COVER PHOTO BY HELENA G
BACK TO KINGSLEY NEWSLETTER FRIDAY 30TH APRIL 2021
EDITION 21
#BACKTOSCHOOL
WELCOME School has settled back into its usual rhythm of a quiet reflective atmosphere whilst lessons are happening, which is then joyously interrupted at break and lunchtime by chatter and laughing as the pupils enjoy being back together. This week has been filled with superb story writing, musical, artistic and sporting successes, which you can read about throughout this issue. We are very excited that our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh students are taking part in their Bronze Practice Expedition this weekend (unfortunately they cannot yet camp out overnight – so they are doing everything BUT the camping!) Huge thanks to Mrs Laubscher and the First 4 Adventure team for making this possible for our students. At Kingsley we fully believe in the value of DofE as part of a young person’s character education. It is a qualification looked on highly favourably by employers and universities as a sign of a candidate’s discipline and commitment to society and their own personal development. It was lovely to see our Year 10 and 11 students collecting their equipment yesterday – they were so excited for the adventure ahead and it is just what they need after the restrictions of lockdown and changes in GCSE assessments. We are rightly proud of our exceptional DofE uptake here, where about 80% of students participate in the Bronze award (the national average is 28%) which demonstrates our commitment to education of the whole person in order to develop the Kingsley strong independent women we send out into the world. Wishing everyone a lovely long weekend. Mrs Christina McCullough Acting Headteacher
TEA CLUB VENTURE UNDER THE SEA This term's tea club theme has been 'Under the Sea' and our children have created a fabulous display of their work which is sited in the Prep School Hall. Regency St Fishmonger kindly donated some seashells to enhance our display! The theme for the next few weeks is 'Spring has Sprung', and the group will be crafting lots of wonderful creations in celebration.
POLICE OFFICERS IN TRAINING! Continuing our 'People Who Help Us' topic, Pre-school have been learning all about police officers this week. The children have enjoyed learning all about the police officers' jobs, equipment and resources they use. They have been dressing up as police officers, and catching the 'baddies' in the garden. We have also used a paint programme on the iPads to draw pictures of police officers.
Spring at Forest School We were blessed with incredible spring sunshine for last weeks Forest school which offered an excellent opportunity for appreciating the wonderful spring sights, sounds, smells and of course spring jobs to do! We created some dangling cat toys to add to our vets and pet supplies back at school and the children noticed how the ribbons waved in the wind. Two of the children worked together to carry a length of pallet over to the trees and climbed to reach the blossom. After collecting blossom some of the children enjoyed climbing to wave their ribbon toys like the flag on top of The Kingsley School. Young plants needed watering and the beds needed weeding and the children are always so eager to help and rightly proud of their achievements. It will be so rewarding when we have beautiful flowers come the summer. Some children were using water to add to their pots of mud in the mud kitchen. Some then decided this mixture was cement and used the mixture to spread onto bricks and pebbles as they were creating a home for mini beasts and needed to “stick everything together!” Days like this really do make us all feel so lucky and proud to share these experiences and make the cold, windy, dreary days in the winter all worthwhile!
FIRE! FIRE! This week Reception have been learning about firefighters. The children fought their own fires and learned about the different things which are essential for a fire to burn. They shared stories and nonfiction books about the different elements of a firefighter's job, they used small world characters to role-play fire rescues and finally learned about fire engines. The children learned all of the different parts of a fire engine and the different purposes for each piece of equipment. Having been introduced to a fire engine the children then used found materials to make their own engines. They spent time each afternoon working on their engines, beginning with painting their vehicles, then adding windows and door, then the ladders, hoses, wheels and lights. Having used real pieces of pipe to make the hoses the children were very excited to explore them in the water tray as well to transport water and put out fires!
our local area
Year 1 spent their Geography and Science lessons walking through Leamington Spa, with Jephson Gardens as their final destination. They used a map of the local area to locate key landmarks, shops, buildings and street names, and also identified lots of living things including daffodils, berries, fir trees, geese, and squirrels. They even saw a busker, who serenaded them with his ukulele whilst the children enjoyed an ice-cream! The children also explored their senses in the sensory garden. The children were impeccably well-behaved and Miss Fennell and Mrs Bhangal were so proud of them. We are looking forward to implementing all that we observed into our lessons next week.
BELLE'S DRESSAGE SUCCESS!
Belle in Year 1 competed in an evening dressage competition on Wednesday and was the youngest competitor by far the closest to her age was 21! Belle finished 5th in her class and 6th overall - a tremendous success, we are very proud! Belle wears her Mum's old Kingsley numnah (her Mum was a Kingsley alumna who was taught and truly inspired by Mrs Jessett!). A lovely tradition that is clearly staying in the family. As if she hadn't already had a busy enough day, Belle came straight home to pratice her violin as part of the Year 1 strings project!
! E M I T Z I U Q This week the Year 2 children have been working extremely hard in a variety of quizzes to demonstrate all of the skills they have learned across the year so far. In their maths lessons, the children were able to share their learning about different mathematical methods to solve a variety of sums and solved challenges about finding fractions and comparing the capacities of containers. In English, the children practiced using accurate spellings for those tricky common exception words and were able to read a range of texts to select relevant information to answer questions. They also took part in a fact vs. fiction quiz with Mrs Norris where they were able to recall the main features of text types and explain the differences between them. It has been very exciting to see all of the knowledge the children can recall and we continue to be very proud of how hard the children are working in their lessons. We look forward to seeing the continued progress and new skills the children will learn and build on during the rest of their time in Year 2. You can clearly se e from their faces just how much the children loved the challenges. Who knew quizzes could be so much fun?!
3d map making In their outdoor learning, the Year 1, 2 and 3 children have been enjoying the warmer weather at the fields. They have been demonstrating exceptional team work and communication during their lessons which was reflected in their creative 3-D maps of our school playing fields. The children began by discussing and planning how they would re-create the area of land before going off to collect a variety of natural materials. They thought carefully about how to create a range of 3-D shapes in their maps to represent the buildings and vegetation. It was wonderful to see a range of year groups learning together, and we are very excited to see what they create next in their lessons together over the rest of the term.
ROMAN NUMERALS Year 4 have been learning about Roman numerals in mathematics this week. They learned how to write numbers to 1000, played roman numeral bingo and then completed a roman numeral 'treasure hunt' around the school, reading the numerals and completing addition and subtraction questions using them. They did brilliantly well!
Elizabeth's Creative Writing Success A few months ago the Year 4 class wrote entried for the Broadway Arts Festival writing competition. The class have been working on creative writing skills throughout the year, and the competition was a brilliant opportunity to put these skills to good use. We are delighted and so proud that, out of 146 entries, Elizabeth received a 'Highly Commended' note for her age group! Well done Elizabeth!
Elora gets Gold! Elora in Year 3 competed in her Leamington and Warwickshire Gymnastics Club Championships last term and was awarded gold, receiving her trophy this week! Elora has also just been selected to be part of the LWGC display squad after a try out last weekend. She will be performing at a number of displays this summer including the Kidztopia at the NAC. Well done Elora!
KS2 Craft Club Key Stage 2 Craft Club have enjoyed making these beautiful bird cards using natural materials.
Growing Crystals Year 5 have been inspecting the crystals which they grew in Science. They have discovered that a higher concentration of salt in the solution resulted in bigger crystals. Can you tell which group added the most salt?
Sharing Passions Over the past couple of weeks, Year 5 have enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with Mrs McCullough and share with her their interests and passions. Some pupils talked about their families and favourite holidays or dream pets, whilst others shared examples of their art work, poetry or best loved authors. Some pupils provided a fascinating insight into the hobbies which they participate in outside of school such as Taekwondo, skiing, dancing and show jumping. Although, naturally, the group had some butterflies before their date with Mrs McCullough they all returned with huge smiles and thoroughly thrived on their experiences.
CALCULATING PERCENTAGES Year 6 enjoyed maths in context this week. They have been learning how to calculate percentages in their maths lessons. Miss Knight-Adams opened the Year 6 shop and announced that there was a sale on. The pupils enjoyed choosing different items they wanted to buy, including a sports car, lamp and a phone! The pupils had to calculate the percentage discount of the items, and then work out the new sale price. There was lots of fun whilst learning about percentages in the Year 6 shop!
ART COMPETITION e g an h C e at m li C to ch oa r pp A A Creative WE ARE REALLY PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS OF THIS YEAR'S ART COMPETITION! A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO CERYS, OVERALL WINNER AND WINNER FOR YEAR 9, ISABEL, WINNER IN YEAR 8 AND TILLY, WINNER IN YEAR 7. WE WERE SO IMPRESSED WITH EVERYONE'S ENTRIES THIS YEAR, THERE WAS SOME TRULY THOUGHT PROVOKING AND CREATIVE WORK PRODUCED ACROSS A NUMBER OF MEDIUMS. WELL DONE TO EVERYONE FOR TAKING PART!
cerys j
isabel b
tilly c
YEAR 7
chloe r
daisy d
harriett g
erin m
phoebe c
blossom b
grace t
evelyn b-d
isla m
helena g
avani d
charlotte d
avani d charlotte m
isobel j
abi f
YEAR 8
matilda s
hattie b eve a
lucy l
neave p
annabel k
millie t
scarlet h
poppy d
charlotte t
may s
ffion p
daisy b
millie r
eve a
chloe f
sara b
eden l
lisa r-m
YEAR 9
isabel r
ella b
emily m
sophie c
ellie d
izzy m
grace a
preeya r
maisie l
krystal n
ella w
amy c
cleo c-s
gracey b
isabella b
We invite all pupils and students and their families to take part in the project ‘Foundation Stones’; a commemorative project run by Big Ideas and the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. We would like our Kingsley community to paint stones in remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of Nazi persecution and those murdered in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. All Foundation Stones will become part of the new UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre when it is built. The Learning Centre will educate visitors on the Holocaust, Britain’s response and subsequent genocides. Each painted stone is a commitment to remember the past and to build a future free from all forms of prejudice, discrimination and hatred.
WHAT TO DO 1. Find a stone which fits in the palm of your hand. If you are able to go outside, try looking in your street or local park. If this is not possible, try your garden or maybe even your fish tank! 2. Think about what you want to say on your stone. Are you remembering a particular person, group or genocide? Are you saying something about your hopes for the future? 3. Decorate your Foundation Stones. For this, you can use anything you have in the house. Paints, pens, collage, even nail varnish will work. 4. You can, if you want to, share photos of your stones on social media if you have permission from your parents/guardians using #FoundationStones 5. If you would like to you can email a picture of your stone to marketing@kingsleyschool .co.uk
Drop your stones off to the LRC!
Once you have painted your stones wait for more information and keep them safe. They will most likely be collected from school when we reopen.
PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB All welcome!
Throughout the lockdown last term, many of you joined photography club and submitted amazing photos each week based on set themes. When the lockdown ended many of our regular contributors asked for it to continue back in school, so that's what we've done. It has been immensely successful and you can see our pictures on our website:
https://kingsleyart.uk/photoclub ... but it is never too late to join our friendly little community of photographers! It doesn't matter how much you know about photography, it's taking part that is the fun part. Everyone's entries get published and a selection of favourites also get featured on the art department's Instagram page. So if you would like to join, please click on the link above and tap the ''Join Photography Club' button so I can add you to the new mailing list. This club operates outside of school via email - we don't meet in enrichment periods, so you just have to be prepared to take photos at home and upload them. You can take part whenever you want - it doesn't have to be every week. We'd love to welcome more of you into our group! Mr Lax
PHOTOGRAPHY ovement 1: M k ee W er m um S CLUB Capturing movement is something photographers have battled with for years. Some choose to freeze moments in time with a really fast shutter speed and no motion blur. Others embrace motion blur and use it to make images more dramatic, dynamic and often completely abstract. Our photographers never disappoint and this week's entries exemplify that. Lucy (Year 8) has frozen water as it flows from a watering can, Helena (Year 7) has create a fluorescent green shape by spinning a light, Harriett (Year 7) has used both motion blur and an interesting camera angle to create a sense of drama, Grace (Year 7) has used moving lights to create a disco effect and Bella (Year 9) has shot moving cars with light trails to create two really successful photographs.
Helena (Year 7)
Mr Lax
Bella (Year 9)
Grace (Year 7)
Harriett (Year 7)
Bella (Year 9)
Lucy (Year 8)
Bella G
Grace T
Grace T
Bella G
Grace T
Lucy L
Bella G
Helena G
SKI COURSES
It was wonderful to have pupils of all ages on the slopes for the ESSKIA training day at Swadlincote on Saturday.
Limited places are now available for the next training day at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre on Sunday 23rd May – book your slot at www.esskia.org if you would like to take part!
HARRIETT'S HOCKEY HARMONY Harriett in Year 7 plays a lot of hockey outside of school. This past weekend she played in a mini U12's Tournament, scoring six goals and having two assists over two matches! Amazing success and teamwork Harriett!
GOOD LUCK TO
ALL
THEIR
THOSE
BRONZE
HEADING
DUKE
EXPEDITION
THIS
OF
OUT
ON
EDINBURGH
WEEKEND!
A MEETING WITH BARONESS PITKEATHLEY Our Sixth Form politics students took part in a
"Baroness Pitkeathley was absolutely amazing to speak to
live,
this morning and she really demonstrated her hard work
online
Q&A
session
with
Baroness
Pitkeathley who has been a member of the House
of
Lords
since
1997
after
being
throughout the years, most notably with the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Even though she is 81 years of age she still attends the house daily. When posed the question as
appointed by Tony Blair. It was fascinating
to what her best achievement was she wholeheartedly said
hearing her recollection of this unexpected
that she wishes it will come in the future so she can be
life-changing phone call!
useful in the years to come. It was a wonderful experience and I'd like to thank Miss Mahé greatly for the opportunity." Molly, Year 12
Baroness Pitkeathley is a member of the Labour Party and the Deputy Speaker of the
“Being able to speak with the Baroness today was so
house.
insightful into the day to day experiences of a
Students
asked
questions
about
scrutiny, committee work, representation in
member of the House of Lords, and being able to
the House, electoral reforms, parliamentary
discuss her political standpoints on issues such as
reform and many more. She has been very active over the years in Health and Social Care. Baroness Pitkeathley describes her job as a 'way of being useful all my life'. She was truly inspirational!
representation and electoral reform was really interesting.” Gemma, Year 13 "It was extremely informative and will definitely help us with our timed essay this week. It was very interesting to learn about her experiences in the House of Lords as well as hearing about her views on the future of UK politics." Georgie, Year 13 "The discussion with Baroness Pitkeathley allowed the opportunity to ask questions of someone who has had over two decades of experience in the British political system. Not only was Baroness Pitkeathley incredibly helpful, she was also very honest about her personal views of different House issues. The experience was enlightening, especially to see those who work for the British people so impassioned for us. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am very grateful for the experience." Alex, Year 12
JESSICA'S TRIO OF TRIUMPHS Jessica in Year 12 has been invited to play the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto with the Bedford Symphony Orchestra at the Bedford Corn Exchange on Saturday 29th January 2022 under conductor Michael Rose. An incredible opportunity, we are very proud! Jessica also played in a masterclass over the Easter holiday with the acclaimed British Oboist Nicholas Daniel, who has since got in touch saying how impressed he was with Jessica's playing and that he hopes to come along to support her at the event in January. Adding to these pieces of news, Jessica also came as runner-up in the Telemann Recording Competition and her outstanding recording is now being featured on Jeremy Polmear's Oboe Classics YouTube account. Well done Jessica!
OF UP TO
£1500
PER YEAR
T HAT IN T E RE ST- FREE L OA NS
ARE AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS LIVING IN WARWICK GOING TO UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE COURSES AFTER A-LEVELS IF YOU LIVE IN THE POSTCODE AREA
CV 3 4 I F YO U AR E H O P I N G TO START A C OU R SE O F F URTH ER ED UCATIO N YOU SHOU LD K N OW
T H E CH AR I T Y O F S I R T H OM A S WHI T E, WARW I CK IS ABLE TO OFFER INTEREST-FREE LOANS OF UP TO £1500 PER YEAR FOR EACH YEAR OF YOUR COURSE (SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS)
DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION FORM AT WWW.SIRTHOMASWHITE.ORG.UK EMAIL CONNECT@SIRTHOMASWHITE.ORG.UK OR TEL. BELINDA SHUTTLEWORTH ON 01926 350555
STAMP DESIGN
COMPETITION
We’re taking part in Royal Mail’s Heroes Stamp Design Competition, to honour the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. We’re entering the competition for the chance to see our heroes on a stamp! www.royalmail.com/stampcompetition #HeroStamps
Dear Parent/Guardian, Our school is delighted to be taking part in Royal Mail’s Heroes Stamp Design Competition, honouring the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. Eight pupils from primary and secondary schools across the UK will become the designers of this stamp set, and one could be your child! Each entry we send in will have the name of each child, plus their age and our school’s name and postcode. Before we submit entries to Royal Mail we need explain how Royal Mail will use these details. Royal Mail will use these details of children who enter (i.e. name, age, school name and postcode) to run the competition, including to contact the winners and distribute prizes. Royal Mail will share this information with iChild Limited and The Education Company Limited, who are helping Royal Mail to run the competition. Except in the case of the 120 children who reach the Regional Finalists stage, Royal Mail will delete all of this data by 30th September 2021. As is usual in competitions, Royal Mail may, if requested, tell the Advertising Standards Authority of those winners’ surnames and counties. Members of the public will also be able to ask Royal Mail for that information after 30th September 2021. If you object to your child’s surname and county being available to members of the public, you should write to Heroes Stamp Design Competition, Royal Mail Group, 185 Farringdon Road, London EC1A 1AA. However, Royal Mail may still need to give this information to the Advertising Standards Authority on a confidential basis. If your child enters the competition, Royal Mail has what data protection law calls a “legitimate interest” to use your child’s details (i.e. name, age, school name and postcode) in the ways described above. However, your decision of what is best for your child takes priority, so if you have any concerns please let your child’s teacher know not to include your child’s design in the competition. Please refer to Royal Mail’s Privacy Notice at https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/site/privacy-notice/ for more information about how to exercise data protection rights, contact Royal Mail’s Data Protection Officer or raise complaints with the Information Commissioner’s Office. If your child is one of the competition winners, Royal Mail will contact you separately, via the school, to discuss whether you would be willing to take part in publicity. Thank you, Heroes Stamp Design Competition In association with
FLASHBACK FRIDAY Our #throwbackthursdays. On a Friday.
FOR TODAY'S #THROWBACKTHURSDAY POST WE'RE TAKING YOU TO LEAMINGTON STATION IN 1958. THIS GROUP OF SMARTLY DRESSED KINGSLEY GIRLS WERE ON THEIR WAY TO SWITZERLAND. MARY ELKINGTON (BACK RIGHT), A FORMER PUPIL AND SCHOOL SECRETARY FOR 42 YEARS, WAS ONE OF THE STAFF ACCOMPANYING THE TRIP. #TBT
Friday 30th April 2021
KEEPING IN TOUCH subject instagram channels
@thekingsleyschoolart
@thekingsleyschool business
@thekingsleyschoolchem
@thekingsleyschool englishdrama
@kingsleyschoolgeography
@thekingsleyschoolhistory
@thekingsleyschool philosophy
@thekingsleyschoolphysics
@thekingsleyschool sixthform
@thekingsleyschool earlyyears
@thekingsleyschoolmaths
@scoobythetherapydog
to all who celebrated over the past month and will be celebrating over the weekend...
Happy birthday! N
y2
y6
y9
R
poppy c maya y-m
y4
harriet h
evie g
kitty s
harriet a agnes t izzy s rubina g
y7
grace a emily h maddie g
dottie h
y10
alys c y12 molly h charlotte p lottie h
bella h hannah d georgia m
y13
y1
ashy k-s hanna e luisa e y5
rosa p
ellie s ffion p y8 millie t larissa h charlotte t lisa r-m annabel k y11
hannah a
Phoebe t simar s
UNTIL NEXT TIME... SEND US YOUR UPDATES! MARKETING@KINGSLEYSCHOOL.CO.UK
#BACKTOGETHER