Sixteen local schools took part in the popular annual schools dance festival on Monday 10 February. A huge variety of dance styles were on display, from Bhangra to hip hop, to modern dance and fusion.

Over 250 young people aged five to 19 from primary and secondary schools as well as sixth forms from across the borough provided spectacular entertainment throughout the day.
Guests and participants were also treated to two special curtain raising performances from London Contemporary Dance School undergraduates.

The festival started in 2009 and is a partnership between local schools, Camden Council’s sport and physical activity team, the Council’s school improvement team and Camden Dance Development Group. This year’s event was held for the first time at a national dance venue, The Place Theatre.

The Place also co-ordinated a series of workshops funded by Sportivate, the National Lottery funded London 2012 legacy project, to prepare students for their performances.
The workshops were run in schools by Akademi South Asian Dance UK, B-better Hip Hop Education, the English Folk Dance and Song Society and The Place Centre for Contemporary Dance.

The results of the expert dance professionals’ influence were clear to see in the high level of skill shown in the young people’s performances.

Dance is a fantastic way to engage and encourage young people to be active, and the festival is one of many initiatives designed by the Camden sport and physical activity team to get more young people physically active.

You can see photos from the event on our Flickr account.
Find out more at camden.gov.uk/camdenactive

Councillor Tulip Siddiq, Camden’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture, said:
“Dance is a great way to show our young people that they can enjoy physical activity – it’s not just about sports, there is a way for everyone to get fit and have fun. I was very impressed by the standard of dancing on show.”

Councillor Angela Mason CBE, Cabinet Member for Children, said:
“It was fantastic to see so many young people really enjoy dancing – their commitment to the performance was exceptional.   The workshops delivered by expert dance groups provided inspiration not only to the children but also to their teachers too.”

 ‘It always sounds so cheap when you speak of large numbers killed,’ the lady said. ‘Try to think of each one of those lives. My story is just one part of a much bigger picture.’
Below the stage in rapt silence, a packed hall of Year 9 girls at Parliament Hill School have gathered to hear that story.

The lady’s name is Freda Wineman. She has six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and this year is celebrating her 90th birthday. However this is not the legacy she has come to talk about today. ‘I will not tell my story in bitterness, but it took me 50 years to share my feelings with others,’ she explained in her distinct French accent.

It did not take her audience long to discover why.

Freda’s childhood was comfortable and happy. In 1938, she moved with her Rabbi father, mother and three brothers to the pretty town of Sarreguemines, close to the German border. Even when war was declared with Germany, domestic life continued as normal.

‘My father had the highest respect for the French Army.’ He told her the war would be short. Then in July 1940, when she was just 16 years old, the German Army attacked north-west France and the family fled south. They had no money, no car and in the panic her father had forgotten their valuables. Along the way, the civilian convoys they travelled in were bombarded by the German planes.

When they reached Vichy France – the southern region the Germans allowed to remain under French control – her father hoped they would be safe.  However, he quickly discovered that Jews were not welcome there: ‘Jews lost their livelihoods in Free France. The first people to be deported was the foreign Jews who had fled there from abroad.’

Meanwhile the French Jews were forced to go to the town hall to be identified and have their ration cards stamped. They were denied the same services as other French people and there was never enough food available. ‘We took it in turns to beg peasants for food in the mountains.’ Freda took the risky bicycle rides in the early morning to the villages to barter cutlery from the factory, where they worked, for potatoes. ‘If anyone asked me I had to say the bike wasn’t mine.’

Then the Jews in her town started being taken away by the Gestapo and the Milice, the notorious French militia which cooperated with the Nazis.   Freda’s mother approached a convent to see if it would hide the family. Although the nuns agreed to help, the family were arrested before they could go into hiding.

They were sent to Drancy transit camp, a barracks with 800 Jewish detainees. The chief of the Gestapo told them: ‘Don’t try to escape or your whole family will be shot.’ This same man then asked Freda whether he could buy her typewriter off her. ‘I could never understand how his conscience was working. Years later, she discovered that the Gestapo officer, in his warped morality, had indeed paid for the typewriter found at her flat, at the same time as he sent hundreds of innocent people to their deaths.

Then it got even worse.

‘On 30th May, 1944, we were taken to Drancy Station and squashed into cattle trucks…with nothing to drink, no food. It was very hot and on the street there was all these gendarmes and with their guns.’

After three days they arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and went through a selection process, where SS officers decided who was fit to work and who was to be exterminated. There were a number of prisoners surrounding the new arrivals who told the older women to take babies from the younger women. Freda’s mother took a baby from a young Dutch woman and was sent to one side with Freda’s brother Marcel. Freda followed her mother but was told to stand in the other line, as her mother would be looking after the children. That was last time Freda saw her mother.

Freda was taken with the other young women selected for work. She was disinfected and tattooed with the number A.7181 and became part of a work detail known as Kanada Kommando. This Kommando worked very close to the gas chambers, sorting the belongings of prisoners and those who had been sent to their deaths. Three of the girls who worked with her were caught smuggling clothes back into the camp and were immediately hanged for the offence. Freda and the other women from this group were then taken away and worked digging trenches in front of the crematoria until the Sonderkommando Revolt of October 1944.

In On 30th October 1944, Freda was taken from Auschwitz by cattle cart to Bergen Belsen, where she remained until February 1945. From there she was sent with 750 other women to Raghun, a satellite camp of the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she worked in an aeroplane factory.

As the allies advanced, Freda was once again moved, this time to Theresienstadt, where she arrived on 20 April 1945 and remained until she was liberated by the Russian army on 9 May 1945.

Freda was then sent to hospital in Lyon to recover. ‘I was dying of typhus. When I was in the camp I had a little thin dress. In [hospital] I was given for the first time a plate with potatoes, meet and wine. But I could not eat it. Our stomachs had shrunk to nothing.’

She was given a chemical bath on arrival because her body was covered in skin lice.
It took a long time for her to come to terms with her ordeal. ‘Mentally we were very depressed. There was no councillor or psychologists. You had to find your own way out.’
She married and repatriated to England in 1950 and had two children. However, she struggled to escape the shadow of the past. Until 1988 she had terrible nightmares about horrors of the concentration camp. It was only when she recorded her story on tapes for the British Library did they stop.  

After liberation, Freda learnt that her parents and her brother Marcel had been killed at Auschwitz. Her brothers David and Armand had both survived and she was repatriated to Lyons in June 1945 to be reunited with them.  An estimated 77,000 French Jews were not so lucky. In total, 5. 7million Jews were killed in the Second World War.

Freda explained to the students that it was her hope that her story would be passed down by them to future generations as a challenge to those to try to whitewash the Nazis involvement.
‘They were terrible times. I sometimes wonder why it was my friends and family were made to suffer in this way. What matters now is that your children should understand what had happened. It could happen again. The world has become much more fragmented. The prospect of suffering is very great indeed. It is certain that if you do nothing and say nothing this let evil in. You should speak up for civilised behaviour. It is my prayer that through you and your grandchildren [history will live on.] There are still people who deny that it happened. It was not a mistake by an otherwise good government. It was pure evil. It is vital that this message is not diluted. We all need to understand this.’

Freda was speaking at Parliament Hill School to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day.

Question and Answer session:

How did they treat women in Auschwitz?
There was no difference. The quickest way to rid of the people the better. We only saw men rarely. We were held separately.

Did you ever think you would survive? Did you maintain hope?
I was 16 when the war started and 19 when I was deported. I had not had any life. I wanted to live. I needed something to hold on it. Something in me wanted to survive. Those that survived were not better or cleverer. They just slipped through the net. It was destiny.

Is there anything that happens today that brings back those memories?’
The good news is that I’m alive. When I see babies – right away it kicks in what I saw. They killed all those babies. When I see people looking down on other people, being intolerant, it hurts because there was not just Jews in there. There was 30,000 gypsies. They made them play musical instruments and then executed them. There were gays, and non-believers…

Where you aware of what was going on in Europe at the time?
We knew of the invasion of Normandy and we kept alive for four years and then deported a few months before the invasion.

Who do you blame more?
It was Nazi Germany. Hitler and the whole of Germany who followed him. I wonder with hindsight why we couldn’t see it coming. The French Army was poorly equipped and the British Army. He was already killing his own people in Germany.

How did you try to escape?
The train stopped when we were being bombarded. There was a guard in the train afraid for his life and he went off and I went under the train in the rails. Someone in the station far away saw me under the train. I was lucky to be flung back into the train.
The second time, [when the train was stopped and the detainees were too weak to move] I started to run towards the forest and a guard shouted stop or I will shoot. He was a good guard because he did not shoot first.

PHS Elite Dance Company took 'The Global Rock Challenge - London Heat' by storm, securing first place in their first ever entrance into the international competition! 26 talented and committed dancers, and 4 selfless backstage and hosting student helpers, worked tirelessly from 7am-10.30pm to ensure the performance was perfect on the night. Competing against schools with years of Rock Challenge experience, PHS Elite Dance Company cleaned up on the evening, winning awards of excellence in the following categories:
* Drama
* Costume Character
* Entertainment
* Concept
* Soundtrack
* Choreography
And overall 1st place.

Our concept is rhino poaching in Africa, and our piece tells the tale of the African plains being a happy and vibrant place for all animals to live, until the evil, blood thirsty poachers come and destroy the harmony - time and time again.
PHS Elite are also donating 20% of their fundraising for the event to Save the Rhino.

Ms Thorpe

On Monday 3 March, our 'Women of the World Week' celebrations began with visiting poet Laurie Bolger entertaining and inspiring 360 Year 7 & 8 students in an extended assembly. Laurie began by explaining what life as a performance poet is really like, she explained 'while you might not get rich you can gain free entry into festivals'. She told the girls how she had worked in a 'poetry takeaway van' over the summer. Customers would approach the 'van' and order, 15 minutes later they would come and collect their own unique poem! The van was very popular at 'Bestival', a well-known festival.

Laurie also told the students about her Roundhouse radio show on sunday nights which features people 'who have a way with words' and suits listeners who like chilled-out music. 

She then introduced her poem Carrot-mash, Tea and Bill Bailey by asking the audience what makes them feel better when they are having a bad day. She explained how she feels that the small things one seeks, the 'carrots', can carry deeper meaning. 

Later, in a poetry writing workshop, Laurie set Year 8 students speed writing tasks which 'set their paper burning'!

Deputy headteacher Ms Peduzzi said, "Our students were gripped as Laurie's assembly flowed seamlessly from personal anecdotes and humorous observations to rich and poignant poetry and back. Creativity flowed non-stop during the poetry writing workshop with girls battling it out with the most adventurous and audacious Haikus."

Laurie said she was really impressed by the quality of students' poems in the workshop and asked if she could use some of their lines. She also said, "It's so lovely to see everyone being so smiley about poetry! Hooray!'

Last term students 8.4 wrote letters to Boris Johnson during their English lessons, informing him of issues they care about and attempting to persuade him as Mayor of London to do something about them. This term the students received a long letter of reply, in which Mr Johnson responded to students letters in a detailed manner, clearly showing that he is taking the views of our students very seriously.

Amongst other things, Mr Johnson had asked TfL to review the performance of the C11 bus route as a result of concerns expressed by students. Year 8 students can be extremely proud of producing what Mr Johnson praised as articulate arguments which he found a great pleasure to read and of using their excellent English skills to have a say about what goes on in the city they live and study in.

Students, staff, governors and a variety of visiting professionals participated to create an amazingly stimulating array of events to celebrate 'Women of the World Week' at Parli on the theme 'Inspiring Change'.

Deputy headteacher Anna Peduzzi said the events were about “taking inspiration from women who are leading influential and creative lives, and to encourage our students to aim higher than ever.”

Performance poet Laurie Bolger (above left) started the week of events with assembly performances
and a poetry-writing workshop for a group of Year 8 students. 

Susan McNally (above right), author of 'The Morrow Secrets', read from her new novel to a large assembly of Year 7 & Year 8 and answered questions from students, she then led a fiction-writing workshop for a group of Year 8 students.

Writer, journalist and academic researcher Melissa Benn (above right) spoke to LaSwap sixth formers about issues around sexual harassment and equality, giving very important and specific advice on the challenges women face in current society.

Justine Thornton QC (above right), led a team of barristers who were all interviewed in 'speed dating' style by Year 8 students. The legal experts spoke about their experience with authority and enthusiasm while several students expressed their ambition to become lawyers during the questioning. Justine Thornton introduced the session by pointing out that only 15% of QCs (Queen's Counsel) are currently women. She gave an anecdote about a recent court case in which both barristers and the judge were women. "This is worth mentioning because it is so unusual" she said. The message that more young women should enter the legal profession was clearly given.

Other lunchtime speakers were Guardian journalist Jessica Moore who spoke about careers in journalism for women and Ms Zanotti who described her career as a fashion photographer to a group of aspiring student photographers. Ifrah Abdi, our new home-school liaison worker, also ran two poetry workshops. Break time snack sales raised cash for OXFAM's global education drive for girls. Lunchtime screenings of the film 'Wadjda' highlighted the position and struggle of young women in Saudi Arabia. In the library a lunchtime bookmark design competition celebrated 'World Book Day' in conjunction with 'Women of the World Week'.

The Careers & Work Related Learning Department is always looking to expand our professional network.  If you think you could help us by offering a work experience placement for one of our Year 10 student, we would love to hear from you. 

Alternatively if you would be interested in helping at one of our careers advice events we would welcome your involvement.
Work Experience Week 14-18 July 2014 & 13-17 July 2015
Please contact lhutchinson@parliamenthill.camden.sch.uk or complete the enquires form on the school website.

We look forward to working with you.

The English National Opera visited PHS on Friday and played lively extracts from 'The Marriage of Figaro'. Visiting Camden primary students and Parli music students sat enthralled by the 40-piece orchestra, two sopranos and a bass-baritone who sang and moved around their audience. An informative narrator explained operatic terminology with much humour, we learned the difference between an 'aria' and 'recitative' singing! The ENO singers answered questions from students on how they trained to produce the necessary 'dynamics' using their whole body 'as an instrument'.

Some students were selected to sit amongst the musicians and enjoyed being immersed within the orchestra, one student said, 'It was loud but smooth!'

Thank you to our ENO guests for entertaining and educating us with this wonderful and inspiring visit. We look forward to further contact in the future.

(Pictured above: soprano Alexa Mason singing infront of students. Pictured to the right: ENO musician Rupert Ring with his 200 year old double-bass. Pictured below: soprano Gussie Hebbert sings up-close to students)

London School of Economics visit - Baby Boomers On Trial

On Friday the 28th of February, a selection of providential year 10 and 11 students from Parliament Hill School, were kindly invited to become part of the audience for an intriguing trial on baby boomers. Baby boomers are people born in the late 1940s-60s (aged around 49-69).

The trial was based around the question of whether they’re to blame for the mistakes of today and was fought by the dramatic and engaging performances of various lawyers from LSE and Matrix Chambers. This made it especially interesting, and throughout was a light humour that helped entertain the audience whilst discussing a relatively serious issue. The different sides brought up various questions including answering questions such as; who had it harder: those living after the war with free education and cheaper housing or those later who had better living conditions, yet at higher costs? Is it the baby boomers’ fault that our environment has deteriorated rapidly over these past 50 years? Have baby boomers made our lives better or worse by introducing the ‘gender discrimination act’ and what about the effects of introducing the ‘War on terror’ as well as the implanting of presentiment for terrorism?

The trial was carried out with the help of special witnesses, who are experts in their field, so could use their knowledge to make it a fair trial, in addition to drawing the audience’s attention to some key issues in our world today. They highlighted mistakes of the past, such as the controversy of the war in Iraq, and this meant we could make an informed decision on the subject. Many Parli girls were frantically scribbling notes on what was being said, hoping they could voice some queries they had about certain accusations made by either side of the argument.

