Woldingham School | News Feed

New Limited Edition Prints of Woldingham School available now

2010-07-01T00:00:00

Woldingham School has commissioned a school portrait by Brenda Barrat which is now available as individually signed and numbered Limited Edition prints. Each will presented within a deep bevel-grooved mount and an optional wood and gilt frame is available. These make ideal mementos for present and past students.

Collectors from around the world have bought Brenda's fine architectural watercolours of colleges, schools and dwellings.

The prints can be viewed and ordered online at www.brendabarratt.com

Woldingham launches series of lectures and activities

2010-07-01T00:00:00

Do something different on Saturday, expand your mind and learn something new. Our exciting new series of lectures and activities for adults will allow you to do just that in the beautiful surroundings of Woldingham Schools' 700 acre site. These courses are open to everyone.

For more detailed information please click here

Sailing Towards Success

2010-07-01T00:00:00

For the first time, Woldingham students have participated in an advanced sailing course at Ardingly Activity centre, using the performance RS Feva dinghy.The girls all have previous experience of sailing Toppers, Optimists, Dart catamarans or Mirrors, and are qualified to RYA level 3 or 4 standard. The aim of the course is to improve the helms ability to start fast and race successfully plus develop the skills a crew member needs on all points of sailing and when using a spinnaker.The longer term aim is to create a sailing team that can compete against other schools including Ardingly College, Eton, Sevenoaks and Eastbourne College. Weekend races would take place during the spring/summer term in either the RS Feva or 420’s. In addition, if there is enough demand, we will enter the National Schools Sailing 420 competition taking place at Itchenor SC during the last week of June.

YEAR 7 GRAND SLAM!

2010-07-01T00:00:00

Year 7 have had an incredibly successful year! Not only did they become the District Champions in Netball, Hockey and Swimming this year, but now they are Athletics and Rounders District champions too! Also they have had tremendous success at county level where the team were the runners up in the Surrey Schools’ League Final. Well done to all our teams you have certainly kept the Woldingham flag flying high!

SUCCESSFUL ATHLETES

2010-07-01T00:00:00

The Y10 Athletics team finished runners up at the District Athletics Championships at K2 on 13 May. From this and the Year 9 District competition, 4 of our athletes were selected to compete for East Surrey at the Surrey Schools Championships on 12 June at Kingmeadow, Kingston-upon-Thames. Laura Pepera (Y8) Shot Putt , Maya Shorto (Y9) 200 metres, Sophie Foreman (Y9) 1500 metres, and Francesca Duvall (Y10) High Jump.Congratulations to Laura who was 6th in the Shot Putt and to Sophie Foreman who was 2nd in the 1500 metres.

Rounders District Tournament Winners

2010-07-01T00:00:00

Against all odds, the U16s AND U18s won their District Tournament. Due to the early scheduling of the event and the numerous exams that were still going on, neither teams had had a chance to practise together. Somehow they managed to pull it out of the bag! Great play girls!

Tennis Champions

2010-07-01T00:00:00

The Under 12 team are District Champions whilst the Under 13 and U15 teams were District Runners-up, The Under 12’s also beat Guildford High in the Surrey semi-finals but lost to Putney, but we are ranked the number 2 school team in the County.

Cross Country Success

2010-07-01T00:00:00

Sophie started running when she was 9 years old. Since then, she has raced most weekends for her club “South London Harriers” or sometimes “Surrey”. Last year, she came 15th nationally in the National Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships. In this event, she was the second Surrey runner and contributed to a team Gold as well. So far this year her best successes have been winning the Surrey Schools race and coming 19th in the Under-15 South of England Cross Country race. Well done Sophie on your fantastic achievements.

Charity News

2010-06-01T00:00:00

Woldingham girls continue with their fantastic efforts to raise money for a variety of charities.

Some of the charities supported by Woldingham girls include; Demelza, Canine Partners,Crisis,Tadworth Children's Trust, Haiti Disaster Fund, The Dineen Chimteka Trust and the Orpheus Centre.

There has been some amazing fundraising, charity work and community giving, going on all around the school and just prior to the Christmas Holidays, the Houses were hard at work organising a Christmas fair that was enjoyed by all the community. People had an opportunity to buy cards, hot chocolate, Christmas cup- cakes, Christmas goodies, and could take part in Santa’s grotto, and a Festive tombola. The proceeds from this went to the four house charities. Demelza, Canine Partners, Crisis, and the Tadworth Children’s Trust. Although the snow brought the term to an abrupt end, the good will continued and Mrs Towers- Head of PE, had her plans firmly in place to spend Christmas with women much less fortunate than most of us. She shared her experience in a Digby House assembly when she returned. As the end of the Summer term approaches, recycling has started within all of the year groups. Recycling bags have been made available within all of the year offices, and students have been donating their unwanted clean clothing, magazines, and shoes. Alex Abeyratne, our new Sustainability Ribbon, has been actively encouraging students to get on board with this simple form of re-cycling and charity giving, and Heads of year, and Housemistresses are supporting and encouraging all their year groups too. The magazines will go to a newly opened youth centre in Caterham as well as a day centre for the elderly. The unwanted clothing will be donated to the charity supported by the Sacred Heart – Runkuni Girl, where it will be sorted, repaired, and sent to Africa, and the shoes will eventually go to various third world charities, in a Sole to Sole campaign supported by Joanna Lumley. This is by no means all that has gone on this term, there is so much good work going on within our community.

Zaragoza Blog

2010-06-01T00:00:00

To view the photos and blog of the trip please click here

Sports Day - 26 June 2010

2010-06-01T00:00:00

Please read on to find bulletins for this Saturday's Sports Day.
Dominic Murtagh

22 June - Please be aware that the back barrier will be closed on Sports Day from 11.30 am to 5.00 pm

New virtual tour launched

2010-05-01T00:00:00

To view our interactive virtual tour please click on the media bar on the righthand side of the Home page, go to the virtual tour and the start the tour by selecting the area of the school you wish to visit.

Congratulations to Megan Farnfield

2010-05-01T00:00:00

Megan Farnfield Year 7 has qualified to take part in the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen in July. Megan was selected following submission of a CD recorded with Mr Dyer and is one of 12 finalists in a competition which was previously won by Faryl Smith. This is a truly international event and competitors will represent countries from all continents. The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is a six-day festival of music, dance, and song that takes place every year in the small Welsh town of Llangollen. It has been running since 1947, and since 1987 the prestigious Choir of the World competition has determined the best overall choir of the event. In 2005 Luciano Pavarotti added his name to the competition in recognition of his appreciation of the festival and its influence on his career. We wish Megan the best of luck with her entry.

Concert for St Catherine's Hospice

2010-05-01T00:00:00

Summer Concert - with Royle Approval - delights crowd at Woldingham School. Over 300 people packed into Woldingham School’s Dineen Auditorium last Friday (14th May) to hear a line-up of prize-winning rising stars perform in a fundraising concert for St Catherine’s Hospice. Radio 2 broadcaster Canon Roger Royle was the evening’s engaging host, sharing stories that delighted the audience; which included newly elected Conservative MP for East Surrey Sam Gyimah on one of his first engagements since winning the election. A variety of acts took to the stage, including Cambridge University’s Gentlemen of St John’s, local stars Kenley Holiday Workshop, gold-medal winning women’s barbershop chorus, Surrey Harmony, and a heart warming performance from soloists from the Orpheus Centre. Exciting young professional musicians, clarinettist David Wong and sopranos Emma Walsh and Victoria Stanyon also performed a selection of popular classics that put all in the mood for summer. In addition to all the ticket proceeds providing funds for the much-valued local hospice, the evening’s prize raffle brought in an additional £1,000.

New Train Schedule

2010-05-01T00:00:00

Dear Parents,

You may be aware that Southern Rail will be changing its train timetables with effect from Sunday, 23 May. If your daughter travels to school by train this will affect the time she will need to catch her train in the mornings. We will, of course, adjust the times our school buses will collect the girls from Woldingham Station.

As shown in the table below, the train from London will be arriving much earlier but those lucky girls arriving from the direction of East Grinstead will have an extra couple of minutes to play with!

TRAIN	Old Arrival Time	New Arrival Time
From London	8.08	7.50
From East Grinstead	8.09	8.11

Those parents driving to school who choose to drop their daughters at the station to catch the school transport should also note the change in these train times.

The trains leaving Woldingham station in the evening (16.59 to London and the 16.56 to East Grinstead) remain unchanged but parents are advised to check the new train timetable at www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/timetables for any change to the timings of other trains.

I hope this information is useful and if you have any queries then please contact Mrs James our Transport Manager at jamesc@woldingham.surrey.sch.uk .

