Winston Students Impress

Open Evening

Students and staff are to be congratulated for ensuring that parents and Year 6 students enjoyed the Winston Experience!  A large number of parents praised the superb behaviour of our students and told us about the enthusiasm and pride that they have in our school.

Showing off one of our ICT classrooms

Hiding behind our new prospectus

Mr McLeish (RE) - 'Ow you doin' ?

Languages

Anyone for Astronomy?

Mr Hough (Science)- What a bright spark!

Can you describe this in French?

Service before Self at Winston

The Year 8 students received this email following the presentation of a cheque to the charity Shooting Star Chase. 

Dear Chris Reed,

It was fantastic to meet yourself and your pupils today. I must say they were impeccably well behaved and very helpful. Thank you once again for the amazing fundraising of your year 8’s.We really do value your support.

Once I have the names of the lovely boys who put us forward ( Matt and Joe) I will send you out some certificates for them and one for the whole year group that you can put on the notice board that you mentioned.

I look forward to hopefully continuing to work with the school in the future. And do let me know if you are able to bring any students to our open day at Christopher’s on the 22^nd October.

Kind regards,

Ellie

Ellie Christianson
Education and Youth Group Fundraiser | Shooting Star Chase

The money was raised when the students were in year 7. All the year 7 students helped to raise the money during their lunch times and tutor time. They also held a year 7 disco to add to the funds. The students who chose the charity Shooting Star Chase were Joseph Grant and Matt Carr.

 

Microsoft for Students

We are developing a new partnership with Microsoft, with the aim of ensuring that our use of technology in the form of tablets and laptops has an impact on learning and progression.  We believe that students can benefit from ICT and want to provide access to products that are used across the school, therefore, students are now able to download Microsoft Office for free.

“Students at Winston Churchill School can get a complete version of the latest Microsoft Office free to use for as long as they are a student at the school.  Install on up to 5 computers and tablets at no charge at Office.com/GetOffice365 by entering your frog e-mail address and password.”

  

Contributing to Winston

A huge thank you to Mrs Battersby, a local resident, for donating the items in the photograph above to the school.  they will be used in Technology lessons when looking at the development of equipment and the techniques used when construting textile products.

I would also like to thank parents who have donated musical instruments to the school, this is making a difference to our new Music Department and providing opportunitieis for more young people to become involved in music making.  If you have an unwanted instument at home, please contact the school, as we will ensure that it is put to good use.

Winston Welcomes the Woking College English Department

Winston's English department was delighted to welcome teachers and students from Woking College this week. The aim was to offer some of our Year 11 students the opportunity to experience A levels lessons in a range of subjects: English Literature, English Language and Creative Writing.

The three 75 minute workshops were run by the head of department, Richard Vardy, and Ruth Dunford. Current English students from the college were on hand to answer questions and offer advice to our students, many of whom have expressed an interest in studying one of the several A level English subjects available at the college.

In addition, Richard observed two English GCSE lessons: 11WC with Mrs Payne and 11CW with Mrs Southern. He was very impressed with the students' depth of understanding and their enthusiasm for the subject.  In fact, he described 11CW's level of interpretation of Lord of the Flies as 'undergraduate level'!

The workshops were well received and students appreciated the opportunity to sharpen their skills at a higher level. They also came away with a better understanding of what they could expect to study in each subject.

Both English departments are looking forward to strengthening the partnership in future and we are planning further joint ventures.

 

Winston In Borneo

An Experience of a Lifetime

During the summer holidays, 8 Year 11 Winston pupils embarked on an adventure of a lifetime.  Along with 14 pupils from two other schools, (Smestow,  Wolverhampton and Hale Academy, Lincolnshire) they formed a composite group and travelled across to the other side of the world where they spent four weeks working on various projects to help improve the living standards of the rural underprivileged communities in Borneo.  Before getting stuck into the voluntary project work, the pupils were celebrating the end of Ramadan on Mantanani Island which allowed them to embrace the local culture and experience their way of living as well as undertaking various cultural activities such as cooking and arts and crafts.  After the celebrations, the hard work began.  Whilst laying the foundations for a new kindergarten, brick laying for a new water storage system, cutting bamboo for a community centre's fence, completing beach clean up’s, and constructing community toilets to name a few projects, our pupils developed a range of skills such as mixing concrete and cement, brick laying, plastering, and shuttering.  

The adventure also took us into the jungle where all survived 3 nights sleeping in hammocks!  Here, we planted over 250 trees and took part in a forest regeneration project to protect wildlife and the environment.  We also cruised up and down the river Kinabatangan sighting crocodiles, proboscis monkeys, and monitor lizards. A highlight of the trip was also definitely visiting Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Sanctuary where pupils came extremely close to a number of wild orangutans.  Seeing them in their natural environment was truly a once in a lifetime experience.  As part of the experience, the pupils also completed a 3 day PADI scuba diving open water course on Gaya Island enabling them to dive anywhere in the world!  During our four week visit, the pupils also visited numerous nursery and primary schools and were fortunate enough to spend a couple of afternoons teaching English to the local school children which both leaders and children thoroughly enjoyed.  

The in camp staff were absolutely amazing, extremely knowledgeable and friendly adding to the pupils overall experience.  They not only developed the pupils practical skills but enriched their social, moral and spiritual well-being.  Over the 4 weeks, the pupils grew in confidence, initiative, and independence which was incredible to see.  They were commended on their work rate and work ethic and this trip was a fantastic end to a successful five years at Winston for them.  It was a pleasure to spend the 4 weeks with them and see them have such an enjoyable and rewarding time!  

Miss A Howe

'The experience was amazing, to say the least. The sheer difference between our lifestyle, full of what should be classed as luxuries, and the lives of the children in Borneo is astonishing and a real eye-opener! It may seem strange but my most enjoyable periods of time out there were the hours of hard labour where teamwork, selflessness and commitment really showed in the whole group. I met so many new, amazing people that made the trip all worthwhile. Quite literally Borneo 2014 was an opportunity of a lifetime and I'm so thankful for not letting it pass me by'. (Adam Gardiner)

‘Borneo. The greatest experience of my life. This once in a lifetime trip pushed me to my limits but all the hard work was definitely worth it in the end when you saw the smiles on the locals faces. One thing Borneo taught me was to always stay dedicated and to never give up even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. The most memorable part of this trip was definitely meeting the locals and experiencing their way of life. This trip is one I will never forget. Quite simply it was phenomenal’.(Paige Best)

 

Winston in Full Swing

 A National Champion

Hannah at one of the British Champion Rounds

Hannah Moore has won this years Motorcycle Trials Championship and is the 2014 ACU Luscombe Suzuki Leeds - British Ladies and Girls C Class Trials Champion.  We are very proud of Hannah's achievement and look forward to supporting her in the future.  Hannah followed her father into the sport and has ridden in trials since she was 8 years old.

Improving our Library

During the summer holiday I decided to review our library provision and to improve it so that students will have a much better learning environment.  Currently I am looking for someone to supervise the library from 10.00am until 5.00pm, to ensure that students can have access throughout the day.  In the meantime I have begun by purchasing some new comfortable furniture and modifying the book stock.

Trying out the new sofas

Thank you!

A huge thank you to the 46 parents and staff who have signed up to the easygiving site, through which you can do your online shopping.  The school is given 1-2.5% of the total you spend.  So far we have raised £353.00 towards the outdoor table tennis equipment.

Sign up today by going to the PTA section of the WCSC website.  It will cost you nothing extra to support the school.

Geography in Practice

Students in Mr Byrne's lessons were outside learning about water and what happens to it when it falls on different types of surfaces.  Students had the opportunity to learn  why the new astro turf  installed as part of the school site was preferable to tarmac.

A Great First Week

Results 2014: Further News

The school has been questioning the quality of marking of the GCSE English papers by the examination board AQA.  The board have up-graded a number of students, which is excellent news for the individuals.  It has also had an impact on the whole school results which now stand at:

69% 5A*-C including English & Maths. 

Our First Full Week

It has been a privilege to visit lessons this week to observe the great start that our students have made to the new school year.  Everyone looks so smart and eager to learn.  Students have told us how much they like the new outdoor spaces and that they have the opportunity to play football and other games at breaktime. Year 7 have made a very favourable start and they are beginning to make a wider contribution toWinston by volunteering to be tour guides during Open Evening, which takes place on Thursday 25th September 2014.  We are all getting used to the new school day and punctuality to lessons has been excellent.  We have started to hold Information Evenings for parents, Year 9 and 11 evenings took place this week.  They were very well attended and comments received reflected on the fact that the sessions were very useful.  The presentations can be found on Frog, using your parental login.  I look forward to reporting about the successes of students across all year groups in future blogs.

Inspiring Careers Education 

U Explore is a software programme which enables students to access information on different careers, post 16 courses: apprenticeships, colleges and universities.

Currently our school is top of the Surrey League in its’ use of U explore and so clearly, our students are finding it extremely useful.

This online resource takes learners on a unique educational journey to inspire them about their futures, placing them in control of their own learning and progression

The photograph are of Year 9 students, already preparing them for the options process.

Parents can also register in the same way as students and use our school code 64974, to get involved with planning for the future. 

 Auditions for The Wizard of Oz are underway!

Over 150 students, from newly arrived Year 7’s to established Drama prefects, have spent the last couple of days staying late after school to take part in the auditions  for  Winston Churchill School’s production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’,  being held at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in February 2015.

The Cast list will be published shortly with rehearsals scheduled to start September 22^nd.

 

Thinking of a Career in Medicine!! 

Ex-student Joe Gardiner came in to school on Friday to deliver a presentation regarding the route into medicine.  Joe spent an hour giving advice based on his experience and included important tips about the value of work experience, grades required at GCSE and 'A' Level and the stages of the application process.  Students really enjoyed listening to Joe's experience of the interviews and what it is really like to train as a doctor.  This was an excellent opportunity for our students; thank you Joe!