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 26th
February 2019 at 8:55am.
Best wishes,
Jane
Abbott
Headteacher