Dear Parents
How much we seem to have achieved in the last seven weeks! Everyone involved with the College has shown their usual passion and commitment to ensuring that all our young people achieve artistic, athletic and academic excellence.
It is therefore fitting that in the final newsletter of this half-term, I am able to share with you some highlights from our recent OFSTED visit. The report confirms that standards of achievement, the quality of teaching, and the behaviour of students have remained high since OFSTED last visited us in May 2015 where the College was judged, in all categories, to be a good school with many strengths. This is further confirmation of the news we received last week following the release of the provisional national performance data, which showed that students at Kingsthorpe College make above national average progress when compared to students of similar starting points.
The inspection looked in particular at the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements, and aspects of the effectiveness of leadership and management. The report comments on the “transparent nature” of the school’s leadership, and reports that “senior leaders have taken effective action to ensure that the school has an open culture that promotes the safety and success of all of its pupils.” Inspectors confirmed that we have also “maintained high expectations” in relation to the quality of teaching and in relation to the pupils’ behaviour and conduct. Our safeguarding procedures are described as “thorough” and “robust” and our students who spoke to the inspectors, both formally and informally, said that they are “happy at the school, and that they feel safe.”
We were also delighted that the governors of the College, and The Collaborative Academies Trust, are also praised in the letter. Inspectors noted that both groups are “ambitious for the school” and that they provide “effective support and challenge.” Together, we are determined to make sure that the College continues to go from strength to strength, and a copy of this very positive report can be found on our website.
Due to the high demand from prospective parents to visit KC following our initial Open Evening on September 19th 2016, we opened our doors to many more parents and year 6s this Wednesday. After a short presentation, parents and students got to see the College in action, and were able to see first-hand for themselves, the quality of experience that our young people get on a daily basis. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive and we are looking forward already to welcoming our new cohort of students in September 2017! It was also a good opportunity to speak to parents and find out how we can improve even further. As always, please do get in touch with us if you have any comments or feedback – we always welcome this open communication.
Students have been busy practising this week for our performance of Bugsy Malone in December - the talent which is already being displayed by those students who are in the cast is really impressive. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Baylea Gamble in Year 9 who has gained a place in the pantomime ‘Peter Pan’ at the Cresset Theatre in Peterborough, for December 2016. This is quite an achievement! We love to hear about our students’ successes outside of the school day, so please do keep us in touch with anything your son or daughter is doing so we can make sure we recognise these achievements appropriately.
Finally, can I thank you for all your support this term in enabling our students to achieve their very best. Please do enjoy the half-term break, and we look forward to welcoming our students back on Monday 31st October.
Mrs Giovanelli
Acting Principal
Employer announcement to the school community
The Collaborative Academies Trust and Governors of Kingsthorpe College would like to thank Ms Debbie Morrison OBE for the time she has served as Executive Principal at the College. Ms Morrison was appointed to the College in April 2014 with a clear brief to move it quickly from Requires Improvement to Good.
Within a year of her appointment the College received a Good Ofsted judgement (May 2015) with inspectors describing Ms Morrison's leadership as "transformational" with "improvements taking place at a rapid pace".
Following a brief period of ill health this summer, Ms Morrison has taken the decision to leave Kingsthorpe College to take up some of the new opportunities that have come her way in the wider field of school improvement and Multi Academy Trusts.
In the interim, the College has appointed experienced Vice Principal, Jennie Giovanelli, as Acting Principal whilst a permanent appointment is made.
Regards
Kevin Crossley Chris Hilliard
Chief Executive Officer Chair of Governors
The Collaborative Academies Trust Kingsthorpe College
Stars of the week
Red House
Taylor Hinds Year 13 R12
Taylor has been nominated by Red House for playing for England in Jordan in the FIFA Women’s under 17s World Cup. Taylor and the Team did amazingly well to make it to the quarter finals (beating Brazil along the way!) where they sadly lost to Japan. A full article is included later on in our newsletter.
We are so proud of you Taylor!
Green House
Matthew Tarbuck Year 7 Gr2
Matthew has made a brilliant start to his time at KC. He is incredibly polite and has shown determination and optimism in all of his subjects. He has already achieved 20 commendations this year!
Amazing work Matthew!
Gold House
Summa Johnson Year 7 Go4
Summa has had a great first term at KC and has made a fantastic first impression on all of her new teachers within the school. During her first term at KC, Summa has managed to achieve 11 commendations from her lessons, with special recognition from English where she has produced some brilliant work.
Well done Summa, you are a star!
Blue House
Robson Scott Year 7 B12
Robson has settled in at Kingsthorpe College really well. He is always helpful and cheerful. He helps keeps his tutor organised!
