On Friday 8th November, Presdales and Chauncy School students will be collaborating with Ware Poets in an amazing opportunity to meet one of Britain’s leading poets, Imtiaz Dharker. She has won the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry, been featured on Desert Island Discs and her work is on the National Curriculum. That same evening, Imtiaz will also be performing at Ware Southern Maltings in an event that’s open to everyone. The first half of the evening is a friendly open mic session and young people are especially welcome to read their poems. Tickets are free to under 19s, otherwise £6. Please see https://southernmaltings.co.uk/events/an-evening-with-imtiaz-dharker/ for more information.
15 Presdales Students from Years 9-13 had an opportunity to visit Bayfordbury Observatory.
Student review for the Bayfordbury Observatory
Starting with the one hour talk on a variety of astrophysical phenomena (leaving out the safety briefing as entertaining as it was), despite it being just over an hour in length we found it very interesting and engaging, firstly because we genuinely have a passion for physics and astrophysics, and the fact that the presenter (Calum) had a one of a kind personality that boosted the attractiveness of the whole experience. Since we were both the only Sixth formers attending we were able to answer a variety of questions put forward to us, which added to the value of it all. Additionally there were a few extra astrophysical concepts such as “the great attractor” and our surrounding galaxies that we did not know much about, and some that we did know about but needed a nice refresher on (the parsec for example). Although the planetarium room was perhaps a little too small for the sheer number of us, we still got to see a multitude of solar (and beyond) objects situated in the celestial sphere, and familiarise ourselves with the constellations, guided by Millie.
The final part of the visit was in our opinion the greatest: the observatory’s telescopes. Unfortunately the weather did not permit any observations, on the other hand watching the large structure of the optical telescopes move so freely above our heads and again, with the entertainment of Calum, made it an enjoyable experience. To briefly conclude, the trip was certainly worth our time and has opened our eyes to studying at Hertfordshire University, and any opportunity to visit again, perhaps in more depth (and with better seeing conditions!), would be taken as soon as we could. Thank you for your time.
Sam Dimes and Lydia Botting
The Art department had a very successful Year 11 print workshop on 15th October. The students showed enthusiasm, effort and excellent motivation throughout the whole day. They developed their knowledge and understanding of printmaking and expanded upon their portfolio’s. Below is a selection of some of their wonderful Mono and Gelli prints.
Well done Year 11!
Year 12 have been exploring the theme Mechanical/Botanical a fusion of the manmade and natural world through a series of mixed media workshops. During term 1 Year 12 set up an installation to photograph and draw inspiration from. The following work shows their experimentation with pencil , oil pastels , charcoal , Bleach ,Inks and Card relief .We are currently working on large A1 mixed media studies and concertina sketchbook making.
The work shows their exciting journey of learning new skills and improving on existing ones.
Mrs Page & Mrs Harmer
The PE Department celebrated Black History Month by watching a video of the remarkable journey of Rebeca Andrade, a Brazilian gymnast that achieved her dream, with incredible achievements and results, including 6 Olympic medals, 4 of which she achieved in Paris 2024, with a gold medal in the individual floor final! The students heard about the challenges she has faced growing up, showing her resilience as an individual in walking 2 hours each way to training sessions when her mother couldn’t afford a bus ticket and moving away at the age of 10 to train professionally in another state. The students were then asked to write a letter to Rebeca explaining how she has inspired them. Please see some photos of the letters written!
Well done to the Year 8 netball teams who recently played against Simon Balle! The ‘blue’ team won 18-15 and the ‘red’ team unfortunately lost 2-1. POTM for the blue team was Daphne Faber and POTM for the red team was Skye Martin.
14th October
17th October
Strong performance from our U15s in the second round of the National Cup winning 6-1 against Forest School. Presdales enjoyed the bulk of possession against a capable opponent and scored 3 goals of the highest quality in each half. Coaches POTM was Ava McManus who scored a hat-trick in a brilliant performance. Also, special mention to Ruby Unwin-Richardson who played her first match in goal for Presdales U15s and made some fantastic saves. Well done to all the girls!
Well done to the U15s football team who won 8-2 against Simon Balle in the first round of the County Cup. This was a dominant performance with the girls playing some lovely flowing football. Joint player of the match today goes to Lily McMenamin who scored a hat-trick and Lily Feast who scored a brace. Both girls performed brilliantly today. Well done to all the girls!
Dominant performance from our U14s football team against Reach Free in the County Cup today, winning 5-0. The game was played on a 9 a side pitch which made the space very tight and crowded. This made it difficult for the girls to play their normal game, however they showed their quality to win the match comfortably. Reach Free voted Ava McManus POTM which was well deserved. Coaches PoM is Lola Wood who played a great game in the centre of defence. Well done to all the girls!
Presdales School Musical – Bugsy MaloneYear 7 and 8 Sign Up – Well Done to all that have signed up in Years 7 and 8, you will receive an invitation to a google classroom page where the rehearsal schedule will be posted. Please check this for your rehearsal dates as you will not be required every rehearsal.
Year 9 Auditions – Monday 4th November – 3.35-5pm in the School Hall
Good preparation for auditions would be to watch ‘Bugsy Malone’ which is available on ITV+ and consider which of the following you would like to audition for.
Any questions, please speak with Miss Mack or Mrs Hardiman in Drama.
Thank you to the Schools Parent Association for awarding Drama with funding to upgrade our lighting equipment in the Drama Studio this year! We are very grateful for your generosity, all students studying Drama will benefit from this improved provision! Thank you to all the parents who support the PA at school events, it does make a real positive impact on our students.
On Friday 11th October, all Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Drama students went to New Wimbledon Theatre to see a production of ‘Come From Away’! The production takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. The students were really impressed with the production and thought the multi-rolling of characters played by a small cast was very cleverly done. The production celebrates the good in humankind and did feel very uplifting and inspiring, leaving some of our students in tears at the end. Students were lucky to meet many cast members as our coach was right by the stage door and some even hopped aboard to speak to us! The students were absolutely exemplary and very patient with the long coach journey’s, thank your for making the trip an enjoyable experience for all. A special thanks to Mr Soltysik and Miss Lee for helping to escort the students safely.
Miss Mack and Mrs Hardiman Drama Department
On Monday 21st October, Year 12 A Level Drama and Theatre students performed to our Year 10 GCSE class as part of their first performance assessment for a Devised Drama Mock exam. The students production was inspired by a script extract from ‘Girls Like That’ by Evan Placey, the students then created their own performance that did have a clear education focus of online safety. The performance was also inspired by their learning of Splendid Theatre style and Frantic Assembly physical Theatre style that they have been taught in class workshops with their teachers.
Post performance the A Level led a Q&A session to gain feedback for their written coursework portfolio that they will finalise post performance.
Thank you to Year 10 who gave very insightful feedback to the class, we hope you enjoyed the performance.
Miss Mack and Mrs Hardiman Drama Department
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Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
