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Message from the Principal
 What does Easter mean to many of us? For some it is…
Year 7 students shared their international interpretation of Easter in an assembly on Wednesday and I was intrigued by their appreciation of how the event of Easter is recognised internationally.
 Easter is that most confusing of dates - one that is never fixed and changes according to the lunar calendar. What ever you are doing over the Easter break please relax and recharge. I wish to thank the staff for their hard work this term and I wish to thank you as parents and carers in your continued support, it is valued. Finally, we always end each term by celebrating student achievement and high attendance. There were a number of Principal’s awards nominated by Heads of House that I would like to share with you below, but also two prizes given for high attendance this term. Congratulations to all of these students. As staff were are particularly very proud of them alongside all our other students. 100% attendance
97-99.5% attendance award
Best wishes
Bryan Erwin This weeks Letters Home
Key Stage 3 Art &Design
This week I had the pleasure of visiting a Year 8 Art & Design lesson to see some of the fantastic pieces of ‘Pop Art’ Mrs Fowkes’ students had created.
The effort and love of the subject was evident across the whole class and the finished articles are a real testament to the hard work of these students. Well done to both Year 8 and Mrs Fowkes - I look forward to seeing more of your artwork in the future!
 Mr Swift Cyber Prevent
Last week we welcomed both Regional Cyber Crime Prevent Officers from the Police into school to deliver some key training with staff on identifying the risks of using the internet and how to spot when laws are being broken.
The world of technology moves at such a fast pace that often we run the risk of not fully understanding what our young people are doing with their computers, tablets, phones or games consoles. Below is a link to a simple document that highlights scenarios where laws may be broken without the person involved fully knowing. We are developing a student friendly version of this document to be shared later in the school year. As ever, if you wish to access more information to help keep your child safe online, please visit our e-Safety page of our school website Mr Swift Year 7 Football
Last week saw the year 7’s play their final game of the season as we took on Kings. Following the Nene Park tournament before term there were a few tactical to the starting line-up. Once Kings arrived, the game started at a slow pace with neither side taking control with some half openings at either end.
Then slightly against the run of play, we conceded a free kick at the edge of our box to which the Kings number 6 stepped up and put it into the top corner to give king the lead. The boys battle back and created a few half chances, then just before half time the broke into the pathway of Harvey Edwards who went through to the keeper to score to bring the game level. The boys failed to regain their composure after the restart and kings but a passing move together to regain the lead at half time. The second half started with Ken Stimpson having most of the play hitting the cross bar and the post from an Isaiah Ellis-Brown left foot effort. Then mid-way through the half Kings broke out to score a third goal to give them the 3-1 advantage. The boys kept battling and did not stop. They managed to pull a goal back through an excellent finish from Riley Green. This gave the boys five minutes to search for an equaliser but it did not materialise with Kings winning the game 3-2. I would like to thank all the players for their hard work and effort. Final the referee Aston Whybrow from year 11 giving up his time to take control of the match and do an excellent job. Mr Gray Maths Revision
With us now going into the Easter break this is a key time for students revision and their own learning to be structured at home. Students need to revise SMART and use Personal Learning Checklists (PLCs) in order to turn areas of weakness into areas of strength.
A great way of doing this is through the free PiXL Maths App which is available for download on all smartphones and can be accessed on laptops, desktop computers and Ipads too. We have been busy uploading students recent marks from their Maths PPEs onto the app and students can now work directly on their own individual areas of weakness. The app has excellent videos and PowerPoints to help students relearn topics with lots of questions to practice on too! If students have forgotten how to access the App or their login details they will need to see their class teacher. Every week I have been sending out resources students can start using at home called the final countdown. There are only 27 teaching days to the first maths exam on the 24th of May and revising gradually is much more effective than trying to cram in lots of information at the last minute. I am pleased to attach week 7 of the countdown in this edition of the newsletter. This is a set of resources of questions students can do at home with parental support (markschemes have also been added as well as examiners reports). Furthermore there is a PLC students can use to track their progress which can also be used alongside HegartyMaths (www.hegartymaths.com) and/or the PiXL Maths App. Please do feel free to email me personally for advice and more resources to help Year 11s revise at l.donnelly@kscs.org.uk, together we can ensure our students are successful in the exams ahead. Mr L Donnelly Year 11 Science
You are about to have a fortnight holiday, but I know that it is going to be far from relaxing. Many subjects are holding holiday revision sessions, but we in Science have taken the decision not to.
