Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

Today we have finished the summer term and everyone is looking forward to a, hopefully, long sunny holiday.  In the last few days here at Woking High school, 32 Year 7 and 8 students have been trained as Wellbeing Ambassadors. The scheme, run by Eikon, will enable students to be actively involved in the mental health and wellbeing support of their peers and start planning increased opportunities to enhance mental health and wellbeing provision in school.

On Tuesday evening, 75 weary members of the Music Tour arrived back at school, following a six day fabulous tour of Paris. Sixty-eight music students from across all year groups, accompanied by eight staff members had an amazing time, during which they visited many places of cultural interest including the Eiffel Tower and the famous artists square of Montmartre. They also enjoyed a river cruise on the Seine and visited Disneyland Paris. As well as excursions, the students performed three concerts at different locations within the French capital. The second concert was at the most beautiful location of all; the American Cathedral were they took an amazing group/tour photo. The final concert provided our eleven, Year 11 students their last opportunity to perform for Woking High School, and it was an emotionally charged affair which led to a rousing finale piece and a standing ovation. Everyone behaved and performed impeccably, considering the sweltering temperatures and should be congratulated for representing the school in such a positive manner. We look forward to hearing more about their adventures in Paris in the Autumn Newsletter.

Congratulations to Lois Miller Year 10 for achieving Grade 4 Musical Theatre with Merit. 

Congratulations to two Woking High School alumni. Sam Belcher, last year’s recipient of the Governors’ Prize, was recently awarded Gold in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, is attending a Physics course in Cambridge this summer and is intending to apply to Cambridge next year.  Daniel Copper, who won the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship in 2017, is hoping to study Material Science and Engineering at Sheffield University and has secured a further sponsorship from The Worshipful Company of Founders for his first year university studies. We wish him good luck with his A level results and future career.

Please look out for our Summer 2019 newsletter.

Finally, thank you for all the emails, cards, flowers and good wishes I have received from the Woking High School community.  I have been overwhelmed with your kind words and thank you for supporting me in my role as Headteacher for the past 13 years. I will dearly miss the role and being part of such a wonderful school, but I know it will go from strength to strength in the future.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher

Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last Sunday, Dora Savory & Roisin Fellowes, our two Head Students, accompanied by parents and Mr Jones, were invited to attended the Commemoration service at the Muslim Burial Ground Peace Garden. The burial ground was commissioned by the India Office of the Ministry of Defence and completed in 1917. The site at Horsell Common was the final resting place of 19 Muslim Soldiers from the Great War and a further eight casualties from WWII. The aim of the service was to honour all the Muslim soldiers who gave their lives for Britain in both World Wars and mark the anniversary of the first soldier, Shaikh Abdul Wahab, who lost his life and was buried here on 16th July 1915.  After a welcome from the Mayor, Councillor Beryl Hunwicks, and prayers from a representative of the Shah Jehan Mosque and Reverend Thea Smith, the girls read an extremely moving poem that they had written to remember the 27 soldiers originally buried here.

The penultimate week of term has been exceptionally busy. Fortunately, the good weather of recent weeks held up for our Sports Day on Monday. After a morning of intensive competition, where there were some fantastic individual performances and several school and Sports Day records broken, the results were carefully calculated. The final team scores and individual record breakers are listed below:

Year 7

1st      233     Faraday

2nd     191     Brunel

3rd     188     Curie

4th     153     Stephenson

Year 8

1st      204.5  Curie

2nd     199     Faraday

3rd     198.5  Brunel

4th     182     Stephenson

Year 9

1st      240.5  Stephenson

2nd     189     Brunel

3rd     168.5  Faraday

4th     159     Curie

Year 10

1st      205.5  Faraday

2nd     194     Stephenson

3rd     176     Brunel

4th     155.5  Curie

School and Sports Day Records broken at Sports Day:

Jiyah Kapotwe          Year 7 Boys   300m

Marcie Bulman         Year 7 Girls    Javelin

Lizzie Chapman        Year 8 Girls    High Jump          

Sports Day Records Broken at Sports Day:

Teddy Gannon          Year 8 Boys   Discus

Amy Rolfe               Year 8 Girls    Long Jump

Chris Baker             Year 10 Boys  800m

The overall Sports Day results were as follows:

1st place Faraday 2600

2nd place Brunel 2000

3rd place Stephenson 1800

4th Curie 1600

Faraday House were pronounced Sports Day champions.

Sports Day was the culmination of the annual House competition and Curie are this year’s House champions! A huge well done to Mrs King and her team.

The final House results for 2018/2019 are as follows:

1st Curie                 38,256

2nd Faraday            36,625

3rd Stephenson        36,537

4th Brunel               36,425

As well as holding whole school Sports Day on Monday, our VI Specialist Centre Sports Day took place, focussing on VI skill development and achievement. All students gave outstanding performances in a variety of activities and races, demonstrating skill and enthusiasm.

Madiha Hussain, Year 10, said that “The VI Sports Day at Woking High School consisted of many events including boccia, shot-put, football, a tennis-style egg-and-spoon race, long jump, sprinting and long-distance running - a much more active morning compared to sitting around on the field waiting for any exciting commentary. I especially enjoyed the last few activities where we were all running, which was all the more entertaining as the teachers took part as well.”

Joshua Brennand, Year 10, said “I really enjoyed the whole thing. It was brilliant to be able to take part in Sports Day.”

Humna Hussain, Year 8, said “I really enjoyed sports day because I got involved. My favourite part was the running races because I got to race along with the teachers.”

Oscar King, Year 7, said “This week at VI Sports Day I got to try a range of activities and it was fun. I felt exhilarated by the running race as I was able to prove how well I can do it.”

Congratulations to Year 10 student Nora Belkhiter, who made her Surrey debut at Basketball last weekend. Starting in both of the matches, Surrey won one out of the two games.

On Tuesday evening at the Lord Robert Centre, Bisley Jenna Culshaw and Luke Holcroft took part in the British Schools Shooting Target Sprint Championships. This competition consists of running 400m, shooting down 5 targets (45mm diameter 10m away), run 400m, shoot another 5 targets, run 400m.  Both students performed incredibly well and set personal bests. Luke won gold and became National Champion in the Youth Men age group which is for anyone born between 2004 – 2008. Jenna, in the same age group, but for females, finished with a silver medal.

This week, Woking High School has been awarded an ‘Angel Award’ from Surrey Young Carers in recognition of all the care and support that Woking High School provides to its Young Carers in the school. We are the first secondary school in the NW area of Surrey to be awarded with this and we are very proud to have achieved this. Mr Branagan, one of our School Governors, came to receive the award as he has been a long standing supporter of our Young Carers group.  If your child has a caring role at home and you haven’t already notified the school, please get in touch with Mrs Bannister in the SEND department, who is taking over the role of leading the Young Carers group in September.

We welcomed 43 Chinese students and 5 of their Chinese teachers to the school this week. These visitors are from RDFZ King’s College School, Hangzhou, which is 176 km from Shanghai. On their first day in school, they were very keen supporters of our Sports Day, which was a new experience for them. They have been visiting lessons with their Woking High School buddies and also have taken part in a question and answer speed session with Year 7 students who are studying Mandarin. 

It was a pleasure to celebrate the successes of our Year 7-10 students on Wednesday morning at our Young Achievers assembly.  A packed hall of family and friends witnessed the awarding of subject and special prizes.  These included:

Special Achievement in Music Performance – Nona Lawrence

Contribution to School Performances – Ethan Rouse

Yaw Oppong Award for Progress in Technology – Jade Alexander

Excellent Progress in English Language Acquisition – Asma Siddiqa

The Paul Kyriacou Trophy for Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to KS3 PE – Ellen Yates

Sir Alec Bedser Trophy for Sporting Success – Jacob Kelly

Marion Richardson Team of the Year 2019 – Year 9 and 10 Basketball team

Linda Stevens School Service Awards – Year 8 duty students

The Student Voice Award – Toby Webb

Les Pescodd Trophy for Service to the Community – Jack Edwards

Public Speaking Award – Mock Magistrates team, Year 8 and 9

Tony Branagan Young Carers’ Award – Kieran Wyatt, Jessica Sines, Ethan Langford

Carrie Thomson Award – Caitlin Tighe

Headteacher’s Award – Tomas Heggberg, Nona Lawrence

It was wonderful to welcome our special guest, Hannah George to present the prizes. Hannah was a Woking High School student from 2004-2009 and Head Girl in her final year. She went on to attend Godalming College and then Swansea University, where she graduated with a 1st class degree in Law. Having completed Bar professional training, she was called to the Bar in 2015. Since then she has worked in Commercial Litigation, gained pupillage at Angel Chambers and was made a tenant in March 2018.

Later that morning Andy Calfe, a judge from Woking in Bloom, came to view our ASDAN garden. He brought with him a photographer and 2 other staff members from Woking Borough Council. He spoke to two of our students who have been involved in the project and asked about our long term plans for next year.  Photographs were taken and Andy was very complimentary of how well everyone had done using a patch of waste grass area and how hard it must have been to dig in the hard soil and stones.  We hope to have the results through soon.

Congratulations go to several students for their success in recent music exams:

Max Hamson Year 7 - Grade 4 Saxophone - Merit

Coral North Year 7 - Grade 2 Clarinet - Distinction

James Khan Year 7 - Grade 2 Clarinet - Merit

Max Humphreys Year 7 - Grade 3 drums - Merit

Herbie Hunter Year 7 - Grade 5 Guitar – Pass

Adam Ahmed Year 8 -  Grade 3 theory Pianoforte and Theory of Music

Joseph Cox Year 8 - Grade 3 Acoustic guitar - Pass

Merit Ellie Puttock Year 10 - Grade 5 Clarinet - Pass

Stephanie Maties Year 10 - Grade 6 Piano - Pass

Fraser Milligan Year 10 - Grade 4 Saxophone - Merit

We wish good luck to our Wind Orchestra and Choir as they embark on their 2019 Music Tour. They are performing three concerts in Paris and will be back with us for the final day of the year.

The summer draw for the Friends Prize Club resulted in:

1st EC

2nd JL

3rd JR

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for supporting the Friends of Woking High School.

If you want to support the Friends and be in with a chance of winning next term, please see our page on the school’s website. 

http://www.wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk/Friends-of-Woking-High-School

STOP PRESS:  BENCHES FUNDRAISER

Thanks to the very generous Year 6 parents at the Induction Evening, our fund raising for the benches for the new outdoor covered area, means we can now purchase 3 benches. Help us reach our target of 4 benches by joining the 47 other parents who have donated via

https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/fowhs-benches

£1,312 collected, £1,531 required. Don’t delay, the deadline is the end of term. Many thanks.

Yesterday, a number of our TAs organized a cake sale and tombola in aid of Cancer Research. They raised over £200 on the day and are still collecting.

Our thanks and congratulations go to John Dumbleton from the Surrey Care Trust, who has worked with Woking High School for the past 7 years. He mentors 2-3 young people on a weekly basis. On Friday, he was rightly acknowledged with a lifetime achievement award for his services to the community.

Please may I draw your attention to the Woking Pride event taking place on Saturday 10th August.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher

Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

Throughout the week, Year 10 students have been on work experience.  Their placements have included working for RNLI, a London Children’s Hospital, in banks, in the aviation and construction industries, a placement at McLaren and as an animal keeper.  Our students have already commented how valuable the work experience has been and employer feedback has been that students have worked very hard and have been a credit to the school.

On Monday, we had the pleasure of hosting a Most Able Science Activity for some of the Year 5s from Horsell Junior School. They investigated Fruit Batteries with Mrs Pollard and used their investigative skills to collect and analyse data to help them find out which fruit/vegetable and which electrodes make the best fruit battery. They used Maths and IT to help analyse their data and we were all very impressed with their high level of knowledge and their fantastic investigative skills.

