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Message from the Principal
Time goes by so quickly! As another busy week draws to a conclusion I would like to share with you some of the highlights:
A good number of Year 7 students enjoyed an educational trip to Burghley House as part of their art lessons. We also welcomed a large number of year 6 students from local primaries schools to taste life at our school. On Wednesday evening, I was please to speak to and receive feedback from a number of parents as part of our Parents’ Forum. I do urge you to attend the next meeting which will be a surgery where you will be able to feedback to us anything that you feel we need to know. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 30 November, starting at 6pm, in the Conference Room. Throughout the week, Year 6 and 7 students have been enjoying the ‘Pop Up Science’ exhibition. The photos below show how much the students have been engaged in learning about a wide range of scientific topics. I wish to thank Mrs Young, Teacher of Science, for organising this exhibition. On Tuesday we welcome prospective parents to our open evening. We will close at 2.20 pm in the afternoon, so please make sure that any transport arrangements are in hand for the afternoon. Whilst not necessarily a highlight, more a necessity, we carried out an evacuation drill on Friday last week. I am pleased to report that the students were very well behaved and acted upon the guidance necessary to ensure a safe and orderly evacuation. I would like to promote a kind offer from the local Tesco Store, making free fruit available to students before school. There is a clearly marked stand in the store, with a variety of fruit available for students to have free of charge. I would ask is they remember a fair use policy of 1 item each. Together with Tesco’s we are making the clear stance that no student will be allowed into the store from 8.30 am onwards; they reserve the right to restrict the numbers of students into the store before school. Art exhibition The Art department are holding a KS3 Art and Design exhibition on Monday 3 October in the Art department (Room 1L37) between 5-6pm. I am inviting parents of pupils from last Year’s 7, 8 and 9 cohort to view the work. I would also like to extend the invitation to all of you. It would be lovely to see some familiar faces to support the students’ achievements in this subject from last year. Finally, I hope that all students, particularly Year 7 students, have now settled in and are up to speed with the school’s expectations. I have been impressed how our new staff have settled into life at Ken Stimpson Community School and are forging excellent relationships with our students. Each week we will aim to share with you a small profile of up to two new members of staff so you can get to know them as well. You may be interested to read a little more about them below. Best wishes Bryan Erwin SAM Learning
SAM Learning is an online education service used within the UK to help support personalised learning to students. Our students can all take advantage of the activities and tasks available and can work with their teachers in order to consolidate previous learning. Teacher’s may also use SAM Learning as a homework task to see what your child has learnt or as revision for examination groups in Year 11. These are scored automatically and can be seen on screen, as well as the scores being sent to the teacher.
Reminder to all parents that SAM Learning can be accessed using their website www.samlearning.com and to log in use the following information: Centre ID: PE4KS As a school, Ken Stimpson Community School’s usage for the last academic year was 7909 hours. This shows that our students are committed to their learning and work hard on their studies. Mr Boothman Year 10 STEM day at Cambridge University
On 21 September we took 23 students to Cambridge University. We started our day at The Dyson Centre on the Engineering Campus. We were greeted by Matt Diston and Maria Kettle from the University and assisted by two final year students.
The task for the morning was to work in groups of three and using scrap paper, masking tape, bolts and rings, design and build cranes to a specified length. Each crane would be tested for strength by attaching a bucket and adding whole cans and half cans of baked beans until the crane buckled. It was a challenge which all our students rose to, coming up with some strong and not so strong designs. Congratulations to the winning team: Devin Hindhaugh, Deimantas Steponkus and Tyreece Mason their team managed to take six full cans of beans before buckling. Maria clearly explained the differences in the designs and why some were able to take a heavier load. ![]() We then travelled to the Maths Campus where each student was given a lunch voucher and free rein on the delicious food available. It was certainly good maths practise because they were all determined to spend as much of the allowance as possible with one student managing to work out which items he could purchase using the exact full amount. Feeling satisfied the afternoon was spent using maths skills to work out a series of maths problems based on a very engaging presentation by James Munro, a former PhD student now working within the Applied Mathematics Department and Theoretical Physics Department. Finally a chance to ask the two student assistants questions about university life, clubs and the thousands of courses available every year. Mrs Patman Pop-Up Science Hub
This week we have been lucky enough to be visited by members of the Cambridge Science Centre.
![]() They have been using our school as a pop-up science hub and have been visited by Year 5 and 6 from our local primary schools, as well as our own Year 7 and 8 students. Their enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff brought a wide range of experiments and displays for hands-on learning, which was enjoyed by students and staff alike. Their theme was 'The Cosmos' which links in well to our KS3 curriculum. This has been a fantastic opportunity to enrich science learning and enthuse our pupils, which we hope to repeat in the coming years with new and exciting themes. Mrs Young Year 7 Art Trip to Burghley
On Wednesday Ms Williams, Mrs Patman, Mr Batchelor and myself were very fortunate to take a group of Year 7 to Burghley Park in Stamford on an Art and Design trip.
![]() During the day students attended an Art workshop and made some Dragon Fly sculptures out of wire. We also visited the sculpture garden and gardens of surprise where a number of students got a little wet with the surprise water features! This wasn’t as bad as we were very blessed with the fabulous weather. Mr Housley Attendance
"The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success."
"Congratulations to Aspire who continues to be in the lead this week. All houses need to take care with attendance as all figures have decreased. Do not miss school unless you are too ill to come in. " Sharon Blackledge What's happening at KSCS?
Events and visits in the school over the next fortnight:
Monday 03/10/2016
Key Stage 3 Art Exhibition
Tuesday 04/10/2016
Prospective Parents Evening, Early Closure 2.20 p.m.
Thursday 06/10/2016
Year 11 Construction Visit to Stamford College
Friday 07/10/2016
Court visit Law
Year 11 Castleton Fieldwork
Monday 10/10/2016
Year 13 Travel and Tourism Work Experience (2 weeks)
Tuesday 11/10/2016
Academic Mentoring (Unit 2)
Thursday 13/10/2016
PSHE Day 1
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