Private School News

Grade 8 music success for ST SWITHUN’S SCHOOL pupil!

Daisy Gibbs, a pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester, has passed Grade 8 on both viola and piano with distinction in addition to gaining distinction in Grade 6 Theory. Not content with this, Daisy also entered a national music essay competition run by Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and was awarded a Commended Certificate.

To achieve all of this whilst also preparing for her AS level exams was tremendous effort by Daisy who, in her own words, had this to say “There are very few places where the music teachers use their free time to let pupils have umpteen extra lessons and rehearsals, and are always willing to talk to you when you begin to have serious second thoughts about what you’ve let yourself in for. St Swithun’s is definitely one of those places.”

The FARNBOROUGH HILL SCHOOL Challenge

Yesterday Farnborough Hill Sixth Formers Sophie Crisp and Anna Nicholas, both 17 from Farnham, organised a very special charity event in aid of local charity Disability Challengers. The Farnborough Hill Challenge was a sponsored event where participants walked, jogged or ran a distance of 5km in the school’s beautiful parkland. The whole school was off timetable for the afternoon so that everyone was able to join in the fun and take part. The participants were blessed with good weather and the atmosphere was tremendous. Everyone threw themselves into the spirit of the event, but perhaps the most notable participant was Lauren Dockerty, of Aldershot, a student in Year 9, who currently needs a wheelchair. She completed the course and Sophie said ‘Everyone was really supportive of Lauren and walked alongside her to the finish line.’

Disability Challengers is a local children’s charity passionate about delivering vital play and leisure opportunities to disabled children, young people and their families. Through their two full-time centres in Farnham and Guildford, and satellite schemes across the region, every year they give over 1000 children a place to be creative, make friends and challenge their impairments through play. The charity is close to Sophie and Anna’s hearts because they both used to volunteer there and Sophie now works for Disability Challengers on Saturdays and in the holidays.

At the time of going to press the money is still rolling in but we hope to raise a substantial amount for this very worthwhile cause. Anna herself has raised £1300 but we will wait to see whether she wins the individual prize awarded to the person gaining the most sponsorship money. The Headmistress has promised that the class raising the highest amount will be treated to a bouncy castle in school for a day.

Anna and Sophie loved organising the event, even though it was time consuming and hard work. Anna commented that it was tricky fitting in their AS level exams at the same time! Sophie said ‘it was a huge success and everyone seemed to have a lovely afternoon. So many people helped us out and we would like to thank them all very much.’

Photo: Lucy Sharma (Disability Challengers), Dee Andrews (Biology teacher who helped with the organisation), Anna Nicholas, Sophie Crisp, Jessica Klepacz (Disability Challengers) and Headmistress Sarah Buckle.

Sixth Form National Energy Initiative

Sixth Formers at Farnborough Hill feel passionately about raising awareness of global warming and climate change in the minds of young people, in order to encourage good ecological habits to help safeguard the future. As part of a Sixth Form ecological initiative, Charlotte Stidston, Hannah Sorrel, Hannah Thomas, Hannah Patel, Lillian Carr, Hannah Thrower and Grace McDougall, led by teacher in charge of Physics Gill Chapman, presented their idea of a Half Energy Day to climate experts and 500 students from all over the UK at the Student Earth Summit in the O2 arena last November. Their presentation began: ‘We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children’ and their proposal for a Half Energy Day (HED) for schools on 24 March 2010 was praised by the experts and applauded by the students. The girls believe that their scheme will work because it has clear goals, encourages measurement of energy and raises awareness of energy wasted. They believe that the HED initiative will also send parents and politicians a clear message from young people.

Following the enthusiastic reception of the HED idea, we decided to ‘go national’. The campaign to spread the word about National Half Energy Day (HED) was launched at Farnborough Hill on 3 February with the slogan ‘Use your HED to make a difference!’. The school website has been publicising the event with regular news updates, radio interviews have been given and support has been sought far and wide. An invitation to join Half Energy Day and an advertisement for a poster competition has been sent to 24,000 schools across the UK – we have had support from schools as far afield as Aberdeen! The event is also supported by ‘Weakest Link’ celebrity and Farnborough Hill old girl Anne Robinson and HRH Prince Edward. Prince Charles has been kind enough to send his congratulations and good luck wishes for the day.

