Private School News

Marist Students Celebrate End of School in Style

Marist Sixth Form Leavers’ Ball is a sparkling occasion

A glamorous Leavers’ Ball was held for the Sixth Form girls of the Marist Senior School who have now completed their final exams and will shortly head off to their chosen university.

On Tuesday 30 June, Year 13 students attended the ‘red carpet’ themed event at the beautiful Northcote House, Sunningdale Park, with their partners, parents and Marist staff. The girls all looked beautiful in their gowns and the late evening sunshine added an extra sparkle to the occasion. The evening began with a champagne reception followed by dinner and dancing. The Royal Borough Mayor and Mayoress also attended – Mr Jesse Grey and his wife Christine.

Mr Karl McCloskey, Headteacher at the Marist Senior School said “It is always sad saying goodbye to our girls but it is wonderful to be able to give them a happy and memorable event to end on. We wish every blessing and much happiness to the girls as they leave school to embark on their university education and future professional careers. It has been a pleasure knowing each and every one of them.”

Photo:The Marist Year 13 Leavers with Mayor and Mayoress, Mr Jesse Grey and Mrs Christine Grey.

National Handwriting Competition winners

Pupils at the Marist Preparatory School have won the top prize of £500 in the annual National Handwriting Competition organised by SATIPS (Society of Assistants Teaching in Preparatory Schools).

The national competition is open to all pupils aged 4-14 to showcase their handwriting skills. Even though computers are now commonly used in schools, homes and businesses, it is just as important to learn good handwriting skills as it ever was as pupils must adapt their skills to suit different situations. Mrs Tina Francis, Class 2 teacher and an English Co-ordinator at the Marist Preparatory School said “the girls are taught the essentials of handwriting during their infant years. Once they start their junior education they have already developed a good style of handwriting that will stay with them throughout their school life.”

Mrs Jenny Peachey, Headteacher at the Marist Preparatory School said “Good handwriting skills learned early on will effectively take them through their senior school years and serve them well into their undergraduate degrees and beyond.”

Marist Girls Raise £448 for the Thames Valley Hospice

School girls have organised a special ‘Bag2School’ clothing collection to raise money for charity

Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, March 18, 2009: Two pupils at the Marist Preparatory School have organised an event with school friends to raise £448 for the Thames Valley Hospice.

Rianna Monteagudo and Olivia Waldron, both aged 10, heard about the ‘Bag2School’ initiative as an ideal way of supporting a local charity. They spoke to their Headteacher, Mrs Jenny Peachey about it, and then presented the idea to the rest of the school during an assembly. The girls showed an example ‘blue bag’ and explained to their school friends that if the bags were filled with clothes, soft toys, bedding and shoes, a donation could be made to a local charity. The girls made posters to put up around the school showing that the bags should be returned by Thursday 5 March.

On 5 March, Marist families and friends brought over 200 blue bags into the school which were filled with clothes and toys. Bag2School collected the bags on the same day, weighed them, and confirmed how much money the school had raised for the Thames Valley Hospice.

Headteacher, Mrs Jenny Peachey said “Rianna and Olivia have shown great initiative in organising an event which has raised money for a very worthwhile cause without asking for cash. With a dated and timed collection, it meant the initiative could be readily supported. The girls have done an excellent job. We look forward to welcoming a representative from the Thames Valley Hospice early next term to collect the donation and speak to the girls about the work the Hospice does.”

Photo:L to R, Olivia and Rianna with one of the posters they made and some of the blue bags collected on 5th March.

An African Experience

Pupils in Year 4 of Hurst Lodge School Ascot had a wonderful African cultural experience on Monday morning.

A parent from Northern Nigeria flew in specially from Kano, Nigeria with one of her domestic staff to teach Year 4 girls a Fulani dance. The girls were fully dressed in beautiful hand-woven traditional Fulani costumes and jewellery for boys and girls.

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed going through their dance routines, and performed their dance before the rest of the junior school. They also attempted to balance calabashes on their heads and were taught how to play the dondo, an African drum.

In all it was an excellent educational experience which Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed.

Prizegiving at Padworth College

Padworth College welcomed local minister, Rev Malcolm Duncan as the guest speaker at Presentation Day. Rev Duncan, who also acts as a church consultant and is involved in many community development projects, gave a lively and inspirational speech urging students to pursue their ambitions, to face setbacks with fortitude and resolve and to make the most of every opportunity.

