Weekly Newsletters

I hope the pictures below share with you how much giving back and care there has been shown over the last few week by students and staff to each another. I want to thank all the staff for their hard work and resilience through this long term.  Finally, I would like to wish everyone a safe, relaxing and enjoyable festive break.  All students are expected to start back on time on Thursday 3 January.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all of you!

Bryan Erwin
Principal

IIf you feel it is appropriate, I would be grateful if you could click on the link below to sign a petition to raise the debate on school funding.
The target of 100,000 responses is only 25% obtained.

Thank you for taking time to consider your views on this matter.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/232220

Mr B Erwin
Principal

The event challenged both the student’s energy and effort levels as they participated in a range of different sports activities. The event supports The Malcolm Whales Foundation a local charity that raises money for children’s cancer. The Foundation was founded in memory of Malcolm Whales, father to Mr Whales. Malcolm lost his fight with bowel cancer in 2008 at the age of 55. Since his death the charity now runs a number of events for secondary students and has raised £180,000 for cancer related causes.

The day at KSCS began with students arriving just before 7am. Throughout the day students participated in a range of different activities including trampolining, football, table tennis, badminton and dodgeball. Staff from across the school were extremely supportive, regularly dropping in to offer assistance and support to students and staff. The event finished at 5pm and an amazing £2500 was raised for the charity.

One of the most amazing aspects of this year’s event, has been its growth across other schools in the region. Witchford Village College, Stamford Welland, Ely College and Littleport and East Cambs Academy all took part in the sports marathon. As a result of their combined efforts nearly 500 students contributed, raising a staggering £9500.

On behalf of the Foundation I would like to thank all the students and the staff (in particular Mr Hughes and Miss Jones) that contributed to the day. Your efforts will have an enormous impact on others.

To see where the money goes and to find further information about the charity please visit www.malcolmwhales.co.uk or visit Facebook The Malcolm Whales Foundation or Twitter @malcolmwhales 

Mr D Whales
Vice Principal

You will find times in the coming fortnight when you may be at a loose end. Please use this time wisely to get ahead in your revision and keep knowledge fresh in your head. To help you I have put some tasks for important topics onto ActiveLearn. Please try as many of these questions as you can. The tasks will give you feedback as you do them.

The details that you should remember are: 

• Go to https://pearsonactivelearn.com/app/Home to log in.
• Your username is your email address name only e.g. 14YoungK
• Your password is password123 (unless you have changed it yourself)

Merry Christmas!

Mrs K Young
Teacher of Science

Our Year 7 tutor group assemblies began in earnest after October half term with Mrs Chiriacs form being the brave group that organised and delivered the first one all about raising the awareness of bullying. The following week we watched Miss Potters tutees delivering their assembly based on the theme of being environmentally friendly and finally Mr Corcorans tutor group delighted us with an assembly based on the famous Walt Disney. It has been a pleasure to see all the different characters up in front of their peer group. Well done to all that took part in these and of course thank you to the tutors for their support. 

I launched the residential trip with the Bushcraft Company in another assembly this term. Pleasingly this was met with such excitement from students and staff. The deadline has now passed for your £20 deposits for this trip. However I am allowing a small extension on this as there are still some spaces. So, if you wish your son/daughter to attend this trip then please ensure the deposit and slip is handed in by Friday 4th January. All other payments will follow as stated in the letter you have already received.

The Year 7 students have once again proved what a mature and hard working bunch the majority of them are. We have put a number of rewards in place for the students that continue to get it right; positive phone calls and letters home, Reward film afternoon and a very special rewards assembly. In this assembly, Mrs Read and I handed out Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates for Connect points, Excellent Attitude to Learning certificates, then Tutee of the Term certificates that were chosen by the students tutors. Finally, I had the pleasure of awarding Mrs Walker with Tutor of the Term. Mrs Walker is 100% dedicated to each of her tutees, giving up her own time to ensure they are happy and in the best frame of mind to learn.
 

Mrs L Bamber
Year 7

We had 5 students up for the award this year. The result were as follows:

• 3rd Place was Molli Tilney for Ice Dancing with 18.9% share of the vote
• 2nd Place was Kayleigh Pell for Gymnastics with 21.6% share of the vote
• 1st Place was Tamera Christie-Beddington with 35.1% share of the vote

Congratulations to Tamera who collected the award as part of our final school assembly of this term.

I would like to thank all the students that took part this year and I look forward to running the event next year.

 

Mr N Gray
Teacher of PE

To book an appointment, please go to https://kscs.parentseveningsystem.co.uk and login with your details.

Please note:

If you wish to see teachers for specific sub subjects in Humanities (Geography, History, RE) or if your child is considering one of the Performing Arts Subjects in Year 10, you will need to undertake additional steps when booking for parents evening to ensure you see the correct teacher for the subject of interest.

When booking appointments, click on “Add a teacher”

In the pop-up box that appears, select the department and teacher you wish to see.

This will then add the teacher to your booking sheet and an appointment can then be booked normally.  Check with your child if you are unsure who teaches them for a subject.

By default, the system may have pre-selected a teacher in another subject you may not wish to see. If this is the case, please unselect them when booking.

For teachers in the subject & classes please see the table below.

These GCSE qualifications will enable students to progress on to further courses in our Sixth Form or College Courses. It is vital that correct choices are made.

The particular combination of courses followed by a student during Years 10 to 11 is called a Learning Pathway.

It is an exciting time!

Our aim is to ensure that all students are on GCSE courses that:

• they know they can do well in
• are studying subjects they enjoy  
• reflect their interests and personal qualities
• helps them to learn in the best way for each individual
• keeps options open for the future.

Important Dates in the Process:

• Tuesday 8/1/19 (3.30pm-5pm) and Wednesday 9/1/19 (4pm-7pm) – Year 9 Parents Evenings.
• Tuesday 12 /2/19 - Year 9 Pathways Process Evening – Event starts at 5.30pm.

We wish all our Year 9 students a productive time in researching and choosing their Pathways to Success.   Furthermore, may I wish you all well for the Christmas period and New Year.

Mrs H Boughton
Assistant Principal

These points are awarded for all areas of the school, participation in lessons, helpful in tutor time, attend extra-curricular activities, excellent piece of homework etc.  Students also received certificates for their excellent attitude to learning.

Well done to all students but in particular well done to the students below who achieved OUTSTANDING attitude to Learning in their second Autumn Half Term:

• Year 13 Jaceslavs Ivanos
• Year 13 Asia Mafia
• Year 11 Michaela Zigova
• Year 13 Joseph Kirwan

Mrs J Purdy
Extended Leadership Team

The exams in the summer are stretched over a much wider period of time so planning their revision should be easier. Every week I will be sending out resources students can start using at home called the final countdown. This may seem premature but there are only 84 teaching days to the first summer exam and revising gradually is much more effective. Using the countdown alongside the PiXL Maths app and other revision resources will really make a difference, closing the gap on areas students still have issues with. Please find attached (at the top of this newsletter) week 1 of the extra questions students can do at home with the support of parents as mark schemes and examiners reports are also attached. Every week I will continue to attach five topics that regularly appear on examinations.

Students can also use their individualised PLCs  on the the PiXL Maths app to target areas of weakness, using the video tutorials and PowerPoints to help them understand topics.

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.

The final PPE exams will start on the 11th March which is only 48 teaching days away!

Mr L Donnelly
Teacher of Maths

These examinations are very important at this stage in their GCSE course as we can use the outcome to establish how we can support the students in reaching their full potential for the upcoming summer exams.

Class teachers are currently in the process of sharing performance and outcomes with students and will use their grade to inform teaching and revision provided.  As a department we are establishing targeted revision sessions based on performance in the recent PPE in order to give students the best opportunity to succeed.

All students will be invited to a specific revision session after Christmas – Please look out for a letter which will be sent home giving the days/times they will be encouraged and expected to attend.

These revision sessions will support with Paper 1 and will run between 7th January and 15th February.  After this time we can provide similar targeted support for Paper 2.

We hope you will support your child in encouraging them to attend. 

Mrs C Willoughby
Head of Department: English

These were delivered by university lecturers, such as Corey Ross from Birmingham University and Patrick Major from the University of Reading. This was an excellent opportunity for the students to hear the views of these professionals and to brush up on the knowledge and analytical focus needed for the Germany exam.

Mrs K Hackett
Head of Faculty: History

This image and caption was tweeted by Richard Branson, one of the UK’s most successful and influential business people.  He is pictured running to a meeting to ensure he is on time.  Nothing annoys him more than poor punctuality. 

Everybody at KSCS also takes attendance and punctuality very seriously.  One of the key roles of a school is to prepare our young people for the world of work.  As Richard Branson states “Punctuality shows organisation and respect for others”.  Being able to turn up to work or an appointment on time is vital.  Persistent lateness to work will almost inevitably result in a dismissal and so getting into the habit of arriving at school on time is a key life skill.  Furthermore, when a pupil arrives late to school, there are many other consequences:

• He or she misses out on essential instructions given at the beginning of lessons.  In fact, arriving 5 minutes late each day adds up to missing 3 entire days of school by the end of the year.
• Pupils might feel awkward and embarrassed going into the classroom when everyone else is already settled.
• When one person arrives late everyone loses out as the class is disrupted and the teacher must take time away from the other pupils to explain what is going on for the lesson.
• Students who are frequently late develop a pattern of lateness which often means they arrive late for GCSE or A’ Level examinations, negatively affecting their performance in their terminal examinations. 

Peterborough City Council require us to issue Penalty Notices for a variety of reasons, including “persistent late arrival at school after the register has closed contributing to a level of attendance of 90% or below”.  The school will take account of individual circumstances in each case, however we wish to make it very clear that the following reasons are not valid reasons for being late to school:

• “I got up late” or “My alarm did not go off”
• “The bus was late” or “Traffic” (except in exceptional circumstances, such as a break down)
• “I couldn’t find my uniform / coursework / PE kit / etc”
• “My parents made me late”
• “I was taking my brother or sister to school.”
• “I had an appointment” or “Mum/Dad had an appointment” (These should be made outside of school hours unless it is an emergency or there is no other option.  In such cases an appointment card should be shown to the Attendance Officer on the gate or to Reception staff upon signing in after 9.00am) 

When we return to school on Thursday 3 January 2019, we will be reintroducing a daily late detention for students who arrive after 8.45am each day.  This will take place during Break 1.  Students who fail to attend will be placed into the weekly Serious Incident Detention.

In addition to this, Mrs Blackledge will also be inviting the parents / carers of those students who are persistently late to school in for meetings to discuss how they can improve their attendance and /or punctuality in order to avoid receiving a fine from the Local Authority.  

As we approach this time of New Year’s Resolutions and fresh starts, it is certainly worth some of our students committing to starting 2019 with a pledge to be on time to school every day!

We thank you for your continued support in helping our school to improve attendance and punctuality and wish you a relaxing Christmas break and Happy New Year.

Mr K Abbott & Mrs S Blackledge
Assistant Principal & School Attendance Officer

Charlotte Marshall was invited to attend Cross Keys Homes annual awards evening, after being nominated for the Young Achiever of the Year award for her positive contribution during the tall ships voyage.  Charlotte, runner up in this category can be seen collecting her award from Eddie Smy, from Cross Keys Homes after enjoying a Christmas dinner at the Holiday Inn along with other nominees for awards. Well done Charlotte.

Georgina Harris received a Volunteer Crew Recommendation after her attendance on the voyage and Georgina is now in the process of applying to become a volunteer Watch Assistant for the Tall Ships Youth Trust. This will involve supporting the Skipper and Mate with everything on board and instructing other young people to learn new skills whilst sailing. Good luck with this exciting opportunity Georgina.

Mrs R Patman
Pupil Premium Administrator

We looked at:-

• What is a Business Plan?
• The reasons why companies produce a Business Plan ?
• The format of a Business Plan.

Students were then asked to work in groups to produce a new business plan idea.  They had to include their business name, concept, aims and objectives, marketing plan, leadership roles and justification of financial needs to set up the business concept.

The winning group was AMC Childcare Business Plan, by Charlize Miller, Abigail Miller and Millie Salisbury for their very professional and detailed business plan.

Mrs Bates also awarded two groups as runners up for their creative ideas and unique selling points.  The runners up were Charlotte Sarro, Jodie Fletcher, Taleasha Layton, Andrew Genovese, Roy Loasby, Nathan Kempton, Ethan Bur and Dylan Mcllroy.

Mrs H Boughton
Assistant Principal

Fifteen delegates from as far away as Surrey arrived and were presented with an excellent microbiology good practice hands on training course provided by two CLEAPPSS experts.

Due to the success of this course and the fact we had a number of Technicians on the waiting list we will be hosting this course next November. The course was well received and the delegates were impressed with the School and the behaviour of the Students.
£260 was secured from CLEAPPSS for hosting this event.

The next course to be held here is a Radiation Protection Supervisor (RPS) in June when visiting Teachers will be trained in the safe storage, use and monitoring of radioactive sources.

Mr P Meredith
Senior Science Technician

This week Success holds onto the lead.  Be aware that the other Houses are catching you up!  Its been a very hectic time with Christmas fast approaching.  I hope that you all have a restful break and that you return ready for a new year.  We look forward to welcoming you back to school on the 3rd January 2019!

"Merry Christmas & A happy and healthy 2019 from the Attendance Team"

Mrs S Blackledge
Attendance Officer