Farnborough Hill Sixth Formers have visited 15 local primary schools to deliver their PowerPoint presentation, explaining the causes and effects of global warming and suggesting ways in which the children can halve their energy use. During these visits they have also handed out stickers and promoted the HED poster competition, the prize being an i-pod nano with solar battery charger!

On Wednesday 24 March Farnborough Hill students and staff aim to halve their computer and TV usage; turn the heating down and wear extra layers; share lifts, walk or use public transport to and from school; eat a sustainable, ‘energy efficient’ lunch. They will join with Footprint Friends – who aim to paint one million feet to raise awareness of our carbon footprint – by having a lunchtime foot painting session. We hope that Farnborough Hill’s original initiative for a Half Energy Day will be taken up by a huge number of schools nationwide and that next Wednesday we will bring the message to even more young people: ‘Our world is in your hands – together we can make a difference.’

Photo: Alex Hives, Hannah Thomas, Charlotte Stidston and Lillian Carr

EATING DISORDERS AWARENESS WEEK – 22nd – 26th February 2010

In 2007, aged just 14, Constance Barter was admitted to a specialist eating-disorders unit. During the seven months she remained there as an in-patient, she kept an extraordinarily honest and courageous diary, which has become Mealtimes and Milestones.

This mature account of a teenager’s struggle with anorexia nervosa sheds new light on what the illness means. Those closest to it know that it is not just about food and weight but that it strikes at the very heart of a person’s selfhood and their relationship with the world around them, often leaving them feeling helpless and alone.

In sharing her record of how she tackled this potentially life-threatening illness, Constance’s account should give comfort, not only to those who are suffering but also to their families. Above all, it provides a message of hope. She shows how she moved from a position of near hopelessness to a place in which hope was regained and then ultimately allowed to flourish.

The book has already attracted a great deal of interest with extracts being featured in The Mail on Sunday, The Guardian and Express newspapers. Constance has also been interviewed on local radio and television.

CONSTANCE BARTER

Constance Barter was born in 1993, she lives nr Alton in Hampshire and is a pupil at Lord Wandsworth College. In between schoolwork and studying for exams, she is a Young Ambassador volunteer for BEAT, the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders.

www.b-eat.co.uk

Sporting Schoolgirl of the Year

Talented Farnborough Hill student, Georgia Peel, has been named ‘Sporting Schoolgirl of the Year’ in the School Sport Magazine awards. This follows her award of the Michael May Cup for the single outstanding performance in 2008/9 by the Hampshire Schools’ Sports Federation.

Georgia’s achievement was to win the English Schools’ Athletics Association national 1500m title for Intermediate girls. What was remarkable about her achievement was that she smashed a 30 year old record by running the race in a time of 4 minutes 16.24 seconds, beating the record by almost 8 seconds. Georgia’s time represents a phenomenal 2 seconds a lap improvement on a record that has stood the test of time from famous athletes who have gone on to win medals many times on the World stage. All of this from an athlete who is still young for her age group in the competition and so has the chance to improve again on her record next season.

The Hampshire Schools’ Sports Federation write ‘This is quite an outstanding achievement, probably the best performance by any young athlete last season across the whole nation.’ Phil Tusler, publishing editor of School Sport Magazine said: “This has been a remarkable year for competitive sport in schools and the awards are a celebration of that. We had hundreds of nominations this year and deciding the winners has been a difficult but very rewarding endeavour. Georgia is a real talent for the future.” Sarah Buckle, Headmistress of Farnborough Hill, says ‘We are incredibly proud of Georgia’s achievements. She is immensely talented but also extremely modest. She trains very hard and the whole school cheered when her award was announced in Assembly this morning. Georgia is at present in Qatar having been selected to run in the ISF World School Athletics Championships. This is a great opportunity for Georgia and the whole school wish her well.’

LORD WANDSWORTH STUDENTS TRIUMPH IN MATHS CHALLENGE

Earlier this month, 21 schools from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight competed in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust regional team challenge. The event took place at the “Intech” science centre near Winchester. This was an event for 6th form mathematicians. Students took part in three different rounds of questions, including a “cross number” round where two of the team had the across clues, and two had the down clues, and they had to piece the answers together.

The event was won by the team from Lord Wandsworth College, whose members were Leonie Field, Kenneth Yang, Max Thomas and Joshua Pashley. The team will go on to compete in the National Final in London on 3rd February 2010, with prizes presented by Marcus du Sautoy.

