VOL. 1, NO. 3
SPRING 2021
CAS INSIGHTS Haileybury CAS Newsletter Co-Editors: Honor H. Stuart C.
News & Features
Welcome From the Editors
From the Editors PAGE 1 Back to School! PAGE 2 Lower Sixth CAS Projects PAGES 3-7 Dante Alighieri PAGES 8-10 'A View From the Quad' Podcast PAGE 11 Women's Rights PAGES 12-15 LGBTQ+ Identity Profile PAGE 16 CAS Lectures Pages 17-19 The Importance of Reflections PAGES 20-22 Insights Into CAS Portfolios Pages 23-31
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 1
BY HONOR H & STUART C
Welcome to this edition of the CAS newsletter! Creating this has been a new challenge to be made through zoom meetings and google forms but nevertheless great fun! It has been so interesting to see what everyone has been getting up too and is able to do even against all odds of lockdowns and school closures; although hopefully this will be the last time that we are virtually connected and for the rest of the year we will get to be together in person. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone back on campus but for now please enjoy this newsletter! Best wishes from us!
Welcome!
Back to school! by Honor H
I am sure that we were all equally disappointed upon finding out that again we could not attend school as 'normal' - whatever normal even is these days! Personally, I tried to take it on as a time for unique opportunities, such as independent work or zoom interviews with people halfway across the world! So, whilst the connected school is good in unique ways, there is nothing quite the same as being on campus and getting to walk through quad every 40 minutes (more or less). In this way, being able to have so many people back in school over the past couple of weeks has been amazing. Of course, it's bitter sweet as we are missing those who have not managed to get back yet, and we look forward to seeing them after Easter. Still, we have managed to have barbecues, s'mores, sport and more! For many of us, I'm sure that the best part has been getting back into our boarding houses - the home away from home. Whilst it can be challenging going back to living with 60+ other people from being in a considerably smaller group during lockdown, it has been so much fun as we can finally see the UK and the rest of the world opening up again.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 2
Back to School!
CAS Projects
CAS PROJECTS A CAS project is a collaborative, well-considered series of sequential CAS experiences, engaging students in one or more of the CAS strands of creativity, activity, and service. CAS students must be involved in at least one CAS project during their CAS programme. A minimum of one month is recommended for a CAS project, from planning to completion.
Watch videos of our pupils sharing their CAS projects Click here
Haileybury Remembers A sound installation One CAS project which lots of the Lower 6th took part in was 'Haileybury Remembers', which Maria G. has written about: "Haileybury’s remembrance of soldiers who died in war, including the 1,100 Haileyburians who fought and were killed in both World Wars, has always honoured the sacrifice of those individuals for our freedom through acts of commemoration. This year, in order to continue honouring their sacrifice and share each individual’s form of remembrance, in spite of the restrictions of a global pandemic, a sound installation has been created by CAS students and members of staff. Over the week, IB pupils and teachers contributed to a collective of recordings of poetry surrounding the theme of remembrance and war. Many pupils have recorded poems by both war poets from the 20th century and modern poets reflecting on past and current wars such as Imtiaz Dharker, Wilfred Owen, Anna Akhmatova, John McCrae and others. Wars throughout history have been devastating and this installation reminds us of the importance of peace and how we should never forget the suffering of soldiers who fought so that we could have access to the freedoms that we enjoy today. Just as the memory of those soldiers remains with us, this sound installation will remain in Haileybury for years to come. Through the Echoes app, as you walk from the war memorial outside Melvill down the avenue and through quad, the voices of Haileybury pupils and teachers can be heard, creating a beautiful atmosphere of remembrance and peaceful contemplation. These voices have become an ongoing memory of the way in which respect is paid to fallen soldiers on this day during such challenging times, providing a sense of connectivity when it otherwise would be unachievable".
Listen to the full playlist on Soundcloud CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 5
Lower 6th CAS Projects
Go Kart Series by Sarah F My CAS project idea is to build an electrical go kart series, and hopefully sell them in the future. I, of course, will not be able to do this alone, so I will get a team together of engineers, mechanics, and experts in go karts and build them. My dad will help me to find these contacts, the work for this project will be done all together (I however will do the designs and present the project to people who are interested to join and can invest in this idea).I hope to learn a lot more about go karts, how they work, and especially how electrical motors differ from a combustion engine. I also hope to learn more about the industry of motors, and how one is able to start a new business/product.
SAT Help! by Jacopo B Since the SAT is so complicated and lots of Europeans don't know what to do and how to tackle it, I would like to make a series of 4 different videos - one concentrating on each section of the SAT exams - to help people like myself a year ago to give them ideas on how to prepare and what to do and essentially give them a head start. These 4 videos will really help people with such a complicated test especially alongside doing the IB. The SAT tests can be an overwhelming thing to take on when we are already so busy with our 6 IB subjects and I know that a lot of my friends struggle with this also, which is what inspired me to start this project.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 6
Lower 6th CAS Projects
Clearing the Haileybury Forest by Hadrien and Camille We will be collecting litter in the Haileybury forests for a month and see the before and after transformation. I will do this every weekend with my friend Hadrien. I aim to make a difference in our community and make it a better place for all. We will not just throw away the litter but the caps from the bottles will be donated to a charity that collects bottle caps and recycles them to sponsor guide dogs for blind people. And with the best pieces of plastic we will make an art piece, to raise awareness for the climate. By doing this we will be following the important guidelines of: reduce, reuse and recycle. I can't wait!
Providing Education by Cagla E My idea is to work with kids who haven’t received the education they deserve. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Education is fundamental in life. It enhances one’s knowledge, improves one’s ability to view from different perspectives and allows oneself to apply real-life experiences into critical thinking. I will work with my fellow peers to deliver the kids who have limited access to education an opportunity to learn and grow their perspectives. These kids will essentially be located in villages in Istanbul. Each week we will lecture them on reading, writing, maths, regions in Turkey or other cultures. Along with that, I will try to provide them with as many books and notebooks I can get, donated from the community. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 7
Lower 6th CAS Projects
DANTE ALIGHIERI AUDIO PROJECT 700 YEARS 25 MARCH 2021
CLICK TO LISTEN to Haileybury pupils reading The Divine Comedy
Haileybury celebrations
Dante Alighieri Project by Maria G This year is the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Dante has had significant influence on European culture, especially Western art. His depictions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven are infamous. Officially, the 25th of March is Dantedì but celebrations are all year round. As part of my CAS project I am going to be distributing resources to begin Haileybury’s celebration of Dante, so here are a some that I highly recommend looking at. Various galleries are holding virtual viewings of their artworks in relation to Dante, such as: The Uffizi Gallery is organising exhibitions of images associated with Dante such as Andrea del Castagno’s portrait of the poet and Sandro Botticelli’s altarpiece in Dante’s vision. This collection of art works is free online and provides descriptions of each art work. The Bargello in Florence, housing the oldest portrait of Dante, will host two exhibitions The Casa di Dante has made a virtual tour of its collection. The descriptions are in both Italian and English. The resources provided are interactive and interesting, with the tour being in high definition. In this exhibition, there is further information provided for many items, such as a video showing the holographic reproduction of the face of Dante based of famous iconographies and mortuary masks- what is considered to be one of the most famous faces in Italian history and literature. There are many interesting adaptations and re-interpretations of his work, such as that of Dan Brown’s novels. Some notable pieces of music based on the Divine Comedy are the choral piece Dante Symphony by Franz Liszt and Francesca da Rimini: Symphonic Fantasy after Dante, Op. 32 by Tchaikovsky. For those interested in a literary discussion of The Inferno, BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time Podcast has an episode on Dante’s Inferno, which can be found on Spotify or the BBC sounds app: I will be sharing more resources over the coming months for those who are interested. The celebrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy are global, as he is frequently referred to as the “father of the Italian language” and has had significant cultural influences in the past 700 years.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 9
Dante Alighieri
Dante and Beatrice
The greatest friendzone of all time
1321
2021
by Gian Pietro and Marco
The greatest one way love story: Dante and Beatrice. Born in 1265 in Florence, Dante Alighieri is considered one of the cornerstones in Italian Literature, author of La Divina Commedia. This, however, might not have ever happened if it wasn’t for one woman: Beatrice Portinari. The legend says that, after just one look at her for the first time in Florence, Dante fell in love for the rest of his life, probably without being ever loved back. Everything started from just a glance. As Dante himself stated, when he saw Beatrice for the first time they were both 9 years old. Apparently, this was already a divine sign since their age recalled the Holy Trinity and hence the representation of perfection. It is no coincidence that after another 9 years, he could finally meet her again, proving the affinity of their hearts. His love for her, however, was deeply affected by a vision in his dreams right after seeing her. This nightmare deeply concerned the poet, showing Beatrice eating his heart in Eros’ arms (the pagan God of Love). Terrified of being rejected and ridiculed, Dante behaved exactly as a normal fellow would do today: he tried to show everyone that he was romantically involved in someone else, hiding his true feelings. This strategy, known as donna dello schermo (“screen woman”, A/N) had the opposite intended effect, inevitably hurting Beatrice’s feelings. For this reason, she decided to deny him her greeting which broke his heart. From that turning point, the two kept growing apart, leading to Dante’s desperation until her premature death. Even after 700 years from the poet’s death, his example remains considered as the most real and pure form of love. The incredible feelings he developed throughout his life are reflected in his own work. Being a precursor of the Dolce Stil Novo, he represents a turning point in the social perception of women. His Vita Nova, highlights for the first time how women are a projection of God’s beauty on Earth and how they can help mankind to elevate itself. Although he couldn’t be brave enough to show publicly his love for her, this platonic relationship was crucial for his personal and literary growth. Love, even if unrequited, helps to regenerate and elevate the soul, stimulating us to improve ourselves and our sensibility. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 10
Dante Alighieri
Do you want to find out how Mr Bland deals with spiders? Or if Miss Childs puts pineapple on her pizza? Listen to ‘A View from the Quad’ - a Haileybury podcast
Our ‘A View from the Quad’ podcast was an exciting opportunity given to us in February - one which we couldn’t wait to get started with! Every week we have been working with Miss Webb to produce academically engaging, interesting and funny podcasts where we interview teachers and talk about their life experiences, loves and hates and what inspires them the most. They are 15-20 minutes long and a ‘light’ listen, perfect for something to do in half for example. With both of us being new to Haileybury Lower Sixth this year, we thought this podcast would be a fun way for not only us to get to know our teachers better, but also the wider Haileybury community, those both new to the school and old. ‘A View From the Quad’ is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast-platforms. We hope that you enjoy listening to our podcast as much as we enjoyed making it, and we can’t wait to produce more podcasts in the future!
by Anton & Molly
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 11
A View From the Quad
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 12
Women's Rights
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S.H.E Group
by Cagla E There are various topics of matters in life that can impact one’s perspective or one’s perception of others. These vary widely, such aspects along with others consist of culture, politics, gender roles, freedom and equality. All have very valuable grounds for human nature, however one stands out more than the other sometimes and that is the importance of equality. It is an underlying factor for us as it is one of the least prominent factors in our life. Although there have been many modern researches and support groups, we believe that it sometimes ceases to receive an immense attention. Therefore, this has led us to cover the topic of equality for women as that is something we want to bring forward to and believe that it carries a great importance. Our initial project to make an awareness on this topic was the red shoes installation. We chose to cover that topic as a starting point of our society. A pair of red shoes just standing alone already says a lot, as such, the strength of being able to stand alone, it takes nothing to join the crowd but everything to be able to stand alone against the widely spread violence. The red shoes was our initial choice to cover in order to raise an awareness of gender-based violence. We believe that it was helpful in promoting social norms, well-being of women and empowerment.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 13
We formed a a society called Society at Haileybury for Equality (S.H.E) to communicate fundamental issues and raise awareness. We make activities such as the red shoe installation to raise awareness on the current issues. In addition to that, we have a website where the founders of the society contribute to by writing informative paragraphs weekly. This concept serves to inform the public on crucial issues. The website also publishes events all around the world that address women’s rights. This allows our readers to follow the current news. We believe that our society speaks not just to us but to those who are curious about the current issues and impacts, follow feminist critics, discuss women’s issues and perhaps have faced with offensive and ungracious comments regards to them as a woman. Nevertheless, it is not limited to this but our society proposes controversial points, counter arguments and discussions where everyone is welcomed to join and contribute to our website regardless of their viewpoints or gender. We chose to cover this specific topic because we believe that it is another way to reflect thoughts of fellow pupils in Haileybury and to create an awareness of the equality for women. This society not only gives voice but also conducts interviews to hear others’ voices and opinions on different matters without any bias. We are planning to have more interviews to explore new topics surrounding the question of the female role in the society.
Women's Rights
25th November 2020 SHE and the red shoes installation...
ScienceXGirls
by Carolin L The Science Club for Girls will provide more support to girls who struggle with science. At the end of last term, we started this group for girls to make girls more interested and active in science. We (Carolin, Giorgia, Karolin and Zara) are all Lower Sixth and with our society we want to encourage young girls to be more involved in science. The idea came up because nearly all scientist we know or see as famous are men and not women, which maybe leads to an image that women can’t do or like science. We all do different sciences in our IB course and want to act as a "role model" for younger girls. When we are all back on site after Easter, we hope to do some lessons or lectures to Lower school pupils, to share our thoughts and ideas on this topic. If your interested in joining us, send an email to Mrs. Iorio. g.iorio@haileybury.com or talk to us directly.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 15
Women's Rights
by Ruth P
LGBTQ+ Identity Profile of the Month
Haileybury is consistently working to become a more inclusive school for all students, and as a part of this the LGBTQ+ strategy group would like to introduce students and staff to identities within the LGBTQ+ community that they may not know about. In light of this we have created an identity profile on asexuality and aromanticism, to give a starting point for learning more about these identities. Asexuality and aromanticism are two linked but separate identities within the LGBTQ+ community. Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction or desires, and aromanticism is the lack of romantic feelings towards people of any gender. These can be used as umbrella terms (meaning there are smaller identities that fall under these categories) or as identities alone. Although some people identify as aro-ace (both aromatic and asexual) many people identify as just one and it is important to know that you do not have to identify with both to be a part of the aspec community (a community formed within the LGBTQ+ community with people who fall under the aromatic or asexual labels). The aspec community is a community centred around self love and showing that there are many more forms of love than just romantic. It is important to understand that ace and aro people are not broken or lacking fulfilment, despite much of the media centring around romantic love and relationships. Examples of asexuality or aromanticism in media include books such as Loveless by Alice Oseman and Ice Castle by Katie Fouks, the Sounds Fake But Ok podcast, Florence in the TV show Sex Education and the album Aromanticism by Moses Sumney. As well as this both identities have their own official websites, with AUREA being the official aromantic website and AVEN being the official asexual website, both of which contain good resources related to these identities. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 16
LGBTQ+ Identity Profile
We ar e del i ght ed t o announc e a new i ni t i at i v e, t he CAS Lec t ur es seri es. I B pupi l s pl an and c onduc t i nt ervi ews wi t h i nspi r i ng peopl e. Thi s newsl et t er c ont ai ns i nt ervi ews f rom Ms Gi ov anar di and s c i ent i s t Dr Rorrer. Vi deo i nt er vi ews ar e al s o av ai l abl e on CAS Lect ur e websi t e. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 17
CAS Lectures
Interview to Maria Beatrice Giovanardi
by Honor H On Thursday 21st January, in the midst of the connected school, 6 of our Lower 6th IB pupils who have formed a women’s rights society (S.H.E.) had the opportunity to interview Maria Beatrice Giovanardi; an Italian feminist activist who is challenging sexism in our society. The Haileybury women’s rights society is an organisation that is working to start the conversation about the conventional way society tells us to think and public statements towards feminism. ‘Modern day feminism is often politicised’, says Audrey Kavanaugh – one of the members of this society, ‘and lots of the time it is accused of being an angry movement, which is something we are trying to combat’. Miss Giovanardi was clearly impressed by this as she began to introduce herself, exclaiming how great it is that girls our age are already beginning to become activists! As Giovanardi told the girls, her journey with activism began at the age of 19 when she was interning in Shanghai and one night on the way back from work a man molested her on the bus. This experience is obviously deeply saddening but at the same time all too common. Of course ,it is an experience that incites a certain level of anger, and from then onwards she began focusing her anger towards making change. Alongside interning in Shanghai at the age of 19, she has also lived in the US, India, China, London and has travelled through the Middle East, Africa and Asia; she says she values having this intercultural background and it is something that has greatly developed her views on women’s rights. I’m sure that lots of people in our school can relate to this, as we are so privileged to maintain it as such a culturally diverse community.
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 18
Miss Giovanardi has been an activist for 10 years now and has been a part of various activist groups, regularly using her platform to voice her opinions on women’s rights and safety. Her most recent venture however, which landed her a coveted Vogue interview, is her campaign targeting the Oxford Dictionary definition of women, which included a long list of derogatory synonyms that highlight the institutional misogyny present in our language. It was just over a year ago that she began this campaign on Change.org after simply googling the definition of a woman – it immediately gained traction and was quickly picked up for an article in The Guardian. This was a great start, but as she told the girls, this year-long battle against the dictionary attracted a fair amount of both positive and negative responses; with some fellow activists supporting her, but also a lot of people doubting her, saying she could never make this change. Oxford being such a major and traditional institution made it particularly difficult, and she received lots of criticism from linguists; ‘Criticism is good’ she told the girls, and Giovanardi made an effort to start discussions with these critics, whose minds she often managed to change she added. Linguists told her that dictionaries describe language, not prescribe it, but her answer to this was that it needs to have limits, to ensure it is describing but not discriminating at the same time. Giovanardi even described fellow influential feminists who denounced her movement, which was incredibly discouraging to her; but through all this, she persevered and after almost 18 months, Oxford Dictionary have now changed their definition of a woman to be reflect gender equality. Completing this challenge was a major achievement for her, but just one step in a much wider movement. In November, she began the same movement in her home country of Italy, who have already recognised the change made by Oxford dictionary and are currently completing a review of their own definition. She encourages people from the various cultures at our school to check their own dictionaries from home and see if a change needs to be made there. Maria Beatrice Giovanardi has set a precedent for girls all over the world to challenge their own languages and make change. CAS Lectures
On Tuesday the 2nd of February the ScienceXgirls and Honor H. had the opportunity to interview Dr Julie Rorrer who is the creator of ColorMePhD - a colouring book which is making science accessible and fun for all. Dr Rorrer told us that she has always been interested in doodling and science, so one day she decided to combine the 2! The result is really amazing and so additionally it is so much fun to get drawing but with an educational purpose. What led her to the Doctor she is today is many years of hard work from when she was just a child - not only did she have to work hard on her scientific abilities but she also had to do some work on breaking gender barriers which exist in the male dominated industry of science. She says that on some occasions she has found it difficult being the only woman in her lab, but luckily the project which she is working on at the moment which will make plastics recyclable is heavily female led. Dr Rorrer says that she really values this environment and so if you are sometimes discouraged remember to keep working and you will eventually find a diverse environment and be a part of change! Thank you Dr. Rorrer for your inspiring interview!
CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 19
Interviewing Dr Julie Rorrer Creator of ColourMePhD
CAS Lectures
The Importance of Reflections By Honor H For CAS, IB studens are required to not only complete activities through strands of creativity, activity and service, but also reflect upon them in the Managebac platform. I completely understand that for some people this may seem like somewhat of a chore amongst the busy schedule of an IB student, but actually, reflections are really important. As stated in the quote above, we can only truly learn from the experience when we reflect upon it. This is the principle that makes reflection important - in order to learn from an experience you need a meaningful reflection. From the experiences encompassed in CAS you can learn a whole variety of things, such as global engagement, collaborative qualities and the understanding of challenges having been undertaken - these are just some of the outcomes which you can engage with on Managebac. All of these qualities are greatly important and will allow you to graduate with a holistic IB diploma that leaves you with a wide range of qualities. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 20
The Importance of Reflections
HOW TO WRITE MEANINGFUL REFLECTIONS BY STUART C Forcing yourself out of bed every day, attending the same lessons, finishing work in the evening and repeating. This is a cycle many can relate to, and is often very unrewarding and tiresome. Living in this routine, day in day out, counting down the days until the weekend, only to repeat it all again the week after can in fact be damaging to your mental health.
BEFORE THE EXPERIENCE
Identify chances to learn, understand reasons for actions
What was going through my mind in the situation? What did I base my decisions/actions on? What other information/theories/models/literature can I use to help understand the situation?
However, to break this cycle, requires a What could I have done differently to get a very simple skill: reflection. I will give you more desirable outcome? some tips that will help you to recognise individual successes throughout your day What is my new understanding of the or maybe times where you could have situation? handled a situation differently, remind What does this experience tell me about the yourself of some motivation to keep you way I work? pointed towards your goals or realign your DURING THE EXPERIENCE thoughts and self talk with your Be specific with your future plans, aspirations to keep positive. This will regarding what you want to do, how you hopefully guide you away from lapsing will do it, and how you will remind yourself. into ‘auto pilot’ and eventually towards learning from and thinking critically about each experience. What do I need to do in the future to do better/fix a similar situation/stop being stuck?
Perspective is also an essential component of reflection as we briefly What might be the consequences of this remove ourselves from the equation, to new action? observe the wider picture and look at our Considerations do I need about thoughts and feelings from a different me/others/the situation to make sure this angle. plan is successful? So, to start writing reflections ask yourself Do I need to do to ensure that I will follow a simple question: What? my plan? CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 21
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The Importance of Reflections
HOW TO WRITE MEANINGFUL REFLECTIONS
In regards to submitting reflections for your CAS portfolio, they can take many forms and research supports that there is a benefit in reflecting in a variety of ways. Options include oral reflections (a small podcast), visual (express yourself through artwork) and creative ( like a comic strip, poem and expressive dance), however the most common reflection is written. Ideally, the CAS Learning Outcomes can be used to model your written reflections.
AFTER THE EXPERIENCE Recall what happened, successes and failures, feelings. What is the context? What di I try to achieve? What was the outcome of the situation? What feelings did the situation evoke in me? What positives or negatives can be taken from the situation?
To get the most out of your experiences and learn from them, giving yourself time to think carefully about each of these prompts, as well as the questions mentioned above will lead you to make better, more informed decisions in the future. Lastly, don’t rush! The time and energy you put into reflecting is never wasted. CAS INSIGHTS | PAGE 22
The Importance of Reflections
Super kind CAS!
Well done to Karolin V. for her wonderful initiative! She says: "This weekend I decided to write letters to my neighbours to give them something special and positive in the monotonous days of the lockdown".
Cute CAS!
Service & creativity is ... "Cutting my 90 year old grandad's hair. I am proud of what I did and I feel that I've mastered a new skill that I would have never used if it weren't for COVID. My grandfather was happy so I have accomplished my goal". By Aniek
I can & I will
Friends CAS
How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it: well done to Francesca A. for putting together a party with L6th friends!
CAS & Covid 19
DURING THE THIRD LOCK DOWN I DECIDED TO TAKE ACTION AND HELP TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS. THEREFORE I AM TESTING AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE IN A PHARMACY IN BERLIN. I WORK 3 DAYS A WEEK DIRECTLY AFTER SCHOOL WHICH I DO VOLUNTARILY. ZARA K.
Post ers by
Mo lly &
Rosi e
CAS Best evidence!
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s l i a m e u o ibet y k Lil n a th
WOW!
o t t en
Thank you to all the contributors:
Ms. Giovanardi, Dr. Rorrer, Maria, Marco, Gian Pietro, Ruth, Carolin, Anton & Molly, Cagla, Adrien, Camille, Sarah, Jacopo and Ms. Iorio
We Hope You Enjoyed See you in June! Follow us on Twitter: @HaileyburyCAS Email: casnewsletter@haileybury.com