As I write this message, we find ourselves having to revisit some of the controls and challenges we have faced with COVID-19 despite an excellent term in which so much of what we missed last year has been able to be reintroduced. The recommendation to return to wearing face coverings in corridors and indoor spaces (but not classrooms), the reiteration of our one-way system and ensuring ventilation - while necessary - have undoubtedly reminded us of the fact that the pandemic is not yet behind us. We have tried to strike a healthy balance between implementing the necessary controls to minimise the transmission of the virus within the school community and seeking to provide as much opportunity to engage with the benefits that school provides for our students as much as is possible. Newsletters throughout this term, have shown the huge commitment of staff to provide excellent opportunities for the students as well as the enthusiasm and enjoyment that students have shown in taking advantage of those opportunities. This week, it has been a pleasure to accompany Sue Powell to the House of Lords on Wednesday where
she received well-deserved national recognition for a lifetime of service to education and to Warlingham School & Sixth Form College. I also had the pleasure of meeting the winning students of our Christmas card competition to give them their prizes this week. I’m sure you’ll agree that the quality and creativity they have demonstrated that can be seen in the article herein is extremely impressive. It is wonderful to see the final newsletter of this term so full of the achievements of our students and their engagement with such a wide range of opportunities to develop themselves both as learners and as young people of whom we can be proud. All that remains is for me to wish you and your family a restful and enjoyable Christmas break. We look forward to welcoming students back revitalised and refreshed in the new year. Have a lovely festive period.
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The Warlingham Learner
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Sue Powell wins Lifetime Achievement Award We are delighted to announce that our teacher, Sue Powell, won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Schools Awards ceremony at the House of Lords on Wednesday 8th December. Accompanied by Headteacher, Paul Foster, and Assistant Headteacher, Rick Toop, Sue attended the National Schools Awards ceremony at the Cholmondeley Room & Terrace at the prestigious House of Lords. The aim of the awards is to recognise excellence and celebrate best practice and achievements throughout the education sector. This year, there were eight different award categories, each one specifically designed to reward hard-workers, innovators and exceptional school leaders. The nominations were judged by a panel of six industry experts from across the education sector.
leadership of Warlingham’s teacher training and induction programmes, which Sue is currently responsible for now. To view a video of Sue accepting her award via Twitter, click here. To view the nomination and for more information about the other nominees click here.
Sue has spent 34 years in the classroom with an ambition to make food technology relevant to young people and has been highly successful in embedding this valuable subject in Warlingham’s curriculum. She became Head of Year and was integral to the birth of the house system in 2002 which still thrives today. In this role, she worked tirelessly to address pastoral issues that acted as a barrier to student success. Driven by a desire to bring new talent into the most rewarding of professions, this passion led to outstanding
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I am immensely proud to receive this award and it’s wonderful to be recognised for something that I am extremely passionate about and enjoy so much. I’d also like to recognise the achievements of every teacher particularly during these challenging times through the pandemic.
Sue Powell
This is an extremely well-deserved recognition for a superb contribution to the learning and lives of students and teachers throughout Sue’s career. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Sue and are proud that she is a member of our teaching staff at Warlingham. Paul Foster
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Christmas card competition In November, we launched our annual Christmas card competition to the whole school. Students were asked to design a card that would be printed for our Headteacher, Paul Foster, to use. As always, there were so many wonderful entries and the Art Department had a tough job of selecting the winners for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. We are really proud of the wonderful talent that our students exhibited this year, and we look forward to their work being made into Christmas cards for Mr Foster. I would like to congratulate all the students for their exceptional artwork. The winning students were presented their prizes by Mr Foster and Mrs Sula on 9th December. The lucky winner of Key Stage 4, Amy J, received a 48 pack of Prisma Colours and Key Stage 3 winner Nancy L received an Art Goodie Bag. The other winners each received a sketch book. Special acknowledgments also go to Elizabeth Holden, Louise Spencer and Huda Khawaja in 8H for their outstanding cards.
