The Winston Churchill School

Year 8 have been busy in the textiles room with Ms Davies applying an applique design for the front of their cushion cover. The level of challenge was immense, but we are glad to say that year 8 have risen to meet that challenge. Some brilliant creative designs, a room full of fully engaged students and lots achieved. It was great to hear students say how proud they were of themselves and to be really pleased with what they had achieved. We clearly have some budding designers in the making!

The Winston Catering Team has once again demonstrated an excellent range of skills for our Year 10 food students by teaching them to break down and fillet a whole chicken. Students learn skills throughout their time in the kitchen that prepare them for their final practical exams. Huge thank you to Carol and to Kevin for providing the resources and time to work with our students. Mrs Cookson Food Technology Teacher

This week, in the lead up to World Mental Health Day on Saturday the 10th of October, we have been focusing on promoting positive wellbeing at school. Following a wellbeing assembly, students were invited to take part in a different activity each day of the week, aimed at bringing people together and exploring different ways of looking after our emotional wellbeing. On Mindful Monday students were encouraged to make a Wellbeing Pledge, committing to one action they will take to improve their wellbeing. On Talk About it Tuesday students made origami and paper fortune tellers, as an opportunity to learn a new skill, or just to come along and meet some new people. On Wellbeing Wednesday students were invited to a relaxation techniques workshop to learn mindfulness and grounding strategies. On Thoughtful Thursday students wrote words of encouragement on balloons to lift each other up! Finally, on Feel Good Friday, students took part in arts, crafts and games at lunch time to socialise and unwind, ready for the weekend. Ms Hoyte and Ms Hooper Assistant Educational Psychologists

Year 9 have been exploring a wider variety of artistic techniques that influence our world - this Autumn we have been looking at Animation and the art of creating characters and stop motion picture. Our inspiration is the world-famous Tim Burton and his films such as 'The Corpse Bride', 'Nightmare Before Christmas' and 'Alice in Wonderland'. Our students have been recalling their knowledge from year 8 where they practised drawing portraiture. To develop this skill further, they have used Tim Burton's distinct style to edit proportion and features, creating their own gothic character. After watching clips of his films, they identified key traits that make his work so recognisable. Exaggerated features, dark shadowing, swirling forms and macabre themes inspired their own portrait characters. We focused on creating a border to our animated portraits using monochrome pattern and then the students planned and created their own character to fill the centre. For this they chose to use soft pastel, pen or watercolour. After the half term, we will be developing this theme further, exploring themes such as 'down the rabbit hole' to create pieces focused on perspective drawing. The Year 9's have done incredibly well with this scheme of work so far and we look forward to displaying their outcomes.

Year 9, in Mr Wait's geography lessons, have been using a computer simulation to plan to protect people from natural disasters. Mr Wait said: This half term Year 9 have been posed with a number of questions about 'Can geographers.....?'  This week was the turn of 'Can geographers stop natural disasters?'.  Year 9 used a computer simulation to look at planning, predicting and preventing to save lives in the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or tropical storm. We are glad to say that year 9 were great planners and managed to save many lives and settlements in the simulation.

Today we were delighted to hold our first celebration event of year 9, recognising students who have shown an outstanding commitment to our school values. The celebration was for our 3R All-Stars: 89 students who received no behaviour points throughout September. Their positive attitude, responsible choices, and consistent commitment to being Ready, Respectful, and Responsible set a fantastic example for others. Students enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate with sweet treats at breaktime, marking a brilliant start to the academic year. We are incredibly proud of their efforts and the positive contribution they make to our school community every day. Congratulations to all of our September 3R All-Stars. We look forward to celebrating even more of our wonderful year 9s as the year progresses. Well done, everyone and keep up the excellent work. Miss Hazzlewood and Mr Fisher

