Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Platinum Jubilee Schools Week

  Fri 27 May 2022

  It is almost impossible to sum up what has gone on in Windsor over the last couple of weeks. 23rd – 27th May we had our Platinum Jubilee Schools Week and this was followed by four days of jubilation across the world! There are so many highlights, from so many different events, but I will try and sum these up in the best way I can.

   

  Schools Week itself was a new venture, and the Platinum Jubilee was the catalyst to make this happen. It was a huge success and saw all the schools across Windsor coming together through various events and activities. We had a banquet, four concerts, big-sings, recordings, broadcasts, cake making, dancing, singing, acting, drawing, painting – it was a week full of so much.

   

  The concerts included a musical theatre night, classical soiree, rock night and a schools concert. The schools concert was a huge success with an audience of 500 and a “cast” of about 400 students. It was a lovely event hosted at TWBS and despite the wind, the weather was kind to us. The Big Sing at Dedworth Middle School was an incredible morning and we saw around 1,500 children from across Windsor all singing and dancing.

   

  I guess the real highlight came on Friday 27th when we sung our Platinum Jubilee School Song on the Long Walk in front of the world’s media. We then featured on BBC news later that night – and then all over the world over the weekend. We had messages from Australia, France & Japan! It was a fantastic afternoon on the Long Walk and I am so proud of the children.

  
  The Platinum Jubilee weekend saw us performing to 1,000s of people on the Long Walk and I am still on the come down from an incredible weekend. The Ox Roast & Beacon Lighting took place on Thursday and the Big Band & Choir performed at these events. And then on Saturday we had the Big Band, Choir & Euphoria performing on the Long Walk to crowds of about 25,000!

   

  I said it would be hard to sum it up, and it really is. But I guess the key thing at the centre of all these Jubilee Celebrations was the students in our schools. They did so much to make it incredible and I am proud of every student who took part. It was a massive operation to bring together so many schools, but the staff across these schools made it possible.

   

  Please do follow our Twitter & Instagram feeds for all the photos of these events. But I have included a few here. I will be writing a full report of the whole Platinum Jubilee experience and I will share that with you.

   

  And this week we have been back to school. Exams are looming for A-Level & GCSE Music students and we have our production of Mary Poppins just around the corner. Tickets for Mary Poppins will be going on sale this weekend and I will be sending out messages to announce this. It is taking place in our Studio Theatre, 6th – 9th July and we have performances at various times to suit all ages. I have been pleased to see lots of rehearsals and revision taking place this week and it was been nice to get back into the classroom after half term. Looking ahead we are preparing for our end of term concert on 13th July. This will be a final farewell to our Year 13 students and a great way to round up a wonderful year. But we are not there yet and we have lots to look forward to over the coming weeks.

   

  Thanks to all those who have supported me on this Jubilee journey! I have had the most incredible time and I think it is the start of something exciting for music & education in Windsor.

   

  Mr J. Manwaring

  Director of Music – Windsor Learning Partnership

  Email - jmanwaring@twbs.co.uk

  Twitter - @twbsmusic

  

• Platinum Jubilee Upper Schools’ Chess Competition

  Wed 25 May 2022

  On Wednesday afternoon we held a chess tournament at TWBS library as part of our Platinum Jubilee celebrations. It was a wonderful festive atmosphere and an absolute pleasure to have students from the Girls’ and Boys’ schools organising and competing. Congratulations to all the students who competed and thanks to all of those who helped behind the scenes.  

   

  It was a competition for students of all abilities. Congratulations to Adam Bryant who came first in the Advanced section. Owen Bryant was a close second and Ivan Grygorov was placed third. Congratulations also to Maham Omar Mirza, who came first in the novice section. We had a tie for second place between Siobhan Chuah and Leve Nagy and third place went to Verity Mitchell. It was an absolute pleasure to see the skills of all the students who were involved in this competition. Congratulations to you all. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of further tournaments between the two schools and we don’t have to wait for the next Jubilee!  

   

  A huge thanks to Andrew Syratt who took charge of the scoring and judging of the competition, which was an excellent display of his mathematical prowess and organisation. A massive thanks also to Joe Winters from WGS for her organisation of the event, prizes, certificates, food and decorations, her artistic skills and organisation made it a competition to remember. Thank you also to the Sixth formers who came to help with the last minute set-up.  

   

  A big thank you also to Mr Van Der Merwe and Mrs Williams, who run regular chess clubs at WGS and TWBS respectively. These are after school clubs and new players are always welcome.  

   

  S Winters

  

• U15 County Cup Final - TWBS v Sandhurst School – Best in Berkshire!

  Wed 25 May 2022

  Thorough their campaign the U15 team faced many challenges… Pitches too small and goals under regulation side, dominating games but finding themselves behind, and injuries. These challenges have helped shape the character and resilience of the team. With only one defeat to their name all season, the squad went into this final with full confidence at the luxurious pitch at Ascot FC.

   

  TWBS started fastest out of the blocks with Harvey Brook netting early on. It looked like TWBS would take the game away from Sandhurst in the first half, however, momentum started to swing as Sandhurst found themselves isolating our centre backs and scoring a well-finished move. 1-1 at half-time.

   

  The half-time team talk required composure and leadership from Vice-Captain Finnley viotto (standing in for injured captain Lockie Lee). It seemed subdued and nervous in the TWBS dressing room, when all that was required was more effort, confidence and belief, as we were the better ‘footballing’ team.

   

  It seemed to have worked as Jaye Long won and scored a penalty after five mins of the second half. Some scary moments as Sandhurst hit the bar and started to chase an equaliser followed. A sin-bin did not help TWBS’ cause but the team dug in deep. Injuries to Alfie Holland (GK) meant Harry White, buoyed by his recent call up to Woking, stepped in. Harry was cool, calm and collected running down the clock in expert fashion. With minutes to go Ellis Lehane broke through on goal, after some build up play by Marcel Guzynski, Harvey Brook and Jaye Long to wrap up a 3-1 victory, crowning the TBWS U15 Champions of Berkshire!

   

  Special mentions this season to Marcel, Ellis, Lockie, Markus Reisi, Bailey Niblett, Finnley viotto and Charlie McCreanor. Man of the Match on the day went to Jaye Long who proved he was the best player on the pitch. Harvey Brook and Markus Reisi put in outstanding performances in the final.

   

  On a personal note, I am very proud of these boys. They are an incredibly talented bunch who learnt from their one loss this season and bounced back to win a famous treble. I look forward to next season and hope some reinforcements can drive this team on to more successes.

   

  Mr R Unsworth ‘Jose’
  Director of Pupil Progress Year 10 & Head of Ottrey House

  

• History Lecture at Windsor Castle

  Tue 24 May 2022

  As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this week, a special lecture was arranged for Sixth Form students to attend at Windsor Castle on Tuesday 24^th May. The lecture was run by Dr Alessandro Nasini, a Senior Curator of Photographs and focused on the Queen’s image – a look at Our Platinum Queen’s image in photographs from the Royal Collection. The lecture was a brilliant opportunity for students to be able to see some behind the scenes photographs of the Royal Family and to have a Senior Curator guiding them through each image, discussing the symbolism and the occasion it was taken to mark. It was particularly interesting to see how the Queen has chosen to include not only links to her previous monarchs in her images but also to create her own elements which ensures the monarchy is both traditional and also in keeping with modern day.  In addition, her choice of particular photographer’s ensures that there is a full representation of Her Majesty from the official ones to mark occasions but also to those which are more natural to showcase a more relaxed and relatable image. There were lots of discussions over what the official photograph for the Platinum Jubilee will look like so it will be interesting to see if our ideas play out. It was a truly lovely evening and I would like to thank Gordon Ferguson at Windsor Castle for helping to arrange such a special event.

