Our students are now two weeks into their first block of period 7 choices for the year and enjoying a wide range of opportunities offered by our staff team who go above and beyond to make Period 7 a truly enriching experience. New opportunities this year include Architecture, Cubing, Pokemon, Music Appreciation, Chinese Karaoke, EconoME, MakeCode Arcade, Image Editing, Stage Lighting and Italian. We are also very lucky to be able to offer Criminology sessions, run by a parent volunteer.
Year 9 have been very keen to take up a new sport of frisbee golf – as evidenced here:
Whilst Year 10 and 11 are taking up some actual golf with a lot of enthusiasm, here they are in action:
These all sit alongside seasoned favourites like Poi and mindful colouring. Period 7 blocks last for 9 weeks, so these options will run until 23rd November, with Block 2 starting the following week.
Zoe Coomber
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_3910.jpg12001600Keris McCormickhttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngKeris McCormick2023-09-29 09:48:552023-09-29 09:49:08Any one for a game of (frisbee) golf?
This week, Mr Martin welcomed a group of students and parents to his office to celebrate their passing of an external English qualification called the Level 3 Entry Level Certificate. Students studied for this alongside their normal English curriculum and worked hard to improve their fiction and non-fiction reading and their creative and transactional writing skills. Huge congratulations to all students who passed this exam!
Thank you so much to everyone who entered our KWS Library Something Summer Reading Challenge. We loved reading all the reviews and seeing which old, new, borrowed and blue books our students were reading during the holidays! We have now drawn the winners and Ellie B (year 8) will be receiving a £25 Waterstones voucher, with Lucy H and Riley W receiving a £10 voucher each.
We have also had a wonderful week introducing all our new year 7s to the library and can’t wait to share some of our fabulous new books with them.
Follow us on instagram @kwschoollibrary for more news and regular updates about what’s happening in the library.
Thank you to all those year 10 parents who attended our information evening to hear key information from Mrs. Stockwell (Head of year), Mrs. Caplin (Head of Maths), Miss Barnard (Head of English), Miss Kaur (Head of Science) and Miss Phillips (Careers Lead and Work experience coordinator). If you could not make the evening, the slides from the presentation are attached. If you need further clarity or explanation please do contact the relevant member of staff.
Many thanks Mr Laing
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KWS_logo_colour-1.jpg20552067Dean Innshttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngDean Inns2023-09-21 15:45:082023-09-21 15:46:30Year 10 Information Evening
Our staff team are really excited to begin our super curriculum offer of Period 7 and lunchtime clubs for students from Monday. Period 7 is such a key component of life at KWS, providing our students with a great range of opportunities and experiences.
As always, we work hard to allocate as many students as possible their first choices for Mind, Body and Soul. Where this does not happen, it is either due to high demand (in which case we select students at random) or a clash of days for a student’s choices (we try to minimise this by adjusting mind and soul options across multiple days). For the first half of the year alone we allocate over 4500 period 7s for our students based on their personal choices – it is no small task! Due to the size and complexity of this, changes are not possible once sessions are assigned.
Students should check Arbor and/or ClassCharts over the weekend to view their Period 7s and know where they need to be on each day – punctuality to Period 7 is as important as for any other lesson.
Students should ensure they come to school in their PE kit when they have their body option, as follows:
Monday – Year 7 (and some Year 10 Sports Leaders)
Tuesday – Year 8
Wednesday – Year 9
Thursday – Years 10 and 11
Lunchtime Clubs also start on Monday and we are pleased to have been able to allocate everyone all the clubs they have signed up to, with the exception of the Wellness Centre* which has proved extremely popular and has a restriction on numbers. Students can check which clubs they have signed up to via SOCS. If students have a lunchtime sports club they should come to school in their PE kit.
* For the Wellness centre, we will trial a system where the first 20 students arriving at lunchtime (who have signed up on SOCS to attend that session) can enter. If we get lots of students turning up after this initial 20 we will move to a rota system.
Mrs Coomber
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tempImage9X388o.jpg12001600Keris McCormickhttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngKeris McCormick2023-09-15 11:10:582023-09-15 11:10:58Period 7 and Lunchtime Clubs start on Monday
The start of term has already seen a number of sporting activities take place. The opening weeks of the new school year mark the cross country season. On Tuesday we had the MOB race for our new Year 7s. Encouraging performances by all students, with fantastic runs in particular by Thomas B (4th place) and Lucy H (6th place).
Following on from that, we then had our first league fixture for all year groups on Thursday. On a hot afternoon, everyone acquitted themselves well at Townsend School. Thomas C for the Junior boys got the highest placing with an 8th place finish. We look forward to hosting the league fixture next week.
