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Hearts of Walderslade The newsletter of Walderslade Girls’ School

Issue 35 Spring 2017

Headteacher’s message

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in our

school community for all their thoughts, good wishes and

acts of kindness during my recent health difficulties. To say I

was overwhelmed by the gesture of the school community to

raise money in aid of kidney research, does not serve it

justice. I have never been so deeply moved. It reminds me

every day what a truly unique and special place WGS is, and

how the students and staff care for one another at such a

profound level is astonishing and something very precious to

hold on to. I owe Dr Campbell a debt of gratitude for looking

after the school in my absence but also I must thank the

leadership team and all the staff who stepped up to keep

things running. It feels spectacular to be back and as always

there is lots to do and to look forward to.

The school has been thriving with activity as usual since the

last edition of the newsletter. As Medway’s leading Arts

College our performing arts students have not been off the

stage! The production of The Urban Jungle Book was another

triumph, showcasing the pure talent we have here amongst

our student body; then the term ended with a fantastic dance

show. Our musicians put on a wonderful evening concert A

Night to Remember and our gifted and talented artists have

once again been working at the University of the Creative

Arts cementing our very special partnership with UCA.

We have just received the great news that our bid to the

government for all the windows in the Wedgwood block to

be replaced has been successful. Gone will be the days of

freezing classrooms in the winter and mopping up puddles

of rainwater that has leaked through! Works will start in the

next few weeks.

The term ahead will focus on the final preparations for the

Year 11 and Sixth Form girls who are due to sit their public

examinations. This has been a very tense year for everyone

connected to education. All the reforms that the government

made to education over the past few years are now all hitting

us at once. This year students in Year 11 will be the first ever

year group to sit English and maths GCSEs and have them

graded by number 1 to 9 rather than A* to G. The style of

questions is very different and the students have to be more

proficient at memorising facts, formulae and literature

quotations.

The way we teach is having to change and the way the

students learn is now more of a focus with high expectations

on all our girls to take more ownership, more responsibility

for their learning and to be able to work alone

independently. Many of our girls struggle with this so the

support and understanding of parents and carers is essential.

Our term has now ended with a most beautiful Easter

service, a long held tradition at WGS to mark the end of the

Lenten season and to look forward to the celebration of

Easter. I wish all our WGS girls and their families and loved

ones a very happy Easter and look forward to welcoming the

girls back on Tuesday 18th April. I am also looking forward

to catching up with lots of parents too – it has felt like a long

time away!

Mrs McGowan, Headteacher


1 Headteacher’s message

3 The Urban Jungle Book

5 Wear it Purple!

6 News from the Departments:

6 Number Week

7 Sport and Fitness:

7 Sports Leaders

8 Year 7 Netball Tournament

8 Community Project: Eco-warriors!

9 Co-curricular News:

9 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award

10 House News:

10 Austen House

11 Curie House

12 Fry House

13 Jebb House

13 Nightingale House

14 Parks House

14 Year Group News:

14 Year 7

16 Year 8

18 Year 9

19 Year 10

21 Year 11

22 Diary Dates

Contents

Page 6

Page 5

Page 3

http://www.waldersladegirls.org.uk/


The Urban Jungle Book

The three day period from Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th

February 2017 saw the performances of this year’s

Walderslade Girls' School annual musical theatre

production, entitled The Urban Jungle Book. This was a

fantastic, dynamic and hugely successful production written,

produced and directed by the Head of the Performing Arts

Faculty Mrs Ferguson, and was based upon the writings of

Rudyard Kipling.

This production involved in total close to two hundred

students ranging across the school from Year 7 all the way up

to Year 13. During show week there were six performances

of The Urban Jungle Book musical, three of them evening

performances to the public.

On Wednesday 22nd February, (starting at 9:00 am) the first

public performance went onstage and was performed to

approximately 300 local primary school students from a

number of local feeder schools. This performance was a great

success and was a valuable chance to share the artistic and

theatrical majesty of our school with our local primary school

community. As the younger students left our main hall after

the show, they were describing the show as 'one of the best

plays I've ever seen', 'really good' and 'brilliant!'

Later that day came the first evening performance of The

Urban Jungle Book; the performance started at 7:00 pm and

was a special event and great success! There is always a

unique and positive atmosphere at our Wednesday evening

performance, as the audience all sit around ornately

decorated tables in the auditorium during the show, rather

than simply sitting in rows; this creates a warm, family and

community ambience in our main hall.

On Thursday 23rd February, there were another two

performances of The Urban Jungle Book, the first in the

morning (starting at 9:00 am) that was performed to all of our

Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9. This performance was another

great success and was a performance that reaffirmed to our

younger students that they are part of a school which values

the arts, along with traditional academia, and which

generates high quality, creative and engaging theatre.

The Urban Jungle Book: Waldeslade Girls’ School’s annual musical theatre production 22nd to 24th February 2017

Script by Mrs C Ferguson

Later that evening there was another public performance of

The Urban Jungle Book (starting at 7:00 pm); the students did

an excellent job and did themselves proud, putting on

another brilliant performance that sent the audience home

with smiles on their faces and describing the show as 'the

best production that the school have done so far!'

On Friday 24th February, there were the two final

performances of The Urban Jungle Book, one in the morning

(starting at 9:00 am) performed to all of the Year 10 and

Year 11 students. This morning performance was another

great show and was a performance that has inspired many

of our Key Stage 4 students to want to apply to study

Performing Arts in our Sixth Form. Later that evening, the

final performance of the production was held, bringing a

brilliant school production to a close. This final

performance was a great success; it was an emotional

evening as it brought seven months of very hard work, from

inception to conclusion, on The Urban Jungle Book

production to an end. This final performance was watched

by some members of the audience who had also seen every

major annual school production that Walderslade Girls'

School has ever put on, going back five school years, and

they described this year’s production as the most

professional, best written, most impressively performed and

technically advanced show that Walderslade Girls' School

has put on to date.

The Urban Jungle Book production was a great success and

being able to work on it was being part of a rewarding and

emotional journey. This production was an example of how

dedication, passion, hard work and teamwork, can make

anything possible and how you can realise any idea or slice

of imagination onstage if you continue to work at it with

perseverance.

Congratulations to all of the students and staff involved in

the production (on or off stage); you all worked really hard

and you all deserve to enjoy and celebrate the success of

The Urban Jungle Book production. Roll on the next

Walderslade Girls' School musical theatre production in

2018!

Mr Robinson, Head of Drama



The Urban Jungle Book was a creative re-telling of part of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book story,

in which all of the characters are portrayed as people rather than animals. The production was set in

the mid 21st Century in a dystopic future world, ten years after a devastating nuclear war. The war

has wiped out huge swathes of humanity and left mankind living without any electricity for years. The

show follows our heroine 'Mo' on an adventure to avoid Shere Khan and King Louie and to help the

people of the Urban Jungle to get the electricity back on. This musical was brilliantly written,

rehearsed, produced and performed, with all of the performing students excelling themselves. This

production was also technically very advanced; using five separate laptop computers, seven different

projectors, three smoke/haze machines, mobile pieces of set and a range of different sound and lighting

equipment, all to create the various impressive theatrical effects and to set the scene for the audience.



Wear it Purple!

On Thursday 9th February the school had a ‘Wear it

Purple’ tag day to support our headteacher Mrs McGowan,

who has undergone kidney surgery and to raise funds for

the Kidney Research UK. Just under £700 was raised for

this charity. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Clothes, nail varnish and accessories went purple for the

day as seen in the pictures. Purple flowers were sent to Mrs

McGowan prior to her operation. The Sixth Form girls

designed heart shaped messages to send to Mrs McGowan

too.

Brooke Jones, a Year 11 student, wrote to the senior

management team requesting the ‘Wear it Purple’ Day and

spoke to the whole school with a couple of friends, Demi

Kempster and Zahra Hyatt to recruit support.

Another member of staff is also raising money by

completing a 10km run for the same charity.

Well done to everyone!

Mrs Mclaughlin



News from the Departments

Number Week

Number Week has taken place this term with many teachers

taking the opportunity to discuss with the students where

mathematics would be needed in their subject. In

mathematics lessons, Year 7 students looked into opening a

zoo. They used their knowledge of money to design a zoo

within budget, look at costings for running such an attraction

and designed a suitable layout using scale drawings. During

the week we ran a Badge Competition where all teaching

staff wore a badge with a mathematical fact, and the students

noted which teacher was wearing which fact. The winner of

this competition is Poppy Harvey, 7F, who managed to find

53 correct badges, well done Poppy. We also held the

Interhouse Mathematics Competition where students from

each of our six houses competed for the trophy. The

students took part in five rounds, which tested their

mathematical, logical and investigative skills. All students

thrived at this challenge, working as teams for the afternoon

but Curie house finally took victory. Special recognition to

Emily Hinkley who was our ‘Woman of the Competition’.

Well done to all students who took part.

Here is an account of the week written by Abigail

Clements, 7A

During Number Week (in Year 7) we all made zoos.

Firstly, we split into groups of four, five or six. Once we

were in our group we decided what we wanted in our zoo.

Then we designed our zoo and chose how much we should

charge for a child and an adult. After that we focused on

the income and profiting. On Friday one person from each

house and each year was selected to go into the Interhouse

Maths Competition. Curie came first and Austen came last.

In one of the rounds some emojis were shown to us and we

had to guess the Disney film. There was also a bonus round

with some anagrams and riddles. One of the riddles had ten

of the word ‘is’ on the sheet and when we counted and spelt

it out it read tennis. We all laughed and had fun. There

was also a badge competition where all staff had a badge,

which was maths-related. You had to write down as many

of the badges as you could and hand it in by the deadline.

Mrs Pollard, Maths Teacher



Sport and Fitness

Sports Leaders

Fourteen of our Year 10 Sports Leaders were selected after working together during Terms 1, 2 and 3 in core PE

lessons. They attended a training day at Greenacre and then went on to the Infant Agility Competition

itself. They worked in pairs explaining to the infants from many different schools how to do each activity and

then measured or timed each one. The organisers were extremely pleased with our girls who were excellent role

models. Here Rachel Gilham 10F and Hannah Cossey 10N give their account of the day.

On Thursday 16th March, a group of Year 10 Sports

Leaders went to Greenacre to take part in leading the Infant

Agility Competition. We worked with the sports leaders in

Greenacre to help thirteen primary schools take part in each

event as well as possible. We worked in pairs and were each

assigned a station to work at. A couple of examples of the

stations are the thrower and jumper. At the stations, we

had to demonstrate and explain the activity, then encourage

the students when it was their turn and record their scores.

After all of the schools had done each activity, we set up for

the relay and were each assigned a school to help and

support through the races. Overall, the day was a success

and all of the sports leaders enjoyed working with the

younger children; it gave us a different experience of leader

to that which we get with students here.

Sports Leaders Rachel and Hannah at work!



Year 7 Netball Tournament

Walderslade Girls’ School hosted a netball tournament on

16th March as an end of season Year 7 tournament. The

girls had great fun competing against six other schools. It

gave the Year 7 team the first taste of a tournament which is

very different to a full match.

The Walderslade team came fifth out of seven schools,

beating Hundred of Hoo and Strood and drawing with

Brompton, but unfortunately losing to Rochester Grammar,

Thomas Aveling and Robert Napier who were the eventual

winners.

Mrs Chapman, Head of Sport and Fitness

Community Project: Eco-warriors!

Pupils at Walderslade Girls’ School and Greenacre Boys

worked together on a community project to clear the litter

from Hook Meadow in Walderslade. On Friday 10th

March during their lunch break, three students in Year 7

from Walderslade Girls’ School joined up with seven boys

also from Year 7. Samantha Carey, Zoe Upton and Trinity

Ford, who were accompanied by Mrs Nelson, said they

enjoyed being able to make a difference to their local

community. The Greenacre boys, accompanied by heads

of year Ms Lockwood and Mr Roberts, could not stop

talking about their endeavours. They said they had

collected half a ton of litter!

Stevie Hunt the Community Warden of Lordswood, Princes

Park and Walderslade approached the schools for their

assistance. A local councillor also supported the event.

Whilst on Hook Meadow, all students worked together

collecting rubbish and three bin bags were filled with litter

which had blown onto the open space or been left there. By

the end of the lunch break, the meadow was spotless.

The Eco-warriors had carried out their mission.

Mrs McLaughlin

Year 10

Sports

Leaders



Co-curricular News

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award

On the evening of 22nd March twelve students from Years

10 and 11 were presented with their Bronze Duke of

Edinburgh Award in Rochester Cathedral. They had

completed all sections of the award over the previous year.

The sections of the award are:

Skills: Some did cooking, others photography or sewing

Physical: Ranged from athletics to working out at the gym or

swimming

Volunteering: Some students helped younger students read

Mrs Chapman, Head of Sport and Fitness

in a 'buddy' system in school whilst others helped groups in

the community such as Beavers

Expedition: The students were trained every Wednesday

afternoon; they then completed a practice expedition and

then an assessed expedition. This involved planning routes

on two days, carrying everything in a rucksack and then

camping overnight.

These students should be congratulated as this is a great

achievement for them and shows they take part in activities

other than lessons at school, and all showed great initiative.



House News

Austen House

One finds limits by pushing them

Miss Eastwood, Head of Austen House

I can’t believe it. We are now half way through this academic

year! The weather is starting to brighten up and plans for our

annual Activities Week are underway. This term has been

about celebrations. We started off the New Year following a

successful last day of Christmas celebrations and activities.

We performed fantastically in the house singing competition

and although we came fourth overall, we showed Mrs

McGowan how Austen party with the huge explosion of

cannons across the stage. The behaviour of the girls was as

expected and there was a lovely air of celebration and

excitement within the house.

We continued this trend of celebrations with the Interhouse

football competition. As expected, Austen once again were

victorious and smashed the competition to become the top

house for sports. Well done to all those girls who took part

and represented Austen amazingly well as usual. Finally this

term we hosted our first ever Austen Celebration Lunch.

Form tutors selected two or three girls from each form to be

nominated to be a part of the lunch. Nominations were given

for a number of reasons including excellent behaviour, work ethic and for supporting the success of the house and taking

part in house competitions.

Girls enjoyed tucking into a selection of different party foods

and celebrating their achievements. Letters are also on the

way to the parents of these girls to celebrate the success they

have helped to achieve for Austen House.

Focusing on the remainder of this term and the start of next

term, the Interhouse Maths Competition took place on 17th

March, when members of Austen in Years 7 to 10 competed

against other house teams. Thank you to those girls who

took part.

Next term will also see another Austen Celebration Lunch

for new students who have been recognised for their hard

work and dedication to the house. Finally I also hope to see

some of our budding gardeners out in the Austen garden,

soaking up some beautiful sunshine and ensuring the upkeep

of our summer ready garden – complete with yellow ‘sun’

paint as well!



Curie House

Be courageous, be creative, be champions!

It hardly feels like days since I wrote to tell you how excited

the girls were to be rehearsing for their Christmas song and

yet it also feels like years ago as so much has happened!

I’m thrilled to say that, in line with our motto, the girls are

proving to be real life champions! We came second in the

Interhouse Song Competition (beaten by only 1 point), with a

big red double decker bus prop and beautiful singing from our

choir girls as well as a solo and excellent drama performance

form Vicky Ballard and friends, as well as some interesting, if

not a little questionable, outfits from the Curie staff! A

fabulous achievement for all! Well done!

Our winning streak has continued through this term as we

came first in the Interhouse Maths Competition; a very big

well done to all of our representatives: Vicky Ballard and

Molly Pennell-Brown Year 10, Emily Hinkley Year 9,

Jasmine Zhu Year 8 and Shailu Kumarasuriyam Year 7.

Excellent work!

Girls from 9C and 7C have also been collecting for the

Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Appeal and although we

haven’t counted up yet, the pots are feeling heavy and it

looks like we have raised a lot of money for our charity.

Well done to our charity reps - Ayomide Adisa, Erin Heath

and Corinna Spicer from 9C and Emily Whitten, Lylah

Quinn-Mercer and Isabelle Haughton-Hunt from 7C for

their huge effort with this cause.

Our Year 7 and 8 Easter Bonnet Competition has been a

great success, with Curie making an ‘eggcellent’ selection of

creative pieces; the winner for 7C was Taylor Davison and

for 8C was Lily Ashby. The winner for Curie House was

Annamaria Ezeugwu.

I hope that everyone in Curie House, both students and staff

have a wonderful and very well-earnt rest over the holidays.

Wishing you a very happy Spring break.

Ms Yssennagger, Head of Curie House



Fry House

Don’t let your fear of failing triumph over the joy of participating

Fry House has had an amazing couple of terms so far in

regards to sporting successes! For the first time since I can

remember Fry have come first in at least one year group in

every single sporting interhouse. Year 7 need a special

mention for smashing the competition in both football and

netball and I hope their wins have motivated the other years

to participate and try their hardest. I would also like to

congratulate the Year 10/11 netball team, who at the start of

the competition were worried they did not have enough

players but went on to win and come first in a very close

final.

I would also like to congratulate the girls who took part in the

Interhouse Maths Competition. It is amazing to think what

talent we have in Fry across all areas of the curriculum and I

really believe this is OUR year to win the House Cup!

On behalf of Fry I would very much like to thank the HOW

Miss Allcorn-Austen, Head of Fry House

Fundraisng Committee for setting up the ‘Hot Chocolate’

mornings to help us raise money for the house and for our

charity, the Wisdom Hospice. Alongside this we also ran a

cake sale, with the help of some Year 10 students, raising

over sixty pounds!

Let’s not forget to … keep ‘frying the opposition!’

Jebb House

Be just, enjoy, be better, belong

As a Jebbling and a Walderslade Girl, I get involved in my

community outside of school and as many do I love

performing arts. Every Saturday afternoon, I go to a

performing arts school called Razzamataz for a class: an

hour of singing, an hour of drama and acting and an hour of

dancing. We also have to attend additional rehearsals when

we are building up to a performance. We have had a lot of

opportunities to take part in different performing arts

activities such a Jack Petchy's Glee Club Challenge 2016; this is

a competition of many different performing arts schools.

There were twelve thousand different performing arts

groups, all competing against each other and then all of

those groups were all cut down to just twelve and we were

one of the last twelve groups. As one of the twelve finalist

groups, we were asked to perform at the Indigo O2 and even

more amazing than that we were declared the winners!

We were all so happy that we won and we all started crying

when it was announced, this was probably one of the best

moments of my life! Just recently we did another large scale

public performance, performing in the west-end at Her

Majesty's Theatre. We performed a musical theatre

showcase and I performed in the classic 90s musical Rent. It

was amazing and so much fun! Along with all of this we

continue to work on our summer shows, attending regular

rehearsals. In January a small group of us performed at the

Central Theatre with The Soul Legends; we sang Night to

Remember and Natural Woman. I even had a solo and it went

really well - I was really pleased. This year, we are again

working towards the finals of the Glee Club Challenge and I

hope we will make the finals and if we do maybe we can win

it again!

Zara Bloor 9J



Nightingale House

Never, never, never give in!

Way back in November you may recall reading about

several girls from WGS who took part in the Youth Speaks

annual speaking competition.

We had amazing success with two of our girls winning

second prize in the junior category (Sarah Edmonds-Magee

8P) and first prize in the senior category (Emma-Leigh

Williams 12N). As well as achieving an amazing first place,

Emma Williams, went on to represent the school and, of

course, Nightingale House last month, and compete in in

the next stage in the competition, at the District Level,

which was held the Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone.

Emma was supported by Casey Canty 12C and Megan

Thompson 12J, and they performed exceptionally well

against some very polished contenders. Unfortunately, on

this occasion they did not go any further in the competition

but we are all immensely proud of their achievements! Well

done girls!

Mr Naughton, Head of Nightingale House

This term there have been lots of exciting things going on in

Jebb House!

Sixteen talented Jebblings were involved in the amazing

school musical theatre production The Urban Jungle Book.

These Jebblings ranged across all of the year groups at

WGS. Led by Head Jebbling Leah Baker (House Captain)

11J, these Jebb student performers were Lainey-Jaye

Cheeseman 7J, Maddy Smith 7J, Jessica Michacz 7J, Tilli

Pickering-Fraser 7J, Skye Balcombe 7J, Ellie Wood 7J,

Isabel Horsley 7J, Deborah Olawuyi 8J, Georgina Gore 9J,

Chloe Harris 9J, Katie Hocking 10J, Chelsea Ward 11J,

Connie Quarrington 11J, Rebecca Henderson 11J and

senior Jebbling Megan Thompson 12J (lighting assistant).

The Jebblings with support from the HoW Fundraising

Committee held a very successful Charity Hot Chocolate &

Cake Sale. This charity sale was held in the school dining

area during break time and raised a significant amount of

mone - more than £60 for Jebb's charity Save the Children.

This charity sale was supported by students Leah Baker

(House Captain) and Rebecca Henderson (Deputy House

Captain), and was supported by all of the Jebb tutors

specifically Mrs Virdi and Miss Murrin (whose aggressive

sales technique was very successful).

