Several students from KS4 and KS5 have had work selected to exhibit at the Willoughby Memorial Trust Open Art Competition at the Willoughby Gallery in Corby Glen. Imogen Parkinson, whose year 11 piece was entered, has been awarded second prize in Class 4!

The Willougby Memorial Trust Open Art Competition is an exhibition of work by students and artists living, studying or working in Lincolnshire, and always features some of the best student artwork in the county. Open to those age 5 to adult, it is a real celebration of the creativity that exists in our local area. The exhibition opened on Wednesday 30 October and will run until Friday 22 November. The gallery is open from 12-5pm and entry is free.

Miss E Cartwright

Art and Design Technology Technician

In the coming newsletters we will spotlight what each year group is covering during their PSHE lessons, and in their form time Personal Development sessions. Look out for your child’s year group bulletin and see if they can discuss their learning with you at home!

Before we begin our year group bulletins, we will use this edition to share what Personal Development looks like for your child at school.

What is Personal Development at KSHS?

In PSHE lessons and across our Personal Development curriculum at KSHS, we intend to create a safe environment for students to understand who they are now and to explore who they hope to become. We help them to know how they can make healthy, positive choices, contribute mindfully to the world around them, and build resilience in the face of upcoming life challenges.  

How do we hope to achieve this in school?

• Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 in timetabled PSHE lessons

Our PSHE Learning Journey can be also be found on the school website:

Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Personal Development and PSHE

• Year 11 in bespoke ‘Drop-Down’ Days (two days per academic year) 

• These sit at the end of the two Year 11 mock examination periods, offering students the chance to pause after the challenge of the mocks before returning to timetabled lessons the following week.
• Friday 22 November will see the first PSHE Day ‘Wellbeing, Safety and the Future’ and participate in the following sessions: Yoga (with local teacher Jo Yoga); Study Skills with Lincoln University; First Aid with Mini First Aid, in which students will learn about ‘how to call for emergency help, CPR, AEDs, bleeds, burns, choking, asthma, severe allergic reactions and more’; Sexual Harassment and Violence with Lincolnshire Police; and a workshop with British Army guests, discussing careers in the Armed Forces and developing soft skills such as team work.

• Year 12 & 13 in Tutor Times and Core Sessions (Friday mornings)

Students explore a range of PSHE topics, including wellbeing and healthy lifestyles, financial awareness, relationships and sex education and cybersecurity. We also cover study skills using the VESPA programme, which encourages students to reflect on their study habits and mindset to improve their performance and achieve their goals. Careers is a main focus with lots of visiting speakers and activities to explore a wealth of post-18 options such as university, college, apprenticeships, employment and gap years. We use the Unifrog Careers platform extensively to support students in making the right choices.

• Weekly Key Stage Assemblies

• These focus on our weekly themes, often coinciding with national/international events or days of importance.
• Staff members with particular interests or expertise usually host our assemblies, with sixth form teams such as the Student Senior Team and the Wellbeing Ambassadors taking on select relevant topics; our first Term 2 assembly saw the Student Senior Team deliver excellent ‘AntiBullying’ assemblies, while last term the Wellbeing Ambassadors hosted for ‘World Mental Health Day’!
• We invite external speakers from various organisations, local and national, to speak in our assemblies. For example, this December we welcome back Steph from the Voluntary Centre Services, Sleaford. Steph will speak to students about how to volunteer effectively in their communities, or even consider ‘microvolunteering’.
• This year, we are also running ‘House Assemblies’, giving the students the opportunity to present to their year group on a set school value. The first of these is later this month – good luck to Aveland students presenting on ‘Respect’!

• Form Time

• Includes our admin and weekly international news quiz, with directed Personal Development form sessions on Thursdays and Fridays.
• These are purposefully designed to complement and build on the knowledge delivered in the assemblies. Sessions are bespoke for each year group and are adjusted annually to respond to updates in the topic area or to meet the needs of a particular student cohort.

Year 11 ‘An Inspector Calls’ Theatre Trip by Amelie 11F

On Wednesday 30 October I had the honour of attending the trip to see “An Inspector Calls” on stage in Leicester at the Curve theatre. It was especially nice as it being the first week of school back from half term, I needed some motivation to get me to Wednesday and the excitement in anticipation of the trip helped with that!

My class and I have enjoyed studying J.B Priestley’s work for our GCSE’s, so it was really interesting to watch the actual play firsthand and see it portrayed so well. Not only was it extremely enjoyable and entertaining but was also a great way to revise and a reminder of key quotations.

The play itself, set in 1912, revolves around the apparent suicide of working-class girl, Eva Smith. In the play, the upper-class Birling family are interrogated by a peculiar and bizarre Inspector named Inspector Goole. Throughout the play the audience discovers what the family had to do with the suicide and what part they played in Eva’s death or if they even played one at all. The play, written in 1945, undermines the flaws of upper-class society and capitalist ideals in Britain to promote social responsibility. The story is intricate and riddled with mystery. It’s such a valuable lesson to everyone, even in contemporary society today and I would recommend watching it even if you’re not studying it for GCSE.

The version we went to see was an exceptional performance and my friends and I left the theatre vastly impressed by the story, acting, special effects, stagecraft, and the raw intense feeling the play leaves you with. The highlight for most people I’ve talked to is the iconic line said by the Inspector, “I don’t play golf”, which received a substantial applause from the whole theatre, however the whole experience was outstanding so was a great success overall. Not only this, but the trip was the perfect way of taking our minds off mocks for a moment and I’m very grateful that the school could provide that for us and making this stressful time in our lives as enjoyable as possible.  

Amelie 11F