For the past three weeks, we have been happy to welcome a student from our partner school in Hameln, Germany at Alton Convent School. Simone is a Year 10 pupil who is keen to improve her English language skills and knowledge about British culture. She was kindly put up in the families of Caitlin, Olivia  and Emily . The three girls and her families deserve huge thanks for their hospitality. Simone attended lessons in various subjects and introduced herself to many German students. She was of great help in the German lessons for all GCSE and A-level students. Here, Simone writes about her stay in England:

Members of Vth and VIth form worked together as part of a work- related learning exercise. During the day the girls were required to form a company, appoint key personnel, design logos and business cards, interview customers, and prepare a bid for a major contract. This included letters to the customers and a presentation to their client and their peers.

The customers were representatives from various industries who played different roles over the course of the day. The teams found the pressures of deadlines and meetings quite demanding, commenting that time management was the most important thing they had learnt.

First we arrived at the convent after a short coach ride from school. When we got there we were greeted by the Sisters, who were very as they let us stay at their house for the day, and have lots of fun in there beautiful garden.

Our first activity was to silently get into order of shoe size- we completed it successfully. After that we were split into groups and given a 3rd world country to be a family in. My group's country was Kajikistan. In these groups we had to role-play the life of the people who lived in your chosen country. There were market traders who dealt with your earnings for the year out of four. Some year's one family member could receive government training, this came as a benefit as your family could then use the skills learnt to increase their production of crops.

On arrival to the tournament held in Southampton we all realised that this was probably going to be the last big tournament that we played in together representing our school. This gave us the determination to finish the tournament on a high using our abilities and skills. There were about 40 schools there from around Hampshire.

Once warmed up we were raring to start and there were nerves and exhiliration felt by all the players. Knowing the games were only 7 minutes one way added to the pressure. This was heightened when our first game was against Farnborough Hill, one of our main rivals. But, with optimism and structured passes we out did their skills with a good win of 6 - 2. We then continued in the first round with 3 more wins and 2 losses.

This time this team started well and this continued through the game. All players were working more consistently and therefore creating more passing options. Once again the shooters were fantastic, rarely missing an opportunity. A win of 17 - 9. Player of the Match - Tabetha.

Girls in the senior school achieved great creative success this term. Francesca in the second form and Amy in the fourth form both did extremely well in the recent Alton Arts Society Competition. Francesca gained first prize in her age category with her outstanding drawing of a tiger cub and Amy gained third prize with her excellent pastel composition based on Poseidon, having already won the Hellenic Society Competition during last summer term with this piece of work. Alton Convent School also did very well in the recent ISA Art Competition with the work of Francesca, second form, and Allison, a former A-level student both given a Highly Commended Award.