We're Off to See the Wizard...The Wonderful Wizard Of

We’re off to see the Wizard...the wonderful Wizard of Oz! Preparation for our show started in September 2017; we worked hard in rehearsals for five solid months and, even though we bumped in to a few ‘difficulties’ along the way, the whole team succeeded in producing three incredible performances that seemed to wow the audience.

One of the difficulties we faced was establishing, “who would play Toto?” But, after much deliberation, we decided to use Tinker (Jenny Coles’ dog) and when she came for her first rehearsal the show really came together and we knew it was the right choice. She was wonderfully behaved and really stole the audience’s hearts.

We worked tirelessly at break time, lunchtimes and afterschool and even coming in over the half term holiday to create the finished product. The show wouldn’t have been possible without the welcoming audience who really brought our performance to life. Of course, the success of “The Wizard of Oz” ultimately came down to our amazing teachers: Mrs Marks, Mr Allen, Miss Baxter and Miss Abbiss. We are grateful for all of their hard work to give us this once in a lifetime opportunity of performing in our dream show. We have not only gained some incredible memories but masses of confidence.

Now, what shall we do next year...?

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

A letter from the Principal:

Dear parents/carers

As we draw near to the end of another very busy term, packed with all sorts of wonderful activities and achievements, I would like to update you on the progress we are making with the initiatives we have implemented this year.

The new House system seems to have been a great success and students have reported how they like being part of a tutor group with mixed ages. The House competitions have proved to be extremely popular, and we have had a huge variety of them, including football, netball, dodgeball, limbo, poetry, spelling, ‘university challenge’, and chess. Students have said how much they have enjoyed these events and I think it is wonderful that they are enjoying school events and taking part in activities and competitions that they might not normally take part in, so broadening their experience and developing their team-building skills.

I believe that it is really important for students to be praised for achievement in all areas of endeavour, and to build a culture of students showing pride in their achievements. To this end, we introduced Presentation Evenings for the ex-year 11 and ex-year 13 students this year, in which the students returned to collect their GCSE and A level certificates together with trophies and prizes for individuals who had performed exceptionally well in specific subjects. We have also established Achievement Award assemblies at the end of each full term to celebrate the students’ accomplishments. We have had really positive feedback from parents and students about both of these initiatives.

The new data-tracking systems we have established are providing staff with clearer priorities for intervention work, and the new reporting systems are giving parents and carers a clear picture of how their child is progressing with respect to their personal flight path towards their target grade. Additionally, we have introduced providing reports with written comments once a year for each student, which had not previously been in place at Prince William. Recently, we have added in the averaging of the ‘Attitude to Learning’ scores on reports, and are rewarding students who have an average of 3.5 or higher with a free non- uniform day. We hope this will motivate students to improve their level of effort in lessons still further.

Parents and carers have commented on how much they appreciate the changes to the reporting system, as well as the introduction of Insight, which enables them to see ‘real time’ information about their child’s attendance, behaviour and achievements. We have also offered various information evenings, such as how to support your child with their revision, and parents and carers have again been very positive in their feedback about those, so we will continue to offer them next year and try to have more earlier on in the year to maximise their impact.

The Ofsted report noted that many of the initiatives we started in September were good, but needed time to embed and have impact. We have therefore continued with these, and they are now beginning to show the impact intended. For example, the new marking policy, which was introduced in September and praised by Ofsted because it encourages students to respond to the teachers’ feedback and so demonstrate understanding of it, has become increasingly embedded and was seen in around 70% of books during lesson drop-ins in the last half term. Obviously, we strive to make this 100%!

One key aspect of the school’s work that Ofsted highlighted as needing improvement was that of the progress of disadvantaged students. Again, we had already implemented many strategies in this area, and have continued with those and added to them as the year has progressed. The impact of this can be seen in the reduced attainment gap between disadvantaged and non- disadvantaged students in most year groups. We also commissioned an external advisor to conduct a Pupil Premium review, which took place between 19th – 21st March, and hope to gain further ideas from the resulting report about how to impact on this important area further.

Our continuous drive to reduce low-level disruption is having an impact too, as drop-in data indicates nearly 80% of lessons in the last half term had no low level disruption. However, we are well aware that there is a great deal more work to do with this area, and we will continue to work relentlessly on improving the quality of learning for our students. We have also been responding to the need to tackle bullying more effectively, and the lowered number of incidents suggests that we are making some progress with this. However, many of the boys still seem to want to ‘play fight’ at break times and lunch times; this can create a very bad impression to others and get out of hand quite easily. Changing this culture of behaviour is proving to be a very slow process, but one we are determined to transform, and we ask for your support as we continue to work on this persistently and as consistently as possible.

As part of our work with improving students’ welfare and behaviour, the school has also started working towards attaining the Inclusion Quality Mark. This involves coordinated work across several staff, and also involves parents. We are very grateful to the parents who have volunteered to be part of this work, appreciate their contributions and ideas, and are glad that they are also enjoying being involved.

