Latest News

Olympic Stadium visit

On 5 May, 167 girls from Years 6 to 13 travelled to the Olympic Stadium to attend the official opening. 2012 Hours to Go was an event that saw British University students and selected UKA athletes compete in a range of events, followed by celebrity races. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the stadium that will be home to top athletes from around the world in only a few weeks. We saw a range of track and field events, including the pole-vault, triple jump, 100m and 4 x 400m relays.

The celebration continued with the Military Wives Choir leading the 40000 spectators in singing the National Anthem for the first time in the stadium. The celebrity events included the tug-of-war, tandem bike race and an art competition, all of which were part of the Olympic Games when London last hosted them in 1908 and 1948. The evening culminated in the official opening of the stadium by Lord Sebastian Coe. It was a truly memorable evening enjoyed by all girls and staff.

Published: Thu, 17 May 2012

Art Exhibition

The Art Department of St Albans High School for Girls invites you to a private view of art work from 2012.

GCSE
Friday 18 May 7.00pm - 9.00pm

AS/A2
Friday 15 June 7.00pm - 9.00pm

We look forward to seeing you there - no appointment necessary.

Published: Mon, 14 May 2012

Year 6 Girls get on their Bikes

Last week, girls from Year 6 took part part in Bikeability. Bikeability is 'cycling proficiency' for the 21st century, designed to give the next generation the skills and confidence to ride their bikes on today's roads. The girls learnt to cycle safely on the roads, how to manoeuvre and tackle junctions and roundabouts.

Published: Wed, 9 May 2012

Year 6 enjoy the great outdoors

On Monday 30 April, Year 6 set off for their much anticipated residential trip to Cranedale Centre in Yorkshire. We had a fantastic time walking on the Moors, searching for crabs on the rocky shore, exploring the forest for different habitats and playing 'Survival in the Wild'. We returned to School on Friday exhausted but with lots of happy memories of our time together.

Published: Wed, 9 May 2012

Ringing the Changes at Ringwood

The improvements and extension to Ringwood, the Music School, are now complete. The creation of extra teaching and rehearsing rooms in addition to a new soundproofed percussion studio will, as term begins, ensure that it is an exciting base for pupils to continue with their music studies. A new Performing Hall, due for completion in September, will complement this enhancement of facilities.

Published: Mon, 30 April 2012

Young Enterprise Success

We are delighted that all three Senior School teams competing in the St Albans and Harpenden Area Finals of the Young Enterprise Company Competition last week received praise and awards.

The judges were particularly impressed with the quality of the products and services provided by the teams and following a nail biting evening, our team 'Iris' was awarded Best Product and declared Overall Winner. The Cookbooks produced by 'Peaches and Cream' were Joint Runners Up with 'Simply' being awarded Best Presentation. Participation in the scheme enables pupils to gain real experience of business and teaches them key transferable skills and all the teams did the High School proud. Both 'Iris' and 'Peaches and Cream' will represent the St Albans and Harpenden Area at the County finals at the University of Hertfordshire on 13 June.

Published: Mon, 30 April 2012

Musical Year Finale

The Summer Orchestral Concert took place on Sunday 29 April, featuring the Intermediate Orchestra, Senior Chamber Choir, Chamber Orchestra and Senior Orchestra. The two highlights of the evening were the outstanding performances given by our instrumental soloists. Sarah-Jane and Laura entertained us with some truly beautiful flute playing in their performance of Sinfonia Concertante by Doppler. Rachel thrilled us with her performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor. It was an outstanding finish to the musical year – well done to all who took part!

Published: Tue, 1 May 2012

Individual Gymnastic success

Gymnast Lucy has had a busy couple of weeks! She has received a small grant from Welwyn Hatfield Council as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Young People which aims to help and encourage young people to reach their full potential.

In February, Lucy competed in the National Miss Alpha Factor competition in Ipswich, at National Club Grade 5 and received a rosette for 5th place. Later in February, she passed her National Club Grade 5 and received a silver medal. This was a qualifying competition and Lucy now goes to National Club Grades Finals in April in Birmingham to represent the Eastern region in a team competition where she hopes to win another team medal and improve her individual placing of 11th from Grade 6.

Published: Fri, 20 April 2012

East Regional Netball Trials

Congratulations to Chloe, Sophie and Esme who have progressed through selection rounds to gain a place at the cross-county screening for the East Regional Netball Academy. A fantastic achievement at this very high level.

Published: Fri, 20 April 2012

Resounding Netball Success

The U12A, U12B, U13A, U13B, U14B and U15 netball teams all won their District Tournaments at the end of the Lent term. In the invitational tournaments held by Royal Masonic School, the U12, U13 and U15 netball teams also won their respective age groups. The U12A team are the only team we entered into the District League and have worked well as a team to secure first place. We are very pleased to report that the U13 team won all of their matches to take the title in the League's first year. Congratulations to all girls who have represented the High School in what has been a phenomenal year for netball!

Published: Fri, 20 April 2012

Founders' Day

To celebrate the 123rd Anniversary of the High School's Founders' Day, a service of Thanksgiving was held in the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban on Thursday 29 March.

Published: Tue, 3 April 2012

Joint Choral Society and Orchestra Concert

On Wednesday 21 March, the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban was once again the venue for the Joint Choral Society and Orchestra Concert; a splendid musical event which brought together musicians from St Albans High School for Girls and St Albans School. The programme featured Handel's Zadok the Priest, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams and culiminated in an uplifting performance of Mozart's ever-popular Requiem.

Published: Wed, 28 March 2012

The Little Princess Trust

On Monday 19 March, Theresa Gudgeon from The Little Princess Trust was invited to visit Wheathampstead House to talk to the girls and staff in assembly about the work of the Trust. Theresa shared how the Trust is dedicated to providing and fitting real hair wigs to children suffering hair loss from a variety of causes.

Verulam House raised over £372 for the Trust at their Charity Day last year. During assembly House Captains and representatives Elly, Lucy, Amelia, Alice and Molly proudly presented Theresa with the cheque.

Published: Mon, 19 March 2012

Fencing success

A record number of girls in the Preparatory School are enjoying Fencing as an extra-curricular activity. On Monday 19 March they were proud to receive their Bronze Proficiency Award.

Published: Mon, 19 March 2012

National Tennis Finals success

Having won all of their matches in the group and knockout stages of the Senior Students Team Tennis competition, the Senior Team qualified for the National Tennis Finals in Bolton on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 March. The High School played some excellent tennis and pulled off some good wins. At the end of the group stages, they were placed second in their group, just missing out on a place in the final. The girls had a fantastic time and their tennis progressed well throughout the competition. Finishing overall joint third in the whole country is a phenomenal achievement – congratulations to Kate, Amy, Sophie and Jayna.

Published: Mon, 19 March 2012

Technology Tournament Triumph!

On 14 March, three teams of four girls from Years 8 and 9, took part in the St Albans Annual Rotary Technology Tournament. This year the challenge was to design and build a coin sorter from a select amount of materials in order to sort different sized coins. The girls worked creatively and systematically to produce very good solutions to the problem. Each team then presented their work to all involved. Hannah, Esme, Gabby and Amy were so quick and precise at completing the task that they came first in their category, out of 14 groups from eight different schools. Congratulations to them and all the girls that took part in what was a very enjoyable day.

Published: Mon, 19 March 2012

Wheathampstead House Gymnasts compete in National Finals

Earlier in the month, the U10 and U11 gymnastic squads qualified to compete in the Gymnastics National Finals held at Kent College, Pembury. Schools from around the country and abroad competed on floor and vault. Our girls all performed brilliantly. The U11s were awarded medals for their group sequence and the U10s received medals for their group sequence and overall team score. Well done gymnasts!

Published: Mon, 19 March 2012

World Book Day

On Thursday 1 March, children's author, Sita Brahmachari, visited the High School for World Book Day. Sita is the author of the novel 'Artichoke Hearts', which won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize in 2011. She worked with Year 8 to complement their study of the creation of characters. At lunch time she signed copies of her latest book in the library.

Written by Emily, Year 8

Published: Mon, 12 March 2012

National Primary Schools Swimming Championships

Congratulations to Freya, Alice, Nicole and Elly who have recently qualified in the freestyle and medley relay for the National Primary Schools swimming finals. We wish them well in the competition which will take place in Sheffield on 16 June.

Published: Wed, 29 February 2012

High School community supports British Heart Foundation Wear Red Day

On Friday 24 February, girls took part in National Wear Red Day to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation. Sixth Form girls participated in a three-legged mile and staff, too, joined in by volunteering for a circuit training session. An extremely successful day saw a total of over £300 raised for a very worthwhile cause.

Published: Tue, 28 February 2012

Year 10 Explore Islam

On Thursday 23 February, two Year 10 RS classes visited the British Museum to learn more about the religion of Islam. Anna recounts her experience.

"There was a Hajj exhibition on at the time, and we took a 'Journey to the heart of Islam'. At the exhibition, we learnt about the importance of Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, as a pillar of Islam, and learnt a lot about the spiritual journey that Muslims must undertake. There were videos explaining its significance and the exhibition showed stories of people who had previously been on Hajj and shared their experiences. Overall, it was an informative trip which really benefitted the class's understanding of Hajj".

Published: Tue, 28 February 2012

Students enjoy visit from MFL Theatre Company

Year 8 and 9 students enjoyed dynamic and interactive performances in French and Spanish from the Onatti Theatre Company recently. It was an excellent day, full of laughter and target language. The girls really enjoyed the audience participation and were proud of how much they could understand.

Published: Tue, 28 February 2012

Happy World Thinking Day 2012

Wheathampstead House pupils were proud to wear their uniforms on Wednesday 22 February, to celebrate the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts 'World Thinking Day' by thinking about the environment and sustainability.

Published: Wed, 22 February 2012

Senior Tennis Team reach National Finals

The High School Senior Tennis Team has reached the Aegon Team Tennis Schools Senior Students National Finals. Since September, Amy, Sophie, Kate and Jayna have been competing against other schools from the South-East of England.

Having reached the top of their group, they played in the knock-out stages of the competition and a win against Watford Grammar School for Girls last week, secured them a place in the National Finals, which take place at Bolton Arena on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 March.

Congratulations to the team for an outstanding achievement so far and we look forward to following the team's progress over those two days next month.

Published: Fri, 10 February 2012

Year 6 experience Pop Culture

On Monday 6 February, Year 6 enjoyed a day exploring the fashion, music, art and dance of the 1960s and 1970s. Pupils dressed up in outfits depicting these decades and completed four creative workshops. The day ended with a performance of the dances they had worked on together in their House groups. These photos show the optical art of Bridget Riley and some fashion designs inspired by Mary Quant.

Published: Wed, 8 February 2012

Safer Internet Day

Pupils at the Senior School and the Prep School have been thinking about Safer Internet Day (SID). Safer Internet Day is an annual international event to promote the safe and responsible use of technology among children and young people and this year the theme is 'connecting generations'. The aim is to encourage families to explore online technologies together.

The girls in the Preparatory School benefitted from an informative assembly and helpful input in their ICT lessons. Interactive activities were shared with parents so they could explore them with their daughters at home.

The Senior School girls have been busy working in their PSHCEE lessons on this topic. They have interviewed their parents to find out what it was like 'back in the good old days' and have been producing their own resources for their parents to use - to connect the generations together. This forms part of our ongoing commitment to girls and parents to work in partnership with them and to educate our whole community about the positive use of technology.

First published: Fri, 3 February 2012

Netball success continues

The U13s Netball team competed in the Royal Masonic School Netball Tournament on Saturday 21 January. In the semi-finals, they faced a strong team from St Helen's School and played very well to win the game 6-3. The final was an incredible game against Brentwood School and the High School girls demonstrated some fantastic netball against the superb opposition. Everyone gave 100% effort and forced many interceptions throughout the whole court. In attack, the shooters held their nerve to shoot calmly and at the end of the game the High School finished on top, winning 7-4, to take the tournament title. Congratulations to the whole squad, who made fantastic improvements throughout the day.

Published: Wed, 1 February 2012

Oxbridge Success

Congratulations to all eight of our current Year 13 who have secured themselves the offer of a place at Cambridge or Oxford for 2012!

The group intend to study subjects as diverse as Engineering, French and German, Geography, History and French, Human Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine and Music. As ever the competition was tough and even more hard work lies ahead as the girls focus on gaining the grades they need. But for now there is time for celebration; we are very proud of all of you!

Published: Fri, 27 January 2012

January Concert

This was the opportunity for the Middle School musical groups to display their talents. A wide range of musical styles were presented by the Townsend Band (music from The Godfather and The Bare Necessities), and Guitar Ensemble ('Pink Panther' theme, 'Love is all around' and as well as a newly created piece around a poem about 'Legs' that involved speakers and party poppers!) The very large Middle School Choir sang four items including an atmospheric performance of 'Sailing', a chorus for Guys and Dolls, a piece about two rather flak gendarmes by Offenbach and an African piece, complete with Djembe and other percussion. Lola provided some lovely instrumental contrasts with a couple of pieces for solo concert harp, while the String Quartet, comprising Natasha, Isobel, Isabelle and Lydia, gave a very pleasing and stylish performance of a Rondo from Mozart Quartet in Bb. The evening was rounded off with some very polished and projected singing by the Junior Chamber Choir, including a beautiful new piece by Bob Chilcott called 'The Lily and the Rose'.

Published: Wed, 25 January 2012

Trip to watch Olympic gymnastics trials

St Albans High School Gymnastics Squad were lucky enough to get tickets to watch the London Prepares series test gymnastics event which were trials for the 2012 London Olympic Games. On Wednesday 11 January we travelled by coach to the O2 North Greenwich Arena. We got fantastic seats and settled down to watch some of the world's best women's gymnasts compete on beam, floor, asymmetric bars and vault. One of the highlights was watching the reigning world champion Chinese Lu Sui on beam, her routine included somersaults both forwards and backwards as well as a double back salto dismount.

On the floor, the women showed poise and grace and amazing tumbling including the rare double Arabian (which is a half twist into a double front somersault). The teams we saw included France and Canada who have both qualified for the Olympics.

We had a great time and would like to thank Miss Bacon for organising the trip. We will be inspired to work hard on our own gym skills as we prepare for the St Albans and District Gym Display in March.

Written by Lucy (Year 9), Gymnastics Squad Member

Published: Mon, 23 January 2012

Under 15 Netball Success continues

Following on from their victory last term in the 3rd round of the Independent Schools Netball Cup, the U15 Netball team played in the 4th round on 16 January.

With only eight teams left in the competition in the whole country, we knew it would be a very tough game against Reigate Grammar. Both teams started strongly and after the first quarter the High School were up by one goal, 12-11. With a few injuries to contend with, the High School team were broken on three of their centre passes in the second quarter and found themselves 19-15 down. They knew that it would be crucial to narrow the gap in the next quarter, if they wanted to proceed to the semi-finals. It took a lot of determination and steady play but slowly the High School managed to pull the goals back and found themselves up 25-24 going into the final fifteen minutes. The High School were broken on their first centre pass and Reigate took the lead, scoring from their centre pass as well. The High School began to settle the play and gave 100% effort right up until the final whistle. The scores were so close until the final whistle and a few stunning interceptions and cool, calm shooting from the High School put us in front by one goal, winning the highly exciting game, 33-32. This secured the team a place in the semi-final of the national competition. Congratulations to the whole squad and we look forward to hearing who we are playing in the next round!

Published: Wed, 18 January 2012

Swimming Success

Five High School pupils will represent the St Albans and District Swimming Team in the Hertfordshire Schools' Swimming Gala on 3 February. We wish Juliet, Emma, Victoria, Fiona and Giselle every success.

We also wish Mia all the best as she has been selected for the Middlesex County Swimming Team to compete in an International swimming competition in Portugal in February.

Published: Thu, 12 January 2012