Newsletter Apr 2009
-
Upload
kings-norton-high-school -
Category
Documents
-
view
219 -
download
0
description
Transcript of Newsletter Apr 2009
KINGS NORTON
HIGH TIMES
April 2009
IN THIS ISSUE
What’s jumped?
Mr D’s
message to
year 11
Happy Easter to all
our readers!
Spring Term It has been a really busy term here at KNHS. All of the usual activity which cranks up to fever pitch
towards exam time was of course decimated by an unusual week of heavy snow. I remember one
morning in that week listening to the weather forecast on my car radio which told me that it would be
a clear day while at that same moment I was looking at a blizzard and sliding slowly down Parsons Hill
hoping my wheels would manage to keep some kind of purchase on the thickly-covered road. I was
trembling when I arrived at work and many other staff were in the same condition. There were two
staff car bumps, one twisted ankle and constant radio broadcast pleas from hospital staff for schools to
close so as to reduce the number of inevitable road accidents – or at least keep off the roads at rush-
hour times. On the Friday of that week, all but one of our teaching staff had turned up for work but
only a third of students made it in. Our fantastic improvement in attendance up to that point was
badly damaged – in common of course with all other Birmingham schools. The one optimistic note
however is that the Met Office say this was a once-in-18-years occurrence so at least we should expect
uninterrupted education for a long spell from now on!
Maths and English – the National Challenge Our campaign to focus on success in maths and English at GCSE is going well and staff have been fantastic in
their willingness, as ever, to offer students out-of-hours tuition as well as a great deal of individual, personal-
ised support. This has taken many forms:
· some students have dropped a less successful subject in order to work online to improve their own tar-
geted weak areas in English and/or maths
· we have taken on a team of maths and English tutors in order to give students one-to-one or small-group
extra tuition
· we have hired extra qualified teachers so that smaller teaching groups can be formed wherever advanta-
geous
· lunchtime extra classes for a rolling programme of small groups has proved very successful, as have
after-school lessons
· the Easter school programme has been finalised; teachers have interrupted their holidays and details have
been posted home
· masterclasses and revision blocks of time have begun and last week-end the head and deputy head of
English along with the head and deputy head of maths gave up their whole week-end to take a group of
students on a revision and activity-packed residential experience in Oxfordshire
· a very small and exclusive group of students who have found it difficult to concentrate in class, and as a
consequence have disrupted others, have been working on their revision programmes alongside middle
and senior managers in order to keep focused and improve their own and their classes’ chances of passing
their GCSEs.
On our training day, Friday 3rd
April, we have had the opportunity to concentrate, as a whole staff, on our
planning, the sharing of good practice and the learning of new skills which are vital to the quality of eduation
your children deserve. These training days mean that no member of staff is left behind and, more impor-
tantly, the need for teachers to go out of school on individual courses, which would re-
quire your children’s classes to be covered by a supply teacher on a regular basis, is kept
to a minimum. Our in-house training and self-evaluation have won us a Leading Aspect
award, and much praise from Ofsted, so we feel confident that they do make a difference
to children’s life chances.
Some of the above and other aspects of our Spring Term are featured in this edition of
High Times. I hope you find them interesting.
THE HEAD’S HIGHLIGHTS
Phones in
lessons!!!
Hard at work
As part of ‘National Science and Engineering Week’ in March, a group of year 9
students visited the Thinktank at Millenium Point in Birmingham to take part in a
series of workshops run by professional scientists.
Their first task was to develop a health and safety
awareness by producing risk assessments associated
with installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines.
Next it was exploring the possibilities and advan-
tages of incorporating data-logging devices in science investigations. The
highlight of this workshop involved trying to complete a motion sensor
challenge using their own bodies. At the end of this workshop the students
were able to sit on a mini hovercraft powered by a small electric leaf
blower motor.
At another workshop, outdoor ranger Steven Hinton, an ex-student
brought in a section of heathland from the Lickey Hills for our students to
investigate in the warm.
For most, the highlight of the day was the literally hands-on experiences with the Health Protection Agency
investigating the world of microbes. This involved constructing their own microbe and exploration into how
far germs are spread when we sneeze, what microbes are found on our hands and how effective we are at
washing our hands to remove them.
All the adults I spoke to at the event were very
complimentary about the appearance,
conduct and enthusiasm of our students and
it was an honour to spend the day with Jack
Ashton, Jed Astbury, Grace Branch, Alanah
Brookes, Peter Connor, Eunice Cornejo, Amy Moore, Ropa Muguta, Amy
Thompson and Daniel Turner.
Mr Taylor, Head of Science
“It has made me realize
how important these jobs
are and how exciting they
can be”.
Hands-on at the ThinkTank
This has shown me that
most jobs need science and
you don’t need to be a Sci-
entist to be involved with
Science in your job
To staff and families at Kings Norton High School 24th February 2009
I write to thank you all for your donation of HMV vouchers raised from the proceeds of a Christmas raffle.
On behalf of the children, families and staff at Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust we thank you for your
support.
Yours sincerely
LHomer Lindsey Homer
Head Nurse
Day Subject
Monday 6th
April AM English, ICT
Monday 6th
April PM English
Tuesday 7th
AM Art, ICT
Tuesday 7th
PM Art
Easter school for year 11 students
I PITY DA FOOL,
that don’t go to
Easter school!!
Wednesday 15th
April AM BTEC Science
BTEC Sport
Wednesday 15th April PM BTEC Science
BTEC Sport
Thursday 16th April AM Humanities
Thursday 16th April PM Humanitiies
Friday 17th April AM Maths revision
Friday 17th April PM Maths revision
Afternoon session
12.30 pm until 2.30 pm
Morning session
10.00 until 3.00 pm
Don’t forget— the
sessions you need to
attend were listed on
the letters sent 31/3/09.
I took part in the Red Nose day charity event at our school. I wanted to do something different, so I decided to go for a sponsored silence as I find it hard to keep quiet. I raised £32.00. On Red Nose Day we
had good lessons about how the money is spent and how we can decide who and what our money can be used for. Some of the staff and pupils did ‘Search for a Star’ - it was good but very funny. We also had red nose stickers, cakes and face paints, fancy dress (for some) and non-uniform day. It was a great day and I am very proud to donate some money for a good cause.
Liam Foley, year 9
Congratulations to all those year 11 students who are working really hard to
complete their BTEC ICT Diploma and certificate qualification.
Many year 11’s have already secured the equivalent of 4 GCSEs by completing all the
necessary coursework for their BTEC.
Special congratulations go to Stephanie and Jessica in 11x1 who have achieved the
highest marks so far: Distinction and Distinction*
For those of you who still have a little way to go remember catch-up sessions are
available throughout the week:
Tuesday 3pm – 4pm Ms Busby
Wednesday 3pm – 4pm Mr Hornsved
Thursday 1.20pm – 1.50pm Ms Busby
Thursday 3pm – 4pm Mrs Cutter
Friday 1.20pm – 1.50pm Ms Busby
Keep up the good work year 11
ICT Team
This spring, in addition, to the ‘Cook and Take-
away’ sessions that run every Monday, Thursday
and Friday throughout the year, Food Net is also
offering families the chance to cook together. So
whether you’re an experienced cook looking to
spend some more time with your children, or an
enthusiastic kitchen novice hoping to develop you
and your children’s cooking skills, why not join us
at the 3 Kings Café every Saturday morning.
Food Net is also running one-off ‘Cooking with
Families’ sessions on Thursday 9th
and 16th
April
during the Easter holidays. Come along for a
cooking good time!
Cook it!
We are very excited to announce that from 20th
April 2009, Aspens Services Ltd
will be providing the catering service at Kings Norton High School.
We are planning a number of changes to the service over the next few weeks –
the first being the introduction of our food concepts into the ground floor dining
areas, plus a brand new hot and cold food offer in the concourse.
