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LPGS NEWSLETTER Summer Term 1

LPGS Careers Academy

The LPGS Careers Academy has been a hive of activity with even more interview preparation sessions for our Year 13 students having university and degree apprenticeship interviews with some fantastic outcomes for both university and apprenticeship offers.

Mock trial at LPGS with a celebrity judge!

Earlier this term, we welcomed Mark Robinson a criminal barrister into school, he had some great stories about his very different pathway to becoming a barrister. He then came back a few weeks later with a team to run our awesome LPGS Mock Trial! He arrived with a female barrister, Sahara, and also our judge for the day, Shaun Wallace who is the Head of Chambers but is also well know as one of the Chasers on ITV! Shaun caused quite a stir with the students and staff alike! I would like to thank LPGS staff for acting as the defendant and the witnesses while the students ran both the defence and prosecution teams (mentored by Mark and Sahara) and 12 further students formed our jury! Since this great event, Mark has invited 12 students from LPGS to compete against 3 other schools at Woolwich Croen court with 8 barristers attending and three judges. There are prizes at stake! You will be able to hear about this in next term's newsletter! You can read published articles about our LPGS mock trial by Daniel and Abi here:

https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/20101907.lpgs-mock-trial-2022---abbie-dorey-langley-park-school-girls/

https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/20095741.mock-trial-daniel-mills-langley-park-girls-scool/

Polar Preet visits LPGS!

“One Inspirational woman, One unforgiving continent, 700 miles… Nothing is impossible” In April we were lucky to welcome Captain Preet Chandi, the first woman of colour to solo trek to the South Pole. Preet spoke about her expedition and her talk was inspiring to say the least! Preet left school at 16 years of age and joined the Army Reserves when she was 19. Since then she has gone to university to study for a degree in Physiotherapy and now works as an army medic. Her message was very clear… nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself and your ability – a great message for our students. One student, Katie, in Year 9 was so inspired, she has since joined the Army cadets. Following on from this, 20 pupils in Years 7-9, identified by their teachers as having been extremely committed to their studies, were invited to attend the rehearsal session for the Trooping of the Colour, an extremely enjoyable day indeed!

Work experience weeks

The original deadline for the return of work experience forms, set for 16th May has now passed although we are still wanting to receive forms from students in Years 10 and 12. To confirm, the weeks that we will be running the work experience programmes are: Year 12: 4th – 8th July and Year 10: 18th – 22nd July

Please encourage the students to continue to seek placements and to maybe widen their search area in terms of considering other options. Please talk to friends and family to help them. I do appreciate that it is tougher than normal but gaining work experience is so important for them. They can learn so many transferrable skills, even in a placement that may not have been their first choice. I am doing my very best to help as many students as possible who are struggling but this is a very big job, any additional help from parents and carers would be very appreciated. If you, your friends or family members work for a company who may be able to offer one of our students work experience, I would love to hear from you. hha@lpgs.bromley.sch.uk

LPGS Oxbridge Programme

The Oxbridge Teams page is now up and running for all aspiring Oxbridge applicants in Year 11 and 12. Helpful links about applying to Oxbridge, deciding on which courses could be suitable, writing effective personal statements, tips from successful applicants and lots more will all be featured on the chat page. If any other students are interested in joining the group, please ask them to come and see me. We have also been lucky enough to welcome James Wallace back who worked with some of our Year 12 applicants going through the first drafts of their personal statements – he really is a bit of a “personal statement guru” so we hope to welcome him back to LPGS soon! More Oxbridge mentors to follow after the half term break! The 16 students (eight from Year 11 and eight from Year 12) accepted onto the prestigious CAIUS and Gonville, Cambridge preparation course are working really well and the feedback has been brilliant – well done and keep up the good work!

Year 11 post 16 destination choices

Since the start of the year, I have been working with the Year 11 students who are still unsure about their next steps after the completion of their GCSE examinations. If any students are confused about their choices, I am here to help! Please encourage them to come and see me in my office, opposite M002. As well as looking at all of the opportunities available to them by staying at LPGS, I can also shortlist apprenticeship opportunities with them and help them with any college applications.

