Wycombe High School Celebrating past and present life at Wycombe High School
High Flyer
News and Fundraising Magazine
Annie On Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 July, we were finally able to present the Lower School production of ‘Annie’. And what a proud moment that was! After months of hard work from directors, cast, crew and orchestra alike, it was really incredible to watch it all come together for those two performances. The show had a heart-warming start, as Eliza Blackwell (Annie, Y7 A1) and her fellow orphans (Bella Coe Y7 T5, Imogen Woodhead Y9 B5, Maddie Davies Y8 P7, Alexa Okwuosa Y7 A3, Lizzie Crane Y7 T7 and Ella Richings Y8 N9) shared with us their ‘Hard Knock Life’ in an upbeat dance routine, choreographed by Isabelle Lam (Y12 B6), and continued to inspire the audience throughout the evening with other lovely numbers such as ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘I Don’t Need Anything But You’. Charlie Carter (Y8 C7) put on a successfully comedic performance in her role as Miss Hannigan, both disgusting the audience whilst making us all laugh out loud. And her partners in crime, Megan Lee (Y9 A9) and Hannah Milton (Y8 N6) (as Rooster and Lily), did not disappoint either. Their delightfully ridiculous rendition of ‘Easy Street’ had the crowd smiling and bopping in their seats for certain. Furthermore, Grace David (Oliver Warbucks, Y9 B1) and Freya Thomas (Grace Farrell, Y9 C8) portrayed the sweet relationship between their characters and Annie, through their endearing performances and impressive vocals. In particular, I found the song ‘N.Y.C’ to be incredibly well presented on stage. In fact, I’ve had that exact rendition stuck in my head since the show! The cast had to be flexible and diligent in their work, as many of them were playing a number of roles throughout the performance. Particular congratulation goes to Selena Hills (Y9 C9) who portrayed President Roosevelt, as well as Ellen Ferguson (Y9 T8), Tina MacAulay (Y7, B10), Kate Iley (Y8, P9), Swathi D’Souza (Y7 C5) and Erin Jones (Y8 B9) for their talents (each had to play at least three separate characters). Jess Harrison (Y9 N4) also showed incredible dedication in her decision to take on not only her role as Mrs Greer, but also all the lines of Mrs Pugh as well (both members of Warbucks’ household staff) due to members of the cast being unable to continue. Of course, what really ties such a wonderful production like ‘Annie’ together is the music. Both Tabi Caroe (Y12 B5) and Chloe Langham (Y12 B3), alongside Mrs Honnor and Mrs Munoz, did an incredible job teaching and arranging all the musical numbers for the show. The same goes for our talented band made up of students and staff who gave up hours to learn the score in its entirety. No easy task, I am sure, and definitely not one I would want to take on. /Cont’d... on page 25
Fortiter | Fideliter | Feliciter
July 2015
Advertising in High Flyer If you would like to advertise in this magazine, please contact Mrs Dana Morgan on 01494 523961, e-mail dmorgan@whs.bucks.sch.uk or ask your daughter to take your copy to Mrs Morgan. We prefer copy by e-mail. Our Finance Office will invoice you upon distribution of the magazine. Our magazine goes out to over 1400 households and thousands of alumnae and is also on-line at www.whs.bucks.sch.uk. The deadlines for submitting your adverts and the publication dates are as shown below. Advertising Rates Items for sale: Up to £10 £11 - £25 £25 - £100 £100 and over Wanted or Miscellaneous:
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October
Wednesday 7 Oct
Monday 19 Oct
Diary dates - Autumn Term 2015/2016 8 September
Information Evening Gold DoE 6.00 pm D305 Year 13 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
10 September
Year 11 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
15 September
Year 12 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
17 September
Donor Thank You Evening 6.30 pm New Music Centre
24 September
Year 10 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
25 September
Year 7 Family Quiz Night 6.00 pm The Forum
29 September
PAFA Meeting and AGM 7.00 pm The Forum
1 October
Year 7 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
5 October
Information Evening for Spain 6.00 pm The Hall
9 October
Open Mic Night Rehearsal 4.00 pm The Hall
13 October
Year 9 Parent’s Conference 7.00 pm The Hall
14 October
Guild Committee Meeting 7.00 pm Learning Centre Conference Room
16 October
Open Mic Night 7.00 pm The Hall
21 October
Year 11 ‘Into the Sixth Form Evening’ 7.00 pm The Hall
Table of Contents ‘Annie’
Pages 1 and 23
Advertising in High Flyer
Page 2
Diary Dates Spring Term
Page 2
Message From Headteacher
Page 4
Activity Days
Pages 5-7
Art
Pages 8-10
Business and Economics
Pages 11-15
Charity
Page 16-18
Development Ambassadors
Pages 19-20
Dollin Essay Competition
Pages 22-23
Drama
Pages 1,24-25
English
Page 26
Extra Curricular Activities
Pages 27-33
History and Politics
Pages 34-37
Languages
Page 38
Library
Page 39
Maths
Page 40-41
Music
Page 42
News Crew
Page 43
Original Contribution
Page 44
Oxbridge
Pages 45-46
PAFA
Pages 47-48
Pyschology
Page 49
Religious Studies
Page 50-54
Science
Page 55-56
Sociology
Page 57
Sports
Pages 58-68
Technology
Pages 69-74
Development Office Update
Pages 75-78
1974 5S Reunion
Pages 80-81
Former Student Profile: Princess Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu
Pages 82-84
‘Beyond the Mic’ ‘Inspire’ Series Lunchtime Talk by Rachel Burden
Pages 85-86
Which Subject Leader Languages - RS Tutor Time Quiz Results
Page 87
Should you wish to contact the Headteacher or any other member of staff by email, please do so through the school office at: office@whs.bucks.sch.uk.
Head of News Crew Emily Morgan Year 12 A3 Saoirse O’Connor Year 12 P3 Year 8 Ana Meechan C10 Simran Suri A6 Year 9 Sraavya Kocherlakota N3 Year 10 Ambar Yousuf A2 Zainab Alam P4 Year 11 Emily Atkinson C1 Erin Benee P3 Ellie Tarr P9 Lead Staff Member Mrs D Morgan Proofreaders Mr J Tucker Mrs C Wace Wycombe High School Marlow Road High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP11 1TB Tel: 01494 523961 Fax: 01494 510354 office@whs.bucks.sch.uk Advertisements Open Mic Night WHS Events 2015-2016 Guild Archive Volunteers Stagecoach Thames Graphics Innovate Hawkinsport WHS Sports Day Results TBA HW Cheerleading Academy Perton Signs Marlow Choral Society BSM Driving Instructors Hazelemere Windows & Doors Kuoni High Wycombe Zenopa LIFE Build Solutions Jocelyn Dudley-Smith Acupuncture WHS Merchandise Order Form Wycombe Squash & Racketball Letting of School Premises Cineworld Future Fund Gift Form
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Wycombe High School Celebrating past and present life at Wycombe High School
Message from the Headteacher As we draw near to the end of the term and the academic year, I would like to extend my best wishes to you and your family for the summer holiday period. I would also like to send the school’s best wishes to all of our community celebrating Eid-al-Fitr in the forthcoming days. It has been a busy few months at Wycombe High School and I am sure the girls are very much looking forward to a well-deserved break. In the last three weeks alone we have held a series of activity days for the students. Year 7 has been to Cotswold Wildlife Park, Year 8 to Longridge, Year 9 has visited Stratford Education Centre and participated in a Business Enterprise Day. Year 10 has visited a choice of four universities, experienced a team-building day with the Army and has been involved in an Employability Day and Year 12 had a Well-being Focus day. This is in addition to a superb production of ‘Annie’, inspiring Art and Technology exhibitions, a pre-Music Tour concert, an excellent Sports Award Evening and a magnificent medieval-theme Sports Day commemorating the signing of the Magna Carta. Additionally we have three key trips out this week and into the summer holidays: Music Tour to Barcelona, French Homestay and an expedition to Zambia and Botswana. All of this is but a flavour of our activities during this last half term!
Please do enjoy reading all the articles in this edition of High Flyer. It provides a comprehensive round up of everything that has happened in the last seven weeks and makes for impressive reading! Your daughter, her friends and peers have certainly been busy! In the midst of all this activity, Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 have of course been sitting public examinations and on behalf of the staff and governors at Wycombe High School, we wish them well for the forthcoming results. A reminder of when and how they can access their results Is detailed below. Examinations Results Days All result will be available for collection from the Miller study Area on the following dates and at the following times: Year 13 A Level & AS Level Results Thursday 13 August 9.00 am – 12.00 pm Year 13 GCSE Results Thursday 20 August 9.00 am – 10.30 am
Year 11 GCSE Results Thursday 20 August 9.00 am – 10.00 am
Year 12 AS Level Results Thursday 13 August 11.00 am – 12.00 pm Year 12 GCSE Results Thursday 20 August 9.00 am – 10.30 am
Year 10 GCSE Results Thursday 20 August 9.30 am – 10.30 am
Finally, a fond farewell to our departing Year 13 Students. They have been a pleasure and privilege to work with and have great futures ahead of them. We will miss you all girls - enjoy the summer and every minute of university, gap year or work! Remember, once a Wycombe High School Girl, always a Wycombe High School Girl! We look forward to catching up with you again at Prize Giving in December. To every other member of our community - have a super summer. I look forward to welcoming you back in September. Mrs Sharon Cromie
Activity Days Year 10 Employability Day On Wednesday 24 June the Year 10 Bright Futures Day was the first of three activity days for Year 10 and of course it was very interesting and illuminating. I learnt the importance of working effectively as a team and managing time successfully. I worked with many different students who I had never worked with before and learnt that my peers have many hidden talents such as origami skills. Most importantly, I learnt how vital it is to contribute these talents to a group in order to thrive and achieve the goal. Moreover, I learnt the skills and attitudes required of young people, like ourselves, to gain a positive position in the world of work. Hearing some of the feedback from my peers, I understood that the most difficult yet interesting task was to build a rollercoaster out of paper and also managing time. The day was definitely full of challenges, inevitably making our achievements seem even more significant. Zainab Alam Year 10, Parks 4 Y10 Aspirational University Visits On Thursday 25 June Year 10 students participated in an Aspirational University Visits to Oxford, Imperial College, Brunel and Nottingham. Year 10 University Visit (Oxford) Oxford was a beautiful place to visit; the high street was bustling with lots of people, while the university itself and surrounding areas were peaceful and picturesque. We had the college system explained to us, which is unique to Oxbridge and a few other universities, whereby students are a part of smaller communities rather than one big campus. Our brief tour of St Edmund Hall itself provided us with a real insight into what life at Oxford would truly be like. We were also invited to a computer science talk, explaining the benefits of social media and the internet, as well as the risks associated with misusing the aforesaid. All in all, the university visit to St Edmund Hall, Oxford was an invaluable and enjoyable experience that certainly made everyone consider their future aspirations for when they leave sixth form. Ambar Yousuf Year 10, Austen 2, News Crew Year 10 University Visit (Imperial College, London) Having done a lot of research on Imperial and its campuses, I was very much excited to see the university and find out more about it from the students themselves. I have to say, it was a very worthwhile experience and I learnt a lot from it. Firstly, we attended a talk about the accommodation system in Imperial and was very intrigued when I saw the pictures of halls. Straight after that we were given advice from a professional person on how to write a good CV. Then, we heard some experiences of the students who attend Imperial. The Medicine student was fascinating and answered lots of my questions. Finally, we went on a tour of the gym and the beautiful Halls of /Contâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d...
Activity Days
accommodation in the Eastside Campus. Our tour guide was a Medicine student and again, I had the chance to ask her questions. The experience of visiting my favourite university was great because I learnt so much more than what I already knew such as the student life and some first hand advice from professionals. Zainab Alam Year 10, Parks 4, News Crew Year 10 University Visit (Brunel) On the 25 June the Year 10 students all went on a university visit to one of four options, Imperial, Oxford, Nottingham or Brunel. I chose Brunel because of its high rankings and range of courses from a sporting to engineering based curriculum. On the day a group of fifty students travelled to the university where we first attended a talk giving a brief overview of the university and its courses and then also given a chance to ask any questions. This was followed by tour guides showing small groups around the university and its facilities, including its four storey library, multiple high quality sporting facilities and student accommodation. After lunch when we were given time to explore by ourselves. We then met back in the original lecture hall for a Q&A session with some students who studied a variety of subjects from Creative Writing to Medical Engineering. To finish the day we were given an informative talk on managing our money and the financial side to university where student loans were explained and top tips shared. Overall we all had a brilliant day and many were reluctant to leave. I, along with the others who visited, would recommend visiting it yourselves. Suzy Garrett Year 10, Pankhurst 6 Year 10 University Visit (Nottingham) The University of Nottingham is in the top 1% of universities as being well as the most environmentally friendly university in the world. As well as having a UK based campus, they have campuses in both Malaysia and China, and offer a wide range of courses from Veterinary Medicine and science, to Modern Languages and Law. I chose Nottingham as I am looking into Veterinary Medicine. The fact the university had a separate campus for Veterinary and an onsite farm, enticed me to come and visit. On the 25 June, fifty Year 10 students went on the university visit to Nottingham. After a three and a half hour journey to the destination, the Year 10 students were eagerly anticipating getting off the bus to begin exploring the university. Upon arrival we were
Activity Days
welcomed by current students at the university who took us to a talk about why we should choose higher education, the benefits of it as well as a brief overview of the university and the courses they offer. Following that, the tour guides gave us each a goody bag and then we began our tour. The campus of Nottingham was bigger than expected. To get from one side of the campus to another would take an hour by foot! On the tour we were shown all the different campuses, the newly modernised library and sports facilities. We visited the student onsite restaurants and shops and found that they cater for all dietary requirements from Halal food to vegan and vegetarian. The university has over 250 clubs which are student designed and lead. Some of the clubs were extremely quirky and looked great fun such as Quidditch and nerf gun club! After lunch, we were given a talk about the typical life of a Nottingham student and they gave us a chance to have a look at student accommodation. To finish off the day we had a Q&A session with the students so they could answer any queries we had such as student loans, top tips, activities, what to wear to lectures and courses they offer. Overall we had a brilliant day and many were reluctant to leave as there was so much more exploring we wanted to do. The sheer size of the modernised campus took us all by surprise and we were utterly amazed and saddened that we had to return back to school on another long journey. I, along with others who visited, would recommend visiting it yourselves. You will be amazed by what the University of Nottingham has to offer just like we were! Iqra Amin Year 10, Parks 7 Year 10 Leadership and Awareness Day On Friday 26 June, Year 10 was joined by the army for a jam-packed intense day full of exciting activities. This day included a climbing wall, an inflatable obstacle course, specially trained dogs, numerous other activities, and finally an assault course. Not only was this day full of enjoyment, but also it enabled us to take pride in our strengths and expose our weaknesses to fellow teammates in order to do as well as we could in the activities. Some of the more introverted of our year opened up, showing increased confidence, and we all embraced this experience with a positive attitude. Our communication skills and patience were put to the test at times, but this made our successes all the more gratifying.Overall, this day provided us with a fantastic experience that helped us to develop problemsolving skills, as well as being physically challening. The day drew to close with a plethora of positivity, and everyone was satisfied after a busy week, and ready for a more relaxing weekend. Ambar Yousuf Year 10, Austen 2
Art
On Monday 29 of June the Art Department showcased the talents of GCSE, A and AS Level students.
