FACULTY SPOTLIGHT - ENGLISH
This half term we take a close look at what the English Faculty has been up to, especially in terms of educational visits and developing our students' wider reading through various programmes of study.
Educational Visits
Year 8 students have had an exciting first term. With the relaxing of Covid rules we have managed to visit the Globe to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Charles Dickens Museum which included a walking tour and to top things off, at the end of term The Globe Players visited to put on a performance of A Christmas Carol. It is fantastic to be able to offer students these experiences as they enrich the learning in the classroom. Please see below some photographs of students at The Charles Dickens Museum having a go at writing with a quill! Thank you to Ms Crawford (Head of Year 8) for organising these trips.
Young Writers Awards (Year 9)
Congratulations to the following students for being shortlisted and published in the Young Writers’ anthology 2021. Thank you to Mr Hill for facilitating this competition!
Emma S; Lisa; Shaqanna S; Mia M; Amelia O; Mia R; Emily W; Amelia W; Nicole W; Stephanie H; Isabel C; Sophie E; amy F; Favour O; Molly S; Erin L; Amelia D; eborah O; Lorena H; Annabel A; Ella F; Emma L; Zara S-C; Hinano S; Elsie L; Grace J; Lucia E; Hannah G; Isobella H; Sofija A and Amelia R.
Just Write and Write On in KS3 Lessons
Year 8 and 9 have one timetabled lesson a fortnight where they develop their creative writing portfolio. This is an opportunity for students to ‘just write’. This part of the curriculum marries well with students’ experiences of writing at primary school and develops their re-drafting and self-editing skills. Below are some examples of the tasks students complete during lessons:
Lit in Colour Pioneers Programme (in collaboration with Penguin and The Runnymede Trust)
I am pleased to announce that we have become a Lit in Colour school. Before the summer we applied for Penguin’s diverse ‘mini library’ and were successful. The planning has already taken place for book clubs in the Spring term with Ms Stott (KS3) and Ms Walker (KS4/KS5). We have already hosted an online webinar with Malorie Blackman who spoke about her book Refugee Boy for Year 9 students and Year 12 English Literature students are invited to a webinar on Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The Runnymede Trust report is available on the following website and worthwhile a read: https://litincolour.penguin.co.uk/
A Level English
Year 13 English Literature students attended The Poems of the Decade conference hosted by The English and Media Centre on the 7th December. They heard from a variety of poets, including Daljit, Simon Armitage and Julia Copus who are in their set text anthology and be able to listen to a chief examiner from Edexcel on how best to approach the poetry exam. I know that this has been a very informative trip.
Some incredible Year 12 students are going to be supporting Year 8 students with their reading in the Spring term. I know that this experience will be enjoyable and you will learn a lot. A big thank you to the following Year 12s for becoming reading mentors:
Amerie B - Jasmine R - Malachi V-P - Daria K - Cat M - Aishwarya K - Isabella C - Scarlett M - Khadija KM - Abigail O
VISUAL ARTS TRIPS
Trips are now back on and the Visual Arts Faculty has taken advantage of being able to take our students back into galleries and museums in order to see artwork in the 'flesh'. Trips were made to Tate Modern, The Grant Museum of Zoology, The Saatchi Gallery and even our annual A Level Photography trip to Hastings was back on the 'menu'...
Y11 GCSE TEXTILES - TATE MODERN
On Thursday 9th December, the Year 11 Textiles class visited the Tate Modern gallery. The aim of the trip was for students to gather a wide range of resources to aid their creative ideas for their current coursework unit entitled ‘Fragments’ All students threw themselves into the Tate Modern experience, taking time to observe the range of Art work on display, taking photographs and creating sketches of the Art. I look forward to seeing how the students use the inspiration gathered from the trip, and create exciting Textiles outcomes. - Ms Keeble
In November a group of our Y12 and Y13 Visul Arts students got to visit our partner university UCA for their open day in order to explore all the different creative course on offer...
BAKE OFF!!
International Day of the Girl Bake Off for Afghan Women
After discussing the plight of women in Afghanistan during Feminist Friday, Feminist Society decided to run a bake off and cake sale to raise money for the cause.
All students were invited to bake anything with a Feminist theme. We had many wonderful and creative entries and were extremely impressed by our student’s baking skills. Alaina in Year 9 came in first place with her empowerment cakes. Nylah in Year 8 won second place with her Oreo cupcakes and Millie in year 9 came third with her Feminist cookies.
We raised £116 for Afghan women in 20 minutes. The proceeds will be going to AfghanAid.
Careers - News!!
It has been another busy half term at LPGS Careers Academy. The year 13 students have been busy finalising their university and course choices and making sure their personal statements are finished. There is still time to ask for help if students are struggling to complete their statements or make their final choices – please encourage them to come and see me as a matter of urgency if this is the case.
With personal statements in mind, we have also been extremely lucky to welcome more LPGS alumni and supporters into school to run personal statement clinics, thank you Maisha, Krishma, Lucy, James and Priya. Their subject specific knowledge and contributions have made some very good personal statements, amazing personal statements!
We have started to hear the exciting news that our early Oxbridge, Veterinary and Medical applicants have started to be invited to interview at some of the most prestigious universities. The LPGS Careers Academy office has become a mock interview hub to get the students fully prepared and confident in their interview style. Please do encourage students to book in with me as soon as they hear they have interviews, its really important that we grab the opportunity they have at interview to show the interviewers just how amazing our LPGS students are and they do themselves proud.
I would like to thank Gwyneth from the University of Cambridge for doing 1:1 preparation and mock interview sessions with the students who have been invited for interview – this certainly has provided invaluable, and much appreciated experience.
Year 11 students have been continuing to work on their Post 16 plans and completing form time careers sessions with me, many of them have now booked to attend a 1:1 session. Please ask any students who are struggling with their choices to book to see me. We can look at all of the options available to them. I am here to help with any college applications too.
On the subject of colleges, we are finalising a date to take any students considering this path to visit Bromley college next term (more information to follow).
Visitors and Trips
During “World of Work Wednesdays,” attended virtually by all students in year 7 – 13, we have welcomed…
Aiden from INVESTIN. Aiden ran a fantastic employability session. He talked to the students about the current labour market for school and university leavers and the skills that students can work on gaining while at school to help their applications stand out from the crowd in the future. It is well worth a watch! Investin run some great work experience programmes (including virtual). If any students are interested in participating in one of their programmes, please ask them to come to me to claim a 10% discount code.
Next, we welcomed an ex LPGS student, Meghan Williams. Meghan is an Executive Assistant to the Director General of the Department of International Trade. Meghan talked to the students about her love of languages and how she uses her languages on a daily basis to speak to diplomats or politicians all over the world. She spoke about the plethora of opportunities available for school or university leavers to work for the Civil service and the progression routes available.
Finally this term, we met with the Fantastic Dr Rashada Harry, the founder of “Your Future, Your Ambition” (more about this fantastic organisation in a moment!) Rashada introduced us to a company called ENSONO. ENSONO ran a very informative session promoting the vast number of careers available in Tech and the varied pathways students can take to get there. This was a very enlightening session, showing the students that you don’t necessarily have to be a “computer wizard” to consider a career in Technology!
All of these sessions were recorded and can be viewed on Firefly under the “Careers Academy” page and under the “Guest Speakers” tab.
Students have attended trips to University of Creative Arts (UCA) and Ravensbourne University, both trips gave students considering further study or a career in the creative arts a lot of insight, information and advice.
Our Surgical Society, run by Ellie and Isha has been running every Tuesday lunchtime and they have welcomed a host of surgeons to talk to students in any year group interested in a career in medicine/surgery.
