Curriculum Enhancement: Subject and Faculty Reports 2015-2016
Poole College and Hannah Glatter and Francesca Rowley, amongst the youngest finalists this year, represented TH with flair and panache. Over 100 supporters attended, and the judges commented that there were no losers due to the phenomenally high standard. Hannah and Fran remained calm under intense pressure to produce an array of high quality dishes.
lessons. The introduction of new schemes of work this year involved several new projects, from cushion covers to iPad cases and quilted batik bags. I am constantly thinking of new ideas, and aim to introduce dressmaking and pattern cutting in the future. Watch this space!
In the spring we continued our ‘Great Talbot Heath Bake Off’, and all of U3 took part during their Food lessons. They produced remarkable entries with Harry Potter characters, and an entire vegetable patch!
This year's Easter Cake Competition coincided with our Rwanda Cake Raffle for iPledge 130. The Food dept supported the preparation and decoration of 10 large fruit cakes with a Rwandan theme and welcomed a plethora of Easter cakes at the same time. Holroyd Howe chefs voted Grace Piercy’s intricate Easter basket the winner, but runner up Madeleine Grafham's giant nest with floating chocolate egg was voted the cake the judges most wanted to eat! In the summer, Year 12 spent part of Life Skills Day in the Food Room, brushing up on practical food skills ready for university life. Working in groups, they made and tasted everything from Thai green curry and spaghetti bolognaise to naan and garlic bread. The results were delicious and many discovered that cooking may not be so difficult and can even be fun. Our sugar paste modelling club learnt simple methods and techniques to produce fun character models, 3D novelty animals and delicate flower decorations, including Christmas robins, Easter chick cupcakes and elephant cake toppers. Mrs Moran DESIGN TECHNOLOGY – Textiles Textiles is a popular subject and it has been great to see the variety and innovation in what the girls design and make in my
It was also a busy year for the STEM club, taking part in an environmentally based design challenge. The winners of this regional competition were a group of L4 students, who came up with the design for a boat made from recycled plastic bottles. The boat was constructed and tested on the final day of the summer term. The STEM club also took part in Rocket Science, a national project growing two sets of seeds, one set which had been to the ISS and one which was Earth-based. Mr Gibson
This year I introduced an after-school craft club which has proved extremely popular, so much so that it was over-subscribed. The club runs for six weeks each term, and the girls learn a different craft each week. These have included glass lantern painting, beading, kumihimo (Japanese knot jewellery), origami, painting pebble paperweights, and sewing Christmas and Halloween decorations. The girls throughly enjoyed the sessions, taking home a beautiful handmade item each week to impress their friends and family . Mrs Teuber SCIENCE There were several space themed events this year. In the Autumn term, students and parents listened in to the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed overhead and Mr Bill Coombes gave a very interesting talk on the history and work of the ISS.
In the Spring, Year 6 and Upper 3 students had the opportunity to control one of the cameras on board the ISS to take some wonderful images of the Earth. All our students then had the opportunity to visit an inflatable planetarium which was based in the Great Hall for three days in March. 9
SPORT Our pupils’ sporting achievements have continued to be highly impressive this year. In County, National and International honours, no less than 21 sports were represented, in and out of school. We held three sports days for Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior school, despite the challenges of the British weather! Many records were broken at the Junior and Senior swimming galas. TH tennis girls had a tough act to follow after playing at the World Championships last year, but there have been some fantastic performances for school, club and country. The Year 8 team were runners up at the AEGON team tennis schools national competition and the U19 team were runners up at the National Aberdare Cup. Esther Adeshina achieved many successes this year, such as playing in the junior Wimbledon championships. She is the Hampshire and Isle of Wight 'Sportswoman of the Year' and is ranked number one nationally in the U14s. Leah GonzalesEdwards and Hannah Smith represented Team GB, with Hannah gaining a Tennis Europe singles title and three doubles titles. Erin Richardson is the Nike International doubles champion and was part of the winning U18 National tennis team.