Newsletter May 2011

.

KINGS NORTON

HIGH TIMES

MAY 2011

Book Tickets now

£25.00

IN THIS ISSUE

SCHOOL CONCERT

SUMMER TERM

DATES

Monday 6th June -

Friday 22nd July

BECOMING AN ACADEMY WITH ARK SCHOOLS It has been a flurry of activity since last week when I sent you an invitation to come and meet the ARK Education Services Director. Prior to that meeting last night, we had been talking to David Gould, the Principal of St Albans Academy – the only current ARK academy in Birmingham, the others being in London or Portsmouth – and sounding out staff, governors and your children. So far there is a clear support from most quarters, and I have been very encouraged by the children’s signing up to more maths and English and even better behaviour! The meeting for parents last night was really well attended and extremely supportive too. For those who could not attend, ARK Schools is a charity which sponsors schools in order to improve the opportunities and life chances of all children. Their guiding principles chime with our own, and they are as follows:

High expectations – of all and by all in the school Exemplary behaviour – already good, outstanding next! Excellent teaching – again, good now, outstanding next! More time for learning – trips, visits, music, arts, clubs ... Depth before breadth – more English and maths for mastery Small schools – where everyone is a person not a number

These are the principles which will take us from good to outstanding. If you would like to know more, Google ‘Ark Schools’ and read about the charity which is the most successful academy sponsor in national comparison tables. If after reading about ARK you would like to add your opinion to the survey we carried out last night, please just drop us an email on [email protected] or send a note in with your child. In the next newsletter I will publish a Q & A from last night’s meeting. In the meantime, have a great Bank Holiday!

Denise Burns Headteacher

Duke of Edinburgh

The dates for Bronze DofE are coming up fast! On Friday 8th and 15th July learners will be

completing their St John’s First Aid Certificate. Training for the practice expedition starts

on Weds 8th June at 3pm in 2lab4. In these sessions, groups will plan their routes and learn

how to navigate, cook food on a portable stove, and put up tents amongst other things. The

practice expedition will take place on Monday 18th – Tues 19th July. Consent letters will be

sent out with learners after half term for parents to sign.

The final stage of completing our green house was successfully

completed this week. Angles necessary for the roof assembly were

worked out using maths and traditional carpentry techniques and

each section fell into place without a hitch.

We had a celebratory BBQ at the end of the day to mark the end of

our work and our time as a construction group together.

Well done to everyone involved!

DATES FOR DIARY

1st July - ‘Sing For All’ rehearsal at Symphony Hall in Birmingham for the KNHS

Singing Group 9.00am – 12.00pm

11th July - ‘Sing For All’ rehearsal and concert at Symphony Hall in Birmingham for

the KNHS Singing Group - 2.30pm rehearsal, 6pm concert.

Thanks

Mr Firth

Members of KNHS Singing Group are preparing for their upcoming performance of ‘Stabat

Mater’ by Karl Jenkins. The performance of ‘Stabat Mater’ will be on Monday 11th July 2011

starting at 6pm at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Tickets are available from the Symphony

Hall Box Office by calling 0121 780 3333 and cost £5 per ticket.

This is the second year that our students have taken part in the ‘Sing For All’ project, funded by

the Town Hall and Symphony Hall Creative Foundations Project. Last year students studied and

performed ‘Requiem’, which was also composed by Karl Jenkins. Karl Jenkins himself attended

the concert last year and is looking forward to attending the concert this year! You can see the

performance on the school website on the music department’s home page.

The piece requires lots of skill and effort to perform as the words to ‘Stabat Mater’ are in Latin

and Hebrew. Rehearsals have already started and are taking place with the schools singing teacher

Mrs Caldecote. Rehearsals take place after school on Mondays.

We hope that as many of you as possible will attend and support what is to be a truly amazing

event.

Mr J Firth

Teacher in Charge of Music

.

Well done to all of the year 10 double award science learners who attended the session at

Birmingham University.

The experiments were interesting and the tour gave our learners an idea of what attending

a university can be like. We are hoping to organise more such visits in the future and the

good behavior and attitude of the learners who went can only help in this.

PHYSICS TRIP TO BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY

On the 12th March drama students from year 10

and 11 attended a performance at the Midlands

Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park.

‘Notes to Future Self’ was an emotional story

which gripped the students and gave them an

insight into what a small theatre group can

achieve on a small set with few props.

The group were exceptionally well behaved on

the trip and a credit to the school.

They will be reviewing the play as part of their

coursework for drama.

More sporting achievement for Najee Palmer ........ Najee Palmer is currently waiting to see if he gets selected for English Schools. He ran

the 100m in the qualifying time of 11.20 seconds. If selected he will travel to Gateshead

in July to compete in the Aviva English Schools Championships.

Welcome to Mrs Butcher who has joined the governing body as a parent governor.

As a result of resignations, we have two parent governor vacancies available - if you are

interested in working with the school at an exciting time, please contact the clerk to the

governing body on 0121 459 4451.