The Kingswinford School Update for Parents November 2017 P a g e 1
Contents School Calendar School Updates Gateway App School Website Snow Days School Website Homework Student Fund School Production End of Year Trips Upcoming Events this Term Mock Exams Carol Concert Christmas Fair Christmas Jumper Day End of Term Arrangements PE Fixtures Homework Timetable Important Dates P a g e 2
School Calendar for Parents / Carers November 27 th November - 8 th December Year 11 Mock Examinations 30 th November Wear a Moustache for MovemberUK December 6 th December School Carol Concert 12 th December Year 10 Progress reports 14 th December Years 7, 8 and 9 Progress reports 14 th December Year 7 Christmas Fayre 15 th December National Christmas Jumper Day Save the Children 19 th December 20th December Enrichment Day, including The Kingswinford School talent show End of Term Non Uniform Day School closes at 1.30 pm January 2 nd January 2018 Term starts 8 th January Year 11 Mock Results Day 10 th January Year 11 Parents Consultation Evening 24 th January Year 7 Parents Consultation Evening 26 th January Year 10 History Trip to Dudley Castle February 14 th February 16 th February School Production : School of Rock 28 th February Year 9 Parents Consultation Evening March 1 st March World Book Day 7 th March Year 9 Options Evening 19 th 21 st March PE Interhouse Competition Years 7-9 27 th March Year 11 Photographs 29 th March Term ends P a g e 3
As there is so much going on towards the end of this term, I have decided to prepare an extra version of our Parent Calendar to update you on the exciting activities and events we have coming up for students. There will be a Newsletter before the end of this term celebrating the term s achievements, but there are some notices I hope you will appreciate before the end of this term. School Updates School Gateway App We are still asking parents / carers to download and make use of this App so that we can communicate more easily with you. Details can be found on the front page of our website but I must stress that we shall only be using traditional SMS text messages in the event of emergencies from the very near future: please download this app to your smart phone or tablet so that we can have a more frequent (and free!) method of communication with you. School Website We are currently updating our website and over the next few weeks and months we will be modernising and improving the system to ensure that you have better access to information about the school and our activities. Unfortunately, this is a fairly longwinded and technical process so we appreciate your patience whilst we get everything as we would like it. Snow Days As the weather gets colder, we must prepare for the possibility of a snow day. We will always, of course, endeavour to keep the school open unless either the school site proves dangerous due to snow and ice or if we find that we cannot safely staff the site (ie, if numerous staff are unable to make it to school). Should there be significant snowfall on any given night we will do our level best to assess the site and update parents / carers and staff as to the site safety by 7.30 am (or as soon as possible in the case of significant staff absence). In the event of closure, our website will be updated; emails and text messages will be sent to all parents; the Reception answerphone message will be updated; and we will inform local radio stations. Please do check the website before sending your son or daughter to school. Should we need to close the school during the day, we will contact all parents / carers as above and / or by telephone to ensure that students are able to get safely home before they are permitted to leave the site. Homework Following discussions with a number of parents / carers and our own internal reviews, we have rewritten the school Homework Policy. This is now available on the website and a summary will also be sent through to you. Crucially we have unified the setting of homework so that there is clarity about the particular days on which students should be working (although homework may be set at any time). We want to empower you to support your son or daughter in completing this critical extra learning at home. Also, we are trialling and introducing a range of different homeworks: project based homework; extra credit homework; as well as the traditional homework set by teachers on a weekly basis with the aim that there will always be something that students can do to improve their learning at home. P a g e 4
Student Fund We have established, with the students, a Student Fund. This will be managed by the Student Senate (with my oversight) and is intended to give students some money with which to further support students in need; to celebrate and reward exceptional success; and to fund new initiatives or facilities within the school as chosen or suggested by students. I have instituted this for two reasons: first to recognise the efforts of student volunteers who support us through the year they will be shaking their tins at every school event where they volunteer their services. Second, it will give the Student Senate some genuine power to effect change in the school without the national challenges to school funding being a barrier to their ideas. We do hope that you can support their efforts through the year whenever you come and visit us. School Production A big thank you to all of our students who have raised over 1500 to update the School Hall so far (which is enough to replace the Hall lighting system urgently required) but there is still an awful lot more to go to make the Hall a venue suitable for the quality of production that The Kingswinford School students produce. This year the main production is The School of Rock the Musical and will be taking place each evening from the 14 th to 16 th of February. This is an incredibly fun and energetic show based on the cult classic film starring Jack Black and will feature our talented students backed by a superb live rock band. Tickets will soon be available ( 6 for a standard ticket and 10 for a premium ticket, to include complimentary wine, snacks and priority seating) through the online payment system. Thank you to those parents / carers who have already registered for online payments. We are