Royal High School Bath Review | Spring 2 2021

ROYAL HIGH SCHOOL Pastoral

REVIEW Girls Making Their Mark

New Sixth Form Leadership Team for 2021-22 from left to right: Eliza Hyde – Deputy Head Girl, Daisy John – Head Girl, Ella Condrau – Deputy Head Girl.

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Leadership Handover

This term saw the announcement of the new Sixth Form Leadership Team taking over from last year’s team led by Mathura Kathirgamanathan who tells us about her year in office.

Mathura: Being Head Girl has been both a challenging, and enriching experience. It is a role I set my sites on in Year 7, having watched previous Head Girls stand up in Assembly, but of course, this year has been different. We went into lockdown on the day of the Handover Assembly, and whilst this was cancelled, I was soon thrown into preparing speeches and videos for various online open days

and events. If there is one thing I have learned over lockdown, it is that making a video and getting it right on the first take is nearly impossible.

“It has been incredible working as a team with other motivated and driven students; our main aim was to connect with younger students across the school.

An example of this was our vlog for the Year 11 students to give them an insight into Sixth Form life from a student’s perspective. Another highlight was the staff v students University Challenge which was certainly a challenge to organise amid Covid restrictions and bubbles, yet was a huge success raising almost £400 for two charities chosen by staff and students.

“I believe we have achieved our goal of having a stronger connection between different year groups. I have never stood up in front of the school, or led a face-to-face assembly, we hope that we have been role models to younger students during our time in office.

“I want to say a huge thanks to Bethany, Darcy, and the rest of the Sixth Form Leadership Team for being such a reliable and enthusiastic group of people. I also want to thank Mr Hayward and Mrs Reynolds for their continued support – whilst our time in office has ended, we are now planning our end of year celebrations.

“I look forward to working with Daisy and the new team before we leave School, and I wish them the best and my congratulations on their appointment.

The new Leadership Team is led by Daisy John, who has been at Royal High School since Year 7 and says: Daisy John: I am so excited to have been given the role of Head Girl and relish the ability to make changes in the School!

My main aims are: to increase awareness of the Sixth Form within the rest of the School to improve the sense of community across year groups – especially difficult at the moment to listen to the voices of students and ensure the changes I make reflect what they would like to see.

After taking over this term, we have already sent out surveys and are planning events to enhance life within School, these include a film and movie night, and we have lots more up our sleeves. We look forward to representing and leading students this year and will have a regular feature in the half termly Review.

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Read more about Sixth Form and all the Leadership Team appointments in Mr Hayward’s article on page 9.

SPRING 2

Welcome to the first edition of Royal High School Review, a half-termly look at what has been going on at the Senior School. This replaces the weekly Newsletter which will now take the form of a fortnightly ‘What’s On’ bulletin and we encourage you to follow our social feeds and take a look at the News section of our website for oversight of all that is going on at Royal High School.

From the Head’s Study

From the Head’s Study The Noise of Spring With school reopening on 8 March came noise: noise in the corridors, noise in the outdoor zones; noise on the netball courts and astroturf. But the normality of school noise represents so much more, the value of which has become starkly evident during lockdown and events subsequent to our return: that of communication and girls ensuring their voices are heard.

I anticipated many of the responses from students when asking them what it was like to be back at school: it was great to see their friends again; to be able to do ‘proper’ drama/dance/ DT lessons; they so much preferred classroom-based learning.

However, one boarder’s response caught me by surprise.

They had spent lockdown in school and found everyone’s return overwhelming. I understood what they meant.

Our soft-landing, pastoral focused return has highlighted the huge adjustments students and staff have had to accommodate and how challenging this has been for many of us. But it has also emphasised the importance of communication: talking once more face to face, sharing stories and information, being a community.

One of many ways to adjust to and appreciate a community is to step back, observe and really listen. So in amongst the joyous noise of school have come so many student voices giving hope. From the plays taking shape in the Prep and Senior School, where our girls are demonstrating commitment, team-work and confidence, to a Year 9 PSHE group with their proposals for wellbeing, and the Prefect Team in the Sixth Form who have listened to senior girls’ feelings about returning to school and have created an evening of events to bring a sense of belonging back to our year groups.

More than ever, I want this year to be the year of our student voice. With so many unique and formative experiences of lockdown, the girls need to speak up, to have their voice and ideas heard and to listen to each other so that they can build back the community we had pre lockdown, even better, even stronger.

So here, amongst the hard lessons from ‘Everyone’s Invited’, from recent tragic events in Bath, from reflections on our National Day of Commemoration one year on, comes a message of hope and inspiration from our students. In this world of noise, much of it distracting and at times unkind, Royal High School girls understand the importance of having their voice heard in a positive, empowering, change for the good kind of way. Keep encouraging them to be critical thinkers and creative communicators over the holidays. We look forward to hearing even more from them on their return.

Mrs Kate Reynolds, Head

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Positive Legacy of Lockdown Thanks to the energy and creativity of two Sixth Form students – Pamela Wallace and Eloise Evans – whose idea it was for a House Competition to mark lockdown. Students and staff from across the school were asked to contribute to a Commemorative Patchwork, and we can now reveal the completed masterpiece. Contributors used a variety of skills from fabric painting, tapestry, quilting, applique and beading to create an image which summed up their experience of lockdown which ranged from multiple celebrations of the NHS, camping, sunshine, new puppies and boardgames – thank you to everyone who contributed.

Dining in style

The Dark Arts gain popularity

This time last year as we were plunged into lockdown, we had to hit pause on a number of developments around school. We are excited to announce that during the Easter holidays we will be resuming the refurbishment of the main dining room and servery at the Senior School. The new design will create a modern, high quality and engaging environment for the girls to eat in, enhancing the catering service and the whole dining experience. As part of the refurbishment we are also taking the opportunity to install a Cashless Catering System (CCS) in the main dining room and the Sixth Form Café. This new system will eliminate the need for students to carry cash during the day and enable us to improve our accounting and catering management.

The thrall of the Art Department continues to entice girls to be creative and learn new skills and techniques, and over the last few years, the darkroom in particular has been much in demand.

With more lunchtime clubs and the AS Photography course using it – not to mention girls incorporating photography into their final outcomes for GCSE, IB and A Level art there has been a real need for investment in the space and equipment.

So, this term as the girls returned to school after months at home, they were delighted to find a new darkroom in Studio 2.

The space offers fantastic creative opportunities to artists and photographers alike. With 7 stations, each equipped with an enlarger and kit at each station – there is no longer any need to share equipment. New enlargers now stand alongside those already in place, so students will be more productive and enjoy using upgraded technology to create their images. We look forward to sharing their outcomes in future issues of the Review.

Western Blueprint Limited White House Business Centre, Forest Road, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 8DH Tel: 0117 967 8222 Fax: 0117 967 8333 Email: mail@w-blueprint.co.uk www.w-blueprint.co.uk Registered in the UK no. 3951670

Estate’s Development

Future Focused – estates development news

Royal High School, Bath Servery Refurbishment 12.02.20

Sports Development Next term our plans for the development of our sports facilities will come into focus – with particular attention being paid to Dance and Fitness and the Swimming Pool – watch this space.

Western Blueprint Limited White House Business Centre, Forest Road, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 8DH Tel: 0117 967 8222 Fax: 0117 967 8333 Email: mail@w-blueprint.co.uk www.w-blueprint.co.uk Registered in the UK no. 3951670

Royal High School, Bath Servery Refurbishment 12.02.20

Student innovation shortlisted for TES Independent Schools Awards We’re thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award, which marks the remarkable achievements of four Sixth Formers who, following the GDST’s Design Thinking pre-Sixth Form course created their own business – TeddyandMe. The TES awards will be announced at the end of April.

Read more about the girls’ business here: Facemasks for children and teddies help combat anxiety

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Pastoral

News from the Pastoral Team This has undoubtedly been a difficult Spring term, but we are so delighted that our students are now back, and some semblance of normality can return. The excitement and energy of students and staff alike have been palpable, as classrooms and corridors have filled once again with the hum of voices and sounds of laughter.

Personal Safety:

Many Positives:

The topic of personal safety has come into sharp focus in the last few weeks, and we have been discussing this issue with all of our students. We have held a series of assemblies and talks about how to be alert and remain safe in the city, and we are looking forward to having the Relationship and Sex Education company ‘It Happens’ return to Royal High School in the summer to deliver age-specific seminars for every student.

The Positive organisation is a specialist learning provider dedicated to improving the health, wellbeing and performance of individuals and organisations through applied psychology and neuroscience.

Positive have been working with the GDST since 2016 and has been scaled through live and online learning to reach all teachers and staff across the 25 schools within the trust.

Wellbee-ing Angels: It has been widely reported in the media that young people have suffered a decline in mental wellbeing throughout the last year and the pastoral team has been working tirelessly to support students throughout this period. Therefore, I am delighted that we now have a team of twenty-nine Wellbeing Angels on the staff. These colleagues span the teaching and support staff in both the Prep and Senior sites, and can be easily identified by the bumble bee badges that they wear on their lanyards. The Wellbeing Angels have undertaken specific mental health training for young people to support students struggling post-lockdown.

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Positive Co-Founder Will Marien says: ‘It is fantastic to see the impact of our collaboration on the wellbeing and development of teachers, staff and students, and the potential of the partnership to transform how psychological health is viewed and applied within education is hugely exciting.’

Royal High School came top of all GDST schools in staff engagement in Positive training. We are using resources with the students to help them focus on positive thoughts after this troubling period and are looking at a range of resources to support our students.

Next term we will be offering all students the opportunity to buy an age-specific planner from the Bath-based company, The Positive Planner (not to be confused with the Positive organisation). This is an exciting project that was trialled last term with a number of students, whose feedback was unanimous in their enthusiasm for the Planners. We will be widening the opportunity for students to use these Positive Planners in Years 6-13 in the summer term.

We are now a year in to what has been an extremely challenging time for all, but the Pastoral team is determined to support all our students to emerge stronger and happier as we reclaim what we have missed so much: human contact.

2020-21 will forever be remembered as a time of lockdown, isolation, sadness and loss, but we must all now try to rebuild our relationships and focus on a brighter future.

Mrs Cunningham, Deputy Head, Pastoral

PSHE Education Competition Key Stage 3 were asked to work together to produce different artefacts with a personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) focus.

Year 7 were tasked with writing a book aimed at giving advice to young people on how to stay healthy. Year 8 created a magazine guide to puberty using all they had learned over the year. Year 9 researched mental wellbeing and created an initiative to run in school – topics ranged from a wellbeing sensory garden to a cycling club, a lunchtime walking club to a try-anysports club.

Year 7 winners: Isla, Anya and Amelia.

Sophie and Martha. Thalia, Emilia and Olivia.

Highly commended: Serena, Grace, Harriet, Florence, Edie, Bea, Imogen, Ettie, Charlotte and Olivia.

Year 8 winners: Megan, Jemima and Imogen. Ophelia, Bea, Eowyn and Shreya, Holly Ellen, Jasmine and Mahnoor

Amnesty Club Amnesty Club challenged students with a school-wide competition to design a badge for LGBTQ History month. After being inundated with entries we selected a winner from each Key stage.

Congratulations to Holly, Year 11 and Freda, Year 7 for their winning designs. We wish you all the best for the nationwide competition.

Pastoral

After witnessing some truly amazing work the winners were decided:

Year 9 winners: Sophie, Emily, Zahra and Erin who produced an excellent pitch suggesting a school renovation with wellbeing at its heart. Not only had they conducted research but they had costed their project and it was produced beautifully. Well done everyone!

Mrs Morton

GDST Talks: In 2020, the trust launched GDST Talks, a series of online seminars exclusively offered to GDST parents and alumnae. These talks and seminars, led by distinguished experts who share their experience and advice on the pressing issues of the day have proved extremely valuable to many of us in so many different ways. By hosting the talks online, GDST schools have been able to reach more parents and alumnae than ever before and we are proud to present some truly impressive and accomplished speakers.

Past events have focused on areas such as strategies for helping your child understand Covid 19 and how to support their mental health; how to speak to your child about racism; and reassuring your child when the world feels like a frightening and unpredictable place.

Recordings of previous talks are available on the GDST You Tube Channel

On Thursday 29 April the topic is Helping Your Daughter to Navigate Friendships with speaker Andrew Hampton, founder and CEO of award-winning initiative Girls on Board. Andrew works with young people, schools and parents to help bring about greater understanding of the complexities and dynamics of girl friendships. The language, methods and ideas that he has developed empower girls to solve their own friendship problems and to recognise that they are usually the only ones who can. By helping girls to find their own solutions, parents worry less, schools focus more on the curriculum and the girls learn more effectively – because they are happier.

This event is suitable for parents with children in Year 3 to 13. To book, please click here.

Our speaker on Thursday 6 May is Grace Barrett from the Self-Esteem Team, presenting to parents and girls on Managing The Transition From Primary to Secondary.

Grace is co-founder of the Self-Esteem Team who deliver award-winning emotional and lifestyle education to students, parents and teachers throughout the UK and beyond. She will be addressing the issues that might cause Year 6 students to worry as they anticipate moving to secondary school: how to cope with a different routine, managing change, dealing with independence and thinking on your feet as you navigate new social situations. Known for her humorous and relatable approach, Grace will use the session to reassure and allay the concerns of both parents and their daughters as they prepare together for this important rite of passage.

This event is suitable for parents with children in Years 5 and 6. To book please click here.

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Boarding

A Buzz About Boarding School House – Senior Boarding It has been wonderful to welcome some of our boarders back and to have the buzz around the Houses once again. Whilst on duty last week, I heard our Year 8s singing at the top of their voices in the showers – the perfect antidote to the silence of an empty boarding house!

The boarders bring the buildings alive, create an energy and despite not being at capacity yet, the House feels brighter and hopeful. We have continued our online wellbeing check-ins with our boarders both on site and around the world, each of them is a vital part of our community.

We are looking forward to a full house for the Summer Term.

We celebrated Chinese New Year and included a New Year Resolution Padlet, Chinese lanterns at supper, virtual fortune cookies and a time lapse video made by Emily, who drew a Bull symbolising the year ahead. Our catering team decorated the dining room and put on a delicious supper.

This half of term saw the appointment of our boarders to key leadership responsibilities both in the Houses and in School. We are in the process of appointing our Head and Deputy Head of House in School House. An enormous thank you to our outgoing prefects who did a sterling job: Natasha, Charlotte, Emily, Anastasiia, Sezi and Aefre.

Gloucester House – Sixth Form Boarding We were open for the half term break to support our overseas girls who have remained in the UK through the pandemic. I am so proud of these girls and the resilience they have shown in tough times – some

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Congratulations are due to Elianah who was highly commended in the Royal High School Young Musician of the Year for her beautiful singing and to our Music Scholars, Mia, Yannes and Christiane for wonderful performances in the recital recently. All our boarding musicians are busy rehearsing for the Summer Festival, spending time after school and at weekends in our Music School. Hilda returned this half of term, after a wholeyear away from Royal High School, to gain the role of Hook in Peter Pan, rehearsals are underway with Elianah and Miya also performing.

