SWPS News

October 2011

Dear Parents and Friends,

An extraordinary number of events

and trips have taken place already, as well as a lot of hard work. We

welcomed 56 girls and boys from Bocholt for our long-standing Year 9

German Exchange. Our GCSE PE group were thrilled to meet Dame Kelly Holmes (pictured inside ); and

we were delighted to have Ms Stephanie Cullen, Gold Medal winner

at the World Championships, as Guest of Honour at our Rowing

Dinner. Other highlights were

the Chamber Concert with w o n d e r f u l

p e r f o r m a n c e s across the year

groups, and the extraordinary Eco Fashion Show

which certainly caught the girls‟ imaginations!

Staff News: We have welcomed this year‟s language

assistants: Mrs Ramirez de Dixon (Spanish), Miss Slowik (German) & Mr de la Cruz (French) who will assist the older

girls in their learning. We wish Mrs Hughes (Business Director‟s PA) well in her retirement, and congratulate Mr Boulton (Network Manager) on his wedding over Half Term.

Our written reports have been amended to include a comment and an action, in order to ensure that all students know what action

to take for further improvement in each of

t h e i r subjects. We hope these targets will be helpful for them.

We look forward to hearing about the various trips over Half

Term: L6 Geography Field Trip to Blencathra, Sixth Form Drama Residential at Exeter University & Year 9-13 Art Trip to Florence & Rome. Also Mrs Penfold-Ward is going out to our link school in

Ghana, where she will be gathering information from their students to bring back to our students for their joint curriculum

projects.

With best wishes for a great Half Term,

Del Cooke

Dates for your diary

9th Nov - L6 Awards 8.30am

10th Nov - 7M Concert 1pm

12th Nov - Sixth Form Scholarship

Exams: arrive from 8.45am

17th Nov - 7P Concert 1pm

18th Nov - Senior Awards 7pm

23rd Nov - FOSWPS Christmas

Shopping Evening from 7.30pm

24th Nov - 7Q Concert 1pm

25th Nov 7.30pm & 26th Nov 5pm

- ‟Oh What a Lovely War‟

28th Nov - Y8 Parents Evening

5pm

1st Dec - Christmas Concert 7pm

5th Dec - Y7 Parents Evening

5pm

13th Dec - Carol Service, St

Peter‟s Church, Chertsey 7pm

14th Dec - Term Ends 12.35pm

PAGE 2 SWPS NEWS OCTOBER 2011

BELFAST BOUND: The Senior

Sixth Geographers visited Northern Ireland over the

weekend of 16-18 September to study the recent Laganside urban redevelopment project in Belfast

as well as vegetation succession on Murlough National Nature

Reserve (sand dunes) and the Giant's Causeway. Despite its proximity to the UK mainland,

this was the first time any of the girls had visited Northern Ireland

and they were very lucky to receive expert tuition and guided tours from Dr Lilley and Professor Orford, of the Geography Department at Queen's University, Belfast, who generously gave up their time

to offer detailed explanation of the processes shaping urban and sand dune environments. The girls also received a guided tour of the university's facilities and were

very impressed. The highlight of the trip was the tour of Belfast on one of the city's open top buses - the signs of the Troubles still evident as we drove around the Shankill and Falls

areas and through the high peace walls separating Protestant and Catholic communities. The deprivation and decay evident in these areas sit in stark contrast to the centre of Belfast: now a vibrant and modern place, with signs of improving relationships

between the religious groups and a telling lack of provocative murals in this area. The trip ended with a study of the tectonic landscape of the world-famous Giant's Causeway. This

stunning setting provided a suitable end to a packed weekend away. Many thanks go to

Miss Sear, Dr Lilley and Professor Orford for their invaluable input . G Budd

MEDEA MY DEAR! A group of Sixth Form Classics students went to South Hill Park in

Bracknell at the end of September to see an adaptation of Euripides‟ famous tragedy, which is one of the plays studied for AS level Classical Civilization. The first act was set in the

ancient world with a powerful, tribal Medea and the second act, set in a hotel room in Spain, brought the action right up to date. We all enjoyed this fresh approach to the story

and the production stimulated a great deal of useful discussion. C Hudspith

BUTSER OR BUST! On 12th October, the Classics department

took Y8 on a visit to Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire. After an introduction (sitting in a round house!) about the Celts‟ way of

life, the girls were divided into four tribes and became involved in different activities: painting, jewellery-making, spinning and clunching (very messy!). They also compared life in a Celtic

round house and a Roman villa, both of which are also on the site. Opinions were

divided 50/50 as to which was the more preferable dwelling.

The girls also enjoyed feeding the

various rare breeds on the farm. The day provided a fascinating insight into the Celtic way of life before and

after the Roman invasion of Britain.

C Bowden

PAGE 3 SWPS NEWS OCTOBER 2011

DRAMA NEWS: MAKE-UP WORKSHOP The first of our Drama

workshops this year took place on 19 September with a stage make-up workshop given by Josh Dunlop. After giving a demonstration

covering basic make-up application and the theory behind it, he then went on to give the students a series of bruises, cuts and mangled knuckles – all artfully created with the use

of make-up of course! After having Josh make it all look so easy, the girls then had a chance to try out the

effects themselves, with varying degrees of success! They busied themselves for nearly an hour creating fake holes in heads and weeping wounds, all in good

time for Halloween. S Sweeney

COOK AND STANLEY STRIKE A CHORD! The Music Department is in the process of

refurbishing our stock of pianos, and so we were delighted when one of our peripatetic staff, Mr Matthew Stanley, offered to team up with Ms Berrie Cook, and present this fund-

raising concert. The programme started with thunderous harmonies from Beethoven‟s “Egmont Overture”, moving swiftly on to some elegant, fine detail in Mozart‟s Sonata in D major. The audience was then treated to the marvellous subtleties of Debussy‟s Prelude a

“L‟Apres-midi d‟un Faune”, a fabulous arrangement by Ravel which showed off the incredible range of textures that are possible with four hands playing. The first half finished

with the most elaborate piece “Italy” by Moskowski, featuring some extraordinary roller-coaster style runs played at high velocity! The momentum continued in the second half with an arrangement of

Berstein‟s “Tonight” and then more impressive textures in music from Bowen and Olsen. The evening was completed by

“The Wedding of the Painted Doll” written by the American film composer N.H. Brown, a piece full of amusing contrasts and memorable flourishes. A huge thank you to Matthew and

Berrie for sharing their expertise with the school community, for reminding us of just how powerful the piano duet genre is,

and for facilitating the purchase of another new piano.

N Cartwright

CHAMBER CONCERT: A big „thank you‟ and congratulations to all our musicians who performed so finely in the Chamber Concert last Thursday evening. Girls from every year

group, with many talented Y9s, performed solos and in groups, treating their audience to an exciting variety of musical styles. It was a very enjoyable occasion to introduce the new

season of evening concerts by students. T Scrutton

ASSOCIATED BOARD MUSIC RESULTS Congratulations to the following who achieved

Grade 4 or above: Catherine Barr 8M Cello Gd5 Merit, Lila Radja 8Q Piano Gd6; Claire Whiting 8Q Piano Gd4 Distinction; Rebecca Ackroyd 9L Oboe Gd 4 Distinction; Frederica

Bishop 9M Singing Gd 5; Bethany Greaves 9M Violin Gd6 Distinction; Ellie Warren 9M Clarinet Gd5 Distinction; Ellie Markham 10SB Piano Gd5; Sophia Mahon 10CD Singing Gd5

Merit; Charlotte James 10CB Alto Sax Gd4 Distinction; Emma Davies 11G Flute Gd4; Pia Lerch 11G Singing Gd4; Ellen Clarke 11S Singing Gd5 Merit; Dervla Hynes 11E Singing Gd5; Victoria O‟Brien L6J Violin Gd6;

Catherine Neufeld S6C Oboe Gd7.

OCTOBER 2011 SWPS NEWS PAGE 4

WONDERLAND HELPS WOKING

HOSPICE! The organisers of „Alice in Wonderland‟ re-formed to meet Mr

Fabian Hine, the School Fundraising Director for Woking and Sam Beare Hospice, to present him with the

amazing sum of £1512.39. The money was from the July performance of the

School‟s annual „Production in a Weekend‟, where over 80 pupils of all years met on the Friday evening to

cast, rehearse, prepare the set and costumes ready for the performance on

Monday evening.

As you can imagine, tension runs high over the weekend, which in itself has its

fair share of drama. Costumes and props are not easily come by without the help of willing parents and friends,

and staff giving up their personal time to contribute. This year the Directors were Rozzy Knox, Livvi Reed and Alice Moxon,

Musical Directors were Francesca Nunn and Rachel Farago, and Backstage and Marketing

Managers were Amy Bannister, Charlie McDonnell and Jasmine Swan, all sixth formers .

Every year is a challenge, but this year the requirements of the piece meant highly sophisticated costumes and sets, and we weren‟t sure until the very last moment whether

we could all meet the challenge. Not only did the girls manage that, but also raised the phenomenal amount of money for the hospice. We are already looking forward to next

year‟s weekend, although we are not sure what the production will be! !

C Hewlett, L Lonergan, T Scrutton

BOCHOLT EXCHANGE VISIT SEPTEMBER 2011: “We‟re so excited about the Germans, that

we‟re pinging off the walls” was how one Y9 put it just hours before the Bocholt students arrived. There was certainly a huge amount of excitement on both sides as 56 girls and

boys arrived from Germany. The students spent Thursday morning in lessons before heading for Windsor Castle in the sunshine. Friday was spent at Madame Tussaud‟s taking hundreds of photos! Much of the weekend was spent with the host families and of course

there was the amazing Bocholt disco to look forward to on Sunday. A huge thank you to all the staff who helped, especially Mrs Hay and Mrs Salford, and of course to all the parents

who worked so hard to make the visit such a success. It was very much appreciated.

A Gomez

MATHS MARVEL: As well as

coming Best in School in the Junior Maths Challenge,

Natalie Haarer (9Q) qualified for the Junior Olympiad. In this prestigious event, Natalie

achieved full marks in 3 questions and scored highly in

a fourth, performing well enough to be awarded a Silver medal. This is an amazing

achievement. Well done,

Natalie. A Meechan

Congratulations to

Natasha Holden (L6L) who won the

"Young Volunteer of the Year" at the Woking Sports

Awards . She now g o e s o n t o

represent Woking in the Surrey Awards which take place in

Guildford on 25th

November.

OCTOBER 2011 SWPS NEWS PAGE 5

YEAR 7 PGL TRIP: Our new Y7s, excited and a little weary after their first week in school, set off for a packed Activity Weekend at

Marchant Hill PGL centre. Despite threatening clouds we stayed relatively dry as walls were scaled, hikes were hiked and wires

were zipped down, and the moves on the dance floor at the disco were excellent! It was wonderful to see every girl pushing herself

that little bit higher and further surrounded by the support and encouragement of her form and tutors. PGL staff said how impressed they were with the determination, friendliness and

kindness of our Y7s and the fantastic Y11 mentors and Sixth Form prefects who came, saw, climbed, consoled, jollied and generally

got to know the girls they will be mentoring throughout the year. Many thanks to everyone involved. Copies of the DVD of the

weekend are available via the VLE or pbucknall@swps.org.uk

P Marriott

L6 TRIP TO PARIS: Blue sky, famous sights and soaring temperatures! The Lower Sixth

Induction Trip to Paris was enjoyed by everyone (despite the 4.45a.m. start!) Sightseeing and many coffee shops were on the agenda, with typical French baguettes for lunch.

Twelve hours later, 68 sixth formers boarded the Eurostar home with

many unforgettable and unique memories, not

forgetting an album‟s worth of photos of French people wearing

blue and white stripy t-

shirts!

Katrina Sen L6L

OCTOBER 2011 SWPS NEWS PAGE 6

SPORT: The sporting term started with a bang and

we have been straight into fixtures and competitions in a variety of sports. We have had

many matches already for hockey, netball and badminton as well as a cross country and swimming competition. The Y7 netball teams have

had a great start to their matches, winning against Claremont, Tormead and St Teresa‟s. The U13A

netball team played in a new competition, the Independent Schools National Cup, against St Swithun‟s and have made it through to the 2nd round of the competition by winning 24-10. The Y7 A&B hockey teams also

participated in an invitational tournament held by Prior‟s Field school. The A team were 2nd in their group and made it through to the Final which they won on penalty flicks 2-0

with great goal-keeping skills from Tamsin Mantel-Cooper. The B team played great hockey throughout the tournament and finished joint third in their section

of the tournament. Many girls are turning out to practices for a variety of sports and we are thrilled

with the attendance. Please may we remind parents that, when your daughter has a fixture, she should be picked up from the back of school after 5pm. Please may we also remind you that girls are expected to stay after matches at SWPS for team teas

until the opposition have left. D Mugridge

ROWING NEWS: This term has seen a record number of Y8 girls learning to row and some have already competed in their first event at Bedford Small Boats Head on Sunday 9th

October. At Bedford, SWPS had 7 wins and 3 second places. Wins were WIM2 4+. WIM3 4+, WNov 4+, WJ16 4+, WNov 4x+, WJ14 4x+, WIM3 2x, and a special mention for Hannah Yetman who came 2nd in the WJ14 1x out of a field of 20. The next event will be

Weybridge Silver Sculls on the first Saturday of half term. The Rowing dinner, earlier in the term, was very well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Stephanie Cullen, our

guest speaker, who had just returned from the World Rowing Championships in Slovenia with a Gold medal, gave an inspirational and motivational talk. Hattie West was presented

with the SWPS Sculling Trophy. E Bernard

FEEDER SCHOOLS NETBALL TOURNAMENT: The SWPS annual Feeder Schools Tournament was another success bringing with it great weather. Nine schools attended this year and the standard was superb from all. The final was held between Hoe Bridge and Newland

House and was a very close match. Hoe Bridge finally won the tournament with an

excellent performance by the whole team. D Mugridge

GIRLS GO GOLD CONFERENCE: The Y11 GCSE group went to Edgbaston High School for

the annual „Girls Go Gold‟ conference. This was a highly exciting trip as Dame Kelly Holmes and Baroness Sue Campbell both

spoke, as well as lecturers from Birmingham University on topics such as sports nutrition

and sports psychology. The girls also had the opportunity to meet Silver 1500m World Championship medallist Hannah England and

listen to her experiences as an elite athlete and student. The group left the conference

full of inspiration and motivation and had a

thoroughly enjoyable trip. D Mugridge

OCTOBER 2011

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING TALENTED SPORTSWOMEN!

EMMA LEIGHTON (8Q) was selected to take part in the International Gutenberg Cup. This is

an international gymnastics competition and Emma‟s trio came third in their group which

was a wonderful achievement.

LUCY GATES (8Q) has been offered a place in the RYA National

Intermediate Squad for the 'Topper' dinghy class. This puts her in the top 48 U15 sailors for this class in the UK.

MILLIE JENKINS (8L) and her horse Todd qualified for and subsequently took part in the Junior Championships of Great Britain Show Jumping event.

IZZI MITCHELL (L6L) has been nominated by her sailing helm (on the recommendation of her club) for the Royal Yachting

Association Regional Young Sailor of the Year. LAUREN AHM (9L) won a Bronze medal in the All England Dance

Championships over the summer.

PHOEBE BRYANT (11E) has been selected to play for the South of England at the England

Hockey Board Futures Cup. This places Phoebe in the top 80 players in the country in her

age group.

POLLY THISDELL (10CD) has been selected for the U17 Surrey Badminton squad.

ELIZABETH JAMIESON (9M) won a Bronze Medal in the British National Judo

Championships last week.

Congratulations also to Mrs Mitchell, who coaches Athletics and Gymnastics, and who competed in the World Masters Athletics Championships in

Sacramento, California over the summer. She won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles, running her fastest time for 3 years. She also won a bronze

medal in 400m flat and a silver in the relay 4x100m so a very successful

trip!

