Hitchin Girls' School Parent Portal - Y7 - 11 Weekly Newsletter

We have an online absence reporting form for all absences (whole day or part of the day). If you are unable to use the form you will need to email absence@hgs.herts.sch.uk with the student's name and tutor group, reason for absence and expected return date (if known).

WEEKLY MENU

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SCHOOL NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Good afternoon,

Summer has certainly hit HGS this week, and how timely it is that Mr Buckridge took a group of ten students to a KS3 Climate Change Summit; I look forward to hearing all about it. Another sign of summer is seeing the relieved faces of our GCSE and A Level students as they near the end of their exam period. I am sure that, as parents, you are equally looking forward to that final exam, and I want to extend my continued thanks and best wishes as you support your child through this important time.

With Enterprise Day activities being prepared and Founders' Day just around the corner, it feels like we are racing towards the end of term already - there is lots to look forward to for the rest of the academic year, so please do keep an eye on our social media.

A huge congratulations to Mrs Cole for helping Phase complete their Everest Challenge. And a final special thank you to Eco Club who came to the rescue of a dehydrated hedgehog, and with the help of Mr Beardmore-Crowther ensured it was well cared for.

Have a good weekend.

James Crowther, Headteacher

Parent use of school car parks

We continue to see parents and carers drop off students by car in the school car parks and by the main gates. This is causing safety concerns with cars turning around and students crossing the road where they should not be doing so. Please drop off your child nearby (not on the double yellow lines on Hollow Lane), from where they can walk safely to school.

Herts County Athletics Championships

A number of our students attended the Hertfordshire County Athletics Championships on 10 June - not only was it a great achievement to be selected to compete at this event, but students also performed incredibly well given the temperature on the day.

Well done to Agnes and Jess (Year 7) who, in their first year competing at this level, finished 6^th and 7^th in their U13 Girls 200m heat.

Edythe (Year 8) finished 4^th in her U15 Girls Hurdles heat with a Personal Best time of 12.6s, and followed this up with 12.72s in the final to finish 4^th overall. She then jumped a Personal Best of 4.25m in the U15 Girls Long Jump to complete a busy day.

Her teammate Emily (Year 9) finished 4^th in the same competition, narrowly missing out on a medal with a jump of 4.57m. Emily also had a packed day, as she stormed to victory in her 100m heat before running 12.9s in the U15 Girls 100m Final to secure 5^th place.

Sarena (Year 8) had a tough gig competing in the 1500m but ran a superb Personal Best by 4 seconds to finish in 6^th place.

Florence (Year 8) produced an outstanding performance in the Triple Jump, jumping 9.75m, which was a Personal Best and earnt her a 2^nd place finish.

Fran (Year 10) ran incredibly in the 300m Hurdles, a Personal Best that brought home the first Gold medal of the day. She followed this up with a jump of 9.27m in the Triple Jump with teammate Jess (Year 10) jumping 8.21m.

Abby (Year 11) also had a tough race running the 1500m, but finished with a time of 5:06 to put her in a fantastic 2^nd place. Poppy (Year 11), who is recovering from injury, finished 2^nd in the U17 Women’s Javelin and has been selected to represent Hertfordshire in the English schools national event in July. Amelia (Year 12) ran an impressive 12.03s Personal Best to take the second victory of the day in the U19 Women’s 100m, and has also earned her place in the English schools team.

Well done to all!

Fundraising for Phase Hitchin

Thank you to all who have sponsored Mrs Cole and the Phase Everest Climb Challenge team. The event took place on Friday and Mrs Cole was on the graveyard shift into the night. Lots of smiles and a few blisters have helped raise money for Phase, who work with our students to build their resilience and wellbeing.

If anyone would like to sponsor the team who ended up conquering the height of Everest, K2 and all three of the UK's highest peaks in 24 hours on a treadmill, they would be delighted to raise more for Phase!

Make a donation

It's cool to be healthy

Our 'make your own flavoured water' station, set up one lunchtime this week for Healthy Eating Week, was a huge hit with the queue going out the door! Students filled their water bottles with fresh pieces of citrus fruit, strawberries, cucumber, mint, kiwi and ginger for a refreshing and healthy drink for the afternoon!

On that note, a reminder for all students to bring in their water bottles every day, now that summer is finally here!

Hydrating hedgehogs too

This poor dehydrated hedgehog appeared in broad daylight down by our Woodside Building this week, despite all the students who were around as it was lunchtime. It got into the shade before flopping itself, belly down and legs asplay on the cooler ground! With the help of some students, Mr Beardmore-Crowther got some water and a shallow drinking tray. The hedgehog made its way to the water and proceeded to drink for what seemed like a good 10 minutes!

It was lucky that we were able to help this particular critter, but this is an unfortunate side effect of the increasingly common heat waves and lower summer rainfall levels we are seeing. Eco Club plan to get some water bowls out in the area and hopefully provide a bit of respite!

Year 9 Spanish

Fab write-ups of Harry Styles at Wembley from Elsa and Imogen - sounds like it was a brilliant concert!

Well done Edythe!

Congratulations to Edythe in Year 8, who won two Gold and two Silver medals in the Bedfordshire gymnastics qualifier competition at the weekend. She's now through to the regionals next month in Ipswich!

Library news

Reading Group Carnegie author event

Twelve of the Library Goblins joined students from across North Herts at St Francis College in Letchworth for an excellent author event with Katya Balen, winner of the Carnegie Medal for Writing in 2022 with her novel 'October, October'.

Katya spoke about her work and life as a children's author. She also led the students in a writing workshop using a sherbet lemon - they were all given a sherbet lemon and had to write a paragraph imagining they were the character October eating one for the very first time. Several of our students read out their work! There was also the opportunity to buy Katya's novels and have them signed in what was a very inspirational event.

Managing exam stress - video

Take a look at this video for parents from Phase, about helping your child to manage exam stress.

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CAREERS SPOTLIGHT

NOTICEBOARD - LOCAL PROVISION

HAPpy Holidays

For students in receipt of Free School Meals

Looking for something to keep your children entertained this summer holiday?

Through DfE funding, Hertfordshire County Council and Herts Sports Partnership have co-ordinated a huge range of activities running at different venues across the county.

Each activity will offer a nutritious meal, and all of this is free to young people in receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals.

Eligible families can book for free using the unique HAPpy Booking Code: 3JH@XR

Activities are searchable by postcode or the child's age. Places are limited and strictly on a first-come basis, so be quick and book online from NOON on Monday 26 June. https://www.sportinherts.org.uk/booking

Additionally, there's a range of online activities to look through, with ideas for learning more about history, music and theatre, plus ways to keep your family active for 60 minutes each day! View these at https://www.sportinherts.org.uk/haf/enrichment

More information with links to a variety of organisations and useful advice can be found at https://sportinherts.org.uk/useful-local-services

NOTICEBOARD - EDUCATION / CAREERS

International Women in Engineering Day

Find out more and sign up

IEUK stands for Internship Experience UK, a four-day virtual internship programme (26 - 29 June) which takes place every summer - each year there's a completely new programme designed to support you with your career. So far, more than 140,000 students and graduates have taken part and reaped the rewards of spending a few days of their summer with the world’s top employers. 10,000 of them have even secured roles with the firms they met on the experience.

Find out more and book

KPMG apprenticeships

Apprenticeship programmes

Our apprenticeship programmes offer the chance to gain practical work experience and build core skills within our global network of firms. Apprentices will be supported to achieve professional qualifications and accreditations, such as diplomas and degrees, and earn a salary – all at the same time. Watch our apprentice videos.

Our 2023 intake apprenticeships are still open for applications, including our Audit, Tax, Business Services, Consulting Managed Services and Consulting apprenticeships.

Discovery Work Experience programme

As well as giving students the chance to gain an invaluable overview of the professional services sector, this programme will provide an excellent virtual insight into the work we do, our culture and people - and provide students with some interactive learning opportunities to enhance their skills.

KPMG application process

We’ve designed an application process to support students in showing us their potential. We’ve also put together some top tips to help them make the most of the opportunity here. Students can take a practice test to practise the types of questions that will appear in our live assessment.

Talent Community

Students can join our Talent Community and be among the first to hear about any new openings. As a member they’ll receive updates on any roles that become available.

Is KPMG right for me?

During the recruitment process, we want to understand if applicants' strengths are aligned with those required for success at KPMG.

Looking at their strengths will help them and us to know whether they would enjoy working here and have the potential to thrive.

Please read our Is KPMG Right for Me? page

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

ESG is the lens through which every business must make every decision to be fit for the future and thrive. What companies do now will determine the talent they attract, the customers they serve, the profits they make, and ultimately the impact they’ll have on society.

You can watch our ESG at KPMG One Blue Marble video