KINGSBURY SCHOOL AND SPORTS COLLEGE May 2013 Message from the Head Teacher As our Year 11 students enter their final exam timetable, you will see from this newsletter the range of learning opportunities on offer to our students throughout their time at Kingsbury. Working in partnership with parents/carers we are determined to ensure students get the grades to compete effectively post 16, but we are also committed to supporting all students as people beyond the classroom. Students‟ involvement in extra-curricular activities, residential trips, leadership and a wide variety of sporting activities, help them to develop both specialist knowledge and the people skills so often sought by employers, further education and training institutions. Meanwhile at this point in time Year 11 students need to focus their time in preparation for the final exams. They have been provided with personalised timetables and revision sessions before school, break times, after school and in the holidays. We wish them well on the last push to achieve what we know they are capable of. Ms C O’Driscoll, Head Teacher
Introducing the new Student Leaders At Kingsbury we take leadership development seriously, for both students and staff. The selection process for the Student Leadership Group 2013-14 was very rigorous. Year 10 applicants first had to submit a written application, followed by a 30 second interview (often known as an „elevator pitch‟) where they had the opportunity to convince Mrs Sanders and Mr Halstead that they had the right skills and qualities for the job. The shortlist of 12 students then had the unenviable task of giving a presentation to their year group to demonstrate why they should get the role. A student vote decided the successful candidates. And if this wasn‟t enough, the group then gave individual presentations to the entire school staff at the Monday morning briefing session – something that many adults would find daunting! Deputy Head Girl Yasamin Saidi said: “It was nerve racking, but it will help us in the future when we apply for jobs.” Head Girl Nelly Maina agreed: “It helped our confidence and gave us experience of using formal language. It was a fantastic experience.” Student leaders get involved in many activities during their year in office. Their first task will be to select Prefects to support the various student committees, dealing with aspects of school life such as rewards, Prom, primary school links, student council, and much more. Each leader will have responsibility for a committee. Look out for further news in newsletters and on our website, or why not follow them on Twitter to find out more: @KSSCStuLeaders Mr Halstead
Dates for your diary Fri 24th May
Start of Half Term holiday
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Mon 3 June Teacher Training Day th
Tues 4 June Students return th
Fri 28 June
Enrichment Day all students
Student Leadership Group 2013 L-R: Deputy Head Girls Yasamin Saidi and Rebekah Lott, Head Girl Nelly Maina, Senior Prefect Jayne Beale, Deputy Head Boy Corey Bates, Head Boy Omar Schrouder, Senior Prefect Chris Horspool and Deputy Head Boy Abdurrahman Mulla
@KingsburySSC Kingsbury School and Sports College, Kingsbury Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 8RE Phone: 0121 373 1080 Fax: 0121 306 4878 Web: www.kingsbury.bham.sch.uk E-mail: enquiry@kingsbury.bham.sch.uk
Green Careers Year 10 student Alexis Perry spent half term plastering walls and learning about jobs within the energy saving field. The week long programme was organised by the Carillion Energy Services Green Deal Partnership, with support from Greenworks and Rikem Training. Under the Green Deal - a scheme with Birmingham City Council to deliver energy savings to 60,000 homes, schools and other council properties - Carillion has committed to create and sustain at least 360 jobs and to help 600 people into placements, training and jobs. Alexis, who wants to go into engineering or technology as a career, took part in practical activities such as wall insulation, as well as visits to the new Birmingham Library and the Carillion Call Centre to look at the range of job roles within the company. The week concluded with students giving presentations about their experience, and an interview with a variety of employers involved in Green Deal. Alexis was awarded with a gift voucher and a certificate by managers and directors of the Green Deal Partnership (pictured above). Rita Patel-Miller from Rikem said: “As the only Kingsbury student amongst a group from another school, Alexis integrated very well with the other students and we were impressed with her professionalism, drive and willingness to have a go at everything. She demonstrated a natural aptitude for the tasks and was confident throughout.” “It was hard work,” said Alexis: “but it was very enjoyable and will be good for my future career.” Well done Alexis! Mrs Jakszta
History Department Battlefields Trip 42 students spent the May Bank holiday visiting the battlefields of World War 1 in France and Belgium. They spent the first night in Normandy, visiting the 1916 Somme Museum which commemorates 20,000 British soldiers who lost their lives in the trenches of Northern France. At Ypres in Belgium, students participated in „the last call‟ at the famous Menin Gates Memorial. This ceremony, started in 1928, occurs every evening and remembers the thousands of soldiers who have no official grave, including soldiers from British Commonwealth countries such as India and the West Indies. The students also visited a reconstructed trench system and paid their final respects with special prayers, representing all the faiths of those present, at the War Cemetery. The students enjoyed this special and thought provoking trip and we hope they will remember it for the rest of their lives. It was especially useful for Year 8 as they will be studying the Great War in the next academic year. To actually see with their own eyes the destruction and human misery caused by the war and to visit this important historical place will hopefully have increased their interest and love for History, as well as given them the opportunity to experience other cultures and lifestyles and enabled them to empathise with the experiences of millions of young soldiers during the Great War. Students agreed that this was a fantastic experience; here are some of Year 8‟s comments: Elpida Kampouri: “I learnt a lot on this trip such as the weapons being used, the trench systems and how the soldiers survived during the war.” Muqaddas Ahmed: “I was really surprised about the amount of soldiers that died and that they came from all parts of the world to fight for the British Empire.” Rachel Rudd: “The visit made me think a lot about how the young soldiers must have felt like leaving their homes and fighting the Germans in a foreign country.” Callum Saunders: “I learnt many things for example I discovered that during WW1 German and British soldiers played a football match in the middle of No Mans Land because it was Christmas.” The students Mr M Hussain
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IMPORTANT: Would parents/carers please ensure that their child looks after their bus pass. These cost a lot of money to replace, regardless of whether the cost is met by parents or the school. If students are concerned they should speak to Mrs Boyle or Mrs McNab.
Good News for KSSP
This month we interview Mr Bartlett What is your job role at Kingsbury and how did you start? I have been here 10 years, initially as Director of the Sports College. After five years I became Senior Director for „Teaching and Learning‟, responsible for teaching standards and ensuring student learning outcomes. I am now Assistant Head, responsible for staff performance and development, and I teach PE and GCSE maths. Tell us about your journey to becoming a teacher I left school after A levels and worked in a bank as a management trainee. I gained professional qualifications but decided it wasn‟t the career for me and entered university as an independent student, aged 21. I was always involved and interested in PE and sport, so this was the obvious route to teaching. I qualified at Bedford PE College, part of De Montford University. As part of the course I worked in 12 different schools on placement which was valuable experience. After graduating I spent 10 years at Great Barr School as a PE teacher and then as Head of PE. What do you enjoy about your job? The best thing is working with young people, especially seeing them succeed. Sometimes former students return for a visit and to share their success, or they may stop me in the street to tell me what they are doing, and that is very rewarding. Part of my current role is to ensure that all our staff are working towards the best possible outcomes for our students, regardless of their role. Whether it is teaching a class, ensuring the environment, equipment and materials are fit for purpose, that admin systems are in place or we have the right staff, everyone who works at Kingsbury is here to have an impact on students‟ lives.
Following the announcement of new primary school sports funding, KSSP held a briefing for local schools on 25 April to share information and allow Heads to discuss ideas and options for their schools. This is a great opportunity for primary schools to continue to develop high quality PE and school sport to enable more young people to become physically literate and live a healthy active lifestyle. It will certainly help to continue the legacy of London 2012. We will be supporting schools with new professional development opportunities to raise standards, as well as continuing our normal programme of competitions, sports leadership opportunities, ‘Change4Life’ clubs and much more. Matthew Poyser, Headteacher at Gunter Primary School said “The Sports Partnership has really helped to motivate and inspire more pupils and staff to become involved in PE and Sport. Angela Cotter has inspired staff through team teaching and staff training, removing the fear they previously had with teaching PE. I am really excited about the new funding as it will allow us to buy in even more support from Kingsbury SSP to ensure we improve PE & school sport opportunities even further and inspire more young people”. Miss Mapp
What are your interests outside school? I love rugby. I used to play at national level and travelled all over the world. These days I just play for fun; I‟ll probably have to retire soon! My wife is Portugese so we spend a lot of the holidays with her family in a little fishing village in Northern Portugal. Finally, what advice do you have for our students? Exams are, of course really important; they open up future opportunities. But just as important is your life outside the classroom. Students should take part in extra-curricular activities, whether it is sport, arts, or organisations like Cadets, there will be something to suit everyone. These activities will give you a social life, and may introduce you to people who can help you in your future. They will certainly increase your skills and enhance your CV and university or college application. There are posters around school about the Air Cadets, so why not join? Find a way to stand out from the crowd.
Gunter Headteacher Mr Poyser and Mrs Cotter with Gunter Y6 pupils Amiyah Clair-Ward, Megan Carter and Euan McLoughlin.
Stockland Green Ward Committee 7pm, Tuesday 25 June 2013 Stockland Green Community Leisure Centre, Slade Road Erdington B23 7JH Open to the public
A visit to Phantom of the Opera I went to see „The Phantom of the Opera‟ at the Birmingham Hippodrome as a reward for taking part in the school show „Annie‟. I didn‟t really know what to expect, I didn‟t think I‟d be very interested but I was very much mistaken. The show was amazing, full of action, amazing singing and great acting. The show has shown me how great live productions are and I certainly plan on seeing more in the future.
An interview with Danielle Cope, 7U Danielle, what competition have you recently competed in? It was a Gymnastics competition in Stoke on Trent, I represented my club, Kick start. I won a bronze medal in floor, coming third in my age group. Tell me about Kick Start? It‟s a Gymnastics club that I go to on Tuesdays, 5.30-7.15pm at Kingsbury. I have been going since I was about 9. What is it that you love about Gymnastics? It lets me express myself in different ways, that other sports might not.
Dayle Demaret-Smith Year 10 Pictured: Miss Millward with KSSC students and special guest, Tamla Kari from ITV‟s new comedy „The Job Lot‟
Howzat! Kingsbury celebrates cricket grant Thanks to a £15,000 grant from Sport England, we have two new indoor cricket nets in the sports hall and two outdoor practice nets in the school grounds. As well as enhancing what we can provide for our students, this funding provides exciting new opportunities for the development of cricket in the area. It will enable us to work more closely with our local community clubs, providing them with out of school hours use all year round. If local cricket clubs are in a „sticky wicket‟ when it comes to training facilities, please contact Kingsbury Leisure Centre on 0121 306 4874 for more details and availability. Miss Stevens
Table Tennis Last autumn, Kingsbury hosted a table tennis competition for other local schools. We won this competition without any of our players losing a single game! As a result we progressed to the All-Birmingham Tournament at the NIA in February. The standard of play was very high and we came third, with our team collecting bronze medals for their efforts. The team are now playing each other in a fierce competition for the Kingsbury Cup, which was won last year by Pierre Weston (Team Captain). Well Done to all the boys: Adam Mohammed, Pierre Weston, Joseph Hylton, Jemal Barker-Edwards and Dayle Demaret-Smith (Dayle is missing from the photo). Mr Brookhouse
What is your favourite event in gymnastics? I like the beam and the box because we learn a lot of different skills and techniques, other apparatus can be quite limited. What other qualities do you think gymnastics gives you? On a physical side, conditioning tones my body and keeps me flexible. I have also made new friends at the club, and for me to go to the club I have to put my mind to it and think of the benefits and how it will help me in the future. Why do you think others should do gymnastics? It‟s a great hobby, keeps you fit and you can also win medals! Thank you for the interview Danielle and a massive Well Done! Miss Walters
Netball Year 7 and 8 played in a Netball tournament organised by the Kingsbury th School Sports Partnership on 8 May at Stockland Green School. We beat Perry Beeches (1-0) and Stockland Green (3-1) to come runner up in the Final against St Edmund Campion (3-0). Well Done to all the players: Akerah Forrest, Demi ClarkeJeffers and Jasmine Hussain Y7, Danielle Cope, Maddie Bradley (Captain), Angel Madabuko and Alice Geremias Y8. Also to Sports Leader Ellen Ratcliffe Y9. Miss Millward