Year 10 Careers Morning

The Year 10 Careers Morning took place last week, with the students fresh from a week of Work Experience. It was another successful event, with volunteers from various different spheres of work taking part in a’ speed networking’ activity with the whole Year Group. The following people kindly gave their time up for the morning to talk about their career paths:

Colin Orr – Architecture

Kirsten Ward – Transport Planning

Fiona Hammond – Senior Business Analyst

Roger Moorhouse –  Aeronautical Engineering with Becky Horgan – HR in Engineering

Dr Nisha Ijjar – Paediatric Doctor

Jess Jones – New Product Design Project Manager

Jenny Payne – PR and Languages (Russian)

Jemma Hodgson – Strategic Asset Manager

Amy Wainwright – Primary Teacher and Maria Mulvihill – PRU Teacher

Harj Kalirai – Building Society Manager

Julie Wiley – Vet with Sam Rudge – Veterinary Nurse

Captain Hazel Ashton – Royal Signals Army Reserves

This event is great because it brings the students into contact with people working in areas they may not have even considered.

Year 8 Careers Morning and Year 12 Careers Day during Activities Week were also a huge success thanks to more volunteers, including Glass Artist Melissa Nicholls, Laura Walker from AECOM, Trainee Clinical Psychologist Emily Dunn, Vet Becci Thorne (and her 4 week old kittens!) and representatives from the RAF and Barclays Bank. Thanks to everyone for taking part!

Miss Lees

Upcoming Careers Events!

Although exams may seem never-ending, Activities Week is just around the corner! This is an opportunity to wind down from the stress, go out on trips and take part in various things going on around school. The Library has been involved with planning careers events for Years 8, 10 and 12, so look out for more information! Year 8 will be taking part in workshops with the RAF and Barclays Bank, as well as learning more about university and Apprenticeships. Year 10 are out on work experience during Activities Week, but will be taking part in a speed networking event with Old Girls and volunteers from various career sectors when they return on Monday 3rd July. Year 12 have the option of signing up for sessions which fit their career interests on Friday 30th June. So far, they can take their pick from interview skills with Santander, an introduction to Law from BPP University, information on Apprenticeships and talks from Old Girls on various different career paths. Email me at jlees@wghs.org.uk if you’d like to find out more!

Miss Lees

Creative Writing Competition!

In conjunction with the English Department, The Library is running a creative writing competition based on the theme of ‘The Journey’.

THE PRIZES:

  • ALL SHORT-LISTED ENTRIES PUBLISHED ON THE LIBRARY BLOG.
  • WINNER DISPLAYED ON ‘WALL OF FAME’ ON THE ENGLISH COMPETITION BOARD
  • RUNNER-UP AND WINNER IN EACH CATEGORY
  • ALL ENTRANTS WILL BE INVITED TO SHARE THEIR WORK AT A CELEBRATORY EVENT IN THE LIBRARY

OUTLINE: The competition is split into three categories:

  • Poetry
  • Non-fiction
  • Fiction

THE THEME OF YOUR WRITING IS ‘A JOURNEY’. YOU CAN INTERPRET THIS ANY WAY YOU WANT.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

  • You may enter no more than two categories.
  • Your entry should be typed, font size 12.
  • Your entry should be clearly labelled in the top left hand corner with your name, year group and category for which you want to submit your entry.
  • Your entry must be no longer than 800 words.
  • Post your entry in the post-box in the library.

DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRIES:

16TH JUNE. No submissions will be accepted after this date.

Good Luck!

Year 7 Book Club

Year 7 Book Club had its latest meeting in the library today, where we discussed ‘We Are All Made of Molecules’ by Susin Nielsen. This was the most popular title yet, with an overall score of 8.7. We all enjoyed the way the story was told from the point of view of two very different narrators (Ashley and Stewart), and the way that some difficult themes were handled with humour.

Next on the list is ‘The Nest’ by Kenneth Oppel – it looks a lot darker that the previous title so it will be interesting to see what the feedback is! Other books we have read this year are ‘Terror Kid’ by Benjamin Zephaniah,’ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, ‘Dreaming the Bear’ by Mimi Thebo and ‘Jessica’s Ghost’ by Andrew Norriss.

Free Comic Book Day!

Saturday May 6th is Free Comic Book Day! This is a special day on the comics readers’ calendar when all the big publishers create a slew of special free comics that they give away to fans. Although it started as an American event, it has spread to our shores over the years and you should now find it celebrated at your local comic book store. Check the website to find your closest participating store (click on ‘looking for a shop outside of North America?’ when you start your store search). I have checked and Another World in Wolverhampton is taking part, so get there early!

Thanks to Paul Register for letting me know about this fab event!

Miss Lees

 

New eMag

The new edition of the A Level English magazine eMag is out now. There are some great articles, including a linguistic analysis of President Trump’s inauguration speech. You can read the print copy in the library or check out our online subscription (with extra features). Just click here and login with the username WGHS and password L1brary.

Miss Lees

 

Prepare for uni with these great resources!

The University of Birmingham has produced  an interactive study skills website that takes sixth form students through the lifecycle of a project; from planning and research, through to final draft and presentation of the work. The materials have been designed to help support students with their sixth form work while simultaneously developing the independent learning skills needed for higher education study. To find out more visit www.skills4uni.bham.ac.uk. There is also the skills4study campus which provides information about preparing for all aspects of university life.

Year 12 HE/Careers Fair

The annual Year 12 HE Fair took place in school on Tuesday the 4th of April. We had representatives from 28 universities and businesses in attendance, as well as 15 Old Girls who left in 2016. The event also included  a talk for parents from Sarah Fullwood of Aston University, who covered the application process and student finance. Feedback so far has been really positive, but I am always looking for comments and suggestions of how to improve events, so please get in touch, especially if you are currently in Yr 11 and have a good idea of some institutions you’d like to see represented next year.

Thanks to all of the people who took part this year. It was particularly great to see so many of last year’s leavers doing such a wide range of subjects and enjoying life after WGHS!

Miss Lees

Final Excelsior Meeting

We had the final meeting of our Excelsior Award graphic novel group today. The group has been a  great success, with the 8 books being issued to a total over over 80 different people since January! I currently have 58 feedback forms waiting to be sent off for the final judging, and all of the students in the group agreed that the award had encouraged them to read a wider range of graphic novels, or indeed provided the opportunity to try them for the first time! The responses to the 8 selected books have generally been good – a straw poll of today’s attendees suggested that ‘Captain America: White’ was the people’s choice, with ‘Clear Blue Tomorrows’ and ‘Audubon’ proving the least popular. We can’t wait to find out what all the other Excelsior groups across the country thought! We will be having another meeting when the results come out to celebrate our involvement (and eat some cake).

We used the meeting as an opportunity to dig out all of the graphic novels I have bought in the last couple of years (see pic above), and were surprised to find how many we had, and how popular they have been. The students are keen to keep the group going, so we will be widening out to a more general book group in the coming weeks and hope to participate in Excelsior again next year! Huge thanks to Paul Register (AKA ‘Bloke of Steel’) for organising the awards, and to Louise Burkett from Ribston Hall School in Gloucester, who gave me the idea to take part in Excelsior when we met at a librarian training event last year!

For more information about Excelsior, check out the website: http://www.excelsioraward.co.uk/, or contact me at jlees@wghs.org.uk.

Miss Lees