A Message From The Headteacher
Dining
We are hoping that when we return after the October half term we will have an extra dining space installed, allowing us to allocate all year groups to designated areas of the school to speed up the break and lunch process.
We have installed a 4th payment device in the Multi-purpose hall for Years 7, 9, & 11 and Sixth Form which has noticeably reduced queuing time.
Lunchtime Supervisor Vacancy
We are currently seeking a reliable and caring individual to join our team as a Lunchtime Supervisor at Westgate.
Department Spotlight
This Week: English and Media Studies
English at Westgate
This term, students have been learning about the written word, in fiction and in non-fiction, through high quality texts and applying this knowledge to everyday, real-life situations. Here’s what each year group has been focusing on:
Year 7
Year 7 students have been learning about genre, building on a wealth of story-writing, plays and poems that have been studied in primary school and now, retrieving this knowledge are looking at writing in fantasy, action-adventure and gothic styles empowering their vocabulary and sense of structing a narrative .
Year 8
Year 8 have been focusing on the novel 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve. This is a dystopian novel introduced to push our reading for pleasure intention. By addressing reading skills students are being exposed to quality fiction texts that will be encountered in all manner of day-to-day experiences.
Year 9
Our Year 9's have been learning about writing creatively, both descriptive and narrative. They have been applying these concepts to real-life scenarios like writing to imagine, explore and entertain and speaking out loud to articulate ideas about the published word.
Year 10
Year 10 students have been reading the play 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B Priestley. This text is a vehicle for ensuring students' cultural capital is enhanced by viewing the world through a historical, social, economic, religious and political lens.
Year 11
Our Year 11 GCSE students have been working on getting to know William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth.' Skills gained through studying this set text include synthesising valuable information, sequencing a narrative so it makes sense, creating useful summaries and understanding how situations form past fiction can be learned from to avoid mistakes in the current day.
Sixth Form
Our A-level students have been working on close studies of Christina Rossetti's 'Selected Poems', John Webster's 'The Duchess of Malfi', Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Angela Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories.' Studying canonical and contemporary texts ensure that our students who have chosen English Literature as an A Level subject enhance their position in the wider world by virtue of increased confidence in discussion, academic vocabulary, enriched cultural capital and an awareness of their own and others place in the modern world.
National Poetry Day
In celebration of National Poetry Day, students in Year 7 were given a poem that was read aloud in class. This was called 'I Come From' and was told in the form of a list of lived, real experiences.
From this, they recreated their own poem, some with some really impressive plays on structure, in order to introduce themselves to the teacher and each other. Some of these made us quite hungry, too!
Support Your Child With English
There is no substitute for knowing examination texts well. Reading and re-reading these, especially for GCSE, will ensure a bolstered confidence for the closed book exams that feature throughout the school year.
It is also recommended that students of all year groups read widely and in both fiction and non-fiction. Reading for pleasure, and both hearing your child read and reading to them increases self-belief and the working vocabulary we would always hope is extended in good time for their exposure to the real world.
CGP Revision Guides are sold at different intervals across the school year for GCSE and A Level students and we also encourage use of online platforms like GCSE Pod and Seneca. These are invaluable for supplementing the work done in the classroom but do not replace the core knowledge and skills given by teachers on a day-to-day basis.
Media Studies at Westgate
Media at Westgate seeks to keep learning fresh and interesting with the most modern content, mixed with the best of the past. Students learn, develop and practice industry relevant skills whilst enjoying superb school facilities and expert tuition. Although a small department, they have huge experience, sterling skills and some of the strongest exam outcomes! Here’s what each year group has been focusing on recently:
Year 9 & 10
Year 9 and 10 have been introduced to the four Media Key Concept areas. They've analysed unseen texts and begun to understand the Exam Board's "Set Products" for Advertising and Marketing.
Year 11
Year 11 have returned from the summer with a readiness to complete their production courseworks. They've also been studying Music Videos: Stormzy's "Superheroes" and Swift's "The Man", moving on to TLC's "Waterfalls" before the half term. Their mock examinations are coming up soon and Year 11s are reminded to prepare for Component 2, revising Luther, The Sweeney (for Crime Drama), Stormzy, Taylor and TLC (for Section 2 MV/Digital Online).
Sixth Form
At Key Stage 5, the Year 12s have been practicing essaying, based on Advertising, in readiness for exams; the Year 13s are completing their NEA coursework and also studying Online Digital Media: Zoella and Attitude magazine.
Upcoming Media Trips
Plans are cooking for a trip to Pinewood Studios in February for our Post-16 cohort.
Meanwhile, we are teaming up with Sky Studios Osterley Park to offer a KS4 experience making news and creating industry-standard video packages. Watch this space. Year 9 began making film Posters for a Sky Studios competition, for the upcoming release of Wicked, the movie.