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C H I N E S E N EW Y E A R
On Friday 5th February, St. Francis’
College welcomed in the Year of the
Monkey with demonstrations
of modern and traditional
Chinese dancing, and music on
the Chinese Flute and Pipa. There
was a tea ceremony, as well as an
opportunity to learn calligraphy, ink
painting and Mah Jong, a traditional
Chinese game.
S C H O O L S ’ A N A LYST C O M P ET I T I O N
St. Francis’ College Chemistry students have excelled in the Schools’
Analyst Competition. Lauren Aldridge, Georgie Foot and Amy Lian won the
South East regional heat of the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools’ Analyst
Competition held at Queen Mary University of London.
The girls triumphed over 13 schools from across the South East and will
compete in the prestigious UK final which will take place at Keele University
in June. Congratulations and good luck for the national final!
WO R L D B O O K DAY 2 016
Harriet Muncaster, a former student (2007) from St. Francis’ College, came
back into school on World Book Day to talk to Year 8 and 9 girls about her
work as an illustrator and writer of children’s books. Since completing her
MA in children’s illustration at Cambridge, she has had two books published
and is currently working on a series of young adult readers from Oxford
University Press. She was able to spend time helping the girls with a project
they are doing with our English and Art Departments to design and illustrate
their own picture book.
N O RT H H E RTS B O O K AWA R D C E R E M O N Y
A group of Year 7 girls attended the North Herts Book Award Ceremony at
Hitchin Girls’ School. They joined pupils from other schools across Stevenage
and North Herts for a group discussion about the shortlisted books and
then voted for their favourite title. The winning title for younger readers
was Smart by Kim Slater, with The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
winning the older award.
St. Francis’ College. Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 3PJ, United Kingdom +44 (0)1462 67051 | www.st-francis.herts.sch.uk
One Heart, One Soul | Issue 01 | Spring Term | March 2016
I N T E R N AT I O N A L WO M E N ’ S DAY
On 7th March, eve of International Women’s Day, we held an evening of
talks by three women who had incredible, inspirational stories to tell, at the
same time as promoting the awareness of the charity Women for Women
International and their #sheinspiresme campaign.
On 8th March, girls came to school dressed as a woman who inspired
them, raising funds to sponsor a woman and change her life forever through
Women for Women International; there were some great costumes.
Through both events, we have raised enough money to sponsor two women.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this cause.
ONE HEART, ONE SOUL
ST. FRANCIS’ COLLEGE PREP / SENIOR / SIXTH FORM - NEWSLETTER
TA L E N T 2 0 3 0 C O M P ET I T I O N
Three of our Year 12 Physics A Level students have been announced
runners-up in the national Talent2030 competition. This is an engineering/
science competition which saw the girls put forward an entry using the 3D
printer which they built last year.
Lauren, Amy and Milly have just presented their project and received their
award and prize at the Big Bang Fair at the NEC. Many congratulations to all
three on this fantastic achievement! The website that they built to demonstrate
their project is well worth a look: http://stfrancistalent2030.weebly.com
F O O D T E C H N O LO G Y
Year 9 have been making homemade pasta using a pasta
machine and ingredients for colour and flavour; they
have made stripy pasta, different shapes, and ravioli and
tortelinni. They enjoyed eating what they made!
Year 7 made Pancakes and enjoyed eating them at the
end of the lesson in a practice for Shrove Tuesday.
For many it was the first time they had made
pancakes independently!
B I O LO G Y O LY M P I A D
Congratulations to Georgia Urquart for achieving a Silver
Award and Emily Ashwin for achieving a Bronze Award in
the British Biology Olympiad
N AS A L I V E ST R E A M
Year 9 Science students enjoyed watching a NASA livestream by Dr Ellen
Stofan, planetary geologist and chief scientist at NASA. The topic of the talk
was “Looking inward, outward and homeward”. The talk covered a wide
range of topics; the effects of climate change on Earth, Tim Peake’s mission
on the ISS, planet “nine” and the possibility of inhabiting other planets of the
solar system and beyond.
S C I E N C E & A RT
Year 7-9 pupils have been using their art skills to create posters on scientific
topics, such as “Living organisms”, “The Periodic Table”, “Motion and forces”
and “Health, disease and the development of medicines”. A selection of
posters has been entered into a national competition.
We wish all girls whose posters have been entered, good luck!