In addition to all of this, I have been working on a very large piece of work reviewing the curriculum offer and staffing for next year. The Trust is supportive of my plans, and as a result, the school is now in the process of recruiting staff for next year in order to increase the number of teaching staff we employ. The ambition is that temporary and supply staff will not be needed next year, apart from for occasional sickness cover, and that all lessons will be taught by subject specialists. If successful, this will have a huge impact on the quality of teaching and learning across the whole school. I am acutely aware that we may not be able to recruit quality staff for every post I want to fill, but I am starting the process early, and am optimistic that I will be successful in appointing a significant number of the additional staff I want. We have already successfully recruited two additional, members of staff who will be starting after Easter: Mrs Minoughan, who will be our new Director of Sixth Form and Mrs Bartlett who will be our new Assistant Principal (Maths). These additional staff will provide improved capacity to the leadership of the school, enabling the members of the Senior Leadership Team, who have been managing these areas, to be able to focus fully on their key areas of responsibility.

One area with which the school has not made substantial progress is that of student attendance. This is still far lower than it should be, and the number of students with very poor attendance (less than 80%) is growing. Good attendance not only helps students to achieve better at school, as they don’t create gaps in their understanding and knowledge due to absences, but also builds resilience and reliability into their mindset, which is important if they are to thrive in the adult world of work. Similarly, many students still arrive to school late quite regularly, which again has a negative impact on their learning (as tutor time is used as a short lesson) and embeds a poor habit which will not help them prosper in the adult workplace. We ask that parents support us in achieving the very best we can for our students by getting their children to school every day they possibly can, and on time.

The examination season is rapidly approaching, and Year 11s have just completed their second set of mocks. They have undertaken these exams very well, behaving in an exemplary manner throughout. We introduced giving them buttered toast in the mornings before each exam, so that no one had to try to sit through an exam feeling hungry, and it was extremely popular! We will therefore repeat this for the GCSEs this summer. The Year 13 students are also preparing for the exam season in a mature manner and we wish both year groups the very best of luck.

Finally, I would like to thank parents and carers for their continued support, and especially thank the many who take the time to email the school with thanks and positive feedback about the work we are doing: it is greatly appreciated.

Mrs Dormor

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Eleanor Taylor

As one of the youngest members of the squad who travelled to Sochi for the European Fencing Championships Eleanor had an amazing life experience. Travelling out during the spell of bad weather in the UK the women’s cadet epee squad ended up being delayed in Moscow arriving in Sochi a day later than expected and disrupting their preparations.

The fencing was, as expected, tough but Eleanor fought her way through to the knockout stages. She achieved this by beating a Polish fencer, ranked 12th in Europe, who had recently won one of the European circuit events in Krakow. In her Last 64 knockout bout Eleanor fought well against the 13th seed from Czechoslovakia. With the score 7-9 Eleanor was well in the contest before the experience of her opponent told. The eventual score was 8-15 to be placed 53rd.

A couple of days later, Eleanor joined her teammates in the team competition. In a close first fight the GB team, seeded 11th, lost a tight match 41-45 to the 6th seeds Romania. Romania went on to win a Bronze medal. A second close loss to Sweden (41-45) was followed up by wins against Belarus (45-42) and Finland (45 – 38) to give a final team placing of 13th.

The cadet team managed to get home safely from Sochi and have even been re-united with their fencing equipment that the airline managed to leave in Moscow! All in all it seems they had an amazing trip to a country very different to the UK.

In between revising and sitting the Y11 mocks Eleanor is preparing for the World Championships in Verona, Italy. Again, as Eleanor still has another season to compete in the U-17 Cadet age group, she will be one of the youngest in the GB squad. For this championship Eleanor will fly out on the 31st March, competing on the 2nd April. There is no U- 17 team competition at the Worlds so all the focus will be on the individual event. Best of luck Eleanor!

http://www.fencingverona2018.com/

http://www.britishfencing.com/GBR/2018_cadet_world_championships_selection/

Belgium and the World War One Battlefields: March 2018

The Battlefields Trip was a breath taking experience. It let us students really imagine what it would have been like for those poor soldiers who fought and died for our country.

On our first of three days we visited Ypres in Belgium and saw lots of different memorials, a museum, and trenches and visited a Belgium chocolate shop.

On the second day we visited the area where the Battle of the Somme took place. When we were there we visited different cemeteries and memorials such as the National Canadian memorial for the missing, the Canadian trenches and also a tower.

One of my favourite places of those we visited was the Menin gate, which is a memorial, dedicated to the missing British and Commonwealth soldiers. Every night there is a service to remember these soldiers and we were lucky enough to witness that. It really made me think about how they gave their lives for us. Another place, which was interesting, was the preserved World War One trenches at Vimy Memorial Park because we got to stand where the soldiers were and think to ourselves how they must have been feeling, we also got a tour guide who took us through the trenches and into the underground mines, this helped us to visualise what the soldiers would have experienced. We also went to the Thiepval memorial, which is the biggest British memorial for those who died fighting for us.

Overall I thought that the Battlefields trip was an incredible experience that helped me and all the other students get a clearer understanding of what those poor soldiers went through for our country.

