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Term 1 - 5 September 2025

  

Dear Parent/Carer

Happy new academic year to you all and an especially warm welcome to our new parents.  We share school news with you via our newsletter every two weeks in term time and hope you find it a good way to keep up with information about the school as well as forthcoming events.

Newsletters are the place we celebrate our brilliant students' achievements, as well as share news of community events. Please don't hesitate to suggest content, let us know of an achievement you and your child would be proud to celebrate in our newsletter and look out for updates and information.

The edition contains lots of start of the year reminders and dates of key events such as parents' evenings. I hope you find it useful.   

Mrs J Smith
Headteacher

Useful Dates

Freshers Fayre
1:30pm – 3:30pm
10
September
Year 12 Parent Information Evening
5:30pm – 6:30pm
11
September
Year12 Coursework check open
All Day
12
September
Year 11 Berlin Parent Information Evening
5:30pm – 6:30pm
16
September
Year 8 Quadcopter Build & Fly
All Day
17
September
Year 13 Geography Conference TBC
All Day
17
September
Year12 Coursework check closes
All Day
19
September


Merger with Community Inclusive Trust

We had hoped to be able to confirm the completion of our proposed merger with the Community Inclusive Trust (CIT) by now, but some technical legal paperwork has caused a delay. The process is still moving forward positively, and we remain committed to joining the Trust at the earliest possible opportunity. We will continue to keep you updated as soon as there is further progress.


Public Exam Success

We were absolutely delighted with our public examination results again this year at both A level and GCSE. Hopefully you had a chance to see our social media postings around the time of results days.

Our A level students' success means many of them are preparing for university places, apprenticeships or work and we wish them all the very best as many of them leave home for life in new settings.

GCSE students can be mightily proud too of their success and it’s been super to see so many of them back in the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form this week. These students were in Year 6 when the pandemic affected their transition into secondary school and have brilliantly navigated a challenging few years, demonstrating their resilience and determination each step of the way. Some students have overcome considerable challenges to achieve their results.

Both sets of results open extraordinary opportunities for our students which allow them to be really ambitious about their futures. 

The staff also deserve huge recognition for the part they have played in preparing students for their next ambitious steps as they have worked harder than ever before to deliver high quality teaching and learning, or offer support in a range of roles across the school. We would also like to thank all the parents and carers for their ongoing support.

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Who's Who?

Pastoral Leaders

Whilst the form tutors remain as the first point of contact for many issues, the Pastoral Leaders are an important and additional point of contact.

Assistant Headteacher/DSL                           Mrs A Kopsidas         

Associate Assistant Headteacher SENCo    Mrs K Brown

Head of Sixth Form and Careers Lead          Miss S Chant 

Head of Year 11                                              Miss N Byrne 

Head of Year 10                                              Mrs J Pankhurst

Head of Year 9                                                Mr L Rooke

Head of Year 8                                                Mrs E Constantine

Head of Year 7 and Transition                       Miss J Nutt

Heads of Department

For academic issues, please address any concerns to the appropriate Head of Department. A full list can be found here Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Staff List (kshs.uk)


Safeguarding

There is a safeguarding page on the school website. This will give you key information about the Safeguarding team, should you need to contact them. There is also a Parents’ section where you will find useful links to help you support your child. Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Safeguarding (kshs.uk)


Student Support / SEND

Student Support/SEND

The Student Support department is a team of three highly experienced Learning Mentors overseen by the SENCO, Mrs K Brown and our Pastoral Manager, Mrs M Watts, overseen by Mrs A Kopsidas. The department's aim is to ensure that every student is fully supported to thrive during their time at KSHS. Whether a student has an academic concern, a learning need, is in mental health crisis or is simply in need of a quiet space, the Student Support team is able to help. In addition to the dedicated Student Support area, the team also offers support in the classroom as appropriate to meet the needs of our students. 

The team:

  •                 SENCO                                   Mrs K Brown
  •                 Pastoral manager                Mrs M Watts
  •                 Learning Mentor                  Mrs E Banks
  •                 Learning Mentor                   Mrs M Simpson
  •                 Learning Mentor                   Mrs J Mattison

Should you feel that your child requires some extra support, please do not hesitate to contact the team via enquiries@kshs.uk.


What will my child be learning this year?

Our school website curriculum pages Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Curriculum (kshs.uk) map out what students in Year 7 -11 will be learning across all subjects. We hope this is a helpful way of your being able to see what your child is studying in lessons and what knowledge they will gain over time. You might like to scroll to each subject and look at our Knowledge Sequencers that look like this. An example is given for History

Or look at our learning pathways for a more visual representation of learning across a subject over Key stages 3 and 4. Again History is given as an example below.

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Homework

Homework timetables have been shared with students please ask them to show you their planner where they have recorded this information. Year 7 for example are set homework in between 2-4 subjects per night with the expectation that no more than 20 minutes is spent on each subject. Year 11 on the other hand might be expected to spend up to an hour a night per subject but on fewer subjects.

We don’t ever set homework for the sake of it or set students ‘busy’ work. We want them to enjoy a rich programme of extra-curricular activity and to relax after a day of thinking hard at school too. If you think your child is overloaded please contact their form tutor in the first instance. We often find that our diligent students are spender longer than they need to perfecting work and we can advise them on how to work smartly or we can intervene where necessary.


Key Dates

Information/Settling In Evenings

Year 7             Thursday 9 October

Year 12           Thursday 11 September

Parents’ Evenings

Year 7             Tuesday 9 June (face to face) 

Year 8             Tuesday 3 March (face to face)            

Year 9             Wednesday 19 November (online)

Year 10           Thursday 14 May (online) 

Year 11           Wednesday 21 January (face to face)  

Year 12           Wednesday 14 January (online)

Year 13           Wednesday 26 November (online)

Internal Examination dates

Year 7             w/c        11 May

Year 8             w/c        18 May

Year 9             w/c        5 May

Year 10           w/c        16 & 23 March

Year 11           w/c        17 & 24 November & 9 March

Year 12           w/c        20 April & 22 June

Year 13           w/c        26 January & 2 February

All these events are kept up to date on our school calendar which can be found here. Kesteven & Sleaford High School - School Calendar (kshs.uk)


Pupil Premium - direct financial support for parents

We know how expensive coming back to school can be for parents and we are here to help provide easily accessible direct financial support to eligible parents. Please have a read of the separate letter sent out today to all our registered Pupil Premium parents or see here Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Pupil Premium and Service Premium.


Parent Teacher Association - PTA

Who are we and what do we do?

We are a small but enthusiastic group of teachers and parents who meet once a term to organise fundraising events and plan support for the school in a number of different ways.

Through our fundraising, we can provide some of the ‘little extras’ which the school would not normally be able to provide from educational budgets.

Over the course of the last year we have provided:

  • Every student with a school planner
  • Picnic blankets in the school grounds
  • Beanbags in the Library
  • Part-funded the new large-screen and sound facilities in the Sports Hall.  

Last year we hosted an Easter Bingo event, provided refreshments at school events and continued to run our ever popular ‘100 club’.  We also raise money by providing the school pre-loved uniform shop which you can access via the school website.

Can you help us?

Do you have any unwanted school uniform at home to donate? We are always on the lookout for good quality pre-loved uniform – simply drop items into school.

Could you join us on the PTA? We meet 6 times a year in the school Conference Room and are always keen to welcome new members. Our first meeting is on Monday 29th September at 7pm and will include our AGM.

100 Plus Club’ lottery draw with £25 monthly prize

For the cost of £10 per school year you will be allocated a number which is entered into the prize draw. There is no limit to the amount of numbers you can buy and your ticket is entered every time – even if you have already won! 

Here is also a link for anyone using a mobile device: https://forms.office.com/e/n133e37c8X


Staff vacancy - Would you like to work with our students as a Cover Supervisor?

We would like to build our team of cover supervisors. The role involves supervising students whilst they undertake work left by an absent teacher. Our students are hardworking, have exemplary behaviour and are welcoming. They want to learn! Full training is given and the role is suitable for adults of any age, we just ask that you enjoy the company of young people! The role is offered without commitment on your part – you can accept or reject the offer of work as it becomes available. We pay an hourly rate of £12.88. We are happy to show you round the school if you are interested.

