2011 March - Waingels College

Inform o o o o
March 2011
Waingels College
Specialising In maths and computing
Half-termly newsletter for parents and the community
Ann Keane-Maher - new College Principal appointed for
September 2011
After an extensive and rigorous national recruitment campaign, governors
are delighted to announce the appointment of Ms Ann Keane-Maher to the
post of Principal of Waingels College.
Ann will take up her appointment on 1 September 2011 at the start of the
new academic year following the departure of Richard Green after sixteen
successful years as Executive Principal.
The national campaign attracted the interest of over 200 potential
applicants. From a strong field, governors were able to shortlist six
candidates for interview, all of whom were already successful headteachers.
The College Principal designate
Ann Keane-Maher
The two-day selection process involved candidates giving an assembly,
being interviewed by panels made up of senior staff, governors and students, meeting Waingels staff and students together with representatives
from local secondary schools and the LA, giving a presentation and having a
final interview by governors and senior officers of the LA.
Ann Keane-Maher is currently the Headteacher of a very successful comprehensive school near Birmingham which she has led to an ‘outstanding’
OfSTED inspection and the achievement by its pupils of 92% five or more
GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and maths. In addition, Ann is a
National Strategies Consultant Headteacher and supported, as Executive
Headteacher, another secondary school move from a designation of
‘unsatisfactory’ to a position where its pupils are now making the very
highest rates of progress in the country.
Waingels current Executive Principal, Richard Green, welcomed Ann’s
appointment by saying: “It is a testament to the qualities of Waingels that it
has been able to attract one of the country’s leading headteachers to
become its new Principal. I have no doubt that under Ann’s expert
leadership, Waingels students will go on to even greater success and I look
forward to working with her closely in the next six months to ensure a
smooth and successful transition in September.”
Reminder to parents and visitors to the college site
All parents and visitors to the college site must sign in at Main Reception.
Student Services is no longer available in the Weeks building as each of the
Zones (Red, Green and Gold) have their own Zone offices. If you need to
speak to someone in these areas Main Reception will contact them for you
or direct you to the Zone office.
For Pastoral issues:
Red Zone office:
Mr T Bartlett
Miss J Tubb
Mr B Jouhannaud
Mrs C Gee
Vice Principal
Acting Team Leader Astor/Turing
Assistant Team Leader
Zone Administrator
Green Zone Office:
Mr G Blunt
Mrs L Edwards
Mr P Conlon
Mrs L Fox
Vice Principal
Associate Principal Brunel/Davinci
Assistant Team Leader
Zone Administrator
Gold Zone Office:
Mrs A Sutton
Miss P Mittal
Miss R Smith
Mrs N Clark
Mrs J James
Senior Vice Principal
Associate Principal Holmes/Rowling
Assistant Team Leader
Assistant Team Leader
Zone Administrator
Can we also remind parents to try and return letters and forms before the
deadline date? If you require an additional copy most of the letters we
send out can be found on the parents’ page of the website.
Interview with the outgoing Head Boy and Head Girl
Emma Lobo, Fiona Davies, Nelly Ngugi and Ellie McDaniel interviewed the
out-going head boy and girl along with their respective deputies
Andrew Rogers, Clare
Cattermole, Hannah
Ritchie and Josh
Beasleigh
Fiona Davies and Emma Lobo who quizzed the departing senior team
found out that their biggest moment was meeting and giving a tour of the
school to the current Home Secretary, Teresa May. “Representing the
school and meeting Teresa May was the best moment” said Hannah
Ritchie, the outgoing Head Girl. “Also, going on the student voice
conference to Streatley-on-Thames was very enjoyable too,” added Josh
Beasleigh, the outgoing Head Boy. When asked about their biggest
achievements of being appointed as part of the senior team, they replied
that making people aware of who they were was the biggest struggle that
they overcame.
“We had to increase the awareness of who we were by attending parent
forums, Governing Body meetings and talking in assemblies” said Hannah.
Josh also gave tips to students who were thinking about running for head
boy and head girl; “I would definitely recommend you to go for it as it is
great preparation for interviews and public speaking. It also instils a lot of
confidence.” Hannah added that there were “no disappointments” and was
“everything you expected”.
Finally, the pair gave their opinions on the new senior team. “They’re great
and it is such a nice transition to pass over as well”.
New Senior Student Team
After what was arguably the most competitive head team election series
that Waingels has seen thus far, four candidates gained the voting majority
to claim the titles of: Head Boy (Declan McLoughlin), Head Girl (Liv
Whittall), Deputy Head Boy (Roy Head) and Deputy Head Girl (Polly
Jackson).
Roy Head, Polly
Jackson, Liv Whittall
and Declan
McLoughlin
In a recent interview with Ellie McDaniel and Nelly Ngugi, the new senior
team revealed details of their election process and the tasks that they have
carried out since taking hold of the reins of their new roles. When queried
about their level of confidence in being elected, they expressed their surprise “I was quite surprised at being elected especially considering the fact
that I’m new to this school” said Polly Jackson “I was pleasantly surprised
but I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t confident” added Declan McLoughlin.
Also coming to light were their feelings on being elected. They said that it
was “good to know someone cares” said Roy Head and that they had now
encountered easier channels in getting the views of students across to
senior members of staff.
One of their first tasks as leaders of the student voice, was to be involved in
the interviews for the new Principal; something which they felt enabled
them to “give the student perspective” said Declan McLoughlin. As a result
of the interview process, Liv Whittall spoke of the fact that their “opinions
matched those of the interviews as did the ultimate decision”: a clear
example of the student voice being heard. Whilst getting the voices of
students heard is the principle objective, the new senior team ultimately
aim “to make Waingels a place where people want to be” said Liv Whittall.
In order to achieve this, the senior team spoke of “increasing integration
between students in different year groups” (Declan McLoughlin) as well as
“maximising the new facilities and combating any negative attitudes” (Polly
Jackson).
The new senior team also had some advice to impart to those wishing to
run in the 2012 elections, “The key thing is to be confident, be yourself and
have a strong campaign team” said Liv Whittall “It’s also important to look
into the role or be an understudy. The outgoing head team were great and
gave us a bit of an insight as to exactly what would be involved” added Roy
Head.
Rotarians go interactive
Loddon Vale Rotarians, staff and students have been celebrating the hard
work of the new Interact Club.
Members of the Interact club and officials of the roatay club
More events to raise money will be held at the college in the coming
months including a Quiz Night scheduled to take place on 25 March – more
details to follow.
Chinese New Year Celebrations
A number of staff and students were invited by Jing Forrer to attend a
Chinese New Year event to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. It was a very
enjoyable evening with entertainment from Chinese dancers, musicians
and poems. Jing tutors
one of our International
Baccalaureate students in
Mandarin Chinese.
The Rotary Club set up the group for students aged 16 to 17 at Waingels at
the end of last year and it has already raised more than £800 for various
charities through a series of events, including a toy and book stall at last
year’s Woodley Extravaganza.
At a recent event held at Sonning Golf Club the students were presented
with badges by the president of Loddon Vale Rotary, Ian Heighes as well as
a cheque for £500 in recognition of the support they have given to the Club
Fantastic dancers
performing a Chinese
dance
Microsoft Interview Day; 18 February 2011
Our major careers-related event for Y11 students took place just before
half term. Students each completed an application form for one of a selection of jobs that are typically available in companies such as Microsoft.
Examples were technical support, personal assistant, secretarial or administrative roles, travel manager, sales and marketing assistant etc. These
application forms were the students’ first chance to make the positive first
impression that would be needed in order to be selected for interview in a
real-life situation.
It was a fantastic event and we were really proud of all the students who
attended. In fact, at least one member of staff (who shall remain nameless)
was quite tearful on seeing “her babies” looking so grown up!
Congratulations to all those students who participated, and especial
congratulations to all those who received an award on the day for their
exceptional performance. They will be spending a day at the Microsoft
offices on 17th March and are: Abigail Bacon, Katie Bingham, Jaye Brunning,
Lewis Coleman, Emma Drake, Mathew Driver, Chris Gasgoine, Rebecca
Haskins, Katie Hills, Jack Hudson, Emily Llewellyn, Jessica Longhurst, Callum
Mottram, Jim Patewa, Kate Purdy, Paige Reid, Danielle Smith, Bethany
Stanley, Conor Turnbull and Katherine Whittingham
Thank you to all those who helped to make it such a successful day, both
those in college and staff from the Central Berkshire Education Business
Partnership and from Microsoft.
Very smartly
dressed Year 11
students
On 18th February over 40 Microsoft staff spent the day in College
interviewing students to assess their suitability for the job for which they
had applied. Students received feedback on areas such as standard of
dress, body language, confidence and communication skills. Some students
were asked seemingly random questions like “what is the most popular
dessert in the canteen and how many are sold per day?” This was not due
to a bizarre curiosity about flapjacks, but to see how students dealt with any
challenges that were thrown at them! Some students not only coped with
these challenges in an impressive way, but threw back challenges of their
own!
Students nervously waiting to go in for their interviews
Year 9 Enterprise Day – Build Up Your Business
In November all Y9 students participated in an Enterprise Day delivered by
the Central Berkshire Education Business Partnership and assisted by
business people from local businesses such as Verizon, Apollo and the
police force who offered the benefit of their experience from the world of
work. The activity was a business simulation exercise, focusing on key
employability skills from an employer’s perspective.
During the day students took on a job role within a team to plan a new
business venture. They designed, built and marketed a new business within
set time and budget constraints. Throughout each day there were many
excellent examples of teamworking and co-operation as well as strategic
thinking. The day finished with students displaying models of their final
business and doing presentations on their business plans to the rest of the
group, with the judges deciding on a winning team.
For the first time we ran the activity with all the students in the same space,
taking advantage of the new buildings, one day in the new hall and the
following two days in the Red Zone. This generated a more competitive
atmosphere as well as making it easier for students to access ICT resources
and the shop from which they purchased their raw materials.
From the finished models and confident presentations it is clear that we
have a number budding entrepreneurs in this year group who have a
talented future in business ahead of them!
Year 9 Leadership Day at Dinton Pastures
Thursday 27th January saw the launch of the Year 9 Leadership Project at
Dinton Pastures. The programme involves students from three
Wokingham Schools, Waingels College, Piggott and St Crispins. On arrival
students were questioned about their knowledge of leadership skills and
had to analyse which of these skills they already used during their day to
day life. Then it was time to put them into practice by participating in
challenging activities including Mine Sweeper, Robot Wars, Toxic Waste,
Orienteering and the favourite of the day - the Segways.
Students having great fun on the Segways
Students from Waingels took to the day
like ducks to water and quickly built some
strong relationships with Aaron Hulbert,
Orianne Williamson and Jo Saunders
standing out as role models for others in
the group. Marika Varga however was
picked out by the instructors as one of
the best performers of the day and fully
deserved her recognition.
It was a day full of fun and challenging activities and it really allowed the
groups to start to show and develop their leadersip skills.
Story board presentation of one of the businesses
Harriet Davis goes for glory in final of ‘Chinese-speaking X Factor’
Year 13 student, Harriet Davis, will show off her linguistic skills in the grand
final of the HSBC/British Council Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition at
the British Museum. After making it through the regional heats from more
than 400 entries, the final 89 students from schools across the country will
compete on 10 March to win the trip of a lifetime to China.
Harriet Davis
and Jing
Forrer
The competition supports and promotes the teaching of Mandarin Chinese
as a modern foreign language in UK schools. Now in its eighth year, it has
attracted a record number of learners eager to prove their Chinese skills. X
Factor-style regional heats were held in London and Newcastle, with only
the best making it through to the final.
The competition has been organised by the British Council – which builds
relationships for the UK through English, Education and Culture, and
already links around 43,000 pupils and teachers in the UK and China. It is
supported by the HSBC Global Education Programme – which focuses on
international understanding, disadvantaged children, financial literacy, and
environmental education.
We are all very proud of Harriet’s achievements in this competition so far
and we wish her well next Thursday. Harriet is studying Mandarin Chinese
as part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. She
receives expert tutoring from Jing Forrer and we would all like to thank Jing
for the help and support she gives to Harriet.
Language Event
The Language Department were very pleased to host a ‘Language Event’
for all Year 9 students on Tuesday 18 January. The students were treated
to a languages quiz, when they learnt many interesting facts about
languages, language learning, and their uses in the workplace. We were
very pleased and grateful to welcome two outside speakers from industry
(Mr Llewyelyn from ‘Big Carp’ and Mr R Jaconello from ‘Boehringer
Ingleheim’) both of whom actively use languages in their profession. Our
speakers explained to the Year 9 students how useful languages are in the
workplace.
The event was concluded by the
Year 9s watching a short video clip
of Arsene Wenger talking about his
many language skills. The MFL
department hope that the Year 9s
enjoyed and benefitted from this
event.
Year 9 Students watching a video clip
on the community stairs
Classics for All
The Rotary Club of Loddon Vale presents ‘Classics for All’ a concert of music
for all tastes. This event will be held in the main hall on Saturday, 2 nd April
2011 at 7.30pm (doors open 7.00pm). Performances will be by the Reading
Central Band of the Salvation Army
Georgia Allen (C), Izzy Davis,
Emma Osborn, Kathryn Petch,
Lianey Dunn, Cerise Turvey,
Samantha Petch, Charis Bishop
Tickets £10.00 each, including a glass of wine or a soft drink available from:
Gordon Barnett on 0118 969 6693
Wilkie Harrigan on 0118 947 9315
Vince Bowen on 0118 984 2229
In aid of the Rotary International campaign ‘End polio now.
Golf Presentation
Under 13 Girls’ Cricket Triumphs
The U13 girls’ cricket team have made an excellent start to their school
cricket campaign. In January the team took part in the Lady Taverners Indoor Cricket competition. A successful start was made with the team winning four out of their five games therefore going through to represent Wokingham at the County finals in February.
Four of our students have been given scholarships to Sand Martins Golf Club
after impressing the club’s professionals at an event organised by the club
last year. Ben Clark, Luke Joseph, Jake Weller and Josh McClure are the talented students who have won free memberships until they are 18 and a
free set of golf clubs. The college is also delighted that the club has donated
£300.00 worth of golf equipment to us, to be used during PE lessons.
The team were extremely successful in the County Final beating Garth Hill
and Park House to become Berkshire Champions. The girls were led to victory by their fantastic captain Georgia Allen, whose attitude and positive
mind-set throughout the tournament has been inspirational. I am extremely proud of the girls and they have truly exceeded expectations, their commitment and team spirit is outstanding. This formidable team now travel
to Bristol to represent Berkshire in the Regional Finals.
Good luck girls and remember ‘Catches Win Matches’
Mr Green, Mr Quartermaine and students with officials from Sand Martins Golf Club
Textiles Department
The Textiles Department has been lucky enough to acquire three new
embellishing machines for use at Key Stages 3–5. These machines are very
easy to use: they look like sewing machines but don't need 'threading up'.
They bond pieces of material together using five barbed needles (a bit like
the felting process).
AS Textiles have been making the most of the new machines by creating
inventive and original work, with effects we never would have been able to
produce before!
Four KS3 and two AS students took part in its production as well as
prospective students from Junior schools.
Those that took part were; Rachel
Litchfield, Ashley Onyango, Callum
Cooke, Laura Carn, James Moore
and Tom Eckles.
Mr East would like to thank all of
those involved for their hard work
and creativity.
Please come and visit us in the Textiles Department to view the work that
has been produced using the embellishers, or even have a go yourself. A
Textiles catch-up session runs every Tuesday after school, to which all are
welcome to attend.
Year 12 Student—Melissa Yiannapas
using the Embellisher
Expressive Mark Making
Man
Final Cut Film Festival
A calm chaos arose at 2.30pm, on 19th November for the Final Cut film
festival. After just 10 weeks, filled with lots of planning, phone-calls,
creative ideas and meetings, the night had arrived.
Expressive Mark Making Man
This piece of work, displayed on the Red Zone Forum stairs, was produced
on the Open Evening of Monday 4th October 2010. It was produced over a
three hour period using black indian ink and poster paint.
Armed with vision and a Red Zone floor plan the building was transformed
to showcase the films, live performances, art and photography galleries,
refreshments and the 150+ guests that contributed to the success of the
Final Cut film festival. Guides in fluorescent yellow coats led guests to the
Red Zone. There, team members awaited to greet you, offering a
programme, a tour and a genuine smile. The Final Cut team definitely
knew how to make you feel welcome.
Some of the excellent art displayed
in the Gallery
Final dance performance of the evening – a group called the “R-Te Crew”
Young photographers captured the evening in digital, others collected £111
for Children in Need. Eventually the evening came to an end. With the last
performance, the film winners announced, a big ‘thank you’ to all from the
team and the festival was over. In a record breaking 30 minutes the
Red Zone was spotless once again!
Article written by Nadia Lewis—Diploma student
College Term Dates 2010-2011
Spring Term 2011
Tuesday 4 January
Friday 8 April
College closes at 12.25
Waingels Gallery - RePresent
The current exhibition ‘RePRESENT’ in the Waingels Gallery showcases work
by Year 11 students from Fine Art, Textiles and Graphics.
A variety of work is displayed from developmental pieces, drawings,
experiments and outcomes from portfolios produced in Year 10.
Many parents, governors and students attended the Private View on
Thursday 13th January along with local press photographers. The exhibition
will remain up until 30th March 2011.
Summer Term 2011 Tuesday 26 April
Friday 22 July
College closes at 12.25
Half Term
- Friday 3 June
May Bank Holidays:
Monday 30 May
Friday 29 April and Monday 2 May 2011
Inset Day— Wednesday 29 June 2011
College Dates (still only provisional dates)
Autumn Term
2011
Tuesday 6 September
- Friday 16 December
Half Term
Monday 24 October
- Friday 28 October
Spring Term 2012 Tuesday 3 January
- Friday 30 March
Half Term
Monday 13 February
- Friday 17 February
Summer Term
2012
Monday 16 April
- Friday 19 July
Half Term
Monday 4 June
- Friday 8 June