MATHS

WAKEFIELD WHERE GIRLS HAVE DETERMINATION

PROBLEM SOLVING

Maths Department ISSP Trips

Unfortunately, this year only two ISSP trips managed to take place before we went into lockdown. At the start of January a team of twenty four Year 8 and 9 girls travelled to Carleton High School to work in teams of four with students from Carleton High School, Kings, and QEGS. They worked in their teams on a variety of problem solving challenges which saw Janushruthi, Nina and Aranie working in the top three teams.

At the end of January twenty four Year 10 girls spent the afternoon at Carleton High School working with pupils from Carleton High School, Kings and QEGS to solve a humanitarian problem set by RAF officers on the imaginary island of Martillo that had suffered a natural disaster. As the officers set various logistical challenges the girls had to act out roles, make rapid decisions and justify them to the wider group, demonstrating great cooperation and team work.

Mrs Rees

COMPUTERSCIENCE Life inLockdown

Teachers at WGHS embrace the challenges of remote learning and distance teaching

As Computer Science teachers, you might expect that we would be more ready than most to tackle the challenges of distance teaching. Obviously we are very familiar with tools such as Google Docs, Firefly and Youtube, as we have been using them for years. Similarly, many of our lessons already rely on online tools for programming and working with data. However there is always more to learn, and the new situation has meant we have had to adapt along with everyone else. One of the most positive changes, in my opinion, is that we have leapt headlong into the world of video feedback. Given that we usually spend the good majority of our days talking, we faced the prospect of even more hours of typing. Writing out feedback and comments is very time consuming (and I never truly learned how to touch type), so using a video service such as Loom has meant we can make our feedback as personal and natural as possible. Of course, we must always be aware that relying entirely on one online service can have its risks, as we saw in the first few days of lockdown when Firefly was adjusting to the new demand.

Then there's the fact that some lessons don't translate very well to distance teaching. Programming is one example of this. A fledgling programmer will make countless typing errors and logical mistakes, and without a teacher to guide them they can find themselves unable to progress. With our small class sizes we can guarantee prompt attention in an ordinary lesson, but online there is naturally a delay in feedback. That's one reason why I am very keen to get back to the classroom when it is safe to do so. At that time, I think every department will have developed some new skills, which can only be a good thing.

Mr Paget

One of the most positive changes, in my opinion, is that we have leapt headlong into the world of video feedback”