LGGS UPDATE
JULY 2023
WELCOME
Dear parents and students, Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2023-24 academic year. What better way to start the year than with International Week which celebrates diversity and helps students, who are new to LGGS, settle in and make new friends. Thank you to Miss Whitehouse for organising this well-loved and successful event. Thanks also to our students who participated and ran workshops and our parents who joined us for the delicious International Food Fair. We welcomed Year 7 parents and carers into school for an Information Evening last week. It was
wonderful to meet so many of you in person and gain feedback on how well your child has settled into school life. The evening’s PowerPoint can be found on the Parents’ section of our website. Extra-curricular activities are a good way to make friends across form groups and year groups and there are a wide range of activities on offer. Please do encourage your child to take part. YEAR 13 LEAVERS We hope all our leavers are settling into life beyond Sixth Form, whether this be university, apprenticeships, gap year travel, or employment. We congratulate them again on their amazing results this summer. Over 74.5% of grades were at A*-B placing LGGS as the best performing school locally.A large number of subjects achieved over 75% of their grades at A*-B including: Art (100% A*-B ) Business Studies Computing English Language (100% A* - B ) English Literature
French (100% A* - B) Further Maths Geography Maths Physics RS Spanish (100% A*-B) Theatre Studies We hope to see all our 2023 Leavers at our Celebration Evening which will be held at Lancaster University’s Great Hall on 19th December 2023. Our students have gone on to study at a wide variety of courses and universities, all over the country. The most popular course being Medicine with13 students selecting this subject. The top university choices for LGGS students were: Lancaster University 15 University of Manchester 7 University of Cambridge 6 Newcastle University 5 University of Central Lancashire 5 University of Liverpool 5 Durham University 4 Leeds 3 LSE 3 Oxford 3 I hope you have a relaxing break. Mr Chris Beard Headteacher
Join us for
Sixth Form Open Evening 2nd November 2023 5.30pm - 7.30pm Register here to join us
IN TE RN AT IONA L W EEK LGGS students only had to wait three weeks into the term until our fantastic community came together to put on another spectacular array of multicultural delights for this year’s International Week. Every day was jam packed with activities to allow students to access traditions, languages and customs from right across the globe. The week began with Year 7’s morning to mark the European Day of Languages; students had access to workshops led by their polyglot languages teachers in Polish, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Italian and Welsh, to name but a few, as well as dabbling in French cubism, Thai Chi, Henna, Boules, Breton dance and learning to play Monopoly in German. Special mention should go to Miss Brown, Mrs Patel, Mrs Ismail and the Year 13 French set for joining in to lead sessions. It was Year 8’s turn next, the MFL department took a back seat and handed over to our own incredible students who lead an afternoon of sessions in Bollywood dance, Polish folk music, Swedish Orienteering,
Farsi language and culture and Henna sessions. The session leaders from Years 10-13 were outstanding, inspirational role models to our Year 8s, providing engaging and informative workshops and exuding enthusiasm for the cultures they were representing, encouraging everyone as they went. Meanwhile, Year 9 relished a calmer but equally thoughtprovoking opportunity to watch the critically acclaimed 2012 Saudi Arabian film, ‘Wadjda’; entirely in Arabic it recounts the
plight of one teenage girl to earn the money and the human right to ride a bike. Does she succeed? No spoilers Year 9, please; it’s worth the watch to find out! Elsewhere, lunchtimes offered daily spectacles, whether crooning to (foreign language) karaoke, being dazzled by (international) dance performances or applauding the style from across the globe at the International Fashion Show, led by our Sixth Form Equality and Diversity Team. Once again, our students excelled in
Above: Examples of Year 12 students’ door collage.
