Choir gives stunning performance at St Albans Cathedral

Bishop’s Choir have spent all term busily preparing for the Willow Carol Concert which was held on 2nd December in the beautiful St Albans Cathedral. We all felt very proud to be continuing on what has been a very long-standing relationship between BHGS and the local charity The Willow Foundation.

This particular charity is the only national charity working with seriously ill young adults aged 16 to 40 to fulfil uplifting and unforgettable Special Days. These Special Days enable them and their families to reconnect and refocus on each other while enjoying an activity of their choosing. Willow was founded by former Arsenal goalkeeper and TV presenter, Bob Wilson and his wife Megs, as a lasting memorial to their daughter, Anna, who died of cancer aged 31. Anna’s love of life and the enriching experiences of her own Special Days were the charity’s inspiration. Our school has a special connection to the Willow Foundation as Anna Wilson was a former pupil of Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School.

On the day of the concert, after a series of rehearsals at school, our sixty-strong Choir travelled to the cathedral for our dress rehearsal in the venue, getting used to its gorgeous acoustics, and then awaited the performance with excitement. The students performed three songs, All on a Silent Night by Becki Slagle Mayo, May it Be by Eithne Ni Bhraonain, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan and a fast energetic medley of Christmas carols: Christmas Songs of Joy, by Joseph M. Martin. We were also particularly excited to, this year, be performing a joint item with Hertfordshire Chorus, under the direction of David Temple. We performed the traditional carol, Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day. It was extremely inspiring to perform with such an accomplished and well respected ensemble, and we felt very lucky to be part of such a collaboration. The students sang their hearts out and gave a stunning performance of which they should be rightly proud. All of their hard work really paid off in the performance, and it has been fabulous to hear so much wonderful feedback about how impressed the audience were with the choir’s beautiful singing.

The amazing Herts Chorus also sung other multiple carols throughout the service. This was a real privilege for us all to hear, and we look forward with anticipation to working again with them next year and taking part in this wonderful annual event which helps to raise lots of money to help such a worthy cause.

Year 12 biologists help students from St Philip Howard Primary School explore the Science of Christmas with a trio of activities

Year 6 scientists from St Philip Howard Primary School enjoyed science activities related to Christmas on Tuesday 17th December. Students enjoyed building circuits and set up both parallel and series circuits to see the advantages of parallel circuits when it comes to fairy lights on the Christmas tree. Another activity explored the sugar and fat content of various Christmas foods including ginger bread and chocolate. Students were surprised how much fat was present in the ginger bread! The final activity involved making fake snow and using it to make a fun snow scene. All students enjoyed interpreting the results of each activity and using apparatus and chemicals they would not normally encounter. The year 12 biologists led all the activities and demonstrated a great deal of responsibility, a wonderful example of developing the Bishops 360 character.

Senior Maths Challenge results!

On October 1st, 31 of our A Level students took part in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge, a national competition. The students are only allowed a pencil and a blank piece of paper and have 90 minutes to complete as many questions as possible; taking into account that they will lose a mark for any incorrectly answered questions!

Can you work out the answer to this question from the challenge?

 

We were delighted to hear that we had some great successes in the challenge. As a school, we had 9 students achieving a bronze certificate, 4 achieving a silver certificate and four achieving a gold certificate: Ruby C (Y13), Amber S (Y13), Genna Y (Y12) and Jessica D (Y12). Congratulations to all of the students!

The students awarded the gold certificates qualified for the next round of the challenge, the Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo. This was held on November 20th. The Senior Kangaroo was a 60 minute test and unlike the challenge was not multiple choice. All four of the students have received a Certificate for Participation and should be congratulated on getting through to this difficult mathematical test!

Can you work out the answer to this question from the Senior Kangaroo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of our younger year groups will be entered into the UKMT Junior Mathematics Challenge and Intermediate Mathematics Challenge this academic year. We are hoping for similar success!

Year 9 students use their chemistry knowledge to add crystals to their Christmas decorations.

Year 9 chemistry students designed Christmas ornaments and used saturated salt solutions to give their ornaments a wintery look. This technique is great fun and can be performed at home. This crystallisation technique not only provides a great decorative look but also illustrates how components of a mixture can be separated. An easy technique to follow can be found at https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/terrific-scientific/articles/z47t47h.

The Christmas spirit was all around in Science, as our talented Science Technicians infused their creativity into making science fun and festive for all students, with a delightful “Chemist-Tree”!