highnotes - Highgate School

HIGHNOTES
The Secretary of State
for Education,
The termly newsletter of Highgate School Spring 2014
Michael Gove, visited
us this term, along
with Sir Philip Green
of the Arcadia group,
to launch our joint
venture to help Y12s
from Highgate and its
partner schools
achieve careers in
retail. The MP
described Highgate
as ‘a superb school
with a strong
academic record,
thanks to Adam
Pettitt’s leadership’.
Sir Philip, along with
Topshop COO and
Highgate parent Ian
Grabiner, has been
superbly generous in
establishing the
scheme, which will
offer pupils from
Highgate, the LAE
and our Chrysalis
partner schools, toplevel work experience
with the Arcadia
Group, which owns
Topshop and Wallis
amongst others. Mr
Gove’s praise did not end with Mr Pettitt (who, in
a slightly surreal detour within the speech, was
compared to Kylie Minogue): ‘Students at all the
[partner] schools have already found themselves
benefiting from the great teaching at Highgate … it has been a fantastic example
of the importance of independent schools helping state schools.’
Our Green light
from Arcadia
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
California
dreaming
Two Highgate DT teams are off to the finals of the Vex Robotics competition in
Birmingham in March – and will be given a wild card into the international finals in
California later this year. Playing host to the regional heat on the 19th February, when
17 teams from across the south of England displayed the design and build flair they
have been honing as part of their STEM club lessons, Highgate put up two teams: Error
404 (Y11s Alex Saikia and Thomas Newton) picked up the trophy at the end of the
day. Then our Y12 team, c:/system32 (Omar Hussein, George Ball and Colin
Kpodonu), having been awarded best design for their note book, were also put through
to the nationals on points. Head of DT, Andy Thomson is thrilled: ‘fingers and wires
crossed we could win and get through to the internationals in America. Win or lose, it
will be a great experience for all and it will only build on their passions for becoming
engineers’.
Follow the Highgate robots team on their twitter page: https://twitter.com/HighgateVEX
Striking gold
at the palace
Congratulations to Harry
Kleiman (Y13 SH), who collected
his Gold Duke of Edinburgh
certificate from Prince Edward
recently, in the awe-inspiring
surroundings of the Throne Room
at St James’s Palace.
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
West Side Glory
Highgate’s performance of West Side Story enraptured audiences at RADA’s Jerwood
Vanbrugh Theatre this term. The show starred pupils from years 8 to 13, with standout
performances from lead characters, Maria and Tony, played by Matilda Mills (11SH)
and Cameron Burt (11TL), as well as from Sario Watanabe-Solomon (12FG) as
Bernardo and the Jets’ Riff, played by Thomas Stephens (13WG).
Sophia and Amber’s
campaign reaches Parliament
Two Y12 Heathgate girls have been
hitting the headlines recently, from the
Ham and High to the Times. Sophia
Parvizi-Wayne and Amber Van Dam are
calling for a national ‘Mental Health
Awareness Week’, to ensure that lessons
about eating disorders are made part of
the national curriculum. And now the
pair have been invited to Parliament to
meet MPs on the Mental Health All-Party
Parliamentary Group. Sophia suffered
with anorexia and Amber supported her
through it. ‘Having recovered from the
situation completely, we are both
frustrated with how relatively scarce
preventative measures and information
are’, says Sophia. The campaign has
drawn
support
from exLabour
spin-doctor
Alastair
Campbell,
a sufferer of
depression:
“It’s
fantastic that Sophia and Amber are
putting their heads above the parapet
like this. I think attitudes are changing,
but slowly, and it may well fall to the
next generation to deal with this
properly.” http://epetitions.direct.gov.
uk/petitions/59244
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
Songs of Praise in the newly fabulous Chapel
Highgate’s Chorale choir prepares for their close-up in the BBC recording of the six
semi-finalists in the School Choir of the Year Competition 2014. The programme is
due to air later this Spring. Chapel, which reopened after half term in February, is
glowing in its fully restored beauty and may well steal the show.
Finding terracotta in China
During the winter term, the Mandarin department, joined by Dr Atkinson, Mr Miller
and Miss Gulliford, took a group of 36 pupils to China on tour taking in Beijing, Xi’an,
the Terracotta Warriors and some pandas. Robert Preston, 11MG, was
overwhelmed. ‘One of the most humbling sights I have witnessed is that of the site of
the Terracotta Warriors. To see them lined up, row on row, and to be able to observe
the ongoing archaeological work going on there is truly amazing and my personal
highlight of the trip’. Indeed, he was deeply impressed by the whole experience: ‘It
was everything you could hope a school trip would be. It was exciting, all of us tried
something new, we saw some of the most magnificent sights in the world, we made
new friendships but most of all, every single person on the trip had a great time’.
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
To the Lords for a House meeting
Early in February a group of Y12s and Y13s went to The House of Lords to visit Lord
Redesdale (OC), CEO of the Energy Managers Association. Their tour included the
chamber and the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, which is one of oldest parts of
Parliament and (so legend has it) was once used as stabling for Oliver Cromwell's
horses. Highgate is piloting a schools’ course in energy management which Lord
Redesdale hopes will be rolled out to every school in the country. One of the challenges
is to make a film to be shown at the launch of the Energy Managers Conference in
November. The pupils also hope to take part in two adverts that will showcase energy
management, to be sponsored by Morrisons and Mitchell and Butlers.
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
Holocaust
survivor
visits
Jewish
Circle
Zygmunt (Zigi) Shipper, a holocaust
survivor, visited Highgate’s Jewish Circle
on 13th December 2013 to share his
experiences, speaking of the
dehumanising process of being a Jew in
Poland during the Second World War
and questioning the mentality required to
commit such atrocities.
Despite having lived through
concentration camps, Zigi remains
positive that he has been lucky in his life.
‘I cannot tell you what a wonderful,
privileged life I have had. I have met
almost every Prime Minister and the
Acts of kindness
Queen three times. Hitler did not
succeed’, he continues, ‘we are still here.
He killed six million, but we are still
here.’ He speaks today to warn the
young generation against the dangers of
racism and hatred. When the Holocaust
Educational Trust was established he was
the first to sign up. Our talk was his fifth
that week. ‘We cannot do much about
the past’, he said before he left, ‘but we
can do a lot about the future. It is up to
you young people. Keep asking
questions. Do not hate. I beg of you, do
not give up.’ Lisa Benson, 13QG
Mad Socks Ltd, a company run by the mother of
Highgate pupils Adam, Izzy and Yasmin Rei, raises
money for a variety of charity by selling socks
online. One of the recipients of their beneficence
recently was a group of schoolchildren in Kenya, to
whom Mrs Rei was able to give two items of
second-hand Highgate uniform each.
And in a more local act of giving, pupils from
Highgate spent an afternoon at the Muswell Hill
soup kitchen in December. Rishi Goswami, 7S,
reports: ‘We helped sort out the donations and
wrap presents for the homeless visitors to the
kitchen. It really made us think about how lucky we
are to be so privileged, and how important the
choices we make in life are.’
JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS
The transformation of Cholmeley
The Junior School rebuild is well underway, with pupils currently being taught in
some very elegant temporary accommodation on Senior Field. These images,
taken from the original planning application, show the internal ‘hub’ area with the
proposed library off to the right and an exterior shot. As well as housing all the
Junior School classrooms, the building will contain space for ICT, DT, art, music,
dance, drama and indoor play; whilst outside there will be themed teaching
gardens as well as the usual sports facilities. The school is to be ready for the first
pupils to enter in January 2016.
JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS
magnets and
springs whilst
exploring
properties of
various
materials. Elena
Esdaile (pictured)
was delighted
with the
experience: ‘I
feel really proud
of my fairground
and I love it! It
was a lot of fun
and I put a lot of
effort into it.’
Ruby Rick was
similarly inspired:
‘I thought it was a big challenge but a
very, very fun task and I really
enjoyed it because I love building
things and it’s different from writing
things down.’
Fairgrounds of the future
Pupils in Year 3 have been working
hard on their ‘Dream Fairground’
project, investigating various rides
they might go on or games they might
play at a fair. They incorporated
Jacqueline Harvey meets some fans
Popular children’s author, Jacqueline
Harvey, visited Year 3 recently. Toby
Heywood (3F), describes the event:
‘She introduced her most popular
books: ‘Alice-Miranda’ and ‘Clementine
Rose’. Clementine Rose is about a little
girl who arrives in a basket of bread
pies. The funniest bit is when her very
mean aunt is coming on Friday but
arrives a day early and Clementine
thinks it’s someone else and says to her
“Guess what, auntie’s coming round
and she’s really, really mean!”
Jacqueline use to be a teacher at a
boarding school. I thought the talk was
very entertaining because she had good
stories to share and her books are very
interesting and funny’.
PRE-PREP NEWS
A towering experience
At the end of January, Reception went on a trip to the Tower of London,
linked to a project on castles. The children enjoyed visiting the Crown
Jewels exhibition and were particularly impressed by the Imperial State
Crown. They were delighted to have their photograph taken with a real
Yeoman Warder, but they preferred to call him a 'Beefeater'.
Tied up with strings
At the end of the
Michaelmas term,
all the children
who learn the
violin or cello in
the Pre-Prep
participated in the
String Players’
Concert. The
event was a
festive and funfilled affair and
the children were
rightly proud of
their performance.
SPORT
Netball: Highgate’s under-14A netball side has successfully made it through to
the county finals, to be held at Lady Eleanor Holles school in Hampton on 24th
March. They will be up against Godolphin & Latymer, St Paul’s Girls’ School,
LEH, South Hampstead and North London Collegiate.
Running into the record books
A record ten Highgate runners have
achieved selection for the English
Schools Cross-Country Championships to
be held at Castle Donington in March.
Part of a school contingent of 18 who
braved the mud and rain on Harrow
School's notorious course at the
Middlesex Schools Championships,
Sophia Parvizi-Wayne, Terence Fawden,
Dempster Fawden, Oliver Light, Millie
Davies, Phoebe Littler, Sam Willis, Beth
Belin, Marjolaine Briscoe and Cecily
Turner all managed to book their places
on the coach to Leicester where they will
compete against England's finest junior
distance runners. Harry Kleiman is a
reserve for the team. Sophia won the
U17 girls’ race with ease to be crowned
County Champion for the 3rd year
running. She will be looking to add
another international vest to her
collection having won gold at the track
and field equivalent over 3000m last
July. This season's success is due in no
small part to the now well-established
links with local club Highgate Harriers
and in particular to the sterling work of
head coach Ben Pochee.
SPORT
Football: The 1st team had an excellent season, playing 18
matches of which they won 12 and lost 8. The season included
wins over Charterhouse, Eton, Westminster and Harrow.
Hockey: the girls’ 1st
team are enjoying a good
season, captained ably by
Ellie Thomas (12WG) with
Chloe Grabiner (13SG)
proving a particularly
useful player. U15 player,
Cecilia Gran (10MG,
pictured inset) is to be
congratulated on hearing
earlier this term that she
has been selected for the
prestigious Swifts British
Schools Hockey U17
team and tour to Belgium
and Holland this April.
St Michael deals with Satan
in the newly restored South
Chapel window
Highgate School, North Road, London N6 4AY
020 8347 3564
www.highgateschool.org.uk