Blog week ending 15th January
A new year always brings fresh energy and a sense of possibility. Our Careers Programme embraces that spirit with a schedule of future focussed events and support outstanding in both its breadth and impact. We’re committed to helping every student feel informed, supported and excited about the future, and this term offers a wealth of opportunities designed to spark ambition and build confidence.
Our Year 9 Subject Option evening will guide students and families through the process of choosing GCSEs thoughtfully and positively. It’s never too early to explore strengths and interests in the context of long-term goals and industry markets, these sessions are all about opening doors and considering potential next steps.
Across the school, students continue to benefit from a rich range of careers support. Since September, more than 30 Year 13 students have taken part in specialist apprenticeship workshops covering organisation, applications, video interviews and assessment centres. Over 20 students have also received personalised 1:1 coaching, and seven have already secured Degree Apprenticeships in areas such as Audit, Tax, Business Consultancy and Corporate Banking (including those listed below). Many more are progressing through final stages, and we’re looking forward to celebrating further successes throughout the year. National Apprenticeship Week runs from 9-15 February. To explore a wealth of online resources and view current apprenticeship vacancies click here
For students in Years 11, 12 and 13, the Apprenticeship Academy Programme returns from 25 February to 25 March. This five‑week online course runs each Wednesday from 4–5:30pm, with recordings available afterwards, and offers expert guidance for anyone considering the apprenticeship route click here to find out more. Registration is now open via the Apprenticeship Academy website. Please complete this registration form to sign up!
Unifrog Virtual Apprenticeships Fair. This event is free for all students and ideal for Years 10 to13. Students can connect with a huge range of employers and are welcome to drop in for just one or two sessions or stay for the full fair. Expert advice will be available on how to find the right apprenticeship and apply successfully in live sessions with top employers including the BBC, Aldi, and Unilever. Click here to sign up Apprenticeship Fair. The North Kent Apprenticeship Event is being held at nearby Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy this year, details in the below poster – all students are welcome to attend!
Year 9 Students are currently exploring their GCSE subject Options which will be supported by in-school sessions and a dedicated Parents/Carers Evening this evening. To view our new Year 10 Options Booklet please click here
Year 12 are taking part in a series of special assemblies “Standing out from the Crowd” delivered by our Careers Team. Sessions highlight CV, LinkedIn, Interview skills as well as maximising experience and personal attributes – tailoring responses to platforms and specific university/apprenticeship and career opportunities.
Year 11 are currently undertaking 1:1 next-step meetings with our Senior Leadership and Careers team.
Alongside these structured opportunities, students will continue to have dedicated careers assemblies, form times, visiting alumni speakers and one‑to‑one careers meetings, ensuring they always have space to ask questions, explore pathways and make decisions that feel right for them.
Art students in Year 10, 11 & 12 were fortunate enough to take part in a one-day workshop with professional artist Ian Murphy. Ian travels all over the world, drawing architecture and environments in his sketchbook, then returns to his studio and produces huge atmospheric oil paintings inspired by his travels. He brought a lot of his work to show the students, which provided some inspiration before they started their practical work. He taught students about the creative process and risk-taking and introduced them to some of the mixed media techniques he uses in his own work. It was a busy and very productive day resulting in some really exciting outcomes from the students.
The WGSB St Lucia Cricket Tour had a wonderful time visiting a beautiful country! The tour included playing local cricket sides with an extremely high standard of cricket played throughout the tour. Our two teams played games for the first five days of the tour – in total there were nine different matches played between our two sides across the five playing days.
The standard of cricket was very high, and our opponents included national level players who represent St Lucia u15’s. At every game we were welcomed by wonderful hosts and the students played at some stunning cricket venues. Our ‘Junior’ side had the performance of the week though, winning a match on the 3rd day of the tour. It was an excellent team effort, but Bukkan A anchored the side home with an excellent 28 not out performance. Hitting the winning runs with a wonderful cover drive for 4 in the last few overs of the match. We would also like to send a special mention to both our team captains, Sam S who captained the Senior team, and Dawood A who captained the Junior team. Both teams showed excellent determination throughout the matches and the games were always played in a wonderful spirit. After each day’s play we had dinner as a squad and held a presentation to celebrate the day’s play with Man of the Match awards (winning a signature bat with match figures added to the bat), and ‘Pringle’ moment of the day!
The highlight though was playing the final fixture of the tour at the Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia’s national cricket ground named after the former West Indies captain.
On the last day of the tour, we were treated to a Catamaran boat trip around the island. We visited the famous mud and salt baths on the island, a wonderful waterfall and just had a magical time taking a tour of the island with its incredible sea views.
Mr Lynch (Head of PE and Tour Organiser) would like to thank Mr Sage and Mr Clark for support with the trip, both went above and beyond, and to the support staff who helped make the trip possible. The PTA were great, allowing us to fundraise during the summer drama production and special thanks to our school kit supplier NextGen Clothing who sponsored the playing kit for the tour. Finally, I would like to thank all students, parents and carers for their support. The students’ behaviour was exemplary throughout and strong friendships were formed. It was an amazing trip which created fantastic memories for the students. Mr Lynch, Head of PE
Please join me in congratulating our STEM Racing Teams (formally called Formula 1) for their remarkable success in the recent regional competition! Our student teams excelled – demonstrating their prowess across the board – engineering, project management, marketing … and speed!
The competition has three classes: entry, development and professional. WGSB had three entry class teams and one development class team.
In the Entry class WGSB’s Blitz Motorsports won the fastest car, best verbal presentation and 1st place overall for entry class. There were 12 teams in this class at the regional competition. WGSB’s Turbo Tortoises won best engineered car.
In the Development class WGSB’s Velioxite won the fastest car and 3rd place overall, they are now in a wild card draw for a place at the National competition, we will find out at the end of January.
Year 7 Music students are currently working on a topic to develop their own music festival. Students have researched festivals in terms of their location, stages, line-up, target audience and pricing and are now working on creating websites for their festivals.
Mrs Cross’ Year 9 Food Preparation and Nutrition students (really!) enjoyed this week’s practical lesson – making Thai curry. The recipe forms part of our world food menus and supports marinading and cooking raw meat skills. Every student I spoke with said they would make this recipe at home!
We are proud to report that Alexander S of 10K won Silver in the Under 16 category at the Kent Future Open Doubles Badminton Tournament in Gillingham with his doubles partner, and fellow Bexley Badminton Club member, Yashwin V (Bexley Grammar, pictured right). Congratulations on a brilliant achievement!
WG6 Year 12 Physics A Level students have been investigating the behaviour of light. In this practical lesson they used ray boxes to shine beams of light at semi-circular blocks and triangular prisms to see the effects of dispersion and total internal reflection.
Congratulations to the following students for receiving such a high number of achievement points during Term 1 & 2.
At Key Stage 3 the top three students are:
Matthew 8 Mandela, with 104, Jonathan 9 Turing with 101 & Zion 9 Turing with 86
The top Year 7 student is Jake in 7 Turing.
At Key Stage 4 the top three students are:
Luwen 10 Turing with 74, Nathan 10 Johnson with 69 & Jaydon 10 Brunel with 64
The top Year 11 student is Igor in 11 Johnson.
Congratulations go to all the students who have made it on to the leaderboards.
Forthcoming Dates;
Year 9 GCSE Options Evening (includes DofE launch) in person – 15 January (tonight!) 5-6.15pm
Year 11 Next-step interviews continue – from 19 January
Year 11 Subject Parents’ Evening (in person) – 20 January 4-7.30pm
WGSB 1ST XI v Gravesend Grammar – 21 January
WGSB 1ST XV v Oakwood Park – 21 January
Year 9 & Year 10 Intermediate Maths Challenge – 28 January
UCAS Deadline – 28 January
WGSB 1st XI v Hayes School – 4 February
Year 9 Subject Parents’ Evening (in person) – 5 February 4-7.30pm
Year 9 Option choices deadline – 11 February
Ski Trip parent/carer briefing – 11 February 5.30-7pm
Year 13 Grade report home – 13 February
PTA Doughnut & Samosa sale at break – 13 February
Last Day of Term 3 – Friday 13 February
Year 13 New York Trip Saturday 14 February – 19 February
First Day of Term 4 – Tuesday 24 February
Best wishes,
Stuart Harrington
Headteacher
