Extracurricular News

Lizzie, Year 7, has been working with Mrs Williams, Art Technician, over the past couple of months on her entry to the Unique Art Awards (an Art Competition for disabled children between the ages of 7 - 21 years old) with the theme landscape.

Lizzie took inspiration from photos she had taken in Castle Meadows, Wallingford, and chose to paint in vibrant colours; they needed to be visually stimulating in order for Lizzie to see the colours properly.

We think this is a wonderful new perspective on a scene we all know in Wallingford - thank you Lizzie, we wish you lots of luck with your entry and can't wait to see what you produce next!

Lizzie painting
Lizzie's painting of Castle Meadows

Tilda (Yr 8), Syrah (Yr 8), Callum (Yr 9) and Joseph (Yr 9) visited Headington School to compete in the UKMT Team Maths Challenge this week. Against some very stiff competition, they completed 4 rounds of challenging maths problems and puzzles - coming 5th out of 17 schools! A massive well done to the team!

Students working at desksStudents working on maths challenge puzzles

Tandem free fallMatt, Year 12, has never been one for sport at school, but has taken his physical challenge to new heights! Over to Matt:

I guess I’ve always been attracted to more unusual sports - scuba diving in Crete and running a 10 mile Tough Mudder course. However, since I was 12 I always wanted to skydive.

Last weekend, after a 7 hour wait for the wind to drop and clouds to clear, I was finally able to tandem free fall from 10,000 ft (over 3km)! Not only did we free fall but my instructor carried out acrobatics on our descent. It was brilliant and the first of many jumps, I hope.

The jump school run apprenticeships in Business Management and becoming an instructor and, although this is not the career path I intend to take, it was great to know that there are options out there for thrill-seekers like me!

Matt in the plane before the jump
About to perform acrobatics while free falling
Matt's parachute is deployed - a small speck of blue in the vast sky
Matt back on earth with his certificate

Taekwon-do student winnersWallingford Taekwon-do took six students to the UK Open Championships 2023 and came away with a medal haul equalling 11 points!

Special Technique Champion Matteo (Year 10) gained a bronze in sparring, Yesith (Year 10) took a silver in patterns with brother Bimsath (Class of 2023) picking up two bronzes in patterns and sparring for his first competition, and sister Miheli (Year 8) unlucky to miss out on medals this time. Julia (Year 7) picked up a bronze in her sparring division, with team-mate Karolina joining her in the bronze club with medals won in both her patterns and sparring division.

Their hard work is paying off and support for each other is simply incredible - the future potential is bright! Looking forward to what 2024 brings!

- Wallingford Taekwon-do School

Peter on pianoWe are thrilled to hear that Peter in Year 9 has been selected to represent the UK in the Yamaha Highlight Concert, to be held in Milan, Italy at the beginning of March.

Peter will perform his own composition, Steam, where he plays the piano supported by James (Didcot 6th Form) on trumpet.

Good luck Peter (and James!) – we can’t wait to hear more when you return!