Windsor Girls’ School

10 February 2017

Night at the Musicals

Monday evening, 6 February, saw the annual ‘Night at the Musicals’ concert held in the Drama Studio and produced by Mr Manwaring. With an audience made up of proud parents and excited students, we were ready to be transported all over the world. From 19 Century France to war struck Vietnam, the 27 performers really showed their vast musical theatre knowledge by giving us numbers from an incredible 23 different musicals. The opening number, “Alexander Hamilton” from the Tony Award Winning new musical, Hamilton, really set the bar for the evening ahead. It was a fierce opener and really highlighted some of the incredible talent we have across the upper schools.

Continued on Page 5

Dear Parents and Carers As we approach the end of term 3, it is pleasing to look back at this week and appreciate all of the events and activities that have taken place. Staff and students have been busy in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and this creates a really positive feel around school. Students have visited Brasenose College, Oxford; Eton College for a debate and Reading University as part of the Language Scholars Programme. These are all valuable opportunities and allow students to engage with academics from a variety of different institutions. Elsewhere in school, Year 10 students proved themselves to be great ambassadors for Windsor Girls’ at the Year 9 Subject Evening. They had the opportunity to develop their leadership skills whilst helping parents. The Music Department’s ‘Night at the Musicals’ was a huge success and a very popular event this week. Those of you who have watched our students perform in music and drama events this year will know that the standard is consistently high. Thirty five students enjoyed performing pieces from shows such as Hamilton, Wicked, Les Miserables, Billy Elliot and many more. Our annual House Quiz took place on Tuesday this week and the competition was as fierce as usual. Staff were particularly competitive during the competition which required students to answer questions on a variety of topics and themes. Some were more challenging than others. One of the most popular rounds involved guessing the member of staff from their baby photos. We look forward to learning the winner of the quiz in the next House Assembly. This week, the Senior Team and I have been interviewing Year 11 students who have applied to join Windsor Girls’ School Sixth Form. The process is always very positive and one which allows us to spend time looking at student aspirations and choices for the future. Students will be receiving letters in the next few weeks and we look forward to welcoming them in to Year 12 in September. On Thursday, staff were involved in an INSET session to develop expertise in delivering LORIC skills. As you are aware, this is a key focus for the school and we are committed to supporting students as they hone their skills in leadership, organisation, resilience, initiative and communication. We marked Internet Safety Awareness Day this week with a series of assemblies and tutor tasks. We will share the winning acrostic poem in our next newsletter. The event is marked around the world and is in its fourteenth year. The following link has more information and has some practical advice for parents: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/. Over the next week, contractors will continue to work on our construction project. They will be able to get on with jobs which do not require them to be quiet during school hours. They are aiming to have completed the new car parking area for when we return. Over the next few weeks, we will see some of the more noticeable changes. I hope that you all have a good break and return recharged on 20 February. Mrs G Labrum

Year Information

Term 4 begins on Monday, 20 February. We return on a week A. We are collecting Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers. Please bring your vouchers to the Main Office where we have a collection box. House assemblies at the start of next term will share the winners of the House Quiz competition.

Year 9 Year 9 data will be coming home the week beginning 20 February. Students involved with the Mock Trial Competition are reminded that they need to return their reply slips as soon as possible. The next meeting will be Wednesday, 22 February at Break 2 in Room 18. Year 10 With the new term there will be a new extra-curricular programme. It would be great to see even more Year 10s taking part. Year 11 Sixth Form interviews have been taking place this week in school. If there are any Year 11s who wish to make a late application, the Sixth Form prospectus and the application form are available on the school website and can be delivered to the Sixth Form Office. If there are any amendments to choices please email Mrs Saunders on sauns080@windsorgirls.net Attached to this newsletter is an intervention timetable for GCSE subjects. These sessions are designed to support students in reaching their potential and target grades. As you will see, some of the sessions are aimed at particular grades and aim to extend our learners.

SIXTH FORM

Year 12 and 13 Internal Assessments take place the first week back. These will take the format of the examinations the students will sit in the summer so students are encouraged to prepare thoroughly. We will be monitoring the outcomes of these assessments closely and, together with current data and attendance, we will finalise decisions about examination entries for summer 2017. Data for year 12 and 13 will be coming home the week beginning Monday, 27 February. Ten Year 12 students will be attending a history talk at Windsor Castle on the history of the Military Knights and the role of Governor on Tuesday, 28 February.

Are We Addicted To Technology? Today, technology is growing more and more, and has become an essential part of our everyday lives. Studies show that the average person checks their phone 110 times a day! We decided to have a closer look at this topic and its effects on people, along with the issues

of technology.

The word ‘addicted’ is defined as ‘becoming physically and mentally dependent on a habit-forming substance’. This means that the more we check and use technology, the more we become ‘dependent’ on it. The more we use technology, the more we think that we cannot live without it. And for many people, they strongly believe that this is the case.

Recently, people - especially teenagers - have been attempting ‘24-hour social media detoxes’. This means going 24 hours without using any social media whatsoever. We decided to see what this was like and what effects it would have on someone we know is very dependent on technology.

Jess, aged 14, uses technology every day. “It passes the time”, she says. “I use it to listen to music as I do my homework, watch films, play games, talk to my friends…anything really.”

We decided to have Jess try and complete a technology detox for one whole day; no phone, no laptop, nothing. “It was odd”, she said. “Usually I wake up and the first thing I do is check Instagram, but that simply wasn’t an option. At times, I was bored, but I was more productive in one afternoon than I generally am all weekend.”

After completing the detox, Jess said, “it was strange not using my phone but not utterly unbearable. I would do it again”.

This shows that humanity can go for a day or two without technology and if you do it repeatedly, maybe a few times a month, it will greatly improve your physical and mental health!

However, overuse of technology not only damages individual health, but also endangers the lives of other people. Using your phone whilst driving is an incredibly big problem.

Last year, the police had a crackdown on drivers who were driving whilst using their phone. On average, almost 50 drivers were caught illegally using mobile phones at the wheel. This threatens the life of drivers and passengers everywhere and many accidents occur due to the addiction of technology.

Overall, the addiction of technology can affect you physically and mentally and endanger the lives of other people. If these detoxes were completed more often and by more people, the world would be a much happier and safer place.

- Sam Allum, Rachel Clark, 9G and Jessica Woods, 9N

“Almost 8,000 fixed penalty notices handed out in week-long campaign last year…”

–The Guardian

Night at the Musicals continued

Performances from Katie Kirby, Larissa Bowyer and Becca Davies showed us the strong and sassy personalities of some of musical theatre’s most loved female leads. Soft, passionate and emotional performances from Bethany Thompson, Freya Holt and Martha Allerton truly showed how important the connection between singing and acting is and how it can immensely enhance the performance. Some little-known songs were performed by Grace Pearson-Hall, Saffron Woolven and Amy Germain, and they made us want to download the entire soundtrack straight away with their flair. Anouk Zarza-Franklin, Isabelle Walters and Iona MacRobert took on some of musical theatre’s most loved songs and performed them with the confidence of a West End performer. Emma Gyngell and Cara Doherty gave us a beautiful rendition of “Seventeen”, from the musical Heathers, and their voices melted together beautifully. Tasha Philips and Hetty Brake gave the Broadway originals a real run for their money with their performances of “On My Own”, from Les Miserables, and “Pulled”, from The Addams Family, with their timing and characterisation truly engaging us in their spectacular performances. While Katie Hopkins’ duet with Joseph Bristow was a perfect mix of voices and their stage presence created a beautiful and mature performance. With just the piano accompaniment from Mr Manwaring, the students showcased their talent and were extremely professional throughout. All of the performers are true credits to their schools and to Mr Manwaring. Bravo! Miss Walter - Drama

Four students from WGS and TWBS contributed to the two open debates and gave excellent speeches which were relevant, used high level philosophical language and were a credit to the school. We were incredibly proud of all our students. It takes a particular fondness for Philosophy and Ethics to take it for GCSE, but to take it at A Level shows true fascination with the subject. It is this fascination that was so glaringly obvious when Mrs. Jenkins took our A Level class to an Oxford conference, on Friday, 3 February, organised by Candle Conferences. Not just any conference either, a conference including such captivating characters as Peter Vardy, leading philosopher, and Bernard Hoose, a leading ethicist who developed his own theory of Proportionalism. These were the kind of people we only knew through the textbooks, the kind of people we used to support our arguments in essays and the fact that we actually got to meet these amazing men left me speechless. On the day itself, we were only a mere fraction of the 500 people that attended, amongst them were schools that grace the top league tables, schools from Oxford itself, the type of schools I

most definitely found daunting to argue against in the debates on the day. Yet, despite my own lack of courage, there were people from our ‘outstanding’ school that stood and fought their points and opinions in debates arguing for euthanasia and the purpose of life. Topics the light hearted may avoid. Those people were Adam Wilkowski, Niamh Degregorio, Jack Hopkins and Nansi Hidrej, and believe me when I tell you they left no prisoners. We ended the day leaving Oxford by train, and though by this point the day had surely ended, that budding flower of fascination grew as we argued Freudian theory in a train compartment, in tones far from hushed. - Jessica Lee, Year 12

Philosophical Debate

The Woman in Black In January, fifty enthusiastic, and slightly afraid, Year 10s had the chance to see ‘The Woman in Black’ at The Fortune Theatre, London. The trip accompanied a term’s study of gothic literature; the play proceeds Susan Hill’s horror novel of the same name. The play’s acclaim as being “a real shock of horror” (The Sunday Times) was affirmed. The haunting recounting of Arthur Kipps’ psychological torment due to his past experiences of working at Eel Marsh House, and the spectral woman he encounters, served to chill the audience. This atmospheric tale, performed solely by two actors, maintained constant fearful apprehension, on the audience’s part. Along with several unexpected and terrifying climaxes, many of which earned well-deserved screams. - Rachael Grimmer, Year 10

Aspiring High

On Monday 6 January, Paul Butler, a university lecturer and an expert on digital motion and creative careers, came to talk to the Aspiring High group. Mr. Butler has worked for prestigious companies such as the BBC and Sky TV. We were told about Sky's strategy for marketing a new James Bond channel – they created a car chase story from clips of all of the James Bond movies. We were able to appreciate the genius and craft that comes with making it, as well as the fun, and realised that creative careers were not just for people who could draw well or sing well but that you could have creative mathematicians, historians or physicists; and that creativity was about being able to think differently. The creative industry has generated over £84.1 billion to the UK economy and has created 2.9 million jobs in the UK alone. Mr. Butler was a very good speaker and helped us realise that creative careers were a possibility for many of us in the room. We are very grateful to him for providing us with the useful information and advice, and would like to thank him for visiting us. Aaminah Saleem, Year 11

Duke of Edinburgh Awards Duke of Edinburgh Award information for Years 10, 11, 12 and 13

Students who have completed their Duke of Edinburgh Award should have received an invitation

to the Youth Awards Ceremony on the evening of Monday 27 February, at the Magnet Leisure

Centre in Maidenhead. It would be helpful if you could respond, via email, as soon as possible so

that the organisers know who will be attending. This should be a vibrant occasion with lots of

students from all the schools and colleges in the borough taking part; in fact much of the event is

run by students and students provide most of the entertainment.

Year 12 Gold DofE - the practice expedition will take place in the Brecon Beacons from early

Monday, 19 June through until late Thursday 22 June 2017. The training weekend is likely to be in

March and the dates will be confirmed soon. This training weekend will be within 20 miles of

school.

