Blog Week Ending 24th October
It was an absolute pleasure to share our Academic Awards Evening with so many parents, carers, staff and governors, in what was a fitting celebration of both individual achievement and of our incredible whole school community. Since the launch of the new rewards system, we have been tracking the number of merits received in each subject resulting on the presentation of 97 awards, won by 87 different students. To accompany the awards, students provided brilliant musical performances to add to the evening’s entertainment.
In addition to the academic, and character awards, Heads of House presented the below special awards. Congratulations to all our student award recipients, you should be very proud of your achievements.
On Saturday we held our final Year 7 Saturday Sports Programme. As usual we finished the final week with the Inter-House Rugby Tournament. Despite the challenging weather conditions the event was a huge success and an opportunity to create wonderful memories for the students! Each house had an A and B team representing their house. They each played every house and then the points from both teams were totalled together.
As well as some outstanding rugby on display, it was great to see the school PRIDE values on show throughout. The event was well attended by parents and carers (despite the weather!) and was an uplifting way to end the Saturday Sport Programme. Mr Lynch would like to thank the PTA who have supported every session and all parents and carers. Finally, he would also like to thank all staff that have supported the event, it simply could not run without the support of the staff giving up their time. As part of the Life Programme lessons students chose their top 3 moments of the year so far, and it was particularly heartening to see the Saturday Sports Programme feature so highly.
Results from Year 7 Rugby Inter House Competition:
House |
A Team Points |
B Team Points |
Overall Points |
Final Position |
Attenborough |
9 |
10 |
19 |
2nd |
Brunel |
12 |
10 |
22 |
1st |
Johnson |
0 |
12 |
12 |
=3rd |
Keller |
6 |
5 |
11 |
5th |
Mandela |
6 |
1 |
7 |
6th |
Turing |
12 |
0 |
12 |
=3rd |
Congratulations to Brunel – 200 Inter House Points
Attenborough – 180
Johnson – 150
Turing – 150
Keller – 120
Mandela – 100
The Year 7 rugby team have had two fixtures now and won both games with strong results in our favour, the first game was against Norton Knatchbull, who travel all the way from Tunbridge to play us. Having already beat us in Years 8, 9 and10 it was a chance for redemption! The game started strongly for us, with some fast-flowing rugby. By half time we were 5 tries ahead, come the second half Norton Knatchbull started to find their feet and applied a lot of pressure to WGSB but we held resilient for the win 7-0 (35-0).
The second game saw us travel to local rivals, Bullers Wood. We expected to play in a three-way tournament with Bexley Grammar being the other school, however a no-show gave us an opportunity to play a full game against Bullers Wood. Our team started very strongly, scoring four tries in a matter of minutes, the game carried on in the flow for the first half, ending 9-0. Second half saw us make a few changes to the team, this allowed Bullers Wood to get a foot hold in the game applying a lot of pressure on WGSB, however the resilience shown the first game held firm and we only conceding one try. The game ended 13-1 to WGSB, the score doesn’t reflect the hard work and fight that Bullers Wood showed throughout the game.
Maths Department Update. Congratulations to all those students who took part in the Senior Mathematical Challenge .. and special congratulations to all those who earned certificates. An extra special mention to Year 13 students Joshua J and Christabel O who both achieved a Gold Award and automatic entry to the next round – Senior Olympiad!
It’s such a great achievement by so many of our WG6 students (based at WGSB) – some of which are pictured below.
Bronze
Year 12 Ayomide A, Chloe A, Tishe, James B, David D, Erim E, Callum E, Ikem E, Tomasz G, Emma H, Joseph H, Halimah K, Thomas K, Jamie L, Caterina M, Eve M, Euan M, Liam M, Reece M, Ryan O, Maurice R, Yaw S, Lucas S, Emilis S, Ahkas S, Dominic T, Oliver T, Adeoluwa W, Mira X, Isabella Y.
Year 13 Sophia B, Calum B, Martina C, Jude D, Leuan G, Ayman P, James R, Yoma U, Chun Jian Y,
Silver
Year 12 Will F, Sophia S, Joel S, Ava Wiffen,
Year 13 Jack J, Andreas M, Vince M
To try your hand at a sample question from the students’ paper ..
A twip is a very short unit of length, derived from imperial units, and is equal to approximately 0.000018 metres. A league is a long unit of length which is equal to approximately 4800 metres. Roughly how many twips are there in a league?
A 270 000 000 B 27 000 000 C 2 700 000 D 270 000 E 27 000 (answer at the bottom of my Blog)
Back in September, we entered our Year 13 female mathematicians in the Female Olympiad for the first time ever.
The Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (MOG) is an event run by the UK Mathematics Trust, introduced in 2011, to help schools nurture the talents of enthusiastic young female mathematicians. MOG lasts two and a half hours and consists of five complex mathematical problems for which full written solutions are required. The emphasis of the Olympiad is on advanced mathematical problem solving where the explanation of the answer is as important as the answer itself.
We gave our girls the option whether to sit this exam or not, and all were very eager to participate and even gave up their lunch to complete this!
The maths department are beyond delighted to announce that 4 of the students achieved a Merit :
Christabel O
Kendra O
Sofia B
Yoma U
Miss Sweeney’s Year 8 English students have been exploring the survival and dystopian genre. In the pictured lesson students were writing imaginatively using a dystopian political and societal setting they had researched. As you can see from the below beautifully presented work, students have produced in-depth and insightful ideas.
Year 9 Art students have been studying artist Eric Cremer’s multimedia working with working with cardboard and glue guns to create organic feeling human ‘habitats’ as a series of imagined shacks. Working in groups, students have been working on their own fantasy 3D sculptured ‘habitats’ which will be grouped to form a large art installation in Miss Gubbins’ classroom.
“Hi, my name is Ruby Kaufman the Year 13 student correspondent for WG6. I am an aspiring journalist working with the school blog to advocate for the student voices within the sixth form and to share my own personal experiences. I encourage all students to put forward their own ideas that they would like to see in the School Blog and I commit to making them possible! “
The question I posed to my fellow students this past week was “if you had to go back to Year 12 and do it all over again, what would you do differently?”
I received a variety of responses, some laughs and genuine answers and have worked to collectivize Year 13 students’ opinions and my own to curate the best advice for any Year 12s.
When starting Year 12, there are lots of changes, from new friends, a new school and a completely different set of teachers, however, whilst this can be overwhelming, the best way to approach it is to be willing to adapt. Have a positive attitude and be ready to embrace change rather than hold on to the past and how school used to be.
It is easy to sugar-coat and argue that everything is perfect! There will be issues and challenges with friendships and exams but there is always someone to help. One student I spoke to, who studies 4 A Levels mainly STEM subjects, stressed the importance of asking for help. She said to reach out to teachers when you are struggling, the jump from GCSE to A Level is difficult, but they understand that and are willing to help you and work through select topics. Building these relationships with teachers will only benefit you in the future as they can provide great subject references for university applications.
Other students I spoke to study essay-based subjects, and they mentioned the significance of building notes throughout the year. After finishing a topic, take 30 minutes to create a revision resource which reduces cramming content just before exams and high levels of stress. As someone who did not do this, I cannot stress how much this would have helped me and now I struggle to balance practicing exam techniques and subsequently creating revision resources.
One of the most repeated answers I got from fellow peers was to use the studies they provide you with at school, it’s easy to get distracted and view them as “free” periods but taking them seriously will reduce all the work you have to do at home and can create a clear divide between school life and home.
Lastly from me, “I do not know” is an acceptable answer. You do not have to have your whole career path figured out and many students struggle with what they want to do. This is okay! If you do have clear direction, run with it, do as much as you can in Year 12 to gain experience in that field to benefit your own applications and personal statements however if you do not know, visit online events, lectures and network! This may help you find your interests and help secure a work experience placement in Year 12. It can be fun and exciting, but my best advice is to do this in Year 12 when you have the opportunity and are free from the stress of UCAS.
Jaydon A, 9B provided the following report on the ‘Big Mental Health Conversation Event’
“A group of us were invited to attend the Big Mental Health Conversation event at Detling Showground in Maidstone. This a national event, with similar days being organised for young people to attend up and down the country. It comprised of workshops and information educating young people about a variety of subjects linked to managing mental health and wellbeing.
First, we were taken to the marketplace. Here, there were a multitude of stands showcasing numerous organisations such as Mind, Place2Be, and Salus- all of which were aiming for the same goal: to improve peoples’ mental health highlighting topics such as social media and anxiety. We were encouraged to have our say, meaning our voice was heard and all attendants were informed on the various aims that different organisations had. Some were based on the way that language is used with regards to mental health (whether it is used in a negative or positive way) and others such as Place2Be encouraging young people like ourselves to share the ways that we de-stress after difficult circumstances. Finally, the Kent Youth County Council (KYCC) proposed a question as to why boys are discouraged to talk about their mental health more than girls do. There were a number of free items available for all of the attendants.
Next, we were taken to our second workshop (titled “Understanding how the brain works”) we were given a brief introduction into the regions which control our emotion, automatic responses, information and many other instinctive features. One of the highlights of this workshop was enabling us to find a way to describe our emotions and focusing on ways to calm ourselves after difficult situations. We were then given a “stress bucket” where we were instructed to write down things that cause us stress, and underneath write down ways we calm ourselves down after stressful moments.
To finish the afternoon, we were taken to the last workshop, mine highlighting the benefits of staying active on education and mental wellbeing. Statistical information showcased the variety of benefits that staying active can have on mental health. As young people, we are encouraged to spend at least 60mins of per day on anything that gets us moving and breathing faster. Surprisingly however, only 55% of children across the UK are keeping active. This alongside a multitude of percentages and statistics representing the proportion of individuals across the UK keeping active informed us on the changes we can make to our habits and routines. Furthermore, we were led to the discussion on how schools are benefitting young people in achieving a more significant amount of activity – It is proven that exercise, sports etc can have grand influence on academic performance.
To conclude, the Big Mental Health Conversation day was a trip that greatly influenced my understanding of the different organisations that are aiming to improve young peoples’ mental health. I was provided with the various benefits that staying active can have on my academic performance and the different ways to improve my mental wellbeing by making beneficial daily decisions.”
Our Year 11 Design and Technology GCSE students are finalising their product designs for their non-examination assessment.
Skills developed through GCSE Design and Technology include:
- Problem-solving and critical thinking
- Creative design and innovation
- Understanding of materials and their working properties
- Knowledge of mechanical devices and systems
- Awareness of economic factors and wider influences on design
Please join me in congratulating George B of 8T on his most recent sporting achievements. George is a keen golfer and his dedication to practice and playing has brought rewards throughout this year, culminating in a big junior win at the prestigious Laddies Lucas competition at Prince’s Golf Club – sealing the win by hitting the pin from 186 yards! George is a junior member at both Dartford and Prince’s Golf Clubs with an impressive handicap of 12.8 (dropping from 29 in January!)
Axl C of 8J has been raising awareness and monies as part of the Big Sleep Out to bring about an end to homelessness. Axl is a supporter and fundraiser for Porchlight which works across Kent supporting families and individuals with nowhere to go and no one else to turn to. Axl spent a night on the streets sleeping in a cardboard box to highlight the dire circumstances of so many across Kent – and crucially, help raise money so that more families can be helped. We applaud your compassion and work to help support those who need it most. If you would like, and are able to support Axl and Porchlight, you can donate via their Just Giving page here BIG Sleep Out 2024 – JustGiving
Our next Afternoon Tea has been scheduled for Friday 13th December, for more details and to book your place, please see the below poster.
PTA Update: The PTA have had a great start to the Autumn term supporting the Saturday Sports Programme for the new Year 7, Induction evening as well as our usual and very successful doughnut and samosa selling day. We have many other events arranged for after half term which you can see further details of below. If you can support the PTA in anyway we would really appreciate it as the school has a lot of ideas for funding that we would really love to support. If you want to join the PTA we always welcome new members so please do drop us an email to [email protected] if you want to join up to our What’s App group to learn more about the PTA ideas and of course offer any advice for fundraising initiatives.
Raffle Tickets – Raffle Tickets are now live on ParentPay for the draw that will take place at the Christmas Fair and Market on 30th November. Lots of fantastic prizes to be won to include Bluewater Vouchers, Harrods Hamper, photography voucher and paintball sessions. Tickets are £1 each
Online Auction – The online auction will be live on the PTA website from Monday 28th November, Options include prizes to Mamma Mia the Party worth £500, Birchwood Park Golf VIP driving range and various restaurant vouchers. Website link https://www.pta-events.co.uk/wgsb/index.cfm?event=Shop
Monthly PTA draw: Please look to join our monthly PTA lottery draw. The cost is £12 for the year for 1 unique number, more than 1 number may be purchased. Each number goes into 12 monthly draws between September and August (3 draws made in November). Prize money is £30 per month and £50 in the December draw. All funds to help the PTA support the students. Winners will be notified by the school office. Please note cut-off date to join the lottery is 1st November 2024 to be included for the year
Sign up today via the ParentPay platform https://app.parentpay.com/public/client/security/
For more details, please contact [email protected] .
Matched funding plea: Some companies can offer matched funding from their employer, and we would love for anyone to offer to support this. If you or anyone you know can offer any matched funding please do get in touch with the PTA.
Christmas fair and Market – 30th November – We have already sold out of most of our stalls for the day but have some double stalls still available. We will be having a barbecue, refreshments and lots of fun and games for all the family to get involved in.
Christmas Tree purchase –Have you ordered your Christmas tree yet? We sell these trees year-on-year and have built our reputation and customer base on the quality of them as they are top grade trees. Please order your trees on ParentPay for you to order for collection on 29th November.
Christmas Wreath Making – 3rd December 6pm-8pm – Details and purchase of tickets on ParentPay.
Christmas Pudding – Pre order on ParentPay your Christmas Pudding and/or sticky toffee or lemon pudding for collection our Christmas fair on the 30th November. These are branded with the Wilmington Grammar School for Boys logo and are made by Freshfield Bakery and are known to be light and full of delicious flavours. Order by 7th November.
Forthcoming Dates;
Year 6 Open Mornings (for Year 6 students and parents/carers) – Thursday 24 & Friday 25 October (09:30 – 12:00)
End of Term 1 – Friday 25 October
Start of Term 2 – Thursday 7 November
Year 9 Trip to Ypres – Friday 8 November
Year 11 Mocks commence – Monday 11 November
Year 8 Parents’ Evening – Tuesday 19 November
Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival at the Woodville theatre in Gravesend – Thursday 14 November at 7pm
Year 12 DT Trip to Design Museum – Thursday 14 November
Year 13 Holocaust Memorial Trip – Thursday 14 November
PTA Non uniform day (for donations) – Friday 22 November
PTA Online Auction – Monday 28 November
Year 13 Parents’ Evening (at WGSG) – Thursday 28 November
Christmas Fair and Market (11am-3pm) – Saturday 30 November
Christmas Wreath Making – Tuesday 3 December
Click below to book your place at one of our Open Events
Wednesday 23rd October – Open Evening
Thursday 24th October – Open Morning
Friday 25th October – Open Morning
Best wishes,
Stuart Harrington
Headteacher
The Maths Challenge Solution is A