We've had a request from Opwall for you to star in their next promotional video. Let me know if you've any objections.

I have been asked by Tim Coles at Operation Wallacea to film and produce another promotional video for the research charity. The dates that I will be in Mexico are the same as for your school. The people at Opwall tell me that these are the best dates because your school groups have been on Opwall expeditions before and are always 'Up for it'.

Roger Lennard

Normandy 2012 is fast approaching and the Information Evening is on Wednesday 23rd May at 7.30 in the Dobson Theatre. We will be going through our itinerary and handing out booklets detailing our trips and activities.

An electronic copy of the booklet can be found here.

The Geography Department continues to strive to provide a high quality education for students and to offer a pleasant working environment for both its pupils and members of staff.

Our aim is to provide a balanced 'diet' of the various aspects of the subject and to get the very best out of our students. We want our students to have the opportunity to explore their own perception of the subject from the First year up to A' Level and beyond.

We try to utilise fieldwork at all levels within the School. There are residential fieldcourses at both IGCSE and at AS/A2 levels.

Detail is shown below of trips for the next two terms.

The Overview page (on left) contains lists of currently planned activities into 2013 and beyond. Some major trips will also include information as shown on other sub-pages.

Welcome to the English Department website

We believe that the study of English can have a very positive impact on the lives of young people. Our ultimate aim is to inspire students to go on to study the subject at A Level and university. However, whether they take the subject on at A Level or not, we want all students who study English at the school to find the experience enjoyable and enlightening, and to leave KES with a range of skills that will benefit them in the future lives.

If you have any questions about this website, or any aspect of English at the school, please contact Dr Alistair Schofield on ajs@kes.hants.sch.uk

Research
Getting started worksheet.
Top ten ranked courses.
Finding the perfect match.
The Florit fast fixer.

• Exams & Reports
• Student Resources

Please click on the relevant expedition to find the associated information letter and consent form

Please click on the relevant expedition to find the associated information letter and consent form

Please click on the relevant expedition to find the associated information letter and consent form

BRONZE PRACTICE DROP OFF POINTS

All practice expeditions now leave from KES North Playground 

BRONZE PRACTICE PICK UP POINTS

All practice expeditions now return to KES North Playground - Pickup 1500hrs 

SILVER PRACTICE/INTRO PICK UP POINTS

All practice expeditions now return to KES North Playground - Pickup 1500hrs

BRONZE ASSESSMENT DROP OFF POINTS

Bolderwood Car Park

Canadian Memorial Car Park

Burbush Hill Car Park

Cadmans Pool Car Park

Rufus Stone

Long Cross Car Park

BRONZE ASSESSMENT PICK UP POINTS

Hatchet Pond (Near Beaulieu)

Stockley Car Park

Telegraph Hill Car Park

Bucklers Hard Car Park 

All parents are invited to this evening. Six topics will be offered, from which parents will chose to attend two 40 minute talks. Details on the specific topics will be provided nearer the time but we offer a range of talks, including advice on parenting an adolescent, how to talk to your child about sex and contraception, how to help your child with loss, guiding your child through their academic studies and self-esteem. This evening will be run biennially, early in the Summer Term, with the most recent evening having been held in May 2012.

Useful link: Supporting parents 



Summary:

Most students in the Sixth Form welcome the idea of business dress, rather than wearing School uniform for another two years.

It is important that students present themselves smartly for School each day and so, as an aid to maintaining standards of dress, a group of Sixth Form students and staff have put together this booklet to help you prepare yourself for business dress in the Sixth Form.

The booklet below should be read in conjunction with the Sixth Form Uniform Policy.

Before we go

If you have any problems or queries then please contact Mr SG Hall on the School telephone number. After the end of term the most effective method is by email to sgh@kes.hants.sch.uk.

First contact

The school office will have all travel and contact details when we are away, so please contact reception in the first instance if you need to get in touch. They will be able to contact a senior member of staff if necessary.

Emergency contact out of hours

If, in the case of an emergency, you need to make contact with somebody, the Opwall Office can put you directly in contact with Opwall staff and associated organisations in the field. Outside of office hours, you will be directed to a 24 hour emergency number.

Operation Wallacea
Wallace House
Old Bolingbroke
Spilsby
Lincolnshire PE23 4EX

01790 763194
Fax 01790 763825

info@opwall.com

Keeping in touch

Communication isn’t likely to be easy, but we won’t know what facilities, other than emergency contact, will be available until we get there.

The rainforest site has very limited facilities. There may be some access to the Internet in the forest when the generator is turned on but getting access to an email account will probably involve a long wait.

There may be a mobile phone signal in some areas, but we don’t know where as yet. There is good mobile coverage in Akumal.

We hope that it will be possible to maintain a blog, giving a reassuring outline of what we’ve been doing, perhaps with a few pictures, but this will depend very much on the state of the facilities available to us.

The site that we’ve set up can be found at on the Progress page.

Please appreciate that a lack of activity will be due to a lack of opportunity, not a major problem.



Dark colours are recommended as they don’t show the dirt, also a combination of natural and synthetic fibres are advisable – whereas nylon has the advantage of drying quickly it can also cause you to sweat more thus causing chaffing and heat rash. Cotton on the other hand is kind to your skin, but can take a while to dry.

• University and Careers

Information about your Open Water Diver course from PADI

Almost everything is included in the cost of the expedition, but you will need to budget for a few extras depending on what you need and would like to do.

• Dive equipment hire. A full week hiring everything will cost $70 (about £45) but you will only be charged for what you use on the days you use it. The cost of individual items can be found on the Opwall site.
• Additional dives and training. Advanced courses may be available at extra cost, usually much lower than in the UK, and extra recreational dives may be offered for a few dollars, typically looking for whale sharks or turtles.

Spending Money

You will need enough spending money to cover on-site expenditure which might include phone calls, internet fees or snacks. Dive hire and courses can be paid in US dollars, by credit card or in local currency.

There will be snacks and soft drinks for sale at both sites. There will also be opportunities to visit shops and snack bars at the hotels on the way out and back.

Meals are included in transit, but we may be able to visit restaurants or snack bars in Akumal during the diving week. Please also consider a contingency sum to cover any emergencies or for extra diving trips, although we will have cash to help out if necessary.

US dollars are accepted in many of the urban areas but Pesos will be needed in villages and smaller towns.

• Assembly
• Sustainability

• Parents' Evenings
• PSHE
• Guidance & HE
• Supporting parents

• Parent information evenings

Parents' Evenings are held annually. They give parents an opportunity to meet both academic and pastoral staff. Parents’ Evenings for the First Year, Fourth Year, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth take place in the Autumn Term. Evenings for the Second, Third and Fifth Year take place in the Spring Term.

During the evening the Head Master addresses the parents from the stage in the Main Hall. The letter of invitation indicates the time that this will take place. Prior to the evening, parents are provided with a time and venue to meet with the tutor of their son or daughter. Subject teachers are located at specific points in the Main Hall and other areas of the School.

Students in the Fifth Year and above are invited to join their parents at the Parents’ Evenings but otherwise pupils do not attend these evenings.

The LRC stocks 57 magazines for study and for leisure, in addition to 8 daily newspapers. Popular titles include: Top Gear, Vogue, New Scientist and The Cricketer.

• On Line Books

• Library
• Archive

Operation Wallacea Health Advice

KES has installed its own honey bee hive and colony on the roof of the School. At lunchtime, the apiarist delivered the swarm of some 10,000 bees and settled them in to their new home. Mr Robinson and Mr Gamblin, along with some keen students, will be looking after the bees over the forthcoming months and hopefully collecting the honey they produce.

Normandy 2013 is being launched this week. A copy of the letter can be found here.

Upper School General Information

Pupils in the current Fourth and Fifth Year use the OCR GCSE text book, expo to prepare them for the OCR GCSE or the Edexcel IGCSE. They are set according to ability and have an opportunity to work with one of our French assistants on a regular basis. Pupils are given access to a range of material in the multi-media centre and are encouraged to develop their linguistic skills and independent learning through the VLE programme,  ‘kesmoodle’. 

From September 2010 King Edward VI School started working on a number of IGCSE examinations in core subjects and as a result the majority of pupils who are studying French are now sitting the new Edexcel IGCSE.

At present some Fifth Year students sit the OCR GCSE specification. The pupils are required to produce two pieces of written and spoken French under controlled conditions.  There is a VLE programme especially for this, OCR GCSE. In the summer they will sit a listening and a reading examination.

Bienvenue! Welcome to the French Department!

In a multilingual world a modern language has enormous benefit to offer all students. They can learn to interact with people who speak other languages and can gain enormous enjoyment as a result. CILT, the National Centre for Languages initiated a report which found 700 reasons for studying languages and it is worth taking a look at the findings. 

French teachers work together closely to ensure that the 'French experience' is positive and rewarding for pupils of all ages and all abilities. Every year we are fortunate to have two French Assistants in the department. They work on a one to one basis with our Sixth Form students but also work with small groups or in the classroom with pupils lower down the School. In addition, we have two multi-media centres and every classroom is equipped with an interactive white board and the necessary sound systems. KES pupils are also expected to use ICT in their language learning and all levels have their own course on the School VLE Programme, ‘Kesmoodle’.

The French Department is an active and lively place to be.

Throughout the school students are introduced to new language and structures by a dedicated and positive teaching staff.

Each classroom has an interactive white board which is used to present language, encourage spoken and written practice and to provide stimulating visuals to motivate the learning of all levels and abilities of students. Live internet from France and French DVDs are also used from this excellent classroom resource.

Classes have their own hands-on use of ICT in two multi-media classrooms and can work in class or from home via the VLE programme, KESMOODLE . This provides each class with a dedicated site that they will use along side their text book. This gives students the opportunity of practising the work that they have completed in class with greater independence. Homework on line and forums are increasingly being used by students to communicate with their teacher and with others in their group.

In September 2009 we were fortunate enough to have a new language laboratory system in place, 'Sanako Study 1200' and this has already helped enormously in the delivery of languages. Students are able to work on their spoken French and teachers can collect in audio files and listen to students once the lesson is over.

There are two French assistants (native French-speaking students) every year in the French Department. They spend their time working with on a one to one basis with our AS and A2 candidates in order to help the KES studens improve their spoken skills, especially with speaking examinations in mind. However, they also work with the GCSE/IGCSE classes and with classes in the Lower School on a fortnightly basis. 

Exchanges with France are a vital part of our programme. For four years KES Sixth Formers enjoyed a successful exchange with the Lycée St Front in Bergerac, but 2009 marked a new exchange with the Lycée St Martin in Angers. This new exchange has been running for three years and has been very successful indeed, wih the fourth visit planned for October 2012.

Whenever possible, students are given the opportunity to develop their language skills beyond the classroom. They take part in Language Conferences at both AS and A2 level and it is hoped that the Fifth Year pupils will be able to attend a conference in the future.

Third Year pupils can experience their first serious homestay in France on the four-day exchange with a school in Le Havre. 2012 marked the first 'Paris in the Spring' visit for Upper School students and this proved to be very popular.

In July 2010 a new trip to Normandy took place for pupils studying French in the Second Year. The idea was to take the pupils to France for Activities Day and it certainly appeared to be very successful. The pupils enjoyed the activities at the Chateau du Molay and experienced the Normandy beaches and the Bayeux market and tapestery. The fourth trip has already been planned and booked for July 2013.

• St Mark's Primary

Sixth Form French students here at KES are fortunate to have the opportunity of spending a week with a French student and his/her family when they take part in the exchange in the Autumn Term. This exchange with the Lycée St Martin in Angers has proved to be extremely successful and we hope very much that the trip will continue for a number of years to come. The KES group travels by flybe from Southampton Airport to Rennes Airport and during the week our students spend some time in lessons and take part in a number of excursions in the Loire Valley. A level students are strongly encouraged to sign up to this exchange as it offers them a chance to improve their spoken French as they settle down into their AS and A2 courses.

Angers 2012 - 2013; All students signing up to this year's visit, need to read the letter and complete the Pairing Form and B15. Links can be found below. Further details can be found on the left-hand side of this page.

Letter 1/Pairing Form/B15

All pictures from the recent trips and exchanges can be viewed under 'gallery' on the left-hand side of the page.

Normandy 2012. Information Evening, Wednesday 23rd May at 7.30pm in the Dobson Theatre. Pupils and Parents should try to attend. Black and white photocopies of passports and EHIC cards together with completed B15 forms are now required together with the final payment.

Angers 2012/2013 The French Sixth Form Exchange to Angers will be launched shortly. Click on this link for a copy of the letter and the flyer. Students studing French AS and A2 are strongly advised to sign up for this visit. The dates are Wednesday, 24th - Wednesday 31st October. Students will only miss one day of School and will still have most of the half-term break. The French group will return during the term time in March.

Normandy 2013 is being launched the week beginning Monday, 14th May. This is being offered to all pupils who will be studying French in the Second Year from September 2012. Click here for a copy of the letter and the payment details.

Angers 2012 is being launched this week. This Sixth Form French Exchange is open to anyone studying French in the Lower or Upper Sixth from September 2012. A level students are strongly advised to sign up to this trip. The dates are the 24th - 31st October. Click here for the following;

Letter 1/Pairing Form/B15