Issue 2 | Winter 2015
Changing lives, changing futures Feature story by Charlotte Harvey (Class of 2009) looking at how technology is improving lives in Africa
Alumnae in Engineering A glimpse at the careers and achievements of our Alumnae working in the Engineering sector
Building our vision An opportunity to learn about our innovative new Junior School and the remodelling of School House
a note from... Welcome to the second edition of Profile. The focus of this edition is Engineering. It is particularly apt, therefore, that in this issue you will be able to read about the innovative new Junior School building which is starting to take shape and the extensive remodelling of School House. At St Helen’s, we are rightly proud of the way in which so many of our girls develop a lifelong passion for the STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – which leads them to study such a wide range of courses in this area at university. ‘Girls in Green’ are certainly bucking the national trend: inspirational STEM teaching and St Helen’s traditions such as the Heath Robinson Inventors’ Club all help to sow those seeds which enable our Alumnae to seize upon the exciting career opportunities for engineers all around the world. It seems a travesty that a nation which produced such illustrious and ground-breaking engineers as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Logie Baird should claim to be unable to develop enough engineers to meet the demands of the 21st century, and I think that we are doing our bit to fill the gap! My close involvement in the planning of the new Junior School has reinforced my respect for the huge range of specialisms within the field of engineering. As well as the structural engineers who are putting the superstructure of the Junior School in place, civil engineers, heating engineers, electronics engineers, landscape engineers and all kinds of other engineers will have been involved in creating the spectacular new learning space which will (fingers crossed) open in September 2016. Although we are keenly anticipating the day when we open the doors of our new Junior School, we are at this time of year looking forward to enjoying the Christmas traditions and celebrations at St Helen’s and with our own families. I would therefore like to end by wishing all members of the St Helen’s community – our pupils, staff, parents, friends and Alumnae – a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Dr Mary Short, Headmistress
dates for the diary Please contact the Development Office or visit www.sthelens.london/Events for more information.
Arts and Creative Industries Networking Event with Merchant Taylors’ 3rd March 2016 – Location TBC Networking for Alumnae, parents and friends of St Helen’s and Merchant Taylors’ who are working in the arts and creative industries sectors.
Alumnae vs Girls Netball Match 22nd March 2016 – St Helen’s School Alumnae, parents and friends of St Helen’s are invited to support this match. Please contact the Development Office if you are interested in playing in the Alumnae team.
Class of 2015 and 2014 Easter Reunion 31st March 2016 – The Gate, Northwood
Founder's Day 11th May 2016
Old Girls’ Day 14th May 2016 – St Helen’s School
City Networking Event May-June 2016 – TBC Alumnae, parents and friends of St Helen’s are invited for an evening of networking and catching up with old friends.
Afternoon Tea 16th June 2016 – St Helen’s School Alumnae from the Class of 1969 and before are invited to join us for tours of the School and Afternoon Tea with old friends.
The Big BBQ 18th June 2016 – St Helen’s School Recent leavers from the Class of 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 are invited to a fun afternoon reunion with outdoor activities, rounders and a fantastic BBQ.
Fun Day 26th June 2016 – St Helen’s School 11.00am to 4.00pm
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Changing lives, changing futures
Feature story by Charlotte Harvey (Class of 2009)
looking at how technology is improving lives in Africa
cover photo Shutterstock.com
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Alumnae in Engineering
12 From our young engineers
Inspiring our future: a glimpse at our girls’ engineering
achievements at School
14 Building our vision
Innovation and development at St Helen’s
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From the Development Director
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School news
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School trips
Battersea Power Station is perhaps one of London’s most iconic buildings, providing a memorable silhouette on the London skyline. It was built in the 1930s as a coal-fired power station in an inner-city district of South West London. Today the Power Station is under redevelopment and the project is set to permanently change the shape and focus of Central London. The foundations are being established, through £8 billion of investment, to create a new thriving and diverse community. What was an ideal location for the Power Station in the 1930s has become a perfect residential location today. www.batterseapowerstation.co.uk Natasha Watson (Class of 2005) who works for BuroHappold Engineering is currently working on this project and explores on page 9 the divided opinion that currently exists with regards to this redevelopment project in terms of supplying much needed housing in London.
Feature story
Changing lives, changing futures When someone thinks of an engineering project, they probably imagine designing a bridge or a building. They would hopefully understand that most tangible products have been developed by engineers, writes Charlotte Harvey, Class of 2009. However many people probably do not realise that, at its core, engineering is about designing complex systems. A bridge or a phone or a pacemaker is a complex system. So is an airport runway, a factory that makes shoes, or a mobile banking service. But the challenge of engineering is often not in making something that works, or is useful. The challenges lie in figuring out what people want and what they need, which are often in conflict. The greatest problem often lies in making a technology economically viable. In the case of M-PESA, it has been able to improve people’s lives because it solves a fundamental problem, and because it does this with such ease. When you look at our growing reliance on smartphones, the launch of Apple Pay should not have surprised anyone, as this exciting leap in technology – paying for goods and services with your phone – has long been the norm in the developing world. A service called M-PESA (the M stands for mobile, and pesa is the Swahili word for money) has been allowing people in Kenya to transfer money using SMS since 2007. It is not the only (or first) service that does this, but it is the largest and most successful. M-PESA now has more than 13 million users in several developing nations, and has changed people’s lives for the better. For most of us in the UK, not having a bank account would be unimaginable. In many parts of the world, however, local banks are not common. Even opening an account can be difficult if you have no permanent address. This inevitably leads to many people carrying their life’s savings in their pockets, leaving them open to theft. When someone signs up to using M-PESA, they load money directly onto their phone. Not only do they not need to carry cash, but they have greater financial freedom.
