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SWPS News 19 May 2017
Head’s News What does research on the brain size of London Taxi drivers and educational theory
have in common? It sounds like one of those poor riddles you might receive on opening a cracker at Christmas, and yet there is a link. Allow me to explain. First things first – the hippocampus in the brain is the part which deals with spatial
memory. In 2000 a piece of research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which was entitled: “Navigational structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers”. What they found was hugely surprising.
London Black Cab taxi drivers have a significantly larger hippocampi than other people. Why? Remember that the
hippocampus is the space in the brain which helps us understand spaces or in more scientific language – spatial coding. The Knowledge Test requires cabbies to have in their heads a vast spatial map. So what does this have to do with education? The first conclusion we can draw from this fact is that the substance
of our brains is not fixed. External pressures can cause the brain to develop, even to enlarge. In the case of London Black Cab drivers, their continual driving in the maze like warren of London streets causes the brain to increase. These people were not born with an oversized hippocampus, but the application of their brain over a long period of time to a
particular problem resulted in that part of the brain being
expanded. Now this is good and exciting news for everyone in education. How often has it been said that one is born intelligent—that the brain power is fixed? Increasingly evidence from neuropsychology is suggesting otherwise. Our
brains can grow and develop according to use and application. Indeed, our brains can change and, in some ways, be rewired – to think more creatively, more positively and more productively.
C Muller Head
Rotary Young Chef Competition School Heat There were delicious smells in
the HE room on Thursday after school during the Inter-House competition to find two contestants to represent the school in the final of the competition.
Contestants were asked to cook a two course meal which should be healthy and nutritious for two people on a budget of only £6!
Montagu was represented by Anushka
Behl (9LT) who cooked a starter of Tandoori salmon tikka wraps followed by Punjabi chicken curry. Lonsdale had two
competitors. Firstly, Eve Pauffley (7L) who made pasta with chicken and broccoli and designed her dessert by hand crafting a chocolate cup served with frozen yoghurt and berries.
Secondly, Scarlett Khaskar (7L) who cooked ‘Amazing’ Mexican Tomato Soup with sweet potato chips and Tortilla cones followed by Toasted oats with mango, blueberries and yoghurt. Pankhurst was represented by Alam Thomsen (7P) Lentil
and sweet potato curry with homemade flat breads and her
dessert was Eton Mess with a healthy twist. All the dishes were attractively served and Miss Ahmed and Mrs Hay had a hard job judging as the food all tasted delicious. In the end, it resulted in the amount of skills
used in the dishes and how well they were executed.
The overall winner was Monatgu (Anushka Behl); 2nd was Lonsdale (Scarlett Khaksar), 3rd Lonsdale (Eve Pauffley) and 4th Pankhurst (Alma
Thomsen). Anushka and Scarlett will
represent the school in the final in June.
S Hay
UKMT Junior Maths Challenge On the 27 April, Year 7, along with the top mathematics set from Year 8, sat
the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge, an annual nationwide challenge designed to stretch pupils and stimulate interest in mathematics. This year SWPS students collectively claimed 23 bronze,
11 silver and 11 gold certificates, and 6 high-performing students have moved on to the next round, the Junior
Kangaroo. We would like to congratulate all our students who took part, with particular congratulations to Bethan Williams and Natalie Clarke, the top scorers in Year 7 and Year 8 respectively. Bethan achieved the best score of any SWPS student this year, and as a result is one of approximately 1,200 students nationwide invited to
participate in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad. C Alexander
Former Staff Peruvian Trek
There will be many families who remember Mr Pete Davies, our former
Head of Design & Technology, who is embarking on an expedition to the highest trek that will include a visit to Machu Picchu but will go as high as the Palomani pass (17,065ft!) Mr Davies is undertaking this adventure to celebrate 60
years of life with Type 1 diabetes and to fundraise for both JDRF and Diabetes UK, two charities who he has worked with regularly in the past. Although fundraising is important, Mr Davies’ greatest wish is to send a positive message to fellow Type 1s, their
families and those who have been recently diagnosed. This is somebody truly making the most of their retirement, and we wish him tremendous luck and support on this latest adventure! To donate towards this fantastic cause, follow this link.
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Creative Writing Club This week creative writing club spent some time outside on the sports field writing Haikus. Here is a small selection…
The wind is whirling The fresh grass is comforting I am coming home
White and yellow flowers See the beauty of things around you
Like the turquoise pond Big luscious fields Tall, imposing, unique trees It is very peaceful.
A normal school field In the awesome grounds of SWPS
Can satisfy all!
Central School of Ballet Congratulations to Sienna Pledge (Y11) on her recent success in achieving her place at the
Central School of Ballet from September. Her years of dedicated hard work have led her here,
and we’re sure that she will continue to make us proud
during her transition into an alumnae, as a Perkonian.
Sport News Tennis Congratulations to our U13 Surrey League team
who beat Manor house on 8 May. The team was Captained by Eleanor Raven and consisted of
Tilly O’Dea, Thea Morton, Merle Mowbray, Olivia Ansell and
Abigail Adrian. Also congratulations to the U15 Aegon tennis team who beat Howard of Effingham in record time of 1 hour, playing
singles and doubles. Not only this, but also went on to be victorious against Fullbrook, winning 6-0 in all of their matches. The team consisted of Claudia Heron, Millie Turner, Izzy Hartley and Melina Eleftheriadis.
E Searle Badminton
More congratulations to Alexandra Oprisan (Y10) who won the U16 England Nationals Shires League team event, with the rest of the Surrey team, last weekend.
Athletics
Congratulations to Eva West (Y9) who qualified for the Surrey Athletics 300m finals for U15 girls, with a PB of 44:80. The final was a hard race but she came a creditable 7th, at 45:49! Fantastic effort seeing as Eva has an operation a few days before the race! Well done Eva.
L Timpson
Regional ‘Step into the NHS’ Competition Congratulations again to
four of our students in Year 8 - Ria Konkumalla, Saskia Frayling, Merle Mowbray and Sophie Bishop. Their video encouraging people to be an A&E Doctor won the Regional NHS Careers Competition amongst over one
thousand entries. This week they were presented with £50 Amazon vouchers by the NHS event organisers and a local A&E Doctor, who gave a brief talk to the students in
assembly about why he chose that Career path. L Haley
Model United Nations at Reigate Grammar School. Twelve intrepid Year 9s set out
early for Reigate Grammar last Saturday morning for their first M o d e l U n i t e d N a t i o n s conference. They represented
three countries, Sweden (Anushka Behl, Anna Cefai, Ryan James and Liberty Donovan), China (Sophia Scholey, Sophia
Hawken, Amrit Bath and Miranda Penn Jones) and Ethiopia (Layla Wajih, Mythili Chawan, Amy Robertson and Emilia Fitton). During the day they participated
in public speaking workshops and experienced an
introduction to United Nations procedures. Then they were able to put these skills into practice with debates on issues such as Clean Water and the issues within Syria
including co-submitting and
speaking in favour of the resolution chosen for debate in General Assembly at the culmination of the day. All of the students performed impressively in this challenging environment. Later this summer on 3 July we will be holding our own internal conference, giving all of Year 9 a chance to give this activity a go. More news to follow soon!
R Willis & C Alexander
Perkonian News We’ve heard exciting news about a former Deputy
Head Girl, Charlotte Harris (Co1992) who is preparing
to unveil her entry on behalf of Royal Bank of Canada at RHS Chelsea Garden Show this year.
Click here to read the article from the Telegraph for more information. Senior C.U.—York Road Project Visit
On 12 May, Senior Christian Union had the
eye-opening experience of visiting the York Road Project, a homeless shelter in Woking. Last term we collected winter coats and scarves to
support the homeless
clients of this amazing charity throughout the winter months. The York Road Project provides both emergency and long term accommodation for those experiencing homelessness.
They work with clients aged 18 years and older, aiming to improve their overall living situation. Every morning at 7:30 they welcome those living on the streets and aim to take care of their basic needs, providing them with food, clothes and advice. This is followed throughout the morning and afternoon by workshops to help
develop skills such as cooking, basic ICT techniques and
sports, to name a few. This trip sparked ideas throughout the Christian Union on how to raise money for this incredible charity who predominantly rely on donations to support their clients. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip and already have fundraising
plans in the works. Emma Brown & Nicola Raj (L6)
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eSafety Notice—Some apps for parents to be aware/cautious of…
Monkey—users are asked to engage in a 10 second
video chat with people they don’t know Yellow—a dating site for teens 13-17 but has no age
verification so adults could reply.
Also, THIS LINK outlines how to spot advertising and sponsored posts on Instagram.
F Blyther
Artwork of the Month Here’s one of our four Artworks of the Month,
for May, selected by the Art & Design Dept staff.
This one is by Cerys Beddoe (Y11). Take a look at more
student artwork on the Firefly Art pages.
DofE News There was a flurry of activity to sign off and complete DofE awards last term. Thank you for the
effort put in by so many people - to the participants for uploading their evidence, to the Assessors for
writing reports, and to the wonderful parents providing support and encouragement. The Regional office monitor our completion rates each financial year and I am delighted to announce that SWPS
achieved 113 Awards during the period 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017, which represented a 60% completion rate. This is an outstanding result as we exceeded their target of 55%.
Thank you to everyone involved in the DofE awards who contributed to making this possible.
The following students successfully completed their DofE Awards during the Spring term 2017. The Silver and Gold participants were presented with their certificates and badges during the end of term assembly in March. However there were so many Bronze certificates and badges to hand out, that these will form part of the whole school assembly on 6 June 2017.
A huge congratulations to everyone for their hard work and endeavours in achieving their DofE Awards – Well Done. It would be wonderful to build on our success and for those currently registered for their Bronze, Silver or Gold DofE Awards to finish what they started and complete their Awards.
L Raven
Bronze
Jennifer Simpson
Cristiana Iacob
Isobel Eriksen
Anna Reynolds Alexandra Hawkes
Mae Brennan
Lauren Christian
Gillian Ahm
Sophie Repton
Emma Graham
Thea David
Caitlin Pittol-Neville
Charlotte Kyle
Victoria Berry
Sophie Bartrop
Katy Brewster
Nicola Payne
Phoebe Schofield Holly Trinder
Anabel Lee-Wragg
Sasha Glasson
Charlotte Handley
Rebekah Smith
Verity Hastings
Zoe Lewis
Zoe Munford
Sylvie Evans
Rebecca Sproston
Lily Galpin
Denise Martin
Ana Pilar Ravanne
Cerys Warwick Claudia Heron
Eve Linney
Ria Mistry
Clara Baird
Alexandra Grant
Margaret Talibart
Amrita Kullar
Grace Bradshaw
Gold Silver
Juliette Moussarie
Elisabeth Reid
Malaika Jalali
Nicola Raj Kirstin Rooney
Catie Williamson
Katie Ingram
Holly Aldridge
Alexandra Cooke Alice Sutton
Annabell Hill
Poppy Hodge
Lucy Gates
Sarah Phillips Danielle Rawle