preparing and leading over twenty workshops to promote languages and cultures; origami, ballet, Tamil, Greek pottery and henna workshops. There really was something for everyone and even the chance to learn Elvish! The week culminated in an explosion of flavours at the International Food Fair, where Mrs Hutchinson seamlessly coordinated 100 food stalls from around the world so that the rest of the school could drift in a heavenly haze between samosas and sushi, via tortilla and tacos, with an option for Irn Bru and Welsh cakes on the side! Fundraising activities took place throughout the week and all proceeds will go to Unicef - the Moroccan Earthquake Appeal. A huge thanks to all staff, students, parents and carers for their contributions during this fantastic week which makes us all appreciate the richness that the diversity of different cultures and languages in our world brings to our hearts and minds. Miss K Whitehouse, Head of MFL
What our students thought: My afternoon was amazing and very interesting! First, I learnt about Iranian history, culture and writing. I learnt some very interesting facts and managed to write simple yet useful phrases such as 'hello' or 'how are you'. I even wrote my name in Farzi! After that, I went to the henna workshop, I learnt new skills and polished my henna techniques, and sang along with the catchy Indian music that played in the background. My friend and I did henna on each other, and it turned out really
nice! Then, I headed to the drama studio for some European folk music. I played a steady beat on the tambourine, others played beats on other musical instruments, and a group of people sang a song - it sounded really nice when put altogether, the tune and rhythm of the music is still stuck
in my head. Finally, I headed to Pear Tree Gardens to do some orienteering, a sport that originated in Sweden, and is very popular all across Scandinavia. Doing this really improved my map reading skills, at first it took me a bit of time, but towards the end I got the hang of it and really enjoyed it. In conclusion, I had an amazing international afternoon, I learnt so many new and exciting things. I was also inspired to run a stall like this when I'm older, and teach people about my culture! Gouri, Year 8 For my international afternoon I had Orienteering, Bollywood dancing, Farsi, and Henna. Orienteering was surprisingly interesting because I had no idea it was such a big worldwide sport. I found the history fascinating. Previously I didn’t know anything about orienteering, so I learnt a lot. I enjoyed the outdoor orienteering bit of the session too. I had Bollywood Dancing after that which was so fun but a bit challenging. I had such a good time! We had Farsi after that which I liked a lot but found the style of writing
difficult. It was really interesting though. The history of Farsi and Iran was so fascinating. I loved learning about it. We took part in a henna session, and everybody loved it. I had no idea that henna was so difficult especially as it is done so intricately. I found it very impressive that people can make such beautiful designs on other people without making mistakes. I loved every moment of the workshops. The Sixth Formers were all amazing and were so good at teaching us. Lucie, 8.3 I hope you’ve had a great Another great, delicious fun activity was the food fair and dress up day on Friday. This school has such talented students, and I am looking forward to next year’s International week. Thank you so much, Sakeena, 7.2
International week like I did. I am writing to you to say thank you for running this amazing event to learn about cultures and eat lots of delicious food. I really enjoyed the dance show. Can you believe a Year 7 did an amazing dance in front of all those people. She was amazing. I also loved the fashion show, still can’t believe how they all had such wonderful outfits.
I am writing to tell you how much I have enjoyed international week. It has been really diverse and cultural I loved all of it. Yarah, 7.5
CCF SU MME R CA MPS
RAF S E CTION CCF Royal Airforce (RAF) This year’s summer camp took the cadets to the large RAF base at Lossiemouth, North Scotland. A wide range of activities took place over the week. These include Go Karting, visiting a Fire Station and the Loch ness Centre, archery, Shooting, cyber and coding, dog training, Survival training, Lighthouse trip and not forgetting the Drill competition. It was an amazing experience that allowed our cadets to interact with other units from all over
the country. Friendships were established and all cadets made the most from this
busy interactive opportunity. Flight Lt. R Williams
N AVY S E CT ION
CCF Royal Navy (RN) The start of this term has seen 17 new cadets join the RN ranks from Year 9 students at LGGS. And they have also been joined by Mr Yearnshire. Our students are already starting to make an impact on Parade nights, with many parades being lead by LGGS cadets, including our Chief Petty Officer, Sarah Clarke. We have had two sailing days at Killington with Year 9 cadets being introduced to this new skill on a windy day, making the sailing very challenging for beginners. But, I am pleased to report that they all coped extremely well.