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It would have been tempting to say that Kenya needs more banks or better internet coverage. If the police cracked down on crime, everyone could carry cash without worry. These were not solutions which could be implemented by one organisation, and they ignore the fundamental differences between two completely different halves of our planet. The booming growth of the mobile phone industry in the developing world was a strong indicator that this was an accepted
Adwo / Shutterstock.com
technology, reaching the most remote regions of the country. The birth of services like M-PESA was inevitable; innovation like this is what engineering is all about. Despite the obvious opportunity mobile phones presented, they brought many challenges with them when the M-PESA project commenced. The engineers who designed the system spent a lot of time with the end users, understanding what features the system would need in order to be accepted. They also had their work cut out for them in making it both secure enough and cheap enough to use. It was a system which would rely on sophisticated technology run by Vodaphone (who own M-PESA), who needed to provide an efficient service which would take minimal effort to use. At the same time, the technology had to work on relatively outdated devices, on old phones which are often popular in developing economies. This meant that the final product was to be highly functional and crude in its design, something the users of modern apps would not be used to. By stripping away the attractive interfaces such a service would have in the developed world, it became quick and simple to set up and use. Once the service was launched, it grew to be more than just a secure way for ordinary people to manage their money. M-PESA is a popular tool for business owners both big and small. For instance, in the farming industry a mobile banking service can be used to pay the growers, some of whom are tending to small fields. This cuts down on the time spent getting money to different people, and the farmers recieve their money on a regular basis. The owner of a delivery company can transfer money to his driver who needs parts after he breaks down far out of town, rather than driving cash out to him. Shop owners do not need to hold large amounts of cash in their tills, and they have more customers, people who can pay using their phone where before they would
have needed to carry cash. The benefits are well known to those who use money transfer apps on their phone. Until recently in the developed world, we have been relying on cards to pay for our purchases in shops. We have also been using the internet to manage our finances and run our businesses. M-PESA has leap-frogged these technologies to give the same benefits to millions of users in the developing world. There are still places that services like M-PESA cannot reach. Despite the prevalence of mobile phones and the clear benefits they provide, mobile phone signal has not reached every remote location. A recent project in Nepal has sought to push the coverage area further out into the countryside. This involves designing cell towers which are self-sustaining (and therefore solar-powered), can be fixed easily, and which communicate directly with satellites. These then have to be constructed from parts dragged over mountains, often by the very people who will then expertly assemble them. This signal will bring a degree of safety to troubled regions, where people can now call for help when under attack or severely injured. It will also allow the use of services like M-PESA. In a challenging and fast changing world where people’s needs and wants are developing as fast as technology, engineers are continually finding solutions to our problems which often, as with M-PESA, have a far wider positive impact on the world in which we live and on our society. Charlotte Harvey, Class of 2009
Turn page to read Charlotte's profile
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Alumnae in
Engineering Charlotte Harvey Class of 2009 Mechanical Engineering (Master’s level), University of Cambridge Consultant Mechanical Design Engineer, Sagentia Ltd My interest in engineering began soon after I was told that being a mathematician was ‘not a real job’ (this is obviously untrue but at the time I was deflated). To console me, my Mum started telling me about how some people were trying to design artificial hearts and other body parts. I was sold on the idea that I could do something with my love of Maths, but which would also allow me to keep learning science (I was nine). My desire to study more masculine subjects while I was at St Helen’s was always encouraged, and this acceptance really helped me to discover what I wanted to do in my career and allowed me to explore my options. I hope that, in the future, there will be many more girls taking Physics and Design & Technology as the engineering sector desperately needs more women. Without women, we are losing out on half of the talented people we need to drive technological development. Not only that, we are forcing men to design all female-oriented products! I have been involved in projects to design laser hair removal kits, female deodorants and more, just to get a woman’s perspective. So much of our world is made up of things that engineers have designed – women should be helping to drive that innovation. Although I do not design hearts in my current job, I do get to create products, devices and ideas which can address the myriad challenges of medicine. Most recently I have been working on a body-worn device to help people give up smoking. The most rewarding projects are those which allow someone a better quality of life. Sometimes this is indirect, by improving the usability of a piece of dental equipment, and sometimes the benefit is really clear, such as making the frequent injections of an MS sufferer more manageable.
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© Sagentia. Free Hand, a breakthrough surgical robot
Jane Pengelly (CEng MICE) (née Hurd) Class of 1998 Civil Engineering MEng with study in Continental Europe (Hons), University of Bristol Senior Chartered Structural Engineer, BuroHappold Engineering and mother Throughout my time at St Helen's I always enjoyed Art. I was awarded an Art scholarship in the Sixth Form and was art editor of the school magazine, but I was also good at Maths and the sciences and reluctant to leave these subjects behind in my choice of career. The year after leaving School I moved on to Wimbledon School of Art to do a foundation course in Art and Design. It wasn’t long before I realised that I missed using my sciences, so decided to pursue a career in engineering as a way of using my artistic talents in combination with my technical abilities. I chose to study Civil Engineering at Bristol University and was awarded a QUEST student scholarship by the Institute of Civil Engineers, which provided me with financial support during my four-year Master's course. I spent the third year of the degree course in France, studying engineering at a Grande École in Toulouse, returning to Bristol for my final year. BuroHappold Engineering awarded me a Happold Trust scholarship during my last year of study. I spent the final summer of my course working in their Bath office. On graduation I joined the office permanently as a Graduate Structural Engineer. Whilst at BuroHappold I have been fortunate to be involved in many varied and exciting projects. I began my career designing schools and then moved on to the aviation sector, working on large-scale projects at Heathrow and Birmingham Airports, both involving office and site work. I have had the opportunity to work with some outstanding architects, Frank Gehry being the most notable. My artistic foundations have been invaluable, giving me the ability to take a holistic approach to my design, seeing the bigger picture and not just isolated elements. More recently, I have been part of larger project teams on more technically challenging projects: a tower in Riyadh and currently Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. The skills shortage in engineering often hits the press, and the industry as a whole is coming around to the idea that encouraging women into engineering is a good way of tackling this problem. Plus, there are now more opportunities for part-time and flexible working within the industry. After having my second son I took a career break for two years and have recently returned to work part-time. As with many professions there are challenges to parttime working, but at the moment I am managing to achieve a work-life balance in a job I enjoy, allowing me to pursue a career and be a mother.
Sylvia McAleer (née Tang)
Sylvia and the Trent 700 engine
Class of 1999 Manufacturing Engineering and Management MEng, University of Nottingham Contract Manager, Aerospace Engineering, Rolls-Royce plc I never thought I would be an engineer. In fact, after my GCSEs I did my work experience at an optician's. Eventually I chose A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and during Year 13 went on an 'Insight into Engineering' course. It was an excellent way to get an introduction to the different types of engineering. Each day we were given a taster of the different type of engineering courses available and I decided that Manufacturing Engineering was what I was interested in, essentially 'how things are made'. After completing an Engineering degree, I joined the Rolls-Royce Engineering Graduate Programme and I am still with Rolls-Royce twelve years later! Working for a large engineering organisation is excellent, as you are able to experience diverse roles across the different parts of the organisation but all within the same company. My early career began in Manufacturing Engineering but, after six years, I moved into a more business-oriented role in our Civil Aerospace sector. Here I spent three years as a Sales Director, travelling the world selling Rolls-Royce aerospace engines and aftermarket services to airlines. Those three years were some of the most exciting times I have had in my career, hard work but incredibly rewarding. After my daughter was born in 2013 I decided to move into a more 'family friendly' role, which involved less travel and gave me more flexibility. I am now pregnant with our second child and working as a Contract Manager responsible for the internal performance and profitability of our aftermarket service contracts with airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Air China and Lufthansa. The thing I enjoy most about working for Rolls-Royce is the product. It is not every day that you can say you work for a company that designs and manufactures gas turbine engines to power aircraft that fly over 30,000 feet up in the sky! Engineering is a male-dominated field but women are increasingly entering this sector. I have found that being a woman in engineering is not an issue at all. In fact, you are more likely to stand out because of it and there are many groups that help women network in the engineering field. Having a background in engineering has been invaluable; not only the technical knowledge but the skill set that you develop makes you very adaptable to different roles. I look back now and thank St Helen’s for broadening my horizons at such a strategic point in my academic career, as had I not been encouraged to attend the ‘Insight into Engineering’ course during my time at St Helen’s then I would not have gone into engineering.
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Alumnae in
Engineering Jessica Cohen (née Simson) Class of 1985 Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and Master of Science (Composite Materials), Imperial College London Construction Manager, Offshore/ Subsea Oil and Gas, Pemex (Mexican State Oil company) I have always wanted to fix things. The earliest memory I have as a child is fixing alarm clocks and jewellery. At School, I always liked to make things work, to figure solutions out from pages of Maths calculation and achieve the right answer. My current role is Construction Manager working for the Mexican State Oil company, Pemex. I work with a team of engineers on a large subsea development project. My role is to take the design of a subsea pipeline system and bring it to First Oil. I manage the offshore construction of the pipelines, wellheads and other subsea architecture. The project is the first ever deep-water system for Pemex which will guarantee a sizeable supply of oil for the country for the next three decades. When I started at St Helen’s, engineering was not an obvious career choice. In fact, I didn’t know what an engineer was until Mrs Watt, my A level Physics teacher, invited her Sixth Form class to dinner one evening. Mrs Watt’s husband was an engineer and he talked enthusiastically about his work. From that moment, I researched engineering degrees and decided that was what I wanted to do. It was a lightbulb moment for me. I won a sponsorship from British Aerospace through my university degree and completed a sandwich course by
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working as an apprentice at the military aircraft manufacturing plant in Weybridge during college holidays. I learned how to operate a lathe machine and how to weld. Coming from an all-girls' school into a totally male environment, it took some time to adjust! In my 25 years’ work as an engineer, I have worked offshore on pipelay vessels and rigs, in fabrication yards and in offices around the world for various oil companies and contractors. I have lived and worked in Denmark, Finland, Italy, Ghana, the Netherlands and Malaysia. I moved to Houston, Texas a month after 9/11 and Houston is now my home. Being an engineer is vital to the world. If you look around your home or office, everything manmade has had an engineer involved in its design or build. It’s a powerful position and I am humbled I had such an excellent start to my education and grateful for the opportunities I have grabbed along the way. I am of course very much in the minority being a female engineer, which is a shame. My approach is very different from that of my male counterparts. Men generally focus on the detail and are very methodical. I have the ability to see things holistically and enjoy the logic of consequence and risk. The best thing I enjoy about my job is working on site – whether it’s a fabrication yard in south-west Louisiana or a pipelay vessel offshore. To see a pipeline installed safely on the seabed and know I had a big part in that excites me as my work makes a difference. I really wish more girls would choose not just engineering, but a career in Oil and Gas. There’s a perception of the work being dirty, and offshore not being the place for women. I have only ever been treated with professionalism and respect – my day-to-day work involves project management, applying my technical experience, people management and a good attitude to working together as a team. I am tremendously proud to be an engineer.
Jessica with the offshore pipelay vessel Deep Blue
Natasha Watson Class of 2005 Civil and Architectural Engineering MEng, University of Bath
Battersea Power Station redevelopment Nando Machado / Shutterstock.com
Structural Engineer, BuroHappold Engineering
The Battersea Power Station Redevelopment is a project which splits opinion. Some believe it to be yet another example of where developers are regenerating low-income areas with only the wealthy elite in mind. These projects are thought to make cities like London even less affordable for those on low to medium incomes, displacing generations of families and resulting in the forcing out of culture and community. Around 85% of the 3500 homes being created within this project will cost in excess of £495,000, which is the starting price for a studio apartment. The remaining housing provided is called ‘affordable housing', of which at least 40% is ‘intermediate housing’ where the property will be sold at 80% of the market value. When 80% of £495,000 is still £396,000, this is not very affordable at all. On the other hand, some believe that only looking at the project’s housing aims is short-sighted. Regeneration is necessary to ensure that an iconic landmark, Battersea Power Station itself, is correctly maintained and appreciated. The luxury apartments are also necessary to fund the construction of the public amenities being provided: the medical centre, parkland, and the Northern Line Extension (NLE). The NLE is the first extension of the tube system in 25 years and requires extensive design and coordination, which is expensive. However the knock-on effect of improved transport links between the Battersea area and central London include improvements in educational opportunities, employment opportunities, and social connectivity. Personally, I am still making up my mind as to how I feel about this project. The project and its context are so complex that it is difficult to decide whether these types of projects should be prevented so as to protect London’s identity, people, and culture, or whether this project is well-intentioned but working within a constrained system, and it is the system that needs to be addressed. Natasha Watson, Class of 2005
I am currently working with BuroHappold Engineering, designing and coordinating the foundations for Battersea Power Station’s redevelopment into housing, retail, and amenities. I am also near the end of my industrial doctorate in sustainable building materials where I have been researching why the construction industry doesn’t use building materials such as timber, straw, and hemp more in the UK, when they have physical properties that reduce the heating and cooling costs of buildings, as well as being better for the environment and society. At school I really loved the sciences and Mathematics, but I also loved practical creative subjects such as Design & Technology and Art. Choosing to study engineering, and specifically the design of buildings, was my way of combining the two and I specifically chose to go to the University of Bath where they combine an engineering education with an appreciation of architecture. I enjoy the practical problem-solving aspects of my job. I get a real sense of satisfaction when I get to make something ‘work’. I also love the people that I work with. They are clever, geeky, and fun and sometimes it doesn’t feel as if I’m really working! If you’re a confident, intelligent person who can graciously admit when you have made a mistake, you will do well in this industry, male or female.
