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