Christmas Thoughts

 Sharing Christmas Thoughts and Kindness

Year 7 and Year 8 have sent everyone in Winston a lovely, thoughtful Christmas card, which is displayed in the main foyer of the school.

Thank you students, I have enjoyed reading your wonderful messages.

What's New at Winston

 Discovery Space

While everyone might be spending a little more time at home than usual, now is the perfect opportunity to get involved in one of our reading challenges; The Discover Reading Challenge. Come into the Library to find out more information and take a challenge sheet. What will you discover?

Behind Door Number 4

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Mr Penfold, Mr Harrington-Tucker and Ms Nye offering cream and marshmallows' to go on top of hot chocolate!

Welcome to Music

If you are in Ms Shlackman's groups then this is your new teaching space.

Something Different Inspires!

 GASP Mechanics 

At the start of the term eight boys, from Year 10, completed the GASP Mechanic's project. Over the six week course the boys learnt about the different aspects of mechanics and improving teamwork and communication skills. The course finished with the boys building a small Go-Kart.  They were lucky enough to have a go in the Go-kart and even Mrs Walton had a go in the Go-kart and lives to tell the tale. Well Done Boys ! 

Army Programme

A group of thirty Year 10 students have completed the School Module Programme, with the Army, this half term. They have completed a number of different modules across the six weeks including,  planning, Values of the Army, teamwork, leadership and Health and Fitness. This has been a great programme for students who aspire to be in the Army but also students who want to develop their personal skills.  

The session the students really enjoyed the unit on health fitness, where they dressed as soldiers and had to work as a team to carry equipment across an assault course. 

Chelsea FC

Through our relationship with Chelsea FC, we were offered the opportunity to work with Chelsea FC Foundation with their 'Inspire' program which runs with the Premier League and the social youth voice action #iwill campaign. The 'Inspire' program includes work towards a Princes Trust Achieve Award certificate.

A Chelsea representative visits our school and together we deliver a weekly 20 hour 'Inspire' educational programme, to a group of students, in both Year 7 & Year 8, who want to reach their potential. 

By participating in this programme, the selected students will gain maximum benefits; be able to improve their relationships with their peers; and their own self-belief. The content of their Digital Intelligence Framework is designed to inspire and engage students in a smaller group setting.  The students develop key skills to support them to reach their potential in the digital world and in turn, improve their confidence with their learning throughout their educational years. Both the year groups have impressed with their commitment to the course. 

Let's Sparkle at Winston

 Christmas has arrived in the Library! 

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 Back by popular demand, the 'Not so Secret Santa' book recommendations from staff are back for students to come and browse. Choose a book based on the description given on the tag, check it out, unwrap and enjoy over the Christmas holidays!

Warm up with a good book this winter; choose from a selection of popular titles to enjoy in December. Need help for a recommendation? Just ask Miss Dodds and she can help you choose. 

Ever wondered how Christmas is celebrated around the world? Find out in the Library by reading some of the 'Christmas Traditions' cards and gain an understanding of a range of other cultures. 

Students have been reading more than ever, with over 1800 books checked out of the Library so far this term, which is almost triple the amount at this time last year, so a big well done! Keep up the fantastic reading over the holidays and in 2021. Make sure you pop by to come and choose your holiday read!

Miss Dodds 📚

Our Winston Advent Calendar!

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HAPPY DECEMBER 1ST!

 

Today marks the start of our advent calendar, which means activity number 1 can be found by clicking the link below. We start of with an inter-form Christmas Quiz.

11 questions

1 attempt at each

The form with the highest score will win our first Christmas Prize!

 

https://frog.wcsc.org.uk/e3c4693f4c9267feafa84b724f94a419/christmas-quiz 

Merry Quizmas

Mr Penfold

Our Tree!

Thank you to Homebase, in Woking, for donating the Christmas Tree again this year.  It is very much appreciated.

Winston Remembers

 11th November, at 11.00am at Winston

Our community came together today to remember those who have lost their lives fighting for our country.  They made the ultimate sacrifice and to recognise this, the whole school reflected, stood socially distanced on the patio.

Winston stood in silence, to honour those who fought for our freedom.

One of our students, from Year 8, is self-isolating and was going to play the Last Post with Mr Drake this morning.  So to feel part of the Remembrance Day, he played the Last Post at the same time as it was being played at school.  

Winston was Ready, Responsible and Respectful; The Winston Way.

Our new display in Discovery Space, has gone up, which features a range of interesting fiction and non-fiction books linked to both World War 1 and World War 2. 8RTO have also created some fantastic poppies as part of the display. Each of the students went away and researched someone who has been involved in a war and they added this name to their poppies that they made. Some students also included extra information about the person such as a picture or the year they were born. Thanks to 8RTO for a thoughtful addition to our display! We also have a feature in our display that details some people originally from the Woking area, who fought in WW1 so do come along and have a look if you're interested in finding out about some local history!

Year 7 tutor groups are coming into the Library each morning during form time to write some acrostic poems for either the word 'Poppy' or 'Remember', thinking about the significance of Remembrance Day. Attached are some brilliant examples of these poems from students in 7AKO!

These are very challenging times and  

Supporting Year 11

 Preparing for the Future

Our Year 11 students will be taking their first formal examinations in just under a week's time.  On Monday 9th November, Year 11 were given the opportunity to attend small workshops held by visiting speakers from MADE Training, who we have used in previous years to develop important life skills. 

As students progress up the educational ladder, they are exposed to the increasing need of independent learning and self-motivation. MADE Training help to deliver these skill-based workshops to aid students with their revision strategies, organisation and goal setting whilst building confidence and competence to enable students to reach their potential. It was a positive experience to see how certain revision techniques can be implemented to make an immediate impact using the process of read, transform and recall. 

We hope that the Yr11's can use the strategies and techniques learnt in form time and at these workshops to revise effectively for their upcoming mock exams and GCSE's. The students really enjoyed the experience and were very receptive to the ideas and strategies explored.

Students should also look out for the Hall of Fame.  The names are up of the students achieving or exceeding their FFT target grades.

Winston during Lockdown

 We are Back!

We are delighted to be back at Winston after the half term break and its great to see the amount of work that has taken place around the site:

New screens installed to help to keep students informed and currently showing reminders as to how to combat coronavirus.

The current drama rooms in C Block have been decorated.

The plans for our new building, 'Performance Space', are at the point of going to tender.

The main hall tables have been re-labelled to ensure that students only site in their Year Group Bubbles.

Face coverings in corridors and communal areas from Monday!

Japanese Club

Twenty-four students in Year 7 have been attending the weekly Japanese Club this term where they have been learning about Japanese language, lifestyle and culture through a variety of activities, games and quizzes.

Students have made fantastic progress in their spoken Japanese and have had great fun practising the Hiragana and Katakana writing forms.

They have learnt about traditional Japanese dress and popular Japanese sports such as Sumo wrestling.

Students have had fun practising the art of Origami and have learnt about the story of Sadako Sasaki and the cultural significance of paper cranes in Japan.

Students have also enjoyed exploring aspects of popular culture such as Anime and Manga. The Japanese prefects have been presenting new material at the start of each session and students have been given the opportunity to review their favourite stories and characters.

Well done to Fatima who won the recent ‘Chopstick challenge’ by using chopsticks to pick up and transport the greatest number of Skittles from one side of the classroom to the other!

Next week students will be taking part in a Green Tea ceremony and later in the term they will be making their own Sushi as part of the annual Sushi Master Chef competition!

A huge thank you to Miss Finney and the Year 7 MFL Leaders for arranging such an enjoyable educational experience.