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SWPS News 3 February 2017

Head’s News As I am sure many of you are aware, Moore’s Law states that the power of microchips would

double roughly every two years – leading to extraordinary computer growth. Over the past thirty years the Moore’s Law

prediction has held: the power of today’s mobile phone (and its size) would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. Unfortunately society’s moral development does not evolve

at such a pace. As our interaction and dependency on cyberspace and the microchip deepens, the moral challenges for all of us, in

particular for our students increases.

For example there are apps, such as ‘ghost apps’, which are specifically designed to hide the front screen of any phone. Why? To ensure that parents or teachers are unable to see what our young people can view online. The irony of this new world is almost palpable.

We provide our children mobile phones so that they can be contacted more easily and thereby keep them safe, and yet by doing so we hand over a virtual key to the outside world and everything (good and bad) that comes with it. A world which, in many respects, is lawless.

This is where education is so crucial; education should not

just enable our student to use technology safely but to use it ethically. At SWPS we talk about integrity; we frequently define it as “knowing the right thing to do, even when no one is looking”. The basis of this approach is the familiar Golden Rule of behaviour – “do unto others as you would wish they would do to you.”

This simple moral exhortation applies to every situation one faces and it is especially effective in guiding young people how to behave in cyberspace. In an environment where there appears to be so few rules of codified behaviour, it is imperative for our young people to have that core moral compass which will guide, support and ultimately nourish

them.

C Muller Head

SWPS’ New Look

WATCH THIS SPACE...

Winter Warmers Appeal Many thanks to everyone who has donated scarves, socks, gloves and men’s underwear for the Homeless shelter in

Woking. Please do continue to bring things in. Senior CU

Congratulations Tallulah! Tallulah George (Y11) recently sat her theory and practical examinations at the London College of Music in which she

passed and has now been awarded a Diploma in Performing Arts. This now means that Tallulah can use the professional designation Dip(LCM) after her name and is the equivalent of the first year of an undergraduate course.

Well done Tallulah!

Congratulations Caitlin! We have just heard the good news that Caitlin Pittol-Neville (Y10) passed her Grade 6 Classical Guitar exam with

Merit. Well done, Caitlin! T Scrutton

Academic Conference 2017: Women in Leadership Women in Leadership was the theme of

the third annual SWPS conference, last week. An inspirational line-up of speakers included Vivienne Porritt from

#WomenEd, Jill Berry: author of 'Making the leap, Moving from deputy to head' (both former Headteachers), Lorin

Lafave from the Breck Foundation, and our

own Tara Hanley, Second Deputy: Academic. Topics as wide-ranging as the power of language, ambition,

confidence, applying for leadership roles and stepping into one due to tragic and unforeseen circumstances inspired and enthralled throughout the day, giving delegates from all over the country a huge portion of food for thought.

S Hallsworth

Beasts and Beauties Thursday night saw the opening of this year’s school production which is a

promenade production of four Grimm Tales. The audience were led by hostesses through spookily decorated corridors from play to play and in the interval treated to a mocktail or cocktail courtesy of the Queen of Hearts. Direction of the four plays was

shared between staff and students, with L6 students Georgia Cox-Lousada, Sophie Park and Maddy Carr creating a wonderfully comic and quirky version of ‘The Magic Table,

Donkey and Cudgel’ and S6 students Rosie Down and Sophia Kotlarz producing an unnerving and menacing ‘Hansel and

Gretel’. Best of luck to the cast and crew for the next three sets of performances.

S Sweeney

Library Lines It’s now possible to reveal what our not-so-new Year 7s have been reading by choice over the previous term.

C Malcolm

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DofE News SWPS have a licence to operate and deliver the Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE Awards, which means

we are known as a Licenced Organisation (LO).

Our licence is reviewed every three years to ensure we are

meeting the criteria required to be an LO. Friday 27 February 2017 was the day when our Licence Review took place and I am delighted to report that SWPS have been granted their DofE Licence for a further 3 years.

I would like to extend my immense gratitude and an enormous thank you to the following people who talked to the DofE personnel. They enjoyed listening to what everyone had to say:

Helen Sproston, Gold participant and Bronze Trainer who kindly allowed the DofE personnel to observe her lunchtime training session and talk to her Bronze group. A special mention to Group One who answered questions and spoke

about their experience on Bronze. 8 Parent Volunteers who joined us for lunch and spent some

time talking about the Award from a volunteer’s perspective. 5 Silver participants who spoke about their experience of the DofE Award at SWPS and what more can be done to increase our completion rates.

The photo, from left to right,

features Ally Griffiths, DofE Operations Officer South East, our own Mrs Husselbury and Cath Tanton, DofE Operations Officer South East

The target in the DofE South East Region is to achieve 55% completions by 31 March 2017. SWPS need to complete

a further 32 Awards to achieve our target. If you are a parent of a participant doing their Bronze, Silver

or Gold DofE Award, I would very much appreciate your support in helping us achieve this target by encouraging your daughters to finish their sections, ask their Assessors to complete the Assessors report and upload the evidence onto their eDofE account. Please encourage them to come and see me if they need any help or ask a fellow participant. Thank you.

L Raven

Sport News Rugby Congratulations to Miss Rowe

who has once again been selected for the Wales team. The

6 Nations kicks off this weekend and Miss

Rowe faces Italy. You can follow all the Women’s 6 Nations actions on the following links:

http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/women/ www.scrumqueens.com Hockey success! 36 SWPS students

ranging from Year 7 to 11 descended on Wembley Arena last Sunday to watch our

hockey coach Dave Goodfield’s team, Surbiton win the National Indoor Super6’s Final. The day involved seeing the semi-finals of the men’s

and women’s teams, and gave Dave, and his bemused team mates, extremely loud vocal support. The girls were able to get the Rio Gold medal winning Women’s Team autographs. The students also saw ex-pupil Melissa Ball’s side Slough win the women’s final, so it was a very successful trip all round!

R England

Rowing—Weybridge Winter Head The rowing team spent last weekend at Weybridge Winter Head, a 3000m race in a time trial format. It was an extremely cold day with temperatures

barely rising above freezing, which

provided an additional challenge for all of the girls. The Year 10 squad showed off their much improved skills and raced well in doubles with the partnership of

Eve Linney and Denise Martin finishing third overall in their category.

The senior squad had their first venture into quadruple sculls this year and raced well getting some useful feedback about the job ahead for the upcoming major head season. In the afternoon the senior quads mixed into doubles for a second race, notable performances came from Annabelle Taylor and Olivia Garnham winning their category to bring home a medal for the school.

J Keir

Model United Nations This weekend 12 students attended the 9th LEH Model United Nations Conference. They debated

topics as varied as illegal wildlife trafficking to resisting the rise of violent Islamism as a radical and extremist force. The students performed extremely well, including during a crisis debate where our Russian delegate were at loggerheads with a Trump inspired US threatening a nuclear war! All spoke intelligently and persuasively, but

several excelled to win awards for their exceptional performance. Namely Rebecca Sproston who was awarded an Outstanding Delegate Award in her committee, literally an outstanding achievement especially as a Year 10 student against students up to Year 13. Malaika Jalali

was commended for her General Assembly speech and Aoife Carroll and Tess Lambert achieved highly commended awards for their performance in their committees, again significant achievements. So well done, and onto the next conference at Haileybury. We will

continue to have debates on Thursday lunchtimes in the Old Sixth Form Common Room, all welcome.

R Willis