The Royal Masonic School For Girls Senior School Weekly News Update
Friday 26th May 2017
SCHOOL INFORMATION This Half Term at a Glance
Lower School Prize Day and Sports
Here are just a few important forthcoming events coming this term… For our full calendar, click here
Day, Saturday 1st July
Monday 5th June Back to School, Year 7 -10 Exams start Tuesday 6th June Year 7 Geography Trip to Chiltern Hills Friday 9th June Year 8 Civil War Day A Level and GCSE Art and Textile Exhibition opens
This year’s Year Lower School Celebration of Achievement and Summer Prizegiving will take place on Saturday 1st July from 10.00am (although we would ask parents/ guardians to be seated by 9.50am). Please remember that attendance at this event is compulsory for all girls in Years 7
Saturday 10th June County Athletics Championships
to 9, but optional for girls in Years 10 and
Tuesday 13th June Year 7 History/Classics Trip to St Albans Year 12 Textiles to Regent University
Prize Day will be followed by Sports Day,
Friday 16th June Year 8 Science to Royal Observatory
is compulsory for all Senior School pupils.
Monday 19th June Year 12 UCAS Exhibition Sixth Form Taster Day for Year 10 Year 9 Geography Trip to Windsor Wednesday 21st June Non Uniform Day ABRSM Exams (until Friday 23rd) Thursday 22nd June Celebration of Sport
above.
which will begin at 12.45pm and will finish around 4.00pm. Attendance at Sports Day
FORMS will be running a barbecue at Sports Day, or alternatively you may wish to bring your own picnics. There will also be an opportunity for you to visit displays around the School, including the Art, Textiles and Photography GCSE and A Level Exhibitions. We look forward to seeing you all at the last big event of the school year!
Saturday 24th June History Trip to Berlin FORMS Summer Fair Thursday 29th June Photography Exhibition Preview Saturday 1st July Prize Day and Sports Day Friday 7th July END OF TERM
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS Emails Sent this Week Year 12 Textiles, Art, DT
Trip to Regent’s University
Year 8
Civil War Day information
Year 9
Havergal Exchange 2018 Initial Letter
Year 7
History and Latin Trip to St Albans
Year 10/12 PARTS
Trip to Wycombe Swan
Whole School
Invitation to Prize Day and Sports Day
Year 11-13 Art/Textiles
Invitation to Art and Textiles GCSE and A Level Exhibition
Parent Portal queries & updating contact details To advise us of any changes to your contacts details 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
A Level Photography Exhibition Come and see the work of our talented A Level Photography students at our annual exhibition of their work. The exhibition opens for a private viewing on 15th June, and is open thereafter until Prize Day and Sports Day on 1st July. We hope that many of you are able to come and see the fantastic work that the students have produced this year. Miss Lawrence Photography Department
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS GCSE and A Level Art and Textiles Exhibition from Friday 9th June This year’s GCSE and A Level Art and Textiles Exhibition will have its launch (on Friday 9th June from 4.00-6.00pm. If you aren’t able to come to the launch, the exhibition will also be open on Sports Day (Saturday 1st July), so we hope lots of you are able to visit to see the fantastic work the students have produced this year
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
Mrs Kingston
Mrs Coffey
Head of Art
Head of Textiles
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards Presentation On Wednesday 24th May, Mrs Fryer was privileged to attend Buckingham Palace Gardens to watch the Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award presentations. It was especially exciting to watch old RMS girls Gabrielle Newson and Anoushka Harris (pictured right with Mrs Fryer) receive their awards. All guests present met The Earl of Wessex and Countess of Wessex. The awards were presented by Ore Oduba, winner of Strictly Come Dancing and well-known TV personality.
Year 7 Book Club Visit to “The Making of Harry Potter” at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden On Monday 22nd May, the Year 7 Book Club went to “The Making of Harry Potter” at Warner Bros Studios. With trepidation they entered the Forbidden Forest...would Aragog be lurking in a dark corner...? They were glad to move on to the bright lights of Platform 9 3/4 and Diagon Alley, before admiring the full scale model of Hogwarts Castle. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and unsurprisingly, Mrs Fryer took longest in the shop at the end of the tour! This trip was the highlight of the Harry Potter-themed term at the Book Club - the girls have also been reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at their weekly meetings and are planning to read some extracts from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them”.
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS Year 7 Religious Studies Trip to Bhaktivedanta Manor On the 22nd May all the girls in Year 7 went on school trip to the Watford Hare Krishna temple. Our first activity was going on a cart ride. There were bulls that were pulling the cart that we were in. After a few seconds the man who was guiding the bulls asked us if we wanted to drive. Everyone’s hand shot up immediately. He picked two of our classmates and they started to drive. As soon as they started to drive the bulls started to do what bulls do and excrete their waste while walking. Everyone started to laugh, saying it smelt awful. When we got to the temple’s farm there were cows and bulls and an adorable calf. The cows were super cute and quite calm. We all started to stroke them and didn’t want to stop. After we finished at the farm we went back again to the cart and two different classmates drove then we went to the eco garden where we learnt about why Hare Krishnas are vegetarian. As we walked in we saw a little pond. On the little pond there was a murti of Ganesh. Around the whole garden there were little buddhas in random places, it was really pretty and there was lots of greenery to remind them to care for nature. We then saw the greenhouses full of Holy Basil, which is sacred to Krishna.
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS After the garden we went inside. We had a talk about various artefacts like flower garlands and lamps. Six of us dressed up as the trimurti, the three main gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and their wives. After that we all got to wear saris. It was complicated to put them on but the people who worked in the temple were very helpful and a few girls in our year were very experienced and corrected all of our mistakes. When we had all finally got our saris on which were beautiful, we got bindis and bangles to finish the look.
