GH team!!

Mrs India Merrett

Head of Girls' House

Mrs Merrett, formally known as Miss Patel, is happy to have been involved with life at Chetham's in a few guises-from 6th form student, Deputy Head of House, Practice Assistant, and now as Head of the Girls' Boarding House-a post she has occupied since January 2011. Born in Leeds, Mrs Merrett is half Irish, half Indian and very much enjoys playing Irish and Scottish folk fiddle. After Chet's, she studied Violin at LCM and RNCM and got married to Mr Merrett in 2012. Mr Merrett also works at Chetham's-in the Practice department, Girls' House and in Victoria House, where he is Deputy Head of House. In their spare time, Mr & Mrs Merrett love to travel and spend time with family and friends.

Miss Sarah Clarke

Deputy Head of Girls' House

Miss Clarke was born in glorious Manchester. She studied Psychology at University before coming to work at Chet’s. Before working in Girls’ House she worked with the little ones in Victoria house for nearly 2 year where she spent the majority of her time making a fool of herself. As many of you probably already know Miss Clarke LOOOVVEESS food, a lot...particularly pizza. She also has a great love of music and enjoys going to gigs and festivals when she gets the chance. As well as loving to travel and spend time her family and friends, she absolutely loves working at Chet’s with all the lovely Girls’ House residents.

Mrs Catherine Shepherd

House Assistant

Brought up in Leicestershire. Trained as a General and Sick Childrens Nurse in Birmingham. Worked in Birmingham and Manchester Hospitals.
Married to a Church of England Priest. I have three children. My son was a pupil at Chetham's and my younger daughter was a House Assistant in Victoria House.
I've been a House Assistant in Girls' House since March 1999 so I must enjoy the work!
At home, I enjoy gardening, looking after my chickens and relaxing occasionally.

Miss Kristine Healy

House Assistant

Miss Healy has been working in Girls' House since September 2010. She is a flute player who studied performance at the University of Queensland in Australia and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and she is currently working on a PhD at the University of Huddersfield.  Miss Healy grew up on the Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.  Despite the somewhat distressing change in weather conditions that a move to the UK has caused in her life, Miss Healy is very fond of her adopted nation and really enjoys hearing all the stories, news and essential gossip from the fabulous residents of Girls' House during the Chetham's school year.

Miss Lucas

House Assistant

Miss Lucas has worked at Girls for over a year and really loves it! Originally from Sheffield she enjoys living in Manchester where she studied for her degree in languages. In her spare time she loves films and art and even runs a craft club on Wednesday's. Working at Girls house, she loves seeing the pupils play their instruments and if she was musical she would be a singer!!! She also loves to travel and has been to China, France, East Europe and South East Asia to name a few. In the future she hopes to continue working in education possibly teaching languages in a Secondary school.

Mrs Ana Martínez

House Assistant

Mrs Martínez was born in a town named Ibi, surrounded by mountains and toys factories in the warm and sunny South-East of Spain. She studied in the University of Alicante where she became a Teacher of Spanish (and met her husband, BTW). Although she can't hide her accent, after three years in Manchester she feels a bit Mancunian too. On her first year at Chets, she hopes to learn and contribute as much as she can to keep a fab environment. Her hobbies include literature and dance, especially Classical Ballet and Flamenco. She was taught Flamenco dancing from a very young age in Spain and this has become one of her favourite pastimes. She associates this as a part of her cultural identity and has taught others how to dance as well as use the castanets and traditional Spanish fans. And, don't tell anybody, but she also cooks a gorgeous tortilla.

If life gives you lemons...

Sometimes the Sun gets hidden behind the clouds; sometimes you find a huge rock on your way; sometimes troubles make you forget how pretty you look when you smile. Yes, bad days happen. But never forget that the Sun will always be there; that there’s always a way for you to go; that there’s always a reason for you to smile.

I have this picture as my desktop background so it reminds me that there’s always a solution when my plans don’t work as I expected and I’d like to share with you all, because I’m sure that at least it will make you smile for a little while. See? You are smiling now. Aren’t you? Look how pretty you look!  😊

Besos:

Mrs. Martinez

Que viva la salsa!!

A big thank you to all the students that came yesterday evening to the salsa workshop. You all were very good dancers!!

 

Zoe McNamee (Y9) writes about St Patrick's day and what it means to her

Zoe McNamee (Y9) writes about St Patrick's day and what it means to her

I’m Zoë, I’m from Newry, Northern Ireland. I like to celebrate St Patrick’s Day because I am Irish and it’s a really fun festive holiday. The parades are great. There is loads of music, performing on floats and loads of people get dressed up! There are also dozens of events taking place.

These flags represent the different counties. 

Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick"), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. The first St Patrick’s Day parade was in 1737.

The Manchester Irish parade is being held on Sunday 13^th March and starts at the Irish World Heritage Centre at 11:30. The parade will be going through Manchester city centre. Listen out for it, or look out for it!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

From today's Telegraph:

International Women's Day: What is it, how did it start and what is this year's theme?

01:29

•  Radhika Sanghani 

8 MARCH 2016 • 9:55AM

What is International Women's Day?

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements – from the political to the social – while calling for gender equality. It has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on March 8.

Filipino women march in Manila, Philippines, to celebrate International Women's Day 2016 CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA

This year there is a Google Doodle marking the celebration featuring women and girls across the world who complete the sentence ‘One day I will’, talking about their dreams and ambitions.

A rally to mark International Women's Day 2016 in Lahore, Pakistan CREDIT: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Google visited 13 countries and spoke to 337 women to create the video. Their goals varied from "swimming with pigs in the Bahamas" to "giving a voice to those girls who can’t speak".

Women and girls who are inspired by the doodle are encouraged to take to Twitter to share their own aspirations with the hashtag #OneDayIWill.

How did it start?

It’s difficult to say exactly when IWD (as it’s known) began. Its roots can be traced to 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours.

A year later, the first National Woman’s Day was observed in the US on 28 February in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.

"In 1911, it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March."

In 1910, a woman called Clara Zetkin – leader of the ‘women’s office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany – tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She suggested that every country should celebrate women on one day every year to push for their demands.

A conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries agreed to her suggestion and IWD was formed. In 1911, it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19.

In 1913, it was decided to transfer IWD to March 8, and it has been celebrated on that day ever since. The day was only recognised by the United Nations in 1975, but ever since it has created a theme each year for the celebration.

What anniversary are we on now?

The first IWD to be officially recognised as thus happened in 1911, so the centenary was celebrated in 2011. This year is the 105th.

In 2011, US President Barack Obama proclaimed March to be ‘Women’s History Month’.

Barack Obama coined Women's History Month

Why do we still celebrate it?

The original aim of the day – to achieve full gender equality for women the world – has still not been realised. A gender pay gap persists across the globe and women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics. Figures show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse than that of men.

On IWD, women across the world come together to force the world to recognise these inequalities – whilst celebrating the achievements of women who have overcome these barriers.

Malala Yousafzai won a Nobel Prize for speaking out for girls' rights to educationCREDIT: AFP

What’s this year’s theme?

The 2016 theme is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”. The idea is to accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which was formally adopted by world leaders at a 2015 UN summit. It focuses on reducing poverty, huger, disease and gender equality.

How can you celebrate?

There are many ways you can get involved in IWD:

An artist paints a mural of a female police officer to mark International Women's Day in Kabul, Afghanistan CREDIT: AFP

1. Make a pledge for parity.

This involves going to the IWD website and pledging to help women and girls achieve their ambitions; call for gender-balanced leadership and create flexible cultures.

2. Join one of the many events happening around the world.

The IWD website shows where events are happening in countries and towns. For instance in London, there are a number of panels, luncheons, and even a football match between West Ham ladies and Tottenham Hotspur ladies.

3. Host your own event

It’s still not too late. IWD encourages people to host a prominent speaker and create an event of their own.

4. Go to Southbank's Women of the World festival

This takes place in London from March 8-13 to celebrate IWD with a series of events. 

 Play!01:23

Thousands of women marched last weekend in the UK - was this for IWD?

No, not specifically. But they are connected. As March is women's history month, a number of organisations have set up events around this time to highlight inequality.

On Saturday March 5, around 10,000 women marched in London as part of the ninth annual Million Women Rise march. It takes place on the weekend before IWD every year, and brings together thousands of women marching to end male violence against women. 

On Sunday March 6, women marched in London as part of Care International's Walk In Her Shoes.  Annie Lennox, Bianca Jagger and Dr Helen Pankhurst led the event that celebrated women's achievement across the globe.

Annie Lennox takes Part In the 'Walk In Her Shoes' march in London  CREDIT:  EAMONN M. MCCORMACK/GETTY

How is IWD celebrated across the world?

Countries celebrate it in different ways. It is an official holiday in a number of places including: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

Other countries celebrate it in a similar way to Mother’s Daywith men presenting their wives, girlfriends, mothers and female  friends with flowers and gifts.