King's Lynn Academy - Spring 2017

NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017

Learning without Limits Spring Ternm.indd 1

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Welcome Firstly, I would like to say a massive thank you to Craig Morrison for all that he has done for KLA. I know he will be missed by both staff and students and we wish him all the best at KESA. Barbara Backham is also now at KESA and her innovative work over the years with curriculum and timetable in particular, are the reason that students are able to experience such an individualised curriculum. Finally, we also say goodbye to Rebecca Schrooder. Aside from being PA to the Executive principal, she has been an important driver within the school, organising events such as Awards evenings and Prom for Year 11. We wish them all the best for the future.

Although the Spring term is the shortest term over the academic year, it always feels like the busiest! We have been through a lot of changes over the last few weeks, and I would like to thank both the students and staff for their continued hard work and support. This has allowed both myself, Mr Fletcher and the leadership team to focus on future developments and improvements at KLA. Teaching and Learning is essential to ensuring we improve outcomes at KLA, and this will continue to be a major focus at KLA. I have been looking into key areas that we need to develop further at KLA. These particular areas are: - Marking and feedback - Homework – both quality and quantity - Active learning by students - Reward and challenge - Literacy and calculation Linked in with all of the foci above is the need to have high expectations of all students and the need to ensure that there is consistency in all years and across all subjects.

To help support the work I will be doing with Teaching and Learning, a student group has been created to specifically look at the key foci above. They will have an important role over the months ahead to ensure that we make the improvements needed.

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There have been a number of events provided for students this term. This has included: - School of Rock for Years 9,10 & 11 in London (English & Drama) - Blood Brothers performance in Sheffield (English) - Sutton Scholars at University of Cambridge - High Achievers conference at the College - Model UN conference for KS4 at UEA - Residential weekend for Year 11 On the horizon for the summer term: - New York visit (all year groups) - Sutton scholars residential at University of Cambridge - ‘Move on Up’ at UEA - Paris and Disneyland trip (Years 9, 10 & 11) - Year 7 Harry Potter Studio and London visit.

- UEA Science programme day This is just a snapshot of the fantastic opportunities that staff organise for the students at KLA. KLA were pleased to able to welcome again the National Youth theatre who were working with Year 9 students. This is a project to inspire young girls to achieve their potential. The driver of the project is Esther McVey working alongside both the National Youth theatre and Dow Chemicals. Students found the day to be very informative and inspiring and will be doing some follow up work in school. Many thanks again to Esther and all involved on the day.

Year 11 have again had a busy term, with mocks 2 being completed before the Easter break.

There have been some improvements since the November mocks, however, all Year 11 students need to ensure they use the time they have left at KLA wisely over the next couple of months. There is a comprehensive after school programme for all Year 11 students in most subjects – there are still some students who need to attend consistently in order to gain full value in their preparation for the mocks. There will also be an Easter programme of intervention which again Year 11 students need to attend.

The above interventions and opportunities don’t just happen and I would like to personally thank all staff for their commitment and drive with all students, especially over the Easter break with staff giving up time to support the students at KLA. I hope you all have a restful break and I look forward to seeing you in the Summer term.

Best wishes,

Barney Rimmer Head of School

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REWARDS The Christmas term was an exciting one for rewards. There was so much to celebrate with Blazer Badge winners for the term and also the students who received highly commended certificates for their efforts.

The High Street vouchers were awarded to the students in the Top 100 and then to finish, the presentation of the Endeavour Cup, Behaviour and Attendance Trophy followed by the iPad mini draw.

For the KS4 Rewards assembly I invited Mr Pooley who sponsors our praise postcards to come in and present the awards. Our Head Boy Edward Dew and Head Girl Kaitlyn Senter supported me in all three assemblies. Dayna Edwards received the most points for Nelson House with 106 winning a ÂŁ15.00 Voucher. Mrs Westbury then announced the winners of the highly commended certificate and Mr Rimmer announced the winners of the blazer badges for both assemblies.

On the last day of term we came together as a whole school to celebrate the end of term and to present our final awards. We were very lucky this year to welcome a visitor to KLA, Vicki Wilson well known for playing Sonia in Waterloo Road. Mr Rimmer and Vicki presented the staff with their badges and the choir sang Christmas carols.

The Attendance Trophy was presented to Cresswell House while MacArthur received the Rewards Trophy with 5,388. The Endeavour Trophy was presented to Saba Zaheer Y10 nominated by Mrs Westbury.

Finally with the help of our Student Commissioners the snow began to fall, the music was playing ready for the announcement of the iPad mini winner, Alicia Brook in Y8 was a very deserving winner.

Mrs Thomas

For KS3 Rewards assembly I invited Mrs Wellard to present the awards, Mrs Wellard is on our Board of Governors. Kaiden Lane Y7 was top for Vancouver with 112 points, Harvey Gray Y8 was top for Cresswell with 103 and Jack Dixon was top for MacArthur with 95, all receiving a ÂŁ15 voucher.

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DUKE OF EDINBURGH Now in its second year, the KLA Duke of Edinburgh Scheme is continuing to work with pupils to achieve their Bronze Award, and is now assisting pupils in taking on the challenge of the Silver Award, which a number of Year 10/11 students will achieve by the end of the year.

Our first Silver expedition, back in October, saw pupils exploring the beautiful countryside of Lincolnshire, in a variety of weathers! The groups pulled together and absolutely stepped up to the challenge.

They will complete their final, assessed expedition at the end of this month, tackling the hills of Derbyshire.

The new Bronze candidates will soon be setting off on their first expeditions to Holt and Thetford. In preparation, they are learning about first aid, orienteering, campcraft, and how to care for our environment by following the Countryside Code.

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A huge part of achieving the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, is working to contribute to the community we are a part of. KLA students have taken this on with enthusiasm and professionalism, volunteering with various organisations including Oxfam, Barnardo’s, King’s Lynn Library, Parkrun, and coaching for local sports teams.

Taking on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at any level is a huge challenge; it requires dedication, team work, and an incredible amount of hard work. I am so proud of the commitment our students have shown in completing each level, and I am certain they will reap the benefits in the future.

Katherine Poll D of E Co-ordinator

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MATHS MASTERMIND On Friday 13th January, King’s Lynn Academy hosted the annual Inter-School Maths Mastermind Challenge, which sees the best of King’s Lynn High Schools put their mathematical brains through their paces to see which High School can boast the best mathematicians.

Our KLA contestants scores were as follows:Year 7 Elise Clayton 1st place with 21 points Year 8 Jonathan Senter 1st place with 22 points Year 9 Weronika Woznialis 1st place with 22 points Year 10 Corey Edmunds 1st place with 22 points Year11 Max Fayers 1st place with 20 points

The afternoon was a brilliant success, with KLA being the overall winning school.

All congratulations must go to the whole of the King’s Lynn Academy team for becoming the 2017 “Inter-School” Maths Mastermind Champions. This is now the third consecutive year we have won this competition. This is the first year that any school has won across every year group. A huge “Well done” to them all.

King’s Lynn Academy invited King Edward VII Academy and Springwood High School to take part in the challenge.

The final scores were:King’s Lynn Academy 107 King Edward VII Academy 84 Springwood High School 79 As you can see from the scores KLA had a very clear overall win against the other schools, winning by over 23 clear points, putting them in an unbeatable position. Our KLA contestants did us very proud. All our contestants did extremely well, considering the pressure of being under the spotlight. The whole competition was very exciting and fiercely competed throughout.

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Mr Barney Rimmer presented the overall winning trophy to KLA at the end of the competition.

The photo shows our KLA winning team – from left Max Fayers Y11, Elise Clayton Y8, Jonathan Senter Y8, Weronika Woznialis Y9 and Corey Edmunds Y10.

Carolyn Fysh Numeracy Co-ordinator

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For your child to progress to their full potential, it is essential that they attend on time, first time, every time.

With our expertise and your support, we can work together to shape our students into enterprising young people.

PER CHILD With good attendance at King’s Lynn their learning really does have PER PARENT Academy, FOR UNAUTHORISED no limits.

HOLIDAY This term Student Commission have been involved in their usual Student Learning walks. They are becoming experts in assessing the learning of students in lessons. I am incredibly proud of the work they have been doing.

We have also created a student steering group which is working with Mr Rimmer on addressing the key areas from the recent Ofsted report.

We look forward to seeing their work on this and the improvement that is bound to come.

In other news, we have once again been successful in enrolling two students on the AQA Unlocking Potential programme which provides mentoring for students

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who have circumstances which may have affected their school life.

The students are meeting with a Championship sailor, Sam Brearey who is guiding them in the creation of a community event at the same time as building their confidence and skills. They have met with Sam four times so far and we are really proud of their efforts.

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HOUSE NEWS HOUSE NEWS HOUSE NEWS

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Welcome to the spring edition of the KLA newsletter and an update about how Nelson have been getting on this term. We are continuing to support the British Lung Foundation. The British Lung Foundation are the only charity concerned with the help of the nation’s lungs.

They have three distinct goals; • to offer hope through research • to help people affected by lung conditions • to campaign for positive change in the UK’s lung health Coming from a PE background I see the importance of these goals as it links strongly to health and well-being. Hopefully we can raise a good amount of money to help with theses causes.

Our next non-uniform day will be on Friday 24th March which is Comic Relief.

We will soon be looking forward to the summer and our Houses will be competing against each other in the KLA Olympics.

Mr May (Enrichment Co-ordinator)

This half term Vancouver House has consistently come top in the behaviour points, which means they have had the fewest negative points in the school. Fantastic! Let’s keep up the good work and try to gain some more achievement points, which we are currently in third place for.

Students have continued to fundraise for our charity – Teenage Cancer Trust. Keep an eye out in the parent bulletin for the next charity event. Teenage Cancer Trust have a local event (not linked to KLA) which may be of interest to those of you who are keen cyclists. On 29th April cyclists will be setting off from various locations with the end destination being The Jolly Sailors in Brancaster Staithe. If this event appeals to you, please visit www.teenagecancertrust.org Miss Watts (Enrichment Co-ordinator)

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This term has seen MacArthur House reminded of one of the charities they are supporting this year. Along with Vasculitis UK, the students are also supporting the Alzheimer’s Society and the students were lucky enough to be part of a special assembly. Representatives from the charity spoke in detail about the causes and effects of Alzheimer’s and the current research being undertaken. This gave an insight into where the money we are raising is helping.

The students then completed further work during their seminar time as they watched a very touching documentary interviewing individuals who have been diagnosed with the condition and their families. The documentary had an emotional impact on the students and staff. The students were then encouraged to make a pledge to support Alzheimer’s in a simple way. Some students agreed simply to be more aware of the condition, others pledged to wear a badge to show support and a few went above and beyond with their efforts. Ross Hall and Jasmine Abraham, for example, designed a poster which has been forwarded to the society and is now being used as part of their current campaign.

I am always touched by the response of our students when they are involved in events such as these and once again they have stepped up. The assembly reignited our students awareness of one of the charities they are supporting and more students are now planning money raising ideas which we look forward to launching next half term.

Mr Endersby (Enrichment Co-ordinator)

We have had a great start to 2017, lots of positives and lots of rewards. I have seen many students working showing great progress and great improvement, in their confidence and Learning.

We are currently working together as House groups very well in both academic and sporting efforts.

Thanks to the efforts of Cresswell students and parents we have currently raised £492.80 for our House charity, Little Discoverers, I am still looking for suggestions of other charity ideas that we could use to raise awareness and funding towards this wonderful charity.

Many thanks to all Miss Carnell (Enrichment Co-ordinator)

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resswell

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KS3 ROUND UP Thank you to all of the Y8 parents/ carers that attended the Parents evening and Options evening earlier in the term. The turnout was fantastic, one of our best yet!

This is a lovely opportunity to read comments about your children and recognise theirs strengths.

As you know we have student receptionist’s every day, thank you to all of the students that have taken part. Some of the Y8 students will have an opportunity to do this later in the year.

charities. I am pleased and very proud to announce that we raised over ÂŁ1000. This is a tremendous amount of money and will be shared between the four House charities, thank you all for your support!

We celebrated World Book Day this term, it was a great day! The Year 7 Year 7 Parents evening is coming up & 8 students, pictured below, really after the Easter break on Tuesday embraced the day and looked fantastic!

