Blog week ending 5th May

I am delighted to share with you our Ofsted report, following our inspection in March. The report identifies many areas of great strength in our school and we must all be proud with how our community is reflected. This report is an endorsement of the hard work, dedication and cheerful cooperation which exists across the entire community. Of the many highlights in the report, it is particularly pleasing to note that the school is recognised to be ‘warm, friendly and aspirational’ and that student behaviour is ‘exemplary’, where we ‘value each other’s differences’. We are also pleased that the report supports our own School Development priorities, that are focused on highly academic, responsive and challenging lessons for all. This was an un-graded inspection and therefore the school continues to be judged as Good; however, the report is more nuanced than one word. Careers education is described as ‘superb’ and teachers are recognised as ‘experts in their field’. I would like to thank our parents, carers and students for all their feedback to the inspectors, both in person and as part of the on-line surveys. The results of both were quite exceptional. The school community must take a moment to acknowledge the success of this report; however, we remain enthusiastic and excited for a future that will bring even more

success both inside and outside the classroom, as we continue to raise aspirations and broaden horizons across our richly diverse community.  To read the full report please click here 

The Sports Department and its talented sportsmen students have much to celebrate!  Our Year 7 football team were triumphant champions securing the North Kent Cup as well as being crowned District Champions!  Both final matches were typical of the team, with compliments from both the opposition and referee on their respectful and committed play and conduct.  The team played 18 games this season with only one narrow defeat .. and two trophies for the school cabinet!!  Mr Lynch, and the rest of the staff couldn’t be prouder – congratulations to you all!

On the last day of Term 4, students in Years 7 to 10 took part in the End of Term knowledge quiz. Below are the names of the top scorers in each year group who will receive certificates and house points for their great achievements. Well done!

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
7	Ryan S	Tolu A	Edward K
8	Joel T	Neo V	Sanjay S
9	Theo S	Rere A	Armani S
10	Jesse S	Aadit S	Niall S

It’s expedition season for our intrepid Duke of Edinburgh students.  The Year 9 cohort successfully completed their Bronze Practice expedition which saw them putting their preparation and training to use.  Nearly 150 students (our biggest group to date!) set off for their unaccompanied expedition across Buckmore Park and surrounding Kent Downs, navigating their way to their camping site before setting up camp, and preparing their evening meal.  Over the course of the two days students worked together in their groups, each member taking responsibility for an aspect of the expedition.  Fortunately, the weather was in our favour and as you can see from the below photos, it was a brilliant weekend where students really rose to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed the experience! 

Our GCSE Artists have been developing their portraiture skills and style using work by artist Christian Hook as inspiration – specifically a portrait of footballer Fabrice Muamba.  Bolton player Fabrice suffered a massive cardiac arrest during a game – his heart stopped for an astonishing 78 minutes.  The subsequent portrait includes layers of a vision of Fabrice, it captures movement and the essence of the man using symbolism and multiple superimposed images (last image).  Our students choose their own subject to create their own layered and personal portraits – and they are each unique and skilled interpretations. 

Our Student teams travelled to RAF Benson for the F1 in Schools Regional Finals – and what a thoroughly exciting and successful competition it was!  Every one of our contestants were impeccable ambassadors showing great team spirit, camaraderie with other school teams and a huge amount of heart and determination! 

We are delighted to share the news that Phantom Racing, our Year 10 team have progressed to the National Finals in June – huge congratulations to Alfie E, Finlay M, Daniel P, Casra M and David D.

Cheetah Motorsports, our Year 9 team did extremely well earning the "Star Competitors" trophy, this is awarded to the entry class team that the judges thought should have won but didn't get the points which is unbelievable. HyperDrift, Year 8 and 9 collaboration team were nominated for two awards and finished the races with the 4th fastest time. Nitro X Year 8 and Year 9 collaboration team were nominated for two awards and came away with the fastest reaction time trophy (despite being up against sixth formers for this award!).  Our Year 7 team Falcons also had a productive competition, and despite not being placed, gained valuable competition experience and picked up tips and potential adaptions for next year’s competition. 

Phantom Racing, our Year 10 team are now concentrating on the Nation Finals .. with an eye firmly set on the World Finals!!

The Phantom Team were interviewed by the F1 in Schools media team!

We will be holding our SEN review week from Monday 15^th May onwards. Please look out for an email from your young person’s teaching assistant to invite you along. If you would like to attend and do not receive an invitation please contact SSage@wgsg.co.uk. 

Our SEN (Special Educational Needs) department are delighted to welcome two new staff members.  Our team provides empathetic and bespoke support to individual students ensuring every student in our care is able to thrive.

Mr Hansford HLTA (Higher Learning Teaching Assistant) joins us from Bexley Grammar where he held the role of HLTA and Head of House.  Mr Hansford added, “As a former student of Wilmington Grammar School for Boys I am delighted to be back here to help and support our students reach their potential”

 

 

 

Mrs Norman joins us as a Learning Support Assistant.  “I fully appreciate the value of meaningful support and provisions provided by SEN departments in schools and have seen the positive impact and confidence built in my own children.  I am keen to build a rapport with all students and their families that access our provisions so we can work together to support our young people’s learning experiences and outcomes”

 

 

WG6 students have been investigating Gamma radiation and specifically, to ‘prove’ the inverse square law as part of their final revision ahead of the public examinations.  Students worked with Mrs Patel, Head of Physics at WGSG to conduct the investigation before then calculating their results and using their findings to plot a graph to demonstrate the inverse square law.

STEAM and Sports Week have been scheduled for July, both of which will provide many opportunities for students to challenge themselves and work creatively with their peers. STEAM Week focuses on enrichment activities and projects that work collaboratively across Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics to prompt student enquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

One of the activities that we are planning to run is model railway building, which will encourage students to use their creative, imaginative and practical skills.  The cost of the train sets and modelling materials is very expensive and in order to help with this we were wondering if anyone has any modelling materials that might be of use?  Or any old 00 Gauge train sets (such as that made by Hornby) or parts from a train set that we might be able to use?

If you have any materials, and could donate them, please leave them at WGSB reception, preferably with your name as we would like to know where any donations have come from.  Alternatively, please contact Dr Harris on his email at lharris@wgsb.co.uk

We would like to remind parents and carers that if your financial circumstances change that you may be eligible to apply for additional funding through Kent County Council. To assess your eligibility or to find out more please visit Free school meals - Kent County Council.

Forthcoming Dates;

• Public Examinations begin Tuesday 9th May
• Next PTA Meeting - Tuesday, 09 May 2023 6.00-7.00pm; (virtual)      
• Year 13 last day (ahead of public examinations) – Tuesday 9^th May
• Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 324 654 391 784; Passcode: 7CuUAm
• Year 7 Cricket – Thursday 11^th May
• Year 8 Cricket – Thursday 18^th May
• Year 7 Football Tournament Dartford FC – Thursday 18th May
• Year 12 A Level Geography Trip, Folkestone Harbour & Town Centre – Thursday 25^th May
• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Sale - Friday, 26 May Break time
• Summer Fair - Saturday, 15 July, 11am - 2pm

WGSB PTA Update.  The PTA urgently require a volunteer Secretary on the PTA, so please get in touch if you are able to help.

Does your organisation support match funding? - then please do contact pta@wgsb.co.uk  or the school office on 01322 223090. Match funding has great benefits for the organisation, the school and the individual! And it’s a great way to support your PTA.  What is Match funding? It is an informal, albeit corporate, arrangement between a company and their employee which maximises the fundraising efforts of individual PTA volunteers. Not all companies offer matched funding but those that do will pledge a sum of money relating to the amount their employee has raised for or donated to the charity of their choice.  If you work for a company that offers match funding, and you volunteer to work at one of the stalls at our PTA event and profit made by the stall is £100, your employer will then match this amount with a further £100. We will like to hear from you if your company supports match funding.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Sale.  It’s here again! On Friday, 26 May, the PTA will sell delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts during 1^st and 2^nd Break time (10:00 - 10:25 & 10:50 - 11:15). Doughnuts will be sold at £1, so please encourage your child to attend school on this date with cash in order to enjoy and buy their Krispy Kreme doughnut. Please contact pta@wgsb.co.uk if you can spare some time and are able to help out on the day or if you would like to pre-order a box of doughnuts at a discounted rate of £10.

Pre-Loved Uniform - Our next pre-loved uniform sale will be during our Summer Fair, on Saturday 15 July.

Thanks to everyone who's helped make a BIG difference during this difficult time by raising donations for us via Easyfundraising. If you're not supporting us yet, please sign up now. It takes 2 minutes & 7,000 brands will donate to us for free every time you shop with them! Visit: wgsbpta easyfundraising

Our PTA Summer Fair and Barbecue which will come up at the end of the STEAM week on Saturday, 15 July, is just round the corner!

The Summer Fair is a really fun event for the whole family so please save the date in your diary, if you have not done that already! The PTA are always looking for any help and support before, during and after the event.

• Do you have a flair for organising events?
• Would you like to spare some time to help our school raise some funds?
• Or maybe you will like to run a stall at the summer fair?
• Would you be able to sponsor some part of the event (for instance we urgently require a barbecue stand) or donate prizes for the summer fair raffle draw?

No help is too small. Please contact pta@wgsb.co.uk  or the school office for more information on how you can support us. Thank you!

 

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher