As part of our ongoing careers education, Year 10 students were visited by Corporal Starkey who delivered a talk and Q&A session about the wide range of Army careers that are available. He also informed students of all the different possible routes into the Army, including apprenticeships. The talk was both inspiring and informative.
There were certainly lots of students who were interested, judging by the amount that stayed behind to ask questions, especially given that it was at the end of the day on Friday!
Miss Phillips
STEM update
It has been a busy first term across the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects. Students from all 4 year groups attended 3 STEM ambassador career talks online. A STEM ambassador is a volunteer from industry and academia who work, study or research in a STEM field. They talked about what they do, told students about the opportunities for someone starting in business, how technology has changed the industry and a bit about the future.
The entirety of Year 10 participated in a non-curriculum day led by EDT (Engineering Development Trust) in partnership with ARUP as part of the ‘Industrial Cadets’ campaign. As the day focussed on the circular economy – how sustainability can be integrated into the very heart of design and development. Our current (linear) economy focuses on extracting materials from the earth that will ultimately end as waste. By contrast, a circular economy aims to eliminate waste by preventing it being produced in the first place or reusing the waste created. Every student will receive the Industrial Cadets Challenger award for their efforts.
The students completed various workshops which culminated with the task of designing a sustainable dwelling or city – with the circular economy central to the design. Teams then pitched their ideas to the rest of the group – a selection of the best designs are below:
Our fledgling STEM club is going from strength to strength, the predominantly Year 7 and Year 8 teams are progressing well with their Discovery CREST award and are building towards their group presentations just before February half-term.
Science
Year 7 have been wowing their teachers with their enthusiasm for the subject, this is never clearer than during the cell model project. A popular project completed by every Year 7 pupil, the task is to create a 3D animal or plant cell (both if you are feeling really adventurous!) that can be displayed in the classrooms. Recognitions are awarded for creativity, accuracy and effort – a selection of the best projects are below:
Excellent work Alisha, Jess N-C, Azaan and Sidney – keep up the excellent work!
Not to be outdone, Year 8 have also magnificently risen to the challenge with their space projects. Students were tasked with creating a poster or display all about the solar system. Students could be as ambitious as they wanted with the only stipulation being that every planet in the solar system was accounted for, with a fact on each. It is fair to say that all students far surpassed this briefing with some truly exceptional projects completed. Not all classes have covered this topic yet, so if you’re yet to study space then get some inspiration for your project by looking through some of the fantastic efforts from 8Y and 8Z:
Well done Eliza, Billy, Halle, Ali and Matilde!
Year 9 and Year 10 have been less creative but have nonetheless had an excellent first term. The effort in lessons is to be commended, whether this be in preparation for or the beginning of their GCSE studies
Mr Lambert
Dear Families,
We are wishing you a fabulous Christmas break and we are sure that having some time to spend together as a family is very much welcomed by both parents and students.
Although a joyous time of year, the Christmas period can also be difficult for some children and their families. We have been speaking to students about this in school and urging them to use our drop in counselling sessions if they feel they need to.
Below are some helpful websites and resources which will also be shared with students prior to the Christmas Break.
Kooth:
Kooth is a website we direct students to if they want to talk about their feelings anonymously. Here are their Christmas Chat Opening Hours in the blue box below.
Follow this link for support when it comes to speaking to your teen about their feelings.
With YOUth:
This is a new service providing emotional and wellbeing support for children across Hertfordshire. Please encourage your child to explore it in case they need to talk. Please follow the link to the website.
NSPCC and Childline:
Please follow the link to information about how to make contact with the NSPCC and Childline. This is in case you have concerns a child may be at risk of abuse or harm. Young people can also make those calls themselves to report concerns.
Contact with School:
School is closed from the 21st December to the 9th January and school staff may not respond to emails or contact. Therefore, any immediate concerns should be reported to the relevant service (for example the Police or Children’s Services). However, the safe@kwschool.co.uk email is available for non-emergency concerns. This inbox will be checked intermittently by the safeguarding team during the break.
Online Safety:
Young people use smartphones so frequently and confidently that we forget how much access they have to the world through these devices and through social media. Any reminder of this is timely and important.
During this festive period, please continue to monitor your child’s online activity and talk openly to them about their use of social media. With apps like Snapchat, young people can easily share their location with others and talk to strangers. This can be incredibly dangerous and it is important we continue to remind our young people about these risks and monitor activity. Some of our students may be lucky to receive new devices this Christmas – please remind them of the responsibility that comes with them.
Parents and young people can refer concerns about online sexual abuse to CEOP or can report concerns to Police through the 101 number.
The UK Safer Internet Centre provides support as to how to protect young people online on a range of devices.
Finally, please remember school does not monitor Chromebook use when students are at home and so any protective settings must be set up at home.
Winter Safety:
Stay safe in winter – the dangers of frozen waters.
Over the last few days Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue have attended water and ice incidents where people have been at risk of falling through frozen lakes and rivers due to rescuing a pet or not seeing the dangers of such activities.
Children and pets are particularly at risk when tempted to play on the ice formed on open water, and adults can find themselves at risk in attempting to save them.
Taking a nice walk in cold weather with your family, friends or dogs in tow can be really refreshing, just make sure you know some simple tips on how to stay safe in winter.
Areas with frozen lakes, ponds, canals and reservoirs can be beautiful places to visit during the winter months but all too often many people risk their lives by venturing onto frozen water.
Here are some useful tips to help you know what to do in an emergency:
Please visit the RLSS website on this link, to see useful tools on how to get your children talking about winter water safety: Winter Water Safety | Royal Life Saving Society UK ( RLSS UK )
Here is a link to more information.
Have a safe break.
Mrs Aikman
Safeguarding Lead
Following a site inspection a short while ago and the conditions on the road this morning. We have made the difficult decision to close. Remote learning will be available for all students on Google Classroom from 9am today. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Katherine Warington School were given the exciting opportunity to nominate two exceptional Year 9 students to attend five Maths Masterclasses, run by The Royal Institute (RI) at the University of Hertfordshire on Saturdays throughout October, November and December.
The RI Maths Masterclasses, nurture students’ curiosity – inspiring them to continue their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) engagement into the future. Throughout these Masterclasses, students meet new speakers and volunteers who give them insight into possible careers and help them realise that STEM subjects are for everyone, including them. Each Masterclass workshop is led by inspiring Masterclass Speakers, who come from a variety of STEM backgrounds.
Here are some quotes from the two Year 9 students who have been attending, about their experiences at the sessions thus far:
“In week 1, we talked about “Perplexing permutation puzzles” like Rubik’s cubes and how many combinations they can have and how to work it out. We then looked at how round robin tournaments work when everyone plays against everyone. In the second week, we thought about rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock and how each of those defeats two others and is defeated by two others. We were also looking at the card game Dobble and how it’s possible for any card to have a matching picture to any of the other cards. And in the most recent week we were looking at probability in the quantum world which was very confusing but quite enjoyable. It was strange thinking about how some things are certain and have a 100% chance in the “classical world” but not in the quantum world.” John D:
“So far I have found the Maths Masterclasses both interesting and enjoyable as they tackle new areas of Maths that I have never come across before. Some of the topics that they have covered include: permutation puzzles and the Maths behind games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors and Dobble. Whilst being very interesting, these topics have also challenged me to think deeper and expand my knowledge into more complex problems that are not covered in typical Maths lessons. I have enjoyed the masterclasses so far and am looking forward to the challenges that the coming sessions will most certainly pose.” Jessica H
Miss Caplin
On Friday 11th November, Year 10 students were involved in a STEM day with the theme ‘sustainability’. During the morning session students learnt about Women in STEM and spoke to a few women who had various STEM roles. They were involved in a workshop run by EDT where they learnt about the linear economy and the circular economy. They looked at circular buildings. During the afternoon session they designed their own sustainable building and presented their idea to the rest of the group.
This is what some students had to say about the day.
“I really found today’s session interesting and inspiring. I think that having some of the women who are in STEM positions, talking to us motivated me to see that there are opportunities available for women.” Cassandra K
“I found it interesting looking at the Hidden Figures and the story of how engineers on the Zoom call had got where they got to, especially in the more creative sectors within STEM.” Mabel K
“It was good, I very much enjoyed designing a house and learning about the circle economy. This is because I learned how different sustainable methods benefit a house and the owner to become more sustainable.” Finley M
“I think it was very fun utilising both creative and logical sides of the brains and using interactive ways to inform and educate students” Rayan P
“It was fun and interesting working together to find solutions to problems and incorporating each others ideas into the project” Oliver G
Miss Fatima
We’ve had a variety of different fixtures over the last few weeks.
Our Year 8 netball team have had a couple of excellent performances, firstly against a Beaumont side and then against a Sir John Lawes side, with great commitment and team work shown in both games. The player of the match for the Beaumont game was Ali C and Ellie H for the SJL match.
Well done to the Year 10 netball team who had a convincing win in a league match on Thursday of this week. Player of the match was Eva.
In girls football, our Year 8 & 9 team played out a tight well contested 0-0 draw with Samuel Ryder with Isobel J identified as the player of the game. Well done.
In boys football, the Year 7A & B teams cruised through to the next round of the county cup with fantastic performances. Both teams played an excellent brand of football and there were stand out performances from a number of boys, most notably Jasper B, Tapiwa and Alex T, who kissed the KWS badge when celebrating the first of his two goals!
Unfortunately both our Year 8 and Year 10 boys football teams suffered loss in their recent county cup fixtures. Both teams were in the game right until the final whistle. Year 10s scored the goal of the season so far with lovely interplay between 5 players in the lead up to the goal, eventually finished off by Jamie D with a cool finish.
Our Year 9 boys basketball team got the first league fixture under their belt against Nicholas Breakspear. Ultimately they lost by one score in a gripping finale. The boys will develop as the season unfolds.
Finally, in rugby, we faced a series of tough fixtures against SJL putting in battling performances in all the games, despite ultimately coming up against more experienced players.
While this was happening, our Year 7s put in a hardworking and brave performance in a district tournament. Despite being a player down, the boys gave everything and were a credit to the school
On Sunday the Trampoline squad competed at the Regional Schools Trampoline competition. All students showed confident performances at their first ever competition and a massive congratulations to the following students who have qualified for the Zonals round in January. Josh P placed 4th, Riley W 3rd and Matthew P 2nd and their team 1st; Ollie T 5th, Will E 2nd and the team with Jude D 2nd; George R 4th. Congratulations all and good luck for the next round!
Well done to everyone who has given their all in recent sporting fixtures.
The PE Department
This term students have been collecting items for the Rotary boxes. The Rotary Shoebox Scheme enables the boxes to be given as gifts and helps to bring some happiness to disadvantaged people in Eastern Europe. All forms were given a box to fill with content and collect £2 to cover the transport costs. Each form chose who their box was for.
Thank you to the KWS community who contributed, we know that the gifts will be appreciated and will help bring a smile to someone.
Miss Fatima and Miss Philips