Kingsway Villagers

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Kingsway Village Residents Association

A brand new village offers a great opportunity for
us all to influence how the community develops.

A Residents Association could help by:

• Liaising with Parish and City Councils on our behalf
• Coordinating Village-based social events
• Giving us a voice within the (larger) community
• Coordinating groups like Neighbourhood Watch
• Liaising with the Police and similar services

Thus…

• Improving the quality of life for all Kingsway residents
• Making Kingsway a more desirable place to live
• Increasing the value of local property

A Meeting will be held at 7pm on Fri’ 27th June
(at the new Kingsway Comunity Centre)
… to launch the Association and
… to elect people for key positions (volunteers are welcome).

We’d love to see you there
(The more who turn up, the more representative the Association will be).

To get more information and/or join the discussions,
visit The Kingsway Blog(!) or call Barry on 722699

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The above is pretty-much an exact copy of the leaflets distributed to most local houses a few weeks ago. Apologies if you didn’t receive a copy, we had almost 1,000 printed but found we still had a substantial area left to do when we ran out and are hoping to get more copies printed and delivered as soon as possible.

The venue for the meeting is subject to change because we are still awaiting confirmation that it will be available in time. An alternative is available, so we will confirm (and give directions) on here, nearer the time.

We are - as said - hoping that a good number of residents will attend to show support for the Association, to elect people for those key positions, and - indeed - to volunteer for those positions.

You can read more about the subject and see previous discussions in our Residents Association Category.

4 solar-powered lights were stolen from a garden in Thatcham Avenue between the hours of 10:00pm yesterday and 6:30am this morning.

The light-fingered intruders made off with the goods stolen from the front garden of the property, leaving behind the 2 situated closest to the house.

Kingsway residents should take heed, these things often come in spats, so be on the lookout for suspicious activity and people wandering around in the early hours, or you could be next!

Anybody with information regarding the theft can contact the local community police team on 0845 090 1234 quoting incident number #338 - 12/06/’08.

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 avaliable 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

This post was submitted by Paula Needham.

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.

This post was submitted by adrian.speller.

There has been a question recently about the school uniform so I thought it wise to post it here.

Day-to-day Uniform
Navy blue school logo v neck sweatshirt or cardigan
White logo polo shirt or school shirt/blouse
School tie
Charcoal grey trousers, skirt or pinafore
Black or navy blue shoes (no trainers)

Summer uniform
As above or
Blue check gingham dress or charcoal grey shorts or skort

PE Kit
White logo PE shirt
Navy blue shorts
Daps or trainers according to season and activity

Other
School Book Bag (essential for all pupils)

In essence, a very smart uniform indeed!

I also wanted to comment about the groups of children and the apparent lack of things for them to do. Kingsway Primary School will aim to be the community school in every sense of the word and we are keen to start up clubs etc out of hours for everyone young and old. But what would you like in your area? I can only guess but we will have 6 empty classrooms for at least a year and if you can think of a club, we will do all we can to get it going for you. If you have a child living in the village can you ask them to let me know via paula.needham@gloucestershire.gov.uk?

Mrs Needham

Also,
editor: I can get inside pictures, plans etc of the school to include on your site. Can you contact me directly and we can discuss bringing the school section to life!

This post was submitted by Paula Needham.