Blog week ending 15 May
Our Year 11 and 13 students enjoyed a celebratory ‘last day’ ahead of their written examinations. Students have given their all to their academic studies and personal growth and have given back tremendously to our Wilmington community. I, Mrs Pinder (Head of Year 11) and staff so enjoyed sharing your celebrations; and in particular, hearing your form group speeches which spoke of your ambition, resilience and joy which was very moving and inspiring. We are extraordinarily proud of all you have, and will undoubtably go on to achieve.
A special thanks to our Year 7 students who formed a particularly enthusiastic guard of honour as our Year 11s departed their celebration breakfast.
Introducing Mrs Sommerville, Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Personal Development & Inclusion (SENCO) Mrs Sommerville joins us with a wealth of teaching and leadership experience having held senior roles in secondary schools in London and the southeast. Mrs Sommerville commented “I have been made to feel extremely welcome by both staff and students alike, it is clear that WGSG is a warm and supportive school community. My career in education has been led by a passion for positive relationship building to ensure that every child feels seen and encouraged to express themselves. I believe in championing the welfare of students, to fully understand their educational and emotional needs in order to offer a whole-child approach to their educational career here at WGSG. I look forward to meeting more of our students and their families to work together in making our school an even better place for us to learn and grow”
In the pictured lesson, Mrs Sommerville and her Year 9 class worked together to re-cap and check for any gaps in knowledge on Resource Reliance.
Year 10 Mandarin students’ Intensive Study Programme. Students have been working on a tourism project to create a marketing plan to promote their chosen UK locations to Chinese tourists. Over the course of three days, students produce posters, detailed itineraries and an accompanying marketing video .. all in Mandarin. In June, students will travel the University of Kent for a cross-school MEP event, including a competition where they will showcase their tourism projects.
The MFL Department have set the below House Challenge .. we are very much looking forward to your performances.
Year 7 and Year 8 students competed in the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. The challenge consists of 25 multiple choice questions taken over 60 minutes. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency to make students think. The problems on the Junior Mathematical Challenge are accessible yet still challenge those with more experience. Examples of two questions for you to try your hand at are; (answers are at the bottom of the blog!)
- In March 2024, the British runner, Jasmin Paris, became the first woman ever to finish the 100-mile ‘Barkley Marathons’ in Tennessee. Her finishing time of 59 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds meant that she narrowly beat the cut-off time of 60 hours for the event. By how many seconds did Jasmin beat this cut-off time? A 99 B 109 C 119 D 129 E 139
- Gill has had a baby girl! Weighing the baby at the clinic was not as much of a problem as when Gill was small, but the only available scales measured in imperial units. Baby weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces. Given that there are 16 ounces in a pound and 1 ounce is equivalent to approximately 28.35 grams, what was the approximate weight, in kilograms, of Gill’s baby ? A 3 kg B 4 kg C 5 kg D 6 kg E 7 kg
Overall, the students performed very well. Across the two year groups they achieved: 9 Gold Certificates, 54 Silver and 113 Bronze. The 4 highest performing students qualified for the follow-on round of the Junior Kangaroo which will take place in June. A huge well done to all students involved. Pictured, some of our Gold Certificate students – congratulations to you all.
Year 8 Drama students attended a west end performance of Wicked last week .. and what a performance it was! Students (and staff!) thoroughly enjoyed the show which served as an incredibly powerful masterclass in musical production, staging and song composition.
Year 10 Biologists have been studying the eye; it’s structure as well as its adaptation and accommodation to dim and bright light. In this very hands on(!) lesson, students performed a dissection to observe and underpin their learning. As you can see, students performed surgical dissections observing the structure of the eye as well as extracting the lens.
Year 13 leavers breakfast and presentation. Our incredible Year 13 students’ last day was marked in the most uplifting manner; with the presentation of special awards together with a series of empowering and inspiring addresses from each of our Student Leadership Team (first photo). Heads of WG6, Mr Atkins and Mr Watson gave rousing speeches extolling students’ exemplary dedication to both academic studies and the whole school community.
This year group have shown exceptional resilience and adaptability, navigating their studies though COVID whilst remaining positively engaged and optimistic for the future. We are exceptionally proud of all you have achieved, growing not only academically but also as individuals. We would love to hear about your next accomplishments and adventures, please do stay in touch.
Congratulations to Caitlin RL in Year 7 who is an accomplished gymnast and part of the English Squad Team. Recently, Caitlin and her England team attended the British Rhythmic Open Championships, earning a bronze medal! Additionally, Caitlin attended a competition in Cardiff, again representing team England winning two Gold medals plus a tournament Gold .. plus a further competition in London where they earned another three Gold medals! A significant achievement, well done done Caitlin.
Jess G of Year 9 and her level 5 under 18 Ice Athletics Cheer team jetted off to Florida last month to compete in the prestigious cheerleading world championships against 27 teams from across the world. What a tremendous experience for Jess and the team to compete on the world stage! The team worked incredibly hard at their routines and practice which earned them 12th place in the world – a huge achievement!
PTA Update – Our Year 11 Leavers Prom!
Forthcoming Dates;
GCSE Written Exams – 8 May – 18 June
A Level Written Exams – 9 May – 20 June
Year 11 – MFL Speaking Exams – until 9 May
KS3 Parental Examination briefing – 13 May
End of Term 5 – 23 May
First Day of Term 5 – 2 June
Year 10 Parents’ Evening (virtual) – 5 June
Year 7, 8 & 9 Assessments – 9-13 June
Year 10 Geography Trip – 18-19 June
Careers Week & Year 12 Futures Week – 16-20 June
Year 10 Tankerton Trip – 24 & 26 June
Year 6 Transition Evening – 1 July 5.30-6.30pm)
Sports Day – 2 July
Year 12 Parents Evening (in person) at WGSB – 3 July
Best wishes,
Michelle Lawson
Headteacher
UKMT Answers:
1) Jasmin beat the cut-off time of 60 hours by 1 minute 39 seconds, that is 99 seconds.
2) Baby’s weight in ounces was 8 × 16 + 13 = 128 + 13 = 141. So her weight in grams was approximately 141 × 28.35 ≈ 140 × 30 = 4200. Therefore baby’s weight was approximately 4 kg.”
