Senior Leadership Team Update
This week has seen the start of a fortnight of Year 11 and Year 13 mock examinations as they continue the final preparations for next summer. These are a really important milestone in the year for us because they give teachers and students such valuable insight into current gaps in learning. At this point we still have time to act if we can see where the gaps are. Teachers can plan lessons tailored to the needs of the students. Students can target their revision on the gaps identified by the mock examinations. After next week there is only one more opportunity before the real thing!
We would like to say well done and thank you to everyone in Year 11 and 13 for the way they have approached the examinations so far.
We know that students who go on to be successful in the summer examinations have already started revision by now. Revision should now be a continual process which does not stop until the summer. The recent introduction of our self-quizzing homework means that students in every year group are building successful revision habits for five years. In house assemblies this week we have looked at how highly successful people deliberately practice the basics to the point of complete mastery. Please see the values section for more about this.
In addition to lessons and revision at home we would also like to take the opportunity to explain what else is on offer at KEVI to support Year 11 through this crucial time.
Year 11 Period 6
We are formally launching our extra period 6 lesson from the week commencing 28th November. The timetable is as follows:
- Monday - English / Humanities*
- Tuesday - Unavailable due to all staff being involved in meetings, training and practice
- Wednesday - Maths / French
- Thursday - Science / Sport
- Friday - Humanities*
* Humanities = History, Geography and RE
Please do encourage your children to attend. Period 6 sessions run from 15:15 to 15:55. We know that those who attend regularly will stand a greater chance of being successful in the summer and be in a position to create a life of their own choosing. Choice not chance is a mantra we really believe in here at KEVI. Attendance, behaviour and period 6 are all things that we have control over.
Tutoring
We are continuing to work with MyTutor this year to provide tutoring to Year 11 students who we identify as requiring extra support to reach their target grades. We will be writing to families with the details of this high quality service next week and are excited to be launching it from 28th November.
We’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate our rugby teams who showed all of their KEVI courage to endure horrific conditions in the rain on Thursday when they defeated Skegness Grammar School. The Under 15 team won 80-5 with a hattrick of tries from Jackson. Well done and thank you to everyone who represented us against our local rivals and especially to Mr Everton whose commitment to sporting opportunities means that we endured despite the extremely wet weather.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs S Jones - Executive Principal & Mr M Wilkinson - Acting Head of School
Values
Resilience and Respect
In house assemblies this week we looked at how experts deliberately practice the core knowledge of their field in order to reach mastery. We watched some examples of this deliberate and repetitive practice and saw the end results by watching a short video about the Manchester United footballer Ronaldo. Whilst he has been in the news this week for displaying a lack of respect to his employer and colleagues it was interesting to see how his scholarly habits result in expert performance. Through deliberate practice of the basics, Ronaldo has such mastery of a football that his eyes can concentrate on watching his opponents. This is very different to a novice who spends most of the time looking at the ball. Repetitive practice of the basic knowledge means that experts can use their limited working memory to focus on the complex, on being creative or on evaluating. These so called high order skills only become possible when there is fluency with the basics. Our self-quizzing homework is based on this exact principle. By repetitively practicing recall of knowledge it becomes fluent rather than forgotten. In the heat of the exam hall this means our students can, like Ronaldo, focus their working memory on the more complex things. Deliberate practice of core knowledge can be a test of resilience. Repeatedly practicing dribbling, passing, times tables or all the core knowledge in our knowledge organisers can be tough. If we want to reach expert performance and be able to create a life through choice, not chance, then we need our KEVI resilience to motivate us to practice every day.
An amateur practices until they get something right.
A professional practices until it is impossible to get it wrong.
Why we do what we do -Academy Rationale
We have 6 values at KEVI - Ambition and Aspiration, Courage and Resilience, Honesty and Respect. We believe that these values are fundamental to being a good citizen and we attempt to teach and model these values to our students in all our interactions, both formal and informal. Values help us live with direction and purpose – like a guiding compass. Whatever is going on in our lives, our values can show us a path forward, and help us make better choices. We encourage staff at KEVI to use the language of the values with our students on a daily basis.
Keeping our children safe
Among youth, e-cigarettes, especially the disposable kind, are more popular than any traditional tobacco product. According to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2021, with more than 8 in 10 of those youth using flavoured e-cigarettes. The way these work is E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavourings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic. While we don’t know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarettes. In February 2020, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 2,807 cases of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) and 68 deaths attributed to that condition. Nicotine is the primary agent in regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and it is highly addictive. It causes you to crave a smoke and suffer withdrawal symptoms if you ignore the craving. Nicotine is a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.
What appears to be common today is that youngsters are taking to the tobacco habit with Vapes and they not just a vehicle for smoking cessation. They seem to do this without knowing the facts around vaping as perhaps they do around smoking. Please take the time to discuss the use of vapes with your children and for further support go to Vaping: What Parents Should Know (for Parents) - Nemours KidsHealth
House News!
Current Competitions
We are currently running a House Portrait Competition. Students have until the 25th of November to draw or paint a picture of their House Champion. Each year group will be judged for a winner. Entries must be given to House Champions once done.
House Rowing is also still open until the end of November! Remember to keep rowing for your house!
Upcoming Events
- House Dodgeball on 5th of December. Students need to sign up to the team by telling their tutor they want to take part.
- The Santa Fun Run on 13th of December. Students need to let their tutors know if they want to take part before the 1st of December. All students who want to participate will then have 13 days to raise money for the inspiration fund for DRET. This is also a house competition and the house with the most people participating wins.
Inspiration Fund
This Inspiration Fund is our award-winning programme which helps our students to develop their passions and discover their talents through access to the very best in sports, music, culture and outward-bound activities.
Miss C Eyre - Games Master
Revision
Subject Revision
For majority of the subjects your child is undertaking at GCSE and A-Level the main resource for revision will be their exercise book or revision guide provided by their teachers. However there are also many websites that are available free of charge which can help revise and self-quiz. Over the coming weeks the newsletter will suggest which website are viewed as particularly valuable by the different subjects.
Maths:
https://www.accessmaths.co.uk/
Mrs K Milligan - Assistant Principal
Thinking Ahead – My Future, My Choice
Attention Year 8 & Year 9!
- What are your future plans & career possibilities?
- What plans to do you have after you have completed your GCSEs?
- Do you plan to go on to further/higher education? If so what courses might you study?
- What career ideas do you have for the future at the moment?
In year 7, 8 and 9 you will be learning new skills and knowledge that will give you the confidence to help you plan your next steps. This process starts with your careers education in school which will encourage you to think about your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. You will also start to make some important decisions that could influence your future career path as you will be choosing your subjects to study for GCSE. This process will begin for all Year 9 students early next year.
Each week we will show you examples of the various careers linked to the subject you are studying. This week’s career idea is ........
KEVI Careers Support
Attendance
Attendance
Attendance last week was the same as the previous week at 90.4% so we have plenty of room for improvement!
Well done to year 8 just beating year 7 with 92.5%.
House attendance
Minerva and Mercury tied with the highest attendance last week of 92%.
Apollo was 90% and Arete was at 89%
If you would like to discuss your child’s attendance or need any support with attendance then please contact Mrs Kwee or Mrs Ziller on 01790 753260 or tkwee@kingedwardacademy.co.uk to discuss ways to support your child's attendance.
Mrs T Kwee Attendance Manager
Table Talk
Table talk
This week has been national anti bullying week. We spoke in assembly this week about bullying and how it has no place in society, and that we all have a responsibility to reach out to anyone we feel may be suffering.
Your child being bullied is one of the greatest concerns we as parents have. Below is a link to a website that will provide support for any parent supporting their child through bullying.
Advice for parents and carers (anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk)
Please take the time over table talk to discuss with your children the issue of bullying. What to do if you witness it occurring or are suffering yourself, but also the impact that bullying has on its victims.
