Sport at Winston

 Aiming High

Year 7 loved learning to high jump today, with Mrs Smith. It was the first time most of them had every done a scissor kick or ever experienced an attempt at a  Fosbury Flop! 

Many of them are keen to continue to practice this at Athletics Club on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Well done 7W you took a risk, went out of your comfort zone and all achieved some level of success. 

⚽ District Finals ⚽

"The Yr7 boys played the last of the District Finals on the Wednesday vs. Salesians. It proved to be the tightest game of them all. After only 30 seconds the team found themselves 1-0 down. It looked as though some District final nerves had set in and it took 15 minutes for the team to settle into the game. It felt like chances were building and after 25 minutes George C riffled a pinpoint shot into the top corner from 20 yards out. The team finished the half strongly and began the 2^nd half with the same confidence. However, the 2 teams couldn't be separated and after a nervy last few minutes the game went to penalties. The penalty shoot-out proved to be just as tense as the game. After 5 penalties it was 4-4 which meant sudden death. Unfortunately, Winston ended up losing 8-7. 

 

Despite their disappointment, the message was that this is the start of a successful 5 years for the squad and is a solid foundation to build upon for the next 4 years. It was also great for the squad to experience the Woking FC changing rooms, stadium and support from the stands. We go again in September! 

 

The Year 8 boys were up against a strong Woking High team in their District Final on Tuesday. The teams had previously drawn 0-0 earlier on in the season so it was going to be a close encounter. Thankfully, two goals from Leo Rodella gave Winston the win and the match result was 2-0. The boys have put in a good seasons’ work so they fully deserved to be crowned champions. Man of the match for this match was Jaden Mansour.   

 

Winston’s Y8+9 girls have played the most matches across Girls Football this year and managed to qualify for the final in their last league game. The girls came up against a very good Fullbrook team with many experienced academy players. Unfortunately, Winston couldn’t find their rhythm and ended up with defeat. Despite this, the whole season has been a real success with some excellent football been played. There are a number of girls in this team who have a really bright future in the women’s game! 

 

Last, but certainly not least, we have our Y10+11 girls who had put in some flawless performances in order to qualify for the final. A number of the team had completed their GCSE mock exams only two hours before kick-off but that didn’t affect the girls at all. After a very dominant performance, the girls produced a 1-0 win and were crowned District champions which is a lovely send off to some of our Y11 girls.  

 

Overall, Winston had an excellent representation across the two days and all pupils involved should be incredibly proud of their hard work they’ve put in all season. The experience of playing at Woking FC will stay with many of the kids for a lifetime!"

The Headteacher Goes Bananas!

 Assembly: What is a Banana?

Mrs Smith's account of last week's assembly:

Mrs Johnson-Walker took the lead on assemblies this week with her first question "what is a banana?" The obvious answer is, of course, a fruit. 

We were then shown some art work made on the banana skin...is it still fruit? ...or is it art? After Mrs Johnson-Walker shared the image of a banana taped to the wall which sold for $120K.

Mrs Johnson-Walker then decided to create some of her own art work, to sell to raise money for the school. On a plain canvas she created live on stage with 2 bananas, a bunch of grapes and a pear.  So far there have been no bids!  

At this point we all believed our head teacher had gone bananas!!!! However, the key message of the assembly was about an individual's perceptions about the world around them, some of which can inform our fears. This posed the question of perception Vs reality. I asked myself 'why do I fear spiders' they have never done anything to me, they have never harmed me....it is my perception that they will, which, for me, is not based on any personal reality.  

The assembly hit home when Mrs Johnson-Walker posed the question "do you fear different people?" At Winston we have a very diverse group at students, we have 54 different home languages spoken, people of different ages and gender, individuals with special educational needs;  at Winston we celebrate these differences, yet some people may fear these differences. The key message is that we want everyone to be proud of their differences and respect members of our community.   The students then left the hall while "I am who I am" was booming out the speakers!  

Performance Space

 It Will be Worth the Wait!

As the contractors make the most of the good weather, the progress being made can be seen by everyone. The high quality specification is going to produce a performance space that we can be proud of, providing facilities for all of our students to use.

New Term Up-Dates

 Handball 

Handball is one of the varied sports taught in the KS3 PE curriculum. However, there is very limited opportunity for Handball in the extra-curricular timetable or competition against other schools. Therefore, it was great to be able to enter U13 & U15 teams into a Handball National Cup, organised by England Handball. 

 

Players were selected based on their Handball performances in lessons, their athleticism and any transferable skills they may have i.e. from Basketball, Rugby or Netball. The teams then committed to 3 training sessions, 08:00 – 08:50 leading up to the pre-regional competition at Medway Park in Kent. 

 

All players took on a lot of information, showing their coachability and therefore demonstrating great improvements in their play over a short period of time. At the tournament it was clear that all other schools had a dedicated Handball club and had been training for at least a year together. However, our teams didn’t look out of place and showed they were able to match the playing style and tactics of the many teams that were there. 

Results: 

U13 Boys – Won 2, Lost 2. Won their 5/6^th play-off game to finish 5^th out of 9 schools. 

U13 Girls – Won 5, Drew 1. Won the tournament and progress into the next round! 

U15 Boys – Won 2, Lost 3. Finished 4^th out of 6 in their group. 

U15 Girls – Drew 3, Lost 1. Finished 3^rd in their group. 

 

All players represented Winston impeccably and it was a pleasure to take them. Everyone now has a greater appreciation for Handball and all are now enthused by the game wanting more fixtures. We look forward to training the U13 Girls further before they compete in the next round of the tournament in London on the 9^th May. 

Mr Martin

Performance Space

During the Easter break significant progress was made to the construction of Performance Space.  The work on the roof has begun and concrete has been poured over a metal cladding.  Progress has also been made with the brick work and the block and beam floor should be in place by the end of the week.

The disruption is going to be worth while once our children have access to another high quality space to inspire their learning.

A Buzz at Winston

 Book Buzz Finale! 

This morning during form time we held the finale of… 

Year 7 Book Buzz: Spring Term! 

After collecting what was their last Thursday morning hot chocolate, students went on to present a variety of presentations and creative pieces to their group.  

The students spoke about their favourite part of the book, the characters, plot, and how they felt about the storyline. There were some mixed reviews and some books not liked, but it’s the taking part that counts! Every Year 7 student who has taken part, have been fantastic, joining in and engaging with their books thoroughly throughout the Book Buzz sessions.  

It’s been a pleasure having so many engaged readers in the library each week. Hopefully, we can encourage more students to read after school, with some NEW book clubs coming after half-term, which will be supervised by our lovely library assistants! 😊  

Year 9 Art

Year 9 have now finished a final piece of work for the Day of the Dead project in art. These are some of the pieces of student work from the class 9CE, using watercolour paint and ink and card to create a low relief.

From Student to Teacher

 Myth & Voice Classics Workshop - with 

Royal Holloway University Classics Department

Earlier this month Year 10 Latin students participated in a university style seminar, hosted by Dr Efi Spentzou from Royal Holloway University, exploring Ovid's tale of Orpheus & Eurydice. Students were challenged to consider how we listen to the voiceless, using empathy and questioning to explore characters' varied perspectives in a deep manner, expected at University level. Students were encouraged to have ideas for the sake of having ideas, to challenge and develop each others thinking without the constraints of a success criteria or piece of work for completion, which enabled really thoughtful and perceptive observations about the myth.

This week, Year 10 students hosted the same workshop, with the support of Dr. Efi, with all Year 8 Latin students. They planned, prepared and delivered a university style seminar with 70 younger students, again encouraging them to consider and develop ideas for the sake of it, and both Mr Fisher and Dr. Efi were really impressed with the leadership and resilience of the Year 10 students and the engagement and critical thinking of the Year 8 students.

Here is what some of the students had to say about the event:

'I have better ideas when the only thing I'm trying to do is have ideas'

Zach, 8CG

'You will never know what the story actually is, so you have to let your imagination take over.'

Jessica, 8WG

'I learnt that everyone has a different perspective on something, because our group though of something completely different to the other group.'

I was surprisingly impressed with how many students were willing to participate, I had thought that some may be uninterested but within the two groups I worked with all of the students engaged well. It made me appreciate how hard teachers have to try when planning lessons!

Sofia, 10E

Honestly I’m going to agree with Sofia on this one it was hard! I could never fathom planning 5 lessons a day it was exhausting. And the reason it was is because we put our all into it! Every single one of us. It took our every last drop of our energy but it was definitely worth it. Genuinely it was so refreshing. Just having these children look up to you is so empowering. It was an amazing experience leading them and developing their creativity. And it was great fun! Genuinely it was one of the best classes I have ever had in this school. Like ever. Pat on the back to Mr Fisher and Dr Efi for giving us this opportunity and  I have to say, I wouldn’t have thought Latin would make me so close to this class.

Seven, 10E 

We're really grateful to Dr Efi for her time and expertise, and sharing this opportunity with our students. We're looking forward to taking Year 10 students to Royal Holloway later in the summer.

Concerts are Back!

 Excellent Evening of Music

It was great to enjoy an inspiring evening of music, led by our Director of Music, Mr Drake. It has been over two years since we held our last concert and everyone one was excited to have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience.  Our staff team of Mr Drake, Mrs Laurent, Miss Shlackman, Miss Ashworth,, Mr Bimson and Mr Humphries have been rehearsing with the students over a number of weeks and have been extremely pleased with the commitment shown by our young people.

The Flute Ensemble

Year 9 Band

Brass Ensemble

Orchestra

Thank you to everyone involved, including the Tech Team, for providing a very enjoyable evening.