At WHS, we don’t like to draw too firm a distinction between what happens in the classroom and what lies beyond: we believe that the happiest, most fulfilled students will be challenging themselves in all aspects of school life, and forging great friendships and connections along the way.
What’s more, our girls will find out more about who they are and who they want to be by trying new things, showing perseverance and taking themselves out of their perceived comfort zones. When we look up and out, beyond ourselves, we truly find out how far we can go: so whether that be volunteering in the local community, applying for a leadership position, trekking across a desert, pursuing a coveted place in a sports team, mastering a new skill, learning an instrument or finding joy in collaborating on a creative project – the key is to take up the plethora of opportunities on offer, challenge your own limits and boundaries, and have a huge amount of fun in the process.
Fionnuala Kennedy Head
House Activities
We’re proud of our vibrant House system, which sees students participate in activities for Arnold, Hastings, Meredith or Scott. Houses are a key part of school life, fostering a strong sense of belonging and building connections and friendships between year groups, especially in their House forms. These involve fortnightly House form time led by a different form tutor and sixth formers, introducing them to a wide range of different perspectives.
Co-curricular Options
Our co-curricular programme is designed to enable participation in a wide variety of activities through Years 7-9, with a more specialist focus in Years 10-13.
Tennis Academy and Drama productions for each year group are examples of activities to get involved in.
Regular charity initiatives such as Spring Giving and our Christmas Tree Assembly sit in the calendar alongside hotly contested inter-House competitions. These include The Big Draw, Sports Day, University Challenge and House Music, for which House captains from the student leadership team organise their House teams in the hope of victory. House points can be won throughout the year, through these activities and individual rewards for positive behaviour and outstanding effort in and out of lessons. A group outing – to bowling, the cinema or similar – is the end of academic year treat for the winning House. Let battle commence!
We aim to provide ‘something for everyone’ and are keen to promote student leadership of clubs and societies where possible. We recognise that individuals can flourish and build confidence, in a supportive environment in which all their abilities and talents are acknowledged and promoted. There are over 90 opportunities provided within Sport, Music and Drama, with a balance of inclusive clubs where anyone can ‘have a go’ and high-performance clubs where the honing of skills is the main aim. Small musical ensembles, Orchestra, the
The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is well-recognised – we run Bronze, Silver and Gold, with each award, and Gold in particular, representing significant challenge.
Other clubs are divided into categories –we’ve given these, and examples of the sorts of clubs you might expect below and overleaf.
Clubs found in the Skill Development category are there to enjoy, such as
• Cracking the Cryptic
• Sign Language and signing choir
• Animation club
• Chess club
• Forensic club
• Minecraft club
‘It’s so fulfilling when you complete all sections, learning new skills, volunteering and taking part in expeditions’ etc…
‘I loved the chance to learn a new language’ (Intermediate Mandarin)
Student voice (and learning how to use it most effectively) is encouraged via clubs in the Raise Your Voice, category. Weekly opportunities include:
• It’s Critical
• Home from Home
• History Girls
• African Caribbean Society
• Model United Nations and Debating
• Women in Politics
• Linguistica
• Eco Committee
‘I enjoyed being able to address issues more openly’
(Home from Home Club)
For the development of specific skills, Finding quiet moments in the school day to do a mindful or relaxing activity just for the fun of it (though often also learning a new skill, or improving technique in a skill in the process) is also valued by some, and within the clubs category PaWHS (‘Pause at WHS’), choices include:
• The Green Room
• Gardening Club
• Myths & Monsters
• Bullet journal & sticker making
• Origami club
• Knit and Natter
• Rubik’s Cube
• Scrabble club
Academic Enrichment clubs cover most subjects, across various years, with fun and inspiring activities to move beyond the curriculum while exploring academic pursuits. You might choose to do the Bronze CREST award in science, or join the Young Reporter Scheme to train as a journalist by researching and writing monthly news articles for the local press.
And finally, there is much research to support the theory that being involved in community activities enhances feelings of well-being. As such, we have introduced opportunities to work in our Primary Partner network, for Years 7 – 10, within the co-curricular timetable. This initiative runs alongside our well-established full Partnerships programme for our older students.
‘I learned how to be more confident and now feel happy presenting in front of an audience’
(Year 8 Drama Club)
Music
Music is at the heart of Wimbledon High School and is an integral part of each school day Whether it be performances in assembly; taking part in one of the many concerts that fill our calendar or participating in our weekly Friday Jammin’ performances, there are opportunities for students to explore their creativity and imagination in a variety of different ways.
