May 2018 - Term 5 Blog

Mr Simmons would like to wish Year 13 all the best for the exams.  We have really enjoyed teaching you and having you with us over the years.  Many of you have been with us for 7 years!  We will miss you.  Please do stay in touch.

Congratulations to Brecon H 13D who has not one, but two offers of a degree apprenticeship!  Brecon’s outstanding interview techniques and ability to demonstrate his positive qualities undoubtedly contributed towards him securing these offers.  We are extremely proud of all our Y13 students who have gained degree apprenticeships – very well done to you all!

Ellie P of 13A has been offered a football scholarship in America, an amazing achievement! Ellie currently plays for Arsenal Ladies Reserves. The pictures shown are from one of Ellie’s Kent Football games back in 2011 to her penultimate game at the weekend for Arsenal against Millwall Lioness’ where one current WG6 student Lucy F and ex-student Poppy still play.

Mrs Harris has enjoyed following and watching the games over the past 7 years, but thinks the journey over to America may be a bit of a long commute! Good luck with the football and studies in America from everyone at WGSG.  Please do stay in touch.

 Y13’s organised a farewell assembly which went off with a bang.  Some interesting and entertaining video shots were screened, along with the usual “awards” and thankyous to a staff.  A special thankyou to our new head girls Megan S and Ellie-May D who helped with the refreshments, we can honestly say they worked hard and it was a baptism of fire for them!  We are sure they will learn from the excellent example set by Jodie, Brandon, Dan and Grace who we are sorry to say goodbye to.  The refreshments were kindly supplied by Mrs Tiddy and a welcome contribution of Krispy Kreme donuts from the students themselves.  We wish them all the very best as they move towards taking their exams and onward to their future endeavours.

The WG6 team have been planning a range of exciting events for Y12 including the he exhibition at Goldsmiths University next month.

Y12 have been busy securing their work experience which so far includes roles in journalism, quantity surveying, engineering, the health sector, Bank of England and local accountancy firms.

Traditionally, Mrs Hunt’s last Mathematics A Level lesson involves a rather special quiz, this year was no exception.  Armed with a cutlas and dressed for the high seas Mrs Hunt put the WG6 crew through their paces in a lively contest!

Representatives from our DEC Partners Laing O’Rourke visited to work with students on understanding BIM and Building Lifecycles.   Students from year 10 and year 12 were shown examples of the real-life application of BIM in construction projects and were challenged to consider the lifecycle costings of a building from initial conception to demolition. They were asked to select the best materials based on calculations factoring in capital costs and regular scheduled maintenance costs over the predicted lifetime of a building.

 

DT Engineering.  The new 3D printer has arrived in WGSB DT, it is an Anycubic Kossel Delta printer which we are looking forward to using across the department.  Year 12 have kindly offered to assemble it, all is going well – we just need to calibrate it so we can produce our first test print.

The Year 10 Electronics Engineering group has spent the last few weeks taking on the robotic arm challenge.  Judging took place on Wednesday with each team explaining and demonstrating their designs to the judging panel, which included Mr Guthrie and Ex-student Josh Brown, who is currently completing his Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering at Imperial College.  The six teams had a wide range of solutions showing imagination and ingenuity.  The winning team will be announced next week!

   

WG6 hosted a very special Celebration Afternoon for our Year 13 students (of last academic year)  A champagne reception was provided and WGSB head girl and boy Grace and Dan greeted guests as they arrived. We welcomed  back a former pupil, Josh Lynch, as our guest speaker. Josh presented A level certificates and prizes to recognise and celebrate all achievements from our ex students. He also  provided a compelling talk outlining his route via City Univeristy, London to his current role of Structural Engineer at Mott MacDonald.  We were thrilled to have so many special guests join us for the event which included The Worshipful the Mayor of Dartford Cllr Rosanna Currans, trustees Mr Paul Clark and Mr David Strachan and Mr John Horgan, Chair of Trustees and so many of our teaching staff.  Thank you all for your continued support of our students.

The Worshipful the Mayor of Dartford Cllr Rosanna Currans with Ellie Coleman and Sydney Borrow

From left, Nazifa Dewan, Amy Smith, Bethany Wong, Feyi Ogunbayi and Gemma Sayers

Mr Maidment, Mr Strachan and Mr Horgan with students

Pictured left, Mr Josh Lynch with Mrs Donna Lodge and right, Mrs Beverly Clark with Maddison Clark and Lois Saunders

  

A number of special prizes were awarded during the ceremony including The Norma Pyefinch Cup for contribution to the school which Mrs Chapman presented to Amy Smith (pictured below)

A celebration lunch was held to congratulate the 19 Year 12 students who worked incredibly hard and achieved their target grades or higher in all of their pre-public examinations.  The following students enjoyed some sandwiches, cakes and commendation from the sixth form leadership team:

From WGSB:

Semiat A 12J

Kaprina B 12J

James B 12F

Adam C 12F

Michael C 12H

Ben H 12G

Ross H 12I

Dylan J 12J

Chukwude M 12I

Elliot P 12

Danny S 12G

Stanley S 12I

 

From WGSG:

Lucy C 12A

Stephanie H 12E

Emmanuella O 12D

Emmanuel S 12C

Abigail S 12C

Alexandra S 12D

Sean W 12D

A huge congratulations to all of these students!

Miss Jess Smith, Head of Year 12

WGSG has been recognised nationally for its excellent results in 2017 based on data from the Department of Education and Ofsted, analysed by SSAT (the Schools, Students and Teachers network). We were found to be among the best performing secondary schools in the country, receiving an award for being in the top 20% of schools nationally for progress.

The SSAT Educational Outcomes database compares all state-funded schools in England, with the highest performing for a range of key measures presented with SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards.  We will be presented with their award in the summer term at a ceremony attended by winners from across the region.
 

Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT said:
“I am delighted that Wilmington Grammar School for Girls has won an Educational Outcomes Award. This recognises an important aspect of the schools’ work, but, as we know, there is much more to recognise in a good school like Wilmington Grammar School for Girls. SSAT is pleased to recognise the quality of leadership and the hard work of all staff to ensure the success of every child. A big thank you and well done to pupils, parents, staff and governors.”

“We visited Bethlem Museum of the Mind at Bethlem Royal Hospital which is a psychiatric hospital in West Wickham. The day started with a talk about its history which dates back to the 1200s. We then had an interesting talk about OCD and how obsessives’ thoughts can intrude on daily life and cause huge levels of anxiety. A highlight of this session was when he asked us all to write ‘I hope my mum dies in a horrible car accident tonight’ and many of us were too anxious to do it. He explained that obviously what we wrote would have no effect on what happens to our mums, and it wouldn’t be our fault if anything did happen, but it gave us an insight into how OCD sufferers think. Later we visited the museum and then had a final talk. We watched a video of a patient who was depressed and had suicidal thoughts who was asking her therapists for weekend leave. We then we had to weigh up the pros and cons about whether or not to grant her the leave. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day and we are very grateful to Bethlem for hosting us.” - Annie Scott, Psychology Ambassador, Year 12

We are thrilled to announce that three member of Wilmington Grammar School for Girls staff have been Highly Commended in the prestigious Kent Teacher of the Year Awards

Mr Rob Atkins, Head of Humanities

Mrs Sarah Harris, Teacher of PE, Head of Year 10 & Ash House

Mrs Donna Martin, Careers and Work Experience Officer

We are exceptionally proud to have three of our staff awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards.  The nominations were undertaken by students via their School Council and is a positive endorsement of the value the students place upon staff. That the judging panel should share our students’ view that Mr Atkins, Mrs Harris & Mrs Martin are exceptional staff members going way above and beyond is extremely gratifying. 

This year The KM Charity Team received 1,200 nominations for the Kent Teacher of the Year and the standard was extremely high. 

Rebecca Smith, Deputy CEO of the KM Charity Team said “We received an unprecedented number of nominations this year and to have three staff awarded ‘Highly Commended’ is quite an achievement.  Wilmington Grammar School for Girls and the staff involved should be extremely proud”

Pictured, Mrs Sarah Harris and Mr Rob Atkins

Best wishes

WG6