As the end of this half term rapidly approaches, there have been yet more memories made, skills and knowledge gained and fun had by all this week.
Reception have been making Aliens with Superpowers and getting to grips with numbers 11-20 using Numicon. Year 1 have been creating rhyming strings and using these to create their own poetry:
'The cat from Japan sat on a fan, The cat from Berlin drank gin, The cat from Spain was in pain.’ - Florence
'The cat from Berlin met a man called Finn, The cat from Berlin got stuck in the bin, The cat from Berlin likes to win.’ - George F
Our Pre-prep STEM club tried their hand at some trick photography this week, specifically forced perspective. The children had lots of fun making trick photos and were really excited to share their creations.
The Prep School Council had a very difficult job this week, as they judged the entries for the House Doktopus competition. After much discussion they managed to shortlist ten designs for the Prep School teachers to then make the final decision. The standard of entries was extremely high with lots of innovative ideas and colourful designs. The choice was so difficult that we ended up with two designs taking the top spot - congratulations to Holly in Year 5 and Evelyn in Year 3; the final Doktopus will be an amalgamation of both designs. A whopping 83% of our Prep School pupils entered this competition and we couldn’t feel prouder of the proactive and motivated approach our dedicated students have shown towards this task.
We were equally delighted with the participation rates, focus and determination shown by Prep School pupils during the NSPCC Times Table Rock Stars competition held last Friday. Thanks to the enthusiasm and grit of the pupils, out of over 2000 schools, Duke of Kent School finished in 27th place! With a final average of 1,061 questions per pupil answered, this is an incredible feat - well done everybody!
The Year 4 team that will represent Duke of Kent School at the upcoming ‘Spell It’ competition, to be held on the 1st March, was announced in Wednesday’s assembly. Congratulations to Jasmine, Ben W, Arthur H and Halle S; we wish you the best of luck when the competition arrives!
The above is but a small representation of the hard work and effort that your children consistently apply to their school life and they could not be more deserving of a relaxing and restful half term break. Do please keep an eye on your School Calendar as we arrive back in just over a week’s time. With Parents’ Meetings, GLive, House Music, Prep School Production, Pi Day and World Book Day, it promises to be another busy and fulfilling term.
One final plea too: should you have any dressing up clothes that are in good condition but your child may have grown out of, our Nursery pupils would be very grateful for any donations. Many thanks in advance.
Values Certificates
Effort - Mac Y and Eddie C
Stars of the Week
Nursery: Aoife F this week for her wonderful enthusiasm for Nursery life and development in all areas.
Reception: Harry S for working really hard in phonics, especially with his tricky words.
Year 1: Ottilie H for her positive attitude to her work. Ottilie has really been pushing herself to do that little extra.
Daniel L for making a real effort with his work and for always being a kind member of our class.
Year 2: Henry H for brilliant focus, perseverance and enthusiasm towards his assessments. You’re amazing!
Mrs Green
This week has seen some superb events as a culmination of the excellent learning and huge effort that has taken place this term. On Monday and Tuesday, our parent audience was treated to some captivating performances by our LAMDA pupils, Year 4 gave an inspiring and highly engaging assembly on "hope", the Prep School came 27th out of more than 2000 Schools in the Times Tables Rockstars Competition and today, we have seen outstanding debates taking place in our inaugural debating competition and the ISA cross-country competition where we hosted 12 schools. Of course, the Prep School disco was also great fun. Phew! Well done to all pupils and staff for a fabulous half term. Enjoy the break and see you on the 21st Feb.
On Thursday Year 5 were lucky enough to visit Milestones Museum to build on what they have learnt in History and English. To begin with the pupils took part in training to become ARP Warden. The extensive course included a breakdown of all of the kit the wardens had to carry around and a test of their ability to identify RAF and Luftwaffe planes. Afterwards, a shopkeeper explained how the rationing system worked and the pupils split into groups to decide if the foods in their baskets were rationed. It was accompanied by the usual gasps of horror when they learned that sugar was heavily rationed and that chocolate had all but vanished by the end of the war! Their final workshop was a crash course in how to bandage an injured arm which was instructed by a nurse who worked in Bansingtoke Hospital during The Blitz.
Some pupils have created chatterboxes in order to encourage them to talk and share how they are feeling with their peers. There are also self care plans in Prep and Senior Google classrooms which I would encourage pupils to complete over the half term if they haven’t already. If we consider in advance what helps us in times of stress or low mood before we reach that point, we are better prepared to self soothe and take steps to encourage a state of wellbeing.
PADoK Book Club
