Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

What an amazing week! Our school production “Grease: School Edition” wowed our audiences on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. With the book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey featuring “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, “You’re the One That I Want”, “Sandy” and “Grease” used by arrangement with Robert Stigwood ‘Grease: School Edition’ was presented through special arrangement with and all authorised performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), 122-124 Regent Street, 3rd floor, London W1B 5SA. www.theatricalrights.co.uk

The cast, who have been rehearsing since October, including the past few Sundays, put on some fantastic performances. The project has involved over 100 students; they have performed on stage, played in the Production Band, painted and installed scenery, operated technical theatre equipment, and made some wonderful costumes. The PIE Productions community is increasing in size and provides students with a fantastic array of opportunities to explore and polish their creative talents. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of the hardworking and conscientious staff who have offered their talent and expertise in supporting the students throughout the production process. In addition, we are incredibly grateful to parent Mrs B Rouse for kindly coming to support the students with her outstanding choreography.

Each performance was an absolute delight. A true surprise was the presentation of a video message from an original Pink Lady herself. Didi Conn, who performed as Frenchy in the original movie, very kindly recorded a personalised message of support for PIE Productions. We were overwhelmed by her kindness in giving up her time to show her support of the very talented Woking High School students. 

It was then on with the show which featured such dynamic performances from our cast. The energy was ‘electrifying’ as our students sang and danced their hearts out, receiving rapturous applause over the three performances. The set, costumes and props developed by our outstanding team were also fantastic, helping the students recreate the 1950s setting. We would additionally like to thank Woking Amateur Operatic Society, St George’s School (Windsor) and Charters School (Ascot) for lending us additional scenery and costumes which really added to the production.

We are so incredibly proud of the PIE Productions community. Their ethos is to Perform, Inspire and Entertain; these intentions were featured in abundance this week! Their production of ‘Grease: School Edition’ was a wonderful celebration of the talent at Woking High School and we would like to offer our congratulations to all involved!

Last Friday our girls’ badminton teams were in action over at Guildford High School as part of the Surrey County Round in the National School Badminton Competition. Although neither of our Under 14 and 16 progressed to the regional finals, both teams played extremely well. Our Under 16 team finished third in Surrey. This team consisted of Hana Boujemaoui, Elizaveta Izmailova, Charlotte Hamilton and Chloe Westphal.  The Under-14 team included Sophie Price, Erin Shelley, Jessica Wells and Ellen Yates.

At the Surrey Swimming Club Championships at the London Aquatic Arena, several of our students competed and won medals. Mackenzie Russell added a silver in the 800m Freestyle to go with his two golds and a bronze from a fortnight earlier.  Brothers Alexej  and Daniel Baldwin won bronze in their respective age groups in the 800m Freestyle and Josh Thompson added another silver in the 200m Breaststroke to match the one he won in the 100m Breaststroke earlier. Danel Jansen won silver in the 100m Freestyle. Several of other students made finals of events these included Michael Young, Bella Hornzee, Lauren Baker and Mana Tanaka.

Other sporting achievements to mention are with our Boys U15 Cricket Team winning the District 6 aside tournament and our Y7 and Y8/9 girls’ football teams winning their 6-a-side tournaments.

On Thursday, 42 Year 7 students, our Mandarin Cohort, accompanied by Miss Barfield, Mrs King and Mrs Bowman, joined with fellow students studying Chinese from Highdown School and Reading Boys School. They participated in an Intensive Learning Day hosted by Highdown School as part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme.  

During the day the students participated in language treasure hunts, character writing challenges, quizzes and chopstick relay races.  The highlight of the day was the afternoon performance from a British band called Transition.  They originally come from Bristol, but have spent a great deal of time performing in Taiwan and touring mainland China, singing in both English and Mandarin.  The students really enjoyed the experience and we look forward to future collaborations with the two other schools.

Today, 90 Year 10 historians attended the “Doctor’s Show” organized by the AQA examination board to provide revision tips and exam advice specifically aimed at GCSE Health and the People unit. The show was a humorous play, highlighting the significance of different figures from the Health unit of work, such as John Arderne, William Harvey and Alexander Fleming. The chief examiner spent time explaining what is required for each of the different questions in the exam and students were able to mark examples of students’ work.

We hope all students and staff participating in our 2019 Ski Tour to Prato Nevoso have an exciting, but safe trip. The forecast is predicting plenty of snow and sunshine, ideal conditions for skiing.

Monday 25 February is Inset day 5 for staff so students will return to school for the second half of the Spring term on Tuesday 26^th February 2019 at 8:55am.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher

Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thanks to the sterling efforts of our Site Team and Affinity water, the burst water main, which was responsible for the school closure on Friday, has been mended and we once again have a water supply.  Thank you for your support and understanding regarding this matter.

Year 9 are now half way through their final Key Stage 3 year and our focus is on preparing them for KS4, GCSEs and beyond.  To that end, Year 9 students participated in an Options assembly on Monday morning and Mrs Walter presented to parents, whilst representatives of all GCSE Subject areas met with parents, on Monday evening, as part of our Options Fayre.

We were very pleased to welcome so many parents and students to this important event – there was a real buzz of enthusiasm at the fayre. Parents and students made the most of the opportunity to talk to departments about the option subjects on offer and fed back that they felt well-informed about the options process and the requirements of the subjects that the students are considering taking.

If parents wish to meet with Mrs Walter to discuss a student’s individual choices this can be arranged by contacting Mrs Allen in the front office.

On Wednesday morning the Friends of Woking High School gathered for their Spring meeting.  This was preceded by the opportunity to attend Year 7 assembly which focused on Safer Internet day (SID).

At the meeting, we quite rightly celebrated the fact that in December, the Friends had reached their goal of raising £10,000 towards a new minibus. Other topics on the agenda included allocations of funds to the Library, EAL department, Production and Music. Discussions for a new ‘flash fundraiser’ will be held with the School Council in the coming weeks and shared with you next term.

In March, representatives of the Friends will attend a presentation hosted by the Woking Rotary Club where the school will receive a donation as a result of participating in the Swimathon last October.

Our Senior team were overall winners last night at the District Semi-Final of the Rotary Club National Youth Speaks competition, held at Bushy Hill School in Merrow. Alana Lynch, Madeleine McClements and Isabel Metcalfe were praised by the judges for their teamwork and natural style, a winning formula that seemed to tip the scales in our favour against tough competition from four rival schools, all winners in their local heats. St Catherine’s School in Bramley, Farnborough Hill School, The Wavell School and a surprise late entry from Ash Manor all put on magnificent performances, but our winning team prevailed and will now go on to the District Final on Saturday March 2^nd. We remain hugely proud of our students’ success in this prestigious competition and look forward to their next performance.

Please do not forget to secure your tickets for our School Production “Grease – School Edition” - a limited number of tickets are still available on Tuesday, 12^th February at 4 p.m., please see attached letter for details of how to book your tickets. Refreshments will be available during the interval, so please bring some money with you if you wish to purchase hot/cold drinks; popcorn; ice-creams or cakes and contribute to the FoWHS donation bucket.

Please see attached letter and flyer regarding a course from the Susan Handy School of Dance which is an independent dance school that offers GCSE Dance to anyone aged 13+ and also the attached information from Woking Leisure Centre for their holiday activities taking place in February, Easter, May and Summer.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher

Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

At the beginning of this week, we welcomed 26 Chinese students and their teachers to Woking High School.  They were visiting the area from Shanghai Hauer Middle School and Shanghai Jiao Hua Middle School, which are both outside the city of Shanghai. Both these schools have around 900 students, ranging from 11-15 years.  The visitors were buddied with Year 7, 8 and 9 students to experience life at Woking High School. They visited many lessons and also participated in activities which had been organised especially for them in English, Design and Technology, Computing and PE.

I’m sure you will recall that last term we were able to announce that Woking High School had become a Digital Schoolhouse Local Hub and the only school to work with Ubisoft Entertainment.  On Tuesday, a team from Digital Schoolhouse and Ubisoft spent the afternoon in school hosting a BAFTA Young Games Designers Workshop for Year 11 students.

On Tuesday this week, our boys' badminton teams competed in the Surrey Finals of the National Schools Badminton competition. Our Under-14 boys were victorious in becoming County Champions. They beat the following teams:

Won 4-1 v Glyn 
Won 5-0 v Lingfield College

Our Under-16 boys' team had to play far more matches and narrowly missed out on a third spot. The results were as follows:

Won 5-0 v Glebelands
Lost 0-5 v Glyn
Won 4-1 v Reeds B
Lost 0-5 v Royal Grammar School Guildford (Semi-final)
Lost 2-3 Reeds A (3rd/4th Playoff)

The Under-16 team consisted of Tom Wells, Toby Harris, Wesley Ingham and Gideon Jansen. 

Despite the threat of snow, the Year 10 Consultation evening on Thursday was very well-attended and there was a lovely atmosphere. 

Congratulations go to two actors associated with Woking High School: Evan Huntley-Robertson in Year 7, who played the lead role in the production of Oliver in Atlanta, performing to a number of American Junior theatre schools and to Sir Cameron Mackintosh and ex-student Max Bowden (alumni 2006-2011), who has just secured a role as Ben Mitchell in EastEnders – soap fans look out for his appearance in the spring.

On Monday 4^th February 6-7.30 p.m. we will be holding our Options Fair for Year 9 students (letter sent 14^thJanuary). The Spring meeting of the Friends of Woking High School is to be held on Wednesday 6^th February at 9.15 a.m.  Coffee and croissants will be available at the meeting. You are also warmly welcomed to attend the Year 7 assembly, which will precede the meeting. If you wish to do so, please meet in the Main Reception at 8.50 a.m.

Finally, as you are aware, we have had to close the school today, Friday, due to the school's main water supply having burst, affecting the school's heating, toilets and catering services. We fully anticipate that the school will be open on Monday. Any changes to this will be communicated via the website and Schoolcomms.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott
Headteacher