Year 11 Silver DofE - the practice expedition will take place locally, in the Chilterns, from early

Friday, 17 March through until the afternoon of Sunday, 19 March 2017.

Year 10 Bronze DofE - the training and practice expedition will take place locally in Burnham

Woods on just one of the two following weekends:

Either... 4:30pm Friday 24 March through until the afternoon of Sunday 26 March 2017,

Or... 4:30pm Friday 21 April through until the afternoon of Sunday 23 April 2017.

The students have been informed which weekend they will be attending.

Students will need to be delivered to and from the expedition by parents, friends or relatives and

more details about this, as well as a full kit list, will be provided straight after the upcoming break.

All DofE students must have walking boots, a waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers and a

sleeping bag for these expeditions (so half term may be a good time to purchase some of these

items!) but all other equipment is provided by the school.

- Mrs M Cowles

Duke of Edinburgh Leader

Windsor Hospice I am one of many who have raised money for Windsor Hospice. I raised £20 and this took a lot of time. I am proud to be a young kid who donated for the hospice. I am proud of myself for doing this. How I came up with this idea: I had a lot of copper coins so I came up with the idea of collecting them to help people who are struggling to buy medical supplies. That is my wonderful idea for helping people out. - Emma Knowles, Year 9

PE Fixtures February 22 Netball Borough competition finals

Year 10 23 Girls Basketball year 9 4-6pm March 1 Netball Borough competition finals

Year 9 A & B 8 Year 9 Netball fixture vs LVS 8 Swimming fixture at Newlands 13 Netball fixture away at QAS U14 A,

B & C 22 Berkshire School Games Rugby

tournament

PE News

Badminton On Wednesday, Miss Skinner took five Year 9 and four Year 10 badminton players to the Berkshire S c h o o l G a m e s b a d m i n t o n tournament, held at Herschel Grammar School. The day consisted of both teams competing against different schools from around the county, within a two pool system. Both teams played some great badminton against very tough opposition. Each player played a singles match and a mixture of doubles matches across the team. The students played a total of 50 individual games of badminton throughout the day and all, as always, were a credit to the school. Well done!

PE News continued Extra Curricula Clubs There has been a sharp rise in numbers at extra-curricular clubs this week, which is great to see. The extra-curricular timetable for next half term is attached, with some very exciting fixtures coming up. Netball We have the finals of the borough wide netball tournaments for both the Year 9 and the Year 10 teams; and matches against both Queen Anne's School, Caversham and LVS, Ascot in the next term. Swimming We have two swimming fixtures taking place during Term 4. Rugby Rugby has been a real focus of the term with Russell, an England Rugby Coach, taking student lessons in Year 9 and 10. We are lucky to have this continue after half term, so if your daughter currently has Russell for a lesson on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, this will continue until Easter. Fixtures are also up and coming for Rugby, and we are also representing Windsor at the Berkshire School Games at the end of March. Tennis Quite possibly most exciting of all, we have our first tennis fixture of the year in the national schools tennis competition. This is against a team from St Mary's Ascot and will be held towards the end of March. Miss Skinner and Mrs McWalter will be running training sessions for all budding tennis players on Mondays after school, with more intense training sessions running as we get closer to the fixture.

Extra Curricula Timetable—Spring Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

After School 3.15-4.15pm

Rowing satellite Dorney Lake

Indoor Tennis

Sports Hall

Basketball/ Handball

Gym

Badminton Sports hall

Cheerleading

Gym

A-Level Revision

Netball Fixtures TBC*

Check Fixture wall

GCSE PE THE-

ORY Room 19

Ultimate Frisbee

Sports Hall

Hockey

Rugby Back/Side field

Netball

Sports hall/Netball courts

A level revision

Maths Revision Timetable Foundation

Monday Week A B2 Mrs McWalter Room 2

Monday B2 Mrs Dyson Room 8

Monday B2 Miss Long Room 22

Tuesday B2 Mrs Rakowska Room 20

Wednesday Afterschool Mrs McWalter Room 2

Thursday Afterschool Mrs McWalter Room 2

Friday Afterschool Mr Sutton Room 20

Higher

Monday B2 Mrs Yaqoob Room 20

Tuesday B2 Mr Ivanov Room 22

Tuesday Afterschool Mr Ivanov Room 22

Interactive Maths Revision

On Wednesday, Year 11 students enjoyed an interactive Maths revision session. The students

