The winners of Woodford County High's boat race (l-r): Inayah Ahmed 13, Asha Sooriya Kumar, 13, Rachel Field, 12, and Fatima Khan 13

Woodford Green students take part in week of Olympic challenges

Alistair Kleebauer, Senior reporter Friday, July 20, 2012
9:58 AM

Woodford Green students took cultural inspiration from the forthcoming London Olympic Games to spend this week creating paintings, plays and music.

A dramatic performance at Woodford County High: (l-r) Kiera Rose, 15, Ruqayyah Anwar, 15, Susha Sooral, 15, and Abigail Saffron, 15.

All pupils at Woodford County High School in High Road are taking part in a week of challenges including designing wind-powered boats and devising dramatic performances based on a line from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Though bad weather put paid to Monday’s sports day, pupils designed art friezes this week to show different periods of Olympic history including the Ancient Games.

Others then developed plays based on the friezes.

Yesterday, year 9 pupils, who made short films about the Games, were recognised in an ‘Oscars’ ceremony and today, Kim Bent, who has represented Great Britain in the BMX World Championships, is visiting the school.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, teams designed small boats to race down drain pipes using wind power.

Teacher Laurane Turnbull, who organised the week, said: “The girls have thoroughly enjoyed [the week].

“It was about rising to the challenges and achieving a goal in a short period of time.”

There were also performances based around Caliban’s ‘the isle is full of noises’ line from The Tempest, the inspiration behind film director Danny Boyle’s plans for next week’s opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium.