Newsflash 21st June 2024

FortnightlyNewsletterofWoodhouseGroveSchool

Our Teachers A Troll - An Amazing Junior Production

Wednesday and Thursday of this week saw a cast and crew of almost 70 students take to the stage of The McCarthy Theatre in the 2024 junior production 'Our Teacher'saTroll'byDennisKelly. The show was a huge ensemble production and at points the whole cast was on thestage- an impressivefeat!With so much talent, the leads were played by different students on each of the nights. The story followed theterrible twins, Sean and Holly (played by Tom G and Lily RC on Wednesday, and Noah P and Velvet H on Thursday),in theirquest tofindhelpwhen the Headteacher of their school leaves and is succeeded by a troll (played by Milo N).

The performance was engaging and funny and the enjoyment from each and every member of the class was clear from the start. A huge well done to everyone involved, including all those behind the scenes.

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Performing Arts Activity

Last week, we enjoyed a very high standard of percussion playing at our Drummers' Concert. 16 performers performed a range of styles from Pop to Drum & Bass, and a few of pieces from the Rockschool and Trinity grades. Year 13 pupil Max closed his final drummers' concert at The Grove with atrackfromhisdrum-kitdiploma.

Last week, our Year 12 students took part in the first examined performance of their A-level course, a re-interpretation of Conor McPherson's 'The Weir'. Created in the style of renowned theatre company Complicité, and performed to a small audience in the McCarthy Theatre, the performance was a poignant and visual explorationofhowgriefcanaffectus.

Grove Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have completed their Grove Awards and were recently presented with their badges andcertificates.

Year7:CharlotteD,IslaL,DarcyP,RhysT

Year8:Eloise B,FreyaC,PennyL,JamesW Their challenges included Taekwondo, 10 hours painting at the local cricket club,

Click here for tickets

Junior Maths Challenge

This year almost 100 of our Year 7 and 8 pupils sat the Junior Maths Challenge. Students pitted their skills against some very challenging problems with excellent results. Our pupils were awarded 19 bronze and 20 silver certificates with Cindy G and Conor T gaining Gold, and best in Year 7. Isabel P, Fabian P and Seth B (Best in Year 8) also gained Gold and were selected to go through to the next round called the Junior Kangaroo, in which Seth was awarded a certificateofMerit.

Arts Awards

Some

of our gold certificate winners.

UCAS Exhibition

On Wednesday, Year 12 headed to Leeds Beckett University to attend the annual UCAS exhibition featuring more than 140 universities and employers from across the UK. Students spoke with admission tutors, explored the campus and attended subject specificlectures.

Disinformation

The Arts award is a nationally recognised qualification that encourages students to engage with a range of arts including music, drama, sculpture, painting and photography). It builds confidence and independent project skills: research, evaluationandanalysis.

Congratulationsto Year7students, AmayaKaurS,Angus B,andMaggieG, whohavecompleted avarietyoftasks connectedtothe arts.

Here in England, election time is upon us and, surprise surprise, the amount of mis and disinformation on social platforms is ramping up, particularly on TikTok, with dubious claims, misleading information, divisive content and outright lies.

-aged children are not (yet) old enough to vote, it's an ideal time to talk with them about misinformation as there are going to be plenty of real examples around. There's a good BBC article about this political disinformation HERE which was published last week and some further resources HERE.

Understanding Generative AI

We thought it would be useful to share this link to a guide that Roblox have put called 'Understanding Generative AI' which is a really nice, simple guide for tweens and teens and may be worth talking through with them. You can find the guide HERE.

School Election

Our school General Election takes place next Thursday. In a full school assembly, students and staff have the opportunity to listen to each candidate’s election speech before voting takes place at lunchtime. The candidatesstandingare:

Arsalan Khan - Liberal Democrat

Charlie Rutter - Conservative

Fred Abraham - Labour

Maria Speed - Green

Economics and Business

This week, Year 10 business students have been working with Dr Bianca Orsi and Dr Peter Hughes from The University of Leeds BusinessSchool.

They discussed the complexities of economics, the misconceptions of what it is all about, and the careers linked to it. Students also learned about the origins of money, the distribution of wealth and talkedaboutthe'bigeconomicproblem'.

Business in The Big Apple

Over the May half term break, some of our Year 12 students embarked on an unforgettable adventure to New York City that showcased everything the Big Apple hastooffer.

They delved into the history of the fashion industry, toured the United Nations building and Wall Street, as well as the Ground Zero Memorial and a guided cruise around Manhattan, including the Statue of Liberty andEmpireStateBuilding.

The trip was topped off with fun at a BroadwayShow and ConeyIsland,aswell as dining in Central Park, Times Square, Little Italy,andChinatown.

MorePhotosonflickr

Bronte Maths Roadshow

Massive thanks to our Year 10 pupils who went up to Brontë House to help with the fun Maths Roadshow for our Key Stage2children.

Congratulations to...

Scarlett S, Year 12, who recently entered the academically rigorous 'Think' Philosophy essay competition. Scarlett independently wrote a 1000 word essay answering, "Could a machine think?" Scarlett analysed the arguments of Rene Descartes, John Searle and Alan Turing to conclude that Artificial Intelligence ability to 'think' needs further definitionand ethicalexploration.

Thomas S, Year 9, continues to progress in motocross (fast off road racing with big jumps) and is going to Romania for some guided bike training as well as competinginUKraces.

Kira G,Year 12, has recentlycompetedin the U18 British Youth Championships, coming 7th in Epee (automatic qualification place fornext year)and 9thinfoil.

Austin B, Year 8, competed in the 2024 English Tumbling Championships in Telford and won gold in his ageandabilitycategory.

Some of our Year 7 netballers were involved in the West Yorkshire netball tournament last Sunday at WGS. Their club YMCA emerged as winners beating 9 other teams convincingly. Well done to Darcey B, AliceGandOrlaithC.

Athletics

Congratulations to Tife S, Year 9, Maisey B, Year 11, and Freddie B, Year 12 who have been selected to run for West Yorkshire at the English Schools Track and FieldChampionships.

Last week, all four WGS teams competed in the Regional A Finals of the English Schools Track and Field Cup in Derby. Our athletes competed against 16 other schools from a strongNorthMidlandsregion.

Three of our teams (JG, IG, IB) won their inter school competition on Wednesday, with our JuniorBoyscoming3rd.

Carey A, Year 7, is European Kickboxing Champion for her age/weight category. Carey won both the points and continuous fightingevents.

Congratulations to Grace R (U19) (U14) who both won Players Player of the Season attheLeedsRhinosnetballawards.

Refugee Week

Studying in the USA

On Wednesday, we welcomed Rev Dr Inderjit Singh Bhogal OBE to school. Dr Bhogal is founder of the City of Sanctuary movement in the UK and enjoyed a tour of the school, before presenting to students and watching some drama performances

Duke of Edinburgh

Many of our Year 10 are currently out enjoying the sunshine on their Bronze qualifying D of E expedition.

This is the second of the two groups to go out, with the first group out last weekend.

Our Year 10 and Year 12 students enjoyed a talk about the potential of studying in the USA for university/college delivered by Phil

Alternative to Medicine

The presentation was delivered by Paula Hatcliffe from Bradford University and focussed on broadening student understanding of alternative courses to medicine. The presentation covered pharmacology, optometry, bio-medical sciencesandmore.

A-Level Art Display

Congratulations to our Year 13 A-level artists who have submitted all their folders for assessment.

The display for students and staff readily demonstrated the amount of effort that has goneintotheseincrediblepiecesofwork.

FOWG Pre-loved Fundraising

We are extremely grateful to receive donationsofschooluniform&sportskit.

This is such a busy time of year! Please help ustosupport ourfamiliesandraisevaluable fundsfortheschoolPTA.

Any donations (outgoing or current styles) canbedroppedoffatschoolreception.

If you would like to place an order or make an enquiry, contact us on 07415367085.

Thank you for supporting the FOWGPre–lovedFundraising.

Have a lovely half term.

Cricket

An amazing afternoon for our Y8 and Y9 boys and girls meeting the current Yorkshire and Pakistan test Captain, Shan Masood. Shan showed the pupils his pre-match batting drills and passed on his wealth of experience in a Q&A session in the drama studio.

Current families are more than welcome to come along to this event.