Session 15 - Awards Ceremony

.Session 15 was a lovely morning spent with the girls, their parents and other special guests. The sixth form mentors were all there along with many of the teachers that taught them during their time at SHINE.  The girls wrote their speeches and stood up and read them beautifully. The girls told their proud families and audience how they had felt when they were chosen for SHINE, what they had learnt in each session and how attending had allowed them to make new friends and grow in confidence.  Mrs Robinson, Headmistress of Merchant Taylors' Girls' School presented each girl with a certificate and Kate Maryon, the children's author and friend of SHINE signed a book for each girl to take away with them. 

Miss Ladbrook, Miss Burns and Mrs Coughlan have enjoyed meeting and getting to know all the girls and were a little sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the awards ceremony, we will miss you all and wish you all the best in your SATs and at your secondary schools.

Session 13 - April 23rd- Baking Bonanza

Ms Hutchins taught the girls how to bake bread which they got to take home and enjoy.  The session began with a look at yeast, it's function in baking and how it ferments.  The girls watched as food (sugar) and warm water were added to the yeast to begin the fermentation process.  Ms Hutchins explained that yeast works by consuming sugar and excreting carbon dioxide and alcohol as byproducts. 

Following a recipe the girls began to mix together flour, salt, sugar, yeast and water to form a dough.  They learnt that the dough needs to be kneaded to develop the gluten and make the dough stretchy enough to make really good bread.  With aching arms the girls then shaped their bread ready to prove in the oven at a low temperature. 

After washing up and cleaning their work area the bread began the cooking process. The girls happily went off to enjoy cookies and juice and returned to a wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread before removing their wonderful creations from the ovens.  The finished results were very impressive and the girls were very keen to their creations.

Thank you to Ms Hutchins for a really great morning, it was wonderful to see the girls share their hard work with parents when they were collected.