Winner of the Y7 cross-curricular homework project in July was Mollie Edmead! Mollie won the ‘Key to KES’ which gave her a VIP day at the start of Y8, choosing any lessons she wanted, wearing non-uniform and having a free breakfast and lunch of her choice. Mollie visited lessons from Y13 Performing Arts, to Y10 Art and Design to Y7 Creative Design! Well done Mollie!
On Friday 27 September I was invited to the formal launch of Dementia Diaries. It is a book written by young people, primarily for young people but it is an informative read for all ages, to help them cope with a loved one who is suffering from dementia. The format is easy to read, it is funny and sad in places but it does show the challenges of caring for someone with dementia. There is also a YouTube clip called ‘The brain cell boogie’ to support the launch of the book.
This book is available in all schools and libraries in Kent. One of our ex-students Raisa is a main contributor, giving her account of helping to care for someone who has dementia. Westgate is becoming a dementia friendly town.
I was privileged to have been invited and it was fantastic to see an ex-student involved in such a worthwhile cause.
The visit was arranged to enable year 11 pupils to gather information and carry out research that will enable them to answer the three questions that make up their controlled assessment tasks.
Each pupil was issued with a workbook that encouraged them to focus on the relevant features of the site.
Pupils explored the following physical features of the site: the square stone keep, the forebuilding, the Roman Pharos, the Saxon church, the inner curtain wall, remains of the prehistoric fort, the medieval tunnels and main entrances to the site. This involved a great deal of walking up stairs and along steep tunnels. A few complaints of aching legs could be heard throughout the day.
On the day of our visit we shared the site with members of a film crew who were preparing for filming scenes from ‘Into the woods’, starring Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep, the following day. This provided pupils with an extra interest for the day!
The entire Geography group in Year 11 were taken to Canterbury in order to complete their fieldwork for their controlled assessment. The groups boarded the bus in high spirits just after 9 in the morning and enjoyed their journey on the double decker into the City. Once in place the group were split into two and both got going with their work comparing the Whitefriars area of the City and that of the Westgate Towers. Mr Sellen and I had the arduous task of ensuring they completed all work to the best of their ability, the biggest challenge proved to be to encourage the asking of surveys to the general public! The students did a number of tasks at each site, pedestrian counts, bipolar assessments, sketch maps, shopping tally charts etc. After lunch the groups swapped over and by now budding with experience completed their second site in record time. The groups were brilliant and a credit to the school!!
Year 11 and 12 sport and public services students spent a morning session being put through their paces with two Royal Marines. An energetic morning, completing team building and leadership challenges, with various ‘forfeits’ for the losing teams. The pupils benefited hugely from this experience and our receptionists were certainly impressed when the Marines arrived in the morning!
| House points | ||
Eagles |
|
300 |
Falcons |
|
295 |
Hawks |
|
330 |