When we were all dressed up we went into the shrine room to see an act of worship. They were singing and it was called the arti ceremony. We saw the murtis, which are statues of the gods. There was Krishna, Rama and Sita, Rama’s brother Lakshmana and Hanuman. They were dressed in purple and gold and they looked incredible. Apparently they have one hundred and fifty outfits and they get a new one made at each of the six festivals a year. The murtis get six meals a day and are treated like real people. They even have night clothes. Once the arti ceremony had finished we went to wash our hands and took off our saris and then went to have lunch. At lunch we sat on the floor in long rows either back to back or facing each other. For lunch we were given vegetable curry made with peas, paneer cheese made from the milk of their cows and a tomato sauce, it had some basmati rice, puri (a type of Indian bread) and fafa ( like a prawn cracker but made of vegetables!) with naturally coloured neon edges we also had some chips (not Indian food). For dessert we were each given a small round shortbread biscuit. After lunch we got our faces painted with floral, swirly and dotty patterns. We also got to buy some things from the gift shop. You could choose from a lot of things ranging from string bracelets and china cows (which were meant to be lucky) to 24 carat gold plated mini statues! Once we had finished all of that we went for a short talk and we got to ask questions, most of it about when our souls moving on from one body to another and the cycle depending on how you have behaved in your past life. We saw a dance as a form of worship and heard some ragis (music). We all really enjoyed the trip and would like to thank all the teachers who organised it. You can see more of our photos here. Avani, Rhiannon and Amy 7M
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SCHOOL NEWS Year 8 Geography Trip to Cadbury World On Friday 5th May I, along with the rest of Year 8 went on the Cadburys World trip. At first nobody knew how this trip would link in to our Geography lessons; however, as the day progressed we learned about how the trip was to do with industry and that we would be learning about this topic soon. To start with we did a tour around the main building where we got lots of free samples of chocolate. Throughout the building there were machines which described how specific bars of chocolate were made using lightweight, plastic moulds. It was interesting to discover how the manufacturing of chocolate has progressed over time as technology has developed. Most of the actual making of the chocolate is done by machine now compared to the olden days where everything was made by hand. We saw a demonstration of this. Along with demonstrations we had a talk on how Cadbury has developed from a small, unique corner store in the city to a vast town in the countryside over time. One of the last activities we did, besides the shop, was going to the 4D cinema which was fun but not the best idea with moving seats after eating lots of chocolate. Overall I think this trip was a fun but educational experience despite what we first thought and I think it is something to look forward to for all Year 8 students in the future. And I have learned not to eat all the chocolate in one go! Thank you to teachers who took us - it’s safe to say they had a good time too! Kitty R, Year 8
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
SPORTS NEWS Rounders RMS vs St Clement Danes
RMS vs Watford Girls Grammar
Year 7 A Team won 30-11
Year 10 won 11.5-9
Year 7 B Team won 21-9.5
Despite fielding well after the first innings
Year 8 A Team won 26.5-7
RMS were losing by one and a half
Year 8 B Team won 15-10
rounders. A quick team talk at half time
Year 9 A Team won 17.5-8.5
got the girls fired up and they trebled their
Most Valuable Player—Mirabelle W
score to win the match 11.5 to 9 rounders. The most valuable player was Rachel R-L
Tennis
Swimming
RMS vs Berkhamsted School
Year 4/5/6 Swim Team took part in the
Year 7 A Team lost 8-4
Swimming League Final (A) against High
Year 8 Team won 10-2
March, Berkhamsted, Haberdashers, and Maltmans Green—we are still awaiting results but well done to all the girls who swam!
Cricket Teams from the Year 7 and Year 9 took part in a Three Rivers and Watford Schools Sports Partnership competition against Parmiters and Rickmansworth. All girls were playing in their first cricket matches and improved their skills and knowledge as the competition progressed. The Year 9 team won their games and although the Year 7 team lost they played some excellent cricket. Thank you to Mr McDonough for coaching the girls this term.
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
ATHLETICS NEWS County Track and Field Cup Both the Under 14 and Under 16 team performed exceptionally well at this event where each girl has to do two events (1 track and 1 field, 1 track and the relay or 1 field and the relay). Points are awarded by performance not placing so it is a strategic match! Both teams won their age group in the first rounds with the Under 14's total score of 313 points securing them a place in the 'B' Regional Finals to take place at Woodside on Monday 12th June. This will be against 13 other schools from across the East Anglian region. The Under 16 team scored a total of 374 points, which was high enough to secure a place at the 'A' Regional finals which will take place at Bedford International Stadium on Thursday 15th June. It also ensures a top 9 place in the whole of the East Anglian region, but the PE Department is obviously aiming higher than 9th!
County League Each competitor is allowed to do 1 track and 1 field and a relay and points are awarded on their placing in each event. After 3 rounds the Under 14 team are lying joint 1st with Haberdashers on 141 points out of a total 25 schools, The school currently placed third is on 132 points. The Under 16 team are in a very close 2nd place, just two points behind Haberdashers and 5 points above St Clement Danes.
County Combined Events A group of athletes took part in the county Combined events earlier in the term where each girl has to compete in all five events with points being awarded according to their performance in each. All the girls performed well and Talia M-K finished 1st in the Under 17 category with a personal best score of 2112. She has been selected for the Regional team for the match to take place later in June—congratulations Talia! Freya W and Grace I finished in 5th and 6th respectively and have been selected as reserves for the U15 regional team— congratulations to them both!
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls
OTHER NEWS
www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk
www.twitter.com/RMSforGirls
www.facebook.com/RMSforGirls