Ellie McLair: Year 9

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Rock Challenge 2018: “We’re All Mad Here”

For our 2018 entry into the Rock Challenge, “We’re all mad here”, we devised a performance based on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Working alongside a crew of 112 students, Miss Jessop and me, along with our incredible students, created, staged and styled the performance with a view to outdoing our 2017 effort. Throughout 16 weeks of rehearsals the students worked extremely hard to learn all of the movement and added in lots of their own.

We must say a big thank you to the entire team who supported us. Whether it was by knitting a variety of cakes for the tea party, (especially Mrs Dunn who spent hours sewing it all together!) our crew team who worked tirelessly all day and were the only all student crew backstage on the night - you were amazing – and, having learned from our previous entry that costume and make up play a significant part in the performance, the styling team who created some wonderful looks.

On the day our students represented PWS in an outstanding manner and this was recognised by the other schools and Rock Challenge team; we were awarded the ‘Spirit of Rock Challenge’ award. We are particularly proud of the students for this extremely pleasing outcome!

As ever, we had a great day and had the support of the great staff that accompanied us. We also owe a massive “thank you” to all the families who made the long journey down to support us; we are very grateful and hope to see you all again next year. We have been asked many times already but we can happily confirm we will be entering a team again next year. Watch this space...

Awards Won: Janome Award of Excellence for Costuming Character, Rock Challenge Award for School Community Support, Stage Coach Award for Visual Enhancement, Be Your Best Foundation Award of Excellent for Video Performance, ACRO Criminal Records Office Award of Excellence for Set Design and Function, Be Your Best Foundation Award for Positive Inclusion and the Hertfordshire Police Award for Spirit of Rock Challenge.

Science Block News:

Students, teachers and technicians are greatly looking forward to the completion of the new science block this academic year. This marvelous building will give opportunities for both the students and the teachers to study and grow in a spacious, attractive and calm environment.

Some of the more interesting features include large glass screens between different areas of the block, which will contain artwork with a strand of DNA representing Biology, a periodic table representing Chemistry and a photograph of sub atomic particles streaming out of an oxygen nucleus representing Physics. There will also be atria to let in natural light in order to reduce energy costs. In the same vein, the roof will be a green roof and will shortly be covered in a sedum blanket. Heating will is also green being powered by source heat pumps, rather than traditional boilers, and there are some solar panels, which will generate electricity reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.

Mr Woodward has fielded many questions from excited students on the progress of building work and the likely moving in date. Latest pictures of the gas and water being installed show that the building is really coming along now. Mr Clifford has also been using his photography skills to put together a montage of the building progress. Check out the website area on the new science block for all the latest details.

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Year 12 History: The Imperial War Museum and Houses of Parliament

On the 24th January 2018, Mrs Ashworth and Mrs Bennett led a Sixth Form History trip to London. We visited the Imperial War Museum to experience the Holocaust Exhibition, and The Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

The exhibition was very moving and educational, which showcased a side of the Holocaust we had not before seen, making for a very poignant and eye-opening experience. There were many elements to the exhibition that made it such a affecting time for us all, such as the wooden cattle carriage used to transport Jewish prisoners to the concentration camps. Within the carriage there was a wealth of information about how the Jews were treated on their journey; passengers were left with one bucket to use for the toilet, which would over flow, leaving the carriage in an atrocious state. We also looked at a model of Auschwitz and some of the items used there: we saw an operating table used by Nazi’s to torture children, disabled people and others considered weak.

Whilst walking around the exhibition we met an elderly lady who had a very heartfelt story to tell us. Her husband was the last surviving member of his family in the Holocaust and the lady had feared that people would start forgetting about The Holocaust as generations go on. However, she was very warmed to see our Sixth Form at the museum ensuring that young people were still being educated on The Holocaust. The Imperial War Museum was fantastic to look around and we had a very educational, solemn and memorable experience there which highlighted to us as History students the importance of educating others on The Holocaust and the harrowing torture that millions suffered at the hands of the Nazi Party, a torture that seems almost incomprehensible to us now.

The second half of our trip was spent at The Houses of Parliament. Upon arrival, we were taken into the education centre where we were led into Parliament. Our tour guide informed us of some of the history of the building; as we sat on the stairs of one of Parliament’s biggest rooms we learnt that Henry VIII used to play tennis and squash in that very room.

Walking through Parliament is an experience that we won’t forget; there is immense detail in the interior and the statues of some of our previous Prime Ministers. It was very interesting to see the statues of some of the Prime Ministers we’d been studying such as Gladstone and Disraeli, it was also interesting to know we were walking through their previous workplace. Our Sixth Form were lucky enough to be taken into the viewing gallery of the Houses of Commons where we got to watch a debate live. Coincidently, our local MP Tom Pursglove was present at the debate and even mentioned Oundle in his speech!

Following the debate, we took part in a workshop at the Education Centre where we took on the role of party leaders and were educated on the different voting systems that our country has experienced. This linked very closely with our British Politics course in our studies at school, which made it all the more engaging.

Our trip to London was a really interesting day; we had two unforgettable experiences that benefitted us in our A- Level studies massively. Politics and Nazi Germany are the two courses that we study at A-Level, two subjects that I feel are very relevant and important to study to this day. If the opportunity ever arises, I encourage all students to visit these two remarkable aspects of our history.

Francesca Herring: Year 12

Fantastic Fencing:

Fencing at PWS has been progressing well with school fencers competing at numerous competitions and qualifying for GBR and Commonwealth representation through the term.

Leading the way were Maisie McCormack, Rachael Lever and Eleanor Taylor all representing Great Britain at European Cadet (Under 17) Circuit Events, with Eleanor going on to compete at the Cadet European Championships where she came 53rd out of a field of 80. A more detailed report of this event can be found earlier in this edition of the newsletter.

Rachael Lever, ranked 1st in Scotland, is in line for selection as part of the Scottish Team for both the Cadet and Junior (Under 20) Commonwealth Championships taking place in Newcastle this July, where she will be joined by Eleanor Taylor for the England Cadet team.

More locally there has been even more success with County Youth Championship titles for Maisie McCormack, Heila Pearson, Rachael Lever and Toby Tinsley this term, with Ellie Tinsley also putting in a medal winning performance.

What is also extremely impressive is how well such young fencers (15 or 16) from the school are doing at Senior level, with the following rankings for three school fencers in the Senior Women's British Rankings.

21 - Rachael Laver

32 - Maisie McCormack

41 - Ellie Taylor

The one big disappointment for the term was the cancellation of the British School Team Championships, which was cancelled due to snow during the bad weather spell. With the school having won two British titles in 2017, we are hoping that the 2018 event will be re-arranged at a time when our teams are available. In addition, a match against Uppingham was lost to the same conditions, which we will hope to re-arrange in the Summer term.

Positive Attitude to Learning:

In addition to the achievement assemblies that have been introduced this year as a way to recognise the positive accomplishments of our students academic, sporting and musical fields, to name but a few, we have also sought to reward those individuals who maintain a positive attitude towards learning in all that they do.

In this way we are recognising the daily effort that goes into making such great strides forwards whether it be by engaging positively in class discussion, completing homework to an exceptional standard or supporting peers in their learning.

As such, reports now measure an average attitude to learning score and we reward those students with a consistently positive score with a free mufti day with numbers so far standing at:

Year 7 = 46 students, Year 8 = 41 students, Year 10 = 55 students and Year 11 = 60 students.

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018 Auschwitz: We all have a choice. Sam Gerry and Harry James: Year 12

Some lessons cannot be taught in the classroom, they must be experienced, they must be felt and one must become fully immersed within it. On the 8th of March, Harry James, and myself participated in a trip, which would inevitably change the way in which we viewed the world. An early start and an equally early flight from East Midlands airport would see us taken to Krakow, Poland, to embark on a visit to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz Birkenau.

However, before we visited the camps we were first reminded of the life of civilians in Poland before the war. Oswiecim is a small town located some 37 miles west of Krakow and is home to the infamous Auschwitz I.

As we walked around the market square it bore a distinct relation to Oundle. It was an ordinary place, where ordinary people went about their ordinary lives, at least at face value, but the reality was far from the case. Not a single Jewish person lives in Oswiecim, despite its pre-war population having a rich Jewish community and even a grand Synagogue, which lived side by side by side with the Catholic Church. This put things into perspective showing the true extent of the Holocaust legacy.

We then moved on to Auschwitz I camp. Initially two things struck a chord with everyone on the trip. Firstly, the scale: in such a relatively small place stood so many compact buildings, towering over each individual in observance and making us all feel no bigger than a pin. Second was the normality of it. The camp is situated in the middle of a town, surrounded by a pizzeria and a hotel, something so unnatural as a death camp placed in the centre of a town as if it were just another building created an antithesis, one we found to be incomprehensible.

As we further explored the camp the cruelties became more and more overwhelming. Upon entrance is a sign, which reads 'Arbeit Macht Frei’ – ‘Work sets you free’. Yet this was little but a cruel joke, as the hundreds of thousands of souls who entered that gate would never see liberty again, with their rights and freedom taken away, they were exploited, violated, and murdered. Walking through the camp you developed a feeling of the level of unnaturalness of it all, no birds sang, hairs stood on end and all that is natural was absent.

One of the buildings was home to possessions of the prisoners. Amongst them were children’s clothes, boy’s shorts and girl’s skirts, the inhumanity they had suffered did not adjust for age or gender, shoes which were once used on a daily basis to go to work, or school now lay in a display cabinet, anonymously piled up with thousands of others. Human hair was on display, 70 years ago it may have belonged to a young child, whose biggest care in the world was football, or their studies, now it just lay there, as a reminder to what once was, and the potential wasted.

Walking through the gas chambers themselves was the most daunting experience of the day. The walls were riddled with scratch markings, which helpless individuals, no different to you or I, made in a situation of which they would be aware they were taking their last breaths. A small port at the top would see the entrance of Zyklon- B, the deadly chemical used to kill so many.

Following what can only be described as a harrowing experience we moved on to the most iconic scene of the Holocaust; Auschwitz Birkenau. What strikes you upon arrival is the intent, it was a ‘factory of death.’ A train line runs from the gate right through the camp to the end where the gas chambers once stood waiting. People would leave these trains after an horrific journey to be callously slaughtered only a few moments later, the iconic tower at the entrance sent a chill down the spines of all those present. It would have been the last of the outside world so many saw.

To walk around Birkenau is to gain perspective on its size and its vastness. Barrack upon barrack stood there, immortalised in time. It is impossible to fully appreciate the evil of the camps; there is no word in the English language that does it justice. To be there, to see, to feel, that truly explains Auschwitz. It truly shows what happens when mankind pushes and surpasses moral boundaries. Even then, we went on a, relatively warm, winter day 70 years after the camps were liberated, with not a SS officer in sight. To understand what the prisoners suffered is impossible, only they will ever understand the true horrors.

Despite this on a day of such loss, such horror and shock, came a sign of hope. Accompanying us from the LFA (Lessons from Auschwitz’s) was a Rabbi, from London. At the end of the day he lead a ceremony. This took place at the end of the track, a matter of meters away from the former gas chambers, the very spot where his own grandfather had been murdered 70 years prior, where he recited Jewish prayers in Hebrew. This showed defiance, that hatred would never win, that so long as men died, liberty would never perish.

He spoke of how we had a choice in life; to turn a blind eye or stand up and make a change. The perpetrators of the Holocaust were not monsters from another world; they were human beings. And those human beings had a choice. It gave contemporary relevance to the Holocaust. We, as citizens of the moderns world, have a choice: to blindly follow and not ask questions, to allow something like the Holocaust to happen again or to stand up when we see wrong and to make a choice to change the world for the better, not the worse.

Charlie Chaplin famously said: ‘We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.’ These words were spoken over half a century ago, yet bare relevance to both the Holocaust and modern life, we have the choice to make sure that today’s tyrants do not repeat yesterday’s actions. We have a choice, which we should not take for granted; as the choices of so many were taken away from them during the Holocaust.

House of Commons Special Reception: The Holocaust Educational Trust

On the 16th January 2018, we were invited to attend a special reception at the House of Commons in the Speaker’s House. This was as a part of our work with the Holocaust Educational Trust, following the ‘Lessons From Auschwitz’ project, which we completed in May 2017 and became ambassadors for the trust.

At the reception, we were among other student ambassadors, regional ambassadors, and executives of the Holocaust Educational Trust, Holocaust survivors and MPs. It was an honour to be in such esteemed such important company and to be given the opportunity to hear their speeches and to meet them. We heard several inspiring speeches from a Holocaust survivor, Freda Wineman BEM, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, Karen Pollock MBE, a regional ambassador, Nick Robinson and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Sajid Javid.

The event was held in honour of the trust’s 30-year anniversary and to celebrate the work of all those involved. As ambassadors of the trust, we plan to continue our work in promoting their aims and working towards an increased awareness of the Holocaust. In advance of Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday the 27th January 2018, we delivered assemblies across the school and hope that we are to promote the legacy of remembrance others have built.

Caitlin Griffiths and Zach Normington: Year 13

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Year 12 Work Experience and Destinations Guidance:

Work Experience: Mr Snelling and Miss Aspland had a fantastic day visiting some of our Year 12 Students out on work experience. It was a very varied day visiting Thrapston Primary School, Bletsoes, Polebrook Nursing home, Elm Heritage of Oundle, Oundle Primary School, Oundle Fitness, and to finish, we visited Hill Farm, Benefield just in time to watch Isabella Ross assist in the birth of two lambs. We are extremely proud of the hard work all our Year 12’s have put in to these excellent opportunities. All of the employers have been thrilled with the effort and work ethic they have shown. Well done!

School Sports Destinations Event: Year 12 students had a destinations Day 10 November 2017. The following activities were organised as a part of this day:

Partnership • Student Finance Talk from Miss Verity Law (Northampton University) • Personal Statement writing Clare Swales & Mr Radford Hudson (Peterborough University The School Sports Partnership has provided Centre) a wide range of activities for primary and • Gap Year Presentation from Gap360 Mr Matt Latimer secondary school pupils, and seen • Student interviews unprecedented success. Aiden Fallon and his team from a host of professional backgrounds; NHS Management, Over the past term, 1199 pupils from 106 Hospitality, Medicine and Career Advisors conducted the interviews. teams have participated in School Games competitions including netball, athletics, Much of the feedback from our Year 12 students was very complimentary of the whole boccia, volleyball, dodgeball and table experience. tennis, refereed and umpired by 60 pupils from local schools, including PWS. The The school will soon be working with an enterprise advisor. This is a part of an agreement partnership won 10 medals at the County between SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership) and PWS. The SEMLEP Winter Games, the highest total in the Careers and Enterprise programme is a strategic level employer-engagement programme to history of the competition, something help schools facilitate the inspiration and preparation of young people through careers and which has been achieved through the hard enterprise activity for the world of work in the South East Midlands. work and commitment of teachers across the partnership, well supported by PWS PE Oxbridge Event: Kathryn Dillon from Cambridge University came to Prince William School to staff and young leaders. deliver a presentation to a select group of our Year 11, 12 and 13 students.

Recently Mr Owen took sports leaders to Roisin Peberdy wrote: “I found the talk very useful in that it provided me with all the run a netball tournament at Weldon necessary information I needed to know to apply to Oxbridge and what was necessary to do Primary School, part of our commitment to so. Detailed information, about the specific application process that is unique to Oxford and developing important relationships with Cambridge as universities, was explained clearly as were the differences and similarities primary schools across the district, as well between the two of them, like the SAQ part of the application, unique to Cambridge. There giving our own pupils a variety of external was also useful information that will help in any application, as an outline for an ideal personal experiences to support their studies. We statement and how much of that statement should be related to the course, rather than now move into our summer calendar, hobbies, so that any university will see how motivated each individual is about their featuring cycling, tennis, cricket, athletics, prospective course. Finally, the importance of extra- and super-curricular activities was hockey, rounders, goalball, golf, climbing highlighted to us as it is these activities and extra reading that will potentially separate us and much more. Information on the School from the other candidates and give us an extra boost in the application process. I found that Sports Partnership’s work, and our one of the best parts of the talk was that it did not focus specifically on the high grades competition calendar, can be found online necessary to be accepted into Oxbridge, which I have experienced in previous talks, but rather at www.northamptonshiresport.org/cot- encouraged us to apply as it outlined every good quality of the two universities without ssp. making them seem too daunting in the shadow of their international reputation.”

Ben Garton: British Swimming Championships

Despite Edinburgh having its first ever “red” weather warning and worst snow in over 12 years, Ben and his family managed to avoid the travel delays and cancellations and attend the British Swimming Championships as planned.

Ben swam in both the 100m and 50m freestyle events, securing personal best times in both. It was a fantastic experience for him to swim on such a big stage with some of the UK’s fastest junior and senior swimmers like Adam Peaty, Chris Walker-Hebborn and James Guy.

His results put him in a good position going forward to the national event this summer, which is an invitation only based competition. The top 50 swimmers in each age group for each event, are selected based on times achieved at open meets swam within a qualifying window between 1st March and 28th May.

He is training hard now to ensure he is selected for this meet – best of luck Ben!

PWS Parents and Friends Association:

During the autumn term, the PFA set about raising funds to purchase a new laser cutter for the Design department. With old equipment too expensive to repair, and tight budgets making a quick replacement unlikely, we looked to the community for help. An approach was made to local design and technology businesses for financial support, as well as setting up a MyDonate page for parents and friends to contribute. To our delight, many businesses and parents were only too happy to help. Within 4 months the money was raised and the department's new laser cutter is now in place. As one business commented "our future engineers and designers are in your schools, and we were happy to contribute towards helping that talent develop.” Thank you to all parents and businesses who made this purchase possible.

The PFA supports not only the engineers and designers but those of a literary disposition too. In March, as a part of World Book Day celebrations, the PFA hosted a book fair in the Library and, in doing so, earned more than £200 in books for the school – a much welcomed resource!

The PFA also supported the school's participation in Rock Challenge by contributing towards the transport costs of running the students to and from the event. We also provided refreshments at the fantastic 3-night run of “The Wizard of Oz”, which raised over £500 for school funds.

Finally, on Friday 9th March, the PFA held it's annual Raffle and Quiz Night. Over 100 parents, students and staff formed 16 quiz teams to battle it out over such conundrums as the latest addition to Olympic sports, musical introductions and exactly where Ashby de la Zouch is located? Mrs Giddings, along with Miss Clifton, Miss O'Connor and friends, emerged triumphant on the night. The raffle prizes were also drawn and thanks must go to all of our parents who generously bought tickets over the past few weeks. The whole event raised £2000 towards school projects and our CRY screening, noted elsewhere in this edition of the newsletter. Thanks also to Ross Kirkley, our quizmaster, and to local band Disarray for providing the live music.

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Lewis Horne: CRY Fundraising

Every week in the UK 12 apparently fit and healthy young people die from undiagnosed cardiac conditions and, while screening cannot identify all young people at risk, there is very convincing evidence in support of the benefits of early screening.

However, screening can be an expensive process. The PFA have funded subsidised cardiac screening for 100 students this month with a view to providing peace of mind and raising awareness of Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Equally, Lewis Horne (Year 11) is due to complete a half-marathon on 28th April to raise further funds for CRY and in memory of his friend, Ben Walker, who sadly passed last year. He will complete his 13.1 miles along the coastal paths of Pembrokeshire where Ben’s passion for athletics, and indeed all sporting pursuits, will be at the forefront of his mind as he runs.

Lewis has a Just Giving page through which donations can be made, so far he has surpassed his target of £750 and has raised over £1800!

If you are able, please visit Lewis’ Just Giving page to make a donation to a very worthy cause and one that will be forever dear to all of us at PWS.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lewis-horne02

Italy Ski Trip:

During February half term a party of 42 students and staff from Prince William School visited the Italian Ski Resort of Passo Tonale in the Dolomites for a week’s skiing and snowboarding.

Passo Tonale links the regions of Trentino and Lombardy and has a great compact lift system with little to no queuing and the Hotel Piandineve is within easy reach of the lifts.

