On Wednesday 10th October Year 7 students spent the day outside of the classroom at the 1610 Sports and Activity Centre based at Hestercombe on a Team Building and Activity Trip. The day was an opportunity for the students to spend quality time with each other and their Form Tutors, taking part in a variety of different challenges including tug of war, the water drain game and ball challenges.

Year 10 students had a change from their timetabled lessons on Friday 28 September when they took part in a Careers Day. They spent the day in 30 minute taster sessions which gave an overview on various employment sectors, including the types of jobs available in that sector, what sort of person they would suit and the qualifications required. Visitors covered careers from Construction to Cosmetic Surgery! Year 10 finished the day better informed about a diverse range of careers and clearer about the pathways available to them upon leaving Kingsmead.

A group of Kingsmead students have enjoyed a fantastic first session on their outdoor education programme with The National Trust on the Holnicote Estate, Exmoor.

Kingsmead held its annual presentation evening on Wednesday 12 September to celebrate the achievements of its students during the previous academic year. The event was attended by students, parents, staff and governors and awards were presented for academic subject and sport accomplishments. Headteacher and Leader of Student Support Commendations were also awarded together with the following school trophies

On Friday 7th of September, Mr Williams (Acting Head Teacher) and Mrs Judith Jackson (Chair of Governors) welcomed Year 7 students officially to Kingsmead when they handed over their Triangle of Partnership agreements. The Year 7 cohort were challenged to make the most of every opportunity and to become the very best that they can be over the next 5 years. Thank you to all of the parents/carers who were able to attend, we look forward to working with you all.

As a partner school within the alliance, Kingsmead School are pleased to be hosting places for trainees from Sept 2019.

Once again Kingsmead is celebrating excellent GCSE results. The headline figure of Grade 5+ and Grade 4+ in both English and Maths are 42% and 67% respectively. Initial estimates suggest that the progress made by students is very impressive with a Progress 8 score of +0.67 which means students have on average achieved more than half a grade higher than their targets based on outcomes at Key Stage 2.

Zambian students and staff taking part in the 2017-19 exchange programme arrived in the UK on Monday 9th July and are staying with their host families for two weeks. In the first week they have spent time in school and in the local area, joining their Kingsmead partners in lessons, meeting the mayor, enjoying sports day, visiting local primary schools, braving the high ropes course at Vivary Park, exploring Exeter and going to the beach. Before they go home on 23rd July the group will take part in Challenge Week workshops and more trips out.

Drama and Music students are busy rehearsing for Kingsmead’s first ‘Arts’ Summer Showcase’ taking place this Friday 13th July in school. All students and their families are invited to attend anytime between 6.30pm and 9.30pm on the evening. The DRAMA DEPARTMENT will be putting on performances throughout the evening by students in Year 9 and Year 10. Year 9 groups will be presenting scripted performances of two short plays, while Year 10 groups will be presenting their own devised performances.

During the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms, students from Years 7 and 8 learnt vocabulary in their English, French, German and Spanish lessons and earned house points in frequent spelling tests. This culminated in the MFL and English Spelling Bee Finals which were held during lunchtime on Tuesday 3rd July. Teams from our three Houses competed in the Finals to earn house points and dictionaries. Round 1 alternated between the four languages which unfortunately knocked Parrett out of the competition. This left Otter and Barle to fight it out in the knockout round, spelling words such as naïve, liaise, février and Französisch. The atmosphere was tense and Otter just beat Barle to become the 2018 winners! Well done to all the students involved and to all those who supported their Houses on the day.