Kingsdown School “Innovative Education, Traditional Values” Newsletter 3/May 2016 InTouch Wendy Conaghan, Headteacher Dear Parents/Carers Much has happened since the last newsleƩer published in January. Ofsted visited late February and I am pleased to report that we have already made progress on the areas highlighted for improvement. We prioriƟse the quality of teaching and learning and staff have been working hard planning and delivering exciƟng lessons. We can already show posiƟve outcomes for the exams taken by our current Year 11 in English and Science. Staff have been providing quality revision sessions during lessons as well as lunchƟmes, aŌer school and during holidays to support them. We wish them every success in their final examinaƟons and look forward to celebraƟng their Ɵme here with the Prom. We recently held a DEAR day (Drop Everything And Read); for 15 minutes of every lesson students were asked to read. This was not only beneficial but enjoyable. We plan to hold a parents forum in the summer term to give you the opportunity to have an informal discussion to share your views about Kingsdown. This will be the first of a series of events covering a variety of topics. I will send an invite to you shortly with the date, Ɵme and topic for discussion. It would be fantasƟc to hear your views. I was really excited to receive an invite to Buckingham Palace last week, and receive a plaque to acknowledge our commitment to Duke of Edinburgh. Unfortunately I was unable to aƩend but Mr Lambourne represented the school. We have 15 students who have achieved Bronze and another 13 on track to complete by the end of the year. We then have 42 who have started in Year 9. I am conƟnually delighted with the feedback from visitors about our students. Every visitor has been extremely impressed by their conduct, aƫtude and appearance.
Transcript
Kingsdown School
“Innovative Education, Traditional Values”
Newsletter 3/May 2016 InTouch
Wendy Conaghan, Headteacher
Dear Parents/Carers
Much has happened since the last newsle er published in January. Ofsted visited late February and I am pleased to report that we have already made progress on the areas highlighted for improvement. We priori se the quality of teaching and learning and staff have been working hard planning and delivering exci ng lessons. We can already show posi ve outcomes for the exams taken by our current Year 11 in English and Science.
Staff have been providing quality revision sessions during lessons as well as lunch mes, a er school and during holidays to support them. We wish them every success in their final examina ons and look forward to celebra ng their me here with the Prom.
We recently held a DEAR day (Drop Everything And Read); for 15 minutes of every lesson students were asked to read. This was not only beneficial but enjoyable.
We plan to hold a parents forum in the summer term to give you the opportunity to have an informal discussion to share your views about Kingsdown. This will be the first of a series of events covering a variety of topics. I will send an invite to you shortly with the date, me and topic for discussion. It would be fantas c to hear your views.
I was really excited to receive an invite to Buckingham Palace last week, and receive a plaque to acknowledge our commitment to Duke of Edinburgh. Unfortunately I was unable to a end but Mr Lambourne represented the school. We have 15 students who have achieved Bronze and another 13 on track to complete by the end of the year. We then have 42 who have started in Year 9.
I am con nually delighted with the feedback from visitors about our students. Every visitor has been extremely impressed by their conduct, a tude and appearance.
GCSE Art ‐ Year 11 2016
This year Art students have con nued to produce highly personal art work for
their exam. Themes included: Groups, Landmarks and Diary
TD Days 2016
4th July
*5th July*
21st July
22nd July
*addi onal TD day
Manager of the Year Award
We are incredibly proud to announce that our Catering Manager, Mrs Anderson, has been awarded ‘Manager of the Year’ at a recent na onal event. Please join us in congratula ng her and her hard working
team!
Here at Kingsdown we are proud of our students, both past and present; if you are
a former student, we’d love to hear about your achievements and share them with
the community on our website. Follow the link to find out more informa on:
Dan Lane (Year 10) has also been busy; during the Easter break, Dan qualified
for the Cricklands Junior Championships, held at the David Broom Event
Centre in Wales. He put on a great performance, coming 3rd, 3rd and 7th in the
speed classes and then 5th in the first round of heats, scoring 60 points. Sadly
he had a pole down in the 2nd heats which knocked them out of placing.
Recently Dan did some showjumping at Blewbury Equestrian Centre and won
his class – well done Dan!
Year 7 & Year 8 at Intel
On Wednesday, 27th April a group of 17 Year 7
and Year 8 students went to Intel to begin a 6
week coding club. The club was organised by
Intel and Mr Campbell, head of the school’s ICT
and Computer Science Department, with the aim
of encouraging students to code and expanding
the knowledge of those students who already
possess basic coding skills.
