The Gazette 2022

Head’s welcome

Dear Parents and Girls,

Welcome to your 2021/22 Gazette. This wonderful review of last year’s highlights serves to confirm what a super school The Study is. I cannot comment on the events of last year so, for this year, the photos in The Gazette will tell their own story. All schools have struggled with coronavirus and, on top of this, The Study went through a period of change. Despite this, the school has come through the other side and, when looking back over the last year, one would never know there had ever been any challenges to face.

I would like to say that, since my arrival here as Interim Head, I have felt very welcomed and looked after by the girls, staff and parents. There is undoubtedly a special atmosphere created by everyone which, it seems to me, is founded on a strong sense of kindness. The school provides the girls with excellent teaching and learning - but it does so much more. In the world of education, this combination of high levels of nurture and care, combined with great teaching, makes for a very happy and successful school.

I would like to say a special thank you to Joanna Gay and Susan Johnson who are celebrated in this edition. They gave so much of their working lives to the girls at The Study; their dedication and service are remembered very fondly by everyone here and their legacy will live on in the hundreds of girls they taught.

Those of you who left Year 6 in the summer of 2022 are not known to me, but I have seen how well you all did in your 11+ and I hope that you are all feeling happy and settled at your new schools.

I hope you will enjoy reliving memories from last year. As you move forwards, nod to the past – it made a tiny part of you that makes you whole.

Mrs Helen Lowe Interim Head

A fond farewell

A special mention must be made to Miss Gay, Deputy Head, and Mrs Johnson, Reception Teacher and Head of Early Years, who both retired from full time teaching.

Miss Gay is stepping back from teaching after twenty years of outstanding service to the school as Deputy Head. Miss Gay’s commitment to The Study and her dedication to providing a happy, nurturing environment, filled with enriching learning opportunities, was second to none.

Also retiring this year were Mrs Appleby who taught at Wilberforce House for 9 years, Mrs More who taught at Spencer House for 5 years, and Ms Wheeler who was School Secretary at Wilberforce House for 8 years.

Mrs Kirkby left her role as Head of Drama, after twelve years of exceptional leadership of the Drama department. She provided Study girls with countless opportunities to perform, grow in confidence and develop a love of the performing arts.

A farewell also to teaching staff Mrs Cleeve, Ms Smith, Mrs Deighton, Mrs Cannell, Mrs Nicol, Mr McKillop and Mr Chatzidakis, and support staff Mr Leyenda.

All staff made extraordinary contributions to school life during their time at The Study. We wish our departing staff happy retirements and success with new ventures, although we are sure they will continue to be familiar faces in the wider school community!

Mrs Johnson was at the school for thirty four years and she will be sorely missed. She saw countless Study girls through their first year of schooling, ensuring that they had a happy start to school life.

Head for the day

Two Study girls stepped into the shoes of Miss Ellis for the day in the Summer Term.

AlexandrahadlunchintheHead’soffice withherleadershipteam

Talia led the Head’s assembly at Spencer House

Our summer drinks reception offered a fitting send off for departing staff. From left to right: Governor Mrs Amanda Elysee, former Head Mrs Susan Pepper, Miss Joanna Gay, Mrs Susan Johnson and Governor Mr Adrian Johnson.

Jubilant celebrations at The Study

A year of learning in our Wilberforce House building

Tuesday 8 March was not only International Women’s Day, but it also marked a year to the day of our building at Wilberforce House opening. The inspirational Dame Darcey Bussell, former Principal of The Royal Ballet and friend of The Study, joined us to celebrate. Darcey delivered a fantastic wellbeing dance

The Susan Pepper Performing Arts Hall

The Board of Governors hosted a special drinks reception to unveil the plaque dedicating our new performing arts hall to Mrs Pepper, our former Head, who led on the development project.

Girls enjoy a wellbeing dance workshop with Dame Darcey Bussell on International Women’s Day

“Great things are never done by one person but a team of people”

Mrs Pepper and Chairman of the Board, John Tucker

Nicholas Hare Architects and MCS Construction team

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

In June, the School turned 129 and Her Majesty the Queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee. In true Study style, the school came together and threw a wonderful party to celebrate both occasions.

We enjoyed a patriotic cake fit for a Queen!

The whole school joined in to sing the National Anthem and The Study school song

The girls crafted their own crowns for the party

Each year group made bunting that decorated the playground

Remembering the Queen

Autumn Term started with the sad news that Her Majesty the Queen had passed away. We found many ways to explore the Queen’s inspiring life and extraordinary achievements with our girls.

Dearest Elizabeth,

You have ascended above the land of love.

It’s time for you to return with your husband up above. Instead of a crown you get a halo. Everyone will remember you for all you have done. But it’s time for you to get your tea and a biscuit. Your corgis are trying to wake you up.

It’s no use but they won’t give up. Thank you for the years, for all your time and love. Now I am one of two again. In our palace up above.

Alexa, Year 5

Year 5 wrote poems of remembrance and Mrs Moreno delivered Alexa’s poem to Green Park to sit alongside the messages of condolence from across the nation.

Reception

Settling into school life

Reception had a fun filled and busy first term at school, making friends and learning about each other through their “knock, knock who am I?” project work.

Sophia’sfamily

Anna’sfamily

A magical nativity

The girls performed their first nativity to an audience of thrilled parents in our performing arts hall.

Jemima Aara

Outdoor learning adventures

Reception made the most of our beautiful location on the Common and the girls had plenty of opportunities to learn

Den building on the Common Sofia Poppy

These beautiful watercolour flowers and woodland scenes were inspired by welly walks into the woods.

Drawing the outdoors

Reception used chalk to draw these winter robins that often visit the playground.

A wild celebration

Reception’s year ended with a visit from the Wild Child, the character from the book of the same name. The Wild Child taught the girls the attributes they would need to survive in the wild and helped them celebrate completing their first year of school.

Year 1

Turrets, tiaras and dragons

Year 1 enjoyed a regal trip to Windsor Castle as part of their Turrets and Tiaras topic. Their topic concluded with an extraordinary medieval banquet, organised by Year 1 parents.

WindsorCastletrip Medievalbanquet

Coco wrote a compelling advert for a knight to rescue Princess Rose from the dragon.

We need a knight who is brave and strong. You need a sword and get a helmet because you have to fight a dragon.

By Coco

Space exploration

Visit from a dragon

Freya described a vivid dragon in her Tell me a dragon poem.

My dragon is pink, purple and blue. She eats trees and fruit and breathes snow flakes.

By Freya

The girls imagined what astronauts would see from space in these astronaut porthole paintings.

Festive baking

The smells of cinnamon and mixed spice filled our school corridors when the girls baked delicious Christmas cakes and made festive wreaths.

Out of Africa

The continent of Africa came to life for Year 1 in all sorts of ways in the Summer Term.

The girls journeyed to an African safari in school… …and visited an African safari at Marwell Zoo!

The girls designed and made their own African animal themed t-shirts too!

Puppets at the Polka

A creative day was enjoyed at the Polka Theatre. The girls learnt about different puppets and then created their own.

Year 2

Masha and the Firebird

The story of Masha and the Firebird inspired Year 2’s Autumn Term of creative learning and certainly inspired their creativity!

Eggs inspired by water

Fire

Exploding flames burning the air

vermilion crimson colours together melting the ground with flames

By Delilah

Eggs inspired by fire

Aboriginalart

Water

Seaweed swaying softly, roaring waves, waves crashing angrily, pouring smoothly, flooding land, splashing, Sapphire-royal blue, moving all the time.

By Lucia

Sponsored walk for Ugandan charity

In early spring Year 2 pupils took part in a sponsored walk in support of the Ssamba Foundation, a humanitarian charity based in Uganda. Mrs Veerapen’s son volunteered for the charity and our girls raised more than £1,700 to support a project to help farmers’ children access education at school.

Flaming firebird masks

aAuthorMargaretBateson-Hillvisitedfor storytellingworkshop

Yum! Yum! Let’s learn about food

Year 2’s food-themed topic helped the girls to learn all about food. The story of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch was the jumping off point for lots of wonderful work.

They created these beautiful lighthouse seascapes.

Class iPads were used to add speech bubbles to pictures of the girls pretending to be seagulls on the lookout for the lighthouse keeper’s lunch.

Busy, buzzy bees!

Summer Term saw the girls learn all about bees.

Sewing skills were put into practice with handmade textile bees.

Parents were treated to a special assembly where the girls dressed as their favourite piece of fruit and shared their fun food facts.

These bee costumes were used to create fantastic Fathers Day cards.

The girls enjoyed a visit from a bee keeper and learnt about the hives and habitat of the bee.

A trip to Kew Gardens was full of bee friendly flowers!

The girls packed up Mr Grinling’s lunch that the seagull’s found so tempting!

Year 3

A trip to Hastings

The girls visited Hastings and learnt about the work of the RNLI. They were able to explore the beach and enjoyed collecting pebbles and shells on the beach as well as watching fishing boats in action.

Deep down under

Year 3 created these beautiful works of art depicting life deep down beneath the ocean’s surface.

Mousehole Harbour lights

These beautiful pictures were inspired by the annual Christmas lights that adorn the harbour village of Mousehole, Cornwall.

Coral reef restoration

A coral reef expert delivered a coral reef restoration workshop. The girls learnt about the destruction of the reef and the importance of protecting it. They created their own reef, from recycled materials, and ‘save the reef’ posters.

Egypt Day

Ancient Egypt was brought to life at The Study on Egypt Day. Girls and staff came to school in vibrant Egyptian dress and took part in Egyptian themed activities.

Learning about Wimbledon

Year 3 researched the wonders of Wimbledon in their Summer Term learning.

Tennis time travellers

The girls visited the All England Lawn Tennis Club where they got to be time travellers and learn about the history of the club and its special importance to our local area.

Wimbledon Common

Much fun was had meeting the rangers and discovering the history of the Common at the Windmill Museum.

Frida Kahlo art

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is remembered for her self-portraits. Year 3 created these colourful portraits as part of their learning about Mexico.

Year 4

Balloon science

Year 4’s science topic kicked off with some balloon fun as the girls learnt about forces that act on a balloon.

Making bespoke bags in DT

The girls created their own drawstring bags in DT class. They drew bespoke designs and made the bags from scratch, cutting and sewing the fabric and adding all of the decorative details.

A triumphant production of Honk! Jnr

Autumn Term saw Year 4 rehearse and prepare for their year group performance, Honk! Jnr. The show was a triumphant success with energetic dancing, singing and acting. It was enjoyed by all who saw it!

Year 4 were given many opportunities to get creative in art with some incredible results…

Beetles and bugs

Silver swans

Kandinsky inspired art

Fairthorne Manor residential

Year 4 enjoyed a gloriously muddy time in the streams

Mila’s chess success

Congratulations to Mila in Year 4 who was the Autumn Term’s chess club champion. Mila’s achievement was well deserved as she showed critical thinking skills, patience and remained calm under the pressure of the game.

Irene

Zuki

Emilia

Year 5

Kidzania trip

The girls got to experience different careers when they visited Kidzania. It looks like we may have future surgeons, presenters and even police officers amongst Year 5.

Story writing workshop

Year 5 had a visit from author Catherine Bruton. Catherine wrote the bestselling book No Ballet Shoes in Syria. After sharing her own writing process and where she finds her inspiration, Catherine encouraged the girls to put pen to paper and draft their own stories. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the visit, and were brimming with ideas for their own books!

Isle of Wight residential

For their residential trip, Year 5 visited the Isle of Wight.

Art inspired by Autumn

Five Antarctica facts

Antarctica is the highest, driest and coldest continent on earth

Animals such as albatross, orcas, leopard seals and blue whales live here

The albatross has the largest wing span of any bird (2.9 - 3.3m!)

Only 235 species live in the Antartic

There are places in the South Pole which have not received rain or snow in 2 million years

By 5M

A visit to Wimbledon Mosque

Miss Gay took Year 5 on a visit to our local mosque. After a talk and a tour from the Imam, the girls soaked up the calm and quiet atmosphere and reflected on their learning about Islam.

Celebrating black poets

During Black History Month, Year 5 performed poetry from black and mixed heritage poets.

A special mention to Amy whose entry into the Young Geographer of the Year competition was highly commended.

Talia

Year 6

An SOS maths challenge

Year 6 were challenged to save the school in a code cracking maths workshop! Full of mathematical reasoning and problem solving activities, the girls had to crack the codes that would save the school.

Disovering Japan

Japan provided an inspirational theme for learning in the Spring Term.

Super slippers

Lots of fun was had in DT, designing and making slippers using a variety of textile joining techniques.

These beautiful koi carps were created in art class

The girls even had a go at making sushi

Mrs Hogwood ran a Japanese calligraphy workshop

Reading buddies

Year 6 played an important role in supporting our Year 4 girls to settle into school life at Spencer House. Buddy reading in the library was time enjoyed by all.

A summer filled with trips

As is tradition at The Study, the Summer Term was filled with a number of enriching trips and activities for our graduating year group.

Picnic in the park

Year 6 celebrated their exams success with a glorious picnic in Cannizaro Park. Congratulations class of 2022!

Tour of the Houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court

Henley Fort residential

PGL residential to Yorkshire

Performing Arts

Marvellous Matilda!

Years 5 and 6 took to the stage in a dazzling performance of Matilda the musical. It was amazing to see the girls grow in confidence and self belief as they rehearsed and performed the show.

Leavers’ show

Year 6 performed Robin Hood and the Sherwood Hoodies, a re-telling of the classic Robin Hood tale.

Merton Live!

Girls from our dance and theatre clubs performed live on stage at Wimbledon Theatre’s annual Merton Live! event.

Rainmaker

The Spencer House choir performed a stirring production of Rainmaker.

Year round music performances

There were many opportunities for our girls to get involved in musical performances throughout the year.

Tea

MusicdayatSt.John’s

Summerinstrumentalconcert

Epsom College event

Leatherhead

Prep Carol Concert

Richmond Music festival with schools from across Merton

Time recitals at Spencer House

Harvest Festival

Carol singing at a local care home

Sport

Cross country success

Years 3 to 6 took part in two excellent cross country running events.

Gymnastics competition fun

In Spring Term, our budding gymnasts showcased their skills at a gymnastics competition hosted by Danes Hill School. The girls came third overall and brought home a bundle of gold and silver medals.

Sports Day

Sports Day gave the whole school, including our younger pupils, the opportunity to experience competitive sport and build friendly rivalries

A tremendous triathlon

132 Study girls took part in a triathlon in support of the charity Restless Development. The girls ran, swam and cycled their way to the finish line, raising more than £10,000 for charity along the way. Well done Team Study!

Fixture fantastic

This year was our first full calendar of live fixtures following the pandemic. The girls showed great team spirit at all the matches and it was wonderful to see their confidence, team work and ball skills progress as the year went on.

HOCKEY

Inter-house competitions

Farmen House were the overall winners of our festive inter-house football tournament.

NETBALL FOOTBALL

Year 3 netball against Holy Cross

Athletics

Years 3 to 6 enjoyed a summer of athletics afternoons at Wimbledon Athletics Track.

CRICKET

Year 5 football match at A summer cricket festival

Our girls came third overall at the Interschool Athletics Championships in July

Much fun was had at our spring inter-house netball tournament

Hockey 7s at Rowen Prep

Nicole in Year 6 and Blanka in Year 5 both came home with medals from the ISA National School Sports Athletics Competition

Specialist Subjects

Celebrating languages on European Languages Day

The girls came into school wearing the colours and national dress of countries in Europe and beyond to celebrate all the languages and cultures within our Study family.

