Blog week ending 24th February - WGSB

Without doubt, the inclusion of school trips adds and enhances to your child’s learning journey here at WGSB.  We strive to provide an all-round approach to the curriculum .. and beyond, providing a host of curriculum linked trips as well as enrichment and cultural activities – all offer memorable and valuable life experiences. 

Mr Colledge, Head of Business Studies and Economics (pictured in the first photo) accompanied a group of our WG6 students on an enrichment trip to New York over half term.  The group enjoyed a huge range of cultural activities including taking in a Broadway Show, visiting Staten Island, a night-time trip to the top of the Empire State building and ice skating in Central Park.  The group also visited the heart of New York’s financial district .. a possible future career move for some of his students? As well as taking in a visit to the world’s largest shop – Macy’s.  As you can see from the photos Miss Spencer (teacher of Business Studies) and Miss Kemp (Deputy Head of WG6) took advantage of the opportunity!  An action-packed, rewarding and truly unforgettable trip.   

Mr Colledge’s A Level Economists are currently deepening their knowledge of the factors that influence a country’s local economic growth.   There is no single theoretical model which accounts for all economic development, but factors can be identified that are likely to influential specific countries and regions.  In this lesson students researched economic growth drivers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mrs Doughty was recently appointed Head of Computer Science, leading the development of both the curriculum content and learning as well as instigating a dynamic range of extra-curricular opportunities to provide exciting and challenging opportunities for students to support their studies and explore new interests.

Mrs Doughty is a great advocate of developing student knowledge and engagement with interactive activities and trips.  Next week our Year 10 & 11 GCSE Computer Science students will travel to the Computing LIVE! Conference in Disneyland Paris.  The conference is hosted by experts from a range of high-profile organisations with a view to bringing their studies to life and ignite their future career ambitions by showing the many different career paths computing can take them as well as providing relevant exam case studies to develop their classroom GCSE studies.  Additionally, students will take part in team challenges to analyse problems in computational terms: thinking analytically, logically and critically to see different aspects of computing technology in action whilst problem solving and gaining practical experience of the subject.  And of course, will get to enjoy the fun of Disneyland Paris with their school friends!

In the below lesson, Mrs Doughty’s Year 7 students are learning about client-server and peer-to-peer networks, and particularly the function of a server as well as its uses in industry and the business and cost considerations.

Congratulations to our Term 3 'Beginner's Italian' lunchtime club cohort. They spent five weeks learning greetings, giving information about themselves such as their name, age and how they are and how to ask for items in a shop. We celebrated in their last session with Italian desserts and they will be receiving certificates. Well done them!

If you are interested in joining the next cohort and learning a little Italian, please listen out in form time for a notice from Miss Price.

Year 11 students all have access to our GCSEPod which contains revision resources and topic activities from across the subjects.  Mr Baker has set a challenge that rewards those students who have completed the most tasks in a given week with a special Rewards Breakfast.  Every Friday morning a student form each House will join Mr Baker for a congratulatory breakfast feast!  This week, breakfasting in style will be Sultan S, James C, Lewis F, Howard N and Aaron C!

Miss Gubbin’s Year 8 Artists are studying the abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky and his use of synaesthesia to create his artworks.  Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which a sense (like touch or hearing) leads involuntarily to the triggering of another sense (like sight or taste).  Kandinsky listened to music and visualised that music in his paintings.  Our students created their own abstract piece of art by interpreting the emotions they felt when listening to a piece of music.  Using oil pastels students have created a very evocative selection of impactful pieces!

A Level Philosophy and Ethics keeps the students very much on their toes with challenging questions about who we are and how we deal with the abstract questions of Life. In the lesson this week Mrs Lawson's students have been busy debating the difference between bad and evil, and if the idea of being bad is really a way to make us feel better when we are not being good as we don’t like being seen as ‘Evil’.  The Ladder of Evil task definitely made them all think about the difference between the 2. The students really challenged each other as to what acts where more ‘Evil’ than others and they all came to the conclusion that it is not as simple as just being about intention!  Students left with more questions than when they started but determined to work out, What the problem of Evil really is!

Pictured Mrs Lawson, Head Teacher of WGSG with her A Level Philosophy and Ethics students.

Our Formula 1 in Schools team are readying a permanent area in the DT Department to hold meetings, work on the project .. and crucially test the cars!  Student members have been helping with the renovations and electricians have been booked to fit the necessary work stations.  In all, we have 56 student members.  Mr Webb, our DT Technician is leading the project and is inviting all student members and their parents and carers to attend an information evening on Wednesday 8th March -  the details of which will be emailed in due course.

Library Update.  Year 7 all received a free Bookbuzz book, courtesy of our wonderful PTA, and they were all given a challenge sheet to attempt. Further copies will be available via the Library and on Teams Life Programme. There will be House Points for every entry received by end of school on the completion date of Monday 27^th February. Prize winners for the best entries will be announced on World Book Day, Thursday 2^nd March.

