Together we

Autumn Term Calendar Dates

Dates are subject to change - you will be notified of any changes by text message

July 2011 Thursday 21st- school reward trips Friday 22nd - school closes for summer holiday at 12.30pm

September 2011 Monday 5th - school re-opens normal time 8.40am Tuesday 13th - open morning 9.30-10.30am Thursday 15th - open morning 9.30-10.30am Tuesday 20th - open morning 9.30-10.30am Thursday 22nd - open morning 9.30-10.30am

Health and Safety Could all students use the pedestrian path and not the vehicle

drive when entering and leaving at the front of the school.

A Green - Estate Manager

Attendance This year we achieved an attendance figure of 92%, next

year we are aiming for a higher attendance percentage.

Whilst the attendance team appreciates illness cannot be

helped, we would welcome support from parents /carers

to help us ensure that we reach our desired attendance

outcome target for next year. To achieve our attendance

figure, students should be aiming for an attendance figure

of 93% and above as this is the national average. Could

we please ask parents/carers to do their best to book

routine check-ups and medical appointments outside of

school hours. Also can we take this time to remind you

that we will NOT authorise any Holidays/Leave of

Absence from school during term-time for any reason

exceptional or otherwise.

T Clarke - Attendance officer

PE News

Congratulations to the following students who achieved success at the recent Kingsbury Partnership Key Stage 3 swimming gala; Robert Jenns : Gold in 50m front crawl and Gold in 50m back stroke, Ellen Ratcliffe: Gold in 50m front crawl and Silver in 25m butterfly, Cameron Thompson: Gold in 25m breast stroke, Kaylum Logan: Silver in 25m breast stroke, Deanne Cope: Silver in 25m back stroke. Collectively as a team: Boys : Bronze in Relay Medley, Girls Bronze in Relay Medley, Girls: Silver in Freestyle Relay. Overall we finished in 2nd place behind Great Barr. Well done to all Students who took part they were a real credit to themselves and the School. Athletics Congratulations to Simbarashe Rwambiwa (100m, 200m), Trevelle Lewis (200m) Phoebe Ratcliffe (800m) who were selected ton represent North Birmingham at the West Midlands Competition on Saturday 11th June 2011 Year 8/9 Rounder's Students in the New Year 8 and Year 9 have been representing Kingsbury at the Kingsbury Partnership Rounder's Competition taking place on a Thursday evening at Cardinal Wiseman School. Results so far : Kingsbury have won all their matches apart from one (losing by 1 rounder to Q3 Academy). The team are: Simran Kaur, Hayley O’Dwyer, Yasamin Said, Ellen Ratcliffe, Jazhuena Bradshaw-Douglas, Billie Ellis, Hana Azam, Aishah Afser, Aneesa Jameel, Tanya Higgins, Makala Smith, Sophie Coulson, Tooba Shahzad 20-20 Cricket at Edgbaston Students who have taken part in Cricket during this year have been invited to watch Warwickshire V Durham at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Lets hope the weather is on our side. L Millward - Faculty Leader : Performance

Support Talk Advice 4 You STAY

Does your child have a diagnosis of Autism /ADHD?

Come along and join in the fun, meet new people and make new friends.

For more information contact Angela Tel: 0121 783 4885 Mob: 07842 599700

We have an exciting new set of menus for you to try, with some main meals like Italian inspired Shepherds Pie, Twice Roasted Belly of Pork, Thai Green Chicken Curry and Cajun Battered Cod Fillets We also have a theme day for you to lookout for – Good Bye To Summer BBQ. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and hope you all have a fun and safe summer!! K Holland and the Catering Team

Chartwells Catering

Headteacher’s newsletter - July 2011

Together we can

Dear students, Staff, parents and governors,

As you can see, this newsletter is packed with information about events that have taken place

this term.; so much that we have had to extend to eight pages. I think this shows the range of

activities on offer for the benefit of our students. Exciting times are ahead with the

completion of our new Astroturf, the PACER programme and the development of our new

web site which we hope to launch in September. As always, I want to thank everyone who has

contributed to the continuing success of the school for their hard work this year. May I take

this opportunity to wish you all a safe, happy and restful summer break.

S Coulton

Kingsbury School and Sports College

The new 3G All Weather Pitch, tennis & netball court are fantastic additions to the school’s sports facilities, students and staff are very excited at the prospect of playing on this superb FA standard surface. The 3G All Weather Pitch can cater for two 36m X 27m pitches which are divided by a net or used as a larger 56m x 36m pitch. Although the pitch has a superb football and hockey surface it will accommodate most PE activities. The facility is also available to hire during the evenings and weekends for after school clubs, sports and football clubs, businesses, birthday parties, summer holiday activities and by the local community wanting to have a kick about. Bookings are being taken for evenings, 5 – 9pm and weekends 9am – 6pm. For further information or to book, call the Leisure Centre on 0121 306 4874. Also a 6 a side Monday night and Sunday afternoon league will be commencing soon, to enter a team or for more details, contact Leisure Leagues on 0845 230 2340. T Stevens - Leisure Centre Manager

State of the Art Floodlit 3G All Weather Sports Pitch

On Thursday 7th July Kingsbury staged the first whole school show in a long time. Hoods a story of gangs, love, hate, friendship and tragedy was ‘West Side Story’ re-written by Miss Nordone to showcase the talent of our own Kingsbury students. The cast ranged from year 7 to year 11. The show was a sell-out and provided a fantastic evening of

entertainment for all who attended. The students taking part were amazing from start to finish and it was a pleasure to work with them. We followed this with a cast trip to see ‘We Will Rock You’ at the Birmingham Hippodrome where all the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were a credit to the school. I am very proud of them all! J Nordone - Head of Drama

Hoods

Together we can

Kingsbury School and Sports College are delighted to announce a new and exciting rewards scheme for all

students in the school. The rewards scheme is an online points system where students are rewarded points

by staff. Points are then used to buy a variety of prizes through the rewards scheme website. Parents might

like to have a look at the scheme at www.vivomiles.com To run along side this the school has set up the

PACER programme. PACER represents the five different areas that students can gain rewards from staff.

These are Participation, Achievement, Citizenship, Endeavour, Responsibility. At Kingsbury School we feel

strongly that these are the five key elements to help students make real progress. Students have already

started collecting their Vivo miles and many are well on the way to getting their first prizes. Please keep

encouraging your child to aim high and follow the new PACER programme in school.

Care Guidance

& Support Team

Rewards Scheme

Be Smart, uniform requirements - September 2011

In our continuing drive to improve uniform we will be

operating a less flexible approach to our uniform

requirements from the start of the autumn term. If you are

buying new uniform for your child during the summer holi-

days, please take note of the following guidance:

Blazers – must be navy blue with the KSSC logo.

Shirts and ties – all students must a wear plain white shirt

with a collar and a school tie.

School trousers or skirt – must be dark grey, navy blue or

black and of a suitable style, length and material. No black

jeans.

Footwear – must be plain and black, no coloured logos,

stripes, or laces. Socks/tights must be plain and dark.

Jumpers (optional) – must be navy blue with the KSSC logo.

Cardigans (optional) – must be navy blue with the KSSC

logo.

Any other jumpers, cardigans or sweatshirts are not allowed

and will be confiscated

Coats - may be worn outdoors on top of the blazer but must

be plain and dark.

Hoodies, checked shirts and patterned jumpers are not

considered suitable as outdoor coats and will be confiscated.

Jewellery – this should be kept to a minimum, no large rings

or earrings allowed.

Facial piercings – must be removed or covered for school.

Hairstyles – hair colour must be on the natural spectrum (no

green/blue/purple etc). Hair cuts should be smart and

appropriate for school.

Headscarves – must only be worn for religious reasons and

must be plain navy blue.

Baseball caps are not allowed on the school site.

Procedures

Uniform will be checked regularly by staff Any student

wearing non uniform items will be challenged and, where

possible, the item will be confiscated. Parent or carer will be

informed and if the student can return home to change into

appropriate uniform this will be arranged. Otherwise they

will be placed in isolation. If the situation continues, the

student will be remain in isolation until they are

appropriately dressed. We hope that parents and carers

recognise the importance of KSSC students following our

uniform requirements. We believe that this prepares them

well for the future and gives them a sense of belonging to

our school community.

Thank your for support.

S Coulton - Headteacher

The five KSSC qualities

Participation

Achievement

Citizenship

Endeavour

Responsibility

PACER

Can you please notify the school immediately if there are any

changes in personal details for your child e.g. address,

contact numbers or medical information. In order to use our

text messaging service we need up to date mobile numbers

for all parents. If you change your number please pass this to

student reception.

Dear Parents/Carers Over the past few years, many of you may have used activities and services provided through our extended services cluster, SAFE Community Group. These services include: support provided by the Parent Support Advisors, Patsy and Robena; support for families; cluster holiday and after school programmes for children and young people, and information and support provided by the cluster coordinator Kate Rose. Due to changes in funding arrangements, we regret to tell you that SAFE will no longer be operating, and we need to advise you of the following: With immediate effect, there is no cluster parent support service, as central funding for these posts is no longer provided. Patsy and Robena have already left; we wish them well in the future and thank them for their hard work and support. Kate Rose will be in post until 31st August. All SAFE funded activities have ceased, with the exception of the ‘My Choice’ after school activities which continue until the end of summer term, and there is a final programme of summer activities, information is available on the SAFE website (www.safe-group.org). The website will continue to exist for a while, but will only be updated until the end of the summer term. It is important for you to know that there are still a lot of activities for families in the Erdington area. For information on these and other sources of support, please contact any of the following, as appropriate: Your child’s school Your local children's centre The Youth Service on 0121 382 6932 The Family Information Service has information on childcare, holiday activities and other support across Birmingham. They can be contacted on 0121 303 3521 or www.birmingham.gov.uk/fis Lastly I would like to say what a pleasure it has been (although hard work at times!) working with all the schools, children and families who I have got to know over the last four and a half years. I wish you all well in the future. As Chair of the SAFE Cluster Steering Group, I would like to convey our most heartfelt thanks to Kate Rose, for the work that she has undertaken to ensure the wide range of activities for all of our children and young people across Erdington over the last four and half years. She has actively built partnerships with families, Children’s Centres, schools and agencies to ensure that our children and young people are positively engaged in activities which will benefit and support them. The closure of SAFE cluster is extremely sad and I would like to offer Kate Rose our very best wishes in the future. We hope that you will continue to access many of the services available across Erdington in the future and work with schools and children’s centres to give our children and young people the best possible experiences.

Kate Rose Laura Kearney Cluster Coordinator Chair of SAFE Cluster Steering Group

SAFE Group

Together we can

Chartwells Catering

Could students please bring in their own bottles for when they

need water from the school canteen.

Thank you

K Holland - Catering Manager

If any students have a blazer in good condition that they no longer

need the school will pay £3.00 for it. Please see the finance office

for details.

D Barnicle - Manager Business & Finance

Old Blazers

Personal Information

Sports Day results

The weather held off and sports day took place on

Friday 15th July 2011, and became another rewarding

day. Activities held were Rounder's, Cricket, Tug O

War and a Fun Run Relay, making this year a true

‘sports’ day! Over 80 students in each year group

took part in an activity, totalling around 350 students

across the school. Those not participating has the

chance to watch and support their house group. The

overall scores for sports day this year are:

4th – Osprey

3rd – Falcon

2nd – Eagle

1st – Kestrel

Well done to all those students involved!!

On Friday 1st July some year 8 & 9 students were selected to take part in a

Living for Sport coaching programme at Kingsbury School. The programme is

linked with the Youth Sport Trust and the aim of the project is to use sport to

inspire young people to be the best they can be. Part of the project includes

having an international athlete come into Kingsbury School to start a coaching

programme and mentor our students. The sport we selected was Rugby and

our mentor athlete was Heather Fisher who plays Rugby for England Women’s

rugby team, Worcester Warriors RFC, and also represented Great Britain in the

Bobsled at the last winter Olympic Games. Heather spoke to our students

about how sport has changed her life and how it has given her the confidence

and opportunity to travel the world doing the thing that she loves the most,

playing rugby. She encouraged our students to put in 100% into their school

work and playing sport and gave the students a fantastic insight into her work

hard play hard lifestyle. The students involved were Guven Mustafa, Gladwyn Irish, Jake Wiseman, Kwasim

Adusei , Josh Mcgee, Josh Lucey, Jared Grant, Owen Miles, Renats Jukams, Haroon Hussain, Corey Bates,

Joseph Hylton and Adrian Ellis. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon they spent with myself and

Heather talking about their goals their ambitions, and most importantly, playing rugby! Heather was

extremely impressed by our student’s attitude and motivation and she cannot wait to visit again in

September to continue the project.

D Roberts - Assistant Achievement Leader - year 9

Living for Sport

Heather Fisher

Gifted and Talented

pupils in Year 11 were

lucky enough to visit the

University of Oxford as

part of the school’s on

going attempts to raise

aspirations. The pupils

were taken on a

personal tour of Trinity

College by a current

Oxford student, listened to a talk about admissions from the Senior Tutor

of Somerville College and took part in a very ‘hands on’ workshop at the

university’s Museum of Natural History. This trip gave pupils the chance to

see for themselves what life as a student at Oxford would be like and to

find out more about what it takes to apply to the university. The message

we heard from all those we met on our trip was clear: Oxford wants more

students from Kingsbury. It was fantastic to hear the pupils talk about ap-

plying to Oxford in the future and with a lot of hard work, there’s every

reason to think they might get in!

M Crowhurst - History Teacher

Oxford University Trip

Together we can

Art Club

The Art Department would like to

invite budding Artists from year 10 to

Art Club every Thursday after school.

This will give those who

didn’t choose art as an option the

opportunity to create a portfolio of

work and hopefully obtain a

qualification (this will obviously

depend on the quality and quantity

of the work that has been produced).

Could any student that is interested

in come to the Art Department for an

informal chat on the first Thursday of

the new term. Also may I add my

congratulations to Year11 OCR

Nationals group on their excellent

effort over the last two years and

their potentially excellent results.

A Daniels - Curriculum Leader: Art

Living for Sport

Together we can

Five year 11 pupils got to celebrate their exam success at Jamie’s

Italian in Birmingham. All of the pupils gained a grade A or A* in

their Geography exams or are part of the Gifted and Talented Pilot

Project. After watching the Jamie’s Dream School documentary,

Head of Geography Miss Thom decided to contact the restaurant to

arrange a treat for the pupils.

‘‘These are pupils who have

overcome barriers and still

achieved the highest results.

This was the focus of Jamie Oliver’s recent documentary Dream School

and I thought it would be fitting to take the pupils to his restaurant and

to give them a memorable experience to celebrate their success’ said

Miss Thom. Jamie’s Italian kindly donated vouchers towards the cost of

the meal. Miss Thom and Miss Millward accompanied the pupils to the

restaurant and were very impressed with how adventurous the pupils

were with their food choices opting for rabbit and scallops.

E Thom - Assistant Headteacher: Learning

Geography Success

STEM Club - Up, Up and Away

On Wednesday 29th June a group of students from

Kingsbury school and sports colleges STEM club went to

the royal air force museum in Cosford. The students who

went were, Abdurrahman Mulla, Rebekah Lott, Natasha

Wykes, Luke Mildenhall, Dean Mortiboy, Daniel Minchin,

Amanda Wilson, Grace Griffiths, Katie Driscoll, Lauren

Cooney, Jacob Clifford and me (Omar Schrouder). Mr

Singh and Miss Jones also accompanied us on the trip.

We had to set up a stall when we got there, then we

needed to make a presentation for the judges that were

going to talk to us. In the presentation we included information like our projects in stem, the Big Bang Fair in

London, the crest awards etc. Finally when the judge came around to us after our presentation she said that

we presented ourselves well and spoke clearly. After we were judged, everyone got to look around the other

hangars. And they were really fun, in one hangar there were loads of activities to do and loads of planes to

look at and take pictures of. We also got to see a show about the science of sport, the five sports we learnt

about were parkour, cycling, surfing, skydiving and climbing. Out of the whole competition (out of around 20

-25 schools) we came 2nd! (it’s a pity that we did not come first, but oh well.) Everyone had a fantastic day

and we would like to thank Mr. Singh and Mr. Bedford for organising the trip and thanks Mr Singh and Miss

Jones for taking us on the trip.

Omar Schrouder - Student

Together we can

Dynamic live up to their name!

Our Young Enterprise team Dynamic have

certainly proved they are worthy of their

name. Dynamic won Best Presentation

and Best Company Overall at the Young

Enterprise North Birmingham Area finals

held at Jaguar on 28th April. They had

already won Best Customer Service twice

at the recent trade fairs that they had

attended. They made their mark by

beating of stiff competition from local

secondary schools which included those

from the Grammar and Independent

sector. They then went through to the

Birmingham and Solihull final which was

held on the 26th May at Birmingham University House. They again won Best Presentation and Best

Company Overall which was a fantastic achievement as they were the only state school taking part all of

their competition was from Grammar or Independent schools. They then went on to represent

Birmingham and Solihull at The West

Midlands Innovation Awards 2011 which

took place on Friday 24th June 2011 at

The Great Hall, Birmingham University.

Many staff and parents were there to

support them and again all students

were a credit to the school. It was a

wonderful opportunity for all concerned

especially to see how the students

conducted themselves whilst on stage.

Sharmin Amin won the runner up award

for the Best Managing Director and Ru-

pert Dyer our Business Advisor won the

Business Advisor award, after he was

nominated by the students of Dynamic.

Judges commented on their professional appearance and their obvious passion for the entrepreneurial

journey they had been through. All of the students have worked so hard over the last nine months

showing their determination and dedication to succeed. They totally deserve these awards and I am very

proud of all of them. They are a credit to the school and excellent role models of what can be achieved if

you believe in yourself. However, most of all they are a credit to themselves and I wish them every

success in their future education. If anyone from Year 10 and 11 is interested in joining Young Enterprise

this year please see Miss Fisher for information.

D Fisher - ICT Teacher

Since January 2011, a cohort of Kingsbury students have been involved in a mobile recording studio project after school on Tuesdays. Working with iPads, apple macs, microphones and live instruments, the students have been practising their instrumental skills, learning recording skills and creating original music. Some impressive talent has been unearthed and a core group of tomorrow's talented performers have been regularly attending, alongside some less frequent visitors. Using equipment funded by the sale of stolen goods, courtesy of West Midlands Police, and thanks to some funding from the extended schools cluster to hire local musicians and youth workers, the project has been a great success. After a strong start in 2011, an agreement has just been reached to continue and extend the project into the next school year. So it's time to be on the lookout for the rising stars that are set to emerge from Kingsbury in the year ahead, and to keep an ear to the street in anticipation of a new sound on the airwaves!

S Jakszta - Senior Director Every Child Matters

Kingsbury Studio Skills Project

Together we can

North Area Network Gifted and Talented

Sailing Masterclass Students Kyle Thompson Green and Laura McMahon spent a fantastic weekend developing their skills in sailing at Bartley Green Reservoir, and also gained grades that can be used towards their final GCSE PE qualification. They will be representing Kingsbury in the Birmingham Schools Sailing Regatta.

L Millward - Faculty Leader: Performance

Drama Day at Arthur Terry School Abbey Phillips, Ben Dunkley and Paige Smith Year 10 students spent the day at Arthur Terry School with students from other local schools. On returning back to school all pupils have delivered some of the sessions to other pupils studying Drama. “The Arthur Terry Drama day was so much fun. I had a great time and met loads of new people. It was a great experience’’ (Paige Smith) “I really enjoyed the day. I made new friends and learnt new skills. When I came back into school I delivered a session to the rest of my BTEC Group.” (Abbey Phillips)

Our Year 8’s have had two opportunities this term to show off their skills. The first, in a paper based competition run by Leeds University UKMT. Twelve of our students received a certificate 4 Silver, and 8 bronze, with Harkamal Gill being awarded a certificate for ‘Best in School’. You can have a go at a sample question

The second was a team challenge at Cardinal Wiseman school. We fielded two teams, who were admirably placed 5th and 7th in the cluster.

J Miley - Faculty Leader: Mathematics

Maths Challenge