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Alumnae in
Engineering Thirl Millachip (née Duckworth) Class of 1980 Chemical Engineering (Hons), University of Birmingham Anne on site with the trencher
Anne Schiettecatte Class of 1985 Engineering Science, University of Oxford Learning Director for Upstream Operations and HSE, BP I began professional life as a mechanical engineer working in BP’s offshore assets, having obtained a degree in Engineering Science. Life offshore began one January and was quite different from anything I had experienced. I was three degrees south of the Arctic Circle and although I did not see much daylight during my first rotation, I relished the opportunities to experience close up the types of equipment I had mostly only really known in theory. From then on, I worked through a variety of jobs both offshore and onshore, in the UK and also overseas in Singapore and later in Algeria. My work involved both pure mechanical engineering as well as broader project engineering. Ten years into my career, I discovered a deep interest not only in the equipment, but also in how others interacted with the equipment. In order to get the best out of the facilities I was working on, I started to ensure the technicians and the engineers were developed in the right way and that they were engaged and motivated to operate the equipment safely. This led me into the world of organisational capability. I am now Learning Director for BP’s Global Upstream Production Operations, ensuring that we have the development programmes required to address the needs of the business. I love the role as it allows me to combine my passion of developing people with my deep interest in advancing technologies, as well as the opportunity to work with multiple cultures and challenges across the globe.
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I am now seeing as many women entering the field of engineering as men. The simple fact is that successful engineering teams require diversity of thoughts and perspectives: engineers who can take the opposing view as well as those who can lead others, engineers who can think outside the box as well as engineers who can follow procedures and rules. This takes both men and women to achieve, and for many of us, has led to an extremely fulfilling career.
Senior Consultant, S2V Consulting Pty Ltd I work for S2V Consulting, a firm that provides technical and strategic advice to the oil and gas industry, and I am currently working as a Project Manager leading a multi-discipline team of engineers working on a complex project to rectify some significant design issues with a FPSO (floating oil production, storage and offloading vessel – an offshore production facility that houses both processing equipment and storage for produced hydrocarbons). At school I always liked Maths and problem solving. I talked to a couple of engineers and realised that engineering was all about problem solving. I love the practical aspects, that you are either making something new or making it better. In my current project we are working very hard to understand exactly what happens to the processing equipment under many different conditions, so that we can make it safer without having to replace a significant proportion of the equipment, which was incorrectly designed in the first place. We had to develop a new approach to the work and persuade others that the issues were real, could not be ignored and could be solved. It has been a long and exciting journey. FPSO (floating oil production, storage and offloading vessel)
Engineering is still very male dominated but gradually more women are pursuing it as a career. This makes for a better, more adaptive work environment. In the end I believe balanced teams make more thought-out decisions, which ultimately benefits the company and shareholders. Unfortunately, in the 1970s girls who were good at science were encouraged to study medicine or teach and I wanted to do neither. However, the father of one of my friends was an engineer and he was one of the influences on me to study engineering. I now live in New Zealand with my family and ensure that I take time to encourage school students to pursue engineering. In fact, both my children are now engineering students!
Current project building luxury apartments in London
Priya Shah Class of 2006 Chemical Engineering with Industrial Experience MEng, University of Manchester
Nicky Rance (née Webb) Class of 1996 Civil Engineering MEng (Hons), University of Nottingham Construction Manager, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd I was drawn to Civil Engineering at school through my enjoyment of Maths and Physics, and by the practical aspects involved – being part of a team that achieves visible results. The ability to split my working day between desk work and building site management appealed, and I therefore chose to pursue a career with a main contractor on site rather than as a consultant in an office. I was sponsored by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd at University, undertaking work placements with them each summer, and joined them full-time on site upon graduation. As I gained experience I took increasing responsibility, solving problems arising on site, and managing the construction of individual work packages such as brickwork and tiling. I progressed from Graduate Engineer, to Package Manager, to Section Manager where I managed areas of work rather than packages. I also became a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, an internationally recognised qualification. I am currently Construction Manager on a London residential project, consisting of two buildings housing 116 luxury apartments. I am responsible for all the construction aspects of the project, including leading a team of engineers who run the various site packages. My work varies every day, which I love, depending on the issues that occur and the stage of the project. I combine planning ahead for new activities with troubleshooting when challenges arise. I coordinate the construction to ensure that all works are carried out safely, to the highest quality, within the correct sequence and timescales, and I work with our financial team to ensure we are constructing the project within budget. I have never felt constrained as a woman working on a building site or within the engineering profession, and am aiming to be Project Manager on my next development with overall responsibility for my own project.
Process Engineer, Air Products A decade ago, I was faced with my biggest dilemma: choosing which degree I wanted to study. I knew I had a passion for Science and Mathematics but, beyond that, I had no idea what I wanted to study and, more importantly, what I wanted to pursue as a career. With the support of the Careers Department at School, I decided to study Chemical Engineering, based on the job prospects available and the opportunity to combine the three subjects in which I knew my strengths and interests lay: Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
©Sellafield Ltd. Pond storing nuclear waste
My perception of what a Chemical Engineer does when I made the choice to study the degree couldn’t have been further from the truth! I completed my industrial placement year at Sellafield Ltd, a nuclear facility in West Cumbria, after which I was fortunate enough to secure a graduate job with them upon completion of my degree. My placement year confirmed my decision to pursue a career in Engineering: the work is varied and challenging, you have the opportunity to make a difference and there is a very high earning potential. Being a female engineer in what is perceived to be a male-dominated industry has actually worked in my favour; people are more likely to notice and remember the one woman sitting in a room full of men. I currently work at Air Products as a Process Engineer within their Integrated Gases team. I am responsible for designing Air Separation Plants all over the world and currently I’m involved in carrying out the process design for the world’s largest industrial gas complex, located in Saudi Arabia. Engineering projects are usually carried out over a number of years from inception to completion. However, as a Process Engineer, you are usually moved off the project once the process design has been completed and onto other projects in order to broaden your experience, so the role is very varied. My goal in the next few months is to become a Chartered Chemical Engineer, which is a globally recognised title and provides a benchmark of excellence within the profession. After this, I hope to be able to lead engineering projects and eventually take on an Engineering Management position.
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From our young engineers
Inspiring our future Part of what we in the Physics department try to do is to show that Physics makes things possible.
g in Year 10 solderin rs Club Young Enginee
Year 10 soldering in Young Engineers Clu
b
ir
Engineering Fa
By enabling the girls to use their ingenuity and curiosity in a range of activities outside the classroom, we hope to give them opportunities to find solutions to practical problems. This gives them a better understanding of the variety of disciplines and skills that engineering covers, and may give them the confidence and encouragement to consider pursuing a STEM career (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Engineers shape the world we live in and St Helen’s girls should play their part. Andrea Adlam – Head of Physics
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d Making the Ma ical Magical Mechan ine ch Ma sic Mu
Heath Robinson Inventors Club The Club inspires the girls to come up with weird and wonderful contraptions based on the illustrator’s drawings. The younger girls in the school can let their creative juices flow and they are able to see their ideas on paper come to life. The last two years, we have taken our Tea Machine and our Mad Magical Mechanical Music Machine to West House in Pinner to raise money for the upcoming Heath Robinson Museum. This year we hope to create a code breaking contraption inspired by the Enigma machine. With the recent purchase of a 1950s typewriter we have had a surge of ideas. Mihika Athalye, Year 13
Young Engineers Club “…we learn about stuff that you don’t learn in lessons. I enjoy the fact that it (engineering) can be about making circuit boards or massive bridges.” Alice Watts, Year 10
“It has given me the confidence to apply for many Smallpeice Trust courses. Recently I have been on the National Grid Work Experience course. I look forward to the Club every week and am considering a career in engineering.” Eilidh McDonald, Year 10
“It is the highlight of my week. I really enjoy the activities and challenges we do, especially the recent ones which have involved soldering. I have participated in two Smallpeice Trust residential courses and have been inspired to try to pursue a career in engineering.” Elizabeth Jackson, Year 10
Rampaging Chariots Our team were committed to building a robot that would excel at the annual SELEX Rampaging Chariots competition. In the first of our meet-ups we brainstormed and collaborated ideas to create a powerful, multipurpose robot adaptable to the three areas of the competition: sumo wrestling, football and the assault course.
The Armadillo
Giving our robot life required concentration and a great deal of construction and wiring. We decided the robot should have a removable sloping metal cover so that, during sumo, it would be able to drive underneath other robots or gain force to flip them over. With the help of a hefty manual and Mr Le Bas, we then faced the task of electronically wiring our robot. We configured the control boards as master and slave. We then matched the shape of our robot with that of an armadillo and stuck the sticker of an armadillo on the front of the cover. What particularly made the experience so rewarding was when our robot, on which we had spent hours attempting to give life, finally began to respond to our commands. Using the controllers, we could drive Armadillo to move forwards and backwards, left and right, spin, and accelerate to a great speed. A day before the competition, we test-drove him in order to become familiar with the controlling of remotes. Mastering the controls and applying the right technique as we learnt, was part of the great skill required to be successful throughout the competition. Da-young Kim, Year 11
The team with Th
e Armadillo
Mad Magical Mechanical Music Machine
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St Helen’s first swimming pool, image taken in 1959
Building When Dr Mary Short, our Headmistress, launched her Vision for the School in the spring of 2014, she emphasised how lucky we are to have such a wonderful 21-acre greenfield site in the middle of Northwood in London. She was determined to make the best of the estate in support of her wider vision: that St Helen’s should be recognised as North London’s exceptional independent school for girls, at the heart of our local and wider community of Alumnae, parents, staff and friends.
