Dear Parents,
This week I have continued to meet with students from Year 10,11, 12 and 13. They have shared their ideas with me and I look forward to working with them in the coming months.
NEW BUILIDING WORK
This week in assembly I shared the plans for the swimming pool and Black Box Performance area with the students. The swimming pool will be finished in November 2021. We are also working on plans for the new Sixth Form Common Room.
KCM SUPERSTARS
Next week the PE department will be launching its own version of the classic BBC TV Show for Years 5 to 9 – Link for anyone under 80 years old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch_OawiLG6s&ab_channel=MITOGEN
THE CONFIDENCE CHALLENGE
Building Independence Together
At King’s College Murcia we have been working very hard at promoting independent learning, particularly for our year 6 pupils in preparation for their transition to Year 7. Miss. Gardiner has launched a project called the “confidence challenge” which encourages pupils to work collaboratively to become more independent through building on their cognitive, affective and metacognitive skills. Pupils have the opportunity to showcase their independence and are rewarded with house points, being appointed as the question master and taking a higher position on the independence scale. Pupils appear to be very encouraged by this new challenge and the excitement levels are high!
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
We are in the process of preparing a range of extra-curricular activities for our students to start in March. Some of the proposals are coding club, running club, gymnastics club, EYFS art club, creative writing club, madarin and Book club. …
PERIPATETIC MUSIC
We are also very excited to start our music classes very soon and hope to send you information next week.
COVID – 19 UPDATE
If we can ask that parents still adhere to the one-way system to avoiding congestion at the gates this would be very helpful. Please be good role models for the children in terms of adhering to the social distancing rules. This week our staff have been asked about the vaccination programme and we hope that this will be formally offered to the school shortly. I will keep you updated once we have any confirmed dates. We have reviewed current activities being offered at the school to ensure that we are COVID compliant. We will continue to do this as part of our social responsibility to keep the community infection rates as low as possible.
ACADEMIC UPDATE
Encouraging Independence Did you know?
Developing independence has many benefits: increased academic success, increased motivation and confidence and improved awareness of students’ own strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to manage these.
Independent learning isn’t about working alone: teachers and parents still need to support and enable the learning that is needed in this time so that it is structured, productive and effective. We can’t expect children to just ‘know’ how to work independently as well as effectively, they will need some guidance and support.
Independent learning is most effective when students can be encouraged to self-regulate their own learning and behavior.
What can you do?
Discuss your child’s areas of strength and weakness, across the subject range they are studying, but also within each subject and topic. Independence isn’t just about working; it’s about reflecting on their progress and performance and considering where their time would be best spent. Discuss the different ways your child could study, whether through booklets or textbooks, apps and other options. There are many ways to revise, and most pupils have a preference, but often a combination is the most effective.
SAFEGUARDING FOCUS
TikTok Update Parental Controls with Family Pairing Feature (SWGfL)
TikTok is used by many teenagers and sometimes children younger than that 13 despite its terms and conditions. Using the new Family Pairing feature can allow parents to guide their child’s TikTok experience in a safer way. Features include:
Search: Decide what can be searched for. This includes content, users, hashtags, or sounds Screen
Time Management: Sets how long your teen can spend on TikTok each day
Discoverability: Decide on the account being private (you decide who can see their content) or public (anyone can search and view content)
To find out more information about TikTok’s Family Pairing feature visit
https://swgfl.org.uk/magazine/tiktok-update-parental-controls-with-family-pairing-feature/
