Windsor Girls' School - Merry Christmas - Windsor Girls' School
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Windsor Girls’ School
18 December 2020
Merry Christmas
Well done to all students for ending the term, and 2020, with such positive and kind attitudes. Your
Tutors, Year Leaders and SLT are all very proud of you.
Dear Parents and Carers In this final week of term we have been celebrating Christmas and the end of term, though these celebrations have been a little different this year. We held our Co-Headteacher breakfast virtually this week with eight of our students to celebrate some outstanding achievements. These students were recommended by their teachers and we were delighted to be able to congratulate them on their success. Congratulations also to our trainee teachers for completing the first term of their Initial Teacher Training in exceptional circumstances. They will be starting their second placement after the holiday, so we wish them the best of luck in their new schools and look forward to welcoming them back to complete their training at Windsor Girls’ School. Well done to our Year 13 students, many of whom have now submitted their UCAS applications for university entrance and met our school deadline. Lots of excellent offers have been received and students will complete their final choices based on these offers in the spring. All Tutor Groups have responded magnificently this week in donating food gifts for the Reverse Advent Calendar on behalf of West Berkshire Food Bank. We feel very proud that our students have shown such generosity in contributing to help those in need this festive season. We are also proud of the students in all Tutor Groups who wrote cards to send to care home residents and staff as part of the Cards to Care Homes initiative. These students have shown real kindness and demonstrated the true spirit of Christmas. Finally, we held a number of virtual events to celebrate Christmas on the final day of the term. Our musicians sang and played seasonal songs and the staff band also performed their traditional set and Tutor Groups took part in Christmas themed quizzes and competitions. Thank you to everyone involved in organising these events and for enabling us all to enjoy some Windsor Girls’ School traditions even though we had to do this differently. We wish all of you and your families a safe and happy Christmas and look forward to seeing all of our staff and students in the New Year. Kind regards, Mr P Griffiths and Mrs E O’Carroll Co-Headteachers Windsor Girls’ School @WGSWindsorGirls WGS Geography @GeographyWgs Careers at Windsor Girls’ School @careersWGS WGS Aspiring High @WGSAspiringHigh Windsor Girls’ PE @WGSPE WGS English @WindsorGirlsEng PE Instagram wgs_pe Windsor Girls D of E @wgsdofe Windsor Girls’ LRC @WGS_LRC Windsor Music @twbsmusic WGS Science @WGS_Science Friends of Windsor Girls’ @FriendsofWGS WGS MFL @WGSMFLdept WGS Sociology @sociologyWGS
SIXTH FORM
Congratulations to our Year
13 students who have been
working so hard on
completing personal
statements. Offers continue
to come in and many
Year Information students have been invited
for interviews for Medicine,
Donations for the Interact Christmas jumper day, in aid of Women’s Aid and Education and Social Work.
Endometriosis UK are still being collected. Please pay £1 through
ParentPay. Opportunities for
Apprenticeships continue to
Message from your Year Leader be advertised and many
more opportunities will open
Year 9 up for applicants early next
Year 9 have experienced a very different learning experience this week having year so keep your eyes
taken part in a full week of remote learning; I hope that you found the variety of peeled.
tasks set by teachers interesting and useful in supporting your learning. I have
thoroughly enjoyed receiving photos of student work that has been completed to a When students return in
high quality, a huge well done for all your efforts. January, they will be issued
with ID reader cards. This
As we reach the end of your first big term as a Windsor Girls' School student, I'd will include facilities to cover
like to congratulate you all for adapting so well to the challenges that this unusual the cashless catering system
academic year has brought us. I hope that you all enjoy a well-earned Christmas
due to commence later in the
break with your families, whilst keeping safe and well.
month.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
See you in 2021, Miss Edwards
The Year 12 and Year 13
Year 10 Student Leaders have done a
Year 10 have been working really well in the run up to Christmas. It has been fantastic job co-ordinating the
lovely to see the festive spirit in each Tutor Group and everyone coming together Reverse Advent Calendars,
to donate to the Reverse Advent Calendar. The amount that has been collected you continue to make us so
really shows how dedicated and supportive Year 10 are in helping others; the proud.
festive looking boxes have been a nice addition too. At break times, it has been
lovely to hear of Secret Santa exchanges going on and also to talk to many We really hope you have a
students about what Christmas means to them and how excited they are for the fantastic, restful break, and
break. you and your families all stay
safe!
I also want to add how well Year 10 have been engaging in live lessons after Mrs Quéré and Mrs Jenkins
being informed on Wednesday that the Year group would have to self-isolate.
You have continued to work hard until the very end of term. We are aware that
some of you may be isolating again, whilst for others, this could be the first time. Please reach out to your Tutors or
myself if you want to speak about anything as we are here to help and support.
I hope you all have a well-earned Christmas break with your families whilst keeping safe and well. I look forward to
seeing you all in 2021. Merry Christmas all, from Miss O'Gorman
Year 11
Well... what a term! A huge well done to all Year 11 students on this term – it has certainly been a busy one! Thank
you for all your hard work over the last few months, it has not gone unnoticed. As we come to the end of this year, I
want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you and your families enjoy the time
spent together and I hope you all continue to be safe. I would encourage you to rest and relax this holiday. You
have all worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks and you fully deserve the break. I look forward to seeing you
all in January.
Miss Castle
Christmas Events To celebrate the end of term, students and staff participated in a morning full of activities with their Tutor group on Friday, 18 December. The session celebrated the hard work of students throughout this term and 2020. Whilst wearing their Christmas jumpers, Students took part in a series of tasks including watching virtual performances from the Windsor Girls’ School Staff Band and Christmas readings by the Co-Headteachers, and students in Years 10 to 13. Students had the opportunity to celebrate with their classmates, whilst making kindness baubles and competing in a Christmas Quiz. Staff and students were treated to virtual recordings of music performances by the GCSE music classes and the WGS tradition of performing 12 Days of Christmas was maintained through a virtual recorded performance. Messages from staff were shared.
Reverse Advent Calendar
‘In these tough times, there are more people than ever
relying on food banks. This is why the school chose to
do a Reverse Advent Calendar in support of West Berks Foodbank. Each
day, the students have been bringing items in to be collected in their Tutor
rooms. On Wednesday, the Student Leaders collated the boxes from every
Tutor group and we were delighted to receive such a huge number of
donations.
Thank you to everyone who donated!
Your generosity will make a massive
difference to people’s Christmas.’
Emily Helsby & Daisy Willcock, Year 13
10N Pass the Parcel
10N enjoyed a festive game of pass the
parcel in Tutor time on Tuesday.
Merry Christmas
Christmas Cards for Care Homes Over 60 Christmas cards have been sent to care home residents and care home workers by the students of Windsor Girls’ School. Students volunteered to write a message to thank the staff of care homes in Berkshire or to wish the residents of the care homes a Merry Christmas. ‘When I volunteered at a care home during the pandemic I saw the impact that the Covid restrictions limiting social contact had on the residents and I wanted to help send a message to all the residents in care homes that will find this Christmas tougher than usual. We wanted them to know that we are thinking of them and wishing them the best. Additionally, to the staff of these care homes to show how thankful we are that they are devoting so much time and effort to help our community.’ - Maria Burr, Year 13 The community of WGS would like wish all care home residents and staff a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2021.
Food Technology - Festive Baking Students have been cooking up a festive storm in Food Technology lessons this week.
Year 9 Drama We have really missed seeing the Year 9s making these projects. We hope that the ones that were able to complete them at home have enjoyed finishing their theatrical box sets. The students who were able to complete them in school last week have done an amazing job. Well done Year 9.
History
Year 9 might be self-isolating this week but they have been very active online uploading their
research into several medical pioneers of the Renaissance era, for example, Thomas Sydenham
and Ambroise Pare. Well done Year 9!
Year 10 have just finished their GCSE unit on Early Elizabethan England so as a treat played a
game in lessons called 'Welcome to the colony' in which they need to survive in an early Virginian
colony for 10 months! Great fun was had by all! They have also been learning about Elizabethan
Christmas traditions, many of which still exist today!
Year 12 and 13 have been utilising the SatchelOne quizzes this past week to ensure they are able to
recall knowledge on the American Revolution and the Civil Rights of Native Americans. A huge well
done to all three classes who managed to get an average this week of 83% correct throughout!
83%Year 9 ICT
As we end a challenging year, it’s safe to say Digital Technology continues to play an important role
in our society, learning and skills development. To bring some festive fun and coding skill together
we are using Google’s Santa Tracker in this week’s remote lessons. I hope the students have
enjoyed learning and playing on this website and maybe some competitions at home over
Christmas. The particular challenges we’ve asked the students to focus on are:
https://santatracker.google.com/gumball.html
https://santatracker.google.com/codeboogie.html
https://santatracker.google.com/mercator.html
https://santatracker.google.com/codelab.html
https://santatracker.google.com/speedsketch.html
https://santatracker.google.com/snowbox.html
We hope you and your daughter enjoy the ICT games and do develop coding skills that we will build
on into 2021. Have a restful break and please keep the balance with Technology, whilst I clearly
have an interest in it – it’s not as important as human interactions, connection with nature and
reflecting on life’s positives.
It’s got to be a Happier New Year in 2021!
Mr Stevenson, Mr Edwards, Miss Holgate – the ICT Team.MFL - Spanish
The Year 9 students have been working beautifully at home on sport and Christmas in Spain.
Year 10s are developing their writing skills very nicely and have completed their first 90 words
writing assessment:
The Year 11s have been
developing their extended writing
skills:MFL - Year 10 French
We are so proud of our Year 10
French students! Their end of unit
assessment was a speaking
presentation on Ma Ville. They
designed towns and prepared
information to share with their
peers. They have been working
on their pronunciation and
confidence when speaking French
and the range of sentence
structures that they built into their
work was fantastic. Here are
some of the beautiful towns that
they created:
‘
Theatre Awards - Elvie Dsane
‘On the 6th of December the British Theatre Academy held an online award ceremony, the Vanessa
Awards, to celebrate all the young performers that are with them, I was one of these young
performers and had been put up for three different awards, one being “the most promising
newcomer” and the others being “best supporting actress” and their singing award. It’s my first year
with the British Theatre Academy and I was so lucky to get nominated for all of these awards. It’s a
huge achievement and I am over the moon that I was given the opportunity to be seen by thousands
of talented actors in the industry.’
- Elvie Dsane, Year 9PE - Sports Ambassadors
We would like to congratulate all of the students who were elected as Sports Leaders and Captains
for the WGS PE Department. These students are going to be responsible for assisting in planning
internal and external events & fixtures. They will be working closely with schools in the local area
and being active role models within the WGS community. We are excited for the year ahead and
cannot wait to see what they achieve.
PE - Active in Minds
This year in the PE department we are also taking part in a project run by Youth Sport Trust. This
programme, Active in Minds; allows a selected group of Year 9 students to engage in opportunities
to build confidence in themselves and their relationship with sport. This will be achieved through
using psycho-social tools and stress-busting strategies, as well as creating innovative peer
mentoring and physical activity opportunities. We also have the added support from an allocated
professional athlete, Ian Rose. Ian is a Silver & Bronze Paralympic medallist in Judo, along with
holding the title as the 1995 World Judo Champion.
Sociology
‘
Students in Sociology have been drawing on all their knowledge of sociological theories,
Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism and bringing this together to explore how Christmas traditions
reinforce society's norms and values. From watching the Queen's Speech, to using elves to make
sure children behave!
If you wish to get ahead, don't forget to use the following websites
https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology
https://revisesociology.com/
And also remember to follow our Sociology Instagram @windsorgirlssociology account, weekly
quizzes continue on Wednesdays and Sundays.
We wish all our students a restful break.Year 11 Science
Independent Learning in Physics with Mr Hainitz
Mr Hainitz has been encouraging Independent Learning with Year 11 this term. Lesson by lesson
they build knowledge, then students are required to demonstrate and document this using written
communication skills. Work is marked according to agreed criteria and must encompass the
requirements of the specification. Some of our students have thrived when allowed the freedom to
work independently in this way. This deserves a huge well done to both Mr Hainitz and our Year 11
Scientists for their effort and focus as they are working diligently towards good academic
achievements this summer.Year 9
Charlotte Roberts
Claudia Goncalves
Year 9 students are reminded that they can access their remote learning resources at:
https://www.windsorgirls.net/year-groups/year-9/curriculum
Millie Edwards
Eleanor StoneThe Windsorian
Hi all,
The Community & Communications Committee would like to say thank
you to everyone for all the hard work you've done this year! We are
proud to release the first issue of The Windsorian for this academic
year.
It is an entirely student-run newspaper, and we have put together
articles about a variety of different things, from coffee reviews to books
to local businesses you should support, and much more. (You may
also notice that we have redesigned the layout completely; it was about
time for a change!)