Sixth former, Jonathan Bates gave the vote of thanks and Mr Duncan then presented the prizes which were awarded to students from each year group for academic achievement and commendations for Academic progress. This year, the Principal’s Prize for Service to the College was given to A Level student, Sean Pham for his outstanding contribution to the College community.

The audience were entertained by The Padworth Singers who sang “The Birks of Aberfeldy” and Hannah Windmill gave a solo performance of “I’ll give my love an apple”.

Principal, Linde Melhuish said, “I should like to congratulate all of today’s prizewinners – they have all made an outstanding effort to achieve the highest standards and to contribute to our community. In line with their excellent example, I think we have also all been inspired by the words of Rev Duncan who has highlighted the importance of determination and dedication in achieving personal goals. I would like to express our thanks to him for making the time to join us for Presentation Day.”

Prizes for Academic Achievement
Year 9 Karl Spires and Stephanie Lloyd
Year 10 James Horn, Kapnie Umana and Anna Jadczak
Year 11 Frank Chang
Year 12 Sarah Ayromloo and Hieu Nguyen
Year 13 Jonathan Bates, Jenny Wang, Aryan Bathory, Hannah Windmill Nazi Amini and Sean Pha
ISC Yuri Nishizaki

Photo: The Principal of Padworth College with this year’s prize winners

Marist Senior School is awarded Artsmark Silver

Arts Council England has awarded an Artsmark Silver to the Marist Senior School in recognition of the school’s commitment to, and excellence in, arts education.

Practitioners in art, music, drama and dance have been regularly invited to visit the Marist Senior School to showcase different skills and styles in each area of the expressive arts. These include Sadie James who worked with Year 7 students on a Street Art project to explore aspects of identity, Mime Artist Steve Murray who conducted a drama workshop with Year 10 students to explore relationships, and the Black Eyed Theatre Company who helped Year 11 drama students understand the dramatic themes in Chekhov’s play ‘The Cherry Orchard’ to improve their practical understanding of theatrical techniques.

Since Artsmark began 9 years ago, almost 10,000 awards have been made, with 1649 schools receiving the award this year. Karl McCloskey, Head teacher of the Marist Senior School in Sunninghill, said: “I’m delighted that the Arts Council has recognised The Marist’s dynamic arts education programme. Our students have really enjoyed working with all the practitioners we’ve been fortunate enough to welcome to the Marist, and I’d like to thank all our staff for their hard work in achieving this award.”

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: “Arts Council England is committed to great art for everyone and we believe that the earlier children are creatively inspired, the more likely they are to have a lifelong engagement with art. Artsmark sets the standard for an outstanding arts offer in schools and it’s great to see so many new schools attaining the Artsmark award this year. The award recognises the Marist Senior School’s passion for the arts and belief in the power of creativity.”

A school must dedicate a minimum of 10 per cent of its curricular teaching time to the arts to receive an Artsmark; 12 per cent wins a Silver Artsmark and 15 per cent qualifies for Artsmark Gold. An Artsmark school also provides teachers’ professional development and involvement with local artists and arts groups. The Marist Senior School’s Head of Art, Mrs Sandra Maynard, will receive the award officially from Arts Council England on Monday 29th June at the Corn Exchange Theatre, Newbury.

Any school in England can apply for Artsmark at: www.artsmark.org.uk

Marist Senior School – finalists in the All England Theatre Festival

From winning five trophies at the Maidenhead Drama Festival, students perform as finalists in the All England Theatre Competition

Eleven Year 12 students from the Marist Senior School have performed as finalists in the All England Theatre Festival, which took place on Saturday 6 June at the Strode’s Theatre in Somerset.

Further to their success at the Maidenhead Festival in early May where they won 5 awards, the Year 12 actresses won the semi-final round of the All England Theatre Festival competition at Leigh on Sea on 23rd May and followed this success by performing in the competition final which took place in Somerset at the weekend.

The all female cast performed, ‘A Memory of Lizzie’ by David Foxton, which explored the dark story of Lizzie Borden who was tried for the murders of her father and stepmother in America during the 19th century. Competing against over 250 other original entrants, many of which were adult groups, it is a rare achievement for a school to see this level of success at the All England Festival which places them amongst the top performing amateur theatre companies in England.

Jane Harris, Head of Drama at the Marist Senior School, said “we have all been overwhelmed by the positive reception we have had from the adjudicators and audiences at each stage of the festival. It has been such a wonderful experience for the girls to get into the top four theatre companies at the final. At this level, the standard is the highest is the country which is an immense achievement.”

The Year 12 students used both naturalistic and abstract styles in performing the drama about Lizzie Borden who was tried for the murder of her father and stepmother during the late 1800s. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murder, she was believed by the majority of society to be guilty of the crime and her story has since become an infamous legend. The cast unwound the dark story of Lizzie through their focused and realistic portrayal of a range of characters from taunting playground children to adult witnesses relaying disturbing evidence during Borden’s trial.

Photo: ‘Memory of Lizzie’ Cast – Katy Eynon, Emma Hall, Alice Ordish, Hannah Lee, Megan Palfreyman,
Michelle Percy, Patricia Rocco, Iselin Radmore, Ruby Donnelly, Roisin Kirby and Poppy Nowell with drama teachers Juliet May and Jane Harris.

Girls Go Green

The Marist Senior School Promotes Eco Initiatives During An Environment Week

The Marist Senior School has been awarded an Eco Schools Bronze Certificate and has held an Environment Week to raise further awareness of environmental concerns by involving the entire school in a range of different eco projects.

The theme of the week which ran from 1-5 June was to ‘Reduce’. All students aimed to check a print preview of their school work first before printing documents to ensure no unnecessary paper was wasted, that lights were turned off where possible to reduce electricity, to always turn taps off properly to save water, and to diligently recycle waste. During the course of the week, all form rooms competed for the title of ‘Most Eco Friendly Classroom’ by adhering to these goals. In addition, students participated in an emailed ‘eco quiz’, made posters out of recycled materials using the ‘Reduce’ theme, and began measuring sunflower seedlings as part of their sunflower race!

The school library encouraged the girls to learn more about environmental issues by visiting the displays that had been created in connection with concerns at both a local and global level. The displays included photographic images and news articles about environmental concerns affecting everyone and tree saplings to be planted in the school grounds later in the week. A book exchange programme was also instigated as a further way to save paper.

On 8 June, several girls planted the tree saplings in the school grounds with responsibility to take care of the trees as they grow. Miss Lydia Spoors, Head of Year 11 said “Environment Week has been a very popular event as it has helped students to become even more aware of the impact they have on the environment. The school already has a good recycling and ‘low light’ policy but Environment Week has encouraged everyone to think about how they use natural resources even more. The school is a supporter of the Eco Schools initiative and has already been awarded the Bronze Certificate. The week has enabled us to engage in more activities to promote further sustainable development within our school.”

LOCAL SCHOOL WINS TOP PRIZE BY STEPPING OUT OF THE CLASSROOM & INTO THE NHS

Hurst Lodge School is delighted to announce that pupil, Milly House from year 7 has won the South Central regional prize for the first ever Step into the NHS schools competition. The Step into the NHS competition was designed to encourage children aged 12-14 to think laterally about health service careers and their future work prospects.

Milly House won with her job description for an occupational therapist for Frimley Park Hospital. She recognised that the role of an occupational therapist is to help with the rehabilitation and re-motivation of people who have had difficulties with every day living. She also highlighted that the role provided excellent career progression opportunities and that it is possible to either specialise or move into a research position.

Statistically, almost 1 child in every class in England is likely to work for the NHS in the future. However 70% of teenagers surveyed have never considered working for the NHS because they aren’t aware of the career options available. When asked to give their perceptions of the NHS over half of young people polled (57%) associated it entirely with hospitals and medical professionals. A large number of teenagers surveyed didn’t associate non-medical jobs such as architect (74%), carpenter (83%) and IT trainer (63%) with the NHS. Yet with over 350 different roles and 1.3 million employees, the health service means more than being a doctor or a nurse.

The winner Milly House from year 7 impressed the judging panel by demonstrating a broad understanding of the different roles in the NHS and by taking a creative approach to the competition brief.

A winner’s presentation took place today (1st June) at the school. The ceremony was attended by Danielle Calvert who will present the prizes.

Miss V S Smit, Head Mistress of Hurst Lodge School says: “We are delighted to have won this prize. It’s great to see pupils thinking creatively about the different types of roles in the health service and to see how these fit into the broad spectrum of the NHS. We are extremely proud of Milly House and her achievement “

Danielle Calvert – Head of Paediatric Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, NHS Berkshire East – said: “When people think of working in the NHS occupational therapy might not always be the first types of career that come to mind. So it was really refreshing to see the Hurst Lodge entry looking at life as an Occupational Therapist and reflecting the diversity of the job. Working as an OT and helping people to overcome the physical, psychological or social problems arising from illness or disability is a demanding career choice but the rewards of seeing someone progress and achieve are limitless.”

Alan Simmons, a Careers Consultant at NHS Careers, says: “Congratulations to (insert name of winner/s) for their fantastic competition entry – hopefully their efforts will inspire many others to step out of the classroom and into the NHS. Students taking part in the NHS Careers schools competition had certainly taken a lot of time and effort in their entries. Those that made the final 10 demonstrated a wealth of creativity and ideas in their entries and had clearly done their research. It made the judging quite a challenge!”

“Our aim with the competition was to try and broaden young people’s horizons when it comes to perceptions of the NHS and the career prospects available to them. Many young people today want to work in an environment that is stimulating and makes a positive difference to other people’s lives. The health service offers this and much more. Among the 350 roles within the NHS there is an opportunity for everyone to develop a skill set and begin a real career.”

Investing in future careers for students

The Marist Senior School is working towards ‘Investor in Careers’ the quality standard in careers education

The Marist Senior School is now working towards Investor in Careers, the nationally recognised quality standard for the management of careers education and guidance in schools.

The purpose of working towards Investor in Careers is to provide students with a careers programme that is regularly evaluated and continuously improved. The Marist Senior School will be working alongside Connexions Berkshire to achieve the award.

Investor in Careers is one of a number of initiatives the Marist Senior School careers department is participating in. During April, six senior school students attended the Channel 4 “Inspiration Week” which gave them access and an insight into the areas of scriptwriting, journalism, presenting and production management. A number of parents and former pupils (‘Maristines’) have also visited the school to speak to sixth form students about their profession, such as law, accountancy, film script supervision and journalism.

Mrs Suzanne Barclay, Careers Coordinator at the Marist Senior School said, “It is very exciting to be at the beginning of our journey towards achieving the Investor in Career Award. During this process we will be raising the standard of careers education and providing a high quality service to our students. The opportunities available through the Careers Education and Guidance programme give students a broader understanding of the world of work and will help them make informed decisions about their future careers”.

Marist Preparatory School Support Childhood Cancer Charity

Pupils donate funds from their Easter Egg Raffle to the charity ‘Christopher’s Smile’
Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, 12 May, 2009

Pupils at the Marist Preparatory School have donated a cheque for £226.62 to Mrs Karen Capel who, with her husband Kevin, is a founder of the childhood cancer charity ‘Christopher’s Smile’.
Infant and junior girls participated in an Easter egg raffle to support the charity which took place at the end of the spring term. Mrs Capel visited the school this week to speak to the girls about Christopher’s Smile and to thank them for all their hard work in raising the donation.

Christopher’s Smile was set up in October 2008 by Karen and Kevin Capel following the tragic death of their only son Christopher from medulloblastoma, an aggressive childhood brain tumour. The charity works in partnership with the Institute of Cancer Research to help find effective treatments for children who suffer from childhood cancers. Current treatments are designed for adults and can leave the children that survive cancer with devastating side effects. The money raised by the Marist Preparatory School will help fund a ‘Higher Scientific Officer’ who will test new drugs that may be suitable for providing more effective cancer treatments for children.

Mrs Capel explained that ‘25% of children diagnosed with cancer fail to survive as adult therapies such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are not targeted and were originally developed to treat adult cancers which behave differently to childhood cancers. Christopher’s Smile hopes to raise enough money to assist the paediatric drug development team at the ICR (Institute of Cancer Research) to develop the world’s first drug specifically for treating childhood cancers. This will mean improved survival rates and will limit the crippling side effects of current treatments.’

Mrs Jenny Peachey, Headteacher at the Marist Preparatory School said “As a school for young children, we have all been very moved by Christopher’s story and are full of admiration for the work Mr and Mrs Capel are doing in order to benefit young cancer sufferers. The pupils and staff at the school have been very glad to contribute to Christopher’s Smile and it has been a pleasure to welcome Mrs Capel to the school to hear more about the much needed work that the charity is involved in.”

Photo (from left): Karen Capel (founder of Christopher’s Smile), Jada Brevett, Hannah Brayshaw, Elizabeth Burn, Katie Walsham and Marist Prep teacher, Sue Johnson.

Student actresses scoop five trophies at the Maidenhead Drama Festival

Student actresses scoop five trophies at the Maidenhead Drama Festival and qualify for the All England Theatre Festival

Eleven students from the Marist Senior School have won five awards at the Maidenhead Drama Festival, which took place recently at the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead.

The Year 12 students used both naturalistic and abstract styles in performing the drama ‘A Memory of Lizzie’ by David Foxton which explores the story of Lizzie Borden who was tried for the murder of her father and stepmother during the late 1800s. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murder, she was believed by the majority of society to be guilty of the crime and her story has since become an infamous legend. The all female cast unwound the dark story of Lizzie through their focused and realistic portrayal of a range of characters from taunting playground children to adult witnesses relaying disturbing evidence during Borden’s trial.

The girls won the Maidenhead Youth Drama trophy for best performance in the under 21 age group, the Aubrey Harding trophy for best short play, the Frank Richard’s Cup and the Maidenhead Advertiser trophy. To cap all of these successes, the girls were delighted to hear that they had also won the Walter Rivers Cup plus the Roy Bates Memorial Fund and the chance to compete in the semi-finals of the All England drama competition taking place at the end of May.

The Marist actresses are a highly motivated and dynamic group at A-level and used varied styles and practitioner influences and techniques during their rehearsal process. Mrs Jane Harris who is head of drama at the Marist Senior School said “the Maidenhead Festival is such a big event with so many different competitors of all ages, the girls are really amazed to have done so well. They sustained their focus and characterisations throughout the performance and I really am very proud of each and every one of them.”

Marist Schools spring charity ball

Marist charity ball raises over £17,000 to share with Helen & Douglas House
Parents and friends support an ‘Oscars’ themed spring ball at Wentworth to raise charity fund

Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, 1 May, 2009: The Marist Schools spring charity ball ‘A Night at the Oscars’ was held at the Wentworth Golf Club on Saturday 25 April which raised over £17,000 in support of Helen & Douglas House children and young adults’ hospice and The Marist Schools.
Organised and hosted by the Marist Friends Association (parents of pupils attending the Marist Schools), over 200 people attended the event contributing to a grand draw and fundraising auction. Auction items such as a limited edition signed print of Lewis Hamilton, 2010 Ryder Cup tickets and a ‘desperate housewives’ cook, clean and pamper package were generously donated by Marist parents, local businesses, and the Wentworth Golf club in addition to sought after tickets for ‘X Factor’ and ‘Dancing on Ice’ shows. The auction was hosted on the night by Mr Tom O’Connor. The glamorous Hollywood Oscars theme was carried throughout the event with the décor at Wentworth assuming a distinctly red carpet feel, and Marist sixth form students taking the roles of movie star look-a-likes to sell last minute raffle tickets and to show guests to their dining tables.

The Marist Schools were very pleased to be able to partner with Helen & Douglas House, a charity recently featured in a moving BBC documentary which provides respite and end of life care for children and young adults with life shortening conditions and their families. Sr Frances Dominica, the founder of Helen & Douglas House, also attended the event. Derek Willard, Chairman of the Marist Friends Association said “The care provided by Helen & Douglas House is truly inspirational. We are so very proud to be partners with Helen & Douglas House and to be able to highlight the wonderful work they do through an enjoyable event in support of such worthy causes. The generosity of many people has contributed to the success of this event and we extend our gratitude to everyone who has helped.”

Mary Boullin, Community Fundraiser from Helen & Douglas House said “Helen & Douglas House are incredibly grateful for the support of the Marist Schools. It is because of people such as the Marist Friends Association and everyone who attended the Spring Ball that we are able to continue caring for over 250 families every year”

ISA Drama competition

Congratulations are due to Olivia Gibbon of Hurst Lodge School, Ascot. Olivia is a Year 12 student who has been presented with the Margaret Milner-Williams Medal in the ISA Drama Festival Awards of 2009.

This award is presented to the Best Senior Girl in this nationwide competition. Olivia and other sixth formers performed “Playhouse Creatures” by April de Angelis. She played the part of Dol Common, as shown in the attached photograph.

Congratulations to Olivia and the other girls and boys from Hurst Lodge who participated in this competition. They all worked very hard in preparation for this event and the standard of performance was very high.

Padworth students inspired by field trip to coastal Pembrokeshire

A group of Sixth Formers from Padworth College have just returned from the Dale Fort Field Study Centre where they spent a week at the internationally renowned coastal ecology centre based in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

The students made the most of the superb opportunities offered by the Centre to investigate marine biology in a variety of coastal habitats and to study coastal processes, geological formations and ecosystems. Each day was spent outdoors in practical tasks such as surveying the shoreline, identifying and recording marine life followed up with analysis and project work back at the Centre in the evenings, supported by both their teachers and the scientific staff based at Dale Fort.

Amongst other excursions, the students took part in a plankton sampling trip where they ventured out into the open sea in a speedboat to collect plankton in nets to view under state-of-the-art microscopes linked to projectors and to discuss plankton’s role in the marine ecosystem. Much of the work undertaken fulfils the fieldwork requirements of the A Level Biology and Geography syllabus and will form the basis of the students’ coursework in the months to come.

Geography teacher, Dr. Alex Mitlehner said, “Field trips like this really bring a subject to life and give ecology students unrivalled access to a full range of specialized field equipment, expert tutors and well-equipped laboratories. Our students have really enjoyed all of the activities but the highlight of the week for many of them was the boat trip to Skomer Island which gave us a fascinating insight into the ecology and conservation management of this unique location and the chance to see many different species of seabirds, seals and porpoises.”

Padworth College is an independent co-educational day and boarding school offering a distinctive education to suit the individual needs of students aged 13 to 19. The College is situated in between Newbury and Reading.

Percy Parker’s Flying Fridge

Percy Parker was born five years ago when Andrew Holdsworth was asked by a science teacher at Hurst Lodge School to compose a song to help his pupils remember their physics formulae. Five volunteers from years 7 and 8 formed the “Percy Parker Band” and spent many hours in the school recording songs which are now sung daily by thousands of children at schools all over the UK and beyond.

“Percy Parker – The Musical” started life on a beach in Cyprus two summers ago with a fairly ridiculous plot about the time-travelling adventures of Mozart, Gandi and an angry duck called Reggie with Percy Parker in his flying fridge. The musical has been expanded to include fifteen scenes about history and science.

The first performance of part of the musical was seen at Hurst Lodge School last weekend. The children at the school played all of the characters and an audience of around 200 people enjoyed the performances.

It is planned to develop the musical and perform it in front of other audiences and at other venues.

Marist Girls Raise £448 for the Thames Valley Hospice

School girls have organised a special ‘Bag2School’ clothing collection to raise money for charity

Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, March 18, 2009: Two pupils at the Marist Preparatory School have organised an event with school friends to raise £448 for the Thames Valley Hospice.

Rianna Monteagudo and Olivia Waldron, both aged 10, heard about the ‘Bag2School’ initiative as an ideal way of supporting a local charity. They spoke to their Headteacher, Mrs Jenny Peachey about it, and then presented the idea to the rest of the school during an assembly. The girls showed an example ‘blue bag’ and explained to their school friends that if the bags were filled with clothes, soft toys, bedding and shoes, a donation could be made to a local charity. The girls made posters to put up around the school showing that the bags should be returned by Thursday 5 March.

On 5 March, Marist families and friends brought over 200 blue bags into the school which were filled with clothes and toys. Bag2School collected the bags on the same day, weighed them, and confirmed how much money the school had raised for the Thames Valley Hospice.

Headteacher, Mrs Jenny Peachey said “Rianna and Olivia have shown great initiative in organising an event which has raised money for a very worthwhile cause without asking for cash. With a dated and timed collection, it meant the initiative could be readily supported. The girls have done an excellent job. We look forward to welcoming a representative from the Thames Valley Hospice early next term to collect the donation and speak to the girls about the work the Hospice does.”

Photo:L to R, Olivia and Rianna with one of the posters they made and some of the blue bags collected on 5th March.

Marist School netball success

The Marist Senior School has yet again proven its sporting prowess in securing successive netball championship wins at school, regional and county levels.

The Marist School has a history of strong netball successes and the 2008/9 season is again proving to be an excellent one for the girls. On 24 February, the school’s U13 team won the Ascot Schools Championship having also secured a championship win last season in the U12 category.

District and regional wins have also been secured by the Marist U12s, U14s, U15s and U18 netball teams. Sophia Candappa, who captains the Marist U18 team, is a member of the England U21s and will compete at the European Netball Championship being held in Gibralta next week.

Marist School raises £1846.89 for the NSPCC

Marist School raises £1846.89 for the NSPCC in a ‘Number Day’ Challenge
Students pit their wits to raise money for charity

Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, February 9, 2009: The Marist Senior School has raised £1846.89 for the NSPCC’s Childline charity from sponsoring a maths challenge ‘Number Day’ which took place in December. Mrs Annabel Hill from the NSPCC visited the school today to collect the donation and to speak to students about the current work of the NSPCC during a special assembly.
The NSPCC runs a Number Day challenge for schools every two years. The Marist Senior School has been participating for quite a few years but this is the highest amount of money the school has ever raised for the charity which has delighted its students and teachers. 240 girls participated altogether in raising the donation.
During the challenge, students in years 7-10 worked in teams on maths puzzles and games. The Number Day ran in place of normal lessons with teams aiming to get as many questions right as possible in 50 minutes as their correct answers were sponsored. Puzzles covered all areas of the academic curriculum and included number, algebra and spatial topics. Basic number work and problem solving were included posing questions such as ‘The Tardis disappears at 9:00am Monday morning and reappears a million seconds later. On which day of the week does it reappear?’ Questions were graded for each age group including easy to more challenging questions which made the Number Day accessible for all students and provided a fun way to learn. The girls were sponsored by friends and family.

The work of the NSPCC is discussed during school assemblies and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) at the Marist enabling students to understand the charity and the essential support it provides for children at risk. This year, the collection was for ‘ChildLine’ part of the NSPCC charity the students and teachers were very keen to support.

Mrs Annabel Hill from the NSPCC said “The impact of the recession means that the NSPCC’s work relies on the kindness and generosity of supporters more than ever. The money raised by The Marist Senior School will help the NSPCC keep its vital services open, so we can reach as many children as possible in 2009, by being there for them when they desperately need help.”

Mrs Sheila Heard who is Head of Mathematics at the Marist Senior School said “Working with the NSPCC cements what the girls learn in PSHE lessons and enables them to extend their knowledge of the supportive charities that exist. We are very proud to support the NSPCC. The Marist Maths Department is always delighted to enable charitable giving and it supports the ways in which the NSPCC brings the subject to life for children. The girls enjoy competitions and a lot of maths takes place in a vibrant and engaging manner. The atmosphere in the classroom just buzzes and the girls not only learn about maths but teamwork and social responsibility as well.”

Photo: Olivia Chilton and Victoria Palmer, Marist students who helped raise the donation, with Mrs Annabel Hill (NSPCC) and Mrs Sheila Heard, Head of Mathematics at the Marist Senior School.

Marist U18 Netball team win Ascot Schools Championship

Marist Senior School Girls celebrate second year of success

Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, 24 September, 2008: The Marist Senior School U18 Netball Team has won the Ascot Senior Schools Championships. The team also won the event as U16’s last year.
The girls played exceptionally well and were unbeaten in all nine games against other schools during the tournament which took place on 18th September. The scores in each game were:

7-0 against The Abbey School
2-0 against Charters School A team
6-1 against Charters School B team
3-0 against Licensed Victuallers School
4-1 against Langley Grammar School
4-1 against St Mary’s School, Ascot
10-0 against Brigidine School, Windsor
6-3 against St George’s School, Ascot
2-0 against Gordon’s School

The school has a reputation for excellent netball with Years 7–9 and Year 11 teams all having won the Ascot Schools Netball Tournaments last year. Sophia Candappa, 16, is also a member of both the England Under 17 and Under 21 Netball squads.

Mrs Jen Bishopp, head of PE at the Marist Senior School said “the girls played exceptionally well and showed outstanding team work. The scores they achieved were all the more impressive given that each match was only 5 minutes long! I’m very proud of them to have won the tournament again. We look forward to defending the title next year.”

Playing in the Marist School team were:

Sophie Alder
Ruby Reynolds
Trisha Rocco
Maddie Gale
Emily Gale
Ece Bakici
Gabby Rowney
Kayla Spitzer
Sophia Candappa