PGHS Lionesses were out in force at the end of November as they took part in the Years 7 and 8 and the Years 9 and 10 South Ribble Girls football competitions at Penwortham Priory Academy. Both teams performed amazingly on two very chilly evenings.
Years 7 and 8 – Monday, 28th November
All the schools in South Ribble entered a team in this competition, meaning we had 10 games to play.
Our results were:
Won – 8
Drew – 2
Lost – 0
We also had a clean sheet and conceded no goals.
When the results were in, we were named ‘Champions of South Ribble’ and the girls were so pleased!
It was thoroughly deserved as they played so well throughout, with strong tackles, accurate passing and fantastic teamwork and sportsmanship! It was a true team performance with every player playing a strong part in the team’s success. A special shout out goes to amazing goal keeping from Jessica L and Daisy L for brilliant play in the midfield. Well done to the rest of the team – Chloe M, Lucie J, Amelia M, Georgia B, Sophia W, Phoebe B and Isabelle M.
Years 9 and 10 – Tuesday, 29th November
8 teams from South Ribble entered this competition, meaning we had 7 games to play.
Our results were:
Won – 1
Drew – 3
Lost – 3
We finished in 6th place.
The positioning does not reflect the effort and skill that the girls displayed throughout. They battled well and were unlucky to lose the games that they did as they only lost by 1 goal in each game. They never gave up and played with the same enthusiasm and commitment until the very end. Special shout outs to fantastic goal keeping from Neve H and Evie H for their goal scoring. Well done to the rest of the team – Zara H, Hanya A, Rachel Waites, Louji A, Chelsea D and Tess S.
Mrs Naylor
Curriculum Leader for Performance, Sports and Health
What a busy first term it has been here in the MFL department! As the term draws to a close, I would like to thank all of our students for working so hard in their French and German lessons and giving their all.
Year 7 have worked on learning how to introduce themselves. Year 8 Germanists have learned how to describe their past holidays and learned our new favourite word ‘Kakerlaken’. Year 8 French students have learned how to introduce themselves, give personal information and opinions and Year 9 pupils have also been working hard and have produced some lovely letters and cards to send over to France and Germany.
A huge well done to Year 11 for working through a really busy term and their mock exams. They are pushing towards their goals next year and taking on the new challenges as they prepare for the mock speaking exams in January. A big cheer for our Year 10 students embarking on their first term of GCSE French and German and producing some outstanding results in their recent Module 1 assessments, alongside a brilliant attitude. Well done all!
Frau Gill
Berlin Wall and German Reunification
As part of our cultural enrichment this term, our language students have learned all about the Berlin Wall, it’s fall and subsequent reunification of Germany. To coincide with the public celebrations in Germany, we created our very own Berlin Wall in Mrs Gill’s room (room 26). It takes pride of place there and I think you’ll agree that it looks amazing!
Christmas Card Competition Launch
Our annual MFL Christmas card competition has been launched with full gusto! Students have been invited to create a Christmas card in either French, German or any other language that they know or speak. We have already received some outstanding entries. These will be judged, and prizes will be delivered to the winners and runners-up in each year group during the last week of term. Best of luck to all entrants!
Year 7 First Term in German
Mrs Gill’s class have been busy this half term learning all about pets and animals and learning how to describe them in German. We have spent one lesson per week on the computers using Quizlet and Blooket to practise all of our vocabulary. 7Ge1 wrote some information about their German lessons so far to share with everyone:
Haalah N
In German, we have been learning how to talk about ourselves, such as our age, name, etc.
On Tuesdays, we play games; which everyone loves and is our favorite day in the week! Frau Gill makes learning German so easy and fun and we learn lots.
Hannah B
German is fun at PGHS. We play games and bingo, yet we are memorising the words and meanings. We have done an assessment recently and everyone has done well. The topics we were studying were greetings, our belongings, how to describe ourselves and other people and how to form a simple conversation. Our current topic is animals, pets and family. We are in a German room for one day of the week and are in a computing room for the other day. We use the computers to do things like Quizlet and Blooket, which makes us think on the spot and learn the words in an exciting way. We also made a German to English poster to send to German school children.
Bella N
I’ve really enjoyed German and I think it has helped me feel more confident in speaking different languages. I feel I have been supported and pushed to the best of my ability but I don’t feel under pressure to speak if I don’t want to. I also feel there are lots of good websites and apps that we use that have helped and I can’t wait to carry on learning German.
Nikolaustag
This Tuesday, 6th December marks der Nikolaustag for many families across German speaking countries. On the eve of Nikolaustag, children of all ages leave a special boot outside their front door in the hopes that, if they’ve been good enough, Nikolaus will fill it with all kinds of sweet treats and toys. Here is a video that our KS3 classes will be watching this week, explaining all about the traditional story of Nikolaustag:
At the moment in Year 9, we are studying Pythagoras’ Theorem. Born in 570 BC, Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher who made important developments in mathematics, astronomy and the theory of music.
We have been looking at how the theorem works, as well as solving problems using the theorem. We learnt that if we label the length of the sides of a right-angled triangle a, b and c as shown, then the area of the largest square is c × c or c2 and the areas of the smaller squares are a2 and b2. We can then write Pythagoras’ Theorem as a2 + b2 = c2, allowing us to work out the length of missing sides in right angled triangles.
Firstly, we looked at how to calculate the hypotenuse, which is the longest side of a right-angled triangle and recently, we have been looking at how to justify if a triangle is right angled or not and solving problems involving using the theorem.
I have really enjoyed learning about Pythagoras’ Theorem and Miss Hasan has made it really easy to understand. I think it’s amazing that the theorem works for all right-angled triangles!
In years 7 and 8, the students have recently been brushing up on their number calculations skills. Having checked in with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, we have also been looking at the Order of Operations (you might have heard of this as BODMAS or BIDMAS), as well as knowing the different buttons available on a calculator. Below are some examples of lessons where students were successful.
BIDMAS Codebreaker
Use the correct order of operations to calculate the answers then convert the answers to letters using the table provided. Unscramble the letters to find two mathematical words. Year 7 will be looking at this in the final two weeks up to Christmas.
Ho! Ho! Ho! For the final Mysterious Maths of the year, I’m setting you a series of puzzles with a festive theme.
As ever, any student who can provide me with the correct solutions either by email or in person, will earn themselves a fantastic Head’s Breakfast in January 2023!
As a nation, we were all saddened to hear of the Queen’s passing on the 8th September. One of our year 10 students, Jess S, took time to write a letter to the new King Charles:
“When I heard about the Queen’s death, I decided that I wanted to write a letter to the King. I wrote a letter to send my condolences to the Royal Family about their loss of their mum, grandma and great-grandma. I waited for a reply from him and one afternoon, when I arrived home from school, there was a reply! I was very happy to see that he liked my letter very much.”
Jess received a note from King Charles thanking her for her message.
This year, some Year 9 and 10 students have embarked upon a new course provided by ASDAN, entitled Personal and Social Development.
It is a two-year accredited course and requires the students to complete seven units in total, covering a broad array of topics.
This term, the students have been studying for the Environmental Awareness unit. This involves them learning and understanding about how both individual and group human activity can have a negative impact on our environment.
We’ve also been looking into how we can individually and collectively positively introduce change. This has required the students to pledge to make a change in their own lifestyle for at least a month which will have a positive impact on the environment. Students have made pledges such as being in charge of their family’s recycling and ensuring no rooms are left with lights or appliances unnecessarily switched on.
Another part of their assessment is to take part in a community environment project. As a group we have agreed to take part in litter picking sessions both in school and in the local community; something which is much appreciated by all!
Well done, girls for making such a positive start to your studies, for being socially responsible and promoting positive change.
On Monday 5th December, 14 GCSE Design & Technology, Art and Photography students visited Newman College to take part in a range of Textiles, Art and Photography workshops. They learnt all about the courses available and got to experience some of the techniques and skills which they can develop whilst studying A-levels and BTECs at Newman College. A massive thanks to past PGHS student, Chloe Forshaw, who is currently in her second year of her Art & Design BTEC at Newman College. Chloe shared her amazing work and discussed her experience at Newman, as well as the path she has chosen to take since leaving PGHS.
As we draw towards the end of a long but productive term, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the fantastic work on display in the Geography Department at the moment.
In Year 7, students have created cardboard contour landscapes that have really helped their understanding of how to interpret OS maps.
Year 8 have produced some fantastic Bob the Boulder storyboards, giving them an overview of the process, landforms and changes we see in rivers as they flow from source to mouth. Bob has had some wild adventures!
Year 9 have been working on the global fashion industry, and have explored the geography of a pair of jeans, looking at the materials and transport used to get them to shops near us.
GCSE Geography
Year 10 have not long completed their first go at a GCSE assessment and overall, we were pleased with the results. Remember, Year 10 that MRIs and lots of practise makes perfect! Well done on hitting the ground running this term and making a flying start to the GCSE course. Onwards and upwards!
A particular well done to our Year 11 GCSE Geographers; it has been a long term with a period of Mock exams at the start of November. The Geography Mock results were pleasing overall, and we have some detailed performance analysis with classes. Year 11 are on their second to last topic from the syllabus content, meaning we will be able to embark on an extended period of revision, exam practise and preparation. Keep your eyes on the prize, Year 11!
Some Christmas Geography
Below are a couple of interesting maps that I have found that detail the different meals used to celebrate Christmas and some of the more unusual Christmas traditions around the world. One that isn’t on the map that I found bizarre was that Christmas dinner in Japan is KFC!
Have a great holiday and if you are celebrating Christmas, don’t forget to ask Santa for a globe of your very own (make sure you recycle all that packaging). Merry Christmas from Mr Bowles, Mr Ward and Mrs Singleton. Ho! Ho! Ho!
We have had so much fun in Science club this term. Students have taken part in a different activity each week. We started off making and racing balloon rockets in the first week. Students then went on to explore the Science behind Oobleck from the Dr Seuss’ book ‘Bartholomew and the Oobleck’ during the Festival of Literature and Language. At Halloween, we created flaming ghosts and last week, students built their very own ‘Chemistree’.