They did get their chance as, before the votes were cast, the floor was opened, thus allowing the audience to express their views and have their own opportunity to interrogate the experts themselves. The Parli girls took great advantage of this, thoroughly questioning some of the points put forward by both defence and prosecution, which generated applause from other audience members as well as uncomfortable silences from the ones asked, who were left stumped and unable to give full answers. One of these evocative questions was a challenge to the prosecutors, as they had previously claimed that they’d faced more tragedies in their lifetime due to the actions of their ancestors, the baby boomers. Our Parli girl asked that, if this was true, surely our newest generations from the 1990s onwards have faced the hardest times; tuition fees rising, increased unemployment, less housing opportunities and an accumulating amount of people scrambling to attach the unrighteous label of a ‘juvenile delinquent’ to the younger generations. The prosecution witness agreed that we’ve come across some very harsh situations in the latest years, hence why they were unable to muster a sufficient, counteracting argument to impede her claims in the convincing argument.

After careful discussion, and individual evaluations of the trial, a vote was taken from both the jury and the audience to decide whether the baby boomers were to be held accountable for their misapprehensions; the verdict was very interesting indeed.  We found that both the jury and the audience came to the same conclusion: the baby boomers were not guilty. The audience’s votes were agonisingly close, declaring baby boomer innocence by a mere 2%, and many of the Parliament Hill girls found themselves divided on the issue as an even split emerged.

As the trial closed, thanks were given to audience members, lawyers, witnesses, organisers and more, including a special mention for the Parliament Hill girls, who decided to not only attend the event, but make it even more enthralling by providing their views and opinions to the rest of the attending. After a final applause, we were all invited to help ourselves to snacks and have the opportunity to talk to others attending the trial about what we’d voted and why, as well as get to know a bit more about others who’d come. During this time many people congratulated the girls on their involvement and were asked to come again to any future trials or talks at LSE or Matrix Law associates. When the girls left, many were having their own debates on the issue, buzzing with new ideas on the subject which they pondered as they made their way home, no doubt to spread the discussion of the ‘Baby Boomer Trial’.

By Rina Mjeku and Sophie Kitson, Year 11

YPI (Youth Philanthropy Initiative) Evening

On Tuesday 25th March Year 9 finalists presented their YPI campaigns to a prestigious panel of judges. Impressive presentations were delivered with confidence, creativity and rhetoric skill. Original film, musical accompaniment and dramatic performance all gave persuasive force to the campaigns which promoted local charities and action groups. In Citizenship lessons, Year 9 students have enjoyed learning about the work of some of the local philanthropic groups that make such a huge difference to our local community.

Thank you to Ms Morgan who coordinated this highly successful evening and to Ms Payne who worked with Parliament Hill students to provide high quality musical entertainment. Well done to all of the girls who took part and congratulations to Greta Flores-Travino, Eleanor Miller, Kaynath Shaid and Yasmin Sheikh whose winning campaign was awarded £3000 which will be donated to their chosen charity, Doorstep Families Homeless Project.

More details about the charity can be found here:
http://www.doorsteplondon.org/

On Monday 23 March, a visiting delegation of teachers and students from a school in central Moscow arrived at Parliament Hill.

The visitors were escorted around the site by four of us who are Russian-speaking. They observed some lessons and got a feeling for school life here. The visitors particularly enjoyed participating in an Art lesson led by Ms Chapman. They commented on the size of our school and its multiculturalism.

I really enjoyed showing these visitors around Parli and hearing their responses, they were very pleased to visit a London school.

Daniella, Year 10

This evening I was fortunate enough to be able to join parents and members of staff for Later…with Ms Kent, in which Year 10 students taking GCSE Music performed the songs they have written and arranged as part of their course; arrangements which, at different times and in varying combinations, featured piano, keyboards, guitars, drums, flutes, violins, clarinet and trumpet as well as numerous voices - one, wonderfully, in full-throated Spanish.

It was an emotional evening, for the audience as well as the performers; emotional in its expressiveness and, for those of us watching and listening, in the whole-hearted commitment of what is clearly a very able group of students. If ever vindication were needed of the work of the music department - which, of course, it is not - this would have been it.

There is the possibility of a recording of the songs being made available, in which case it should be on everyone's Christmas list, and, if last year is anything to go by, some, if not all, of the pieces may be repeated as part of the Something for Summer music evening on Tuesday, 24th June. Worth noting in your diaries now!

John Harvey
Link Governor for Music

Year 10 students in the Young Enterprise Club have been busy all year creating a company from scratch. On the evening of 2 April, 5 members went to the Central North London Young Enterprise finals. They came away with TWO prizes! And are now through to the next stage on 6th May. 

Best Trade Stand - the judges commented that this was one of the most professional stands they had seen and that they didn’t even need to confer to choose Parli’s!   

Best Company - 1st runner up 

Speaking to the judges after the only reason we didn’t achieve best overall company was down to our sales. The girls have only just started making the jewellery so we didn’t have the amazing sales figures to back up our potential. 

The girls have since been selling their jewellery before school and at break. Congratulations to the girls who went to the finals: Sara Habte, Zohra Malik, Aphra Liddington, Iona Ocak and Angelise Karanja

Ms Densham
ICT & Business Department

Ms Creasey held informative assemblies this week which celebrated the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare (23 April was both his birthday and also the date he died).

Students listened with interest to facts about Shakespeare's work. He coined 1700 new words and is estimated to have at least one of his plays performed every single minute of the day somewhere around the world. However he has not had praise continuously, the writer Voltaire described his works as an 'enormous dunghill'.

Other linguistic issues were discussed such as the fact that teenagers have on average a vocabulary of 40,000 words, but in active speech they only use 800. Students might want to reflect on this!

Ms Ghosh's Year 11 Graphics students have produced some very creative coursework for their CD packaging design project. Ms Ghosh said, "I am really impressed at the effort the students have put into their project work".

Congratulations to Parliament Hill debaters who have reached the national final of the Urban Debate League, having finished 14th out of 200 schools nationally.  The students will attend the final at the London law firm Simmons and Simmons in mid-May.  This is the first time we have reached the final and the girls should be proud their ability to argue, influence and persuade! Well done.

Dr Fowle

Link to Debatemate announcement:
http://debatemate.com/news/item/19226

In the spring term year 8 student researchers looked into the topic of the effects of unhealthy eating for teens. After conducting interviews and questioning peers, we came to the conclusion that there were many health issues unknown to students as well as unhealthy eating habits. These included many students not eating breakfast, unhealthy snacks and many students drinking high sugar drinks as well as some bringing energy and caffeinated drinks into school.

Other than short term effects such as poor sleep and low concentration, unhealthy eating can lead to many long term diseases and growth and development problems including obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The student researchers supported by the staff have organised a healthy eating week to campaign about the importance of good nutrition.

The Camden Health Promotion Team will be leading assemblies to highlight the importance of healthy eating and also launch the “Rethink Your Drink’ campaign. Quizzes and competitions will also be held throughout the week, including daily prizes for the choice of healthy school lunches and packed lunches. We hope everyone learns something new by the end of the week.  

The health risks of fizzy soft drinks will be explained and the school has made a commitment to the health of our students by asking all students NOT to bring these drinks into school following May half term. From June onwards students should not being fizzy soft, energy or caffeinated drinks into school. Staff will remove these drinks from students if they are seen drinking them around school and we ask for parental support in this health improvement initiative in our school.

For the past term, Mr Anderson from English and Ms Falconer from the MRO have been working with a group of students to create this short animated film.

The students were set the challenge of coming up with a story that reflected something about Parli. They created a story about a girl who comes to London as a refugee, and is miserable at school because she doesn’t know any English yet, and can’t understand anything or anybody. However, she soon starts to learn the language, and becomes far happier once she can understand and make friends.

With the support of the teachers, the students were responsible for script-writing, sound recording, production duties, artwork and camera operation, with Ms Falconer doing the film editing. The film was made on a real shoestring, with most of the scenes being made of pieces of cardboard and paper. The students soon learnt that with some ingenuity and hard work, you can make something interesting with no money, and hopefully in the future they will be creating their own animated masterpieces.

With the participation of: Leila Arafa, Njomeza Blakcori, Nathan Elemen, Naissa Essart Nielsen, Jack Grealish, Grace Hancock, Reeya Manandhar, Sinead Worth and Kela Zeqiri