Blog week ending 10th November

I hope you all had an enjoyable half term.  Unfortunately, upgrades to the local electricity network and associated road closures forced us to start the new term with remote lessons for the first day, thankfully ‘normal service’ was resumed in time for us to return to school in person on Friday. 

At the end of last term, we took part in the fundraiser event ‘Wear it Pink’ to raise awareness and funds to support the vital services and work of the charity Breast Cancer Now.  55,000 women and 400 men are diagnosed with Breast Cancer every year in the UK and Breast Cancer Now is working to ensure that everyone diagnosed with breast cancer will live, and live well.  We were heartened to see so many of our students and staff, showing their support with donations and a huge variety of pink clothes and accessories.  Our amazing community have already raised over £945 – if you would like to donate, you can do so via ParentPay.

This morning, we observed Remembrance Day with a whole-school assembly, including all staff together with our Local Governing Body.  Students from our Student Leadership Team led what was a very poignant assembly.  There will be a full report in my next School Blog.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our recent school Open Events and open day film.  The feed-back I received from the prospective families that visited us was overwhelmingly positive and complimentary .. with all remarking on how welcoming, informative, mature and generally wonderful our student guides and helpers were. 

For those unable to attend our open events in person, we updated our Open Day Film which can be viewed by clicking below.  Thank you to all our student and staff contributors.

Miss Barry’s Year 7 Scientists have been investigating energy in food.  In a series of practical experiments students measured the energy in a range of crisps, by measuring the mass of the sample before burning each of them and recording the changes in temperature of a test tube of water.  Students then used the equation (energy released (J) = mass of water (g) x rise in temperature (c⁰) to calculate the energy released.

Mr Pope runs a programme of lunchtime and break inter-house competitions providing students with another opportunity to secure House Points, and take part in a fun activity.  This week, students got to grips (quite literally!) with tug of war (pictured below, Year 10), 4 Square and Retro board games.  There is an ever-changing rota of activities which range from ‘escape room’ treasure hunts to chess to human hungry hippos .. something for everyone!  All House Points gained contribute towards the annual House Cup competition.

Our Year 12 WG6 Chemistry students carried out a practical investigation to determine the concentration of a solution using titration.  Students accurately measured the mass and volume of the liquid before recording their observations and data.

Careers Update.  We believe that students need to be offered the right knowledge, experiences and guidance to thrive and create a positive future for themselves.  We also value the support parent/carers can provide to their children to inform their career choices. The following excellent free Digital Guides for parent/carers on university, apprenticeships and careers are packed with information to help you to support your child with their career choices. For more details and to sign up: 

Parents and Carers University Guide 2023/24 Parents and Carers University Guide 2023/24 (successatschool.org) 

Career mag for parents & carers Careermag for Parents | Careermap 

Free resources. The Parents’ Guide to provides parents and carers with the information they need at GCSE and sixth form to help their teenage children create successful futures.  Free resources | The Parents' Guide (theparentsguideto.co.uk) 

The second Green Careers Week is taking place between 6th and 11th November 2023 which highlights the amazing career pathways students can follow to improve the future climate. The Parent's Guide To Green Careers Week 2023 - National Careers Week 

Announcing our next community event … and it’s a very festive one!  Please do spread the word with family members – all are welcome!

Please join me in congratulating Conor M from 8N who recently passed his Black Belt Grading in Taekwondo (a traditional martial art and Olympic combat sport).  Well done Conor, this is a great achievement!  Conor has been a member of KBT Martial Arts Academy (Kick Boxing and Taekwondo) since he was just four years old.

Forthcoming Dates;

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

Year 9 Trip – Battlefields – 10th November

WG6 Applications Open – 10th November

Year 13 Parents’ Evening at WGSG – 23^rd November

WG6 Open Evening (at WGSG) – 29th November

Year 7 Carol Service (St Matthew’s Church) 6^th December

Year 7 Theatre Trip ‘Wicked’ – 13^th December

Christmas Dinner & Jumper Day – 14^th December

Community Christmas Afternoon Tea – 15^th December

Last Day of Term – 20^th December (12noon)

PTA Update.  Behind the scenes our PTA have been working to raise funds for the school and have arranged various events over the coming months where you can help to support the school and help to reach our target for the year.  You will see regular updates here from the school.

PTA Lottery.  We have three winners for the PTA lottery for September, October and November and all have been notified via email, a big well done to:

Patrick H 10D

Adam H 7T

Conor E 7S

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).

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.  You can also invite your friends or family external to the school to join in. Tickets are on sale now on ParentPay at £40.

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 raising funds for the school.  We would also like to ask if there are any family members who would be able to donate any items as raffle prizes 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 invite anyone to reach out to us to discuss this further, or if you have any skills that you feel would benefit the running of the fair then please drop us an email to pta@wgsb.co.uk.  The school is promoting the fair by offering non-school uniform on Friday 17^thNovember in return for bringing in something for the tombola on the day.

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher