Our Spring magazine takes a look back on this term at Waldegrave, covering all aspects of Waldegrave life from around the school to destination trips, visits pupil achievements and our community fundraisers.
2 0 2 4 - 2 0 2 5 S P R I NG T E RM
WALDEGRAVE SCHOOL MAGAZINE
ENJOY ACHIEVE EMPOWER
CONTENTS Pankhurst House Captains
03 04
WELCOME
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS STUDENT
11
Eliot House Captains
ACHIEVEMENTS DESTINATIONS International trips for pupils this spring AROUND THE SCHOOL AROUND THE SIXTH FORM Exciting school trips for pupils this spring TRIPS
19
25
Franklin House Captains
30
32
Seacole House Captains
38
PERFORMING ARTS
In this edition of our school magazine I hope you enjoy reading about our extremely busy term, which has provided opportunities for students to have fun, develop their talents, extend their learning and reflect on important issues. In January all of our Year 9 students visited Richmond Synagogue to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, not only hearing personal stories but also taking part in workshops to reflect more widely upon issues of discrimination. We have encouraged students to find
confidence using their own voices. In March we hosted the Richmond borough Final of the Jack Petchey Speak Out competition and our participants in the Poetry by Heart competition were filmed as part of a documentary film. Students have taken part in many sporting fixtures across a range of sports including football, netball, indoor cricket, rugby and basketball. Students did particularly well in basketball and are the Borough Champions at U13 and U15. The U14 cricket team were also successful in the borough competition and have progressed to the Middlesex finals. Well done to them al! Our stand out trips this term included the Year 10 ski trip to Austria during half term, with students enjoying the adrenaline of the slopes. In March our A level French students had a wonderful trip to Paris, practising their language skills and absorbing the Parisian culture. Our talented performers treated us to a wonderful production of Bugsy Malone in collaboration with Hampton School full of sparkle and sass, while this week the hall was jam-packed for the Live Lounge. The eclectic programme included the students’ own compositions, Vivaldi and Taylor Swift. It was very enjoyable. We have ended the term today with our annual Easter Bonnet Parade, a much loved Waldegrave tradition. The students' creativity and imagination brought great joy to all involved. Finally, we are saying goodbye to two of our longest serving members of staff Mrs Bamford and Ms Burnell, both of whom are retiring after 25 years working at Waldegrave. We would like to thank them for all they have done to support the Waldegrave community over the years. I know they will both be greatly missed by students, parents and staff alike.
Waldegrave’s Bake off Challenge Following a tradition started in XXXX the Spring Term
with impressive flavours, light sponge and technical skills on show with the decorations. Miss Tongue joined the bakers and said how much she enjoyed chatting to them and was impressed by how well they all worked
brought with it the Great Waldegrave Bake Off! This year’s challenge was for pupils to make 24 cupcakes using two different flavoured batters and a surprise filling. This was a challenge that pupils rose to with aplomb. Small groups of two or three students volunteered to represent their form in the baking competition and each week a Year group would get their turn at whisking up a storm in the food tech classroom. Year 11 were the first to have a stab at the cupcake challenge,
together. Standout flavours from Year 11 were biscoff and banana, apple crumble and chocolate and salted caramel. The following week Year 10 had their turn to compete for the title of bake off champion. As ever the competition was fierce and the cakes absolutely delicious, with two fantastic raspberry
focused flavour mixes and a very surprising crunchy centre in the biscoff and coffee cupcakes! At the end of January Year 9 stepped up with some of the most creative flavour combinations seen so far in the competition. There was a spectacular pairing of matcha, vanilla, strawberry
and thyme, as well as delicious apple and cinnamon.
The beginning of February saw Year 8 take on the cupcake challenge, with a delicious array of fruity flavours this week and again the judges struggled to pick a winner. Finally Year 7 donned their aprons despite half the year having not begun their Food and Nutrition rotation yet! They impressed with their skills and lovely
flavours including chocolate orange, biscoff and vanilla and also a zingy lemon and lime. All the year groups made the challenge of judging very enjoyable if somewhat difficult! Teachers were seen rushing to food tech each Friday break time to get a chance to taste some of the competing cupcakes. A huge well done to all who took part!
Bake off Challenge Winners:
7EEL: Lemon and lime
8FLE: Strawberry and matcha
9SAN: Matcha, strawberry and vanilla
10PGO: Raspberry and lemon
11PRE: Biscoff and banana
On Friday 24th of January, a small group of Year 13s travelled to London South Bank University with Mr Allen, Head of Science, to spend the day inside their science labs and learn about the technology they use there. This trip was a celebration of winning the Imperial College London’s Global Health prize, in which we designed a research poster focusing on the diagnosis of tuberculosis in displaced people. When we arrived we met Dr Suela Kellici, a professor in renewable energy, who alongside two postdoctoral scientists, guided us throughout the day. We first observed Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) which is a technique used to obtain an
infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid of a gas. Gracie and I even
and produced spectra of molecules such as glucose, acetone and aromatic compounds. I found it really interesting to see real- life applications of loaded the FTIR ourselves
techniques that we learn about in class. We were then given a tour of the labs, and learnt about some of the research that they do at the university, including applications of carbon nanodots to identify trace levels of toxic metals in water. We also saw a demonstration on the unique
properties of liquid nitrogen, with a sponge submerged in the solutions coming out brittle, snaping in two with
little pressure. We all found this very exciting. Perhaps my favourite part of the day was getting to use a scanning electron microscope to view graphene, titanium aluminium carbide, and my hair! All specimens were first gold plated, then were placed into the microscope that was electronically controlled to produce 3D, high magnification images. I was allowed to manipulate the images on the computer, and saw the components and structural layers of my hair. I thought this was extremely interesting and fun. I particularly enjoyed getting to see the tertiary structures that we learn about in Biology in real life. To finish off the day, we got to look inside their library, which was large and filled with many types of books and media. Dr Kellici also told us LSBU was the first university in the UK to allow a woman to study engineering, and she ended up graduating first in her class. We all found this very inspiring. We then headed to a room that acted as a vacuum, meaning no waves could get in or out. We all took turns in the room and saw that once we were inside, we could not hear anything from the outside or get any phone reception . We were told that if you stayed there for 45 minutes, you could hear your own blood being pumped around your body, which we thought was very cool. Anvi O’S, 13JMN
Waldegrave cracks up for Comic Relief
On Friday March 21st pupils at Waldegrave ditched their uniforms and wore something red to celebrate Comiv Relief’s Red Nose Day. Mr Doan also managed a competition for the cheesiest joke, with each class choosing their favourites submitted across their year group. The winning jokes were recorded being read out by the teachers and shown at afternoon tutor time (and posted on social media for eternity!). Well done to classes: 7EEL, 8FRR, 9SAN, 10ERU, 11PRE and 12TRO for their winning jokes. See video here
Why did the M&M go to Waldegrave School? Because it wanted to be a Smartie
Simba was moving too slow. So, I told him to Mufasa!
What did the cheese say when it looked in the mirror? Hallo-mi !
How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it.
Easter Bonnet Parade Bonnet Parade
Year 7 and 8 wowed us with their creative designs and ideas at Waldegrave’s annual Easter Bonnet Parade - well done to everyone who took part, the bonnets were spegg-tacular! This traditional event always bring a smile and is an eggscelent way to end the Spring Term! Congratulations to our winners: Year 7: Annie B, Emilia B, Sansia B (Happy
Birthday!), Marianne M, Primrose M, Nina E, Tara M, Erika C and Hannah L Year 8: Arya K, Sharvi A and Daisy G Special mentions for effort to Year 8 pupils Ameera F-H, Nikki C, Quince, Lila, Theophila and Constance.
Student Achievements
Jasmine has taken part in a number of cross country events recently - from coming 17th out of over 200 girls in the London Youth Games run, winning the Richmond Borough under 15s event and coming 4th in the Middlesex under 15 girls event. She also ran in the English School Cross Country Championships this March coming 127 out of nearly 400 competitors. th Incredible work - keep it up Jasmine! JASMINE G,10PGU
EMMA T, 9SAN
Well done to Emma who passed her Royal Academy of Dance exam and achieved a Grade 5 high merit. Dance contributes to the learner’s all-round development from self-
expression, to mental resilience. This is a wonderful achievement!
ROSE B, 7FLY
Rose’s short story, ‘A Night out in Russia’, about dancing, was shortlisted in the Arts Richmond Young Writer’s Festival. She was invited to attend the awards ceremony in March and her work will appear in the printed anthology of the shortlisted pieces from across the borough. Keep on writing Rose!
Student Achievements
FRANCESCA M, 7PFO Congratulations to Francesca who has achieved a 100 runs milestone with Parkrun (on Christmas Day!), managing to complete all of these in different locations. This has taken commitment and resilience to complete and she is only the 98th Park Runner to have achieved this. We are looking forward to hearing about some of the fantastic locations she has run in and reporting back when she achieves 150!
This term our Miss Fordy has been supporting students across Years 7 and 8 to take part in a fantastic screen writing competition, 'Screen Your Story'. Pupils wrote a 1,000 word short story on a theme of their choosing and three lucky pupils. Jessica F, 8FFR, Luluah TD, 7PCO and Nika D, 7FLY have been shortlisted to be published in an anthology of the works selected by the judges, 'Stories from the Young'. The girls will all be invited along with their parents to attend the Gala night to collect their certificates, meet other budding young writers and find out which story has been selected to be made into a film! We wish them a fun evening and good luck! JESSICA F, LULUAH TD & NIKA D, Y 7 & 8
Student Achievements This term our student’s taking their music, dance and drama exams have seen extraordinary results! Well done to you all for putting in so much dedication to your passions. PERFORMING ARTS EXAMS
Maisy B - Grade 8 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Rosa B-B - Grade 8 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Eleanor O - Grade 8 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Neuza M - Grade 8 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Emily C - Grade 7 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Sophia R - Grade 7 LCM Musical Theatre MERIT Isobel L - Grade 6 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Daisy K - Grade 5 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Jemima L - Grade 4 LCM Musical Theatre DISTINCTION Mia B - Guitar Grade 1 DISTINCTION Lily F - Guitar Grade 2 DISTINCTION Keira E - Guitar Grade 2 DISTINCTION Nina C - GuitarGrade 4 DISTINCTION Fleur B - Guitar Grade 3 DISTINCTION Seth H - Guitar Grade 8 DISTINCTION Mathilda G - Ballet Grade 4 DISTINCTION Emma T - Ballet Grade 5 - HIGH MERIT Camila K - Trinity Singing Grade 4 - HIGH MERIT
If you would like to include your achievements in next term’s School Magazine please send the details to Mrs Coleman via marketing@waldegravesch.org and copy in the relevant subject teacher. We would love to receive your photos too!
Arts Richmond YOung WRiters’ FestivAL
Arts Richmond runs their Young Writers Festiva each year with hundreds of young people from across the borough entering their short stories, poems and articles to be considered by the judges. This year a number of Waldegrave pupils entered but only one, Rose B (7FLY) was shortlisted, meaning she received an invitation to the gala event where the winners would be announced and her story would be included in an anthology of all the shortlisted works.
Rose loves writing and has always made up stories of her own, she is also an active member of our journalism club, despite having only joined the school this year! Her story was about a ballerina and was based in Russia.
The Arts Richmond Young Writers Festival Gala event took place on Sunday 23 March and was a very exciting day for Rose. While she did not win the top prize, she met a lot of other young writers and enjoyed the performances on the day. We wish Rose the best of luck with her creative writing into the future! rd
A night out in Russia I watched as the snow fell in small droplets, like icy tears. It was as if St Petersburg was covered in a thick blanket of white, powdery crystals. I saw the thousands of carriages crowded around The Kremlin Ballet Theatre as small groups of about what everyone had told me six months earlier. “She can’t do it,” they said. “She’s not strong enough.” I felt a chill in my stomach as I remembered the night it all went wrong, the night everyone stopped believing in me. It was a night just like this one, full of chatter and excited dancers. I leapt out on to the stage, the lights blinding me as I pirouetted like a tornado. But on the last turn of my final move, the devilishly difficult horses neighed and whinnied impatiently. People from all over the world greeted dear friends with a hug or kiss on the cheek. As I peeked through the red velvet curtains, I noticed that the reception room was packed as
fouetté, I fell. It was all a blur to me. When I asked Madame Lilia what happened, she said that I had tumbled from the stage and fallen unconscious. “I was so scared for you,” she said. The memory of that night made me feel sick, especially when I remembered being shoved in the tiny carriage taking me to the hospital. I shivered when I thought of the pain in my legs and a longing to be on stage again, not watching everyone else dance. Suddenly, I knew what to do. I snuck out of bed, wrapped in my nightgown with a candle in one hand and my ballet slippers in the other. Then, I slipped out of the huge, oak doors, took one look at the lake in front of me and was reminded of that terrible night. We had performed “Swan Lake”, and I remembered the beautiful mere in the background. Then I played the famous waltz in my head and danced my steps from the night it all went wrong. Except, this time, I finished it.
everyone filed into the main theatre. There were dimly lit lamps lighting up the room. The walls were covered in painted roses as red as apples. Backstage, dancers were chattering about their roles, excited about staying up late. I felt my heart beating in my throat as the butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Finally, the lights turned down and the audience fell silent. The curtain began to rise… As I stepped on the stage, I closed my eyes, and the memories came flooding back. My first steps, when I danced in the kitchen. The ballet show I went to, oh how my legs ached to join the dancers on stage and piroutte along. When I left the stage, my teacher, Madame Lilia, asked me how I felt. “Wonderful,” said I. “So did I darling,” she said “so did I.” As I lay in bed that night, I thought
SKI trip 2025
Our Waldegrave school ski trip was a week we will never forget. With closer friendships, new found skills and long lasting memories, it truly was an amazing experience. We highly recommend it! We started the week with a 15 hour coach ride. Despite what you may think, it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience and we can confidently say that friendships were tested and a lot of popcorn was eaten.
The days following consisted of delicious breakfasts, a day of hard but fun skiing followed by apres ski activities for everyone. Skiing lessons for all abilities started at 9 am, running until 3.30 pm. The lessons were led by experienced instructors, who helped us improve technique, confidence and control on the slopes. They were all very friendly and helpful. Though we were in one of the higher groups, we believe that by the end of the week, everyone had made significant progress and learned key skills such as turning, stopping, and navigating different types of terrain. Aside from skiing, the trip included many enjoyable activities. In the
evenings, we had a great night of competitive bowling, a ride on the alpine rollercoaster,
and a trip to explore the local area of Salzburg where we could try traditional
food, and experience the unique atmosphere of a mountain city.
SKI trip 2025
Aside from the organised activities, the trip created a
sense of community among all of us. We had lots of fun playing different games together in our free time, many of which ended in slight disputes amongst the competitive groups! The best part of the trip was the combination of learning, adventure, and spending time with friends. The thrill of skiing, the breathtaking scenery, and the fun activities made it a trip to remember. It was an incredible experience that not only improved our skiing
SKI trip 2025
skills but also created lasting memories and stronger friendships.
SKI trip 2025
Nanne VBV 10FWD and Imogen S 10STH
WALDEGRAVE IN PARIS! BY LUKE R, 13AMZ We celebrated our arrival in Paris with a trip to the Dior Museum. The beautifully designed exhibition took us through the life of Christian Dior, his (real-life!) designs displayed in rooms constructed to resemble dark forests or pastel gardens, a to-scale recreation of his atelier, his office, and his models’
We then arrived at the Assemblée Nationale a few minutes after our scheduled time and were told that we would not be let in, but could try again in an hour. After filling our time in the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries, we tried again and were let in for an amazing tour of the French Parliament and the history of each of its rooms, conducted entirely in French. Our lateness in fact turned out to be a stroke of luck; at the time we’d originally planned, there were no meetings actively happening, but by coming back an hour later, our visit coincided with the 3:00 Parliament meeting. This meant that we were able to sit in on a whole ten minutes of an actual French Parliament meeting on drug trafficking. This was truly a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity - thank you so much to Mr Bharadia and Ms Summers for making it possible!
changing room, and an actual live demonstration of a Dior bag being assembled. It was an unforgettable experience that was breath-taking enough to revive my five-year-old self’s dreams of becoming a fashion designer. The next morning, the Opéra Garnier, a true feat of Neo-Baroque architecture with its Corinthian columns, dark statues, golden chandeliers and plush red seats, seemed to constantly open into new corridors and sections like a Russian doll of beautiful rooms.
We were the last people allowed into the Musée Orangerie, so aside from our group, there were only four or five other people in the museum. Monet had intended his artworks to be experienced in silence, and standing in front of a completely undisturbed stretch of his water lilies, I felt entirely immersed in the deep blues, pale pinks, and flower- strewn waters of his garden. This, overall quite lucky, day was finished with a trip to Montmartre, where Mr Bharadia, Ameiyah, Leia and I walked up to the Sacre Coeur while the others took the cable car. The view, the rainy cobbles of Montmartre at night, and the rich beef bourguignon that awaited me at the top were most certainly worth it. As for Saturday, many of the displays in the Immigration Museum felt deeply pertinent to the course, as us Year 13s are currently studying the theme of immigration, but there were also countless points of view and parts of the exhibit that I had never considered in depth before. The exhibition both developed my understanding of the A Level course and provided me with a deeper understanding of culture, immigration, and French history in general (something I found very exciting as a History student!) Equally fascinating was our next stop, the Père Lachaise cemetery, where we saw the graves of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Frederic Chopin, before a beautiful panoramic view of Paris at the
Tour Montparnasse and our delicious creperie dinner. We finished off the trip in what I would call the perfect way, traversing the older neighbourhood of Le Marais and the LGBT and Jewish neighbourhoods of Paris, before a self-indulgent shopping segment in Les Halles. I didn’t quite want to leave, and we are all so incredibly grateful to Mr Bharadia and Ms Summers for planning and taking all 13 of us on such a broad, enriching, and beautiful trip full of experiences that I will never forget! Merci beaucoup!
Holocaust Memorial Day
This January Year 9 pupils participated in an event at
“I think the thing that struck me most was when he said that if we held a minutes’ silence for every victim that died it would last 11 years, and that is practically my whole life.” Holly H, 9
Richmond United Synagogue to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Holocaust Memorial Day encourages the remembrance of the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. We also commemorate the millions more people killed through the Nazi persecution of other groups and the more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. It takes place each year on 27 January, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Pupils travelled to Richmond United Synagogue to learn about common values of citizenship, mutual respect and acceptance of diversity. They watched video footage to help pupils understand what happened in the Hollocaust, listened to a talk from children of survivors and took part in a workshop about
the Nuremburg laws. The candle lighting ceremony was a poignant reflection point for everyone who attended. All the pupils also wrote a card to give to the speaker with their response to the talk. 2025 is a particularly special year as it marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and 30th anniversary of the Bosnian genocide.
On both the Monday and Wednesday of the week beginning 10th March, two GCSE history classes set off for London to see the old operating theatre. The old operating theatre used to be a part of Old St Thomas’ hospital, but when the hospital was moved to make way for the very same railway we travelled in on, the theatre was left untouched as a reminder of surgical history. It is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe for female patients. Situated in the attic of an early eighteenth century church, the place we visited consisted of the operating theatre itself and a museum full of fascinating historical artifacts. The Old Operating Theatre Y10 History trip
We were led straight into the main room where we were given an explanation of the history of the theatre and the operations performed there. We even had a student volunteer to do a live demonstration! The second part of the tour involved us splitting into groups and finding the object on a card we were given and learning as much as we could about it. The museum itself was full of fascinating objects, and my group was tasked with finding a drawing of Florence Nightingale. I found out that the first ever school for nursing was founded by her in Old St Thomas hospital in 1860 with 15 students. We presented all that we had learned to the rest of the group and I learnt all about medicine used during the war, treatments stored in the apothecary and looked at the remains of a woman who was used as a learning model. Overall, I found the trip to be an interesting, fun and enjoyable experience. I felt that it really boosted my understanding of the development of medicine through time by seeing a real life place that reflected what we had learnt about in class. It gave us the opportunity to see a subject in practice, which we had only ever written about before.
Meg S, 10EJO
GUILDHALL CAREERS FAIR CAREERS TRIP
On Tuesday 4 February students from Year 9 gathered at school ahead of their trip into London to visit the London Careers Festival, Guildhall 2025. The rip was arrange to help pupils begin to prepare for post-school life in the world of work, supporting them in developing their knowledge of the working world and career skills. Pupils travelled with their teachers by train, underground and then walked the short distance form Bank Station to Guildhall in central London. At the fair students attended live careers talks, interactive workshops and took part in activities which would help them understand what areas they might have an interest in working in. There was a huge range of employers in attendance and the Year 9s took part with gusto, entering competitions and even trying on uniforms!
CAREERS TRIP CULTURALLY SPEAKING
We had an amazing school trip to the Transport Museum in Acton. The day began with a fascinating talk from the engineers, who answered our questions about why they became engineers and what they like most about engineering. We then went on a tour of the museum, exploring old train parts and After the tour, we had the chance to get creative and design our own train station. It was a fun and educational experience that gave us a deeper understanding of how engineering shapes our world. The second part of this careers event took place in school the next day with a motivational talk and workshop to help with our confidence and public speaking. When I was told I would be doing a learning about their history. It was incredible to see how transport technology has evolved over time. speech in front of 30 people at the end of the day, I didn’t believe I could do it but with all of my peers and our workshop coach encouraging me, I felt able to do it and found the confidence to do it well. This event on public speaking helped all of us achieve a big fear of ours and I know it will help us in the future.
Connie W, 9EMU and Natalia P, 9SAN
This term our Year 11 pupils have been busy with mock exams, projects and trips to support their coursework, improve techniques and boost understanding of core texts for their end of year exams. Design and technology pupils spent a day getting creative and putting their ideas into action as they worked on developing prototypes in support of their GCSE portfolios. PE students who needed extra credits in an additional sport got the chance to learn a new skill by scaling up the walls at White Spider Climbing centre. Those studying art for GCSE went on an inspiring trip to Tate Britain where over 500 years of British art and culture is represented, helping them to come up with ideas for their exam theme of ‘Gathering’. Year 11 also attended a cinema screening of the acclaimed West End production of Macbeth by David Tennant, to help bring to life this core text for their English GCSE. We wish them all the best in their preparations ahead of the Summer term and hope they get some rest in amongst all the revision over the Easter break! AROUND THE SCHOOL: GCSE PREPARATIONS GET UNDERWAY
Images from Regional finals at Waldegrave School
JACK PETCHEY- SPEAK OUT CHALLENGE The Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge regional final was hosted by Waldegrave School on Thursday, 13th of March. Everyone taking part in the event was amazing, from Israel Oladunjoye’s long speech to Isabel Edwards’ short concise yet touching presentation. For me, one speech really took the spotlight and shone out for the simple topic chosen: reading. She had said that her reason for choosing this was simply because she loves to read. During her two minute long speech she highlighted her key message: that people who genuinely love to read don’t read for the aesthetic or to gain supposed intelligence,, people read because they love to read and they need a way to escape reality, not because they are depressed or sad, just simply because they like it and you need an outlet. Her unique choice of topic helped her achieve second place and was loved by the audience. Her speech was full of jokes yet had a sense of importance and most importantly she didn’t rush herself while speaking, which all made an important impact towards the audience.
Diva M 8PIR
On Thursday 6 March a group of Year 12 Modern Language students took part in SCOOP! a workshop where students come together as teams to create a newspaper front page while working in another language. Waldegrave had pupils working in French and German. The teams had to work on different aspects of creating a front page including negotiating and placing adverts, designing the page layout, researching articles and writing up their work. This was all done in the context of a newsroom, with deadlines, testing their language skills in a modern-day work context. The resulting work was fantastic (see the results over the following pages) and all the teams had very close results. AROUND THE SCHOOL: SCOOP COMPETITION
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SCOOP - FRONT PAGE
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SCOOP - FRONT PAGE
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SCOOP - FRONT PAGE
SCOOP - FRONT PAGE
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AROUND THE SIXTH FORM: EXTERNAL TALKS
During our Spring term, Waldegrave has hosted a fantastic variety of external speakers to help inform and broaden the perspectives of our sixth formers. The highlights of the term included James Peterson, mental health advocate, offering advice on resilience and managing stress. This was followed by two talks about working in government; Chris Wright spoke about his experience in leading government departments and at No. 10 Downing Street, while Lucy Owen gave a broader perspective of local and national government job opportunities. Students were also treated to a very interesting talk from Marion Clarke, Head of Forensic Social Work at West London NHS Trust and Broadmoor Hospital. She spoke about social work and the intersection between mental health, criminal justice systems and the law. We also held talks with HSBC and Deloitte about student finances ahead of University and with Samsung about the skills required to get onto careers programs in FTSE 100 companies. We ended the term with a talk from Tim Marshall, British journalist, author, and broadcaster, specialising in foreign affairs and international diplomacy.
Music trips to put a Spring in your step
This January, on only our second day back after the Christmas break, a lucky group of 34 choir students attended Hansel and Gretel at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House. The pupils, from across Years 8 to 13, watched this family Christmas production as a belated way of celebrating the choir’s hard work. In a fantastic effort by teachers and pupils they had managed to fit in a tour and two concerts during the Autumn Term. Pupils enjoyed the trip enormously, from the extravagant backdrops, and costumes to the wonderful singing. In addition, longer standing members of the Chamber Choir remembered singing the children’s chorus from this opera with the Richmond Orchestra two years ago! “Yesterday, when I watched the Hansel and Gretel opera I felt as if I was in the fairytale. There were moments when I was scared for the character, and times when I was super excited of what's to come. It was truly an amazing experience.” Lila N, 8EBH Later this term it was the Year 9's turn, this time for some opera in English as they attended The Marriage of Figaro at the ENO. This was a wonderful opportunity for them to enjoy Mozart’s music at the height of his powers.
PERFORMING ARTS: A JAM PACKED SPRING TERM
The Performing Arts team at Waldegrave has kept students on their toes this term with new plays, exciting homework, practice and performance and many trips too. We began the term with auditions for the joint production of Bugsy Malone with Hampton Boys School - this was a great success and after only a few weeks of after school rehearsals a number of our pupils really enjoyed the experience of performing in this show. Our Year 7s learned what life was like in Victorian England as a maid while studying The Lottie Project. This involved a lot of research and fun role-playing in their lessons. Later in the term these pupils went on to study a Midsummer night’s Dream and again got creative with their homework, creating collages and paintings. Year 9 took part in a Theatre in Education project learning about make up for stage. They got the face paints and make-up out to create their own characters. Students were also treated to a very interesting talk by Dr Chris Tarrant, Senior Lecturer in Music at Newcastle University about Development of the Symphony. There is lots already planned for next term to keep those brain cells engaged!
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Royal Holloway University offers a taste of Music
In February our Year 11 and 12 Music students were whisked off in our minibus for a taster day at Royal Holloway University to see what it would be like to study music at university. They started with a whistle-stop tour of the campus checking out the halls of residence, subject areas, canteen and the all important Student’s Union!
They learned about the UCAS process for applying for music at university and also were lucky enough to listen to a concert by current students to see what would be expected of them. The day was topped off with an interesting lecture before returning back to real life at Waldegrave.
LIVE LOUNGE This term’s Live Lounge showcasing the talent of Waldegrave’s music pupils took place on Thursday 2nd of April. As usual a large number of students auditioned to take part and as the standard was so high it was really difficult to select those to perform at the event. A range of styles were shared with family and friends in the audience, from Vivaldi to Taylor Swift! The performers should be congratulated also for sharing with us some of their own compositions which we simply fantastic. Mr Page made a lovely atmosphere in the hall with his lighting skills, and the Performing Arts prefects made sure that the whole evening went smoothly with their front of house and stage management teams.
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