Windsor Girls’ School

5 June 2015

Special Mentions

Congratulations to the students

in 9R on their successful

assembly on Tuesday, 2 June

which focused on body image.

For this assembly, a group of

students in 9R created an

informative PowerPoint

presentation about positive

body image. They also

produced and starred in an

impressive video on the

subject.

Well done to Isabelle Walters

whose singing performance

was also enjoyed by all in this

assembly.

Eleven Year 9 students have been taking part in the Go4SET

STEM project which is part of a continuum of schemes

administered by EDT with one common mission: to inspire

students by linking education and industry in real life

situations to provide hands on learning. The students have

been working alongside STEM professionals from Centrica,

Windsor, on a 10 week long research project in which they

had to produce a dissertation style report.

Continued on page 3

Go4SET STEM Celebration and Assessment Day

Year Information

Sixth Form

Prize Evening will take place on 24 June at 6.30pm. Prize winners will be receiving their letters in the next week. Successful students are allowed to bring two guests as we anticipate having a full hall to celebrate the achievement and progress of our students.

Year 12 return to school on

Wednesday 10 June,

following their AS

examinations. Students are

reminded that they are

required to attend all lessons

on their timetable until they

have received their results in

August. Students will be

starting on their A2 courses

and all work completed this

term will contribute to their

final examinations.

A Level examinations

continue this week. We have

been impressed with the

focus of students in the Sixth

Form during the examination

period. The Library is open

late to allow students to

study in peaceful

surroundings and it has been

very busy.

During the final week of term

all of Year 12 will be involved

in Enrichment Week which

will allow them to start the

decision making process

about what to do after Year

13. Information during the

three days will come from

external speakers and

businesses as well as visiting

Reading University. The

week will look at a range of

options including

apprenticeships, gap years

and university applications.

Year 9

Teachers are currently writing full reports for their Year 9 students which will be coming home in three weeks time.

Activities Week payments can be made to the School Cashier in the Hall at Break 1. We are looking forward to another good week of activities with Year 9.

Year 10

The next cohort of Bronze Duke of Edinburgh candidates will be undertaking an assessed expedition this weekend in the Chilterns. We wish them well and hope the weather improves for them.

Year 10 will have examinations the week beginning 15 June. During this time, students should be revising and organising their work to give themselves the best chance.

Year 11

Students who have applied to Windsor Girls’ Sixth Form will have the

opportunity to find out more about arrangements for the start of Year

12 on 23 June (periods 1-4) in the Hall. They need to dress smartly

and they will receive their summer work to allow them to ‘bridge the

gap’ from GCSE to A level. Students will receive a letter with the

details when they come in to school to sit their Mathematics examination on Monday 8 June.

The last GCSE examination takes place on 17 June. GCSE Results Day is Thursday 20 August.

Go4SET

STEM

Go4SET organised a Celebration and Assessment Day (CAD) at Centrica, Windsor on

Wednesday 20 May, where our two teams displayed their projects, presented their

ideas to a panel of assessors and were asked lots of questions about their projects.

Windsor Girls’ School Team 2 called “SASS – Supporting Advocates of Sustainability

through STEM” won the overall best project. This is the third year that Windsor Girls’

School have won the competition. This is a great achievement for our students and

they have all progressed exceptionally well throughout the project.

Iona MacRobert, Managing Director of the winning team talks about the day:

‘For the STEM project, we had to design (in our teams) an ‘eco-friendly’ classroom that

would be sustainable and cost effective to make. Additionally, we had to present our

work to a panel of assessors which allowed us to use our presentation skills to come

across as confident and professional. This has been a great project to take part in

because it has made me think carefully about a lot of job opportunities that there are in

Science and not to limit myself too much.’

Team members included Alayna Ismail, Premleen Virdi, Evie Fawcett, Evie Gibbard,

Martha Pack, Clementine Oliver, Maia Perkins, Jess Parker, Maha Siddiqui, Iona

MacRobert, Mary Deakes.

Continued

O2 Think Big School Trip

On Friday, 22 May, a group of students from Windsor Girls’ School took part in Think Big School which is a new European initiative, giving young people the opportunity to learn new skills in the world of digital entrepreneurship as well as gaining valuable work experience in one of our key sites. The Windsor Girls’ School students were required to work with older students from 3 different schools and, despite being the youngest group participating, they applied themselves in a mature and professional manner. Students were given the opportunity to receive mentoring and take part in teamwork, keeping to strict deadlines, and working towards building a successful digital app. The students were given different challenges through use of exercises and presentations and being supported by their mentors to help them reach their potential.

Grace Asquith-Evans was presented with the prize for the best innovative app idea. Her suggestion of having online mentors where customers can anonymously ask for advice and guidance on areas that are affecting them was chosen as the best amongst 50 other ideas.

