DAME ALICE OWEN’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2017 Dame Alice Owen’s School newsletter Letter from the Head Hannah Nemko Dear All Our students have already been getting into the festive spirit with Year 7 and Year 8 linguists Issue highlights… visiting the Cologne Christmas Markets with Cologne Christmas Mrs Wheatley, Mr Stegner, Ms Lord, Mr Lawlor, markets trip page 6 Mrs Friel, Mrs McClean and Mr Titley earlier this month. This wonderful opportunity allowed students to practise their language skills, as well as having the chance to sample chocolates, gingerbread and other festive delicacies! Our Year 12 also ventured abroad, with Mrs Gillingham, on the annual French exchange trip to Vannes to visit our partner school, Lycée Saint Paul. This ever-successful trip allowed our Sixth Formers to fully immerse themselves in the language and culture of France. Although intense, I know that this experience was deeply valued by our students. I would like to thank the MFL department for their tireless efforts to enhance learning with these fantastic Owen’s concerts prove opportunities! huge success page 8 Our Year 12 politics students were offered the chance to visit Parliament by Oliver Dowden MP. On top of exploring the history of the building and the constitution, our students were also lucky enough I must thank the whole staff for the to visit the British Supreme Court commitment they show to helping and listen to MPs debate topics every student, every lesson. I would such as Brexit and the future of also like to thank you, the parent body, Priti Patel. Visits such as these for your support of the school help to consolidate the ethos of Cross country wins and engagement and awareness at sports news page 20 Owen’s, and I am glad to see so many of our students passionate about important issues. Thanks go to Ms Cornejo for organising this visit. Mrs Joshi and the Computing department have also been busy, with 40 Year 9 students visiting the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park in November. Our students were able to see some of the earliest computers from the 1940s and design their own code. This sparked some real enthusiasm and curiosity, reflected in the overwhelming success we went on to enjoy in the formidable BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge. This competition involves logic, problem-solving Page !1 DAME ALICE OWEN’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2017 and pattern recognition; a particular congratulation must go to Year 7 student, Rufus Jasko, whose score of 194 was the highest in the county! The skill and hard work of all who participated are a testament to the school. I am also pleased to say that a group of Year 8 and Year 12 students have undergone training to be Science Ambassadors. These students will be volunteering their time in order to engage and enthuse young people in our local primary schools about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and I am proud of the leadership role they are assuming to this end. Thanks go to Mr Friedlander for his role in supporting these students. We have had another wonderful half term of music thanks to our talented and hard-working students, Mr Werner, Mr Wilson, the fabulous music department and the incredible ensemble directors. We have been kept entertained on many an evening with a wide variety of concerts be they orchestral, chamber or choral; each one was at least as good as the previous. We are also proud to have known success in our winter sports with a particular mention going to those involved in the District Cross Country, where nine of our 11 teams won! Thank you to Mr Gamester and the entire PE staff who have given so freely of their time to train students and support them in their wider competitions and events. Furthermore, our annual Let’s Dance! competition was a fabulous event, providing a platform for our students to showcase some wonderful routines. Thank you to Miss Martin for organising. We were also delighted to play host to Peter Tatchell, a world- renowned Human Rights and LGBT campaigner. Peter Tatchell delivered a captivating lecture, discussing his role in the fight for LGBT equality and the challenges facing the next generation. I know that many found this talk deeply inspiring, and reinforced the commitment of the student body to keep Owen’s a progressive and inclusive community. Thanks go to Mr Davies and the LGBT History Society for organising this event. I would also like to thank all students who participated in the Link to Thanks to Julia Dickinson, who led Hope Shoebox Appeal, led by Julia Dickinson. Together we filled over the students in donating essential 80 boxes with basic essentials, toys, food and other Christmas gifts supplies and Christmas gifts to to be donated and sent to Moldova, where they will be distributed those living in poverty in Moldova. to families and elderly people living in poverty over Christmas. The enthusiasm and generosity of the students continues to be a source of strength for the school and a demonstration of the values we foster. The term ended on a high with the Winter Play, which this year was a musical-comedy adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night set in 1930s New York. Drawing on influences from Film Noir, this production was as gripping as it was entertaining! I would like to congratulate Ms Govier, the cast, the Tech Crew for all of their hard work in putting this together. A special thank you must extend to Mr Marshall and to Mrs Levy for her expertise and support. As well as thanking those who have given additionally of their time to help expose our students to opportunities they may not otherwise have had, I must thank the whole staff for the commitment they show to helping every student, every lesson. I would also like to thank you, the parent body, for your support of the school and our young people. Never more is this support seen than through the work of the OSA, our parent body who support the school through their fundraising events; the quizzes they put on as well as the support that they show Page !2 DAME ALICE OWEN’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2017 through providing refreshments at all of the school concerts, plays, parents’ evenings and alike has helped them to raise a staggering £30,000 for the school since January 2016. This has allowed us to update the facilities in the Sixth Form area as well as to provide additional resources in classrooms for your children to use. Thank you to the OSA as well as to everyone who has attended or contributed towards their events – without you the school would not be able to provide as much as it does. The end of term brings a few goodbyes to share with you. It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Mr Wilson who will be returning to Australia for a while before embarking on ventures new. We are delighted that Ms Meik will be joining the Music department to help coordinate much of the extra-curricular timetable and ensure the smooth running of the department. In PE, we are sorry to lose Ms Baxter, who covered the latter part of Mrs Palfrey’s maternity leave; she will be leaving us now that Mrs Palfrey has returned. We thank her for her dedication and commitment to our sports lessons and teams, and wish her well in her new school. Similarly, we now say goodbye to Mr Bailey who has done a wonderful job covering for Mrs Nicholades whilst she has been on, and returning from, maternity leave. After having tried to retire several times but always allowing himself to come back for more, we are finally letting Mr Richards hang up his Google Classroom… at least for a while! We wish him all the best with his retirement plans which have been a long time coming! Mrs Hillan will also be leaving us as a member of staff whilst she too takes up a new project outside of school. Not quite ready to leave us completely however, we are delighted that she wants to still volunteer with us as a LSA one day a week and we look forward to continuing to work with her in that manner. Both the SLT and the admin team are sad to be saying goodbye to our SLT Intern, Laura Gisseleire, whose help and support have been invaluable over this last term. We hope to see you back with us soon. Lastly, we say goodbye to Mrs Wagstaff who is leaving Dame Alice Owen’s for a promotion to Head of Department in another school. We have been so blessed to have worked with Mrs Wagstaff for 12 years. I know that her art students and the wider sixth form with whom she has worked so closely in these last years will miss her input and her warm smile. We are excited that Mrs Wakley will be joining the art department to take over Mrs Wagstaff’s teaching and that Miss McCreight will picking up where Mrs Wagstaff left off with the Sixth Form. And finally, I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and a restful break. I look forwards to seeing you all again in January! Mrs Nemko ADMISSIONS ARRANGEMENTS 2019-2020 The Governing Body of Dame Alice Owen’s School will be consulting on our Admissions Arrangements for 2019-20 between 20th November 2017 and 5th January 2018. The proposed arrangements will be available to view on the admissions overview area of the school website from 20th November - www.damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk/admissions Should you wish to comment on any aspect of these arrangements, please write to Mrs D Coles, Admissions Ofcer by 5th January 2018.