LGGS Newsletter July 2022

LGGS JULY 2022

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CHALLENGE

WELCOME Welcome to our final newsletter of the academic year.

When we returned to school last September there was still a great deal of uncertainty about what the year would bring. Although it has had its challenges, it has been good to see LGGS life returning to normal. This has been especially true this half term with a fantastic Art Exhibition, Sports Day and rehearsals for Music Festival throughout the school at lunchtimes and after school.

There have been Geography field trips to Ingleton and Year 8 historians have followed a trail around Lancaster researching the city’s links with the slave trade.

We are now planning for the return of our visits abroad including the language exchanges and A-level Geography fieldwork in Iceland.

I would like to thank you for all your support this year and hope that you can all enjoy a break over the summer.

This summer we are saying good-bye to a number of long serving LGGS Staff.

Mrs Cathy Miller is retiring as Teacher of Maths. Mrs Miller has very strong ties with LGGS, her mother taught at LGGS, she attended the school as a girl

and her own daughters attended LGGS! Mrs Miller has been a much-valued member of the Maths department since 2003 and has contributed positively to LGGS life in so many ways.

We wish her all the best in her retirement.

Mrs Seona Williams, another long serving member of LGGS staff is leaving to pursue other interests. Mrs Williams came to LGGS for her teaching placement as a trainee teacher and has stayed ever since! We thank her for all her hard work and commitment to the English department and wish her well for the future.

Ms Merril Sheen is retiring as Head of Drama. Many students can credit Ms Sheen for their love of drama and it has been great credit to her that so many have gone on to achieve great things in the theatre world. We thank Ms Sheen for all she has contributed to LGGS Performing Arts. We wish Ms Sheen and her family all the very best for the future.

Our thanks also go to Mrs Kerry Shaw. Not only has she been a fantastic Geography teacher, Mrs Shaw has contributed immensely to our Duke of Edinburgh programme and more recently, the navy section of the Combined Cadet Force. I am delighted that Mrs Shaw will retain her contact with LGGS, as she is to continue with her Cadet work.

Mrs Barbara Bettsworth, Head of French, is also retiring this year.

Many of her students will fondly remember Mrs Bettsworth for her love of all things French and a

passion for her subject. We wish her a very happy retirement and many trips to France.

Also in Languages Mrs Sarah Fawcett, Teacher of Spanish is retiring. Her hard work, commitment to LGGS and kindness have been much appreciated. We wish her well for the future.

We wish Ms Fran Aldcroft, Head of Religious Studies (RS) the very best in her move to Scotland.

Ms Aldcroft has been a much-valued colleague. She has transformed RS at LGGS with her caring and philosophical approach to teaching the subject.

Mrs Jane Mason who has done a fantastic job as our School Business Manager and member of the Senior Leadership Team is retiring. Mrs Mason has successfully overseen a number of key projects in school, kept the school in sound financial health and helped significantly with all our health and safety measures during COVID. Mrs Judith Ram Prasad is taking a year’s sabbatical to start a PhD. We wish her well with her studies.

Ms Shannon Whittle, our Library Assistant is leaving to train as a primary teacher.

Mrs Luci Martin has started her maternity leave and we are delighted to announce the birth of a baby boy.

We have been extremely fortunate in being able to attract excellent applicants to replace our staff leavers. I look forward to introducing them to you in our Newsletter in September.

Mrs Jackie Cahalin, Headteacher

CONGRATULATIONS TO YEAR 9 STUDENT JESS BRADSHAW Jess has completed her first year of Fire Cadets at Morecambe Fire Station where she has gained her first year of Skills for Justice qualification.

She has also been awarded the trophy for the most improved fire cadet gaining a trophy. The cadets attend a ceremony known as the Passing Out Parade, which is a chance to celebrate the amazing achievement of all the fire cadets. They give a practical demonstration of what they have learned, stand up and do a speech in front of all cadets, their families and staff at the fire station, then are awarded certificates.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD Our Gold DofE expedition took place over four days with the first day being a 24km walk from Staveley to Rydal, where we camped out on the first night. On the second day we walked from Rydal to Brother’s Water for 28km and then to Pooley Bridge for 18km on the third day.

