Message from the Headteacher

Good morning,

We have reached the end of an exciting and busy term, and I must say I am delighted with the attitudes and commitment to school life from all members of our school community.   

There has been much to celebrate this term, and this newsletter contains many of the highlights, which I will leave for you to read.  However, I will emphasise how pleased I have been to welcome families back into school for so many events this term - the strong sense of an HGS community is alive and well, and is a point of real celebration. 

Our Year 13 students have their mocks after the break, so I wish them all the best with their revision. Please do support them at home in ensuring they take some time to rest over the break; it really is important that the message of a balanced approach to work is re-emphasised at this time.

I would like to thank every family for your support and I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year.  

I look forward to welcoming students back into school on Thursday 5 January.

Take care.

James Crowther

Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Congratulations to all students, now in Year 12, who completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award over the last year. Certificates were given out with their GCSE certificates recently. Worthy recipients were:

Lily Birkett, Ellie Bridden, Lucy Carmichael, Emily Davidson, Lucy Douglass, Daisy Driver, Eliza Ford, Amelia Gittens, Shenaya Hadunpurage, Isabelle Lacorte, Mia Lawrence, Bella Lowne, Amy Pryle, Ines Ross-Smith, Ellen Scott-James, Evie Sheldon, Jemima Seez, Martha Testa, Hana Williams. 

Well done all!

Christmas Food Drive - thank you!

Thank you to everyone who was able to give to our Food Drive this month. It was especially appreciated at this challenging time and with Christmas fast approaching. All the donations were collected by the Letchworth Food Bank, who distributed them to those most in need in Hitchin, Baldock and Letchworth.

HGS Christmas tree wins!

Thank you to all those who voted for our tree at this year's Christmas Tree Festival!

I have loved my first term as Head of Brontë! From cheering on the Years 9 and 10 netball teams in the House League, to the Bebras challenge to the Rainbow Laces tournament celebrating diversity in sport, we have had an excellent term.

Thank you to the whole House for your enthusiasm during our events and assemblies, both in the Main Hall and playing Articulate in our virtual assembly. I have been really proud to see us in a very tight race for reward points, earning us a well deserved 2nd place.

My personal highlight has been our Charity Fortnight event, HGS Got Masked Talent, which raised an astronomical £533.40 for Cancer Research UK! 

We may not have won this term but The House Cup is still within our grasp, so here's to taking part in as many events as we can next term!

Mrs Zamblera, Head of Bronte House

Frank House has had a fantastic start to the year and there is a lot to be celebrated! From students baking delicious goods that Mary Berry herself would be proud of, to playing bingo for charity, we've done it all! The Prefect teams have worked hard throughout the term to organise, lead and support all these House activities and deserve a huge well done. Every single student has had a role in our success this term but there are a few achievements in particular that deserve to be highlighted.

For our first Charity Fortnight, Frank House organised Bingo Bonanza, raising a grand total of £75 for Make A Wish UK. Those students who attended had a fantastic time, and more importantly the money we raised can be used to make a difference. A big thank you to the Sixth Form Prefects who helped run the event.

The Great HGS Bake Off was an opportunity for students to showcase their ‘signature bakes’ and share some delicious treats. Congratulations to Jasleen 7F and Flo 8F who were our star bakers this term, each winning for their year group. Jasleen took it one step further, becoming the overall winner for 2022!

Years 9 and 10 had some tough competition in the House League this term, battling it out in the netball and football finals. Well done to 9F for finishing 5th and 4th, and 10F for finishing 7th and 6th respectively.

Celebrating diversity in sports with Rainbow Laces, and putting their logical thinking to the test in the Senior Maths Challenge, Frank finished 4th in both events. 

Throughout this term Frank students have been raking in the reward points, ending up on top with their behaviour record. This combined with all our other achievements this term have put Frank House 2nd in the House Cup!

Once again, a huge well done to everyone in Frank House. Have a wonderful Christmas break and let's continue to build on our achievements in 2023!

