Be Smart Be Safe

Be Smart Be Safe

Students and parents had the opportunity to participate in training sessions today on the themes of social media and drugs.

The social media sessions were run by Sharon Girling OBE, an ex-police officer who provided a very informative session. Students and parents were surprised at the levels of risk involved in communicating electronically and the dangers that young people were placing themselves in, with regard to their personal safety and the law.

The drugs session was run by a police officer and parents after the session felt that they had learnt a great deal and that it would benefit other parents, by raising awareness, if we could arrange a repeat of the evening.  Approximately sixty parents attended the evening from across all year groups.  The evening lasted longer than intended as parents had a number of questions and concerns that they were able to discuss with the experts.



Working Together.

Working together

Our PTA, The Winston School Association, is run by a small team of enthusiastic parents who want to support the education of all the children at Winston. They make a difference.Plans are in place to refurbish at least two science labs in the summer holiday and should the PTA receive further donations, it would be possible to ensure that the final lab was replaced at the same time. Currently the PTA have donated £15,000 towards the cost, if you are able to commit even a small sum this would improve the facilities for all students over the coming years. Donations can be made via the PTA website which can be accessed via the main school website. Each science lab costs £30,000 to replace.

The PTA makes a tremendous contribution to our school, aiming to support projects that will benefit all students. Can you provide a small amount of time to help maintain our PTA? Your child benefits through the provision of equipment and facilities and this in turn allows me the opportunity to spend school funds on additional teachers. Without the PTA the school will lose its charitable status, which brings a range of benefits to the school, especially being able to claim gift aid on donations. It is essential that we have twelve members and that at least eight attend the meetings, otherwise funds cannot be accessed by the school. I need your help with this, there are a number of projects that I would like to bring to fruition, including the creation of a new school library and improvements to the school hall, which I can only achieve with a team of enthusiastic parents, who in turn need general parental support.



Before:

 

After:

 

Please contact me directly, via the email system on Frog if you can offer your

support in any way to help me to accomplish any of the projects mentioned or
that you are prepared to give some time to the PTA, to enable the positive work
to continue.

Help us to help your child.

 

Thank you

 

Zoe Johnson-Walker

Headteacher

 

Basketball

Staff V Year 11 Basketball Match

 

The final match for the Year 11 boys was held on Friday evening against a staff team.  I arrived late to see a game in full flow, with both sides absolutely determined to win.  It was played with passion and ambition.  The staff seemed a little hazy about the final score, but were convinced that they had won!  The photographs below can only provide a taste of a game enjoyed by all.  Thank you to eveyone for taking part.

Challenges at Winston

Assemblies at Winston

Another brilliant 'Mr McLeish' assembly.  The theme was that of respect and looking at how we behave towards students and adults in the school and ways in which we can support each other.  The images illustrate the concept of support in a practical demonstration.  The student could not eat his lemon mousse because the handle of the spoon was too long, so another student helped him. 

Geography

 

Year 8 students spent a geography lesson exploring micro-climates across the school site.  The students had to collect accurate data and then analyse their findings back in the classroom.

 

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

Students took part in their final Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition last weekend.  All the students completed the challenge and now have to prepare their project which they investigated along the route.  Staff expressed how proud they were of the students and that it was a pleasure to be out with them on the bank holiday weekend.  Activities such as this can only take place if staff are willing to give up their own time and I am very grateful to them, as students gain so much in terms of leadership skills and resilience through this award.  I look forward to the students completing all the other parts of the programme and to the awards ceremony for the presentation of certificates. 

Could you make these?

Year 11 Design Technology Students

The following photographs showcase the superb outcomes produced by the Year 11 Resistant Materials students for their GCSE controlled assessment.  The level of skill and the standard of finish is very impressive.  Well done to the students and thank you to their teacher Ms Blackman for her expertise and guidance.

C



Snakes, Dance and Disco!

Animal Quirks

Year 7 enjoyed the Quirks Animal Roadshow at the end of last term.  Student learnt about different animals by seeing, touching them and asking questions.  The focus of the sessions was to look at how aminals had adapted over time.  This provided a great experience for students and as you can see the snakes caused the greatest level of interest.  Thank you to Mr Hough for arranging the activity.

Year 11 Dance 

Year 11 students had the opportunity to perform the dances they had prepared to an audience on Tuesday evening.  The creative choreography and the confidence with which the students performed was impressive.  The work was for both the GCSE and BTEC Dance programmes and represents the culmination of two years of hardwork and determination. 

The journey that the dancers have been on has been immense. Thank you girls and to Mrs Bell for such inspiring performances.



 

Year 7 Disco

 

Year 7 enjoyed a disco on Wednesday evening, which in turn raised money for charity.  The second part of the evening involved Karaoke and I understand that the staff in particular excelled themselves when performing.  Thank you to all the students, who had a great evening and to the staff for organising the event.  Mr Read is now looking for ideas for future events.

Maths Challenge

Thinking Logically

The challenge was taken by top set Year 8 students and some very talented Year 7 students were also invited to participate. The challenge is made up of multiple choice questions which encourage the students to think logically and draw on all their mathematical skills.  As you can see from the photographs below this was an opportunity to work independently.

Winning the Lottery!

 

On Tuesday selected year 7 students were invited to the maths gifted and talented masterclass, which taught them a lesson about the lottery! The students discovered how Pascal’s triangle is related to finding out how many different outcomes there are to something like a lottery – and therefore the probability of winning! They eventually discovered the button on their calculators that works it all out for them, calculating there is a 1 in 13,983,816 chance of winning the jackpot on the national lottery.  Now they have the tool to work this out, and the greater understanding of why it is possible.