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Reading Girls' School newsletter - 14 may 2021

Principal's message: The choice is yours....

Further to the Prime Minister’s announcement earlier this week on social distancing practices including facial coverings, I want to use this week’s newsletter to clarify our position.

With effect from Monday 17th May 2021:

  • If pupils want to continue to wear a facial covering around the school and in classrooms, they can do so.
  • If pupils do not want to wear a facial covering around school and in the classroom, they do not have to, in line with Government guidance.
  • All adults in the school will continue with current practice which is to wear a facial covering where social distance cannot be maintained.

All other safety steps that we currently practice will remain in place until further notice. Those key safety steps you will remember are designed around large gatherings of mixed groups of pupils, are:

  • Designated year group (social and dining) areas
  • Staggered break and lunchtimes
  • Staggered end of day times
  • Walking on the left inside the school building

Jon Gargan, Principal

STEM

Year 7 girls met the University of Surrey who were hosted online this week learning about the course in Veterinary Medicine and student life at university. The University of Surrey delivers consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for its students and is of the highest quality found in the UK.

Learnt about what student life is like, what a university is, learning about what life is like at the University of Surrey and the difference between city and campus universities. There are lots of clubs and societies which would be extracurricular activities which can be started as absolute beginners through to advanced national-level teams which everyone can be involved in. Societies are clubs which don’t involve sport and there is something there for everyone from community dog walking, choirs, debating and a Gospel Choir!

The theme of the talk was introduced by Elena Fragkoudaki who is head of student experience at UniS and she was accompanied by a veterinary student, Amy Cooke, who spoke about like as a student studying at university and how she uses maths every day.

The girls first learnt about what is Veterinary Medicine as a subject to study at university. They have large animals, including 6 horses, sheep and dogs which are allowed to learn their clinical practice skills. The campus is very pretty with a range of spaces including a 24-hour, 5 story library, a more casual space for study and place to study and hang out with friends while you learn. Vets are placed during their holidays at exciting places like safari parks and small animal farms.

There were plenty of chances to ask questions and maths quizzes where girls had to estimate numbers such as weights of animals there were many questions and there are a surprising number of applications that vets use maths for including: adjusting how much medicine to give animals, the weight of animals which come in all shapes and sizes before learning more advanced maths including angles used in orthopaedic surgery, averages used to check milk yield to see if herds of cows are healthy and measurements that vets make in ultrasound and X-rays to look at bones and organs which require measurements to see if they are the correct size.

The girls then had an opportunity to design a zoo enclosure for tigers, where the girls had to think about the “5 freedoms” which is based on the Animal Welfare Act 2006 about animal rights including:

  • Freedom from Hunger and Thirst - by ready access to fresh water and diet to maintain health and vigor.
  • Freedom from Discomfort - by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
  • Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
  • Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
  • Freedom from Fear and Distress - by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

These animals rights are protected by law and includes animals in zoos and houses too. Firstly, the girls had to understand a little about tigers and learnt about what tigers like doing, what they ate, where they live and how large they get.

Girls applied their maths skills in what they could include in the enclosure and the dimensions of the space which they had to mark out and measure using pencil and ruler being both precise and accurate.

The girls engaged well with the days’ activity and they had gained a perspective on undergraduate life which they would otherwise not have an insight into first-hand from the experts at one of the UK’s most prestigious campus universities. We are very grateful for the time given up by Elena and Amy on Tuesday and demonstrating to the girls the maths skills that they applied during the day.

If your daughter has any of the following raffle tickets from their star student certificates, they must bring the raffle ticket to Mr Smith to claim their prize:

  • Yellow 526 - Jenga
  • Yellow 190 - Boggle
  • Yellow 488 - Twister
  • Yellow 231 - Monopoly
  • Yellow 103 - Cluedo
  • Yellow 411 - So Slime DIY Kit

Last day to claim prizes: Friday 28th May 2021.

Book reviews.....

‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O'Farrell

This brilliant book imagines William Shakespeare’s family life and is told from his wife’s perspective. This makes it a compelling read as so much has already been written about Shakespeare-not so much about his family.

I was inspired to read Hamnet when I learned that it had won the Women’s Prize For fiction 2020 and I am a huge Shakespeare fan too!

O’Farrell crafts a moving and emotional story centred on the Shakespeare household in Stratford upon Avon, beautifully bringing the characters to life. Anne Hathaway (Agnes in the story) is shown to be a remarkable woman with a strength of character most keenly displayed in her grief at losing her son. This extremely painful topic was written about with profound understanding.

This historical novel was not a genre I would usually have chosen but I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Mrs Smith

Year 7 and Year 8 took part in workshops today with Smashed Live. A short theatrical performance was followed by an interactive workshop to make students aware of the dangers of alcohol and underage drinking. If you want to talk with your children about this important subject, you can find out more about the project here: https://www.smashedproject.org/what-is-smashed/.

On Friday 7th May, our year 10 Music students attended a webinar with WaterBear College of Music, Brighton. The girls learnt about the different roles and jobs in the Music industry, from being a live performer through to marketing and promotion. Our hosts were fantastic and had eye-opening conversations with the girls about the state of the music industry in a year of COVID, and where it goes next. There was also a chance for an interactive activity, which Sandra Yeboah won and received a £20 Amazon voucher – well done Sandra!

With summer approaching, we are all looking forward to the delightful sound (or sight) of an ice cream van bringing lots of lovely cooling delicious desserts our way. But did you know that there is a lot of science surrounding ice cream?

Why not join UK Food Science as we talk about a variety of topics around ice cream as well as hearing about the career pathway of one of our recent graduates. We will also provide some recipes for no-churn ice cream so if you feel peckish after all the talk of ice cream, you can make your own! UK Food Science is a collaborative project by the Universities of Leeds, Nottingham and Reading. To register for this event, please fill in the form in the link below:

Facebook: @UKfoodscience / Twitter: @ukfoodscience / Instagram: @ukfoodscience

Stevensons Appointments

Your local branch of Stevensons have allocated appointment times to maintain social distancing in stores - further information can be found on the link below. Appointments can be booked online from 17th May.

Year 8 students focused on portraits and applying the influence of other artists to their work. Matisse's use of colour and Picasso's use of geometrical shapes. Students could choose from a range of materials to complete their portrait, pencil, oil pastel, colouring pencils etc.

DISCORD

It has come to our attention that a number of students have joined Discord, a social media platform; concerns have been raised about the explicit content which can easily be accessed through this platform.

Please can you be additionally vigilant when exploring your daughter's use of social media sites in order to safeguard them. If you have any concerns, please email safeguarding@readinggirlsschool.net. Please open the following link for a useful guidance document.

Mental Health Awareness Week

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week there is a new display on the English corridor. It shows the covers of some interesting and thought-provoking books which could help support the mental health of young people.

The Better Health - Every Mind Matters website has recently been refreshed to help people access their content more easily.

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 by each year group for this year to date are:

  • Year 7 – 6987
  • Year 8 – 4664
  • Year 9 – 907
  • Year 10 – 3283
  • Year 11 – 1659
  • Total number of ‘Talking Tokens’ collected this year across the whole school are 17,500
“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 theen 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: Monday 10 May to Friday 14 May 2021

YES – 770 tokens

No – 110 tokens

As you may know, Me2 is a local charity that trains and recruits volunteers to help children with additional needs access mainstream clubs such as Scouts. They have now resumed their core service and will be supporting children to return to their weekly mainstream activity with the help of their volunteers.

Me2 is experiencing a higher than usual level of demand for the service and are prioritising children known to Me2 Club. However, they are still able to accept new referrals for children to add to their waiting list. Their opening times are: Monday -Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4.30pm. 0118 969 6369 Email: info@me2club.org.uk Me2 will continue to offer online sessions once a week, which are open to families that we supported prior to the pandemic. https://me2club.org.uk/category/events/

Parenting Special Children have the following events

Pre and Post Assessment Workshops ADHD: A series of three linked ADHD workshops for families registered with a West Berkshire NHS GP surgery (Reading, West Berkshire & Wokingham). You are booking to attend all three workshops.

  • Tue 11 May: 7-8.30pm: Intro to ADHD
  • Tue 18 May: 7-8.30pm: Anxiety and ADHD
  • Tue 25 May: 7-8.30pm: Managing ADHD Behaviour

The A Team: Awesome Autism/ADHD: Online Disco: An event for girls with Autism and/or ADHD (age 5 – 18) who live, or attend a school, in Berkshire on Sat 22 May: 3-4pm

Autistic/ADHD Girls Monthly Workshop & Support Group: A workshop and support group for families of Autistic and/or ADHD girls whether diagnosed or not. Suitable for Dads of autistic girls and young women and those with ADHD. Mothers and other carers are also welcome to attend.

Topic: Thrice excluded – A Dad’s experiences of parenting an autistic daughter with ADHD. The guest speaker this month is Nick Wickens, Dad to an autistic daughter with ADHD, and an autistic son. He will be sharing his experiences of parenting and why he sometimes feels ‘thrice excluded’. He’ll talk about lessons he’s learnt, share what’s hard, what keeps him going when it’s tough for his daughter, as well as the many positives! The session will conclude with a Q&A and open discussion. Thur 27 May: 7-8.30pm For details of all the above and to book, go to: https://www.parentingspecialchildren.co.uk/events/

The Parent Champion scheme is a National scheme set up by the Coram family and Childcare trust which has been offered in many boroughs since 2008 across the country, and has now been introduced to Reading.To become a parent Champion volunteer, Brighter Futures for Children is asking parents to have 2 - 3 hours per week to talk to other parents about Early Years services (under 5s) and their own experience in an informal way. They are really keen for parents of children with additional needs to get involved, as they present the best voice to inform other families of the services available to them. As are many other services, we are working flexibly and in different ways so that volunteers can carry out their role alongside their family and/or existing commitments.

Coram and Brighter Futures for Children will provide training relevant for employment, whilst building confidence and transferable skill with volunteers gaining a Level 1 qualification for taking part. BFfC Early Years team are aiming to work with as many partners as possible, to promote the best outcomes for families. Training for parents who would like to join the scheme will be delivered virtually on the 2nd & 3rd of June. Please contact Sarah Saudella directly for further information on the project- sara.saudella@brighterfuturesforchildren.org

For more information on parent champions go to: https://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/parent-champions-national-network

The Reading Families’ Forum is holding a coffee morning so that families can talk to CAMHS managers about their service this Thursday 13th May 11:30 t0 12:30 on Zoom. To book email fran.morgan.rff@gmail.com

1st July 2021 9:30 – 2:30 Transition Conference for Preparing for Adulthood, jointly hosted by Reading Families’ Forum and Parenting Special Children. Join the conference to hear a disabled adult's personal experience, hear about the law from Professor Luke Clements and more. To book email fran.morgan.rff@gmail.com

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)