Weekly News 3rd November 2017

The Royal Masonic School for Girls Senior School Weekly News Update

Friday 3rd November 2017

SCHOOL INFORMATION This Term’s Events at a Glance…

Here are just a few important

Remembrance Day Service—this Sunday All members of the RMS Community are warmly invited to at-

forthcoming events—for our full

tend our annual Remembrance Day Service on Sunday at

calendar, click www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk/media/ calendar

10.15pm in the Chapel. This is always a very popular event and we would encourage you to be seated by 10.00am.

If you cannot attend the Chapel Service but would like to attend

Saturday 11th November Year 14 Certificate Presentation Evening Sunday 12th November

the final performance of Drill 2017, please follow the notices in the classroom corridor as to where to queue for admittance to the Great Hall.

Remembrance Sunday Service and Performance of Drill

Drill will start at around 11.45am, and should finish by 12.15pm.

We look forward to seeing lots of you there.

Tuesday 14th November

Mrs Young

Chemistry in Action (Year 12 and 13) Wednesday 15th November FORMS General Meeting

Year 7 Business Enterprise Day

Thursday 16th November Year 11 COA Testing

As part of year 7's studies on Business Enterprise we have

Friday 17th November

managed to obtain the services of an enterprise business to

Year 13 At Home

deliver sessions on setting up and running a business. The

Friday 17th—Sunday 19th November Exeat Weekend

girls will make, market and sell products on the day. This will take place all day on Wednesday 29th November in the Great Hall.

Saturday 18th November Christmas Card Printing Workshop

Download a copy of the letter from Mrs Bannister here

Tuesday 21st/Thursday 23rd November Year 7 Meet the Tutor Saturday 25th November FORMS Christmas Fair

Charity News Year 7 students Tiggy, Daisy and Isabelle, are planning to collect unwanted winter coats to give to the charity Wrap Up London. Wrap up London have been organising coat drives for

Sunday 26th November

the past seven years, to help homeless and vulnerable people

Year 6 Feeder School Workshop

stay warm through winter.

Friday 1st December

Their website is www.wrapuplondon.org.uk.

Year 12 At Home

If you have any warm coats that you would like to donate,

Sunday 3rd December Advent Service Year 6 Feeder School Workshop

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please bring them into school by the 22nd November and the students will pass them on to the charity.

Mrs Baron

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SCHOOL NEWS After the Reboot—Computing Education in UK Schools The Royal Society today published its eagerly awaited report, co-funded by Google and Microsoft 'After the Reboot', an investigation into the state of computing education in the UK. It has been welcomed by those who have seen it already as a call to arms to ensure that the impetus of their earlier, seminal report 'Shut Down or Restart' is maintained.

The report paints a positive view of a somewhat bleak picture about the state of computing education in the UK. It cites instances of missed opportunities and poor decisions made by influential organisations, but it holds out hope that it is not too late to do something about it.

The thorny issue of the gender divide prevalent in computing education is included in the report and Mr Drew Buddie, Head of Computing at RMS was a member of the Advisory Group responsible for the compilation and publication of the report. By being present in the advisory group Mr Buddie was able to raise issues such as national gender imbalance, and the need for better teacher training opportunities, amongst many other topics.

Mr Buddie is pleased to see the gender imbalance within computing education appearing in the Executive Summary and specified in the recommendations because this shows the matter is now going to be seriously addressed. The report calls for ÂŁ60 million investment by the Government to make sure that this can happen.

The Royal Masonic School for Girls has bucked the national trend at GCSE level by having healthy sized groups studying the subject at that level and it is pleasing to see within the report that RMS girls are currently given the opportunity to study the subject of Computer Science when many girls elsewhere in the country are not.

You can download the full report here: http://bit.ly/roysocreport

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SCHOOL NEWS House Pumpkin Carving On Tuesday 31st October, under the supervision Mrs Clivaz, the four houses competed to create the most original pumpkin in the spirit of Halloween.

Scarborough where quickest off the mark by getting in early and got first choice of pumpkin with Cumberland getting there last!

The girls all got stuck in, pulling out the seeds and pumpkin "guts”, then trying to reproduce the drawings they had brought as guides. There was painting, shaving, and much, much more going on. Each team had five girls from various year groups helping with the challenge (and eating much needed energy sweets!)

It was great seeing the girls having so much fun, but at the end of the day points were up for grabs. After carefully consideration with the Food & Nutrition staff this is our verdict: 1st – Athol Sussex - most intricate and tricky carving with an original idea 2nd – Cumberland - Very eye catching and original 3rd – Scarbrough - good carving 4th – Moira - very clever mouth but less intricate carving than Scarborough Well done to all girls involved and another huge Thank you to Miss Clivaz and the Food and Nutrition Team.

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SCHOOL NEWS RMS Works on Paper Exhibition—Watersmeet Theatre, 7th November to 31st December and Christmas Community Print Workshop You are all warmly invited to two events being hosted by the Art, Textiles and Photography Departments this month.

RMS Works on Paper is an exhibition of work by our A Level and GCSE students of Art, Textiles and Photography. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday 9.00am-5.00pm and on Saturdays from 10.00am to 2.00pm.

Our Print Workshop has become and annual event—come along and make some Christmas wrapping paper, cards and gift tags etc. Entry is free but there is a small charge for materials.

To book your place, please contact Mrs Kingston lkingston@royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk

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SCHOOL NEWS

I have been very fortunate to secure a small number of tickets for the Royal Institution Christmas lecture on the evening of 14th December and will be accompanying a group of Year 10 girls to this event.

The theme of the 2017 Christmas Lectures is “Communication” and the speaker is Professor Sophie Scott who promises to take us on a fascinating journey through one of the fundamentals of human and animal life: the unstoppable urge to communicate. The lecture will feature a modernday return to classic television moments from past Lectures such as Sir David Attenborough’s ‘The Language of Animals’ from 1973, and may even attempt a world record. http://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/2017-the-language-of-life/meet-sophie-scott As lecture theatre ticket holders, we have been given priority access to tickets for the live screenings in one of the libraries at the Royal Institution before they go on general release.

Whilst there is a minimum age of 11 to attend the lectures live there is no minimum limit for the screening rooms. If you would like to purchase tickets for yourself or friends/family you can do so using the following links: Screening room tickets - 12 December Screening room tickets - 14 December Screening room tickets - 16 December I hope this will be of interest to some of you, if you have never been to the Royal Institution it is an amazing venue and the Christmas Lectures are sure to not disappoint!

Mrs N Timoney (CSci Teach) Head of Science

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SPORTS RESULTS (w/c 30/10/17) NETBALL RMS vs Rickmansworth School Year 7 B Team won 14-11 (against Rickmansworth A Team) The B team was very much looking forward to their second match of the season after training hard each Monday after school. After the first quarter the score was very close and both teams were playing some very good netball. The RMS team kept up the pressure and the two shooters were on form which enabled us to keep ahead throughout the game. The team showed that they are very versatile players as 10 girls were involved in the match.

Year 7 Netball Development Team won 10-0 (against Rickmansworth B Team) It was the 7C's first match of the year and it couldn't have gone any better for them! They were very nervous going into their first match and at the end of the first quarter it was still 0-0. Once the girls realised they were more than deserving to be there, their confidence grew and the girls played from strength to strength. They were communicating well to each other and tried so hard to create space. In the end the girls were victorious and Jessica L was named MVP. RMS vs Northwood College Year 8 A Team lost 1-4 This was a difficult match played in difficult conditions. Girls played well as a team supporting one another and moving to receive the passes. Congratulations to MVP Amy M. Year 8 B Team drew 0-0 Again, this was a tricky match played in very difficult conditions. The girls took a while to settle down but when they did, their passes were more accurate and their communication was important to help everyone understand where they had to be and who they needed to mark. Congratulations to MVP Lara B Year 9 A Team won 20-7 The match got off to a rocky start and the team was trailing by one goal after the first quarter. They went into the next quarter with determination and managed to storm ahead and prevent Northwood from scoring anymore goals. The game finished 20-7 and the MVP was Nia M-J. Year 9 B Team won 14-1 The team got off to a flying start and prevented Northwood from scoring any goals in the first half.

They continued to play some excellent netball and well deserved their convincing win. Katie A was awarded MVP.

HOCKEY RMS vs Queenswood Year 8 lost 0-1 The girls enjoyed a very competitive and close match. All girls played with enthusiasm and a desire to win but even after the ball hit the posts several times it failed to cross the line.

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SPORTS RESULTS (w/c 6/11/17) NETBALL RMS vs Northwood College Year 7 A team won 12 - 11 Year 7 B team won 21 - 3 The A team match was very exciting as both teams played well and the score was very close throughout the game. The B played some excellent netball and dominated the game. The shooters were in fine form and the rest of the team was very successful in intercepting and consistently bringing the ball down the court.

RMS vs St George’s Year 9 A Team lost 15 - 32 Year 9 B Team won 10 - 9 The A Team played in their first county Netball match against last year’s winners St George's. The girls played some excellent netball but unfortunately lost 15-32. The MVP was Maddie W. The B Team played in a friendly match and the game was a very close contest. A winning goal in the last minute of the match meant that RMS won 10-9 and Katie A was the MVP. District Netball Tournament Congratulations to the Year 11 netball team who collected silver medals in the District Netball Tournament. The girls won all but one of their matches, the most notable performance being a 7 - 0 victory over Parmiters. The team demonstrated an outstanding level of skill and team work in some very cold and challenging conditions.

HOCKEY RMS vs Rickmansworth Year 9 won 3 - 1 Year 9s played extremely well against Rickmansworth. Attacking hard throughout the first half eventually saw a goal scored by Betsy G (Captain). All the girls were pushing towards the shooting circle and helped to put the pressure on the Rickmansworth defence. Two more goals scored in the scored half by Hattie N and Lexie W. Fantastic team effort. POTM went to Betsy Well done girls!

Cross Country This week we hosted the District Cross Country Championships.

All the girls ran well but special congratulations go to Caitlin who was crowned Senior Girls District Champion. Well done Caitlin!

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FORMS NEWS Message from the FORMS Committee Thank you all for coming and supporting our Fireworks event. We hope you all had a great time and are looking forward to our next big event - Christmas Fair.

A giant thank you to all the volunteers. You made this event as seamless and as fun as can be for all who attended!

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FORMS CHRISTMAS FAIR

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