Trinity Term 2018 Newsletter (July 2018)

TRINITY TERM NEWS JULY 2018

School Events School School News A look back on- Trinity TermTrips 2018 at-RMS for Girls

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HILARY TERM 2018 As with every term at RMS. Trinity Term is always busy, although public and school exams are perhaps the main focus of the term. That said, we have managed to pack in plenty of academic, sporting and creative events, as well as school trips a-plenty This term, we say farewell to Mr Buddie, Head of ICT and Ms Gunn, English Teacher and Senior Teacher - Teaching and Learning. We wish them well in the future. We also say goodbye temporarily to Mrs Timoney, who is leaving on maternity leave - we look forward to hearing about the safe arrival of the newest member of the RMS Community! This week, we have welcomed back Mrs Coffey to the Textiles Department after her year of maternity leave with her daughter Eleanor In this newsletter, you will find write-ups from the girls and staff about the many and varied events that we have celebrated this term, as well as some trips from the Easter holidays. RMS girls have embarked on trips to Vietnam and Cambodia, Canada, Spain and France; they have listened to talks from acclaimed poets and authors, visited places of scientific and cultural interest, and raised lots of money for charity! In addition, we would like to share with you what goes on in the boarding houses when day students have gone home for the evening or weekend

We hope that you enjoy reading all our news.....

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School Events - School Trips - School News

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History Trip to Vietnam and Cambodia 2018 During the Easter holidays, a group of 20 History students from Years 10 to 13 travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia, to learn more about this traumatic period of modern history.

We travelled over 14,000 miles, visited seven different cities, took eight flights, stayed in six different hotels and drank endless amounts of iced coffee. To say we covered a lot of ground is an understatement. Here are just a few of the highlights from the places we visited and the sights we saw.

Our first visit involved seeing the sights of the capital city, Hanoi and then a breath-taking trip to Halong Bay where we cruised around the island and enjoyed a seafood lunch. This was a magical experience! From there we travelled to Da Nang and to the Quan Cong Temple in the centre of the town, a silk factory where many women worked to create beautiful pieces of artwork, clothing and cloths.

After this we embarked on to say the most adventurous experience of the trip: the bike tour. We pedalled through the crowded, busy streets of Hoi An before reaching some quieter roads through the rice fields . We had a lunch a small local restaurant where we rolled and made our own spring rolls.

We then ventured to the south of the country, visiting Ho Chi Minh City and the famous Cu Chi tunnels, which were dug by the North Vietnamese army during the war. The tunnels were used by soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. We crawled through these tunnels, and saw examples of the booby traps used by the north Vietnamese soldiers during the war. A lot of us struggled to breathe down there just for a few minutes, let alone the hours the fighters would have spent down there.

From here we travelled to Cambodia. and the capital city of Phnom Penh. Just outside the city are the infamous "Killing Fields", where more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979. The mass killings are widely regarded as part of a broad statesponsored genocide, when millions of people were murdered for not fitting the ideological regime of the country. This was a very sobering and bleak element of Cambodian history - visiting a site such as this reminded us of the importance of tolerance in the modern world.

This really was an amazing trip - thank you Mr Grogan, Mrs Onyems and Miss Simmonite!

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UKMT Maths Circle In June, a groups of Year 10 mathematicians joined like-minded students from a number of local schools for a Maths Circle run by the UK Mathematics Trust and hosted by RMS - read about the experience below...

During the day, we had the opportunity to go to many sessions based around Maths; these were designed to give us the opportunity to enrich our Maths skills, to show us different applications of Maths, and, hopefully, to inspire us to take mathematics further. Some of my favourite sessions were on the mathematics of a cannonball, learning about mods, and factorials. These were very enriching and not necessarily something I would see in school, so they really focused on the wonders of Maths and how I could take Maths further when I was older.

Not only were we exposed to many different great teachers, but we also met other students from other schools who also shared our interest in mathematics. This was really beneficial, because not only did it challenge me to work hard throughout the two days to keep up with the really clever people at the circle, but I also found that I had a lot in common with the other students and this allowed me to make new friends.

At the end of the two days, we were able to compete in a mathematical relay with another pair of students from a different school. This helped us to work on our teamwork skills, especially because we did not know the other people on out team well well. The relay was very intense, but also lots of fun because it put us under pressure to solve random problems as a team which is something I can definitely see happening in real life in my future career.

All in all, it was a really fun two days, and I hope to have the opportunity to do something similar in the future.

