eNews Issue 95 - Summer 2015

eNews Issue 95, Summer 2015

@stgeorgesascot

/stgeorgesascot

2015/16 Head Girls' Team Announced St George’s is delighted to announce that Lottie Hughes and Caitlin McArthur have been elected as the new joint Head Girls of St George’s for 2015/16 by pupils and staff.

The girls achievements were announced at the Easter Awards which took place on Thursday 26 March 2015.

Very well done to Caitlin and Lottie and also to all of the new Head Girls' Team. More on this story on page two.

Lottie Hughes (left) Caitlin McArthur (right)

Pupils lay bricks in the new library building On Wednesday 25 March Mr Heather, Deputy Bursar, accompanied the Head Girl's Team on an exciting visit to the new Library building. During their visit, each girl laid a brick in a wall of the building and also inscribed their initials in the mortar to mark their contribution.

Princess Beatrice to open the Library in September!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their site visit and are very excited for the grand opening in September, which we hope will be performed by ex St George's Head Girl, Princess Beatrice.

Easter Awards

Easter Awards 2015 Announced

Cup Winners: Laura Davidson (First Year Achievement Cup), Isabelle Murphy (First Year Effort Cup) and Olivia Clouting (Best Debater, House Debating)

Head Girl Team 2015/16

Head Girl Team 2015/16 On Thursday 26 March 2015, the Easter Awards took place in the Sue Cormack Hall.

The award ceremony began with Emily Dominey, Deputy Head Girl, giving an inspirational speech to her fellow pupils.

Highlights included Churchill House achieving the most Merits, the 2015/16 Head Girls' Team being announced, and Darwin House winning the House Sports Mark Shield.

Congratulations to the following girls for being awarded Music Certificates from the University of West London: Alexandra Townsend, Isabelle Murphy, Ellie Pusey, Camelia JoelDavison, Katie Sedgwick, Charlotte Coates, Holly Fanning, Sophia Lyons, Lily Caines, Emma Streatfeild, Grace Woodward and Kate Gibb.

Caitlin McArthur Lottie Hughes Emma Sedgwick Emma Streatfeild Olivia Haig Emma Cunliffe Octavia Mason Chloe Smithyes Sophie Karl Moe Kishima Eliza Ballin Anna Mason Maddie Holden Ellen Kloster

Head Girl Head Girl House Captain - A House House Captain - B House House Captain - C House House Captain - D House Scholars' Prefect Boarding Prefect Admissions Prefect Admissions Prefect Head of Chapel Choir Sports Captain Art Captain Drama Captain

Ella Davis and Sophie Ross celebrated their Sports Achievement Cups and Emma Cunliffe, Grace Garde and Alice Robbins achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

Bronze Ambassador Awards were awarded to Lily Caines for achieving a place in the National Youth Music Theatre, Laura Davidson for her achievements in chess and Anna Murray for performing in an Eton play.

Congratulations to Cinder Choy, Isabella Ng and Camie Ng for achieving a Gold Ambassador Award for their attendance at the schools exhibition in Hong Kong with Mrs Owens and Miss Bridge.

Yuki Lee and Sanmi Toyobo with Young Enterprise Awards

Easter Awards Certificate Winners 2015

Effort and Achievement Cup Winners 2015

Suzanne Pritchard, Harragin Cup for Upper Sixth Effort

Grace Woodward, Captain of Churchill House accepting the Work Shield for the most House Merits

Lily Caines, awarded a place at the National Youth Music Theatre

Academic

Second and Third Year Girls compete in Maths Challenge Maths Challenge On Wednesday 11 March 2015, Mrs Lilley accompanied Second Year pupils, Soejin Park and Elizabeth Shegurova and Third Year pupils Sophie Ross and Patcharakamol Suwannakit, to Wycombe High School in High Wycombe.

The girls took part in the UK Mathematics Trust Team Maths Challenge Regional Final, with four rounds and some extremely challenging mathematical equations.

The girls worked together as a team against the other 25 schools who entered.

The girls came away very inspired and very much enjoyed the day.

Elizabeth, Patcharakamol, Sophie and Seojin

Talks

Inspirational talks at St George's

'A Positive Voice' On Thursday 5 March, Emma Coles gave a talk to the Lower Sixth Form girls about living with HIV. Since being diagnosed HIV positive in 1991, Emma has chosen to speak publicly about HIV for the past 23 years.

In 2002 she launched her 'Positive Voice' Education and Awareness talks and now speaks annually at over 100 schools across the UK. Emma began by explaining that having a positive and comical attitude is key to her life! She continued to tell the girls how she contracted HIV and her personal experiences to date.

Talk - Beat Charity On Monday 2 March, Dave Chawner from the charity Beat visited the School to talk about eating disorders and the fundraising efforts and services the charity offers to help sufferers.

Emma also highlighted that over 700 teenagers, 16 years old and under in the UK, are suffers of HIV and an astonishing 22,000 people in the UK have HIV, but don't know it.

He talked about his personal experiences having suffered with an eating disorder in the past. He then went on to explain what an eating disorder is, the ways to control it and the services available to sufferers from Beat including helplines and support groups.

Not only was Emma very open to talking about her experiences, but her natural ability to tell the story and the humour she used to emphasise certain elements was inspiring. Not one of the girls or staff would have walked away from the talk and forgotten her tale.

In addition, Dave also asked the girls to help by holding fundraising events of their own such as cake sales, a quiz, and charity sports days.

The girls found the lecture eye-opening and fascinating.

On Saturday 21 February 2015, during Half Term, Third, Fourth and Fifth Year pupils departed for a Religious Studies trip to Venice.

Mrs Magill, Dr Tieanu and Miss Moore accompanied the girls for a long weekend to explore the alluring city which is steeped in cultural and architectural gems. It is made up of hundreds of small islands and is well renowned for gondolas, bridges and pasta.

Venice has also played an important role in religion over the years and it has an abundance of important religious sites. The girls visited The Bridge of Sighs, the Rialto Bridge, St Mark’s Square and a Murano glass manufacturer. They also took a ride in a gondola and uncovered the endless galleries, shops, and cafes.

Behind the tourist areas, there were many mysterious alleyways leading off from the city, endless mazes of backstreets and deserted squares to find.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Visits

RS Venice Trip 2015

Photographs

St George's girls star in photoshoot!

St George's recently commissioned a professional photographer to take a variety of shots at the School and the girls made stunning models!

The three day shoot resulted in a vast selection of beautiful shots, we are delighted to share some of the photos with you below and opposite.

Photographs

Arts

Arts Life at St George's Music Spring Concert On Thursday 26 February, the Spring Concert took place in the Sue Cormack Hall.

The concert began with a beautiful flute solo performance of 'Caramel Carousel' by Seojin Park followed by stunning performances by all of the girls who performed for parents and pupils.

These included the Junior Choir singing 'Swing low, Sweet Chariot' and 'The Gospel Train', Olivia Clouting performing 'The Second Star to the Right', and Angela Liao on Piano playing 'Danza de la Moza Donosa'.

Art

Art in Reception Nicole Hui's picture, the girl in the shower, is the featured artwork in Reception this month.

The AS piece was developed with the use of acrylic paint and the use of a glue gun to create texture on the canvas.

Dance

Sasha Lemon On Sunday 8 March, First Year pupil Sasha Lemon participated in the Cecchetti Choreographic Competition in London.

Georgia Cooper On Tuesday 24 March, St George's pupil Georgia Cooper took part in her Intermediate Foundation Ballet Examination at the Royal Academy of Dance in London.

Sasha choreographed her own material and performed in both a duet and a group performance. She was awarded a choreographic commendation along with her partner, for their duet entitled 'Walking the Dog' performed to Gershwin's 'Promenade'.

Georgia has achieved a Merit in all of her Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Examinations to date.

Sasha also received a musicality commendation for the group performance entitled 'Class Act'. Well done Sasha.

Sasha(right) with her partner, Eleanor Faulkner

She has also been awarded UCAS points for examinations at this level which will help when applying to university.

Good luck with your results Georgia, from all of us at St George's.

Georgia Cooper

Headmistress Commendations Mrs Owens awards a Headmistress Commendation to girls who have excelled at a subject or activity within school.

Over 30 girls have been awarded a commendation during the Spring Term. Congratulations to all of the girls for this excellent achievement.

Commendations

Headmistress awards commendations for outstanding effort

A day in the life of a First Year

A day in the life of a First Year Mrs Lightwood, Director of Admissions and Marketing recently spent a day with the First Years. We thought you might like to hear how she got on and to see what your daughters do all day!

"Form time, where the girls get together to discuss what is going on, day to day routines or any issues or problems, was, this morning, a chance for the girls to look at their grades, discuss them with Miss Cartlidge and set themselves targets on how to improve. They all wanted to get better grades and were happy to compare what they had with others, mostly quite confident in their ability. Some of the girls felt that they could revise better or concentrate more and they all identified particular subjects they wanted to get better at. Miss Cartlidge then patiently went through with individuals, helping them identify their weaknesses and a happy, chatty atmosphere prevailed. Half way through an energetic Mrs Collingwood bounced in to show the class a video of the Great British Bake Off which the Fourth Year had been taking part in, making and decorating fairy cakes, and the girls also looked at a sheet which they had already started, to identify what makes them happy, or unhappy, and what they could do to change it.

"It was a real privilege to have a ‘window on their world’ so to speak.

The girls were extremely welcoming, polite and enthusiastic and we had some very amusing moments! They were a real credit to their parents."

Henrietta Lightwood

The first lesson was French with Madame Figueira who efficiently registered the class of 16, all of whom were sitting in alphabetical order. I sat at the back with Phoebe and Blanca and we agreed that being near the radiator was a good spot and for me being next to a plug to charge my laptop. The girls good naturedly got another chair for the girl whose seat had been taken by me and chatted happily away.

This was a really varied lesson which started on the whiteboard with pictures of different sports, the girls identifying these in French, looking at the masculine and feminine and pronouncing the words out loud. To ask questions, the girls put their hands up and despite a small worry from one of the girls who forgot her textbook and was concerned that if found out (which of course didn’t take long) she may get a detention, the lesson was extremely smooth. Another girl unfortunately had a nose bleed and was capably despatched to the toilet by Madame Figueira. The girls practised what they had learnt by doing written exercises and Madame Figueira patiently explained different concepts to individual girls who were having difficulties as she rotated around the room. Lots of French was spoken during the lesson so the girls were constantly hearing as well as speaking.

At break we went to the Dining Room for a drink and a biscuit. My guide, Olivia, who is 1EC’s Form Captain, had an Alexander House rehearsal so we went to the Chapel where the Sixth Formers were putting the girls from a variety of different year groups through their paces with a rendition of Let it Shine. Others went to Room 18 to play games and a few went outside for some fresh air. Mobile phones have been banned for the First Years for the week following an inappropriate posting on Snap Chat and this has gone down extremely well not only with parents, but interestingly with the First Years too.

After break I joined the top maths set. Not being my strongest subject at school, I was hoping to be able to keep up.

In English I sat next to Lucy and learnt from the knowledgeable Mrs Dorey why the piano is called the pianoforte. This was a grammar lesson on plurals and apostrophes by omission. After explaining the concepts and asking the girls to see what they knew, Mrs Dorey put some examples up on the whiteboard and tested the girls, going around the room, explaining how the letters had been left out.

Spellings are learnt every week with spelling tests – a really solid grounding.

After a large lunch, as all this concentration makes us all hungry, the First Years went off for a lunchtime club of lacrosse. The weather though cold was beautiful and the girls all enjoyed a run around in the fresh air.

Miss Cartlidge took a Geography class in the after lunch slot in a lovely sunny classroom. The class were discussing the difference between comparison and convenience goods. Alaya and I discussed items that her family might buy, how much they cost and how often they bought them. Interesting that the girls were very unsure as to how much things cost and generally under rather than overestimated their value. We also looked at where Alaya’s family would buy these items and how far they would travel to get them. There was lots of class discussion and the girls really enjoyed the task and identified with it.

The girls were all very much looking forward to Religious Studies. Eve, whom I was sitting next to, said “it is a really fun lesson”. Mrs Magill was full of energy and enthusiasm and we discussed What is God? One pupil however wrote What is Good? by mistake, which is also a good question! We closed our eyes to think about what God looks like, the characteristics that God would have and whether there are attributes that God couldn’t have if we are to worship him. Mrs Magill gave out the Facebook page of the Christian view of God that she had prepared earlier and a blank Facebook profile for the girls to decide on their God which they are going to fill out in prep time, having looked at different religions views of God. We watched a three minute video which showed young people from different religions talk about their various Gods and one young person who was an atheist.

The last lesson of the day was IT and Mr Naeem introduced the topic of spreadsheets. He took the girls through the separate elements of a spreadsheet and the basic formulas for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. The girls then took part in an exercise on the computer to prepare a spreadsheet of shopping items that they would need to go to the Harry Plotter School including putting together multiplication formulas. Mr Naeem explained to the girls about how to find help on computer programmes with help videos on the internet and showed them tricks and how to format cells.

The girls finished at 4pm and went onto their after school clubs and activities. It has been a very informative day and I would like to thank the First Years and the staff for welcoming me to their lessons and including me in their work."

Henrietta Lightwood, Director of Admissions and Marketing.

Day in the life of a First Year

However, Mrs Lilley was extremely clear in her explanations of transformations and vector notation and all of the girls grasped the concept of co-ordinates pretty quickly, presenting their work beautifully. Amy and Imogen told me they found it reasonably hard and explained very practically who they felt was the best at maths in the group. Olivia, who hadn’t been at the last session, was brought up to speed very quickly with a quick one-to-one whilst the others worked their way through a sheet. Mrs Lilley illustrated elements on the board and worked her way around the room to explain specific concepts to individuals and then read out the answers for the girls to mark their own work. As the girls got more confident the noise levels increased significantly.

However Mrs Lilley kept everyone in order and swiftly moved the girls onto a different sheet of vectors, co-ordinates and translations. It was interesting to see how Mrs Lilley was encouraging the girls to start to take control and motivate themselves – valuable lessons as they move upwards through the school. When some of the girls did not understand reflection as a concept, Mrs Lilley asked Amy to explain which she did extremely competently, with Mrs Lilley adding in to clarify further.

Boarding

Boarding Boarding social highlights enjoyed by boarders this term have included an active evening at 'Gravity Force', a trampoline centre in Camberley, for the whole of the boarding community on Wednesday 18 March and the Lower Sixth enjoyed Go-Karting during the last weekend of term.

Houses

House Music 2015 On Tuesday 24 March, the annual House Music Competition took place. The whole School takes part in the competition.

Performances included a House song, a solo piece, duet, ensemble and a group performance of the girls' choice to complete their entries.

The competition began with Churchill House, followed by Alexander House, Becket House and finally Darwin House.

Mr Hillier was joined by Music Teacher Mr Nigel Hutchinson from St Mary's School in Ascot to help adjudicate the competition.

After much deliberation, Darwin House were announced the winners.

Congratulations to Darwin House, and well done to all of the girls who entered the competition; your music skills were very impressive!

Winners Darwin House with Mr Hutchinson

On Friday 27 February, Alexander House held their annual party.

The theme of the evening was Chinese New Year. The dining room was decorated with bright lanterns and Chinese inspired murals.

The girls performed a variety of dances, individual and group music pieces, a comedy sketch, the Alexander House Declamation performance and the House song ‘Shine’ by Take That which was sung by all of the girls.

Everyone who attended had a wonderful time and thank you Miss Jackson for organising the evening, and Mr Cornish and his team for the decorations and delicious meal.

Houses

Alexander House Party

Houses

Becket House Party 2015 On Friday 6 March, Becket House held their annual party.

The theme of the evening was ‘Reach for the stars’, showcasing some of the House talent with stars, moons and a planetary decorations lining the Dining Room.

The girls performed a variety of singing, musical and drama performances for staff and parents at the end of the evening.

Staff, parents and pupils very much enjoyed the evening. Thank you Mrs Jones for organising the party and also Mr Cornish and his team for the superb decorations and delicious meal.

Young Enterprise Annual Awards On Thursday 5 February, Mr Cameron and Lower Sixth Form girls attended the Young Enterprise Annual Awards.

Young Enterprise is a not-for-profit enterprise and financial education charity in England & Wales. Young Enterprise's mission statement is "To inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise."

Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise girls win top awards!

The St George's girls' business 'BAY Bottles and You' won the 'Best Business Plan' and 'Best Presentation' awards and were overall runners up.

The girls' have been selling fruit infuser bottles online, at school and also after school at the Queensmere Shopping Centre.

For more information, or to buy your fruit infuser please visit www.bottlesandyou.wix.com/bottlesandyou or follow the girls on twitter @BottlesAndYou

St George's girls' with Councillor Mark Phillips, Deputy Town Mayor of Bracknell

Girls and staff raise money for Charity Charity

The Great St George's Bake Off Fourth Year girls have been raising money for charity during the Spring Term by holding their own 'Great British Bake Off' competition.

Each Year Group is raising money for The Malala Foundation, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital and Sebastian's Action Trust who will receive an equal share of the money raised by the whole school after the Autumn Term.

The 'Bake Off' competition comprised of different heats in which Form Groups competed against each other in baking challenges including baking and decorating cupcakes.

The final heat saw the Fourth Year Tutors battling it out to decorate a cake. Congratulations to Mr Rhodes for winning the final.

Baking fun with cupcakes View the 'Bake Off' video here: http:// on.fb.me/1HLQnJx

Staff Fundraising Mrs Nichola Anderson, Head of EAL, is due to run the 26 mile Greater Manchester Marathon to raise money for The Institute of Cancer Research on Sunday 19 April 2015.

On Saturday 25 April, Mr Steve Rhodes will be performing with his band at a charity dinner dance at Village Hotel, Farnborough for the Enabling Asher Fund. The fund raises money to help a young boy called Asher, who was born 10 weeks early with three holes in his heart and suffers from Cerebal Palsy, to live life to the full.

We would be very grateful if you could sponsor Mrs Anderson and Mr Rhodes for their amazing efforts to raise money for these much deserved organisations. To donate for Mrs Anderson, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/Picardy1/ and for Mr Rhodes, please visit www.justgiving.com/enablingasher/

Mrs Anderson

Mr Rhodes

Despite being down by two players, the girls worked hard and stayed motivated throughout the tournament. Ruby Nolan stepped in to block shots as goalie, and mid fielder Lucy Rigby helped lead the team with her precise shots on goal.

Overall, the girls finished fifth place at the tournament.

Ascot Polo Club On Saturday 21 March, a selection of St George's girls took part in the Inter Schools Arena Polo Day at Ascot Park Polo Club.

House Lacrosse Tournament On Wednesday 18 March, the St George's House Lacrosse Tournament took place.

The St George's House teams competed against each other for the title.

It was a great event and the girls who took part all did so with amazing skill, enthusiasm, competitive spirit, impeccable manners and smiles. All of their parents were very proud!

The tournament was a fun-filled competitive event with immense enthusiasm from the girls and spectators alike!

Well done girls!

Sixth Form

Congratulations to the winners Darwin House and well done to all of the girls who took part.

Sixth Formers train as Peer Counsellors Congratulations to the 13 Sixth Form girls below for completing an eight hour counselling training course led by the School Counsellor, Mrs Farthing.

Enrichment Talk - Photography On Tuesday 3 March, Mrs Gill Verity gave the Sixth Form girls a talk about photography.

Mrs Verity, mother to Sixth Form pupil Dorothy, has a wealth of knowledge and has taken some stunning photographs throughout her career including studio work, on location, weddings and also sports photographs for St George’s.

Mrs Verity talked about her experiences on various jobs and how the technology of photography has evolved. She also gave advice to the girls including the need to know how your camera and equipment works in detail, and how to take a good photograph with lighting, composition and colour being the three key aspects.

The girls found the talk very interesting. Thank you Mrs Verity for visiting us.

The training included topics such as boundaries, confidentiality and abuse, listening skills and review assessment skills as well as giving an overview of the role of a peer counsellor.

The girls, who volunteered for the role, now offer counselling services to girls of all ages across the School. Having other pupils available to talk to, to offer advice and listen is a very important part of the life of St George's.

Pupils can contact the Peer Point Counsellors by emailing them at peerpoint@stgeorges-ascot.org.uk or asking them for a chat in person.

Eliza Balin Moe Kishima Sophie Karl Isabella Ng Emma Streatfeild Kate Gibb Emma Cunliffe

Samni Toyobo Olivia Haig Karyna Dudnyk Lottie Hughes Chloe Smithyes Chantal Humphreys

+44 (01344) 629900 St George's School office@stgeorges-ascot.org.uk

Ascot Berkshire SL5 7DZ

www.stgeorges-ascot.org.uk

Sixth Form

Baston Rose Lacrosse Tournament On Saturday 21 March, the U12 St George's lacrosse team participated in the Baston Rose Bowl lacrosse tournament in Cranbrook, Kent.

Sport

Sports Highlights for March