C A M E R A T R A P A N D P R E P N AT U R E C LU B
The Prep Nature Club has been making feeders for our wildlife this winter
and topping up the hedgehog feeding station. Our wildlife camera has
recorded our many visitors including several squirrels, many cats, birds
including pigeons, thrushes, chaffinches and jays, as well as a breeding pair of
muntjac deer and three foxes.
Y E A R 7 A N I M A L C A R E C LU B
Year 7 girls have been looking after the lab animals: thanks particularly to Hilary
Bexfield who is an expert at exfoliating geckos. The girls’ excellent care and
attention means that our West African Giant snails are now breeding prolifically.
G E O G R A P H Y
Year 9 have been studying China,
and were given the task to create
their own ‘Artistic Presentation
of Beijing’. They could present
it however they liked, and could
represent the title given however
they liked. Some very beautiful
drawings were shown, some 3D
models, and some collages, and
many wonderful paintings.
P O ET RY BY H E A RT C O M P ET I T I O N
The English Department set all girls in the school the challenge to learn a
poem by heart and perform it to their class. The resulting performances were
very impressive and the winners from each class were invited to perform in
our Poetry by Heart Final on 7th January.
Imogen Harper was our winner in the Year 7-9 Category
Isabel Frohlich was our winner in the Year 10-13 Category.
Isabel qualified for the regional final of the Poetry by Heart Competition
at the Quarry Theatre in Bedford on 28th January; she did a fantastic job,
performing two poems before a large and rather intimidating audience.
G R E AT F I R E O F LO N D O N
There was a fabulous assembly by Prep II on
Tuesday 8 March about the Great Fire of London.
The girls worked so hard to give such an outstanding
performance. Well done Prep II, you were superb!
W E ST R U N TO N T R I P P R E P I I I A N D I VThe Prep III and IV girls set off on their intrepid
adventure on Wednesday 16th March for their
residential trip to West Runton in Norfolk. A fun
filled week of activities was enjoyed by all.
V I C TO R I A N S C H O O L DAY
Prep Vs enjoyed a wonderful day at the British Schools
Museum in Hitchin. They all looked very authentic in
their white pinafores and waistcoats. The day brought our
Victorian studies to life and was a perfect way to end our
history topic.
R E C E P T I O N C L AS S AS S E M B LY
Our Reception class celebrated a fantastic Assembly this
term, watched by their families.
They had re-written a familiar tale called ‘The King’s Got
Donkey Ears’, inventing new characters and writing all the
dialogue themselves.
P R E P G I R L S R A I S E M O N EY F O R S P O RT R E L I E F
All the Prep girls from KG to Prep VI have been treading
water in their swimming lessons to raise money for Sport
Relief, so much so that none of them wanted to stop at the
end of their lessons! Some Prep IV girls managed to tread
water for 22 minutes. Over £1,800 has already been raised
with more donations expected.
S H A K E S P E A R E D O E S RO C K ! !
2016 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death so
Prep V performed the musical “Shakespeare Rocks!” by
Steve Titford in the theatre on February 25th February.
T E A M M AT H S C H A L L E N G E 16
Michelle Bonuah and Maisie Burroughs from Year 9 and
Emily Rumley and Lucy Taylor from Year 8 represented
St. Francis’ College at the UK Mathematics Trust Team
Maths Challenge. They competed in a regional final
against 24 other schools. The competition combines
mathematical, communication and teamwork skills and
offers pupils another way to express and develop their
enjoyment of Mathematics. St. Francis’ College finished
in fourth place!
R E L I G I O U S ST U D I E S
This term Year 12 and 13 Religious Studies students have been on revision
conferences at Bloomsbury Baptist church in central London where they had
lectures on topics relating to their AS and A Level studies, such as ‘Arguments
for the Existence of God’, ‘The Problem of Evil’ and ‘Life After Death’.
On Wednesday 16th March Year 8 went on a trip to the Shri Swaminarayan
Mandir in Neasden where they watched the morning ‘Arti’ ceremony and
visited the ‘Understanding Hinduism’ exhibition.
This was followed by a delicious lunch in a nearby vegetarian restaurant
serving traditional Indian cuisine.
S I XT H F O R M R EV U E
The annual Sixth Form Revue treated
the school to an afternoon of music
and dance, all set within a Big Brother-
themed play. Year 12 produced a
fantastic show, and we were lucky to
have performers from across all age
groups. Well done to all involved!
02 | St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul | 03
L A N G L EY S C H O O L V I S I TThe Prep V girls at St. Francis’ College were delighted to welcome 27 children from
Langley Preparatory School, Norwich on Thursday 28th January for a joint drama and
music workshop.