On Friday 17th March, Jebb's Mathematics Team put in a

great performance in the Interhouse Maths Competition,

finishing in the top three houses! Coming third was a

brilliant showing! Well done!

New Senior Jebblings will be soon taking over from the

current Year 11 Jebb Captains Leah Baker House Captain,

Rebecca Henderson Deputy House Captain, Gillian

Washington Sports Captain and Megan Terry House Spirit

Captain. The new senior Jebblings (who will take over their

roles and responsibilities once our current Year 11 students

have left) are Katie Hocking (House Captain), Kirsty Jarvis

and Eleanor Germany (Deputy House Captains).

Mr Robinson, Head of Jebb House



Year 7

A fairly quiet Term for Parks. Last term's Cake Sale was

really successful and we raised over £120. The Hot Chocolate

Sale had to be postponed due to electrical problems but we

did manage it in the end. We entered a full team for the

Interhouse Maths Competition and although we didn't win

we came a close second thanks to Jessica, Sophie, Bethany,

Joanna and Ioana - well done ladies!

We also decided that the House Notice Board needs an

update so the Year 7 and Year 8 students are going to

produce some new material so we can refresh the board next

term. It is also getting to that time of the year when we need

to pick new House Captains; a number of applications have

been received and our new House Captains will be

announced soon.

Year Group News

Parks House

Live your life as a model for others

Mr Knight, Head of ParksHouse

Term 4 is quickly drawing to a close and we shall soon be

enjoying our Easter break. We have had some busy weeks

since we returned in 2017.

Presentations of certificates were made to 25 students who

have maintained 100% attendance through Terms 1 to 3.

In February, we were proud to have so many Year 7 students

contributing to the fabulous production of The Urban Jungle

Book. Sell-out audiences were treated to a feast of acting,

song and dance.

March brought us the celebration of Pi Day, and to celebrate

this the Maths Department hosted the Interhouse Maths

Competition. A team of six from each house comprising at

least one Year 7 student battled it out with questions on

algebra, music and film titles - all with numbers in mind.

Year 7 were represented by Abigail Clements (Austen),

Shailu Kumarasuriyam (Curie), Harriet Bannister (Fry),

Amy Coultrip (Jebb), Trinity Ford (Nightingale) and Ioana

Necula (Parks). Curie won with a tremendous score only

dropping eight points!

Congratulations also go to the following girls who

represented WGS in a netball tournament held at WGS in

March: Emily Walker, Ioana Necula, Angel Alaoye, Lily

Connor, Maddy Smith, Annamaria Ezeugwu, Georgina Foreman, Ellie Wood, Keira-Lea Gray and Oyin Olajide

We are very proud of the nomination by the PE staff for the

Sport Superstar award which was awarded to Lylah Quinn-

Mercer - great netball skills. Well done!

7C presented a very uplifting assembly in February based on

Random Acts of Kindness, following on from Blue Monday,

the day that everyone feels ‘blue’ after the Christmas

festivities and the start of a new year.

7A introduced to us the fabulous work done by Comic Relief

and how we can contribute to this worthwhile charity. 7N

reminded us of the meaning of Easter and its celebration for

their assembly.

Wishing you all a very happy Easter break.



Mrs Simm, Head of Year 7

Press Report 7A – Chloe Harding, Abigail Clements

and Shania Stevens


In our form we watched The Urban Jungle Book. Chloe Impey,

a member of our form, played the part of Kip. Chloe said

her experience in the production was excellent. She said, ‘I

felt so nervous, but mostly excited.’ The show turned out to

be a great success. We are all proud of Chloe for the time and

dedication she put into the production to make sure she knew

what she was doing, and when. Chloe said her favourite

scene in the production was the kids’ play scene and her

favourite character was Tabaqui.

Press Report 7C – Annamaria Ezeugwu and Kayla

Baker

7C Assembly – Random Acts of Kindness

On 27th February we had our assembly in front of the whole

of Year 7. We started to introduce our purpose by explaining

our theme - Random Acts of Kindness - and how small

things could brighten someone’s day, like giving someone a

simple smile, treating people how you would like to be

treated, helping your mum with the shopping bags, giving a

homeless person a blanket to keep warm during winter etc.

We had prepared a short sketch written and performed by

Jessica Simmons, Libby Franklin, Maria Farooq, Shailu

Kumarasuriyam, Emily Whitton, Rebecca Tommy-Mbogba

and Chloe Bowles, and a dance, which was performed by

Georgia Cass and Lilian Goold-Davies, who also rewrote the

words to a popular song and sang this whilst they danced.

The rest of the class had to read out their parts.

We were very happy with our achievement and the

spectacular performance by 7C. We are proud to be in this

form and we thank our teacher Ms Yssennagger because we

couldn’t have done it without her.

Press Report 7F – Emily Walker

On 26th February all houses took part in an interhouse

football tournament. Each house played five matches.

Although Fry put in an extremely good effort and there were

a few cuts and bruises, we did not win the match. In first

place was Parks and everyone was very happy for them. We

look forward to more interhouse competitions in the future

that Fry can win!

Press Report 7J – Chloe Morley and Skye Balcombe


In 7J, a few members participated in The Urban Jungle Book!

We are very proud of the 7J members that took part: Skye

Balcombe, Ellie Wood, Lainey-Jayne Cheeseman, Isabel

Horsley, Jessica Michacz, Tilli Pickering-Fraser, Olivia

Thompson and Maddy Smith.

They did many performances that involved singing, dancing

and acting and spent months rehearsing after school. In

total, they did six performances in three days and were at

school late each night performing to parents and children.

Well done!

Press Report 7P - Keira-Lea Gray and Elleece

Hayward

7P have successfully participated in a range of activities

including football, netball, The Urban Jungle Book, the

Interhouse Maths Competition and benchball. During each

activity we were 100% committed to win no matter who our

opponents were.

We were victorious as we scored our way to 1st place in

football, 2nd in netball, benchball and maths. We are deeply

proud of everyone who stepped up to participate.

Each form in Year 7 has students who take on various roles of responsibility, one of which is Press Officer.

Students are expected to write a brief article once a term for inclusion in Hearts of Walderslade and on the Year

7 webpage, highlighting what their form has been doing during the term. The end of Term 4 is upon us and our

Year 7 Press Officers wish to share their news with you.



Keeley Oliver and Charlotte Dunn 8A

Last term we had an options evening which displayed each

of the options that could be chosen and gave us information

on them. In my opinion, it was very successful.

We had to pick either History, Geography or a language

along with three options of our choice.

You shouldn’t pick the options that your friends picked just

to be with them, because you may not enjoy these subjects,

or you might not be good at them.

I would like to be a police officer because I would like to be

like my grandad. Before he sadly passed away he worked

for the police for about 25 years. He was a very good police

officer.

To achieve this, I chose History, Child Development, Health

and Social Care and PE.

Holly Sammon 8F

When I first started thinking and deciding about my options,

I found it very difficult to make the right choices. My option

subjects are French, food, dance and drama. French has

been one of my favourite subject as it's very intriguing to

learn about another country's culture and their daily

activities. My next chosen subject is food. I'm hoping that

this lesson will provide some helpful information about

healthy eating, nutrition and cooking. The third option is

dance. This is something that I've been interested in for a

number of years. It is energetic and also a great form of

exercise, as well as giving me a huge confidence boost. My

fourth and final option is drama, this gives me the ideal

opportunity to express myself and show my emotions.

Personally, I feel I excel in all my option choices. During the

Year 8 options evening, I found the teachers I spoke to

extremely informative and supportive when discussing the

lessons I have selected. I am looking forward to starting my

options in September when I start Year 9.

Chloe Gooch 8J

For the last month, Year 8 have been thinking about, and

choosing, their GCSE options. It has been a lot of stress for

us, but we have finally reached our decisions. We have a real

mixed bag in 8J; here are some of 8J's options:

Crystal Hitch would love to pursue a career working with, and

looking after, animals. So, she has chosen to study triple

science. In these classes, she is hoping to learn as much as

possible about how their bodies work, as well as how to

maintain their health. She has also chosen child development

as she has a firm interest in how children develop.

In contrast, Phoebe Duffy has chosen art as she is considering

interior design in the future. Of course, she has also picked PE

- it is her favourite after all. She will also study the theory side

of the subject, perhaps she will consider a career as a

physiotherapist, too?

Deborah Olawuyi has chosen French as she finds it really

interesting to learn another language, she knows French is

spoken in many countries and hopes that she will be able to

use it in the future.

Of course, we also have some members of the form eager to

spend more time in creative subjects. Kirsty Harding (who

would like to be an actress ) has chosen drama and is looking

forward to more of the fun the subject has to offer.

Finally, Jade Hunt has decided to study music as she wants to

become a DJ in the future and loves listening to pop music.

Watch this space!

As for me, I'm hoping to improve my drawing skills after

choosing art. I have also chosen ICT as I find learning about

computers really interesting - you learn about so many

different things you've never even heard of before.

As a form, we are ready and eager to dive into our chosen

subjects and make a positive start to our GCSE years!

Year 8

Year 8 students have had a really busy term choosing their GCSE options. Read their articles below to find out

what they have chosen and the interesting reasons for their choices.



Mrs Cox, Head of Year 8

Leah Mount 8N

It has been a very busy couple of months for girls in Year 8

because we’ve had the tricky task of picking our GCSE

options. The girls in 8N have been helping each other

choose what to pick and a few want to share their decisions.

Firstly, I spoke to our very own Form Captain, Leonie

Rumbol about her reasons for choosing history, health and

social care, business studies and dance. ‘I really enjoy

history and I want to take health and social care to learn

more about people.’ Leonie says ‘I want to have my own

business when I’m older and I would love to learn how to

dance.’

I also interviewed our Charity Representative, Lily-Louise

Burbridge whose choices are French, dance, cooking and

business. Lily said, ‘A language is good for my CV and I

would love to be a dancer. I love to bake in my spare time

and taking business would aid me to become self-employed

in the future.’

8N seem to have created a pattern in wanting to take

history. Some of the girls opting for history are Roxy

Dimblebee, Hollie Johnson, Hannah Da’Val and Jessica

Allen. Finally I would like to say good luck to all the girls

with their options.

Sarah Edmonds-Magee 8P

My name is Sarah and I am a current Year 8 student. Only

a couple of months ago I had the hard decision of choosing

my GCSE options. I really enjoy both creative and

academic subjects. Thanks to the support and advice from

all the staff and my parents I was eventually able to come to

a decision. In the end I settled on a combination of the two.

I chose history, fine art, triple science, ethics and philosophy

as well as doing the compulsory core subjects (maths,

English and Science - however as I am taking Triple Science

I won’t be taking regular science). For me I feel this was a

good mix. History and science are two very academic

subjects but fine art is one of my favourite subjects and will

be a good stress reliever. I also chose ethics and philosophy

which I think I will really enjoy; it will open up my eyes to

the world around me and will also make me question my

own morals!

It was a hard and confusing experience, but I am glad I

chose what I thought was best for me. Someone wise once

told me, ‘No matter what subjects you choose now there

will subjects you love in three years and some you hate.’

This makes sense as I will grow and change as will my views

and opinions, but I know that I have made the best choice I

could.

Once again Year 8 have been giving valuable service to the school as Office Amdassadors. This term it is the

turn of 8F to share a few of their thoughts

Christina Alaoye 8F

If you are representing the school you need to look smart; if

you look messy it will give visitors a bad impression of the

school.

You always need to look happy and smile, you don’t want

to look sad. Doing jobs is fun anyway, I don’t know who

would not enjoy it.

Holly Sammon 8F

Since I’ve been at Walderslade Girls’ School my confidence

has gone down a lot, due to a lot more students being

around me. I haven’t participated in any role plays during

form time.

Since I’ve been Office Ambassador my confidence has

increased, as it’s a big role to play. I think from now on I’ll

take part in more activities.

Katheryne Whyman 8F

I feel excited about being Office Ambassador because it

gives me the responsibility to go around giving people their

work or taking notes to teachers.

I am looking forward to meeting visitors. I am keen to

represent the school in this important role, because I would

love to seen and known as a representative of Walderslade

Girls’ School. I think it’s important to look as if you have

been looking forward to this role for a long time.



Year 9

Year 9 are now over half way through the academic year.

This means that for a lot of the students they are five months

into their GCSE courses.

Students have received the Key Stage 4 progress data for

Terms 1 and 2, and Mrs McGowan made comments for all

of the students. This has formed the basis for progress

discussions since and the Year 9 tutor team have written

comments about their tutees which reflect on the whole

picture. These are now ready to be shared with the students

and parents.

The whole year group have sat a Financial Capability exam

and a maths mock exam.

The emphasis for Year 9 is on the student as an individual

and the impression that they make. Respect for self and

others is encouraged. This starts right from the beginning

with a reminder of the rules and standards of behaviour.

With this in mind assemblies have focussed on key issues

like being safe when using the internet and taking care with

the spoken and written word. This will move on to making

the most of your time and talents and personal qualities. The

current MSC topics will be dealing with health and

wellbeing and the issues that face teenagers today.

There is a lot for the Year 9 students to cope with but there

is guidance and a strong tutor team and pastoral team to

guide them through all of this.

In addition to the curriculum, students are encouraged to

take part in a range of activities. The Duke of Edinburgh

Award Scheme is running again this year. Some students are

involved in the charity events like selling daffodils for the

Marie Curie charity. There has also been a range of music

and dance shows as well as interhouse sports events.

Miss Hatton, Head of Year 9

With all of this in mind some of the students have made their observations about life in Year 9.

Sophie Hopkins 9P

One of the good things about Year 9 is that you start to do

your option subjects. Different teachers teach you for the

lessons and they start to become more supportive and

helpful.

The bad thing about Year 9 is that the work becomes

harder and it is all important because there are only a few

years left until you leave school.

Fadhila Kambona Masika 9C has written about

taking part in the production of The Urban Jungle

Book

I auditioned for The Urban Jungle Book last September. I had

to sing, dance and act and it was a lot of fun because I was

with my friends.

I wanted to have an acting role that allowed me to dance too.

Later on I found out that I was to play the part of Grey, a little

wolf. I shared this role with a student in Year 8, my friend

Hannah Canty.

I met all of the sixth formers who were performing too and I

really enjoyed their company. Nicole as the main character

was really lovely.

Another student in Year 9 wrote about the experience of

watching this production

I enjoyed watching the The Urban Jungle Book, which was

performed by other students. I think that the sixth formers did

really well and every one was good at remembering their lines.

The dancing and singing parts were enjoyable.



Year 10

Year 10 are half way through their GCSE courses.

Some girls have their actual GCSE and BTEC exams

in May and June this year and have now been given

their exam timetables. Many Year 10 girls will already

be completing coursework, practical assessments and

controlled assessments (course work completed in

school under exam conditions) in class, all of which

count towards their final GCSE grades.

A large part of GCSE success will be down to how

effectively the student manages her time. Implementing

an effective revision programme is essential in the run

up to the examinations whether they are mock exams

or the real thing.

Learning how to revise effectively is a key part of this.

Year 10 will be practicing different strategies for

revising next term during MSC lessons.

It’s vital that students take ownership of their learning

now and don’t leave it until Year 11. They need to:

Take responsibility for their own learning

Be organised

Remember all equipment and books for every lesson or

exam

Make effective use of their planners to record homework

Self-monitor their attendance and punctuality

This term 10C delivered an assembly to the year

group. Mollie Pennell-Brown and Vicky Ballard and

the rest of the class delivered three presentations on

healthy living, media pressure and woman’s body

image.

All of this emphasised the importance of self-

confidence in young girls. By delivering this assembly

10C wanted to strengthen individual confidence in the

year group.

