Blog week ending 19th May

Last week, both our Year 11 and Year 13 students started study leave ahead of their public examinations.  We are all so proud of the positive and dedicated manner in which our students have completed their studies and prepared for their examinations – You are ready and equipped to reach your potential! 

Our Year 11 students enjoyed a special breakfast and assembly which included speeches and photo presentations by each of the forms as well as shirt-signing.  Our Year 7 students formed a rather excited guard of honour each waving the Year 11’s first school photo!  It was a fitting and uplifting event and we wish them every success in their examinations and look forward to be welcoming them back to WG6 in September.  Thank you to our PTFA who supported the event and decorated the hall so beautifully.

The WG6 student leavers event was hosted in great style at WGSB.  Thank you to all staff who contributed to make it such a warm and celebratory morning.  Students joined staff for breakfast before performances by our magnificent WG6 musicians (who managed to get everyone singing along to Kasabian at 9am!)  Certificates were awarded for outstanding contributions to the WG6 community and in recognition of exceptional achievement.  Myself, Stuart Harrington and CEO Charlie Guthrie were all in attendance to wish all students the very best of luck during their exams and future adventures!  Year 7 students formed a ‘Guard of Honour’ to cheer (very loudly indeed!) as our WG6 students left the celebrations – and discovered the photos of their Year 7 selves!

PE Department Football tournament celebrations!  Mrs Shooman-Taylor, Mrs Selfe and Isabella D-C in Year 12, took 12 Year 8 and 9 students to represent the school in the Dartford FC Secondary School tournament.

The students were exceptional, with fantastic displays of team spirit, sportsmanship and playing ability. They were put to the test across a series of five games, playing against The Leigh, Gads Hill, Leigh UTC, Orchards Academy and DSTC. The league resulted in us making it to the finals, which was extremely intense. With the score ending in 0-0, we embarked on penalties, to which we won, bringing home the huge trophy!

Women of the Match

Match 1: Martha B

Match 2: Grace G

Match 3: Siham A

Match 4: Isla M

Match 5: Georgia H-M

Final with Penalties: Amber W

 

Top Goal Scorer

Isla M

Student leaders from Year 10 and 12 took part in leadership training delivered by specialist trainers The Life Skills Company.  The workshop provides the necessary skills for effective communication and mentoring, supporting our students to excel in their individual leadership roles.  The topics covered included handling difficult situations, team work and being a persuasive role model – all valuable life skills for their time at school and beyond.

Mrs Barclay, Head of Geography has set a new House Challenge to mark ‘Earth Day’ and invite students to contribute their proposals to make WGSG a more environmentally sustainable place. 

“The Earth Day 2023 theme is focused on engaging the more than 1 billion people, governments, institutions, and businesses who participate in Earth Day to recognise our collective responsibility and to help accelerate the transition to an equitable, prosperous green economy for all.”

Excerpts from the Challenge presentation are below.  For more information – please speak with our Geography department.

Mr Aimey’s Year 13 Chemists spent their final lesson checking the purity of the aspirin they had made in previous lessons.  Students checked the melting point and used TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography).  Good luck with your Chemistry A Levels and please do stay in touch!

Last chance to secure tickets for our eagerly anticipated production of Matilda the Musical!  Tickets are available to buy now on ParentPay.  There are two performances; Wednesday 24th May and Thursday 25th May at 5pm.  Running time is 1 hour with interval.  We’ll see you there!

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and this year’s theme is anxiety.  We know that children and young people can often feel anxious for many reasons and that for some of our students currently sitting their public examinations, it can be a particularly difficult time.  Our Student Managers run wellbeing workshops and one-to-one sessions to provide positive mental health toolkits and work closely with the wider pastoral team of Form Tutors, SEN team and Heads of Year ensuring a cohesive ‘whole child’ approach to educational and pastoral support.  We hope you will find the below resources useful and encourage you to discuss this with your child at home.

Please click here for more information Anxiety Guide for Parents Final (amh.org.uk)

Year 8 student Scarlett H competed at All Star World championships in Florida recently with her cheer team Glacier Girls from Ice Athletics.  Scarlett’s team competed in the International under 17’s division against teams from all over the world. To be able to compete in All Star Worlds you need to receive a bid from a sponsor which they won, they then travelled to Florida to train in the best facilities in the world ahead of their competition. They competed on 4th May and made it to the top six teams which advanced to finals. On the 5th of May they was awarded silver medallists placing them 2nd in the world.  Please join me in congratulating Scarlett and her team mates for such an outstanding achievement!

PFA Update.  Our Oscars themed Year 11 Prom is sure to be a lavish affair!  Tickets are available to purchase on ParentPay – we ask that you book by 16^th June to allow us to plan the catering. 

Pre-loved Uniform sale – is scheduled for Sunday 9th July 11am-1pm. if you have any out-grown or unwanted uniform items please do consider donating them to our PFA Shop.  We offer a range of uniform in excellent condition and will be offering items for sale in school ahead of the new school year.

Easyfundraising & Amazonsmile - By signing up and using the below link when you shop online with more than 3,300 well-known online stores such as Amazon, eBay, John Lewis will earn free donations for WGSG at no additional cost to you.  Please click here for further information and to sign up 

Forthcoming dates;

• Year 12 Politics Trip to County Hall – Tuesday 23rd May
• Year 10 Spanish Trip – Thursday 25^th May
• Year 12 Mock data sent home – Friday 26^th May
• End of Term 5 – Friday 26^th May
• Year 12 Geography Trip Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th May
• First day of Term 6 – Monday 5^th June
• Year 11 Prom – Friday 23rd June.
• WG6 Year 13 Prom - Friday 30th June at Birchwood Golf & Country Club from 7 – 11 pm.

And finally, we had some rather exotic visitors to our school grounds this week .. Egyptian Geese.  They are native to Africa but now an increasingly familiar sight across Western Europe .. including the two pictured below waddling purposefully past classrooms toward our pond!

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher