BHHS Newsletter issue 18

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Issue 18 February 2016

Dear Parents and Girls, I invite you to look at these two headlines from this week and see if, perchance, they may be related: PUPILS who achieve a B in A-Level maths today would have flunked with an E in the 1960s, according to new research.

Researchers looking at exam papers from the 1960s, 1990s and 2010s found scoring a grade B in the 2010s was equivalent to a lowly E 50 years ago. (The Sun, 23rd Feb 2016) English children are among the unhappiest in the world, a wide-ranging study has revealed.

Young people in England are ranked nearly bottom of an international happiness table, coming 13th of 16 countries. (The Independent, 17th Feb 2016) How wonderful for students currently working hard on their A level courses to have their efforts denigrated as ‘lowly’ and ‘flunking’; how good for their self-esteem to be battered yet again by the redundant, ‘haven’t standards slipped’ arguments!

When will we recognise that comparing standards of individual subjects across decades is futile and de-contextualised? The fact that this debate never goes away, in my view, simply demonstrates how wrong we are to focus entirely on exam grades as a measure of learning and educational success. But, as long as we continue to do so, our children will continue to be ‘amongst the unhappiest in the world.’

You can probably tell that I’m cross. As ever, I welcome any comments.

Meanwhile, have a good weekend.

Jennifer Smith

diary

Saturday 26th February CRED training, 8:45am-5:30pm; Monday 29th Hullabaloo choir, 6:30-9:45pm; Thursday 3rd World Book Day; Whole school assembly; P1 Y8 & Y9 work with author Simon Packham; Friday 4th GDST MFL Festival (Putney High); Rock Challenge (Hawth Theatre, Crawley) ; Springboard Festival (Speech and Drama); Saturday 5th Y11 catchup English controlled assessment, 9am-12 noon; Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th Springboard Festival (Speech and Drama; Strings) SCIENCE WEEK timetable...

Monday 14th March Lunchtime: Ethanol Rocket Challenge in the hall; Tuesday 15th Y9 (morning) & Y8 (afternoon) with Richard Robinson from Brighton Science Festival; Evening: Family Challenge (a series of science, engineering & maths challenges).

Please see relevant school comms for details; Wednesday 16th Inter-House engineering & science challenge at lunchtime, Labs 1 & 2; Thursday 17th Inter-House Quiz in assembly; Mobile planetarium in hall for Y10 (P2 & 3) 2015-16 Issue 18: 1

family STEM challenge

tuesday 15th march, 6-7:30pm open to all family groups with children in Years 3-13

save the date!

wednesday 6 july 2016 th

Brighton & Hove High School 140th Birthday Race for Life with whole school picnic on Hove Lawns Parental support and participation encouraged - please come and support us! Full details about the event and structure of the day will be communicated after Easter

design-a-logo competition!

To celebrate the school’s 140th birthday this year we are inviting pupils to design a logo for this exciting event.

The winner’s design will be used on a 140th school birthday commemorative t-shirt and will be available to purchase for our Race for Life event in July.

Your logo needs to incorporate the themes of Brighton & Hove High School, our 140th birthday and Race for Life.

If you missed the SchoolComms earlier this week then you can find all the information on Firefly http://bhhs.fireflycloud.net/140th-anniversary/design-a-logo-competition

Just print off your entry from the choice of three templates provided and get designing!

The competition closes Thursday 24th March.

2015-16 Issue 18: 2

intermediate mathematicschallenge

Well done to all girls in Years 9-11 who took part in the recent UK Intermediate Mathematical Challenge, a tough national competition requiring students to answer 25 challenging problems.

In a record-breaking year for the department, 5 Gold, 18 Silver, and 28 Bronze certificates were awarded to BHHS students.

Gold certificates were awarded to Alice Gornall (Best in Year 10), Eve Hull (Best in Year 11 and Best in School), Lisa She-Yin, Eleanor Thomas, and Maya Wall. Four of these girls qualified for the followon round.

Mrs J. Thomas

careerinsightdays

Over the half term break, two of our Y12 pupils, Yidan Chang and Mei-Ying Chow, attended a GDST Career Insight day at Nomura, the Japanese Investment Bank. This is one of a series of insight days throughout the year which are open for GDST Sixth Formers to attend. Details of forthcoming insight days will be publicised as they are announced.

