ONE HEART, ONE SOUL ST. FRANCIS’ COLLEGE PREP / SENIOR / SIXTH FORM - NEWSLETTER One Heart, One Soul | Issue 02 | Summer Term | July 2016 SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM GOODBYES SALLY WINS COMMUNITY AWARD At the end of the academic year we are saying goodbye to three members of We were delighted to hear that Sally Jarman won the Valiant Volunteer the college’s Senior Leadership Team and we asked them about their fondest Award at the Comet Community Awards in May. This was in recognition of memories of their time here. her dedication and hard work in knitting 2,000 woollen chicks every year in Amy Wallace Head of Sixth Form Sept 2012 – August 2016 support of Keech Hospice Care and Garden House Hospice. Well done Sally! Miss Wallace has many wonderful memories: Hannah & the tractor on Leavers’ Day 2016, Year 10 singing a surprise goodbye song last week, The Sixth Form trips abroad, The time Year 11 History made me a train, all the time girls have cried with happiness when they’ve got their A Level results and enjoying the girls’ celebrations as each UCAS offer comes in. Helen Stone – Head of Prep Department Jan 1982 – July 2016 When asked about her fondest memories, she admitted that she has so many its hard to list them, but did tell us of one story about teaching Science in Prep V and the jar of marbles she used in the Forces lessons. However having forgotten that she lent them to Mr Hetherington, she sent a girl to search for them who walked into a Prep VI classroom and declared “Mrs Stone has lost her marbles!”, to which the pupils replied “yes, we know”. Mrs Stone will miss the great spirit of St. Francis’, particularly within the staff. OLD GIRLS AFTERNOON TEA Pamela Wilkinson – Deputy Head Jan 2007 – July 2016 On June 26th over 100 former pupils, their families and friends returned to Mrs Wilkinson departed with some wise words for us all “100 years from the College for the first SFOGA afternoon tea. For some former students it now it will not matter what my bank account was, the type of house I lived in was the first time they had been back in over 50 years, for other girls it was or the car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in an opportunity to meet up with friends post-university. the life of a child!” KANYIKE CHARITY PICNIC The whole school came together on the Loggia gardens for a end-of-year CLASSICS TRIP TO GREECE picnic and fundraising event for our whole-school charity Kanyike. Highlights During Easter 2016 students in Years 10-13 embarked on a 6-day trip included welly throwing, hair braiding, popcorn making, nail painting and the incorporating countless magnificent sites which captivated us all, from the ever popular splash the teacher game. The afternoon raised nearly £400! Temple of Apollo in Delphi to the Palamidi Fortress in Olympia. St. Francis’ College. Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 3PJ, United Kingdom +44 (0)1462 67051 | www.st-francis.herts.sch.uk DRAMA TAKEAWAY The Drama Department took part in the National Theatre Connections Festival again this year with 15 girls performing ‘Take Away’ by Jackie Kay at The Cambridge Junction on 30th April to a delighted full audience. Well done everyone involved. H OME ECONOMICS TRIP JUNE 2016 On Thursday 23rd June the Year 10 Home Economics students went to London for the day. In the morning we went to Harrods and looked at the vast array of foods from all over the world and marvelled at the extraordinary prices. We went on to Borough Market for lunch choosing from a vast range of multicultural street food. The day ended with ice-cream at the nitrogen- oxide ice cream parlour in Camden, which was the highlight of the trip. The GCSE Drama examination was a very powerful night of theatre. The first group devised a play based on a short film ‘Alone’ which explores ST. ALBANS TRIP what happens after a war to end all wars with only one survivor. The second Year 7 students examined the changes that have taken place in St. Albans group devised their play based on ‘Kindertransport’ by Diane Samuels, focusing on the growth of retail parks and the fightback of the high street as exploring what happened to two Jewish girls during WW2. well as the impact of the floodplain on the development of the town. YEAR 9 DENMARK TRIP RUNNING 80K FOR CHARITY Year 9 visited the Kingdom of Denmark during Eleanor Skip is one of a group of four members from half term. This geography trip focussed on urban Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club running 80K each and cultural Geography. Activities included in officially-timed events during 2016 to raise money visiting a school, following an urban transect, for the charity Stand-By-Me Bereavement Support. If examining the social dimension of urban you wish to donate to this worthy cause please go to sustainability by visiting the Danish Parliament and the Danish Youth Council, Eleanor’s donation page: studying waterfront regeneration and the role of cultural heritage in tourism. www.justgiving.com/fundraising/WeBeTENNISYall MATHEMATICS The girls at St. Francis’ College accomplished great success in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Junior Maths Challenge achieving 9 gold, FLATFORD MILL 10 silver and 16 bronze certificates. Yr 8 Geographers had a fantastic time studying in the idyllic Flatford Mill. We were delighted that five of our pupils; Heather They examined the use of technology to aid their understanding of Christie and Alessandra Cocevar from Year 7 and Rosalind Mackey, Jasmine Geographical processes including GPS trackers, entered coastal profile data on tablets and recorded sound and other environmental parameters Duru and Lucy Taylor from Year 8 were invited to take part in a follow-on on to an information system. When they returned to the classroom, at the round, the Junior Kangaroo. click of a mouse they could collate and present the data and instantly observe spatial characteristics. JACQUELINE WILSON St. Francis’ College was thrilled to welcome the renowned children’s author, Jacqueline Wilson, to MUSIC NEWS speak at the college in conjunction with David’s Mrs Liz Childs, our new flute teacher, gave a flute Bookshop on Sunday 15th May. workshop for our senior and prep flautists. It was a lovely opportunity to make music as a team and get to RELIGIOUS STUDIES know the new flute teacher. There was great competition across the houses as they On Wednesday 27th April Year 7 visited gave rousing versions of Queen songs to compete the London Central Mosque at Regent’s for the House Music trophy. Athena Woodbridge Park. We spent an enjoyable morning won the solo and duet category for Athene and the visiting the central prayer hall and the Athene House also won the Queen round with their exhibition about Islam. performance of ‘Don’t Stop me now’. 02 | St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul LANGUAGES: LE TOUQUET 2016 INDUSTRIAL CADETS – CAD On 30th June, 34 Year 7s set off for Le The Industrial Cadets team shone with team spirit, Touquet for an action packed three day trip. confidence and presentation skills at the Celebration and The girls visited a snail farm, where they Assessment Day on 27th June in Ware. The team of Eira held and then sampled the snails; watched Bagenal, Michelle Bonuah, Eleanor Hobson, Ruby Lung, a chocolate maker explain his art; marvelled Mehar Magon and Ellie Warwick (Year 9) worked over the last ten weeks at the sea life at the Nausicaa centre and made their own crêpes. On the final on their project entitled “Our healthy school”. Apart from graduating as day they shopped in Le Touquet market, toured the beautiful old town of Industrial Cadets and achieving CREST Silver Awards, the team also won the Montrueil and made croissants at a bakery, before returning home. Students’ Choice Award for their project. SCHOOLS ANALYST COMPETITION FINAL TRANSLATION BEE Our Year 12 Chemistry students qualified to compete in the National On June 15th, four year 9s, Michelle Bonuah, Maisie Final of the Schools’ Analyst Competition at Keele University in June. For Burroughs, Eleanor Hobson and Helen Sheng, travelled Lauren Aldridge, Georgie Foot and Amy Lian being in the final was a unique to the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge to adventure and experience. Working in a University laboratory they used the participate in the National Final of the Translation Bee. instruments and methods of undergraduate Chemistry students. All participants were challenged to translate into French In a tough competition with around 20 other teams, the St. Francis’ College as many sentences as they could across three tenses in team showed magnificent team spirit and a methodical approach to the the space of a minute. It was a challenging and stimulating afternoon and while various tasks with which they were faced. they didn’t make it into the Semi-finals, they were rewarded with a medal and a certificate. Bravo les filles! PREP SCHOOL NEWS NATIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE The Prep Department is busy, varied and fun! SPELLING BEE 2016 Here are just a few of the things we have been up to this year Three Year 7 students: Avneet Bhamra, Alessandra Cocevar and Florence GRAFHAM WATER TRIP Semple represented St. Francis’ College at the Eastern Area Regional Final of Our Prep V girls worked together to the National Spelling Bee on 27th April. Alessandra went forward as one of learn about team work. the last 36 across three languages.