Interesting Friday!

Alex Morrison at Winston

The photographs below are of the BBC School Report Day workshops that Tom and Yasmin devised. The images show students at work throughout the day in their reporting teams, representing different subject areas.

Alex Morrison, the visiting BBC journalist, remarked on the ‘extremely insightful questions’ that students asked him throughout the day.

He was also impressed with all the ‘pleases’ ‘thank yous’ and ‘door openings’ he experienced around the school. During his radio interview he said  that students had been ‘polite, engaged and courteous’.

If you would like to listen to the full radio interview that Tom and Yasmin recorded – please click on the link below.

T:\MFL\BBc School Report Interview.mp3

  

Mock Results Day!

A drizzly Friday 22^nd January saw Year 11 receive their much anticipated mock exam results but the grey skies faded away for many, who were delighted to reap the rewards for some impressive focus and diligent preparation. The aim now is to keep this really good work going.

For some, however, their mood seemed to match the weather and some time for quiet reflection, along with discussions with teaching staff & parents, is sure to be needed to avoid those feelings on 25^th August.

In the coming weeks the dedication of our staff will again be clearly evident as our intervention & support builds on the mock exams and becomes even more focused. I encourage all students to embrace the additional opportunities being made available to them, in order to maximise their success at Winston.  

the staff at Winston wish everyone Good luck, as they enter the final stages of preparation for these key examinations.

Reading at Winston

Innovation in the Library

Mrs Southern’s 9WE/En turned booksellers in their recent lessons in the LRC with Mr Fisher. Working in groups they were tasked with designing, scripting and creating various performance based marketing tools for books they had chosen to endorse. Some made trailers, others used the Woking Radio Suite to record podcasts, pitches and interviews. Students had to analyse the book as a product, to consider it’s audience, reception, and relevance to contemporary readers such as themselves, and they demonstrated their understanding of this in some truly exceptional pieces.

Here are some examples of their work.

Luke and Charlie

Charlotte, Chealsea and Reka

2015 Learning Partnership

Work has been progressing between the four schools in our partnership, Collingwood College, The Bishop David Brown School and The Magna Carta School.  On 26th January The Partnership will hold a TeachMeet aimed at sharing good practice and developing strategies to support learning in the classroom.  We are working together on staff recruitment and offering opportunities to staff to develop their leadership skills across the four schools.  The focus of our activities is aimed at taking each of the schools to the next level; we all want to deliver an outstanding experience for all of our students.

Winston Loves Reading

 Half-price Scholastic Book Fair

This week (18^th-22^nd January), Scholastic is visiting Winston to offer all students and staff HALF-PRICED BOOKS!

Each KS3 student will be have 30 minutes to tour the Fair in their English groups; all Winston students will be invited to browse and buy books throughout the week, including break and lunchtime sessions.

As Winston continues to celebrate reading and literacy skills, we are thrilled to offer students an opportunity to expand their minds (and personal libraries) in preparation for our school celebration of World Book Day, Thursday 3^rd March. 

Les Miserables: Good Luck Message

From the current cast of Les Mis in London!

Thank you to the current cast of Les Miserables for this lovely message, to members of our production, being staged from 2nd - 6th February at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre. Have you bought your tickets yet?

 

Choices and Contributions

Options at Winston

Part Two

As part of our introduction to the option subjects, Mr Mohamed organised a Subject Fair for students and their parents, to enable discussions to take place with regard to the structure of each course.  This was followed by a presentation in the hall, as some features of the examination system have changed significantly and the aim was to provide an overview, which helps to inform decision making.  For students this is the first time that they have had the opportunity to select part of their curriculum and the staff were impressed by the range and quality of questions that were asked throughout the afternoon and evening. 

Making a Difference

I was delighted to recieve two letters this week, recognising the contribution that Winston students and staff make to the local community.  We asked students to contribute items to make up parcels for members of our community, on behalf of Woking Lions and secondly our music students attended the Brookwood Christmas Tree event and played during the evening. 

The 2015 Learning Partnership

At the most recent meeting of the Headteachers and Principals of the four partner schools a number of key decisions were taken with regard to the types of activities that will take all of our schools forward.  One of the first will be a TeachMeet to be held at Winston on Tuesday 26th January, between 5.00pm and 7.00pm.  We are expecting approximately 200 staff from across the four schools to attend, to share effective teaching strategies.  Other aspects of our work includes developing the work of Learning Support Assistants and working together on recruitment strategies.