Yours sincerely,

Nick Waite

Deputy Head

Politics comes to Woldingham

2010-04-01T00:00:00

Following the address to the school by Sam Gyimah (Conservative candidate for East Surrey), the girls will have an opportunity to meet the Labour candidate, Matt Rodda on Wednesday.

Public Schools Fencing Championship

2010-03-01T00:00:00

Special congratulations to Isabelle Walsh who came 5th out of 63 competitors in the Junior Epee at the Public Schools Fencing Championship on the 17th March.

Music Masterclass

2010-03-01T00:00:00

The Coulsdon & Purley Music and Drama festival was held over the past two weeks. On Saturday some young singers were invited back for a vocal masterclass with Sarah Dunstan, the adjudicator. Three Woldingham girls enjoyed receiving some excellent tips and advice. Pictured are Kaitlin Farnfield (Year 10), Sarah Dunstan, Astrid D' Souza (Year 9) and Megan Farnfield (Year 7)

Year 7 District Netball winners

2010-03-01T00:00:00

Keeping up their winning ways Woldingham Year 7 Netball Team win the District Finals. Well done to both A and B teams

Year 7 District Hockey winners

2010-03-01T00:00:00

Woldingham Year 7 Hockey Team win the District Finals. On Tuesday 1st March the U12 A and B hockey teams competed in the District Tournament. The B team played three matches, winning two of them and drawing one. The B team scored the most points out of their pool competition and were winners of the B section. The A team played four matches, winning two of them and drawing the other two. At the end of the tournament both Woldingham A and RGS A had achieved the same amount of points and goal difference determined Woldingham A to be the overall winners on the day. Well done to everyone who played in the tournament.

Polo Match

2010-03-01T00:00:00

On the 28th February 2010 Woldingham polo team participated in the National Arena Girls Tournament, held in Rugby. The team consisted of Katy Bernard, Laura Endicott and Heather Norris.They played against Rugby, Wellington and St George’s Ascot. They were all very nervous due to the fact that it was the first chukka of the day and there was not enough time to warm up.The first chukka was against Rugby school and it lasted for seven minutes. Unfortunately we lost 3-1.The second chukka was against Wellington and the girls were more confident and prepared. They won 5-1.After lunch two more chukkas were played which lasted for three minutes. The first chukka was against St George’s Ascot and was drawn 0-0.The last chukka was against Wellington and was again a win 1-0. Overall the girls came 6th. We are very proud of the girls as it was their first polo tournament. We look forward to them competing more in the future. Heather Norris and Katy Bernard

Fencing Success

2010-03-01T00:00:00

British Schools' Fencing Competition - 14 March

Well done to our team - Susannah Peppiatt, Anna Stevenson and Susie Triffitt who won the silver medal in the under 13s competition.

Woldingham Wins at Basketball

2010-03-01T00:00:00

Woldingham plays its first Basketball fixture against a Surrey Schools Development team. The result Woldingham wins 36-18!

Woldingham Girls take to the waves

2010-03-01T00:00:00

For the first time, Woldingham students have participated in an advanced sailing course at Ardingly Activity centre, using the performance RS Feva dinghy.The girls all have previous experience of sailing Toppers, Optimists, Dart catamarans or Mirrors, andare qualified to RYA level 3 or 4 standard. The aim of the course is to improve the helms ability tostart fast and race successfully plus develop the skills a crew member needs on all points of sailing and when using a spinnaker.The longer term aim is to create a sailing team that can compete against other schools including Ardingly College, Eton, Sevenoaks and Eastbourne College. Weekend races would take place duringthe spring/summer term in either the RS Feva or 420’s. In addition, if there is enough demand, we will enter the National Schools Sailing 420 competition taking place at Itchenor SC during the last week of June.

Nigel Farage talks Europe

2010-03-01T00:00:00

The former leader of the UK Independence Party and co chair of “Europe of Freedom and Democracy”, Mr Nigel Farage, recently joined the Greenwell Society to speak to an audience of Woldingham and Caterham students about his party’s politics, and Britain’s future in the European Union. Mr Farage certainly provided an entertaining account of the goings on in Brussels, referring to Hermann Van Rompuy (President of the European Council) as ‘not the most household of names’. Although Mr Farage’s talk was most interesting, it was the question session which really put him through his paces. Many Sixth formers took the opportunity to tackle Mr Farage on his recent statement that the Burqa was a sign of an ‘increasingly divided Britain’, a statement he found difficult to defend. Catherine Day, Claudia Blunt & Emma Wright, U6

Barat wins the Pancake race

2010-03-01T00:00:00

The pancake race returned to the Quad. Everyone present was eager to see their own House win, and the new House Captains were eager for their first win of their careers as Ribbons. Barat won well done to Stuart and Duchesne who came second and third and Digby... must try harder.

