Archived News | Trinity: May to August 2009
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Welcome to our new Head of Wheathampstead House
We are delighted to welcome Ms Gillian Bradnam as Head of Wheathampstead House. Ms Bradnam has a wealth of experience in both the primary and secondary sector and has been Deputy Head of St Catherine's Preparatory School in Bramley for the past six years. She is particularly interested in the development of independent learning and thinking skills and the use of new technologies to enhance learning. Ms Bradnam looks forward to meeting as many of our families as possible over the coming weeks and months.
Super StAHS with GCSE Results
Another happy day here at the High School with a staggering 96.5% of all examinations sat being awarded an A* to B grade at GCSE and 86.9% of those at A* or A. Over half the girls achieved A/A* grade in all their subjects with fourteen gaining straight A stars.
The Headmistress, Mrs Martin, was delighted.
"The girls have worked hard and achieved wonderful results. They have laid very firm foundations for future success and I have no doubt that they will go on to great things at A level.
I am sure that the girls would also wish me to mention their parents and their teachers, who did so much to encourage and support them. There is much to celebrate today."
Click here to view an analysis of the GCSE results.
super StAHS!
Girls in Years 12 and 13 found that they had much to celebrate as they opened their results this morning.
Girls in Year 13 have the distinction of having achieved the school's best ever A2 results! 90% of all grades were at A or B, with 72.8% at grade A and 36 girls achieved straight As in all their subjects, in many cases four or even five!
At Advanced Extension level, Camilla Walker achieved a Distinction in English Language and Literature, and a Merit in French and Rebekah Clark a Merit in History. In Geography Sophie Cavanagh was awarded a Distinction with Rosie Alterman, Sophie Crouch, Charlotte Fox and Frances Owen all receiving a Merit.
In Year 12, over 90% of all grades achieved were at grade C or above, with 81% at grades A or B and 60% at grade A. An amazing 30 of the girls achieved a grade A in all their subjects.
The Headmistress, Mrs Rosemary Martin, was delighted.
"Since arriving at the High School I have been unfailingly impressed by the enthusiasm and determination of all the girls and I am thrilled that their efforts have been so justly rewarded. The girls have laid sound foundations for future success and I shall continue to follow their careers with interest.
However, thanks and congratulations must also go to the teaching staff who work so hard to prepare the girls for these examinations and who have inspired in them a love of learning that will stay with them all their lives. We are indeed fortunate to have such a talented and committed team and I am extremely grateful to them for all that they have done and continue to do."
Many, many congratulations to all our girls!
Click here to view an analysis of the A2 level results.
Click here to view an analysis of the AS level results.
Click here to view the results for the Advanced Extension Award.
Oxbridge Success
Congratulations to all those girls who successfully secured their places at Oxford and Cambridge with outstanding examination results. Rosie, Francesca and Jessica, who are going on to study Medicine, Sophie, Charlotte and Fran, who will be studying Geography, Vanessa, Social and Political Sciences and Camilla who is going to study English. They go with all our best wishes for the future. Well done, girls!
Camilla's outstanding achievement
Warmest congratulations must go to Camilla Walker who not only achieved Grade As in English Literature, French and Drama, but also a Distinction in English Language and Literature in the Advanced Extension Award and a Merit in French.
Camilla leaves us to take up her place at Christ's College, Cambridge where she will read English. We wish her every success!
Centenary Ball photographs now available for viewing
The Centenary Ball photos are now available to view and instructions on how to access them are available via the
Extranet.
Choir's performace at Eisteddfod available on BBC iPlayer
During the last week of term, the Senior Chamber Choir travelled to Wales to sing in the International Eisteddfod, our first representation at this event. Competing against 17 choirs from Canada, South Africa and Lithuania as well as from all over the British Isles, the choir performed two very technically demanding works beautifully and was placed in the upper half of the competition (in the end there was a clean sweep of the prizes by choirs from the Czech and Slovak Republics!).
You can watch the choir performing at the International Eisteddfod by going to BBC Wales iPlayer or following this link: http://www.llangollen.tv/en/clip/21.
You can also click on the image to take you to their performance on BBC iPlayer.
Wheathampstead House gymnast invited to prestigious Sports Awards
On Thursday 9 July, Cathy from Wheathampstead House attended the City and District of St Albans Sports Awards with Miss Deacon and her family. Cathy had been shortlisted from hundreds of candidates and had been invited, with her parents, to attend the prestigious awards. They were lucky enough to see many sports men and women honoured for their varied and wonderful achievements and were thrilled when Cathy received the recognition award for Junior Sports Person Of the Year (2008-2009) for gifted and talented athletes.
Cathy was chosen because of her commitment and dedication to Gymnastics, being a fantastic role model to the younger gymnasts in the club and in recognition of her being Under 10 GISGA National Champion – continuing a run which has never seen her finish outside of first place in all competitions that she has entered for the school.
The first City & District of St Albans Sports Awards took place in 2005 when the three different local areas of sport (Club, Disability and School) combined for one single awards evening. Since then, the awards have grown, both in profile and nominations, with the 2009 awards being the biggest and best yet. With over 250 attendees, and 32 different award categories, the evening recognised and rewarded many individuals, teams and clubs that operate in the City and District of St Albans.
She has been wonderfully modest and we are all very proud of her.
Farewell Jazz Concert
On Wednesday 1 July the Saxophone Ensemble held a farewell concert to three of its members. Jessica Coffin on soprano sax, Jessica Onacko on tenor sax and Natasha Lee on alto sax.
Under the direction of Mr Onissi they played 17 songs ranging from show and jazz music such as 'West Side Story' and 'I've Got Rhythm' to classical tunes such as Fauré's 'Pavane' and Debussy's 'Cakewalk'. The Ensemble also played modern saxophone quartet music which included 'Sax in the City' and 'Safe Sax'.
The concert was a huge success. The three girls, plus Emma Barry on baritone sax and Louise Beaty on alto, raised £255 for the High School's Charity in Tanzania, Mtwara Girls' School.
Paris House Book Swap
This week Paris is holding their termly book swap. They have already helped the Reception and Year 1 girls to have new books to read over the holidays. It was lovely to see all the smiling faces as the girls took their new 'treasures' back to their classes.
Thanks to the Year 4 and 5 girls who helped with the setting up and choosing of the books. Very special thanks to Mrs Morrow who always helps to organise it and gives up her lunch and break times for it. Today is our Charity day with a theme of Cartoons and Films; we are going to have great fun in the sun. Next Tuesday we are also holding a fancy dress parade as our charity day competition. More photos will follow!
Report by Lucy and Maddie – Paris Book Swap organisers
Stahs twinkling at Midnight
26 girls from Year 12 took part in the Midnight Walk around St Albans on Saturday/Sunday 27/28 June in order to raise funds for Grove House. Following weeks of intensive training (???), Head Girl Laura Gallop led the dedicated team on a 10 mile walk. Typically, the High School girls were not to be deterred by earlier thunderstorms and torrential rain; nothing could dampen their spirits. Megan King, Laurie Paton, Chloe Reith and Claire Peacock were first home at 2.30am. Suggestions that Francesca Cowper and Rachel Rowan-Olive wouldn’t finish until Monday proved to be ill-founded. Congratulations are due to all girls for their commitment, especially as all good High School girls would normally be safely tucked up in bed long before midnight on a Saturday night!
If you would like to support the girls with their fundraising, it is not too late. Please go to www.justgiving.com/Laurasstahs for details.
Year 7 girl becomes queen of the mountain
Lucy in Year 7 has bravely conquered the heights of North Africa's highest mountain. She climbed the 4167-metre Mount Toubkal in Morocco with her father during May half term and is thought to be the youngest girl ever to complete the arduous challenge, which takes three days to walk to before the ascent even commences.
Lucy was applauded onto the summit by everyone who preceded her to the top and became well known to those who were also doing the climb. Lucy said, "It was really tough but it was a great feeling when we got to the top. It was really worth it." She also enjoyed seeing a very different culture to our own and commented "The people there have so little. I now realise how fortunate we are with all the opportunities we have."
