YEAR 11 KEY DATES 2022 - 2023

Please click here to view our slides from the Information Evening

Students to attend in allocated cohorts as follows:

WSF:  5.30 - 6.15

FCH:   6.15 - 7.00

During this term, students in Year 11 will be receiving information about continuing their education after they leave this school.  Over the last few years more and more students have chosen to go to colleges/sixth form schools to extend their skills and qualifications.  At the present time the number of job vacancies for school-leavers is small.  Employers increasingly prefer applicants with a good variety of skills, abilities and interests.  Continuing in education is one way of increasing these.

Our College Roadshow is an excellent opportunity to meet and discuss options with established providers of A Levels, BTECs and Apprenticeships. At least 25 stall holders will offer guidance and information about courses, University options, required GCSEs and job opportunities for Post-16 year olds.

We hope as many students as possible, accompanied by their parents/carers, will be able to attend this event.

Mr Shackson
Assistant Headteacher

The number of students borrowing money for lunch  increased dramatically last school year.  Lunch money loans should be for emergency purposes only.  

Walthamstow School for Girls offers a  Top-Up facility via sQuid enabling both students and parents to check balances, top-up lunch money, pay for trips and other sundry items at their own convenience.  

An automatic Top-Up can also be activated ensuring your daughter never runs out of money.  

A reminder to parents/carers that if you wish to pay for your daughter’s school meals by cheque, please make the cheque payable to ‘Olive Dining Ltd’. 

 All students have also been given usernames and passwords to enable payments to be made online via our sQuid system. If you would like a reminder of your daughter’s username and password please contact Student Services. 

Ms Jolliffe 
Student Services 

Cultural Appreciation vs Cultural Appropriation 

Last term, myself and a few other Year 11 students (Adari, Naima, Jenosha and Maida) took on the role of educating form classes about cultural appreciation vs appropriation. We visited them during form time and we completed almost all the form classes within a few weeks. Our presentations included a variety of information and examples of cultural appropriation, as well as appreciation. We then asked questions to stimulate discussion within the forms and ensured all the students were confident with the terms and could differentiate them by the end of our visit which was the goal of our presentations. 
Adari 11G 

Here are some observations from Years 7, 8 and 9: 

Cultural appropriation refers to the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that doesn't respect their original meaning or reinforces stereotypes. Cultural appreciation is the respectful borrowing of elements from another culture with an interest in sharing ideas and diversifying oneself. 
Aiza 7S 

Cultural appropriation is when someone takes something from a culture such as a hijab without talking or mentioning the culture it is from, for example Islam. As well as that, it can be when someone of a more dominant culture takes something from a less dominant culture. Another example of this is when a famous actor Zac Efron wrote on Instagram about a picture of dreadlocks that they were ‘just for fun’. On one poster about this it said, “Nothing about my culture is ‘just for fun’”. Cultural appreciation is when somebody takes something from a culture but involves the culture it came from. For example, cultural appreciation would be if you bought some chopsticks but instead of just using them however you want, you learn the traditional way of using it and learn and respect the culture or history behind it.  
Emma 7S 

The presentation I saw about cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation explained how people use traditional garments from cultures and different countries and turn them into something used for fashion, this is called cultural appropriation. 
It offends the people whose background they come from as it can feel like the people are trying to steal your cultural garments and traditions which may mean a lot to you. 
The presentation also talked of about cultural appreciation which is when people respectfully learn about their own or a different culture without trying to turn it into a fashion or a trend. 
The presentation taught me a lot about the differences between these two and about people who stand against cultural appropriation because it is very disrespectful. 
Albertine 7S   

8F wanted to comment on the amazing presentation on cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. 
Firstly, Adari and Jenosha were extremely confident in presenting to a class of younger students, and they presented their topic very clearly and concisely. As well as this, they simplified the definition of each of the subjects, so that we could all understand what they were talking about - the whole class definitely learnt something.  
Thank you again! 
8F and Ms Mithawala  

On behalf of 9W, I would like to say that we enjoyed the presentation. It really opened our eyes to how people's culture should and shouldn't be celebrated. Also, we realised that people can offend other people's culture without knowing. 
We think this is a presentation we should do annually to keep reminding ourselves of this topic. 
Hannan 9W 

 When the presentation began, as a class we were asked whether we knew the difference between culture appreciation and culture appropriation. I personally felt I was uneducated on this topic and I did not speak then because I didn't understand the difference. However, after the presentation when I was told the difference I felt I needed to do something and openly speak about the topic, so then I spoke out and discovered my passion for these types of topics. I was soon offered an opportunity to be part of the Global Alliance group that our school offers by my form tutor, which I will be joining after the Christmas break!  
Zara 9H 
  

The number of students borrowing money for lunch  increased dramatically last school year.  Lunch money loans should be for emergency purposes only.  

Walthamstow School for Girls offers a  Top-Up facility via sQuid enabling both students and parents to check balances, top-up lunch money, pay for trips and other sundry items at their own convenience.  

An automatic Top-Up can also be activated ensuring your daughter never runs out of money.  

A reminder to parents/carers that if you wish to pay for your daughter’s school meals by cheque, please make the cheque payable to ‘Olive Dining Ltd’. 

 All students have also been given usernames and passwords to enable payments to be made online via our sQuid system. If you would like a reminder of your daughter’s username and password please contact Student Services. 

Ms Jolliffe 
Student Services