25th March 2022
18th March 2022
11th March 2022
10th March 2022
8th March 2022
3rd March 2022
World Book Day
All of our Year 7 and 8 students have been given a new book and their WDB voucher to celebrate 25 Years of World Book day. Staff and students dressed up as their favourite book characters, the maths team chose the Wizard of Oz! Well done to everyone who dressed up[ – there were some fantastic costumes. See more on social media.
2nd March 2022
27th January 2022
24th January 2022
18th January 2022
13th December 2021
10th December 2021
2nd December 2021
24th November 2021
19th November 2021
17th November 2021
Eco Club
This week our Eco-Club students completed another litter pick in the local community. Thank you to Geoff from the Braunstone Wombles for helping our students make a difference in their local area.
15th November 2021
Today saw the start of Anti Bullying Week at Winstanley, staff and students wore their Odd Socks for school to show their support and raise awareness of the effects of bullying. This year the theme is ‘One Kind Word’ that can sometimes be all it takes to break the cycle of bullying. All week the focus in tutor time will be kindness encouraging our students to make a stand against bullying and hate.
11th November 2021
18th November 2020
27th April 2020
Well done to all Winstanley staff who took part in last week’s 5K challenge. Staff either walked, ran or cycled 5K, donated £5 and nominated 5 colleagues to take part too. We raised £372 in total. We now challenge parents and students to have a go, details are on our weekly newsletter available later today. #supportingothers
18th November
Winstanley Wedding
The whole of Year 10 took part in a mock wedding to support the GCSE Religious Studies topic on ‘Marriage and the Family’ in Christianity. Students played the roles of the wedding party and were supported by Heads of Year (as mother of the bride and groom) and Mr Bennett as Father of the Bride. Mya and Brad played the happy couple and representatives from Friar Lane & Braunstone Baptist Church led the service. Students all took part in the ceremony which was brought to life by the fact that we were in a real place of worship. It created an authentic learning experience for all involved and made for a thoroughly enjoyable Religious Studies lesson.
Special thanks should also go to students who played an active role in the ceremony – Michael who had the important job of best man, Ashley and Shalom who provided some amazing musical performances, Vanessa, Julia and Iye who were the bridesmaids, Khalid who did the scripture reading, Sukhpreet, Toby, Rahul, Sam and Reegan who were ushers and especially to everyone at Friar Lane and Braunstone Church who enabled us to provide this fantastic opportunity for our students.
15th November
In Print!
Some of our students’ work has been published in a book of short stories. Students who requested copies received them during Tutor Time and were excited to see their work printed and published. Young Writer’s encourages students to create imaginative writing on a theme, this year the title is Mission Chaos. If your child ordered a copy they can be collected from the English Department. Congratulations to all the students who were chosen to be featured in this years edition.
14th November
Change Begins With YOU…
Today our Year 9 and 10 students were shown the film ‘Black Roses’ as part of ‘Anti-Bullying’ week.
The moving and emotional film was created by the charity ‘Sophie’ to raise awareness and prevention of hate crime following the horrific and mindless murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007. Following the film students were able to ask questions of a panel made up from Odette Freeman – close friend of Sophie’s Mum, Julian Robinson – Victim Impact Worker, Inspector Emma Maxwell from Hinckley and Blaby Police and Isla Dixon – Hate Crime Officer from Leicestershire Police.
Sophie Lancaster and her partner were attacked by a gang of teenagers in a park in Lancashire, they were kicked, stamped on and left unconscious for nothing more than looking different. Sophie died over a week later of her horrific injuries. Her family wanted to ensure a lasting legacy to their daughter which aims to highlight her story and challenge mindset towards ‘difference’ and they work particularly with young people in preventing hate crime. To find our more follow this link – https://bit.ly/2Qi98lt
11th November
Winstanley Remember Together
To recognise Remembrance Day we held our first ever whole school Remembrance Ceremony. We were joined by Braunstone Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr Darshan Singh, Cllr Phil Moitt, Vice Chairman of Blaby Distric Council, Rev Keith Magee, Vicar of St Peters Church, Marianne Birtwistle from Friar Lane and Braunstone Baptist Church and representatives of our Board of Governors. The visitors met with our Prefects and Head Boys and Girls before we assembled outside the school to pay respects to lives lost in conflict and the fight for freedom. Head Girl, Lucia read aloud the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae before the last post was played by Mr Greenwood. A two minutes silence was respectfully observed by everyone, we are very proud of the respect shown by our students and the importance they all place on remembrance.
28th October
Year 7 Team Building Day
Students from Year 7 enjoyed a lovely, sunny day at Beaumanor Hall. It was a fantastic opportunity for them to get to know each other, learn more about their strengths, overcome barriers through resilience and have lots of fun outside the classroom.
