Year 7 KNHS 6-3 St Georges League KNHS 7-3 Frankley League Cup KNHS 2-8 Bartley Green League KNHS 4-2 Frankley League KNHS 8-2 Kings Heath League Left to play Baverstock B League Queensbridge League Kings Norton Boys 2nd Round League Cup

Year 8 KNHS 4-1 Kings Heath League KNHS 8-2 St Georges League KNHS 3-2 Bartley Green League Left to play Baverstock B League Queensbridge League Turves Green 2nd Round League Cup

Year 9 KNHS 6-0 St Georges League KNHS 1-2 Kings Heath League KNHS 4-4 Frankley League Left to play Queensbridge League Shenley Court B League Lordswood 2nd Round League Cup

Year 11 KNHS 2-6 Frankley League Left to play Kings Heath League St Georges League Shenley Court B League Wheelers/Challoner 2nd Round League Cup

Football Results

Year 7 Trip To Watch England U21’s

On Friday the 6th October a group of Year 7 pupils and parents went and watched England U21’s play Germany U21’s at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. For some of the boys there it was their first experience of a live football match. The boys were excellently behaved and joined in with the Mexican wave as it went round the ground, though some need practice with the English National Anthem.

Page 2

• Geog r a ph y

Field Trip Page 3

• A catalyst for

good GCSE grades?

• Y e a r 1 0

G C S E S c i e n c e update

• World Aids

Day Page 4

• PAYP

• S c h o o l

Council Page 5

• Ha i r a n d

Beauty advert Page 6

• NSPCC letter

and certificate

• Loud Mouth

Theatre letter Page 7

• Ballad and

limericks

• Dates fo r

your diary Page 8

• Sports news

September - October 2006

BRILLIANT NEWS TO

START A NEW YEAR! Our visitors are saying things like, ‘I have been visiting Kings Norton High for many years, but over the last two it seems like a different school!’ Here are some rea-sons why … GCSEs 2006 – up again to 60%!! In my summer newsletter mes-sage, I said our exam results were due to rise again from 49% last year to well over 50% this year. But even that was a modest prediction because 60% of our year eleven stu-dents left us this summer hav-ing achieved five top grades, mostly including functional liter-acy and numeracy, and ICT. We are all absolutely delighted. Well done class of 2006! Other improvements Our lockers arrived and now all students have their own place to store heavy bags, books and coats. The first job of the day is to deposit outdoor coats and hats in these lockers and I am delighted to see students walk-ing around school looking like they really belong here because

Year 11 enjoying themselves at last year’s prom. now we can all see their smart uniforms. Head’s Forum – a chance to have your say and maybe win £25! We have seen a number of changes since January when I took up post as head teacher. These include: a new behaviour policy, healthier food at lunch-times, projectors and laptops for all teachers in all class-rooms, more assemblies, LCD screens and form tutor presen-tations to improve communica-tion. We would love to hear your views on any or all of these changes so we sent home a questionnaire for you to fill in. As we really value your feed-back, we are offering a reward for returning the questionnaire; we will be putting your names forward for a draw and the prize will be £25.

Continued on Page 2

60% 5 A* - C

Year 11 geography pupils went on a field-t r ip to Cardingmill V a l l e y , Shropshire.

They had a great day measuring rivers and surveying the area for their GCSE coursework. Fortunately, the weather was good and the day was enjoyed by all.

Pupils’ enthusiasm, conduct and polite manner was noted by visitors there. They were a real credit to the school. There should be a wide range of geography trips this academic year for both key stages 3 and 4. Mr S. Moore Teacher in Charge of Geography

Continued from Page 1

The draw will take place on Tuesday 7

th

November at Head’s Forum, so please make sure your questionnaire is in school before that date if you wish to be included. I would like to invite you into school to talk about how we are getting on, and how we could get even better. This is what I meant by a ‘head’s forum’ and the first one this year will take place on 7

th No-

vember (some parents may already be coming into school at 5.00 on that day to talk about the GCSEasy project so could simply stay on for the meeting), from 6.00 till 7.00 – just a quick chat over tea/coffee and biscuits. The first subject for our fo-rum will be: Steps to Success – a behav-iour-for-learning system. If you cannot attend head’s forum, and you win the questionnaire draw, we will send your prize home the following day with your oldest child and publish your name in our next newsletter.

I hope you can join me on that evening. Please phone Lorraine Thomson, my PA, on the school number – even if you are already attending the GCSEasy meeting, and let her know if you intend to come so that we know how many Hobnobs to buy! Proposed Changes for the Future Our school council has this year turned its attention to school uniform – more about that inside. This is a timely topic as our new academy status would in any case have prompted us towards a new image. We should be in a position to offer the new-style uniform for next September, but are likely to make it available for the last term of this year so that if students need any new items of uniform in the summer, they will not have to buy the old uniform for one term only. We look forward to a very positive year 2006-2007 and as ever thank you for your continued support. Denise Burns Headteacher

Geography Field Trip

Fish on a Dish By Jack Woodward

There was a fish on a dish

Once swam in the sea the

fish

Swam into a fishing net

Once in there became up-

set

Now he’s being served on a

dish!

