Autumn - Queen Katherine School

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Dramatic News! CALAMITY JANE Once again, the summer school musical, staged at the Brewery in July, proved a triumph, and was greatly enjoyed by large audiences. One of the great values of school performances is the experience and opportunities for learning given to the cast, and is illustrated by the following quotes from Jason Airey, who played the main male lead, Wild Bill Hickock, and also designed and made much of the scenery, and Emma Russell, who played the lead part of Calamity Jane herself. Jason, first: “ Like me, if you want to go into a career in any part of theatre or the performing arts, I would recommend the school musicals – everyone is appreciated and valued, no matter how big or small your part. One piece of advice I would give is don’t give up. If you get into one chorus scene one year, it doesn’t mean that you won’t get a lead role the next year. Gaining a principal part wasn’t only enjoyable, it was a great experience, and even provided me with new skills. Singing with Mrs. Pater was a particular highlight, and as I had never sung on my own before, and she gave me great advice and the confidence to perform in the show.” Emma commented: “Mrs. Barber and Mrs Pater were both absolutely brilliant to work with and really helped me feel comfortable and confident in preparation for the shows. The week went by really fast and the adrenalin rush we got from being on stage is one I will never forget. The performances went by really fast, and I didn’t want the week to end. Being part of “Calamity Jane” has given me some amazing memories and I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given.” Those who saw the production are grateful for a great show. We look forward to “The King and I” next year! The King and I Performances of next year’s School Musical, “The King and I” will take place on 11th–14th July 2007. Details of auditions in January have already been posted, and are open to students from years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. Rehearsals start for this production on Thursdays soon after. Arts evening The annual Queen Katherine School Arts Evening is to be held at The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal on Sunday 11th March, starting at 7.30pm. The evening is a celebration of the work that students undertake within the Performing and Visual Arts at the school. There will be a feast of Dance, Drama and Music performances in the main Theatre, whilst an exhibition of GCSE, AS and A2 Art work will be mounted in the Malt Room. Tickets are available from The Brewery Arts Centre Box Office 01539 725133. Dance at Queen Katherine Dance at The Queen Katherine School is really starting to take off. We now have Dance GCSE in years 10 and 11. Last year saw dance students involved in a range of dance workshops led by professional groups culminating in a performance at the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster by the present year 11 Dance GCSE students as part of Bedlam Dance Company’s show. This year we are extending our Dance provision and are now able to offer the following Dance extra-curricular opportunities: The Year 7 Dance Club – Fridays 3.45-4.45 The Year 8/9 Dance Club – Wednesdays 3.45-4:45 Youth dance (Years 10–13) – Wednesdays 6.00-7.30 All the dance groups meet weekly and from January will be creating dances for March’s Arts Evening (see above.) In addition the Youth Dance group will be also participating in The Brewery Arts Centre’s Dance Platform in March. If you would like to get involved with any of the above groups please see Mrs Barber. Drama at Queen Katherine The Drama Department has extended its extra-curricular provision this year to include the following: Year 7/8/9 Drama Club – Thursdays 3.45-4.45 This group is currently working on adaptations of Roald Dahl’s ‘Revolting Rhymes’. Year 10/11 Drama Group – Thursdays 3.45-4.45 The Year 10 and 11 group is taking part in the National School’s Shakespeare Festival, and on Monday 5th February they will perform, as part of the Festival, a 30 minute reduced version of that Scottish play (MACBETH) at The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal Year12/13 Drama Group – Wednesdays 3.45-4.45 This group is currently rehearsing a reduced version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. SHORTS ● A party of QKS visited Japan this term – more details in the next newsletter. ● On Nov 27th, a group of Year 10 students visited the Low Wood Hotel on a Catering and Hospitality Day. ● A group of 12 Duke of Edinburgh students, Ailsa Rowley, Vicky Schofield, James Stokes, Peter Forsyth, Ashley Wallace and Michael Evans, completed a 30 mile 3-day, 2-night expedition in the Yorkshire Dales, in spite of some particularly nasty weather on their first day. The independent assessor praised in particular their timekeeping, teamwork and navigational skills. ● The Awards Evening and School Open Evening both took place this term, and both went well, and showed off the School in a justifiably good light. ● A School Environmental Group has been set up by Mr. King, of the Science department, in order to ensure maximum use of recycling, deal with litter and involve themselves with the local community. ● Year 12 and 13 students attended a performance and discussion of “The Bomb” put on at The Brewery by the Action Transport Theatre Company. ● Year 12 and 13 Art Students have spent time this term working with artist Ian Murphy. ● Year 8 visited St Thomas’ Church this term as part of their work on worship in the local community. ● No less than 18 QKS students were involved in the triumph of the Amabile Girls’ Choir, which won the title of BBC Radio 3 Youth Choir of the Year at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, on November 11th.
