Learning

Knowledge Organisers

A Knowledge Organiser is a document, no more than two sides of A4, that contains key facts and information that students need to have a basic knowledge and understanding of a topic. Most Knowledge Organisers will include the essential facts about the topic, usually laid out in easy-to-digest chunks; key vocabulary or technical terms and their meanings; images such as maps or diagrams; and famous quotations, if relevant.

The main benefit of knowledge organisers is that they give students and teachers the ‘bigger picture’ of a topic or subject area. Some topics can be complicated, so having the essential knowledge, clear diagrams, explanations and key terms on one document can be very helpful.

Research shows that our brains remember things more efficiently when we know the ‘bigger picture’ and can see the way that nuggets of knowledge within that subject area link together. Making links, essentially, helps information move into our long-term memory.

We would however stress, it is not simply a case of knowing the information. Students are graded on their ability to apply this knowledge to the question, interpret it and give an analytical response. The theory, which is backed by educational research, is that; if we can provide the knowledge organisers as a base, it is much easier for students to make the next step and therefore provide deeper, more developed analysis, which will enable them to reach the highest grades.

You will also find at the bottom some example questions with indicative grades. This is to show the step up between the types of questions asked which enable students to reach the top level. Grade 8 and 9 responses will obviously be much fuller, detailed and analytical than Grade 5 responses.

Click the button below to access the Knowledge Organisers for each subject

Careers Support and Guidance

Welcome to the careers education, information, advice and guidance area. Here, we will share insights from the career provision at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (WGSG). Whether you are a parent/carer wanting to be able to support your child to make decisions, a student seeking direction, an employer, or an education or training provider, you will find further information and resources using the filters below, including a summary of our careers programme.

Careers Programme
Career guidance supports our students to make learning choices and plan their futures. Taking a whole school approach, we offer opportunities and inspiration to help students understand how their classroom learning is relevant to the world of work, realise their potential and make good choices about education, training, and work. This takes many forms, including teaching in the curriculum, one-to-one interventions with Careers Advisers, experiential learning, guest speakers from education, training and industry and online services, which are all elements of our careers programme.

We organise work-related learning experiences that allow our students to develop their employability skills and understand the range of career pathways available, complementing our links with employers, colleges, training providers, and universities. Promoting all options equally and improving students’ knowledge of technical pathways helps our students make informed and more confident decisions. Please refer to our provider access statement, which outlines the arrangements for education and training providers to access students.

Evaluation
To ensure we offer the best career guidance available, our activities and events are systematically evaluated by participants, teachers and students to inform future developments. To pursue excellence, we are proud to hold the Investor in Careers award, a national quality standard for organisations that deliver information, advice and guidance that meet the requirements for Ofsted and the ‘Gatsby Benchmarks’.

Contact
The next review of the information published on this page will be in January 2025. If you require more information about our careers programme or want to support us, our Careers Leader is Mrs Julie Murray who can be contacted on 01322 226351 or by emailing [email protected]

We hope that you have found this information helpful, please do let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback or can support us by sharing your career journey. Lastly, if you are an alumnus of the school, we would invite you to follow us on LinkedIn.

Best wishes,

Mrs Murray, Careers Leader

 

Curriculum Overview

A highly relevant and academic and challenging curriculum is the foundation for learning at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls. As such, whilst there is a strong emphasis from Year 7 in the core subjects, students are offered a range of subjects from all areas, with opportunities to study an ever-widening range of additional courses at GCSE and A-Level. More broadly, through our tutoring programme, we encourage students to be open-minded and engage with the world around them; educating them about both the dangers and opportunities that lie ahead of them. Students are encouraged to be independent, inquisitive learners and to explore ideas beyond and across their subject areas. We passionately believe that the world our students will enter when they leave school will require then to be flexible and use their skills and expertise from a range of disciplines in order to be successful in their chosen career path.

