Blog week ending 7th July

What a joyous and exhilarating Sports Day!  The conditions were perfect (no rain at all!) for our student athletes who put in stellar performances across the field.  Our student spectators could be heard from the school site as they shouted support, and encouragement for their House competitors.  The atmosphere was electric, and it was truly lovely to see the camaraderie across the Houses and Year groups. Thank you to everyone for giving their all.

As you can see from the photos there were plenty of opportunities to re-fuel with an ice cream van on site and our wonderful PFA providing drinks, watermelon slices and sweet treats.

The WGSB production of Oliver!  What a cracking show!  The student cast delivered amazing West End performances to enthusiastic sell-out audiences last week.  The whole cast, production team and musicians have clearly worked extremely hard as the show was a triumph. The directors, Mr Palmer, Head of Music WGSB and Mr Owen, Teacher of Science WGSB (and member of local amateur dramatics group!) received so much wonderful feed-back from audience and family members and would like to thank .. and congratulate all our student contributors form WGSB and WGSG for their dedication and hard work over the last three months.  

Pictured the cast and production team enjoying their ‘wrap lunch’ celebrations! .. and stills from their show.

Year 10 students handmade scrunchies for sale at Sports Day to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.  Students worked at lunch times and after school with Miss Armellino to make enough stock!  Well done, Nifemi A, Oumou B and Binu T, a great initiative for a very good cause.  I’ve bought mine, naturally I opted for a burgundy one!   

Year 7 and 8 Geographers have been completing fieldwork around the school.  The aim is to investigate how the environment at WGSG affects our quality of life. The students have been planning, preparing and carrying out fieldwork to investigate these questions. They have completed environmental quality surveys, noise surveys, emotional mapping, litter surveys and take photos to annotate back in the classroom.

The next couple of weeks will involve them writing up this investigation to use data presentation and analysis skills, before then completing their conclusion and evaluation. This will involve reflecting on their fieldwork techniques and making suggestions for how the school might be improved to help with quality of life. 

Our Year 10 Geographers travelled to Tankerton and Reculver on a field trip where they were investigating the impact of wind direction on longshore drift and beach deposition, before stopping for an ice-cream on the beach!

One of our students has provided the following account;

“When we were on the coach, it was raining and the weather was quite miserable, but thankfully by the time we were at Tankerton the skies cleared and the day became much hotter. I loved the fieldwork of the measuring the groynes. Even though, the longshore drift investigation didn't work too well due to the lack of wind that day, however it was still an enjoyable experience. But my favourite part was when we went to Reculver and walked on the beach, viewing all of the geology and landforms like v-shaped valleys, which we have learned about in the previous lessons. I found it interesting that you can clearly see the slumping of cliffs and the coastal management which I never even knew about a few weeks ago.”

Years 7 and 8 Scientists have been designing their own big practicals this week to develop their ‘working scientifically’ skills. 7W looked at a diffusion practical where they tested the effect of temperature on the rate of diffusion of a number of different substances.

Our Year 7 rounders team played in an exciting game against DSTC on Tuesday. It was lovely to see great teamwork and resilience from our players. It was a close match up right up until the last couple of minutes with a final score of 8-11. Well done to all our players! 

Mrs Dhaliwal covered a Year 8 English lesson and challenged students to create their own poem in the style of ‘Still I Rise’ OR ‘Phenomenal Woman’ using the same style as Maya Angelou, and ensuring there was an important message using;

• a simile,
• rhyme (at certain points)
• repetition
• personification.

They produced some amazing work, which has been added to our department display.

Year 12 WG6 Geographers travelled to Folkestone to practice their fieldwork skills for coastal and place-based topics. The next day they undertook hydrological and biomass investigations on Dartford Heath. Our students were very adventurous, fighting through the undergrowth to measure trees!  At the end of June, they returned to Folkestone to collect data for their A level coursework investigations. Half of our students collected data related to the effectiveness of coastal management at Folkestone. The other half were investigating patterns of deprivation in the town or residents' perception of attempts to rebrand it.

The WG6 Year 13 Prom was a brilliant event and a fitting celebration for our amazing students as they come to the end of their educational career with Wilmington Grammar. We had over 180 students in attendance and they all had a brilliant time.  We would like to wish you all the very best of everything for your future adventures, please do make sure you stay in touch!

WG6 Year 12 had the opportunity to hear from Lawrence Loganathan who is the Director of Engineering for NEOM. He is key part of the revolutionary multi-billion-dollar development called ‘The Line’ which is being built along ecological and sustainable lines. The talk gave students the chance to hear from a talented and successful engineer with a dynamic business model and ambitious development plans for potential future urban developments, as well as presenting them a new (and controversial) way of thinking when it comes to urban planning and the challenges the world is facing. More details about the development can be found here - THE LINE: a revolution in urban living (neom.com) and here - https://youtu.be/0kz5vEqdaSc  

PTFA Update.  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;

STEAM week – Monday 10 July

Year 12 work experience – Monday 10 July – Friday 21 July

Year 10 Paris Trip – Sat 8^th-Tue 11^th July 2023

Year 10 Valencia Trip – Wed 12^th-Sat 15^th July 2023

Last day of term – Friday 21^st July 12noon

 

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher