Development Ambassadors

May 2013

Mr Church’s Spring Quiz March 27

Our last quiz was Wednesday 27 March. It was Spring Themed and had 12 teams participating representing 80 students. Curie was the house with the most student’s participating. Prizes were once again sponsored by Hunters Estate Agents. Best Team Name went to the Queaster Bunnies. First Prize of eight £5 Claire’s gift cards  was won by ‘What we call Spring’.  Second Prize, a box of Celebrations and Heroes, was won by ‘Universally Challenged’.  Third Prize of several packages of Rolos was shared by the ‘Queaster Bunnies’ and ‘Quizpy Kremes’. Our cake sale raised £33 and ticket sales raised £79. Total amount raised £112.  Overall, this was a very successful quiz once again! Despite the slightly lower turn-out, everybody enjoyed themselves immensely. Unfortunately, this was the last ‘Mr Church’s Quiz’ for this school year.  We would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Church for leading our quizzes which have raised £884 for Play Your Part.  Next year we hope to liven the quizzes up, making them different and encouraging House competition/teams based on TV show favourites like Would I Lie to You, Catch Phrase, Pointless, Countdown and All Star Family Fortune.

Zumba Night 27 March 2013 Recap

The Zumba Night was great fun for all who attended and raised £75.  Nine mothers, fourteen daughters and one son attended. It was an hour of fun filled with dancing and inevitably laughing.  We are very grateful to our kind and generous instructor Rachel Urquhart who volunteered to guide everyone through lots of different exercises and dance routines.  We all enjoyed it and even though our muscles ached it was still a lot of fun, so we hope to see even more eager parents, daughters, friends and staff attend the next Zumba Night!  All proceeds went to the Play Your Part campaign and helping to fund the new music block building.

New Date Zumba Night Thursday 6 June 7 pm – 8 pm in the Gym

Parent Mail letters have gone out and there is a button on Moodle promoting the last Zumba Night for staff, students, friends and family this academic year.  The cost is £2.50 per person.  We’d like to get a big crowd for Amie Cook, founder of 2Stepz Dance and Fitness Entertainment Company, who is giving up an evening to raise funds for the school.  Please encourage yourselves, your friends and daughters to sign up and RSVP in advance by getting reply slips to the Development Office C306.  All proceeds will go towards ‘kitting out’ the new Music Centre, Dance and Drama Studios.

Friday 3 May Movie Night Recap

Thirty nine girls attended - including some year 8s and 10s. The winning house was Pankhurst with 11, followed by Parks and Nightingale with 6 each, Bronte with 5 and Austen and Curie both with 3.  First prize of 4 Cineworld tickets went to Georgia Fayers. Second prize of a £5 HMV gift card went to Emily Morgan and third prize of two tasty treats from the refreshment table went to Freya Humphries. We raised £167.39 for Play Your Part brining our total funds raised from movie nights to £895.   Save the date for the last  Movie Night of the year Friday 19 July showcasing the Year 7’s movie of choice ‘Diary of  a Wimpy Kid’.

RagBag Recycling

With your continued support we've raised £483 this year representing 966kg. We've nearly met our one tonne goal thanks to your continued support. Please keep your donations coming. We are looking for unwanted, clean adult and children's clothes, paired shoes, hats, bags, belts, curtains, towels and bed linen (sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers). Spread the word to your family, friends, teachers and neighbours. Tell them to think heavy. Rag Bag pays 50p for every kg recycled. The textiles must be dry, clean and in a bag

With your help we have raised £2883.  We are nearly at our £3k target.  Thank you so much for your support.  Please attend our upcoming Zumba and Movie Nights which will help us meet our target.  We will also be holding an Inter-House Biscuit Competition and sale on Sports Day.  The winning house will be awarded points on the day.

Contributions from Sky Willis Y 8 C8, Shimin Lu Y12 T3 and Amy Barlow Y8 P3

March 2013

Last half term the Development Ambassadors organised a series of events to continue with fundraising for the ‘Play your Part ‘campaign.

Year 7 Movie Nights

On Friday 1 February we held a Year 7 Movie Night, showing the Simpsons Movie, which again was a huge success with over 45 girls attending and £200 raised.  Throughout this academic year the Movie Nights have raised £726.

