The Summer Holidays Are Here!

As the summer holidays begin the Heads of our schools, the Aldenham Foundation and Dame Alice Owen’s School, reflect on the end of another year.

Aldenham Foundation report from Alex Hems

“Our Open Day in May was well attended and numbers are growing in our Sixth Form. In order to offer more choice to our students at that stage we have decided to launch a new A level course, Sociology, which has proved extremely popular.

The summer term saw the continuation of what has been an exceptional year for boys’ football, with our Under 15 boys winning the English Schools Football Association title, after an exciting final played at West Bromwich Albion stadium. This follows the success of the Under 14 boys who were winners of the Independent Schools Football Association title at the end of last term.

The Foundation celebrated the Coronation on 5 May by inviting the children and staff of St Hilda’s to the Aldenham site where they sang songs together and then shared a picnic on Top Field. Senior School students joined them on the field for lunch. The Heads of the three schools and their Head Boys, Head Girls and Senior Students planted an oak tree to commemorate the occasion. We were delighted that the annual Beer Money ceremony returned to Brewers’ Hall this year, which the Year 9 students very much appreciated.

In the Prep School the formal opening of the new Outdoor Classroom on 18 May was set to coincide with Outdoor Classroom Day. This is a global initiative that recognises the importance of getting children outside and immersed in nature. Parents were invited and all the children took part. The new structure is a valuable addition to the learning environment for our youngest children.”

Dame Alice Owen’s School report from Hannah Nemko

“The summer term always brings the excitement and promise of longer days and warmer weather, of cricket matches and celebratory end of year events. These delights are made all the sweeter as they follow the dark weeks of public examinations.

There were many amazing things going on at school this term from the school musical, Chicago, to the careers information sessions and the success of our Eco-Committee and peer mentoring programme. Dame Alice Owen’s continues to provide enormous opportunities for the growth, leadership and development of our young people.

The Charity and Social Action teams, all of which are student led, have been in overdrive. This term the Charity team organised a Year 7 sleepover at school to raise money for the Turkey - Syria Earthquake Appeal. Students slept, as many of those who had lost their homes had to do, on the school floor to help them understand, a little, of what some people in the world had been going through. Each of the School Houses ran their own Social Action projects this term:

• Clerkenwell are taking action on racism by educating the school about Stephen Lawrence on the 30th anniversary of his murder and raising money for the trust;
• Isledon are raising awareness of the human rights issues suffered by Muslims around the world;
• Hermitage are getting us all talking about Sexual Harassment and Assault, understanding what this is and the actions we need to take to combat it;
• And finally, Goswell will be raising the profile of Mental Health including the ways we can protect our own as well as that of others.”

The Immediate Past Master, Jonathan Neame, attended Visitation Day at the Aldenham Foundation in June to celebrate the end of term and the achievements of the students throughout the year. In July, the Master, James Staughton, was pleased to kick off his year in office by attending Lower School Visitation at Dame Alice Owen’s School, where he addressed the students and awarded prizes, as well as going to the School on the last day of term to present Beer Money to all of the students in a unique, historical ceremony.