Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a busy couple of weeks with some real highlights.

Firstly, World Book Day was a resounding success; lots of activities completed to really raise the profile of books; photos shared with the local press and an amazing book swap shop with over 1000 books! It was brilliant to see how chuffed the children were with their new books, 'What, I can keep it?' and 'Look at my new book!', were just a couple of the delightful phrases heard.

We also held our first 'Meet the Headteacher' meetings with parents this week. In total we had a group of around 25 families that came to hear about the direction the school is taking. It was a great opportunity to celebrate the positives that Kingsholm has:

• Great progress made by students

• Fantastic, committed and caring staff

• Super opportunities to develop pupils beyond the academic curriculum

• Great Forest School provision

• Welcoming and inclusive environment

We also talked about the areas of focus which included:

• Increasing capacity within our SEN department to further meet need

• Raising expectations for positive behaviour

• Further development of the curriculum

• Building stronger links within the community

• Ensuring financial stability for the future

Parents were keen to share their thoughts and these will be considered by the SLT as we move forward.

• Homework 

• Communication with parents regarding curriculum

• Sporting/Music provision

• Extra curricular clubs 

At the meeting we talked about how things were being prioritised; the capacity of the team to engage with things beyond the classroom and how we need to ensure that each decision is made with the best interests of the pupils and the wellbeing of the staff at its core.

And finally....

On Tuesday the school hosted a Mock Church School Inspection. This was in preparation for our real inspection due in Summer 2026. It was an outstanding experience that has left the school feeling incredibly positive. The children and staff were brilliant and the inspector went away leaving us with some really positive feedback. Once the report is in I will share some details with you.

Polite Reminder

As a school we are always looking to show our young people how to behave in a polite and responsible manner. We focus on teaching them how to engage with one another; use appropriate language and treat everyone with respect.

As staff we model this in all our interactions and as a school we expect any visitor coming onto the grounds to do the same. This includes all parents and carers.

We have had a minority of incidents that have involved parents becoming verbally abusive or using foul language on the site. As a school this is something that we can not tolerate as it reinforces the wrong message with our children.

Every child has the right to feel safe at school and it is the responsibility of all the adults to ensure this. Furthermore, every staff member has the right to be treated in a respectful way.

Whilst we acknowledge that some adults find it difficult to regulate their emotions we ask kindly that parents/carers act responsibly in their interactions in school.

It is important to recognise that for the vast majority we see positive interactions and great modelling; it is so lovely to see the smiles and warmth that is shared at the beginning and end of everyday and I hope that this message can ensure that we can all work together to build a positive environment for all of our young people.

Attached is a parent code of conduct that outlines our expectations.

Mr Larner

Mr Larner's Joke of the Week

If birds that fly over the sea are called Sea Gulls - Are birds that fly over the bay called, Bay Gulls?

Hello dear parents and carers,

We have had a lovely couple of weeks, some beautifully sunny days and a few chillier ones.  We are very excited to have found frogspawn in the school pond!  At base camp we have been discussing signs of spring, finding blossom on the trees and the bees getting lots of pollen.  Some children have been making bird hides and camouflaging them so they can spot the birds without disturbing them.  This week we spotted crows, seagulls, pigeons, robins, sparrows and chiff chaffs.  In between all of this a church was built and prayers were said, acrobatics performed, lots of splashing with and channelling water and a stick museum started with a percussion band. Phew!

Wishing you all a super weekend.

Kind regards

Kate Shepherd (Forest School Leader)

Dear Parents / Carers,

At Kingsholm this week, we had some exciting events taking place.  These were: The RE visit and The History Showcase - ' A night at the Kingsholm Museum ' - It was lovely to have our familes join us and we enjoyed showing them our work.

With our Year 6 SATS coming up we have been working hard towards them.

The Year 6 organised raffle is going well. The raffle tickets are still available and can win the opportunity for your child's class ( Years 3,4,5 and 6) one of the following:

** Popcorn and a film or Extra Play or Lesson of your choice or Board game session **

The more tickets that are bought the more chances your child's class has of winning. Raffle tickets sales take place during school time. Tickets are 50p each or £2 for a strip. The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 25th March and prizes will be redeemed on the 26th & 27th March.

On Monday our Drama Club members will be getting their parts for the end of term performance in June - we are very excited about this.

We only have two more weeks until the Easter Holidays which isn't long!  Wishing you all a lovely weekend and we look forward to writing to you again on the 27th March.

from Dhruv and Isabelle

We politely ask our parents/carers to have a look at our School Uniform policy below as we are seeing a number of cases where children are arriving at school in clothing / footwear which is not compliant.  These include the following items: (and if worn children will be provided with clean second hand clothing to wear instead).

• Hooded sweatshirt
• Crocs, flip flops etc
• Jeans
• Football strips
• Clothing with slogans or pictures

Reminders:

Hair - Hair hould be kept neat and tidy (extreme styles are not acceptable including dyeing). Long hair should be retained with sensible accessories in royal blue or black (no large flowers or other adornments).

A loose headscarf, in the school’s royal blue colour, may be worn by Muslim girls. Health and safety in Science, DT and PE lessons may necessitate the wearing of smaller/shorter headscarves.

Jewellery - Children should not wear jewellery to school other than plain small gold/silver stud earrings (no bigger than 5mm). Where children choose to wear watches they are the responsibility of the wearer, as a school we encourage children to wear analogue watches. Due to their high value and the pressure this then places on other families to provide their children with one, smart watches are not allowed in school.

Kingsholm is well-aware of the cultural diversity that exists and will work with communities to ensure that suitable agreements can be made.

It has been agreed that female members of our GRT community are allowed to wear a maximum of two bangles as part of their cultural heritage. These will need to be removed for PE.

• Cool Kids, Buffer and Breakfast Club - These provisions MUST be booked in advance using the link which is sent out weekly via SchoolPing.  ALL sessions need to be paid for in advance unless you pay monthly and already have this payment agreement set up and in place. If there is any outstanding debt, places will be refused until the account is cleared. 

• CBeebies Parenting Please see the link to little videos, activities and games to help with all sorts of things like toothbrushing, bedtimes, morning routines etc. 

• Family Support. We appreciate for many these can be tricky times. Do get in touch if you have any worries about food, finances or housing and we will try and help. Please get in touch with the Virtual Office - virtualoffice@kingsholm.gloucs.sch.uk

The children have decided to raise funds for the following charities which we think are excellent choices.

Our next Non Uniform Dates: 

NATIONAL - GUIDE DOGS for the Blind - Non Uniform day - Friday 15th May

GLOBAL - World Wildlife Fund - Non Uniform day - Friday 10th July

We will be holding Non Uniform Days on these dates where we will invite the children to come to school in their own clothes in return for a small donation to the charity. Each of the charities chosen are sending in people (When possible) and resources to help the children understand more about their work.