From the Theatre to the Arctic

 occupatus Martius!

It's been a busy March for Latin students! Following our successes at the Latin Reading Competition a few weeks ago, Year 9-11 students took a trip to Tottenham Court Road to see the fantastic production of Medea @SohoPlace. The emotionally charged performances were incredible, and students were particularly mesmerised by the rain on stage!

Year 10 students (after a couple of cancellations) finally got to hear Professor Armand D'Angour from Jesus College, Oxford speak on Roman poet, Catullus, and the object of his romantic poetry, Lesbia. Thoroughly thought-provoking as we continue to study Latin verse next term, we will certainly be referring to his commentary, context, and analysis.

Year 8 enjoyed a workshop led by Year 10 exploring the presentation of Voice in the myth of Arachne and Minerva supported by Royal Holloway University' Dr Efi Spentzou. Students engaged in thoughtful debates, a purely intellectual exercise they were encouraged to think for the sake of thinking, with no criteria or parameters of a set task to restrain their ideas. We applaud both the open-mindedness and intellectual resilience of the Year 8s, as well as the planning and leadership of the Year 10s who organised the session. 

All this while learning the perfect, imperfect and pluperfect tenses and all 6 uses of the subjunctive! 

Next term we're looking forward to KCL's production of 'Iphigenia' for Key Stage 4 students; a new play 'Fragments' for Year 8; Year 10s will visit Royal Holloway for a seminar and campus tour and the return of Year 7 Classics Taster Day!

But first, we're jetting off to Rome on Friday!!

 ad WCSC Latinam amamus!

Arctic in a Jar

'7WM and 7WR got super creative with their 'Arctic in a Jar Project'. They decorated the outside of the jar as the Arctic and on the inside explained the potential threats the Arctic is facing. Both groups had the opportunity to present their projects to the class. I was thoroughly impressed with the work they all produced. Well done Year 7's!'

Miss Shahid

Discovery

 Lunch times in the Library

This week, we've launched our new, focused, Lunch times in the Library where each day, there will be a specific activity that will be running in the Library during lunch time. We've also made the move to a much quieter lunch time in the Library as we were finding that at lunch times, when students wanted to use the space for homework or quiet games like chess, it was much easier to have a quieter space due to the smaller amount of students. We wanted to take advantage of this and create a timetable of activities for students to recognise how to use the space each day. 

Please see below the new timetable. Everyday at lunch time (apart from Friday when the Library is closed at lunch time), students can read or do homework silently. However, on Tuesday-Thursday, other activities are available for students to do quietly. This includes Chess, which has become very popular recently, and 'Think on a Thursday'. This is a new addition to the Library but it involves word and number puzzles being available for the students to have a go at. The students really enjoyed the first session on Thursday this week with students from all year groups choosing to have a go at some of the puzzles.

As the weeks go on and National events occur, Miss Dodds will be adding different activities to the timetable so that there are always new things for the Winston students to try. If there is anything students want to see for Lunch times in the Library just pop into the Library to let Miss Dodds know!

Miss M Dodds

Discovery Space Manager

Visiting Whitechapel

On Thursday 16 March and Friday 17 March Year 10 students had the opportunity to discover more about Whitechapel's past. The trip was to support part of their GCSE History paper, where they explore what Whitechapel was like in the late 1800s and the challenges the police faced. This includes learning about why Jack the Ripper was never caught, and how tensions in Whitechapel made policing particularly challenging.

This is what 2 of our History prefects said about the trip:

"I thought that the trip was enjoyable and informative. We had the opportunity to visit some of the places we learnt about in class first hand and put them into context; which made the information easier to remember. Furthermore, the tour guides gave useful advice on the different types of sources we could use to develop our evidence and explanation. As well as this they gave some specific information that we could use in exams to get the best marks possible. It was a great experience." Ellen

"I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go one the Whitechapel trip. The guides delivered essential details engagingly with extensive explanation and evidence. Additionally, they gave us an idea of what sources would be the most useful in an exam and how we could use them to get the best marks possible. It was great to experience Whitechapel first-hand, and the trip offered a unique insight to life in Whitechapel historically." Lilee

Being able to get students out on the trip - even with strikes in and outside London - was a real achievement. Ensuring that the students were getting opportunities to develop their understanding about this fascinating part of London's History.

Miss Nye

Deputy Subject Leader History