Miss Mills, Head of Frank House

Miss Murch, Head of Rosa House

In KS3 Latin, we have spent this term learning about Caecilius, his family and their life in and ex horto. Year 7 Latin students immersed themselves in the materials on their Chromebooks and have ‘attended’ a Roman dinner party. Year 8 Latin students have got to know Caecilius and his household some more this term, and are now enjoying learning about the ancient Roman theatre. Year 9 Latin students have been learning about the final days of Pompeii, and will soon experience a change of scene as our story moves to Roman Britain. 

Year 7 Ancient Civilisations have enjoyed engaging with the War with Troy story and the new blended learning approach using Chromebooks. They have made some lovely character diary entries, illustrations of new shields for Achilles and cartoon strips of the action.  Year 8 Ancient Civilisations have studied the Persians and are now starting on Ancient Egypt. The students have engaged in some wonderful discussion, demonstrating that they have really understood why the Persian and Egyptian civilisations were so advanced and how they were able to be some of the earliest civilisations in history. Year 9 Ancient Civilisations are continuing their study on the Romans, looking at everyday life in the Republic, including topics such as gladiators, slavery, the baths and chariot racing.

In KS4, Year 10 Latin students have continued to make great progress in their GCSE course in Latin literature and produced great results in their Stage 20 Assessments. Year 10 Ancient History students have made a great start to their GCSE course: they have shown enthusiasm for the topics and have developed discussions about the themes of Ancient Greece and Persia. Year 11 Latin students have all opted to study the Boudica literature module, and will soon finish the prescribed language element of the course. Year 11 Ancient History students have studied the Kings of Rome this term alongside their other unit on Cleopatra.  Year 11 students have all coped well with the mock exams - we wish them all the best with their results!

In Year 12, our Latin and Ancient Civilisation students have established effective working relationships and are engaging wholeheartedly in all the department activities, including mentoring KS4 students, the annual Classics play and running Junior Classics Society. Well done to the Year 13 Latin and Ancient Civilisation students for their ongoing hard work. We continue to be impressed by their professional attitudes to learning and mature approaches.

Classical extracurricular activities are all continuing this year, with KS3 Classics Club, Minimus Junior Latin Club, and Beginners’ Ancient Greek and Advanced Ancient Greek. The Advanced students are studying for their GCSE in Classical Greek, reading the third book of Homer’s Iliad. In Beginners’ Greek we have been progressing rapidly through the story of Basil Batrakhos, and Classics Club have been showing fantastic creativity and exploring different areas of the Ancient World. In Minimus, students from local primary schools have been learning Latin (and communicating in Latin) through stories, games and artwork. We are delighted that the class who started in Year 5 have continued their Latin studies this year with Miss Emanuel, moving on to ‘Minimus Secundus’, plus a new group have taken it up this year with Mrs Coe. Additionally Mrs Rowe is now offering extracurricular Latin GCSE at Hitchin Boys’ School, which has proved a welcome and popular addition.

The HGS Senior Classics Society are working hard on their production of this year's Classics play, 'Persephone', which has been written by two of our Year 13 students, Poppy and Andrew. We have been really impressed with what they have produced and look forward to the production in March.

We also greatly anticipate the return of the annual Classics trip, with our visit to Greece at Easter 2023.  We had an overwhelming response in the Summer term and the 40 successful applicants are very excited about the forthcoming opportunity. Italy 2024 will be launched later in this academic year. We have already enjoyed a very successful trip to the Roman sites of St Albans this year with Year 9 Ancient Civilisations and Latin.

Congratulations to Mrs Coe, who has been invited to present her current research on the use of blended learning in the teaching of Classical literature at the Cambridge University Annual Classical Association Conference in April 2023. 

We welcomed two Classics trainee teachers from Cambridge University into the department this term: Miss Abercromby and Mr Fox. The students appreciated their enthusiasm and interesting activities. We look forward to meeting our new trainee teacher, Miss Mistry, who will be joining us in the New Year.

We wish you all “io Saturnalia!”

Mrs Rowe, Head of Classics

Bebras Computing Challenge 2022

The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students.
It is organised in more than 50 countries and designed to get students all over the world excited about computing. Each participant answers questions that focus on computational and logical thinking.

Congratulations to the following students who came top in their year group: 

Jack Ingham (Year 12)

Emily Lange (Year 11)

Anna Poliakoff (Year 7)

Lena McGuffie (Year 8)

Elizabeth Robson (Year 9)

Izabella Norskov (Year 13)

These students have won a £10 Amazon voucher and the top 10 % across the school will go into the Oxford challenge in January. Students have been emailed if they are in the next challenge.

Work experience at ComputaCenter

Recently, we undertook work experience at ComputaCenter in Hatfield, where we were able to work with HP, BP and Dell Technologies. It was a great opportunity to network with members of the computing community.

Whilst working with HP, our group was tasked with pitching a unique idea about how to promote HP’s latest product from their new company Poly, with the aim of subsidising sales.

At BP, we were presented with their path to NET 0. During this event, we were able to share our ideas about advancing the future of sustainability.

Dell Technologies was our favourite company to work with during this programme, where we were given the chance to lead a small team to present our ideas on what future technologies might exist. It was an insightful week and an amazing experience.

Januja, Year 13

Look out for these DigData courses
coming up in the new year

First Step (Years 7 - 9)

Monday 30 January, 4.30
Who should be the main sponsor of Britain’s Got Talent in 2023? 

Register to attend

Next Step (Years 10 - 13)

Tuesday 31 January, 5.00
ITVX – Ads or No Ads, That is the Question!

Register to attend

Sky Studios visit

On Tuesday 29 November, we went on a trip to Sky Studios in London. It was eye-opening to see a real live studio, putting out content right in front of us. When we arrived, we were taken on a tour and saw the rooms where Sky Sports and Sky News are recorded.

Our main focus of the trip was to create short film trailers in order to gain an understanding of how Sky works. We split into four groups and worked for around 30 minutes to produce our final product. By the time the session was over, we had four trailers that were all very different. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I feel very lucky to have been able to go.

Lola, Year 12

October was Black History Month. During form time, all students carried out research into the contributions made by Black Britons and considered their impact upon British life and culture.

In music, students had the opportunity to examine the origins of Jazz and the Blues and how they link to the African American experience. 

On 6 October we welcomed writer and genealogist Paul Crooks into school. Paul talked about his search for identity growing up in Britain and how he traced his family roots back to Africa at the time of the transatlantic slave trade. 

The talk was rounded off with a question and answer session about Black history and genealogy. Hearing about African history through the story of one person’s family firsthand was a profound and moving experience, which stimulated much subsequent debate.

Mr Hanse, Head of History

GCSE Spanish

Year 10 Spanish students have produced lovely travel blog posts in their books. They demonstrated a lot of creativity and an impressive use of the past and future tenses to discuss their holidays. 

Year 9 French 

Great effort by Year 9 students in creating these interview posters about French scientists. Well done!

The Music department has enjoyed a full and thriving term. The Autumn Concert in November was packed with a variety of high quality musical items showcasing the hard work of the extracurricular ensembles - more than 160 students were involved in all. This was followed by a moving ceremony to mark Remembrance Day, in which one of our Year 7 students played The Last Post. 

The Get Playing workshop for Years 7 and 8 welcomed students to 'have a go' at the cello, bassoon, trombone and euphonium and to sign up for a series of free instrumental lessons. It's not too late to apply! See the flyer below.
                 

More recently, the annual Carol Service told the story of Christmas through the recounting of the nine lessons, interspersed with traditional carols and choral anthems.

I would like to say a huge well done to all students who have passed individual instrumental exams this term, and a big thank you to the hard work and ongoing support of the peripatetic staff.

All students involved in the above have represented the school impeccably and should be very proud of themselves.

