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.