DS Winchester

Survivors photos!

2011-08-07T20:07:00.000+01:00

What a wonderful four weeks it has been and here we have the final forty six, proudly holding their certificates!

See you next year!

Art minor- students work

2011-08-07T20:03:00.000+01:00

Here are some examples of the fantastic work being produced in art minor this week:

Dafni Damianidou

Ksenia Letunovskaya

Maryia Dzichkowska

Paula Ponce de Leon

Simona Mehandzhieva

Zinaida Noskova

Academic special: Winchester Science Museum!

2011-08-07T19:56:00.000+01:00

Discovery Summer take on the Science Museum!

Where'd that go?!

Photos from practical Science

2011-08-07T19:52:00.000+01:00

Here are a few photos to show what we've been getting up to in practical science over the last few weeks!

Problem solving with John

Winchester 2011 leaver's dinner

2011-08-07T19:36:00.000+01:00

As this year's course draws to a close Winchester students were treated to a special end of year dinner with Mocktails, three courses by candle light served by the ALs and an after dinner quiz!

Kingsgate girls all dressed up!

The mocktail bar

the Dining table all dressed up!

Everyone sat down to eat

Hugo accepts his prize

Future millionaire Maksim claims his prize

Ivan pulls his most evil grin for his 'most likely to become an evil genius' prize

Everyone together!

Friends forever!

Boys on tour!

Last day!

2011-08-07T19:18:00.000+01:00

It's our last day here at Winchester (oh no!) but the students decided it was the perfect moment to re enact some of their favourite moments of the last four weeks:

AL James with his (almost life size!) portrait

Some of the final members of yellow team!

Blue team survivors!

we love Winchester!

More Winchester joy!

remembering Casino night!

Who could forget the Ceilidh?!

Or 'Operation Pedro'?!

50:50 Blues and Yellows until the end!

The unforgettable Mr and Mrs Winchester!

Raising money for charity with Krispy Kremes!

Reliving the victories in the pub quiz!

Banzai!

AL Chris gives the girls an unwelcome reminder of his singing from the talent show!

Our map of the world!

Filip and Sebastian aren't sure whats going on!

Adding up the final scores...

Our weekly timetable :)

One more discovery casino wedding!

What will be the future for this year's Winchester graduates?

SD Dan panics that he doesn't know last night's result!

Student host Bethany relives the murder mystery- and takes it out on Shayan!

Anastasia's glider- final part

2011-08-07T19:17:00.000+01:00

Anastasia's glider part 3!

2011-08-07T19:11:00.000+01:00

Anastasia's glider 2!

2011-08-07T19:08:00.000+01:00

Practical Science Week 4 Anastasia's glider

2011-08-07T19:01:00.000+01:00

Here is one of our students narrating the rollercoaster experience that is making a glider!

Music presentation- week 4

2011-08-07T17:31:00.000+01:00

In the final week our musical maestros did not let us down with another fantastic performance combining West African rhythms, a highly original cover of Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' and a beautiful rendition of 'Fields of Gold' - congratulations to everyone involved!

Rhythm and mime performances!

2011-08-07T17:13:00.000+01:00

In week 4 we were treated to some fantastic performances from the rhythm and mime class from a scottish dance, to a mime at the bus stop, to a thought provoking mask piece called 'faces and names' and a very moving dance set in an old people's home.
Fantastic work everyone! You should be very proud!

Group photos in the final week!

2011-08-05T09:16:00.000+01:00

Group photos in the final week!

2011-08-05T09:14:00.000+01:00

Everyone together in week 3

2011-08-04T11:31:00.000+01:00

Here's our latest group photo! :)

Aaaand finally: Photo entries from Blue Cross!

2011-08-04T11:24:00.000+01:00

with a piece of art

everyone on a park bench!

With a white van

With a cone on your head!

Crime!

With a stranger

Everyone in a phone box!

Something from Macdonalds!

With a post box!

Funny photo!

With a pizza!

With an expensive car!

Silly group photo!

Original photo!

Serious team photo!

Photomania: Blue Diamond

2011-08-03T11:01:00.000+01:00

Here are the photos from Blue Diamond- the final winners of a big box of Krispy Kreme dougnuts!!!

'Silly group photo'

'Tree hugging'

'Crime'

'with a cone on your head'

'human pyramind' (blue diamond were the only group that managed a proper one!)

'water feature'

'flying without wings'

'everyone in a phone box'

'with a shop mannequin'

'AL in a bush!'

'Gekko!'

'bop bop americano!'

'with a pound (or three!) outside poundland'

'charity begins in the heart'

'With 'King Alf''

Photomania: Yellow Cross

2011-08-03T10:46:00.000+01:00

Next up are Yellow Cross's entry!

'Serious photo'- apart from Big John!

AL up a tree!

'Planking'

'With a fish'

'Flying without wings'

'Climbing a wall'

'all on a park bench'

'Romantic photos'

'With a man in a suit'

'Postbox'

'dancing outside primark'

'Man with a 'beard''

Photomania: Yellow Diamond!

2011-08-03T10:30:00.000+01:00

Last night's evening activity saw the four colour groups unleashed on Winchester with a long list of things to photograph from 'a man with a beard,' to 'something from macdonalds' to the more abstract 'charity comes from the heart' and 'Discovery.'

Here's the entries from Yellow Diamond:

'original photo'

'silly group photo'

'hugging a tree'

'wearing a cone on your head'

another group photo!

'Crime!!!'

'With a pound outside poundland'

'Something from Macdonalds'

'Discovery'

'flying without wings'

Music Presentation: Week 2

2011-08-02T15:52:00.001+01:00

This is a short montage of the second week music presentation, where pupils performed 'Wade in the Water', 'I'm Yours' and 'Don't Stop Believing'. Thanks go to James Knapp, who filmed and edited this extract.

Academic Special 1.8.11 Tour of Winchester's Living Museum!

2011-08-02T08:50:00.002+01:00

Touring Winchester: The Old Bishop Palace Ruins, King Alfred's Statue, Swan Watching on the River Itchen, Visiting The Great Hall & King Arthur's Round Table...even Dressing Up at the Museum!

"Twelfth Night": Shakespeare's Comedies continue at Discovery Summer Winchester!

2011-08-02T08:49:00.002+01:00

Students explored the text of the topsy-turvy play of "Twelfth Night". They played many games, worked on the text and experimented with staging ideas before performing brilliantly to the rapt audience! Well done all!

WEEK 3 Presentation Day - Well done everyone!

2011-08-01T12:11:00.002+01:00

Presentation Day - Week 3

The day was kicked off by rhythm and mime class taught by Noel. The students lined up and danced a traditional Céilidh, Scottish country dancing.

Feel the rhythm feel the mime get on up it's dancing time!

Next came the mime act, the students were in pairs and performed a story using mime that they had developed over the last week.

The highlight was a rhythmic dance they had created themselves, the applause at the end showed how much everyone had enjoyed it. At the start of each week many of the students are self concious and inhibited about dancing and miming, let alone performing in front of all of their friends.

They proved to themselves and the other students what can be achieved when they get fully involved in creativity!

Art

The students combined 3D work with charcoal drawing this week. They designed a cityscape from cardboard and then set about drawing in from different angles.

Impressive!

Web design

Dawn lead the guided the students to create a web page about a subject they were interesting. They were all varied, ranging from a page about the Royal wedding (Wills and Kate) to a detailed website about a city a RPG computer game! The students clearly enjoyed the week and were given the chance to use their own creativity and learn a useful skill at the same time.

Drama

Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most famous playwright to have lived and his words are still being used by English speaker’s everyday without us even realising it! The drama students went to a performance of (which play) on Saturday at the Globe theatre in London. The next day they performed their own interpretation of extracts from (which play). They all put in a great performance outside in the sunshine, some even acted off by heart! This is an impressive achievement for students who do not speak English as a first language!

English Language

Marcel took students for Creative language encouraging them throughout the week to create their own fantasy stories. The stories all involved the eternal battle between good and evil, in all the stories good eventually triumphed!

Practical Science

The challenge for John's Practical science class this week was, to make an amphibious car! The concept was presented to the students, and then broken down into simpler tasks. Each pair of students were required to design and make a part of this vehicle, some made the gear box, others made the wheels. John explained how to use the tools safely and supervised them at all times.

However, the creation was all left in the hands of the students. They were encouraged to get stuck! John believes that the most important lessons in life are learned through trial and error, if students are spoon fed how do they learn?

Albert Einstein:

Although the amphibious vehicle was not completed the lessons the students learned along the way are far more valuable!

Debating

The students have been discussing morality this week. Is morality absolute? Is it ever justifiable to kill? These questions and many more were argued throughout the week, during the presentation they encouraged the other students to think about and debate these questions. However, as Michael the teacher said, it is not the answer that is most important but the questions we ask along the way.

Film

The challenge this week was to create a horror film, more precisely a comedy horror film like Shaun of the Dead (Dawn of the Dead spoof)

Fashion

Fashion is a favourite of many of our students, and this week they created some marvellous outfits. The development stages were explained step by step, from drawing the first designs to how they used the textiles to create the final clothing. The girls had a catwalk at the end where they showed off all their hard work this week.

Photography

There was a slideshow of the best photographs from the last week taken by Chantal’s photography group. Here are some of the finest examples!

Music

The students of Matt’s Music group performed a variety of pieces, they used guitar, piano and “A Capella” to cover a few famous songs. The other students in the audience gave huge applause and cheers giving a great finale to a great day! Though out the course the students have all improved their English but equally as important is the creativity and talent that they discovered.

Well done to Everyone!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Initially the students became irritated, bored and wanted the teacher to tell them exactly what to do when they got stuck. If the students were spoon fed the chance to learn PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS is lost. By the end of the week many of the students were no longer frustrated by challenges but inspired! They broke down the problem into simpler steps or tried a different approach.

2011-08-01T12:09:00.000+01:00

Animation week 3

The animation and digital design group worked on the theme of dreams and nightmare..here is a first

example of their work, more to come!

2011-08-01T10:07:00.000+01:00

Week 3 of Debating at Winchester: The motion: "This House believes that Nuclear Power should be abolished" Motion failed! The vote was equal for those voting "aye" and "no". Thank-you all for a splendid, well prepared debate! Tracy

FASHION - QUIRKY & INDIVIDUAL ILLUSTRATIONS

2011-07-30T23:55:00.000+01:00

FASHION - QUIRKY & INDIVIDUAL ILLUSTRATIONS

2011-07-30T23:52:00.001+01:00

FASHION MAJOR WEEK 3 - OUTFIT DEVELOPMENT

2011-07-30T23:02:00.000+01:00

HELLO!

This week the Fashion Major class worked together to come up with a theme, purchase relevant items (charity shopping) suiting their theme/colour palette and had a task of developing these into outfits ready to present in the form of a fashion show for sundays end of week presentations.

Here are some development images towards the final outcome:

FASHION MINOR WEEK 2&3 (newspaper dresses)

2011-07-30T22:57:00.000+01:00

HELLO!

During this week and last, my Minor class had the task of working in groups to create some unique & individual newspaper dresses. Lets see how they got on!..

2011-07-29T13:57:00.000+01:00

Philosophy class, week 3:

Philosophy tutor: 'Now make sure you give the quiet ones a chance to speak.'

Class (in unison): 'None of us are quiet!'

Photography Week 3

2011-07-28T17:03:00.000+01:00

This week in photography the students have been out in town practising what they have learnt in the classroom. We've been helped by our AL Jess who didn't quite manage to stay out of all the photos!

These are some of the photos so far - tomorrow we'll be editing them in Photoshop so watch out for these!

British Sports

2011-07-28T16:18:00.000+01:00

This week in activities Activity Leaders Thomo, Lucy and Sean took a ‘British Sports’ session. Being quite flexible with the title we opted to combine rugby and netball to play “rugby netball” and then a quick version of cricket called “kwick cricket.”

The rules of rugby netball are simple. When you have the ball you cannot run with it and you score by passing the ball into your scoring zone. Instead everyone else on the team must run around to find space and create gaps. It is non contact so girls and boys can play at the same time...and in fact the girls showed up the boys more than once! Instead of a 5 day match, Kwick Cricket can be played in just 30 minutes. All players have a chance to bowl and bat and are limited to only a few balls each.

Cake making- the only surviving evidence!

2011-07-28T15:26:00.002+01:00

The students did a great job of making rocky-road rice krispie cakes and chocolate truffles, and an even better job during the tasting session; since there's no physical evidence left these photos will have to do.

2011-07-28T13:51:00.001+01:00

Simulation games can be very useful in discerning some fundamental principles of economics. Here we see a simulation in progress:

Here are some piles of money used in the simulation:

The consumer bids for goods in the market:

Some of the goods on the market. As consumer preferences are revealed through prices, the goods produced change to meet consumer needs.

In another simulation, the government inflates the money supply ...

.... leading to economic dislocation.

Economics mistakes become more real when they bring poverty, even if one has only lost play money. Our students coped well with repeated crashes and economic disasters, for the sake of learning the principles.

Touch Rugby

2011-07-28T12:23:00.000+01:00

Rugby is one of the most popular winter sports in Great Britain. Unfortunately, except for former British colonies, France and Argentina the game isn’t as popular as it undoubtedly should be around the world! However, being a contact sport it isn’t really suitable for the hard grounds of summer or for people who want to learn the sport without having all the equipment. That is why in one of our games sessions at Discovery Winchester we introduced our charges to Touch Rugby.

With simpler rules and no contact the sport can be played by anyone. All you need to do to be effective is find space, run fast and keep heading forwards. After a few minutes our boys were up and running and playing some fantastic running rugby.

With the Rugby World Cup only a few weeks away maybe some of these boys could push for places in their respective national teams!

Trip to Oxford!

2011-07-28T12:21:00.001+01:00

The capital of academia in the UK, and once even the capital of England during the English Civil War, Oxford has a long and rich history. Discovery Winchester’s trip to the home of J.R.R Tolkein included tours of Oxford University Colleges – which between them have educated 26 British Prime Ministers – a punting tour of the River Cherwell and a trip to see the finale of the world’s highest grossing film franchise, Harry Potter.

Despite the early start to the day to catch our buses the day was hugely enjoyable. We were on the river for our chauffeured punting tour by 10am and luckily no one fell in. Our chauffeur even treated us to the cringe worthy story of how he had been punting along with a young couple in his punt when the man got onto one knee and asked his sweetheart to marry him...she said no and our chauffeur had to finish his tour in double quick time! Activity Leaders Franco and Sean even acted this out to allow the chauffeur to relive this for a second time, although both their acting skills left something to be desired! Even some overly aggressive ducks didn’t spoil the trip around and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Oxford in style!

Gigi enjoys the punting

After our trip we separated in to groups. Some chose to see Oxford on their own and experience the mad scramble which is the Oxford high street on a Saturday, other decided to go on college tours...perhaps Discovery will have encouraged some of our Winchester students to become future Oxford Scholars! The students were able to look around Pembrooke College, which boasts alumni such as King Abdullah of Jordan, and Balliol College, the alma mater of economist Adam Smith.

Manuel, Javier, Dan, Ana, et al.

A punting chauffeur

We arrived back at 6.30 to enjoy a lovely barbeque in the sunshine before the staff took on the students in a game of football. Seeing as this blog is written by staff it is safe to say the result will be reported as a RESOUNDING STAFF WIN...although the factual accuracy of that statement could easily be called into question by anyone who was watching!

Musical Impressions: Part 3

2011-07-27T14:20:00.000+01:00

This week in the impressionism lesson for music minor students, we listened to three interesting piano compositions by Claude Debussy; 'The Snow is Dancing', 'Canope' (an ancient burial urn) and 'Fireworks'. After a great discussion, pupils split into groups and composed a modern-day version of these three impressionist pieces. Here is one such piece...
Impressionism Snow by dswinchester

'Snow' was composed and performed by Berkin Bolerden, Alena Kosenko, Kazuki Kuwagata, Ksenia Minkova, Eduardo Valverde Higueras and Luca Saad Gimenes.

2011-07-27T13:41:00.001+01:00

In the economics class today some students made a great deal of money.

Unfortunately it was only paper money created by the government, represented by the economics tutor.

Obviously it would have been better to have real money, not just paper money created by the government. Oh, wait, ... er ...

2011-07-27T13:34:00.000+01:00

Discovery Philosophy, a few days ago:

Philosophy tutor: So, do we think there are ethical absolutes?

Student 1: Well, in my country, there are people who think we should kill all foreigners. But they are probably wrong.

Student 2: 'Probably'?!?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2011-07-27T12:09:00.000+01:00

Last night saw Winchester transformed into the fabulous, opulent Winchester Casino! There were many games for the students to try their luck at, including roulette, blackjack, human fruit machine, crapps, and even a Vegas style wedding chapel which saw many students joined in matrimony (often in very humourous ways!)

Student hosts as the human fruit machine.

Piano entertainment set the mood!

Fortune teller saw into the stars!

Students enjoying the roulette wheel.

Vegas wedding party!

The happy triplet!

Enjoying the vegas chapel!

Another happy triplet!

Happy Couple!

There could only be one winner, and Simona walked away with the "£1,000,000" cheque!

Is This The Way To Amarillo? Filmaking and Academic specials!

2011-07-27T10:28:00.005+01:00

Discovery Summer Winchester 2011 AMARILLO VIDEO by discoverysummer

Have a look at the fantasic work that has been created in filmaking class and academic specials!

Who needs radio when you can have cinema!!!

Discovery Summer Winchester 2011 SUMMER DEATH... by discoverysummer

Academic Specials: Hospital of St Cross & Almshouse of Noble Poverty

2011-07-26T15:38:00.000+01:00

On Monday a group of 30 students and 3 teachers walked along to River Itchen to the Hospital of St. Cross. The Hospital, which is England's oldest continuing almshouse, comprises a group of medieval and Tudor buildings, including a medieval hall and tower, Tudor cloister, Norman church and gardens reflecting a seventeenth century connection with North America. The term "Hospital", in this context, has the same origin as "hospitality" and for over 850 years St Cross has provided food and shelter to people in need. It has been home to the Master and Brethren of St Cross since medieval times and today visitors can still receive the Wayfarer's Dole (a small beaker of beer and a morsel of bread).

The Discovery Summer group did not take the Wayfarer's Dole but we did enjoy wandering the beautiful site with a 'Black Brother' in traditional dress. Historically, the Hospital comprises two separate charitable foundations, which have since been merged. The Hospital of St Cross was founded in approximately 1132 by Bishop Henry bu Blois and the Brothers from this Foundation wear the black robes, black trencher hats and silver badges in the shape of the Cross of Jerusalem. The Order of Noble Poverty was founded in 1445 by Cardinal Henry Beaufort and these Brothers wear the claret robes, claret trencher hats and silver cardinal's badges. Brothers from the two foundations are often referred to as the Black Brothers or the Red Brothers

London Eye

2011-07-25T19:22:00.000+01:00

Here is a photograph of some of
the students enjoying the London Eye!

Music Activity

2011-07-25T19:18:00.000+01:00

Within the social program many students have chosen to participate in music activities. We have heard some really fantastic performances including guitar groups, pianists and singers. Here are a few photographs of some of the students performing to each other.

Debating

2011-07-25T16:42:00.000+01:00

Debating is a popular Minor at Winchester. In week one, students debated whether or not Higher Education should be free and in the second week, we debated whether or not Capital Punishment should be legal and practised all over the world. The third week starts tomorrow! I wonder what the 'motion' will be?

Here you see a Student Host (Dan) in the Chair in week one and Eu in the chair preparing her report for the Blog in week two; others students are busy either preparing for their debate or actually conducting it.

Photos by Charles

2011-07-25T16:35:00.000+01:00

Here is a tiny selection of the beautiful photographs being taken by Charles Casanova- we think they really capture life at Winchester.

the photographer himself:

Mr and Miss Winchester 2011!

2011-07-25T15:35:00.000+01:00

The world's most competitive of beauty contests, the long awaited challenge to find that most desired of titles: Mr or Miss Winchester 2011! Although some of our female contestants looked slightly on the masculine side and some of our boys had some definitely feminine traits the competition was more tightly contested than ever before with contestants exhibiting their skills in dance, singing, football and of course their abilities to answer every question with 'world peace'.

There was some fantastic performances with both sexes really committing to their new identities! Whilst Yellow did eventually prove victorious in reality I think we can safely say that they were all winners!!!

Debating Report by Eugenia Esteva Vegas

2011-07-25T15:11:00.000+01:00

In a class of sixteen people, who all chose debating as their minor; our aim was to choose a motion and debate about it, trying to follow the same rules

which are used in the British Parliament.

To start with, on our first day, we introduced ourselves by saying our name and our nationality and we also played some games to break the ice and make us

feel comfortable as a group. We then looked at a sheet with various debating motions and started talking, or we could say even debating, as a class which

motion would suit us better. We also came up with other motions and ideas,rather than the ones in the sheet, such as "Should Capital Punishment be allowed

all over the world"?: which we then chose as our final motion.

On our second day, we did some research on the internet, based on some thought-provoking questions or topics such as: - Which countries still use Capital

Punishment today? -Does Capital Punishment help the decreasing of crime? -What methods are used? - Wrongful executions. - Public opinion. -Diminished

capacity executions. -International Organisations & the General Assembly -Eye for an eye... among others.

To continue with, on our third day, we chose the roles we wanted to play.

The class was divided into two groups; the FOR & the AGAINST. In the FOR group, there were six proposers (Luca, Juan, Dimitry,Emma,Fryd and Arthur) whose

task was to speak in favour of the motion, which, in many cases, such as this one, they may have written,and a summing up person (Berru) whose task was to,

once the debate concluded, sum up the main ideas and come to a conclusion. On the other hand, the AGAINST group was made up by another six opposers (Bia,

Rodrigo, Charlotte, Chiara, Juliette and Lena) whose task was to speak against the motion after the proposers had made their speeches and -in this case- two

people to summarise (Eleni and Isaline.) Finally, I (Eugenia/Eu) was given the task to be the reporter and chair person, so I was the one who controlled the

debate.

On this day, we also started to prepare our speeches and discussed our view points with our groups, to practise and prepare ourselves, for the next day.

Finally, on our last day, we produced a very successful debate. Each member of both groups had a chance to express their speeches,to talk and to validate

their points in turns. Both groups showed a great interest on the motion they were standing to or against for, real passion and a great respect for their

collegueas.

After the summing up persons made a speech summarasing every important point, such as human rights, morality, financial costs etc and gave examples, the

class finally voted.

Each person in the class was asked to vote for the group that they thought had explained their ideas and points of views better and that in a debate would

have convinced them, with no regard to their original group. Seven people voted for and another seven people voted against, each of them voting for their

group. Two people abstained (did not vote,) Rodrigo and Leo (our director who came to watch the debate.) Therefore, the debate ended in a draw.

Eugenia.

Charity Day at Winchester...

2011-07-25T11:35:00.000+01:00

Last week, two of our students, Rebecca Childs and Lea Duforest, having heard about the Kola Tree Project, took it upon themselves to organise a charity committee. These two girls inspired us all with their ideas and incredible energy to come up with many ways in which to raise money for children in Sierra Leone.
They put together, along with the Activity Leaders, and led by Dan, a fun packed day with a huge array of activities. In the morning break dougnuts were sold and enjoyed, as were hugs, glow sticks for the international party that night and other goodies and the most amazing thing about all of this was that the students themselves organised it and in mnay cases ran the stalls. The afternoon was packed full of fun activities which the students again put together with the advice of the activity leaders and there was palm reading, hair braiding, egg and spoon races and another 15 or so stalls. My favourite was the stall set up to choose the name for my baby (!) for which I very much enjoyed and I loved the old fashioned 'count the number of sweets in a jar' game.

In the evening, the students ran their own party, paying a little bit if they wanted to put on their own songs and music and judging by how red faced and thirsty everyone came out of that evening activity, I would say that the party certainly went well :)

The day was a complete success and the students managed to raise just over 600 pounds for the Kola Tree School which will be used to fund the newly built library with books, something that we may take for granted, but for the children over in Sierra leone, books are a rarity. Now, with the amazing ideas and dedication from our students, many other children will be able to enjoy one of the greatest pleasures in life.

We are all very proud of you students, so thank you for your enthusiasm and help.

Below are just some of the photos taken on our charity day.....

Musical Impressions: Part 2

2011-07-24T18:16:00.000+01:00

Once again, the music minor class have spent one of their lessons studying the impressionist movement in music. This week they were given two different titles from which to compose their impressions...

Impressionism Clouds by dswinchester

This piece is an impression of 'Clouds'. The students attempted to create the sense of the clouds slowly moving across the sky, before rain falling and wind moving the clouds faster and faster. It then returns to peaceful clouds slowly moving. 'Clouds' was composed and performed by Batuhan Altinyuva, Stanislav Bugaev, Will Burton, Ayse Deniz Kurucu, Oleg Sinev and Evgeny Baranov.

Impressionism Sea by dswinchester

Group Two had the task of creating an impression of the sea. They chose to begin with a tranquil sea with small waves, before a hurricane strikes; causing huge waves and destruction to the coast line. 'Sea' was composed and performed by Celine Chiasera, Ahmed Elshobokshi, Romain Gaillard, Charlotte Hawkins, Oguzhan Ilaslan, Nikita Karmatskiy.

Well done both groups; you have all worked very well in your groups to create excellent compositions.

Web Design

2011-07-24T12:39:00.000+01:00

Over the last few weeks we've been working hard on our individual websites. Students have chosen a wide range of topics for their websites which reflect their own interests. Everything from Coconut Crabs to Optical Illusions!

Touch Rugby at Winchester

2011-07-24T10:57:00.002+01:00

Rugby is one of the most popular winter sports in Great Britain having been famously invented when a pupil at Rugby School decided he had had enough of kicking a football. Unfortunately, except for former British colonies, France and Argentina the game isn’t as popular as it undoubtedly should be around the world! However, being a contact sport it isn’t really suitable for the hard grounds of summer or for people who want to learn the sport without having all the equipment. That is why in one of our games sessions at Discovery Winchester we introduced our charges to Touch Rugby.

With simpler rules and no contact the sport can be played by anyone, perhaps that is why it is one of the world's fastest growing sports and even has its own World Cup. All you need to do to be effective is find space, run fast and keep heading forwards. After a few minutes our boys were up and running and playing some fantastic running rugby.

(PICTURES COMING SOON)

With the Rugby World Cup only a few weeks away maybe some of these boys could push for places in their respective national teams!

Saturday Trip to Oxford!

2011-07-24T10:51:00.002+01:00

Despite the early start to the day to catch our busses the day was hugely enjoyable. We were on the river for our chauffeured punting tour by 10am and luckily no one fell in. Our chauffeur even treated us to the cringe worthy story of how he had been punting along with a young couple in his punt when the man got onto one knee and asked his sweetheart to marry him...she said no and our chauffeur had to finish his tour in double quick time! Activity Leaders Franco and Sean even acted this out to allow the chauffeur to relive this for a second time, although both their acting skills left something to be desired! Even some overly aggressive ducks didn’t spoil the trip around and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Oxford in style!

After our trip we separated in to groups. Some chose to see Oxford on their own and experience the mad scramble which is the Oxford high street on a Saturday, other decided to go on college tours...perhaps Discovery will have encouraged some of our Winchester students to become future Oxford Scholars! The students were able to look around Pembroke College, which boasts alumni such as King Abdullah of Jordan, and Balliol College, the alma mater of economist Adam Smith.

FASHION MAJOR WEEK 2 - FINAL ILLUSTRATIONS

2011-07-23T20:43:00.004+01:00

HELLO!

After a tiring week of charity shopping, designing, cutting, sewing, drawing and developing, the Fashion Major class not only came up with some AMAZING outfit designs, but UNIQUE fashion illustrations also.

THE FASHION MAJOR CLASS (also presenting their final outfits)

Below are the fashion illustrations that the groups created to reflect their final outfits:

GROUP 1'S THEME: BRIGHT COLOURS

GROUP 2'S THEME: LACE

GROUP 3'S THEME: INDIANS

THANKYOU!

FASHION MAJOR WEEK 2 - OUTFIT DEVELOPMENT

2011-07-23T20:28:00.008+01:00

HELLO!

This week the Fashion Major class worked in groups to come up with a theme, purchase relevant items (charity shopping) suiting their theme/colour palette and had a task of developing these into outfits ready to present in the form of a fashion show for sundays end of week presentations.

Here are some development images towards the final outcome:

Please scroll further down to see how the students got on charity shopping!

FASHION MINOR WEEK 2 (fashion lessons for wk 2&3 only)

2011-07-23T20:01:00.013+01:00

HELLO!

This week one of the projects for my Fashion MINOR class was to create dresses out of newspaper.

This gave them a chance to be creative and think about shape, construction and key details without needing the ability to sew.

Here are some images of the development processes & final dresses...

FASHION MAJOR WEEK 2 (fashion lessons for wk 2&3 only)

2011-07-23T19:28:00.002+01:00

HELLO!

This week in fashion major, my students were to work in groups and decide on a trend.

This was followed by the groups being given a small amount of money to spend in Winchester charity shops, to purchase items which they could recreate and develop into outfits which will be shown during presentations tomorrow evening in the form of a fashion show.

Lets see how the students got on charity shopping!

Photography Week 2 Part 2

2011-07-22T18:14:00.015+01:00

Photography Week 2

2011-07-22T18:08:00.014+01:00

Charity Day Photos

2011-07-21T20:20:00.008+01:00

Photography Week 1 - Portraits

2011-07-20T14:55:00.010+01:00

Academic Specials - Kola Tree

2011-07-20T14:40:00.010+01:00

In an Academic Special our students researched Sierra Leone. They learnt about the harrowing wars that have ravaged the country and the efforts that have gone into rebuilding the country. The students all wanted to help and were excited by the work that Discovery Summer does with the Kola Tree School. They came up with lots of ways to fundraise and went to the staff with these great plans. Supplies have been arriving today and soon our enterprising students will be putting their plans in action. Watch this space to discover what they do to support Kola Tree.

2011-07-20T14:16:00.002+01:00

Understanding some key ideas in Economics makes a difference to how we approach the everyday choices in our lives and react to the choices of others. Everybody can get more of what they value if the system works.

Knowledge problems, risk taking, transaction costs, and the difference between a command economy and a free market--all these matters became obvious to us as this morning's simulation attempted to please the consumer with successive product designs.

(For some reason he wanted his limo to be armoured and preferably armed. We did not ask him why!)

2011-07-20T13:38:00.003+01:00

Here are some of the proposed definitions of philosophy that this week's Philosophy class produced:

Philosophy is the human love for knowldge, the human search to explain the world by questions and find the truth. Philosophical questions are universal because they can interest everybody.

Philosophy is a human science that makes people think about themselves, human being, and life. Philosophy helps humans to ask themselves about their concepts and the truth of them. It helps to explain the world by asking questions and trying to answer them.

Philosophy literally means to love wisdom. Wisdom, in this case, means to ask the right questions--about life, or the world or anything.

Philosophy is reflection about the meaning of questions which will be always there.

Philosophy is a way to think and try to understand in a better way what we are surrounded by and to try to answer questions that life is making us ask ourselves.

Philosophy is something that everybody should be interested in or should try to think about as it asks essential questions on life, facts or things and their meanings.

Philosophy is the questions that we can only ask to ourselves. It is to try to find the answers to the questions that nobody else can answer because philosophy is a kind of imagination.

The aim of philosophy is to find the truths through reflection and questioning.

