Word from the Head – 23 January 2026

We would like to remind all parents and students of the importance of wearing the correct PE kit for all PE lessons and school fixtures. Arriving in the appropriate kit helps ensure lessons run smoothly, keeps students safe, and promotes a positive and professional approach to sport and physical activity.

Please ensure that students bring the correct kit for both curriculum PE and fixtures, including suitable footwear and any required school PE uniform items.

For health and safety reasons, students should not wear puffer-style coats (for example, North Face coats) during PE lessons. These coats are not practical for physical activity, can restrict movement, and may pose a safety risk during participation. Instead, students should wear a lightweight, suitable sports jacket or school PE top designed for physical activity.

For a clear guide on what should be worn, please see the infographic below for reference.

Thank you for your continued support.

We will be holding Spring Term Practical music examinations over two or three days during the period Monday 23 – Wednesday 25 March 2026 for candidates in both the Junior and Senior Schools. These examinations are also open to candidates who have practical music tuition outside of school, providing their teacher has stated that they are ready to take an ABRSM Practical examination this term.

We do need parental consent before we enter candidates, therefore parents need to scan the QR code shown and complete the online form by 4.00pm on Monday 9 February at the latest. Regrettably, we will be unable to process late applications.

Haringey is organising both in-person and online workshops for parents to highlight issues around Online Safety and Radicalisation. You can join for free by scanning the QR code on the attached poster. If you are interested in this particular topic, please also note that TooledUp has a range of resources that are available to you through our membership. Online Safety Awareness.pdf

Limited spaces remain for the Al Murray talk at Channing on 26 February: you can book at this link.

Al Murray, comedian, writer and broadcaster, will join Headmistress Lindsey Hughes in conversation at Channing on the subject of “Why girls should be interested in the Second World War.”

Best known for his comedy creation The Pub Landlord, Al Murray has enjoyed a long career on stage and screen. Alongside his comedy, he has developed a strong reputation as a historian and commentator on the Second World War. He is the co-host of the hugely successful podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which explores all aspects of the conflict and its legacy. He has also presented acclaimed history documentaries for television, including Why Does Everyone Hate the English? and Al Murray’s Great British War Movies.

In addition to his broadcasting career, Al Murray is the author of several books on military history. His most recent, Arnhem: Black Tuesday 1944, examines one of the pivotal battles of the war. Through his distinctive mix of humour, passion and scholarship, Al has made history engaging and accessible to a wide audience.

All proceeds from this talk go to Al’s treasured charity, Finley’s Touch. Al will be signing books in Founders Hall after the talk which should last one hour.

On Thursday 19 March 2026 we hold Springboard Day, an event primarily for Year 12 students who are planning for life after Channing. In the morning, higher education providers come to school to talk about university life and subject choices. In the afternoon, we invite employers from a range of sectors to join the university and gap year exhibitors at the Springboard Fair.

We are therefore looking for volunteers and contacts. Would any parents or other Channing careers supporters be able to join us to represent their employer and field of work from 3.15pm until 6.30pm in the New Sports Hall at Channing on 19 March? Substantial refreshments for exhibitors will be provided during a break.

Alternatively we ask you to put us in direct contact with a named person in your organisation who manages early careers and graduate recruitment, so we can invite them to attend. Our Year 12s will be joined by Year 12 St Aloysius students for the whole day, Channing Years 10 – 13 after school, and students from other partnership schools and Channing parents in the early evening, so there will be a significant number of visitors. Please email my team at careers@channing.co.uk to let us know how you can support us – we greatly appreciate your input.

We hope your daughters are looking forward to the Channing Year 7–8 Disco on Saturday 28 February. It promises to be a fantastic evening of music, dancing, and fun!

Channing Student Tickets £30 + booking fee
Tickets for Channing students will go on sale tonight, Friday 23 January, at 6:00pm.

Please note that the ticket link will not be active before 6:00pm.

The link has been shared via Classlist and the Year 7 and Year 8 WhatsApp groups. Please check Classlist and your class WhatsApp chats for the link. As this is a very popular event, we encourage you to book early.

• Only one ticket per transaction is permitted.
• Please do not share this ticket link outside the Channing community.

Tickets for Non-Channing Students £30+ booking fee
Tickets for non-Channing students will go on sale on Friday 30 January at 6:00pm.

We will circulate the link when it becomes available.

If your child has friends in Year 7 or Year 8 at other schools who would like to attend, please feel free to invite them. Once the non-Channing ticket link is released, it will be shared via the Year 7 and Year 8 WhatsApp groups (through class representatives) so that you can forward it on.

Disco Volunteers – Thank You!
We are delighted to share that we have reached our target of 50 volunteers!

Thank you so much to everyone who offered their time and support. Your generosity is greatly appreciated, and you are helping to make this event a wonderful success.

Don’t wait — this night will sell out fast!

Glow. Glam. Dance. Repeat.

Music at Lunchtime
Last Friday saw the official return of Music at Lunchtime, with a special edition to usher in the new year. Lydia O in Year 10 debuted her first album to an enthusiastic audience of Year 10 supporters. She performed 11 songs, accompanying herself on piano, which added to the rawness of her performance (and gave Mr Boxall a welcome break!). Songs such as Rose Tinted Glasses and Coffin displayed impressive vulnerability, and on the whole the album was personal and emotional. Lydia’s musical theatre-like voice and inspiring confidence enhanced the evocative recital. We look forward to hearing the recorded and produced versions of her music, but for now, the Channing Soundcloud will have to do. Do listen HERE.

This week in Literary Society, Keitu B delivered a lively presentation on satire and the male author. Read below for a brief commentary on her presentation.

‘My presentation focused on the idea of male authors’ ‘satirical’ commentary of women through literature. I examined multiple literary works featuring a male satirical perspective, including The National Telepathy by Larraquy and The Enchanter by Nabokov. I found that a common recurring theme in these satirical narratives is the desire for the white man’s guilt to be rewarded and forgiven, without having to acknowledge his own privilege by writing the part of a native woman as his gentle and forgiving prize. For more mainstream examples this can be seen in the Avatar films, Disney’s Pocahontas and many more.’

By Keitu B, 12CGu

Classics Symposium
On Monday afternoon, Channing’s most enthusiastic Classicists in Years 10-13 were treated to lectures from Dr Will Szymański and Dr Imogen Stead. Dr Szymański spoke to us about Sulla and the rise of autocracy in Rome, discussing the three pillars of tyranny and making fascinating comparisons to modern day politics. Dr Stead took us back to fifth century Athens, imagining we were attending the theatre. She explained the arguments for and against the possibility of women attending the theatre in ancient Greece, and evaluated female characters and choruses in Greek tragedies to illustrate contemporary views.

Both speakers also talked to the students about their journeys studying Classics; Dr Szymański is currently completing his post-doctorate at Newcastle University, while Dr Stead has moved away from academia to work in a Westminster-based think tank to research frontier AI systems. Students asked pertinent and insightful questions, broadened their understanding of the ancient world and were excited to see where the world of Classics could take them. Well done to all who attended!

Hercules the Musical Trip
On Thursday 18 January all of Year 8 went on a trip to see Hercules the Musical in the West End to introduce them to one of the topics in the Classical Civilisation GCSE and to broaden their knowledge of the ancient world. The girls battled admirably through wind and rain to get to the theatre where they settled in their seats and fortified themselves with snacks to see them through the performance. The production featured familiar songs from the Disney film alongside some new songs created by the original composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel. The students were delighted by the production value: there were costumes, monsters, dancing and special effects galore. Thank you very much to all the staff that accompanied the trip and we hope the students are inspired to continue their classical education!

Our budding Year 7 set designers have been exploring their own design ideas for ‘James and the Giant Peach’ in anticipation of the upcoming KS3 production. They took part in a practical workshop in the Arundel Centre where they learnt about the set design process and created their own sketches and white card models. They created thoughtful and inspiring designs with enthusiasm and maturity. Well done, girls!

There will be an opportunity for Year 8 to participate in a similar workshop in the coming weeks (date tbc) and a ‘James and the Giant Peach’ costume design workshop for Year 7 and 8 on 12 February in the Arundel Centre. Look out for the posters on the screens around school and scan the QR code to book on.

Anatomy Club
This week the students dissected a sheep’s eye, carefully trimming off the fat to make an external examination, then cutting into the tough fibrous sclera. This exposed the major parts of the eye, namely the iris, lens, retina and the vitreous humour. The students then extracted the lens to see its magnifying powers as a convex lens. We used magnifying glasses to inspect the retina and iris more closely. Once again the club was supported by a fantastic Sixth Former.

Next week we will dissect a lamb’s kidney.

Robotics Challenge
On Friday 16 January, we travelled to the University of East London to participate in the Southern Science and Technology Challenge Final. It included 20 schools who were the winners of 10 other challenge days which were held in the summer of 2025, and we teamed up with another school from Oxfordshire to program robots around a 3D maze. We experimented with colour, images, and sound on our robots, using trial and error and our previous skills from the first challenge day to successfully and creatively navigate our robot around the maze. Our trip also included a tour from a university alumna where we got to explore different aspects of university life and some of the amazing courses it had to offer. After we finished testing out our robot, we went to the awards ceremony, and incredibly enough we placed second! We really enjoyed this opportunity and want to thank all the teachers that helped to make this happen.

Milla C, Year 10

Maths in Action
On Tuesday, Year 10 students got the opportunity to go to Maths in Action which took place at the Emmanuel Centre. The day allowed us to get a glimpse of the many ways maths is used, outside of our curriculum. The day started with a talk from Darren Macey who spoke about understanding randomness and finding structure within randomness with the use of statistics, asking the puzzling question: what connects a lukewarm cup of coffee, a lottery ticket and the number of medium t-shirts in a clothes shop? We then heard from Ioanna Georgiou who gave a talk on the stories of maths which took us back in time to see ancient counting, the origins of algebra and why we can’t divide by zero.

Next Zoe Griffiths showed us some amazing magic tricks showing how magic tricks may seem impossible but often just involve a set of steps and some mathematical thinking. We also heard from Ayliean Macdonald who showed us the many ways you can use a chess board for anything other than chess, and how chess boards are a playground for puzzles. Finally we ended the day with an exciting talk from Dr Colin Wright, who gave us a lively gravity-defying talk on the unexpected maths of juggling, showing us the many patterns involved. The trip immersed us in the diverse world of maths and who knew maths could be used in so many ways?

Violet L, Year 10

Author Visit
On Thursday 15 January the author Lucy Strange visited Channing to give a talk to Year 7 and run a creative writing workshop for Years 7 and 8. In her talk Lucy focused on where she gets the inspiration for her books and her tips for writing historical fiction. Pupil librarian Miranda K-R in Year 7 has shared her thoughts about the talk below.

Pupils in Years 7 and 8 are encouraged to enter the History department’s Historical Fiction creative writing competition, which will be judged by Lucy Strange. The brief is to write a short piece of historical fiction set in a time period of your choice and submit it by Monday 23 February. For more details and guidance on writing historical fiction, please see the competition brief.

In her talk, Lucy Strange was proud to present historical fiction as her home in her writing career. She has written five books, all having some historical link. When writing historical fiction, you have to keep your boundaries in the sense of history. Lucy said that her books were ‘anchored in the real world, and real life events that happened years ago’. As a contrast to this, in fantasy you have no boundaries, and you can go wild in a world of your own. 

She also likes to mix history with mythology. For example, one of her books called ‘The Storm and the Minotaur’ is set in the time where young boys would be sent to the mines to work. In it a boy finds himself with a strange creature lurking in the depths of the mine…..

The book she was telling us about is called ‘Our Castle By The Sea’. In this book, she showed us what it was like to live during WW2, from the perspective of a girl living in a lighthouse with her family. She implied that all you need to do is put your characters in place, because when you write historical fiction, your set is already painted.  She found lots of her inspiration in paintings, artwork, and other books. When she found a good painting, all she had to do was to convert the art into words. 

Lucy encouraged everyone to keep reading and writing, as she did to help her succeed in her career as an author.

