Blog Week Ending 26th September

We are very proud of the many additional enrichment opportunities our students have available across the academic year and encourage students to participate in sporting activities, residential trips, creative and cultural opportunities, team building and personal challenge activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Clubs currently available range from Drama club to Signing club and Science Mastery to Trampolining! Our Student Managers also run a range of lunchtime activities including KS3 Lego and their incredibly popular KS3 and KS4 Social Fridays – the social clubs are a great opportunity to take part in teambuilding activities, meet new people … and sing karaoke!
Additionally, staff schedule regular revision sessions for those nearing exams. Further activities will be added as they become available. Please do encourage your child to join at least one club or activity – they are an excellent opportunity to explore new interests, learn additional skills and to socialise with peers!

Click here to see the WG6 Electives booklet showing the breadth and range of opportunities available to our sixth form

Pictured below, part of our Sensory Garden group who are planning a schedule of special displays including a Halloween themed garden display! To view our current programme of activities please click here.

Introducing Ms Booth, our Librarian. Our Library is an incredibly welcoming and inspiring space dedicated to supporting student studies and personal development as well as being a hub of student clubs! Our Year 7 students have regular Library lessons and are able to borrow up to three books at a time for four weeks. Our Year 7s are familiarising themselves with the book genres and research materials available for them to take advantage of. Pictured, Ms Booth and her class have been drawing up a Class Library Charter to set themselves targets for what they hope to achieve and agree best practices for using the resources and space.

Ms Booth, an English Teacher, is dedicated to promoting literacy and a love of reading to encourage lifetime learning! Ms Booth has worked across a number of schools in the Southeast teaching and offering careers support and guidance.

Ms Booth currently offers the following Clubs: Wednesday Lunch (both KS3 and KS4) is the Wilmington Girls Gamers’ Guild – This is a boardgame club where students learn new boardgames and eventually begin some Tabletop Role Playing Games (such as Dungeons and Dragons)

Friday is the Anti-Social Reading Society – A silent book club where students can chill and read to their hearts’ content.  Conversation is optional!

Mr Williams joins us as Teacher of English and Music with experience teaching in secondary schools in Bexley. Mr Williams is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist with commercial experience composing film scores as well as singing in operas staged at The Barbican in London. Mr Williams added, “I am thoroughly enjoying working with our talented students and am looking forward to us staging productions in conjunction with our Drama department”

Mr Williams and his Year 8 students are currently reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. In this lesson, Mr Williams and his class considered the author’s style of descriptive writing and composed their own pieces to reflect on how they might describe elements featured in the book. The themes depicted in the book are truth, logic and independence – themes the class reflects upon and discusses in their own accompanying work.

Throughout the year, the Mathematics Department will be challenging students to think about Mathematics in different ways.  To start us off, we have the September Numeracy Challenge for Years 7 and 8.  One question for every day of the month to get everyone into the habit of regular practise.  Show Mrs Maycock at the end of the month your answers for the challenge and she will award an R1 for any student who attempts at least 7 days, and if you are successful at correctly answering two weeks’ worth of questions, an R2 will be awarded.  Names of those who receive a postcard home will be announced in October.  The answers must be your own work, and you should not use a calculator.  For other year groups, a single problem with different things to explore is presented as the Squares in Rectangles Challenge.  Once again, please submit your work to Mrs Maycock and successful and thought-provoking responses will be announced next month. Good luck everyone!

Congratulations to our Sparx Star Pupils; Zarah A, Sinead DC, Darshika C, Caitlin L and Anya L!  The students were awarded Star Pupils by Sparx Maths for the 2023-2024 academic year!

Sparx Maths creates an hour’s worth of individually tailored practice homework for each student, each week, driven by our programme of study.  This promotes engagement, confidence and ultimately learning.  The practice is challenging, to ensure students need to think and, crucially, achievable so that students can be successful.

We also ensure the practice uses spaced repetition and interleaving to support a change in students’ long-term memories.  Our Maths Department clubs are open to all – details on each group in the below poster.

Year 9 Food Preparation and Nutrition students perfected lasagna recipes to suit their own preferences, whether a meat, lentil or mushroom base, each created a dish demonstrating an understanding of the nutrients present in the dish and individual dietary requirements. Excellent work, a complicated dish with different components but perfectly balanced.