Lucy was sponsored by friends and family and raised a highly creditable £1,100 for the animal charity The Blue Cross who have a rescue centre in Lucy's home village. She said that the gruelling experience was made worthwhile when she reached the summit to great applause and saw the magnificent views. A remarkable achievement!
To sponsor Lucy retrospectively, visit www.justgiving.com/lucycarawilliams.
(The full article relating to this story is from the Herts Advertiser, 11 June 2009)
Nikita runs away with the prize
Having just turned 13, Nikita Shah may have been one of the youngest runners in the St Albans 5k run on 14 June. But this didn't stop her joining the leaders of the pack and finishing a very creditable 3rd in the girls 13-16 years category. Nikita had never run this distance before, so her success was even more unexpected and exciting.
To see a picture of Nikita with the plaque presented to her by the Mayor of St Albans, click here.
Lacrosse World Cup
The latest addition to the PE Department, Old Girl Fiona McIntyre, is competing for the Scotland National team in the FIL Women’s World Cup 2009. This 10-day tournament involving 16 different nations and the top lacrosse players in the world is taking place in Prague, June 17-27. After leaving the High School in 2005, Fiona went on to study Sports Development at the University of Wales-Cardiff and began seriously training with the Scotland team. This year she was fortunate enough to be selected as one of only 18 players that make up the Scotland World Cup Team; arguably the biggest honour one can have in their lacrosse career.
World Cup play has already begun and Scotland is off to a great start, winning their first three matches in their pool against Czech Republic, Germany and New Zealand. Their hardest match of the tournament so far will be played today (Monday 22 June) against Wales which will determine their position as they enter the quarterfinals.
For more information on Fiona and her teammates’ adventures in Prague please visit www.lacrossescotland.com.
To get up to date match results and view the tournament order of play for this year's Women’s World Cup please visit www.lacrosseworldcup2009.com.
Best of luck to Fiona and we look forward to hearing all about her tour when she returns to the High school next week!
Girls e-view the best books
Girls from Years 8, 9 and 10 are going online to share their love of books with other schools as part of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards. Thanks to the innovative Carnegie Shadowing scheme, they have been able to create their own website featuring their reviews of shortlisted books, polls on related topics, links to other local school sites and more — helped by English teacher Mrs Pyett and SAHS Librarian Mrs Borgeat. "We all agree that Carnegie Shadowing is a great event not only for the heated debating that goes on but for the fact that we are all reading books that we would otherwise never have picked up," reads the group's recent blog. "We are learning a lot about our likes and dislikes but also that you should never judge a book by its cover! Everyone should push themselves out of their reading comfort zone!"
Click here to visit their page on the Carnegie website.
Resounding success at the Queenswood Tennis Tournament
On Thursday 11 June, the High School played in the Queenswood East Regional Tennis Tournament. We entered teams in the U12, U14 and U16 age groups and the High School enjoyed a truly excellent day’s tennis with many victories.
Click here to read the full report.
SAHS Geography team wins top teaching award
The excellence of Geography teaching at St Albans High School for Girls has been recognised with a 2009 Good Schools Guide A Level Award for the best results at Advanced Extension by girls taking the subject at an English Independent School.
"This is fantastic news and a well-deserved accolade for our energetic Geography team, who put every effort into making lessons enjoyable while helping girls achieve impressive results year after year," said Headmistress Mrs Martin.
Indeed, it is the department's consistent success that has earned them recognition. Not only are the annual awards based on results gained over three years, but also the popularity of the subject and the success pupils achieve relative to the other exams they take. As the guide states: "in our experience, subjects that are well taught tend to inspire students to better results".
Head of Geography Mr Ramsbottom added: "We are absolutely thrilled that the inspirational teaching within the Geography Department has been recognised and accredited by the Good Schools Guide".
Click here to find out more on the Good Schools Guide website.
