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.
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
£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