26 March 2021 Follow us on twitter @woodhouse_grove

The Masked Teacher What a week it’s been, full of giggles and guesses as our Grovians tried to establish which of their teachers was singing behind the mask of their favourite musicians. From Elvis to Abba, Olaf to Jess Glynne, some of the contestants had our students (and staff!) truly stumped. Over 30 form groups entered the competition and only 2 managed to guess all of the 8 contestants correctly.

A huge congratulations to 7H and VIB, who clearly know their teachers very well! A big thank you to all of the brave teachers who took part, to the students for their enthusiasm and energy and to our fabulous host, Miss Couper as well as Miss Evers for organising!

The Unmasking:

Elvis = Mrs Watmough

Van Morrison = Mr Lambert

Gwen Stefani = Mrs Nott

Anastasia =Miss Meredith-Walne

Jack Johnson = Mrs Jemmett

Olaf = Ms Evers

Jess Glynne = Mr Tedd

Meryl Streep = Rev Atkins

Cambridge Masterclasses During this week and next, nine of our Year 12 students are taking part in masterclasses run by Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The subjects range from chemistry and engineering to medicine and classics. Feedback from the two sessions so far has been really positive:

'The classics masterclass was an insightful glimpse into life beyond sixth form, they provided us with really helpful information on how to make a competitive application, life in university and the course itself' Sophia and Elsa, classics.

'It was very informative as we learnt about the steps a neurosurgeon would take to relieve hydrocephalus in the brain which is something I find extremely fascinating. The virtual tour around the college was amazing as it gave me an appreciation of the beauty of the grounds' Adam, medicine.

'It was very interesting since we learnt about the naked mole rat from experiments they conducted. They also gave us step by step advice to making a great medicine application and insight into the college and course itself which was all quite informative' Daniel, medicine.

'Get ready to join the Friends of Woodhouse Grove in support of local or independent businesses over the bank holiday weekend by following our Facebook group...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fowgmarket

The Easter Market will take place between Friday 2nd and Monday 5th April'

World Cross Country Champs Due to the official event being cancelled, a series of global virtual challenges was set up. WGS Cross Country entered a number of staff and student athletes.

In the 10km relay event, the WGS male staff team (Phillip Tedd, Kevin Eaglestone, Tom Exeter and Chris Softley) are currently in 1st place, and the female staff team (Caroline Pearce, Laura Hughes, Kathleen Dixon and Anne-Marie Roper) are currently in 9th place out of 24 international teams.

The mixed relay team of Archie Peaker, Georgina Rayner, Joey Hall and Maisey Bellwood are leading the 13-17 classification 5km relay and a number of other students have entered both 2km and 5km events. Well done to all of them including Isla Swarbrigg, Jenny and George Ingham, William Thornhill and Charley Clark Taylor. For anyone interested in entering, the deadline has been extended until the 30th April. Submit your running results at https://bit.ly/3d5aDgw

A snapshot of Y8 Biology observing yeast cells and photographing them to find any that are reproducing.

House Bake Off The second House Bake-Off took place earlier this term as part of the ongoing co-curricular activities during lockdown.

Pupils across all ages and all Houses entered and the best in each House was selected to go through to the final where they were judged (unfortunately without a taste test) by a panel of 8 members of staff. There was also a competition based on the number of entries per House.

1st Vinter - Maya Verma (pictured)

2nd Findlay - Alicia Ayub

3rd Towlson - Summer Tindall

Participation 1st Vinter, 2nd Atkinson, 3rd Findlay

House Music

The Virtual House Music competition saw a wide-range of entrants including a couple of firsts with DJ-ing and Bassoon. Well done to everyone who took part.

The Junior Solo class was won by Benjamin Saia (Vinter) singing Yesterday whilst playing the guitar. Matilda Holt (Findlay) sang the Bruno Mars track When I was Your Man for second place and Annabel Smith (Stephenson) played Hallelujah on the piano for third place.

In the senior section, it was a close-fought battle with Catriona Cochrane (Findlay) singing Breathe from 'In the Heights' to take first and Nicole Swinnerton (Southerns) with a complex sax solo in second. Tim Eichert Stephenson) played Shostakovich's Waltz from Jazz Suite No. 2 on the bassoon for third.

Sixth Form Extras...

Our sixth form have benefitted from a variety of events recently, including;

Katie Binns (OG 94-00) Career Talk

Katie Binns, a journalist with the Sunday Times, gave a talk to students about her career to date and what her current role entails at the Sunday Times. It was very informative and great to have another Old Grovian speak to the students.

Jamie Peacock MBE – ‘Building Champions’ mentoring programme

We currently have 9 Sixth Form students undertaking a 1 to 1 mentoring programme with Jamie Peacock looking to develop their leadership skills. A very exciting opportunity for those involved.

Are we living through a media revolution?Our media studies students joined an online lecture with the media theorist James Curran. As one of the theorists studied at A-level, it was an opportunity to hear Curran apply his ideas to modern movements in society: from debates around how effective our Public Service Broadcasters are to discussions about whether the internet can truly be democratised.

Finn Armstrong stumped Curran by asking, "Do you believe the internet should be more heavily regulated?"

Curran stated that this topic would be covered in the final chapters of his new book which he is still writing!

Virtual Songs of Praise We are delighted to be releasing a Virtual Songs of Praise, this Palm Sunday (28 March). This is a joint service featuring pupils from Brontë House and The Grove along with pupils from Ashville and Moorlands School.

The service will be released at 6.30pm on Sunday on our YouTube page.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvk66wQ4va2LsSr7JQccNeA

Gentleman Jack Star Congratulations to Matilda Holt, Y7 who is playing Martha Booth in the drama 'Gentleman Jack'. Martha is the daughter of one of the main cast members. Filming took place at Broughton Hall and Matilda had a fantastic time on set. We can't wait to see her in action!