Lateral Flow Testing

Ironically, as things now begin to open up across the country, we have regrettably had to ask a small number of boys to self-isolate this week after a positive case was identified following a lateral flow test. This highlights the importance of students testing; it allows us to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid and minimises the number of students that we have to send home. Students are all now in receipt of their latest batch of test kits, the use of which should help us to keep as many students safe and in school for as long as possible. Please remember to inform us immediately if your son has a positive Lateral Flow Test.

Enrichment Week

You will already be aware that across the school the timetable is suspended next week, and we have a full programme of activities for Enrichment Week. Please click here for an outline of what activities each year group will be doing.

Timings for Last Day of Term

We are giving you advance warning that on the last day of term, Wednesday 21^st July, students will be finishing earlier than normal. There will be no normal lunchtime, but all year groups will have an extended breaktime where they can purchase food from the canteen. Please see below for specific end of school timings for each year group:

Year 7 - 12:40

Year 8 - 12:35

Year 9 - 12:30

Year 10 - 12:25

Inflatable Fun!

Students have had a whale of a time during the last two days on the gigantic inflatable that we have had on the school field, marking the run up to Enrichment Week. All year groups have had the opportunity to compete for the best time to complete the obstacle course and have had immense fun in doing so. Check out our Twitter feed for pictures.

Peripatetic Instrument Lessons for the year 21/22

At KNBS we offer additional instrumental lessons for students in conjunction with Music Academy Midlands and Birmingham Services for Education. If you would like your son to benefit from this opportunity, please click here for further instructions. Please note that if your son already has lessons in school with Services for Education, you will still need to sign up for the new year. If you have any questions, please email e.davis@knbs.co.uk.

Locker reminder

If your son has had a locker this year and wishes to keep it, or if he hasn’t but wishes to have one for next year, it is important that payment for this is made via Parent Pay as soon as possible. We cannot guarantee that lockers will be available in September for those who have not paid in advance.

Lateral Flow Testing

Many thanks to the majority of parents who continue to be vigilant in ensuring that their son is completing a Lateral Flow Test twice weekly and reporting the results to us via this form here. This is one of the key safety measures that continues to keep our school community largely Covid free. It is important that we continue with this for the remainder of the school year so that we can keep as many students in school as possible. If you require more testing kits, please let us know and these can be collected from Reception by prior arrangement.

Early Finish to the School Day Friday 9^th July

To allow our Year 11 Leavers’ Celebration Event to take place, and to avoid the mixing of year group bubbles, students in Years 7-10 will leave school early on Friday 9^th July. Leaving times will be staggered as per the schedule below:

Year 10:                2.10pm

Year 9:                  2.15pm

Year 8:                  2.20pm

Year 7:                  2.25pm

Summer Safety Message

As our thoughts begin to turn to the summer holidays, it is key that we also keep the safety of our students at the forefront of our minds so that they can all return to us safe and sound in September.  Please click here to read an important message from West Midlands Police and KNBS.

Homework Survey

We are keen to hear parents’ views on a range of matters related to homework. Please click here to share your views via a short survey.

Lockers for 2021-22 

If your son has had a locker this year and wishes to keep it, or if he hasn’t but wishes to have one for next year, it is important that payment for this is made via Parent Pay as soon as possible. We cannot guarantee that lockers will be available in September for those who have not paid in advance.

Rock Music Holiday Club

If your son is interested in rock music, click here for details of a ‘Rock School Holiday Club’ being run by Music Academy Midlands. This is a wonderful opportunity for budding rock stars to meet like-minded youngsters, and even perform.

KNBS Virtual Summer Concert

We are inviting submissions for the KNBS Virtual Summer Concert which will take place at the end of term. Students can submit a range of material, including:

• A video performance of them performing a piece 
• Video or audio material of a composition or arrangement they have created
• A video of a performance with someone in their year group or household
• Any other ideas are welcome.

They should let Ms Davis know as soon as possible if they would like to be involved and to get more information about how to take part. She is happy to help students put an act together if needed.

The video submission deadline is Friday 9th July.

