City 2017- 18 review - City of London School for Girls
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City LIFE
2017- 18 review
New Scientist Live Event
In September, Sixth Form chemists travelled to the Excel
Centre for the New Scientist Live event, an exciting festival
of science and technology. They spent the day attending
lectures and visiting stalls encompassing five different
Multi-award-winning scientific fields; Astronomy, Engineering, Technology,
Medicine and Biology.
Chess champion
Year 13 student Naomi Wei celebrated multiple wins at the
Senior Maths Challenge
UK Chess Challenge (UKCC) in August.
After winning the UKCC London Extra Megafinal in late June
with a 6/6 score, Naomi competed in the Southern Gigafinal,
where she played very well as the 3rd seed. She drew with
the 1st and 4th seed in round three and round four, and in
the final round managed to beat the 2nd seed in a fierce
counter attack. In the end, Naomi finished joint 1st in the
U17 section with a score of 5/6 (4 wins and 2 draws), and
qualified for the final stage of UKCC - Terafinal.
The UKCC Terafinal was held at Daventry Court Hotel on
on 12th and 13th August. A total of 47 players (all year On 7 November, over 90 of our Sixth Formers sat the Senior
group winners in the southern or the northern Gigafinal) Maths Challenge in pursuit of national recognition in the
competed in six rounds for the £2,000 top prize and STRAT form of a place on the British Maths Olympiad Team. The
title at Terafinal. first question facing them was:
Naomi was the 14th seed in the starting rank and she once One of the following numbers is prime. Which is it?
again finished strongly by beating the 3rd seed in the final
round with black pieces. Her final score was 5/6 (5 wins and A 2017
1 loss), which was enough for her to win the girls’ champion, − 2 B 2017 − 1 C 2017 D 2017 + 1 E 2017 + 2
and joint 2nd place in UKCC 2017.
The students managed to acquire eight Gold Certificates
Naomi was also awarded Michael Basman Trophy (the which were only awarded to the top 6.67% of all entrants.
best game prize) for her brilliant last round game. Naomi Three girls qualified for the British Maths Olympiad Paper 1,
was presented with her prizes by Lord Mark Price, Minister of a three and a half hour paper with only five questions of a
State for Trade Policy. very rigorous standard.
English Schools National
Cross Country Champions
Seven members of the City Cross Country Teamwoke up early
one Saturday in November to compete in the English Schools
National Cross Country Championship at Sevenoaks School
A total of 589 schools participated in the entire process, with
only 27 making it through regional qualifiers to compete at
the national finals. The course was a very pretty but equally
challenging one, with lots of painful up and downhills within
the forest. However, once the race began, the team pushed
through the pain and tried to overtake as many people as
possible. All of the girls ran really well, and were absolutely
exhausted by the end of the race. The hard work paid off, as
they were later announced the National Champions.
GCSE Ensembles Senior House Debating guest speaker:
Concert Competition sally phillips
Year 10 and 11 Ensembles gave an In November, the four school Houses We were joined by guest speaker Sally
enjoyable performance at St. Giles’ debated the topical and controversial Phillips, of Bridget Jones, Alan Partridge,
Cripplegate Church in November, to motion of implementing a quota Miranda and Smack the Pony fame.
an appreciative audience. system at our top academic institutions, Driven by the experience of raising her
in order to create greater equality and son Olly, who has Down’s syndrome,
Some of the groups were formed diversity. Sally has made the documentary, A
especially for the IGCSE course, and World Without Down’s Syndrome?
some pre-existing groups were also This serious and sensitive issue was
involved. We were treated to a variety debated skilfully by new and more Sally spoke to Sixth Form students about
of styles, from Piazzolla to Schubert, and experienced debaters. The debate the documentary, and showed some
all performers gave fluent and mature was won by Ysabel and Rachel of Ward clips of the film, before taking questions
performances. House (the closing opposition). from the audience.
Junior Choir sing EU mock council guest speaker:
with Lesley Garrett final Layton Williams
Our Junior Choir had a very busy week Two Year 13 students visited the Law Star of stage and screen, Layton
in December, singing at a Carol Service Society in November, to represent Williams, visited us on Monday 11th
for the Ironmongers at Charterhouse Sweden at the EU Mock Council Final. December to talk to Year 10 Global
Chapel, and joining Lesley Garrett OBE Perspectives students about his life and
for a Carols Together (Bowel Cancer 27 other schools participated in a series career.
UK) service at St. Marylebone Parish of discussions, with the aim of producing
Church. two European Commission-sanctioned Layton, who is on tour in the musical
resolutions that would be voted on Hairspray, also treated the group to a
They sang brilliantly. Well done to all at the end of the day. Sweden was Hairspray-themed dance workshop,
involved and many thanks to our Junior particularly concerned about how the during which the students (and Miss
Choir parents who supported these resolution on EU citizens’ rights would be Khosla) were put through their dance
events. practically implemented after Brexit. paces.
UK Vex Robotics National
Championships
In March, the Year 11 Robotics Team ventured through the
blizzards to Telford International Centre to participate in the UK
Vex Robotics National Championships. The team took part in
the two day competition against an array of other robots who
had also won regional competitions.
Despite demonstrating great teamwork and tenacity, the
team were a little unlucky in their round robin matches, twice
being partnered with a team that had been disqualified,
and unfortunately becoming disabled twice during the
autonomous section of the competition. The team narrowly
failed to qualify for the quarter final alliance section of the
competition. However, it was an exciting competition and a
great experience for our team.
Careers Standard Award
We were delighted to announce that the school received
The Quality in Careers Standard award, through Investor in
Careers, after being reassessed in December. The award
recognises the high quality of our careers education,
information, advice and guidance provision.
Prep swimming vs St. Paul’s Year 7 TRIP TO THE
Cathedral SchooL GREENWICH OBSERVATORY
On Friday 2nd February, Year 7 undertook a trip through
space and time to explore the universe from the Royal
Greenwich Observatory. The students had four sessions at
the Observatory.
A careers masterclass explored a range of careers in physics,
and the qualifications needed to undertake those careers.
The Exoplanets workshop was exciting and students had the
opportunity to learn about exoplanets in our galaxy, how
they were detected, and then experimented to detect their
own model exoplanet. They looked at real measurements
taken by the Kepler spacecraft to measure how long a year
lasted on some of the exoplanets found in our galaxy. The
On Thursday 18th January, the Prep swimming team took students discovered that it was unlikely we would be able to
on St. Paul’s Cathedral School. It was a great, closely live on these exoplanets.
contested gala with an excellent atmosphere created by
lots of cheering parents. The most popular part of the trip was the visit to the
planetarium, when the students travelled through space
Year 3 are still learning lots about their strokes and racing and time to explore our solar system and the universe. They
and performed really well, remembering lots about the also had the opportunity to ask anastronomer questions and
rules regarding changeovers and finishes to races. Year 6 learned that we do not need to worry if our galaxy ‘collides’
were excellent ‘buddies’ to Year 3, providing advice and with our neighbouring galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, as
help with the races. The overall result was a win by City: 139 most of the galaxy is made up of space so it is unlikely that
points to 130 points. much will collide.
DADS4DAUGHTERS DAY
Year 9-13 parents attended our Dads4Daughters Breakfast
on 15th March, when we discussed the results of this year’s
D4D survey. We also heard from three guest speakers about
their experiences in the workplace and what is being done
drama production review: to tackle gender inequality.
little shop of horrors
VEX IQ RINGMASTER ROBOTICS
For this year’s senior school production, the Drama and
Music departments performed the comedy/horror rock
musical, Little Shop of Horrors. The show was performed by
a cast of 18 girls and boys from CLSG and CLS. Amongst
the many entertaining aspects of the play, the acting, set
and technical details really stood out most. These were
combined with decorative costumes and an ever-growing
man-eating plant helping to make the production a huge
success.
The acting was excellent, while the lighting and sound
were some of the best design elements the school has
ever produced. The light always spotlighted the important In the Spring Term, two of our younger robotics teams
character, which helped the audience to see their headed off to Henrietta Barnett School to participate in the
facial and body language more clearly. The show was VEX IQ Ringmaster Challenge Competition. It was a very
continuously enhanced by the little details, whether it was competitive event with 27 teams participating in total. We
the strip lights throwing colour light down or strobe lighting faced some very experienced teams including Henrietta
used to show lightning. The musical accompaniment, Barnett School, Queen Elizabeth School and Fortismere.
provided by the Music department, was very effective.
Despite some tenacious driving from our teams, our robots
Little Shop of Horrors was truly a triumph in which everyone Starburst Galaxy and JESSE scored 454 and 322 points
involved dedicated a lot of time and hard work. It is fair respectively, meaning they failed to qualify for the final
to say that it was a very engaging and well-performed round of the competition, which was eventually won by
production that many of us would be very happy to see Queen Elizabeth’s Gear Squad and the independent
again. WGC MicroBots. However, the Year 8s and Year 9s put
magnificent effort into the building of their robots and
Reviewed by Alara, Year 9 represented the school well.
YEAR 6 TRIP TO NORMANDY
Our Year 6 girls travelled to Normandy, France in February.
A full range of activities were experienced: storming Juno
beach at Bernières-sur-Mer (their base for the week); visiting
the idyllic French National Stud, the Haras du Pin, where
Monsieur Pierric and his 12 miniature horses entertained with
an impromptu display of synchronised equitation; a crêpes
party at the P’tit Chef Academie in Caen; the Norman
commissioned and British made “Bayeux Tapestry”; with much
in between including the tasting of those French delicacies, les
escargots and les cuisses de grenouille.
An interesting and happy time was had by all; as ever, the
class acquitted themselves with flying colours and were a
credit to the school.
GCSE & A Level spanish Guest speaker: JOINT CHAMBER MUSIC
TRIP TO CUBA Author, Jo Cotterill CONCERT
During February half term, a group of Oxfordshire author, Jo Cotterill, who St John’s Smith Square was the venue
Year 11s and 12s spend a week in Cuba has written numerous shortlisted and for our annual Joint Chamber Music
with the Spanish department. The award-winning novels for young Concert, when 28 of our talented
students spent their mornings learning people, visited us on in March. instrumentalists joined players from the
Spanish at a language school and City of London Freemen’s School for a
explored the old town of Havana in the Jo spoke about her very popular book, varied and challenging programme.
afternoons, where they got to know Library of Lemons, and her fascinating Players from both schools joined forces
some of the locals and try traditional career path to becoming an author. for an impressive Brass Ensemble, eight-
Cuban foods. The group also visited the Year 7 and 8 were captivated by her piece cello ensemble, and a rousing
town of Viñales and the former house dramatic re-enactments and readings Finale with a stage full of string players
of Ernest Hemingway. from her books. performing part of Grieg’s Holberg
Suite.
MANDARIN SPEAKING year 8 chemistry: streetchild
COMPETITION FORENSIC WORKSHOP SPONSORED CYCLE
Once again, CLSG students took part Year 8 students took part in a forensic In March, the school raised over £4,000
in the Annual HSBC/British Council workshop, where they learned about for Street Child through a sponsored
Mandarin Speaking Competition. With the different techniques and steps cycle. Girls in the senior school cycled
more schools taking part than ever involved in solving a murder case. 3064 miles/4931km on exercise bikes
before, hard battles were fought in in the school hall - the distance from
the heats in December. The Group The students explored the use of London to Sierra Leone.
Section represented the school in fingerprints, DNA and digital evidence
the Final at the British Museum on 7 to help them solve the case. Using The students spent time cycling
February, performing a short drama problem solving skills and footprint during their PE lessons. Each covered
they had written themselves. While they analysis, they successfully identified the approximately 10km, which is roughly
didn’t win, they certainly put on an murderer. how far a child in Sierra Leone has to
entertaining performance and came walk both to and from school each
away with a finalist trophy. day.
CCF SAILING TRIP TO
PORTSMOUTH
Fifteen girls from CLSG and three boys from City of London
School took part in a field trip to Portsmouth in June. The cadets
stayed on four yachts and had to plan a menu, navigate and
sail the boats to a range of harbours and anchorages. The
group stayed alongside HMS Bristol on the Friday evening and
had a brief tour of an active warship.
On the Saturday, they navigated the East and West Solent,
arriving at Lymington with two yachts anchoring in Newtown
Creek on the Isle of Wight for lunch. An unscheduled firework
display was enjoyed in the marina whilst the groups cooked
dinner. On the Sunday, the yachts stopped at Cowes for a lunch
with ice cream stop, before returning back to the base and the
return home.
D OF E GOLD AWARD
Three current and former students were presented with
Duke of Edinburgh gold awards in June. Monica (current
Year 13), Charlotte and Victoria (class of 2017) all received
the awards at Buckingham Palace at a reception held in
the gardens.
The girls spoke with HRH Price Edward who chatted with
the group before they met TV presenter Gaby Roslin, who
presented the certificates. The girls had to complete five
sections to achieve the award, including five day expeditions
that were conducted in Cairngorms and Snowdonia.
GERMAN EXCHANGE TO TRIER
CITY GIRLS IN THE CITY DAY GCSE German students took part in an exchange
programme in March, visiting two countries and three cities
within the space of six days.
17 Year 10 students and two teachers set off to Trier,
Germany, on the 7th March. On arrival at the exchange
school, they were welcomed with slices of delicious cake
and met their exchange partners for the first time. After a
quick induction and tour around the school, the students
went home for their first night in the other families’ homes.
