Reflecting on this half term it is lovely to see LPGS getting back to business-as-usual post-COVID. It is true that the past 6 weeks have been the most unaffected by the pandemic in what feels like a long time.
Back in early September we welcomed over 500 new students into Years 7 and 12. Giving them an intensive induction into the school, with lots of team building activities, appears to have paid off as both year groups already feel full embedded into school. Both years have ended the half term in style. Almost every student in Year 7 attended the residential trip to Condover Hall in Shropshire and as they returned on Wednesday evening tired and emotional, it was clear that friendships had been cemented between them. The Year 12s have spent the last day of term on a Treasure Hunt around central London. I have always found getting lost around London is one of the best ways to explore our capital city and the incredible diversity it offers.
Those trips are just a couple of examples of the post pandemic freedom we are enjoying. We have also had students visiting The Globe, The Grant Museum as well as a Flamenco & Tapas night in London. This is a clear a sign as any that we are getting back to a more normal way of life.
Extracurricular clubs and enrichment activities are popping up in different corners of the school. These have been sorely missed and clearly add to the vibrancy of the school. For the first time ever, we have entered boys’ and girls’ football teams into the local Sixth Form leagues, which is amazing. This added richness to the school day was not missed by our recent visitors!
Having an Ofsted inspection is never straightforward. Having one on days when we were also running a vaccination centre and an Open Morning definitely complicates matters. However, we eagerly anticipate the published report which we know will reflect positively on all the work that goes on at LPGS. A huge thank you to all those involved.
Looking forward to the coming months we continue to plan many more trips and enrichment activities. The auditions for Hairspray will soon be upon us and we look forward to seeing how this production develops into the new year. We have trial exams starting during the second week of the holiday for Year 11 & 13 students. Full formal exams are also back as we have a small handful of Sixth Formers giving GCSE Maths one more try. Best of luck to those students, we have faith in you.
I would like to end by thanking all the staff at LPGS who work tirelessly on behalf of the students. The unprecedented number of visitors at the recent Year 7 and Sixth Form Open Evenings clearly shows that the local community fully support the school and want to be a part of it.
Katie Scott - Headteacher
LPGS Summer School 2021
In the Summer, over one hundred students came together for the first LPGS Summer School. Students took part in English and Maths classes each day, along with a huge range of creative, culinary, sporting and scientific workshops. Our students did orienteering, devised drama, music and dance performances, created Islamic inspired stained glass designs, became aerodynamic experts and were even zipping up and down a giant climbing wall! Thank you to all the students and staff for making it an unforgettable week!
I’ve made two new friends in summer school. I really enjoyed it because all of the teachers were really supportive and I would like to do it again.
Alice A - Year 8
Summer school was a great experience, which allowed me, as a Year Seven student, to get a feel for the school before starting in September. The experience gave me the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, meet some of the LPGS staff and get involved in some amazing activities, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Summer School 2021 was lots of fun and it gave me the confidence boost that I needed before starting my first academic year in September.
Emily Y - Year 7
I really enjoyed Summer School. The maths lessons were fun and at the same time I learned and revised key topics. The English lessons were also really good to practise my writing. We also did fun activities like rock climbing and dance. The teachers made sure we all enjoyed ourselves which I definitely did. Overall my Summer School experience was really positive and I’m so glad I went.
Rose A - Year 11
LPGS Careers Academy
The LPGS Careers Academy has had another busy half term! We started the term by welcoming our fab new cohort of Year 12 students… more of them than ever before! So many of them have come to see me already to book appointments and we have already got to work on application letters and CVs, Linkedin accounts and of course, the pursuit of valuable work experience!
The Year 13 students have attended both a trip to the University of Sussex and we spent a day at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium where we attended the “UK universities and Apprenticeship Fair”. Due to Covid restrictions many university open days have been cancelled, at this fair, our students were able to talk to “student ambassadors” from a plethora of Universities from all over the country to help them make their decisions on which universities would suit them most.
This week we also welcomed employers, Barclays Bank, LSP Renewables and CIS Security to conduct mock interviews for our Year 13 Business Studies students. Each company supplied a mocked-up entry level job description and the students were encouraged to research the company and the role prior to their interview – great experience for them and the feedback from the employers was fantastic – well done Year 13 Business Students!
Year 11 students have been taking part in a Careers session on Monday mornings. We have been using UNIFROG to plan their post 16 intentions. Any students wanting to discuss their options further have been encouraged to book an appointment with me. I am so pleased to say that I am booked up for every lunchtime for a few weeks now – this means the students are really engaging with the programme and I can’t wait to talk to them all and help them make their plans!
During “World of Work Wednesdays,” attended virtually by all students in Year 7 – 13, we have welcomed Dotun Adebayo, an actor, journalist, radio presenter, writer and publisher (being awarded an MBE for his Services to publishing). Dotun talked about his varied career path and answered questions from students at the end. His words of advice were invaluable, and he made us all laugh a lot too with his tales and anecdotes! There were so many questions for Dotun that I carried on interviewing him after the session so he could answer all the questions that had been asked… a sign of an inspiring speaker for sure!
Last week, we welcomed Naomi Springate who is Director of Assurance for TSB. Naomi volunteers for a charity called “Women of the Future”. Her talk was inspiring to say the least, with comments afterwards from students including “I didn’t realise banking was about so many other things, other than Maths.” Naomi has kindly offered to mentor any students who are interested in pursuing a similar career.
Both sessions can be viewed on Firefly under the “Careers Academy" page and under the “Guest Speakers" tab.
During enrichment time on a Wednesday afternoon (Week B) LPGS Careers Academy have been running a session for Year 12 students who have been doing fantastically well pursuing work experience placements to support their UCAS or apprentice applications for next year.
With personal statements in mind, we have also been extremely lucky to welcome James Wallace, LPGS Alumni, who came back to host a Personal Statement Clinic for some of our Year 13 students. Keep an eye out for announcements for more alumni coming into to offer help after the half term break! We are so lucky to be able to call upon our past students to help!
With the half term nearly upon us, I wanted to share the following links for any students in Years 10 or above who would like to take part in some virtual work experience…
Springpod (register now for placements to take place over the half term break)
Virtual Work Experience Search (springpod.com)
Unifrog – all students in Years 7 – 13 should now have a log in. They can visit the “Special Opportunities” tab on the home page and search for opportunities in a wide variety of subject areas. Please remind them to use the “online/worldwide” option…
Subjects - Opportunity - Student - Unifrog
I look forward to welcoming the students back after the half term, please remind them to pop in and see me to book an appointment, irrespective of the year group they are in. It is never to early to start thinking about the future and I am always here to help!
Have a lovely half term break,
Mrs Hayden
Careers Advsior
VISUAL ARTS
At last, galleries and museums are opening up again and so trips are back on!!
In September Y11 GCSE Photography went to the Saatchi Gallery to see the JR:Chronicles exhibition. A visual feast based on human portraits and themes around diversity, self identity and community.
As a result of going to this amazing exhibition we have now entered the global JR Inside Out Project and are getting ready to send off 60 portrait images of our students which will then be printed as large scale single images, they then get posted back to us and we will be displaying them around the school. More to follow on this next term!!
DRAMA
The Drama department have had an action packed start to the term kicking off with a Yr. 11 Blood Brothers Masterclass run by professional actor, Mike Southern. He commented on their focus and commitment to their roles and added that it was one of the best set of students he’s ever worked with.
Lola-May G wrote this review:
Today we had a Blood Brothers workshop with one of the cast members from the West End production, it was interesting to hear from him and his experiences with working on the set and how they performed different scenes, and it was lots of fun. To start with we did some 'warm-up' activities, we had a talk about the context and meaning of blood brothers and different aspects shown in the play, he also gave us lots of insights to cool behind the scenes facts as well.
It was then straight on to the Yr. 13 Practical Devised exams. Students devised incredible work creating thought provoking Drama on the themes of grief, cyber security, the Vietnam War and Milgram’s experiments on obedience. They worked tirelessly and produced a high standard of work they should be rightly proud of.
