We landed at Dulles Airport and our first exciting landmark was none other than The Whitehouse. We had our first American meal followed by an exciting trip to Walmart where, delirious from lack of sleep, everyone ran around the store and came back onto the coach with about a week’s worth of shopping. The next morning we came downstairs sleepy-eyed expecting to find a few types of cereal at breakfast. Instead we got bacon, eggs, muffins and our very own waffle maker! And this was to be the start of many excessive meals…
On the morning of our first full day we visited Arlington Cemetery, where we saw JFK’s grave and the graves of many soldiers from history. We also saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We then continued on to the Franklin D Roosevelt memorial. With his famous quotes and images along the walls we got to see how Roosevelt’s life developed and why he became a memorable president. We then walked around the tidal basin to the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. He stands in front of two mountains to represent the ‘mountain of despair’. Following a great lunch in a “food court”, we visited the Smithsonian Museum of American history which included some really interesting exhibits, including the inaugural dresses of all the First Ladies. Once we’d finished up at the museum, Cathy told us that she’d planned a surprise for us, so we walked across to the park just south of the white house. Helicopters swarmed the sky and tourists swarmed the streets, and then we knew. We were about to catch a glimpse of Barack Obama as he landed on the lawn of the White House. Next we visited the hauntingly personal Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the WW2 memorial and finally the Korean War Memorial.

On Friday morning we travelled to Mount Vernon in Virginia to visit the home of the first American President, George Washington. Megan was allowed to raise the flag as it was her birthday. There was a beautiful view from the house and we even saw George Washington’s teeth! Next we headed to the Capitol Building, which the politics group in particular was really excited about. This iconic building is the home of the United States Congress, the legislative body of the USA containing the House of Representatives and the Senate. We had a tour that for the politics students was like a walk through our textbook. We also visited the Capitol Library, where we viewed exhibitions on various aspects of US history. The last site of the day was the Jefferson memorial, dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an American founding father and 3rd president of the USA. After a long day we all headed back to the hotel where the teachers surprised Megan with a delicious American birthday cake to celebrate her 18th birthday.

On Saturday morning we drove to Philadelphia and visited Independence Hall to see where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the Constitution was debated and adopted. After that, we headed across to see the iconic Liberty Bell. At lunch time, we got a chance to explore Reading Terminal market. There were hundreds of food stalls, including many from the Amish community, and the food was really tasty, but best of all, it was really cheap too. From there we visited Christchurch Chapel and our guide, Neil, gave an interesting speech, raising thought-provoking questions about what identity really means. On the journey up to New York, most of us we slept, but as soon as we could see the New York skyline in the distance there was little that could be done to calm us down. Phil, our driver, managed to drop us right in the centre, and Cathy, our guide, with her trusted light sabre led the way. We were all a little bit too excited as we looked around and took as many pictures as we could. We were all fascinated by the lights, colours, adverts for musicals, and of course the giant moving picture of David Beckham. We then headed into the famous New York Hard Rock Café for dinner. It was the perfect way to end a long day and begin our amazing time in New York City.

It was another early start for us the next morning as we headed down to the Hudson River to board the 9 o’clock boat. Despite most of us wearing about 7 layers, the cold winds were almost painful. We circled Liberty Island, sailed past the Brooklyn Bridge and got wonderful views of the New York skyline. After our cruise, we braved the cold and headed out on foot towards Wall Street and the New York Stock exchange. We had a rather sad day ahead of us, so we braced ourselves as we walked into St. Paul’s church, a church which was a refuge centre for all the volunteers who helped on 9/11. After reading some heart breaking letters from relatives of 9/11 victims we walked towards ground zero, the site of the twin towers, to see the new memorial to those who had died that day. We also visited Three World Trade Centre, where there is a memorial to 11 American Express workers who also lost their lives on 9/11. We then continued on to the Jewish Heritage Museum where our guides talked to us about the treatment of the Jews under Nazi rule and gave us some statistics about the number of Jews left in various countries after WW2.

So after two 9/11 memorials, ground zero and a holocaust museum we were pleased to hear that we would be heading to Broadway to see Rock of Ages that evening. It was an experience to say the least and it definitely got a mixed reaction. We were in stitches all night, but when we turned to look at Ms. Preedy, her face was full of absolute horror throughout the entire evening. Even so, we had a really fun night out and were on a definite high for the rest of the evening.
The next morning, we went to Central Park, where we looked at the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon and the Dakota building where he was shot. We walked down to the lake which was very picturesque in the sunlight so took even more photos. Meanwhile, Cathy and the teachers had to wait around for us all and looked absolutely frozen. We then did a walking tour through the streets of New York and visited the famous toy shop FAO Schwartz where there is a giant piano that you can walk on. Next, we stopped off for a quick tour of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and finally we headed to Grand Central Station for lunch. After lunch we visited the Rockefeller centre, before at last being allowed to go shopping. After exhausting almost every store on East 34th Street, we took the subway to Times Square to do even more shopping before our last night celebrations at Bubba Gump’s. We feasted on fried shrimp, chips and ice cream and everyone was very taken with Keith, the waiter, who seemed to be able to balance hundreds of glasses all at once. After dinner we headed on to the Empire State Building where we braved the icy cold winds at the top to look out over the whole of New York and Manhattan Island, each of us trying to spot the famous landmarks.

Tuesday was a bit emotional as it was our last day in America, so we decided to take a big group photo with Cathy and Phil by the coach. We headed off to the Tenement Museum where we learnt about the ways in which the demographic of lower Manhattan has changed over time. We headed out for lunch at the sea port where we also had time to do some last minute shopping. Many people were distraught to discover that Abercrombie and Fitch was closed due to damage by the hurricane, but on the plus side it meant most of us didn’t leave America bankrupt. Sadly this was our last activity of the trip and we boarded the coach one last time to head to JFK airport in the rain. After getting through security (some with more difficulty than others …) we said an emotional farewell to Cathy and waited for our flight.

But we arrived safe and sound back at school Wednesday lunchtime having had an amazing experience.

Written by Year 12/13 students from Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt and Kennedy groups.

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Our Year 7 representatives have been busy organising a green poem competition, whilst Year 8s have been planning a healthy menu competition, and Year 9s, working on a short story competition. In Key Stage 4, our Year 10 reps have been coming up with an eco-friendly car design and Year 11 have been focusing on researching different eco-schools committees around the world and how they are working to make their schools more eco-friendly. Collectively, we have also looked at the links between the school curriculum and the environment; we were pleased to discover that the subject crops up in everything from Geography to German, which all helps towards increased awareness of the changing world around us. Everything we’ve been working on since the beginning of the school year has come together to allow us to receive Bronze Award status and will we now be working hard towards the Silver Award.

We are preparing for the Summer Term ahead and have already planned our next projects which will hopefully have a more visual presence on the school site. For example, Year 10 are currently in the process of designing a herb garden to be situated around the new dining area and Year 11, have been looking into starting a flower garden in the grounds to attract more wildlife.

Hopefully, in the future, more of you will be aware of the work we do as eco-reps and our work will leave a lasting legacy as our school works to becoming more sustainable. You can also help us as part of the school community by taking part in the organised competitions (with tasty prizes), by taking an interest in the environment and doing your bit at home and school to help our planet. Some suggestions include:

 Turning off the lights when not needed
 Avoiding wasting water
 Recycling everything you can
 Creating wildlife-friendly areas in your gardens
 Investing in reusable bags
 Reusing paper and other materials

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‘Families’ of staff competed in a variety of hilarious activities with the competitive nature of the staff shining through the silliness. Mrs Gouldsworthy and Mrs Kennedy were mums to our naughty schoolboys Mr Bettison and Mr Revitt. They played a game to apply stage make-up to their partners, demonstrated by Ms Stevens and Ms O’Brien. For the ‘mums’ it was made a bit trickier as they were blindfolded first.

Next came ‘Oh, that hurts!’, where our next staff families had to copy first aid head-bandaging techniques ably demonstrated by Miss Meredith on Dr Rajp. Mr Marcetic bandaged his surly teenage daughter, Mr Taylor, and Mrs Neale her cheeky son, Ms Lloyd.

The finale showstopper was a dance choreographed by some very talented sixth form students, Isobel Haydock, Charlotte Rose, Charlotte Jones, Laura Jeskins, Harriet Kinahan, Jenna Williams, and Hollie Cheatle. Their synchronised routine to ‘5,6,7,8’ by Steps was truly professional until two of the dancers were replaced by the enthusiastic but rather less co-ordinated staff! Competitiveness reared its ugly head again as both Mrs Gouldsworthy and Mr Taylor took off their high heels so they could strut their stuff to full effect! Mr Bettison and Mrs Gouldsworthy were judged to have put on the best performance and were duly crowned champions by Ella Jackson in one of her more unusual duties as Head Girl! Everyone put on a fantastic show and they were all our favourites!

So thanks to everyone who took part: the comperes, the staff families, the ‘expert’ judges and models, all the staff and sixth formers who helped to supervise and collect money, and the girls who watched and supported the event with such enthusiasm and good humour! We raised £560 by doing something funny for money and have helped to make a real difference … didn’t we do well!!!

Ms Ryan

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As well as all of year 9, Miss Rollason also took the test herself and set a bench mark score for everyone to try and beat, and although some girls did come close, no one could quite beat her score! The Biology challenge really was a brilliant chance for us to test our knowledge.

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Miss Rollason had asked me a while before if I wanted to take part as a year 12, just for fun, so I naturally had spent far too much time reading the big green biology textbook and taking it a bit too seriously. As the only year twelve in the room, it was slightly daunting to come up against some areas of biology that I had only self-taught, but I managed to pull through it with some luck on my choice of last minute reading, and a few educated guesses. Completing the Olympiad, all of us who participated then had to wait for the results.

Finding out that I had made it through to the second round was an amazing surprise which left me sitting in shock for a good portion of the biology lesson. Again reading the textbook incessantly in an attempt to prepare for the paper, it finally came to the day of the paper. Sitting in the science office, I was faced with a huge question booklet that was slightly scary.

After an hour and a half of pictures of fish, the reproductive lives of plants and being extremely thankful that I had read up on inheritance just before I took the paper, it was finished. I am really excited to find out if I have managed to do well, but I am just glad to have reached the second round! The paper was very challenging, but that is the whole point…

I would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Rollason for entering me in the Olympiad and allowing me to take part in such a brilliant experience.

This is the fourth time we have entered students in this very challenging competition, and the first time a year 12 had been entered. The topics covered include: Animal and Plant reproduction, Ethology, Nerves and Synapses and Genetics to name a few. The girls had to study and understand the full A level syllabus as well as studying other areas not covered by AQA. The competition this year is an online examination lasting one and half hours. The girls did exceptionally well to complete the examination and the results were extremely positive, gaining the highest number of medals to date.

One student, Jessica Climer (Year 12) did so well in fact that she was chosen to go through to the next round with only a handful of other students across the country to compete for only 12 places in the final of the Olympiad. The winners will go through to the International Olympiad.

Well done all!
Miss Rollason

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We were all a little nervous as we piled into the mini bus, because we didn’t have any previous information prepared and we were going to talk about our projects on the spot. When we got there, however, we were greeted kindly before going into an assembly hall where a select group of Broadway students were sitting. During our presentations, the students listened intently as we spoke about how we had got interested, what we had investigated and how we had approached it. Afterwards, the feedback we got was positive and our audience sounded interested in completing a higher project. While we waited for the minibus we were given a tour of the school, which was very attractive and almost twice as big as ours! On our way back to school, while being taunted by the smell of samosas that our driver had bought for us, we reviewed our “adventure” and decided that it had been a successful experience which we were glad we had taken part in.

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This is the excellent outcome of almost a year of individual research and presentation preparation. We began our projects in January last year, collected our data and wrote out reports over the summer, and then presented our results to teachers and classmates in November. It was hard work, but out of it we got vital organisation, research and presentation skills. And obviously, a good grade at the end makes it worth the effort! Ruth Batten 10X
The work of these year 10 students has inspired the new cohort of year 9 students to carry out a project of their own for entry next year, which is overwhelming for the fourth year of offering this qualification.

The remaining year 10 students from this cohort are due to enter their projects in early May.

This year was particularly impressive with three students, Lauren Pilley, Elise de Wildt and Rida Vaquas gaining full marks in their projects. I would like to pass on my congratulations to all the students for their outstanding commitment, organisation, enthusiasm and overwhelming resilience throughout their projects. Very well done!

Miss Rollason

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The end of February saw the regional heats of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Team Mathematics Challenge take place. Our team of Jessica Marshall, India Jane Barry, Kate Pham and Erika Mamalias travelled all the way to Camp Hill Boys(!) to take part. The competition comprises four rounds of collaborative problem-solving activities and there were over twenty teams taking part from all over Birmingham and the West Midlands.

After an interesting and challenging day, I am pleased to announce that the girls achieved a very creditable 3rd place and fin-ished as the top girls’ school overall – well done!

Further Mathematics Conference

The Third Annual Camp Hill Girls Further Mathematics Conference took place on 1st March and delegates from several schools attended. We welcomed visitors from Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Wolverhampton Girls and King Edward VI Handsworth as well as Camp Hill Boys and our own year 12 students.

Dr Chris Sangwin kicked proceedings off with a very interesting talk entitled “How Round is Your Circle?”, all about his re-search into things which roll around like balls but look nothing like them! Dr Ridha, Dr Elena Turitsyna and Dr Jamal Uddin then delivered interesting seminar sessions on a wide range of topics before Dr Chris Good closed the conference with a talk entitled ‘Tying Knots and Knotting Ties’. This talk featured delegates trying desperately to tie lots of different types of tie knots at the end after Dr Good had introduced the mathematics of the process.

My thanks go out to all the contributors, the delegates and their teachers, and especially to Sally Schofield from Birmingham University who helped mastermind the whole thing!

Intermediate Mathematics Challenge

The Intermediate Mathematics Challenge took place in February and the results were excellent as usual. Approximately 230 girls from years 9-11 took part and there were 16 Gold, 50 Silver and 53 Bronze certificates awarded.

10 girls qualified for the International Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo, the follow-on round for the IMC. These are: India Jane Barry, Jessica Marshall, Parisha Blaggan, Daisy O’Connor, Lauren Pilley, Tanzila Mukadam, Tamara Norman, Chloe Guest, Kat Rowland and Lenny Lea. They will be sitting the challenge on pupil review day so best of luck to them and congrat-ulations to all who took part in the challenge!

Senior Team Mathematics Challenge

Having resoundingly defeated Camp Hill Boys and over 20 other schools from around Birmingham and the West Midlands in the regional heat before Christmas, the senior team travelled to London with Mr Taylor to take part in the final of the Senior Team Mathematics Challenge.

The competition comprises several rounds of collaborative problem-solving activities and is extremely competitive to say the least. Our team of Chuyi Yang, Zahra Rumani, Eva Morton and Jo Egan were well prepared and had set themselves a target of getting into the top 50 schools in the country before they set off to the final… Amazingly they came in 28th out of 62 schools – congratulations to them all!

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Our Year 10 pupils, under the guidance of four principal pupils led a series of activities and produced memorable learning materials. This enabled our visiting students – and their teachers – to learn the Spanish names for tasty snacks, to play active memory games based on their new vocabulary, to use our computer software to experiment with their new words and to get a feel for Spanish language and culture. They were delighted to be given personalised stickers for their efforts.

The “Sharks” were excellent pupils and they thoroughly enjoyed the varied activities so carefully prepared by our pupils. Mrs. Johnson was on hand in the Library to witness our young visitors learning languages through IT and then enjoying some refreshments, then Miss Preedy gave each visitor their own special certificate, congratulating them on their progress. These young pupils went back to their school armed with new vocabulary and ideas and later presented what they had learned in their own Spanish school assembly. They were even given a homework task!

A huge thank you to Mr. Marcetic and to his class, who were outstanding hosts. We hope to see more pupils from the Dame Ellen Pinsent School very soon… “¡Hasta la vista!”

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“Vive la France” was a two-person presentation, a play lasting an hour and a half, delivered in French. It included some very impressive circus tricks, occasional translation into English and constant audience interaction. The two characters were called Madeleine and Pierre and the actor and actress played their parts with great enthusiasm!

The tricks were all very well-rehearsed, the most amazing of which was when Pierre rode a unicycle as tall as himself while juggling three large, heavy clubs. When water was sprayed at the whole audience, everybody was in fits of laughter. Not to mention Ms Smallman, who happened to be an unlucky target and got completely soaked!

We all found the play amusing and we learned a few new French words, even though we did not understand every single word… but that is what language learning is all about. Nevertheless, we all really enjoyed it and it was a good experience to immerse ourselves in the French language.

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