Fun Spanish in Reception

Puppet crocodiles helped the girls learn to introduce themselves

French teachers for the day

The girls celebrated Cinco de Mayo by making ‘burro’ suncatchers

Spanish monsters in Year 6

Year 6 created brilliant monster drawings to practise writing colours, numbers and body parts.

In the Summer Term, our two bilingual Year 4 pupils, Leya S and Maria C, became French teachers for the day. The girls planned, prepared and delivered a lively and interesting lesson to their classmates, which included an engaging presentation all about brioche, viennoiseries, bouillabaisse and boeuf bourgignon... to name but a few delicious French delicacies.

Learning with technology

New iPads have come into their own this year with supporting learning across the school.

Year 1 created these explosive and colourful firework animations.

Year 4 had the chance to try out AI technology when they used a GIF generator to create animations that moved with them on screen.

Year 2 recreated pictures onto a digital puzzle grid, carefully counting the squares and choosing the right colour.

Design Technology focus

In DT, Year 4 developed their sewing skills by using a straight line stitch to create a heart shaped design on cards.

All year groups were able to give coding a try, from robot coding in Reception to using Scratch further up the school.

Art

Art accolades

ISA Arts UK competition

Five works of art by Study girls won awards at the ISA Arts UK

Year 6 Group Textiles, Harvest

Royal College of Arts Competition

Nineteen compositions were selected to be displayed at The Royal College of Art’s Young Art competition.

Year 6 Art Award

Eleven of our Year 6 girls were awarded their Bronze Art Award in the Summer Term. The judges were impressed with the standard of work. Congratulations to Lara, Darcy, Florence, Michaela, Alex, Ciara, Chiara, Lilly Jo, Ayla, Oriana and Leila.

Amy’s Dancing Dolphin and The Chinese Girl

Lauren’s Piranha

Emily’s tulip sketch

Wellbeing

Jules from EQPrep worked across the school helping girls to develop their emotional intelligence and look after their mental health.

Our inspirational Year 6 Peer Mentors visited Wilberforce House to have lunch with the girls and help with friendship problems in the playground. They even managed to fit in some reading with Reception and Year 1.

Claudia in Year 4 led a fantastic assembly with Jules, helping our girls to better understand anxiety and how our EQChat service could help at school.

Wimbledon BookFest Young Writers’ Competition

A new initiative this year saw each girl given a journal in their classroom for reflection, creativity and to log their social and emotional learning.

Congratulations to all our girls whose poems and stories were commended and highly commended in the Wimbledon BookFest Young Writers’ Competition. Year

Charity & Community

We raised an incredible £13,488.66

The school was as active as ever in raising funds and awareness for good causes, both in our local community and nationally.

Odd Socks Day Remembrance Day fundraising

Year 4 lunchtime fundraiser

Year 6 cake sale

Fundraising superstars

Ivy in Year 5 cut her hair in support of The Princess Trust

Layla in Year 6 was inspired to fundraise for a hedgehog rescue and rehabilitation centre

Harvest donations for Wimbledon Foodbank

Supporting Ukraine

Study families donated hygiene packs to Ukrainian refugees

A collection for the British Red Cross raised funds for Ukraine

The Study Association

We would like to say a very big thank you to our retiring Study Association committee members, who are standing down after three years.

The Association organised a number of wonderful events for pupils and parents.

Their efforts funded books for our school libraries, wet play games at Wilberforce House and more.

In addition, £15,000 raised from the May Maquerade Ball, was divided equally between three excellent charitiesWinston’s Wish, Storybook Dads and Shooting Star Hospice.

Supporting the Polka Theatre

We became a super hero school member at the Polka Theatre this year. In addition to receiving many benefits for our girls and teachers, it will offer ninety disadvantaged children the opportunity to visit the Polka and experience live theatre.

