NEWSTHESENIORSCHOOLNEWSLETTERSUMMER2022
We had a lot of fun introducing L5 to Taskmaster – where teams have unexpected and quirky tasks to complete such as creating and filming a ‘cliff-hanger’ or making a coconut look like a famous person. We also initiated a whole school dance and several new school competitions such as the head girl team’s Easter chocolate hunt. In sport, we are counting down to the Paris Olympics in 2024 by each term arranging for our students, and those in our prep school, to try three Olympic sports. The aim is to involve local clubs so that there is a clear pathway for students who want to carry on with the sport in question. One example from our Path to Paris programme this year is shooting: we are developing a school team and enjoyed our first match against King Edward’s School in Southampton. In drama, we decided to introduce the school community to immersive theatre with an unsettling production of 2+2=5 based on 1984 by George Orwell. This show demanded an open-minded approach from actors and audience, and caused many of us to question our expectations of the traditional school play. For their part, the cast and crew acquired a range of new skills including how to keep in character as spectators walk right through the performance.
LIFESCHOOL
Price explains fun as activities that are playful, involve a connection with others and involve ‘flow’ or being so involved in what you are doing that you don’t notice time passing.
Jane Gandee MA Headmistress(Cantab)
A selection of photographs from our end of term St Swithun’s Extravaganza.
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I now look forward to an autumn term that will bring plenty of opportunities for yet more St Swithun’s fun.
As I write this, I am ruefully aware of my skinned elbows, and a gash on my chin which necessitated a visit to A+E. In the space of a week, I managed to acquire the injuries of an energetic toddler. My elbows are the result of an over-exuberant slide down the inflatables that we had in school on the penultimate day of term whereas the chin injury is from falling over my own feet whilst playing a family tennis match.Didthey hurt and are they faintly ridiculous? Absolutely, but I acquired them whilst having fun. Fun is something that we have increasingly focused on this academic year at St Swithun’s as an antidote to the gloom of Covid. I have been influenced in this by the Power of Fun by Catherine Price in which she outlines the benefits of fun for everyone. As she says, ‘if you make fun a priority, you will be healthier and have more energy. You will be more productive, less resentful and less stressed. You will find community and a sense of purpose. You will stop languishing and start flourishing.’
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the Teentech 2022 event in Basingstoke. They took part in various activities including learning how to run a gas company and working out how to supply their product to a vegetable farm, a hospital and a steel factory for maximum profit. They also built a model version of a water supply whilst trying to avoid Sites of Special Scientific Interest, experimented with UV light, enjoyed a cyber security challenge led by members of the police and looked at neurons from a rat’s brain under a highly powerful microscope. The representatives from our school earned an award for coding and programming a robot and also devised the innovative ‘Join Together’ scheme which would enable cars travelling long distances on motorways to link together using electromagnetism to preserve fuel.
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By Hannah B U6
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LIFESCHOOL
team of 14 students and three cars travelled to Goodwood racetrack. In the first race some strong driving led to Plutonium placing 24th, Rubidium placing 30th and Neon placing 37th out of 87 cars.
During the second race the team driving Neon managed to finish 25th. However, there were a few mechanical issues with the other cars. Plutonium had a flat tyre and parts of the circuitry melted, whilst the throttle in Rubidium became damaged, decreasing the car’s speed. The cars placed 60th and 56th respectively. This was Plutonium’s maiden race. We began building the car in 2015 when the current U6 students were in L4, so it was a momentous day. We are planning to further adjust the weight, shape and electronics in the car for the next race. We were also thrilled to win the award for the ‘best-presented team’. This award goes to the team that was deemed best for the overall presentation of the car livery, behaviour and enthusiasm of the participants.
3 PEAKS CHALLENGE
This term a group of eight L6 girls planned, organised and took part in the national ‘3 Peaks’ challenge to raise money for the school charities. After arriving at Fort William, we set off for the peak of Ben Nevis at 5.45am and after a great walk we summited at 8.58am. During the descent the clouds cleared giving way to a spectacular view. At the bottom we jumped in the bus for our six-hour journey to the Lake District. Due to a navigational error we arrived at the wrong car park for Scafell Pike so ended up adding an extra 6km onto our walking route! The sun was setting as we climbed which made for some beautiful views. After a tricky climb up some scree we made it to the summit and then had an exciting descent in the dark illuminated by our head torches before arriving back at the van at midnight. After a lengthy drive, we began Snowdon at 5.45am, ascending via the Pyg track, reaching the snow-covered peak and then descended via the Miners track. We completed the challenge in 27 hours and stood on the top of all three peaks within 24 hours, walking a total distance of 41.7 kilometres. We also raised an amazing £2,960 for our three school charities, smashing our target of £1,500. By the 3 peaks challengers
We welcomed inspirational Old Girl Zara Rutherford back to school to talk about her famous five month solo flight expedition around the world at the age of 19. Her circumnavigation began in Belgium in August 2021 and lasted until January 2022. Zara is currently the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world and the first person to complete a circumnavigation in a microlight aircraft. The aim of her expedition was to promote aviation and stem-related careers to girls and to inspire others to pursue their dreams. In Zara’s exciting, inspirational and thought-provoking presentation she spoke about the flight path, her unique experience flying solo and how she overcame a variety of challenges along the way.