Key Dates for Year 10

Thursday 4th May 2017

Year 10 Parents’ Evening

4:00 – 7:00pm



Mrs Richards, Head of Year 10

Congratulations to Casey-May Butler 10F who entered the Young Writers’ Teen Posts Competition and has

had her poem Ghost Girl chosen for publication in a book showcasing young adults work called Inner Voices -A

collection of teen poetry. The book is scheduled for publication on 31st March 2017 and a preview of Casey-

May’s poem that will be in the book is below.

Ghost Girl

Her long black hair glittered in the moonlight

Her vibrant sapphire eyes sparkled with delight

Her pale skin was bold from the cold

Her features were that of a doll

Her nose was small and narrow

Her eyesight was as sharp as a sparrow

Her fingers were long and thin

Her body shape was lithe and slim

Her smile was as bright as the stars

Her birthday was the 5th of March

An hour glass figure with large innocent eyes

She never planned for her demise

For on that fateful date in May

Death took her soul away.

Casey-May Butler



Year 11

Mrs Johnson, Head of Year 11

Year 11: Mocks and Beyond

Year 11 have only a matter of single figure weeks till

their exams. Revision sessions are in full flow and

Easter revision sessions are now on the website and

handed out to the students. I feel that many of the

Year 11 students are now focussing on what they need

to do to make progress from their mock results and

gain their places in the Sixth Form or at college.

Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 1st March was a great

success and it was great to see so many parents and

carers.

During the Year 11 MSC sessions the girls will now be

creating revision timetables, having workshops on

employability and careers from NCS, and being given

time to revise and reflect on their year so far. During

form times the girls are receiving extra English and

Maths as well as study skills to help them with their

revision.

11A

So what have we learnt since the mocks? Well I think

that would be that we need to plan our revision, not

try and revise everything the night before. We have

also made 100% progress because we can now see

what we need to do and where we made our

mistakes. The mocks felt very stressful and it was hard

to manage everything but since we have had the results

back it has been very useful because we can see exactly

what the exam board wants for each question.

We have spent time this term thinking about the

mistakes we made in revision and particularly that

there is not only one way to try and revise. The

biggest thing I think is realising that just reading it

won’t make it magically stay in my head! As a form

we have worked on putting a six week revision plan in

place which has helped us to work out how much time

we have for each subject and then how to divide that

time up over the topics that we need to study. The

surprise was just how much time we could use if we

planned it properly.

It feels like we don’t have much time left before the exams

now and every lesson counts and so more of us are going to

extra revision and also spending time with staff checking

that we have understood things. So what we have learnt

from the mocks – To plan and not to panic and most of all

It feels like we don’t have much time left before the

exams now and every lesson counts and so more of us

are going to extra revision and also spending time with

staff checking that we have understood things. So what

we have learnt from the mocks – To plan and not to

panic and most of all to believe that we can do it and

listen to what our teachers are saying.

Hayley Mckenna 11F

When it comes around to sitting your mock exams, it is

like there is a weight full of pressure on your shoulders,

well that is if you worry about your exams. It is a time

when you should try to be most relaxed and make

sure you get enough sleep to be able to do your very

best. The mocks get you prepared for your real GCSEs

so you know what to expect. As long as you do a lot of

revision and do not procrastinate when it comes around

to having limited time left you will be ok!

The teachers and other members of staff are fully aware

of how much stress and pressure we are under when it

comes to exams, they are there to help us, especially

our form tutors! The best advice would be: don't waste

time when it comes to learning and revising and also

don't take your teachers for granted. They are here to

help you and they will help you as long as you are

willing to learn and pay attention to them.

Hannah Clark 11P

The Year 11 mocks took place throughout January and

the start of February. The Year 11 mocks are very

important as it shows us what we are achieving and

what we are working towards in the summer.

After gaining our results, everyone has mixed emotions.

The majority of the year were not impressed, but now

we realise that we need to put our heads down, focus

and attend more revision sessions. This means that we

are more determined to get our 5 A-Cs and above to

help us continue our future education and for a small

fraction of girls that achieved good results keep going

and work hard.



Diary Dates

Term 5

18 April Term 5 begins

18 April Keep Calm & Cook

3:00 – 5:00pm

20 April Year 12 Assessmant Performance

4:00 – 6:00pm

26 April Walderslade Wednesday

3:45 – 4:45pm

1 May Bank Holiday

2 May Keep Calm & Cook

3:00 – 5:00pm

4 May Year 10 Parents’ Evening

4:00 – 7:00pm

18 May Year 9 Trip to Sadler’s Wells Theatre

11:15am – 4:30pm approx

18 May Year 8 HPV Immunisation

26 May Sixth Form Tag Day

26 May Term 5 ends

Term 6

5 June Term 6 begins

21 June Walderslade Wednesday

3:45 – 4:45pm

23 June Year 13 Leavers’ Celebration

26 – 29 June New Year 12 Induction

30 June Year 5 Picnic

Horsted Primary School

6 July Walderslade Girls’ Junior Theatre

Company Performing Arts Showcase

7 July Year 13 Prom

10 – 14 July Residential Trips

12 – 14 July Activities Days

18 July Sports Day

19 July Term 6 ends

(School closes to students 12:30pm)

20 July Inset Day

17 August A Level Resuts Day

24 August GCSE Results Day

Dates and times may occasionally change. For

up to date information please visit our website:

www.waldersladegirls.org.uk


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