There’s a new gondola too, that took the students from the bottom of the hotel all the way to the Presena Glacier. The snow sure slopes ran mainly above the tree line and we got long hours of sunshine throughout the week.

The Hotel Piandineve was a self-contained base from where we enjoyed the snow-covered pistes. All of the guest bedrooms had private facilities and comfortably slept three to five students per room. The Buffet style meals were served in the hotel's spacious restaurant provided the students with an excellent variety of meals.

The students relaxed in the evening in front of the TV, recharging their batteries, in the games room or amusement arcade or in one of the two discos.

If your child would be interested in skiing in 2019 please email Mr Rielly [email protected] for more details.

Year 11 and Year 13 Revision Evening: The Lead Practitioners held a successful revision evening on Wednesday 7th March this term. It consisted of Mrs. Pehlay talking about useful revision apps, Miss Abbiss talking about practical revision methods and Miss Melrose talking through how to effectively process and retain information. Some feedback from Y11 students included:

‘Personally I found the evening very helpful, not just for myself but for my parents as well. They were given useful information about how to support me with my revision. The teachers that led the evening conducted themselves well and gave us good information to take home with us to use.’ Paula Cullington 11C

‘My mum and I found the revision evening really useful. All three teachers covered a large amount of tips for revising. Mrs Pehlay talked about apps that consisted of making flashcards, mind maps and revision timetables that are really helpful. I found Quizlet and Get Revising the most helpful. She also covered three ways that people learn e.g. visual, kinaesthetic and auditory learning. Miss Melrose spoke about short term memory and long term memory. I learnt that going over things repetitively and writing about some things I have learnt in the previous lessons are effective. Miss Abbiss spoke about ways to revise like sticking things up around the house that are colourful and easy to see.

My mum learnt that just reading things is not a good way to revise. I found the night useful because I found out ways to revise practically as I am a kinaesthetic learner. For example: sticking up things around the house and writing songs for the topics that I find challenging. Aiden Painter 11H

Mrs. Pehlay’s top tips on how to revise effectively:

Firstly, go onto the PWS website and check out my revision guide (look at tips and tricks on how to revise). Secondly, start downloading some useful apps (also on the website) http://www.princewilliamschool.co.uk/page/?title=Revision+Tips&pid=428 to help you organise your revision.

Miss Melrose’s top tips on how to revise effectively: The memory game. The biggest categories of memory are short-term and long-term memory (STM & LTM). LTM is concerned with being able to retrieve the information when needed. Episodic LTM refers to keeping a record of our personal experiences e.g. a wedding is remembered because we experienced heightened emotion. Semantic LTM is can be thought of as 'textbook learning'. This is what our learners are trying to do in preparation for the exams. It is the reason we know zebras have stripes or the capital of France is Paris.

Top tip for converting STM into LTM: Most learning that takes place during lesson 1 can be forgotten by the time Lesson 2 is started. It is important to be concise and the formation of retrieval books is a useful tool to aid memory. End of lesson 1: write down 3 things learned and 3 questions at the back that can be answered later. End of lesson 2: write down 3 things that have been learned and write 3 questions at the back of the book. Change colour pen and answer the questions from lesson 1. This can continue throughout the day. Managed well, this can be a quick way of building up revision notes on the go.

Miss Abbiss’ top tips on how to revise effectively: There are a variety of different revision strategies that students can utilise on the lead up to exams. Some they can complete individually and others that can be completed with friends. A mixture of both types of revision will give students opportunities to challenge themselves and their understanding of the subject. Revision is best completed in small chunks to avoid overloading information. Some of them are:

Individual: • Draw diagrams/pictures from your notes • Write descriptions of diagrams • Answer questions from the revision guide Group: • Get pieces of A4 paper with key topics written on the top. Each person writes something about that topic on the paper and pass it to another. Keep passing the paper until it is full. Afterwards, check you understand everything on the paper, what you don’t know you need to revise further. • Talk-Listen-repeat - Face a partner and talk on a subject for 30 seconds (they might want to write it down first). Now swap. Repeat trying to get more key words into the 30 seconds without looking at their notes.

Please follow the link above to the PWS Website for more practical revision.

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Girls PE

We have had a successful start to girls’ extra curricular pursuits this year, with wins in Netball, Hockey, Basketball and Football. We have had fixtures with Oundle School as well as our usual fixtures against other schools throughout the district.

Basketball for Year 7 has been excellent with the girls winning every match with ease - well done girls!

The Netball teams have seen their fair share of wins and losses but nevertheless it's always great fun and good experience for the girls with opportunities to reflect on performance after each game.

The Year 9 and 10 football team won every match played in the district but just missed out on winning a tournament held by Peterborough United FC on Wednesday 14th March. After winning every game with 2 or 3 goals to 0 the girls lost on penalties to Nene Park Academy with a final score of 1-1 despite having already beaten them twice. The Year 7 and 8 girls tournament is on Wednesday 28th March, hopefully we will come away with a win!

A big thank you to all the girls involved in extra-curricular sporting activities since September, have a lovely Easter

Rugby Report: The Year 7 and Year 8 rugby teams both made it through to the county finals. Having placed second in the regional qualifiers back in November it was a long wait for the finals against the winning schools from across the county.

