The school is closed for the summer holiday and re-opens on Tuesday 9th September. Prospective parents and students are warmly invited to join us for our Year 7 Open Evening (25th September), the Sixth Form Open Evening (7th October), the Year 7 Taster Day (15th October) and the Whole School Open Morning (24th October).
Alton Convent School is a leading independent Catholic day school, located on the outskirts of Alton, Hampshire, welcoming pupils of all faiths. The prep school educates boys and girls from the age of 2¾ to 11, with the selective senior school providing a broadly based academic education for girls from 11 to 18. We aim to prepare all those entrusted to our care to realise their full academic, spiritual, personal, creative and physical potential, to live by Christian principles, and to contribute as valued members of their communities to the benefit of their world.
Another school year has come to a close with its many highs and mercifully few lows. The long summer term with its many exciting events traditionally leaves us rather breathless and in need of a good holiday and this year is no exception. We were delighted with the success of the summer festival of arts, the teddy bears’ picnic, sports days and of course the huge number of residential and day trips. It is always such a pleasure to observe our pupils broadening their horizons and developing greater skills and confidence both in and outside school.
Just as most girls were starting to really enjoy the Summer Holidays, 13 girls from year 11 embarked on their Silver expedition. The weather promised to be 'improving' over the weekend and the severity of the showers did decrease. The girls navigation and camp skills were found to be excellent, the only criticism was their late start on day two. True to Convent form the girls rose to this challenge and day three started early - one left camp at 8am and the other by 8.30. It should be noted that it takes at least 2 hours for girls to from being in a sleeping bag in a warm tent to being ready all packed (after cooked breakfast) to leave camp. The expedition completed with a brisk walk down Butser Hill to Queen Elizabeth Country Park and the very welcome sight of the their parents cars. Of course they did have to climb the hill prior to the dissent. Congratulation to all girls and thanks goes to Brockland Farm and Stock Farm for allowing us to camp and to Sister Helen and Helen Wallace for volunteering their time to assess the expedition and to Jill Kerr.
On the 7th of July 2008 the IV year Law group were taken to the Winchester Crown Court to witness some court cases. The four girls, Harriet, Caitlin, Alice and I, Jessica, were accompanied by Mr. Carpenter and Mrs. Charles. We left Alton Convent school promptly at 9 'o'clock and after stopping for a quick drink and a briefing about the background of the cases, we hurried into the public viewing area and took our seats. Not long after sitting down, we had to rise again for the judge who now entered the court.
An excellent summer term once again for our athletes. Undefeated in all their athletics fixtures and also some excellent individual success. Amy won the Shot in the regional ISA competition and Francesca the 800m. Fru went on to the national competition where she also finished in 2nd place despite being the youngest competitor there. In the Aldershot and district competition Fru again came first in the 800m and this achievement took her through to theCounty Championships.
On the 4th July Year 3 had a sleepover at school. When we arrived at 6.30 we unpacked our things and put out our beds in the Welsford Hall, some of them were really cool. We waited for our parents to go and when they had gone we went to the tennis court to play Miss McCallum’s new sport, called non-stop cricket. We were all rather hot and tired so we went for a barbeque and a drink. Lots of us had seconds of burgers or hot dogs and there were choc ices for dessert. After that we felt refreshed and we played Zulus on our way to the campfire. At the campfire we sang songs and toasted marshmallows. After that we got ready for bed and had hot chocolate. We had a story and went to bed at 11 o’clock! When we woke up we went to have breakfast in the Marian Hall and we watched a DVD until everybody was up. Mrs Bothwell taught us a great new game called Splat and then we went to the tennis courts to fly the kites that 3B had made. Before we went home we finished the game of non-stop cricket. It was a draw.
Thirty-eight girls from Form II went to Calshot residential centre for five days on 30th June. The week, blessed with lovely weather, was full of fun and adventure. Everyone was encouraged to try something new and had a great time challenging themselves. The accommodation was very comfortable and the staff fantastic. Some of the activities included sailing, windsurfing, orienteering, skiing, rock climbing and even cycling in the velodrome. I enjoyed sailing and skiing, although there were many falls. I especially enjoyed the high ropes because we made Mrs Brooks run along the cat walk (pole suspended in the air) which was very funny to watch. Although very tiring, it was immensely satisfying and a great time was had by all.
A beautiful day and lots of babies (monkeys, giraffes and a leopard) made this annual trip with the First Years particularly relaxing and memorable! Marwell Zoo is committed to conservation and has an extensive breeding program, so this gave us an opportunity to think about the role of zoos as well as looking at adaptations to particular habitats. The hot, steamy conditions of ‘Tropical World’ house the menacing leaf cutter ants as well as the popular and deadly jewel coloured poison arrow frogs. Outside, many of the animals were sunbathing and highly visible which made a change from previous years! We also spent some time looking at the Madagascan lemurs and the extraordinary Fossa who preys on them.
The end of a school year is a good opportunity to look back, as our Upper Prep pupils did in their review of the year at Presentation Afternoon, and our Year 6 leavers did at this morning’s Mass. As I have been reading through the children’s reports, it has struck me how much all the children have achieved over the course of the year, in their academic studies of course, but also in music, art and drama, in sport and in the greatly increased array of extra curricular activities now on offer. More wonderful still, and one of the great joys of this job, is seeing how the children have grown up over the year, how well they work and play together, and how enthusiastic they are for school life. Many thanks to all of my colleagues, for making all of this a reality.
A marvelous afternoon was spent last Tuesday at our Early Years Fun Day when around 40 Nursery and Pre-Prep children delighted parents and siblings by showing off their sporting ability. The afternoon was a great success with everyone having fun. A circuit of five different activities took place for approximately six minutes per activity, culminating in group races. Afterwards around sixty parents and siblings joined the children and staff for tea and cakes outside. Thank you to everyone for attending and making the afternoon such a great success.
