KING EDWARD VI FIVE WAYS SCHOOL Scotland Lane Bartley Green BIRMINGHAM B32 4BT Dear Parents, In most schools, there is a gentle, winding down towards the end of term...not so at Five Ways! Our final week seemed busier than ever! I commend our pupils, students and staff on a term of fine academic endeavours; in particular, I was pleased to read so many positive academic reports for Year 10 and Lower Sixth students. This served to remind me of the enormous privilege it is to work with such bright and able young people. None less so than Afyad Ansar in Year 7 who was rewarded with a large Easter egg in final assembly for achieving a phenomenal 14 Head Commendations since September; there is no space remaining in his planner to record any more! We now have a Head's Commendation display board in the main foyer to show some of this excellent work and I would recommend that you take a look at Afyad's history poster...the small print and strap line are cleverly amusing. Last Monday, we welcomed our Japanese partners, 11 students with Mr Uchiyama and Miss Enocchijimma from our link school in Okasaki for the third of our exchanges. I thank all our host families for your hospitality and generosity, without which our students would not be able to experience such a wonderful opportunity. Attendance from across the school for the Japanese presentations was positive, with the Foundation Room buzzing with the excitement of martial arts, calligraphy, kimonos and the opportunity to sample some dried eels! A very British evening roast served in Wheeldon's concluded another successful visit; the partnership and friendship between our two schools are special and valued highly by us. In October, 15 Five Ways' students with Mr Russell and myself will venture to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Okazaki and Osaka...much to look forward to! Mr Russell and I will demonstrate some lessons and assemblies as a professional development exercise, given that Okasaki High School strives to develop further independent learning in their students and greater interactivity in lessons. Simultaneously, we welcomed Mr Adam Ahmed, a civil servant working in the Department of Education, for a three days 'immersion visit'. It was a good opportunity to exhibit all that is Five Ways. During the three days, Adam 'shadowed' a Sixth Form student, attending lessons with her, toured the school with a School Captain, held meetings with a number of teachers and school leaders, participated in a debate with the A level Politics group, attended a training session focused on the development of cross curricular teaching and learning, spectated at the students v staff hockey match, attended three assemblies (including our Monday whole school assembly which he thought was a special awards ceremony rather than just our normal start to the week!), joined in with the opening launch events for the Phiz Lab, observed the School Council meeting in which I was put through my paces in the 'hot seat' and Adam also shadowed a teacher for a day. Not surprisingly then, Adam confessed to falling asleep very early on his first evening, such is the pace of life at Five Ways! At the end of his visit, he fed back to me with the comments/ report he would be making to the DfE: the headline, opening judgement is that 'King Edward VI Five Ways School is inspirational'. I'll settle for that! I really enjoyed our Spring Concert. It is gratifying to see so many pupils and students excelling in their music; they entertained us with such impressive variety, from the Barbershop to the euphonium to the spectacular orchestral finale. We couldn't get enough, so much so that in the following morning's assembly the Barbershop Quartet performed again their Outkast medley to such warmth of applause. Indeed, School has appreciated the talent and excellence of all recent performances in assembly in the run up to the concert. I am grateful to both Mr Griffin and Mr Swindells whose hard work and dedication make it all happen. Our student members of KEFW Leadership have done a sterling job over the past five weeks, planning and delivering a programme of Saturday morning Literacy Masterclasses to more than 140 children in Years 4 and 5. Attendance figures have remained high throughout; our Sixth Form students are the best ambassadors of a Five Ways education. They are also the organisers of the Easter Booster classes which I hope our GCSE and A level students are finding to be helpful and beneficial. In the past few weeks I have had the excitement of meeting with three architects to discuss our vision for a new changing rooms suite and sports clubhouse. The creativity of the architects has 'wowed' me...and then, reality has kicked in! The new building will be located in-‐between the Fox Field and the netball courts and, hopefully, will be ready for use in September 2016. It represents significant further investment in the development of sport at Five Ways and will be for the benefit of all pupils. No doubt many of you, who have braved the bracing winds from the reservoir to watch on the hockey touchline, will welcome the new viewing balconies in particular! We continue to develop our partnership with Golden Hillock School; to date, we have supported the development of their (new) governing body and their mathematics department and pupils from GHS have joined us for our recent Potions Day and for the Japanese presentations. In return, the Principal at GHS supported me by sitting on the selection panel in the recent appointment of Mr Fox's successor as Deputy Head. Next term, we aim to offer a Sixth From experience to their students, a football tournament, a table tennis competition and we will lead on a cross curricular learning day for able students. An exciting and mutually beneficial relationship is emerging. You may recall that I invited parental response earlier in this term as to how we might develop further and improve parental involvement in school life. Whilst responses were rather limited in terms of numbers, there were many good ideas and I am grateful to those of you who took the time to feedback to me. I know that Five Ways continues to be an outstanding school as a result of the supportive and collaborative partnership between home and school. In direct response to your ideas, we are currently developing a new school website to include the information you requested; sports results will be reported to you weekly via the website and the e-‐ newsletter; we will trial sending all letters to you electronically, moving to this method entirely in September if the pilot is successful; in our end of term assembly, we presented many sports colours for both rugby and hockey, both to girls and boys, and it was good to present the first of the bronze certificates for the Duke of Edinburgh Award; we are developing plans for a 'Fresher's Fayre' type of event to promote our extra curricular activities to all pupils in September; and we are also currently devising a practice interview system, using parental professional input, for all Sixth Form students in the Autumn term. As for your other suggestions, the Leadership Team intend to focus on one per week in our meetings through the summer term. Please do email any other ideas for improvement that you may have to '[email protected]' ~ they are most welcomed. You may have spotted the variously decorated owlet in the school foyer of late. It is part of 'The Big Hoot' here in Birmingham, a public art exhibition sponsored by The Schools of King Edward VI. I would recommend you to google it to find out more. Mrs Coen has shared some of the initial designs with us in assembly...I think her Picasso version is memorable. Should you feel creative, please do forward your design ideas! I have no doubt that our cricket touring party will now be enjoying some sunshine in Sri Lanka and, hopefully, some victories on the pitch too! I hope you enjoy your Easter break; our Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist and Sikh student presenters in assembly last Friday reminded us that this is a joyous time of year for all. I am taking our five months old puppies, Vic and Bob, away for the first time; true to their name, it will be full of entertainment, I am sure! I send my very best wishes to you and your families. Yours sincerely Yvonne Wilkinson.