The Maths Department would like to say well done to the following students who achieved over 80% on the recent UKMT 25th Anniversary Challenge: Lucas C, Joel D, Henry G, John D, Marco R and Hannah W.
Over 90 of KWS’s Year 7 and 8 mathematicians took part in this challenge and we are very pleased with all of their results.
On Tuesday 8th February, all Year 8 students were involved in a careers workshop run by SSG who provide activities for children and young people.
During the session, students were asked to identify skills that were important for different jobs, as well as qualifications and experience required for certain careers.
Different pathways into careers, for example apprenticeships, were explained to students and advice was also given for students choosing their options subjects. The students enjoyed the workshop and contributed really well in the sessions. Hopefully students will use the information they were given on the day to make well-informed choices about their options for Key Stage 4.
It’s been another action packed week on the sporting front. It started with our Year 8 Boy’s rugby team competing in a tournament at Harpenden Rugby Club on Monday 7th February. They held their own in all games played and some impressive performances throughout. Callum S was voted the KWS player of the tournament.
This was then followed by the Year 8 netball team demonstrating the progress they’ve made over the course of the season with a closely fought game against STAGS.
This week has also seen boxercise feature in the PE curriculum for the first time since pre-covid. As part of the wider fitness unit, boxercise has proved a great form of exercise and students have engaged excellently in the physically demanding nature of it. Watch out Katie Taylor and Tyson Fury!
Rugby and football squad training also continue this weekend. Rugby is for all who are interested from 9am – 10am and football training is 9am – 10am for the Year 7 and 8 squads and 10am – 11am for the Year 9 squad.
Lastly, we are also on Twitter, so please follow regular PE updates @KwsSport1.
It’s been a busy few weeks in the PE department. We have seen some excellent work produced in recent Year 8 girls gymnastic lessons.
Our Year 9 netball team also put in a very positive performance against STAGS on Tuesday. Well done to all those involved.
Wednesday saw our Year 8 rugby boys team travel to the home of Saracens, the StoneX Stadium, to participate in a tournament against other schools. They played 3 games – winning 1 comfortably, drawing 1 and losing 1. Special mention goes to Jamil E, Maxton B and Aaron N, who Mr Ellershaw deemed player of the day. However, all boys played very well and did the school proud.
Four of our players have got into the Saracens Player Programme. Congratulations to Jamil E, Kaavy S, Oliver Sh, and Brodie G.
Congratulations to Becky D, Annalisa R, and Pearl P for achieving their red belt in kickboxing during the self defence classes that have been taking place since last year.
Finally, our football season begins this Saturday with fixtures for all year groups against Townsend School. We look forward to this very much!
British Science Week 2022 is coming up fast (11th-20th March) and we are lining up plenty of activities for our students to engage with in the Science Faculty. As part of this, and with March being our careers month at KWS, we wanted to reach out to the KWS community to see if there is anyone who would class themselves as working in the science and engineering sector that might be willing to contribute to a science careers activity for our students. The form that this could take can be entirely flexible, but things like pre-recorded talks; in person presentations; a Google meet Q&A session; or a summary and quiz about what you do and how you got into the career would all work really well. Please email s.creamer@kwschool.co.uk before half term if you feel that you may be able to contribute in some way.
Knowledge Organisers and Upcoming Science Assessments:
Our students are very familiar with using Knowledge Organisers to self and peer quiz when learning and revising our science curriculum content. We just wanted to take the opportunity to flag these Knowledge Organisers to parents as a particularly good resource and an easy way for you to support your child with learning the specific terminology required to truly succeed as a science learner. The best way to access these is via the student site on a KWS Chromebook or on Google Chrome on any device where the student is logged into their Google account and click the link KWS Science Knowledge Organisers.
They are in the format of a key word/diagram glossary condensed onto a single A4 page for each topic studied. Just having the Knowledge Organiser open in front of you to allow you to test your son or daughter on the key words and their definitions would be a really effective way to support them in their learning. (If you come up with a particularly innovative way of using them please do let us know – we’d be really glad to hear and share how to make the most effective use of them).
At KWS we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year next week with a special themed menu on Wednesday 2nd February. Students will also have the opportunity to make dumplings during their MFL lessons.
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/HCL-Chinese-New-Year-2022-Menu.pdf.png20001414Dean Innshttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngDean Inns2022-01-26 09:46:322022-01-28 11:11:32KWS Celebrates Chinese New Year!
The Spanish department is hoping to run a Spanish Immersion trip in October 2022 which will include Spanish lessons with the native monitores, adventure activities, visit to Water World Lloret, trip to medieval market and Spanish language team games.
More details to follow!
Mrs Kelly Head of Languages
Ski Trip – March 2023
We are looking to launch our first Ski Trip in the Easter half term 2023, available to all current years. We will be heading to Alpe D’Huez in France, where the students will enjoy 6 days of skiing with expert instructors and a number of fun apres ski activities. The trip will accommodate both beginner and intermediate skiers, providing students with the opportunity to be active, learn new skills and make new friends.
Keep an eye out for the official launch.
Miss Patterson
https://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Coming-soon.jpg12001600Keris McCormickhttps://kwschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smlogo.pngKeris McCormick2022-01-14 10:37:432022-01-14 13:08:20Spanish and Skiing Trips launching soon
There has been lots going on in English. Our students have been provided with some amazing opportunities and experiences. Check them out below.
Harpenden Creative Writing Competition
We launched the ‘Harpenden Creative Writing’ Competition last week. Our students are being challenged to write an original story up to 1500 words about one of the following subjects:
What initiatives should the local community and schools be doing to reduce the impact of climate change.
How would you survive being washed up on desert island?
A fictitious story on a subject of your own choosing.
How would you like to see Harpenden 10 years from now?
The closing date for the competition is Friday 4th February. Judges will announce the winners on Wednesday 16th March. We can’t wait to send off the fabulous entries!
Read Aloud
Once a week, our students take part in a Read Aloud session where they are read to by Mrs Aikman on the big screen. This session builds foundational skills of reading, introduces vocabulary, provides a model of fluency, expressive reading, and helps our students to recognise what reading for pleasure is all about.
Currently, we are reading a book called ‘The Tulip Touch’ by Anne Fine. The story of a strange and disturbing friendship seen through the eyes of Natalie as she gets to know Tulip Pierce, a delinquent girl most others go out of their way to avoid.
The students are enjoying it so far! Here is a little review by Isla W (Year 8)
“I think this book was chosen by the year group because it is quite an exciting and interesting one to read. It is about a girl who is always disobeying the rules and is extremely stubborn toward others, her wild and daring games always cause her trouble whilst she is out and about. So far I have learnt that Tulip is always out to get Natalie into trouble along with her wherever she goes. From what we have read so far, I believe that Tulip can sometimes be quite a cruel and defiant character, especially towards animals. The characters in this book are quite interesting, especially Tulip and her brutal ways.”
Library Competition
Congratulations to all of those students who took part in the Christmas library quiz in the weeks leading up to the break. Dean H (Year 8), Izzy P (Year 8) and Darcy W (Year 8) were successful in the draw! Winning chocolate and a copy of Matt Haig’s book ‘A Boy Called Christmas’.
Odyssey Trip
Our Year 8’s set off on an exciting trip to the Odyssey Cinema in St Albans to see the 2020 release of ‘A Christmas Carol’. In English, Year 8’s study a unit called Morals in Victorian Literature. At the end of the unit, they are expected to write an analytical essay focused on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The film is a retelling of the classic tale and the story is voiced by an eclectic cast of the world’s most recognisable actors including Carey Mulligan, Andy Serkis, Daniel Kaluuya and Martin Freeman. Take a look at some pictures from the trip!
Coming up!
– Toastmasters International will be working with a small group of Year 8 students from February to help improve Oracy and Public Speaking Skills.
– Anthony Glenn from ‘Shaking Up Shakespeare’ will be visiting Year 7 and Year 8 in the Spring term. Watch out for information about this as we do ask for a small contribution from parents.