Winning Entries Key Stage 3 1st
Nancy L Year 8
2nd
Tom H Year 8
rd
Henry L Year 8
th
Makeeba Y Year 8
3
4
Key Stage 4 1st 2
nd
3rd
Amy J Year 11 Annice K Year 10
Charlotte F Year 10
Well done to everyone who entered from the Art Department.
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First Prize Winners
KS3 Nancy L
KS4 Amy J
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Christmas card competition KS4 2nd place Annice K
KS4 3rd place Charlotte F
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KS3 2nd place Tom H
KS3 4th place Makeeba Y
KS3 3rd place Henry L
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Year 8 Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time theatre trip On Wednesday 1st December, the English Department took 98 Year 8 students to see the play 'The Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime' at the Troubadour Theatre in London. The trip was a massive success and really helped the students to gain a better understanding of the staging of the play they have been studying in their English lesson this term. We are delighted to share a short review from two of our students who went on the trip.
The theatre trip we went on was so fun! We took a coach to Wembley and the coach ride was so good as we had LED lights, Christmas music and it was such a nice vibe to distract us from the journey. When we got to the theatre, it was so nice and warm in there. The stage was so amazingly put together and it had lights and little cupboards that Christopher had things in, and he just picked them out whenever he wanted them. The special effects and the perspectives from Christopher were creative and put together so well! I think the actor who played the mum (Judy) was deaf and she was such a good actress. I would like to thank all the teachers who took us as it was such an amazing experience, I would 100% go again! Matilda Ogle 8L
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In English, we have been reading and learning about the play ‘The Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime’. Once we had finished reading the script. we went to see it at the theatre. We drove to Wembley Park Theatre from school and arrived at around 7pm. We had a really good view of the stage and were sat in small groups led by members of staff. The special effects and lighting were brilliant and the actors were very talented. It was interesting and even better to see in person than to read. After the first half of the play, there was an interval where we were allowed to get ourselves ice-cream and a drink and return to our seats for when the second half started. They hardly used any props and instead made everything out of themselves. There were several stunts and overall it was a really clever play. It ended at around 11pm and we were driven back to school to be picked up. The play was amazing and a really great experience. Lily Dann 8L
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Year 9 Computer Science Computing Challenge 2021 Last month, all of Year 9 took part in the Worldwide Bebras challenge between 8th to 12th November. This is an international initiative aiming to promote Computer Science and computational thinking among school students at all ages. It is organised in over 50 countries and designed to get students all over the world excited about computing. Each participant answers questions that focus on computational and logical thinking. The aim of the challenge is to answer as many problems as you can in 40 minutes and students are not expected to complete all the questions. The problems come in three levels of difficulty: A, B and C with A problems the easiest and C the hardest. The difficulty of a problem determines how it will be scored. Click here to view some example problems.
Best performing Year 9 students in school 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th
Zarif Iqbal Penny Wiggs Scarlett Morgan Caitlin Patten Alia Ahmed Poppy Holding Rhyan Amin Oliver Scott Kayleigh Van Zyl William McGregor Roger Huxtable Dara Aderinola Cymeon Stephenson-Wedderburn Erin Knight Jenna Phillip
We would like to congratulate Zarif Iqbal who achieved best performing student for Year 9 at Warlingham. Zarif missed out by one mark for the Gold Award certificate for students who are in the top 10% nationally, which is an amazing achievement! All our students have done brilliantly and we would particularly like to recognise the students in the role of honour opposite.
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New floor markings in the Link At Warlingham, we have a Learning Development Department that supports students alongside the teachers. We have an area in school called the Link where we can bring students to work should they need to be outside of the classroom. We successfully applied to a community fund at WJ Group, the UK's leading specialist road marking business, who also do floor graphics and specialist markings. The first part of the work they have done is to create a trail of floor markings in the Learning Development Link. Nearly 19% of our students have special educational needs and some find it very difficult to focus for long periods of time and benefit from sensory breaks to enable them to re-focus and access their learning again. The trail makes it so much more fun for students to have their sensory breaks and is a useful tool to teach techniques helping them be better prepared for a return to their classroom. We also have plans, as part of the second phase, to create an outdoor sensory trail and some large graphics for one of the playgrounds to use as
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teaching aides. One is a large heart that can be used to teach how the heart works and the other is a map of the UK. We would like to extend a big thank you to Brad Sansom, Dave Clarke, Mark Swann, Ian McBlane and Paul Aldridge from WJ Group who have made this happen.
Anti-Racism Action Group We have made great strides with the work of our Anti-Racism Action Group this term.
creating an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Charter remains a high priority and we will keep you updated on our work on this.
Developing Racial Literacy At the beginning of term, Mr Valentine led a staff Continual Personal Development (CPD) session on Inset day. This was then developed further through our Racial Literacy CPD video clarifying what we mean by Racial Literacy and how it underpins our curriculum. This was shared with staff and we will continue to implement this within our curriculum as the year progresses. The information graphic that featured in the video can be seen opposite. ARAG Focus Group work In addition to streamlining some of our focus groups into slightly broader groups to aid progression, the Anti-Racism Action Group has met with both School Governors and the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in order to drive the racial literacy of the school through specific SLT and Governor support in a number of key areas outlined by our Leadership & Governance focus group. Reviewing our Equality policy and
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‘Reportit’ A particular focus this term has been raising the profile and awareness of the group by reaching out to our student body. Last half term, we launched our student voice which asked students to suggest ways to improve our Black History Month celebrations and to get student opinion on whether they think we are doing enough to challenge racism in school. The results of this student voice has led to the creation of our ‘Reportit’ email address which provides a specific place for students to report any racist incidents they either experience or witness. Student Anti-Racism Action Group (ARAG) We have also been reaching out to our student body through our ‘Black Lives Matter’ assembly in October where we introduced our plans to form a Student-led Anti-Racism Action Group. We have had a really positive response to this and will be in touch with interested students later this term with a view to forming the group when we return to school in January. This is a really exciting development for our action group and we look forward to working together with the students.
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Warlingham is committed to being antiracist. This term we have: ✓
Continued our work with the AntiRacism Action Group
✓
Made steps towards the creation of a Student Anti-Racism Action Group
✓
Collaborated with School Governors and School Senior Leadership
✓
Raised the profile of our group through assemblies and student voice.
Together we will help create an anti-racist community at Warlingham.
Friday 19th November saw the whole school participate in ‘Break a Uniform Rule and Pay Day’ for Children in Need. Children in Need is a charity that provides grants and funding to projects based in the UK that have the aim of helping disadvantaged young people. Students in Johnson House have voted to make Children in Need the charity they are aiming to raise money for this term. The Johnson Student Team (consisting of the head student team and charity representatives) planned the fundraising event to coincide with the national Children in Need Day. The aim was to raise as much money as possible for Children in Need whilst teaching a valuable life lesson that breaking rules has consequences. We are incredibly pleased to announce that the total amount raised was £939.80! Thank you to everyone that took part and donated, showing the key Warlingham Learner attribute of kindness!
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We are excited to introduce our Sharman House Team. Head Boy and Girl: Christopher J and Freya M Deputy Head Boy and Girl: George C and Sophie Al Charity Coordinator: Lily R Y7 Mentor: Mia O
Year 10 students were asked to submit an application for these roles, sharing their strengths and what visions they had for the house. Our team have been keen to get started and have been part of some fantastic events already. They have organised and run a bake sale to raise money for Young Minds charity, created and delivered an assembly introducing our chosen charity for the year (Great Ormand Street Hospital Charity), and begun a mentoring programme for Year 7 students. We are proud to be working with an amazing group of young people who all show courage, commitment and kindness in school life. They are all brilliant role models to younger students and they should be proud of what they have achieved.
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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.
