News Warlingham School
ISSUE 4 2017-2018 MARCH 2018 In this edition FROM the headteacher
2-3
Be Internet Citizens Workshop
4-11
Primary Cross Country Cup
12-15
Litter-Picking Students
16-21
SATRO Problem-Solving Competition
22-23
Pi Day
24-29
Drugs Awareness Performance and Workshop
30-31
Science Week at Hamsey Green
32-33
Year 8: Outstanding Art
34-37
Inter-House Debate Competition
38-39
Physics in Action Trip
40-45
BIENVENUE A WARLINGHAM
46-51
IN THE HOT SEAT: MR WARD
52-53
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? KATE HAYS
54-55
FEATURE: Be Internet Citizens Workshop FEATURE: Litter-Picking Students
FEATURE: Pi Day
FEATURE: Inter-House Debate Competition
Wide Horizons High Aspirations
FEATURE: Bienvenue à Warlingham
From the Headteacher...
safe online, become positive online I hope everyone has enjoyed a relaxing citizens and increase their resilience to antisocial behaviours, hate and Easter weekend. I’m sure the rest of extremism online. As you can read the Easter holiday will involve a great later in the newsletter, the Year 9 deal of revision for Year 11 and Year students who participated found it to 13 students as they prepare for their GCSE and A Level exams in May and be a really useful experience. Throughout the penultimate week June. of term, our Sixth Form students Although the next two months really organised a series of events to raise emphasise the academic side of money for the London Air Ambulance school life for those taking external and Cancer Research UK as part of exams, this edition of our newsletter their RAG week. A wide range of fun shows the importance we place events, including Pie-the-Teacher, on ensuring students have a fullyrounded education that enables them Great British Bake-Off, Staff v Student to develop the skills and qualities they Dodgeball, Primary School Sports Day, Guess the number of sweets in a jar, need to be successful citizens. and the staff Lip-Sync battle, to name On Friday 23rd March, Year 9 students just a few, helped to raise £1,000 for took part in a day’s activity run by the two charities. Well done to all Google and YouTube about how involved. to be good internet citizens. The programme aimed to give our students Well done to the Sixth Form BTEC Music students and Mr Duff who the capacities they need to stay organised a Spring Charity concert Dear Parents / Carers
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which was held on Thursday 15th March in aid of Shooting Star Chase. I would also like to thank all the students involved in the local litterpick activity that took place on 19th February. This was an excellent example of our students making a positive contribution to our local community. Also making a positive contribution to the local school community have been our Sixth Form Sports Leaders, who helped Mrs Salem to organise the recent Primary School Cross-Country Competition at Warlingham on 13th March. Despite the pouring rain, nine of our neighbouring primary schools took part and really enjoyed the event, showing a great deal of enthusiasm, endurance and resilience. Congratulations are due to our Sixth Form students who beat off the challenge of numerous local schools to win the Surrey SATRO ProblemSolving Challenge. Thank you to Mr Moore for organising the team. I would also like to thank Mr Leay for organising the successful Inter-House Debate Competition just before the end of term. The ability to organise and articulate a coherent and clear argument is a skill which will help all
our students in the world of work. I am sure that all the different activities featured in this edition of the newsletter contribute to the fully-rounded curriculum that we aim to provide at Warlingham. Two members of staff are moving on to pastures new at the end of this term. Mr Ali (Maths Department) is moving on to a promoted post at a new school and Mr Smith (Maple Room) is taking on a position in the Scouting Organisation; I would like to thank them both for all their hard work at the school. Welcome back to Mr Staley who is rejoining the Maths Department next term. Enjoy the rest of the Easter holiday! Mr N Bradwell Headteacher
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Be Internet Citizens Workshop
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On Friday 23rd March, Warlingham was proud to host a day-long digital citizenship workshop called ‘Be Internet Citizens’ - a nationwide project that is run as part of Google’s YouTube ‘Creators for Change’ initiative. The workshop was produced by the
Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and was delivered by dynamic and entertaining facilitators from Google and YouTube. They came in with energy and enthusiasm to pass on vital digital citizenship skills to enable our students to become positive users of a safe and exciting web. Page 5
Be Internet Citizens Workshop CONTINUED
The workshop took our young people through a range of social and political issues they face today such as hate speech, fake news and emotional manipulation and was an effective and inspiring way for our students to learn media literacy, critical thinking and digital citizenship.
On Friday 23rd of March, Warlingham School’s Year 9s participated in an internet citizens workshop. We were one of the schools in England that had been selected. People from YouTube and Google hosted the workshops and taught us about the internet.
Mr Toop Associate Assistant Head / Head of S RW
vs Them’. This was because it was a debating competition between two teams. My team was called ‘Rover’.
We were separated into classes and We were excited that our local Member worked through a range of activities of Parliament, Sam Gyimah MP, also including: ‘Fake News’, ‘Haters Gonna attended the event. Hate’ and ‘Us vs Them’. We also took We asked three students to share their part in a creative activity. experiences. My favourite part of the day was ‘Us
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The winning team were able to “go to Mars”. To start, we were given a list of 10 skills and we had to choose the five most important. We were told to sell these skills to the other team and tell them why our chosen five were most important. We were given two minutes to explain to the other team why we were the team that should go to Mars and then we were given a further minute to counter their arguments. My team created a chant and played an anthem at the end of our debates, which the host thought was very good.
