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 02 | Summer Term | July 2016

ONE HEART, ONE SOUL

ST. FRANCIS’ COLLEGE PREP / SENIOR / SIXTH FORM - NEWSLETTER

S E N I O R L E A D E R S H I P T E A M G O O D BY E S

At the end of the academic year we are saying goodbye to three members of

the college’s Senior Leadership Team and we asked them about their fondest

memories of their time here.

Amy Wallace Head of Sixth Form Sept 2012 – August 2016

Miss Wallace has many wonderful memories: Hannah & the tractor on

Leavers’ Day 2016, Year 10 singing a surprise goodbye song last week,

The Sixth Form trips abroad, The time Year 11 History made me a train,

all the time girls have cried with happiness when they’ve got their A Level

results and enjoying the girls’ celebrations as each UCAS offer comes in.

Helen Stone – Head of Prep Department Jan 1982 – July 2016

When asked about her fondest memories, she admitted that she has so many

its hard to list them, but did tell us of one story about teaching Science in

Prep V and the jar of marbles she used in the Forces lessons. However having

forgotten that she lent them to Mr Hetherington, she sent a girl to search for

them who walked into a Prep VI classroom and declared “Mrs Stone has lost

her marbles!”, to which the pupils replied “yes, we know”. Mrs Stone will miss

the great spirit of St. Francis’, particularly within the staff.

Pamela Wilkinson – Deputy Head Jan 2007 – July 2016

Mrs Wilkinson departed with some wise words for us all “100 years from

now it will not matter what my bank account was, the type of house I lived in

or the car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in

the life of a child!”

C L AS S I C S T R I P TO G R E E C E

During Easter 2016 students in Years 10-13 embarked on a 6-day trip

incorporating countless magnificent sites which captivated us all, from the

Temple of Apollo in Delphi to the Palamidi Fortress in Olympia.

S A L LY W I N S C O M M U N I T Y AWA R D

We were delighted to hear that Sally Jarman won the Valiant Volunteer

Award at the Comet Community Awards in May. This was in recognition of

her dedication and hard work in knitting 2,000 woollen chicks every year in

support of Keech Hospice Care and Garden House Hospice. Well done Sally!

O L D G I R L S A F T E R N O O N T E A

On June 26th over 100 former pupils, their families and friends returned to

the College for the first SFOGA afternoon tea. For some former students it

was the first time they had been back in over 50 years, for other girls it was

an opportunity to meet up with friends post-university.

K A N Y I K E C H A R I T Y P I C N I C

The whole school came together on the Loggia gardens for a end-of-year

picnic and fundraising event for our whole-school charity Kanyike. Highlights

included welly throwing, hair braiding, popcorn making, nail painting and the

ever popular splash the teacher game. The afternoon raised nearly £400!

M U S I C N EW S

Mrs Liz Childs, our new flute teacher, gave a flute

workshop for our senior and prep flautists. It was a

lovely opportunity to make music as a team and get to

know the new flute teacher.

There was great competition across the houses as they

gave rousing versions of Queen songs to compete

for the House Music trophy. Athena Woodbridge

won the solo and duet category for Athene and the

Athene House also won the Queen round with their

performance of ‘Don’t Stop me now’.

M AT H E M AT I C S

The girls at St. Francis’ College accomplished great

success in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust

(UKMT) Junior Maths Challenge achieving 9 gold,

10 silver and 16 bronze certificates.

We were delighted that five of our pupils; Heather

Christie and Alessandra Cocevar from Year 7 and Rosalind Mackey, Jasmine

Duru and Lucy Taylor from Year 8 were invited to take part in a follow-on

round, the Junior Kangaroo.

02 | St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul

H O M E E C O N O M I C S T R I P J U N E 2 016

On Thursday 23rd June the Year 10 Home Economics students went to

London for the day. In the morning we went to Harrods and looked at the

vast array of foods from all over the world and marvelled at the extraordinary

prices. We went on to Borough Market for lunch choosing from a vast range

of multicultural street food. The day ended with ice-cream at the nitrogen-

oxide ice cream parlour in Camden, which was the highlight of the trip.

D R A M A TA K E AWAY

The Drama Department took part in the National Theatre Connections

Festival again this year with 15 girls performing ‘Take Away’ by Jackie Kay at

The Cambridge Junction on 30th April to a delighted full audience. Well done

everyone involved.

The GCSE Drama examination was a very powerful night of theatre.

The first group devised a play based on a short film ‘Alone’ which explores

what happens after a war to end all wars with only one survivor. The second

group devised their play based on ‘Kindertransport’ by Diane Samuels,

exploring what happened to two Jewish girls during WW2.

R U N N I N G 8 0 K F O R C H A R I T Y

Eleanor Skip is one of a group of four members from

Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club running 80K each

in officially-timed events during 2016 to raise money

for the charity Stand-By-Me Bereavement Support. If

you wish to donate to this worthy cause please go to

Eleanor’s donation page:

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/WeBeTENNISYall

F L AT F O R D M I L L

Yr 8 Geographers had a fantastic time studying in the idyllic Flatford Mill.

They examined the use of technology to aid their understanding of

Geographical processes including GPS trackers, entered coastal profile

data on tablets and recorded sound and other environmental parameters

on to an information system. When they returned to the classroom, at the

click of a mouse they could collate and present the data and instantly observe

spatial characteristics.

ST. A L B A N S T R I P

Year 7 students examined the changes that have taken place in St. Albans

focusing on the growth of retail parks and the fightback of the high street as

well as the impact of the floodplain on the development of the town.

J AC Q U E L I N E W I L S O N

St. Francis’ College was thrilled to welcome the

renowned children’s author, Jacqueline Wilson, to

speak at the college in conjunction with David’s

Bookshop on Sunday 15th May.

Y E A R 9 D E N M A R K T R I P

Year 9 visited the Kingdom of Denmark during

half term. This geography trip focussed on urban

and cultural Geography. Activities included

visiting a school, following an urban transect,

examining the social dimension of urban

sustainability by visiting the Danish Parliament and the Danish Youth Council,

studying waterfront regeneration and the role of cultural heritage in tourism.

R E L I G I O U S ST U D I E S

On Wednesday 27th April Year 7 visited

the London Central Mosque at Regent’s

Park. We spent an enjoyable morning

visiting the central prayer hall and the

exhibition about Islam.

St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul | 03

The Prep Department is busy, varied and fun!

Here are just a few of the things we have been up to this year

Every year group in our Prep Department has had an opportunity to

shine but there are too many things to mention. Along with dance and

drama we have music assemblies where girls have a chance to show their

peers what they have learned. This is an opportunity for the reward of an

audience but also an inspiration to others.

We have plenty of sports fixtures and clubs to join and our girls excelled

at District Sports this year. There have also been many trips this year

including visits to a local church, Woburn Abbey, Linton Zoo, Duxford,

Shepreth Wildlife Park, Celtic Harmony, Kentwell, Hitchin Verulamium

and France!! Phew! And we still managed to find time to do some work!!

P R E P S C H O O L N EW S

B A L L ET P E R F O R M A N C E Our Key Stage 1 girls allowed parents

and other family members to watch

one of their classes. Utterly magical!

B UT TO N B OX A Key Stage 2 drama and dance

performance involving all girls from

Prep III to Prep VI.

FA N TAST I C M R F OX Prep II girls impressed not just parents but

governors too with this well-loved tale.

W E ST R U N TO N N O R F O L K T R I PPrep IV went to Norfolk and had

some fun!!

G R A F H A M WAT E R T R I POur Prep V girls worked together to

learn about team work.

T H E ST E P H E N S P E N D E R P R I Z E

Four students took up the daunting challenge of the

Stephen Spender Prize. Entrants are invited to

translate a poem from any language, ancient or modern,

into English. Charlotte Ashwin, Alix Wentworth-Foster

and Athena Woodbridge (Year 10) translated

‘Liberté’ by Paul Eluard and Hannah Buisman

translated ‘Après La Bataille’ by Victor Hugo and ‘Ein Biedermann’ by

Friedrich von Bodenstedt. Good luck girls!

L A N G UAG E S : L E TO U Q U ET 2 016

On 30th June, 34 Year 7s set off for Le

Touquet for an action packed three day trip.

The girls visited a snail farm, where they

held and then sampled the snails; watched

a chocolate maker explain his art; marvelled

at the sea life at the Nausicaa centre and made their own crêpes. On the final

day they shopped in Le Touquet market, toured the beautiful old town of

Montrueil and made croissants at a bakery, before returning home.

T R A N S L AT I O N B E E

On June 15th, four year 9s, Michelle Bonuah, Maisie

Burroughs, Eleanor Hobson and Helen Sheng, travelled

to the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge to

participate in the National Final of the Translation Bee.

All participants were challenged to translate into French

as many sentences as they could across three tenses in

the space of a minute. It was a challenging and stimulating afternoon and while

they didn’t make it into the Semi-finals, they were rewarded with a medal and

a certificate. Bravo les filles!

N AT I O N A L F O R E I G N L A N G UAG E

S P E L L I N G B E E 2 016

Three Year 7 students: Avneet Bhamra, Alessandra Cocevar and Florence

Semple represented St. Francis’ College at the Eastern Area Regional Final of

the National Spelling Bee on 27th April. Alessandra went forward as one of

the last 36 across three languages. A truly outstanding performance from all

three of our SFC linguists. Bravo!

S C I E N C E - G S K F R A N K E L L I S P O ST E R

C O M P ET I T I O N 2 016

Once again St. Francis‘ girls were amongst

the prize winners of the Frank Ellis poster

competition run by GlaxoSmithKline in

Stevenage. The brief was to design a poster

around a scientific theme. Out of around 240

posters submitted Izzy Hobbs and Hannah

Ritchie won joint 3rd prize in the

Year 7-8 age group whilst in the Year 9-11

category Eira Bagenal and Helen Sheng were

joint 1st prize winners. Many congratulations.

I N D U ST R I A L C A D ETS – C A D

The Industrial Cadets team shone with team spirit,

confidence and presentation skills at the Celebration and

Assessment Day on 27th June in Ware. The team of Eira

Bagenal, Michelle Bonuah, Eleanor Hobson, Ruby Lung,

Mehar Magon and Ellie Warwick (Year 9) worked over the last ten weeks

on their project entitled “Our healthy school”. Apart from graduating as

Industrial Cadets and achieving CREST Silver Awards, the team also won the

Students’ Choice Award for their project.

S C H O O L S A N A LYST C O M P ET I T I O N F I N A L Our Year 12 Chemistry students qualified to compete in the National

Final of the Schools’ Analyst Competition at Keele University in June. For

Lauren Aldridge, Georgie Foot and Amy Lian being in the final was a unique

adventure and experience. Working in a University laboratory they used the

instruments and methods of undergraduate Chemistry students.

In a tough competition with around 20 other teams, the St. Francis’ College

team showed magnificent team spirit and a methodical approach to the

various tasks with which they were faced.

‘ T H I S G I R L C A N ’

Our Year 12 pupils Eleanor Skipp and Danielle Males have

been busy working with local primary schools as part of

the Sport England ‘This Girl Can’ campaign. They have

been writing and presenting speeches about their sporting

experiences, how they became involved in sport, their

achievements and the challenges they faced along the way.

T E N N I S M AST E RC L AS S E S

Former St. Francis’ pupils, twins Annie and Sophie

Watts, recently returned to give our Year 7, 8 and 9

pupils masterclasses in tennis.

D I ST R I C T AT H L ET I C S C H A M P I O N S H I P S

Our Year 7-10 athletes competed at the Ridlins

Athletics Stadium recently. All pupils showed

strength and determination contributing valuable

points to their teams. The Year 8 team featured a

District 1500m Record breaker in Lucy Taylor and

the team were also crowned winners in their age

group - a first ever win for St. Francis’ College!

SW I M M I N G

Charlotte Ashwin, Year 10, recently swam at the East Regionals in seven events!

She won Gold in the 200m Individual Medley, Silver in the 400m Individual

Medley (IM) and also competed in the finals of the 50m and 200m Breaststroke.

She has now qualified to swim at the English Nationals in the 200IM, 400IM and

200m Breaststroke events in August this year. We wish Charlotte every success.

AT H L ET I C S

It has been yet another successful Athletics season for Lauren Aldridge,

Year 12. We congratulate her on many outstanding performances and

her qualification to compete in the U20 Girls ‘Hammer’ at the National

Championships in July at Gateshead.

R E C O R D B R E A K E R S

This years’ Athletics season has seen many records broken. Aele Ebai-Eyong,

Year 7, Hurdles, Sophie Shackell, Year 7, High Jump, Jasmine Duru, Year 8,

200m, Lucy Taylor, Year 8, 800m & 1500m, Jasmine Duru, Olivia Lindsay, Ella

Pentland, Lucy Taylor, Year 8, Relay

RO U N D E R S

Plenty of excellent batting and fielding skills were on display as the Year 7 and

Year 9 Rounders teams won their District Tournaments and the Year 8 and

Year 10 teams finished as runners up.

H O R S E R I D I N G

Phoebe and her pony Max have qualified for Nationals,

for achieving clear in all three rounds of show jumping,

with the height increasing every round, to reach up to

1m10. Phoebe achieved a treble clear in a quick time

finishing them in 2nd place.

T E N N I S TO U R TO M A L LO RC A

A 23-strong party enjoyed an Easter Tennis Tour to Mallorca

where the sun shone, the sea beckoned and the tennis was

played on clay courts surrounding by stunning scenery.

Our Spanish coaches Xavi, Alfonso and Laura ensured all

pupils had an excellent mixture of fun and challenge.

A RT E X H I B I T I O N

We celebrated creativity with the amazing end-of-year Art and Photography

exhibition. Congratulations to our GCSE and A Level girls as the standard of

work is truly outstanding and exceptional.

A RT – M E M O RY P RO J E C T

Year 9 pupils have been learning how to measure, observe and understand

facial proportions. They used these skills to take part in the Memory Portrait

Project. This is a non-profit organisation that invites students to create

portraits for young children around the world who have faced substantial

challenges such as neglect, loss of parents and extreme poverty. The portraits

help the children feel valued, important and loved.

The link to follow is a video of the children receiving their drawings from

the girls: www.vimeo.com/165631565/9c918ca4f2

A N N UA L S P O RTS AWA R D S D I N N E R

It was fantastic that there were 83 attendees at “The Sports Awards Dinner”

on Monday 27 June where many awards were presented and this year’s

sporting achievements were celebrated. Emmie Kerr and Hannah Loosley

picked up ‘Sports Personality’ and the Horse Riders Isabel Scott, Lucie Payne,

Phoebe Hill and Emma Welbourne won team of the year.

04 | St. Francis’ College | One Heart, One Soul +44 (0)1462 67051 | www.st-francis.herts.sch.uk