Worthing High School December 2012 MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD Dear Parents, Carers, Staff and Governors, As we come to the end of a long term there is much to reflect upon. For students, staff, governors and parents the journey to Academy status has not been smooth, however we move forward to next term with optimism and a focus on providing the best possible educational experience for all our students. We welcomed 15 new members of teaching and support staff this term and the speed at which they have all settled into the school and worked hard to get to know students and parents has been impressive.
English Department leaves us to return to Christian Aid. Mrs Sabin has contributed an enormous amount over the time she has been with us both within and outside the classroom. Holly has run a highly successful Debating Club, and was a key member of the Sponsored Walk Committee. In September 2011, the whole school took part in the walk and raised a massive £12,000 for Chestnut Tree Hospice. Holly has also been a champion organiser and fundraiser for the India trip taking place in October 2013. We also say goodbye to Aaron Stenning who leaves us to take up a teaching role with Northbrook College.
CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
Over 150 parents, friends and members of the local community Over October half term Mr joined Worthing High School Kaczmarek ran a very successful students for their annual Carols Geography trip to Sorrento for by Candlelight on Thursday 13 Yr9 students, who enjoyed the December. The evening provided incredible experience of visiting an opportunity for us to celebrate Pompeii, Herculaneum and Christmas and showcase the Vesuvius. I am very grateful to musical talents of our students. Mr Kaczmarek, Mrs Hlynianski, Mr Peacock and Mrs Amos who Over £250 was raised towards all gave so willingly of their time to our educational trip to India make this memorable trip such a where 15 students will be success. In November, Yr8 visited working with an educational Kew Gardens under the direction charity in the autumn 2013. of Mr Loney, Mr Leswell and Mr Kaczmarek – again I thank the staff The audience were treated to an for delivering such a worthwhile outstanding evening of festive experience. music, readings and musical As you read through this newsletter performances from over 60 students. A you will see that students this candlelit procession term have raised a considerable amount for charity and volunteered started the evening their time with a number of local entertainment. organisations, an appreciation of the lives of others is a key element The audience joined in the development of our students’ in with traditional and core values. new carols, readings from students and staff We sadly say goodbye to two members of staff at the end of this and a beautiful solo of “Come with me term. Holly Sabin from the
Aaron joined us in January of this year as a Cover Supervisor and has worked tirelessly to support students both in and out of the classroom. We wish Holly and Aaron the very best as they start the next chapter in their careers. I do hope you all enjoy a peaceful Christmas and I very much look forward to welcoming our students back to school on Monday January 7th. Very best wishes Carolyn Dickinson Tonight” from Amelia Smith. Stille Nacht and Gaudete were performed by students along with readings from A Christmas Carol. David Martin, Head of Music said: “ Our hall was transformed into a magical place of candlelight and we were then entertained by our wonderfully talented musicians. All our students performed so well and made the evening a spectacular success. It was really lovely to hear one of our very own Steve Jeffery’s compositions ‘there’s a light’ which was beautifully performed by our students”.
CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS Last month over 300 parents, carers and students from Worthing High School gathered at the school to celebrate the academic achievements of students who left Worthing High School this summer after taking their GSCE examinations. Several local companies and governors attended the Presentation Evening many of whom had sponsored the awards. Students collected their examination certificates and special awards from Dr John Bull, a school Governor of 30 years, who also addressed the audience with an inspiring and motivational speech. Carolyn Dickinson, Headteacher said: “The teaching staff at Worthing High School felt honoured to be able to celebrate the success of this year’s summer leavers. Thirty students were recognised with special awards during the evening all of which were sponsored by some of our local business partners. We also launched a new annual award this year, the Hyder-Wilson Trophy. The trophy was presented to Robert Hyder-Wilson to recognise his outstanding success this
Robert Hyder-Wilson is presented with his award by Dr John Bull
summer achieving a record 11 A* GSCE passes. In addition, Robert contributed greatly during his 4 years at Worthing High. He is a keen sportsman and represented the school in many disciplines; he was Headboy, a Student Mentor and
SHOW COMING SOON Rehearsals are now well under way for this year’s school production of Guys and Dolls! The plot follows the story of Sky Masterson – a gambler who will do anything for a bet. However, he thinks he may have met his match when Nathan Detroit bets him that he can’t take mission worker Sarah Brown to Havana on a date. Nathan is hoping to win the bet so he can secure enough money to run his floating crap game – a card game that changes location
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every time it runs. Our talented cast have put so much effort into the musical so far and we can’t wait for show time on 12th-14th February 2013. Information regarding tickets will be circulated nearer the time. We bet we’ll see you there! Mrs Hunwick Head of Drama
an excellent role model to current and future students. Many parents and students commented on the success of the evening including: Caroline and Geoff Cooper who said “Thank you for last night’s presentation evening. It was a lovely end to a very happy time for our daughter Elizabeth. She always said that she would have liked to continue into sixth form at Worthing High and as parents we’re sure that she couldn’t have gone to a better school. Many thanks for giving Elizabeth an excellent school life and for helping her achieve her good GCSE results.” Helen Mathieson said “It was a lovely evening and the hall was decorated beautifully to make it a special event”.
MOVEMBER 2012 For the second year running a group of Worthing High staff took on the challenge that is MOVEMBER! Last year the guys raised just over £800 by being sponsored for growing moustaches for November. Movember is a charity that raises both awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer. With the current financial climate being a little chilly, other recent fund raisers and lots more men in general joining in this year, the guys decided to construct a game plan to reach this year’s target of £1,000. Ten members of staff have formed a Pie Club, Pie Day is every Friday, members take turns to make a pie (meat) and share between members. Mr Talbot Pie Master had the genius idea to hold a Pie Gala, the Pie Club members created a Pie menu and invited all to come to the Gala.
