Headteacher’s Message

Summer2016High Times

To begin, I have some very exciting news to share with you. As I write this, drawings are being submitted to planning for our new Science block. This will consist of a new build with 8 new Science classrooms at the rear of the school. Plans are in place for a September 2017 opening. I would like to take the opportunity to thank members of the Governing Body who have supported us in securing the funds for this provision. Over the summer

we say a fond farewell to our 7 “huts”! It has been a really busy term with many highlights. Enrichment week was a huge success with residential trips to Devon, Valencia, Paris, South Africa and Belgium. Other students had the opportunity to go on a range of day trips and a variety of activities in school. Our Year 10 and 12 students enjoyed their week of work experience and I had the pleasure of visiting some of the students at their work placement. I have received numerous emails complimenting our students on their fantastic behaviour and positive attitude whilst on their placements and on the trips.

Our flexible learning day earlier in the term provided the opportunity for sports day which was a very successful event in glorious sunshine allowing our best athletes to compete against each other in the professional surroundings. Year 10 were joined by members of the local business community who acted as mentors and judges in our Heartbreak Hotel Enterprise Day. All the students rose to the challenge and the presentations I saw were professional and creative. Again the students were highly praised by our visitors.

Our last week of term has been a really positive one with our House Awards ceremonies each morning. It was a privilege to hand out so many certificates and prizes to students who have strived to achieve their personal best over the course of the year. These assemblies were very well attended by family members who shared what is a lovely part of life at Kineton. At the end of the day on Thursday there was much jubilation as HOY house collected the House Cup.

All that is left for me to say is a huge thank you to staff and students for another successful year and wish everyone a well-deserved rest and enjoyable holiday. I would also like to thank our Governors, members of the local community, parents and carers for your support and positive feedback.

There Will Be Lies is an amazing book, which switches between hard reality and the ethereal land of dreaming. Packed with excitement, despair, and plot twists, I couldn't take my eyes off the pages, and I instantly fell in love with the characters and story line. The book leaves us questioning rights and wrongs, and it is easy to place yourself into the characters' shoes, meaning that you can truly understand the dilemmas they are facing. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to any audience, as long as they are prepared for the pungent story, with tissues at the ready!

Learning Resource Centre News Learning Resource Centre News

A BIG THANK YOU to our fantastic Student Librarian team, who willingly give up so much of their time to help me run the Library. I couldn’t do it without you! Welcome to our new recruits: Zoe Loftus, Matt Best, Tom Lovegrove, Connor Williams, Constance Saych, and Emily Whittle.I am extremely sad to say goodbye to our Year 11 helpers who have been major players in the team for so many years:

Tom ‘Above and Beyond’ Oakes, Ellen ‘Give me a job’ Robertson,

Phoebe ‘I’ll do some more shelving’ Saych, and Katie ‘I need to read that!’ Ball.

Thank you and good luck for the future!

STUDENT LIBRARIANS

Fancy taking a few books out to read during the Summer Holidays!We have THREE HUNDRED new books to choose from.

Join your Public Library this Summer!Warwickshire Public Library members can access many books and resources in addition to free reference materials such as The Oxford English Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, music and art dictionaries and newspapers. You can also download magazines free of charge! It is very quick and easy to join online.

Go to:- http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/libraries

L to R: Megan, Annie, Lucy, Tom, Leo, Archie, Ben, Josh, Ebon and Isaac

Each year CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) invite children in schools and reading groups to ‘shadow’ the judging process, reading the shortlisted titles, writing online reviews and deciding which books were their favourites. The books shortlisted this year were:

Fire Colour One by Jenny ValentineFive Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus SedgwickThere will be Lies by Nick Lake

The rest of us Just Live Here by Patrick NessLies we Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

The Lie Tree by Francis HardingeOne by Sarah Crossan

2016 Carnegie Shadowing with Year 9

This year 10 readers from Year 9 were challenged to read as many of the 8 shortlisted books as possible, meeting every Friday in the LRC to discuss the books and give their thoughts and opinions. As a group, the books which proved popular were One, Five Children on the Western Front and There will be Lies.

