The Year 7-11 girls enjoyed a very successful Tu BiShvat event on Monday morning. Each year group participated in a fruit platter competition, which was followed by the girls cycling on a bike to blend their own smoothie. The energy in the hall was really vibrant as pedal power created a fantastic range of bright, healthy, fruity smoothies.

At the Boys’ School, they had a Tu BiShvat fruit stall in the main hall, as well as organic honey jars to promote Climate Change Awareness, which was implemented by Mr Sommers. The stall was ably manned by Rabbi Fachler’s Year 10 Gemoro class and all proceeds went to the Wellbeing Fund.

Thank you very much to all the staff who helped throughout the sessions.

Announcements are regularly made on the Show My Homework noticeboard which include: open days, courses and special events, like Career Fairs. One such opportunity that two of our girls took up was to attend the Medical Society event at Cambridge University.

One of our Year 12 students wrote the following about the event: “I wanted to write about my experience at the Gonville and Caius Medical Society event this week. During the event, the heads and officers from the Medicine Society spoke to us about the course and studying at Cambridge University; the application process and the examinations we would need to take before applying. Then we went on a tour around the campus, looking at the halls, the courtyards, the libraries and the common areas. This part gave us all an insight into what life would be like if we were studying in the college and the residential and community side was very appealing. These tours were led by the third year medical students and, therefore, we had the opportunity to ask any questions that we had about the course, the college and just university in general.

Following this, we were split into groups for a supervision (tutorial) session, where we spend 15 minutes in small groups learning briefly about parts of the anatomy, physiology and immunology aspects of the course. It was very useful for me to experience the style of learning used so often in the university and see if this learning style was suitable for me, especially as everyone learns in different ways.

Finally, we were given a lecture in the auditorium about why nerves are so slow, which is a topic taught when students first arrive on the course. The lecture was very interesting, both in style and topic, and so it was very beneficial for us to experience.

Overall, going to this event was very helpful for me when thinking about where to apply for university to do medicine next year. I personally always thought I would stay in London, seeing as the course is so long. However, seeing the campus life and the different teaching styles there, as well as the answers to the questions I asked about how the course is split, has made me reconsider and want to look further into universities outside London for my degree.”

The Mark Evison Foundation is an incredible organisation which provides students with funding to embark on a challenging project which takes students out of their comfort zone. Lots of girls signed up and we look forward to finding out more about their projects. Two of our Year 13 students came to inspire our Year 12’s by presenting their projects.

Debbie came in to talk to the girls about her career path. An academically successful person, she went to Cambridge but found that she was not interested in the career paths her peers were following. Instead she found that her strength was in fostering and coaching interpersonal relationships. Passionate about creating better understanding about diversity and its benefits to businesses she set up her own Consultancy that helped businesses to unlock the potential in all their staff and better recruit a diverse workforce. She spoke to the girls about the challenges of building a business and the value of taking calculated risks which will lead to a fulfilling career.

A group of students have begun work to develop a small corner of the Girls’ school into a garden space. The aim is to provide a flower habitat for bees, alongside a fruit, vegetable and herb garden to support our creative arts department and raise awareness of our responsibility to the environment.

So far, students have sown a range of seeds, which we hope to plant into the ground as spring approaches. The club is free and takes place in the science block during Monday lunchtime as part of our extra-curricular programme.

We are looking for support with this new project. If you wish to find out more information, please contact Miss Liley on m.liley@hasmonean.co.uk