Mr Church’s Half Term Quiz

On Wednesday 13 February Mr C’s Romantic Half Term Quiz took place with 27 teams representing 181 students. As always, there was a best name competition, won by ‘ We are never ever winning the best quiz name like ever’ . The overall quiz winners were the ‘Not so stupid Cupids’, who won £5 Bijou Brigitte gift cards (prizes sponsored by Hunters Estate Agents).  Combined the quiz and cake sale organised for the teams raised £266 towards play your part.  Also attending was ‘ Team Bolt’ a Wycombe high Young Enterprise team who kindly took photos at the event.  Over all, the quizzes this academic year have raised a staggering £ 772 all down to participation by students and teachers at the school - so thank you very much!

Hot Off The Press  

Wednesday 27 March we held a Mr Church’s Spring Themed Quiz and the Parent Daughter Zumba Night led by the excellent Rachel Urquhart.  We look forward to reporting the results of both events in the next issue of High Flyer.

RagBag 

The RagBag campaign has also continued to raise money for ‘Play your Part’.  Since the last update another £110 has been gained through unwanted textiles.   Please continue to encourage your family, friends and neighbours to donate clean adult and children's clothes, paired shoes, hats, bags, belts, curtains, towels and bed linen (sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers).  The heavier the better as Rag Bag pays 50p for every kg recycled.  The textiles must be dry, clean and in a bag.  If you don’t have a plastic bag, please feel free to use those provided adjacent to the textile bank.  If the bank is full, please place your donation around the corner under shelter. 

New WHS Branded Merchandise   

Exciting news ! The Development Ambassadors will be soon introducing a range of House lanyards available for purchase by students and teachers . These fantastic accessories are ideal for keys, memory sticks and key rings as well as promoting House spirit. Prices and order details to follow.

Future Events

                
We have two more Year 7 Movie Nights planned, so please save the dates: Friday 3 May ‘Avengers Assembled’ and Friday 19 July ’Diary of a Whimpy Kid’.  We also have the pleasure of introducing another Parent Daughter Zumba Night Thursday 9 May at 7.00 pm thanks to WHS parent Sarah-Jane Wellington’s recommendation of her ‘fab Zumba teacher’ Amie Crook founder of 2StepZ Dance and Fitness Entertainment Company (info@2stepz.com  www.2stepz.com).

Recruiting New Development Ambassadors & Head of Development

We are now recruiting 12 new Development Ambassadors for next year from current Year 7, 8 & 11 and a Head of Development from current Year 12.  All creative, dedicated and self-motivated students who are interested in publishing, writing, graphic design, marketing, public relations, advertising, fundraising,  and sales should apply!   Job Descriptions and Posters are on Moodle in the Development Course http://whs.moodledo.co.uk/course/view.php?id=3207, in the Christie letter racks and on the Christie Bridge.  Being a Development Ambassador is a great way of gaining work experience, meeting new people and a chance to give back to the school.  Please encourage your daughter(s) to apply. 

Thank you once again for your support and generosity in helping the Development Team raise funds for such a worthwhile cause . Since September over £2300 has been raised for the campaign and we hope to exceed our target by the end of the school year . If we carry on as we have so far, this will be easily achievable. 

Lauren Allington, Y9 C5, Development Ambassador

February 2013 

Welcome to a new year from the Development Ambassadors.   As 2012 drew to an end an array of Development ran events took place for all years, there was the Year 7 Movie Night, the Half Term Quiz, as well as, the on-going Rag Bag recycling scheme.

Year 7 Movie Nights

Elf was shown on the movie night for Year 7‘s on the 7 December.  Christmas themed and with Christmas spirits the night was a great success and an amazing way to end the year for Wycombe High’s new Year 7’s.  Thank you to the 68 that attended – you helped us raise £249 by participating in the Movie Raffle and purchasing the refreshments sponsored by Cineworld and The Guild.  Gabriella Smith won First Prize (Four Free Tickets to Cineworld), Meg Riley and Freya Humphries won tasty treats for second won third prize respectively.

Mr Church’s Half Term Quiz

As usual, the Half Term Quiz, renamed the Quizmas Bonanza on this occasion, was one of the highlights of the term.  Over 30 teams signed up to take part in the Christmas themed trivia and picture quiz hosted by Mr Church.   The winning team was a group of dedicated Year 9’s comically named ‘We three Kings and the four people who joined us’.  Prizes included HMV cards and yummy edible treats sponsored by Hunters’ Estate Agents of High Wycombe.   The ‘Best Name’ competition was full of inventive and hilarious team names but the prize went to ‘Quiz me under the Quizletoe’ for their combination of Quizzes and Christmas.  All in all, the Quiz raised £267.

RagBag    

The RagBag recycling system continues to help fund the ‘Play Your Part’ campaign with £288 raised, representing over a half tonne of textiles.  Please continue to encourage your family, friends and neighbours to donate clean adult and children's clothing, paired shoes, handbags, bags, ties and belts, soft toys, blankets, underwear including socks, tights, pants and bras, household textiles including towels, bend linen, curtans etc.  They cannot accept duvets (synthetic or feathered), carpets, rugs, soiled or wet clothing.  The heavier the donation the better as Rag Bag pays 50p for every kg recycled.  The textiles must be dry, clean and in a bag.  If you don’t have a plastic bag, please feel free to use those provided adjacent to the textile bank.  If the bank is full, please place your donation around the corner under shelter.

Future Events

Upcoming Development events include another Year 7 Movie Night (Friday 1 February) , Mr Churches Romantic Half term Quiz Wednesday 13 February  and a Parent Daughter Zumba evening Thursday 27 March.  So please save the dates and look out for Parent Mail letters.     Thank you for your on-going support and participation in events both for students and parents, much needed funds are being raised through them.  Currently we have raised £1734, which is already over half of our £3000 target.  We wish you the very best in the New Year and encourage you to watch this space for more news about what development events are happening in and around school.

Lauren Allington, C5 Development Ambassador      

December 2012

 Year 7 Movie Nights

On Friday 19 October we ran our first movie night of the year showing the movie, The Hunger Games.  Entrance to the movie night was free.  Cineworld High Wycombe sponsored popcorn and raffle prizes whilst The Guild sponsored other refreshments.  Over 80 year 7 students RSVP’d, with Parks House having the highest attendance, helping to raise a record breaking £277.

Our second movie night is set for Friday 7 December showing Elf.  We look forward to reporting on this in the next edition of High Flyer. 

Mr Church’s Half Term Quiz

On Wednesday 24 October we ran another of our hugely popular half term quizzes envisioned by Mr Church.  We paired the quiz with a cake sale and raised £239. 28 teams participated representing 196 students.  Austen was the House with the most participants.  First Place went to Agatha Quiz Team with 70 points, followed by Llanfairpwllgwyngyll Train Spotting Society with 68 points and Third Place going to the Scramble Egg Heads with 67 points.  First Place were awarded HMV gift cards for each member of the team.  Second place received a very large tin of Celebrations.  Third place won individual chocolate orange bars.  There was also a prize for the best team name awarded to Agatha Quiz Team.  We are currently selling tickets and organising Mr Church’s Quizmas Bonanza on Wednesday 12 December.

Frost Fayre

On Thursday 29 November we were given a stall at the PAFA-run Frost Fayre.  We decorated pencils and sold them, as well as offering the chance to decorate biscuits.  We also sold our usual guild merchandise as well as Christmas cards.  We raised just over £100 - more than double what was raised last year.

New Merchandise

We are currently looking to update the school merchandise in order to portray a more up-to-date image as well as incorporating the new House System.  We are currently looking at introducing Wycombe Highs School and House Crest key rings and lanyards in the different House colours which would be available to staff and students.  So watch this space for the release of our new merchandise!

Rag Bag Recycling

Thank you for your on-going contributions to our RagBag Recycling Bank.  We have raised nearly £200 by collecting nearly 400 KG of textiles.  Please keep your contributions coming.  We are looking for clean clothes, paired shoes, hats, bags, belts, curtains, towels or bed linen in good condition and bagged.  The recycling bank is located near the entrance to the school.  As you enter the school car park, take an immediate right, then a left into the small car park.  The textile bank is conveniently located so that you may drive right up to bank and deposit your donations.

Target Update

Our target for the year is £3,000 which will come solely from Development Ambassador’s events. Currently our total stands at £1085 after less than one term! We are well on our way to meeting our target.  We couldn’t have achieved this amount without the support of fellow students, staff and parental support.  We are very grateful and thank you for your backing.

October 2012

Amy Barlow and Jasmine Pankhania are not pictured.

As Development Ambassadors our goal is to support the Development Office raise funds for the development of the school, which is separate and apart from all the charity fundraising that goes on at our school.

It is our responsibility to help in any way we can to raise funds.  Last year the school launched ‘Play Your Part’ – a major performing arts campaign to upgrade our music, drama and dance facilities.  All efforts last year focused on reaching a goal of £2,500.  We are thrilled to announce last year’s Development Ambassadors smashed that goal by raising an amazing £3884!

This year our target is £3000 and we aim to smash our target yet again, but we need your help.

Year 7  Movie Nights
The Development Ambassadors hold regular movie nights for Year 7s, which is a great way to have some fun all together on a dull Friday night.  Our last movie night was a great success with 50 girls turning up to watch the film Mean Girls. There are snacks available to buy sponsored by The Guild and raffle prizes donated by Cineworld.
    

Our first movie night this year is Friday 19 October when we will be watching the Hunger Games so save the upcoming dates for fun filled nights with all your friends.  These movie nights will continue all year so keep an eye out for Moodle surveys to make sure you get a say in what you want to watch!

The upcoming dates for our movie nights are:

19 October – The Hunger Games

Sports Day 2012 & Cake Sales
As proved in the past cake sales are an excellent way to raise money, so bring your friends and enjoy our homemade treats. On sports day last year we held our first inter-house biscuit competition with people bringing in a variety of wonderful cakes and biscuits to help raise money. The most cakes were contributed by Curie and together with the House Cup Cakes made by year 10 WycOlympic refreshment team, Rosetti’s ice cream sales and Miss Lee’s Diversity stall they raised nearly £400!

We have started already on our wonderful cake sales this year with our last one on 10th October raising nearly £114; we are greatly appreciative to everyone who bought cakes. So keep it up!

RagBg Recycling Scheme

Our RagBag scheme is a hugely successful way of raising money for the Play Your Part campaign.  With the school receiving 50p for every kg of textiles that we recycle, we were bursting with pride when we surpassed our target of one tonne of textiles last year, raising an astounding £650.  So any clothes, paired shoes, hats, bags, belts, curtains, towels or bed linen you’ve got lying around Play Your Part! The RagBag Recycling bank is located near the entrance to the school.  As you enter the school car park, take an immediate right, then a left into the small car park. The textile bank is conveniently located so that parents and staff can drive right up to the bank and deposit their donations.  Please make sure the donations are clean, dry and are in a plastic bag of some sort as the bank is not waterproof.

Mr Church's Quizzes
Last year Mr Church spearheaded three half-term quizzes where students signed up in groups to answer rounds of questions. With thanks to Mr Church, the girls that took part and packed out the hall to watch the quiz, and the amazing cake sales we manage to raise nearly £700.  This year we plan to produce 5 quizzes starting with our first on Wednesday 24 October.  Gather your friends together in groups of 4 to 8 and sign up for £1 each for a chance to win our first, second and third prizes which have been generously sponsored by Hunters Estate Agents.

Card Project

A HUGE thank you to all who submitted artwork and card orders for the custom card project.  We took in 154 orders raising £110 which was better than last year.  Congratulations to Emily Marchant of P7 who is the winner of the competition and to Parks for the house with the most participants.  Once again the designs were amazing. Here a few examples.

July 2012

As Development Ambassadors our goal is to support the Development Office to raise funds for the development of the school which is separate and apart from charity fundraising. This year all our efforts have been focused on supporting the ‘Play Your Part’ campaign with a target £2,500. We are very happy to announce we have smashed that goal by raising over £3,100 and the school year isn’t over yet! Next year our target is £3,000. We fully intend to meet that goal, but we’ll need your help.

This month we said goodbye to our 2011-2012 Development Ambassadors with a pizza party and welcomed the 2012-2013’s. While we regret to say goodbye, we are sure next year’s ambassadors will be just as ambitious and committed and we look forward to working on exciting new projects with them.

Development Ambassadors hold regular movie nights. Refreshments are sponsored by The Guild and popcorn and raffle prizes are donated by Cineworld. Our last movie night of this year is Friday 13 July for Year 7, so save the date for a fun filled night with all your friends. These movie nights will continue next year so keep an eye out for Moodle surveys to make sure you get a say in what you want to watch!

Card Project 2012

For the third year in a row we are participating in the Art Project for Schools Card Project. You can submit artwork and photos (as long as you own the copyright) to make holiday cards, thank yous, get well, congratulations, birthday and blank cards. The artwork can be from anyone in the family, neighbours, friends and colleagues. Look out for a Parent Mail letter explaining the project and get your artwork, forms and payment into us by Thursday 11 October. This will give us an estimated arrival date for your cards the week of 5 November 2012. Plenty of time to send them out as holiday cards or gifts.

RagBag scheme is an easy way of raising money. We receive 50p for every kg of textiles that we recycle. This year we’ve raised over £585 by collecting 1172kg of textiles. Please continue to contribute clean clothes, paired shoes, hats, bags, belts, curtains, towels or bed linen in good condition and bagged. The RagBag Recycling bank is located near the entrance to the school. As you enter the school car park, take an immediate right, then a left into the small car park. The textile bank is conveniently located so that parents and staff can drive right up to the bank and deposit their bagged donations.

As proved in the past cake sales are an excellent way to raise money. Our last cake sale raised nearly £100 and we are greatly appreciative to everyone who bought cakes. On Sports Day we are running an Inter-House biscuit sale and competition. The house that contributes the most biscuit wins house points that will be awarded on the day, so get baking! Thank you to everyone who has participated in our events helping us to raise over £3K. We couldn’t have done it without you!
 

Allis Rose Co-Head of Development

May Update 2012

Mr Church’s Half Term Quiz

It came. It’s come. But it’s coming again…

On Thursday 2 March, we had our second quiz date for Mr Church’s Quiz.  Teams came to test their knowledge on familiar rounds of dingbats, music and famous stars with our ever loved presenter, Mr Church.  A favourite round included the celebrity face mash-up – who’d have thought George Clooney could look so much like a girl, and Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp, make such an interesting combination. Another eternal favourite was the music round.  Contagious excitement buzzed in the air and with the prize on offer, a trip to Cineworld, it was easy to see why. With round prizes and a final winner, everyone seemed determined to attempt their best.

The turnout was amazing.  Everyone came from the bouncy energetic sevens to the mature twelve’s who’s knowledge was met with a competitive but friendly spirit.  Your support and enthusiasm was uplifting as usual.  As you entered the hall, searching, darting, chattering, I could feel the anticipative festive atmosphere.  As Development Ambassadors, we did our best to make the event a success.  Kike, our Head of Development, devised an organised and efficient system to register, collect and tally scores which meant less chaos.  The whole process was much easier which meant we were able to process the data and results quickly. We managed to announce round and overall winners just before the end of lunch.

Round Winners

1 – Las Chicas         
2 – The Quizzard’s   
3 – Team SAchmidty

4 – Fenton     
5 – Nemstols
6 – The Weakes Links

Pictured the winning team ‘The Quizzards’ with Mr Church

We are thankful to the Development Ambassadors, Mrs Morgan, and Kike (who was vital for delegating and organising our tasks) for making the quiz possible.  We are extremely grateful to our now famous host, Mr Church, who was the brainchild of the quiz.   And, last but not least, this would not have been possible without you.  Thank you for coming!  For those of you whom didn’t come, don’t forget, there’s always Wednesday 30 May!  If you wish to take part come along to the glass corridor at lunch time to sign up.  The cost is £1.00 to enter teams up to 8.

                                                                        Aisha Akeil, Year 12 T6

Zumba Parent Daughter Night

Zumba Night was a fabulous success! We had over 80 mothers, daughters and even one son turn up!  Everyone helped us make the evening very memorable while we danced our way to raising £252.60 for ‘Play Your Part’.  A very generous Zumba teacher (Karen Orchard of Zumba Crazy)  volunteered to lead our Zumba session free of charge so all the proceeds went to ‘Play Your Part’ and for this we are very grateful. She led us through around 10 different exercises, filling the hour with fun and music!

I’m sure everyone that attended will join us in saying that the evening was a fun way to exercise which has encouraged us to do more events similar to this one in the near future.  If you have a favourite Zumba, Kick Boxing, Pilates, etc. instructor that would be willing to donate their time on behalf of raising money for ‘Play Your Part’, we would love to hear from you.  Please contact Mrs Morgan at 01494 523961 or dmorgan@whs.bucks.sch.uk with your suggestions.

We hope to see you at our next parent daughter event!

RagBag Recycling Scheme

Our goal was to collect one tonne of textiles which we are very happy to report we have.  As of writing we have collected 1,075kg of textiles raising £537.50.  We couldn’t have done this without your support.  Please continue to donate clean, dry textiles including clothing, bags, belts, curtains, towels, bed linen (sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers) and shoes.  The heavier the better.  Please ask your family, friends, teachers and neighbours to contribute donations in a plastic bag in the textile bank located in the car park behind the Downs building where the School Hall is located.

The Development Ambassadors set a goal of raising £2,500 to go towards the ‘Play Your Part’ Campaign.  It was an ambitious goal, but one we are please to report they have exceeded their goal by raising over £2,700 and the academic year isn’t over yet.  We have a Sports Day Inter House Cake Sale Competition and Year 7 Movie Night planned for Friday the 13 July.  So please continue to support our projects so that we can raise even more for ‘Play Your Part’.

March April Update

Mr Church Half Term Quiz

The hall was jam packed with cakes, students, teachers and an epitome of excitement.  It began with Mr Church, our “famous” host but he wasn’t the only one. There were many more teachers involved including Ms Diz, Miss Shepard, Mr Norris, Mr Haynes, Mrs Robinson, Dr. D and Mr Jones. Their first round imitations were funny and greeted with much applause. The exhilarated atmosphere deafened our ears with the continuous cheerful merriment throughout. The questions were varying in difficulty and subject with film stars, movies and artists to general knowledge.  Everyone loved the film round. No one can doubt that WHS do not know they’re films with Pirates of the Caribbean, Confessions of a Shopaholic to Slumdog Millionaire, all classic favourites. The hardest round seemed the teachers’ questions causing us to wrack our brains to the full extent.

It was exciting, busy and fun! So, all I am left to say is to thank all the teachers, staff and ICT team and all other unnamed supporters. But last but not least, you, students ! It wouldn’t have been possible without you!

Round Winners

1 - Insidious  

2 - Insidious  

3 - Dumledore’s Army

4 - Zayn Malik           

5 - Anonamou           

6 - Parks 7

Pictured Mr Church and the winners - The Hippies

Aisha Akeil and Zahra Bashir

On Wednesday 1 February, I hosted the inaugural ½ Term Quiz. It turned out to be a huge success raising over £270.00, but it took a little time to get going. The Development Ambassadors and Mrs. Morgan spent a long time working on the advertising and pushing the event to their friends. We had many meetings devising a format, deciding on the number of rounds and writing the questions. We grovelled to other teachers to help and tried to sign people up. For such a large undertaking we knew we needed people to sign up in advance, but this took persuading. With only 5 days to go we only had 10 teams signed up, but after the weekend in the two days beforehand we became very busy and eventually had over 30 teams from all year groups. Some were in their vertical tutoring groups, others in their years, but everyone seemed to be having fun.

Hosting the quiz was very exciting for me as a teacher. It was a chance to do something different than my normal History or Politics lessons. Standing on the stage, reading out questions and talking to the audience meant the time flew by and we almost didn’t find out who won due to Period 5 commencing. The entire audience was laughing and were being very supportive, as well as adhering to the strict rules of no talking whilst a question was being read out. It was a really fun event and I cannot wait for the next one on Wednesday March 28 (two days before the Easter holidays!). So if you enjoyed it last time and want to come again, or heard about it and want to see what all the fuss was about, sign up as soon as you see the posters going up and we will see you then!

Mr Church

January/ February 2012 Update

Being a Development Ambassador

Being a Development Ambassador this year has definitely been very exciting and extremely interesting.  We have run a number of events for the ‘Play your Part’ campaign and have many more fast approaching.  On Wednesday 7 December we produced the ‘Teacher Would I Lie to You ‘ quiz twinned with a buzzing cake sale led us to raise a whopping £187.  The teachers amazed the audience with their tales of being held up at gun point, streaking across quads, giving a homeless couple tickets to a ball and money to rent a tux and party dress, and rites of initiation from Papua New Guinea.  We would like to thank Mr Haynes for his role as compare; Miss Lee, Miss Snook and Mrs Robinson for being on the women’s team and Mr Mackerras, Mr Ahmed and Mr Rushton for being on the winning men’s team.

At Christmas we ran a candy cane delivery scheme for the girls at Wycombe High School.  They could either send one to each other or to students at John Hampden Grammar School.  The delivery service was a great hit and managed to contribute £80  towards the campaign.

We are planning a Half Termly Quiz Wednesday 1 February composed by Mr Church, consisting of many different rounds as well as guest appearances by members of staff.  A full report will be available in the next issue of High Flyer.

Furthermore, we are planning a parent daughter Zumba night to encourage a healthy lifestyle as well as raising much needed funds.  Karen Orchard of Zumba Crazy has offered to waive her fees so that we may raise funds for Play Your Part.  More on this to come.

Altogether we have raised over £1400.  We are well on our way to reach our goal of £2500 for the year.  As an incentive to participate in our events students will receive House Points for attending an event, being a finalist and winner.  Please encourage your daughter to participate.  They’ll not only enjoy themselves, but they will win valuable points for their House.

