Opportunities to Perform!

The Drama Department at Winston are offering students the opportunity to perform in at least three productions this year, in professional theatres.  Every year group is encouraged to participate and audition, with the younger students taking the opportunity to learn from our more seasoned performers!

Twelfth Night

As part of the annual national celebration of the works of Shakespeare, Winston is participating in the Shakespeare Festival for Schools.  This year we will take a production of Twelfth Night to the Camberley Theatre on Monday 16th November 2015.  There will also be a school performance on Thursday 12th November, at 7.00pm.
The Shakespeare Schools Festival is the UK’s largest youth drama festival and enables over 1,000 primary, secondary, and special schools to stage abridged Shakespeare productions in their local professional theatre. Winston students will be some of the 35,000 young people who will take to stages across the UK.

Les Miserables

 At least 180 students, representing evey year group, including the new year 7s, auditioned for parts in this challenging production.The cast list has now been published and work is underway.  The production is held at The Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking, showcasing our school in the community, in the week beginning 1st February 2016.  More details to follow.

National Theatre Connections

We are delighted to have been selected to participate in this festival and now eagerly await the decision regarding the play we are to perform and the venue that has been assigned.  Last year students from Winston performed at the Soho Theatre in London.  This is an amazing opportunity for our students.

Connections is the National Theatre’s annual festival of new plays for youth theatres and schools. The 2015 Connections cycle involved:

• 10 Writers
• 255 Youth Theatre Companies
• 5,000 Young People
• 684 Performances
• 27 Partner Theatres
• 25,000 Audience Members

Connections began 20 years ago when teachers and directors told us that they wanted exciting and challenging new plays for young actors. Since then the NT has commissioned and published more than 140 plays for Connections, giving young people aged 13-19 across the UK and Ireland access to the very best new writing for theatre.
Connections gives young people experience of professional theatre-making. Their experience mirrors that of a company producing a new play in any theatre in the country. They create marketing campaigns, design sets and costumes, operate lighting and sound boards, stage-manage their performances.

The Wow Factor!

Travelling in Style!

Thanks to some very careful financial management, our time expired white mini buses have been replaced with these exceptionally distinctive new buses.  Student safety is at the heart of decision making and these vehicles are fully equiped to transport our children in style.  Maintaining them should also be cost effective over the first few years.

The Hall and the Stage

Awaiting the final transformation. Watch this space!

New Social Space

The site has been opened up and the areas of astro-turf have been extended so that students are now able to enjoy more space.  To ensure that this is comfortable some re-cycled, heavy duty benches have been installed.  This, together with the external severy, completes this aspect of site development.

An Inset Day Construction Challenge!

Our new canopy!

The LRC 

The LRC is now being use for sessions every day.  It is great to see the facility being used to promote and support reading throughout the school.

Proud of Our School

Open Evening

Winston welcomed Year 6 and their parents to Open Evening on Thursday.  I held a session in the hall to outline the expectations of the school and the commitment required, from both students and parents, when joining  Winston.  The Head Boy and Head Girl, David and Rachel, spoke confidently about their experiences and this was followed by a presentation from Phoebe and Jake, members of Year 8, reassuring parents and students that they will quickly settle into our school.
Hundreds of students acted as tour guides for our visitors, including 107 from Year 7 and 120 from Year 8. They received a large number of compliments regarding how smart they looked and how passionate they were about their school.
My thanks goes to everyone, staff and students, for the commitment shown to ensure that this was a successful evening.
We now look forward to welcoming back the same students and parents to Winston on a working day, so that they can see the school in action.
Below are just a few photographs giving a flavour of the experience. 

 

 

Winston is Buzzing!

Reading Matters

Winston is buzzing with keen readers at the moment, with nearly 300 books loaned since the start of term. Year 7 induction sessions have been successful in encouraging students to use the space before and after school and during break and lunch, to come and read, whether it's sat on the sofa, lying on the cushions, lounging on a bean bag or hiding away in the teepee. The buzz looks set to continue as we look forward to launching Bookbuzz in the coming weeks for years 7 and 8. 

 

Year 7 Science Club

The students have been making balloon rockets and had a competition to see who’s could travel furthest!

  Coming Soon!

There will be a surprise for students, on the patio, on Monday.

Engaging

Engaging in Debate

Students in Mrs Bracher's Tutor Group have been discussing the issue of school holidays and considering various options for the future.  They each wrote letters to me putting forward their ideas and suggestions to improve the spread of holidays throughout the year.  I was then able go into tutor time to explain why the inset days and holidays are placed on the calendar.  Students began to appreciate that if I moved a week of the summer holiday to Christmas that this would impact on other schools and families and make life more difficult for parents and childcare.  Thank you Year 8 for presenting your ideas so well and for inviting me to debate them.

 Year 7 DT Club

DT Club took place on Wednesday, with 15 Year 7 students, learning workshop skills to design & make a maze ball bearing game. This club will run to start with over 6 weeks to make their products and package them like professional items. Technology Prefects Imogen Bradfield and Rachel Muir ran the club tonight and set an excellent example to the year 7 students, sharing their skills and knowledge of Design Technology. 

Lunch with Us

Year 7 parents are invited to join us for a hot meal on either Wednesday 30th September or Thursday 1st October, at 12.50pm until 1.20pm.  Come along and sample the the lunchtime hot meal offer, with your child.  Catering Academy have offered some meal vouchers to Year 7 students, see the image below.