Kingsway News - March 17

Kingsway News Newsletter | March 2017

A Message from the Headteacher New Senior Students Announced – L. BalfeWhat do I love about our school? We are delighted to announce our Senior Student Team for 2017-What’s not to love! There are many wonderful 2018. Nazneen Aslam will be Head Girl and Michael King Head Boy.things about our school. I particularly love the truly Deputies are: Oliver Bluff, Max Carter, Rebekah Doostdar-Smith,comprehensive nature of our school. Kingsway Nuha Tabassum and Anya Wade-Williams.students mix, learn and socialise with students These students did exceptionally well to be selected from anfrom all backgrounds, including:- extremely strong field of almost 40 nominations. The selection process was rigorous, comprising a written application, presentation • The Most Academically Able to the full Leadership Group and an interview. Yet again we have two students who have been offered places Congratulations to our Senior Students and to all of the other students who were nominated and will become Prefects – we are for Oxford and Cambridge in September (see p.5). Year on year proud to have such a high calibre of student leadership potential at Kingsway students are offered places at Oxbridge and other Kingsway. Russell Group universities. Loreto College principal wrote to us to say that their success was “building on the excellent teaching they Members of the Youth Parliament – L. Balfe enjoyed at The Kingsway School”. In February, our students voted for Stockport’s representatives to be • Those With Special Educational Needs And Complex Learning Members of the UK Youth Parliament, which is made up of over 365 Difficulties elected representatives from Local Authorities across the UK. MYPs are responsible for hearing the voice of all young people in Our school is unique in its nature and our Resourced students (see Stockport and representing their views on a national level. p.4) contribute to the richness of our school environment. These There were 4 Stockport candidates: two of them from Kingsway - Ella students integrate with their mainstream peers in classrooms. Stirling in 8C and Mahima (Mia) Uddin in 11T. Over 3,000 votes were cast in the election. The results are now in and • A Wide Range Of Religious And Cultural Backgrounds we are delighted to report the Mia and Ella are the new Members of Around 20% of our students come from non-white British heritage. the Youth Parliament representing Stockport. We are extremely proud of Mia and Ella and look forward to hearing Purely by its nature, our school provides an environment where our more about their work students learn to be tolerant of diversity. We work closely with all representing the young faiths in our community including Cheadle Mosque where our Year people, not only of 7 students recently visited (see p9). Kingsway, but the whole of Three students recently painted our ‘Pod in the Quad’ in rainbow Stockport. colours to celebrate ‘Pride’ (also p9). • S tudents Whose Families Face A Daily Battle With Financial Disadvantage At Kingsway we have an ethos based on respect and culture of supporting those disadvantaged, e.g. through our charity work. As headteacher, my financial challenge is to provide for more students with less funding from parliament. Families can help – if you think your child may be eligible for free school meals, and haven’t yet registered, please do so (see KOL for information), as every little bit helps.In conclusion, I love the vibrant, rich and diverse mix we have hereat Kingsway. I just love our students, all of them! And on reading thisnewsletter, as just a snapshot of what they are capable of, I’m sureyou will understand why.I wish you and your families a bright spring term and thank you foryour continued support of our lovely school. Mrs Lowe2

Enrichment @ Kingsway – D. Woods Give yourself the edge – D. Woods The Kingsway School is continuously striving to offer As part of The Kingsway School’s Enrichment Programme we are our students as many opportunities as possible to try offering our Year 7 and 8 students the opportunity to embark on new things and to give students the best chance for an innovative new programme called ‘the edge’. The aim of the future success. The aim is to make students more programme is to develop and accredit students with the 5 key attractive to further education providers and future personal attributes essential for employability and life; Leadership, employers. Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication. We believe that enrichment opportunities are an ‘The edge’ provides students with the essential part of your child’s education. Through opportunity to make themselves more enrichment comes the confidence borne of trying attractive to further education providers andsomething new, of broadened experiences and of a wider set of future employers and helps to celebratefriendships. Enrichment encourages teamwork, organisation, and recognise enrichment achievementscompetition, initiative and resilience. It also develops leadership, made both in and out of school. Students willcommunication and self-discipline. Enrichment provides students with receive a nationally recognised certificate and badge. Additional prizesthe opportunity to develop knowledge and skills, through creative and and rewards will be made throughout the year.experiential activities. Kingsway students will achieve the Apprentice Level by the end of Year 8 and the Graduate Level by the end of Year 10.Our enrichment offerings are diverse in nature (academic, sportingand recreational) and are usually teacher-led. Students have been introduced to ‘the edge’ through an assembly,We provide a full range of exciting activities that take place during which will be followed by a series of sessions focussing on the 5 keybreak times (30 minutes) and after school (1 hour). attributes. Students have personal access to their online area whichA list of activities is available in the student section of Kingsway contains the data base of activities and a specially designed on-lineOnline under Enrichment@Kingsway. application that will allow them to log their progress. If your child would like to access their database at home they can follow the linkEnrichment – Year 7 Scholars from the schools website or go to https://theedge.pixl.org.uk/ – L. Holdsworth Students will be expected to update their progress using school and home computer access and will also be expected, as part of ‘the Last December, 24 Year 7 students edge’ and the Enrichment@Kingsway programmes to participate in a minimum of 10 hours of ‘in school’ Enrichment activities per year. became young entrepreneurs. These opportunities will be monitored by Form Tutors and may help students to complete their edge qualification. Students learned about laser-cut massTop 10% of production of Christmas decorations andHigh Achieving designed and made their own marketableStudents, Year 7 Draught sets using a variety of production Further information can be found on the Enrichment section of the school website. techniques. The students qualified for the enhancedcurriculum experience as they were the top 10% of high achieving Stockport Young Stars Awards 2016 students across all Congratulations to Year 10 student – J. Lowe Charlotte Jennings, who wassubjects in December. presented with the Overcoming Adversity pre-16 Award.It is hoped that all Year 7 This annual event celebrates the achievement of young people in thestudents will continually borough and last took place last December at Stockport Town Hall.complete to be in thetop 10% each term andtherefore have access toan enhanced curriculumexperience.In our competitive world it is vital that we help our students to standout amongst all those with similar GCSE results. Extra skills andqualifications gained through an enhanced curriculum, we believe,will help them to do this! 3

Christmas Charity Day – K. GuessKingsway’s students and staff worked amazingly hard totransform the sports hall in to a Christmas Fayre on the lastday of term. With us breaking up so late for Christmas, itwas great to see how well everyone came together to raisemoney for the Kolweny School in Kenya.The money raised from the Fayre plus the non-schooluniform money came to £4,000, which eclipsed the £3,799we raised last year.The student House Captains were then given a ‘shopping list’ andwere able to choose how they wanted to spent the money that theirHouse had raised. Our fund-raising will clearly make a difference tothe students and staff at our sister school, Kolweny Kingsway School.Here is a short summary of how the money is to be spent: • 130 students will have shoes to wear Discover Tissue Box Knitting! – A. Carden • 32 students will have a new school uniform • 5 classrooms will be painted Students in B11 have been knitting scarves using tissue boxes! • 12 widows will be given a water filter At every opportunity, including their break times, the students have • 16 families will be given a goat enjoyed putting in the effort and watching their scarves grow and • A teacher will have their wages paid by our students for a year grow. The end products look fantastic. • 7 students will be sponsored and be able to go to school for a year • The Maths department will have 43 new geometry sets • 112 girls will be given sanitary protectionIn addition to other the items, we have been able to fund two term of The completed scarves have been donated to a local homeless charity.scholarship for a university student and build an extension to the girls’latrines at a cost of £700. The students shown modelling their scarves are (L-R): Zayyan Helal, Georgia Graham and Laura Wood.The Fayre on the last day of term was a House competition and the Also involved are: Taymur Roshan, Ummar Hussain, Katrina Woods, ,results were: Alicia Edge, Tilly Brimble (and Miss Carden).6th Turing 5th Pankhurst4th Rylands 3rd Whitworth2nd Gaskell 1st LowryThe B11 stall and extra donations totalled over £40. Congratulations to Lowry who won the ‘Kolweny Cup’ for the third year running and to their very enthusiastic new House Leader Ms Cuttress! The biggest improver award goes to Gaskell who put up a great fight only to be pipped at the post. If you would like to have a go a tissue box knitting, you can find instructions online: brightside.me/article/try-this-amazingly-simple-trick-to-knit-a- scarfusing-a-box-87555/

Year 9 Kingsway Certificate Update – V. Houlden From Kingsway to Oxford – Greta SimpsonAt the end of this academic year, there will be a presentation evening I was someone who didn’t know what I was good at until my firstfor all Year 9 students who have achieved the Kingsway Certificate. language lessons at Kingsway.This is to recognise their attitude and performance throughout Year 9 I started learning French in Year 7 and took to it straight away andand to acknowledge that they are ‘GCSE ready’. I enjoyed starting another language, German, the following year even more. Out of enthusiasm I started learning Spanish in Year 9To achieve the Kingsway Certificate, students must have- outside of school. With my new skills I found I got so much more out of holidays abroad – being able to talk to a variety of people and • Attendance of 95%+ experience the culture better. • Achievement points in excess of100 (i.e. the difference between It was obvious I wanted to carry on at GCSE and then A level; the difficulty was in deciding which. Through going to Loreto College Imerits and behaviours) was able to get a work placement in Spain last Summer. I began to get interested in Arabic via • Few behaviour points friends from Kingsway who had to learn the Qur’an – it • Few detentions intrigued me as it was so very different, and I wanted • Average Attitude to Learning to understand the culture surrounding it.score of 3+ Criteria: • This year there will also be a • 95%+ Attendance requirement to be on target in 8+ subjects. • 100+ Achievement points (the difference between merits and behaviours) • Fewer than 50 Behaviour points • Less than 10 DetentionsStudents will soon be given a • On target in 8+ subjectscoloured card. This is to make them • A2L of 3+ on averageaware if they are currently on track There will be a I decided last year that Ito meet the Kingsway Certificate presentation evening wanted to study Spanish(green) or they are currently not yet in the summer term and Arabic at University, to award individuals and with some fear decided who achieve this. to include Oxford in my university choices. I had to Greta (left) and friends, in Salamanca, Spain, last summermeeting the standards to gain the certificate (amber). take 2 tests, relating to Spanish and to language ability generally. I was amazed to get through those and be invited to interview, butRisky Business Week – Z. Carrigan found that quite hard, as the interviews were spread over a few days. However, I was able to stay in one of the Colleges and get to spendDuring the week commencing 6th March The Kingsway School invited some time in the city, which was beautiful, with some of the othera variety of different agencies in to provide support and guidance to candidates who I got to know.students on all things ‘RISKY’.The agencies present throughout the week included: the Fire Service, It was an anxious time over Christmas waiting to hear, but in earlyCommunity Nurses, Anti Bullying Campaigners, Mental Health Teams, January, I found out that I had been offered a place! I am reallyCheadle Mosque, Mosaic and many more. grateful to The Kingsway School for starting me off on this journey.Issues being addressed encompassed: Anti Social Behaviour, StressManagement, Bullying, Sexuality, Mental Health and Well-being, Now I just need to get 3 A’s!Radicalisation, Racism, Drugs, Alcohol and a wider range of ‘risky’behaviours, through the use of fun workshops, targeted sessions and Fairer Funding assemblies.The week highlighted the need for all students to be vigilant and – J. Dunbarinformed about their own and others’ safety and the school’s cultureof support. Stockport Schools are campaigning against the current unfair funding system, based upon postcode lottery, which under-funds all StockportThe Kingsway School is committed schools by £1,000 for each child. The Kingsway School is underfundedto ensuring each student’s safety by £1.5m – a massive amount which would make an incredibleand well-being. difference to our students.If you are worried or concerned The proposed new funding formula does not sufficiently address theabout your child please contact the situation and all schools are asking community members to raiserelevant Pastoral Head of Year for their concerns with their Member of Parliament.further support and guidance. 5

Music Department – P. Lawton Maths Department – J. Pantelli & T. Kelso Hallé Orchestra Visit UK Intermediate Maths Challenge At the start of March, Year 7 visited the Top set students in Year 10 have recently sat the UKMT Bridgewater Hall to see a concert Intermediate Maths Challenge. The challenge is an annual performed by The Hallé Orchestra. event which challenges students around the world to think This annual event once again proved logically about complex mathematical questions such as the one below: extremely popular with everyone. The trip is organised to tie in with “Four different positive integers are to be chosen so that they have the Instruments of the Orchestra, which Year 7 have been learning a mean of 2017. What is the smallest possible range of the chosen through interactive lessons, involving demonstrations from the integers?” Music staff. This year’s concert was particularly relevant as it used Benjamin Britten’s ‘Guide to The Orchestra’ to showcase each family Students who perform within the top 40% of the country will be of instruments, and allowed students to see professional musicians awarded a bronze, silver or gold certificate and particularly high make each instrument sing. achievers will be invited to a follow on round. The program this year centred around the music of the British Isles, and featured music and composers from all 4 countries. As well as The Kingsway School is proud to have 18 students who have received listening to the huge variety of music, students were also given the certificates. A big ‘well done’ to Faiza Riaz, Tayyibah Ahmed, Tom chance to perform a massed song. A fantastic spectacle listening to Walsh, Estefany Fuguett-Gutierrez and Faizan Nawaz for obtaining 2000+ students singing, accompanied by this world-famous orchestra. silver certificates, and all 12 of our bronze certificate winners. A Not content with just singing, there was also the opportunity to take special mention goes to Alice Poole who not only received a gold part in some traditional folk dances! certificate but also progresses into the next round. Good luck in the Pink Kangaroo competition Alice! Christmas Concert – December 2016 The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition This year’s Christmas concert played to a capacity audience at, what Kingsway students have been breaking codes has now become our traditional venue, St. Mary’s Church, Cheadle. and solving ciphers over the past few weeks, Once again, the service was introduced by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Rob Monroe as they have unravelled the medieval mystery who gave his customary Christmas message. set as this year’s Alan Turing Cryptography A variety of departmental ensembles entertained and enthralled Competition. the audience. Ensembles included; Brass, Percussion and String Classes in Years 7 to 10 have been participating Ensembles, Chamber Orchestra, Samba4All, Rock School, Junior in the competition, run by the School of Chamber Choir and our newest vocal group ‘The Next Big Thing’. Mathematics at the University of Manchester. The Year 10 GCSE students dazzled with a vocal rendition of ‘Do You The competition continues until April 2017. Have Room’ whilst, back by popular demand, the Staff Choir gave an emotional performance of ‘Diamond Bright’. Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge The feedback from our audience was extremely positive, with many comments highlighting the talent of our students and dedication of – STEM club our staff. The date for next year’s Christmas concert will be Monday Could we have the next Lewis Hamilton or the first female Formula 1 18th December - we hope to see you there. champion in our midst? Musical Instruments Wanted! Thirty Year 7 students will be participating in the Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge from 28th February as the maths department hosts Do you have a musical instrument that you no longer use? Would you Kingsway’s STEM club for the next five weeks. like to see it given a new lease of life, helping to create the musicians of Using a wide variety of mathematical skills, the students will set up tomorrow? The Music Department is looking for donations of unwanted, and race virtual Formula 1 cars against each other, with the fastest working instruments to support our programme of instrumental tuition. cars being entered in the challenge’s National Competition on 29th Please contact [email protected] or deliver March. instruments direct to Broadway reception if you can help. The challenge will run again in the summer term, with successful The Music Department is extremely grateful for any donations and we teams being entered for the challenge’s World Final! know our students are, too. Any instruments, from piccolos to tubas will be accepted with open arms, and we will ensure they are all given loving homes.6

English Department – N. Dean Inklings Creative Writing Club – J. HeilCelebrating World Book Day Publishing success gives just an Inkling of Kingsway writing talent!We couldn’t let World Book Day pass us Inklings creative writing club has grown and grown over the last fewby without celebrating it and this year months, and all the hard work is paying off. We got off to an amazingsaw some brand new bookish events atKingsway. The Inklings celebrated with a start this term when the New Year brought news‘Do Something Booky’ party where they that five of our incredible young writers willhad the opportunity to create a design for have their poetry published. Ella Stirling, Dalanext year’s National Book Tokens, try their hand at writing their own Guei, Finley Hutchinson, Akira Edgson, and Elliotopening lines to get people hooked on reading, share their favourite Heald all received a certificate and bookmark inbooks, carry on with their own creative writing and, of course, eat cake! recognition of their work and their poems willWe had great fun sharing our favourite reads and talking about what appear in the next Young Writers’ Busta Rhymemakes a great opening line, and our budding authors came up with anthology, later this year.some cracking lines of their own. Here are some of our favourites: We are bursting with pride at their success! The students themselves were thrilled with their achievement and got straight to work on their “I looked in the mirror only to be greeted by my horrifying past.” next masterpieces. Along with their fellow Inklings, they continue – Neve Myers, Y8 to produce new and exciting works of creative writing for national competitions and their own enjoyment. Copies of the anthology will be “T he darkness was suffocating. I needed to get out of this coffin available in the school library following publication in April. but I had been screaming for days. No one was around to hear Inklings runs every Thursday after school from 3-4pm. Anyone me.” – Ella Batty, Y8 interested in joining us to work on their own writing, or develop work to enter for competitions, can come along to The English Zone to give “Save him.” – Tyler Whittaker-Clarke, Y9 it a try. If Thursdays are inconvenient for any reason that’s no barrier to entering the competitions; just stop by any day for competitionEven though World Book Day is over, we’re still making the effort to details and deadlines, do the writing in your own time at home andcelebrate reading every day, with new and exciting texts being read as email your work to Mrs Heil at [email protected] of the English curriculum, new books available in the library and With more budding writers coming out of the woodwork every week,plenty of activities in school to encourage our students’ own reading who knows what successes await!and writing. We hope you got to enjoy something booky as well!Battle of the Books Young Writers UKIn order to celebrate World Book Day, the English department ranour first Kingsway Battle of the Books competition on Thursday 2nd Congratulations to Georgie Cavannagh, Lena Korcsmaros and ElliotMarch. Students were given the opportunity to pick a novel/author and Heald, who have been chosen to have their creative writing published.create a pitch or performance, to explain why their choice should win Just before Christmas, these students submitted a 100 wordBattle of the Books. Students were able to perform in any format that mini-saga into a competition hosted by Young Writers UK and fromthey wished – speech; drama; music; art work etc. amongst over 18,000 entries across the UK, their work has been chosen for publication in an anthology which will be released in MayWe were delighted to have five groups of year 7 and 8 students taking this year. There will be a copy of the anthology in The British Librarypart in this competition. All the groups worked extremely hard and (as well as in the school one)!created inspiring, enthusiastic, and professional performances. There This is a massive achievement and the students should be very proudwas a fantastic variety of drama, art work and music. of themselves. Special recognition to Elliot who has now hadOur winner for the competition was Matthew Brown. TWO pieces of his creative writing published.Matthew’s partner unfortunately had to withdraw from thecompetition earlier on in the day, but Matthew demonstrateddetermination and competed independently, fully embodyingour Kingsway 4Rs. Matthew’s winning performance wasemotional, thought-provoking, and confident.Pictured, from left: Battle of the books winner, Matthew Brown, with Miss Deanand Mr Sadler; Team Potterheads, Emma Payton and May Bradley; Team HairyPotatoes: Abigail Fung, Georgie Cavanagh, Sophie Bradshaw, Ruby McGowan,Libby Carr and Holly Kellet.Also competing were: Team Shadowhunters: Sannah Amhad and Sarah Morgan;and Team Hogwarts: Maha Ahmad, Zaina Zzamam, Amy Berry and Kirsten Attfield. 7

Careers and Post-16 News – S. Flood Year 10 Stagecoach Engineering Visit more helpful it would be. Students were also advised that a poorly Year 10 students interested in pursuing a completed application form would prevent them from being invited for career in Engineering were invited to visit Stagecoach in February. interview in the ‘Real World’ . The Kingsway School has over the last 4 years built up a strong and successful working relationship with Stagecoach, which has also seen Year 11 GHD Engineering Visit some of our students starting Apprenticeships with them. Six students visited the Depot and enjoyed an overview of Stagecoach 30 Year 11 students who have indicated a desire to pursue and what a career with them would look like if they pursued an an Engineering career were invited to a presentation by Apprenticeship. Students had the opportunity to tour the depot two Civil Engineers at local company GHD, in February. and see what happens in a Mechanical/Electrical Engineering They were advised of the many different disciplines that come under environment. They were also given parts from a bus which they had to ‘Engineering’ and the opportunities that may be available to them. try to identify. They were given an overview of what a typical day of a Civil Engineer Overall, it was a very positive visit, which resulted in opportunities for looks like, and different routes of entry, through college and university our students to undertake Work Experience during school holidays. or an Apprenticeship, were explained. Following on from this visit Work Experience has already been requested for one very interested student! Terence Paul Hairdressing & Barbering The Skills Company – Year 11 Apprenticeship Assembly Over the last 5 years, The Kingsway School has Roman Dibden from the Skills Company came in to present to Year 11 built up a successful working relationship with in January. Terence Paul Hair Design, which has resulted in Apprenticeships have evolved over the years some of our students being successful in securing Apprenticeships and now offer a really viable alternative to with them. college/university. They are available at both Kaye Cooke visited our school on Thursday 16th February to meet Advanced Level (age 16) and Higher (age 18). interested Year 11 students to advise them of the application process Depending on the Apprenticeship, some companies will even fund and the opportunities available to them. Students were offered an apprentices through university in order to achieve a Degree. opportunity to have a day in a salon if they were interested in pursuing Roman explained the role of The Skills Company, who are a Training this path. Provider who try to source Apprenticeships for students. Hopefully this may secure a successful Apprenticeship for some of Roman took the Apprenticeship route and has this year been awarded our students! the ‘Talent and Recruitment Professional’ of the Year and also ‘Chairman’s Rising Star’ at the ‘Made Year 10 Work Experience – Barclays Technology Centre in Manchester Awards’. Roman stayed in school for the morning to answer questions and also Year 10 students have recently been invited to apply for Work register interested students in order for this process to be started. Experience during the February half term holiday. Work experience always looks really good on a CV or application form and is attractive Year 10 Mock Interviews to any future College or Employer. All Year 10 students had the opportunity of a Mock Interview in Details were provided to students on the March. External Business Professionals were invited in to interview application process and following this 2 of our students as a learning exercise. In most cases this was the first our students undertook successful telephone interview they had undertaken and probably the last one before College interviews and are now scheduled work experience during February and Apprenticeship Interviews. The objective of Mock interviews is to holidays. Well Done to Aila Kesedzic and Nimaat Kauser for being ensure that students have the confidence to participate effectively in successful in this! the interview process; they should come away knowing what they do This will be the 3rd year that Kingsway students have gone to Barclays well and which areas they need to improve on. in February and all students have always been extremely positive In order to prepare them for this event Mr John Swinnerton from about this experience. ‘Our Futures’ came in for an assembly on the 25th January, to explain the application form which students needed to complete prior to Parking near School – P. Naughton the interview. The content of the application forms the basis of a successful interview so the more information they could provide the Cherington Road – off Broadway Please do not park near the junction of Cherington Road. This is very dangerous for pedestrians and motorists.8

Greater Manchester Higher Achievers Year 9 STEM Day – N. HammersleyProgramme – S. Flood The Kingsway school recently held two themed curriculum days based around ‘STEM’ (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).Year 11 – Loreto College Masterclass Throughout the two days, the Kingsway School was supported by one of our partnersIn November, 16 Year 11 GMHAP students were taken to Loreto - NG BaileyCollege to attend a Masterclass in a subject of their choice, including, - the largestMaths, Physics, English and Languages. independentAll students who participated in the sessions represented both family runthemselves and The Kingsway School. engineeringA further Masterclass, offering a more company in thediverse range of subjects, also took place UK.in February 2017.Year 10 – Debating Evening Students participated in a number of challenges, including making aYear 10 GMHAP students were invited balloon chair and a parachute dropto Loreto College for a debating evening for a raw egg.after school on Wednesday 18th January.Students were given subjects to debate As a result of the two days, a numberand then pitched against other schools. of students have been chosen toThis was a very successful evening for all involved and the only represent thecriticism received from our students was they would have like to school in adebate longer. forthcoming 10All students came across as very thoughtful and articulate in the week program ofskills of debating and presented strong arguments objectively. extra curricular study, leading to aYear 7 Mosque Visit – L. Holdsworth formal Industrial Cadet Award.On 7th and 8th March we took our Year7 students to the Cheadle Mosque in Anti-Bullying – A. Mooreorder to enhance their RE curriculumand look at Religion and Culture in our Over February half term, three students dedicated two full days toCommunity. painting the Pod in the Quad. This is to raise awareness in LGBT rightsStudents completed activities on the around school.issue of traditional modest dress,culture, the Qur’an and traditions in a As with LGBT groups, the emphasis on taking pride in yourselfcommunity Mosque. is spread not only in the LGBT community but as a whole school community. Furthermore we have renamed the pod ‘The Pride Pod’;Mr Arshad Sheikh, representative of this is to reinforce our messageCheadle Mosque, wrote: to all the students that we accept“On behalf of everyone at the mosque, everyone here at Kingsway andto say it was a pleasure having the would like to make everybody’sYear 7’s visit our mosque would be an day more colourful.understatement, it was hard work butvery rewarding. The children were Mahima Uddin, Hannah Barrettthoroughly engaged with lots of and Laura Maguire workedquestions showing real interest in incredibly hard and are nowthe topic. working on ways we can integrateTheir behaviour was excellent and awareness of other groups’ rightsthey truly are a credit to the school, into our project.please do share our comments withtheir teachers and parents.” 9

Cycling to School – Z. Carrigan The Kingsway School supports students who wish to cycle to The Kingsway School reserves the right to school, since it improves their health and fitness and reduces traffic revoke bike permits/pods in the event that these congestion outside the school. However, it is also vital that students conditions are not met. who cycle to school do so safely. As well as our bike sheds, we are now also able The Kingsway School wishes to encourage an increase in the number to offer a limited number of our new bike ‘pods’ of students cycling to school. The decision as to whether a child is which will be given to students to securely lock competent to negotiate such hazards as may present themselves on their bikes in. Each pod has a lock and students the route from home to school and back lies with the parents. The will have a key to this pod. Please note that once Kingsway School does not accept liability for any consequences of that the bike pods are allocated, we will then only be decision. Equally, bicycles stored at school are left at the owner’s risk. able to offer space in our bike sheds. These sheds, however, are also Parents are advised to take out appropriate insurance cover, as the kept securely locked during the school day. school’s insurance does not cover loss or damage to bicycles. If parents wish their son/daughter to cycle to school, please complete We strongly recommend students wear a correctly fitted bicycle an application form (available from student services on Broadway helmet to and from school and use appropriate reflective clothing and Campus). We will then issue your child with a bike permit and a non- bicycle lights when visibility is poor. damaging vinyl sticker. When applied to their bike, the sticker will help us to easily identify Conditions for Cycling to School: which bike belongs to which student. It will also help with security and 1. All bicycles must be in a roadworthy condition help us to avoid anti-social behaviour. 2. Cyclists must ride sensibly and follow the Highway Code It is important that we know the numbers of children cycling to 3. Students must not ride in large groups school, even on an irregular basis, to make appropriate security and 4. Students must not engage in any dangerous or reckless behaviour safety arrangements. which may put their own or other road users safety at risk Leading Parent Partnership Award – L. Balfe 5. Approved bicycle training should have been undertaken, where available 6. All bicycles must be locked securely in the cycle shed or pods Merit Shield Winners – K. Guess At Kingsway, partnership with parents is key to everything we do. We really appreciate the high level of parental In order to recognise our highest achievers, the student with the engagement in our students’ learning and have decided highest merit total in each House at the end of the month is awarded to develop this work further by registering for the Leading a Merit Badge to wear on their blazer. In addition to this, they will also Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) receive a gold star pin badge for each month that they The LPPA gives us a framework to deliver effective parental hold on to the top spot. We also recognise the second engagement and meet a number of longer term aims, such as and third highest achievers in each House, who receive improved pupil progress, punctuality, attendance and behaviour, as Silver and Bronze Merit Certificates. well as increased parental involvement in school life. We know that we will be supported in this by current and future The winners for the first half of the year are: Kingsway parents. House / Month September 16 October 16 November 16 December 16 January 17 February 17 Pankhurst Eleanor White, 9E Eleanor White, 9E Eleanor White, 9E Eleanor White, 9E Eleanor White, 9E Eleanor White, 9E Whitworth Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Niamh O’Shaughnessy, 11I Rylands Scarlet Aubert, 9K Scarlet Aubert, 9K Connie Gwilt, 8T Connie Gwilt, 8T Connie Gwilt, 8T Connie Gwilt, 8T Lowry Jessica Crawley, 9Y Owen Faulkner, 9S Owen Faulkner, 9S Owen Faulkner, 9S Owen Faulkner, 9S Owen Faulkner, 9S Gaskell Melissa Woods, 8W Tyler Whittaker-Clarke, 9I Tyler Whittaker-Clarke, 9I Tyler Whittaker-Clarke, 9I Tyler Whittaker-Clarke, 9I Akira Edgson, 7N Turing Emily Critchley, 10G Emily Critchley, 10G Emily Critchley, 10G Emily Critchley, 10G Emily Critchley, 10G Emily Critchley, 10G10

Young Enterprise Group – A. Mahmood Keep in Touch!In December, the Young Enterprise group Don’t forget to follow us for the latest school updates:hit the streets of Manchester, selling homemade snowmen, calendars and candles. It @kw_sch /thekingswayschoolwas a fantastic day and students got a realtaste of setting up a business and selling You can also follow our department Twitter feeds, for more information:their products to the public. STEM: @kw_STEMThen in English: @kw_writersFebruary, the team set up a stall at the Business: @kw_businessintu Trafford Centre selling customised PE: @KingswayPEplaques to the public. It was a fantastic Maths: @KWmathsevent, where students gained valuable Ski trip: @kw_snow (Friday 31st March – Saturday 8th April)experience on what it takes to actuallyset up a business, how to engage withthe public and offer something unique togain a competitive advantage.The team will now be preparing a final Furthermore, the Parental Engagement Portal allowsreport and also have an areas final to parents to access attendance, assessment, merit andlook forward to on the 22nd March. timetable data about their child/children. Parents can log in by clicking on the Parental Engagement PortalSports Department section on the homepage of Kingsway Online: www. kingsway.stockport.sch.uk – L. Wildgoose / E. PikeBadminton The Kingsway AssociationThe KS4 girls’ badminton team: Niamh O’Shaughnessy, Nuala What is The Kingsway Association?Pattenden, Robyn Barnes and Lauren Myers were runners up at the We are a small group of parents who meet four timesStockport Badminton Championships. a year to decide how to spend parent donations for the benefit of our children.The KS3 girls’ badminton team: Grace O’Shaughnessy, Hannah This year alone, we have provided a set of Chromebooks,James, Jessica Crawley and Sarah Morgan were Stockport Champions a new sofa for the resource base, a set of hand drills for Design andand went on to the level 3 games, which comprised 20 schools from Technology, an electronic drum kit and a set of rugby goal posts.Greater Manchester.They were third overall, losing to the winners Altrincham Girls Next summer our Chair, Toni Nikeas and Treasurer Nicky Collins willGrammar School in the semi finals. step down, as their children leave the school. We are now actively seeking more members. Our meetings last around an hour and areStockport Cross Country Championship attended by the Headteacher who gives us an update on school news.Top 10 finishes for Emily Hughes (1st), Amy If you would like to join us at our next meeting on Monday 15th MayWest (1st), Akira Edgson (2nd), William Parker 2017 at 6:30pm, please email the address below.(7th) and Chloe Davies (8th). Well done toeveryone! All donations are always welcome and really do make a difference.Emily and Amy then qualified from the Greater Manchester event to Providing everything from Mothers’ Day cakes to Badges for the Headrepresent their County at the ESAA National Schools Cross-Country Boy and Girl, your contributions are always appreciated. For moreChampionships 2017 final in Norwich on the 18th March: information on joining us, or donating, please email: [email protected] Hughes (Inter girls) finished 114 out of 353 and Amy West stockport.sch.uk(junior girls) finished 17th out of 344 – well done to both!Follow us for fixture updates, revision and exams information: @KingswayPE 11

Key Dates Follow us for the latest school updates: @kw_sch /thekingswayschool Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayApril 17 18 19 20 21 22 23Easter Monday Back to school Y11 Student Council24 25 26 27 28 29 30Y10 Geography Field Trip Y10 Geography Field Trip Y10 Geography Field Trip Y10 Geography Field Trip INSET Day PGL Weekend PGL WeekendGCSE Drama Exam Y10 Student Council PGL Weekend 2 4 Poetry Slam 6 7May 1 3 5 Y10 Geography Field Trip Y9 GCSE Info Evening 13 14May Day Bank Holiday Y10 Geography Field Trip PE OCR Moderation PE OCR Moderation 9 Y9 Student Council8 11 12 10 Y8 Student Council15 TKA Meeting 16 17 18 19 20 21Y11 GCSEs start Y7 Student CouncilY7–Y10 Exams begin22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Student Council29 30 31 June 1 2 3 4 10 11Spring Bank Holiday Half Term Half Term Half Term Half Term 17 18Half Term 24 25 6 7 8 9 July 1 25 8 9 13 14 15 English and DramaBack to school Evening 20 Y9 Masterchef Y9 Public Speaking Eve12 U15s cricket festival 16 U13s cricket festival19 21 22 23 2726 Y7+Y8 Masterchef Y10 Post-16 Careers Y11 Prom Y7 Induction Day Y6 SEN evening Evening Y7 Induction DayY7 Induction Day Sports Awards Evening 28 29 Y7 Induction Day 303 4 Y10 Aquinas taster day Y10 Cheadle college 7 taster day 5 6 Provisional Sports Day10 11 Kestival 12 13 14 15 16Y7 Celebration Evening Y8 Celebration Evening Y9 Celebration Evening Y10 Celebration Evening Review Day Y10 Loreto taster day Y10 Xavarian taster day17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Music London Trip Rewards Day Last Day of Term Summer Holidays Music London Trip * * * Wishing you all a great summer! See you back at school on Monday 4th September * * * The Kingsway School Foxland Campus Broadway Campus Headteacher Mrs J. Lowe Foxland Road, Cheadle, SK8 4QX High Grove Road, Cheadle, SK8 1NP www.kingsway.stockport.sch.uk Tel 0161 428 7706 Tel 0161 428 7706