Issue 13 January 2013 1

Issue 13 January 2013

Our traditional Mary Schofield

House Short Story competition

runs this term. This year the

stimulus for the Mary Schofield

Short Story Competition is:

NOT ALL THOSE WHO

WANDER ARE LOST

There is a word limit of 1,000

words and the entries will be

split into two categories – years

7-9 and years 10-13.

The deadline is Thursday 28

February in the week after half

term. Each entry gets a House

Point and the winners get lots,

lots more! The winners will be

announced on World Book Day

– Thursday March 7 March 2013

– and we are delighted that this

year’s judge will be Ros Barber.

Ros is the author of the critically

acclaimed verse novel The

Marlowe Papers and three

collections of poetry; two with

Anvil, the most recent (Material,

2008) a Poetry Book Society

Recommendation.

For more info about our Judge

please click here...

The second of the creative

opportunities offered is one of

the competitions organised by

the GDST as part of their 140th

anniversary celebrations. For

more details go on the Portal or

click here…

The third opportunity is also a

GDST competition: a film

competition. This is a fantastic

chance to explore different

ways of telling stories. It is a

demanding but exciting

opportunity: groups of students

need to create a 3½ minute

film – including titles and

credits. There is complete

freedom about what type of

film is made (eg animation or

traditional acting) but the

topics are as follows:

JUNIOR SCHOOL: ‘Friendship’;

‘Happiness’

YEARS 7-9: ‘Success’;

‘Confidence’

YEARS 10-11: ‘Resilience’;

‘Courage’

SIXTH FORM: ‘Ambition’;

‘Leadership’

Only one entry per school in

each age category will be

accepted – so there will be a

BHHS competition first, then a

Trust competition. The deadline

for the BHHS competition is:

Monday 11 February 2013.

Should your daughter wish to

take part in the GDST film

competition, we are offering

the following sessions to support

her work and develop her

creativity and skills:

•Wednesday 23 January 4-5pm

•Tuesday 29 January 4-5pm: 2

workshops with playwright John

Burrows on everything you

need to know about plot,

character and storyboard.

These will be packed and

inspiring sessions!

•Saturday 2 February 9-4pm:

opportunity to learn and put

into practice technical skills –

from filming with digital

cameras, to using a green

screen or software like comiclife

or serif movie plus.

•Saturday 9 February – 8.30-12:

BHHS open morning – your

daughter is welcome to use this

opportunity to continue her

filming and editing.

All of these sessions will be

located on the main landing of

the Temple building at the

senior school.

{We are extremely grateful to

John Burrows for agreeing to

run our after-school workshops.}

Full details of all these

competitions can be found

HERE

If you would like your daughter

to get involved with the film

competition sessions run at

school, please complete the

reply slip attached to the letter

sent via school comms.

And don’t forget to visit our B-

RIGHT-ON portal page. This has

weekly brainticklers and

fortnightly larger challenges.

House points available.....

Mrs K. Ashdown, Head of

English

HEADITORIAL A very Happy New Year to everyone Dear Parents and Students,

School work has re-started with a vengeance this week as the Sixth Formers sit their A Level modules and Year 11 girls have their mocks

and their Science GCSE modules.

It has also been a week in which there has been substantial press coverage of a new book by the Australian parenting guru, Steve

Biddulph, called Raising Girls. He argues that never before has girlhood been under such a sustained assault. Young girls have become

a soft target for big business; messages propagated through television and advertising tend to accentuate female sexualised imagery

and their bodies rather than their brains. Consequently, says Biddulph, everywhere a young girl goes “she sees messages that make her

feel that she is not good enough.” He points out that girls are now expected to be all things – attractive, thin, good, successful, happy,

kind, loving, self-sufficient; perfect, in other words, within an imperfect world that still does not give women the equal status they

deserve. He has some very interesting things to say about societal pressures on girls but curiously there is not much about girls’

education. I therefore very much endorsed our Trust CEO’s letter to The Telegraph on Thursday:

SIR – While I agree with Steve Biddulph that positive female role models for girls are important (Comment, January 8), he does not

mention the role schools play in loco parentis. Schools must be safe environments where teachers and peers celebrate individuality

and support the range of talents girls have to offer; where being liked is not about having the latest gadgets or designer gear, but is

more about contributing to school and wider society. As a mother of four girls, I know that they tend to be hard-wired to please. Girls

can feel the weight of self-expectation, and they can put themselves under immense pressure. Their social skills are advanced when

they are small, but that makes them daunted if they get things wrong. The right school can build their confidence and the Girls’ Day

School Trust does this by focusing on increasing girls’ resilience, and encouraging them to take risks... Girls need time, security, and

clear but supportive boundaries as they grow up. They need the space away from societal and media pressures to find their own sense

of self and to develop confidence. The importance of the school environment is often underestimated.

Helen Fraser, Chief Executive, Girls’ Day School Trust - London SW1

Have a good weekend.

Jennifer Smith

Issue 13 January 2013 2

Senior Citizen’s Tea Party

The annual Christmas tea party

took place on Monday

December 17th and once again

over 100 senior citizens from the

Brighton and Hove District

enjoyed a wonderful afternoon.

Many of our visitors came from

the St. John’s day Centre, one

of the St. John’s visitor was 101

and he hopes to come this

year. Other guests came from

sheltered accommodation as

well as St. Dunstans. The girls

were able to sing happy

birthday to Murial who

celebrated her 99th birthday.

Murial comes each year and

on leaving said she hopes to

celebrate her 100th birthday

with pupils of Brighton and

Hove High.

The tea party began with a

shortened version of the

school’s carol service, this was

followed by excellent

entertainment and a wonderful

tea. There were many different

cakes for our visitors to choose

from. After the tea a special

visitor in the form of Father

Christmas made an

appearance to deliver a

present to each of the guests.

Miss Davies would like thank all

of the pupils who took part in

the afternoon’s event, as well

as the whole school who

contributed with money for the

tea and the presents which

were brought in for our special

visitors. Miss M. Davies

Training Orchestra provided a

great accompaniment to the

Youth Choir’s Carol Singing and

many of the students gave

outstanding performances

during the entertainment.

These ranged from singing,

dancing, playing musical

instruments and even a magic

show. It is wonderful that the

girls are always willing show off

their talents and give up their

time to support this event.

Ms A. Parsons

Charlotte Redstone, 13M,

recently did a project called

"Investigating Soot Morphology

in Automotive Engineering". I

am delighted to say it was

entered in the National Science

and Engineering Competition,

and was selected as one of the

best in the UK. It has

subsequently been entered into

the very final stage of the

competition and will be

exhibited to over 60,000 people

at the Big Bang Fair in London

in March. It is also eligible to

compete for a number of

prizes, including "Young

Scientist of the Year."

Congratulations to Charlotte on

an excellent achievement.

MUSIC NEWS

Many congratulations to all the

girls who were involved in our

carol service at the end of last

term which took place at All

Saints’ Church in Hove. As

always, all the choirs sang

beautifully. It was wonderfully

directed by Mr Lloyd. Thank

you to everyone who has come

to enjoy the events, and also

for your donations.

At the beginning of the school

year one of our

peripatetic

teachers, Erika

Schilsky, had a

nasty riding

accident and

was in a coma

for 5 weeks. She is still

recovering in hospital but, as a

self employed teacher she is

obviously not earning at the

moment.

To help provide her with a little

support at this difficult time

many of her friends have

organised a concert which will

take place in the school hall at

19:00 next Friday 18th January.

Cantabile will be singing and

BHHS is providing a couple of

soloists. There will be a varied

programme and your support

will be most welcome. Tickets

priced £10 and £8 are available

from the music department.

The BHHS Community Choir will

be performing again this term. I

am currently putting together

the rehearsal schedule but I

hope the first rehearsal will be

at 19:00 on Thursday 24th

January. The concert is on

Thursday 7th March where we

will be performing the Rutter

Requiem with orchestra as well

as a few other items. This is a

great opportunity to make

music together so please get

involved and bring along your

family and friends – we have

plenty of space.

All music extracurricular

activities will start next week.

Mr Lloyd, Director of Music

CareerStart

On Wednesday, the Sixth Form

were given top tips on how to

make outstanding

presentations during a

Careerstart session taken by

Karen Kimura from Trust. Topics

explored included the content

and delivery of good

presentations. All girls were

given opportunity to put the

tips into practice with short

presentations to their peers. We

are looking forward to hearing

some excellent presentations as

part of the Extended Project

Qualification as well as during

the Head Girl hustings which will

be coming up later this term.

Miss Fox

Calling all vets!

Please would any vet be willing

to offer ANY work experience

for one of our wonderful Year

12 girls. She is committed,

reliable and can be flexible

with dates and hours.

Please contact Mrs Doughty or

Miss Cronier at the school.

Thank you!

Welcome

A warm welcome to our new

pupils who are joining us:

Cassidy Robinson, Phoebe

Mercer, Madelaine Williamson

and Alice Gornall.

Well done all!

“I’m delighted to be able

to tell you that Guinness

World Records have

confirmed that we did

indeed set the record for

the world’s biggest multi-

venue practical science

lesson!”

Helen Fraser, CEO

Calendar Mon 14: 2:30pm Netball v Guildford High Tues 15: P5 U14 Football; 6:30pm Y12 Higher Education Wed 16: Spillover transfer tests Thurs 17: 7pm PA committee meeting Fri18: Student Voice Y13

Evening fundraising concert for Erika Schilsky Sat 19: Ski trip to dry slope in Hemel Hempstead

Issue 13 January 2013 3

JUNIOR EDITORIAL

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year and

welcome to the new

term.

I hope that all BHHS

families had a lovely

restful break and I know

the staff would like me to

pass our thanks to all the

good wishes and

generous gifts, it is much

appreciated.

As I mentioned last term

with the electronic

registration girls not

present by 8.40 am will

be marked late and so

we ask that parents and

pupils report their arrival

to the front desk please.

Girls can be dropped off

from 8 am and we ask

that they are here by

8.30 am.

We are delighted to

welcome a number of

new girls in Nursery this

week and due to

expansion I am delighted

to introduce Miss

Mepham (photo) who

has been working with us

since October but she

will now be working in

the Nursery.

We also welcome new

pupils into Year 5 and

Year 1.

Best wishes

Sian Cattaneo

BHHS NEW YEAR

RESOLUTIONS

As it is a New Year and new

term we are having a number

of resolutions! Firstly, we are

tightening up on the uniform;

particularly earrings, hair slides

etc. and we would really

appreciate your support on the

wearing of correct uniform. Yet

again we have too many items

going missing and un-named

items in ‘lost property’. Whilst I

appreciate that girls enjoy

wearing nail polish on the

weekends can I ask that it is

removed during the week.

NEW DINING ROOM

FURNITURE

You may have noticed that we

have replaced the dining room

furniture over the break and this

has been well received by the

girls. It also offers us more

flexibility as the seating can be

folded and easily stored to

create a large space.

YEAR 6 CAROL SERVICE

Year 6 girls made a fantastic

contribution to the senior

school carol service in the last

week of term. They coped well

with some of the rather

challenging pieces and a solo

by Fenella Lawn and readings

by Polly Adamson and Iona

Scott were much enjoyed.

OPEN AFTERNOON

You should have received a

letter regarding our next Open

Afternoon on Saturday 19th

January, would you please

ensure you return the reply slip

at your earliest convenience to

enable us to arrange the

activities for that afternoon.

We are very proud of our girls

who act as our ambassadors

and always get very positive

feedback from our visitors.

You can download the letter

via the Portal. Click here…

ILLNESS

We are all aware that the

January term is notoriously a

breeding ground for bugs.

While I am not keen on girls

missing school if it is clear that

your daughter is unwell please

could you keep them at home,

otherwise they end up

spreading the germs around

and then going home anyway!

WEEK AT A GLANCE Saturday 12th January Year 6 Transfer Test at the Senior School

Monday 14th January

Year 5 & Year 6 Open session 8.30 – 9.15 am

Year 4 Momentum rehearsal 4 pm

Tuesday 15th January

U11 swimming Gala – Lancing College

Wednesday 16th January

U11 A & B Hockey V Farlington ‘away’

U8 Netball V Copthorne ‘home’

U10 A & B Netball v HPPC ‘away’