From Music, Drama and the Arts, to Sciences and Sports, to exceptional successes both academically and in an array of other extracurricular areas, 2013 was a year in which the sky really was the limit for Withington.

The news items that follow illustrate the many examples of the opportunities and experiences available to Withington girls outside the classroom. And this is over and above the more than 80 extracurricular activities on offer within School.

REACHING FOR THE STARS IN 2013 – OUR TOP 100

Girls in all sections of the school reached for the stars in and out of the classroom and were even lucky enough, in April, to be able to enjoy a rare opportunity to see and handle rocks that been brought back from the Moon by Apollo Space Astronauts in the 1960s and 70s.

2013 saw the school reveal its colours in splendid fashion. The wide variety of activities available at Withington shone through in the diverse range of news stories that unfolded as the year progressed – and none more so than the Autumn production of Spectrum, a spectacular fashion event that showcased a wonderful blaze of rainbow-coloured hues, reflecting in vivid tones not only a peek at clothing trends for the season ahead but also representing the breadth and range WGS has to offer.

It was a year in which Withington was lauded nationally for its holistic approach.

In January, Tatler‘s prestigious Schools Guide praised the school’s “outstanding” Drama, Music and Sport. In July, the Sunday Times named WGS as the Top Secondary School in the North West for exemplary academic results but also for providing a rounded education with Sport, Music and The Arts being of central importance.

And in October an ISI School Inspection Report ranked Withington as Excellent in all categories. The ISI report also highlighted Withington’s fundraising, community and voluntary work. Writing in the December 2013 issue of The Bulletin, Mrs Marks commented that pupils make full use of their talents to help those less fortunate than themselves. Our selection of stories below highlights many examples of Withington girls’ charity projects, whether that be on our door step or across the world.

Amongst our 2013 news articles you can read how our girls helped raise funds for Manchester’s Wood Street Mission, entertained local pensioners at a festive concert and donated to the children’s charity Barnardo’s. Helping those further afield, a whole-school walk at lunchtime contributed to a charity to educate girls in less privileged countries.

Spectrum raised money to help abandoned street orphans of Brazil and in December, twelve of our girls raised funds to buy a much-needed rice milling machine for a rural village in the Gambia, before visiting the country to help out in a rural school which previous Withington groups had helped to fund and build.

Academically, WGS pupils consistently achieve highly in public examinations, and in 2013 it was another exceptional year for results, with A Levels defying the national downwards trend in grades whilst GCSE and IGCSE performance made Withington the only school outside London to feature in the top 20 in tables published by the Daily Telegraph.

In keeping with the vision of the School’s founders, Sciences as well as Mathematics – traditionally seen as the domain of boys – remain popular areas of study for WGS girls and stories of successes in extension projects feature strongly in our Top 100 stories. In one month alone, Withington’s young scientists celebrated two scientific competition victories; our Sixth Form team scooping first in a Young Analyst Chemistry competition whilst three of other pupils clinched Gold Awards in a national Physics Olympiad. In the same month, April, Junior girls enjoyed a visit from ‘Nuclear Naz’ as part of a ‘Mad Science’ Roadshow.

Founders’ Day in October was an opportunity for 2,000 Withington girls, parents, staff and invited guests to join together in celebration at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, with the 2013 theme being Awe and Wonder, where, as Mrs Marks commented: “This year at Withington we have helped our students to sharpen their senses in numerous ways.”

School trips, nature appreciation, art and music, for example, may never feature in a school performance league table, she said. But “they go to the heart of a truly holistic education – and at Withington we shall continue to value them highly and seize every chance we have, to give our girls the opportunity to sense awe and wonder at first hand.”

This year, in 2014, Withington is proud to be presenting the classic musical, The Sound of Music.

Here is a selection of our top 100 “favourite things” for 2013.

January 2013

In a review published in the Tatler Schools Guide 2013, Withington wins glowing praise not only for its academic achievement, but also for
“outstanding” Drama and Music and Sport.

Sixth Form Historians’ Weekend in Paris On the first weekend of the Spring Term, twelve Lower Sixth historians ventured across the Channel for a weekend in Paris. Accompanied by Head of History Ms Maher and Mrs Khan, they visited the key locations of Revolutionary Paris, in order to enhance their AS Level studies on the Causes of the French Revolution.

Withington Fashion Show pays dividends Withington’s spectacular Fashion Show, entitled Sugar Rush, paid dividends to
the tune of almost £4,500 for the charities that the event supported this year.

Oxbridge Offers: A Delighted Dozen The news came that twelve girls had been offered places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, ten of which were conditional offers. Come Results day in August 2013, all ten of the conditional places were realised, with all twelve girls going up to either Oxford or Cambridge.

February 2013

Birds of Prey visit the Juniors The Junior School girls enjoyed a visit from seven amazing birds of prey from the Welsh Birds of Prey Centre.

 Gym and Dance Display Junior and Senior girls combined to take part in
the annual Gym Competition on 1st February, setting the stage for the Gym and
Dance Display a week later.

Junior Trip to Winmarleigh Hall On 20^th February Upper II
went on a trip to Winmarleigh Hall, where they had three days of action-packed
fun.

Lower Fifth Art Exhibition Lower Fifth GCSE Artists celebrated their first
year of the course in style with an exhibition of work. A private view was held
on 26th February in the newly furbished Art Room.

Drama: DNA On 25th February, the play, DNA, by Dennis Kelly was performed in the Drama Studio. Directed by Lower Sixth Former, Sheanna Patelmaster, as part of her EPQ project, the play was performed by Fifth and Sixth Form Drama enthusiasts.

Ski Safari in Sansicario Save for a few minor bumps and bruises,
Withington’s 45-strong contingent returned safely from the Alpine ski slopes of
Italy and France after their half-term trip.

German
Exchange Twenty one girls from the Fifth Forms and Lower Sixth participated in
this year’s German Exchange and spent the February half-term at Withington’s
partner school, the Auguste Pattberg Gymnasium in Mosbach, near Heidelberg,
staying with pupils’ families.

Classics
trip to the Bay of Naples The Classics trip to the Bay of Naples
over half term took in the famous ruined Roman cities of Pompeii and
Herculaneum and the site of the much older, less well known city of Paestum on
Italy’s spectacular Amalfi Coast.

Spanish
Exchange 2013 For the third year running, the Spanish exchange
took place during February half term.  A group of ten girls from WGS set off to Barcelona and were warmly greeted by the
families from the La Vall school.

MUN: Glass Ceiling Cracked! Withington’s achievement of a top award at the
International Model United Nations in Bath was a first for the School at a
conference outside Manchester. A delighted Ms Jane Maher, MUN coordinator,
said: “ We have done it! WGS has cracked the glass ceiling. Not only was this a
first for us, but Withington is the first all-girls school to win this
conference.”

March 2013

Young
Enterprise Success! Athena, one of Withington’s two teams taking
part in this year’s Young Enterprise competition was named ‘Best Overall
Company’ when more than 30 rivals set out their stalls at the Young Enterprise
Trade Fair at the Trafford Centre on 1st March.

Junior
Peak Centre Trip Transition and Form I enjoyed another wonderful
and chilly overnight trip to The Peak Centre on the 11th-12th March.

AS
Drama: Skirmishes The AS Drama examination, performed in the Drama
Studio on Tuesday 12th March, was Skirmishes written by Liverpudlian
scriptwriter Catherine Hayes, who has Coronation Street and Brookside among her
credits.

Chancellor
for a Day Sixth Former Lucinda Chamberlain was shortlisted by the judging panel
in the Chance to be Chancellor competition run by The Citizenship Foundation.
Her video setting out her proposal to reduce the economic deficit was published
online for young people to vote for their favourite. Lucinda went on to attend
the Youth Budget 2013 launch event at the House of Commons on 7th March.

A class apart … Northern Schools’ Lacrosse Champions Withington’s
under-12s proved a class apart as they romped to the Championship by an
aggregate score of 22-2 in the Northern Schools’ Lacrosse Tournament at York on
Saturday, 16th March.

GCSE
Drama: Our Country’s Good Withington’s GCSE drama students enacted
a dramatic performance in more ways than one in the Drama Studio on 18th March.
Their version of the set piece – Our Country’s Good – earned every girl full marks when they performed
it before the examiner in the afternoon and an enthusiastic ovation when they
repeated the show for family and friends in the evening.

Junior
Art Exhibition The inaugural Junior School Art Exhibition was
staged in Junior Resource Room on Tuesday 19th March. The girls’ art portfolios
as well as the finished piece(s) were put on display for Junior parents to
view.

Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award The DofE programme for the Spring Term got
underway with the Bronze walk from Marple to Hayfield taking place on 3rd
March. The weather was excellent providing lovely views of the residual snow on
the top of Kinder Scout.

Debating
Withington’s debating team won the first
of a series of debating successes in March winning the North West and North
Wales Regional Final, which took them through to the National Final in June and
the International Final in September.

Withington
hosts actual material collected on the Moon Actual
material from the Moon brought back by the Apollo astronauts from the Moon
missions of the 1960s and 1970s were used in Physics lessons in March. The
‘Moon rocks’ and fragments of meteorites were loaned to Withington by the
Science and Technology Facilities Council under the strictest of security.

Netball
Champions! Withington teams capped a spectacularly
successful netball campaign with a magnificent triumph in the Under-13 County
Championships  and the North v South
play-off finals. The U14s and U16s also won their age group in the South Manchester
Netball League.

April 2013

Withington
in the USA! Eighteen girls from Upper Fourth to Upper Fifth
spent the first week of the Easter holidays exploring Washington DC,
Philadelphia and New York. Led by Head of History, Ms Jane Maher, the
wide-ranging itinerary provided the girls with a real insight into the
historical, political and modern-day fabric that makes up the United States of
America.

Mad
Science visits the Juniors On Tuesday 23rd April, Nuclear Naz from
the Mad Science Roadshow
visited Junior girls. Starting the day in Junior Assembly, Naz performed some
amazing whizz-bang experiments demonstrating the wonders of air and air
pressure.

Congratulations
Withy Wonders Marathon Relay Team!  The ‘Withy
Wonders’ – four members of the School’s teaching staff – lived up to their name
by putting in a fantastic performance in the Greater Manchester Marathon Relay
Team Challenge on Sunday 28th April.

British
Physics Olympiad  When
eminent astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell presented Gold Awards to this
year’s top achievers in the British Physics Olympiad Experimental Project, only
five of the 30 recipients were girls. Remarkably, three of the five were
Withington pupils – representing ten per cent of the total and 60 per cent of
the Gold Awards presented to girls.

Sixth Form Chemistry: Young Analysts  On 25th April, three Lower Sixth pupils travelled to Manchester Metropolitan University to participate in the Young Analyst Chemistry Competition. They spent time performing chemical analyses in the university laboratories finally finishing first in true Withington style!

Summer Term Musical Showcase The Summer Term Musical Showcase on 30th April ended in a standing ovation in appreciation of the finale performance by the Senior Orchestra of a medley of pieces from Phantom of the Opera. The accolade, though, was also for the many other superb performances that came one after the other throughout the night.

May 2013

Welsh
Castles – History in Action On 1st May, Third Form pupils set off to
the Welsh coast to visit the 13th century castles of Edward I at Conwy and
Rhuddlan.

Drama:
Death on the Dial More than a dozen Withington girls were in the
cast of Death on the Dial,
a world premiere  staged at Manchester Grammar School’s Theatre over three
nights at the beginning of May.

Massed
Junior Choirs Event On Thursday 9th May, twelve members of Upper II
went to Rishworth School in West Yorkshire for a day of singing workshops and
performances.

Young
Enterprise Finals Withington’s remaining company in this year’s
Young Enterprise competition reached the end of the road at the Greater
Manchester finals staged at the Trafford Centre on Wednesday 8th May.

We
liked it! Upper Fourth Trip to Stratford Thirty pupils from Upper Fourth
accompanied by 6 members of staff took part in the English Department’s annual
trip to Stratford-on- Avon over the weekend of 10th/11th May. 

Transition’s
Trip to Katmandhu! In Geography lessons, Transition were learning
about the culture, clothing, climate, cuisine and traditions of India. In order
to enhance their studies, the entire class took a trip out the nearby curry restaurant, The Great Kathmandu where a fantastic Indian feast was laid on for
them.

Hong
Kong bound! We heard the news that three Lower Sixth
Economics pupils had won through to the semi-finals of the Poly U Global Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Student Challenge, a prestigious international business
competition.  Amazingly, their prize was
an all-expenses-paid week-long trip to Hong Kong!

Geography
Trip to Castleton In May, the Third Form visited Castleton in
Derbyshire and focused on the impacts of limestone on this beautiful landscape!
After observing stalactites and stalagmites in the underground world of
limestone caverns, all girls sketched the stunning limestone gorge known as
Winnat’s Pass.

Drama:
Shakespeare Shorts Withington’s Drama Department staged its third
annual Shakespeare Shorts festival in the Drama Studio on Saturday, May 18th,
with five specially adapted versions of the Bard’s plays.

Junior
History Assembly On Monday 20th May, the Junior School were
treated to performances by both the Transition and Form I. Transition performed
The Warrior Queen, where they sang
and told the story of the friction between the Celts and the Roman Soldiers.

Jodrell
Bank Visit On Tuesday 21st May all Lower Fourth pupils, who
had been studying space and the solar system, took a daytrip to Jodrell Bank in
Cheshire, home of one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. They
attended lectures and demonstrations by Jodrell Bank scientists, including a
talk about Mars and the probes that humans have landed there, such as the most
recent, Curiosity.

June 2013

A
Level and GCSE Art Exhibition Stunning work created by Withington’s
A2, AS and GCSE Art students went on exhibition on Thursday, 6th June.

Juniors’
Sunshine Weekend at Abernant Lower and Upper II spent the weekend of
7-9th June at Abernant Lake. In contrast to the past two years, this time they
were blessed with blue skies and sunshine!

Catalyst
Museum Trip On Monday 10th June the whole of the Upper
Fourth spent the day at the Catalyst Discovery Centre. Each Form participated
in three activities on a carousel basis; an origins workshop, a surfactants
workshop and the chance to look around the museum’s exhibits.

Feeling the Force at Alton Towers On Monday
10th June, Lower Fifth girls went to Alton Towers on a Physics trip. The focus
of the trip was the chance to see the application of their recent topic,
forces, energy and motion and of course to have a lot of fun enjoying the
adrenaline rush of the rides! Particular favourites were AIR, OBLIVION and
RITA.

Geography Trip to Llandudno
The Lower Fourth descended on Llandudno on 10th June to find this
elegant Victorian seaside town bathed in sunshine and full of visitors.
The day was action packed and again the girls experienced both the
physical and human side of Geography using a complete range of fieldwork
skills in their investigation.

MUN at
MGS Although examinations had dominated the lives of the Upper Fifth and
Sixth Form in May and June, several girls were very keen to participate in the
MUN Conference at Manchester Grammar School. This was the second year the
conference has taken place and four girls took positions as Chairs of
committees including the more complex Security Council.

Junior
Mathematics ChallengeOn 10th
June, Upper II were treated to a Mathematics Challenge afternoon led by the
Senior School Mathematics teachers. There were problem-solving activities in
team relays, an ‘in the bin’ numbers game and a murder mystery solved using
codes.

Salter’s
Festival of Chemistry  On 14th
June, four Lower Fourth Chemistry enthusiasts attended the Salter’s Festival of
Chemistry at the University of Manchester Department of Chemistry.

A2
Geography Fieldtrip in Central Manchester On 19^th
June, the Lower Sixth were straight back from their AS Study Leave and involved
in preparing for their A2 fieldwork. The aim was to investigate the changing
pedestrian patterns in the centre of Manchester. Analysis involved exploring
the reasons for the current movement against the backdrop of an old industrial
urban area regenerating into an exciting 21st century city.

Physics
Olympics, St Peter’s School York On 19th June, four Lower Fifth girls
attended the seventh Physics Olympics at St Peter’s School York. They were set
various tasks requiring problem-solving, teamwork and engineering skills
followed by a tricky quiz involving estimation and powers of ten.

Geography
Fieldtrip to Blackpool The Lower Fifth Geographers needed to collect
relevant current data for their GCSE Controlled Assessment. We chose the AQA
directive of a tourist study and revisited Blackpool on 21st June to analyse
the impact Tourism has had, both positively and negatively on the area.

Junior
School Summer Term Sports Round-up Juniors had a busy term in the sporting
arena, taking part in rounders, tennis and athletics matches against other
schools. Within School, there was the inter-house competition with the two
Junior Houses, Hunter and Williams, battling it out in the swimming pool and in
track and field.

Meeting
the Children’s Laureate Congratulations to Lower Fourth pupil, Ella
Slater, who was one of the first to interview the new Children’s Laureate,
Malorie Blackman –  a privilege she earned through winning a competition
set by the Guardian newspaper.

Juniors:
Form I go Greek On Monday 17th June, Miss Gardner took us to a
Greek restaurant called Kosmos in Manchester. We took this trip because we are
learning about Ancient Greece in our History lessons at school.

Junior
Young Enterprise Upper II pupils were involved in their own
Junior Enterprise experience. Working in groups, they created their own
companies and made, marketed and sold their own products.

News
from Hong Kong Blog from the Economics prize-winners about
their adventures in Hong Kong: Read from the bottom up!

Withington
wins the Debating Matters National Final! Four Sixth
Form girls have triumphed at the National Final of the Institute of Ideas
Debating Matters Competition 2012/13, which took place over three days at
University College London and the Royal Society of Medicine, over the last
weekend in June.

Chemquiz
2013 On Thursday 27th June, four Lower Fifth Formers represented Withington
at the annual Chemquiz held at Manchester Metropolitan University.

WiMUN
V – Withington’s MUN Conference WiMUN V – the fifth Model United Nations
Conference to be hosted by Withington – was the biggest gathering of its type
at the School to date. More than 250 delegates representing 19 schools from as
far afield as Birmingham, Malvern, Shrewsbury and Liverpool gathered at
Withington on Sunday, June 30th, for the day-long sessions.

July 2013

Classics:
A day at the British Museum On 3rd July, 17 pupils went to London by
train to visit the special Pompeii and Herculaneum Exhibition at the British
Museum. They had time to explore the museum and visit some of the many exhibits
including the ‘Greece and Rome’ section, which was particularly helpful for
Classical Studies.

Citizens
of the Future Citizenship Day at Withington is a day devoted
annually to focus on what it means to be a good citizen, locally, nationally
and internationally and shows the school at its very best! Held on the 2nd July
, this year’s theme was To Serve. Activities included preparing and serving
lunches at Ladybarn Community Centre; holding arts and crafts workshops at the
Minehead Resource Centre; conducting a Model United Nations conference and
hosting a Sports Day for near neighbours Old Moat Primary School. A group of Third
Form pupils spent the morning washing cars and also held a cake sale to boost
funds still further, raising over £750 for The Christie.

Withington
named as Sunday Times’ Best in the North West Withington was
named as the North West’s top school by the Sunday Times. The ranking in News
Review section of  7th July 2013 highlighted
Withington’s exemplary academic successes including the fact that more than 90%
of WGS girls go on to Russell Group Universities. The article also reflected on
the school’s commitment to providing a rounded education in the broadest sense.
Sport, music and the arts were said to be of central importance and examples of
pupils’ achievements outside the classroom were also included.

Junior
trip to Chester Zoo On 3rd July, the Juniors went on another jolly
trip to Chester Zoo. They were able to see animals from sand lizards and
warthogs to tigers and orangutans. Each class had a workshop with some of their
specialist staff, looking at survival kits and also animals from the Amazon
Rainforest. The weather stayed dry and so it was a picnic for 90 on the grass!

Junior
School Strawberry Serenade When the audience returned to the Arts
Centre after the interval of the Juniors’ Strawberry Serenade Summer concert,
they might have thought they had travelled back in time to war-torn London.
Air-raid sirens blared as a classroom full of children, for all the world
looking as if they had stepped out of the 1940s, were being taken through a
gasmask drill by their teacher.

Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award in the Summer Term There were three expeditions in the
Summer Term, Gold Award Practice, Bronze Award Qualifying and Silver Award
Practice.

Senior School Sports Round-up for the Summer Term
Athletics, swimming, rounders and tennis were all enjoyed in the Summer
Term, with some fantastic performances, especially in tennis and
athletics.

Lower
Fourth Trip to Disneyland Paris The Disney Trip was once again a great
success and 47 Lower Fourth girls and six members of staff enjoyed sunshine and
blue skies. The highlights were most definitely the firework and laser display
at Disney and the spectacular evening show at Futuroscope.

Geography
Trip to Iceland Another amazingly successful trip to Iceland for
the Geography Department! Although the UK was bathed in sunshine Iceland was
experiencing heavy rain and mists! This did not dampen spirits and thirteen
Lower Fifth pupils, the majority of them Geographers, set off with Mrs Buckley
and Mrs Hamilton for the trip of a life time and enjoyed a wonderful
expedition.

World
Challenge Ladakh Blog and report of the World Challenge
Expedition to Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas: Read from the bottom up!

August 2013

Outstanding A Level results for Withington girlsWithington celebrated an outstanding
pass rate in this year’s A Level results with a large increase over last year
in the percentage of A*s achieved.

Exceptional GCSE results for Withington GirlsWithington celebrated a raft of
exceptional GCSE and IGCSE results today, with 74% of all entries achieving the
elite A* grade, and 96% being awarded A* or A grades, defying the national
downwards trend. The percentage of pupils achieving the top two grades is an
increase of 5% over last year’s Withington results.

September 2013

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Nuclear Engineering in the summer During the summer break, a number of Science enthusiasts attended residential courses in various aspects of engineering run by the Smallpeice Trust in universities, colleges and training centres across Britain. 

Biology
Field Trip 2013After only three
days back at school, the Upper Sixth biologists gathered immediately after
school on the Friday to travel to North Wales for the Ecology Fieldtrip. We
have used the Drapers’ Field Centre at Betws y Coed, run by the Field Studies
Council for many years and have never been disappointed by the quality of
teaching and facilities that they provide.

Slattery’s:
A chocolatey day out  On the 11th
September, 16 Food Technology pupils spent the day at Slattery’s, chocolatier
and patissier, to experience a Chocolate Enterprise Day.

GSA
‘Girls go Gold’ ConferenceMrs
Ferrol and Miss Richards accompanied 14 of our GCSE PE students and elite
athletes to the fourth GSA Girls Go Gold! conference which was held at Merchant
Taylor`s Girls School in Crosby.

Junior
Geography Trips to CastletonOn
Thursday and Friday 18^th and 19th September, all Junior girls took
part in a Geography fieldtrip to Castleton.

WGS
Careers Convention 2013Girls
and their parents turned out in force for Withington’s Careers Convention on
the evening of Thursday, 26th September.

Netball:
Victory at Condover Hall!On the
weekend of 27-29 September, Ms Deadman and Ms Layne accompanied the Lower and
Upper Fourth netball teams to Condover Hall in Shropshire for the GSA
Masterclass tournament, which involved more than 20 teams from girls’ schools
across the country.

Junior
Fun NightOn Saturday 5^th
October Withington Girls’ Junior School had their unforgettable Family Fun
Night, organised by the PTA. It was an action-packed evening with excitement
for the whole family.

Ghyll
Head 2013Both of this year’s
Ghyll Head weekends for new Third Form girls were enjoyed under blue skies and
glorious autumn sunshine. On each of the two weekends (27-29 September and 4-6
October) the Third Formers, accompanied by their intrepid Form Tutors, Shadow
Form Tutors and Upper Sixth Peer Supporters enjoyed an adventure-packed time in
the Lake District. All girls participated enthusiastically in the activities
and some made the most of every opportunity to get wet!

