King Arthurs Autumn Newsletter

King

Arthur’s

AUTUMN NEWSLETTER 2021

Festival of Engineering Christmas Card Competition Youth Parliament

King Arthur’s School @KingArthur’sSch

KingArthur’sSchool

SCHOOLS ACHIEVING SUCCESS TOGETHER

S

SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST

2.

Introduction As the Christmas holiday fast approaches, it is lovely to have a chance to stop and reflect on the term. It’s definitely been a packed one; thankfully, for lots of the right reasons this year! Across the term, as the challenge of Covid still features, our students and staff have coped admirably - the school community makes me endlessly proud with their commitment to our collective ethos. I particularly adore that our students are determined to make the best of all that is on offer, and it is always such a privilege to share the success of our community.

Whilst some of our normal trips, visits and extracurricular clubs have been curtailed, we have been excited to allow many more than this time last year.

Students have engaged in a wide range of sporting opportunities and even squeezed in a few fixtures against other schools - around the amber measures, of course!

Eco-club have been busy making Junkbots, and the school production has started in earnest - it’s fabulous to hear and see the progress as rehearsals play out after school. I know you will all be excited about news of tickets, which I am sure will follow very soon!

We were thrilled that our Year 10 students studying creative subjects had the chance to visit Wells Cathedral and take part in a day of art and design workshops. The students and staff reported a superb trip, with a good deal of inspiration being secured to bring back for their own learning in school. It was also wonderful to enable a group of future engineers to head off to Bridgwater for the Festival of British Engineering.

Virtual parent events continue but one which we hope to run on the school site will be the rescheduled Year 11 revision event. This was postponed due to the extensive power cut, which caused a power outage across the town.

We look forward to welcoming staff and students of Year 11 for this on 27th January. More details will follow by invite letter.

Remembrance Remembrance this year at King Arthur’s was marked in a number of ways. Assemblies focused on the fact that it is 100 years since we started using the poppy to remember the significance of war, and the respect we give to our serving men and women now and in the past. Students took part in a community project which saw students creating artwork and poems to symbolise remembrance. These were displayed throughout Wincanton in shops, cafes and the town hall

alongside the poppies produced by the two primary schools.

On Remembrance Sunday, a number of King Arthur’s students took part in the parade and service in Wincanton. Our students (and former students) were present in various roles outside their school lives. Many students were representing the Scout Movement, Fire Cadets and the Army Cadets as well as playing in the Wincanton Silver Band.

Five Army Cadets from Years 8-11,

lead a section of the prayers during the church service, reading beautifully.

Alfie C in Year 10 played the drums in Church to lead the congregation in singing the National Anthem and Karl D in Year 8 laid the Cadet wreath alongside other members of the community.

It was a pleasure to see the students being such positive role models at such an important occasion.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your continued support. We very much appreciated the feedback given in our parent survey at the beginning of term and have been busy using the results to inform our future planning. We also surveyed our students and staff at the same time, valuing all stakeholder feedback to ensure we provide the very best education.

It continues to be my pleasure to read emails and communications from parents who welcome and value how we support our young people. Thank you for your words of encouragement and support.

We are also grateful for your support in making sure our students can follow the Covid measures that remain in place and will continue for the early part of our return in January. As always, these are in place to keep our community safe.

For now, I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas break.

Enjoy the New Year celebrations and here’s to another successful year at KA! Warmest wishes,

Jen Jacklin - Headteacher

Operation Christmas Child This year the school has created a number of ‘Operation Christmas Child’ shoe boxes that are going to be sent to Bulgaria. This was a real team effort with tutor groups working together to ensure the boxes were ready for collection. Thank you to everyone that contributed.

3.

Trip to Wells Cathedral As part of our ongoing aspirations and careers programme, we took our Year 10 art, design and photography students for an inspirational visit to Wells Cathedral in September.

The visit enabled students to view the new Antony Gormley sculpture displayed on the West Front of Wells Cathedral.

All students thoroughly enjoyed participating in a practical clay workshop where they created lovely clay sculptures as a memento of their visit.

It was a fantastic opportunity for them to enjoy the beautiful architecture of the cathedral, led by experienced and knowledgeable guides. Students enjoyed taking photographs, as well as completing teacher led drawing sessions, sketching amazing architectural and sculptural elements.

Keira in Year 10 said “Wells Cathedral was like a dream for me. There were times throughout the duration of the trip where I found myself unable to blink or take my eyes away from the poetic gothic architecture of the grand Cathedral.

I am extremely grateful that I was able to partake in this trip as it expanded my historical and architectural knowledge”.

Thank you to Jessica Witchell and her team for enabling us to have such an enjoyable and inspirational day.

Christmas cards We asked students to design an original, unique and imaginative Christmas Card to send KA wishes to our local schools, and represent us in our community. It was a competition, and we are very happy that many students participated and created an impressive range of artwork once again. It was very difficult to select just one top entry which was awarded 50 house points and two runners up receiving 25 house points each. All participants were awarded 2 house point each.

Here are the results: Winner- 50 house points –Victoria 2nd place, 25 house points- Hope 3rd place, 25 house points- Eden Excellent entries-10 house points each: Poppy, Roxane, Alfie, Zara Wishing you all a joyful Christmas!

Art in the Community

3D Design

At the end of the last academic year, we updated our annual exhibition in Wincanton Hospital and in the Health Centre. In Wincanton Hospital, the staff, patients and visitors can admire photography work by our current year 11 students and the display in the Health Centre contains some pieces by KS3 students. Some of the photography was created during lockdown when students attended online learning. They showed resilience and innovation by finding alternative ways of working. Many worked tirelessly and completed unique and imaginative work. We are very proud of them, and it is a pleasure to hear positive and encouraging comments from the members of the public praising the work of KA students.

Currently the Year 10 3D Design group are doing amazingly well with developing their modelling skills.

They are looking into a range of designers and modelling a particular product out of foam and card. The Year 10’s are really honing their skills, and gathering inspiration in readiness to create their own designs. Their next project will be designing lamps and lighting. They are raring to go!

Remembrance Artwork Our students proved again how talented and creative they are.

We asked them to create a piece of artwork on the theme of Remembrance and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of work received. This artwork has been displayed in Cale Park Café and around the town to enrich, inspire and to show respect to our community. Well done to all the students who participated, they should be proud of themselves to have contributed to an event of such importance. We are very proud that the students were involved in the Remembrance celebration. The top twelve outstanding entries achieved 5 house points for their house. The awarded students are: Bethany, Noah, Zara, Victoria, Amelia, Chloe (Year 7) Chloe (Year 9) Millie, Tegan, Eleanor, Hollie, and Eden.

4.

Film Club Film Club has been a great success this term! We have watched a wide variety of films that draw on important themes, which has provided an excellent springboard for discussing how the issues raised continue to impact us today. Most recently, we have been watching the documentary film He Named Me Malala, which focuses on the story of the Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Film Club attendees have enjoyed learning about Malala’s life experiences within a culture entirely different to theirs. They have also reflected on how Malala’s story highlights the importance of being able to access educational opportunities, and how this privilege should not be taken for granted.

Strode College Trip All of Year 11 visited Strode College at the start of November for a taster day. Students had personalised timetables related to their areas of interest, spending their time in up to 4 different taster sessions over the course of the day, where they were able to get a flavour for the different courses and facilities available at Strode College for post-16 study. A number of students chose the A level route, finding out more about studying subjects such as Maths, English and Art. Other students looked at the new T levels available at Strode College, which includes one in Childcare, they found out more about the placements and study involved in obtaining this Level 3 qualification. Students gained hands on experience in some of their sessions, with hair and beauty being a particular favourite! When reflecting on the trip, students said that they enjoyed being able to try out new subjects that we don’t offer at GCSE, and experiencing what college is like as well as the ability to meet new people and increase their skills and understanding of what is out there for them.

The aim of the trip to Strode College was not only to find out about one of our local post-16 providers, but also to look in to and have a taster of what post-16 study might be like. This builds upon the experiences that students have had via Yeovil College’s virtual experience week last year and the chance that students had to visit Sexey’s Sixth Form at the end of Year 10 as well as the assemblies and careers pop-up event that they have attended during Year 11. This forms part of our careers programme, enabling our students to make more informed choices about their next steps, something which is at the forefront of their minds as they progress through this academic year.

PerformingArts After a fantastic set of BTEC Performing Arts results for our drama students back in the summer, the Drama Department has had a very busy and exciting start to the year with auditions taking place, cast confirmed and rehearsals firmly under way for our school annual production of ‘Alice @ Wonderland’ which will be performed in February next year. We have an incredibly large cast and crew of over 50 students dedicating their time to dance rehearsals on a Tuesday after school, acting rehearsals on a Wednesday and production meetings on Friday lunchtimes. It has been so wonderful to see so many students from all year groups want to be actively involved in this exciting, creative learning process and I am very much looking forward to the end result - KA’s very own spin on a classic tale!

Ms Nias

Eddie receives community award Eddie C is a remarkable young man who has already achieved so much within the Wincanton community and wants to make a difference for the next generations too!

During the first lockdown, Eddie sold boxes filled with tray bakes, to raise money for the NHS. Since then, he has been carrying on with his charity work by raising money for the Poppy Appeal and the Balsam Centre, which has a key part for supporting some members of the community. Because of his amazing effort, kindness and altruism, Eddie has been awarded the 2020 Community under 25’s award in June 2020. What an amazing achievement! He is also a very proactive member of the Army cadets and this is what he said about it “The reason I have joined the army cadets is to have self-discipline and to gain life skills. This will be very useful for my future”. Because of his will to help others, King Arthur’s school chose Eddie to be a candidate for the Youth

The Festival of British Engineering & Manufacturing Trip Visiting M-CNC was a really interesting and inspiring day out. There were many stalls with many interesting people.

During my time at M-CNC we had a tour around their facility, showing us all the machinery, one really interesting machine that caught my eye was the milling machine. The way the machine operated was really fascinating but also very complicated and just shows how much skill it takes to operate the machinery.

Parliament Scheme. He is keen to make positive changes for the young people of our community, especially when it comes to the Environment and Mental Health. We wish all the best for his new initiative and we are very proud to have Eddie as part of the KA community.

Junkbot Jamboree Ahead of the launch of our new Eco Club, form group 7IH have been busy making junkbots! Laughter, creativity, and social responsibility were the order of the day, as the form got into groups and began to make their fun and fantastic creations. Time restrictions were not an issue with seven Junkbots being pulled together in 30 short minutes!

These creations were made entirely of plastics, cardboard, paper, and cans destined for the recycling bins. A range of robots were created, from an adorable panda to a fierce milk-bottle monster! Left over items were taken home to be recycled properly. We are hoping that a full-scale Junkbot competition can be run in the new year. These tremendous robots are just a taster of the activity, and we can’t wait to see what the students create next!

During the day we made phone holders out of blocks of aluminium. We used the milling machine to etch our name into the holder.

As I love cars it was great to see an Ariel Atom there, and an Ariel employee who was really good at answering the questions I had. There was also a BHCC (British Hill Climb Championship) car as well which was really cool to see. The aerodynamics on the car were just fascinating to see in the flesh, up close.

Overall, it was a really great day out and thank you to the school for organising it.

By Rob (Year 10 student)

Science

5.

STEM Challenge

Environment Club Mr Saget and Miss Harvey from the Science Department are working hard to promote recycling at King Arthur’s, starting with discussions around Recycle Week (20th-24th September). This was introduced in tutor time with a power point slideshow all about recycling (how and why we do it).

Students were asked to discuss what they recycle at home and why we need to recycle. They were then asked about whether or not they recycle at school in a quick survey.

What are the next steps?

Mr Saget and Miss Harvey are in the process of setting up an Environment Group looking at how we can be more ecofriendly at school. Their first aim is to make it easier to recycle around the school, making sure that there are recycling bins in every classroom and in other places such as the canteen. Mr Saget has also contacted the local council to ask about recycling bins to use at school.

