News Stories

In January 2020, Parkgate Primary, Barr’s Hill, Stoke Park and President Kennedy Secondary Schools took part in the Echo Eternal Horizons Performance Event which took place at the sumptuous Town Hall in Birmingham. The evening comprised music, dance and spoken word tributes as artists and students shared their work and remembered together.

Our schools showcased their moving film echoes and exhibited their thought provoking art work inspired by testimony from the Holocaust survivors with whom they have worked. Each school’s response to survivor testimony is made eternal through a short film which articulates learners’ tribute to each individual survivor. The films are grounded in the words of the survivor, each film beginning and ending with verbatim testimony.

The Echo Eternal is a live project across a network of eighteen schools and The Futures Trust are proud that four of its schools are included within this inspiring initiative.

Well done to all our schools who participated so impressively at the Horizons Performance event. We are certain that this will be an important memory for all of you who attended the event.

 

Year 13 students on the Level 3 Btec National Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care course, visited Maymorn Day Centre last week.

The centre delivers day care for people who have Dementia. Students are currently studying a unit focused on Dementia and the visit was intended to further their knowledge in this area.

They all enjoyed interacting with both clients and staff at the centre.

"I really enjoyed the visit and meeting everyone at the centre" Amy 

"It gave us a great insight of individuals with different types of Dementia"- Ria

          Mrs Osborne, Teacher of Health & Social Care

On Friday 31st January, President Kennedy School was the venue for a one day conference, bringing together over 80 maths teachers from across the Midlands and The Futures Trust.

 

President Kennedy Teaching School Alliance and ABBC Maths at Parkgate Primary hosted Craig Barton, Maths Teacher, TES advisor and author of the book "How I wish I'd Taught Maths", who delivered workshops on Worked Examples and Formative Assessment as part of this fantastic maths CPD day.

Feedback from the event was very positive with delegates commenting that the information presented was "extremely useful in moving forward in my classroom teaching" and "the mathematical presentation was clear and easy to link in with".

  

The work focused on the best methods to enable students to have more opportunities within lessons, to discover maths for themselves and try to reach outcomes, rather than being told what they were aiming to achieve from the outset.

You can follow Craig Barton and President Kennedy Teaching School Alliance on twitter @mrbartonmaths and @PresKenTSA

 

May Sly,Teaching School Manager

                                                                   

World Class Schools Quality Mark (WCSQM) has named the latest group of schools to have been awarded the status of World Class, as part of the annual WCSQM Awards Ceremony, hosted by Cambridge University at Lady Mitchell Hall. The Awards Ceremony celebrates accrediting schools, as well as individual students from World Class schools UK wide, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in 2019.
 
Now in its sixth year of accreditation, WCSQM has awarded the mark to a further 17 non-selective state secondary schools and seven primary schools, from around the country. All of the new schools have demonstrated that their students are truly World Class through their successful participation in the rigorous assessment process. 
 
WCSQM assessment requires schools to demonstrate that their students are capable of compiling comprehensive evidence in support of their application. All applicant schools must exceed a challenging threshold in their Key Stage 2 or 4 performance before being invited to apply. Their students must then develop a compelling case for accreditation through detailed auditing of their school's capabilities, video submissions in support of their application, and participating in an assessment centre event, at which their performances are measured against a challenging framework. 
 
“WCSQM is a charity created for and driven by World Class students. Our assessment process is very much student led and student centric, and this year we were once again amazed by the tenacity, drive and work-readiness exhibited by the students of these applicant schools. They were a credit to their schools and a testament to the truly World Class education provision they offer.” Miranda Perry, Director of WCSQM.

The Awards Ceremony saw World Class school leaders, staff, students and their parents from across the country come together to enjoy an afternoon of talks and workshops including an essay writing workshop led by Cambridge University’s Faculty of English lecturer Phil Knox, a talk on Cambridge admissions by Dr Glen Rangwala, Director of Admissions Trinity College Cambridge,  and presentations from World Class alumni students, World Class school leaders and the event sponsor, DPR, giving students and staff the opportunity to try their award-winning Dynamic Progress Reporting system. The sessions preceded an evening of prize giving, accompanied by performances from talented World Class students and a keynote talk from the event’s host, Dr Phil Knox. As well as awarding this year’s accrediting schools, there were awards across a number of categories recognising students’ World Class achievements in 2019, including the essay writing competition and individual student achievement award.

 

President Kennedy School’s Performing Art Showcase 'What's Your Greatest Show' was a huge hit.  Appreciative parents, carers and friends who filled the school hall were treated to an evening of fantastic acting, singing and