The weeks since our last newsletter have again been busy and, despite the challenges of managing the ongoing pandemic, school life continues to be enriched by a host of student activities seen in this newsletter. This week has been Anti-Bullying week and students have been involved in assemblies, tutor sessions and Inspire sessions that have unpacked the definition and nature of bullying and discussed our responsibilities towards each other in supporting and reporting bullying in our school community. I was fortunate to be able to visit a number of Inspire sessions this Wednesday and was struck by the maturity and sensitivity that students in all year groups were demonstrating towards the issues being discussed and towards each other in their learning. Our continued revisiting of the school values of commitment, courage and kindness through the qualities of the Warlingham Learner were clearly embodied by the students in their commitment to tackling any bullying in our
community, their courage to talk about their feelings when humour and banter cross over into hurtful behaviour and their kindness to each other in supporting their peers experiencing any difficulties. The recent release of the national contingency plans for qualifications next summer and their implications for students in Year 13 and Year 11, as well as the ongoing assessment of students in school, have served as a stark reminder that the impact of the pandemic on our way of life is far from over. I should reiterate that it is still planned for examinations to go ahead in the summer with the accommodations already announced. Nonetheless, we are now both prepared and experienced in managing these contingency approaches should they be needed and will support students to achieve the qualifications they deserve and will support students in a fair and rigorous manner to achieve the qualifications they need to progress to their next steps. As communicated earlier this week to parents, we
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continue to monitor the numbers of students who are confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and our outbreak management team is reviewing the situation daily to inform our decision-making. While there have been rises in cases in some year groups, so far these have been balanced by the number of students each day returning from a period of selfisolation. As such, we remain at Tier 1 in terms of our outbreak management strategy, but are still poised to move to Tier 2 (and the reintroduction of face coverings at school) should the situation change significantly. Thank you for your ongoing support in the twice weekly testing process which is in place to identify and isolate asymptomatic cases. So far, this has helped us avoid having to reintroduce measures and controls that restrict the spread of the virus, and has helped us ensure the normality of the school experience that both students and staff have benefitted from during this term so far.
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I have had some recent communication from local residents regarding parking in the areas around the School. Please can I ask parents and carers to avoid parking across driveways and access roads when picking up and dropping off students at the start and end of the school day, in consideration of our neighbours and local community. Finally, I would like to extend a huge thank you to parents and carers for your support through sponsorship of the students in our school sponsored walk and in raising money this week for Children in Need.
Reminder… Inset Day Monday 29th November 2021
Remembrance Day To mark the start of the School’s two-minute silence for Remembrance Day on 11th November, Year 8 Pupil Oskar played The Last Post on the bugle on the front lawn to our school. Oskar completed the two-minute silence by playing the Reveille. We’re very grateful to Oskar for helping us to commemorate the day. He did a fantastic job. View the video here.
Bletchingley Village Primary School is part of the Tandridge Learning Trust. Join them for an illuminating evening to celebrate the beginning of the festive period. For tickets click here.
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As part of our Careers Education provision, we work with an external company, Innervate, to provide all students with access to impartial careers guidance. This is generally offered from Year 10 upwards. Innervate also work with us to provide the Growing Aspirations project for students who need a confidence boost as well as supporting all our students to understand their choices and pathways at key transition points looking at post 14, 16 and 18 options. We are delighted to introduce Innervate to you to share more information about what they do. Who are Innervate? As a service, we are here to support young people with their career planning and future goal setting by helping them determine their next steps in terms of post-16 and post-18 options. Our career guidance will enable students to understand more about local provision, decisionmaking and transition skills, as well as to begin the all-important journey to discovering their potential and aspirations for the future.
What is Career Guidance? Career Guidance is a process that enables individuals to consider their options and opportunities moving forwards, identifying any potential barriers to success and investigating the reality of working life and the route into jobs and careers. The process enables students to explore
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their ideas, consider their priorities and what is important to them, and then set clear, realistic and time-managed goals and actions.
Hello, I’m Bronwyn. I trained as a careers adviser around 6 years ago and have worked in a variety of settings in both mainstream and alternative provision. I have a particular focus on working with young people who are unable to attend full-time education due to different medical conditions. In my spare time I run and paint and like to cook! I look forward to helping you.
Votes for Schools As part of our registration activities, students have the opportunity to learn about and debate topics each week, using resources from VotesforSchools. This helps provide students with a wider understanding of current affairs, develops their empathy and kindness skills when considering sensitive issues, and also enables them to practise forming arguments and debating. Furthermore, they have their voices heard as VotesforSchools shares the voting outcomes with a variety of organisations, including governments and charities.
This half term, students have discussed the topics below. Their votes as a school can be seen below alongside the votes for Surrey and the UK.
Should the teaching of political literacy be compulsory in schools?
Should more people get involved with religious celebrations?
Vote week commencing 1 November
Vote week commencing 8 November
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Home Learning Club
Internet Safety - Snapchat
In order to support our students with their home learning, we are operating a Home Learning Club, which runs from Monday to Thursday between 3.10pm and 4.10pm .
Internet safety is of paramount importance to us and we would like to share advice for parents and carers from National Online Safety about Snapchat.
The Home Learning Club is overseen by a mixture of staff who are available to support the students, who will have access to computers and a dedicated study space.
What is Snapchat?
Please encourage students to attend should you feel that they would benefit from completing independent home learning work with in-school support, or if they would benefit from access to computers or a dedicated study space.
Snapchat is a photo and video-sharing app which also allows users to chat with friends via text or audio. Users can share images and videos with specific friends, or through a ‘story’ (documenting the previous 24 hours) visible to their entire friend list. Snapchat usage rose during the pandemic, with many young people utilising it to connect with their peers. The app continues to develop features to engage an even larger audience and emulate current trends, rivalling platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Click here to read the advice sheet.
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House sport is back! It has been a great week of house competitions, with Rugby, Futsal and Volleyball all taking place over the past week. Chichester students did themselves proud with competitive teams turning out for all sports. In the Rugby, the boys showed resilience and determination while in the football the girls showed great team work and skill. A special mention to the Year 8 Rugby team who ran out undefeated winners of the competition. I want to say a personal thank you to everyone who represented our house and played so well.
Dan Gunn
Deputy Head of Chichester House
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Sharman House are proud to have a dedicated Year 7 mentor, Mia O'Keeffe. She applied for the role and was chosen due to her positive and caring personality. Fortnightly during registration Mia meets with some Year 7 students who have found it difficult to settle into secondary school. This gives them the opportunity to discuss any worries they have, but also explore their achievements. Mia encourages students to focus on building confidence to help them in lessons and around school. During the session, students complete their reflection and goals in their planners as a reminder and to look back on in their next session. Mia has been able to build on her leadership skills as well as developing other attributes such as being personable. Mentees have been able to build their confidence and develop communication skills.
Roxie Chandler Deputy Head of Sharman House
My Year 7 mentoring has been going well throughout the weeks I’ve done it. All of the Year 7s are very polite and nice to talk with, and they all get involved with conversations we have about our goals and what we have achieved in the previous week. I’m really enjoying being a mentor and I’m looking forward to working with everyone for the next year.
The mentoring sessions have really helped me settle in the school and find my place. Year 7 Mentee Feedback
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Mia O’Keeffe Year 7 Sharman Mentor
We would like to recognise the achievements of brothers Isaac and Noah. Year 7 student Isaac is a keen runner and has recently achieved his 25 Park Run milestone! Noah, in Year 10, has completed the virtual marathon. As under 18s are not allowed to officially register, Noah completed the marathon alongside his dad. He broke the miles down into 4 x 11 km routes, with breaks between circuits. Well done to both boys for their fantastic achievements. They have demonstrated real commitment and perseverance, embodying aspects of the Warlingham Learner.
Isaac
Noah
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School of Hard Knocks Rugby
On Thursday 11th November, 26 Warlingham students travelled to Harrow School for a Rugby tournament, as part of the School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) programme. The boys from Years 9, 10 & 11 challenged themselves against other schools who run the School of Hard Knocks programme and some of the top players from independent school Harrow. The standard of Rugby our boys displayed on the day was phenomenal. We more than matched our opponents with the Year 9 team winning the tournament undefeated and the Year 10/11 team battling out closely-fought wins and draws against extremely high-level opposition. The boys showed fantastic sportsmanship, discipline and
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respect on the day and were a credit to the School during the tournament.
