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Coming Up
Friday 27th
Term Ends, 12.45pm
Contact Us
Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
News from Politics
Year 12 Parliament Trip
Well, that was quite a visit, and, in truth, I am not entirely sure it wasn’t just some crazy dream sequence we all experienced collectively. Previously, as reported in the Head’s update, we have never got beyond the door at No.10 before going on to Parliament, but this time we found ourselves on our trip shaking hands with the PM’s wife and eating our packed lunches on the state dining table.
As well as getting a tour which took in the famous staircase with all the prime ministers’ portraits (which features in ‘Love Actually’) and the Cabinet Room with the feted oval-shaped table, we also had a Q&A session with Mrs Murty and officials (civil servants and ‘spads’) who work for the Prime Minister. We learned a lot.
For example:
- We learned how “Downing Street” got its name. (It was built by Sir George Downing who was a political operator at the time of the English Civil War – siding sometimes with the King and sometimes with Parliament. No.10 is effectively 3 houses joined together by the architect William Kent and gifted to the Prime Minister of the day by the Crown)
- We learned the difference between a ‘spad’ (special advisor) and a civil servant. (Civil servants are neutral, work for any government and don’t change – spads change with the politicians and are not paid for out of taxpayers money)
- We learned that speech writers have to be very adaptable in how they work with PMs (David Cameron always operated person to person and never touched a keyboard whereas it wasn’t uncommon for Gordon Brown to send 100 emails a day)
- We learned that Rishi’s Media spad had a passion for cheerleading when she was young, and
- We also learned that Rishi and Akshata met while they were studying at Stanford University in the States and that he proposed to her on a beach in California where a Scottish bagpiper played.
The trip round Parliament seemed a little more subdued than normal in comparison, although the political aficionados among us spotted that the group in front was being lead round by John McConnell (Jeremy Corbyn’s ex-shadow chancellor). We also subsequently had another Q&A with Lord Aberdare in the parliamentary education unit before returning home at 7pm.
It was a long day!!
House : Creative Writing Competition Winners 2023
Creative Writing Competition
The English Department is delighted to announce the winners of the House Creative Writing Competition. This year, students were invited to write the opening chapter of a detective novel. We really enjoyed reading all the highly inventive and atmospheric narratives involving locked rooms, shadowy villains and ingenious detectives. There were some tough decisions to make and all the entrants are to be congratulated on their thoughtful storytelling.
Year 7: Evie Bowkett (Frank House)
Year 8: Scarlett Victory (Nightingale House)
Year 9: Cecilia Jodeika (Parks House)
Year 10: Joint winners – Madison Scully (Pankhurst House) and Evie Pratt (Frank House)
Year 11: Daisy Reid (Pankhurst House)
Year 12: Joint winners – AJ Lush (Frank House), Rebecca Mansford (Frank House) and Charlie Parker (Frank House)
Staff: Mr Boyter (Nightingale House)
A number of entries were also awarded Highly Commended certificates for their excellent chapters.
Well done to everyone who entered – keep writing!
News from Food Tech
Presdales Afternoon Tea
On Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd May parents, friends and staff were delighted to attend an amazing Afternoon Tea prepared and hosted by our Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition students. It was lovely to welcome visitors into school to share in the student’s success. Working under strict exam conditions the students baked all morning producing delicious breads, cakes and scones. We are delighted to report that our students coped really well working under the intense ‘Bake Off’ pressure. Their freshly baked products were finished and presented to a professional standard along with homemade preserves. The whole group are justly proud of their fantastic results and received extremely positive feedback from our guests on the day for their fabulous food.
Once again a special thank you goes to the Art Department for the loan of the student artwork and to both Mrs S Eyre and Mrs A Wall for setting the lovely scene in our Afternoon Tea room.
Mrs N. Garcia
News from Business
Year 12 Thorpe Park Trip
We took 28 Business students to Thorpe Park this month and they were absolutely brilliant! The students took part in a marketing workshop and were able to get some context to what they have been learning in lessons. After the workshop sessions the students were given some free time to enjoy the rides, which they loved.
Mrs Lawrence and Mr Walker
News from PE
Football
Wednesday 10th May
Congratulations to our Year 7 football team who won the District League beating Broxbourne 4-2 in the final!
The final was the culmination of a series of matches played this year in the district league with Presdales and Broxbourne finishing top of their respective groups. It was a wonderful spectacle, with fantastic skills on display. This shows how much girls football has developed in a short space of time.
The girls played brilliantly, and refused to be intimidated by a noisy Broxbourne support from the Year 7 boys! Presdales started fast and threw everything at Broxbourne in the first 10 mins. After a few near misses, Florence W opened the scoring with a lovely finish. A further goal from Keira G, with a beautifully controlled shot from the edge of the box, extended our lead. Broxbourne pulled a goal back just before half time.
Presdales again started fast in the second half and continued to dominate. Two fantastic goals from Olivia W extended the lead 4-1 before conceding a late goal to finish 4-2. Broxbourne were tough opponents with some excellent players, but great defending as a team kept their chances to a minimum.
The girls ALL played brilliantly. Coaches Players of The Match were Keira Gale and Alek Ivaskevicuite. Well done to all the girls, you are such a talented team!
This was the last competitive match for this school year and caps a very successful season for football at Presdales. I’m looking forward to next year already!
Monday 22nd May
Great performance from our Year 7 footballers who beat St Edmunds 3-1 in a friendly this week. We were short of players so thanks to Sienna Rowley for stepping in at the very last minute!
Presdales attacked relentlessly but could not find the back of the net. The deadlock was broken just before half time by Mia Gilmour who latched onto a through ball and calmly finished.
In the second half, it was the same pattern of attack by Presdales and again lots of near misses, hitting the post and good saves by their goalkeeper. We then went 2-0 ahead with a lovely bit of skill and composed finishing by Mia Storey. Sienna Rowley added a third with a fantastic first time strike into the corner.
St Edmunds came back into it a bit, partly because we had no subs and the girls were starting to tire a bit in the heat. Emma Martyn Stephens made a great save to keep the score at 3-0 but St Eds did manage to score a consolation goal to finish 3-1.
St Eds voted Mia Gilmour as Player of the Match. Coaches Player of The Match was Mia Storey. This was the final football match for Presdales in this school year, so it was nice to end with a win. Well done to all the girls!
Swimming
Well done to our swimmers who competed in the swimming gala at Haileybury last night! Against some tough competition, ‘PresHales’ (Presdales & Richard Hale combined) came 2nd!
The girls were amazing as always and lots of the girls swam up an age category to help out the team. We even had some year 7s swimming up in the senior category beating senior boys and girls which was very impressive!
Rounders
Year 9
Well done to our Year 9 rounders team who showed great effort but lost our first game of the season against Simon Balle 12-9&1/2.
Year 10
Massive CONGRATULATIONS to the Year 10 Rounders team who had an amazing win against Simon Balle – especially as we only had 6 players! Star Player was Georgiana Fowler – batting into the next rounders pitch and superb fielding!!!
Student News
Don’t forget that Presdales PE Department are on Facebook! Please follow them to see our students’ achievements in non-school sporting activities! This month, we have had student successes in Karate, Badminton, Swimming, Football, Athletics, Hockey and Gymnastics!
