A Wonderful Day for EGA

By Ms Wilkins, Head of English

I was very fortunate to be able to

accompany our students on their special

day in Oxford. We began with an early

departure from EGA, and our fi rst stop

was the Pitt Rivers Museum. The theme of

the day was ‘Women without Limits’ and

‘Women with Creativity’. We were asked to

think about these ideas and come up with

an answer to the question, ‘What do I want

to be the first lady of?’

We then went on to meet a panel of

female academics, led by Dr Laura Peers.

We looked at unusual artefacts and a map

and had to find out what they were used

for and where they came from. This was a

really interesting activity.

We went on to have lunch at Wadham

College, followed by a walk to Christ Church

College. Security was very tight here and

we had to go through metal detectors

and leave all our bags behind. We began

with a workshop about leadership which

was inspiring to us all. And then, at last,

we went into Christ Church Hall where the

world’s press were waiting and waited for

Michelle Obama!

To begin with, the Vice Chancellor of Oxford

University spoke, then Michelle Obama.

You may have seen this on the news as

it was shown live. Ms Dibb then spoke,

thanking Michelle Obama. Mrs Obama

then introduced Clarissa Pabi, an ex EGA

student who is now at Oxford. She spoke

about how her experience at EGA had

infl uenced her achievements. Then Silan

Fidan from year 10 made a speech about

the day’s experience.

Ms Dibb then picked girls to ask questions

to Michelle Obama and it was fascinating

to listen to her responses. She was full of

excellent advice! Finally, we went into Tom

Quad to pose for offi cial photographs with

Michelle Obama. Winnie Mac escorted her

to her car and we waved goodbye as she

drove off in a convoy of cars. We came

back, full of great memories!

 

It was a great pleasure to experience a day

at Oxford University. We all had a unique

opportunity to discover many fascinating

facts about the past. The greatest event

was the chance to meet and talk with Mrs

Obama. She shared some really inspiring

thoughts with us, which we will never

forget.

Zlatina Angelova 8E

Michelle Obama said she was "beyond thrilled" to be with this group of north

London schoolgirls.

To watch the interview with Mrs Obama and EGA visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQDjYyKGRNU

From: EGA newsletter 27^th May 2011

Tweets about EGA students by our favourite authors! 24/25 May

@Kerensd Keren David

@ShelvingSheep Tears in my eyes watching Michelle Obama and the EGA girls on the news.

@annecassidy6 Anne Cassidy

Girls from Eliz Garret Anderson talk to Michelle Obama. Last week they interviewed me. They're on a roll! http://crimereading.blogspot.com/

@annecassidy6 Anne Cassidy

Here I am interviewed by some tough students fron Elizabeth Garret Anderson School http://crimereading.blogspot.com/

A day of newspapers

Today I made sure I bought copies of all the daily papers as I knew the story about Michelle Obama inviting 37 girls from EGA to Oxford University would be big news. Sure enough, there was plenty of coverage, not least a fabulous front page spread on the Guardian, featuring Ella Jay, one of our library assistants! The rest of the morning revolved around making copies, scanning and making newspapers available for photographers and TV crews to take footage of.

Photographs from the Guardian

The BBCTV presented a live news report from the school and I was pleased to see that the reporter referred to my display, which I had put together yesterday. I thought it made a very fine backdrop for the Head's interview.

Rosanna, my fabulous library asistant, has just gone out to buy fresh copies of the papers, as ours have been handled by too many excited fingers.

                                                                My display!

The Importance of having a Librarian

Article in the Times, Tuesday 24/05/2011 page 9

'The first time US Embassy staff wrote asking if they could address pupils at Jo Dibb's school, the headmistress simply passed the request on to her librarian with no pressure to follow it up.
"I had no idea what it would lead to," said Ms Dibb, head of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) girls' state school in North London.
What it led to was a surprise visit from Michelle Obama in 2009 and the start of a friendship with the First Lady that has boosted the self-esteem of the inner-city pupils and raised their sights to consider that "being smart is cooler than anything in the world."'

The 2009 visit by the US Embassy is mentioned in an earlier post.
The Librarian is me!

EGA Reading Group interview Anne Cassidy

Read the interview at Crime Central by following the link below. The Reading Group set Anne some questions about books and writing, which were put to her by Keren David.

http://crimereading.blogspot.com/2011/05/ega-interviewsanne-cassidy.html

Overheard in the Library...

'You're so late - you haven't read The Diary of a Wimpy Kid?' What kind of a person are you?

(Year 8 student to a friend)

Keren David and the Reading Group

In May 2010 a group of students from the Creative Writing group and the Carnegie Reading group visited Waterstones bookshop to listen to a new author, Keren David talking about her first novel, 'When i was Joe.' Keren gave a really enjoyable talk about writing, researching, choosing the cover and how her teenage children help advise her writing. At that time the sequel was about to be published.

The Carnegie Reading Group met Keren again when she compered our Islington Carnegie shadowing award ceremony, where each school does some sort of presentation about their favourite of the shortlisted books.

Performance from 'When I was Joe'

Keren talks to the group about 'Almost True.'

The girls loved 'When I was Joe,' couldn't wait to read the sequel 'Almost True' and invited Keren back into school to talk about 'Almost True.' They performed three excerpts from the books which Keren enjoyed and she was impressed with how well they knew the books. She then answered questions about the book and gave them an exclusive preview of her new book, 'Lia's guide to winning the lottery,' and showed them the cover. The book is to be published in August. The girls were also very keen for her to complete the trilogy of 'When I was Joe ' and 'Almost True.'

Some of the girls kept in touch with Keren through her Facebook page and when she ran a competition asking people to write a piece on what they would do if they won £8 million on the Lottery, Nasra, one of our students entered and won a signed copy! Nasra kindly agreed to share it with the group. Keren's publisher also sent us a few copies, so we have been reading it aloud and laughing a lot each week!

The girls were disappointed that 'When I was Joe' did not make the Carnegie shortlist, butcan't wait for the sequel to come out.

The Books
'When I was Joe' is about a boy called Ty, who is forced to go into  witness protection programme as he is a witness to a violent crime. He has to start a whole new life under the new name of Joe. The book deals with how he copes with a new school, new friends and a whole new personality. He lives in fear of being discovered and the reader gradually dicscovers that his account of the crime is not all that it seems.
'Almost True' picks up the story of Joe as he and his family are moved again and then he is forced to go on the run as his protection programme is compromised. There are many issues covered in this book, not least the growing problem of knife crime.
'Lia's guide to winning the lottery' is about a sixteen year old girl who wins eight million pounds on the lottery. The book is a hilarious look at how a life is suddenly changed and what problems inheriting a large sum of money can throw up.

Munna says of 'When I was Joe:' 'It is incredibly gripping and keeps you wondering. As well as being interesting and more reaistic than many books I have reade. This is a great book which wil appeal to teengagers.'
Mahmuda says: 'It is an exciting adventure about a boy who has to go through love, death and has to change his identity all the time because of a death that he saw happen.'

Follow Keren's blog at wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com and on twitter @kerensd

EGA students perform at the Islington Carnegie Shadowing 2010 watched by Keren David