The Gala took place at the Having 11 members of Staff Sidney Walter Centre where sporting the most ridiculous 40 guests each paying £10 facial hair is a great way to indulged in the most amazing get the message out there. pies ever created! Teachers have discussed in Meanwhile the Mo Bro’s where form time, lessons and even ringing round everyone they assemblies the importance and knew to ask for donations awareness of cancer and the for a raffle, their results were charity. Thank you to all who unbelievable, a night for 2 took part, donated, attended at Chatsworth Hotel, Tea for the Pie Gala and bought raffle 2 at the Grand, hair cuts, tickets it was all worth it in the massages, Paint Balling, end! Christmas Hamper from Asda, http://uk.movember.com/ a day pass at Butlins and mospace/team/ many, many more! Team and individual sponsorship was a little down this year so having the Pie Gala and the raffle really helped. Currently we are £17 away from the £1,000 target, but there is still time to donate so please Just some of the Mo Bro’s with staff from Asda who kindly see the link below donated the Christmas Hamper for the raffle and help.
FUNDRAISING ADVENTURES A team of 15 amazing students are well on their way to raising £25,000 for a charity trip to India in October 2013. The biggest fundraising success so far has come from the company Dove. Dove provide a resource pack for schools that focuses on Self Esteem. They asked for a group of us (Nancy O’Melia, Kiran Wallace, Jevhan Pandya, Charlotte Thompson and Mrs Gatford) to go for an initial photo shoot in the summer holidays and from this, we were selected to go through to the final shoot. The photo shoot was at a school in London and provided the images for the new Self Esteem Resource Pack for Schools. The casting agency paid the group for taking part and this gave us a fantastic £1350! It was a long day but well worth it in terms of kick-starting the fundraising. Other fundraisers have been a 10 mile rollerblading challenge, a curry night where 2 of the team made a huge curry, invited their family and friends and made about £500 from donations on the night. There have been various sponsored events organised by individuals, car boot sales and students saving their pocket money and birthday money. The Treat day Tuesday cake sales held on 2 days in December have so far raised a total of £89 which is a great result.
There are lots of other events big and small planned for next year so watch this space and the website where there’ll be regular updates of all things India. The money will pay for the students to spend 10 days in the Andhra Pradesh region, running an activity week for a rural village school. During their time they will be teaching two lessons a day to 40 children at a time and then running activities in the afternoon to larger groups of children. The team also hope to make a sizable donation to the school, which subsidises the education costs for families to enable their children to get an education. The school also have projects including a drinking water bore-well which any extra money raised will help fund. Many thanks for supporting the team on this life-changing adventure and we look forward to seeing you at one of the events next year. Jim Fenlon -Trip organisor
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2012 SORRENTO TRIP Our trip to Italy was a complete contrast to last year. Our plane descended through dense cloud into Naples airport and the skies were overcast. Rain and cool weather were predicted but fortunately we seemed to dodge the worst of it during our trip. Rushing through the terminal to pick up our bags we were met by our friendly and helpful driver and whisked away from the airport to Solfatera. This volcanic caldera, thought to be the gateway to Hades by the Romans, was a warm and sunny first visit. As you walk across the crater floor warm gas bubbles up through the mud warming the soles of your shoes. A strong smell of sulphur dioxide fills the air. And gas and steam rises from the hot rocks and rushes out of the fumarole vents.
Having discovered the medical benefits of this spa location we feasted on our first Italian ice creams. This set us up for our coach journey to an “agritourisimo”, a vineyard and chateaux where we ate a simple meal of burger and chips, washed down with coke. This healthy international food staple was a starter for a much more cosmopolitan range of meals served in our hotel.
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Herculaneum with Vesuvius in the background
We departed for the journey to Sorrento. Out of the coach window a panorama of Naples bay and Vesuvius flashed by. The moody volcano was shrouded in orographic cloud formations created by the strong onshore winds. Occasionally we caught a glimpse of the new cone nestling in the massive caldera of Monte Somme, the remains of the original volcano destroyed in the Plinnian eruption of AD79 when the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed. On reaching the hotel the students took it in turns to visit a gelateria to see how ice cream was made. After our evening meal the group walked to Tasso Square, where the students were orientated to the town and given some time to explore.
The following day we left for Vesuvius. The weather had closed in. The mountain was shrouded in thick cloud. Heavy rain swept the hillsides causing flash floods to make the mountain roads look like rivers. The mountain was “closed” so we made the best of the situation enjoying hot chocolate in a mountain “refuge” before heading down the mountain to Herculaneum.
Discovered as the footings were being built for a villa, the excavated remains are found in a deep hole cut into the volcanic mud and ash that engulfed the town in AD79. The students were introduced to the site and then given a map and allowed to wander the site in small groups. I am sure some will want to return and take more time to explore these exquisite remains. We retuned to the mountain and a hillside restaurant overlooking the Bay of Naples for our pizza lunch. Due to the bad weather we cut short our day and returned to the hotel. This enabled us to spend a little more time shopping and promenading the illuminated streets.
their final meal. Many opted for the least challenging MacDonald’s but some ventured into pizzerias enjoying the chance to savour one last taste of Italy.
