Blog week ending 10th March

Our Computer Science students had a fun and rewarding experience at Disneyland Paris where they attended the Computing LIVE! Conference.  Thank you to Year 11 student Frankie C who wrote the below piece about the trip;

“The trip was an amazing enriching experience both because of going to Disneyland but also the inspiring talks we were given at the Computing LIVE! conference. We had Suzie Imber, a professor of planetary science talk to us about how she combines her passion with mountaineering with her love for code and science as she, using space satellites coded an algorithm to find new unnamed mountains in the Andes and other regions which showed how you can pursue both your career and passions at the same time. Then we heard from Rik Ferguson, a cyber security expert, who spoke about how to stay safe and information about real life social problems like cybercriminals and what they can look like as well as some more modern hacking methods using AI such as Deep-faking and how chatGPT isn't a new google but a language software which only predicts what words should precede what has been typed meaning it knows completely nothing. Then our last speaker was Lady Mariéme Jamme who ventures the first African-led global movement to mobilise governments to advance STEAMD (science, tech, engineering, arts, maths, design) education. From her speech what I found most powerful was how even though she has done so much she says it is up to us, to "be the creator, not the consumer". With her company iamtheCODE she aims to get 1million young women coding around the world by 2030 as she recognises how it can give girls in deprived countries many more opportunities in life.”

Our Year 7 Celebration Assembly gave us all an opportunity to reflect upon our advances and achievements and to congratulate and reward all student endeavour.  Congratulations to all those students who earned certificates and prizes!  Mrs Cross was extremely delighted to be presenting so many awards and is looking forward to seeing who the winners will be this term!

PE Department Sporting Results.  Year 7 Rugby.  We recently welcomed neighbours Dartford Grammar School for an A and B team rugby match. Both games were very tightly contested, and some excellent rugby was on show in both matches. The A team match was won by Dartford Grammar School 7-2 and the WGSB B team won their match 3-1. This was an amazing achievement considering it was their first match together as a side. In total 34 different students represented the school in this fixture. Rugby values were on display in both fixtures and we thank Dartford Grammar School and look forward to welcoming them back next year. This was the only defeat the Year 7 team have had all season. Mr Lynch’s side have played 14 games this season and won an impressive 13 out of 14. More importantly though an impressive 41 different students have represented the school rugby team this year. We want to congratulate all students who played in these games and others throughout the season.

Year 7 Football.  Mr Lynch’s side continue to have an excellent season. Earlier in the year they reached the Semi Finals of the Kent Cup. Sadly, they suffered their only defeat to date, to a strong Rainham Mark Grammar side, who we wish well in the upcoming Kent Cup final. After two wins last week in other cup competitions, they are now through to the semi-finals of the North Kent Cup as well as the District Cup. We wish them well in their upcoming semi-final fixtures.

Year 9 Football.  Mr Sage’s side have had an excellent few weeks, with wins over St John’s, Meopham and Orchards in the District Cup. These wins mean they have qualified for the semi-finals with a game still to play. This side have also already made it through to the semi-finals of the North Kent Cup. They have been drawn against our partner school Stone Lodge so that will be a game for students in both schools to look forward to next week.

Year 9 Rugby.  The Year 9 rugby side represented the school in the Kent 7’s tournament held at Dartford Grammar last week. They had an excellent tournament reaching the last 8. Sadly, they were beating in added time in a really tight game against Dane Court Grammar School. Mr Lynch would like to congratulate all 12 members of the team who performed so well on the day.

Year 10 Football.  Mr Hook’s side had an amazing 4-0 win in the semi-finals of the North Kent cup. They beat a strong King Henry school and should be very proud of reaching the final of this competition. This win means they will now face Hurstmere in the final of the competition. We wish Mr Hook’s side well going into their upcoming final.

Upcoming Event.  On Tuesday 14^th March, our Year 8 Rugby team will be competing in the Kent 7’s Rugby tournament held at Eltham College. We wish Mr Powell’s side well in this event.

As is traditional here at WGSB .. we marked Pancake Day with a pancake and crepe master class for the Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition students. Students were able to perfect their techniques using a frying pan as well as a crepe machine which proved trickier than they thought.  The students thoroughly this lesson especially when it came to mastering flipping the pancakes; this was elevated into a sporting challenge where students competed in a ‘pancake-toss-catch’ game.  I’m not entirely sure that it would be as popular at home! (see last photo)

Mr Owen’s Year 8 science students have been investigating how volume affects the rate of diffusion. They cut agar gel into cubes of different size before immersing them in a solution of hydrochloric acid.  Students then timed the reaction and plotted their findings in a chart.

Mr Owen’s Year 10 Chemists have been exploring energy transferal – exothermic and endothermic reactions.  In this practical lesson student conducted an investigation into neutralisation.

Our WG6 Year 13 Forensics and Criminal Investigation students have been evaluating the different types of heat transfer and the impact on a house fire as part of their multi-agency approach to fire investigation.  In this lesson Mrs Munden provided a rather dramatic practical demonstration!

Mr Barnes WG6 A Level Biologists have been deepening their anatomic study of the heart.  In this practical lesson they used their dissecting skills to fully understand the internal processes of the organ.  Following the internal examination, students produced and labelled a scientific drawing of the heart.

Our intrepid Young Reporters have been interviewing staff here to find out more about the books that have influenced their lives in honour of World Book Day, which was celebrated on Thursday 2^nd March. 

Jaydon in Year 7 interviewed Mrs Cross, Head of Food Technology and Year 7, and she said a book that changed her life was the classic American novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, as the book ‘focuses on discrimination and how to treat people in the correct way, especially when you first meet them,’ Mrs Cross would recommend this book to ‘school students and mainly teenagers – generally young people.’ Mrs Cross said she would also recommend the book due to its ‘educational purposes as it can help improve young people's social skills and attitudes towards others – skills that are also taught in the Life Programme.’ 

Mr Owen, Teacher of Science, life-changing book, as reported by Kyle in Year 8, is the iconic children’s fantasy novel ‘The Hobbit’ by J. R. R. Tolkien. This book was ‘the first book he really enjoyed’ and the one that ‘got him into reading.’ He would recommend it to ‘everyone, but especially those who love the fantasy genre.’ It comes as no surprise then that Mr Owen’s favourite genres are science fiction and fantasy as they provide ‘a break from reality.’ Kyle’s final question to Mr Owen was for a recommendation; Mr Owen’s is ‘What If’ by Randall Munroe. This non-fiction book playfully explores hypothetical science questions.

Finally, Ben in Year 8 interviewed our Head Teacher Mr Harrington. Mr Harrington had two books to share when asked ‘What would you say is a book that has changed your life or had a significant impact on you?’ The first is ‘When the Adults change, everything changes’ by Paul Dix, a non-fiction exploration and debate of behaviour management in schools. The second is ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,’ an uplifting and humorous fiction novel by Rachel Joyce. Mr Harrington stated the first ‘made him think differently about how schools can be effective’ and thus he would recommend it to anyone who works in a school. The second he would recommend to anyone as it made him ‘really appreciate the importance of friendship.’ Mr Harrington’s favourite genre is self-education books as they ‘really help me think about who I am and who I want to be.’ Mr Harrington’s recommendation for students would be to read ‘Wonder’ by R. J. Palacio. Mr Harrington believes the novel ‘makes us think about how we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and how things are different on the inside compared to the outside.’  

Our Young Reporters will be back soon with interviews and reports on how Ramadan and Eid are being celebrated here at WGSB. 

On Thursday 2^nd March, Year 7 students engaged in a day of World Book Day-themed activities from designing a book token to having an introduction to our new and exciting online platform for reading books; MYON; a kind of Netflix for books, you might say, to inventing a new novel in groups.

We had 3^rd, 2^nd and 1^st places for the best designed and created book tokens per form group. They received certificates and House Points, and those who came in at 1^st place will soon receive £5 book tokens each. Please find below who came in where:

	7B	7D	7H
1st	Halis A	Suhail M	Uwemi M
2nd	Lennon D	Luwen G	Jamie C
3rd	Milan M	Josh D	Hayden S
	7N	7S	7T
1st	Frazer C	Lucas D	Jeevan S
2nd	Edward S	Bisesh S	Reuben P
3rd	Nicholas M	Aarush R	Dexter JS

Congratulations all round!

The top invented novels in 4 different genres; horror, sci-fi, mystery and fantasy have been taken in and students will soon find out which group have won for the whole year group. Members of the winning group will also walk away with £5 book tokens each.

Work Experience request!  A letter has recently been sent out asking for your support in providing career insight and placements for our Year 10 and Year 12 students.  If your business or place of work is able to help provide work experience opportunities we would love to hear from you.  We are currently looking for employers to offer Year 10 a one week of work experience w/c 10^th July and Year 12 two weeks from the same date.

Please could you complete this form https://forms.office.com/e/ncuJj qudFr or  email twalker@wgsb.co.uk if you or your contacts are able to help with work experience, we would very much appreciate hearing from you by Friday 17^th March 2023. 

We are also running a live Careers Event in school the morning of Tuesday 20th June 2023 and would like to invite you to part in inspiring our students to their future careers.  We are looking for volunteers to speak to our Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students face to face or by Teams Video if you prefer. Our students will prepare a list of questions that will be sent beforehand – and we expect each session to last around 20 minutes.  If you are interested please reply by Friday 28^th April 2023 by completing this form https://forms.office.com/e/ncuJjqudFr   or emailing twalker@wgsb.co.uk

If you have any questions then please contact our Careers Leader Mrs Walker.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Last month, WGSB celebrated LGBT History Month in a number of ways: We sold Progress badges to staff and students in order to raise awareness and money for the LGBTQ+ charity AKT, which supports young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK who are facing homelessness or living in a hostile environment. Our kitchen staff, who had Progress flag bunting up over their serving hatch in support, served up a week’s worth of LGBTQ+-themed cakes and treats and our Year 9 football team joined the national campaign Football v Homophobia with members representing, wearing rainbow laces; now also owned and worn by our PE department. Our KS3 LGBTQ+ Club, which takes place every Tuesday lunch in BS1 has been researching into LGBTQ+ facts as well as music, shows, films and art. Our club is a safe place for LGBTQ+ and ally young people to meet, learn and get support. It is social, educational and supportive, and an inclusive place where LGBTQ+, questioning and ally students can be themselves. If this sounds like something that might interest you – Why not pop along? We would love to see you there.  Miss Price

Forthcoming dates;

• Year 8 Parents’ Evening – next week on Monday 13th March and Tuesday 14th March
• Year 8 Rugby fixture at Eltham College – Tuesday 14^th March
• Music and Arts Festival – Thursday 23rd March, doors open from 5pm
• Easter Raffle ticket sale via ParentPay - Deadline to Purchase - Monday, 27th March
• Pre-Loved Uniform Sale - Friday, 31 March, 4-6pm (tbc)
• A Level revision session in school during the Easter holiday.  Miss Kemp will be coordinating the sessions and more details will be available soon
• Year 10 written report and grades – Friday 31^st March
• Ski trip – departs Friday 31^st March – 8^th April
• Last day of term – Friday 31^st March
• Bingo Night - Friday, 21 April, 6pm. More details to follow
• Next PTA Meeting - Tuesday, 09 May 2023 6.00-7.00pm; {virtual}              

Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 324 654 391 784; Passcode: 7CuUAm

• Summer Fair - Saturday, 15 July, 11am - 2pm

WGSB PTA Update. Pre-Loved Uniform / Lost Properties Shop: Thank you to all parents who have donated their unwanted / outgrown good quality clean school uniform (blazers, jumpers, PE kit) to the PTA nearly new uniform shop. Please continue to send in your pre-loved uniform in a bag and drop off at the school office FAO The PTA. We particularly need donations of pre-loved lab coats. We are pleased to inform you that the WGSB PTA Pre Loved Uniform / Lost but Found Properties Shop will be opening soon. This shop, which will be manned 2ce weekly during break times by PTA volunteers.

This is the Shop where;

• our students can be reconciled with their lost items (items with names on them only)
• your son can purchase pre-loved uniform at affordable prices, to replace lost kits or those they have out-grown

Watch this space for more information on when and how your sons can access this facility! In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact pta@wgsb.co.uk for further information or if you will be able to support this initiative in any way.

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

Easter Eggs Raffle Tickets: Thank you to all those who have already purchased their tickets. Don’t forget that you can still purchase your Easter Raffle Tickets via ParentPay until 27 Mar, for the opportunity to win fantastic giant Easter Egg hampers. Raffle tickets are £1 EACH and can be bought in multiples. You can buy as many tickets as you like. The draw will take place before the end of the school term. Winners will be notified from Wednesday 29 Mar and prizes can be collected from the school office before school closes on Friday 31^st Mar. Remember tickets sale is now on ParentPay, and deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, 27 Mar. For further information, please contact pta@wgsb.co.uk

Thanking you in advance for supporting the WGSB PTA and for helping us to raise funds which benefits the school and students.

Congratulations to all soon-to-be Year 7 boys and their families, who would have received their offer letters on 1st March and will be joining the school from September 2023. Some of you have already contacted the PTA! We look forward to working with the school over the next few months as your sons get to know more about their new school. Why not save the date to attend our Summer Fair on 15 July  (11am-2pm) as it affords you the opportunity to meet and socialise with the whole school community. Do reach out to pta@wgsb.co.uk if you would like to know more about our PTA activities and how you can support us.

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher