Dear Parents/Guardians

Happy new year! I hope that you and your whole family have enjoyed super Christmas breaks and that you are all feeling ready for the year ahead. The new term at Kings’ seems to have started really well, with Year 9 busy with their exams and with a productive and focused atmosphere all around the school.

Show Your Appreciation Scheme

Many thanks for your continuing generosity – we really do appreciate it. Recent winners have included:

 Panatone – Mr Fletcher (Photography), Mrs Cann (Pupil Support), Mrs Stanness Witcher (Drama)  Wine – Mrs Miles (Library), Mrs Thompson (Art), Mr Small (Computer Science/ICT), Mrs Birch (Italian)  Cheeseboard – Mr Kingsnorth (Site Team)  Emma Bridgewater Mug – Mr Manning (Maths and Cover Team)  Christmas hamper – Miss Thorp (PE)

Aspire Careers Masterclasses

January will mark the start of our monthly Aspire Careers masterclasses, which will be open to pupils from all year groups. Sector specific talks given by professionals to raise awareness of and aspirations for the current and future array of career sectors and job roles in the local, national and global labour market.

The programme will kick off on Thursday 30th January with a talk from Drew Smith, ‘Develop your Career through the Construction Industry’, with future months to include ‘Life in the Air’ (tales from a BA Pilot) and ‘We’re in the Army Now’ (British Army).

If you have passion for a career sector, coupled with an interesting and inspiring story of how your career has unfolded and would like to support Aspire, please contact Mrs Turner, Careers Lead – j.turner@kings- .hants.sch.uk

Music News

We have some vacancies for flute, clarinet and saxophone lessons. This might be just the moment for your son/daughter to try something new – lots of pupils clearly get enormous pleasure from playing their musical instruments.

A date for your diary – our annual Spring concert is on Monday 23rd March at 7pm in the school hall – tickets will be available from the Music Department from Monday 9th March – please do come along!

Summer Holiday Activities

Barracudas Activity Day Camps, who say they are the UK’s favourite school holiday provider for children aged 4½ to 14 years will once again be open at Kings’ School this summer! There will be 80+ exciting activities including , archery, aqua slide, motorsports, football, dance and much more! They are Ofsted registered, they have high staff to child ratios and parents of Kings’ School receive an extra £10 off per week if they quote code HSCH20 at the time of booking.

Early booking rates are guaranteed in January, after that prices will be subject to increase.

Open summer 27th July – 21st August.

Book now at www.barracudas.co.uk or call 01480 467 567.

Marathon

Mr Jeckells writes:

The Southampton Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K races will take place again on Sunday 26 April 2020.

These fantastic events are organised by ex-Kings' School pupil Chris Rees and his team. They are part of a wonderful day of sport on which large numbers of spectators line the streets and the city of Southampton comes together.

If you are interested in entering, details can be found at http://www.abpsouthamptonhalf.co.uk/ . Inserting the discount code KINGS when completing your application form will give you a 10% discount on your entry.

Several Kings' School staff are aiming to run on the day, as usual, and will look forward to seeing any members of the wider Kings' School community along the route!

Training to teach

As I am sure you know, we are members of the Winchester Teaching School Alliance and this means that we can help you train to become a teacher! I hope you won’t be surprised to hear that I think teaching is the very best job in the world – rewarding, varied, worthwhile and highly enjoyable AND the holidays are pretty good. The School Direct scheme that we offer is run in conjunction with the and offers training both for primary and secondary teaching qualifications. Applications are open now for September 2020 – you could be qualified a year later. There is more information on the WTSA website at http://www.wtsa.info/.

You might be interested in the 'Train to Teach' event on Wednesday 29th January; it will run from 4.30pm to 7.30pm at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, Southampton. Further information/directions are available via the DfE website at https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/teaching-events/train-to-teach- events/train-to-teach-southampton-2020 We will have a representative in attendance and they would love to talk to you!

Service Children

As you may know, there is extra funding available to schools to help support children with parents in the armed forces. The Service Pupil Premium is provided by the Department for Education to enable schools to offer additional support during challenging times, which could include anything from a service parent being away, being injured on active service or even bereavement. Funds are paid directly to schools, with headteachers and governors deciding how the funds should be used.

Schools with service children from Year R to Year 11 are eligible to receive Service Pupil Premium, but only if the child’s name appears on the school roll as being a service child. If you think your family is eligible and we do not already know, please let us know no later than 17 January 2020.

For more information on eligibility, please see the links below: https://www.gov.uk/service-premium-information-for-schools

Important dates

16 January – Y11 Parents’ Evening 20 – 24 January – Y11 Peter Symonds College Interviews 23 January – Y11 Poetry Live 27 January – Y9 DTP Meningitis Vaccinations (boys) 28 January – Y9 DTP Meningitis Vaccinations (girls) 31 January – 2 February – Y9 RS Anne Frank Tour 31 January – Common Closure Day (Inset Day) 4 – 6 February – Y8 Geography Kew Gardens Trips 5 February – Y9 Options Information Meeting 11 February – Y9 Latin Roman Bath Trip 14 February – Y9 Reports home 17 – 21 February – half term 24 February – 6 March - Y10 Exams 26 February – Y9 Parents’ Evening 13 March – KSA Comedy Night 16 March – Y7 & 11 School photographs 25 March – 26 March – Y11 Drama Exams 26 March – 1 April – Year 8 Exams 27 March - Y11 Reports home 30, 31 March & 2 April – Y10 Geography Field Trip 1 April – 5 April – Y10 Science Cern Trip 3 April – INSET Day 6 April – 17 April – Easter Break

Yours faithfully

Matthew Leeming Headteacher