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.

The much anticipated Sixth Form Ball, held jointly between Alton Convent School and Salesian College, took place at Frensham Pond Hotel. Pupils and teachers arrived to a Bucks Fizz reception overlooking Frensham Pond, before enjoying a three course meal and dancing to “Firebird”.

Throughout the evening, guests had the opportunity to have their photographs taken by Zixi Still a local company owned by Alton Convent School parents. Pupils from both schools have participated in many joint sixth form activities from Leadership courses in Wales to helping handicapped children in Lourdes. The event was a fitting end to all these students’ school careers and all the hard work leading up to their public exams. The schools look forward to welcoming them back mid August for their A-level results.

The Bronze expedition season was completed successfully. The 2007/8 Bronze D of E year ended on a note of success, when six IV Form girls completed their final navigation assessment. This has been a very busy time for these girls as they fitted in expeditions around their examinations. Well done!
Thanks also goes to Upper Lanham and Chase Farms for their continued support and generosity.

Year 6 pupils at Alton Convent School took to the road again and completed an eight hour cycling course to show that they know how to keep themselves safe on the roads. Their teachers, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Whicher, are trained cycling instructors, having completed instruction themselves from Hampshire County Council.

After playground practice, eight pupils proved that they could apply what they had learnt to the real thing. Right hand and left hand turns were executed safely and the pupils showed that they knew how to start off, slow down and stop and overtake cars carefully. They then passed their Highway Code test with flying colours.

I am an Irish dancer.  I practise every week and go to as many competitions as I can.  In a compettion two or three dance together in front of a judge. On Saturday 9th May I went to St Albans to the Murchu-Duiginn Feis 2008, to dance in the under 13 primary group.  Feis is the Irish word for competition.  There are 4 levels: Beginners, Primary, Intermediate and Open.  It is complicated to progress in Irish dancing.  To move from Beginners to Primary you have to gain a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd position and sometimes there can be 40 dancers or more in a group.  Not all dancers can expect to be ranked so it can take a long time to progress through the levels. To progress from Primary to Intermediate you have to gain 1st or 2nd position and finally to progress to Open only a 1st is good enough!  Each dancer performs six dances.

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.

Alton Convent School is delighted to announce that 12 year old Sophie in Form 1B won The Fonteyn Nureyev Young Dancers Competition on Sunday 13th April. Over many weeks Sophie has been training exhaustively to make her way through the various heats to reach Sunday's final at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. As one of twenty finalists, she danced before a panel comprising Dame Antoinette Sibley DBE, Sir John Tooley and Wayne Sleep OBE. The dancers performed exclusively choreographed variations, choreographed for the competition by Gillian Lynne, in front of a live audience and the judges.

There were two levels competing on Sunday and Sophie won the Level 1 competition for dancers between the ages of 10 and under 13. Dancers were judged on technique, music, performance, and a combination of strength with feminity and character. She was named as “Young Dancer of the Year” in her level and was presented with a beautiful glass trophy and £1500 prize money.

After completing Bronze D of E successfully, the ‘lucky’ thirteen set off aspiring for their Silver along the Sussex/Surrey/Hampshire boarders. After much hail and with clothes soaked in rain the groups arrived at Chase Farm for the first night camp. I will not lie. It was a sleepless night – very cold. The next day involved a long walk around the Devil’s Punchbowl, including some unplanned ‘diversions’. The hail was torrential and all were very happy to settle down for the second night in their tents. 13 extremely tired yet very content faces were beaming at the finish line, until we remembered that this was only the practice.

My sister and I decided to make cakes for people around our village to raise money for the Good Shepherd Appeal. I thought this was a good idea because I love licking the bowl! Serena and I went round the village saying the cakes on offer were victoria sponge (with lots of jam) and chocolate biscuit cake (my favourite). We collected our orders and squeezed our four hens (Fave, Faberge, Feathers Magraw and Poudge) because we needed loads of eggs! Then we got cake making! One of my jobs was to be the human dishwasher! I licked the plates clean!