Dear Parent / Carer,
Uniform’d – 2nd hand uniform sales
We are delighted to announce that 2nd hand uniform is now available to buy on Uniform’d, an online platform designed for schools. It is as easy as online shopping – pop what you need in the basket, make an online payment and the uniform will be delivered to your child at school!
All proceeds will go direct to the Parent Teacher Association. The PTA are here to support the school and ultimately help to provide additional resources to enrich the lives of all children at the school.
A couple of important notes:
Please click on the link below to access the school’s shop directly.
https://app.uniformd.co.uk/items/kingsmead-school
We will update stocks as uniform is donated to us. So please do check in regularly to see what is available.
Thank you for your support!
The PTA team
Students at Kingsmead are celebrating today, after their hard work and efforts were rewarded with some excellent exam results.
Headteacher John Eddy said: “This was an exceptional year group who consistently worked hard for their success. They took all the opportunities offered by a very dedicated group of teachers to ensure that they were well prepared for the exams.
“We continue to see our results improve across a wide range of measures. We saw increased outcomes for students securing both English and Maths, as well as increases at the highest grades of 7 and above.
“We are also delighted that our students with educational needs also did really well securing our best results for six years. Several of our students had to overcome significant challenges during their exam years and we are very proud of their significant achievements.”
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with these students and wish them every success as they continue their studies and training.”
Particular praise goes to Jasmine C with seven grade 9s and three grade 8s, Harriet H with six grade 9s and three grade 8s, Bea L , Georgia A and Elle Z with three grade 9s each. Tristan C, Jacob C and Johnny F with two grade 9s each.
Our “Somer of Sound” was a huge success, with more than 350 tickets sold. Festival goers enjoyed a mini Glastonbury in the blazing heat, with 25 acts performing – soloists, vocalists, bands and DJs. The stage acts featured students past and present, as well as some stunning local talent.
Other highlights were food by the amazing Little Red Fire Truck, ice creams and sweets, festival “tattoos” and glitter, a DJ set and dance off competition. With thanks to the PTA for running a very busy bar which raised funds for the school. We also collected more than £1,000 via ticket sales and a raffle for Wiveliscombe Pool.
We chose the pool as it desperately needs financial help to keep it open. The rapid rise of gas and electricity prices has had a very significant impact on its viability. It’s been part of our community or nearly 100 years and we hope it can be here for 100 more.
Wivey Pool Needs YOU – JustGiving
A wonderful night was had by all at the Year 11 Prom held at Venue at Oake Manor.
The amazing array of arrivals, from a Ferrari to tractor convoys to mobility scooters, horses, lawn mowers and trail bikes, set the scene for a truly memorable night for our leavers, who all looked fantastic in their Prom suits and dresses.
Our wonderful students had a well deserved celebration to mark the end of a year of hard work and determination – they were all a credit to Kingsmead, we wish them all the very best for their futures. Thank you to all who helped organise a magical night and to Oake for everything they always do to make the night run so successfully.
With the warmer weather the plants are growing at a tremendous rate – particularly in the poly tunnel. Students have been very busy nurturing, watering and weeding the vegetable plots, raised beds and wild flower beds in addition to the routine work.
Our three beds of potatoes are growing very nicely and we must extend our sincere thanks to Keith Summers (parent of Ellie in Year 10 and Daisy in Year 7) for generously donating the seed potatoes that the students planted a while back.
Everything we are growing, with the exception of the strawberry plants, has been from seed by the students. This includes for the tomato plants and cucumber plants in the photos. They are even bigger now as I took these photos just over a week ago.
One unexpected success has been the sunflowers. In addition to the ones we planted outside, the students planted around 30 inside the poly tunnel in pots and those have now been taken home by the students and staff. Such was the demand we have planted another 200 or so and I expect all of those will head off to new homes in around a week or so.
Penny and Lucky, our lambs, have more than doubled in size since their arrival and all are doing very well. Mistletoe, our Devon Long Wool, has taken to wandering off with plastic buckets on her head – her latest party trick.
I must also take this opportunity to extend my ongoing gratitude to Marie Berry (mum to Phoebe in Year 11 and Grace in Year 9) for her unwavering support and help with the sheep.
Sadly we lost one of our guinea pigs recently to old age so we are now down to two. One of those is getting on a bit now so we will be looking for new additions in September. They are social animals and do not do well alone.
It will not be that long until we are heading into the winter months, so now I need to start thinking about hay and straw. If anyone has any they are willing to donate or that I can buy I would love to hear from them.
The Year 9 students have now been given their options for Year 10 and 11 and I have two classes of new students lined up for September. I look forward to welcoming them to the school farm.
The very talented Noah M in Year 9 has had a number of casting and performing opportunities recently. We are proud to see how his stage career is progressing and wish him the best of luck.
Our Year 11 students marked the end of an era in true Kingsmead style on Friday 23rd May, the last day of the half term. Celebration Day was filled with laughter, sunshine and plenty of unforgettable moments.
The festivities kicked off with a picnic served by the Senior Leadership Team and Ms Hall, our wonderful Head of Year. Students then enjoyed a visit from an ice cream van – a sweet treat to match the sunny vibes.
The celebratory assembly was a rollercoaster of emotions, featuring farewell speeches from tutors and students, a very enthusiastic karaoke session and one of Kingsmead’s most beloved traditions – the staff leavers’ video. This year’s top secret filming, codenamed Project Chimichanga, was a hilarious tribute with a sound track by Take That. Highlights included Mrs Hall braving the school stream in a rubber dinghy – a scene that will live long in Year 11 memory.
It was a fantastic send off for a lovely year group. We wish all our Year 11 students the very best for the future – and remember, once a Kingsmead student, always a Kingsmead student!
It has been another busy term for the Computing Department. The iMedia classes in Years 10 and 11 have submitted their coursework projects, computer scientists have been perfecting their programming ready for exam or assessment, Year 9 are working on animation and video and Years 7 and 8 are now actively using the arcade kits – handheld mini games consoles that they are programming for play!
The Cyber Club, for Year 8-10 students in conjunction with Bridgwater & Taunton College, finished a few weeks ago. It covered cyber security, defending a network, wifi security and ethical hacking. The picture shows them hunched over laptops trying to packet sniff a wifi network to find a way in!
We also have the Digital Discovery Day on the last day of the term at Exeter College – 14 of our Year 7 and 8 students attending six workshops – green screening, filming, marketing, virtual reality artificial intelligence and esports. This will be great fun but also help to open up the range of careers options and opportunities in the IT sector.
Next term we already have an online workshop lined up on AI in robotics and we are actively preparing for the Minecraft and coding workshops during enrichment week.
We observed a minute’s silence today as part of the VE Day commemorations. More than 900 students and staff observed this impeccably.
The canteen also created themed cup cakes for students and the school was decorated with Union Jacks.
Leah M and Sophie C in Year 9 went into Wiveliscombe to support a coffee morning, as part of the local events to mark this special occasion, helping to raise just over £400 for charity.
To mark VE Day, we asked for your family stories about WW2. Here are a selection of photos and memories sent in by parents.
From Jenny, mother of Jasmine W in Year 7.
“This is a photo of Leonard James Lancelot Fennell. His rank in the army was a Quarter Master hence he was known to all as ‘Q’. Jasmine is his great granddaughter.
“Grandad was a Quarter Master with King George VI Royal Horse Artillery, otherwise known as The King’s Troop. He was serving in Egypt before WW2. In 1940, The King’s Troop became part of the British Expeditionary force, in France.
“When the French surrendered at St Valery, Grandad was captured and marched to Poland to be incarcerated in Stagluft 3C, prisoner of war camp, for the remainder of the war, until VE day when they returned to freedom.
“During his time as a POW, grandad received telegrams from his family one of which is shown here, from his father (Pop), informing my grandad of his sister’s death and siblings’ health.”
Victoria, mother of Seren and Gwyneth N, sent us these remarkable photos and stories about their relatives.
George Hughes (great grandfather) – Earl of Carrick’s own Ayrshire Yeomanry 151st regiment field artillery.
Victoria, mother of Seren and Gwyneth N, sent us these remarkable photos and stories about their relatives.
George Hughes (great grandfather) – Earl of Carrick’s own Ayrshire Yeomanry 151st regiment field artillery.
Arnold Ernest Davies – 1922-1942 (great uncle). He was training for night flying up in Lossiemouth Scotland which is where he was stationed. The plane crashed into a golf course due to an engine failure and he was killed. Three of the crew survived. Rank Sergeant (RAF volunteer reserve) Navigator in the 20 operational training unit bomber command.
Lisa, mother of Molly T in Year 11 and Daisy T in Year 9, sent us this lovely photo of her grandparents during the Second World War. Her grandad was in the Army Medical Corps and spent time in Burma. Her grandma was a nurse.
This is Charles Long, Immy P’s great-great grandfather. He spent the whole of WW2 in the Royal Navy, serving as an Engineer on a number of ships all over the world including China, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic sea.
In 1942 he took part in the Arctic Convoys transporting supplies through conditions described by Winston Churchill as “the worst journey in the world”. In May of that year his ship, HMS Edinburgh, was torpedoed and sunk in freezing waters. Charles survived to serve the rest of the war on other ships.
