WINCHCOMBE NEWS

December, 2017

In this issue:

Christmas Celebrations in School

Snow Day

WSA House Hampers & Chocolate

Tombola

Le Théâtre Français & other MFL news

Drama: Shakespeare Play

Future Chef Challenge

Ellenborough Park Visit (Catering)

Monthly Fruit & Veg competition

Health Awareness Day

Year 10 Practice Interviews & Careers

Duke of Edinburgh Scheme

Students’ Success Stories

Attendance Information

Future Events

Headmaster’s Message

A round-up of recent events in and outside school

Countdown

to Christmas Christmas Lunch Monday 18th December

Mary and her team in the kitchen

served up a delicious meal of turkey and all the trimmings or

Brie & Cranberry Wellington for vegetarians. The order

has to go in early, so next year, if your child wants Christmas

lunch, please look out for the letter and order in advance—thank you.

Students were reminded that Christmas is a time for hope. They each wrote positive and encourag-ing words about each other in their ‘Little Books of Encouragement ‘ so that by reading these they could learn to aspire to the positive potential within them and grow in hope and confidence over the year to come.

Mrs Martin and 8PR have been creating ...Little books of encouragement

Christmas Tombola and House Hampers

Thank you for your generous

donations for the House

Hampers as well as the

Chocolate Tombola stall at

the town’s Christmas Fayre.

You have helped us raise just

over £1,000 for the school!

Above left: A few of the Hamper prizes; Right: Sally and Wendy (WiSPA Chairs) on the Tombola Stall.

Working in a Winter Wonderland Thanks to a former parent, we

were able to re-open after just one

snow day earlier this month.

If you have skills or equipment that

might be used by school to avoid

costly bills, please do let Mrs

Charles, our Finance Officer,

know.

With current budgetary constraints,

all donations help!

Christmas Around the World

MFL students designed cards for a Christmas Around the World competition and their entries were submitted for the Midlands and South West Regional finals.

But the winning cards for Winchcombe School round were 1st: Sophie Netting, 2nd (joint): Lara Chilton and Lily Marchant, 3rd: Molly Williams

Just some of the MFL Christmas Card creations

School Carol Service—Tuesday 19th December

Encounter Church on Gretton Road hosted a lovely service of lessons, carols, choir, solo

and ensemble music. Organised by Mrs Turner, several visiting music teachers also took

part with the students.

Pastor Fern Hext welcomed staff and students, reminded us of the meaning of Christmas

and congratulated students on their excellent performances.

Carol Service 2017

Year 10 Rugby match

Languages Talk for KS4

On Wednesday 15th November, Winch-

combe School had a member of staff

from All Saints Academy visit us and

deliver a talk on the importance of

languages in future life.

In the talk we discussed how a language

could make all the difference when ap-

plying for the job. It was explained to us

how having a language at a Level can

give you the edge when applying for a

place at university and makes you stand

out from the crowd when looking for em-

ployment. As well as this it is a fabulous

opportunity to visit other countries and

gain new experiences.

At All Saints Academy (Sixth Form) they

offer both French and Spanish. Many

opportunities can open for people who

decide to take a language. With only

5.6% of the world’s population and 20%

able to speak English, learning a lan-

guage makes a massive difference. Hav-

ing attended this talk I personally feel

that although I was unsure before on

whether I would want to continue with A

Level to Spanish I now am confident that

taking a language will benefit me in many

ways. Not only will it help if I choose to

travel abroad but it will also help me

stand out as a candidate for future em-

ployers.

By Ruby Mae Buckingham 10 Cleeve

More MFL News

Review of Le Chateau

On Monday 6th November 2017 we were treated to

a wonderful performance by a visiting theatre

company. They came to our school and we

watched it along with some Year 6 pupils form Winchcombe Primary, Gotherington

and Gretton.

I thought that the play Le Chateau was really good and humorous. I really admire

how they changed costumes that quickly and how they changed the scene so quickly.

I also thought the acting was good and the actors interacted with the audience really

well. I liked it when three people from the audience came up and put picture frames

in front of their faces and the French actor kept blowing kisses to one of them.

I would definitely recommend it and would love to see another French play.

Merci beaucoup!

Cameron Fraser 7LA

On European day of languages this year, Ellen Twine, Freya Chandler, Pan-

dora Becker, Tom Bate, Harry Clayton, Henry Kershaw and I went to a primary

school in Gretton to teach a European day of languages lesson. We taught them

about the day and what the event is for and gave them a flavour of some of the lan-

guages spoken. We taught French, German and Cypriot to the year 5 students. We

used a PowerPoint presentation we had put together that included matching games

and some basic introduction phrases. After going through some key skills we spent

some time playing fun games with them on Linguascope. They enjoyed getting in-

volved and were very keen to win in their table groups. The lesson we taught was

half an hour long and was really fun. They seemed to have enjoyed the lesson as

much as we did. I would recommend you take part in this if you are ever asked to do

it, as it was a really nice experience.

Ella Winand Y9

Shakespeare

schools’ festival

Rehearsals in the Drama Studio

Performance at the

Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury

The Shakespeare experience

First it started with auditions... then the cast was formed… Macbeth was com-

ing together.

We had rehearsals every Thursday. Each time we had rehearsals we got better

and better and better!

Then it was time to tread the boards as we took our first trip to the Roses Thea-

tre. Looking around we were all thinking “wow next time we’re here we will be

performing!” We walked through the first scene in front of our very first audi-

ence (a cast of another Shakespeare production) which was awesome!

A few weeks on the production looked incredible. We had a full day of rehears-

als which really helped us as a cast.

Time flies and the production was just one week away! We were all frantically

trying to learn our lines for the big show! Then it came down to that one

Wednesday. Not any old Wednesday, but the Wednesday of the performance.

We climbed into the mini bus ready to drive to the Roses feeling very prepared.

This was it! We arrived at the theatre … dress and tech rehearsals!

It went brilliantly and our reward was to chill on some beanbags. We all loved

the beanbags! Afterwards we headed back to school for a much needed lunch.

Then after P5 we all departed home to prepare for the final performance.

As we all got into our cars we hit the traffic! It was all very annoying. We were

anxious we might not make it - what are we going to do then? Finally the cars

cleared and we all got there in the end luckily! There were final adjustments to

our hair and makeup and it was Show Time! We went to do some vocal warm-

ups with the other schools and when they announced the running order, we

were up first! We took ourselves back stage and began some energy warm-

ups. Finally we were up! We waited anxiously in the wings. This was it.

The lights dimmed and we took our places on stage. The show had begun.

Everybody did so well and the cast was very proud. It was an amazing experi-

ence!

Esmie Menell (8CL and 3rd Witch)

Future Chef 2017

On October 31st, a group of Winchcombe school students took part in the future chef school heats. This involved the students creating a main course using a budget of £5 for a collection of teachers to taste and judge. The winner and runner up have now gone through to the local finals held at Gloucestershire college in January.

There were many delicious meals made including homemade avocado and bacon burgers with sweet potato fries and homemade ketchup made by Phoebe Moore (Y9 3rd place), homemade salmon fishcakes with garlic mayonnaise by Maisie Andrews (Y9 2nd place) and a vegan chickpea curry with Bombay potatoes and pani puri pops by Beau Beames (Y9 1st place ).

It was a very close competition and the next round will be even harder as the two students who have qualified will have to make a two course meal for two judges along with students from other schools. The pressure is on!

Beau Beames (Y9)

Ellenborough Park Visit

On 19th October 2017, our Hospi-

tality and Catering group visited

this extremely high class, 5 star

hotel named Ellenborough Park.

As we approached the hotel, our

eyes were immediately hit with the

sight of the beautiful hotel grounds.

We drove up the long driveway sur-

rounded by views of the countryside

and the racecourse and the hotel itself which proved to be thoroughly enlightened,

contemporary and enticing inside as well as outside. We were greeted by very friend-

ly staff and as soon as we stepped into the building we could see that the facilities

were incredible. We were given a tour by the very sophisticated and confident staff.

They have a special wedding party room which can be gorgeously

decorated and a separate room which is like a chapel that you can

get married in.

The staircases were surrounded by a magnificent hand-painted

mural which honestly looked amazing. The kitchen is full of very

well trained staff who work hard to make sure that the food is the

best standard it can be. In my opinion, one of the things that stood

out for me was the bedrooms. All 61 rooms are exquisitely deco-

rated and are very nice to stay in; some are more expensive than

others with prices ranging up to over £600. The hotel becomes

more expensive at the time of the races; people who want can get a private transport

through the hotel grounds to the racecourse in a brand new Bentley.

The spa is truly beautiful and you can receive lots of specialist treatments. Altogether

it was an amazing and inspiring experience.

Eden Menell 10CL

Monthly Fruit and Veg Competition

November’s winner: Ed Keen 8SU

created the delicious looking Pome-

granate, Strawberry and Blueberry

Pavlova to the left.

October’s winner—Mrs Darville for her Celeri-

ac and Apple soup, right receiving her prize

from the Budgen’s store Manager, Andrew

Kendry.

Health Awareness Day

Thursday the 16th November saw the members of Winchcombe School receive a visit from a variety of organisations and community groups, including the police and NHS to talk about social, physical and mental health.

The school Gym became home to a selection of stalls all offering advice and guid-ance on how to stay safe and where to go to seek specialist help and support. The police came in a police van and talked about two very important issues, Internet safety and what not to do online, and Hate crimes where people are bullied for being different.

Physical health was a focus providing information and guidance on issues including staying safe in the sun, sexual health, dealing with personal problems at home and for those experiencing feelings of anxiety, stress or depression. Our own school nurse came to teach us about health and safety.

The main message of the event was positive, promoting support networks and spreading the word that its ok to ask for help, there is a variety of ways you can do this, in person, over the phone or online.

Remember, don’t hesitate to ask for help there is always someone there for you

Stay strong, act now and believe in yourself !

Lola Beames Y7

There’s still time to have a go at creating a recipe for December’s Healthy

Eating competition. December’s fruit and veg are clementines and Brussels

sprouts (not necessarily together!) Send your recipe idea to: wellbe-

ing@winchcombeschool.co.uk for a chance to win a Budgen’s voucher.

Mock Interviews

Early in November, Year 10 students

had the opportunity to practise their

interview skills. This was arranged to

tie in with their week of work experi-

ence which took place in December.

Dexter Davies writes about the experi-

ence for us below:

Last month, Year 10 had their mock inter-

views. Mock interviews are done to give

students a feel of a real working interview

environment. Everyone had been doing

their application forms in their own time

and had a completed form ready to give

to their interviewer.

Before the interviews, everyone was

nervous to meet their interviewer and

answer the questions that would be

asked of them, there was an element of

fear of the unknown among many of us!

Not many people, if any, had experience

in an interview environment and so, no-

body had an idea of what to think. How-

ever, everyone’s feedback of the day was

good, and it helped everyone get a taste

of a real interview.

It was a valuable experience in learning

how to sell ourselves and promote our

positive attributes to an unknown person,

something I don’t think anyone finds

easy. The interviews helped us become

more aware of how we portray ourselves

and how important body language is in

saying things our words may not.

Despite everyone’s pre-interview nerves, most people came away from it feeling more positive and as if they had gained

something from the whole interview expe-rience.

Above: The school hall became a large interview room, with 20 local profession-als giving their time to help our students improve their employability skills.

Ms Willmott, Head of Careers, has also arranged for a variety of

visitors to come to school during the past term to speak about

their jobs. Dylan Pryce-Jones (Y8) attended one of them and

writes about the event:

On the 1st November, I attended a Careers presentation about interior design. The

speaker was Natasha from Luna Design, Cheltenham. She had a slide show about

the business. This showed kitchens and rooms that Luna have designed. Luna De-

sign are a very up-market business, but I was surprised by some of the costs. After

seeing the speech, I realised that it takes a lot more time designing the rooms than I

thought. I think this would be an interesting career because every day could be differ-

ent.

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in School

Left: students receive their Bronze certificates in assembly—

congratulations to them!

During this term, the next group also had their first practice

walk in the Cotswold Hills (photo below). Maisey Andrews

was one of the students and she’s written a report for us here:

On Saturday 25th November, four groups of eleven pupils from year nine, went on our

first practice Duke of Edinburgh walk. We all met at school at 9 o’clock everybody full of

nerves and yawning. And wrapped up warm due to the freezing weather so we all had

our funkiest hats on. We did a quick register, and set off in our groups. In the groups we

all swapped reading the maps throughout the group, so

everyone could have a chance of leading and reading the

map, and every time we swapped the leader would ask

where we thought we were on the map. Everyone in each

group had a different route to walk. In my group we had to

get to Cleeve golf course at 11 o’clock, we arrived at

11:02. We all had frozen hands by then. On our way we

went past Postlip Mill. We then sat up at Cleeve and had

lunch then set off again, towards home we took a longer

route and went to Belas Knap and rolled down the hill on

our way home. We got back to school at 2 o’clock. So

overall, we walked 10.5 mile in 5 hours. Greeted by 2 oth-

er groups that had made it back.

Left: In November, Year 7 & 6 girls played a netball tournament held at Pittville school beating ASA, Pittville, Barnwood and Beaufort schools to come out winners and winning the cup. WELL DONE to both teams!

Congratulations!!

If you have news about your child’s success outside

school and want to share it with the school community,

please do email details to their Head of House.

Girls’ Football and Hockey News: Mr Haynes emailed to re-port some really good per-formances from the girls in November. Yr8 girls football finished joint 4 in the District cup. Yr7 girls won the triangle tournament at hockey with Bournside and Chosen Hill.

Rugby News: On a cold Friday night at Cheltenham RFC, Winchcombe played against Cleeve School , From the start Cleeve went on the attack but great defence by the Winchcombe boys kept the score down to 15-0 at half time. At start of the second half Winchcombe went on the attack with the pack starting to dominate the scrums and the break down. Some big runs by Bobby Ballinger, Oliver Madle and Josh Jeffries started to get Winchcombe over the game line. Winchcombe scored 3 tries to make it a draw which was a massive effort by the boys having lost last season 35-5.

The year 8 boys have gone the whole season unbeat-en which is a great effort by the whole squad.

Results from the season

Rendcombe College 0 Winch-combe 55

Bournside 15 Winchcombe 20

Pittville 5 Winchcombe 55

Ballcarras 10 Winchcombe 20

Tewkesbury 20 Winchcombe 20

Well done to Lottie’s team who gained Silver in West Midlands County Gymnastics Championships...

The week before she was awarded Bronze individual on Vault.

Mrs Peters, our Attendance Officer, wanted to share

the information below with you:

Did you know?

Research shows that higher student attend-

ance at school is associated, on average,

with higher student achievement. Research

published by the Department for Education

(DfE) suggests that children with poor at-

tendance are more likely not to be in educa-

tion, employment or training when they

leave school.

It argues that there is a clear link between poor attendance at school and

lower academic achievement, highlighting that only 3% of pupils who miss

more than 50% of school manage to achieve 5 or more A*-C/9-4 GCSEs,

including English and Maths, compared with 73% of pupils who have more

than 95% attendance.

Is 90% good?

A 90% mark in an exam may be good, but 90% attendance through five

years of school equates to nearly a full school year lost.

Lateness has a negative impact

Being late can:

Disrupt lessons

Affect achievement Being late adds up to loss of learning:

5 minutes late every day adds up to 3 days lost each year

10 minutes adds up to 6 days lost each year

15 minutes adds up to 9 days lost each year

20 minutes adds up to 12 days lost each year

30 minutes adds up to 19 days lost each year

Registration

All pupils should be in their tutor rooms and ready to register at 08.50am

(this is also when the gates close) otherwise they should register at Re-

If you’d like information about the 2019 Ski Trip, please do not hesi-

tate to contact Mr Rudkin: mrudkin@winchcombeschool.co.uk, or

leave a message via the School Office.

A Message from the Headteacher:

Mr Hall and all staff wish you a

lovely Christmas and look forward

to seeing you back on Wednesday

3rd January (Week 1).

December 2017

Dear All

Once again, the last twelve months have flown by and Winchcombe

School has pushed forward in many different ways: Exam results have

shown improvements, especially in our A*/A/9/8 grades; we have

welcomed new students into each Year Group as well as new members

of staff into different Departments.

During 2017 the numbers of students grew to a little below 500 – a

testament to the parents in Winchcombe, Cheltenham, and the sur-

rounding areas, who share our ethos and expectations both academi-

cally and pastorally. Thank you to all parents whose support of the

school is much appreciated.

Attendance has been a key driver, this year, and we ask all students and

parents to aim for 100% attendance each term – starting afresh when

students come back on Wednesday 3rd January (week 1 timetable).

Please ensure Mrs Peters, our Attendance Officer, knows of any reason

for someone being off school. Simply put, if you are not in school, you

cannot learn and cannot progress. School Attendance, overall, has im-

proved, since 2016; but, there is more we can do to support all students

coming into school, whilst still challenging their learning and attain-

ment.

Amongst many events, including Sporting successes and Musical per-

formances, 2017 saw the first International Trip to Japan (September);

our 2nd Shakespeare School’s Festival performance (November); a tre-

mendous cross-year House Challenge Day (December) following close-

ly behind the school’s first ‘Snow Day’ in over 7 years.

On behalf of the Staff and Governors, we wish all students, and their

family, a happy, healthy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Let’s re-

flect on what we have all done to improve Winchcombe School and

move it forward in 2017. Let us build on these, further, in 2018.

Neil Hall