Message from the Headteacher
Welcome to the Autumn Term edition of our school newsletter, which celebrates the creativity of our students, our strong partnerships with employers, universities, international schools and the commitment of our students to social action and charitable causes.
I hope you enjoy reading the stories and perspectives shared by both staff and students of the wider life here at LPGS. From sporting success, to news of our musical concert programme and recent trips; it is incredible how much has gone on in the last few months.
Amelia’s poem brilliantly sums up our school’s values. I believe that our enrichment programme of opportunities and experiences creates a sense of belonging and contributes significantly to students’ enjoyment of school, enabling them to thrive. (I should point out seeing and working with students in this way is equally enjoyable for our staff!)
Congratulations to all those students who received awards in this week’s achievement assemblies. We look forward to celebrating the efforts, achievements and progress of our students throughout next term and the remainder of the school year.
I thank you all for your support and commitment to the school in 2024 and wish all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
Mr Whittle
Poetry and LPGS Values
Day of the Girl
On 25th November, students were invited to wear white ribbons and bake for the Day of the Girl Cake Sale and Bake Off. Together we raised £271.99 for whiteribbon.org.uk, and the money will go to help end violence against women. All of the entries to the feminist bake off were very impressive! Well done to Annabel R in Year 7, Naomi T and Abigail D in Year 8 who were our final winners!
Visual Arts - Trips
As always, in Visual Arts we have had a great number of trips taking place for various exam groups and Key Stage 4 and 5 in the Autumn Term. Trips to galleries and museums are an essential part of our creative courses and especially help to develop our students' sense of cultural capital through consideration of, respect of and reflection on others' work, ideas, cultural heritage and histories. In addition to trips to galleries and museums, our Y12 creative students made our annual trip to UCA Farnham to explore their courses and facilities; this is part of our ongoing partnership with UCA. Please click on the links below for further details.
Music Department
On the last day before half term, 44 excited students and 5 equally as excited staff set off for Heathrow ready to get on our flight to Munich only to be told half way there that the flight had been cancelled! Eventually, with a lot of help from the tour company, we managed to move our booking onto a flight direct to Salzburg but found out it departed from Gatwick instead! DJ Coaches came to the rescue and had a vehicle close enough to get us to the second airport of the day. We made it to Austria a bit later than expected that night but we were just all relieved that we got there at all. The next four days flew by with two concerts (to the most appreciative audiences abroad that we have ever experienced!), a Sound of Music tour, trip to the Salt Mines, Mozart’s birth house and a whole lot more. I am yet to choose where to go for our next tour so if you have any suggestions or requests, let me know.
Lucie W (Year 8) – played a flute solo in both concerts
"It was the best trip I’ve ever been on. We managed to see a lot of things and the views were amazing. I made new friends and it was fun seeing the teachers having fun too. I was really pleased I got picked to perform a solo and it was an excellent experience to perform to audiences in a different country."
Shortly after half term, Year 7 did themselves proud in their first ever concerts at Langley Girls. They worked tirelessly in Music lessons and in their dress rehearsal to perfect their performances of songs by Abba. Gamma & Sigma performed on the first night and Kappa & Lambda were on the second night, the hall being sold out for both performances. Both choirs really raised the roof and Mr Whittle described it as a ‘wall of sound’. Two students narrated each evening and the outstanding, brave soloists chosen at the auditions were equally as brilliant. The toe-tapping hits and sparkly extras for the big finale really help to lift the mood when the nights start drawing in and even the confetti cannons worked this year! Bring on next year!
Two weeks ago, two musicians from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra came to do a 2 1/2 hour workshop with our Jazz Band. We were blown away by the band's achievement in that time. Many of the students were initially reluctant to improvise or take a solo but it was amazing to watch their courage grow and by the end everyone had taken a turn and sounded brilliant. We are hoping to welcome NYJO back in the new year for a performance. If students are interested in attending their Saturday groups, they can sign up here: NYJO Learning: London | NYJO
Many students have passed their instrumental/ vocal exams this term which we always love to hear about and we have had our first 5 students fill their loyalty cards for attending extra-curricular rehearsals. Students only need to collect 15 stamps so make sure they grab a card at their next rehearsal if they haven’t already got one!
At the time of writing, these events are still to come before the end of term:
Year 7 Instrument Scheme Concert
Winter Concert
Year 10 Piano Masterclass with Richard Meryick
And finally, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for regular updates and notices: @LPGSMusicDept
Miss Sheppard - Head of Music
Visual Arts & UCA Partnership
The Visual Arts faculty has continued to develop its partnership with UCA (University of Creative Arts) with online specialist presentations led by course leaders at UCA across many different subject areas such as, Animation, Graphics, Fine Art, Fashion and Textiles, Film and TV Production and a new course in Body Art.
These 30 minute sessions are a great way for our creative students to hear about foundation and degree courses in the creative Arts and help them gain ideas about future studies and career opportunities beyond LPGS.
All of these sessions are recorded and shared via our school intranet site Firefly where students can also watch previous recordings from years gone by.
Creative students who are considering further studies in Arts based subjects should take a look at the UCA website, via the link below, and aim to book in to an open day at one or more of their centres to experience life as a creative student in a university setting.
MFL - Spanish Exchange
In November we continued our long standing Spanish exchange with Colegio Cisneros Alter in Tenerife. Our exchange partners stayed with us for a week, experiencing life with our families. They went into London during the day to visit the sights and came back to spend the evenings and the weekend with us. Our visitors went to Hawes Down Primary School to speak to KS2 about food, traditions and Christmas in Tenerife and then took part in Sports Day activities with us in the Hall. We also went to see a musical together in London. We are excited to visit them in March next year!
Movember Team: LPGS 6
It’s been a good month for moustache growing around Hawksbrook Lane, plenty of sun, a little rain and not too much wind. Our Mo bros and Mo sisters have started the fundraising, and we’re hopeful that as we gear up for the holidays you’ll be able to boost our amazing efforts further. Please scan the QR code to donate directly to LPGS 6. You can also search Movember and specific names to donate directly – all money goes to improving the support and information available around men’s health and wellbeing.
Well done specifically to Zak and Betul for your excellent non-tash-based fundraising efforts!
Mr Hart
News from the Sport Department
Year 11 Netball
The team unfortunately didn’t quite make it past the group stage, however they showed great commitment and team spirit throughout the competition
Year 10 Hockey
The London School Tournament saw our students compete against some very strong private school opposition, displaying some great individual and team performances.
KS4 Football
Unfortunately, the Year 9/10 team were knocked out in the quarters and Round 4 of the Kent and English Schools' Cup; retrospectively. However the year 10/11 team have a semi-final in the Kent Schools Cup to look forward to after Christmas!
Year 7 Cross Country
The students showed great determination in the Bromley Cross Country Competition with the highest place finish from Jazzy who placed 2nd out of over 60 students. Well done to all our runners!
Year 8-10 Cross Country
Once again, the students took part in a gruelling 3k run which saw our highest place finish come from Arianna who placed 2nd out of 30 students.
Year 9 Netball
This is perhaps the strongest netball team the school has seen for a while! Unbeaten in 2024, Borough Champions and narrowly missing out on reaching the final of the Kent tournament due to goal difference, our students have impressed throughout the season - congratulations on your achievements!
STEM Event Year 10
On Wednesday 4th of December some students had the opportunity to take part in a STEM Day in school. Amazing people from the Smallpeice Trust and some people who worked for Formula 1 came in to run activities with Year 10. Our wonderful hosts Fred, Faith and Hailey led us through the day and helped us with every minor setback. We had to build cars that eventually raced each other around a track but ‘time is money’ so we had to be efficient with everything we did. We were in groups of 6 and we each had a different role. One team member dealt with finances, as we had a budget of £800. They made sure money was spent on good investments to strengthen the car but also checked we did not go over budget. They also ensured the car was within the regulations. Another student took on the role of bodywork designer, ensuring the car was streamlined for speed and overall had a good aerodynamic. We had to also present a poster which challenged us to work on our speaking skills. We had an unbelievable time.
Delilah and I would do it all again if we could. This allowed us to bond as a team and overcome many difficult challenges on the way, improving our teamwork skills. The hosts handed out stickers which made us work harder to fulfil all the sticker placements on our certificates. Unfortunately our car did break during the practice race, but we stayed positive and we worked out a way to fix it. We had a brilliant time and got to work closely with big names in the industry, for example, Alvaro who works for McLaren in the engineering field and Bob who is the Head of Engineering for Formula 1. In the end, the winners received gift bags and an extra certificate to celebrate their victory. It was a spectacular day and everyone who took part really enjoyed it.
Codie K and Delilah H Year 10
Careers Newsletter December 2024
It has been a busy term with the launch of both our Year 10 and Year 12 Work Experience Programmes, a mock criminal trial run by real barristers and a real judge, a STEM day with Formula One and lots of university and apprenticeship applications! We have been so impressed with the networking we have seen taking place by our Year 12 and 13 students on the LinkedIn platform – well done! Remember to keep tagging Mrs Hayden and Miss Day in your posts!
Futures Fair
Work is well underway for one of the highlights of the Careers Calender, our annual Futures Fair, taking place on Friday 7th February 2025. All students in Year 7 – 13 will attend this day and will have the opportunity to speak with representatives at over 60 stalls of colleges, universities, apprenticeship providers and employers.
KS3 Careers Quiz
The atmosphere was electric and competition was fierce! Well done to our Autumn Term Careers Quiz Champions; 7LF, 8GA, 8KI and 9KC!
Year 7 and 8 - Introduction to LPGS Careers Programme and Unifrog
Please remind your child to login to Unifrog to do their career quizzes over the Christmas break. They can reset their password by using their full LPGS e mail address. This is a great starting point for the students to think about what they might want to do in the future.
Year 10 and Year 12 Work Experience launch sessions: Our annual WEX weeks are launched! The Year 10 Work Experience Week is 19th – 23rd May 2025 and Year 12 have their work experience week 14th – 18th July 2025. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience the work place, to gain a real insight into what they might want to do in the future and to acquire new skills to support them in their journey. Please encourage your child to source their placements early. The deadline for them to submit their placements on Unifrog is 14th and 21st February 2025. We are happy to help students who are struggling to find a placement, please ask them to come to the Careers Academy as soon as possible.
Year 12 Networking and LinkedIn session
The students have taken to this like ducks to water and we have been very proud to see them building their networks and posting about the virtual work experience opportunities and insight days they have been taking part in. As a result, we have been approached by huge organisations asking to attend our Futures Fair and give talks to our students – they are noticing you – keep it up!
Year 11 careers guidance meetings
Every student in Year 11 will be having a careers guidance meeting with a member the Careers Team. We have been impressed at the preparation that the students have put in for these. We have been working with students to devise their Plan A and Plan B for next year and assisting with college applications.
Formula One STEM Day
What a day! Please see the account written by two of the students who attended a fantastic day where they had to set up a Formula One team, design and build a car, identify sponsors, market the team and stay within budget!
Year 13 Degree Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship application season is well and truly upon us and the students have been working hard on their applications, cover letters and CVs. Please do encourage them to come to us for any assistance and interview preparation.
Studying Abroad – Match Concorde
We were lucky to welcome both UES Education and Match-Concorde to LPGS who ran a session for our Year 13 students on studying abroad. By registering their details (for free) on their portal, they will receive offers from universities all over the world. To find out more about this reverse application platform, please watch the recording of a recent webinar here: share the recording (passcode to view: aGJ#$j79 )
Mock trial
Students were split into defence and prosecution teams and given advocacy training before the trial commenced! This was based on a real trial where the incident had taken place at Eden Park Train Station. The students did amazingly well grilling the witnesses, who just happened to be LPGS teaching staff! It was a great day! A reel of the day can be seen on our Instagram page lpgs_official.
World of Work Wednesday
Our World of Work Wednesday sessions continue. This term we have heard from a Biomedical Scientist, a Lawyer, an Accountant and our fabulous alumni, including ex Head Prefect Nancy, who spoke to the students about applying to and attending university.
Have a great Christmas, we look forward to welcoming the students back after the Christmas break.
Mrs Hayden and Miss Day
LPGS Christmas Card Competition
This term we launched the LPGS Christmas Card competition and had an amazing response from very creative students! With over 40 entries, raising £42, the money will be donated to Sammy's Foundation, a new charity being set up in Kent in memory of Sammy Alban-Stanley, teaching skilled heritage crafts, such as traditional upholstery, French polishing, passementerie and wood-carving, to driven young adults with complex neurological conditions.
Lottie from 7KD was the winner for her collaged tree scenery. Her card design will be sent to schools across Bromley and to representatives from organisations and agencies working with the school. She will be receiving some tickets to a Tate Gallery exhibition of her choice. Well done Lottie!
If you would like to find out more about Sammy’s Foundation or to donate, please see the go fund me page here.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sammys-foundation
Thank you to all that entered, and watch out for more competitions in the new year!
Credits:
Created with images by Romolo Tavani - "Christmas Tree With Ornament And Bokeh Lights In Red Background" • Val Thoermer - "3D illustration with an art gallery" • ClaudioMarcelo - "abstract music background" • reddish - "Urban Collage With Street Art Graffiti and Cityscapes" • Larisa - "Symbolic mustache on orange for men's health in November" • Sarawut - "Santa racing glittering gold F1 car through snowy landscape filled with festive trees and ornaments creates joyful holiday scene" • PX Media - "Career signpost"