Covid Update

You will already be aware that this week, we have had a small number of confirmed Covid cases amongst our school community; any close contacts have been asked to self-isolate to prevent transmission. We are disappointed that this has happened, but it is a sore reminder of the importance of everyone in our school community continuing to follow our safety measures, such as the use of hand sanitiser and the wearing of masks. It would be immensely sad for bubbles to have to isolate during the last few weeks of term, so it remains vitally important that they all complete their Lateral Flow Tests on Wednesdays and Sundays, and that the results are reported to us via this form here.

We have Lateral Flow Test kits in stock ready to go out; they will be given to students during the first week of July. Your current supply, if used correctly, should suffice until the 12th July. We do, however, carry stock in our main reception should anyone need kits in the meantime.

Open Letter to Parents from Secretary of State for Education

The Secretary of State for Education has written an open letter to parents (click on the link to access this) encouraging continued regular testing, to support all the hard work schools and colleges have been doing to increase participation.

INSET day 28^th June Reminder

Please remember that we are holding our final INSET day on Monday 28^th June. School will be open to staff on this day but closed for all students.

Year 7 Parents’ Evening 1^st July

In preparation for the upcoming virtual Parents’ Evening for Year 7, you will shortly be in receipt of all of the details that you need about the whole process, including your log in and the steps you need to take to book appointments with your son’s teachers. If you have not yet received these, please let us know. You can also click on the link here for more information: https://support.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/article/801-video-parents-how-to-attend-appointments-over-video-call.

Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Good morning,

Within the last 48 hours we have had two confirmed cases via PCR test and 1 case confirmed via Lateral Flow test (PCR test being taken to confirm).  

Case 1 - Year 8 - Symptomatic

Case 2 & 3 - Year 11 - Asymptomatic

Yet again the speedy action of our families has limited the impact and, therefore, the number of students that have had to Self-Isolate (all of those needing to self-isolate are in Key Stage 4 and have been contacted separately).

We urge you to stay vigilant and keep testing to make sure that you that we do not have more asymptomatic cases within the community.  If you require more LFD tests, please book them here: https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests.  We are chasing our next order and will as before provide students with kits once they have arrived.

Covid Update

In light of the latest announcement on Monday about the continuing Covid restrictions, some of you may be understandably anxious about the growing numbers of cases that are being reported locally, particularly amongst young people. We would like to reassure you that our continued measures in school seem to be holding fast and helping our school community to stay safe. Masks, hand sanitiser, the one-way system, staggered breaks and lunches, amongst other measures, are the mainstays of protection and we would like to thank parents for your continued support in encouraging our boys to persist with these, despite all of our frustrations. It remains vitally important that students complete their Lateral Flow Tests on Wednesdays and Sundays, and that the results are reported to us via this form here.

It is clear that the latest Delta strain is especially virulent and once it gets into a community it spreads swiftly. We are in a good place and do not want to go back to bubbles isolating. Therefore, please ensure that any positive cases are reported immediately. Additionally, we would ask you to be extra vigilant with spotting symptoms as new additions to the list are runny nose and headache. We appreciate that in the middle of hay fever season this is not particularly helpful but would ask that you are extra cautious – we all want to end the school year with a full complement of staff and students and with everybody safe and well.

INSET day 28th June Reminder

We will be holding our final INSET day on Monday 28th June. School will be open to staff on this day but closed for all students. Please make a note of this in your diary.

Sports Day

At this time of year, there is normally a frisson of excitement at the prospect of our eagerly awaited whole school Sports Day. Following Monday’s announcement, it would be imprudent of us to go ahead with our planned event, so we have decided to undertake year group bubble afternoon events to reduce the risk of Covid transmission. These will take place, weather permitting, in the week commencing 28th June. Please encourage your son to get involved, either by taking part in the events or as an enthusiastic supporter; everyone has a role to play when the Sports Day trophy is up for grabs!

Thanks

We have been impressed with how most students have once again taken to the wearing of masks in communal areas in school. They have been sensible in their conduct and gracious in accepting our gentle reminders of the importance of masks to reduce the risk of spreading Covid. While it would have been nice to end the school year mask-free, we remain committed to keeping our school community safe and feel this continued measure will help us to do so.

INSET day 28^th June

We will be holding our final INSET day on Monday 28^th June. School will be open to staff on this day but closed for all students. Please make a note of this in your diary.