Finishing with a 14km walk to our final destination at Penrith train station. Overall our expedition was full of highs and lows, on the second night a storm blew open part of a team’s tent which soaked their belongings but they were able to overcome this and carry on and we all felt rewarded as on the third day we arrived to the campsite early and were able to enjoy dinner by the lake under the sun. Motivating each other up the mountains and being there for one another in our best and worst moments is what kept us going (with a bit of friendly competition between both teams) and allowed us to finish our expedition feeling proud to have accomplished the challenge. Finally, we can all say that seeing the train station on our last day with all the staff cheering us on was one of the best feelings ever!

ALL THE VERY BEST YEAR 13

Towards the end of June, we were very pleased to be able to hold a Leavers Ball for our Year 13 students, to mark what is the end of their Sixth Form experience.

Mrs Cahalin, Ms Pardoe and I were able to pay tribute to the most extraordinary resilience that our students have demonstrated

throughout that past two years: they have had to adjust to so much, and to find reserves that few of them knew they had, yet they have never ceased to impress us both with their resolve to succeed and also in their kindness and care for each other.

It has been a privilege to work with this group of students

over the last two years, and we wish our Year 13 Leavers all the very best for the future as they move on to pastures new, knowing that they are now ready to take on the world beyond LGGS. We very much hope that they will keep in touch with us in the years to come.

All the very best Year 13!

Ms Allen

THE LIGHT THAT HERE WE FIRST SAW BURN. AND THIS ALONE SHALL BE OUR LIGHT THE LAMP OF BEAUTY, TRUTH AND RIGHT

YEAR TWELVE PHYSICS PROJECTS AT LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

We are very grateful to Lancaster University Physics Department for once again giving all of our Physics A-level students the opportunity to undertake short research projects with university staff and students. Our students are now completing posters explaining their work and preparing to give presentations. This is what some of them had to say.

We had the opportunity to analyse real data collected by a telescope focused on detecting exoplanets by measuring small decreases in the light intensity of the star it orbited.

Using the data, we calculated the distance of the planet from its host star; its mass; and its habitability for human life. It was particularly interesting because we were able to confirm our calculations using the exoplanet database, giving us a sense of our accuracy. It was a great experience of university life - especially because we got to explore the campus at lunchtime!

Shailee and Arunima

We went to Lancaster university to participate in a small group project with 2 postgraduate students. We did 2 experiments to show how light can behave as a particle as well as a wave (wave-particle duality), which stems off Albert Einstein’s Nobel prize-winning theory, the Photoelectric Effect in 1921. It was a great opportunity to experience life at university in a practical way.

Elizabeth and Anusha Our group chose to investigate the angular distribution of cosmic rays; charged particles thought to originate from supernovae.

In our case, these were muons. We used a cosmic ray telescope containing two paddles made of a plastic scintillator material.

The muons caused the material to excite, and de-excite releasing photons which we subsequently detected.

It was great to be given an insight into higher education; it allowed us to better understand what university physics involves and what working in a university lab is like.

Anna, Amie and Elizabeth We explored the use of bubble chambers to identify the decay of ‘Strange’ particles. This is a technique first used at CERN. A magnetic field is used to observe the microscopic bubble traces left behind by charged particles. Measuring the radius of

curvature of the path allows the particle to be identified. We really enjoyed this experience which gave us a taster of university Physics.

Jenni, Amena and Kate Gamma rays are high frequency and high energy electromagnetic waves, emitted by heavy radioactive isotopes.

At Lancaster University, we used gamma ray spectroscopy equipment and software to detect and identify radioactive isotopes present in the background and in a sample of bananas. In the bananas, there were multiple radioactive isotopes present, though in the bunch they were certainly not in large enough quantities to harm people!