Boarders have always been integral to Royal High School Ten Tors team and this year Ilia is spending her weekends walking and map reading with a teammate for a

Covid-safe version of the event. Weekends have continued onsite with an Easter vibe: Easter Egg hunt, Easter wreath creations and decorating Easter Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

The boarders participate every Saturday in the Royal High School Sport for All programme, as well as badminton, tennis and basketball that is on the weekend activity programme.

Baking is a weekend staple and the boarders told me how much they missed Miss Standerline’s baking classes.

As we look forward to the Summer Term and restrictions slowly lifting, we are excited to plan more weekend activities off site and to enjoy the lighter evenings and warmer weather ahead.

Mrs Custodio, Head of Boarding

have not seen home and family for over a year.

We had a relaxing and rewarding half term, starting with a weekend long Chinese New Year celebration. Holroyd Howe treated us to a fantastic Chinese buffet complete with pork bao buns, an array of dumplings, Peking roast duck wraps, wok fried greens and huge spring rolls and then the girls followed this up by cooking a spectacular family style hot pot for us all the following night in House. We have some amazing cooks and enjoyed two styles of hot pot broth with a mouth watering array of meats, tofu and veg to create our perfect bowls all accompanied by more dumplings, home made crispy squid and marinated chicken wings! The girls played Mah Jong through the evening (and finished off an impressive amount of ice cream) and it was amazing to see this lovely community supporting each other and enjoying this special celebration all together.

We couldn’t let Valentine’s Day pass without giving ourselves a little love in the

form of home made chocolate dipped strawberries and Oreo truffles…

Yum! It’s been wonderful to have more girls back with us in the later part of this half term to bring a little more noise and laughter to the House.

A return to face to face lessons has been so welcome for the girls, as has the company of their day peers and some sunshine. We simply can’t wait to have the rest of our boarders return for the Summer Term and make our community complete again.

We are incredibly proud that so many of our Sixth Form boarders have been appointed to the School Prefect Team in key positions (see Mr Hayward’s article on page 9) We are also really pleased to have appointed our House representatives who help support the staff and boarders within Gloucester House. Congratulations Carlotta and Ingrid.

Mrs Pullen, Housemistress, Gloucester House

Taking Root

Youth Climate Summit

It has been straight out of lockdown and straight into action for the Green Team! We are pleased that two of our biodiversity projects have recently come to fruition, if you will pardon the pun.

On Thursday 18th March we took delivery of 10 fruit trees provided by Orchards for Schools. These were duly planted in our new orchard in the woods near the front of the School. The Growing Club will tend them and add to them so that we can increase the biodiversity on our site.

On Friday 19th March our Green Team representatives, Matilda Whittard, Harriet Whitmore, Lily Dunford, Daisy Whittard and Karah Parry joined our new Sustainability Prefects attending the B&NES Youth Climate Summit. This was the first event for our new Sustainability Prefects, Naiya Ellis-Woodward and Scarlett England and proved to be very inspiring, Scarlett writes: “The Climate Summit, ran from Hayesfield School and was insightful, inspiring and motivational. There were a range of speakers spanning topics such as ‘how we can make the food we eat more sustainable?’ to ‘Eco-anxiety’ to ‘Greenwashing in the fashion industry’.”

Arguably, the most pressing speakers for the Royal High as a community were from the ‘Let’s Go Zero’ campaign. They are helping schools to declare a climate emergency to help increase government awareness of the need for schools to have environmental curriculum support, and to ‘Go Zero’ with carbon emissions by 2030.

‘Let’s Go Zero’ helps schools to plot their pathways for solutions to environmental problems within schools, set up committees and deliver action, providing solutions, not problems to the cause. The LiberalDemocrat MP for Bath, Vera Hobhouse, was present at the introduction and encouraged young people to write to her about ideas, solutions and problems within schools’ sustainability ventures.

The actions we are going to move on from this stimulating summit, are to work towards becoming an Eco-School – we are getting closer every day. Ideas for our year in office include writing to our MP and large businesses to ask them about the extent of their sustainability and environmental mindsets and most of all, making sustainability fun for us all!

The hard work that comes with creating change will be overcome by action. Together, we can all make small developments to create big change, resulting in less anxious thoughts about the climate. Finally, the awareness should be continuously spread, from across the wider school community as environmental actions can be inclusive, manageable, deliverable, social, and rewarding. Every small action counts for a larger change.

A Hive of Activity This half term also saw the return of Bee Club and the arrival of our two bee hives. The members of Bee Club worked hard preparing the hives for their new residents. They have been painted purple as this colour attracts the bees (they see it as yellow) and, yes, they have been lined with organic cow manure! The bees prefer a rough surface and the idea is that they will cover this with resin to provide a natural defence against infections from mites. We hope to bring news of our first bee colony’s arrival very soon.

Sustainability

Eco News

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Academic

A Round Up of Academic News There has been so much going on this term here is a taste of just some of the events and activities that have taken place.

Languages Languages for the Future In February, a number of our students were lucky enough to receive an amazing, motivational and captivating set of virtual speeches by some alumnae of the school – focusing on the opportunities learning languages can provide.

Thank you so much to Ms Cossey for organising this and to the four speakers for giving such interesting talks.

Marigold Whitaker, Year 13

UK Linguistics Olympiad In February five of our Year 12 students took part in the UK Linguistics Olympiad. They tackled problems and cracked codes in five different languages, deciphering Mandombe, Old and Middle Chinese, Nglkolmpu, Sauk and Dagaare.

Congratulations to Eliana Woosnam, Lemon Lam and Sona Suzuki who were all awarded Bronze certificates. This puts them in the top 30% of all the candidates entered for this national competition – a fantastic achievement!

Mignonnes We heard from four speakers: Sophie Churchill (RHS 2018), Bliss Firth (RHS 2019), Abbi Scarr (RHS 2014) and Ella Milburn (RHS 2009), and were so impressed to hear the extremely different but fascinating ways that languages had taken them to where they are today, and reflected the myriad of benefits learning languages can provide – a point mentioned by all the speakers!

Sophie Churchill is still at university and studying two languages, French and Spanish, although she told us that once you get past a certain level, she does not find there is so much confusion! Bliss Firth, a fashion design student in Paris, talked about the preparation A Levels provided for her time living in France, and her hopes of becoming a French national in the future. Abbi Scarr gave us fascinating insight on her job working in a corporate intelligence team using her languages and translation ability. Finally, we heard from economic journalist Ella Milburn, who impressed us all with her achievements covering an environmental disaster in Brazil and then her studies in Japanese language – which was so impressive to hear about!

We learnt so much from these speakers, who also answered lots of our questions.

These talks by four inspirational speakers really motivated me to continue my study of modern languages and be excited for the opportunities these subjects can bring in the future!

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In March, Royal High School A Level and IB linguists joined others from across the GDST for a virtual film seminar on ‘Mignonnes’ led

by Dr Helene Neveu Kringelbach, Associate Professor of African Anthropology at University College London.

The film tells the story of 11 year old Amy, growing up in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris, seeking identity through dance, whilst navigating her way through the three interconnected yet contradictory worlds: traditional Senegalese culture, French secular culture and the ever-present world of social media.

As Darcy explains: “The conference was a great opportunity to discuss cultural aspects

of our French courses. The discussion was thought provoking and raised lots of questions surrounding the assimilation of cultural identities. Hélène Neveu Kringelbach’s expertise highlighted the influences of Senegalese traditions and customs, drawing our attention to the internal battles between keeping national heritage alive, but also being a part of Parisian society.

The masterclass gave me the chance to expand my understanding of francophone countries and societies, enriching my knowledge of our world and allowing me to further explore the ideas introduced within IB.” Dr Kringelbach’s conclusion that the level of the girls’ critical engagement was on a par with UCL undergraduates was very encouraging and both teachers and students were left stimulated, informed and inspired to continue to explore this fascinating part of their studies.

Pandora Project Year 6 made good use of their Guided Home Learning Latin lessons and learned about the myth of Pandora. She was given a box as a wedding gift and told not to open it.

Well, what would YOU do? When, of course, she lifted the lid every kind of evil thing flew out into the world. Pandora slammed the lid down but then she heard a tiny voice. When she looked again, there was Hope in the bottom of the box.

Year 6 discussed the story and its meaning and then created their own work in response.

Every project was unique – creative writing, art, models, modern or ancient settings.

It was tough to choose between them, but Maddie D, Halo J, Sennen D, Milly S, India G were awarded prizes and Emma C, Phoebe B, Chessy G, Rose M, Izzy O have honourable mentions. Well done, Year 6! Take a look at all their entries on the website here: Dr J McCarthy

VIEW ENTRIES SCAN ME

Despite being under lockdown, the Sixth Form this year has been as busy as ever. In particular, we have reached the stage of the year when we bid farewell to the outgoing leadership team of Mentors and Prefects, led with flair and ingenuity by Mathura, and welcome in the new team who will take over from them.

This is always an exciting moment in the school year. For me, it’s also bittersweet.

The present leadership team have left huge shoes to fill. Despite beginning and ending their tenure under lockdown, they have shown sublime levels of resourcefulness and energy, using all sorts of virtual platforms to reach beyond their bubbles, to connect with girls lower down school, to run events, to create films and vlogs, and in general to be outward facing and dynamic. They have made a genuine difference in a whole host of ways. It would be invidious to highlight any particular individual, given the strong sense of esprit de corps that sustains them, but I do want to pay tribute to Mathura, Darcy and Bethany, who have been so brilliantly imaginative and proactive in coming up with creative solutions to the problems of lockdown.

It is an exciting moment for those in the new leadership team. I am delighted to welcome in Daisy John as our new Head Girl who I know will fulfil her responsibilities superbly. She is joined by Eliza Hyde and Ella Condrau as her supremely able Deputies.

We have Katy and Joana as Charity Prefects, Eliana and Sophie as our Inclusivity, Diversity and Student Voice Prefects and Scarlett and Naiya as Sustainability Prefects. Candice and Betsy will assume the role of Boarding Prefects. Well done to all of them. They will shine brightly.

This year we have a new tier of Prefect roles in the form of House Prefects. These will be reaching out across the years to develop House identity, to organise House events and in general to work their magic. Well done to Sophia and Jess (Austen), Tilly and Cleo (Bronte), Suetira and Amy (Du Pre) and Keira and Kasandra (Wollstonecraft).

Being a good Mentor is hard. It requires considerable reserves of interpersonal skills, reliability and initiative to build effective relationships with younger girls.

The priceless reward is that a great Mentor is so inspiring that she is never forgotten.

Well done to our new team of Mentors: Alisha, Gladys, Tara and Harriet in Year 7, Carlotta, Laura, Hannah and Aoife in Year 8, and Sophie, Lottie, Mia and Kitty in Year 9.

Laura will also be the Mentor Representative, using her formidable levels of eloquence to act as a spokesperson for the mentors when necessary.

I wanted to say one thing to those who were unsuccessful in applying for roles.

To me, by putting yourselves forward, you have already proved something about yourselves. It is a brave thing to do and you deserve huge credit. There are many ways for you to shine in the Sixth Form. We will find them for you.

I know you will join with me in wishing them all well. They are a superb team of girls and a real credit to the Sixth Form and to the Royal High.

Mr Hayward, Head of Sixth Form

HEAD GIRL Daisy John

On the Grapevine

Academic

Sixth Form

Alumna in print Hot on the heels of her first e-book: Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire, we are delighted to report that alumna Helen Pugh (RHS 2006) published her second children’s novel at the end of January.

In Inca-tastic Tales for Children, readers join goddess Pachamama and the rainbow Cuychi on an epic journey through Incan history! Packed with gods and goddesses, magicians and monarchs, heroes and villains, these South American legends and stories are for readers aged from 8 to 80, and the cover illustrations are by alumna Alex Thompson (RHS 2006).

Helen recalls her passion for all things Spanish-related was ignited by Ms Side when she joined Royal High School in Year 7 and continued through her degree in Spanish and Italian. Her interest in South America and the Incas began when she first went to Ecuador in 2006, where she lived for 7 years, in the Amazon region and in Quito.

Inca-tastic Tales for Children is available from www.amazon.co.uk in Kindle Edition or Paperback.

DEPUTY HEAD GIRLS Eliza Hyde

Ella Condrau PREFECTS

CHARITIES Joana Gottschalk Katy Lohner-Benson AUSTEN Sophia Karakusevic Jess Ness Y7 Alisha Kayani Gladys Cheung Tara Morris Harriet Kirkwood

BOARDING Candice Leung Betsy Zhang

IDSV Eliana Woosnam Sophie Phipson

HOUSE PREFECTS BRONTE DU PRE Tilly Broadbridge Suetira Zayat Cleo Kelley Amy Rieger MENTORS Y8 Carlotta Fedrizzi Laura Clark (Mentor Representative) Hannah Ford Aoife O’Neill

SUSTAINABILITY Scarlett England Naiya Ellis-Woodward WOLLSTONECRAFT Keira Purewall Kasandra Lo

Y9 Sophie Lo Lottie Daniels Mia Oldfield Kitty Campbell-Howard

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hobbitt/Shutterstock.com

Academic

STEM Design Technology In Design Technology it has been so lovely to welcome the girls back to Food, Textiles and DT! We have wasted no time in getting straight back on with plenty of practical work.

Year 7 managed to get back into the workshop to complete their iPad holders before they rotate to their next subject.

Wynette and Matilda hand sketched their work, scanned it in and uploaded it to 2D design so it could be laser etched onto their work.

Competition Season for Computer Science & ICT

Year 10 spent the first term in Textiles, and we have now moved into the workshop.

To get us started we are focusing on a quick hand skills project where the girls are making jewellery boxes using comb, dovetail and dowel joints with a laminated front and a laser cut lid!

Routes into STEM Students have been taking advantage of some of the many different Science and STEM online courses currently available.

Rose Hoadley in Year 10 attended a Virtual Routes into STEM course and gained a Bronze Industrial Cadet’s award, and Sybil Wu attended a Particle Physics Masterclass

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It has been a busy few weeks in terms of competitions. We had 13 girls enter the highly competitive Oxford University Computing Challenge, with Liv Greenwell, Catherine Ellis, Evie Hughes and Kashuf Rehman achieving a Merit standard.

These girls are already in the top 10% in the country so these were excellent results.

It was lovely to see that the Prep School also had success in this competition with a place in the grand final for Sophie.

We also had the semi-final of the CyberFirst Girls competition which saw our team of year 8s: Evie, Emmeline, Ruby and Amelie – the ‘Candy Coders’ – compete with 19 other teams from the South West.

Unfortunately, we did not make the final

but the girls learnt so much about hacking, security, logic and cryptography.

Finally, one of our year 12s attended a STEM Industry webinar with top professionals. This was a valuable opportunity to get information on how to get on the top courses for Computer Science and Maths.

We are currently planning a clear STEM pathway for girls next year to include more cross-department collaboration in terms of clubs, talks and activities, along with inter-house problem solving and design competitions. Watch this space.

Mrs Lycett, Head of ICT & Computer Science

run by Oxford University. Both students found their courses very rewarding, and tell us about their respective courses:

international to talk about apprenticeship and placement opportunities.

This course is for anyone interested in a career in STEM, especially those aiming to go to University as places are competitive and any extra experience is beneficial.”

Rose Hoadley, Year 10

“The virtual routes into STEM course encourages students aged 13-16 to learn about different ways to study and eventually start a career in STEM subjects.

We completed the course in our own time watching videos about colleges, universities and companies. These included how to choose and apply to a university, what kind of qualifications or experience universities and companies are looking for, and the many ways in which you can gain work experience in science, technology, engineering and maths, for example by apprenticeships or university placements.

Two live sessions were held on each day of half term. There were panels of university students sharing their experiences studying STEM, as well as details about their chosen universities. There were also representatives from science and engineering-based companies such as GSK or Babcock

“The Masterclass gave me a general knowledge of particle physics and gave me new ideas about what to study at university. As well as listening to interesting talks we carried out a task to collect data using the HYPATIA software, which we then put into a website to produce a graph.

We then ran through a website to produce a graph and discussed our findings.

I realised that it is incredibly helpful to learn physics with complex devices and software as they give us more precise information. We also talked with some PhD student, which has given me the motivation to explore more about physics.”

Sybil Wu, Year 12

Academic

Bug’s Life Earlier this term students in Years 5–9 were encouraged to design a Bug Hotel – the winning designs show real inginuity and an understanding of sustainability.

Martha Robson, Year 7

Hettie, Year 5 and Flora, Year 8

News from the Science Block This half of term it has been wonderful to be back in labs doing practical work, a key feature of science lessons that just cannot be properly replicated in online lessons.

Our return to school also coincided with the start of British Science week, which began with an explosive Assembly by Mr. Hardcastle!

During the week Years 7 and 8 made posters for a British Science Week competition – looking at the entries so far, it is going to be very hard to select the best 5 from the school to submit to the

competition! Year 9 researched solutions to the problems posed by the Bright Ideas Challenge. Year 10 were lucky enough to have two inspirational talks: one about the Chemistry of Perfume from Tim Harrison of Bristol University and another about cancer from our Interim Biology Technician, Sibyl Bertrand, who is about to start a new job in a start-up company in Oxford looking at the development of sequencing techniques for immunotherapy – we have already made a booking with her for a talk for next year’s British Science Week!

In the Chemistry Olympiad Lemon Lam, Jayne Lau, Daisy John and Eliza Hyde all achieved Bronze Certificates and Kerry Tsang achieved a Silver Certificate. These are very impressive results for our Year 12 students as the competition is designed for Year 13 students, and of those taking it only the top 33% get a Silver or above.

In the Physics Olympiad Senior Challenge for Year 12 students Sybil Wu achieved a Silver award, which meant that she came in the top 46 % of the 5,200 students who entered the competition from around the UK, and Betsy Zhang achieved a Bronze award. In the Intermediate Challenge for Year 11 students Helena Rothery achieved a Silver award and Karah Parry a Bronze award.

This half of term several of our Year 12 and Year 11 students have participated in the British Physics Olympiad and Royal Society of Chemistry Olympiad competitions. Both competitions are highly challenging and are designed to test students’ logical thinking and problem solving in chemistry and physics contexts.

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Academic

Humanities Write Space Anthology Joely Baker’s remarkable creative-writing society – ‘The Write Space’ – is soon to publish their very first anthology. Joely started the society as a place for budding creative writers to develop their voice, share ideas, and nurture their skill across a range of genre and medium. It has since become the literary hub of the Senior School!

The society has flourished under her care and an amazingly talented group of writers are now going to publish an anthology of work they have produced.

Here is a teaser of the original writings the book will include: Maddie Whitmore – A collection of response poems to famous myths and films.

Saskia Bell – A short story of fragility and vitality, and the interaction between.

Poppy Hylton – A scene from her play about a bumbling detective trying to solve a mysterious murder with the help of an unusual partner.

Harriet Whitmore – A poem about real life monsters escaping the comfort of childhood stories and into the outside world.

Ellie Gresham – A poem about the beautiful art of dancing, the passion for performance, and entwining bodily sensations with focus and determination.

Catherine Ellis – A songfic (fan fiction) based on the song ‘Us Against the World’ by the artist Kanaya about remembrance, bittersweet victory and defeat..

Sophie Morris – A short story about siblings adventuring around a fair ground, paired with a colourful drawing made by Sophie as well.

Martha Robson – A poem about the beauty of kingfishers, based upon a kingfisher in the novel “Last Words” by Robert Macfarlane.

Matilda Kerner – A poem about the surprising transition of seasons from sunny California to England.

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Second Place for Debate Team – no argument

Daisy John, Carlotta Fedrizzi and Eliza Hyde have been awarded second place in a thrilling GDST Debating competition that took place online. The team of Year 12 students was charged with opposing the motion ‘This House believes that vaccinations should be made compulsory in the UK’ against one of the teams from Northampton High and did so with an accomplished rhetorical skill and dexterity that was widely praised by the judges.

Students from the Oxford University Debating Society judged the competition and picked out the Royal High School for overall second place. They debated brilliantly and this is a wonderful achievement. Daisy was praised by the judges for her ‘wonderful delivery, analysis and organisation in her brilliant speech’

and was singled out for directly exploiting the fatal flaw in the proposition’s case (who had stumbled over a key word ‘mandatory’ in their opening statement).

Carlotta was celebrated for ‘some of the best rhetoric of the entire event’ and especially complemented for the ‘incredibly smooth and succinct’ delivery that made her impassioned case feel natural (despite meticulous planning). Eliza was highly praised for responding to remarks on the spot and introducing the four pillars of medical ethics into the discussion, as well as delivering an ‘excellent summary speech’ that managed to distil the whole debate into a ‘clear and concise review’.

The Oxford University Debating Society implored the Bath students to continue debating into the future!

UCL Beacon School Programme The highlight for the History department this spring was continuing its participation with the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education Beacon School programme.

At the start of this term, Year 9 began studying the topic led by the question – ‘What was the Holocaust and why did it happen?’ Despite the challenges of Guided Home Learning, Year 9 students showed fantastic interest in the personal stories and testimonies studied, charting the lives of European Jews before the 1930s and then the escalating discrimination and persecution they faced through the 1930s. Students learnt from a wide range of testimonies from the United States Holocaust Museum and Yad Vashem on life in the ghettos and how different communities experienced the Holocaust across Europe, grasping many of the more complicated elements and wrestling with some of the difficult questions raised.

Also this term, teaching staff at the Prep and Senior School were provided with CPD from the Centre, raising awareness of key issues, highlighting useful strategies for teaching and discussing student

misconceptions of the Holocaust. The last week of January also saw the school mark Holocaust Memorial Day with a special assembly and discussions in PSHEE about how we all as individuals can use our voice to take a stand against discrimination and persecution in all its forms.

