Departments
The school has the following departments: Science, Mathematics, Design & Technology, Business and Economics, Geography, History/Government and Politics, English, Art, Modern Languages (including French and Spanish), Media, Information Communication Technology, Religious Education, PE and Music. As of 2021, drama is now a compulsory subject within Key Stage 3, however is optional at GCSE level.
F1 in Schools
The technology department at WGSB competes in an international competition called F1 in Schools which is where students form a team of 3–6 students and then design and build a car made from a block of balsa wood (More details on F1 in Schools page). The school has taken part in this competition since the 2007–2008 season, with numerous successes.
The team Redshift succeeded in the 2014 London & South-East England Regional Final and then came 3rd in the 2013 National Final at the ExCel Arena, London. This earned them the opportunity to become a collaboration team, meaning that they joined another team from around the globe – which was a team from Singapore. The team was renamed from Redshift to X-Shift, a merging of both teams' names since the Singapore team were called Team X-Treme. This meant that they took part in the 2013 World Finals held in Austin, Texas.
Another team called Turbocharged had taken part in the Bloodhound SSC class, which is the same as the F1 class but it is designing a car based around the Bloodhound SSC. The team succeeded in the regional final in the 2012–13 season and then won the national final, meaning that they were national champions and gained a new world-record time for their car racing down the track (this record was 0.587 seconds). In the 2013–14 season, the team entered again into the competition and was unsuccessful, but after lodging a complaint about other teams being illegal, they were able to move to the national finals as a wildcard. The team then proudly attended the national final and won it again, meaning that they are the only team that has ever become national champions twice.
For the 2015 Bloodhound SSC Class, a new team was formed called Vortex. The team consisted of three old members of Turbocharged, and a new member. Vortex did not succeed in the regionals but was selected as a wildcard to progress to the nationals. They had the fastest time, but this was considerably slower than previous years, as the rules had changed, forcing the 8-gram car up to 30 grams. The team used the same principle of golf balls to create a turbulent boundary layer, to increase the speed of the car. The team won the national finals.
British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to Brunswick green, hunter green, forest green or moss green. It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This originated with the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup, held in Ireland, as motor-racing on public roads was illegal in Great Britain. As a mark of respect, the British cars were painted shamrock green.
Wilmington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 2.7 miles south of Dartford, 3.5 miles north of Swanley and 4.3 miles south east of Bexleyheath, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London.
Aylesbury High School (AHS) was founded in 1959, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, when the previously co-educational Aylesbury Grammar School split to become two single-sex grammar schools. The two institutions remain on adjacent sites. The school takes its pupils from a wide area as far from Aylesbury as Oxford and Milton Keynes, as admissions are determined by the eleven-plus. The current headmistress is Marieke Forster.
Chatham House Grammar School was an all boys grammar school in Ramsgate, Kent, England, that was merged in September 2011 with its sister school Clarendon House Grammar School to become the Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School.
Tadcaster Grammar School founded in 1557, is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, educating children aged 11–18 years old, and has an on-site sixth form. The school is located in the hamlet of Toulston just outside the brewery town of Tadcaster. The school's catchment includes Tadcaster and its surrounding villages, while traditionally taking pupils from the York area, including villages such as Appleton Roebuck, Copmanthorpe, Bishopthorpe and Bilbrough.
Dartford Grammar School is a secondary foundation school for boys in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form. All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top 25% of the ability range, as determined by the 11-Plus examinations. The students come from Dartford, neighbouring towns and villages, and nearby London boroughs, as well as an increasing number of students from Essex. The current roll is 1,203, including 461 in the sixth form. It is the brother school of Dartford Grammar School for Girls.
Poole Grammar School is an 11–18 selective boys grammar school and academy in the coastal town of Poole in Dorset, in the south of England. It is a member of the South West Academic Trust (SWAT). The school was a mathematics and computing school, with an additional specialism, cognition, added in 2006.
The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s. It was one of the first F1 cars to use a stressed member engine combined with a monocoque to reduce weight, with other teams adopting the concept after its success. An iteration of it, the 49B, also pioneered the use of aerofoils to generate downforce.
Sawyers Hall College of Sport and Science was a secondary school located in Brentwood, Essex, England. It was a mixed school of non-denominational religion. The school logo was traditionally that of a Griffin. However, when the school achieved specialist college status its motif was modernised; it became a two panelled shield with a griffin above a diagram of an atom.
Dartford Grammar School for Girls is a grammar school for girls in Dartford, Kent, England. Formerly known as Dartford County School, the school opened in 1904. It is the sister school of Dartford Grammar School for Boys.
Arriva Kent Thameside Limited, trading as Arriva Kent Thameside, formerly known as London Transport, London Country and Kentish Bus, is a bus operator based in north-west Kent, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus. The company operates services in Northfleet, Gravesend & Dartford as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division from their Northfleet depot.
Wilmington Academy is a mixed secondary school located in Wilmington, Kent in the United Kingdom. It stands next to the site of Wilmington Hall.
Kingstone School was a secondary school located in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1987, the school provided secondary education to pupils aged 11–16. It had a capacity of approximately 1,500, making it one of the largest schools in the area.
St Bonaventure's is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school located in the Forest Gate area in London, England. Founded in 1875, the school has a long history of providing education to boys in the local community.
Teignmouth Community School is coeducational primary and secondary school located over two sites in Teignmouth in the English county of Devon.
St. Mary's Grammar School is a grammar school in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
F1 in Schools is an international STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) competition for secondary school students (aged 11–19), in which groups of 3–6 students have to design and manufacture a miniature F1 car using CAD/CAM and CAE design tools. The cars are powered by CO2 cartridges and are attached to a track by a nylon wire. They are timed from the moment they are launched to when they pass the finish line by a computer.
The Renault RS10 was a Formula 1 car developed to compete in the 1979 Formula One season, which became the first turbocharged F1 car to win a Grand Prix. This changed the framework of F1 as this car spurred the development of the 1,300 bhp (970 kW) turbocharged cars of the 1980s and rang the death knell for normally aspirated engines. This car, along with its predecessor, the Renault RS01, was one of the most revolutionary Grand Prix cars of all time.
Finchley Catholic High School is a boys' secondary school with a coeducational sixth form in North Finchley, part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. The current head teacher is Niamh Arnull, who had previously been a member of the teaching staff in the 1990s.
Bloodhound LSR, formerly Bloodhound SSC, is a British land vehicle designed to travel at supersonic speeds with the intention of setting a new world land speed record. The arrow-shaped car, under development since 2008, is powered by a jet engine and will be fitted with an additional rocket engine. The initial goal is to exceed the current speed record of 763 mph (1,228 km/h), with the vehicle believed to be able to achieve up to 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km/h).
