17 July 2020

Windsor Girls’ School

Back to School This week we have welcomed Year 9 students in to school for a one-hour wellbeing session. Syd Stapleton says, “The session was a great way to come back into school and celebrate seated apart but very much united.” Claudia Rosa says, “In today’s session we played a quiz with each other. We also shared our achievements and struggles throughout our time in lockdown. I enjoyed it and it was nice catching up with each other.”

Dear Parents and Carers Welcome to the final edition of the Newsletter for this academic year. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about and seeing the many examples of students’ successes and achievements linked both to their academic and career development and also to their wider wellbeing. Whilst this has certainly been an unprecedented time for our school community, we continue to be impressed by and proud of students’ resilience, adaptability and independent learning. We hope you enjoy seeing more examples of students’ remote learning in this edition of the newsletter and that you will join with us in congratulating our student body on their efforts and engagement during our partial closure. This week at school, we have welcomed students in Year 9 into school to participate in wellbeing sessions with their tutors. Students have welcomed this opportunity to share their experiences and catch up with other members of their form, as well as their Form Tutor. Through discussion, students were encouraged to share new skills and learning from their time away from school - it was inspiring to hear how they have dedicated some of their time to new sports, cookery and crafts. In addition, small groups of current Year 8 students who will be joining our school in September have also been invited into school to meet with key staff and learn more about their new environment. It has been lovely to have more of our students in school and we look forward to the return of all students in September within Government guidelines. In addition, Year 10 students have been participating in the Learning to Work Work Readiness Conference, an annual event in which students develop their employability skills focusing on careers and Post-16 pathways. This year, students have participated in this event remotely, ensuring that they benefit from this important element of their preparation for future careers and education. As part of the virtual conference, students were encouraged to learn about interview skills and to reflect on their developing knowledge of the financial world. We congratulate them for their efforts and hope that they found this development event to be a powerful tool in preparing for their futures. As we come to the end of this academic year, we wish you and your families a very restful, healthy and happy holiday. We look forward to welcoming students back to school and thank you and your daughters for your support over this challenging period. Kind regards, Mr P Griffiths and Mrs E O’Carroll Co-Headteachers

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Art

Ella, Year 9

Carly, Year 9

Alice, Year 9

Art

Lauren, Year 9

Izzy, Year 9

Charlotte, Year 9

Art

Remote breakfast: “Churros con chocolate”

Spanish - Year 12 In the Spanish lesson on Wednesday, we had “churros con chocolate” for breakfast together. We all cooked the churros at home and had them together during the call. Ilaria and Daniela presented their Spanish festival and we finished with a song written by a Spanish poet.

Presentación de “Festivales españoles”

Daniela

presented

Spanish - Year 12

Spanish - Year 12

Ilaria presented “la Tomatina”:

¡Habéis hecho un trabajo estupendo, chicas! ¡Hasta Septiembre!

Spanish - Year 12

Ilaria, Year 12

Lisa, Year 12

When lockdown started, we were in the middle of working on the Almodovar’s film, “Volver” - it was a real challenge to do it remotely, but we did it! Then we started Zoom lessons, which really helped with essay writing technique to prepare for the Spanish A level writing exam. This exam consists of two written essays: one on the film, and another one on a book. The students have done incredibly well despite the unprecedented situation. Here are some examples of the essay they are now writing:

Spanish - Year 12

Chantal, Year 12

Daniela, Year 12

Spanish - Year 9

Rehana, Year 9

Year 9 Spanish students were set a five week holiday project which started after half term. They learned what is expected from them in the GCSE writing exam and used the Spanish grammar and vocabulary knowledge they have built up since September to write an essay about free time and their holidays, using three tenses. The past tense, which is very challenging, they learned remotely, at home! Impressive! They also learned a valuable new IT skill, independently, to add to their CVs (the One Note application). I am incredibly pleased with their determination to succeed and the incredible efforts they have made. Here are some essays from four of our students, unmarked but still exceptional. ¡Felicitaciones chicas! You should be very proud of your achievements!

