Friday Headlines

02 April 2021

This week we announced the next two Deputy Head Girls at EHS. Below they tell us, in their own words, what motivates them and what they hope to achieve...

Lucy

My name is Lucy and I am going to be one of the next Deputy Head girls for EHS. I am currently in Year 12 and joined EHS in Year 7. I am studying Psychology, Religious Studies, Economics and doing the Extended Project Qualification.

I am definitely a very lively student. I love being in the common room with my year group making lots of noise and sharing our stories and enjoy the things I do outside of school. I am an avid cook. Cooking and I started out with a love hate relationship, mainly because I aimed to get everything perfect first time even if I hadn’t made it before, but now it’s a great distraction from my studies and allows me to maintain a healthy lifestyle, whilst of course eating a few cakes and cookies along the way.

EHS has been great for me in so many ways. It boosted my confidence in subjects such as Maths where I lacked the self-belief to really push myself to then moving up sets and getting the results I wanted. As for skills, I’ve improved my public speaking which has always been something I’ve enjoyed. I have had plenty of opportunities to do this at EHS whether that has been for weekly assemblies, the annual Carol Service or in the Head Girl application process. Friendships is another area I feel EHS has helped me with. I have figured out what works best for me and that’s having friends all over the place. The school has continuously encouraged fluidity between the years and doing events such as the schools plays and musicals (for which I was on the make-up team) I made good friends in both the year above and year below. It’s always nice seeing familiar faces around school that aren’t just in your year group!

I feel honoured to be one of the Deputy Head Girl’s as being on the Leadership Team has been a goal for me since entering the older years at EHS. I know that my experience will be different due to the restrictions and changes of COVID but I want to try and use that to the schools advantage. Much innovation has come with the lockdowns, whether that’s through new dishes or upcycling clothes in new and wonderful ways. I think this innovation can be applied to EHS. Essentially, I want to bring back the ‘old EHS energy’ we had before COVID. I know at the moment our big events can’t go forward, but I want to arrange year group and form socials to really bring year groups together again and give Pupils something to look forward to that isn’t just the summer holidays. We can get these going by thinking in new ways and being innovative. Finally, I want to continue to encourage the girls to show off their talents as there’s such a wide array at EHS. Clubs is one of the best ways to do this as the girls can choose how to run them. I would like to be seen as a guiding hand to make these clubs easier to set up as I know they can be time consuming and difficult to get going.

I am really excited to take on this role and want to focus on making school enjoyable whilst dealing with the restrictions of COVID. I want to focus on changes we can make now to make school life as good as it can be!

Natalia

My name is Natalia and I will be one of the Deputy Head Girls for the next academic year.

I joined the prep school and became part of the EHS community in year 4. I continued up through the school and am currently a year 12 A-level student studying Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Spanish. I am also part of a small team of students working towards a British Science Gold Crest Award in the area of engineering and science.

As with academics, the school supports and encourages students to participate in various extra-curricular activities it has on offer. By engaging with these opportunities, I have joined the after-school netball club, I am part of the Dungeons & Dragons club and I am currently the Head of the Tech Team. I have gained many invaluable skills from being part of these clubs, such as social skills and team working, especially from being part of the Tech Team. As well as being part of clubs in school, I enjoy playing squash outside of school and have been volunteering as an assistant squash coach for junior sessions in the Edgbaston Priory Club.

As part of the Tech Team, I have enjoyed helping with assemblies three times a week, in whole school events, such as the annual House Gala, and with bigger productions the school puts on, such as The 39 Steps and Miss Saigon. Participating in these shows has allowed me to work with professional standard equipment, but it has also given me the opportunity to meet people from different year groups and different schools, working as actors or as part of the stage crew or make-up department.

Though we have not been able to organise any major productions this year due to social distancing and restrictions put in place. Despite this we have been able to adapt our technical resources to broadcasting assemblies online.

I recognise this year has been difficult for everyone in different ways due to the pandemic. One of my ideas as deputy was to plant a remembrance garden in memory of those that we have lost during these difficult times. I believe that now more than ever we need to be kind and to support each other. Therefore, another of my initiatives was to embrace the African philosophy “ubuntu”. This phrase means “I am because we all are”, for example: I am kind because we all are kind. I hope to share this phrase with the school to encourage students to embrace the philosophy of “ubuntu” and express kindness towards others, especially under the current circumstances.

I had been inspired to pursue this role since hearing my first Head Girl speeches in year 7. So, I am truly honoured to have been chosen to be part of the Leadership Team. I hope with this role I will be able to inspire others the same way I was and to support the school and students as we tackle the next academic year together!