Active Learning

 Studying Science

Mr Rose's Year 9 students have been studying photosynthesis. 

To see evidence of this process, they boiled and crushed a variety of leaves found within the Winston grounds. They then used Benedicts Reagent or Iodine solution to check for sugar or starch production respectively. The results enabled the students to understand how sugars are made in the palisade mesophyll.

Dr Lau has been teaching her Year 7 students about diffusion. 

She cut up cubes of Agar jelly which had been made with Sodium Carbonate so they were alkaline; and stained with an indicator to make them bright pink.  When placed in a dilute acid, the acid slowly diffused into the jelly cubes to turn the indicator colourless from the outside surfaces inwards. The students were excited to see the cubes changing colour before their eyes.

Later in the week, Mr Spain did the same experiment as a practical with Science Club. 

Science Club runs every Thursday after school and is a great opportunity for students to do exciting hands-on work. 

All students are welcome!

Cash in the Mathemattic ￡￡￡

This week that maths department are welcoming back Mr Pound for another week of Cash in the Mathemattic.  Each year group from 7 to 10 are looking at a different area of personal finance and financial awareness including day trips, holidays, bank accounts and tax/national insurance.  Students will be awarded for their contributions to lessons with some Winston money which could earn them a prize when Mr Pound visits their lesson.

Children Making a Difference

 English Schools Athletics

Last week saw the return of the much anticipated first round of the annual English Schools Athletics Tournament. It felt fantastic to get back out competing on the athletics track & field with other schools in and around the Surrey district.

We had just over 60 students taking part with each athlete competing in 1 track and 1 field event or relay race. All years from Y7 - Y10 came together to create x4 teams of U13s and U15s in both the boys' and girls' categories. This competition is always quite early into our summer curriculum so technique may not be quite so polished. This year we hosted an athletics intervention during the first week of the Easter holidays to improve their technique and confidence levels and we were pleased with the number of students who committed their time to this.

We were extremely proud of every single student who represented our school and gave it their best effort considering the timescales we had. There were some stand out performances with Harrison W; Latham R; Isabelle H; Tegan M; Isobel W; Holly M; Florence H & Lucy W. This bodes well for the future, and especially for our next tournament - KS3 district athletics championships on the 15^th June! 

We have athletics club on twice a week after school until 4pm - Tuesdays & Wednesdays. Please come down and have a go and improve your technique so you can be in with the chance to represent your year team in our next district schools' competition.

The Brilliant Club

The first cohort of the 'Brilliant Club' is coming to the end. Students have just presented some of their knowledge before getting ready to plan for their assignment and then they will be submitting after next week's session. 

Mr Curtis watched the students present their knowledge on E M Forster and what they've learnt so far and he was very impressed. 

John, the tutor, has been fantastic and the group feel that they have really benefited from his teaching and the style he has used here. 

We will have the grades of their assignment at the end of June and visiting a University in July for them to receive their graduation certificate. 

Jubilee Art

Ms Pinion has planned a special jubilee art project. Each student has made a clay flower/ organic form which will be assembled together to create a larger piece. Students in other classes are welcome to come along to Art club on Monday to contribute if they wish and possibly during lunchtime next week.

Teachers will also be invited to contribute. 

These clay pieces will then be assembled to produce the final piece but you will need to watch this space to find out how the project will come together!

Feeding Minds and Bodies

 Posh Fish Fingers

We have been very lucky to be supported by Fish Heroes again and they delivered Wild Alaskan Salmon to be used in class demonstrations to encourage pupils to include sustainably caught fish in their diets. The Year 7 students learnt how fish can be sustainably resourced, the benefits of adding fish to their diet, as well as skinning and creating posh fish fingers for their family meal. 

Thank you Fish Heroes for supporting our students with a fabulous fish delivery. 

Miss Reynolds

Mental Health Awareness Week

In support of Mental Health Awareness week the year 7 tutors collaborated, which resulted in a hub of activity in the Year 7 Centre, on Thursday morning.  Students had a choice of activities, including cup cake decorating and offering to others as an act of kindness and reduce the sense and feeling of loneliness. Some did mindful colouring with calming music in  the back ground, there was yoga outside, as well as other sports.  One group were sharing things they had in common with their partner, the more common cards collected the better, this enforced the art of a conversation. Others were writing letters to each other, while Ms Nye organised some singing and dancing.

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!