still keen to raise much more money for the hall so Mr Cotterill and the production students have organised a Christmas raffle, proceeds will go to the School Fund for the Hall. There are some fabulous prizes (including a school of rock replica guitar and a number of Christmas Hampers!) so buy your tickets fast! End of Year Trips Thank you all for the amazing support for the residential trips planned for the end of this year the response has been phenomenal. Unfortunately, this has meant that not all students who wish to join a trip have been able to do so. We are currently looking at the feasibility of adding some extra residential trips but this may prove a step too far this year. Certainly students who have missed out this year will have priority next year and there will still be local day trips and activities running throughout that last week for the rest of the school to attend. More information will soon be available for students who have a place on a residential and we are now close to finalising staffing arrangements. Next term parents / carers will be invited to join us in the school for a Trips Evening that we will add to the calendar to provide more detailed information about the individual trip arrangements. P a g e 5
Upcoming Events Mock Exams Over the next two weeks, Year 11 students will be working feverishly through their mock examinations. Whilst these do not count towards their overall grades they are, nonetheless, an important part of their preparations and a very stressful time for students and teachers alike. First, may I apologise to students in other Year Groups for the reduction in the PE facility during the exam period, as we take the Sports Hall out of action for some of the time. Second, might I ask you to support us in keeping students calm through this challenging time for our Year 11s. Carol Concert The Carol Concert takes place on Wednesday 6 th December at St Mary s Church from 7.00 pm to 8.15 pm approximately. This is an important part of our Christmas celebrations and preparations and is an opportunity for you to celebrate with us and listen to the fantastic performance of the school choir. Tickets ( 2.00) are available from Mrs Hendy in the School Library with all proceeds going towards The Children s Society and Cancer Research UK. Christmas Fayre Our Christmas fayre will take place on the 14 th December for Year 7 students. This enables us to raise more money for the students chosen charity, Cancer Research UK. We are asking that you support the event by offering up any unwanted gifts, toys or treats so that our students can use them to raise even more funds. All donations are welcome at Reception or the House office. National Christmas Jumper Day 15 th December is the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day. We hope that our students will feel able to join in and show a charitable spirit (with a little fun) by wearing a Christmas Jumper for the day for a suggested donation of 1 on the day. Please note that the Christmas Jumper should be worn in addition to the normal school uniform: this is not a non-uniform day! P a g e 6
End of Term Arrangements In the final week of term, I am determined that we make the most of our learning time even as the excitement of Christmas grows. We will continue a normal programme until the last two days of term. On the second last day (19 th December) we are cancelling the usual curriculum in favour of an Enrichment Day. Students will be taking part in a variety of Pledge and Spiritual, Social, Moral and Cultural activities: first aid training, Religious Education, Student Talent Contest, Police and Fire Brigade safety talks and presentation and many other activities, dependant on Year group. On the last day of term, we will have some celebrations with the students, both as Houses in assemblies and in Form and lesson groups, before an earlier finish. The final day will be a nonuniform day for students in aid of both the new Student Fund and the School Fund (raising money to improve our hall) 1 for students and staff dressed as a Christmas character, 2 for those in other non-uniform dress (school uniform is, of course, welcome with no donation). Students will stay in school until the start of lunch. Lunch will be available for those who order it in advance but students are free to leave the school site from 12.40 pm, the start of lunch (or as they complete their lunchtime meal). All students must leave the site for the school to close by 1.30 pm. During the holiday period, whilst there will be site staff working on the buildings, there will be no Reception service but messages will be checked on our return to school on 2 nd January 2018. PE Fixtures Thursday 30 th November Year 7 Girls Netball v Kinver High School - away game Tuesday 5 th December Year 7 Five Aside Football Competition (girls and boys) v Dormston School away game Wednesday 6 th December Year 11 Girls Basketball v Castle High School home game Homework Timetable Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Key Stage 3 English Maths Science Humanities, Computing, MFL Expressive Arts, Design and Technology, PE and other Key Stage 4 English Maths Science Option Groups A and B subjects Option Groups C and D P a g e 7
Important Dates Parents Consultation Evenings: Year 11 - Wednesday 10 January Year 7 - Wednesday 24 January Year 9 - Wednesday 28 Feb Year 10 - Wednesday 18 April Year 8 - Wednesday 25 April School of Rock Production: 14 th, 15 th and 16 th February Term Dates: 2017 Autumn Term Term starts Monday 4 th September Half Term Monday 23 rd Friday 27 th October Term ends Wednesday 20 th December 2018 Spring Term Term starts Half Term Term ends Tuesday 2 nd January Monday 19 th Friday 23 rd February Thursday 29 th March 2018 Summer Term Term starts Monday 16 th April Half Term Monday 28 th May Friday 1 st June Term ends Thursday 19 th July Bank Holidays: 25 th and 26 th December 2017, 1 st January 2018, 30 th March, 2 nd April, 7 th May, 28 th May, 27 th August + Merry Christmas It just remains for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas break: a chance, whatever your faith, to recharge, refresh and spend some quality family time together so I hope, for all of you, that you do have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! P a g e 8