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Ken Stimpson Community School - Newsletter 31/03/2017
KSCS Newsletter March 31st 2017
Introduction photo
 
Message from the Principal
Sometimes, it is the smallest things that make a big difference; they make you stop and re-think how you can do them differently. During this week, I have had many encounters with students, staff and parents.

Thanks to those of you whom I have encountered, who are making our school an even better place through your suggestions!  Here are some examples:

I am pleased to announced that £1400+ has been raised for Comic Relief and the associated charities both in the UK and abroad.  I wish to again thank the students, staff and in particular Mrs Bamber for orchestrating the whole day.

Writing competition

One such encounter I had during this week was with the ten students who have received recognition from the National Young Writers’ Welcome to Wonderland Competition.  Well done to all the ten students who have been recognised for their high standard of writing, their creativity as well as the originality of their use of language. As a result, those students listed below will have their work published in a form of book.

Head of Success House

After many years of loyal service and dedication to the role of Head of Year and then to the Head of Success House, Mrs Wyton will be stepping away for this role to focus solely on the demanding and growing Child Protection and Safeguarding Designate role.  I want to wish to thank Mrs Wyton for her guardianship of Success House students.

I wish to formally introduce Mr Billitt as the Head of Success House from after Easter alongside Mrs Day (student Support Officer) and Mr O’Neill (Leadership Link). 

Distribution of the spring term reports

As previously communicated to you, we are trialling the distribution of end of term reports via email this and next half term.  As this is a new process, we are electronically releasing just the first stage of the Post 16 reports on Friday.  All other year groups will have their reports released to them on Tuesday next week.

Year 11 Subject evening Wednesday 5 April  (4- 7pm)

Just a further reminder that I  look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday at the final Year 11 subject evening.  If you have not yet made an appointment, then please click here to do so.

I will be clarifying with Year 11 students next week the study and attendance expectations after the Easter holidays. I will include this in next week’s newsletter for there to be no misunderstanding!

Best wishes

signature

Bryan Erwin
Principal

Rotary Young Chef Competition
Our Food Technology Department is extremely proud of Year 11 student, Kyle Exton. If you can remember, Kyle entered the Rotary Young Chef competition last term and won a place to the second round - District Competitions, which were held on Saturday 18 March at Voyager School and had 13 contestants.
Kyle

The pictures show Kyle with his certificate for participation and the dishes he made. 

It was a tough competition where they had to make 3 dishes in 2 hours. Although he is not moving forward, we are proud of him for getting to the District level.

Kyle, thank you for all your hard work, enthusiasm and for representing Ken Stimpson Community School in a positive way!

Mrs Sithole
Teacher of Food Technology

Post 16 Art Trip to Peterborough Museum
On Tuesday Mrs Gregg and myself were very fortunate to take a group of Post 16 students to the City Gallery at the Peterborough Museum.
Art Trip

During the morning students visited the museum, attended an Art work shop and made some Lino Prints inspired by the current Art exhibition “Once upon a time” a show inspired by folk tales of the Fens. It was a true treat and experience to have the whole museum to ourselves and a bit spooky too?

 

Mr Housley
Teacher of Art

Year 11 Maths Revision
As we get closer to Easter holiday (revision dates will be published shortly), using the countdown alongside Hegarty and other revision resources will really make the difference to closing the gap on areas students still have issues with, please find attached week 7 of the extra questions students can do at home with the support of parents as mark schemes and examiners reports are also attached (In the letters home section).

Every week I will continue to attach five topics that regularly appear in examinations, there is also a Personal Learning Checklist so students can track what they feel they have mastered and what they need more help on. This can be used alongside Hegarty maths which has video tutorials to help students understand topics.

 

Extra revision classes will run every Monday lunchtime in 3U22 for all Year 11s.

Targeted revision classes for specific groups will take place after school as follows: 

  • A1/B1 Mondays (CTK),Thursdays (JHY/NBN),
  • A2/B2 Mondays (CTK),  Thursdays (THN),
  • A3/B3 Mondays (LDY), Wednesday (NBN), Thursdays (JCA),
  • A4 Mondays (CTK), 
  • B4 Mondays (ICC) and also Tuesday to Friday lunchtimes with (ICC)

Mr Donnelly
Mathematics KS3 Coordinator

Maths Resources - All Years
Recently I have been sharing resources that are specifically designed towards students who are studying GCSE maths particularly in Year 11. We also use a lot of engaging resources at all other levels that we purchase for all students. Please encourage your son/daughter to use some of the following resources to develop their knowledge even further:
  • All students have access to www.hegartymaths.com and if they haven't previously logged on there is a step by step guide under student login on the website.
  • Year 7 and 8 students can practice their times tables using www.ttrockstars.com
  • All students have access to www.mymaths.co.uk which ranges from level 1 maths all the way through to 'A' level. The schools user name is: kscs and the password is: shapes
  • Students have individual logins for ttrockstars and mymaths which if they are unsure of they can ask their maths teacher. With both of these, you, them and their teacher can see their progress.
  • Sam Learning  (www.samlearning.com) can also be used not just to focus on maths but all subjects. The centre id is: PE4KS user id: six digit date of birth and initials and the password is the same as their user id. e.g 170475LD
  • With maths in mind students have access to resources from KS1 through to 'A' level with the new addition of intervention resources to bridge the gap on key topics. Alongside the use of Numeracy Ninjas (a new initiative Year 7 and 8 have started in tutor time to improve their numeracy skills) in school this could really make the difference to students understanding of maths.

Mr Donnelly
Mathematics KS3 Coordinator

Mr Corner’s Memorable Mondays
Since I have started revision with Year 11 this year, I wanted to try and make our long Monday afternoons a little more exciting.

My Science group 11G1 seemed keen on having unit 6 on a Monday as a novel revision session and I suggested we name it ‘Memorable Mondays’. We have had 3 Memorable Monday sessions so far which have included making revision caps and revision T-Shirts (these will be added to right up to the exam). These caps and T-Shirts will hopefully give students a good reminder of certain topics and key points and if they are sat in the exam hall stuck on a question, maybe thinking back to Memorable Mondays will help them to come up with the correct answers.

This week, we went on an excursion to one of the Art classrooms (thank you Mrs Bamber) and constructed models of some key scientific principles out of clay. I found this to be an excellent way of visualizing different diagrams and I really hope this will benefit the students in the long run.

I have included some of the pieces below. Once they have been in the kiln, they will look even better. Well done Year 11, keep up the hard work!

Science

Mr Corner
Assistant Principal

Motivational Messages
Motivational Messages
Aladdin Theatre Performing Arts Visit - London
On Wednesday 29 March after school, we took a group of very excited students to watch Aladdin at the King Edward Theatre in London.

The show had fantastic set arrangements and outstanding special effects and costumes. The cast were excellent in their story telling and the orchestra brought  the magic of Disney’s Aladdin to life on this West End stage. Featuring all the songs from the classic Academy Award-winning film including ‘Friend Like Me’, ‘A Whole New World’ and ‘Arabian Nights’ - which some of the group even enthusiastically  joined in with. Our favourite character on set was for most of us the "Genie" - he was the star of this particular production.

May I thank all the staff who attended this visit with me - Mrs Purdy, Mr Fisk, Mr Billitt, Mrs Eldred. The students really enjoyed this visit and wanted to know when the next visit to the West End would be... please watch this space.

Mrs Boughton
Assistant Principal

Wonderland Winners
Before Christmas a significant number of students from KSCS took part in the national Young Writers’ Welcome to Wonderland Competition.

The aim was to write a short saga of no more than 100 words. Our students had to compete against over 18000 other students from different parts of the country. Ten of them were recognised for their high standard of writing, creativity as well as originality of language and use of language. As a result, those students listed below will have their work published in a form of book.

Winners

The students are:

Bailey Daniel

Jorja Matchwick

Milosz Czolgowski

Luca Scialla-Cooper

Eden Brown

Mae Massey

Aidan Horton

Abigail Merritt

Matthew Mills

Beatriz Marques

Congratulations to all of those students on their exceptional effort!

Mr Charko
Leader of Literacy and EAL

Oundle Drama Festival
On Wednesday 29 March a group of Drama students attended the Oundle Drama Festival entering several pieces for adjudication in three different classes. For the 'Creative Performance' a ten minute version of 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' was awarded a Merit, winning its category.
drama

Other placements included a third place for Tayla-Jayne Eldred (Year 12) for her solo performance of Ophelia from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' along with Matthew Denton's (Year 12) monologue from 'An Accidental Death of an Anarchist' by Darion Fo, both pieces were highly commended and praised for their vocal clarity and characterisation in this hotly contested class. The Year 7-10 performance of 'Macbeth', which was also performed at the Performing Arts Showcase last Wednesday, impressed the large audience in the Queen Victoria Hall and was praised for its technical and artistic skill, earning a well deserved Merit. Thank you to all students and staff that took part and supported one another during the day. 

Mr Fisk
Subject Leader: Drama

Attendance
"Don't get sidetracked stomping on ants when you have elephants to feed" Peter Turla

There is little change with our attendance statistics this week, with Aspire remaining in the lead. We have had disappointing attendance over the winter months and look forward to the warmer weather and fewer incidents of illness. Please, make sure that students leave home with plenty of time to arrive to school so that they are not late. The legal register is only open for a limited period of time and then an unauthorised code is given which will decrease overall attendance.

Sharon Blackledge
KSCS Attendance Officer

Attendance
What's happening at KSCS?
Events and visits in the school over the next fortnight:
Monday 03/04/2017
Year 10 Geography Field Visit
Exhibition of Learning (4 days)
Tuesday 04/04/2017
Year 10 Geography Field Visit
Wednesday 05/04/2017
Year 11 Progress Evening
Thursday 06/04/2017
Lower School Rewards (1.30 - 3.15 p.m.)
Friday 07/04/2017
Term Ends
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Ken Stimpson Academy
Staniland Way
Werrington
PE4 6JT (Sat Nav users: PE4 6WR)