Leyes Lane, Kenilworth, CV8 2DA

Tel: (01926)859421 • Email: school@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk Head: Mr H. Abbott, B.A.(Hons.), M.Ed, NLE

Dear All

All internal Year 11 students who have applied to join our Sixth Form are currently having interviews arranged with senior staff. They will have the opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for Sixth Form study through showing their commitment and involvement to a wide variety of school activities. We have had over 203 internal applications and 107 external students apply to join Year 12 next year and as it will be a competitive field, we hope to be able to offer places to students as soon as possible and certainly no later than by the end of this term so that any unsuccessful applicants do have time to consider alternative options. We are delighted to hear that four of our students have had offers from Oxbridge and other offers from universities will be released in the next few weeks.

As part of our careers advice and guidance, Future First brought in employees from the grocery sector, including Asda and Sainsburys', to run employability workshops for a group of Year 9 and Year 12 students. Year 9 were helped to recognise their abilities, interests and values and Year 12s' workshop involved analysing a good covering letter. Both were given the opportunity to ask the four employees about their jobs which included quality assurance, software engineering and product development.

Because of national changes to GCSEs, including the increased weighting to linear exams, students will have their usual lessons during the GCSE exam period in the summer term. This will enable students to access additional support and specialist teaching in normal lessons from their teachers right up to their examination. Study leave will therefore not exist this year for Year 11, however, towards the end of the exam period, the school will make alternative arrangements for provision to support students with their future plans. Further details will follow in the next few weeks regarding study leave in the Sixth Form.

We note that a number of students are now wearing ‘Apple’ watches, which have a facility to send and receive text messages. The school will not be liable for any loss or damage to such expensive items. In addition to this, sending and receiving text messages in school time is a disruption to routines and is impossible to regulate during lesson times. Unlike mobile phones, these cannot be switched off and left in a school bag so we ask that students do not bring these into school and request parental support in this matter. I would like to take this opportunity to remind students about the policy on the use of mobile phones in school. If mobile phones are brought into school, they should be switched off at all times. They are not to be used during the school day and if students are seen using phones during the school day, they will be confiscated. If any student needs to make contact with home during the school day, they should mention it to their head of year or report to reception and they will be given permission to use a phone if it is for an emergency.

Following the return of the students from the Year 10 ski trip last week, I would like to compliment on students on their exemplary behaviour and thank the staff for their hard work and commitment in organising and accompanying students on this trip.

Yours sincerely H.H.S Abbott Headteacher

13th January 2017

DIARY DATES January 26th Year 9 Parents

Evening

200 Club Winners £200 Mr C Gregory £75 Ms S Limbrick £25 Ms S Lee

PTA

Year 7 Party Thursday

19th January 7.00 – 8.30pm

LOWER SCHOOL HALL

IMPORTANT EXAM INFORMATION

The GCE and GCSE

Summer 2017 examination timetables

are now available to view on the VLE.

Exams Office

PTA UPDATE The PTA members were very pleased to

be able to grant the request made by students in the Sixth Form for funding for

new seating. The PTA unanimously agreed to this and work will begin shortly

to provide additional seating.

The next second hand uniform sales will be on 26th January at the Year 9 Parents Evening and then on 9th February at the

Year 10 Parents Evening. Anyone is welcome to come along to purchase

second hand uniform on these evenings. The sale will take place in Lower School

on the first floor near the history classrooms and will be signposted.

Our next meeting will take place on

Monday 6th February at 7.30pm in the Lower School Library.

LRC News - 16 Top readers Oct 31st – Dec 2016 half term Name Tutor

Group No. of books read

Anna Powers 7K 11

Sophia Twigger 9J 11

Benjamin Dearnley-Davison 7F 10

Robin Greenwood 7E 9

Daniel Hackett 8L 9

Lois Kimberley-Lax 8E 9

Imogen Maggs 8F 8

Gaia Twigger 7E 8

Lucy Eason 7L 7

Paula Malayampuram 7F 7

Kathryn McKernan 7E 7

Amina Mujeeb 8J 7

Declan Banning 8K 6

Anna Crowley 7E 6

Eloise Fraiser 7E 6

Julia Vipulananthan 9L 6

MORGAN PLAYING RUGBY FOR WARWICKSHIRE

Morgan Fox 10C has been selected to play rugby for Warwickshire County. He played his first game last night against Greater Birmingham and won by a staggering 35-5. Furthermore, Morgan has been asked to join the Wasps Academy. Well done Morgan!

SPACE, ROCKET AND ROBOT CLUB 2nd STARGAZING EVENING

Friday 20th January – 5.30pm to 7.30pm Oakes Farm, Farm Road, Kenilworth

Bring your own telescope if you have one. There will be a few provided although not enough for

everyone. Open to family and friends. Bring a hot drink!

Parental permission required please book your place with Mr Harwood-Suther on

j.harwood-suther@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk

5 weeks to Africa Week

Tickets for Urban Nights Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th February £7 are available on www.usukenilworth.org Swing Night tickets available too. You can buy tickets in cash (exact money) at the all day rehearsal on 15th January. Sunday 15th January is the all day rehearsal and ALL PERFORMERS must attend from 11am-5pm. This is also the deadline for consent, T shirt and medical forms to be handed in.

Exclusive to Year 7s Dreadlock Alien: African Poetry Workshop Thursday 16th February (all day) £6 - pay through ParentPay Play games based around rhythm, work in groups and create your own rap. Perform with Dreadlock Beat-boxing your rhythm. Forms must be returned to Main Reception by Friday 3rd Feb.

Leyes Lane, Kenilworth, CV8 2DA

Teaching Assistant (Level 1)

Permanent, term time + 5 inset days

30 hours per week

Band D (points 10-13) £10,264 pa - £10,906 pa + benefits From February 2017, we have an opportunity for a Teaching Assistant to join our SEN department and provide general and administrative support to our students. The responsibilities include working in-class with teachers and supporting students under the direction of the Assistant Headteacher for SEN. Our Teaching Assistants provide support with a variety of learning, physical and sensory needs. We are looking for someone who is computer literate with a range of good GCSEs, particularly in Maths and English (GCSE A-C). If you are interested in visiting the school prior to your application, please contact Deena Perry on (01926) 513664. Benefits include free parking, Local Government pension scheme, staff discounts, free access to on-site fitness suite and well-being benefits. Closing Date: Friday, 27 January 2017 at 4pm. Visit www.ksn.org.uk/vacancies for more information on the role and to download an application form. Completed applications should be emailed to Deena Perry, at D.Perry@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk addressed to Mr. H.H.S. Abbott, Headteacher. Please note we cannot accept CVs as an application. Kenilworth School and Sixth Form is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

JOB VACANCY

BAD WEATHER In the event of bad weather, if the school had to be closed, please check for information on the school website: www.ksn.org.uk or check with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire local radio for updates.

ANIME/MANGA CLUB During the Autumn Term I set up the Anime/Manga Club up and launched a competition for students from all years to participate in creating their own individual Manga inspired comics. This was launched in October and the closing date was Tuesday 13th December 2016 lunchtime. All the entries were of a high standard and quality it was very hard to make a decision on the winner, so Mr Mason (Art) who kindly helped me in judging the entries. In first place was Ethan Chamberlain 11G, 2nd place was Lois Kimberley-Lax 8E and 3rd place goes to Abigail Parker 7K. The best Illustrator Prize being awarded to Kurt Swanwick 7F. Congratulations should also go to all the members of the club for being so supportive and very creative in taking the time and effort to creating their Anime/Manga entries. In the Spring Term, the club will be creating their own graphic manga novel as a group with Ethan, Lois, Abigail, Kurt and Lucy Woodward being the Lead Editors for this project while also working on the clubs first animation by the end of the summer term. Mr Harwood Suther

RUBIC CUBE FEVER

Ben Moore 8J is a whiz on the Rubic Cube, after scrambling, his average time to solve the cube is 25 seconds! Well done Ben

Vote 16 Campaign Group We are a campaign group that wants to lower the voting age to 16. We believe that young people have the right to express their opinions on political issues that affect our country and the world. Our aim is to spread the awareness of this responsibility to 16 year olds everywhere for more information follow our Facebook page: @vote16 Michelle Louise George, Amy Rogers, Tia Eales, Virginia Kuzmich

PARENTS’ CONSULTATION MEETING

The next Parents’ Consultation meeting will take place on Friday 20th January at 2.30pm in the

Conference Room.

This is a chance to have consultation with Mr Abbott within a small forum of parents.

Any parent interested in attending, please contact

Linda Fayolle PA to Headteacher on 859421

SCHOLASTIC JANUARY ONLINE BOOK CLUB

Start the New Year with a new book. Scholastic’s new January online Book Club is now live! You

can browse a full selection of books in the January Book Club by heading to:

https://schools.scholastic.co.uk/kenilworth

The online book club is an easy way to inspire your child to read for pleasure and there are great savings on some books of up to 70% off! Here are

some of the exciting books on offer:

Every £1 you spend earns 20p towards book purchases for the school’s Learning Resource

Centre

Please note the book club is for online orders only. We are not accepting any orders in school. Orders must be placed by Friday 3rd March 2017

Year 11s Applying for Work Experience at Jaguar Landrover.

If parents of 14-18 year olds wish to see the process for applying for work experience at Jaguar

Landrover please follow this link : http://www.jaguarlandrover.bmetc.ac.uk/work-

experience?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0

ALUMNI Jenny Hicks left Kenilworth School in 2007 with 4 A grades in Art, History, Maths and Latin and she went on to study Ancient History and Egyptology at UCL. After completing her BA she had a short break working before returning to UCL to do her Masters. She has just completed her PhD in 'the administration of the Seleukid empire' which she kindly paraphrases for us is 'what people did to collect taxes in Iraq in the third century BC'. After deciding that staying in university lecturing was not what she wanted she is currently training as a History teacher at Oxford University. She is also now deciding whether to publish her thesis or at least part of it.

Year 10 Ski Trip to Pila Ninety Year 10s and nine staff travelled to the ski resort of Pila in the Aosta Valley in north-west Italy for an unforgettable and character building week of skiing. The snow was surprisingly good, with the north facing resort retaining the heavy falls in the previous month. Having six hours each day on the slopes with twelve very well qualified and friendly British Instructors in groups of no more than eight skiers, everyone progressed impressively well and made full use of the lovely long Blue runs and exciting pistes. Pila is an excellent resort particularly for beginners, of which we had 50, with great progression and those with lots of skiing experience who also benefitted greatly from the excellent instruction. We didn’t have a single visit to the Medi-Centre in resort during the whole week! However, we did have two non-skiing related accidents, the first on the ferry out which unfortunately resulted in one student having to be flown home; the other later in the week during ice skating resulting in a small wrist fracture. Both students coped superbly with the disappointment and are recovering well.

Photo showing 89 of the 90 Year 10s opposite the main lift to the ski area. The evening activities of Bowling, Ice Skating, Italian Pizza night & Disco and a visit to the Nike & Lint Chocolate outlet stores were all thoroughly enjoyed. At the presentation evening at the end of the week, everyone received a badge and certificate from their instructor and each group in turn gave their instructor a present. There was also special awards for students from the staff. Everyone behaved extremely well from start to finish and we were complemented by the resort staff, all of our twelve instructors, hotel staff and our four coach drivers – in fact they all said they hadn’t had such a brilliant school group before! After such a great week, where everything seemed to go well, we had a difficult and longer than expected return journey, with a three hour delay on the French motorway near to Dijon with black ice, resulting in returning home at 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon instead of mid-day. Everyone coped so impressively well and even after nearly 22 hours of travelling, our students continued to be a delight to be with - well done everyone. Ian Lockren

Ski Trip continued…..

Mont Blanc Waiting for instructors

Red 3 looking down Red 3 looking up Blue 15 – longest run in the resort

Approaching Dover after a long coach journey home

2018 SKI TRIP - for current Year 9s will be launched on Wednesday next week.

There will be copies of the application letter in registers on Wednesday or you can collect them from the Lower Office or from Mr Lockren (also the ski noticeboard opposite Mr Lockren's office in Upper School - up the stairs next to the dining room, turn right and go through the double doors)

STUDENT LOST IPHONE 5C

If you know the whereabouts of an Iphone 5C with a blue cover please see Mrs Simpson in Lower Office. If students bring mobile phones into school they must take full responsible for them, they should be switched off at all times.

Important Information for Parents about Immunisations for Year 11 Please note that immunisations will take place on 1st and 2nd February 2017 Meningococcal ACWY Vaccine is replacing the routine Meningococcal C (Men C) vaccine for all children in Year 11. In a change to normal practice Immunisation consent forms and information booklets will be sent home with the pupils on Friday 6th January. Consent forms will need to be signed and returned to form tutors by Wednesday 11th January. Students will be made aware of the time, date and location of the vaccination closer to the time. It is important to note that the Meningococcal ACWY vaccine will NOT be available via your own GP. For any concerns or further information please call the Immunisation & Vaccination Team on: 07827309559

Holocaust Survivor John Fieldsend On Wednesday 11th January, Year 9 students had the privilege of hearing John Fieldsend speak. Being a retired Anglican Vicar, he had a very interesting story to tell. Having survived the Holocaust through being placed on the Kinder Transport, he spent the rest of his childhood in a foster family in England. He had very little contact with his parents but received a letter from an anonymous sender after the war. Throughout his time in Germany and Czechoslovakia, John was bullied very badly by members of the Hitler youth. Unfortunately the war lead to the death of the majority of his family. Only John, his brother and a cousin survived. If you would like to hear some of John’s story, the BBC website has a recording of him reading the letter from his parents please follow the link below. Students will also have the opportunity to purchase a book about John’s life. Details will follow over the next few weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-oxfordshire-36281149

SPORTS FIXTURES

Jan Year Group Sport Opposition Home Away Approx Start

Finish

Tues 17th Year 8 Sports Hall Athletics

Competition Myton TBC

Wed 18th Year 7 Football Tournament Home (3G) 5.45pm Finish

Wed 18th Year 5/6 Sports Hall Athletics

Competition Sports Hall 1-3pm

Sat 21st All Years X Country Championships TBC TBC

World Schools Championships update The fundraising for our Junior Boys team who will be representing England at the World Schools Championships in Sicily next April, is going really well. The PTA have helped a lot and so too have local businesses as well as all those of you who bought cakes at the recent Parents Evenings. A big thank you to everyone. Watch out for the raffle, with some great prizes.

Next local club events Sunday 15th January – HOC club event at Postenplain Sunday 22nd January – OD club event at Brandon Wood, Coventry Saturday 4th February – Daventry Country Park (Parkrun 9am) Sunday 5th February – WCH club event at Badgerslade, Cannock Chase Sunday 19th February – WRE club event at Eastridge Woods Sunday 5th March – WCH club event at Chillington Hall Saturday 11th March – Memorial Park, Coventry; also Schools Championships (Parkrun 9am) Sunday 26 March – OD club event at Bentley Woods The next OD club event is at Brandon Wood, Coventry on Sunday 22nd January with starts from 10.30 until 12 noon. Full details about start times, courses and costs will be on the club website. Runners and walkers of all ages, 5 – 85 years, and abilities will be welcome to come along to try out this outdoor adventure navigation sport. Help is available to all newcomers. A large scale map and electronic timers are provided; bring a compass if you have one. To find out more see website www.octavian-droobers.org or tel: 01926 632189

Next schools competition The next School competition is the Warwickshire Schools Championships on Saturday morning, 11th March at the Memorial Park, Kenilworth Road, Coventry. A great chance to have a go at Orienteering and join the school Orienteering squad. The course will be very easy as it is designed to encourage schools to just have a go. For Year 7, 8 & 9s it is a 2k run around the park, visiting specific controls along the way. If you are a good runner, it won’t take long at all and it will give you a taste of what competitive orienteering is like. I will be asking for entries next month, so make a note of the date and look out for the next information. Let me know if you need any more information about any of the above or orienteering in general: i.lockren@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk Mr Lockren.