MGGS Summer Newsletter 2016

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls Non sibi sed omnibus

The Newsletter July 2016

End of Year Message By Miss Stanley, Headteacher The summer term has disappeared very quickly. It only seems a few days ago that we were at the start of the summer term and the opening of The Molly Tipples Sports Hall. The inclement weather this summer, has meant that the Sports Hall has been well used by students. We were fortunate that we managed to complete Sports Day as planned, although the rain threatened, the wind blew and it seem very unlike a typical June day. We had two school records which were broken on the day by Jake B (Year 12) in the 800m and Madie H (Year 8) in the Javelin. Romans were the winning house, and as always I was impressed by the community spirit and support each house gave to all those who participated.

At the end of this term we are saying goodbye to some staff. We have four colleagues who are retiring. Mr Tomkins has been Head of Religious Studies here at MGGS since 1994. He has seen many changes to education during his time here. He started when A levels were all taken at the end of the course and no one had heard of AS levels. He leaves, just in time, to avoid a return to teaching a linear course at A level. We wish him the very best for the future. Mr Down, joined MGGS in 1991. He is hugely valued by the English department for his expertise as a teacher. Many students have commented on his concern to see his students enjoy and succeed in the study of English, and the pleasure they have from being in Mr Down’s lessons. Mrs Edwards, also from the English department, joined the school in 2008. We are grateful that she although she is retiring and hopes later in 2017 to move to be with her family in Australia, she will be coming into school next year to continue to teach some A level English. Ms Arthurs joined MGGS in 2009 as Head of Art. The quality of the Art work students achieve at this school is outstanding and the help advice and guidance given by Ms Arthurs in enabling students to achieve these standards is exemplary.

The Artwork on display around the school is constantly updated and refreshed to enable even more students to have their work on public display. We wish them all these colleagues a very long, enjoyable and happy retirement.

We are also saying goodbye to some other colleagues who are moving on to new jobs and new opportunities. We wish each of Mr Crothers, Madame Fourmy, Mrs Howard, Mrs Lockey and Mrs Milne the very best for the future and look forward to hearing from them in due course.

Finally, can I wish you a happy and enjoyable summer holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone again to start term on Tuesday 6th September 2016.

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The Newsletter Governors’ News By Angela Pilgrim (Chairman) First, I would like to introduce myself. I was elected as chair of Governors in May following the sad death of Molly Tipples. Molly will be greatly missed, she played a huge role in the life of the school and she set high standards for me to follow.

I became part of MGGS two years ago when I was asked to be a governor. This followed a long and enjoyable career as a teacher and member of the senior leadership team of a large Medway grammar school. My educational experience also includes work in the past as an Ofsted inspector and currently as a teacher trainer for Christ Church University. I am studying part-time for a fine art degree at the University of Kent. I am also an active member of our local joint Anglican and Methodist church. I hope that all these experiences, together with being mother to two daughters and grandmother to three small children, will help me to both support the school and act as its critical friend. MGGS is an outstanding school and the governors and I are keen to see its excellent reputation and high standards continue.

There have been other changes to our governing body this summer. We say good-bye to Sue Hart, a local lawyer whose wise counsel will be missed. We would be pleased to hear from any lawyers amongst our parents and friends who might wish to become a governor. Janet Hogan, our efficient clerk is also stepping down and we thank her for all her hard work on behalf of the governors.

This term has been busy for the school. The governors would like to congratulate the staff and students on the many excellent events. We do enjoy being part of the school community. We also aim to be approachable; the full list of governors can be found on the school’s website and we are contactable through the school office.

The August holiday is a stressful time for those who have been taking public examinations and a busy time for school staff as they seek to help students moving on to the next stage in their careers. I do hope that all can have a well deserved break and wish the best of luck to those awaiting exam results.

This is also a time for looking forward to the next school year. We will be able to make full use of the Molly Tipples Sports Hall – a fitting tribute for Molly. We also welcome the new intake of students for September. We wish them a successful and happy time at MGGS.

Arkwright Scholarship Award by Miss Tucker Congratulations to Silke H in year 11 who has been awarded an Arkwright Scholarship for 2016-2018.

This is a very prestigious award with focuses on awarding scholarships to inspire and nurture the country's future leaders of the Engineering Profession. We look forward to the next round of applications which open in October 2016 for the next year’s Year 11.

Further information can be found at http://www.arkwright.org.uk/

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The Newsletter Charities Update By Miss Heppeler Students at MGGS have once again raised a generous amount of money for charity. Each Tutor Group has organised and held their own charity event, ranging from very popular cake sales to non-uniform days which in total have raised over £7000. We have seen many sporting related charity events; a row-a-thon in October for the charity Dandelion Time, a fun run for Sport Relief and a sponsored Zumba event by Year 8 in February for LEPRA. Year 9 students showed off their musical talents in Oxjam, which raised £1808 for Oxfam and Year 7 students raised over £700 through their Sponsored Spellathon.

The Sixth Form students organised another successful RAG week before Christmas. Performances this year included the staff pantomime and the annual teachers’ Top of the Pops which is always entertaining! £4464 was raised during RAG week and this money was donated to two schools in Nepal and the local Ellenor Hospice.

Year 9 students performing in Oxjam Year 8 students working hard at the Zumba Workout Row-a-thon for Dandelion Time

In total, over £12,700 was raised this year by MGGS students for charity.

Well done to all of the students who helped to organise fundraising events and who were generous in their donations this year. We look forward to another successful year next year!

KS3 Celebration Form Prizes These prizes are awarded to girls who have made a significant contribution to school life over their first three years at MGGS. These could be awarded for efforts in raising money for charity, in supporting house events or in a role of responsibility within the form.

