Last week during SMSC, all students learnt about the importance of Fitness and why having a healthy active lifestyle is so important. National Fitness Day was on Wednesday 23rd September 2020 and the day is a chance to highlight the role physical activity plays across the UK, helping us raise awareness of its importance in helping us lead healthier and active lifestyles. National Fitness Day is the most active day of the year and the day to celebrate the role that physical activity plays across the UK. It is a day when people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities come together to celebrate the fun of fitness. The day brings the nation together to remind us why it’s good to move, highlighting the role that physical activity plays in helping us lead healthier, happier lives both physically and mentally.
At Presdales we celebrated it over this whole week with a different year group each day joining the PE department and Presdales staff for a walk/jog/run at lunchtime on the field. It was great to see so many students and staff involved! A huge well done to those who joined us for some fitness and R1’s have been given to those who participated. During form time students also completed a form ‘Instagram’ page to promote National Fitness Day – please see the photo below for their fantastic quotes/inspiring pictures displayed in the Sports Hall.
Mrs Dann Head of PE
The UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge took place on Thursday 6th February. 174 girls from Year 9,10 and 11 entered the 1 hour long challenging pencil and paper competition, with problems requiring significant out-of-the-box thinking. Certificates were awarded to the following 75 students:
Hester Peart GOLD Yuxi Chen GOLD Elisenda Henderson GOLD Ruby Cain SILVER Emily Mayes SILVER Vanessa Liu SILVER Iona Dixon SILVER Olivia Reynolds SILVER Alex Crewe SILVER Rebecca Sheffield SILVER Amelia Botting SILVER Evie Reilly SILVER Amelie Anstead SILVER Matilda Moore BRONZE Molly Marriott BRONZE Amelia Green BRONZE Giselle Garrott BRONZE Georgina Waller BRONZE Harriet FowlerNoon BRONZE Isabel O’Reilly BRONZE Amelia Fosher BRONZE Madison Hunter BRONZE Alex Kavanagh BRONZE Lily Woodward BRONZE Verona Richardson BRONZE Rin Mitchell O’Reilly BRONZE
Niharika Jha GOLD Opeyemi Adenekan SILVER Emilia Johnson SILVER Ishara Hettiarachchi SILVER Maeva Leroux SILVER Tabitha Legg SILVER Maggie Bristow SILVER Lotty Hobson SILVER Leah Manning SILVER Gbayike Adekola BRONZE Madeleine Stewart BRONZE Ria Cabbani BRONZE Darcy Chance BRONZE Isobel Souter BRONZE Madeline Robb BRONZE Maisie Pryke BRONZE Elizabeth Brand BRONZE Jodie Austin BRONZE Madeline Fowler Noon BRONZE Bethan Sleath BRONZE Katie Swindell BRONZE Lauren Byrne BRONZE Isobel Foxon BRONZE
Juliette Mckenna GOLD Laura Wilkinson SILVER Evie Martin SILVER Kim Pittaccio SILVER Ella Richardson SILVER Ami Unadkat SILVER Juliette James SILVER Stephanie Moor SILVER Lydia Freeman SILVER Caitlin Flatman SILVER Josie English SILVER Maisie Johnson BRONZE Emily Sheffield BRONZE YuQiong Chen BRONZE Alexis Broad BRONZE Emily Srikantha BRONZE Madeline Parry BRONZE Jasmine Marshall BRONZE Melissa Komodromou BRONZE Hannah Nash BRONZE Holly Coleman BRONZE Matilda Endersbee BRONZE Saoirse Slater BRONZE Grace Cox BRONZE Lucy Sacre BRONZE Ellen Hair BRONZE
In addition, nine girls have been selected to take part in the follow-on round competition called the Grey/Pink Kangaroo. This takes place on the 19th March and we wish them well. High achievers in this may well be invited to Maths Summer schools or rounds.
Hester Peart Juliette Mckenna Niharika Jha Yuxi Chen Elisenda Henderson Laura Wilkinson Evie Martin Kim Pittaccio Ella Richardson
Mrs Rugg-Gunn Head of Maths
Two teams of Year 10 students were accompanied by Mrs Share and Dr Gale to the Year 10 Maths Feast at John Warner School. There were lots of local schools represented and our teams of Isobel, Zoe, Opeyemi, Maeva, Niharika, Emilia, Lotty and Madeline had a great morning of maths which tested problem-solving and teamwork skills.
There were several rounds requiring different knowledge and strategies for success and we were awarded a certificate for high scoring in all the rounds.
The girls worked together brilliantly and supported each other so well to solve some really challenging problems, requiring great resilience. Well done to them all!
Students and staff enjoyed World Book Day at Presdales on Thursday 5 March, with some of the teachers dressing as book characters. Pictured are Mrs Teal as Little Red Riding Hood, Mr Samways as George from “Of Mice and Men” and Miss Turner as Matilda. Miss Jennings also joined in as the Italian writer Dante.
Students had the chance to compete in a literary treasure hunt around the school at lunchtime, answering questions on a range of books from Winnie the Pooh to The Hunger Games. All the answers were numbers and competitors had to add them all together to come up with the solution. Well done to Deborah in Year 13 who was first to the library with the correct answers!
A reminder that the House Creative Writing Competition deadline is on Monday 9 March (extended from Thursday). The task is to write the opening chapter of a mystery story in 800 words or fewer. Choose from the following titles:
The Secret of Annex 263 The Buckingham Palace Mystery The Window Cracked From Side to Side Last Bus to Montgomery The Purple Daffodil The Curious Incident of the Lamp in the Night-Time
The judging panel includes children’s author Alice Hemming, who will be visiting the school on Friday 13 March to give a talk to Year 7 and award the prizes for the competition at our lunchtime awards ceremony.
Ms Hobbs
As part of their GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition specification, our very talented Year 11 students successfully completed their 3 hour practical exam, this half term. This year, the Food Preparation Task themes are based on Traditional British Cuisine and dishes which appeal to active adults. Year 11 have produced a wide range of exciting dishes to fit their chosen task. Staff and visitors lucky enough to taste the food all made extremely positive comments about their exciting dishes and the high standards achieved including: “amazing aromas”, “sophisticated, authentic flavours”, “fantastic, creative presentation” and “delicious, looks very professional”.
Mrs Garcia
On Friday 14th February, 111 girls and 13 teachers left school to head to Leysin in Switzerland. The journey was fine and passed quickly, watching films, chatting and sleeping. We arrived in very good time to sort out our ski fit and chill for the remainder of the day. The weather was a mixture of sun, rain, snow and cloud and but the gorgeous warm conditions on the last day made for an amazing end to the ski trip. We all had such fun – the instructors were all so experienced and knowledgeable and everyone made great progress. We enjoyed all our evening activities too, especially the tobogganing and spa/swimming night. We were all proud of the progress everyone made and for showing great resilience on some very challenging slopes – especially the beginners!!
Mrs Dann and Mrs Share
“I loved the trip and had a fantastic time. Thank you so much to all the teachers who looked after me. I had a wonderful time with my friends.” Student
“I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the staff for taking my daughters on the ski trip! They had an amazing time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves!” Parent
“Thank you for taking such good care of her and we are also very grateful for the effort the staff made, especially the lunch at the top of the Gondola on the last day, she really enjoyed that!” Parent
Tuesday 25th February was a very successful day for the charity committee, raising a total of £97 for the school charity, ‘World Vision’. The day began with Year 9 students making several jugs of pancake batter in their food lesson; then sixth form members of the charity committee helping out at lunchtime to cook the pancakes for the rest of the school. It was a really fun and lively atmosphere, with students from all year groups purchasing their pancakes, with the option of decorating them themselves. The committee would like to say a massive thank you to Mrs Garcia for helping with the buying of ingredients and cooking of the pancakes and Mrs Finch and Mrs Schillachi-Rowland for supporting on the day.
We are currently planning our next Charity events which will include Easter-themed activities and competitions.
Kiera Murphy (Year 13 Charity Committee Member)
Monday 10th February
Our A Level German students were determined to get to the evening performance of ‘The Visit’ at the National Theatre. Storm Dennis and the resulting changes in travel plans involved much sprinting to get to the theatre on time! ‘Der Besuch der alten Dame’ or ‘The Visit’ in English was written by the famous Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt and is one of the A Level set texts. The performance was first class and enabled us all to gain a greater understanding of this thought provoking tragicomedy. An enjoyable and memorable evening was had by all.
Mrs Yates
Year 9 have been studying tectonics in their Geography lessons this term. Here are some of their volcano models, ready for judging and erupting!
Well done everyone!
What do Economists do? Robert Lind enlightens Presdales’ EconomistsOn Thursday 23rd of January, the Years 12 and 13 Economics classes, along with Sixth Form students from a number of local schools, went to Chauncey School. The event was put on by ‘Speakers For Schools’, Founded in 2011 by ITV’s Political Editor, Robert Peston, whose aim is to end educational inequality by giving all young people access to the same prestigious networks available to the top fee-paying schools in the UK. Through talks from today’s influential figures, they are helping level the playing field for young people of all backgrounds.
We listened to the economist Robert Lind (pictured above) who offered us an excellent narrative of his decorated career in business and industry. Lind currently works for the Capital Group, an investment group which manages approximately a fund of $1.87 trillion of working peoples’ investments in the USA. It is one of the biggest of such firms in the US and the world. He talked to us about his career and his involvement in a number of the most significant economic events in recent history. These detailed accounts were fascinating, ranging from his time at the Treasury during Black Wednesday and the events which followed the UK’s withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 to being on the trading floor at RBS when they ran out of money as they heard of the collapse of Lehmann Brothers Bank at the height of the 2008 Financial Crisis. He gave us a valuable insight into these events as well as his own take on the government policies which may have contributed towards, but also helped to rectify, the shock to the UK and world economy. As well as this, we learnt of his time at Anglo-American mining and the after-effects of the slowdown of the Chinese economy in 2016. The talk was particularly engaging due to the fact that we were able to get an insider account of the details of the Banking Crisis which features on our A Level course, as well as the opportunity to hear his brilliant anecdotes, all of which improved our awareness of everything from fiscal policy, the financial sector and the role of the economist in the UK in 2020.
Adam Vithaldas (Year 13)
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Monday 1st to Friday 12th
Year 12 End of Year Exams
Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd
Year 10 Art Exam
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Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
