Issue 86, Friday 14 March 2014

eNews

On Wednesday 26 February, the U15 A team played in the Ascot Schools’ Netball Tournament. The first match was against St Mary’s and we met our strongest competition with the final score being 1-1. Keeping are heads high, we went on to win all our other games against Charters, LVS, Heathfield, Brigidine, St Mary’s and our own B team. With great play by everyone and the whole team working together, St George’s was able to win the tournament. Mentions go to Emily Hughes who made some great interceptions and Stephanie Bankole who worked hard in defence.

U15 Ascot Netball Champions

Individual Match Results:v Charters Won 8-1

v LVS Won 5-3v St George’s B Won 9-0

v Heathfield Won 5-2v Brigidine Won 6-0

v St Mary’s B Won 4-2v St Mary’s A Drew 1-1

Maths Challenge regional Final

On 11 March, Marsha, Kelly, Ruby and I represented St George's in the Regional Maths Challenge Team fi nal against pupils from 24 other schools. There were 45 minutes for each of the 4 rounds and these rounds were the Team Questions round, the Cross-Number round, the Shuttle round and the Maths Relay. The Team Question round consisted of 10 problems, with 45 minutes to complete as many as possible - they were all quite challenging but we found a way to complete them all!

The Cross-Number was exactly like a crossword, but with numbers instead of words. To make it just that bit harder, we were told to split into two teams - one pair doing the down numbers, the other pair doing the across numbers. Some questions needed the other pair to complete certain questions to be solved!

The Shuttle round was quite a challenging round! There were four sections, each with four questions. Again we were split into two pairs, and the questions were given so one pair did A1 and A3, and the other did A2 and A4. However, for question 2 to be completed in each round you needed the correct answer from question 1, and for question 3 to be solved, the correct answer from question 3 needs to be solved correctly, and so on.

The fi nal challenge was the Maths Relay. Two people from each team were assigned to another table, and we named each pair either A or B. Pair A swiftly walked (unfortunately no running was allowed) to our assigned teacher (not from our own school) and received our fi rst question, we had two chances to complete it with the correct answer before moving on to the next question. Then, pair A would come and give us our next question and it went on from there, trying to complete as many questions as possible! We had great fun and it is defi nitely something we would all do again!

Laura Beaumont 2X

At the Maths Challenge Regional Final we had to answer problems and questions as a team. The activities were vary varied and included a Cross Number round (a crossword but with numbers). In this activity we had to split our team into pairs; one pair would do the problems going across and the other the problems going down. We weren’t allowed to communicate with the other pair and had to make sure that our answers matched. To do this we were given the fi nal copy of the Cross Number which would be marked, on which each pair would write their fi nal answer.

There was a lovely and welcoming atmosphere and we didn’t feel any pressure to get the questions right though we wanted to! Plus, we were given these clicky-pens and whenever we had to be listen to instructions all you could hear was the racket from the pens clicking!

Marsha Ilina 3X

On Friday 28 February, Mr Hodges and a group of twelve Sixth Form girls woke up extra early to travel into London, to the Bloomsbury Baptist Church on Oxford Street. This wasn’t an ordinary cultural visit to appreciate the architecture of a 160 year old building – we were about to have our minds opened by some of the most fascinating speakers in the country!

The day began with Julie Arliss giving us an introduction to philosophy, in particular focusing on Descartes and the idea of ‘Foundations for Knowledge’. We then met Professor Tom Greggs, arguably one of the most intelligent people in the country and certainly one of the youngest professors. He gave us a deeper understanding of philosophy, by teaching us about the importance of the ‘age of enlightenment’ when free thinking and the scientific method were discovered for the first time, defined ‘modernism’ for us and demonstrated that we are now entering an age of ‘post-modernism’.

After a short break, we were introduced to the famous historian Professor Jeremy Black who spoke to us about the history of the James Bond novels and films and explained how such media mirrors the changes in a society’s anxieties and can be used as a tool for historical analysis.

Julie Arliss then rounded off the morning by discussing the best ways to go about answering the mock Cambridge interview question “How many animals did Noah take onto the ark?” All avenues of thought should be considered, from the literal interpretation of a creationist to the logical approach of a biologist, before reaching whatever conclusion you may consider appropriate, or even turning the question back on your interviewer as irrelevant compared to the greater meaning that can be gained from such a story. The moral of the day was that no matter what you get

asked it is how you try to answer the question, not the answer that you give, that will get you a place at the top universities.

