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TKA Times - Edition 8 - Friday 11th November 2022
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FROM YOUR HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Parents and Carers

Year 11 and Year 13s are looking ahead to their mock exams, with revision well underway. I asked my A-level Biology classes whether any of them might be behaving like an ostrich, and hiding their head in the sand, feeling worried about the impending exams but not doing anything about it. It is crucial that students are honest with themselves and take the brave step to ask for help from their teachers if they are struggling to get started, struggling with how best to revise, or struggling with any aspects of the examined content. 


Our partnership with you as parents is particularly critical during assessment periods, whether your child is in Year 7, Year 13 or any year in between! We are united in wanting every child to manage their exam anxiety and succeed, with our staff here to support. Please check in with your child (all year groups apart from Yr10 and Yr12 have assessments this half term), and get in touch with your child’s teacher or form tutor if they need additional help and guidance. The best way to do this is via email either directly, or via the office@thekingstonacademy.org email address.

With best wishes for the weekend,

Ms C Venter
Head of School

Remembrance

We stood together in silence today at 11am as a mark of remembrance and respect for those who have lost their lives in conflict. Students have reflected in form time on this theme, from considering the end of the first world war, to thinking about the work of the Armed Forces and acts of service. Remembrance events have felt even more poignant this year as the war in Ukraine continues and we pause to reflect on those who have lost their lives in conflict.
Jack Petchey Award Winners

A huge thanks to our Jack Petchey Award winners: Hannah C, Tasi, Chloe K, Yuquan, Nieve and Alice G, who each donated their prize money towards an exciting selection of new books for the library!  
Tate Britain & Tate Modern

Last week the Art Department took Y11 Art and Design pupils on a gallery trip to visit exhibitions at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. First stop, an extended look at the exciting, large-scale installation ‘Procession’ by contemporary artist Hew Locke. Pupils worked brilliantly together to investigate the work (comprising over 100 strange and curious figures and entirely filling the Duveen Galleries) sharing their thoughts and responses through discussion, before setting off to create observational studies to support their coursework. 
 

A short walk later, along the river, and our arrival at Tate Modern meant an opportunity for pupils to independently explore the collections, finding works directly relevant to their own ideas. Well done to all our pupils for their engagement, attitude to learning and excellent conduct throughout the day.

Balloon Artwork

This week, the Art department made an artwork installation using hundreds of balloons. 

It is a recreation of Martin Creed’s 1998 work ‘Half the air in a given space’. 
Breast Cancer NOW
 
Last week, TKA raised money for Breast Cancer Now and food donations for The Trussell Trust foodbank, which was led by the Y11 student leadership team and Mr Lecocq, Deputy Head of Y11. As you can see from the images of the food crates (which have been filled all the more since the photo was taken!), the TKA community was hugely generous in their donations towards the foodbank which will help aid local families over the oncoming winter months. The money raised for Breast Cancer Now is still being counted, but certainly an excellent demonstration of our core value of Generosity all round! Well done TKA!
Report by Ms Barnard, Head of Y11
Violence against women and girls
 
Men and boys are invited to share their insights on women’s safety.

The Night Time Economy wants to hear from men on the subject of violence against women and girls (VAWG).

To help make everyone safer, men and boys who live or work in Kingston and Richmond are encouraged to share the thoughts on women’s safety.

To be a part of the solution, take part in the survey.
 
Coffee Mornings at TKA, 9:00-10:00am
Evening Drinks at The Queen's Head
 
22nd November - Year 7
23rd November - Year 8
24th November - Year 9

FoTKA will also be hosting Evening Drinks for Year 7, 8 and 9 Parents/Carers at The Queen's Head on 23rd November.  Please complete this form if you are able to attend.  Thank you.
TKA Short Story of the Month: November
 
"Call of Duty" by Jason Reynolds; Genre: Coming of age; Reading time: 45 minutes

In this realistic coming of age story, youung gaming enthusiast Bryson Wills is confronted with an actual call of duty.  Will he have the courage to do the right thing?  Content warning: homophobia

What mark out of ten would you give this story and why?  Click this link to tell us your thoughts, and your review could end up on the TKA Times.  All responses receive a merit!  Deadline 30th November.
Key Dates in TKA's Calendar 2022-23
 
Please see attached TKA's dates for this calendar year.
PE & Sport Roundup
 

Hello and welcome back to TKA’s weekly sports bulletin! Our busy sports calendar returns this week with fixtures from both Netball and Football!

Last week was rounded off by the Under 15 Girls battling their way through the 1st Round of the London Cup, achieving a 4-2 Win over The Sydney Russell School as they look to defend their crown from last season. Fighting back from 2-1 down in the first half, Amelia, Anna, Sophie and Emily all contributed to a stunning performance at the Hawker Centre. (Please see the report below from Issy H). 

A tough Tuesday saw a defeat for our Y7 Girls Football team against Rosebery School in the Second Round of the Surrey Cup, leaving the team to look up to their match away to Claremont School on Friday this week in the second round of the ESFA Cup. 