The department and school continue to benefit from the expertise and resources of this prestigious UCL programme.

A key part of being a Beacon School is the rigorous evaluation of our curriculum to ensure it reflects the most up to date research on Holocaust education and best teaching practice. The feedback we have received has been highly complimentary and provided helpful recommendations on how we can refine it further in future.

Mr Lacey

Academic

History Film Club Watching a history film on Thursday evenings has become a regular occurrence in our family. It is an opportunity to relax and learn about many different aspects of history with the History Film Club! We watch films from varied time periods, such as The Book Thief and Their Finest – set in World War Two; Pride – based on a true story of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign in 1984 (our favourite so far!); Denial – a court case with a Holocaust denier, and lots more! Throughout the film, Mrs Pagnamenta uses Teams to send extra pieces of information and links to websites for if you would like to read more, and this makes the evening engaging and really fun!

We thoroughly recommend joining the History Film Club team and watching amazing movies every Week A Thursday at 8pm.

Liv and Amelia Greenwell, Year 7 and Year 10

Geography

Water consumption

Peter Wallace/Shutterstock.com

National Park Code

With lockdown, many of our freedoms have been restricted.

In many ways this has provided a breather for wildlife and the environment with air pollution levels falling in many big cities and species enjoying their habitats with less human interference.

This made Year 7 reflect on the impact which humans make on our National Parks. The UK has 15 National Parks, including the Lake District and New Forest. These areas have distinctly special landscapes which we want to preserve and protect from modern developments and activities. However, these areas attract millions of visitors each year. This influx of people creates all kinds of damage and disturbance to habitats as well as local communities.

Year 7 have been working on developing a poster with a National Park Code designed to educate visitors about things they should to do minimise their impacts. It is important to balance the social and economic benefits which tourism brings, with their negative consequences.

This term Year 8 students investigated how much water they used in their homes. It may surprise you to know that the average person uses around 140 litres a day. Now while water may seem often plentiful in the UK, it all has to be taken from somewhere, stored, piped and cleaned. All of this has an impact on our environment.

The Year 8 students spent time monitoring their water usage and documenting these. Some of the biggest uses were by showering and baths. The students then explored different ways in which we could save water within our homes, including collecting rainwater and reusing grey water supplies in our gardens, to using water meters and water efficient appliances. The students summarised their research into booklets and gave short presentations on their ideas and innovations.

ananaline/Shutterstock.com

A Jar of Smiles During lockdown, two Sixth Formers started a craft club for Year 7 girls. The club moved online via Teams and the girls posted the materials needed by the Year7 members.

The first activity involved teaching the girls to make origami stars and they asked the girls to make a star a day, write something that they were happy about that day in the star and pop it in the jar.

Many of the girls have continued this.

We heard from one parent who wrote to tell us: “This jar represents what the Royal High School community is all about – a Year 7 girl showing me her well-being jar taught to her by her Sixth Form friends.

There are a lot of smiles in the jar and finding it gave me a massive smile.”

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House News

Performing Arts

House News

Speech and Drama

Autumn and Spring term House points tally

This term in speech and drama students have been preparing for their upcoming online LAMDA acting and public speaking exams. The girls have really demonstrated once again their resilience and determination as face to face LAMDA exams were cancelled and they had to adapt their pieces to perform to camera for online exams. We wish the girls all the very best for their exams later in the spring.

It has also been wonderful this term to work with a large number of sixth form students, focusing on public speaking skills, presentation skills and interview techniques for upcoming university video interviews. Next term we do have a small number of solo and duologue classes available both for acting classes and public speaking. For more information or to book a class please email Miss Vernon at c.vernon@rhsb.gdst.net

News from the Music School Another busy half term for Music at Royal High School which has seen Mr Bradbury’s department run a broad range of musical activities and ensembles, and also facilitate a number of concerts demonstrating the talents of so many of our girls.

Music Scholars delighted us with beautiful performances spanning the breadth and depth of the Western Classical Tradition in their very own recital, whilst girls across all year groups studying piano and organ, with their specialist instrumental teachers, treated the ‘virtual’ audience to works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. It is quite incredible to witness the resilience of the girls and ‘stepping up’ to find the courage and strength during these challenging times.

Next term, the Music department will be working on the School production of ‘Peter Pan’ in collaboration with the Dance and Drama department and the Summer Festival on Saturday 3 July.

Mr Bradbury, Director of Music

S AV E T H E DAT E !

ER M M SU AL V I T FES SATURDAY

3 JULY 2021 JOIN US FOR A WONDERFUL DAY OF MUSIC, ART AND PERFORMANCE FROM ACROSS THE ROYAL HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY

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What a Drama

AUSTIN WOLLSTONCRAFT BRONTE DU PRE

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Young Musician of the Year The standard of entries was phenomenal despite performing from home in lockdown.

Junior musician of the Year was awarded to Amelie Holladay of Bronte and the Senior Musician of the Year was awarded to Mathura Kathirgamananthan of Dupre.

The overall Results of the Young Musician of the Year competition were: 4th – Austen 3rd – Wollstoncraft 2nd – DuPre 1st and Winners of the House Music Cup – Bronte

GDST Get Active Challenge

The Drama department was lucky enough to secure two fantastic online workshops with Evelyn Hoskins, who most recently played Dawn in the West End production of ‘Waitress’. Students were invited to prepare a song and/or monologue for the workshop and did not disappoint with their varied and nuanced renditions.

Our technical Drama club students have also been busy this term, with their model boxes, in particular, crafted with care and originality during Guided Home Learning.

As well as casting the KS3 musical ‘Peter Pan’, the Scholars’ production: ‘Second Person Narrative’ has also started rehearsing. We are thoroughly excited to be in a position where we can make theatre again and have worked incredibly hard to ensure that both productions adhere to current Government guidelines. All being well, ‘Second Person Narrative’ will be performed in May, whilst ‘Peter Pan’ will take to the stage in June.

Even though with the Spring Term came a third National Lockdown, House spirit continued to thrive and in February the GDST Get Active Challenge, saw our students, staff, parents and alumnae all raise to the challenge.

The whole school community ‘Got Active’ running, cycling, rowing, horse riding and even skiing their way to third place overall in the GDST and gaining valuable House points along the way. It was Austen House that reigned victorious gaining first place in our school competition completing a staggering 17,069km during the month of February.

House Prefects Our new House Prefects are now in post along with our new Heads of Houses (see page 9) and we are looking forward to more exciting and colourful House events in the Summer term.

Day Girls Welcome in Boarding

House News

Competitive Pies

As Covid restrictions begin to lift, its time to remind the whole Royal High School community about the excellent boarding provision which can be tailored to meet the needs of individual families. This includes the ability to provide flexible boarding options either on a regular or ad-hoc basis.

Flexible boarding is popular with pupils who would otherwise have a long journey into school and would like to break up the travelling during the week or those who may have a late after school club or local extra-curricular commitment.

It can also suit families with either permanent or temporary work commitments and need their daughters to stay in boarding for the occasional night.

British Pie Day of course inspired Food Technology to launch a pie making competition with as always delicious results!

There has to be a winner however, and on this occasion Megan Brown in Year 8 rose to the top for Wollstonecraft with her Tropical Meringue Pie. Coming in second place with her Latticed apple pie was Thalia Pawson also for Wollstonecraft and in third place was Elianah Odim-Ofor in Austen with her Nigerian meat pies.

