Elegance and grace came to Alton Convent School on the 23 June when the senior school's Literary Day celebrated the life, works and times of Jane Austen. Activities  ranged from a Dance with Emma Woodhouse to Wickham's World with girls route marched through the library and drilled, before being treated to a Regency Punch and Judy show.

 Mrs Isabel Walker, who organised the day, felt that it had achieved its aim of presenting Hampshire's most famous author to girls in years 7, 8 and 9 in a way that was both fun and accessible. Alice in year 9 said, 'I really liked Mrs Bennet's marriage game because it challenged you to test your knowledge of Jane Austen and made you more aware of the dilemmas facing women in the Regency times and the unpredictability of marital success.'

Alton Convent School’s Summer Festival of Arts once again displayed the amazing breadth and inspiring quality of the pupil’s musical performances and artistic displays.

Parents and friends gathered at the school to enjoy group and solo musical performances, and to appreciate artistic offerings in such diverse media as sculpture, painting, dance and photography – all produced by children from Reception to A’ level.

Amy , who attends classes at the Royal College of Music, gave a tender and evocative performance of Gershwin’s The Man I Love. Kate , Charlotte , Laura and Rochelle  – members of the Farnham Youth Choir – presented a stunning a cappella version of Lynn Williams’s Alleluia.

I was one of ten Year 6s that read to the Year 2s. It was really fun! We read The Enormous Turnip and The Elves and The Shoe Maker to them. They acted it out and we took it in turns to read. It was really good.
Later we went into the Welsford Hall to do some dancing with Mme Hoyet, who teaches Spanish in the Senior School. We danced to La Bamba and in the end even Mrs Wilson joined in! There is an English version and a Spanish version. Mme Hoyet said that it means that you have to have a little bit of grace. It is a really famous song and we all knew it. It got us very hot, although it was worth it!

One of Wednesday’s activities had a twist. Rather than being a pupil, I was the teacher! After we sorted out who would be a man and who a lady, I started teaching my class the Cha Cha basics. At first a lot of people found it difficult, but after we had gone through it a couple of times, they started to get the hang of it. I put them in two lines, facing their partner, we then got together and tried it out. They soon found that dancing together was much harder. Once I had gone round and helped them to do it, we tried it to the music. A lot of people found it difficult to keep in time to the music, but they still tried to dance. I then taught them some more steps called ‘New Yorkers’. We got the hang of this quite easily. As we were running out of time, I had to rush through the spot turn. Most people managed very well, even though they didn’t understand it, and everyone tried really hard!

At the end of arts week the sixth form organized a disco, which was really fun. The first thing we did was pass the parcel. I did not win, but I did get a little sweet. Then we had a dance competition. I got a little bar of chocolate. Then the sixth-formers served drinks and biscuits, which were yummy. I then had my face painted, which was lots of fun!

Year 5 were chopping onions, chillies and avocados with enthusiasm, when they made Guacamole with Mrs Munt and Mrs Duffy from the Senior School. Having chopped, mashed, sprinkled and stirred, the children then had the opportunity to taste their wares with tortilla chips. Even though the groups had used the same recipe, the finished product was slightly different, both in consistency and taste, which was great as it meant that everyone had to try both types. When they had eaten enough the next treat was a drink of hot chocolate using real Mexican chocolate.

We had a dance workshop. Anne and Tiffany taught the class. They come from the Isle of Wight. They live in a hotel called Rooftops Hotel. First we did some hard warm ups, then we started to learn a really hard dance. There were kicks steps, tap steps, jumps, spins, bending down and stretching up, which were all included in our dance.

As part of our Latin American Week, I had a Mexican evening at home. I invited Amber, Olivia, Hannah and Lucy. We ate lots of new and different types of food from Mexico. We enjoyed salsa, fajitas, enchiladas, tortillas and guacamole. We thought guacamole was mushy peas, and we also had fried beans that looked like baby food! We had a lovely time.

Georgina, 3S

Dear parents,

Our popular Creative Arts Week is scheduled to return for the week beginning 9th February 2009. A variety of activities will take place based on the theme of ‘Latin America’. Normal lessons will take place, albeit with a Latin American / artistic theme and several additional events have been organised. On Monday, a specialist dance teacher will lead the children in workshop activities; on Tuesday, Mrs Ongley has arranged a Samba music workshop; and on Friday, Mrs Hillier will be leading the children in a series of drama workshops. Staff from the senior school will be coming along to read stories or create activities based on the theme. During Thursday afternoon there will be a House Music Festiva, where children will perform pieces of Latin American music.

Children in Years 1 and 2 revelled in the space and freedom provided by West Wittering which provided the perfect setting for a wonderful art and dance experience inspired by artist and teacher Mrs Ashley Brian and dance and drama teacher Mrs Hillier. Collecting stones of different colours, shells, seaweed and driftwood to create a collage on the beach, fascinated the children and they began to understand for themselves what has inspired artists like Goldsworthy. Stones with sparkly centres, some smooth and worn with holes in the middle, became precious treasures and brought home the amazing diversity of natural objects. Shape, colour and texture were brought to life as the collage took shape. As the clouds thinned and the sun shone, many questions were raised by the dramatically changing seascape.’ Why is the sea so blue now’? Why is it so sparkly’? ‘How does the tide go out’?