2016 Carnegie Shadowing with Year 9

On the final day we all watched the ceremony streamed live from the Unicorn Theatre in London (thank you to Archie for sorting out our technical hitch!). The winning book was One by Sarah Crossan, (pictured right) which many of our group considered to be a worthy winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Congratulations to Leo Aston for his prize winning review of There Will be Lies:

Fantastic Fun With Words! By Zoe Loftus, ADL/JDLSelected by each English teacher, students from some of the Year 7 and 8 groups were given the opportunity to go on an Author Workshop, to meet the local based writer, Helen Watts. The students chosen were seen to have potential and excelled in creativity. This trip was part of Warwickshire Libraries’ exciting festival ‘Fantastic Fun with Words!’, which puts local readers in touch with local writers and artists. 2016′s festival ran across 18 libraries, offering something for families, children and young people through their school or as a family.On Friday 27th May we departed for Wellesbourne Library, where we were introduced to Helen Watts. She spoke to us about the types of stories she wrote, what her stories were about, and read a section of some of them to us. Next, she chose one story in particular and explained where she had got her ideas and inspiration.

Ben’s review of One: This is a really engaging book, which makes you just want to read on. The book mixes humour with sadness. The characters are just like normal people, but with a life-changing condition (they are conjoined twins). It is easy to relate to them, as they are feeling the same as any teenager would feel. I would definitely recommend this book.

One Day in Oradour is based on a true story, about a brutal German attack on a French village, which only twenty seven people survived, and only one child. Her inspiration came from a visit to France and learning about Oradour in a museum; she knew she had to write a historic novel about it. The book is written through the eyes of the boy who survived and uses a lot of emotion; it is gripping without creating horror, and was the first of her writing career.

any stories. She took our thought and opinions into view. Finally, we had the opportunity to buy some of her books and have them signed, before giving us a bookmark each.Thank you to Mrs Hardwick, Miss Hooper, Ms Hughes, Mrs Johnson and the Fantastic Fun with Words committee for giving us all this opportunity which, we all agree, we have learnt so much from!

The Year 7 Macbeth Cross-Curricular Project (organised by Ms Robotham) was great fun. Year 7 spent 6 weeks of their Drama lessons learning about silent movies and Victorian melodrama and then created their own silent movie version of Macbeth. All classes in the year group contributed to the movie which lasted over 25 minutes by the time it was finished! Well done Year 7!

YEAR 7

Library Stationery ShopStock up for exams at the Library Stationery Shop! The Library sells a number of stationery items at very reasonable prices, for example pens, pencils, rulers and protractors are all 10p each, erasers 5p, pencil cases 35p. Book covers are 15p (small) and 20p (large), and scientific calculators £6. Definitely worth a visit!

eBooks

Students can borrow eBooks which they can download and view on eReaders (except Kindles, although they can use the Kindle Fire), tablets, smartphones, laptops or PCs. Come and see Mrs Johnson for a log-in.

eMagazines

Warwickshire libraries have a good selection of eMagazines available with your library cardfor example, BBC Wildlife, Top Gear, New Scientist, National Geographic and World Soccer etc. Once you have set up an account (using your library card and an email address) you can either download the app to read on your device/phone etc. or read directly off the pc.

You can also choose eBooks and eNewspapers!http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ebooksFollow us on Twitter @khslibrarian

Fantastic Fun With Words! cont’dHelen then went on to talk about a few more of her books, before explaining that inspiration is all around you. “A great story line can be right under your feet”, she said. She talked about the ingredients needed for writing a book and also explained how to build a plot and how to structure your writing in a way to suit all. Then she took our questions, giving her thoughts and opinions, which benefitted the students massively and was a great experience. She also gave advice on how to write your own story and get it published. She recommended competitions like the 500 Words competition, and asked us if we had written

L to R: Kai, Helen, Kieran, Lois, Joe, Nicole, Lucy, Jess, Zoe, Bethany, Grace, Jess, Rory, Gabe and Noah

Year 11, 12 and 13 Leavers

Please return your copies of the following books to the library as soon as possible (or on Results Day) as we need to issue them to other students:- An Inspector Calls Of Mice and Men To Kill a Mockingbird GCSE Maths for OCR Practice Book : Higher or Foundation

Thank you.