After the Rugby, we got an insight into student life as we went for dinner in the school canteen before travelling home. This was a great day out for all involved!
PE Round Up We have had an action-packed start to this half term with a busy inter-house Rugby and Futsal fixture schedule. We also competed in Cross Country, Swimming, Rugby and Netball matches, the results of which you can see on these pages.
Cross Country - 9th November At Royal Alexandra & Albert School Year Student Name Placement Year 8
48
Alex Frith
51st
Tiana D’Rozario Year 9
Year 10
Teams
Score
Warlingham A
10
th
Dotty Jenner Chi-Chi Onyjkewe
Year 9 Netball - 1st November
st
71
th
74
Player of the Match Olive Ivory
V Reigate
8
Warlingham B
7
th
Ruby McDonnell
14
Poppy Holding
17th
Jess Hardy
20th
Jess Cresswell
32nd
Annice Kemp
4th
Amy Deighton
12th
Phoebe Kemp
15th
Emma Defalco
29th
Matilda Kent
V Reigate
17
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Swimming - 10th November at Caterham School
Inter-House Rugby Year Year 7
Position st
1
10
2nd
8 rd
Joint 3
rd
Joint 3 Year 8
6 10
nd
8
3rd
6
th
4
st
1
10
2nd
8
rd
6
th
4
1
4
3
4
Inter-House Futsal Year Year 7
Position
Points
1st
10
nd
8
rd
3
6
4th
4
2
Year 8
st
10
nd
8
rd
6
th
4
1 2
3
4
Event 50m Backstroke
6
st
2
Year 9
Points
50m Breaststroke
Year
50m Front Crawl
Swimming Relays
Placement
Year 10
Annice Kemp
4th
Year 10
George Cops
4th
Year 12
Amy Brown
1st
Year 10
Amy Deighton
1st
Year 11
5th
Year 11
Oliver HobroSargeant Dilenne Richards Olivia Barson
Year 11
Ethan Booker
5th
Year 12
Amy Brown
2nd
Year 10
Phoebe Kemp
3rd
Year 11
Harry Furnell
2nd
Year 12
Dilenne Richards 4 x 50m Medley Girls 4 x Freestyle Medley Boys
5th
Year 12 50m Butterfly
Student Name
4th 1st
2nd 3rd
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Sponsored Walk We are delighted to announce that we have raised £13,700 from the Sponsored Walk to date. We’re very grateful to everyone who has donated. This is an incredible amount, particularly given the Pandemic. WisePay is still open for any outstanding donations for this worthy cause: we are raising money to improve our sports facilities, including the refurbishment of our all-weather courts.
£13,700 raised so far... …!
Last call for sponsorship money! Please donate through WisePay.
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Warlingham Sixth Form College’s Student Governors Warlingham School & Sixth Form College’s governing body are always keen to hear the views of the student body. As a result, they asked for two students to act as student governors which meant Year 12 had the opportunity last month to apply for the position. The position involves attending governors meeting once every half term to represent the College and the student body. Those who were interested in taking on the role had to submit a written application explaining why they wanted the position and why they would be suited for it. The College team received a number of entries and so faced a tough decision in selecting the candidates. However, the two students chosen were Alanna and Ronnie. Alanna expressed her determination in communicating her peers’ concerns and ideas about the College. Her past experience as Head Girl in Years 10 and 11 and role in the Student Council were a good indicator to whether Alanna would be representative of the student body. At the same time, Ronnie relished the challenge of being a student governor and enjoyed speaking to the previous College students who had taken on the role before applying.
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Both Alanna and Ronnie have already attended a governor meeting and enjoyed being given the opportunity to represent their peers in such a way. They are looking forward to making a difference to their school experience and communicating with the rest of the governing body, as well as their fellow students. We wish Alanna and Ronnie the best of luck in their new role and are confident they will be very successful in their positions.
Join our Sixth Form College! To apply for our Sixth Form College, simply apply through our online Applicaa program by Friday 19th November. For questions, please contact c.beadle@warlinghamtlt.co.uk.
The Warlingham Learner
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