December 2007 - South Wilts Grammar School for Girls

ONWARDS
Message from Mrs Stratton
This has once again been a busy term with students involved in many and varied events
as you will see from this newsletter. Music, drama, sport, the sixth form Citizenship
Conference and Young Enterprise are some of the many activities that have taken place.
There are nineteen students who have had interviews for places at Oxford or Cambridge
Universities and we wish them all luck. I am sure they will all do well. (Mrs Stratton)
Merits and Commendations in Key Stage 3
As I am sure you are aware subject teachers sign merits in the girls’ homework diaries
when they have done excellent work or put a lot of effort into work. The girls are then
encouraged to collect the following commendations:
Form Teacher’s Commendation after 15 merits. This is green and can be collected
from the Form Tutor.
Head of Lower School’s Commendation after 30 merits (yellow) and Award after 45
merits (purple). These are collected from and signed by Mrs Stammers
Head Teacher’s Commendation after 60 merits (bronze), Head Teacher’s Award after
75 merits (silver) and Gold Award after 90 merits. These are collected from Mrs
Stammers and taken to Mrs Stratton to be signed.
Further awards can be signed by the Governors if girls reach even higher numbers of
merits. I would like to congratulate all the girls who have received Head of Lower School
Commendations and Awards this term, their names are celebrated on the board outside
my office. Can I also congratulate the following girls who have received over 60 merits
this term, Eleanor Crosthwaite 7A, Rebecca Young 8A and Eleanor Jones 8N. (Mr
Blundell)
Cashless Catering
The school is considering installing a cashless system for payment in the canteen using
a card or pin number or even fingerprint recognition. It should be quicker for the students,
give parents the potential to obtain information on their children’s purchases and allow
more flexibility for girls who forget their money!
This system has been operating in many schools for a number of years and it could work
well at South Wilts. It could also be used to pay for trips and visits. We would welcome
parents to join a group to consider the systems. Demonstrations from several
companies have been set up for late March and it would be useful to have an initial
meeting with parents before this so that any issues can be raised with the
companies. Please email head@swgs.wilts.sch.uk if you would like to join this group.
A sample menu and pricelist is available on the school’s website under Parent
Information. (Mrs Stratton)
Parent Voice
We shall continue to hold an open forum for
parents on Consultation Parent evenings for
years 8 -11. Mr Owen will be available
between 6 and 7.30 if you would like to drop
in. At the Year 7 Parents evening among the
subjects that came up for discussion were
the canteen, toilets , homework and settling
in. If there are any issues of concern please
come along or e-mail Mr Owen
(iio@swgs.wilts.sch.uk).
The newsletter can be downloaded from the
school website. (www.swgs.wilts.sch.uk)
Department for Children Schools and
Families
We welcome the support from the DCSF
to discourage parents from taking their
children on holiday in term time. When
they do this, parents are disrupting their
children's learning and putting them at a
disadvantage in the long-term. Pupils may
need extra help to catch up with the rest
of the class when they come back
because of missed work while absent.
Good attendance is crucial to doing well in
school. (Mrs Stratton)
December 2007
Inside this issue
Page 2
Charity News
New Minibus
Young Enterprise
Page 3
Senior Maths
Challenge
Cipher Challenge
Trip to India
Page 4
Drama News
Page 5
Good Food Show
Woodford
Primary Visit
French Exchange
Page 6
Music News
Page 7
Sports News
Page 8
Malta Sports Tour
Page 9
Sports News
Page 10
Internet Safety
1000 Club
Printing at Home
ICT Progress
Bank of England
Challenge
Old Girls’ Help
1

ONWARDS
Charity News
The non school uniform day just before half term raised £698.94 for “Jeans for Genes” and this money
will be used to fund medical research into genetic diseases.
South Wilts girls once again rose to the challenge of producing Christmas
shoe boxes for the children in Bulgaria and the Trussell Trust was delighted to
receive 194 boxes. Well done to 7E, 8E and 9N for putting together the most
boxes in their year group. Older pupils also put together 18 larger boxes of
items for orphanages in Belarus.
Talks in Assembly by the Lord Mayor of Salisbury and a representative of Clic-
Sargent reminded us how valuable the work of our two official school charities
for this year is and challenged us to get going on fund raising.
Another highlight this term was the “Comedy Take Two” evening organised by Sam Scott
for Children in Need which raised £688.
10E and 11E sang carols at Waitrose on Tuesday 4 th December and Christmas craft fairs
took place on 6 th and 11 th December. Staff and pupils were able to do some in house
Christmas shopping. Year 12s also held a successful cake sale on 20 th December.
A very big thank you and well done to everyone who has taken part in this term’s Charity Events. (Mrs
Tallis)
New Minibus for South Wilts
The Friends of South Wilts have been actively fundraising over the last year through discos, raffles and
other activities, including social events such as the Murder Mystery Evening. So far half the cost of
£21,475 has been raised for a new minibus and fundraising will continue this academic year. The new
silver minibus was delivered this week and is a fantastic new resource which has already been used by
the PE Department to take students to a netball match. It is a seventeen seater bus, fully equipped with
seatbelts and is much more luxurious than the previous bus which was beginning to show its age.
The Friends fundraising is wide ranging and just in the last six months we have
• greeted the new Year 7 parents with Pimms at the introductory evening in May
• provided refreshments at the summer music evening
• organised the cakes, supplied by so many
parents, for sports day, which were very well
received
• in September we organised a skittles evening for
the new Year 7 parents
• since then we have provided teas and coffees at
the autumn concert and the first of the parents’
evenings.
We look forward to meeting you at all the further parent
evenings this year. The Chair this year is Jan Gibson (left)
and the Chair person for the last four years was Denise
Von Roretz (centre) (FOSWGS)
Young Enterprise
This year South Wilts is once again participating in the Young Enterprise Company Programme. Young
Enterprise is a registered charity whose aim is to encourage the development of business and
enterprise skills using the "Learning by doing" method.
There is one Young Enterprise company at South Wilts this year. The company has been named “Uti
foro” and is being run by a group of 17 enthusiastic Year 12 students led by Polly Selby (Managing
Director) and Issy Pillay (Deputy Director)
In the run up to Christmas the girls have been selling wrapped Christmas candles both at school craft
fairs and on a Thursday evening in Salisbury Market Square. They also have plans to sell their own
brand of lip balm early next year, which we are hoping will be extremely successful. (Mr Brown)
2

ONWARDS
Senior Maths Challenge
A team of 4 Sixth Form Maths Students travelled to Hardenhuish School to compete against 23 other
schools in the Regional Heats of the Senior Team Maths Challenge. This is the first time such a
competition has been run nationally by the Further Maths Network. Like the Junior counterpart, the
competition is made up of 3 ingeniously conceived and fiendishly difficult rounds.
The problems are structured to challenge not only the students’ mathematical and problem solving
capabilities, but also their ability to think strategically and to cope with set-backs in a highly pressurised
situation. SWGS was ably represented by Laura Beever, Kate Fuller, Lydia Knyvett and Lauren
Stephens. The competition was hard fought, and although we were not selected to progress to the
National Finals, the girls did win the preliminary round. Thanks to all of them, and we look forward to
competing again next year.
Congratulations to the following girls who were awarded certificates in this year’s Senior Mathematical
Challenge:
Gold: Laura Beever, who also receives a certificate for Best in School.
Silver: Jemma Davie, Kate Fuller, Kezia Hardingham, Fiona Herbert, Lydia Knyvett, Catherine Palmer
and Lauren Stevens
Bronze: Anna Douglas, Frances Simpson, Katie Emerson, Louisa Mousley, Roxana O’Hara, and Bella
Thornely. ( Mrs Offner)
National Cipher Challenge
We have had an excellent year for teams participating in the National Cipher Challenge, run by
Southampton University. Altogether we have had 15 teams competing throughout the competition, and
5 of them are currently placed in the top 100 (at the end of Round 6): they are Jocasta Patel, Lucy Pike,
Ellie Lloyd-Jones and Frances Simpson, Rebecca Young, and Rebecca Bostock, with several other
teams doing very well. It has been particularly pleasing this year to have participants throughout the
school, from Year 7 to Year 13, all solving problems, competing to break codes with speed and
accuracy, and improving their computing skills and knowledge in the process. (Mrs Offner)
Mr Blundell’s India Visit 15th - 20th October 2007
I visited the Lawrence Homan School in Bakshi – Ka - Talab near Lucknow on the week beginning 15th
October. I departed from Heathrow late in the evening on the 12th October arriving in Delhi in the
afternoon of October 13th. South Wilts had been through a busy but successful Ofsted inspection in the
week preceding and it was therefore with some degree of fatigue that I landed in Delhi. I stayed with a
relative while in Delhi and flew to Lucknow early on Monday 15th October and from there managed to
get a taxi taking nearly two hours to reach the School through what can only be described as rather
challenging traffic conditions!!!
I was asked to take a whole school assembly addressing all 830 of the students, to formally introduce
myself. Assembly takes place outdoors and usually with the aid of a speaker system. Unfortunately the
electrics died at the point of my talk. We also presented the School formally with a book as a gift which
contained pictures of other cultures from around the world for use in the School library.
It was an inspirational visit and I learned a great deal about both
the culture and the problems facing educators in the Third World.
There are a number of ways in which the two schools can learn
from each other and I am now committed to developing these
links within curriculum areas at South Wilts.
While there I took a good deal of video footage that we hope can
be used in PSD and General Studies lessons. We have also
applied to the British Council for a further grant to allow 2
teachers from India to visit South Wilts in early June or October.
We hope that this link will enable our students to gain a clearer
perspective of their place in the world. The Lawrence Homan
School is keen to hear from any sixth form students who would
like to spend some of their gap year teaching out in India. (Mr
Blundell)
3

ONWARDS
Scene Productions Theatre
On Tuesday 13 th November, Scene Productions theatre company came in to do workshops with the
year 12 and 13 drama students. The whole day kicked off with a really lively performance of Brecht’s
play Fear and Misery which the students absolutely loved! The afternoon saw the students practically
trying out some ideas on characterisation, narration and improvisation all geared towards the topics
studied on their drama course. The company had great energy and worked wonderfully well with the
students and the students came away having had a very exciting, stimulating and educational
experience! (Miss Vice)
Ash Girl - 5th, 6th February 2008
Rehearsals are now underway for the school production of Ash
Girl and Miss Vice and the students are working hard to get
the scenes blocked and rehearsed.
There is also the chance for students to get involved in the
show as dancers, costume and set designers as well as
lighting technicians. Dance rehearsals are taking place in the
drama studio every Thursday lunchtime. Laura Flynn in Year
12 is helping Miss Vice with the choreography of the dances
and has been given the position of co-choreographer. Tickets
for Ash Girl will be on sale in January. (Miss Vice)
Scene Productions Theatre
Harry Potter Production
On the 7 th November, Hogwarts came
alive within our school hall, for the onenight
only production of Harry Potter and
the Philosopher’s Stone. The play was a
parody of the popular Harry Potter film
bearing the same title. We had been
working on the production for six
months, spending many happy hours
painting set, rehearsing and designing.
The play comprised of some fantastic
talent from years 7-10 and raised over
£200 for the school charity (CLIC-
Sargent), with over 80 tickets being sold
(to our astonishment!)
Thank you to all who participated for all
your hard work, especially Miss Steele,
Miss Vice, Sam Scott and Nicole Wait
for all their support. We hope to see you
all again for the sequel! (Vicky Timms,
Laura Mason and Izzy Mackay 10E)
Comedy Evening
On Saturday 17 th November our sixth form girls along with
Bishops boys (directed by Sam Scott) put on a comedy
evening in aid of Children in Need. The students have been
working hard over the past few months, rehearsing after
school to put together a varied programme consisting of
over 40 sketches! The audience were treated to a whole
string of wacky, witty and hilarious scenes all performed with
great energy and professionalism. We had a great audience
of over 70 people and raised a huge amount of money for
charity. (Miss Vice)
Lower School Drama Clubs
On Thursday 13th December the lower school drama clubs
put on their annual production.
The evening kicked off with the Year 7 drama club doing a
fantastic job of re-telling some classic fairy tales, such as
‘Snow White’ as a series of short clips, with lots of humour
and great acting.
The Year 8 drama club again retold some classic fairy tales
being told through rhyme and narration, which was very
professionally done. The Year 9 drama club ended the
evening with a devised piece that they had created
themselves around the theme of ‘being a strange fish!’ This
stimulus was taken literally and so we were taken into the
weird and wonderful world of a fishbowl, with rapping fishes
and glo sticks.
The night was a great success with friends and family
thoroughly enjoying the wealth of talent being shown.
The show ended with a carol sung by the whole cast which
brought the show to a cheery close with everyone in the
mood for Christmas! (Miss Vice)
4

Recipe for a Good School Trip
10g Coach to Olympia 5g Mrs Mahoney
4g Freebies
7g Good Food
100g Dishy celebrity chef, James Martin.
ONWARDS
Good food, plenty of freebies and the dishy chef, James Martin
were the recipe for an exciting day out for the A and AS level food
students on Friday 16th November.
A trip to the BBC London Good Food show meant a frosty early
morning start with hungry stomachs anticipating the "Good Food"
we were about to encounter. Arriving at the show, we could hardly
contain our excitement as we walked in to find hundreds of stalls
with food products that we never even knew existed. Mrs Mahoney
bravely let us off the leash, and we roamed around conveniently
stumbling across free samples and engaging in nutritional
conversations with many food experts. From Mussels to Reggae
Sauce, we tried the lot and splashed out on some food to take
home.
As part of the day, we were fortunate enough to attend a "live
cooking experience" in which we sat just one row away from
celebrity chef James Martin as he prepared a simple yet tasty
looking main course and a dessert to die for. Lunch seemed to
disappear from the equation as we continued browsing stalls,
sampling "good" food and finding out about the vast assortment of
products that are currently available on the market.
We even got to meet the famous Bar Wizards, the cocktail shakers
as seen on ITV’s Britain's Got Talent and saw their unique talent of
complex bottle juggling. We left feeling tired and over-indulged, to
head home, just in time for dinner. A big thank you to Mrs Mahoney
and the staff for organising an insightful and fun day out. (Beth
Bridewell 6AAD)
French Exchange 2007
Il y a trois semaines, on est retourné de Nantes, une
ville dans le sud-ouest de la France. Nous avons passé
huit jours d’habiter avec une famille française et une
correspondante de notre âge. Aussi on a fait beaucoup
d activités pendant les journées, comme enseigner l’anglais aux
petits enfants à l’école primaire, et aller à Paris en TGV. Aussi nous
avons fait des cours normaux au lycée de nos correspondants,
comme la philosophie, les maths (c’était difficile) ou l’anglais (c’était
facile !). En général, c’était une tres bonne experience, et nous la
recommanderions à toutes les étudiantes de français !
Notre séjour était un bon succès et les français étaient très
accueillants. Nous parlons beaucoup de français et créer beaucoup
de amies- français et anglais. C’était aussi très fatigant car il y avait
tout le temps beaucoup de choses à faire! Nous avons passe le
weekend seul avec notre famille française qui au début était un peu
difficile mais on s’y habitue très vite.
Je veux dire merci beaucoup aux professeurs qui faire la visite,
merci aux élèves qui se sont amusés et bien sur merci beaucoup a
tous les français pour leur gentillesse et hospitalité.
Nous attendons avec impatience pour l’échange à continuer en
Mars. (Lauren Stephens et Iona Taylor Year 12)
James Martin at the Good
Food Show
Woodford Primary Visit
23 Year 6 girls and boys from
Woodford Valley Primary School
again visited the D & T
Department this term for some
practical experience of this
subject. This year they
demonstrated their excellent IT
skills by quickly picking up how
to use our new Robomaster
software which is used with the
Robocraft card and vinyl cutter.
They used this CAD software
and CAM hardware to help
design and manufacture a Desk
Tidy to hold pens, pencils, Pritt
Stick and ruler – with individual
vinyl decorations and logos. The
group also made climbing bugs
and in the process they all
developed their workshop skills.
(Mr Scrivener)
Woodford Primary Visit - Desk
Tidies
5

ONWARDS
A Cappella Eucharist
A Cappella sang Eucharist in Salisbury Cathedral on 18 th October. They sang beautifully the Jongen
Mass, a very challenging and lovely setting which they had enjoyed learning very much. We were very
grateful to Mr. Fay, Head of Music at BWS, for joining us as our organist. We are also very grateful to
the men who give their time and expertise so generously singing with us at rehearsals, services and in
concerts so that we are able to experience repertoire for mixed choir. (Mrs Poppleton)
School Concert
The school’s various groups gave a concert on
November 13 th to a packed audience. Senior
Orchestra began the evening with an impressive
rendition of a Paul Simon Medley, later going on
to play Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful
“Scheherazade” with pleasing solo lines played
confidently by the various sections of the
orchestra. Chamber Orchestra gave an
accomplished performance of two very difficult but
beautiful works.
Training Orchestra played with great verve and
was accompanied by splendid dancing from some
of our students. The Senior, Junior, Chamber
Choirs and A Cappella sang a lovely range of
music most expressively. We were also delighted
to have the smaller ensembles performing. The
Brass Ensemble, Guitar Group, Saxophone
Quartet and four string quartets all played with
confidence and were warmly received. We
enjoyed hearing compositions for string quartet by
year 11 students Eleanor Cooke and Emma
Rhind-Tutt. The trombone choir, under Mr
Priestley’s direction, made its debut and we were
amazed to hear what they had achieved in so
short a time. Alice Phelps and Hannah Reid gave
a captivating rendition of “What is this feeling?”
from “Wicked”. Wind Band brought the evening to
a close, performing with great flair and
enthusiasm. The standard of performance was
very high throughout the evening but, above all, it
was thrilling to see the vast number of students
taking part and enjoying their music. It is a great
privilege to work with such talented and
enthusiastic students who enjoy giving their time
to making music together.
We are very grateful to all our instrumental staff
and all who contribute to our concerts in so many
ways. (Mrs Poppleton)
Carol Service
The school’s choirs worked very hard in the
second half of term in preparation for the annual
carol service in Salisbury Cathedral. Two hundred
singers and readers took part and made an
excellent contribution to this lovely service. Thank
you very much to Canon Bonney for taking the
service and to David Halls for his stunning organ
playing. (Mrs Poppleton)
Exeter House
This is the second year that the Year 10 girls from
the GCSE Music group have visited Exeter House.
The girls prepared a story with sound effects and
some popular nursery rhymes and songs to teach
the children. They really enjoyed the visit and felt
thoroughly rewarded by the challenge. The
children made enormous progress thanks to the
skills and perseverance of our pupils. Well done
everyone. (Mrs Poppleton)
Congratulations to all students who have
Grade
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Instruments
drum Hannah Stacey, Lucy Storm
piano Adele Smith
piano Zoe Adams, Suzie Clarke, Charlie Lillingston-Price
cello Jayne Goater)
piano Sarah Brown, Sophie Davie,
Lucy Ryan)
violin Madeline Lawson
singing Holly Stewart, Charlotte Owen
violin Amy Greaves, Freya Wilson
cello Emma Landon
clarinet Jessica Wheeler
piano Charlotte Gerwat,
singing Clare Daly, Alice Kitt
theory of music Holly Angel, Lucy Austreng,
Eleanor Dunlop, Leah Houghton, Eleanor Jones,
Fiona Mashford, Penny Mashford, Phoebe Mills,
Madeleine Mould, Catherine Newsome,
Rosamund Pearson, Jennifer Spring, Abigail
Tan, Emily Tan, Amy Whetstone
flute Suzie Clarke)
violin Abigail Tan
violin Charlotte Hart, Christabell Pidduck
oboe Mary Price, Rachel Tooley
violin Erika Holden, Alice Poppleton
violin Ruth Scott
Flute Laura Atkinson
taken music exams.
Alice Hoole
Alice recently passed grade 8 in piano with a high
merit, a very considerable achievement, especially
as she passed her grade 8 flute last term!
Alice Phelps
Alice must be one of the few people ever to have
achieved two grade 8 distinctions on the same
day! Alice gained grade 8 in both singing and
double bass earlier this term.
6

ONWARDS
School Sports Coordinator and Community Sport
Since embarking on my new role as School Sports Coordinator back in September it has proven to be a
busy and enjoyable term. My aim is to increase participation of all pupils and increase the standards of
training & coaching of teachers and other adults linked to my associated schools: SWGS, BWS,
Wyndham Park, Harnham Infants & Juniors, Stratford-sub-Castle, Woodford Valley and Greentrees.
Through the organisation of the regular primary school festivals, increased participation is clearly
apparent throughout all of the age groups. Both the Young Ambassadors for Salisbury and the sixth
form Community Sports Leaders (CSL) play a role of great importance here by helping organise, coach
and officiate these events and the positive feedback I have received about these young adults has been
overwhelming. They have all proven to be a credit to themselves and their representative school in both
manner and professionalism. In her role as Young Ambassador for Sport Nancy Pallas has played a
key role this term by showing the lead at several festivals and giving assemblies which aim to
encourage and educate younger children into conducting healthy lifestyles as they grow up.
Within South Wilts my target area for this year is Year 9 & 10 and so it was decided to run a Fun
Fitness session on a Friday lunchtime. The regularly attending group have been fantastic: well
motivated and committed. (Miss Cassidy)
Hockey round up
Well done to the U12, U14 and U16 hockey squads who
have all experienced success as we reach the half way
point of the hockey season. In a tournament on the 14 th
November the U14 team came second after a hard fought
match against Godolphin losing 1-2, but a deserved victory
against St. Edmunds winning 2-0. The U16 team have
retained their unbeaten in Salisbury record by winning the
mid season tournament convincingly on Wednesday 21 st
November, defeating both Godolphin and St. Edmunds.
The U12 A and B teams have made a promising start to
their hockey career at South Wilts. On Friday 30 th
November the ‘A’ squad played in the Dauntseys
tournament fending off tough opposition and horrendous
wind and rain! The team came 3 rd overall and scored many
exciting and well thought through goals. On the following
Monday both the A & B teams faced St. Edmunds and
achieved one of the highest goal tallies I have seen at
South Wilts! Well done to the A team who won 13-0 and
the B team who won 8-0!
Good luck for the rest of the season. (Miss Salen)
U16 Wiltshire Schools’ Hockey Tournament
South Wilts took a slightly depleted U16 squad to the
Wiltshire Schools Tournament held at Dauntsey’s School,
due to the French Exchange. Nevertheless the girls were
keen to put up a good fight and enjoy the experience of
playing hockey against strong opposition. They started
well and scored three goals against Dorcan College, using
advanced skills to beat the goalkeeper. Against Ridgeway
the team simply couldn’t find the back of the goal and were
held to a frustrating 0-0 draw. The final match was against
Marlborough College who were extremely well practised in
set plays and displayed refined individual skills. The girls
lost 0-3 but should take heart from the fact that South Wilts
had only 10 players on the pitch and excellent goalkeeping
prevented the result from being any higher. South Wilts
achieved 2 nd place in pool B. (Miss Salen)
U14 Girls’ Wiltshire Schools’ Hockey
Tournament
South Wilts made excellent progress
during the tournament to score several
fantastic goals against teams from
Devizes and Wootton Bassett. The girls
were held to a 0-0 draw against
Godolphin, but played a good standard of
hockey nonetheless. South Wilts and
Godolphin were drawing level in points by
the end of the pool matches, but
unfortunately South Wilts had scored
fewer goals so did not proceed to the final.
The squad should still feel proud of their
achievements, especially as they are a
relatively inexperienced team. I am certain
that further success in the Salisbury area
will follow later in the season.
Well done to Kirsty Ballard, Holly Angel,
Hannah Gidney-Bullard, Katie Hoddinott,
Aine Tiernan, Jess Wheeler, Olivia
Stannah, Rosanna Grant, Hannah Brown,
Emily Kalik, Amy Welch, Anna Carter,
Ellie Copping and Georgie Dollittle.
Biathlon Success
Emily Kalik (8E) took part in the annual
Schools Biathlon competition at Millfield
School on Sunday, 14th October. Emily’s
run time for 1,000m was 3 minutes 29 and
her swim time for 50m was 32.9 seconds.
She placed 4 th out of 60 competitors and
will now compete in the National Biathlon
Championships on Sunday 24th February
2008 at the Sports Training Village,
University of Bath. We wish her luck in the
finals. (Mrs Godber)
7

ONWARDS
During the October half term break this year thirty six students accompanied by football coach Symon
Pickett, netball coach Sue Drummond and basketball Team Manager and parent Tracey Badham, set
off for Malta on the first ever South Wilts Sports Tour.
Travelling to Luton at 3am and then on to Malta via a Malta Air charter flight added to the girls’
excitement as they anticipated hot sunny weather and challenging sporting encounters. On reaching
Malta and their 4 star hotel the SWGS tour group landed with a bit of a thud as the evening Island
Cruise had to be cancelled due to high winds. Unusual weather conditions persisted into Monday
devastating the scheduled netball and football training sessions and first day fixtures. Without a
contingency plan in place the tour operator Sweet Chariot resorted to improvising with limited indoor
playing areas. In the evening the National football side decided not to turn up so South Wilts turned
their first fixture into another training opportunity. The SWGS U18 basketball team played the Maltese
national side in the evening at a ‘state of the art’ Maltese National Sports Stadium. South Wilts found
their opponents’ very ‘physical’ and ‘unfriendly’ approach quite intimidating, and struggled to find their
own rhythm until late in the game. The home side secured a convincing win which sent the South Wilts
girls home quite demoralised.
By Wednesday the weather had improved immeasurably so the tour group took time to explore the
capital Valetta, to take in a movie Maltese style, and to shop for souvenirs. The highlight of the day was
the Go Karting activity in which Caoimhe Tiernan recorded the fastest race time and came third in the
final, the only girl against a line up of boys.
Thursday was the final tournament day. Each team had their last training session in the morning and
then completed their fixtures in the afternoon or evening. The SWGS ’A’ netball team succumbed to the
pressure of a tough Maltese side, losing narrowly in the final minutes. The SWGS ’B’ side however
maintained their composure and came out clear winners, having beaten every team they had played
during the week. Not to be outdone the basketballers came home with a win and the footballers
managed to draw 2 – 2 in their final match. The last night’s presentations and disco saw South Wilts
collect an enormous trophy as the Senior Netball winners (B squad), with participation plaques for the
basketball and football teams, and a Malta Rally trophy for the school. The girls also brought home with
them memories of challenging and enjoyable sporting experiences, and a real sense of team spirit and
friendship.
The Malta Sports tour cost £459 per student. Fundraising activities raised another £1,000 to pay for
coach travel to and from Luton, and for staff coaching kit. Each girl was given a small travel bag,
generously donated by a parent and each girl purchased a personalised hooded sweatshirt for the tour.
Special thanks go to Symon, Sue and Tracey who generously and willingly gave up their time and
expertise to lead and support the SWGS Malta Sports Tour, especially in the absence of a member of
staff from South Wilts.
Sports Tour Participants:
Basketball – Laura Garbett, Katie Glover, Katie Godber, Emily Green, Luci Hill, Catherine Palmer,
Storm Kirkham, Georgina Raven and Michelle Todd.
Football – Laura Beal, Hannah Billingham, Frances Carney, Zoe Cullen, Naomi Goddard, Olivia
Jennings, Emma Keegan, Blanche Lumb, Lucy Phipps, Hayley Ranachan, Louise Sleeman, Hannah
Smith and Caoimhe Tiernan.
Netball – Laura Arrandale, Mamie Attwell Thomas, Louise Badham, Sarah Butterfield, Charlotte
Corson, Martha Fishwick, Megan Hollinghurst, Alice Hoole, Alice Judd, Nicola Marsden, Nancy Pallas,
Rosie Peters, Emma Redgrove, and Gemma Young. (Mrs Godber)
8

ONWARDS
British Schools’ Orienteering Championships
South Wilts entered two teams in the 2007 British Schools’
Orienteering Championships held at Bovington, Dorset in
November. The Year 10 team of Jenny Spring, Millie
Clifford and Sophie Davie placed 2 nd in the team
competition, Alice Butt placed first in the Y13 individual
event and South Wilts came 5 th overall.
The following girls received certificates for their excellent
effort:
Lower Secondary Girls – Flora Burns, Lucy Butt, Hannah
Kirkham, Holly Kirkham
Intermediate Secondary Girls – Amelia Clifford, Sophie
Davie and Jenny Spring
Upper Secondary Girls – Abi Burns, Alice Butt, Jemma
Davie, Emma Spring and Amy Whetstone. (Mrs Godber)
Football Double Final Success
The SWGS U16 Football team have made it a double by
beating Avon Valley Sports College 11 - 0 in the semi final
of the U16 Girls Wiltshire County Cup competition.
Last Thursday the South Wilts U13 football team made the
final of the County Cup by beating Commonweal
(Swindon) in extra time.
Not to be outdone, the Under 16's also claimed their place
in the final at Chippenham on Wednesday, 5th December
by consistently putting the ball in the net. The U16
team, comprised of mainly the Year 10 & 11 players who
came third in the English Schools’ National Cup last
year, cruised to a 6 - 0 lead at halfway against Avon,
whose lack of match practice was all too evident. Captain
Hannah Billingham led the way with 5 goals, Hayley
Ranachan secured 3, Izzy Grigg 2 and Olivia Jennings
nailed her first competitive score of the season just before
the half time whistle.
South Wilts U16's will now play St Edmund's for the
County title and a chance to qualify for an inter county
competition in the New Year.
Team members: Zoe Cullen, Laura Beal, Sarah Mills,
Naomi Goddard, Louise Sleeman, Hannah Billingham (C),
Hayley Ranachan, Hannah Smith, Izzy Grigg, Olivia
Jennings, Rachael Kidner, Frances Carney and Mairead
Sheehan. (Mrs Godber )
Nestle Year 8 Girls Knock-Out
Competition
Having won the Wiltshire round of the
National Schools Tennis Competition the
Year 8 squad (who were now in year 9)
were drawn against Headington School in
Oxford for the knockout stage of the
tournament. The fixture took place on
Monday 1 st October at Victoria Park,
comprising two doubles and four singles
matches.
The opposition was tough and very well
practised, all holding impressive LTA
ratings. Nevertheless, South Wilts put up a
good fight and refused to give up. In the
end however, Headington School proved
too strong, winning five sets to one. South
Wilts should hold its head high for
achieving this high standard and look
forward to the next season and further
success. Well done to Flora Burns, Jess
Wheeler, Lottie Wells and Kirsty Ballard.
(Miss Salen)
Salisbury Schools’ National Cross
Country Final
The SWGS Intermediate cross country
team of Imogen Wolsey, Holly Kirkham,
Hannah Kirkham, Lucy Butt, Sophie Davie,
Victoria James, Flora Burns, Amy
McDermott, Hannah Gidney-Bullard,
Amelia Clifford and Jennifer Spring has
qualified for the final of the National
Schools’ Cross Country event.
Six of the eleven squad members will run
on the day, over a 2.7km course at St
Columba's College in St Albans, on
Saturday 1st December
2007. Congratulations on making the
Schools’ Final two years in a row, and this
year (a year young) in the Intermediate
grade! Have a great run. Go South Wilts.
(Mrs Godber)
Basketball
The SWGS U19 team have played four fixtures in the English Schools’ Cup competition. They had
comfortable wins against Malmesbury School and St Cuthbert Mayne from
Torquay, but somehow lacked their usual ‘get up and go' against Queen
Elizabeth and Maynard Schools from Exeter during a one day tournament at
Tidworth Leisure Centre. The U19 basketball team have unfortunately not
progressed through to the next round but can now look forward to some
’friendly’ fixtures against Wiltshire teams.
Two members of the U19 basketball team have extended their skills in
another direction - as Level 1 coaches. Congratulations go to Storm Kirkham
and Katie Glover on this excellent achievement. (Mrs Godber)
9

ONWARDS
Internet Safety
To all parents and guardians. Please take the problem of internet safety very seriously. Many
teenagers are worryingly over-confident about their ability to deal with internet stalkers and people
who lurk in the background in chat-rooms looking for possible contacts.
Schools, child-support agencies and the police are also worried about the nature of the personal
information that young people supply about themselves on social-networking sites such as BeBo and
MySpace. You may be aware that we have currently blocked these sites in school because of the
unacceptable nature of some content posted by young people themselves.
We have also been drawing attention this term to the problems posed by “cyber-bullying” in which
victims can feel helpless in the face of ever-present verbal and image-based personal abuse hosted
on such sites.
In all of these matters we recommend that parents should be aware of what is going on while young
people are using a home computer. (Mr Parks)
1000 Club Prize Winners
Many thanks to all those parents that have renewed
or started memberships and have helped increase
the first prize to £100!! If you aren’t yet a member,
then please make it a New Year’s Resolution to join.
See the School website for an application form or
contact me if you have any queries. (Yvonne Hughes
01980 590543)
Sept 07
1000 Club Winners
1 st No 207 Mrs Elaine Hunt £100
2 nd No 145 Nadia Sears £50
3 rd No 374 Helen Clarke £30
Oct 07
1 st No 41 Mrs E Lewis £100
2 nd No 161 Jane Mackay £50
3 rd No 284 Mrs Sue Selby £30
Nov 07
1 st No 223 Mr & Mrs J Foreman £100
2 nd No 14 Mr M Griffiths £50
3 rd No 313 Mrs J L Bedborough £30
Old Girls’ Association
Help!
• Are you an ‘Old Girl’?
• Would you like to keep in touch with other ‘Old
Girls’?
• Have you got some spare time?
We are looking for someone to run the Old Girls’
Association. This would involve
keeping in contact with ‘Old Girls’ using the
electronic database already set up,
maintaining the database, perhaps arranging
reunions, producing a newsletter or news for a
webpage. If you are interested please contact
Valerie Bryan, Head’s secretary, at the school.
email head@swgs.wilts.sch.uk. (Mrs Bryan)
Printers on home computers
We are still experiencing printing problems
caused by pupils bringing work started on home
PCs that have not been correctly configured for
A4 paper size. A4 is the standard size for
European printing; the USA uses “letter” size.
Many home PCs have been left configured for
US letter size, and this causes problems on our
current network Kyocera printers. The printers
generate an error message because of the size
mis-match, then jam if we do not cancel the
print-job. This can be a real problem if a whole
class is waiting to print work.
Could students and parents please check that
Windows has been correctly set up to print A4
on your home printer? Check this via either the
“Control Panel” or “Printers & faxes” command
on the start menu. Often a right-click will allow
you to inspect the properties and alter the paper
size setting from US letter size to A4. (Mr Parks)
Year 10 Good Progress in ICT
All of the ICT teaching staff feel pleased with
the way that the current Year 10 are
progressing with their GCSE ICT, due to be
completed in May. Last year’s Year 10 were a
hard act to follow with their record-breaking
GCSE results in ICT, but the current year-group
are currently matching them closely. Well done
(Mr Parks)
Bank of England Challenge
Congratulations to Antonia Jones, Frances
Astbury, Laura Beever and Lucy Phipps who
took part in the regional final of this national
competition, under the guidance of their A level
Have a wonderful and relaxing
Christmas
10