Kesteven & Sleaford High School Parent Portal

${item_alt_tag}$

Term 1 - 4 October 2024

Dear Parent/Carer

Can it already only be two weeks until the October half-term break! We have managed to fit a lot in however, and we very much look forward to meeting parents of Year 7 and Year 10 students next Thursday during our settling into secondary school and settling into GCSE evening. As well as the chance to meet with tutors individually, parents are warmly invited to attend two presentations: one on how we assess Year 7 students’ progress, and one on online safety and wellbeing. We are keen to share with you how we proactively work to protect the mental health and wellbeing of our bright and aspirational students who often feel they must be perfect at everything!

Next week in school sees part of our planned roll out of the Girls on Board programme with our Year 7 and Year 8 students. Do have a read about this tried and tested programme designed to help girls between the ages of 8-18 navigate the tricky waters of friendship problems. You might like to speak to your child about their experience of the workshops which take place on Monday and Wednesday next week.

In other plans, we have the RAF band visiting us on Tuesday working with our GCSE and extracurricular Music students, Year 12 Geography fieldwork and on Friday a lot of Year 11 are heading off on the History and German trip to Berlin. Lots to enjoy, we hope!

Mrs J Smith
Headteacher

Useful Dates

Year 12 Geography Fieldwork trip

All Day

07
October

Year 12 Geography Fieldwork trip

All Day

08
October

Year 7 & 10 Settling in Evening

4:00pm – 7:00pm

10
October

Year 11 History trip to Berlin

All Day

From 11 Oct until 14 Oct

11
October

W/C Year 11&13 Progress Grades to Parents

Sixth Form Information Evening

Year 9 National Space Centre trip

MFL News

${item_alt_tag}$

European Day of Languages

On Thursday 26 September (and for the rest of the week too!) we celebrated European Day of Languages. Staff and pupils took part in a variety of activities including the following:

Mrs Samworth, Mrs Ellison and Mr Rooke led assemblies about why we learn languages and where they can take you
In the dining room, pupils were given free tasters of a variety of European foods which were snapped up very quickly! They tried crêpes, Bratwurst, Swedish meatballs, chicken Schnitzel and Lebkuchen.
Throughout the week, staff wore badges with greetings in a wide variety of languages and pupils competed to find as many as they could. Students finding the highest number of greetings and winning a prize were: Evie A in 7KLM and Penny & Bobbin in 7LMA.
Pupils experienced languages in some of their other lessons too, where teachers greeted pupils and introduced themselves in a variety of languages.
All of Year 10 took part in a postcard competition where their task was to design a postcard to promote languages on one side and to show off their knowledge of languages on the other side. Judged on both artwork and language, our winners from each group are (in no particular order): Ruby C 10F, Penelope H 10F, Autumn J 10L, Lily D 10F, Heidi F in 10F and Emily M 10L. Well done!
We once again held the Year 7 Great European Bake Off – some of the efforts of the very talented bakers are below. Thank you to Year 7 (and to parents!) for your fantastic efforts. The delicious cakes were sold off by our 6^th form linguists in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care and raised an enormous £250. It was extremely difficult to decide on a winner – we looked at the quality of the cake, as well as the design and how well they fitted in with the European theme. We finally decided on the top 3 – the winner of the ‘Most Creative’ category was Jemima in 7NP, the winner of the ‘Best On Theme’ category was Alicia in 7LMA and the winner of the ‘Best European Recipe’ was Emily in 7MAP. We also had some great runners-up. Well done to everyone, we wish we could mention you all!

Mrs L Samworth

Subject Leader - MFL

${item_alt_tag}$

Interact Club is meeting on Monday break times if you would like to join us!

You can help out even if you don’t join though; we are currently organising a collection for the Sleaford Food Larder to help them stock up ready for winter. Please do add an extra item or two to your shopping if you can as we will be coming to forms to collect donations on Friday 11 October. A list of items they need most is below.

Our Shoeboxes have also arrived for the annual Shoebox Appeal, where we aim to fill shoeboxes with little gifts for those who otherwise might have very little at Christmas.

We are always delighted to welcome new and old members from all year groups, especially those with lots of ideas and enthusiasm!

Mrs L Samworth

${item_alt_tag}$

PTA News

PTA '100 Plus Club' lottery draw with £25 monthly prize

For the cost of £10 per school year, you will be allocated a number which is entered into the prize draw. There is no limit to the amount of numbers you can buy and your ticket is entered every time – even if you have already won!

https://forms.office.com/e/n5RqrMgQjt

KSHS - 'Old Girl's Association'

${item_alt_tag}$

Annual Alumni gathering

Ex-High School students representing over 7 decades of students gathered on Saturday 21 September for an annual celebration of their time at the High School. Pictured above are a group who toured the school with current Head Girl, Olivia Barrett and below, the organising committee flanked by Headteacher, Josephine Smith and Head Girl, Olivia Barrett.

${item_alt_tag}$

Spotlight on Sport

It has been a fantastic start to extra-curricular sport at KSHS.

Just some of the participants are pictured below.

${item_alt_tag}$

Volleyball club for all year groups on Monday evening.

${item_alt_tag}$

Football club for all year groups on Wednesday evening.

${item_alt_tag}$

Netball club for Years 7 and 8 on Thursday evening.

Wellbeing for All

Safeguarding:

We are pleased to report that there have been no further sightings of any person dressed suspiciously close to the school after a single sighting reported by 2 students over a week ago. I would like to reassure parents that the single sighting at the school of a man in female clothing does not appear to be connected to other events reported in Grantham. As ever we will remain vigilant.

Is your child a new mobile phone user?

We are conscious that parents hold individual views on whether their child is ready to own a smartphone, with a growing number of parents supplying their child with a basic phone which allows calls and basic messaging only without access to social media and the internet.

In Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) all schemes of work and homework tasks are designed so that students will not need to use a smartphone. It is not necessary for a child to bring one to school. If students in Key Stages 3 or 4 are caught using their phone without express permission or a phone disrupts learning, it will be immediately confiscated. All students are clear that if they have a phone with them, it should be in a locker or switched off.

If you are considering getting your child a new phone, you may be interested to read the information below:

A new film by the charity Nip in the Bud discusses the hidden dangers of social media and smartphone use amongst children. If you are considering getting your child a phone, we would urge you to watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zhfd0jW7iY&t=605s The film provides insights from children, headteachers and doctors, shedding light on the everyday harm caused by digital platforms.
'Nip in the bud' has also provided this fact sheet about the use of mobile phones. Smartphones and social media fact sheet | Nip in the Bud | Free Downloadable Fact Sheet
Kooth have put together a session to explore supporting a child’s mental wellbeing whilst using a smartphone, plus information on UK law and social media usage. Please use this link to book.

Growth Mindset

Staff are invited to nominate students who have demonstrated a Growth Mindset in the past few weeks. This might have been in lessons, in clubs, tutor time or simply around school. Please note we already award bi-annual subject badges and merits for good academic work, effort and improvement. These Growth Mindset nominations recognise those who show resilience (academic or otherwise); who aren’t afraid to get things wrong and learn from it; those who have a go, take themselves out of their comfort zone or show that even if a task is tough, they will persevere.

${item_alt_tag}$

Open Events

${item_alt_tag}$

Current Vacancies

09 Sep 2024

Vacancy - Cover Supervisors

We are looking to appoint Cover Supervisors