We look forward to another busy and enjoyable half-term after Christmas, which will see us host Live from the Hill: a cabaret/gig-style evening providing students with the opportunity to perform, as part of a band, in a duet or solo. Please see the flyer below providing more information on the event and how to get involved.

Merry Christmas,

Miss Atkins, Acting Head of Music 

We have had a great turnout for extracurricular PE clubs this term. Thank you to all students who have come along to these and played in matches, and also a big thank you to parents and carers for their support. The new clubs timetable for the Spring Term will be sent out soon, so please have a look and join a club if you can.

We have a few additional clubs this year for students in Years 10-13 that will carry on next term; these include Fitness Club (using the fitness suite) at lunchtime and after school, and Self Defence. Years 12 and 13 students participated in a three-part series of Self Defence classes with an engaging and experienced instructor, and got a lot out of the sessions. Years 10 and 11 will have the chance to sign up next term - keep an eye out for an email about it.

Trampolining

Students from Years 7-11 competed in the East Region Schools event at Hitchin Boys’ school.

Our Novice gymnasts all performed commendably, with the Years 7 - 8 team finishing 2nd and qualifying for the Zonal round in Leicestershire in January. Both of our Inter teams won their respective age group and now also progress to the Zonal round.

Congratulations to:

1st Eve S. (Y11), 3rd Chloe L. (Y10), 2nd Freya W. (Y9), 5th Izzy W. (Y9), 3rd Rowan S. (Y8), 4th Isobel S. (Y8) - who also qualify for the Zonal round as individuals.

Netball

In the Senior District Netball Tournament, it was fantastic to be able to enter three senior teams! The only match lost in the rounds (against six other schools) was against ourselves. The HGS Year 13 team won against our Year 11s in the semi-final to play against our Year 12s in the final!

Well done to all who played, and a big congratulations to Y12 who became District Champions!

Meanwhile our Years 9 and 10 players have been very committed to Netball Club this term. They have both won three out of four fixtures.

Cross Country 

In the recent District Cross Country Championships we had great individual successes.  Jess M. (Y7) finished 2nd, Sarena S. and Edythe O. (Y8) finished 1st and 2nd respectively, and Fran H. (Y10) finished 3rd. In the Senior girls' race, Abi M., Imogen R. and Kirsten M. (all Y11) took every spot on the podium, finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Our teams also did very well, with Years 7, 8 & 10 and the Seniors finishing 1st. Plagued with injury and illness, Year 9 finished just outside the medals.

Hockey

Years 7 and 8 hockey players have been committed to training this term, and have played really well in their initial games. It has been brilliant to be able to use the Blueharts astro for training, which has prepared them well for their matches. It was great to have four teams out to play against Bedford Greenacre last week, with three wins and a draw. Well done to all who played. We look forward to the tournaments next term!

Football

A massive well done to the Years 7 and 8 footballers who have been training hard all season!

The training has paid off as Year 8 came 1st in the Utilitia Cup and are now through to the area final, where they will be representing Stevenage FC in Peterborough in January. Well done all and good luck!

Congratulations to those who have had individual successes outside of school this term. Thank you for sharing these with us so that we could celebrate them in our end-of-term assemblies. Have a well deserved rest over Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you at clubs in the new year.

Miss Evans and the PE Team

The highlight of this term in Social Sciences has undoubtedly been our visit from Dr Guy Sutton, Director and Founder of Medical Biology Interactive. He ran a Neuroscience 'Brain Day' in school for our Year 13 Psychology students.

Students were involved in a brain dissection and learned about the biology of mental illness and criminal behaviour, forensic psychiatry, and the psychology of terrorism.

They also heard from Dr Sutton about psychological and biosocial theories of crime, the connection between drugs, the brain and crime and the role of the prefrontal cortex and sub-cortical systems.

It was an honour and privilege to learn from such a world-renowned expert. Our students came away looking forward to university even more, and the doors that this will open for them to learn from such inspiring experts. It was a truly magnificent day! 

Mrs Edwards, Head of Social Sciences