Loading

Reading Girls' School newsletter - 24 SEPTEMBER 2021

Principal's Message: Coming together again….

It was wonderful to see a number of Year 11 and their Parents in our Information Evening this week. It has been a while since we have been able to host such events, something we were so used to doing, and we hope now we can continue to do so. I very much enjoyed meeting with Parents, and congratulating them on how impressive their daughters are both in their commitment to their learning, and the manner they conduct themselves around the school, supporting each other and their younger peers. Our Year 11s are a credit to the school.

All the students also had the opportunity to spend some quality time in their Tutor group, getting to know each other, in their Tutor Group, as well as their Tutors. They left the session buzzing with excitement.

In addition, we had another action packed Science Technology Engineering Maths day, entitled: ‘Technologies that (appear to) alter reality’ . Our Year 8 students had the opportunity of meeting virtually with scientists, as well as with successful women in Industrial Light and Magic. Please read more about the great opportunity this provided our girls further down the newsletter. If you work in a STEM field or know of someone who does, we would very much appreciate if they could contact Mr Marsh (dmarsh@readinggirlsschool.net) if they are able to come in and present or talk to our students about what they do. We are always looking for new people to contribute and inspire our students.

We continue with our Open Mornings, on Tuesday and Thursdays, which have been very popular. Our students have, as always, been excellent ambassadors for the school, showing prospective parents around. Every single parent has been impressed with how the guides have conducted themselves, and their ability to speak so enthusiastically about their school.

In addition,  a reminder that Year 8s will be commencing their exams from Monday.

Please do continue to ensure that your child takes a Lateral flow test every Sunday and Wednesday and report the finding on the link below.

If they test positive they need to notify NHS Track and Trace and the school and self-isolate. Students will need to take a PCR test within 2 days and if they should test negative they may return to school, if not they are required to self-isolate for 10 days. While students are isolating they will participate in our online hybrid lessons, to enable them to continue with their learning.

Marika Farrugia, Principal

At Reading Girls’ School, we strive create an environment where girls feel valued and look forward to coming to school. We have high expectations for our student’s attendance and attainment and aim for all of our students to attend a minimum of 98% of time (less than 4 days off per year).

Significantly, we want our girls to achieve in every aspect of school life and the statistics show why good attendance is so important.

  • One day of school missed = 6 hours missed learning
  • One day off school per school month = approximately 57 missed lessons per year
  • 90% attendance for a year = approximately 4 weeks off school (over 100 lessons missed)
  • 90% attendance for 5 years = Half a year off school (over 500 lessons)

Minor illness are the biggest contributor to reduced school attendance and we appreciate it can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school. We follow NHS guidelines about school sickness, so if your daughter has a minor cough, cold, stomach ache or headache, our recommendation is they come to school to maintain a healthy attendance.

If your child needs to be sent home, one of our trained members of staff will be on hand to help. If your child is too unwell to attend school, please call the school absence line before school starts on the first day of absence and every subsequent day.

Please try to arrange medical and dental appointments for outside of school hours and therefore keep medical appointments in school time to a minimum. If on the rare occasion a medical appointments during school time is unavoidable, I ask that your child attends school beforehand and/or returns to school immediately that same day following their appointment. If a student is absent from school first thing in the morning or immediately after lunch then they cannot receive an attendance present mark for that session.

I would also like to remind parents that holidays during term time cannot be authorised.

You can find out what your child’s attendance is by going to www.schoolgateway.com. Enter your email address and mobile number that is registered with the school. Select Send PIN – your 4 digit PIN will be sent via text message to your mobile phone. You will need this PIN number each time you log in so keep it safe!

Word of the Week

Every week in school we share a Word of the Week. Pupils are given the definition and etymology of the word, synonyms for the word and examples of sentences using the word. The aim is to expand the girls’ vocabulary and they are rewarded with a Word of the Week token if they use the word in their writing or speaking. Please do discuss this word at home...This week word of the week is.....

This week in STEM: Technologies that (appear to) alter reality.

This week Year 8 were exploring the technology that drives the largest global entertainment sectors in the world; games and the film industry in a day titled: “Technologies that (appear to) alter reality”. The work gaming industry has revenues of ten times that of the film and music industry combined and is a major growth area both worldwide and across the UK.

The morning started by looking at the size of the industry, the potential market growth over the coming years and looking more locally and anecdotally with girls sharing their experience with computer games and online gaming.