On Tuesday, we welcomed back Year 9 EWAY students from their battlefield visit. Early on Saturday morning, 43 Year 9 students and 5 teachers had headed out to the Ypres Salient for the second Battlefields tour of the academic year. For the first time that we can remember, most of the sites that they visited were relatively quiet and as such, they were able to investigate and discover in great detail, what life was like for those who served on the Western Front and how we should continue to remember after 100 years. Students really impressed the staff with their thought provoking questions related to subjects as diverse as, how the hospitals coped with the big offensives during the war, the development of Casualty Clearing Stations to care for the wounded, why Langemark is different from the other cemeteries that were visited and why some veterans’ opinions of the Menin Gate and Last Post ceremony varied from pride to hatred?

One group of students managed to find the three reasons why so many people visit Essex Farm Cemetery in such vast numbers, after spending time perusing the site; the grave of 15-year-old Rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick; the origin of Major John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields and the incredible heroism of Thomas Barratt, awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917 while on scout patrol, showing conspicuous bravery, stalking and killing enemy snipers under fire.

We were also struck by the solemnity of our students at every site that was visited; especially whilst reflecting on two days of challenging thinking and activities as the sun set over the Ramparts Cemetery at Lille Gate, Ypres.

Also on Tuesday, Year 7-9 students participated in the last Day 11 of 2018/19.  The programme included 95 Year 7’s went to Alice Holt forest in Farnham where they completed two tasks. Firstly, students designed and carry out an investigation into the factors influencing the properties and components of an ecosystem. After first determining their hypothesis, students were guided in using a range of testing equipment and identifying keys to take data from three different ecosystems. They also completed an orienteering activity in order to further enhance their skills in independence, teamwork, and problem-solving.  Year 7’s in school completed an English task using the War of the Worlds as inspiration to create their own martians and in Maths the students looked at the ancient Chinese puzzles of Tan grams.  The Mandarin students had a day immersed in Chinese culture where they completed Calligraphy workshops and visited the Beijing restaurant for lunch to practice their speaking and eating with chop sticks. DT and History joined forces to look at defence systems, with a focus on the trebuchet, in groups they made models and were given an opportunity to test them out.  Year 9 students who are studying GCSE Drama from September spent the day with Mrs Wilson and Mrs Sleap working on key skills for their exam.  Similarly, the students studying GCSE Art visited the Lightbox so they could start working on their first pieces over the summer holidays.  The Asdan group enjoyed a day making bird boxes, fat balls and spending yet more time weeding and watering in their garden as they have been entered into the Woking in Bloom competition.

That evening, we also welcomed parents of our new Year 7 cohort.  They had chance to meet their son and daughter’s tutor, buy uniform and they also had the first opportunity to buy one of the new Woking High School water bottles and sample some of the cakes from the restaurant.

Wednesday 10th July will go down in Woking High history as the day 5 year 8 students went to Gordon’s, took on their best and brightest at business and won. Carla Manning, Noah Testa, Alice Claxton, Emma Twiston-Davis and Jack Elliot were given the task of promoting a chosen city as the next host of the Olympic Games.

With a choice of 10 cities, they decided on Buenos Aires. Set with the task of developing and promoting every aspect of the games from the logo to the mascots, the venues to the merchandise, the events to the opening ceremony. The students approached the task with one thing in mind. Equality. Everyone was included and all were equal.  After a day’s prep the students from both schools had 6 minutes to present to 3 local business leaders invited to judge the competition. Woking High went first and delivered a very professional, well thought out, well-structured and eloquent pitch that wowed the judges. Gordons had a hard task following that and despite a great presentation, it wasn’t enough. The judges spoke highly of how our students performed and especially highlighted the equality and eco-friendly games they had put together in such a short time.  Congratulations to the team a well-deserved victory.

In the evening, eighty-one music students, supported by staff and TAG, gave a fantastic Summer concert to a packed hall attended by the Mayor of Woking, governors, staff, ex-students (alumni), family and friends. The Wind Orchestra, School Choir, Chamber Choir, String and Guitar ensembles, played a packed programme of music, which featured many excellent soloists including Rachel Allen and Isabel Picken on flute, and the voices of Phoebe Osborne, Jessica Clay, Madeleine Grainger, Daniela Moya, Karl Sonoy, Lois Miller, Lilia Wada, Alana Lynch and Madeleine McClements. The evening concluded with an uplifting arrangement of music from The Blues Brothers, with a supporting cast of enthusiastic junior school percussionists, who added an extra dynamic level of rhythm on their shakers, tambourines and cowbells!  The Mayor of Woking, Cllr Beryl Hunwicks was delighted with the concert and described the evening as being ‘wonderful’. The Summer concert was very much a pre-tour performance to parents who would otherwise not get to hear the fruits of all the rehearsals undertaken throughout the year. But some parents will indeed get to hear the musical programme again, when they join the 68 students and seven staff members on their Music Tour to Paris at one of their three concert venues. They depart for France on Thursday 18th July, and we wish them all well on their travels.

Yesterday, 84 students left for their final Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition to the Wiltshire/Dorset border.  On that note, I am happy to let you know that our Duke of Edinburgh licence has been renewed for another 3 years, the inspector was very happy with our organization and complimented the school on being such a wonderful place to work.

The House teams have been competing in a dodgeball competition this week – please see results below:

Year 7

1st     Curie 500 HPs

2nd    Faraday 150 HPs

2nd    Brunel 150 HPs

3rd    Stephenson 50 HPs

Year 8

1st     Brunel 500 HPs

2nd    Curie 200 HPs

3rd    Stephenson 100HPs

4th    Faraday 50 HPs

                  

Year 9

1st     Stephenson 500 HPs

2nd    Curie 150 HPs

2nd    Brunel 150 HPs

3rd    Faraday 50 HPs

Many thanks to all tutors and to those who came along to support. Thank you to Mr Goosen also, for running the event. We are now looking forward to Sports Day on Monday which will see the culmination of the best sporting performances following sports heats this week.

On Thursday, we welcomed c250 Year 5 students and their parents for a coffee morning.  It gave both students and parents an opportunity to tour the school and start thinking about applications for September 2020 entry. Praise was fulsome for our brilliant Year 7 guides.

Please see link from the Woking Talking Newspaper association for the visually impaired.

Congratulations go two students in Year 7. Dihan Truter, who received a distinction in his Grade 3, Acoustic guitar exam and Alex Dyson, who passed his guitar exam with a high Merit.

Finally, we wish farewell to our Taiwanese visitors who have been wonderful guests over the past two weeks.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher

Headteacher's Weekly Review

Dear Parents/Carers,

On the weekend of the 22nd/23rd of June, Woking High School achieved double national success at the inaugural English Schools Swimming Summer Open Championships. Nine of our students competed in the English Schools Individual Swimming Championships at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley. The nine included Joshua Thompson, Steven Wood, Mackenzie Russell, Mana Tanaka, Bella Hornzee, Gemma Allen, Olivia Mills, Sophie Nunwa and Eloise Thompson. All performed extremely well with most recording personal bests. Two of our students Mackenzie Russell and Joshua Thompson became English Schools champions, in total we secured 4 medals as follows:

Gold             Joshua Thompson     200m Individual Medley      15 years and over

Gold             Mackenzie Russell     200m Freestyle                  13/14 years

Silver            Bella Hornzee           200m Backstroke               11/12 years

Bronze          Joshua Thompson     50m Breaststroke              15 Years and over

On Thursday 27th June at the District Key Stage 3 Athletic Championships, our students were on incredible form winning three out of the six competitions. In total we won 13 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronzes. There were three school records broken, these were by both Year 7 boys and girls 4x100m relay teams and Jiyah Kapotwe in the Year 7 800m. Year 8 Teddy Gannon in Discus and Jiyah Kapotwe in 800, also broke District Championship records. Please see team results below:

Year 7 Girls                                          Year 7 Boys

1st      Woking High          123.5            1st      SJB                        114.5

2nd     SWPS                     119.5            2nd     Woking High            111

3rd     Collingwood             109              3rd     Collingwood             92.5

                                                                        

Year 8 Girls                                          Year 8 Boys

1st      Woking High          137              1st      Woking High           115

2nd     Gordons                  120.5            1st      Tomlinscote             115

3rd     Tomlinscote             111              3rd     SJB                        113

Year 9 Girls                                          Year 9 Boys

1st      Gordons                  126              1st      Gordons                  121

2nd     SWPS                     116              2nd     SJB                        107

3rd     SJB                        107              3rd     Collingwood             104.5  

4th     Woking High            94.5             5th     Woking High            79.5

Year 10/11 Girls                                    Year 10/11 Boys

1st      Gordons                  79                1st      Woking High           76

2nd     Tomlinscote             67.5             2nd     Tomlinscote             65

3rd     SWPS                     62                3rd     Gordons                  63

5th     Woking High            50

See attached for selected Individual Results for Key Stage 3 Championships.

Congratulations also go to Spencer Whitfield in Year 9 who has been awarded a scholarship to Reading Football Club. He will be leaving Woking High School in July to his follow dream. We wish him all the best for the future.

At the recent Surrey Schools Golf Championships hosted at Addington Palace, Croydon, on Monday, Year 8 Joshua Gates performed extremely well and finished in third place overall on the net scores. Oli Wooster, Year 10, Ellen Yates, Year 9, also participated, however, they were not placed.

At the District Tennis doubles championships, we were well represented. Our Year 10 boys pairing of Zain Moolji and Prithvi Ramesh, won all five games and became District champions. Please see results below:

Won 2-1 v Heathside B

Won 3-0 v SJB B

Won 3-0 v Tomlinscote

Won 2-1 v Winston Churchill

Won 2–1 v SJB A (Final)

Our Year 10 girls team of Charlotte Hamilton and Lilia Wada were second, as was our Year 7 girls team, who consisted of Francesca Sage and Lara Milligan.

Year 11s had the opportunity to celebrate their time at Woking High School with their Prom last Thursday. All the boys were looking very sharp and the girls were looking stunning in their suits and dresses. The Year 11s created a wonderful atmosphere and spent most of their time dancing the night away. As usual, there were several awards handed out on the night:

Prom Queen – Beau-Hanni Souter Houghton

Prom King – Harry Brogan

Best Entrance – Big Red Truck

Best Dressed Female – Katie Mitocariu

Best Dressed Male – Youcef Belkhiter

Best Dancer Female – Ellie Akohene

Best Dancer Male – Jaymie Robinson

Best Couple – Molly Clear and Harry Brogan

Most Outrageous – Connor Leggett

Please see photos.

On Sunday afternoon 30th June, a number of our musicians performed at a special event held in honour of the recently appointed Mayor of Woking. Christ Church, located in Jubilee Square, Woking, was the venue for the Mayor’s Civic Celebration, and Woking High School had been invited to provide musical performances.  The service included prayers, hymns, readings and speeches by members of the community, charity leaders and the Mayor, Councillor Beryl Hunwicks.

It was a grand affair, which commenced with the Mayor’s procession to the front of the church. Music was provided by a wonderful choir from Halstead Preparatory School for girls, and twelve of our talented music students, accompanied by Mr Goodwin, performed two pieces. Firstly, the String ensemble played a trio of traditional Irish dances with eight violins keeping in time to the rhythmic drumming of Harry Davies. Year 9 student Nona Lawrence, ably led this vibrant and lively set before they were joined by flutes and guitars, to perform the hauntingly beautiful ‘Forever Autumn’ from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Vocal soloist Alana Lynch provided a lyrical and note perfect interpretation of this arrangement. At the conclusion of the event, the Mayors secretary, Pauline Jackson congratulated all the students on a wonderful performance and thanked everyone for giving up an afternoon in support of the Mayor.

On Monday, 10 tennis playing students from Years 8 to 10, along with Mr Eaden and Mrs Paterson, were fortunate enough to visit Wimbledon for the opening day of the 2019 Championships. They witnessed a small piece of tennis history on Court No.1 as 15 year old American Cori Gauff defeated the 5 time Ladies' singles champion Venus Williams in straight sets. Many of the students found it hugely inspirational, especially given that the winner would be in Year 10 if she were a student at Woking High School!

Also on Monday, 15 of our students from Year 7-9 had the excellent opportunity to attend Shell’s “Make the Future Live” event at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge. During the day, our students attended a lecture hosted by Bobby Seagull, with panellists ranging from current engineers to undergraduate students. We also took part in a “bright ideas” seminar where our students showed scientific and creative flair, to come up ideas and then present them, ranging from how to solve the waste issues in 3rd world countries, to our energy use issues closer to home. The day was nicely rounded off with an opportunity to view the vehicles entering the shell eco-marathon this week, where teams from across the world compete to design a vehicle that can travel the furthest on one tank of fuel.  Overall, the day gave our students a great opportunity to see how a career in engineering could be for them, as well as being very enjoyable! Mrs Gallagher and Mr Wilkins were very impressed with how the students conducted themselves throughout the day. Our thanks to Mr Khan and the rest of the Shell team for helping us to organise the day.

Notwithstanding all this activity, we have welcomed numerous visitors to Woking High School this week. On Monday, staff who will be joining Woking High School in September, participated in an induction day.

240 eager Year 6s participated in Induction days on Tuesday and Wednesday. The main hall was buzzing with eager anticipation as the students prepared for the day. The learning which included computer coding, singing songs from The Greatest Showman, chemical reactions in Science and trying to beat a world record in Maths, was a real hit, and a number of students asked if they could start secondary school immediately! The day ended with the excitement of finding out which tutor group they will be in next year.

A day later than planned (air schedules), 28 students from Taiwan arrived as part of their two week experience of English education. Whilst here they are buddied up with Woking High School students in Year 8 and Year 9. They will experience a number of lessons and even take part in a Day 11. Outside of school, they will be visiting London, Oxford and Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio tour, before they leave the UK on 14th July.

During this week, House activities have been taking place.  The following are the results for the Tug of War competition:

Year 9:                             Individual winners:

1st      Faraday 500 HPs      1st 9A          

2nd   Brunel 300 HPs          2nd 9R

3rd    Stephenson 100HPs    3rd 9G

4th   Curie 50 HPs              4th 9E

                                      5th 9W

Year 8:                             Individual winners:

1st  Stephenson 500 HPs     1st 8Y

2nd  Curie 200 HPs             2nd 8I

3rd  Brunel 100HPs            3rd 8R

4th  Faraday 50 HPs           4th 8W

                                      5th 8G

                                      6th 8E

                                      7th 8A

                                      8th 8D

Year 7:                             Individual winners:

1st  Curie 500 HPs              1st 7W

2nd  Faraday 200 HPs         2nd 7I

3rd  Brunel 100HPs            3rd 7A

4th Stephenson 50 HPs       4th 7D

                                     5th 7E

                                      6th 7R

                                      7th 7Y

                                      8th 7G

Many thanks to all tutors and to those who came along to support, also thank you to Mr Goosen for running the event.

In the recent Arete Poetry competition, Matthew Rayner Year 9, was the joint winner with a Gordon's student, Louisa Akohene, Year 8, was runner up and Zac Silverton in Year 7, came 3rd.  Overall winners were Woking High School!

As part of our Year 10 careers programme the whole year group are visiting Woking College for a taster day today. Each student will have a bespoke timetable and have the opportunity to try out five different subject sessions throughout the day. These sessions range from Forensic Science, Law, Sociology, Business studies, History to Graphic Design.

Congratulations go to Jacob Martin Year 9 and Harry Clark Year 10, who both graduated from the YES Programme with the Fire Service a couple of weeks ago.  They spent a week learning about the fire service, doing first aid, apparatus drills, working with the hoses, ladders and learning about all aspects of fire and safety. They had a fabulous time, both graduated and were commended on their excellent engagement and behaviour.

Mr Afana, Head of Computing has been nominated and awarded, the Outstanding Contribution 2018-2019 - Lead Teacher for 2018/2019 out of over 100 schools and teachers nation-wide.  As a result, Woking High School status as Digital Schoolhouse Hub, has been renewed for 2019/2020 academic year and we have been awarded £3,000 bursary to purchase more Computing curriculum related resources and equipment.  See article link:  http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2019/06/lead-teachers-boot-next-academic-year-certified-schoolhouse

We wish Year 9 EWAY a successful visit to the WWI Battlefields Saturday 6th July–Monday 8th July.

Best wishes,

Jane Abbott

Headteacher