Principal's blog [Scanned]

Dear Parents

 

This week has been just as busy as last largely because it has been the occasion of our annual School Production.  Those of you who attended last year's performance of "My Fair Lady" were treated to an outstandingly professional and hugely enjoyable rendition of this very popular musical.  This year the students and staff at Woking High School have not only matched the exceptionally high standards we have come to expect but have excelled them.  "The Sound of Music" performed on Wednesday 14^th & 15^th March was a sheer delight.  This musical is probably one of the best known and best loved of all and, perhaps because everyone knows the story and songs so well, it becomes even more of a challenge to interpret and perform.  Undoubtedly the Woking High School version gave Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer a real run for their money.  A huge thank you to many, many, staff especially Mrs Selmes, Mr Goodwin, Mr Griffiths and the student cast who were truly awesome.

 

Day 11 on Wednesday had provided a golden opportunity for final rehearsals and a matinee performance of "The Sound of Music".  The invited students from Horsell Junior School were entranced by excerpts from the musical.

 

During the day Year 11 students had the opportunity to practice interview techniques with staff from Woking College.  Year 7 students practised their physical geography skills on a perfect day at Lulworth Cove.  Meanwhile, Year 8 students explored the historic locations of Canterbury and enhanced their RE curriculum by visiting the site of Thomas à Beckets Murder.

 

On Friday we were visited by a representative from Artsmark to judge our Arts provision and to hopefully upgrade our 2009 Silver Artsmark award to Gold.  In order to be considered for this award we are required to complete a detailed online analysis of our arts curriculum.  This quality assurance mark then benchmarks our arts provision against schools nationally.  The assessor seemed very impressed by the enthusiasm and independent learning shown by our students and the huge range of creative and arts activities on offer to our students throughout the taught curriculum and Day 11.  We wait with anticipation for the decision on our application which is due in May.

 

Later that afternoon Year 11 students were seen straightening ties, brushing hair and tucking in their shirts all in readiness for individual and group photos to capture them in their last year in full time school education.  No doubt these photos will be treasured by families and looked back on with fond memories and nostalgia by our students in years to come.

 

Congratulations yet again go to Woking High School's swimming team who won the NW Surrey gala at Woking Pool in the Park on Thursday 15^th March.  Any offers of donations to build our own swimming pool would be gratefully received!!!!

 

Year 7 & 8 girls all won District basketball this week and became District champions as did the Year 10 boys' team.  U14 girls' football team won, on penalties, the Surrey title against Bishopwand.  Woking High School won 6 trophies this week.

 

Mrs Richardson is hoping for good weather this weekend as she leads another Duke of Edinburgh navigation expedition to the Surrey Hills.

 

Best wishes.

 

Jane Abbott

Principal

Principal's blog [Scanned]

Dear Parents

 

As you are aware, we have had a visit from the Ofsted inspectors this week.  Five inspectors have been with us both yesterday and today and have been diligent, rigorous and searching in their scrutiny.  We will not know the overall outcome of the inspection until later this evening.  As soon as we receive the final written report, we will share that with you.  Students will also receive a letter from the inspectors.  We are very proud of all students at Woking High School and having spent two days with us, we firmly believe the Ofsted team will leave with the same impression.

 

Other news this week has centred around the huge excitement generated by the AviFlu simulation.  Students, staff and even Ofsted Inspectors have become totally immersed in this whole school activity.  From Monday morning when the first students were “infected” there has been a really buzz of interest around the school.  It has been a hugely enjoyable experience, has generated much debate and discussion on hygiene, contamination and the spread of viral disease.  It has also provided cross curricular links with Maths and obviously health awareness.  Many thanks go to the Science department and especially Mr Wood who has worked tirelessly to plan and organize this event.

 

As our annual production dates come closer we have enjoyed hearing a little “taster” from the show when the Windband and Choir rehearsed yesterday.  If the performance was anything to go by we are in for a real treat next Wednesday and Thursday.  I urge you to book and buy tickets early as they are disappearing fast, with block bookings from whole tutor groups.  It will also be a chance for us to christen our new stage curtains and backdrop.  A huge thank you to Abbey Blinds for breaking all known records to get these hung and installed ready for next week.

 

Our Senior Youth Speaks team is preparing themselves in readiness for yet another round of the Rotary Public Speaking competition on Saturday evening and again we wish them luck.

 

Best wishes.

 

Jane Abbott

Principal

Principal's Blog

Dear Parents
This week we have been thoroughly enjoying a variety of events organised to celebrate World Book Day – or at Woking High School, World Book Week. Amongst the many activities taking place are a group of wondering Year 10 troubadours who are visiting all tutor groups in the school and reading aloud from selected texts. Staff from all departments have been reading extracts of their favourite books during break and lunchtimes. The highlight so far has been Dr Williams reading extracts from her soon to be published novel “World Enough and Time”. Please look out for this later in the spring and order your signed copies! Staff have also been raising money for the Library and reading charities by bringing in old books and swapping them for others at £1 per book.

On Tuesday evening Year 11 students and staff “strutted their stuff” down the Woking High School catwalk, in our annual Year 11 Prom Fashion Show. It was a great evening which the students enjoyed and also one which gave them inspiration for their Prom outfits. The companies who attended the event were extremely positive about our students saying that we should be ‘very proud’ of our students and how they had been ‘very well organized and a delight to work with’. Thank you to Mr Brown for leading this event and we look forward to seeing some wonderful outfits on 30th June.

Well done to Catherine Campbell, Kirsten McLean, Ellen Steinback, Anna Kozlanska and James Hardacre who gave up their own time to play in a Charity concert last Saturday evening. The Concert at St Mary’s Church, Horsell, was organized by Woking Lions to raise money for Woking Community Transport. The Chair of Fund Raising sent a very complimentary letter thanking our students for their participation. Please see photo below.

Good luck to our Mock Magistrates team – 14 Year 9’s – who are competing in a mock trial at Redhill Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Speaking of ‘Mock’ events, there are two more on the horizon next week. Firstly, all Year 11 students have the opportunity to hone their examination skills even further by sitting another mock examination in both English and Maths next Wednesday and Thursday. As the students are well aware, it is critical for all students to perform as well as possible in these two key subjects as they are both required and valued by all post 16 colleges and all employers for any type of training or employment. It is imperative therefore that all Year 11’s take every opportunity to practice past papers and revise – especially in these subjects.

The other ‘mock’ happening next week is an event organized by the Science department “AviFlu Simulation”.

This coincides with the beginning of National Science and Engineering Week 2012 (9th-18th March).

From Monday, starting with Year 11, the whole school will be involved in a simulation that represents the spread of viral diseases. The simulation is based on one person in each year becoming infected with a 'Bird Flu' like virus. The following information details how the simulation works:

•  The first person in Year 11 is infected during assembly on Monday 5th March. This student has break and lunch time to infect up to three other people.
•  Infected students need to attend the 'Medical Centre' in S3. At the medical centre they will receive a yellow ribbon to denote they are infected and some yellow virus slips to spread the virus to other students and staff. If students ask whether they are able to spread the virus across different year groups, please advise that this is possible, however they need to consider that students in other year groups may not be aware of the simulation due to the staggered introduction to different year groups as a result of their assembly day.
• After 24 hours infected students (and staff) attend the 'Medical Centre' in S3 at break or lunch for a second time to determine their fate. They role a die: odd numbers result in death, they wear a red ribbon. Even numbers result in survival, they wear a purple ribbon.
• The event will run until Wednesday 14th March, which will allow substantial time for all year groups to engage and participate. Infection rate numbers will be published on a daily basis.

This event is designed to be both educational and great fun so please participate!

And if all this were not enough, some of our Duke of Edinburgh students are off on a navigation exercise on Sunday. Here’s hoping that for them, and the rest of us, that this spring-like weather continues.

Best wishes.

Jane Abbott
Principal

Principal's blog

Dear Parents

I am delighted to report that on the evening of Friday 10th February Woking High School’s Senior Public Speaking team won the Woking District (2nd Round) Rotary Youth Speaks Competition. The team of George Bowen, Ameena Khan-Sullivan and Sanah Mahmood spoke on ‘The Great Depression – the pursuit of happiness and a criticism of materialistic values’. They were commended for their convincing argument, the outstanding construction of their speech and their group work.

In the audience to enjoy the speech were the Mayor and Mayoress of Woking and MP for Woking, Jonathan Lord. The team will now go forward to represent the school in the District final which is to be held on Saturday 10th March and we wish them good luck.

Thank you to Mr Booth, Mrs Paterson and Mr Mills who over half term led the annual ski trip (with colleagues and students from Epsom & Ewell High School) to Prato Nevoso, Italy. Despite anxiously watching the snow reports in the weeks leading up to the visit, the weather conditions were superb with beautiful sunshine and thick powdery snow – ideal conditions for skiing. The students from Woking High School and Epsom & Ewell High School thoroughly enjoyed themselves and returned home safely on Sunday afternoon. Leading any school visit is both a highly responsible and deeply rewarding experience. Huge amounts of time are given to planning and risk assessing every visit and great care is taken to ensure students are safe whilst participating in school visits. As a school we are very grateful for those staff who give so generously of their time to give our students such varied experiences and learning opportunities. Thankfully very rarely do accidents happen but when they do they are all the more tragic. Our thoughts and sympathies go to the school community in Worcester who are in shock and mourning as a result of the road accident which occurred on the journey home from their ski visit last weekend.
Congratulations go to the Woking High School Chess team who played their inaugural match on Wednesday against Winston Churchill School which led to a result of 4 boards all. Well done to all team members, Kai, Chris, PJ, Matt, Burhan, Will, Nick and Ruaridh and thanks to Mr Reeves for organizing this event and running our weekly chess club.

It was encouraging to see so many parents attending the Year 9 Consultation evening yesterday. This is an important time for all Year 9 students as they are choosing the examination courses they are to study over the next two years. Many current changes are being made by the government to school curriculums, examination boards, examination qualifications and examination syllabuses. It is therefore all the more important that students, parents and staff are as fully informed and up-to-date as possible on the implications of these changes. We urge all students to seek individual advice and guidance so that the most appropriate course combinations can be agreed for each and every member of Year 9. Please remember Option forms need to be returned by no later than Friday 9th March.

I would like to draw your attention to a letter being sent to all parents this week (and being placed on our website). The Friends of Woking High School are hosting a buffet lunch time meeting on Wednesday 21st March at 12.30 p.m. Please do attend this meeting, if you are able and enjoy the lunch and the opportunity to tour the school in the early part of the afternoon.

Jane Abbott

Principal

Principals' blog

Dear Parents

As we approach half term we can reflect on a very intense and purposeful five week period which has been dominated by examination work.

Year 11 students have been taking modules, attending revision sessions and preparing for final examinations which are now in sight.  I would urge Year 11 students to use half term wisely – organising themselves, preparing resources and revision materials, obtaining revision guides and practising past examination questions.  These are the keys to examination success.  However, students must also ensure that they build in time to relax and keep healthy. These were some of the many points that were emphasized in the Year 11 revision presentation to parents on Tuesday evening.  If you were unable to attend this event, please do look at the presentation slides which are published on our website and contact any member of the school if you wish to follow up any of the issues raised.

Meanwhile Year 9 students have been enthusiastically gathering information about Options courses for next year.  Year 9 reports are due to parents today and give a very useful indicator of students’ current progress and attainment which in turn provides guidance on future subject choices.

Last night our governing body met for one of their three annual Full Governing Body meetings. Their key purpose is to act as ‘critical friends’ to the school; questioning, challenging and supporting school leaders so that everyone associated with the school works in harmony to provide the best possible education for our young people.  The school community are indebted to our governors who voluntarily give of their time, expertise and talents.

Improving student literacy for all ages and all abilities has been a focus of our attention for the past terms.  We welcomed a Local Authority Consultant to conduct a literacy audit across the school on Wednesday. This revealed that a variety of reading skills are taught across the school curriculum and that our students are able to use a wide range of resources in order to read for pleasure and for information.  There will be a number of reading initiatives launched after half term to encourage students to further develop these skills.  The celebration of Dickens’ 200^th anniversary this week is a reminder of the joys and timelessness of reading.  Half term will hopefully give students, parents and teachers time to enjoy reading, whether that be via audio books, Kindles or even paperbacks!  Students (and adults) don’t forget whilst you are reading you will also be able to extend your vocabulary, improve your writing structure and feed your imaginations!

The first ever Woking High School Dance off took place on Thursday. Students from Years 7 and 8 took part using a variety of dance styles. Spectators was treated to tap, ballet, hip hop, jazz and even Bollywood. The winner of the event was Daniel Cheetham from 7W who tapped his way through a fantastic routine from Footloose. 2nd place was awarded to Neetha Binoi from 7A who dazzled us with her Bollywood dance and 3rd place went to Phoebe Dunham and Paige McElhatton from 7W who danced in a range of music styles.  The event was attended by over 60 student supporters who thoroughly enjoyed the dance off. Curie were the overall winner with Faraday coming a close second. We are looking forward to seeing what next year’s competition brings.

Finally, huge congratulations to Woking High School Sports department for some phenomenal sporting achievements this week.   At the Surrey Boys Swimming Championships we had amazing success. This included:

Year 10/11 100m Backstroke Gold Olly Weedon (Surrey Schools County Record by over 2.5 seconds)

Year 7 4x25m Individual Medley Gold Ewan Smith (Surrey Schools County Record)

Year 7 1000m Breaststroke Gold Alex Zalaf (Surrey Schools County Record by just under 4 seconds)

Year 8/9 100m Butterfly Silver Ed Lee

Year 8/9 100m Backstroke Silver Fraser Tattersdill

2 Silvers for the Year 7 Relay Teams in both Medley and Freestyle (Alex Zalaf, Ewan Smith, Robbie Faulkner and Richard Sugden). A few hours earlier the Year 11 Girls beat Carshalton at Basketball 101 - 7. In their last 3 games the girls have scored 267 points and conceded 21 points!

Thank you as always to the dedicated PE staff who coach, organise, motivate and support our young people in achieving these outstanding performances.

Hot news off the press – 4 of our Year 10 Scientists have secured places on the prestigious Salters’ Chemistry Camps.  Congratulations to Hugo Woodward-Rowe and Matthew Bird who are off to Cambridge University and Bertie Woodward-Rowe and Will Hope who will study in Bath.  Thanks to Mrs Gallagher for the inspiration and encouragement she has given these students.

With best wishes for an enjoyable half term break.

Jane Abbott

Principal

Principal's blog [Scanned]

Dear Parents

 

This is a very exciting time for Year 9 students as they embark upon their KS4 Options programme.  Woking High School’s 2012 Option process was launched on Tuesday afternoon with a detailed presentation to all Year 9 students.  Later that evening a packed Hall was a reflection of the interest and support given by Year 9 parents.  They heard the same presentation (which is also available on our website) so hopefully this will facilitate some useful and informed discussions over the next few weeks.  Judging from the feedback on the evaluation forms the Options evening was extremely well received.  Comments included:

 

          Helpful to relate to the future

          Course information booklet is very useful

          Very informative and to the point

          Very clear and concise

 

The Options programme continues over the next few weeks.  Key dates and opportunities are listed below.

 

          Year 9 report due c10th February

          Year 9 Parents’ Consultation evening 23^rd February

          1 to 1 appointment if requested at a mutually convenient time

Year 9 tutorial work in CTZ 1^st February-9^th March

Subject information and presentations to all students 1^st February-9^th March

Completion of Options Forms and submission by no later than 9^th March.

 

Our aim throughout the Options process is to provide as much information, advice and guidance to each individual student (and their parents) to enable them to make the best possible choices for their futures.  Our priorities and principles in giving advice are

 

• to encourage a broad and balanced curriculum learning as many options, choices and pathways open for post 16 and post 18
• enable students to achieve examination success
• enable students to develop the wider skills
• build on the success of our specialism
• meet the challenges of today and be best placed to face the demands of the future.

Yesterday afternoon, a team of Year 9s and Year 10s competed in the SATRO Problem Solving Challenge at Heathside School. Competing against 10 or so schools in each of their respective KS3 and KS4 categories, both teams gave it their all. Their challenge; using simple materials, to create an Olympic tea bag high jump. The task was to make a rudimentary catapult to send a dry tea bag over a high bar of their design. Each team had three 'jumps' to impress the judges.

The year 10s competed admirably, but sadly did not make the final. By contrast, an ingenious contraption catapulted the Year 9 team into second place. They will represent the school at Charterhouse School in March.  Congratulations to Abigail, Luke, William, Max, Olivia and Lewis for the creative technology and good luck for the final.

 

Today two theatre visits are taking place. Our VI students and staff are attending a performance of Mamma Mia and workshop designed specifically for students with a sight impairment and this evening, Year 11 Drama students are attending a stage performance of ‘Woman in Black’ – one of their set texts.  As always we are endebted to our staff who plan, organise, lead and take responsibility for these visits and to the staff who complete the meticulous administration and risk assessments required to ensure the safety and success of any visit.

 

Thank you to Mr Goodwin and musicians from across the school who have entertained all year groups in this weeks assemblies as part of “Feeling Good Week”. Woking High School students really do appreciate the talents and skills of those in the school community.  It is wonderful to hear and see young people playing and singing to their peers and being so warmly rewarded  with such praise and applause.

 

Stop Press

Unfortunately one of our water pipes burst this morning.  It caused major disruption in our kitchens and severely affected the electrics on a number of pieces of equipment.  As a result we were only able to offer a limited selection of hot food at lunchtime, but the usual wide range of cold food options.  Our thanks go to the Catering and Site staff who did a sterling job to minimize the disruption.  The plumbers and electricians are on site as I write and we hope that as near normal service as possible will be resumed on Monday.

 

With best wishes.

 

Jane Abbott

Principal

Principal's blog

Dear Parents

At Woking High School we pride ourselves on our harmonious school community.  We actively seek all opportunities to learn about and learn from the multi cultural, multi faith, multi ethnic origins of our students and staff. This week’s Theme of the Week has provided a whole school focus on “Challenging Racism”.  A key part of this focus has been our year group assemblies where we have reinforced our zero tolerance stance on racism in any form, reminded the school community of our ‘Think Before You Speak’ Campaign have drawn attention to the intolerance of racism currently being covered in the media.  We have also taken the opportunity to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day which is commemorated each year on 27^th January.  Students learn about the reasons for and causes of the Holocaust in a number of subject disciplines including English, RE and History.  My own Year 11 Humanities class are currently completing a Controlled Assessment on this very topic.  Students also have the opportunity to study literature, film and poetry about the Holocaust from the poems of Elie Wessel and Primo Levi to the recent film ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ based on Boyd’s book of the same name.  A vital part of educating our young people about the Holocaust is to develop not just an understanding of the horrific events of the Shoah but also to identify what it is that leads humans to carry out such atrocities both then and subsequently. We want our young people to be able to grow up in a world which will see intolerance and racial division consigned to the worst excesses of the past.

This evening our Latin scholars are participating in the annual Latin Reading Competition held in Guildford.  We wish them luck.

On Wednesday the school students, staff, families, friends and neighbours were treated to yet another outstanding music concert.  For the fourth year in succession students competed in the Lorna Paterson Instrumental and Vocal Competition.  Soloists and ensembles performed a variety of music from musicals such as Chicago and Les Miserables, pieces form Elgar, Beethoven, Mozart and Liszt and more recent excerpts from Phil Collins, Ian Clark and John Williams.

Congratulations go to the winners of each section:

Bethany Leadley – Vocal category

Matthew Hill – String category

Ben Griffiths – Percussion category

Kirsten McLean and Catherine Campbell – Ensemble category

Linus Fuge – Pianoforte category

James Hardacre – Brass category

Emily Pain – Woodwind category

and especially to Louanne Spencer-Skeen (Year 7) who won the most promising musical student award and to Bethan Leadley (Year 11) who won the Lorna Paterson Award.  She was presented with this award by Emily Pain, the 2011 winner and was cheered by friends, family and Lorna’s mother and grandmother who were in the audience.  Proceeds from ticket sales and donations were all given to Cystic Fibrosis in Lorna’s memory.

Whilst the judges were deliberating their final decisions, the audience was entertained with a beautiful performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor Op49 by Surrey University Music students Anita Fan, Rallia Fafalios and Timothy Clark.  Thanks to Mr Clive Williamson and our guest  musicians for giving of their time and talents so willingly.

Thank you to all Year 10 parents who attended the consultation evening yesterday.  The feedback from staff and parents alike was of a very productive evening and Year 10 parents also had an opportunity to complete the latest school questionnaire.  An initial analysis reveals a very positive picture indeed.

Many congratulations are due to a large number of Woking High School sports students.  Last weekend saw 16 competitors compete in the British Schools Biathlon semifinals at Bath University.

Team and individual successes included:

Individual Successes:

Year 11 Boys First (Team consisted of Olly Weedon, Rob Hall, Marcus Vlassak)

Year 7 Boys Second (Team consisted of Alex Zalaf, Ewan Smith, Robbie Faulkner)

Year 9 Girls Second (Team consisted of Tess Weedon, Valli Mcadam, Jenny Kirk)

Individual Successes :

2nd Ewan Smith (Year 7)

3rd Olly Weedon (Year 11)

4th Rob Hall (Year 11)

4th Alex Zalaf (Year 7)

4th Fraser Tattersdill (Year 8)

7th Edward Lee (Year 8)

Out of the 1500 competitors Rob Hall had the fastest run of the day over 1000 metres.

Another 9 students competed in the Surrey Schools Cross Country championship9 in Reigate.

Top finisher was Year 10 Josh Bowden who came 7th in Boys Under 16 race and has now qualified to represent Surrey in English Schools competition.

Last but not least, the Year 9 boys came out winners of the Basketball District Championships beating Salesian School by 54 to 30 baskets.

Well done to all involved.

And finally, students and staff have been enjoying breakfasts from a range of countries and cultures during national ‘Breakfast Week’.  The popularity of this event has reflected a growing trend of students partaking of breakfast in school.  This is not only very healthy for the physical wellbeing but also, as has been proven, can improve academic performance too. The restaurant staff are to be congratulated for such a wonderful provision.

With best wishes.

Jane Abbott

Principal