Philosophy, differently from religion, does not give dogmatic ideas, but leaves problems open and gives the possibility of asking and answering. So, philosophy is the art of free asking.

Philosophy is to try to explain the nature of things and their place in our world.

Philosophy is the science of sciences, which explains the origins and meanings based on different points of view.

Philosophy is pushing people to ask themselves about the meaning of life.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom through a search for profound answers.

Philosophy explains the sense of all words.

Philosophy is a definition of life and all the questions that go with it.

Philosophy is the art of finding meaning.

Look at the individuality and sophistication of each of these definitions, as well as the remarkable way they spontaneously cover most of the ways philosophy has ever been thought of!

Yellows are the best!!!

2011-07-20T12:55:00.004+01:00

Finally "Yellows" have won an evening activity!!! We won the "games show mash up" yesterday evening and are currently catching the "Blue" team! This evening it's "Battle of the Sexes" and "Yellow" are going to win again, of course!

2011-07-19T16:06:00.003+01:00

This morning's philosophy class was full, and apparently full of students who would be ready to become professional philosophers. Today we considered defining philosophy, and every single student was able to produce not just a plausible definition of their own, but a stimulating and insightful one. This must be the most thought-full summer school in England!

Rhythm and mime!

2011-07-18T17:01:00.002+01:00

We rounded off the presentations with a fantastic performance by Noel's rhythm and mime class who showed us some traditional scottish dancing, a dance drama and finished off with an impressive routine involving some very complicated chair piling!

Admiring the chair construction!

Winchester gets Arty and Historic(y!)

2011-07-18T15:34:00.004+01:00

We were treated to some wonderful displays by the art and art history classes. In art class students were using still life to improve their skills in composition and shading with some stunning results whilst in art history students were looking at how changing styles could be seen in local arcitecture and from this created some beautiful displays!

It's raining it's pouring

2011-07-18T11:38:00.001+01:00

Sadly the weather at the moment isn't great - rain, rain and more rain. But that won't stop us all having a good time here at Winchester. This evening we are watching "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" and then tomorrow we have a game of "Family Fortunes" planned. It is going to be awesome!! Everyone is also looking forward to meeting all the new arrivals today and welcoming them into Discovery Summer Winchester 2011!

Much ado about the drama presentation!

2011-07-18T11:07:00.003+01:00

Next up on Sunday we were treated to a spot of Shakespeare with the drama class performing the classic comedy'Much ado about nothing'

Music Presentations!

2011-07-18T10:59:00.002+01:00

Here are the videos from our fantastic music presentations on Sunday!

Lets go fly a kite!

2011-07-18T10:56:00.004+01:00

On Friday the practical science team took their latest kite creation up to the top of a near by hill to launch it into the air!

Murder at Winchester!

2011-07-18T10:53:00.004+01:00

Thursday night turned Winchester students into super sleuths as they had to solve the hugely puzzling murder of Dave Atonement, famous actor and rock star hated by many including an over-zealous gardener, a somewhat masculine looking ex-wife and a very stern police man. Thanks to our students problem solving and window counting abilities the evil murderer was finally unmasked and justice was done!

The Sound of Music: Composing Film Soundtracks

2011-07-15T16:20:00.009+01:00

Today, students taking music as their major subject have been looking at film music. We have listened to a range of film soundtracks, and have decided that each film genre has distinctive musical elements and instrumentation. Students were then given a short scene description, from which they composed a film soundtrack to:

Romance Film by dswinchester

The romance soundtrack was composed and performed by Oguzhan Ilaslan, Ahmed Elshobokshi, Nikita Karmatskiy, Ksenia Minkova, Beatriz Murad Saud and Becky Lawrence.

Horror Film by dswinchester

The horror soundtrack was composed and performed by Lucia Ayerdis Barahona, Alex Budde, Celine Chiasera, Magdelena Molak and Oleg Sinev.

Excellent creative skills - have we got a new John Williams or Hans Zimmer here at Discovery Summer Winchester?!

Musical Impressions

2011-07-14T21:56:00.006+01:00

On Wednesday 13th July, students taking music as a minor subject explored impressionism. We looked at the parrallels between impressionism in art and music, and developed our analytical skills by listening to several pieces by Claude Debussy. In the second half of the lesson students worked in groups to come up with their own impressionism compositions:

Impressionism Storm by dswinchester

'Storm' was the title for Group 1. However, the group decided to create an impression of the calmness before the storm, a loud storm with thunder and lightening, before returning back to peacefulness. This piece was composed and performed by Juan Escudero Leon, Isabel Fernandez Garcia, Maria Jesus Garcia Rodriguez, Dimitrina Ovcharova and Maddy Portwain.

Impressionism Forest by dswinchester

Group 2 created an impression of a forest at night. The low pitched sound on the keyboard was included to symbolise darkness, with the other instruments creating impressions of animals (for example, birds are represented by the glockenspiel). The students decided that the piece should get gradually faster as rain begins to fall and animals begin to run and scurry around, before the atmosphere calms down once again. 'Forest' was composed and performed by Cristina Boto Garcia, Isaline D'arbaumond, Roman Glukhov, Ksenia Letunovskaya, Carla Lobeto Llorca and Jamie Taylor.

In such a short time (30 minutes), these two groups have worked extremely hard to come up with such creative impressions of their chosen title, and I was pleased that everyone made a good contribution to the final outcome - well done!

Practical Science Week 1: Everybody making things

2011-07-14T16:51:00.000+01:00

In the Practical Science 'Giant Lifting Kite' project, everyone is now busy getting on with building the first prototype kites and the crash-proof box for the video camera.

Practical Science Week 1: Kite Design Decision Making

2011-07-14T16:47:00.001+01:00

In the Practical Science class, students are tasked with arriving at a successful giant lifting kite design with a video camera mounted on it. This video shows the 3rd lesson where students are discussing the designs for their first full kite prototypes and creating the crash-proof holder for the video camera.

Practical Science Week 1: Initial Kite design discussion

2011-07-14T16:39:00.000+01:00

In the Practical Science 'Giant Lifting Kite' classes, the students are debating the merits of various design features based on what they have learnt so far about what makes kites fly. They have been given the most successful model of previous groups as a starting point for their design developments.

Philosophy has Ideas

2011-07-14T16:13:00.003+01:00

Philosophy this year seems to have as many opinions as there are students!

We have produced many new ideas. Here is a picture of one of them:

OK, it is impossible to have a picture of an idea. Here is a picture of Socrates instead:

Socrates died for philosophy. We would give up a doughnut for philosophy. (For us that is a commitment nearly as great as Socrates'.)

50/50

2011-07-14T09:48:00.010+01:00

Tonight competition hotted up between the blue and the yellow team as they competed in a series of impossible challenges such as bouncing water balloons, five legged races and egg throwing!

We then went inside to compete in a series of messier challenges such as blindfold eating, eating a doughnut without licking your lips and the ever popular egg roulette which this particular blogger is very proud not to have lost!!!

Blindfold eating!

Speed cake eating!

In the end the blues won in points but it has to be said that the yellows won in cheering and team enthusiasm, helped along by one very biased social director!

Yellow team huddle.

Dan 'commentating'!

2011-07-13T19:45:00.008+01:00

The Photography minor has got off to a great start, with 2 groups of students using the beautiful and ancient site of Winchester College as inspiration.

Students have been focusing on portraiture this week, planning and experimenting whilst also learning more about digital photography.

The students have been using movement and angles to bring their photographs to life, editing them in specialist software to capture the best of those moments.

Afternoon fun!

2011-07-13T19:43:00.005+01:00

After an excursion out to Winchester yesterday afternoon, today the afternoon activities got off to a great start with music, sports and crafts keeping the students busy.

Most importantly Blue and Yellow teams got making banners to cheer on their side whilst the activity leaders came up with a new way to show exactly which teams they were on!

Pub Quiz !

2011-07-13T19:20:00.005+01:00

It was quiz night at the winchester arms and the colour war between yellows and blues got going!

With rounds on British History, British Celebrities and British foods the teams had to compete to win the prize of a £5 bar tab for sweets and fizzy drinks whilst enjoying excelelnt waiter service from the studnet hosts!

In the end Blue diamond were the winners with Blue team winning overall and leaping ahead in the colour war. However one student got a prize much better than sweets or crisps... A chance to have his photo taken with David Beckham!

Welcome to our blog!

2011-07-12T18:05:00.004+01:00

First we were four; the senior team, here as of Thursday, checking, planning, organising, typing, writing and designing. Things on campus were quiet but we were busy. The rain came down in sheets and for those of us that have come from countries with real summers, we wondered if the students would arrive to torrential rain. Then we were thirty; the staff arrived full of ideas and huge motivation and we settled in for a couple of days inducting, training, orientating and preparing....and then the inevitable occurred-arrivals.

As any Discovery Team knows, this can be a hard day, long, sometimes a bit fraught when students miss flights and arrive late and disorientated, but I am pleased to say, our arrival day went like a dream!

Students arrived throughout the day; most of them we not too tired which meant that they could get involved in activities. Football and frisbee were played, student hosts immediately made friends and started chatting to our international wards, meals were served in the beautiful college hall (complete today with its very own bat flying in, in true Harry Potter style!) staff buzzed about efficiently making sure everyone was happy and the atmosphere was one of summertime harmony. The sun had his hat on and teased us with the promise of summer; the campus smelled of freshly cut grass and the majestic oak trees swayed impressively to the sound of the students playing guitar and singing.

What more could we want as a centre? What more could I want as a Course Director?I have so far been charmed by our students; they are intelligent, mature young people who have stepped out of their usual bubbles to experience something new and inspriring and I know that judging by the excellent staff we have on campus, the fantastic facilities here at Winchester College and all the people that make our time here work so well, this is going to be a very special year.

So, students, parents, friends of students here and staff, I invite you to follow our month through this blog where you can envy at the wonderful time we will be having here.

London wordsearch

2010-08-09T10:47:00.003+01:00

Fashion week four

2010-08-09T10:25:00.006+01:00

During the last week of fashion, we looked into the trend 'Nautical'. As the class was much smaller, we got a large range of work done, including internet research, 'whats on the high street' research, charity shopping, design development, making outfits, fashion photography and the final presentation.

Here's the presentation slides:

2010-08-09T09:38:00.001+01:00

farewell, adieu, byeeee

2010-08-09T09:35:00.003+01:00

It is so strange how everything that looked so shiny and new a month ago; the signs, the course boards and the yellow t-shirts now seem a bit worn, as if they have tired themselves out and as they are packed up again, our home for the last five weeks is reduced to a series of boxes.

People are beginning to chat about what they will be doing in the next few weeks, turning back to their lives which they have in many ways put on hold to throw themselves into the Winchester Experience and the buzz of the last few weeks falls away. All the speed, efficiency and dynamism of the last few weeks has eased off this morning and the campus feels drowsy and quietly confident that everyone involved contributed to making this one special experience.

Thank you everyone; teachers, Al's, students, Anna, Jess, James and head office for such a memorable experience. A big thank you to the kitchen for giving us the energy to get through the month, thank you Porter's Lodge for your efficnecy and good cheer, thank you Enterprises for all of your support and thank you to everyone else who has been involved in making this programme run so smoothly.

Activity Leaders in London!

2010-08-09T09:12:00.007+01:00

Some pictures of the Activity Leaders (ALs) outside the Natural History Museum in Lundon while staff and students enjoy a picnic in the sun.

The ALs holding Jess (social director) at Winchester 2010.

We finally made a yellow human pyramid!

...and then it quickly collapsed!

Jumping for joy!

Last day - water fight!

2010-08-08T19:03:00.003+01:00

Students (and some staff) spent their last afternoon throwing water at each other, using water balloons followed by anything that would hold water!

Winchester's farewell dinner 2010!

2010-08-08T13:24:00.016+01:00

On Friday night the students of Winchester dressed in their best to enjoy a farewell dinner in style!

Teacher James adds his 'most embarassing moment' to the confessions box...

Everyone enjoyed a sumptous three course banquet followed by a quiz with rounds on 'cities by night,' 'winchester college' and former staff and students...

We enjoyed a fantastic chocolate mousse desert with many going back for more!

Next came the tasting competition with teams having to identify different brands of chocolate, crisp and coke.

Zaferhan gives the evening a thumbs up!

We finished up the night with a quick round of speed dating wih students picking who they wanted to dance with at the disco on Sunday... Gossip!!!!

Digital Photography Week 3 Presentation

2010-08-06T11:56:00.002+01:00

Below is a short presentation of some of the amazing photos taken by the week 3 photography group:

Walk up St Catherine's Hill...

2010-08-04T12:29:00.003+01:00

Somehow, we managed to persuade a group of keen and enthusiastic (!) students to climb hundreds of steps to get to the top of St Catherines Hill - which most of them enjoyed although some were so exhausted they had to tuck into a jar of nutella to get their energy levels up!

T-Shirt Designing

2010-08-04T12:25:00.003+01:00

Some very artistic students have been designing t-shirts - a lot of them chose designs that had a "Winchester" theme, whilst others used their hands to create hand print designs.

Visit to Jane Austen's House

2010-08-04T11:04:00.006+01:00

Groups of students have been visiting Jane Austen's House to find out more about the author and where she lived. After watching a short film, students explored the house thoroughly before taking a well-earned break in the garden!

Poetry

2010-08-03T08:42:00.002+01:00

The students in our poetry minor have been creating some beautiful writing, we'd like to share it with you:

The Changeling:

Dominic Chan

Kimmy the Changeling,

A Sparlking Diamond,

A fickle Diamond

It was Luke and Chris

Today's Jeff.

Who is on the list?

Could it be me?

Don't talk to her

said Luke

Forget her? I can't

said Chris

She's so pretty

said Jeff

Kimmy the Changeling

A Sparlking Diamond

A lonely Diamond.

Tug of war:

Martin Meier

One of 400 pulling a rope

2 schools fighting eachother

everyone was pulling the hardest

the rope broke

hands burning like fire

arms full of blood

fingers winging

the world started spinning

everything turned black

Someone grabbed me

and laid me down.

Linnea Frie: (untitled)

I can see a girl.

She is spinning.

Arms are held out for keeping balance.

At the first glance she looks happy.

So satisfied and calm. She is smiling.

Next time I look at the girl, I watch

her face more carefully.

The smile is stiff.

Her eyes are 'panicly' searching for

something

And aren't their tears sparlking on

her cheeks? Small, tiny, almost invisible.

Her fists are clenched. Her feet cannot

stop.

Or is it her shoes that are keeping

her spin?

With or Without you:

Alexy Prikhodchenko

A yellow bench,

A naked tree,

An ugly branch

That looks at me

Relaxing silence.

Shining day.

The house walls

keep my bay

I sit alone.

I don't mind.

A broken glass

Reflects the sunshine.

This bay. This rest.

It used to be for me and you

Here, now, without rest

I keep our rest

With or without you

Ana Corsini (Untitled)

Saw a kid

Four years old

Playing a ball

He could be crazy for someone

He screams, he runs, he just plays

He goes everywhere

Without a limit

Without a line to cross

That's freedom

That's childhood

Leonadro Calamandrei, (untitled)

About Midday, walking around

looking for words with better sound,

Uncertain, Confused

I turn my head

To listen, to feel...

The wind's gentle breath

THAT'S IT! I FOUND IT!

There's nothing to serach:

it's all inside

DEEP

inside my heart.

My poor country:

Luka Sekularac

Anger

Fear

Mistrust

Suspicion

A Burnt and Broken Land

...

But hope lives

To build again

Upon the ruins

My beautiful country.

livin la vida loca

2010-08-02T20:30:00.002+01:00

life at winchester can get a little crazy sometimes, as this music video made by the students shows!!!

Day to day life in Winchester...

2010-08-02T11:36:00.020+01:00

Gemma demonstrating some volleyball skills

The sunset on Kingsgate Park
Rugby practice

Chilling out after a day in London

The Scavenger Hunt

Team Purple - the winners!!!

