MICHAELMAS END OF TERM NEWSLETTER December 2015
CHARITY UPDATE It has been another busy term for the Deputy Head Girls for Charity—read on for their review of the term, and the progress of the School Charity so far… As Deputy Head Girls Charities we select three charities for the whole school to vote on. After our democratic vote, the Sohana Research Fund was the most popular by far. We were lucky enough to hear Sohana’s mother Sharmila speak in a recent assembly. This charity is dedicated to finding a cure for a severe skin condition called EB. Children with this condition are known as butterfly children, so as part of our fundraising we have had events such as butterfly face painting and 'Pin the Smile on the Butterfly', both of which proved to be very successful! You can find more information about the charity and the vital work they do to try and find a cure for this disease at www.sohanaresearchfund.org Other previous events this term include our 'Four Weeks Of Christmas', including a Pizza Raffle, where girls can buy raffle tickets where the winning ticket qualifies for a pizza lunch for the girl's whole form, which they can enjoy in their form room. This has definitely triggered excitement, having raised a record breaking £110 in just one lunchtime, out of the two weeks selling. Prior to this, we had a very successful Halloween themed lucky dip, raising £150.
CHARITY UPDATE Cont’d Bucket collections at other events, such as the Gym show, Distant Shores and Sweet Charity have been great for boosting our totals with nearly £300 from Sweet Charity performances and £240 from the Gym Show. Mr Spain, Head of Photography, and his A Level students also ran a Staff Photography Competition, which raised a further £150 for the charity. There were, as always, some spectacular entries, and we all congratulate the winners Ms Gunn and Mrs Ralph, and runners up Mrs Newson (Cadogan House), Miss Brooks and Mr Elder. Their entries can be seen here Mrs Ralph, Winner, Landscapes
Miss Brooks, third place, open category
Ms Gunn, Winner, Open category
Mr Elder, third place, landscape
Mrs Newson, second place, landscape
Miss Brooks, second place, open
OTHER CHARITY NEWS Whilst the school has been mainly supporting the Sohana Research Fund, there have also been notable examples of girls using their own initiative to raise funds for other charities‌.
Congratulations to Zara in Year 6 who organised a collection of clothing in aid of Syrian refugees, and thank you to all of you who kindly donated to the cause.
Congratulations also go to Millie in Year 7 who has masterminded a collection of pairs of socks for a charity called Give Feet A Fighting Chance. www.thekcp.org/give-feet-a-fightingchance Children in Kenya suffer from a painful foot disease called Tungiasis and this charity helps cure them, and uses donated shoes and socks. At last count at the end of term, we had collected over 200 pairs to which will be flown out with the charity’s volunteers in the Spring!
CHARITY UPDATE Cont’d We also had a very successful stall at the Christmas Fair, which involved us selling freshly made pancakes with a variety of toppings. In addition to this, we had butterfly face painting and henna, which were also very popular. Thank you to all the RMS families who have supported our charity events so far this year—we will keep you updated about forthcoming events, and about the amounts we raise. Sarah and Anoushka, Deputy Head Girls for Charity
This term we have raised a fantastic £3834 for the Sohana Research Fund and look forward to adding to this through a range of activities next term
COMENIUS PROJECT UPDATE Late in November, we received the sad news that our Danish Partner School, Selsmoseskolen, near Copenhagen had suffered a catastrophic fire which destroyed a whole building. To show that we at RMS were thinking of the members of the Selsmosekolen school community, girls in Years 7,8, 9 and 10 worked collaboratively in their form groups to design and create cards and posters which Mrs Georgellis will be taking with her when she visits the school later this month. Mrs Bloomfield Proud, Comenius Project Co—ordinator, said “I would like to thank the forms for all their efforts with this task at a time when compassion is our Value of the Month”
COMENIUS PROJECT UPDATE
SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROJECT Christmas Creative Challenge!!! Would your daughter/ward like to see their design on the cover of the RMS Planner for next year? If so, read on… Brief: To design the front cover of the Senior School Planner 2016-17, using the nine School Values as inspiration for the design—the Values should also feature in the design itself—girls should think about what the values mean, and how these can be represented visually. The Nine School Values are:
Commitment
Tolerance
Perseverance
Courage to Challenge Oneself
Participation
Compassion
Responsibility
Respect
Honesty
Suggested media include: collage, photos, iPad apps, Photoshop, drawings, paintings, textiles... or any combination of the above! The size is the same as the current 2015-16 Planner Deadline: All entries should be handed to Sophie, Values Prefect, or to Mrs Bloomfield Proud by Friday 15th January 2016!
Good luck!
MACHIO COMPETITION
SPORTS NEWS It has been another busy term for all the RMS sports teams, with successes in hockey, netball, swimming, gymnastics, cross country and many more sports. As we are midway through the season for many sports, a full round up of all our successes and achievements will be circulated next term. Some recent success in the last weeks of term include for our trampolining team. On 29th November, a number of girls competed at the Eastern Region Trampoline Competition at Hitchin Boys School. This was a hugely competitive event, with over 100 participants. Huge congratulations to Elena, Miranda, Natasha and Emma who all performed exceptionally well in the individual event and finished 4th, 5th, 9th and 13th respectively. The same four girls came together as the RMS A Team to compete in the team event, where they finished third, being narrowly pipped to second place by just 0.3 points. The B Team, comprised of Beatrice, Caitlin H, Charlotte and Freya also performed very well, and Freya finished 14th in the individual event. In the Senior event, Caitlin achieved one of the highest scores all day across all the age groups and went on to finish 9th out of over 40 entrants. Unfortunately for Elena, only the top three progress to the next round, so she very narrowly missed out on qualifying as did the A team (as only the top two teams progress). That said, the girls performed brilliantly and should be very proud of their achievements, and also the way they supported each other throughout what was a very long day.
Other results from last week… Netball RMS vs St Helens Year 9 A Team lost 21—16 RMS vs St Albans High Year 8 A Team lost 32—7 Year 8 B team won 17—8 RMS vs Watford Girls Year 7 A Team won 41—4 Hockey RMS vs Watford Girls Year 9 won 2—0 MVP Katie B
COMMUNITY NEWS
Chorleywood and Gerrards Cross bookshops are looking for a Marketing and Events Intern for a full-time, paid position for sixth months. The role is to run the shops’ social media and communications initiatives, maintain the website and assist the organisation of their many author events. The Candidate will be someone who
Has an interest in working in marketing and/or events management
Is a passionate book lover
Is able to work both individually and as part of a team
Is an outgoing person with the ability to interact with the public
For more information about the role, click here
RISE Studios are a local, independent Performing Arts school, which has been running in the area for the last ten years. Classes take place at Rickmansworth School on Fridays from 4-5.30pm for 4-6 years and from 4.30-7.30pm for 6-18 years. Ballet, Modern, Tap, Street and Hip Hop also available. For more information, please see the website www.Rise-studios.com, email Claire on Claire@rise-studios.com or call 01923 218626. Free trial class (subject to availability).
COMING NEXT TERM….. Making Contact with the International Space Station…! At some point between the 8th and 12th February, RMS will be contacting the International Space Station and speaking to Captain Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to live on board the ISS. RMS is one of just ten schools nationwide selected for this honour. We will host a direct link up with the ISS during a two-day space related workshop designed to inspire students and staff alike about STEM subjects. Students from across all year groups will be included in these workshops In a 10-minute window when the ISS will be over the UK, an amateur radio contact will be established with Major Peake, and students will be able to ask him questions about his life and work on board the ISS. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) will work with us to teach this girls about amateur radio What is the International Space Station (ISS)? The ISS is a man-made satellite which orbits the Earth almost 16 orbits of the Earth every day! It was assembled in space after the launch of the first section in 1998. It is 100m long and can be seen from the ground as it flies over in the early morning or late evening. It has a crew of between 3 and 7 Astronauts and has been continuously habited by crew since 2nd November 2000. In December 2015 Tim Peake will arrive on-board to begin 6 months of scientific research. More detail on the ISS can be found at NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html What does the ISS do? It is a microgravity research laboratory where astronauts carry our experiments in Biology, Physics, Astronomy and Meteorology. Tim Peake’s mission aims to explore human behaviour and performance in extreme environments, for example the effect that living in a microgravity environment has on our eyes.
COMING NEXT TERM….. What will we do at RMS to celebrate Tim Peake’s mission? The girls will be involved a number of activities which will take place over two days in the lead up to our planned contact with the ISS...
Girls in Cadogan House will study and create images and models of our solar system
Girls in Years 7 to 9 can enter an essay com petition called “The Journey to Becoming an Astronaut”
Girls in Years 10 and 11 will study the environment on the ISS including activities related to the re-use of the air, the different between boiling points, radiation effects on the eyes, how the ISS filters any impurities in air, and how spacesuits are designed to cope with differences in pressure.
Girls in Years 12 and 13 will investigate Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
There will be a House competition to grow the seeds that Major Peake will be growing on the ISS, and make a comparison of the results
We will also be running a staff and student Photography Challenge…
But of course, all RMS students will come to The Great Hall to witness first-hand our radio and video link to the International Space Station. Some girls will also have the opportunity to ask Tim Peake a question about his scientific research projects while he is orbiting the Earth from Space! MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW EARLY NEXT TERM!
FORMS NEWS A Message from your FORMS Committee FORMS have had an exciting fundraising year in 2015 and we would like to thank very much all that have helped in any way at any of our events. As you can appreciate events only happen with the support network of the School, families and pupils of RMS. We are looking forward to working with you all again next year, so that we can raise the extra funds to benefit our girls education, experiences and fun whilst at school. A report from our Chair, Fiona Gratte will be issued shortly so that you can see just where your girls have benefitted on past spends and how our fundraising efforts have worked this year. So it remains for us all at FORMS to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Reminder regarding Second Hand Uniform next term From next week onwards, the School’s Second Hand Uniform room (in its new home, next door to Ruspini House) will be now open every Friday (8.00-9.00am except for exeat weekends where we will open 3.00-4.00pm to accommodate boarding parents) Forthcoming dates are as follows: DATE
DAY
TIME
08/01/2016 15/01/2016 22/01/2016 29/01/2016 05/02/2016
Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday
8.00-9.00am 8.00-9.00am 8.00-9.00am 3.00-4.00pm 8.00-9.00am
School Note
exeat
FORTHCOMING EVENTS Next Term’s Events at a Glance… Here are just a few important forthcoming events next term—for our full calendar, click www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk/media/calendar. Further details about events will be sent out nearer the time. Tuesday 5th January (5.00—7.00pm) Wednesday 6th January Wednesday 13th January Thursday 28th January Friday 29th —Sunday 31st January Saturday 30th January Tuesday 2nd February Wednesday 3rd February Friday 5th February Monday 8th February Monday 8th—Friday 12th February Tuesday 9th—Thursday 11th February Friday 12th February Friday 12th—Sunday 21 February Saturday 13th—Tuesday 16th February Friday 26th February Wednesday 2nd March Thursday 3rd March Friday 11th—Sunday 13th March Saturday 12th March Sunday 13th March Monday 14th March Friday 18th—Sunday 20th March Tuesday 22nd March Thursday 24th March
Boarders Return Term Starts Cake Sale for School Charity Non Uniform Day Exeat Weekend Year 11 At Home Year 10 Holocaust Memorial Day Year 12 Rivers Day Year 9 Options Evening Rush Hour Concert Life Skills Evening RMS Make Contact with ISS/Space Week “The Wizard of Oz” (KS3 Musical) Year 9 At Home HALF TERM Textiles Trip to Barcelona Harrow International Exchange departs Community Arts Tea Party Non uniform Day (World Book Day) Exeat Weekend Harrow International Exchange returns FORMS Quiz Night FORMS AGM Life Skills Evening Model United Nations to Haileybury Spring Concert END OF TERM (2.45pm Senior School, 2.30pm Cadogan House)