Stunning New Facilities

Girls at Farnborough Hill are looking forward to pushing creative boundaries even further following the completion of the St Anne’s Art and Design Technology Centre. The building was blessed and officially opened by the Bishop of Portsmouth, The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis, in a ceremony attended by students, staff and guests.

The Grade 1 listed building has been extended and enhanced to provide a Design and Technology workshop, three art studios, a graphic design suite and dedicated 6th Form studios. The wide range of resources in both departments allow pupils to become involved in painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, glass, graphic design, photography, fashion, animation, computer generated imagery, woodwork, plastics and metalwork. The beautiful building, built in 1860, was formerly the laundry, stable block and coach house of the Empress Eugenie and has been sympathetically restored, with many of the features retained and highlighted.

Design and Technology began in its infancy at Farnborough Hill in the early 90s – back then a bold and forward-thinking move for a girls’ independent school to introduce a subject traditionally associated with boys’ education. The girls instantly took to the subject, and immediately disproved the myth that it was not a subject for girls!

Results at the school have often been outstanding in both art and design & technology, for instance: in 2005 Charlotte Hull, was one of the top 10 students nationally for A level Design and Technology: resistant materials. At the same time she also became the regional finalist for the Audi Young Designer of the year award, being 1 of 17 students to attend the national final in Newcastle. Part of her prize included an all expenses paid trip to the Audi headquarters, in Germany, where we understand the highlight of the trip was getting to drive an Audi TT around the track! Last year Naomi-Rose Alexander was one of the students achieving the top ten marks in the country for GCSE art and design.
This year, Corinne Stuart, a GCSE D & T student, applied for the Arkwright Scholarship, which supports A-Level students wishing to follow a career in Engineering. The D & T department became affiliated to the Arkwright Scholarship program, proving Farnborough Hill’s commitment as a school to Engineering as a future career. Corrine attended a rigorous day long interview programme and sat an exam. Her strength as a future engineer shone through and she was fortunate to be chosen from over 400 applicants to be one of their scholars.

Mrs Emma Matthews, Head of Design and Technology, says ‘Staff and students value the changes made to St Anne’s greatly. Each and every one of our girls from Year 7 upwards, achieves great things when she is able to create, develop and realise a product of her own design in such well-equipped and inspiring surroundings.’

Photo:(l to r): Headmistress, Mrs Sarah Buckle, Bishop Crispian and Chair of Governors, Mr Michael Maher

Local boy wins Award

Lord Wandsworth College pupil, George Sandford, has received the Robbie Keast Award for his outstanding contribution to the Hampshire Schools U16 Rugby team.
England British Lions winger Ugo Monye , a former pupil of the college, presented the trophy to George in front of an audience including Gary Keast, father of Robbie Keast, and Ian Kerr OBE, chairman of the Hampshire Schools RFU and History teacher at the College.
16 year old George who lives in Hook, was commended by the county coaches for his contribution on and off the pitch. He was described as one of the most encouraging captains the coaches had ever met.
‘I am really proud to have won the award,’ said George.’ To have been chosen from a squad which had 15 players make divisional trial standard and better is a great honour.’

Rotary Annual Conference – Jersey

This weekend the Farnborough Hill public speaking team and their coach, Mrs Lori Winch-Johnson, were delighted to be invited to join Rotary International District 1250 at their 28th Annual Conference in Jersey. The girls were participating as the Youth Speaks Senior Schools winners of 2008-9. The conference programme promised the delegates
‘Chairperson: Joanna Belcher, Speaker: Tegwen Gabb, and Proposer of vote of thanks: Elizabeth Nash will charm and excite you with their enthusiastic and eloquent way of speaking.’ The girls did not disappoint. In fact, Chairman, Jo Belcher, chaired an entire plenary session entitled ‘Youth Opportunities, the Future of Rotary’. One delegate said ‘Jo did an incredibly good job of chairing the session and did Farnborough Hill proud.’

Tegwen’s speech was entitled ‘The Future of Rotary is in the Hands of the Young.’ She began by saying how daunting she found this idea to be – the thought that her generation were being entrusted with so many responsibilities, and being asked solve many of the world’s problems. However upon reflection she decided that William Wordsworth’s ‘The child is father of the man’ was a better interpretation, suggesting that the experiences of our childhood and youth are important because they serve to guide us in the future. Tegwen believes that Rotarians influence the lives of teenagers in ways no-one will ever expect and that the experiences which Rotary International offers will change them, the way they view themselves, and even the world around them. Tegwen’s speech was extremely well received. Elizabeth Nash, fellow-student, said ‘Tegwen’s amazing speech, for which she did not use her notes once, blew the audience away and her response to the question posed to her was concise and intelligent. Our final presentation as a team went without a hitch and we couldn’t have been happier.’