During enrichment time on a Wednesday afternoon (Week B) LPGS Careers Academy has continued to run employability sessions for Year 10 and Year 12 students. Last week, we were very fortunate to be invited to attend a session for the entire afternoon run by “Your Future, Your Ambition.” During this session, students were able to visit a number of rooms to take part in sessions run by companies including; Netflix, Amazon, Adobe, GSK, P&G, National Grid, Zendesk and many more. I am proud to say the LPGS students engaged fantastically and 5 of our students were awarded prizes by the employers for their engagement and contribution to the activities.
Our Year 12 aspiring teachers have been busy making a fantastic impression at the local primary schools where they volunteer once a fortnight.
The Year 12 Careers enrichment students have been plugging away in the pursuit of work experience in these challenging times and I am proud to say are succeeding – keep up the great efforts!
Disappointingly, we had to postpone the Year 10 Work experience week in November as many students were unable to find a placement due to many offices still being closed. We are monitoring the situation and I remain hopeful that we can rearrange this week for the Summer term. We will look at this in the new year and keep you informed of the situation as it develops.
In the Spring term we will be welcoming army captain, Preet Chandi, to LPGS, she will be spending the whole day with us. Preet is an army medic who is currently embarking on a solo trek of the south pole! She is an inspiration and I can not wait to welcome her to LPGS to inspire our students! You can follow her journey now on:
With the Christmas break nearly upon us, I wanted to reshare the following links for any students in Years 10 or above who would like to take part in some virtual work experience…
Springpod (register now for placements to take place over the Christmas break)
Virtual Work Experience Search (springpod.com)
Unifrog – all students in years 7 – 13 should now have a log in. They can visit the “Special Opportunities” tab on the home page and search for opportunities in a wide variety of subject areas. Please remind them to use the “online/worldwide” option…
Subjects - Opportunity - Student - Unifrog
Have a restful and healthy Christmas break everyone. Mrs Hayden - Careers Advisor
MUSIC
We have squeezed as many concerts and live performances as we could into this half term to make up for lost time!
On Remembrance Day, Charlotte C in Year 9 did herself proud again in an outstanding performance of the Last Post. She had an audience of the entire school but dealt with the situation like an absolute professional.
The whole of Year 7 performed on stage in their first ever LPGS concerts on 16th and 17th November to sell-out audiences. They had an absolute whale of a time belting out Abba classics from the Mamma Mia films and their confidence visibly grew throughout the rehearsals. The glittering accessories made the ‘Dancing Queen’ finale mind blowing (even if the confetti canons didn’t work!) and the audience clearly enjoyed it as an encore was requested both nights! Well done Year 7, you should be very proud of yourselves!
Not long after that we had GCSE and A level recitals in the main hall where some parents were able to attend for support. There were some outstanding performances recorded, which is extremely promising as we get ever closer to the final recitals for both exam classes!
To finish up the term, we have the Windrush immersive experience (featuring our enrichment Scratch Band), Christmas Concert, Year 7 Instrument scheme concert and a reward trip to see ‘& Juliet’ the Musical. Students who have committed their time to extra-curricular music groups throughout the term have the chance to see the show in the West End as well as catching a glimpse of the beautiful Christmas lights! We can’t wait!
Miss Sheppard
VISUAL ARTS
YEAR 12 ARTISTS - THE GRANT MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY
It’s lovely to see the enthusiasm Year 12 A Level Art and Design students have for their project Flora and Fauna. After a trip to the Grant Museum of Zoology, they have been recording the theme using a variety of media and materials, creating 2D and 3D studies which will build skills towards their development of ideas and final outcome. - Miss Crowe
Coming soon ….. Cambodia 2023
Miss Lonergan will be launching an expedition for Y11s and Y12s to Cambodia with Camps International. The expedition will offer a blend of project work, adventure and cultural immersion. Life on expedition will place young travellers in situations that cannot be replicated in the classroom or at home. Challenging themselves to take on new adventures outside their comfort zone will build confidence and resilience, allowing them to shape their identity as well as gaining a greater understanding of the wider world. The exact itinerary is yet to be finalised but we will be speaking to students in the coming weeks with the official launch taking place in January 2022.
Our Windrush experience
Enrichment dance:
On Tuesday 7th December, LPGS enrichment group performed their take of the Windrush story. We performed a touching piece about the lives of the young people once they had arrived in England. The dance performance was not just to be entertaining but to educate people about this important story. As an enrichment group we had to collaborate with other year groups this was important to us because it meant that we could socialise with people older and younger than us.
Claudia 8KC : I felt that this piece was really heart warming as there were many people in the audience that had their own experience with the Windrush and I felt that it was really honourable to be able to show my passion for dance.
Lucy 9KC: I was very excited to be a part of this show because it meant a lot to so many people watching. I want to say thank you to our teachers for giving me the confidence to dance in front of so many people. I hope to study Dance at GCSE and have more opportunities to work on projects like this.
Abi 8KD: Being part of the Windrush dance performance made me feel special to be in it. It boosted my confidence in the dance industry as at the start of September. I was nervous to perform. I was able to show my love for dance in this piece and put all my emotion into it.
This was special to LPGS as it was the first performance in 3 years due to the Covid breakout. We have put our heart and soul into this piece since September. We would like to say a big thank you to each and every one who was a part of the Windrush performance, we have put a lot of effort into this show and we hope it made a lot of people realise how important the Windrush generation is to us all. We all hope you enjoyed the show and hope to see you at the next one. Dance Enrichment
Georgia E 7LF & Amelie C 7KC: Working on the Windrush in enrichment Drama was a really amazing experience, not only could we retell the story but we could work with the whole cast, consisting of different year groups. Everyone who helped to create the performance worked so hard and we all created something that we are incredibly proud of. We enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends whilst developing an understanding of the Windrush story.
Ife 12B: The Windrush performance to me created a voice for the voiceless it highlighted the racial disparity between black and white people within the UK. I performed a spoken word piece called "the Hate you give and the pain we received", in which I gave an insight into the hate black people received once they entered England but despite this still preserved and created wonderful impact upon the UK such as Notting Hill Carnival. I would love to give a massive thanks to all the staff at LPGS for giving their love and time to make this wonderful event a reality.
Lovely 12M: The Windrush performance gave me an understanding of what the Caribbeans went through and the struggle it took to be seen as a British citizen, it allowed me to take this information that I have gained and share it with my fellow peers and to educate them. I show a lot of gratitude for being able to watch a beautiful and powerful performance and say thank you again to the performers who sent a powerful message.
VISUAL ARTS IN ACTION
YEAR 11 FINE ART - FRAGMENTS
This term, Year 11 GCSE Fine Art classes have made a fantastic start to their project Fragments by creating observational studies in various media of facial features to practise skills based on portraiture. A trip to Tate Modern to see the Rodin exhibition was a lovely and informative day for all, with students making direct studies from pieces in the exhibit. Year 11 are now choosing their second artist to research (their first being photographer Nigel Tomm) which will then inform their responses and ideas to make a final outcome on the theme of Fragments. - Miss Morris and Miss Crowe
PE DEPARTMENT
U16 Kent Netball Finals – TM
After a fantastic performance at the Kent netball tournament, the U16s came second in their group, making it through to the finals on Saturday 27th November. On what was an incredibly cold and wet day, the team fought hard against some very tough competition. Playing 7 games in total; highlights of the day were a great win against Benenden and a very narrow 4-3 loss against Sevenoaks; the defence worked incredibly hard marking the shooters out of the circle, and the attack managed to work the ball through Sevenoaks’ tight zone defence . A great experience for the team, they have taken away lots of things to work on at training and take into their remaining league matches.
