On Saturday 6 February, Jasmine Year 9 and two pupils from Year 11, Natasha and Sarah, participated in the Petersfield Young Composers Competition. The competition was sponsored by the Michael Hurd Memorial Fund. To their great delight, Natasha and Sarah were awarded first and second prize in their category - 16 years and under - and Jasmine was awarded third prize in her category - 14 years and under.

The adjudicator gave very positive comments on the girls' work and also provided some ideas for future development.

Congratulations to three Senior girls, Francesca, Emilia and Isabella who recently qualified for the ISA National Swimming championships. They all performed exceptionally well and produced some excellent results.

Francesca came 3rd in the Backstroke Final but also set a London West regional record. This is a fantastic achievemnt which will now stand until another swimmer breaks it in the future.

Emilia came 2nd in the Backstroke Final, 2nd in the Medley Relay team and 1st in the Freestyle Relay team.

This year’s focus of the annual IVth Form Art and Photography trip to the Tate Modern in London was the John Baldessari ‘Pure Beauty’ Exhibition. It was an ideal exhibition for both sets of students as it crosses back and forth between art and photography making interesting links between the two types of media. Students were inspired, captivated and at times even puzzled by this dynamic, imaginative and often surreal exhibition that questions what art can be and broadly spans this conceptual artist’s work from the late 1960’s to present.

“When they opened the golden envelope and said my name, I couldn’t believe it.” Hannah Pusey’s last minute entry of a review of ‘Mamma Mia’ had taken her to Young Film Critic of the Year shortlist, thence to a ceremony at the BAFTA HQ and finally up onto the stage to receive her award!

Hannah, a Year 11 student, first learnt about the competition through a page in her homework planner, advertising National Schools Film Week. She promptly forgot all about it, and only entered just before midnight on the closing day.

Music pupils from Year 7 to Year 11 had the opportunity to showcase their talents to parents and friends in the annual chamber concert on the 22nd October. After a welcoming glass of wine, the audience settled down to a fifty minute programme of items performed on a variety of instruments ranging from a Harp solo to a Euphonium item.

The soloists included the music scholars as well as some Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE pupils. Despite the nerves, the girls did extremely well - truly a testimony of hours and hours of practising!

For the second year in succession two Alton Convent students, Francesca Year 10 and Amy in Year 11 have once again won prizes in the ‘Alton Arts Society School’s Art Competition’. The judges of this annual exhibition and competition, held at the Assembly Rooms in Alton, awarded Amy’s entry, a beautiful painting of a Lily first place in the Year 10 and 11 category and Francesca gained second place with her highly realistic pastel drawing of a Tiger.