December

2013
Message from the Head Teacher
Welcome to the end of term newsletter. This month students have been involved in a range of charity events, and celebrations of achievements and improvements made. During the term we have introduced a number of improvements to support and challenge students. As a result of our focus on punctuality and attendance to school, less learning time is being lost but there is still more to do. Equally, with the introduction of Kingsbury Super 6, students who meet all expectations every lesson are receiving recognition and when not meeting expectations targeted support and challenge is in place. This new system allows parents/carers to receive regular information on their childs learning habits across the school. I would like to wish all our families and partners a restful break and seasons greetings to those celebrating Christmas. Ms C ODriscoll, Head Teacher

Dates for your diary

Fri 20 Dec th Mon 6 Jan th Tue 14 Jan rd Thur 23 Jan
th

Goodbye to the following staff who leave us for pastures new. We

wish them all the best for the future and thank them for their contribution to Kingsbury. Ms Mullins Mrs C Cahm Mrs T Clarke Mrs S Jakszta Miss A Phillips Mr L Stephens Teacher of Geography Attendance Officer Senior Director, Every Child Matters Teacher of Science Teaching Assistant

Christmas Holidays begin Students return Parents Forum Year 9 Parents Evening

At the end of this term Mrs Jakzsta is retiring from full-time teaching. She has worked tirelessly in support of Kingsbury students over many years. I would like to thank her for her professionalism and commitment to Kingsbury throughout her time here. It is not good-bye completely just yet as she will be returning part-time in the New Year. Ms ODriscoll

Black History event

Students, parents/carers and staff enjoyed a great evening of entertainment on 21st November. A carnival of singing, dancing, poetry, fashion and music celebrated our history, our achievements and our diversity as a community. Many nations: one school = Kingsbury! Ms ODriscoll

CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Fisher who recently graduated with a Masters Degree in Education at Newman University. Ms ODriscoll

Kingsbury School and Sports College, Kingsbury Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 8RE Phone: 0121 373 1080 Fax: 0121 306 4878 Web: www.kingsbury.bham.sch.uk E-mail: enquiry@kingsbury.bham.sch.uk t: @KingsburySSC

Problem Solving with Santa

A Christmas conundrum from the maths faculty
It is Christmas Eve and Santa needs to get to his sleigh which he has left on the other side of the river. Unfortunately, the reindeers have eaten too many mince pies and so cant take off to come and fetch him! Santa has with him: a sack full of toys, a naughty elf and a lost child. Your task is to help Santa get the sack, the elf and the child across to the other side of the river. Luckily, there is a boat but Santa is the only one who can sail it and Santa is so big that he takes up most of the room. He can make as many journeys as he needs to but the boat is only big enough to take Santa and one other thing. Howeverthe naughty elf cant be left alone with the presents as he switches the labels and mixes the presents up; the child also cant be left alone with the presents as he will open them. How can Santa get them all across to the other side safely? Remember, the same rules apply on the other side! (Answer is on the back page) Miss Woodward

WELL DONE

to the following students who have been nominated for rewards for their

effort and attitude within their maths lessons: Year 7 Danish Khan Mohammed Choudhury Zuhra Saidi Ebnoy Black Jahrome Faulder Year 8 Chloe BagshawDalton Haroon Mahmood Alec Trusch Jasmine Bache Amy Scanlon Year 9 Kausar Aaliyah Batoul Abu Affar Martin Ceirans Chad Bradley Shabaz Muhammed Year 10 Maryan Mohamed Fatima Sajid Parys Rodney Bennett Farhad Miah Lewis Owens Year 11 Alex Scanlon Dylan O'Keefe Jack Whelan Mariah Davis Sameer Rhodes

Trip to Teenpreneur
The Teenpreneur Challenge was a one day interactive event designed to equip 13 17 year olds with the tools to build their confidence whilst developing their self-leadership, creative and innovative skills and abilities. The event was hosted by author and inspirational leader Errol Lawson. Errol has worked with our school before and he inspired us all with the story of his transformation from postcode and gang culture mentality to the successful person he is today. Yasmin Saidi from 11U produced the following report: During half term our teacher gave us the opportunity to gain initiative, ideas and increase our confidence, at the Teenpreneur event at one of the best hotels in the city, the Radisson Blu Hotel. The workshop started off with a very successful entrepreneur speaker who talked to us about the difficulties he had to face when growing up. We were very surprised by the change in direction he went through, which got us thinking of our own back-up plan in life. Many of the speakers had a turning point in their life; we think it helped prevent us from making their mistakes, because we saw the effect it had on them. Errol Lawson gave us an exercise where we learned to work together and cooperate effectively by doing a performance, advertising a random object like a stapler. This developed our persuasive and creative skills as we had to make the object look desirable and it had to be entertaining to the audience. We also made new friends and talked to people that we wouldnt usually talk to. Overall I loved the workshop and I hope to be visiting more, as I am very pleased with the personal skills I gained and it was a fun day out. Miss Fisher

