Due to the successful launch of the Wrap Bar supported by Theo’s, we will be opening the service to all students daily starting on Tuesday 19th April 2022. Students will follow the lunch rota and be able to use the Main Service area or Wrap Bar.
We are also proud to announce the removal of single use plastic from the service. From Tuesday 19th April 2022 we will be offering Generation Juice. Pupils can purchase a token at any till point and collect a reusable cup. There will be cup bins around in the dinning room for washing after use. This is a great opportunity for students to actively encourage sustainability.
Well done to all of those involved in the recent Toastmasters Leadership Programme. Students have worked hard with our volunteers to develop their public speaking and communication skills.
Thank you to our volunteers, Liz Burnett and Fiky Wilkinson for their time and care throughout this process.
We hope to give you some more information about the event in our next newsletter.
Well done to all students who are maintaining their 3×15 minutes per week of reading at home. We are beginning to see some real progress with some classes clocking up well over 100 books read already this year! Well done to 7K, 8S and 9B who are currently in the lead with 166, 131 and 97 books read respectively! We have 4 months yet to go though, so plenty of time for other classes to knock them off the top spot and win some all-important chocolate! Check out the leader board in the Library to see where your class is sitting!
On an individual note, congratulations to the following students who have all completed their year group Reading Challenges already! Certificates will be on their way very soon!
Year 7 Year 8 Year 9
Grace O Isla W Harry H
Florence C Oscar Y Leigha K
Bertie R Lina B Nathan T
Imogen D Louisa T Anton P L
Kit C John D Callum W
Emily C Aaron N Nathan K – O
Aidan B Oscar D Annalisa R
Joel D Jessica H
Kayla F – K Isobel J
Nissi M Owais P
Matilde F – E Amel A – M
Nathan J Alexandra H
Liana N Red M
Gigi C Daniel W
Sam P – S
Finally at KWS we have had a British Science Week that has not landed in lockdown!
The Science department have been very busy planning for what has been a hugely enjoyable and informative week for everyone involved: from our first science joke competition to our interactive careers in science session; from learning about scientists as ‘risk takers’ in assembly to twists on regular Period 7 activities (cookie science anyone?); and from building and launching our own mini rockets, to observing mysterious microscopic extremophile creatures called Tardigrades: Science week has been absolutely jam-packed and we look forward to it being even bigger and better next year… (If you feel that you’d be able to contribute an activity or talk to Science week 2023 please do contact Mrs Creamer ons.creamer@kwschool.co.uk)
And here is the overall winning Science joke for 2022, submitted by Red M (Y8) and Grace O (Y7)
Q: What do you do with a sick chemist?
A: If you can’t Helium, and you can’t Curium, then you might as well Barium.
(if you don’t ‘get it’, please enjoy testing your KWS student to see if they can explain it to you!)
Other events in Science
Our Year 8s have been extremely busy producing some of the most fantastic model Solar systems over the past few weeks- it’s been an absolute delight to see all the work and effort gone into these Science-Tech-Art masterpieces!
Prior to Science week Year 9 have completed 3 weeks of practical projects where they found out about the pigments in leaves (via chromatography), investigated the transfer of thermal energy (Qu: what happens when you put a coat on a snowman?) and measuring the effects of limiting the volume of oxygen available during the process of combustion.
Next week Year 9 will formally commence studying GCSE content in Science and they also have a talk from a scientist working in the field of Cell Therapies to look forward to (where they’ll learn about immunology and the science of vaccinations).
Well done to eight Year 7s who competed in the Hertfordshire Maths Challenge last week. Both teams worked extremely hard and we are pleased to say that Team A (Mia K, Arabella D, Henry G & Bertie R) came 4th in their heat and will be competing against schools all across Hertfordshire at the finals in Stevenage in May.
Also well done to the 57 Year 9 students who completed the UK Mathematics Trust Intermediate Maths Challenge earlier this month. We have now had the results back with some outstanding scores. The following students got a Bronze Certification: Tom M (9Ali), Maanasee N, Ruairi A, Rory F, Max O, Umar-Farooq S, Evan W, Ethan S, Alex C, Nishaan P, Jasmine D, Joanne E, Finley M, Cuan P, Oscar Q, Walt R & Callum W.
The following students got a Silver Certification: Becky D, Anton PL, Rayan P, Rayan H, Freddie C & Oliver G. Our Silver students competed in the follow on round (the Grey Kangaroo) yesterday so we await their results and will share these with you when we have them.
A huge well done to all of these KWS Mathematicians.
Year 9 geographers successfully curb global warming to 1.2 degrees celsius.
Well done to the Year 9 geographers, who took part in a mock UN climate conference recently.
We used an online simulator used by government and organisations across the world and negotiated decisions about how to cut carbon emissions.
Students did fantastically articulating their reasoning, with some classic ideas like reducing deforestation, to more exotic arguments like reducing population growth.
The IPCC has said that we should limit global warming to 1.5 degrees maximum, and our UN conference ensured that warming did not go over 1.2 degrees.
It was a great opportunity to see how world leaders would use simulators and negotiations to discuss how best to reduce carbon emissions. Well done to all involved!
As a new option for Period 7, Year 9’s will now be able to experience a taster of Hairdressing and Beauty.
Students will learn basic skills & understanding of the industry lead by Miss Bifolco.
We are making an appeal to parents/carers for support with this new option. To increase our resources, if anyone has any unwanted hairdressing or beauty equipment please could they donate it to the school for our students to use. There will be a donation box in the main school office.
We would be most grateful for any hairdryers, heated styling equipment, hair accessories, rollers, face paints and brushes.
We really appreciate your help and generosity to help support the development of this new option for many students.
Miss Bifolco
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Hair-and-Beauty-p7.jpg25601920Keris McCormickhttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngKeris McCormick2022-03-16 11:52:132022-03-18 14:00:22Hair and Beauty – Period 7 at KWS
We are now well into our third block of period 7. This sees us setting a new record for the most period 7 we have ever been able to run in an academic year, COVID having scuppered our previous plans. The second half of the academic year sees lots of new sessions on offer across all three of our Period 7 categories: Mind, Body and Soul.
New sessions include: Sign Language, Ceramics, CSI, Ranger School, Reading, Orienteering, Virtual Reality Creative Writing, Classic Movies, Politics, Chinese Calligraphy, Team Building, Mindful Colouring, Hair and Beauty running alongside many popular favourites like Arabic, Small Animal Studies, Rockets and Spheros.
Two of our new Period 7 sessions are focused around preparing for our upcoming Performing Arts shows – Technical Production who are focused on getting to grips with the lighting and sound, and our Set Design and Construction period 7 who are shaping all sorts of things out of wood currently.
We have been fortunate enough to have an external company, Archimake running a set of Period 7 sessions for our Year 7 students. During the sessions they are learning about some inspirational Architects like Richard Rogers – exploring their work and influences. As well as being guided in how to draw like architects – covering perspective, section drawings and lots more. Archimake run a range of courses for primary and secondary aged students both during term time and as holiday clubs.
Our body options have switched to summer sports, in the anticipation that we can develop some great skills ahead of Summer term competitions. Tennis, Athletics, Rounders and Cricket all in action outside, along with some volleyball, table tennis, dodgeball, dance and yoga taking place inside. Huge thanks to Menace sports who are continuing to run two sessions a week for us – previously Bootcamp, now Tennis.
In addition to Period 7 we have some great new lunchtime clubs that have started up. These have brought in many of those summer sports mentioned above and added in some new opportunities include Badminton, Italian Language, Mindful Crafts and Strategy Games – huge thanks to the staff and parents who give up their time to run these for our students. If any student would like to join an additional club they should contact the member of staff running it.
Thinking forward – if you are a parent, volunteer or local company that would like to offer a lunchtime club or Period 7 for our students in the future, please drop me an email z.coomber@kwschool.co.uk – we would love to talk to you!
Mrs Coomber
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_0186-scaled.jpg19202560Dean Innshttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngDean Inns2022-03-14 19:26:002022-05-30 13:53:21Period 7: Trying out Sign Language, Architecture, Politics, Orienteering, Warhammer, Hair and Beauty and so much more!
This message is being sent on behalf of Dave Salmon, Humanitarian Assistance Lead Officer at Hertfordshire County Council
We have been asked to share the following advice by Hertfordshire County Council for parents and students who may wish to support those fleeing war torn Ukraine. Financial donations to organisations that have a presence on the borders is the most effective means of providing support to families in need. Community collections tend to be resource intensive and can involve costly logistics whilst transporting goods through many countries can be frustratingly slow. Therefore, we are not supporting local collection points at this time.
A financial donation to one of the organisations below will have an immediate impact and help fund what is most needed on the ground:
The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to help the Ukrainian Red Cross to provide food, medicine, clothing and shelter, as well as first aid training in bomb shelters. The UNHCR refugee agency is funding emergency shelters, repairs for homes damaged by shelling, emergency cash assistance, psychological support and warm clothing. UNICEF is helping to ensure families have clean water and food and that child health and protection services continue. The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain is fundraising for medicine, food and other essentials. Save the Children is providing cash assistance, food and other support to refugees crossing into Romanian and Lithuania, as well as in Ukraine itself.
For those who still wish to make a physical donation we understand that Goods for Good are running a Ukraine Appeal and are seeking donations:
We had a whole week of World Book Day celebrations in the library this week, including a different activity for the students each day. We played Wordle, tried to guess which KWS staff members were the masked readers, had a scavenger hunt, and a big book quiz with videos from lots of authors. Students had a lot of fun doing crosswords, caption contests, and decorating bunting too.
We’re out to prove the library is indeed the best place to be!
Students can still collect their free £1 book tokens from the library up until 27th March 2022.
KWS Library is also creeping into the land of social media! You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_7872.jpg12001600Chrissy Dickshttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngChrissy Dicks2022-03-04 16:32:512022-03-04 16:32:51World Book Day at KWS