TKA Times edition 19

TKA Times - Friday 10th February 2017

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FROM YOUR HEAD TEACHER

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week has been a busy time for us in our recruitment process with some impressive candidates expressing an interest in joining us in the next phase of our TKA journey. We have secured a number of excellent appointments in Science, Geography, English and inclusion. Our pupil panel formed part of the selection process, with pupils providing invaluable feedback that informed our decisions. We will introduce our new recruits in the summer term when all appointments have been made. Do please keep an eye on our recruitment page as we still have key vacancies.

Once again TKA attended the National Tennis Centre to support Judy Murray's She Rallies campaign. Ms. Murray was so impressed with our pupils last month that not only did she get them back for a further promotional coaching session, but TKA girls are the face of She Rallies on the LTA website. The girls had a great time and are certainly fantastic ambassadors for girls in sport.

Year 7 have had a successful assessment week, showing real resilience and focus in a range of tasks; I am very encouraged by the manner with which all of Year 7 have approached their studies this week and wish Year 8 well with their assessment on their return from the Spring break. Of course I expect Year 8 to revise during the break, but I do also want them to have a good rest.

I have been receiving some really useful feedback from parents relating to a couple of areas of the school's work. I really welcome your observations and suggestions so that we can make TKA the school we all want it to be. As a result of parental feedback, I have made some adjustments to our uniform policy to ensure that it promotes safe travel to and from school. Further guidance has been included in the newsletter below.

As you know, I have very high expectations with regards to many things, and none more so than the wearing of our uniform. Every pupil is privileged to attend our school and must wear their uniform correctly and with pride. Please ensure your child has the correct uniform for their return to school on 20th February. The next Head Teacher's parent drop-in will be on 3rd March at 4pm. If you cannot make this time, please do email me your observations and suggestions at askmyschool@thekingstonacademy.

Lastly, I'm sure you will all welcome the following news. After a long battle with various external agencies, common sense has finally prevailed and TKA will be permitted to install artificial grass to the front of our play space and within the internal Quad. It will still take some time to undertake the ground works and installation but finally pupils will have no excuse for not having shiny shoes!

Have a restful break.

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Cavanagh

Upcoming Dates for your diary

Monday 20th February - Pupils return from half term
Year 8 assessment week

Thursday 2nd March - WORLD BOOK DAY - Pupils and staff dress as favourite character.

Monday 20th March - Half day - school closes for pupils at 1.05pm for staff training.

Wednesday 22nd March - Year 7 Subject Parent evening 5-8pm

Monday 27th - Friday 31st March - TKA Culture Week

Wednesday 29th March - Year 8 Tutor Parent evening 5-8pm

Monday 3rd April - Friday 14th April - EASTER HOLIDAY

Uniform Policy

The school's uniform policy has recently been updated and is available for viewing on the school website at http://www.thekingstonacademy.org/about-us/policies. The policy updates are changes to the wording of the policy in order to give pupils and parents greater guidance in their choice of school wear.

Conversing with pupils on the gate each morning Mr Sheppard has addressed several misconceptions over uniform in school. These have been focused on the need for charcoal grey skirts/trousers, not black versions, the colours of socks, the wearing of sports socks for PE, the shaving of lines and patterns into hair which is not permitted and the need for plain, dark colour coats and bags with small logos.

We are currently reviewing the colour of coats that pupils may wear to school in order to prioritise the need for pupils to be seen in dark weather and the need for coats to be waterproof and warm. As such, the colour of coats will no longer be specified in future policies.

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day 2017 was celebrated globally on Tuesday 7th February, with the slogan ‘Be the change: Unite for a better internet’.Throughout this week pupils at TKA participated in Aspire-SMART and assembly activities targeted at the safe use of the internet and mobile media.

Coordinated by the UK Safer Internet Centre the celebration saw hundreds of organisations get involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. The UK Safer Internet Centre – a partnership of three leading charities; Childnet, the South West Grid for Learning and the Internet Watch Foundation – provide resources for children, schools and families, and tools for getting involved at www.saferinternetday.org.uk.

Globally, Safer Internet Day is celebrated in over a hundred countries, coordinated by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission, and national Safer Internet Centres across Europe. The day offered the opportunity to highlight positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community. It calls upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers, and wider, to join together in helping to create a better internet.

As a result of our collective action Safer Internet Day will have reached 2.8 million children and 2.5 million parents. Watch the parent video online http:// www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2017/sid-tv/film-parents-and-carersat or visit the website at http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2017

Kingston Junior Police Cadets

We are pleased to offer TKA and Fern Hill pupils the opportunity to join Kingston police cadets on a Thursday after Easter.

Kingston Police cadets are a youth group for 10-19 year olds and we support crime reduction in the local community.

Juliet Saunders
PC549VK
Youth Engagement Team
Phone: 0207 161 8457 l Metline: 788457
Kingston Police Station
5 - 7 High Street
Kingston Upon Thames
KT1 1LU
kingstonjuniorcadets@met.police.uk
kingstoncadets@met.police.uk

Number Ninjas!

Every Tuesday after school, we go to Q2-10 and solve hard/fun maths problems from the UKMT (UK Mathematics Trust).

During Number Ninjas, we go in teams of about 4 and into pairs and practise for certain mathematical events. It’s really fun solving hard questions because it increases our knowledge and gets us to think on the spot.

Here’s an example of a hard question:
Andrew drove one and a half miles to work and then walked back home at a tenth of his average driving speed. The two journeys lasted a total of 33 minutes. What was Andrew’s average walking speed in mph?

WORKING OUT:
If Andrew drives 1½ miles to work and he walks home at a 1/10 of his driving speed, you can work out that he took 3 minutes to drive to work and 30 minutes to walk back home because if he goes 30mph, then a tenth of that would be 3 mph.

Therefore, the answer is 3 mph.

By Alistair and Sahil

Year 8 Disco

Thanks to Friends of TKA who organised a Year 8 disco on Thursday night. A great way to end another successful half term!

Fouth Plinth

Following the success of last year's competition, Year 7s will once again have the chance to submit work to the popular London-based Fourth Plinth competition. This involves designing a public sculpture be displayed on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

The competition will be judged on 2 levels - by Mrs Linch and by the Arts Council England.

Mrs Linch will award prizes to first, second and third places at school. All submissions will then be sent on to Arts Council England for judging by an expert panel. If a winner is chosen from TKA, they will be invited to a special awards ceremony at City Hall in Westminster. All work sent in is put on an online gallery for all to see.

For more information on the competition, please go to: Fourth Plinth Competition

Mrs Linch gave out entry forms during lessons this week, but if you need another, please see her. The deadline for submissions is: Wednesday 22nd February.

Good luck!

Mrs Linch

Year 7 Art assessments

Pictured above are Year 7 pupils Evie and Abrielle with their completed Art assessments. Mrs Linch is delighted with the high standards of drawing demonstrated this week.

Netball match report

On Monday 30th January, the Year 8 netball team competed against Tolworth Girls. We played 4 quarters with Tolworth having a head start within the first 2 quarters, scoring 5 goals. But, in the last 2 quarters we intercepted and stopped them from scoring; the score by the end of the match was 5-2 to Tolworth, with Mariam and Fia scoring one each.

Alys was the player of the match, playing centre, because of her interception and quick movements. Year 8 were proud of our efforts and the players of the team were Amy, Mariam, Alys, Sravya, Sophia, Angelina, Simrat and Fia.

Amy - Sports captain

Kingston Lit Quiz

On Thursday, our Chatterbooks Club represented the school at the annual Kingston Lit Quiz at Tiffin Boys. The competition involved 9 schools, including Kingston Grammar, Surbiton High and Tiffin Boys. There were picture rounds, questions on each set text and a buzzer round. TKA came joint 5th, an excellent result!

Year 8 Going Beyond

Year 8 Going Beyond pupil Harrison is pictured with his Mexican Day of the Dead inspired clay skull, including matching glasses!

Year 7 Resilience assembly

7 Co from Lovelace House delivered an impressive resilience assembly to the rest of their house on Thursday morning.

Pupils played the characters of: the Bronte sisters, the Brownlee brothers, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs to illustrate the importance of resilience and never giving up, despite adversity.

Mrs Dowling and Ms Linch (7 Co tutors)

World Book day 2017

A reminder to all TKA pupils that we will be celebrating World Book day on Thursday 2nd March by dressing up as a favourite book character. Last year we saw fantastic creativity with pupils coming as: Sherlock Holmes, Hetty Feather, Alice in Wonderland, Voldermort, Willy Wonka, Katniss, the Demon dentist and Gangsta Granny, Prizes will be available for the best ones!

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The Kingston Academy · The Kingston Academy · Richmond Road · Kingston Upon Thames, London KT2 5PE · United Kingdom