Here is what our pupils had to say: “Our favourite part of the day was meeting the employees of the Bank as they gave us helpful tips with university and job applications as well as information about entering this career in the future.

We made some useful contacts and enjoyed the networking lunch. Learning more about investment banking and the occasional crazy 6am to 2am shifts was very insightful and we enjoyed the tour of the huge building and seeing the Bank’s cinema and spa rooms for their employees. The view across London from the roof top was amazing.

We had the opportunity to speak to a recent graduate who had just joined Nomura and we learnt about the Bank’s internship programme and the possibility of completing a placement during University. We highly recommend that every Sixth Former should consider attending a career insight day in their area of interest. We had a great day and met GDST pupils across the country at the same time.”

Mrs Lainchbury

congratulations Yazmin...

We are pleased to anounce that Yazmin Webb (Year 7) came First in the Speech and Drama category at the Worthing Music and Arts Festival. With all her marks added together she is now through to the finals. Well done!

Recommendations from the RE &Philosophy Department Mrs Dowglass

religious

1st March | St David’s Day | Christian Anniversary of the death of St David, the patron saint of Wales, who lived in the 6th century CE. 3rd March | Girls’ Day | Japanese Widely celebrated by praying for daughters to grow up to be healthy and dutiful. 4th March | Women’s World Day of Prayer | International and Interdenominational This year the theme will be ‘Receive children, Receive me’ which was prepared by Christian women in Cuba.

Friday 26th February| BBC2, 9pm | Philomena Drama based on a true story of a journalist who picks up the story of an Irish woman’s 50 year search for the son who was taken away from her when she was a teenage inmate of a Catholic convent Sunday 28th February| BBC1, 10m | The Big Questions Moral and religious discussions on topical issues Sunday 26th February| BBC World Service | Heart & Soul - Happy to Bleed A young Hindu woman’s campaign to tackle a social and religious taboo in India – menstruation. Wednesday 2nd March| Radio 4, 11am | An Eton Experience Follows pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds as they apply for places at Eton and prepare for exams that could change the course of their lives.

tv radio

2015-16 Issue 18: 16: 3 2

You are invited to an evening of WORDS and MUSIC to celebrate the life of Jacob Schilt.

Here at Brighton & Hove High School we are using our Guild charity work this year to support the work of the Robert Eaton Memorial Fund in memory of Jake and all those who lost their lives in the Shoreham Air Crash last August.

The REMF raises money to support the work of football in the community. For example, the Seagulls Specials club, which works with disabled youngsters, has been given £7,000 to help with their amazing work. Elsewhere, Coaching For Hope – a charity which uses football to support youngsters orphaned by a celebration in words and music the Aids epidemic in areas like Cambodia Thursday 17th March, 2016 at 7pm – has been given £3,000, while Albion in the Community was recently given a £30,000 mini bus. The charity continues to go from strength to strength – scooping The Argus newspaper’s Charity of the Year award along the way. Jacob enjoyed playing in the annual REMF Challenge football match between fans of Brighton and Hove Albion and those of Crystal Palace. This year’s match will be held at the Amex on Monday 30th May. Find out more

A Concert for Jacob

here: http://www.remf.org.uk/latest-news/4562414627 Everyone at Brighton & Hove High School was rocked by the tragedy of that terrible August day and our hearts go out to all the bereaved. Of course, the news that Mrs Schilt’s son Jacob was one of those who died made us all the more determined to reach out and to do something, anything to show our support in this time of incalculable sorrow and heartbreak.

Jacob was travelling to play football with his friend Matthew Grimstone when the aeroplane crashed. Football was a real passion and talent of his. Therefore Mr Lloyd has put together an eclectic mix of music which – together with some powerful poetry - will speak for us and even, just occasionally, share Jake and Matt’s love of the beautiful game.

Please join us on Thursday 17th March 2016 at 7 o’clock.

The concert will be held in the main hall at the senior school.

Tickets cost £8 (£5 concessions) and are available via parent pay.

2015-16 Issue 18: 4

10 days and counting! tickets are on sale via parent pay

Thursday 10th March 7pm Poster design - Emma Griffiths 2015-16 Issue 18: 5

v thetowers

On Monday 22nd February the U-14 & U-15 Netball teams came in on a staff inset day to play a friendly match against The Towers. This showed a great level of commitment and dedication. The U-14s match started off at a high tempo with the first quarter ending neck and neck. Next the U-15s came on to play and our girls were spacing out well and kept possession of the ball. In the second half of both games it was clear that The Towers were fighting back to regain their lead. Both of our teams were trying their hardest to mark our opponents closely and stick to their opposition. The U-14 game resulted in a close win, 12-10 win and the U-15s lost by just four goals, 15-11.

Overall a great effort by both teams! A special mention to Izzy Tilley and Georgia Chalk in the U-14 team who worked great together and who both shot brilliantly. Well done!

Miss Cheesman

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Year 5 came up to the Senior School this week and were entertained by Mr Marsh for two hours learning and using Bunsen burners. They saw the spectacular burning of magnesium in oxygen & then carried out their own experiments with a Bunsen burner. They also learnt why fireworks explode with different colours & what happens to jelly babies who forget their homework. As well as a Drama workshop they also enjoyed having lunch in the Senior Canteen.

2014-15 Issue 18:6 2015-16 1: page xx

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Dear Parents,

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Welcome back to the second half of the term which certainly looks like being action packed. This week has been particularly busy as you can see from today’s newsletter and our Firefly pages. I hope that over the coming weeks the opportunity to speak to staff in parents meetings will be useful but as always, please do be in contact at other times as the communication between home and school is vital. We continue to plan events towards the celebration of our 140th anniversary and this week not only launched the date of the whole school race for life event in July but also began to plan some of our 140 hours in the community initiative. If you are aware of a local community project the girls could be involved in we would certainly love to hear from you.

Best wishes, Sian Cattaneo

calendar

Monday 29th

Tuesday 1st

Wednesday 2nd Thursday 3rd

Friday 4th Saturday 5th

U-11 Gymnastics & Cross Country Trust Rally (Bromley) U-11 Hockey ‘In2 Hockey’ Tournament (Eastbourne College) U-11A,B Netball v Burgess Hill (Away) Parents’ Morning - Year 3-Year 6, 8:15-9:15am Parents’ Evening Nursery-Year 6, 5-7:30pm U-11A,B,C / U-10 / U-9A,B / U-8 Netball v Hurst (Away) World Book Day – girls are invited to dress up U-11 Netball IAPS (Roedean) Year 4 Parents’ Meeting (Year 5 Marchant Hill Presentation), 3-3:30pm U-9 Netball Tournament (Home)

date for your diary...

Junior Class Photos Have been moved from 3rd May to Wednesday 8th June, from 8:30am.

pupil arrival times...

Girls in Reception to Year 6 should arrive in school no later than 8:30am, otherwise they will be marked as late in the register.

Nursery girls should arrive in school by 8:45am.

Please see relevant schoolcomms for STEM event 2015-16 Issue 18: 7

family STEM challenge

tuesday 15th march, 6-7:30pm open to all family groups with children in Years 3-13

Mrs N Smith

Brighton & hove high school GDST

save the date!

wednesday 6 july 2016 th

Brighton & Hove High School 140th Birthday Race for Life with whole school picnic on Hove Lawns Parental support and participation encouraged - please come and support us! Full details about the event and structure of the day will be communicated after Easter

design-a-logo competition!

To celebrate the school’s 140th birthday this year we are inviting pupils to design a logo for this exciting event.

The winner’s design will be used on a 140th school birthday commemorative t-shirt and will be available to purchase for our Race for Life event in July.

Your logo needs to incorporate the themes of Brighton & Hove High School, our 140th birthday and Race for Life.

If you missed the SchoolComms earlier this week then you can find all the information on Firefly https://bhhsjuniors.fireflycloud.net/140th-anniversary/design-a-logo-competition

Just print off your entry from the choice of three templates provided and get designing!

The competition closes Thursday 24th March.

2015-16 Issue 18: 8

crosscountry

Our KS2 & KS3 Inter-House Cross Country takes place on the afternoon of Monday 7th March at Hove Recreation Ground and will involve all girls in Years 3-6 as well as some girls from Years 7-9. Junior girls will need to wear their house t-shirts. If you do not have one or need a new one they will be available to purchase from the uniform shop. Full details to follow.

fairtrade breakfast friday4th when? 8:15-9:30am where? Dining room why?

To raise awareness of Fairtrade During Fairtrade Fortnight (29th February-13th March) we are going to hold a drop in coffee morning/breakfast where we will be serving Fairtrade teas, coffees and juices. We will also be selling crepes with a variety of Fairtrade toppings.

Why do we need to raise awareness of Fairtrade?

When people are paid a fairer price, they can have more control over their lives when times are hard, and worry less about how they will feed their families. Whether it’s the extra cash in their pockets or being able to expand their farms to grow more food to eat, Fairtrade means many farmers and workers are able to fulfil a basic human need – to put enough food on the table for the people they care about, all year round.

2015-16 Issue 18: 9

E O

N review

By Rithika R, 6.1 Before half term Year 6 went to the English National Opera (housed in the London Coliseum).

The amazing design of the building was by a man call Frank Matcham. It was opened in 1904 during the British Empire. It was built for a variety of things that are musically linked but there was no opera. Instead there were acrobats on tight ropes across the colosseum and horse tricks.

Frank Matcham built the coliseum to have a big personality. With the most seats it is the largest theatre in the West End and it can seat up to 2958 people. We all really enjoyed “The Magic Flute”. It was mind blowing, heart stopping and incredible.

A little bit on Mozart: he composed 600 pieces of music and wrote his first orchestral piece at the age of 5. He could even play the piano blindfolded! Mozart believed that each instrument made its own picture but when those instruments came together they created a contrast of magical colours.

My favourite parts of the opera were the effects and the finale because…

The effects looked REALLY REALISTIC, there was actually fire and water was spraying from the sides.

The finale was uplifting and powerful because all the actors came to the front and sang TO US!!!

The elaborate, detailed design of the auditorium was jaw dropping and magnificent and the orchestra was HUGE! The lights and celling were painted a gold metallic colour and were portrayed as chandeliers. There was also a wonderful glass dome in the middle of the ceiling. In the corner of the auditorium were two stone carvings of a man riding two lions painted in gold. This was to show courage and bravery.

After the opera ended I decided my favourite character was Sarastros, who was the goodie in the story who helped save the princess and prince. On the way out Teresa showed us a caricature which was a stone carving at the base of the banister stairs. It had the features of Frank Matcham, in other words his signature! We had a great time except being sick and feeling ill on the way home!

Mozart says “I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.” And he also says “Music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”

travelsickness toptips by Liberty H 1. First, make sure you have travel sickness pills on your journey and remember to take them!

2. Talk to your friends as it helps you not focus on the road and you will feel better.

3. This may sound strange but a teacher told me that If it gets worse sit on a newspaper because it distracts you A LOT. 4. Try to focus on something ahead of you – like the licence plate of a car, but make sure it is in front of you.

5. Sucking a sweet usually helps. It’s also an excuse to eat something delicious!

6. If you have to open a sick bag then make sure, well try anyway, not to breathe into the bag: it doesn’t help at all.

7. Make sure you sit at the front of the coach.

8. And lastly even if you do feel sick try really, really hard to have… fun!

2015-16 Issue 18: 10

match

This week’s STAR MATCH: U-11 Netball v St Andrews Prep, Eastbourne, draw 14-14 Star Player, Elodie and Coach’s Player, Rachel

This is a new fixture and we made a positive start, working the ball into the attacking circle where Elodie and Ellie worked together to score, 1-0. The pace of play continued and the score climbed to 3-3 after 8 minutes. Defence had to be quick in the 2nd quarter. Movement around the circle was strong from St Andrews and their GS was left unmarked and they took an early lead. We responded well with Mary’s solid marking and India’s quick interceptions. Marianna made some flying interceptions in centre and Rachel worked the width. The score line went up one apiece for either side, due to forced errors of pressure by the other team. A couple of silly mistakes like footwork and offside, let St. Andrews take the lead by one goal.

In the 3rd quarter we turned the game around and worked hard at preventing the ball entering our defence third some great work from Marinana and Rachel, saw the ball passed down court to Jaia and into the circle with both Elodie and Ellie working well together, timing their movement around the circle better. We took the lead, 10-9 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Like the first In the final quarter each team edged ahead and they pulled back. We scored from St. Andrews centre and then went on to score a further 2 goals before they could respond. It was tense with the girls on both sides working to gain that last vital goal, final score 14-14.

U-8A Netball v St Andrews Prep School, win 16-0 (pictured first left) Player of the Match, Gracie | Coach’s Player, Isabella U-8B Netball v St Andrews, Lost 8-0 (pictured second) Player of the Match, Aisling | Coach’s Player, Emma U-9 Netball v St Andrews, Lost 4-1 (pictured third) Player of the Match, Elsie U-9B Netball v U-9 St Andrews, Lost 3-4 (pictured fourth) Player of the Match | Coach’s Player, Ruby T U-10 Netball v Sion, Win 5-3 (pictured fifth) Player of the Match, Ava L | Coach’s Player, Martha U-11C v St Andrews, Lost 4-5 (pictured far right) Player of the Match, Freida | Coach’s Player, Charlie A

For full match reports check out our Firefly page:

https://bhhsjuniors.fireflycloud.net/match-reports

2015-16 Issue 18: 11

swimminggala hurst february 25th Our squad has been working very hard and whilst this is the only gala this term the hard work really showcased their commitment and performance . There were some amazing performances and the improvement in strokes and stamina was really noticeable. Hurst were the eventual winners but the scores did not reflect the closeness for most of the races. Many were literally on finger tips and it made for an incredibly exciting gala . Well done to all the squad and particularly to Casey in her first gala.

schoolcouncilcompetition School Council are hosting a Book in a Box/Bag competition and we would love to have as many entries as possible. You can be any age to enter. All you need to do is recreate a scene from a well-known book inside a box (shoe boxes work well) or, to enter a bag find and fill it with things that relate to a book. These could be used as props if you wanted to tell the story. Your entries will be displayed with the idea that people can guess your book. There will be one winner for each year group and they will receive a certificate and a prize. Entries need to be in by Tuesday 1st March and can be taken to Miss Parker’s office. We really look forward to seeing your entries.

2015-16 Issue 18: 12

nursery

The girls thoroughly enjoyed making gingerbread men and they didn’t run away but they were very yummy!

2014-15 Issue 18: 2015-16 1: page 13 xx

is moving to…

Brighton & Hove High School, Junior School Hall Radinden Manor Road, Hove

from

Wednesday 9th March Brighton Voices is a non-auditioning community choir for adults of all musical abilities.

Come and try us out!

Nick Andrews started Brighton Voices in September 2010 when he became, all of a sudden, available on Wednesday evenings. This stroke of good fortune prompted him to create the community choir that he’d been thinking about for a while: really good fun, great music, no conductor and a good tea-break with decent biscuits and proper coffee. All this, and more, has been achieved with Brighton Voices.

We sing music from the great choral tradition – generally working for quite a long period on a major piece alongside a variety of shorter pieces. At the moment, we’re learning Handel’s “Messiah”. In recent years, we’ve sung both the Mozart and the Faure Requiems and Puccini’s “Messa di Gloria”, in addition to many lovely short pieces. Everything is learnt slowly and thoroughly; from time to time we do concerts that people actually want to come to – often featuring tea and cake.

We do not have auditions – all are welcome, and music reading – though a big advantage – is not essential.

We are moving from the Brighthelm Centre to BHHS, Junior School Hall, in Radinden Manor Rd., just off the Old Shoreham Rd. This is a lovely venue with lots of car parking, a really good piano and a lovely room to sing in.

Rehearsals are on Wednesdays from 7.45pm to 9.45pm from 9th March onwards. It costs £5 per session – just pay when you come – and £3 for full time students. Music is provided and refreshments are free. New members are always welcome – particularly in our new venue. Please come along and see if you like us.

Musical Director - Nick Andrews Email: louiseandrews@live.co.uk