THE KINGS OF WESSEX COMMUNITY SCHOOL A Specialist Technology College Issue 60 THE KINGS’ MESSENGER Also available in colour on our website: www.kowessex.co.uk March 2005 Contents Dear Parents Page no. We received some excellent news this week when we learned that Kings had come top in the 1-2 Head’s Address County league tables for our SAT’s results. This 3-4 Celebrating Achievements excellent performance is a credit to the hard 5 Main Office Update work of our students and staff and also the 6 Easter Thoughts work at Fairlands and Hugh Sexey Middle 7 Year 12 English Trip to Dracula Schools, which is to be commended. 7-8 So you Want to Meet a Murderer? (Psychology Congratulations and well done to our last year’s Trip) Year 9 students on their achievement! 8 Exciting History Trip 9 Science Report The high point of our student calendar this 9-10 Physics Olympiad term was the production of “The Lion, the 10 Greenpower Update Witch and the Wardrobe”, which many of you 11 Mathematicians go to Exeter University will have enjoyed. Our students worked LRC Chess Club tirelessly in preparing for the play with endless 12 Modern Languages Update rehearsals - and no doubt a lot of anxiety. 13 MFL Revision Classes After School Study Support The production itself was stunning and the 14-15 Food Technology Coursework actors and back stage crew worked together to 15 LRC Suggestions Box create a truly impressive performance. Creative 16-18 Sports News Arts staff, Nicky O’Leary and Rachel Forde all worked extremely hard to inspire our students and we thank them for all their work and also to the number of other staff working behind the scenes. Many of our Sixth Form students have been receiving offers for places at universities; five of whom have been offered a conditional place at Oxford and Cambridge. This is outstanding, representing the highest number for quite some years and we are delighted for all our students. As one group of students prepare to leave, another group prepare to enter. To date we have received 190 applications from students to join our Sixth Form. This is a school record and demonstrates the very real confidence our students have in the education they are receiving here at Kings. Over recent weeks senior staff have been interviewing students who have applied and the interviews are a pleasure to undertake. The enthusiasm and commitment of our young people is to be celebrated. Parents of Year 10 will have recently received their child’s grade reviews for the Spring Term. I am pleased that we are now able to provide parents with a progress report on a termly basis and hope that as parents you find this helpful in keeping you informed. Over the course of this week we held our Easter services at St Andrew’s Church, which are attended over three days by all our students. This is an occasion that we always enjoy and brings an important dimension to the life of our school. Our special thanks as ever to Preb. Victor Daley at1 St Andrew’s, our students for their involvement in the service and Joanna Burridge, our Christian Leader for organising the services. On a sad note, James Russell, our Teacher of ICT has been absent from school recently as he is receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer. In spite this, James has continued to come into school throughout his treatment when possible and hopes to return shortly. We all wish him well. For many of our students the Summer Term will see public examinations. For this reason, Easter is a very important time for revision and I would ask that parents encourage their child to set aside time on a daily basis to assist them in focusing on their work. To support our young people we will provide opportunities for revision activities during the Easter holidays (details of which are enclosed in this Kings’ Messenger). Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a happy and relaxing Easter holiday and remind you that the Summer Term commences on Monday 11 April 2005. Yours sincerely, CHRIS RICHARDSON Headteacher Some of our Year 10 Students who excelled in their SAT’s tests last year Accompanied by the Headteacher, Chair of Governors Heads of English, Maths and Science 2 Celebrating Achievements The following students have been awarded Special Achievements and School Colours this Spring Term:- Bronze Silver Gold Craig Ingarfill 9DR Holly Crompton 9DR Nicole Close 9DR Rosemary Mann 9DR Richard Daintree 9DR Eleanor Gall 9DR Miriam Orriss 9DR Eleanor Gall 9DR Jake Hodgetts 9DR William Scott-Hartley 9DR Nicola Sentence 9DR Joe Taschimowitz 9IS Liam Young 9DR Thomas Day 9IS Buffy Rabbits 9WE Gemma Major 9IS Nichola Tanner 9JG Maxwell Ash 9JG Helen Taylor 9JG Thomas Bosley 9JG Melissa Simeone 9VH Linzi Furneaux 9JG Catherine Hewish 9WE Danielle Jones 9FG Emma Jeffries 9WE Lorna Scriven 9JG Kayla Stephenson 9WE Emma Tratt 9JG Joshua Wilson 9JG Elaine Biddle 9VH Sophie Kemp 9VH Alice Shepherd 9VH Joseph Ward 9VH David Frost 9WE Jackson Gleeson 9WE Scott Phillimore 10MB Drama Junior Senior Veronica Albone 10LD Gregor Alcorn 12GG Faye Aston 9RW Alexander Buhagiar 12RH Benita Boyce 9IS Ben Clement 11CG Emily Bradley 10EHE Bethany Cockburn 13GG Peter Chalmers 10CL Kayleigh Crook 11CG Sam Jacobs 10SP Laura Jewell 13GR Rhiannon Jones 10RB Mark Pilgrim 13EB Philip Knott 10TP Hannah Ratcliffe 13GR Thomas O’Neill 9VH Bianca Rossiter 11CG Linda Pugh 10TP Mark Williams 11CG Tom Stanley 9RW Anthony Winn 11TT Emma Tratt 9JG Aidan Woodburn 13JD Music Junior Jackson Gleeson 9WE Kelly Batt 9WE Mark Goddard 10RB Amber Cottis 10CL Hannah Gooding 9WE Liam Davies 9AJ Josh Greenfield 9WE Tom Day 9IS Freya Gruffydd-Jones 9AJ Kathryn Edwards 9BL Emma Hardwick 9WE Michael Elliott 9WEe Elen Jenkins 9WE Jasmine Everett 10TP Philip Knott 10TP 3 Lucy Fenton 9BL Daniel Leiper 10LD David Frost 9WE Fraser McQueen 10TP Jennifer Nurse 9WE Senior Rachel Palmer 10LD Emily Atkin 12JHC Heather Paterson 10LD Matthew Aung 10SK Maria Pinnington 9FP Caroline Burdock 12JD Lucy Plummer 10CL Ellen Butcher 12BR Torran Purchase 9FR Robert Cottis 12TB Buffy Rabbits 9WE Rebecca Cripps 13GR Matthew Scholes 10MB Robert Karlsoon 13GG Davide Searle 9FS Bianca Rossiter 11CG Sandy Shaban 9BL Andreas Spanring 12LT Christopher Shaw 9FP Peter Stott 9VH Jonthan Talbot 9WE Matthew Teagle 9JG Hugh Tinton 9FP Netball Junior Senior Amy Barkus 9DR Kate Cox 11SK Elizabeth Freeman 10RB Matilda Eriksson 11VB Isabella Jezzard 9AJ (and Captain) Frankie Gifford 11SRO Buffy Rabbitts 9WE Jessica Guttridge 12BR Charlotte Crandon 9RW Emma Jewell 11EH Hannah Gooding 9WE Hazel Rossiter 11PA Joanne Kidner 9BL Sara Taylor 10EHE Anna-Elise Teare 10RCF Holly Tyson 9AJ Football Junior Daniel Layton 9JG Roland Lucas 10NO Jalal Arshad 10CL Laurence Mottram 10SP Joseph Burns 9WE Oliver Sealey 9RA Scott Buxton 9IS Joshua Roberts 10LD Ben Cousins 9BL Sebastian Smith 9IS Michael Cowell 9JG John Tee-Boon 9FS Ryan Cullen 9BL Laurence Walcott 9FP Patrick Day 9BL Robert Edwards 9IS Senior George Fake 9JG Mark Goddard 10RB Charlie Cressy 13GG Dale Griffiths 10MB Luke Gupta 13JPF Alastair Hall 10NO Kieran McManus 13RH Jamie Howson 9RA Tom Manning 13RH Samual Jones 9RA Simon Panes 13EB Glenn Karlsson 10RB Dan Tullett 13JPF Congratulations to all our students on their achievements! 4 Main School Office Update Just to remind you the Main School Office Opening Hours are: Monday to Friday: 8.30am – 4.45pm (in between these working hours, the ansaphone is available: telephone: 01934 742608) Contact Details: Parents are asked to keep us informed of any change in your contact details (your address, telephone numbers etc). It is imperative that all student contacts details are kept up-to-date. Thank you! Absence Hotline Thank you for continuing to use our Absence Hotline 01934 745304 Just to reiterate our welcome to Trudi Jenkins who you may be aware is our new Administrative Assistant with responsibility for monitoring absence in school. For parents who use email to communicate their child’s absence, than you for updating your address book to: [email protected] IMPORTANT! You should no longer be using Anita Beesley’s email address as she has now left Kings Leave of Absence: As you know, we actively discourage leave of absence during term time. This is because research shows that absence hinders progress and educational experience missed cannot be re- gained by personal study. All of our students are involved in preparation for public examinations, therefore we only authorise absence in extreme circumstances pertinent to the family concerned. We ask that any requests are submitted on a request form that can be obtained from the School Office at least six weeks in advance. Thank you for your co-operation We are also delighted this term to welcome Tania Caulfield, our new Administration Manager. Tania joins Kings having had much office management experience and is working hard to maintain the efficiency of 5 our school office Easter Thoughts Well this half term has flown by! When I last wrote we were preparing to mark the start of Lent with our Pancake race and now the Easter celebrations are almost upon us. Our pancake races raised £65 for the Tsunami appeal, and about thirty competitors took part. Some students also attended a simple service at St Andrew’s to mark Ash Wednesday, which is something that we hope to develop in the future. The Christian Union has hosted some interesting speakers, on issues such as trade and justice, which have sometimes challenged us and given us a fresh perspective.