Lucy Manning, (Year 10) has been selected to represent Kent under 16s in the South East Inter Counties Water Polo tournament. She will be playing teams from Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Middlesex. At this age group, teams are mixed. Lucy is the only girl selected by Kent, and is also the only 14 year old, all of her team mates are 15.  Photo to follow.  Congratulations Lucy!

On the night of Monday 30 November, seven old girls will sleep rough, on the floor of Spitalfields Market in London, to raise money for Action for Brazil’s Children Trust (ABC Trust).  The charity helps to improve the lives of over 7 million children who sleep rough every day on the streets of Brazil.

The brave team from the year group of 2002 inlcudes: Georgina Farr, Elaine Burke, Caroline Hyde, Emily Clark, Clare Pelly, Samantha Bonnar and Isobel Stanley.  The girls are looking for sponsorship in order to take part in the challenge and would be delighted to hear from potential benefactors – please contact Georgina Farr on 07967 162405 or 01462 742815, or email georgie_farr@hotmail.com.  For more information about the charity, visit their website at http://www.abctrust.org.uk/

Carey Mulligan has been tipped for an Oscar for her recent debut lead film role in An Education, which was released in the UK on 30 October and in which she plays alongside Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, Alfred Molina and Peter Sarsgaard.  She has been compared to Audrey Hepburn and called "the Sundance It Girl" following the screening at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year.  A boarder at Woldingham between 1999-2003, she has admitted to secretly adding three drama schools to the bottom of her UCAS application form, though was accepted by none!  Her rapid rise to fame, from landing a small role in the film version of Pride and Prejudice, through to An Education – in which her performance has been described as ‘sparkling’ -  has secured her next role, that of Gordon Gekko’s daughter in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street sequel.

On Saturday 10 October our Senior Amaris choir took part in the International Choral Competition in Rimini, Italy.  The numerous rehearsals in the first weeks of term paid off, when they came fifth in the Equal Voices Class, only 13 points behind the winners.  The achievement is even more impressive considering that they were the only school choir taking part, being up against more experienced adult choirs.  Congratulations on this tremendous result!

CYCLE CUBA IN AID OF THE CHILDREN’S TRUST, TADWORTH
NOVEMBER 2010

Nina Jackson, mother of past Woldingham students Portia (1995) and Olivia (1997), is organizing a cycle challenge to take place in Cuba in November 2010, in order to raise funds for The Children’s Trust in Tadworth.

Former Woldingham student, Rachel Bromilow (2003) has successfully graduated from St Andrews University, gaining a Master of Arts (Honours) Second Class (Division 1), in Economics and French (with Ingegrated Year Abroad).  Congratulations on your success, Rachel.

We are delighted to announce our latest series of Dineen Lectures for this year.  Please press the download button for details.

Following their successful training weekend in Buxton, Derbyshire, our challengers headed off to Venezuela in July, having spent many months raising the necessary funds for the final goal of the World Challenge.  Among their exciting ventures, they climbed Mount Roraima, the inspiration behind Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Lost World’ and visited Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world.  It was an experience they will never forget.

Please download the information for U10 Invitational Netball Tournament on Saturday 3 October.

Musicians from the Sixth Form are helping to develop links with local Prep Schools by visiting for an informal concert and workshop.

Pictured are Isabel Cobb, Beatrice Downing and Alice Heywood at Warlingham Park School, where they played for the whole school and answered questions about their instruments and Music at Woldingham.

The girls plan to visit more schools this year as the experience has proved a valuable performing opportunity and a wonderful opportunity to establish a productive relationship with local schools.

Three girls from the Sixth Form visited the Royal Academy of Music with Mr Jensen, a former student of the Academy, and Miss Jones, a current student. The girls were able to observe a masterclass with world renowned singing teacher Diane Forlano, go on a guided tour of the facilities and watch a rehearsal for the Music Theatre course production of Sweet Charity.

All three girls also sang for the Head of Vocal Studies at the Academy, Mr Mark Wildman, who is Mr Jensen’s former teacher from many years ago.  The visit gave the girls a wonderful insight into the life of a conservatoire student.
Pictured are Kate Millett, Scarlett Smith and Charlotte LaThrope.

All the new Year 7 girls took part in practical Music workshops on Friday as part of their induction to the school.

Students and staff are thrilled with this year’s GCSE results, with 68% of all grades achieved being A*/A, representing a 4% improvement on last year.  91% of all grades were A*/A or B.

Once again our girls have demonstrated their ability to excel in the traditionally more difficult subjects, producing outstanding results in Biology, Chemistry and Physics where 93% of all the grades in each subject were A or A* with at least 80% of the grades being A*.

Our special congratulations go to:  Alessandra Kurr from Woldingham, Christina Hulsmann Diamond from Haywards Heath and Natalie Hackmann from Ghana, who each achieved nine A* grades and one A.

Headmistress Jayne Triffitt said: “ I am immensely proud of the girls who richly deserve these results. I would like to pay tribute to the outstanding teachers at Woldingham who work very hard to ensure the success of the pupils.”

Rosanna Stoker, a pupil at Woldingham School has not only secured tremendous results in her A Levels, with three A grades, in Maths, Chemistry and Biology, but has been awarded an Exhibition from Trinity College, London for achieving the highest marks for Grade 8 Solo Acting across the whole country last year.  This is a fantastic achievement, well deserving of our congratulations.

Philippa Winstanley from Oxted was understandably delighted with her A Level Results, achieving 4 A grades in Economics, ICT, Music Technology and Music. These impressive results guarantee her place to study Music at Jesus College Oxford, where she has been awarded the Organ scholarship.  Congratulations Philippa!

Students and staff at Woldingham School are celebrating another year’s superb crop of A level results, with a 100% pass rate across all subjects. These latest impressive figures continue the school’s excellent record and reveal that over 88% of students achieved passes at A - B grades, with four candidates achieving at least 5 ‘A’ Grades  and a further five candidates achieving 4 ‘A’ Grades. Full results will be published shortly

Please press the download button for information relating to the SCAST, benefitting students who were at Woldingham during 2001-2004.

The Dineen Chimteka Trust is hosting a charity golf day on 9 October to which all are welcome.  This is the first of such fund-raising events with the aim of sending Woldingham gap year students to Chimteka in Malawi, Africa, for a six month period helping on the ground.  Details of the charity and the golf day together with an entry form can be found by pressing the download button below.  The event will be held at the Woldingham Golf Club, Halliloo Valley Road, Woldingham, Surrey CR3 7HA.  Non-playing guests are also very welcome to the dinner and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Year 8 have been studying rural-urban migration in Kenya. They have looked at what happens to the people when they arrive in the city of Nairobi and have had the opportunity to build their own shanty to increase their ability to empathise with the situation of the migrants. Below are two excerpts from pieces of travel writing by Year 8 students that highlight the problems and suffering of those who live in Kibera, a shanty settlement 6km outside of the main city.

Sports day this year was held on 27 June in bright, hot sunshine.  Competitive House spirits were high with girls decorating themselves very creatively in their house colours and carrying huge banners which they had made.  Events included hurdling, running, high jump, relays, discus and tug-o-war among others, as the athletes were cheered on loudly and tirelessly by their supporters.

Stuart were triumphant for the second consecutive year with an overall score of 588, Barat following closely with 559, then Duchesne with 538 and Digby with 510. More photos will follow.

All the girls have been working so hard during their recent examinations we decided that their reward would be an impromptu BBQ and Fun Evening to celebrate the end of their examinations. In true Woldingham style the girls rose admirably to the challenge of having fun! However, they could not resist showing off their artistic and sporting prowess, albeit in a slightly unorthodox fashion!

Students from years 9 and 10 involved in exchanges are hosting partners here and travelling abroad.

We have set up two blogs the students are going to run throughout this period at the following addresses:

www.zaragozalive09.blogspot.com
www.bondueslive09.blogspot.com

Please visit the blogs to see where the students are going, their itinerary, what the weather is like over there at the moment, and even to check out today’s front page of a French or Spanish newspaper. When the exchanges start students will be putting photos up on the blog, adding text on what they have been doing, and even recording audio to let you know how they are getting on.

As part of their Geography course the Year 8 students have explored the dynamic landscape and the physical processes that shape it. In particular they have studied the agents of erosion: ice, wind, sea and rivers. Cuckmere Haven in the Seven Sisters country park was a perfect location for the pupils to see a landscape that had been created by the work of the river and sea, but is also continually changing and evolving. The sun shone all day as the wardens of the Wildlife Trust gave us guided tours of the area. Activities such as annotating a field sketch of the area, acting out the process of longshore drift on the pebble beach and measuring the velocity of the river were included.