The final day saw us up and packed ready for departure from our hotel by 9.00. Our itinerary was short but full of opportunities to visit exciting locations within Pompeii, a city overwhelmed by a pyroclastic flow during the eruption of AD79. Students visited the main coliseum, and amphitheatre, shops and the town square. It was a cool but dry day, however the enthusiasm for being in a new country and in a new location did not wane. Once finished at this historic site the students were given some euros and allowed to find a restaurant for
The bodies were preserved as moulds formed by the volcanic ash that hardened round them. The bodies then rotted away leaving a hollow in the shape of the body that was once there.
This short and very intensive trip to Italy was set up by Colin Guyton. Mr Guyton left us to join a school nearer home and I had the privilege of supervising the students on this trip.
Roman speed humps and grooves in the road made by chariots
It was a great trip not only because the sites we visited were superb but also because the students were a joy to be with. Trips like this allow our young people the opportunity to experience new places in a unique way, as part of a group of young and inexperienced travellers. They learn skills and develop characteristics, like self confidence that will be with them and serve them for life. Finally, a big thank you to the other adults who joined the trip: Mr Peacock, Miss Hylianski and Mrs Amos. Without their support it would not have been possible. Trip Leader Paul Kaczmarek
A LUSH VISIT On Wednesday 12th December LUSH came to Worthing High. All year 10 students taking BTEC science were involved in 3 workshops during the day. Brett ( Brighton store manager) and the lovely Christina (assistant manager) shared the organic, environmental and ethical ethos of LUSH cosmetics. Students discussed fair trade, packaging and recycling and using natural resources respectfully. The scent of neroli oil, coconut and jasmine filled the corridor as the production of bath bombs to send to the St.Barnabas hospice began. Pink love hearts, sparkles, sugar flowers , citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and oils were mixed in to create fizzing balls of bath fun for all. Students were also allowed to create one to take home. Finally students packaged soap for the Worthing Homeless Project including a special individual Christmas message and learnt about
saponification. Lush also ran a stall at break and lunchtime in the Millenium Hall along with four of our year 11 students. Owing to OFSTED also visiting on this day the delivery of soap and bath bombs by students will take place on Christmas Eve !
Miss Davis AHT
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DRAMA STUDENTS SHARE THEIR WORK WITH THE VALE On 16th November, 23 year 11 GCSE Drama students travelled to The Vale School in Findon to show their devised Theatre in Education pieces. Every student had worked very hard in the weeks and months leading up to the trip to produce an entertaining and educational piece of theatre on a topic that was relevant to this young audience. Topics ranged from cyber-bullying to smoking and aimed to teach the young students more about each topic through entertaining theatre.
piece was interactive with the students involved throughout and able to ask questions at the end. Some students had studied design options and used very creative make up, set and costume designs to enhance the pieces.
afternoon session when all of our students interacted superbly with the younger students, with lots of them saying that they had made new (older) friends at the end of the day. An excellent day was had by all and we are looking forward to returning next year!
After a very productive and well received morning, the WHS students were then able to offer The Vale students some Drama workshops. Each group introduced and taught a Drama exercise that the younger students really enjoyed Each group of WHS students had and helped them to grow in the opportunity to present their confidence. The WHS students work to two different groups of were a credit to the school all day, Mrs C Hunwick - Head of Drama year 3 and 4 students and each but particularly in this
MARC CHARLESWORTH RIGHT ON TARGET Marc started Archery in September 2010 at Worthing Archery Club and began competitive shooting regularly in March 2012 with his first ever indoor event at the Sussex County Indoor Championships. It was his first time shooting indoors, winning the Junior Gentleman Recurve title. Marc enjoys meeting other archers and making new friends at events and participating in competitions across the south of England. He has been successful in this first full season of competitive shooting, breaking 4 County Records, achieving his Six Gold End, Blue Arrow, Red Junior Cross and Red Rose Award. Marc has been selected to represent Sussex twice in tournaments against Essex, Surrey and Hampshire. Marc is currently ranked 1st in Sussex Junior Recurve for boys, 15th nationally for Under 18’s, and is joint 2nd for the Under 14’s category. He trains usually 3 times per week both indoors and outdoors to improve his technique. The worst moment of archery was standing in a field in a force 6 winds trying to focus on the target in between heavy showerbursts. The best moment was achieving the 3rd score needed to claim the Junior Sue Knott & Fran Fisher ( LSA’s) Master Bowman Award, the highest achievement a
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Marc & his brother Luke at the Summer Tournament
Junior archer can gain in any given year. He decided to set his sights on this award at the end of July and achieved it by mid September. Marc recently entered the Junior National Indoor Championships at the Ricoh Centre in Coventry. It was a brilliant experience with 450 archers competing each day. The highlight was being able to watch top class international and Olympic archers in action. It is the third largest archery competition worldwide. Marc did well for his debut in this daunting competition, coming 10th in his category. Marc is now looking forward to competing at more tournaments next year including the Sussex County Indoor Championships in early March, The Junior Outdoor Nationals in July, and the first Junior Masters Tournament in August, to be held for the top level junior archers in Great Britain.
Ex-SOUTH AFRICA INTERNATIONAL RUGBY PLAYER VISIT We were delighted to welcome Thinus Delport into the school on Monday 12th November. Thinus is a rugby union wing and fullback player who played for Gloucester, the Worcester Warriors and South Africa. Thinus has represented the southern hemisphere in his sport, competing against some of the world’s greatest rugby players. Thinus has taken the role of National Athlete Mentor this academic year – using the expertise he has gained from previous years on the
initiative to visit schools which have already completed Sky Sports Living for Sport projects and help them to continue to develop and improve their students’ lives through sport. Worthing High school ran a number of projects looking at raising self-confidence and aspirations through sport. Miss Field Leader of PE commented: “the living for sport projects are regularly ran at the school I look at projects which can be used to inspire young people to reach their goals in life. At the moment we are running
a project called ‘transition’ looking at the step up from middle school to secondary school through the medium of dance. It is wonderful that our projects are recognised and that someone such as Thinus is able to spend the day with our students here at Worthing High School.” Thinus spent the day delivering a special assembly to all GCSE PE, Dance and BTEC sport students and then worked with well over 100 students developing their fitness and rugby skills. All students were delighted to be coached by Thinus no more so than the boys U15 rugby team who have just been crowned district league champions. uke Turner (student) and Diana Nicholson
VOCAL LESSONS AVAILABLE! Worthing High School continues to offer one-to-one and paired vocal lessons, as well as many other instruments available at SAM Studios in Shoreham. Lessons are delivered by SAM, the Sussex Academy of Music, which specialises in delivering instrumental tuition to schools throughout Sussex and uses carefully chosen, highly qualified, CRB checked tutors who cater for every student’s individual needs. Lessons are documented with weekly lesson reports usingSAM’s interactive online
software, mySAM, where the students and parents can view all previous lesson reports, check the future lesson bookings and download fun and informative resources. SAM provides 30 minute One-to-One (£12 per lesson), Paired (£8.40 per child per lesson) and Parent & Child (£14.40 inclusive) instrumental tuition as well as a variety of music related workshops and courses. Lessons take place at the school, during and after the school day.
sussexmusic.com/schools and complete the online application form, or email schools@sussexmusic.com or pick up a form at the school reception and post the return slip to the address listed on the form. Alternatively, you can call SAM on 01273 465122 and a member of staff will be happy to assist with your query.
If you are interested in applying for lessons, please visit www.
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LEARNING RESOURCES CENTRE English Department in pushing this forward. The big news for the LRC this month is that we have started Accelerated Reader for our Year 8 students. AR is a proven way of improving literacy in schools and we are very excited to commence it here. To begin with students will all take a reading test which will give them a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which will match them to the appropriate level of books. The ZPD represents the level of difficulty that is neither too hard nor too easy and takes into account the difficulty of text within a book such as average length of sentences and words. All books in the LRC have now been labelled with their book level so that students can easily find a book. Once students have read an Accelerated Reader book they can then do a short quiz which tests their understanding. We will be setting up incentives for students to take quizzes and am sure they will all enjoy doing them. They are also our way of seeing how they are developing and where improvement could be made.
If you would like to see what books are on Accelerated Reader please go to the link on the Eclipse Library system (from the WHS website, parents or students section). Under the news section on the front page of Eclipse you will see ‘Accelerated Reader – BOOK FINDER’. Here you can see what books we have in the LRC or search books that you have at home to see what levels they are.
We voted Momentum and Boys don’t Cry our favourite books in the Southern School Book Awards. All students are now looking forward to meeting the authors at Roedean in January
and hearing who the overall winner is. We will keep you posted.
We are very much looking forward to working with the
“If all the world’s a stage…” A group of 24 year 11 students, from the top English sets, enjoyed a day of Shakespeare in London. First stop was an exhibition at the British Museum, featuring artefacts from the Elizabethan period such as the iron collar used on witches, as well as unique items like the Robben Island copy of Shakespeare’s Works, signed by prisoners including Nelson Mandela. Then we crossed the Thames to the Globe Theatre for a tour and a chance to go up on the stage, followed by workshop directed by one of the professional actors on staff at the theatre. Thanks to Mrs Sabin, Mrs Whitehead and Mr Holbrook for organising a fantastic experience.
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Another exciting event is ‘The Amazing Book Awards’ next year. This will be our second year and we have 21 schools taking part. The long list will be published in January and students will then vote for the books they would like to make it to the shortlist. Do check out the website for more information. It is an ‘Amazing’ event and parents are invited to come and meet the authors as well. http://amazingbookawards. co.uk/ Year 8 book club has now started and what an enthusiastic bunch they are, I think we will have some lively book club meetings over the coming year. Remember there are book clubs for everyone so do let us know if you would like to join in. We meet on a Thursday lunchtime in the LRC. Have a fantastic Christmas everyone. I can’t wait to hear about all you lucky ones who receive books and e-readers. Don’t forget to write your reviews on the Eclipse library system for everyone to see. Amanda Phelan Learning Resource Manager
St BARNABAS HOSPICE On Thursday 25th October, twelve WHS students ventured to St Barnabas Hospice to entertain the clients who were using the Day Centre. We were all thrilled to be part of this partnership as every one of us recognised the importance of the hospice and the wonderful work it carries out with so many families across our town and wider community. After meeting their audience, the young people of Worthing High gave musical performances that clearly delighted those who were listening. I was very proud of all of the students and so pleased that we had representatives from Years 8-10. The Year 8 students were Charlotte Barber, Lucy Caiels and Ella Digby. Year 9 students were Emily Coles, Jevhan Pandya, Toby Sivyer, Amelia Smith and Phoebe Walker. Representatives from Year 10 were Sophie Elliot and Kimberley Logan.
The variety of music being performed was so wide. It was lovely to hear Toby’s performance of a Bach Cello Suite, and Jevhan’s beautiful instrumental version of McCartney’s “Blackbird”. Lucy performed a duet with Mr Jeffery and Ella and Charlotte sang with great confidence, enthusiasm and professionalism. Emily Coles performed two songs and really entertained the audience with her beautiful singing and accomplished piano playing. Amelia offered a song from Les Miserables and everyone enjoyed her delightful singing. Phoebe gave a vivacious performance of a modern folksong, accompanying herself so wonderfully on ukulele and Sophie and Kim gave memorable performances that left beaming smiles on so many faces. Everyone joined together in a good old-fashioned “sing-along”
led by Mr Jeffery. One of the clients even took a solo verse during this part of the afternoon! After the performances, we all enjoyed chatting with the people at the Hospice. One gentleman was celebrating his birthday and he kindly shared his cake with all of us. It was so lovely being there. It felt good to be giving something back to this great place. We hope that by sharing our talents, we made people feel happy. We all really hope that we can return sometime soon.
SPONSORSHIP ALWAYS WELCOME! New sports kit always gives students a boost and as the school has moved away from it’s green phase and into it’s purple phase some new football kits were needed to replace a couple of very well worn, slightly tired kits.
Jamie Peacock, assistant coach for Year 9 Boys Football Team put out the feelers and Sussex company Yearbooks Direct came up trumps!. For several years, the school and Mr Peacock have used Yearbooks Direct to create the infamous leavers yearbook.
Yearbooks Direct were delighted to sponsor the team and fund a great looking new kit which has given the players a massive confidence boost. Gilly Hunt, Yearbooks Direct Manager, said: “We’ve worked with Jamie for years and so it was very rewarding to be able to show our appreciation by sponsoring the kit. I think the kids look very professional and I am sure they have an extra spring in their step as a result.” Yearbooks Direct is part of Unibind UK, a leader in binding and presentation products based in Horsham. Meanwhile Mr Price also approached some of his many business contacts and had success with local building firm Total Building Materials Ltd. Chris Harris Director of Total
Building Materials Ltd said “It’s about giving something back to the community.” A fantastic result all round, especially as funding for schools is currently very challenging. Mr Peacock said “A huge part of sport, especially teenagers, is confidence, if the students get a bit more from these new kits it could make all the difference. Thanks to both companies for helping out.”
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Term Date Reminder: Last Day of Term Friday 21 December 2012 1.30pm finish Start of Term Monday 7 January 2013 9.40am start Have a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year! THE BIGGER BANG V On Friday 14th December, 30 budding year 8 scientists travelled to the University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb Campus, to see The Bigger Bang V Science show. Treated to the presenter’s humorous take on the popular Star Wars movies throughout the entertainment was non-stop. The show included a phosphorus sun which was made from liquid oxygen and white phosphorus and resulted in a very bright glow. Charles’ Law was demonstrated by shrinking a long balloon as it was put into liquid nitrogen and then returning it to its original size at room temperature. The
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shrinking was due to the air particles condensing. One of the most memorable explosions (there were a few) was the exploding chicken and ostrich eggs. The eggs were filled with hydrogen, set on fire, then, as oxygen gas was sucked inside, BANG – totally destroyed! Another exciting moment was when a miniature spacecraft floated on air due to the difference in particle density between the air above and below the spacecraft. All the students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the show. Mr Williams Science
PENNY CRAZY Worthing High school raised well over £200 for Children in Need this year. Money was raised by Rachel Richie in Year 9 making and selling her own Pudsey cakes.
All Worthing High school students competed in the PE Department’s annual Community Tug-of-War
competition. TGI were crowned Grand Champions of 2012. Finally Tarring community raised over £80 in the ‘penny line’ competition. This year saw TNS, TIK and TFI tutor groups create lines between 25-30m totalling over £20 a line! Miss Field Leader of PE said “it was wonderful to see how generous our students here at Worthing High school are, students enthusiasm and
DEBATE SOCIETY Society members took part in their first debating competition on December 18th, against St Andrew’s CE Boys School. The impressively eloquent debaters were James Hart and Olivia Baker (year 8), Eco Committee Jevhan Pandya, Jack Window, Amelia Smith and Ben Curtis (year 9) and Stanley Evans-Power (year 10), whose sharp verbal skills were well tested with debates on CCTV,
votes for 16 year olds, and compulsory PE. Although they argued well, St Andrew’s took this round of the competition. The Debating Society was started in May by Mrs Sabin (English Dept) who said, “Debating competitions are usually for older students so I am really proud of our young team for their maturity, confidence and quick thinking.” Mrs Sabin - English
commitment to raising money for Children in Need was commendable. We are looking to raising even more next year”.
Is Private Fostering for you? Are you looking after someone else’s child? Private fostering is when someone under 16 (18 if registered disabled), is cared for and provided accommodation for over 28 days by an adult who is not a close relative. West Sussex County Council needs to be aware of such arrangements and can provide a wide range of support to those who need it. If you are in such an arrangement, or know someone who is, find out more about Private Fostering by visiting www.westsussex.gov.uk and looking up ‘Private Fostering’ or call the Children’s Access Point on 01403 229900 for more information.
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INFLUENTIAL STUDENTS AIM TO REDUCE TEENAGERS SMOKING Year 8 students completed an anonymous questionnaire to identify peers who they trust for advice and consider the most influential within the year group. The results created a list of 35 students who were invited to work with NHS West Sussex and Decipher Assist on a programme of training to become ‘peer supporters’. The students attended a two day training course at Field Place training Centre in Worthing and completed four follow up sessions focusing on promoting a healthy lifestyle and communication with peers. “The ASSIST programme aims to reduce smoking amongst young people aged 12-13 (Year 8) by training influential students
West of England”
FACT FOR EVERY TWO PEOPLE WHO SMOKE, ONE WILL DIE FROM A SMOKING RELATED ILLNESS! to disseminate new norms of behaviour through their established social networks. It has been rigorously evaluated as a Stop Smoking in Schools Trial, funded by the Medical Research Council, which took place in 59 secondary schools in South Wales and the South-
CHRISTMAS CHEER! A large group of students enjoyed the annual festive dinner celebrations in the school restaurant. Students were treated to an excellent Christmas lunch with all the trimmings and a unique pudding of Chocolate and Cranberry Sponge. Festive music played and crackers and table decorations made the restaurant seem even more festive! Many staff joined the students for lunch and a great time was had by all.
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This project is an excellent opportunity for young people to learn about the dangers of smoking and filter this through their friendship groups. The way in which students are selected is a great idea, they are not smokers or even at risk of becoming smokers but well respected people within their social groups, therefore each small group gets represented and the information and knowledge is then shared around the year group and school. John Rhodie Health Education Coordinator
Family Quiz in October once again we were delighted with the number of people who supported our quiz in October. It was another great evening starting off with music from the schools’ soul band and hosted superbly by our quiz master Steve Jeffery. The event raised £434 – thank you to all involved, especially the donors of the many raffle prizes and Barclays Bank - who helped at the event and matched the total funds taken.
Christmas Cake Bake - staff,
parents and students came together in November to enjoy an early festive evening making their Christmas Cakes with the preweighed ingredients provided. This was a new event for WHSA and whilst it was run as much as a social as a fundraiser we were pleased to make £43. We would like to thank the Food
Technology teachers for their support with this event which we certainly plan to run again next year.
Car Boot Sales - have continued
to run throughout the Autumn term with the help of staff from each of the Communities - each participating Community receives a share of the gate takings at the end of the year. We usually have a group of loyal sellers and buyers from the local area although attendance was recently affected by the inclement weather. We do hope that you will come along and support the events as a buyer or seller when they resume hopefully in warmer weather on April 13th!
Current funds
We have recently received an overdue gift aid payment which along with the above events has put the WHSA account at a very healthy £3,300! Staff are encouraged to make applications to the WHSA for grants towards specific funding either towards whole school, faculty or
community initiatives. Our main aim is that the money you help us raise should have as wide a benefit as possible. At our last meeting we agreed to contribute £250 to the school’s pilot to provide iPad Mini’s for the use of students with Severe Specific Learning Difficulties. We are very excited about being part of this pilot which will look at new ways of working to enable students to be more independent and gain confidence in their studies.
Future plans
New for 2013 – join WHSA 200 Club. This lotto will raise funds for WHSA as well as give you a monthly opportunity to win a proportion of the stakes. It is just £2 a month – paid in advance by cash or cheque at the school or through WISEPAY. See our page on the new school website for more details. Also we are planning another social event for early next year – the committee are currently discussing what kind of events students and parents would most like to attend. Some ideas are bingo, race night or murder mystery. If you would like to get involved or would simply like to make a suggestion please email us on WHSA@worthinghigh.net. We would love to hear from you!
CANTEEN GOES CASHLESS From Monday 7th January 2013 the school canteen will no longer accept cash payments during break or lunch periods. All students must go to the canteen before registration, any day of the week, to load cash or cheque payments to their catering accounts.
Alternatively, parents can top up accounts via Wisepay using credit or debit cards 24/7. Long queues are forming in the canteen due to the number of students still using cash to pay for their purchases and we have agreed with Caterlink to move to a cashless system after the Christmas break.
Please can you ensure your son/daughter is aware of this change – we will also be communicating the new arrangements during registration periods before Christmas.
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ZOOLAB RETURNS
As Year 8 completed a unit of work on adaptation in Science and geared up to the undertaking of a term long project exploring an ecosystem of their choice in Geography,
A wide range of animals and reptiles were brought into school, these included; rats, cockroaches, spiders, giant snails, lizards, frogs and scorpions. It was clear that Year 8 managed to get a great deal out of the opportunity, which certainly included a huge amount of enjoyment.
they were greeted with an array of animals and reptiles from all corners of the globe. As part of a cross curricular venture between Geography and Science, animal handlers from
Zoo lab were invited in to hold hour long workshops with all of our Year 8 classes. The focus of each workshop was to give students an opportunity to meet, touch and learn about an array of reptile and animal species, found throughout the world’s ecosystems. In doing so,By thePaul students were Ski Trip Leader Kaczmarek, introduced to where the animals and reptiles live and how they have adapted to their surroundings.
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IT UPDATES There have been a number of improvements to the IT system this year, these include, • Upgrade to Windows 7. For a long time many of the
computers around the school have been running Windows XP, so it was time for an upgrade. Every machine in the school has been upgraded to Windows 7; bringing better performance and security features for every user. • Adobe CS6 and Cubase. Not only has the operating system been upgraded but so too has the software. Many of the IT rooms now have Adobe CS6 installed (Photoshop / Flash / Dreamweaver); allowing students to use industry standard software for digital media creation. The music computers in D7 have also been upgraded with Cubase. This piece of software turns the computer into a digital audio workstation (DAW) allowing students to record, edit and mix their own songs like a musician.
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New School Website.
One of the biggest and most exciting changes is the school website. It has had a complete make-over with a fresh new design along with a bunch of news features. One of these is the integration of Twitter. Please follow the school at https://twitter.com/ worthinghigh(@WorthingHigh) to keep up-to-date with the latest information. •
Homework website.
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Remote Access.