were excited by the session and all said that it really helped them to understand the topics

under review.

We wish to remind Year 11 that they are welcome to join the revision sessions at the times

listed on the table below.

History Revision

Break 2 Tuesday invited group revision with CSR Break 1 Friday invited group revision with CSR Break 2 Friday invited group revision with FBY

After school: Wednesday from 3:05pm to 4:00pm ALL WELCOME 22 Feb USA cartoons 1 March Cold War cartoons 8 March Britain sources 15 March USA essays 22 March Cold War essays 29 March Britain essays With Year 12 mentoring All sessions will take place in Room 12

History Homework Club

EVERY WEDNESDAY

Break 2 in Room 12

Year 11 Core Science Revision Dear Parents and Carers Core Science Revision Sessions Core Science Revision classes will be starting after the February holiday for our students who are resitting the Unit 1 examinations or who are on the Triple Science route. The session titles are listed below and will be running either after school or during Break 2. Sessions will be held in Room L32. Thank you for all of your support, Mrs R Najafi

Date & Time Session Title Teacher

Wednesday 22 February 3:05pm—4:05pm

Nerves and Hormones Mrs J Edwards

Wednesday 1 March 3:05pm—4:05pm

Limestone and Building Materi-als

Mrs H Humphreys

Wednesday 15 March 1:20pm—1:55pm

Energy Transfer by Heating Mrs M Cowles

Wednesday 22 March 3:05pm—4:05pm

Genetic Variation and its control Mrs R Najafi

Wednesday 29 March 3:05pm—4:05pm

Plant Oils and Their Uses Mrs S Sahota

Wednesday 19 April 1:20pm—1:55pm

Waves Mrs S McKinlay

Wednesday 26 April 3:05pm—4:05pm

Waste Materials and the Carbon Cycle

Dr K Haynes

Wednesday 3 May 3:05pm—4:05pm

Metals and their Uses Mrs R Najafi

Wednesday 10 May 1:20pm—1:55pm

Energy and Efficiency Mrs S McKinlay

Year 11 Additional Science Revision Date Session Title Teacher

Thursday 19 January B2 Part 1 Cells and Transport Mrs R Najafi

Thursday 26 January C2 Part 2 Rates of Reaction Mrs H Humphreys

Thursday 9 February P2 Part 1 Forces and Distance/Velocity Time Graphs

Mrs S Mckinlay

Thursday 23 February B2 Part 1 Cells, Tissues and Organs & Photosynthesis

Mrs R Najafi

Wednesday 1 March (Please note the change of date for this session)

C2 Part 2 Energy & Electrolysis

Mrs M Sahota

Tuesday 14 March P2 Part 1 Terminal Velocity, Hookes Law and GPE

Mrs M Cowles

Thursday 23 March B2 Part 2, Proteins and Enzymes

Miss J Edwards

Thursday 30 March C2 Part 1, Structure and Bonding

Dr K Haynes

Thursday 20 April P2 Part 2, Electricity Mrs C Hawk

Thursday 27 April B2 Part 2, Inheritance Miss J Edwards

Thursday 4 May C2 Part 1 Moles, RMM and % Yield

Dr C Walker

Thursday 11 May P2 Part 2, Radioactivity & ½

Life Mrs S Mckinlay

Sessions will take place in Room L32.

Session timings are: 3:05pm to 4:05pm