This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

On a beautiful spring day, 22nd April, every one of Alton Convent School's 500 pupils set out on a walk to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the school's foundation and to raise money for schools in India with which the school is linked.

The youngest pupils, some not yet 3, strolled around the school's 17 acre site or neighbouring Anstey Park, whilst the 7-9 year olds set out on a three mile walk through Holybourne and the surrounding area. The rest of the school, from 9 to 18, and their teachers, tackled an ambitious route up on to Holybourne Down, taking in bluebell woods, farmland and the occasional very muddy track en route.

This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

As part of the school's Shakespeare Day celebrations, we were delighted to welcome five-time Foyle Young Poet Award winner Helen Mort to the school to run a couple of poetry workshops. Year 6 were joined by a number of pupils from neighbouring Bentley Primary School for a workshop which explored the ways that poetry, in contrast to Auden's view, can change the world. The children explored techniques for writing poetry of their own, such as thinking from the perspective of other senses or exploring the impossible. The workshop concluded with Helen reading some of her own poems, and answering pupils' questions on her life and work as a poet. The Year 5 workshop followed a similar format, although with this group Helen also had chance to hear some of the pupils perform their ESB poems. We've purchased a copy of Helen's collection of poems, The Shape of Every Box, for the prep school library.

This year forms in years seven, eight and nine performed role-plays in the theme of one of Shakespeare’s plays to celebrate St George’s day, the 444th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.
The forms either got into groups or did a whole form performance. This year we had to choose a subject themed on Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer night’s dream’ and then create a story six months from when the play ended. The subjects were: The Lovers, The Mechanicals (Bottom, Flute, Quince) and The Fairies. We were given two weeks to practise our role-play, year eight a little less due to a school trip.

Shakespeare Day also saw the Upper Prep's celebration of our recent outstanding performance in the ESB exams. Whilst time didn't permit the audience of pupils and parents to hear performances from all children, two dozen pupils from Years 4-6 performed their exam pieces. The programme gave particular prominence to poetry recitation, following on from Helen Mort's visit that morning, with lovely performances of "The Mystery of my Sister's School Photo" from Flora, "Excuses, Excuses" from Zoe and "L Plates on my Football Shirt" from Josh, amongst many others. A few brave children performed their presentations, including a splendid illustrated talk on Polar Bears by Grace. ESB work does much to boost the children's self confidence, and their willingness to perform to a large audience is some testament to this. The Year 3s are already thinking ahead to their chance to take part next year!

This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

Pupils in Reception, Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a visit from two Alton librarians on Thursday 24th April. They brought an exciting collection of books suitable for different ages and interests and also talked about many other items that children may borrow, including DVDs and Play station games.

The special events organised by the Library were also of great interest, and our visitors were very impressed with the show of hands demonstrating children who took part in the Summer Reading Challenge; apparently this year’s challenge will have an Olympic theme.

This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

The Under 11 team played Ditcham Park on Monday in glorious sunshine on the Ditcham hill, with great views of the Isle Wight and beyond. With this setting, Alton played very good cricket. The team only conceded three wickets for 257 runs. Strong batting from Henry and Tom our openers. Sandy playing his first game of cricket defended stoutly. Knowing that our strength was our bowling department the team quickly gathered a clutch of wickets including several run-outs, which again Sandy assisted strongly. However, the bowlers conceded too many sundries if they are to each the final this year.

The AS level Biologists, accompanied by Dr Otter were fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a Revision Day at Surrey University in Guildford. The speakers were all Senior Examiners and so had an excellent understanding of the kinds of things that students find difficult and the ways in which they can improve their grades. All this was illustrated with some fabulous pictures and interesting biological stories so the experience was enjoyable as well as very useful!

Year 4 spent a brilliant day at Hampton Court Palace on Wednesday as part of their study of the Tudors. Despite the weather the class's first impressions of the palace were very positive, with many overwhelmed by the scale of this great Tudor building. We were met at the Buttery stairs by the mistress of the wardrobe, who regaled us with insider gossip of the King and his many marriages as we sat entranced in the wine cellar, before taking us up to explore the Great Hall itself, with its magnificent tapestries and stained glass. After a hasty lunch in the Buttery, we spent a while longer studying heraldic devices, carvings, glass and portraits in the state apartments before making our way into the Chapel Royal, which provided an interesting opportunity for comparisons and contrasts with our own chapel. We quickly toured the Young Henry exhibition in Wolsey's apartments, playing 'Where's Harry' with a number of epic paintings. For many, the highlight of the day was the multi-sensory tour of the palace kitchens with Hampton Court's two wonderfully entertaining and informative food historians. The whole day provided a wonderful opportunity to really enhance the children's understanding of the age of Henry VIII. Parents may be interested to know that the Palace has a very full programme of events both this and the next bank holiday weekend.