St Helen’s has always been a School with cutting edge facilities and in the 1930s was one of the first schools to install an outdoor pool. However, as times change so must we, to ensure that we maintain our facilities. Unsurprisingly, given the nature and age of some of our buildings, the time has come for us to embark on initiating our priority projects from stage one of our Masterplan. This includes the construction of our new Junior School and the reorganisation and development of School House. The Masterplan is intended to be an evolving plan, able to adapt to changing circumstances and needs of the School and its community in the years ahead. For now, it provides a framework within which individual projects can be planned and delivered in a way that maintains the coherence of our estate and which cherishes everything that we love about it for future generations. These are incredibly exciting times for us at St Helen’s. We are embarking on our first major construction projects in over a decade, since the successful fundraising efforts of our parents and Alumnae enabled us to construct our Sports
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Complex. Ten years, on, the complex is so much a part of our School and our community that it is hard to imagine Northwood, let alone School life, without the availability of such fantastic sports facilities. Beyond the initial stage of the Masterplan, there are a number of additional projects that we believe are necessary to ensure that our School and our community have access to the best possible facilities. Principal amongst these is the need to renovate and relocate the Main School Library in order to bring it into the heart of the School and to update it to provide greater access to modern research techniques and resources in the heart of Northwood. We are excited to be embarking on the initial stages of our Masterplan and starting to think about what lies beyond this project as, in true St Helen’s style, we are continually striving for excellence in all that we do. After all, we are only following in the footsteps of those who came before us, and who established such strong and lasting foundations. Mark Mackenzie Crooks, Business Director
The New Junior School Due to open in September 2016, this state-of-the art building will provide a significantly enhanced age-appropriate environment and improved opportunities for learning. The new building will, for the first time, bring all the disparate elements of Junior School under one roof. Construction is now well underway and we watch in eager anticipation for a glimpse of our new Junior School.
Computer-generated image of the new school entrance
The School House Project This is perhaps the most sensitive and transformational of the projects on which we are embarking. St Helen’s has been on its present site for over 100 years and has developed beyond recognition from its earliest days on the corner of Eastbury and Carew Roads – even 'Old Hall' or what was, before that, 'The Gym' was not part of the original School! As the School has grown, it has expanded its existing buildings, built new ones and acquired others.
3D projection of School House after the redevelopment project
Within the Masterplan it has long been clear that School House needs to be updated and developed to bring more coherence to the teaching and administrative sections within Senior School. The redevelopment of School House also offers the opportunity to support the outward facing strands of the Headmistress’s Vision by creating a new Main Entrance which will enhance access to the School and our presence within our local community. Throughout the planning stages and now the current implementation of this project, we have been absolutely adamant that any redevelopment of the oldest parts of the School must be done in a way that is sympathetic to the character and history that we value so much. We therefore appreciate and understand the anticipation within our community to see the changes that are taking place, and look forward to welcoming our community to visit School House and view these developments in due course. Computer-generated image of the new reception area
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From the Development Director Zoe Baines
Zoe Baines, Class of 2000 A year on since the Development Office was established, I am delighted to report on the extensive range of activities in which the School has been involved. As well as launching our career networking events this year, we have started a series of university networks for our Alumnae at eight universities, from Birmingham and Bristol to Oxford and Cambridge. These networks enable our Alumnae to meet socially and stay in touch, informed and supported throughout their university careers. We have successfully launched an appeal to the parents of the Class of 2015, some of whom very generously donated their deposits to our Development Fund in support of bursaries. This is an essential part of what makes us St Helen’s and we are honoured that our parents are supporting this appeal to enable exceptional girls, who would thrive in our community but whose families are unable to afford the fees, to attend St Helen’s. Additionally, we have launched a lively programme of events for our Alumnae. We had a fantastic afternoon with our recent leavers at our annual summer Big BBQ in late June, where
we enjoyed the use of the School grounds, fantastic food and an opportunity to catch up with classmates. Just over a week later, those who left the School in the late 1960s or before returned, for what was for most the first time in decades, for tours and afternoon tea with our Headmistress. It was a truly wonderful afternoon where all you could hear was the chatter of everyone having a jolly time listening to and recounting their stories about School in the 1940s and 1950s. For those who are interested in sport, we opened this year’s season with an Alumnae vs Girls Lacrosse Match. We had a respectable number of spectators cheering on both sides and, although the Alumnae won this time, I know the girls are keen to turn this around next year! As we re-connect and engage with our Alumnae, we are finding more and more Old Girls who are willing to come back in to School to support the current cohort of ‘Girls in Green’. Five Alumnae returned to speak about their days in green with our Year 7 students studying the History of St Helen’s; and 15 of our recent Alumnae returned for a formal lunch with our Year 10 pupils in late June, they sat amongst the girls and shared their experiences of the Sixth Form and university.
Mira Meisuria
for House Arts! Daniella Isaacs who left St Helen’s in 2007 and is now making quite a name for herself on the stage in London, returned to judge the competition. In the end, the overall winners were Scott – who also won the overall House competition this year. It was like going back in time as we cheered the girls on and, by the time we had geared up for the final prize-giving, I think all of our throats were a bit sore! The academic year ended with the Class of 2015 Leavers' Ball. After their long journey through the School and all their hard work, they left St Helen’s in their green uniforms after delivering a very emotional assembly and arrived that same night at their Leavers' Ball transformed into stunning young women. It was a moment that marked their transition and, on behalf of our Alumnae body, I would like to welcome the Class of 2015 to our community. Please stay in touch! I would also like to thank everyone who has supported the School in any way, whether that be through attending an event, offering career advice, contributing to our publication or donating to the School’s Development Fund. It really is appreciated and we hope that you will continue to stay in touch and encourage others to do the same.