Sadly our two opening netball games of the season didn’t quite go our way as our Y8 girls battled their way through a rainy afternoon, sadly to no avail as they emerged with a 10-1 defeat in the local derby vs Hollyfield on Tuesday.  This was followed by a tight game as our Y7 Girls took on Hollyfield once again in a friendly, narrowly missing out with a 6-7 defeat at home on Wednesday. 

Wednesday was completed by a double victory for our football teams. The Under 15 Girls continued their unbeaten run, this time producing a stellar 4-2 win in the first round of the Town Cup vs ACS Cobham. Amelia extended her unstoppable scoring streak as she cruised to a hat-trick, with Sophie making it 2 goals in 2 as she secured the victory for TKA.

Our penultimate home game of the week featured an exquisite 3-1 win for our Under 16 Boys, as they progressed into the Second round of the Surrey Cup with Seve producing an outstanding Man of the Match performance vs Overton Grange. 

On Wednesday next week we will be holding our cross country trials at the Hawker Centre after school. We are looking to select our team for the Borough tournament the following week and build on all the success we achieved last year in cross country. Please complete the google form to sign up Cross Country Trials
 
Mr Waters, Director of PE & Sport 
London Cup

On Friday last week, the U15 Girls Football team won 4-2 in the London Cup. At the start of the match the team scored the first goal followed by the opposition scoring a goal. Then they scored again. So at half time it was 2-1 to them. And we knew they were going to be a tough opposition.

After half time, we had a rough start but started to improve as the match went on and within the last 10 minutes we scored a goal and then another, winning us the game. The other team had some shots on goal that almost went in but were saved or defended. The goals were scored by  Amelia, Anna, Sophie and Emily, moving us onto the next round of the London Cup. 
Report by Issy H, Y9 
Surrey Cup

This week our U16 Boys took on Overton in the Surrey Cup.  TKA won the fixture 3-1, a great game contested by both sides. Two goals from Thomas H and 1 scored by attacking midfielder Fin O gave us the three goals. However, the man of the match had to go to Seve C in Y10, stepping up to play for the U16 team - he was involved in everything that the team did well. An all-round performance.
 
Report by Mr Arun, PE Teacher 
Next Weeks Fixtures


Monday:

Y8 Boys Home vs Brampton Manor (London Cup)
U13 & U16 Borough Table Tennis (Away)

Tuesday:

Y7 Boys (Away) vs Hollyfield (Friendly)
Under 14 Boys Away vs Oaks Park (Surrey Cup)

Wednesday:

Y10 Boys Home vs Saint Gabriel’s College (ESFA Cup)
Cross Country Trials - Hawker Centre After School

Thursday:

Y9 Boys Home vs St Aloysius (London Cup) 
Y8 Boys Borough Rugby (Away) 
Under 14 Boys Borough Basketball @ TKA 

Friday:

Under 14 Girls Borough Basketball @ TKA 
 
GCSEPod
All pupils in Years 10 and 11 have access to an amazing resource called GCSEPod which breaks down their GCSE courses into short videos that they can access on any internet-enabled device. The videos use lots of key language that students need for their exams and are a great support throughout the course. We encourage all students to engage with GCSEPod. 

To help maximise home learning using GCSEPod, they have created this 4-minute video for parents/carers and are hosting a free webinar on 6th October - further details and registration are here

If your child is having difficulty accessing this fantastic resource, please contact Mr Holmes.

Young Carers

Is your child a Young Carer for someone at home? Perhaps they help look after someone at home with: 

  • A sensory impairment

  • A long-term illness

  • A physical or learning disability

  • A drug or alcohol problem

  • Mental ill health

If you think that this applies to your child, and you haven’t done so already, please complete this Google Form. We have around 40 Young Carers who are known to us, however we also know that that number will be much higher. 

We work closely with Kingston Young Carers Project who come in once a month for lunch with our Young Carers. Kingston YCP is a fantastic organisation that has a weekly youth club and provides excursions and activities to the Young Carers that they support. If your child is a Young Carer and you haven’t signed up yet, do consider registering with KYCP. 

In school we run a weekly Young Carers Club after school on Tuesdays in Pupil Support. 

If you would like any further information please contact Mr Holmes or Ms Jacques.

Support for low level anxiety and/or low mood

Due to our membership of the Mental Health Support Team we are fortunate to have an Education Wellbeing Practitioner based in TKA one day each week, doing group work and supporting individual pupils who are experiencing low level anxiety and/or low mood. Click here for more information. If you think that this would be a helpful service for your child, please complete this referral form.

Talking to your child about online sexual harrassment:
A Guide for Parents

The Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza DBE, has recently published a guidance document for parents/carers helping to support them to understand online sexual harassment.

The commissioner's team brought together a group of 16 - 21 year olds and asked them talk about what they think parents should know, and what they should say to their children when talking about sexualised bullying and the pressures of growing up online.

The report and poster 'The things I wish my parents had known…' can be downloaded here.

Organisations Offering Support to Families
 
Please click on the link to access a number of organisations for support.
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