Staff and students can now access the schools network 24 hours a day, from anywhere in the world! Remote Desktop Services allows students to connect from a home PC (Windows) that has access to the internet onto the school network allowing access to email, files and programs. For more information please visit our website page. http://www.worthinghigh.net/ remote-desktop
Both students and parents can now view homework that has been set by a teacher, year or subject by accessing the homework website https:// schoolplannerbook. com/whs/. Parents can now keep an eye on what and when homework needs to be completed, a good link to save as a favourite.
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WORTHING SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND & WHS After the success of Worthing High School’s initial meeting with Worthing Society for the Blind, we joined together again, adding a third partner. Green Cuisine Café (Rowlands Road) Worthing is situated opposite to the Worthing Society for the Blind headquarters. The café is known for its community outreach and support and owner Clare McIvor was really interested in providing the venue for our next event. On Friday 9th November, fourteen of our students enjoyed taking afternoon tea with the members of the Blind Society. The focus was to further develop the friendships we had established in the initial meeting and to also entertain through musical performances. We were so pleased to be able to meet in Clare’s lovely café and our students were so warm and welcoming, taking drinks and cake orders and delivering these with contagious smiles. Everyone enjoyed the musical performances and the conversation flowed so well – just as it had in our very first meeting back at the school.
Green Cusine owner, Clare McIvor had made Worthing Society for the Blind her “Charity of the Month”, raising money within the café and raising the profile of it with her customers. Clare is also working with the charity in developing some fundraising ideas. This is such a positive outcome of this most recent venture. Frances Pritchard from the society, writes: Thank you both for organising this second activity and for bringing along your lovely well behaved students to chat and entertain. The afternoon went really well and the cake was delicious Clare! Thank you Clare and Worthing High School for supporting Worthing Society for the Blind. Hopefully this won’t be our last get together. Trustee, Barry Ward, writes: I understand that last week’s joint WHS/WSftB gathering at Green Cuisine was a success. I am hoping that we can continue such “get- togethers”. For a future session an idea I had - that may or may not work - would be for Society members to prepare a brief “presentation” on a typical day-in-their-life at school. It may be of interest to
READING BUDDIES Reading Buddies is a reading scheme that has been operating successfully for several years at Worthing High. Year 8 students come for two, twenty minute sessions at tutor time, where volunteer year 10 students become their ‘reading buddy’. The scheme has been shown to raise the self-esteem and confidence of all the students, both year 8’s and year 10’s. The year 10 students also gain a unit award from this rewarding experience.
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your students to hear first-hand what it was like at school over 60 years ago - perhaps the subsequent discussion could be used to compare those experiences with the views of your students. Worthing High School is very keen to work with Mr Ward in making his suggestion happen and hopefully we can give the society members a taste of what school in the 21st century is like too! As a school, we are thrilled to be developing such a close and mutually beneficial friendship with Worthing Society for the Blind and can’t wait for the next project.
Steve Jeffery
SPORT ENGLAND LOTTERY Worthing High School are delighted to announce that they have been awarded £20,415.00 funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund to carry out improvement works to the sports facilities at the school.
We will be using the funding to resurface the school Sports Hall floor and also improve facilities at our artificial pitch which is on the site of the Glynn Owen Centre opposite the school. The Inspired Facilities Fund is part of the Places,
holiday times. It is important that Worthing High School is seen as a community resource and we endeavour to make all our facilities available to local groups whenever we can. However, keeping the facilities up to the required standard
Karen Hayler Business Manager said” Hearing this news on the opening day of the London 2012 Olympic Games and is great for the school and will ensure that our sporting facilities are improved for the benefit of current and future students. The total project costs are a little over £40,000 and match funding of £20,000 is being provided by the school and some of our partner organisations.
People, Play, Sport England’s Olympic and Paralympic legacy fund which aims to bring the inspiration of the London 2012 Games to every community.” Ricky Beasley, Community and Facilities Manager said “The school has many great sporting facilities and they are used not only by students in term time but by a wealth of community organisations in the evenings, weekends and
with so much use is difficult to achieve so being awarded this grant is great for the school. Although we do have many organisations already using our facilities we are always keen to hear from others who might be interested in letting any of our halls, gym or pitches. Details of our letting rates and how to make a booking can be found on our school website www.worthinghigh.wsussex.sch.uk. “
RAZZAMATAZZ FAME Abi Refoy recently spotted a newspaper advert offering a Scholarship for a Drama School called Razzamatazz in Littlehampton. Abi, a very keen Drama Student decided to go along and take a look at the school. Everyone was so nice and kind Abi felt at home straight away, and was impressed with all that she saw. It was all good so Abi decided to go for the scholarship which was for a year of drama, dance and singing lessons! To gain the scholarship an audition had to be passed which meant Abi would have to sing and dance (own song and self Choreographed dance) in front of the panel. Well, they must have liked what Abi did because they offered her the scholarship after keeping her in suspense for what seemed liked days. Abi attends the Drama school after school and at
weekends. She absolutely loves it and already is up to speed with the rest of the students. Razzmatazz have just performed in London, at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The theatre holds an audience of 1,200 and has been home to the sell-out show The Phantom of the Opera since 1987. As part of the school Abi was asked to perform with them in London and of course she accepted and spent weeks practising her dance over and over until perfect! Abi said “ The whole thing was so exciting, it was like a dream come true, but it was so nerve racking and I had to do so much work and rehearsals.