Curriculum Enrichment Week – advance notice

The week commencing Monday 12^th July is Curriculum Enrichment Week. We have a wide range of activities planned for students across all year groups and are excited about the opportunities that our boys will have. We are currently finalising details of the week and will share more information with your son in good time.

New appointments

We would like you to join us in congratulating the following existing members of staff who have been successful in securing new roles in school for the coming academic year:

Head of PE: Mr Turner

Head of Music: Miss Naylor

Assistant Head of Year: Miss Yussuf

Assistant Head of Year: Mr Francis

They are very excited and chomping at the bit to get started!

Wellbeing Newsletter

The latest edition of our online Wellbeing Newsletter, Keeping Well @ KNBS, has some insightful comments from Ms Gowreesunker about the benefits of art therapy, as well as information about Pride Month, which is celebrated in the month of June. Click here for access.

Good morning,

We hope that you have been able to take advantage of the good weather over the half term - it was lovely to see sunshine rather than rain.  

We have had very few confirmed cases in our school community since returning on the 8th of March.  In fact, we have only had 4 confirmed cases involving our students (1 in Year 11, 1 in Year 10 and 2 in Year 7).  One of these confirmed cases led to approx. 30 students needing to self-isolate and the other three students had already been at home for a good period before becoming symptomatic - so no other students had to self-isolate.  We would like to thank our community for their vigilance, as it has been a key factor in so few students needing to self-isolate.

With new variants being confirmed in parts of Birmingham, we ask again for your vigilance and support.  I am sure that you will have seen the press coverage around such variants and the suspicion that they may be more prevalent in those aged 12-18.  Public Health Birmingham have identified parts of the city where schools have had outbreaks leading up to half term, and we know how important it is to work collaboratively with our community to aid a safe return to school tomorrow (8th June).

How can you help?

Lateral Flow Tests

Please make sure that you complete a lateral flow test with your son(s) before they return, as requested in Friday's text message.  You can log those results here.

Masks

Please make sure that your son brings a clean mask to school.  Although the Government has removed the requirement for masks to be worn in schools, we will continue with our procedures as outlined before half term.  We will expect students (who are not exempt) to wear their masks in indoor communal areas (corridors, canteen, dining rooms, hall etc.). 

Once seated in lessons, students will be able to remove their masks if they want to.  We have seen a significant benefit to learning and student wellbeing since students have been able to remove masks in lessons but, of course, students can keep their masks on in lessons if it makes them feel more comfortable.

Expectations

We held virtual assemblies in the lead up to half term, reminding students of our shared expectations.  We will continue this drive to raise standards as this helps all our students' safety and achievement.  Please help us by reminding your son of the staggered times of the day and the importance of the one-way system (click here for a reminder about staggered times).

Thank you in advance for your support in helping our return to school run smoothly and safely.

At the end of the most ‘normal’ of half terms this academic year, we remain hugely impressed with the way that the vast majority of our students have just got on with things and taken all the ups and downs in their stride. We would like to wish all of our families a restful and relaxing half term break.

INSET Day reminder

Please remember that we are having an INSET day on 7th June. School will re-open for all students on Tuesday 8th June.

Parents’ Evening 1st July

Please ensure that you have this date saved in your diary. It is a virtual event, and you will be sent all of the necessary information to allow you to log on and book appointments in plenty of time.

Staying Safe Online

School have been made aware of a citywide increase in the number of young people engaging in the posting and/or sharing of indecent and nude images via social media platforms. Today we have presented a news report to our students providing them with key information and facts around the risks and consequences of such actions. Please take the time to look at the clip on our website (click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEJFH3qKaUE) and discuss the content with your son. We will be holding follow-up activities as part of our Personal Development curriculum after the half term break. Should you require any further advice or guidance around this matter, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Safeguarding Team. For further information on matters relating to online safety, please visit www.ceop.police.uk or www.childline.org.uk.

Literacy Success

Some of our Year 7 students have been engaging in a bespoke literacy intervention programme that has been delivered by Ms Deering. Yesterday was their ‘passing out’ parade! They have all made great progress and we are hugely proud of them. Here they are with their Achievement Certificates: