The first hockey team have their final home match of the season on Wednesday at 2:30 against Ibstock Place.
If you are free it would be lovely to have your support to cheer them on, for some of them this will be their last hockey match for Wimbledon at home.
There have been some fantastic individual and team success in sport for Wimbledon High over the last week.
The U12 & U13s played St John’s Leatherhead on Saturday and there was a win and a draw to celebrate against tough opposition.
Olivia Gibbs and Amelie Penwarden made the Surrey Satellite Academy for netball.
Isabella Atwell, Amelie Rees, Martha Villa Topple have all made Surrey hockey squads for this season.
In rowing, the year 9s thrashed Putney High School over the weekend. At Hampton Head the year 10s finished third out of forty four high standard crews.
Saskia Brewster finished fourth out of forty two entries in J17 singles. Alissia Blase and Amy Brooks finished ninth out of forty six in the J16 doubles.
Keep up the hard work girls!
Anna, Year 13, discusses not only how rehearsal is the key to a good performance but also how the repetitive nature of rehearsing can aid studying.
For those who favour the more ‘academic’ subjects, drama may seem like a discipline which requires substantially less work than the sciences due to the propagated belief that a student does not need to revise as much, as well as the active nature which makes it more of a practical subject than academic. However, while there is certainly more action involved than with other subjects (with ‘acting’ being the most vital part of theatre for an audience), the claim that revision is not necessary is entirely false.
When speaking of acting, an audience member often reviews what they can see in front of them in one moment as, more often than not, they are not privy to the behind-the-scenes rehearsal process. While it is true that the audience impact is a vital part of theatre performance and theory, it is the rehearsal process itself which allows the final finished product to flourish; without it, the actor would not know how to act the line in order to achieve the greatest impact for the audience. Having studied drama myself for the entirety of my Wimbledon High attendance, as well as gotten involved in various plays and musicals over the years, I have come to think of this rehearsal process as high-intensity interval training (without the exercise, thankfully) which results in muscle memory and allows an actor to create the intended effect.
Rehearsing is primarily an active, practical activity; the repeated action over time enhances memory, which then lets an actor read off book (without a script) without any doubt of what they are going to do next or what their line is. For my fellow kinaesthetic learners – who Professors Dunn and Dunn describe as ‘students who require whole-body movement to process new and difficult information’ – this is already a behaviour that we are familiar with; when I am trying to memorise tricky English quotes or mathematic formulae, it is not uncommon to see me pacing back and forth or jumping up and down in order to enhance my learning. Viewing rehearsal as a study form automatically demonstrates academic benefits, as this subconscious form of learning that is routine for a drama student or actor can be employed elsewhere as a studying technique where ‘spaced repetition’ (that is, learning the same thing over a long time with regular intervals) where repetition over a month will result in 90% memorisation. This allows for more consolidation of information, and so ultimately the person will remember more than if they simply crammed the night before. Not only this, but it allows for muscle memory (a form of memory where there isn’t conscious awareness of the actions) to be developed; with resultant feedback received in rehearsal from the director, it means that a person not only develops skills and learning but allows more information to be absorbed as a result.
Therefore, when considering the long-term repetitive nature of rehearsal, it seems logical that it can be labelled a form of active revision; the act of rehearsal instills both useful studying tools in a person without them even realising, as well as a fun way to showcase messages to audiences with the eventual performance.
How can we encourage collaborative learning? Alex Farrer, STEAM Co-ordinator at Wimbledon High, looks at strategies to encourage creative collaboration in the classroom.
Pupils’ ability to work collaboratively in the classroom cannot just be assumed. Pupils develop high levels of teamwork skills in many areas of school life such as being part of a rowing squad or playing in an ensemble. These strengths are also being harnessed in a variety of subject areas but need to be taught and developed within a coherent framework. Last week we were very pleased to learn that Wimbledon High was shortlisted for the TES Independent Schools Creativity Award 2019. This recognises the development of STEAM skills such as teamwork, problem solving, creativity and curiosity across the curriculum. Wimbledon High pupils are enjoying tackling intriguing STEAM activities in a variety of subject areas. One important question to ask is what sort of progression should we expect as pupils develop these skills?
The Science National Curriculum for England (D of E gov.uk 2015) outlines the “working scientifically” skills expected of pupils from year 1 upwards. Pupils are expected to answer scientific questions in a range of different ways such as in an investigation where variables can be identified and controlled and a fair test type of enquiry is possible.
However, this is not the only way of “working scientifically”. Pupils also need to use different approaches such as identifying and classifying, pattern seeking, researching and observing over time to answer scientific questions. In the excellent resource “It’s not Fair -or is it?” (Turner, Keogh, Naylor and Lawrence) useful progression grids are provided to help teachers identify the progression that might be expected as pupils develop these skills. For example, when using research skills younger pupils use books and electronic media to find things out and talk about whether an information source is useful. Older pupils can use relevant information from a range of secondary sources and evaluate how well their research has answered their questions.
The skills that are used in our STEAM lessons at Wimbledon High in both the Senior and Junior Schools utilise many of these “working scientifically” skills and skill progression grids can be very useful when planning and pitching lessons. However, our STEAM lessons happen in all subject areas and develop a range of other skills including:
Carefully planned cross-curricular links allow subjects that might at first glance be considered to be very different from each other to complement each other. An example of this is a recent year 10 art lesson where STEAM was injected into the lesson in the form of chemistry knowledge and skills. Pupils greatly benefited from the opportunity to put some chemistry into art and some art into chemistry as they studied the colour blue. Curiosity was piqued and many links were made. Many questions were asked and answered as pupils worked together to learn about Egyptian Blue through the ages and recent developments in the use of the pigment for biomedical imaging.
There are many other examples of how subjects are being combined to enhance both. The physiological responses to listening to different types of music made for an interesting investigation with groups of year 7. In this STEAM Music lesson pupils with emerging teamwork skills simply shared tasks between members of the group. Pupils with more developed teamwork skills organised and negotiated different roles in the group depending on identified skills. They also checked progress and adjusted how the group was working in a supportive manner. A skill that often takes considerable practise for many of us!
Professor Roger Kneebone from Imperial College promotes the benefits of collaborating outside of your own discipline. He recently made the headlines when he discussed the dexterity skills of medical students. He talks about the ways students taking part in an artistic pursuit, playing a musical instrument or a sport develop these skills. He believes that surgeons are better at their job if they have learned those skills that being in an orchestra or a team demand. High levels of teamwork and communication are essential to success in all of those fields, including surgery!
Ensuring that we give pupils many opportunities to develop these collaborative skills both inside and outside of lessons is key. We must have high expectations of progression in the way that pupils are developing these skills. Regular opportunities to extend and consolidate these important skills is also important. It is essential to make it clear to pupils at the start of the activity what the skill objective is and what the skill success criteria is. It is hard to develop a skill if it is not taught explicitly, so modelling key steps is helpful as is highlighting the following to pupils:
Teacher support during the lesson is formative and needs to turn a spotlight on successes, hitches, failures, resilience, problems and solutions. For example, the teacher might interrupt learning briefly to point out that some groups have had a problem but after some frustrations, one pupil’s bright idea changed their fortunes. The other groups are then encouraged to refocus and to try to also find a good way to solve a specific problem. There might be a reason why problems are happening. Some groups may need some scaffolding or targeted questioning to help them think their way through hitches.
STEAM lessons at Wimbledon High are providing extra opportunities for pupils to build their confidence, and to be flexible, creative and collaborative when faced with novel contexts. These skills need to be modelled and developed and progression needs to be planned carefully. STEAM is great fun, but serious fun, as the concentration seen on faces in the STEAM space show!
Twitter: @STEAM_WHS
Blog: http://www.whs-blogs.co.uk/steam-blog/
Year 3 have enjoyed being engineers in the STEAM space this week. They fired projectiles using rubber band catapults “Into the Woods”, with the aim to be right on target. The only problem was that there were many tubes, bottles and rubber bands to choose from, some of which were far better for the job than others. Year 3 had to select carefully, assemble their launcher and then test to see if it worked. They then needed to make many adjustments, changes and improvements. It was fantastic to see such impressive engineering going on. If you would like to try the activity at home you can find the instructions on the excellent ExpeRimental website here.
Students from Ark Putney Academy and Wimbledon High School have been working together on an IRIS project called MELT. They have been meeting each week to measure how fast the Pine Island glacier is melting using satellite images from the Centre of Polar Observation. We look forward to hearing about their findings. Find out more about the project here.
If you are between 14-18 years old you might be interested to take a look at the Cyber Security initiative. You will have the opportunity to undertake a series of games and challenges and will find out more about the cyber security industry. More information can be found here.
Ava (Head Girl, Y13) talks about the latest of Wimbledon High’s annual Happiness Festivals, discussing what makes such an event special and uniquely Wimbledonian.
Last Friday marked a truly extraordinary day in Wimbledon High School’s calendar: Happiness Festival 2018. From start to end, the day served as a wonderful reminder of all the warmth and support ever-present here within the walls of WHS.
When the Student Leaders and I sat down to start the task of planning the event some months ago, we thought long and hard about the properties of happiness we wanted to focus on. For us, we decided that happiness could be explained through a combination of inner peace and global peace and subsequently decided the theme of this year’s event would be “Peace”, providing a perfect tie-in to concurrent celebrations of Remembrance.
The day itself provided many opportunities for contemplative reflection, along with moments of pure fun and laughter. Our inaugural FeelGoodFest opened the event, a combination of effortlessmusic performances, beautiful poetry and heartfelt messages read aloud by students from all years. Particularly prominent in the morning’s proceedings was a lovely sense of friendship, provided not only by girls themselves thanking their friends for supporting them through thick and thin, but also through a heartwarming rendition of Carole King’s “You’ve got a friend” from Louisa and Anna (Year 13).
Later in the day, as part of our “Laughternoon” festivities, students and staff were treated to a very special performance from comedy duo Harry and Chris, who have appeared on The Russell Howard Hour and sold out three consecutive Edinburgh Fringe shows. This was a real treat indeed, with giggles heard all across the room. Harry and Chris ended their performance with a funny yet touching message of self-love, encouraging everyone to remind themselves that they are “a ten” every once in a while.
A huge thanks must of course go to The Music Department, House Captains and Music Rep for the fabulous House Music event in the afternoon, which may or may not have included a whole-school dance-along to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, a firm Wimbledonian favourite. It was lovely to see students of all ages putting themselves forward to compete on behalf of their houses; a special mention goes to Meredith for winning the House Song category, and to Arnold for their win in the House Ensemble category.
Overall, the day left me with a real sense of the enduring nature of “Wimbledonian Spirit”, with girls smiling through the wet weather and wholeheartedly engaging in the entirety of the event. A final thank you goes to the staff and sixth-formers who led sessions on Inner Peace and Global Peace throughout the day, and to all those who contributed to the organisation of the event, a real WHS team-effort!
I have to agree with the smiling Year 7 who left the school gates on Friday Afternoon with a resolute “well, that was fun”. I couldn’t agree more.
Océane Toffoli, Senior School Librarian at Wimbledon High School, discusses Young Adult fiction.
I did not grow up reading Young Adult fiction (YA) but rather went from juvenile literature directly to adult fiction. In my childhood, I read literary works that were not necessarily written for young readers yet appealed to the young me – Charles Dickens, Sylvie Germain, Guy de Maupassant, William Golding, Alexandre Dumas, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, Simone de Beauvoir, and J. D. Salinger amongst many others. YA was not widely published back then.
Evidently, some of these books would be considered YA today, but then they were not openly labelled as such. Indeed, you might remember that nearly 20 years ago, Harry Potter books were published with two different covers, one for adults and one for children. In fact, this is still the case nowadays:
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YA fiction doesn’t always mean ‘Twilight’ and ‘Hunger Games’
Today, the YA gap on libraries’ and bookshops’ shelves has been extensively bridged but YA literature has suffered from bad publicity with series such as Twilight and The Hunger Games later adapted on screen, or glittery series such as Geek Girl.
This expansive genre-blending literature is much more than dystopian or girly fiction though, as it includes wide-ranging themes such as identity, drugs, sex, bullying, racism, radicalisation, and other coming of age issues.
Why might a YA novel be considered dangerous?
“Sometimes maybe you need an experience. The experience can be a person or it can be a drug. The experience opens a door that was there all the time but you never saw it. Or maybe it blasts you into outer space.” ― Melvin Burgess, Junk
People have considered YA novels ‘dangerous’ for decades because they consider that this type of fiction might:
Should we protect teenagers from controversial issues in YA novels?
“They are all innocent until proven guilty. But not me. I am a liar until I am proven honest.” ― Louise O’Neill, Asking For It
Before a YA novel is published by a prominent publishing house, the typescript goes through several filters such as the – potentially multi-award-winning – author’s mind and common sense, the editor’s professional expertise, and finally the publisher’s endorsement. If you are borrowing the novel from a library, then the title has also been carefully curated by a qualified information specialist (aka your librarian). You can trust them all!
The story might bring up a sensitive theme which you yourself might not feel too comfortable with, but would you rather have your child ‘googling’ the topic online? One may still remember having a computer in the living room back in the late 1990s when family members could only surf online about conventional topics, given the fact that the screen was clearly visible from any angle in the room. However, nowadays, young people do look up stuff online on their mobile phones away from any adult supervision or caring support . . .
Benefits of reading YA novels
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” ― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
There are numerous advantages to reading YA novels – a couple of them could be:
This YA novel is fascinating – what to do?
How about giving these novels a go – and form your own opinion
Bibliography and supplementary materials
