February 18th 2022
NEWSFLASH Fortnightly Newsletter of Woodhouse Grove School
Grove Awards This week, Nihal Johal and Adam Hussain, both in Year 8 were presented with their Grove Award badges and certificates. To gain the award they each undertook five challenges; these included exchanging letters with a pen friend in Urdu, learning to play the flute, earning 5 house points and being a form prefect.
Re-Gift for Charity Thank you to our staff and families who donated unwanted toiletry products gifted to them over Christmas. They have been re-gifted to the homeless and vulnerable supported by Life Church and asylum seekers supported by Wydan.
Cherry Blossom Planting Science Lecture 41 Year 10 pupils went to the GCSE Science Live show in Bradford last week. The topics covered included: nature versus nurture, nuclear fusion, genetics, material science, black holes, exam techniques. It was a great day out of the classroom learning more about GCSE topics.
Last week we were presented with a cherry blossom tree as part of the Sakura Cherry Tree project to commemorate the ongoing friendship between Japan and the United Kingdom. Our tree is one of more than 6,000 being planted throughout the UK as cherry blossoms are celebrated and feature prominently in Japanese history and culture.
Badminton Last weekend Alex Steel Y7 and the Yorkshire U12 team played against Warwickshire, Alex had a fantastic win against the Warwickshire No.1 player. The weekend earlier, Thomas Steel Y11 and the Yorkshire U16 team had a clear victory against Derbyshire 20 games to 0.
Cross Country It was recently the West Yorkshire Cross Country trials. Well done to all 12 students who attended the trials and congratulations to James, Simeon, Archie, Maisey, Harriet, and Zach for qualifying for West Yorkshire.
Rugby Congratulations to the following students who have been selected for DDP and PDG Squads. U16 PDG Thomas Rowe, U16 DPP Jobe Knapton, Jack Gilbert. U15 DPP Oscar Binns, Henry Barton. U14 DPP Max Chaplin, Zach Taylor, Ethan Taylor, Will Gaffney. Well done to the U16’s 7’s team who won the Weston Cup at Durham last week. After qualifying as runners up to Sedbergh, they then beat them 20-5 in the semi-finals, and went on to beat Barnard Castle 26-5 in the final.
Football The U15 girls have made history becoming the first girls football team to play in a national cup for WGS! This is a great start to girls football at the school which they hope to build on after half term.
Last week was Schools’ Football Week. Across Woodhouse Grove and Brontë House, we had 17 teams playing 23 fixtures, with over 200 students involved.
Netball Well done to Summer and Phoebe who played for Leeds Rhinos U17 team against Scotland. Also Emma was unfortunately was injured so couldn't play but did a great job on video duty
Cricket 4 of our teams competed in the West Yorkshire Schools Finals: U13 Boys, U13 Girls A and B teams and the U15 Girls. Well done to the U13 girls who came third, and to the U13 boys' team who won two of their matches and are now progressing to the Yorkshire Finals in March.
Swimming Congratulations to Matthew Roberts who competed in the Yorkshire Swimming Championships. He achieved PBs in all his events and reached the finals for both backstroke and breaststroke.
High School Musical Rehearsals are well under way for this year’s production of High School Musical. We cant wait to see the final performance. If you’ve still not bought your tickets yet, please use the link below. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ woodhousegroveschool
Molecule Making Year 8 have been drawing and making models of molecules in their science lessons recently.
Riverbank Project Update Boarding Baking Weekend afternoon baking with Reverend Atkins and the Miller House girls, making some lovely cakes.
Altogether 120m has been cleared. From the far bottom car park you will notice a huge difference due to the riverbank pioneers work and the River Stewardship Company. Neil Hunt and Dawn Collins of Rawdon Parish Council, have kindly sponsored this work for the whole academic year, directed by Louise Ross of Groundwork. If anyone wishes to join the effort please contact Mr Lambert.
Cheering on an Old Grovian The U13 Rugby team travelled to Leicester to watch the Leicester Tigers play Northampton Saints. OG James Whitcombe played 70 minutes for the Tigers and was kind enough to take photos and talk to our U13’s after the match. It was a great experience for them all. Thank you to James for showing them where hard work and resilience can get you!
Sustainability in School As we try to become more sustainable as a school, here are some of the things we’re already doing. Did you know that our kitchen collects our used cooking oil and sends it back to a refinery to be turned into renewable, low carbon biodiesel? Also our food waste is recycled and converted into renewable energy, supplying gas to the national grid. Going forward, we will continue to look at how we can reduce, reuse and recycle our waste.
Friends of Woodhouse Grove The FOWG Pre ❤’d Uniform Team will continue to collect outgoing styles of uniform & sports kit for Changing Stars Malawi We sent a fabulous collection before Christmas, that was due to fly out early this year but with so much to take the charity volunteers will go ahead now & pack this into a container later in the year Keep these donations coming in! They can be dropped at reception. Here's a reminder of the Chitzano School students wearing our kit in December 2020 thanks to their great work ❤ https:// www.facebook.com/ changingstarsmalawi