U14 Kent Netball Finals – RCE
The U14s were up for some tough competition being the only state school in a group of grammar and private schools for the Kent Netball Tournament! The day started well with a draw against Newstead Woods at 2-2. The following game was an excellent 3-0 win against Sutton Valence with lots of turn overs and interceptions by both teams defence. The competition became harder with some very good teams moving the ball quickly through the court. Our defensive circle were excellent in getting lots of rebounds and interceptions but sadly the pressure through the court made it difficult to bring the ball through successfully. Players Player of the day was Kushala K and Coaches' Player went to Kiera C, who injured herself in a game and didn’t even blink at the blood.
U12/U14 Football tournament – CB
On Wednesday 1st December our U13 football team travelled to Charles Darwin for the first borough tournament of the season. Playing 5 games we won 1, drew 3 and lost 1. The squad of 9 played in the cold and wet, improving every game with more attacking play and strong defensive strategy. Despite not making the final, the students were pleased to play lots of games and build their team work which they have been working so hard on at training.
Girls football update – U18 – CHR
Our U18s have made a great start to the season in the Silver Jubilee Trophy. The team have played two matches thus far, showing great energy and performance in both. Results so far:
Won 8-2 vs Ravensbourne School (Olivia. C x4, Niamh. F x2, Elsie. G & Abi. W)
Won 5-3 vs Farringtons School
Bromley Schools Cross Country – RCE
Another cold day of LPBS Sport at Darrick Wood School with a handful of Year 7-11 students for the Bromley Schools Cross Country. Lots of nerves for the students, who some wanted to progress into the next round of the Kent Schools in January. After a team warm up through the woods to view the course the student were ready to take their marks. Some brilliant individual results and lots of entry to the Kent Schools on 22nd January.
Huge congratulations to Megan B (Year 9) for her 1st place in the Junior Girls competition. Other competitors through to the next round include; Abi L (Year 7), Beth R (Year 8), Amy M (Year 9), Emily B (Year 8), Carys F (11), Isla S (10) and Sophie L (Year 11).
We also can’t resist a throwback moment to the last Cross Country Event, 2 years ago, with some of the same team!
Boys football update – CB
The boys continue to train every Tuesday and with numbers growing, competition for a place in the team is competitive. Having played 4 games the team are coming together nicely to find their flow and links on the pitch. Results so far:
Won 2-0 vs Hayes – Hayes conceded the game
Lost 5-0 vs Langley Park Boys School
Lost 4-3 vs Langley Park Boys School scorers – Jordan. T x3
Current (as of 3rd December) league standings below:
Y10 borough tournament - HL
Y10 A team report from Carla. F –
After a rushed arrival and warm up we lost our first game to a strong Hayes team. However, we then won our next four games. Our shooters worked well in the D and the centre court players did a great job at bringing the ball down court. There were some fantastic interceptions by our defending players and together, we worked well as a squad and had a great team spirit. It felt really good to be back playing netball for the school team after so long due to COVID and, despite feeling like our fingers were frozen, we all really enjoyed it!
House System
As the Autumn term comes to an end, the House System is going from strength to strength across the whole school as the number of initiatives and opportunities for students and staff to get involved continues to grow. New House Captains have been appointed and they have been working alongside Heads of House on new fundraising ideas and house competitions for students to participate in whilst also encouraging students to earn P Points in lessons, which also earn students house points. The House System has been designed to give all students a sense of belonging, achievement and confidence both within and outside of lessons and to allow students to develop new skills of communication, flexibility and resilience. The House System involves all students also across whole years and Key Stage groups to come together and support the house they belong to.
This term, there have been a range of different house competitions run over this term. Over the whole year, there will be many opportunities for students to earn house points in house competitions, where ultimately one house will be crowned the winner. Here are some updates on some of the most recent house competitions.
Dance Competition
This term, the Dance Department continued to run Year 9 inter-house dance competition. Earlier on in the term, 9LF and 9LE were particularly amazing in a lesson when they did a one-off Hairspray lesson. Both classes were awarded gold for that lesson. In more recent weeks, 9KD performed their work off to a Year 7 drama class, which displayed key Expert Learner characteristics. The overall winners will be announced to students in school and also in Parent Communications at the end of the term.
Visual Arts Christmas Card Competition
The Langley Park Girls School Visual Arts Christmas Card Competition occurred in the Autumn term. Over the whole term, students have been busy creating their designs with over 20 entries eventually being entered into the Competition by students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Thank you to everyone who took part and a special thanks to Ms Keeble for her help in organising and judging the competition. The winning card was produced by Amber T in 8SH. Well done Amber! Congratulations should be given to our runners up as well: Larya R (8LE), Aleeza A (8LF), Heather G (8GA), Olivia M (8GB) and Lillie H (7GA). You can see all the runner up and the winner’s card designs below.
Langley’s first ever Spelling Bee
As you may have seen on our Twitter and Instagram accounts, the Heads of House launched Langley Park Girls School first ever KS3 Spelling Bee. The Spelling Bee used specific tiered vocabulary which was drawn from Langley’s oracy and literacy programme. Each house had two representatives competing in year groups for the glory of being crowned Langley Park's Spelling Bee Champion. Words students had to spell included reciprocal, soliloquy, synchronicity and diminuendo. Each year group went to a tiebreak to decide the winner, so the event was incredibly competitive and close. In Year 7, the winner was Dhaani from KC and the runner up was Evie from LE. Kappa won the Year 7 Spelling Bee. In Year 8, the winner was Holly E from SH and the runner up was Holly H from SG. Sigma won the Year 8 Spelling Bee. In Year 9, the winner was Querida from KD and the runner up was Olivia from LF. Kappa won the Year 9 Spelling Bee. The winner of the KS3 Spelling Bee was Kappa, with Sigma and Lambda in joint second and Gamma in last.
The success of this competition and the determined enthusiasm of the students along with the incredible support from their peers has prompted the Heads of House to add two further Spelling Bees competitions to our current calendar for this academic year. There will now be a Spelling Bee each term. We are also going to encourage Keys Stage 4 and 5 to get involved and pit their skills against the younger years. This will culminate in a cross school competition in the summer term to find the Langley overall Spelling Bee champion.
Upcoming Events
During the Spring and Summer term, there will plenty more opportunities for students to participate in house competitions. There will be subject specific events such as Science Challenge, Maths Challenge and Inter-house Reading Competition and also new events such as House Debate, House Quiz and House Slam Poetry. Ultimately, the House System will build up to the most important event of the school calendar, Sports Day in the Summer Term. There is still a long way to go until then, so we look forward to updating you further on the success of students at LPGS in house competitions.
VISUAL ARTS IN ACTION
YEAR 10 - FORMAL ELEMENTS
Year 10 have made an incredible start to their GCSE Fine Art course by consistently demonstrating their hard work and talent in the project Formal Elements. Well done Year 10! - Miss Morris and Miss Crowe
Inter-House Gingerbread House Making Competition
On Wednesday 15th December, the Inter-house Gingerbread House competition took place. Students were tasked with creating a gingerbread house using a kit or making their own gingerbread. They had to bake, assemble, construct, and decorate with some students spending three days finalising their designs. We had 10 entries and each house was judged on complexity, originality and 'the look'. The entries were simply astounding, the creativity and complexity was spellbinding which meant that judging them was virtually impossible. Each entry received a P3 but the top three received a P4. In 3rd place was Maisie V. in 9SH and Isla V. in 7KD, 2nd was Amber J. from 8SG and the winner was Lucy H. from 9LF. Here is a photo of the winning House. Congratulations to all who took part.
Credits:
Created with images by JillWellington - "joy christmas ornament christmas" • Pexels - "notebook notes pen" • ninocare - "books shelves door" • mazz_56 - "building people waiting" • DEZALB - "cambodia dancers dance"