Wolverhampton Girls' High School
Encyclopedia
Wolverhampton Girls' High School is a selective
, single-sex school for girls at Wolverhampton
in the West Midlands
of England
.
. It has been awarded the status of Language College
in the UK's Specialist Schools Programme
.
Competition for entry to the school is fierce due to its excellent academic reputation, although it has eased since September 1992 when the grammar school, previously an all boys school (although it had admitted girls to the sixth form since September 1984), began to admit girls from the age of 11.
First year students are often given appropriately coloured badges with which to display their allegiances during the first few weeks of their academic career at the school.
However, the largest inter-house competition takes place in the form of the House Arts Festival. All four houses prepare various routines and performances to compete in the following categories:
The event is often judged by actors and musicians, but has also been known to be judged by ex-teachers and other notable personalities related to the school.
Known as the Senior Team, the Head Girl and Deputies have many privileges, such as that of speaking at school Speech Days and various presentation evenings.
Positions of office are held from the middle of summer term in Year 12 (after Year 13 students leave) until students leave at the same time in the following year, with the announcement of Senior Team positions especially being made by the headmistress in the last assembly of term before the Easter holiday.
Lower school students (Years 7-11) must wear:
All school uniform MUST be purchased from the school shop.
Sixth Form students wear a variation on the original uniform:
The school is locally famous for forbidding trousers for students, regardless of weather conditions.
Girls take English
and at least three foreign language
s, religious studies
, history
, geography
, mathematics
, physics
, biology
, chemistry
, technology
, information technology
, art
, music
and physical education
. The foreign languages are chosen from French
, German
, Latin, Russian
, Spanish
, and Japanese
.
A wide range of visits by outside speakers and trips outside the school are organized to support course-work.
The 2006 A-level results placed the school in fifth place in the performance league table for all maintained schools in the West Midlands.
In 2009, every single girl sitting GCSE examinations gained 5 or more A*-C GCSEs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/336_gcse_lea.stm
Selective school
A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems....
, single-sex school for girls at Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
in the West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Overview
Wolverhampton Girls' High School, founded in 1911, educates girls from the age of 11 to 18. Its students are led by a headmistress along with a Board of Governors. There are some 741 girls enrolled, including about two hundred in the sixth formSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
. It has been awarded the status of Language College
Language College
Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
in the UK's Specialist Schools Programme
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
.
Competition for entry to the school is fierce due to its excellent academic reputation, although it has eased since September 1992 when the grammar school, previously an all boys school (although it had admitted girls to the sixth form since September 1984), began to admit girls from the age of 11.
Entrance
Entry to the school is by the school's own examination, testing Maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. These tests take place during Year 6 of primary education. Each year, 108 students are admitted to Year 7, and entrance is determined purely from entrance examination results (though the school does operate an appeals and waiting list system). Entry to the school after this point is very limited and does not fully open again until 16+. Sixth form admission is then granted on the basis of a variety of factors such as GCSE predictions and results and performance in interview. Both internal and external pupils must achieve more than six A*-Bs (including Maths and English) in their GCSEs to pursue studies in the Sixth Form, as well relatively high grades in the options they propose to take.Structure
There are four houses - Paget, Audley, Ferrers and Stafford. Each has its own colour (green, yellow, red and blue respectively), as well as its own housemistress and team of house representatives chosen from Sixth Form students. House Captains and Vice Captains lead and oversee activities, while more specific duties are delegated through roles such as Drama Captain and Tennis Captain.First year students are often given appropriately coloured badges with which to display their allegiances during the first few weeks of their academic career at the school.
House Activities
Throughout the year, house events are held in various formats. Sporting events take place according to season, with House Hockey and House Netball events taking place in winter months, while House Tennis takes place in summer. Non-sporting competitions such as House Debating are also encouraged.However, the largest inter-house competition takes place in the form of the House Arts Festival. All four houses prepare various routines and performances to compete in the following categories:
- Dance
- Music
- Drama
- Choir
The event is often judged by actors and musicians, but has also been known to be judged by ex-teachers and other notable personalities related to the school.
Prefect System
All members of the Sixth Form are prefects and are expected to perform duties. A smaller group of between 20 and 30 girls fill the prestigious roles of Senior Prefects, selected through a rigorous application process involving a written letter of application accompanied by an application form, an interview with either the headmistress or other senior member of staff and a ballot of staff and peers. Through this system Senior Prefects are chosen for the following areas of school: Hospitality, Charity, Form, Peer Mentoring, Study Support, Music, Sport, Citizenship and Environment, Languages, House Captains. These prefects organise the activities in school related to their job title, while the Head Girl and three Deputy Head Girls (also chosen through the above system) in turn oversee the Senior Prefects.Known as the Senior Team, the Head Girl and Deputies have many privileges, such as that of speaking at school Speech Days and various presentation evenings.
Positions of office are held from the middle of summer term in Year 12 (after Year 13 students leave) until students leave at the same time in the following year, with the announcement of Senior Team positions especially being made by the headmistress in the last assembly of term before the Easter holiday.
Uniform
School uniform is a significant aspect of the school, and is strictly enforced.Lower school students (Years 7-11) must wear:
- A knee-length navy blue straight herringbone straight skirt with a small pleat in the back
- A tailored light blue blouse with a butterfly collar
- A school jumper, navy blue, with the school crest in either red or navy
- All year round shoes should be plain black with low heels.
All school uniform MUST be purchased from the school shop.
Sixth Form students wear a variation on the original uniform:
- The lower school skirt is adapted to feature a split rather than a pleat in the back and, infuriatingly, no pocket.
- Shirts remain tailored and with a butterfly collar, but are white instead of light blue
- Students are given the option to wear cardigans instead of jumpers
The school is locally famous for forbidding trousers for students, regardless of weather conditions.
Curriculum
The school has four forms in each year, and subjects are taught in form groups in years 7 to 9 and then in option groups for the senior years.Girls take English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and at least three foreign language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s, religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
. The foreign languages are chosen from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Latin, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
A wide range of visits by outside speakers and trips outside the school are organized to support course-work.
Results
Wolverhampton Girls' High School has been producing top results for many years, with all girls gaining five or more higher level GCSE passes in 2005 and 2006. About four out of five grades are either A or A*. Sixty per cent of girls gain nine or more GCSEs at grades A or A*.The 2006 A-level results placed the school in fifth place in the performance league table for all maintained schools in the West Midlands.
In 2009, every single girl sitting GCSE examinations gained 5 or more A*-C GCSEs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/336_gcse_lea.stm
Notable former pupils
- Rachael Heyhoe-FlintRachael Heyhoe-FlintRachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint, OBE, DL is probably the best known female cricketer in England. She was a member of the English women's cricket team from 1960 to 1982. She was captain of England from 1966 to 1978, and was unbeaten in six Test series...
OBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, captain of the England women's cricket team - Hélène Hayman, Baroness HaymanHelene Hayman, Baroness HaymanHelene Valerie Hayman, Baroness Hayman, PC was Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. As a member of the Labour Party she was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979, and became a Life Peer in 1996...
, Labour politician, first Lord SpeakerLord SpeakerThe Lord Speaker is the speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial.Until July 2006, the role of...
of the House of LordsHouse of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.... - Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of SouthwarkPauline Perry, Baroness Perry of SouthwarkPauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark is an educationalist, a Conservative politician and a member of the British House of Lords. She was Chief Inspector of Schools in England....
, ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician and educationalist - Narinder DhamiNarinder DhamiNarinder Dhami is a British children’s author.-Early life:Dhami's father was an Indian immigrant from the Punjab who arrived in the UK in 1954, and her mother is English...
, author - Anne RaffertyAnne RaffertyDame Anne Judith Rafferty DBE is a Lord Justice of Appeal.-Career:Educated at Wolverhampton Girls' High School and a graduate of the University of Sheffield, Rafferty was the first woman Chair of the Criminal Bar Association. She became a Queen's Counsel in 1990 and a Recorder the following year....
, High Court judge