Blog week ending 28th March

Our annual Culture Day events are planned and managed by our Student Leaders who work to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute and share ideas.  The day is a colourful, euphoric day celebrating diversity and inclusion across our school community.  Our school cohort boast 39 different first languages - our Culture Day celebrations resonate with us all and are a tangible manifestation of our shared school values, respect, equality, achievement, honesty and integrity. 

Across school there were a range of quizzes for the form groups to participate in such as “guess the country/language” to get everyone in the mood for the day!  Additionally, many classes incorporated the Culture Day theme into lesson plans such as in Maths, where students created their ‘dream world trip’ plotting destinations on a map and calculating the distances for each leg of the trip using ratios.  Other classes played world music or took part in mini competitions.

As you can see from the photos students particularly enjoy the catwalk element of the day, being able to share their own culture and learn about others.  It was a joy to see students sharing their pride in their cultural heritage and wonderful to see students and staff wearing items of significance for them.

In conjunction with Culture Day our Student Leaders planned an inspirational conference to mark International Women’s Day.  Over the course of the day twenty-two female business leaders came into school to work with and to inspire our Year 10 and 12 students and Year 10 from Wilmington Grammar School for Boys, who also greatly benefitted from the event.

Our sincere thanks to each and every one of our speakers who shared their time and experience with our students and who no doubt have inspired them to aim high, work hard and have faith in their ability to make a valuable contribute to a truly inclusive and diverse workplace and society.

Our Year 11 students achieved so much this weekend at the PGL Revision Weekend at Marchant Hill in Surrey.  Specialist teachers provided personalised support and guidance, addressing key GCSE curriculum content through a series of tailored revision sessions on core subjects (Maths, English and Science).  This individualised attention in conjunction with group work and personal study at home helps clarify concepts and provide valuable exam preparation tips and strategies.  Research consistently shows that regular revision and practice are essential for long-term retention of knowledge.  To complement the academic work achieved students challenged themselves (and staff!) to take part in a dizzying (quite literally) range of thrill-seeking adventure activities including a giant swing, towering trapeze and high ropes!  A great, and highly productive weekend was had by all!

Our Maths department delivered an ‘eggstra’ special(!) lesson ahead of our Easter break .. involving delicious chocolate eggs and a series of calculations using crème eggs as the scale!  Students estimated their height .. in crème eggs as well as working out what fraction of the egg is ‘goo’, and finally, by enjoying a crème egg!

 

Netball Match.  On Thursday 21^st March, we took a mixture of Year 9 and 10 students to DSTC for a Netball fixture. Unfortunately, we lost 9-2, however the score does not reflect the level of effort our students put into the game. As you can see from the picture, they had great fun! A huge number of interceptions were made, with support from teammates by backing each other up to get the turnover. Teamwork was extremely evident.

Player of the match (nominated by DSTC): Tess D

“I cannot possibly pick just one student, as you all made a tremendous number of interceptions!” Mrs Selfe

Player of the match (nominated by teacher): Hannah C, Grace B and Nelly H

The recent Kent Schools Trampoline Competition saw us gain a range of achievements with Lilya Z of 8W 3rd in the individual Advanced U14, Erin B of 7E 1st in the individual intermediate U13, Hebe G of 11H 1st and Moyo M of 11H 2nd in U19 elementary, Zoe G of 10C 4th in U15 intermediate. This meant that overall, the U13 intermediate teams came in 1st and 4th place, U15 intermediate teams came 6th place and U13 elementary teams came 7 th,8th,10th,14th.17th,18th and 20th. This has been a phenomenal achievement from all the students. In the Sportshall Athletics Competition, the Year 7 team came 1st overall and the Year 8 team came in 6th place. Well done to both teams.

Kent Grammar Schools Piano Competition.  The students that made it through the first round of auditions were taken to Gravesend Grammar School on Monday 25th, for the next audition phase. They competed against students from GGS and Mayfield Grammar.

“Congratulations to Jagoda 7H who came first in her round and to Caitlyn 11C who is through to the Kent regionals final round. She will be performing with other finalists at Christchurch Canterbury University in their magnificent performance hall in June.  All students performed to a fabulous standard, and they should all be proud of themselves, I certainly am! Well done ladies!”  Mrs Dent, Head of Music

WG6 Year 13 Celebration Assembly.  Congratulations to all of our Year 13 students, this, their last group assembly ahead of their public exams gave us an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements, effort and community contribution of our Year 13 cohort.  Subject teachers and form tutors awarded specific accolades and sweet treat(!) to those students who have gone above and beyond in their studies and school contribution.  We wish you every success with your forthcoming exams – if you would like any further support beyond the scheduled revision sessions, please do let us know!

Mr Simmons, Teacher of Geography is also a member and coach for local Cycling Club Team, Darenth Cycling Club.

“Our Club is extremely family friendly and a hugely fun way of gaining new skills, keeping healthy and socialising with friends and families from the local area.  We develop riding and bike-handling skills for children and young people and have a team of very experienced DBS-checked British Cycling trained coaches.  We meet every Saturday at 9:45am at Baldwyns Freeholders Association. The entrance is the driveway between 24 & 26 Baldwyns Park, Joydens Wood, Bexley DA5 2BA .. come and join us!” 

• All you need to join us is a mountain bike, helmet and gloves!  We do have a small number of bikes available for younger children.
• All abilities very welcome, but you just need to be able to ride a bike!
• We mostly cycle off-road on mountain bikes as we have so many great green spaces nearby!
• Qualified Cycle Coaches to guide riders as well as offer support to diagnose or fix any issues with your bikes  .. or recommend best place to go for new parts of further support.
• Summer Events – Regular Racing and Skills Competitions throughout the summer season. Gain points by improving your racing times and skills.   
• First two sessions completely FREE.  One-off membership of just £15, then £10 per month fees (£5 for every additional family member)

For further information and contact details please click here Team Darenth Cycling Club - Team Darenth Cycling Club 

PFA Update.  ‘Nearly New’ School Uniform Shop – We have a range of ‘pre-loved’ uniform in excellent condition for sale at very reasonable prices and any donations of surplus school uniform are most gratefully received.  For details & price list or to make a uniform donation, please contact wgsgpfa@gmail.com

Forthcoming Dates;

Last Day of Term 4 - 28th March

Ski Trip - 29th March - 3rd April

First Day of Term 5 - 15th April

Year 11 Grades Home - 15th April

Year 12 Progress Exams commence - 15th April

Year 10 Written Report home - 15th April

 

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Head Teacher