Learning to Live Dangerously - St Helen and St Katharine

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FRONTlinesYour View of School Life‘Frontlines’ is run by the girls, for the girls. Thanks to all who have contributedthis term. Please let us know if you would like to write a report or if you areinterested in joining the ‘Lines team’.You can email the editorial team: communications@shsk.org.ukD of E goesfrom strengthto strengthIn February, 120pupils and theirfamilies attendedthe St Helen’s D of EAward presentationto collect Bronze,Silver and goldAwards achievedin the last 12months. Keith Sexton, HSE Director atAmey PLC, an Oxfordshire D of E partner,congratulated all those concerned andemphasised the value of the award topotential employers.Young Entrepreneurs in the MakingTemplar Square Shopping Centre, Oxford hadnever been seen as vivacious as it was on themorning of Saturday 28th of February, the dayof the Young Enterprise trade fair. Over 30Young Enterprise companies, from all overOxfordshire, gathered to battle it out for sales,prizes and judges' recognition! Buzzin’,Retrospect and Rouge, the St Helen’s teams,began setting up their stalls early for what wasLes Échanges and moreThe Modern Foreign Languages departmentorganised several highly successfulexchanges this term. Year 11 pupils, studyingGerman, travelled to Bielefeld and visitedthe cities if Cologne and Münster, as well asDr. Oetker World.Having enjoyed visits to both Novara, nearMilan and Santiago de Compostela earlierthis year, it was our Italian and Spanishpupils’ turn to welcome their exchangestudents to England and St Helen’s.to be a rewarding and profitable day. All 3companies found it a really useful experience,chatting to other teams about their experiencesand conducting market research for futureproduct ideas. Each company was judged onits product range, customer service andpresentation and congratulations to Buzzin'who won best product, for their 'bee hotel',and best stand.Sophie Topp, 10MWith German exchange friends in the snow in Bielefeld!Modern foreign language GCSE pupils fromSt Helen’s and Abingdon School alsoenjoyed a shared theatrical experience thisterm; watching French, Spanish and Germanplays by Onatti Productions. Highlyentertaining and often complex plots wereenjoyed by all and, despite being performedin a foreign language, none of the humourwas lost on the audience!Catherine Moon (US1 W)Our 2012 Bronze expedition training iswell underway, with 92 Year 9 pupils(over 90% of the year group) taking onthe challenge of preparing for, planningand completing a 2-day hike with anovernight camp. The groups will be outin March, on their practice expeditionrefining their skills in navigation,camp-craft and cooking.STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...Many congratulations to Lydia Davies(piano), Olivia Law (trombone) and RosieBartholomew (trumpet) for reaching thenational final of the Pro Cordacompetition. The Bartholomew Trioplayed the second movement of Trio Op.74 by the Norwegian composer, TrygveMadsen and have been invited to play inthe runners up concert in Cardiff in May.“They played absolutely beautifully anddid themselves, and St Helen’s, proud.”Ms Rakowski, Head of Music4 | Lent Term 2012
Debating Society UpdateLorel Scriven and Leying Lee have continuedtheir success in the ESU Mace competition thisterm, reaching the Regional Final inBirmingham where they debated: ‘This housebelieves that people convicted of serious crimesshould be electronically tagged for the rest oftheir lives.’ Lorel and Leying were highlycommended by the judges, placing them 2ndout of 44 teams in the region.The Year 11 Rotary Public Speaking team (HelenDallas, Jess Ward-Zinski and Rea Averill) havealso been on a winning streak, reaching theRegional Final in High Wycombe. All three girlswere praised for their lively enthusiasm andengaging manner.A group of 16 US2 girls enjoyed a black tieevening debate at Abingdon on 14 March. Thedebate ‘This house does not support the InvisibleChildren campaign against Joseph Kony’ wasdebated in mixed pairs. Strong opinions wereexpressed on both sides and the conversationscontinued over dinner.Following in their footsteps, the Lower SchoolDebating Club followed up their home successagainst Abingdon’s Lower School debaters withanother 2 – 0 victory away. Mrs Haines isRoom 101An opportunity for an invited ‘school celebrity’to discuss their top five pet hates which they wouldlike to consign to Room 101, the infamous torturechamber in George Orwell’s novel 1984.I have found it rather tricky to think of a ‘top 5 pethates’ but, after careful thought and consideration, Ihave come up with a list!Madame Abbott, French Departmentinvestigating new fixtures for our Year 7 – 9debaters next term at Cothill andD’Overbroeck’s Leckford Place.Mrs Hughes, Director of StudentsLeying and Lorel... a formidable team!Pet Hate 1: Mess. I cannot stand mess or untidy places – I often start my day by giving thephotocopying room five minutes of my time as it seems to be allergic to tidiness! Many ofmy current or former pupils will have heard my famous phrase ‘ranger les chaises’ beforeleaving the classroom.Pet Hate 2: Badly behaved children, never at St Helen’s of course! Sometimes children areso badly behaved in public places that I have to resort to telling their parents off! Once Isaw a father with his three children eating some fish and chips and, once they hadfinished, they simply dropped their rubbish. I ran after them and told them they had leftsomething behind! The father came back and collected it. Mission achieved!Pet Hate 3: Ball games. Don’t you find that the ball always heads in the wrong direction?Especially in tennis. Most of all, I really hate it when the ball hits you in the face. That hurts!Luckily when I was younger I had a very kind PE teacher who didn’t make me play all thesegames and kindly let me sit on the bench.Pet Hate 4: TV. It’s just too much noise in the evenings. Don’t you find that on TV everyonelooks exactly the same: same white teeth, same shiny hair, same cheesy smile?Pet Hate 5: Last but not the least. Really sorry but I don’t like Christmas and New Year.Around that time of the year I‘d rather be known as Mrs Scrooge!Interview withMr HuntMr Hunt joined St Helen’s this term andis the new Director of Staff. He teachesHistory to Years 7, 8 and 9 and isparticularly interested in Russianhistory which he finds fascinating.How have you enjoyed your time atSchool so far?It has been brilliant! I am having a fantastictime, everyone is so welcoming – theteachers are fab and the pupils are great.Why did you come to work at St Helenand St Katharine?I joined St Helen and St Katharine for a newexperience. It is clearly a great school andafter over nine years teaching in a boys’school I felt I needed a change. I am alreadynoticing differences between the two schoolsbut I am also able to see that many of thestereotypical images of boys and girls are infact incorrect.How have your first few weeks been?Brilliant! I am having a smashing time, it hasbeen very busy but I take that as a realpositive. There are new challenges and thegirls seem to collaborate well and reallyenjoy their work. St Helen and St Katharine isan exciting place to be and joining inJanuary has been great, as I have been ableto get stuck in to the job while the school iswell under way in the academic year.What do you like best about the school?The people – both the girls and staff arewelcoming and a delight to work with.Whilst the girls are hard-working andcommitted we can definitely have a laughand joke along the way!Jess Hoskin, 10L and Sophie Top, 10MLent Term 2012 | 5
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Learning to Live Dangerously - St Helen and St Katharine

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