Dear Parents/Carers,
Despite some rather cold and dismal weather on Tuesday, many visits and activities took place on the first Day 11 of 2019.
Year 7s completed part of a unit of English called The Village Project, which is about using a student created village as a vehicle for creative and persuasive writing. They presented their final ideas for their villages with a village fete. Students were able to see the work of others in the year group and not only presented their ideas, but tried to persuade others to come and move to live in their village.
Year 8s looked at the sustainability of Woking to see how green we were as a school community and also looked at how we could use some of the ideas presented, at home.
Year 9s welcomed over 30 employers to review career paths at post-16. Students were given the opportunity to interview a range of employers and to find out about their career paths and what their jobs involved. They also had a chance to look at starting a careers website for young people, matching their interests with career paths (www. startprofile.com), all in preparation and support of their GCSE choices in the next few weeks.
Year 10 GCSE Art students visited the V&A and with the Saatchi museum in order to support their classwork and research for their next project. The Silver Duke of Edinburgh participants continued with their training and route planning in preparation for their expeditions later in the year.
Year 11 GCSE Food preparation and Nutrition students used the extended time to complete their three hour assessed practical for their NEA2 component, while GCSE DT students completed their practical work too. GCSE PE also took the opportunity to complete NEA work. Year 11 Drama students participated in a ‘Blood Brothers’ workshop provided by the company ‘Stage-ed’. The workshop was led by professional actor Michael Southern who appeared in the West End production of ‘Blood Brothers’, playing the role of Sammy. The workshop explored the GCSE set text; students explored accents, characters and key scenes, resulting in some outstanding practical work. The energy, drive and imagination presented by the students were exceptional. Michael was brilliant in providing further insight into the play from his experiences, and he was a great inspiration to our students.
On Wednesday afternoon, 18 of our most able piano students across all year groups assembled in the Drama Studio. They had been invited to attend a piano masterclass with renowned concert pianist and teacher, Richard Meyrick. Richard, who made his concert début at the Wigmore Hall, London while still a student, went on to appear at a live televised performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 2, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, and has since performed in concert halls all over the world. Since 2004, Richard has given masterclasses in over 450 schools as part of The Pianoman Scholarships Scheme, a national programme to encourage and nurture talented young pianists courtesy of sponsors Sir and Lady Harvey McGrath. Richard's main aim for the afternoon was to broaden the thinking of our young musicians and give them new perspectives, techniques and goals for the preparation and presentation of their pieces.
Following a mesmerising and brilliant opening performance by Richard on our Grand piano, eight students volunteered to bravely follow the maestro, and took turns to play a prepared piece to the small, but select audience. Richard then appraised the performances giving excellent tips for improvement, including how to prepare a piece of music and how to develop muscle memory. The students were attentive and extremely poised and professional, as they played and listened. Richard was suitably impressed by the overall standard of musicianship demonstrated by all. He was utterly charming and entertaining, providing many anecdotal stories interwoven with short performance snippets of repertoire learnt throughout his illustrious career. It was a truly engaging afternoon enjoyed by all our students, but a special thank you and well done to the following pianists who performed:
Year 7 Cameron Sia
Year 8 Leanne Seet and Hugo Komatsu
Year 9 Kia Westaway
Year 10 Mana Komatsu
Year 11 Madeleine McClements, Jacob Smith and Jude Silverton
Thank you in advance to all parents of Year 11 students who are planning to attend consultation evening tonight. We look forward to meeting you (for the final consultation evening at Woking High School) to discuss your son/daughter’s progress to date and preparations that can be made prior to the GCSE exams in the coming months. On that note, a Year 11 parents’ revision evening is to be held on Monday 21st January from 6 p.m. in the School Hall. Letters regarding this event were schoolcomms-ed out on 11th January.
A reminder that it is our fourth Inset day of the academic year tomorrow (Friday 18th January) and as a result, students are not required in school. They will resume their normal timetable on Monday 21st January at 8.55 a.m.
The Friends of Woking High School’s recycling campaign is going well. The scheme pays out twice a year and so far we have raised £57.92, but we have probably already reached that total again. Even better though, we have raised money for the school; your kind donations have given single use plastics a second life as new materials and products will be made from the hard-to-recycle waste.
Just to remind you, as well as milk/juice bottle tops we are also collecting triggers (see below). All monies received from the recycling goes straight into the Friends of Woking High School funds.
You are warmly welcomed to the next Friends of Woking High School meeting which is to be held at the school, on Wednesday 6th February at 8.45 a.m. Please do come along, it will be lovely to see you. The morning meeting allows us to attend a school assembly, with the meeting happening afterwards.
Finally, congratulations to Alice Acquaye in Year 10, who recently auditioned and was selected to perform in The Frog Prince with Cobham Players. She has a main speaking part and also has to sing and dance. Alice has spent many hours rehearsing after school, at weekends and performing for this production.
Best wishes,
Jane Abbott
Headteacher