SWPS NEWS PAGE 7

GLIDING TASTERS 2011: This year has been a record year for gliding tasters. Despite a

distinctly wintry start, only one afternoon was cancelled and most of these Year 7 were able to fly. In total 60 have now flown over three weekends. The instructors were unanimous in

their praise for the young pilots, a number of whom were able to land the glider on their first flight. Further Flying courses will take place in the Spring and letters will be available

at the end of this term. L Smith

Always wanting to be a pilot, this summer I undertook a gliding scholarship with the air

cadets having started gliding with the Fawlkes Flying Foundation through the school in Y7. I went up to Hullavington for a week, staying at an army base and learning how to

glide from the basics to a complete circuit, as well as plenty of cleaning and avoiding

rain. On the Friday, after 35 launches, I had the opportunity to fly a solo circuit, which was

the most surreal and amazing feeling and

felt like a long way since I first had my gliding taster day.

Amy Bannister S6B

OCTOBER 2011 SWPS NEWS PAGE 8

Handel‟s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall

Thursday 15th & Friday 16th December

SWPS Chamber Choir joining the Goldsmiths‟ Choral Union and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Tickets available from the Royal Albert Hall Box Office

TOP EFFORT GRADES: Congratulations to the following girls who have earned a clean

sweep of top effort grades in their recent reports:- Megan Dodd 7Q; Millie Jenkins 8L; Stella Kinneir-Chai 8M; Hannah Harrison, Olivia Moore, Georgia Scott 11C; Charlotte Cook,

Jenika Pankhania 11E; Phoebe Hopwood, Marija Nonkovic, Rosie Sawyer, 11G; Ellen Clarke, Charlotte Denhard, Josie Dent, Anie Naqvi, Imogen Pike, Paulina Wieczerza 11S; Helena Bowyer L6S; Georgina Brown, Rachel Brown, Emma Champion, Steph Roberts

L6M; Emily Cunningham, Emma Hatto, Caroline Simpson L6L; Lana Jagger L6J; Rose

Hough L6T.

Please keep checking emails

for letters from us as we are s e n d i n g a l o t o f

communication via that method and don‟t want

anyone to miss anything.

ORIENTEERING: The first event of the year took place at Horsell Common. Emma Brook

(L6) ran the blue course for the first time and was under par time and gained 95 points. Claudia Burrough (L6) ran the green course and narrowly missed out on her par time as she

stopped to help a distressed child. The team is in need of more competitors. Orienteering is fun and helpful for girls who are thinking about the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The time commitment is small

as it is only on 8 Saturday mornings. It can be a family morning out and there is the opportunity to earn some

house points. For more information about orienteering, please log onto the Southern Navigators website and use the links to find out about this activity (http://

southernnavigators.com) If anyone is interested taking

part, please contact Mrs Hay on shay@swps.org.uk

S Hay

THE GREAT SWPS BAKE-OFF INTER-HOUSE COMPETITION:

Inspired by the Great British Bake-Off which was on BBC2 earlier this year, girls were asked to bake, decorate and finish 6 cup

cakes. The girls baked well and the House captains had a great time tasting the cakes. The L heat winners were Alex Seuren, Isabella Daniells (7L) and Hannah Potter (8L). Karishma Patel,

Jenika Pankhania (11M) and Alice Munday (7M) are the M finalists. The P Heat winners are Francesca Mitchell (7P), Georgina Bearman

(11P) and Emily Janes (9P). The Q Heat winners are Harriet Cook , Annabel Williams (9Q), and Alisa McInerney(7Q). It was a very hard decision to choose

the winners and it came down to the flavour of the cakes as the decorating and finishing of

them all was excellent. Ist Place : Ls represented by Hannah Potter (8L) – 100 House Points; 2nd : Qs represented by Harriet Cook (9Q) – 75 House points; 3rd: Ls

represented by Alex Seuren – 50 House points; 4th: Ls represented Isabella Daniels – 25 House

points; Highly Commended Qs represented by

Alisa McInerney – 10 House points. S Hay