Blog week ending 13th October

Our Year 7 Students will take part in their last Sports Enrichment Saturday session tomorrow (14th October).  The programme culminates in a grand inter-house Rugby Tournament.  The sessions have been hugely valuable to our new students to support their transition into secondary school .. but more than that, have provided opportunities to forge bonds and friendships with their peers, and have fun.  A lot of fun!

All are welcome to come along tomorrow to watch the tournament and our PTA will be in attendance with a range of snacks and drinks available for purchase.

Introducing Mrs Takeda, Assistant Head Teacher, Safeguarding and Inclusion. 

Mrs Takeda joined us from another local grammar school where she was Head of Year 11 and Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead. She has 17 years' experience teaching and leading English in both grammar and comprehensive schools in and around London. Currently halfway through an MA Education degree with Exeter University, Mrs Takeda is keen to develop and extend her own research and understanding of learning to enable all students to reach their full potential. Mrs Takeda enjoys spending time with her family, walking her dog Albert, and horse riding in her spare time.  In the pictured lesson Mrs Takeda is working with her Year 8 English students on fiction genres, specifically ‘quest stories’.  Students explored what defines a quest plot using the dystopian book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as a stimulus and discussion point.

All Year 7 students receive a free book funded by our PTA via the Bookbuzz programme.  The programme’s aim, (an aim shared and encouraged by us!) is to inspire a lifelong love of reading.  Students are able to choose a book from a range specifically selected as ‘fast-paced page turners’ to appeal to our students.  Ms Fisk, our librarian, hands out the books in their library lesson so they can start reading their new books straight away!  

Our Reading Club provides an opportunity for students to enjoy reading, and discussing books together.  Reading Club takes place on Wednesday lunchtimes and is open to all Year 7-9 students.  For more details on what our library has to offer, please click here

On Monday 2nd October, the MFL department held the Great Languages Bake-Off in celebration of European Day of Languages. The event saw students bringing in a range of culinary creations representing a language or culture. Following a scrupulous judging process involving teachers from across the school, Leo (7N) was chosen as the winner for his French apple cake, with Aarush (7N) a close runner up. 

Fourty two Year 11 GCSE English students travelled to the Globe Theatre on the Southbank on Saturday to watch an immersive production of MacBeth.  The trip supports their classroom studies providing a unique insight into how the play would have originally been performed and experienced in the Jacobian era.

We recently gathered together for a whole-school photograph .. it was quite a feat!  The new photograph will be available for purchase in due course .. and on display in school!

WG6 Update.  Year 12 attended a Skills Workshop with specialists, The Life Skills Company. The morning focused on Independent Learning skills including speed-reading, taking notes from video, condensing text, filtering and more.  All crucial skills to succeed at sixth form and beyond!

WG6 Year 13 Politics students travelled to City Hall, where they witnessed the monthly session of 'Questions to the Mayor', where Sadiq Khan answered questions from London's councillors. There were questions on the impact of the current crisis in the Middle East in London and Londoners, transport, poverty, living costs and housing. 

WG6 Enrichment.  Students are progressing with their chosen topics for this term, learning valuable new skills or enhancing existing ones.  Sessions include Mandarin for beginners – in the below photos students are already mastering characters and spoken phrases – after just two lessons!  Brilliant work.

Forthcoming Dates;

Year 7 Sports Enrichment Rugby House Tournament – Saturday 14th October

Year 6 Opening Evening – 17th October

Last Day of Term 1 – 20th October

First Day of Term 2 – 2nd November

Year 8 Parents’ Evening – 7th November & 9th November (4pm-7.30pm)

Year 9 Trip – Battlefields – 10th November

WG6 Applications Open – 10th November

WG6 Open Evening (at WGSG) – 29th November

PTA Update.  Our meetings are held every 4-6 weeks on Monday evenings during term time, they can be either in-person or virtual.  We believe that everyone has something valuable to contribute, whether you have young children at home, limited time, or professional skills to share. You don't need to visit the school; many tasks can be done from home. Enthusiasm and a willingness to participate are your most important assets. 

Keep an eye out for meeting invites on the school blog – all are welcome.

The PTA raise funds for items around the school and every little that we can raise helps our children. The most recent investments have been on cameras, aprons and football kits. Looking ahead, we plan on supporting the school in purchasing more tennis table tables, which our children love using at breaktime and lunch.

Christmas Trees.  You can purchase your Nordman Fir Christmas tree via ParentPay for collection on Friday 8th December.  Different sizes are available (see below), and we can offer these externally for people outside of the school.  Please contact the PTA at pta@wgsb.co.uk to place an external order (deadline for bookings and payment 30^th November).

PTA Lottery.  Join the WGSB PTA Lottery on ParentPay! Tickets are £12 per number paid for. Buy as many as you like. Numbers enter 12 monthly draws and offer a chance to win £30/month, with a special £50 prize at the Christmas Draw. Sign up by November 1, to be included for the year. 

Christmas Wreath Making. An evening has been arranged on the 5th December where you can experiment with your artistic flare to make a door wreath or a table centrepiece for Christmas.  This will also be a chance to meet other parents and enjoy mulled wine and mince pies.  Tickets on sale now on Parent Pay for £40.

Saturday Sports Enrichment – Year 7 Join us for our last Saturday morning sports events, 9-10.30 am on Saturday 14th October. The PTA will sell refreshments to support the school so come along and enjoy a sausage or bacon bap and support our school.

Pre-loved school uniform.  We will be selling a selection of uniform on this week’s multi-sport between 9am – 10.30am on the school field so if you need any items, please come down to purchase, we have all items including coats, trainers and football boots.  Open to the whole school and while you are there you can grab a coffee too.

Christmas Fair. This year’s Christmas fair will be taking place on Saturday 18th November 11am-3pm and we would love for as many people to visit and join us in facing funds for the school.  We would also like to ask if there are any family members who would be able to donate any item as a raffle prize for the PTA in return for sponsorship on the day.  You may own a company or work for a company who could assist with this and we would ask for anyone to reach out to us to discuss this more, or if you have any skills that you feel would benefit the running of the fair then please also drop us an email to pta@wgsb.co.uk

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher