An Independent Day School for Girls aged 4-18
Latest news from Pipers Corner October 2020
Welcome from the Headmistress
Budding young entrepreneurs
Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter, featuring our latest school highlights, which I do hope you will enjoy reading. It has been a difficult year, for all schools, but I have been bowled over by the dedication and support of our students, staff and parents. Our remote teaching and online provision during the Summer Term was very highly commended and I continue to be impressed by the way in which everyone has adapted. It has been fantastic to see the school buzzing with life again this term and long may it continue. I was thrilled that we were able to hold a Covid-19 safe Open Day in October – see the back page for more. If you would like to visit us, at any time, we would be delighted to welcome you.
This year, we have two teams of Sixth Form students taking part in Young Enterprise. Following the success of the 2019 National Champions ‘Team Bathe’, these two new teams are hoping their products will also excel them through the competition rounds.
Mrs Ness-Gifford Headmistress
Year 6 production of Bugsy Malone moves from stage to film Students in Year 6 spent the second half of the Summer Term in three performance ‘bubbles’ rehearsing for their production of ‘Bugsy Malone’. As they couldn’t hold a final performance to parents on stage in our Arts Centre Theatre, the production had free rein of the school site with various scenes filmed outside, as well as on stage. Filmed by our Arts Centre Technician, the finished film was very well received by our parents. The Senior School will be performing ‘The Sound of Music’ in February 2021. Although it is an uncertain time for live performing arts, we are confident we will be able to deliver what will be a stand-out production, whether it is in the same format as Bugsy Malone or, hopefully, performed live in our theatre.
Students publish school magazine This summer, our Upper Sixth school magazine team produced the flagship 2019/2020 edition of Aquila, which they named ‘Rebellion’. The predominantly red and black designed magazine is bursting with topical and thoughtprovoking articles, written by students from across the school. Design whizz and Sixth Former Alicia W took charge of the overall layout and design of the publication, resulting in the glossy magazine being produced fully in-house for the first time. A AQUIL
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US artist paints bee mural At the beginning of the Autumn Term, US mural artist Matt Willey travelled to Pipers Corner to paint a mural on the outside of our Orchard Pool building. Matt spent five weeks painting the honey bee mural, as part of his ‘Good of the Hive’ project, whereby he aims to paint 50,000 honey bees around the world. Students, staff and parents watched in awe as the mural took shape, with some students inspired to sketch and paint their own bees, hives and honeycomb in their Art classes or sitting on the lawn in front of the mural. Matt visited various classes, from Pre-Prep to Sixth Form while he was here, educating students on the plight of the honey bee but also igniting curiosity for planetary health issues. So far, Matt has produced 29 murals including murals at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Burt’s Bees Global Headquarters.
Pipers Radio goes live on air
Literary Festivals at Pipers
Pipers Corner launched its own radio station this year, supported by Virgin Radio Early Breakfast host Sam Pinkham, who was instrumental in getting the project off the ground. The station has been hugely popular with our students since its inception, with various Sixth Form teams coming together as producers and presenters. For the launch, our radio team were thrilled to interview BBC Sports Presenter Gabby Logan (pictured). The Sixth Form students host daily live lunchtime shows from the purpose-built radio station and music is broadcast 24 hours a day. The live shows are also recorded and re-broadcast in the evenings. Tune in by scanning the QR code below.
Our annual Literary Festivals have been a huge success, featuring many popular authors including Lucy Worsley, Lauren Child and Sarah Crossan. The ticketed events attracted current parents, students, as well as the local community. Meanwhile, during the course of the week, various authors led student-only talks and workshops, both insightful and educational. One of the highlights of the Festival for our students is our Harry Potter Night, run by our former Librarian Mrs Sue Harris, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Below: Sue Harris with author Lucy Worsley
Focusing on sustainability and the environment Pipers Corner is always striving to be more sustainable and we are thrilled to be one of the first schools to have our very own Environmentalist-in-Residence, Mr Phil Williams. Phil has been instrumental in introducing new sustainable initiatives to the school and helped the students set up their own environmental group – Helping Others Protect the Environment (HOPE). He organised an ‘Eco Conference’ for our students, featuring interactive workshops focusing on climate change and the preservation of the environment. Shortly after the conference, HOPE also organised their own ‘Green Week’ for students. We were delighted to receive two new outdoor ‘eco classrooms’ at the beginning of the Autumn Term, each with its own weather station which demonstrates how energy can be
generated. They also feature a water butt to collect rainwater which is used for watering – particularly useful for our Gardening Club. Other initiatives have included Pre-Prep producing their own apple juice from the Pipers apples trees, ‘Sprout Pencils’ containing seeds which can be planted after use, promotional pens made from sugarcane, ‘Meat Free Mondays’ and art classes using materials made from sustainable sources.
Re-opening our doors to prospective families on Open Day On Saturday 3 October, Pipers welcomed more than 220 families on site for our annual Open Day. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were unable to bring students into school to carry out the tours. Instead, prospective families followed a self-guided tour of the site, visiting a multitude of facilities including the Arts Centre, Sports Hall, Dance Studio, specialist departments and various classrooms. We received exceptional feedback and were delighted to be able to welcome so many visitors, despite the less-favourable weather. We produced a tour brochure, which included the tour route as well as QR codes so that families could listen to audio clips about each department and various extra-
curricular activities, recorded by our students. The brochure can be accessed by the QR code here. We will be holding our next Open Day on Tuesday 20 April 2021 and we do hope we will again be able to welcome visitors into school.
Admissions � Key Dates Our Year 7 admissions process is underway, including for those wishing to defer their place from Year 7 to Year 9 to enable them to stay on at their Prep school until the end of Year 8. Our key dates are outlined below.
Year 7 Deadline for Scholarship and Bursary Applications Entrance Assessment Interviews Entrance Assessment Day Deadline for Acceptances
13 November 2020 25 November – 2 December 2020 12 January 2021 1 March 2021
Contact: Mrs Zoe Galvin, Registrar | 01494 719810 | registrar@piperscorner.co.uk
Pipers Corner School, Great Kingshill, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP15 6LP 01494 718255 | theschool@piperscorner.co.uk | www.piperscorner.co.uk
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