Singing for the Willow Christmas Concert 2019

Despite being members of the choir for so long, we still always look forward to the Willow Foundation Carol Concert every year! Each year, we stay after school on the night of the concert to practise, enjoying the extra time with our friends from the choir. Going to choir rehearsals has become one of the most entertaining parts of each of our weeks! Then, we travel by coach to the picturesque St Albans Cathedral… The beautiful building never fails to amaze us!

Yet, the real enjoyment comes from the concert itself. After a couple of hours worth of practising, and perfecting our parts, the concert begins. It is such a pleasure for us to be in the presence of Bob and Megs Wilson, especially since Anna Wilson used to attend Bishops’, and the choir’s performance holds a special place in their hearts. The atmosphere is always so full of love. Hearing Herts Chorus perform is a privilege and we aspire to sound like them one day! The concert is always emotional for us, and such a touching experience. The Willow Foundation, a charity that provides people with serious illnesses a chance to have a special day, is a charity that we respect so much. We are glad to help them raise money for such a brilliant and worthy cause. Their work over the years has been so amazing, and the concert always exceeds our expectations!

Written by Elena Savvas, Molly Hoy, Amy North
Marta Fernandez-Pino, Jodie Garg, Annie Slater

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!

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.