Weekly Newsletters

What a hot week! 
This week we said farewell to Mr Corner after five years of loyal service at the school and also our Chinese student visitors that have been with us for the last two months. We wish everyone well in their journey away from the school and appreciate the contribution that they have made.

On a different note, we welcomed Mr Whales, the school’s new Vice Principal. He joins us this side of the academic year to enable him to get up to speed with life at the school in readiness for September. Mr Whales will introduce himself in this week’s newsletter.

Next week, we celebrate Graduation Day on Tuesday 27 June starting from 8.45 am for invited Year 11 students. We aim to make this a fun and celebratory event to mark their efforts and the end of their current phase of education. I hope to see as many students as possible attend. We will share the highlights of the morning in next week’s newsletter.

I wish to thank the staff (Mr Gray, Mr Billitt, Miss Walker, Ms Curtis) that have taken a large group of Year 7 students out on a residential for the last three days. Despite the heat, I believe they have had fun and learnt to work together. Please look out for further opportunities for expeditions in due course. As we break up, I am looking forward to accompanying a group of students to take the 3 Peaks Challenge! 

Selected year 10 students are taking part in the Junior University Programme, which comprises of 2 half day workshops delivered in school by graduates of Cambridge University, these workshops give students an insight to the application process, budgeting and finance and making choices regarding courses and location of university. Session 1 was 5 June, session 2 the 21 June when they wrote a newspaper article based on the crime scene of a murder with 2 Media Studies/Film and Criminology graduates delivering the programme. 

In addition, thirteen Year 8 students have been invited to The Big Bang Fair in Coventry, this fair showcases STEM projects and raises students aspirations to apply for triple science. 
I wish to acknowledge the staff involved in taking time to arrange and coordinate these events as it adds so much value and makes a connection between why education and core values is so important and making the next step to becoming successful citizens. Look out for further reports in newsletters as the agenda is packed!

This week I am pleased to share with you the student section of the newsletter written by Laura Griffen.

Finally, as we draw to the end of the term I would like to draw to your attention a number of key changes for September. These have been explained in previous editions of the newsletter, but I feel it is helpful to remind everyone:

1. Change in vertical tutoring system 
2. Change in the structure of the school day  
3. Revision of the uniform moving forward  
4. Consultation on the change of training day from April to December 

Bryan Erwin
Principal

Edgaras "What I found inspiring today is seeing people doing what they love"
Jayden  " What I found inspiring is that even what you are good at isn't STEM related you can still be an engineer"
Troy "What I found inspiring is the amount of things you can do in one lifetime "
Caterina "taking part in the activities, I was so proud to change a tyre in 3.04 minutes"
Taleasha "I learnt a lot about engineering and want to do an engineering career"
Roy "I enjoyed talking to people about my career worries and about what I want to do when I get older"
Anais thought all the activities were good and was surprised at how many different careers were STEM related and Caitlin enjoyed all the activities and was surprised at how Science relates so so many things we do in day to day life.  

Hopefully this is an event we can add to the school calendar next year and yes Mrs Ayre did change a tyre for the first time in her life, we won't reveal the time but Mr Reed declined to take part in that activity personally I think he was afraid of the competition. 

Mrs Ayre
International Business Enterprise and Community Co-ordinator

I have worked in three previous schools, two in Cambridgeshire and one in Northamptonshire. I cannot stress enough how positive I feel about the role and the opportunity to join your community. The first time I met Mr Erwin and Mr O’Neill they described the school as a ‘Gold mine’. Whilst I have only been here for a week, my first impressions are they are definitely on to something!

I have joined a school that is in a very strong positon. I have also joined a school that is determined to become significantly ‘stronger’. Clearly many of the vital ingredients are already in place. The staff are extremely dedicated, the facilities are excellent and most impressive so far has been the politeness and attitudes of so many of the students. I have joined with a fresh pair of eyes, a varied experience of other schools and systems. Fundamentally though, I have a passion for education and a drive to deliver excellent outcomes and experiences for all young children.

At the moment I am a stranger and the new boy! I hope very quickly to meet a large number of you and over the coming years, build some strong positive working relationships with you.

Mr Whales
Vice Principal

Over the next two weeks, we will be running the alternative sports day events that we cannot fit into the main day itself. The timetable below shows when the PE faculty will be running those events. If your son or daughter is taking part in these events then they are expected to come down to PE and be changed at the appropriate time. Once changed they will meet the member of staff that is taking that event.

Students need to be in full PE kit, which is black shorts/tracksuit bottoms, house coloured t-shirt and trainers. If they have do not have PE kit then they will not be able to take part. If the weather on that day is not appropriate to conduct the events then an alternative date and time will be arranged.

Good luck to all students taking part

Mr Gray
Teacher of PE

Mr Hopkins and I went back and forth on formations and player positions before agreeing to stick with what we know and play a 4-2-3-1.

Unfortunately, like the game before, we were on the back foot after a few minutes of play. AMVC had the bigger, stronger players and were using their size to their advantage, putting the shoulders in to disrupt our boys and put the ball to their striker how was at least 6ft 3. These tactics paid off as Arthur Mellows when the ball fell to the lofty front man he put the ball past Henry twice within the first 15.

The game pace slowed as the ball rarely made an appearance in either of the final third for both teams but the strength battles carried on throughout the rest of the first half. With 8 minutes to go a lovely through ball from our midfield saw Riley Barfoot put the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net making it 2 -1.  This spurred the boys on and it was evident as they started to become more physical and not let the bigger AMVC boys push them off the ball so easily.

Half time came around quickly and the boys were finally fired up and keen to get the second half underway. After a few brief notes for some individuals, Coach Hopkins and I decided we would leave everything as it was for 5 minutes to see what develops and what changes could be made.

This decision proved to be another genius piece of coaching as minutes into the second half the boys managed to force a corner from which a stunning header picked out of the air by Daivaras kick started the turn around.  The midfield pairing of Owen, Adam and Dav really put the ball around for Charlie, Jamal, Lemar and Riley as multiple times the boys were able to turn their opponents and sprint off down the wings. However, on the occasion where AMVC did manage to get the ball back and start getting forward they were quickly closed down by the likes of Conan, Louis, Tom, Ruben and Jack.

10 minutes into the second half and the effects of the constant attack from the lads were starting to show in the AMVC boys as they began to bicker within themselves and the coach. This lapse in concentration would cost them as a great through ball from Owen to Charlie who made it look easy and he slide the ball past the goalie into the bottom left.

However, not all the goals would come from the front as the defenders wanted to get in on the action when Jack managed to find himself a bit of space and quickly converted his chance to a goal to put us up to 4-2.

With the game seemingly in the bag we made a few changes to make sure everyone got a good run out but maybe we made too many as with 5 minutes to go and a couple of our boys out of position AMVC managed to squeeze a shot past Henry to make it 4-3.

With less than a minute to go, however, Riley managed to a ball from the midfield, tap his way past the defenders, around their goalie and push home one last goal to make it 5-3 and the Ref blew for full time as the boys celebrated.

We are all extremely proud of the boys for not only winning, but also how they played as a team and supported one another even when facing an uphill battle.

MOTM – Riley Barfoot

Team- Lemar Moore, Ryley Barfoot, Charlie Orbell, Jamal Shenille, Owen Boldero, Tom Fox, Jack Faupel, Lois Griggs, Ruben Santos, Henry Currie, Adam Lock, Daivaras Ksenzovas, Conan Renshaw

Mr Jennings
Cover Supervisor

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of exams, meetings and starting new courses for all students across the school. Year 9’s have moved up to year 10 lessons and Year 12’s have begun teaching for their final course of exams. 
The school council have been very busy over the past few weeks, working alongside Mr Erwin to ensure that each and every students concerns and suggestions are looked at and considered. As a part of the school council I can say that I am extremely proud of what we have achieved and how we have improved the school from the beginning of this year.

Most of the focus this half term has been based around student well-being and ensuring every student from Year 7 – 13 feels comfortable inside and out of school. It is obvious that during the exam period levels of stress rise and we are working closely with Mr Erwin and the school council to try to relieve this stress and create a safe environment for anyone, no matter the situation, to share their feelings and have someone to talk to. 
We have also looked into making improvements into the canteen following comments at school council meeting throughout the year and we are aiming to ensure that is caters fully for every student’s needs. We have listened to the feedback from the form groups and have suggested reforms to the vertical tutoring system that will be introduced next year. This will mean that form time is utilised in the best way possible for each year group and the period can be much more focused. 

One of the last rounds of school council meetings will be rolling out over the course of the next fortnight, where we will be discussing fundraising ideas. As a school council we have decided that over next year we will be aiming to have a variety of fundraising events where the proceedings will go towards aspects much closer to home. We are hoping to give back to the Werrington Neighbourhood council, who have spent time over the past few years to recognise the achievements of many of us from Ken Stimpson. Furthermore, Post 16 are aiming to fund-raise over the course of the next few years to renovate the Study Rooms and Common rooms to make it a practical place to work. We are also hoping to gather suggestions for other fundraising events that could possibly be rolled out over the course of the next academic year. 

Finally, as we say goodbye to the Year 13’s, we are also saying goodbye to three of the house captains who have worked incredibly hard over the past two years to ensure that all of these changes and improvements happen. I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Emily Hale, Tayla Nagle and Sundas Mushtaq for everything they have helped us achieve over their time in the school council.

Laura Griffin
Year 12 Student - House Captain