STAR Readers
The last two weeks of half-term saw students in Year 7 and 8 complete STAR reader tests. Several students made impressive gains in their reading ages to demonstrate their passion for reading, and all students should now have their latest ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) number written on the front of their purple reading diaries to help them choose their next book appropriately. Students and parents can use www.arbookfind.co.uk to check that book levels are in line with student ZPDs.
So far this year, students in Year 7 and 8 have managed to successfully pass 778 reading comprehension quizzes on Accelerated Reader which sees them accumulate in excess of 32,000,000 words and, if we include Year 8’s statistics from last year, the total raises to an even more impressive 74,000,000 words over almost 2,000 quizzes. Currently leading Year 7 are 7W, with over 8,700,000 words, and 8A, who are on a mind-blowing 23,000,000.
Of course, there are students who are making extra special efforts to increase their reading ages (or maybe they just love books?!) and our most recent Reading Millionaires are Kitty Dickinson, Torres Wong, Fiona George, and William Sinclair who have all been issued with special badges to acknowledge their efforts. Naturally, an extra special mention must go to Maia Ritoridis who is our latest Reading Multimillionaire and she has been issued with a golden reading badge to celebrate her being only the 6th student in the current Key Stage 3 who has reached this spectacular landmark!
Finally, a huge thankyou to all parents who are supporting their child’s learning by encouraging reading – whether it’s through reading with them or to them, speaking to them about what they are currently reading, or helping them to set and achieve targets related to their reading – it really does make a massive difference to their academic progress and life chances.
CTK Care Charter Update
During each academic year, our sixth form students take part in the ‘CTK Care Charter’ where each students logs the hours that they volunteer within the school community.
The students lead on activities such as paired reading, delivering extra-curricular clubs, supporting students in lessons and mentoring students from younger year groups.
Rewards are given out at the end of each academic year based on the number of ‘logged’ hours that students undertake.
Students then use this information to support their applications for Universities, Higher-Level Apprenticeships or part time work during their studies.
Our sixth form students have also led a number of fundraising activities with the rest of the school, raising over £800 for Children in Need through events such as ‘Soak the Teacher’ and homemade bake sales.
To find out more about our Sixth Form enrichment opportunitues, take a look here.
With the help of their form tutors, our Year 13 students have recently submitted their UCAS and Higher-Level Apprenticeship applications. In recent weeks, students have had interviews at institutions such as Cambridge University and other Russell Group Universities. We are extremely proud of our sixth form students and wish them the best of luck in preparation for the next steps in their education.