Academic Prizes These prizes are awarded to students who have either made excellent progress or achieved highly in the subject.

Form Prizes

Academic Prizes

Anderson Jamie B, Heather W Curie Abigail F, Molly M Franklin Katherine B, Anna C Greenfield Zara F, Becky S Nightingale Katie B, Ebony F Sharman Nicky B, Eden M

English Mathematics Science D&T MFL History Geography RS Art PE Computing Music

Hamilton Award Ebony F Smith Writers’ Awards Eleanor A and Jenna F Whole School Prize Sofia M

Thalia C, Elizabeth K, Shannon W Tayla H, Angel J, Maya R Fern D, Michaela K, Georgia R Abigail W, Chloe-Louise W, Asha H Klara P (Fr), Isobel R (Ger), Rashmi K (Span) Grace H Fern L Rashmiya J Jane T Eleanor M Amy F Becky S

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The Newsletter Careers update By Miss Rhodes On Friday 24th June 2016 Mrs Williams and I took a group of Year 9 students up to visit Queens College Cambridge to give them an insight into higher education and to inspire them for their future.

When we arrived at Queens we had a talk from their Admissions Tutor Dr Andrew Thompson. He explained to the students the kind of qualities they look for in applicants and gave them some tasks which demonstrated that they already had many of these skills. He also engaged in a bit of myth-busting about the Cambridge admissions system so that the students were re-assured that some of the things they may have heard about Cambridge (e.g. ‘it’s only for private school students’ and ‘you need 4 or 5 A Levels to be considered’) were not true. This talk helped to inspire the students to think what they could achieve in the future.

We then had a tour of the college with some current undergraduate students who told the students about their experience of University life and what they like best about Queens College. This helped to get the students thinking about university and prompted lots of discussion about where and what they might like to study in the future. We ended our tour in the food hall where students were impressed by the range of catering on offer (the chocolate fudge cake was a particular favourite!).

Before heading back to school we walked through the town to our final destination of Trinity College, on our walk we saw Kings College and were able to see the end of a graduation ceremony in the grounds of Senate House, the hoods and gowns of the graduates prompted much excitement as it reminded our students of Harry Potter! We ended our day with a brief tour of Trinity College, taking in Great Court and the Chaple (where students posed for selfies with statues of inspiring alumni such as Lord Byron and Isaac Newton and were very impressed by the organ music played by a current undergraduate student). We took in the sight of the Great Hall (the main dining area for students) which again prompted excited comparisons to Hogwarts! We made our way back to the coach via the Backs (College grounds) where we had views up and down the river to the other colleges. There was much excited discussion on the journey home as to which courses students would like to study and which colleges they wanted to go to. The visit, therefore, successfully inspired the students to think about their future options and aim high in both their GCSEs and their A Levels.

Continuing the theme of inspiring students about higher education options we took other groups of students up to the Oxford and Cambridge University open days on the 29th and 30th June 2016. On the 29th the students braved the wind and rain to look around the colleges and faculties of Oxford University, the damp weather didn’t seem to put anyone off as students came back buzzing about which college they wanted to apply to and which subjects seemed the most exciting. We were much more fortunate with the weather on the 30th when we visited Cambridge, the students spent a sunny day visiting colleges and finding out about different subjects. These visits are important in finalising student’s application decisions as Oxbridge UCAS applications are submitted in October and so these students need to have made a choice on their college and course by the end of term 6 so that we can begin preparing their applications.

This term we have also had a focus day in school, Year 12 were introduced to UCAS and post-18 options including talks on apprenticeships and how to write a strong CV. While half of year 7 had their first careers focus day session, which focused on looking at their skills and interests and learning how these can link to different types of careers (the other half of year 7 having covered this on the January focus day).

Before term ends we are also excited to have our ‘Virtual University’ running for a second year for all of Year 12.

As well as lectures and seminars to help prepare students for university study we will also be running sessions to help students in writing their personal statements, and we have a range of speakers coming in to offer careers talks to students on Thursday 14th July. We have visitors from legal professions, the police, the media, Kent County Council and STEM subjects as well as Frontier, a company who offer gap year travel opportunities and provide information on how to have a safe and successful gap year.

It has been a very successful term for careers and we hope that next term will be just as exciting.

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The Newsletter Bronze DofE News By Mr Hamilton, Assistant DofE Unit Leader, Bronze Level It was another exciting and busy year for Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at MGGS with 88 Year 10 participants taking part throughout the course of this academic year. Activities undertaken by participants were vast, with some participants undertaking different genres of dance, volunteering at youth centres and elderly homes and participating in musical theatre. It was great to see the evidence that the participants provide as part of the completion of their activities!

The expedition phase of the award was a highlight of the year. Participants undertook training after school including cooking on a trangia and pitching a tent before undertaking their first challenge on the hills of Snodland as part of their day walk. The village of Herne played host to the practice expedition with participants spending the May bank holiday weekend putting more of their training into practice. It was fulfilling to see some girls who have never been camping or planned and followed a route before, taking the lead in these tasks. In the last few weeks, participants completed their assessed expedition around north Ashford. With adverse weather conditions on the practice and assessed expeditions, including torrential rain, hail and sun in one hour, the girls showed perseverance and determination when stepping up to the challenge. We look forward to viewing the group projects from the expedition and the completion of the award.

A huge thank you to Ms Starns, Unit Leader, for her overwhelming support and dedication to the cohort over the course of the year and to Mrs Harding, Assistant Unit Leader and the numerous Supervisors in their continued support to the award at MGGS. Bronze students will be working hard on their projects to submit prior to present them to Unit Leaders on Monday, 12th September at an after school meeting. At this meeting students will be advised of Silver enrolment. Hopefully many of our students will consider the step up to Silver DofE Award in Year 11.

Bronze DofE News By Molly W (Year 10) Since both my parents did their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, I never really questioned whether I would do it or not, I was always going to from the beginning, despite the fact I didn’t really know what it was. I am quite lucky in the way that I already did two of the components for DofE. I go to MYMS and play in an orchestra for my skill and I have been doing taekwondo for two years now, which counted as my physical. For volunteering I wanted to help with one of the local girl guiding groups but I didn’t contact them in time. Instead, I volunteered at the Methodist church on the Tonbridge Road, where there are about twenty adults and I chatted to the homeless of Maidstone and also provided food.

If I had not done my Bronze DofE Award then I wouldn’t have had the chance to do one of the most eye opening experiences of my life.

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The Newsletter Bronze DofE News cont’d By Molly W (Y10) The part of my award that took the most time and effort to achieve was the expedition. I love camping but I hadn’t quite anticipated how far we had to walk and how heavy my bag would be… or how completely lost we would get on the practice walk. Twelve kilometres a day doesn’t sound like a lot and in truth it isn’t but with extra stress of timings, map reading and bags it felt more like one hundred kilometres.

During the day walk my group and I managed well, apart from a certain barbed wire fence and we remained confident about the real thing. However, on our practice expedition we managed to get lost amongst a sea of bluebells, have a close encounter with a farmer while he was spraying his crops with fertilizers and wander an hour off course. The staff who had come with us were very truthful with us and told us that if we did that on the real thing, we would need another practice expedition before moving forward to assessed - simple as that.

Somehow, my group still remained confident, though they became the biggest bunch of pessimists I have ever met. When planning our route for the real expedition we decided we would rather walk an extra two kilometres and have a simple route rather than a short but complicated one, so we grit our teeth and did it.

Even though half of my group were sure we were going to lost or killed or end up stuck in the Himalayan Mountains doomed to starvation, we actually did really well. The weather on the weekend of our assessed expedition was not kind, in fact we got stuck in a field in the middle of a thunderstorm and got beaten half to death by hail stones but we were on time and did not get lost at all. Our assessor was really encouraging and funny and I think it was partly thanks to him and the teachers that we stayed happy and made it back without getting lost.

Although the DofE expedition was one of the most painful (physically and mentally) weekends of my life, I realise now that I loved it.! Thanks to DofE I met some of the amazing people of Maidstone, trekked twenty six kilometers in the space of thirty hours and learnt how to warm pancakes over a trangia stove. As a group we got to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses a lot better and became closer as friends.

Several members of my group are going on to complete their Silver award, although sadly I’m not one of them, so the school must have taught or inspired them somehow! I don’t think I will forget DofE, partly because of how badly we did in the practice and partly because I had so much fun. My sister she is also going to do it when she is old enough and I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

Bronze DofE Photography Skills by Sanchia M-W (Y10) I started taking some photos of flowers, exploring whether to use a very focussed shot or to keep it more distant, I also experimented with flash. As I took more photos of flowers I learnt how to take a better quality photo, as you can see there has been progression in these photos.

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The Newsletter Bronze DofE Photography Skills cont’d by Sanchia M-W (Y10) “My favourite flower photo which I believe to be the best quality”

Soon later, I experimented with taking similar photos of flowers in nature, using the day light and trying to have a focal point .

When we had the chance to see a reptile show at school, I wanted to see if I could get a good photo of the creatures. I started off to far away and quickly learnt that the up close shots were going to give me a much better, quality photograph.

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The Newsletter Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award by Mrs Harding, Assistant Unit Leader - Silver Level Congratulations to the successful 5 groups of students that completed their Silver DofE expedition last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Students walked from Folkestone 48 kilometres over three days ending in Chartham near Canterbury. The weather was extremely humid, and sunny but they showed great spirit, determination and perseverance throughout their tough expedition weather conditions. Pictured below are the Silver groups and their reflection on the expedition Hakuna Matata - Barbed wire hurts but friendship becomes stronger!

Silver Survivors - A euphoric and painful experience but well worth it!

Owl’ll Survive - Over the hills and far away the owl’s have survived!

The Alpace Trekkers TM - 10 out of 10 for banter and a strong 4 for the expedition.

Thank you girls for a delightful weekend, your behaviour was exemplary. It was a joy spending time with you and seeing how you all bonded within your groups to gain your Silver Duke of Edinburgh's expedition phase of the award. You really did show great determination, your success is justly deserved!!

Over the summer these students will be preparing their projects as the final element of the award. Many of these students are now looking forward to enrolling for Gold DofE in September.

Treckers on Tour - No matter our peaks and pits, we ended up on top!

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The Newsletter Silver Skills Activity Report:-Life Skills Course by Lucy S Year 11 This year as part of the Silver DofE skills activity, we offered our Silver participants the chance to take part in a Life Skills course at MGGS. Below is a report from Lucy S in Year 11: Throughout this course, while being taught all the different parts that effect survival, I mostly enjoyed being shown all the different foods and being able to try them and see what types of food I liked the most.

During the food lesson we were shown how to prepare the animals as well as how to catch them and what equipment is best to have.

After the three months of the course, we were taken out to complete the course by staying overnight outside. To do this we had to create our own shelters using the woods around us and use an open fire to be able to cook our food. My favourite part of the overnight survival was the night walk where we went out and looked for animals while only using the light from the moon.

Overall, I feel as though I have learnt a great deal from this course and had an amazing time!