The second outing provided much calmer conditions and we had a great day afloat with many cadets developing their sailing skills. Over the summer months a number of cadets took part in Royal Navy courses including Senior Leadership and Sailing, on
the Belleraphon from Plymouth out into the English Channel, helping establish their sailing skills. All cadets benefit from the busy, interactive opportunity offered through the cadets. Mrs K Shaw, SLt
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W ILD N ETW ORK On Tuesday 17th October Year 10 and 11 Computer Science students were invited to join the WILD (Women in Lancaster Digital) Network. The students had a fabulous opportunity to listen to three incredible speakers who presented and discussed how they use tech for good. Xiaoyun Chen spoke all about how she cleans data to learn about children’s curiosity! Nicola Rennie told them about the variety of projects her
research group were working on to help the NHS! Laura Ockenden shared her work in how to make the
internet good for people and the planet. J Clapham, Head of Computer Science
LGGS POET LA UREATES It is time to say over the past nine farewell to our LGGS months which Poet Laureates, covered a wide Catherine and range of topics. Eniola. I am sure you shall Both students have all wish to join me created impressive in thanking them for and thought inspiring us all. provoking words We are therefore
looking for our next Poet Laureates and if you feel you would like to take on the role, please get in touch. Mr J Grundy, Head of English
SALLY NICHOLLS - AUTHOR VISIT
This week, LGGS Library welcomed award-winning young adult author, Sally Nicholls, to talk to Year 9 about her historical coming of age novel, Things A Bright Girl Can Do. We heard from Sally about the inspiration for writing her book, about the central characters, Evelyn, Nell and May – three women from different social backgrounds who each have their own reasons for becoming involved in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in 1914 – and about the ongoing fight for women’s suffrage on equal terms to men, which was achieved in 1928, after more than 50 years of campaigning. Sally’s talk was an inspiring introduction to the Women’s Rights Movement and how campaigns were affected by the outbreak of war in 1914, a topic that Year 9 will be studying in History lessons later this year.
Students had the chance to ask their questions in the author Q&A. We had some great questions from the audience, such as: ‘How long
did it take you from finishing your first draft of the book to getting published?’ and ‘What inspired you to write about the Suffragettes and Suffragists?’. Many students got their pre-ordered copies of the book signed by the author, with a hand shake to top it off!
If any Year 9 students missed the chance to order a book before the event and would now like to do so, payment can be made at the discounted rate of £6.30 via Parent Pay until 5 pm on Wednesday 1st November. We asked one of our Year 9 Student Librarians, who had already read the book, whether the talk prompted her to look at the Women’s Rights Movement in a new way. Her answer was… ‘Yes! Hearing about how hard the women fought and the way they were treated as common rather than political prisoners after being arrested for protesting, really made me want to look into the subject in more depth.’ Erin, Year 9 Another Year 9 student said: ‘I learnt a lot about the suffrage movement and the book. Nicholls explained about a few characters and it was really interesting.’ Yaamini, Year 9
P E RFO RMAN CE We have had two Drama Clubs running so far this year. Year 10 Drama Club (Wednesday lunchtime) have auditioned students from Years 7-9 and will be working on a production of the musical 'Mean Girls'. Running the club are Zoya, Catherine and Tia. Year 12 Drama Club (Tuesday after school) are currently casting for their version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with KS3 & KS4 students.
Mr Swannell and myself are casting for ‘Chicago’ this week. The whole school musical will be performed at The Storey, Lancaster during February.
Years 10, 11, 12 & 13 were invited to audition. Besides acting there are also opportunities for make-up, lighting plus many more supporting roles.
COMING SOON We are looking forward to a theatre trip in November to see Blood Brothers. The trip has been arranged for our GCSE students which will allow them the opportunity to experience a live theatrical and musical performance. Miss A. Woodhouse, Head of Drama.
AUTUMN CONCERT
Tickets will shortly be on sale, via our website, for our annual Autumn Concert. We hope you will join us on Thursday 23rd November, 7pm at Ashton Hall, Lancaster. Mr Swannell, Head of Performance
EXAM I NATI ONS I NVI GI L ATOR P OS T We are currently looking to recruit Examination Invigilators at LGGS. This is an exciting opportunity to join our excellent school in a part-time, casual post, with an anticipated start date of January 2024. Although sessions can be chosen around other commitments, we would hope you would be available at least two days a week in May and June for the main GCSE and A-Level exams. There are also other exams during the school year. Find out more about the post.