Winston Breaking the Code

 Visit to Bletchley Park

I really enjoyed Bletchley park because of the new things I learnt and saw. The one thing I enjoyed was when we cracked the Morse codes because it was intriguing and difficult, the Alan Turing test was also educational because it helped us realise if we were talking to an A.I. software or human. We could tell if it was a human or AI by estimating the response time and what was being said. It was amazing to hear that Bletchley park was a vital part in the victory of world war II. In my opinion it was extremely interesting and gave a great insight into the world of code breakers. As a visitor you can try out code breaking machines and learn about Alan Turing and his team. 

Eshan  

 When we arrived at the park, we were informed about our schedule for the day, my favourite activity was the slideshow on A.I. During that activity, we did a test which had us talking to either an AI computer chatbot or another person in the room. Doing the activity, we then had to figure out if we were talking to a computer or a human. Another activity that I liked is the binary marble run. We had to follow the teacher's instructions and figure out how to make the marble run work properly, that activity also helped me have a better understanding about binary and bits.

 Jamie

 On the trip I enjoyed learning about the ethical side of computing and doing the Turing test. It was a really fun experience and I hope to go again someday. I enjoyed learning about codebreaking and Morse code and encryptions. While it was an enjoyable experience, I learnt lots of new things.

 Alex

 This is what I enjoyed most at the Bletchley part trip;

I most enjoyed the Turing test because we had to try and guess if we were talking to an artificial intelligence chatbot or a human. This was interesting because we got to find out how much artificial intelligence has developed. It was quite difficult to tell if I was talking to a chatbot because the tones were like human beings making intentional errors. I also enjoyed the Turing tumble, as  we got to make binary calculators out of marbles and they were no computer parts used.  

 Daniel

 On the trip to Bletchley park, I mostly enjoyed doing the Turing test because I found it really fun to figure out if it was a human or computer. I also quite enjoyed when we had to translate Morse codes to find cryptic messages. It was very interesting because it was fun to do and also informed us about good facts.  We looked at old computers near the end and had the chance to play some retro games on them, which was exhilarating giving us an insight of what it was like to play games on computers that were around a long time ago! We also had to figure out how to play the games using the old computers!

Amy

During my time at Bletchley park I most enjoyed the Turing tumble puzzle which taught me how to create a binary calculator.

We also took part in a quiz in which we had to figure out if we were speaking to an A.I. or a human, this was very intriguing as we had to think hard to find out who or what we were speaking with. We also learnt about modern artificial intelligence and toured the museum, seeing all the computers that were used during the war. 

Zain

 

Celebrating Sporting Achievement

 SPORTS AWARDS EVENING 2023!

It was with great delight that we were able to host the fourteenth annual sports awards evening last week! We were really excited to have over 150 students, along with their parents, attend the evening to celebrate Winston sport. It is so important to recognise the student's successes, commitment and dedication to their sports, and the resilience and hard work they endeavour to put into their training week in week out to achieve the best they can.  We also welcomed back some well missed Y11 leavers to recognise their contributions last year.  It was great to see them.

The night kicked off with an outstanding Gymnastics display from 5 extremely talented gymnasts; Jay Coote, Archie Sturt, Tegan Fookes, Georgia Fookes and Caden O-Shea.  There were several gasps and cheers from the audience due to the sheer impressiveness of the complex moves in their routine.  During the interval, we were also treated to some excellent dance performances from Sophie Magid, Luci Francis, Amelia Peters and Francesca Ponton in the performance space. 

Throughout the evening we presented our main shields to students who go above and beyond in their commitment to school sport.  Congratulations to these well deserved winners:

Most dedicated to School Sport: JAMES PRATT

The Young Sports Leader: OLLY THORPE

The Sarah Hammond Achievement Award: HARRISON WOOD

Performer of the Year: ISABELLE HENEY

Most Improved: SAM FINLAY

Services to School Sport: ASYA DURMUS

Joe Grant Sports Personality of the Year: CHARLOTTE GALLAGHER

Team of the Year: Y7 BOYS ATHLETICS

The PE department also gave a round-up of last year’s sporting achievements and it was great to see so many students’ coming up to the stage to receive their awards and be recognised for their dedication to school sport and their performances throughout the season.

And the winners were:

Boys Football:

Y7 Coaches’ Player: Mason Degorski, Most Dedicated: Noah Joliffe

Y8 Coaches’ Player: Sonny Taylor, Most Dedicated: Riley Booyens

Y9 Coaches’ Player: Jaden Mansour, Most Dedicated: Matt Gilkes

Y10 Coaches’ Player: Josh Peeke, Most Dedicated: Charlie Hardwick

Y11 Coaches’ Player: Jack Phillips, Most Dedicated: Harrison Wood

 

Boys Basketball:

Y7 Coaches’ Player: Mathew Hughes, Most Dedicated: Jackson Burningham

KS4 Coaches’ Player: Dom Corner, Most Dedicated: Rhys Woodhouse

Boys Athletics:

Most Dedicated: Ayaan Ahmed (KS3), Toby Stephens (KS4)

Coaches’ Player: Dapo Olagbende (KS3), Dylan Lewis (KS4)

Girls Athletics:

Most Dedicated: Aimee Linaker (KS3), Scarlet Inman (KS4)

Coaches Player: Lucy Wheeler (KS3), Holly Maher (KS4)

Netball:

Most Dedicated: Amy Stephens (KS3), Amy Straker (KS4)

Coaches Player: Hallie Collins (KS3), Isabelle Heney (KS4)

Girls Basketball:

Most Dedicated: Alessia Gosney (KS3), Asya Durmus (KS4)

Coaches Player: Imaan Hussain (KS3), Izzie Down (KS4)

Racquets:

Most Dedicated: Ben Allery (KS3), James Pratt (KS4)

Coaches’ Player: Theo Adams (KS3), Luca Walton (KS4)

Girls Football:

Most Dedicated: Amelia Vitalien (Y7), Amelie Backhurst (Y8/9), Grace Timblick (Y11)

Coaches’ Player: Maisie Lord (Y7), Jenny Hall (Y8/9), Jess Bridger-Cunningham (Y11)

We were lucky enough to welcome guest speaker, Gail Emms, Olympic Badminton Silver Medalist, to present our awards this year.  She inspired students and staff with her story of overcoming adversity; being told she wasn’t good enough however continued to train hard for years and do a little bit more every day in order to be rewarded with representing her country and achieve great success over a number of years.

Thank you:

A massive thank you goes to the PE department for their continued effort, dedication and passion that they show and invest on a daily basis.  Now managing the IEC, a special mention needs to go to Mrs Walton who provided some many sporting opportunities last year for our students.  I would also like to extend my thanks to the members of staff outside of the PE department who contribute to providing opportunities for our students to attend additional clubs and fixtures; Mr Kok, Mr Gatty, Mr Lambert, Mr Lovell-Smith, Miss Retzepter, Mr Inwards and Mr Sharpe. Thank you for inspiring our students to take part in sport and physical activity.  A big thank you also goes to Mr Major and his tech team for putting on such a professional production, and Mr Martin for his amazing sport montages.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the parents and carers of all the students who participate in and represent Winston sport – your commitment to your children and school sport is commendable. And finally, a massive well done to all the students who attended the sports awards this year and to those who won awards.  We look forward to seeing you all next year to celebrate Winston Sport.

 

Mrs Daniels

Subject Leader PE

Pathway to the Future

 Careers' Fair at Winston

On Wednesday 15^th November we held our annual careers fair with around 1200 students across the whole school attending, as well as parents and carers after the end of the school day. 

We were delighted to welcome a record number of exhibitors from a broad range of sectors including healthcare, education, uniformed services, construction, engineering, conservation, wellbeing, education, sport, arts, culture, science and finance to name a few. 

We had a wonderful turnout from parents, alumni and local businesses, including representatives from Scott Brownrigg, Bank of America, British Airways, BUPA dental care, Civil Service, Fuse Games, Gardline, Invotra, ITP Telecoms, Mayer Brown, MIT Skills, MSC Cruises, Natural England, NHS, Omni Academy, Overview Ltd, Photonics Technologies, Royal Holloway University, Sony, Surrey Chambers of Commerce, The Army, The Pirbright Institute, WSP, RAF.   

We were joined by local colleges and 6^th forms, including Woking College, Farnborough 6^th form, Farnborough College of Technology, Activate Learning Colleges, Fullbrook 6^th form, Hoe Valley 6^th Form and Brooklands College, who were able to explain different education routes and courses, such as A-levels, T-Levels, vocational courses and apprenticeships. 

It was great to see students engaging with our visitors and having meaningful conversations with employers and further and higher education, learning about career pathways, such as apprenticeships, and what working life is like.  They practiced the Winston competencies and skills that are key to their future career, such as being open-minded, questioning and listening.   

Employers said that they thought that the overall engagement with the students was good, that they had some great questions and that the Year 9 student helpers were very polite and helpful. 

It was a very successful day and inspired many students.  We are planning to organise this event again next year and if you would like to support our careers programme, wherever you are in your career journey, we would welcome you to our community.  Please contact our careers department on l.smyth@wcsc.org.uk. 

A huge thank you to Mrs Smyth for the outstanding organisation of this 

informative event.