Getting Involved, Making a Difference

 Making a Difference

Here are some photos from the opening of the garden next to North Farnborough station. Isla, Rebecca and Tamsin cut the ribbon, after the speeches from the MD of GWR and the chairman of network rail. The girls have been volunteering at the garden as part of their bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.  They have given a significant amount of time to the project and we are delighted to see the difference that they have made.  Well done!

Year 7 Numeracy Leaders

This morning the Year 7 numeracy leaders met with Mrs Martin, for the first time, in Discovery Space, and started to come up with ideas about activities that could be done in form time that relate to maths.  This student led approach ensures engagement with  the use of numbers, with the aim of building confidence.

The students were very excited by the ideas they have come up with already.

U16 Girls' Football Team

'Monday saw the first of our football fixtures start and we had the U16 girls involved. Unfortunately, the girls were defeated by a very strong side who had several players who represented Crystal Palace academy. Despite our girls not playing together for over 18 months, they put together some excellent football, with special mentions to Ellen for scoring both out girls, and Anastasia for bravely volunteering to go in goal. The girls can now focus on their league campaign where they have an excellent opportunity to do well.' 

Roald Dahl Day

 The Roald Dahl After-School Event

This afternoon, some Year 7 students celebrated Roald Dahl Day 2021 with an after-school event in the Library. Students had the opportunity to sign up for an afternoon of activities themed around Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Stations were set up around the Library as the different rooms from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

The Inventing Room was where students could have a go at making a 'The Witches' inspired lava lamp using water, vegetable oil, food colouring and an effervescent tablet! They chose the colours they wanted to create, by mixing the food colouring and watching them fizz!  

Students got the opportunity to decorate a chocolate bar wrapper inspired by a Wonka bar in The Chocolate Room. Some included ingredients such as 100% cocoa bean or love! They were pleased with their wrapper designs and even got to keep the chocolate bar to eat afterwards! 

Miss Dodds put out a selection of Roald Dahl's popular books that we have in the Library for students to read in The Reading Room. Do you have a favourite Roald Dahl book? Miss Dodds' favourite is definitely Matilda.

The last 'room' available was The Puzzle Room, where students could have a go at some puzzling word puzzles like crosswords and word-searches. These are still available in the Library for you to have a go at during lunch time or break time this week so if you weren't able to attend the after-school event, pop along to the Library to have a go. 

There is also a competition running in the Library to coincide with Roald Dahl Day - 'Design a new room for the factory'. Collect an entry sheet from the Library and make sure you enter to be in with a chance of winning a Roald Dahl themed prize!

Different Ways of Learning

 Science at Winston

"Mr Rose investigated everyday household products with 8WT to determine their pH levels. The class had the opportunity to test items like coffee , mouthwash, and milk. This lesson was a nice introduction into acids and alkalis , allowing the students to understand the usefulness and dangers of these groups of chemicals in real life.  "

" On Monday 7WT and 11WX identified ions very different ways. Mr Spain with Year 7 were investigating metal ions via flame test and recognised the positive ions by their colour in the Bunsen burner. This is an easy and fast instrumental method to accurately identify metal ions. 

On the other hand , Mr Philcox has taken the chemical test approach with his year 11 class. This is an extension of the previous method to recognise positive ions in the metal salt solutions as part of the wider GCSE requirement. "

Growing our Own Food

This morning Ms Reynolds wished Charlie and Rehan a great  day at the therapy garden. She said "They were so excited about telling me what they were growing and what they have tried. They were extremely excited about the cucamelons. They said we will bring you some back to try! I really didn’t think anything about it.

Came back into my classroom to find a lovely bag of produce that the boys had picked for me to use in kS 4 classes  (and to make them something to try too) 

It certainly made my day. I loved their excitement and enthusiasm".

 Summer School

In the final week of the summer holidays, students who have now returned to Year 8 and Year 9 attended a Brain Busting summer school, organised by Miss Townsend, Mr Hawkins and Mr Qureshi. The sessions focused on exploring and imagining dystopian, challenging futures. Each day students displayed great resilience as they practiced Maths and English skills, demonstrated their creativity in practical ‘junk modelling’ tasks, and impressed us each day with their risk taking as they cooked lunch for each other, and staff! It was great to see them handling new challenges with a mature and positive attitude.  

Our first day focused on exploring and analysing the themes and ideas in dystopias that writers and directors have already constructed. Students also discussed what issues in our society might grow into problems for the future, and then created their own dystopian worlds – some were overrun by robots, others torn apart by conflict, and one featured mutant worms.  

Day two featured puzzles, riddles and Maths problems that students had to solve to escape secret locations and build their own hero for their dystopian world. In the afternoon students designed and built gadgets to help them survive in the dystopian worlds they had created.  

On day three students used cameras and editing software to design and film and edit their own dystopian film trailers! They used the cameras in creative ways, making our school grounds seem like terrifying eerie locations, and using homemade props. It was great to see their collaborative skills on display, along with their ingenuity as they began to carve out the events of their dystopian stories.  

Finally, each group helped their main character come alive using their artistic talents and the vocabulary they’d developed over the week. They told their stories, typing up shocking tales of struggles against robots, rebel fighters and far-flung locations. We gathered together to show off all that we had created during the week and celebrated one another’s successes.  

We were so proud of the students’ fantastic attitudes and the way they developed their skills over the course of the sessions. Every member of staff was impressed by their ideas and enthusiasm, and we hope they enjoyed their week as much as we did!

Assembly: Second Hand Life

 Authentic or Fake?

I have been challenging our students this week to consider what is authentic and genuine, compared with a forgery or something superficial.

They were given time to consider the use of apps to filter images of themselves and the stress that can put on individuals, as they create a fake image that they can never achieve in real life.  I planned some difficult questions for students to answer about themselves.

 

 

Week One!

 Latin at Winston

GCSE Latin students are making use of the new glass boards in E1. Annotating Latin extracts of Caesar's dramatic attempted and failed invasion of Britain, which they translated last term. 

11CE are recapping the syllabus they covered last year, comparing and contrasting characters across the texts they've studied so far. 

Table Tennis

There is only one table so far but Year 11 are making the most of it!

New concrete slabs are being laid to provide a surface for the additional tables.

New Students and New Computers

 First Day

Our new students joined us for their first full day at Winston.  They started with games on the tennis courts and then down into their first formal assembly. At the end of assembly the students joined in with their first community activity, a Mexican Wave!

With only Year 11 in school, the students had plenty of time to find their way around, supported by the Peer Mentors, who are doing an excellent job.

Year 7 also experienced their first 'roast lunch' at Winston, as it was a Wednesday.  This is always a popular choice with students and staff!

Investing in You!

Mr Coll and his team have installed new computers in rooms 26 and 27, representing a considerable investment in you.  I hope that you enjoy using the new computers for your work, as we aim to provide the best environment and resources.