Recently, students have discussed the topics below. Their votes as a school can be seen below alongside the votes for Surrey and the UK.
Was COP26 successful?
Has the pandemic made us more aware of disabilities?
Vote 24th November
Vote 1st December
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Year 9 NHS Enact talk We were delighted to welcome the NHS Enact talk to school on Wednesday 8th December to talk to the whole of our Year 9 cohort. This was a drama-based performance called NHS Success, fully funded by Careers Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership NHS. The performance aimed to inform students in Year 9 about the diversity of opportunities available to them in the NHS and explore the fascinating world of healthcare. This was a fun and engaging performance presented by the actors Tania Gasa, Jason Morley and Lex Stephenson which also aimed to be informative and inspirational. These actors took on a wide
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range of roles, accents and costumes to depict various employees of a fictional hospital with a core character of a school student who has visited for the day.
Feedback received from the performance was overwhelmingly positive, with many students finding it has given them ideas for their future career paths and a better understanding of the healthcare sector.
PE round up The past few weeks have seen an action packed fixtures agenda to draw a close to the term. Our Year 7 and Year 8 netball teams were victorious in their matches last month and our Year 10 Football team had a great result with a 2-1 win match against Woodcote. A team of Year 8, 9 and 10 students participated in a cross country competition at Royal Alexandra & Albert School on 16th November with our Year 9 student Ciaran Lyas finishing in impressive 5th position. On Sunday 28th November, two students participated in the Zonal Schools Trampolining Competition with Year 10 student Kaya Scott winning in first place and Year 7 pupil Levi Scott finishing in second place. A fantastic achievement for both students! Cross Country - 16th November At Royal Alexandra & Albert School Year Student Name Placement Year 8
Jay Cameron
th
30
Zonal Schools Trampolining Competition 28th November Year Student Name Placement nd
Year 7
Levi Scott
2
Year 10
Kaya Scott
1
Inter-House Volleyball 15th November Year Position Year 9
st
1
st
Points 10
2nd
8 rd
Joint 3
6
Joint 3rd
6
th
Casey Millea
55
Nathan Peacock
68th
Year 9
Ciaran Lyas
5th
Year 10
Peter Carpenter
15th
Cameron Holah George Cops
20th 24th
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Match
Teams
Score
Year 8 Netball
Warlingham A
12
30th November
V
Year 9 Netball th
30 November Year 8 Football th
19 November
Year 9 Football th
De Stafford
5
Warlingham A
6
De Stafford
12
Warlingham
0
Greenshaw
5
Warlingham
2
Ashcombe
4
Year 7 Netball
Warlingham A
8
16th November
V Reigate A
5
Year 7 Netball
Warlingham B
7
16th November
V
15 November
Emily Johnstone
Luke Deighton
V
V
th
Hannah McKirdy
V
17 November
Year 11 Netball
Player of the Match
Reigate B
0
Warlingham
Lost
Skye Mensah-Graham
Rhigan McNally
Sophie Doad
Isabel Whittaker
V Oxted
Year 10 Football nd
22
November
Year 7 Rugby nd
22
November
Warlingham
Lewis Baker
V Woodcote
1
Warlingham
10
V De Stafford
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2
15
Antoni Lazarowicz
Home Learning Club 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. 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. 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.
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Lego donations We are looking for donations of Lego to set up a Lego Lunch Club next year. If you are having a pre Christmas clear out and have any spare Lego, we would love to give it a new home. Please could any Lego be brought into The Link. Thank you in advance!
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CSLA success 2020 - 2021 There were times during last year where I wondered if the CSLA (Community Sports Leadership Award) would be able to be completed. Although the previous cohort had their time cut short in March, this year’s cohort had to face another lockdown at Christmas, engage with improved online learning and then return to complete this voluntary coaching qualification without the opportunity to step into a primary school. It is a credit to the group that they continued to develop their leadership skills accepting that they would have to do the hardest thing of leading each other. Coaching a member of your peer group takes a very different skill set to coaching a much younger primary student. Members of the group also had to be creative as some chose to deliver a coaching session at home to a member of their family bubble. Again, not an easy thing to do. I was delighted that this group of students stuck with the course. It was a time in the week that I very much looked forward to as this group of young people brought fun and vibrance to not a very easy situation.
