Dance Showcase

On Wednesday 22nd and 29th March, 80 young dancers took to the stage to a sell-out crowd for their 2023 Dance Showcase. Students from Year 3 to Upper Sixth performed dances they had been learning throughout the year, in a range of styles. Miss Manning was so proud of how her students inspired each other to be bold, confident and fabulous - cheering each other on, every step of the way.

It was wonderful to welcome back former pupils to watch the show including last year’s Dance Captain, Kate Fitzpatrick (OW 2022).

Our very first senior dancers at WGS, Sophie Burnell and Emily Hunt (OWs 2018), were also delighted to present the Dancers’ Dancer Award during the showcase. Congratulations to this year’s winner: Millie Wyant.

Wellbeing

The addition of a helipod outside the Derry was an exciting sight as students came to school on Thursday 23rd March. As part of our Wellbeing Programme, students have the opportunity to learn about the world of work and specifically careers that are linked to Wellbeing. It was therefore a pleasure to welcome back Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, who visited earlier in the term to teach CPR to Year 7, to speak to Year 9 and also visiting students from Smestow Academy.

Kay Starkey from MAAC explained that the charity started in 1991 and is a helicopter-led emergency medical service covering six Midlands counties. The charity responds to some of the most traumatic incidents including cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions and sports injuries. Their aircraft can reach remote locations to attend to patients unreachable by land ambulance.

After the talk students were able to explore the helipod (a decommissioned MAAC helicopter) to understand more about how real casualties are airlifted to hospital. Junior School students also enjoyed a visit to the helipod and were guided around the aircraft by Mark Richardson, Events and Logistics Co-ordinator.

Other Wellbeing activities this term have included discussions in response to the rise of social media influencers and a ‘Keeping safe from Crime’ production by Loudmouth Theatre. Mrs Keeley was also delighted to welcome over 100 senior school parents and students to her first Wellbeing Evening, which covered topics such as revision tips and coping with exam stress, internet safety, careers and wellbeing through fitness.

Congratulations Emily!

Congratulations to Lower Sixth student, Emily Connor, for delivering a fantastic presentation at the Articulation Prize 2023.

PI Day

Congratulations to Head Boy, Vishwas, who beat the current school record of 187 by reciting 224 digits of Pi!

Meanwhile in the Junior School, Evelyn in Year 5 recalled an incredible 189 digits of Pi to set a new Junior record!

“Here at WGS we strive for excellence, building confidence and skills in an environment where students feel supported and at home. Our dancers showed that beautifully on stage in our Showcase and we are incredibly proud of them all. A special thank you to our current Dance Captain, Jenny Chan, for being a wonderful role model to all our dancers.”

Miss Manning, Dance Teacher

The Articulation Prize is an annual competition that invites post-GCSE students aged 16 - 19 to deliver a 10-minute presentation to an audience about a work of art, artefact, or architecture of their choice. Over 1000 young people compete annually in regional heats and finals held in museums and galleries in 10 regions across England.

Emily was selected to represent WGS at the regional heat at Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, judged by award-winning writer, educator and performer, Casey Bailey. Emily spoke with incredible confidence about the work of American artist, Suzanne Lacy, renowned for socially engaged practice and an art style involving collaboration and participation, usually focusing on political issues.

We are very proud of Emily for her amazing achievement. Thank you to WGS Head of Art, Miss Bowater for supporting Emily’s entry to the Prize.

Hansel & Gretel

This Spring, the Junior School have been especially busy putting together their Year 3 and 4 show, Hansel and Gretel, which was written by our very own Mr Peters.

From an evil witch to dancing woodland creatures, the children have enjoyed getting into character with face paint and costumes alike. With Miss Austin as director and choreographer, the two show nights were an all-singing, all-dancing affair that delighted and dazzled our proud parents. Well done to all involved.

WGS Charity Club

Charity Club has been a popular addition to our extra-curricular clubs and activities at WGS this year. Headed up by Mrs Young, our new Charity and Community Action Co-ordinator, it has regularly seen over 60 students in Year 7 to Sixth Form in attendance each week.

Our four senior Houses have worked hard to support a number of local causes and received an overwhelming response from the school community. Thank you to all our WGS families for supporting with donations: over 750 hygiene products for the Haven (Nechells), food donations for The Well (Offley), clothes donations for The Way Youth Zone (Moreton) and support for a blind penalty shootout to raise money for Eyecan (Jenyns). In addition, teachers delved into the archives to support Year 7’s ‘Guess the Baby’ competition, raising funds for Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice.

Other fundraising activities this term have included two samosa sales, the first in aid of the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal, and the second to kick-start fundraising for the mental health charity, Place2Be, which is the Coast 2 Coast chosen charity this year.

On Red Nose Day our Charity Ambassadors partnered with TV chef Sabrina Gidda (OW 2005) to raise an amazing £1,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK, an amount that shall be doubled by the Freddie Green & Family Charitable Foundation in partnership with the charity. Sabrina recently became an Ambassador for Pancreatic Cancer UK after sadly losing her mother, Sukey, to the illness in October 2021.

Sabrina kindly visited the WGS Charity Club at the beginning of February to discuss potential ideas for a collaborative fundraising event. Inspired by Sabrina’s successful career as a chef, our WGS Charity Ambassadors were keen to plan an event that incorporated her passion for food. Students and staff were challenged to pipe and decorate their own cupcakes and enter them into a House competition to be judged by Sabrina. There was an incredible buzz around Big School as everyone piled in to show their support for the charity. Thank you to Holroyd Howe who baked and provided 800 cupcakes for decoration. Congratulations to the winners of the Cupcake Competition: Darcie Rose (Year 7), Tom (Moreton, U6), Amarachi (Nechells, Year 11), Mya (Jenyns, Year 11) and Nimrah (Offley, Year 11). Sabrina also piped hundreds of cupcakes to be sold to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK .

Money was also raised through a nonuniform day encouraging senior school staff and students to come dressed in red (representing Comic Relief) and purple (for Pancreatic Cancer UK). There was a prize for the ‘best-dressed’ – well done Mrs Dixon and Angelina in Year 7!

At the end of February, 18 Year 10 students were joined by students from Beacon Hill Academy for a day immersed in Oxbridge preparation as part of a “Pathway to Oxbridge” partnership programme created by Head of Careers, Miss Kailey. The programme is designed to support students who wish to pursue Oxbridge applications from Year 10 through to the end of the process in Year 13. The event held in our Sixth Form Centre, was attended by numerous presenters who provided advice and guidance to the students; all guest speakers had either graduated from Oxbridge, experienced the application process, or had been offered a place in the next academic year.

Amongst the presenters were Head, Mr Frazer; Deputy Head, Mr Hughes; and Teacher of Business and Economics, Mrs Keys, who all attended Cambridge University. We were also delighted to virtually welcome Katie Naylor (OW 2018) who graduated from Oxford University in 2021 with a Degree in Neuroscience. Upper Sixth students Vishwas and Tom who have just been through the Oxbridge application process also came along to speak of their experiences. Vishwas has recently accepted an offer to study Engineering at Oxford University in the next academic year and Tom was placed in the ‘Winter Pool’ at Cambridge University but after much thought and consideration, has decided to accept an offer for Veterinary science at