The quest for House points is as strong as ever as the lockdown has not deterred the girls’ efforts to earn maximum points for their Houses!

Miss Munro-Hall gave an update of the current House points tally at her virtual assembly last week, reminding us how we can still be awarded points remotely and also the launch of the brand new House Art competition. The outgoing House captains also shared their top tips for isolation and the new House Captains for next year were also announced.

The current state of play sees Hepburn in third place with 5365 points, Elliot in second place with 5386 points, but Nightingale are leading the way with 5729, boosted by their strong performance in the NHEHS Daily Sport Challenge. However, there are under 30 points between second and third place, so there is still all to play for this term!

Miss Munro-Hall reminded us that we can be given points in lessons by teachers and for homework, plus points are handed out to everyone who participates in the Sport Department’s #NHEHSDailySportsChallenge, details of which can be found on the @NHEHS_sport twitter. 

Also watch out for other opportunities to gain points, such as taking part in the NHEHS 2020 Challenge, run by the Charity Reps. Our Eco Reps have weekly Active Travel Challenges where answers and ideas are also rewarded with points.  There are also points up for grabs in the Chemistry Reps’ ‘Elemental Soup’ creative writing competition too.

She then spoke about the brand new House Art competition which has still life as its theme. Girls can submit any style of artwork (digital, sketching, drawing, painting etc), but it must be A4 and the deadline for entries is Friday May 29th.

Sadly we were unable to hold the annual ‘House Shout’ at the end of the spring term, but we are still hopeful that it might take place at the end of the summer term.

Then we heard from the outgoing House Captains who have been discussing what’s been keeping them sane during the lockdown, sharing their top tips for isolation as discussed at their House Captains virtual meetings. 

Inspired by the juggling skills of Deputy Head Ms Copin, Miss Munro-Hall wanted to set herself the challenge of learning how to juggle. After much practising, she succeeded and shared her efforts with us (though she admits she has a lot of practising still to do)!  

Hannah, trying to avoid persistent pleas from her brother to play Minecraft, decided to go out on a run with him instead. They found it became a good way to bond and even ran 5k for charity. Her brother loved spotting cats on the route which became a highlight. As Hannah said, the isolation period is a good way to appreciate the little things you didn’t appreciate before.

Aditi also had an energetic tip for isolation: “Get a cycle, step on it and pedal and go!” On her first bike ride Aditi cycled 6.8k and was pleased to add it to her ‘Go Outdoors’ dashboard. She imagined she was actually cycling to Paris (as we were aiming to reach Disneyland Paris collectively with our mileage that week) which was fun to pretend as she said “We probably won’t be going there in real life for a while!” For her latest isolation challenge, Aditi is determined to manage five keepy uppies and shared her one hundredth attempt! (she is still practising!)

Zoe and Anna thought that although it is good to try new things out, it is just as important to have down time to relax and not worry. They came up with some great recommendations on a Google Doc to watch on BBC iPlayer, Netflix and C4, which girls can see on the Student Noticeboard. 

Jess has been doing a lot of baking during isolation. She prefers easy baking and shared her very simple chocolate krispies recipe. Her other tip was to get organised now while you have a bit more time. Try to make a to do list at the beginning of the day or week, but don’t feel downhearted if you don’t get it all done (she admitted she rarely does!).

Organising your files for your work right now would be a great use of time and really helpful for your revision later.

Sabah also favoured baking, arts and crafts. Making cake pops are great as they are very easy to make, taste amazing and you can decorate them. Painting by numbers has been really popular in Year 12 and you can buy landscapes or different patterns to paint, which is really relaxing. It is also a good time to experiment with tie dye clothing which has become a trend too, rather than spending a lot of money on brand new clothes.

Finally we got to meet the new House Captains for next year as they introduced themselves:

Nightingale – Captain – Li An, Vice Captain – Francesca 

Hepburn – Captain – Izzy S, Vice Captain – Annika 

Elliot – Captain – Lily, Vice Captain – Mia 

Welcome to our new House Captains! We look forward to watching those House points mount up this term!