Flying the Woldingham Flag

2010-03-01T00:00:00

Due to the poor weather conditions (it was very windy), many people were unable to fly. However, as one of the first to be chosen Rosie Henley went up! Her instructor was pleased with her he awarded a flying certificate! Well done Rosie.

Best Actress BAFTA for Woldingham Old Girl

2010-02-01T00:00:00

Just seven years after leaving Woldingham School, Carey Mulligan won a Best Actress BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar for her debut-lead film role in Nick Hornby's An Education. Carey had already scooped Best Actress prize at the British Independent Film Awards in December 2009 for the same role.

She won the Best Actress BAFTA in February, and was hotly tipped to do the double by winning the Best Actress Oscar in Hollywood but it was not to be. Carey faced some stiff competition for the Best Actress award and she was piped at the post for the Oscar by Hollywood mega-star Sandra Bullock.

Carey is taking everything in her stride and is remaining grounded despite her meteoric rise to fame. She believes that her love of acting was first kindled at Woldingham School. She is grateful for the strong, professional guidance and encouragement she received whilst at school which has underpinned her unstinting focus on an acting career. When asked about her days at Woldingham she said “I had wanted to act for a really long time, but other schools I had been to did not have such good drama departments. Everyone was so encouraging. You could do anything you wanted to, although you had to take it seriously. If you missed rehearsals, you were out.”

Congratulations to Carey for this well deserved success, being nominated for these prestigious awards for her first starring role is a huge achievement in itself and to win a BAFTA is very special. Needless to say all at Woldingham are very proud of her.

Her rise to stardom means she follows in the footsteps of previous Sacred Heart alumnae which have included Maureen O'Hara and Vivien Leigh

British School Girl Races in Flaine

2010-02-01T00:00:00

On the 23rd – 27th of January 2010 the Woldingham Ski Team comprising of Holly Lavelle, Grace Harding, Isabel Cowan, Nicole Boyd, Pippa Harrison and Abigail Murphy, made their way to Gatwick airport at 6:30am to travel to Flaine, France to compete in the British School girl races run by the Ladies Ski Club.

Holly was ranked an amazing 67th in the Slalom, Abbi came 83rd in the Giant and 85th in the Slalom and Issie was ranked 99th and 92nd. It is an exceptional achievement to be ranked within the top 100 when competing against other top independent schools and Great Britain training teams. Grace and Pippa also competed really well and both only narrowly missed out on places within the top 100. Sadly we lost Nicole to injury at the start of the races, but she was a very supportive spectator.

Raising Funds For Haiti

2010-02-01T00:00:00

Our girls have been busy organising some fund-raising and awareness for the plight of the Haiti earthquake victims. Their target is £1000 and they have already raised over £800 from two home-baked cakes sales, a cupcakes and lollies sale, pizza evening and collection points inside their tuck shop. One boarder, who had brought in her tuck after Christmas, sold it to her friends to raise more money. Further plans include another pizza sale, a jewellery sale of the girls' home-made bracelets, a Rwandan craft sale and a raffle ticket sale for a foot spa prize. Some of the funds raised will also go to the Rwandan Genocide victims.

Special mention must go to the Year 11 girls who inititiated the fund raising as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award - Maisie Breen, Charlotte Pearce and Abbi Murphy. Also Year 9 girls, Marta Cavestany, Ana Paula Larrea-Mijares and Andrea Velazquez and Year 10s Adunni Adeleke, Rose Hung, Valerie Man and Orode Moju, who have all pitched in with ideas and self-sacrifice.

A gentleman from the Bourne Society, Mr Ken Harman, was visiting the School and kindly donated £20 towards the cause, for which we thank him.

Highest Marks in Country for Rosanna Stoker

2009-01-01T00:00:00

Highest Marks in Country for Rosanna Stoker

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.

A Level Pupil Wins Scholarship at Jesus Colle

2009-01-01T00:00:00

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!

Senior Amaris Italian Success

2009-01-01T00:00:00

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!