Completing the DofE Award by Ms Starns, Unit Leader The expedition phase of the award is often the most exciting for participants, however, the DofE award also consists of the activities sections (volunteering, physical and skill) as well as an expedition project and at Gold a residential. It is vitally important that all elements are completed and entered on eDofE in order to achieve the award. The deadline for Bronze and Silver information to be entered on eDofE is 30th August 2016.

Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Year 12 and 13 students have already taken part in successfully completing their practice expeditions in Brecon Beacons this Easter. Students are now looking forward to their assessed expeditions taking place in Snowdonia and the French Pyrenees during August. Good luck to all participants.

Interested in Enrolling for DofE? Year 10 Students An information evening for students and parents/carers will take place on Wednesday, 21st September 2016 from 6-7.30pm in the Main Hall.

Year 11 Students Student information and enrolment will take place at the Bronze project meeting on Monday, 12th September at 3.30pm-5pm in the Main Hall.

Year 12 and 13 Students Information on enrolling for Gold DofE will be advised in September.

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The Newsletter Gold DofE News By Rachel K (Year 12) In Easter holidays 2 groups from MGGS went to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales to complete their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s practice expedition. It was an amazing experience and although challenging was thoroughly enjoyable. We spent the first day training with our designated assessor getting to know the surroundings and learning all about what to do in an emergency in the mountains.

Throughout the expedition we faced many obstacles, including a marsh area on day 2. The surrounding area looked extremely boggy and our bravest member Eve decided to make a run for it but unfortunately regretted it immediately. The mud around her feet began to sink and this is what lead to Eve being trapped in this position of a good 20 minutes.

Trying to contain our laughter we did eventually master a plan to remove Eve from the mud and we made it quickly back to camp to dry off. On day 3 we faced our biggest challenge as we faced the mountains.

We had all weather thrown at us and we all honestly thought the day would never end.

Whenever we finally reached the peak there would always be another peak awaiting us.

However, we made it through as a team, defeating the fierce gales and torrential rain to finally see the cheery faces of our leaders Michelle and Scott. It was a fantastic experience and we can't wait to complete our assessed expedition in August in the French Pyrenees!

Important Dates for 2016/17 Training and Expeditions by Ms Starns, Unit Leader Weekly sessions will start week commencing 31st October 2016 for Bronze and Silver levels.

Bronze Weekly Training Sessions: Mondays 3.40pm - 4.40pm Bronze Training Day: Saturday 14th January 2017 at MGGS Day Walk: Saturday 25th March 2017 Practice Expedition: Saturday 29th April - Sunday 30th April 2017 Assessed Expedition: Friday 23rd June - Sunday 25th June 2017 Silver Weekly Training Sessions: Wednesdays 3.40pm - 4.40pm Day Walk: Saturday 11th March 2017 Practice Expedition: Friday 7th April - Sunday 9th April 2017 Assessed Expedition: Friday 7th July - Sunday 9th July 2017 Gold Information on various Open expeditions will be given to students once available. These include expeditions to Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia and the French Pyrenees.

A huge thank you to all the DofE team and volunteers for supervising the expeditions this year!

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The Newsletter The whole school got involved in fun and educational activities such as an inter House Quiz hosted by Mr Hamilton including ‘Count Down’ and "Who wants to be a Mathionaire?" which was won by the Saxons with a near perfect score. There was also a Number Treasure Hunt around the school for which there were ten questions all of which had to be correctly answered in order to complete the challenge. Finally, there was an estimation competition which involved questions which included approximating the number of sweets in a jar and the length of the Woodland Walk in metres.

The winning team for the Estimation Game was from 7F and of the three winning teams for the treasure hunt, two were from 7G and one from 11N. Mrs Thomas, Teacher in charge of Numeracy across the curriculum, said: “Number Day is a great way for students of all ages and abilities to engage with functional mathematics which they will encounter in adult life."

Maths Treasure Hunt By Amy Y, Laura W, Emily W, Year 11 On Thursday 21st April we took part in the maths treasure hunt around the school as a part of number day.

Originally we had planned to go to maths help to do some revision for our maths GCSE. However, when we heard other students outside our form room excited about the treasure hunt we decided that maybe that would be a more fun and productive way of doing some revision... it was! We spent the rest of our lunch time hurrying around the school solving small maths problems as a team. By working together we solved each problem, laughing as we went (not something that we would usually be doing whilst revising maths).

It was a great experience and lots of fun! We would like to thank Mrs Thomas for organising it!

Maths Junior Challenge By Mrs Squibb In April the top sets in year 8 and our highest attaining students in Year 7 entered a national mathematics competition. Questions are based on problem-solving and require higher order thinking skills. It is a considerable achievement to gain a gold certificate by scoring 81 or more, and in Year 7 three pupils did just that; six gained a silver and seven a bronze. Of our Year 8 pupils were ten were awarded a gold certificate, seventeen a silver and thirty two a bronze. Three of those awarded a gold certificate were invited to compete in the prestigious follow-up rounds. GH and ES took Elloise S, Jasmine H & Grace H part in the Junior Maths Kangaroo having scored 93 or more in the initial challenge; they were awarded certificates of participation. JH, having scored over the required 113 marks, was invited to take part in the Junior Maths Olympiad and successfully gained the certificate of merit. Congratulations go to all who took part; they will be receiving their certificates soon.

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The Newsletter Mathematics: KS3 – Make sure your daughter starts next year with confidence by Mrs Squibb The best way to do this is to be certain that she knows her multiplication tables thoroughly up to 12.

She can: Practise reciting them: Write them down: once 6 is 6 1x6=6 two 6s are 12 2 x 6 = 12 three 6s are 18 and so on.

3 x 6 = 18 She can recite her tables anytime walking to the shops going somewhere in the car/bus/train going up and down stairs dancing to her favourite music any time at all.

Cover up the answers and see if she can fill them in.

Cover up the 2 x 6 part and see if she can fill that in quickly.

When you think she knows them she are ready for all the tables games on the internet: www.mymaths.co.uk Login in using Maidstone & formula.

Go to Number and then scroll down to “Multiply divide mental” Click on the table/s you want for practice and games. http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Mathmagician/maths1.html We aim for all our students to be able to complete the 5 minute mixed multiplication and division challenge scoring 100%. Get her to have a go and if she needs more practice she can try the easier level 1 or level 2 multiplication from the same page. http://www.multiplication.com/ This is a website with lots of tables games to play She also needs to be able to complete mental calculations quickly and our Numeracy Ninjas programme will help her. Follow the link to the practice sheets and get her to do 10 minutes a day of any topic to help her to work to wards her black belt. http://www.numeracyninjas.org/?page_id=165

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The Newsletter Softwire Trip By Rashmi K (Y9) On Wednesday, we (Year 9 Computing Students) visited Softwire, a software company, in London. They build and develop new software for other companies and organisations such as the BBC and David Lloyd Leisure. We met lots of different people working there who told us all about their jobs and what exactly happens in Softwire to create the new websites, programs and apps that they make.

First of all, we met Ying, who had organised the day for us. She told us what Softwire does and then introduced us to James, a web developer. He showed us an app he has been working on recently for David Lloyd and showed us how he could debug and improve it using the Google Chrome Browser. He then showed us how to change the view of a website and to demonstrate this, he put a spinning picture of a cat in the middle of the school website! Then, Jo showed us around the office and explained to us where everybody works. At Softwire, they like their employees to relax so they have table football, table tennis and a pool table where they have competitions. After we were shown round the office, Jenny, a tester at Softwire, told us what she does and how she got her job.

As a tester, she has to hack the software to see if there are any flaws and how they can be made safe. Then Laura, who works on the support team explained what projects she Hacking the school website one Kitten at a time! works on at Softwire before lunch. Lunch was really tasty - they gave us the option of lamb moussaka or pasta and plenty of fruit!

After lunch, Michael, who develops websites for the BBC, showed us the BBC Newsbeat website which he had been Learning coding tips in web development. improving recently. Then, Nick talked to us about the designers at Softwire and how they design the software to be the most user-friendly possible. Finally, we got to talk to the Managing Director of Softwire, Zoe, who told us about everything that goes on in Softwire and how she got into a career in computing. The day was really fun! Thank you to Mr Hamilton, Mrs Ryan and Softwire for organising it for us!

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The Newsletter Energy Quest By Mr O’Sullivan 33 Year 9 students participated in a STEM event called ‘Energy Quest’ by the company ‘young engineers.’

The aim of session was to understand more about future prospects in engineering while also using their engineering skills during two practical problems. Pupils were told that at present only 7% of current engineers are female while there is projected to be a shortage of 80,000 engineers in the next 5 years.

Hearing examples of current female engineers showed the possible benefits a career in engineering could have, including being paid to travel the world and earning £4,000 a year more on average compared to other degrees.

During the practical events, each team of 3, was named after a famous engineer. Firstly students had to design the blades for a wind turbine and then measure the electrical energy produced when a hair dryer blew over it. The winning group, named Bessemer, produced a maximum of 202milliVolts. The second task was to design an aerodynamic car that would travel the fastest.

There were many entertaining races during the heats, including a car going around in a full circle and one car going backwards! The final race had 5 groups and it was a photo finish with Bessemer again coming out on top, just in front of the Babbage group.

Beatrice F, Maya R and Emma D

Team Bessemer; Beatrice F, Ema D and Maya R, all 9N, commented, ‘We thoroughly enjoyed the Energy Quest. It opened our eyes about the possibilities that engineering holds for us. We had a lot of fun using aerodynamics to design and create our wind turbines and motor cars. We didn’t want the event to end.’ The young engineers team commented on how well the blades and cars were designed and how enthusiastic and engaged the group were during the tasks.

They also hope some of our pupils become future young engineers. Well done to all that attended.

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The Newsletter Space Seeds Report By Mr O’Sullivan

The Principia Mission Astronaut Tim Peake spent 26 weeks, 3 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes and 50 seconds on the International Space Station (186 days), which started in December 2015. Thus becoming the first British ESA astronaut to visit the Station. He was involved in many experiments aboard the ISS during this time.

Research in space crosses many different subjects – the unique environment of the ISS offers a great opportunity to investigate novel materials, life in space, the human body, fluid physics, new technologies and many other things.

It is not only the weightlessness which scientists make use of: extreme radiation, vacuum, isolation and many other factors can be used to study physical and psychological effects in a new way.

UK scientists are making important contributions to the truly international work on board the International Space Station. This work will improve life on Earth, for instance by developing new medical techniques, or strong, lightweight materials. It will also help space agencies to plan for future space missions, beyond the Earth’s orbit and on to destinations such as the Moon or Mars.

Cosmic rays In space there are many energetic particles called cosmic rays which can damage equipment and cause mutations in living tissue.

Theses mutations could develop in to cancer.

Each space suit has a layer to prevent as many of these as particles as possible hitting the skin.

The Earth is protected by it’s magnetosphere (which you learn about in year 8).

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The Newsletter Space Seeds Report cont’d By Mr O’Sullivan Mission to Mars The next big goal for human space exploration is landing man on Mars. It will take at least 6 months for the space craft to get to Mars from Earth. Food will need to be grown on Mars and therefore seeds will be an important part of the cargo. Seeds are tissue and therefore could be mutated by the cosmic rays.

Tim Peake on the ISS One of the many experiments Tim Peake performed on the ISS was to take a packet of rocket lettuce seeds on the ISS. Here the seeds were exposed to cosmic rays. The seeds came back to Earth and were sent to schools all across the UK, along with rocket lettuce seeds that had stayed on Earth.

How MGGS helped We received 2 packets of rocket lettuce seeds – a red packet and a blue packet. One packet had been to the ISS with Tim Peake and one packet stayed on Earth. We did not know which packet went to the ISS. We planted 100 seeds of each packet and recorded a range of measurements weekly.

Overview of our results

These results show that the seeds from the red packet grew more healthily; more germinated and survived and the three tallest plants were all red seeds. Surprisingly, the mean height of the plants from the blue seeds was higher, but only by 0.6 mm, which is well within error of using a ruler.

Highest three plants from each packet

Mean height of plants From each packet

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The Newsletter Space Seeds Report cont’d By Mr O’Sullivan Results of Red packet in more detail This graph shows how the height of the seeds changed each week. You can clearly see how each week the height grown increased. Many of the seed heights are above 16cm.

Week 5 Week 4 Week 3 Week 2 Week 1

Results of Blue packet in more detail

Week 5 Week 4 Week 3 Week 2 Week 1

This graph shows how the height of the seeds changed each week. Most of the seeds are above or near 15cm.

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The Newsletter Space Seeds Report cont’d By Mr O’Sullivan Possible sources of error Different people taking the measurements Some plants were limp Different trays assess to sunlight

as best as possible the same group measured the same tray each time tried to straighten out or estimate where tip of plant would be if it were straight followed procedure on random selection of tray position

Conclusions As a school, due to the general better health of the seeds from the red packet, we predicted that it was the blue packet of seeds that had been to space and had possibly been subjected to cosmic rays.

This was confirmed by Tim Peake, after he landed back on Earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=SV6bXBt4Ug0 . The seeds that had been to space were slightly unhealthier plants but not by a significant amount to prevent taking seeds to Mars in the future.

Due to the amount of seeds that will be taken for a mission, the loss of plants that did not germinate or survive should not have a major impact on the growing of plants on Mars.

The future / further missions NASA has set a target of landing man on Mars in the 2030’s, although private companies have more ambitious targets.

In the meantime the ISS will continue to be a hub of experiments Could you follow in Tim Peake's footsteps and one day be on your way to the ISS or Mars?!?!

There is a display board in the Chemistry corridor with all the space seed information.

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The Newsletter Primary School Kwik Cricket Competition By Mrs H Shave On Monday 13th June fourteen

MGGS students took on the role of umpire in the Primary School Kwik Cricket competition held at Mote Cricket Club in Maidstone, and organised by Kent Cricket for Primary Schools. We were asked for some student helpers for this event. The group of students consisted of Anjali P, Hannah J, Rebecca W, Summer R, Nancy S, Millie G, Lauren L, Sofie B, Gracie P, Freya M, Emily M, Jamie B, Jess S and Bobbi J. Despite the rain, the girls threw themselves into the role and practised their knowledge of the rules, signals and scoring, even developing a unique style of signals in preparation for the final. Following the event the organisers sent an email complementing our students. Below is an extract from the email that we received from Kent Cricket: “They all did such a great job and got the hang of it really quickly. They were so important during the day, as they made the day run really smoothly and ensured we got all the matches completed on time.

They were a credit to the school, in their behaviour, attitude and support to the younger children and looked really impressive in their school hoodies. They all seemed to pick up the rules very quickly and soon started to create their own system for communicating with each other while umpiring.”

Congratulations to all students that took part; your school is very proud of you.

HSLA Mini Olympics By Mrs H Shave On 26th April 2016, MGGS’ 6 talented HSLA students invited 4 local primary schools to compete in their Mini-Olympic Games. The day consisted of the students learning new skills in a range of activities and developing their teamwork during the competitive stages. Activities included the Paralympic sport; Boccia, as well as well-known sports such as Long Jump and Rowing. With the competition taking place in the brand new Sports Hall, the schools representing Sweden, Greece, Canada and Japan were enthusiastic and gave it their all. After a long day of close competition, Roseacre Junior School (representing Canada) came away with the gold medal. It was a fabulous day enjoyed by all.

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The Newsletter The Great Big Dance Off By Mrs Smith On 20th April MGGS entered four dance groups to the South East regional final of the National School Dance competition, The Great Big Dance Off at Lea’s Cliff Hall in Folkestone.

All groups performed brilliantly and represented the school excellently. Our KS4/5 group G-Fix contemporary placed 3rd and narrowly missed out on a place in the Nationals.

Our KS3 group Intermediate Academy won the competition and progressed through to the National Finals at Northampton.

On 7th July they travelled to The Deco theatre in Northampton for the National finals competing against all the regional finalists and MGGS placed in the top 10 in the KS3 category, a fantastic achievement!

Junior Ballet Workshops By Mrs Smith

We have been very fortunate to host two ballet workshops at MGGS. The first led by Vernon Fey of Pas des Deux ballet school and Emily Bridges the ballet mistress at Vienna ballet. The second was led by Vernon Fey and Kateryna currently in Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall with English National Ballet. The workshops included the opportunity to dress in spectacular costumes and tiaras and were thoroughly enjoyed by all students that attended.

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The Newsletter Starlights Cheerleading Success!

Amelia K 10G, Anela G (7A) and Mia B (7G) are all members of Starlights Cheerleading. Both Amelia and Anela competed all 3 days (8-10 July). It was Mia's first cheerleading competition. All three girls are part of the Junior and Senior Cheer Teams and this competition was Amelia's last time competing at junior level and Anela's at youth Level.

9 of the Starlights Routines were awarded "Zero deductions"!!

