PLEASE READ: IMPORTANT NOTICES IN INTRODUCTION.
Please use the menu following Mr Mercer-Kelly’s introduction to quickly access letters, news and reminders relevant to your year group (s).
Dear Parents,
As the first half-term draws to a blustery close, we are all looking forward to the chance to rest and recharge our batteries next week. Storms Dudley and Eunice have certainly been making their impact felt across the country and it made me recall the great storm of October 1987. For me this was the first major gale that I experienced. I distinctly remember being in my primary school playground and using my duffle coat as a kite to catch the wind as we ran and jumped in the air, trying to leap as far as we could!
The author Kahlil Gibran captured it poetically when he wrote “The breath of life is in the sunlight, and the hand of life is in the wind”. Even though wind is invisible, its effects can clearly be seen on everything it comes into contact with. This is very much like many of the characteristics that we value at Kingsley; kindness, empathy, courage, determination. These invisible qualities are powerful and can cause transformational change when we employ them.
Every day I see individuals in our community making a positive difference, whether they be students raising charity money through a bake sale, or Sixth Formers teaching younger students in Enrichment clubs, or teachers nurturing enquiring minds. It is my hope that everyone at Kingsley will embody these characteristics, being proud to be positive change-makers at every opportunity.
With kind regards and wishing you a restful break,
James Mercer-Kelly
Headteacher
Important notices and reminders
Covid Vaccinations
Please see the attached letter regarding vaccinations for 12-15 year olds at various sites during half term. Further information about the recently announced vaccinations for 5-11 year olds will be shared with parents as soon as we have been given the information by the local immunisation team.
Second-Hand Uniform Sale
There will be a second-hand uniform sale on Tuesday 8th March from 3.00pm till 5.30pm in the Senior School Gym.
World Book Day Thursday 3rd March
We are proud to be supporting the annual World Book Day in the first week after half term, and there will be activities for pupils across the school. This year’s theme is ‘You are a reader’ and encourages everyone to find a book that they love. The Friends of Kingsley are also hosting a special ‘Bedtime stories’ event for Prep families after school; please see the invitation in this week’s Cornflower to sign up for that if you would like to attend.
Menu
Letters
Prep School World Book Day Letter from Mrs Holmes 18.02.22
12-15 Covid Vaccination Letter from Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Year 11 English Revision Letter from Mrs Alton 18.02.22
Year 12 Work Experience Letter from Mrs Morgan 11.02.21
Year 13 Amended Assessment Timetable March 2022
News
The Friends of Kingsley Present ‘Bedtime Stories’
Kingsley Art Prize Winners
Buddy in the Gang Show
Harriett’s Sporting and Dancing Successes
Lucy is 5th in England
Photography Club – ‘Fill the Frame’
Prep School Egg Hunt Open Morning
Senior School Taster Morning for Current Year 5 Pupils
ISA Film and Digital Art Competition
Reminders & Notices
Elizabeth’s Half Term Tennis Academy
Old Leamingtonians’ Girls’ Tag Rugby
A Message from the School Nurse
Lunch Menus
Celebrating Success Outside of School
Prep School Bulletin
Welcome and Notices
Pre-School
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Prep Sport
Social Media
The Latest from Facebook
Letters
News
THE FRIENDS OF KINGSLEY PRESENT ‘BEDTIME STORIES’
Thursday 3rd March 2022, 4.45pm – 5.45pm
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of World Book Day, all Prep pupils are invited to get into their pyjamas or onesie, grab their favourite toy, and come and listen to a bedtime story whilst enjoying hot chocolate and cookies.
For more information and to register your place, please download and fill in the form attached here. Payment can be made either by cash or BACS. Please let us know if your child can attend by Monday 28th February 2022.
We hope to see as many pupils as possible at the event.
KINGSLEY ART PRIZE WINNERS
This year’s art competition was on the theme of ‘Play’ and with well over 100 entries our pupils did not disappoint. We had pieces looking at toys, sports, music, drama, computer games and much more. This week Mr Lax held an assembly to announce the winners, alongside a talk about the importance of play in learning and how big companies encourage their employees to play as a means of being more creative with their ideas. Mr Lax encouraged pupils across all ages to balance being playful with being serious: enter a world of make-believe while thinking with your hands, then step back to reflect on your ideas and turn it into something that works. Our winners can be incredibly proud of their accomplishments.
Well done to Daya in Year 2, Harriet in Year 4, Mariella in Year 5, Amy in Year 7, Helena in Year 8 and our overall winner, Annabelle in Year 9.
BUDDY IN THE GANG SHOW
Buddy in Year 6 will be performing as part of the 50th anniversary Leamington Guides and Scouts Wags Gangshow, which is being performed at the Leamington Spa Centre from the 1st to 5th March. Tickets are available at the link here.
HARRIETT’S SPORTING AND DANCING SUCCESSES
Harriett has also taken her Grade 4 RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) exam back in the Autumn and received her results this week. She was awarded a Merit, just shy of a Distinction.
LUCY IS 5TH IN ENGLAND
Lucy in Year 11 has just finished competing at the English Athletics Under 20, 17 & 15 Indoor Championships in Sheffield. She jumped 1:55, only just catching 1:60, and finished in an incredible 5th place, meaning she is now the 5th highest jumper in England for her age group! Well done Lucy!
PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB – ‘FILL THE FRAME’
Deadline: Wed 9th March
Mr Lax
Head of Art
PREP SCHOOL EGG HUNT OPEN MORNING
Do you know a family who may be interested in finding out more about the Prep School? Our Easter egg hunt themed Open Morning is taking place on Saturday 5th March 2022 and bookings are now open at the link below:
SENIOR SCHOOL TASTER MORNING FOR CURRENT YEAR 5 PUPILS
Our Senior School Taster Morning for current Year 5 pupils is open for bookings and filling up fast! Places can be registered at the link below:
ISA FILM AND DIGITAL ART COMPETITION
Head of Art and Photography
Reminders & Notices
ELIZABETH’S HALF TERM TENNIS ACADEMY
Elizabeth in Year 12 is coaching at a Tennis Academy during half-term for ages 4-16. If you are interested in taking part, full details are available at the link here.
OLD LEAMINGTONIANS’ GIRLS’ TAG RUGBY
Old Leamingtonians’ Rugby Club are offering a girls’ tag rugby sessions. For more information, please view the flyer attached here.
A MESSAGE FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE
Could I ask that you check hair this weekend for head lice, and treat if required.
I know that lateral flow testing continues to be a weekend priority, and rightly so, but please remember the importance of regular checking for head lice. I also ask that hair is always kept fully tied back when in school, and brushes or combs are not shared.
Thanks for your continued vigilance in keeping our community healthy.
LUNCH MENUS
Please view our lunch menus at the links below. It will be Week 1 after half-term.
CELEBRATING SUCCESS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL
We love to hear about our pupils’ successes outside of school. Please do keep us updated with any news items – sporting achievements, performing opportunities, charity work, and everything in between, so that we can celebrate in school and with our community via online channels. Please send any details through to schooloffice@kingsleyschool.co.uk FAO Mr Farrington-Smith.
Prep School Bulletin
PREP SCHOOL WELCOME
What a week we have had at Prep to end this very busy half term! Our last COVID zone was completed today and we desperately hope it will be the last we see of them.
We began our week with learning about the different traditions to celebrate Valentine’s Day in some of the countries that form part of our Kingsley family, such as Denmark, Germany and Korea. The children in Pre-school celebrated with school made biscuits deliciously decorated with love and marshmallows.
Years 1 and 2 developed their PSHEE skills by watching the popular film ‘Encanto’ to celebrate the qualities we possess to make each one of us unique and special; they created their own doors, depicting their gifts. Year 2 also had some scientific tasting treats later in the week!
I had the pleasure of spending an English lesson with Year 3; it was so refreshing to see the children using dictionaries effectively to improve their writing. I cannot wait until my next visit!
Years 4 and 5 exercised some aerodynamic aptitudes in STEM to make aeroplanes, gliders and helicopters… thankfully before this dreadful weather descended or they may never have been seen again! A special mention of thanks goes to Year 5 for helping so responsibly in WoW Assembly; they will make wonderful Year 6 leaders.
Mrs Finnegan hosted an assembly to share the progress of the duckling eggs and explained how the children in Reception and their big sisters placed them carefully in the incubator; we look forward to the arrival of some fluffy little ducklings.
All children will be allowed to wear PE kit on swimming days, effective immediately, to help reduce a little of the stress when getting changed. All KS2 children will need their PE kits on Thursdays to take advantage of the extra PE slot being kindly provided by Miss Windsor.
There will be a Second Hand Uniform Sale in the Senior School Hall on Monday 18th March.
I hope you all stay safe in this awful weather and that you all have a restful and peaceful half term holiday.
Kind regards
Mrs Monica Gamble
Interim Head of Prep
PRE-SCHOOL
This week in Pre-school we have been looking at the season of autumn. and talking about the changes that take place. We have enjoyed reading the story ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell. The children used pictures to sequence the story and used some lovely language from the story to retell it. We drew pictures of our favourite parts of the story and labelled them and painted some very impressive owl babies for our classroom display.
We marked Valentine’s Day on Monday by baking some heart shaped biscuits which we generously decorated with icing and marshmallows, to share with those we love.
RECEPTION
This has been an EGG-citing week for the Prep School, with Reception introducing their new project during Wednesday’s assembly. The Reception children very carefully placed their duck eggs into the warm incubator. Their Year 6 (big sisters) modelled perfectly how to handle and care for the fertile eggs. Over the next four weeks, Reception and Year 6 will continue to work together: tending to the eggs, checking the humidity and temperature of the incubator, rotating the eggs and monitoring the growth of the embryo. They will develop a rota of roles and all have the opportunity to show how responsible they are.
Mrs Finnegan and Miss Wollard feel especially proud of Reception for being so caring and gentle and for using some impressive vocabulary too. The class are practising the skill of explaining events in greater detail thinking about the 5 Ws – where, when, who, what and why. They are also contributing to shared writing, using their Phonics and key words to build sentences and write diary entries to record this process. Our fluffy little ducklings are egg-spected to hatch four weeks from now.
YEAR 1
Year 1 have also been immersed in a new text this week, a jumbled-up fairytale, called ‘Rapunzel and the Billy Goats’. They have thoroughly enjoyed story-mapping the text, retelling it with actions, putting key moments into boxes (known as ‘boxing up’) and looking at key events (known as the ‘bare bones’). After half term, the children will be using this learning as a frame for their own stories.
YEAR 2
Year 2 have taken part in an experiment for this week’s science lesson. As we have been learning about healthy eating and the importance of being able to read food labels, the Year 2 class have taken part in a taste test. They have each tried raw spinach, Pink Lady apples, banana, tomatoes, yoghurt and flap jack! You can guess what the most popular item was. The class then successfully researched each item and wrote up why these items were healthy for them.
YEAR 3
As part of their Anglo Saxon project, Year 3 have been creating Anglo Saxon maps this week. Year 3 pupils have also been busy working on their reading comprehension skills using their class book – ‘Freedom for Bron’, an Anglo-Saxon adventure written by NS Blackman. The pupils were asked to imagine what it might have been like to live on a Saxon farm, and predict what happens next in the story.
YEAR 4
Year 4 have had a really action packed week, and have managed to keep energised even though it is the last week before half-term. In maths, our lesson have re-introduced measures and this week the class have been practising using units of length. The pupils have completed a range of activities that have consolidated their skills. The tasks ranged from converting kilometres to metres and centimetres to millimetres. The class have rounded measures and solved problems relating to units to length. Here are the class comparing what happens when numbers are rounded to ten and then to a hundred.
This week’s English lessons have focused on developing some key English skills. The week started with the class reviewing their understanding of editing and refining written work. Pupils then went on to practice using inference and deduction to answer reading comprehension questions. Finally, the class had lots of fun asking questions and writing the responses using the present perfect simple tense. Here is the class developing the questions and answers as they practised using the tense!
