Blog week ending 14th October

This week it was our great privilege to welcome Year 6 children and their families to our school.  Exploring secondary school options can be a daunting process, especially for the Year 6 students themselves which is why I am particularly grateful and proud of our student ambassadors who were undoubtedly the stars of the Open Evening!  Students conducted tours, led discussions in department classrooms and answered countless questions to reassure and inspire our Year 6 visitors and their families.  The feed-back I have received has all be in praise of our knowledgable, confident and personable student ambassadors – leaving all of our visitors with the most positive view of our school and its community.

Our Life Programme aims to support, nurture and educate our students so that they are aware, and responsible for their own outcomes in many different ways. Qualifications are not the only outcome for a student; there are hundreds, if not thousands of different outcomes that students face in our modern society.  Our Life Programme lessons, and Drop-Down sessions provide a safe environment to discuss a range of (sometimes sensitive) issues, to offer guidance and support and ensure that everyone's view and opinion can be heard.  This approach ensures that we learn from each other and respect all viewpoints. 

In our latest sessions each year group focused on a topic specific to their life and development stage; including community, global citizenship, gender, healthy relationships and post-16 education and career opportunities, working in groups and individually to explore and discuss the themes.

To find out more about what your child was specifically learning about this term, follow the Life Programme on Twitter here.

Ms Fisk, our Librarian (pictured left) handed out a free book to all of our Year 7 students as part of the BookBuzz reading programme.  Our PTA support the scheme to fund a free book for students to take home and keep.  The scheme underpins Ms Fisk’s wider work to encourage reading for pleasure and hopefully create life-long story lovers!  Students receive a book of their choice, a bookmark and access to a host of online quizzes to take part in.  All students are being given a BookBuzz competition sheet with their books and they should aim to complete a minimum of three tasks, with House Points and prizes to be awarded. Let’s see which form group can collect the most House Points overall. The completion date will be announced when all the books have been issued

All students become members of our library which is open daily from 8am to 4pm.  With over 10,000 books to choose from, there is something for all interests and reading levels!  For more information concerning our Library and its resources please click here to view our web page.

Please join me in welcoming new Teacher of Maths Mr Afolayan who joins us from City Height Academy where he was Assistant Head Responsible for Mathematics.  Mr Afolayan is an exceptional practitioner with a flair for applying mathematical concepts to relevant real-life situations to support the learning.  In this Year 9 GCSE lesson students were solving problems using percentage change and ratios.  Mr Afolayan used an income growth scenario to test their understanding of the topic .. students were quick to grasp the calculation necessary to demonstrate the additional revenue due!

 

Our GCSE Physics students have been studying spring constant calculation (Hooke’s Law) – the extension of an elastic object, such as a spring.  In this practical lesson students worked out the extension of a trampoline spring based on specified weights.

WG6 Year 13 physics students have been investigating specific heat capacity – in essence, measuring the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius.  This is usually measured in calories or joules per gram per Celsius degree. 

Inter-House Challenges.  This week students have been competing for House Points in Basketball and Virtual Reality heats.  Pictured below Mr Pope (who leads the Inter-House Challenges) supervising a VR competitor!

Congratulations to Stevenson House who are currently in First position overall with 447 Inter-House competition points this academic year.  Students in Years 7 through to 11 are encouraged to get involved and take part in the sessions – there are different sports and activities every week. 

WGSB PTA Update.  PTA lottery: Have you purchased the PTA lottery which is now live on ParentPay . Tickets are £12 a year for one number and you can buy as many tickets as you want! Please select the number of tickets you want to purchase and add your contact details on ParentPay. Each number goes into 12 monthly draws between September and August. Prize money is £30.00 per month and £50.00 at the December Draw. Cut-off date to join the lottery is 1st November 2022 to be included for the year. Thank you to everyone supporting this cause!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Sale.  It’s here again . . .! On Friday, 21 Oct, the last day of the school term, the PTA will sell delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts during 1^st and 2^nd Break time (10:00 - 10:25 & 10:50 - 11:15). This sale is part of the PTA initiative to raise funds to support the ongoing school Outside Dining Room project. Doughnuts will be sold at £1 (cash only) during the time mentioned above.

Christmas Trees fundraising scheme - Please look out for payment link in your child’s ParentPay account to purchase a 'real' Christmas Tree from the PTA. There are five tree options and prices to choose from, ranging from £29.25 (3-4ft) to £53.50 (premium grade 7-8ft tree). You would be required to collect your tree from the school from 4pm on 2nd December.  Please note that deadline to make payment is Monday, 21 Nov. Thank you for supporting the PTA to raise much needed funds for the school.

Support Wilmington Grammar School for Boys - Dartford by signing up to support us for FREE on  Smile Amazon and Easyfundraising . You can raise donations whenever you shop online with over 6,000 retailers including John Lewis & Partners, eBay, Argos, ASOS, M&S and more. Plus, we will get a bonus £5 donation when you do! Sign up today - this will make a BIG difference to us this year: Easyfundraising

Upcoming PTA Events - Please save the dates!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts sale - Friday, 21 October

Next PTA Meeting - Monday, 7 November 6.00 - 7.00pm; Venue - School Hall

Christmas Tress Payment Deadline - Monday, 21 November

Christmas Trees Collection - Friday, 2 December

Christmas Fair - Saturday 3 Dec with lots of fabulous gift ideas and a huge range of handmade gifts; delicious treats, mulled wine, mince pies, Christmas hampers,  gift ideas and lots of opportunities to win prizes in either our tombola or raffle. There will also be a nearly new uniform stall at the event!  Members of the public are welcome to setup stalls, for a token. We hope you will plan to attend this wonderful event. Please contact pta@wgsb.co.uk  for more information on how you can support this event or if you would like to set up a stall on the day.

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher