Weekly Newsletters

As we end another term, I wish to highlight a number of events that have taken place or are about to take place:
1.    Thank you to the parents of year 11 students that attended the progress evening last Wednesday.  Feedback on improvement was the key of the evening and I hope this two way street was received well by all.

2.    Not for the faint-hearted was the 'Operating Theatre Live' event which allowed a group of keen scientific students to learn for a day how to gulp, learn about part of the anatomy and learn in a safe way how procedures in an operating theatre are undertaken.  It was fantastic!  I stayed for what I thought was five minutes but the staff are claiming I passed out for a good 15 minutes!

3.    Easter revision sessions take place over the next 2 weeks, please can I refer you to the schedule published later in the newsletter. Additionally we will be providing year 11 and post 16 students a quiet study area from 10am to 2pm in the first week. If students wish to take advantage of this opportunity then they should sign in using the automated system in reception and make their way to the old sixth form workroom (near the assembly hall) where they will be welcomed by a member of staff.

4.    Thank you for the positive response to the uniform.  I realise with any change there will be questions and interpretations. Therefore, we have posted a uniform FAQ in an attempt to answer the commonly asked questions.  This of course, will be updated if and when any further questions arise that we have not answered.  I trust you will find this useful.  The FAQ can be accessed by clicking on this link  https://www.kscs.org.uk/information/policies/uniform-policy

5.    Thursday was Rewards Day, and I was so pleased that the efforts of Mrs Purdy have allowed students that have demonstrated positive attitudes and characteristics to be rewarded in such an enjoyable way.  There is something about letting off a little amount of steam!! 

We also wish to acknowledge the talent of our students, and expect that the break provides the platform for all us to return on Tuesday April 23 with the correct uniform, a continued appetite to achieve and a realisation that another term has passed by and there are only a limited number to remain.  Make the most of it! I wish to end by stating that we thank you for your support.

Bryan Erwin
Principal

It has been so nice to see so many students receiving their Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. 

These awards are from their connect points, engagement in lessons, excellent work, being helpful, extra curricular events and various other positive badges.

Achieving Outstanding in students 'Attitude to Learning' is a remarkable achievement. To reward their efforts students were invited to an Inflatables event held in the Assembly Hall. It was nice to see all Year groups smiling with their friends, having fun and letting off some post and pre-exam stress.

Thursday 4 April was the Performing Arts annual musical trip to the West End to see School of Rock! What a fantastic trip, students were up dancing at the end to rock and not wanting the evening to end. Such a wonderful experience, some students had not been to the theatre before. Thank you to Mr Norman for organising and help from Mrs Collard, Mr Billet and Mrs Gregg.

Mrs J Purdy
Extended Leadership Team

Wednesday 8 May, 5.30-7.00pm, is the Year 8 Pathways to Success evening.

This important event is the start of students in Year 8 making their preferences for their GCSE subjects as they move into Key Stage 4 in September. I have written to all parents of Year 8 this week with further details, please keep an eye out for this letter.

Mr Swift
Assistant Principal

Spring Term and Attitude to Learning reports have now been sent home via email. Please look out for these in your inbox.

Should you have any queries, please contact the subject teacher in the first instance.

Mr Swift
Assistant Principal

Year 9 students have visited Cambridge University sampling life as a student, they enjoyed punting on the river and workshops delivered by graduates at the University.  A small number of Year 9 students have also enjoyed a "Meaningful Work Experience" at The Key Theatre where they spent the day meeting with different professionals within the business including the General Manager (who was an ex student of Ken Stimpson). Mr Abbott and myself took two teams of students to RS Components in Corby to take part in their Innovation Challenge, they have also been working on their challenge in school so we wish them well and hope that they will be one of the winning teams chosen to visit the Head Office in London. Year 10 students have enjoyed their second "World Of Work" day and have been busy putting together a CV in PSHE lessons in readiness for their Mock Interviews in May.  This week students in Year 9,10 and Post 16 enjoyed the "Operating Theatre Live" event in school. 

If your son/daughter is in Year 11 or Year 13 and has yet to decide what to do when they leave us in the summer please do send them to see me for an appointment.
Also this is the last opportunity to sign up for National Citizenship Service, if your son/daughter is in Year 11 please get them to ask me for an application form.

If you require any further information regarding our Careers Programme please see our website.

Mrs Ayre
Careers

Students were asked to build a set of small sculptures based on patterns and textures they saw on natural forms by looking at the natural world through a microscope. It was a delight to see the students enjoying working with a new media and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The students are now taking the skills learnt into their own personal projects.

Mrs L Bamber
Head of Art

The school entered 14 students into the competition across a range of categories and age groups. The students had to perform a series of set routines to which they were given an individual score. In the advanced and elite competitions students had to design and perform their own routines.

Notable achievements in the school saw Rebecca Gray finish second in the elite category, which is a remarkable achievement considering she is only in year 7! Other achievements were Kaylee Allen finishing 3rd in her category. These scores contributed to the school total, which saw the school finish in 3rd place out of the 10 schools that entered.

I would like to thank all the students that took part and the effort that they showed.

Mr Gray
PE

The management staff made a few tweaks to the starting line-up prior to the game. The team started the game slowly with the lads getting used to their new formation and playing on 4G. As a result, Nene Park took an early lead after a slip from the goal keeper allowed the ball over the line to give Nene Park a 1-0 advantage.

The boys then steadied the ship, starting to get control of the ball and creating a few half chances. Then just after the 10-minute mark Bobby Ponsford leashed a rasping drive from outside the penalty area that crashed in to the bottom right hand corner, just what the boy’s deserved. The boys then got on the front foot creating more openings before taking the lead with Bobby helping himself to his second goal.

Then the lads got caught on a fast counter attack from Nene Park with Alfie slipping and sticking his leg out, deflecting the ball past the goal keeper to make it 2-2 with 15 minutes played. Nene Park then put the lads under pressure and the management staff had to make a few tweaks to the defence. A good save from Bradley in goal kept the score level. Then in the final 5 minutes of the half, the lads created two further opportunities that were converted by Bobby Ponsford to give him 4 goals in the game and the team a 4-2 lead going into the second half.

After the half time interval, the boys were on the back-foot conceding corners and territory to a well organised Nene Park team. Then 5 minutes into the half there was a goal mouth scramble in the Ken Stimpson box, that fell to the Nene Park striker who converted it from close range. The remainder of the half saw the lads having to do some serious defending and limited to the odd counter attack, but they failed to take their chances. However, the defence stayed firm with some excellent defending from Matthew Stunt, Josh Moore and Alfie Medeiros to allow the boys to run out 4-3 winners.

Man of the Match – Alfie Medeiros

Mr Gray
PE

Students should be revising SMART using their PLCs to specifically target their individual areas of weakness. 

All the students PPE scores for individual questions have now been uploaded to the PiXL maths app which will help staff and students identify areas of weakness. Students can find this by going into paper QLA, AQA, typing WAVE NOV 2018 and using their tier they completed the PPE in. Students can revise SMART using the app and the multiple resources they have access to including individualised booklets that have been printed after analysing their PPEs.  

The PiXL Maths App points were reset on Monday morning and at the same time every week I will be taking a snap shot to see who has been using it most effectively and allocating the prizes for the week.

Maths academic catch up continues to run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for all years. As well as all Maths staff taking revision sessions, I am in 3U23 on each of these days primarily helping students with areas they are struggling with on the PiXL Maths app. 

It would be great to see a good turn out at the revision session over Easter. Students on these occasions will gain invaluable advice which could make the difference between grades. 

One area that continues to frustrate me is the fact that students throw away silly marks due to either not having the right equipment or not knowing how to use it correctly. A cause of this issue for some, is they do not bring the equipment to school with them every day to learn how to use it. If students do not have the correct equipment it can now be purchased using the school ParentPay system. Pencil cases with all essential equipment (pencil, ruler, rubber, sharpener, protractor and compass) are available for £3.00 and scientific calculators for £7.00 each. Revision guides are also available in school at cost price, saving you more than 50% on the rrp. There are 3 books at £2.50 each and an answer book for £1. Please see your class teacher, Miss Harvey, or Mr Donnelly if you have paid for them through Parent Pay.

Every week I continue to send out resources that students can start using at home, called the final countdown. Using the countdown alongside the PiXL Maths app and other revision resources, will really make the difference to closing the gap on areas students still have issues with. Please find attached week 7 and 8 of the new for 2019 extra questions. Students can complete these at home with the support of parents, as mark schemes and examiners reports are also attached. These are now split into two types of questions, one designed for foundation students aiming for a grade 4 or 5 and the new one for higher tier students aiming for grades 6 to 9. Every week I will continue to attach five topics that regularly appear on examinations. 

Part 07 - Final Countdown - CROSSOVER - Mark scheme and examiners report

Part 07 - Final Countdown - CROSSOVER - Questions

Part 07 - Final Countdown - HIGHER ONLY - Mark scheme and examiners report

Part 07 - Final Countdown - HIGHER ONLY - Questions

Mr L Donnelly
Maths

The last meeting of the Staff Book Club was a great success with The Handmaid's Tale being a popular choice with all readers.

At our next meeting we will be discussing The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. We will be gathering at The Bluebell in Glinton on Weds April 24 at 7.00pm. 

Mr K Billson
English

Y11 are well aware of the work they need to do and the revision sessions that are available to them in the holidays and next term. Their teachers will be setting homework for their class, and on Connect there are a number of past papers set for Combined Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  Students should use the marks schemes and examiners reports to check understanding and improve examination technique.

Y10 students have their end of year PPEs just after the holiday. There are three exams for all groups (except 10A4), to be sat during Science lesson times. They commence on 29 April and continue all week. Individual teachers are setting homework for the holiday, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to be prepared for these exams. They will be informing our planning for Y11 work which starts in May. Students should use Connect and ActiveLearn for revision.

Y9 have completed a term of GCSE work and are getting used to the new level of learning and assessing. They should be using ActiveLearn and BBC Bitesize (GCSE Edexcel) to keep on top of their knowledge.

Y8 have some exciting changes ahead and need to be thinking about their future goals. Why not watch YouTube videos to find out about Science careers? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnMBhO0LnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYt4tMg9OaU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NappSFwPg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEeTLopLkEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHoidT0rliU
 

Y7 have been growing in knowledge and skills and should be proud of what they have achieved so far. Keep up the good work!

Enjoy your holiday and have a Happy Easter!

Mrs K Young
Science KS4 Coordinator

The Challenge was to design and  build a firefighting appliance; the design had to promote a fire safety message and they had to put a brief presentation together. Dovile, Vishal, Oliver, Jakub and Tristan gave up their  lunch time in order to participate in the Challenge.

On the competition day the marks were awarded for:

•The presentation - Our Team were awarded the maximum points for the best presentation

•The fire/water safety message

•The overall design

•The amount of water delivered on target 

See below comments from pupils:

"We had a great time and we got an amazing goody bag"

"We are glad we spent our breaks in this club and we had a great time doing the activities on the day. We were shown and allowed to use the hoses and the gadgets they use in a fire "

"We did fun activities like using the VR Googles..... most favourite part was , we got to tests out real fire pumps."

We were a bit disappointed because the challenge rules  weren't being followed by all the teams, but the pupils still enjoyed the day even though they did not win!

We also want to mention the help received from Mrs Beal and Mrs Whybrow who help us with the water pump but also designing the appliance.

Ms Chiriac
Year 7 & 8 Maths Coordinator

This week first place goes to Success House who has just overtaken Aspire, with only 0.02% of a lead. Who will be in first place after Easter? You can help your House by attending school every day, keeping absence to a minimum. Medical appointments where possible should be held outside of school hours. I hope you all have a restful break this Easter.

"Great changes might not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy"

Mrs S Blackledge
Attendance Officer