The main reason for this is the fact that the specification content is so huge that we couldn't cover it in a couple of mornings in the depth that you need, and everybody has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. We would rather that you targeted your areas of weakness at home in a comfortable learning environment. The other reason is that we have been revising in class since January, so independent revision will be different and possibly more effective. We expect that you will be spending the equivalent of half an hour a day on Science revision, which is approximately 9 hours. To help you with your Easter revision, Mr Mantell and Dr Causey have kindly added some excellent resources to the Student Workgroups files, which everyone can access via Remote Access (https://portal.kscs.org.uk)
Mrs K Young Flat Earth Theory - Too Many Contradictions!
This is a subject that many students in this school are interested in, mostly because we can’t believe that the theory exists!
The majority of people still believe that the world is spherical, however, we now have the Flat Earth Society. This community is a place for people from different parts of the world to come together to talk about their theories to try to prove that the Earth is flat. Today I want to contradict some of these theories with simple ideas. The first one being the concept of day and night. Many people from the society can’t explain why we have day and night, because if the world was really flat every single country would be able to see the sun with their own eyes, at the same time, no matter how close or far away from the sun you were. And how would seasons even happen? The second contradiction are the proven facts that the Earth is actually a globe. There are many physicists and other scientists whose work is based on the knowledge that Earth is actually a sphere; if the Earth wasn’t a globe many of these proven theories of fundamental science would break down. The word here is ‘proven’, meaning that the data is verified by a number of scientists through experimentation and it cannot be denied. These are things like gravity, magnetic forces and constants such as pi and phi. The third contradiction involves star constellations. A constellation is a group of stars that are considered to form imaginary outlines or meaningful patterns. We see different star constellations every night due to the rotation of the Earth. If the world was actually flat, we would see the same thing every night until the day we die. I hope that this answers some questions people may have, and that it inspires everyone to look at ideas in more detail before making up their minds, and especially before posting online and making societies! AS Biologists KSCS Girls Football
I had the pleasure yesterday of taking a combination of year 7 & 8 girls to Mick George training academy to compete in the Peterborough girls football tournament organised by Peterborough United Football Club.
Manager Hughes opted to take 9 players and Coach Ellyssia Crutchfield on the understanding that the manager didn't interfere with the Coach's instructions
That meant that KSCS had drawn IQRA academy in the semi final. Having drawn IQRA Academy in the semi finals the girls looked good and confident. The year 8s taking control and encouraging the year seven players. The team however found themselves a goal down very early on but staged a good comeback
 Mr Hughes Year 11 Easter Revision Timetable
The following Easter Revision sessions will be running for our Year 11 students:
 Mrs J Harvey Ken Stimpson Termly Wellbeing Report from the Wellbeing Ambassadors
Last term we conducted a survey our year 11 students and asked what they wanted in terms of revision, exam preparation and exam stress. We discovered that students wanted their exam timetables sooner so they were able to plan effective revision, a room in school dedicated for year 11 revision and also that students would like to try yoga.
We are in the process of getting a dedicated revision room available after the Easter holidays. We approached Mr. Erwin and he agreed to distribute exam timetables earlier so students can plan their revision more easily. We contacted a lady called Charlotte from Bare Foot Yoga in Oundle who kindly offered a session for staff and students to try yoga for free. She introduced us slowly into the exercises and breathing techniques and everyone found this really beneficial. Both staff and students commented on how they really enjoyed the yoga and that this is something they'd like to continue doing, you will see some photos of the event below. Yoga is not only beneficial for your physical health but also for your mental health too! A big thank you to Charlotte from all who participated! Please see a message from Charlotte at the end of this article. Also around school we have been able to put up our positive messaging in the student toilets. We will change these each term. In the near future you can expect a student voice from us for year 10 Students to allow us to find out how we can help them start year 11 positively and confidently. We will also be running various events during Mental Health Awareness Week during 14-20th May, please keep an eye on the daily news for what will be happening. We have weekly meetings about how we can improve the well-being of students in our school community and would love to have input from other students. If you feel that you have lots of ideas that could benefit our students or are up to the challenge of becoming a well-being ambassador come to 1U03 on Wednesday and Thursday break 2 or alternatively see Mrs.Gregg and Mrs.Patman in 1L24.' We would also like to highlight some of the resources that are avaiable on the BBC website: The Mind Set, it is a group of student coaches from a variety of academic and diverse backgrounds, who have all recently taken their exams and understand the pressures involved as we approach exam time. In a series of short films the students offer pracitcal advice on topics such as ‘How to get started’ and ‘How to plan your revision’ along with mental wellbing advice such as ‘How to stay motivated’ and ‘How to believe in yourself’ . The website can be accessed from the following link, which will also be avaiable from the schools website under section ‘need help’. Thank you for reading our wellbeing newsletter
Hollie Orbell, Bethany Smith, Anisha Freeman, Lily Watkin and Saffron Fletcher How could yoga benefit me? – Article by Charlotte Barford - charlotte@barefootyoga.co.uk
In a world where we seem to take no breaks. Be it work, home, social media, relationships or other pressures. We rarely take the opportunity to stop, putting aside and in turn controlling the pressures of everyday life. Through yoga we can learn tools to help us find that space, to stop and listen to what our bodies are telling us, both mentally and physically.
I cannot tell you the number of times people have said to me “I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible”…. Not only does it help you to improve your flexibility, it is accessible to everyone regardless of your current ability or skill. Yoga is so much more than merely a physical practice, it is also about learning to breathe efficiently – in turn slowing the mind and body in which the fast pace of life can put on overdrive. The way we breathe has a direct impact on our minds. If we can control our breath, this has a direct impact on the brain, subduing constant and often unnecessary thoughts. The majority of us don’t use the full capacity of our breath, and shallow breathing can feed anxiety and speed up the nervous system. With exam time looming for many of you and other situations that you may find challenging, I’m going to give you a breathing exercise that will hopefully help; Equal Breath – Either lying down or sitting up with the eyes closed begin to inhale through the nose for a count of four and exhale through the nose for a count of four. Try to move the breath all the way down to the lower belly feeling an expansion in the rib cage and lower belly. If you feel you want to lengthen the breath, try a count of five or even six but drop it down if the breath becomes strained. If the mind is really busy or you’re struggling then you can lengthen the out breath so try inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of six. Taking time out for relaxation is another thing we don’t find the time to do so perhaps before bed you can put your phone aside and try this for five minutes: Lying on your back with your legs long place your arms by your side with your palms facing up or place your hands on your belly (whichever feels best). Close your eyes and bring your awareness to your feet as you consciously relax them, then bring your awareness to your legs as you allow them to become heavy and relaxed. Continue up your body softening and relaxing your belly, chest, shoulders, arms, fingers and then jaw (moving this from side to side releasing tension), face, behind the eyes, brow and finally the mind. Try to put aside any thoughts allowing them to move on, trying not to let a dialogue develop around them and allow the body to become heavy. If you can, try and rest here for a few minutes. Charlotte Barford Attendance Stats
Aspire are still in first place this week, Lets try to make sure this week is a good one and then come back after Easter ready to go. Good luck to Year 11 and Post 16 for their revision for the important exams which are not far away.
Mrs S Blackledge    |
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