Kingsway Villagers

With the school building (obviously) unavailable at the moment, the staff of Kingsway School have come up with a few other ways for pupils and parents to meet before the start of the new school year.

On Tuesday July 1st, we went along to the Quedgeley Library for a story session hosted by Mrs Warren, the reception year teacher. Mrs Needham was there with the new school uniforms. Phoenix had a great time and we came home loaded with books!

On Thursday July 10th, Phoenix and I went along to a second meeting at Go Bananas in (Ebley) Stroud, a fabulous indoor softplay centre. Phoenix was nervous to begin with but ended up scaring me half to death by climbing right up to the top level and hurtling down the largest slide – lol – I wish I’d taken my camera.
All the children seemed to have great fun and – if they were as exhausted as Phoenix – the parents should have had a nice quiet evening!

There was a tour of the school (parents only) on Friday 11th. Sadly I was unable to go as I had Phoenix with me and children weren’t allowed (Health & Safety reasons). I’m dying to see inside the school

On Monday at 4.15pm we will get to see the part of Beech Green Primary School where the children will be spending the first few months.

Adverts are out for more jobs at the new school

When we fully open we will need a total of four Midday Supervisors, and as soon as possible a Clerk to the Governors.

From 1 January 2009 we need three Teaching Assistants, the closing date for these is 25 July 2008:
Post One: Foundation Stage Teaching Assistant.
Post Two: SEN focused Teaching Assistant.
Post Three: Teaching Assistant to work with an individual statemented pupil for 10 hours per week

Further details are available from the Headteacher, Mrs Needham, at Kingsway Primary School, c/o Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester. GL1 2TP. Tel 01452 425077 or email: paula.needham@gloucestershire.gov.uk

The jobs adverts are: here.

Kingsway Primary School will be actively endorsing a ‘Walk to School’ ethos for our pupils and we aim to reduce, not add to, the traffic concerns of many residents.

This ethos will be included in all our literature and will be part of the vision for the school. Indeed, we are just about to start working on a School Travel Plan with QUVL and Gloucestershire Highways to support this aim.

Mrs Paula Needham
Headteacher

I thought I would update all readers about the remaining places available at the school for this academic year. After a flurry of new admissions, the following number of places are available:

Reception – FULL
Year 1: 9
Year 2: 9
Year 3: FULL
Year 4: FULL
Year 5: 11
Year 6: 10

In summary, of the 120 places available for this year, only 39 remain. I know that some residents are waiting until the school opens its doors in January for Y1 to 6 but it may be too late by this point. Please do enrol in your local school and help build our community.

If you require a place at the school, then call 01452 425077 and speak directly to the Headteacher, Mrs Needham. If you want a place in a year group that is already full, then please do contact us and we can try to help you.

Mrs Needham

There still remains some confusion over how to get a place at the Kingsway School and I thought it wise to summarise everything here. It remains the most accurate and effective guide to what steps to follow!

If your child is starting school and is requiring a place in our reception classes in whatever year (2008, 2009, 2010 etc):
Admissions are controlled by the Admission Team at Shire Hall (01452 425407). Please contact them directly for advice. There is a section of Gloucestershire County Council’s website devoted to admissions and this explains everything you need to know – here.

If you want to ‘get in the system’ and ensure that you are known by myself and the school, it is also worth completing a registration form and we will hold it on file until the right time. This means you do not get forgotten and are alerted to all procedures in advance. I should emphasise that this is not an application to the school and does not guarantee you a place.

There are 30 places in our reception class until 2012, then we increase to 60 places. HOWEVER, if applications for places exceeds 30, then we can open up the second classroom earlier than this. As far as we are concerened every Kingsway reception child will get a place at their local school.

If your child is in Y1 to Y6 then it is me, as Headteacher, who allocates admissions to the school. The procedure is as follows:

If you want a place at the school then you need to complete an application form. On receipt of this application form, I can allocate you a place if I have room. It is that simple!
Again, it is our purpose to ensure that all children in the Kingsway area will get a place at the local school.
We currently have 15 places in each of these year groups (Y1 has 15, Y2 has 15 etc) but can increase this as need demands.
Application forms are available from
Kingsway Primary School,
c/o Shire Hall,
Westgate Street,
Gloucester,
GL2 2TP
or tel: 01452 425077
or email: paula.needham@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Finally, here is the update on our opening date:

Pupils in our Reception class 2008 will be taught as Kingsway Primary school but in a temporary classroom on the grounds of Beech Green Primary School. They will be in practical terms a school in a school. As soon as the school is ready, these pupils will move over to the school building. We have been told this week that this will be possibly the middle of December but it may be sooner. This decision belongs to QUVL.

As there are only two classrooms at Beech Green, we cannot admit any other year groups until the school is handed over. This decison again belongs to QUVL but we will be moving as soon as the building is ready for occupancy. Pupils in Y1 to Y6 will therefore be invited to move from their current schools from about mid December onwards but certainly no later than Monday 5th January 2009. We believe that most parents will prefer to allow their children to complete the Christmas term at their current school and then join in the Christmas celebrations rather than join us for a fortnight. Hence the reason we feel our opening for Y1 to Y6 is more likely to be January.

Hope this all makes sense now.

Mrs Needham
Headteacher

Hi All,

I’d just like to introduce myself as the Site Manager for the new Kingsway Primary School.
Some of you may already have met me, but I’ve just found your Kingsway blog so thought it would be a good idea to say hello and give you all an update on the progress of the School.

With three months to go until completion, the building is really starting to come together. Our dedicated & skilled construction team continues to strive to deliver an excellent and eye catching addition to the new Kingsway Village.

This month the internal scaffolding has been dropped, and the graceful curves of the naturally lit learning spaces have become apparent. Brilliantly red render has seared onto the external walls, whilst eco-friendly design additions, such as the naturally ventilating ‘wind catchers’ and solar heat panels have been installed. The sports pitch and playgrounds have begun to take shape, with landscaping commencing to create habitat and planting areas.

As we move through the summer, we’re confident that we’ll present a building that will not only serve as a first class school, but will add a real ‘wow’ factor to the local community.

Additionally I’ve also set up a Facebook group, ‘Constructing the New Kingsway Primary School, Quedgeley’, where I’ll be posting progress pictures and updates for everybody who is keen to see how the new school is shaping up.

To close, I’d just like to say that I would welcome any comments on the building so far. Speller-Metcalfe are committed to being considerate constructors; if we can do anything to help, be it organising a site visit for the Kingsway Village Residents Group, or by doing something to make the lives of residents affected by the hustle and bustle of the building work easier, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best Regards

Adrian Speller
Site Manager
On behalf of
Speller-Metcalfe Ltd.