More magnificent students went to Manchester last week with Mrs Rowley and Mr Carr. Some of our Year 7 students enjoyed a visit to The John Rylands Library, where they were taken on a tour and learned about the history of the building and its importance in improving the literacy of the people of Manchester during the Victorian era. Following this, students found inspiration for their gothic writing in the beautiful architecture of the library. They will be using these skills to support them in the study of the gothic genre next term.

Mrs Rowley said the students were amazing and she will be recording some extracts of their incredible work. They were all a credit to the school and their engagement and curiosity was commented on by the guide and workshop leader, Matt. I hope they were all inspired by real gothic architecture and by the chance to write in a very beautiful setting.

Congratulations to our Under 16 Girls Football Team who have been crowned Stockport Champions. The tournament was held on Thursday 17th October at Woodley Sports Centre. Miss Wildgoose reported back that the girls played exceptionally well, scoring 9 goals throughout the tournament and only conceding one. The team consisted of a range of ages but predominantly Year 9, which bodes well for further success in the future.

It was a pleasure to celebrate the amazing achievements of Year 7 this week in the best subject in the world … Maths! The following students received Numeracy Ninja Grand Master Awards:

Lucy Abbott 7T, Rehan Ishtiaq 7H, Billy Owen 7E, Harry Weatherhead-Faza 7K, Laura Sousa 7I, Sammie Clapham 7N, Laiba Choudhry 7G, Ethan Ryan 7S, Ewan Jones 7W, Anna Baldina 7A, Reece Johnson 7Y and Mark Shenton 7C

With Sammie Clapham crowned overall champion - Well done Sammie!

We held our statutory termly fire drill this week. Whilst the ground on fields was soft (not ideal for my high heels!) at least the rain held off. Our students were all exceptional - they cleared the buildings and lined up silently within 4 minutes. Well done particularly to Year 7 who were sensible and coped brilliantly.

As the weather turns more winterly, please can I remind parents and carers that students should be coming to school in a suitable outdoor coat. Hoodies and sports jackets are not appropriate; a waterproof coat with a hood to provide protection from the rain would be much more ideal.  Thank you for your cooperation with this.

We have now set our holidays for the 2020/21 academic year:

INSET Days

Tuesday 1 September 2020
Monday 2 November 2020
Monday 4 January 2021
Monday 19 July 2021
Tuesday 20 July 2021

Please note the arrangements for the start of 2020/21 academic year are as follows: 

• Year 7 ONLY - Wednesday 2 September at 12pm
• ALL students - Thursday 3 September for 8:30am

Lastly, we received some sad news over the half term that Bernard Clough (ex-Head of Music at Kingsway) had sadly passed away. Dr. Trivedi let me know that “He was Head of Music at Kingsway for a long while. At his Christmas Carol concerts, he made the staff/parents/children jump up at appropriate times during Carols”. We send our thoughts to his family and friends.

Dates for your diary

Other welcome visitors last week were the groups of prospective parents and families who chose to have a look around our school during a typical school day. These tours took place on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and started with a cuppa and a biscuit in our library, catered by our new Year 7 students. Senior leaders escorted the parents around school, dropping in to lessons to see how well Year 7 had settled in but also to see how focussed students across the year groups were in their studies. We saw some bleep testing in GCSE PE, heard some Harry Potter reading in English and students learning historical facts in History. The feedback from the parents was really positive with feedback how calm the school was. One parent stating:

“The students are so focused! I can't believe that they've been in the classroom for such a short period of time and have got so much work done already. They're really here to learn!”

Over the last few weeks, we have been taking some time to look at the work in students’ books and how well it is presented. Asking students to keep their workbooks organised and well presented will help them when they come to revise for their assessments later in the year. Whilst most of our students keep their books organised, we have spotted the odd one here and there that are already letting standards slip. Next half term, we will continue our drive on this and class teachers will be asking students to pay special attention to keeping their work books as well presented and organised as possible.

We are super proud of one of our own this week, Mrs Marsh (Art teacher) has written and illustrated her own book to help young people suffering from bereavement. Mrs Marsh brought a prototype of her book in to school - it is a beautiful book that she started writing 13 years ago when her father sadly passed away whilst she was pregnant with her first child.

It was great to celebrate the monthly merit total winners for each house this week. The first of the year. The September merit total winners were:

Emma Boaler (8K) for Turing

 

Jack Bray (8E) for Pankhurst

 

Aleeza Sattar (10S) for Gaskell

 

Joe Bracegirldle (10H) for Lowry

 

Lewis Bartram (8H) for Whitworth

 

Grace McKenna (9A) for Rylands

On Monday and Tuesday our Music Department put on two nights of musical magnificence in the form of our Year 7 Showcase. Students across all 12 year 7 forms all sang two songs from the eighties to current day and then collectively performed a Little Mix number called The Cure. I absolutely loved it - the children sang their hearts out, ably supported by Mr Lawton, Mr Wood, Mr Davidson and Miss Jackson. 

If our Open Evening was FAB-U-LOUS, then there was a glitter ball trophy for the children from our feeder primary schools who came to Kingsway to take part in a visual and performing arts showcase. Students from Lum Head, Meadowbank, Prospect Vale and Gatley Primary schools spent a day at Kingsway completing a range of activities showcasing their creative skills. This included a piece of art work, a song and a dance all around the theme of ‘The Greatest Showman’. The children were incredible and it was lovely to share the brilliance of their hard work with their parents and families who came along in the afternoon to see their performances.

It’s a ten from Kingsway!

And there is more musical magnificence to come. All Year 7 students are currently rehearsing for a compulsory part of their KS3 curriculum: ‘to perform to an audience’. The dates are below. We hope you can make it - I promise it will be one of the best nights of your life!

At the end of last month, our new Head of History, Miss Bowers, took 100 Year 11 GCSE History students to Kenilworth Castle. It was very, very wet. However, despite the rain, students explored the ruins of the castle and were given a tour of how the castle has changed from the 1100s to now. Despite truly terrible weather conditions, our students conducted themselves in a manner that made Miss Bowers and her department very proud. They actively engaged with the tour and the vast quantity of information they were given and many showed off their excellent subject knowledge. Pupils were commended by the tour guide and several pensioner visitors that they interacted with. The department are looking forward to taking Year 10 in June.

Over the past few weeks, Miss Wardle, Mrs Jones, Mr James and myself have been visiting our feeder primary schools (Bolshaw, Cheadle, Gatley, Meadowbank, Lum Head, Prospect Vale and Outwood) to provide prospective parents and students with an insight into life at The Kingsway School. We have spoken to groups of parents after school regarding their priorities and talked to groups of Year 5 & 6 children about what they are looking forward to and what they are most concerned about when moving from primary to secondary school. I would like to thank all our associated primary schools for hosting us. It was great to meet such lovely parents and incredible students.

On a beautiful Autumn Thursday morning, Mr James took some Year 7 students to join the ‘Friends of Scholes Park’, planting flowers in their community planters. The FOSP committee were really impressed with our students, especially the way in which they supported the younger students with the task at hand. Well done guys for making a positive contribution to our community.