YEAR 7 Day Girls

Golden Ticket ONE FREE NIGHT IN BOARDING DURING THE SUMMER TERM! PLEASE CONTACT MRS CUSTODIO TO BOOK A PLACE: E.CUSTODIO@RHSB.GDST.NET

Global Outlook

This term the students at our partner school in Keo Ropov, Cambodia have managed to stay in school while we have not! Despite a brief school closure in December pupils continue to attend school on a rota with masks and social distancing. Our United World Schools (UWS) contact tells us that the students continue to enjoy their learning at school and receive packs to support them when they are learning at home.

Earlier in the term UWS celebrated World Women’s day by highlighting their commitment to girls’ education. In the areas that UWS serve in South East Asia (Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal) 50% of girls marry before the age of 18, and typically at a younger age in the rural communities. In villages with a school this

statistic is greatly reduced. UWS have most recently begun a dormitory scheme so that girls in village primary schools, like Keo Ropov, can attend secondary schools.

They have also begun to provide free sanitary towels to overcome period poverty as a barrier to education.

Thank you to everyone in the school community who supported our successful Christmas Catalogue scheme. Now that we have returned to school, Cambodia Club will restart and offer students and the wider community the chance to support the children of Keo Ropov village with our annual raffle. If you have any prizes to donate please let do drop me an email: h.briggs@rhsb.gdst.net Mr Briggs, Deputy Head, Academic

News from the Crane Academy The Crane Academy has experienced hard times during the pandemic and they live in fear of Covid 19 every day. They feel their government hasn’t done a great job to protect health workers and the country is losing doctors and nurses at an alarming rate – in December some went on strike due to lack of PPE. Their school calendar has also changed – National Examination classes opened late October for their second term but others were postponed and were due to open in January for the start of their second term.

The Royal High School community continues to raise money and awareness for the Crane Academy and continue our link with the school.

We are launching a new Year 10 Crane Club which will raise awareness of the Crane Academy to the student body and to develop activities and initiatives so that the two schools can continue to work together.

Initially, the Club is made up of Year 10 students but in time we hope to open the up club to younger years to build its profile across the school.

The Crane Academy are very grateful for all the help we give.

Mrs Hughes, Assistant Head

MiniStocker/Shutterstock.com

News from one of our sister schools in Cambodia.

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RHS Active

RHS Active Our amazing RHS Active programme has continued throughout lockdown and now, as we start the summer term, there is a wealth of activities and interests for girls to pursue.

Saturday Sport for All The resumption of sport for all our students has provided the opportunity for girls to get outside in the fresh air. It has also provided time and space to prepare for the resumption of competitive fixtures and work on match fitness and training.

Sport is such a big part of life at RHS, its wonderful to see so many girls involved.

Lockdown Dance The GDST Lockdown Dance Competition was launched in January.

Dancers from years 5-13 across all of the GDST schools were invited to participate by choreographing and performing a dance in the style of their choice. On 29 March the results were revealed via Zoom.

Congratulations to Royal High School Students, Yvie Woods who achieved a place in the top 5 for the KS3 category. Special mentions from Miss Kovacs go to Olivia Philips, Darcey Walker, Emilia Parsons, Ophelia Hyde, Millie Knudsen and Isla Mills for their wonderful entries and massive congratulations to all those who took part.

The Dance Department are now looking forward to filming the dance show at the start of next term, viewing details and dates will be released soon.

Miss Kovacs

Show jumping Congratulations to Isabella and Annalisa for competing at the Allens Hill Competition and Livery Centre as part of the National Schools Equestrian Association showjumping qualifier!

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RHS ACTIVE MUSIC

RHS ACTIVE SPORTS

RHS ACTIVE DANCE

We recognise that student life is about balance and we try to encourage students to counter academic work by taking part in our wide range of exciting enrichment, extension and co-curricular activities. Girls are expected to sign up to at least two activities per week.

MONDAY

RHS Active

RHS Active Timetables

TUESDAY

LUNCH TIME Year 7 Dance Club 1:15-1:45pm Sports Hall

Year 8 Dance Club 1:15-1:45pm Sports Hall Year 9 Dance Club 1:55-2:25pm Sports Hall

AFTER SCHOOL Senior Dance 4:30-5:15pm (Year 10-13 by invitation only) Sports Hall GCSE Dance – Year 1 5:15-7:15pm (Year 9) Sports Hall

GCSE Dance – Year 2 4:30-6:30pm (Year 10) Sports Hall

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Year 7 Netball – LSL/KJO 1:20-1:55pm Front Courts

Year 10 Netball – LSL 1:20-1:55pm Front Courts Year 9 Football-APR/KJO Week A - 12.40 \week B - 1:10pm Astro

Year 9 Netball LSL/KJO/KST Week A: 1:10pm Week B: 12:40pm Front Courts Year 8 Football – JHU Week A - 1:30pm Week B - 12.30pm Astro

Year 9 Athletics – PAT 1:10pm Year 10 Football – JHU/ APR 1:10pm Astro

Year 7 Cricket/Tennis KST/JHU/KJO 4:00-5:30pm Year 10 Athletics – PAT/ APR 4:00-5:30pm

Year 8 Athletics PAT/KJO/JLE 4:00-5:30pm Year 9 Cricket/Tennis APR/LSL 4:00-5:30pm

Year 10 Cricket/Tennis – KST/APR 4:00-5:30pm Year 7 Athletics – LSL/ KJO 4:00-5:30pm

Year 9 Athletics LSL/JLE/APR 4:00-5:30pm Year 8 Cricket/Tennis KST/SMC 4:00-5:30pm

Year 8 Kickboxing – Scott Harris Week A: 4:45-5:45pm Week B: 4.15-5.15pm Sports Hall

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Chamber Choir – MBR (All Years) 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room

Combined Orchestra and Concert Band – MBR (All Years) 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room

LUNCH TIME Year 8 Netball – KJO/JHU 12.40-1:10pm Front Courts

AFTER SCHOOL

BEFORE SCHOOL Theory Club – MBR (All Years) 8:15-8:45am Recording Studio 1 LUNCH TIME Music Club – MBR (Year 9) 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room

Gig Night and Song Writing – MBR (All Years) 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Choir – NPO (Year 7) 1:10-1:55pm Recital Room Vocalise – NPO (Year 10) 2:00-2:25pm (Week B) Recital Room

Orchestra – NPO (Year 7) 1:10-1:55pm Recital Room Jazz Band – MBR (All Years) 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room

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RHS ACTIVE

RHS Active

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

BEFORE SCHOOL ACTIVITIES Theory Club – MBR All Years 8:15-8:45am Recording Studio 1, Music School LUNCH TIME ACTIVITIES Mirzakhani Maths ClubALA Year 12-Week B: 12:40pm W1 and Teams Silver DofE Training – APA Year 10 – Invitation only Week A: 12:40pm Science block Cambodia Club – HBR All Years -Week B: 12:40pm Teams Drama Tech Club – KAD Year 8 – Members only Week A: 12:50pm Memorial Hall Music Club – MBR Year 9-1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Amnesty Club – HMO Years 10-13 Week A: 1:10pm Teams

Textiles: Complete your bag-VGI Year 8 – sign up sheet 12:40-1:55pm Textiles Room Chess Club – JTS Year 9 Week A: 12:50pm Room TBC Chess Club – JTS Year 7 Week B: 12:50pm Room TBC Gig Night and Song Writing-MBR All Years 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Choir – NPO Year 7 1:10-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Vocalise – NPO Year 10 Week B: 2:002:25pm Recital Room, Music School