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October 2013

Juniors’ Shakespeare DayOn the 11th October the Arts Centre
became Macbeth’s banqueting hall during the Junior School’s visit from the
Young Shakespeare Company.

International Day of the GirlDuring the lunch hour on Friday, 11th
October, Withington pupils celebrated the International
Day of The Girl with a fundraising lunchtime walk to show
support for extending girls’ education in some of the world’s poorest
countries.

International Debating ChampionsAt
an exciting weekend at the Battle of Ideas Festival at the Barbican
in London, Withington’s Senior debating duo, Samantha Cooke and Sheanna
Patelmaster, won the Debating Matters International Debating crown.

Physics
Olympics at Liverpool University On Saturday 19th October, eight girls
from the Lower Sixth travelled to the Physics Olympics at the University of
Liverpool.

Withington’s ‘Exceptional’ Inspection
ReportWithington
Girls’ School was judged as ‘Excellent’ – the highest possible rating – in
every single category.

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November 2013

Netball:National Schools’ County runners-upOn
Saturday 9th November, the Upper Fourth and Upper Fifth netballers participated
in the County Round of the National Schools’ tournament. The Upper Fourth  girls were named National Schools’ County
runners-up. They will now represent Greater Manchester in the Regional finals
in January.

Juniors: Cuddly toys’ African adventure!‘Bearly
Loved’ is a charity set up to give all lonely children around the world a
chance to feel special and loved, aiming to give every one of those children a
teddy bear/soft toy of their own.

GCSE Science Live On Monday 25th November, a group of 40 Upper Fifth scientists went to the Bridgewater Hall to attend this year’s GCSE Science Live!

Economics Team on Target in Bank Competition Upper Sixth Economics students are on track for the next round of a national Bank of England Interest Rate Challenge after clinching top place in a regional knockout heat.

Spectacular Spectrum – Withington’s 2013
Fashion ShowWithington’s Arts Centre became a spectacular blaze of
colour as this year’s fashion show, Spectrum, took to the catwalk, showcasing
an array of rainbow inspired designs and raising more than £5,000 for
charitable causes.

Mock
Trial Competition On Saturday, 30th November, twelve Lower Sixth girls
took part in a Mock Trial Competition at Minshull St Crown Court.

December 2013

Ogden
Geography Prize Winner Yet again Withington has been awarded the
prestigious Ogden Prize for the top performance in last summer’s Geography
A-level papers for the fifth time in seven years. This year it goes to Harriet
Macleod [2013 leaver] who secured full UMS marks on all her papers so achieving
400 out of 400 UMS marks.

Sixth
Form Seminar Programme  A programme
of weekly seminars aimed at helping to foster intellectual curiosity and
independent thinking amongst Withington’s students was rolled out in the Autumn
for Sixth Formers.

Christmas Concert and Tea Party for Senior
CitizensWithington’s
Christmas Concert and Tea Party for Senior Citizens heralded the start of this
year’s busy in-school festive musical programme. Around 200 local pensioners
were invited to the Concert and treated to a seasonal selection of old time
Christmas favourites, traditional carols and instrumental pieces performed by
Senior School choristers and musicians.

Junior Christmas Concert 2013The Junior School Christmas Concert
took place on Thursday, 12th December. The first half of the concert displayed
the musical talents of the girls with the Junior Orchestra, String Group, Percussion
and the Choir each putting on superb performances. In addition, the colourful
Ukulele Orchestra, featuring every Junior girl, delighted the audience.

Senior School Christmas ConcertIt was a big finish to an eventful
autumn term with dancing silver stars and flying confetti adding to the
customary sparkle and merriment of the Senior School Christmas Concert on 16th
December.

The Gambia Expedition 2013The 2013 Gambia expedition team, made
up of twelve Upper Sixth pupils and three WGS teaching staff, returned home
just three days before Christmas, having spent a week in The Gambia, West
Africa.

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