   

  Miss Gray

  Head of Humanities

  

• European U19 Rowing Championship

  Sat 21 May 2022

  Marcus Chute was electric in Varese Italy where he represented Great Britain and the European U19 Rowing Championships taking the Gold Medal.

   

  Progressing from Saturdays heats to the semi final on Sunday, Marcus displayed great composure in both races to make the A final before an scintillating display of  power skill saw him dominate the field to become European Champion in the single scull, a rare feat for sure for a GB athlete.

   

  This marks a a great stepping stone towards the summer international races and Marcus will get back to training looking to progress on towards the World Rowing championships in July.

   

  Congratulations and well done!

   

  Photo credits - World rowing

  

• Tough Mudder 2022

  Sat 21 May 2022

  A few members of TWBS staff took part in the 15K Tough Mudder on Saturday, completing 30 obstacles along the way. We had lots of fun and laughter getting muddy and wet!

   

  M Levitt
  Cover Supervisor

   

   

  

• Year 13 Leavers’ Celebration

  Fri 20 May 2022

  This week has seen the commencement of A Level exams for Year 13.

   

  Last Friday, we held our annual Year 13 Leavers’ Celebration on Stovell. I wanted to share some photos with you.

   

  In addition, I would like to thank: Clare Warren, Helen Lawson, Lucy Gillies, Megan Mumford, Julie Creed, Natalie Ruse, Sandy Lewin and Laura Spence who organised the brunch; Mr Breen and Mr Jeffery who ran the boys’ final House Events; and all of the Sixth Form tutors and teachers who have provided the students with so much support over the last two years.

   

  It was a brilliant day and a wonderful send off for Year 13.

   

  Anna Lyon
  Head of Sixth Form

  

• Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award

  Mon 16 May 2022

  Congratulations to Oscar Walker, a former student of TWBS, who recently attended the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The weather held on the day for the garden party, that was long anticipated after Covid delays.

   

  I encourage you all to keep logging the physical, skill and volunteering you are doing on your DofE journey. If you’ve finished your time, give your assessors your DofE number and this link https://www.dofe.org/assessor/ asking them to please complete the form to prove you have completed each section.

   

  Half the battle in completing the award and being able to go to Buckingham Palace for Gold is persisting with the ‘paperwork’ involved.

   

  Congratulations Oscar!

  

• Year 11 District Cup Final

  Thu 12 May 2022

  On Thursday afternoon the Year 11 Football team won the District Cup with a comfortable 5-1 win over Ditton Park. The game was close for the first fifteen minutes with Ditton pressing hard and Windsor panicking but they soon got into their stride and Jack Arnold slipped the ball into the bottom corner for a 1-0 lead. Soon after Arnold made it two and Will Gregory scored a stunning 35 yard free kick to make it 3-0 at half time. As the second half started, Ditton again pressed hard and with the wind behind them created a few chances but the defence held strong. The building from the back continued and Windsor scored 2 more goals from Charlie Reid to put them clear at 5-0. Ditton grabbed one back at the end but it didn’t change the result and Windsor lifted the cup.

  

• The Queens Canopy Project - 10 May 2022

  Tue 10 May 2022

  On Tuesday, Mrs Tickell and I were lucky enough to go with other schools in our area to see trees which have recently been planted in the Great Park to celebrate the Queen's 70 years on the throne. 

   

  We got onto a bus and were taken to an undisclosed location in the Great Park. When we got off the bus, we went and took pictures of a tree that had been planted in the name of The Windsor Boys’ School. After this, students of the 70 schools that attended, took a picture under an arch that commemorates the Platinum Jubilee. We then got back onto the bus and were taken to eat some delicious food inside Ascot Racecourse. This was a unique opportunity that will never come around again and I'm glad I was chosen for such an incredible event!

   

  ‘Treebilee’ was named by the Prince of Wales when he planted the first oak sapling in the grounds of Windsor Castle in May 2021.  A tree is a statement of hope and faith in the future. The target for this initiative is to plant millions of trees the length and breadth of the country to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne, by winter this year.  

   

  By Harry Whennell, Year 9