Dates for your Diary!

Saggy Maggie

By Ryan Moore There was a young woman

called Maggie

Who was sooo saggy

She got stung by a bee

While climbing a tree

She was left in agga knee!

Hunter By Charlotte Williams

The crocodile hunter died today

It hit Australia hard

He was Australia’s national treasure

He was killed by a stingray’s barb

His little girl cried her heart out

He was killed around 11am

He’s missed so dearly by his family

What a shame for wife, Terri-Anne

He has a loving family

His children Bindi and Bob

They cry and cry

Weep and sob

They miss him

They miss his smile

They still shed a tear

Every once an a while.

Tuesday 7th November Parents Forum - 6.00pm

Thursday 9th November Year 10 Science Assessment

Monday 13th November Year 10 Enterprise Day

Thursday 16th November Awards Evening

Friday 17th November Training Day

Week beginning 20th November Anti-bullying Week

Friday 1st December Review Day by appointment

Week beginning 18th December Creative Arts Christmas/

Winter Festival

Friday 22nd December School finishes for Christmas

Tuesday 9th January School re-opens for spring

term

A CATALYST FOR

GOOD GCSE

GRADES?

If you are in Year 10 or 11 – have you found the new Cata-lyst magazine in your school library? The magazine aims to print interesting stories linked with GCSE science and help you to gain good grades. It also includes articles showing the links be-tween your school science and scien-tific research and the lives of scientists. The current magazine considers such topics as the chances of ‘near earth objects’ crashing onto our planet, test-ing new medicines, biofuels and much more. Make a point of asking our librarian, Mrs. Trombley, or one of her student assistants to let you read this maga-zine. Your comments about Catalyst will also be welcome.

YEAR 10 GCSE SCIENCE

UPDATE

This new modular course was started by our students in the final few weeks of Year 9 and it is going well. There are 12 units to complete and there is regular assessment leading to a GCSE certification. The top-ics covered have a more up to date approach and closer links with everyday issues and careers. So far, students have considered issues such as the dangers of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, causes and effects of tubercu-losis, blood sugar, diabetes and genetic engineering. If your child is in Year 10, he/she must be at school on Thursday 9

th November to sit

the first external modular GCSE science assessment. It will count towards the final grade. This means that revi-sion is currently a part of your child’s homework! I wish all of our Year 10 stu-dents success on 9

th Novem-

ber. G. Taylor Head of Science

Friday 1st December 2006 We will be selling red ribbons all week around school at break and lunchtime at 20 pence each, in support of World Aids Day. Please see Emma Goodwin or Liam Hanna for your ribbons. Give gener-ously.

In the summer holidays, a holiday pro-ject run by All Saints Youth Project was based at Kings Norton High School for four weeks. We had 38 young people, a large number of pupils from KNHS and some from other schools ranging from 8-15 years of age. We followed the same program as All Saints. They had 60 young people ageing from 11 to 16 years old. We had a sports day at KNHS with both groups, Sylvia the school Connexions worker came to watch. We also had joint trips out to Conkers in Derby, Tam-worth Park, Weston, Drayton Manor Theme Park and on the last day, a joint party with dancers and a rap band with over 100 young people attending. We also had an awards ceremony and every young person had a certificate. We had staff and a student from school

on the scheme: Debbie and Chris, at-tendance wardens, Jenni and Emma, Year 7 & 9 learning mentors and Amy Pace, a Year 11 pupil at KNHS. The young people had the chance to try new activities, meet new friends and for some pupils who attend KNHS, build stronger relationships with staff. I enjoyed co co-ordinating the PAYP as it has given me the chance to see how beneficial it has been for KNHS using the excellent facilities on site in the sports hall, canteen area, sports field, classroom, learning support centre and the local parks. This has also led to the chance to do an after school music pro-ject and further holiday schemes with funding from Connexions. Patricia Buckley Learning Mentor LSC (The House)

Positive Activities for Young People

The student council have had two meetings so far. The first thing on the agenda was school uniform. The head Mrs Burns attended the whole school council meeting to ask them for their views on what they think should hap-pen to the uniform. Do we keep the same colour, have polo shirts for summer, sweat shirts for win-ter, do away with ties? The school reps took this information back to their forms and at a year meet-ing fed back the ideas of each form.

The next move is to meet again as a whole group and present the informa-tion to Mrs Burns and this will lead to the school council having a say on how KNHS uniform will look for September 2007. Each student rep will be wearing a badge to identify themselves around school and we have a student council information notice board by the head’s office with the names of each form rep. Dave Lyon, Patricia Buckley

Student Council News

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