The first session covered a large variety of topics including ques ons like, “What is
Computer Science?’, “What is an algorithm?’ as well as a prac cal coding ac vity. It
finished with the students playing some games using 3D cameras and interac ve
so ware or students wri ng code to move dinosaurs and other creatures around
inside a virtual environment.
All of the students thoroughly enjoyed
themselves and comments a erwards
included:
“Very good, interes ng to know all of it. I liked
the 3D mo on sensor games; I played the racing
game. Very good!”
“On Wednesday we went to Intel and I found it really fun because we learnt how
they represent le ers, what a coding scien st is and what they do. Also, we learnt
what coding is and we played some really cool games like a 3D mo on sensor game.
Overall it was a really good experience.”
Thanks go to Mr Campbell, Mr Burgess, Miss
Coverdale, Mr Coomber and Mrs Ridley for giving up
their free me to drive the students over and
supervise them whilst at Intel. There are a total of 6
sessions planned at Intel with the last one scheduled
for 15th June.
Younite Project, Kenya
On February 12th, Laura Winsbury, Jackie
Hollister, Joe Benne and I set off along with
10 others from Swindon for a twenty hour
journey bound for Kenya.
We were staying in Nakuru, the fourth
largest city in Kenya with a popula on of
287, 000, half of whom live in poverty and
are aged 0‐14 years old. The Younite charity
promotes the trip as ‘Teach the Teacher’,
which enables unqualified teachers there to
see how we are working in the UK. We were
to spend 3 days in Melon Mission School with 450 students, and 2days in Silver Bells
Primary with 130 students.
Both schools are funded by charity dona ons as many students are orphans due to HIV,
deser on and poverty related illness (the average lifespan being only 55 years). We were
greeted at Melon by the school drama group who performed a powerful act about
educa on being their bus that will transport them from poverty. The school hall consisted
of a n shed that doubled up as 2 classrooms; there was no floor covering and the
immense amount of dust had ruined clothing and shoes.
Each day we helped out with teaching, marking, washing up, break me ac vi es, sieving
beans and preparing and serving meals. These consisted of a small mug of Uji (ground
maize porridge) at 10am and a small dish of beans for lunch. These are the only meals
these children will eat; one of the volunteers had bought bananas which was a rare treat.
We were all moved to tears at the basic condi ons these young people face daily, yet their
tenacity for learning amid the searing heat,
dust and lack of basic facili es was
astounding. These young people work hard
in classes of 50‐60 in the hope that they will
be sponsored through high school a er
passing their state exams. This contradicted
all the research I had read on how children
cannot be educated unless their basic needs
are met.
The slums
We witnessed condi ons first hand as we
joined a walk through the slums and met the
locals. One home accommodated 9 people in
one small room; there is no electricity,
running water or sanita on. Meals are
cooked outside using charcoal stoves; floors
are bare earth and rooves are corrugated n.
There are plans to move the school to a
be er site on land that has been bought by
the charity but as yet, there is only one
classroom and they will need a further
35,000 to complete the project.
The second school we worked at, Silver Bells, had younger children from aged 2 in smaller
classes. The school was founded in 2007 when the local Pastor saw that there was a need
to start a project to help the orphans and
des tute children in their community and
beyond. The teachers here were volunteer
teachers but primarily single mothers from
the community who needed sanctuary for
their children. Quite o en, husbands had
walked out on their families or wives had
refused to endure bea ngs and escaped. One
family consisted of an eight year old boy who
had been caring for his four brothers in a
slum half an hour away. This had been
discovered when the baby crawled to school
one day and staff took him back home (one
brother has since died from protein deficiency).
We all had an amazing me as the children were remarkable and so pleased to have
visitors. Since leaving, as a collec ve group we have been fundraising for the new school,
we have bought a gazebo for Melon Mission to have a shaded area at breaks, we have
bought more fruit for the children and some of us have sponsored a child which provides
food, uniform, books and equipment for only £15 per month. I would recommend this trip
to anyone who wants to gain perspec ve in their life and give help to the des tute in this
beau ful country.
“Educa on is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
— Nelson Mandela (1918‐2013)
Mrs Garraway
Wri ng replies to Kingsdown
A typical classroom
Sports Update
Sports day ‐ Friday 8th July 2016
Sports day this year will take place on Friday 8th July 2016. Further details will be sent out a er half term.
County Athle cs Champion
Congratula ons to Hannah New in Y9 who has retained her county champion tle for the 75m hurdles in the U15 age category. Well done Hannah. A
fantas c achievement.
Extra Curricular Clubs this Term
Tuesday a er school: Boys Cricket and Girls Rounders club (all year groups)
Wednesday a er school: Athle cs club (all year groups)
Thursday a er school: Cheerleading club (all year groups)
Please speak to your PE teacher for further details regarding any of these clubs
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is celebra ng its 60th anniversary this year. As part of the celebra ons there was a special Gold Award Presenta on at
Buckingham Palace on the 16th May. Mr Lambourne a ended to represent our school and received a new plaque from
DofE ambassador Julia Bradbury (Countryfile, Best Walks With A View) that will be displayed in recep on and
met the Duchess of Wessex. Mr Lambourne is taking part in the ‘Diamond Challenge’ to raise money for the charity to allow more young people to be able to partake on the award programme in our
region.
On Wednesday 11th May Kingsdown School Music Department hosted its Summer
Concert. This was an opportunity for the Choir, Chamber Choir and Orchestra to
present the music they have been learning over the past few months. We also heard
from some of the winners from the recent Young Musician of the Year compe on.
The Choir presented a mixture of songs ranging from items from musical theatre
such as Seasons of Love from Rent to songs from the charts such as Hold Back the
River by James Bay and Happy by Pharrel Williams. Popular Classics such as Lean on
Me (featuring a solo by Daniel James, Year 7) and The Winner takes it all by ABBA.
The Chamber Choir presented a medley of classic Disney songs and had feet tapping
with the Gospel song, I Sing Because I’m Happy.
The Orchestra played three pieces: Oom Pah Pah from Oliver; Chops cks and Elgar’s
Pomp and Circumstance march with the melody ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ featuring
prominently. With the hall bedecked with bun ng in honour of Her Majesty the
Queen’s 90th birthday, a suitable Last Night of the Proms atmosphere was created.
The soloists presented a wide variety of music. Year 9 was represented by Louise
Honeyman who showed her impressive skills on the drum kit and Kayleigh Gibbs
who sang. A Year 9 vocal trio featuring Sophie Kay, Nyah Purnell and Chloe Ashman
also par cipated. Year 11 soloists included Aishwarya Sriraman on the piano.
Aishwarya also joined Emily Faulkes for a piano duet. The final soloist of the evening
was Tilly Wale. All the Year 11s were recognised for the contribu ons they have
made to the music department.
In spite of all this, the show was well and truly stolen by a small group of singers
from Ruskin Junior School who presented two songs: Uptown Funk and World in
Union. The students from Ruskin certainly had the ‘ah’ factor and it was great to
once more make a link with one of our feeder primary schools.
Our final concert of the year will be at the beginning of July when we host another
Recital Evening. This will give any student the opportunity to perform in front of a
friendly audience. Please let Mr Wicker or Miss Bryant know if you would like to be
involved.
Mr Wicker
Summer Concert
Since the implementa on of the Accelerated Reader programme last September, our students in Key Stage 3 have taken over 7,600 book
quizzes! We now have 25 students who are Word Millionaires! We are expec ng lots more students to be in the Word Millionaire’s Club by the me this academic year comes to an end. Parents & Carers, please remember you can view your child’s Accelerated Reader account online at any me. The website address is: h ps://Ukhosted61.renlearn.co.uk/1916582/HomeConnect
Log onto your child’s account by using their AR user name and password and you will be able to view their results and the books they have read.
Our annual Riveting Readathon is now underway. A group of our Year 9 students are reading five newly published titles and will debate the merits
of the books with Year 9 students from Dorcan Academy and Highworth Warneford School later in the summer term. The books are:
Top 10 Most Popular Books borrowed by students so far this academic year have been written by:
•Jeff Kinney •Phil Earle
•Darren Shan •David Walliams
•Liz Pichon •Suzanne Collins
•Louise Rennison
•Jacqueline Wilson
•R.J. Palacio
•Holly Smale
We would like to say a big thank you to all our Student Librarians for their amazing help in the LRC this year! Soon, we will be looking for Student Librarians ready for
the next academic year, so if you think you can spare one lunchtime or morning break time each week and would like to join our
group of Student Librarian volunteers, please pop along to the LRC and put your
