This is the time of year when the baton is handed over from one group of House Captains and Head Girls to the next.  The Headmistress thanked everyone for what they had done, and congratulated  their successors. The newly-elected House Captains are Rachel Smyth and Holly Waylen (Bettany), Elle Makower and Holly Plumeridge (Clarke), Emily Scorer and Syd Wilson (Desenfans), and Naa Acquah and Alice Parker (Holst). The school will be very well represented by its new Head Girl, Nicole Ocansey, and her deputies, Elizabeth Diamond and Nathalie Power.

There are well over 200 girls at JAGS engaged in training on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, in exhilarating and challenging projects involving helping people or the community, getting fitter and developing skills. Congratulations to the following girls who have qualified for their Bronze Award: Perdita Andrews, Anne-Marie Bartsch, Raveena Bhondi, Amelia Coe, Elizabeth Hyams, Helena McNish, Daisy Peck, Lydia Thangarajah, Emily Watson and Harriet Wedmore, and to Elizabeth Diamond who has achieved a Silver Award.

Mrs Greta Mountain, the Saturday Literacy Scheme organiser, commended the help of 42 girls from Years 10 and 11 in developing the literacy skills of 6 and 7 year olds and they were presented with certificates. It is amazing to see how the children’s confidence grows over the course of the autumn and spring term and how their dedicated mentors make such a difference.

The Physics department awarded a team prize to Harriet Binny, Abigail Cheng, Arabella Ockenden, and individual prizes to Celine Clark and Catriona Gibbs for outstanding pieces of work completed during the day of the Year 7 visit to the Royal Observatory, the planetarium and the National Maritime Museum. The English department celebrated the Word of the Week winners, Maria Young and Emma Simons, who were able to elucidate with alacrity the correct definitions of words such as snurp, frittle, lassitude and prestidigitator! Dr Edwards told us they are sesquipedalians! (Look it up!)

The University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology sent thanks to Year 12 Ellie Reid for the practical and written contribution she made to the Field Academy excavation works, part of the ongoing research into the history of East Anglia.

In the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, a public exam, congratulations to Year 13 Hari Conner who passed the Intermediate level and to Olivia Knutson who passed the Elementary level.

Congratulations to the 254 girls from   Years 9, 10 and 11 who sat the Intermediate Maths Challenge 2010 in February, receiving 74 Bronze, 40 Silver and 17 Gold Awards between them.  8 girls qualified to sit the European Kangaroo and Olympiad papers as a result. Congratulations to Year 11 Maria Young who won the Best in School Award, and to all the award winners. Gold certificates were presented to Suzanne Bristow, Mair Dew, Anjali Garg (Year 9), Helina Berhane, Sian Evans, Sarah Holland, Kiki Nartey, Janna Patel, Flora Van Twisk (Year 10), Anne-Marie Bartsch, Helena Buckoke, Melanie Duncan, Lauma Kalns-Timans, Bea Natzler, Sarah Thornton, Gemma Wells and Maria Young (Year 11). A news story on our website has already featured the UKMT Regional Final where the team came a very creditable 8th out of 31 teams.

We were delighted to hear about the Year 13 medallists in the 2010 British Biology Olympiad, assessed by the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham. They are a credit to JAGS. Congratulations to Morwenna Read, Mariam Rela (Gold), Laetitia Ward (Silver), Sanjana Bhalla, Julia Wedmore (Bronze). Katherine Conlon and Kaushiki Singh were commended.

Each of the four houses at JAGS has held a House charity event, bringing the whole school together to raise funds for their chosen charity. Bettany raised £1072 for Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s Spinal Injuries Unit, Clarke raised £987 for Trinity Hospice, Desenfans raised £1450 for Kids Company and Holst raised £635 for War Child. In addition, the sixth form auctioned themselves as Slaves for a Day and raised £700 for Wings of Hope, Drinking Water Week raised £2778 for Water Aid, Gospel Choir Night raised £845 for Sparrow Schools in South Africa, the Multicultural Evening raised £1600 for Invisible Children, the Readathon raised £1028, Jeans for Genes raised £753 and a special collection for Haiti raised £1829. Holly Mozley raised £341 for the Little Princes Trust. You can read more about these stories on our website.

Senior House Music, Interhouse Sporting Competitions and Credit Mark prizes have all added House Points towards the coveted House Shield, awarded at the end of the year. Girls with the highest number of credit marks this term are: Lucy Mellers, Katherine Braybrook, Anna Colwell, (Year 7), Frances Higgs, Helen Callister Radcliffe, Rita Otto (Year 8), Mary Hintze, Isabella Broughton, Sarah Benjeddou (Year 9), Victoria Jackson, Antonia Skinner, Roshnee Patel (Year 10), Harriet Bland, Victoria Yee and Melanie Duncan, (Year 11). Well done.

Please look at the Achievements 2009/10 on the PE department pages in Teaching and Learning for news of sporting success, already reported on the website news pages.  Full Colours and Commendations were awarded in assembly to recognise individual achievement.

It’s been quite a term. We said thank you and farewell to Head of Russian Ms Paula Limbert, who is moving with her family to Yorkshire, and Headmistress Mrs Marion Gibbs thanked staff and pupils for their continuing dedication and support. There are exciting trips of all kinds to look forward to as the holiday begins, and just a hint of spring at last!