Issue 12 December 2012 1

Issue 12 December 2012

HEADITORIAL

Dear Parents and

Students,

I sat in on a Year 9 English

class yesterday. They

were doing a session on

media analysis and part

of the lesson involved a

study of the Christmas TV

advert for a large

supermarket chain – the

one where a frazzled

mum manically does

everything to ensure her

family have a perfect

Christmas, including

sitting herself down for

lunch, puppy-like on a

cushion, while everyone

else has a proper chair.

All this to a soundtrack of

a speeded-up Silent

Night!

The girls in the class

engaged in a marvellous

debate about gender

roles and consumerism,

but the advert made me

reflect on how

frenetically busy

everyone is at this time of

year – not least the girls

themselves. During this

fortnight the girls at the

Junior School have

performed in nativity

plays and carol concerts

(royally entertaining

everyone!), our Senior

choirs have sung in carol

concerts, our girls have

been performing in the

hugely popular Peter

Pan, on Tuesday girls

from across the school

will put on a tea party

Music

News

I hope that

you will be

able to join

us for the

Carol

Service at

All Saints’ Hove at 18:00 next

Tuesday. We are getting in

early with our recognition of the

centenary of the birth of

Benjamin Britten with a

performance of his ‘Ceremony

of Carols’. It should be a

fabulous way to start the run-up

to Christmas; the choirs are

singing well and they will be

accompanied throughout by

the harp. Having just attended

a fantastic Junior School

Christmas Concert – many

congratulations to Mrs Roberts

and the girls – I thought I would

gently remind parents of their

responsibilities at the Senior

Carol Service. You will be

required to perform the

congregational carols lustily,

especially when the girls move

on to the descants, otherwise I

may have to keep you all back

for a carol practice after the

service!! There is still time for the

senior girls to get involved in the

forthcoming choir tour to

Prague. If you require a letter

please collect one from me

next week. Finally some sad

news; this week has seen the

death of two musical greats.

Dave Brubeck of ‘Take Five’

fame and Ravi Shankar who

popularised the sitar to the

wider European public through

his work with the Beatles in the

60’s will be greatly missed. It will

be of interest to music students

that neither could read music

and in fact Brubeck was nearly

expelled from college in

California when this ‘failure’

was discovered.

Mr Lloyd

Dance Conference

Last Friday saw the Year 11

GCSE Dancers off up to London

to the Keynote ‘Every Mark

Matters’ conference where our

very own Year 12 dancers had

been asked to perform

exemplar pieces of work from

last year by the Chief Examiner.

All the girls had a really

productive day and were a

credit to the school.

Miss James, Head of Dance

COMPETITIONS FOR ALL

Over Christmas keep those

creative juices flowing with all

the competitions we’re

promoting on the English

Department’s competition

page on the portal: Please click

here.

These include two fantastic

Trust competitions for our 140th

anniversary celebrations: a

creative writing competition

and a competition to make a

short film. The creative writing

competition invites students to

write on any subject or topic,

either fictional or factual,

based around the themes of

‘Celebration’, ‘Girls’,

‘Anniversary’, ‘Birthday’ or

‘Trust’. We will keep you posted

on full details of support next

term for the film making

competition but, in the

meantime, do check out the

portal for the full, inspirational

details of these and other

competitions.

Mrs K. Ashdow

Physics Olympiad

The British Physics Olympiad

(BPhO) aims to encourage the

study of Physics and recognise

excellence in young physicists.

Three of our Year 13 girls have

risen to the challenge and

entered this demanding,

national competition. They

attempted a strenuous and

complex exam paper designed

to highlight the best physics

minds in the country and the

results are in...

Huge congratulations to Meera

Patel who has achieved a

Bronze I award. This places her

within the top 500 students from

a field of over 1800. This is a

massive achievement and

reflects her skill as a real-world

problem solver.

Congratulations also go to

Charlotte Redstone and Yassi

Vaziri who were both awarded

commendations. These girls are

both going to continue their

study of Physics at university

next year and their

participation in this competition

is testament to their keen

interest in the subject.

Well done girls!

Peter Pan cast and crew are

proud to support the important

work of Great Ormond Street. In

addition, last Friday, the girls

and staff from the senior school

dressed as their favourite

character from Peter Pan

boosting the donation to GOSH

by £350.