After a short lunch break we all returned to a bizarre and unexpected sight… Dr Mark Lewney had set up a stage in the centre of the building and was rocking out on his electric guitar painted with pictures of Einstein and other famous Physicists. After a perfect rendition of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” he broke into a fascinating talk about the universe. He retaught the AS level maths topic on unit circles far better than Mr Hodges could have done (joke!), explained how trigonometry is the driving force behind the breaking of waves on a beach, how the exact value of the gravitational constant g (approximately 9.81ms-2) is so perfectly exact that even a fraction higher or lower and the beautiful dust clouds in nebulae commonly referred to as “God’s finger” could never hope to form. He threw a brick into the crowd to demonstrate how our senses can deceive us – yes, it was a fake brick. We talked about how the universe might be made up entirely of vibrating strings, and perhaps more usefully learnt how 2G, 3G and 4G mobile phones work. And he rounded off the lecture with a hilarious parody of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with quantum mechanical lyrics summing up a few of the things we’d just learnt. The other speakers didn’t stand a chance of competing with such a fun and live sound experience for Mr Hodges’ “speaker of the day” award, though he admits some mathematical bias in his choice!

There are plenty of further reading opportunities and resources available from Mr Hodges for anyone interested in reading more about the philosophy covered in these lectures, or wishing to investigate some more Oxbridge interview topics. Feel free to take a look through the ‘AGT’ folder in ‘student resources’.

Gifted and Talented Study Day

Meet the Experts Careers Information Evening

We are very grateful to the parents, former pupils and friends of St George's who contributed to our hugely successful bi-annual Careers Information Evening.

With a diverse selection of careers on offer, girls in the Fifth Year and Sixth Form attended 4 workshops on a subject of their choice before convening in the Sue Cormack Hall for "Speed Careers" - a chance to meet the experts one-on-one.

Careers represented included Medicine, Engineering, Wealth Management, Teaching, Investment Banking, Branding and Law and our thanks go to Mrs Dourountakis for organising this very useful and informative event.

Former Georgian, Emma Parker who is now a Marketing Manager at Heinz talks to the girls.

House Debating Competition 2014

Congratulations to Darwin House who took the House Debating title for 2014, winning the final debate opposing the motion 'Science is a Threat to Humanity'.

Round One motion was 'This house believes that housewives should be paid' and was proposed by Alexander House and opposed by Becket who took the victory. In Round Two, the motion 'This house believes the bribery is sometimes acceptable' was proposed by winners Darwin and opposed by Churchill who, although did not make it to the final, took the individual debater title with Third Year Olivia Oluko wowing the judges with her wit and confidence. The standard as ever, was very high and all girls should be congratulated on an excellent evening of debating.

GCSE and AS level Drama students were privileged to work with respected freelance dance and movement coach Phillip Hill on Wednesday 26 February 2014.

Phil has worked on many major projects with his Dance company JumpStartMove and completes regular work for the National Theatre. Students learned movement techniques that will be valuable to them in their practical exams. All girls enjoyed the work immensely - Zoe Scott said "It was a really enjoyable and informative day, I hope we can get Phil to visit St George's again as we have all learned a lot".

PHySiCAl THEATrE WorkSHoP

On just the second day of the new half term, the Spring Concert proved a great success in every way. There were outstanding solos from Julia Cherry, Ellie Pusey, Victoria Wyatt, Charlotte Coates, Georgia Cooper and Lucy Sedgwick, all playing and singing with confi dence and musical sensitivity a wide range of pieces from Irish traditional tunes to music by Elizabeth Maconchy.

The Chapel choir sang beautifully and the First Year choir entertained with items from the Sound of Music. Emma Sedgwick’s performance of 'Auf ein altes Bild' by Wolf was mesmerising and new to most of the audience was the sight and sound of Mia Yang playing her Chinese Zither; quite astounding.

The concert also featured our joint orchestra with Heathfi eld School. Last term St George’s played in one of their concerts and this was their return visit. The orchestra played the famous Ode to Joy by Beethoven and the Silhouette Dance by Leon Adam really well and as an extra treat Thea-Rose Mountford from Heathfi eld played the second movement of Rachmaninov’s 'Cello Sonata' for us.