Gwyneth, Ria and Radhika

PERFORMING ARTS DRAMA As I say farewell to LGGS and the Drama Department this year, I'd like to give a warm acknowledgement to the students who leave us and go on to train further either at university or Drama School. We've seen many talented performers make their way to a variety of places - mostly following a rigorous and highly competitive audition process.

Many of our alumni stay in touch and let us know what they're doing and it's always a delight to see their progress built upon the foundations of their Drama studies here at school.

Most recently, we've been thrilled to know that Polly Wain, a former LGGS Drama & Theatre Studies student, has been offered a placement as Assistant Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester - beating eight other applicants to this position. She was a fabulous Drama student who went on to gain an MA in Theatre Direction - we're very proud of her achievement. #

Additionally, only last year an incredibly gifted actor, Louisa McClintock, gained a scholarship place at Drama Studio, London. She is about to take a year out from her training to join Emma Rice (previously Artistic Director at the Globe Theatre) at the School for Wise Children - where she will study Physical Theatre and tour the south of England.

Also in 2021, Imogen Khan graduated with a degree in European Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and is currently performing at the Little Angel Theatre, London in a children's puppetry show on the I Want My Hat Back trilogy.

Additionally, many of our students audition each year for the very popular National Youth Theatre and some have been lucky enough to enjoy residencies over a summer in London developing their performance or design skills - and becoming valued members of the company.

Creativity, self-expression and confidence are skills we aim to nurture and encourage at LGGS and watching this grow through Drama in our students has been an absolute delight.

Merril Sheen

MFL COMPETITION SUCCESS LGGS students and the MFL department have always embraced the opportunity to participate in the Mother Tongue Other Tongue competition, now run across the north west by Manchester Metropolitan University, and this year the response has been bigger and better than ever.

Students were asked to write a poem in French, German or Spanish for the Other Tongue category, or to produce either an original or a learnt piece in their home language (if different to English) and a commentary on its significance.

Every year this is a fantastic way of learning about language and culture, and the creativity of our students is quite extraordinary.

Around 140 pupils took part in the competition, and the MFL department selected six from each category to submit to the University. Incredibly, five of our LGGS finalists were selected as overall winners in

the regional competition, and will now have their poems published in the Mother Tongue Other Tongue 10th Anniversary Anthology.

This will be presented to them at a celebration event by former poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who founded the competition in 2012. Back then, when LGGS Year 13 student Dasha Bogolyubova was in Year 3, Ms Whitehouse had the pleasure of meeting her on the train to the very first Mother Tongue Other Tongue awards ceremony, as an 8 year old Dasha had picked up a highly commended for her poem in French which she

composed with Mrs Waller-Sargent at Moorside Primary School.

Polyglot Dasha, who has just finished her A-levels (including an A-level in Spanish), has poetically (!) come full circle and been nominated as a winner for the Year 12 and 13 Mother Tongue commentary on Pushkin’s poem ‘It’s Time’. We are so proud of Dasha, and indeed all of our winners and participants for embracing this cultural project. Congratulations to ALL who penned a poem!

Please find the full list of winners and some excerpts from the poems on the following pages.

OVERALL REGIONAL WINNERS Mother Tongue: Eva Wu 7.1 - Mandarin Kavya Suresh 9.5 - Tamil Dasha Bogolyubova - 13AW Russian Other Tongue: Cate Matthew 11.3 - Spanish Daisy Hodges 12SAM - Spanish Other LGGS Finalists: Mother Tongue: Lojain Gengehy 8.5 - Arabic Weronika Strugala 8.5 - Polish Selma Pinkse 9.4 - Dutch Other Tongue: Estrella Waters 7.5 - Spanish Nelka Swierczewska 8.4 - French Emily Holt 8.4 - Spanish Isla Slater & Zixuan Yang 9.5 Spanish

Above: Former Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who founded the competition in 2012, awarding a copy of the anthology to Cate Matthew and Dasha Bogolyubova.

All entries will be uploaded to the website’s News Section later this week.

It will be well worth visiting the page as the entries, from all the age groups, are exceptional.

You will also find a copy of the publication in LGGS School Library.

Ms Whitehouse Head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

SLOGAN COMPETITION Further congratulations to Daisy Hodges and Lily Blach-Davies who have won a Foreign Language Slogan Competition.

The contest, run by The University of Durham and sponsored by Oxford University's research programme Creative Multilingualism, invited learners of French to come up with slogan in French (accompanied by a short explanation of how the slogan works). The goal is to promote language learning and the competition was open to students across the country from KS4 to degree level, and aimed to draw on young people’s use of short messages (e.g. tweets)

and interest in graphics and visual arts to link these to, and encourage, the study of French.

Daisy and Lily's puntastic entry draws on French a homonym, showing a wise owl asking if you know your crepes from your baguettes (an important piece of cultural knowledge!), and if not, to learn French because it's great.

And if you're wondering what the words for 'owl' and 'great' in French are ... they are both 'chouette'! Well done to both students for a highly creative and witty entry.

Enjoy your prize!

Ms Whitehouse, Head of MFL

SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS AND FAMILIES OVER THE HOLIDAYS A reminder that although school may be closed there is still help and support available for you.

All students up to the age of 18 can access Kooth: https://www.kooth.com/ The Anna Freud “my self care plan” https://www.annafreud.org/schools-and-colleges/ resources/my-self-care-plan-secondary/ has lots of helpful tips and strategies Talkzone, a Lancashire service is available daily from 2.00 to 10.00pm talkzone@lancashire.gov.uk.

You can chat online or call 0800 51 11 11.

You can also find useful information on the LGGS website https://www.lggs.org.uk/4091/care-andsupport-information

GLOBAL ESSAY COMPETITION Many congratulations to Year 12 student Anna Putland who has been shortlisted for the Law Category of the John Locke Institute 2022 Global Essay Competition.

This prestigious competition attracted a record number of over 800 entries, with each essay being read twice before a decision being made on shortlisting. Anna has now been invited to Oxford for the awards ceremony and gala dinner on Saturday, 17 September, 2022, at which the winners and runners up will be announced.

She has also received an invitation to an academic conference, open only to shortlisted candidates.

THE NIGHT DIARY The Night Diary is a historical fiction book based on the partition between Pakistan and India.

The book explores how people felt during this challenging time and how it hurt a lot of people emotionally and physically.

The Night Diary also includes many relatable areas such as the different environments like the big markets and the various kinds of food.

It shows how interreligious marriage was

frowned upon but that it still happened, and the religions did live peacefully in some families.

It is important that books like this are brought into the curriculum because many people may not know about events like these or about different cultures around the world and how their lives are different to others. This is why it should be studied and read by young people, so they have the knowledge of historical events and pivoting moments that have happened. Such as the partition of India or the legalisation of interracial marriages in the U.S., 1967. Also, the way it is brought across, in book form letting you follow the life of a young person going through these historical events, helps to encourage more people to learn and read about it.

Maria Thomas, Lydia Sam, Maimona Nusrat, Hashbala Khan and Fatimah Hawasi, Year 8.

SUMMER HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES Free webinars for parents and carers on supporting the wellbeing of young people before and after exam results day.

The Anna Freud Centre is offering free webinars to all parents and carers of children in Year 11 and Year 13 receiving their exam results this summer. Waiting on exam results can be a stressful time

and can be a period of anxiety for both teenagers and their family worrying about the future. Our webinars will provide parents and carers with strategies to support young people who are waiting on their results. It will also include tips for parents and carers to manage their own wellbeing during this time. There will also

be opportunities to ask questions.

Find out more information at Free exam results webinar for parents and carers (annafreud.org) Lancashire programme for children entitled to Free School Meals.

Lancashire have arranged a programme of activities for the school summer

improve wellbeing and have fun over the summer holidays.

The programme will run for four weeks over the school holidays. It will provide four hours of activities a day, including a meal, over four days per week.

More information at: Holiday activities and food programme (HAF) - Lancashire County Council

holidays.

A wide range of different activities are being planned, aimed at helping children and young people to:  be more active  learn new skills  make new friends, and work together The activities will also help to increase self-esteem and

Escape 2 Make This summer young people have a fantastic opportunity to take part in 15 free creative courses over July & August, which will result in a Green Festival on August 27th. These opportunities are free and great for those who just want to try out a new skill, make some new friends or have something interesting to put on their CV’s. They are being offered by Escape2Make (E2M) an all-inclusive charity in Lancaster & Morecambe, that offer free creative activities to help 11-18s with their wellbeing and life chances.

Courses range from woodwork to wild cooking! All 15 courses contribute to a Green Festival in Lancaster on Saturday August 27th.

You can sign up by using this link: Escape2Make – Make things. Make friends. Make a difference.

6K MIDSUMMER SUPPER RUN 2022 An incredible £400 was raised from this year’s Supper Run! It may have been the first year that the sun didn’t shine and the heavens opened, but that didn’t deter our runners from far and wide. On the night, there was a great turnout and afterwards everyone warmed up with a well-earned chip butty! The money raised from this year’s event has been donated to ‘The Runners Centre’; who are wanting to install a defibrillator outside their shop and The Fairfield Association. Thank you everyone.

SPORTS DAY RESULTS ARE IN! A few words to say a ginormous thank you for your support, patience and enthusiasm during our 2022 Sports Day, a special day which we have all missed.

This whole school event would not be able to run without your help – no matter how big or small your role was - we thank you for making it possible.

AALBORG DON’T FORGET TO BRING BACK NEWS TO US IN SEPTEMBER OF YOUR SUMMER HOLIDAY, PERSONAL SPORTING, ACHIEVEMENTS FOR OUR NEXT SPORTS NEWSLETTER

LUBLIN

SPORTS DAY A JUNIOR YEAR 7 & 8 TOTALS

SPORTS DAY B JUNIOR YEAR 7 & 8 TOTALS

SPORTS DAY A INTER YEAR 9 & 10 TOTAL

1st

Rendsburg 79

1st

178

1st

2nd

Aalborg

77

2nd Lublin

160

2nd Lublin

75

2nd

Lublin

77

3rd

Rendsburg 145

3rd

Aalborg

72

4th

Perpignan 67

4th

Perpignan 112

4th

Perpignan 70

Aalborg

Rendsburg 81

Apparently the team cheers could be heard back up at school, so I’m taking that as a positive sign of the fun that was had by all and that the House spirit has been sparked ready for music festival next week. Thank you again, it was really appreciated The PE Department, Ellie, Lucy, Amanda, Sarah and Leanne

PERPIGNAN WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY SUMMER BREAK

SPORTS DAY B INTER YEAR 9 & 10 TOTALS

SPORTS DAY SENIOR TOTAL YEAR 12 RELAYS

SPORTS DAY SENIOR TOTAL YEAR 12 RELAYS

1st

161

1st

7

1st

Lublin

475

158

2nd Aalborg

5

2nd

Aalborg

468

Perpignan

2nd Lublin

Rendsburg

3rd

Rendsburg 144

3rd

Lublin

5

3rd

Rendsburg 456

4th

Aalborg

4th

Perpignan

4

4th

Perpignan

R R EE N ND D SS BB U UR RG G

136

415

ERA RECOGNITION The ERA David Clark Prize recognises those that have gone beyond what is required in the teaching syllabus and have been able to demonstrate a strong track record of showcasing real world engineering to students while inspiring them.

While this year’s David Clark Prize went to Rebecca Lofthouse from Skipton Girls’ High School.