Over the next few days, the group visited Bonn, at one time
the capital of West Germany, Luxembourg and Trier. One of
the most popular parts of the trip was a visit to Luxembourg
City, a beautiful, trilingual country where both English,
In March, Year 10 spent the day on one of five careers trips, French and German are all spoken with near fluency.
which were run simultaneously. The girls were given the
choice to explore Banking, Law, Architecture, Publishing Year 10 student, Elizabeth, said: “We left the following
or Technology. A wide range of businesses and institutions Tuesday, with some very sad goodbyes. Overall, the
kindly hosted us during the day, including: Lazard, Bank of German exchange was probably one of my favourite
England, Mishcon de Reya, the Old Bailey, Hill Dickinson, The school trips ever, and I would 100% recommend it. I can
City Centre, Salters’ Hall, Unruly and Conde Naste School honestly say my German has never been so good and the
of Fashion. There was also a writing workshop run by author experience was so immersive and enjoyable.”
Anna Pereira.
A TRIP TO CHINA
Year 10 Chinese students had the incredible opportunity to
travel to China. The students visited Shanghai and Nanjing,
where they learned more about Chinese culture and
history, in the form of calligraphy lessons and museum visits.
They tasted lots of new and interesting Chinese food and
UK SPACE DESIGN had the valuable opportunity to practice their Chinese by
speaking to locals.
COMPETITION
Nine students were selected to compete in the National
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES GUEST
Finals of the UK Space Design Competition, held at Imperial
College London on 17 and 18 March. The team were
SPEAKEr: Madeleine Sumption
tasked with designing a space settlement in Earth-Lunar
orbit, which would house residents and be used to refine
materials mined from the moon and nearby asteroids – all
over one weekend.
Their company was comprised of five schools: Ardingly
College, City of London Freemen’s School, Queen
Elizabeth’s High School, Nonsuch High School for Girls, and
CLSG. The students successfully claimed three of the seven
managerial positions, in what resulted as an all-female
board. They had some amazingly creative ideas, such as
the ‘Babble’ headsets which used bone conduction to In the spring term, we welcomed Madeleine Sumption to
translate speech on the multi-cultural settlement, and an AR the school. Madeleine works at the Migration Observatory
assisted multi-purpose entertainment room which could be at Oxford University and her visit was particularly timely in
programmed to become anything from basketball courts light of recent media interest in the immigration obstacles
to zero-gravity laser-tag courses. experienced by members of the Windrush generation.
Madeleine was able to put this issue into its wider context
The team presented ther settlement design to a panel of and to offer some suggestions about why it had come to
judges and an auditorium full of our competitors. After the the fore now.
presentation, they were hit with some difficult questions
from the panel, but successfully managed to answer most Students were also challenged to interrogate data about
of them. While they not win the competition, everyone public attitudes to immigration and to offer suggestions to
worked fantastically and their calm composure throughout explain trends. Finally, in small groups, students debated
the weekend was highlighted by the judges and organisers. and considered a variety of factors relating to the question:
‘How much immigration is too much?’CROSS COUNTRY success
We saw the last cross country event of the season take place
in April, bringing us in to the track season. The London Mini
Marathon was attended by a number of City girls, running for
a range of boroughs. This race was the culmination of what
has been a fantastic season for the cross country squad.
Prior to Christmas, the junior squad made the Regional
Finals and the inter team not only made the National Finals
of the English Schools Cross Country Cup, they also won
the competition to become the number 1 school squad in
England.
Due to a great result in the London Schools race, three girls
from City were selected to run for London at the English
Schools’ Cross Country Championships. The squad finish 2nd in
both age groups, making the overall London girls squad 1st.
NAOMI WINS SILVER AT YOUNG ENTERPRISE BE INSPIRED TALKS: Arts
EGMO AWARDS & media careers
We are delighted to report that Year Young Enterprise team, Assemble, Students in the senior school attended
13 student, Naomi, and the UK team showcased their decomposable one of four ‘Be Inspired’ talks on careers
performed superbly at the European drinking cup business at the East in the arts and media in May. The talks
Mathematical Olympiad for Girls London Company of the Year Awards were organised by CLOGA, the school’s
(EGMO), held in Italy during April. in May. alumni association, and each speaker
was a former student: Theatre Director,
Naomi scored 28/42 to achieve an The top eight companies in East London Lisa Blair; Film and Television Producer,
individual silver medal, while the UK battled to win awards and ultimately Tanya Seghatchian; Children’s Author
team finished 3rd out of 52 participating progress to the London Final. Assemble and Executive Children’s TV Producer,
teams (2nd out of 36 official European performed excellently throughout the Annette Butterworth; Hannah Begbie,
teams and 1st out of all EU countries). day and were awarded the prize for a Former Producer and Comedy Agent
Best Presentation. turned Author.cityLIFE
ST GILES’ TERRACE
BARBICAN
LONDON
EC2Y 8BB
Edited by Sam Robson
www.CLSG.ORG.UK Photography by Ben Campbell-WhiteYou can also read