Throughout the day we collected definition cards to explain what various terms meant so by the end of the day we were able to understand everything about online terms. As the day came to a close, the hosts and co-hosts chose two representatives to summarise what we’d done. At the end of the day, we had a closing assembly in which we thanked them for an amazing day and experience!
Brooke Whitney (9L)
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Be Internet Citizens Workshop CONTINUED
that someone could video us. Whilst we were being filmed, we had to say what we think people’s first opinion of us is and then explain what we would actually like them to think about us. This was to show us not to have One of the activities was filming ourselves. During this activity we were biased first opinions about people because of what they look like. given new Google Pixel phones so On Friday 23rd of March, Year 9 students at Warlingham School had the opportunity to have an internet citizens workshop hosted by Google and YouTube.
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‘Fake News’ is a phrase that is often mentioned as a topic of conversation in recent times. It often relates to stories about rich and powerful figures, such as the American President Donald Trump (who likes to portray himself as the victim of fake news). In fact, this phrase has been used so often that it was recently added to the dictionary and was even crowned the official Collins Dictionary word of 2017! But what exactly is fake news and how can you spot it? Well, Year 9 recently participated in a YouTube/Google event, designed to make us experts in this field. We were given phrase cards with headlines on and had to decide what was fact and what was fiction. We were told to go to one side of the class if we thought it was fake and the other if we thought it was real. This showed up some surprising results with some seemingly incredible stories turning out to be true, whilst other, more mundane articles, turned out to be fake. We
I think this day was an amazing chance to learn new social skills because we were put with people who wouldn’t usually be in our friendship groups. Also the group leaders were amazing and were extremely kind to all of the students in their groups.
Grace Stewart (9M)
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Be Internet Citizens Workshop CONTINUED
were then informed how to identify fake news and why people use it. This was an enjoyable, insightful and engaging session and helped us to appreciate that fake news is a modern issue that affects our daily lives. This exercise also stressed how important it is not to assume something is real just because it gives the figures and looks official; it encouraged people to dig deeper to find the truth. Fake news is considered to be articles or posts that attempt to appear to be factual, but which contain intentional errors that impersonate facts and Page 10
are intended to influence or deceive people. We also discussed how fake news often uses biased viewpoints. Once you know what fake news is, you are more likely to notice when it appears and the effect it is trying to have on you. For example, during the 2016 American Presidential Election, Fox News (an American news channel) used and manipulated news to support Donald Trump, influencing many voters to support Trump. We were taught strategies to spot signs indicating potential fake news. For example, always look at the web
address and consider whether it looks legitimate. Another technique is to see if pictures match up with the same company that produces the newspaper. Also, think carefully about whether the story makes sense and consider what the author’s intention was. Finally, check multiple news sources to see if a news story is a one-
off or whether it appears several times across a variety of media. Overall, this event was both enjoyable and useful and has equipped those attending with the skills to view the world and news stories with a more balanced perspective.
Thomas Burke (9L)
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Primary Cross Country Cup
The weather played its part in our 11th Primary Cross Country Competition this year, which was held on Tuesday 13th March. Snow featured heavily in the week before the competition meaning conditions were cold and the surface wet - to say the least! However, on the day, the sun shone in the morning and conditions looked good. The purpose of the competition is to provide leadership experiences for our Warlingham students, as well as a competitive and fun competition for Page 12
children in the local primary schools. I would like to thank the Year 12 CSLA students and Year 9 Young Ambassadors who took on various roles throughout the competition. Our Year 12 CSLA students were: Zoe Sheldrake, Jemma Mayhew, Ciaran Norman, Hannah Vinton, Lydia Horn, Peppe Monteasi, Holly Elvins, Emmanuel Lloyd, Charlie Wicking, Anna O’Sullivan, Leah Wyllie, Connie Hill, and Mollie Durling. Our Year 9 Young Ambassadors were: Jess Taylor, Amy Johnstone, Mia Rouse,
Amy Collins, Summer Patton, Grace Stewart, Mia Priest, Jack Nelson, Josh Hardy, Caid Anderburg, James Clarke, Luke Allen Sanders, Matt Greaves and Joel Ekins. We had runners from nine of our local primary schools with Bletchingley Village Primary School being a new addition this year. Only one primary school was unable to make it at the last minute. So our competition would have comprised ten schools – which would have been a new record! Maybe next year!
The races got off to a good start in perfect Cross County conditions – not too cold and no wind! However halfway through the competition, the skies looked threatening and the heavens opened during the last two races. Runners, spectators, sixth formers and Young Ambassadors had to show resilience and put up with the conditions – we all got absolutely soaked! These conditions however did not put off our runners and all the helpers did a sterling job. Page 13
Primary Cross Country Cup CONTINUED
Here are this year’s results: Year 3 & Year 4 Combined Cross Country Cup 1st Audley 2nd Whyteleafe 3rd Woodlea 4th St. Francis 5th St. John’s 6th Hamsey Green 7th Bletchingley Village Primary School 8th Marden Lodge (Warlingham Village – not enough runners to qualify for the Cup) Year 5 & Year 6 Combined – Ian Simpson Cup 1st Hamsey Green 2nd Whyteleafe 3rd Woodlea Page 14
4th St. Francis 5th Audley 6th Marden Lodge 7th Bletchingley Village Primary School 8th St. John’s (Warlingham Village – not enough runners to qualify for the Cup) In addition, the top five runners in each race all received a medal and a winner’s certificate. As always, these competitions rely on volunteers from the local community to help run the event and to ensure that everything runs smoothly. We would like to thank all the primary school staff for organising their teams and the parents for transporting their children. Attendance at this event
and parents who wished to see it through to the end! Caitlin Stone, one of our sixth formers said: “As the photographer, I saw how much the primary school children loved this event. Even when rain was pouring down, they still had a smile on their faces and it made the experience all the more enjoyable for everyone involved!”
Mrs Salem PE Teacher broke further records. We would like to thank Caitlin Stone from Year 13 and Jack Nelson from Year 9 who were our official photographers. Kirsty Bailey and Paul Harris from de Stafford School lent their wonderful stakes and ropes. The site team did an amazing job before and after the event. Thanks also to the PE Department for lending their facilities, Pam Mutter for all the printing, Fiona Delaney for organising the medals and Tracy Rayner for being in charge of First Aid.
The town centre of Oświęcim, Nov 2017
It was touch-and-go to see if the medal and cup presentations could take place on the field due to the extreme weather conditions. However, Mr Bradwell, umbrella in hand, was there to present medals and certificates to the hard core of children Page 15
Litter Picking Students! On a cold, wet and miserable Monday morning, eleven brave Warlingham students ventured out into the local community of Hamsey Green to undertake a litter pick. The event was organised by Warlingham School’s Interact Club in partnership with Caterham Rotary Club and Croydon Council’s ‘Don’t Mess with Croydon’ campaign. The Caterham Rotary Club and Croydon Council are committed to encouraging people to take an active role in their community.
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Litter Picking Students! The Interact Club is a fun and lively after school club which offers students amazing opportunities to broaden their horizons, make new friends and importantly help the lives of others. Club members run two projects per year, one which focuses on supporting the local community and the other has a more international agenda. This is the first year Warlingham School has run the Interact Club and the litter pick is our first local community initiative. The Interact leadership team, consisting of Rhys William (Year 9), Madeline Lincoln (Year 9), Jack Duggan (Year 8) and Chloe Hayward (Year 10) planned the event from start to finish. They organised the litter picking route, safety equipment, advertising and encouraged other
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students to participate. We were very grateful for the support and guidance of Roger Easter from the Caterham Rotary Club who not only took part in our litter pick with us, but also made contact with members of the Croydon’s ‘Don’t Mess with Croydon’ campaign. They graciously supplied gloves, litter pickers and high visibility jackets for the students to wear. The event took place on Monday 19th February at 9am. We began our walk on Tithepit Shaw Lane, Warlingham, and in pairs collected litter all along the lane towards Hamsey Green. When we reached the first parade of shops we noticed there were lots of cigarette ends and wrappers which had been dropped on the grass verge. We worked methodically down the road
to collect the rubbish. We came to an alley which was littered with rubbish so we decided to spend ten minutes clearing that area up as well. We crossed over Limpsfield Road and saw lots of rubbish in Hamsey Green Pond. We tackled this area as a group. We avoided any litter which was in the pond, but cleared as much rubbish as we could from the seated area and surrounding grass edge. Once we had finished it looked so much better and more inviting for others to use that area. Our bags were starting to get very heavy. We didn’t realise how much rubbish was thrown on the floor in our local community. However, when you are on the hunt for litter, you can see it everywhere.
When we reached the parade of shops near the Co-op, we decided to change our bags. With fresh litter bags and renewed energy, we were ready to tackle the last area. There were lots of people around and members of the public asked us what we were doing and praised us for our efforts. When we were working to clear the grass verge near the pedestrian crossing, members of the public driving by were beeping at us and giving us a thumbs up. It was nice to know that our efforts were being appreciated by the community. It had been raining for two hours and we were starting to get very wet and tired. We headed back to Warlingham School, but this time on the opposite side of the road cleaning little bits of Page 19
Litter Picking Students!
rubbish from hedges and bushes as we walked back. In total, we cleared 20 bags of rubbish and we collected lots of wrappers, cans and cigarette ends. There were also some odd items like socks and cardboard which were just littered about the place. We are looking forward to planning our next event and hope that we can encourage more students to participate in local initiatives.
Miss Tindall Head of Sociology / Interact Club Co-ordinator Page 20
Croydon Street Cleaning Events https://www.croydon.gov.uk/ environment/dontmess/great-britishspring-clean-2-4-march-2018 Saturday 3 March 10.30am – 2pm, Biggin Woods (meeting point at the tennis courts) Led by Friends of Biggin Woods with involvement on the day from the 61st Croydon Scouts and Cubs, Street Champions and volunteers. 10-12pm Norwood Junction Station underpass and surrounding streets Led by the council and local Street
Champions with support from local business Axis. Activity on the day includes planting flowers and shrubs to brighten the pathways to the station.
volunteers. Activity to ‘green’ London Road included ceremonial planting, educating locals, visitors, traders and passers-by and litter picking
Sunday 4 March
If you want to get involved in any of the activities, simply show up to an event near you.
10am, Wandle Park Led by the council and Friends of Wandle Park with support from Croydon Military Preparation School, Street Champions and volunteers
If you’re interested in organising your own event for the Spring Clean weekend and need some support, contact champions@croydon.gov.uk 11.30 am ‘Green Mile’ project, London and they will be happy to help. Road (West Croydon Station to For more details about ‘The Great Thornton Heath Pond) British Spring Clean’ campaign visit the Led by Broad Green Resident Keep Britain Tidy website http://www. Association with support from keepbritaintidy.org. the council, local residents and
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SATRO Problem-solving Competition
Every year Warlingham School enters the SATRO Problem-Solving Competition which takes place at St Bedes and is open to students from Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. The concept of the competition is that we are given
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a problem for which we have to create a solution using materials and physics. This year, our Sixth Form team - Harun Ghani, Nick Jones, Laura Ashby and I, Rhianna Patel - managed to be this
school’s second ever qualifying team into the finals, achieving second place in the heats, in which we had to make a lamp stand. The final took place last Thursday at ACS Cobham International School. Following some challenges, we finally
got there and settled in with a positive attitude and mindset ready to tackle the problem. We were given the materials to create a device to travel down a wire with a five degree angle using electrical energy. The aim was to get the quickest time and there was a two-second deduction bonus if you got the motor to automatically stop. Whitgift came in second place, with around five seconds but we managed to come first with around two seconds! We were astonished! Receiving our award from the CBBC legend John Tickle, we were almost in hysterics - due to the shock. Overall, it was a great team-building experience and I am very proud of what we achieved there and very proud to have represented our school.
Rhianna Patel (12M)
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Pi Day
On Wednesday 14th of March, Year 7s had the amazing opportunity to extend their learning in Maths by celebrating Pi Day. Page 24
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Pi Day CONTINUED
took some time. After that I helped the rest of my group to work out the rest of the challenges. Then, ten minutes before our Pi Day celebration was over, we had a competition to see who could remember the most numbers of pi. Everybody who attempted to remember them had been trying to memorise them throughout the When we first entered the hall Mrs celebration when we had been doing Billings explained to us what Pi Day our challenges. All of the people who was and why we celebrate it and fun had gone to the front to have a go fact: it’s actually an American holiday. at memorising the numbers of pi did This is because of the way they write really well but one person in particularly the date, for example they write it as really impressed everyone. That was 3/14/18 and 3.14 are the first three Luca in 7R, he managed to remember numbers of pi. an absolutely incredible 84 numbers During Pi Day we did many different of pi which was one of the highest activities in groups of four. This numbers of pi that any Year 7 has consisted of things such as anagrams remembered in the past few years. and problem solving. All together there When he had finished recounting the were nine activities to complete and numbers of pi that he had memorised, each one had its own challenge. everybody erupted into huge amounts of applause because of how many he First of all, we had to complete challenge one first and then we could remembered. After that it was nearly break so we were dismissed, one table choose which activities we wanted to at a time. do next. I myself decided to try the anagrams which was where you had Overall I had an amazing experience to make a mathematical word out of and I feel like I really learnt a lot about a completely random word/words. the number pi and really extended Some of the words I worked out my learning at Warlingham School. straight away whereas some of them I would really love to be given the Page 26
opportunity to participate in Pi Day Warlingham School celebrated Pi Day again because I feel that it is so on 14th March 2018 by doing lots interesting and is a huge part of maths. of pi-related maths challenges. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to Rosie Cornwell (7L) its diameter. It is a constant number, Pi Day is a day where we celebrate meaning that for all circles of any size, pi. Pi is an irrational number, which it will be the same. means that it is a real number with a non-ending decimal expansion. On Pi The event was run by Mrs Billings and Day we did lots of fun activities based the Year 7s took part (Johnson and Chichester took part during periods on pi. Our aim was to complete all 1 and 2; Mallory and Sharman during activities in under two hours. The activities were challenging but we were periods 3 and 4). After being sorted into different groups with people from put into groups to work together to different forms, we were given a set of complete all of them. papers to try and complete within our In 1706 a mathematics teacher named groups. They varied from anagrams to William Jones first invented pi. We writing equations that needed to equal celebrate it on the 14th March. a certain number with only a certain Lucy Harrison (7L) selection of figures. Page Page 27
Pi Day CONTINUED
Although my memory was worse than a goldfish so I only remembered 3.141 and I still don’t think that was correct. I will say that the Year 9 students did a good job of containing the excitement. The activities were very entertaining. There were some activities that were very confusing such as letters meaning words, e.g. SSSSOTSS = she sells sea shells on the sea shore. I nearly completed it but it was just one of many. It was very annoying. I will also congratulate Luca who remembered 84 numbers of pi. I would like to thank Mrs Billings. At the end, there was a competition to take part in. We had to try and memorise as many digits of pi in the correct order as we could. Amazingly, the highest score was 84 digits!
Noah Ralphs (7L)
I really enjoyed Pi Day and all the challenges Mrs Billings had set. I also got to meet some Year 7s and saw how they reacted to each of the challenges, including learning as many decimals of pi as possible.
Pi Day was fun and interesting to take part in and allowed the Year 7s to It was a really enjoyable experience. interact with people they hadn’t met Kieran O’Brien (9M) before. I would recommend this to other year groups so that everyone can On Pi Day we helped Year 7s complete tasks from Periods 1-4. One or two join in and take part in the activities. of us had a group to help out with the Olivia Rowland (7L) various tasks. One of the tasks was Pi Day was a very fun and entertaining for someone to memorise as many two periods. I want to congratulate digits of pi as they could. the Maths Department. I loved all of Frankie Mayow (9M) the activities and I tried to learn pi. Page 28
On Pi Day, the maths leadership group helped the Year 7s to complete a variety of activities. From periods 1 – 4 we were assigned to a group/table and had to help them complete all the tasks and also try and memorise as much of pi as they could.
Kieran Kumar (9R)
Pi Day was held on 14th March. It started on 14th March 2015 9.26am 53 seconds. The Year 7s were completing activities, helped by the Year 9 Maths Leaders. At the end, there was a competition to memorise the digits, 3.1415926535.
