12 Days Of Reading

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We continue to promote literacy at KWS. Students this half term have been taking part in Read Aloud, various year group reading challenges, and not to mention literacy week. We have just appointed a library assistant and she is very excited to get started in helping to manage and develop our school library. We are hopeful we will have many more library events and competitions in the spring term.
Reading is still very much a priority for our staff and students. So, we thought it would be fitting to use advent to get our school community reading in the lead up to the winter break.
We are soon to launch our ’12 Days of Reading’ virtual advent calendar which we hope will encourage students to read a variety of Christmas and Winter inspired texts. From comic books to newspaper articles to poetry, there is something for our students to get stuck into each morning as we count down.
The English Department

Winter showcase art exhibition

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All year groups are invited to submit a piece of artwork to be displayed in our upcoming art exhibition. For further information please see Miss Robinson 

Theme: Winter. Examples of imagery might include: lights, wintery scenes, autumn leaves, bonfires, wrapping up warm, etc

Deadline: Monday 13th December at 4pm

Size: No bigger than A3

You can work in any style and with any material – digital, paint, drawing, photography, etc.

 

All work to be given to Miss Robinson in room 162.

Miss Robinson

Period 7 Zoology – Design an Animal Competition

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Throughout Period 7 Zoology class, we have been looking at what makes animals fit into certain categories: Why are dogs mammals? How do reptiles move compared to mammals? What are owl pellets and are they unique to birds? To conclude this block of Period 7 we decided to design animals. This follows a discussion on the various adaptations of different species and how it helps those creatures to survive in their habitats. This could be methods of detecting prey (echolocation, large eyes, antennae), deterring predators (aposematic colouration), or conserving water (fat reserves).

The students were then set the challenge of designing an animal to live in either: the Sahara desert, in a pitch black cave, or at the bottom of the ocean. The Top 3 entries for each zoology session are now on display in room 73 and the students responsible for the work have received r2’s. The winning entries were as follows:

  • Tuesday – Ollie T and Charlie F, Isla W, Liam M, and Noah J
  • Wednesday – Lucas L, Jessica H, and Mia T, Isabella H and Raphael C

Mr Lambert

Saracens Mavericks Holiday Netball Camps

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Our local Superleague Netball team is Saracens Mavericks and every school holiday they run some fun netball camps for keen ballers in Years 7-9. This Christmas holiday they are at Oaklands College in St Albans on Monday 20th and Wednesday 22nd December. Please see here for more details.

National Literacy Week

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This week has been KWS Literacy Week. While our wonderful teaching team have been focusing on how we improve literacy skills in the classroom, we have also taken the opportunity to provide all students with a great short story to read in class, a word games focus in our Form Time Quiz, book reviews for recognitions, and to continue to encourage visits to the library.

In a post about literacy, it would be remiss not to ask, ‘how much does your child read?’.  These days there are so many other things to do with our time and we are seeing some students who have got out of the habit of reading over the difficult circumstances of the past couple of years. But reading regularly is the biggest contributor to academic success and is vitally important. We have recently invested in some great short novels which are dyslexia friendly for the KWS Library. They have older interest levels twinned with younger reading ages and are great for students who are out of the habit and for those who might struggle with a longer book. They are proving hugely popular so far, so please do encourage your child to pop to the Library and take a look and to talk to you at home about what they are reading and how they are finding it. We’re already seeing improvements in students’ reading focus and understanding. Let’s keep this going! Your child’s English teacher will always be happy to give you some recommendations.

Christmas Joke Competition

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To Brighten up December and celebrate the countdown to Christmas we are hosting a Christmas Joke Competition for the last 10 days of school. This is a chance for families and staff to win house points for their student’s houses. The competition starts on Monday 6th December.

We want each household to send in up to a maximum of 10 jokes to enter the competition and for each joke entered 1 House point will be awarded.

Then each day, for the last 10 days of term, a total of the 50 best jokes will be selected, shown to students, and voted on over the two weeks (5 jokes a day) to decide a winning joke of the day. Five extra house points will be awarded to each of the 50 selected jokes.

All ten winners of the day will then be submitted to the ‘staff for a laugh’ panel to choose the winning KWS joke of 2021 that will be announced on the last day of term.

A google form will be sent out on Monday 29th November, giving you a week to submit your best jokes. All family-friendly jokes are welcome whether they are Christmas-related, original jokes, or classic favorites, as long as they are good!

Miss Patterson

Success at the Harpenden Inter-school Geography quiz!

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Well done to all who participated in the Harpenden inter-school Geography quiz; a coming together of the brightest Geography minds in Harpenden. After a few tough rounds of questions, we are congratulating Sophie, Lina and James who won 3rd place for the Year 8 category! It was great to see students in their element, and absolutely rocking the show (puns intended!)

Miss Moxham and Mr Inman.