Private School News

Howell’s School Denbigh celebrate exceptional A Level and AS Level results

Students and staff at Howell’s School have celebrated a truly exceptional set of A Level and AS results this year. The pass rate at A level was 100% with over 60% at the top grades of A* and A.

One student, Megan Moore, achieved an astonishing five A* grades to confirm her place at Cambridge while Tsemaye Bob-Egbe, Sophia Barros-Curtis, Holly Thomas, Lan Luo and Michelle Ma achieved all of their grades at A or above.
Megan was photographed (right) here at the end of term when the Upper Sixth students dressed up to show their future career paths.

Exceptional results were gained in Mathematics and Further Maths and Geography, History and Religious Studies.
The Principal, Mr Bernie Routledge, said that the results reflected the fantastic ability and also the hard work that the girls had put into their studies, and he was absolutely delighted that the dedication of students and staff had been rewarded with such a wonderful set of results.

Gliding Competition

Caitlin Fullerton-Jones, Sarah Giles, Francesca Bradley and Georgina Clarke (Year 9 pupils) represented Howell’s School at the ‘Flying Start’ Challenge organised by Careers Wales.

The two day event took place at Airbus UK in Broughton in March 2010.

The girls learnt about the principles of flight, project planning, material and structures, before going onto design and build a glider. The finished project was then judged on technical understanding, innovation and build quality, as well as the distance and duration of the flight achieved. Certainly a challenging and stimulating event which helped the girls to build on and extend the knowledge and skills that they are already acquiring in their Year 9 science lessons.

Howell’s School, Denbigh, Awarded Top UK Rankings by Independent School Review

Howell’s School is delighted to confirm it’s current position in the Top 3 UK rankings for Sixth Form, Girls Schools, Boarding Schools and Preparatory Schools. Out of hundreds of other UK independent schools, Howell’s achieved this superb rating based on independent feedback provided during 2009/10 on 8 key elements within schools. The overall scores place Howell’s as one of the top 3 independent schools across the whole of the UK. The following areas were reviewed; Academic, Value, Atmosphere, Facilities, Sports, Staff, Discipline, and Pastoral.

The rankings are detailed below, and for more information please visit www.independentschools.com

No.1 UK Sixth Form (from a population of 615 UK schools)
No.2 UK Girl’s School (from a population of 275 UK schools)
No.2 UK Boarding School (from a population of 580 UK schools)
No.3 UK Preparatory School (from a population of 844 UK schools)

As spokesperson for the school commented ‘This is an absolutely fantastic achievement for Howell’s – and particularly pleasing as rankings are based on independent review. We have always believed we offer something very special at Howell’s from Preparatory through to Sixth Form, and to have this confirmed by an independent review body is something everyone associated with the school should be very proud of’.

To add to this achievement, Howell’s is also celebrating Sixth Form student Helen Li’s A level Mathematics success. Helen was recently awarded the highest score possible in A level Mathematics for Summer 2009. The UK examining board WJEC contacted the school to advise that pupil Helen had gained a perfect score of 600 UMS points and was top UK student. Helen is now studying at London School of Economics.

Success with the Howell’s Equestrian Team – winning at Gadlas Inter Schools Show Jumping Competition.

The annual Gadlas Inter-Schools Challenge, held at Southview Arena in Cheshire, saw the ‘Howell’s Horrors’ taking first place in the hotly contested 2’3″ class. The team consisting of Georgina Clark (riding Sinva), Abigail Bevan (Cyril) and Charlotte Rowlands (Wilma), beat 11 other teams from schools in Cheshire, Shropshire and Wales, to take first place on a remarkable score of zero jumping penalties. Howell’s Hoppers (Lucinda Harris, Nicole Evans, Alexa Rowlands and Robyn Cannell) were 5th in the same class, narrowly missing out on the prizes.

The 2’9″ class was contested by an amazing 24 teams and the Howell’s Hooligans missed 4th place by a few time penalties, with only one fence down between them. Well done, Beatrice Jones, Natalie and Stephanie Hughes and Naomi Adey-Jones! The Howell’s Heroes (Hanni Frankland, Francesca Bradley, Katie Kent and Megan G Jones) also finished 8th with onlty2 fences down in a very close and exciting competition.

It was a great day, with fantastic team spirit and great performances for all. Well done to all horses, ponies and riders!

The Great Balloon Race

Following the release of balloons for the The Great Balloon Race on Howell’s School birthday party on May 11th, reports have been coming in from Holland and Ireland of balloons tickets being found there.

There is a prize for the balloon which travels the furthest.

Flt Lt Kate Simmonds from RAF Shawbury visits Howell’s School

Howell’s was visited by Flt Lt Kate Simmonds, a helicopter flying instructor from RAF Shawbury recently. Kate has held the rank of Capt in the Army, where she was also a helicopter instructor. She provided the girls with a fascinating insight into her career to date, including mountaineering in the Himalayas, and ski instructing in the Alps for the Army during the winter season.

Every pupil was able to sit at the controls of the Squirrel training helicopter and individually explained how the helicopter flew.

Salter’s Chemistry Competition success for Howell’s girls.

Four Year 8 pupils recently attended the Salter’s Chemistry Competition at Bangor University, one of 15 North Wales schools competing for the prestigious title.

The pupils are judged by not only their ability to do the experiments, but also their Chemistry knowledge, teamwork and efficiency.

Rhian Beesley, Francesca Bradley, Sarah Stewart and Caitlin Jones- Fullerton were thrilled to come first, and take the title as winners. Interestingly, Howell’s was the only all girls school in the competition.

Howell’s News

Open Day February 27th 11am – 3pm – come and see the school in a normal school day and meet the staff and pupils

Howell’s School Debating Team get through to the semi finals of the Rotary Debating Challenge (see photo of Megan Moore, Holly Thomas and Tsemaye Bob-Egbe (Lower Sixth) won the second round of the public speaking competition on Friday 6th February).

Howell’s has the X factor – it’s official – X Factor finalist Daniel Evans visited Howell’s School recently – to use the professional recoding studio facility st the school. He kindly spent time meeting several pupils and chatted with them about his experience on the X Factor.

Howell’s pupils are to be treated to a visit from Flt Lt Kate Simmonds on Thursday 12th February. Kate, a helicopter instructor with the Army and more recently with the RAF based at RAF Shawbury, will be flying in to school in a ‘Squirrel’ (a basic training helicopter) with a colleague to present to the students the variety of options of careers in the Armed Forces.

Howell’s School receives award – Best Schools UK have awarded two Gold Stars to Howell’s School for their Academic Results and Value for Money (2nd best independent girls school in UK). Head Rachael Hodgson was recently presented with the award.