Newsletter...Jacquetta Hawkes (as Jessie Jacquetta Hopkins) was a pupil at the Perse School for Girls in the 1920s and went on to become one of the most celebrated writers, and influential

NewsletterIssue No 7 / 2013-14 Friday 17 January 2014 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools

Dear Parents

The School’s Birthday is traditionally a time when we celebrate our rich history and focus on the lives and achievements of our alumni. This year, as we mark 133 years of the School’s life, is no exception. This morning, we were delighted to welcome Dr. Christine Finn, archaeologist and writer, Fellow at the University of Bradford, to talk to us in Assembly about Jacquetta Hawkes.

Jacquetta Hawkes (as Jessie Jacquetta Hopkins) was a pupil at the Perse School for Girls in the 1920s and went on to become one of the most celebrated writers, and influential women of her day. She died in 1996.

Archaeologist, anthropologist, writer, political activist, poet and public intellectual, Jacquetta Hawkes actively embraced, over 50 years ago, the values of international–mindedness, social responsibility and independence of thought, which we hold dear today. With her restless thirst for knowledge, her breadth of interests and her strong desire to make her mark in the world, she resembles the SPF students of today. She was no plaster saint and had a taste for mischief. As a pupil here she amused herself and her friends by taking photographs surreptitiously of the teachers using a concealed camera. (This was, we remember, in the days before Mobile Technology Policies!) How this was possible with the cumbersome technology of the ‘20s is unclear but the evidence in the form of ‘action’ shots of the Headmistress Miss Kennett in full flow during a Latin lesson is available for all to see in our archives.

Vice-Principal - introduction

Miss Kennett

Miss D Watson

Miss Kemp

Miss Hopkins

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Vice-Principal - introductionNever one to follow convention, in 1947 she scandalised polite society by embarking on a love affair with playwright J.B. Priestley. Both had to make a tortuous progress through the divorce courts before they were able to marry in 1953.

The extraordinary life of Jacquetta Hawkes and the passions of her life, the study of ‘deep time’, have provided the themes for the inaugural exhibition in our new Library at the Senior School. A ground-breaking woman with an astonishing breadth of knowledge, she would surely have approved of the ambition of our plans for the new Library.

As a Cabinet of Curiosities, it will be a place to inspire wonder, pique interest and encourage exploration. Already we have seen the Senior School students watching with growing curiosity, the accumulation of rocks, fossils, bones, artefacts (and, yes, genuine dinosaur eggs) on the shelves, noticed the ancient typewriter placed on the wooden desk (and is that a half-full teacup?) and caught the strains of Desert Island Discs on the 1950s radio. How will this eclectic collection help to open their minds to the vast stretches of history to predate humans, the delights of archaeological excavation, the pleasures of cultural exploration, the beauty of poetry, the science of carbon dating, the symmetries of architecture and the mysteries of ancient religions? In the next few weeks, they will be finding out in a series of orientation workshops.

Parents are also warmly invited to see for themselves by visiting the private view – on Wednesday 5 February at 6.00pm.

Kind regards

Dr Helen StringerVice-Principal, Curriculum



Year 9 STEM projectLast week the Design Department took 12 girls from Year 9 to the Go4SET launch event at Cambridge Uni. Dept. of Engineering. The project involves teaming up with local companies and working on a STEM project for 10 weeks leading up to a celebration event on31 March 2014.

This year we have two teams of six girls - one team working with “Plastic Logic” and the other with CSR. Both projects are electronics based and will allow the girls the opportunity to study this very exciting and growing area of technology. The companies will be sending engineers in to school each week to mentor the teams.

Our involvement with this event has already been highlighted on the Cambridge News website.

New online digital theatre resource for staff and students!We are delighted to announce that we have just subscribed to Digital Theatre Plus, a really exciting online resource that will allow all students of the Senior School and Sixth Form to watch recordings of live theatre, opera and ballet productions on their iPads. They will also be able to access exclusive interviews with cast members and creatives to gain further insight into the making of the productions.

This venture is an exciting collaboration between the English and Drama Departments and the Senior School Library.

Website address: www.digitaltheatreplus.comLogin email: [email protected]: studentaccess

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Many congratulations to Laura Holliger and Charlotte Lane in Year 7 who are the Group Award winners of the 2013 What on Earth? Science & Engineering National Non-Fiction Day Timeline Competition.

Almost 100 schools and individuals entered the inaugural contest to make a timeline of their own design to feature 20 of the most amazing inventions from the Stone Ages to the present day (and beyond!).

The standard of entries was exceptionally high, but after much deliberation the judges reached their decision, and with thanks to Charlotte and Laura the Stephen Perse Foundation wins an author visit and What on Earth? resources worth £1,000.

The girls saw the competition in a blog and decided to enter just for fun, never thinking that they would actually win! Finding out they had won just before Christmas was very exciting.

Having to choose 20 inventions that changed the world was not an easy task, but the girls enjoyed investigating what we sometimes take for granted as everyday things and explaining how they came about. By taking 10 inventions each, they split the workload.

Laura’s favourite invention which she learnt more about was penicillin, as it was used to save 12%-15% of Allied lives during the Second World War. The invention Charlotte found most fascinating was the X-ray, as she learnt that Röntgen, the man who discovered X-rays, didn’t want to accept the Nobel Prize himself so donated the money to his university.

You can see Laura and Charlotte’s winning timeline by clicking on the illustration below:

What on Earth? Science Timeline Competition Winners

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Spring Term ConcertsOur busy programme of concerts continues this term. If you daughter is performing in one of these concerts, please reserve the date in your calendars; a letter with full details of the specific arrangements for each concert will be distributed in rehearsals in due course.

Parents from all parts of the Foundation are most welcome at any of these concerts:

Spring Concert

Chamber Music Concert

Lunchtimes Concerts at Michaelhouse

Tuesday 11 February, 7.30 pm (Venue: Senior School Hall)A wide range of Chamber Music items will be performed; most small ensembles that rehearse on a regular basis in school will take part, as will the Senior School Chamber Choir.

Wednesday 26 February, 6.00 pm and 7.30 pm (Venue: Senior School Hall)Following the huge success of last year’s soloists concert we will again perform this concert in two parts.

Wednesday 19 March, 7.30pm (Venue: West Road Concert Hall)This is our biggest concert of the year and will include all of the school choirs, the Big Band, Concert Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra; there will be a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccisio for violin and orchestra, with Katherine Read in Upper 6 as soloist.

Tickets (free of charge) will be available from reception after half-term.

Our series of Friday lunchtime concerts in Michaelhouse Chapel continues, with performances 31 January, 14 and 28 February, and 7, 14 and 28 March.

These concerts take place at 12.30 pm and last for 30 minutes – there is no admission charge and everyone is welcome.

Years 7 – 11 Soloists’ Concert



Parents and Friends Book Club

Senior School individual photographsThe Photographer will be taking photographs of students in Year 7 - Year 10 (individually) on Tuesday 21 January.

Instructions on how to order prints will be sent after your daughter receives the proof copy of her photograph.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 4 February, at 8.00pm (contact Adele Warner, 01223 365991). We will discuss ‘The Grass is Singing’ by Doris Lessing.

We always have a lively discussion and are keen to welcome new members. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Martha Crouch for details (020 7638 6983, [email protected])

Important Safety IssuesParents are encouraged to ensure that students who cycle to/from school are equipped with a helmet, bike lights and fluorescent outer clothing.

Parents are also kindly requested not to park on the double yellow lines around school or in the designated medical spaces.

School is open from 8.00am to 6.00pm and student access cards will be activated only between these hours. After 4.15pm, students should only be in the designated Late Stay room or in a club/activity supervised by a member of staff; they should not be in their form-rooms or elsewhere on school premises.

Thank you for your support in this important area of student safety.

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Inspire me: Stop drifting.... start adventuring

Private view - Jacquetta Hawkes and Deep Time

We start the new year with four top adventurer speakers all under one roof to inspire everyone to take an adventurous approach to careers and life. Hear stories of exploration, pushing human boundaries, supporting others, and why they do it.

We are delighted to add alumna Roz Savage MBE to the line-up of speakers on Wednesday 5 February - Roz holds four world records for ocean rowing, including first woman to row three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. She has rowed over 15,000 miles, taken around 5 million oarstrokes, and spent cumulatively over 500 days of her life at sea in a 23-foot rowboat.

Our other speakers are Sasha Borodin, polar explorer (and also a parent of a current student); Fred Branson, who set up a charity helping girls out of poverty in Peru, and two of our 6th formers talking about their trip to Kenya.

For more information on the event, our speakers, and pre-ordering books, please visit our website.

Please book your place for Wednesday 5 February through [email protected] - no tickets will be issued, but we will note your attendance.

The Stephen Perse Foundation

cordially invites you to

a private view of the inaugural exhibition

in the new Library at the Senior School

Jacquetta Hawkes and Deep Time

Wednesday 5 February 2014

6.00pm — 7.15pm

Light refreshments

Union Road, Cambridge CB2 1HF

On the same evening as the above Inspire Me event, we would like to invite you to a private view of the inaugural exhibition in the newSenior School Library:

Jacquetta Hawkes and Deep Time

The private view will offer a chance to explore the exhibition as well as the new Library. Light refreshments will be served, and if you are already booked for or planning to come to the Inspire Me event, we do hope you will be able to arrive that little bit earlier and come to the Library, or if you would just like to come to the private view and perhaps stay on for the Inspire Me event please do let us know. There is no need to book if you just wish to view the exhibition in the Library.

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Documents

Newsletter...Jacquetta Hawkes (as Jessie Jacquetta Hopkins) was a pupil at the Perse School for Girls in the 1920s and went on to become one of the most celebrated writers, and influential