OGA Centenary Celebration
The rain of earlier in the day did nothing to dampen the spirits of those who came along to the OGA Centenary Celebration on Saturday 6 June 2009. The event commenced with a traditional High School tea (featuring a mouthwatering selection of homemade scones, cakes and biscuits) accompanied by the sound of two very talented Year 11 girls on their saxophones and the excited chatter of Old Girls catching up with their classmates and teachers.
Afternoon tea was followed by a few welcome words from the OGA Chair, Liz Curtis and the new headmistress, Rosemary Martin. The evening part of the event was spent listening to live music from "Nightshift", enjoying delicious BBQ food, admiring an interesting interpretation of the game "Jenga" and ended with some impressive dance floor action! We were delighted to see so many Old Girls of all ages at the Centenary Celebration and hope that everyone who came along enjoyed themselves.
Leavers' Ball
The 2009 Leavers’ Ball was held at Harpenden Golf Club on the first Saturday of half term and, once again, proved to be a glittering occasion. Year 13 girls had successfully swapped their ‘muck-up day’ tribal outfits for a stunning range of cocktail dresses and evening wear that would not have looked out of place at Cannes or at the Oscars ceremony. Staff, too, looked resplendent, as they joined the girls to celebrate their successes and wish them well. The fabulous weather, good food and some slick moves on the dance floor (from staff as well as girls??) contributed to a highly enjoyable and successful evening.
Former Head Girl attends Conservative Women’s Organisation Annual Ball
Our former Head Girl, Sinead Banful, was delighted to be invited to the Conservative Women's Organisation Annual Ball at the Dorchester recently. Elizabeth Berridge, chair of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, heard Sinead speak at the Youth Engaging with Politics conference in April earlier in the year and asked Sinead to join her at the Ball. Sinead found herself the youngest guest at a table with MPs' interns but was well able to hold her own! She thoroughly enjoyed listening to the main speaker, Sir John Major, and is now looking forward to beginning a six month internship at the Mayor of London's office in September.
Old Girls’ Association vs High School Tennis Match Report 2009
On Saturday 16 May, the Senior Tennis Team faced former High School Tennis Squad players in the annual Old Girls’ Association Tennis match. Both teams fielded strong pairs and after the first round of games the scores were very close. The current girls were 3 sets to 1 up but only with a narrow lead in games (24 – 20). Experience on this occasion did not prevail however and the younger girls managed to win the next round of games 3 sets to 1. The final score was 6 sets to 2 (46 games to 35) in favour of the current High School team. The standard of tennis was very pleasing to see and it was wonderful to see the Old Girls still playing.
The High School team was: Antonia Northam, Rosie Alterman, Emily Walker, Frances Owen, Isabelle Kilbey, Carmen Cuesta Roca, Madeline Alterman and Amy Saunders.
The Old Girls’ Association team was: Isabelle de Galleani, Chloe Bissell, Jo Graham, Jackie Elson, Carina Western, Ros Alterwill, Lucy Brewer and Caroline Palmer.
Click here to see a copy of this report.
Year 13 Muck-Up Day
Following the High School tradition of 'mucking up', our "savage" Year 13s will be beginning their study leave today. We wish them all the best in their forthcoming examinations and look forward to seeing them in slightly more glamorous attire at their Ball tomorrow night!
Young Musical Talent Moving on Up
We are delighted to congratulate a very talented young musician, Lucy Sun who is a pupil at Wheathampstead House. Lucy has achieved outstanding success in Grade 5 Piano (Distinction), Grade 5 Violin (Merit) and Grade 5 Theory of Music (Merit) and was awarded the Du Cane Music Scholarship for her Year 7 entry. We look forward to seeing her at the Senior School in September.
Under 7 Teddy Bear Competition Against Tormead School
On Saturday 16 May the Under 7 gymnastics squad travelled to Tormead School, Guildford to compete in a vault and floor competition. All girls performed beautifully and were a credit to the school, cheering and supporting one another.
The girls achieved some excellent results and came away with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall.
Visit from The Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John
On Friday 15 May, the Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John came into school to discuss the value and role of faith in the 21st Century to the Year 13 Philosophy and Ethics students.