The Music department values all students who have an interest in music whatever their experience and whatever style of music they are interested in. We offer individual instrumental/singing lessons for students in all years. Lessons take place throughout the school day on a rotational basis and are provided by our visiting music teachers.
With over 25 rehearsals each week, and auditioned and non-auditioned groups, there is an ensemble for everybody! We hope and expect that all students taking lessons in singing or on instruments will join one of the school choirs, orchestras or chamber groups and take part in the many formal and informal concerts throughout the year.
There are regular opportunities for our musicians to perform at a professional level, including our annual central London
concert where the WHS Concert Orchestra, Baroque Ensemble, Sinfonia and our two choirs - A Cappella and Canto - perform complex and rewarding music. Our Music Scholars hold recitals throughout the year and our Young Musician of the Year and Concerto competitions give the opportunity for the finest musicians to compete. A new composition competition will also afford musicians the chance to have a carol penned by them performed at our annual carol service.
In the spring, efforts are focused on our Spring Concert – a flagship event held the wonderful central London venue of St John’s Smith Square and the summer term offers the chance for less formal musicmaking, as we embrace Blues and Roots and freer form Jazz in the company of professionals.
Drama
Wimbledon High is bursting with opportunities for students who enjoy performing and want to experience the joy and accompanying camaraderie that comes from being in a show. Students perform in the Rutherford Performing Arts Centre, and also our wonderful new Auditorium which are run by highly skilled technical staff.
Our teachers have professional performance and directorial experience and provide particularly outstanding support for students who are serious about developing their acting and musical theatre performance work.
Alongside drama lessons in the younger years, students can join Drama Club and have at least one opportunity to perform annually. Recent productions include and abridged ‘The Merchant of Venice’, ‘Bright Young Things’, ‘Mary Poppins’ (Jnr), ‘Guys and Dolls’ (Jnr) and ‘Singing in the Rain’ (Jnr). Planned productions include the National Theatre adaptation of ‘Emil And The Detectives’ and the fabulous musical ‘Footloose’.
Each year, students from Year 10 – 13 choose to be either in the Senior Musical or the Senior Play. Recent excellent fulllength productions include ‘Sweeney Todd,’ ‘Merrily We Roll Along’, ‘The Crucible’,
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘The Trojan Women’. And students from all year groups are invited and encouraged to take part in our annual summer Musical Theatre Celebration, a carefully curated concert of solos, duets and small and larger group numbers.
If students are not keen on being in the limelight but love the theatre, they are encouraged to get involved behind the scenes: helping with direction or choreography, operating lighting and sound, painting scenery, managing staging and props. Playwriting is increasingly popular.
It remains our aspiration to continue to produce excellent shows, but at Wimbledon High School we never lose sight of the valuable learning opportunities and the sheer life-affirming joy our collaborative performance projects provide for everyone who wants to get involved.
Sport
Sport is an integral part of life at Wimbledon High where students can learn a wide range of activities that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. By providing inspiring teaching and high-level coaching we ensure that each student is supported to reach their potential whilst enjoying being active.
The co-curricular sport programme offers a diverse range of sports and activities, from hockey and netball to swimming and cricket; gymnastics and dance, rowing, tennis and football, to name a few! Rowers row out of Molesey Boat Club. And our playing fields are at Nursery Road, a 10 minute walk away and original site of the All England Club.
We run our programme according to three categories:
Performance - For students displaying a high level of skill and named within the A team squad list.
Development - For students looking to develop their skills and performance, and wanting to represent the school in competitive fixtures on a regular basis.
Recreational - At beginner level or new to the sport and looking for fun and informal competitive opportunities such as house competitions and friendly fixtures.
Students are taught by a large team of experienced, enthusiastic, and inspirational PE teachers and professional coaches.
Recent successes in the National Schools Regatta, national netball and hockey competitions have wowed our community. These are alongside impressive individual achievements including a Team GB hockey player, an international tennis player, an international gymnast and national level swimmers.
To get a complete picture of the range of teams and sports which WHS competes and for fixture and team information, see: www.wimbledonhighsports.com. In some cases, where students do other sports in their own time, they can represent the school in these, with parental support, such as: Equestrian, Sailing, Skiing. The future is looking bright for our sportswomen at Wimbledon High!
Partnerships
Developing partnerships is one of the key strategic aims of the WHS and we are fully committed to fostering links and developing projects locally, nationally, and internationally.
Our aim is to broaden experiences for our students and bring a sense of perspective to their everyday lives. In doing so, collaborating with schools and community venues, to support and widen their programmes, and opportunities. At the heart of our programmes is working in collaboration to develop an understanding of each other, make friendships and connections, whilst pursuing joint adventures.
We enjoy strong relationships with a selection of primary and secondary ‘hub’, schools. The pathway through year 4, 5 & 6, enables students and parents to become more familiar with WHS and to consider routes into independent school education.
Each programme enables the WHS students in years 11 & 12, the opportunity to mentor students from our primary partners. SHINE is the Year 4 programme, a 10-week Saturday morning course, bringing to WHS 25 children from across the primary hub, for a range of academic lessons with the theme ‘Reach for the Stars’. This has included ‘A Journey to Mars’, using VR goggles to explore its landscape, ‘Perfect Stars’, exploring the Maths behind Christmas Stars and ‘Starry Night Printing’ using Van Gogh’s painting as the stimulus to produce a masterpiece of their own. This programme culminates in a wonderful celebration inviting parents, staff, and students to enjoy a summary of the programme.
The Year 5 programme THRIVE welcomes high achieving pupil premium students, to join a carousel of English, Maths, Science and Coding. Whilst exploring these areas, they are encouraged by their mentors to be unafraid of giving new tasks a go, to extend their knowledge, curiosity, and confidence, beyond the curriculum.
The Year 6 THRIVE programme, invites whole classes from the primary ‘Hub’ to join a programme designed to allay worries and fears of moving up into Year 7 though a 6-week expressive arts programme. Students enjoy the encouragement of mentors and build greater selfconfidence and self-efficacy.
‘I’ve
learned how
important it is important to make prisoners feel noticed and accepted to help to facilitate the transition back into normal life.’
Secondary partnership work is truly collaborative, with same age peers in Year 11 and Y12, working together on projects. With opportunities for language development, through GCSE conversational Spanish or French, working towards designing and building a Green Powered Car, or combining to present a Physical project at UCL, as examples.
Within the WHS Community programmes, there are diverse opportunities to work within specialist schools, supporting children with complex physical and neurological needs. Residential care homes provide the platform to befriend residents, some of whom are lonely or who have dementia. Working with the local Guilds enables the WHS students to be more creative and deliver activities such as line dancing, or give advice about mobile phones, laptops, and the internet. Working with HMP
‘The partnerships programme has helped me empathise with different groups of people, and hopefully if I become a doctor in the future I will be a more understanding and therefore more responsible practitioner.’
DownView and Feltham Young Offenders, has given students the chance to understand people from entirely different social backgrounds, to discover some of the reasons why women and young men have been sentenced, and to recognise that we are all part of one community.
For Years 7 – 10, there are opportunities to visit our primary partners, to take part in pair-reading as a lunchtime co-curricular activity. With so many students fluent in additional languages, we are able to offer reading support, with the additional benefit of matching language specialists from WHS with other languages spoken in our primary hub schools.
‘I’ve improved my people skills: while I was confident enough talking to younger people, I never felt comfortable doing it, and so I think that having to do it every week helped with that.’
School Trips
We offer an extensive range of day and residential educational visits to our students. The day trip programme provides a diverse range of opportunities, some locally, making use of our proximity to central London with visits to museums and galleries, and some further afield, for example Bletchley Park.
In planning our residential programme we are mindful of our carbon footprint, with many academic departments now working together to offer one combined trip, rather than multiple expeditions. Residential trips are also often offered to multiple year groups – our rowing camps or Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions, for example, allowing friendships across the years to deepen. Being at one with nature – and crucially, leaving mobile phones strictly at home is at the heart of our annual ‘Under the Stars’ residentials with different year groups.
And going off-timetable for events such as AI Day, Entrepreneur Day, Grow Days with guest speakers and our annual Student Leadership Day (often with dressing-up a key factor) brings more fun and enrichment.
‘I appreciated the opportunity to try new things, particularly rowing, on our Dorset ‘Under the Stars’ few days away.’
Year 10 Student
Wimbledon High School, Mansel Road, London SW19 4AB 020 8971 0900 • info@wim.gdst.net • www.wimbledonhigh.gdst.net