Lloyds Bank mentoring initiative

The next 10 students have started their Lloyds Bank mentorship programme and already the feedback has been fantastic. I am hoping this will be an ongoing arrangement and I will let students know when more places become available.

10X Challenge

Unfortunately, this year we did not win any of the titles. On a positive, the students did a fantastic job and I think they would agree, they learnt a lot from setting up and running their businesses. The Young Enterprise Company had many staffing and IT issues this year which made submitting entries difficult for the students – they have assured us that this will be rectified next year. I would personally like to congratulate every single student who took part – they were great! I will be recognising students in form time who I identified as our LPGS winners.

World of Work Wednesday

Takes place every other Wednesday to Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 (Years 11 and 13 can watch on catch up). All speakers are recorded and they can be seen on Fire Fly under Careers Academy. Recently, we have heard from; Chris Daw QC and Holly Venables, LPGS alumni who works as a tax specialist for Andersen Consulting.

Extra after school Speakers/helpers into school

I am SO grateful for this! I would love to hear from any parents/carers or friends of the school who may have a career they could talk to the students about and possibly offer mentorship to students interested in a particular field. Please email me at hha@lpgs.bromley.sch.uk if you may be able to help.

I wish all the students a restful, and hopefully, sunny half term break – have some rest but think about that revision and work experience too! See you fresh and ready to go again after half term!

Mrs Hayden - Careers Advisor

Music Summer 1

Congratulations to all Year 11 and 13 Music students for completing their coursework. It is a huge weight off their shoulders and allows them to focus on the exam season ahead. We were very impressed with the commitment shown and wish everyone the very best in their Summer exams.

Rehearsals continue this term but with a slightly altered schedule which allows us to focus on our whole school production of ‘Hairspray’. The new schedule is as follows and it is absolutely not too late to join a group, just come along and have a go!...

As a slow return to ‘in person’ ABRSM and Trinity instrumental/ vocal exams takes place, many students are working hard at passing their next qualification although online exams remain as an alternative option. Well done to Polina P for passing her Grade 2 piano exam with Merit. If you have passed a grade, let us know so we can celebrate it here!

As Year 9 embark on their song writing scheme of learning this term, we would like to mention a fantastic local song writing course run by Arts Train at the Churchill Theatre called ‘Live and Unreleased’ (deadline for applications is May 30th). We have worked very closely with Arts Train for the last 4 years and are always so impressed with the music they produce with students. Please contact Annabell at artstrain@mytimeactive.co.uk if interested. Evie W attended one in the Easter holidays and wrote this review…

The Arts Train workshop was a really good experience for someone like me that has a passion for music production and song writing (and just music in general) because I got to experiment with different sounds and learn the different elements that come into play when producing songs and we got to make an actual song too. It definitely helped me get over a big fear that I had before which was making music with other people since it can definitely be a messy process and I never thought I would be able to produce songs with other people without being scared of messing up. I learnt to just let loose more and honestly it felt like a safe space where I was able to experiment with ideas and share with other people. I would happily go to one of these again and recommend it to anybody interested in songs and/or making their own, it was a great experience. Evie W

Following our very successful UK February Music Tour, we have just launched our next one which is to the Isle of Wight in October half term (2022). We will perform two concerts whilst we are there as well as do lots of fun activities including a night walk at Shanklin Chine and an obligatory visit to a theme park! Every member of a Music extra-curricular group is invited to attend so if you haven’t got your letter yet or want to join a group, let me know as soon as possible at gs@lpgs.bromley.sch.uk as spaces will go fast.

As well as ‘Hairspray’ in July, we have lots of other exciting opportunities coming up after half term as we try to cram in as much as possible before the Summer holidays so watch this space!

Follow us on Instagram for up to date announcements and news: @LPGSMusicDept.

Miss Sheppard

A Delicious Hispanic Lunch

Year 12 Spanish A Level students prepared a delicious Hispanic lunch for a group of our Y11 Spanish students to celebrate their excellent effort in Spanish. Year 12 study the importance of gastronomy in the Hispanic world as part of their A Level, so it was time to put everything they had learned into practice.

The dishes were extremely professional and everyone was very impressed! Students made dishes such as gazpacho, arepas, espaguettis domenicanos, patatas bravas, arroz con leche and torrijas, and many more.

The English Department

Year 12 English Literature Visit to the British Library and The University of Westminster

On Wednesday 18th May Year 12 English Literature students travelled to central London for exhibitions at the British Library and lectures at The University of Westminster. Impressively, they made their own way to and from London, prepared for a day of learning in a dynamic way outside of the classroom. Thankfully, the weather was on our side which made it even more enjoyable! Below are some details of the trip.

The British Library

Students gathered outside the incredible main entrance of the library before embarking on a self-guided tour where they discovered the ‘Treasures of the British Library’ exhibition. Within this exhibition students viewed remarkable items such as the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s first folios, handwritten manuscripts from the Brontë sisters, Virgina Woolf and James Joyce. Notably, this exhibition included some of the oldest sacred texts, such as the Torah, a manuscript of the Qur’an and the Bible. It is difficult not to feel inspired by the history and cultures behind all these texts! We were incredibly lucky to be able to visit the library’s latest exhibition: ‘Breaking the News’ (which is usually paid tickets only). Here students took a tour through the history of sensational news items across time, including: the Jack the Ripper murders; The Great Fire of London; coverage of the Grenfell Fire; the war in Syria and Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister. Understandably, the exhibition provoked critical discussions and thoughtful interactions with sensitive topics. It was a delight to see students engaging in English outside of the classroom and realising just how interdisciplinary the subject is.

The University of Westminster

We walked from the British Library to the University’s Regent Street Campus via some remarkable landmarks including Bloomsbury Square, Tavistock Gardens, Euston Church, SOAS, the BBC building and Cavendish Square Gardens (where students were able to take a break and relax). Students were met by Dr Simon Avery and Professor Alexandra Warwick, who specialise in 19th Century Gothic literature, both of which are key components of the A Level course. Students participated in seminar-style learning from experts who were incredibly welcoming and made the material accessible. Part of the joy of these lectures is being in the very location of one of the set texts (Dracula) and the important discussions surrounding the context of 19th Century London. We finished the afternoon with a lecture from Dr Lucy Bond on Toni Morrison’s Beloved. What was most fascinating was the way in which students learned about the uses of memory in literature, specifically the ways in which memory and history interplay when it comes to talking and writing about the legacy of slavery in the United States. Students were focussed, engaged, and demonstrated their ability to take notes at a higher level. Overall, this was a valuable experience for students in exploring their studies beyond the boundaries of the examination and specification. Students made an exceptionally good impression and LPGS have secured links with both organisations for the future.

Ms Walker - Head of English

Year 8 Hispanic food competition
Alex
Millicent

Well done to our budding chefs in Year 8 that entered the Hispanic cooking contest! These were judged by our expert panel of Sixth Form Spanish students.

Anatasia

The winners were 1st place: Millicent B, 2nd place: Ava C and in 3rd place: Anastasia P. All three made very authentic looking paellas! ¡Bravo!

Ava
Emily
Kitty
Hairspray

Around one hundred LPGS students in Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and Year 12 are involved in this year’s school production, which is the much-loved musical Hairspray. We have a large and hugely talented cast, we have students in the band and increasingly students are getting involved with costumes and set with a backstage team to be assembled nearer the time of the performances, which are on Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th July at LPBS Performing Arts Centre.

This is a really exciting project for the Performing Arts team. We have been rehearsing in enrichment, on Fridays after school and on some Saturdays since before Christmas, and as the performances draw closer, additional after school rehearsals are being scheduled to perfect singing, acting and dancing.

In case you don’t know it, Hairspray is an uplifting and joyful show with a serious message about equality, inclusion and diversity at its heart. Tickets will be available from 6th June, with information about how to purchase them to follow shortly. We really hope we will see lots of you there.

Ms Stanley

Credits:

Created with images by frenta - "Sunflowers" • Vlad - "Spain flag smoke"