National Citizen Service (NCS) has awarded Silver "Champion' status to King James I Academy thanks to its great commitment to working alongside NCS to build awareness of the NCS programme and having exceeded expectations in promoting the programme as well as recruiting students to take part.

Last term, King James hosted the annual two-day Primary Shakespeare Festival as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Associate Schools Project. Here, Year 12 student Kyle Blood reports on the event.

A group of 20 Media Studies students in Years 11 and 12 have recently attended a film-making workshop at Teesside University. There, they were were able to use state-of-the-art camera, lighting and editing equipment to create a professional music video for their coursework.

Last term Miss Mafham offered our students the opportunity to learn sign language after school each Friday and they are loving it.

Inside: The Pavilion officially opens, Primary STEM project, Christmas Show, Trip to Auschwitz,

Careers Fair, LA film producer visits, Festive activities plus much more.

This month sees the launch of the 'Magic Breakfast' scheme at King James. This means that each Monday morning, every student in our school will be able to start the day with a free healthy breakfast.

We have an exciting programme of events to look forward to in our Library this term. These are just a few.

Our Nurture Group initiative, launched three years ago, has proved to be extremely successful. Students make noticeable and sustained improvement in our small-group learning environments, so now we are extending our provision to include Year 9s.

As part of our Nurture Provision, Year 7 students are visited every Friday morning by Amber, the Hungarian Vizsla Therapy Dog, pictured here.

Our Level 3 Professional Cookery course is going from strength to strength since its launch in September.