Meet the Head Girl & Deputy Head Girls 2023-24

We are delighted to introduce Amy, Avani and Caitlin, newly elected Head Girl and Deputies for next school year.

Amy Pryle, Head Girl

I am hugely excited and honoured to have been awarded the role of Head Girl for next year. I’d like to introduce myself and express why I was so passionate to take on this role. I’ve been at the Girls’ School since Year 7, and I feel immensely grateful to be a part of such a friendly, enriching and aspirational community. I look forward to playing a more active role in our school and giving back to our community, working with two wonderful deputies, Avani Raju and Caitlin Coles. It will be a pleasure to be able to represent HGS, each and every student, and all of our integral values in the role of Head Girl.

Caitlin Coles, Deputy Head Girl

I’m taking A Level Latin, Psychology, and Philosophy and Ethics. I’m a keen pianist and so work as a music tutor outside of school. Within school I’m a Maths Learning Ambassador, Pastoral Peer Mentor and Bronte Year 12 House Prefect. This enables me to engage with students across all years and many of the staff here. I’ve loved putting together and presenting events with my fellow prefects this year, like Bronte’s Masked Talent charity show and House assemblies, and so can’t wait to do this with Amy and Avani on a whole-school scale. I’m passionate about social justice and climate change, and intend to amplify other students' causes as Deputy Head Girl. I’m confident that, as a Head Girl team, we will continue to strengthen the HGS community, using the new values established by the school, to ensure that all students here can achieve their full potential.

Avani Raju, Deputy Head Girl

Just over a year ago I encountered my biggest challenge yet: undergoing a major operation on my spine. It wasn't just my physical health that suffered but my mental health was pushed to its limits too. I overcame these challenges because of Hitchin Girls' School, where everyone around me made something that seemed impossible possible again - turning a year with so many negatives into one with so many positives. This helped me to learn not to doubt myself, and treat myself with more kindness and respect, something we all forget to do. Since then I have been inspired to do the same for others. Therefore, I’d like to be an example of how challenges are not the be all and end all, and how they come and go but the qualities you develop from them will stay with you forever. My main aim as Deputy Head Girl is to ensure that we all treat ourselves with the kindness and respect we deserve. 

Mental health - introducing The Sandbox

The Sandbox is an NHS-funded mental health website for children, young people and their families in Hertfordshire, which will replace the Kooth website. We have been particularly impressed with The Sandbox and encourage both parents and students to take a look. 

As well as signposting to local organisations, The Sandbox offers excellent parent guides and self-help worksheets for young people with an emphasis on practical support, all presented in clear language and in an attractive, digestible format.

It's a one-stop hub for a wide range of resources related to mental health and wellbeing, covering Body Image, Exam Stress, Grief, Loss & Life Changes, Self Esteem, Emotions & Moods, Goal-setting, Sleep, Neurodiversity and more. 

Working for wellbeing with Phase

As ever we are grateful to local youth charity Phase for the work they do with us. This week they ran a training session for Year 12 students who are involved in Phase's resilience workshops for Year 5 pupils. This programme enables children to learn skills for managing emotions and dealing with change and disappointment, and ultimately build their resilience. The Sixth Form students play a key role in leading these workshops to more than 300 primary pupils.

And on Wednesday evening Phase ran a workshop for KS4 parents on exam stress, providing practical tips for managing exam preparation and anxiety. Thank you to them for a very useful session! 

Food Club - handmade pasta!

Food Club produced some amazing results when they made fresh pasta - from making the dough, to flavouring it with herbs, tomato or garlic purée, to shaping it with our pasta machines! Fabulous work!

Webinars - Virtual Employer Encounters 

See all webinars available 

Careers in Radio and Podcasting

Audio UK have a shortlist of the most common job roles in the audio space
CLICK

Radiocentre have a great list of jobs available in the radio sector
CLICK

Radio Academy also have a great list of different careers available!
CLICK

Jake Jorgovan has created an excellent list of jobs in podcasting
CLICK

Experience for students interested in Medicine and Healthcare - online & in person

Ages 14 - 18

The online course takes place on Saturday 13 May and is a day of Surgery work experience. This interactive day is delivered by practising surgeons amd current medical students, and is designed to give students a meaningful insight into careers in Medicine and surgery. The doctors will guide you through how they would conduct a surgical consultation and how surgery is performed. 

Hot House Dance Youth Dance Workshop
HOFESH Dance Company

Sunday 14 May, 10.30am - 3.30pm

At The John Henry Newman School, Hitchin Road, Stevenage

Ideal for all youth dancers, and those taking or planning to take Dance GCSE. Gain new insights, and explore the work of the award-winning and internationally renowned Hofesh Dance Company.

In this workshop, participants will learn about the Hofesh Shechter Company’s distinctive movement style directly from two of the company's current dancers (they are amazing!).

Sessions will include a warm-up exploring Hofesh's fundamental movement principles, as well as learning repertoire and imagery from his work. There will also be a short Q&A at the end.

An added bonus for any dancer taking GCSE / A Level / BTEC Dance, as Hofesh is studied in the courses.

Book now

University of Oxford Modern Languages Open Day

The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford is delighted to be able to welcome prospective students on Saturday 13 May, 10.30am - 4pm for our annual Modern Languages Open Day! The event will be held at the Examination Schools, located on the High Street in Oxford's city centre.

This event is a fantastic opportunity for students who are interested in learning more about our language courses, or who are still considering their options, as it will cover all of our languages: French, German*, Spanish, Italian*, Russian*, Portuguese*, Modern Greek*, Czech* and Polish*. Most of our Joint School degree subjects will also be represented at the event.

*All of these languages can be studied at Oxford from beginners’ level. From this year’s admissions cycle, students can also apply to study Beginners’ German with our Joint Schools subjects (e.g. English, History, Linguistics, etc.) for the first time.

Our Modern Languages Open Day is aimed primarily at Year 12 students and their parents/guardians/teachers, but Year 11 students who are starting to think about university study are equally welcome to attend. The Open Day will offer an overview of our Modern Languages courses and a general Q&A for prospective students in the morning, with individual language sessions and a parents’/guardians’/teachers’ Q&A session taking place in the afternoon. You can view the full event programme here.

Booking for this event is compulsory – register your attendance here. Bookings will close at midnight on 10 May. 

We look forward to welcoming you all to Oxford!

Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal 

Webinar - Managing Study Stress

Tuesday 30 May, 1 - 2pm

This webinar is to support the wellbeing of students who are aged 16+ and are currently studying.

The webinar explores why we worry about the future, how uncertainty makes things worse, and what to do about study stress. It provides guidance on cognitive and behavioural techniques which students can learn themselves to manage their own symptoms, stay in the present and prepare calmly for the future. 

Exams, studying and academia are a source of stress for many, be that day-to-day study or preparing for an exam. This webinar will support you in techniques to manage this. 

Worry is not an inevitable consequence of stress; rather, it is a mental process we can choose to engage in, or not. By writing worries down, learning the difference between worry and other forms of challenge, and introducing balance to our daily lives, we stand a good chance of limiting our worry.

The webinar also includes information about the free talking therapies on offer for anyone interested in accessing additional support for their wellbeing.

Key topics covered:

• All about worry: what it is, why we do it and how we can do it less often.
• Study stress: how it begins and how we keep it going; what to do and what not to do when preparing for assessments.
• The CBT Study Stress Toolkit: SMART goals, behavioural tools and cognitive tools. 
• Cognitive tools: spotting unhelpful thinking habits, challenging unhelpful thoughts and choosing new, more flexible and realistic ways of thinking.

Please note to access this webinar programme you must be aged 16+ and be registered, or be intending to register, with a GP in Hertfordshire or Mid Essex.

If you require any additional support registering for any of the webinars, please email: hpft.iaptwebinars@nhs.net.

Self-help videos:

There is also a variety of self-help videos available that focus on a range of topics, including stress, sleep, nature, wellbeing and mindfulness. Click here for more information about the self-help videos.

Mental health support for
Hertfordshire's young people