Joshua Edwards (9M)
On 14th March the Year 7s celebrated Pi Day. We (the Maths Leaders)
had to help by explaining and giving hints. Some people wanted to get the answer booklets, but it was fine. They did several tasks on anagrams, codes and shapes. Several of the Year 7s had to learn digits of pi. We were assigned to a group and we had to help them.
Emily Frank (9R)
On Pi Day I helped our Year 7 answer different kinds of questions to do with maths. There were questions on anagrams, maths equations and work problems. I was doing it for four hours and enjoyed it even thought there were a few Year 7s who tested their luck! Overall, it was a really enjoyable day.
Hollie Payne (9M)
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Drugs Awareness Performance and Workshop Performed by Stopwatch Theatre Company, “I love you mum, I promise I won’t die” were the heart wrenching last words Daniel Spargo-Mabbs said to his mother before going to an illegal rave where he overdosed on ecstasy, causing his untimely death. The play is fantastic in its writing. Mark Wheeler used verbatim theatre, a style in which the script is purely quotes from the testimonies of the people Daniel loved and touched in his life. This was effective as the Sixth Form students were able to see with their own eyes how the uneducated use of drugs can lead to dire consequences that can linger even after the user has used them. During the performance, it was made clear that the use of drugs is not limited to just the stereotypes connected to them. Any young person can take drugs and the play was coherent in this idea. The play also developed a discussion of drugs in the acting, which was tied together in a workshop that taught us more about safe drug usage and the effects of illegal drugs. This was because Daniel’s parents wanted the play not to scold the use Many of the sixth formers were surprised when the play’s tone was not of drugs but rather to educate young people and help them make choices directly negative about drug usage. as adults. Page 30
The play was certainly moving, showing an ordinary boy who touched the hearts of many and a family, broken by the unimaginable and yet still together, running an incredible
charity to help young people make safe choices about drugs.
Bethan Davis (13W)
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Science Week at Hamsey Green
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On Tuesday 13th of March, myself and Mrs Hickox went to Hamsey Green to give a talk to the students. The talk was titled “Science is every” and was for Science week. The students were shown lots of exciting science experiments such as Elephant’s toothpaste, the whoosh rocket and the wave bridge. The students thoroughly enjoyed the talk and asked lots of very good questions. We had some lovely feedback from Hamsey Green: “Both pupils and staff were buzzing about the workshop!! It was a great ‘hook’ for Science Week. Not only did they enjoy watching the reactions, they also learnt many new words and about scientific processes.” – Mrs Mace, Deputy Head Hamsey Green Primary School
Mr Randall Science Teacher
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Year 8: Outstanding Art!
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The Art Department would like to congratulate the Year 8s for some outstanding homeworks. However, there can only be ten winners of the homework competition. A big well done to: Sienna Bauer (8M) Lucy Beauchamp (8H) Olivia Bird (8H) Penny Crawley (8L) Michael Dawson (8L) Page 35
Year 8: Outstanding Art! CONTINUED
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Niamh Lyas (8L) Tia Moore (8H) Isabel Rider (8R) Maisie Toogood (8R) Kitty Wiggs (8M)
Mrs Sula Head of Art Page 37
Inter-House Debate Competition
The Warlingham Inter-House Debate Competition has been running for the past five years but this year saw one of the highest standards of debate yet. This was largely due to the fantastic preparation of the students involved, as participants had been researching, debating and practising their speeches meticulously prior to the event. On the morning of Thursday 22nd March, the 64 students who were representing their forms and houses arrived in the Main Hall excited by the prospect of their oncoming debates. With the help of some Sixth Form Page 38
judges, students from Years 7 to 10 were able to argue for or against one of the following motions: • This house believes there should be more censorship on the internet. • This house believes that Brexit was a good idea. • This house supports the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. • This house would lower the voting age to 16. Once the debates had been set up, the participants were fantastic in performing their speeches. Students
feedback to each participant whilst the votes were being counted. Following the verification of the results, the next step was to award some certificates to those students who had earned the most points in each house as well as some students such as Kyrese Parkes and Hayden Fry in 10W who had really shone in working as a team to deliver their arguments.
had clearly researched their motions thoroughly and amazed the judges with specific arguments and evidence. In addition some students such as Chloe Stanton in 7G delivered their speeches brilliantly by standing up and using body language as well as dramatic pauses to emphasise their key arguments.
Following an incredibly successful set of debates, the students were eagerly anticipating the results of the competition which were announced in each year group and overall with first place being awarded as follows: Year 7 - Johnson Year 8 - Sharman Year 9 - Chichester Year 10 - Johnson Overall - Chichester Well done to all those involved as Mr Toop and Mr Leay were incredibly impressed by the high quality of debates and preparation of all students. A big thank you to tutors also for supporting their tutees in the run up to the competition and to the Sixth Form helpers for judging the debates.
The debates flowed effortlessly with one speaker delivering their argument We’re already looking forward to a rematch next year! at a time and alternating between the two for and against debaters. After Mr Leay the debates came to an end, the Sixth History Teacher / Head of Year 13 Form judges provided some invaluable Page 39
Physics in Action Trip
On the 7th of March, A Level Physics students attended a ‘Physics in Action’ talk at The Camden Centre in London. This talk featured some very intriguing topics, ranging from ‘The weird world of quantum physics’ to ‘Measuring temperature with sound’. There was even a well-needed section about exam success. My personal favourite was ‘Shining light on the brain’ in which we were introduced to the idea of using near-infrared spectroscopy as a simple and safe way to monitor metabolism in the brains of new born Page 40
babies and therefore help determine the severity of a brain injury. It involves a machine called CYRIL which shines near-infrared light through the brain tissue and uses a spectrometer and camera to detect the wavelengths of light that have passed through. A computer can then measure the levels of respiration and blood oxygenation. This was particularly appealing to me as it relates to what I want to do at university. Overall the talks were really enjoyable
for everyone as they showed us some of the greatest aspects of physics that we wouldn’t normally learn about, as well as how research in it is bringing us closer to understanding the universe, and how its application is developing our lives.
Alice Hughes (13R)
The physics trip to London was really interesting as we got to hear about a lot of different types of physics from the professionals in those fields. I enjoyed learning about all of the different practical aspects of physics which you don’t usually hear so much about in class. I enjoyed the astrophysics talk as we got an insight into how research is actually carried out in the real world and how they are trying to get the public involved with websites like zooniverse.
to be the Galaxy Zoo. The Galaxy Zoo allows members of the public to classify galaxies to help further our knowledge of our universe. Being able to go on a website and help scientists expand their database displays the curiosity of the public and if you have an interest in outer space, the website represents the importance of physics in our world. The other talks were also very interesting and gave us an insight into the many different careers a physicist can pursue after university. Overall, the trip was a great, valuable experience that has assisted me in planning my future career.
Billy Gass (13W)
The ‘Physics in Action’ talk was a great experience for me as there were many talks and demonstrations on all kinds of physics.
The material physics talk was also intriguing, learning about self-healing concrete (cement-based materials that repair themselves after the material or structure gets damaged due to some sort of deterioration mechanism) and how this is inspiring other applications to use bacteria to make materials last longer.
The talk on quantum physics was particularly interesting and has given me a much better insight into the topic.
My favourite aspect of the talk had
On 7th March, both Sixth Form Physics classes went to The Camden
Arun Bhandari (13A)
The trip has given me even more enthusiasm and excitement to learn about physics in greater depth at university.
Jake Pommills (13A)
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Physics in Action Trip Centre in London where we attended six lectures varying from a global community initiative, all the way to the world of quantum. Dr Steve Cross, a comedian with a PhD in Human Genetics, introduced the first guest which was a woman named Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist. The talk was named ‘Galaxy Zoo: From the lab to your living room’. Galaxy Zoo is a website which focusses on classifying galaxies. The website was a great success, providing more results in six months than they expected to get in the first two years! It reached people across the world and provided valuable data. Many papers were published as a results of the data, which in turn have been published on their website. This is ground-breaking stuff! Next up was, in my opinion, the best lecturer, Dr Mark Miodownik MBE who completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1996. He’s primarily a Materials Scientist which was quite evident as soon as he broke apart a smartphone with a hammer! The title of his lecture was ‘Materials for the 21st Century’. His point was that phones are extremely hard to repair, unlike the human body which can, for the most part, fix itself. He urged Page 42
us not to constantly upgrade our phones as this is a waste of the Earth’s resources because of the rare metals used. I found his presenting style to be very engaging. The following talk was about half the length of the others and covered tips to prepare for exams. He was amusing and kept our attention throughout. We then had a lunch break until Dr Cross introduced our next speaker: Dr Gemma Bale (PhD). ‘Shining light on the brain’. Dr Bale uses NearInfrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) in order to determine cerebral oxygenation and metabolism - specifically for the neonatal brain injury intensive care units. She managed to find a correlation between this and seizure occurrences. Someone asked her whether this could be used to predict a seizure, to which she answered that it could be done. I can imagine this would be very interesting for the Year 13 students interested in biomedicine. With two more lectures to go, we all began to move about in our seats to find a comfy position. The dark lighting began to encourage something called ‘dim-light melatonin onset’ i.e. a very sleepy feeling. Dr Michael Brooks (PhD) then lectured about ‘The
Weird World of Quantum Physics’; it was deeply fascinating, but difficult to follow what he was talking about. As he said himself - along with Einstein “you are not going to understand this”. Dr Brooks spoke about imaginary numbers and their relevance in phones among other items.
occasions. He used free software and simple methods to show how the speed of sound increases within a hot environment. A replay of this is segmented on the website, displaying a previous time he talked about this. If anyone felt drowsy before, they were certainly wide awake by this point!
After a short break, we had a talk by Dr Michael de Podesta MBE on ‘Measuring Temperature with Sound’. I found him to be a slightly eccentric but very engaging individual, unrestrained in his excitement as he jumped in the air with glee and sung out loud - a reasonably high note - on multiple
This was a wonderful day and worth every penny it cost to go!
Oliver McCourty (12M)
On 7th March, a group of avid physicists from both Year 12 and Year 13 took a trip to “The Camden Centre” in London to attend a series of talks called “Physics in Action”. Page 43
Physics in Action Trip
The event was organised by Mr Randall as he saw it as an opportunity to see the practical uses for physics outside of the classroom and the directions in which physics can take one in terms of job opportunities.
physicist, working with babies, another working with atomic structure and how it affects materials all around us and also someone who calculates temperature using sound.
However, in my opinion, the best talk of the day was on quantum physics The event opened with the event and despite how confusing it is and presenter, a “stand-up comedian” how little we truly know of it, how who did his best at making science humorous (albeit, rather badly). Luckily, it effects everything around us in the real substance of the event came ways we can’t yet interpret. On the downside the confusing nature of the through talks from physicists in vastly varied roles, one being a medical presentation resulted in a lapse of Page 44
On a cold, dreary Wednesday morning in March Year 12 and Year 13 Physics students ventured up to London. After a long train and tube journey, we arrived at the Camden Centre, home to ‘Physics in Action’ talks in which a number of professionals in different fields of physics gave us an insight into their worlds of work and research. To start the day off, we were introduced to Galaxy Zoo by astrophysicist Becky Smethurst, from the University of Nottingham. The study of classifying stars was described and it was shown that you do not have to be a scientist to contribute to scientific research. Galaxy Zoo and the ‘Zooniverse’ is a way for everyone to access and help identify and classify stars and other research objectives online. The next talk was all about materials concentration from the majority of the both organic and man-made. It was extraordinary to see the number of room whilst the concept of living in a state of blissful unawareness appealed elements that make up a simple mobile to me more than opposing talks on the phone! day. I found the day incredibly useful. Overall, the trip was greatly interesting and enjoyable and a big thank you is owed to both the organisers, from bringing together such great speakers, and to Mr Randall and Mr Chotai for organising and leading the trip.
Ross George (13M)
Robert Gainlall (13N)
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Bienvenue Ă Warlingham!
It all started in September when some of our Year 10 and Year 11 students flew over to Bordeaux and stayed for a week with their French Exchange partners, attending school each morning and taking part in a variety of activities. Page 46
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Bienvenue Ă Warlingham!
We were very excited about the return part of the exchange. On Saturday 17th March we were delighted to welcome our French Exchange students together with two Page 48
of their teachers at Gatwick airport. Our students share their experiences following this.
Mrs Smales Head of Modern Languages
at our houses. My student was very nice and funny and you always knew what to talk about. The day he arrived at the airport, I was excited to meet him, because I hadn’t seen him in six months. We went back home and he unpacked. Then we went out with my friend and her correspondents. They came to my house where we had a competition, which we won! We also went out to town and went to a cafe. The very next day, we went to a trampoline park and met up again and straight afterwards, we went bowling. He was very good! On Monday, we went to the Houses of Parliament with the school, and it was fun because we got to spend the day in London. We did quizzes and went shopping; he bought souvenirs. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I would love to do it again next year. It benefits you a lot with knowledge and developing confidence speaking the language. I will miss the French students who took part.
Olivia Hills (10H) It was an amazing experience overall and boosted my confidence a lot. Having been to Bordeaux to stay with them, it was now time for us to have the French Exchange students to stay
The French Exchange helped me learn a lot. It was really fun to go into London with all the students and to go to the Houses of Parliament. We also did a quiz about London. I enjoyed spending time with my exchange student and going to a Pizza Page 49
Bienvenue à Warlingham!
Express on the Friday with everyone was a lot of fun. I hope to stay in touch with my exchange student in the future.
Rachel Sharp (10R)
All of us were filled with joy at the thought of our French Exchange students coming, although for some reason, I was more nervous about her coming here than I had been about visiting France! It could have been because of the language and cultural barrier.
On Friday, we organised to have a nice meal at Pizza Express. It was such a great time, never to be forgotten. We woke up early on Saturday to say our goodbyes - there were tears and many hugs. Thank you to Madame Foret and Madame Smales; it was a once-ina-lifetime experience that I will never forget.
Tracy Owonta (10M)
The French Exchange has given me lots of opportunities to improve my That week, we visited London with French. On Saturday, after being the students. We had a tour at the reunited with my French exchange, Houses of Parliament and also a quiz. we went to Brighton and went for afternoon tea, which was a new They really helped with the language and I did feel more confident about my experience for them. On Sunday, we French. My student was a pleasure to met up with some others and went to have visit. She said that school for her Oxygen - that was fun. Throughout the week we learnt a lot and had many felt very different, but interesting. laughs but then it was time to say “goodbye”. I intend to meet up with them again.
Abrielle Wells (10R)
On Sunday (the day after she arrived), we had a lie-in in the morning and then got up and had eggs. We then got the bus to Croydon and the train to London. The visit to London was awesome. Page 50
On Monday we went back to London, this time with everyone from the exchange. We had a tour round the Houses of Parliament; it’s massive! Then we had lunch and a little walk around afterwards. After lunch, we helped the French students with a quiz that was in English. Overall, the visit was great fun!
Victoria Head (10G)
On Sunday, we went bowling for a couple of hours and then drove home
and had Roast Beef for dinner. On the Monday, we went to the Houses of Parliament, which was fun but quite tiring. Afterwards, we had free time with the exchanges which was fun and enjoyable. The French Exchange trip has been one of my favourite school trips as it really helped me to improve my French and at the same time, it was a bit like being on holiday.