The team and Mrs Winch-Johnson were able to sample the delights of Jersey and the conference during the weekend. They attended the conference barn dance, enjoyed the hotel spa and had a delicious cream tea at the Grand Hotel. Mrs Winch-Johnson added ‘I am so proud of Tegwen, Joanna and Elizabeth. They have always given of their best and performed exceptionally well. I am delighted that the Rotarians honoured them with this invitation to address the conference and to show how talented they are. As a school, Farnborough Hill enjoys the association with the Rotary and taking part in the Youth Speaks competitions and I am really looking forward to this year’s competitions with new teams.’

Picture(l to r): Tegwen Gabb, Joanna Belcher and Elizabeth Nash

Record–Breaking Year for Farnborough Hill Girls

Shrieks of delight were the order of the day at Farnborough Hill on GCSE results day. Students were jumping for joy when they opened their results to find strings of As and A*s. In a record year for Farnborough Hill a total of 27 girls (nearly one third of the year group) gained straight A/A*s in all their subjects with 63% of all results being at these grades. Parents and staff alike were beaming with pride at the girls’ achievements. Particularly thrilled were Elizabeth Edwards, Veena Srirangam Nadhamuni and Hannah Thrower who all gained straight A*s. 100% of students gained 5 or more A*-C.

The 17 candidates in Year 10 sitting their English GCSE a year early as part of our extension programme for the gifted and talented achieved 100% A*/A grades.

Headmistress, Mrs Sarah Buckle, said ‘We are thrilled that a record number of girls have achieved straight A/A*s. All the girls have done extremely well and been justly rewarded for their hard work. I am so proud of the girls, as well as the wonderful teaching staff who are so dedicated. The girls can now look forward to their A level studies with great confidence.’

Mrs Caroline Appleton, mother of Annie, who scooped 3A*s, 6As and a B, says ‘the girls have been lucky enough to experience a wonderful, caring and fun environment at Farnborough Hill and Annie has flourished beyond our wildest expectations.’

Achieving their goals

Tears of joy were the order of the day as Farnborough Hill girls opened their A level results. The hard working students were delighted to have achieved their goals and are looking forward to university life. The results were outstanding: 84% of the grades achieved were A or B grades with 93% of all grades at C or above. Bucking the trend for girls, nearly three quarters of the year group took Maths and/or Sciences and these results were particularly strong with nearly 90% of grades at A or B.

Among the top achievers were 10 girls with straight A grades, including (pictured with Head of Science, Sue Macey, l to r): Jenny Orchard (Economics at Warwick University), Laura Amatt (History at Royal Holloway), Caroline Haines (Music (Composition) at The Royal Northern College of Music), Sue Macey, Joanna Belcher (Medicine at University College London), Sarah Wonham (Archaeology & Ancient History at St John’s College, Oxford), Hannah Dennis (Veterinary Science at The Royal Veterinary College) and Marina Daoud (Dentistry at King’s College, London). Also going to Cambridge this year are Vinaya Srirangam Nadhamuni, (Medicine at Girton College) and Rebecca Overton (Latin and Greek at Selwyn College).

Headmistress, Mrs Sarah Buckle said “We are delighted with this set of outstanding results. The girls have not only worked very hard but they have been a credit to the school in so many other ways too, not least raising large sums of money for charity during their Upper Sixth RAG week. Credit must also go to the dedicated and talented teaching staff at Farnborough Hill who always go the extra mile to inspire and support their students”.

Most Outstanding New Teacher

Farnborough Hill teacher Lizzie Goddard, 27, has won the award for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year (South region). She will now go through to the national finals in October. As she collected her ‘Plato’ Trophy, she was cheered by a large audience including pupils, parents and colleagues at the Winchester Guildhall yesterday, in an event hosted by BBC presenter Sally Taylor. The Teaching Awards celebrate excellence in education and sharing expertise. The founder of the Teaching Awards Trust, Lord Puttnam CBE believes that “the work of teachers has unique outcomes for the health, wealth and welfare of every single person in this country. As a nation we should be fantastically proud of them.”

Educated at Kendrick School, Reading, and Christ Church College, Oxford, Lizzie has always had a passion for her subject, geography. As she says, “In the modern world, issues like global warming, third world development, water scarcity and diminishing energy resources are at the forefront of the political agenda, which means that geography really is a most important subject.”

Members of the Farnborough Hill community were not at all surprised that she had won. She is known as an innovative and inspirational teacher, who delights in her students’ achievements. Elizabeth wants every pupil to share her passion for geography. Those who have observed or participated in her lessons described them as “superb”. She knows all her students’ strengths and needs very well, and she communicates this to them so they feel relaxed and confident in her classroom. Gabby King, the Year 10 pupil who nominated Elizabeth, said: “Miss Goddard has a talent for involving every member of the class in the process of learning. She makes learning fun and goals achievable with her enthusiasm.” Other teachers often ask to observe her lessons to get new and original ideas for their own teaching. Parents think she is wonderful, and their daughters hold her in high esteem and as a role model.

Elizabeth always leads by example and has led inset training for colleagues on gifted and talented strategies. She organises many events for the students in her role as Gifted & Talented Coordinator, including lunchtime talks. Guest speakers have included an Olympic medalist, an opera singer and a disabled mountaineer.

She contributes willingly to activities beyond the classroom, such as running the school’s Eco-group, which meets every week. This has introduced recycling and energy saving initiatives to the school. She also helps with PE, where swimming is her specialty and is a member of the school’s Diocesan working group, although she a non-Catholic herself. She epitomises the Farnborough Hill’s ethos of ‘Educating the whole person’.

Elizabeth is described as the “consummate professional”. As Farnborough Hill’s Head, Sarah Buckle, says “Lizzie has immersed herself into our school community since day one. She is incredibly generous with her time and is a huge asset to the school. Pupils and colleagues alike value her dynamic contribution to school life both inside and outside of the classroom. She is a marvellous role model and her pupils say they just love her!”

Looking to the future her colleagues know that she will undoubtedly rise to the top of the teaching profession. For the time being though she would like to involve herself in developing the Geography curriculum and new, exciting methods of teaching. She never wants to lose contact with youngsters – “I feel that my greatest skill is motivating young people.”

Picture: Lizzie Goddard with her ‘Plato’

Winners Announced for the NCEM Composers Award 2009

A new national award working in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and The Tallis Scholars

The prestigious NCEM Composers Award 2009, presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and The Tallis Scholars, has been won by 16-year-old Elizabeth Edwards and 23-year-old Michael Perrett. Elizabeth is a student at Farnborough Hill.

The winners were announced at a special finalists’ concert at the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) in York, where all six short-listed pieces were performed by the York-based Ebor Singers. The competition was judged by Peter Phillips, Director of The Tallis Scholars, Chris Wines, Senior Music Producer with BBC Radio 3 and Delma Tomlin, Director of the NCEM.

The competition received entries from up and down the country, with the youngest aged 11 years old. The winning pieces written for four-part a cappella (unaccompanied) choir will be premiered by the internationally renowned Tallis Scholars at the opening concert of the York Early Music Festival on Friday 10 July in York Minster. Highlights of the concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Saturday 25 July 2009.

There were two age categories in this competition – under 18 years, and 19 to 25 years – and the six short-listed candidates had the opportunity to work with the Ebor Singers and the composer Christopher Fox prior to the finalists’ concert.

Elizabeth Edwards, from Frimley, was the youngest participant in the shortlist. She attends Farnborough Hill and is currently sitting GCSE examinations. She is part of the Colourstrings Saturday Music School in South London, where she learns cello with Miguel Calvo and piano with Shay Loya.

GHANIAN DRUMS LAUNCH NEW PROJECT AT LWC

An inspiring Ghanaian drumming workshop led by Abass Nii Dodoo helped to launch Lord Wandsworth College’s partnership with a Ghanaian school.

Working under the guidance of Sabretrust charity, the project will see pupils and staff developing links with a school in Ghana. In the summer of 2011, a group from LWC will spend three weeks in Ghana working with the school and the local community.

Project leader Dave Machin said, ‘This exciting project will give pupils a chance to learn a great deal about life in Ghana. The drum workshop was excellent and Abass also gave an inspiring twist to morning assembly.’

The school held a Mufti Day to raise money that will be used for a specific task in Ghana in 2011.

ORGAN SCHOLAR

Talented teenager Alice Salmon, a Sixth Form Music Scholar at Farnborough Hill, has just secured an organ scholarship at St Michael’s Church Sandhurst. Alice, 16, says, ‘This is a really good opportunity. I’m looking forward to it and it will be great experience for me.’

Alice has been playing the organ for less than 18 months. When she started in September 2007, she was already an accomplished pianist. She has recently achieved a distinction in Grade 7 Piano and hopes to sit Grade 7 Organ later this year. Alice fits her extensive musical activities around her studies for AS levels in Music, History, English and Religious Studies, and an active social life. Her ambition is to gain an organ scholarship at Cambridge University.

St Michael’s Church learned of Alice’s talent from Farnborough Hill Director of Music, Karen Phillips. Their regular organist has gone on sabbatical until October 2009. Alice will be paid for her work, although she says, ‘We haven’t discussed that yet!’ St Michael’s have a substantial choir and Alice’s services will be required on Thursday evenings for rehearsal, Sundays at the 9.30 Morning Service and monthly for Evensong.

Staff, students and visitors to Farnborough Hill have the privilege of hearing Alice play the organ frequently. As Alice says ‘I love playing the organ because it’s great being able to make so much noise! I enjoy it so much that I spend a vast amount of my free time in the organ loft of the school chapel practising.’ Alice also accompanies the senior school choirs, the orchestra and various other music groups in school and will be travelling to Tuscany in July as the accompanist for Farnborough Hill’s concert tour in Italy. When not playing the organ or piano, Alice is happy playing the clarinet in the school swing band!

CALENDAR SUPPORTS HOSPICE

Two teachers at Farnborough Hill, Gill Chapman and Lin Walker, have produced a calendar for 2009 featuring views of the beautiful school throughout the seasons. The past year has been one of great sadness for the school community, as two colleagues lost their battle against cancer: Fahrat Soakell and Jackie Ison. The Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham looked after both teachers, helping them to end their days with dignity. Gill and Lin wanted to raise money as a way of showing the school’s appreciation for the work done by the hospice and the idea of a calendar was born.

The photographs in the calendar were all taken by staff and the painting is by the Head of Art, Rosie Byrne. The project was a bigger hit than anyone had dreamt, with current students, parents, staff and old girls, buying 700 copies which raised over £2500 for the hospice. Gill Chapman says ‘I am delighted that the calendar was so well received. The result of our hard work is really beautiful and we are very pleased with it, particularly as it is raising so much money for such a good cause.’

FARNBOROUGH HILL’S SPORTING STAR

Alex Danson, a member of the Team GB hockey squad at the Beijing Olympics came to Farnborough Hill to talk to students today. Alex is an Old Girl of the school, having left after her A level studies in 2003. Her talk to a capacity audience was inspirational, appealing not only to sporting enthusiasts but to anyone wanting to achieve their dream in any field. Alex described her time in Beijing as ‘the most incredible time of my life, my biggest dream was to reach the Olympic Games.’

A former BBC Young Sports Person of the Year nominee, Alex is now 23 and has been playing hockey for 17 years, having started in the back garden of her home. She said that it was while at Farnborough Hill, in Year 8, that she was encouraged to join a hockey club and further her ambition. She described Farnborough Hill as ‘a brilliant school where I had all the support I needed.’

At 16, she was one of the youngest ever England internationals, making her debut against Germany in October 2001. She now has 106 caps for England & Great Britain to her name. Her GB debut came in January 2007 in the 2 – 1 win over South Africa in Stellenbosch. Alex has Bronze Medals from the 2006 Commonwealth Games and two European Cups, including last summer in Manchester when she was part of the England squad that secured Olympic qualification. She was also a member of the winning team at the 2002 Champions Challenge and 2005 KT Cup.

Alex impressed on the girls that if you have a passion, there are no limits to what you can achieve if you give your all. She admitted that she has had incredible opportunities but that in order to make the most of those opportunities she had to believe that she could achieve, and she had to be totally committed. Alex lives to play hockey and has to make difficult decisions, often missing out on social events, in order to be at the peak of her performance. Always at the back of her mind is ‘will this action make me a better player’. She suggested setting small goals, saying ‘if you don’t grasp opportunities you can’t expect to be really successful: small things can make a huge difference’. Alex said that there had been setbacks, times when things had gone wrong, but these are character-building and define you as a person. Alex’s personal motto is ‘leave no stone unturned’. She believes in living without having regrets.

Asked why she has chosen to compete at the highest level, she said ‘I love the game with a passion, have real ambition and love winning medals!’ However she thinks that what makes her job so special is being a member of a team: ‘I play because of the people around me.’ She warned against feeding your own ego and pointed out that this is not what makes a good team player. Alex completed her talk by showing the Farnborough Hill girls a fascinating behind-the-scenes video of the Beijing games.

Picture: Alex Danson with the Barbados Tour team at Farnborough Hill

Dance Competition Gets Full Marks at Lord Wandsworth College

The most recent student initiative at Lord Wandsworth College was a resounding success, the sixth form concur. A student inspired and student-run dance competition for all years was met with enthusiasm and a full house at the local secondary school and Sixth Form College. Dubbed as “a night to remember”, audience members and contestants alike enjoyed the evening.

Members of the React Dance Co. – an extra-curricular dance group – decided to organise a competition with the goal of both advertising a lesser known sport and raising money for this year’s school charity: the Fred Hollows Foundation. Jenny Douglas and Tara Gillespie, both lower sixth formers, are members of the React Dance Co.: “It began as a way to perform the dances being taught to us”, says Tara, who was responsible for the bulk of the organization of the evening. It ended up as both a charitable endeavour, and a manner of making dance “a more noticed part of LWC life.” Jenny, who had first suggested the idea, hopes “that next year it might even become part of the Inter-House Superleague!”

It seemed that the pursuit was not all about the girls’ talents however: the evening allowed the male population of the school to stretch their dancing legs. The judges (two teachers and Head Girl, Phoebe Raley) chose a group of Sutton boys as their winners, with their rendition of Singin’ in the Rain. Second place went to a group of girls who danced to Right Round, and a great duet from two fifth form boys extolling the powerful use of masks came in at third place.

The money that was raised (in excess of £400) will go towards giving underprivileged people their sight back in Nepal, thanks to the cataract operations that are offered by the Fred Hollows Foundation workers. A group of fifteen students will be visiting Nepal next month to undertake a 17 day hike to Everest Base Camp. They will also be taking part in a community action project in one of the local villages on the way. The charitable emphasis on one of the school’s many foreign experiences has added to it a new dimension: the participants hope to truly make a difference in the country they visit.

VOICE OF AN ANGEL

Farnborough Hill is delighted to announce that Year 11 student Jessica Mabin, from Fleet, has been selected to join the National Youth Training Choir. This is part of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (NYCGB) which is the finest youth choir in the country. Candidates are selected by audition throughout the UK.

Covering the age group 13 – 18, the National Youth Training Choirs achieve extremely high standards of musicianship and excellence in performance. For some young singers membership of one of the Training Choirs is a stepping stone into the National Youth Choir and even a singing career, for others it is a wonderful experience of the enjoyment and satisfaction of singing while still at school. Jessica will have singing lessons and attend training courses, the first of which takes place in Banbury in April.

In the meantime, Jessica will be performing with the South Hill Park Opera Company in ‘The Magic Flute’ by Mozart. She and her sisters are the three geniis. Jessica will also be singing in the Farnborough Hill Choral Concert on Saturday 9 May and going on tour with Farnborough Hill Senior Choir to Tuscany in July.

FARNBOROUGH HILL BUCKS NATIONAL TREND IN SCIENCES

Farnborough Hill aspires to academic excellence and to giving pupils a sense of fun and enjoyment in their learning. Evidence of the success of this strategy was seen in the GCSE results for Year 10 candidates in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. All the Year 10 students sat three written unit examination papers in June. Eleven girls scored maximum points (100) on all three papers, while 40% of the year group scored the maximum 100 on at least one unit. Mrs Susan Macey, Head of Science, commented ‘the students really enjoy the science subjects and they worked very hard to achieve this excellent set of results’.

Farnborough Hill girls are challenging recent reports that students are opting to study easier subjects and moving away from rigorous subjects such as the three sciences and languages. Students at the school study all three sciences to GCSE level and the sciences remain a popular choice at A level, leading the girls to study medicine, dentistry and veterinary science as well as natural sciences at university. In fact more than half the current Sixth Form are studying at least one science or mathematics for A level.

Further proof of the school’s success in the sciences came with Hannah Shelley and Vinaya Srirangam Nadhamuni being ranked among the top ten in the country for Biology and Mathematics respectively at AS level.

Picture: Farnborough Hill Year 10 science students jump for joy having achieved maximum marks in their GCSE papers