Other LRC news..... YEAR 7 EXHIBITION

The sun came out especially for our Yr 7 Exhibition Evening on 29th June for all Year 5 children to come and experience some of the current Year 7’s work.

Our Debate Team spent a great day at

Warwick University debating the EU Referendum

WORK EXPERIENCEPhoebe Swanwick (pictured far right) attended her work experience at Tulip Ltd. This involved a rotation of departments including HR, Marketing, Communica-tions, Credit Control, Logistics, Custom-er Service and Technical. Phoebe showed enthusiasm and a great willingness to learn. Well done.

Toby Goater (pictured left) attended his work experience at Monarch Airlines, Birmingham and is the youngest student they have ever taken on for work experience.

A big thank you to all students who took part in work experience and parents and teachers for the support youhave given. I know that with their level of maturity they have gained invaluable experience. I have heard of some students doing so well they have been offered a part time job, and in one case an apprenticship. Well done.

If you can help in anyway with placements next year please contact Simon Perkin at s.perkin@kinetonhighschool.org.uk

21 Kineton High Students are UK Mathematics Trust Junior Challenge Award Winners

The challenge requires students to use all areas of their mathematical knowledge to solve problems. Students have to answer 25 multiple choice questions in one hour. The papers are then marked by UKMT and the best students nationally are awarded bronze, silver or gold certificates.

This is a difficult test designed to stretch and challenge students’ abilities so we are really delighted that 21 amazing Kineton students have been awarded 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 18 Bronze certificates.

Over 250,000 students from across the UK sit the Junior Maths Challenge and ‘Best in School’ Year 8 student Nancy Whelan’s gold certificate places her in the top 6% of students in the country.Year 7 Bronze Winners:- Oliver Isted, Rory Powell, William Bird, Sebastian Foxwell, Daniel Jerim, Freja Ames, Phoebe Wilkes and Millicent Faulkner. Year 8 Bronze Winners:- Sophie Taylor, Beatrice Swanwick, Sophie Moll, Oliver Wilkinson, Charlotte Gibbons, Gabriel Doe, William Rose, Alisha Harding, Luke Steer and Carly StedmanYear 8 Silver Winners:- Alex Powell and Edward BriggsYear 8 Gold winners:- Nancy Whelan (best in school)

Congratulations to all of our students who took part, what a huge achievement.

Some of the Award Winners

Kineton High School students have excelled in the 2016 United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Junior Challenge. This national competition recognises the best young mathematicians in the country. It is aimed at the top third of pupils in Year 8 or below.

I would like to start by saying ‘Congratulations’ to all Year 11 Students on completing their courses, and I very much hope you receive the results you have worked towards. By now your GCSE exams have all been completed and you are eagerly awaiting results day. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all “Good Luck” for your future, hopefully you will achieve the Grades you need to allow you to progress in the next stage of your studies. Year 10 students settled well into college and all appear more mature having theopportunity to experience an alternative learning environment.

I am in regular contact with the colleges and have received very positive reports on their progress so far. As a reminder can I say it is really important for the students to keep on track with both school and college work as it is given to them, this will ensure that when the time comes for exams they will be able to concentrate on their revision. For students to succeed on their courses it is vitally important that they attend college every week. For whatever reason they are not able to attend would you kindly inform me and the college so that registers can be kept up to date. I am sure Year 11 will be just as positive for the students and have every confidence that they will achieve their targets.

Have a wonderful summer break, and I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Esther BennettSwift/Star 14 Coordinator

Computer club has had quite an injection of new blood, but it’s been only boys! Come on girls? The club has finally built a super computer which is so powerful that it needs 7 fans to keep it at any kind of operational temperature, but it now runs a Linux system very effectively and smoothly.

Minecraft has had a face lift! The club has managed to install it onto a couple of machines on our mini-network and started to create a LAN game. They are also busy adding new features and generally messing with the code to their advantage.

We took some of our Year 8 Gifted & Talented students to Myton during the term to participate in a Gifted and Talented session with other schools from around the area. This included hacking a game, programing microbits and developing sequencing within programming. This was very successful and I think our students out performed all the other schools in all areas including asking difficult questions, completing coding tasks and general enthusiasm. Well done.