We are looking to get students signed up to join the group, with student volunteers needed to complete surveys and work out where best to place the new recycling facilities.

We are looking to get students signed up to join the group, with student volunteers needed to complete surveys and work out where best to place the new recycling facilities.

We will also need Environmental Ambassadors and leaders, who will raise the profile of recycling and being ecofriendly, as well as investigating other things that we can do within the community.

Whilst some of Year 10 were on the Art/Art 3D trip to Wells, the remaining students were given a STEM challenge to complete. Students started off by reviewing their understanding of the role of crumple zones in cars before watching a YouTube video showing the different elements of design and engineering that go in to making a car as safe as possible. They were then given a raw egg and asked to design something for the egg to be contained in.

The challenge was for their egg to survive being dropped from the fire exit steps outside of science, using the principles that they had been researching.

There was a lot of discussion, sellotape(!) and friendly competitiveness between the students prior to the moment of reckoning. Once the time came, students were very encouraging towards each other and were keen to see if their eggs had survived. For some it didn't look hopeful (there were some interesting thuds as the contraptions hit the concrete), whilst others looked more positive. One team designed a parachute which caught a gust of wind on the way down, making the fall slower.

Unfortunately, the sideways movement due to this wind, meant that instead of landing directly on concrete, their model hit a picnic bench, rolled, hit the seat of the bench, rolled again and then the concrete floor, much to the amusement of the other teams (and horror of the team who had designed and built it). Luckily the egg still managed to survive!

We were very pleased that only one egg ended up cracked, with all of the others surviving their ordeal.

The students had a great time and spent the remainder of the lesson discussing the importance of safety in car design as well as the role of engineers and scientists in developing new ways to ensure the central part of a car remains intact during a collision (including the use of different metals in different parts of the car), thereby protecting the passengers as much as possible from potential injury.

6.

Aspire Launch

Hello Yellow On the 8th of October, King Arthurs was full of sunshine as both staff and students wore yellow to encourage our whole school community to talk about mental health. Students learned about the charity “Young Minds” in an assembly and then raised over £250 to donate to them. On the day, we “put our worries in the wash" as a way of learning about the value of recognising and expressing the things that bother us.

We are set to launch our new Aspire Programme, which we hope will further develop aspiration amongst students at KA, through education, enrichment and leadership. Within tutor groups, students will document how they are achieving in each pillar. Quick ways to begin to achieve the Bronze/Silver/Gold is by attending some of our clubs that we have on offer, or by learning a musical instrument. Tutors will discuss various ways in which students can achieve in the different pillars and support them with their efforts.

Forces Club Within our King Arthur’s community, we have a number of families who are ‘Service’ students. This term we started our Forces Club which is every Wednesday lunch time. Please join Mrs Dodge to discuss your experiences, and support other students throughout the school.

SEND On Thursday 11th November, our Special Educational Needs Department held its second Parent Voice meeting. This time we were lucky to meet in person for the first time and were joined by two guest speakers. Helen Gardiner delivered a presentation to parents about being the school’s Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) and how she supports our students. We were also delighted to be joined by our new Mental Health Lead in school, Christabel Gale who provided parents with information and guidance on how to access services for our young children. The evening also gave opportunity for our parents to look at some of the resources that we use in these interventions and ask questions. Look out on our school’s social media for the date of our next meeting, it would be great to have some new members.

As a school, we are now able to support Somerset Parent Carer Forum and promote their Parent Carer Library. They have created a pack for us in school that provides answers to questions that many parents have asked, also a booklet with an extensive list of books to support a wide range of special educational needs, from social and emotional needs, to guides from Integrated Therapy Services, all free of charge! If there is anything you think would be of interest, then please contact us and we can see if they have it in their library to help point you in the right direction.

As a Learning Support team we have now also welcomed a new part-time member of staff, Joanna Van Loo. Jo joined us after October half term and is working closely with many of our students in our creative subjects such as Art, 3D Design and Catering and is a welcome addition to our expanding team.

