Blog week ending 20th January

We were delighted to receive the news this week that WGSG was in the top 10% of schools for attendance in the Autumn term. This accolade is testament to the hard work of the parents and carers, students and staff in ensuring that every lesson counts.

This term we welcomed new Teacher of Science, Dr Novikova and welcomed back from maternity leave Mrs Ahmed and Mrs Pinder (pictures below!).

Dr Novikova, Teacher of Science, brings a vast breadth of experience from previous roles as a university lecturer and teacher in Russia, and more recently from Skinners Grammar School in Tunbridge Wells.  “I believe that Science is one of the most important subjects in school due to its relevance to students’ lives and the universally applicable problem-solving and critical thinking skills it uses and develops in students”.  “I am pleased to be working with such a scientifically curious and hard-working group of students here at WGSG”.

In this lesson Dr Novikova’s Year 10 GCSE Chemistry students were investigating electrolysis of solutions.  Students first developed a hypothesis before going on to test their predictions during the practical investigation and finally to analyse their findings.   Electrolysis is used to coat an inexpensive conductor with metal for protection of decoration – electroplating.  For example, silver plated cutlery or chromium plated bumpers.

Mrs Pinder’s Year 8 Scientists have been studying gases and in this practical lesson, were testing for the presence of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and chlorine using a range of experiments.  The students’ particular favourite was the test to identify hydrogen .. which omits a squeaky pop when ignited!

Mrs Ahmad’s Year 9 Chemists have been analysing substances and in the lesson were using flame tests to detect and identify ions in samples.  Students went on to correctly identify the correct metal ion in a range of samples based on the colour of the flame produced in each investigation.

The adorable duo!  Mrs Ahmad’s daughter has just celebrated her first birthday with a rather delicious birthday cake and Mrs Pinder’s son celebrated his first Christmas with a trip to see Father Christmas. He made it onto the ‘nice’ list this year!!

MFL Spelling Bee Trip.  On Tuesday 17^th January, five of our top KS3 linguists travelled to Bexley Grammar School to compete against their peers in a language spelling bee. Students also attended from Dartford Grammar School for Boys and Beths Grammar School for Boys.

Our competitors were:

Antonia V for Year 7 French

Saruga S for Year 8 French

Ife A for Year 8 Spanish

Nel K for Year 9 Spanish

Emilia S for Year 8 Mandarin

In order to be selected for this trip, they had each won our WGSG spelling bee heats! The competition was extremely tough and students were required to spell words out loud in the target language and then say them with correct pronunciation. They had to correctly spell as many as possible within 90 seconds. Although none of our WGSG students reached the final in their languages, they each performed exceedingly well and made us incredibly proud of their courage and tenacity.

Thank you to Miss Skrine for coming along with us. We look forward to our next opportunity to take on local schools!

Mrs Rubbera studying the heats!

On Monday 9^th January, the Year 12 Politics group visited the Houses of Parliament, as part of the course which focuses on how British Government and Politics operates. The day began with a tour around the Palace of Westminster, with visits to both the Houses of Commons and Lords. Following this the students attended a lively question and answer session with Mr Gareth Johnson, MP for Dartford, who answered questions on a number of topics from his voting record to the participation crisis that exists within British Politics. After lunch, the students attended a debate within the House of Commons, with the ministers for Levelling Up answering questions on a wide range of subjects. The undoubted highlight for many of the students was seeing former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson ask a question.

The 22^nd January marks the Chinese New Year, and this year will be the year of the Rabbit.  Mrs Cai and her team are planning a range of activities to celebrate the New Year including; a Mandarin Singing Competition 24^th January P4-P5 lunch time, in S8 and on 25^th January a special dumpling making master class for the Year 12s.  Additional activities will take place in Mandarin lessons.

Congratulations to our student sportswomen who took part in the Kent Swimming Associations’ Championships.  We have a number of students who compete in swimming events on both a regional and national level.  Our students put in excellent performances competing against a large number of national swimmers and students from specialist independent schools.  Our WGSG team finished in the top half of the table out of 29 competing schools.  The PE team would like to thank Mr Davie who helped with the supporting the WGSG team on the day.

Please join me in congratulating our competitors for their tenacity and skill shown over the course of the gala;

Scarlett D

Stella T

Ciara T

Mia A

Caitlin B

Hannah C

Sara Y

Millie S

The CRAY are a local group celebrating the stories and heritage of Crayford.  A number of our families are volunteer members and recently travelled to The Houses of Parliament to present a film they made about Crayford’s role in the cancellation of Christmas in 1647.  To read about their visit and learn more about the CRAY please click here to read their blog  

Lotte D commented “Thanks to my history teachers at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (WGSG), Mr Lennon and Mr Atkins we were able to recruit girls from WGSG to work with CRAY to create a film to highlight how John Taylor battled to overcome the cancellation of Christmas during the English Civil War.”  The Cray members who attended Waterman’s Hall were:

Ruby D Y11

Lotte D  Y9 

Jessica S   Y9 

Ella-Marie D-A Y11

Gabriel D-A Y8 

Rachel P  Y10 

Rakhmat M Y10

The School Immunisation Team would like to invite parents/carers to book an appointment at one of their Community Clinics if your child recently missed their Childhood Flu Immunisation or cancer prevention HPV vaccination on their visit to school. Parents/carers can book an appointment via their website on the link below: https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/imms.  This link also provides other useful information regarding vaccinations and the School Aged Immunisation Service.  If your child was vaccinated on their recent visit, you are invited to complete the following surveys Parent / Carer Survey or Young Persons Survey 11-19 year olds

PTA Update.  We have scheduled a Quiz Night on Saturday 4^th February .. and you are all invited to join us!  For more details and bookings please contact our PTA on wgsgpfa@gmail.com  or to fill in the booking form click here

Lost Property – please could you ensure that all your child’s uniform and equipment is clearly marked with their name to help us reunite students with any lost items.  We currently have quite a wide selection of items in the school office we would love to return – if you recognise any of the below please ask your child to come to reception to claim them. 

Forthcoming dates;

Year 9 Options Evening on Thursday 26^th January (in person)

Year 13 written report – Monday 6^th February

Year 7, 8 & 13 Grades sent home – Friday 10^th February

 

Best wishes,

 

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher