From the Head of Secondary 16.10.2021
This week we had some excellent student-led assemblies. The first was on Wednesday where Vadim in Year 13 told us all about the Adopt-a-Float initiative: https://www.go-bgc.org/outreach/adopt-a-float. Vadim is running a community competition for the naming and design of the KIS Float, with a deadline of the 26th October. We are hoping that students will feel inspired to have a go at this during half term!
For the first time ever our annual Student Leadership Assembly was organised totally by our student leaders. These include our Prefects, the Student Council, the Charity Committee, EcoWarriors, House Presidents, House Ambassadors, Library Cadets and the Student Newspaper team. The students did a fantastic job [it is not easy presenting to approximately 200 students and parents!] and all went smoothly as each team gave us information about who has taken up the various roles and what their mission and goals are for this year. We look forward to lots of exciting this happening this year!
For the whole presentation, download the pdf here
The second Laptops and Lattes meeting on Thursday was well attended and parents had the opportunity to ask questions. We talked about a range of items, including Pear Deck, Interim and other reports, online and in-school teaching and the school SOP. Thank you to all who attended and we look forward to another one in two weeks time!
While we are all looking forward to a break from our screens next week, there will still be activity in school, with the October / November Cambridge exams taking place. For KIS it involves a small number of students who are retaking a few subjects. Many thanks to Mr Colbeck for organising these.
Finally, I wish you all the best for the half term break and I hope that you all manage to get some rest and relaxation!
Kind regards
Mrs Renshaw
Deputy Principal / Head of Secondary
What’s been happening in the Duke of Edinburgh ECA?
As my watch turned to 3.05pm I was delighted to see so many of our Year 10, 12, and 13 International Award Bronze and Gold participants filtering down in person to meet our Award Leader staff to participate in actual practical sessions.
The Gold Sixth Form team took a selection of tents, sleeping bags and camp mats to the hall (sadly, the field was too wet) to erect, test, and compare our variety of tents. Everyone managed to work out the puzzle of ‘how to’ put up their tents – but more importantly, how to put them away again and fit them back into their little bags! Now they have a good idea of what size they will need for their Adventurous Journey, as well as how long it takes to put up a tent.
Meanwhile our Year 10 Bronze students were assembling and using our gas camp stoves for the first time. Under the guidance of Ms Watt, Miss McNutt, Mrs Dobbs, and Mr Gant, we spent the session heating up and cooking a selection of camp foods to taste. A Kembara Beef Rendang self-heating bag was selected to heat and taste too. It was a hugely successful session, and not just because we got to try the food!
This ECA has been running throughout all our periods of lockdown and home learning. The 24 Bronze participants have had 13 online sessions since commencing their Award in April 2021and as soon as we can get permission all will be embarking on their final award section – The Adventurous Journey.
At Bronze level, that is a two day, overnight expedition journey, While our Gold team will be doing a practice 3 day AJ before undertaking their full 4 day assessed expedition in early 2022.
Miss Rachel McNutt
DofE Award Leader
Secondary Student Council 2021 – 2022
The Student Council is a place for students to have a voice within KIS and they are able to express what matters to them and their peers through this platform. Students can see that the staff and wider community of the school truly valuing their input into their school. Elections for committee members have been held this week and we are pleased to announce that the following will be very active in the Student Council this year:
On other roles, the Secretary is Tobias, Year 11, Nicholas [Y10] is the Treasurer, aided by Jason [Y7} and Grace [Y10] is the Environmental Officer. Ms Beresford is the teacher-mentor, so many thanks to her and to our Student Council members for 2021 – 2022. We look forward to hearing more about the council’s activities in future editions of the newsletter!