Recipes and flavours from around the world
Freshly made grab & go sandwiches, baguettes and salad
pots
The new service for the concourse area. Hot sauce toppings for
pasta, jacket potatoes etc, plus a range of freshly made
sandwiches, baguettes, rolls and salad pots
There will be a number of promotions and meal deals throughout the school year
that will offer great value for money – starting with an Italian theme for the first
week of the new term. We will publish the calendar of events and our menus via
the school’s newsletter and web site and on the Aspens website.
All of our menus are nutritionally balanced and compliant with new healthy food
legislation that comes into force this year.
Over the summer break, Aspens will be refurbishing the dining area, creating a
new café outlet and over the summer term, we will be seeking the views of
students, staff and parents to help us design this new facility, which will open for
business in September 2009.
Our website can be found at www.aspens-services.co.uk and if you wish to email
any comment or query, please contact us on [email protected].
On Friday 27th
March 2009 the mathematics and English departments went on a revision weekend to
Stansfeld Residential Centre with a selection of year 11 GSCE students. It was to prove a successful,
although somewhat exhausting weekend!
Having arrived at 4.00 pm, it was straight down to three hours of maths and English study - students
worked solidly up until 9.30pm! Despite some initial groaning both students and staff commented at
the end of the evening, on how much they had learnt and enjoyed the evening.
“You know what? That was wicked miss!”
But we have to say congratulations to one young man
who managed to sleep in a bedroom drawer! We
hope that the weekend will have inspired all the pu-
pils to achieve success in the summer. The students
were a delight to socialise with and were a credit to
the school.
“Come on hurry up, I want a go!”
What A Weekend!!
Following a rather exhausting night, when for some sleep seemed an impossibility, the students took part in more
learning on Saturday morning and evening. During the afternoon pupils took part in centre organised activities, in-
cluding: an assault course, team building exercises and an impromptu water fight! (Thanks Miss Baker!)
On Sunday, prior to departure, we managed to squeeze in two more maths and English sessions, followed by a roast
dinner and an awards ceremony. As for the journey home, it was very quiet!
Thank you to Mrs Hammond, Miss Baker, Mr Barker and Miss Raj who gave up their weekend.
“Look what I caught!”Look what I caught!”Look what I caught!”Look what I caught!”
““““Hard at work!”
On the 13th March 2009, Kings Norton High celebrated ‘Red Nose Day’.
The theme of this year’s Comic Relief was ‘do something funny for
money’ – and you only need to look at the pictures above to see how
funny some people were. There were also a lot of different activities
planned throughout the day: fancy dress, face painting, ‘Search for a
Star’, Gladiators, cake sales and much more.
But it wasn’t all fun and games... we also changed people’s lives.
During lessons the students learned about the difference that their
money would be making to young people in the UK and in Africa. In hu-
manities the students learnt about a young girl called Mariam, who was
dying of starvation and had no education. A loan from Comic Relief
helped her father set up his own farm and business. Mariam is now
healthy and going to school and she wants to become a maths teacher.
Students and staff raised OVER £400. This money will change and save
peoples’ lives.
WELL DONE KINGS NORTON HIGH AND THANK YOU!
R E D N O S E D A Y ' 0 9
SEARCH FOR A
STAR
On Tuesday 24th
March, year 9 went on a
trip to the National Indoor Arena to
experience the U R A Star performance by
Witness.
The performance was watched by 5,000
students from the West Midlands area
with ages ranging from Year 8 to Year 11.
The performance was designed to raise
awareness to a lot of the social dilemmas
that young people encounter on a
regular basis including that of knife crime.
72 students from Kings Norton High went
on the trip and were a credit to the school
and the area with their sensitivity and
involvement in the singing and dancing at
the event.
Everyone enjoyed the trip and
found it very informative.
At the beginning of the term, several of our year 9 and year
10 pupils went to a ‘hear by right’ event held by Linda
Harrold, our educational social worker.
Inspiring!
Hear by Right is a tried and tested standards
framework for statutory and voluntary sectors to
assess and improve practice and policy on the active
involvement of children and young people.
HEAR BY
RIGHT
U R A STAR
A few weeks ago Gorgeous Bridal Studio from Cotteridge
visited Kings Norton High School with a selection of Prom
dresses and suits that are available to buy.
After a bit of persuasion pupils tried on the dresses and
jackets and looked lovely modelling them.
The shop is offering a discount on some dresses to pupils
from Kings Norton High School.
Pupils are currently helping to
plan the theme for the prom and
so far pink seems to be the most
popular colour with the boys!
The prom is on Thursday 18th
June 2009 at the Westmead
Hotel in Hopwood.
BELLES OF THE BALL
Super Learners Day
The tasks encouraged team
work, listening and
communicating to work
through what can appear to
be impossible but with
cooperation leads to a
successful result. In the arts
challenge the students
created a piece of art work
that was displayed in the
Central Library throughout
March. The circus skills
challenge showed the
students that through
perseverance new skills can
be easily mastered.
During the Super Learners
Day 120 students from 10
different Birmingham
schools worked together,
produced a wonderful piece
of art work and learned new
skills needed for successful
work in school.
On February 25th,
12
students from Kings Norton
High together with 120
students from schools across
Birmingham, participated in
an event organised by The
Children’s Society and The
University of First Age. The
event was a wonderful
opportunity to meet stu-
dents from other schools
and learn skills needed for
learning.
The students were put into
groups and experienced
three different workshops,
Puzzle Challenge, Arts Chal-
lenge and Circus Skills Chal-
lenge. During the puzzle
challenge, the students had
to solve a challenge by
working together and find-
ing out the answer.
Kings Norton High School was the venue for the final of the
Baverstock School Sports Partnership Primary Athletics Festival.
Over 50 year 5 and 6 students from various primary schools across
the partnership all came together to compete in various indoor
track and field events. Students
from year 11 were on hand to
assist with the event and help
ensure the afternoon ran
smoothly. All pupils had a fun
afternoon and the year 11’s
were credited for their excellent
help and leadership skills.
Year 5 and 6 Primary Athletics Festival
On Monday 23rd
March, I was asked to judge a science
competition. It was Mrs Horner’s year ten double
award group, and they had been set a topical task,
coming up to Easter: how to build a parachute for an
egg. But this was no simple task. Student teams would
be judged on their design, their fall time and of course
on the condition of the egg when it had landed.
It was that day – you know the one where that lovely
spring feeling had left us all too abruptly and in its
place we had huge grey rain clouds and an arctic wind.
When Mrs Horner had asked me along to her lesson to
help with the judging, I had imagined we would be cosy
and warm but no, we all trooped out into the icy blast,
knowing that we had only minutes before the clouds
would begin to drop their cargo on us!
The wind didn’t eggsactly (sorry!) help us and one or
two of the eggs had to be given a second drop because
they became entangled in bushes, but finally the drops
were completed and we all made our way back into the
warm.
Minutes later, we thanked all of the teams for their
imaginative and well-executed offerings. The prizes
went to Jake Sykes, Ryan McCrea, Sam Freckleton, Nick
Harris, Mollie Hansel, Agnieszka Korona. All in all a
very enjoyable and educational eggsperience!
Denise Burns
A Cracking
Experience!
Year 10 double award science were given the task of
making egg parachutes to carry egg passengers. They
then put their parachutes to the test by launching them
out of the window to see whose egg would break and
fail miserably or whose egg would stay intact and fall
with the slowest fall time. BUT if all eggs were to break
and fail miserably then they would be judged on their
fall time. Mrs Horner & Ms Burns were the events judges.
All parachutes were judged on their looks and the top
two group winners won prizes of Easter eggs. Happily, no
team went home with nothing because every member
of the competition was given a creme egg. Crackin’!
Nick Harris, year 10
Eggcellent Flyers!!! WARNING
EGG ALERT!!
Normally students are told to ‘put those
phones away’, however, in humanities
we have used our mobile phones to
retell our own version of the parable of
the prodigal son. We were able to set up
our scenes, take the pictures, send them
to our laptops and then edit them in
powerpoint.
But when she ran out of money she remembered how much her mum’s employees were getting paid so she decided to go back and not be her mother’s daughter, but an employee.
WOW! You’re back … I
haven’t seen you in
ages. What brought
you back?
MOBILE PHONES IN LESSONS!