Art
2015 Art Show Prize Winners: During the Art Show we asked visitors to vote for their favourite art work. GCSE: Sophie Sheehan Year 11 Austen 1
AS Fine Art & Made Me Go ‘WOW’ Prizes Go to Lauren Moorhouse Year 12 Nightingale 1
Charity Art A2 Fine Art: Tierney Curzon Year 13 Parks 6
The Big Draw 2015 The Big Draw is the world's largest drawing festival for those who love to draw, as well as for those who think they can't! The 2014 Big Draw involved twenty-six countries, with 414,000 people attending over 1800 events by 1000+ organisers. The 2015 Big Draw will take place 1 - 31 October. The theme is Every Drawing Tells A Story. More information with follow in the Autumn Term.
Business & Economics Year 9 Enterprise Day: Thursday 25 & Friday 26 June On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June, Year 9 had a business enterprise day where they were put into random teams and given a task which they had to complete in true ‘Apprentice’ fashion. They had to create a range of skincare targeted at the ‘tween’ market, which would then be judged by various business entrepreneurs from around the local area. In their teams they received specialist seminar sessions to help them with their role within the company, and then they worked to create a trade stand, and an advertisement to promote their new range of skincare products. The standard achieved by all teams on both days was superb and impressed all teachers and our outside Judges.
The day started off with us getting into our teams to come up with the skincare brand and to then complete some pages in a booklet deciding who was doing what job and what seminars each team member had to attend. We then were dismissed to go to our different seminars to do with the role we had taken on in the team. This seminar was to help each person with the job they were doing, for example, explaining the psychology of being a project manager, or how to estimate total costs for finance managers. Then we had to make the products, packaging and trade stand ready to set up our stall in the Hall at lunch. During lunch, other team members would be able to visit your stall and learn what your product was all about. Then the judges came in to adjudicate each team’s product and finally the top two teams had to pitch to the rest of the year group about their product until the winners were announced. As well as the winning prize, other awards were available for teams to win such as, best advertisement, best project manager and star of the day. The winning team received a bag each full of AromaWorks skincare and five house points. Overall, it was a very fun day which allowed us to learn more about the process of creating a product and a brand and it also improved our communication and teamwork skills! Saskia Ackermann-Clark, Managing Director Aurora Sport, Year 9, Bronte 4
Charity Business & Economics When Former Student and AromaWorks Representative Nicola Lewin visited Year 9 Students…. I graduated from Wycombe High School in 2007, before beginning my career within the beauty and cosmetic industry. I began working for AromaWorks in June 2014, and have recently been promoted to Head Trainer and Sales Representative. My main role is to look after key sales accounts such as Cliveden House, Chewton Glen, and Stoke Park Hotel, and to train new wholesalers buying into AromaWorks on the brand, our products, and our ingredients. It was an absolute pleasure to be invited back to school by Sixth Form Teacher Mrs Neville to help assist in the Year 9 Young Enterprise Competitions. I was asked to provide a short presentation on the packaging design of AromaWorks’ products to give the students some inspiration when creating their own skincare brand. AromaWorks are a British based cosmetic company offering a wide range of 100% Natural Home Fragrance and Skincare products. The Skincare collection is paraben free, gluten free, nut free, dairy free, as well as being safe for use in pregnancy and not tested on animals. These are key USP’s that the girls found would be vital to use across their own skincare packaging. When it came down to judging the final pieces, I was absolutely blown away by the standard of the students’ work. I couldn’t believe how much they had achieved in such a short space of time, and how innovative some of the ideas were. I have to say the team I was most impressed with were ‘Aurora Sport’; their verbal presentation skills, finance and marketing plans, and overall product designs were just fantastic.
The winning girls across both days of the competition were awarded with AromaWorks goody bags containing a miniature eye cleanser, toner, day cream, and hand lotion- all completely natural and gentle for young teenage skins. For any parents interested in trying any of the AromaWorks’ products simply enter the code 25AROMA when you get to the checkout of our website, and receive 25% discount across the entire Home Fragrance and Skincare Collections. Once again a big thank you to Mrs Neville and the Young Enterprise team at Wycombe High School, I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the competition. Nikki Lewin, AromaWorks Product Specialist and Head Trainer www.aroma-works.com
Charity Business & Economics
Royal Economics Society Competition 2015 Post the AS examination period, two Year 12 students, Emma Simpson Parks 3 and Munroop Phagura Pankhurst 8, decided to embrace another challenge.
Competition basics: School students are invited to choose one of the topics below to write an essay of up to 2,500 words, on one of the subjects set by the RES judging panel, calling on key elements of their A Level course, examples from the world around them and imaginative discussion. A panel of teacher judges from across the UK met over two days to read through all of the entries and put together a shortlist of essays for final judging and also a list of highly commended entries from the 2015 competition. First prize: £1,000. For the final shortlist, the RES judges are Sir Charles Bean (RES President, former deputy governor of the Bank of England), Stephanie Flanders (award winning BBC journalist and Economics Editor, now J.P. Morgan Asset Management's chief market strategist for the UK and Europe) and Professor Jonathan Haskel (Imperial College and elected member of RES Council). Emma and Munroop selected and submitted essays from the eight topics available in 2015. Below are summary extracts of their 2,500 word essays, covering highly topical material. Indeed, Emma’s essay on the Greek situation was due on 30 June-the RES deadline and coincidentally the Greek government’s deadline to repay a significant sum to the IMF. Munroop’s essay subject is an increasingly concerning issue which needs addressing and is currently prompting several eminent economists to research and write about it. /Cont’d...
Charity Business & Economics Both Emma and Munroop are to be commended for their subject enthusiasm. The Business and Economics Department wish them both the best of luck. Fiona Pryor, Business Studies and Economics Subject Teacher "Countries like Greece caused the Eurozone crisis by running up too much debt, so it is only fair that they should bear most of the burden of fixing it." Discuss. On 1 January 1981 Greece, a country famous for its ancient culture and creation of democracy, entered the EU as “one of its weakest economies” (Dukes 2012) with a debt of “103.7% GDP” (Trading Economics 2015), but with strong trade links to the European giant Germany and its own currency to sustain. It wasn’t until 2001 – a year of strength for the Euro with exchange rates peaking at €1.63/£1.00 (European Parliament 2007) – that the small Mediterranean country became a member of the inner Eurozone community. Seven years later the Credit Crisis exploded financial markets causing sudden economic recessions worldwide as banks became adverse to lending money to customers and triggering rapid reductions in consumer expenditure and investment with disastrous consequences. However, what makes this problem unique in the Euro against other currencies such as the US Dollar is that many economists believe it has still failed to emerge from what is now termed as the Eurozone Crisis. Despite the clarity of this conviction, the cause of what is becoming a triple-dip recession (Inman 2014) for the union is far more unclear, leading to uncertainty as to which countries – if any – were to blame and subsequently who should then bear the burden of the consequences. Indeed, as is often the case, the blame has thus far taken the path of least resistance which inevitably leads to Greece due to its economic weakness against other European giants, proven by its now inflated governmental debt of 177.1% GDP (Trading Economics 2015). Nevertheless, despite the ease and popularity of these allegations, there is a multitude of evidence to support the antithesis that responsibility for this disaster does not simply lie with Greece and countries with similar issues. In fact, it could be argued that a number of factors came into effect at this time and collectively they caused the Eurozone Crisis of today. In brief, what is clear is that, responsible or not for the Eurozone Crisis, in the absence of controversial structural reforms the continual unreliability of the Greek economy will almost always lead to a damning verdict from its Eurozone partners and insecurity among its citizens and foreign investors, increasing the inevitability of ‘Grexit’. However, the true concern in this dilemma is what the Greek verdict on the 30th June and beyond will set as a precedent for future struggling Eurozone economies at a time when the instability of all markets remains a real concern for all countries. Furthermore, if Greece is forced out of the Eurozone by its partner members, would it signify a bigger
Charity Business & Economics question as to the validity of the continuation of the single currency model in any format as similar countries are lined up to be next? By Emma Simpson Year 12, Parks 3 "The rising gap between rich and poor is not just bad for society, it is bad for growth." Discuss. Whilst most people agree that inequality is damaging for society, as more unequal societies tend to have higher rates of mental illness, drug use and crime, the question of whether inequality is bad for economic growth has been strongly debated. This issue has particularly come to the forefront as inequality is at its highest level in most OECD countries in thirty years. According to an IMF report, widening income inequality is the defining challenge of our time. On balance the majority of the evidence suggests that inequality is counterproductive to economic growth, mainly as it restricts the educational prospects and opportunities of lower / middle-class children. However, there is also the argument that inequality in undeveloped countries is an inevitable consequence as it indicates that the economy is developing with rising inequality due to some people taking advantage of these developments to bring themselves out of poverty. This is due to the incentive basis of capitalism as when people see others succeeding, this encourages them to work harder. Therefore there are always differing views on inequality - for example Thomas Piketty believes that extreme inequality is inherent in capitalism whereas Stiglitz argues in his recent report that inequality is an issue that must be solved in order to improve economic growth and lead to shared prosperity. By Munroop Phagura Year 12, Pankhurst 8, Head of Development
Charity House Charities 2014-15 has been another highly successful year for Charity Fundraising at Wycombe High School. Following the success of last year’s Charity Fundraising structure and the competitiveness of our girls we have continued to support three local and three international charities this year. Our Target has been to raise £1,500 and increase awareness of each of the following charities: Austen: Wycombe Homeless Connection Bronte: Wycombe Women’s Aid Curie: British Red Cross, Syria Appeal Nightingale: Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) Pankhurst: Cinnamon Galle, Sri Lanka; Parks: Ripple, Malawi
After a year’s worth of baking for cake sales and loose change collections, Christmas and Easter Food and Craft fairs, MUFTI days, car washes and other creative ideas dotted around the calendar the end of year totals have now been calculated. Bronte £1,943.83
Pankhurst £1,811.83;
Austen £1,368.11
Parks £1,355.69
Nightingale £1,797.11
Curie £1,538.43
A fantastic outcome resulting in almost £10,000 raised for more local and international charities! The House Captains for 2015-16 are currently in the process of counting votes from their Houses to decide on the Charities we will be representing next year. All apart from Bronte, who will be the next house to support Cinnamon Galle, a charity close to our hearts and interlinks with our International Connection with Southland’s College, Sri Lanka.
Charity
I would like to thank you for your continued support (and baking goods) to raise money for charity, thus helping us to create charitable, active and globally aware students along the way. Miss Donna Jenkins, House Charity Coordinator and Spanish Teacher
Charity National Charities Once again this year, Wycombe High school has had its eyes set on fundraising large amounts of money to support a selection of charities and the fantastic work they do. In the autumn term, we kicked off the school year with a Jeans for Genes Mufti day for whole school raising £1261, followed by a Wear it Pink day, which was organised and run by the Sixth Form students. Upon entering the Miller block, if the array of pink wasn’t enough to get you into the charity spirit, the fantastically broad range of fun-filled activity and refreshment stalls will have been! Not to mention the gigantic handmade bra draped across the ceiling! Well done girls, you raised nearly £900. A special mention and thank you must go out to everyone who collected old and un-used bras - I counted a whopping 611 bras. Children in Need saw students and staff don all things Disney. The Year 10s and Year 11s put on an amazing display of Disney stalls, ranging from Princess and Villains face-painting, fairy tale cakes and picnics, to Disney photo opportunities. An incredibly creative and successful lunch hour raised over £2,000. The Sixth Form girls managed to successfully hold a speed dating event with the gentlemen from RGS and JHGS, raising £781.50 for the British Heart Foundation. Word of mouth is that there have been many budding romances ever since. Comic Relief saw the whole school wear red for Red Nose Day. Austen house was triumphant in the inter-house bake-off competition, which was judged by Mrs Cromie, and saw them win 50 house points. This year’s chosen charity for World Health Day was Bucks Mind, which works to support and represent people with mental health needs in the local community. A huge thank you to all the staff who took part in the annual inter-house game of Rounders. Congratulations to Austen house who are the 2015 champions. The SLT did a wonderful job of selling ice creams, refreshments and face painting in true house spirit. We raised over £200. A hugely successful year for fundraising and increasing awareness of the charities we support. I know that the money we have raised will go a long way to helping support others. I hope that you will join me in being even more creative and adventurous with your fundraising ideas for the next academic year 2015-2016. Miss Camilla Lahmanes, National Charity Coordinator, French and Spanish Teacher
Development Ambassadors We want to say a HUGE thank you to the out going 2014-2015 Development Ambassadors, led by Megan Clark. With the help of parents, students and staff they have raised £4,138 smashing their target!
This year the Development Ambassadors have raised money to help landscape the New Music Centre. To date they have purchased nine trees surrounding the new centre. On Tuesday 19 May we held a Tree Planting Ceremony to fulfil our grant from the Tree Council. We had already planted eight of the nine trees purchased save our ceremonial tree which was planted
adjacent to the new Music Centre. We were honoured by the presence of Mrs Cromie, Mrs Jarret, Mrs Lally, Mrs Catalagac, Mrs Bowles, Mrs Honnor and Mr Snodden representing Wycombe High School; Mrs Warnock-Horn School Governor and Development Office Volunteer who wrote the successful grant to the Tree Council; Alastair Cunningham, Senior Tree Officer WDC and Sally Clark, Tree Officer Wycombe District Council. Our official tree planters were: Layla Ahmed Y13 Nightingale 6, Aisha Wahid Y 7 Bronte 6 and Attiyah Khan Y8 Bronte 6. When students and staff return in September we hope to have purchased and planted additional trees and shrubs for the new building. Pitch Perfect Movie Night On 12 June, the Development Ambassadors held their last movie night of the year where we showcased the film ‘Pitch Perfect’. It was a great success and we were delighted with the large turnout of students . We sold a variety of snacks and drinks which were sponsored by the Guild and Cineworld. We also gave people the opportunity to win four Cineworld tickets by participating in the game ‘Heads or Tails’. The winner was Zaynab Ashraf from Year 7, Pankhurst 9 . Thank you very /Cont’d...
Development Ambassadors much to all the students who attended the event—with your support we were able to raise over £100. Sadly, it was Dr Watson-Broughton’s last movie night - she has been a massive help for us since 2009 and she will be greatly missed.
Introducing the Development Team 2015-16 Next academic year the Development Team will be lead by both Munroop Phagura, Y12 T 8, and Emma-Beth Lacey, Y12 A1. We will be assisted by a team of eight Development ambassadors including Niamh Duncan T4, Rhianna Ramachandran T3, Juliet Taylor P4 and Kira Dhariwal B8 from Year 7, Louise Etherington T3 from Year 8 and Fern O'Shaughnessy T1, Jessica Martin N9 and Olivia Irvin B4 from Year 11. This year our focus is going to be on raising money for a new All-Weather Pitch which we hope to be in place by September 2016. Our target is £3000 which we hope to raise by the end of July 2016. Next academic year we will be holding another Open Mic Night to display the huge range of talent in Wycombe High School in addition to several movie nights, lunchtime quizzes and a Zumba Night. We will also continue to promote our RagBag Recycling Scheme which has raised nearly £600 by collecting over a tonne of textiles. We could not have done this without your help. Please continue to donate clean and dry men's, ladies and children's clothing; paired shoes; handbags, bags, ties, belts, household linen and towels. Over the span of five years with the help of students, staff and parents, we have recycled 5,462 kilograms of textiles raising £2,704 for the school. Thank you for your ongoing support. We couldn’t raise these funds without you. The Development Ambassador Team
WHS Open Mic Night! Rehearsal: Friday 9 Oct 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm Performance: Friday 16 Oct 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm
Guidelines: •2-3 minutes long •No profane language •Age appropriate
Dollin Essay Competition Dollin Essay Competition We have relaunched our annual essay competition as the ‘Dollin Essay Competition’, thanks to the generosity of Mr Michael Dollin, who has been a governor at Wycombe High School since 1998. This prestigious competition is open to students in all years, and gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and outstanding writing skills. This year’s theme is ‘Now, and what’s in the news.’ Students can choose from twenty-one titles, which cover all of our academic subjects. A full list of the titles and the competition rules can be found on the Dollin Essay Competition page on the Student portal of Moodle. https://vle.whs.bucks.sch.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=75864
Our judge this year is the Oxford historian, Hazel Tubman. All essays must be submitted by Friday 25 September. A first prize of £150 will be awarded to the winner, and £50 to the runner-up. You can read winning essays in last year’s Hunters’ Essay Compeition, by Katherine Skipper and Jasmine Chilton, in the Competitions section of the Library button on Moodle. https://vle.whs.bucks.sch.uk/mod/folder/view.php?id=85147 Mrs Pruszewicz Learning Centre Manager and Oxbridge Coordinator This year’s theme is NOW, and what’s in the news. Choose
one of the following titles. Art Is Tracey Emin’s Bed really art? Biology Why was the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa so deadly? Chemistry Photovoltaics: what is the United Kingdom doing to harness the sun’s energy? Classics Should all ancient artefacts in museums be returned to their countries of origin?
Drama Women are under-represented in the film and TV industry: why? Economics / Business ‘Aid has not improved life for the world’s poorest people.’ Discuss. English Literature How does modern literature reflect personal identity conflicts caused by multiculturalism or migration? Food Jamie Oliver has called on all G20 countries to make food education compulsory in schools. Could this reduce obesity worldwide? Geography Do developments in shale oil extraction amount to an energy revolution? Graphics What impact will the growth of 3D printing have on the design and manufacturing of products? History To what extent does one country bear responsibility for all loss and damage caused in the global ‘War on Terror’? Languages What is the role of linguists in a world of Google Translate? Maths Spot the pattern: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 … Music ‘Technology, media and the digital age have been detrimental to the quality of musicianship in the public eye.’ Discuss. Physics How long until nuclear fusion solves the world’s energy crisis? How could we speed the process up? Politics Why have minor parties grown in significance in recent years? Psychology Is social media responsible for the increase in mental health issues in young people? RS & Philosophy ‘Je suis Charlie.’ Should there be limits to freedom of expression? Sociology What impact has reality TV had on the role of women in society? Sports Should the use of drugs in sport be legalised? Textiles ‘Plus-sized clothing should not be sold in popular high street shops, as it facilitates leading an unhealthy lifestyle.’ Do you agree with the view of presenter / pop star Jamelia?
Drama
Global Rock Challenge Regional Finals On Thursday 18 June, 75 students embarked on a journey to greatness. We were taking part in the Southern regional final of Global Rock Challenge, after success in the Stevenage heats. We stayed in the Portsmouth University halls the night before, which was an extremely enjoyable experience as it gave us a small taste of what university life holds for us – pizza and fun! The next morning we woke early and donned our extravagant Hawaiian costumes. High in spirits we walked round to the Guild Hall where we were complimented for our attire (the teachers were especially commended for their use of inflatables)! The morning was huge fun as the DJ played all the top hits and we shocked other schools by throwing some impressive shapes, so go and check out the video on the @WycHighDrama twitter page that captured a few of these moments.
We then did two very successful rehearsals on the stage in front of the other schools before preparing for the afternoon production meeting. During the meeting, there is the traditional teacher dance off and WHS teachers certainly did us proud, unanimously voted the winners and fulfilling Mrs JonsmythClarke’s lifetime dream of taking home the prize for best air guitar of the day. After celebrating our victory, we returned to our dressing room and began the process of hair and make-up in preparation for our fast-approaching performance. We went on stage at 8:15 pm and gave the performance of our lives, wowing the crowd with our dramatic rendition of ‘The Changeling’. Overall, the trip was a wonderful experience and we can’t wait to go again next year. Lucy Price Year 12, Austen 8
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Nevertheless, the music was inspirationally uplifting, one of my personal favourite moments of the evening being the opening overture for the first act. On the whole, the show was a great success and was wonderful to direct, despite its challenges. I was rather sad to say goodbye to such a hard working cast after only two shows, but I think it is absolutely fair to say that all of our hard work has paid off in the end. Emily Morgan Year 12, Austen 3, Head of News Crew
President Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cabinet. From left to right: Tina MacAulay (Y7 B10), Kate Iley (Y8 P9), Swathi Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Souza (Y7 C5), Selena Hills (Y9 C9), Erin Jones (Y8 B9), Eliza Blackwell (Y7 A1), Ellen Ferguson (Y9 T8) and Grace David (Y9 B1) Charlie Carter (Y8 C7) portrays the detestable Miss Hannigan.
Freya Thomas (Y9 C8) and Grace David (Y9 B1) in their roles as Grace Farrell and Oliver Warbucks.
The band jazzed up the audience.
English
Year 9 Activity Days: Visit to Stratford upon Avon On 25 and 26 June, Year 9s had the opportunity to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace. They were able to see where the great bard was born and also attended a really useful talk on the play they have been studying for their GCSE English Literature—’Macbeth’. The play was brought to life for the students by three actors, who each performed extracts for them. Whilst visiting the gardens of the birthplace, students also took part in a dramatized version of part of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, alongside members of the RSC. Mrs Debra Jewell, Subject Leader English
Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra Year 9 Street Fair On 17 July 2015, the Year 9s put up their own stalls for the street fair. Each learning group was split into three teams of ten. The categories were food stalls, craft stalls and entertainment stalls. Each learning group had one team per category. Some of the ideas were: a haunted house, pizza stalls, make your own mocktail stall, decorate a cookie stall and pick’n’mix stationery! It was a great fun and new experience for a person running a stall but an even more exciting experience of being a customer visiting the amazing activities. "It was a challenging task to persuade people to buy drinks from our stall but it also taught me a lot about teamwork and having the patience and motivation to carry on," said Farah Riahikia 9B Pankhurst 2. Alice Martin, Bronte 2 was part of a team that raised an incredible amount of money. “ Our stall was selling pizza and fizzy drinks. We wanted to make the most money, and we thought that pizza and fizzy drinks would be quite popular. We also wanted to choose a stall that would be a challenge. We found it difficult to manage cooking all of the pizzas in time! Our team worked really well together as we managed to supply all the food (16 pizzas and eight bottles of drink!) and we sold all of the food on the day. Overall, we all really enjoyed it as it was nice to be able to contribute and make money for the charities. It was also fun to organise the stall by ourselves and to do it with all of your friends!” The overall winning stall was ‘The Haunted House, by 9D. “It was amazing! It was really scary but totally worth the money!” said Charlotte Humphries, 9A Nightingale 6, about the frightening stall. It raised an astonishing amount of £118! The learning group that raised the most was 9D with £279! In total the whole of Year 9’s efforts raised £873, this was £183 more than last year’s £690. We all enjoyed the occasion and were glad to be part of it!
Sraavya Kochelakota Year 9, Nightingale 3, News Crew
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Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra “It was a very sunny day when the street fair took place, all the stalls were set up and girls started flooding into the Technology Block and Drama Studio to see what was for sale. Fellow members of my stall were rapidly going in and out of the kitchens to bring out a new batch of melted chocolate. Our stall included treats such as popcorn, candyfloss and a chocolate fountain. Another stall in our form included a hugely successful Haunted House experience which was very popular with girls and even teachers! Lastly, the ice cream stall in our form sold out of the wide range of ice cream within a fraction of the allocated selling time due to customer demand! Overall, we did tremendously well largely because of the teamwork and efficiency within our stalls in 9D, so much so that we raised nearly £300 as a form. As a year group we raised more money than last year by a mile, well done everyone!” Sophie Farmer Year 9 Parks 4
Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra Ultimate Frisbee : The Basic Rules The Field — A rectangular shape with ‘endzones’ at each end. Starting—Each point begins with both teams lining up at the front of their own endzone line. The defence throws the disc to the offense. Scoring — Each time the offense completes a pass in the defence’s endzone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score. Movement of the Disc — The disc can be advanced in any direction by being passed to a teammate. Players cannot run with the disc. Turn-overs (changes in disc possession between teams) — When a pass is not accomplished, the defence take possession of the disc and become the offense. Contact — No physical contact is allowed between players. Fouls —if a player initiates contact with another player, a foul occurs - players are responsible for their own foul calls. When a foul disrupts possession of the disc, the play resumes as if the possession was not disrupted. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone. Bethany Holland Year 12, Nightingale 5
Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra Staff versus Student Ultimate Frisbee Match On the humid day of Thursday 2 July a team of staff competed against the schools team of Frisbee players. The student team consisting of multiple GB players were up against teachers such as Mr Try, Mr Mackerras, Mr O’Brien and Mrs Monteiro. A sure win for the school’s team, right? Well maybe not. The teacher’s height is what gave them the wining advantage along with sheer determination. The game started off with the student team in the lead but as the game progressed; they began to get tired. This allowed the teacher team to score multiple points. Many missed catches, loud cries and a few clashes later the game came to an end with the final score being 7:9 in favour of the teachers! All in all the game was a huge success. Despite the disappointment of the school team, there was a tremendous turn out and they managed to show case their generally unseen talent. Furthermore the final result has only led to more determination than ever to win next year. Scarlet Bignell Year 9, Austen 4
Year 13 Leavers’ Ball
“Our Year 13 Ball was held at the Crowne Plaza in Marlow on Thursday 2 July. The night was unforgettable with speeches from Alex Clarke our Head Girl and Catherine Kirby our Head of Ball, reminiscing back to old memories of our seven years at Wycombe High School with old classmates. It was great to see everyone so happy and enjoying themselves throughout the night. Everyone was dressed to impress and the venue was perfectly suited for the occasion. Our 2015 Leavers ball will stay within my memories for many, many years and I'm very happy I was able to share my experience at Wycombe High School with so many amazing girls and I will miss each and every one of them!
We danced all night long to the brilliant music from the DJ from Winkers Night Club in Gerrards Cross. Mr Maccarras definitely won the award for best dancing. All the teachers were a pleasure to spend the night with and I'm sure they enjoyed watching and joining in with all the fun. Catherine Kirby did the most amazing job organising the whole night by herself. We are all so grateful for her amazing skills because it was a night to remember for the rest of our lives. Thanks for everyone's input which made the night so special. We will all miss Wycombe High School so much!” Megan Clark, Head of Development 2014-15, Bronte 3 "Our Year 13 Leavers Ball was the perfect way to mark the end of our time at Wycombe High School, celebrate our accomplishments and say farewell. With some lovely food, a live band and lots of dancing, Cathy Kirby created an amazing event - thank you Cathy!” Georgia Sanders, Head of Guild 2014-15, Austen 7 “Our Leavers’ Ball was organised through the course of the year by Catherine Kirby, taking place on Thursday 3 July. The event began at 7pm, with everyone making their way to the venue which was the Crowne Plaza in Marlow. Once everyone had arrived, it was not too long before we were all seated and served some delicious food, in the meantime, we took full advantage of the photo booth. The vegetarian option consisted of a vegetable tagine and coconut parfait whilst those who opted for meat were served a chicken dish followed by a crème brulee. The ambience created by the decorations, which were predominantly fairy lights, definitely suited the occasion. A live band called ‘The Running Guns’ were at hand to play some music followed by the DJ. It is fair to say that everyone had a great time as the evening rounded off with nearly everyone on the dance floor. Catherine Kirby organised the entire night singlehandedly which must have been difficult at times so a huge thank you to her! I am going to miss everyone who has been there on this journey and wish the best to them all. The entire evening was orchestrated perfectly, making it an ideal and truly unforgettable way to mark the end of and celebrate our seven years at Wycombe High School.” Aisha Zahid, Former Head of News Crew Curie 3
Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra Year 13 Dress Up Day: Guilty Pleasures
Extra Curricular Curricular Activities Charity Extra Year 13 Leaversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Day
History & Politics Honouring the Fallen Men and Boys of Srebrenica On 6 June 2015 we hosted a friendly football game at WHS in conjunction with the organisation Remembering Srebrenica to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Genocide which occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995. What we took part in though was something much bigger, in fact our 22 players who took part in that friendly game were part of 8,372 players who were taking part across the country – the same amount as were killed during the genocide. We are very proud of all our football players who made the effort to commemorate this tragic event in history with a representative football game and a minute’s silence. Their contribution did not go unnoticed by the organisers and all 22 players were lucky enough to be invited to attend the inaugural remembrance service in Westminster Abbey where they met Asmir Begović a Bosnia and Herzegovina International Goalkeeper who plays in the Premier League for Chelsea. John O’Brien, Teacher of Economics and Business Studies
The Srebrenica massacre is viewed as the worst European atrocity since World War II, and is the most recent genocide in Europe, having occurred just twenty years ago. Srebrenica is a small town located close to the east border of Bosnia. In addition to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina constituted a kingdom known as Yugoslavia. The Bosnian population comprise of three main religious groups: Catholic Christians, Serbian Orthodox Christians and Muslims. These religious communities coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years, and between WW2 and the 1990s they lived together peacefully. Tension built up after Josip Broz Toto, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia, died in 1980. This led to the formation of the aforesaid countries, but conflicts perpetually worsened. This then led to a war between the Croats, Serbs and Bosnians, lasting from 1992 to 1995. During this period, Sarajevo, the capital, suffered 1,475 days of military siege; this amounts to almost four years.
History & Politics
Dutch United Nations troops failed to protect the town of Srebrenica in 1995, despite having previously declared it a safe zone in 1993; the Bosnian Serb army besieged Srebrenica, which was made up of mainly Bosnian Muslims. 8,372 men and boys were killed in an organised manner, first being separated from women and children. Faining co-operation with UN troops the Serbs pretended the men would be taken to a safer place where they would be exchanged. Up to 15,000 males who lacked faith in the deployed Dutch troops attempted to walk through the hills in pursuit of another safe zone and regain contact with those left in the Bosnian Muslim forces. This journey later became known as the ‘Death March’ or ‘The Column’. The majority of these people were unarmed and thus defenceless against the Bosnian Serbs. They were attacked while trying to escape, and then taken captive to be executed elsewhere. General Ratko Mladic declared, “The time has come to take revenge on the Muslims.” His speech displays the ‘purpose’ of the Bosnian Serbs’ siege which was to eradicate the Bosnian Muslims situated in the area. Following their heinous crimes, the Bosnian Serbs dug up the mass graves and reburied the corpses of the innumerable people they executed in many more smaller sites to avoid being charged by the international community with war crimes. However, many mass graves have been located by various organisations such as the Bosnia Missing Persons Institute, enabling the dead to regain their identities and be reburied with dignity. There are still countless relatives and survivors who await the discovery of their loved ones in order to honour them with proper burials. The former Bosnian Serb President, Radzan Karadzic, is currently on trial in the international criminal court for war crimes. The European Union announced 11 July as the official Srebrenica Memorial Day in 2009, so the world can collectively commemorate and honour the people affected by the genocide in 1995. Srebrenica Memorial Day is a time for us to remember those who were killed, as well as their relatives who are left behind. It gives us an opportunity to appreciate the value of tolerance, and ensure we are knowledgeable enough to help create an equal society in future. Ambar Yousuf Year 10, Austen 2, News Crew
History & Politics Government and Politics: Houses of Parliament Trip Monday 6 July, two intrepid AS politics classes visited the House of Parliament. When the coach left (slightly late) at 8:50 am, the air simmered with excitement. After a journey that felt like hours, we finally arrived in Parliament Square. With the epic beauty of Westminster Abbey behind us, and the grand splendour of Parliament to the side of us.