By Annie Halhead, Briony Brock, Sophie Ashmore & Kathryn Baker

December 2011 Update

The lead up to Christmas has been a busy time for the Development Ambassadors.  To begin with we had our first Year 7 Movie Night for this term, which has been the most popular Movie Night yet!  With a record-breaking 78 enthusiastic Y7s in attendance, refreshments quickly sold out, including the popcorn generously donated by Cineworld in High Wycombe. 

The girls came equipped with sleeping bags, beanbags and pyjamas to enjoy the hilarious talents of Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English.  We would again like to thank the Y7s for their immense support, without you, we would not have been able to raise the £186.25 that we did!

We are also in the final stages of putting together our Would I Lie To You Teacher Quiz, taking place on Wednesday 7 December. The past few weeks has seen the Development Ambassadors collecting up unknown comical tales from teachers’ pasts, such as “I once ran naked across a quad at Oxford University as a student for a college challenge!”  With people already asking for tickets before we’ve started advertising, we hope it will prove to be a very successful event.

With so many events to organise before the end of term, the Development Ambassadors have really been working hard as a team to make everything come together.  On top of that, they all seem to be enjoying themselves!  Here are a few highs and lows of being a Development Ambassador, from the Development Ambassadors themselves.

 “I think that being a Development Ambassador has been really fun, as I have become closer with people in the years below, as well as the year above. I also really enjoy working with Kike and Mrs Morgan, so overall it’s enjoyable, rather than a stress like other work in Sixth Form is. At this point I cannot think of any 'lows' as it has been really fun so far!”

Tigs Knowles Y12

“Being a Development Ambassador is a great opportunity and one that I enjoy doing. My favourite thing in this role is being creative and coming up with new fundraising ideas; however, it is hard sometimes when movie nights are not successful. I do hope that in the future we are able to raise the sufficient funds to create the new performing arts block.”

Annie Halhead Y9

We seem well on our way to reaching our £2,500 goal to go towards the Play Your Part Campaign. What with the first of our movie nights, the popular Rag Bag textiles recycling scheme, which has raised £227.50 (455 kg), and various sales of cakes and WHS merchandise, within these past three months we have raised a fantastic £972.33!  We could not have done this without the support of the students, staff, parents and friends of Wycombe High School, and we hope to absolutely smash our goal.

Kike Oludemi

Head of Development

November 2011 Update

Wycombe High School is nationally and internationally acclaimed for its exceptional ability in all fields, academic and artistic.  The school is committed to developing a rounded young woman, capable of achieving highly in all walks of life. The launch of the Play Your Part fundraising campaign will undoubtedly provide new opportunities for students to enhance their creative horizons, and to explore the Arts without any hindrances.

In 2009 the school launched the role of the Development Ambassadors, which involved a team of students raising money to go towards the school development fund. This year, the Development Ambassadors have set themselves a goal to raise £2,500 to go towards the first phase of the Performing Arts Centre Campaign; building a new Music Centre. We have various events planned in order to meet, and hopefully surpass this goal

Custom Greeting Card Project

Teacher “Would I Lie To You?” Quiz

We feel that it is extremely important to involve the entire school community while fundraising for this worthy cause.  Because of this, we have enlisted the help of seven enthusiastic teachers to run Wycombe High’s very own spin-off of the popular BBC comedy quiz. “Would I Lie To You?” during lunch on 7 December.  There will be a small entry fee and refreshments sold on the day.

Christmas Candy Cane Project

Last year, a hugely successful Candy Cane Delivery Scheme was run, with students being able to send candy canes to fellow students, and students at John Hampden Grammar School. This year, we hope to do the same, with hopes to possibly extend to the Royal Grammar School.  We are approaching retailers in the area for donations of candy canes; if you know of a sponsor that we could approach, please contact the Development Office on 01494 897309.

Movie Nights Sponsored by Cineworld

Thanks to the amazing support shown by the pupils and parents of the school, we raised nearly £600 to go towards the School Development Fund and with this year’s films already shortlisted, we hope to emulate the same success.  Entry is free.  However, we raise money by selling refreshments some of which are generously donated by Cineworld in High Wycombe.  Our first Movie Night is Friday 11 November for Year 7.  They have chosen ‘Johnny English’ as their film of choice.  A ParentMail letter was sent to you with copies in the Christie Letter Rack and in the Development Course on Moodle.  Please encourage your daughters to attend and (if they wish) to bring a sleeping bag and pillow on the night.

RagBag Recycling Scheme

The Rag Bag recycling scheme is an easy way to raise money for the school.  The school gets paid 50 pence for every kg of textiles donated.  Last year we raised £429 by collecting 857kg, and this year we are aiming for one tonne!  We are looking for bags, belts, curtains, towels and bed linen (sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers). So please ask your family, friends, teachers and neighbours to contribute.  Please make sure your contributions are in a plastic bag.  We’ve raised £106 already this year thanks to your support.

Easter Egg Hunt

Last year’s development ambassadors ran a very popular Easter egg hunt for Year 7’s, 8’s and some very keen Year 9’s!  However we could not make as much money as we wanted because of the costs encountered with buying the Easter eggs.  So this year we would be extremely grateful for donations or a sponsorship of Easter eggs.  Once again, we are approaching retailers in the area for donations of candy canes; if you know of a sponsor that we could approach, please contact the Development Office on 01494 897309.

Valentine’s Day Disco

On 10 February 2012, the Development Ambassadors are organising a disco to celebrate Valentine’s Day.  We welcome any volunteers to help chaperone the event, which is sure to be a success.

Talent Shows and Showcases

Considering we are raising money for a new Performing Arts Centre, we saw it only fit that we showcase the talent our school is bursting with. From musical, to theatrical, to rhythmical, we truly believe that talent shows and showcases are an excellent way to show just how worthy the cause is, as well as raising a lot of money.

Possible Future Projects

The Development Ambassadors, the staff and the students have come up with some brilliant ideas that we hope to implement in the future.

• More Discos
• Teacher Cheer Off
• Teacher Bake Off
• Teacher Come Dancing
• Wycombe High School Babysitting Agency
• Sale of House Hoodies
• Car Boot Sales
• Firework Displays
• Themed Cake Sales

October Update

2011 – 2012 Development Ambassadors

It is with great pleasure that we introduce this year’s Development Ambassadors.  For the first time in the history of WHS, we have our first Head of Development, Kike Oludemi.  Kike is responsible for leading the new team of Development Ambassadors comprised of four students from Years 8, 9 and 12 (not pictured).

The Development Ambassadors need you all to Play your Part by supporting their projects for the coming year.  All funds raised will be going towards the Performing Arts Campaign.

July Update

The Development Ambassadors contributions to the overall funds raised by the Development Office this year included producing events such as the Interform Sports Day Cake Sale, Movie Nights and Easter Egg Hunt; introducing new WHS branded products with the GCSE and A Level Artwork and Digital Photography Notelets; and launching the Custom Card Project and RagBag Recycling scheme which we will continue into the next academic year.

More importantly Development Ambassadors have raised the profile and changed the ethos of fundraising for the school itself.  They recently presented to the Leadership Group who were thoroughly impressed by the professionalism of the presentation, delivery and Q & A session that followed. So much so, that they suggested they present to the entire school during the Friday all school assembly.  Needless to say we are very proud of their accomplishments.

And, the term isn’t over yet.  We have a Year 7 Movie Night to go Friday 8 of July and the Sports Day Interform Cake Sale Competition.  So please encourage your daughter to participate in the last two events and attend Sports Day to buy some WHS branded notelets, placemats and coasters.

May/June Update

Congratulations to the first ever Development Ambassadors who, with the support of WHS friends, staff, students and parents, raised £2,121 for the School Development Fund and £264.00 for the Music Department since the launch of the programme in April 2010.

In the 2009/2010 academic year, money was raised primarily by selling WHS merchandise at school events.  This year was no different with 28% of sales come event sales, 23% from Rag Bag Recycling, 19% from Movie Nights, 18% from the Easter Egg Hunt and 10% from the Arts Projects for Schools Christmas Card Project.

The Summer Term holds more opportunities to raise funds.  We have four movie nights scheduled and the Inter-form Sports Day Cake Sale Competition to help us raise even more!  We can’t thank you enough for supporting our fundraising efforts.  Our school could not continue to develop at the pace it is, without the support of parents and students.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current Development Ambassadors for their enthusiasm, creativity, energy and time they have dedicated to raising funds for the school.  Laura, Tamsin and Tanya attended their last meeting recently and Dani left the team in earlier in the Autumn. We thank them all for their respectful contributions and wish Drishti, Widad, Charlie, Alicia and Megan the best of luck for the Summer Term.

2011 – 2012 Recruitment