For further information, please contact Mrs White; Assistant Headteacher Gaynor.White@kshs.uk


Some notices from the school office

Please remember to label all of your child’s belongings so that should they get lost, we can return them to their correct owner.  Each term we have a Lost Property Amnesty with items of clothing, stationery, footwear, books, lunchboxes and much more, none of which is labelled.

Always ensure that your child has sufficient funds on their ParentPay account to enable them to buy the food they need in the dining room.  Overdrafts are not permitted, so please provide your child with a packed meal if there are no/insufficient funds on the account.  Please note that the default setting for daily spend is no more than £6.


Year 11 and 13 Public (External) Examinations (GCSE, CNAT, A Level, CTEC/BTEC)

Public examinations begin during the week commencing 27 April 2026.  The awarding bodies have designated Wednesday 24 June 2026 as the ‘contingency day’ for examinations.

All students will therefore need to be available for examinations up to and including Wednesday 24 June 2026.


Site updates

Over the holidays we are also delighted to have refurbished an area of the school for our brilliant pastoral team to work with students. The area known as 'The Hub' bring together our Heads of Year and Pastoral and Learning Support teams to support all our students' wellbeing. The Hub has areas to meet with parents, support our most vulnerable learners  and for outside agencies to meet with students. The finishing touches are being made to the area as we make sure our grand designs have biggest impact on our young people. We look forward to sharing some images with you soon.  Our busy site team have also overseen the redecoration of our Maths classrooms, painting and reflooring several other areas of the school.

One of the highlights of last term was the news that we had secured £1.25 million of government funding to invest in the maintenance of our site. Over the holidays work has been completed to refurbish areas of the carpark and scaffolding has been put up in readiness for a 25 week roofing and window replacement project. Not glamorous projects by any means but necessary and timely. 

Students have been informed of all the work in this week's assemblies and it has been great to see them spotting what they term the 'upgrades'.


Parking outside school 

Please be aware that we have no facility for parents to park on site at the end of the day to collect their child. Please refrain too from parking on the yellow lines outside the school gates- a public car park is next door if you need to collect your child from Jermyn Street, otherwise please arrange to meet your child at one of the other safer places to park in the town. Many thanks for your cooperation.


Breakfast Club

Are you looking for a way to help your child start the day with a good breakfast?  

Why not encourage them to join us in the dining room for our brand-new breakfast club!  

We will be open every morning from 8–8.45am and will be running this on a trial basis from Monday 8 September through to December. 

We will be offering hot snacks, porridge, cereal and granola pots with the option of a cooked breakfast on Fridays, plus a range of hot drinks to set them up for the day. 

You can find our full menu and prices on the school website Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Dining Room

If your child has an allergy please ask them to come and have a chat with me, I am more than happy to help. 

Mrs S Parrott 
Catering Manager 


Keeping up to date

Follow us online

Do follow us on Instagram (you’ll see our Instagram posts feed through to Facebook too). Look for us @ kestevenandsleafordhighschool. We have moved moving away from using Twitter as a platform in order to reach the majority of our stakeholders most easily.

We would encourage parents to use our website at www.kshs.uk.  The website is a source of information about all aspects of the school, and you will be able to find the answer to most of your queries on there.  If you cannot find what you are looking for, please email: enquiries@kshs.uk.


Mobile phones

At the start of the year we remind students of our clear mobile phone regulations in school. For parents/carers our policy can be found here Mobile Phone and Device policy Thank you for your support in this. Helping students navigate the ever constant world of social media is something we are committed to. We are clear with students that mobile phones are for safety moving to and from school and that in school they can only be used for learning purposes in KS4 and KS5 with permission from their class teacher at the point of use. Otherwise, if seen they will be confiscated with increasing sanctions for the number of confiscations. We think it is kind to be clear with students and to provide phone free time in their day to focus on other opportunities and skills.  Please look out for information and advice in our regular newsletter columns on how you can support your child in a busy online world to stay safe and happy.


House Badges

If you would like to purchase a house badge in the appropriate colour for your child’s uniform, please pay on ParentPay and the badge will be issued. If your child has already got a house badge, there is no need to purchase a new one



Current Vacancies 

20 Mar 2025
Vacancy - Cover Supervisors
We are looking to appoint Cover Supervisors
Read more