Sydenham Highlights AUTUMN/WINTER 2023
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Community & Kindness in Action
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Careers, Futures & Leadership
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Mind, Body & Soul
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Art, Design & Technology
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Drama & Music
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English
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Humanities & Classics
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Mathematics & Computing
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Modern Foreign Languages
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Science
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Sport
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Rowing
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Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
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Christmas at Sydenham High
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Alumnae Spotlight
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Contents
Head’s Welcome
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Dear Families, As I read through this magazine, I am impressed by this vivid portrait of the outstanding pupils at Sydenham High School. This collection of highlights encapsulates our school’s ambition which aims to nurture and empower each child to forge their own path with pride; confident and able to be the very best they can be. We are committed to a holistic approach - educating the whole child, fostering their mind, body and soul. We believe that educating the whole person leads to happy, courageous children who flourish. This magazine, with its rich tapestry of events, opportunities and achievements, is a testament to our inclusive and diverse education.
I hope that you enjoy reading of the joy and fervour that our pupils bring to all their endeavours, be that academic enquiry or at the fields, the river, the theatre, the studios or the library. It is the vibrancy and energy of our school life that inspires and motivates. Our pupils are hugely keen to give back to the community. This generosity of spirit is evident in the charitable enterprises as well as our developing partnerships with local schools, including Dulwich College, Dulwich Prep London and Holy Trinity Primary. Our Eco Council, Phab Club and EDI Committee are all thriving with pupil voices ringing out. We enjoy round-table discussion in every year group and embrace the opportunities for young leadership.
Our pastoral care and focus on a culture of kindness continues to be a cornerstone of our ethos. I have particularly enjoyed our class breakfasts, our parent coffee mornings and my Friday break-times when so many pupils visit me to receive commendations and sign my book. What a privilege it is to be a Head of such a thriving school. Whilst this is just a snapshot of the term, I hope you will come and visit us soon to meet our warm, purposeful community of staff and children. With my best wishes to you,
Ms Antonia Geldeard Head
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Community & Kindness in action Jeans for Genes Day raised money to make a difference to the lives of children and families living with genetic conditions.
Generous-hearted Year 12 students have been giving up their Saturday mornings since September to teach Science to local primary school children. Science School Saturdays saw Tabitha (pictured), plus fellow A Level students from Sydenham High School and Dulwich College teaching a mixture of Biology, Physics and Chemistry throughout the eight-week programme. Fortunately for these energetic Year 5 children, the lessons included lots of practical and handson sessions which they threw themselves into with great enthusiasm. Whilst Tabitha says she doesn’t think that teaching will be part of her longer-term career plans, she does plan to do more teaching and volunteering during her gap year after A Levels.
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“The best part was definitely the feeling that we were inspiring young minds. Knowing that what we were doing essentially planted a seed in them that sparked their curiosity is one of the absolute best bits. Refereeing their egg drop challenges was highly memorable because of the stress of a ton of eggs flying from above in their not so durable cases,
and seeing the smiles across the kids’ faces who succeeded in what they set out to do, whether it was the egg not cracking or their rocket launching all the way past the 2nd floor. A lot of them by the end had said that Physics was now their favourite subject which surprised us all. ” Tabitha (Year 12)
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
November brought Anti-Bullying Week, Odd Socks Day and Kindness Day. Our Year 12 volunteers led an assembly which defined what
Eco Week Clothes Swap During Eco Week, the Longton Hall was filled with happy shoppers as it was transformed into a vibrant, bustling market for our clothes swap organised by our Eco Council leaders, Mei and Jocelyn.
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bullying looks like and directed us to interrogate our own words and behaviour. Their theme, and that of Anti-Bullying Week, was ‘Make a Noise’.
