Blog week ending 16th September

Welcome to all new and returning members of our school community.  Our Year 7 and Year 12 students are settling in brilliantly .. and have already mastered the school layout!  Wilmington Grammar School for Girls offers its students a seemingly endless range of clubs, activities and trips to enhance learning, opportunities to socialise, learn new skills and discover new interests.  Once all departments have confirmed their new schedule I will share the full list in this blog and I would encourage all students to get involved and sign up for at least one new club! 

This academic year we welcome a number of new staff including Mr Fuller who joins our Senior Leadership Team as Deputy Head Teacher.  Prior to joining Wilmington Grammar School for Girls, he worked at various schools in Maidstone and was part of the team involved in the opening of a new Free School. He is passionate about a school being a family, with students within this community being supported to achieve excellence in academic outcomes and personal development opportunities. As a Teacher of Computer Science, Mr Fuller is keen to equip students with a wealth of problem solving and digital literacy skills to prepare them for the rapidly evolving digital age.

Introductions from all new teaching staff will appear over the next few school blogs.

Our Year 7 students have been given a Reading Record which will provide the framework for our library lessons and underpins our wider literacy aspirations.  The Reading Record outlines our expectations and provides a range of ‘recommended reads’.  Language and literacy provide us with the building blocks not just for academic success, but for fulfilling careers and rewarding lives – the Reading Record can be viewed by clicking here

Our Library is a warm and welcoming place, offering a huge curated range of books from a wide range of genres.  Our new Librarian, Mrs Smith joins us from a Bexley secondary school where she was Librarian and KS3 Literacy Support Mentor.  Her role comprised of reading lead where she was tasked with improving the reading age of students, testing, data management and interventions.  Mrs Smith will teach Year 7 Library lessons and Year 12 Elective Research and Referencing lessons.  She is very much looking forward to welcoming students to the library. 

Mrs Smith is planning to offer a whole host of reading groups and library events and is keen to hear students’ ideas, requests and input.  For more information about our Library resources and schemes please click here to view the Library page on our website.

In this library lesson Mrs Smith introduced Year 7 students to the Bookbuzz scheme which is funded by our Parents and Friends Association.  Students watched a video to introduce a wide range of books; they can choose their favourite which they can take home and keep.  To read more about Bookbuzz and the books on offer for 2022 please click here The Bookbuzz books | BookTrust

Year 12 students are welcome to use the library as a quiet study space and source of reference information.

Please join me in welcoming Ms Rosa, our new Head of Drama.  Ms Rosa has a wealth of experience in World Theatre, having studied World Performance at East 15 Acting School, she has a wide range of knowledge of different styles of Theatre, Music and Dance from all around the world.  I am truly passionate about inspiring and empowering Wilmington Grammar School for Girls students to be confident in their self-expression and how to articulate and present literary pieces through performance.  Our Drama curriculum aims to improve students' ability to understand how other people think, feel and act, as well as improving their skills, such as improvising, acting, presentation skills, speaking and evaluating their own performances. Through their studies, students will be introduced to a breadth of literary genres designed to inspire and empower with a view to prompting a lifelong appreciation of the performing arts. In the below lesson Year 8 student groups created ‘freezeframes’ in order to tell a story – taking inspiration from comic books with particular attention to facial expressions and the dynamics within the group.

Our Year 7 Scientists have already completed an introduction to working safety in our lab classrooms including information about the chemicals and materials and their hazard symbols and safety precautions.  In the lessons pictured below students are learning how to plan a successful investigation including, how to ask scientific questions and identify variables in their investigations.  Using a variety of equipment students have been considering their findings and recording the data.

The outgoing Year 13 Finance students and last year's Year 12 students have reason to be cheerful, as not only did they receive fantastic results in their summer exams, but 23 students of our students received scholarships towards one of the London Institute of Banking and Finance degree course.   Two of those students in question was placed in the top 1% in the country.  This is a credible achievement as demonstrates the dedication that the students gave to their studies.  Well Done!

Our new Year 12 Business Studies students have made an equally strong start to their A Level studies!

Our new Year 12 Art students have been considering how we observe and ‘place’ a subject or model that we will be creating a drawing or artwork from.  In this case students worked with a skeleton - to consider their observations from different angles and analysing the subject before planning their interpretation.  As you can see from the below, students have made a confident start to their A Level!

Our Year 12 Physics students hare currently focusing on the maths skills that will be used throughout their A Level studies.  In this practical lesson students investigated the resistance of a light bulb, processing and plotting the errors given in the experiment.

Across the week we have created opportunities for students and staff to commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II. This is a key moment in history and it is important that we mark it, as well as reflect and celebrate all of the achievements of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign.  We have placed a floral tribute at the memorial on Wilmington Common to stand alongside those of the other schools and local community. This was laid by our Head students along with a representative from each year group.  Additionally, we provided a book of condolence in school for students to sign and add comments, should they wish.  We held special assemblies across the school to remember and celebrate The Queen’s life. Monday 19th September is now a Bank Holiday and so the school will be closed for the day, with school returning on Tuesday 20th September at the usual time. I would like to add that the death of such a public and inspirational figure can have a very deep impact on people, in ways that perhaps they were not expecting. If your child needs additional support or you are concerned, please do speak to their Form Tutor, or any of the pastoral team, who will be happy to help and support.

PFA UPDATE - All Parents and carers automatically belong to the ‘Parents & Friends Association’ (PFA), but being a ‘Friends’ association, membership is extended to include other family relations and members of the public who have been approved by the Committee.   The objective of the PFA is to support the school and its students, and to allow the children to enjoy their time at WGSG to the greatest extent possible.  The PFA organises a varied programme of events during the year for the students and parents, including fund-raising events to provide additional resources for the benefit of the students, over and above those that would be available from existing school funds.

Last academic year, the PFA raised more than £7,000 by organising a Christmas Market, School Disco, Prom, Nearly New School Uniform Sales and more!  The monies have benefited the students, as these were used to fund Picnic Benches all around the school (£11k+), new equipment for the Science Rooms (c. £5k), a Sensory Garden, new Speakers for the Gym (c.£700) and books for Year 7 (Bookbuzz c. £600).

The PFA would like to encourage all new parents and carers to please sign up and join us in supporting our school and making it a better place to learn for all our students – to get involved or find out more please email Catherine Goodhind via gCGoodhind@endeavour-mat.co.uk or see our web page here. 

New Event - The Year 7 School Disco will be held on Friday, 30th September 2022 from 6.30pm to 9.00pm in the School Hall. Tickets are £5 each. This would be a great opportunity for the new students to get together and have fun with other students in their year group.  There will be refreshments (drinks and snacks) for sale. If students could please bring smaller denomination notes and/or change for their pocket money.

All profits from the event will go towards paying for new school facilities and equipment.

Calendar Dates – Key school dates can be viewed on our website calendar by clicking here – Please note, the school will be closed on Monday 19^th September to mark the passing of the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Letters sent home – copies of all key letters sent home can be viewed on our website by clicking here

Please do join us at the next Parish Council Community Litter Pick on Saturday September 24th at 10am. Meeting poInt Wilmington Memorial Hall. Families and dogs welcome.  Achievement certificates will be given out to all students in attendance.

 

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher