year 6 Science Leader, Poppy. To start the session, each Prep student had a sorting potion - a solution to which they added universal indicator to reveal a colour which determined their group.
ACTION-PACKED
SCIENCE MAGIC AT LUNCHTIME
As part of their Next Steps Day, our Lower Sixth Form students attended a Networking Lunch. We welcomed guests from a diverse range of business backgrounds and industries, giving the Year 12s the opportunity to tap into their wealth of knowledge and expertise and discuss their future career plans.
There had been a data crime in the Science Lab this term but thankfully our Year 8 Scientists were on hand to undertake forensic investigation using all of their science knowledge. They carried out hair, footprint and soil analysis as well as chromatography to work out which of our teachers under suspicion had committed the
RESIDENTIAL
FORENSICcrime. SCIENCE INVESTIGATION
MUSIC CONCERTS
and Year 1 were lucky enough to enjoy a teddy bear’s picnic, during which both the students and their teddies tucked into banana muffins and jam sandwiches, whilst listening to a woodland-themed story. Our youngest students also had the opportunity to go pond dipping. They launched their buckets into our duck pond and collected samples from the water to see what wildlife was inhabiting it.
Pipers Corner School, Pipers Lane, Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire HP15 6LP 01494 theschool@piperscorner.co.uk718255
Towards the end of the term, all of our Pre-Prep and Prep students released the butterflies that they had nurtured from tiny caterpillars and enjoyed watching them fly off into our Wildflower Meadow. There has certainly been plenty of fire lighting, woodland crafts and tasty s’mores enjoyed by all this term, as the students have been afford the opportunity to explore their environment, develop new skills and grow in confidence.
It has been another fantastic season for the Sports Department, particularly following the win from our Year 8 team at the U12 and U13 District Athletics competition in July (right photo).
FOREST SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
www.piperscorner.co.uk
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Meanwhile, our U13A and U15 Rounders teams (left photo) won their respective District Rounders tournaments, and in swimming, our two IAPS National Finalist swimmers did us proud, placing first in backstroke and seventh in butterfly with both students swimming their personal bests.
As always, it’s been busy in our woodland as our PrePrep and Prep students have got stuck in to Forest ReceptionSchool.
Following a full day of Forest School activities on 17 June, Year 2 were thrilled to welcome their families into the woods to show them what they had been up to, followed by s’mores and ice lollies around the campfire.
FOLLOW US
Over the course of this year, our Music department have organised nine Informal Concerts which have involved almost 90 performers of all ages and stages across the School. Furthermore, this term we have held a Prep Concert, inspired by music from around the world, and a Senior Spring Concert, both of which were performed in our theatre and gave the audience an insight into the musical breadth and talent of our students.
