Woking High School is an exempt charity and company limited by guarantee. Registered in England with Company Number 8586085 and has a registered office as above.

Woking High School, Morton Road, Horsell, Woking, Surrey, GU21 4TJ

Tel: 01483 888447 Fax: 01483 888448

Email: info@wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk

Web: www.wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk

Headteacher: Jane AbbottN E W S L E T T E R

THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF HORSELL, were alive with the sound of celebration on the morning of 24th August, and quite rightly too, as our Year 11 cohort of 2017 had just received the best GCSE exam results in the school’s history. In the second year of the new accountability measures, Woking High School students gained a Progress 8 (P8) score of +0.57, which means on average all students made more than half grade more progress than other students nationally. P8 is now the primary performance measure for all secondary schools. Woking High School students also gained an Attainment 8 (A8) score of 5.6, which means they scored an average of a B grade in all exam entries.

In addition:

38% of all results were at A*-A

76% of all students gained a 4+ (old C) grade in Maths and English

57% of all students gained a 5+ (old B) grade in Maths and English

The grade 4, Standard Pass and grade 5, Strong Pass are part of the new 9-1 grading system, which we will see awarded in all subjects in the coming years. They will replace the old A*-G grades.

The 2017 GCSE results place Woking High School in the top 10% of all secondary schools in England and Wales

WIN

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for the second year in succession and also mean that Woking High School is the top performing 11-16 secondary school in Surrey, again for the second year running. This is an outstanding achievement in terms of both progress and attainment and all students should be congratulated on their results. Equally, staff should be thanked for the amazing support they gave to our young people, not just in Year 11, but throughout their time at Woking High School. “Going the extra mile” in both academic and extra curricular provision, is characteristic of our staff, but we should not take this for granted and thus this is an opportunity to highlight the superb work of the teachers and support staff at Woking High School. Their work has also

Headteacher’s Letter

been recognized by the Department for Education, as the school has been awarded National Support School status and, as Headteacher, I have been designated as a National Leader of Education. These are prestigious awards of which we are very proud.

The Autumn term 2017 has been a very successful one for all associated with Woking High School. Once again a full cohort of 240 Year 7 students have adapted brilliantly to life in secondary school. They have presented to parents and prospective students, represented the school in sports teams, auditioned for our school production and performed in the school Windband. Comments about their early weeks here include:

“I was amazed at how kind all the teachers and other students were. They made me feel so welcome.”

“My son sent me a message during his first lunchtime with only the words ‘awesome place’.”

“My daughter is loving Woking High and goes to school every morning beaming and looking forward to her day ahead. It is lovely to see that she is settled in so well.”

Our much anticipated annual Open Evening and Open Morning events, were held in early October. We were delighted to welcome so many visitors to the school. They thoroughly enjoyed the exciting events on display which included relief printing in Art, using the new 3D printer in Design Technology, taking part in Drama performances, trying out programming in Computing and being thrilled by the dancing flames and dry ice demonstrations in Science. The undoubted highlight of our tours was the opportunity to visit the school being guided by our polite, knowledgeable and enthusiastic students.

Woking High School aims to encourage and nurture students’ wider development and provide a rich and diverse programme of extra curricular opportunities. Following the success of their summer tour to Salzburg (see report) the Windband and Choir have had several opportunities to perform and impress during the term. They received warm applause and many compliments when they played at our Open Evening on 3rd October. The annual Remembrance concert on 8th November was one of the highest quality (see report). The Woking High School Windband then entertained

Christmas shoppers on 23rd November for the Woking Christmas Lights event and as we approach the end of term, the Windband and Choir, will be performing at our traditional Combined Carol Service at St Mary’s Church at 6.30 p.m. on 18th December, and will entertain us at our Christmas Concert on 20th December at 7 p.m. in the School Hall. Finally, look out for them supporting our school production, “The Sound of Music” in February 2018.

As a partner school with the Imperial War Museum, the centenary of the First World War has been a focus for our annual remembrance concerts (see report) and school based Armistice Day ceremonies. This year was no exception and the spotlight was on the events of 1917. Students and the community learned about the massive social changes taking place in Britain during 1917, tried to comprehend the horrors of the Western Front, especially Passchendaele, and reflected on the role of men and women, both across the country and in our locality, as the determination to “see the job through” dominated the thoughts of all in that year.

Fund raising for charity has continued throughout the term. Students’ generosity has meant that local and national charities have benefited. These included – The Woking Rotary Christmas shoe-box appeal, Woking Hospice, Woking Lions Club Christmas boxes, Jeans for Genes, Macmillan, and Guide Dogs for the Blind with a visit from our new puppy, Boris. During the final weeks of term, my Christmas assemblies will be raising

money for the Royal Marsden Hospital. School based fundraising has also been a focus for Friends of Woking High School. Monies raised by the Friends enabled us to buy a 3D printer at the beginning of the academic year and this term’s Cash4Coins campaign has already helped towards our target of building another marquee.

All of these events, and the many other activities that mark the vibrant school life at Woking High School, help to build our students experiences and develop their character, values and attitudes. In an extension of the reward system, whereby Character Awards were presented to Year 7 students last year, awards are now being presented to students in Years 8 and 9 as we continue focus on our six character attributes of Respect, Resilience, Responsibility, Integrity, Courtesy and Enthusiasm.

This term finishes on Thursday 21st December at 12 noon and the Spring term begins on Thursday 4th January 2018 at 8.55 a.m.

Thank you for your continued support, commitment and contribution towards ensuring that our school is such a happy and successful place in which to learn. On behalf of all the Woking High School community, may I wish everyone a very joyful and peaceful Christmas.

Jane Abbott, Headteacher

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AT THE START OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR we welcomed 240 very excited Year 7s, all ready and eager to begin their high school journey.

We are delighted that they have settled in so well and are facing secondary life with great determination. They are creating new friendships, enjoying new experiences and building great relationships with their teachers. Year 7s had the joy of a `head start` in the restaurant for the first two weeks and are enjoying the wonderful selection of food that is on offer to them; paninis being

a particular favourite and the novelty of paying for food on their `finger` has also been very exciting for many of them.

The students have said that “the lessons are fun and so far there have been so many surprises,” “there are so many opportunities”, “I like the happy environment” and “we did explosions in Science”.

Our first consultation evening of the year was very successful with 99 % of parents attending and feedback from the evening was very positive.

So far this year, Year 7 have experienced two Day 11s which have involved festivals and a very lively African drumming session, which allowed them to demonstrate their great rhythm. They have been very generous donating gifts through the Rotary Shoebox appeal – see separate article.

I would like to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and look forward to welcoming Year 7 back in January

H Doe, Head of Year 7

Welcome Year 7

I’M DELIGHTED TO SHARE the excellent news that Woking High School is placed 1st in Surrey for 11-16 schools and in the top 10% of all schools in England & Wales

High Level Summary;

• Overall Attainment 8 score is significantly above national and in the top 10% of all schools;

• The percentage of students achieving English and Mathematics (Grade 4+) is significantly above national & in the top quintile of all schools;

• Overall Progress 8 score is significantly above national and in

the top 10% of all schools;

It is an outstanding achievement to maintain the No#1 position for a second year in succession, and I would like to take this opportunity to say well done and thank you to the whole school community; Mrs Abbott, Senior Leadership Team, teachers, support staff, students, parents/carers and finally to the whole governing body who work tirelessly behind the scenes to support the school and dedicate their valuable time in helping the school to develop the long-term strategy which has enabled us to deliver these excellent results.

The continued success of Woking High School is built upon a tradition of:

• Academic excellence;

• Outstanding pastoral care;

• Unparalleled opportunities.

And these principles will remain our priority for the coming years.

Thank you for your continued support, and please make time to attend the events organised by the school for the whole family over the festive season. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year.

Zamir Tehal, Chair of Governors

Chair of Governors Report

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Remembrance EventsON FRIDAY 10 NOVEMBER AT 11 A.M. the school fell silent to remember the fallen, wounded and bereaved of all wars since the Great War of 1914-18. Jude Rainsborough led our memorial service by playing the Last Post and Reveille. Following this, a wreath was laid at the front of the school and crosses were planted around it by representatives from each tutor group. Each cross bears the name of a soldier from the Horsell War Memorial, forming a link with our local community. Throughout the week students had been researching the soldier linked to their tutor group during tutorials. There were also assemblies for all year groups led by Mr Jones throughout the week,

focussing upon remembering 1917.

On Sunday 12th November, six students (Sam Webb, Hannah Crook, Sebastian Spackman, Isabel Metcalfe, Ella James and Roisin Fellowes) accompanied by Mr Jones, attended the Service of Remembrance in Woking Town Centre. Sam and Hannah laid a wreath at the memorial and the other students joined the parade. After the ceremony, students were able to meet with the mayor, veterans and members of the armed forces in attendance. As always the students supporting the Remembrance events behaved impeccably.

M Jones, Head of History

ST MARY’S CHURCH WAS PACKED with members of the school and the local community. In the presence of Cllr G Cundy, Mayor of Woking, students from Woking High School performed a varied programme of music and readings in a Concert of Remembrance which reflected on the events and mood of Britain during the penultimate year of the First World War. Mr Jones set the scene with some interesting historical background, focusing on the social and economic situation during 1917. Music from various ensembles including the Windband, chamber choir and guitar ensemble was interspersed with appropriate poems and a very thought provoking drama presentation by Year 10 GCSE students, which highlighted the horrendous conditions faced by medical staff working near the front line.

The comments from parents, governors and the Mayor were all extremely complimentary. The Mayor was very impressed that students so young could put on such a confident concert, and congratulations in particular go to Jude Rainsborough for playing The Last Post so professionally. Thank you to all attended and for the generous donations given to the poppy appeal.

S Goodwin, Director of Music Performance

Concert of Remembrance

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THE MATHS DEPARTMENT are extremely proud of the class of 2017 and their results in the summer on the new more challenging GCSEs. 80% of all students achieved grades 9 – 4 in their GCSE Maths with 32% of students achieving 9 – 7 and 20 students achieved the new prestigious grade 9. 2017 was the second year that the Maths Department has prepared our most able students for the GCSE Further Maths. This course places an emphasis on higher order thinking and problem solving skills. It also gives students an introduction to AS topics such as differentiation. Sixty students took this qualification with 55% of students achieved A/A* and 98% achieved A* - C. A special mention is given to Bethany Williamson and Jake Webb who achieved the A* with distinction in Further Maths, a grade above A*! Having studied GCSE Statistics in Year 10 approximately sixty

students left Woking High with three Maths GCSEs, a phenomenal achievement.

Our focus now is on the current Year 11. Revision classes started after half term and have been extremely well attended so far. Revision takes place on Tuesday after school and there are sessions at three different levels, higher grades 9-7, higher grades 7-5 and foundation. These sessions are solely for Year 11 and take place in the Maths Department. However there is also a Maths Clinic on Friday lunchtime for all students. Here students can access help with homework or specific topics that they have found challenging in lessons.

Over the past few years, Maths mentoring has become an integral part of the departments’ provision. Currently Year 10 students are mentoring Year 8 students and Year 11 students are mentoring Year 9 students. The mentoring takes place

weekly during morning registrations. Congratulations to all students taking part, both mentors and mentees. Their attitude, effort and approach to the programme, has been outstanding.

P Heller, Director of Maths

Maths

English - CREATIVE WRITING CLUB

CREATIVE WRITING CELEBRATED NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) during November. Professional writers across the country are encouraged to take on the enormous task of writing 50,000 words in one month. While not all of our young writers are attempting the challenge, we have taken note of the time of year to try and plan out ideas for our own novels. Thomas Shah, self-published young author, has attended our club to share creative tips on how to get planning for writing.

L Mitchell, Head of Media

A Level Taster Sessions

OVER THE COURSE OF THE AUTUMN TERM the English Department have been collaborating with Woking College to give our Year 10 students a taste of studying English at A-level. On the 6th October, we were lucky enough to be joined by Dale Hall who led a seminar which focussed on a forensic examination of Giuseppe By Roderick Ford. The students were asked to consider a variety of different interpretations looking at the poem through possible religious, historical and philosophical lenses in order to produce a sophisticated analysis of the poem. On the 23rd November, Woking College returned to work with the English Department for Day 11. Students were invited to attend A-level sessions based on English Literature, English Language and English Literature and Language combined. Numerous students were involved in the taster sessions and the day provided real insight into a challenging and enjoyable subject.

K Paton, 2nd in English

YEAR 11 STUDENTS have successfully delivered their Speaking and Listening presentations. Staff and students alike were treated to some very interesting and entertaining speeches, ranging from - The Disadvantages of Winning the Lottery, to Equal Pay for Men and Women in Sport, Sir Bobby Charlton, Space, How History

Changes Depending on the view point of the Writer and The Cuban Missile Crisis. It was interesting to hear such a wide variety of topics, delivered with enthusiasm, and in many cases passion, reminding us that teenagers have a vast range of interests and skills.

B Swancutt, Teacher of English

Speaking and Listening

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Space ClubSEVERAL KS3 STUDENTS have been working hard this term writing python code to read a temperature sensor and display this result on an LED matrix, along with a message and picture of their choice. The coding is quite challenging and the students have been working together in teams, showing excellent support and collaboration. Once completed, as part of the ‘Astro-Pi Mission Zero’ project, this code will be sent to the European Space Agency who will upload the student code to the International Space Station where it will run on an onboard computer and display the results to the astronauts. The students will then receive a certificate of participation showing when their code was run on the space station. One small step into the final frontier for many of our students!

C Ashton, 2nd in Science

WE HAVE ENJOYED WELCOMING all our enthusiastic new Year 7 Science students to Science Club this term, joining the existing Year 8 members. Over the past few weeks their activities have included investigating the science of bubbles, making a rainbow in a jar and investigating the aerodynamics of paper aeroplanes. They have also enjoyed making slime and paint. We look forward to continuing to try out a range of practical tasks with them over the rest of the year.