Next term the Year 9 and 10 Sixth Form Evening scheduled for Thursday 10

th January has been cancelled. This event will now be

replaced by a Year 10 off-timetable day on Thursday 18th

April the focus of which will be the sixth form.

Issue 12 December 2012 2

with entertainment for

over 120 local senior

citizens, girls from both

Junior and Senior choirs

will sing at the BHHS

Carol Service on Tuesday

evening and, finally, the

sixth-formers will entertain

the whole school on

Wednesday with their

own play.

Although all of these

events are great fun,

they involve a huge

amount of work from the

girls and staff and their

parents. Importantly,

too, the money raised by

our busy girls will benefit

Great Ormond Street

Hospital; the Junior

School’s chosen charity,

Back Up, the Royal British

Legion and the Argus

Christmas Appeal. A

wonderful contribution to

the season of goodwill!

I wish you all a very

Happy Christmas and

hope that you find some

peaceful moments

amidst the busy festivities.

Mums (and dads) -

whatever else you do on

Christmas Day – make

sure you have a proper

chair at the lunch table!

Jennifer Smith

Christmas Reading

There is nothing

better than

cozying up in front of a

warm fire and reading a

book over Christmas, so

why not checkout the

book lists on

Mydaughter.co.uk

School Exchange between Brighton and Hove High School and Institut St Lô

This academic year has seen the beginning of what

promises to be a long and successful exchange

between Brighton and Hove High School and l’Institut

St-Lô in Normandy. In October girls from Years 10 to 13

spent 6 days in St-Lô with the French students and

their families, an experience they thoroughly enjoyed.

However daunting it may have seemed before

departure, they soon felt at home, experiencing

family and school life, French culture and of course

trying out their language skills. A visit to the Normandy

beaches brought home to the girls the gravity of war.

The French students have just enjoyed their stay in

sunny Brighton in a festive atmosphere. One of the

highlights of their stay was ice-skating in front of the

Pavilion. They also participated in lessons and

experienced family life.

The main aim of the exchange was to forge long-

lasting links between two schools with a similar ethos.

Having witnessed the warm and easy rapport

amongst the students and the teachers involved,

both in St-Lô and in Brighton, the future looks bright! Mrs B. Zubiena

SPORTS NEWS Brighton and Hove High School Netball Success

Congratulations to the Under 13 Netball team who are through to the Quarter finals of the

Independent Schools Netball Cup. This is a National competition and the team have played

exceptionally well having beaten St Swithuns; Winchester 16 -3. The girls meet Guildford High School in

the next round in January.

Congratulations to the School Netball teams who are all through to the quarter finals of the Sussex

cup.

Their matches will be played next term

Under 13’s Versus St Leonard’s Mayfield

Under 14’s versus Bishop Luffa

Under 15’s versus Warden Park

The Under 13’s also play in the quarter finals of the Independent

Schools National Netball against Guildford

Y8 Inter Form Netball

Congratulations to the

8T A team who won all their matches.

8S came 2nd and 8U 3rd.

However the B team matches will determine the ultimate positions in this competition.

On Wednesday the Sixth Form

got into the festive spirit with

an ice-skating session at the

Royal Pavilion. A really good

time was had by all and, by

the end, everyone's skating

had improved. We look

forward to making this an

annual event.

Miss Fox

Issue 12 December 2012 3

JUNIOR EDITORIAL

Dear Parents,

I was incredibly proud of

the girls at the KS2

Christmas Celebration on

Wednesday evening.

They sang their hearts out

and it was a wonderful

opportunity for our

community to come

together. My great

thanks to Miriam Roberts

for all her hard work

towards this and the girls

themselves!

As there will not be a

Newsletter next week, I

would like to take this

opportunity to wish all

BHHS families a very

merry Christmas and best

wishes for the New Year.

We look forward to

seeing you on Tuesday,

8th January, but as it will

be a New Year and a

New Term, may I remind

parents that all pupils

should have the

regulation school, hats,

gloves and scarves. We

have seen a ‘cocktail ‘of

creations in the

playground, but it would

be nice to get back to

normal.

Best wishes

Sian Cattaneo

NURSERY NEWS

We were so proud of all the girls

in Early Years with their fantastic

performance last Friday

afternoon. Thank you to all the

parents and other family

members and friends who

came to watch and for taking

the time to tell us how much

you enjoyed the play.

We were surprised on Saturday

afternoon to discover we had

been given a half-page news

coverage in The Argus, with

some superb pictures of your

daughters. In the past, we have

been part of a large

supplement featuring schools’

Nativities from all over Sussex, so

to be featured as prominently

was a real bonus.

The photographer took quite a

few photos and any of these

can be ordered direct through

the Argus head office in

Hollingbury, either in person or

by calling 01273 544371 and

quoting the reference number

or school name. To find your

picture on-line go to

theargus.co.uk and click

photos and search for the

appropriate photo reference

number or school name.

RECEPTION NEWS

Baking, building, lacing and

making…. Reception class

have been very busy this week!

We have read the story of the

Elves and the Shoemaker and

carried out some fun activities

together based on the story.

We have written to the Elves,

designed some elf clothes,

been busy in our ‘Shoe-Shop

role play area’ and lastly built a

fantastic Gingerbread house

for Mr and Mrs Shoemaker to

live! Come and have a look.

But no eating the sweeties!!

ELF HAT

PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR ELF

HATS AND DONTATING A £1.00

on Tuesday 18th December for

our Christmas Lunch. This will

replace our Traditional HAT

Parade. (Girls will be required

to wear normal School Uniform

that day).

We hope you will take a look at

the link and help the school

support the Royal Alexandra

Children’s Hospital’s Christmas

Appeal.

FOR ELF HAT IDEAS PLEASE click

HERE

Year 6 Evacuate to

Michelham Priory!

Year 6 had a memorable

journey back in time to learn

about how evacuees from

London were cared for by a

Sussex family living at the Priory.

As well as touring the historic

building and grounds, they

chatted to evacuees about

their wartime experiences, and

returned home with some

’make do and mend’

craftwork. Huge

congratulations to the girls, for

the effort they made to dress in

1930´s high fashion, and for

their excellent behaviour, on a

truly fun day out for all.

NEWSLFLASH THE NEXT YR4 MOMENTUM REHEARSALWILL BE HELD ON MONDAY17TH

DECEMBER 4.00- 5.00 P.M, and then Every Monday until the event.

THURSDAY 10TH January - Yr 3 & Yr 6 Netball Club

FRIDAY 11TH January – Yr3 & 4 Hockey Club

FRIDAY 11TH January – Years 3-6 Competitive Gym Club finishing at 5.00pm

END OF TERM CLOSURE - Remember that it is half day on 19th December – 12.15 for KS1

We were very proud of the girls on Wednesday as they showed their parents how

hard they have been working to prepare for

the Junior School Carol Concert. The soloists sang beautifully, the readers read clearly and

the two choirs pulled out all the stops to perform this year's Christmas songs. Jamie

Todd modelled her sprout costume with pride. This was created by Mrs Hadfield, who

is well known for her wonderful designs. We were treated to an enthusiastic performance,

by all of the girls, of Stella Mohammed-Coleman's winning Christmas song,

"Christmas Is Here", ending with Stella's very touching solo. We are particularly grateful to

the parents who decorated and prepared the church so well, and to Poppy Hyde

who gave up many hours of her time

to come in and play the piano for the choir rehearsals. Thank you to all the

parents who were able to attend the concert and make it such a special

occasion.

CAROL CONCERT

P P : TALES FROM NEVERLAND

This week something rather magical and colourful has been

happening. A fifty-odd strong cast enchanted their audiences

with a fabulous production of ‘Peter Pan’. Full of exciting action,

mad slapstick and even some tender moments – there wasn’t a

dry eye in the house when Tinker Bell nobly drank the poison –

this was a not-to-be missed extravaganza. The pirates were led

by a dashing Captain Hook – all flamboyant red frock coat and

nifty metalware – but they were no match for our Haka-dancing

Red Indians. The mermaids were dazzling in some fantastically

shiny tails and all too eager to release their peckish crocodile on

all and sundry. We shared the Darling children’s journey to

Neverland under the auspices of JM Barrie himself and he

encouraged the audiences to get really involved with all the

traditional booing and hissing. Peter Pan’s question “Do you

believe in fairies” brought the house down with clapping and

stamping as audience and cast united to save Tinker Bell. And

this pantomime didn’t just save Tinker Bell: cast and crew are

proud to support the important work of Great Ormond Street

Hospital through this week’s little bit of Neverland magic.