Languages Department, German Song Project I would like to share some exciting updates form the Languages department on how our Y7 and Y8 German Song project is coming along. As World Mental Health Day is fast approaching, we are on track to deliver a recording of the German song 'Ich bin ich', which is about the importance of being yourself and celebrating individuality. Ahead of our final recording next week, we got together this afternoon for a very productive practice session, and it was lovely to see how confident students were in singing in German, and playing their instruments and how much they enjoyed the session. Everyone was so engaged, and I cannot wait to share the final product of their hard work! Ms Kalinka MFL Department

Join Winston's Primary Experience

At Winston, we are committed to providing students with access to a range of reading resources, which is why we are pleased to be able to offer ePlatform, a digital library for students that provides free access to eBooks. This is something that has been available for students for a while but not enough students know about it, so we want to shout about it!! The benefits of ePlatform Digital Libraries: With ePlatform, your student has 24/7 access to eBooks for free. This is a wonderful extension of our physical school library and allows titles to be checked out at home, over the weekend or during school breaks without worrying about losing or accruing late fees because they automatically return at the end of the loan period. Students of all ages can benefit from ePlatform's reading and comprehension tools. A service like this can benefit struggling or reluctant readers, learning-challenged students, second-language learners, as well as gifted readers alike. · Unique reader customisation with Settings Wizard, across all devices · Introduce students to books above their reading level · Help busy kids find time to read · Professionally curated collection with age restrictions set by school staff · Increase vocabulary and improve pronunciation and comprehension · User friendly for all types of readers & listeners (e.g. reluctant, dyslexic) Students can access ePlatform directly from the student dashboard on Frog. We have our own Winston Library page and students use their school Frog log in (single sign on) to be able to browse and borrow the ebooks available. We are currently in the process of looking into how we can offer audiobooks for the students too, so watch this space... Happy Reading! The Library Team Mrs M Jones Discovery Space Manager

The Year 7 students are all studying an enquiry cycle 'How Dangerous are Acids and Alkalis.' Miss Jackson's students incorporated standard lab practice - familiarising themselves with and using various science equipment - with creating a 'rainbow fizz' which reinforced their learning of the pH scale. Firstly, they clamped a boiling tube in the clamp at an angle, pointing it away from their faces. They poured in 2cm depth of 0.5M Hydrochloric Acid. Next they added a few drops of Universal Indicator solution and watched it turn red to show acid. Skill and precision were required to carefully add just a few drops of saturated sodium carbonate solution with a pipette; too much and it wouldn't work. The mixture gave a satisfying fizz and the sodium carbonate (an alkali) turned dark blue and sank to the bottom and a rainbow gradually appeared in the solution. Ms Jackson/Ms Buttery

This term, Year 10 GCSE PE have been exploring the cardiovascular system in relation to movement and performance. We have looked at the topic in a variety of different ways in order to understand how the blood transportation system works. This has culminated into a visual revision resource that the students to can use ahead of their end of unit topic test. Well done Year 10 - great start to the year! Mrs Kovic Director of Sport

The Winston Eco Team are delighted to have been awarded the Eco Schools Green Flag with distinction for 2026.  The three foci for this year were active travel, biodiversity and healthy living. In addition to the environment education delivered through the curriculum, students enjoyed planting bulbs and seeds, nature walks, observing nature, and a whole week of active travel activities.  Well done to everyone in the school that contributed.

Year 7 students got stuck into a colourful and healthy poke bowl practical. They developed their knife skills while preparing a range of fresh ingredients before creating their own delicious bowl. Students will then be able to apply their skills hen making other dishes.

We were all delighted to welcome 530 Year 6 students to Winston, as part of our transition programme , on Friday 18th September. In mixed school groups they attended a number of lessons and most importantly, had lunch together.  Our catering staff were excellent, checking every child for possible allergies and delivering so many meals in such a short space of time. Teachers had planned interactive sessions, so that children could experience Winston's style of teaching and our new Year 7 students escorted each group and also got involved in the lessons. We hope your children have enjoyed their day and that it has helped them to feel more confident about selecting and attending secondary school. Our Open Evening is on Thursday 24th September.  Doors open at 4.40pm.  Your child will now be able to show you where they were today and share more of the experience with you.