Year 13 Enquiring into Elizabeth I
Year 13 enrichment trip to Westminster Abbey
On Friday 22nd November, Year 13 visited Westminster Abbey for a guided tour workshop as an introduction to their A Level study of the Elizabethan religious settlement. After an introduction to the history of Westminster Abbey and the significance of Coronation at Westminster Abbey, we were given a special guided tour. Using the Abbey itself as a historical source, the expert guides explored with us the early reign of Elizabeth I and the events of the religious settlement. The history was ‘brought to life’ as students retraced the footsteps that Elizabeth I herself took on her Coronation. The students found the trip extremely worthwhile in supporting their learning and were still talking about it on the train ride back to Hatfield. As Zoe P commented ‘I found out so much I didn’t know and it has inspired me to find out much more about Elizabeth’. What a great testament to the power of enrichment trips!
Active Citizenship Fast Fashion Project
Year 11 GCSE Citizenship students raise awareness of Fast Fashion!
On Friday 22nd November, our GCSE Active Citizenship group held a second-hand sale to help raise awareness of the impact of fast fashion socially and environmentally. Prior to the sale, we conducted a survey that helped us get an insight into the views of people in the school, regarding fast fashion. This survey not only provided us with important feedback on how aware our classmates were on fast fashion, but it also helped them build self awareness over the matter, and it was safe to say that we were delighted with the useful feedback- as we had got 154 responses, and counting! To raise awareness about our event, we used E-media by creating an Instagram page for people who go to Bishop’s where we regularly updated it with important fast fashion facts and statistics. In addition to this, we created a poster advertising the sale, that was given to all the forms in the school. We will still continue to update our Instagram page because although the project will be over, we still believe that it would be beneficial for people to still see the impacts of fast fashion. We were pleasantly shocked by the numbers of people who got involved with the second-hand sale, through both donating their clothes, and attending. We managed to raise money for charity and encourage second-hand shopping. It was a fantastic experience being able to see the students buying clothes and them having the satisfaction that they have helped make a change!
We would like to say a huge thank you to Ms Fautrero-Sayer and Mrs Jackson for helping us to organise the event, and to our buyers and sellers.
We are planning to hold more second-hand sales in the future.
By Flora, Gianna, Aimee and Ellouise. GCSE Citizenship Pupils
Y7 House Poetry Competition
Year 7 took part in a poetry performance competition to win points for their house.
The third annual Year 7 House Performance Poetry Competition took place on Friday 22nd November. In the run up to the competition girls had been auditioning in their English lessons and voting to choose the 2 finalists to represent their house. On Friday the 10 finalists performed their poems in front of a panel of judges, with the rest of Year 7 cheering them on.
All 10 girls put on a fantastic performance, and the judges had some very difficult decisions to make. After much deliberation, however, the 3 winners were chosen. In first place was Sophie Garwood in 7 Austen who performed her own poem ‘New Year’s Eve’. Second place went to Ruby Sanderson in 7 Seacole who recited ‘Sky in the Pie’ by Robert McGough and in third place was Abigail Lampard, also in 7 Seacole, who performed a poem called ‘Storytime’.
There were chocolates awarded to the winners, as well as 100 house points for first place, 50 points for second place and 25 points for third place. This meant that Austen were awarded 100 points, and Seacole won a total of 75 points. The remaining 7 finalists were also awarded 5 House Points each for getting through to the final stage of the competition.
Congratulations to all of our finalists, and also to Mr Kench who performed his own very dramatic reading of Jabberwocky!
Rotary Youth Speaks Success!
Two teams make it through to the next round of the Rotary Youth Speaks competition.
On Tuesday 19th November, our school entered six teams in to the Mid-Herts Rotary Youth Speaks competition. This competition aims to offer young people experience in speaking on a public platform as a member of a team. In their teams of three, the girls wrote speeches on topical subjects that interested them and presented these to their peers, an audience and a panel of Rotarian judges. Our teams and their topics were as follows:
Senior Teams:
‘We as a society should live forever.’ Chair person – Lily L Speaker 1 – Marta F Speaker 2 – Elena S
‘Single sex schools are more effective than co-educational schools.’ Chair person – Katie H Speaker 1 – Nelly C Speaker 2 – Gwen C
‘Humans are innately morally corrupt.’ Chair person – Aliyah N Speaker 1 – Ibukun O Speaker 2 – Fatimah A
Intermediate Teams:
‘Single sex schools provide pupils with better education’ Chair person – Safiya G Speaker 1 – Olivia R Speaker 2 – Lola MG
‘Animal testing should be banned internationally.’ Chair person – Daniella H Speaker 1 – Aliyeen A Speaker 2 – Jessica D
The girls all performed outstandingly and were praised by audience members and the Rotarians for their excellent oratory skills and the thought-provoking topics they chose to discuss. One team from each age category are now through to the next round of the competition.
Best of luck to the teams whose topics were ‘Single sex schools are more effective than co-educational schools’ and ‘Animal testing should be banned internationally’ who are through to the next round. We will keep you all updated on how they get on!
Ice Skating trip
Russian fun on the ice
On Monday 18th November, Mrs Johns and Mrs Redpath took us (Elona and Grace) ice skating at the Van Hague Garden Centre. At the beginning of the session, we were both holding on to the edge of the rink as we tried to ice skate round. However, by the end of the session, we were able to skate round on our own without holding on and we had a lot of fun.
We were taken ice skating because we attend Russian Club and one of the most popular sports in Russia is ice skating. We would both love to go again as we are now much more confident on the ice and proud of the progress we made in less than 1 hour.
Elona D
French conference on Coco Chanel
En français!
On Friday 15th November over 50 of our French students (Y10 & 11) attended a conference on Coco Chanel with our guest speaker: Saida Goutel. Most students commented on how pleasantly surprised they were at their ability to follow and understand the talk which was conducted entirely in French and lasted an hour. At the end of the conference, after concentrating so well on the language, the students were able to relax and enjoy a little taste of France as our guest speaker had kindly brought a selection of drinks, croissants, pains au chocolat and pains aux raisins. Finally the whole audience took part in a quiz and I am pleased to announce that Evelyn R, Rosina B and Fatimah A came first!They all received their prizes and were delighted.
Royal Academy Outreach life drawing workshop
The Royal Academy visit Bishop’s Art Department to run an intensive one day life drawing workshop for Year 10 Art students.
The Royal Academy’s Outreach Workshop Programme is centred on life drawing. These workshops for students encourage an approach to art based upon observation, instinct and exploration. The workshop explores what kind of language charcoal can create and how that might be applied to drawing the nude. Today, students took on this challenge without knowing where it might lead; from moment to moment they were amused, surprised and engaged. The day involves play, speculation as much as concentration. At the end of it all, the students are pretty much exhausted; a sure sign that they have been working with commitment and energy. Drawings have been made, looked at and discussed, and together students have enjoyed an experience which was educational and uniquely memorable.
Year 11 Bringing 19th Century Surgery to Life!
Year 11 History enrichment trip to the Old Operating Theatre and Imperial War Museum
On Thursday 14th November, to support their learning for the GCSE Medicine in Britain topic, Year 11 experienced what it was like to watch surgery in the 19th Century. Surgery without anaesthetic and antiseptic! The ‘operation’ was re-enacted by the staff at the Old Operating Theatre, the oldest operating theatre in Europe, and Year 11 student, Jean volunteered to act as the unfortunate patient!
After the patient had ‘recovered’, we then travelled from the Old Operating Theatre to the Imperial War Museum to look at medicine in the Western Front, which forms the basis for the contemporary source section of the GCSE Medicine topic.