News Warlingham School
ISSUE 2 2016-2017 DECEMBER 2016 In this edition FROM the headteacher
2-3
Christmas concert / Christmas card competition
4-5
The Geography Pages
6-11
FEATURE:
Mission Control: Malaria
12-15
Takeover Day: A Day to Remember!
16-17
The Geography Pages
UKMT Senior Maths Challenge
18-19
RADA Youth Academy
20-21
Senior Maths Team Challenge
22-23
2016 Primary Swimming Gala
24-28
Boys’ Cross Country
FEATURE: Mission Control: Malaria
29
Trip to Auschwitz
30-35
News from the LRC
36-37
Pie-a-teacher
38-39
Children in Need / Movember
40-41
Dates for your Diary
FEATURE: Takeover Day: A Day to Remember
42
FEATURE: 2016 Primary Swimming Gala
Wide Horizons High Aspirations
FEATURE: Children in Need / Movember
From the Headteacher...
Dear Parents/Carers, I am sure you are all looking forward to the Christmas festivities and having time to relax with family and friends over the next two weeks. Year 11 students will be relieved to have finished their mock exams and are no doubt looking forward to receiving their results on Friday 13 January (let’s hope that is not an unlucky omen!). Parents of Year 11 students will also be receiving reports on that day and these reports will contain lots of important advice from subject teachers about the key areas for improvement over the next few months. I would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Duff, Miss Frayne and Mrs Billings for putting together a very Page 2
enjoyable Christmas Concert on 15 December. Congratulations to all the students taking part for their excellent contributions. I know all the parents who attended thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We are also saying goodbye at the end of this term to two long serving and popular members of the teaching staff. Mr Ashdown (Head of PE) is moving to a new post at a school in Essex, closer to family as he is expecting his first child next year. He has worked at Warlingham for 6 years. Mrs Wiseman (Science) is also moving on to a new position in a special school, closer to where she lives, after 16 years at Warlingham. We wish them every success in their new positions. Ms Brooks (Teaching Assistant) is leaving the Learning Development
Department after just over 4 years at the school, and Mr Brown (Sports Facilities manager) is also moving on at the end of this term after 2 years. I would like to thank them all for their hard work and commitment to Warlingham School. We are also pleased to welcome back Ms Hilton to the Science Department after a short period away at Woodcote School. On Thursday 5 January at 7.00pm we will be holding the ‘Year 14’ Awards Ceremony to present A-Level and BTEC certificates along with Graduation Awards to last year’s Year 13 students. We look forward to seeing lots of ex-students and their parents on this evening. Work continues behind the scenes in relation to the formation of the MultiAcademy Trust with Hamsey Green, Woodlea, Tatsfield and Bletchingley Village Primary Schools. It is hoped that all will be in place to formally start in April 2017. A focus of this year’s School Improvement Plan has been to further improve student and staff wellbeing by building on the Healthy School Award to successfully complete the silver and gold awards. Our aim has been to increase participation in whole school community life in order to enhance a sense of belonging and promote selfesteem and achievement. This term we have re-launched the student merit
awards as part of the development of our praise and reward culture in the School. Special thanks go to Miss Frayne for her work in developing this system and to Miss Hurst for starting the ‘star student’ award. Both of these initiatives have been well received by students. Next term we will be sending a regular email to parents to provide information about all the extracurricular clubs taking place each halfterm. As I am sure you are all aware there is a clear link between high attendance and high achievement. The school’s overall attendance target is 95% and I am pleased to report that we have managed to exceed that this term. I would also like to congratulate the many students who have achieved 100% attendance this term. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our students, staff, governors and their families an enjoyable Christmas break. I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready for the new challenges of 2017. The new term starts for students on Thursday 5 January 2017 at the normal start time. Merry Christmas!
Mr N Bradwell Headteacher Page 3
Christmas Concert / Christmas Card Competition Christmas Concert This year’s annual Christmas Concert took place on Thursday 15th December. The concert was a great success and was well supported - over 200 attended. 75% of the students were performing for the first time at Warlingham School. Soloists: Ella Bailey, Amy Collins, Luca Crawford, Lauren Cudjoe, Emma Doenges, Sonya Gholami, Ben Goodhand, Keziah Hardy, Maisie Hynds, Georgia Jones, Maisie Keller, Daisy Millington, Rebecca Morris, Chili Okoloba, Yimi Okoloba, Abbie Oseman, Josh Sills, Aaron Sugg, Sophie Tapping, Holly Woodgate and Matthew Woodgate. The BTEC Band / Sixth Form Singers: Charlie Hepburn, Georgia Jones, Simon Lang, Rebecca Miles, Chili Okoloba, Caitlin Stone and Jasmine Ubi Warlingham Orchestra: Claire Bailey, Ella Bailey, Hollie Clarke, Amy Collins, Grace Day, Emily Franks, Sonya Gholami, Keziah Hardy, Jenna Hinton, Alice Hughes, Lauren Price, Claire Richter, Aaron Sugg, Oriana Wermig, Holly Woodgate and Matthew Woodgate Page 4
Warlingham Singers: Chanaye Allen, Chloe Bernard, Cydney Biggle, Amy Corvaglia, Lauren Coveley, Jess Dann, Lily Drinkwater, Olivia Gardner, Nyah Harris, Millie Hines, Katie Holmes, Niamh Lyas, Zoe Pain, Lauren Price, Madeline Waling-Smyth and Sophie Youngs
Christmas Card Competition The Art Department would like to congratulate all the students who entered the Christmas Card competition. There were many beautiful designs and it was a hard decision to select the top entry for each house. We were amazed at the amount of entries this year, a staggering 347 Key Stage 3 student submitted a card! They should all feel proud of themselves for supporting their houses in the house competition. The winners for each house were: 1st: Megan Pine 9W (Johnson) 2nd: Isabella Harrison 8L (Chichester) 3rd: Mark Cheetham 8M (Mallory) 4th: Ridley Hutt 7G (SHarman) Megan’s painting (pictured right) appears on the front of the school’s ‘official’ Christmas card for 2016.
Mrs Sula Head of Art
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The Geography Pages
In addition, I’m very thankful to have had the opportunity to partake in a number of extra-curricular activities over the last term including a Year 12 From my point of view, B-Block and 13 joint Geography-Biology trip to remains the centre of the school universe in terms of activities going on the McLaren Technology Centre (F1 both inside and outside the classroom: team!) to take part in a Malaria summit and, most memorably, a very sobering • Year 7 has been introduced to trip to the Concentration Camps of the world of Warlingham with an Auschwitz I and II in Poland, when I introduction to their local area and was lucky enough to accompany four the addition of Map Skills to their of our Year 13 students (a report of already-increasing skills set; which can be seen elsewhere in this • Year 8 started the year by looking edition). at rivers and the causes of flooding Back in school, our exam groups (in – including an in-depth study of the years 10 to 13) have made excellent Purley/A22 floods of 2014 – one of progress on their respective courses the highlights of which was a trip – especially a large proportion of our to the Ashdown Forest to study the Year 11, who have already completed Duddleswell Valley (see the article the first part of their Controlled that follows); Assessments…with those that As always in the dark and dank Autumn Term, Christmas has leapt from nowhere to be upon us…
• Year 9 delved into the fiery, shaky world of Tectonic Hazards – studying volcanoes, earthquakes and the causes and impacts of both;
• The Humanities Club has settled into its Tuesday evening slot and the students have been making medieval castles and studying GIS programs on the iPads. Page 6
haven’t been given daily access to our computing facilities in B14, with teacher support. Our Year 13 students have also just completed their Mock Exams – and a number of students achieved outstanding results in their Unit 4 (one question – 70 marks!) exam, which is VERY encouraging for 2017!
As always, I can’t move on to the fantastic articles that follow without reminding you of the fantastic staff that work alongside me. A massive thanks must go out to Mrs Lilani, Ms Eveleigh, Mrs Nathan and Mr Kinder for their unstinting efforts in the department as they, like me, try to help all of our pupils meet their aspirations. Enough from me…we’re lucky enough to have a fantastic bunch of students down here who are more than willing to tell you about Geography from their point of view...and to write up reports about the amazing opportunities that we all have down the B-Block corridor. I hope that all of you have a fantastic festive season. I look forward to seeing all of our students back in school safe and well in January to keep up the good work!
Mr R Gardner Head of Geography
Year 8 Ashdown Forest Trip
At the start of October, the Geography Department had the honour of taking all of Year 8 out to do a river study in the Ashdown Forest. Over four days, we took two forms at a time to negotiate the gorse-ridden slopes of the Duddleswell Valley and measure different characteristics of the river as it travels towards the south coast.
Hattie Moye of 8G was kind enough to write up a summary of her day: “When we went on our Year 8 trip to the Ashdown Forest, we got a coach to the site. It was a smooth coach journey and we parked in the Box Car Park, just above the valley. Each class was assigned a member of staff from the Geography Department and we walked along our set route measuring different bits of the river. We measured width and depth to get data for a cross-section, and we sketched the landscape in our work booklets. Some people fell in the river…and some got very, very soggy wet socks! Page 7
The Geography Pages We also did an experiment to see how fast the river flowed; this task was done by floating a dog biscuit in the river and timing how long it took to get from 0m to 5m with a stop watch.
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Our group also walked to find the source of the river, which did not look like I expected a source to look like‌ it was just a boggy bit of ground! We also walked down to a waterfall, and measured its height and the depth of its plunge pool.
Finally, we went to see the “Airman’s Grave” where we were told a true story about how brave men saved the lives of civilians in the second world war. We had a one minute silence whilst standing around the
monument, which I think was really respectful of our group to do. Then we got to eat our lunch and get back to school. I loved the trip to the Ashdown Forest!”
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The Geography Pages
Add to this the goody bags of McLaren apparel (the note books really are sumptuous!), and this was a fantastic day for myself and Mrs Hickox and we are both very proud of those involved. Three of our students have been generous in telling their side of the story:
Year 12 Mission Control Malaria
This was a joint venture between Geography and Science; Mrs Hickox and I had the amazing opportunity to visit the McLaren Technology Centre (more accurately, their Thought Leadership Centre) to watch various speakers from a wide background – including TV presenters and global leaders in pharmaceuticals – lead a select bunch of students in developing theories to control the spread of Malaria around the developing world. As well as the building itself being mind-blowing (see photos!), it was very humbling to see our own Warlingham students mix in with other high-flyers from the South of England and take part in a debate at the end of the day. Page 10
“I really enjoyed my day at the McLaren Learning Facility finding out about the major issues of malaria and what ways there were to try and combat it. My group in the institute for intervention analysis area were trying to find out what the most cost-effective way to combat malaria was in my region, Ghana. For example, how many people should have treated nets and how often they should be renewed?” Callum Ledger “I was involved with the global logistics workshop. Here I learnt about the difficulties of transporting and giving the medicine to those who needed it. After we came back as a group and discussed what we learnt. Then we had to decide what we thought would be the best way to improve and reduce the effect malaria has in Ghana. In the end we voted on Zeer Pot (a clay pot that has sand and water in between. When the water evaporates,
it draws out the heat. This allows it to be used as a fridge to store medicine for longer), educational materials such as wrist bands that directed people to a hot line and solar panel powered mosquito traps. Near the end of the day three of us represented each idea and had to speak in front of everyone including experts. I was in charge of explaining why the Zeer Pot would be a good resource for Ghana to use.” Tasmin Wall “A malaria workshop in an underground McLaren lab… a new one! Here we learnt about the distribution and impacts of malaria around the world. Hosted by GSK and Comic Relief, there was the opportunity to discuss and evaluate
how in certain areas of the world malaria affects and kills. We gathered in groups and came up with ideas on how to combat the global issue. After a lunch put on by McLaren of sandwiches and cakes, we went into a large 360 degree room full of computer screens and modern technology and listened to experts on malaria and posed questions to them. Overall I learnt a lot and had a great time.” Ross George
Mr Gardner Head of Geography
An article written by a couple of our Biologists, Maia Cooper (13A) and Joy Tarre (13N) follows... Page 11
Mission Control: Malaria
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On 24th November 2016, some of the A Level Biology and Geography students had the opportunity to attend the ‘Mission Control: Malaria’ day which was organised for Sixth Formers. Page 13
Mission Control: Malaria
The event took place at the prestigious McLaren Thought Leadership centre at Woking and was hosted by Comic Relief and GlaxoSmithKline. The purpose of the day was to raise awareness about malaria and how it affects various places in the world such as Ghana. Furthermore, the conference gave the students insight into some pioneering work that has been done by scientists in the control of malaria. The conference also allowed the students to think of innovative ways to treat malaria. Malaria is a disease that is spread by mosquitoes, specifically the female Anopheles, and takes the life of a child every two minutes.
were all in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Greater Mekong sub region. The teams were further divided into sub teams, each having the opportunity to learn more about different aspects of malaria, such as the way in which malaria is managed and new technology that is being developed to combat the disease. As well as this, we had the opportunity to be interactive, using new technology. Afterwards the sub teams were reunited with their group where they discussed what they had learned. We found it interesting to here about the innovative ways malaria is being controlled.
In one of the sessions, some students were able to talk to Allan Pamba, Vice Only ten students from ten schools President and General Manager of in the Southeast were invited to GSK East Africa and Dr James Logan, attend, so we were lucky to be one Senior Lecturer at the London School of the ten schools that were chosen of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The and because of drop outs from other students were able to do experiments schools, we were allowed to send a to find out what smells malaria couple of extra students! We were asked to dress professionally, mosquitoes are most attracted to. The students were then able to vote for the which matched the theme of the three solutions they felt were the most event. The day started off with us effective ways to tackle malaria. receiving McLaren stationery, and At the end of the day, the students refreshments. We were then told the were able to present their ideas to order in which the day would run. Then, we were split into groups which a panel of lectures, doctors and represented different countries, which journalists in McLaren’s 360° room. Page 14
The panel discussed the strengths and and why we need to fight it, grow weakness of each of the methods. The throughout the day.” students also received gift bags! On behalf of the students we would We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and like to thank GSK, Comic Relief found it beneficial; one of the students and the member of the McLaren Leadership Centre for allowing this said “the day was very useful as it allowed me to learn about malaria and event to happen. Furthermore, we the technology that is being designed would like to thank Mr Gardener and Ms Hickox for accompanying us on the to control malaria”. trip. Dr Logan, who was both a workshop facilitator and panellist on the day, said, “We’re committed to fighting malaria globally and the workshops and debates today have helped us enthuse and inspire the next generation of scientists and decision makers to continue this fight. I’ve been encouraged to see the passion from the students, and witness their understanding of what malaria is,
Maia Cooper (13A) and Joy Tarre (13N)
You can read more about the day on the Comic Relief website: http://www.comicrelief.com/news/ comic-relief-and-gsk-inspire-nextgeneration-take-on-mission-controlmalaria Page 15
Takeover Day: A Day to Remember! According to the Children’s Commissioner website, Takeover Day is a “fun, hugely successful and exciting engagement project which sees organisations across England opening their doors to children and young people to take over adult roles”. Takeover Day took place on the 18th November at County Hall in Kingstonupon-Thames.
are: 1.4 million people, £1.8 billion, 5,555km - enough to get from here to New York, and 393 schools with 148,657 pupils in total.) At lunch, I talked directly to Julie about her A-Levels and how she went from being a global negotiator for steel and other metals to being an economist. She said that she took Geography and Economics, however, she wished that she had taken Maths as she felt that it opens up more opportunities to you in certain jobs, especially jobs in Economics. I also spoke to David Munro, Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner. Earlier, he gave everyone a quick tour around some of the holding cells under the court and even the court itself where he said many dramas are filmed such as Midsomer Murders and Downton Abbey.
When I arrived, there were about twenty to thirty children there, ranging from the age of 13 to 18. During the course of the day, we met amazing people and heard profound stories. This included a woman called Julie Fisher, the Deputy Chief Executive for Surrey County Council, who said that when she was 16 years old, she would have never imagined working at Kingston-upon-Thames. Initially, she co-ordinated spares for the Gulf War - she even drove a tank! Her main After lunch, we split into two groups. I message at the end was to take any went to the Tulk Fund group where we opportunity presented. had the opportunity to decide which A quiz was given to us later on to school gets £180,000 to support see how well we knew Surrey. Some sports facilities. To avoid any bias, of the questions were: “How many the school names were unfortunately people live in Surrey?”, “What is removed but were revealed at the end Surrey’s annual budget?”, “How many (our school didn’t apply nor would it kilometres of road are there in Surrey?” be applicable anyway). I can’t reveal and “How many schools and pupils the results as they were confidential, are there in Surrey?” (The answers however, I can say that schools in Page 16
Surrey will be getting table-tennis tables, surface refurbishment and MUGAs (Multi Use Game Areas). This was the overall concept of the day; to let youths make real life decisions that have an impact. None of this would have been possible without the Student Council giving me the opportunity earlier this year to be elected to the position of being the Tandridge representative in the Youth Collective. Earlier this year, the Surrey Youth Collective received about 30,000 votes from young people for a petition called ‘Make your Mark’ to decide what young people believe in, which then went to Parliament. It was they who asked me to go to the County Hall for this occasion.
I would highly recommend visiting them on social media or on their website: www.youthcollective.co.uk.
Oliver McCourty (11M)
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UKMT Senior Maths Challenge
On Tuesday 8th November, some of our year 12 and 13 A Level Maths student’s sat the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge – answering questions such as: How many times does the digit 9 appear in the answer to: 987654321 × 9? A 0 B 1 C 5 D 8 E 9
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Congratulations to Robert Gainlall and Amin Lmoh who both received a Silver certificate and also to Ben Trzcinski, Ethan West, Daniel Hall, Francesca Parker, Serena Rossetti and Cameron Willcock who all received Bronze certificates.
Mrs Scott 2ic Mathematics
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RADA Youth Academy This year, Ben Ekrem - a Year 13 drama student - has been accepted into the RADA Youth Academy. This is an excellent opportunity for him to be part of England’s top drama school and was far from easy to get! 2000 people applied for the prestigious academy’s youth programme, fighting for 16 places. Ben was one of the 1400 who continued to the audition stage of the application, taking on an unprepared group audition with lots of improvisation and on the spot work, along with questions about each applicant’s background and passion for theatre. Ben described the day of the audition as ”amazing”; he was given a private tour of the Rada building and its three theatres, getting to see first-hand the largest prop and costume collection in England. Once the audition was over, there was a tense wait for the phone call that would confirm his place, but his hard work paid off as he was one of the 16 applicants accepted. Ben attends the academy every Saturday, taking masterclasses and working with the Youth Company director Phil Sheppard. He has also been able to watch performances by the 3rd year BA students, including Page 20
the recent performance of “You got older” by Clare Barron. This is an incredible opportunity and a big advantage to anyone pursuing a career in the performing arts, due to the opportunities to meet industry people and receive advice on auditions for drama schools, particularly as the best
people from the Youth Academy have the opportunity to be accepted into the Rada degree programme through their end of year performance. Ben commented he now has “one foot through the door to [his] dream”.
Amelia Hill (13N) Page 21
Senior Maths Team Challenge
On 7th November, four sixth formers and Mrs Scott attended a senior maths team challenge at Cobham Hall School. A feature of the Maths Department’s gifted & talented programme is the extra-curricular events like these. In this maths challenge, a team of four competed in various mathematical challenges that stretched the mind.
greeted with, essentially, a castle.
We set off in the middle of the school day, to much delight. Five of us cramped into a car set off to the event. We had a feeling of apprehension, with none of us really knowing what would be going on, but there’s nothing better than jumping into the unknown.
The event was jointly hosted by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust and the Further Maths Support Program. As we sat down at our table, we were given some warm up questions to prepare us for what was to come. These kinds of questions completely contrasted with our Maths lessons at school; these were wordy brain teasers. The whole
We reached the venue for the competition. After what seemed liked an endless entrance road, we were Page 22
After being pointed to reception, we were led through many corridors to a room full of tables and a stage. Paintings to the left and right, a ceiling that stretched up, with balconies on either side. And here I was thinking this was just a maths competition! It seemed like the school hosting it wanted to make an impression.
group tried the questions and we all agreed this was going to be tough, but we were all there to have fun so competition wasn’t really on our minds. Regardless, we still wanted to do our best.
tried our luck and guessed some of them. To our disappointment we didn’t manage to correctly judge many.
The second round was a crossnumber round. Similar to a crossword, a grid had to be filled with correct numbers corresponding to maths clues. The catch was, we had to work in pairs and our progress depended on how quickly the other pair was advancing. We weren’t allowed to communicate, only allowed to ask them to focus on a particular clue through our teacher judge. Near the end of our time given, we had a lot of empty squares so we
strengths and worked as a good team.
The final round was a shuttle round. We were once again in pairs, given two questions each. However, the answer to the first question was needed A short break followed, with teachers to complete the second question being shuffled around to judge another school’s table. The first round and so on. As each pair didn’t have consecutive question numbers, this commenced; it was a group round in meant relying on the other pair to which we had ten questions between complete their question before being the whole group to solve in forty minutes. Our strategy was to pick up able to move on. We were on the one of the questions each and have a home stretch, and after a strong start in this round we stumbled past the go before moving onto the next one. We weren’t naïve, we knew these were finish line. difficult, but having a challenging and After the scores were added up, the thought-provoking set of questions event organisers thanked everyone was entirely the aim. One particular and announced the final results. We sheep question stood out to Ben, who finished in 11th place. Whilst not near was so determined to see how close the top, we were proud to not be he was to the answer that he checked last, and we all had a laugh through the solution when he got home. He the whole process. While there were wasn’t far off so congratulations! a variety of questions, we all had our After having a bit of trouble getting onto the correct motorway, we made our way home, brains teased and minds stretched. I’d like to thank Dan Hill, Ben Trzcinski and Robert Gainlall for the team work. I’d also like Mrs Scott for the transport and the great organisation.
Amin Lmoh (13L) Page 23
2016 Primary Swimming Gala
We were delighted and pleased to host our 10th Primary Swimming Gala on Thursday 10th November this year. This event aims to provide a competition for students from Year 4 to Year 6 across the local primary schools. For some of these children, it is their first time to take part in a competitive swimming gala, for others it provides them with the opportunity to show their more advanced skills and abilities, if they are already members of out-of-school clubs. Page 24
From looking at all the participants, it was very pleasing to see a range of experience and ability and all of the swimmers did a fantastic job in the way in which they participated and represented their schools. On the back of a very successful Rio Olympics, it is important to provide these opportunities at a grass roots level so that we can inspire the next generation to follow the likes of Adam Peaty or Ellie Simmonds for example.
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2016 Primary Swimming Gala In addition to the competitive ethos of our gala, it is an event which relies a great deal on the leadership and volunteering qualities of our Warlingham Sixth Form CSLA students. They are on a course to develop their leadership skills and this requires them to help run events such as this. Our sixth form students this year who did a super job were: Rebecca Adams, Taylor Beck, Ross George, James Gordon, Lucy Hughes, Zac Kellaway, Callum Ledger, Taylor Leech, Hannah Lewis, Joe Moore, Issy Player, Aimee Rocke, Reece O’Flaherty, Emma Stanford, Ellen Umukoro. Warlingham School also very much benefits from the community links that we have. Again this is essential if events such as these are to run and also for expertise to be shared. We were extremely fortunate to benefit again from the help and support of swimming coaches from Redhill and Reigate Swimming Club. Steve Hinton from the club – (Teacher/Coach) has been a regular supporter of this event and ran a very slick set of races as our starter. Lucy Ashdown Parkes (coach) also from the club did a great job with our sixth formers as the Chief Whip. The paperwork and the reporting of Page 26
our results is a time consuming job. Each year Penny Stock has been the swimming guru of this event and has enabled the results to be recorded quickly and efficiently. Even though she is no longer a member of staff at Warlingham she has been prepared to volunteer her time on top of the pressures of a new job! We are extremely grateful for this.
We were delighted to have so many primary staff and parents to come and support the event, it helped to create an exciting and positive atmosphere for the children. We were also pleased to see the involvement of other sixth formers playing their part. Edward Unwins came and took some great photographs together with the help of Logan Sinclair. The event could not
have taken place without our qualified Life Guards. We were very fortunate to have two Year 13 students to fulfil this role, Amy Knight and Natalie French. Due to the high numbers of participants and supporters we also required an effective sound system. Many thanks to Miss Clark, Head of Drama and to her technical team: Connor O’ Shea and Ellie Smith. Page 27
2016 Primary Swimming Gala / Boys’ Cross Country
Here are this year’s results: 1st – Whyteleafe – 161 points 2nd – Audley – 134 points 3rd – Hillcroft – 132 points 4th – Woodlea – 114 points 5th – St. John’s – 106 points 6th – Hamsey Green – 105 points 7th – St. Francis – 88 points Finally, we would like to thank the PE Department for relinquishing their facilities, Gary Brown and the Site team for preparing the pool, Fiona Delaney for ordering the medals and Page 28
Pam Mutter for all the printing. The primary children at the end of the event enjoyed receiving their medals and certificates from our Headteacher, Mr Bradwell. Callum Ledger, in Year 12, said, “I had a great time at the swimming gala as everyone was involved and we had a good time executing the job that we were given.”
Mrs Salem P.E. Teacher
Boys’ District Cross Country Mr Ashdown and Mr Tipton took a select group of students to RAAS for the annual Cross Country event with high hopes of good performances although we were rather downbeat due to the poor annual weather that also correlates with the occasion. The Year 7 team performed well considering this was their first attempt at this and for many this was a longer distance than some had ever run. With brother Dan (Year 9) goading Jay Simpson that he will beat his place finish, Jay was motivated to perform to the best of his ability and ran in a very impressive 11th place. He was followed by Louis Gates in 25th and Jamie Bryant in 33rd. Cameron Handley, Joe Pearson, Chris Standen, Val Marchese and Zak Khan all helped the Year 7 team finish 8th overall. The Year 8 team impressed with many top finishes. Zac Priest came in 10th with Jack Nelson powering through to finish 14th and Joel Ekins also running very strong to complete the race in 20th place. Sam Parnell and Josh Hardy finished 30th and 31st giving us the best points total overall meaning Warlingham finished 1st overall. After Jay came in 11th, Dan Simpson was desperate to beat his brother and
as a determined character, he pushed himself to achieve an amazing 5th place finish! Charlie Riches and Taylor Jones also ran very efficiently coming in 16th and 17th respectively with Sam Tagg and Tate Edmonds also placing side by side in 33rd and 34th. This left us in 6th place overall. The Year 10s and Year 11s ran together meaning pacing was tricky for the boys as some were trying to run as fast as some of the quick, club athletes. However, the determination of Will Fellows (Year 11) pushed him to finish 13th followed by a disappointed Bailey Guy (Year 11) who was hoping for a better placing. Our first placed Year 10 was Henry Still who finished 40th closely followed by Alex Corvaglia (also Year 10) in 42nd out of both year groups with David Gboyega (with his jumper wrapped round his head) finishing in 47th. This meant Warlingham finished in 5th overall. The weather was cold and wet so the boys did really well to remain motivated and push through the poor climate to achieve some fantastic results. Well done to all involved and thanks to Mr Tipton for keeping me entertained in the cold and wet!
Mr Ashdown Head of Physical Education Page 29
Trip to Auschwitz At the end of the last school year, holocaust survivor, Freddie Knoller visited Warlingham Sixth Form to tell his story. This year, the people who received this talk were given the opportunity to apply for the chance to visit Auschwitz concentration camp, where Freddie had been imprisoned for the toughest years of his life. Amin Lmoh, Darcy Still, Natalie Pryke-Collins and I managed to get the places available, along with Mr Gardner. This trip is organised annually by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) as part of the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ programme. We are one of the hundreds of sixth forms and colleges such as being able to find a tour of fortunate enough to be given this it available on a ‘stag do’ planning opportunity. website, and having restaurants First, we attended a seminar in London opened directly opposite to profit from explaining exactly what would happen the public interest in the location. on the trip. We listened to a talk by On the 3rd of November we all met at Steven Frank, another Holocaust Gatwick airport for our 7.00am flight to survivor that works with the HET. The Krakow, Poland. We landed at roughly meeting allowed us to meet the rest of 10:20 local time. Immediately after our group, which consisted of about landing and going through security, we fifteen students (there were ten groups were split into five coaches and we set in total), and our group leader who off on the one-hour drive to the town of was essentially our educator for the Oświęcim (pronounced Ozvienchim), trip. We discussed our expectations of more commonly known by its German what we might see and how we may name, Auschwitz. feel. We also talked about some of the The pre-war population of Auschwitz controversy surrounding Auschwitz, was predominantly Jewish and Page 30
known for being a thriving Jewish community. It used to house one of Poland’s largest synagogues: the Great Synagogue. The space this once occupied is now an area of grass with a few trees. The town had over twenty synagogues before the war, of which only one still stands and only because it was used as a carpet warehouse by the Nazis. This one remaining synagogue has been converted into an exhibition to help remember the community that once lived there. While we were in this exhibition, Rabbi Garson, who had come with us on the trip, talked to us about how there haven’t been any Jews living there
since the last Jewish resident died in 2000. He also explained some of the methods that the Nazis used to dehumanise the Jews by exploiting their faith to use against them. We then returned to the coach for the short journey to the main camp, Auschwitz 1. We were driving along the equivalent of an ‘A’ Road when the camp suddenly came into view on the right side of the coach. As we approached, we could either turn right into the car park for Auschwitz, or turn left into the car park of a hotel and diner. We all found it a bit disconcerting that for some people it was just another tourist destination. Page 31
Trip to Auschwitz
After being dropped off by the coach, we gathered in our groups and lined up ready to enter the camp. We were given headphones and a receiver so that we could hear our tour guide at all times. This actually kept the whole site very quiet as guides didn’t have to raise their voice to make sure everyone could hear. It also dissuaded people from talking amongst themselves between buildings which gave us time to take in everything we saw. After meeting our Polish guide, we were eerily greeted with the infamous ‘Arbeit Page 32
Macht Frei’ iron banner. This slogan, which translates to ‘Work makes you free’, was adopted by many of the concentration camps across Poland. I remember being surprised at how well the buildings have been preserved on the outside as we walked through an avenue of dark bricked cell blocks. The first buildings we entered were Block 4 and 5 which had been turned into display and information buildings. They stored a lot of the material evidence that was found at the camp
after liberation in 1945, such as shoes, suitcases, spectacles, pots and pans; even piles of the canisters that contained the toxic Zyklon B pellets used to gas hundreds of thousands of people; and the most harrowing display of all, a mound roughly 15 metres long, 3 metres deep and 2 metres tall, composed of human hair. For a lot of us, this was the most distressing part of the whole trip.
burn the bodies afterwards.
After leaving the crematorium, we made our way back to the coach and headed to Birkenau, the main death camp at Auschwitz. Unlike Auschwitz 1, Birkenau has very few buildings still standing because a lot of them were burned down at the end of the war, so the first thing we noticed was how vast the site was, because it was a flat square kilometre field with foundations We reconvened outside the building for hundreds of huts and lots of and walked to the gallows which watchtowers around the perimeter. were used to hang Rudolph Hรถss, the Because of how huge this site was, the commandant of Auschwitz, in 1947 headphones and receivers were not after the Nuremberg trials. The gallows required like they were at Auschwitz themselves were positioned between 1, as the groups could spread out the crematorium and his house, facing more. We first approached the main the camp itself. We continued on into control tower, under which the main the crematorium, which was the first railway line ran that would bring in gas chamber to be used at Auschwitz, huge transports of Jews and other and the only one still standing after minority groups from all over Europe. the war. It was mostly covered in a Rabbi Garson gave us a quick talk grassy bank. Walking into a room about how the main act of resistance where thousands had spent their that the Jews were physically capable last moments in complete terror and of was to resist the Nazi efforts to confusion was a surreal experience turn them into animals through many to say the least! It was a dark, bare, dehumanising acts that they were concrete walled room with small forced to execute on a daily basis. hatches in the roof used to pour in the Our guide took us to one of the Zyklon B pellets that would react with remaining huts. It first seemed fairly the air to release poisonous hydrogen large until we were told that at least cyanide gas. There were two doors; 600 people would be crammed into one for entering the room and a each hut; the prisoners themselves second that led to the ovens used to stating it was closer to 1000 people. Page 33
Trip to Auschwitz Next, we made our way to ‘the ramp’ where the new arrivals would have first gathered for selection. Here, able-bodied workers were sent in one direction and those unfit for work were immediately sent to the gas chambers at one of the four on-site crematoria, the largest of which could take up to 2000 people at any one time. We walked further down the line to Crematorium Number 2. All of the crematoria at Birkenau were blown up at the end of the war by the Nazis in order to cover up the heinous crimes they committed, so all that remains is a pile of rubble and an elongated hole where the underground section of the chamber lay. Here we were told about the Sonderkommandos; Jewish worker regiments forced to dispose of the bodies after they had been gassed. Some of them buried notes in the surrounding area in the hope that one day somebody would find them and would learn of the atrocities that had been committed there. We then made our way in the dark to the area in the camp known as ‘Kanada’, named after the country that was deemed to be very rich at the time. This is where all the prisoners’ belongings were sorted and sent to Germany to help the Nazi war effort. Page 34
The final building we visited was the ‘sauna’ which was far from any rational meaning of the word. This is where those chosen for work were tortured, stripped of all identity and instead given a number. As we walked round the building we came to a room with thousands of photos pinned to a wall. Each one of them was a victim of Auschwitz. Many of them had short life stories beside the pictures. This was a very powerful display. Thousands would have been completely dehumanised in that building, however this room was returning some of their identities and showing that they once led normal lives like the rest of us. To finish our time at Birkenau, all of the groups gathered around the tracks for a closing speech from Rabbi Garson. He wanted to emphasise how everyone involved, including the perpetrators themselves, was human and to prevent it ever happening again, people need to start taking responsibility and stand up to discriminatory behaviour in any form. He ended his speech with a Hebrew Prayer which raised our spirits a little. We then all lit a candle and lay it on the tracks creating a long line of light stretching over 100 meters towards
Auschwitz trip owe a huge thanks to the HET for investing so much time We made our way back to the and money each year so that more coach both physically and mentally and more students can learn about exhausted. We all took the one hour journey back to the airport to reflect on and share their knowledge of the Holocaust. And also a big thanks to possibly the most unforgettable day the Sixth Form team and the History of our lives. We landed at Gatwick Department for encouraging us to take around 22:30 and had to prepare part. ourselves for a normal school day in Cameron Willcock (13R) the morning. the entrance of the camp.
Ten days after the trip, we travelled up to London for one final seminar where we discussed how we will go about educating others with what we had learned. All of us fortunate enough to experience the Lessons from the
The Holocaust Educational Trust was established in 1988. Its aim is to educate young people from every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today. For more information, see the trust’s website: http://www.het.org.uk Page 35
News from the LRC
Here in the LRC, we work hard to ensure we keep our stock as up to date and relevant for the broad range of readers we have. As a result, we have already bought approximately 140 books this term. Borrowing remains consistently high, with very Research points to a range of personal little difference in library usage between boys and girls. We are particularly and academic advantages: proud of this statistic as nationally • It can greatly influence test scores there is usually a large gender gap in in maths, spelling and vocabulary reading habits. (Sullivan and Brown, 2013). In fact, Next term, my aim is to work with reading achievement can have students who have never borrowed a positive impact on attainment a book from the LRC. This may well across the curriculum. be because the students have access • Regular reading improves general to their own reading material, which knowledge, encourages a richer vocabulary and increase accuracy in is great! Alternatively, it could be that they have yet to develop a love spelling. of reading having not found that one • It can improve capacity for special book to start their journey. comprehension (Cox and Guthrie, 2001) and instil a greater pleasure in My reading journey started aged 13 with ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ reading later in life. and I have never looked back. Since • Reading allows young people to then, I have always had a book on gather information about the world and how they fit in to it, encouraging the go. That’s a substantial numbers of years, more than I care to admit! I empathy, mindfulness and selfhave read books that have made me confidence. • It can strengthen, challenge or alter cry, laugh and cringe. I have read the ways in which young people see books that I can feel, hear and smell as the characters do, living every the world and engage with it, how they develop relationships and bond moment with them (Diana Gabaldon – Outlander series if you are interested). with peers. Page 36 Reading for pleasure is an activity that has real emotional and social significance. There is growing evidence that illustrates the importance of reading for pleasure, for both educational and personal development.
This passion for reading is something we would like all our students to develop so they too can enjoy the enrichment it will bring to their lives, wellbeing and confidence. Please remind students that we are here to support them and will gladly help them select appropriate books. Alternatively, if parents would like to make an appointment to visit the LRC with their children after school, I would
be happy to facilitate this at a mutually convenient time. Please email me at l.ferguson@warlinghamschool.co.uk if I can be of assistance. In closing, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year from the LRC staff.
Mrs Ferguson L RC Co-ordinator
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Pie-A-Teacher
On the 18th of November, the Student Council had prepared a fun event to raise money for Children in Need. We charged one pound per throw to ‘Pie-A-Teacher’ of our choice. Page 38
There were lots of teachers to choose from, including: Mr. Dicks, Miss Nathan, Miss Bradley, Mr Tipton, Mr Johnston, Mr Robbins, Mr Ellis, Mr Gunn, Mr Jennings and Mr Hellier, as well as many others!
In total we raised ÂŁ56 in about 15 minutes which all went to Children in Need. The event was great fun and went down very well with the rest of the school.
There were also other fundraising activities going on throughout the day; one of which was a donut sale which was run by the Sixth Form.
Anya Rotchell (8A) Page 39
Children in Need / Movember
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November was an eventful month for Warlingham. Children In Need is a prominent event in the UK and so important for the Warlingham community. The Charity Committee organised a doughnut sale which sold in minutes. Appropriate for the occasion, Pudsey ears were also sold and Sixth Form students were asked to wear yellow!
Cancer. We contributed to this by having our teachers, like Mr Scott determinedly growing out their hair. We then sold moustaches to the whole school and so the whole school were involved in this and was a huge success! Abby Stephens, leader of the Charity Committee said that ‘It was great to see so many people involved and so many people enthusiastic about it! It was a nice way to bring the whole school community together.’
Movember is a yearly occurrence in the month of November to raise awareness for men’s health problems such as Prostate Cancer and Testicular Ayesha Sheikh (13L)
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Dates for your diary
Tuesday 20th December 2016 Last Day of Autumn Term - Early Closure: 12.30pm
Wenesday 4th January 2017 Staff In-Service Training Day
Thursday 5th January 2017 First Day of Spring Term for Students Sixth Form Graduation Ceremony
Friday 13th January 2017 Year 11 Reports Home
Wednesday 18th January 2017 Year 7 Parents’ Evening
Monday 30th January 2017 Year 8 & 9 Core Assessment Year 10 Exam Week Page 42 Page 42
Friday 3rd February 2017 Year 9 Reports Home
Monday 6th February 2017 Year 12 PPE Week
Wednesday 8th February 2017 Year 9 Options Evening
Monday 13th - Friday 17th February 2017 Half Term
Please check the calendar on our website for a full list of dates: http://www.warlinghamschool.co.uk/92/ calendar
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Wide Horizons High Aspirations
Warlingham School Address: Tithepit Shaw Lane, Warlingham, Surrey, CR6 9YB Tel: 01883 624067 Fax: 01883 624026 Email: info@warlinghamschool.co.uk Website: www.warlinghamschool.co.uk