King Arthurs, Wincanton, Newsletter Spring 2022

King

Arthur’s

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2022

World Book Day Bristol Bears visit KA Science Live

King Arthur’s School @KingArthur’sSch

KingArthur’sSchool

SCHOOLS ACHIEVING SUCCESS TOGETHER

S

SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST

2.

KA World

Introduction I hope you enjoy reading our newsletter and exploring all the brilliant things our young people have been involved in over the term.

We have had another very busy term, with lots of extra curricula provision back on the agenda for our students. We welcome this to allow our students a wide range of personal development opportunities.

To give you a flavour of recent events, I am pleased to report enrichment across subject areas and outside of normal classroom lesson time.

Trips are back on the agenda and in February, Year 9 and 10 students had the chance to relish an inspiring opportunity at Science Live. Students and staff were able to hear from esteemed scientists, such as Professor Robert Winston and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Through this they were also able to see what a university campus is like and continue making their plans for the future. As part of this extra curricula offer, we have also had a visit from Minette Walters (highly esteemed author), giving our Year 11 students inspiration for the creative writing element of their GCSE language paper. This was followed by a master class to groups of KS3 students. What better way to learn to be a creative writer than from somebody awarded in her field!

We are really proud of our newly formed School Council and all the charity fund raising they have been working on this term. In two weeks, nearly £1,000 was raised for charity. This was a tremendous feat, especially when organised by the students themselves.

We are also thankful and proud of a keen group of students who have been busy revamping the library and training to be librarians. We are very keen for all our students to be exposed to leadership opportunities and will be enhancing this provision over the next term. This work is part of our Aspire Programme and ensures that students have opportunities outside of the classroom.

One of the most positive elements of the relaxation of the COVID regulations has been being able to welcome guests back into our school. We were delighted to have Thales in to work with some Year 8 students on STEM opportunities. Students built and controlled their own robots, having learnt to develop, and programme them. It was great to see students outside of their comfort zone and being really challenged.

We also welcomed the Bristol Bears rugby team in for a very special workshop.

This really put our students through their paces, and they got a real sense of what it takes to play at Premiership level.

We have also been privileged to continue making the most of new technology now available to us. This has allowed us to work with some more vulnerable members of society who are not able to attend site. During Holocaust Memorial week, we were privileged to have a virtual visit from a Holocaust survivor. This was an emotional, informative, but inspirational opportunity for our students. It has certainly enhanced their ability to comprehend more readily the experience of those impacted by the Holocaust and their learning in History, R.E., and PSHRSE. As this newsletter goes to print, I am listening to the final rehearsals of Alice @ Wonderland, which has a sell-out audience. We are all eagerly awaiting the opening night with the disco floor and the amazing costumes. The production has taken intensive work from students and our staff production team, and we are excited to see the fruits of their labours. To all involved, ‘break a leg’!

Enjoy reading more about our wonderful young people and their adventures this term.

Jen Jacklin - Headteacher

Charity Events

This term the school has supported two charity events and we are very proud of all the money raised. These were led by the new School Council which has provided students with a clear voice within the school community. Students decided on 11th March we would dress in yellow and blue to support the Ukraine. A massive £575 was raised for this and the money was passed to The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which has launched a Ukraine appeal. This is an umbrella appeal incorporating member charities such as The British Red Cross, Action Aid, Save the Children etc., and more information can be found at www.dec.org.uk . These charities have staff and logistics already in place on the ground and will be able to target support where it is most needed, both rapidly and effectively.

On Friday 18th March the school supported Red Nose Day; again a massive total of £385 was raised. Students donated to wear red for the day and we also held a cake sale with students (and parents) making lovely cakes. Everyone had a very sweet break time.

We would like to thank our students, staff and parents for their continued support of our charity events and feel the School Council have done an amazing job putting these events together.

3.

Book Day Celebrations

Short Circuitry KA pupils and staff celebrated World Book Day in style, sharing their love of books and reading! Year 7’s took part in a live presentation and Q&A with the fantastic local children’s author Emma Carroll, who shared her passion for books, reading and writing. On World Book Day we came to school dressed as our favourite weird and wonderful characters from the world of literature. There were some incredible efforts and lots of vibrant and imaginative costumes! Every pupil has been given a book token to

spend on a brand-new book and we finished the week with our ‘Shelfie Quiz,’ where pupils guessed which teachers a series of shelves belonged to. Finally, we had a visit from best-selling crime writer Minette Walters, who led workshops on effective description and story writing.

Thanks to our incredible community for their efforts this week! Keep on reading!

Science Live Earlier in March, Year 9 and Year 10 students were given the chance to go to a series of live science lectures at Bath Forum led by industry experts. We saw the likes of: Prof Robert Winston, Prof Jim Al-Khalili, Dr Kate Lancaster and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Unfortunately, Prof Alice Roberts was absent but, in her place, we listened to Prof Steve Jones and his talk on nature vs nurture. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and we got to hear theories and prospects on the exploration of space, genetic modification and what that could bring, recyclable energy and even time travel! It was fantastic hearing these leading experts talking about their fields in a very accessible way, relevant to us not only for our GCSEs, but as young people in an ever-changing world. Scientists weren't the only ones talking however; we were also given a talk about how we can go about answering GCSE science paper questions and thus how we can get the most marks. The trip was both fun and useful for knowing what we need to expect when it comes to our papers.

Mariana Pereira and Helena Newton

On Thursday the 13th of March, KA’s science department hosted THALES Group Aerospace and Defence company, as they introduced some lucky Year 8 pupils to the joys of engineering. This STEM activity focussed on highlighting potential futures to our young, bright minds through the thrills of Lego robots!

The Year 8’s built, programmed and displayed fantastic robots, showing an aptitude for engineering and software engineering. Our winning pair, with a robot that crushed the gauntlet they were required to navigate, Amy-Louise and Victoria, spoke of how much they had enjoyed the experience.

This important opportunity helped students explore their options in the future, and the variety of vocations and experiences waiting for them in the world of STEM. The THALES representatives were extremely impressed by the focus, creativity, and teamwork demonstrated by this group of young people.

4.

Careers: Apprenticeship focus We have been finding out more about our next steps in Year 10 and Year 11 this term, with a bespoke presentation on apprenticeships and T levels from The Ask Programme offered by Skill Up Somerset in early February for both year groups. Students found out about the different levels of apprenticeships available, how to find and apply for apprenticeships as well as what salary and training they might expect through this method of study and employment. They also started to think about T levels and how they compare and contrast to apprenticeships and full time study, with opportunities to ask questions to an expert in this area. Following these presentations, we held our second Careers Café, finding out more about apprenticeships through a local training provider. Our Careers Cafes are run by Aaron, our Independent Careers Advisor, who is in school every Thursday supporting students across all year groups. This event was held virtually, with students ‘meeting’ Abi from Bridgwater and Taunton College to find out more about how to apply for apprenticeships, what apprenticeships are available locally, how this links in to study at FE college and where apprenticeships can lead. The students who attended were also able to ‘meet’ a current apprentice and ask her questions about what doing an apprenticeship is actually like. All students attending agreed that this was a really valuable experience. As a result we hope to continue to expand our careers cafes to look at other employment and training areas both locally, nationally and internationally.

Former student Lucy Nancarrow Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having a good start to 2022. My name is Lucy Nancarrow and I left King Arthur’s in 2021. After leaving secondary school, I joined Strode College to study A-levels. I am currently studying English Language, Sociology and PE in the hopes to have a future in sports journalism. Transitioning between secondary school and college was an unusual experience especially due to Covid. If you’re in Year 11 right now and feeling anxious about your next steps in education, I’d love to give you a few tips based on my experience. The advice I could’ve really used before leaving was to not expect your experience to be the same as that of all your friends.

During my first few weeks of college, I felt left out because it seemed like all my secondary school friends settled in well and were comfortable with the college changes, whereas I hadn’t made many friends and I still felt lost around campus. However, I began to settle in more, and now I couldn’t be happier with how my experience is going.

Strode College is such an inclusive and welcoming community, the teachers always have your best interests at heart and give you the support you need, as well as giving you the opportunity to explore your independence.

Another piece of advice I’d like to give everyone is to involve yourself in class debates and clubs. Participating in these kinds of activities is an amazing way to gain confidence and crucial social skills that will help you achieve amazing things. King Arthur’s was such an incredible stepping stone for me and all the staff helped me start my journey, so take advantage of everything whilst you still can. I hope my advice has helped everyone feel less worried about life after secondary school and made the pathway to your next steps clearer. I wish everyone the best for 2022 :)

Aspire Last term we launched KA Aspire – a whole-school programme to celebrate King Arthur’s student achievements in aspiring to reach their highest potential both in and outside of the classroom!

Whatever your future aspirations, colleges, universities and employers are looking for candidates with a set of wider skills: • • • • • • •

Communication skills Problem-solving An appetite to learn The ability to deal with set-backs Reflecting on areas for improvement An inclusive and compassionate outlook Many more skills

KA Aspire recognises our students achievements under the following pillars:

Leadership

Developing Excellence

Intellectual Curiosity

Future Goals

Here are some examples of these achievements:

Students are recording their progress on the Aspire Programme in tutor time and are working towards Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. Their achievements will be recognised with rewards at the end of term.

Developing these wider skills will equip our students with the range of skills they need to be their very best in today’s changing world.

Comment from Hope 9RP who has taken part in Wincanton Pantomime:

“I'm super excited to be in the panto as a rabbit. I have never done a show outside of school before so that makes this one even more exciting. It has been an amazing experience for me over these past few months and I have made wonderful new friends along the way!”

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Diversity

Postage stamp design competition It has been a few months since we entered our students’ designs into the national Royal Mail competition. Despite our strong entries we haven’t got any winners. However we feel very proud to be part of this amazing, world record project. Please read the message from the Royal Mail below: Congratulations also to every school and every child that entered the competition. You were all part of history and a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title.

This term Diversity club researched the origins of Pride month, debated whether additional letters need to be included in the term LGBT, learned about neurodiversity and welcomed a youth worker from 2BU who helped us make badges.

The KA students whose artwork was entered for this competition will receive a personalised certificate to recognise this achievement. Congratulations to: Ellie, Hollie, Aida, Aliyah, Mariana, Maxine, Amy, Samyra, Katie, Victoria, Millie, Eden, Hope Cook, Noah, Abi, Ella, Aaron, Emily Thank you once again for taking part and congratulations on being a part of this GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title! Your design contributed towards this record title, where a total of 606,049 entries were received.

The Bake Sale for Alice@ Wonderland We are so pleased that our bake sale raised a fantastic £201 in total! . I would like to thank a lot of people: those who helped, who baked and who bought cakes too. This money will go towards supporting our Alice@Wonderland production with costumes, props and electrics.

By Daisy (7TA)

RAOK (Random Act Of Kindness) at KA Since the beginnning of the academic year, we have kept in contact with Carrington House Care home in Wincanton. We made some Christmas cards for the residents and we were so pleased to receive a response from them thanking us for our kind gesture.

Alice@Wonderland This term for Performing Arts has been an extremely busy one, with rehearsals in full swing for our whole school production of ‘Alice@Wonderland’. I have been so pleased with the commitment of students involved on stage but equally delighted with the sheer number of volunteers wanting to get involved with backstage jobs and roles. As well as this, some of our younger cast members have organised a fundraising cake sale for the show in the hope to raise money to put towards costumes and props. I have been delighted with their efforts and astounded that that they managed to raise over £200! The show promises to be a fun and unique take on the original tale of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with a few surprises rolled in, and I hope friends and family coming to watch will enjoy themselves as much as we have rehearsing it! In the Performing Arts classroom, all groups across KS3 have been looking at different types of scripts – both naturalistic and non-naturalistic – and exploring ways to perform these. The GCSE class have started on their set play for the theoretical part of their exam, and we have been exploring the characters and themes in Dennis Kelly’s contemporary play ‘DNA’. Outside of school, it was great to see many of our students involved with the Wincanton Amateur Dramatic Society’s production of ‘Robin Hood’ during the half term – having students take advantage of these wonderful enrichment opportunities in the Performing Arts is so good to see!

Ms Nias

Since then, the residents had to move to a new home and we were asked by the staff of Carrington to create cards to wish them good luck in their new homes.

Now the COVID restrictions have been removed, we are hoping that we can start being more proactive, offering support and kindness in the Wincanton community.

Ellie, Hollie, Katie, Amelia, Alex, Ellie, Eleanor (Year 9 girls)

6.

Holocaust Memorial Day The History Department marked Holocaust Memorial Day in a number of ways. There was an assembly which was delivered to all students. Year 9 RE students watched a documentary called “Out of the Darkness, Janine’s story”. This was provided by Holocaust Learning UK and featured survivors testimonies as well as references to subsequent genocides. This was inspiring for our students but will also link to their History and RE curriculum over the coming months. Year 9 and 10 were also lucky to be part of a live Holocaust Survivor Testimony. Eva Clarke, BEM, holocaust survivor was born in Mauthausen concentration camp (in Austria) on 29 April, 1945. Eva and her mother are the only survivors from their family (15 family members were killed in Auschwitz).

Her father was shot in Auschwitz, tragically just a week before the camp was liberated by the Russian Red Army. After the war, Eva and her mother returned to Prague, where her mother married Eva’s stepfather in February 1948. In that same year, they emigrated to the UK and settled in Cardiff. Eva lived in Cardiff until she was 18. She married her husband, Malcolm Clarke, in 1968. She has two sons and has been living in Cambridge ever since. The students found this inspiring and engaging and were keen to discuss after in their lessons. This was provided to us by the Holocaust Education Trust.

Most Interesting Events in History Club Mrs Frampton started a new History Club after half term based around the most interesting events in history. We had a really great start to this, having spent two weeks looking at the gruesome story of Vlad the Impaler (the “real life Dracula”) and doing some project work around this topic. Last week, we looked at the Pendle Witch Trials and used this as inspiration to get creative – drawing pictures and designing comic strips to show what happened to the unfortunate women who were accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. Our next focus will be on LGBTQ+ rights and how these were fought for and won, which aims to further pupils’ understanding of diversity through time.

The key aim of this club is to nurture pupils’ natural curiosity in history. We hope to allow pupils to be investigative and creative whilst they uncover the weird and wonderful history that has shaped the modern world. Mrs Frampton welcomes any ideas for topics that pupils would like to cover in this club. The Most Interesting Events in History Club runs every Tuesday after school in Hi2.

PSHRSE Education at King Arthur’s School Friday 25th March was PSHRSE day and there were lots of activities going on.

Year 7 looked at mental health, supporting them with anxiety in whatever form. This was delivered by our team of school nurses. They had an additional session from the Wincanton Leisure Centre lifeguards, teaching the students some basic first aid. We felt these were both life skills that were needed at any stage of your life and hope these will be of great value to the students.

Year 8 focused on mental health with resources provided by the PSHE Association. This focused on digital resilience and unhealthy coping strategies. This is part of our commitment to wellbeing and mental health, and students will follow this programme throughout KS3.

Year 10 and 11 had a presentation from Turning Point, which focused on drug and alcohol abuse and the mental health issues surrounding both.

There were opportunities for students to ask questions on things that were concerning them around these topics. Although this is covered as part of the school curriculum, an outside professional always adds something more for students.

Year 10 had a session on breast and testicular cancer, focusing on signs, symptoms and the support available, whether that be for them personally or for friends and family.

I also wanted to give you advanced warning that I have secured a presentation from a police officer from the Coordinator of Child Sexual and Criminal Exploitation often referred to as the TOPAZ Child Exploitation Team. She will speak with the students regarding sexual exploitation and county lines on 20th June. She has also agreed to do a parent workshop after this. Having listened to her many times she is inspirational and has a real skill set of advising us how to keep children safe at school and within the community. Further details will follow.

As always should you wish to discuss the delivery of PSHRSE at KA please do not hesitate to contact me Hayley.andrews@kingarthurs.org.uk

7.

SEED project A group of Year 9 students have been given an exciting opportunity to work alongside the inspiring Lynne Franks OBE, in partnership with Somerset Works. This exciting initiative aims to develop skills and improve futures through a seven-week programme at her SEED café in Wincanton. The initiative is based on Lynne’s successful ‘Power of 7 Women’s Leadership’ coaching toolkit and ‘Plant, Flourish & Grow’ which consists of experiential workshops, light homework, and cross-generational mentoring, personally delivered by the social entrepreneur and her team of experts.

The students are thoroughly enjoying visiting the SEED café where they are learning skills such as resilience, confidence, wellbeing, and selfesteem whilst also sharpening their communication and creative skills. They have described the workshops as ‘fun’ especially as they didn’t know what to expect, and eagerly embraced their first task of creating vision boards showcasing their thoughts and ideas about the things they are passionate about and what inspires and motivates them, which they presented to the group. During a spoken word session; they wrote and performed their own verses, the level of detail and depth they’d packed into them was just brilliant!

Well done and keep up your amazing work!

New SEND space

Doors opened to our new SEND Base on our return from half term. We have revamped the old nursery (now called C2) to provide extra space for interventions. We are also able to host outside agencies such as a Youth Worker, REACH and a Careers Advisor as well as provide a space for the wider school who take part in Mytutor sessions. At break and lunch students who prefer a quieter space can enjoy C2 with a hot chocolate and toast or they can enjoy our wonderful new garden on sunnier days! The bottom of the annexe also allows us to have a separate room for our C1 tutor group, a private ELSA room and an inclusive toilet/therapy room. The students’ feedback has been really positive and they are really enjoying their new space!

Tree planting for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee On a very wet 11th March, the Year 10 Travel and Tourism students took part in a tree planting activity to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The date marked 70 years and 70 days since Queen Ellizabeth II came to the throne. We were invited to take part by the Wincanton Town Council alongside other schools and community groups within the town. It was the wettest day and not a single student complained, although tea and biscuits were very welcomed on our return to school. We look forward to visiting our patch on a brighter day to see the trees growing.

Wellbeing This term KA students marked Children’s Mental Health Week by learning about the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’.

Tutor groups talked about the benefits of Learning, Giving, Connecting, being Active, and being Mindful, and devised wellbeing activities they’d like to take part in in school. They watched an assembly from Kooth, and learned about the wellbeing app that’s free to download and full of tips, advice and support.

SPORT

Ten Tors (Y9) Two of our Year 9 girls are becoming the first King Arthur’s students to complete the “Ten Tors” competition.

Amelia E and Madison H are completing this with a group of students from Sturminster Newton. The Ten Tors is a hiking expedition competition run by the Army, where students compete with other students across the UK to complete a group hike covering 35 miles across the beautiful hills of Northern Dartmoor.

Basketball

Bristol Bears Rugby Visit King Arthur’s School On Monday 24th January Premiership Bristol Bears visited KA for the morning. As part of their outreach work and HITZ Flagship Education and Employability Programme, they worked with a selection of students from KS3.

Nick George and Ben Woolfson, used rugby’s core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship throughout their session. The aim was to help students realise the importance of the ‘soft skills’ that occur in rugby and all things PE when studying other subjects, training, apprenticeships and/or employment in the future.

Students played many games of conditioned rugby to help them realise the value of transferable skills they gain through the medium of sport, such as communication, resilience, teamwork, leadership, empathy, co-operation and respect to name a few.King Arthur’s students loved the sessions and in addition to the rugby’s core values developing the personal skills, life skills and employability skills, some students have since hinted they may even now look to join external rugby clubs!

Students will take on 10 Tors over the course of their expedition from 6th – 8th May and are working hard at present to complete their training and preparation.

It will be tough, but what a great challenge. Good luck girls!

Outdoor Adventurous Activities

Year 7 have started their next unit of study – Outdoor Adventurous Activities (OAA). The intent behind this topic is to develop skills such as problem solving, teamwork and leadership. One of the first lessons Year 7 took part in was photo orienteering. In addition to map reading skills and orientation, the students had to analyse and piece together clues from a hidden photo to narrow down their search around the school site. Students worked in teams of three in this physically and mentally demanding session; they did not stop running as they scoured the school site for clues. In a race to score points, students had to identify the correct grid reference of the photo and then report back to their teacher to be issued another clue. Cross-curricular links were made with subjects like Geography where students also learn to read OS maps and use grid referencing.

King Arthur’s Community School, West Hill, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9BX • Phone 01963 32368 • office@kingarthurs.org.uk • www.kingarthurs.org.uk

To kick start the England Basketball Junior NBA league, SASP in partnership with Taunton Tigers and Richard Huish College delivered a day of coaching and game play for Year 8 pupils. Coaching was delivered by top basketball coach Gary Carter of Taunton Tigers and Richard Huish College, Taunton.

The development day aimed to give students an opportunity to receive some coaching and be signposted to Somerset Clubs such as Wincanton Wizards - who train at Wincanton Sports Centre on Friday after school. Student quotes from the day included “It was good to get coaching by experienced coaches and players” and “Hopefully we get more opportunities like this to play more schools and at a high standard”.