December 2014

Kingsmead School Newsletter January 2015 In this issue: Student News Sixth Form News House News Sports News Snow Closure Procedure We will aim to make an assessment by 7:00am If the site is considered to be unsafe or if we consider that a large number of staff will not be able to travel, arrangements will be made to close the school.

Festival of Achievement 2014 As a school we are ever eager to celebrate and reward the tremendous and continuing achievements of many of our students. So, it was with this in mind that, as in all previous years, Kingsmead once again held its prestigious ‘Festival of Achievement’ in the Autumn term. This is the occasion when the achievements of students across a whole range of areas is formally recognised and honoured.

This annual event took place at the end of October and having the ‘Prince of Wales Theatre’ in Cannock as its venue again added that extra sense of significance for the students, parents, staff, governors and special guests in attendance.

All students who received awards had been nominated by staff. The range of trophies and cups included recognition for Subject, House, Performing Arts, Community, Extracurricular achievements, as well as celebrating attitude and commitment.

Presentations this year were made by Steve Gummer, a former Kingsmead student who is now Financial Services Director of the large company ‘Salesforce.com’. His speech to the assembled students and audience was both interesting and inspirational.

The audience enjoyed musical performances from Natasha Pearce Y8, James Greenhill Y11 and our Sixth Form trio of Sabrina Chin, Erica Shirley and Luther Williamson.

Mr Bryant, Headteacher said “This is an evening in which we see Kingsmead at its very best. I am delighted with the achievements of so many of our students.”

All in all it was a very successful and memorable evening and all students - not to mention all parents - went away feeling very PROUD and very happy.

A message will be placed on the school website, a text sent to all parents who have notified school of their current mobile number, a message put on Twitter and a push notification sent to all parents who have downloaded the App. Contact will be made with local radio stations asking them to put out a notice of closure.

Holidays School closes—Friday 13th February at 3:00pm School opens—Monday 23rd February at 8:50am School closes—Thursday 2nd April at 3:00pm School opens—Monday 20th April at 9:50am

Student News Y11 Champions League Twenty nine Kingsmead Learners visited ‘Beaudesert Park’ in November to begin the ‘Y11 Champions League Competition’. The competition was designed to further support students in their preparation for their mock exams in December.

During the visit, teams of students were challenged to a ‘Crate Stacking Task’.

Working as a team, they had to learn new skills, communicate with each other and plan how to achieve their goals. All agreed it was great fun and highly rewarding - even through the scary part when students were attached to a safety rope and had to climb to the top of a stack of crates! The highest level achieved was twenty crates!

Students also pitted themselves against staff in an archery competition. Marksmanship improved dramatically with practice and there was a good atmosphere particularly as the students beat the teachers convincingly!

The final event of the day was ‘Climbing the Wall’.

This gave some of the students the opportunity to beat their fears and others to challenge themselves to attempt more complex techniques including climbing blindfolded.

Mr Cope, Assistant Headteacher, who organised the event said “I would like to congratulate all the students on their hard work during the day and their willingness to take on new challenges. Feedback indicates the event was a huge success.”

Competing with the Best in the World During October Kingsmead's well televised pigeons recorded an excellent result in this years ‘South Africa Million Dollar Race’ which took place in Johannesburg. We were invited to enter three pigeons.

Due to all the top pigeon lofts in the world being represented this race is regarded as the ‘World Championship’ of pigeon racing.

Kingsmead pigeon ‘Prince’ recorded an excellent result! He finished 7th out of all the UK pigeons and was 107th in the entire World Series.

This was quite literally a ‘flying start’ to this years competition.

We recently purchased a pigeon from a West Hill Primary student at a local club charity event for £5.

This pigeon has won a number of positions and was part of the team that won Kingsmead the ‘Best Old Bird’ average for the season in the 'National Flying Club’.

Working with Dignity in Health and Social Care Y11 students successfully completed a Level 1 OCN award in ‘Working with Dignity in Health and Social Care’.

Following their attendance at the above conference last year, students completed a portfolio of evidence to show how to care for the needs of various service users in a dignified and compassionate manner. Their portfolios have been highlighted as exemplary work and are being used by the awarding body as examples of excellent practice.

Ms Fittes, Subject Leader Health and Social Care said “I am really proud of the girls’ achievement and their commitment. They demonstrated excellent knowledge and have gained a qualification that will be useful for University applications and future careers.”

Student News Congratulations to one of Kingsmead’s Young Athletes!

My name is Remi Flavell and I am a Y11 student at Kingsmead School.

I am currently ‘West Midlands Young Athlete Champion’ for 2013/2014 as well as the ‘Staffordshire Schools 3000m Champion’. Within the 3000m distance I am amongst the top forty in Great Britain for U17 and in the top seven for my actual age group.

Having achieved the qualifying standards for the ‘English Schools Championship’ last season, I was very proud to be selected to represent Staffordshire Schools in this event.

It was held at my home ground ‘Alexandra Stadium’ where I train as part of the ‘Birchfield Harriers’ team. The event took place on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th July 2014. All the team stayed together in an hotel in Birmingham from the Thursday evening and I shared a room with two other girls. I competed on the Saturday in the 3000m. There were twenty six athletes in my race and I was delighted to equal my personal best time of 10 minutes 22 seconds. It was a great experience from start to finish— staying away from home, meeting new people and running as part of a huge event!

Shooting Star Y10 student Phoebe Taylor is a member of and trains at ‘Rugeley Rifle Club’. She shoots a 10m Air Rifle, 50m Three Positions Rifle and a Prone Rifle.

She was delighted during a recent ‘GB Training Weekend’ to win the Gold Medal position in the 10m Air Rifle Competition.

Phoebe has been shooting the 10m Air Rifle for four months. She has a natural talent for shooting and has progressed extremely quickly.

Her hard work and talent have been recognised at National Level as she has been selected to shoot for Great Britain in ‘Oldenburg, Germany’ in April 2015 and the ‘Junior International’ at Bisley in July 2015.

I am now working hard to achieve the standards for this Summer. I am determined to get there again when the event will be held at ‘Gateshead Stadium!’.

National Anti Bullying Week Monday 17th to Friday 21st November was ‘Anti Bullying’ Week and here at Kingsmead it was an opportunity for the students in our new anti-bullying programme ‘SMILE’ to introduce themselves to the Kingsmead community.

During two weeks in November, Drama students and Peer Mentors performed short devised pieces giving students examples of what bullying could look like with possible solutions to deal with these issues. In addition, key information about ‘SMILE’ was given to all students and staff to ensure they are aware of what we can do at Kingsmead to stop bullying happening. This includes a drop in session in E08. Here, if students should ever feel they are a victim of bullying, they can pop in and talk to trained ‘SMILERS’. If there are issues, these will be worked through in a safe, secure environment.

Students can also email smile@kingsmead.staffs.sch.uk if they feel they are being bullied. Messages will be picked up by either Mr Truby or Miss Baylay, who are Lead Tutors in Anti-Bullying. They will endeavour to contact the student and within twenty four hours begin to find a solution to the issue.

Student News School Council Review 2014-15 During October we elected this years Kingsmead School Council. The election took place in the Main Hall following each House assembly. Students voted using ballot papers and ballot booths and boxes kindly donated to us from the electoral office of ‘Cannock Chase District Council’.

Every school has to have an elected Student Council to monitor and assist with the running of the school from a students’ point of view. Elected students listen to and put forward ideas, discuss and implement new policies and rules, sit on interview panels, attend Youth Conferences, get involved in campaigns and represent Kingsmead students within the community.

The School Council is made up of two elected representatives from each House, one from KS3 and one from KS4.

Congratulations to our newly elected candidates; Katy Jones and Daniel Skerman (Coppice), Ben Marshall and Oliver Thacker (Hayes), David Woods and Caitlin Tsang (Littleton), Emma Guest and Dylan Ottey (Uxbridge), Luke Rowlands and Amy Corcoran (Valley) and Josh Holdcroft and Tom Green (Wimblebury). Students held their first meeting on November 12th.

They have already starting researching information to run a campaign in the New Year to tackle the litter problem in and around school.

Young Writers Competition As part of a Literacy Drive, a competition was launched throughout school for students to get involved in producing a poem referencing conflict. Within our tutor group, we discussed any conflict students had either seen, been involved in or learnt about previously at Kingsmead. As tutor, I took it upon CONFLICT POEM myself to get the whole group involved in this Comes in so many forms activity as there were so many avenues in which Only gives pain with no gain the pupils could express themselves. We split No one can escape conflict into small groups of two’s and three’s and each Fighting happens every day group was given the responsibility to complete a line of the acrostic poem spelling Lives are lost ‘CONFLICT’. We accumulated all the sentences then using their ICT skills the students Individuals are lost, families designed our entry. follow, we all break down As we submitted the poem, we didn’t expect too much, as there would have been Cries of torture ring out across the thousands of entries from schools across the West Midlands. We did feel positive land however that our simple but effective poem did represent the feelings of our group.

Tomorrow conflict may end, but As the weeks went by we had all but forgotten about the competition until a dreary not today.

Monday morning when a letter arrived on my desk from the ‘Young Writers Association’. We had been selected for publishing! I couldn't wait to tell my tutor group the good news! The whole group were thrilled and amazed that they were all now published writers in their own right! The project was a real team effort and is one that every student and indeed myself was proud to be part of.

By Miss S Brant, Tutor Group V-SLB Remembrance Day 2014 On the 11th November at 11:11am students and staff held a minutes silence to commemorate the end of the ‘First World War’. This years ‘Remembrance Day’ also marks the 100th Anniversary of the start of the 1914 war.

Students who belong to uniformed organisations were invited to attend in their uniforms for the day. It was with great pride that many students responded.

Sports News Netball

Football Round Up

During December, our netball teams were very busy! Y10 and Y11 played Cardinal Griffin at home. The Y10s were up against it as the Griffin team were extremely strong having never lost a game! Our girls played well but unfortunately lost 27-5. The Y11 match was a very tight game but after being ahead in the first half we lost 8-9, which was disappointing. Y9 and Y10 played away at Norton Canes.

Both teams played extremely well and won 24-6 and 25-2 respectively…..a fantastic result well done! Y8 and Y9 played away at Cardinal Griffin. It was a mixed evening, unfortunately the year 8s lost 2-8 but the Year 9s won 10-2!

Y8 boys 6-a-side team competed in the local tournament hosted at EDA. We drew a tough group but won two of three matches, only losing to the eventual winners EDA 1-0. We beat Codsall 1-0 and Hagley Park 20. Notable performances came from Ryan Atherton who scored twice and Travis Bishop who kept a clean sheet, conceding no goals in two of the three matches.

Congratulations to all on their efforts and achievements.

Y9 boys finished Third in their group and just failed to qualify for the finals on a freezing November evening.

After a slow start the boys did very well beating Cannock Chase and Cardinal Griffin in the last two games to almost qualify.

Y7B beat Norton 3-0

Y7A beat Norton 5-1

Y8 beat Norton 11-1

Rugby On Tuesday 16th December, our combined Y7 & Y8 rugby team played their first competitive fixture of the season against Cannock Chase High School. The team was captained by Cameron Robertson who did a great job organising his team on the field. The team played some great rugby and put in a solid effort in defence to see them finish the game with an emphatic first win 45-15 to Kingsmead.

Well done to all involved. Remember if you would like to come and try rugby, extra-curricular rugby sessions run on Wednesdays after school and are open to all year groups for boys and girls.

Badminton The KS3 boys team were emphatic winners of the ‘District Badminton Tournament’ beating Staffordshire University Academy, Cardinal Griffin and Chase Academy.

They have also qualified for the ‘County Finals’ at Fenton Park, Stoke this month.

The KS3 girls finished runners-Up to a strong Chase Academy side. The KS4 Team cleaned up at the ‘District Badminton Finals’ winning both the boys and the girls categories. Both teams were unbeaten not dropping a single game in the afternoon play on home turf.

House Hockey Tournament 2014

Well done to all players that competed in the ‘House Hockey Tournament’. Some great skill and determination was shown throughout the competition with Hayes managing to win despite not having a full squad!

View all our sporting news on our website…

New Sports Page Coming soon...

U16 Boys Staffordshire Indoor Hockey Championships Our first game against Newcastle Under-Lyme School proved to be a tough game as teams went into halftime 1-1. The second half was much better and Kingsmead came out of the game 3-1 winners. Our second match was against local rivals The Friary School. This proved to be an all-around different kind of game.

Throughout the game both teams took the lead and at half time a change in personnel and a change in tactics proved to be the turning point for Kingsmead. With the final whistle gone for full time The Friary converted a penalty corner to draw 4-4.

This result saw Kingsmead take their first ever ‘Staffordshire County Indoor’ title after being runners up the previous season.

Athletics Four teams of Y7 & Y8 students travelled to Rugeley Leisure Centre to play against five other local schools (Fair Oak, Cardinal Griffin, Hagley, SUA & Cannock Chase) All teams performed exceptionally well with the Y7 boys and Y8 girls coming out winners in their category. They will now travel to Fenton Park, Stoke for the County Finals in February.

The Y7 Girls and Y8 Boys both finished Third.

Christmas Charity & Community Events Y7 Annual Carol Service Y7 students enjoyed a Christmas Celebration at St Peters Church on Friday 19th December where the Reverend Paul Kelly welcomed us.

A number of Y7 students participated as readers, musicians and vocalists performing a range of Christmas pieces.

We were joined by many Y7 parents and families and what has become an annual community event was thoroughly enjoyed by all. It certainly got everyone into the Christmas spirit!

Thank you to all who attended and helped in any way.

Christmas Fayre During lunchtimes on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th December students from all Houses plied their trade to raise money for their House charities.

Stalls included ‘Homemade Biscuits’, ‘Candy Floss’, ‘Name the Teddies’, ‘Nail Art’, ‘Guess the Baby’ and many, many more.

Totals raised were:Coppice—SNAP £143.43 Hayes—National Memorial Arboretum £98.63 Littleton—Riding for the Disabled £85.94 Uxbridge— Air Ambulance £107.25 Valley—Katharine House £187.86 Wimblebury—Breatheasy £59.63 Inter-House Christmas Music Competition Students were challenged to write a Christmas song. Entries varied from solo entrants to whole tutor groups. All students however, showed an enthusiastic and festive approach.

Winners will be announced this month.

Y7 Christmas Card Competition Y7 students attended a ‘Christmas Card Club’ with Miss Pearce, Teacher of Art on Friday afternoons after school.

The students designed and created their own cards which were then submitted into a school competition in which all students and staff voted for their favourite.

Congratulations to our winners Joanna Earl V-AGO, Georgia Glynn H-ART and Emily Harley V-SR. The card was printed and sent to over 300 local businesses and schools.

Shoebox Appeal Once again many students played their part in donating filled shoeboxes for the ‘Samaritans Purse’ charity.

Hednesford Lights Switch On A group of talented singers shone at the ‘Hednesford Town Christmas Lights Switch On’. Our students performed alongside a number of other contributors.

Many thanks to all who donated.

Students had spent many weeks leading up to the event rehearsing and had shown real dedication and enthusiasm for it. Despite the cold and rainy weather, the students sang beautifully. Their set comprised of two Christmas songs, with a stunning solo performance of ’Ave Maria’ by Millie Rogers Y11. All students performed a solo or duet within the pieces.

Miss Grice, Subject Leader Music and Mrs Williams, Teacher of Music said “The Kingsmead singers did the school proud and had fantastic comments from members of the audience. They were a credit to the school and positive feedback has since been received about their wonderful performance and excellent behaviour. We would like to thank all the Kingsmead singers for their fabulous performances. Thank you also to the students families and friends for attending the event in support of us.”

New Initiatives… New Ideas ‘The Big Read’ To share our love of reading, we are celebrating BBC’s ‘The Big Read’ this academic year. All Y8 and Y9 students were given a brand new book to read over the Christmas period. Students were excited by the number of different books they could choose from. The books are mostly part of a series and our hope is that students will become interested and want to read more. Students will have an opportunity to share their thoughts about the books during their ‘Skills’ lessons and we will be using the ‘Recommendation Tree’ to pass on book reviews to each other. This is only one of the ways we are focusing on reading over the next year.

For further information http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/ VIVO Ambassadors We have recently launched the concept of having VIVO Ambassadors to promote Vivos and House Points within Kingsmead.

These Ambassadors will collect views from other students to help develop the reward system, meet with the ‘Midlands Vivo Champion’ to put forward our ideas and have access to unique competitions with special prizes on the ‘Vivoedge’ website.

Students were asked to volunteer for this role. One student from each House and across each year was chosen to ensure all views were represented. Congratulations to James Giles (Coppice) Y7, Rianne Martin (Hayes) Y9, Owyn Roberts (Littleton) Y8, Kieran Hardwick (Uxbridge) Y10, Craig Richards (Valley) Y7 and Bethany Kerr (Wimblebury) Y7.

Stars in Our Eyes…

Tutor Stars of the Week Since September, tutors have been electing students in their tutor group each week as their ‘Star of the Week’. This can be for a variety of achievements that may have been accomplished over the previous week.

Many tutors display their ‘Star’ on their notice board and the student gains 10 House Points.

Subject Stars of the Fortnight Students are regularly rewarded by subject staff in lessons through the House Points system. To raise the profile of excellent student attitudes within a subject, we are now nominating a ‘Star of the Fortnight’ for each year group. We are using the reward data from the previous two weeks to determine the winners.

Students receive a certificate from the Curriculum Leader and the names of the ‘Subject Stars’ are displayed on the notice boards within Curriculum areas.

A Y8 Partnership Evening… with a DIFFERENCE!! …..and it certainly was different!

The whole idea behind this Partnership Evening was on ‘activity’, involvement and ‘participation’.

The eighty plus parents who attended had perhaps been used to occasions such as this being all about sitting passively and listening. It wasn’t like that this time. Suddenly parents found themselves fully engaged experiencing what for their sons and daughters a typical lesson might be like.

Mr Francis, Teacher of Technology for instance got them involved in a group activity modelled on a ‘Dragons Den’ challenge.

Miss Hughes and Miss Baylay, History Department, led a lively ‘Off with their Heads’ activity. In Science, Mr Summers and Mr Hunt, through interactive engagement they explored the theme .. ‘It’s not what it used to be’, while Mr Russell, Curriculum Leader English, gave hands-on experience on how to help at home in developing English and reading skills.

It was a fun evening. Parents agreed they had learned a lot and gained invaluable insights into life in a modern classroom (“it was never like this in my day”) ..and they loved it!

Mrs Ryder, Senior Leader

Sixth Form Student News We have had a very busy and productive Autumn term in Sixth Form.

Firstly, we welcomed our new Y12 students in September, who enthusiastically embraced the beginning of this new phase of their education. Not to give too much away but their induction at ‘Keys Park’ had it’s hairy moments with a visit from the ‘Exotic Zoo’. They were certainly challenged and were ready to face the work that lay ahead. They have since settled really well into their studies and are rising to the challenges of new and rigorous routines.

We welcomed back Y13 after some very good AS results in the Summer with a renewed determination to succeed this year. We were very pleased to appoint our Head Girl, Ellie Dewsbury and Head Boy, James Statham, ably assisted by their deputies Tom Birch and Becky Bradshaw. All of them are representing our Sixth Form very well indeed. Their first big opportunity was to present at our annual ‘Festival of Achievement’ and then play an important role in our Sixth Form information evening on the 20th November. This event saw a good number of Y11 students and their parents come along to see what’s on offer at Kingsmead Sixth Form. As a result we have had a record number of applications this year.

Y13 have been very busy completing their University applications this year and many of our students have already received offers from their first choice University. Good news is that Paige Merricks has received an unconditional offer from ‘Leicester University’ and Lewis Kesterton has received and accepted a guaranteed unconditional offer and scholarship to study the piano at ‘The Birmingham Conservatoire of Music’. We wish them all the best, and, of course we wish all of Y13 success with their applications.

L-R: Tom Birch, Becky Bradshaw, Eleanor Dewsbury and James Statham

Our Sixth Formers are playing an increasingly more important lead role within the House and Vertical Tutoring system.

They are taking responsibility and using initiative in supporting younger students in the group. It is good to see them being great role models as well as developing useful personal skills. Well done to all our Sixth Form students who received awards for excellent Achievement and Attitude to Learning in our recent House Achievement Assemblies. There are just too many to mention!

There have been a number of successful educational visits this term including; a science visit to ‘Chester Zoo’, a geography field trip to ‘Dorset’ and a Media Studies trip to the ‘Harry Potter Studios’. All our students as usual represented our Sixth Form impeccably.

December, saw the close of a very productive term which culminated in a fantastic rewards visit to ‘Oxford Street’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park, London. This was a very well deserved day after a long and challenging term. Well done to all the team and here’s to a great second term!

Mrs D Collins Senior Leader Sixth Form

House Information Coppice House Coppice House got off to a flying start this year with news that Aidan Stone Y11, has been signed by ‘Walsall Football Club’. Aidan has played football for a number of years and was spotted by his coach as having a talent for goalkeeping. He now trains with the Football Club and maybe one day we will see him make the first team! Well done Aidan!

Welcome to New Students!

September bought with it plenty of sunshine but also new students to our school in the form of Y7. They looked fantastic in their new uniform and we are proud to welcome them to both Coppice House and Kingsmead.

Christmas Fun On Friday 12th December, Mrs Fittes, Subject Leader Health and Social Care, visited SNAP (Special Needs Adventure Playground), our House Charity to help them put up the Christmas decorations that had been made here at school. Coppice House students decorated baubles with messages from their tutor group which were then added to the SNAP Christmas tree. In addition, Coppice hosted a Christmas Fayre at Kingsmead. All the other Houses were invited to set up stalls and raise money for their House charities.

The fayre was extremely well attended and everyone enjoyed ‘Hot Chocolate’, ‘Cookies’ and ‘Candyfloss’ as well as bagging bargain Christmas presents.

Congratulations Well done to Daniel Skerman Y10 and Katie Jones Y9 on their election to the School Council 2014-15. They have worked tirelessly on House Council business already and I am sure will do a sterling job in their new role. Many congratulations also go to Becky Bradshaw C-JBU and Tom Birch C-AHY on their appointments as Deputy Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy at Kingsmead. We are extremely proud of them both and their first outing in their new roles showed off their excellent presentation skills at the Autumn ‘Festival of Achievement’.

Finally, my congratulations to all Coppice House students, at all levels of achievement, who received such encouraging exam results just before we started the Autumn term. Its great to see so many of you back in the Sixth Form.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2015 from Coppice House.

Mrs J Davies

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Jessica Allman Olivia Bowman Ellie Cartwright Ben Comlay Sean Chin Courtney Hill Liberty Jones Aaliyah Parker Freya Terry Liam Thompson Millie Woollaston Lewis Woolley Y8 Hannah Cook Charlotte Cooke Natasha Hyden Jack Jenkins Rhiannan Pyke Y9 Joseph Banks Lauren Fuller Amy Langley Cieran Mason Y10 Taylor Allen Leah Allman Jack Cartwright Katie Garraton Tanaka Katsukunya Grace Pike Phoebe Woolley Y11 Molly Arrowsmith Ben Hawthorne

House Information Hayes House Hayes House Council have met regularly and have been making plans for future charity events which we will be putting on throughout the year. The Christmas Fayre was a fantastic event with Hayes students running a ‘Tombola Stall’ with some fabulous prizes, as well as some challenging ‘Against the Clock’ puzzle activities. It was another great fundraising event, not just for Hayes, but for all Houses taking part.

Special mention and congratulations must go to the following students for their talent and dedication to their chosen activities and interests outside of the classroom. Jenna Martin Y8, plays hockey outside of school and has been nominated for the ‘Junior Academy Centre’.

Rianne Martin Y9, has kept herself busy with coaching the U13 girls team at ‘Cannock Hockey Club’ and is poised to start coaching boys and girls under the age of 10. She has also been selected to be the Captain of the County hockey team for which she plays. Rianne is looking to play in the ‘National Team’ when she reaches 16. Eleanor Cartwright Y8, won a Bronze Medal in a recent school gymnastic event alongside a Gold as part of a group. Lily Cocks Y7, has been attending the girls ‘Air Cadets’ and has experienced flying, shooting and camping as part of her training.

Amy Lynk Y10, has been awarded the ‘Baden Powell’ badge for her dedication to the ‘Girl Guides’. Finally, as mentioned earlier in the Newsletter, we also congratulate Remi Flavell and her amazing athletics successes. This is just an overview of some of the fantastic achievements and personal development skills in which many Hayes students are involved. Well done and keep it up!

Mr Francis, Teacher of Technology and Miss Grice, Subject Leader for Music have launched a House competition which involves using metal bars from glockenspiels to create a design during tutor time.

The bars will then be recycled to create wind, door or rain chimes. The response has been very positive and students have been working hard on various ideas. A winner will then be selected. Watch this space!

We are also continuing to work on our future ‘Kingsmead's Got talent’ show, which will no doubt showcase the amazing musical and performing skills of Kingsmead students.

Finally, a word of congratulations should go to the many students in Hayes House who returned with some excellent exam results in the Autumn term. Many of you did us proud!

It only remains for me to wish all a Happy New Year!

Mr P Bradbury

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Joshua Cunningham Nina Cuthbert Ben Gough Alicia Turner Y8 Rhiannon Bickley Eleanor Cartwright Sarah Gray Jenna Martin Mitchell Partridge Sion Pearce Megan Renshaw Megan Robins Chloe Salt Y9 Rianne Martin Megan Birch Y10 Owen Baker Paige Collins Ella-May Greenfield Demi Holland Sophie Hollyhead Amy Lynk Holly Mullen Colin Traat Y11 Phoebe Brickley Rachel Cumberledge Jamie Greenwood Grace Hewitt Isabella Howe Mia Platek Oliver Thacker Georgia Wilson

House Information Littleton House Here we are again! Doesn’t time fly… On behalf of Littleton House, I was incredibly proud to receive the House Cup at the end of the year and for the second year running! It was a fantastic achievement and whole heartedly deserved by all Littleton students. We are now going for the hat trick! In order to achieve this amazing feat we will need to keep working hard and be the best we can. On that note… I know it seems like ages ago but I would like to congratulate Y11s, Y12s and Y13s on receiving some excellent GCSE, AS and A Levels results last Summer. You worked incredibly hard and I was very proud of you all.

New Roles I am pleased to announce we have some new Sports Representatives that have been elected by their peers. Well done to Dylan Berry and Megan Vincent Y7, Luke Baugh and Lara Tolley Y8, Kyle Baskeyfield and Amber Crisp Y9, Charlie Thompson and Abbie Malcolm Y10 and James Taylor and Charlie Tittley Y11. Each tutor group has also elected a new House Council Representative. Congratulations to the following students, Corbin Ansari Y10, Sasha Monaghan Y9, David Woods Y9, Joe Cowdell Y10, Eve Webley Y7, Rajinder Kaur Y10, Ronan Mitchell Y11, Louise Maunders Y10, Tom Byrne Y10, James Chisholm Y9 and Sophie Spearman Y11. Your role is very important in giving a voice to our students.

Achievements As always I like to hear about and celebrate all Littleton achievements! I could write a few pages on them all but here are a few I would like to share with you, though there are many others which we celebrated in our Achievement Assembly at the start of this term. Congratulations to Sarah Dickson Y10, Ronan Mitchell Y11 and Beth Jones Y12 for securing roles in the school production ‘Fame’. Well done to Hannah Baker Y10 who starred in the ‘Wendy and Peter’ production and is representing the school as an ‘Anti Bullying’ peer mentor as is Caitlin Tsang Y10. On the sporting front, well done to Rebecca Mann Y12, who achieved her Black Belt Second Degree and Tasmyn Brittain Y11, for being runner up in the ‘Central England Dance’ competition. Congratulations to Tom Byrne Y10, who competed in a ‘National Judo’ competition and to Lara Tolley Y8, who has been invited to take part in a ‘National Cross Country’ competition. Lastly, well done to all those who continue to represent the school in various sports teams. Keep up the good work!

Littleton Lunch On Thursday 27th November, Mr Truby, Littleton Lead Tutor and myself held our Littleton lunch with the Y7s. It was lovely to have our Y7 students all together and chat to them about their first term at Kingsmead.

They have settled in really well and I look forward to them getting involved with all the House competitions in the months ahead.

Christmas We all got into the Christmassy mood during our Christmas Fayre, where we raised money for our charity. Students baked biscuits for our popular ‘Christmas Biscuit’ stall and helped man the ‘Splat the Christmas Rat’ and ‘Guess the Littleton Tutor’ stall.

A great start to the year. Wishing you all a good one!

Mrs K Greenwood

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Ellie Harris Samuel Harris Adam Nelson Y8 Kelly Bodley Charlie Evans Chloe Redding Owyn Roberts Amandeep SIngh Lara Tolley Stephanie Wainwright Y9 Kyra Campbell Amber Crisp Jude Hughes Georgia Rose Lewis Small Brandon Stokes Olivia Taylor Y10 Hannah Baker Holly Butterfield Joseph Egerton Hollie Gallier Amie Heath Abigail Malcolm Louise Maunders Emily Middle Caitlin Tsang Y11 Lewis Byrne Scott McAllister

House Information Uxbridge House Welcome to the Uxbridge page of the Newsletter and let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year! 2015 will provide us with many exciting opportunities and triumphs and the start of the new year seems the perfect opportunity to reflect on the ‘goings on’ in Uxbridge over the latter end of last year.

As you are aware, our chosen House Charity is the ‘Midlands Air Ambulance’ - a charity that receives no government funding. All proceeds from our House events are donated to this charity. Daniel Waddison, Y9 student took it upon himself to raise money for this worthy cause outside of school in a ‘Sponsored Swimming Challenge’. Daniel came up with the idea himself, arranged and organised the event and collected the money he raised. In total this was just under £250 by swimming two miles! You may also recall reading in a previous article about Molly Skelding Y9, who raised over £150 in a cake sale she held in her street. The proceeds went to ‘Macmillan Cancer Care’. Molly held the cake sale again, this time raising £230, a truly amazing effort! We also have many students who are in the ‘Air Cadets’ and other uniformed youth groups. They were involved in commemoration of ‘Armistice Day’.

There have been many successes, far too many to mention in this Newsletter, so I make my apologies in advance for any I fail to mention. First of all however, Leah Aldred Y10, has again achieved great things with her Athletics Club and Liam Morrisey Y12, is continuing to volunteer as a goalkeeper coach for many primary school footballers. This experience will help him realise his ambition of becoming a primary school teacher.

In early November, Uxbridge House held the School Council elections in which one KS3 student and one KS4 student was elected to represent the views of our House at School Council meetings. The elections took place during assemblies and students experienced real life voting conditions using ballot boxes and booths. I would like to thank everyone who put their name forward and had the courage to stand for election in front of their peers. The victorious candidates were Emma Guest (KS3) and Dylan Ottey (KS4), huge congratulations to both.

Kieran Hardwick Y10, has been appointed VIVO Ambassador along with the Ambassadors from each of the Houses. He will play a vital role in the organisation of the school reward system.

During the last week of 2014, Kingsmead held their annual Christmas Fayre, here each House create, manage and run stalls with the proceeds going to their House Charity. This year, Uxbridge followed last years success by raising over £100 during two lunchtimes by running a range of stalls. These included the popular ‘Snow Floss’ to the ever frustrating ‘Lemon Game’, where if you balance a coin on a lemon placed in a bowl of water for five seconds, you win five times your stake! A huge thanks to all students who contributed.

Finally, congratulations to all former Uxbridge Y11 students who have returned to our Sixth Form and to all students who did so well in their exams.

Mr M Cavanagh

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Diogo Baptista Harry Cooke Gemma Davies Jack Grundy Alex Mowe Bryony Roberts Holly Short Ellie Wrotchford Y8 Jordan Ketland Tom Walters Y9 Millie Bates Caitlin Briggs Megan Grantham Charley Ottey Jasmine Rainer Conor Rigby Molly Skelding Y10 Georgina Coyne Ryan Davies Dylan Ottey Lauren Roberts Heather Smith Daniel Waddison Natalie Wain Callum Warren Y11 Natalya Bubalo Fern Nelson Charlie Walker

House Information Valley House Valley House are the early pacesetters in the House Cup this year, being crowned half term House Cup winners in November. I informed students at the start of the year that we had finished third last year in the final House Cup rankings. Students took all this on board and I am delighted that they have shown the determination to improve and have made an excellent start in trying to achieve our ambition of being the winning House this year.

Charity and Care The Valley House Council met in October to discuss what stalls we should run at the Christmas Fayre to raise money for our House charity. We decided to run a ‘Pick and Mix’, ‘Tombola’ and ‘Photo Booth’ stall. In addition, students have raised money by writing a Christmas message to their tutor group on a special Christmas card under the ‘Give Care not Cards’ programme.

Student Roles The start of the year has seen many students take on roles of responsibility within the House. Congratulations to Amy Corcoran Y10, and Luke Rowlands Y9, on their School Council elections. I would also like to congratulate the following students for being elected as form representatives for Valley House Council; Hollie Bea Martin Y11, Vicki Egan Y11, Kyle Parker Y8, Beth O’Sullivan Y11, Luke Rowlands Y9, David Gasson Y10, Kaine Corbett Y10, Charlie Hill Y11, Ben Wilkinson Y7 and James Bradman Y8. Congratulations again to Ben Wilkinson and to Aaliyah Neale who have been elected Y7 Sports Representatives. It is excellent to see students with the courage and confidence to volunteer themselves for a role so early into their time at Kingsmead. A number of students have been very successful in a variety of pursuits outside of the classroom. I would like to share some of these with you; Sophie Watts Y11, has been invited to complete an ‘Army Training’ programme, Olivia Dakin Y11, has earned a place at the ‘Walsall Operatic Society’, Ben Wilkinson Y7 is currently playing for ‘Shrewsbury Town Academy’ U12s, Vicki Egan Y11, has achieved a Grade 6 in the clarinet and Hannah Hampton Y9 has recently trained with the ‘England U15’ girls football team at St George’s Park. Hannah has also represented the England U14’ girls rounder's team.

In closing I would like to acknowledge all those students in Y11 (many who have returned to our Sixth Form), who along with students in Y10, Y12 and Y13 did so well in their external exams last academic year.

Finally, I wish all students in Valley House a very happy and successful New Year.

Mr R Broomhall

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Jacob Chandler Owen Hallworth Ellie Jones Aaliyah Neale Cullen Peaty Craig Richards Y8 Tomas Boot Madison Griffiths Reece Hawkins Destiny Jones Abbie Newton Jai Ramah Kieran Ramah Louie Smith Kyle Smith Bethany Webb Y10 Isobel Cummings Hollie Davis Georgia Haddon Daniel Robinson Thomas Stevens Ethan Thornton Emily Wilkinson Y11 Liam Allen Charlie Hill Myles Pearson Bethany Saunders

House Information Wimblebury House Hello… Once again, I am thrilled that Wimblebury House had such an excellent first term in this academic year. Congratulations also to all those students who did so well in their external examinations last Summer. I am delighted that so many Wimblebury students have returned to study in our Sixth Form.

Sports Representatives The new Y7 intake are showing how well they have settled in and have already taken opportunities to get involved in the life of the school. We have two new Y7 Sports Representatives; Megan Vincent and Dylan Berry. They will serve alongside the Representatives from Y8, Y9, Y10 and Y11. I hope all these students will lead the rest of our House by encouraging students to take part in Inter-House competitions and leading us to victory yet again in the Sports Day competition in the Summer.

Well Done!

We have many Wimblebury students who collected awards for a variety of reasons at the recent ‘Festival of Achievement’. Congratulations to all!

Wimblebury students also took part in our Autumn term ‘Open Evening’ either representing subjects in classrooms or showing prospective parents around school. Many parents commented on how impressed they were with the maturity and confidence shown by our students.

Form and Charity Representatives This year as well as electing our Form Representatives; Laura Allsop Y11, Alethea Buck Y9, Isobel Copland Y9, Tom Green Y11, Toni Iwanowa Y11, Roan Lilly Y8, Beth Parish Y10, James Robson Y9, Callum Roche Y9, Bethany Vaissiere Y11 and Abbie Yeomans Y9. We have also elected Charity Representatives who will be responsible for organising our charity activities for our House charity ‘Breatheasy’. We have raised funds at the Christmas Fayre by making and selling ‘Candy Floss’ and selling ‘Charity Wristbands’.

Thank you I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Higho who has taken over the reins of Wimblebury House in my recent absence.

I hope all our Wimblebury students had a happy, relaxing Christmas and will have a good New Year. I extend the same wishes to all parents and carers and thank you for your continuing support.

Miss A Evans

Students with consistently high ‘Attitude to Learning’ Y7 Harrison Buck Millie Casey Olivia Elcock Abigail Owen Adam Parker Lauren Pearse Ben Sowley Y8 Isla Henley Callum Jennings Roan Lilly Y9 Alethea Buck Isobel Copland Lewis Powell Ashleigh Radford James Robson Katy Wilcox Y10 Milly Edwards Brittany Hall Bethany Hayward Samantha James Simran Kaur Reece Lappin Joshua Lilly Reuben Murcott Bethany Parrish Lucy Radjenovic Hannah Ridgway Y11 Kayleigh Ghent Scarlett Oakes Liam Pinson

Finally, a few updates...

Kingsmead on the Go! As many of you are aware, we have a ‘Kingsmead App’.

Kingsmead ‘New Look’ App

The App allows parents to keep in touch with school on a daily basis, contact school when necessary, check dates and much, much more from their mobile phone.

We have recently updated the App and implemented the extremely useful ‘Push Notifications’ facility. This enables school to send messages to all parents who have the App downloaded. The message will show on their phone as an alert whether the App is being used or not. We believe this would be extremely useful for general messages but also urgent messages such as the school being closed due to bad weather.

The App can be downloaded from GooglePlay and the Apple Store. If you would like any assistance with this please contact school.

Sixth Form students are also enjoying their new App. This allows students to check their timetable and a diary section where they can record work schedules and important deadlines. It also gives parents the opportunity to receive ‘Push Notifications’ from the Sixth Form.

We also updated our website last year. Why not have a look? You will find us at www.kingsmeadonline.net Attendance News We have put a reward system in place to acknowledge and encourage good attendance and are pleased to announce that a pizza party took place on Thursday 15th January for the tutor groups with the highest attendance for Autumn term.

‘The winners were L-KP and W-HJB . Their tutor group attendance was 98.3%. Well done!’

If your child is absent from school notify the Attendance Office 512464/512243. Where possible please book medical appointments before or after school; If this is not an option please provide an appointment card/letter either before or after the appointment. For further guidance see the School Policies page on our website.

We now use text messages to communicate with parents/carers and find this very effective, it is also possible for you to reply to the text message.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Attendance Team.

IMPORTANT REMINDER In the interest of safety for all, please do not block the entrance to school site when dropping off or picking up your children.

Thank you.

Dates for your Diary Thursday 29th January Y11 Progress Evening Thursday 26th February Y13 Progress Evening

Contact information Kingsmead School Kings Avenue Hednesford Cannock Staffs WS12 1DH

Wednesday 4th March Y10 Progress Evening Thursday 19th March Y9 Options Evening Thursday 23rd April Y7 Progress Evening Wednesday 29th April Y8 Progress Evening Wednesday 1st July Y6 Induction Evening Thursday 2nd July Y11 Prom

01543 512455 office@kingsmead.staffs.sch.uk

What's happening at Kingsmead?

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