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SWPS News 10 March 2017

Head’s News This week the future has very much been on our minds here at SWPS. The Higher

Education Fair and Careers Fair have afforded both parents and students alike the opportunity to consider and reflect what paths are available on leaving school. For many, that moment of transition from school to university is combined with the

departure from home. A literal and metaphorical journey from home to independence. Indeed much of teenage life is a gradual transition from looking to parents for all their needs and wants to embracing independence and autonomy.

It is not an easy path. As we have all experienced, our

teenagers waver from wanting to become their own person to seeking the safe warm embrace of home. Their feelings of autonomy can be secure and impressive at one moment, whilst at another moment they can be overwhelmed by life and so become quiet and timid. In addition, as they develop their individuality as independent people, they can push their parents away and become uncommunicative. It can

often be a testing and trying time for all. The good news is, however, that they do move from being that unpredictable adolescent to become a mature young adult. In doing so, they develop an even stronger bond with their parents. And one of the great joys and privileges of

seeing our Senior Sixth at their Ball is their parents’ pride in

who they have become and what they have achieved. C Muller

Head

Inter-House Tea Competition Many congratulations and thanks to all of the Years 7s and 8s who took part in our

very popular annual Inter House Tea Competition this week. Thirty-six students worked in teams of three to plan, prepare and serve their afternoon teas to the judges,

their House Captains. The teas were of a very high standard with a lot of thought

and effort having gone into the planning

and preparation of the tasty dishes and wonderful displays. House Captains had the very difficult task

of choosing one of their three teams to represent their House in next week’s final. After observing, tasting and much

discussion sixth formers selected the teams who will make their teas for the school chef to judge in next week’s final: Lonsdale – Tilly Cunliffe, Scarlett Khaksar & Eve Pauffley Montague – Georgina Bullen, Emma Currier & Jenny Gray Pankhurst – Annabel Tang, Alma Thomsen & Sierra Warner

Quant – Tiggy Edwards, Olivia Frasik &Honor MacDonald

Special congratulations to these students! Thank you very much also to parents for their support in this

activity! H Eldridge

Mobile Free March! During this Lenten season SWPS Sixth Formers are abstaining from

something other than the usual chocolate and crisps. Mobile Free March has come to the Sixth Form Centre, in particular, the silent study room. At a time when we are always online and where social media is King, it has never been more challenging for young people to disconnect

from the outside world to focus on their studies. With A levels on the horizon and examination rooms where Spotify playlists and Snapchat are forbidden, what better way to prepare than to Turn Off the notifications, Tune Out from the

music, to make sure that they don’t Drop Out. S McCormick

Are You An Active Learner or a Passive Learner? Last week in assembly, I talked to all students about the difference in learning styles between those of us who are

active and those of us who are passive. This has generated quite a lot of interest, with students asking their teachers if they are being active! Here are just some of the qualities that active learners demonstrate and some of the features of passive learners:

This is a topic we will be returning to as we try to encourage all our students to get the most out of their lessons and develop a love of learning.

H O’Connor

Active Learners:

Think and talk about a

topic even outside the

lesson

Act on advice

Stay Organised

Break down big tasks

into small chunks

Enjoy learning

Catch up quickly

Passive Learners:

Lessons are a means to

an end only

Fatalistic — What’s the

point?

Avoid difficult tasks

Take advice as criticism

Ask others for the

answers

Struggle to revise

effectively

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Cyberfirst Girls Competition The Cyberfirst girls competition took place all last week between 27 February and 6 March where 3 teams were

challenged to complete problems from 4 different areas, including Cryptography, Cybersecurity, Logic and Coding and finally Networking, ranging from basic to expert skills. All 3

teams did extremely well with some very difficult and thought provoking challenges! It was impressive to see the level of dedication and determination to solve as many problems as possible in the time frame provided. A massive

well done to Clara McKee, Dani Bae, Rachel Coxon and Sonaldeep Dhillon, Zoe Barber, Isobel Eriksen, Ruth Devapragasam, Sarah Johnson , Liberty Donovan , Sahar Khatib, Hannah Walmsley & Alex Beveridge who will find out next week whether they are through to the finals in London.

L Timpson

‘Step into the NHS’ Careers Competition Congratulations to four students in Year 8 - Ria Konkumalla, Sophie Bishop, Saskia

Frayling and Merle Mowbray, who have won the County award for the ‘Step into the NHS’ Careers competition entered earlier this year. They will now be

entered into the Regional competition. They produced a fantastic advert encouraging people to be an A&E Doctor. They have won £300 worth of Science equipment for the school to aid their learning about careers in the NHS, and a

class trip to Redhill Hospital with a tour and simulation activities to learn more about potential careers in the medical field.

L Haley

Sport News Hockey SWPS Year 8 hockey

p l a y e r s ( M eg a n Postlethwaite, Eve

Thomas, Katie Rogers, Thea

Morton, Mary O’Donnell & Sophie Young), were official ball-girls at last Saturday’s English Premier League Hockey match between Surbiton HC and Slough HC. It was even more of a

SWPS occasion as former pupil Mel Ball (Class of 2005) was representing Slough. Having ensured the game was played at a fast pace by carrying out their duties so well, the girls then met with Great Britain Olympic Gold Medallist Georgie Twigg, getting autographs and having pictures with her. It is hoped that as part of our association with Surbiton HC SWPS

will have the opportunity to provide ball-girls at another game before the end of the season.

R England Badminton

Congratulations to the U16 badminton team who competed at the regional finals. The team played

exceptionally well, beating Sussex, Kent, Berkshire and Guernsey, finishing in a very commendable 4th place.

It was an extremely tough competition and SWPS were successful going through the first round, meeting Westgate

from Hampshire who are the current National Champions. Sadly SWPS were not able to beat Westgate, who went through as winners to represent the region at the National Finals.

Special congratulations to Alex Oprisan who did not lose any

of her single games, and only 2 of her doubles in the whole competition. Well done to the whole team who consisted of: Alex Oprisan, Rebecca Sproston, Ruth Devapragasam, Amy Longster & Roma Longster.

R England & E Searle Sailing

Strong winds provided by storm Doris cancelled one day of sailing on the weekend of 25/26th February. A weather window, which meant an early

start on Sunday morning, saw Maisie Bristow (Y9) in a fleet of over 120 sailors take to the sea in Weymouth

(WPNSA) for the Topper Winter Regatta. After around four hours in strong winds gusting between 18 to 30 miles an hour, 4 races were completed. Maisie finished in 74th place overall, and was the 26th

female sailor. L Timpson

Guildford Classical Association: Latin & Greek Reading SWPS celebrated spectacular success at Charterhouse

yesterday when the Guildford Classical Association held its

annual Reading Competition. Twelve schools competed, with a record number of students entering the various sections. All our students worked hard to perfect their passages and performed accurately and confidently in front of the judges. In the Beginners’ Latin section Jessica Cole and Sierra Warnes (Y7) read superbly and were placed 1st out of fifteen

pairs. In the Intermediate Latin Saskia Swannack (Y11) was placed 3rd and Eileen Zoratti (Y11) repeated her success of last year and came first.

Katherine Furness-Reed (S6), who has represented the

school successfully on a number of occasions, won both the Senior Latin and Greek categories, a tremendous achievement and the first time a pupil from SWPS has been awarded both prizes. Competition was particularly fierce in the Greek section and three students were asked to read again in the final. Katherine performed her passage from

Sophocles Oedipus so expressively that she beat two challengers from Charterhouse to take the prize! Congratulations to all

those who took part. C Hudspith

Artwork of the Month Every month the Art & Design Dept. selects 4 Artworks of the Month. Here’s one of them:

Tabitha Inglis (Y9), chosen by Ian Russell SWPS students and teachers (and parents/carers with a bit of help from a student),

can see the rest on SWPS Firefly.

K Burton

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UKMT Maths Challenge

Clara McKee (Y10) did extremely well in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge, scoring in the top 1.5% in

the country. As a result she is one of around 200 students nationwide invited to attend a week-long UKMT Summer School this year, run by a maths teacher from Eton College. Congratulations, Clara!

C Alexander

DofE News The new parent volunteers ventured out last weekend to experience what it would be like for the

Bronze participants, carrying full packs and navigating their way around the Surrey Hills. They

did, however, enjoy dinner in the pub so were spared the

elements of not having to cook food in the rain. They encountered all four seasons in one weekend from rain and hail to sunshine and

rainbows, so there were some challenging conditions to contend with! The night was spent under canvas at Bentley Copse, an Activity centre near Shere where the current Year 9 Bronze

participants will spend a night in June on their Practice expedition. They were briefed on the role of the DofE Expedition

Supervisor and what to expect on expedition. The feedback was very positive, so overall an enjoyable time was had by all, despite the weather.

An enormous thank you to the new parent volunteers and the experienced Supervisors for giving up your valuable time to support the DofE programme at SWPS. The Supervisors kindly

shared their knowledge and expertise and were extremely

informative on all aspects of campcraft, navigation and expedition antics.

The DofE programme relies entirely on our exceptional

parent volunteers and we are always looking for new parent volunteers! If your child is planning to participate in the Bronze DofE next year, please consider becoming a parent volunteer – you would be most welcome to join our community of SWPS DofE Volunteers.

L Raven

Careers Talk We were delighted to welcome an Old Perkonian, Anna Lundberg, back to SWPS

this week. Working as an independent Careers Coach, She gave an inspirational talk to the 6th Form about being proactive choosing your Careers Path.

L Haley

RS Hindu Family Tree Year 10 have been working together to create a ‘Hindu Deities Family Tree’

display outside the RS classroom. With some Hindu traditions recognising over 300 million gods and goddesses, it can get a bit confusing! For their GCSE they need to know some of the most commonly worshipped, so they produced a fact-file on

these gods, their consorts and many avatars.

C Worman

Classics Dinner 2017 Last Friday 45 SWPS Classicists from Year 10

and above, along with 30 parents and teachers turned the dining hall into

an elegant location for celebration and learning, for the 2017 Classics Dinner.

The company was sparkling, all were dressed to impress magnificently, the food was excellent and the talk from our guest of honour, Rosie Wyles, was informative and entertaining. Mrs Wyles is a lecturer in Classical History and Literature at the University of Kent. She is an expert on costume in Greek Tragedy, and this was the subject of her

inspiring talk. I Peel

Y8 Classics Vesuvius Project In the last two weeks our Year 8 Classics pupils have been looking at the very different, but equally deadly, effects of

the eruption of Vesuvius on Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79AD. As always at SWPS they have produced a splendid range of different

p r o j e c t s , s h o w i n g intelligence, hard work, good humour and

creativity. I Peel