Little Twig

Flint Court

Team Purple on their way to victory

Human Pyramids

Team Gold

Week 3 in Creative Writing

2010-08-02T11:08:00.003+01:00

Week 3 in Creative Writing

This week the students explored the various aspects of fantasy fiction, a genre dominated by British and Anglo-Saxon writers for the past 200 years. We only need to think of J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Caroll and J.R. Tolkien to be reminded of the contribution of these English speaking authors to this genre.

Our students had the opportunity to explore elements of magic and either created a fantasy world where their protagonists had to conquer evil or either situated their stories here on earth where their protagonists had to use an element of magic to defeat a powerful villain or villainess. Once again the stories showed great variety of ideas, images and structure.

Adriana Fonseca's work was presented Sunday night. Her work is about a young girl who finds herself in a dilemma. Does she use the magic dagger her father bestowed upon her at the hour of his death against the evil villainess Vanonica? Is she capable of performing an act of evil, Vanonica's murder, in order to ensure the safety of Earth? Some advice from the wise Wilfred and her own inner strength will help her in her final battle...

Adriana's story (Untitled)

Lissa looked out the window of her classroom at her perfect world and sighed. Anthrotopia, the perfect world full of perfect people, who cannot kill, with their different powers, beautiful, powerful buildings, beautiful, all one colour flowers with healing properties, and talking animals. Well, the talking animals she liked actually, especially her pet mouse and best friend, Coby. The world she thinks, she knows, that she doesn’t belong in, even though she should, she has the human like appearance of the anthrotopians, she has light brown hair and blue eyes, and also one power like them all (she can disappear). But in this world there is no room for error. In this world the sole purpose is to keep the balance on Earth, and not let evil overpower good. That is what is done at the Station, the biggest building in Anthrotopia, probably the biggest building in the universe. But though she did not know it yet, this calm world will be in uproar soon.
“Lissa! Listen to the teacher! You are so egocentric!” It was Amber speaking to her, one of the many girls at her school. They were all the same. They listened attentively to everything that was said, if there was the tiniest incident anywhere they got very serious and found out what they could do to help, they never spoke out of turn, they would never dream of saying a mean thing to anyone and they looked at Lissa with a pitying, self righteous smile. Lissa hated them with every fibre of her being- one more thing, she knew, that showed that she was as far from perfection as she could possibly be, and made her cry at night.
That day she ran out of school as fast as possible as always. But as she turned the corner that led to her house she clashed with something that felt like a gigantic rock, and fell down! She screamed, out of surprise mostly, and as she picked herself up she saw that it was a woman, but very different from all the women in Anthrotopia. She was a red head, something no Anthrotopian was, and though she was very beautiful, she was surrounded by a strange aura. By the time Lissa had taken all this, and the fact that she was as hard as rock, she had disappeared. She hurried home, preparing to tell Coby about this. When she got there, though, her mum was in the kitchen, bent over the kitchen table and looking at some diagrams.
“Everything OK?” Lissa asked.
Her mum nodded, then, after a second of thought, said “Something is wrong at the Station. Evil seems to be ruling on earth at the moment, and it should not be. And worse, we can’t do anything, we haven’t figured out what is wrong yet.”
“I’m sure you will” said Lissa, and turned around, not being able to help rolling her eyes. So what, there are two more murders than are supposed to be this month, its life on Earth! Why do these people not sit down and relax a little?! As soon as she thinks this she feels terribly guilty.
“Vat ees ‘rong zees time?” asked Coby tiredly as she walked into her bedroom. She smiles slightly - his German accent always has that effect on her.
“The usual, Cobe. The usual.” And she lies on her bed, pulls her legs up and Coby close, and sleeps, to forget her sadness about her own personality, to forget about the red head she saw and should probably tell someone about, and whatever problem at the Station that will of course be solved tomorrow.
But the problem is not solved the next day, nor the next or the next. A week later, it is on everybody’s mind. Lissa’s mum told her that someone attacked the Station without anybody knowing it, and whoever that person, or people, or thing was, it was now causing even more damage on Earth itself, and even the humans were starting to notice. She was in anguish, and Lissa was pretty worried to.
Another week passed, and Lissa came home to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table, ashen faced and with photographs and text books spread out in front of her.
“What’s up?” she asked, her face reflecting real worry. Her mum turned to her.
“We’ve found out who’s causing the damage on Earth. Her name is Vanonica, and she is a vampire-like being from Craput, you know that kingdom? She is superhumanly strong and fast, and she is as fearless and intelligent as any human can be. She’s unstoppable Lissa.”
She showed Lissa a photo of this Vanonica. A beautiful red head- the beautiful red head she’d clashed with just a couple of weeks ago, and had felt guilty for not telling someone about. She felt overpowering shame take over her, and felt herself blushing red. As she is wondering whether to confess, her mother continues.
“The only thing that can destroy her is this knife, furthermore, only the person to whom this knife belongs to can destroy her. If it is someone from this world they will not be able to kill. If it is not, we will never find them, or find them too late. Vanonica wants to conquer Earth, and make everybody her slave. She has never liked or needed anyone, but she is bored. She is bored so Earth is doomed.”
It was then that Lissa saw the picture of the knife in question, a small, delicate, bronze handled knife with some elegant engravings, and her heart started to thump.
Her father had died when she was nine, six years ago. He had a disease no flowers, no medicine, could heal. A few days before his actual death, he had called Lissa into his room, and told her that he had something he wanted to give her, something she should not tell anyone, not even her mother, about, and that she should use it well and only use it or give it if and when she was absolutely sure it was needed. He had given her the bronze handled knife that could destroy Vanonica.
She rushed back to her bedroom, leaving her mother to look at her in a slightly perplexed way and there put her head in her arms and called for Coby. She told him everything and he listened, patiently and seriously.
“What should I do, Coby? Please tell me because I don’t know! As usual, I don’t know!”
“Do not be so ‘ard on yourself. You could not ‘ave guessed zat zat vas Vanonica. But you need to step forward, and say zat you ‘ave ze knife. You ‘ave to, Lissa, Earth will suffer if you do not”.
“You’re right. But Coby... Mum said whoever possessed the knife was the one who could use it, and I can’t use a knife. I cannot kill!”
“Do not worry about that now. Just take a deep breath and go tell your mother.”
So Lissa did that. She stepped out of her room, taking her knife with her, and stood in front of her mum.
“I have something to tell you” she said, her voice quiet. Her mum looked up.
“Go on then dear.”
“I have the knife”
“What? Lissa I don’t have time for jokes...”
Lissa showed her the knife wordlessly, and her mother’s face turned white.
“How?” her voice was sharp.
“Dad gave it to me. Just before he died. He told me not to tell anybody until I really needed to, I...” Lissa broke off, unsure of what she should say. She had never seen her mother’s face so white.
“I’m taking you to the director of the Station” she said “She will tell us what to do”. She became suddenly very business-like, getting her coat and handbag, face straight and not talking on the way. Lissa was suddenly very scared. What will they make her do?
It turned out she was right to be scared. She sat outside the director’s office for about half an hour, while her mother was in inside, explaining this turn of events. She is then called in. The director’s face was very serious, and her mother’s seemed, if that was possible, even whiter than before. The director, a middle-aged, dark haired, stout woman spoke.
“Lissa. May, I call you Lissa?”
She nodded her consent.
“Well, Lissa, here at the Station we are doing everything in our power to stop Vanonica, and we have reason to believe that we will, and your knife will be unnecessary.”
Lissa thought that unlikely, but didn’t say anything.
“However, Earth is our responsibility and we cannot be too careful. It is with that, and only that, in mind that I have decided that you will attend fighting lessons with the best, if only, fighter in our world. And your first one is right now.”
Lissa was too shocked for words. They were making her fight? Nobody fought! Nobody would ever be expected to fight! Why her? She couldn’t fight! She sent a pleading look at her mother but she refused to make eye contact. Lissa had no choice but to follow the director to a large hall, where a man in a wheel chair was waiting for them.
“Lissa, meet Wilfred. He will be teaching you how to fight.”
Lissa just stared at him. Not only would she have to fight, they were having a man in a freaking wheelchair teach her?! She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. If she had to face Vanonica she would be dead before she could say her own name. The director left, and Wilfred waited until she looked more composed to start the lesson. He didn’t do introductions; he shot straight into movements and tactics. Lissa found every thought gone from her head as she focused all her concentration on this lesson, and was very surprised, though not very happy, to find it was the best one she had ever had.
She still cried that night, but for different reasons. She was sure now, that she never would be like anyone else on this world. But she was also afraid that that wouldn’t matter, because this world would lose its purpose of being, for she would not be able to kill Vanonica, and Earth would no longer be in their hands.
The next day her mother told her that she would only have to go to school in the mornings for a little while; her afternoons would be solely for her fighting classes. She was incredibly distracted that morning but for once no-one said anything – no word about her and her knife had gotten around. She thought back about her lesson. She had not been able to fully concentrate on what Wilfred had been saying at first, because she had still been completely overwhelmed, but she did remember all the movements he had taught her- the kick-off, that was basically throwing herself at Vanonica then kicking off from her stomach, the idea being both to get her away from Vanonica and to surprise or distract her, and had been practised using a wall, the dive, which was just that, escaping from Vanonica by sliding through her legs, and the back jump, which Wilfred thought would be a really good opportunity to get the knife through her heart, for if she was on Vanonica’s back she would be harder to shake off, and get her close to the heart with Vanonica’s arms busy shaking her off. Wilfred was an amazing teacher, especially with his being in a wheelchair. But of course she was anxious as she knocked on the door of the hall for that day’s lesson. Wilfred’s strong, manly face frightened her a little, as did his knowledge of fighting.
He called for her to come in, and she did. There were mats all over the floor, but other than that the hall was empty.
“Good afternoon, Lissa”
“Hello”
“Right, I want to get to work right away. I think the three movements we practised yesterday you got, so we’re going to see if you can still do them well today, but move on as soon as possible. However, I’m aware that you were a little lost when I was talking yesterday, so we are going to go over tactics, and I think that we should always know as much as possible about our enemy, so your homework will be to do just that, find out as much as you can. What do you already know about her?”
Lissa recited what her mother had told her the day before about the vampire like being.
“Ok. So you know her physically. She has big physical prowess, her only weakness is your knife, which we will begin to practise with very soon. But what about her psychologically? Is she as confident as she seems? Is she afraid to trust? Is she easily distracted? I want you to find out all this.”
“OK”
And so the lesson began. Wilfred began and ended with tactics, to which Lissa gave her full attention, but she also learned two new movements, as well as perfecting the ones from the day before. By the time they finished she was exhausted. Still, after saying goodbye she headed straight to the Station’s library, where she spent three hours, the most she had ever spent over homework or books, looking for anything that speaks of Vanonica, or anyone that is like her.
The next day Wilfred was pleased, and their lesson was even better than usual. But it took a week of hours-long lessons for Lissa to finally get the courage to ask her mentor about himself. She did it abruptly, near the end, when it seemed that he had said all the important things he had to say.
“How did you get like that? Need a wheelchair, I mean? Was it a battle, were you just training?”
Wilfred smiled slightly, which made Lissa feel a little less worried about asking him.
“You think I would ever be stupid enough to do this to myself? No, Lissa, it was a battle. You see, around fifteen years ago, I was only a little older than you are, Earth was threatened. Not by Vanonica, but by somebody like her, Japut. Nobody speaks of it now; it had this world in anguish. Two people had a knife like yours back then. Well, one had a knife like yours, me. The other had your knife. Your father. We trained together. We fought her together. Your father did it. She ruined my knife, and made me like this, but your father killed her.”
Lissa looked at him silently, emotions conflicting inside her. Her father had done what she was trying to do. Her father had been different as well.
“Did it never bother you? The whole being different from everybody else? Did you never feel inadequate, wrong, horrible?”
“At the beginning, yes. Your father helped me through it. It is not a bad thing to be able to kill something that will destroy a world if you don’t. We are not horrible people for it. We are different, and I think it is a good thing”
“It is a good thing not to be perfect?”
“Whatever we may pretend, no-one on this world or any other is perfect Lissa. We all have a long way to go before we are.”
Lissa didn’t cry that night. She was happier than she ever had been. But the next day she was cruelly reminded of the danger that she had to face. She arrived home from her lesson with Wilfred to find her mother just standing, motionless and white faced in the hallway of their house.
“Mum! What’s wrong?!”
“She’s killed a thousand humans. She killed them just to scare the others. Many more thousands are her prisoners now, the ones she will make her slaves. And we are no closer to destroying her than we were before we even knew she existed.
“Oh, mum, I’m so sorry.”
Lissa was calm on the outside, petting and soothing her mother, but on the inside she was shaking with fright but also anger. She knew now the extent of the immense, cold blooded power of Vanonica, but she also knew that she had to go face her.
In her room she changed to the darkest, most comfortable and practical clothes she has.
“Do not do it” Coby is pleading with her.
“ I have to. I’m sorry, please don’t tell my mother, but I don’t have a choice. I have to do this, or at least try!”
“And eef you do not succeed?”
“Then Earth as it is now will be over. I have to try, Coby, you have to understand!”
“Finish gettin’ dressed. Zen ve vill go to Wilfred.”
“Waste of time, Coby. He will agree that I have to do it.”
“I know. Zat ees why we ‘ave to go. So zat if we do not come back someone vill know vat ‘as ‘appened to us. And also because we need someone to show us vere ze slide to Earth ees.”
The slide was the only way to get to Earth, and it was very helpful because it got you wherever you wanted to be.
So, heart thumping louder than it ever had, Lissa went to Wilfred, who told her he was proud of her and believed in her, before sending her and Coby down the slide, to the mansion where Vanonica was keeping her prisoners. Next to it was a field, and there was Vanonica. She turned, and bared her teeth, not realising that this wasn’t a human that she could frighten away just like that. They looked at each other for a second then Lissa spoke.
“I’m going to stop you” she said, and, just as Vanonica shook back her red hair and laughed, she charged.
Vanonica was caught distracted, but it wasn’t enough. She flicked Lissa back with a jab of her arm, but Lissa wasn’t that easy to defeat. She became invisible, making Vanonica twist and turn, and twisting and turning and diving as well herself. Everything Wilfred had said, every movement she’d learned, was in her head, but at the same time she was completely focused on the battle, her invisible eyes never leaving Vanonica, whose strength and speed balanced out her invisibility. Lissa has no notion of time, but for half an hour nothing happened, they just moved around each other. But then Vanonica lost her composure, biting and gnashing and screaming until she found Lissa’s legs, and twisted them in her hand like matchsticks. Lissa gave out a cry of agony, but as Vanonica was rejoicing in it Lissa plunged the knife through her heart.
It didn’t take long for her to die. But Lissa was sure that she too was going to die. She had never felt pain like this, she could not breathe, she wanted to die, she wanted, she needed this to stop. Coby was by her side in a second, a beautiful white healing flower in his hand. She chewed its stem, and immediately felt better. She felt herself drift away and the pain leave her.
She woke up at the Station hospital, in a big white bed, surrounded by her mother, Coby, Wilfred and the director of the Station, who was the first to speak.
“Lissa, I cannot say how grateful I, and all of Anthrotopia I am sure, are grateful to you. You are a true hero. Peace is at this minute being restored to Earth.”
And with these words that filled Lissa with pride, she left. Her mother just hugged her for a long time, Coby held one of her hands with his whole little arm, and Wilfred just beamed at her happily.
The next morning, late morning, Lissa woke up and lay in bed. A tear slid down her cheek, but it was a happy tear. She knew now that she did not need to be perfect, that there was no such thing as perfect. She didn’t need to be like everybody else. She could be a little egocentric, a little restless. She could be the girl who saved Earth, and she could be incredibly proud of it.

Casino night - pictures

2010-08-02T11:04:00.028+01:00

As promised, a selection of photos from Winchester's Casino....