To help with our understanding of the Christian faith, the class worked in small groups to role-play one of the Ten Commandments in order to explain what the commandment means. Each group storyboarded their ideas before presenting their role-play whilst the other group guessed which of the commandments was being presented.
YEAR 5
Year 5 had an amazing Ancient Egyptian day to learn more about their Creative Curriculum topic this term. The pupils came dressed to school in their fantastic costumes and experienced lots of fun Egyptian activities led by our visitors. They learned more about the history of Ancient Egyptians and participated in a timeline activity. Next, the pupils used reed pens and ink to write their names in hieroglyphics on cartouches. In the afternoon, the pupils played lots of fun Ancient Egyptian games and experienced using a VR headset. They explored the sites of modern and ancient Egypt in a virtual world. One of the highlights of the day was learning about mummification and mummifying their friends! They removed their lungs, liver, stomach and intestines and placed these into canopic jars. It was a fantastic day!
In their following English lesson, the class wrote detailed recounts all about their Ancient Egyptian day. Here are some quotes from their work:
“We had an Egyptian day because we have been learning about it recently and it’s a fun way to learn even more interesting facts.” Kaiya
“My favourite fact is that they get a metal stick and shove it up your nose to get the brain out. They mush up the brain and pour it out of your nostrils!” Zoe.
“I really loved my Egyptian Day and I really wish I could do it all again!” Aminah
“I had a great day, my favourite part was the VR. I wish every day was like that!” Lara
“The games were amazing too and so creative because they didn’t have dice.” Charlotte
“I love learning about Ancient Egypt because it was so different to our lives now and it really interests me when you compare the life they had and what we have. I would recommend Egyptian Day to other children because I really enjoyed it and I think others should get to experience it!” Isla
YEAR 6
In art, Year 6 have been dabbling with Winston Churchill’s favourite artistic medium…watercolour paints! After learning about the Battle of Dunkirk, they created their own depictions of the hundreds of boats which sailed to Dunkirk as part of Churchill’s ‘Operation Dynamo’ rescue mission. The pupils’ paintings are beautiful…look out for them on display around school!
PREP SPORT
Congratulations to our Prep Sports Stars of the Week – Imogen (Y3), Issy (Y5) and Luana (Y6)!
Years 3, 4 and 5 had a great PE lesson at the field doing a netball and football mini tournament – they all played fantastic and put lots of effort into all matches. Year 4 were the team captains and did a brilliant job motivating and organising their teams.
Year 6 stayed at school with Mrs Whittle doing some brilliant yoga – well done all!
Social Media
Our Summer Sports Awards are fast approaching! Students and their families in Year 5 and above are invited to join us for what promises to be a fantastic evening. Further details below... 👇
WELL DONE, Year 6!!! Two highly entertaining performances of 'Rocking Romans' delivered across two evenings, including LOTS of lines, songs and comedy moments. Well done to our younger Prep pupils, too, for supporting them brilliantly and singing their hearts out. We couldn't be prouder of...
On Wednesday, we welcomed back to Kingsley 20 of our Alumnae who gave up their time to speak to Year 12 students as they begin to plan their crucial next steps.
The group inspired us with their stories of the many...
Congratulations to our Year 6 pupils who gave an outstanding performance of 'Rocking Romans' yesterday evening! The show was fabulous and the children all performed brilliantly. A big shout-out to all of the Prep pupils who sang in the chorus, too. We're extremely proud of...
Year 7 geographers have had a brilliant day at the Natural History Museum in London. They visited the Tectonics Exhibition and enjoyed getting hands-on in a 'Mission to Mars' workshop, designing and building their very own LEGO Martian rovers. They coded, tested and evaluated their...
Year 8 pupils are having a wonderful time at the Pioneer Centre, enjoying lots of new experiences and developing their team building and problem solving abilities! #Year8 #PioneerCentre
Year 10 students gained a fascinating insight into the world of self-driving vehicles this afternoon during a visit from Oxford-based firm Oxbotica.
Four members of the team, including Oxbotica's VP of Commercial, delivered a highly engaging presentation on the the company's...