Charlotte, Year 10 I took part in the Maths Circle event last week and had great fun. We had lessons about different topics including solving Maths problems related to colours, introduction of the modular world, interesting facts about factorial function and so on. From these lessons, I learnt so many fascinating things; these lessons made me realise that Maths can be creative and there might be more than one answer to a question.

During the last hour of the Maths Circle event, we were divided into groups of three or four and had a Maths relay. The answers to the questions were all connected, therefore one pair in the group must answer the first question and give it to the other pair to solve the next question. The relay was very intense and we had to read the question and think quickly. We cooperated well and I had gained knowledge during the activity.

Aimee, Year 10

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Wings of Hope Achievement Awards 2018 Wings of Hope is a charity whose aim is to broaden access to free education across the world - 'to empower through education' is its mission statement. Their particular countries of focus are Malawi and India where they sponsor schools for local communities. Each year they run a fundraising competition which includes schools across the U.K. from all sectors, as well as the International School of Geneva. In the 15 years since it has been running, this competition has involved over 460 schools and over 36,000 students.

This year we had two RMS teams who put themselves forward to participate in the competition. Both the teams - Dreamcatchers (Emily B and Rachel B) and ICUBS care (Katie B, Eashani, Curtis and Deniz) got through semi-final presentations to reach the awards ceremony in London on Thursday, 28th June.

We were delighted to see both teams come away with well-deserved awards.

Dreamcatchers were runners up in the 'Wings of Hope Awareness' category and ICUBS Care were runners-up in the 'Award for Excellence in Arts' category. Mrs Freeman and I were incredibly proud of the girls, though could take none of the credit as they needed minimal support from us and ran their projects entirely independently alongside all the other commitments these girls have both in and out of school.

Here is what the students had to say: “We are proud to say that we have learnt a lot throughout our WOHAA experience, from how to organise and carry out events effectively and efficiently to persevering when faced with challenges along the way. We feel that these two skills are vital for our future careers and lives.

We also gained a tremendous amount of experience in charity work by participating in this award, which has actually sparked a great passion within us for implementing education resources around the world. All in all, participating in WOHAA has been a thoroughly enjoyable yet humbling experience which we are very grateful to have been a part of.”

Team Dreamcatchers “Wings of Hope Achievement Award has been an incredible experience for our group: ICUBS Care. Reflecting on our journey there were three aspects that really made it worthwhile.

Primarily, raising money and awareness of the cause was our fundamental goal, which was to provide free education for impoverished children in India and Malawi. We have gained skills from it as well, such as time management, teamwork and leadership, which are essential to learn for the future. Finally, our friendship in the group has progressed in parallel to the project which has made this journey even more valuable and I would genuinely recommend this project as an enjoyable and rewarding experience.”

Team ICUBS Care

Mrs Roberts, Assistant Head of Sixth Form

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Performing Arts News Whilst Trinity Term is (relatively) the quietest for Performing Arts, with no major productions taking place, behind the scenes our Year 12 students have been preparing for their performance at the Edinburgh Festival...

Following the considerable success our Year 13 Performing Arts students had with their take on 'The Tempest' at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, our Year 12s have formed their own theatre company, Impact Theatre, and are heading up north in August. The company are devising a new work called 'Panopticon', and describe the piece as follows: Every move. Watched. Impact Theatre present a society where nothing is secret. How willingly do we share our lives – and who can be trusted in a world of ‘fake news’? Is this science fiction or a direct reflection of our current dystopian reality where elections are bought and truth is subjective? Visceral and challenging, this production will make you question your next Check-in or Like.

If you happen to be up at the Fringe, check out the show which is performing every day between 20th and 25th August at The Space on North Bridge at 1.10pm. Tickets are available at the venue or at: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/panopticonhttps://tickets.edfringe.com/whatson/panopticon

Rainforest Dreams, Pump House Youth Theatre Also performing at Edinburgh is Year 10 students Amelia, who is part of the Pump House Youth Theatre group who are based in Watford, and who over the years have counted many RMS girls amongst their number.

They will be performing Rainforest Dreams at Venue 152 (Paradise in Augustines) at 2.30pm from 20th to 26th August.

In collaboration with TV producer/eco campaigner Phil Williams and Ecuadorian Kichwa tribe this new multimedia play will connect you with what is happening now in the Amazonian rainforest. A group of students find themselves transported to the rainforest, to find they are running for their lives as soon as they arrive. With footage from real indigenous Indians of the Amazonian rainforest we share what happens to the people living with the oil exploration and the illegal logging on an everyday basis. On screen they interact with the students giving a real insight into how they live.