Anela's Co-Ed Senior level 3 Stunt Team came 2nd "zero deductions" and her youth Level 2 Stunt Team also were also placed 2nd with Zero deductions. Amelia's all girl level 3 stunt group - an amazing achievement 7th out of a group of 14.

Amelia, Anela and Mia Junior cheer Level 1 "zero deductions" placed 4th out of 12 and Senior Cheer Level 2 came 5th out of 8.

Starlight Juniors

Anela also performed Junior Jazz, which was the first time they had performed their dance at a competition.

Starlight Seniors

Starlights Cheerleading are holding a summer camp 15-19 August open to non-members if anyone would like to try cheerleading in the summer holidays contact Kristianna starlightscheerleading@gmail.com for more information

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The Newsletter Youth Musical Theatre Workshop By Miss A-M Stanley On Friday July 15th Sophie Gilpin from YMT ran a workshop for over 30 Year 9 students as part of an introduction to GCSE Drama. The theme for the two hour session was ‘Improvisation’. It was a fun two hours; students started off warming up physically and vocally by playing a number of games to help them get used to working in a much larger group. They then began to look at fairy tales and how different drama techniques could be used to tell a story. Students experimented with still images and using choreography to link the images in an interesting way for an audience.

They also looked at developing their spontaneous improvisation skills in order to bring their still images to life. Spontaneous Improvisation is very much about communicating with others, being able to listen to one another and being able to trust those around you, all the skills that are essential when working in lessons to create exciting and engaging theatre.

The girls had a fantastic time and enjoyed working in their new Drama groups, resulting in some brilliant scenes and lots of laughs!

The Newsletter Hello everyone! We are the new Normans House Leaders and are honoured to be leading such a brilliant House!

We are extremely excited for the upcoming academic year for The Normans. We were truly proud of the house on Sports Day and would like to say a huge thank you! Not only did you all perform amazingly, you also kept the house spirit up throughout; whilst remaining enthusiastic (even if we didn’t rank first!)

In September, preparations for House Arts will commence. We are eager to win with the help and dedication of The Normans! It will be an amazing experience to pull together to create something incredible… and to show the other Houses a thing or two! LET’S GO NORMANS, LET’S GO! Gina, Jack and Lucy We are immensely proud of each and every member of Danes for all their efforts on sports day, we had some difficult moments but we couldn't be prouder with how everyone adapted and rallied round to help us and each other with anything needed.

We had a few people off school on the day so we had some spaces left but we were so grateful for those who were willing to participate at such short notice, it was a really brave thing to do in front of the whole school so a huge thank you if you were one of those people who acted as a reserve.

We had some brilliant wins through the day in both track and field. As house leaders we were lucky enough to watch a lot of Danes in your field events, and then on the track in the afternoon we had some really good winners. Even though we understand people care about where they finish, we are honestly equally proud of all Danes, whether you came 1st or 6th it doesn't reflect on enthusiasm and team spirit. Even though we finished 5th we know for a fact that we were the house with the best team spirit and attitude, it's a shame we didn't get points for that! For myself and Ethan it was our first MGGS Sports Day and we were amazed at how brilliant everyone was. Thank you all for giving us that experience!

Danes’ hard-work, determination and effort has shown us as house leaders how lucky we are to have such an enthusiastic and capable team and we are so excited to be working with everyone over the next year in many more events. Rounders next! Billy, Katie and Sophie

After being elected as the house leaders for Britons this year, we were all extremely excited for our first big event: Sports Day! This was our initial opportunity to bring the whole house together in order to motivate and inspire them, and together we felt immensely proud of everyone. The talent and house spirit of all our Britons was incredible, and it clearly paid off as we placed in second, only three points behind the winners! Being supported so well by our house has made our daunting job much easier, and leaves us even more excited for future challenges, including House Arts. With the topical theme of global citizens, we are all engaged and ready to start brainstorming ideas and coming up with (hopefully!) a winning piece. As house leaders, the support of the Britons is what makes our job so much fun, and we’re always looking forward to our next tasks and accomplishments. Beth, Em and Eve

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The Newsletter We have enjoyed our experience as house leaders so far this term, taking part in sports day was just the start of our journey as Vikings house leaders. Vikings put their full effort and enthusiasm into sports day, which was shown through a very enjoyable day. Each competitor contributed extremely well to their event and made Vikings proud, and anyone who wasn't competing showed their team spirit through cheering on their team members. I know we may not have won this sports day but we have plenty of opportunity throughout the rest of the year to show off more of our Viking's talent!

We are very excited for upcoming events such as inter-house rounders and House Arts, we are enjoying getting to know fellow Viking members and are proud to be the house leaders.

Lauren, Libby and Tish Saxons! We have got off to an amazing start this year and we were overwhelmed with the support and enthusiasm that everyone had with Sports Day, our first big event as house leaders. This passion and commitment from our house clearly paid off, as we came third place overall! So thank you to all Saxons, those who participated, those who helped create some incredible Saxons banners at lunchtimes and to everyone else for being such enthusiastic spectators - we are proud to be leaders of such a great family! Even though the weather could have been slightly better, we didn’t let it dampen our spirits and I’m sure everyone would agree with us that it was a great day; and as our last Sports Day, it will be one that we will always remember.

So now we’ve got Inter-house Rounders coming up at the end of this term and we can’t wait to bring the Green Army together again - let’s smash it Saxons!

Also, over the Summer we will be starting to plan for House Arts; so there is a lot coming up to be excited about! It is a privilege for us to be planning these events - but Saxons, we can’t do it without you, so thank you - better get our dancing shoes on!

