Star performers and rocket scientists
and a delegation to the Munich Model United Nations was commended.
At St Helen’s Girls’ School in Northwood, head Dr Mary Short has plans for a new junior school on a 21-acre site. This year’s triumphs included being named Top Girls’ School Team at the National Swimming Championships.
St Helen’s girls have enjoyed trips to Malawi, Iceland, Florence, Poland, Greece and China.
Recently, the school officially opened The Centre, a million-pound multi-purpose facility for the performing arts and sport.
The school also has a new Chair of Governors in Suzi Woolfson.
Abbot’s Hill, near Hemel Hempstead, opened its refurbished Stable Block last September, housing the enhanced art and design studios, extended food technology centre and new ICT suite and humanities area.
In March, it competed against nine others at the Dacorum Technology Tournament in Berkhamsted and won the Intermediate competition.
In June, a team of six year-nine girls scored highly in the National Physical Laboratory Water Rocket Challenge. Two Abbot’s Hill girls represented England in the U19 Lacrosse Squad in America.
A Local Authority Whole School Review has described Yavneh College in Borehamwood as “outstanding” in all categories. Six students are going to Cambridge or medical school this year, while younger pupils were awarded prizes for exceptional creativity in computer skills.
The inaugural Yavneh College Film Festival, run over two lunchtimes, saw pupils write, create and star in their own short films.
The Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth was the only one in the area this year to be awarded a Comenius Grant, an EU-funded initiative to encourage schools to work together. RMS has already hosted six European schools and visited two, with further trips planned for 2014/15. A new head, Ian Connors, is starting in Cadogan House, the prep and preprep department, in September. He was previously head of the primary department at the Harrow International School in Bangkok.
Last year saw the launch of a major fund-raising campaign to invest in a new creative arts faculty building, a design and technology centre and a home economics department.
The current theatre is to be converted into a fully equipped studio theatre with seating for 150. The school also hopes to fund a full size, floodlit allweather pitch.
Pupils wrote, made and acted in their own short films
One sixth former has been awarded an organ scholarship to Cambridge, while two more gained places on the highly competitive Horizons GAP year programme with Accenture.
Another sixth former won a nationwide art competition and had a portrait featured on the front cover of a magazine read by hundreds of schools.
A year 11 student rode for England at the World Team Mounted Games Championships and a year-seven pupil is county champion for the 100m and long jump and is ranked second in the country.
At the John Lyon School in Harrowon-the-Hill, a student gained entry to Cambridge to read maths and has been awarded a choral scholarship.
Several students have secured places to study medicine and dentistry and more than two-thirds of the upper sixth are holding offers from Russell Group universities.
As part of the Harrow International Schools exchange programme, groups of year-nine boys travelled to Bangkok and Beijing. The football and cricket teams went on tour to South Africa.
In June, year sevens met the Duchess of Cambridge at the reopening of Bletchley Park and eight boys were presented with their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at St James’ Palace.
The school was commended by the Harrow Heritage Trust for restoring