The Wilmington Grammar School for Girls curriculum is designed to:

● Ensure that all our students whatever their background, aspirations and starting points acquire the knowledge, skills and cultural capital needed to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
● Enable all our students to experience academic excellence and personal success by creating an aspirational, high achievement culture which takes into account individual needs.
● Offer all our learners the opportunity to experience a broad and balanced range of subjects and experiences, through taught curriculum lessons, whole school enrichment days and extra-curricular activities.
● Prepare our students for the world that awaits them outside of school by enabling them to become confident, resilient, articulate, courageous, thoughtful, kind, creative and responsible leaders.
● Ensure clear development of knowledge and skills supporting student progress over their school life.
● Enable students to make links between subjects and ask ‘Big Questions’ following the principle of depth before breadth
● Offer targeted support and additional challenge to ensure all students make exceptional rates of progress
Foster engagement and a love of learning

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Key Stage 3
Students study a broad range of subjects in Years 7 & 8

All students study either French or Mandarin in Years 7 and in Year 8 all students learn Spanish as their second language. All students continue with at least one language to GCSE level.

Approximately 30 students in each cohort will have the opportunity to join the Mandarin Excellence Programme in Year 8 and 9. This group will have 3 one hour twilight sessions in addition to the normal Mandarin classes plus extra homework, enabling them to immerse themselves in the Chinese culture. They are expected to be at GCSE standard by the end of Y9.

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Key Stage 4
During Years 9, 10 and 11 students study both GCSE subjects plus a range of enrichment courses designed to broaden their KS4 experience.

In Year 9, students begin their GCSE courses in English, Mathematics, Science and RS and a bridging course from KS3 to KS4 in all other subjects.

In Year 10, students begin their GCSE courses in their other selected subjects. This will include at least one language chosen from French, Spanish or Mandarin, at least one Humanity from Geography or History and two further choices. All students will study a minimum of 10 GCSE’s

Our Options Booklet detailing all courses availible can be found here.

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Key Stage 5
Subjects are available on the WG6 website here.

GCSE Options

The GCSE Options Booklet can be found by clicking the below image:

GCSE Business presentation:

GCSE Sociology Presentation:

If students would like to get more guidance regarding Careers and which courses may be relevant to potential careers we recommend the following websites:

Or contact our Careers Leader Mrs Murray who on 01322 226351 or by emailing [email protected]
Course choices are made by the SIMS Parent App – Full details can be found in the GCSE Options booklet above.

● Deadline student submission – Wednesday 8th February
click here to make your subject choices

● Deadline for parent/carer confirmation – Wednesday 8th February
Click here for details of the SIMS Parent App

Question and Answer Session
We appreciate you may have lots of questions about this process and in order to provide an opportunity to answer these we are scheduling Question and Answer sessions for each form group. Invitations to these meetings will be sent to students via TEAMS. However, these meeting are open for parents/carers and students to attend.

Extra Curricular and Enrichment Opportunities

We are very proud of the additional 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.

WGSG offers students a number of clubs and societies to develop skills and gain experiences outside of the normal curriculum. There is a great breadth of extra-curriculum subjects offered by WGSG teaching staff or via visiting personnel. Additionally, staff schedule regular revision sessions for those nearing exams. Further activities will be added as they become available.

Click here to see the WG6 Electives booklet showing the breadth and range of opportunities available to our sixth form can be read by clicking here 

Club Overview – please note new Clubs and Activities will be added as they become available

Independent Learning

Independent learning forms an extremely important part of our vision and philosophy. Our students are encouraged where possible to seek solutions, answers and deepen learning through their own resourcefulness and curiosity. Moreover, they should continually question thier knowledge and understanding to discover further and challenge their higher order thinking skills.

Independent study is our preferred name for homework. It is an extension of the learning in the classroom, designed to consolidate and challenge. All students will receive regular Independent Study across the range of subjects.

Homework is set for a number of reasons, including the following:

● It allows for activities, which enrich the curriculum and further stretch and challenge subject knowledge
● It encourages students to work independently and develops skills of lifelong learning
● It helps to keep parents and carers in touch with school work
● It is essential to create good learning habits that are already in place when it comes to revising for examination subjects
● It provides students with opportunities for retrieval of knowledge acquired throughout the course of study within a study.

Homework can also be set using the various online tools which we subscribe to, such as Seneca, Teams and Kerboodle.

Year 7 Homework Timetable

NB: As a general rule, 20-30 minutes of work for each subject on each night with no more than 3 subjects per evening.
However, homework remains at teacher’s discretion and they may need to vary from the timetable occasionally e.g., projects in art.

Year 8 Homework Timetable

Geography Homework Timetable
8LU – Thursday Week 2
8LP – Wednesday Week 1
8LS – Friday Week 1
8LK – Wednesday Week 2
8LI – Friday Week 1
8LL – Tuesday Week 2

NB: As a general rule, 20-30 minutes of work for each subject on each night with no more than 3 subjects per evening.
However, homework remains at teacher’s discretion and they may need to vary from the timetable occasionally e.g., projects in art.

Year 9 Homework Timetable

Year 10 Homework Timetable

This is a provisional homework timetable based on when teachers may be setting homework – some flexibility is needed and is to be expected. We would expect you to be set between 30-40 minutes of work for each subject on each night. We have planned this carefully to ensure that you never have more than 3 subjects work per night. If you have less than this, you should use any spare time to revise areas you have found more challenging and make sure your revision notes are up to date.

Week 1

Week 2

Student Support and SENCO

All students at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls have equal access to the broad curriculum.

This enables them to progress in line with their academic targets. The Student Support Team is based in the cottage and they address the varying needs/learning differences of students. These range from MLD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia to condition and disorder related difficulties such as ASD, ADD, anxiety, visual & hearing impairments; physical disabilities and medical conditions such as epilepsy and eating disorders.

The Student Support Team includes our SENCO (Mrs Baillie), six Pastoral Support Mangers, Mrs Pike (Safeguarding & PP Manager), Mrs Hatton (Year 7), Miss Mckay (Years 8 & 9), Miss Gaines (Years 10 & 11) and Mrs Smith (SEN) and Mrs Robertston (SEN). Our Student Managers for WG6, Mrs Wheatley (WGSG) and Mrs Regan (WGSB).

Some students require additional support in terms of organisation, presentation of homework, or with certain subjects. Once such students have been identified, they can be referred to the mentoring programme or to the Learning Mentors by either a Head of Department or Head of Year.

Learning mentors provide in-class support for identified students and appropriate interventions to meet the needs of students academically, socially and emotionally.

Peer Mentoring takes place during registration times or at lunch times. Pupils receive one-to-one support from a trained peer mentor within the Sixth Form and Year 10 teams. Where appropriate, this support may be delivered in a group setting. Parents/guardians are informed of the referrals to mentoring, and their support is important to ensure the students meet the targets set. The scheme is co-ordinated by Student Support.

The aims of the mentoring programme are to:

● Establish and promote good organisational skills
● Support those who are underachieving in academic subjects
● Promote self esteem
● Develop personal and interpersonal skills
● Create positive relationships between junior and senior students
● Encourage and enable students across the school to take increased responsibility in a leadership role.

The library and computer rooms are also available after school to facilitate those students who choose to remain in school to complete homework or study.

Prefects (Year 11) and Student Leaders (Year 13) make a valuable contribution to the school as role models, promoting a sense of responsibility and commitment to the school. They mix with junior students as they carry out their duties at form times, break and lunch times and can be approached by a student who has concerns. Some students will be assigned mentors to help them with their academic work. Form groups are assigned prefects who are selected to assist the Form Tutor and support the younger students. They play a very important role as often younger students will feel more comfortable first raising an issue or concern with their form prefect. Prefects also support subject areas, do lunchtime canteen duties, assist with events/ refreshments, support Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Library.

Aims:
The primary aim of a Prefect System is to contribute towards ‘the Pursuit of Excellence’ by providing an opportunity to develop students’ leadership skills and encourage the qualities of respect and loyalty within the school environment. The team consists of the sixth form leadership team, the year 11 senior prefect team together with year 10 deputy prefects and Year 9 assistant prefects.

Objectives:
Students will be able to:
● Demonstrate the quality of commitment by upholding a post of responsibility within the School.
● Demonstrate leadership skills through the organisation of activities within the School.
● Demonstrate social values throughout the School.
● Support school staff in the promotion of excellence within the School.
● Enjoy the privileges afforded from positions of responsibility.
● Act as role models for other students in the School.

Prefects should be:
● Led by the Senior Prefect Team.
● Trained in leadership skills.
● Appointed through a recruitment process to include a letter of application, short- listing, presentation and election from staff and peers.
● Made accountable for their roles with the use of job descriptions, regular meetings, agendas, minutes, targets, duties and feedback to the Head Teacher etc.
● Proud of their prestigious role within the school
● Provided with a badge highlighting their role.

At WGSG relationships amongst students are very good and the school responds quickly to any allegations of bullying. Our Anti-Bullying Code demonstrates our commitment to promoting positive relationships in the school and our pledge to deal with any incidents that may arise. Our Anti-Bullying Policy can be read on our Key Information, Policies page here.

For information regarding Kent Parent partnership Service please click here. This service offers impartial advice and support to parents with children with SEN. KPPS aim to empower parents and families of children with SEN to be confident to take an active an informed role in their child’s education and development.

Mental Wellbeing

At WGSG we promote a whole school approach to mental wellbeing. This is evident through our strong pastoral structure and core values. Where students require additional support they may be referred to one of our wellbeing practitioners. Please click here to view an introduction presentation to the WBPs and their work in school. An increased layer of support is offered by the school counsellor who is available weekly to provide support for students and to try to resolve concerns or problems they may have in a confidential manner. Students are referred to the Pastoral Team by parents, staff and HoYs; they will then determine whether counselling is appropriate. Attendance at any counselling appointment is voluntary, and students may withdraw at any time. The focus is very much on empowering the students to formulate their own ways of dealing with the circumstances in which they find themselves. All information discussed during an appointment will remain confidential between the student and the counsellor, unless it relates to a Child Protection issue, in which case the counsellor forwards the information to the DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) who will the take the appropriate action, as is required by the law and the safeguarding of the student (see Child Protection/Safeguarding Policy). Brief confidential notes are kept by the counsellor, and a weekly appointment log of the students’ names and times is compiled SEN Pastoral Support Manager.

SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disability)

Students with an Education, Health and Care Plan are supported in accordance with their plan; they have annual reviews which set individual and personal targets, enabling students to make excellent progress in relation to their personal targets.

Students may arrive at the school with their needs identified, or they may be identified throughout their time at WGSG. They will be on the SEN register as “SEN Support” – this ensures that these students are supported and monitored in accordance with their personal and individual needs. The school has clear policies and procedures to ensure that all students’ needs are kept under review and additional support is put in place when needed.
The SENCO liaises with the Heads of Year and the Examinations Officer to ensure that special examination access arrangements are in place for those pupils entitled to such arrangements and pupils are guided in how to gain the most benefit from such arrangements. Those pupils who are in Years 10 and above will be given advice about suitable career options through the Morrisby test and Careers Advisor.

Please see our SIR (SEN Information Report) under Statutory Information here.

For information regarding Kent advice and support please see the click here. This service offers confidential and impartial information, advice and support to children, young people and parents of children with SEN.

EAL (English and an Additional Language)

Many parents do not realise that if a student speaks a language other than English at home, then they are categorised as EAL regardless of whether English is their ‘best’ language.
“A pupil’s first language is defined as any language other than English that a child was exposed to during early development and continues to be exposed to in the home or community. If a child was exposed to more than one language (which may include English) during early development, a language other than English should be recorded, irrespective of the child’s proficiency in English”

Vulnerable to Achive

At WGSG, a student is considered vulnerable if they:

● Have an identified disability or learning difficulty
● Are emotionally vulnerable
● Are an unaccompanied Asylum Seeker, a Young Carer, or a pupil whose family’s income is low
● Are in receipt of free school meals
● Have an on-going safeguarding issue
● Have English as a second or other language
● Have been identified as being vulnerable or at risk by the school or Local Authority, including those with multi agency support, poor attendance, additional learning support needs
● Are in the 6th form and are from the EFA defined vulnerable groups – Young Person in Care or a Care Leaver, Young Person receiving Income Support (or Universal Credit) in their own name; and disabled young people in receipt of both Employment Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance (or Personal Independence Payments).