THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1 18.1

The school is working with a company called ‘SAM Learning’ to provide an online learning platform for students to build their knowledge, catch up on missed work, revise and gain support where needed. The web based software is accessible to all students with passwords being given out this week and will enable all students to access over 127,000 hours of support and learning materials.

SAM learning is an organization that has been working with schools for some time and have now perfected their approaches and boast an impressive +0.20 to progress of students who use their learning resources. This software, however, is not just aimed at year 11 and is intended for all students to bolster their leaning.

Staff can and will set learning tasks for students to complete online, but students can also explore the contents of the package themselves for self-directed learning in addition to their classroom input. Staff, students and parents can view student usage and progress through the software and students can even compete to see who has made the most gains in their group of friends!

The K’Ford Times

The Kingswinford School Newsletter

October 2018

Exam Success by T Macdonald

A fantastic set of results for our outgoing year 11 students over the summer have brought Kingswinford towards the top of the leaderboards in Dudley! With a provisional progress figure of 0.13 (not including remarks) we are 4th across the authority for student progress from their starting points – 2 places above OSH and well ahead of local rivals Summerhill! That also places the school in the top third of schools nationally, but we expect even brighter and better performance again this year! In terms of Attainment – less important but nonetheless exciting, we have risen again and are placed 6th across Dudley. Good news for all Kingswinford Students but a massive well done to all of our outgoing year 11s on an exceptional performance and effort. Thanks too to all the staff who put on an overwhelming

range of support classes, interventions and revision clubs to help our students on that journey to ‘Extraordinary’ performance.

There were some truly outstanding performances from individuals – not least our very own Head Boy – Jack Tighe – who gained 4 grade 8s (A*) and 6 grade 9s (A**!). A truly phenomenal performance. He was not the only one with Sam Mclaughin, Alix Growcott, Luke Raybould and Jack Turner also averging 8s or better! In terms of progress from their starting points in primary school, three exceptional students also stood out gaining more than 3 grades better then expected progress across all subjects: Head Girl Isy Coxon, Luke Raybould and Alix Growcott. Well done to them and to all of our incredible students!

So, the gauntlet is thrown to a new generation of year 11s to perform even better – Kingswinford is on its way to number 1!

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

War Horse by D Cotterill

On Tuesday 18th October Kingswinford GCSE Drama students joined with Windsor High School and Sixth Form Drama students to watch the stage play “War Horse” at the Birmingham Hippodrome. The performance was spectacular!

The scenes of battle on horseback were phenomenal with the most amazing puppetry to animate full size horses on stage. The students, as always, were exemplary and members of public asked if they were ‘A’ level students as they were discussing directorial elements of the play with maturity and professionalism. The viewing of such a complex stage rod puppetry and use of lighting gives the students plenty to analyse in their GCSE Drama written examination.

Open Evening by L Palmer

Once again this year we put the school on show for primary school parents and students to help with their choice of secondary school. This year we were back in the updated Main Hall to show off, not only our amazing performance, but also our fantastic staff and opportunities on offer at our school.

We believe (quite rightly I think!) that we are the best school around and, judging by the numbers of visitors on the

evening, so do much of the community! In fact we didn’t have time on just the evening or the tours and talks days to

give everyone who wanted to see the school a chance to look around – we have been running tours right up until the middle of this week so that everyone can get a feel for our way of working.

A fantastic effort from students and staff to show off the very best of what we do and a big thank you to all (including parents) for their help and support on this fantastically important event.

National Poetry Day by P Hendy

Over 50 students from Year 7 took part in a Poetry Workshop organised by staff at Kingswinford Library with local poet, Jasmine Gardosi, in celebration of National Poetry Day. Jasmine, who counts being a West Midlands Poet Laureate finalist, a previous BBC Arts Young Creative and former Poet in Residence for the

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust among her many accolades, encouraged students to produce their own piece of performance poetry on the topic of ‘Bullying’. Our students thoroughly enjoyed Jasmine’s delivery of her own poetry and were inspired to perform and share their own poems.

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

School Games Gymnastics Competition

by C Gould

The Kingswinford School took part in the School Games Festival gymnastics competition. The competition was held at Ellowes High School on the 28th of September where the school was represented by 5 students in Years 7, 8 and 9; Primrose Jarvis, Charlie Trinder, Bronte Garbett, Tiarna Westley and Phoebe McDonald.

Routines consisted of a floor sequence and two vaults. The floor sequence included skills such as consecutive cartwheels into handstand forward roll, headstand and a round off and the vault was optional between a straddle vault or squat through. We arrived at the school at 9:30 where the event began with an impressive dance display by some of the pupils at Ellowes High School.

After a tough competition build up, having just three weeks of practice, the girls competed extremely well against some tough rivals placing 3rd. Their floor routines particularly impressed the judges and received some of the highest scores for this apparatus – Tiarna scoring 9.5 out of 10!

The girls really enjoyed the day and continue to attend the school’s gymnastics club developing their skills for future competitions.

In addition to the competition, students also represented the PE department at Open Evening for the prospective Year 6 students. They showed off some fantastic displays receiving much praise from those who came to watch!

Sporting

Success by C Robbins

Elite School Sports grows at K’ford!

The start of this season has proven to be a real success. Across both the extracurricular clubs and the school teams we have had some fantastic attendance figures and results. On Tuesdays we are regularly getting over 100 students attending a club, training and a match.

The netball teams have been regularly attending practices and are developing into very prosperous sides. Their level of dedication is paying off as the Year 8 and 9 netball teams took on St James Academy in a very tough game where their team spirit and discipline was stretched and tested. Both teams came away smiling with a 5-3 and 10-1 score line retrospectively. They have yet to face Crestwood, High Arcal, Pegasus Academy(Holly Hall) and Bishop Milner, when the season resumes after February half term.

The Year 9 football team took to the field in their new kits sponsored by Hickory’s Smoke House and The Sports Shop.

Their opening match of the season against Pegasus Academy was a comfortable and convincing victory at 4-1. Their second match however proved to be more of a challenge. Going into the second half with a 2-2 draw Callum Walters and Ryan-Lee Mason took to the team’s driving seat to create some opportunities. It wasn’t until the final few minutes when Tom Wright managed to secure a shot on goal putting us in the lead on the final whistle.

An ambitious set of girls in Years 7 and 8 with the character and skill set to start to learn the challenging game of rugby have been victorious at an RFU rugby tournament. They were putting an unbreakable defence in place lead by Lillymai McHugh and Primrose Jarvis who took down anyone that attempted to break through to their try line. They ended up finishing with majority wins and one draw.

After half term, when the dark nights draw in, the Borough switch fixtures to Basketball. This year we will be offering both U14 and U16 teams for boys and girls and are aiming to be as successful as last year qualifying for the Black Country Youth Games.

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

GCSE Art trip went swimmingly! by L Griffiths

GCSE Art students have been let loose in Birmingham’s Sea Life Centre this term to gather drawings, photos and resources for their first Portfolio project. Students spent time sketching a range of sea life creatures and took on the challenge of trying to draw a living creatures whilst they move!

We even found time for a quick visit to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery where students had the opportunity to view art work first hand that they will hopefully be aspiring to in the future. Here are some of the fabulous drawings that have been developed as a result of the visit.

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

Enrichment Day by K Fox

The latest collapsed timetable enrichment day took place on Thursday 25th October. This involved a huge range of activities for all year groups.

Year 7 had the opportunity to visit the Think tank museum with the DT department. This trip provided a valuable educational experience for the students also met one of the WAT pledge criteria “visit a museum”. The remaining year 7 students took part a Remembrance Day themed art project.

Years 8 and 9 took part in prevent sessions, this is an important government initiative to protect citizens against terrorist threats. These sessions provided students with valuable information on a very important issue.

Year 8 students took part in an E-safety session giving them important information to enable them to use the internet safely.

The Police delivered a stop and search information session with Year 9 students. This provided the students with important information about their rights in relation to police searches.

A drugs awareness workshop was run for Year 9 students providing valuable information on this key topic.

The Humanities department organised for the Year 10 students to visit the National Holocaust Centre in Nottingham. Any Year 10 students that remained onsite watched a holocaust themed film and created a virtual memorial garden. Both activities were hugely important in educating the students about this key topic, linking in with the fundamental British values.

Overall it was a fantastic day with all students being given the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities.

Character Education by M Bills

This year we have started a programme of ‘Character Education’ that brings together our WAT Pledge, British Values education, Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Education, Careers and our programmes of Enrichment. One of the first visible signs of this enhanced experience for students is our after school enrichment programme. Alongside the traditional subject based intervention and catch up sessions there are a wealth of clubs and sporting activities for students to choose from already, and we expect this to grow through the year and into the next year.

Look out for the following clubs and activities and feel free to sign up!

Indoor Football; Table Tennis; Football; Cross Stitch & Embroidery; Boxercise; Drama Club; Girls Football; Maths Clinic; Basketball; Rugby (Boys & Girls); STEM club; SEN homework; Cooking Club; Dance; Futsal; Girls’ Fitness; Harry Potter Reading Club; Science Homework Club; Gymnastics Club; Fitness Y10; English Homework Club; National Cypher Challenge; Digital Leaders; Orchestra; Yarnstormers; Badminton;School Production – Grease

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1

Christmas Cards by C Shaw

Over the next few weeks parents and carers will have the opportunity to purchase a pack of Christmas cards that their child has designed during their Art lessons (Years 7, 8 and 9). We have been very impressed with the designs and have enjoyed watching the students explore personal ideas connected to the festive season.

Students will be issued with order forms that explain how

to order the cards.

All online orders must be completed before Tuesday 13th November 2018.

Thank you for your support.

Last Words by Tom Macdonald

My second year here has got off to a great start – the school looks better, feels stronger and we can start building on our strengths in earnest. Whilst I am very proud of what the students and staff have already achieved here over the past year, I know that we still have a long way to go to make this school the incredible place it has the potential to be.

The process of making that change, however, starts with our working with parents and

students to understand exactly where we are going wrong and what we need to do to improve. We are working tremendously hard to raise our game even further and welcome your constructive feedback on how we are doing.

To that end, please be on the lookout for electronic feedback surveys that we will be sending out to you through the year. In a time when social media seems to control ‘public opinion’ it is vital we get some clear and frank feedback on the school direct from parents without the influence of gossip and hearsay. I do look forward to working closely with you this year to make our great school truly extraordinary! Have a great break and see you in November!

Upcoming Events

Date Activity

Monday 5th November Term starts

Mock examinations commence

Wednesday 14th November Ski Trip Parents Meeting (6.00 pm – 7.00 pm)

Thursday 15th November World Skills UK Live Year 10

Wednesday 21st November PTA Meeting (5.00 pm – 6.00 pm)

Thursday 22nd November Year 12 Presentation Evening (5.00 pm – 7.30 pm)

Friday 7th December INSET Day – school closed to students

Thursday 13th December Carol Concert at St Mary’s church (7.00 pm – 8.00 pm)

Friday 14th December Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 21st December End of Term Celebration Day Non Uniform Day School closes to students at 1.00 pm

THE K’FORD TIMES THE KINGSWINFORD SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 18.1 18.1

Coming soon to the ‘King’s Theatre’

March 27th – 29th 2019

‘Grease’ The Kingswinford School Production