Miranda K-R, 7LR

Last Wednesday we had the pleasure of hosting our annual History conference with the theme of 20th Century Global Conflicts. Darcy, Nina and I have spent the last few months researching and inviting renowned academics from universities including King’s College London, SOAS and the University of East Anglia to share their insights into this year’s theme. With talks ranging from US foreign policy during the Vietnam war and Vietnamisation to religion under the Chinese Communist Party as well as the Sino-Japanese War and US foreign policy during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; GCSE and A-level students from Channing and A-Level students from Parliament Hill, William Ellis and JFS enjoyed a day of fascinating and enriching lectures to extend their knowledge of their studies. To round off a truly fabulous day, we were lucky enough to hear world leading military historian, Professor Richard Overy, deliver a thought-provoking presentation entitled Why War? which considered the history of warfare as well as touching on future conflicts yet to come.

I know that I am speaking on behalf of my fellow student organisers when I say that we are so grateful for receiving this wonderful opportunity to practice our leadership and organisational skills, but we couldn’t have done it without the support of Ms Kung and the rest of the History department who were there with us every step of the way – we truly could not have done it without the support.

We are already looking forward to the Conference of 2027!

Winnie D, Year 12

Football
The U13B played their first match in the English Schools U13 Cup for B teams. After a walkover in the first round the Channing team had a home match against Colfe’s School. The game was a very even affair although Channing probably had the better of possession. Midway through the half, a handball presented Channing the chance to score from the penalty spot, unfortunately this was missed. However a goal from Aria L gave the team a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately towards the end of the half Colfe’s managed to score an equaliser. The second half did not see the deadlock broken and the game went to penalties. In the fifth penalty Chloe R-S scored an equaliser to take the game into sudden death. With Colfe’s missing their seventh penalty the pressure was on for Penelope P to win. Dispelling the nerves she calmly slotted it into the bottom corner to secure a place in the quarter finals. Congratulations, team!

Netball

U12 and U14 Haringey League Netball Finals

U12 Team
On Friday we went to the Haringey League finals. First we played Fortismere. It was a tough match but towards the end we definitely improved and we ended up winning with 8 goals. In the finals we were playing Alexandra Park school. We were winning by 1 going into the last quarter. But about 5 minutes into the game they scored a goal so it was even. By the end of the match we were still even, so it went to golden goal. After a long time of back and forth, we finally scored! Overall the matches were both very successful. I think we have definitely got some things to improve on, so next time we can be even stronger.

Written by Agatha R

U14 Team
Last Friday, 16 January, our team took part in the Haringey netball finals, held at APS, competing against Haland, APS and Fortismere. Our first match against Fortismere was a strong start; although we were still settling back into playing together after the break, we showed great determination and teamwork to secure a narrow but well-earned 6–5 win. The second match against APS proved to be a much tougher challenge, with both teams displaying high levels of skill in a tense and competitive game. Unfortunately, we were just edged out in the final moments. Despite this, the team put in an excellent performance throughout the tournament and we are extremely proud to have finished second overall, making it a fantastic achievement and a great confidence boost for the rest of the season.

Written by Beth H

U12A vs City of London School for Girls 
On Monday 19 January we played the U12 City of London team. In the first quarter we played well but our passing was not accurate. In the second and third quarter we did much better and by the end of the third quarter the score was 12-5. However, in the last quarter they played better than us and we ended up getting only 3 more shots in. Overall, we played nicely although we could improve on our passing and marking our players.

Written by Frances B

U14 Sister n Sport Bowl Cup Matches 
Last Tuesday Colfe’s School came to Channing and we played them in our first round of the SnS bowl. We started the match really well and won the first quarter. We made some changes to the midcourt in the second quarter and we continued making lots of turnovers and won the second quarter. We went on to win the game 66-17 which was a really good result. However for our next game we wanted to improve on communication on court.

We played our next round of the competition on Monday against Grey Court School. We started well but were still lacking in some communication on court. We still managed to put out a good performance and win the game 42 – 20, however for our next round of the competition we want to focus on communication as a team and decision making.

Written by Thomasina R

Look what we found in the Channing Archive – anyone for a game of rounders?!

Pupil rounders lesson (circa. 1990s)

Staff Rounders team 1963