A very engaging and informative speaker, Dr John spoke about a wide variety of topics which centered on the A level RS syllabus.
The girls asked numerous questions on the nature of faith, ranging from "Can faith and science be compatible?" to "Should the state base the law on religion?"
The session was most enjoyable and productive with Dr John providing all present with ideas which will extend their learning beyond the classroom.
U14 Plate Winners Prizes
On Saturday 9 May, the High School Tennis Team played in the Harpenden Doubles National Tournament. The High School dominated the 'plate' competition. In the U19s, Lauren Hewett and Katie Booth played some brilliant tennis to comfortably reach the finals and beat Benenden 6-2, 6-3. Sophie Carter and Kaya Tveito-Duncan reached the U14 plate finals against Loreto School. In a nail biting and lengthy match Kaya and Sophie won 7-5, 7-6.
Well done!
Click here to view the full report.
County Schools Tennis Doubles Tournament
On Saturday 16 May, the High School entered 2 pairs into the County Schools Tennis Doubles Tournament. In the Under 19 competition, Lauren Hewett and Katie Booth played some great tennis to face High School Old Girl Bethan Griffith and her partner from the Boys’ School in the semi-final. In an exciting match, Lauren and Katie managed to hold onto their lead to win 6-4. In the final, they faced highly ranked international scholars from Queenswood School who proved to be too strong for the High School pair. In the Under 14 competition, Kaya Tveito-Duncan and Sophie Carter did very well to reach the semi-final where they also met Queenswood’s tennis scholars. Whilst they put up a good fight, Queenswood took the match 6-2. Congratulations to all girls on playing some fantastic tennis.
Click here to view sports reports.
Oxford Conference
Dr Anne Mullen, Admissions Tutor, and a number of Fellows from St Anne's College, Oxford, came to school on Wednesday 29 April to advise the girls on applying to Oxford University. Much to our delight they were joined by an Old Girl, Amy Chang. Amy is in her second year at Brasenose College reading Classics and was able to give a first hand account of her experience of both the admissions process and as an undergraduate.
We were also pleased to welcome a number of schools from the surrounding area and would like to thank Dr Mullen, her colleagues and Amy for a very informative afternoon.
The Times Spelling Bee
On Monday 27 April Laura Prince (12), Annabelle Steel (12), Katharine Hood (11) and Anna Cloke as the reserve (11) went to the Odeon in the Galleria for The Times Spelling Bee. They competed against 6 other schools in an elimination game and a quick fire round.
The team did very well and scored 9 points: Annabelle-2 points, Laura-3 points, Katharine-4 points. After that they were joint 3rd with Nicky B Bees. The Paragons of Parmiters were leading with 12 points thanks to Oliver getting 7 points! Then they had a short break and ate popcorn!
Then came the quick fire round. They had 2 minutes to answer as many easy (1 point), medium (2 points), or hard (3 points) questions as possible. Everyone picked medium. Unfortunately they were 1st to do the quick fire round but they did very well. They passed 3, got 6 wrong and got an amazing 13 right giving us 26 points. Overall they got 35 points and came runners up after Paragons of Parmiters, who had 44 points. They left with smiles on their faces and goody bags in their hands. Thank you very much to Miss Matthews for organising the amazing trip and well done to all the girls.
Report by Katharine, Year 7
Senior Orchestral Concert on Sunday 10 May
A Senior Orchestral Concert is to be held this Sunday 10 May at 5.00pm in St Saviour’s Church, Sandpit Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire. Tickets (unreserved) are £5.00 adults, £1.00 children.
The concert will be presented by the combined Junior and Intermediate Orchestras, the Senior and Chamber Orchestras, the String Quartet, Lower Strings Ensemble and the Senior Chamber Choir.
Programme to include:
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Mendelssohn: Reformation Symphony – 3rd movement and Wedding March arr. Stone
Strauss: Thunder and Lightning Polka arr. Frank Naylor
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
We look forward to seeing you there.
For more information, please contact the School.
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