As restrictions started to ease and we were no longer restricted by year group bubbles, there were opportunities in the summer term where the sixth formers could coach younger students within the school and help organise students who wished to swim, play rounders, or get involved in athletics. This was heartening to see as it seemed that we were returning to a degree of normality. The Key Stage 3 Warlingham students benefitted from the encouragement, enthusiasm, and leadership of our sixth form students. At the end of the course, we try and recognise those students who give that little bit extra to the course. This year, it was particularly difficult to choose as everyone offered something slightly different to the course. In the first instance, I would like to acknowledge the enthusiasm, fun and maturity of Josh Scott and Callum Naidoo who were not officially on the course from the start. They joined the course late but got stuck in playing sport and leading their peers. It was their energy and sense of humour that added much to the positive vibe of the group.
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Part of this course acknowledges how prepared students are to volunteer. In this category, I couldn’t thank Clara Rhodes enough. Once school clubs started again, she was there week in and week out, supporting the Rounders club that ran after school. Finally, in terms of the course itself, when identifying the ‘star student’ of the course, this becomes more difficult. It requires a student to be consistent in their attendance, including during lockdown, enthusiastic and committed to the course and able to successfully lead others young and old. It was very hard to recognise just one person who met all Star Students: Karina these criteria. Sargeant & Aaron Sugg In the end, it came down to three different students who each brought something different to the course. Amy Johnstone was one winner of this award. She showed dedication to the course from the start. Her quiet confidence and sporting ability was a very positive blend when leading both younger and older students. The Star Club Volunteer: second student recognised as adding Clara Rhodes much to the group was Karina Sargeant. Karina was infectious in her enthusiasm, and her sporting ability enabled her to engage
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those around her. She was also a positive force during lockdown, encouraging others to engage. Finally, Aaron Sugg was another worthy winner of this award. His dedication to the course, his quiet but determined manner and sporting ability added much to the group. His impressive homecoaching session was also a valuable contribution to how the course had to adapt to these difficult circumstances during Covid. This did not put him off. A course is only as good as the people in it. Although I have only highlighted six members of the cohort, I would like to congratulate everyone on their successful completion of the course. Many congratulations should also go to: Luke Adland Sanders, Paige Brooks, Lily Clough, Amy Johnstone, Cameron Leishman, Carla Moss, Lily Reeves, Clara Rhodes, Kacie Russell, Dan Salas, Karina Sargeant, Dan Salas, Aaron Sugg, Taya Sword and Brooke Whitney.
Bank of England speaker visit to Warlingham Sixth Form College On 18th November, our College Business and Economics students were fortunate enough to have a visit from Andrew Butcher, Head of FX and Money Markets at the Bank of England, who kindly spoke to them about the role of the Bank, how it operates and potential career opportunities. Andrew started his talk with a brief history of the Bank of England, or the 'Old Lady of Threadneedle Street' as it is also known, founded in 1694. Our students listened intently as Andrew gave many interesting facts about the gold reserves at the Bank, the second largest in the world. One single gold bar can produce enough gold leaf to cover an entire building, and who would have thought it
impossible to vacuum clean the vaults without diminishing the value of the gold by removing gold dust from the bars?! It was fascinating to hear Andrew speak of the challenges that have been faced by the Bank during the pandemic. He was able to demonstrate the thought process behind the actions taken by the Bank of England to help stabilise the economy at such a challenging time, highlighting the chains of reasoning behind decisions made and supporting students with their explanations going forwards. We hope our students will be able to visit the Bank of England Museum in person after it reopens in 2022 but, until we can visit the Bank, it was great to have a small piece of the Bank visit us here instead.
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