KHS Computer ClubThis time every year it comes around and I go “What happened? Where did the year go?” It’s been busy with lots of diverse projects.

from games (Rock, paper, scissors) up to one student who has programmed his Microbit at home to inform him when his mum enters his bedroom! Brilliant!

And finally all our Year 7 received their BBC Microbits. These were given out during lessons and well received. I have had a pile of emails with questions and examples of what the students have done which has been brilliant. There are some fantastic use of the Microbits ranging

This included designing a new menu for the restaurant, a new activities programme for the evening, re-modelling bedrooms and establishing suitable marketing for the hotel; to name just a few tasks.

BusinessEnterprise

YEAR 10

All students and staff worked exceptionally hard, making this a very enjoyable day for all.

ENRICHMENT WEEKAll students during Enrichment Week are off timetable to take part in curriculum activities from Monday to Wednesday. Thursday and Friday students were given the chance to take part in any of the activites available including cupcake making, country walks, clay pigeon shooting, theatre trips, wildlife parks, book folding, scrapbooking, sports and trips abroad.

For Flexible Learning Day, Year 10 had a great day of Business Enterprise. Their brief was to re-furnish and re-vamp a run down hotel.

KHSPartnership 2016

As part of our employability programme we ran our second enrichment day in partnership with JLR. Twelve graduates from JLR joined us and led workshops which focused on manufacturing,marketing , engineering and business planning . Students were able to look at two cars brought on site and pitch modifications which they believed would enhance the model. Students had a fantastic day and benefited a great deal from the input of the JLR staff.

As a school we have signed up to the Warwickshire Employability Charter and during enrichment Week I had the pleasure of taking 12 Year 8 and Year 9 students to the Gaydon Motor Museum to look at a school response to this charter.

The students had a fantastic day which started with model car construction and racing complete with tyre changes. They identified the skills they had used to work effectively as a team and solve problems. We had time to look round the museum and then Joel Morris our lead contact at JLR ran a brainstorming workshop with the students to identify key skills which we will be developing through our Employability Programme at school next year. These included organisational skills, confidence, adaptability and communication. The attending students, Olivia Barritt, Freya Bignell, Elize Flynn, Sean Green, Katie Holland, Sophie Jelfs, Sophie Moll, Scott Pick, Alex Powell, Emily Pugh, Cameron Ward and Tom Yates were a credit to the school and the discussion was very valuable and will help to shape our school planning.

All students took part and really got involved. We had about 12 outside visitors in from a wide variety of businesses; from hotel managers to graduates from JLR. Students ended the session by presenting their ideas to a panel of judges where 4 teams were chosen as winners.

Student Voice Day at British Motor Museum

It was an amazing trip. The students threw themselves into everything, and spoke Spanish to everyone that they could. As a first attempt at a KS3 Spanish trip, it was a huge success and one that we will definitely repeat next year!

VALENCIA

The students flew from Gatwick to Valencia and their behaviour was so good that we have subsequently received two emails from fellow passengers commenting on it!

On the first day we walked to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias, an enormous Arts and Science complex in the South of the city. On the way, we stopped at a supermarket and every student had to find the items on their shopping list in Spanish, for our picnic lunch.After the Science Museum, we watched a film in Spanish in the IMAX cinema, and then walked home along the beautiful dry river bed, stopping to take in the Mestalla Stadium, home of Valencia FC. After a siesta, we went out for pizza and all of the students ordered their food in Spanish.

On the second day, we took the bus to the Oceanografic, Europe’s largest aquarium, for a fantastic day watching sharks, dolphins and crocodiles. In the evening, after our siesta, we walked to the Old Town and enjoyed a very authentic meal of gazpacho, chorizo, meatballs and tortilla. The following day

the students stripped the shops clean of fans, football shirts and Valencia magnets before flying back home to arrive back at KHS tired and tanned.

Looking at the race “Edinburgh to Rome” for £500 cars. Then on to the boat and forward to our first real taste of French France where we stopped at a restaurant and ordered our Plate De Jure “Dish of the day” all in French. Most played it safe except for Mr Wicks who tried the Rabbit!

2016 Another brilliant trip for Year 7’s. Everything about the trip went smoothly from getting on the bus to get to the boat on time.

The first full day in Paris started with a decent breakfast then on the coach and on to Tour Montparnasse with a most spectacular vista across Paris. Absolutely breathtaking. Back down to earth and a walk through a fragrant street market selling fruit, veg herbs and other typical French produce.

Then on to our boat tour down the Seine. This went around the historic Isle de la Cite, where Notre Dame is situated. The bridges over the Seine are fantastic and everyone enjoyed a beautiful sunny day gently cruising up and down the river. It was great to see the Eiffel tower decked out for the Euro football completion and to see Paris starting to prepare for the Tour De France which will be finishing there very soon.

Time for food! Back onto the bus then off to a small café near Montmartre Cathedral. A number of students had their portraits drawn by the various street artists much to the amusement of the teachers but a very enjoyable few hours was spent exploring the area and the beautiful cathedral. Finally back on the bus to collect more food where we had a picnic in a park near the hotel followed by a few games then bed!

The second day was very exciting because everyone was off to Parc Asterix. Again it was a beautiful sunny day. Everyone was well behaved and got on to every ride they wanted! And generally had a fabulous time. Miss Holt and Miss Hooper enjoyed the Dolphines. Mr Wicks got wet on one of the water rides and Madame Salt and Miss Edge enjoyed coffee and the shade in the various cafes

Finally we had another picnic in the woods near the park, got on the bus and came home – exhausted!

The 2 groups set off in good weather with Twisted heading up Dovedale and enjoying some easy walking for a while, this was not to last long. Team Two headed out in good spirits with their eggs intact. Both groups had different aims to acheive, apart from actually surviving the weather, navigating their way

The 2 silver Duke of Edinburgh groups set off for their qualifying expedition in the Peak District early in the morning on Saturday 2nd July. All arrived still a little bleary eyed from the prom but we had a good trip up to Ilam arriving in plenty of time to meet their assessor and get started.

deep mud, blocked footpaths, burnt fingers, ripped trousers, lost (or hidden) tent pegs but no matter what problems they encountered whenever we saw them or the assessor saw them they were in great spirits and were all thoroughly enjoying the experience. Finishing the 2nd day with energy to spare. Team Two of Orla Doyle, Beth Hall, Anna Young, Dan Anderson, Jake Hawkins and Josh Hook made good progress during the day and were showing good navigational skills, they kept going despite some members of the group now struggling with sore feet. Dan was struggling downhill with his boots and was convinced his toe nail was going to fall off. Buy some bigger boots Dan!! But was still a great motivator and kept them all going to reach the campsite. A quick game of obstacle rounders in the evening was enjoyed by most, especially Mr Richardson!!The last day saw the sun shining and the kids all set off eager to finish and get home. Great progress was made by both teams in the morning and when we met them they were all in good spirits and the pain of sore feet had been put to the back of their minds. Team Two arrived at the end first with only 1 egg surviving all eager to get on the bus and go home.Twisted clearly did not want their experience to end as they were having a fantastic time, and teamwork was great. Their route already slightly longer took an unexpected turn when 3km from the finish they came across another blocked path, they had to turn round and find a different way, which they did. However the weather had led to some very wet conditions underfoot. Fraser was the trailblazer over the wall and straight into a waist deep bog. Despite all this they completed still smiling and stronger together, the relief on their faces was evident when the assessor told them they had been “successful” The trip back was a little smelly in the bus.I am so proud of all these kids who really showed such determination throughout this weekend. One day we will have an expedition where the conditions are good for walking and camping. So the last section of the award for the silver group is their presentaion where we will see a little more of what Twisted Ted got up to and some pictures of the egg challenge. Well Done kids you were fantastic and a massive thanks to Mr Richardson for coming with us on this weekend.

through Derbyshire and being self sufficient for 3 days. Twisted have documented the travels of Twisted Ted the team mascot and he appears to have had a lot of adventures from the pictures. Team Two were to carry an egg (carefully) for the trip and hope to have the last egg intact. Beth Hall managed to get her egg back intact, not all were so careful. The weather changed during Saturday and the day ended in torrential rain, thunder, lightning and wind. This delayed them slightly making walking conditions very challenging but all arrived at the campsite if a little wet and cold. Both groups were a little difficult to stir on Sunday morning but breakfast was cooked, tents packed and eventually they were ready for the off. The weather had improved slightly but had left difficult conditions under foot. Undaunted the groups pressed on.The Twisted team of Polly Alfandary, Lucy Baylis, Louisa Briggs, Elliot Durbin, Tom Hartley and Fraser Lindsay had a few challenges along the way withOur 2 week trip to Shamwari Game Reserve was an amazing experience which included building a

Jungle Gym for the local children in Paterson, visiting the markets in Port Elizabeth and Grahams Town where we ate Lundu Burgers (a type of Antelope) and going on game and night drives. On the last day we had the opportunity to watch a group of African dancers from Paterson, it was incredible and was the topic of conversation for hours. This was a once in a lifetime experience and all who went felt very privileged to be there, to help the community and the pre-school children of Paterson.

They worked tirelessly to complete a jungle gym for a school in Paterson that will provide hours of entertainment for the local children. It was an absolutely incredible trip!

9 Year 10 students have just returned from a trip of a lifetime. They travelled to the Shamwari Game Reserve with Gap Africa and spent 10 days working on community projects (with a bit of sight seeing thrown in as well!). The students had the chance to visit the Born Free Foundation, an animal rehabilitation centre, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. They were also lucky enough to go on amazing game drives and saw lions, giraffes, rhinos, cheetahs and zebras to name just a few.

On the evening of 24th June parents and students attended an exhibition of AS and A Level Art and Photography in the Art Department at Kineton High School. The event was well attended by Sixth Form students and their parents, and also by prospective Y11 students who intend to follow the courses next year. This was a great opportunity for parents and students to see Coursework and Exam work together in a formal setting, and also to chat to members of staff about the courses and projects.

6th Form NEWSART AND PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION

The year 12 students have all been out on their work experience and they have managed to find some amazing placements. From theatres, interior designers and Aston Villa Football Club to Estate Agents, Shakespeare Hospice and Mercedes F1. 3 of them attended University summer schools, which they all agreed were a good taste of what is to come. Well done year 12

Head Boy & Head Girl KHS are pleased to anounce Head Boy & Head Girl

Head Boy - Thomas GilksHead Girl - Charlotte Lidgard

Deputy Head Boy - Tyler BaylisDeputy Head Girl - Kiera Tustian

Work Experience

16557

15084

16923

14443

House Points

SPORTS NEWSSPORTS DAY 2016

All students enjoyed the great weather we had for our Sports Day which took place at Edmonscote Athletics Track.

Students and Parents were invited to attend The Sports Awards Evening which took place on 12th June to receive their certifcates of sporting achievement. We had a fantastic turnout and hopefully an enjoyable evening was had by all.

SPORTS AWARDS EVEINING 2016

AttendanceThere is no doubt that the more somebody attends to something the likelihood of improving is much greater, the same applies at school. Lots of research points to a very strong link between attendance and success at GCSE and A level.

Last year the Government increased what they call ‘Persistent Absenteeism’ to 90%, that’s the equivalent of 1 day off school in our two week timetable. This may not seem much but the knock on effects can be dramatic in the amount of work that is missed and then the additional time required to catch up. As a school we would not want more than 6% of our students falling into this category.As we prepare for next year please be aware of your son/daughter’s attendance percentage. If it does fall below 95% or if we feel there is a concern or a pattern of absence then the school will send a letter or contact you to discuss the matter further.

Government guidelines re: Term Time Leave of Absence stipulates that the school is unable to authorise time off unless there are exceptional circumstances to support it. Please consider your application very carefully before asking the school for permission.

E-Safety and the summer holidays.At Kineton we take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously and recognise that the long summer holidays can be a challenge for parents and carers. E-safety is an area where it is easy to assume that a young person is safe and knows what they are doing; the reality may be very different. All students learn about e-safety in the school curriculum and this is supported through work they do in their Personal Tutor Groups but there is no guarantee that they follow this away from school.At school we use an internet screening application that ensures young people are unable to access websites that are inappropriate. Over the summer holidays your child will no doubt access and use the internet or social media to communicate with others or share/ discover information. There is a very real concern that the privacy or security settings that you may have installed on the IT equipment at home is not set as securely as at school or that they may post or use social media in an inappropriate way. Here are a number of web sites that you can access as a parent for help and guidance in helping to protect your child over this time period and in the future.

www.nspcc.org.uk/shareaware

NSPCC online safety

CEOP

LOST PROPERTYPlease ensure all school uniform and PE kits are named.Items are to be claimed within 2 months from Student Services, after which time they are donated to charity.

In September 2013, the Government introduced some significant changes to attendance regulations for pupils at school. The regulations will continue to apply during this academic year (2016/2017).

The most important of these is in relation to term-time leave of absence. The amendments set out in Education (Pupil Registration) (England)(Amendment) Regulations 2013, govern all requests for leave within term-time. When considering such requests for a leave of absence, the school are obliged to act within the law.

The amended regulations removed references to ‘holiday’ and ‘extended leave’, as well as the statutory threshold of 10 school days. It is now clear that Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. If the leave is granted, head teachers are able to determine the number of school days a child can be absent for.

The Government has not defined ‘exceptional circumstances’ as referred to in the 2013 regulations. It is for the Head Teacher to decide what he/she views as ‘exceptional’ and it is at their discretion if the circumstances warrant the leave to be granted.

The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent. Each application for a leave of absence will be considered on a case by case basis and on its own merits.

Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child will be required to be in school on the dates set out in the application.

If the child is absent during that period, it will berecorded as an unauthorised absence, which may result in legal action being taken against the parent(s), by way of a Fixed Penalty Notice.

Failure to make an application for leave in advance can also result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued to the parent(s).

It is important to note, Fixed Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices in the amount of £120 each, totalling £240 for both children, this is reduced to £60 per child if paid within 21 days).

Where a Fixed Penalty Notice is not paid within the required timeframe as set out on the notice, the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal proceedings under S444 Education Act 1996.

Fixed Penalty Notices are issued in accordance with Warwickshire County Council’s Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices.

We greatly appreciate parental support to reduce the total amount of days lost due to holidays. We are committed to working in partnership with you to enable your child to reach their academic targets and to support their social development. For this to happen we need to keep individual attendance as high as possible - we all need to play our part.

Your child’s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority

Leave of Absence During Term Time 2016-17

Information for Parents

Medical/Dental Appointment

If a student will not be present during morning registration due to a medical/dental appointment, please provide Student Services with written notice of the appointment prior to the event.

Student Absence Procedure

If a student is absent, please call the 24 hour Absence Line daily on 01926 645 611 and leave a brief message stating their name, tutor group and reason.

When the student returns to school please provide written confirmation of the date(s) and reason they were absent.

TERM DATES 2017Spring Term

3rd January Term Starts27th January Teacher Training Day20th - 24th February Half Term6th April Term Ends7th April Teacher Training Day

DIARY DATES 2016Autumn Term

1st September Teaching Training Day2nd September Teacher Training Day5th September Term Starts24th - 28th October Half Term16th December Term Ends

GovernorsBecome a School Governor

We currently need more parent governors! Please consider applying.

You do not have to be an expert on education to be a school governor - we value the experience that all individuals can bring to the role. No special qualifications are needed, the most important thing is to have a keen interest in the school and be prepared to play an active part in the governing body’s work. There are occasional vacancies for new governors so if you are a parent or a member of the local community and are interested in helping our school develop and improve, then please contact the Clerk to Governors who will put you in touch with a current governor who will be happy to talk to you about what is involved.

School governors are appointed for a term of 4 years. No specific experience is needed as training and support is provided but to be an effective governor you will need to be able to commit some of your time.

The National Governors Association has a useful web link: http://www.nga.org.uk/Be-a-Governor.aspx which explains the role of school governor.

Further information is also available from Warwickshire County Council at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/becomeagovernor

Volunteering as a governor has huge benefits for individuals and their employers, as well as the schools and their students. Read more about the Department for Education’s Inspiring Governors Alliance at http://www.inspiringgovernors.org/