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PEER MEDIATOR PROJECT This year we have run our second cohort of Peer Mediator training designed for Year 10 and 11 students wanting to help support other students within the school. The training has been run in twilight sessions after school and on an offsite visit to one of the schools partners Fresh Egg. The training involved conflict management, negotiation skills, child protection and confidentiality. Strategies that were taught included role-playing, problembased learning and activelearning. We would like to congratulate the following students: Amber Logan, Becky Sim, Elycia Field, Emily D’Agostino, Holly Hopkins, Jack Window, Jess Jackman, Joe Venables, Louise Tomlin, Luke Scattergood, Owen Edwards, Poppy Taylor, Rachel Thomas, Xene Aucock and Zac Denton, who have all completed their formal training and received a certificate and Peer Mediator badge. Some of the students have already started work on cases. The Peer Mediators work in pairs, invariably with pupils younger than themselves.
There role will include friendship and bullying issues, low self esteem and moderate behaviour incidents. There are, on occasion, particular issues that are serious and these will be past on by the Peer Mediator to the appropriate member of staff in school. We would also like to thank Senior Peer Mediators (year 11’s) for their continued support with the project and a special mention to Jordan Humphry, Hannah Walder, Emily Moss, Lauren Cole and Lauren Potiphar as outstanding Peer Mediators who have been nominated for the Princess Diana Anti-bullying Award. We wait to hear if they have been successful. This term all Peer Mediators have spent time planning and
These workshops were well received by the students. To see the positive interaction between the Peer Mediators and year 8 students was fantastic, and all the students involved have taken a lot away from this experience and we hope it will help raise the profile of the Peer Mediator role and make students aware of how bullying affects people and how to combat bullying. If you feel you, your son/ daughter or someone you know may benefit from the support of a Peer Mediator please contact your pastoral leader for more information. We wish you all a very happy Christmas. Ms B Silvé & Mr R Loversidge Peer Mediator Coordinators
delivering anti-bullying workshops in year 8 PSVE lessons.
Worthing Pavilion Bowling Club Rachael Williams and Kyle Bunby received their certificate for successfully completing their coaching lessons with coaches Barry Torode and Trevor Parker. Rachael & Kyle now can join fellow young bowlers in the Sussex County Youth coaching system. Worthing Pavilion Bowling Club is looking for more youth members and is happy to wecome children from 8 years upwards. The two WHS students have already been part of a winning team when they won the Inter-Club Trophy in the summer. For more information about the club please see their website: http://wpavilionbc.org/ 18
ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, KEW A visit by year 8 to explore plant adaptations to differing climatic environments. At the start of this half term, year 8 geography students participated in a popular trip to Kew Gardens in London. This visit to Kew’s beautiful grounds provides students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of ecosystems and plant adaptation. Kew’s experts led students on a guided tour through the rainforest glass houses and students saw a
rich and diverse range of trees and plants. After the guided tour, students were able to re-visit their favourite areas and go on the tree top walkway, which offers spectacular views of the trees and the distant London skyline. During the trip students gained a detailed and practical insight into how plants adapt to different environments and create different biomes. This has given all the students new knowledge to draw on when they complete their own independent study of an ecosystem at the end of this term. S Loney
BERKELEY LODGE VISIT On Friday 7th December, a group of talented students visited Berkeley Lodge, Shelley Road, Worthing to entertain a large number of residents at the home. The School has been a friend of the Lodge for a number of years now and we always enjoy entertaining the clients and the staff at different occasions throughout the year.
The students performed solo pieces as well as giving small-ensemble performances too. There was an opportunity to read Festive stories and also to join in for an old-fashioned “sing-along” led by Mr Jeffery and his ukulele. It was wonderful to see how the residents could remember all of the words of these songs even though they were experiencing severe forms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The highlight of the afternoon was being invited to sing to Edna who had been bed-bound for some time. A small group of our students met Edna in her room and sang “You are my sunshine”. Edna beamed and sang along – full of joy. Her carer filmed Edna’s delight and sent it to her daughter who responded by saying that
she had not seen her mum looking so happy for quite some time. We thoroughly enjoyed entertaining this dear lady and all of the lovely residents at Berkeley Lodge. Their positive responses and beaming smiles made it such a special occasion. We are thrilled to be working with the Lodge and are looking forward to our next meeting with them in the New Year. Mr Jeffery
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SCHOOLS DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY On Thursday 6th December over 300 students from 11 schools in Worthing competed in the annual District Cross Country championships held at Lancing leisure centre. The cold but fresh autumnal day provided excellent conditions for fast times as well as tremendous support from spectators. Many congratulations to all of the Worthing High students who took part (list below). Tammy Davidson Charlotte Evans Lucy Steel Abi Downham Dolly Culver Natasha Graham Eloise Lumsden Jade Minter Emily Wadge Natasha Poland Chanel Jackson-Hill Grace Kelly Pat Webber Sam Hyde Niyaz Wahid Harvey Langmaid Oscar Zienkiewicz Kavanagh Thornton Alex Hollis Marcus Lynch Stefan Dewey Joe Carruthers Miss Field Leader of PE
For all of this terms PE News please click the link below. http://www.worthinghigh.net/news/59/pe-department-newsletter-december-2012/
YEAR 10 LEADERS SHINE The Vale Year 5 students have been visiting Worthing High and taking part in various sporting activities led and organised by groups of year 10 Sport Leaders.
The middle school pupils have been treated to fitness testing, basketball, lacrosse and www.worthinghigh.w-sussex.sch.uk
handball. Thank you and well done to all the Vale students and congratulations to the Year 10 Sport Leaders who have done an incredible job of working with the younger children! We look forward to working with the Vale in the New Year.
Miss Field Leader of PE
achieve@worthinghigh.w-sussex.sch.uk
Tel: 01903 237864