By the time this notice in the Newsletter is sent out, the Christmas issue
of The Windsorian should be emailed out to everyone as well. We
hope you enjoy the articles and hope that some more of you will be
interested in writing for us next year. If you are, please email us at
thewindsorian@windsorgirls.net and we will get in contact with you as
soon as possible.
Additionally, we have also launched our committee specific email handle, so you can email us if you
have any questions or concerns that may involve our committee's responsibilities. You can contact
us at: communicationscommittee2021@windsorgirls.net
Best wishes and Merry Christmas!
From the Communications Student Leaders
PE Extra-Curricular Activities
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
After School Netball Year 9 Netball Year 10 Dance Year 9 Rugby Year 10
3:15pm-4:15pm Sports Hall Sports Hall 4 Motion ASD
ESR CCE
Yoga Year 10 Rugby Year 9
Football Year 10 Football Year 9 4 Motion SSCO
Back Field SSCO
ASD
GCSE PE
Active in Mind Revision
ASD ESRMaths
Students have enjoyed a Christmas themed lesson to finish this term in
Maths.
Year 13 soon realised how difficult A-level Maths colour by number could
be. Year 10 set 3 enjoyed a Christmas quiz, where bonus points where
given for dancing. Year 10 set 1 and set 6 enjoyed making snowflakes,
and if you would like to make one too we have included the link below.
The whole Maths department wishes everyone a safe and relaxing break,
and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT2oeNkTOAk
Parking on Longbourne
We have had complaints from residents of Longbourne regarding parent and carer parking.
If parent and carer parking at 3:00pm pick up does not improve, residents will request a parking
restriction from RBWM from 2:00pm – 4:00pm, preventing anyone from parking along this road.
Longbourne have reported double parking blocking traffic and emergency vehicles, damage to lawn
areas and damage to their gates.
We have requested police assistance in dealing with this matter.
Please be considerate to residents and other drivers.‘
University & Apprenticeship Fairs
Spring 2021 Events
Thank you very much to everyone who took part in our events this year, since our first virtual fair
in June over 55,000 students have joined us to explore their post-18 options. We're very pleased
to announce that next January and February we will be hosting two brand-new virtual events
with a huge range of exhibitors, interactive activities, live webinars and the opportunity to ask
questions directly to universities, colleges and apprenticeship providers from all across the UK.
UK University & Apprenticeship Search Virtual Fair
Wednesday 27 January | 12:00 - 18:00
Perfect for Years 11, 12 & 13 this event is designed to allow
students to explore a wide range of universities, colleges and
apprenticeships, whether you're just starting your research or
making your final decisions. There will also be a new webinar line-
up, and a competition!
Find out More and Register for Free
Meet the Russell Group - Virtual Event
Wednesday 10 February | 12:00 - 19:00
Designed for students aiming to study at a Russell Group
university, this virtual event will allow you to explore all 24 Russell
Group Universities and chat to their representatives. You can
also take part in 13 live and interactive webinars throughout the
day; including a new Parent and Teacher Support session.
Find out More and Register for Free
Want to receive updates about our future events, webinars and videos - as well as information
and support from unis and apprenticeships directly into your inbox?
Sign-up for our free Email UpdatesTeaching Assistant Vacancy
WINDSOR GIRLS’ SCHOOL
An Outstanding School
Imperial Road Windsor Berks SL4 3RT
NOR: 720 Sixth Form: 200+
Ages: 13-19
Telephone: 01753 795155
Windsor Girls' School is a Teaching School with NLE/NSS designation.
Teaching Assistant
Required for January 2021
Up to 20 hours per week (8.55am – 2.55pm) term time only
Salary £19,563-£19,954 per annum pro rata
(Actual Salary: £8943 - £9122)
You would join a small friendly team dedicated to student support. Previous experience in a
secondary school would be an advantage. There may be a requirement to undertake some
basic physiotherapy with a student, full training will be provided.
Windsor Girls' School was graded as outstanding in all categories by Ofsted in 2013. You
would join us at an exciting phase as we move from outstanding to exceptional.
See our website www.windsorgirls.net for the Job Accountability and Application Form.
Return by email to Tracy Burfoot, PA to the Headteacher at burft001@windsorgirls.net or
by post to the school.
Applications will be considered on receipt
We reserve the right to appoint before the closing date
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All posts are sub-
ject to an enhanced DBS check.You can also read