Fabulous Phab Club One of our core values at Sydenham High is generosity of spirit, we aspire to be outward looking, giving back, taking on leadership and having a positive impact. Every December, Ms Dodds organises for volunteer pupils to host a Phab Club in our Orangery, which is an opportunity for disabled and non-disabled people to come together to socialise, have fun and build connections. Our guests were able to enjoy music, games, arts and crafts, and of course, tea and cake with pupils whilst their parent/carer was able to take some time out.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Careers, Futures & Leadership
Shahroo Izadi was our thoughtprovoking speaker in the first of our Lecture Series for the academic year. A published author, renowned behavioural change specialist and winner of “Thought Leader of the Year” Award, Shahroo Izadi, gave us all wise advice for changing habits as well as developing self-belief and self-awareness. She charged our pupils to ‘impose friction’, to disrupt the ‘autopilot’, recognising the need to actively ‘move towards, not away’ in our mindset and goals.
International Coalition of Girls’ Conference
Central to our purpose at Sydenham High School is our Careers & Futures Programme. This aims to shine a light on many different opportunities, instill curiosity and inspire young women to forge their own path. Power skills, like problem-solving and team-working, are essential, to enable our pupils to hone their emotional intelligence, critical thinking and creativity. Whether they are excited by climate science, robotics design, prompt engineering for AI technology, aspects of aesthetics or ethics, we are committed to sparking their interests and opening up their minds to their future potential. We seek to provide regular exposure to mentors, networking opportunities, visiting professionals, keynote speakers and GDST alumnae.
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“Act like someone you respect is watching.” “Make the choice that you will be proud of tomorrow.” Shahroo Izadi
Our Year 13 students spent the day listening to an array of impressive speakers including Baroness Manningham-Buller LG, DCB, the former Director-General of MI5, who shared eye-opening stories from her counter-terrorism experiences and emphasised the importance of strong leadership. Our Deputy Head of School, Adia, found it hugely enriching “to see the progress and evolution of women and to be encouraged to follow your own path.” Hearing from HRH The Princess Royal marked a special conclusion to the conference, offering valuable insights on teamwork.
GDST LEAD Career Development Day
Careers Twilight Event In the first of this year’s Careers Events we welcomed two inspiring speakers, Mehala Ford (Creative/ Entrepreneur) and Kristen Dimmock (Strategic Planner, Weber Shandwick), who took our young listeners through their career journey, sharing the power of thinking differently in creative fields. Our girls asked insightful questions and we were charged with the advice to ‘know what [we] stand for’, to ‘reframe our views and keep interconnected’. Alumna Melissa Warren joined us via Zoom all the way from Australia to share her remarkable career journey with our GCSE and Sixth Form pupils! Melissa is Head of Client Engagement in the Capital Markets team at JLL property consultancy and loves sailing. Melissa’s message to the girls was that successful careers don’t have to be linear, and enjoying the journey is just as important - forge your own path in the world and fear nothing.
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These Sixth Formers had a stimulating career development day at fellow GDST school Sutton High, networking with peers and absorbing insights from inspiring businesswomen. Emphasising the fusion of personal values with career choices, the event sparked discussions on diverse business ventures and explored contemporary challenges faced by women in the 21st Century. The students are part of the GDST LEAD programme. “Leadership Enterprise Advanced Diploma” has been designed to inspire the female founders of the future, and encourage Sixth Form students to create real change. Potential young entrepreneurs have access to an online self-guided interactive leadership course, plus a business mentor as part of the programme.
GDST LEAD students at the launch event in October with their business mentor, Chitraj Singh, founder of wellness app, Mindhug.
Careers Fair 2023 Our annual Careers Fair in November saw over 200 parents and pupils engaging with specially invited parent and alumnae professionals, along with universities, training providers and other experts in their fields. The Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, the London College of Communication (University of the Arts London), SOAS University of London, and the Women’s Engineering Society were amongst the organisations represented, plus KPMG, Schroders, Chatham House and CNN. Visiting professionals included a gynaecologist, a vet, a broker, an architect, several film makers, engineers, and a music creative.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Mind, Body & Soul
Mind, Body and Soul is our
co-curricular programme, a significant part of the fulfilment of our commitment to a holistic education, developing all round personhood and real world experience. Our programme is a true kaleidoscope of possibility with clubs that include Book Club, Perfume-Making, Mathematical Lego, Debating, Drama, Photography, Language Karaoke, Raspberry Pi, BioChemMedSoc, and many, many more. With academic stretch programmes as well as plenty of seriously fun activities, there is something for everyone, and we are responsive to the needs and passions of our pupil body, updating the offer each term.
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We concluded the first half term with a terrific Mind, Body and Soul Day in which all our pupils participated in a range of enrichment activities. Year 7 and 8 fully engaged with our ‘House Spectacular’ (a veritable selection box of challenges); Year 9 explored the fascinating exhibits at the Imperial War Museum; Year 10 immersed themselves in exciting STEM projects; Year 11 dedicated their day to honing English literary techniques and writing skills; while our Sixth Formers embarked on off-campus adventures at the University of Bath.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Syd Sisters Mentoring Programme We officially launched our Syd Sisters Mentoring Programme in October, which aims to create meaningful connections, develop listening skills
and share learning experiences. Year 12 students were trained in core mentoring skills by Mrs Evans to enable them to provide peer to peer mentoring for girls in the Lower School. In their first meet-up they spent time getting to know each other over croissants and juice.
Black History Month at Sydenham High School Our Black History Month programme began with a fascinating assembly from a speaker from the Black History Archives who enlightened us on Black History in the UK, and the influential black women who have shaped lives and instigated societal change. Throughout October we enjoyed some highly thoughtprovoking and stimulating speakers, activities and performances.
Right: Ms Vaughan, Karis Morris-Brown, Ms Dodds and Ms Forrest at the launch assembly for Black History Month.
Sussie Anie, author of “To Fill a Yellow House”, speaking to pupils about her experience as a writer. 9
The Gospel Choir performing at the Mobo-inspired lunchtime concert.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Art, Design & Technology
Darkroom Photography Club
Did you know we have a dark room? Making good use of it this term was Sixth Former, Olivia, who has really enjoyed the opportunity to learn the art of taking photos in a different, slower, format, and learning about the different way of developing the images.
Year 13 History of Art students visited the Tate Britain in October to see the first solo exhibition of British contemporary artist, Sarah Lucas, whose works focusing on identity are central to the theme of their A Level studies.
Coco Chanel Exhibition at the V&A
Year 10 and Year 11 Design and Technology students were lucky enough to get tickets to the sell-out Coco Chanel Exhibition at the V&A. Ms Curran and all the students agreed that it was a fabulous experience, and such a fantastic coincidence that Coco Chanel features on their GCSE syllabus.
Based just down the hill in Sydenham, the Anna Lovely Gallery is an artist-led gallery, exhibiting well-established and up and coming artists. Our talented Sixth Form A Level Art students have enjoyed the benefit of weekly, in-person life drawing classes guided by Anna herself this term.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Piece of the Week
From photography to watercolour, surrealism and much more… Mr Dunne’s Piece of the Week highlights the vast array of mediums in which our Art students express their talents.
Mr Dunne with Katie Frade from the University of the Arts in Camberwell giving a talk to GCSE and A Level Art students about careers and post-18 pathways in Creative Arts.
Year 10 Design and Technology students made over £200 at the Frost Fair in November selling keyrings, Christmas decorations, purses, scrunchies and much more, all hand made in their DT lessons. Not only did they have to design and make their products, but they also had to plan the pricing, packaging and marketing as part of our Enterprise Challenge.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Drama & Music Winter Concert 2023 Nearly a hundred of our pupils showcased their musical talents in a wonderful range of performances, spanning classical, jazz, rock, and more, featuring the orchestra, choir, and other ensembles. From Elgar and Debussy to the Eagles and the Arctic Monkeys, with plenty of Jingle Bells throughout - a superb celebration! Our musicians’ high-level performance was a testament to their dedicated efforts in preparation, confidence and resilience. A heartfelt thanks to Ms Phillips and all the staff for their hard work in orchestrating this special event.
GCSE Drama students critique “The Play That Goes Wrong” Key Stage 4 students studying GCSE drama enjoyed a host of great plays this term as part of their theatre evaluation module. These Year 10 students took a trip to see the hilarious, multi-award-winning disaster “The Play That Goes Wrong”, in the West End. After enjoying the play, they had to write a critique, including the lighting, sound, and overall production.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
GDST Day of Dance Seven of our GCSE PE dancers, plus some of the dancers on our High Performance programme, were invited to be part of the GDST Day of Dance at the prestigious Pineapple Studios in Covent Garden. Pupils participated in a range of workshops from lyrical jazz to contemporary and musical theatre. The workshops were led by industry experts who have appeared in the West End in musicals such as Wicked and Mrs Doubtfire, and who have performed around the world supporting acts such as Jessie J and Paloma Faith.
A Level Theatre Studies trip to see “That Face” Our A level Theatre Studies students study “That Face” as one of their set texts. This is a superb play, which is rarely performed, but they had the wonderful opportunity of going to see a new version at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. The cast, led by Niamh Cusack, were phenomenal, tackling the devastating subject matter with sensitivity and truth. The production was amazing; a minimalist, simplistic set which left all of the raw message of the play in the hands of the cast and script. It was a great experience which has already proved invaluable for our students’ understanding of the play.
Play set in the traverse “changes everything” Year 10 Drama students have been working hard in rehearsals on a production of “This Changes Everything”, by Joel Horwood. The play focuses on a group of disillusioned young women on a platform out at sea where they have formed The Community – a new type of society and a better way of living.
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But how can you change the world if you’ve taken yourself out of it? Set “in the traverse”, meaning the audience sit on either side of platform used by the cast, with a stage at each end. This unusual staging immerses the audience in the action and we await final production in March with much anticipation.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
English
Debating Hot Topics
“This house believes that families should be restricted to two children”
They most loved interrupting each other’s speeches with points of information to oppose the arguments the other team was making. Our speakers were Anna, Audrey and Agnes (Year 7), Gwyneth (Year 8) and Laia and Madi (Year 9) and they all did a fantastic job in their first debate.
was the proposition from Audrey shown here being countered by Gwyneth in Junior Debating Society. This term has seen the launch of the Junior Debating Society at Sydenham High. A group of eager pupils from Years 7 to 9 have been learning how to debate in a parliamentary style every Wednesday lunchtime with Mrs O’Neill. They started the term with some confidence building games and quick stand up and speak ideas. Each week they have learnt one more skill, from outlining their opening arguments, to learning how to make convincing, well exampled points and how to prove their argument is the stronger. In early December, the girls had their first debate and they were absolutely buzzing at the end of it.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Young Writers Young Writers aims to encourage young people to engage in creative writing through poetry and short story competitions. Reeya and Rosie in Year 8 have had their writing published in the latest compilation by Young Writers. Rosie also submitted another piece of writing for an Annual Showcase; they received their published book, “UNSOLVED,” in November.
Lit Soc Jolabokaflod Sydenham Literary Society hosted their own version of an Icelandic Christmas Book Flood and gifted their pre-loved books to one another over hot chocolate and marshmallows at lunch time. Jolabokaflod is the tradition of gifting books on Christmas Eve, to be enjoyed over cocoa with family or friends. Our Lit Soc students were joined by Ms Dodds who also received a gift to read. The aim of our Lit Soc is not only to enhance students’ love of literature, but also to develop in them logic and curiosity to know more, and to instill in them a confidence to speak well.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Humanities Stretch Talks Our Humanities Stretch Talks are a series of lunch time lectures designed to stimulate debate around some fascinating and topical issues. This term, Megan, Year 13, explored the topic of art tourism and people’s fascination with the Mona Lisa. Ms Geldeard had a wonderful lunchtime, listening to some of the history of Rothko, Banksy and Barnett Newnam’s (‘Who’s Afraid of Red, Blue and Yellow’) paintings. Megan’s infectious curiosity for Art was certainly matched by a rapt audience who were itching to get into the Louvre to explore more.
Year 9 Geographers visit Eastbourne These Year 9 Geographers took a trip to sunny Eastbourne on an investigatory mission to assess the location and ascertain whether their research aligned with reality, and enjoy a beachside picnic as a respite from their hard work.
Humanities & Year 11 investigate Olympic legacy
Sixth Form trip to the Tower of London Year 13 History students visited the Tower of London in December. They learnt about the 14 different uses the tower has had over the years, from royal residence, to prison, to menagerie. As they explored, they were tasked with evaluating the tower as a source of accurate historical information, along with our guide, with his knowledge of the Tudors and the Reformation. They enjoyed visiting the parts of the tower where prisoners were held, the very spot of Anne Boleyn’s execution and of course, the Crown Jewels. An educational and cultural experience even if a little cold! 16
Year 11 Geographers visited a very sunny Stratford to investigate the impacts of the 2012 Olympic regeneration, completing land use
surveys and environmental quality surveys as part of their GCSE Geography fieldwork investigation. This also gives them a taste of some of the Human Geography that they will study at A level.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Year 7 student highly commended by Cambridge University Ovid Competition
The annual Cambridge School Classics Project Ovid Competition invites Year 7 pupils to come up with a creative response to the myths recounted through Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Pupils can enter individually or as a group in one of four categories that include Performance, Artefact, Creative Writing and Animation. Schools can submit one entry per category, and Year 7 were able to submit entries into each one. Anna Liev in Year 7 has been awarded ‘highly commended’ for her entry in the Artefact category with her Daedalus and Icarus Installation (pictured). There were a high number of entries from a really impressive range of schools so we are very proud of Anna. You can see all the entries at www.classictales.co.uk/ovidcompetition/gallery
Classics Immersion November was a busy time for Classics students as our Sixth Formers visited the British Museum to study the Bassae Frieze and the Elgin Marbles, as well as engaging in the Virtual Classics Conference with Oxford High School.
Classics
Virtual Classics Conference In this virtual conference, delivered by Oxford High School, Professor Edith Hall from Durham University, who specialises in Greek Drama, spoke passionately about making Classics more accessible. Professor Hall also spoke very powerfully about a girl’s experience of ancient Greek religion, tracking the different cults and rituals she would have taken part in. A total
of eighty days in every calendar year in Athens were dedicated to celebrating the gods, so every month would have had a special event. A favourite of Professor Hall, The Brauronia was held in honour of the goddess Artemis. Girls celebrate having their first period in this festival, with other young women and female family members dressing up as ‘little bears’ before transitioning to demurely dressed, marriageable young women. In the second part of the conference, Sixth Form students from Oxford High delivered their EPQ speech on a relatively unknown member of the Roman imperial family, Antonia Minor. She explored the way women are portrayed in Latin Literature, coins, art and other sources and why that might be.
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“Attending the virtual Oxford High School Classics Conference was an illuminating and enjoyable experience. The lecture by Edith Hall was particularly relevant to our Greek Religion topic in our Classical Civilisation A-level. We enjoyed learning about the hugely important role of women in society and religious activities such as festivals.” Mei, Year 13
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Mathematics & Computing Marcus Du Sautoy Mathematics Lecture
GDST Maths Challenge
Our Sixth Formers had the opportunity to attend the Marcus Du Sautoy Mathematics Lecture at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where he delved into the deep connection between Mathematics and games, providing a fascinating new perspective on viewing Mathematics in another dimension.
Congratulations to these brainy Mathematicians who took part in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge – six of our Year 13 students were awarded bronze certificates, and Sherina achieved a silver award for her performance. Well done to all who took part.
Lego Spike Coding Club
Ella and Helen, Year 7, with “Lucy” who has been programmed to recognise colours using Lego Spike
Keen programmer, Laura, Year 7
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Computing Challengers in top 10% in the UK The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students. It is organized in over 60 countries and designed to get students all over the world excited about Computing. Last year over 3 million students worldwide took part in the challenge which requires students to answer questions that focus on computational and logical thinking. This autumn, over 400 of our pupils entered the competition, and 15 achieved Gold awards, putting them in the top 10% in the country, and securing an invitation to the Oxford University Computing Challenge.
Samsung Business Insight Day Thirty-eight Computer Science pupils visited the Samsung Europe Headquarters for a Business Insight Day. They enjoyed a tour of Samsung’s Smart Home showroom, experiencing what a futuristic home looks like before embarking on a challenge which involved identifying a sustainability issue and developing a pitch to present to the Samsung Product Development and Marketing team. The judges praised many onpoint, creative ideas, stating that they were highly marketable with great potential.
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Visite à Paris The French Department travelled to Paris and managed to pack in an awful lot in just three days! They explored the Louvre, Versailles, took a river cruise and visited the Musée du Parfum Frangonard and, of course, enjoyed some French cuisine whilst putting their language skills into practice.
Modern Foreign “Experience, travel - these are an education in themselves”. Euripides
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Foody exploits in Florence Our Italian Department ventured with our girls to Florence to enjoy all its artistic glory and rich cultural tapestry. They explored the city and museums, attended Italian language school and revelled in the culinary delights.
Languages
In our French Department, there was much excitement for the visit of the UK General Manager of Ladurée, Madame Romola Basu-Wiken. Romola shared her insights on the importance of languages in the world of business and inspired our girls to continue to excel in their studies. Fortunately, she also shared more than one slice of Parisienne chic with the pupils. The exquisite French pastries from this luxury pastry house were incomparable!
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Science
Zoology visit to Cambridge University Head of Physics, Ms Inchenko, accompanied nineteen excited Year 10 pupils on a Zoology and Physics trip to the University of Cambridge. This immersive journey provided hands-on exploration at the Museum of Zoology, (with a double-tusked narwhal and a giant sloth), inspiring lectures included a meteorologist from the British Antarctic Survey, and valuable insights into the Cavendish laboratories. They even got to stand on a bed of nails!
Our weekly Bio Chem Med Soc is for any students from Year 10 to Year 13 who have an interest in Science, with a particular focus on those wishing to apply for Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry. However, students wishing to study similar courses such as Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Natural Sciences, Biochemistry, and Forensic Science for example, are also encouraged to attend. The focus is on supporting students for the application process including the UCAT and BMAT, writing personal statements, work experience and interview practise. Sessions also involve external speakers, discussion of medical ethics, personal attributes, and presentation skills. 22
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Year 9 pupils take on Astronomy GCSE
Demonstrating Sydenham’s trademark fearlessness, these brave Year 9 pupils launched into their Astronomy GCSE at the start of this year led by Howells School, along with
Sixth Formers learn about careers in aerospace
Programme at our fellow GDST school Bromley High. The students were also able to speak to representatives from GKN Aerospace, the world’s leading multi-technology tier 1 aerospace supplier, and got to meet “Spot”, an agile, mobile robot designed by Boston Dynamics.
Our Sixth Form Scientists discussed “high-flying” careers in the field of aerospace and were able to have a go at flying a drone at the launch of the Schools’ Aerospace Careers
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more than 50 students from across the GDST. In their first virtual session, students learned how telescopes work & what kind of objects we can see with them.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Sport Kent County Netball U19 Champions These Key Stage 4 and 5 students had a phenomenal day at the Kent County Under 19s netball finals in November. They were unbeaten, winning seven out of seven matches and brought home the Kent County Champions’ trophy beating schools such as Sevenoaks, Bromley High and Colfe’s. We can’t wait for the regionals!
High Performance Programme Success Sydenham’s High Performance Programme for students from Year 10 upwards, is designed to give support to our high performance athletes in order to help them to hone their talents and also balance the competing demands on their time. At Key Stage 3, pupils on the programme benefit from regular strength training, as well as talks and workshops more suited to their stage of development. This relentless focus on the pursuit of excellence has paid off for these young athletes who have been selected to play in regional squads: 24
Maggie and Ally in Year 10, along with Iris in Year 8, earned spots in the Kent County Netball squad. Orla in Year 10 made it to the London Hockey Squad and also secured a remarkable 5th place in the U15 Surrey race.
Morgan in Year 9 achieved a place in the London Hockey Girls U14 South squad.
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Multisports tour to Barcelona brings home a trophy Eighteen of our Year 9 and 10 sportswomen travelled to Barcelona for a five day Masterclass Sports Tour. Even with intensive training in hockey, netball, and football, there was still the occasional moment to relax in the sunshine and take a dip in the pool. They played against some fantastic local Spanish clubs, and the U15 Netball team even brought home some trophies!
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Rowing
Rowing Our Rowers have had an incredible start to the academic year, with some truly courageous performances from the team, despite repeated poor river conditions which meant they couldn’t go out on the water. Highlights have included competing in an adult race and finishing 4th at the Docklands Head, and a time trial against JAGS. The term culminated in some welldeserved fun Christmas Pudding races at Dulwich College Boat Club. We have 55 Rowers at Sydenham High School across Years 9 to 13. 26
Senior Coxed 4 taking advantage of a calm but fast stream
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Programme Combining volunteering, developing a skill, getting active, and organising an expedition, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award challenges young people to build resilience, give back to the community and develop essential skills like teamwork. Sydenham High School is a directly licensed centre for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Students from Year 9 upwards can take part in the scheme to achieve their Bronze, Silver and eventually Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Bronze Award winners collecting their certificates at the start of the year
Year 10 cooking their breakfast
Year 9 practising their cookery skills as part of their Bronze Award 27
Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Christmas 2023 at Sydenham High School We had the most joyful countdown to the Christmas holidays! We kicked off our festive celebrations with our Winter Music Concert, followed by a beautiful carol service at St Stephen’s Church. Our kitchen team served up a delectable three course Christmas feast with all the trimmings which was enjoyed whilst wearing our festive jumpers. Across the school we also had an Icelandic Jolabokaflod, festive German baking, and carols around the Christmas tree, culminating in a superb annual talent show organised by Year 12 in aid of Crisis. It was a wonderful end to another incredibly busy term. Thank you to everyone across the staff and student community who put in so much work and enthusiasm to make everything happen.
Carols around the fireplace
Christmas Jumper Day & Staff Secret Santa
Festive baking whilst practicing German language skills
Turkey with all the trimmings
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Carol Service at St Stephen’s Church
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Alumnae Spotlight Class of 2005, Melissa Warren It was a privilege to have Melissa (pictured, in the centre) join us via Zoom all the way from Australia to share her remarkable career journey with our GCSE and Sixth Form pupils! From Sydenham High School, to a Languages and Linguistics degree at Reading University, via a role at KPMG in London, then film and fashion in Paris. Now she’s in Melbourne, Melissa is Head of Client Engagement in the Capital Markets team at JLL, and loves sailing. Melissa’s message to the girls was that successful careers don’t have to be linear, and enjoying the journey is just as important - forge your own path in the world and fear nothing!
Class of 2016, Ellen Yang
High School, Ellen has this to say:
Recently graduated from Durham University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education Studies and Psychology, Ellen achieved a First-Class degree and was ranked the highest grade in her cohort across the faculty. As an aspiring academic in education, she has just embarked on a Masters at Oxford University where she will be exploring and researching the influence of digital data and artificial intelligence on our current education ecosystem. Of her time at Sydenham
“The school’s unwavering commitment to academic rigour, personal growth, & community service shaped me into a confident & resilient female research scholar.” Class of 1947, Elizabeth Gay Showing true Sydenham courage and curiosity for learning, Elizabeth has just published her first book, at the age of 93! A pupil at Sydenham High School from 1936 to 1947, Elizabeth resides in France and got in touch with us to let us know about “Stay Well: Misinformation? The Facts Revealed”, a book about how to eat well for better health and a longer life. Clearly Elizabeth has been keenly following her own advice!
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
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Sydenham Highlights – Autumn/Winter 2023
Empowering girls to forge their own path since 1887
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