Parent Newsletter 17/06/16

SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS UPDATE Friday 17th June 2016 This Term’s Events at a Glance

Charity Update

Here are just a few important forthcoming events—for our full calendar, click here Monday 20th June Year 9 Geography trip to Windsor Regional Track and Field Athletics Year 7 Tennis vs Habs Tuesday 21st June Cake Sale for Atorkor Modern Foreign Languages Evening CREST Award presentations Three Rivers Sports Partnership Awards It was a pleasure to welcome Sohana’s mother Sharmila (pictured here with our outgoing Deputy Head Girls for Charity, Sarah R-L and Anoushka G and Mrs Baron), to RMS once more today. In Chapel Assembly, the School presented her with a fundraising cheque for a fantastic £9705.92. We would like to thank everyone for supporting the wide range of charity events that have gone on this year—it means a lot to Sohana, her family and all those who suffer from epidermolysis bullosa.

Wednesday 22nd June District Athletics Saturday 25th June FORMS Summer Festival EXEAT Weekend Tuesday 28th June Senior School Induction Day Wednesday 29th June Year 7 to St Albans Thursday 30th June A Level Photography Exhibition Private View House Charity Show Friday 1st July—Sunday 3rd July Duke of Edinburgh Silver Expedition Saturday 2nd July Prize Day and Sports Day

You can find out more about the work of the charity here http://www.sohanaresearchfund.org/ If you would like to donate any further money to the fund, please visit the charity’s JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/ sohanaresearchfund

Friday 8th July END OF TERM

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SCHOOL NEWS Emails Sent this week Year 8 and 9

Havergal College Exchange Programme 2017 Letter

Year 9

Independent Schools Council Research Project Letter

Whole School

Reminder re FORMS Summer Festival

If you have not received any of the emails listed below, please contact Pippa Hopkins phopkins@royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk Parent Portal queries & updating contact details To advise us of any changes to your contact details, change of boarding status etc., please contact changeofdetails@royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk . This is a group email address and your communication will be sent to all the relevant parties within the School. If you have any other questions relating to the Parent Portal, please contact our Data Systems team on datasupport@royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk

Visual Arts Exhibitions Our annual Art and Textiles Exhibition opened tonight in the Sports Centre. It will also be open on Lower School Prize Day/Sports Day on 2nd July. The exhibition showcases work by our GCSE and A Level Art and Textiles This year’s A Level Photography Exhibition opens on 1st July in Ruspini Gallery. We would encourage lots of you to come along and see the fantastic work that this year’s A Level students have produced. It is also open for private view for Year 12 and 13 Photography students and their parents on Thursday 30th June from 6.00-

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MINDFULNESS COURSE An opportunity to learn Mindfulness If you would like to partake please express your interest promptly Mindfulness teaches ways to pay attention to life, to pause, to step back and see a situation more clearly. The School is steadily introducing Mindfulness to the girls, and now has arranged for Mindfulness teacher Gayle Creasy to run an eight week Mindfulness course for parents on Thursday evenings in the Autumn. She will teach simple skills to create the positive mental habit of noticing and savouring pleasant experiences that will enhance your resilience and happiness both as a parent and as an individual. You will also learn how bringing mindful awareness to stress, anxiety or worries can help you to cope more effectively in the challenging moments that you inevitably face as a parent; and also in such moments that you experience in other aspects of your life.

More information is available from the Chaplain, and he is also the person to contact if you are interested in joining the course; as there is a limit to the number of people who can participate you will need to express an interest promptly if you want to secure a place.

The course will cost £260 which is comparable with equivalent courses and includes eight sessions of two hours plus a weekend day (10.00am - 4.00pm). You will be guided through a variety of Mindfulness exercises and there will be tailored guidance to support your individual learning, group discussions to facilitate your understanding and daily assignments to encourage you to integrate Mindfulness into your daily life. You will also receive a course handbook and access to downloadable audio Mindfulness exercises that form the foundation of the Mindfulness practices which you do at home in between the taught sessions.

For more information and to express an interest please contact the Chaplain, Rev’d John Quill, preferably by email jquill@royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk.

Finally it might be useful to know what some previous participants in Gayle’s courses have to say: "Before the course, if I was having a bad day it affected everything - now I can just notice it and still make the most of the day".

"I appreciate the small pleasant things in my life much more and generally feel so much happier".

"The course has enabled me to recognise and not get so caught up in anxious and grumpy patterns of thinking. I am more centred and less controlled by my thoughts".

"I am going away with so much more than I had hoped for at the outset".

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SCHOOL TRIP NEWS Year 9 Trip to the Battlefields of Belgium and Northern France—May 2016 In Year 9 History lessons, we start to learn about the First World War. The Battlefields trip is a unique opportunity for us to see the battlegrounds, trenches and memorials of the Great War, and see what we've studying in the classroom in real life.

Since 2014 the world has been marking 100 years since the outbreak of the Great War, and the importance of this is immediately apparent when you visit the sites.

Early morning on Saturday the 30th April we set off to France. On our arrival we visited La Boisselle, which was situated at the heart of what had been the Somme Battlefields.

With the War on the surface at stalemate both sides had begun searching beneath their opponents’ trenches in an attempt to gain an advantage. In December 1914 French and British engineers had begun tunnelling beneath this region and placed explosive charges. This particular crater was made by a gigantic underground mining explosion which had been sprung on the 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The crater has been preserved as a lasting memory to this war and the men who died. A service is held here on the 1st of July every year. The following day we visited The Somme Museum and explored the many artefacts that have survived.

We then visited the Thiepval Memorial. This is the largest of the Memorials to the Missing men of the war. On the panels of the arches are the names of those who have no known grave and are thus ‘the Missing.’ There are over 70,000 names on the arches of men who died in the Battles of the Somme. The memorial was unveiled by the then Prince of Wales on the 1st of August, 1932. He made a speech partly in French and British and said that ‘our first thoughts should be with the relatives of those whose death has purchased our current freedom’. We found this memorial particularly moving.

Afterwards we visited the Ulster Tower, a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and enjoyed a warm cup of tea in the cafe. At the entrance to the tower is a plaque commemorating the names of 9 men of the Division who won the Victoria Cross during the Somme. There is also an inscription which reads: "This Memorial is Dedicated to the Men and Women who at the call of King and country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of man, giving up their own lives that others might live in Freedom.”

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SCHOOL TRIP NEWS We then made our way to Vimy Ridge. This site commemorates the attack which was undertaken by the Canadian troops in April 1917.

The Germans had held this important area since the outbreak of war in 1914 so this was a very important battle. The Canadian government now run the site and it is a memorial to their Forces who fought in the Great War. On average 45 Canadian students run this and other Canadian sites and provide detailed tours to visitors.

After our tour we went to Vimy Ridge memorial which is a beautiful and gigantic piece of architecture and is carved from a single piece of stone.

That afternoon we made our way to Belgium. Our first stop was Talbot House, which today is a living museum. Thousands of British soldiers passed through this house during the three years it was open from 1915 to 1918. It was a place where the soldiers could escape from the terrors of the Front line. The soldier’s rank was left at the door and there was always a cup of tea on the go. We were encouraged to play the piano and treat it how the men would have treated it, as a place behind British lines where men could spend time relaxing in a British ‘home-from-home’.

Afterwards we met our guide, Simone. She was great and very knowledgeable about the sites we were seeing. She started our tour by taking us to Essex Farm cemetery and medical-dressing station. This is perhaps most famous for its association with John McCrae who, whilst stationed at Essex Farm in May 1915, wrote the very famous poem ‘In Flanders Field’. He wrote this poem after one of his close friends had been killed and buried and he saw the poppies blowing in the wind near the graves and this influenced the words he wrote; In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row.

That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We then visited Langemark German cemetery. This cemetery outlined a stark contrast to the bright and uplifting memorials we had just seen and many of us considered it to be a different experience altogether.

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SCHOOL TRIP NEWS Afterwards we travelled to Tyne Cot cemetery, which is a burial ground for the Commonwealth dead of the First World War; it is also the site where RMS holds their Remembrance Ceremony each year to the Old Boys of RMS. We gathered in a circle and the teachers read out the Act of Remembrance. They then read out the 112 names which are on the memorial along the Chapel Corridor. This was a particularly moving experience as for each name read aloud a student laid down a red carnation and we would like to thank FORMS for providing the red carnations for this ceremony.

Hill 62 was next on our tour. We were encouraged to go into the museum and explore the huge array of artefacts on show. We then went outside to go into the trench system. It was very muddy and had a distinctive smell and although we couldn’t truly appreciate the soldiers' experience we knew that we wouldn’t have liked to stay in there for too long, especially as some of us went through the dark tunnels and could be heard above ground screaming thinking there were rats in there with us… which was not the case!

