| Mottoes | Ludus Supra Praemium |
|---|---|
| Established | 1911 |
| Type | Grammar foundation school |
| Headteacher | Mrs JG Lawton BA MEd PGCE NPQH |
| Chairman of Governors | Professor Peter Ribbins PhD |
| Specialism | Mrs J C Higgins, MEd: 1956-2000 |
| Location | Tettenhall Road Wolverhampton West Midlands WV6 0BY England |
| Local authority | Wolverhampton |
| DfE URN | 104402 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Staff | 60 (approx.) |
| Students | 739 |
| Gender | Girls |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Audley, Ferrers, Paget and Stafford |
| Colours |
Red, Navy blue |
| Publication | WGHS News, WGHS Old Girls' Newsletter |
| Former pupils | WGHS Old Girls |
| Website | www.wghs.org.uk |
Wolverhampton Girls' High School is a selective, single-sex school for girls at Wolverhampton in the West Midlands of England.
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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 form. 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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
School uniform is a significant aspect of the school, and is strictly enforced. 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.
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 and at least three foreign languages, 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.
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. [1]