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.

On Thursday 19th June the First Form went on the annual day trip to Calais in France. We were all very excited as we got off the coach and onto the ferry. When we arrived in Calais we split up into our groups and enjoyed a walk around town learning about its history and culture. We had a relaxing lunch in the park, then went to the lace museum and admired all the exhibits. Our final task was to buy our tea in groups at the hypermarket to eat on the ferry. Our challenge was to buy the healthiest food possible and ask for things in French.

Pupils from Forms I-III once again enthralled parents and friends with their contributions to the annual tea-time concert. The appreciative audience was impressed with the great variety of styles and instruments represented from classical to folk ballads and contemporary pop.

Two third form girls, Jessica and Sarah, performed their own compositions. Particularly pleasing was the number of trumpet items and very promising young vocalists. It takes tremendous courage to stand up and perform in front of an audience. Well done girls!

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.

The first years have been studying physical and chemical changes. Today we did an experiment to show a useful chemical change and we made a nail turn pink by coating it in copper. We did this by firstly putting three spatula measures of powdered rock (copper carbonate) in the test tube, then carefully used a pipette to add acid a few drops at a time until the tube is half full. Next we dropped an iron nail into the solution and left it for about five minutes. Following that we very carefully poured the solution away and used tweezers to put the (hopefully pink) nail onto a paper towel. Mrs Duffy made a competition to see whose nail was the most pink. Fortunately my team won! Over all I have learned a lot about physical and chemical changes.

This year forms in years seven, eight and nine performed role-plays in the theme of one of Shakespeare’s plays to celebrate St George’s day, the 444th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.
The forms either got into groups or did a whole form performance. This year we had to choose a subject themed on Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer night’s dream’ and then create a story six months from when the play ended. The subjects were: The Lovers, The Mechanicals (Bottom, Flute, Quince) and The Fairies. We were given two weeks to practise our role-play, year eight a little less due to a school trip.

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.

29 hours of intensive,uninterrupted rehearsal +
26 girls from forms I II and III in the Senior School +
1 producing company called Upstage Productions+
1 Drama Teacher from school+
1 Audience of 100 people+
1 set of costumes=
1 50 minute performance called 'The Dreamer'

A very jolly combination it was too, of people,acting, singing and dancing in the Marian Hall from 7to 11 April.The judgement of both the performers and the audience was that it had been an incredibly worthwhile experience and one that is worth repeating another year!

Well done to all who decided to use one week of their Easter holiday in focused creativity!

Local author Peter Ward visited Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils to present and discuss his latest novel "Dragon Horse" as a part of World Book Day celebrations. The girls were enchanted by his tale of ancient China with its range of weird and wonderful characters and vivid descriptions, brought to life by the author himself. Pupils had already read extracts from the novel and created a display of drawings of the old storyteller Shoo Lao which were much admired by Peter Ward. At the end of the talk, the girls were able to ask questions exploring his source of inspiration and the trials and delights of being a writer.