Sports round-up As usual, this term has seen a very full sports programme, with fixtures at all levels in boys’ and girls’ football, rugby, netball, hockey (boys, girls and mixed) cross country and orienteering. Obviously, it’s not really practical to give a comprehensive list of results, (although this is available via the PE and Games department) but the following are some of the highlights. ❑ In inter-school football matches up to half term, there were 10 fixtures (boys and girls) in which QKS teams took part, resulting in 9 wins and only one loss. During the same period, there were 16 rugby fixtures in the first half term with 9 victories and one draw (a 37 all thriller for the under 16 boys at Carnforth.) ❑ The QKS 6th form girls’ football tournament took place on 16th October at QKS. Carlisle College came out as overall winners on the day, following good results against QKS and QES. It was, however, wonderful to have enough keen female players to enter 2 teams, one from Year 12 and one from Year 13. Both teams played extremely well, resulting in a good afternoon being had by all. ❑ The Year 10 gifted and talented day was a chance for 30 Year 10 students who show talent across a wide range of sports to visit Blackburn Rovers football club for a full day of activity. The purpose of the trip was to provide an insight into what is required to and how to use talent in order to progress in sport. Students visited the Blackburn Rovers Academy for a tour, a question and answer session and some practical activity. A tour of Blackburn Rovers’ stadium demonstrated the attention to detail required at this top level of sport. ❑ The Girls’ Active Roadshow was organised by the Youth Sports Trust and Norwich Union and promoted by double 2004 Olympic Champion, Kelly Holmes. QKS students Gemma Martindale (left) and Rebecca Thexton are here pictured with Kelly Holmes during the event, which was designed to promote girls’ participation in PE and school sport. The roadshow provided a fantastic day of practical activity (outdoor activities and dance) and planning for the future of girls’ sport. Kendal Youth Radio QKS took part in Kendal Youth Radio, and their broadcast was a huge success. The students involved were mainly from Year 9, with some from year 10 and the 6th form offering services as willing interviewees and news team. Three Year 10 students, Laura Leach, Jess Lightley and Adam Jamieson went to a “Meet the Media” Conference. They asked questions to a panel of Media personalities and their questions were aired on Kendal Youth Radio. The highlight of the event for the School, however, was that a group of 6th formers (Alex Peace, Martin Davies, Sophie Scott, Bethan Lumb, Chris Cook and Katy Forster) won a competition where they had to produce a radio advert for Cumbria Safety Cameras young driver campaign. They created a 30-second ad using facilities at Kendal College, which will be used on Lakeland Radio. EXTENDED SERVICES A lot has been happening during the course of this year including: ● “The Red Shed” – continues to thrive with a daily lunchtime drop in for students, health clinic delivered by the school nurse, counselling service and drug & alcohol support. Regular group sessions are now running which include both boys’ and girls’ groups to increase self esteem and peer friendships and a group of students in Year 11 are about to embark on a course to raise awareness of risk behaviour and strategies to stay safe. We now have the addition of Rosie Naish our inclusion co-ordinator who is working with students on specific areas of their learning. ● Youth work in schools – The youth work in schools initiative began in September with 2 youth workers delivering weekly youth work to a group of Year 11 students. This is delivered off site at the Castle Street community centre and now co-ordinated by Tasha Jones, Deputy Head of year 11. ● Breakfast Service – After obtaining a £17,000 grant to fund this service for the first year, the service has been in more demand since moving to the lower school hall. Breakfast is available from 7.40am until 8.40am each morning with Jaqui and Shelly. Typical menu options are: bacon on a bun, scrambled egg and bacon wraps, toast, hot & cold drinks, fruit, yoghurts etc, all at low prices. ● QKS Meadow View Nursery – The nursery is now expanding its provision of after-school care and play for three local primary schools, including Stramongate and Castle Park, with St Thomas’s due to open in January. The nursery continues to deliver high quality nursery education and full day care and has recently undergone refurbishment both internally and outdoors. For more information contact: Helen Hardaker (Nursery Manager) on 01539 722888. ● Community Education – September saw the re-launch of courses under the new management. We had a slow start to enlisting learners but within the first 3 weeks of September most of the courses where full. Courses are running over 2 nights (Monday & Tuesday) with a plan for new courses to be launched in the spring term. Language courses have been very popular, as has the counselling course. For more information on courses contact: Wendy Kalra ext 259 ● Extending the opening of the LRC (Learning Resources Centre). This provision is currently open from 8.30am until 4.30am. Students make good use of this resource to access the computers and Internet to complete homework and other activities and often stay after school until 4.30pm. There is an opportunity to extend the opening hours of this service and we are looking at the best and most appropriate way to make this happen. More information will be available shortly. ● Kendal Service Directory – We now have a directory that documents all services available to children, young people and their families within the area, including childcare, youth services, family support and much more. The directory is available electronically and to obtain a copy email Wendy on: w.kalra@queenkatherine.cumbria.sch.uk. ● MAST project – Building on a training event in May of this year meetings have taken place to develop a multi-agency support team working with schools, children/young people and parents/carers in an integrated way. This project has taken several months to develop and now has the commitment and time of key practitioners to go live during November. This project is an early intervention and prevention team and is initially working with Kendal Nursery School, St Thomas’s Primary and Year 7 QKS. (A plan is available if you would like further information). ● Survey and Audits of extended services – During the summer QKS completed a survey of their extended services and future developments. This was then audited by the TDA (Training & Development Agency) on behalf of DFES, culminating in the school being recognised (from Sept 06) as delivering extended services by the DFES. Acknowledgement of this in came writing from Moira Swann, Director of children’s services.
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Autumn - Queen Katherine School

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