Friday 29 November 2024

Headmistress' Introduction

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Staff 

I hope this message finds you well.

This week has been filled with exciting events and activities across the school, showcasing the breadth of opportunities available to our students:

• Throughout the week, House sports Competitions have been in full swing, fostering teamwork, school spirit, and a sense of healthy competition.  Year 12 students have also been sitting their November tests.  These assessments are designed to provide a clear picture of progress so far and to identify areas for targeted support. We’ve encouraged students to view these as an opportunity, rather than a source of worry, but please do speak to Form Tutors or Ms Quesne, the Head of Year, if you have any concern or questions.

• On Monday, 30 Year 12 and 13 students attended a Sociology Conference at Westminster, where they engaged with leading experts and explored contemporary sociological themes.

• On Tuesday, our Year 7 students received their flu vaccinations.  Thank you to all families for your cooperation, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to the School office if you have any concerns or questions.

• On Wednesday, 17 Year 13 Geography students attended a Study Day at The Royal Geographical Society, an invaluable experience as they prepare for their A-Level exams.  They attended talks on Natural Hazards, Changing Places and Globalisation to further the teaching they've had and the day was rounded up with some advice on exam technique.  

• That evening, we held the first of two Year 13 Consultation Evenings, offering families the chance to discuss progress and next steps with teachers.  As above, please also reach out to Form Tutors and Miss Kilkenny, Head of Year, at any point if you have any concerns or additional questions. 

• Today, 35 Year 13 Physics students have set off on an exciting trip to CERN and Geneva, a highlight for any budding scientist.

• Tomorrow, 16 students from Years 10 and 12 will compete in the Bar Mock Trial Competition at Oxford Crown Court, an incredible opportunity for aspiring legal professionals to experience the courtroom first hand.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the parents, carers, students, and staff who make these enriching opportunities possible.  Your support and dedication continue to ensure that AHS is a place where students #AHSWalksTall.

Spanish at AHS

We are continuing our interviews with Heads of Department to help parents get a flavour of our different subject areas.  Today the focus is on Spanish and we have a catch up with Kate Medley, the Head of Spanish.  Please also take this opportunity to look at the subject page for Spanish which can be found on our website.

Can you give us an overview of the Spanish curriculum at AHS?

Our Spanish curriculum is fun, relevant and practical - we want our students to be able to use the language from their very first lesson! Our Y7 curriculum focuses on a holiday in Spain - students learn about famous cities in Spain and also food and drink (very important in Spanish culture!). In Y8, we cover topics which are relevant to our students' lives - family and pets, school, hobbies, daily routine and where they live, then we finish the year with a cross-curricular project on Hispanic art. In Y9, we learn about holidays and what there is to see and do in Madrid, then we spend a whole term focusing on the Spanish-speaking countries and people of Latin America, and end with a project on ‘My life as a teenager’. At GCSE, Y10 are following the new Edexcel specification and Y11 are following the old AQA specification. At A Level, we learn so much more about the world, covering topics such as immigration, racism, young people and politics, feminism, LGBT rights, history, music, art, literature, film… it is pretty much every other subject rolled into one, but done in another language! 

Why do you think this curriculum suits students at AHS?

Our curriculum has always gone above and beyond what is required and I think that our students relish the intellectual challenge; they engage with the lessons and really enjoy all the different activities, songs and games that we do. They can also see the real-world relevance of being able to talk about these topics and use their language skills abroad. Our students are also curious about the world, particularly at A Level, and they ask some great questions!

What are the recent developments in your curriculum and how have you decided on any changes you have made?

Many parents may not be aware of this, but the biggest change recently was the introduction of a new GCSE course in September 2024 for our current Y10 students. This has meant a huge amount of work for everyone in the MFL Department and I would like to publicly thank them all for the amazing job they are doing, with very few available resources. Every year, we review what we teach and look at how we can include new and more topical content and use authentic materials. One of my favourite things about languages is that they are constantly evolving as society changes - there are always new words to learn! For example, in Spanish absolutely everything and everyone has a gender: masculine or feminine; so there is currently a lot of discussion about how to use more inclusive language, such as non-binary pronouns.

How are students assessed in Spanish?

In MFL, we test students on four key skills - listening, reading, speaking and writing. We assess these skills formally in different ways throughout the year, including formative assessments, projects, presentations and videos. However, we also assess informally in every single lesson - every day presents the opportunity to learn something new. We are extremely lucky to have Rosa on our team, who is our native Spanish language tutor; she works with small groups of students to practise their conversation and pronunciation and improve their confidence ready for the speaking exams.

How does the Spanish curriculum prepare our students for life beyond AHS?

Learning a language is not just about memorising vocabulary or conjugating verbs - although those things are important too! It gives our students a whole set of transferable skills, which are in high demand from universities and employers, such as confidence, an excellent ability to communicate clearly and think critically and an open mind and awareness of cultural differences. It is always wonderful to hear from our alumnae who are using their language skills to do amazing things: for example, Hannah G got a 1st in her French and Spanish degree and is now training to be a speech and language therapist; Yasmin W has completed her degree in Geography with Spanish, where she spent a year studying abroad in Salamanca and got a special commendation for her dissertation about the economic and environmental sustainability of the make-up industry in Mexico; Emily F is now studying a masters in translation and Eden H now lives in the Caribbean, teaching English! They are all fantastic examples of how learning a language can take you in all sorts of different and exciting directions. 

What are the features of the Spanish curriculum that you are most proud of?

We have worked hard to make our curriculum more diverse and inclusive - for example, when we talk about families and relationships at GCSE, we now include gay marriage (which was legalised in Spain long before the UK). We have also moved away from a traditional Spain-centric curriculum and make sure that we include all 21 Spanish-speaking countries and their traditions and festivals in some way. We learn about how a variety of Hispanic festivals are celebrated, including ‘el Día de los Muertos’ (Day of the Dead), Christmas and Easter. I am also very proud that Spanish is now the most-studied language at AHS - ¡viva la revolución!

How can parents help their daughter with Spanish work?

Parents don’t need to know a single word of Spanish to be able to help their daughter - for example, you can test them on vocabulary using flashcards or compete against them in a Duolingo friend streak! There are lots more useful resources on your daughter’s Google Classroom. Another more general thing which is incredibly important is encouraging your daughter to take an interest in what is happening around the world and discuss the news and your views and opinions at home. 

What co-curricular opportunities does the Spanish department offer?

Our wonderful Y13 Subject Ambassadors, Isabelle, Georgia and Lucy, run a Spanish Club for KS3 students, where they play games, sing songs and have even decorated biscuits to celebrate ‘el Día de los Muertos’. We also coordinate entries for competitions such as the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, where our students have won lots of prizes. Additionally, we run three very popular and successful trips to Spain each year. Y9 go to Valencia, where they learn about the festival of ‘Las Fallas’ and see where paella originated from. Y10 and Y12 students can participate in an exchange programme with our partner school in Murcia, where they stay with their exchange partner for a week and go to school with them. Y13 have a cultural trip to Madrid, where they see lots of the things we have been learning about, such as Picasso’s hard-hitting painting ‘Guernica’. These trips offer a fantastic opportunity for students to practise their language skills in an authentic context and it is so rewarding to see their sense of satisfaction when they have had a conversation with a genuine Spanish person and been understood! 

What are you reading at the moment?

I always have several books on the go, so what I read depends on my mood. For school, I am reading “Muros de silencio: Represión y resistencia” (Walls of Silence: Repression and Resistance) by Isabel Serrano Durrán, which is about the treatment of women during Franco’s dictatorship. For fun, I am currently on a nostalgia trip reading “Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party” by Michael Cragg. At the top of my to-be-read pile are the latest Percy Jackson and Jacqueline Wilson books, as well as a psychological crime thriller and a guide book to Japan for my next holiday.

Bar Mock Trial

Tomorrow our Bar Mock Trial team (Y10 & Y12) will attend the Oxford heat, competing with 11 other schools from Bucks and Oxfordshire. They have been working very hard to prepare the two cases that they will represent and on Tuesday this week the team received our supporting barrister in school, Mr James Stansfeld. Since they started working with this year's competition cases, the AHS team has had support from Mr Stansfeld, including this week's face-to-face workshop where he provided very valuable feedback to our students after observing their final rehearsals. Whatever the outcome tomorrow, the students have had an amazing experience learning about what practising as a barrister entails. Good luck, AHS team! 

Mrs Gamero

GCHQ-CyberFirst Girls' Competition

25 Year 8 students have taken part in the CyberFirst Girls' Competition, run by GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre. The teams used a range of cyber skills to compete including code cracking, decrypting messages and solving puzzles in the contest which seeks to inspire young women to pursue careers in cyber security. We are incredibly proud of the resilience, dedication and determination that they showed throughout the competition which ran for 10 days during lunchtimes and we wish them luck when we find out the results later this year.

Mrs Bourne

STEM Talk

Thanks so much to Patrick Rennie, president of the UK Mars Society, for an enthralling STEM talk on Wednesday, about the possibilities of living on Mars. He sensibly left loads of time for a plethora of questions at the end, there were so many he kindly agreed to us sending him a further list! 

The next STEM talk is in February after mock season but we are looking forward to welcoming back some AHS alumnae to the Science faculty before that. 

Aylesbury Shops Quiz

Thank you very much to everyone who entered the quiz. We sold 157 entries, raising valuable funds for the Greenpower racing team. All the companies were approached to offer a prize or sponsorship and we received generous prizes from Michael Anthony estate agents, Jordan’s Jewellers and Aylesbury Bullion. Smashing Windows gave a cash donation. 

The overall winning entry was from the Science technicians here at AHS with a score of 43, but to avoid any controversy, I will personally give an extra prize to them. In second place with 38 is Emilia Storey 10W, third place with 36 is Oenone Wood 12K and in fourth place with 34 is Charlie Randall in 10H. I hope you had fun completing the quiz and don’t groan too much when you see some of the answers. 

Mr Sparks

Vacancies

Cover Supervisor - Closing date 9 December at 3.30 pm

Wishing all well for a lovely weekend, and thank you, as ever, for your support.

Marieke Forster