Amidst another highly active week here at Kingshill, we also experienced our first lockdown practice. The students and staff were all prepped in advance, and the time of the lockdown practice announced. We felt it important that, for the first time, everyone taking part knew what to expect. During the lockdown, the senior team were provided an area of the school and were tasked with seeking out any vulnerable areas. When the senior team joined together to confirm the status of the school, the team were delighted to report that all students and staff fully committed to the lockdown practice; showing great responsibility and respect. Designed as a learning experience, we have identified a few minor actions to follow-up on but feel confident in our processes and procedures to maintain a calm and safe environment. We will conduct a further practice in the new term.
My role was to communicate to visitors at the main gate as to why they couldn’t temporarily access the site, sadly, I noted how many families choose to use our main car park as a drop off point. Please can I remind everyone to use the council car park next to Watermoor School for dropping off and picking up in the future.
Do enjoy reading the rest of the newsletter – it really is a bumper edition this week!
Assembly
Our theme this week has been Advent with a focus on the idea of hope. Students have been encouraged to think of hope in terms of ‘active participation in the ability to reach desired goals.’ This means accepting they have a part to play in bringing their hopes to fruition for example in the classroom, engaging with active minds to ensure they are successful in meeting their learning goals.
New Signage
We’re thrilled to announce that new signage is being installed around the school. As part of this refresh, we’ve made a slight update to our lion. Rest assured, this change will not affect our current uniforms, but it does give our logo a fresh, modernized look we’re excited to share. Keep an eye out for the updates as more signage will be completed over the next few weeks as part of our student landscape projects from last year.
New School Video Filming
This year, we've been busy filming in preparation for a new school video to showcase on our website. A big thank you to everyone who has been involved – both teachers and students alike - your enthusiasm and hard work have been inspiring. We’re excited to share the final product with you all, expected to be ready by early next year. Stay tuned!
Black Country Living Museum
We started the day with a brilliant boat ride on a canal barge through the Dudley Tunnels where we saw evidence of limestone and mining that made these canals essential in the first place. We discovered later Victorians used the tunnels for concerts and were treated to a modern version of the light and sound show they might have experienced. Some of our students had a go at “legging” our canal barge as would have been done before engines were used on the barges.
Safely back on dry land, both groups then had a chance to visit Industrial period houses and Victorian era high street shops and noticed similarities and differences to the modern day! We met up again in a 1912 era school where we were taught our 3 R’s: Reading, Writing and “Rithmetic”. We had some super volunteers from our group who led us in a brilliant rendition of “Hickory Dickory Dock”. Once we were dismissed from class, students had some free time to visit the sweet shop and the famous fish and chip shop during lunch.
Our final experience was to visit a reconstructed mine where we walked in “candlelight” and heard about the experiences of workers who worked (and sometimes died) underground. We just had time to visit a steam engine connected to the mine and a quick trip to the gift shop before getting on the bus back to Kingshill!
Empower at Cheltenham Racecourse
This week, a group of Year 9 girls attended EmPower, a CyberFirst event. They participated in hands-on workshops led by industry experts, exploring computing and cybersecurity. The girls were engaged and enthusiastic, showing great potential as future computer scientists. They were excellent representatives of our school.
Mr. S. Karunaratne Head of Computing, ICT and Enterprise
Year 8C Lost Boy Costumes
Our talented Year 8C drama students have been hard at work designing and creating imaginative Lost Boy costumes as part of their drama lessons. This hands-on project has sparked creativity and teamwork, bringing their performance skills to life. Well done, Y8C—your costumes are looking fantastic!
Stroud College Taster Day
16 students had the opportunity to attend Stroud College where they had 3 different sessions throughout the day to give them the experience of what studying after Kingshill could be like. The sessions included Animal Science, Bricklaying, Carpentry, Fine Art, Forensics and Criminology, Design & Communication, Plumbing, Electrical, Health & Social Care, Games Design, Music, Make-up, Photography Film & Media.
All students enjoyed the day and were excellent representatives for Kingshill School demonstrating resilience in the new learning environment and embodying the respect STEP with their conduct towards the tutors and students from other local schools.
District Netball Tournaments
This week we have taken another 2 groups of netballers to their end of season District Tournament. The girls coped brilliantly with the cold weather…catching a netball with frozen fingers is not much fun but there was an abundance of team spirit and smiles across both afternoons as they competed against other schools in the District for a chance to qualify for the finals.
We felt very proud of how the girls conducted themselves, how hard they worked and how much their gameplay has developed this year. Skills we had been working on in lessons were clearly visible on court. We were particularly impressed by the defensive pressure that our Year 9 girls applied in all their matches.
Our Year 8 team, achieved the most successful result of all the Year groups this year so far, winning against both Farmors and Thomas Keble and drawing against Westonbirt. This ensured they finished 3rd in their group. Excellent results, girls!
