5th July 2013 Issue 20

Dear Parents/Carers Another busy fortnight has flown past and once again it’s a pleasure to share with you some of the exciting events which students have led and participated in. We waved ‘good bye’ to Year 9 from the Lower School on Friday 28th June. They started their final day at the Lower School with a formal graduation ceremony at The Hastings Centre. Then back to school and all tutors groups shared their ‘Make a Difference’ projects with one another in the Drama Studio. Students in Year 9 had been challenged to make a difference to someone else, no matter how small and enjoy the gift of giving time and commitment. There were some beautiful projects, ranging from cooking a roast dinner for a neighbour who is living on their own; to groups of girls visiting care homes to spend time just chatting with residents. Each and every project showed just how caring our Helenswood girls are. We then said ‘hello’ to Year 9 students at the Upper School and to our Year 6 students at the Lower School this week. A packed week of assemblies, new subjects, getting to know their way around new schools was in order for both year groups and both have settled well into life at Helenswood. The end of term beckons and a busy final fortnight for both the Lower and Upper Schools before we finish for the summer break at 2.30 pm on Wednesday 24th July. All students will return to school on Tuesday 10th September at 8.45am. With best wishes Lucy Monk Headteacher

Message from the Headteacher -

Forest Schools

If you had gone to the woods over the last two weeks you would have found nearly forty Year 7 students taking part in a Forest Schools and Helenswood collaborative event. The aim of the days was simple – to explore literacy and numeracy within a natural setting whilst also having fun with nature! Students took part in a range of activities such as dream walks to develop descriptive writing and vocabulary, using mathematical rules to determine how many trees are in the woods and exploring the rules of Fibonaci and how it can be found in aspects of life, and learned how to make camp fires, natural name tags and culminated in toasting marshmallows! An enjoyable time was had by all and the girls excelled. Well done to all involved!

YEAR 11 PROM 27TH JUNE 2013

The Year 11 Prom (Class of 2013) was a night to remember for both staff and students alike. Held at the Phoenix Arts Centre, the whole building was adorned with sparkling fairy lights and beautiful balloon decorations. The Prom committee, made up of Helenswood’s Head Girl, Odette Sutton, William Parker’s Head Boy, Harry Gooch and a cross section of students from each school, can be congratulated on their organisation of a memorable evening.

Grand entrances were made in classic cars, limos, a jazzed up VW camper van and a full size Red London double decker bus!

The William Parker boys looked dapper in their suits and the Helenswood girls were breath-taking in a real variety of styles and colours.

The Prom committee can also be congratulated on a fabulous choice of menu, steering away from the typical finger buffet and opting for freshly cooked fish and chips and mini burgers, and a huge chocolate fountain with countless cakes, fruits and pastries to enjoy with it.

Special thanks go to those people behind the scenes, whose effort and dedication make the night such a success.

Helen Phillips, Head of Student Voice, Helenswood

The Helenswood Office Team; Wendy Daubney, Gill Watson and Louise Barham

Debbie Rozier Pastoral Assistant, William Parker

The Prom Committee, Helenswood and William Parker

Rachel Downey and the catering team, William Parker

The Phoenix Arts Centre, William Parker

Hastings Games

15 girls from Year 7 were chosen to represent Helenswood School at the Hastings Games held at the Hastings Centre on 28th June 2013.

This was the first ever Hastings Games organised and run by Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week inspired by the Olympic Games of 2012.

The girls took part in numerous usual and unusual sports competing against 15 other schools from Hastings and surrounding areas. The event lasted for 5 hours and the girls were enthusiatic and well-spirited throughout. As a result of all their hard work and enthusiasm on the day, the girls came away from the event winning the ‘Team Spirit’ Trophy, the largest and shiniest trophy, beating 15 other schools to claim the prestigious prize.

I have very proud of the Helenswood team and would like to congratulate them on such a spectacular achievement; [Cont/…………]

Head Girl Team Training On the 20th of June, the Head Girl team and I went to visit Equine Affinity in Pebsham along with Mrs Monk and Mrs Phillips. We spent the morning working with horses both as a group and individually, taking part in a number of different activities. This helped us, not only to find out more about ourselves and the situations we are comfortable in, but to find out more about one another and remove any barriers that would prevent us from reaching the maximum amount of success in our year as the Head Girl team at Helenswood. The morning helped us to develop many skills: trusting each other, working effectively as a team and supporting each other to the best of our abilities. There were occasions during the morning, where some of us felt less confident than others, but as a team we picked up on these feelings and did our best to support and encourage each other to reach a situation where we not only felt confident, but pleased with our achievements. We hope to include these skills in everything that we do in the upcoming year and I have no doubt that this will make our actions more effective and pleasing for everyone. In the afternoon we were in more comfortable surroundings at Bannatynes Hotel. We had a light lunch then got to work on using the skills we had begun to develop as a team, to think about our year and what we wanted to achieve. We learnt how to chair and run a council meeting. Then we began to develop an action plan for the year. Thank you to Mrs Monk, Mrs Phillips, Zoe Buontempo, Amy Downey, Aimee Wright, Amber Lloyd Briscoe and Iqra Rahman for such a memorable day, I hope that 2013-2014 will be the best school year yet. Georgia Burgess, Head Girl

Jerwood Gallery Visit Students in Year 10 have been working with the Jerwood Gallery over the course of this academic year. They have visited the gallery twice and worked with a practising artist. The emphasis of the project was to get young residents of Hastings into the gallery environment and to give them the skills to know how to respond to the work shown and allow them time to explore the ideas and themes behind the work. When we returned to school after the second visit, students had the chance to respond to a piece of work of their choice in any medium they liked. The title of the works produced was 'Transform'. The project ended with their work being displayed at the Jerwood. The event was such a success that it has now received funding for further two years. We are very excited at the prospect of getting some of our younger cohort working in the gallery next year and hope to link up with English to explore the links between art and literacy.

Hastings Games [Cont/…..]

Annie Marsh Megan Boles Tricia Kisakye Ellie Buontempo Natalia Luke Robyn Lynch Charlie Mellish Alice Jenner Katy Pursglove Chloe Sharman Ellie Bull-Grant Niamh Carroll Beth Morton Molly Pain Khanyi Nyathi

Well done girls, I am very proud of you all.

Miss Elliott

Pastoral Manager- Year 7

LOWER SCHOOL SPORTS DAY – 28 JUNE 2013 The sun shone all day creating a fantastic atmosphere for the Lower School Sports Day. The event kicked off with the whole school performing the ‘Waka Waka’ warm-up dance, led by Mrs Brand. There were some brilliant individual performances which can be seen below and fun was had by all! Event Year and Winners Form Time [Minutes/Metres] 50 Metres Yr 7 Hannah Dyas

Yr 8 Chantel Nash Yr 9 Brittany Mole

7CW

8IG

9EA

7.75 7.50 7.06

100 Metres Yr 7 Kiera Burt Yr 8 Rosie Hughes Yr 9 Ellie Smith

7SJ

8JB

9EP

14.58 13.33 13.90

200 Metres Yr 7 Kiera Aslett Yr 8 Ashleigh Harbour Yr 9 Had Devereux

7LM

8RW

9CB

32,72 30.15 31.21

800 Metres Yr 7 Kiera Aslett Yr 8 Jemma Inskip Yr 9 Jade Devereux

7LM

8RW

9CB

2.47 2.50 3.01

Javelin Yr 7 Saffron Hawkins Yr 8 Mia Hyland Yr 9 Hayley Harrod

7MH

8RW

9CB

14.09 20.26 25.54

Long Jump Yr 7 Kiera Burt Yr 8 Brenda Eteti Yr 9 Brittany Mole

7SJ

8HS

9EA

3.81 4.02 4.21

Shot Yr 7 Sophie Chappell Yr 8 Karina Golombovska Yr 9 Hayley Harrod

7KH

8KB

9CB

6.78 7.55 9.80

INDIVIDUAL SPORTS WINNERS FORM PLACEMENTS

Yr 7 Annie Marsh 1st 7SJ 8RW 9EA Yr 8 Jemma Inskip 2nd 7LM 8ZS 9HH

Yr 9 Jade Devereux 3rd 7KH 8EV 9CB 4th 7KM 8JB 9EP 5th 7CW 8LW 9RR 6th 7MH 8HS 9JG 7th 7SH 8KB 9LW 8th 8IG 9SW

Learning Tips for

Students

How many of you know the history of the royal family? Why are they so important? What powers do they actually have? How did we get a royal family in the first place? An interest in the things that surround our daily lives can fuel a thirst for knowledge. This in turn can really develop our progress as learners and help us achieve great results. What other day-to-day things are there that could fuel your desire for research?

School Calendar for the next two weeks: JULY 2013 Mon 8th Overdue Library Books Week Yr 7 Geography trip to Battle Tue 9th Parent/Carer Open Morning LS 9.30 -10.30 am

Yr 7 Geography trip to Battle Wed 10th Parent/Carer Open Morning US 9.30 -10.30 am

Yr 7 Geography trip to Battle Pastoral Manager Surgery LS 9.00 – 10.00 am

Mon 15th LS & US Art Exhibition: Hastings Centre all week Thurs 18th Pastoral Manager Surgery US 9.00 – 10.00 am Awards Celebration – Hastings Centre 2.00 pm Fri 19th Yr 7 and Yr 10 full report issued to students Yr 9 End of KS3 Grade Report issued this week Tue 23rd Super Teams Day – US Wed 24th Pankhurst House Day END OF TERM 6 – EARLY CLOSURE 2.30 PM

LOST PROPERTY – LOWER SCHOOL Lost property at the Lower School will be on display from Monday 22nd July to Wednesday 24th July. Due to insufficient storage space, any items not claimed will be disposed of over the summer break.

REMINDER – PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU EMPTY YOUR LOCKERS BY THE END OF TERM. Lockers are moved and cleaned over the summer break and you may not be allocated the same locker next year.