Valuable volunteers
Last week was a week where I truly appreciated the work of parents and members of the community who willingly give of their time to support the work of the school.
On Monday, The Kingsway Association (TKA), a group of parent volunteers held their Spring term meeting. TKA do not organise fundraising events (such as fairs, raffles, tombolas etc,) but rely solely on family contributions of £10 per quarter. This money aims to help as many students as possible by providing the extras that other school funding doesn’t cover.
The meeting on Monday was also attended by Mr Wood and Head Students Charlie L and Tanzeela C who gave a fantastic presentation to the group asking for some funds towards improved outdoor seating areas for our student body.
The TKA were really impressed and agreed to fund nearly £5000 towards benches and seating for Broadway quad.
Other successful bids included:
- Inclusion & Diversity: £260 to run the Motor Skills United Intervention, helping to develop motor and perceptual skills which impacts their learning and handwriting;
- Science: £184 for 2 renewable energy kits to enable teachers to better demonstrate how renewable energy resources generate electricity;
- Geography: £360 for equipment for field trips including tape measures, metre rule sticks and stopwatches;
- Inclusion & Diversity: £150 for sports equipment such as basketball hoop, badminton set, skittles and other small sports equipment;
- Inclusion & Diversity: £500 to enhance a new sensory room for children with autism (or students being assessed for autism)
The Kingsway Association is also registered with easyfundraising.org.uk. This is an easy way to raise money. Shop online with over 4,000 retailers and a percentage of what is spent is donated to The Kingsway Association at no additional cost to you. Retailers include Amazon, John Lewis, eBay, Tesco and many more. Why not sign up to support us?
The Kingsway Association is here for all students and is an effective way for our families and supporters to provide the extras for students that make a real difference to their time at our school. The next meeting is scheduled to be on Monday 9th May 2022 at 6pm, or to support the TKA by donating £10 per quarter you can follow this link.
There were also two governing board meetings last week - Finance and Standards.
The remit of the finance committee is to ensure the school operates within a statutory framework. The committee reviewed the schools budget, health and safety plans and also staffing structures. The chair of the committee is Mr Thomas and he is supported by Mrs Heard, our School Business Manager. At last week’s meeting the committee discussed the local council’s plan to construct a new wider subway under the A34 - whilst still in very early stages, as a school we are keen to support this project. There is also hope that the school will be eligible for part funding of a new 3G astro turf. In addition to plans to further upgrade our science labs, there are a lot of exciting new projects ahead for Kingsway.
Away from the business of the school, the role of the standards committee is to review standards of educational performance. The committee is chaired by Mrs Wilkinson, supported by Mr Weil (Assistant Headteacher). At their meeting last week Mrs Wardle (Deputy Head) informed the committee about the steps the school is taking to ensure that the attendance, achievement and attitude of our SEND students strengthens through the support of our SENCO (Mrs Djang) and the team of HLTAs and LSAs. Mr Weil also gave governors an overview of the recent Year 11 PPE results - which were a strong foundation for the cohort’s success in the 2022 GCSE examinations.
The role of governors in our school is critical. They provide both support and challenge to school leaders and give willingly of their time to visit school, not just to attend meetings, but to talk to staff and students and look at the work we are doing in the classroom and outside of it to provide a great education so every student creates the best version of themselves here.
If you are interested in getting involved with our governing board, please contact the school via office@kingsway.stockport.sch.uk and we will keep you updated when a vacancy arises.
Opportunity for Year 7 Parents
We all know the difficulties that parenting can have on home relationships, particularly this past year. As a school we also understand the importance of working with families. As such we are delighted that last year, Mrs Jones (Transition, Family and Community Mentor) qualified as a facilitator for the Time out for Parents: The Teenage Years course.
This short course for parents and carers, provides help and advice on parenting in those teenage years to build strong relationships so that everyone can enjoy family life. This confidential and fully supportive course will be offered to all our parents in Year 7, and we are delighted that the Upper Room in Cheadle has provided us with a relaxing and nurturing environment for this to take place. Places are limited but we hope to run a number of these cohorts to support the demand.
Should you have any interest in attending this course, or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Jones on a.l.jones@kingsway.stockport.sch.uk
Year 9 Options
A reminder to all our parents/carers of Year 9 students, our Options 2022 page went live last Thursday. On this page you will find a wealth of information to support families in making informed choices for their Key Stage 4 options. On this page you will find a link to an introductory video, the options booklet and department information. The Year 9 Virtual Parents Evening will take place on Thursday 3rd February and will be an ideal opportunity to ask questions of the subject teachers but you will also find a link on the options page, should you have any further questions. The online options portal will be opened on Monday 7th February and choices must be submitted via the electronic form by Monday 28th February.
Local ambassadors
We were delighted to hear of our local primary schools, and Kingsway students and parents participating in the local Cheadle litter pick this weekend. An amazing 16 bags of litter were collected within one hour. Well done. We are so proud of our students when they are ambassadors not only within school, but outside in our local community.
