Newsletter 22 December 2023
Newsletter 22 December 2023 Dear Parents/ Carers, Christmas is finally here! We have had a busy and productive half term, since we returned in November. It seems an age since the school year began back on 5th September. Our Year 7s are now fully settled-in to ‘The Kingswinford Way’; Year 11 have completed half of their final year before their GCSEs begin. As you know, we aim to help all of our students fulfil their academic and personal potential; we have already had a number of events and showcases this year where we have seen what immense talent and ability our wonderful young people have. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the academic year to see what other brilliance the students display. As I said in the last Newsletter in October, we continually push our students to to Aspire to Excellence every single day, and continually have the highest expectations. Our young people rise to the challenge every single day. I’m really proud of their drive, resilience and ambition so far this year, both inside and outside the classroom. Some staffing changes for January; we’re sad to say goodbye at the end of term to Mr Fendek, who is leaving us to take up a role overseeing computing at another local trust. We wish him well for the future. Two new staff who started last week are Mrs Hanson (Head of Krypton House) and Miss Walters (Behaviour Mentor). We are looking forward to the positive impact they will have in our Student Achievement Team. As ever, our newsletter is a mixture of important information for parents (attendance, uniform etc…) and a celebration of some of the brilliant things that have happened in school during the last half term. I hope you enjoy reading it. All that remains is for me to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. Thank you again for your support this year. We look forward to seeing the students at the normal time on Monday 8th January 2024.
Best wishes,
Ian Moreton Headteacher Kingswinford Academy
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Christmas Foodbank: Our Head Boy (Sam) and Head Girl (Karishma) led the donations and took part in the warehouse tour which enabled us to think about how each donation is processed ready to offer to those in need. We are keen to continue our strong support of Black Country Food Bank and thank them for their efforts to support our community and those across the West Midlands.
This was our social media post-
Kingswinford Academy students spread holiday cheer by delivering heartfelt donations to Black Country Food Bank @bcfoodbank. 🎁🌟 We are so proud of the generosity of our school community in supporting those in need. Special thanks to Black Country Food Bank for the warehouse tour, offering valuable insights into their impactful work. Let's keep the spirit of giving alive this Christmas! #CommunityCares #KingswinfordKindness
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Student Rewards: We have recently opened a Reward Shop where students can use the house points they have earned as currency. The shop is open every second Friday at break time from the Hatch on the hardstanding area. Opening times may become more frequent if demand is high. Last Friday students used their house points to purchase sweet treats, basic stationery and fancy stationery such as highlighters and post-it notes. Students can also purchase different award badges in their House colours for 175 house points and the more exclusive Headteacher Award badges (silver award for 350 house points and the gold award for 500 house points).
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Visit to the Houses of Parliament: By Alice Moth I was fortunate enough to be on the school trip to visit Parliament and go on a tour with our local MP Mike Wood. It was an incredible experience and I am grateful to have been given the chance to see the House of Lords and House of Commons. We also went for a walk around London and everyone had fun and enjoyed it thoroughly. We were able to see many famous monuments including the London eye, the clock tower and the cenotaph. My personal favourite part of the trip was being allowed to sit in on a debate in the House of Lords as it was incredibly interesting to see how they were structured in a formal setting. Overall it was a wonderful experience and myself and peers loved it.
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Year 10 Catering: Year 10 have completed their first practical assessment this half term on the theme of Desserts. Students were encouraged to plate up their dishes they have produced using a variety of garnishing techniques. The dishes produced were of a really high standard, well done year 10!
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Design and Technology - After school club: This half term students have been completing a Warhammer painting competition in our DT after school club. They have been developing many building and painting skills and we look forward to using the models in games in the new year.
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Music News Instrumental tuition and grade examinations Congratulations to all of the musicians who have taken grade examinations this term! You have proved how resilience, determination, commitment and a passion for something you really enjoy, has resulted in fabulous achievements! In particular, congratulations to Alma Gal in Year 8 who achieved a distinction in her Grade 4 Piano examination. Well done to you all for developing your personal potential! If your son/daughter would like to learn to play an instrument or have vocal tuition next year then you can sign up for lessons by accessing Dudley Performing Arts website (see the link below). https://www.dudley.gov.uk/things-to-do/dudley-performing-arts/information-for-parents-and-young-people/mu sic-lessons-in-schools/ It is proven that instrumental tuition supports skills that are transferable across all curriculum areas and achievements are highly recognised by universities. Music tuition also has supportive strategies that are conducive to positive well being and mindset as well as enjoying the benefits that Music has to offer. If you would like any further details in regards to instrumental / vocal tuition then please contact Miss Abel. Carol Concert On Monday 11th December, we held our annual Christmas Carol Concert at St. Mary’s Church led by Miss Abel. Many of our talented musicians performed brilliantly to a packed St. Mary’s Church. Our School Choir, Orchestra, Key Stage 3 Advanced Band and Key Stage 4 Advanced Band all took part as well as soloists and individual vocal groups and ensembles. We raised a lot of money for St. Mary’s Church as well as £405 for Cancer Research UK and £105 for the church. Thank you to the many guests that attended our Carol Concert and for your lovely feedback; your support is always appreciated. Thank you to Fr Adams and his team once again for allowing us to hold our Christmas event at St. Mary’s Church.
Newsletter 22 December 2023 WAT Conference On Friday 8th December, 11 of our talented musicians and dancers performed at Birmingham ICC as part of the Windsor Academy Trust conference. Our students collaborated with students from across the trust in what was a spectacular performance! Well done to Arpita, Alice, Lola, Issy, Finley, Ptomely, Mackenzie, Matilda, Jessica, Alexia and Imogen for their outstanding performances and for representing Kingswinford Academy so professionally.
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Maths UK Maths Trust We’re incredibly proud that, following his success in the maths challenges and in the British Mathematical Olympiad, Sam Griffiths has been selected to represent the UK in upcoming International Mathematical Olympiads.
The first part of this involves Sam flying to Hungary on 27th December for the maths training camp. Here, Sam will take part in individual problem solving exercises, lectures from visiting speakers, group problem solving, and mathematical games. Congratulations Sam, and good luck!
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Reading Free books this Christmas: lose yourself in a graphic novel, magazine or e-book with ‘Sora’. Kingswinford Academy is really excited to announce the launch of our new online digital library, Sora. Students have been introduced to this in library and English lessons, and have been exploring the wider variety of books, magazines and graphic novels on its digital shelves. Students can access Sora via the app on their iPads or simply through their browser. To access, search for our school and create a profile; it automatically signs students in via the Gmail accounts. Students can borrow up to five books at a time, and request books that can be added to their ‘wish list’. We would love all Kingswinford students to participate in the ‘Sora Reading Challenge’ this Christmas! Can you collect all nine stars? Students should show this to their English teacher or Mrs Hendy the first week back. They will be placed in the prize draw for a chance to win tokens to spend in our new library bookshop! If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Miss Whittaker or Mrs Hendy. Happy Christmas reading!
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Computing Each Tuesday after school Mr Round hosts a gaming club. He has been bringing in a Nintendo switch and setting it up to the projector. They have held a Mario Kart tournament, had just dance on the screen with students having ‘dance offs’ and other students in the room engaging in their favourite part of computer science… Gaming. Students have been accessing games on their own handheld devices as well as creating their own games in the block based programming software Scratch. See Mr Round if you are interested in joining the club
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Local Heritage Day Our Local Heritage Ambassadors were proud to participate in Wall Heath Village Heritage Day on Saturday 2nd December. They welcomed over 300 visitors on the day and discussed the history of our school, along with the research they have been conducting on the local area. Councillor Mark Webb and the Wall Heath Community Association were extremely impressed with our Local Heritage Society display and the knowledge shown by our ambassadors. A fantastic day was had by all, and we would like to thank Terry Church for hosting this event, along with the Wall Heath Community Association. Our Local Heritage Ambassadors have added to their wealth of knowledge regarding our school history through this community event and will now begin to build our school archives up from this. A special thank you to Pam Horwill, the President of the Wall Heath Association, who was a student at our school during its earlier days and shared her memories with our Ambassadors for our archives.
Newsletter 22 December 2023 Art
Newsletter 22 December 2023 Art - Continued
Newsletter 22 December 2023 School Uniform: As we look ahead to the New Year we want to remind you of our uniform regulations, in particular please ensure your child is wearing shoes (not trainers), if they wear a jumper under their blazer it must be black v neck (not round neck), if they wear trousers they must be tailored trousers which are not tight to the ankles (no leggings), false nails/nail varnish are not permitted. Please see this link for full details of what is permitted, including some helpful FAQs. Incorrect uniform will lead to sanctions being issued to students
Newsletter 22 December 2023 School Uniform:
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Reminder of PE kit and PE policies: Girls’ PE Kit - Compulsory Compulsory Unisex polo shirt Shorts or skirt (No ‘hotpants’) PE Jumper Long black football socks Trainers Football boots Optional: Active sports jacket Black thick leggings Black tracksuit trousers/joggers
Boys’ PE Kit - Compulsory Rugby shirt (reversible) Compulsory Unisex polo shirt Shorts Long black football socks Trainers Football boots Optional: Active sports jacket Black tracksuit trousers/joggers PE Jumper
Gum shield (for rugby) and shin pads (for football) are highly recommended
Our approved suppliers are: The Sports Shop, Kingswinford https://thesportsshopkingswinford.co.uk/collections/kingswinford-school
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Reminder of PE kit and PE policies (continued): Base Layers: With the colder months upon us, we appreciate students might want to wear additional base layers to keep warm. Students are allowed to wear a black long sleeve base top which can be worn under their polo shirt/rugby shirt.
Medical: If your child cannot participate in PE lessons for any reason we do require a note to be written explaining the reasons why and also how long your child will be out of action for. With regards to longer term injuries, if your child has been told they cannot participate in PE lessons for a period of more than 6 weeks we will require a medical note. Please also ensure that if your child suffers from any medical conditions, such as asthma that they are bringing their inhalers/other medical equipment to school daily and to their PE lessons.
Changing at the end of the school day: If students have PE lessons 5 and 6 students are required to get changed back in to their school uniform after their PE lesson before leaving the school site.
Newsletter 22 December 2023
ASPIRE to Excellence - Our Expectations Ready, Respectful, Safe We have now completed a full term where we consider carefully our Ready, Respectful and Safe approach to everything we do in school. We have worked hard to embed our routines within all aspects of our school environment and the benefits can be seen, we would like to thank everyone for their continued effort and support. Students Missing from Lesson A small minority of students, at times, decide not to attend a lesson, or have not returned from being permitted to go to the toilet during a lesson, therefore being noted as “Missing from Lesson” on Class Charts. We treat truancy from lessons seriously, this is of great concern, as we are unable to account for your child's whereabouts during these episodes. We have worked with our community to ensure students are aware of the consequences should they truant from lessons. Students will be challenged in line with our behaviour policy, initially this will be time in the Refocus Room and if the issue persists. potential suspension from school. We trust we can reply upon you to speak to your child about the severity of the issue; students cannot achieve if they are not in lessons and therefore will not unlock their academic and personal potential. Toilet Permission We encourage students to access toilets before and after school, during social times and; where possible avoiding toilet use during lessons. You are able to track your child's toilet use during lessons by looking at Class Charts and “Toilet Permission”. We have tracked the amount of time our students have accessed toilets during lessons and if every toilet visit is 5 minutes long, since September up until October, this equates to over 1500 hours of lost lesson time. This has significantly dropped since half term - thank you for your support in discouraging in-lesson toilet use with your child. As I am sure you appreciate lost learning directly relates to student progress and we welcome your continued support in tracking your child's toilet use via Class Charts and encouraging your child to access the toilets away from lessons. Mobile Phones We have a “Gate to Gate” expectation with regard to mobile phones, students must ensure they are switched off and placed in their school bag, at the school gate before entering the school site. They must remain switched off and in their bags until they leave the school site and are outside of the school gate before using them; this also applies to all after-school activities. If you need to contact your child for any reason, this must be done via school reception.
Newsletter 22 December 2023 Absence from school equals lost learning; lost learning directly impacts what your child will achieve in their GCSE examinations, which will impact upon their future. It soon adds up and makes a difference. We need to work together to ensure our young people attend because it will ultimately affect their future success. As you are aware, we use ‘Studybugs’ to report absence. The app will send you NHS advice on whether your child should still come to school if they are feeling ill. Please check your child's Class Charts as Tutors are celebrating and supporting improved and perfect attendance with positive points. Our “Rewards Shop” will soon be available and your child will be able to exchange their points for rewards of their choice.
If you do need to report a child absence, do so using the Studybugs app. If it is an illness-related absence, you will also be sent NHS advice as to whether your child should still attend school (or you can check here)
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Initial Teacher Training at WAT As part of WAT’s partnership with the National Institute of Teaching as an Associate College, we are proud to announce that from September 2024 we will be offering our own teacher training provision. Applications for our Initial Teacher Training programme are now open for our September 2024 intake. Initial Teacher Training is a fully immersive school-centred programme, with school placements available in one of our 12 schools or at one of the six Dudley Academy Trust schools. Applicants will be able to choose their main placement school when applying and we will endeavour to do our best to place applicants in their first choice school. Our trainees are also mentored and have central training once a week. All of our teacher training courses lead to QTS (Qualified Teacher Status), a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) and 60 Master’s Level credits. Interested applicants can find out more via our Initial Teacher Training webpage and can apply via the DfE Apply website. You can find us using our provider code 2HE or search for NIoT at WAT. To find out more, please email us at teachertraining@windsoracademytrust.org.uk
Newsletter 22 December 2023
Newsletter 22 December 2023