25th October
10th October
Hello Yellow
Just before October half term staff and students wore something yellow for school to raise awareness and show their support for World Mental Health Day. Students and staff also made yellow bunting to decorate classrooms adding their own thoughts, words and messages to support mental health issues in young people. During the day there was a focus on how we can take care of ourselves and others and we even had some visiting pets in Maths. Students enjoyed meeting pet rabbits bought in by Miss Sharp which demonstrated a great way to relieve stress and stay calm. Other fun activities included singing and dancing at lunch time and a #HelloYellow photo booth and cake sale at break time.
1st October
Workshops with Local Author
The Winstanley School are taking part in First Story this academic year. Acclaimed Leicester author Bali Rai will be working with 21 of our students in Years 8, 9 and 10, developing their writing skills and creating a published anthology of outstanding work by the end of the year. This is a real opportunity for our young people to broaden their horizons, experiment with a range of writing styles and challenge themselves to SHINE even brighter, all under the guidance of a published author with over 40 books to his name!
30th September
Church Visit
Year 9 students had a lovely welcome at Friar Lane and Braunstone Baptist Church today. Understanding what faith means to different people is a fantastic life skill and the basis of Religious Studies at GCSE. We are very grateful to religious leaders who welcome our students and talk to them openly about their faith, this will be one of many visits and talks for our Religious Studies students over the next few years where they have the opportunity to explore different faiths. We also heard from one of our ex-students about how she became a member of the church and she explained baptism which is a key ceremony of their church.
27th September
Lake District Challenge
Twelve of our Year 11 girls were selected to take part in an outward bound programme in the Lake District. The trip was organised by Mr Turner who felt that it would be a great opportunity for them to challenge themselves, discover hidden resilience and set goals for their final year at Winstanley. They took part in some amazing activities which included gorge walking, canoeing, swimming in the lake, camping overnight and climbing mountains. The girls all had a great time and really engaged with the activities and worked well as a team as well as discovering more about their capabilities and inner strength.
26th September
Protecting the future
Last week students from Winstanley visited the National Holocaust Centre in Nottingham. They took part in a ‘No To Hate’ conference which included guest speakers from very different backgrounds who talked about their experiences and how we can protect the future by remembering the past. Students also had a look around the memorial gardens to remember those without a grave. The students enjoyed taking part and representing our school at the event and actively participated in the activities.
23rd September
Geography Field Trip
GCSE geography students visited Burbage Brook and Padley Gorge in the Peak District as part of their GCSE coursework. Data was collected on the velocity, width, depth and sediment size at parts of the upper and middle course of the river. Students were fantastically behaved and enjoyed a valuable learning experience outside of the classroom.
18th September
Voting Matters!
Students in 9CC have been voting for Well Being and Anti Bullying Ambassadors in tutor time this week.
The votes will be counted and verified in the next few weeks and the students elected will take an active role in ensuring our policies and support networks are implemented in school.
16th September
Improving our Environment
Students have been busy in our staff garden replacing the raised beds and replacing our pond. Some of the students who work with Enstruct Training are working on creating a vegetable patch and have worked really hard removing the old, rotted beds and digging over the ground ready for some new ones. Students who work with Mrs Underwood in Kick Start have replaced the old pond and replacing the liner and created a decking area and wildlife borders surrounding it. They are all enjoying working outside in the lovely Autumn sunshine. Keep up the Hard Work!
13th September
New Prefects
Our students who applied to become prefects have been welcomed to their new roles and received their smart grey blazers and blue ties.They will now take up their positions of responsibility within the school. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the students who were elected and demonstrates their aspiration for excellence.
9th September
Building a world of opportunity…
30th August
Feel Good Friday!
We’re at the end of our first week back at Winstanley. It’s been an exciting time for our new Year 7s who have settled in well already and for our older students the hard work started straight away as they approach their GCSEs. Lunchtime offered some light relief as Mr Bennett introduced our first ‘Feel Good Friday’ with some juggling on the field.
22nd August
Hard Work Shines Through…..
Our students proved that hard work pays off in the end when they opened their GCSE results today. It’s been a challenging two years for them and during this time they have really embraced our values – worked hard, supported each other, never given up and grown into independent young people who we hope will achieve excellence in every step of their future education, training and chosen career paths.
Dave Bennett, Head of School said:- ‘We are very proud of the achievements of our students and the amazing young people they have become in their time here with us. They have taken the opportunities and support offered to them to achieve their personal goals. We wish them every success and hope they continue to shine brightly in whatever they choose to do in the future.’
