On Tuesday 7th December, six Year 9 students competed in the 2021/2022 Annual Rotary Youth Speaks Competition. We are so very proud to have been able to take two teams of such a high calibre to a competition.

Students were invited to audition early in the autumn term if they wanted to be part of this exciting competition. Based on making a great first impression, we created the following two teams:

Freddie C,  Cuan P, Becky D

Motion: “Lies do more good than harm”

Annabel S, Harry H, Omari W

Motion: “Adults should go back to school”

Students provided excellent arguments, came up with engaging ideas and delivered fantastic performances! They were also humble and made sure they displayed the best standard of behaviour during our visit to Aldwickbury Golf Club.

We are very proud of the students and the performances they delivered. We look forward to competing in 2022/2023. How exciting!

Mrs Aikman

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.