Lifebeat Camp at Kilve Court Over half term a group of students from King Arthur's attended the Lifebeat Camp at Kilve Court. It was an amazing week! Close to 40 young people attended workshops on wellbeing and nature, drumming, crafts, mental health,

dance, and loads more. There was the opportunity for them to have a go at the outdoor activities on offer at Kilve too, such as low and high ropes and abseiling. The weather was kind, and the energy of the group was really positive

with a beautiful heart circle one evening in the big top as well as an inspiring open mic night. “It was the best experience I’ve ever had. I met new friends and had the time of my life!” Abi P “It was really, really good!” Jess E

Diversity Club Diversity club is back up and running!

This term students have been thinking about what diversity means to them, learning about different gender and sexual identities, discussing how to tackle transphobia and planning topics to discuss in the future. These pronoun badges, kindly donated to our club by local LGBTQ+ support group 2BU, have proved to be popular among staff and students alike and have been a great way to get people thinking and talking about gender diversity.

7.

Pastoral The Year 7 & 9 Buddy Programme has been fully embedded with a variety of activities undertaken together to build friendship, help communication and relieve any worries or anxieties. Due to Covid restrictions students will now be keeping in contact through letters and Christmas messages.

Tutors continue to reinforce the KA 3 R’s ensuring that each student is Ready for school (punctual, smart uniform & fully equipped for lessons), Respectful to peers and staff and Responsive in lessons to ensure their progress to reach their potential.

Student Voice informed us that students wanted the opportunity to have some down time during tutor times, this has now been timetabled into the tutor programme with ‘Mindfulness’ being a weekly event.

Rewards continue to be distributed regularly celebrating consistency, excellent work or particular acts of kindness. Each week over 900 house points are awarded to a variety of students reflecting great attitudes to school and their learning.

We would like to thank the variety of external agencies who come in to school regularly to support our young people: Paige from the REACH project, Jen Lynch (PSFA), Harry our Youth Worker, Wendy the Pastor, and Carrie the School Nurse to name a few.

Our students are increasing in resilience and growing into great citizens in our community; this is a result of the fantastic relationship built between home and school, and the guidance of all adults who influence these young people. Thank you

Teaching and Learning We have had a fantastic term in the classrooms here at KA, focusing on our students being Ready, Respectful and Responsive in all lessons. It has been great to see Year 7 settle in to new ways of working at secondary school, learning new subjects and taking on challenges in their learning, as well as older year groups returning to school with a passion to learn.

We are pushing students to always be Responsive – actively participate in every lesson; do their very best work; ask questions; go for the challenge tasks; ask for help when they need it and help others when they can.

Last month, KA welcomed Colin Sinclair, CEO of SAST, and Steve Smith, School Improvement Officer for SAST in to the school for a review of Teaching and Learning and Curriculum. Focusing on English and Humanities in particular, they conducted lesson observations, interviews with staff and with students and were very pleased with what they saw. Lessons were focused and provided good levels of challenge for students of all abilities. Staff were passionate about their curriculum and have planned it carefully so that students build their knowledge, skills and understanding over time.

This month King Arthur’s conducted its own Internal Review looking at how we use feedback to help students improve.

Research from the Education Endowment Foundation tells us that effective feedback can have up to 8 months additional progress for students, and we are passionate about making sure that students receive this feedback. All teaching staff took part in the review, observing colleagues and sharing each other’s best practice. Two colleagues from Shaftesbury School also joined us in conducting observations, as we continue across the Trust to work together to drive standards even higher.

During the review, students told us they love verbal feedback and getting 1:1 from teachers, but they also find it useful when staff use codes to explain to students what they need to do next. It was fantastic to see student improvements in books in purple pen right across the school, to highlight the progress and improvements they have made.

We believe strongly at KA that ‘Teachers need to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better’ (Dylan Wiliam, Educationalist) and we believe the same for our students.

We will be conducting an internal review around Challenge in the Classroom in the Spring term as part of our journey to be the best we can be.

Safeguarding You will be pleased to know that our Safeguarding Prefects have been working hard on helping to safeguard our students this term. Isla, Ella, Catherine and Abi have been going into tutor groups and taking assemblies on supporting Mental Health.

Many of our students have completed our King Arthur’s Students’ Safeguarding Google Form. It was fantastic to see how it highlighted all the things that we are doing well. An example of this is that so many students now know how to keep themselves safe. Our students recognised that parents can really help to support them and asked me to include the following: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/.

One of our next steps is to put forward the ideas from our AntiBullying student’s working party, and also to ensure that all children to understand key nationwide safeguarding topics.

These include; preventing Radicalisation, Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Self-Harm, Peer on Peer Abuse and a specific element of this, which is Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB) In our robust PSHE programme: Year 7’s have looked at Personal Safety, Year 8 have looked at risk taking behaviours and are just about to embark on challenging stereotypes. Year 9 have looked at what a healthy relationship looks like and Year 10 have looked at supporting emotional health and are presently looking at how not to get into debt. Finally, Year 11 have been looking at how they can ensure they create positive and safe content online.

Please can I remind you that if you have concerns about a child either email me directly on adele.creed@kingarthurs.org.uk, phone the school on 01963 32368 or use the worry button on the safeguarding page of the King Arthur’s website www.kingarthurs.org.uk/safeguarding/. If you feel a child is in immediate danger please contact either the police or Somerset Children’s Social Care on 0300 123 2224.

SPORT Youth Parliament This year, students were offered the opportunity to stand for the Somerset Youth Parliament which gives students the opportunity to represent young people at both local and national level. The uptake has been massive! We have more students standing at KA than any other school in Somerset. We are really proud of the students for putting themselves forward. An election will run across Somerset until 17th December and KA will run an election week. We are keen to know the results and who will be representing us!

Football Football participation continues to be very high this term with 56 different students attending at various times. Year 8 & 9 have Somerset County Cup fixtures this term and we are hoping to squeeze them in despite Covid implications. Congratulations to 8 students across the school who have been nominated to play in the Yeovil District schools representative side. Good luck for the selection process.

Some of you would have noticed the instalment of a second pitch, which will further enhance the commitment and development of football at King Arthur’s.

Lastly, congratulations to former KA student Jake Graziano who continues his football development resulting in a number of appearances for Yeovil Town FC, in the Somerset premier cup. Well done Jake!

All years fixtures will officially start after Christmas.

Football club continues on Wednesday’s after school 3 to 4.15pm Keep up the good work!

Mr Chapman

Rugby

Hockey Since I joined KA, I have been so excited for PE because I know we do hockey. We started with the basics like how to hold the hockey stick, then how to dribble the ball in a game and how to block tackle the ball. With these basic skills taught, we then started going into more complex skills - but not too hard for us. We have practiced in mini games to allow us to learn key basic rules. After a week in school Mr. Elloway started a hockey club which students from all years have joined. After a couple of weeks, we started to get more and more competitive so we played some games.

Unfortunately we haven't had any matches yet because of Covid.

I like hockey because I get to learn new skills and get to see others play. My favourite drill we’ve practiced is learning to flick the ball in the air!

Daisy R (Year 7)

This term’s rugby practice on a Tuesday evening after school has proved really popular. We were fortunate to have Castle Cary Rugby Football Club join us for one of our training sessions with a view to recruit more players at their club, as well as organise some friendly competitive

matches with some of our local secondary school.

Year 8 boys in particular have shown a huge commitment and passion for rugby this term, they have shown progression in their skill level and confidence.

King Arthur’s Community School, West Hill, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9BX • Phone 01963 32368 • office@kingarthurs.org.uk • www.kingarthurs.org.uk

Track Racing I started riding Grasstrack when I was 6 years old. I ride #48 which was my Grandad’s racing number. I have been riding in the Junior Class for the last 4 years on a 150cc engine and we travel all over the country for meetings, from Cheshire to Cornwall. There are up to 12 riders in a race and we compete over 4 laps. This year I finished 3rd in the ACU British Youth Championship. This is my best result in the championship since I started. Next year I move up to the Inters Class which is age 13-16. I will race on a

by Zak B, 9ME 250cc engine.