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1,000 WORD CHALLENGE HITS 10K MARK


A nationwide language challenge tasking students to learn 1,000 words in a foreign language has exceeded the 10,000-user mark. The 1,000 Word Challenge was launched in January by online vocabulary-learning application Vocab Express, Oxford University Press and language campaign Speak to the Future. The challenge aims to ignite interest in language learning. Its popularity has led to an increase in the languages involved, which has been expanded to include Mandarin, Polish and Italian, in addition to French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. “We wanted the challenge to encourage learners to try a language they’d never experienced before, so that they could see the difference just 1,000 words can make,” says Justin Sycamore, Vocab Express MD.


CHANCE FOR LITERARY LIGHTS TO SHINE


Following the success of the inaugural Connell Guides Essay Competition last year, the company will be running a second essay prize for 2014-15. The competition is open to all sixth- form pupils in the UK and submissions can be made until 15 January next year. Award- winning novelist Philip Pullman (pictured) is on the judging panel and there will be a £500 prize for the winner. Last year’s judge William Boyd said of the entries: “The standard was uniformly high – thoughtful, intelligent, cogently argued.” The prize aims to encourage students to think about and interpret literature beyond the syllabus and to foster a lifelong love of reading and writing.


History is made as Newcastle High


September was an historic month for education in the North East, as a new independent girls’ school, Newcastle High School for Girls, opened its doors. Newcastle High School for Girls,


is a new independent day school formed by the merger between two leading independent girls’ schools in Jesmond, Central Newcastle High School and Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School, both with a long and rich heritage in the City. Hilary French, headmistress of


Newcastle High, and former head of Central Newcastle High School, explained: “We have the advantage of being new, meaning we can design all aspects of the School – the ethos, environment and curriculum – to meet the demands of the 21st Century, but we can also build on the very strong heritage of our founding schools, which, between them, have well over 250 years of experience in girls’ education. “None of us can know what the


future holds, but by encouraging the girls to be confident, flexible learners, combined with the characteristics of independence, determination and resilience, they will always be prepared for the challenges of the future.” From September 2016, Newcastle High’s


Senior School will be based at Tankerville Terrace, following a major refurbishment of the existing Church High site. Meanwhile the Senior School will be based at Eskdale Terrace, previously the Senior School for Central High. Hilary French: “The reconfiguration


and improvement of the Tankerville Terrace site is designed to provide an innovative, enhanced learning environment appropriate for the twenty first century. The impressive design will benefit pupils and staff and complements existing buildings on the site and in the vicinity. It will mean that, in the future, we can continue to ensure the high quality of education enjoyed by our girls”.


Life-changing Thailand trip for Mayfield girls


Ten girls from St Leonards-Mayfield School have returned from a trip to Pataya, as part of the school’s Actions Not Words community programme. The girls’ first task was to raise a minimum of £500 each in sponsorship, which they did through fundraising events that included cake sales, quizzes, a


professional ballet workshop and a 24- hour relay on the school running track. Once in Thailand, the girls worked


with disadvantaged children under the auspices of the Thai Children’s Trust. Their first experience involved holding English language conversation classes with orphans and children with


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