Visiting our neighbours at King’s College

Year 6 spent a day with their peers at our neighbouring independent boys’ school, King’s College. Wimbledon High pupils joined the day too and the children enjoyed activities that encouraged teamwork, including a scavenger hunt, singing and drama lessons, and team building games with a desert island theme. We very much hope that this becomes an annual joint school initiative!

Parent quiz night on World Book Day

Traditional games at the Summer Fair

Festive fun at the Christmas Fair

A glamorous evening at the May Masquerade Ball

The Study is turning 130!

In June 2023 we will be celebrating the school’s 130th birthday.

The Study was founded in 1893 by Miss Sidford, the governess of Lady and Sir Arthur Holland. Miss Sidford taught their 3 daughter’s in… the study!

The Study has come a long way from these humble beginnings almost 130 years ago and has remained very much a part of the Wimbledon Village community.

Read more about the rich history of The Study on our website: www.thestudyprep.co.uk/ourhistory

Alumnae news

We love to hear from old Study girls about what they are getting up to today.

Miranda Jagusch (class of 2021), was offered a place with the National Children’s Orchestra, playing her French horn. Miranda had a keen love for music during her time at The Study and showed great talent. Her hard work and enthusiasm has paid off and we look forward to hearing more about her musical pursuits.

Maya Lane (class of 2015), has found success as a recording artist and released her first solo single this year, Still The Same. Maya gave a memorable performance of Maria in a Study production of The Sound of Music

Are you a former Study girl?

Get in touch and we’ll keep you updated with news from the school community. Scan this QR code and complete our form:

www.thestudyprep.co.uk/ old-girls

A family member of one of the earliest Study pupils, alum Eily Keary, contacted us recently for any information we had about Eily’s time at school. A search through The Study archives revealed that Eily and her sister, Elsie, had performed in a production of Antigone in 1905! A delightful discovery for both Eily’s family and us.

Eily went on to become a naval architect and aeronautical design engineer. The Royal Institute of Navel Architects issues an annual Award in her name. Extraordinary achievements by any standard.

Year 6 Leavers’ Destinations

Destinations 2022

Lara Amaria Surbiton High

Aminah Aziz

Surbiton High

Alexa Beauvilain Surbiton High

June Benito Monleon

Leila Bennett

Wimbledon High

Wimbledon High

Lilly Blackwell St John’s School

Scarlett Brodd Surbiton High

Oriana Brown

Surbiton High

Ella Cairns St John’s School

Grace Conroy St Teresa’s

Alejandra De Pommerol St John’s School

Nicole Deaconescu

Eve Dell

Tegan Evans

Honor Hahn-James

Jessica Haque

Wimbledon High

Wimbledon High

Sutton High

Felton Fleet

Surbiton High

Arabelle Harding-Buck St John’s School

Aemilia Huijsser

Minnie Loftus

Darcy McDonagh

Layla Mitchell

Sophia Nicholson

Ciara O’Rourke

Ayla Payne

Chiara Peratides

Florence Reekie

Rania Samad

Abigail Sceales

Kyla Shaw-Taylor

Annabel Simmonds

Beatrice Simpson

Annabel Snyman

Isabella Stewart

Emily Streater

Alexandra Street

Larissa Syed-Raja

Stella Van de Geest

Greta Virik

Bethan Williams

Yvette Williams

Caitlin Wilson

Michaela Wood

Violet Wright

Marymount International

Wimbledon High

Surbiton High

Plymouth College

Wimbledon High

Wimbledon High

Wimbledon High

St John’s School

Surbiton High

Ricards Lodge

Ibstock Place

Wimbledon High

Lady Eleanor Holles

Surbiton High

Surbiton High

Marymount International

Sutton High

Kingston Grammar

Wimbledon High

Latymer Upper

Surbiton High

Sutton High

Sutton High

Felton Fleet

Surbiton High

St John’s School

Wilberforce House: Camp Road, Wimbledon Common, London SW19 4UN

Spencer House: 4 Peek Crescent, Wimbledon Village, London SW19 5ER

020 8947 6969

www.thestudyprep.co.uk