Drama comes in many forms and this year's final GCSE examination performances were no exception! The work was created and performed in five groups. The creative inspiration was a piece of contemporary film music by Craig Armstrong called 'Glasgow*. 'Big Brother's Watching You', a piece about the way we are all being surveyed today; 'Heaven Sent, Hell Bent', a slightly surreal comic play set in Limbo; 'Storm', the toy shop as a microcosm of life today; 'No Man's Land', a view of the world as a totally female society and 'When the Lights Go Out'.

On Friday 2nd May, 3B gave an assembly about Mary. Some people read about Mary’s life and some held up pictures. Then we had a procession to crown our lady. Jemima and Jessica led the way to the Statue of Mary, carrying flowers. Jamie carried a cushion with a crown of fresh flowers. Everyone else sang ‘Bring flowers of the rarest’, while we walked up. Lucy picked up the crown of flowers and placed it on Mary’s head. We finished with a prayer to Our Lady.

Lucy said “It was lovely to take part, but I thought the statue would fall on me because from where I was standing it looked really tall, so I thought ‘Oh no, how am I going to this.” Jemima said, “It was very good and we had to walk very slowly and I felt a bit nervous. I took the flowers up and I felt O.K. It was a nice presentation.”

Our task was to walk from one point on the map to another staying overnight at a pre arranged destination with approximately 10 kilos on our backs without getting lost! We were arranged in groups of four or five and set off with all our provsions for the next 24 hours. We managed to reach our checkpoints on the first day even though we got a lost a couple of times.

After walking over 8 miles we finally reached the farmhouse where we would be pitching our tents for the night. This took for ever and then we had to cook! We chose noodles for supper as it was easy and meant we didnt use too many pots and pans.

Our task was to walk from one point on the map to another staying overnight at a pre arranged destination with approximately 10 kilos on our backs without getting lost! We were arranged in groups of four or five and set off with all our provsions for the next 24 hours. We managed to reach our checkpoints on the first day even though we got a lost a couple of times.

After walking over 8 miles we finally reached the farmhouse where we would be pitching our tents for the night. This took for ever and then we had to cook! We chose noodles for supper as it was easy and meant we didnt use too many pots and pans.

As part of Alton Convent School's 70th Jubilee celebrations, parents and friends were invited to an evening of art, music and dance. The evening started with a colourful display of Maypole dancing from pupils of year 5 and line dancing from year 6. Parents listened to the many musical solos from senior school girls and watched entranced as Sophie, recently named "Young Dancer of the Year", performed several ballet dances. From the Prep school, Joe impressed fellow pupils and parents alike with his interpretation of Pachelbel's Canon on the electric guitar. Joe, who has his own band, has recently won a musical scholarship to a major public school.

This year's Open Day was our busiest ever, with record numbers of present and prospective parents making the most of this splendid opportunity to look round the prep and senior schools. Nearly all our pupils were involved with one or more activities throughout the day, ranging from smelly dough, gloop and pasta in Nursery to stress monitoring and data logging in the senior school science labs.

The day began in traditional style with Year 5's Maypole dancing display, and other performances throughout the day included the Prep Orchestra, Year 3's Bear Hunt, Morris and line dancing, prep and senior choirs, and countless solos, duets and ensembles from senior musicians. Other highlights included the annual Art Exhibition in the Marian Hall, photo manipulation in the Prep IT room, puppet stories in Year 6, Tudor embroidery with Mr Hawkins and the senior girls, and a sequence of newsletters produced by senior English students working to very tight deadlines.

All children from Nursery to Year 2 enjoyed a wonderful day last Thursday when Miller's Ark animals came to visit, bringing with then an array of friendly animals.
The children were able to groom a very patient pony, stroke and cuddle two very delightful goat kids and even stroke a lamb when her mother would allow! The guinea pigs were a hit with the older children who were able to confidently handle them. All the children seemed fascinated by the chickens, ducks and geese and were amazed at the difference in their eggs.
Nursery and Pre Prep were delighted with the Kuni Kuni piglets who were very accommodating and enjoyed all the attention, seeming not to mind being sat on!
One of the goat kids aptly named 'Trouble' delighted everyone with her antics. She particularly enjoyed wandering off to the adventure play area to say hello to the older children much to the amusement of the younger ones!

To those of you who were present at the recent Moulin Rouge Ball may I extend a very big vote of thanks. Whilst we are still working hard to establish our final total, it appears that the event raised in excess of £11.5K to be put towards our present target of securing the funds necessary to resurface the school's netball and tennis courts. Not only was the event a resounding success in financial terms but the feedback we have received suggests that those who attended enjoyed a spectacular, fun filled and memorable night.