Celebrating Christmas with Drama and Food!

Year 10 Christmas Pastries

Year 10 Food preparation and Nutrition and Hospitality and Catering Classes bought Christmas into the classroom today and created puff pastry Christmas trees or snowflakes. They used their Maths skills for the snowflakes creating equal strands to twist and fold. They had great fun creating the designs and even reduced food waste by creating extra designs with the off cuts. The puff pastry was filled with either chocolate spread, Biscoff or pesto and cheese for those that preferred savoury. 

 

Year 7 Drama Club

This first term, a dedicated troupe of year 7 students have been spending their Friday afternoons in the Drama department, creating their own Christmas plays based off of a randomly selected image.  All we can say is wow! These students demonstrated their collaboration skills, commitment and creativity in the most wonderful display of talent that took place in the main hall. Last Friday we had an award giving ceremony to celebrate their hard work plus a singalong to welcome in the festive holiday. Well done year 7 you have made the Drama Department proud!

In total we had 9 performances and here are the awards and winners: 

The funniest moment: Yeti Who Stole Christmas

The most dramatic moment: Reindeer Murder Mystery 

Best display of skill: Santa's Holiday 

Most festive performance: The Christmas Tree

Best characters: How The Grinch Saved Christmas 

Best musical performance: Christmas Gone Wrong 

Best overall performance: Elf...But Better 

Best Narration: A Christmas Slay Play 

Most Original story: Christmas Ruined 

The students had immense fun collaborating with one another and supporting each other during the performances. We can't wait to see what they do next ! 

Many thanks, 

Miss. L Watson

Drama 

Catching Up!

 The Year 8 Christmas Cushion Project. 

Students all made a personalised cushion using appliqué. Designs ranged from Christmas wreaths, trees and snowmen, to personalised initial cushions. This has taken weeks of planning and decision making.  Students have then used their skills with a sewing machine to complete the project.

The UCL Observatory

At Winston we are extremely fortunate in having our own Planetarium on-site where we are able to offer a GCSE in Astronomy. As part of their studies, the Year 10 astronomy students were able to visit the UCL Observatory in Mill Hill with their teacher Dr North. This is one of the best-equipped astronomical facilities for student training and research in the UK. As well as being an observatory where under- and post-graduates study, UCL host tours and lectures for school-age visitors. 

Our Winston students were able get close-up and learn about the different telescopes used at the observatory and the discoveries made there: In 2014 one of the closest supernovas to Earth in recent decades was spotted by a group of UCL under-graduate astrophysicists in galaxy Messier 82 (The Cigar Galaxy)! It was stunning to see photographs taken by the telescopes and to relate the discoveries to the GSCE curriculum studied in school.

It was also a fabulous opportunity for us to discuss the challenges and rewards of a career in Astrophysics and space sciences with the current cohort of UCL under-graduates.

Festive Reading

 Here's a little look at Christmas in the Library...

A firm festive favourite returning this year is the Not So Secret Santa where staff choose a book from the Library to recommend. The book is then wrapped and a tag written to give  brief clue about the book. Students can choose to loan these books out for the holidays and unwrap them at home for a reading surprise this Christmas. As they do every year, they went almost straight away and I had to re-stock! There are still a couple of wrapped books remaining - I wonder what books are hiding inside! 

This year, we've also got the addition of the 14 Books of Christmas, our version of an advent calendar. Each school day in December, a new book is revealed that the students can check out. Most days' books are also available as e-books and so the 14 Books of Christmas can also be found on Frog! Some of the books revealed so far have been The Light in Everything by Katya Balen, a quick read version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the adapted-for-younger-readers edition of Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Get down to the Library to see the last few days of the calendar revealed!

The new snow-covered tree is up and on it, are tiny versions of some of our favourite book covers. Can you spot your favourite? I've filled the displays with a selection of interesting reads, both longer and shorter books perfect for cosying up with a hot drink over the festive holidays. Make sure you've chosen your book for over the holidays or renewed your current read. 

Today I am popping in to celebration assemblies to hand out awards and prizes for 2 things; student who has borrowed the most books and tutor group with the most borrowed books. I am always delighted to present these awards for such fabulous engagement with reading so well done to those students.  We have issued over 3400 books in the Library in 2023, so a huge well done to all students for their engagement with reading this year, and I can't wait to see this continue in 2024. Can we beat the record?!

I hope everyone has a fantastic festive period and enjoys a restful break. Keep reading, and I can't wait to welcome everyone back to the Library in the New Year.

Mrs M Jones

Discovery Space Manager

Counting Down

🎄 Winston's Living Advent Calendar🎄

These are images from our Living Advent Calendar from the end of last week and the start of this week. They are as follows:

Wednesday 6th - Rock n Pop club took to the stage

Thursday 7th - Student band, The Manhattan Project performed

Friday 8th - Melissa, Athidh, Josh and Sam entertained with various piano pieces.

Monday 11th - Session Band performed at break

Tuesday 12th - Junior Session Band performed on the stage

Wednesday 13th - Brass Ensemble performed.

Our students and staff love having live music played throughout break.  Those performing enjoy being able to showcase their skills.

Thank you Mr Drake for organising, these much valued events, which share different types of music to our student audience. 

Young Singer of the Year

 

Young Singer of the Year 2023

On Thursday 7^th December we hosted our first ever Winston Young Singer of the Year competition in the Performance Space. There were 14 finalists from Years 7-11 who had already made it through the audition process.

With Liv and Evangeline as compares for the evening and our judge Evert Outen in position, Sadie started the night off by singing a beautiful rendition of ‘Skyfall’ by Adele. We were then blown away by the powerful vocals of Genny, who sang ‘Mama Who Bore Me’ from Spring Awakening. Nathan then gave us an energetic performance of ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons, followed by Lily who soulfully sang ‘Almost There’ and then Naya with an engaging performance of ‘No Apologies’. Then it was Taylor’s turn to sing ‘Set Fire To The Rain’, which she sang spectacularly. Next was Robyn who gave a captivating performance of ‘Vampire’, and then Abi who enchanted us with her resonant performance of ‘The Ballad of Jane Doe’. Grace gave us an evocative and dramatic performance of ‘Get Out and Stay Out’ and Ella then gave a dynamic performance of ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ with backing singers Liv and Evangeline. Luci charismatically performed ‘Kindergarten Boyfriend’, followed by Emilia who sang ‘What I Did For Love’ in dulcet tones. Zachary then expressively sang ‘A Million Dreams’ and Sienna finished off the competition with a powerfully fierce performance of ‘No One But You’

. 

Whilst our judge made his decisions, Liv and Evangeline entertained the audience with a stunning performance of ‘You Love Who You Love’, followed by Upper School Choir who performed ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ and finally Lower School Choir who had the audience clapping along to ‘True Colours’.

Once the performances were over, Evert was ready to present the awards. He had an incredibly difficult decision to make as the standard of performances was unbelievable. Grace was awarded Highly Commended for Lower School and Sienna was awarded Highly commended for Upper School. However, The Young Singer of the Year, who took the trophy, was Abi, who really impressed Evert with her vocal range and control. Well done, Abi!!

A special thank you needs to go to Athidh, Josh, Ollie and Mr Drake for accompanying the singers, Liv and Evangeline for comparing the event, and Mr Major and the tech team for providing lighting and sound throughout the evening. Another huge thank you needs to go to all of the singers for working so hard to craft such magnificent performances and their supportive friends and family who came to watch. I am already excited for next year!

Mrs Antony

Assistant Director of Music