Our Year 7s will attend their first District tournament on Wednesday 4th December.
Swimming Sensation
A huge well done to Y7 Lucy, who swims for Swindon Amateur Swim Club and has had an incredible year of success. This weekend, Lucy was honoured by the club for her achievements, which include an amazing 16 Gold medals and 3 Silvers! What an inspiration—keep up the fantastic work, Lucy!
Careers Talk: Sales & Marketing
On Tuesday, our school had the pleasure of welcoming a guest speaker to deliver an insightful Careers Talk to our Year 8, 9, 10, and 11 students. The goal of this session was to inspire and inform students, helping them make more informed decisions about their future career paths.
The focus of today's talk was Sales & Marketing, with the speaker sharing his personal journey in the industry and highlighting the steps he took to achieve success. He discussed the key skills essential for thriving in these fields, including problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity—particularly in marketing roles. He also emphasised the importance of strong negotiation skills for those pursuing careers in sales.
In addition, the speaker provided valuable insights into the academic requirements for college and university courses related to sales and marketing, outlining what students should aim for to pursue these careers.
Our students engaged with the topic by asking thoughtful questions, such as:
"Is teamwork important?"
"Can you earn a good salary in sales roles?"
"You mentioned you had visited 27 countries as part of your jobs – why did you go aboard to work?”
We are incredibly grateful to professionals like our guest speaker, who take time out of their busy schedules to inspire and guide the next generation.
Do you have an interesting career you'd like to share with our students? Do you feel you could inspire the next generation as they explore future career paths? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch if you would be interested in participating in our careers talks for our Kingshill students.
Christmas Concert
Don’t forget to book tickets for this year’s Christmas concert by clicking here. An evening of warmth, music and joy.
Christmas Food Bank Appeal
With the start of Advent in mind, we would like to start our Christmas food bank collection. Respect, Responsibility and Kindness are all part of our STEPS. We aim to be a caring community not only within the school but in our outreach to the wider community of Cirencester and beyond. The importance of looking after each other has never been more apparent.
There has been a significant rise in the use of our local foodbank with the ever-increasing cost of living crisis experienced by so many. With this in mind, we would like to take the opportunity to support our local area by collecting for the Cirencester Food Bank Appeal. The Food Bank provides three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are in crisis. More details about the organisation can be found on their web site:
https://cirencester.foodbank.org.uk/
We will be collecting food between Monday 2nd December and Monday 9th December 2024. Any donations, however big or small, will be appreciated. Thanking you in advance for your support.
Early Release – Bus Information
The school will close at 12:30pm on 20th December. All buses will be in operation at the end of school day, aside from the Green of Cotswold bus which will pick up at 12:50pm and the Stagecoach. For those who have children who take the Stagecoach, parents/carers will need to pick up their child from school.
Fun-Filled Friday
Next Friday will be packed with exciting activities for both parents/carers and students. Join us for a day of fun, fundraising, and community!
Non-Uniform and Popcorn Day
Next Friday, 6th December, following our exciting Sports Award Evening, we’re having a sportswear/activewear-themed non-uniform day. Show off your favourite sporty style and help us support a local sports charity by donating £1. As a bonus, the Friends of Kingshill School will be selling popcorn during break and lunch—just £1 per bag. Thank you for your support!
Pre-loved Uniform Sale – Amazing Deals!
Mark your calendars! On Friday, 6th December, snag some amazing deals on preloved uniforms as we aim to clear out as much as possible! Come stock up and save while supporting a great cause!
Morning Sale: 8:00–8:45 AM in Room M3 (to the left of reception)
Afternoon Sale: 3:00–4:00 PM in the Dining Hall
In addition, the Friends of Kingshill School are working on moving our preloved uniforms to an online platform. Stay tuned for more details coming soon!
Parent Forum – Register Now!
Join us on Friday, 6th December, for our next Parent Forum, an engaging session to connect with the school community and explore key initiatives. The meeting will begin at 8:30am for parents wishing to participate in a live reading in tutor groups as part of the Reading Programme. For all other attendees, the forum starts at 9:00am and runs until 10:30am. The agenda highlights for this forum will be the Reading Programme, Extend Programme and Trips. Be sure to register by clicking here!
Join our Board of Trustees
Are you passionate about education and making a difference? We're looking for a General Trustee to join our Board of Trustees and help shape the future of our school.
Your skills could help make a real impact for our school and the community.
For further information on the role of a trustee, click here.
Closing Remarks
Even the eventful weather didn’t hamper attendance to school this week – thank you to everyone for the huge effort made in getting into school. There are only 3 weeks remaining: 3 weeks of learning, fun and festivities – don't miss out!
