Channing Annual Magazine 2017

ANNUAL 2016-2017

Contents Headmistress’ Founders’ Day Address 4 Junior School Repor t 8 The Junior School Classroom and beyond 10 Middle School Repor t 18 Upper School Repor t 20 Sixth Form Repor t 22 Academic Depar tments: Ar t 26 Classics 28 Computing 29 Drama 30 Economics 34 English 35 Geography 36 History 40 Mathematics 42 Music 46 Modern Foreign Languages 52 Politics 56 PSHE 57 Religious Education 58 Science 60 Spor t, PE & Games 62 Beyond the Senior School Classroom 68 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 70 Results, Prizes and Awards 74 Leavers’ Destinations 76 Public Examinations Results 78 Staff and Governors 80 Mrs Elliott’s Skyfall 86

Annual Magazine Editors: Mrs Harriett Gething and Mrs Wendy Devine

Founders’ Day 2017 Founded in 1885: I invite you to imagine life in that era.

Queen Victoria was in the 48th year of her 63 year reign, and nobody thought anyone would ever surpass that!

It was the age of Empire... one-quarter of the world’s population were British subjects and it was said that the sun never set on her territory.

The advent of steam power, and then railways had accelerated the industrial revolution and people migrated to cities in their thousands; the first car was designed by a company called Mercedes-Benz; cricket and football clubs were being founded; that great British Unitarian free thinker Charles Darwin was formulating some pretty startling ideas about evolution and the survival of the fittest, and generally, it seems there was a real sense of optimism.

There was also a growing acceptance that girls were worth educating! The late nineteenth century saw the founding of some of Britain’s finest girls’ schools, drawing inspiration, I’m sure, from that remarkable Unitarian feminist, Mary Wollstoncroft.

Madam Deputy Mayors, Mrs Leslie, Governors, Distinguished guests, Colleagues, parents, and pupils Happy Founders’ Day 2017, and Happy anniversary, Channing, today celebrating 132 years.

Founders’ Day gives us all an opportunity to reflect on the history of Channing school and its development over the past 132 years since the Victorian era.

I began to wonder whether, over the years, Headmistresses had faced similar challenges.

Or had Channing changed beyond all recognition? A trip to our archives brought enlightenment. I found an inspection report from 1910.

The school, I discovered, had 31 boarders, 26 day-girls and one day-boy... giving a grand total of 58 pupils, aged 8 to 18. In 2017, there are 66 pupils in Year 12 alone!

The reporting inspector commented: “The girls give an impression of being very vigorous and happy; they hold themselves well and move about quietly, but with purpose.”

No change there, then.

The inspector went on: “I was much struck by the intelligent work that was being done by the older girls in Latin and in History”.

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That sounds familiar, too.

And this, also from the 1910 report: “It was interesting to hear of some of the means that the Headmistress uses to promote a sense of responsibility in the girls for the right working of the school.

That the girls should take some share in framing the rules increases the likelihood of their obeying them, and is an excellent training in citizenship.”

I don’t think there could be a clearer description of what we call the Channing promise, devised by pupils some 100 years later to provide a moral framework for our community. I will return to that promise later.

What else might I find in the archives that would resonate in 2017?

One hundred years ago, the school magazine contained many reflections on the death, in April 1916, of one of its founders: Miss Matilda Sharpe. The following was written by her cousin Miss Julia Sharpe: “I wish I could give you a clearer picture of the vigorous, public spirited life of my cousin. Her household affairs were characterised by the greatest simplicity, The more ordinary luxuries were absent, but art treasures and books adorned the house. She devoted her time and strength to helping and teaching others, with untiring zeal. We could not help but admire, and if we did not always want to imitate, we had to judge our own lives by her high standards and could never be ignorant of the possibility of giving up selfish indulgences or ambitions in the pursuit of an ideal.”

Some 10 years later, in 1927, it was noted: “An important landmark in the life of the School was reached on Saturday, July 9, with the opening of the New Hall. It is a building of beautiful proportions, capable of holding three hundred and fifty people...”

Does that sound familiar? From the same report: “After the singing of the school song, Mrs Sydney Martineau addressed the meeting.

She reminded the school of its past and of Miss Matilda Sharpe, who founded the school in 1885 for the purpose of giving girls an opportunity of a broad education with a classical bias.

In passing to the second part of her address, entitled ‘Dreams Come True’, Mrs Martineau referred to the recent improvements in the School, and explained that much of this was due to the service of the Governors and asked for the cooperation of all present in raising the rest of the money for the Hall Fund”

When former Channing pupils and teachers visit the school, the most frequently heard reaction is one of amazement at the developments, alongside the very strong sense of the persistence of something intangible. It looks different, but it still feels the same, they cry!

(I am not making this up, I promise).

And it is that essence that makes this school unique. From the commitment and loyalty of its founders, through many generations of girls and their families, what persists is the ethos, a set of values that hold true as strongly today as they did in 1885.

It goes on: “Miss Haigh, the Headmistress, then made her report. She spoke of the high standard reached by the School in public examinations and mentioned the large number of distinctions gained in a variety of subjects over the last few years. Speaking of the Hall, she reminded the School that in its inception, it was dedicated to truth, beauty, liberty and service.”

Moving Forward to 1937, and here is an extract from a report on Founders’ Day “This was celebrated on Saturday July 10th.

After service and tea, which as the weather was unsettled, was held in Fairseat, a performance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Helen Jerome and produced by Miss Chandler was given in the Hall. This had an enthusiastic reception: much of the characterisation was of a very high standard.”

I wonder if that will inspire Ms Hurst and Miss Evernden for our first school production in the Performing Arts Building next term?

And one final snippet, although I could have spent a very long time looking through the archives, from Founders’ Day, 1947: “With bright sunshine, appreciative guests and parents whose generosity had made possible refreshments worthy of the occasion, it is small wonder that a spirit of gaiety animated the proceedings on Founders’ Day.” I hope you are all filled with the spirit of gaiety on this Founders’ Day some 70 years later!

Talking of the archives, may I take this opportunity to thank alumna Mary Embleton and parent Sara Harper for their work in maintaining our school archive. You give so generously of your time, and your stewardship of the school’s history is much appreciated.

One recent very generous Unitarian benefactor from the north west of England decided to donate £100,000 to the Capital Challenge because of those values: he said that he could see from the new website that the ethos of Channing School shone through on every page, and as such, we were worth supporting!

We are reminded frequently of the pressures and challenges of life in 2017, with one in four people at any one time reporting that they are unhappy and suffering from some form of mental distress. One in four! ...is that you?

It might be me! What causes this? Is it the technological revolution and a world where we have instant access to everything? Is it information overload? Is it the unpredictability of the future? Climate change? Terrorism?

Exam reform? Economic uncertainty? Trump?

May? Corbyn?

Who to trust?

How do we, as a school, prepare for a future that we can’t imagine?

How should we educate our girls?

Here is one solution: Give pupils a set of values that will stand the test of time and help them create a framework for the lives they want to lead.

Here is the framework for success, written

by Channing pupils. If you are the one in four currently feeling stressed and anxious, listen up: The Channing Promise, a student made promise for everyone:

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We promise to...

• treat everyone with respect and kindness • think of others and be aware of their feelings • create a positive and supportive environment where we have the freedom to act, think and be heard • make the most of the opportunities we are given • treat all people fairly.

Add to that our school motto – CONABOR – I will try, and there, quite simply and succinctly, is the essence of Channing.

And here are a few of my own handy tips to go with them: Girls: you need to be bold. Bolder and braver than you are.

Parents: don’t insist on them being neat and tidy. Don’t reward them for being quiet and compliant, for arranging stuff. Be bold! Be bold intellectually!

One thing I’ve learned – being liked doesn’t matter. Being liked isn’t going to change the world: be empathetic, be kind, but don’t be anxious about being liked. Focus instead on your purpose, and work towards it.

‘Girls enjoying success’ is our strapline, and girls who enjoy MOST success are those who live and breathe the Channing ethos.

Like all headmistresses before me, today I congratulate all our pupils on another year of outstanding success in the public examinations.

One remarkable statistic from last summer was this: if we consider the A level results of just those girls who spent 14 years at Channing, that is from Reception to Year 13, then their results would have placed Channing at the very top of all the league tables.

Yes, take our 14-year programme, imbue the girls with the Channing ethos, the Channing promise, and what you have is a formula for success.

We are immensely proud of the success enjoyed by Channing pupils in every area of school life, from the academic to the practical, from the intellectual to the physical. We enjoy spectacular success in Music, Art and Drama.

Our Sporting prowess grows by the week, especially in netball, athletics, cricket and, most recently, tennis and judo, from the Junior School to the top of the Senior School.

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Each week in my newsletter, Word from the Head, I give a name check and congratulations to just a selection of the girls who excel in a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular activities.

These are very exciting times at Channing.

Over at the Junior School, several new bold ventures have been embraced with great enthusiasm: Inspire Maths, Outdoor Education and the Forest School programme, and Adelante, our whole-school Spanish initiative: what a joy it was to see Reception girls (aged 4 and 5) doing an assembly recently, completely in Spanish! And our first cohort of Senior Schools girls will be going out to Cádiz for their Year 8 immersion course in the Autumn. With three new Assistant Heads for September, we will see a major focus on Teaching and Learning, and further development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Modern Languages.

Not quite so well visible are the girls and staff who, week in and week out, devote some of their time to helping others, and I would like to pay tribute to them today. If you have volunteered in any way, taken part in community service, either as part of the Duke of Edinburgh programme or your own schedule of visits, or raised funds for those less fortunate than yourselves, your acts of kindness and generosity do not go unnoticed, and I am always touched to hear reports of your altruism.

There are other people today to acknowledge and thank.

First, a moment’s sadness and appreciation, for two women who passed away last year.

Mary Burns, former Chair of Governors and Margaret Banks, former Chair of the Education Committee: their legacy is all around you, and their contribution to Channing was huge.

Appreciation to, for our Governors, rather unsung heroes, I fear, but these are the people who act as our guides and mentors, guardians of the Channing ethos, who ultimately, take responsibility for the strategic direction and future of the school. Thank you all, and especially to Mrs Leslie, Chair of Governors, who attends almost as many meetings at school as I do! The word “attend” is a gross misrepresentation. We are blessed with a highly committed, meticulous, outstanding Chair of Governors, and it is during her tenure that the school has made the most remarkable progress. A special thank you today to Jane de Swiet, former Headmistress of Henrietta Barnett and Channing Governor

for seven years, formerly Chair of the Education Committee, who has guided us so wisely, and especially in safeguarding matters.

Today is her last Founders’ Day as a governor.

Some five or so years ago, the governors, together with the leadership team, made a bold decision: to upgrade the school’s facilities, with the most ambitious building programme in the school’s history. To cut a long story very short, the banks were impressed with our vision for the future, they lent us £10 million and it was game on!

The shortfall was to be met through fundraising, and I want to thank all of our benefactors today. To date, more than £2 million has been raised and you and your daughters are the fortunate beneficiaries of that vision, and that generosity.

The Capital Challenge is drawing to a close.

We have opened the doors of the magnificent Performing Arts Building for you to see today, and I hope you are impressed with the sheer scale and quality of every aspect of, what I know will become, an iconic landmark on Highgate Hill. I say the fundraising is drawing to a close. One final event takes place tomorrow.

I would like to thank the Development Board, many of whom are here today, for the ingenious idea of inviting the Headmistress to take on a personal challenge.

Learn the violin, I thought….or perhaps sing a song…but no: tomorrow at about 10:30 will see quite literally, the final push, as I’m sure I will have to be pushed out of the plane as I skydive somewhere above Oxfordshire from 12000 feet. We are not quite at our target yet, so if you would like to see real fear, there is still time to sponsor me. Thank you Development Board.

If I don’t make it back, can I just say it’s been a blast being Headmistress of Channing, and can I put it on record that I do NOT want the Performing Arts Building to be called the Elliott Memorial Hall.

What did I say earlier? Be Bold. Be bold.

Someone once said: “Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it.”

(What tosh).

I also want to thank my colleagues today, all our teachers and non-teaching professionals.

As you may be aware, I am a school inspector and try to undertake at least one Educational Quality inspection a year. I have had the opportunity to observe and evaluate

lessons in some of the UK’s most prestigious independent schools, and can inform you that the teaching at Channing is by far the best I have seen. So thank you, colleagues, for your hard work and inspirational teaching, making learning at Channing exceptionally good.

There are some colleagues and pupils for whom this is the end of their time at Channing.

We say farewell to the following pupils, and wish them well in their new schools: Emily, Lulu, Blanche, Alexia, Charlotte, Yulia, Anna and Lara.

And to colleagues who have left during this academic year: Teaching Assistant Amanda Beasley, modern languages teachers Virginia Gill and Shona Gorrie from the Junior School and Senior School staff Samantha Harding, in Science, Tempe Nell, History of Art and Valeria Quinton, our Foreign Language Assistant.

We also were sad to say goodbye to our first Channing Counsellor, Wendy Jones, who moved north to care for her parents.

At Christmas we also said goodbye to Hannah Marchant, formerly Miss O’Sullivan, and we wish her good luck as she expects her baby… looks like any day now!

We also recently said farewell to long-serving caretaker, Steve Dorey, or Mr Steve as he is known over at Fairseat. Genna Greco also left the Development Office for a new life in the west country.

We thank and say goodbye and good luck to Aisling O’Herlihy, who has been teaching Spanish as part of the Adelante programme at the Junior School, and at the Senior School, to Catherine Wolton, who has been such a great asset to the French Department.

Adios and bonne chance and Auf widersehen to Miss Maria Wilkes, who has taught French, Spanish AND German across the school, and to Miss April Yassamee who has been one of our librarians, taught Art History and ‘English as an additional language’ as well as supervising the new Sixth Form Study Area.

Two key members of the Art Department are also leaving: Annie Derbyshire joined the Art Department on a part-time basis in 1999, and has been full time and part time since then, teaching across the school, with a particular expertise in textiles. I have a particular memory of recreating bags by knitting cut strips of plastic carrier bags. I am very grateful that Mrs Derbyshire agreed to stay until the end of the academic year to support the examination groups and her colleagues.

On the wall behind the desk in my office hangs a beautiful painting by a Channing Alumna, who went on to become a Channing teacher. An accomplished artist in her own right, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have Lucy Feilden as a colleague. She came to teach Art at Channing in 2001. Not only an excellent teacher, Lucy has been an outstanding tutor in the Middle School. She has been so tolerant of interruptions to her lessons from the Headmistress, but it will surprise no one who knows Lucy that her classroom is the perfect place to start any tour with a prospective parent or visitor: I know that the teaching will be as impressive as the views from her room at the top of the school. Lucy – you go with our very best wishes and hope you will keep in touch.

Farewell also to Helen Self, from the English department who is off to Oxford, after TWO spells as a teacher at Channing. I remember her interview very vividly: it was my first ever Skyped interview, to a young Helen Stacey, who was working in Tanzania at the time.

The picture flickered on and off and then disappeared completely, leaving a very crackly phone line, but I could hear in her voice that this was someone who had exactly the values we treasure at Channing, and that she would be a wonderful addition to the school – and I was right! Our loss is Oxford’s gain.

And finally, Mrs Harper, who is retiring from her post as Head of Middle School. ‘Mother Harper’ to generations of Year 7 girls, teacher of Drama, English and more recently, Classics.

Mrs Harper accepted the post of part time teacher at Channing Junior School in 1990.

numerous to mention…who hasn’t been cheered by a Percy Pig? Or will ever forget being Harpooned? And what of all those many memorable panto performances?

Her passion is the school and its pupils, and with that at the heart of everything she has done, there has rarely been a more devoted member of staff.

When asked by an inspector about pastoral care at Channing, a pupil responded “But Channing IS pastoral care” ...I would say that “Rowena Harper IS pastoral care”.

Thank you. Rowena, and we all wish you a long, happy and healthy retirement.

Good luck and best wishes to Fairseat teachers Lucy Panton and Leon Ip who are getting married this summer (but not to each other), and to former Channing girl and now Geography teacher, Miss Sophie Salmon…and good luck to Miss Kate Wilkinson who is going on maternity leave.

I think that’s it.

22 hours til the skydive.

In the words of that great orator Arnold Schwartzenegger, I’ll be back, but as my youngest son encouragingly said... maybe in two dimensions rather than three.

Happy Founders’ Day, everyone.

Mrs Barbara Elliott

In 1995, the then headmistress, Mrs Raphael, wrote of her: “Mrs Harper has done wonders with Drama, both in the Junior School, where she introduced LAMDA poetry examinations last year with huge success, as well as putting on a variety of ambitious productions, and in the senior school, where she took over our annual Year 7 musical with My Fair Lady. This year she is doing The Vaccees with them, a complete contrast.”

Mrs Harper became full-time teacher of English in 1998, the same year that she took on her first Year 7 group as a tutor.

In 2002, she was appointed Head of Middle School, a role she has fulfilled with great distinction, settling and supporting our pupils joining the Senior School for the past 15 years.

Her contributions to the school are far too

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We were delighted to welcome seven new members of staff, five teachers and two teaching assistants this year. Mr Leon Ip was appointed as the new Director of Studies for the Junior School and Year 4 form teacher. Alison Frost joined as Year 4 form teacher and ICT co-ordinator and Gina Gerstein was appointed as the Mathematics Co-ordinator and Reception teacher. Kirsty Collins also joined the Reception team and Virginia Gill filled the MFL position. The two new teaching assistants were Ratiba Maloumi and Victoria Hourly.

We also welcomed another cohort of 48 bright and bubbly reception girls and nine girls in Year 3, following very successful 4+ and 7+ assessments. All our new girls settled well and quickly adjusted to the new Channing routines. I have been impressed with their confidence in the various performances they have undertaken this year.

It is not only the girls who learn at Channing and this year our staff INSET focus has been on the use of the outdoor classrooms.

Following some inspirational talks and team building activities, the teachers could not wait to start using the outdoor areas across the curriculum and there was great demand for the three outdoor classrooms!

Following the success of our Parent Workshop programmes, this year we offered parents a Thinking Skills Workshop, led by Jane Simister which aimed to provide information on mindsets, grit and resilience. It was a great success and very well received. In the Summer Term we also hosted a very well-attended Mathematics workshop for KS1 Parents, demonstrating the methods we are using in our new Maths Inspire Curriculum.

The girls have once again enjoyed a number of school outings, workshops and visiting speakers this year, which has enriched and enhanced their learning over a whole range of curriculum areas. The ‘Living Eggs’ project was a highlight as girls were able to watch the miracle of ten chicks hatching in front of their eyes. The girls were then able to handle the day old chicks. Channing girls have been fortunate enough to take advantage of many

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of the cultural and historic opportunities that are so accessible to the school. The girls have visited the Wallace Collection, the British Museum and the Neasden Temple, to name but a few. The girls have also taken part in workshops on The Seaside, WWII, Castles and the Egyptians and have enjoyed talks from a number of visiting speakers, including Sir Christopher Waterlow, Sir Sydney Waterlow’s grandson, Professor Robert Winston and several authors. Year 6 have had another exciting year, with another successful Young Entrepreneur Programme in the Summer term. The Year 2 girls also hosted their Grandparents, who spent the afternoon in Fairseat. The girls valued the input their visitors were able to contribute to their learning and their grandparents were thrilled to be invited and included.

We have continued to build on our programme of interhouse competitions. The Year 6 House Captains enjoyed even more responsibility as they helped lead the events and the girls relished the opportunity to take part in a greater number of competitive games. The girls competed in interhouse netball, swimming, football, cricket and rounders matches as well as a KS1 interhouse games competition. Additionally this year we introduced an interhouse poetry competition, interhouse Christmas Quiz, interhouse Talent show as well as our house buddy reading and house buddy time, where girls are paired with other girls in different year groups to complete a range of tasks.

January was a busy month with two rounds of 4+ assessments and two rounds of 7+ assessments. We now look forward to starting in September with another very bright cohort of 48 Reception girls. The 7+ also ran smoothly despite having a large number of lengthy tests to mark in a short time frame.

We are delighted that we have been able to fill the 10 places with strong candidates and we are looking forward to some very bright girls joining Year 3 in September.

Junior School girls continue to offer strong support for our chosen charities; Rotary Shoe Box Scheme, Readathon and Nordoff Robbins.

This year the Junior School raised £10,352.86 for our three charities. I have been delighted that the girls are not only fundraising for charity but also getting involved. Four Year 6

girls attended the Nordoff Robbins Open Day and, as the only pupils attending, were a credit to Channing. In the Summer Term we worked with Jill Fraser who helped us to establish our community links. Jill talked to the staff and the girls about interacting with the sick or elderly.

Following the training, girls visited patients in Highgate Care Home, the Whittington and Cheverton Lodge in Highgate. Charity work has not just been restricted to the girls. The Channing Association parents have also held a Macmillan Coffee Morning in the hall, they continue to support four children through Action Aid and take food collected from our Harvest festival to CARIS, a local charity.

Academically, the school is thriving and the results obtained from the PIPS tests and Summer Term Tests indicate that the girls continue to make excellent progress. At 11+, four girls were awarded academic scholarships to the Senior School. 20 of the 24 girls from the Junior School will transfer to the Senior School with two girls leaving for North London Collegiate, one to Henrietta Barnet and one to Camden.

Musically, the Junior School continues to flourish with more girls than ever opting to take up instrumental lessons. We currently offer more than 134 individual lessons with more girls taking on challenging instruments.

We currently have three girls playing the harp, five playing the cornet, three trombonists, five double bass players, four oboe players and seven viola players. Many girls are reaching the higher grades with at least five girls who have reached Grade 5 or 6 in their instruments.

Two Year 6 girls were offered music awards.

The appointment of part time music teacher Anna Williams has enhanced our teaching of music in Key Stage 1 and her energy and enthusiasm ensures that the girls receive a fantastic grounding in music from a young age.

Our focus on Drama continues. The Key Stage 2 production was another huge success. The show stopping, ‘Aladdin’ was performed with great flair on both evenings and one could have believed one was in the West End! Year 3 also performed a great interpretation of ‘James and the Giant Peach’. We are hugely looking forward to our next performances being held in the new Performing Arts Building.

PE has also gone from strength to strength

and this year we have extended the sports offer still further. In addition to the netball and cross-country clubs that we had last year, we now also offer cricket and basketball clubs.

The netball development squads that were only offered to a handful of Year 6 girls last year, have been widened to include all girls in Year 5 and Year 6. Feedback from the sports council members, (another new initiative) has prompted us to organise for the girls to have access to netballs at lunch and break times. In addition to the many netball matches this year we also have three interschool cross-country events as well as our first ever cricket fixtures.

We also continue to offer rounders matches in the Summer Term.

We are very excited about the opportunities for all the girls to develop their talents and interests in a variety of sports and we continue to benefit from the access to the Temporary Sports Hall, the New Sports Hall and other facilities at the Senior School.

Another of the huge successes of this year has been the launch of the ‘Adelante’ programme.

Staff who were fluent and confident Spanish speakers offered a range of workshops and tutorials for all levels of learners and there was an enthusiastic take-up from the less

confident staff. Despite our newly appointed MFL teacher taking maternity leave after only a term at Fairseat, Spanish is truly a feature of the Fairseat offer! Teachers greet the girls in Spanish, the school community sing “¡Feliz cumpleaños!’ when celebrating a birthday and it would not be unusual to hear snippets of conversation or counting in maths in Spanish!

The Junior School Channing Association continue to be very active in supporting the school’s social and community aims, organising events such as the Christmas Bazaar, Channing Fireworks, Christmas parties and the Summer Fair (this year held on Friday after school), which are just a few of the many! We have been delighted that they have also chosen to support the School’s Capital Challenge and are now helping to promote the fundraising for our building project.

Our open days continue to be very successful, with more families than ever signing up to attend. I am now having to consider holding our Open Morning events in the Temporary Sports Hall to accommodate the growing numbers. We already have a large number of girls registered for September 2018!

At the end of this year we will be saying

goodbye to Aisling O Herlihy who covered the MFL maternity position. Next year we look forward to welcoming Florine Bury who will teach French and Spanish and Mr Rob Fellows, who will teach in Year 5.

My sincerest thanks once again go to my Deputy Head, Clare Constant ,and Director of Studies, Leon Ip and all the Fairseat staff who have been a supportive and dynamic team in moving the Junior School forward. As you can see, Channing Junior School continues to thrive and we are excited about the initiatives we are embarking on in the new academic year. Next year we will launch our ‘Outdoor’ Curriculum offer where the Key Stage 1 girls complete a Forest School programme, the Year 3 and Year 4 girls have an intensive swimming course and the Year 5 and Year 6 girls take part in watersports like sailing and kayaking. We are also keen to introduce our new Connie Badge, a system that promotes learning and experiences outside the curriculum, promoting and developing the girls’ individual talents and interests and of course, our Flame of Success continues to guide our focus on the skills we teach and celebrate.

Mrs Louise Lawrance

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The Junior School Classroom and beyond Reception Reception girls have had a busy year at the Junior School. In the first term they learnt all about colour during their ‘Over the Rainbow’ topic. The girls enjoyed getting to know each other and their way around the school. They were particularly excited to explore the outdoor classrooms. Following this, in our ‘Let’s Celebrate’ topic, they learnt about different religions and how they celebrate their festivals. We were lucky to have so many parents to share their personal experiences of festivals such as Divali. To get the girls ready for Christmas, they took part in a Lego workshop where they designed and built a delightful Santa’s Grotto.

We started Spring Term by launching off into Space! The girls enjoyed a day exploring what life might be like in space and prepared themselves by making rockets, oxygen tanks and helmets. In our ‘Once Upon a Time’ topic, we had a range of mischievous characters visit our classroom, often leaving a mess behind!

In the Summer Term, Reception girls learnt about animals and which continents they come from. They enjoyed a trip to Paradise Wildlife Park, where they were lucky to see many of the animals that they had learnt about. As part of our ‘Growing’ topic, the girls planted beans and cress.

They wondered how long it might take until they could climb their own beanstalks!

Year 1 What a busy year we have had in Year 1! In the Autumn Term, the girls had great fun learning all about The Great Fire of London and Florence Nightingale; we even had a visit to The Florence Nightingale Museum where we had the opportunity to explore and handle some objects in the museum, as well as trying on replica uniforms for a Crimean nurse and soldier. We made houses which we then set fire to in the playground, showing us just how quickly the fire spread back in 1666!

In the Spring term, our topic was ‘Toys and Games’. We learnt lots about toys from the past and interviewed family members about their favourite toys when they were young. During the term, we visited the Museum of Childhood, where we had an interactive session with moving toys, which linked to our Science topic, ‘Forces’. We had fun exploring the different toys and investigating whether they required a push or pull force in order to work.

We began the Summer term by transforming our classrooms into Victorian seaside scenes. We were thrilled to experience the seaside as the Victorians did. Some of our favourite parts of the day were making a shell box souvenir, designing a mug, the Punch and Judy shows and making the big decision about whether we would travel first, second or third class on the train. We finished the Summer term by becoming palaeontologists! We used special equipment (a toothpick) to carefully remove fossils (chocolate chips) from a stone (a cookie). It was careful work! During the fossil dig we also used paintbrushes to carefully brush away sand in a sand tray, uncovering the remains of a dinosaur. We then had to look carefully at a key to identify what dinosaurs we had found. We learnt many more facts about dinosaurs during a trip to Knebworth House and even went in a dinosaur maze.

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Year 2 It has been a very productive year for Year 2. In the first term we were studying Castles as our topic. The girls had lots of fun making Motte and Bailey castles in the mud kitchen. We also enjoyed a fantastic Castles Day with Off The Pages on a preparing for Christmas theme. The classrooms looked wonderful hung with fresh greenery and herbs. The girls had an excellent experience learning archery, making cresset lamps and soap.

To support our topic on Variation in the Spring term, we visited the National Portrait gallery where the girls enjoyed studying and learning about different artists and styles of painting.

We also launched our new topic about The Titanic and the girls found it absolutely fascinating learning about the world’s greatest and unsinkable ocean liner! Their investigative enquiry skills were definitely challenged and they enjoyed researching and debating what happened and why.

The summer term has been a time of outdoor learning. Our topic of living things and their habitats has meant we have been outdoors exploring and identifying the variety of living things to be found within the school grounds.

We then got to explore meadows, ponds and forests during our visit to Cuffley Camp. All in all, we have done a lot of learning and had a lot of fun.

Outdoor Learning The Fairseat outdoor learning area had a revamp over the last summer holidays and we returned to a new mud kitchen and two outdoor classroom areas. Over the year every class has enjoyed using the new area in lessons across the curriculum, from learning tool safety and how to spot hazards in PSHE to laying dinosaur evidence in Topic. There have even been outdoor Maths lessons!

This was the second year of Outdoor Adventure Club and girls from KS1 and KS2 have taken part in a variety of activities, including learning to tie knots, pond dipping, using saws and loppers to make beads and bug hotels, learning to light a fire to make hot chocolate and painting with natural paintbrushes and paint.

It was great to see every class making the most of our outdoor space on Outdoor Classroom Day in May. The mud kitchen was particularly popular that day and girls returned to their classrooms rather muddy, but very happy!

We have all had a fantastic time learning outside this year and are now very much looking forward to the addition of Forest School sessions for Year 1 and Year 2 from September. You’ll find these classes out there once a week, come rain or shine!

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Inspire Maths This year in Mathematics, we have continued with the move towards Inspire Maths. In September, all girls from Reception to Year 5 will be following the scheme, and Year 6 will join the following year.

Inspire Maths focuses on practical experiences, where the girls are working with concrete and pictorial representations before moving on to abstract work. With that in mind, we planned ‘Maths Week’ to learn about hands-on problem solving. Girls took part in a range of activities. Reception girls used their learning about Cinderella to help them tell the time and make their own watches. In Key Stage 1, Maths was taken to the outdoors, making human pictograms and creating angles with sticks. Key Stage 2 girls joined forces with the Year 8 engaging in a range of problems, even completing a mathematics treasure hunt!

Recently, the girls in Key Stage 2 completed a Mathematics challenge. Here we continued to test their problem solving skills, encouraging them to use a bar model to help. In the Primary Mathematics Challenge, we had great results, with one Year 6 pupil even taken part in the Bonus round!

English The Junior School’s literary year started with celebrating Roald Dahl Day in September with a fabulous Roly-Poly Bird made for the library by Year 1, cheeky Mugglewumps created by Year 2 and surreal BFG dream jar stories

by Year 4. In October, we celebrated National Poetry day with a trail of poems throughout the school and grounds, made by girls from all years on the theme of messages.

Our biggest literary celebration is always World Book Day and this year, we had secret storytellers, a book fair and a reading corner competition won by class 4F for their vibrant book corner featuring the popular Tom Gates series of books. Both children and teachers dressed up as their favourite book characters, which included a gang of Oompa Loompas and a big contingent of crayons from ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ amongst many other inventive character costumes.

Story writing has been inspired this year by several authors who have visited, including Ross Welford, author of Time Travelling with a Hamster, Charlotte Sebag Montefiore and her book of animal riddles, Who Am I?, as well as Angela Koeghan and Chris Lam Sam who travelled from New Zealand to read through their picture book, ‘Inspector Brunswick: The Case of the Missing Eyebrow.’ We were also fortunate to have Sav Akyuz return to Fairseat to entertain Reception girls with his fun illustrations for ‘I am Bear’. Most recently, we had a visit from author, Ed Clarke, who talked to Year 3 about building up confidence as a writer and he read from his Rowan Oakwing series of books about a feisty fairy set in London’s parks.

Journalism at the Junior School was given a big boost with a fascinating visit from BBC crime reporter Danny Shaw. Magazine Club and Year 6 have been writing articles since then and have produced several entertaining and informative issues of ‘Junior Skipping Out’ magazine this year.

Drama It’s been an exciting year in the Junior School Drama department. Just before Christmas we were treated to a heartwarming tale of feuding cats and mice, a talking snowman and a very tired Mum in ‘A Christmas Tail’. This was followed by Reception’s sparkling performance of ‘Shine Star Shine’. The girls put a huge amount of effort into spreading some Christmas cheer.

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The end of the Spring term saw our dazzling production of ‘Aladdin’. Years 4, 5 and 6 came together to produce a stunning musical to rival any in the West End. With Year 6 taking the leading roles, and doing a fantastic job, we also had a whole class of genie apprentices, a pack of disgruntled parrots and a mob of extremely angry townspeople desperate to get their hands on Aladdin.

I was so impressed with the way the girls embraced the opportunity to learn – supporting each other and pushing themselves to do the best performance possible.

At the beginning of the Summer term, it was Year 3’s turn to take to the stage for an unforgettable production of ‘James and the Giant Peach’. With a peach made out of umbrellas and a handful of white helium seagulls, the girls worked extremely hard to bring this magical story to life.

Adelante

Girls from Reception to Year 6 have embraced Spanish language, culture and danced with passion in Adelante’s inception year. Reception girls were treated to two 30-minute lessons per week with Señora Blanca and put on a ‘fantástico’ assembly. Year 1 girls studied a whole topic on Spain and also put on an ‘excelente’ assembly which included a solo rendition of Gypsy Kings’ ‘Hay Un Amigo En Mi’ by future linguist to watch, Emilia Gewirtz (Mimi).

Girls from Year 1 up (except 2G and 6M) enjoyed a lesson on salsa and cha cha cha dancing after girls got a taster during a Latin-themed ‘Wake-Up Shake-Up’ event on Outdoor Learning Day. Year 5 performed a dance in front of their families for Founders’ Day and parents came onto the stage to join in the fun. Watch the footage on Firefly Junior School’s MFL page!

Years 1 and 2 had fun learning playground games such as ‘What Time Is It Mr Wolf ’ and singing along to Rockalingua songs and Key Stage two girls learned about Spanish festivals including La Tomatina, Las Fallas de San José and Las Cruces de Mayo. Girls across the school studied topics ranging from ‘in the town’ to the time, food, animals and classroom objects and instructions. Years 1 to 6 heard ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ in Spanish during World Book Day and learnt some key phrases ‘en español’ from the book. Year 6 girls also created their own mini books using the verb ‘poderse’. Years 4 to 6 learnt ‘Un Mundo Ideal’ by heart for their Aladdin production and the entire Junior School sang ‘Noche de Paz’ for their Christmas concert.

Hopefully, we have made ‘un pasito adelante’ in Spanish this year!

Junior PE & Sport It has been another busy year in the PE department. We played many fixtures in netball and rounders across the year, posting some excellent results, with all the girls showing improvement in each game. Cricket and football have been growing in popularity and we excitingly held our first matches and attended subsequent fixtures both home and away in these sports.

We have also had an excellent group of girls who formed our Sports Council. They have helped to organise Healthy Schools Week, surveyed the girls on their PE lessons, held assemblies and contributed to our PE twitter account (@channing_sport).

Healthy Schools Week was jam packed full of activities. We had a quick dance to the Macarena in Mondays assembly, Judo and Ballet taster sessions, two inflatable obstacle courses, meditation and yoga, healthy lifestyle assembly and a dental hygiene chat.

Sports Day was a hot one this year with all girls in KS1 and KS2 showing off their athletic talents. Goodwin were victorious in KS1, whilst Sharpe took the KS2 and overall titles. All girls displayed excellent sportsmanship throughout the day.

This has been an exceptionally exciting and inspirational year for Art and DT at the Junior School! Pupils of all years have successfully participated in a range of Channing-based and national competitions, covering media including photography, drawing and painting, printmaking, and collage. Pupils have also spent a lot of time learning in the outdoors, whether making bird boxes and feeders for our feathered friends or channeling the great masters in sketching flowers, trees and clouds (not that long ago, Constable sketched clouds a few hundred yards away on the Heath). The girls have consistently demonstrated considerable creativity and originality and we are extremely proud that three of our many talented young artists were National Royal College of Art competition winners, and were able to exhibit their work at the Royal College of Art. Another of the girls was selected as a runner up in the National Access Art Competition.

Art and Design & Technology are known for inspiring and leading pupils into a great and diverse range of careers, including, for example, architecture and advertising, and I have been particularly struck by how many of the pupils at the Junior School, even in Year 1, are clearly showing the mental agility and conscientiousness needed to forge successful careers in these types of professions. Girls in Year 1 went to great efforts to design, construct and decorate Gaudí inspired colourful houses. Girls in Year 4 made very precise chalk pastel studies of Aztec masks and fans, focusing on blending colour and creating collage. Other girls in Year 4 designed and made pop-up animal storybooks and felt purses, learning construction and sewing techniques.

Girls in Year 5 proved to be very adept at designing logos and packaging, and girls in Year 6 made eco-friendly kites, using recycled plastic bags. One of the most memorable afternoons of the year was when Year 6 flew their kites in the school grounds: a wonderful sight to see and it was such a joy to see all the girls looking so happy with the results of their hard work!

If I could summarise Fairseat girls in one word I would say ‘imaginative’.

Whether drawing and painting their own versions of Tudor portraits, or building on the designs of William Morris or Georgia O’Keefe, or producing abstract designs based on the cubist period of Picasso, they have displayed an ease with each subject, happily following creative fights of fancy and letting their mind lead them to artistic orginality. I have been extremely impressed. The photography competitions have also been very interesting – and teachers have all commented on the thoughtful, sometimes enchanting and often very beautiful photos put up on display each term. Truly, there are a lot of pupils at the Junior School with an ‘artist’s eye’ of the world and we look forward to further encouraging this artistic side in each girl as they continue through the school.

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Music

Charity

A new year and a new-look department to move into. How exciting! The Junior School Music department continues to bustle and provide the girls with wonderful opportunities for music making.

Throughout the year, the girls at the Junior School have made a huge impact on many people’s lives through the charity work they have done. In the Autumn term, the girls filled shoeboxes with many thoughtful gifts that were then sent to Eastern Europe and given to those in need. Not only did they fill their boxes with lots of presents, but they were also beautifully decorated and sure to bring smiles to many children’s faces.

The girls in Years 4-6 entertained capacity audiences with assured and enjoyable solo performances for their Performance Platforms. Our Thursday morning Music Assemblies delighted, inspired and captivated, all the more remarkable for an early start! Many a cold winter morning can begin with a blast at the Junior School with these fabulous concerts featuring an eclectic mix of instruments from cornet to cello, violins and oboes. We are often not sure who enjoys the performances more, the performers or the audience!

Ask any Channing girl about life at school and she will always mention Christmas. And what a delightful time of year it is here, as we celebrate as a community. The entire Junior school, standing, singing ‘Noche de Paz’ (Silent Night) from memory, in Spanish was a particular highlight. This celebration featured passages from children’s literature, and some exquisite singing. The solos from Darcey Hasting and Bluebell Horner in ‘Star Child’ were quite hauntingly beautiful. The KS1 girls completely captivated and enchanted us with a delightful performance of ‘A Christmas Tail’, a seasonal story about feuding cats and mice and a very harassed mother. Sound familiar?!

The KS2 production of ‘Aladdin’ proved to be a spectacular and dazzling display of dancing, acting, and singing in shimmering, sparkling costumes, all against a stunning backdrop of Agrabah. Year 6 girls commanded the stage, with Aladdin and Jasmine(s), Jafar and the Genie, and a hilarious Iago leading a cast of princesses and guards, and supporting parrots and apprentice genies.

The very youngest String Players of Years 1 and 2 enthralled and impressed their parents and classmates with their finely honed skills of singing and playing. This led onto the delightful, and equally impressive KS2 Summer Concert at St Michael’s, featuring every girl singing a toe tapping medley from ‘The Sound of Music’ in addition to a nine-strong Brass Ensemble, Saxophone Ensemble, Wind Band, Spears Strings, Fairseat Orchestra and the exquisitely sounding Spears Vocal Ensemble. After experiencing a heatwave, was their rendition of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ wishful thinking? As we welcomed the news that the Performing Arts Building is ready, perhaps the heartstoppingly sung Eva Cassidy version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ had a ring of truth about it. Dreams have come true. Sublime.

With more than fifty ABRSM entries this year and Natasha Freedman gaining what the visiting examiner said was ‘the highest mark he had ever awarded’ for her saxophone examination, the girls have certainly acquitted themselves with glory. Please do take a moment to look at the full record of these further on in the magazine. I salute my dedicated team of Visiting Music Staff who continue to inspire and enthuse your daughters to achieve so much.

We said a farewell to Ms Jenny Bacon, who has increased her role in the Senior School and welcomed Anna Williams to teach KS1 Music. Mercedes Cartwright, our Double Bass teacher goes on maternity leave and we wish her all the very best.

With over 140 individual lessons, and 10 musical activities taking place weekly to tempt the girls it is no surprise that it remains a joy and delight to work with your daughters.

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In the Spring term, Channing Junior School took part in a sponsored ‘Readathon’. The girls raised a vast amount of money for this charity, who give comfort to poorly children in hospitals by providing new books and storyteller visits. The girls particularly enjoyed taking part in several reading activities, while wearing their pyjamas at school.

In the Summer term, the girls embraced the ‘power of music’ with their support for the charity, Nordoff Robbins. They had fun making homemade instruments, taking part in music quizzes and singing their favourite songs at school. The Junior School welcomed a musical therapist who talked about the importance of musical therapy and led an interactive session with the girls. He was incredibly impressed with the talent of the girls. The ‘charity champions’ had a wonderful opportunity when they visited the newly refurbished centre in Kentish Town. The girls interviewed musical therapists, the CEO of the charity and took part in two therapy sessions. We rounded off the year with a talent show to showcase all the musical talents of the girls.

Science & Eco Sayers Croft Council This has been a very busy year for Science at the Junior School. The highlight of the year was the arrival of ‘Living Eggs’. The incubator and chicks lived in Mr Rich’s classroom to support his topic of Life Cycles. Every new chick was met with excitement and promptly named. Hoardes of girls stared in through the classroom windows during lunch and morning breaks. It really did create the feeling of awe and wonder that we were looking for. Everyone was very sad to see the chicks go back home. In addition we were very lucky to have Lord Robert Winston come in to deliver workshops to all classes and it was wonderful to see how he held each age group absolutely rivetted and totally engaged. I have to say the staff really enjoyed it too!

In early June, Year 5 travelled to Surrey to take on the wonders of Sayers Croft for three days of excellent activities. This was the first residential trip for the girls and they took part in all opportunities brilliantly. Particular highlights included a high ropes course, caving, a challenge course, pond dipping, an outdoor swimming pool, the tuck shop, a camp-fire, splashing about in a river and shelter building. Special thanks to Mr Ip and Miss Litiu for joining Year 5 and showing off their marshmallow toasting skills!

Eco Council have also been busy this year. Under the leadership of the Year 6 team we have helped Mr Tony in the school grounds with growing and planting snowdrops, sunflowers and other plants to increase the diversity growing in the garden. We have helped him prepare the pond and hedgehog hibernation dens for the coming of the cold winter weather. The girls have led school assemblies to launch ‘Walk to School’ and have been diligent in counting up how many walks each class did! They have also worked with children in KS1 in a variety of outdoor creative activities during the summer term giving them the experience of leading and teaching others. The girls in Eco council have done a good job this year and learnt a great deal.

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Middle School It has been an unsettling year in the UK, sadly, with much tragedy but, at Channing, Middle School pupils have faced life and all its uncertainties with resilience and positivity. We have tackled some of the vital issues relating to Fundamental British Values, discussing in true Unitarian style, respect for the individual, tolerance, freedom and the rule of law in our Assemblies, PSHE and form times.

Pupils have designed display posters on tolerance as a result of their discussions. Our ‘Thought for the Week’ has helped focus the mind on qualities and attitudes we value at Channing, as well as providing a quiet moment at the start of the day for reflection. We have also continued to nurture an awareness of national and global events through our weekly ‘Question of the Week’.

With our emphasis at Channing on the importance of wellbeing and our desire to help our pupils reduce their stress levels, we have introduced mindful breathing this year, which we have practised in Assemblies, form times and even at the start of lessons. The response from pupils has been wonderfully positive and so we moved to a weekly Meditation Club, run by Mrs Gunaskera, one of our Science technicians. This has proved increasingly popular, particularly for Year 10 and 11 pupils facing public examinations. We are all too aware of the dramatic effect that this simple practice of freeing the mind can have: how calming it is and how it helps pupils focus more effectively on their work and build self-esteem.

Our Year 7s have had a very successful first year at Channing and it is hard to believe that they are about to become ‘Big Sisters’ to the new cohort.

They have brought enthusiasm, energy, fun and academic curiosity to their lessons and have proved to be a delight to teach. They enjoyed a marvellous day at Stubbers Activity Centre in September, making friends across the Year group and engaging in climbing, sailing and team development games; they lived up to our Conabor motto immediately, taking up the challenges on offer and their smiles said it all.

Not only are Year 7 bright but they are also good hearted. Their Charity Week at the end of April raised nearly £600 for the chosen School Charity, The Simon Community. They had a ‘pastel party’ themed week adorning themselves with pastel nails and pastel hair accessories for a day, as well as showing a film, holding a skipping event, a superb cake sale and an unforgettable ‘Channing’s Got Talent’ Show. This last event began with a surprise act from Mr Jacobs, Mr Holmes and our very own

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Mr Simon, our Carlito, and was followed by an array of talent from the rest of the school, such as singing from a Year 7 girl group, and Evie and Tilly in Year 10. There was a special performance from our Charity Officers, Ella and Rachel, who gave their own amusing take on the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ Rap. Last but not least, Ms McFadden gave a fighting performance showcasing her Karate moves, proving that she would make a fierce opponent. Much fun was had by all.

much respect towards the people and places they have visited.

In June, Year 7 have enjoyed enriching activities in the middle of the summer heatwave. They experienced fascinating Mime, Mask and Physical Theatre workshops run by State of Play Theatre and they shared their work and skills learned at the end of the day. These skills will certainly prove useful as they embark on their Drama lessons in our magnificent new theatre building! They also enjoyed a fun day out at London Zoo and finally, in line with our Adelante programme, they had a Spanish-themed day working with Canela Fina.

They engaged in a Picasso workshop, learning about Picasso, his life, work and techniques, whilst learning new Spanish vocabulary, and painting a self-portrait in the style of Cubism. Pupils followed this with a marvellous Music and Flamenco workshop using percussion and cajon instruments.

This year’s Summer Solstice was reported to be the hottest day in 40 years. It was also the first day of the Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Practice Expedition in the New Forest. Laden with heavy rucksacks, extra bottles of water and a strong, determined attitude, Year 9 set off and successfully completed their expedition.

Year 9 pupils have been on a number of trips this academic year mainly in the Spring Term.

The Geography Department organised a trip to Cadbury’s World. As part of Mathematics Week, they went to Bletchley Park. Over the May Bank Holiday, the History Department took them on the informative Battlefields Trip. Their teachers commented that Year 9 pupils were great company and a lot of fun.

Year 7 have bright futures. There are many budding actors, musical and sporting talents; we have Clio Harwood, our wonderful violinist, who has won a place at the Junior Royal Academy, competitive ‘karate kid’, Maddy Rymer and a competitive synchronised swimmer in Irene Salvati; we celebrated the success of keen tennis players Lorna Goldman and Lara Mackay, as well as netball, athletics, gymnastics, cross country and cheerleading stars. There are also budding writers, artists and Mathematicians. Above all, Year 7 have taken the Channing ethos to heart and are kind and caring pupils.

What a fantastic time Year 8 have had! As I write this, they are in Burgundy and we have been receiving daily photographs on their blog, which show them having a wonderful time. Cake baking, kayaking, rope climbing, circus skills and, of course, French lessons. It is marvellous to see them enjoying the sunshine in the countryside, and without a single mobile phone in sight!

Other school trips this year have included gong to the Black Country Museum and The Neasden Mosque and Islamic Centre. As a year group, they have shown a wonderful spirit of adventure, and

Year 8 Charity Week was also a huge success this year. With the combination of a cake sale, smoothie stall, trainer day, video presentation and a lunchtime fair, they managed to raise just over £750 for the Simon Community, which is an organisation which helps to support homeless people in London.

The Year 9 Class of 2017 have impressed us with the support they have shown each other, the School Community and the wider community.

They have certainly looked out for each other and welcomed two new pupils Naishah Karim and Stefania Grossu warmly into the year group.

For the school charity, Year 9 form captains were instrumental in getting their forms together to raise a substantial £865 during Charity Week.

The theme this year was ‘Getting ready for the Summer Holidays’. They held lunchtime Zumba classes, sold ice creams and held a summer fair.

Mrs Rowena Harper, Head of Middle School

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Upper School I often write in my subject reports that Year 11 disappears quickly so pupils need to get the most out every lesson from the outset. Well, never do I write truer words! This year has positively flown by and has been jam-packed; not just with lessons and examinations but with trips, concerts, drama performances, exhibitions, assemblies and so much more. The year got off to a flying start with the Step Up to Year 11 event and Chapprentice for the Year 10s. The winning product, Safety Top Trump cards, was put into production by Ms Tranter and successfully marketed at the Junior School. Congratulations to team ‘Conacards’.

to inform staff training at the beginning of the Autumn Term.

contemporary performance by Annabel Anisfeld with Alexandra Moss (Y13).

The aforementioned concern about screen time led us to introduce after school ‘silent prep’ on Mondays and Wednesdays. The price of entry is the pupil’s mobile phone and the environment is electronics free. Pupils in Year 10 have been amazed by how much they can achieve in this environment in just 45 (or 75 if they stay to the end) minutes and hopefully have incorporated the lessons learnt into their routines at home.

Prep will be running again next year and I am hoping that it will prove increasingly popular.

As with Music, the Duke of Edinburgh Award is another highly successful part of Channing life. More than half of the pupils in Year 10 are undertaking the Silver Award and they successfully completed their assessed expedition after Founders’ Day. Despite the hot weather and end of term fatigue, they returned full of good cheer and determination to go on to the Gold Award.

One of our targets this year was to foster greater oracy in the Upper School. Form time activities focused on researching what makes a great speech and how to present well. This work culminated in each form giving an assembly.

Topics included the gender pay gap, open mindedness and the right to protest. We also enjoyed an assembly from the Year 10 pupils who attended the G&T course, ‘Foundations for Thinking Deeply’, as well as an excellent assembly from Georgia and Hannah Fernando on organ donation.

One of my favourite times of year in Channing is Christmas, and especially the Room Decorating competition. Possibly as it is their last hoorah, the Year 11s usually push the boat out and go the extra mile. This year was no exception. Their creativity and humour shone through from the construction site by 11W, to the beautiful undersea world by 11P and the wacky world of Mario Kart by 11DP. However, it was 11C who triumphed with their mock up of a working hospital, including a mock operation on a very patient Dr Coupland!

Mental and physical well-being has also been a key focus this year especially during examinations.

The Year 11s were very privileged to be given chair yoga and mindfulness lessons by Azra Parker’s mother, Dr Greenspan, ahead of their GCSEs. And the Year 10s enjoyed an excellent study skills morning by Martijn van der Spoel from Glia Learning combined showing many techniques for improving memory, organising their revision efficiently and brain tips effective learning. Some of the Upper School have also been regular and enthusiastic attendees at the weekly lunchtime meditation sessions and many enjoyed the talk by alumna Kitty Underhill on body image during Healthy Schools’ Week as well as the Train Body Brain workshop.

Other highlights of the year included the GCSE Art Exhibition. Mr Haworth has called it a vintage year and I would second that. The quality of the work displayed was excellent and seemingly well beyond GCSE. I also very much enjoyed the GCSE Drama Brecht pieces, the girls both wrote and performed the pieces. In particular, Land of the Free, which focused on the US election and the contrasting views of a variety of different Americans, was insightful and entertaining. The actors kindly gave a repeat performance to the Sixth Form, which was similarly well received. There were also some remarkable performances from Year 10 Drama students when they presented extracts from the Caucasian Chalk Circle as part of their GCSE examination in May. They are showing themselves to be a very talented year group.

The ever-increasing plethora of electronic devices, and the time that pupils spend on them, is an on-going issue for us all. Ms Zanardo’s Digital Leaders have gone from strength to strength this year, raising awareness of digital safety, including an excellent assembly on online grooming. They have also worked hard to promote what it means to be a good digital citizen. The Digital Leaders have not just confined their message to the Upper School but presented to the Middle School and the staff as well. The Year 10s also took part in a Digital Awareness/E Safety session with outside speakers, the findings of which will be used

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Music remains a key strength at Channing and the Upper School contribute widely to its success. The Year 11 Concert was excellent with stunning performances from all who took part and a wonderful camaraderie between the girls.

Year 10 have also enjoyed many performing opportunities, from the GCSE music class ‘battles’ to individual performances in House Singing.

We have also been treated to several beautiful solo performances at assemblies this year from Catherine Style, Gabrielle Dowsey, Jaiwai Wang and Martha Sayer as well as an innovative,

Ms Zanardo and I were particularly proud of the Year 10s during Enrichment Week. Their conduct at the Careers Convention was impeccable; they were engaged, suitably attired and asked great questions. Likewise the feedback from their Take Your Daughter to Work Day visits has been overwhelmingly positive; reflecting Year 10s increasingly mature and respectful attitude.

Ms Zanardo and Dr Coupland have been impressed, and at times envious, when reading the TYDTWD blogs.

It is always affirming to see the pupils avail themselves of leadership opportunities whether within forms or as peer mentors or within their houses. I would like to thank all the Form Captains, Eco Reps, Charity Reps and Deputy House Captains for their hard work this year and the monies they helped to raise for the school charities. The Year 11 Form Captains organised a very happy and successful celebration for their peers, including bouncy castle, bungee run and candy floss, ahead of the commencement of the GCSEs. And the Year 10 Form Captains ran successful revision and well-being sessions ahead of the summer examinations The Deputy House Captains (all from Year 10) played a key role at several house events this year including House Singing, the Shakespeare Event as well as Sports’ Day .

My special thanks also go to the Upper School Officers: Tara Gold, Phoebe Hart, Eva Kyriacou and Honor Munden. They were proactive from the outset; visiting forms and getting to know the year groups. In addition, they were innovative; they introduced a half-termly Upper School Forum to give the Year 11 and Year 10 pupils a voice within the school community and they also organised, and ran, a very successful A Level Marketplace for the Year 11s. This gave the Year 11s the opportunity to talk to Sixth Formers studying every subject as well as a chance to learn about the many opportunities on offer in the Sixth Form, such as Young Enterprise, the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the

Extended Project Qualification. Whilst on the subject of the Sixth Form, each Year 11 form enjoyed a breakfast in the Sixth Form Centre where they had a chance to chat about life in the Sixth Form on an informal basis. Many thanks to Ms Newman, Mrs Williams and the Year 12s and 13s for hosting the Year 11s in the Sixth Form Centre; and to the kitchen staff for the abundance of delicious pastries!

The Year 10s held two similar events for those in Year 9 to help them with their GCSE choices and also with the transition to Year 10. The Year 9s were able to talk to pupils taking all the optional subjects and get a flavour of the content and work load from a student’s perspective. Many thanks to those

Year 10s who participated.

I would like to thank all the pupils in the Upper School for being such a joy to work with. It has been a pleasure getting to know them; one of the best parts of my job is chatting with them and it has been a source of happiness how easily and happily they chat to me. They have such energy and humour in all that they do, and I wish them all the very best for the future.

It has also been a pleasure to work with such a dedicated and supportive tutor team. Many thanks to the tutors and co-tutors; they really do care about each and every pupil and guide and support them with understanding and empathy. My particular thanks go to Ms McFadden who took

over the tutorship of 11H when Ms. Hosseini went on maternity leave. My thanks also to Ms Zanardo, the Assistant Head of Upper School and Head of Year 10. Ms Zanardo, to use one of her favourite words, is awesome. She has worked relentlessly hard all year to ensure that Year 10 is run efficiently and smoothly and that every pupil in her year group feels supported, valued and known.

And finally, I am pleased to say that the Years 11 and 10 are now in the capable hands of Ms BhamraBurgess and Ms Zanardo. I wish them every success as Heads of Year 11 and Year 10 respectively and also as Heads of Sharpe and Waterlow.

Ms Tressan MacCarthy, Head of Upper School

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Sixth Form The past year in the Sixth Form seems to have passed in a flurry of activities, social events, study leave, examinations, educational days out, and extended stays away both here and abroad, lessons learned and UCAS applications.

Congratulations to Georgia for being the first in the Year group to make an application and congratulations to Lizzy Orr, in Year 13, who was the first to receive a university offer (Music at Bristol).

The academic year started on such a positive note. Of the Channing 2016 leavers, the Year 13 pupils who had been at Channing since the age of 4, (2002) achieved exceptional A level results in August. The entire year group performed brilliantly, with over 90% A*-B grades and GCSE following with 83.5% A*-A grades. The 16 ‘Fairseat’ pupils achieved 25 A*s (51% of all grades) with 89.8% A*-A grades. No pressure on 2017 Fairseat – Channing leavers!

To welcome the new Year 12 students into the Sixth Form, we all enjoy a beginning-of-term team building exercise and barbeque with Year 13s, and all the tutors hosting. We also welcomed our fifth Year 12 Hungarian Unitarian Scholar, Hanga Kerekes, from the small town of Csikzereda in Transylvania, Romania, and thanks to the generosity of alumna and former Governor, Amanda Davidson and the Akinrinlola family, who kindly hosted her for half a term.

Students have benefitted from a rich extracurricular programme of activities, trips and visits. In the October half term the Geographers went to Iceland and a small number of students attended the annual History and German trip to Berlin.

The Sixth Form consistently provides students with a wealth of opportunities to contribute to the School community. Our current and former House Captains led the first ever whole school inter-house competition, participating in the Shakespeare event. They were magnificent in reciting, encouraging younger pupils to learn their lines, get dressed up and into character, performing excerpts from Henry V, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award programme goes from strength to strength. Congratulations to Eloise Gibbins, who set a new Channing record in completing her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award in the minimum amount of time. Another adventurer to be warmly congratulated is Holly Morton, who also completed her Award within the first term of Year 13. Both were accompanied

by Ms Sharma Yun and their mums, on a wonderfully sunny day to Buckingham Palace, where they received their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards. What wonderful role models to the Year 12 participants. Over the course of many years, lessons have been learned and tips will be shared in preparation for their Assessed trip in July 2017.

Sixth Form Drama also continues to flourish.

In early December, a large number of Sixth Formers took leading roles in the production of ‘Twelfth Night’. Many congratulations and take a bow: Úna Yates, Emmanuelle Martin, Emily Oulton, Madison Hookway, Natasha Burns, Isabella James, Cara Johnson, Saskia Steinberg, India Denne, Jemima Wickham, Orla Webster and Georgia Clarke. Applause too for Director, Ms Hurst, and her crew of Emily Hill, Fay Franklyn, Molly Tackaberry, Hannah Teeger and Tara Gold and to Amy Morris, who choreographed the dance.

At the Leavers’ assembly, students reflect back on their favourite memories and quite often Channing Christmas is top of the list. And this year the Sixth Formers went to town celebrating and decorating for Christmas within the new Sixth Form Centre. Thank you, Amy Morris and Charlotte Rees, for making Channing Christmas even more special!

The Channing ethos is as strong as ever, and part of that ethos is to raise money for others, be that through cutting off and donating hair, running 10K or walking 5 miles. Sixth Formers supported the School charity, The Simon Community, holding the Sixth Form Charity Week in December. Highlights included Christmas Jumper Day and inter-form Christmas fair and the total sum raised exceeded £1000. Other charities are also supported, often in response to a world crisis (for example Amy Morris and Stella Mackinnon raised funds for Syrian children).

Returning to school in January, the latest UCAS offers started coming through from the very best universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

Congratulations to this year’s successful candidates who have won places to read Music (one at Cambridge, and one at Oxford), and three Historians (two at Oxford and one at Cambridge). Well done, Leora Cohen, Alex Moss, Úna Yates, Emily Richardson and Imogen Phillips.

Leora is, quite simply, one of the most talented musicians we have ever had at Channing and not only was she offered a place at the Royal College of Music, but a scholarship! The vast majority of Channing students apply to the best

universities in the UK, but a growing number are also applying to universities abroad. We were delighted to learn that Sima Shakib has an offer from UCLA. And how about this for success?

Many congratulations to Lisa Buckland, who has just been awarded a full, four-year scholarship by the University of Tokyo! That is an incredible achievement, an amazing honour. And, I believe, a first for Channing.

Whilst the rest of the school have a study day on 11+ testing, Year 12 students are ambassadors for the morning. They always do an outstanding job, and probably have no idea how influential they are in the process.

We are all very proud of the high priority Channing gives to being an environmentally aware community, and this year, in the Spring term, we held our first ever Eco Week, which was ably led by our Eco Officers, Jesse Wise and Stella Mackinnon. Another highlight of the Spring term is listening to the Sixth Form Extended Project Qualification presentations. These show Channing at its best. The variety, for example with, South American Politics, the Psychology of the Eco-warrior and Russian Propaganda all being covered in one week. The depth of independent thinking skills shines very brightly.

The Spring term ended with a ‘Mark Reading’ assembly which was filled with celebration of achievements. The highlight of the occasion is always the announcement of Channing’s new School Officers. Many thanks to the retiring team whose final assembly was outstanding!

Some Sixth Formers had the very good fortune to have signed up for the Spanish trip during the Easter break, led by Señora Rabet, along with Mr Williamson and Mr Daurat from the Maths department.

A highlight of the Summer term is the annual Sixth Form Concert, in the lovely setting of the recently refurbished Lauderdale House. This was a wonderful evening, featuring the talents of Tabitha Ashley-Norman, Stella Mackinnon, Emily Chen, Úna Yates, Orla Webster, Rachel ChatawayGreen, Mia Byrne, Anna Mulkeen, Alexandra Cross, Antonia Sánchez, Scarlett Johnstone, Honor Munden and Charlotte Rees. Special applause for the superb A level performances from Beatrix Greenwood, Elizabeth Orr and Leora Cohen. I was disappointed for Alexandra Moss, whose throat prevented her from singing but she was able to perform to her very best a few weeks later.

Before starting study leave the Senior School

celebrated the successes of Year 13 students.

Memories were shared, words of wisdom imparted, books presented and prizes awarded.

Most moving was the moment when the winner of the 2017 ‘Alexandra Wylie Cup for All-Round Amazingness’ was announced. Chosen by the Year 13s themselves, this award is in memory of Allie Wylie, who passed away in 2010. Our winner this year was clearly surprised, but nobody else was: well done, Eva Kyriacou.

The following day, another moving moment when Mr and Mrs Peto, parents of Rosie, who died from cancer in June 2015, attended our New School Officers’ assembly. They were accompanied by their son Tommy, and heard Rosie’s best friends, Madison Hookway and Victoria Niemiec, describe Rosie’s courage, and tell of the family’s wish to present an award to the Year 11 pupil who has shown bravery in the face of adversity.

Congratulations to Zahra Malik, this year’s recipient.

Throughout the year a number of students have led whole school and Sixth Form assemblies, sharing experiences, interests and passions. I am reminded of the assembly marking Armistice Day. Leora Cohen played a breathtaking performance of ‘Carmen Fantasy’, an arrangement of Bizet’s music by Sarasate. This was followed by a presentation on the Spanish Civil War by Year 13 History students and some readings of Spanish poetry of the era. Similarly, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2017, Lizzie Orr, played Bruch’s Kol Nidrei quite beautifully.

We do love it when Channing ‘old girls’ visit us and we were delighted to welcome back former pupil Olivia Wollenberg, the entrepreneur behind

‘Livia’s Kitchen’. Olivia gave an inspirational talk of how her career took an unexpected direction after her MA and she is now running a very successful company. Talking of entrepreneurship, well done to our teams in Year 12 who made it through to the North London finals of the Young Enterprise Competition. The Sixth Form participated in the exciting initiative Dad4Daughters. There is a growing recognition that there is still a long way to go before we achieve gender equality in the workplace and this campaign is enlisting fathers to help raise awareness amongst men of the key issues facing women today in the workplace. We were delighted to welcome Channing dads Ryb, Denne, Ross, Ashley-Norman, Mishon, Tackaberry and Denny, who spoke to the Sixth Fom about the workplace and what lies ahead. Thank you all for your support.

And finally, Year 13 marked their final days of school with some very imaginative tributes to their teachers.

The Sixth Form provides ample opportunities to contribute to the school community – and a number of Sixth Formers have been incredibly generous with their time, whether it is acting as a form senior, being selected as a House captain, Literary Society, Classics Society or Fem Soc. I hope their experiences and events of the past two years have been unmatched in their enjoyment, be it listening to fascinating presentations from eminent speakers who are specialists in their fields, running their own clubs, societies or participating and succeeding in national competitions and university challenges.

To my students: Be all you can be. Try not to reach any stage of your life with regrets about missed opportunities and unopened doors. Continue to stretch your imaginative minds. Broaden your horizon by going beyond your comfort zone. Use your intellect and aptitudes for self-improvement, but more importantly in order to make things better for the people around you. Always think of the bigger picture – society as a whole... the world at large.

Before saying goodbye, Year 13 challenged staff in an annual netball match… although they quickly realised they were no match for the staff, losing 27 - 8.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer some advice, but first, without doing a Melania Trump impression, I am going to plagiarise Michelle Obama: “I want young people to know that they matter, that they belong and have a right to be exactly who they are. Don’t be afraid, be focused.

Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.

Empower yourself with a good education then get out there and use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise. Lead by example with hope, never fear.” These are wise words, as our Sixth Formers really do have the ability to make people listen, and above all act.

Therefore, I urge all students to use their time (such a precious commodity) carefully.

In other words, make a difference.

Your presence at this school has enriched us all, and we wholeheartedly thank you for that. I wish each and every one of you the very best for the future. The very best.

Ms Jacqui Newman, Director of Sixth Form

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Art

This academic year has seen the Art department continue to be exciting and hectic. It is not difficult to see why students are attracted to such a stimulating visual environment; it is a pleasure to work in such spacious and bright studios, enjoying the amazing views. The teaching has been stimulating yet exacting and students have responded with aplomb, producing some exceptional and compelling images, raising standards even higher.

The Emma Sergeant studio serves as the dynamic force in the centre of the department, the nerve centre. Here the crucial discipline of life drawing continues, substantiating the curriculum pivotally; underpinning the teaching philosophy in the department. Drawing is the fundamental activity which informs the teaching and propels the varied creative disciplines, giving confidence to the students in creating marvellous work. It was therefore apt that we invited the former Head of Art, Mr Crawford, to curate an exhibition of life drawings; by students, staff and friends which was displayed in the ARK gallery. It is interesting to note that in the specifications for both GCSE and A Level Art, drawing is now recognised as a fundamental and paramount activity and we have a need to incorporate it into all aspects of our teaching. Perhaps this philosophy will now inform the fine art curriculum at degree level as was once the case. Drawing as a singular activity has not been held in great esteem by many in recent years, yet we believe this important tradition and philosophy of ‘learning to see’ is essential.

Clubs and societies have again proliferated, the Life Class of course, attended by enthusiastic sixth formers and at times eager members of Years 10 and 11, has been complemented by Drawing, Illustration, Embroidery, Ceramics and Printmaking.

Regular open studios at lunchtimes and after school and clubs run by sixth formers have also provided welcome opportunities for students to extend project work, with mentoring sessions organised by our art scholars to help Year 10 students develop confidence in organising their sketchbook work.

The staff in the department all practise as artists, with different specialisations of course, and the view is held that this informs and enhances the teaching experience in a special way, enabling flexibility and improvisation to play an important part. The educational philosophy grounded in both skill based observation and experimentation enables students to work with ambition and confidence and they can create work

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of both a spontaneous and exacting nature.

We try to provide what is a bespoke visual education which is challenging and stimulating and the again excellent examination results occur almost as a by product of this system where students feel unencumbered in working creatively.

The end of year exhibitions for both GCSE and A level students was again a highlight of the school year. Creative, ambitious, challenging, diverse and idiosyncratic work demonstrated their individuality and artistic maturity, each demonstrating individual and original responses. These exhibitions are a highlight in the school year and we have continually attempted to create professional looking

exhibitions to showcase the students’ talents.

Both evenings were especially well attended and enthused and enthralled reactions attested to the outstanding nature of the girls’ visual achievements.

We have, yet again, enjoyed success in external competitions and exhibitions to report. Again commendations for the sixth successive year in the prestigious ‘young art’ exhibition! This exhibition serves to support Cancer Research at the prestigious Royal College of Art galleries and is open to all schools. This year saw eight students from Channing exhibiting works, several of which were commended and highly commended. We congratulate all who took part.

Film is a medium we are going to continue to develop and exploit further in forthcoming years and this of course goes hand in hand with our desire to retain traditional darkroom photography as an important part of the curriculum. We are now increasing the use of the new darkroom facilities with impressive and professional results which will enable us to extend the discipline further and embed important elements into our teaching throughout the school.

Trips and visits have continued to proliferate this academic year and amongst the highlights have been the Year 12 and 13 visits to The Royal Academy to view the vast survey of abstract expressionism and the exhibition personally selected by Luc Tuymans of the sometimes bizarre and strange worlds of his compatriot James Ensor. We then continued to visit the private galleries of Cork Street and various exhibitions at the fine art auctioneers, Christies. Year 10 students were delighted to visit Kew Gardens with Miss Feilden and Miss Derbyshire and were given exclusive opportunities to gather and photograph information as a component to inform their work in their current project. As part of their mock examination project students in Year 11 visited Tate Britain to view mysterious distortions and unusual views of the English landscape by Paul Nash. Though some found the content rather bleak it was still an invaluable experience. The diverse collection of contemporary painters was then viewed at the Saatchi collection and provided some stark contrast and light relief after the Nash.

Miss Derbyshire also led the Sixth Form weekend trip to Paris in March, which proved to be hugely enjoyable and informative for those who participated. We must thank Miss Nell and Frau Stoeckman for their support in this venture.

Latterly it is with great sadness that we must say goodbye to some of our esteemed colleagues in the department and we wish them every good fortune in their future plans and endeavours. It will be a great loss to the department to see the talents of Mrs Derbyshire, Miss Feilden and Miss Nell going on to greater things. We will all miss their charm, intelligence, expertise and sense of humour and wish them luck in all that they do.

We also welcome the new staff, Ms Mackie

and Ms Watts and hope that they too will enjoy working in the Art department at Channing.

The further progression of students to esteemed Art colleges and Universities is perceived to be a logical extension of the visual education that Channing offers. This year we have seen three students continuing their art education by undertaking a foundation course. Other students have also gone on to degree courses to study fashion and textiles and film and television. Following such an intense and involved year, I must again thank

my colleagues in the Art department, and all the students, for their continued support, encouragement, hard work and sense of humour for what has been another innovative and successful year.

Mr Andrew Haworth, Head of Art

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Classics On the hottest day of the year I was ensconced in a blissfully air-conditioned room in a London Bridge conference centre to hear about the new GCSE Classical Civilisation course. As often happens on Classics courses, I came away excited about the changes and opportunities. I AM very excited about the prospect of teaching the Mycenaeans, the death of the Suitors in the ‘Odyssey’ and the Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens. The A Level class will get the chance to study Greek comedy as well as tragedy and the writings of Plato and Sappho on love and relationships.

The new specifications reflect the richness, variety and challenge of undergraduate Classics, and the Department are looking forward to exploring new texts, sites and artefacts.

Latin and Greek are in their first year of the new courses. We now teach the full course GCSE Greek, which is taught on Tuesdays after school by Dr Devlin, and through one Latin lesson a fortnight, in which the Greek girls study the literature and culture of ancient Athens and Sparta. This lesson, dubbed ‘Grexit’ by Mr Coram, focuses on two key topics: the lives of women in Greece and Athenian democracy. Students have explored an impressive number of primary sources, ranging from Hesiod to the architecture of the Parthenon, and we hope that it has enriched their study of the language.

We welcomed a new addition to the Department in October. Miss Ackland, a PGCE student from King’s College London, joined us for three months. She contributed considerably to our teaching and extracurricular activities, at one end of the school steering the Year 12 Latin class through the intricacies of ‘Pro Milone’ and, at the other, showing the Year 7 Mythologers club how to tell a great story. We wish her well in her career.

One club and two events were added to the Classics portfolio this year. Anna O’Leary and Olivia Ryb spearheaded a new Middle School club: ‘Ancient History Mystery’. Sessions covered many different cultures; Mesopotamia (with accompanying plasticine ziggurats) was a particular highlight.

In February we held our inaugural ‘Classics Symposium’ with talks delivered by Chloe Tye (class of 2015, currently studying Classics

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at UCL) and Emma Fox (class of 2013, a recent graduate of Leeds University where she studied Classical Civilisation). They spoke about the joys of studying Classics to an audience of Year 10-13 Channing students, plus guests from La Sainte Union. After a break for a goddess-themed quiz, we enjoyed a revealing talk from Dr Michael Squire (KCL) on ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ and the representation of the female body in art.

For the past two years we have held a ‘Classics Schools Challenge’ competition, which follows the format of the BBC’s ‘University Challenge’ but with all the questions focused on Classics and the classical legacy. This year we invited the departments at Fortismere and Alexandra Park School to join us in an event hosted masterfully by Paraskevi Kotsis (class of 2015, studying Classics at UCL). The Channing team of Anna O’Leary, Jemima Wickham, Sarah Moorhouse and Emily Oulton (captain) stormed to victory and our trophy, a Greek vase, was on display on Founders’ Day in BH5.

Much success was also enjoyed by Dr Devlin and her stellar team of Sarah Moorhouse, Anna O’Leary, Jemima Wickham, Millicent Angel, Matilda Sumners, Alice Gray, Leonie Nocker and Alia Khalouf in the London Greek and Latin Reciting Competition. We are so lucky to have Dr Devlin’s expertise in coaching these girls to read Latin and Greek so beautifully, and the team repaid her efforts with a haul of eight medals, seven silver and one bronze.

Anna Western, Abigail Summerfield, Matilda Sumners and Martha Sayer produced a wonderfully witty Roman army recruitment video for the Cambridge Classics film competition. I was impressed by the accuracy of their spoken Latin as well as their expert filming and editing skills. They were deservedly shortlisted in the top ten entries and received certificates (plus resounding applause from the Year 10 Latin class).

Mythologers Club has gone from strength to strength this year as leadership was handed over to the Year 8 students in the Autumn Term and to Year 7 from the Spring Term.

The three themes for this year were Gods, Monsters and Metamorphosis, and students led debates, creative writing and artistic responses. See Imogen Frost’s ‘Cerberus’

above.

Classics Society continues to meet weekly and talks have covered the goddess Artemis (Natasha Dangoor and India Denne), the role of the sea in ancient civilisations (Jemima Wickham) and the Peloponnesian Wars (Anna O’Leary).

When Emma Fox spoke at our Classics Symposium, she explained that it was her lessons on the Odyssey with Mrs Harper that had stimulated her passion for the classical world. I know from many conversations with students over the last few months how special Mrs Harper’s lessons are. Her passion for the ancient world and for inspiring minds have kindled the interest of many cohorts of students and she will be greatly missed when she retires. We hope that she will be able to meet up with us in Sicily on our trip next Easter and regale her lovely grandsons with her stories of Odysseus’ travels and Quintus’ adventures.

Mrs Sarah Elliot, Head of Classics

Computing This has been another busy and successful year. The programming of the BBC mircro:bit was extended to Years 7 and 8. The pupils enjoyed programming the micro:bits to perform a variety tasks and to code games using Javascript, Python and the BBCs online block editor. Much fun was had by all.

The micro:bit is an educational and creative tool to inspire a new generation of young people. It can be used across the curriculum, not just in STEM subjects. It can help give young people the knowledge and skills to move from being consumers of digital information, to being designers and creators of new tools to enhance learning, to solve problems or just to have fun.

The BBC Microbit can be used for all sorts of cool creations – the possibilities are endless.

This little device has an awful lot of features, like 25 red LED lights that can flash messages.

There are two programmable buttons that can be used to control games or pause and skip songs on a playlist. Your BBC micro:bit can detect motion and tell you which direction you’re heading in, and it can use a low energy Bluetooth connection to interact with other devices and the Internet – clever!

Pupils from Year 7 and 8 created code that designed badges that flashed images on the LEDs; creating dice; rock, scissors and paper games. Some students created ‘pacman’ type games on the microbit.

Henney Competition 2017 The Henney Prize for computer graphics is an award open to all girls in Year 7, who produce a piece of computer art using the Fireworks drawing application. The criteria involved in judging the prize winner was the creativity shown and the ability to effectively use the graphics tools available. There were some impressive entries, with Ursula Warsaw, Gayatri Sabharwal and Maika Brealey highly commended. The overall winner was Aliya Jami. The winning entry is shown above.

SWIFT Playgrounds The Year 7s were introduced to the basics of coding using Apple’s new SWIFT playgrounds iPad app. They learnt about commands, functions, loops, debugging and how to write efficient code.

Using Loops

What is a For Loop?

A For loop runs a block of code over and over FOR a set number of times

Looping all the sides What does a Efficient code look like compared to Inefficient code?

A efficient code is when your code is easy and the most powerful, normally your efficient code will look smaller compared to your inefficient code.

The Henney Prize Winning entry To the edge and back

SWIFT can be used to create iPad apps. By solving puzzles in dynamic 3D puzzle world, the students started on their journey towards app creation. They were able to develop a set of coding skills to build up their programming vocabulary.

CyberFirst Girls Competition Year 8, 9 and 10 pupils participated in an exciting competition to inspire and encourage young girls to consider a career in cyber. Only 10 per cent of the global cyber workforce are female, meaning millions of British women may be missing out on a career they could excel in.

Girls aged 13-15 entered the competition in teams of four (The Channing Cybergirls – Natasja Collis, Constance Froment, Stella Hastings and Lara Himoff and Nora Jovine, Chiara Saacke, Gabriella Shahmoon and Emma Zinkin). The pupils were put through a series of challenges to test their cyber security skills against young women from all over the UK, with the top 10 teams progressing to a national final in London in March. The pupils did not quite make the final but they all enjoyed the challenges presented to them.

Google Suite Google Suite is a cloud computing productivity, interactive learning and collaboration software tools. It includes an online classroom with Google’s popular web applications including Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets and Google Sites. Google Apps is a package of cloud-based services that provide our school with a whole new way to work together online using real-time document collaborations, and more.

This year, pupils from Year 10 created Google sites for Computing and Business Communications. The Business students shared and collaborated notes and resources on different topics on the syllabus with their peers. The pupils commented on how useful this was for revision for their summer examinations.

Mr Martin Holmes, Head of Computing

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Drama

When I look back over the year I am astonished that so much has happened. In April 2016, the green light was given for the commencement of the Performing Arts Building. Finally, the hole next to Founders’ Hall was to be filled. Every day this year, as I have taught my classes there, the students and I have listened to cranes, diggers, hydraulic lorries, drilling, hammering, shouting and whistling as the building slowly emerged from the pit. We never complained about the noise; we knew something wonderful was happening. By Christmas the roof was on.

By July the thing is up. And what an astonishing and beautiful thing it is. It is as technically advanced as any theatre in the West End, a professional theatre. As I write, we are awaiting the last of the safety tests to be done, the drapes to be hung, the floor to be painted.

What an amazing facility for Channing girls.