Both teams headed off to Northampton School for Boys for the games where they acquitted themselves well, scoring tries and never giving up. Whilst they did not come away with any silverware, maybe due to the long gap and lack of training, all players improved in every game.

The Year 8 team also travelled to Northampton Saints’ Franklins Gardens to take part in the regional leg of the 7's tournament, the boys came away with 2 wins and a draw out of their 6 games with a finishing place of 9/16, not too bad for a team that rarely trains and has never played 7's before.

Both teams have huge potential; more time spent training together and more time playing rugby and hopefully next year we can finish a little higher.

World Book Week: Celebrating Books

During the week of February 26 to March 2, the school celebrated books and reading, the highlight being World Book Day on March 1. Our librarian, Mrs Galer, created the display ‘ Flying High through reading’. In it each student from Year 7 – 11 wrote the name of their favourite book on a book butterfly. Each butterfly represented the four houses. On the butterflies students wrote the name of their book and a word to describe it. Jack Rees wrote about his book, ”The Maze Runner” with the description of “action- packed!” while Abigail Engel’s favourite book was “The Awful Auntie” by David Wallliams. She said it was humour mixed with tension and an excellent read. All together there are 400 butterflies around the library. As well, during the week the library ran different competitions. The school’s favourite book as “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and a close second was “The Fault in Our Stars”.

The film “Inkheart” was shown as, over the course of two weeks, 50 students enjoyed a movie about reading and exploring the imaginary worlds that we find in literature. Wednesday was the book quiz that had 16 teams entered. The wining team was Fort Weebs with a prize of a £10 Amazon voucher for each member. The team who won the best name was the Ravens of Change. Finally, Friday was the scavenger hunt where students ran all over the school at break and lunch to find teachers wearing their favourite book badge. The winners were Josh Hales and Luke Petit; they found 20 teachers throughout the day.

A great addition to this weak was the PFA running a book fair that took in £500. From this the school won £200 in free books that are now in the library waiting to be taken home and read.

The book week was a huge success. Mrs Galer is to be congratulated for all her hard work and dedication. Without her enthusiasm for promoting reading and the library, this would not have been the huge success it was.

Next year will be bigger and better. Keep Reading!

Follow u s @PWSnews Issue 11: March 2018

Year 13 Awards Evening

Last term we gathered to celebrate the many and varied successes of our Year 11 cohort from 2017. This term it was the turn of our brilliant Year 13 cohort. On a frosty evening in early January we gathered in the Library, made elegant and warm by the ever-resourceful ladies of the PFA. And it was there, amidst the candle lit glow of the Library, that we applauded the incredible successes our Year 13 students from 2017 had achieved.

The Primrose Art Gallery Prize for Year 13 Art – Emily Greenwood The Oundle and Thrapston Veterinary Surgery Prize for Year 13 Biology – Holly Bayliss The CBS Internet Prize for Year 13 Business Studies – Samuel King The Oundle News Prize for Year 13 Chemistry – Flora Woollard The Oundle School of Ballet Prize for Year 13 Dance – Maddy Kirk The Nene Local Magazine Prize for Year 13 English Language – Anja Van Der Sterren The Oundle festival of Literature Prize for Year 13 English Literature – Emily Greenwood The Oundle Rotary Club Prize for Year 13 French – Maria Potter The Joanne Cowdery – Travel Counsellor – Prize for Year 13 Geography – Flora Woollard The Oundle Historical Society Prize for Year 13 History – Charlie Steele The Bulley Davey Prize for Year 13 Mathematics – Charlie Steele The Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust Prize for Year 13 Music – Lorna Calvert The Matrix College of Counselling and Psychology Prize for Year 13 Psychology – Anna Croft The Judith Day Optometrist Prize for Year 13 Physics – Matthew Snow The Trevor Jolley Design Prize for Year 13 Religious Studies – Aaron Burrows The AGA Oundle Prize for Year 13 Sociology – Aaron Burrows The Oundle Rotary Club Prize for Year 13 Spanish – Olivia Foster-Wakeling The Woodford and Co Prize for Year 13 Achievement – Sophia Ridden The Principal’s Prize for Year 13 Progress – Holly Bayliss

The Oundle Golf Club Prize for Year 13 Resilience – Anja Van Der Sterren The Oundle Golf Club Prize for Year 13 Attendance – Emily Greenwood The EMLC Academy Trust Prize for Year 13 Leadership – Matthew Snow The Waterland Associates Prize for Year 13 Contribution to the Community – Aaron Burrows

It was lovely to see so many prizes awarded to such a fantastic group of young people and we very much hope that they go on to be as successful in their future endeavours.

Finally special thanks must go out to all of the local businesses and organisations who sponsored an award as well as to Sophie Maslen and the PFA for their hard work in securing such sponsorship as well as their beautiful decoration of the venue and provision of refreshments; a lovely evening was had by all.

Year 13 Awards Evening

From everyone here at PWS, we hope you have a lovely Easter break and we look forward to welcoming students back to school th on Tuesday 17 April.