P R E P S C H O O L N EW S
F Ê T E D E S RO I S
The beginning of January saw our very first French
assembly in the form of a play, written by Mrs Sian
Mackey and performed by Prep IV, V and VI. The
girls acted out the Epiphany story with the dialogue
entirely in French.
M AT H S I N S P I R AT I O N ROA D S H OW
The girls now know that the world’s favourite number is 7, that the golden
ratio, pi and pizza boxes are related, and that in 2043, 1/2 of the world’s
population will be Elvis Presley impersonators. It’s amazing what you can
learn through Maths!
I N T E R- H O U S E S P O RTS R E S U LTS
Netball Y7-10: 1st - Artemis, 2nd - Hera, 3rd - Athene, 4th Selene
Hockey Y7-10: 1st - Selene, 2nd - Artemis, 3rd - Athene, 4th Hera
Swimming Y7-13: 1st - Selene, 2nd - Artemis, 3rd - Athene, 4th Hera
V I S I T I N G A LU M N A A RT I ST
Year 10 artists and photographers were lucky enough to catch a visit from
alumna student Emily Tomlinson. Emily popped in last week to share some of
her recent Art work; it was an amazing opportunity for the girls to see a past
student and ask many questions regarding progression into the Arts.
A RT N EW S
Print workshops were held in school with print maker Liam Biswell for Years
7, 8, GCSE and A Level artists.
L A N G UAG E S
Year 12 and 13 French students spent the day at the Insitut Français in South
Kensington, enjoying a screening of the award winning film Les Intouchables at
the Ciné Lumière. The day provided valuable input on a key A Level topic and
gave the girls an opportunity to see for themselves the work of the Institut.
The Year 7s entered the second stage of the National Foreign Language
Spelling Bee this term. Three finalists have now been selected: Avneet Bhamra,
Alessandra Cocevar, Florence Semple. These girls will go on to represent
St. Francis’ College at the Eastern Area Regional Final in April.
Five year 9s are currently taking part in the second round of the new
Translation Bee competition: Maisie Burroughs, Michelle Bonuah, Eleanor
Hobson, Helen Sheng and Ellie Warwick. They have to complete as many
translation tasks as they can in a minute. Four of these girls will represent
St. Francis’ College at the National Final in Cambridge on 15th June.
M U S I C
Tango, mambo, rhumba! The Senior School musicians filled our theatre with
the sounds of Latin American music!
Jemma Starling achieved the phenomenal result of distinction for her Piano
Diploma exam.
Harmonix performed with precision and musicality at the regional finals of
Music for Youth Festival. We await the results!
04 | St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul +44 (0)1462 67051 | www.st-francis.herts.sch.uk
S P O RTS - T E A M S
Our Intermediate Swimming Team captained by Lucy Brett were Champions
at the District Swimming Gala in February
Well done to Pip Amos (Y9), Charlotte Ashwin (Y10), Lucy Brett (Y10) &
Fran Green (Y10)!
Medals Winners were:
Pip Amos (Y9), Gold for
Intermediate Butterfly
Charlotte Ashwin (Y10), Gold for
Intermediate Breaststroke
Lucy Brett (Y10), Gold for
Intermediate Front Crawl
Fran Green (Y10), Bronze for Back Crawl
Mairead Cashin (Y11), Silver for Senior Butterfly
Beth Gardner (Y11), Silver for Senior Back Crawl
Scarlet Tang set a new Breaststroke School Record in a time of 29.61 seconds
(40m) breaking a record that has stood since 1989 (27 years)!
Charlotte Ashwin set a new School Backstroke Record in a time of 25.25
seconds (40m). She then also beat Scarlet’s newly set record for the
Breaststroke in the inter-house swimming gala with a time of 27.89
H O C K EY
Our Year 9 Hockey Team have been
incredibly successful this season.
They were crowned champions in
both the indoor and outdoor district
hockey tournaments and were also,
together with some of our Year 8
girls, U14 County Cup Finalists!
An excellent achievement.
N ET B A L L
Our Year 7 and 8 Netball teams
competed with vigour and deft skill
at their recent district tournaments.
Year 7 came away winners of the plate
competition. Well done!
E Q U E ST R I A N
Our Equestrian Team qualified for
the finals of the Eventer’s Challenge
Series to be held at Hickstead in June.
Well done to Phoebe Hill (Y10),
Lucie Payne (Y11), Isabel Scott (Y12)
& Emma Welbourne (Y9)! Phoebe
also qualified for her individual event.