Do you have old clothes lying around at home? Wouldn’t you love to update your wardrobe and support a good cause in the process? We are four Hasmonean sixth form students collaborating with Gift to raise money for Chai Cancer Care. We will be running a charity shop in school where we will sell preloved clothes that have been donated by Hasmonean students. You can help us by bringing in all of those clothes that have been curled up in the back of your wardrobe aching to be picked up and worn again. Give them a new life and also receive the reward of buying unique and affordable, new pieces for your own closet!

Chai is a charity that is very close to our hearts and in this project we look to raise money for home support, BRCA (breast cancer), image resource therapy, and finally Chai in schools. We would appreciate it if clothes could be brought into school between the 6-18th of March to the HIPE office. We will then proceed to sell the clothes from the 27-31st of March. Students will be able to pay using cash and card. We can’t wait to see you there!

Ellie Marantz. Shani Levy, Sophia Alexander-Passe and Talya Sacks

Year 11 Girls – Globe Theatre Tour

A group of Year 11 girls attended a tour of the Globe Theatre to develop their study of Macbeth. The girls learned that plays were performed in the afternoon with natural light and that there wasn’t any scenery. This meant that the words of the play often had to convey the context – the time of day, the location etc. They got to understand where the witches would have come from (down below the stage) as opposed to the ghost of Banquo which would have come from the heavens – with the stage ceiling painted accordingly. The actor who ran the tour and workshop spoke about the difference between a modern theatre where lights go down and Elizabethan/Stuart theatre where the actors can see and use their audience as part of the play whether as the army being sent to battle or as a trusted friend with the delivery of a soliloquy.

The girls asked some interesting questions about the theatre itself in terms of G-dliness – one noticed that Roman G-ds are painted around the top of the stage which wasn’t very Christian. They also explored the contradiction of witches and Christianity.

The workshop explored the concept of power and interpersonal relationships of characters. They also looked at meaning and the interpretation of an excerpt from Act 1 Scene 7. It was a great way for them to explore the text and learn some of the subtleties of the structure and interpretation as well as giving the girls confidence to interpreting the meaning of a text themselves.

The girls were all very engaged and enjoyed the experience. It certainly helped to bring the play to life!

Thank you to Mrs Bolsom for organising the event, and to Mrs Laurence and Mrs Brodie for accompanying the girls.

 

Sara Benaim.
The Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, arguably a highlight of the Year 10 Hasmonean English calendar, was held in Whitefield School and featured students from all over Barnet. It was judged by a panel of experts from the communication and public speaking fields, including representatives from local government and BAFTA. Hasmonean Girls, coached by Pippa Jacobson have convincingly won this prestigious competition at regional and national levels. After an engaging evening, full of inspirational public speaking, Sara Benaim’s powerful, enigmatic and dramatically delivered speech on phone addiction was rewarded by her well-deserved victory. “I was never in any doubt that Sara’s talents would be recognised and lead to her winning this award.’ said Miss Cunningham, Sara’s English teacher. Sara was presented with a prize and a certificate of recognition for her win and will now go through for a possible place in the Grand Final as our regional representative. Sara has shown that public speaking is a real opportunity for our students to share their voices with the world and it was clear from the screams and cheers from the audience when she was announced as Barnet’s winner, that her win will inspire other young people to Speak Out!

The grant money that was won by the three girls below is being put towards financing an environmental project and ‘Happy Puzzle’ resources for our SEND students.

Gila G in Year 8 was awarded for her positive attitude to facing challenges, hard work raising money for Tzedakah and showing kindness to others.
Maayan M in Year 8 was awarded because she is kind to everyone and helps people when they need to be helped. For instance, she helped someone find their schoolbag when they lost it and always makes sure students are included.
Yael S in Year 8 is also very kind to others. She has made outstanding contributions to the school council. She is a very good student who contributes well and is always there to help her peers.

A very big well done to our worthy winners.

Louise Yaros & Rebecca Challice
Jack Petchey Coordinators