By Desire A U6
ZARA RUTHERFORD RETURNS TO ST SWITHUN’S
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By Hattie SC
FASHION SHOW St Swithun’s, in collaboration with Winchester College and Peter Symonds College, participated in the sustainable fashion show Resilience 2022 incorporating second hand clothing from Naomi House and Jacksplace Charity Shop. The models sported a variety of different outfits designed and curated by students, ranging from ar my jackets to prom dresses, and all the outfits were placed for auction online to help raise money for charity. As well as the large crowd of supporters, there was a guest appearance from Sarah Needham who works in the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. She gave a brilliant insight into the charities and their thoughts on current fashion. The evening was a great success, raising over £1,140 and providing many budding fashionistas an opportunity to showcase their skills and those with a love for fashion to express themselves on the runway.
By Alanna S U6
SUSTAINABLEL5
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LIFESCHOOL BIOLOGY FUN L5 biologists visited Leeson House Field Study Centre in Dorset to experience and investigate physical biology in the form of two interactive experiments. We started by taking samples from the River Piddle and evaluated the effect of water depth on wildlife abundance. In the afternoon we moved to Studland Bay beach where we used ecological sampling techniques to assess the species diversity of dune plants, such as Marram grass on the dune ridges and heathers on the dune slacks.
1 Thanks to very generous donations we were able to purchase an ambulance for the organisation Make a Difference Ukraine. 2 English and poetry recital in the library. 3 One of our language lunches. 4 A blustery Blencathra geography trip. 5 U4 Living History day. 6 L5 Tasksetter. 7 U5 vs M5 football. 8 Whole school Jubilee celebrations.
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6 LIFEBOARDING High House playing bench ball. High House end of term outing. Hillcroft mocktails. Le Roy birthday celebrations. Interhouse rounders Earlsdown waterfight. Hyde Abbey welcoming their new L4 housemates.
7 LIFEBOARDINGMAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY
The final music scholars’ and exhibitioners’ concert of the year boasted an array of performances from our talented musicians including a duet between two of our U5 scholars on piano and marimba. We were delighted to host our first Founders’ Day Concert since the pandemic. We heard great performances from various musical ensembles and ended with an impressive concerto Introduction et rondo capriccioso with Eleanor H L6 on solo violin (winner of this year’s house music competition), accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra. The final concert of the year is the Summer Concert. Many of the perfor mers were from the lower half of school, including the newly-formed L4 Woodwind Quartet. There was a buzz of excitement in the air as many of the girls were performing in front of an audience for the very first time and it was a great way to end the term.
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MUSIC CONCERTS
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Our2+2=5schoolproduction this term was 2+2=5, an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. This was the first drama production at St Swithun’s that I have been involved in, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I loved every second of it. From the first few weeks of group work and becaming familiar with the concept of this new style of play to the final few weeks during which we were in our boiler suit costumes rehearsing our scenes, I completely absorbed and immersed myself in this brilliant dystopian world. We learnt so many techniques and skills, and after the hilarious 8-hour Sunday rehearsals we were ready for show time. One parent commented that the show was “a clever and original adaption of the book. Powerful and immersive. Brilliant use of choreography and stage props to set the scene. It left me thinking about it for days afterwards”. I will greatly miss working on this play but feel lucky to have been part of this fantastic cast and crew.
By Ingrid L U4
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COMMUNITY
Carly Redfern, Headmistress of Oliver’s Battery commented “the activities included sports that some of our pupils hadn’t had the opportunity to experience before and St Swithun’s pupils led the activities fantastically well. Every child came away with a sense of achievement and enthused about their experiences to the other children in school the next day.” Our partnership programme is now back up to full capacity following the pandemic, delivering weekly drama, sport, art and reading enrichment sessions to 220 primary pupils from our partner primary schools. 70 St Swithun’s students and staff are involved in delivering these sessions.
As part of the St Swithun’s partnership programme, U5 students and staff organised a day of Olympic sports for 70 year 6 pupils from Oliver’s Battery and All Saints primary schools. The primary school pupils were given the opportunity to try a variety of different sports including archery, gymnastics, touch rugby, basketball, athletics and tennis as part of St Swithun’s Path-to-Paris 2024 initiative which aims to encourage young people to try some of the Olympic Sports that feature in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME
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TheATHLETICSathleticsteamhas been very busy this term with the most successful season in St Swithun’s history. Isabelle L U5 (javelin) and Abigail M U4 (discus) qualified to compete at the English Schools Championships, which is the highest standard of athletics St Swithun’s pupils have achieved. We also had 12 athletes selected to represent the South West region at the National Prep Schools Track and Field Championship. Immy W M5 and Alice C M5 were both selected to represent the Hampshire heptathlon team whilst we had 17 different athletes representing the Eastleigh and Winchester district athletics team. Both our ESAA track and field teams qualified for the regional finals, with our junior team coming 7th at the Millfield A finals and our inter team taking 4th place at the B finals in Winchester. The U13 and U15 track-knock out teams performed amazingly too, qualifying for the semi-finals of the Hampshire Track Knock Out Cup. Our inter girls took 5th place and our junior team won gold and qualified for the finals in stunning fashion. cricket teams continue to flourish.
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12 SPORT SPORTS DAY Page 13 - images of interhouse tennis.
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St Swithun’s School, Alresford Road, Winchester, SO21 1HA 01962 835700 office@stswithuns.com www.stswithuns.com Registered Charity Number 307335