The girls were a huge credit to the school and they certainly enjoyed the day.

Hengistbury

Head

Geography

Fieldtrip

The Year 10 GCSE Geography field trip in May was to Hengistbury Head on the

South coast, near Bournemouth and between Poole and Christchurch Bays. We

went to gather evidence for our Controlled Assessment which we will be doing in the

Summer Term. We investigated the physical processes affecting the coast at

Hengistbury Head. For example, we examined how human activity varies along the

coast and how it is threatened by the sea as well as what coastal management has

been put in place and its effectiveness. We visited three sites, the South Cliff, the

East Cliff and Mudeford Spit.

We were split into different groups which consisted of the beach profilers, the

longshore drifters, the wave counters and the Groyne measurers. We had lots of

evidence to collect on the day so we were all very busy. Miss Doherty tried to stoke

up a competitive streak to try and beat the beach profilers, who were finishing their

job quicker than everyone else but nobody managed to beat their winning streak!

The weather was good and mainly sunny. However, it was quite windy, which gave

us a very good motive to get all our work done quickly (and also a competitiveness to

be back before Wednesday’s group!). Overall it was a very productive trip and

Hengistbury Head was a very nice place to visit for the day.

-Sophia Collinson, Year 10

Congratulations to all our U16 Regional Netball Squad. Due to their outstanding commitment

and dedication to the Windsor Girls’ School Netball team they were successfully nominated

as School Team of the Year in Berkshire. This exciting news of our nomination for the award

has filled us with joy. Having known the amount of hard work these girls put into the squad;

especially those early morning training sessions, this nomination is great recognition of their

talents and success.

Well done to all players and Miss Skinner for her dedicated coaching skills.

Berkshire

Netball

Awards

2015

This week is the first Windsor Girls' School Community Week. The Community Week will take place once every term with a different focus. This term's focus is Antibullying. Each Community Week will include a range of activities ranging from tutor tasks, assemblies with external speakers also being invited in. Each Community Week will enable us to listen to student voices. This Community Week we will be asking students their view on 'what makes a great school community?'. Their views will be placed on our Community Tree which will be made during this term. In order to make the Community Tree we are asking for volunteers to help make it as well as families to donate fabric. Any fabric is welcome and should be brought to the front office.

Windsor Girls’ School

Community Week

LRC

News

Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2015

One of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, the Baileys

Women’s Prize for Fiction celebrates excellence, originality and

accessibility in women’s writing throughout the world.

The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze

known as a ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven. Both

are anonymously endowed.

Go to www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk to check out the full list of

nominees!

2015 Winner: How to be Both by Ali Smith

How to be Both is a novel all about art's versatility. Borrowing from

painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a

fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths

and fictions. There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There's the

child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a

singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing

gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a

second chance.

Thames Valley

Police Cadets

are Recruiting

New Members

The scheme aims to provide young people between the ages of 13 and 18, from all parts of society, an opportunity to develop their qualities and skills through a structured programme, and to enhance the relationship between the public and police. It is about including teenagers irrespective of their background, financial circumstances or vulnerability to crime or social exclusion. As dedicated volunteers wanting to make a difference in their local community, the Cadets will take part in neighbourhood policing initiatives and community activities/events alongside police officers and staff, other volunteers, and partner agencies. The Cadets will be directly supervised by Cadet Leaders who are made up of officers, staff, police support volunteers, PCSOs and members of the Special Constabulary. While Cadets are not eligible for independent patrols and do not have any legal powers, they are able to support tasks such as crime prevention initiatives, message/leaflet delivery, test purchase operations, partnership public safety campaigns, and involvement in non-confrontational local events under supervision. All Cadet activities are risk assessed to comply with Health and Safety and Child Protection policies and procedures. The Cadets and their leaders will meet once a week. The meetings will include guest speakers or input on police related topics as part of an on-going training programme. As well as these weekly meetings, the Cadet units will involve themselves in other activities at weekends and in school holidays, including activity breaks and national competitions. All Thames Valley Police Cadets will be educated and trained in various skills to improve their confidence in dealing with people from all walks of life and general aspects of life. A standard uniform will be issued to the Cadets and this will be worn at all meetings and suitable events. To join, please register an ‘expression of interest’ by emailing: thamesvalleypolicecadets@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk. Please include your full name, address, date of birth, contact details, the area of the cadet unit you would like to join, along with a short description of why you are interested in joining. In addition you could come and meet Staff and Cadets and have your questions answered; on Sunday 21st June 10-12 noon at the front office of Windsor Police Station, Alma Road, Windsor and 1.30 - 3.30pm at RBWM Youth Services building, 3 Marlow Road, Maidenhead.