Blog week ending 20th July

Posted on: 20/07/2022

Enrichment Week which takes place every year in July, allows all students to have the opportunity to take part in a wide range of exciting and meaningful memorable experiences, as well as the chance to study cross-curricular themes. We strongly believe this allows every child to build on and further develop vital skills to enable them to achieve their personal best .. and have a lot of fun in the process!  Across the school students could be heard laughing, cheering and generally enjoying themselves!  Thank you to all staff who contributed so much to the programme to ensure a huge variety of experiences for students to take part in.

During this time, students go on a number of external trips and visits as well as participating in several in-school activities.  Students in Year 12 use this time for work experience placements which provides them with an opportunity to further develop their transferable skills and qualities to enable them to be successful in their future careers.

I would like to make a special mention for our senior platinum award winners.  We have a greater number of students achieving this award and this is a direct reflection of the commitment towards our school REACH values.  The award winners will celebrate in their end of year rewards assembly and will be invited to a senior platinum lunch with the Head. Due to the disruption to the end of term the Year 10 celebration assembly had to be moved to the last day of the year which will mean the celebration lunch will take place at the beginning of next term.  Well done all!

Our Year 12 students have been doing their work experience this week with companies such as Reuters, Hedley Dunk, Whitecode and healthcare settings. We are very proud that all of our students have been able to have opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are relevant and valued in the workplace. Thank you all the companies that offered their time this year.  Pictured Tom M with the Dog Handling unit at the Metropolitan Police and Preanka M at Surrey Hospital

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Community Careers Project Primary school students are often posed with one of life’s biggest questions, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Thinking that far ahead into the future can be overwhelming, but to help them with this the Galaxy Trust kindly hosted groups of our sixth form students this week as part of a Careers Project. The career awareness activities, included creating dream job posters, talking about role models and our students sharing the academic journey so far. The week enabled our students to enhance their employability skills such as teamwork and communication. Sharing their experiences involved the small learners listening to presentations, asking questions, and discussing their dream jobs which of course included professional footballer, pilot, and teacher. Our grateful thanks to the staff and pupils of Temple Hill, West Hill, Fleetdown and Oakfield Primary Schools for supporting this project.  We received some lovely feed-back from the schools including; Fleetdown School “Sasha was also excellent - engaging well and really creating a positive bond with the children. During her presentation, she told us of her ability to speak Romanian. I have a Romanian child in my class and she was over the moon. Sasha rushed straight over and was keen to have a conversation with my Year 4 student - to say this little girl's year is made was an understatement!”

Year 10 Future Focus Days.  As part of Future Focus Week our Year 10 students had an opportunity to find out about different career paths and discover how this connects their learning to the real world. We welcomed representatives from The Lower Thames Crossing, North Kent College, the University of Kent, and the University of Law (who delivered a Law in Action workshop). Guests kindly shared insights about their career and details about necessary education and training for career success. We were also delighted to welcome

Pictured, Gee Ajewole, school’s speaker, life coach and educator who shared the message “Nothing is impossible!”

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On Wednesday Year 10 all visited to Sussex University which included a tour of the campus, seminars, and an opportunity to learn more about being a student at Sussex. On Thursday students were based at the school again working on an interactive enterprise activity.  The challenge is a fun way for students to develop their employability and enterprise skills and raise awareness of their own enterprise capabilities in a real-world scenario.

We were delighted to be joined by a high number of alumni who participated in an exciting 'speed careers' activity providing advice and a unique insight into a whole range of career and education paths.  Our sincere thanks to;

James Garvey

Megan Attlee

Olivia Gardner 

Sam Clark

Tom Seale

Olly Seale

Lewis O’Neill

Rebecca Simpson 

Grace McKay

Ellie Vanner 

Quadri Rahaman

Megan Stockbridge

Max Hooper

Jon Bateman

Dan Rowson

Grace Thomas

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WGSG was selected to attend the EI National Conference - Transforming Interdisciplinary Learning Through Epistemically Insightful Curricula.  During my presentation I spoke about the work of the school on the first day and on the second day Mrs Dhaliwal, Mrs Maycock and Miss Jones presented a workshop on our Epistemic Insight Curriculum. This was supported by Year 7 students whose Posters had been judged as the best in our Epistemic Insight evening.  Along with the Year 7 was a group of Year 12 students who had also followed an Epistemic Insight Course and they also shared their work.  The Key speakers at the conference from University of Oxford, Edinburgh and the charity Education4Diversity spent time talking with the students about their work before presenting in the afternoon, in which the students’ achievement was mentioned on numerous occasions as examples of what they want to see in all schools.  So, a tremendous well done to them all.  Further work to develop the curriculum in Year 8 and 9 will be a key focus of the next academic year.

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Sports Day – and the results are in .. the final tally includes points from the year group rounders tournament, the track and field events and the athletics!  Well done to all competitors .. and a special Congratulations to those students who achieved a new school record in their event Adira, Keriema, Alessia, Phoebe S, Tulsi and Sharon Y7.  The winning House was (drum roll) …. Bader!

Year 12 Law and Forensic Science students visited the old Bailey and the Royal Courts of Justice.  Students had a tour of the Royal Courts and sat in some Courts in the old Bailey, watching a murder trial involving a firearm.

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A Wicked Trip! – Ninety Year 9 students travelled into London to see the musical Wicked.  The trip was a huge success (we tried not to sing along too much?!)  Mrs Dent’s students’ study ‘Defying Gravity’ at GCSE so it was great for the students to get the chance to see it live.

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Y8 MEP students took a trip to Central London. They visited the British Museum, China Chamber and Chinese Ceramic room. The student took a great interested in Ancient Chinese history and relics. They worked very hard to finish their activity books, learning history and practicing Mandarin. 

In China Town, they enjoyed an authentic Chinese meal, speaking in Mandarin to the waiter! They said the lamb stir fry and the Chow Mein were their favourites!  During the trip, students worked in groups and filmed a Vlog in Mandarin. When they reviewed the Vlogs in the classroom, they cheered so much to see so many happy (and embarrassing!) memories.

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Year 8 Theatre workshop – Students produced compelling improvised sketches on the theme of ‘Gates’ then in groups performed them in front of their peers! 

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G21Meenatchi of Year 12, our guest Journalist, attended the Dragon’s Den Year 10 Enterprise Enrichment Activity, contributing the following item and photographs.

Teaching and Support staff played the role of Wilmo Dragons as Year 10 students looked for investment!  Each Dragon was allocated 10,000 Wilmos (the official WGSG currency!) to invest the product and business plan of their choice – either 100% investment in a single idea or smaller part-investments in a few!

The Year 10 students in the school had an opportunity to be taking part in this activity which made them use their entrepreneurial skills in a group setting and using their own voices to pitch an app that they themselves created with their originality. Overall it was nice to see all the girls working together under the bright July sun – and as a young Journalist walking around – I could say I was very impressed by the effort and hard work gone into these individual projects.

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‘Ice-Scream’ .. an App that makes you ‘get up and get on!’  Stop procrastinating – this App literally screams at you to get up .. and get on task! – and secured Wilmo investment from Meenatchi our Y12 roving reporter!

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Year 7s tackled a huge inflatable obstacle course!  Students climbed, slid and scrabbled their way across the course and as you can see from the below photos … had a brilliant time!  (the teachers couldn’t resist having a go too!!)

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Our recent Summer Concert was a wonderful celebration of our talented musical students who had the opportunity to showcase their individual and group performances in front of an enthusiastic crowd!  Two participating students contributed the below reviews of the night.

Farha S.  “On the evening of the 5th of July, students from both WGSG and WGSB were presented with an opportunity to flaunt their music talents to their parents, teachers, and friends. Tension and nerves were at a high but the supportive nature of our WGSG community made it possible for students to perform with confidence, accuracy and most importantly with passion. Weeks before the performance, students continued to practice and prepare themselves at any spare moment they could- the music packed every break and lunch while the sound of drums and electric guitars vibrated the room! Setting up for the performance was a true test of our strength, we carried amps the weight of elephants and ventured our way through a maze of cables and wires! None-the-less on day of the performance no one else could think of anything but the concert as we willed for the clock to move faster. When the performance was about to start, we were thrilled to see our acts on the itinerary, I was immensely proud to be chosen to participate in this concert. Lastly, I would like to thank Mrs. Dent, Miss Morgan and all the staff present for organising and arranging the spectacular performance! 

Demilade M – “The preparation for the music concert was fun. I performed ‘For Good’ from Wicked for the Glee Club performance, shake it off, Part of your world from the little mermaid, When I grow up from Matilda for Musical Theatre Club and Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes for the Year 7 Band. I was quite nervous about my first performance which was 'When I grow up' because it was the opening act of the show but overall, I enjoyed the preparation and performances that I did.”

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After a two-year absence the WG6 Year 13 Leavers Prom was held at the Marriott Hotel Bexleyheath on the 7th of July.  The event was well attended by staff and students and it was lovely to the celebrate the highs (and lows) of the past two years, as well as the end of exams. Students danced the night away and were treated to Billy W performing as Michael Jackson to rapturous applause.  Special thanks must go to Mrs Wheatley for organising the event. 

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Free Parent and Carer webinars on Kooth - these sessions are designed to let parents and carers know how Kooth can support their children with their mental health and wellbeing. If parents or carers have any questions, they can email parentsandcarers@kooth.com.

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Notice - We have been made aware in the last few days that the D29w, 423 & 477 are being withdrawn in September. We have raised our concerns with Kent County Council School Transport and are unclear as yet on the impact or if other services will be implemented to replace destinations and capacity. We will inform you when we receive clarification. However, if your child gets one of these services, I would encourage you to contact the school transport team direct with your concerns.

Don’t forget! First day of Term Monday 5th September – for new Year 7 and Year 12s ONLY.  All other year groups return to school on Tuesday 6th September.

We all hope you have a wonderful summer break with friends and family,

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher

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