Mr A Carrington - Vice Principal
Sixth Form Update
Year 13 Geography Field Trip to Suffolk
Last week year 13 geography students went on a 3 day field trip to Southwold. Southwold is a north Suffolk seaside town on the Suffolk Heritage Coast. Almost an island, being bounded by the North Sea to the East, by the River Blyth and Southwold harbour to the South–West and by Buss Creek to the North, there is just the one road in to and out of Southwold, approached through neighbouring Reydon.
Our students have each chosen a different element of the specification for their final questions and were gathering data to back up this piece of work. With this in mind, the students were looking at the town, its decline in population and its lack of community because of people external to the town coming in and buying second homes.
The topics in their questions include questions on gentrification which is a process where wealthy, college-educated individuals begin to move into poor or working-class communities, or how does second home buying affect a seaside community and how has second home buying affected house prices?
This is the email that Jaime- Lee Ashburn” sent me:
“We took a tour around the town to see what areas we could use for our final question and explored the issues of the town, what the town is all about and why there is such an increase of second home buyers. Tuesday was the day we started out fieldwork, so we went into the town centre and did data collection to gather evidence and information for our NEA. Some included: property quality surveys, environmental quality surveys, footfall count, retail survey, home mapping, questionnaires, interviews, mood mapping, word cloud. We spoke to locals who helped us out with the questions, and we also got to explore the town and beach for itself, seeing the changes of the town and sea over time and how it has impacted the town”.
Madison and Kezzia also went around small local businesses to ask how they felt about second home buying and its impact on the community. They all noted how expensive everything was in the town and the impact that is having. They spent the evening writing up notes and working on their coursework.
All the students said they enjoyed the experience, it was interesting, and they are looking forward to applying the data collected to their coursework.
Mrs P Prince - Head of Sixth Form
Gino's Update
Price List – November 2022
Breakfast
- Bacon roll 95p
- Sausage bap (Wed only) 95p
- Large bacon roll £1.35
- Fruit – piece or small pot 40p
- Toasted teacake 50p
- Yogurt 45p
Break
- Bacon roll 95p
- Sausage bap 95p
- Large bacon roll £1.35
- Pizza slice 95p
- Toasted sandwich £1.35
- Cheese & ham bagel £1.35
- Toasted crumpet 40p
- Toasted teacake 50p
Break & Lunch
- Salad box £1.80
- Baguettes (small) £1.20
- Baguettes (large) £1.70
- Sandwiches £1.35
- Large roll £1.35
- Small roll 95p
- Tortilla wrap £1.60
- Crusty bread roll 30p
- Fruit – piece or small pot 40p
- Yogurt 45p
- Condiment sachet 10p
Lunch
- Main meal with 2 sides £2.10
- Vegetarian main meal with 2 sides £2.10
- Meal deal (meal, cake/dessert or small drink) £2.40
- Pasta pot £1.65
- Stir fry pots £1.65
- Curry, rice & naan bread pot £2.10
- Panini £1.40
- Pizza 95p
- Jacket potato with filling £1.70
- Cake/Cookie 60p
- Hot pudding 65p
Drinks (Breakfast, Break & Lunch)
- Fruit juice carton 65p
- Flavoured milk carton 65p
- Semi skimmed milk carton 65p
- Radnors fizz bottles 70p
- Large bottles water 80p
- Large bottles flavoured water 90p
- Yazoo milkshake £1.00
Angela Clark - Catering Manageress
Teen Support
Peer Pressure
While peer pressure has affected teens for generations, social media brings it to a whole new level. sexting, for example, is a major cause for concern; many teens do not understand the lifelong consequences that sharing explicit photos can have on their lives.
But sharing inappropriate photos is not the only thing they are being pressured into doing. Teens face pressure to have sex, use drugs or alcohol, and even bully others. To keep your child from falling victim to peer pressure, give them skills to make healthy choices, resist peer pressure.
Also, talk to teens about what to do if they make a mistake. Sometimes, children may be afraid to seek help when they make poor choices. It's important that your teen feels safe coming to you when they have a problem. Demonstrate that you can listen without judging or overreacting and instead find healthy ways for them to make amends and move on.
Times Tables
Years 7 and 8 will be reciting their times tables to help embed them in their long term memory.
At the end of each lesson, they will stand behind their chairs in silence, preparing for themselves for the next lesson and just before they leave the whole class will chant the timetables assigned for that week.
Week commencing 21st November - we will be chanting our 11 times table
Miss H Broughton - Head of Maths
Accelerated Reader
KEVI20 WC 21st November lesson 1
Several further tutor groups in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 have now begun their second KEVI Reads texts: Year 7 are moving onto “The Odyssey and The Iliad” by Gillian Cross; Year 8 are now beginning “The Book Thief” by Marcus Zusak while Year 9 are starting the classic “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque. All three texts depict human existence through challenges and conflict and should provide students with an insight into the way that people surmount adversity and allow them to appreciate the perspectives of those who meet and face danger.
The Library is open at 8:30 am, break time and lunch time. It houses a wide range of texts and both English teachers and our Librarian, Miss Villiers, can direct students to making selections which will support the development of their fluency. While KS3 students are expected to have a independent reading book as part of their equipment every day, ready for the daily KEVI 20 independent reading session, parents are not required to purchase these: they are readily available from the library and by borrowing from there, pupils can be matched to suitable book choices.
Ms K Davis - Head of English Department
Sports News
This week has seen an abundance of fixtures for our pupils at KEVI! Our Netball All Star Ruby also had her first game of the season. Well done and thank you to everyone who has participated.
We start with Ruby who on Monday went to All Star training at Grantham with all the other girls across the DRET secondary schools who were selected. With an intense morning of training over the girls went to play KGG in their first game of the season, Ruby was selected as the starting Goal Shooter and played a critical part in the dominant win by the U15 All Star Netball Team. Well done Ruby, all of KEVI is proud of you!
Now we turn our attention to the Y8 and Y10 girls netball teams who took on TMA on Tuesday night in a home fixture. Both teams were looking to avenge losses at the Winter Shield and this was to be the case with both teams picking up wins. The Y8 girls won 4-3 in a tough game with Chloe scoring all four goals. The Y10 put on a master class coming out 15-7 winners with Ruby and Autumn scoring all the goals.
Finally we finish with the U13 & U15 boys rugby teams who took on SGS on a cold and wet Thursday night. Both teams were looking for a strong start to the year as this was their first fixture. The U13s won a hard fought 35-30 win with Toby (All Star Rugby) scoring 4 tries. The U15s put on a dominant display beating SGS 80-5 with Jackson getting 5 tries.
Dates for the Diary
- November 14th - 2nd January 2023 Admissions consultation begins please follow this link for more information
- December 6th - Year 11 Parents Evening via TEAMS - more information to follow
- 13th December 13th - Christmas Lunch
Credits:
Created with images by lucid_dream - "old typewriter with text respect" • Kevin - "Fern Regrowing after Bushfire" • vfhnb12 - "Cloud of white smoke on a black background closeup" • Artur - "Conceptual hand writing showing Revision. Concept meaning action of revising over someone like auditing or accounting Female human wear formal work suit presenting smart device" • Nejron Photo - "Young chemist making experiments in laboratory" • Nikki Zalewski - "Midday Midnight Rustic Parchment Website Banner - Wide background of stone colored parchment effect with a partial clock face on left side and plenty of copy space on right side" • ercan senkaya - "full lunch service station" • Nelos - "Children Hands Building Colorful Word Safety. Blue Sky As Background" • airdone - "Words Have Power, Motivational Words Quotes Concept" • Nataliia - "Books. Lots of colourful thick open books stand on a dark background" • Artur - "Handwriting text Do Not Forget Motivational Call. Concept meaning Remember Keep in mind Reminder Schedule"