Beyond cross country, we have already started the process of building squads in rugby, netball, basketball and football for the coming year. The turn out and application to these training sessions has been fantastic so far, meaning that selecting teams over the coming months will prove a real challenge. Please note there is no rugby training this Saturday due to Open Day, but it will return the following week.
Finally, we would like you to join us in congratulating the following year 8 boys on making the district football squad after successful trials: Ed J, Thomas C, Jasper B, Theo W and Max S. It is fantastic to see KWS so well represented.
Last Tuesday morning, the gates of KWS opened once again to welcome in a new cohort of Year 7 students. Amongst the nerves there was a distinct sense of excitement in the air as SLT and the Transition Team welcomed everybody into the courtyard looking ever so smart in their brand new uniforms.
It was a packed day starting with a welcome assembly by Mr Martin and Head of Year 7 Miss Alexis before some ice-breaker games in form bases as well as taster English and Science lessons. Students also practiced what to do in the event of fire alarms going off, processed fingerprints for dinner payments as well as familiarising themselves with the school grounds during break and lunch times while they had the whole school to themselves on this day.
All staff were thoroughly impressed with the behaviour of our new students and especially impressed with the conscious implementation of the KWS values from some students already!
I’d like to also thank the Year 11 prefects who chose to serve our school on the last day of their summer holidays in order to make the new Year 7’s first day with us more enjoyable.
While I step back from my Transition role now until next Easter, I look forward to seeing the Year 7 students thrive at KWS under the team of Year 7 tutors along with Miss Alexis and Mr Jones (Pastoral Head of KS3).
Miss Annie
KWS Transition and EDI Lead
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/KWSY7-24.jpg12001600Chrissy Dickshttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngChrissy Dicks2023-09-15 10:57:542023-09-15 10:57:54Year 7’s First Day
As a school, we place great importance on attendance and expect that all our students will achieve an attendance level of at least 96% each academic year.
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and punctually.
Any student with an attendance figure below 90% is defined nationally as a persistent absentee. This equates to just over 3 days of absence per half term and applies if the absence is authorised or unauthorised.
If a student were to get a score of 90% on a maths test this would be very good. If, however, a student’s attendance is 90% over their five years of compulsory school age, from Year 7 to 11, this equates to missing half a year of school, which is detrimental to any individual, regardless of their academic ability.
There is a strong statistical link between attendance and attainment. Studies show that students with the highest attainment in their GCSE exams, at the end of Year 11, have higher rates of attendance over Years 10 and 11, compared to those with the lowest attainment.
We review attendance regularly and have an attendance procedure we follow based on each student’s attendance percentage. The attached attendance leafletprovides important information regarding our attendance procedures.
We strongly advise parents/carers to avoid booking holidays during term time. We appreciate there may be exceptional circumstances behind a request for leave. If this is the case, you should give a detailed explanation as to why it is necessary for you to take your child out of school by completing this formand sending it to absence@kwschool.co.uk where it will be forwarded to Mr Martin for his consideration.
Rewarding Excellent Attendance
We also like to recognise students who have excellent attendance as well as those that have strived to increase their attendance by sending letters of congratulations to students and parents. Each week in assembly, we celebrate the form group with the best attendance.
Students who attain 100% attendance every half term have their name entered into a prize draw which takes place at the end of the year. The more half terms that a student attends without absence, the more entries they have in the draw which increases their chances in the draw. Previous prizes have included Apple Airpods and Love to Shop vouchers.
By working together, we can help students reach their full potential and make the most of the opportunities school has to offer.
If you feel you would like support with your child’s attendance or wellbeing, please do not hesitate to contact the school.
Absence Reporting
If your child is unable to attend school due to illness, urgent appointments or other reasons please telephone the 24hr school absence line on 01582 314800 or email absence@kwschool.co.uk by 8.30am at the latest, on the first day of absence and every subsequent day thereafter.
Please provide your child’s name and tutor group
Please give as much detail as possible for the reason of absence avoiding using terms such as ‘unwell’ or ‘under the weather’
If you fail to contact the school to inform us of your child’s absence, this will be referred to our safeguarding team who may consider it is appropriate to complete a safe and well check
This is a reminder to all parents/carers that informing the school is a key responsibility of yours. When staff from both the attendance and safeguarding team take time out of their day to chase families, it detracts from the support we can offer to students in school. Therefore, please ensure all reports are made by 8.30am.
Where possible, please give plenty of notice for any planned absence, for example hospital appointments, and provide a copy of any medical/dental appointment letters/cards to the school. We would appreciate all dental and non-urgent doctor appointments being made out of school hours.
The attached attendance leaflet provides further information.
Please Click here to view our attendance page on the school website.