Sara-Jane Banwell (10A)
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Firstly, I would like to thank all the students, staff, parents and members of the local community for a warm welcome since joining Warlingham School at the start of this academic year. I have been made to feel extremely welcome and for that I am grateful. I also feel extremely fortunate to have joined a department with outstanding members of staff who already provide the students with great opportunities to take part in sport and to enjoy physical activity. The staff in the department are extremely passionate about physical education and this is obvious through their commitment to extra-curricular sport and physical activity. This has made my job of settling into school life at Warlingham much easier and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for that. Prior to joining Warlingham I was Head of PE at a large all boys’ school in Greenwich called Woolwich Polytechnic School. I began working there as a newly qualified teacher in 2011/12 and worked my way up through the school by performing a variety of roles. In 2015 I made the decision to return to university to complete an MA in Education policy & International Education. Page 52
Completing the MA was a careerdefining accomplishment for me and provided me with a new outlook on education and teaching and learning. This inspired me to seek opportunities to work more closely with trainee teachers and I was appointed as a visiting lecturer at Roehampton University. In my role at Roehampton I taught on the PGCE programme and on the professional studies modules of the PGCE programme. Despite spending an extremely interesting and enjoyable year working at both Woolwich Polytechnic and Roehampton University I began to realise that working with secondary school students was what I enjoyed the most and decided to seek a new opportunity. Part of the appeal of coming to work at Warlingham was that it would provide me with an opportunity to achieve some of the goals I was unable to accomplish in my previous school. The students are extremely fortunate at Warlingham to not only have outstanding staff but also to have outstanding facilities for them to enjoy and use during their time at the school. As a Head of PE I have always tried to encourage as many students to take part in physical activity as
possible and this is not only possible but inevitable at Warlingham. I always feel a sense of pride when walking around the PE area, either during the day or after school as facilities are buzzing with activity and enjoyment from our students taking part in either lessons or clubs. I often feel very lucky when reflecting on my own life and I know that it is in part due to my lifelong relationship with sport and the experiences I have been afforded. This is a message that I will continue to share with our students in the hope that they begin to value their relationship with sport as early in their lives as possible. Outside of school life, I am a keen sportsman and play hockey for Sevenoaks Hockey Club in the Kent Premier League. During the winter months I commit a lot of my spare time to hockey as I coach for the junior section and at development centres for aspiring players. When I’m not on a hockey pitch
I enjoy running, cycling and taking part in outdoor pursuits such as walking and climbing. In addition to my practical hobbies I am also involved in a variety of research projects in education policy and sports studies and have just been elected to the board of governors at Atwood Primary School. To conclude, I am extremely excited about the future of PE and Sport at Warlingham and am looking forward to the next few years. I am convinced that the best is yet to come from the PE team and that PE will continue to thrive in both curriculum and extracurricular provision. Please continue to check the school website and social media pages to keep up to date with what the PE Department and students at Warlingham are currently doing. I am sure you will be surprised with all of their outstanding achievements, performances and results!
Mr Ward Head of PE
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art and was fascinated by the idea of psychology, so those subjects made up the three. I was lucky to have exceptional teachers and studying at Warlingham Sixth Form provided I competed in swimming and a fantastic foundation for my further athletics throughout my school life study. Whilst I certainly did not lose at Warlingham and when it came to choosing my A Level options, P.E. was my passion for art and sport, I knew from taking A Level Psychology that I top of the list. However, I also loved wanted to continue to pursue this area. We caught up with ex-student Kate Hays and asked if she could share what she’s got up to since leaving Warlingham Sixth Form.
I went on to study for a BSc Degree in Psychology at Goldsmiths University in London, and whilst sport psychology wasn’t covered as part of my degree, I learned that I could later specialise in this area. Consequently, I went to Sheffield Hallam University to study for an MSc in applied sports psychology, and then stayed on to complete a sport psychology PhD. My PhD examined ‘The Role of Sport Confidence in World Class Sport Performance’, and was based upon the experiences of World Championship and Olympic medallists. I was fortunate to spend three years learning so much from some of the country’s most Page 54
successful athletes, which is still a time The aim of performance psychology that I look back on with really fond is to help athletes prepare memories. psychologically for the demands of competition and training, so that It was during my MSc degree at Sheffield Hallam that I began providing they can deliver performance when it matters. The EIS has one of the sport psychology support to the British Diving team, under supervision world’s leading psychological support systems for high performing athletes, from my tutors. Fifteen years later, I and I have an exceptional team that still work with some of the country’s help athletes prepare for the mental Olympic divers! challenges of the Olympic and On completion of my PhD, I worked Paralympic Games. The profession as a lecturer at Nottingham Trent has evolved significantly since I University (teaching the sport qualified, and sport psychology has psychology modules of the sport become integral to performance at the and exercise science degree and highest level. MSc programmes). However, I also I am writing this whilst on maternity continued to work as an applied leave with my second child so I have practitioner and knew that this was had a bit of time recently to reflect! I really what I wanted to do. consider myself extremely fortunate to After two years in academia I have been able to make a career out of went solely into the applied field something that I am passionate about. and I haven’t looked back. I have I genuinely love my job and have been working as an applied sport the utmost respect for the coaches, psychologist for the past 15 years. practitioners and athletes I have the During this time I have been privileged pleasure of working with on a daily to work within Olympic Sport and basis. Whilst of course hard work, I professional rugby, and supported thoroughly enjoyed my time at school, athletes at the Beijing, London and and at university, which provided me Rio Olympics, World Championships with the foundation I needed to be able and professional equivalent. I am now to do what I love today. Head of Performance Psychology for the English Institute of sport (EIS) and Dr Kate Hays lead a team of 30+ sport psychology English Institute of Sport practitioners. Page 55
Wide Horizons High Aspirations
Warlingham School Warlingham School is part of the Tandridge Learning Trust Address: Tithepit Shaw Lane, Warlingham, Surrey, CR6 9YB Tel: 01883 624067 Fax: 01883 624026 Email: info@warlinghamschool.co.uk Website: www.warlinghamschool.co.uk