Lessons at Winston

 Year 8 Art

Year 8 ART lesson today Students are developing their skills in drawing with a focus on Mark-making to show detail in architecture .  

Global Warming

As part of a lesson in which Mr Rose explained photosynthesis in plants to his Year 7 students, he demonstrated the work of Eunice Foote.

Eunice Newton Foote (17^th July 1819 - 30^th September 1888) was an American scientist, inventor and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist to conclude that certain gases warmed when exposed to sunlight and that rising carbon dioxide levels would change atmospheric temperature and could affect climate.

The Winston science technicians prepared four sealed gas jars containing oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. Before sealing, each had a thermometer placed inside. These were placed on a workbench in full sunshine for several hours before the class.

The results supported Ms Foote's conclusions in that the jars containing carbon dioxide and methane - both 'greenhouse gases' were approximately 5 degrees Celsius higher than the other jars!

Planning a Route

 Speakers4Schools

As part of our ongoing work with Speakers4Schools, this month Year 9 students were able to hear from Jim Coleman – CEO of We Are Social. 

Jim shared a dynamic presentation with the students helping them to see the work that an agency produces, and the wide range of skills and talents that are used. This helped them to see first-hand how the competencies and skills that are taught at Winston are used in the workplace. 

The talk gave the students a fresh perspective on potential career opportunities. Jim also helped them to reflect on how to work out what they want for their own futures. At a point where our Year 9s are getting ready to start their KS4 courses – including Business Studies and Enterprise & Marketing – the talk gave them a great opportunity to see how their school work now will lead into their own careers.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition

Every year, the DofE Award inspires many young people to develop skills, resilience and self-belief. We help them take on their own challenges, follow their passions, make a difference to their communities and discover talents they never knew they had.   

This weekend, our DofE participants undertook their Expedition in the Surrey Hills. A challenging route within areas of open chalk downland with plenty of woodlands to explore, participants focused on the Winston Competencies of resilience, collaboration and communication to successfully navigate throughout the route under remote supervision. In addition to navigation, participants showed their campcraft abilities in cooking on trangias, use of tents and following the Countryside Code. 

Participants should be very proud of their achievements this weekend. This is a significant accomplishment and requires determination, resilience and a range of other skills to successfully complete the expedition, most crucially as a team. Congratulations to all participants who took part and completed their expedition! 

Mr Doul and Mrs Lewis

Outward Facing Education

Chelsea Reading Programme

The students in the Chelsea F.C. Reading Programme have spent the last few weeks preparing for their big press conference with two Chelsea Youth Players at Winston last Thursday. The students all prepared two questions to ask Jimmy Jay Morgan and Derrick Abu the Chelsea Youth Full Time Players. 

The excellent questions included what inspired the players to become footballers, what other hobbies the footballers had and what was their favourite celebration. The students each took turn coming to the microphone and confidently asking the players their questions. We learnt loads about the players history and ambitions for the future.  The reading programmes group were impeccably behaved throughout, and really showed how far they had come with their reading and oracy since working in the Chelsea Programme.

Well done to the group and thank you to Jimmy Jay Morgan and Derrick Abu for visiting Winston. 

“Humanities Day”

The Winston Churchill School has recently joined the prestigious Wellington College Learning Alliance based at Wellington College in Crowthorne. An exciting opportunity arose for a small number of our most able Year 9 students to attend the “Humanities Day” where our students worked with other highly able students from across the partnership to learn about some of the varied subjects within the Humanities faculty that students may decide to study post 16. Designed to raise aspirations for the future, the series of sessions were delivered by teachers from Wellington College. The event featured lessons in psychology, classics, English, religion and economics. Our students enjoyed the event and enjoyed how it extended their learning beyond the normal curriculum, finding it "fun", "exciting" and "interesting".

Being Part of the Team

 Yr7 Jr. NBA Basketball Finals

Having entered the English Jr. NBA Schools Competition for the 1^st time to increase the number of Yr7 Basketball fixtures, the team have thrived and performed beyond expectations.

All schools are given an NBA team to represent (Winston = Oklahoma City Thunder) and are provided with free kit to play in their colours. The Yr7's came top of their Conference League winning 6 and losing 1 meaning qualification to the playoffs. A good win vs. Cobham Free School (43-12) in the Playoffs, followed by a 49-45 win vs. John Madjeski Academy in the Conference Semi-Finals (helped by an outstanding performance from Mathew), means the team have progressed to the Finals.

The Finals day will be held at the K2 Centre in Crawley on June 21^st where the team will play the Conference Final v John Fisher. The winners of this will then play in the South East Final later that day against the winners of the other Conference Final. We wish the team good luck! 

Mr Martin

Winston Athletics

Without an opportunity to get many practice sessions in, the athletics fixtures came thick and fast over the 1^st 3 weeks of the Summer term; KS4 District Finals, District Trials and the English Schools Athletics Cup.

For the KS4 District Finals we took a team of boys and girls comprised of students from years 10 & 11. Overall, the students performed brilliantly earning 3^rd place for both boys and girls' teams out of the 13 schools that attended. Our best results at this event in recent years. There were 1^st place standings for Harrison (100m) and Isobel (100m) as well as 2^nd place standings for Charlotte (200m), Isabelle (300m), Dylan (400m) and Girls Relay.

The following week, District Trials provided an opportunity for students to qualify for selection into the Woking District squad but also to practice their chosen disciplines for the upcoming English Schools Cup. Students who will be asked to represent the District include Yr11's; Harrison, Charlotte & Isabelle, Yr10's; Dylan & Isobel, Yr9's; Ayaan & Max, Yr8's; Seb & Ryan.

Finally, after the headache that is selecting a Junior & Intermediate boys and girls squad (each student having to do one field and one track event) for the English Schools competition, the teams enjoyed the competition hosted at the Sportsbox. Although there were some decent individual results, collectively our teams were not able to accumulate the points required to compete at the top end with the independent schools that were present.

Junior Boys - 5^th (out of 9)

Junior Girls - 8^th (out of 9)

Intermediate Boys - 7^th (out of 8)

Intermediate Girls - 7^th (out of 9)

We were very proud watching everyone compete; some students representing Winston for the 1^st time, some competing in events that might not be their strongest but giving it their all, new PB's being set and a real competitive spirit to achieve the best they could. Athletics really demonstrates the tenacity, resilience and drive students have when put under pressure. All were organised and got to their events on time and were well behaved throughout the day. 

Next up is the KS3 District Finals during National School Sports Week on Friday 23^rd June! 

Making a Contribution

 Volunteering

The Winston Churchill School's Eco-Committee took part in Keep Britain's Tidy event. In our ambition to become an Eco-School, the Committee focused on the impact of litter on the environment and organised a litter pick to raise awareness. For Eco-Schools Step 5: Informing and Involving, students from across the school took part and joined the Eco-Committee in litter picking all types of litter in and around our school site:  over 50 people were involved, including Committee members, teachers and other student volunteers. 

For our assembly theme last week, the Committee taught Year 7 through to Year 10 how litter can impact our oceans and the new 30x30 initiative the UN have introduced for World Ocean's Day. This is something that students will learn even more about on 8^th July in their Geography lessons. We have two further litter picks scheduled, one of which will involve litter picking outside our school grounds and the natural environment of our local community. 

Thank you to everyone who took part!

Mr Doul

Time to Reflect and Remember

 The Battlefields Visit

“From the 28^th to the 30th of April 2023, a group of 80 Year 9 pupils attended the History Battlefields trip in Belgium and France. Pupils studied various aspects of WWI during Year 9 and the trip provided pupils with context and a first-hand experience on what it was like to serve.

After an early start, pupil’s set off for Belgium and France with packed three-day itinerary starting with the Ypres Salient. Visits included Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth war graves cemetery and a tour of the WWI exhibition at the Flanders Field Museum in Ypres. Followed by one of the highlights for both staff and pupils a quick stop at a Belgian chocolate shop.

Saturday was spent visiting various sites and memorials in the Somme region of France. Including a network of underground tunnels at Wellington Quarry, tunnelled by British and New Zealand forces and part of a surprise attack during the Battle of Arras in 1917. This was followed by a tour of two Canadian memorial parks, Newfoundland and Vimy Ridge. Pupils also visited the largest manmade crater of WWI, Lochnager, set by British forces at the start of the Somme offensive in 1916. The day ended with a visit to Ypres town centre, where three Winston pupils participated in the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate, an act of remembrance that has taken place since 1928 for the British and Commonwealth soldiers who died at the Ypres Salient and have no known grave. Pupils who took part in the ceremony noted how 'empowered' and 'honoured' they felt. 

 

The final day involved a tour of a preserved German trench at Bayernwald, followed by a visit to the German cemetery, Langemark. Later pupils were able to identify the grave of the youngest soldier at Essex Farm cemetery, which is also the site Canadian soldier John McCrae wrote the famous ‘In Flanders Field’ poem. To end the trip pupils visited Lijssenthoek Cemetery, which represents the truly global scale of WWI.  Containing graves for Commonwealth soldiers, Chinese Labour Corps as well as the French, German and US army. Here pupils worked together to find the grave of Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler, one of only two women from WWI buried in Belgium.

Pupils were excited to share their experiences about the trip with one pupil commenting how they enjoyed 'the last day at Lijssenthoek...and was fascinated by the fact that there were 100s of graves but only one female grave for Nellie Spindler'.  Others shared how engaging they found the trip and the importance of visiting the sites respectfully."

Miss Robinson