Skills for Life

 Restart a Heart Day

Today the whole school took part in the international Restart a Heart Day.  Students and staff joined an online stream presentation by the crew from the Kent Surrey & Sussex air ambulance team, to learn invaluable life-saving skills.

They saw the day to day work of the crew and were supported to understand the benefit of of using CPR and a defibrillator. There was also the opportunity to practice on a rolled up blazer.

Every child, in every class across the school participated, 1500 students.  One parent emailed in fully supporting the initiative, following a personal experience.

Thank you to Mrs Sigrist for arranging the event and to all the staff and students who look part.

Matters of the Head and Heart

Legally Blonde 

This year, the students of the Winston Churchill School are raising the bar with their most ambitious production to date: Legally Blonde. With a massive cast of 270 students (before the band, backstage or dancers are added), this musical is set to be an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

The excitement was tangible as students gathered for their first cast meeting. The energy was contagious, and it was clear that the cast are focused on producing their best performance to date for with two amazing full cast rehearsals already attended. The production will take place this year, once again, at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre, providing a truly spectacular setting for this challenging and unique musical.

At the their first ever meeting, the scale of the production became apparent. With a team this large, it's no surprise that the students continue to break their own record for participation. Students were given the opportunity to meet the leadership team and learn about their roles in the production. This year, student involvement has brand new opportunities, with leadership roles in directing, choreography, event management, vocal health, technical direction, wellbeing, business management, set design and more.

The rehearsal schedule has been released on Frog which will involve learning Choreography using the screen and technology in the Performance Space, singing with the music department and acting through song with full technical rehearsals from the get go! Each year I am in awe of the dedication and professionalism of the students involved. 

Todd Harrington-Tucker

Head of Drama

The Winston Churchill School

 GCSE PE Understanding the Heart 🫀

Mr Weale, Mr Fuller and Mr Martin had the pleasure of guiding their Year 10 GCSE PE classes through a Heart Dissection last week. This opportunity provided the students with a hands-on experience with the heart and enabled them to explore and identify the different chambers, valves, and vessels. This will provide them with the necessary knowledge required to excel in their current Cardiovascular  System topic. 

A huge thank you to the Science Department for the equipment and providing the hearts. 

Great Outcomes!

 Celebrating Language Learning

To celebrate European Day of Languages, the MFL department ran a Duolingo Competition. We had over 70 students take part in the competition and even 10 teachers!

Congratulations to Charlotte (1st), Scarlett (2nd), Josh (3rd) and all students that took part. Congratulations as well to all our teachers that took part! Well done to Mrs Hammond (1st), Mrs Jones (2nd) and Miss Retzepter (3rd). 

It is always so encouraging to see people enthusiastic about using languages outside the classroom! Watch out later on in the year for our next Duolingo Competition...

Mrs Humphries

Outstanding Results

The MFL Department are also celebrating record breaking GCSE outcomes.  We enter far more children for either French and German than most state schools and the quality of our teaching and learning has led to great results:

French: 28.7% of students achieved grade 7 - 9 with 88.5% achieving grades 4 - 9.  This is a 10% increase on last year's outcomes and exceeds outcomes in other schools locally and nationally.

German: is also on an upward trajectory.  18.8% students achieving grade 7 - 9 with 73.4% achieving grades 4 - 9.

Congratulations to our teaching staff, our language assistants and our students, you are a winning team!

Radio News Flash

 Winston Shortlisted for Four National Community Radio Awards

We were delighted to receive notification that our radio station, Radio Woking, which broadcasts live over a wide area beyond Woking, has ben shortlisted in four categories of the National Community Radio Awards.

One of the presenters shortlisted, Luke, is an ex-Winston student!

The winners will be announced at the ceremony, in Cardiff on 16th November 2024 and Mr Coll will be attending, as he plans, organises and runs the radio station.

Watch this space and listen to the radio for up-dates.

Holly announced the shortlist on the radio, after school today, with Mr Coll.

Mr Coll then went on to start training a new Year 7 cohort who are keen to write and present their own shows!!  Perhaps they will be nominated in the future.

Assembly this Week

 Strings

My assembly, this week, has been developed over a number of weeks.  Having had the initial idea I enrolled Mr Harrington-Tucker and some of his drama students to create visual representations, as I progressed through the theme each morning.

The students had some great ideas and they changed their performance as they went through the week, creating a mesmerising outcome. The lighting, music, smoke and the masks had the visual impact needed to highlight a serious issue.

Students were taken from the handheld puppet toys of their childhood, through to the difference between being nurtured and supported and being controlled.  Then we explored the need for agreed sets of standards and rules in a community.

However, we finally looked at others trying to control us, including being tied to the strings of a mobile phone.  For the older children the issue of controlling, coercive behaviour was highlighted and how to report concerns.  For the younger children we finished with 'how to tell if a friendship has a positive impact on your life'.  Friendships help to shape your success or they can diminish you.  Look for the signs and listen; find true friendship. 

A huge thank you to Mr Harrington-Tucker, Mr Major and our amazing puppets:

• Alice Betterley
• Amelia Peters
• Luci Francis
• Zach Holmes
• Nathan Birrel
• Milo Gosney
• Naya Harrison
• Ella Parsons
• Bona Masso
• Molly Ward
• Molly Pilbeam
• Grace Hardicre
• Lily Skeet
• Vivienne Lenti
• Nour Kara-Mohammed
• Isabelle Hawes
• Lucy Anderson

Zoe Johnson-Walker

Headteacher

Innovation

Brooklands Innovation Academy

Winston students attended a whole day event at the Brooklands Museum, founded by Lord Mawson and Prof Brian Cox.

They listened to talks from Prof Cox, Prof Simon Singh and others,  as well as participating in several workshops, which included making toothpaste and discovering what it takes to become a BA pilot, whilst looking around concord. 

The images below show a little glimpse of these activities, as well showing Prince Michael of Kent stood next to our students at the toothpaste stand and one of our students being given an award for his great questioning.