We are now nearing the end of the spring term, time is flying by. We have held a variety of events this term and a few are mentioned below along with events yet to take place.
Maths:
The maths department recently invited Year 7 students and their parents in to school to try to eradicate their fears of algebra. Parents were shown all the methods we use to teach the students. There was a lot of positive feedback, from parents who learned a great deal about how expressions are formed and equations are solved. The top sets in Year 9 and 10 took part in the nationwide Intermediate Maths Challenge, using all their knowledge to help them answer the questions which increase in difficulty as the paper progresses. Results will be published when they arrive.
School Production:
The annual school production took place at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking over four evenings in February. “The Ragged Child” played to full audiences who were treated to an exhilarating and memorable production. There were some wonderful actors, musicians and singers who were extremely well supported by students who worked backstage and in technical areas. Georgie Heel, a Year 11 student, even did the choreography for the show.
Consortium for street children:
Following a week of assemblies to raise awareness about street children over 70 Year 7 and 9 students spent a Friday evening building shelters to try to understand more about what life is like for those children without homes. The weather contributed to a cold and wet event but our students’ enthusiasm could not be dampened. Street children is one of the charities nominated by our students for this year.
Visits:
The ski/snowboarding trip led by Mr Fricker, spent half term in Bardonecchia, Italy. I was delighted to be invited and as usual our students and staff were a credit to themselves and the school. Airline and resort staff, and ski instructors were extremely impressed and complimentary about our students. Catering students will be going to Le Touquet in April with Mrs Vadi and Mrs O’Brien and Yr 10 geography students will be on a study tour to Morocco at Easter, led by Ms Harris. Other activities include media students visits to the BBC and the British Film Institute and a Year 10 visit to London to develop personal fashion and presentation skills.
Astrofest:
11 members of the Astronomy Club and GCSE Astronomy course recently attended the annual European Astronomy Festival in London, accompanied by Mrs Dudley, Mr Anslow and Mr Catlyn. Many listened to morning and afternoon lecture sessions which included talks by leading astronomers and major TV personalities like Professor Brian Cox. Brian May, from Queen, an avid astronomer, made an unscheduled visit and Sir Patrick Moore was in attendance, at the grand age of nearly 88. All were signing their books, and many of the students managed to get their dedications and signatures. Professor Cox was particularly interested in our Astronomy Centre project and entered into individual discussions with many of our students. Plenty of purchases were made, nearly all of them well-thought out in advance. One telescope dealer even gave us a small telescope for the school because he did not want to have to take it home again after the show! No doubt we will be in attendance again next year. ASTROFEST is organised by Astronomy Now magazine.
Activities Week/Work Experience:
This takes place between 27th June – 1st July and includes the usual visits to Newquay (Year 7 watersports), Côte d’Opale, Normandy (Year 8), Isle of Wight (Year 9 multi-activity experience) and Year 10 study tours to France and Germany. All other Year 10 students will spend the week in various locations on work experience. We have a new provider, HSC Careers, for work experience this year, with a new on-line booking system for students. Students will begin selecting their placements using the new system shortly and we urge parents to make sure that this is done early to ensure the greatest choice of placements. Students who are on study tours will have the opportunity to do work experience at a later date.
Oxbridge:
We have just learned that Lawrence Tidy, Sarah Gregory and Richard Jenkins, former students have been offered conditional places at Oxford and Cambridge and Sarah Abrams being offered a sport scholarship to Harvard. We wish them well in their A levels in the summer.