On what looked like a cold misty day two coaches set off from Woldingham carrying all of Year 9 towards a day of adventure in the beautiful Ashdown Forest.  The girls completed four tasks throughout the day.  In their tutor groups they were trying to accumulate points to be the overall winner.  Those tasks were High tree adventure, archery, team challenge and rock climbing.

The girls worked hard throughout the day with many pushing their boundaries of comfort.  On the whole the groups supported and encouraged each other.  It was good to see girls working together in a team to achieve their goal.

The final team scores were very close but for the second year running Barat were the clear winners.

This is the first year we have had a Year 8 Water sports trip and it was very successful.  We were blessed with fantastic weather including the all important wind.  The girls rose to the challenge in each activity and had a great time.  The activities included windsurfing, dinghy sailing, kayaking and raft building.  I don’t think I have heard so much laughter especially during the sailing of the raft boats, most of which disintegrated within the first few seconds.

A huge well done to Digby House who have raised £2143 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. On Friday the 26th during Digby’s House Assembly they were delighted to handover the giant cheque to the charity co-ordinator from Great Ormond Street.  Well done girls all on all your hard work and effort, the money raised is certainly going to a worthwhile cause.

 

Old Girls’ day on 10 May dawned warm and sunny – perfect weather for the fun-packed day ahead.  We started with coffee and pastries in the Millenium Centre, where everyone gathered from 10.30am.  It was evident that many had not seen their former classmates since they had left the school, as there was huge excitement upon recognising each other.  Some had travelled from Jamaica, Israel and The Netherlands, as well as all corners of the UK.

On the 8th May, Woldingham geographers were set and ready for a "Geog Soc
Quiz" against Caterham. Serious training had taken place amongst the U6
geographers, and Harrie Pinnington was confident about her knowledge of capital cities.

Although they were a year younger than any of their opponents our Year 7 Fencing Team battled  bravely and achieved a very creditable 5th place at the recent British Schools Fencing Competition. Well done to Susie, Susannah, Anna and Cecilia.

The British Schools Fencing Championships were held at Whitgift School on 2 May 2009. Our U16 team – Francesca Maule, Catherine Leatherbarrow and Henrietta Stockdale came a very creditable 3rd. Well done girls.

On Friday 1st May the junior school put on their drama production, the sell out audience were treated to a fantastic performance of the Rudyard Kipling classic The Jungle Book. As usual the girls rose enthusiastically to the occasion under the direction of Phil Young. The costumes and make up were inspired as were the performances. Full report to follow.

The Sixth Form let their hair down before exams begin and enjoy their Masquerade Ball. The teaching staff also feel the need to hide their identities. Is that a 'Phantom' I spy! More photos to follow.

Woldingham School Ski Trip to Heavenly, USA


When you send 51 girls and 7 teachers away skiing for a week, you expect to have fun. But nothing could have prepared me for how enjoyable, how exciting and how exhausting this trip would be. Read Amy Tyler's account of this memorable trip.

One of our Year 9 students has written a very solid article about the global fashion industry.  She has clearly researched her topic thoroughly and gives us all food for thought. Well done Felicity

On Saturday the 21st of March the First XI Hockey Team faced a team of Old Girls who were under the false impression that they would be able to defeat our infinitely superior team! The match was enjoyed by all, in particular the Old Girls who were reunited with their old friends.

A mixture of sunshine and smiles contributed to the excellent atmosphere of the match. The First XI managed to win 7 goals to 2. More importantly Padraig and his colleagues laid on a delicious spread of food whilst the Old Girls were able to reminisce about their memories in particular about their embarrassing hockey experiences.   Hopefully this is the first of what is to be an annual event and we can look forward to facing the Old Girls, once again next year. A huge thanks to Nikki Freeman and the Sports Department for arranging what was a fantastic event. Georgia Calnan Sports Ribbon

Our annual invitational rounders tournament for the under 10s and under 11s will be on Saturday 9 May.  Please press the download button for all details.

Our annual Spring Concert held in the Dineen Auditorium on Sunday 22 March was met with an enthusiastic reception from all who attended. It was an ideal opportunity for our girls and staff to showcase their musical talents. To view some of the photographs of the event please read more.

Woldingham's Polo Team has their first serious competition and show the competition, that despite their relative inexperience they will be a force to be reckoned with in future. Read Heather Norris's report of this exciting first foray into the fast and furious world of Polo competition. Well done Woldingham girls you really played well.

Remember the fun!

Calling all First XI Hockey Players 2004-2009 - the gauntlet is down! Do you still play hockey?  Do you miss the matches you used to take part in?  Would you like to play in a fixture at Woldingham with your old team mates?  Then read on…..

We are planning five teams of the First XI players who were at Woldingham between 2004-2009 on Saturday 21st March, starting at 10.00am on the astro turf.  Shirts and sticks provided – please bring your own skirt, mouth guard and shin pads.  This is intended to be a fun event and we hope many of you will turn up to play or support. Buffet lunch will be provided for all players, parents and supporters after the game. If you are interested either in playing or supporting please contact fergusonk@woldingham.surrey.sch.uk by Monday 16th March

 

Our annual House pancake race got off to a flying start in the Quad on Shrove Tuesday, with plenty of supporters out to cheer on our teams.  Stuart were ultimately triumphant, though it was a pretty close event.  Well done to everyone who took part.

From Russia With Love!

Over the half term holiday our Upper Sixth girls took a trip to Russia and managed to visit an impressive array of attractions and sites in the few days they were there.

We are delighted to introduce Paul Ireland, our newly appointed Director of ICT at Woldingham. Paul has over 12 years experience of providing support and guidance on technology in independent schools gained while working at the Head Office of a large educational trust based in London.  He has already started to make things happen with some exciting new projects in development which will ensure Woldingham is using the latest technology to its full potential throughout the learning environment.

 

On  24 January the Woldingham ski team left England for the slalom slopes of Flaine, France, though there were some challenges to overcome...

When Emma Corrin's English teacher at The Granville School gave her a book about Chinchillas to read little did she know it was to have such a profound effect on Emma’s future. It has turned her not only into an owner of two little Chinchillas, but also into a budding author who has just had her first book published, all at the tender age of twelve years.

Emma who is from Sevenoaks and in Year 8 at Woldingham has written an endearing book about “Olly” a Chinchilla kit who has a wonderful adventure. The book is beautifully illustrated by Emma’s mother Juliette Corrin and family friend Jennie Scott.

Thoughtfully Emma has dedicated the book not only to her own Chinchillas, Pip and Squeak whose characters must have inspired the book, but also to her former teacher, Mrs Ann Musgrave, whose inspirational teaching encouraged and nurtured her writing talent. 

Congratulations Emma on this superb achievement - all at Woldingham wish you every success with this charming book which is sure to appeal to young and old alike. It certainly provides readers with an insight into the magical and mischievous character of the Chinchilla!

Our Year 8 Hockey Team played Kent College on 31st January 2009. A competitive game resulted in a win for Woldingham. Well done girls.

Woldingham girls enjoy the snow see what they got up to when Woldingham and most of Southern England became a winter wonderland. More photographs to come thanks to Dr Triffitt and Mrs Mayhew.

                                                               
On one of the regular weekend trips, this time to the National History Museum our girls took the opportunity to show off their ice skating skills. Torville & Dean need not worry too much at the moment but watch this space for future ice skating champions!

On Saturday 13 December 2008 at 2.30pm Woldingham school held its annual Christmas Concert. Old favourites such as 'Once in Royal David's City' and 'Hark the Herald Angles Sing' were mixed with the jazzy 'Harlem Nocturne' and the traditional 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' The concert showed the girls' musical skills off to great advantage and put everyone in the mood for the festive season.

We are proud to announce a World Premiere of a new commission written especially for Woldingham by local composer Alan Smith.  The Woldingham Service is a new setting of the words traditionally used at Choral Evensong; the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.  The first public performance of this new work will be at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday 16th May during Choral Evensong sung by Amaris.  We hope many parents, friends and supporters will be able to attend this wonderful occasion. The service begins at 4pm and all are welcome.

The girls have enjoyed playing many matches over the year. There were a number of excellent team and individual performances.
A wide variety of match formats are used in school fixtures, and these include:
1) The Surrey League Team Doubles events involve a team of 4 or 6 players, playing all of their opponents in each match. Teams winning their League of 4 or 5 matches then play in the Surrey League Finals at the end of June.
2) Senior Student Winter League: involving both Singles and Doubles play for the Top players in the school.
3) Round-robin non-knockout tournaments – often taking place over one day, and include several matches against different schools.
4) Friendly Matches. A chance for girls not involved in an ‘A’ tennis team to experience inter-school tennis match play.
5) On the morning of Sports Day the Parent and Daughter Doubles Tournament has proven to be a popular event.