“Hi, my name is Ruby Kaufman the 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! “

Why electives? 

The Wednesday afternoon off was always enticing when the Electives Program was introduced, however as I began to learn more, the opportunity became even sweeter.  The electives span four categories encompassing academics, sports, community and personal development and they range from university cooking to German for beginners.  

For my first elective in Year 12, when I was unsure and went with the WG6 newspaper knowing that I had a passion for writing and wanted to jump on the early train to build experience. Many of my friends were confused and didn’t know what to pick, which resulted in a random selection, but we all look back and are grateful to the memories the program gave us. Winning the smarties Easter bunny in race around the world, publishing the WG6 newspaper with my name under editor and watching hilarious batting in rounders were the highlights of my Year 12 electives experience. 

I was so nervous when arriving at my first elective (the WG6 newspaper) worried that I was alone and didn’t know anybody. However, I was easily comforted by welcoming faces unified by the same concerns. I quickly made friends and even chose to become the editor, taking on more responsibility and helping others with their articles. From the first week as strangers to then becoming a collective group working alongside each other to produce a cohesive newspaper taught me about how the Elective Program was worthwhile. 

The Elective Program provides you with independence, freedom to enhance your extracurricular activities and to cross paths with people who you would not encounter usually. I made meaningful friendships outside of my lessons and these continued to flourish throughout the year and remain today, a year on. 

From the confidence developed from my 1st elective, I decided to branch out of my comfort zone and choose rounders for my second elective. Whilst I was not great at the sport, I enjoyed the teamwork aspect and the slight competitiveness. Playing outside in the sun, on a Wednesday afternoon with my friends was a great way to de-compress from the pressures of school. I thoroughly enjoyed my Year 12 electives, and believe it was truly a stand-out of the year. I recommend taking this into consideration when looking at applying to WG6 sixth form as it is a unique opportunity for students to have. 

Electives change slightly in Year 13 and allow for students to complete them anytime and anywhere! This allows for even further freedoms with a larger variety of choices. Electives work around you as a student and fit into your own busy schedule. For example, this year I have decided to pick writing my own blog, which has allowed me to begin building a portfolio for university and ensure that I pursue something that I love to do and not become overwhelmed by the demands of Year 13. 

Thank you for reading!  

Ruby Kaufman, your student voice at WG6. 

Please join me in congratulations Amber W of 10C who has recently been signed by Crystal Palace FC for a further two years. Amber’s football career is flourishing despite balancing her GCSE studies with a heavy training schedule. A brilliant achievement Amber!

Calling all football enthusiasts! Local grassroots team Dartford Royals FC currently has space for additional players in their U13 Girls team. Training is at Oakfield Park, Wilmington and home games are at Acacia Fields, near Dartford Park. Training kits and hoodies provided when you sign up! Contact Lee on 07796548332 Dartford Royals FC (@dartford_royals01) • Instagram photos and videos

The PFA is only possible with the active help and support of the parents, friends and relatives of WGSG.  The PFA is a relatively small, friendly group but we do need more people. If you are able to spare some time, we urge you to become more involved in the PFA – and help make a difference. You could choose to be either a regular member (as part of the PFA committee), or a volunteer and help out occasionally at events. There are no minimum time commitments. To find out more please contact [email protected]

Key Forthcoming Dates:

Year 9 Expectations Evening – Thursday 26 Sept 5pm (virtual)

Year 12 Expectations Evening – Thursday 26 Sept 6pm (In person at WGSG)

Year 11 Geography Field Trip – Tuesday 1 Oct

Year 7 Meet the Tutor & Expectations Evening – Wednesday 2 Oct (In Person)

Year 11 Parents’ Evening – Thursday 10 Oct (In Person)

Year 6 Open evening – Thursday 17 Oct

Year 6 Open Day (Booked Event) – Friday 18 Oct

Year 10 DofE Expedition – 5-6 Oct

Year 11 PE Trip Cyclopark – 22 Oct

Last Day of Term 1 – Friday 25 Oct

First Day of Term 2 – Thursday 7 Nov

Year 11 mock examinations commence – Monday 11 Nov

Year 8 Parents’ Evening – Thurs 14 Nov (virtual)

Best wishes,

Michelle Lawson

Headteacher