However, the ERA Foundation also recognised Jacqui Sandbach from Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School as a runner up to the Clark Prize for Secondary Schools for her passion in promoting engineering vocations to girls and young women and encouraging them to be successful whilst engaging in inspiring STEM activities and events. It is only in exceptional circumstances that the Chair of the ERA Foundation will provide runner up awards, so it is a testament to Jacqui’s enthusiasm and vision in engineering that she was recognised in this way.

Jacqui was nominated by our Arkwright Engineering Scholarships Liaison Officers, Phillip Taylor. Throughout Phillip’s frequent visits to LGGS, he was consistently amazed at how many extracurricular engineering activities the students were able to take part in and commended their enthusiasm in wanting to learn more about engineering. We

need to encourage more females into engineering, so Jacqui’s role in supporting LGGS students into engineering for over twenty years is a victory for the industry and only cements her welldeserved success.

Phillip Taylor, Arkwright Engineering Scholarships Liaison Officer, said: ‘Jacqui was an obvious nominee for the David Clark Prize, her enthusiasm and vision for engineering, witnessed during the last eight years, through my role as an Arkwright Liaison Officer, was clear. In that time, in terms of numbers of Arkwright Engineering Scholarships achieved, Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School have easily been the most successful school in the North-west of England.

However, that is just the tip of an engineering iceberg. Jacqui has developed an ethos at the school where, not just through the curriculum, any pupil at any level can engage in engineering activities. I had the fantastic task of informing Jacqui of her success. I regard her David Clark Prize as a ‘lifetime achievement award’. It is so well deserved.”

In addition to teaching both GCSE and A-level Engineering for a number of years, Jacqui has encouraged our students through a wide range of extracurricular activities from clubs such as Year 7 STEM, Vex Robotics and Toyota Challenge, to numerous competitions and events in collaboration with IET Faraday, Rotary Club, Lancaster University and the Institute of Manufacturing. In addition, over the years we have been the most successful school in the north-west for the number of Arkwright Scholarships awarded, 51 to date.

The ERA have awarded the school £6,000 which we intend to use for the purchase of a laser cutter and a 3D printer to support the Engineering and Design Technology classes.

The ERA committee commented that ‘this year we received an excellent set of applications for the Prize. The selection process was particularly challenging as the calibre of entries across the board was extremely high and our panel found all to be genuinely inspirational. It is inspiring to see such dedication and hard work.’

The awards were presented by David Clark at the ERA Foundation Annual Dinner and Lecture, held at Savoy Place, London, in 2022.

STEP INTO OUR WORLD …

THE INCREDIBLE ARTWORK SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

EDUCATION SEASON TICKET

Northern is delighted to confirm that our Education Season ticket for under 16’s is back for the next academic year and will be available to purchase online from Monday 1st August from https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/educational-season With savings of up to 75%* on the equivalent adult annual season ticket, Educational Seasons are becoming an incredibly popular and greener way to get to school, saving parents money and helping reduce traffic.

Tickets will be available to purchase online on the Northern website and will be valid from Thursday 1st September.

LATE NEWS

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2022 We hope you enjoy browsing through the following Music Festival images.

More images shall be uploaded to the website later this week.

THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOUR We restarted the Gardening Club at the start of May and the students and staff have been working really hard to clear the weeds so that we have useable beds for the autumn term.

We've had several crops growing, such as lettuce, radish, beetroot, cucumbers and many, many tomato plants! We've also had a container planting competition and grown lots of sunflowers, see pics below. There is still some work to do in the garden and raised beds to build - hopefully in the Autumn term. Thank you to all of the pupils and staff who have helped out! Miss C. Hutton, Physics Teacher

FOOD BANK COLLECTION A massive thank you to the Refugee Week team and to Deputy Head Student Tee Desai for organising this June's food bank collection.

We were delighted to be able to send out several cars full of produce from our generous LGGS community and families. Thank you so much for all of your help and support each time we launch a collection. You make a difference.

Katy Allen, Head of Year 13