He works hard and always does more than he needs to, he absolutely wants to do his very best. He also volunteered to be a Blue House senate representative.
Robson is a real asset to the Blue House. Well done Robson, keep up the good work!
Purple House
Kerrie Masters Year 7 P1
Kerrie has had an amazing start to Year 7. She works hard in all of her lessons and is always pushing herself to achieve more. I have had a number of positive reports from Kerrie’s teachers and they all say how wonderful her homework is and how much effort she puts into lessons.
Well done Kerrie, keep up the fantastic work!
Book of the Week
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (BL 4.6)
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains.
After the 2nd, only the lucky escape.
And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive.
After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave. On a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, until Cassie meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope for rescuing her brother and even saving herself. Now she must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. Cassie Sullivan gets up.
Fans of dystopian fiction who have enjoyed the Hunger Games and Divergent will love this thrilling series by Rick Yancey.
The word of the week is...
"Juncture"
Definition: turning point.
Try and use this word in a sentence this week. My sentence is:
I think at this juncture we need to decide what to do next.
The literacy challenge winner this week is...
Arani Ramesh GO8.
Please come to the library to collect your prizes.
Reading Hero of the Week – Jessica Iftene (Year 7)
Congratulations Jessica you are our reading hero of the week. Jessica has become one of our first millionaire readers in year 7. She has read an impressive 20 books with a remarkable word count of 1,042,804 words read. Jessica has been taking lots of reading practice quizzes in her own time and has showed a real love of books by the author Jacqueline Wilson. Keep up the great work Jessica, you are a reading superstar! Don’t forget to collect your reading hero prize.
Michaela Morgan Event - 1st November 2016
 On Thursday 1st November our Year 7 students will be attending a talk and book signing by the award-winning author and poet Michaela Morgan. As we lead up to a week of remembrance, and to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Michaela will be talking to students about her acclaimed book Walter Tull’s Scrapbook. This book has been voted in the Guardian Book Awards as one of the best culturally diverse children’s books written in the last 50 years and it has also been shortlisted for the Blue Peter book of the year award. Please follow the links here:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/oct/18/walter-tull-scrapbook-footballer-world-war-one-hero-black-history-month
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/oct/13/50-best-culturally-diverse-childrens-books
Michaela’s talk will be an interactive session where students will be given a real sense of who Walter Tull was, his links with Northampton and about how much he accomplished in his lifetime. It will be a very informative, thought provoking talk and there will be a chance for students to ask lots of questions.
I hope you will agree this is a wonderful treat for our students to meet an author who has written over one hundred books for children. As part of the event there will also be a chance to buy books which will be signed personally by Michaela at a cost of £6.99. If you would like to purchase a book to have signed they can be pre-ordered in the library or students can purchase on the day.
Mrs J Broadbent
Library Manager
We are really excited to announce that we have secured tickets for some of our year 7 students to attend this year’s Into Film Festival. This festival is supported by the British Film Institute and the National Schools Partnership. It is the world's largest free film and education event for young people and its aim is to inspire the next generation of film makers. We will be taking selected students to Vue Cinema in Northampton on the 16th November to watch one of this year’s chosen films. Watch this space for more information
The Student Voice
Here at Kingsthorpe College, we believe that every student should have the opportunity to voice their opinions on all aspects of school life. Promoting student voice helps to develop students who are able to take ownership of their learning and behaviour. We have adopted a pyramid style structure that enables every student to get their opinions heard.
House Council
Each House Council has 12 representatives (one from each tutor). These meetings are run by our senior prefect team. There is a different topic each ½ term for them to discuss. This term the focus was on ‘Rewards Systems’.
Senate
2 students from each House Council are nominated to sit on the whole school senate. Each representative is expected to feedback information from their House Council meeting. Head boy and head girl run these meetings. They then meet with our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at the end of each 1/2 term to feedback the main points from the senate meeting. SLT will use the opinions and thoughts of the students to guide them in making whole school decisions.
Parking reminder
Could we please remind parents to use all available parking bays in the school car park when collecting students after school. Please do not double park as this causes additional congestion and could be a possible safety hazard to students as they leave the site.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Our very own Taylor Hinds helps
England reach the quarter finals in FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup
England 0-3 Japan
FIFA Women's U17 World Cup
Quarter Final
Thursday 13 October 2016
Al Hassan International Stadium, Irbid
The Young Lionesses, who were appearing in the competition for the first time since 2008, excelled themselves by advancing from the 'group of death', but they could find no answer to Japan’s clever movement and domination of the ball.
Head coach John Griffiths was without Georgia Stanway as the Manchester City schemer was suspended after picking up two bookings in the group stage.
England still went into the last-eight clash in high spirits following Saturday’s comeback win over Brazil. And they knew the size of the task ahead having faced Japan in Los Angeles in February.