The world of online gaming is going to grow by up to 50% by 2023

It was enlightening to see how many girls played games and had already considered a career in game design as something that they had already considered as a career path after leaving school. Visiting parents touring during open morning were also able to participate in the survey as they visited and enjoyed looking at our interactive sessions.

After spending the morning completing our research by studying the features of games including playing with and recording what was on the games the girls were familiar with, table groups were given the chance to design their own game.

Pictured: One of the teams designed an open world adventure game with progress options which ranked up as you advance through the game

We were very fortunate for the girls to then listen to a presentation on how games are designed and the creative process of how the software and graphic design comes together by the deputy Chief Executive Officer of Lab Sessions Studio Ltd, an independent game studio in Middlesbrough via Zoom. He then welcomed many questions from the girls which included candid questions on salary and earning potential and gender representation which he was pleased to answer. The girls spoke eloquently and confidently to our guest.

Pictured: The in-house artwork of Lab Sessions Studios Ltd from their upcoming game concept

Finally, before lunch some teams had a chance to see some of his own design work and showcase their own designs from the morning for comments and feedback before presenting their designs to the year group after lunch. Many of the girls were inspired to consider careers in this growth sector from his talk

Picture: Another team’s fantasy roleplay adventure game idea with pets and exploration as the main themes

After the lunch break and fascinating presentations of a variety of games across a range of genres including “sandbox”, open world, adventure, first-person action adventure, fantasy roleplay and many more imaginative and creative ideas the girls interest was piqued further by an interactive presentation from four ladies from Industrial Light and Magic. This special effects company was founded by Lucas Film in the late 1970s during the creation of Star Wars and have grown to a multi-million dollar international corporation which now specialises in audio, visual and digital special effects for many famous titles such as the Mandalorian, Pirates of the Caribbean and the animated hit film Rango.

Industrial Light and Magic create effects for many of the films and TV shows you have watched

The enthusiastic presenters talked about the range of opportunities in the company and walked the girls through the process of production of the initial models from a sketch right the way through to entire sets and frame-matched special visual effects. Some of which had you not known were special effects you never would have been able to know. Did you know that most car adverts do not use a real car at all? The entire car in most car adverts nowadays is digitally rendered into the advert after filming. The girls found the whole day information filled and interactive. Many of them enjoyed gaining such rare behind-the-scenes insights into these glamorous, highly technological growth industries from people who they would otherwise not usually have the chance to meet.

Parents: Do you work in a STEM field or know someone who does? We are always looking for guest speakers in STEM fields to give talks on their experiences, run activities and give insights into their STEM careers on our Tuesday STEM days. Please get in touch with Mr Marsh via dmarsh@readinggirlsschool.net and Mrs Thomson kthomson@readinggirlsschool.net to find out more.

Increasing Student Participation

“Talking Tokens”

Talking Tokens are issued by the classroom teacher and/or teaching assistant to pupils who participate to questions and/or ask questions during lessons. Pupils are encouraged to write their name and year group on the back of the 'Talking Token' and place them into the relevant 'Talking Token' collection box for their year group. At the end of each term, all 'Talking Tokens' are placed together and a pupil is selected at random. The more 'Talking Tokens' a pupil collects for contributing answers to questions in class, the more chances they have to win a prize.

At the end of this week the following number of 'Talking Tokens' collected across the whole school are 742, with Year 7 collecting over 500 of these tokens. Well done to Year 7 once again!.

“Has your lesson been REAL (Relevant, Engaging, Active Learning)?”

Using REAL tokens students have the opportunity to give instant feedback to staff about their experiences within the lesson.

Students are provided with a token and at the end of the lesson, are asked if their lesson has been R.E.A.L. (Relevant, Engaging, Active Learning). Students then place their token into the 'Yes' or 'No' box, which is in every teaching classroom. Staff then uses this information to make any modification to their delivery of their lesson. These tokens are then collected in at the end of every week and counted.

Results for this week:

  • YES – 1960 tokens
  • No – 24 tokens

Many of you will be aware that the RGS car park is busy this year and this is of course due to the continued growth of the school. Maximum speed limit is 5mph. Please ensure that you are not driving any faster than this as you enter, during and when you exit the car park.

How can we all help with the congestion at the beginning and end of the school day?

  • Where possible girls to walk/ cycle to school
  • Parents to team up and run car shares so that less cars are coming to RGS, in addition to helping the environment!
  • Any cars who do have to come to RGS will be required to TURN LEFT out of the school carpark from MONDAY 13th SEPTEMBER

A reminder that it is also not permitted to stop on the very busy Northumberland Avenue.

Parenting Special Children’s Neurodiversity Conference on 18th November 9.30am - 2.30pm is now available to book!

The Conference will be held online via Zoom with plenty of breaks and all sessions will be recorded and available to those booked. The following speakers and sessions have been arranged:

  • Ann Memmott (National and International speaker): Introduction to Neurodiversity and Thriving, and Neurodiversity & Gender: good foundations for better understanding.
  • Interview with Libby Scott, autistic young author of Can You See Me and Ways to Be Me Series.
  • Dr Ruth Moyse - Using creative methods with autistic/ADHD children and young people to share their insights and knowledge.
  • Mary Jane Stroud and Mairi Evans - Neurodiversity Network in Berkshire.
  • Colin Foley (ADHD Foundation) - Neurodiversity in Education.
  • Venessa Bobb (A2ndVoice) - Neurodiversity and Ethnicity.
  • Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou (UCL) - Siblings: what does the research tell us about the experience of being a sibling of a neurodiverse child/young person.

Statutory sector practitioners (schools, etc): Early Bird £55, Full £65. Voluntary sector practitioners: Early Bird £40, Full £50. Parents/Carers: Early Bird £40, Full £50. Full-time students: Early Bird £20, Full £25. Early Bird ticket sales end on Sunday 10th October at midnight.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurodiversity-conference-registration-170144196873

For details of all Parenting Special Children’s other events and courses for the term go to http://www.parentingspecialchildren.co.uk/events/

Looking to find out more about eye care for people with learning disabilities or autism?

SeeAbility’s Eye Care Champions are holding an online session and is for all people with learning disabilities or autism, carers, supporters etc on Thursday 30th September at 3pm-4pm on Microsoft Teams. For more information or to book email W.Chapman@seeability.org or maggieo'donnell@nhs.net

Forum events: The Trustees have decided to continue the coffee mornings and Special United events online at present. This is because many of our members are clinically extremely vulnerable people who are immune compromised and/or have lived with the devastating effects of long Covid. We will keep this decision under review. Please let us know if this is making it difficult for you to attend, so that we can investigate other options.

Next Reading Families’ Forum coffee evening and AGM Tuesday 21st Sept 7 – 8:15 on Zoom Open to all parents and carers of children with additional needs. Tell us what you want the Forum to do for local families this coming year. To book email fran.morgan.rff@gmail.com

We are always looking for new Trustees to help us in our work to improve services for children with additional needs in Reading. To discuss becoming a Trustee , please email rgebridgman@aol.com and we can arrange an informal chat

Special United Video Project: Brighter Futures for Children is funding a professional, well regarded company Shuut to make a video with young people. They will use this video to train teachers and other professionals who work with young people with additional needs and their siblings. Reading Families’ Forum is organising the project.

The video making has been postponed until 9th October at the Avenue School. Young people can appear on camera, can do voice overs or share artwork. We want young people to be able to get over their messages to teachers and other staff in the way that works for them. £10 Amazon voucher for all young people who take part! If your young person would like to get involved, please let Lisa Harry at lisaharry14@aol.com

Next Special United meeting: 29th September 5:30 to 6:30 on Zoom Heidi Francis will be joining us to talk about a new Keyworker scheme to support young people who are suffering from a mental health crisis. Give your views about how this should work in Reading. £10 Amazon voucher for all young people who take part. Email lisaharry14@aol.com to book.

We began these regular updates at the beginning of the first lockdown to keep everyone up to date with all the changes going on and the various support that we came across. This will be our last regular update, although we will of course let families know of any major changes to services.

Please remember that the Local Offer has lots of information about local services for families of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They have a friendly team who can answer all your questions about local support. 0118 9373777 (Option 2) (73777) https://servicesguide.reading.gov.uk/kb5/reading/directory/family.page?familychannel=3

Stevensons - your local and online school uniform supplier

We are delighted to be launching a second-hand uniform shop at RGS. Please send in any good quality uniform you no longer need. Mrs Emmett will be awaiting your deliveries! For further information please email selliott@readinggirlsschool.net