Here, Skiye E explains the rationale behind her piece:
Our group became intrigued in the ideas of mass surveillance; what is means to live in a totalitarian society and the crippling fear of being watched. These ideas highlighted several social issues such as the way we are and want to be perceived, the fear of social exclusion, being ostracised from society and how surveillance affects us mentally. We choose Complicité as our practitioner due to their use of surrealist imagery and movement. Our audience intention was to make them question those in power allowing them to evaluate the extent to which their lives are controlled by the data they unwillingly give.
In the penultimate week of term the Year 11s did their Practical Devised work based of the infamous alleged axe murderer, Lizzie Borden. They spent many weeks rehearsing, perfecting their Berkoffian acting style and created highly stylised and visually striking pieces of work. We are very proud of everything they have achieved and we can’t wait to start their next piece of practical work with them!
Evie C and Isabel B had this to say about the day…..
We really enjoyed the opportunity to create a piece of drama with my group. The rehearsals became pretty stressful at times but it all came together for the performance and we were proud of ourselves!
Our new Yr. 10 students have made a fantastic start to the course. They did a tremendous job at the recent Open Evening, looping a performance many many times! Their energy was relentless and the parents commented on the high quality of work. The visiting students were stopped in their tracks and were keen to see a snippet of the work that goes on in the Drama Department.
Now that theatres are opening up we are pleased to say we are taking our KS4 students to Wimbledon theatre next February to support their GCSE course.
Year 9s have started to explore Mask work in Drama and learning the precise conventions needed. They have been taking risks and perfecting their techniques.
Isla W-B said:
‘I just love doing Drama. We have been focusing on clocking the audience and learning the techniques of major and minor’.
In Year 8 we have started to work on the larger than life genre of Melodrama. They have very enthusiastically demonstrated their understanding of the stock characters. And our Yr. 7s have made a remarkable start getting readily involved and offering great contributions to the lessons.
Our attention now turns to preparing for the Black History Month celebrations and starting the audition process for the whole school musical-Hairspray!
Foodbank Donations
As a part of our social action launch, we asked students and their families to donate what they could to go towards a foodbank in the local area, Holy Trinity Church. Thank you to all who donated, there was so many items, especially ones which they specifically requested as they were running low. Thank you to the sixth formers involved also who helped deliver and sort the donations, it is so important that our young people get out in the community to help those who need it.
HAIRSPRAY!!
We are thrilled to begin the audition process for our long awaited school musical Hairspray. The audition process will take approximately three weeks starting after half term, with year groups allocated evenings to audition for the main cast or band and also for leading principal roles. Any budding designs, back stage crew or students interested in front of house positions should also complete the form and we will contact these students after Christmas. Due to examination commitments Year 11 and Year 13 students can sadly not audition for this production.
Please follow this link to find the student audition signup sheet and all information regarding rehearsal dates and audition preparation.
https://lpgs.fireflycloud.net/hairspray-2022/hairspray-audition-sign-up
Dates for your diaries Hairspray performance dates: Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th July 2022. These will be evening performances and we will also be offering a matinee performance for local primary schools and community services. Tickets for the will be released to parents/carers/staff and students in February.
We are incredibly excited to start this project with our wonderful students. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Mrs White kwhite@lpgs.bromley Head of Dance and Acting Head of Performing Arts.
The Performing Arts Team.
MUSIC
It really has been a term of firsts this term! We are so pleased that our extra-curricular groups from before the pandemic hit have all been able to reunite this year as well as some brand new exciting groups that have launched for the first time. Over 200 students (and some more unusual attendees, see pic!) have become members so far and music-making can now be heard again around school at all times of the day, not just in music lessons! There is always room for more students though so if anyone wants to give anything a go, its not too late as they can attend after half term and help us prepare for our first Christmas concert in 2 years.
Jazz Band did a superb job entertaining everyone on Open Evening at the end of September and some outstanding solo performances also took place in the hall before each Head teacher speech. Well done and thank you to all who helped out that evening. The ‘I heart MUSIC @ LPGS’ stickers and keyrings given to the Year 6 students went down a treat!
Year 7 have started preparing for their first ever LPGS concerts which are taking place next term. They are going to be practising hard in half term so that they are ready to join together in choirs of 120 in their dress rehearsals in the week of the concerts. All lyrics and backing tracks can be found here: Year 7 Mamma Mia Concert 21/22 — Langley Park School for Girls (fireflycloud.net)
On Wednesday 13th October we had a real in person concert with an actual audience in our first Platform concert of the year. The Platform gives the students the opportunity to perform whatever they would like to in an informal setting. The programme included classical piano solos right through to vocal solos from musicals and were thoroughly enjoyed by all.
If you hadn’t already heard, we are holding our whole school music production auditions in the first 2 weeks back after half term. You can find all the details on the LPGS social media channels as well as on Firefly. Auditions are being held for anyone who would like to be considered for the band on Wednesday 3rd November at 3.30pm in E008. Put it in your diaries! The link to sign up can be found here: Hairspray 2022 — Langley Park School for Girls (fireflycloud.net)
And finally, we have hit 300 followers on Instagram which is brilliant but its not too late to follow if you haven’t so that you keep up to date with everything happening in the department: @LPGSMusicDept
German Virtual Summer Course Winner
Congratulations to Ella M. in Year 13, who was selected to take part in the Virtual Summer Course: ‘Deutschland online erleben’, run by the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst and UK-German-Connection. Participants for this prestigious course were selected based on their particular ability in German and experienced German language learning in mixed international groups. They were given the chance to put their German skills into practice and immerse themselves in the language with like-minded peers from many different European countries, all under the guidance of specialist German teachers.
Ella says about the course:
‘The course was an amazing experience to both improve my German skills and meet German students across Europe – who I am still in contact with. We discussed so many interesting topics, including the environment and different aspects of German culture. My favourite part was talking about German history and doing an online tour of the ‘Haus der Geschichte’ museum. In future I would like to spend a year in Germany during my degree and this course has provided me with the skills to communicate with confidence.’
Find more information here: https://ukgermanconnection.org/yp/get-involved/virtual-summer-courses/
Spanish A Level Tapas and Flamenco trip
Spanish dance and music is a key theme in the Spanish A Level, and we were lucky enough to be able to see the Lourdes Fernández flamenco show in London to experience this first hand. Before the show we met to have a typical tapas meal together with tortilla, jamón, calamares, pan tumaca, manchego, gambas and pulpo, which was all very delicious! The show was a modern take on traditional flamenco and we saw the importance of the three branches of Flamenco working together: cante (song), baile (dance) and toque (the art of guitar playing). It was interesting to hear the Jewish, Arabic and Moorish influences that we had learned about. ¡Olé!
Women of the World Mentoring Event
To celebrate International Day of the Girl, the Women of the World foundation invited us to an all-female takeover of the London Eye, where our students took part in speed mentoring with successful women from a wide range of careers and backgrounds. We were lucky enough to be chosen for the two VIP pods and our students were able to speak with incredible women like Doreen Lawrence, Channel 4 journalist Fatima Manji, London’s first Night Czar Amy Lamé, and the creators and presenters of The Receipts Podcast, as well as many more!
This was followed by an inspiring discussion about gender equality led by Jude Kelly, the founder of Women of the World, and we were joined by Mastercard’s Executive Vice Chair Ann Cairnes.
We left feeling inspired and ready to change the world!
English - Year 8 Visit to The Globe Theatre
On Monday 11th October students in Year 8, along with Ms Cordingley and Ms Matharu had the enriching experience of spending the afternoon at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Having studied the play in Year 7, students were equipped with prior-knowledge and a curiosity as to how it would be performed in this production.
Sean Holmes’ production greeted students from a variety of schools across London with an incredible, vibrant and immersive experience. Students were entertained as they entered the theatre with live music and interactions from the band. Fights between fairies, Kings and Queens and vibrant piñatas framed this colourful performance. Though students had to stand in the ‘groundlings’ pit, they were thankful for it when the actors ran between the audience, making this an unforgettable treat.
Many thanks to the students who attended for their impeccable behaviour and brisk walking to and from London Bridge station. I hope the students found this an interesting and enjoyable visit.
Ms Walker - Head of English
SPORTS DEPARTMENT
U16 Kent hockey tournament
The Under 16 Kent tournament was held at Sevenoaks School. We thought the tournament would be quite challenging because of COVID and the fact we hadn’t played hockey as a team for nearly two years. However, the day was a lot more enjoyable then we had originally anticipated. Once we got into the games we put up a strong fight and even the umpires commented on how much we had improved as a team over the course of the day. Playing against harder teams challenged us, and made me feel optimistic for our team's future. Our team has a lot of potential; one area for example is we make a lot of strong passes but sometimes panic on the ball, so if we improved our confidence and ball control it could make us even better. Hopefully as we have more time to practice and prepare we will be able to win more games. We both strongly look forward to our next game together as a team as believe we will be able to win. - Ori G and Shivani W
U14 versatility netball
On Monday the 4th of October the U13 netball team took part in a versatility tournament at Bromley High. Each team member played each of the seven positions on the court. We played against lots of other Bromley school teams. Throughout the matches we started to work and communicate better as a team and that helped us improve our timing and passing down the court . I thought playing in the versatility tournament was really beneficial to us as we could get a better understanding of each position, and which one worked well for us individually. Overall, as a team we really enjoyed the experience and it definitely helped us to improve! - Hannah C 9GB.
Friday Night Lights
On the 17th September, we went to Eltham College for a netball tournament. At first, we were all very sceptical because we hadn’t had that much training and we were going to be playing against some strong opposition. The matches were very challenging but we gave it our best and Miss Harris was there on our side lifting our spirits with her words of encouragement. Although we lost all the matches and came fourth, we all had so much fun. The tournament was a great experience as we got to know each other better, it brought us closer as a team and it also showed us what positions we played best. The highlight of the evening was that we were rewarded with a barbeque for our hard work. There were burgers, hotdogs and drink, which some of us took for the coach journey home. Overall it was a great experience as we made friends with our teammates and it showed us how to branch out of our comfort zones. - Winifred K 12J and Amara O 12G
Langley Girls was invited to Friday Night Lights’ at Eltham College. When we arrived we were told due to the fact a school had dropped out, there would be now be a fourth team comprising of a mix of students from LPGS, Chis & Sid and Eltham College. There were a total of three games, where we were able to showcase our skills and techniques but also receive feedback from Miss Harris throughout. “ Playing on the mixed netball team, I had the opportunity to meet and engage with people from different schools. This was a good way to get to know new people as well as working together to try and win games despite not knowing each other personally” (Rebecca M 13F). After the tournament there was an award ceremony and also a barbecue where we were able to mingle with other players in the netball tournament. Friday Nights Lights tournament was a great experience to see how other teams play but also to bond more as a team.
The Senior Netball team continue to train every Wednesday after school and look forward to playing more fixtures in the future! - Amie F 13I
U13 Kent hockey
On 24th September our Y8s played their first fixture for LPGS some 12 months after joining us. Despite never playing together before they got off to a strong start against Cranbrook conceding only one goal. In her hockey goal keeping debut Alice K was exceptional with several other schools commenting on her performances. The day saw us battle hard against some of Kent best hockey schools. The development in the team was significant and the girls never gave up or stopped pressuring and pushing hard on the oppositions goal. The results were not the important element of today, development was and the emersion in a day of hockey has definitely set this team up for the next set of fixtures they will face next half term.
Boys football
For the first time in 6 years we have been able to enter the U19 North Kent School football league. The boys have been training every Tuesday as well as during enrichment Wednesdays. The squad is some 20 players strong and competition for match day selection is tough. Having played 4 games the team are coming together nicely to find their flow and links on the pitch. Results so far:
Lost 7-1 vs Beths Grammar School – scorer = Innocent O
Won 3-1 vs North Kent College – scorers = Jordan T, Karim C, Matthew S
Won 2-1 vs Christ the King – scorers = Jordan T, Tajheim G
Drew 4-4 vs Farringtons – scorer = Justin D x 4
Current (as of 13th October) league standings below:
With the home venue now secured we hope to build on the performances next term.
SportsAid 2021
During the beginning of September some may have watched the Soccer Aid match which was shown on TV, and as LPGS is a UNICEF Rights Respecting School, we took inspiration from this and launched out first ever SportsAid. This year, we have a social action launch which will see students fundraising, campaigning and raising awareness for different causes. This was the first social action event of the year.
As we welcomed the new students into our Sixth Form, as well as welcoming back those who were returning to LPGS for their final year, it was the perfect opportunity for the students to take part in sport after school. It consisted of both football and netball tournaments; the level of competition was outstanding, as was the sportsmanship displayed by all students. Not only was the turn out for the friendly tournament amazing, there were many who turned up to watch and support. We look forward to organising more sporting events for our Sixth Formers.
Visual Arts - Y10 GCSE Photography trip
In October we took Y10 GCSE Photography students on a photoshoot to Borough Market. There the students took images inspired by Brazilian photographer Geraldo De Barros. They used their knowledge of the formal elements to capture a visual sense of the place; these images will now be used for future work using Adobe software.
After enjoying a spot of lunch at Borough Market we then walked to Tate Modern where the students saw work by Singapore-born artist, Simryn Gill.
The students used WAYS IN to aid their oracy and writing skills so as to build and develop reflections on the Art work.
Oracy at LPGS
This has been an exciting term for us all at LPGS as we have started our Oracy Odyssey!
It is clear for all to see that LPGS values the role of women in our school and society therefore it made perfect sense for us to introduce dedicated Oracy lessons for Y7-9. Students are learning how to navigate their way through exploratory group work with maturity, and they are recognising the power of their voice. We are confident that we definitely have future leaders amongst us!
Below is a snapshot of the type of talk that has been going on at LPGS:
• The Y7s have analysed Amanda Gorman’s performance of the American inauguration poem ‘The Hill We Climb’.
• Y8s have explored the 4 strands of Oracy: physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional.
• Y9s have practised group roles as instigators, clarifiers and challengers with the option to debate the motion ‘This House believes that to keep women safe there should be a 6pm curfew for men’
The students’ enthusiasm for these lessons is matched by the teachers’ passion as Ms Brown Head of Key Stage 4 noted, ‘The Year 7 lessons are great fun and I’m enjoying the Poetry Slams’. Ms Walker, Head of English, was able to observe a Year 9 lesson with the Lead Ofsted Inspector and a student told her: ‘I really enjoy trying out the different discussion roles because usually I am quite quiet in class’.
Oracy stars
Mr Acomb would like to praise the whole of 8GA for ‘demonstrating great active listening skills and asking informative questions that helped to develop their talk’
‘Naveah R. 7LF has been a really enthusiastic member of the class, throwing herself into contributions.’ (Ms Brown)
‘Huda A 9LE played her chosen discussion group role (as builder of the argument) and put her point across with conviction, great eye contact and confidence without notes.’ (Ms Lawrence)
If you would like to get involved in our drive to ensure the students have the confidence to articulate their voice then please head over to our dedicated Firefly page and look through the lessons:
Oracy — Langley Park School for Girls (fireflycloud.net)
We would love to hear about the talk that goes on in your own home whether it is intense negotiations over the remote control, hearing one another read aloud or debating why you want no mobiles during meal times.
Ms Ali - Lead Practitioner for Teaching and Learning - sal@lpgs.bromley.sch.uk
Credits:
Created with images by RitaE - "umbrella diversity multicoloured" • geralt - "traffic signs place-name sign success" • majedjalali - "rainbow mohawk hairspray" • BobMcEvoy - "clarinet music instrument" • analogicus - "german flag germany" • 691806 - "flamenco dance latino" • RGY23 - "shakespeare theatre globe" • surdumihail - "feedback analytics public speaking"