The Arts in Lockdown

 Books for You!

If you are missing our library then have a look at the new opportunity that Miss Dodd has designed just for you!

 

Art at Home

Ms Pinnion sent me this brilliant drawing completed by Alice Lockhart in 9CE for her home learning task last week for ART.  It is a pencil drawing of a marigold flower.   It links to the Mexican Day of the Dead project that we have been learning about in school. For this task, the students learnt about the symbolism of the marigold flower during the festival.

Below is some exceptional work that our very talented Year 9s have produced over the past week or so as part of the Mexican Day of the Dead Project. Two of the works are mexican spirit animals and the others are Offrendas. The students were learning about offrendas and as you can see, some of the students went above and beyond an chose to make offrendas to commemorate mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It was a pleasure to discuss this work with them and their families last night. Ms Shaw

 Freddie

Amy                                                        Alma

Grace

 Paola

  Noah

Winston takes on Teen Tech

 Tuesday 26th January

LIVE Virtual Innovation Day 2021

On Tuesday 26th January 2021 all students were able to take part in an online virtual STEM day. The day will consist of live video content, whereby students asked leading experts in Science, Engineering and Computing various questions surrounding their jobs and the industry. The students were then given the opportunity to work on a real-world challenge with support from industry experts which they completed at home or, in the cases of key worker students, they completed at school. One of the opportunities of this event, is TeenTech will also offer ongoing industry support for projects that schools wish to enter for the TeenTech Awards 2021. 

Thank you to Surrey Satro for offering such a brilliant experience and to Miss Turner for organising the event at Winston. Our school had the highest level of participation from any school in Surrey.

A comment from a Teen Tech Organiser:

Hi just wanted to let you know we are getting 100's of questions in from your students - amazing!  they are really switched on and there are some amazing questions!  We are trying to answer as many as possible!

KR

Dani Longhurst
TeenTech Awards and Company Participation Manager

Trying Something Different

 Year 8 Art

The students were asked to look at the work of Patrick Caulfield, a contemporary artist, and create a personal response. Year 8 student, Joel Browne, has been really creative with his use of IT, producing a really thought provoking outcome, particularly relevant to life during lockdown.

 Discovery Space

Discovery Space has a huge amount to offer during lockdown. 

On our Frog page, https://frog.wcsc.org.uk/4897cf2cc3dda9c71ed43344e3aaff4b , students can find access to lots of e-books and audiobooks, as well as information on how to join Surrey Libraries online, which is highly recommended as it's completely free! 

To continue from last term, Miss Dodd has set up an online 'Reading Passport' (under the 'Home Learning' tab) where students can submit details of any books that they have finished. Once they have submitted 3 books, this becomes an entry for the end of term prize draw! Lockdown is the perfect opportunity for students to pick up the book that they've been wanting to read but just not had the time.

Miss Dodd is also running a competition alongside Bookflix for any creative students, who have always wanted to see their favourite book made into a film. This is their opportunity to do that, and we are looking forward to seeing the entries!

Keep Reading!   Miss Dodd

Dear Year 11

 Dear Year 11, 

At the time of writing you have completed 2,576 pieces of work in little over three days. In no time at all you have gone from expecting to be in school, working towards your impending mock exams, to working remotely from home with what must feel like no real target to work towards. And I’m here to say, keep going, you’re smashing this, but you have to keep going. And here’s why: 

You do have a target. A very real and extremely important target. You!  

GCSE exams, as we know them, are cancelled. This is not how we, or most people, would have had you finish the first eleven years of your studies. GCSEs are a rite of passage; everyone does them and, good or bad, everyone has their memories. I hated them. I was good at English and decidedly average at everything else. I hated that I had to work harder in Maths to get what I knew would be a worse grade than English. There was though, one recurring message I got from my Dad (who to this day thinks I never listen to him): everything you do here you are doing for yourself. 

Teachers, parents, governments, will all tell you that you still have us to impress. Teachers will ultimately assess your performance and award you your final GCSE grades this year and we won’t be shy in telling you that you need to impress us! In many ways, this is true. You have to keep going, keep proving yourself to us. Keep learning, keep doing, keep improving. Keep testing, keep examining, keep being resilient. 

But, and this is a huge BUT, there is something more important at play here. You.  

Your success still remains in your hands.  

Last year I wrote to the previous Year 11 and I told them that they were worth more than the sum of their exams. We know you. We know way more about you, your skills, your attitudes, your humour, your commitment, than an exam will ever tell us. You are in the best hands and you have an incredible opportunity to prove yourself over the coming months; an opportunity we as a teaching body know you will take. 

Many will have you believe that you’re going to be the lost generation. Teachers, blessed with much foresight, know this to be nonsense! Many of you will have your turn to sit public exams. In two years many of you will sit A Levels. In five years you’ll be sat in University exam halls all over the country. We know so many of you want that and your time will come. 

The message is this: keep going. Not for us. Not for your parents. Definitely not for the Government. For you. Every bit of pride you show in your own self-worth and sense of achievement over the coming months will take you one step closer to success. Take that pride and make it worth something. 

We are still here. We haven’t gone away. Use us. You deserve a full and broad education, regardless of where you are learning from. It is your right. Demand it. Take it. Ask questions of us and take advantage of all the experience and knowledge that you have at your disposal. 

Most importantly, do this for you. 

Mr Collins 

Head of English 

 

P.S. 11CG/En – your next Frog assignment will be to analyse the persuasive writing techniques used in this letter!