Orchestra – NPO Year 7 1:10-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Jazz Band – MBR All Years 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Mirzakhani Maths Club – ALA Year 10 Week B: 2:00pm Room 2 Foreign Language Leaders – JCO Year 12 – Members only Week A: 1:20pm W13 French Club – SDA Years 7-9 12:40pm Teams LitLunch – Year 12 NEV Week A 12:40 – 1:15 Sixth Form Library

Drama Tech Club – KAD Year 9 – Members only Week B: 12:50pm Memorial Hall Chamber Choir – MBR All Years 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Gardening Club – TNO Year 7 1:10-1:50pm Meet outside Science LitLunch – Year 12 NEV Week A 12:40 – 1:15 Sixth Form Library First Aid Club – Eliza Hyde Year 8 12.40 – 1.10 Hudson Centre

Myth Club – JAM Year 7-9 Week A: 1:20pm Week B: 12:40pm Teams/Rooms 12, 8, 9 Combined Orchestra and Concert Band – MBR All Years 1:00-1:55pm Recital Room, Music School Foreign Language Leaders-JCO (Year 12) – Members only Week B: 1:20pm W1

Dance Club – RKO Year 8 1:15-1:45pm Sports Hall Netball – LSL/KJO Year 8 1:20-1:55pm Front Courts Dance Club – RKO Year 9 1:55-2:15pm Sports Hall

Netball – LSL Year 10 1:20-1:55pm Front Courts Football – APR/KJO Year 9 :10pm Astro

Netball – LSL/KJO/KST Year 9 Week A: 1:10pm Week B: 12:40pm Front Courts Football – JHU Year 8 1:10pm Astro

Athletics – PAT Year 9 1:10pm Football – APR/JHU Year 10 1:10pm Astro

Cricket/Tennis – APR/LSL Year 9 4:00-5:30pm Athletics – PAT/KJO/JLE Year 8 4:00-5:30pm GCSE Dance Y2- RKO Year 10 4:30-6:30pm Sports Hall

Cricket/Tennis – KST/APR Year 10 4:00-5:30pm Athletics – LSL/KJO Year 7 4:00-5:30pm

Cricket/Tennis – KST/SMC Year 8 4:00-5:30pm Athletics – LSL/JLE/APR Year 9 4:00-5:30pm

Kickboxing – Scott Harris Year 8 Week A: 4:455:45pm Week B: 4:15-5:15pm

Culture Club Week A – Year 12 Week B – Year 13 4.30 in W3

Mandarin Club – CKU Year 7-9 4:40-5:30pm Teams

MedSoc – THA Year 10-13 4:30-5:00pm Teams History Film Club – HPA All Years Week A: 8:00pm Teams – at Home

LUNCH TIME SPORTS Dance Club – RKO Year 7 1:15-1:45pm Sports Hall Netball – KJO Year 7 1:20-1:55pm Front Courts

AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS Cricket/Tennis KST/JHU/KJO (Year 7) 4:00-5:30pm Athletics – PAT/APR (Year 10) 4:00-5:30pm Senior Dance – RKO (Year 10-13) – invitation only 4:30-5:15pm Sports Hall GCSE Dance Y1 – RKO (Year 9) 5:15-7:15pm Sports Hall AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Speech & Drama Lessons are running as normal this term, with lessons taking place throughout the school day. Spaces are available for solo and duologue classes, if students would like further details please email Head of Drama, Mrs Thorpe at i.thorpe@rhsb.gdst.net

There are more activities in the pipeline which will be added to this programme – so please do keep checking the RHS Active page on Firefly for updates. https://royalhighbath.fireflycloud.net/co-curricular/rhs-active---summer-term-2021

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VIEW SCAN ME

The Prep School has enjoyed a really busy and active half of term - here's just a taste of what they've had going on.

Africa Day

Year 3 Dazzle with Sleeping Beauty At the end of March, the girls in Year 3 performed Sleeping Beauty.

Despite only having been back in school for 13 days before their dress rehearsal, the girls gave fabulous and confident performances.

Throughout lockdown, Music, Drama and Dance lessons were used to rehearse, and the girls learned songs, dances and dialogue from a screen!

The pantomime included all the traditional elements: well-loved songs, joyous dances, cheesy panto jokes, comedy timing, slapstick, audience participation and a happy ending.

With special thanks to ‘Costume Carole’ and to Mr Woods for the stunning set, Mrs Knights and Miss Messer who were fantastic ‘stagehands’ and of course to the amazing cast who took our breath away.

With our focus on the girls’ mental health since our return to school, the pantomime really did highlight how singing and dancing can improve our sense of happiness and wellbeing.

Mrs Millard and Mrs Bazley

Prep School News

News from the Prep

Year 4 celebrated Africa Day – a whole day of activities themed around this rich and varied continent. The girls created a giant picture of Nelson Mandela, or Madiba as he was also known, and then turned their hand to some African maths and then tasted different food and drink from South Africa kindly given by Imogen’s family – it was delicious. The highlight of the day was an African drumming performance and special dance to mark the occasion.

Reaping what they sow Just before the end of term, the girls in Year 6 harvested their ‘Dig for Victory’ produce, which they planted as part of their Autumn term 2020 theme. Turnips and cavalo nero were picked, and the kitchen staff prepared the vegetables to accompany their lunch. The girls, hungry after their labours, really enjoyed consuming the fruits of their labour! Their gardening bug continues as they plan to plant salad leaves which they have grown from seed.

Oxford University Computing Challenge A huge congratulations to the Year 6 girls who took part in the Oxford University Computing Challenge. The OUCC is the next stage of Bebras and the six girls (who all achieved distinctions in the first round), prepared for the competition themselves while at home during lockdown. It's a challenging competition and we are very proud of the resilience and resourcefulness shown by our students.

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Girls Making Their Mark IB Art Exhibition It was a massive milestone for IB Art students as well as the Art Department as they held their first exhibition in the Art School for over a year. The IB Art Exhibition was a celebration of the work of Leila Lambert, Anson Lee, Bonnie Hull and Alexa Chokra whose work took inspiration from despots, film directors and the fashion industry. Congratulations to these remarkable artists.

Save the Date 29

APR

Look out for the new Weekly Bulletin for a snapshot of what's coming up.

STRINGS, BRASS AND WOODWIND RECITAL

29 GDST TALKS, ANDREW HAMPTON:

APR ‘HELPING YOUR DAUGHTER TO NAVIGATE FRIENDSHIPS’

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Y10 DRAMA PERFORMANCE MAY OF ROMIA AND JULIET

6

GDST TALKS, GRACE BARRETT: ‘MANAGING THE

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DRAMA SCHOLARS PRODUCTION

Junior Lawyers Club Congratulations to Erin Marten who has been working towards her JLC Silver Award with the Junior Lawyers Club. The club, run by a barristers, LAMDA trained actors and education experts, aims to help with confidence, public speaking and analytical thought. Erin is now working towards her JLC Gold Award. More information here: https://juniorlawyersclub.co.uk/

MAY TRANSITION FROM PRIMARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOL’ MAY

27 Y13 PRIZEGIVING

MAY

28

MAY

17

JUN

6

JUN

19

JUN

HALF TERM PETER PAN – SENIOR DRAMA PRODUCTION

Lansdown Road, Bath BA1 5SZ royalhigh@rhsb.gdst.net +44 (0)1225 313877

30 SIXTH FORM PRODUCTION

JUN

2

JUL

3

JUL 20

@RoyalHighBath

SPORTS DAY SUMMER FESTIVAL

@TheRoyalHighSchoolBath

royalhighschoolbath