Our first stop was the Supreme Court. After a nerve-wracking security check with some members of our party being stopped and frisked (with many of us desperately trying to hide our tweezers at the bottom of our bags), we arrived in the main lobby. We were taken to Court One, one of the oldest courts in the building. There we all settled ourselves down for an informative talk, sitting in the room where case law is so often made; in the very seats where cases are presented was an awe inspiring experience. Our next stop was that iconic door: Number 10 Downing Street. Another security check, and more excitement as we realised that various film crews were filming as we arrived. After being told by a very nice policeman, with a rather large gun that we had to be quiet, a hush fell over our little crowdâ&#x20AC;Ś This was only to be broken minutes later, as we ran to take as many selfies as was possible in the small amount of time we had allocated. Back through the security barriers for lunch. As the majority of the group finished their food pretty quickly, Miss Chamberlain took it upon herself to entertain the group by giving an impromptu walking tour of the square and the outside of Parliament. Her unique tour, I think should be offered at all times. After lunch, we went to Portcullis House, the offices of MPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, from here we had a fantastic tour around both House of Lords and House of Commons. In both houses we were able to watch the debates that were scheduled, and there was much rejoicing when Miss Chamberlain realised that Baroness Bakewell was in the Lords. Finally we had Q&A with High Wycombe MP: Steve Baker. Mr Baker recognised the majority of the classes from his election campaign and had obviously prepared himself for a hard line of questioning.
History & Politics The European Union was a topic that appeared often and while at times Miss Chamberlain had her head in her hands; overall we acquitted ourselves well. Then it was back on the bus to rush home. Or not rush home as it turned out, as we were caught in the rush hour traffic. But not to worry, as the radio was tuned and a choir of beautiful, enthusiastic and ‘tuneful’ singing erupted. The singing continued the whole way down the M40 and I’m sure that everyone was grateful for the entertainment. Particularly when we ‘hit’ those high notes. Overall, it was an amazing day, and huge thanks must go to Miss Chamberlain and Miss Green for organising the day. The trip was enormous fun, and without such great teachers we would have been lacking in the knowledge and interest in politics which characterised so much of the trip. Saoirse O’Connor Year 12, Parks 3, Co-Head of News Crew
“Absolutely wonderful visit with a fantastic group of girls.”- Miss Su Chamberlain, History and Politics Teacher
Languages ¡Mamma Mia!
Bajo la misma estrella
La película de la que me gustaría hablar se llama ‘¡Mamma Mia!’ y está dirigida por Phyllida Lloyd, quien también dirigió ‘The Iron lady’. Es del género comedia-romántica y está ambientada en Kalokairi, Grecia.
La película de la que me gustaría hablar se llama ‘Bajo la misma estrella’. Esta dirigida por Josh Boone quien también dirigió ‘Un invierno en la playa’ pero no la he visto. Es del género romántica y drama y está ambientada en Holanda, que esta precioso, en 2014.
Cuenta la historia de una chica que se llama Sophie y su madre Donna, que tratan de descubrir quién es el padre verdadero de Sophie, de tres posibilidades. En mi opinión, el argumento es muy bueno, y es curioso pero emotivo al mismo tiempo. En cuanto al reparto, hay que destacar a Meryl Streep, porque ella es muy buen actriz y hace que la historia parezca creíble. Los efectos especiales son buenos porque hace que estas realmente en una isla soleada en Grecia. Recomendaría la película porque es divertida, conmovedora y es una película edificante.
Cuenta la historia de una niña que se llama Hazel Lancaster que tiene cáncer y se enamora con Gus Waters. En cuanto al reparto, hay que destacar a Shailene Woodley quien interpreta el papel maravillosamente, porque me hace feliz. También, Gus fue estupendo. Diría que la película es muy interesante ya que casi me pongo a llorar. Aunque los actores son asombrosos, algunas escenas me dan vergüenza. La recomendaría dado que quiero mucho la historia y los actores son los mejores.
¡Mamma Mia! es una de mis películas favoritas, ya que es muy agradable y me hace reír y sonreír cada vez que la veo. Es una gran película, y si por Alysha Martin Year 9, Nightingale 1 quieres ver una divertida, romántica y conmovedora ¡ve esta película! por Anna Lewis Year 9, Nightingale 10
Library It’s been a busy term in the Learning Centre. The focus in May and early June was very much on exam revision, but post-exams we have hosted project work for individual year groups, as well as some inspiring whole-school talks and events. BBC Radio Five Live Breakfast Show presenter, and former Wycombe High School student, Rachel Burden, visited on Tuesday 16 June . As part of the school’s ‘Inspire’ Series of Lunchtime Talks, she spoke to students, parents and staff about her time here, and about the rewards and challenges of a high-profile career in journalism. On her radio show the following morning, Rachel told her co-host, Nicky Campbell, how much she enjoyed being back at Wycombe High. At the end of June, the Art Department transformed the library to stage the annual display of students’ art work. The Art Exhibition featured a stunning array of paintings, sketches and models from across all Key Stages. Students who couldn’t make the after-school opening, were able to look round during the day, and vote on their favourite categories. To mark the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, when King John signed the charter guaranteeing the rights of individuals, we have a dedicated display of books on that, and on all things medieval. This coincided with the school’s Medieval Fayre, when students learned some new skills, including juggling and morris dancing. We continue to update and refresh our library stock. Here are just a few of our new resources:
Thanks to our superb team of Student Librarians, who have ensured that the library runs smoothly and a particular thanks to our parent volunteers, Mrs Gill Kyle, Mrs Teresa Young and Mrs Sandy Mitcheson, and our Senior Student Librarian, Qainaat Khaliq. Have a great summer… and remember to stock up on your summer reading before the end of term! Mrs Emma Pruszewicz, Learning Centre Manager
Maths University Challenge @ WHS This year saw an unusual quiz take place; a Year 13 maths version of ‘University Challenge’. Starters would be MP3s recorded from the actual show, while bonuses combine subjects chosen by the contestants with mathematics. For example, a starter was ‘including those squares consisting of more than one unit square, how many squares are visible on a 3 x 3 square grid?’ (14), while a bonus was ‘if all the misspellings come from arranging letters in the wrong order how many ways are there to misspell ‘torque’? (719). Bonuses came not just from academic disciplines but also from hobbies and interests. In one round students had to complete jokes from popular culture, such as this one from ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘how much do I owe you for that pizza Dad?’ (It’s on the house).
The contest took place over four rounds. Two preliminary matches were held in a cleared out room C302, made up of Year 13 maths students willing to take a risk in front of a trial audience. The winners went on to a very well attended final in the hall, where Mr Tucker and Miss Cole asked tough questions which in some places only the latter of the two even understood! This was a very close match in which the Harmonics narrowly beat the Medics on the last question of the match. With audiences hungry for more, a special match was organised against four boys from the school over the road. To make sure that they were familiar with the slightly odd style of questions, a training session was organised the week before. Perhaps this was a mistake, as in front of a large audience and with cameras rolling, they proceeded to beat the girls by quite a significant margin. There was no loss of dignity, however, as Chloe, Millie, Abi and Rosanne answered many difficult questions, sometimes with lightning speed. Rosanne in particular was very quick on the buzzer: in less than a second she answered the question ‘what is the surface area of the world’s largest Rubik’s cube, which has squares of 1 m x 1 m.?’. ’54!’ she exclaimed, and the crowd went wild. The tournament was a great success and it will be certainly continued in future years. Only next time, we might be a little more cautious about offering aid to the opposition… Patrick Mackerras Mathematics Teacher and Subject Leader for RS and Thinking Skills
Maths Year 7 Maths Day On Thursday 25 June Year 7 had an action packed day full ofâ&#x20AC;ŚMaths! This Maths day consisted of four challenging activities; the tetrahedron task, the maths roadshow, the USA map and the murder mystery. Many of us enjoyed the tetrahedron task, which concentrated on working as a team in our houses. The murder mystery asked us to become detectives and use our maths skills to find a murderer. The roadshow lasted quite a while, but over all we enjoyed the experience and felt successful after solving the difficult puzzles. The USA map task was the most challenging, as there was no right answer. Over all, Bronte was placed third, Austen placed second, leaving Nightingale as the champions. Thank you staff and everyone involved for such an interesting day! Georgia Pitt Bronte 5 and Bethan Ellis Austen 1, 7PQMa1
Music Wycombe High School Students Guests Soloists at St. Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Music Festival Since its formation in 2001, Ascot Brass has raised many thousands of pounds for charity through the medium of its concerts. In addition, the band has been actively engaged in showcasing and supporting youth music making and bringing the very best in young musical talent to a wider audience. In September 2011, in keeping with this ethos, the band presented a concert at Wycombe High School in partnership with Wycombe Orpheus Male Voice Choir. The event inaugurated the fund-raising campaign for the provision of the New Music Centre. Taking part in the concert was a student at the school, the accomplished young soprano, Charlotte Nohavicka (Class of 2012), who has since been a guest soloist in a number of our concert programmes to much acclaim, and it was very evident to us that Wycombe High School was a centre of musical excellence. Earlier this year we were delighted to learn that the fund-raising campaign had been an unqualified success and my wife and I attended the preview evening of the New Music Centre. The Senior Concert which followed the preview evening was a procession of prodigious musical talent in which every participant excelled and, through the good offices of the school, I approached the parents of two of the instrumentalists on behalf of the band to invite their daughters, Megan Cave, piano and Amy Sheldon, saxophone to join Ascot Brass in concert at the St. Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Music Festival in Maidenhead on 24 June. Megan and Amy, as our guest soloists, performed sets in each half of the programme and captivated audience and band alike with the musical artistry they displayed in their outstanding performances. Both were very much at home on the concert platform and we are delighted and privileged to have featured them. The band would like to thank the school and parents for making their participation with us possible and we are mindful of all the very talented fellow-students for whom they were such superb ambassadors. Bryan Catcheside, Musical Director, Ascot Brass
News Crew Last time I wrote to you all I introduced myself and Emily. Since, then we have written a speech designed posters, spoken to all of you in assembly, as well as constructed, edited and written for this edition of High Flyer. All within a few weeks! We would like to thank to everyone who has contributed to this final High Flyer for this academic year. Your contributions have been invaluable, and what a busy final term we have had. Lower School musicals, competitions, focus days and school trips to name but a few, and it has been lovely to read about what everyone has got up to. Our new team has been amazing, each one of them has really thrown themselves into their new roles with an enthusiasm and passion which has previously been unrivalled. Emily Morgan, my co-head of News Crew, has been amazing in leading the charge. She has ensured that articles have been written in time for deadlines, burnt the candle at both ends night after night to ensure that High Flyer looks as amazing at it does, and she deserves all the praise I can give her. We would also like to thank Mrs Morgan for all the guidance she has given us over the past few weeks. Mrs Morgan’s constant encouragement and advice has been priceless and was much needed to make this edition the best it could be. Without her, we would have had no idea where to start, she truly is the beating heart of News Crew. Next year, it will by my turn to start working on the annual magazine (I’m not scared, my teeth are chattering because I’m cold…). This year’s magazine will centre, as it always does, around you, the student body. We will be running several competitions including a variety of short stories (e.g. fantasy, supernatural, historical) which (I hope) will inspire you to pick up your pens and send me many entries. This year we will be running a few competitions for those of you who are artistically inclined (not me I’m afraid), including a competition for the front cover of the magazine and comic strips. So if you’d like to see your work on the front cover of Wycombe High School Magazine, you have the whole summer to let your creativity run riot. Similarly High Flyer will be running seasonal themed competitions for original written / artistic content. For the October edition we would like you to write / create art with a haunted theme.
Over the summer many of you will be visiting friends, family all over the globe. If you do something or see something that particularly inspired you, than write a few paragraphs explaining to us what you saw and why it inspired you. We would love to hear from you; just because you aren’t in school doesn’t mean that when you come back what you did no longer matters. So, have a wonderful summer! Come back, full of the creativity we know that you possess and send us all the amazing work you have done while you were away. Saoirse O’Connor, Head of News Crew Year 12 Parks 3
Original Contribution A Story A story can be many things to many people, The writer, the teller and the reader, For the writer a story is extreme power, To escape from the world, Laugh at the world, Or create a new one, To find out who they are, By creating themselves on a page, Or creating the opposite, By writing about living, loving and laughing To write. For the teller a story offers a different power, The power to thrill another person, To show them the world, To leave every person on the edge of their seat, To have them begging for more, The easiest power to abuse, But to master it gives great pleasure, To tell. For the reader a story is an adventure, A chance to escape, To travel to exciting places, Non- existent places, sometimes, To learn of things they would never have learnt of, To dream of things they would never have dreamed of, To see things they would never have seen, And to know things they would never have known, To read.
What is a story to you? Something boring from an English lesson for you to write or read or tell or learn about? Something you’ve been told you shouldn’t listen to? Or something you definitely should Something that’s not worth your time? Or something worth a million times more than any footballer’s salary Do you know what a story is to you? You don’t? Then I urge you, Run to the nearest library, And you will find the answers to my question, Read, write and tell every story you can think of, And work out what a story is to you. By Niamh Duncan, Year 7 Pankhurst 4
Oxbridge
Exams were very much the focus for the first half of the summer term. Students applying to Cambridge are required to achieve very high results in their AS exams— on average, at least 88 % across the board. But then the focus turned to UCAS forms, and in particular, the Personal Statement. On 9 June a group of Year 12 students attended an Oxbridge Preparation morning at Wycombe Abbey School. The speakers included Dr Sam Lucy, Admissions Tutor at Newnham College, Cambridge and Professor Louise Fawcett from St Catharine’s College, Oxford. They talked through the application process: what they look for in potential students in their UCAS forms, as well as at interview, and how students can maximise their potential. Both academics stressed the importance of demonstrating commitment to your choice of course, through extension reading (depth rather than breadth), attending relevant talks, listening to radio debates and investigating online courses, such as MOOCs (see below). For students applying for subjects they haven't’ studied at school, they recommended the ‘A Very Short Introduction to….’ series. We have a number of these books in the School Library.
As part of our Year 10 Aspirational Visits programme organised by the Pathways Adviser, twenty-five students visited St Edmunds’ Hall in Oxford in June. After a tour of the city centre, and the college itself, they attended a session run by the Department of Computer Science. Oxford held its university-wide Open Days on Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 July, with a broad range of events at individual colleges and departments. If you missed out, there is one more at the start of the autumn term, on Friday 18 September. http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/open-days-outreach/open-events-and-visiting/ university-open-days Cambridge Open Days were held on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 July. http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-open-days /Cont’d...
Oxbridge For students interested in Geography, Politics and Environmental issues, Eton College and Blackwells booksellers are hosting a prestigious new debating competition based around biodiversity. All entrants will be set a question on a specially-written novel 'Jabujicaba' which explores the issues of Brazil's rainforest. Full details can be found at www.jabujicaba.net The deadline for entry is 1 August 2015, the debate final is 17 March 2016. Details are also on the News Forum of the Oxford and Cambridge Moodle page. Details of our annual school competition, the Dollin Essay Competition, are on the Student Portal of Moodle. This year’s theme is ‘Now, and what’s in the news,’ and is open to students in all years. There is a choice of twenty-one titles. Our judge is the Oxford historian, Hazel Tubman. All essays must be submitted by Friday 25 September. A first prize of £150 will be awarded to the winner, and £50 to the runner-up. Politics students might be interested in a new film competition run by the Department of Politics and International Relations at Cambridge. Entrants must submit a three-minute film on any recent topic by Friday 4 September. http:// www.polis.cam.ac.uk/gamble-and-hill-prize Students thinking about Oxbridge are encouraged to do an EPQ—an Extended Project Qualification. This is a 6000 word dissertation on a subject outside the school curriculum It runs from June of Year 12 to December of Year 13. Details are available on the Student Portal of Moodle. If you are interested, please speak to Miss Brash. Other extension activities that are really valued by Oxford and Cambridge and other top universities are MOOCs—Massive Open On-line Courses. Some of these are free to do. They help to demonstrate a depth of subject knowledge and are a good thing to include in UCAS forms. There are more details on the Oxford and Cambridge Moodle page, but here are some of the most useful websites: https://www.futurelearn.com/ https://www.coursera.org/ https://www.edx.org/ Most courses at Oxford and an increasing number at Cambridge require students to sit a University Test before interview. Details of these are in each prospectus. Teaching for the tests has already started for Year 12 students. If you have any queries, please speak to Mrs Pruszewicz or Miss Brash. On Wednesday 23 September we will be offering Year 13s the opportunity to sit a ‘pre-test’ on thinking skills. This is set and marked externally by Cambridge Assessment, and they supply individual feedback. It is very good practice. Details to follow. We have displays of extension reading in the Learning Centre. Students are very welcome to borrow books and periodicals over the summer. Mrs Pruszewicz, Oxbridge Co-Ordinator
PAFA PAFA Grand Raffle Results Many many thanks to all of you for all you have done to rally our school parents, friends, teachers and children to raise over ÂŁ4500 for outdoor seating/covers. A special thank you to: Judith Krasner for all the parent mails and prize collection; Ashley and Caroline Birkbeck for all the intra school communication, prize collection; Julia Brown for motivating all of us and the school; Tracy Moore for the great videos advertising the raffle; Sally Jarrett and Marjorie Lally for hosting the draw; Dana Morgan for social media support; and all the parents, teachers and children who bought or sold the raffle tickets. The winners were: Top two sellers: Lou Lou Moore and Zarifah Moore Top tutor groups for Pizza feast and bottle of wine for their tutor: Austen 7; Bronte 5; Curie 6; Parks 1; Nightingale 5 and Pankhurst 4. Simon Bray PAFA Grand Raffle Organiser We have had another great year at PAFA and raised funds for the school. After the hugely successful opening of the new Music Centre the school is aiming to landscape the ground around it and PAFA will supply much needed seating and shades for the girls to enjoy their time outside at break and lunchtimes. We will talk to the school to find out what projects they would like us to assist with next year. In the past we have paid for the stage flooring, and lighting, a PA sound system for the sports hall, digital display screens around the schools, a music tech suite for the new Music Centre. Lab refurbishment, printers for the Art and Technology Departments seeds for a wildlife garden and cricket nets have all been provided too. At the last AGM I said I would stand down and we have a few other gaps opening on the committee, we would urge you to attend our meeting on the 29 September at 7:30 pm. We are looking for a Chairman, a refreshments co-ordinator and new committee members. We have found the more people we can have on the committee the less work each member has to do. Please email pafa@whs.bucks.sch.uk to request job descriptions for any of the above. Kitty Garrett PAFA Chair
PAFA Volunteer Thank You Evening Every summer we take the opportunity to host a ‘Volunteers’ Thank You Evening’ to recognise and thank the many volunteers who give their time so willingly to support the school in a variety of ways. This year about 40 of our volunteers, who now number over 120, were able to join us. They are parents, grandparents and friends of the school and some of them have been working here for decades as Library helpers, running the second-hand uniform shop, helping in the development office, supporting our Languages A level students by speaking with them in French and Spanish, running a Micromouse club, helping staff music tours and concerts, supporting our PE staff as coaches and at fixtures, as members of PAFA to help us raise money and supporting our Young Enterprise students, to name just a few of their roles! Without the generosity of these people, many of the events and activities we run would not take place or we would have to pay considerable sums of money to buy in the staff to support our students with some activities. During the evening the volunteers had the opportunity to speak with Sharon Cromie, our Headteacher about their work in school and to be shown around new developments on the school site by Dana Morgan, our Director of Development and Alumnae Relations. Julia Brown, Assistant Headteacher
Psychology A Year in Psychology; A Student’s Reflection The word ‘psychology’ is Greek, meaning a science of the brain. However this year, we didn’t just learn how the brain works, but we also learnt about abnormality, social change and the growth of a child. In doing so, we, as a collective, have achieved a greater understanding of why babies form attachments, why people conform and how a person can be diagnosed as abnormal. It has been a really interesting year. Personally, I have loved learning why people behave as they do- whether it is due to their upbringing or due to their brain’s physical structure. Furthermore, when we returned from our study leave, we were given a project
which enabled us to deepen our knowledge in abnormality, but also apply this knowledge to a real situation. Mind-boggling is one adjective to describe the task, but several other adjectives are insightful, interesting and something to stick your teeth into. The project was challenging, but it was also amazing, it gave us an invaluable insight into what will be expected of us at university, and the quality of what we write too: therefore it was incredibly useful and as mentioned above, it was really interesting as mental illness does affect one in five people. Overall, I have loved my first year as a psychology student, and I am really looking forward to continuing my studies next year! ROLL ON A2! Emma-Beth Lacey Year 12, Austen 1, Deputy Head of Development
Religious Studies Year 8 inter-form Spirited Poetry Competition “This poetry really made you think on a spiritual level” “An excellent use of language” “Great insight into the way people think.”
The RS department held its sixth Spirited Poetry competition this year on Wednesday 10 June. The Year 8 students attending were an impressive audience supporting their form representative but also fully appreciating the depth and sensitivity shown by the other poets. The final entries this year were Jess Calder (8A B2), Lucy Sutton (8B T2 ), Rachel Ervine (8C T6), Catherine Parker ( 8D A10 ), Ana Meechan (8E C10 ), Libby Roalfe (8F P 10 )
One student, Kate Iley (8C P9) kindly agreed to recite her form’s poem; a brave act since the occasion is formal and it is harder to put across the right nuances if you are not the original writer. This year the judges were Mrs Cromie, Mr Jones (one of the school governors; and who has special responsibility for RS ),Katy Dadacz and Fatima Khan, Year 12 students who study both Philosophy of Religion and English. The RS department are grateful for their involvement. The winners were as follows; First prize: Libby, Second prize: Rachel, Third Prize: Catherine. The judges commented that the winning poem forced the listener to think on a spiritual level using language to a great effect. You can read the poem for yourself at the end of this article. Rachel’s sensitive poem was powerful with real insight into how people think. Catherine kept to her chosen theme and her imagery was noteworthy. The runners up should be proud of their achievement as well, their poems were selected as the best in their form and the judges said their poems were very effective and thought-provoking. Ana impressed everyone with her dramatic delivery to bring out the nuances of her poem, reciting the poem from memory. All the competitors have gained well deserved House Points so do congratulate them in tutor time. You could even ask them to read their poems.
Religious Studies THE BIGGER PICTURE Self destruction. Is that what this is? Complaining about life, death, Torture and fire. Blind to the fact it’s our fault. Put here for a reason, Abusing our chores, And defying our roles. Procrastinating ourselves to extinction. Yet it is us, Us who light the matches, Us who burn the buildings. Ash flying in the wind, That no longer howls. Sinking in the oceans, That no longer wave. Rising to the clouds, That no longer float. But looking through these goggles of distortion, We don’t see the chaos. We don’t see the end. When rubble is silent And the sun is dead. When the earth crumbles, And falls apart. No more war. No more anything. No life, No love, No hope. Yet we don’t see that. We don’t see it gone, like a forgotten memory, That once held happiness, But now presses a bruise of regret. We see now, and only now. No peripheral vision. Just us, and me. And who I want to be, But who I’ll never become. But look at the bigger picture, Frame it,
And see it expand through our thoughts. Like a bubble of hope. In our beautiful minds, Frosted and blue, Seeing our world in all its glory, Laughter, smiles, happiness, faith. Waiting a while for a late night train, To take us back home, To our loved ones, Our dear ones. This is the bigger picture, But still, it is not the biggest, So many places to visit, So many people to meet, Wonderful, beautiful, Flowers in blossom, Pink in the sun, The sun that burns bright and provides warmth to us all, Open your eyes, Open your heart, But first you must open your mind, To the wonders, the glory, The future to come, Not a future of chaos and death, But one of love and family and memories. For the biggest picture you could possibly paint, Is that of your life, One day you must finish, Hang it on a wall for all to admire, But just because it’s done, Just because you have stopped, Doesn’t mean the picture can’t be beautiful. So look at your biggest picture, Frame it, And see it expand through our thoughts. Like a bubble of hope, Pop, and it’s gone; Death, torture, fire. Chaos, extinction, guilt. The end will come,
Religious Studies It’s merely a matter of time. But we have no time left. By Lib Roalfe Year 8, Austen 10, 1st Place
Have they left us bleeding? Or is this for our own good? Because we do not give, but only take So they left us on our own for this? Or were we always on our own? And then we painted for ourselves this picture — this scene: Where the fully audible have all and sit upon a throne And some need but are voiceless; cannot scream. Because to a deaf world you were asking me to ‘express insight’. Asking me of ‘The Bigger Picture’ when we are blind. So open your eyes. Hear the cries. Let ‘the Bigger Picture’ form in your mind.
The Bigger Picture ‘The Bigger Picture’ means what to me? It is far beyond what I can see. It is more important than this poem. It means more than my life. It is larger than what we can know and To improve it, our troubles, we’ll have to fight.
But not against the others And not against what’s right: We can fight our troubles Without gun, bomb or knife. We can wound them with a bandage And we can hurt them with salvation And we can starve them with a food package And banish them from each nation. But where are Christ and God and deities? Do they help unnoticed or watch from afar? Do they observe our ways and Do they shun us for how we are?
Because we’re the ones who have the means to shout. But we’re the ones stuck inside the frame. And just maybe it’s time we stepped out. And just maybe it’s time we changed. By Rachel Ervine Year 8, Pankhurst 6, 2nd Place
Religious Studies Without Darkness We Would Never Know Who Darkness makes the stars come out, the Stars are in this World or in the Bigger Remember, I’ll stay with you throughout, Picture So please my friend, do not be blue, I promise that we’ll make do Darkness makes the stars come out We will learn from yesterday, Which makes life brighter there’s no doubt, And live a better life today. So when you’re feeling rather low Remember, without darkness stars can’t glow. Darkness makes the stars come out, You’ll get through it in the end The rain helps the plants to sprout. For I’ll be there to be your friend. So please, my friend do not cry, Just count the bright stars in the sky. Darkness makes the stars come out I will always be your friend So, my friend there’s no need to shout. Together, we’ll make it to the end. Please I beg you, do not weep After all, The stars will shine while others sleep. Darkness makes the stars come out. Life has its highs and lows, Catherine Parker Year 8, Austen 10, 3rd Place But beauty overpowers the thorns on the rose. You must get through these hard times, For darkness makes the stars shine.
Religious Studies WHS Students Spread the Message of Spirited Arts to Local Primary School During June and July this year, WHS students from the early entry GCSE Religious Studies Year 10 class have been supporting Cadmore End Church of England Primary School and helping young children from nursery age to Year 5 to make connections between Bible stories and visual imagery. They have been decorating large display boards depicting some of the miracles of Jesus such as the calming of the storm, the changing of water into wine, the feeding of the five thousand and the healing of the paralytic man. Great fun was had by all and special thanks must go to all the students who gave up their Tuesday afternoons. They are- Isabel, Zainab, Ellen, Rupika, Rina, Kainaat, Gillian, Yasmin, Anisa, Maddy, and Sammy. Dr Ann Watson-Broughton, Teacher of Religious Studies and Citizenship
Science The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge is a competition aimed to stretch and challenge students interested in chemistry, and an excellent experience for anyone considering taking their studies further. It is designed to be accessible to all Year 12 students but took them significantly beyond the syllabus and encourages students to think about science in the way they would at University. The test took the form of a 90 minute paper in which students where tested on everything from the identification of Tetraoxygen, O4 to the formation of Progesterone. There were a record number of entries with around 8500 marks being entered into the database, an increase of 1500 from 2014. 38 WHS Year 12 Chemists attempted the paper and had a fantastic result of 18 girls achieving a copper award and Becs Farndale and Sanjee Panditharatne both achieving silver awards. A big thank you to all those who attempted the paper and please see the Chemistry A-Level Awards board in Christie for all the results. Mr Robert Woodward, Chemistry Teacher
Science Biology Challenge Results For the 3rd year running Wycombe High School has Year 10 students in the top 5% of the country for the Biology Challenge. We have had 144 entries this year for Biology Challenge. We received 42 certificates. Up four on last year. Nationally over 40,000 students took part and the top 5% in the country received Gold certification. 10% Silver and 15% Bronze. The boundaries are: Gold 78 Silver 71 Bronze 64 The certificate winners and scores are below! Gold : Niamh Herron, Jasmine Pankhania; Gillian Hargreaves and Teagan Pooler Silver: Alex Gannon, Lamiyah Emadi; Becky Howitt and Lizzi Keenan
Bronze: Julianne Griffin; Sarah Nawaz; Abigail Pinner; Humera Ali; Jasmine Charleston; Ambar Yousuf; Chloe Aitken; Baylee Allnutt; Niamh Cafferkey; Joanna Averill; Esme Nicholls; Yasmin Richardson; Emily Clarke; Alice Rudkin; Isabella Tasker; Nicole Gourin; Elisha Hayward; Hollie Westwood; Emily Freeman; Rachel Cox ; Ummarah Zahir; Rhea Kankate; Catriona Roberts; Yasmin Vaux; Samashti Dwarkesh ; Niamh Potts; Hafsah Ahmed; Victoria Watts; Anna Bonnerjea; Daisy Daniels; Sky Willis; Gemma Ball; Kim O'Donoghue; Amy Sheldon. Matthew Try, Teacher of Biology and Science
Sociology Year 13 Project: ‘The Beauty Myth’ In sociology we studied ‘The Beauty Myth’ by Naomi Wolf. The book is about how society stereotypes women into an ideal image, which is often unrealistic to achieve. Wolf explains the feminist view on how society pre-judges a woman based on her appearance by using the phrase ‘women are allowed a mind or a body but not both’. This concept is based on Wolf’s idea that society’s ideology (way of thinking) comes from the most powerful group within society, in this case: men. The first thing we had to do was find arguments both for and against the myth. For example, the Australian TV anchor, Karl Stefanovic, wore the same blue suit every day for a year, while his co-anchor was threatened if she failed to keep up with modern fashion or wore the same dress twice. Not one person noticed that he wore the same suit – this illustrates the point of how Stefanovic and other men are judged by how good they are at their job while female colleagues are judged by their appearance. A more complex argument is that of Rachel Riley, Countdown’s number girl. While she has a mathematics degree from Cambridge, she is also very beautiful, a belief shared by most of society. This opposes the argument that a woman cannot have both brains and beauty. However, while working, she always has her legs on show – indecently short dresses seem to be her uniform while trouser-suits would make her very unpopular. It would be interesting to see how society would react if a woman like Rachel Riley tried to ‘cover-up’ while working. The next thing we had to do in class was to analyse the representation of women in different media sources. The media sources ranged from songs to magazine articles and videos to TV programmes. The results were fairly conclusive; males seem to not suffer the same ridicule as women do in modern society. While derogatory terms were used to describe women, males seemed never be judged by the same standards. However, despite the shared belief that only women are insulted, men still get stereotyped and disrespected. For example, the song ‘Before He Cheats’ by Carrie Underwood stereotypes all men into the category of cheaters, especially if the man is not around his partner. There is also an issue of female artists insulting other females. Taylor Swift, a well-known musician, has a bad trend of insulting both men and women in her songs. For example, the song ‘You Belong with Me’ is based around the idea that one girl is better for a man than another and explains this fact by degrading the other woman, her appearance, and her actions. From this, we all concluded that society is biased towards men, in some respects. Men and women are treated differently within society. However, the Beauty Myth is just that, a myth. The ambiguous nature of the concept of beauty means a true definition is near impossible. Furthermore, the subjectivity of beauty means opinions will often clash; ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, meaning opinions may and will vary. Conversely, society does seem to have a warped view on what beauty is and, as said before, it is likely to be near impossible to achieve naturally. Women do have the power to do as they please; a woman can have both brains and beauty. Liberty Mumford Year 12, Nightingale 2
Sports Bucks Girls Football League U12 Cup Rosie Coward, Year 7, Austen 9, was part of the Penn & Tylers Green Girls Under 12 team that won the Bucks Girls Football League U12 Cup on Saturday 9 May against Risborough Rangers in a dramatic penalty shoot out. Rosie had a relatively quiet first half as the goalkeeper while one of her team mates scored to give Penn a 1-0 half time lead. Rosie changed position to midfield for the second half, but Risborough soon equalised. The remainder of the half was tense as both sides tried hard but could not make a decisive finish. This continued in extra time and at half time of extra time Rosie went back to being goalkeeper in the hope that lightning would strike twice as this change had also been made in the semi-final against Chesham United when Rosie saved the decisive penalty to put Penn in the final. Penalties, three for each side, were duly required. The first penalty taken by one of Rosie's team mates was saved, but Rosie also saved the first Risborough penalty. Each side then scored, Rosie having little chance of saving the Risborough shot. The third Penn penalty taker sent her shot over the bar so if Risborough scored their last penalty then they would win the cup otherwise the penalty shoot out would go to sudden death. It was with great relief to the Penn team, coaches and supporters that Rosie turned the shot past her left post. The Risborough goalkeeper dived the right way for the next Penn penalty but the shot flew past her into the back of the net. Rosie then leaped high to stop the Risborough response from going in and ran towards the half way line to celebrate with her team mates. Chris Coward, Father of Rosie
Sports UK Sports Tour to Shrewsbury On Friday 15 May, 61 students from Year 7 and Year 8 went on the UK Sports Tour to Shrewsbury! We stayed at Condover Hall, which is a prestigious Elizabethan residential activity centre which hosts teambuilding and non-stop educational activity. In groups, we took part in many activities including aerial trek, laser conquest, survival skills, fencing, tunnelling, laser maze, grid of stones, climbing, abseiling, gladiator wall and a leap of faith. The activities were fantastic fun but a lot of them required everyone to overcome some fears, particularly the high ropes activities. When faced with some very challenging tasks, all teams worked very closely together and encouraged each other at every given opportunity. We also had fun on the courts, playing netball and hockey! We played against Shrewsbury and William Brookes and the results were as follows: Netball WHS V Shrewsbury Y8 13-13 Player of the match – Megan Lister Bronte 7 Y7 8-8 Player of the match – Mei-Ya Lambert Bronte 7 Y7 (team 2) 7-14 Player of the match – Georgia Pitt Bronte 5 Year 7 (team 3) 7-3 Player of the match – Kirsty McKendrick Curie 9 WHS V William Brookes Year 7 11-13 Player of the match – Tina MacAuley Bronte 10 Hockey WHS V William Brookes 1-1 Player of the match - Martina Moore Pankhurst 8 Our journey to and from Condover was fun filled! We watched movies, had hilarious commentary from Miss Snook and had an awards ceremony. A few of our awards were as follows: Coach’s player of the tour award for hockey – Martina Moore Year 7 Pankhurst 8 Coach’s player of the tour award for netball – Eloise Brindle Year 7 Curie 5 Top tourist for Year 7 – Maddy Rippon Parks 8 Top tourist for Year 8 – Megan Lister Bronte 7 Looking forward to another top UK Junior Sports Tour to Condover Hall in the summer of 2016 and our Senior Sports Tour to Australia and Singapore in summer 2016. /Cont’d...
Sports
Sports National Schools Regatta The National Schools' Regatta is the largest regatta for juniors in Great Britain. Held annually in May, the regatta offers events for Junior rowers between J14 and J18. The regatta was first raced in 1947, and has since grown to a world class event that is enjoyed by clubs and schools across the United Kingdom. I began rowing when I started secondary school at Wycombe High. After three years of wet, windy, snowy, cold conditions; my squad and I managed to pull off a huge achievement at the National Schools Regatta. A group of great friends, rowers and girls filled with team spirit and a strong will to succeed, began their winning journey on Friday 22 May. It was the morning Cleo Pryor (3rd from the front), Year 9 Curie 3, when all five was part of the winning quad at the National girls made Schools competition in May 2015. They were their way to fastest in the time trial (heat); semi-final and the Holme final. Pierrepoint National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham. It was a calm, hot sunny day for our race. As our first race neared (heats / time trials) our nerves increased and butterflies began to stir inside of us. We boated on the pontoon in time for our time-trial at 10:25 am. We rowed up, turned and paddled to the start. We crashed within the time trial, however, still came out strong towards the finish. After a long wait we discovered that we had qualified for the semi-final and fifteen other crews were knocked out. The semi-finals commenced and we were placed with crews with a range of ability and talent, racing side by side. We finished with a time of 3:58, breaking the four minute mark. This was the best time out of all the semis, this allowed us to easily qualify for the final. We had a period of rest before our last most challenging race of the day, the final of the WJ14+1 coxed quads. Before we knew /Contâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d...
Sports it, it was time to boat and get ready for our final. Our coach gave us a short sharp inspiring talk then we boated and finally our coach told us how we did in the time trial. The results showed we came 1st with a time of 4:06, 4 seconds faster than second place. This put a smile on all of our faces and gave us that last extra push to go for gold. We got off to an amazing start and were level at the 250m mark. We progressed to the 500m mark where we took the lead with Maidenhead and City of Bristol closely following behind. We managed to push in front and with about ten strokes left we knew we were to be National Champions, with a lead of two lengths. We paddled to the pontoon to claim our gold medals and Hunters cup and were officially announced as National Champions. That day was the most unforgettable experience of my life so far. Cleo Pryor Year 9, Curie 3
Sports WHS Sports Presentation Evening 2015 On the evening of Monday 29 June we hosted our Sports Presentation Evening. This was a great event where we celebrated the successes of a selection of our school teams and dance clubs. We were very fortunate to have Hannah Macleod GB Bronze medallist in hockey from the London 2012 Olympics as our guest speaker. She gave a truly inspirational speech and presented the trophies to the winners. We had over 300 people at the event and it was thoroughly enjoyed. Well done to all of the senior captains who delivered a speech on behalf of all the teams in their sports. We look forward to the event next year on Wednesday 29 June 7-9.00pm, so please put the date in your diary. Below are the winners of all of the prizes and huge congratulations to them:
Netball U19 U16 U15 U14 U13 U12 Hockey U18 U14 U13 U12 Cross Country Senior 11+ Inter 9 & 10 Junior 7 & 8 Badminton KS4 KS3 Squash U19 U15
Player of the Season (POS) Bex Herritty Ella Calder Chloe Aitkin Izzie Keeley Jayden Thelwell Sophia Robinson POS Beth Wagge Lucy Young Jemima Copeman Sophia Robinson Runner of the Year Amy Gant Ana Montgomery Jemima Copeman POS Vatsala Mittal Hannah Krasner POS Emily Morgan Gina Mullis
Most Improved Player Portia Walters Jessica Ayres Joanna Averill Frankie Perry Emily Grossi Isabelle Merrick Most Improved Player Cleo Pryor Josline Freed Rosie Coward Most Improved Runner Katherine Skipper Lucy Wheeler Emily Sanderson Most Improved Player Pragya Garg Emily Lloyd Most Improved Player Lauren Allington Hannah Krasner /Contâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d...
Frisbee
POS
Most Improved Player
U20
Tabi Caroe
Emilia Gaca
U17
Freya Elliot
Katie Parry
Lower School
Dana Issa
Emily Lloyd
Football
POS
Most Improved Player
U15
Becki Carter
Shirin Ghadiali
U13
Rachel Herbert
Bethan Metcalfe
Gymnastics
Gymnast of the year
Most Improved Gymnast
U19
Abbi Pinner
Lauren Byrne
U16
Anna Hunter
Ellie King
U14
Charlie Aze
Ciara Higley
Dance
Dancer of the year
Most Improved Dancer
DPG
Emma Smith
Frankie Low
Senior
Celine Callow
Ella Goodall
Junior
Eve Maidwell
Emily Akehurst
Swimming
Swimmer of the Year
Most Improved Swimmer
Senior
Sophie Millen
Lara Reed
Inter
Millie Sansome
Rachel Cox
Junior
Naveesha Karunanayaka
Phebe Haynes Shariff
Cricket
POS
Most Improved Player
U15
Shirin Ghadiali
Aisha Mehmood
U13
Hannah Dawbarn
Rebecca Manktelow
Athletics
Athlete of the Year
Most Improved Athlete
Y11
Hannah Thear
Y9&10
Ellie Baxter
Maisie Woodisse
Y8
Jemima Copeman
Amelia Jarvis
Y7
Emily Sanderson
Stephanie Williams
Team of the Year
Inter Swimming Team
Kate Lees Rachel Cox Millie Sansome Harriet Pugh Lucy Wheeler
Sportswoman of the Year
Katie Parry
If you did not win this year then please keep trying as next year could be your lucky year! Remember most of the sports we participate in are team events and everybody plays a vital role. It would be great to see all of our squad members at the event to support their team next year. Thank you to PAFA and the students who helped out with front of house. Mrs Butterfield, PE Teacher and Sports Award Evening Coordinator
Save the date! The 2016 Sports Award Evening will take place on Wednesday 29 June at 7.00 pm in the Hall.
Team of the Year — Intermediate Swimming Team
Sportswoman of the Year — Katie Parry
Our Year in Badminton: Sports Award Evening Speech
Good evening ladies and gentlemen! My name is Vatsala Mittal and I am the captain of the KS4 Badminton team, a dream come true; which seemed like a world away three years ago when I came to this school at the end of Year 8 from Nottingham. Well, new school, end of Year 8 and a new town meant that I had to break into already established friendship groups. The first few weeks made me realise sports was a way of life at Wycombe High and new friends are made there; I found mine on the badminton court. The last three years have been tremendously exciting for our school badminton. However, every year we saw our other teams, hockey, netball, swimming do so well in various competitions and we in the badminton team were determined to foster for badminton the same kind of prestige. It is with this ambition of establishing Wycombe High as a badminton superpower that our team, comprising Pragya, Imogen, Katherine, and me, embarked on a mission ‘National Schools Championships’. We won all our regional matches which was a great achievement meaning that we were the best badminton team in our part of the woods. The next stage was the Level 3 County Round of CP National Schools Champs where other schools from Bucks County would be fighting to qualify to be a part of the National Championships. The big day was 24th Feb. The day started well. The weather was sunny and despite the pre-tournament butterflies, we were really excited. There was some nervousness in the bus when we reached the venue. The John Hampden bus was parked next to us and some of us wondered whether we would get a chance to settle some differences on court. However, the adrenalin rush was short-lived because we were told that we could only spar against all girls teams! John Hampden could breathe easy! Stoke Mandeville stadium was amazing. There were rows of courts and I had lost count by the time I reached the last court. We parked ourselves on the last court to practice but were soon piled on by Becky High who thought that they ruled the courts; an enmity was born and we were determined to leave our mark. Our first match was against Aylesbury. We lost the first two matches, a singles and a doubles but a win in a third singles match gave us some hope. However, we could not keep up the momentum and lost the next doubles in a very close encounter. The win in the final doubles match could not prevent defeat by 2 games to 3. Our pride was dented but the spirits were high. Next in line were the Royal Latin School. But the story was the same as previous games. Our matches were closer than Aylesbury but we lost one game to four. The dream was beginning to die… BUT we were not giving up and it worked against the Denbigh School! We beat them quite easily winning all our matches. However, this proved to be a dead rubber as we were out of the race for the semi-finals. We were only playing for pride now. The match for 5th and 6th place was against Becky High; the team who had invaded our pitch. We were determined to set the score right! And set the score right we did; in style. We beat them roundly 4-1. Our smiles were back in vogue but the pain was too much to overcome. Overall there were quite a few positives. It was a great exposure for all of us, playing against the best players in the county. We could also justifiably feel proud that we were fifth best girls’ team in the county. We could have done better had we won some of the closely fought matches but there is always that ‘if only’. However, I celebrate the opportunity I have been afforded and it would not have been possible without the strong support of our PE department towards the badminton team and other sports. So I request you to put your hands together for our amazing PE department who organize these events to not only increase the opportunities at this school but also to allow the students to discover their talent as I have mine. Thank you! Vatsala Mittal, Year 11 Austen 9
Sports
A Summary of Athletics and Cross Country success 2014 – 15 It is with great pleasure that we report the enormous success of Wycombe High School athletes both in cross country and athletics this year. We are immensely proud of the five athletes selected to represent Buckinghamshire in the ESAA cross country team and a further two in the ESAA athletics team, including Hannah Thear and Jemima Copeman for both! More below… Here’s a summary of our results… Athletics Year 8 and 9 Junior Team County Champions Year 7 and 8 Junior Team – regional finalists, achieving 3rd place in the South of England Year 9 and 10 Inter Team – regional finalists Year 7 District Champions in 1st place, Year 8 2nd in the Wycombe District, Year 9 District Champions, Year 10 2nd in the District League winners in both Year 8 and Year 9/10, Year 7 TBC Year 7 and Year 8 teams win by significant margin in the indoor athletics competitions Cross Country Junior English Schools’ Cup Team – regional finalists WPH races U13 Team – WHS came 1st and the U15’s came 3rd. In the U17 race, medals were secured by Hannah Thear (Silver) and Amy Gant (Gold). In the U18 race, Katherine Skipper achieved Silver. Five athletes made the English Schools Cross Country Team in February’s Bucks Schools’ Championships! Katherine Skipper (Y13 N8), Amy Gant (Y12 A7), Hannah Thear (Y11 P10), Ana Montgomery (Y9 T9) and Jemima Copeman (Y8 T1). The Year 7 team came 3rd, Junior Girls 2nd, Hannah Thear won the Inter Girls’ race and Amy Gant and Katherine Skipper finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the Senior Girls’ race. NEWSFLASH! In addition to the five athletes being selected for the Bucks Cross Country Team, two have been selected to represent Buckinghamshire in the ESAA Athletics Team: Hannah Thear (Y11, P10) for 800 m and Jemima Copeman (Y8, T1) for Javelin. These girls have to meet extremely high standards to be selected for the team, competing in the County Championships on Saturday 13 June and in school competitions. This level of commitment to athletics in and out of school is an example of what it takes to be a very elite athlete; well done. Miss Anna Snook and Mrs Lyn Butterfield
Year 7 District Champions
Year 8 District Team (2nd Place)
Junior ESAA Cup Teamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;3rd in South East of England
Year 7 A Indoor Athletics Champions
Year 7 Winning Relay Team
Year 7 B Indoor Athletics Team
Technology Teen Tech National Finals On Monday 22 June, I, Amelia Lowry (Year 11 Parks 3), attended the Teen Tech National Finals in London at the Royal Society with my entry, Securus, a security bracelet. Its purpose is to keep the user as safe as possible from hazards, such as smoke, carbon monoxide, panicked situations and not knowing your whereabouts. The product also has a unique ‘panic button’ which allows a direct connection to be made with the emergency services. The bracelet can also measure the user’s pulse, so if it rises too much, showing the signs of panicked behaviour, the bracelet can automatically send the user’s position to the police. Furthermore, the bracelet can be linked to the user’s mobile phone to connect to home security systems to allow the user to feel and be safe whether they are at home or not. This is ideal for parents and also for elderly people, especially those with Alzheimer's. Hannah Ashmore (Year 11 Austen 3) and Mrs Hill also came to the event to offer their support. The purpose of the day was to choose the overall winning product in each category of the competition, but also to meet fellow aspiring designers and create contacts for the future and possible projects for future careers. I entered the ‘Wearing Technology’ category which was judged by Jon Culshaw and sponsored by Maplin. The competition was tough and although I did not win, I did thoroughly enjoy the day and Maplin offered to help me to develop my bracelet further and they want to keep in contact with me for the future, which I am very excited about. Prince Andrew attended the event and gave feedback on my product as well as several other ‘celebrities’ attending the event such as Dallas Campbell, Dr Christian Jessen and James May. The day was truly an inspiration and I cannot wait to develop my product further, and one day, it might even be a product that you can buy. Amelia Lowry Year 11, Parks 3
Technology Technology Exhibition The Technology Exhibition was held on the 24 June and was an opportunity for all Key Stages of Design and Technology to showcase their work. The evening was a fun filled event where everyone who wanted, could come and view all the work of the students. There was a real mixture of presentations, with Year 7’s amongst 13’s and Textiles combined with Food. The night was exciting for everyone who participated as they could all show off their work and view everyone else's. Becky Skipper (Y10 N10) and I (Lizzie Keenan Y10 B1), in particular enjoyed watching the cat walk as we thought it was a really good way to show off the outstanding designs of the GCSE and ALevel Textiles students. It also meant that the designers could present their work in a way which looked professional and gave them an insight in to what a career in fashion could hold for them. Mrs Ward presented the catwalk show, introducing each designer’s clothing and spoke about how each item was made and it is safe to say that everyone whose work was on show was very proud. Additionally it gave parents the opportunity to see what their daughters had been doing in class, as we know from personal experience, our parents did not get much other opportunity to see our work, and so they took this evening as a chance to see what we had been doing. As Graphics students we felt very proud to be able to show off work from our Controlled Assessment projects and display this to our friends and families, as you can see from the picture on the left. To ensure all guests had a fantastic experience the Food Technologists provided Canapés and Pimms throughout the event. These were extremely well received and very tasty. They also provided a talk about their experiences doing Food Technology. My friends and I were in charge of encouraging visitors to sign the ‘guest book’ and leave a comment on how they found the evening. The parents, staff and students signed the book offering many positive comments, including things like, “we would love to come again next year”. The combination of all the different years of students’ work was inspiring for Key Stage 3 students who are thinking about taking the course in the coming years; it was a good chance to see what would be involved and it let them get some ideas.