If you are going to be in Edinburgh supporting the Year 13 students, please do consider popping along to support the Pump House group - tickets for their performance can be booked here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/rainforest-dreams

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Sports Reports Another successful season for the RMS Sport - our Sports Team Captains write up their seasons below as well as a report on the hottest Sports Day on record...

2017 / 2018 at a glance...

Both Year 8 and Year 9 Hockey teams were District Champions Year 7 Netball team were District Champions Year 9 Netball team were District winners and 4th in the county Milano Gymnastics team were 6th in the Nationals Swim Team were League Winners and National finalists Year 7 and Year 8 tennis teams qualified for the finals on 5th July Under 16 Athletics team are County league champions and 10th in country at the track and field cup.

Year 7 Indoor Athletics Team are County Champions Year 9 Rounders team were just this week crowned district champions Five of our Athletes are at the English Schools National Final in July. This is an RMS Record for number of individual athletes at the National Final, and this group includes Emily R and Freya W (Year 9). Amelia D (Year 10) will also be there, especially after breaking the county long jump record that has stood for 30 years, as will Grace I (Year 10) and Zuriel O (Year 11) In Swimming, Cara O’T is currently the Middlesex County Champion in FIVE different events, and has been competing internationally this year.

Issie J (Year 7), has won the England Under 11 and British Under 12 titles over the last year. Issie has been representing England since March of this year, recently finishing 7th in Europe against girls a year older than her.

Emily R is District Champion in the discus and County Champion in Hammer.

Sports Day 2018 On the 30th June was sports day where every girl, house and year group performed to their best abilities.

In Year 7, Atholl Sussex came out on top with 151 points. The Victrix Ludorum winner was Anya M from Atholl Sussex.

Unusual sports winner was Sophie R for Scarborough and Hayleigh T was the rower winner for Moira.

In Year 8, Scarborough won with 144 points. The Victrix Ludorum was awarded to Carys A from Scarborough. Unusual sports winner was Lirit D for Cumberland and the best rower went to Isabella J from Moira.

In Year 9, Scarborough came out on top with 148 points. Victrix Ludorum winner was Freya W, breaking a record for Javelin for Scarborough. The trampoline winner was Charlotte C for Cumberland and the volleyball award goes to Molly G from Atholl Sussex.

In Year 10, by a long way, Atholl Sussex won with 156 points. The Victrix Ludorum winner was Mia I from Atholl Sussex.

The winner of trampoline award is Emma F from Moira and the volleyball award goes to Ellie J from Scarborough.

The fastest relay team of the day went to Year 9 Scarborough team so very well done to them.

Overall, it was a day of ice-cream, hot weather and lots of athletics. The overall results were: 4th place: Cumberland with 472.5 points 3rd place: Moira with 516 points 2nd place: Atholl Sussex with 543.5 points 1st place: Scarborough with 559 points Well done to all the girls for participating and trying the hardest in difficult conditions, and a big thank you to the PE department and all the staff who helped.

Georgina V

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Sports Day in Pictures Sports Day this year was one of the hottest days of the year.... but all the students rose to the occasion and performed brilliantly. Here are just a few pictures from the day...

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Athletics This year girls from Years 7-10 have performed extremely well in the athletics team and many have achieved personal bests in their main events.

Overall this year the athletics team performed exceptionally well, facing some tough competition.

On the 3rd May, athletes went to Stevenage and took part in the Herts Combined events Championships. Both the U15 and U17 teams placed 2nd overall with Amelia and Freya placing first in their age categories. This was a tough day as all the athletes had to compete in 5 different events.

The Under 14 girls finished 10th in the league after six tough matches against many different schools. They did extremely well and all achieved great times and distances. In the District Championships their 4 x100 m relay team put in an outstanding performance to be crowned District Champions, and Hannah in the 1500m and Carys in the 800m both ran very well to become District Champions.

In the Under 16 team many girls achieved amazing times and distances resulting in us winning the County League, for the first time ever, after an extremely tough and tense final meet against Haberdashers. The Under 16 girls' League Final was a very competitive competition with the Under 16 team coming an amazing 2nd overall missing out on first by just 4 points! Congratulations to Amelia who broke a county long jump record that has stood for 30 years in one of our league matches.

The Under 16 team also did extremely well in the Track and Field Cup, winning with a very impressive 392 points. Following that success, we qualified to compete at the Regional Final where we performed very well and came 7th competing against the top athletics schools in the country.

In the subsequent District Championships, Mia I, Ella P, Emily R, Freya W and Jane W were crowned District Champions in their event.

A huge congratulations goes out to those athletes (Amelia D, Freya W, Emily R, Zuriel O and Grace I) who have qualified for the English Schools Championships and we wish them the very best of luck.

Amelia D

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Rounders

Rounders has gone well for RMS this year as all the teams have won many matches.

The Year 7 A Team won all their rounds in the District Tournament, and then drew in the Final with Queens, making them joint District Champions! Well done Year 7!

The Year 8 Rounders have been very successful beating Edge Grove, St Helens, Aldenham and St Clement Danes, unfortunately the Year 8s lost to Pamiters by 1 Rounders but their District tournament is still yet to play and we wish them the best of luck. Well Done Year 8!

Year 9 Rounders team have had a very good season, crowned District champions they fought off tough competition in the final rounds.

Finally but by any means not least Year 10 have had a fantastic year, we have remained undefeated all season. We were crowed district champions after a close match with Watford Girls in the final. Other than Watford Girls we have won all of our matches by nearly double the Rounders and managed to catch out all of the Haberdashers team in only 15 bowls.

Overall it has been a fantastic last season for the Year 10 Rounders team, due to this being our last year playing together I would like to thank Mrs Hamer on behalf of Year 10 Rounders for all her help throughout the year.

Caitlin H

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Tennis The RMS tennis team has put in a lot of hard work this season with many matches won, also qualifying to many finals.

The Year 7 team tennis team has won all of their matches in their pool and moved through to the quarter finals. They won their quarter final against Beaumont and have now moved through to the semi-finals and finals day on July 5th at Queenswood.

The pairs of Aneka and Elsie won the Year 7 Hertfordshire Schools Tennis tournament.

The District team won against Croxley Danes 18 games to 12 and tied against St Clement Danes 18 all. They also won their match against Rickmansworth 16 games to 8 and North London Collegiate School 6 games to 5 The Year 8 team has won many matches this season and came second in the District Tournament.

The Year 9 District team won two of their matches and Team Tennis won both of their qualifying matches meaning they are now through to the Semi-finals. Good luck to the girls and hopefully they will advance through the finals. A great team effort by all players!

The Year 10 team has done very well this season. The District Team qualified to the finals and came third overall only losing two matches. Team Tennis played very well but just missed out on finals.

Well done to all tennis girls, particularly to the Year 7’s and 8’s who are going through to the Team Tennis final. We wish them all best of luck!

Maddie S

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Winter Sports Team Trial Dates / Training Schedule September 2018

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Boarding News Mrs Dobson, Housemistress of Zetland House, shares her thoughts on another busy term for our thriving boarding community...

As I sit and contemplate the past year in boarding, many things spring to mind; from outings to family suppers, medical appointments to sporting activities, prize days to extra-curricular activities, leavers celebrations, high days and holidays... of course, not forgetting xxams‌‌. so much happens each term at RMS but at the heart of all this for the boarders is their house, Connaught,Zetland and Harris.

This is the core part of their life during term time. Each house, of course, has a different personality as well as very different structures depending on the age group and different characters of the staff. But the one necessary and constant component, vital in all the nurturing and care we give the girls, is communication. It is my belief that we need to know each girl well and no technology can achieve this. It is about spending time and showing interest in each girl in the house and understanding that boarding can be a challenging experience for our girls, especially for the overseas boarders, for whom things can seem very strange at first.

Hopefully we achieve this intimate knowledge of the girls enabling us to understand each in more depth. Knowing that they can chat to staff about anything good, bad or even humdrum makes their life easier and provides a stability in their house.

This leads on to the emotions of moving houses at the end of Year 9, Year 11 and 13 Year 13 of course will be going on to future endeavours.

However, they all genuinely embrace these moves and the ball rolls again with the challenge of fitting in and accepting different demands.

Year 10 is very popular as the girls gain a little more independence as they move to Zetland Worries about learning to do their own washing and cleaning their rooms is very real for the Year 11s going to Connaught - but this, of course, is great preparation for university and life beyond School.

As all these changes take place next year the avenues of communication will be open and will help us to work together to strengthen our rapidly growing boarding community.

We do of course rely upon parents being involved and supportive which is of enormous value to the staff.

Our boarding prefects for 2018/19 are in full swing and have organised several activities for the girls. I was completely overcome by the unanimous support that the girls gave them. My favourite photo of the year is a below, it sums up for me the whole ethos of boarding, the belonging to something bigger, the life skills and the pure spontaneous joy of having fun with others.

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Boarding News Poem by Robert Fulghum Most of what I really need To know about how to live And what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top Of the graduate school mountain, But there in the sandpit at school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life Learn some and think some And draw and paint and sing and dance And play and work everyday some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, Watch out for traffic, Hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

In this world of ever increasing advances of technology and instant gratification. I think this holds true for all of us.

Good luck to those who have left us, please keep in touch.

To those returning enjoy the holidays. will look forward to hearing all about your adventures on your return.

Take care everyone and enjoy your summer!

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Boarding Term in Pictures

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Activities for Boarders Next Term Friday 7th September: Barbecue on the Garth Saturday 8th September: Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre Friday 14th September: Ultimate Frisbee on the Lowers Saturday 15th September: International Arts and Crafts Afternoon Thursday 20th September: Family Supper Night - Italian theme Saturday 22nd September: Thorpe Park Friday 28th September: Quiz Night Saturday 29th September: Walk Rest and Train Friday 5th October: Pop Up Cinema Night Saturday 6th October: Laser Tag Sunday 7th October: Whole School Open Day Wednesday 7th November: Diwali Family Supper Saturday 10th November: Boarders Take Over the Kitchen and Halloween Disco Thursday 15th November: Boarders Concert Saturday 17th November: Cinema and Shopping Friday 23rd November: Board Games Evening Saturday 24th November: Treasure Hunt Saturday 1st December: Trip to Bath Christmas Market Friday 7th December: Boarders' Christmas Party Saturday 8th December: Pantomime visit - "Peter Pan" at Aylesbury Theatre

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FORMS NEWS It is hard to believe that another school year has come to its end. It has been a busy term at school and has been a very busy one for FORMS. Everyone at FORMS is very pleased with the success of all of our event this year - we are already planning bigger and better events for next year.

We would like to thank you all for the support that all of you have shown through the year. We couldn't have done it without your volunteering and other support through the year.

Have a great summer and see you all again in September!

Your FORMS Committee

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Gymnastics Summer Course For Years 7 – 13 Tuesday 28th – Friday 31st August Gymnastic skills * Vaulting * Low Beam * Trampette * Dance * Routines * Acrobatics * Tumbling 12 noon – 4.00p.m (4 hours) A mini display will be performed to parents on Friday 31st August at 3.30p.m.

The cost is £28 per day or £108 for the 4 days.

2.00p.m. – 4.00p.m. (2 hours) A mini display will be performed to parents on Friday 31st August at 11.35 a.m.

The cost is £15 per day or £56 for the 4 days.

10.00a.m. – 4.00p.m (6 hours) A mini display will be performed to parents on Friday 31st August at 3.30p.m.

The cost is £42 per day or £150.00 for the 4 days.

Saturday gymnastic classes will start on 8th September at 2.45p.m. – 4.45p.m.

These classes are open to girls of all abilities. They work in groups depending on their age and ability so that every girl can reach her maximum potential.

The girls work towards Medal Tests, a Gym Club Championships and a Display. They also work on routines from the I.S.G.A. and B.S.G.A. code in preparation for competitions.

• The Summer Course and Saturday classes are open only to pupils at RMS. • There is a 10% discount for a younger sibling For more details or to book a place please contact Mrs Charafeddine Email: charafgym-rmsga@yahoo.co.uk Telephone: 07919 371702

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Coming Next Term...

There are some exciting trips going out over the Summer Holidays - our Charity Trip to Ghana and Biodiversity Trip to Mexico, followed by a History trip to Berlin - and next term is jam-packed with events and trips too.....

Open Day - Sunday 7th October 2.00 - 5.00pm As always, our Whole School Open Day is a day of obligation for all Senior School and Sixth Form students. We look forward to welcoming lots of prospective families to RMS and showing them what makes RMS so special!

If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending Open Day (or one of the Open Mornings on the Monday and Tuesday following Open Day), or our Sixth Form Preview on Thursday 11th October, please direct them to our website where they can sign up to attend.

Prize Day for Year 10-13 The Autumn Senior School Prize Day will take place on Friday 19th October

Drill Next term's Drill Performances will be on Tuesday 16th October, after Prize Day on Friday 19th October, and after the Remembrance Day Service on Sunday 11th November

Les Miserables The Faculty of Performing Arts is already looking forward to next term's performances of Les Miserables.

Performances will be in the Space on 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th November so please put the dates in your diary now, as it is sure to be yet another fantastic show!

FORMS Events Next Term FORMS are already busy planning next terms events, so please put these dates in your diaries: FORMS Fireworks - Friday 9th November FORMS Christmas Fair - Saturday 24th November

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