But they got off to the worst possible start when Endo broke the deadlock after just three minutes.
Japan countered when England lost possession in midfield. Saori Takarada crossed from the right and although Oto Konno’s close-range shot was saved by Ellie Roebuck, Endo was on-hand to convert the rebound.
Japan captain Fuka Nagano then fired over the top and Takarada shot wide as the 2014 winners began brightly.
The Lionesses had to make a change when Yeovil midfielder Jessie Jones was forced off after what looked like a blow to the chest. Chelsea’s Hollie Olding came on in her place.
England captain Lotte Wubben-Moy had an impressive tournament
And just as the game seemed to be petering towards the break, Ueki struck in the second minute of added time, after being played in by Hinata Miyazawa, to give her opponents a mountain to climb in the second half.
It might have got worse after the restart only for the woodwork to intervene as Miyazawa thumped a shot off the crossbar.
Eventually, though, England began to find their feet, and Alessia Russo forced Momoko Tanaka into a fine save with an angled drive from just inside the box.
Connie Scofield tried her luck a few minutes later when Japan failed to properly clear a corner, but her effort zipped wide of the target.
The game became stretched as the Lionesses searched for a goal that would haul them right back into the contest, and Rio Kanekatsu almost took advantage of the space afforded to her.
The left-back, who was pushed further forward in the second half, tested Roebuck from range – and the Man City keeper was equal to it.
However, there was nothing Roebuck could do as Ueki settled the tie after 80 minutes with a fantastic strike from 25 yards, undoubtedly one of the goals of the tournament.
All season Griffiths has maintained that his players must have the long-term target of making the senior squad for the 2023 World Cup – and the experience they have gained at Jordan 2016 will have done them no harm at all in that regard.
Japan will meet Spain in next week’s semi-final.
England (4-1-4-1): 1 Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City); 15 Lois Joel (Chelsea), 12 Anna Patten (Arsenal), 6 Lotte Wubben-Moy (capt; Arsenal), 3 Taylor Hinds (Arsenal); 19 Jessie Jones (Yeovil Town); 7 Alessia Russo (Chelsea), 20 Connie Scofield (Birmingham City), 18 Anna Filbey (Arsenal), 11 Niamh Charles (Liverpool); 9 Ellie Brazil (Birmingham City).
Tutor Board Competition
This week at KC we held a competition to find the top tutor notice boards around the College. Mrs Ricketts, our Director of Operations, chose the winner for each House and looked for tutor boards that encompassed the ethos and values of the school. The five winning notice boards were imaginative, informative and covered a breadth of areas.
Each of the winning tutor groups for each House will be rewarded with a pizza lunch on the first day back after half term. Well done everyone!
One of our winning boards can be seen below.
Post 16 taster day and open evening
Parents of students in year 11 will have received a letter this week informing of them of a very important day coming up - Post 16 taster day and open evening, both of which will take place on the 22nd November.
Students will spend the day as sixth formers taking lessons of their choice from our very wide offering. They will get full use of our Post 16 facilities and also have permission to come into College meeting the smart office wear dress code rather than standard uniform. Our Post 16 open evening will start the same evening at 6pm. This will begin with a talk from the Director of Post 16 and the Acting Principal, before students and parents then have a chance to meet and discuss with representatives from all faculty areas the different subjects they could select next year. We will have a number of Post 16 students on hand in the evening to also offer advice and tell you about their experiences of life in Post 16.
If you have any questions in advance of this then please don’t hesitate to contact the post 16 team at post16@kingsthorpecollege.org.uk
Post 16 Kingsthorpe College students attend talk by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell
 On the 27th September, students in year 12 were invited along to an exclusive talk by leading human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at the University of Northampton. The human rights activist, who hit the headlines in 2001 when he was beaten by bodyguards after attempting a citizen’s arrest of Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe, appeared as part of the National Hate Crime Awareness Week, with much of the focus on, in Peter’s words, “the unfinished battle for LGBT human rights.”
Abbie Medland was one of a number of students who took the opportunity to attend the event and was really pleased she did: “The talk was insightful and made you question where you stood on a variety of ethical issues. I also got an insight into aspects of what I would love to do in the future, and it was an extremely thought proving talk.”
Young Enterprise at Kingsthorpe College
Year 12 students have shown their enterprising side by setting up four Young Enterprise companies:
- The Hamper Company will be assembling and selling a variety of specialist hampers.
- Divergence will be aiming to raise awareness of racial equality through the sale of T-shirts and wrist bands.
- Paradox intend to manufacture and sell para-cord bracelets which they will personalise.
- The 6ix have formed and are currently exploring business opportunities.
Great work Year 12!
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