Did Robin Hood succeed in his plight to free the nation from the tyranny of the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham?
Did the dopey Deputy ever learn the secret password?
Did King Richard return from the Crusades in time? And did Maid Marian finally get her man?
This fun musical adventure from year 4 had the audience "booing" and "hissing" with gusto!

Over two days, Paul Batchelor worked with English, Modern Foreign Language and Classics groups. He got them all writing their own versions of Virgil and Apollinaire poems. Paul was genuinely impressed by the readiness to write and freedom to explore, which he encountered in South Hampstead girls of all ages.

We are looking forward to welcoming Paul back to South Hampstead for a longer residency next year.

At the school, after a short coach journey, we met our family - a beautiful dog called Tani, and an extremely lovely, typically Spanish, and welcoming woman called Carmen.

We had a lovely dinner and went to bed early, because we knew we were going to have a busy day the day after!

The next few days were packed with fun activities, lessons and excursions . Here are a few of our favourite moments :

• our visit to Mijas on the first day, an incredible sweet little authentic Spanish town, where we found lots of great gifts for friends and family
• the flamenco lessons, because they gave us a sense of Spanish culture
• the Alhambra Palace, because it was so intricately designed
• the Cathedral / Mosque because it was stunning, and had a huge amount of interesting history behind it
• the Spanish lessons at our school, because they taught us such amazing Spanish using loads of different and interesting methods. They went by so quickly as we were all having so much fun !
• the food ... It was amazing !!!
• our Spanish 'mother' because she looked after us so well
• the beach, because it was breath-taking
• the heat, because it was over 26 degrees Celsius on most of the days !
• the teachers, because they were so understanding and helpful

All in all it was an amazing trip, and we are so grateful we went. We feel we have learnt loads of Spanish, and have really had the chance to have proper conversations with people. We would definitely recommend this trip to future year 7 and 8 Spanish learners ... You won't regret it !

By Cameron and Martha, Year 8

LAUNCH OF SHOGA!

The current Head Girl Team has relaunched SHOGA – the South Hampstead Old Girls’ Association. SHOGA will enable girls and staff to keep in touch with each other once they have left the school; to exchange news, meet for reunions and network with other South Hampstead Old Girls.

It seems that there used to be an Old Girls’ Association many years ago but it fell by the wayside, so we have set up a new one. Over the past year we have been liaising with a huge number of old girls to establish the concrete foundations of a brand new, up-to-date association.

We have formed a committee of old girls, with Mrs Coates as Chairman, and appointed year group representatives going to back to the class of 1994. We have also created a newsletter which will now be produced annually (follow the link below to read the first issue). It has been great to see the interesting things that old South Hampstead girls are doing now.

In addition, we have set up the first of what we hope will be many reunions – a '5 Years On' reunion for the class of 2008, which is taking place on 28th March.

SHOGA is something that all those who have been a part of South Hampstead can benefit from and we are very pleased to have been its founders.

By Amy George, Martha Parsons, Isabel Kilborn, Neha Khaliq and Tamar Freiberger (Head Girl Team 2012-2013)

On Thursday 28 March 2013, our girls will walk six miles from Canary Wharf to Westminster to raise funds to help Plan UK build a new school in Senegal, supporting the charity's aim to break the cycle of poverty and discrimination through education in the developing world.

To date, we've raised almost 30% of our £32,000 target. You can support Six Miles to Senegal - www.justgiving.com/6milesforsenegal or follow us on Twitter @SHHScharity

York – or Jorvik – is the home of the Vikings, and the girls spent four days immersing themselves in all things Viking to supplement our creative curriculum topic. From dressing up handling real Viking artefacts – weapons, jewellery and animal skins – to spending the day as archaeologists and unearthing the secrets of the past, the girls had a brilliant time and demonstrated just how much they had learnt when they put on a presentation to the parents after the half term break.

On Thursday 7th March, Year 4 held a Viking themed presentation for their parents following the girls’ residential trip to York.  The morning began with tea in the hall and eating the delicious bread that Year 4 had prepared and baked earlier using a real Viking recipe!  (Thank you to Ellen for helping with bread making). The girls then showed presentations, put on Viking style costumes and performed sketches about the activities in which they had participated whilst in York. These included research on Viking artefacts, the day visit to the Danelaw Dark Age Village where they made pots, ground wheat for bread, did some weaving, collected firewood and even acted as village guards who chased away a band of marauding Anglo Saxons! Presentations also included the visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre and Dig and the girls’ evening activities such as listening to sagas, weaving bracelets and sewing on binca.  Both year 4 classes thoroughly enjoyed putting on their presentations and Miss Croly and Ms Chapman would like to thank all the parents and adults who gave up their time to come and watch.

The school aims to raise £32,000 on the six-mile sponsored walk from Canary Wharf to Westminster on 28 March 2013 to help Plan UK build a new school in Senegal, supporting the charity’s aim to break the cycle of poverty and discrimination through education in the developing world.

“I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact that schooling can have for women in some of the poorest areas of Africa,” said Mrs Jenny Stephen, Headmistress at SHHS. “I’m proud that our school is supporting this project. It’s amazing to see our girls raising money for a new school in Senegal, particularly as we watch the transformation of our new senior school on Maresfield Gardens.”

Amy Svoboda, SHHS Charity Co-ordinator, agrees. “As we move into our new school in September 2014, it will be wonderful to think that we have enabled children thousands of miles away to do the same.”

Over the past two years, SHHS pupils have raised over £55,000 in support of Plan UK projects, ‘Because I Am A Girl’ and ‘Take the Vow’.

In 2011, the 10K walk from Hampstead to Downing Street raised over £40,000, enough to educate 448 girls for one year, or 34 girls for life (five to 18 years of age), in the developing world.

In 2012, girls raised over £10,000 in sponsorship by walking 10k while carrying water as a symbolic gesture of the chores that keep many young women out of school in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Help us reach our target of £32,000. Support Six Miles to Senegal - www.justgiving.com/6milesforsenegal or follow us on Twitter @SHHScharity.

The very informative guides in both galleries initiated discussion and put the Tudors in context. The girls had the opportunity to dress up and create practical artwork which explored how clothes from the Tudor period are portrayed in portraits.

The next stage will see the installation of foundation piles. From this point, progress will become more visible and our new school building will begin to take shape.

We are pleased to report that all work is on schedule to date!

In a moving and entertaining speech, the parenting guru spoke of the challenges parents face raising their daughter in a modern world and offered practical advice on parenting throughout the five stages of ‘girlhood’.

The event was one in only six scheduled talks by the author in conjunction with the launch of his new book, Raising Girls which has become a UK bestseller in less than two weeks since its release.

“We were honoured to welcome Steve to our school. His insight into the challenges of raising girls in today’s world really resonated with our parents,” said Headmistress, Jenny Stephen. “Alongside parenting, the school environment plays an important role in the development of a child and Steve’s views on building confidence and developing a strong sense of self really reflect the ethos of our school.”

The talk was one of a series of annual events organised the Junior School PTA with the aim of supporting SHHS parents.

We also asked the girls to note down their thoughts on the day in case you might be able to use them too?

3A 

“I learnt that ice can make rocks bumpy” Ariadne

“I enjoyed using a microscope to see a crystal in a rock" Ariadne

“I thought it was good because the museum is not just about history.  It is about science too.”  Anisa Said

“I learnt that every dinosaur has a prey and a predator” Amelia

“I learnt that dinosaurs’ teeth often show what they eat” Manon

“The Natural History Museum is a big museum and I wonder how they made it.  You name any subject and there will be at least a section about it.” Alex

“I enjoyed going into the Chinese shop whilst it shook like during an earthquake” Alex

“I enjoyed investigating specimens.  I chose a fox.  It was really soft and I touched its ear drum” Neda

3T

“I learnt that you could discover new things that you had never discovered before when you looked really closely at an object” Summer

“I thought it was fun, the way the T-Rex roared was so cool!” Erin

“I think that our trip to the Natural History museum was fun and I learnt a lot about fossils” Julia

“I liked it when we were investigating specimens” Aisha

 
“I learnt that rocks aren’t always what they seem” Brooke

“I enjoyed seeing the mechanical T-Rex and the earthquake in the Japanese supermarket” Sasha

“I really enjoyed our trip and especially liked it when we were dino-scientists” Martha

“I learnt lots of things. One of them was that an Ichthyosaur is not actually a dinosaur!” Isabel

This initiative is a change from last year’s autumn term fundraising event Pink Day, which focused on cancers affecting women - gynecological and breast cancer. Throughout the month, South Hampstead girls and parents have been supporting their teachers’ efforts with sponsorship and on the 30th November, took part in a mufti day with a twist as they dressed like men with many girls and staff wearing fake moustaches. To date the event has raised well over £1000.

Pupils in Years 6 and 7 will participate in the experiments to calculate a value for the earth’s gravity, simultaneously with 2000 pupils from GDST schools across the country. Bean-bags and yo-yos are at the ready!

Science is extremely popular at SHHS. Last year, over 30% of SHHS Sixth Formers  applied to read science at university. Of those sitting A2 physics, over 50% applied to read physics or engineering.

Ava

“The grades tell a story that we’re familiar with from the Olympics,” said Jenny Stephen, Headmistress. “If you take talented and dedicated individuals that aim high and work hard, they will win the gold.”

“We are proud of our girls and thrilled with their results, but education at South Hampstead is about more than exam grades,” said Mrs Stephen. “Our girls are equally outstanding in art, drama, music and sport. They lead rich lives outside the classroom and are mature, happy and balanced young ladies.”

The school saw strong results in a range of subjects, including English Literature, Mathematics, History, Biology, Religious Studies, Art and DT.