Science Council has reconvened and is continuing to focus on raising the profile of Science both in school and in the local

community. We have set up a Twitter feed to showcase what is happening currently in Science, both within school and in the news. W’d love to have more followers – we can be found at @WokingHighSci or http://twitter.com/wokinghighsci/.

We would like to thank all the students who came to help out in the Science Department for Open Evening this year – it was a very busy evening, and we could not have done it without their help. We would also like to thank the Friends of Woking High for providing the funding for our new Rubens Tube, which will be used in our GCSE Required Practicals. It made its first

appearance at Open Evening this year and certainly attracted some attention.

Finally, we would like to congratulate all the students who have been making good use of the help and support on offer in the Science Department this term. The numbers of students from all year groups attending the Science clinics on Wednesdays and Thursdays after school continues to rise. As a school, our students have answered an impressive 394,182 questions using our online Educake platform in just the past year.

H Gallagher, Head of Science

Science

SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL CLUBS OF WEYBRIDGE AND WOKING are a service–based organisation for women. They have created a STEM challenge to encourage and inspire girls to consider STEM based studies and careers.

Eleven of our Year 8 girls have chosen to embrace this challenge - Maya Newsam, Leah Skuse, Sarah Griffin, Amelia Sage, Emma Griffin, Ashley Lovelock, Serine Djarane, Imaan Shah, Holly Robinson, Megan Orpin and Gloria Stanovnik.

The girls are currently designing a solution to help people in the poorest parts of our world. One of the teams is focusing on designing a device that will contain a water filtration system to allow dirty water to be cleaned as it is passed

through different materials.

The three teams will be competing against three other Surrey schools presenting their solutions at Royal Holloway, University of London. Judging and prize-giving will take place early evening on 8 March 2018 and will be judged by a team of women from a variety of STEM disciplines. The winning school in each section will receive £250, with prizes for the girls in the team as well. Good luck to all the Woking High School teams!

L Brownlie, Teacher of Technology

STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGLISH & MATHS) COMPETITION YEAR 8 GIRLS

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Design Technology

YEAR 8 Xbox Engineering

CONGRATULATIONS to Sam Wavish, Toby Bolton and Liam Bolton for opening up an Xbox and discovering how it worked! These students came across a number of difficulties, but showed great resilience in overcoming the challenges. We look forward to the next group of Year 8s taking on this task.

WELL DONE TO THE YEAR 7s who completed their toy train as part of an extra-curricular club. The trains look fantastic and students thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The toy train project will be back in January for the next group of Year 7s to take part – Sign up early so you don’t miss out!

WE BEGAN THIS YEAR with a new DT curriculum. The Year 10 students were asked to make a photo frame in just four hours. Our students faced a range of emotions throughout the day, from frustration to pride! The work they produced was of a high quality and we are excited, as a department, for the plans these students have for their GCSE projects!

R Bourne, Head of Design Technology

THE WINNING PRODUCT of this year’s Design Ventura competition came from Year 9 in the shape of a mess-free way of making pancakes and waffles. Congratulations to Dora Savory, Madiha Hussain, Mana Komatsu and Sadia Hossain. Their idea is exciting and innovative and we are eager to see how well they do in the national competition.

YEAR 7 Toy Train Club

YEAR 10

Day 11YEAR 9

Design Ventura

THE GASP MOTOR PROJECT AWARDS PRESENTATION EVENT was once again held at McLaren. We have worked closely with GASP for a number of years as it gives some of our students a chance to experience basic motor mechanics and engineering first hand. Accompanied by Mrs Durbridge we were delighted that Tegen Brown, Allanah Collins, Lucy Francis, Aneesa Hussain and Ellie Thorne won the Group Achievement Award. This was for their unusually keen interest and strong determination to learn when they attended their course. Ellie also won the Perseverance Award for her interest and desire to achieve throughout her course and all girls should be congratulated as they were up against 246 other students! It was nice to hear that Woking High is thought of

as really understanding GASP and a strong relationship has now been established between us and this charity.

B Hathaway, Technical Awards Co-ordinator

GASP

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ON MONDAY 23 OCTOBER, I represented the school at University College London’s Centre

for Holocaust Education. This year twenty new schools from across the country have been selected for the Beacon School Programme. I was invited to speak about assessment processes and how to create an outstanding scheme of learning for students to follow when teaching the Holocaust. As a Quality Mark School, the positive journey that the school has been on was discussed and also praised at length by the staff from UCL. Beacon School Teachers were extremely impressed by the quality

of work that has been produced by our Year 9 students over the past two years, with one teacher commenting “I have A-Level students who would struggle to produce work of this quality!” The director of the programme Paul Salmons noted “Mr Jones has been an inspiration to the new cohort! I know from feedback that a major highlight of the residential for teachers was hearing from him, learning from his experience of the programme, and giving them ideas for things they can include in their own teaching”.

Year 9 students will begin work on the Holocaust scheme of learning in January.

M Jones, Head of History

History - BEACON HOLOCAUST SCHOOL

THIS TERM, YEAR 7 STUDENTS have made a fantastic start to their language lessons and have also been involved in the Spelling Bee Competition. This is a yearly national competition in which students have one minute to spell as many French or Spanish words as possible using the French or Spanish alphabet. After intense revising, each form competed the week before the Christmas holiday and three winners per form were selected. They will now compete against each other in a fearsome face-off in order to decide the six students who will be representing the school at the regional competition. To be continued…”

P Bolis, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Modern Foreign Languages

GeographyAT THE END OF NOVEMBER two teams of Geographers from Years 8,9 and 10 took part in the Geographical Association Worldwise Quiz at Gordon’s school. Jude Rainsborough, Roisin Fellows and Emily Armfield came 3rd out of fifteen teams, with Hannah Green, Chris Baker and Holly Tougher coming in at 10th with

highly commended.

The students represented the school fantastically well and The Geography Department were exceptionally proud of all our students who entered.

R Beeson, Teacher of Geography

German Exchange

ON THURSDAY 14 DECEMBER I accompanied five Year 10 Students on the week long German Exchange to our partner school, Lise-Meitner Gymnasium in South-West Germany. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by the host teacher, who introduced us to our host students.

During our stay we spent time attending the school and participating in a full timetable of lessons. In addition we went on a group visit to Heidleburg where we toured the beautiful castle, as well as enjoyed the excellent Christmas markets. Over the weekend the students participated in a range of activities with their host families with visits to local attractions and places of interest in the area.

Thank you to The Arete Partnership for organising this valuable exchange visit, I know all those who attended have developed their German language skills.

B Weston, Teacher of MFL

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warming story is really coming to life. Following on from a very exciting and dramatic audition process, the cast have now started work on staging this classic musical. We have some really great performances from our talented cast, so please do look out for information on ticket sales for our production in February 2018.

THE DRAMA AND MUSIC DEPARTMENTS ARE VERY EXCITED by the large cast that have been working on this year’s school production of ‘The Sound of Music’ (by arrangement with R&H Theatricals Europe). With music by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and the book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, this heart-

Drama - WHOLE SCHOOL PRODUCTION

TAG HAVE CONTINUED TO MEET on a weekly basis. Running sessions on Thursday after school, the team have this term supported the Concert of Remembrance, and plans are underway to support the ‘The Sound of Music’ production in February. If students are interested in finding out more about TAG, please speak with Mr Griffiths.

TAG

ON RETURNING TO SCHOOL AFTER HALF TERM, students were very excited to see the transformation of M2. Now painted black, the room really does present a specialist rehearsal/performance space working in collaboration with our Studio. People often ask why a drama studio

is black. The reason for this is that the space provides a blank canvas for the imagination; a piece of drama could be set on a tropical island, in space, or in an underwater world – the possibilities are endless as a result of the blank canvas!

Drama Facilities

NT CLUB HAS BEEN WATCHING TWO PRODUCTIONS this term via the Royal National Theatre’s ‘On Demand’. The first was ‘Treasure Island’ originally performed at the Olivier Theatre in 2014. The production is truly awesome, and the thrilling scenery amazed the students watching.

Following on from this, NT Club went on to view the 2016 production of ‘Peter Pan’, devised by Sally Cookson and also originally staged in the Olivier Theatre.

In this whacky and fun version of the classic tale, NT Club have continued to enjoy some of the outstanding work that The Royal National Theatre has to offer, live from our very own classroom! Students should see Mrs Wilson for further information should they wish to join NT Club for future screenings.

NT Club

YEAR 7 AND 8

Drama ClubTHIS TERM, students have been working towards creating a piece of devised theatre inspired by Roald Dahl and his ‘Revolting Rhymes’. Focusing on the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, the students have been having great fun using a combination of narration, physical theatre, and storytelling techniques in order to create a very imaginative theatrical extravaganza! It has been a delight to see students so excited within the creative process, and we look forward to sharing the piece with an audience upon its completion.

K Wilson, Head of Drama

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Windband and Choir Tour, July 2017 THE HILLS WERE ALIVE WITH ‘SOUND OF MUSIC’

FORTY FIVE BAND AND CHOIR STUDENTS accompanied by five staff enjoyed a musical tour of Austria and Germany in July.

Our first excursion was a classical concert in Mozart’s New Residence, where we enjoyed the intimate atmosphere and fine acoustics of a small hall where twelve musicians provided the sounds of an 18th century chamber orchestra. Other visits around Salzburg included the hidden water fountains at Hellbrunn Castle, a guided walking tour of the city (which included a look at the house where Mozart lived), a boat trip on the Wolfgangslake, a trip to the imposing Salzburg Fortress and the stunning Herrenchiemsee Palace; which is situated on an island and was therefore accessed via a scenic boat trip across the lake.

Salzburg is famous for its association with the film, and hit musical, The Sound of Music. We saw many of the locations where scenes were filmed, such as the beautiful water fountain in the city centre, the Mirabell Gardens and the church where it was claimed the wedding scene took place. All students watched the film version on the journey, and it was great for them to then identify places and buildings they had seen

in the film. The most exciting trip for all was the journey via small train, underground into a salt mine. Everyone starting singing Shosholoza, which was quite an appropriate choice, given it was a song sung by migrant workers travelling down the mines in South Africa.

During the tour we performed three concerts; two in the Salzburg area, with the final concert returning over the border into Germany. Concert locations included the beautiful church of Hallein, an outdoor pavilion by the lake at picturesque St. Gilgen, and finally, the K1 Concert hall in Bavaria, hosted by the Music School of Traunwalchen. The first half of this final concert was presented by small ensembles of the Music School, including a small band, dancing clarinets, an accordion and guitar. The music was traditional and very German/Austrian in style. Woking High School was able to provide music of a completely different genre in the second half, and the band and choir were professional throughout.

Highlights included all the vocal solos within the choir, but especially the vocal solo of Emily Russell, the Alto saxophone solo of Hannah Crook and last but not

least, the piano of Max Pemberton, who performed his own composition ‘Revolution’ on a new Grand Piano, centre stage during the last concert. We said an emotional farewell to Year 11 student Max, as well as Maya Keynes. Maya did a great job as compere for each concert and delivered with style and humour.

We were joined by a few parents at each concert. Some attended all three concerts and some arrived unexpectedly! It really was lovely to have support from family and friends. All concerts went really well and improved each time, commencing with a morning’s rehearsal at the hotel on day one. Although the audiences were not large, the local people were very appreciative of our music.

A final thanks to Team Salzburg, the tour staff - Mr Griffiths, Mr Dixon, Mrs King and Mrs Smith - were fantastic.

Windband and Choir tour is always the highlight of the year and a deserved reward for all the rehearsals and performances music students commit to over the year. Thank you.

S Goodwin, Director of Music Performance

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Music Examination Success

THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS have all recently been successful in examinations for the Associated Board of The Royal School of Music or Trinity College. Congratulations to all.

YEAR 7

Meghna Amin - Grade 4 flute Merit

Meghna Amin - Grade 3 pianoforte Merit

Hugo Komatsu - Grade 4 Piano Merit

Jessica Wells - Grade 4 flute Distinction

YEAR 8

Nona Lawrence - Grade 7 tuba Distinction

Charlotte Ratcliff - Grade 1 pianoforte Distinction

Matthew Rayner - Grade 4 Clarinet Merit

YEAR 9

Rachel Allen - Grade 6 flute Merit

Charlotte Hamilton - Grade 4 saxophone Distinction

Stephanie Maties - Grade 5 clarinet Merit

Dora Savory- Grade 4 Piano Distinction

Lilia Wada - Grade 2 violin Distinction

Toby Webb - Grade 5 guitar Distinction

Kai Westaway - Grade 6 pianoforte Distinction

YEAR 10

Andres Verhaghe - Grade 4 Acoustic Guitar Distinction

Maddie McClements - Grade 5 clarinet Distinction

Seth Gale - Grade 7 Saxophone Merit

Maddie McClement - Grade 5 Theory Distinction

Jude Silverton - Grade 3 pianoforte Distinction

YEAR 11

Hannah Crook - Grade 7 Saxophone Pass

George Edwards - Grade 8 Pass

Sunny Kim - Grade 5 Theory of Music Merit

Sophie Kozlowska - Grade 8 Clarinet Pass

Stephen Moore - Grade 6 Clarinet Merit

Emily Russell - Grade 7 Classical singing Merit

Phoebe Stirk - Grade 4 Guitar Pass

Hollie Tibbotts - Awarded a Distinction at the Woking Music Festival, coming first in the Woodwind Senior Category. She also received the Unwin Cup and will be one of six to perform in the Woking Young Musician of the Year Competition in February.

S Goodwin, Director of Music Performance

SOME OF OUR YEAR 10 GCSE Most Able artists, had the opportunity to attend the ARTiculation Discovery Day held at the Lightbox. This workshop was designed to develop and support students’ understanding and engagement with art, enhance their art knowledge and secure their understanding of the EDUQAS Assessment Objectives. Whilst there, the students completed a number of research tasks, discussed and debated the current exhibition at the Lightbox and worked with contemporary artists. They then collaborated with A Level students to present

their investigations to the audience.

Students participating felt that it was a very successful and worthwhile event. Josepha Sanna (ARTiculation Outreach) stated ‘It was an absolute pleasure to meet your wonderful students yesterday, thank you very much for organising the trip and to Miss Bean and Mrs Whitfield for coming along. The day presented the students with a real challenge which they met with enthusiasm and great courage. I hope that they are all feeling very proud of themselves!’

Art - ARTiculation

Arts in Industry

WE ARE ENORMOUSLY PROUD of our thriving artistic and creative community and for the Day 11 in September, Media, Art, Drama and Music joined forces in the first Arts in Industry Day - celebrating our subjects and their associated industries by bringing in guests to work with Year 8 students. In preparation for later GCSE choices we, ‘the arts’, want to ensure that students select a pathway in which they feel they can not only achieve, but enjoy. The day was also to help students in any future career choices, showing how the arts stretch internationally in many different industries.

The teachers and invited guests who were running the workshops, all discussed their own arts education journey and what they currently do; sharing tips and knowledge to inspire our Year 8s.

Year 8 students thoroughly enjoyed this experience. With special thanks to all staff that supported this amazing event.

S Taylor, Head of Art

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VI - SIGHT FOR SURREY

ON MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER we visited the Sight for Surrey Showcase event at the Lightbox in Woking. This was an opportunity to engage with all the facilities and support provided by Sight for Surrey (including technology and access equipment), explore career possibilities and engage in VI specific activities, including rowing and guide running alongside Basingstoke Canal. We had an engaging talk from a motivational speaker, advising our students on self-advocacy and life skills.

In October the VI Department took part in a project organised by Sight For Surrey working with Guildford museum looking to make the visitor experience more accessible for the blind and vision impaired. This is the start of a poetry project based on research concerning the First World War, working with a professional poet to produce poetry, which will then be used by a sound artist to create a sound mosaic which will be a permanent exhibition at Brooklands Museum. “Learning to Fly” is a series of twenty workshops held throughout Surrey exploring the impact of WW1 and the hidden stories of local people. Woking High School students worked with local residents with vision impairments on pieces of creative writing exploring the themes of war and its impact on daily life. The opportunity to explore WW1 objects brought an added benefit to our students, who were excellent ambassadors for the school.

S Lock, Teacher of VI

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YEAR 9 BRONZE AWARD

Following a very well-attended Information Evening, seventy nine Year 9 participants have signed up for the Bronze Award and most have now confirmed their activities. I am pleased to see the variety of activities that they have chosen from photography to volunteering in local charity shops.

Last year’s Year 9 Bronze cohort have been very busy and over 80% of them have now completed their Award, over thirty five of these are expected to sign up to do their Silver Award, which will be running again at Woking High School for the first time in seven years due to changes in regulations.

We will start expedition training after Christmas, by which time both the Bronze and the Silver cohort should be in their expedition groups.

Please make sure all expedition dates are kept free:

Bronze Award

Practice Expedition: 15 & 16 June 2018

Final Expedition: 28 & 29 June 2018

Silver Award

Practice Expedition: 26, 27 & 28 April 2018

Final Expedition: 17, 18 & 19 May 2018

YEAR 10 BRONZE AWARD

Following last summer’s successful expeditions, I am pleased to report that, so far, fifty nine students have completed their award. Many students just need to input their final pieces of evidence so that they too can complete.

A presentation of certificates for both Bronze groups will be held on March 27 2018 at the HG Wells Suite in Woking – full details to follow.

Final date for completion of awards in order to attend the presentation evening is Monday 1 March 2018

E King, Duke of Edinburgh Award Manager

DofE

OVER THE COURSE OF THE OCTOBER HALF-TERM, nine Year 10 students attended Longmoor Army Camp with the Shared Outcomes charity in partnership with the 11th Brigade based in Aldershot. The students put their heart and soul into the activities presented to them. We discovered students who were talented rock climbers, some who could out shoot army snipers on the laser clay pigeon shooting task and some who loved camping in the outdoors. The students were a credit to our school and as a reward took part in an army style passing out ceremony at the end of the week to celebrate these achievements.

During the course of the week, the students had a wonderful opportunity to take time out from their army programme to explore identity and how we can work together in an integrated society. This allowed the students to also reflect on our school values and how we can put these into practice. The students then were taken to Brookwood Military Cemetery to reflect on our shared heritage across the United Kingdom and show the welcoming community and area that Woking, Brookwood and Surrey has become. The students found this a humbling and enjoyable experience. Thank you to the Shared Outcome charity for this amazing week and to the 11th Brigade for providing this enrichment activity. Thanks also to our students for being fantastic ambassadors for our school.

R Beeson, Teacher of Geography

Shared Outcomes

Post 16ON TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER we welcomed over thirty exhibitors to the school from Colleges, Universities, Apprenticeship Providers and Employers who took part in our annual careers fair. Students were able to spend time visiting all the different stalls, talking with representatives from the organisations and collecting information, all designed to help

them make their decisions about their future pathways. Students found the experience useful and we are very thankful to all our

guests who joined us for the afternoon.

H Addision, Careers and Post-16 Co-ordinator

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WE HAVE HAD TWO DAY 11S THIS TERM, the last two of 2017.

FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER

The English Department used this first Day 11, as they had done last year, in order to have the whole of Year 11 completing their Speaking and Listening presentations for GCSE. The dedicated day, with longer session times, gave students an opportunity to complete their planning and then to deliver their presentations to their peers and to be recorded whilst doing so. The other highlight of the day was for Year 8 were they looked at “Art in Industry”, see Mrs Taylors full report on page 11.

THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER

We welcomed Ed Freitas who ran four African drumming workshops throughout the day, so that the whole of Year 7 could experience African tribal drumming and develop the skills of listening and working as a team. It was great to have him back in school, he has such a passion for what he does and is a real inspiration for the students. They also worked on the African tale of ‘Anansi’ using Physical Theatre in Drama and some great work was presented.

Year 8 took part in a Finance Day completing a series of workshops looking at personal spending, saving and making good money decisions, along with learning how to behave and present yourself for a business/work situation. Outside visitors from Lloyds Commercial Banking delivered workshops looking at the role of money, financial terminology and why it is important to save, along with what to look for in an account. Woking Citizens Advice ran workshops looking at how to manage money and how to prevent

debt and deal with money problems. It was a great day for Year 8 to work with outside agencies and to discuss financial issues, with some very practical outcomes and advice for adult life.

140 Year 10 Geography students used the day to visit Westfield and the surrounding area of Stratford in order to collect primary fieldwork information and data which will support the completion of their GCSE. Their focus was to investigate into whether the redevelopment of this area has improved the environmental quality of Westfield Stratford City area. The remaining Year 10s who studied GCSE Art spent time developing designing, making and printing from a lino cut, all of which they can use in their portfolios of evidence. Woking College also come in to work with Year 10s to look at supporting and stretching our students and to give them a taster of A Level study.

M Abbs-Rowe, Assistant Headteacher

Day 11

AFTER INTRODUCING THE NEW Woking High School Character awards in Year 7 last year, we have extended the awards to all of the lower school.

Each half term we focus on one of our six character traits and staff are asked to nominate students who demonstrate that particular quality.

Each nominated student receives a postcard home and the winners receive a trophy and a badge for their blazer.

During our first half term we focused on resilience.

The winners were:

Year 7 Jack Elliot

Year 8 Kara Moore

Year 9 Safah Mahmood

This half term we have been focusing on integrity and look forward to announcing the winners in January.

A Strong, Teacher of PE

Character Awards

Respect

Integrity

Resilience

Courtesy

Responsibility

Enthusiasm

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I AM VERY PLEASED to be looking after the House System during Mrs Gregory’s maternity leave and would like to welcome Mr Beeson as Head of Brunel House and wish him success in his new role.

Our new Year 7s have had a great start to the year gaining lots of house points across the Houses, both in and out of the class room. It is wonderful to see so many of them wearing their house badges. Anyone who does not have a badge can buy one from Mrs Crone at Student Reception for £1.

In the House Photography Competition, there were plenty of house points up for grabs and it provided a real opportunity for change in the points totals. All houses were well represented in all categories of the Photography Competition with a high standard of photographs submitted by both students and staff. However it was Curie that really impressed in this competition gaining first place overall. The overall winning photograph was taken by Rebecca Green in 10R.

The competition results were as follows: Curie 499, Brunel 331, Stephenson 248, Faraday 154

House

Current Overall Scores:

Curie 7516

Faraday 7150

Brunel 6848

Stephenson 6571

With scores being so tight, tension is building as we approach the next House Competition –‘The Christmas Candy Cane Challenge’! This will take place from Thursday 14th to Tuesday 19th December. This competition promises to be a fantastic

and festive way to raise money for charity. Last year the students who took part raised over £300 for Woking Hospice.

Next term I am looking forward to the House Bake Off which is always an exciting and tasty competition.

Good luck to all who take part - may the best house win!

E King, Head of House System

AT WOKING HIGH SCHOOL we are passionate about enabling our students to develop the skills and confidence to speak in public with flair. In late November we succeeded once again in the first round of the Rotary Club Youth Speaks competition, winning both the Intermediate and Senior categories.

Defeating stiff competition from Gordon’s School Year 12s and St John the Baptist Year 11s, our Year 11 Senior winners were Sam Webb, who was also awarded best Main Speaker, Rithika Muralidharan and Alys Harrison. Our Year 10 Senior team of Alana Lynch, Madeleine McClements and Isabel Metcalfe were awarded the position

of Runners Up, and in that team the best Vote of Thanks went to Isabel while best Chair went to Madeleine, beating Rithika by the narrowest of margins.

Our two Year 9 Intermediate teams also did us proud. Toby Webb, Charlotte Hamilton and Abigail Lambert came first at Intermediate level, defeating competition from

St John the Baptist, with whom Abigail shared the award for best Vote of Thanks. There were also strong performances from the other Intermediate team of Roisin Fellowes, who was awarded best Main Speaker, Emma Joll and Safah Mahmood.

It takes a terrific amount of effort, commitment and courage to write, learn and deliver a speech in front of a hall full of adults. We are very proud of all of our teams and know that their public speaking skills will certainly help them to communicate under pressure and be taken seriously when it counts. Our thanks as ever go to the local branch of Woking District Rotary Club, who will now sponsor our teams in the coming rounds of this International competition.

E Williams, Citizenship Coordinator

Youth Speaks

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OVER THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS and during this autumn term our student / teams have been incredibly active and have achieved successes.

For our traditional teams sports such as football, rugby, netball and basketball there will be a full report in Spring Newsletter when the majority of Leagues and Cup competitions have concluded. Needless to say both boys and girls teams have been experiencing considerable success in these sports to date and we are looking forward to the rest of the season.

BADMINTON

Under 14 Girls team became District Champions. The team consisted of Hana Boujemaoui, Elizaveta Izmailova, Sophie Price, Erin Shelley and Jessica Wells. The team will now go on to compete in the County finals in February 2018.

BRITISH CLUB BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS:

At the British Club Biathlon Championship at Solihull we had four students competing. They were Under 14 Boys Josh Thompson, Michael Young, Alexej Baldwin and Under 12 Girl Elizabeth Chapman. The Under 14 Boys team narrowly missed out on a top three place finishing in fourth place. Please see results below:

British Clubs Biathlon Championships Team:

Under 14 Boys 4th

Individual:

Under 14 Boys Joshua Thompson 9th

Under 14 Boys Michael Young 25th

Under 14 Boys Alexej Baldwin 29th

Under 12 Girls Elizabeth Chapman 31st

These four students were part of a larger number of students that competed at the South East Schools Regional Biathlon Finals in Medway, Kent and put in some

outstanding performances. We had two individual winners in Mackenzie Russell and Josh Thompson and also three other top five finishers. The Under 14 Boys won the team title comfortably; this team consisted of Josh Thompson, Alexej Baldwin and Michael Young. Please see results below:

South East Schools Regional Biathlon Championships Selected Team:

Under 14 Boys 1st

Individual:

Under 12 Girls Elizabeth Chapman 12th

Under 12 Girls Sofia Cockin 32nd

Under 12 Girls Eloise Thompson 41st

Under 12 Girls Louisa Akohene 43rd

Under 12 Boys Daniel Baldwin 20th

Under 12 Boys Otis Woodley 27th

Under 13 Boys Mackenzie Russell 1st

Under 13 Boys Liam Bolton 25th

Under 13 Boys Edward Gannon 29th

Under 13 Boys Toby Bolton 30th

Under 14 Boys Josh Thompson 1st

Under 14 Boys Alexej Baldwin 4th

Under 14 Boys Michael Young 5th

Under 14 Boys Steven Wood 9th

Under 16 Boys Max Chitty 3rd

I fully expect that no fewer than ten of our students will qualify for the British Schools competition at Crystal Palace in March and for us to have a real chance of replicating the incredible individual and team successes of March 2017.

CROSS COUNTRY:

Our students have been busy competing in no fewer than four Cross Country events. At the District Cross Country we came very close to winning several of the boys team trophies. The effort and determination of all our students were excellent. Please see selected results below:

Team Results :

Year 7 Girls 5th

Year 7 Boys 8th

Year 8 Boys 2nd

Year 9 Boys 2nd

Year 10/11 Boys 3rd

Selected Individual Results (top 10 ten only):

Year 7 Girls Liana Wada 6th

Year 7 Girls Elizabeth Chapman 8th

Year 7 Boys Dylan Campbell 3rd

Year 8 Boys Stevie Barron 7th

Year 9 Girls Mia Smith 7th

Year 9 Girls Lauren Wilson 10th

Year 9 Boys Liam Stone 5th

Year 9 Boys Lucas Salman 7th

Year 9 Boys Chris Baker 8th

Year 10/11 Girls Emmie Savory 4th

Year 10/11 Boys Nathan Holmes 9th

At the first round of the English Schools Cross Country match held in Basingstoke our Inter Boys Team (Year 9/10) were in good form. The competition included all the best schools in Hampshire and North West Surrey. The boys finished second overall and have qualified for the South East Schools Finals at the Judd School in Tonbridge. The team consisted of Liam Stone, Chris Baker, Max Carter, Sam Smith, Abiel Natnael and Gideon Jansen. At the South East Finals the boys finished in ninth place with Liam Stone our top individual finisher in fourteenth place. In the Arete Cross Country we narrowly finished second behind Gordons. Our students produced some great performances see below:

Overall Team Results :

Gordons 20

Woking High 18

Hoe Valley 4

Woking High School Team Winners:

Year 7 Girls

Year 8 Boys

Year 9 Boys

Year 10 Boys

Selected Individual Results (Top 3 only):

Year 8 Boys Stevie Barron 1st

Year 9 Boys Chris Baker 1st

Year 10 Boys Max Carter 1st

Year 7 Girls Liana Wada 2nd

Year 8 Boys Mackenzie Russell 2nd

Year 9 Girls Emma Harris 2nd

Year 9 Boys Liam Stone 2nd

Year 7 Girls Lizzie Chapman 3rd

Sports Review

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Year 7 Boys Tyler Collins 3rd

Year 8 Girls Ellen Yates 3rd

Year 9 Girls Mia Smith 3rd

Year 9 Boys Josh Thompson 3rd

Year 10 Boys Sam Smith 3rd

SWIMMING

Surrey Schools Relays

In September twenty of our swimmers competed in the Surrey County Schools Relay Championships at Guildford Spectrum. Our highest finishers were the Inter Boys team who finished fourth and sixth in the medley and freestyle relays respectively. This team consisted of Michael Young, Josh Thompson Alexej Baldwin and Rory Smith. Our four other teams (Junior Girls A and B, Inter Girls and Junior Boys) were a real credit to the school with their efforts and performances.

Mackenzie Russell National Open Water Champion

Year 8 student, Mackenzie Russell, competed in the British Open Water Championships in Sheffield over the summer. In an extremely close contest in the 12 year old boys 1500m race. Mackenzie emerged the victor, winning by 3 seconds from his nearest competitor from Swansea. This was Mackenzie’s second National title in a matter of months after previously winning the British Schools Biathlon. Mackenzie is currently ranked in the top three in Britain for his age group in no fewer than five swimming events and is ranked first for the 100m Freestyle.

ATHLETICS:

Year 10 student Dominic Ariyo-Francis finished 7th in the Under 15 boys 200m at the English Clubs Athletic Championships in Bedford in August. Dominic’s time of 22.88 seconds is the fastest time ever over 200m from a Woking High School student. The final was won in a time of 22.13 seconds which is a British Under 15 boys all time record.

GOLF

Year 8 Ellen Yates has had an incredibly busy few months, playing golf all over the country. During this time she has reduced her handicap from 14 to 9. In the process she has won several competitions and even got to play at St Andrews, the home of golf. Ellen has been rewarded for her efforts by being selected for the South of England Under 16 Girls Golf squad where she is the youngest in the squad. In her first

match for the South of England, Ellen won her singles match 2 & 1 and her team won 6 – 0 against the South East of England. As part of the team Ellen will have the opportunity to compete and train abroad and is looking forward to going to Portugal during February half term 2018.

FOOTBALL

Congratulations also go to one of our ex-students Sam Mason (Woking High School 2011-2016) who made his first team debut for Woking Football Club in the National League, in their 1-1 draw with Maidenhead United and played again when Woking won 1-0 against Ebbsfleet Town.

KARTING

Congratulations to Alex Page in Year 11 on being placed 7th in the National Karting competition. Alex has competed at race tracks from Cumbria to Devon during this season’s competition and the final was screened on TV. This competitive, nerve wracking sport (racing at 70 mph) is physically demanding and requires high level decision making.

SHOOTING

Jenna Culshaw in Year 9 has achieved medals and certificates in shooting competitions over recent months. In July she won silver in the Open meeting at Bookham Rifle Club. In August she participated in the Junior International competition winning gold in one of the events. Since then she has been attending squad training in the Midlands and has just returned from the Scouts National Rifle championships, where she earned a silver and bronze medal. Her brother Joshua, ex Woking High School, won gold and bronze medals in the same championships.

J Justice, Director of Sport

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Well Being Centre

Charity Update

THE WELL-BEING CENTRE is visited regularly by a large number of students who are benefitting from additional help and support as needed. As well as drop in sessions for 121 support, we have run the HUB programme with Woking Hospice this term for students who have suffered a bereavement, an exam stress workshop for Year 11 students and a Life skills course for the Young Carers as well as an anxiety support group. We thank Mrs Barker for all her work and welcome Ms Taylor as our new Well-being Co-ordinator in January.

Young Carers Update

Guide Dog Update

THE YOUNG CARERS GROUP at Woking High school continue to meet regularly for lunch on the first Thursday of the month and due to popular demand we also meet weekly each lunch time for support and socializing. The group is always well attended and we are delighted to have welcomed a number of Year 7 students. We are here to support any other Young Carers in the school, please contact Mrs Wilkinson at Student Services.

The Young Carers had a great time when they went to see the pantomime ‘Robin Hood’ at The New Victoria Theatre, Woking.”

Thank you to all our community who continue to support this group of students.

WE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED that we had raised enough money to sponsor a second guide dog puppy called Boris through a range of fund raising activities and generous donations from the Community. Boris was born on 14 June 2017 and we are looking forward to welcoming him in school.

Meanwhile Luna, our first guide dog puppy, was identified as not have enough confidence to fulfil her role and she is living happily with her adopted family. We now have a new ‘Luna’ who was born on

13 September 2017 and we look forward to a visit from her also in the future.

C Wilkinson, Student Support Officer

BIG COFFEE MORNING

Woking High School staff took part in the national ‘Big Coffee Morning’ in order to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer charity. We raised over £400 on the day and with Mufti contributions from our students, we were able to add another c£400 to the sum.

SHOEBOXES

The Rotary Club organise shoe-boxes of Christmas gifts, which are then distributed to children of all ages in Central and Eastern Europe around Christmas time. Year 7s took up the challenge and managed to collect a total of 91 boxes. An excellent effort was made by everyone but a special mention must go to 7E, who collected 23 shoeboxes.

Mufti also contributed c£400 to the Jeans for Genes charity. Mufti days are a great way of contributing to fundraising for the annual charities chosen by our students via the School Council. Of course, it is not compulsory for students to wear mufti, they can be in school uniform, but it seems to be a very popular event and a great way to support some very deserving causes.

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THIS TERM WE SAID GOODBYE to Sarah Flaherty and Saniyah Testa. We thank them both for their hard work over the past years, our students in school have benefited hugely from their commitment.

At the end of the last school year we ran a special fund raiser to purchase a 3D printer. Your very generous donations meant that we surpassed our target of £1499, so the additional funds

were put towards materials for the printer.

2018 will be an exciting year for fund raising, with the school needing resources that every child will benefit from. We would love you to provide your expertise and enthusiasm in helping us. You are more than welcome to attend our next meeting at the school on the 6th February at 8:45am, it would be lovely to see you there. So far this year we have funded Audio books for English, Vocab Express and the entry fee for the Year 7 Spelling Bee competition for Modern Foreign Languages plus for Science, a Rubens Tube, which will be used for Year 11 Physics and Year 8 Science Lessons.

The Winter term fund raiser has been Cash 4 Coins. Thank you for the donations of foreign and obsolete currency. It is being run as a inter year competition till the end of the term, so there is plenty of time to dig out that change from the back of the sofa or the bottom of the drawer. Relatives or office colleagues are also good sources of those small euro coins that you never seem to be able to get rid of.

Please also remember our other on-going fund raisers:

Woking High School Prize Club – this gives parents and carers the opportunity

to enter a termly lottery and at the same time make a donation to the FoWHS. Subscriptions to the Prize Club are £20 a term. Please see our webpage or email us – details at the bottom of the page. The Winter term draw will take place early December and winners will be notified and posted on the web page before Christmas - good luck to all in the draw!

Give as you Live – donate at no cost as you shop - download the toolbar and FoWHS benefit from every purchase you make. Retailers include Amazon, Ebay, Tescos… So what are your waiting for, provide funds to FoWHS at NO COST to yourself.

https://www.giveasyoulive.com/join/fowhs

Thanks for all your support

Lindsey Bostock-Cross, Secretary Friends of Woking High School

fowhs@wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk

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

Friends of Woking High School

Japanese Visitors FORTY JAPANESE STUDENTS and their teachers from Naruo School in the Osaka region of Japan visited our school in December. The visit was arranged through our long time association with ULT (United Language Teachers). The students were participating in a cultural visit and spent time in London and Stratford–upon-Avon. Whilst with us the Naruo students were buddied with Year 9 and 10 Woking High School students. They were shown around the school

and had a taster of English, Maths and Science lessons. They also gave our students a flavour of Japanese culture by demonstrating origami and giving performances of Japanese songs and dances. Our students were also treated to some Japanese sweets, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

B Goosen, Head of Year 10

School Gateway

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you that have successfully created a School Gateway account for tracking your son or daughters Attendance Data, Behaviour and Achievement Points. Many of your initial comments and suggestions have helped us streamline the service and hopefully it is proving efficient for you to use. If you have not downloaded the mobile phone application I would highly recommend it for a convenient way to keep track of your son or daughters achievements.

M Crowley, Assistant Headteacher

Woking High School, Morton Road, Horsell, Woking, Surrey, GU21 4TJ

Tel: 01483 888447 Fax: 01483 888448

Email: info@wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk

Web: www.wokinghigh.surrey.sch.uk

Headteacher: Jane Abbott

Woking High School is an exempt charity and company limited by guarantee. Registered in England with Company Number 8586085 and has a registered office as above.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017/18

SPRING 4 January 2018 - 29 March 2018

HALF TERM 12 February 2018 - 16 February 2018

SUMMER 16 April 2018 - 20 July 2018

HALF TERM 28 May 2018 - 1 June 2018

INSET DAYS

19 January 2018, 22 June 2018

TERM DATES

Please could we remind you all to park safely around the school by respecting the parking signs and restrictions, and not parking on the double yellow or zig-zag lines on Morton Road. Please can we also request that you are courteous to local residents and avoid parking over driveway entrances.

PARKING

WE ARE VERY PROUD that the school maintains excellent attendance and we are always striving to improve our percentage as we know that good attendance at school correlates with good academic attainment. If your child is having any problems with maintaining excellent attendance, please seek help and support from your Form tutor or the Pastoral team. This year Mrs Abbott has written home personally to congratulate a high number of students who achieved 100 % attendance throughout the whole of the last academic year. Thanks to the generosity of the ‘Friends of Woking High School’, we are able to further recognise the achievements of those students who attended school every single day last year without missing a single session. They have been awarded a special badge and certificate as follows:

The Blue Badge for 100% attendance throughout the whole of Year 7:

7R: Sophie Anderson, Gurpreet Aujla, Aaron Lynch, Max Porter, Emma Sparks

7I: Max Groocock, Maya Newsam, Megan Rae

7D: Lucy Durrant, Ashley Lovelock, Edward Thomas

7G: Rosie Clear, Benedek Seres

7E: William Crawford, Oliver Griffiths, Joseph Hodkinson, William Pearce, Amelia Stafford, Rebecca Truman

7W: Lauren Baker, Matthew Rayner, Joshua Drew Taro, Samuel Wavish

7A: Ellie Mason, Matthew Sowry, Erin Sparling, Charlie Stubbs, Freya Wight

7Y: Liam Bolton, Toby Bolton, Harry Claydon, Barbara Inverno

The Green Badge for 100% attendance throughout the whole of Year 8:

8R: Patrick Cockin, Alexander Loder, George McEwan, Rachel Allen

8I: Mia Bennett, Taryn Bennett, Joe Connolly, Alana Howells, Thomas Robinson

8D: Jonny Boylett, Thomas Marton, Matthew Szarvas

8G: Samuel Fiveash

8E: Christopher Baker, Mazwell Kerslake, Zain Moolji, Hanah Boujemaoui, Nathan Sleight, Liam Stone

8W: Hana Sarney

8A: Georgie Allen, Loretta McCarthy, Lilia Wada

8Y: Sarah Haynes, Toby Webb

The Orange Badge for 100% attendance throughout the whole of Year 9:9R: Samuel Griffiths, William Hewlett

9G: Alexis Cortade

9E: Rachel Garbett, Hannah Sheldon

9W: Alessia Valentino

9Y: Isabel Metcalfe, Joshua Wallace

The Purple Badge for 100% attendance throughout the whole of Year 10:

10R: Callum Baker, Emily Russell

10I: Yuta Osawa, Samuel Wildfire

10G: Zachary Atkinson, Alessandro Ferlita, Ethan Greenwood, Shannon Matthews, Morgan Porter, Marcus Truman

10W: Matthew Joll, Sophie Kozlowska, Rithika Muralidharan

10A: Anya Groocock, Georgia Kirkbride

10Y: William Griffiths, Michael Hitchings

Silver badge for 100% attendance for the entire Key Stage 3:

9R: Michal Chabinski

9I: Hannah Green, Beau-Hanni Souter-Houghton

9D: Amy Szarvas

9E: Pravina Appasamy, Ella Boyes

9W: Dan Ling Yang

Gold badge for 100% attendance since the beginning of year 7:

10I: Hollie Tibbotts

10G: Daniella Claydon, Ethan Greenwood

10E: Charlie Hill, Emmie Savory, Samuel Webb

We are sure you will agree with us that these students deserve a special mention for achieving such excellent attendance. Please do not despair if your child has had to take time off through unavoidable ill health or other authorised circumstances; we reward attendance in a variety of ways and there are still plenty of opportunities for recognition or good and improved attendance.

C Wilkinson, Student Support Officer

100% attendance at Woking High School

If parents take their child out of school without the Headteacher’s approval, this will be viewed as an unauthorized leave of absence and may result in a Penalty Notice. Penalty Notices are issued by the Local Authority for unauthorised leave of absence for 5 days or more. Penalty Notices are issued per parent per child and the amount due is £60.00 if paid within 21 days, rising to £120.00 if paid between 21 and 28 days. If the Penalty Notice remains unpaid after 28 days the Local Authority must consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Please see our website for full details of our Attendance Policy.

Leave of Absence