Lots of Saxons love, Emily, Aiden and Charlie

MGGS’s annual and very much traditional Sports Day took place this Summer on the 29th of June. Despite some light rain towards the end of the event and continual overcast conditions, the weather didn’t affect the Roman participants or House enthusiasm. As Roman House leaders, we were overjoyed with the team effort, and their energy was high throughout the day. Students expressed their talent through forms of banners that were displayed during the track events in the afternoon, of which we leaders were very impressed with! A successful day resulted in an amazing result as for the first time since 1998; Romans won sports day!

This result is brilliant- with only teamwork to thank. Bring on House Arts 2016 and upcoming Inter house competitions; it’s fair to say the Romans are on a roll!

Summer, Abbie and Chelsea

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The Newsletter Library News by Mrs Hewett It has been a busy two terms for the school library.

On the 13th April, Author Guy Macdonald visited MGGS to talk to a group of year 7 students. He shared lots of useful tips about creative writing and the process of getting a book published.

“He gave us lots of useful advice on creative writing and also spoke to us about publishing, in case we write any books in the future! Guy explained how he collaborated with the other authors and how they came up with their ideas for their books. I thought the talk was very interesting!“ Rachael H (Y7)

Poetry Recital Finals!

The Year 7 and 8 students completed the Poetry Recital Competition at the start of May. The selected finalists recited their chosen poems in the library during lunch times on the 2nd and 3rd of May. At the finals, the students were assessed by a panel of judges on a variety of components: voice and articulation, pace, evidence of understanding and overall performance. The standards were incredibly high and the results were very close. However, decisions did get made, after much consideration, and we are pleased to announce that the winners were: Evelyn W from 7F, who recited The Storm by Sara Coleridge and Kirsten R from 8N, who recited Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

Mrs Hewett would like to thank the students and judges for taking part, and congratulate the students on their excellent recitals!

Following our involvement in the Maidstone Area Book Awards, a group of students attended the award ceremony with Mrs Hewett on 5th May at Maidstone Grammar School. The guest speaker was Steven Camden, author of ‘Tape’, which was the winning book from the 2016 selection of short-listed books, that we had read.

Steven was an inspiring speaker, who provided the audience with heaps of useful tips about developing characters and stories! Following our involvement in the Maidstone Area Book Awards, a group of students attended the award ceremony with Mrs Hewett on 5th May at Maidstone Grammar School.

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The Newsletter Library News cont’d by Mrs Hewett Year 12 English students were treated to a presentation by author and former student, David Sanger. The session was held on Tuesday 21st June in Sixth Form Central and drew a large audience. The presentation was incredibly interesting and inspiring as David spoke about writing his debut book, “All Their Minds in Tandem” as well as his creative career path.

David was hugely inspirational and provided many tips for students looking for a future career in the creative writing industry, whether that be as an author or in publishing.

The English Prefects and a group of Year 7 Students were joined for a reading and writing workshop by fifteen Year 5 Students from West Borough Primary School on Tuesday, 5th July. The work they created at the literacy workshop based around Newspaper articles was fabulous and the session was enjoyed by everyone.

We look forward to welcoming West Borough Primary School back next year for further workshops.

The Scholastic Book Fair and Book Club that have been held during the summer terms raised £200, which has just been used to order some new fiction books for the Library. A big thank you to everyone who supported these events. With regards to fundraising, Mrs Hewett would like to thank everyone that has supported the many events that have been held throughout the year. A massive £852.43 has been raised for the library during this academic year.

This money has been spent on refreshing the library stock and on other projects, such as the author visits.

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The Newsletter Library News cont’d by Mrs Hewett Finally, as we prepare for the summer holidays, any students unsure of what books to read during the holidays have been able to take a look at our summer board of book reviews. Thank you to the students that contributed a review and helped to create such a lovely display!

I would like to wish everyone a relaxing summer and looks forward to hearing about all the good books that get read during the summer holidays!

Primary Schools visits to MGGS WWII Tunnels by Mrs Bracey Despite some very challenging weather during which our complex of World War Two air raid shelters became completely inaccessible on occasion, we have once again welcomed a number of Primary schools to MGGS this year to visit.

Students have sometimes dressed up in period clothing and also tucked in to an authentic World War Two style lunch of meat pie, boiled potatoes and veg.

“I never knew they still did work in the tunnels when the siren went...The best thing was they still ate things tasty like pie and peas!”

They learned about the changes War brought to the daily lives of the staff and students at the school. Spending time in the tunnels, the visitors were able to see at first hand the conditions in which students and staff would spend up to seven hours during air raids. A ‘lesson’ was given to each group underground and they were able to appreciate the difficulties of continuing school life during the War.

North Borough Junior School

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Maidstone Grammar School for Girls Non sibi sed omnibus

The Newsletter Public Examination Results 18th August A Level results in the Main Hall as follows: A2 results 8.30am –9.30am AS results 9.30am -10.30am 25th August GCSE results in Buckland House as follows : Y11: 9.00am-10.00am Y10: 10.00am-11.00am

Term Dates 2016 -2017 Term 1 - 2016 5th September 6th September 12th October 21st October

Term 4 - 2017 INSET Day (no students in school) Start of Term 1 for students INSET Day (no Students in school) Last Day of Term 1

Start of Term 2 INSET Days (no Students in school) Last Day of Term 2

3rd January 10th February

Start of Term 5 Last Day of Term 5

Term 6 - 2017 5th June 21st July

Term 3 - 2017

Start of Term 4 Last Day of Term 4

Term 5 - 2017 18th April 26th May

Term 2 - 2016 31st October 19th-21st Dec 21st December

20th February 31st March

Start of Term 6 Last day of Term 6

Start of Term 3 Last Day of Term 3

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