So... Drama is growing.

In September, we welcomed Lucy Bellingham to teach Key Stage 3 Drama lessons one day a week, and extended the teaching hours of our London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (Lamda) specialists Mrs Joanne Bradford and Miss Amy Leighton as the course expanded from 40 to 60 students. Helen Daniels joined us for part of her commitment to Performing Arts, assisting particularly with the administration of the LAMDA lessons, and the booking of workshops and theatre tickets. Simon Grey

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joined Channing in February as Performing Arts Building Manager. He has been procuring the equipment for the new building, writing health and safety policies and overseeing the last elements of the project. His role will be to act as manager of the building, overseeing the technical elements of productions, music and external events.

It has been a busy year. We marked the 400 years since Shakespeare’s death with two events. The first event was a Shakespeare Celebration, a Capital Challenge fundraising event whereby every student in the school learnt a speech from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Goodwin recited ‘Macbeth’’s, Is this a dagger?, Sharpe girls ‘Henry V’’s Once more into the breach; Waterlow Mark Antony’s speech from ‘Julius Caesar’ Friends, Romans, countrymen… and Spears girls learned Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech from ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The Year 13 and 12 House Captains prepared the speeches, and put simple dramatic actions to them. They were videoed performing the speech and Mr Murphy uploaded their performances on to Firefly for all the Houses to see. Several rehearsals in venues across the school (I remember a particularly cold morning in the playground!) ensued, sponsorship money was gathered, and students prepared costumes in House colours. On the afternoon of the Friday before October half-term, Senior school girls marched across the road, resplendent

in blue togas, green kilts, Elizabethan golden garb and red and silver armour to join the wonderfully be-hatted Fairseat girls to battle it out before a panel of judges consisting of Mrs Elliott, Mrs Lawrance and Miss Evernden. House points were awarded for the best costumes, teamwork and performance of the speech. It was a vibrant and glorious hour, as each house recited their speech in unison ably assisted by costumed staff. Thanks to Ms Marchant the Senior School House co-ordinator (who left Channing at Christmas) for organising the event with me, Ms Kanmwaa for recording the speeches, and the House Captains for teaching the girls in their houses to speak and act in unison, and staff for learning lines and dressing up. Thanks to Miss Tranter for organising the sponsorship of the event, Mrs Gething for photographing the performances and parents for handing over the money! We raised about £10,000 between us. Thanks to Goodwin captains Georgia Clarke, Emily Oulton, Natasha Dangoor and Zoe Thompson; Waterlow captains Scarlett Johnstone, Hollie Gold, Maya Krasnik-Rawlings and Saskia Steinberg; Spears captains Sima Shakib, Holly Morton, Ella McCourt-Cox and Agatha Barber and Sharpe captains Tabitha Ashley-Norman, Eloise Gibbons, Darcey Hookway and Maisie Cartmell.

The school play was the next acknowledgement of the importance of Shakespeare to the cultural wealth of our nation. Twelfth Night was

performed at Jacksons Lane Theatre at the end of November. We set our version in the 1950s with its doo-wop music, Lindy Hop dances and vibrant swing dresses. Think Shakespeare meets Grease...

Olivia (sympathetically interpreted by Emmanuelle Martin) finds herself the owner of a successful car dealership following the death of her father and brother in quick succession.

She has to fend off the attentions of cocktail bar owner Orsino (louche and charmingly played by Emily Oulton) who has fallen desperately in love with her, but from her point of view it’s the wrong time to be thinking of men – and anyway, she just doesn’t fancy Orsino.

Olivia is surrounded by hangers-on: her assistant Maria (played with great gusto by Natasha Burns); her drunken uncle Sir Toby (acted with devil-may-care bravado by Eleanora Megaro); a ridiculous suitor (played with superb comic timing by Athena Anastassopoulos) and her resident comedians, the Feste twins (brilliantly mirroring each other, Rebecca Fenner and Lily-Bea Howe) all keen to enjoy her wealth. However, her manager Malvolia (played with marvellous comic timing by Isabella James) is determined to rid the business of these ne’erdo-wells. Into their midst comes shipwreck survivor Viola (played like a true Channing girl – cheerful, plucky and resourceful – by the very talented Úna Yates) who disguises herself as a boy and finds work in Orsino’s nightclub. Little does she know that her brother Sebastian (played with energy and attitude

by gifted actor Madison Hookway) who she assumed was dead, is alive and in town too. The music of Orsino’s resident band The Illyrians permeated the play with great numbers like ‘Why do Fools Fall in Love’, ‘Born Too Late’ and ‘What a Wonderful World’. The singers (Eloise Cartwright, Georgia Fernando, Leonie Nocker and Amelia Little), accompanied by Orla Webster and Georgia Clarke, sang with glorious joie de vivre. Disguise and deceit, mistaken identities and unrequited love, all swooshed up with doo wop music and silly drunken behaviour – classic Shakespeare!

It was colourful, funny and acted with wonderful professionalism. It was a fitting end to Channing’s short-term relationship with Jacksons Lane. Other members of the cast were: Cara Johnson, India Denne, Jemima Wickham, Alia Khalouf, Natasha Rubins, Saskia Steinberg, Katerina Kamysheva, Sarla Murray, Saskia Kirkegaard, Grace Abrahams, Kit Lampi, Khadija Rehman, Grace Abrahams, Sophia Baum, Nancy Flintoff, Imogen Moody, Eden Hymanson and Amelia Marriott. Emily Hill was invaluable as Assistant Director, and Amy Morris choreographed the fantastic dance at the end of the show. Thanks to all the backstage crew who did a fantastic job, led by Molly Tackaberry and Fay Franklyn. They were Tara Gold, Hannah Schlenker, Emma Zinkin and Maya Egerton.

Thanks to teachers Miss Derbyshire for her design and set construction, Ms Feilden for help with art, Mrs Devine for the design of the poster, Ms Zanardo for arranging the music, Mrs Daniels for administration and programmes, Miss White for procuring set, props and costume, and the caretakers Alan, Suge and

Michael for set construction and logistics.

Finally, thanks to Ms Vivienne Penglase and Ms Lucy Bellingham, who helped me with all the design and direction of the show. A great success. One parent commented: “It was easy to forget that this was a school production, rather than a West End show, with superb performances from every single actor.”

Throughout the school year, Key Stage 4 and 5 Drama students take part in preparatory and real GCSE and A level examination performances. These require a tremendous amount of work inside and beyond lessons.

Student work continues to impress examiners and the very high marks awarded are a recognition of the talent and ambition of our girls. The practical examinations require students to use the style and techniques of a range of theatre practitioners, so we invited professional theatre companies into school to deliver workshops to Years 10-13.

The GCSE Year 10 enjoyed working with the physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, who choreographed the West End play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

The workshop leader showed them how to use lifts to simulate flying and how to create synchronised movements as an ensemble. The girls incorporated the skills they learned into their devised plays which they performed to parents and friends in November. Emily Grey, Emily Rea and Natasha Rubins created an evocative exploration of Time inspired by Dali’s Persistence of Memory; Tabitha Cartmell, Lily Neil, Poppy Oliver, Eleanor Phillips and Florence

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Wright devised an atmospheric piece on the theme of loss and mental ill-health, and Anna Cornish, Maryam Kadar, Eleanor Megaro and Bridie Milsom performed a haunting drama on the theme of war and post-traumatic stress disorder. All the work was thought provoking and complex, and the standard they achieved augurs well for the real examination at the start of their next year.

The Year 11 GCSE class created their real Unit 1 examination in the Autumn term too. They used Bertolt Brecht as their theatre practitioner and the key influence on their style. In September Scott Smith of Splendid Productions Theatre Company conducted a workshop in Founders’ Hall on Brecht’s Epic Theatre style which involved the students recognising and applying a new range of techniques in order to make the audience detached observers rather than emotional participants in the drama they are seeing. The students learned about the power of theatre to explore contemporary social issues, and created their own devised pieces in response. Sugar and Spice with Justine Gilbert, Ava Hanna, Megan Demeritt and India Wood took the audience at breakneck speed through the inequalities affecting women in the past 300 years. The play combined humour and surprising images which left the audience wondering what things have changed and what is still unfair. The Wooden Train with Olivia Staunton, Sacha Houghton, Zahra Malik, Maya Morse and Athena Anastassopoulos was a complex murder mystery dealing with the issue of revenge, and Land of the Free - perhaps the most sophisticated GCSE devised piece I have ever seen - with Amelia Little, Eloise Cartwright, Willow Stokoe and Georgia Fernando took a witty, intelligent look at the demographics of

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the voters in the American election. All three pieces were acted with skilful precision.

The Year 12 A level Drama students are now working to the new specification, so they weren’t required to undertake a formally assessed practical examination, but were expected to prepare two pieces for performance. At the beginning of March they performed extracts from plays by significant twentieth century playwrights Brecht and Caryl Churchill.

Brecht’s ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ is a chilling parable about the rise of a dictator.

Saskia Steinberg, Cara Johnson, Emmanuelle Martin and Madison Hookway performed two key extracts from the play, demonstrating a clear understanding of Brecht’s comic style.

Molly Tackaberry skilfully designed Ui’s costume, and India Denne designed and created an American townscape as the backdrop.

All six students performed in Act One of ‘Top Girls’, in which Marlene, a 1980s manager of an employment agency invites women from different time periods to a dinner party to celebrate her promotion. The students performed the overlapping conversation with great skill and energy, communicating a group of interesting, adventurous, courageous, funny women to the audience of parents and friends. It was a triumph. The students decided to perform it ‘in the round’, so the audience were as close as if they were also dining in the restaurant. Parents commented that they were engrossed in the action, and particularly loved the drunken excitement of the women talking about their rebellions at the end!

Year 13’s Theatre Studies students, Emily Hill and Isabella James, devised a piece of theatre as a pair and they took on the responsibility for choosing a style, choosing a theme, writing the play, designing the set, choosing the sound, designing the lights and then writing about the process for their Supporting Notes, a part of their examination. They created a piece of verbatim theatre (the script is created from the real words of different people) using the physical theatre style of DV8 Dance Company.

They were fascinated by the pervasive nature of surveillance, and the dichotomy posed for governments regarding safety versus individual freedom. They came across the story of Chelsea Manning, the American Marine who leaked classified information to Wikileaks because she had seen video footage of the unethical behaviour of American troops and commanders in the Iraq war. Emily and Isabella created a sophisticated piece of theatre about Manning, which incorporated live CCTV cameras, film footage, non-literal synchronised movements, interspersed with extracts from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ addressing the theme of spying. The examiner was very impressed with the intelligent, complex work of the students, so we hope this will be reflected in the examination results! They called the piece ‘Hide’, and were rightly proud of their achievement.

The GCSE Performance from a Text examination followed in April, and the Year 11 group played duologues from a range of great plays. Willow Stokoe and Sacha Houghton took on the roles of Ismene and Antigone to produce sensitive performances from Sophocles’ play; Megan Demeritt and Georgia Fernando played Olivia and Viola in a lively interpretation of the characters from ‘Twelfth

Night’ and the comic timing of Zahra Malik as Juliet and Olivia Staunton as the Nurse in a scene from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was wonderful.

Athena Anastassopoulos as Gwendolen and Maya Morse as Cecily in Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ made the examiner laugh out loud, and Ava Hanna as Marlene and India Wood as Joyce in Churchill’s play ‘Top Girls’ produced a tense and believable argument between resentful sisters.

Finally, there was a fast-paced conversation between three rich, clever, mean English school girls which was hysterically funny – well done to Amelia Little, Justine Gilbert and Eloise Cartwright in Keiron Barry’s contemporary comedy ‘Numbers’. We expect great results in August!

The Year 10 GCSE class gave a sparkling performance of extracts from The Caucasian Chalk Circle for their end-of-year practical examination. They staged this challenging play with great imagination and intelligence. Florence Wright, Lily Neil and Poppy Oliver sung out the poetry; while Eleanora Megaro, Natasha Rubins, Bridie Milsom and Eleanor Phillips deftly brought out the pathos; comic relief was achieved by Tabitha Cartmell, Maryam Kadar and Emily Gray’s well-timed comic performances; and Anna Cornish and Emily Rea transported us seamlessly from riverside conversation to the battlefield. The standard of their acting skills is very high, and we look forward to them achieving the highest grades next year.

The final examinations of the year were the LAMDA Grade 4 and 5 performances. Over the course of the year. 60 students have had weekly lessons with Mrs Bradford and Miss Leighton, honing their acting in order to deliver monologues and duologues with precise and well-rehearsed skill to the external examiner.

Parents and friends had the opportunity to watch these wonderful, nuanced performances over two evenings in May, and the audiences were astonished at the poise and natural thoughtfulness with which the girls performed the work. Congratulations to all the girls, and thanks to Ms Penglase for coordinating the scheme and her extra support for the girls, and to Ms Daniels for administering the programme with patience and attention to detail.

As well as the workshops provided to support practical examinations, Channing students enjoyed working with other inspirational professional theatre makers. Year 12 and 13 students had the pleasure of having Lighting Designer John Watson come to Founders’ Hall to conduct an interactive Stage Lighting workshop. The first thing the girls had to do was construct a made to scale theatre, then

rig the lamps, which they loved. Understanding stage design and using accurate terminology is a key feature of the new A level specification so we were especially grateful for John Watson’s clear explanations and inspirational ideas for using light effectively in productions.

The Year 12 Drama students attended a conference at the National Theatre about the set text Hedda Gabler, which was extremely useful, as three theatre directors compared how they had each approached the text to communicate very different emphases in their productions.

In May, Year 10 and 12 Drama students took part in an immersive theatre workshop at Punchdrunk Theatre Company’s space in Tottenham Hale. They have created a village of a series of buildings called Fallow Cross, in a huge warehouse. The buildings are churches, bars, studies, bedrooms, workrooms, shops and clinics and all contain intriguing furnishings and curiosities such as old spectacles, candles, taxidermy, suitcases, flags and icons. The girls explored the different atmospheres and then in groups of three, devised movement sequences for a specific space. The audience for each piece entered the room, and stood or sat wherever they liked, which meant the performers had to work around them, which sometimes proved challenging. It was an amazing and inspiring afternoon.

Year 7 spent a very warm day in June with the theatre company State of Play learning mime, physical theatre and masks skills. At the end of the day, the girls shared their work with each other and the workshop commented that the girls were funny, smart and very imaginative.

It is such a privilege to have the London theatre on our doorstep; Channing girls have been fortunate to enjoy Brecht’s ‘Threepenny

Opera’, Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ and Ibsen’s ‘Hedda Gabler’ at the National Theatre; ‘Things I Know to be True’ by Frantic Assembly at the Lyric Hammersmith, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime’ at the Gielgud and Brecht’s ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ in Greenwich.

Each year a number of Channing girls make their mark in Drama further afield.

Congratulations to all the girls who achieved great results in LAMDA examinations taken out of school, to the girls who have taken part in amateur productions, and to the girls who have found professional work. I would like to congratulate Una Yates who, last summer, and Madison Hookway who this year have won places with the National Youth Theatre. Well done, too, to Florence Coleman for a wonderful performance in the Channing video.

Our final performances this year took place on Founders’ Day on the stage of the Performing Arts Building. Channing’s Bursar, Mr Hill, was determined that the PAB would be open to visitors, and open it was. Year 8 and 9 students performed their Lamda pieces, and 20 Year 7 Drama Club girls performed a range of comic sketches. The girls walked on to the stage for the first time on the Friday afternoon before Founders’ Day, but you would never have known that fact from their polished, self-assured acting before an itinerant audience of perhaps a thousand spectators on Saturday morning. Ah, Channing girls! I can say how “right” it seemed?

I would like to add my grateful thanks to Mr Hill, to parents and friends for making the PAB a reality. What opportunities for Channing musicians, actors and dancers next year.

Ms Karin Hurst, Head of Drama

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Economics Who would have predicted the economic (and political) events that have destabilised our world. Never has there been a more important time to study Economics… I hope David Davis knows his stuff, as we in lessons consider the Brexit negotiations. Our students will be asking: How growth, trade, migration will be affected by a split with the EU? What trade deals will replace EU membership? Can Britain cut migration significantly? Do migrants reduce UK wages?

This year, following the curriculum changes, our Year 13 Economists have just sat three two-hour papers (you may remember the old style format!). What is new are the themes in economics, which require students to apply their understanding of the theories and concepts explored over the past two years.

This year, the themes paper explored the housing market, and candidates were asked to compare what has happened to house prices and average earnings between 2000 and 2014; examine the effectiveness of policy reforms (removing tax relief on mortgages, 3% additional stamp duty on second homes and the introduction of the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme) to improve the affordability of housing in the UK and explore the link between economic growth and the quality of housing. The latter was discussed post the truly horrendous Grenfell Tower fire.

On Careers Day, many Economists learnt about City Trading. The new specification now includes the role of the financial sector in the real economy, and students learn about the role of retail, commercial and investment banks; pension funds, hedge funds and insurance funds, the stock market, the bond market; and the foreign exchange market. We aimed to teach life- ong lessons, exploring the different forms of borrowing, including mortgages, unsecured loans, overdrafts, credit cards and pay day lending. We explained why the rate of interest varies in different money markets using the concepts of risk and security. I hope many of the Year 10 students also in attendance at the talk were encouraged to study Economics, our guest speaker Paola Binns certainly recommended doing so. Ms Binns is responsible for the management of

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corporate bond portfolios at Royal London Asset Management. She has over 28 years’ experience in bond markets to RLAM, having joined in August 2007 from Credit Suisse Asset Management where she was responsible for managing sterling credit assets.

Economists have also been exploring the UK labour market and amongst many of the labour market topics, our students need to be able to explain how ages are determined and the reasons why wage differentials exist in an economy. A number of students were able to attend Sara Allen’s talk on “The Civil Service Fast Stream”. She was inspiring, passionate and empowering. She didn’t just talk about the Civil Service but also women in the work place.

One of the key points she made was that the pay gap between men and women, even when women start on a better salary, is that men are 5x more likely to negotiate their salaries. She also said if you negotiate from the outset of your career it has been shown you will earn £1m more over your career.

This relates to an email Mrs Elliott sent the department on the 14th June, “forget law, study economics for high salary”, with a link to Which degrees produce the highest and lowest salaries? An economics degree from the London School of Economics is the golden ticket as far as graduate salaries go, with one in four holders earning more than £120,000 after only five years. However, law degrees are not the passport to top earnings they are often considered to be, with a typical salary of £25,300. A vast new government dataset shows the median salary for economics graduates from the LSE is £55,200 five years after leaving, with the top 25 per cent on

£120,900. Even the lowest paid could expect to be on £45,000.

We do love it when Channing ‘old girls’ visit us and we were delighted to welcome back former pupil Olivia Wollenberg, the entrepreneur behind ‘Livia’s Kitchen’. Olivia was taught by Mrs Bhamra Burgess and I many years ago and she gave an inspirational talk about how her career took an unexpected direction after her MA and she is now running a very successful company.

Alex Cooper, who left in 2012 after achieving A* in Economics (and in Mathematics, Chemistry and French), returned in September to speak to the Sixth Form about gap year opportunities, studying Economics and life at university. And just as I write this, we received the following email from Mrs Cooper, Alex’s mum: ‘I thought you’d like to know that Alex has been awarded a First [from Durham] and scored the highest mark (96%) in Advanced Micro. She is delighted and we are very proud.

Thank you for all your, and your colleagues’, support and encouragement at A level! Well done Alex and best wishes in your new career at PwC in September 2018.

Finally, we would like to wish all departing Economists the very best for the future and we particularly wish the students reading Economics (or an Economics-related degree) at university every success. Come back and share your story...

Ms Jacqui Newman, Head of Economics

English As I write this, summer is making its presence known – no doubt by the time you read this though, soaring temperatures will be a distant memory. When I picture the summer holidays, the image that always comes to mind is rather idyllic: I am sitting outside, possibly under a tree, probably on a comfy chair with my feet up, but, most importantly, I am reading. Books have been my lifelong pleasure. I read every day (and not just the books I’m teaching); I cannot imagine doing otherwise. My love letter to books certainly wouldn’t fit in a magazine article, but the journey that started with Little Grey Rabbit and Brambly Hedge, moved through Little House in the Big Woods and Anne of Green Gables, stopped off at Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina and Middlemarch, took me to university and now to my job here at Channing has been one of the most important of my life.

How much less we would be without our books.

With only one life to lead, I think it’s a great relief that we can experience so many others through literature.

As a teacher the cold, hard facts about reading and educational achievement are also undeniable.

The correlation between those who read and those who succeed in English is extremely strong. However, the benefits of reading are felt even more broadly. A study by the Institute of Education compared 6000 test results from 16 year olds and found that those who read more regularly scored more highly in not only spelling and vocabulary, but in mathematics tests.

The same document also states that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socioeconomic status. A study into reading for pleasure by the Education Standards Research Team identified other benefits beyond just hard examination skills. There are emotional and social benefits as well. It concluded that those who read for pleasure gain the following: • Reading attainment and writing ability; • Text comprehension and grammar; • Breadth of vocabulary; • Positive reading attitudes; • Greater self-confidence as a reader;

• Pleasure in reading in later life; • General knowledge; • A better understanding of other cultures; • Community participation; • A greater insight into human nature and decision-making.

In a digital age that seeks to lure us into reading endless, superficial sound bites, let us make time to read something more meaningful, a book.

The educational landscape continues to change in English. This year we began the new GCSE specification, studying Lord of the Flies, a novel that should make any teacher at a boys’ school think twice about an island-based trip, but also one that deals with some challenging ideas about humanity. We have also enjoyed Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Year 10 and 11 were lucky enough to see the RSC’s lively production set just after the First World War. One of the most rewarding parts of a theatre trip (apart from the interval ice cream) is discussing the production with the students, because their own insightful reading of the text is so evident.

The new A Level has thrown up some exciting new texts, which this year have included Chaucer’s ‘The Merchant’s Tale’, the dystopian fiction of Atwood and Cormac MacCarthy and two powerful novels dealing with key periods in Nigeria’s history, ‘Half a Yellow Sun’ and ‘Things Fall Apart’. The Sixth Form Literary Society is

still enjoying literature beyond the confines of the syllabus. We have had presentations from students on post-colonial literature, the significance of poetry and Magic realism and have read and discussed a range of 1918-1939 novels by writers such as Woolf, Huxley and Steinbeck.

Dr Andrew Rudd from Exeter University came to give an engaging talk about Romanticism and we attended an interesting lecture day on ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

Our Poetry by Heart competition was a real pleaure this year. We were joined by a special guest judge, Joan Michelson, a local poet, whose writing has been widely read and published.

The judges were impressed by the poise, understanding and confidence of the twenty finalists, each of them the winners in their class competitions. This year, the winner was Georgia Walsh, who moved everyone in the room with her recitation of WH Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’. The three, worthy runners up, were Rebecca Fenner, Sarah Moorhouse and Zahra Malik.

The English department is seeing some changes this year. We are sadly saying farewell to the lovely Mrs Self, who is going off to teach in Oxfordshire at a school nearer her home. We cannot express how much we will miss her calm, kind, generous nature and excellent teaching.

We are also losing Ms Wilkinson for a year, as she goes off on maternity leave – we wish her well with her new arrival. Joining us will be Mrs Leigh and Mrs Murphy, both of whom will make excellent additions to the department.

Miss Polly Evernden, Head of English

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Geography In my opening comments in last year’s magazine, (which I wrote 7 days after the EU Referendum results), I began by saying ‘’the world is facing huge changes’’. Little did I know what a changing and uncertain world we would be living in a year later. But Geography is all about change. As Oxford Professor Danny Dorling says: ‘The greatest challenges of the 21st century are geographical’ and increasingly the modern geographer is expected to grapple with some ‘big questions’.

Geography used to be about where bananas came from. Now it is about where they come from, who grows them, how much the farmers are paid, what fertilisers are used and their impact, what are the social economic environmental and political issues relating to their cultivation, the impact of globalisation on the banana trade, how technology has impacted on their cultivation, the role of Transnational Corporations, the importance of Cooperatives, human rights issues relating to farming, the role of women in farming, the impact of drought and disease, trade wars and trading blocs, issues of food waste; the impacts of air and food miles...

In fact you could make an argument for geography being about why bananas are bent!

The most common comment we get from parents is ‘it wasn’t like that in my day’. I say good! I am glad that Geography is changing.

This year has seen the department begin the new GCSE and A Level specification, and we are very excited about the changes to the content and approaches to assessment that are being introduced and I would like to pay tribute to Miss Salmon and Miss Anderson, who have worked tirelessly to develop new resources and lessons. Also to our GCSE and A Level students (the latter who are our largest cohort ever); they have shown determination and resilience to engage with new concepts and a different way of looking at the world.

In an uncertain world, one thing that is certain is that Channing geographers are more than capable of understanding, grappling with and being part of the solutions to the ‘big questions’. We can see this demonstrated by the range of activities, events and projects outlined in this dispatches.

Channing Senior Geography Society Once again I have been incredibly impressed

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Year 12 Field Trips to The Lake District and Brick Lane A change to the assessment at A Level is that our young geographers are now expected to produce an Independent Investigation that is of their particular personal interest related to any area of the specification. Year 12 geographers have come up with a broad range of exciting areas to study, including; Perception of crime on Hampstead High Street; How gender influences use of space; Regeneration and rebranding of King’s Cross; Sustainable communities; Glaciation in the Lake District; The growth of local Farmer’s Markets; Evaluating the importance of Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and ‘The impacts of gentrification’, to name but a few.

by the commitment of the Senior Geography Society this year. We have been privileged to attend a number of talks at the Royal Geographic Society.

Our first lecture in September, was on ‘Cutting Edge Developments in Mapping Science. This lecture was delivered by Jeremy Morley, Chief Geospatial Scientist at Ordnance Survey.

Our A Level students learnt about new developments in mapping and the challenges faced by leading geographers in this field. In January we attended a lecture on ‘Extreme Weather’ given by Professor Georgina Endfield from the University of Nottingham. Her lecture focused on the history of humanenvironmental interactions and our climatic past. She explored the weather histories of unusual and extreme weather events, the weather memories and human responses linked to these events. In March the focus of the evening was ‘Revision Skills for A-Level Students’. The session explored revision strategies for different learning styles, the art of revision note writing, time management and exam techniques. Finally in June we attended a lecture by Dr Jonathan Darling from the University of Manchester. He enthralled our students with a talk titled ‘Beyond Borders: Changing geographies of migration and asylum’.

He discussed what geographers can tell us about rapid changes in migration, and explored the skills that geographers can bring to the issue of migration.

To support these Independent Investigations, Year 12 geographers visited Brick Lane in November and Blencathra in the Lake District for four days in June. Fieldwork is essential to Geography, with a defining characteristic of geographers being the ability to conduct investigations to test ideas, build evidence, reflect on and create new geographical knowledge. The value of fieldwork goes beyond the aim of collecting primary data. The understanding generated from experiencing geographical concepts, processes and issues in the real world can be illuminating for learners and help to contextualise content.

One method the geographers used to collect data in the Lake District was to ask people to choose words that described their experiences of the area, we then put these into a Word Cloud - see I told you Geography is changing! …. so I thought I would do the same. I asked Year 12 for 10 words that describe the Lake District trip - and we created our own ‘Word Cloud’ (above) - what do you think of it as a means of presenting qualitative data?

Globetrotters This term Year 7 and 8 Globetrotters have been designing a treasure hunt to develop mapwork skills for Year 3’s at the Junior School.

It has been a collaborative experience, in which the Globetrotters have thought creatively about how they can develop the Year 3’s geographical knowledge and also capture their imaginations. Renee Shield, Year 7 said: “I enjoy learning Geography outside of the classroom and sharing ideas with different people on

topics. It has been great making friends with people from different classes”.

Catherine Budgett-Meakin’s Sustainable Home by Olivia Bendell, Tia Crown, Ciara Hicks, Isabel Lesser, Madelaine Napier, Eloise Neil, Anna Saacke and Renee Shield In May, we visited the home of a Channing Old Girl who has made her house more ecofriendly. In 2011, Ms Budgett-Meakin decided to try to make her house sustainable because she had been worried about global warming for many years. She wanted to make a change and raise awareness of the energy crisis caused by fossil fuel emissions. Ms Budgett-Meakin’s first step to reducing energy consumption was to insulate her home. She does not waste energy to heat her home because it is fully insulated, her windows are double-glazed and draught-proofed. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce energy consumption.

On the roof there are 13 photovoltaic panels.

These provide energy for the whole house using sunlight. Solar energy is a renewable, non-polluting source of energy, which does not release greenhouse gases, unlike fossil fuels. Ms Budgett-Meakin sells the excess energy back to the grid, for which she receives £1400 every year. In addition she has 2 solar thermal panels, which are used for hot water. This means she turns off the boiler in April and gets all her hot water from the sun throughout the summer.

All the bulbs in the house are LED or energy efficient. All these things help protect the environment, but they weren’t a big adjustment on her everyday life. We were very grateful to Ms Budgett-Meakin for inviting us to visit and for her time in answering our questions.

Year 10 Olympic Park by Anna Tefoglou “What Impact has an Urban Regeneration Project had on Quality of Life?” - This was the hypothesis the Year 10 Geographers set out to answer on the 10th October 2016 in Stratford in the North East London borough of Newham.

As we came out of the train station we saw the familiar sight of the Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre, however, this was not what we had come to visit, instead we met with our guides who would be informing us throughout the day. After a brief introduction to the area, we travelled the short distance to Stratford New Town, an area of little urban regeneration with rows of identical looking terraced houses, grey apartment blocks and a few off-Licences.

Whilst here, we took the opportunity to take photos and complete ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘Age of Car’ assessments.

We then walked over a bridge across the River Lea, to East Village. This is a clean area filled with sustainably designed apartment blocks and amenities, such as parks, leisure centres and cafés. East Village is an example of urban regeneration, which was evident by the cranes and construction machinery which could be both heard and seen. We then took another ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘Age of Car Assessment’ and split up into smaller groups to do a ‘Quality of Life Questionnaire’ with members of the general public.

After this we moved on to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the largest new park built in London for over a century, for a quick lunch.

Upon finishing our lunch we headed over to

the Copper Box, finding a good place to do our field sketch and take photos. Our guide told us about the buildings in the Olympic Park and what their uses after the Olympics are, showing the sustainability of the buildings, and we completed our ‘Quality of Life’ Assessments before moving outside of the park to the Hackney Wick area.

We made our way to the Energy Centre, whilst filling in another ‘Quality of Life’ assessment and admiring the creative graffiti that adorns many of the buildings. At the Energy Centre we said goodbye to our guides and then entered a room to watch a short video and listen to an informative talk. Finally we were given some time to wander around the museum and to take notes on the methods and technology that is used to save energy, particularly the combined heat and electricity plant that provides sustainable energy for the park by burning biomass. After a wonderful day, we returned to school where we evaluated our data to answer our hypothesis.

Iceland by Madison Hookway,Year 12 On 17 October 2016, 43 eager geographers from Years 11-13 spent five days in Iceland on a life changing trip that quickly became one of the most memorable expeditions everyone has ever experienced.

Our day started with a bang – it wouldn’t be a Channing trip if the airline we were booked on didn’t have our names in their system, resulting in everyone sprinting to board our plane. When we landed in the capital city of Reykjavik, we met our brilliant tour guide, Shirley, and our coach driver, Paul. After visiting the incredible

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Krysuvik mud puddles and listening to Shirley’s pearls of wisdom, we checked into our hostel in Selfoss, ending a successful first day.

snout’s moraine ridges and dirt cones, we visited the Reynisfjara black beach which was formed from the nearby Grimsvotn volcano.

The next morning our first destination was the Thingvellir National Park. After taking many pictures at the famous geographical (and ‘Game of Thrones’) location, we went to the Geysir centre where we all watched the colossal Strokkur Geysir erupt – reaching heights of 18 metres. Next was the Gulfoss waterfall, where we battled powerful winds in order to climb to the top of the white glacial cascade. After visiting the Kerio Crater, we went to the local Selfoss (naturally heated) swimming pool, where we all had too much fun on the mini water slide.

Our final full day activities did not disappoint. We began with going to the Reykjanes Peninsula, where we got to stand on the bridge separating the Eurasian plate and the North American plate and along the mid-Atlantic ridge. During the windiest part of the day we went to see the Reykjanes Lighthouse, where we fought to stay standing against the brutal winds. However, we soon got to calm our cold faces at the mud mask bar situated in the middle of the Blue Lagoon, where we all leisurely paddled in the milky blue sulphur water for a couple of hours. To end the day, everyone got to explore downtown Reykjavik before eating in the famous Hamburger factory where we got to lend a helping hand in notifying everyone that Iceland’s population had changed from 330,039 to 330,040! For our final day we started bright and

We started our next day by visiting and walking behind the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. However, the most exciting part of the day was seeing the Solheimajokull glacier. After walking along the

early... at 2:30am to be exact. After running for our plane (again), we made it back to London as tired, happy and more knowledgeable students who could only sum up the trip in two words: ‘Geography Goosebumps’.

‘Ch-ch-changes...’

Finally, more change! Congratulations to Miss Anderson on the successful completion of her NQT Year –- welll done! Also our very best wishes go to Miss Salmon (Mrs Blake, from September), who is getting married this summer, we hope that you and David have a wonderful day. Finally, a warm ‘welcome back’ to Ms Bramhall, who is returning to the department part-time after her maternity leave.

Mr Andrew Boardman, Head of Geography

History Whilst attending a wedding recently I was introduced to a fellow guest as “This is Pete, he is a History teacher in London”. The person to whom I was introduced, then proceeded to tell me (at length) how much he had hated History at school due to the dull teaching and requirement to learn ‘lots of boring dates’. He asked me if it was still the same and he was very surprised to hear how differently it was taught nowadays (well at Channing School at the very least!). I hope this article in some small way outlines a flavour of the wonderful things my colleagues and the girls have achieved this academic year with the hope that in future all the girls look back fondly on their history lessons.

Highlights Central to our department philosophy is to instill a lifelong love of history and our range of fantastic trips are central to this. This year all our trips have been blessed with remarkably good weather and the first trip of the year with Year 9 to the Battlefields of Belgium and France was no exception. The girls were treated to a range of moving experiences which included visiting preserved trench sections, tunnels deep underground and the spine tingling last-post ceremony at the Menin Gate. There was also a personal link to Channing with Chloe GrossmithDwek managing to track down and lay flowers on the grave of Second Lieutenant Abraham Slowe one of her ancestors. Year 8s study of the Industrial Revolution was brought more to life with our long trip up to the Black Country Museum in Dudley.

There they experienced life in the mines and continued a longstanding Channing tradition of jumping out of their skins and screaming when the ground rumbled for a pretend dynamite explosion (all the older girls will remember this part of the mine tour well!) Year 7 were especially lucky to visit Hampton Court Palace on a beautiful sunny day and got to see life inside the Tudor court and a fair few to have an ice cream too! The final trip of the year will see Year 10 travel to Budapest where they will see amongst many other things, Buda Castle, the Fisherman’s Bastion, the House of Terror and St Stephen’s Basilica. If that’s not enough to make you envious of them they’ll also be going for a boat cruise along the Danube at dusk.

Aside from trips, our other major highlight and biggest challenge this year has been writing brand new schemes of work for the new History GCSE and A-Level courses. We share as a department a fundamental love for history and we have worked

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hard as a team to put together a programme which inspires, challenges and enthuses the girls.

GCSE students now study in the new course an eclectic mix of: the Norman Conquest, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War and Crime and Punishment over 1000 years. The new A-level course comprises a combination of the Tudors and International Relations and both are taught utilising research challenges, outside speakers, team activities, role play and games to bring the history to life. As you can see, long gone are the days of one dull topic, taught didactically stretched out over the year ad nauseum.

We also make a healthy contribution to extracurricular life at school with clubs at all age levels. Miss Hunter’s ‘Time Travellers club’ aimed at Key Stage Three is a high energy, fun and creative activity based group who have produced some wonderful displays as well as raised money for good causes. ‘Historyonics’ run by some of our wonderful sixth formers gives girls from Years 7-11 the chance to watch and discuss significant films about historical events and to engage more deeply with History. Mrs Devine and I also ran revision sessions throughout the year for Year 11 which were a lot of fun and helped to give them the confidence and support they needed to succeed.

In sixth form, Dr Coupland ran ‘History Girls’ where the focus was on history as a discipline and gave the girls the opportunity to delve deeper into major concepts and to stretch each other and to further their understanding.

This is the end of my first full year at Channing having joined in January 2015 and I can honestly say it has been one of my best in 10 years of teaching. I have been blessed with dedicated, hardworking and enthusiastic classes who make turning up to work a pleasure. I also have a department who are constantly striving to improve and take my continuous list of requests and suggestions for things we can do with good humour and enthusiasm. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all their hard work and commitment they really are wonderful! We are very excited to be welcoming Joanne Grainger, the new Head of Year 7, to the department from September and know the girls will join with us in giving her a warm welcome to the school.

Mr Peter Phillips, Head of History

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Mathematics

Breaking news: in the article I wrote three years ago, I indulged myself by listing ten sources of joy for that year. One of them was Hannah Whiterow who, after receiving a disappointing end-of-year test mark, wasted no time on self-pity but asked: “How can I improve?” I’m writing this (long after deadline) on the night after publication of GCSE results, which included Hannah’s A* in Mathematics. Hannah was in the fourth set out of five. She was a regular fixture at Maths drop-in. Hannah didn’t find Maths easy but never moaned or indulged in negativity. Hannah, I hope that everyone is as inspired by you as I am.

I could easily end here. However...

This is my second draft. My first follows it and details trips and achievements of girls this year. Feel free to skip straight there. I won’t be offended.

My second draft is about what it is like to teach and learn Mathematics at Channing.

At the beginning of last lesson (Year 8), one of the girls asked me (as she always does), “Can we have a fun lesson today?” My answer (as it always is) was, “Yes, of course. It’s a Maths lesson.” I wasn’t being facetious (or no more than usual).

Maths is – or should be – about solving puzzles and problems. Mr Riggs-Long and I gave an assembly earlier in the year in which we talked about the joy that this still gives both of us. (I am a little older than Mr Riggs-Long so I have had more joy for longer.) Over the summer break, Maths problems will feature in my holidays and, if I find a good one, I’ll share it with like-minded friends (including Mr Riggs-Long) and classes next term.

You may think that this is strange or unusual.

But you’re wrong, at least as far as Channing is concerned. Here’s a little evidence: there exists a Mathematical Olympiad for girls. Its ultimate aim is to produce a squad for a European Mathematical Olympiad (2018 venue – Florence, by the way).

The paper consists of five extremely challenging problems to be attempted in two-and-a-half hours by girls from Years 11 to 13.

I tentatively approached two Year 11 girls to see if they could be persuaded to enter it. The next day, they materialised at our first training session with a further six who were keen to try it. All eight - Nazan Arslan, Amy Bartlett, Olivia Dugdale, Daria Hall, Vera Kamysheva, Zahra Malik, Isabella Turnbull, Kailai Xiong - performed creditably with Olivia Dugdale achieving outstanding results. They

were mentored in preparation for the Olympiad

by Zoe Steele from Year 13, soon to start reading Mathematics at university as is Hollie Gold. Zoe ended Year 12 with the intention of applying for Medicine only to return after the summer break having seen the light! Like her fellow further mathematician, Eve Denayer, Zoe’s idea of fun is working her way through a challenging problem.

At the younger end of the school, Anna Saacke has emerged as a mathematician of great promise.

It is extremely unusual for a Year 7 pupil to achieve ‘Best in school’ in the Junior Mathematical Challenge but Anna did so by a huge margin and qualified for the “Kangaroo” round where, again, she performed superbly. I am certain that her achievements will feature in future magazines.

First draft...

MFL-Mathematics trip to Andalucia Whilst the trip to Andalusia was ostensibly a joint one between the Modern Foreign Languages and Mathematics departments, each had their own distinctive elements that enabled different perspectives for the girls to adopt in their visit to Spain. The input from Mr Daurat represented several decades of passionate research on the Arabic contribution to western mathematics, philosophy and art. Owing to its abstract nature, mathematics can often appear arid, challenging and unintelligible. However, visiting the Alhambra, encouraged a different mind set. This was an occasion when mathematics was given a platform upon which the aesthetic as well as the technical aspects of its structure could be fully appended.

The accompanying booklet acted as a field guide to the vast intellectual matrix that the Alhambra represents. It was rewarding to be able to open up the subject to a wider audience by way of historical and anthropological considerations. By the end of the trip, initial

trepidation at the thought of contemplating a history of mathematics, had given way to a far more insightful, yet relaxed appreciation, no doubt assisted by the warmth and hospitality of Andalusia.

Maths Week As part of Maths Week, all girls in Year 9 visited the re-developed Bletchley Park in March 2017.

They had a guided tour of the park and heard stories of the many secrets, challenges and cramped conditions. At the Cyber Security Workshop, they were able to use an Enigma machine to decipher codes. The Life and Works of Alan Turing gallery was visited and they were able to see and hear how the world’s only fully operational Bombe was rebuilt - an electromechanical device used to mechanise the process of breaking Enigma.

Dr Harriet Mills made a welcome return to run a workshop for Year 10 on how Mathematics is used to control the spread of disease and speak about her work for the World Health Organisation. Years 8, 10 and 11 all enjoyed workshops from Stephen Newark on investigating the “Hypercube” (exploring 4-dimensional space).

My own highlight was the visits of three Year 8 classes to the Junior School to lead the younger girls through a variety of mathematical, problem solving activities. These included investigating ‘magic squares’ and a mathematical treasure hunt. It is impossible to say whether the older or younger girls enjoyed these sessions more. One thing is certain – there will be more of these in the future.

Mr Peter Williamson, Head of Mathematics

Mathematical Challenge Competition Results The Individual Mathematical Challenges are run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) website: http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/individual-competitions/ or follow the link from the Mathematics page of the Channing School website, www.channing.co.uk.

The senior challenge is 90 minutes long and the intermediate and junior challenge papers are 1 hour long. All made of multiple-choice style questions with some negative marking for incorrect answers to the most challenging questions in the second half of each paper. No calculators, lined paper or measuring equipment are allowed but lots of rough working paper is needed!

The Senior Challenge for Sixth Form pupils takes place in November, the Intermediate Challenge for GCSE pupils is in February and the Junior Challenge for year 7 and 8 is in April.

Senior Mathematical Challenge

Intermediate Mathematical Challenge

In November 2016, all pupils taking A-Level Mathematics and some brave pupils from year 11 took part in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge.

The following pupils were awarded certificates:

In February 2017, all of Years 10 and 11 and one class of pupils from Year 9 took part in the UKMT Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. The following pupils were awarded certificates:

Year 13

Year 12

Year 11

Year 10

Gold Certificate: Eve Denayer*–Best in School & Best in Year Tabitha Ashley-Norman*

Silver Certificates: Fay Franklin –Best in Year Sophie Sondhelm

Gold Certificates: Kailai Xiong * – Best in Year Olivia Dugdale * Sarah Woodburn* Ella Cronkshaw

Gold Certificate: Jiawei Wang–Best in School & Best in Year and qualification into Hamilton Olympiad round receiving a Certificate of Merit

Silver Certificates: Emmanuelle Hagopian Inayah Huda Antonia Sánchez Zoe Steele Bronze Certificates: Ana Bauer India Capper Georgia Clarke Leora Cohen Hollie Gold Lucia Matano Samantha Mishon Lottie Mortiboy Maia Paterson Nina Ross Aysa Shomali Orla Webster Jesse Wise *Eve and Tabitha also qualified for the Silver Kangaroo paper.

Bronze Certificates: Indya Akinrinlola Hessa Akram Agatha Barber Rachel Chataway Green Natasha Dangoor Mia Denny Darcey Hookway Amelia Khavari Eluned Miller Victoria Niemiec Hannah O’Donohoe Year 11 Silver certificate: Kailai Xiong - Best in Year Olivia Dugdale Bronze Certificates: Hannah Cioci Ella Cronkshaw Amy Davies Brown Daria Hall Ella Marsden Rebecca Tolley Sarah Woodburn

Silver Certificates: Ella Blendis Hannah Cioci Talia Engel Lucy Faber Isabel Gold Daria Hall Vera Kamysheva Ella Marsden Azra Parker Miriam Simler Rebecca Tolley Rosie Ziff Bronze Certificates: Beany Ashley Norman Francesca Browett Lea Chehabeddine Izobel Clarke Megan Demeritt Marnie Granek Daisy Grostern Ava Hanna Maya Katz Evelyn Kelly Irene Liakhovenko Gresa Madjuni Ruby Maxwell Kate Pennington Elsa Proudlove Molly Roylance Isabella Turnbull *Kailai, Sarah and Olvia all qualified for the follow-on Pink Kangaroo rounds

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Silver Certificates: Anna Biro Shenaz Cuerdo Natasha Gough Emily Gray Charlotte Marshall Lottie McKay Dalton Bronze Certificates: Afzaa Altaf Hannah Barta Elena Binns Constance Froment Eryn Gold Rebecca Hjelt Megan Khan Maddie Leviton Sophie Lewis Saskia Lonergan Rose Marshall Sofia Mastrogiacomo Ellen McDonald Eleanora Megaro Tiana Parti Aybala Rose Eshanika Sharma Emily Sinclair Abigail Summerfield Anna Western Anna Wickens Holly Williams

Intermediate Mathematical Challenge

Junior Mathematical Challenge

continued

In April all Year 7 & Year 8 pupils took part in the UKMT Junior Mathematical Challenge. The following pupils were awarded certificates:

Year 9 Bronze Certificates: Anika Anand Hannah Davis Charlotte Free Daria Greshneva Marlena Jackaman Lucy Narunsky Hannah Schlenker Gabriella Shahmoon Emma Zinkin

Year 8

Year 7

Gold Certificate: Stella Hastings – Gold & Best in Year Molly Bloom Isabel Fetterman Madelein Hjelt Abigail Ornadel

Gold Certificates: Anna Saacke – Best in Year & Best in School and Junior Kangaroo Imani Ahmad Sasha Blendis Flora Pickford Sienna Thompson

Silver Certificates: Tori Akinrinlola Phoebe Apfel Nura Bentata Jemima Eskenazi Antonina Hagopian Lulu Hardy Zara Levy Lidia Lonergan Aki Pampaloni Constantina Papadopoulos Anastasia Pendlebury Charlotte Woolley

Silver Certificates: Ruby Awenat Olivia Bendell Tia Crown Eleonora Dusmugambetova Miranda Gomez Velasco Emily Gosden Isabel Lesser Celine Obadiah Catrin Papanastassiou Renee Shields

Bronze Certificates: Grace Abrahams Mali Akinrinlola Elizabeth Arstrong Anushka Chaturvedi Sophie Collins Marianne Comins Lilia Foster Flora Froment Eliza Goldstone Annabel Gotto Alice Gray Lara Himoff Sienna Ispani Ella Jones Lottie Kendall Blanche Lefort Anna Milsom Imogen Moody Charlotte Parrott Jasmine Patra Anisha Perera Ruby Reynolds Isabelle Salmon Giulia Salt Lisa Scheerlinck Yi Di Wang Yulia Wolff

Bronze Certificates: Rachel Bezalel Shruti Borundia Maika Brealey Freya Calder Edie Cartmell Isla Church Beatrice Deleval Imogen Frost Harper Gallacher Maddi Gordon Matilda Haines Scarlet Hobbs Aliya Jami Sophia Karallis Maya Khiani Meaghan Lawrence Matilda Mistry Anouska Ornstein Artemis Partasides Maya Ray Simi Saggar Velmi Sameeha Amy Warren Anna Whelan Sophie Winch Elowen Woad

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Music I began my report last year with a description of the sounds of building work. I can now report all has fallen silent in the past week and our new state-of-the- art Performing Arts Building is being readied for tours on Founders’ Day. The new Shigeru Kawai grand piano is on order and we are looking forward to our first musical performances in there in September.

Anisfeld’s ‘Misty’ and the finale from the entire group singing Bruno Mars’ ‘Count on Me’ and Jason Mraz’ ‘I’m yours’.

It will be our lunchtime recitalists that will first get a taste of the new building, and they have earned this privilege as throughout this year our series of Friday Lunchtime Recitals have proved very popular and have produced many outstanding performances from our ‘Siblings’ recital to our ‘Jazz’ recital and of course the ever-popular ‘Unplugged’ concerts. It has also been lovely to welcome an increasing number of parents every Friday who come to support their daughters and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and some great music making!

Just before half term in October we returned to Lauderdale House following its transformation. We were one of the first groups to use the new facilities and what a transformation! This was the Showcase Recital for girls in years 8, 9 and 10. Phoebe Apfel’s ‘Kol Nidrei’ was beautifully haunting (what a musician!), Jiawei Wang’s piano playing was dazzling, Riana Chandaria’s ‘Summertime’ was enchanting, but for me a real highlight was the delightful ‘I don’t know my name’ sung and played on the ukulele by Poppy Oliver.

We have continued to provide external music examinations for our students and some 176 girls have passed either ABRSM or Music Theatre examinations. Our average mark continues to be significantly higher than the national average. A large number of girls achieved staggeringly high marks and an increasing number at the higher grades.

They are too numerous to mention here, but Anna Milsom’s 99/100 for her grade IV Music Theatre examination is incredible. However, I must mention Abigail Ornadel who, at the age of 12 in Year 8, gained a very high Distinction at grade VIII Trombone! We owe a large debt of thanks to Mrs Helen Daniels for her superb organisation of these examinations.

You can read the list of successful examination candidates in the following pages.

Just after half-term the Chamber Choir were privileged to be invited to sing at the induction of the Reverend Kate Dean at Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel. They sang ‘Raise me up’ and ‘As water to the thirsty’. It is good that we can keep our special link with Rosslyn Hill.

Our first major event of the year was the Year 11 concert at the end of September which was held in the Founders’ Hall. Our GCSE students gave us a musical tour of the ages from Sarah Woodburn’s and Daria Hall’s Baroque Recorder and Oboe pieces, Catherine Style’s Spring Sonata by Beethoven through to Annabel

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The Autumn Concert at St Joseph’s in November was tremendous both musically and in size. There were 250 girls performing that night and the church, large as it is, was packed!

The Concert Orchestra under Miss Zanardo’s direction wowed us with Michael Jackon’s ‘Thriller’ followed by Morricone’s ‘Cinema Paradiso’. The Year Seven Chorus gave their first performance with the ‘Skye Boat Song’.

All choirs were on show that night and gave superb performances but the Junior Choir’s Mexican song ‘Cielito Lido’ was stunning under Miss Szreter’s direction. We were treated to a stunning display on the Cello from Lizzie Orr performing Saint-Säens’ Cello Concerto. The Symphony Orchestra, led by Leora Cohen, (who was about to be announced as leader of the National Youth Orchestra,) closed the concert with Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony.

Our Carol Concert was a particularly special event this year. The traditional readings were interspersed with exquisite choral singing from our four choirs. Madeleine Napier set the tone with a beautiful ‘Once in Royal’ solo.

In February, we returned to Rosslyn Hill Chapel for our Channing Chamber Music Evening. Without a doubt the stand-out performance was from our senior string quartet’s interpretation of Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ quartet. A very complex and technically difficult piece played, it sounded, by real professionals, but actually by our Year 13 girls, led by Leora Cohen. Other highlights were the Wind Quintet playing Milhaud, the Clarinet Crew playing ‘Hip Hop Clarinets’, and the Brunner Show Choir’s ‘Writing’s on the wall’.

Theo Travis led an incredible night of Jazz in early March in the Dining Hall. Without a doubt this, the 10th one, was the best Jazz Evening ever! Alex Moss and Annabel Anisfeld’s looping piece on ‘Isn’t she lovely’ was mesmerising, as was the vocal quartet singing L.O.V.E. The stand-out soloist, however, was Sophie Marshall with ‘Ain’t no way’.

For many the highlight of the musical year is the choral and orchestral concert in St Joseph’s church. This year we saw the return of the Channing Community Choir with a stirring and musical performance of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’, with Soprano Soloist, Alexandra Moss. Beatrix Greenwood was the viola soloist in a soulful performance of Massenet’s ‘Meditation’. The concert closed with the electrifying ‘Festive Overture’ by Shostakovich, but without a doubt no one will forget the musicianship shown

by Leora Cohen in the slow movement from Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Just wow!

Only a week later KS2 dazzled us with their

two night run of Aladdin at the Junior School.

You will be able to read more about this fabulous production and all of the musical highlights from the Junior School in the Fairseat section of the magazine.

The final recital of the Spring Term was given by the Sixth Form on our second visit to Lauderdale House. Our Year 12 A level students gave us a lovely performance of a Bach Trio Sonata, but it was the leaving Year 13s that stole this show. There were so many outstanding performances, it would be difficult to detail them all, but I am going to list these amazing musicians that have entertained us for many years now. It has been a real pleasure to see their musical prowess grow; they are a unique year group with tremendous musical talent. The performers that night were: Tabitha Ashley-Norman (trombone), Stella Mackinnon (trombone), Emily Chen (soprano), Beatrix Greenwood (viola), Úna Yates (soprano), Orla Webster (piano), Elizabeth Orr (cello), Alexandra Moss (soprano), Antonia Sánchez (piano), Charlotte Rees (alto), Leora Cohen (violin), Scarlett Johnstone (soprano), Sophie Marshall (soprano), Honor Munden (soprano).

Our Musical Theatre evening in May preceded this term’s session of Music Theatre examinations. This was a fabulous evening in which the girls sang one of their examination songs, but in costume and as if they were acting the scene from the show. Mesmerising, enchanting, tear-jerking, uplifting, funny and exhilarating are just some of the adjectives that could be used. Every song was a highlight but particularly special were Lara Dailey’s G&S number from ‘Yeoman of the Guard’ and Anushka Chaturverdi’s ‘Naughty’ from ‘Matilda’.

In June it was our third visit to St Joseph’s of the year for the Summer Concert. For me listening to the Concert Orchestra’s stunning performance of a medley from ‘Wicked’, was a big highlight along with the Junior Choir’s ‘The Rose’ with all of its cameo solos. Also performing were the Senior Flutes, Brass Ensemble, Strings Plus, Chamber Choir, Brunner Show Choir, Senior Strings, and Symphony orchestra. We are really going to miss our talented Year 13s, but I am not worried because the wealth of talent, commitment and musicianship shown by girls in years 7-10 that night was outstanding!

The following week we witnessed an outstanding concert in St Michael’s given by KS2. The standard of instrumental playing and choral singing is really quite something for a junior school. Another great team effort led superbly by Miss Pepper.

The Year 7 concert towards the end of June displayed the fabulous talents of this year group.

I have spent much time in recent years extolling the incredible talents of our leaving Year 13, but our current Year 7s (soon to be Y8) are the ones to watch! Clio Harwood’s Sarasate played on the violin was stunning as were all the soloists and we all thoroughly enjoyed Maika Brealey (voice) and Simi Saggar (guitar) performing ‘Imagine’. For me, the string quartet of Issy Lesser, Clio Harwood, Madelaine Napier and Matilda Haines summed up the depth of talent in this year group. The year 7 chorus closed the concert with an electrifying medley of songs from ‘Les Misérables’.

Just two days before Founders’ Day and members of our magnificent Visiting Music Staff gave inspiring performances at the Rothenberg

Concert to the whole school. Miss Szreter singing a song from ‘Chicago’, a guitar duet from Mr Khan and Mr Cousins, a looping piece on the alto flute from Mr Travis and a bassoon sonata played by Mr Harrison. Our students are lucky to be taught by such talented and inspirational teachers.

In January we welcomed Miss Anna Williams to the music team to teach KS1 at the Junior School. Miss Williams has made a real impact since her arrival and is clearly enjoying her role!

We wish Mrs Mercedes Cartwright (Double Bass) ‘happy landings’ as she goes off on maternity leave at the end of the Summer Term.

She will be temporarily replaced by Mr Ben Summers.

At the beginning of the Summer Term we were able to make two new exciting appointments to the music staff. Miss Jenny Bacon is now our Head of Vocal Studies and Miss Myerscough is now our Head of String Studies. I am delighted and exciting by this development, to bring even further coherence to our string and vocal strategies and enhance the musical experience for our students.

Finally, I feel very proud to lead such a brilliant team of musicians. Our 28 Visiting Music Staff, Miss Williams (KS1), Miss Zanardo, (Assistant Director of Music), Miss Pepper (Head of Music, Junior School), Mrs Helen Daniels (Music Administrator). Every single one is dedicated to bringing out the very best in our students, to give them unequalled opportunities to shine in music. I want to take this opportunity to thank them publicly for their incredible dedication and hard work throughout this year. Thank you, Team Music!

Mr Peter Boxall, Director of Music

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ABRSM Results

48

Name

Year

Grade

Instrument

Result

Matilda Avigdori Ella Banks ZoĂŤ Baranowski Shruti Borundia Emily Gillis Rachel Hommel Ursula Warshaw Amelie Cedar Maya Coetzee Emily Golding Lorna Goldman Lulu Hardy Lilly Kay Paloma Lewis Anna Milsom Barbara Parente Charlotte Pearce Eliana Samonas Lucy Selfe Nina Sydee Kaia Tabori Edith Cartmell Marianne Comins Eve Cronkshaw Natasha Freedman Saniya Jain Eva Jones Amie Jordan Alma Miller Maddalena Pickard Katherine Ruffhead Anna Vershkova Lana Wong Nura Bentata Niamh Eisenberg Saniya Jain Lilly Kay Sophie Lewis Sophia Mirchandani Whiteside Tamzin Silver Lara Simler Nina Sydee Charlotte Willcox Lana Wong Ella-Marie Davies Anouska O'Neill Isabella Preston Freya Randall Katherine Ruffhead Anna Vershkova Daria Greshneva Daria Greshneva

4 4 8 7 2 4 7 4 3 8 7 8 3 4 8 7 7 7 7 2 3 7 8 4 3 8 4 9 8 5 6 9 6 8 8 8 3 10 4 6 9 2 8 6 4 4 5 8 6 9 9 9

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3

Cello Cello Cello Guitar Cello Cello Guitar B flat Cornet Violin Piano Singing Guitar Piano Flute Flute Singing Singing Singing Singing Piano Violin Flute Guitar Piano Alto Saxophone Guitar B flat Cornet Violin Singing Alto Saxophone Bassoon Guitar Violin Singing Singing Guitar Piano Flute Violin Flute Flute Piano Singing Violin Violin B flat Cornet Viola Singing Bassoon Guitar Piano Piano

Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Distinction Merit

Name

Year

Grade

Instrument

Result

Madeleine Hjelt Amie Jordan Eliza Mistry Lydia Mistry Hana Shimizu-French Harriet Sumners Hana Dean Georgina Grossman Eliza Jacob Saskia Kirkegaard Chiara Knorr Charlotte Mirchandani Whiteside Siya Narayan Isabella Preston Maria Privalova Sophie Scott Renee Shields Emily Silver Zainab Alam Florence Angel Flora Froment Alice Gray Daria Greshneva Chloe Hommel Amie Jordan Alia Khalouf Sui-Lin Le-Carson Grace Nash Catrin Papanastassiou Jenkins Francesca Poulton Harriet Sumners Lily Waltasaari Anushka Chaturvedi Eve Cronkshaw Isabel Lesser Eloise Neil Lisa Scheerlinck Anika Anand Caroline Cornish Hannah Davis Annabel Gotto Yelena Hill Jessica McDonald Adele Ryan Anna Tefoglou Anna Tefoglou Sienna Thompson Simran Tulsiani Antonie Benkert Yasmin Campbell Lara Dailey Agnes Delaney Alacoe Frost

8 9 4 4 8 8 4 5 6 9 8 6 6 5 6 10 7 5 4 6 8 8 9 5 9 8 9 6 7 4 8 9 8 4 7 7 8 9 8 9 8 9 8 5 10 10 7 5 9 5 9 10 9

2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Singing Violin Cello Violin Flute Trumpet Violin Piano Flute Singing Piano Violin Flute Viola Cello Singing Singing Violin Violin B flat Cornet Singing Clarinet Piano Violin Singing Singing Singing Flute Violin Viola Trumpet Singing Singing Double Bass Singing Violin Alto Saxophone Alto Saxophone Flute Singing Singing Guitar Singing Viola Violin Singing Flute Violin Double Bass Cello Singing Singing Singing

Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit

49

50

Name

Year

Grade

Instrument

Result

Maeve Gallagher Emily Gosden Lucia Groves Alia Khalouf Molly Malbon Imogen Myatt Jasmine Patra Lucille Robinson Beth Warren Florence Wright Yuki Wu Kimi Coetzee Imogen Frost Saskia Lonergan Evie Mellman Bridie Milsom Charlotte Free Una Maynard Madelaine Napier Hana Shimizu-French Katherine Bettis Alexandra Cronkshaw Eryn Gold Yelena Hill Lily Bea Howe Hermione Lobb Phoebe Morse Madeleine Rymer Hannah Fernando Natasha Freedman Georgia Mair Anna Mulkeen Madelaine Napier Constantina Papadopoulos Jasmine Patra Emily Poncia Amy Reeves Irene Salvati Hana Shimizu-French Matilda Sumners Molly Tackaberry Florence Wright Megan Dearden-Hellawell Rebecca Fenner Hannah Fernando Chiara Knorr Ellen McDonald Ellen McDonald Celine Obadiah Poppy Oliver

9 7 8 8 8 5 8 10 9 10 8 6 7 10 10 10 9 10 7 8 8 9 10 9 9 8 8 7 10 3 12 12 7 8 8 10 6 7 8 10 12 10 9 9 10 8 10 10 7 10

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Flute Singing Piano Clarinet Flute Violin Trombone Singing Singing Singing Singing Flute Singing Singing Singing Singing Theory Theory Theory Theory Trumpet Bassoon Violin Theory Flute Flute Oboe Trombone Theory Descant Recorder Singing Theory Piano Bassoon Theory Singing Clarinet Singing Piano Singing Singing Singing Clarinet Theory Singing Theory Singing Theory Violin Singing

Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Merit Merit Distinction Merit Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction

Name

Year

Grade

Instrument

Result

Yasmin Byng Daria Hall Isabel Lesser Constance Froment Catherine Style Gabrielle Dowsey Lucy Hill Sarah Moorhouse Abigail Ornadel Jiawei Wang

8 11 7 10 11 11 13 12 8 10

6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 8 8

Violin Oboe Violin Flute Violin Piano Flute Piano Trombone Piano

Merit Merit Distinction Pass Pass Merit Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction

Music Theatre Examination Results Name

Year

Grade

Result

Noluthando Tebe

8

2

Distinction

Alma Miller

8

3

Distinction

Sarla Murray

9

3

Distinction

Yasmin Ghobadian

9

4

Distinction

Anna Milsom

8

4

Distinction

Isabella Silver

7

4

Distinction

Anushka Chaturvedi

8

5

Distinction

Julia Conti-Gemes

9

5

Distinction

Lara Dailey

9

5

Distinction

Rebecca Fenner

9

5

Distinction

Katerina Kamysheva

9

5

Distinction

Bridie Milsom

10

5

Distinction

Sophie Scott

10

5

Merit

Riana Chandaria

10

8

Distinction

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Modern Foreign Languages “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The limits of the Modern Foreign Languages have been extended yet again this year with linguistic endeavour at the forefront.

The academic year started with the annual poetry recital competition and as always the standard was high with wonderful poems spoken in French, Spanish and German – a truly inspirational start to the term.

In September we welcomed Ms Wolton to the French department for the year where she has been a valuable member of the team. In May we said goodbye to Mrs Quinton who has been our Languages Assistant. She has helped many pupils express themselves fluently on many topics and work towards success in their speaking examinations.

Ciné Club, a French film club was launched and has been held weekly and has been regularly attended; pupils have enjoyed a variety of French films such as Le Petit Nicolas, Un chat à Paris and Astérix et Obélix: au service de sa Majesté.

In October, a French theatre company came for an afternoon with an amusing play about two students trying to get to Paris using various methods of transport. The theme of the play was the environment with some café scenes and French music on the way in order to help with audience participation – it was popular with the year 9 and 11 pupils as they were familiar with the topics and enjoyed dressing up and taking part in some of the scenes.

The Spanish department launched a weekly Skype exchange with a Spanish school in Oviedo and the year 9 pupils have enjoyed exchanging their news with new Spanish friends.

Year 12 pupils have been helping with the Adelante project over at the Junior School at Fairseat and where they read Spanish stories to year 6 pupils.

In February the year 12 Spanish students visited Kings College to hear an inspiring presentation of the poetry of Lorca. It was pure delight to hear the poet’s nieces read the works of their illustrious uncle.

In April Señora Rabet, Señor Williamson and Señor Daurat took girls from years 10 and 12 to Andalucia. They studied the mathematical aspects of Muslim architecture in Granada and visited famous monuments in Seville and Cordoba.

In July we wish a fond farewell to Ms Wilkes who has been teaching Spanish, French and German for three years. She has inspired many girls to pursue their study of languages and we will all miss her gentle and calm manner, her efficiency and support.

Ms Yolande Rabet, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

In June the indefatigable Ms Rabet led a tem of 10 staff and 110 year 8 pupils what is the last time the school will be at the Maison Clairefontaine, near Avallon, in the heart of Burgundy, really la France profonde, on the week long trip to Burgundy. In spite of the searingly hot weather, pupils delighted in the many activities, ranging from canoeing, baking a typically French apple tart, buying lunch at a market, learning circus skills, high wire walking in the forest and eating a four course meal in a restaurant.

Adelante*

There was much excitement at Channing as the Adelante programme was launched in September 2016.

What exactly IS Adelante?

Adelante is a whole school initiative to make the ability to communicate in Spanish a key feature of a Channing education.

After a year of research and preparation, the first stages of the programme were introduced at the Junior School and to Year 7 in the Senior School.

Classes for beginners were offered to all members of staff, both teaching and non-teaching with additional lessons for those who already know some Spanish.

Even the Headmistress - a life-long fan of all things Hispanic - could be seen every Friday at 5 o'clock teaching Spanish to a loyal group of eager linguists!

The way the Fairseat girls have embraced the opportunity to learn another language has been a joy to behold. They meet and greet people with a cheery "Buenos días", sing not "Happy birthday" but "Cumpleaños Feliz" and the girls in Reception even delivered a whole assembly in Spanish. I was particularly moved to hear the entire Junior School sing "Noche de Paz" (Silent Night) in Spanish in December, after just one term of lessons.

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Colleagues have made learning such fun that even the youngest girls are picking up the language with ease, and they have no qualms about speaking in perfect Spanish accents!

This long term initiative will see many opportunities for Channing girls. Year 8 pupils, for example, will spend a week in Cádiz in South West Spain and links are being developed with a school in Oviedo. Future plans include work experience for Senior School pupils in Spain, volunteering in a Spanish-speaking nursery in London, links with Spanish businesses both in the UK and overseas, cultural trips to Spain and South America and a host of other activities to ensure that Channing pupils enjoy all the advantages of fluency in one of the world's most widely spoken languages (other than English!)

From September 2017, new Assistant Head Ms Kyle, in addition to leading the Modern Foreign Languages Department, will be responsible for the development of the Adelante programme, and we wish her "Mucha Suerte" (Good luck!) in what promises to be another Channing success story.

--* ADELANTE means onwards and upwards, and move ahead, move forward, and even overtake!

Mrs B Elliott, Headmistress

German This has been another busy year in the German Department. It started in September with our annual German Exchange Programme. Sixteen girls from Aachen, accompanied by their two teachers, came to visit Channing. The Headmaster Stefan Menzel from our exchange school St. Leonhard Gymnasium joined the group for a few days. He was most impressed by the school and its facilities and pleased to meet Mrs Elliott.

The German girls were well looked after by the Channing families and enjoyed their time in London. Before their return trip in February 2017 the girls were able to meet up again during their day trip to the Aachen Christmas Market in December. Some of the highlights of the exchange trip to Aachen in February were a guided tour of Charlemagne’s famous cathedral in Aachen, the German History Museum in Bonn and the visit to the picturesque village of Monschau. A welcome treat was a visit to the thermal baths, ‘Carolus Therme’.

A joint History/German trip in October 2017 took Years 11 to 13 to Berlin and Dresden, where we visited, amongst others, the Berlin Wall Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and the German History Museum. In the beautiful city of Dresden we visited the world- famous Zwinger, an Old Masters picture gallery in one of the most magnificent Baroque buildings in Germany.

We are saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Miss Wilkes, who taught German in Years 8 and 9 and wish her the very best for the future.

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Politics I have been Head of Politics at Channing for more years than I care to remember and, although each academic year has been interesting and rewarding, I can honestly say that I have never experienced so much drama in the past 12 months.

From confidently telling the Year 8s while we were on the Burgundy trip, on the evening of the referendum (which is also my birthday) that the UK would vote to remain, to wondering how on earth the Republicans could even considered Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, I have been proved wrong on every occasion. Theresa May? Oh, she won’t hold a snap election. Jeremy Corbyn? He won’t be around as Labour leader for much longer. It’s just as well I’m not a betting woman!

Throughout this tumultuous year, my fellow Politics teachers - Mrs Garrill, Dr Coupland and Mr Phillips - have relished and dreaded each unfolding drama. Mrs Garrill and I gave a presentation to the school Governors in March, when we explained the challenges of teaching a subject whose content can (and does) change more rapidly than Chelsea replaces its managers. It was a pleasure to be able to tell the Governors how much the Politics department has evolved in the past few years and I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues for their support and humour as we enter unchartered waters both sides of the Pond.

Mrs Garrill and have been so fortunate this year to have taught the most amazing group of Year 13 students - they competed with each other in the best Channing way to outdo each other with their knowledge and forensic understanding of the American presidential election. I shall never forget the night of the election, receiving messages as they huddled together at one of their houses, staying up all night to follow the results as they rolled in. The final message from Amy Morris that read: “Mrs Devine, do something!” will stay with me for a long time. Our election breakfast the next morning reminded me of when England lost to Germany on penalties in 1990 in the semi-finals of the World Cup. You know that life will go on but it sure doesn’t feel like it!

However, as Politics teachers, our role is to explain and to educate - why did 50% of the UK vote ‘leave’? Why did Trump defeat Hillary Clinton? Why has there been

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a shift to the right in Europe?

As Year 13 tussled with the challenges of writing about President Trump, the Year 12 groups gamely tackled the thorny issues of Brexit, Corbyn’s appeal to the younger voter, the disappearance of UKIP and so on. Year 12 spent a day at a conference in central London where they listened to various politicians such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and John Bercow discuss the issues of the day - down the road from the conference, the Supreme Court was hearing Gina Miller’s challenge to Brexit. Never a dull moment!

As we said a fond (and tearful) goodbye to Year 13 in June, Mrs Garrill and I felt so proud that many of them were going on to study Politics or International Relations.

We hope they keep in touch and never lose their passion (and argumentativeness) as they embark on undergraduate courses or take gap years. Girls, it was our absolute pleasure.

Mrs Wendy Devine, Head of Politics

PSHE This has been an important year for PSHE in all schools. Currently, the Government is pursuing a range of objectives that it is seeking to achieve through PSHE, including teaching pupils to stay safe online, promoting mental health issues, and preventing sexual exploitation and radicalisation.

The Prevent Initiative is one of these objectives and it is designed to ‘prevent’ young people from being drawn into extremism. This is what I had in mind when I recently devised six new lessons designed to encourage pupils to be critical of the way that news is reported online and in the media, and to understand the dangers that extreme views can present in our communities.

PSHE lessons aimed at developing an awareness of teenage relationship abuse, honour killing, FGM and forced marriage would also be expected in any future compliance inspection. I am sure many of our pupils will be shocked to learn that, in 2017, girls as young as 12 are still being forced to marry men they have never met before. I have devised a series of lessons to ensure that pupils know what they should do if they believe a friend is being coerced, in relation to a number of issues, and to raise awareness of campaigns for women’s rights around the world.

As I write this article at the end of Summer Term, following an appalling week of news dominated by violence perpetrated by people who have been radicalised, I am conscious that PSHE lessons, more than ever, must try to make pupils aware of harmful influences. With balance in mind, I have also made sure that lessons about the inspirational work of humanitarian organisations, like the British Red Cross, have been added.

This year, in association with The Rap Project, we have trialled a Year 10 seminar about the potentially negative impact of pornography on the lives of young people today. I must thank Alison Harvey for putting together a highly informative session which achieved just the right balance of conscious-raising facts and humour. I have just booked for a return visit next year.

During Healthy Schools Week this year, we focussed on ‘healthy minds’ which involved a series of seminars, activities and assemblies.

Wendy MacLennan from Train Body Brain led sessions for pupils in Year 11 exploring the benefits of meditation combined with short periods of physical activity, and Nikki Levitan from Young Happy Minds gave seminars to Years 7 and 8 about developing and maintaining good mental

health. I must also mention an incredibly valuable talk given to parents by Aric Sigman who gave us all much to consider in his presentation about the ill-effects of too much screen time.

The big news for PSHE at Channing this year has been the addition of Natasha Zekan to the department. I am delighted that Ms Zekan, a well-qualified Health Educationalist, has taken on the role of Assistant Head of PSHE. She has focused on developing updated lessons for Drugs Education and Sex and Relationship Education this year. Her enthusiasm and energy have been hugely appreciated. Once again, the commitment and dedication of Form Tutors and Co-Tutors has been greatly valued, as have contributions from The RAP Project, The Teenage Cancer Trust and Up Front Theatre Company, who have all provided excellent workshops and seminars this year.

Mr Pete Gittins, Head of PSHE

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Religious Education The Department It has been an exceptionally exciting year for the Religious Education department at Channing!

The teaching space has had a significant amount of time and money invested into it and is now a treasure trove of artefacts, ornaments and imagery representative of each of the world’s major faiths in keeping with our Unitarian ethos.

I have received numerous comments from students concerning how much they enjoy learning in the environment that has been created and how it is serving to develop their appreciation of the beliefs and practices of the religions studied.

British Values A major drive of the department has been to embed the Fundamental British Values of Democracy, Respect for the rule of law, Individual liberty and Tolerance into the curriculum. This has been achieved by means of varied discussion and analysis in all years, with students applying these principles to a variety of topical and ethical issues.

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Year 8 Visit to Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Neasden Students in Year 8 visited the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in May as part of their unit of study on Hinduism. The weather was gorgeous and the Mandir looked stunning in all its finery, basking in the early summer sunshine. We were warmly welcomed by the Mandir staff who proceeded to take us on a guided tour around the various components of the Mandir as well as enabling us to observe a traditional aarti worship ceremony in the marble temple which was very well received by the girls, as was the traditional visit to the gift shop at the end of the morning.

Philosophy Film Club A new extra-curricular club known as ‘Filmosophical’ has been offered to students in Years 7 and 8 and has been very well received.

Members watch a selection of films which included philosophical and ethical themes which are identified and discussed at opportune moments. This provides an opportunity for students to further develop and hone their thinking skills, building on their work from their curriculum based Philosophy sessions. Examples of popular films from this year are ‘The Water Horse’ and ‘ The Never Ending Story’.

Visiting Speakers The carousel classes in Year 10 have continued to study the ethical issues raised through the practices of Abortion and Euthanasia. The course has been enhanced through the addition of sessions delivered by visiting speakers presenting both the pro-life and pro–choice positions on Abortion. The students have greatly enjoyed these sessions and the ensuing debates that have followed have been very lively!

GCSE Religious Education Finally, I must mention the Year 10 GCSE option class. This is the first group to embark on the new two year 9-1 specification. The students are now mid way through the course and I have been delighted by their energy and enthusiasm for the subject. They have been highly successful thus far and there are very positive signs that a great set of results is in the offing come August 2018. They are an absolute pleasure to teach! I am also very encouraged by the take up for next year from Year 9 and look forward to establishing a long tradition of success in this regard.

Mr Giles Headey, Head of Religious Education

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Science The Science Department year started on a high note with some very pleasing examination results.

More than 61% of the IGCSE Triple Award grades were A*, which was just reward for all of the hard work that Channing students put into their studies. As always, there are plenty of activities that take place outside of the classroom that allow students to extend themselves beyond the confines of the syllabus and, in the following review, we hope to give you a glimpse into the world of Channing Science.

lessons. Chemistry Club has allowed me to do things that I never thought I would do like making a beautiful crystal garden and it has sparked an interest in chemistry for me.’

Science Clubs are very popular and the following article by Darcey Hookway and Marnie Brittain in Year 12 shows how they not only give younger students the chance to carry out some fascinating experiments but also give the older students the opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

Another opportunity for students to use their imagination and build upon their knowledge is the Channing Science Essay Competition. This year, students were asked to write an essay on the following topic: ‘In which of the emerging technologies should we invest for a better future?’

‘In Biology Club, which takes place every Wednesday, a group of keen Year 7 students head to the labs for a variety of experiments.

Expanding their knowledge and deepening their interests, Biology Club offers experiments varying from human reaction tests to maggot racing and rat dissections. Unsurprisingly, Channing girls do not squirm at the thought of dissections, rather, they jump at the opportunity to watch such an investigation, allowing them to understand anatomy better through visualisation. Eye, fish, rat and heart dissections are by far our most popular sessions, with students desperate to gain a space in these sessions. Other experiments include isolating DNA from an onion, testing our reactions after consuming different drinks and creating mazes to race maggots. All of these investigations allow students to get extra practice in experiments and gain confidence in Biology. We have been grateful for the opportunity to engage with younger students. Biology Club has allowed us to gain confidence in teaching these students and gain a deeper understanding of the subject.

We have worked with Ms Arnold and Ms Shoham and are so happy to have become better leaders over this past academic year. We look forward to discovering what Biology Club has in store next year!’

The winning entry was submitted by Megan Khan in Year 10 and here is an extract from her essay.

‘Around the world there are people begging for food and dying of starvation, and the aim of many scientists is to work towards abolishing world hunger. This essay will talk about cultured beef and stem cell burgers and why it has the potential to be a solution that could feed many people and give them good food, nutrients and protein without harming any animals. Right now, it is a very hard and expensive process to produce stem cell burgers. The procedure sounds simple but the method is complicated. The first stem cell burger was made in 2013 with the help of Peter Verstrate, a Food Technician and board member of the InVitroment Foundation, which collects funds for the development of stem cell burgers.

Tissue is taken from a cow and their stem cells are extracted. Stem cells are grown into muscle fibres in a laboratory for six weeks. The cells are then incubated in a nutrient “broth” until they multiply many times over, creating a sticky tissue.

It is then bulked up and anchored to Velcro and then stretched. Twenty thousand muscle fibres are then coloured, minced and mixed with fats and shaped into burgers. The stem cell burger is then cooked like a normal burger.’

The following is an account by Anna Milsom in Year 8 of how much she has enjoyed Chemistry Club: ‘I attend Chemistry Club on a Thursday lunchtime and I love it! We do lots of interesting practicals, ranging from making your own slime or bouncy ball to watching a magic show involving dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) and carrying out amazing experiments involving fire! As well as doing fun experiments, we learn about the science behind the substances that we are using and relate it to what we are learning in our

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The star of Physics Club has been Meaghan Lawrence in Year 7. She carried out an impressive project on bridges, building replicas of some of the world’s most famous designs, and then gave an excellent assembly on the work that she had done.

The Middle School Science Competition and the Year 10 Science Competition are two of the highlights of the school year for the Science Department. Students are asked to give a five minute presentation on any aspect of science and, for the Year 10 competition, the presentation must include a demonstration using everyday items that can be found around the home. The winning entries included a demonstration of a robot, a fascinating talk about the eye, a demonstration of some of the incredible work of Archimedes and a most interesting presentation on how an object can be made to disappear if it is surrounded by a

medium of the same refractive index as itself.

In February, Sophie Sondhelm from Year 12 and Leora Cohen from Year 13 took part in the RSC Chemistry Olympiad and we congratulate Leora, who achieved a bronze certificate. Sophie had this to say about the competition: ‘Earlier this year, I took part in the Chemistry Olympiad - a challenging paper composed of questions that stretched me beyond classroom material. Even though it was a difficult paper, I enjoyed attempting to answer questions on topics that were completely new to me, and it was a wonderful taster of some of the chemistry that lies ahead in Year 13!’

Medical Discussion Group is another highlight of Channing Science. In the following article, Hessa Akram, Anna Mulkeen and Hannah O’Donohoe in Year 12 write about some of the activities that take place in this group.

‘Medical Discussion Group is a weekly club that aims to guide prospective medical, veterinary medical and dental students. The group has partaken in extensive preparation for the demanding university applications coming our way. We have practised our interview skills in role plays (including the wrapping of a tripod with christmas wrapping paper), as interviews for medicine and veterinary medicine may assess our dexterity and ability to collaborate on a given task.

We have worked across Year groups with Year 12 students learning from the experiences of the Year above. Throughout the year, we have also had many opportunities to make presentations, either in pairs, small groups or on our own. The topics have ranged from solo presentations on ovarian cryopreservation to group presentations on the history of the NHS. Medical Discussion Group has hosted two debates on the topics of doctors overprescribing antibiotics and where the blame for the NHS bed shortage lies. These debates provided us with the chance to talk passionately about subjects that interested us. They allowed us to further our knowledge and understanding of issues that are becoming increasingly important and to apply that knowledge in a setting where we could develop our public speaking skills.’

Alongside the many activities available in school, we offer challenges that take place externally. One such challenge is the Year 12 Biology Field Trip and the following article by Rachel Narunsky and Lorna Miller in Year 12 tells you more about it: ‘On the 15th and 16th of June, our Year 12 biology class travelled to the Epping Forest Field Studies Centre to learn about fieldwork

techniques and succession. We met on a warm, sunny day at 10am at Loughton tube station, despite severe delays on the northern line, and took taxis to the Epping Forest field centre where we met Lisa, who was our guide for the two days. In the classroom, we were taught about different sampling methods: random, systematic and stratified and the scenarios in which you would use each one. We made our way to a site called Pillow Mounds where we set out an interrupted belt transect in order to investigate the effect of trampling on vegetation, including the height of plants and the number of species present. After lunch, we were eager to head back out into the field to continue our investigations. We set out for Rushey Plain where we were to compare the differences in ground vegetation between areas of high and low light intensity, due to the variation in tree coverage.

There, we were introduced to some new and exciting equipment, such as a penetrometer. We used a random sampling technique to investigate the differences in the species composition within the two locations.

On the second day, with suncream applied and

hats on, we took a walk in the 28 degree heat to our first stop, an area where we would collect and count woodlice. Using the capture-markrelease-recapture method, we estimated the size of the woodlouse population, using a stratified sampling method. Next, we ventured deeper into the forest so as to collect small mammal traps that Lisa had set up earlier that morning. It was unlikely for them to contain any mammals, due to the relatively short amount of time during which they had been out. Nevertheless, we opened the traps and saw what they contained.

‘The traps used by the field centre are humane, containing bedding and food for the small mammals that may enter them, and are specially made so as not to injure the animals. As we expected, all of the traps were empty but we did get to see a hole in the metal trap that had been made by a vole. This was possible due to iron which is present in voles’ teeth, which make them strong enough to chew through the strong materials that are used to make the traps.

Following this, we returned to the classroom and began a new topic about succession. Succession is the change of the species structure of an

ecological community over time. We then went back out to the forest to investigate succession further and see it in real life. We visited three sites: Oak Plain, which has early succession, Rushey Plain, which has mid-late succession and Beech Hill, which has late succession. We recorded the differences in these sites, allowing us to see the effects of succession.’

As is often the case, there have been some new additions to the department and we have welcomed Ms McFadden and Ms Khizar to Channing Science and we wish Ms Kennedy well on her maternity leave. On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone in the department, both teaching staff and technicians, for all that they have done to make the role of Head of Science at Channing School so enjoyable and rewarding.

Mr Robin Jacobs, Head of Science

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Sport, PE & Games Sports Leaders 2016/17

The Sports Leaders Award has moved to a new level this year with 34 Year 10 students successfully completing the level 2 course. Throughout the year, they have been demonstrating their leadership skills, leading and assisting with Physical Education extra-curricular clubs across the community.

As part of the course they are required to organise and assist with planning and running an event. This year 20 students were an outstanding contribution to the Junior School Sports Day and thoroughly enjoyed running events for Key Stages 1 and 2.

The other 14 students organised and ran a Year 6 Athletics Cup for the Year 6 students at the Junior School. Well done to Grace Nash, who placed first, Imani Mokal-Russell placing second and Lana Wong in third place. Their certificates were presented at their last assembly for the year.

Overall, it has been another successful year for student leadership in the Physical Education Department and we encourage the girls to continue using their leadership skills throughout the community and at Channing.

Sports Day 2017

The weather delivered and Mr Hill again delivered the students safely to Parliament Hill Track in May.

The day traditionally commences with the 75m hurdles – Isabella Keane was easy to miss with a speedy finish, placing first in Year 7. Alexia Miller retained her title with the fastest 75m hurdle time across the school. Annabelle Lucas made a rapid start to her first Sports Day at Channing, placing first in the Year 7 100m. Also placing first in their year group was Amelia Crane, Amelia Jackson, Anna Biro and Indya Akinrinlola, one of our Sports Officers, who had the fastest time across the school with 12.36 seconds. Eve Edwards in Year 9 ran the quickest 200m time across the school; Amelia Crane jumped the furthest with a 4.10 metres leap into the long jump pit. It was a fantastic throwing effort from Eva O’Neill, placing first in Year 8 and was 5cm short of Romilly King’s, our other Sports Officer, javellin throw of 18.65 metres. Imagine how far Eva will be throwing when she arrives in Year 12!

In other field events Ella McCourt-Cox threw 7.9metres in shot put and Alexia Miller cleared 1.40m in the high jump.

Also, a special mention to the students who took part in the 800m; first placings to Flora Pickford in Year 7 (2min 44sec); Zara Coles, Year 8 (2min 58sec); Moselle Solomon Year 9 (2min 59sec): Martha Sayer, Year 10 (2.44.07); and Indya Akinrinlola, Year 12 (3min 22sec).

The day finished with the relays and the traditional staff versus year 12 relay. It is safe to say the staff still holds the title.

The day was filled with sunshine, cheering, music, ice-cream and enthusiasm. The Year 12s deserve a special mention on their last Sports Day who all ran the 800m together, also for their support and organisation on the day. Another successful Sports Day at Channing finishing with Goodwin in first place, 453 points, Sharpe in second place, 374 points, Spears in third place, 345 points and Waterlow in fourth place, 326 points. Well done to all competitors and thanks for everyone’s support on the day.

Netball in 2016-17

Our Netball results are improving every year.

As well as our regular fixtures against City of London School for Girls, Frances Holland, Highgate School and South Hampstead High School, we entered more competitions than in previous years.

We had another successful year across all age groups with all teams delivering more consistent performances and ‘wins’.

Some of the highlights of the year include: n Year 9A team maintaining their 100% record, winning all of their matches; n Year 8A team just missing out on 100% record, losing their last game of the season by one goal; n Year 10 teams winning two and losing two of their matches.

The U12 and U13 teams competed in 3 tournaments this year. The U13 team just missed out on semi-final places in both the Middlesex Schools’ Preliminary Tournament and the Middlesex County Schools’ Finals. Our U12 team came sixth in their group.

We also entered the Independent Schools Netball Cup (ISNC) competition for the first time this year, which we won through to the 2nd round losing to James Allen’s Girls’ School.

We are delighted that some of our talented Netballers have maintained their places in the England Netball’s Performance Programme.

Mali Akinrinlola, Tori Akinrinola and Inara Merali were again selected for Middlesex County’s Satellite Academy. Indya Akinrinlola also retained her place in the London & South East Regional Academy and was also selected for the Superleague team squad - Mavericks Youth Netball Performance League.

Barbados Netball tour

Twenty four students and three staff were lucky enough to travel to Barbados for a magical Netball tour of the Island. We had a long flight and when we landed it was immediately apparent that we were all going to struggle with the hot and humid conditions.

We were delighted when we arrived in our resort; the beach and surrounding area were beautiful.

After dinner we had an early night exhausted from our travels. The next morning we had a slow start, lounging around on the beach acclimatising to the weather conditions before our first netball match in the evening. Our opponents were a local club team Clapham Blitz. We were won over by their warmth and friendliness; they were so pleased that we had come to play them. Our teams struggled in the humid and sometimes damp conditions. Our A team won but our B and C teams lost close, competitive matches.

The following day saw us play the strongest school netball team on the island, Springer Academy. We felt privileged to experience a school in a different country. The competition was fierce and we were all amazed at the athleticism of our opposition.

We lost all of our matches but felt enriched by the experience.

The next day saw us head out for an Island Safari.

This was a real highlight of the trip, giving us the opportunity to explore some of the more remote parts of the island including the inland villages, the rugged east coast and the surf beaches of Bethsheba and Crane.

Our third opponents, Queens College, followed

the next day. The opposition was challenging but we managed to win two out of our three matches.

We also played our final fixtures the following day against club team Newbury ballers. Our C team was victorious but the A and B teams struggled against some strong opposition but we enjoyed playing our matches in front of most of the local village.

On our final full day of the tour we went on a catamaran cruise. We had the opportunity to sail along the coast and swim with the local turtles. We all thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, experiencing the beauty of Barbados from a different angle.

In the evening we headed to Oistins fish fry for dinner. The range of seafood was amazing and we enjoyed a tasty meal and the carnival atmosphere.

We were all sad to be leaving Barbados to return back to the UK. The trip was an amazing cultural and sporting experience that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Volleyball at Channing

situations. As volleyball is fast becoming more and more popular in schools, Channing hosted a mini tournament in the Autumn Term. Two Channing teams competed against teams from Camden School for Girls and Central Foundation School Girls’ School. Our teams, comprising Year 9 and 10 students Eliane Carter, Constance Froment, Giulia Galli, Natasja Collins, Aybala Rose, Beth Warren, Sarah Haskell, Lottie Simmonds and Isabella Lowe showed exceptional teamwork, competing against more experienced teams. After a shy start in the first game, both Channing teams grew more confident and played some fantastic volleyball, building up three-touch attacks and serving over-arm. It was a fantastic afternoon filled with outstanding skill and teamwork. With such volleyball potential amongst our students, Miss Wijmeersch is looking forward to expand the sport at Channing next year.

Miss Suzanne Della-Porta, Director of Physical Education and Sport Development

At Channing, students have the opportunity to develop their volleyball skills in our weekly lunchtime club. They learn to set, dig and spike the ball, and play modified four versus four game

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Sports Teams NETBALL

Girls who competed in 2016 - 17

Year 7

Year 9

Year 11

Anna Haag Alice Metcalf Anna Whelan Annabelle Lucas Celine Obadiah Edith Cartmell Eliana Samonas Elowen Woad Emily Gosden Flora Pickford Hana Dulson Harper Gallacher Isabella Keane Lara MacKay Maddie Rymer Olivia Seddon Deane Rachel Bezalel Renee Shields Ruby Awenat Ruby Saville Sasha Blendis Sienna Ransford Sienna Thompson Simran Saggar Ursula Warshaw Maria Aleksanyan Lucy Selfe Olivia Bendell Charis Bone Lorna Goldman

Anna Mitchell Bella Lowe Eve Edwards Freya Thompson Georgia Walsh Giulia Galli Inara Merali Jess Berlin Juliet Freeman Charlotte Simmonds Lydia Edmonds Maddie Macleod Niamh Walter Sefia Merali

Ella Blendis Chiara Ispani Bianca Stapleton India Wood Katie Style

Year 8 Alexia Miller Charlotte Parrott Charlotte Woolley Eva O’Neill Gemma Selby Jasmine Patra Jessica MacDonald Julia Bispham Mali Akinrinlola Amelia Crane Mitzi Robinson Sophia Baum Tori Akinrinlola Zara Coles

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Year 10 Tabitha Cartmell Eliane Carter Shehnaz Cuerdo Martha Sayer Laura Cipootti-Ranieri Rebecca Hjelt Silvia Allen Megan Khan Anna Wickens Anna Western Abigail Summerfield Evie Mellman Lucy Robinson Marianna Papanastassiou Jenkins Matilda Sumners

Year 12 Ruby Bond Zoe Thompson Ella McCourt-Cox Romilly King Year 13 Alice Murnaghan Abi Sidwell Hannah Teeger

Year 7 Rounders Maddie Rymer Celine Obadiah Annabelle Lucas Anna Whelan Olivia Bendall Renee Shields Sienna Thompson Sasha Blendis Anna Haag Edie Cartmell Catrin Papanastassiou Jenkins Alice Metcalf Harper Gallagher Emily Gosden Maria Aleksanyan Lucy Selfe Aliya Jami Charis Bone Artemis Partisides Flora Pickford Year 8 Rounders Lulu Hardy Zara Kevy Antonina Hagopian Saniya Jain Katie Delew Eva O’Neill Zara Coles Sofia Lejonvarn Hermione Lobb Jessica McDonald Antonia Hanon-Thresh Ella Begley Amelie Lawlor Charisse Bajaj Niamh Eisenberg Annabel Gotto Amelia Crane Charlotte Parrott Layla Daulatzai Ria Menon Cicely Stokes Charlotte Woolley

Year 9 Rounders Beth Warren Asha Persaud Giulia Galli Daria Greshneva Chloe Grossmark-Dwek Charlotte Free Annika Anand Sarah Haskel Lisa Dangoor Freya Thompson Anna Mitchell Eve Edwards Inara Merali Sefia Merali Amy Abrahams Ria Kovacs Lara Dailey Year 7 Football Alice Grey Matilda Okohmina

Year 8 Football Hermione Lobb Sofia Lejonvarn Ella Begley Jasmine Patra Antonia Hanon Thresh Year 9 Football Asha Persaud Daria Greshneva Nadeen Jumah Megan Dearden Hallawell Lisa Dangoor Year 10 Football Charlotte Marshall Natasja Collis Year 8 Volleyball Charisse Bajaj Year 9 Volleyball Giulia Galli Beth Warren Sarah Haskell Lottie Simmonds Freya Thomson Isabella Lowe Year 10 Volleyball Natasja Collis Constance Froment

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Beyond the Senior School Classroom Middle School Creative Writing Club... …is a little like Mary Poppins’ famous handbag: each week, we never know what new fantastical phrase or mote of inspiration will emerge from the depths of a Middle Schooler’s mind! This year we have been motivated by the shining, insideout syntax of e.e.cummings, and have become transformers of some forgotten, alien words of the English language, writing our own creative definitions in the form of short prose-poems.

Jazzy poets like Gwendolen Brooks have helped us respond to the musicality of poetry through their sounds and music, and even a special set of ‘magic and fairy-tale’ dice prompted some excellent openings for 500-word stories. What is repeatedly impressive is how our usual suspects show up week on week to roam fearlessly into the wild with their imaginations, and how each girl puts pen to paper with admirable courage and confidence. In this year’s anthology, Everywhere and Nowhere, we have assembled some of our favourite pieces, which we hope you will enjoy. Here are just a few nuggets to whet your appetites…and maybe to inspire you to get scribbling away fast and furiously yourself!

Poems from our e.e.cummings workshop: the day in half term the day in half term was brightly; shining sun (for that day) was glorious in its skies cloudless blue this day makes wings (have) the wondrous world fizzyhappy because the green mint grass as the today you feel like you are trampoline on bounce (up) (up) because life.

Nura Bentata, 8HF Spirits of Trees I wake with the spirits of trees in my heart, with you in my head.

I wake with the pale pinks of rose buds settled upon lips (yours).

I wake with stars on my face (they kiss).

The Maysun honey rays are like.

Your eyes the blues of gems.

Florence Coleman, 7S

drops to the ground; or, the softened pages of a damp book; or flaup – the smell of wet air after heavy rain; or, the pat-pat of rain against glass.

you think your Lela knew In some other time: La luna blanca.

Freya Calder, 7E

There, breathing gentle blues Out, and out Tuning the thrum of fizzling lights Down by the waterfront To an even key.

Wazbird, noun: a wish on a solitary star surrounded only by engulfing darkness; or, wazbird - the furry friend of a pixie, small, gentle but bursting with energy; or, wazbird - a magical bird that flies with the wind whispering to it as she flies along; or, wazbird - a spell that sends one into a long, deep, sleep; or, wazbird - a small river in an overgrown forest.

Louisa Tait, 7S Flapsy, adjective: a frivolous, playful, informal person; someone who takes life as a joke, and, though they may be adult, will never grow up; or, someone whose promises and dreams crumble to dust; or, someone who never takes anything seriously or faces reality; or, someone who is disorganised and lazy, with a tendency to panic at the last minute; or flapsy – someone who hides the fear of sincerity beneath a grinning mask; or flapsy – someone who has spent years being jovial and light-hearted, and only realises they need to change after it is too late.

Sophie Winch, 7E

Senior Creative Writing ‘Poetry is when an emotion has found thought and the thought has found words.’

In this statement, the great American poet Robert Frost encapsulates a significant aspect of what we have been doing this year in Channing’s Senior Creative Writing Group. A small band of girls from the Upper School and Sixth Form meet once a week to explore and discuss poetry, to write and to share work in progress. For young people, developing a sense of identity, reflecting on the world around them and finding their place in it can be an absorbing, intellectually demanding and emotional business. Creative writing is, for many, a way of transforming feelings into ideas which can then be explored, developed and made manifest in language.

Thoughts find words; hopes, dreams and fears are shared and memories are immortalised in words on the page. It is a true delight to witness the creativity, originality and commitment of Channing’s young writers at work.

Mrs Helen Kanmwaa

Prose-poems from ‘Lost Definition’ workshop

2006 Summer Moon

Flaup, noun: the flap of a fish’s tale; or, a clump of wet sand, caking around an object; or, a half-hearted flap of a duck’s wing, overturning waterplants in its wake; or, a wet leaf while it

Pressed above the easy cloud Of cicada song, The warm scent Of some siren flower Whose name perhaps

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Steady and still enough To waver in the palms Of children Drawn to open windows Like mayflies to mirror pools By a gazing beacon Which sees them now, And perhaps again In some other time.

And across that stretch of tapering light Another land is seen the same Under the soft and patient stare dying stars break their falls as snow.

Jemima Wickham

Year 8 Book Club One of the highlights of Year 7/8 Book Club’s year was when we morphed into the Channing Shadowers in April. Each year, judges of the Carnegie Medal, a national children’s book award, invite young readers to shadow them by reading and and voting on the shortlisted books. This scheme runs a superb web site and the shadowers had their own blog where they wrote book reviews and voted for their favourite books. They also created a short video about some of the books on the list. Having enjoyed a Skype interview with the author of ‘Salt to the Sea’, Ruta Sepetys, many of us were drawn to her novel: it’s a moving account of four characters migrating across northern Europe at the end of World War Two. Those of us who read the book enjoyed its structure, Sepetys’ sensitive characterisation and her control, and we weren’t surprised that this was the ultimate winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Debating Club 2016-2017 ‘This House believes in rights for elves’ was the motion for this year’s Christmas Debate.

Proposing (for Goodwin) was the assertive Georgia Clarke, the venerable Emily Oulton and the cool-headed Isabel Rubens and opposing (for Spears) was the poised Sima Shakib, the crowdpleasing Ella McCourt-Cox and the passionate Amy Morris. The debate was chaired and timed

by Head Girl, Tabitha Ashley-Norman, and judged

by Mrs Elliott and Ms Evernden. The debate was lively and the girls argued their points with conviction. It was a closely fought contest, but Goodwin eventually triumphed.

School Charity Report

Fundraising for the ‘Capital Challenge’ has brought in some exciting and zany ideas: Mrs Elliot’s Skyfall, Pupil-Headteacher Swap and a Shakespeare reciting House competition, all of which were very successful. The Shakespeare competition took place in early October 2016, marking the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death. This house event encouraged all pupils, from 4 to 18 years old, to learn as much of a Shakespearean speech as possible. It was challenging but thoroughly enjoyable. With bonus house points for costumes, the Junior School had made some beautiful props, from wands to swords, and all girls and teachers wore different costumes, from kilts to togas! It is certain to say that we were all surprised and thrilled to welcome Queen Elizabeth I, Mrs Elliott, making a royal entrance in a Elizabethan-esque dress and adorned in a crown fit for a queen. As a collective effort we raised £9,600, which went towards the completion of the fabulous new Performing Arts Building.

The school charity for 2016-17, voted for by all pupils, was the Simon Community; an incredible local charity which aims to alleviate the isolation of people sleeping rough. They provide homeless people with places to sleep and even roam the streets of London to hand out tea and coffee and sit down to talk to people. The girls all got

very involved with numerous very successful charity weeks and cake sales held in aid of the Simon Community. For the first time, the officers held their own charity fair which was especially triumphant thanks to the Head Girls’ ‘Sponge the Teachers’ stand. Overall, the girls managed to raise a total of £5,697 for the Simon Community throughout the year. This will all be put towards the Simon Community to continue their soup and tea runs and continue to give, not only financial, but emotional support, to the increasing number of people sleeping rough in London.

managed to raise over £1,000 in just under a week. It was an incredible accomplishment and one that will certainly help to make a difference for the families affected by the fire.

Ella McCourt-Cox and Rachel Shamoon, Charity Officers

Of course, there were many other opportunities for the girls to get involved with fundraising which weren’t connected to either the Simon Community or the Capital Challenge. For example, the Pink Day in which all the girls came in wearing pink clothing and accessories in support of the Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundation. As well as this, the Crisis for Christmas concert managed to raise almost £700, thanks to the incredible performers who took part. One very important fundraising event was also the emergency bucket collection held to raise money for the people who have suffered due to the Grenfell Tower disaster on 14th June 2017. The girls all felt so strongly about this cause and everyone made sure that they had put something into the buckets. In the end, we

69

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is intended to introduce worthwhile leisure activities and voluntary service, as a challenge to the individual to discover the satisfaction of achievement and as a guide for those people and organisations who would like to encourage the development of their younger fellow-citizens.

The Award is organised into four sections: Volunteering

participants give practical service to individuals and to the community; for example, mentoring younger pupils, assisting at a charity shop or helping to maintain footpaths in the countryside.

Skill

participants follow and make progress in a skill of their choice; for example, playing an instrument, learning a new language or attending a cooking class.

Sport

participants follow and make progress in a sport of their choice; for example keep-fit, swimming or martial arts.

Each section should be attended once a week for an hour and should total between 3 and 18 months, depending on which Award is followed.

Expeditions

participants must undertake one practice and one assessed expedition of walking and camping. Bronze expeditions take place in the New Forest in June and the Chilterns in September. Silver expeditions take place in Box Hill at the start of the summer term and the South Downs at the end of the summer term. Gold expeditions take place in Brecon in October half term for the practice and the assessed, in either Exmoor, Galloway or The Peaks at the end of the summer term.

Residential - for the Gold Award, participants must also undertake a Residential. This involves spending five days and four nights away from home on a shared residential activity with people you have never met before.

Channing School is its own Operating Authority and offers the Award at all 3 levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Bronze level starts in the Spring term in Year 9, Silver in the Spring term in Year 10 and the Gold in the Autumn term in Year 12.

Channing and the D of E Team are very grateful to all those people who give up their time to help all of those who participate in this very worthwhile scheme.

Monica Yun, DoE Manager and Gold Leader

The Bronze Award This year, more than 80 girls followed the Award scheme. Every girl has organised the first 3 sections; volunteering, skill and sport. Ms Wijmeersch, Ms DellaPorta, Ms Zekan and Mrs Smith have been training these girls every week to ensure that they are fit and ready for their expeditions. The girls have completed their practice expedition and should be submitting all of their evidence on to their eDoE account. If they are considering the Silver Award, they should aim to complete the Bronze Award by February half-term in Year 10.

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Bronze Participants 2017 Rebekah Treganna Chloe Grossmith-Dwek Morgan Dropkin Sarah Haskel Charlotte Free Daria Purik Rayna Rowe Saskia Kirkegaard Chiara Saacke Maggie Harding-Whittlesea Katya Butler Honey Mynett Olga Galogre Amy Claypoole Aimee Fluet Freya Thompson Xanthe Melikian Clara Slater Amy Abrahams Rachel Fenner Sarisha Toyne Maddie Macleod

Bella Lowe Anita Higgs Georgia Walsh Lydia Edmonds Niamh Walter Charlotte Simmonds Giulia Galli Beth Warren Juliet Freeman Asha Persaud Vera Cohen Emilia Evans-Munton Emma Zinkin Emily Luong Sefia Merali Charlotte Bradberry Hannah Schlenker Kate Lipton Sophia Pears Gabbie Shahmoon Alacoe Frost Hannah Davis Olivia Ferraro

Lucy Narunsky Chiara Lewis Yelena Hill Lili Kyriacou Anna Mitchell Mia Abrams Cocoa Wagner Lisa Dangoor Alix Cronshaw Lily Blue Harper Daria Greshneva Lara Simler Amelia Jackson Khadija Rehman Lara Dailey Kit Lampi Julia Conti-Gemes Nora Jovine Melissa Redman Anna Vershkova Antonie Benkert Anika Anand Inara Merali

Marlena Jackaman Sarla Murray Stefania Grossu Kate Ivanova Lucy Simpson Sui-Lin Le-Carson Daisy Boo Oliver Lily Bea Howe Yasmin Ghobadian Ria Kovacs Jessica Berlin Annika Woodward Moselle Solomon Eve Edwards Maja Higgins Nadeen Jumah Lily Waltasaari Megan Dearden-Hellawell Audrey Scher Bella Khavari Rebecca Fenner Kate Kamysheva Maeve Gallagher

The Silver Award More than 40 girls from Year 10 followed the scheme at the Silver level. All girls have completed their expeditions in Boxhill and the South Downs and should be finishing the other elements of the Award. Ms Zanardo, Mr Riggs-Long along with the D of E Team, enjoyed the training day with the girls earlier this Spring and everyone rose to the challenge. If girls are considering the Gold Award, they should aim to complete their Silver Award before they reach 16 years of age.

Practice: 22–24 April 2017, North Downs. The weather was much kinder than in previous years and all girls were home on the third day in record time.

Assessed: 2-4 July 2017, South Downs.

The weather was hot, but with a nice breeze. All students coped well with the conditions and they showed great determination and courage to get up and down those devilish South Downs. All have passed their expedition: now it is simply their paperwork that has to be uploaded to complete the award.

Silver Participants 2017: Silvia Allan Millicent Angel Isabella Atkinson Elena Binns Clementine Butler Brown Eliane Carter Tabitha Cartmell Riana Chandaria Laura Cipolotti Ranieri Hannah Conyerd Anna Cornish

Poppy Critchlow Shehnaz Cuerdo Hannah Fernando Constance Froment Geraldine Glaser Eryn Gold Natasha Gough Miriam Hammell Evie Haward Maryam Kadar Megan Khan Sophie Lewis

Saskia Lonergan Charlotte Marshall Sofia Mastrogiacomo Una Maynard Eleonora Megaro Bridie Milsom Lily Neil Poppy Oliver Marianna Papanastassiou Jenkins Emily Rea Alice Ryb Martha Sayer

Sophie Scott Eshanika Sharma Abigail Summerfield Anna Tefoglou Petra Turville Underwood Jiawei Wang Anna Western Anna Wickens Holly Williams Florence Wright

This year, nearly 30 girls from Year 12 followed the scheme at Gold level. All girls have completed their practice expedition in Brecon, and about to embark on their assessed expedition to Exmoor. Mr Hill and Ms Yun have been training the girls every Thursday lunchtime tweaking and fine tuning their skills in preparation for their expeditions. Girls have until age 25 to complete the Gold Award. Once all sections have been approved, an invitation to St James’ or Buckingham Palace will be posted out within 12 months. This is a very special occasion and one that they and their guest will never forget!

Gold Participants 2017:

Alice West Hannah O’Donohoe Helena Bills Ella McCourt Cox Agatha Barber Rachel Narunsky Manon Gibbs

Lorna Miller Ksenia Galore Lily-Belle Elgood Leah Longley Davina Dempsey Zoe Thompson Sylvia Shoshan Sophie Sondhelm

Romilly King Fay Franklyn Hessa Akram Amelia Khavari Molly Tackaberry Victoria Grindley Maya Krasnik Rawlings Jemima Wickham

Niamh O’Carroll Maisie Cartmell Ella Sunnucks Aston Wagner Marnie Brittain Annie Glinert

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72

73

Results, Prizes & Awards

74

The Mrs Sydney Martineau Prize and The Alice Lucas Prize for Service to the School (Combined)

Tabitha Ashley-Norman & Georgia Clarke, Year 13

The Emma Ann Howard Prize for services to charity

Emily Oulton & Orla Webster, Year 13

The Atkinson Prize for Classics/Latin

Emily Oulton, Year 13

The Bailey Prize for Physics

Hollie Gold, Year 13

The Bell Prize for Mathematics

Zoe Steele, Year 13

The Bell Prize for Music

Alexandra Moss, Year 13

The Bergman Cup for Poetry

Jemima Wickham, Year 12

The Mary Boyle Prize for Chemistry

Emmanuelle Hagopian, Year 13

The Brunner House English Cup

Georgia Walsh, Year 9

The Catto Prize for Art

Sarah Moorhouse, Year 12

The Channing Prize for Contribution to the School

Antonia Sรกnchez, Year 13

The Channing Prize for French

Lucy Benjamin, Year 13

The Channing Prize for Geography

Lisa Buckland, Year 13

The Channing Prize for History (Joint)

Una Yates & Tara Gold, Year 13

The Channing Prize for Politics

Lois Pennington, Year 13

The Channing Prize for Spanish

Hollie Gold, Year 13

The Channing Prize for Sport

Sofia Lejonvar, Year 8

The Draper Prize for Art

Scarlett Johnstone, Year 13

The Frances Macrae Prize for English (Joint)

Lucy Benjamin & Emily Oulton, Year 13

The Fraser and Russell Prize for Economics

Eloise Gibbins, Year 13

The Gemma Hannan Prize for Research

Emma Zinkin, Year 9

The Giles Prize for Improvement in Maths

Tiana Parti, Year 10

The Alexandra Wylie Cup for all-round Amazingness

Eva Kyriacou, Year 13

The Greedy Goblet Middle School History Prize

Rebekah Treganna, Year 9

The Harvard Club Prize for Scholarship and High Character

Sarah Moorhouse, Year12

The Harper Prize for Star of the Year

Sasha Blendis, Year 7

The Hayball Prize for Biology

Tabitha Ashley-Norman, Year 13

The Henney Prize for Computer Graphics

Aliya Jami, Year 7

The Hines Trophy for Physical Education

Eloise Gibbins, Year 13

The JP Howe Prize for Singing

Maja Higgins, Year 9

The Hurst Cup for Drama

Emily Hill, Year 13

The Linguists Cup

Eloise Gibbins, Year 13

The Madame Millar Prize for Languages

Chiara Lewis, Year 9

The McNulty Prize for Music

Beatrix Greenwood, Year 13

The Mellor Prize for Art (Upper School)(joint) Alex Chong; Poppy Critchlow; Amy Eden, Year 10 The Anne Mendoza Prize for Music

Leora Cohen, Year 13

The Merritt Cup for all-round contribution to the School

Riana Chandaria, Year 10

The Shurman Prize for Creative Writing

Sophie Sondhelm, Year 12

The Sonneborn Prize for Singing

Rebecca Fenner, Year 9

The Spears Travel Award

Phoebe Hart, Year 13

The Stanley Prize (Middle School)

Maeve Gallagher, Year 9

The Strong Prize for Music

Elizabeth Orr, Year 13

The Sutherland Smith Prize for Middle School Science

Kit Lampi,Year 9

The Chris Thomas Memorial Cup for Swimming

Sophie Murray, Year 8

75

Leavers’ Destinations 2017

76

SUBJECT

UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT

UNIVERSITY

Zoology Pharmacy English Geography Biochemistry Early Childhood Education and Care Medicine Film & Television English Sociology History History Music Art Foundation Modern Languages History Applied Psychology Music Anthropology Classics History Chemistry with Environmental & Sustainable Chemistry and a Year Aboad History English Literature Psychology English and French English and Film Studies with Study Abroad Medicinal Chemistry History / Theatre Studies Social Anthropology Medicine

Aberystwyth Bath Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham

Engineering

King’s College, London

Medicine English & Philosophy Arabic and Spanish Geography International Management Veterinary Science Geography with International Study Economics Politics Interior Design History Geography Business Management Pharmacology (with year in industry) History History Music History International Business (Spanish) Politics International Relations and Politics Engineering Mathematics Economics and Psychology International Relations / Human, Social and Political Science Natural Sciences Pharmacy Mathematics Chemistry Hispanic Studies with French Psychology Molecular Biology

Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Liverpool

Brighton Bristol Bristol Bristol Bristol Cambridge Cambridge Cambridge City & Guilds Durham Durham Durham Durham Durham Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh Exeter Exeter Kent Kent King’s College, London

Manchester Manchester Manchester Manchester Met Newcastle Nottingham Nottingham Nottingham Trent Oxford Oxford Oxford Oxford Regent’s London Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield Surrey Sussex Tokyo (full scholarship) UCL UCL UCL UCL Warwick York York

77

GCSE Results 2017 (2016 results in brackets) A* GRADES 58.4% (53.4.%) A* GRADES; A GRADES 25.4% (30.4%); B GRADES 11.7% (13.5%); C GRADES 3.6%(2.4%); D GRADES 0.7% (0.6%); E GRADES 0.1%(0 %) A* & A GRADES 83.8% (83.5%).

NUMBER ENTERED

A*

A

B

C

D

E

Art & Design

35(37)

20(20)

6(12)

7(5)

2(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Biology*

77(68)

56(46)

14(12)

5(6)

2(3)

0(1)

0(0)

Business & Communications

19(22)

4(3)

10(11)

4(6)

1(2)

0(0)

0(0)

Chemistry*

76(66)

48(39)

16(13)

6(9)

5(4)

0(1)

1(0)

Classical Civilisation

18(8)

3(3)

4(4)

7(1)

3(0)

1(0)

0(0)

Drama

13(16)

2(3)

9(7)

2(5)

0(1)

0(0)

0(0)

English*

83(76)

69(54)

12(20)

2(2)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

English Literature*

83(76)

58(41)

22(33)

5(2)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

French*

45(35)

19(22)

15(6)

8(5)

2(2)

1(0)

0(0)

Geography

49(43)

33(29)

14(11)

2(3)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

German*

5(4)

2(3)

3(1)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Greek

8(6)

5(4)

1(2)

1(0)

0(0)

1(0)

0(0)

History

56(48)

30(26)

11(12)

13(8)

2(0)

0(2)

0(0)

Latin

36(27)

21(23)

11(4)

3(0)

1(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Mathematics**

83(40)

48(2)

28(14)

7(21)

0(2)

0(1)

0(0)

Mathematics: Methods**

0(36)

0(22)

0(12)

0(2)

0

0

0

Mathematics: Applications**

0(36)

0(11)

0(22)

0(3)

0

0

0(0)

Music

10(8)

5(0)

5(8)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Physics*

74(56)

36(33)

18(11)

13(8)

8(4)

0(0)

0(0)

Science: Dual Award*

12(16)

0(0)

4(5)

3(10)

1(1)

3(0)

0(0)

Spanish*

40(52)

24(32)

6(12)

7(8)

3(0)

0(0)

0(0)

SUBJECT

78

A* - C GRADES 99.1%(99.4 %).

A level Results 2017 (2016 results in brackets) A* GRADES 23.7%(26.3%); A GRADES 41.6%(43.2%); B GRADES 23.2%(21.3%); C GRADES 8.8%(6.7%); D GRADES 2.6%(2.1%); E GRADES 0%(0.5%).

A* - B % GRADES = 88.4% (90.7%).

A* – E % GRADES =100% (100%)

NUMBER ENTERED

A*

A

B

C

D

E

Art & Design

9 (12)

3(8)

4(4)

2(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Biology

20(14)

7(5)

8(3)

3(3)

2(2)

0(1)

0(0)

Chemistry

18(17)

5(4)

10(6)

1(3)

1(3)

1(0)

0(1)

Classical Civilisation

2(5)

0(1)

2(3)

0(1)

0(0)

0(0)

0 (0)

Drama & Theatre Studies

2(4)

0(1)

0(3)

1(0)

1(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Economics

14(15)

3(4)

5(8)

6(2)

0(1)

0(0)

0(0)

English Literature

15(18)

6(12)

4(5)

4(1)

1(0)

0(0)

0(0)

French

10(8)

2(1)

5(7)

2(0)

1(0)

0(0)

0(0)

2(3)

2(1)

0(0)

0(1)

0(1)

0(0)

0(0)

11(11)

4(1)

4(6)

3(4)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(3)

0(0)

0(1)

0(2)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

17(18)

3(2)

7(8)

4(5)

3(3)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

19(17)

2(3)

7(8)

3(6)

5(0)

2(0)

0(0)

5(7)

2(3)

2(2)

1(2)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

28(26)

5(5)

11(11)

8(5)

2(3)

2(2)

0(0)

Music

4(3)

1(0)

2(2)

1(1)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Physics

4(3)

0(0)

1(2)

2(1)

1(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Spanish

10(8)

0(0)

7(4)

3(3)

0(0)

0(1)

0(0)

SUBJECT

Further Mathematics Geography German Government & Politics Greek(Ancient) History Latin Mathematics

79

Senior Leadership Team Headmistress: MRS B M ELLIOTT MA (Cantab) Modern and Medieval Languages Bursar: R K J HILL OBE MA ACMA Deputy Head: MR A J UNDERWOOD MEd (Cantab) Theology Director of Studies: MRS K THONEMANN MA (Oxon) Mathematics Head of Junior School: MRS L LAWRANCE B. PRIM. ED (Hons) (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) Director of Sixth Form: MS J NEWMAN BA (Leicester) Director of Marketing: MRS H GETHING BA (Glam) Director of Development: MISS H TRANTER BA Hons PGCE (Herts)

Senior School Academic Staff NAME

80

Miss N ANDERSON

BSc (Bristol)

Geography

Miss C ARNOLD

BSc (Nottingham)

Biology Teacher

Ms S BEENSTOCK

BA (Leeds)

English : part-time

Mrs G BHAMRA BURGESS

BA (London)

Economics, Assistant Head of Middle School (Year 9)

Mr P BOXALL*

GRSM ARCO (Royal Academy of Music)

Director of Music

Mr A BOARDMAN*

BA (Durham)

Head of Geography, Assistant Director of Studies

Miss J BRAMHALL

BA (Oxon)

Geography

Dr M BREMSER

DPhil (Oxon)

English & Critical Thinking, Oxbridge Programme Coordinator : part-time

Mr D CORAM

BA (Dunelm) MA (London)

Classics

Dr B COUPLAND

PhD (Exeter)

History, Head of Careers

Mr P DAURAT

BEd (Huddersfield)

Mathematics

Ms A DERBYSHIRE

MA (Goldsmiths)

Art : part-time

Mrs W DEVINE*

BA (Reading)

Head of Politics, Publications Manager

Ms S DELLA-PORTA*

BEd (Australia)

Head of Physical Education

Dr N DEVLIN

MA, DPhil (Oxon)

Classics : part-time

Mrs S ELLIOT*

BA (Cantab)

Head of Classics

Miss P EVERNDEN *

MA (Cantab)

Head of English

Miss L FEILDEN

BA (Brighton College of Art)

Art : part-time

Mr S FRANK*

BSc (Birmingham)

Head of Biology

Miss S-L FUNG

BSc (Coventry)

Physics

Mrs C GARRILL

BA (Leicester)

Politics : part-time

Mr P GITTINS *

BA (Wolverhampton)

Art, Head of PSHE, Assistant Head of Middle School

Mr P PHILLIPS*

BA (Leicester)

Head of History

Mrs R HARPER

BA (Kent) ALAM

English, Head of Middle School

â—Š left Channing

NAME Mr A HAWORTH *

MA RCA

Head of Art

Mr G HEADEY*

BA (Durham)

Head of Religious Education,

Mrs B HERNANDEZ

BA (Alicante)

Spanish, French : part-time

Mr M HOLMES*

BSc (City of London Polytechnic)

Head of Information and Communication Technology

Miss A HOSSEINI*

BSc (London)

Head of Chemistry

Miss L HUNTER

BA (London)

History

Ms K HURST

MA (East Anglia)

Head of Drama

Mr R JACOBS *

BA (Oxon)

Head of Physics, Head of Science

Mrs H KANMWAA

BA (Oxon)

English

Mrs A KENNEDY

MSc (London)

Chemistry : part-time

Miss C LONG*

MA (London)

Head of French

Ms T MacCARTHY

BSc (Edinburgh)

Mathematics, Head of Upper School

Mrs S MAHMOOD

BSc (Alberta)

Chemistry : part-time

Miss R McFADDEN

BSc (London)

Chemistry

Miss T NELL

History of Art : part-time

Miss H O’SULLIVAN

BSc (Birmingham)

Physical Education

Miss V PENGLASE

BA (London)

Drama and Theatre Studies : part-time

Ms Y RABET*

BA UHB (France)

Head of Modern Foreign Languages, Head of Spanish

Miss I RAMSDEN

BA (Oxon)

Librarian : part-time

Mr D RIGGS-LONG

BSc (London)

Mathematics : part-time

Miss S SALMON

MA (London)

Geography

Mrs D SHOHAM

BSc (Birmingham)

Biology: part-time

Dr C SPINKS

PhD (Manchester)

Chemistry

Mrs H SELF

BA (Nottingham)

English : part-time

Ms A STÖCKMANN*

MA (Westfaelische Wilhelms)

Head of German

Miss M WILKES

BA (London)

Spanish and French

Ms E WIJMEERSCH

MA (Belgium)

Physical Education

Ms K WILKINSON

BA (East Anglia)

English, Assistant Head of Upper School

Mrs R WILLIAMS

BSc (London)

Mathematics: part-time

Mr P WILLIAMSON*

BEd (Huddersfield)

Head of Maths

Mrs C WOLTON

BA (London

Modern Foreign Languages : part-time

Miss A YASAMEE

MA (Manchester)

Librarian

Ms M YUN

BSc (London)

Mathematics : part-time

Miss L ZANARDO

BA-MUS (Australia)

Assistant Director of Music, Acting Assistant Head of Upper School

Ms N ZEKAN

BEd (Australia)

Physical Education

Mrs D ZULUAGA DE LA CRUZ

MA (France)

French : part-time

* = Head of Department

* = Head of Department

81

Junior School Academic Staff

82

Miss C BOLTON

BA (Northampton)

Junior School Physical Education Assistant

Miss C CLANCY

Bed (Institute of Education)

Classroom Teacher (Year 1)

Miss K COLLINS

BA (St Mary’s)

Classroom Teacher (Reception)

Mrs C CONSTANT

MA (Greenwich)

Deputy Head (Year 1)

Miss A CONWAY

BA (Tel-Aviv)

Drama : part time

Miss R CORKINDALE

BA (Glasgow)

Head of Junior School Physical Education

Miss A FROST

Bed (Leeds)

Classroom Teacher (Year 4)

Miss G GERSTEIN

BA (Birmingham)

Classroom Teacher (Reception G)

Miss K GOLDSTEIN

BA (Birmingham)

Classroom Teacher (Year 2)

Mrs S GORRIE

MA (Glasgow)

Spanish, French : part-time

Mr L IP

BSc (Southampton)

Director of Studies (Year 4)

Mrs V GILL

BA (Durham)

Spanish, French: part-time

Mrs T LUXFORD

BA (Middlesex)

Classroom Teacher (Year 3): (part-time)

Ms R MCGINNETY

BA (Cantab)

Classroom Teacher (Year 6)

Miss A MCLENNAN

BA (Leeds)

Classroom Teacher (Year 3)

Miss L PANTON

BA (Southampton)

DT & Art, ICT

Miss M PEPPER

LTCL

Head of Music (Junior School)

Miss A PHIPPS

BEd (Middx Polytechnic)

Classroom Teacher (Year 2)

Mrs C RAND

Certificate in Education

Classroom Teacher : part-time (Year 1)

Mr C RICH

MA (St Andrews)

Classroom Teacher (Year 5)

Miss S SNOWDOWNE

BEd (Plymouth)

Classroom Teacher (Year 3)

Mrs S AHMED

Teaching Assistant (Art &D T) (part-time)

Ms A BEASLEY

Teaching Assistant (Years 4-6) (part-time)

Mrs A DONE

Teaching Assistant (Year 1) (part-time)

Miss B DRAYTON

Teaching Assistant (Reception)

Mrs D GALLI

Teaching Assistant (Year 1) (part-time)

Mrs K HADJIPATERAS

Teaching Assistant (Reception) (part-time)

Miss M HOLMES

Teaching Assistant (Year 4-6) (part-time)

Ms S IBREKIC

Teaching Assistant (Reception) (part-time)

Miss K JOHNSON

Teaching Assistant (Year 2) (part-time)

Miss S LITIU

Teaching Assistant (Year 4-6)

Mrs R MALOUMI

Teaching Assistant (Reception)

Ms R McEWAN

Teaching Assistant (Year 2)

Miss M O’HARA

Teaching Assistant (Year 3)

Miss L NELSON

Teaching Assistant (Reception)

Mrs R PIERI

Teaching Assistant (Year 1) (part-time)

Ms C JUPP

Librarian : part-time

Visiting Teachers Miss J BACON

BA, PGDip

Voice

Mrs H BENNETT

BMus (Hons)

Trumpet

Miss S BIRCUMSHAW

GRSM (Hons)

Violin (Junior)

Mrs M BRADBURY-RANCE

MA

Voice

Mr A BROWN

DipTCL

Percussion

Mrs K COLLIER

BMus

Clarinet

Mrs P CAPONE

AGSM

Piano

Miss M CARROLL

BMus

Double Bass

Miss R CHAPMAN

BA

Singing

Mr N HARRISON

GRSM, SRCM

Bassoon

Miss J HERBERT

BA

Cello

Mrs H JOLLY

GRSM

Flute

Ms M KEOGH

ARAM

Harp

Mr A KHAN

LTCL

Guitar

Mrs L KNIGHT

MA

Singing

Mrs P MALLOY

LRAM, ABRSM

Violin/Viola

Miss N MYERSCOUGH

ARAM

Violin

Miss C PHILPOT

LRAM

Oboe

Miss J RAYNER

BA

LAMDA

Miss L SEDDON

DipABRSM, BMus (Hons)

Cello

Miss H SHIMIZU

BMus

Piano

Miss A SZRETER

BA

Singing

Ms A THOMAS

BMus

Flute

Miss C THOMPSON

LRAM

Violin

Mr T TRAVIS

BMus

Saxophone

Miss S VIVIAN

LTCL, Dip

Singing

Miss J WATTS

FRCO, GRSM, LRAM

Piano

Mr A WHITE

MMus, MA

Lower Brass

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Non-Teaching Professionals and Staff

84

Mr R HILL

Bursar & Clerk to the Governors

Mrs H GETHING

Marketing Director

Ms H TRANTER

Development Director

Ms L CARRERAS

Headmistress’ PA

Mrs N CLEIN

School Counsellor : (part-time)

Ms C COOPER

School Nurse : (part-time)

Mrs H DANIELS

Music and Performing Arts Coordinator

Ms C DODSWORTH

SENCO : (part-time)

Mr M ELWIN

Junior School Administrator

Mrs T FRANKLIN

Senior School Nurse : (part-time)

Ms N HADJIPATERAS

Development Assistant

Mrs C HESKETH

Facilities Manager

Mrs J HIBBERT

Catering Manager

Miss M HYNES

Accounts Administrator

Ms E INGRAM

Senior School Secretary

Ms S LAWRENCE

ICT Assistant – Junior School (part-time)

Ms G LUSH

Careers Assistant (part-time)

Miss S KAUR

School Secretary

Mrs J MATTHEWS

Admissions Assistant

Mrs E MCBAREK

Administrative Assistant : (part-time)

Mrs T MCCARTHY

Administrative Assistant : (part-time)

Mrs M MCHARG

Registrar

Mrs L MCINERNEY

Junior School Secretary

Mrs M MOONEY

Financial Controller

Ms C PETERS

Senior Academic Assistant

Mrs E SMITH-MODU

PE Assistant and Sports Coach

Miss R WHITE

Bursar’s Assistant

Mrs C WILLIAMS

Academic Assistant : (part-time)

Miss H WILMER

Network Manager

Mr A MCCARTHY

Head Caretaker

Mr S DOREY

Caretaker

Mr M HOUNSOME

Caretaker

MR T MCCARTHY

Groundsman

MR S PROSPERE

Caretaker

Technicians Miss H ARCHER

Art Technician (part-time)

Mr J COPSON

Digital Advisor and Support Manager

Mr S GRAY

Performing Arts Technician and Building Manager

Mrs D GUNASEKERA

Biology Technician

Mrs J SHAH

Chemistry Technician

Mrs T McCARTHY

Art Technician : (part-time)

Governors Ms C LESLIE

LLB (Bristol) (Chair)

Mr J ALEXANDER

FCA

Mr G ALGAR-FARIA

MSc (Durham)

Mr A APPLEYARD

BSc (Reading) (Vice Chair)

Mrs J BURNS

BA (Southampton)

Rev D COSTLEY

BA (Open University)

Mrs J DE SWIET

MA (Cantab)

Miss D PATMAN

FRICS ACIArb

Ms B RENTOUL

MA (Yale)

Mr W SPEARS

MBA (London)

Dr A SUTTON

MRCGP

Mrs A THOMAS

PGDE (Cambridge)

Mr C UNDERHILL

MNAEA

Dr I WASSENAAR

MA, DPHIL

Dr R WILLIAMS

BSC, MSc, PhD

85

’ Mrs Elliott s

SKYFALL I

I

for the Capital Challenge

The sky really is the limit!

Headmistress, Mrs Barbara Elliott, stuck to her word back in July, undertaking her most audacious personal goal to date- to skydive!

as well as learn technical and backstage skills at this impressive 300+ seater theatre space.

Jumping tandem from 12,000 feet in glorious sunshine in Oxfordshire, Mrs Elliott fulfilled her promise to Channing families, who have helped her fundraise over £52,000 in this, the final ‘push’ to complete the School’s ambitious building project.

“I really do think I have given the performance of my life’ beamed Mrs Elliott, on her return to terra firma. ‘In facing my biggest fear, I realised that fear is all in the mind, and that I could, actually, do anything! I hope that this will inspire my pupils to face their own fears- perhaps just on a slightly smaller scale to begin with!”

The Performing Arts Building, a modern, gleaming structure now gracing The Bank in Highgate, is a state of the art performance space, equipped with high tech lighting, audio, rigging and seating.

Unveiled to parents on Founders’ Day, visitors were thrilled to see this exceptional facility, which will enable pupils to take part in drama, music, lectures and debating,

The Capital Challenge Appeal Four years ago we began the biggest programme of building development ever undertaken at Channing, to transform the school for the future.

The project is now nearing completion and we have a new Sports Hall, Sixth Form Centre, Music School and Performing Arts Building for all of the pupils to enjoy.

Landscaping is currently taking place and Channing is once again looking like the oasis it is, tucked away behind our historic facade on The Bank.

At a cost of over £13 million this project has been financed through a loan and fundraising and thank you if you have joined us on this transformative journey by

86

making a donation. Together we have raised an incredible £2.72 million. There is only a little further to go to reach our target and if you can help sponsor parts of our new buildings, do get in touch with the Development Office. We would be delighted to have your support.

Thank you again for your generosity. Together we can really make a difference to the education of all Channing pupils.

Miss Helen Tranter, Director of Development

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Independent Day School for Girls aged 4-18

Headmistress: Mrs B M Elliott MA (CANTAB) The Bank, Highgate, London N6 5HF Tel: 0208 340 2328 Email: admissions@channing.co.uk Contact the Registrar on 0208 340 2328 or email admissions@channing.co.uk for all admissions enquiries