In true tradition, Senior School erupted in a state of great excitement
“On October 14th a number of St Helen's Alumnae at Bristol met up for a few drinks and a catch up. It was a really lovely evening filled with talk of both the old and the new and everyone really enjoyed getting the chance to see one another again.”
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Martha Taylor, Class of 2014, Bristol University Representative
Alumnae lacro
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Recent leavers' Future
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7 history cla e visiting a Year
Alumna
Recent leavers'
Futures Lunch
with Year 10
Daniella Isaacs,
Recent leavers'
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Afternoon tea summer 2015
Afternoon tea summe r Recent leavers' sum
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Class of 2015 Leavers' Ball
Class of 2015
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Guest speakers
Clare Sumner, Speech Day
Our guest speaker at Speech Day was Clare Sumner CBE (Class of 1990), who has had a fascinating career at the heart of British political life. She spent five years in No. 10 as Private Secretary to the then Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair. These were very interesting and challenging times, and Clare was caught up in some significant and controversial political events. From No. 10 she moved to the Lord Chancellor’s Office with responsibilities for the Criminal Justice System, and later worked on the reform of the Civil Service. Since 2014, she has been at the centre of another major British Institution, as Chief of Staff at the BBC, working alongside the Director General. Her career since leaving Cambridge provided the context to her message, which was that serendipity had played a huge part in her life and that opportunities are to be seized and built upon. She is an inspiring role model to us all.
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School news Young Enterprise Team win 2015 National Finals
sults Day
Class of 2015 on Re
In July a group of St Helen's Sixth Formers won the National Finals of the Young Enterprise Competition this year. After competing against teams across the country, involving over 25,000 other young people over the last eight months, Team Orenda, with their Sip O Snack product, made it through to the final 14 companies who presented their products at the British Film Institute in London and were crowned Company of the Year 2015.
2015 Examination Results We have had occasion this summer to celebrate the creativity and success of our existing pupils, who have achieved stunning results in the public examinations. At A Level, 24% of the grades awarded were A* and 92% were in the range A*-B. This means that the girls have been able to take up their offers to read an exciting and broad range of subjects at the best universities in the country. We were also delighted that eight girls have gone on to study at Oxford and Cambridge this year – something of a record for us.
Young Enterprise Team at the national finals
Art Scholars create mural with Bromet Primary School pupils This summer, the Art Department hosted a community project with Bromet Primary School, Oxhey. Eight emerging artists joined St Helen's Art Scholars to design and paint a lovely mural showing characters from their favourite children’s books which will decorate the Bromet School library.
Bromet and St Helen’s pupils and the finished mural Cheque presentation to Lepra charity
Over £10,000 raised for Lepra charity
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As a result of our fundraising efforts driven by the girls from Little Saints through to the Sixth Form, we were delighted to hand over a cheque for the huge sum of £10,255.96 to the charity Lepra.
School trips Belgium music tour
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China language
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Japane
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Music Tour In October 2015 the Choir went on tour to Belgium, excited about the prospect of eating vast amounts of Belgian chocolates. We visited Sukerbuyc Chocolaterie, one of the few establishments which still make handmade chocolate, and went on an amazing boat ride along the canal in Ghent. The architecture was particularly stunning, especially the imposing churches and old houses of the rich traders of the past, which completely contrasted with the creative graffiti all around us. We also performed at St Bavo’s Cathedral, a huge building which as well as hosting amazing sculptures and vivid paintings, also provided us with excellent acoustics for our choir recital. It was very moving to sing in such a huge cathedral and hear our singing voices echo back to us, it made us sound even better! The concert was followed by the traditional highly competitive music tour bowling trip. This was my fifth music tour and, as usual, special memories with friends were made.
China Japan During the October half term holiday, four girls joined the two-week Japanese exchange programme held at Konan Girls' School in Kobe, Japan. In the first week we visited Hiroshima, Himeji, Hakone National Park and Tokyo. During the second week, the girls sampled Japanese school life with their host sisters at school and during the evenings and weekends they enjoyed various activities with their host families, such as visiting local attractions around Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. Among the various highlights of this trip, our girls had the opportunity to experience wearing a traditional formal kimono and they posed in a beautiful Japanese garden on Konan School premises.
In October, 19 girls travelled to China on a language visit. We all had such an amazing time in China visiting different landmarks and learning about Chinese culture. We broadened our horizons as we were able to use our Mandarin and communicate with people, learning more and more phrases every day. We visited an international school in Suzhou called Dulwich. This was a nice experience for us, seeing how the students in China learn. change trip Japanese ex
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St Helen’s School Development Office Eastbury Road Northwood Middlesex HA6 3AS +44 (0)1923 843327 development@sthelens.london www.sthelens.london