NF December 2nd

December 2nd 2022

NEWSFLASH Fortnightly Newsletter of Woodhouse Grove School Follow us on twitter @woodhouse_grove

Blue Stockings Production

OG England Rugby Visit

Students from Years 11, 12 & 13 performed in the Senior Play ‘Blue Stockings’ this week. After a rehearsal period starting in September, cast members gave two fantastic performances of the play by Jessica Swale which tells the story of the first women to attend Cambridge University.

Although they were permitted to study, the women were not allowed the right to graduate.

The cast worked together brilliantly as an ensemble to tell this important story, which was welcomed by the audience members in attendance. Congratulations all!

A massive thank you to Old Grovian and England Rugby player Ellie Kildunne for taking the time to visit the Grove last week. Ellie spoke in the Year 7 and 8 assembly about her happiness at scoring the first try at the Rugby World Cup final and her sporting heroes. Year 7 also got hands-on rugby coaching from Ellie as she joined them in their PE lesson. Ellie was also kind enough to lead a Q&A session with over 30 of our Grove Athlete Education Programme students. Giving them personal advice on creating a good sport and school-work balance. Thank you, Ellie!

Christmas Fair Last Saturday was the Friends of Woodhouse Grove annual Christmas Fair. The morning was a huge success. Crowds of people came to do their Christmas shopping, enjoy the wonderful music being performed by students, and eat some mince pies. Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event and enjoy the day's festivities!

St Gemma’s Xmas Tree Helpers This week a group of Sixth Form students went to visit St. Gemma’s Hospice to help organise and move Christmas Trees for their annual Christmas Fair. The fair is run by Old Grovian, David Walker and his wife, who appreciated the help and support.

Park Run

Enterprise Day

Forty-plus students, staff and supporting parents visited Roundhay park run on Saturday 19th November, and had a great time (despite the rain) running, walking and jogging the 5k course. You can sign up for our next park run on Firefly.

Last week the Business and Economics Department hosted their annual Year 9 Enterprise Day, to give our pupils an insight into what business studies is like at GCSE and A-level. This year the pupils worked in business teams to come up with a new product on behalf of Apple. It had to be innovative, creative and practical and their ideas needed to be future-facing and realistic! The winning concepts included a bionic arm and a facial recognition payment system. Well done to all Year 9 pupils, it was a great day.

Rhinos Netball Captain Congratulations to Harriet King Y13, who has been named the U19 Leeds Rhinos Netball Captain for the 2022/23 season! This is a fantastic achievement, well done Harriet.

Climbing Competition Win A small group of rock climbers entered a schools climbing competition on Monday at Allerton High and brought home the win! Well done to everyone involved!

Year 13 Biologists Year 13 biology students have been completing an assessed practical investigation into the effects of an inhibitor on the light-dependent reaction in photosynthesis, using isolated chloroplasts from spinach leaves.

Good Luck This Weekend!

Good luck this weekend to our Intermediate Boys and Junior Girls cross country teams who are representing East Midlands at the National Schools Cup Final at GSAL on Saturday and to Jess Strudwick, Year 11, who is playing her debut game for Wales U17 netball against Worcester University.

Reading and Speaking Winners Congratulations to our Reading and Speaking winners. The Junior winner was Sophie Pickles Year 7, and Senior winners are Maisey Bellwood and Erin Nulty both in Year 10.

Riverbank Project - 1 Year Later One academic year and one term on the Riverbank!

The whole of our 1 kilometre riverbank boundary has been cleared of invasive weed! 500 saplings, free from Woodland Trust, were planted as part of the Queen's Green Canopy in this, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Year!

Thank you to Woodhouse Grove students, staff and parent pioneers and those from the wider community who have joined us in our effort to mitigate the effects of future flooding.

Devices in Science Lessons Some use paper workbooks, but many of our Year 9 scientists choose to use online booklets. They also use mini whiteboards for quick consolidation and engagement tasks. Most students are becoming proficient at using their devices for curating notes and they enjoy the different style of lesson required. They have been learning about biological molecules and modelling them and then recording these details in their notes.

Online Safety For Parents - Setting Up Devices With Christmas fast approaching many children will be getting new or upgraded devices, older devices may be handed to younger children.

Please see the information for parents about the importance of setting up devices with parental controls in relation to the age of the child.

Internet Matters covers all devices with very simple, easy-to-understand parental guides which you can find HERE.

Worms in STEM STEM Club now has some new members… 25 garden worms!

Dog Biscuit Dream Team Our enterprise students had huge success selling their 'artisan' dog treats at the FOWG Christmas Fair last weekend, It was a sell out! Production is currently underway as they make their next batch ready for their next sale at the LEAP Christmas Fair this Saturday at the Merrion Centre in Leeds.

If you are in town, please pop by to say hello.... and buy a bag of dog treats of course!

Year 7 DT Lessons Year 7 DT groups revolve through three areas this year, Textiles (Pencil Roll), Timber (Birdbox) and Electronics (Hexagon Light). Here are some of them hard at work sewing, sanding, sawing and soldering.

Boarding Christmas Fun Last weekend our boarders had a fantastic afternoon ice skating and Christmas shopping in Leeds. There was lots of laughter and lots of falling over!

Solo and Chamber Concert Well done to all those who performed at last weeks Solo and Chamber concert, it was an excellent night of performances.