War Horse has a big impact

Drama GCSE students recently went to see the National Theatre production of War Horse at the Birmingham Hippodrome. They were very lucky to see this amazing play of the Michael Morpurgo book, which tells the heart wrenching story of a boy and his horse during the First World War. The puppets were stunning, especially those of the horses the actors and performers really brought them to life. Jayne Beale from 11S wrote the following report: The performance was breath-taking; the cast portrayed the story elegantly through the use of lighting, costume and sound. This helped me think about how to use these elements in my pieces and how I can use them subtly without blowing them out of proportion, as well as working in a minimalist way with a few props. We wrote notes on the performance and how it used various drama techniques, and I will use this to write a review of War Horse as part of Unit 2 for my Drama GCSE the Unit forms 30% of the total mark. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing War Horse with my class; it was a beautiful rendition of a sad story and I would definitely go again. Miss Millward

Kingsbury young coaches lead the way

Kingsbury School & Sports College has been selected by Youth Sport Trust to run one of ten National pilot projects to deliver a County Young Coach Academy. The aim of the Academy is to help develop and inspire young people to make the transition from sports leader to becoming a quality coach. Kingsbury School Sports Partnership is leading the project and is working with several partners: Birmingham Metropolitan College, Newman University and Birmingham Sports Partnership, who will help deliver training to develop the coaches over 12 months. The launch of the Academy in November involved 30 students from across the city participating in a sports science day at Newman University. The young coaches practiced fitness testing and learned how sports science could impact on their coaching in the future This is a great opportunity for students to gain coaching experience as well as qualifications. The young coaches will be allocated a mentor and will all volunteer their time at a school or a community club. Clubs across the city are crying out for additional volunteers so hopefully we will find some fantastic coaches who can help increase capacity on the ground and inspire more young people to participate in club sport. Miss Mapp

Pictured: Joe Griffiths undertaking the VO2 max test!

This newsletter is also available online at www.kingsbury.bham.sch.uk. If you would like to receive newsletters by email in future please email: enquiry@kingsbury.bham.sch.uk with Newsletter in the subject header.

Kingsbury cyclists make a big impression

Bike North Birmingham works closely with Kingsbury in many ways to develop and encourage cycling in the community. One aspect of the programme is to support young people; during the summer several students took part in Bikeability programmes, and more recently, some GCSE PE students have used Mountain Biking for the practical element of their qualification, with the support of Bike North Birminghams Paul Robertshaw who took them to Sutton Park for their assessment. Students who took part were a real credit to themselves and great ambassadors for the school, and all passed their assessment with A-C scores. Heres what Paul had to say: I am still buzzing from the brilliant attitude of the girls, which together with their incredible courage made for a memorable day. After the brilliant first session with the boys group I was also very impressed with their behaviour, enthusiasm and with quite a few of them their stamina and skill levels. All in all the Bike North Birmingham Team are enjoying the work we are doing at Kingsbury School, the positivity and commitment of the pupils is a hugely positive reflection on the school as a whole and the PE Department in particular. Pictured: Sophie Coulson, Chloe ODwyer, and Hayley ODwyer Miss Millward

Talented Dayle takes to the stage

CONGRATULATIONS to Dayle Demaret-Smith from 11S who performed at the Birmingham Christian Centres production of Star Crossed on th th 6 and 7 December. Dayle played the role of Romeos cousin Tybalt in the performance which took inspiration not only from Shakespeares famous play but also contained elements from Bugsy Malone and the love themes of the Bible. We are very proud of Dayles achievements. Miss Millward

Problem solving with Santa: answer Santa takes the presents across first. He returns and picks up the elf; when he drops off the elf, he picks up the presents and takes them back with him. He switches the presents for the child, and drops off the child on the other side. Then he goes to pick up the presents!

We would like to wish all our students, staff, parents, governors, primary schools, supporters and everyone in the Kingsbury community a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. See you in 2014!