Technology The technology evening really was an amazing event, the atmosphere was buzzing with a mixture of pride and awe. As Technology students we can personally say that everyone had put in a hundred percent effort into their coursework, whether it be a dress, board game, food competitions or design booklets. We would also like to thank the staff for setting up the evening; we know that everyone who attended it appreciated the night and enjoyed themselves. The evening was very well set up and well prepared, the layout was very professional and there was always something to do. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our work. Lizzi Keenan Bronte 1 and Becky Skipper Nithingale 10 Year 10 GCSE
Technology Year 8 Sustainable Millenary On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June, as well as going to Longridge, the Year 8’s had a Sustainable Millenary day as part of their activity day sessions. The Technology team, organised and ran an opportunity for the year 8’s to create a sustainable set of hats made from recycled materials. We had to create two full hats and one fascinator that were to be displayed on a catwalk in front of the rest of the year. All the students were separated into small groups to encourage us to work with new peers and create new friendships whilst developing our organisational techniques. Additionally, our task was to compose a speech to accompany the fashion show, with a designated compere to present this. As said, we made hats out of old recycled materials: fabric, plastic, card, paper, buttons, pipe cleaners and even old tape records. There was a huge range of hats with many different themes consisting of; Alice in Wonderland, Animals, Food and Wimbledon, as you can see in the image below. To ensure we worked like a professional business, we also had three tokens per team to use as bartering tools with Dr Broscatan, the ‘Shop Keeper’, who had additional recycled materials that we could try to use to create our designs. It was a very enjoyable two days for everyone as we learnt lots of new things ranging from teamwork, creativity, haggling and millinery skills. Overall we had a brilliant day, the catwalk was fantastic and slideshow very funny. It was nice to make new friends, work with old friends and to try something new. Phoebe Grey, Year 8 Austen 8
Technology Schools Micromouse Competition Report 2015 The 2015 National Schools and Colleges Micromouse competition took place on Saturday 27 June as part of the TechFest event at the Technology Innovation Centre in Birmingham. Wycombe High was represented by students who had been manufacturing their robots in the Micromouse club which runs after school on Wednesdays. The competition started as usual with the Line Follower event. The thirteen competing mice had to follow a 19 mm wide white line on a black background for one lap employing optical sensors. A long challenging track had been set by the organisers with a tight turn leading to a crossover and a tricky ‘S’ bend. Wycombe High showed great consistency but were just outside the top three taking 4th, 5th and 6th places. The next event was the ever popular drag race. In this event the competitors have to race against each other in twin lanes of a 7 metre long track tightly following a central 19 mm white line then stop avoiding the end buffers 1.5 metres beyond the finish line. Twelve mice took to the start line for qualifying with Tendring’s “Dohn” and “Dolly” then Wycombe High’s “Mao” registering the fastest times. As the knock-out part of the contest unfolded, some of the contestants felt the pressure of avoiding false starts, typically caused by anticipating the “Traffic light” start system. In the end Wycombe High’s Katherine Smith came 2nd with her mouse “Mao”.
The wall-follower event requires the most complex and specialised mouse and nine mice contested this year. Qualifying times were obtained in the half-size practice maze with the fastest five mice competing for the final place in the full-size senior maze in front of an appreciative audience. The path to the centre of a maze is negotiated by getting the mouse to sense and follow the left-hand wall and turn away from any walls immediately in front of the mouse as it negotiates the obstacles. The qualifiers all reached the centre and the top three mice all finished with no touch penalties. Claire’s Court pupil James Hope won the event with his mouse “Legoloverz” his colleague Lewis Andrews came /Cont’d...
Technology second with “Robotcop3” and third was Wycombe High pupil Georgia Ayew with “Mackintosh”. Only three seconds separated the first to third placed mice but all three would have comfortably beaten the winner of the adult class of this event which was held later in the day. Rosie Coward also won the Best Described Mouse. The Judges were delighted with her report on the construction of her entry “E-nor-mouse” which contained a good balance of graphics and text. The report contained sufficient detail yet was presented in a concise and well-ordered manner. To complete a very successful day for Wycombe High School Hattie Trobridge also took the Judges’ Award. Hattie had a competitive mouse which was well placed for a top three finish in the wall follower event until a tyre problem dashed her chances. The Judges felt that her perseverance in the face of this setback was highly commendable. Well done Micromousers! Mrs Tina Hill Director of Learning and Teaching
Development Office Update Another academic year has flown by and it is time once again to report on the financial goals and objectives for the Development Office. This year our goal was to raise remaining £123k of funds to equip the new Music Centre, Dance and Drama Studio and landscape the New Music Centre (NMC). At the time of writing this article we have raised over £106K or 86% of the target. Help bring the Recording Studio, Music Practice Rooms, Drama and Dance Studios to Life! The recording studio is wired to each of the nine practice rooms and the two large classrooms, but there is no equipment on which to record. This resource will be an exciting first for Wycombe High School. In addition to recording GCSE and A level performance work, future recitals and productions can now be captured for posterity. Please help us raise the £10,970 required to complete and equip the recording studio. Over 250 students take lessons with specialist peripatetic teachers. The new purpose-built sound-proofed practice rooms need an additional £13,664 to complete and equip. Our two new Dance and Drama Studios now have sprung flooring and energy efficient windows and doors. However, to complete their transformation and to purchase desperately needed microphones for performances, we are looking for an additional £23,800 in funding and sponsorship for curtains, bars, mirrors and a professional quality sound system. Regular Giving Our largest source of income comes from regular monthly donations using the Gift Aid scheme. If you are not already a regular donor we hope you will now consider making a regular contribution to the school’s Future Fund which plays a vital role in enhancing the education of every one of our students. We know committing to a regular monthly contribution is a big ask, but we simply cannot continue to develop our school without this type of funding. We passionately believe that all our students deserve access to the best possible facilities and experiences. We have ambitious plans for the future including: Floodlit all-weather pitch Year round facilities will support student participation, progress and performance Venue will be available to encourage wider community sports participation New link teaching block and reception Demolition of the deteriorating entrance bridge and staircase Creation of a new secure reception with improved access for mobility-impaired visitors Five additional large classrooms for teaching English, Maths, and Humanities Relocation and improved accessibility of medical room and Student Support facilities Sixth Form Centre extension and improvements A new Sixth Form Café Further upgrades to support independent student research and study /Cont’d...
Ongoing refurbishment of the Science facilities This forms part of a seven year rolling programme to modernise and update all laboratories State of the art recording studio in the new Music Centre Enhanced outside seating areas for students use at break and lunchtime Replacement and refurbishment of aging flat roofs
All students will benefit from these initiatives during their time at Wycombe High School. We urge you to give serious consideration and support us to further achieve our development plans. To make a regular donation of any amount, please complete the Future Fund Gift Form founds in this edition of High Flyer. Thank you for your anticipated support and for those donors who are already contributing generously. Grants, Trusts and Funds With the help of Development Office Volunteer, Mrs Jo Warnock-Horn we were awarded a £3,000 grant from the Ernest Cook Trust for keyboards, headphones, splitters and power supply packs - essential equipment for the new Music Technology Suite. Just this week we received £524.00 from The Tree Council which helped us purchase nine trees providing an aesthetic landscaping feature benefiting current and future students and the wider community. The successful Tree Council grant was also written by Mrs Warnock-Horn. Staff and Student Fundraising Current and former students and members of staff continue to support the school. As you’ve already read, the Development Ambassadors smashed their target of £3,000 by raising £3,936. Each Development Ambassador raised, on average, £328 to achieve this goal. Since the inception of the Development Ambassador Programme in 2009 they have managed to raise £18,741K for the school making them one of the largest donors to the ‘Play Your Part’ campaign. An impressive feat. Former student Traute Morgenstern (aka Truda Morgan Class of 1947) contributed a legacy to thank the school for the ‘great privilige’ of being able to attend after she fled from Vienna to England in 1938 on the first KinderTransort transport train. And more recently, two former members of staff Miss Esmé Harrison and Miss Carole Merrett recently donated at the Annual Guild Meeting in June. The Guild have sponsored every significant event at school including advertising, prizes and printing programmes - over £1,600 helping us to raise over £6,000 for the school. Corporate Sponsorship We continue to search for corporate sponsors and are very grateful to Zenopa for their on-going support of the school both financially and through their contributions to Careers and Pathways office and events. We are thankful to 4C Bucks and Wycombe Business Expo Limited for their generous donations and to Thames Graphics and Perton Signs for their gifts in kind of banners to help promote school events and productions. Cineworld High Wycombe have sponsored the Development Ambassador Movie Nights since their inception in 2010 helping to raise nearly £4,000. We appreciate all of our corporate sponsors and encourage you to support them in any way you can.
We welcome any recommendations for companies or individuals who would like to contribute as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme and encourage you, your family, friends, colleagues and employers to consider sponsoring Wycombe High School. If your company would like to sponsor a project, performing arts event, or you would like to recommend a company, please contact Mrs Morgan at dmorgan@whs.bucks.sch.uk or 01494 523961. Matched Giving Many companies will help charities such as WHS (registered charity number 1068409) through a matched giving scheme. Some will match pound for pound, and others will even double match donations made to registered charities by its employees. If you are making a gift to WHS, please check with your Payroll or HR department whether your company operates a scheme like this as it could make your donation worth even more to us. Please visit our website to view a list of companies that we know match gifts, or have done so in the past. If your company does not appear on the list, but does match gifts made by employees, please contact Mrs Dana Morgan. Please also let us know if your company is detailed incorrectly on this list which can be found here: http://wycombehighschool.vancolsonline.co.uk/ fundraising
ANNOUNCING THE NEW ALL-WEATHER PITCH CAMPAIGN Building on its current sporting success, Wycombe High School’s ambition is that every student enjoys a healthy and active lifestyle. Our goal is to construct a new all-weather Astroturf pitch for the start of September 2016. Any great school ensures that its students are supported to develop as well-rounded individuals. At Wycombe High School we believe this is the true measure of success. A new all-weather pitch will help us achieve this. This modern versatile surface, complete with floodlights, will extend sporting participation and success throughout the year. It will support both school students as well as attracting lettings and income from the feepaying public. Provisional plans have costed the project at around £600,000. The good news is we have already raised £220,000. We do hope that many more families will be inspired to support this ambitious new project through both our programme of fund raising activities and / or regular giving to Wycombe High School’s Future Fund. Additional money will be sought from sports focussed trusts and funds and sponsorship opportunities will be available for local businesses. OUR OBJECTIVES Further develop our facilities for sport. Expand opportunities for students to play in a range of sports. Increase our success in athletics, hockey, rugby, football, etc. Building school club links with local sports clubs. Development of life-long participants in sport. Community outreach. Revenue generation from hiring out facilities. Further development will enable access to quality facilities for local primary and secondary schools and hockey clubs. Ensure every student enjoys a healthy and active lifestyle. More students will be able to participate in sport all year round.
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HOW CAN YOU HELP? Regular donations to the Future Fund. One-off donation to the Future Fund. Identify potential business sponsors. Provide expertise / experience to apply for and obtain grants. Participate in fundraising events (details to follow). Host an event. Obtain sponsorship for a sporting event. Provide contacts of sporting celebrities to open events. Source signed memorabilia for future auctions. WHS SPORT-A-THON! Run, row, cycle, swim, walk, hike…the equivalent of a marathon 26.2 miles over three months securing sponsorship to go towards the All-Weather- Pitch Campaign.
SPONSORSHIP In return for sponsorship, Wycombe High School’s benefactors would benefit in some of the following ways, depending on the amount contributed: Promotion of your company within the Wycombe High School ‘High Flyer’ Opportunity to promote a company to all visitors, families and businesses hiring the new AstroTurf. Acknowledgement on a benefactor’s board inside the new AstroTurf. Discounts on school lettings. Access to the school’s facilities to host company training courses, product launches, client receptions or family celebrations. Invitations and tickets to school events - Concerts / Plays. A lot of the benefits which are a result of sponsorship are obviously less tangible, but are equally valuable. Partnership with an ‘outstanding’ school which has been voted in the top 30 state schools for sport for the second consecutive year. Being able to enrich the lives of many students by providing them with the opportunities that they deserve and that can really make a difference to them. Public face as a caring individual / family / company. Public face as an involved individual / family / company, in touch with its community. In return for sponsorship, benefactors would be granted the right to post banners on items sponsored. Perimeter Fencing £35,000 Team Dugouts £3,000 Gates £2,000 Pitch Divider £1,200 Spectator Fencing £1,000 Goals £500 In return for sponsorship, benefactors would be acknowledged on a donor recognition board. Sponsor a square of turf £50 - £750 If you are interested in sponsorship, or you would like to recommend a company, please contact Mrs Morgan in the Development Office at dmorgan@whs.bucks.sch.uk or 01494 897309.
Wycombe High School Events 2015 - 2016 Everyone needs to play their part to achieve our fundraising goals to raise £380,000 for an AllWeather Pitch. We have a series of events, musicals, concerts, dance performances and exhibitions this year. We should greatly appreciate it if you would attend and promote them to family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. This year we have raised over £3,000 averaging nearly £300 per event in one-off donations.
Donor Thank You Evening Thursday 17 September 6.30 pm New Music Centre
G&T Drama Production ‘Trojan Women’ Friday 18 September 7.00 pm Drama Studio
Year 7 Family Quiz Night Friday 25 September 6.00 pm The Forum
‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk Speaker TBD Wednesday 8 October 1.45 pm Learning Centre
Open Mic Night Friday 16 October 7.00 pm The Hall
Autumn Concert Wednesday 4 November 7.00 pmThe Hall
Senior School Play Wednesday 25 November 7.00 pm The Hall
Senior School Play Thursday 26 November 7.00 pm The Hall
Senior School Play Friday 27 November 7.00 pm The Hall
PAFA Frost Fayre Friday 4 December 6.30 pm The Hall
‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk Speaker TBD Wednesday 3 December 1.45 pm Learning Centre
Development Ambassador Movie Night Friday 11 December 6.00 pm The Hall
Development Ambassador Movie Night Friday 28 January 6.00 pm The Hall
Inspiration Women Thursday 4 February 7.00 pm The Hall and The Forum
‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk Speaker TBD Wednesday 11 February 1.45 pm Learning Centre
Development Ambassador Movie Night Friday 4 March 6.00 pm The Hall
Development Ambassador Zumba Night Thursday 10 March 7.00 pm Dance and Drama Studio
Energize! 2016 Thursday 17 March 5.30 pm Wycombe Swan
Senior Concert Tuesday 22 March 7.00 pm The Hall
‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk Speaker TBD Wednesday 21 April 1.45 pm Learning Centre
‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk Speaker TBD Wednesday 16 June 1.45 pm Learning Centre
1974 5S Reunion Saturday 18 April "40 years on when afar and asunder........ And that's what it was. 40 years on-though not one of us could believe it! We were Form 1F in 1969-in the terrapins! Long gone now. Some of us left in 1974 to go to work or further education. Some of us stayed for A levels.......and gave up after the first year. Some of us went on to University and beyond. But we still have that tie-WHS. Many of us kept in touch with one or more from the form. So, with the help of friends reunited, in 1996 we managed a get together in Bristol-getting 20 of us together! That was 20 years on. Then again in 1998 And another in 2003. But our lives took over for a while.....until 18 April 2015. As many as possible came for another get together at the Holiday Inn, Handy Cross.......... And it might just as well have been a week or so since we last got together.....such is the bond firmly formed all those years ago. Sadly one form member, Claire Boothroyd, had died during the break. She had been the school Games Captain and later became a GP, but cancer knows no boundaries. Some others couldn't make it for a myriad of reasons-but we've all agreed to reunite in 2018.......when we will all be 60! We never thought we'd get there! We never knew how poignant the school song really was. But....we all sang it in the Holiday Inn foyer!!!!! What a scream!!!!! (And we all knew the words!!!!!!) Roll on 2018" Mrs Lorna Haywood, Class of 1974
Form 1F 1974 We tried to replicate the school photo from 1974. The bottom row is exact!! All 6 of us!!
Top Row - Linda Matthews, Anabel Haries, Jacqui Keating, Roberta Huhn Middle Row - Julie Molesworth, Kathrine Lee Bottom Row - Sally Scott, Sarah Tedham, Beverly Howard , Mary Morris, Lorna Rose and Heather Bramley That's all our maiden names...... we have a couple of professors, a Judge (Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Councillor) and a GP among the tribe!
Wycombe High School Guild Former Pupil Profile HIH Princess Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu What years did you attend WHS? I started in form 3C in September 1984 and I left in the summer of 1989. What did you get up to at WHS in terms of study and extracurricular activities? I studied History, Politics and French for A level. My favourite subject was History and I was very lucky to have two such lovely History teachers, Mrs Evans and Mr Rouse. I played a lot of sport at WHS, and was in the hockey, netball and tennis teams. I particularly loved playing tennis and was selected for the Bucks County Tennis Squad.
5C’s Form Room with Sharon Hooker
I also organized a couple of balls in the Sixth Form with my gorgeous friend Emma Bowman – The Hedonists Ball & The Hedonists II Ball! We got the cute boys from RGS and Borlase to come so they were great fun! Do you have any fond memories you’d like to share? I made some very special friends at WHS – Emma Bowman, Sharon Hooker and Alex Watson in particular. We were not conventionally well-behaved girls and we definitely all had a sense of mischief about us that led us to be a little naughty! Although I should probably not admit to it, we did carry out a number of pranks which still make me smile to myself! Mr Dye, our Geography Master and Miss Dawtrey, our Games Mistress, were often our targets! What did you do after school? Gap year, straight into business or Uni? After school, I went straight to University. I had wanted to take a year off to travel, but my parents persuaded me to go straight to University and then have a Gap Year after my degree. However, this never happened as once I finished University I felt I was already caught up in life – starting a career, trying to buy a house, getting married and having children. With hindsight I should have taken a Gap Year after school – if you can, I believe it is the perfect time in life to have a real break from your studies and work, to travel and see the world. If you went to Uni where did you go and why did you choose it? I went to Exeter University where I studied History and Politics, and focused my studies on Eastern Mediterranean History. I chose Exeter for a number of reasons. Firstly, it had a very good History department and offered courses in the topics I was most interested in, and its Politics department was excellent and much renowned. Secondly, Exeter is a really nice Campus University with a friendly and fun atmosphere.
Also, Exeter as a city is lovely and the surrounding countryside is absolutely beautiful. I was able to go onto the moors and down to the beach within minutes from campus which was very special. It is also relatively easy to get to from Buckinghamshire and also to get up to London from! Once I graduated from Exeter, I went to SOAS in London and read a Masters Degree in Turkish and Ottoman Studies. What are you up to now? After completing my Masters Degree, I married a man I had met while at Exeter University. Together we have built up a property business that we started while we were both still students at Exeter. Our first projects involved developing houses to rent out to students. We developed accommodation for 150 students in three different University cities and then sold it to concentrate on other projects. We have since undertaken many further property projects such as developing, owning and operating hotels, restoring and renovating historic listed buildings and converting them into apartments and creating a serviced apartment business with 700 apartments currently under management. I generally work on the interior design of our projects, but am involved in other areas of the business too such as marketing, PR and strategic planning. Family Photo
I am also involved in supporting a number of Turkish charities, and recently gave a speech at the Turkish Consulate on the important issue of Women’s Rights in
Turkey. My real passion though is history. I am currently researching the Gallipoli Campaign, as it is the centenary this year. I have written a number of articles on this topic for Turkish newspapers and hope to one day write a historical novel set during this period. However, my greatest achievement and pride are my five children. I have been blessed with four sons and a daughter, Maximilian Ali 15, Cosmo Tarik 13, Lysander Gengiz 12, Tatyana Aliye 10 and Ferdinand Ziya eight. I have to admit that I am no longer as driven by my career and feel a little resentful of the time I have to spend working in our company. I therefore recently decided to take a step back from the business to spend more time with my children. I know that I am very lucky to be able to do this, as for me, being a mother is simply the most important thing of all… What do you know now that you didn’t in Year 13 that you’d like to share with current students?
Last politics lesson before A Levels. Ayse on the far left next to Sharon Hooker. The teacher is Miss Wood.
I have already touched on this earlier, but I feel that I should have gone on my Gap Year after finishing my A-levels. I think that I missed out on having a truly amazing experience. There is absolutely no rush to move onto the next thing straight away – University and careers can wait. Take some time out for yourself - to learn about yourself, to see the world and to grow up a little before starting University. I also did not appreciate in Year 13 how carefree life was at school – enjoy it, savour it and soak up all it has to offer…. /Cont’d...
What is your family history and why did you use a surname at school that was not your family name? I am directly descended from the Ottoman Sultans who once ruled the Ottoman Empire. My grandparents were sent into exile in 1924, after a military coup abolished the Imperial Sultanate and the Caliphate, and established the Turkish Republic. My father was born in exile in Egypt and then came to England to study. When he came to Europe, he adopted his father’s middle name of Vassib as his surname, and this became the name I was known by at school. This was done to ensure anonymity and to avoid being traced by the Turkish Secret Service, who liked to monitor the activities of members of my family. My father met my mother, got married and decided to settle in England. When I was born in 1971, my family were still living in exile. We were not allowed to return to Turkey until 1974, however it was not until the 1990s that the political situation was stable enough that members of my family began to return to Turkey to live. Since then, the relationship between my family and the Turkish Government has become stronger, and recently we have even been granted Turkish nationality after being denied it for so long. As a result, members of my family have since reverted to using our surname of Osmanoğlu. This is my real maiden name. I can not begin to explain how it felt to live in exile, how it felt to be denied citizenship of my country and how it feels now to be able to use my family name and return to my homeland as I please… The Guild Needs More Volunteers! We continue to receive records for the Archive, and these need to be sorted, catalogued and safely housed. The process would be much quicker and easier if all records included the fullest possible details, including dates and names – particularly important for photographs. Also we should very much welcome more help with:
sorting, cataloguing & housing records answering enquiries digitisation of records dealing with enquiries
If you would like to know more about the Archive, just to visit it or to help, do contact Reception 01494 523961.
‘Beyond the Mic’: ‘Inspire’ Series Lunchtime Talk by Rachel Burden Rachel Burden visited Wycombe High School, as part of the ‘Inspire’ Lunchtime Talk series, to discuss her previous school experiences, and her journey to achieving her aspiration - achieving a career in media. Rachel mentioned that ‘she had loved radio since she was a child’, habitually listening to BBC Radio 4 Today in the mornings, and ‘Book at Bedtime’. Her father, Paul Burden (a BBC journalist) was her ‘biggest critic’, the results of which were evident in her work. The discipline of her father’s criticism meant that Rachel’s work was refined, fluent, and to a high standard. She spoke of her academia being heavily influenced by a distinctly strong aspiration; Rachel was passionate about English, alongside History and Politics 4th Year and she did a lot of music as well. When the radio station began, Rachel was studying at a university in Dublin, before studying broadcast journalism post graduate at Cardiff Journalism School, with a plan to join local radio. Rachel joined Radio 5 in 2003 where she is now co-presenting with Nicky Campbell, whom she now highly regards. She was mostly influenced by Jane Garvey and Shelagh Fogarty who worked on 5live before her. When she was listening to them whilst she was at university, Rachel regarded them as 'idols' but by the time she was working at 5live a few years later, they had become friends and colleagues. Rachel never believed that her career would take such a path, despite her confidence in her ability. She had never outlined a plan to secure a position as a Radio 5 Live presenter, although she was planning to approach the producers when she felt experienced enough. It was when her regional manager recommended Rachel to Bob Shennan, the owner at the time that she got her ‘big break’. In those days before digital radio, he had to drive down the M4 until he picked up the signal for Radio Bristol so he could listen to her! Shortly afterwards he invited Rachel to join their weekend presenting team. Although she had previously sent them a demo tape, she received a standard letter of rejection. So it came as a surprise, but a very nice one.
4th Year 2A
Class 2A Reunited
Rachel has travelled widely for Radio 5 Live, broadcasting from Rome, Dublin, Kenya, New Zealand and South Africa. Although she is extremely passionate about her career, there are challenges she faces, which she had described as ‘nerve-wracking’. For example, there are times when topics can be /Cont’d...
sensitive, so it is imperative for the presenter be sensitive to this taking into consideration the underlying meaning, language and tone of the question. In addition, her presenting is not scripted therefore it is a challenge to keep her fluency and pace on air especially when receiving up to the minute news from her producer. Along with the challenging aspects of being a broadcaster, Rachel mentioned â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a lot of laughter happens off airâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Rachelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advice to students interested in a career in media is to consume as much media content as possible in the field in which you're interested (news/factual/entertainment). Develop a critical appreciation for what you like and why something works well. Develop a specialism if possible and don't be too seduced by 'media' degrees over other subjects which might give you a broader understanding of the world. Try to pick up work experience while at university, either on students papers/ radio or local sources. There are lots of online opportunities these days. Develop technical skills where you can and if you do want to do further media training either as graduate or postgraduate, look for courses with good links to the industry. Be persistent, think creatively and don't be put off by knock-backs.
We are extremely grateful to Rachel for taking time out of her very busy schedule to speak to current and former students, staff and parents and wish her every success in the future. Simran Suri Year 8, Austen 6, News Crew
TutorTime Activity - Which Subject Leader (Language-RS)? In May, the Heads of Guild held the third Tutor Time Activity this year, entitled ‘Which Subject Leader?’. In this Tutor Time Activity, students were given five facts from eight different members of staff for the students to match up correctly. The answers to May’s ‘Which Subject Leader?’ quiz are below:
Mr Mackerras: I rugby tackled the commanding officer of my cadet corps platoon to the ground, because he was being mean to us. I once was underwater for 5 minutes before my mum could find me and pull me out. I came within a mark of failing my arts degree. My uncle has a comet named after him. I am a twin.
Miss Fell: I like making crochet blankets. I caught a shark in a bucket whilst living on a boat in the Mediterranean. I won first prize at a Rowing Regatta last summer. I scraped cars with Orlando Bloom in a narrow country lane. I have never watched Frozen.
Dr Mills: My favourite colour is blue. I have performed in two Shakespeare productions, including at the RSC (Fringe Festival) in Stratford. I played in a band at my own wedding (along with my spouse). My football team play in WHS KS4 uniform colours. I have been to Geneva three times, once with two other WHS teachers.
Mrs Mansir: I have a gorgeous dog called Sasha. As a child I loved to perform and just wanted to be on the stage. My niece played cricket for England. I used to live in Venice. I once ate a puffin and have felt guilty ever since.
Miss Williams: I have two cats called Bob and Dylan. I support Stoke City Football Club. I have never broken a bone in my body. I have been parasailing. I passed my driving test first time.
Mrs Honnor: I love pastry. I have completed the Devizes to Westminster 125 mile Canoe and Kayak Marathon twice. My grandmother was trained as a cordon bleu cook, but worked in a school canteen. At a previous school, I once pulled an all-nighter in my classroom. After being thrown out of ballet class for being too clumsy, I took up Karate, weaponry and Aikido which I continued for around six years.
Thank you to all who took part! Georgia Sanders, Year 13 Austen 7, Former Co-Head of Guild
Letting of School Premises One way in which we can raise funds is to hire out various areas and facilities of Wycombe High School, for example, Sports Hall, Lecture Theatre, Conference Room, The Forum, classrooms etc. For details of availability, charges and a booking form, please contact Reception on 01494 523961 or e-mail Reception@whs.bucks.sch.uk.