Our year 8 students returned from Paris very late on Monday night. They were all a bit bleary-eyed on Tuesday morning, but buzzing from their experience. Mr Traynor and the staff on the trip were massively impressed with our students’ conduct throughout the trip. They were a credit to our school.

On Tuesday we welcomed our year 5 & 6 local primary students to take part in an intra-school Spelling Bee competition. The primary students were joined by their peers who are now Kingsway students in years 7 & 8. It was a heated competition with some tricky spellings (and a faulty buzzer!) but Outwood primary came out top with some very impressive spellings. Well done Outwood!

Also on Tuesday, we also hosted the EDT Go4Set Award ceremony and exhibition. EDT are a charity who create opportunities for students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & MAths). Kingsway had two teams (H2O and Ufikiaji) up against other high achieving schools in the North West, including Grammar schools. I am delighted to announce that our team ‘Ufikiaji’ won best overall project. What an incredibly proud moment for me and the STEM team at Kingsway.

On Wednesday, we had an Induction Day for our new teaching staff: Ms Burrows (Teacher of Maths), Ms Bowers (Teacher of History), Mr Cook (teacher of History), Ms Mullin (Teacher of English), Ms Ruane (Teacher of Business Studies). They are all really excited about starting at Kingsway and I am confident they will be a great addition to our superb team of teachers.

On Thursday, our Resourced Centre hosted a Garden Party for staff, students and their families. It was another warm day and so out came the floral table cloths, vintage teapots and scones. It was lovely to meet with the families of our current and new resourced students - events like this can help these families to make new friends because often their lives are too busy with their very special children.

On Friday, Mrs Marsh took 3 year 9 students to the Digital Advantage Graduation Awards ceremony at MMU. There were 20 teams involved in the competition to create a business App, mostly sixth form students. Three independent judges from business backgrounds selected 3 of the best Apps. I am delighted to tell you all that we did very well and came in third place. It was a very proud moment for our school and the students were excellent ambassadors for The Kingsway School.

Would you believe it? 52 days without rain and it finally came pouring down on Friday when our Duke of Edinburgh team left for their final expedition! Thank goodness the staff are well used to wet weather conditions and the rain did eventually subside to allow for a warm and successful expedition weekend. Miss Horsey did an exceptional job organising the event, supported by lots of staff, and with  only one sprained ankle to report, it was a huge success. Well done all.

On Wednesday afternoon, The Kingsway School went out in force to support their Houses in our Sports Day. It was another gorgeous afternoon and we enjoyed watching all the competitors race against one another to gain points towards the Kingsway Sports Cup as the spectators cheered on. We made sure there were plenty of places for students to sit in the shade and kept students hydrated throughout the afternoon. It was a wonderful afternoon. Mr Hulme Head of PE was very impressed: “In the searing conditions, our students truly rose to the occasion and produced some fantastic displays of athletic performance, sportsmanship and bravery”. The winner of the Kingsway Sports Cup will be announced at our end of year assembly, along with the winning house for the staff relay.

Later on Wednesday, Mrs Wilde and myself went out for dinner with our NQTs (Newly Qualified Teachers) and their subject mentors to celebrate them completing their first year as a teacher. The first year is hard work and can be challenging, but our NQTs have all passed with flying colours and should be super proud of how far they have progressed as skilled professionals. Well done to Ms Buckley, Ms Halligan, Ms Heard, Ms Hunt, Ms Sadati and Mr Shaw.

Our amazing resourced students won our hearts last week. On Friday, they represented Stockport at the Greater Manchester School Games at the Etihad stadium. We are so proud of all the resourced students who represented their school brilliantly on a blisteringly hot day.

I also received a special visit from Zayn Khan in 7C, who brought along his Year 7 textiles soft toy project - a cat teddy named Space cat. Well done Zayn.

Another textiles masterpiece was from Year 7 student, Ahnaf Khan. Ahnaf was set with the task of designing a stuffed toy and as a keen dinosaur enthusiast, he knew straight away what he wanted to create. He drew an extremely detailed design, which even included a thagomizer (the spikes found on the tail of a dinosaur). Ahnaf selected the colours he would like to use, cut out his design and began to assemble it using a very neat running stitch. As you can see, the end product is fantastic and Ahnaf is really proud of stuffed stegosaurus toy, named Steggy.

Our Year 8 trip to Paris left in the early hours of Friday morning. I didn’t manage to wave them off at 2am, but I do hope they have a wonderful time exploring this beautiful city. More news on their trip next week.

On Wednesday evening, our Governing Board held their Summer term meeting. Our Senior Leadership Team joined governors to respond to their questions around:

• outcomes for students,
• teaching learning & assessment,
• students’ behaviour, safeguarding and wellbeing and
• the leadership and management of the school.

For the past 4 years, our school has been supported by a Local Authority School Improvement Advisor, Graham Hunt. Graham has worked closely with the senior leadership team and governors to challenge and support. This meeting was Graham’s last as our SIA as he leaves to retire and explore the world. We wish Graham well and thank him for his work with our school.

On Thursday, we had a great day hosting Lumhead primary school’s sports day. The day started out with field events in which the "living Legends" took on the "fabulous 14". The students took part in 6 field events that challenged them physically and mentally. After a short break, the pupils took on the track events, which included hurdles, the dizzy dash and the 50 metre sprint. Each and everyone of them conducted themselves in a competitive yet sporting manner. The PE Dept are looking forward to welcoming some talented athletes from Lumhead into The Kingsway School this September.

Our Post 16 evening for Year 10 took place on Thursday night. It was really well attended. The evening is designed to support students and their families make decisions about their futures by providing the opportunity to talk to local college representatives and range of employers and training providers. Our independent Careers Advisor Joanne Green was there to answer questions and our own post 16 advisor Mrs Flood, who organised the event, provided an insight into the increasingly popular world of apprenticeships. If you have any queries or concerns regarding your child’s future post school, please get in touch: s.flood@kingsway.stockport.sch.uk .

The climax of the week was our Prom. Oh, what a night! This year, our Prom was held at The Mere in Knutsford. A stunning location for our equally stunning students (and staff)! The weather topped off a perfect evening. Students arrived in an array of vehicles, enjoyed a delicious three course meal, had some memorable photographs taken and ended the night with a disco.

Our Prom King and Queen were announced: Harry Earnshaw and Charlotte Jennings and this year students voted for their own Prom King and Queen: Mr James and Ms Watson. It was a beautiful evening and the perfect end to a busy week.

I was also delighted to be on the judging panel again for the Year 9 Public Speaking Competition. The theme was ‘If I ruled with world’ and the teams of students gave inspiring and confident speeches about changes they would like to see in the world they are growing up in to. They focussed on current political issues including stereotypes, world hunger and gun crime. Along with Mr Sadler and Mrs Heil, I was so impressed with the sophisticated and intellectual content of their persuasive and emotive presentations. These are certainly Oxbridge candidates of the future! I would like to thank Ms Cuttress and Ms Dean who organised the evening along with Head Girl Jess Crawley and Deputy Head Girl Grace O’Shaughnessy, who were coaches for the teams. All the teams were amazing, but it was a competition and the winners were Team 'Labelled': Sannah Ahmad, Amy Berry, Pippa Woods, Fiona Sallaku; Kirsten Attfield; Sarah Morgan. Well done also to the two star speakers: Sarah Morgan and Joe Cownie and a special mention to Lottie Gibson.

Also last week, 31 pupils from Prospect Vale Primary School attended an afternoon Electronics session at The Kingsway School. The main objectives were to learn about components and how to put together a circuit onto prototype board. They worked in teams using a circuit diagram to build and test an alarm circuit which reacted to light. They were really excited when they got the circuit functioning and the classroom filled with the sound of sirens as each alarm was successfully tested and working. These amazing pupils then confidently developed their circuits e.g. the alarm reacting to moisture, darkness and dryness. Mr Nicolaou who ran the session said “It was a pleasure to meet the pupils and their teachers, and it was an enjoyable afternoon for all.”

On Friday morning, we had a lovely visit from our local MP, Mary Robinson. Mary is a great supporter of the work we are doing here at Kingsway, in particular in relation to our academic pathways in to STEM careers.

During her visit, Mary saw some super bright Year 8 mathematicians solving angle problems, a class of skilled Year 7 students who were loving the electronics curriculum available here and a group of gifted Year 9 students who had made rockets in their lab and were testing them out on the field.

One of the Year 9 students, Ella Stirling, who was Stockport’s Youth Parliament rep last year talked to Mary about her career plan to be a political journalist. Mary was really impressed with not only the standard of STEM education taking place at Kingsway, but also the broad and balanced curriculum we are offering to support our students’ future success in a range of careers.

Finally, on Friday afternoon our new parent governors came in to school to get a feel for the ethos of our school. They were taken around our campuses by Year 10 students Grace and Mia. The feedback from our new governors was really positive:

“Thank you for this afternoon, it was lovely having an insight in to the school day. I am amazed at how quiet and calm the school was and how welcoming the teachers were. The children were all engaged, well mannered and happy to tell us what they were doing...”