Thirty-eight girls from Form II went to Calshot residential centre for five days on 30th June. The week, blessed with lovely weather, was full of fun and adventure. Everyone was encouraged to try something new and had a great time challenging themselves. The accommodation was very comfortable and the staff fantastic. Some of the activities included sailing, windsurfing, orienteering, skiing, rock climbing and even cycling in the velodrome. I enjoyed sailing and skiing, although there were many falls. I especially enjoyed the high ropes because we made Mrs Brooks run along the cat walk (pole suspended in the air) which was very funny to watch. Although very tiring, it was immensely satisfying and a great time was had by all.

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!

During Physics we have been learning about springs, and we used our knowledge to work out how much money was carried in a pouch made by Mrs Jakabowski.

Firstly we had to make a big hole in a plastic bag so we could hang it on a spring. We hooked the spring on to the clamp stand, and tied a note with the plastic bag on to the spring. Then we measured the spring with nothing on it. Afterwards we put 1p or 2p in the bag to make 50p. Each time we put in some money, we measured the length of the extension. Then we plotted a graph and weighed the pouch. On the graph we went up to the point where the extension was, and then to the line on the graph. Our group thought that there was 29p in the pouch.

Emily told us: "I loved the facilities the château had. The grounds were brilliant and I especially loved the swing! I enjoyed all the visits but the one I liked the most was the caramel factory. We watched how the caramel was made then after sampling some we all went to the shop to buy more! I also enjoyed the trips to the markets because everyone was so friendly. I loved asking people questions because once you had asked one person you wanted to ask another. I was very excited on the day we went out to buy our own food and make a meal. It was great fun, the food tasted fantastic and we won second prize! It was really touching when we went to the American War Memorial Cemetery because so many people had given up their lives for us. It was so sad to see how many thousands of graves there were and to know how many more people were missing.

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.