As we continue to nurture economically healthy and astute students, we have recently broadened the opportunities even further with the development of a popular Bitcoin Club - a research group who are looking at the future of the world’s financial markets.  A new 12-week Bitcoin Club starts on 6th March – any students interested in joining, please speak to Mr Darwin and Mr Riches.  The below article was written by Taylor B, 9N.

Over the course of eight weeks, a handful of students across our school have attended Bitcoin Club every Monday after school, taught by Mr Darwin and Mr Riches.  During this time, students have expanded their knowledge of Bitcoin and developed their understanding of how the Bitcoin network operates. Did you know that one bitcoin can be divided into one hundred million units called satoshis? Some argue that because of bitcoin’s unique qualities, it will be the future of money globally. This is because anyone can verify that bitcoin has better qualities than all other forms of money. We have learnt about the history of humanity’s relationship with money and how people will select the best money according to all the characteristics a good money needs – to be of limited supply, divisible into smaller units, transportable, verifiable, durable and uniform. Various items have been used as money. For example, on the Pacific island of Yap people used large stones as money. Similarly, in Western Africa, people used beads of glass as money.

In one lesson, we used dice to demonstrate how proof-of-work and the cryptographic SHA-256 algorithm are used. This keeps bitcoin’s issuance fair and decentralised. 

We have also learned about public/private key cryptography. To keep your private key safe from being destroyed, we used a hammer and a 3D printed jig to hammer our private keys into metal washers. Even if your house burned down or flooded, it would still be readable! 

We also tried setting up a bitcoin node so that we could validate for ourselves the consensus rules of bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a technology that solves the problems that older monetary technologies have. The biggest problem is that in some countries, governments can easily create currency without expending energy. This causes the price of everyday items to get more expensive and devalues ordinary people’s savings. In other parts of the world, banks can censor the transactions of political dissidents. Bitcoin can also help to give more people access to the internet and electricity. For many people, especially those in developing countries without access to banking services, Bitcoin is a very useful technology.

If you would like to learn more about the Bitcoin network, you can join Mr Darwin and Mr Riches for a 12 week course starting on the 6^th March.

Forthcoming Dates;

• Computer Studies Trip to Disneyland – 26 February – 28 February
• Easter Raffle ticket sale via ParentPay - Tuesday 28 Feb - Monday 27 Mar
• Industrial Strike Action – Thursday 2 March.  Year 7 & 11 WILL ATTEND SCHOOL.  For full information regarding plans for each Year group, please click here.
• Next PTA Meeting - Monday, 6 Mar 2023 6.00-7.00pm (virtual)          

Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 352 244 007 97; Passcode: gYzaJf

• Year 8 Parents' Evenings - Monday 13th March & Tuesday 14th March (online)
• Music and Arts Festival - Thursday 23 March, doors open from 5pm
• Bingo Night - Friday 21 April, 6pm. More details to follow
• Summer Fair - Saturday 15 July, 10am - 1pm

PTA Update.  Hello and welcome back after the half term break!  The PTA would like to thank all those who supported our Krispy Kreme doughnuts sale, which raised a whooping sum of £514 which will be put to good use by the school.  Massive thanks to all our PTA volunteers, parents and of course the Premises Team who supported the pre-loved uniform sale on the last day of term. Total sale from the event was £269.

Pre-Loved Uniform/Lost Properties Shop: Do you have unwanted/outgrown good quality clean school uniform (blazers, jumpers, PE kit) please? You can donate these to the PTA nearly new uniform shop. Just put them in a bag and drop off at the school office. We particularly need donations of pre-loved lab coats. Have you heard about the WGSB Pre Loved Uniform / Lost but Found Properties Shop?

Did you know that this is the Shop where our students can be reconciled with their lost items (items with names on them only)?  Did you know your son can easily purchase pre-loved uniform from this shop at affordable prices, to replace lost kits or those they have out-grown?  The shop will be manned twice weekly during break times by PTA volunteers and will be opening soon.  Watch this space for more information on when and how your children can access this facility!

Amazon Smile / Easyfundraising.  Support Wilmington Grammar School for Boys - Dartford by signing up to support us for FREE on  Smile Amazon and Easyfundraising. You can raise donations whenever you shop online with over 7,000 retailers including John Lewis & Partners, eBay, Argos, ASOS, M&S and more. Plus, we will get a bonus £5 donation when you do! Sign up today - this will make a BIG difference to us this year: Easyfundraising

 

Easter Eggs Raffle Tickets: The PTA are pleased to invite you to purchase their Easter Raffle Tickets which will be live on ParentPay from 28 Feb - 27 Mar, for the opportunity to win fantastic giant Easter Eggs. Raffle tickets are £1 EACH and can be bought in multiples. You can buy as many tickets as you like. The draw will take place before the end of the school term. Winners will be notified from Wednesday 29 Mar and prizes can be collected from the school office before school closes on Friday 31^st Mar. Remember tickets sale go live on Tuesday, 28 Feb, and deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, 27 Mar. For further information, please contact pta@wgsb.co.uk

Thanking you in advance for supporting the WGSB PTA and for helping us to raise funds which benefits the school and students.

Best wishes,

Stuart Harrington

Head Teacher