25th April, I look forward to seeing you Also we have had two non-uniform all then. days to raise money for the House

We celebrate the students every week Have a great Easter break, and try not by asking form tutors to nominate a to eat too many chocolate treats!

Student of the Week, all nominations Debbie Germaney, Head of KS3 are shown in my weekly parent bulletin as well as announcing who has won for that week.

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KS4 ROUND UP Throughout this term students have enjoyed many various trips and experiences both in and out of school. They have all enjoyed these opportunities and represented the academy to a high standard.

There have been theatre trips, Blood Brothers and School of Rock, field trips for Geography, Science and Technology, expeditions and trips abroad, New York and Paris.

I must thank the teachers that organise these and give up their time to support these valuable life experiences for our students.

Year 11 have just finished their mock exams, many took advantage of and enjoyed the weekend at Kingswood.

They took part in challenging, teambuilding activities and curriculum based work.

As the exam season nears I wish all Year 11 students the success that five years of hard work will bring them.

Congratulations and well done to Alex Grimes, pictured right.

He won the 2016 award with the Air Cadets for determination, commitment and effort.

Well done to all students in Years 9, 10 and 11 who were nominated for or were Student of the Week and to those presented with blazer badges, vouchers and certificates.

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It is good to see students rewarded for their work and commitment.

My continued thanks to all parents/ carers for your support and attendance at parents evenings and events. By working together we can ensure the very best for our students.

Have a good break and Happy Easter to you all.

Bridie Defty, Head of KS4

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PE & SCHOOL SPORT P Year 8 Boys All Schools Rugby Festival On Wednesday 1st February the Year 8 Boy’s Rugby team went to Swaffham Rugby Club to take part in an All Schools Rugby Festival.

The boys enjoyed a very muddy and competitive experience. The boys came away with two wins, a draw and 1 loss, which made them overall tournament winners. Well done boys!

Basketball Opportunities This is the second year running that KLA has joined partnerships with Fury Basketball Club, the Head Coach James Bamfield, has been running weekly Basketball sessions after school on a Thursday 3:00 – 4:30pm and attending Year 7, Year 9 & Year 10 GCSE PE lessons delivering the Basketball Curriculum.

The hard work that James has been putting into KLA this season has paid off in the West Norfolk Basketball Tournaments. The U12 Boys Basketball team played in their West Norfolk Basketball Tournament held at KLA. The boys have been developing their basketball with James Bamfield (King’s Lynn Fury & Wales International Coach) on a Thursday after school for several months now and have really made strides forward as a team.

Both A and B teams got through to the semi-finals, to play each other.

KLA A team won the semi-final and had to face KES A team in the final. The final game was an end to end battle with both teams scoring 1 basket each. All teachers and coaches decided that being joint winners would be a great result for both teams. The tournament had 10 teams entered with a high level of basketball being displayed.

Well done boys and an excellent achievement.

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The U12 & U13 Girls Basketball team played in their West Norfolk Basketball Tournament held at KLA. The girls have been developing their basketball in PE lessons and have really made strides forward as a team. The A team consisted of mostly Year 8 students and the B team consisted of Year 7 students. The Year 7s got all the way to the semi-final heats narrowly losing to Springwood A team. KLA B team came third overall out of ten schools. This is a fantastic achievement, especially playing students from the years above.

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KLFM Sports Awards KLFM hosted their annual Sports Awards Night at the Corn Exchange. Jason Fitzgerald was awarded Young Sportsman of the Year. This is a fantastic achievement and one the school is extremely proud of. Well done Jason!

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On Sunday 29th January the PE department went to Wembley to watch the Super 6s Indoor Hockey Championships. At the finals the students will get the opportunity to meet and get signed autographs with the GB Women’s Hockey Team Gold Medallist from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

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The U15 Girls Basketball team played in their West Norfolk Basketball tournament, the girls beat Smithdon 22 – 12 and then played a very developed Springwood side and drew 10-10.

The girls had more baskets scored through the tournament to gain first place. Well done girls and a great achievement.

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SAFER SCHOOLS Greetings

This term has been a busy one with a varied amount of issues we have been involved in.

Back in January during the collapsed diploma day we were able to deliver all the Norfolk Constabulary key messages to all five year groups. Important messages to young people of all ages designed to give them ideas and coping strategies to keep them safe, in the real world and the online one. The messages varied from Internet Safety, Healthy Relationships, Young Driver education and Sexting. Some powerful videos were used to reinforce some of the messages. Hopefully a number of students will have taken on board what was shared with them and keep themselves safe.

integrated into KLA in 2012. It was truly appreciated and we wish him well at KES Academy where we will of course still see him there.

Secondly, Pcso Cockerill is moving on after the Easter Break. He will be concentrating on a Safer Schools role within other high Half term and the Mart came and went without school environments locally. He will be any major incidents involving KLA students greatly missed at KLA by staff and students which would have resulted in them either alike. However, Pc Bolderstone is staying put letting themselves down, the Academy down or and will be alternating his time between KLA us down, so well done to all. and KES Academy so Safer Schools at King’s Lynn Academy will still be here.

Finally, two thank you’s and one goodbye.

Firstly we wanted to thank Mr Morrison for Jonathan, thank you and best wishes his support of Safer Schools since it was PC John Bolderstone & PCSO Jon Cockerill

PSHE NEWS The start of this term saw our ‘Health’ PSHE day. Students across the school took part in lessons, workshops and presentations to encourage students to engage in healthy relationships and healthy lifestyles. Year 7 focused on bullying, stereotyping, road safety and online safety. Year 8 explored what it means to be a good citizen. Year 9’s evaluated risks and consequences involved in different lifestyle choices such as drugs, alcohol and smoking. Year 10 had their sexual and relationship education and finally Year 11 received the Young Driver Education presentation.

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A big thank you goes to Pcso Cockerill and PC Bolderstone for their Safer School Partnership input, and to Sandy Reid who is the road safety officer for Norfolk. Many students commented on how much they enjoyed their presentations and workshops.

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Would you like to receive our weekly Parent Bulletin?

Every Friday we send out a Parent Bulletin via ParentMail, with news from the week and notices for the week ahead. There are weekly reports from each Head of Key Stage and regular updates from key staff members.

Lots of interesting news and photos are included about the academy and our students every week.

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SMHW is an online tool to help you keep track of your child’s homework and is a simple homework calendar that KLA use to ensure homework is set and communicated to all students and parents.

Teachers use it to set homework quickly and ensure that students and parents always have the information they need about homework available via a web browser or mobile/tablet devices.

Some of the benefits are: • 24/7 access • Being able to view the quality and quantity of homework

• A personalised homework calendar is available for all users including students and parents.

• Translation into over 50 languages

• Once you login, you can only see your own homework schedule.

• Apps available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android devices

• There are iPhone and Android apps available for free for students and parents.

• Receiving automated notifications before homework is due

SMHW provides parents with a deeper insight into the homework your child receives. More importantly, we hope that it will improve your child’s organisation, time-management and help them to keep on top of their workload.

• Access to thousands of extra Collins exam resources in English, Maths and Science.

Homework can be accessed in the following ways: • www.showmyhomework.co.uk • There is no login required to see the KLA homework calendar. You can see homework that is set across the academy and then use the filters to find the subject teacher and group that you are looking for.

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Please note that presently we only use Show My Homework to publish homework tasks to students and parents. Teachers use internal systems to mark, record and monitor homework.

The Gradebook feature of SMHW is not used to acknowledge or mark students’ homework at this stage.

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Term Dates Tuesday 18th April - Spring term begins Tuesday 25th April - Y7 Parents evening Monday 15th May - Y11 Exams start Thursday 18th May - Parent Voice Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June - Half term Monday 19th June - Y7-10 end of year exams start Thursday 22nd June - Parent Voice Friday 30th June - Prom Monday 3rd July - Friday 7th July - KLA Olympics week Friday 7th July - Y7-10 end of year exams end Friday 21st July - Last day of academic year

Keep up to date with us on our website kingslynnacademy.co.uk Why not follow us on Twitter

@klAcademy General Information Acting Principal:

Alan Fletcher

Head of School:

Barney Rimmer

Chair of Governors:

Wendy Fisher

Address:

King’s Lynn Academy, Queen Mary Road, King’s Lynn, PE30 4QG

Telephone Number:

01553 774671

Email:

enquiries@kingslynnacademy.co.uk

Website:

kingslynnacademy.co.uk

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