Having cleaned ourselves up we then headed back to Ypres to have dinner and then see the Last Post at the Menin Gate. At 8.00pm each day, the masses gather at the Menin Gate to hold this ceremony. A young boy from a Scottish school accompanied the trumpeters with bagpipes making this an even more special occasion. It was a touching end to what had been a moving day and also gave us an opportunity to give the Last Post Association the money we had raised through our cake sale - thank you to all those who bought them and helped us raise over £200!

Our final visit was to "In Flanders Field Museum", in Ypres. The museum is full of interesting artefacts, and its layout is intentionally designed to make the visitor feel uncomfortable, which adds to the atmosphere. It was a good way to end the trip and summarise all that we had been learning about.

We would like to thank the staff (Mrs Eccles, Mr Grogan, Miss Callow, Mr Broome and Mrs Burrows) for taking on this fascinating trip. You can view a full gallery of photos from the trip here

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SPORT NEWS More Sailing Success for RMS On Wednesday this week, the RMS Sailing teams took part in a regatta against Merchant Taylors School.

It was another day of light winds, but there was plenty of skilful sailing by our A Team, and the B team also got their first taste of match racing.

In the match against MTs, RMS A Team (Ella, Alex, Juliette, Gina, Annaliese and Heather) won both races, beating MTs A Team into second place—the second consecutive time they have beaten their male counterparts‌..!

RMS B Team (Ciara, Lucy, Charlotte, Ivana, Millie and Jane) came third.

In the School regatta, the winner in the Beginners category was Kiran, Intermediates winner was Jess A, and Racing category winner was Juliette D. Congratulations to all our sailors on some fantastic individual and team performances!.

Mr Dichlian

Further Gymnastics Success for Amelia Congratulations to Amelia D who, with her Gymnastics team, competed in the Italian leg of the International Cup last weekend.

The team secured first place and a gold medal (again!), beating the team placed second by six points.

Congratulations Amelia!

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FORMS NEWS THE FORMS SUMMER FESTIVAL This new event is set to be the highlight of the School year – a fun afternoon and evening for all the family. We have fantastic bands booked, performances from our girls in various school clubs, bouncy castles, garden games, arts and crafts, children’s entertainers, football led by Mr Connors, aBBQ and beer tent, plus lots lots more (don’t forget your broomsticks to face the wizards and witches in a game of Harry Potter style Quidditch!!!).

Please donate any spare wellies for the Welly Wanging game—prizes up for grabs for the furthest “wanging”!)

Enchanted Fairy Walk—feel free to bring your fairy wings, includes a small gift to take away BBQ, Beer Tent, and bring your picnic blankets—and hopefully some suncream!!!

ALL THIS ENTERTAINMENT IS INCLUDED IN THE TICKET PRICE, which can be booked at www.trybooking.co.uk/525.

Also, please come along to support the Year 6 girls, who have been given the task, in small groups, to set up a small business and raise money by selling their ideas. They will be manning their stalls from 3.00—4.30pm PLEASE—YOUR HELP IS NEEDED. Summer Festival Volunteers It goes without saying that an event like this needs lots of help on the day (a special cry out for dads too please!!) . This year we are moving into the 21st Century and using VolunteerSpot to help co-ordinate all of the wonderful volunteers. Please take a look at how you can help at http://vols.pt/kir3JN and choose the spot(s) that you like.

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps: 1) Click this link to see our Sign-up on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/kir3JN 2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.

3) Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me on forms.volunteers@gmail.com and I can sign you up manually.

Sports Day Volunteers FORMS also need help to run the ever popular BBQ and bar at the Senior School Sports Day on 2nd July. We need a few additional volunteers to help run this on the day. If you are able to help, please email forms.secretary@gmail.com .

NEXT FORMS MEETING Please join us for the next FORMS meeting at Scotsbridge Milll on Wednesday 16th July at 7.30pm to celebrate a hugely successful year of events and fund raising for the girls. Everyone welcome!

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FORMS SUMMER FESTIVAL

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SUMMER HOLIDAY CAMPS

Super Camps at RMS in 2016 Super Camps, the UK’s no.1 for childcare during the school holidays, will be running holiday activity camps here again during summer 2016.

Super Camps has a fun-packed schedule lined up for summer 2016, and with guaranteed water-based activities, each child will go home smiling after a fantastic day. The emphasis is on participation and enjoyment with enthusiastic Super Camps staff on hand to help children acquire new skills and confidence, and make new friends.

Camps are open from 8am – 6pm, Monday – Friday.

To celebrate 20 fabulous years looking after children across the UK, Super Camps is offering parents a year-round 10% discount off standard rates.

Use discount code 'PARENT16' when booking online or over the phone.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

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