Anonymous, Year 9

El año pasado visité Cuba. Salí con mis hermanas y fuimos a la playa. Hizo buen tiengo. Visitamos un parque temático y fue muy divertido. También fui a un restaurante con mi familia y comí pizza. Durante mi tiempo libre juego al netball porque es divertido y me gusta ver la televisión con mi familia. El fin de semana promixo voy a descargar música y también voy a usar TikTok. Me chifla usar TikTok porque es muy gracioso. Sin embargo, no voy a jugar con videojuegos porque no es entretenido.

Spanish - Year 9

Charlotte, Year 9

El año pasado fui de vacaciones a Mallorca. Fue fenomenal. Fuí con mi padre, mi madrastra y mi hermanastra. Viajamos en avión y autocar. El tiempo fue bueno. En mis vacaciones el año pasado tomé el sol en la playa y saqué fotos. También, comí comida típica de España y fue delicioso. Visité las cuevas del Hams, que fue muy interestante. Durante mi tiempo libre, me gusta ver la televisión y los reality shows. A veces salir con mis amigas porque es divertido. No me gusta hacer los deberes. El fin de semana próximo, voy a ir de compras porque es guay. Además, voy a ver a mi padre.

Lucy, Year 9

Spanish - Year 9

Charlotte, Year 9

For a little bit of fun, this week the Year 9 Spanish students were given the opportunity to combine Spanish learning with art when they went on a treasure hunt in their houses to find things that fitted Spanish descriptions. Here is a collage submitted by Charlotte Vidal and Ellen Hammersley. Like many of her peers, Charlotte has fully engaged in remote learning and I am very proud of the time and effort she has put into developing herself.

Perhaps you would also enjoy the opportunity to do the treasure hunt and to submit your own collage. Here is the treasure hunt activity (Hint busca algo = look for something).

Ellen, Year 9

Spanish - Year 10

Pippa, Year 10

The Year 10 Spanish students have completed an entire module during lockdown! We have been learning about hobbies (pasatiempos), TV programmes (programas de television), types of films (películas), sports (deporte), cinema (cine), live events (en directo) and role models (modelos a seguir). They have been developing their writing, listening, reading, translating and speaking (via Zoom) skills beautifully and they have produced amazing work. Here are only a few examples:

Thea, Year 10

Ana, Year 10

Spanish - Year 10

Mariana, Year 10

Jessica, Year 10

Marian, Year 10

Spanish - Year 10

Zara, Year 10

Djhamilya, Year 10

Rujuta, Year 10

Please note, students did received feedback corrections via email, and they did go back to their work to mark the few mistakes they had made.

“Churros con Chocolate”

Spanish - Year 10 Y10 Spanish, last remote Zoom lesson. Festivals & churros. This morning we had our last Zoom lesson with our Year 10 Spanish students. We had “churros con chocolate” together and they presented their researched Spanish Festival, they did a fantastic job! ¡Buen trabajo chicas!

La Navidad. Pippa and Rujuta.

Spanish - Year 10

Els enfarinats. Zara y Hanna

Las Hogueras de San Juan.

Thea

Spanish - Year 10

La Semana Santa. Mariane

MFL

Jessica, Year 10

Jessica, Year 10

We are immensely proud of our Year 9 and 10 French and Spanish studentsJ. We gave them chal-lenging GCSE questions and they completed them to a fantastic standard with lots of extra details, variety of vocabulary and higher level sentence structures. There are very few mistakes given it is so early in the course!

MFL

Charlotte, Year 9

Ce qui m’inquiète le plus est l’environnement, particulièrement le changement climatique, la fonte des glaciers et l’effet de serre. Aussi l'augmentation de la température globale. Désormais, on doit changer notre comportement. Il y a beaucoup de choses qu’on peut faire. Par exemple on peut baisser le chauffage aussi bien que générer moins de déchets, si possible. On devrait utiliser les sources d’énergie vertes, y compris l’énergie solaire. En outre, on devrait éviter le plastique jetable et refuser les sacs de plastique. J’imagine que ces actions seraient un pas dans la bonne direction. A mon avis, protéger l’environnement est essentiel pour tout le monde, c’est pourquoi le weekend dernier pour aider l’environnement, ma famille et moi, nous sommes pris une douche au lieu d’un bain, car il utilise moins d’eau. Aussi, ma mère a refusé les sacs de plastique quand elle est allée dans le supermarché. Finalement j’ai trié les déchets car à mon avis ce n’est pas très difficile et j’adore aider les autres Apres avoir trié les déchets j’ai acheté les produits locaux. On ne peut pas nier que faire du bénévolat es la chose la plus importante pour tout le monde et pour la société aussi. A mon avis les adultes devraient travailler avec les enfants car est tellement importante d’aider les autres. En suit est très importante pour assurer l’avenir du monde. Si possible, Je crois que les jeunes pourraient travailler avec les sans-abris parce que c’est incroyable de participer à la société. Pour aider la société à l’avenir je voudrais faire du bénévolat dans un refuge pour les animaux et je m’occuperai des animaux. Ce sera très amusant ! Néanmoins mon frère va travailler avec les personnes âgées car il est gentil et vraiment bavard ! Ce n’est jamais trop tard pour commencer à aider !

Marilena, Year 10

MFL La personne que j’admire, c’est ma mère. Physiquement, ma mère a les cheveux marron et les yeux bleu clair avec un petit corps. Je dirais que ma mère est très scientifique et intelligente. Aussi, elle a un diplôme en économie. Quand j’étais plus jeune, elle était la seule femme manager à Panasonic, en Europe. Elle veut être écrivaine bientôt. Je pense qu’elle serait un écrivain incroyable! Pour être comme elle, je vais travailler plus dur à l'école et je vais étudier plus. Quand je serai plus vielle, je veux parler plusieurs langues comme elle.

Rebecca, Year 9

La personne que j’admire, c’est Simone Biles. Elle est très bonne gymnaste Olympique. Simone est aussi americaine. Elle a les yeux marron et elle a les cheveux noirs, courts et frisés. Aussi, elle est de taille moyenne. En plus, J’adore ses vêtements qu’elle porte parce qu’ils sont chouettes. Je dirais que Simone Biles est gentille, forte et très, très travailleuse! Elle a remporté deux médailles d’or olympiques. Simone va participer aux Jeux Olympiques de 2021. Je voudrais être comme elle parce qu’elle est une grande inspiration pour moi. J’adore Simone Biles!

Holly, Year 9

La personne que j’admire, c’est Holly ma copine. Holly a les cheveux bruns, longs et raides, et elle a les yeux bleus. Holly est vraiment petite et mince car elle fait de la gymnastique. Et plus, elle est belle et très intelligente. À mon avis elle est aussi sympa et amusante, on s’entend bien! Cependant je l’admire parce qu’elle a aidé les enfants à faire de la gymnastique, je dirais qu’elle est inspirante et fidèle. Je voudrais être comme elle et je vais travailler dur. Aussi, je vais être gentille, toujours parce qu’elle l’est.

Rosie, Year 9

Este marzo tuve la oportunidad de ir de vacaciones con mi familia. También llevé a mi mejor amiga, Ava, al hermoso país de Italia. Nada más llegar, me fijé en lo bonito que era el paisaje, era como una película. Las calles estaban repletas de músicos, ellos nos cantaron serenatas mientras comíamos. Era fabuloso. Por no mencionar, la semana pasada compré un caballo. Mi animal favorito. Ahora, paseo mi tiempo libre de la manera más divertida y emocionante, ya que siempre soñé con tener un caballo. Cuando no lo estoy cuidando, practico la guitarra y juego a videojuegos. El próximo fin de semana planeo ver a mis amigos, iremos a cenar y después tendremos una aventura.

Savannah, Year 9

Raphaella, Year 9

Mia, Year 10

Learning to Work

Learning to work – module 1Mia Pottage, 10S

What did I learn?

• The salary in this industry has decreased significantly in the last few years.

• Often what we learn in school isn’t good enough to apply straight to the job you have landed, you need to be able to learn and adapt on the job.

• It’s natural to make mistakes and you can build and grow from them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your future is in jeopardy.

What was the most surprising thing I learnt from the interview?

• That marketing and business development can actually be a really enjoyable job, which you can do with enthusiasm. It doesn’t have to turn into something you have to do with no pleasure just because it’s an office job.

• Even if you make a massive mistake and cost your company a lot of money, it doesn’t always mean you lose your job, instead you learn and grow from them.

Has my opinion of this industry changed?

• While this interview hasn’t convinced me to go into the industry, I do have a new appreciation of the amount of skills this job involves, with particular emphasis on communication which apparently, “can’t be average, it must be excellent”

Has my career plan changed as a result of this interview?

• No, I’m still very much interested in looking towards the scientific sectors and a career in STEM. However, I have learnt about a different industry that otherwise I wouldn’t take the time to learn about and understand.

How has this benefitted my careers learning?

• It has helped me narrow down the career and direction I would like to take, by ruling out business development for sure, whereas before I may have considered a role in this sector.

Marilena, Year 10

Learning to Work

Learning to work module 1A day in the life of…Task 3: Feedback

Interviewing someone

• To complete the interviewing task I decided to interview my mother, who works in the

finance industry even though my sector of interest is medicine, I decided to be open

minded and interview someone from another sector in order to compare the different job

demands.

What I have learnt about the financial world

• Working in the finance industry is very challenging for an obvious reason, working with

numbers can be quite confusing and very easy to make mistakes without realizing until its

too late. Finace can be very interesting as well because you really understand the insights

of a company, how people get their monthly pay and how a company is run so they don’t

spend too much money on unimportant factors e.g. being careful about spending less on

the furniture of your office but pay more on the equipment you use so you have a better

outcome. Finance is all about precision and paying attention to the detail but I have learnt

that paying attention to the detail too much can slow you down which I found very

interesting to hear.

How interviewing has benefited my career learning

• Being able to interview a professional – even if that is my mother – has helped me understand the other side of the interview process. I know I will always be the interviewee so by being able to work as an interviewer really made me realise that interviewers are much more than people asking someone questions. The questions have to be relevant to the profession and the interviewer has to be confident and ready to ask more questions spontaneously that may appear during the interview. Being an interviewer is also a tough job as before the interview you have to do research about professions. You have to be respectful (as always) and a good listener as well. This process has taught me to be open minded and listen to the other side of the story before giving your opinion about a specific profession as it may be very different to what you have in mind.

Year 10 get Work Ready

From Monday, 6 July – Friday, 17 July, all Year 10 students have been completing tasks and

activities to help them to be ready and prepared for the world of work, learning more about Labour

Market Information and how it will impact our future. Alongside this, Year 10 students who will soon

be applying for sixth form, colleges and apprenticeships, were encouraged to explore Unifrog and

begin to form their Unifrog profile.

Module number Title

1 A Day in the Life

2 Learning Styles & Future Focus

3 Using Labour Market Information to inform your future

4 My Best Self

Students completed a series of tasks that encouraged them to think about interview techniques, dif-ferent career pathways and how jobs have been effected due to the pandemic. Students success-fully completed a worksheet for each module to consolidate their understanding. Miss O’Neill would like to remind all Year 10 students that they need to complete the Module 2 ‘Future Focus Registration Form’ and email the completed form to her directly. Well done Year 10.

Inspire young people through

STEM On Friday, 24 July, Farnborough Friday Connect turns the spotlight on the future of aerospace, celebrating today’s pioneers of aviation and providing insight for the next generation of innovators whose brilliance will shape our skies. Content has been created for young people considering their future careers and will deliver a number of activities and informative sessions throughout the day. This free-to-attend exciting showcase, offers the very best in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and is designed to inspire students, apprentices, graduates and young professionals to consider a career in aerospace and defence. It offers unprecedented access to a wealth of information from across the industry. Click here to register: https://connect.farnboroughairshow.com/Farnborough-Friday?dm_i=1W52,6XVRP,4J3IU,RX235,1