We are most grateful to the staff and girls from Heathfi eld led by their Director of Music, Mrs Julie Dance, for coming to play and it was good to see so many in the audience.

The concert also featured our joint orchestra with Heathfi eld

Refreshments served at 7.00pm. Please RSVP to the School Office on creader@stgeorges-ascot.org.uk or by telephone on 01344 629903.

Tuesday 25 February 2014 at 7.30pm in the Sue Cormack Hall

Spring Concert

Robbie BoydLive at

St George’s, Ascot

on Saturday 8 March

for girls in the

Fourth & Fifth year.

Listen to our

music here!

With Boys

from

Winchester

College

Entry is free. Please confi rm your place with the school offi ce on

01344 629 900 or offi ce@stgeorges-ascot.org.uk

Girls in the Fourth and Fifth Year hosted boys from Winchester College for a social on Saturday 8 March. After drinks and a light supper in the Dining Room, the group moved to the Sue Cormack Hall for entertainment provided by the excellent feel-good Folk-Pop band Robbie Boyd. It was an excellent evening and we hope to arrange a return visit to Winchester soon.

BCS Community Shop Study

On 10 and 12 March, Mrs Belkacem took both of her BCS groups to Headley Community Shop to gain information from the people who work there to help with our controlled assessment. Throughout the morning we were given talks by some of the volunteer staff about the history of the community shop, the challenges they have faced, the set-up of the shop, the staff rotas and the re-stocking of the shop. We were told how the community shop is located in an old church and it was first established after the local pub was closed down in an effort to

keep a sense of community in the area. We also learnt about how much stock they buy and sell each month and how they keep track of everything on their tills and database system. This was a great help to us in our research - to understand about community shops and the volunteers running it. We would all like to thank the manager of the shop because she was very kind in letting us have a look around and we would also like to thank Mrs Belkacem for organising the trip.

Emily Hughes & Mimo Sandford 4X

Headmistress' Lecture

This term's Headmistress' Lecture was given by former Georgian Jo Berry on Tuesday 4 March to a large audience in the Sue Cormack Hall.

Jo spoke about her personal journey after the death of her father in the IRA Brighton Bombing during the 1984 Tory Party Conference. Jo now works with Pat Magee, the IRA activist who planted the bomb. Together they have spoken all over the world, helping to resolve conflict and promoting forgiveness.

It was an extraordinary story with a very powerful message and it was particularly special to welcome Jo back as our first Georgian to speak at a Headmistress' Lecture.

Coffee Morning

Wednesday 26 March 2014at 8.30am

in the

South Lawn Room

www.stgeorges-ascot.org.uk

To include a talk by Mrs Simpson on

“Facing up to Bullying”

Science Competition Winners

The Science Department have organised entries for the Royal Society of Chemistry Bill Bryson Science writing competition. This year the theme is "Where's the Science in Art? / Where's the Art in Science?"

All the entries will be sent to the RSC competition; however, we have also selected our own winners who were awarded a prize in chapel this week. Congratulations to winners Katie Sedgwick and Camelia Joel-Davision for their interesting powerpoint and video, looking at the science in a range of different art techniques.

Puff Paint • Puff paint is a reaction.

• It starts with a liquid

and dried with a hair dryer to become a solid.

Baliant and Bolygo

Bolygó’s work explores the similarity between the artistic and scientific mind. His work explores how both minds are motivated by the same need to discover/uncover, and turn resulting ideas into artwork.

Team GB for Becky

We wish every success to Sixth Form student Becky Edwards who heads off to Barcelona this week to represent Team GB in the 2014 Barcelona Dressage Tour, which is the opening event of the 2014 International Dressage season. Becky also recently qualifi ed for the Winter National Dressage Championships at the Regional Championships in Hertfordshire. She will contend two classes: the Prix St George Freestyle and the Advanced Medium Freestyle. This will be held at Hartbury College in April and she will also be riding in a gala evening performance. We are incredibly proud of her accomplishments and look forward to hearing about her experience in Barcelona.

Community Service

We were very pleased to hear that Victoria Rayner went to help out the Army at a command centre in Wraysbury School during the recent fl oods. Victoria is shown here at the bonze desk, working with the Fusiliers. Over 100 troops from 1st Battalion Royal Regiment Fusiliers delivered sandbags, rescued residents and guarded streets in Wraysbury after the worst fl oods for over 55 years hit the village.

Angeline Fibres • Angeline fibres are

very thin and you cant see them very well.

• But when you iron them together they melt and join together. This is a reaction with the heat creates.

Sergey Smirnov Concert

Had this been a review for the national press, the headline would have read – Bravo!, Stunning!, Impressive! or a good mixture of such complimentary superlatives!

We were so lucky to host this piano recital on 28 February, given by Sergey, a Russian concert pianist now living in Paris. A winner of the Rachmaninov Piano Competition and Horowitz Piano Competition and a performer who has played throughout Europe and the USA, his playing was amazing, faultless and inspiring. Sergey presented a demanding programme – Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, the second book of Brahms variations on a theme of Paganini and all four of Chopin’s Scherzos. He drew tones colours and effects from the piano which were a new aural experience; all those there will remember the evening (and both encores) for a long time. Sergey enjoyed the Cormack Hall and our piano and has promised to return to St George’s when he is next in the UK. Make sure you do not miss him.

Charity Pancake

Sale

As ever on Shrove Tuesday, our Sixth Form students and Tutors donned their aprons to make and sell pancakes to raise funds for charity. The fi nal amount will be announced soon, but I can confi rm from fi rst hand experience that the pancakes were delicious!

National Schools lacrosse Tournament

On Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March, the 1st XII Lacrosse team competed in the Rathbones National Schools Lacrosse tournament at Surrey Sports Park. There were schools competing from all over the UK and it was great competition for the girls to take part in. The team played some tough matches on the first day against schools like Wycombe Abbey and Moreton Hall, and they recorded a win against St James, 3-1. On the second day, they were placed into Division 2 Pool B, where they faced some more highly competitive teams before getting knocked out of the tournament by St Bartholomew’s in their last game. It was an excellent two days for the whole team and they showed some great play and perseverance. Well done to all who played.

The U15 team had a successful day of lacrosse on Tuesday 4 March at the same tournament. They placed third in their bracket, playing against teams like St Swithun's and St Mary's Calne. Overall the girls played hard and worked well as a team throughout the entire day. The team excelled in a competitive bracket; well done to those who participated.

On Sunday 2 March, a team from St George’s travelled up to Gloucestershire to take part in the National Schools Arena Polo Championships. Our team included two debutants in Edina Green and Hetta Loughlin, alongside Mia Yang who was playing in her second championships. All of the girls were very much looking forward to competing and were really fired up and excited about the day ahead.

With three chukkas to play during the day, the team started off with a tough match against a very strong and experienced team from Tudor Hall, eventually losing by 4 goals to nil. However, the experience that the team gained in that match helped them to play a much tighter and highly competitive match against Tudor Hall ‘B’ team, albeit finally losing by a single goal. In our final match against St Swithun’s and playing with their ‘never give up’ attitude, the team were quick off the mark and raced to a 2 goal lead. Mia Yang had fallen off her horse in the warm up but she picked herself up to score the second goal. However, with the clock running down, St Swithun’s began to pile on the pressure and unfortunately scored two late goals resulting in the game being a draw.

After all the matches had been played in both of the groups, St George’s were awarded 5th position overall which is a fantastic achievement with a novice team. Congratulations go to the team for not only playing in a positive manner throughout the day, but also for putting up with the non-stop rain! We look forward to seeing the girls progress in more tournaments in the future.

SUPA National Schools Arena Polo Championships

School Website Sportsboard Moodle School Email

Scan the QR codes below using your smart phone to go directly to the web page you need.

looking Forward...Friday 14 March 2014

Exeat Begins

MUN Conference George Watson College, Edinburgh

Tuesday 18 March 2014 Parents' Forum

8.30am, Old Library

Wednesday 26 March 2014 Parent Association Coffee Morning

8.30am, South Lawn Room

Thursday 27 March 2014Lower Sixth D House

Dinner with the Headmistress 7.00pm, Garden House

Friday 28 March 2014 MUFTI DAY

"Wear Something Yellow"

Saturday 29 March 2014 Ski Trip Departs 9.00pm, Chapel

Tuesday 1 April 2014 House Music Competition

Thursday 3 April 2014Term Ends at Midday

Please hand vouchers in to Reception or place in the collection box outside the

Dining Room