Gosh, it's hard to believe that we've only had five days of school since our half term break! The children and staff have returned ready and raring to go and, with World Ocean Day, an ISA athletics event, the Children's Festival at Greenfields and PGL to name but a few, they have got stuck straight into a mixture of learning activities and opportunities.
In Prep School Craft club on Monday, pupils collected natural materials to create their own mythical creatures. There was a mixture of both 2D and 3D designs, and all pupils demonstrated extraordinary imagination and creativity to produce their own individual beast. In Pre-prep STEAM club on Tuesday, pupils created stained glass windows using 2D shapes. It was a real challenge, cutting into the paper at a specific point, and the pupils should feel proud of the control and motor skills they utilised to achieve their tremendous final pieces.
On Wednesday morning, whilst the Prep School took part in World Ocean Day activities, Reception and Year 1 pupils impressed their parents during our Open Swimming Session. The children relished the opportunity to show off their skills and we look forward to inviting parents back to see their further progress in the Autumn Term.
Year 4 pupils have been putting the final touches to the games and activities they have been preparing in Endeavour lessons. They are very much looking forward to enjoying them alongside Year 5 next week, whilst away in the Isle of Wight. 'Crab football', a sandcastle building competition, a scavenger hunt, Snap - featuring places of interest on the Isle of Wight - and a quiz are all on the agenda. I'm sure that the pupils and staff will thoroughly enjoy the entertainment you've organised, well done and thank you Year 4!
The Pre-prep department have been delighted to welcome Miss Harris this week. Miss Harris will be assisting in Nursery for the remainder of this term and officially taking on the role of Deputy Nursery Manager in September. I've no doubt you'll join us in making her feel most welcome in our School community.
As we look ahead to next week, pupils are now aware of their new Form Teacher for next academic year and look forward to spending Tuesday in their new Form room with any new classmates for our Familiarisation Day.
Values Certificates:
Honesty: George S
Stars of the Week
Nursery: Annabelle S for improved communication and participation in group activities.
Charlotte D for improved communication, focus during activities and enthusiasm throughout the day.
Reception: Harry S for fantastic effort in literacy, especially in creative writing and using new ‘tricky’ words.
Year 1: Johnnie G for much improved handwriting and presentation.
Rocket M for increased concentration and working more quickly.
Ivy H for increased confidence and fluency in her reading.
Year 2: Norah C for an incredibly positive attitude towards Maths tasks this week.
Mr Wright
The week has just flown by! A wonderful array of activities from World Ocean Day to a wartime tour of historic sites around Surrey to Year 6 on their PGL camp in Osmington Bay, GCSE exams and a Duke of Edinburgh hike today. This evening, I am very much looking forward to the "Evening of Original Works" with pupils showcasing music, art and poetry and finally to toasting a marshmallow or two with Year 3 on their overnight camp! Phew!! Please do join us tomorrow morning if you have a spare hour during our Forum Garden Build. We will be filling the raised beds, building the greenhouse and adding stones to the gabions for the bench as well as planting veggies and flowers. It is so exciting watching this project take shape. Have a lovely weekend.
On Monday Year 9 deployed on their first outdoors (damp) event of the week, a wartime tour designed to educate and perhaps impress the pupils about such significant history existing around us from perilous times. The first site was behind the Spectrum Leisure Centre in Guildford which contains over 150 concrete blocks known as 'dragon's teeth' on a slope leading to the River Wye. Hastily constructed in the face of Nazi invasion in mid 1940, these were designed to delay or divert any German tanks spearheading attempts to capture Guildford, which was also a 'gateway' to London. A 20-minute muddy uphill walk from Shere carpark took us to our second site, two concrete bunkers on the ridge overlooking the village which were part of the 'GCHQ Stopline'. Home Guard soldiers would, again, have tried to stop or delay any advance of the German army to London. Our final visit was to Albury Heath cricket ground, which was the site of a speech by General Montgomery (better known as 'Monty'), to 10,000 Canadian troops in May 1944 prior to their assault on the Normandy beaches on D Day on 6th June 1944, aptly enough the same date as our excursion! Our gallant band of 40 were drilled into their position by Sgt Majors Will R and Toby T, and subsequently addressed by Generals Helena K and Violetta P. These four looked resplendent in uniforms lent by Major and Lt Col Lodge respectively. Class dismissed!
It was World Ocean Day on Wednesday 8th June and the Prep School enjoyed a morning carousel of different activities. The theme for this year was Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean.
The last two activities were linked to both Science and PSHE and pupils had to think about the reality of what is happening in our oceans. 
After a well earned half-term break we have had another busy week in the Senior School with GCSE Exams back underway and 'big hitters' such as Maths and Physics taking place for the year 11 cohort in Ness Hall. Exam feedback has been taking place for the rest of the year groups; undoubtedly the most important part of the examining process, this allows pupils to see where they did or did not do well with an eye on continual improvement and learning from our mistakes. We do hope that pupils take the process seriously but nonetheless we are always keen to reiterate that this is a learning process and that mistakes and setbacks are an integral part of this. We see what went wrong, we understand how to ensure we won't make the same mistake again and we move on positively. 
Nineteen Prep School athletes set off nice and early to the ISA London South Junior Athletics Meeting on Tuesday morning. Although a little nervous, everyone involved performed extremely well in their attempt to beat competitors from twenty one other schools. The standard of the competition was very high and all of the Duke of Kent School athletes should be incredibly proud of their performances on the day. Holly B, Rebekah S and Alfie H all qualified for the final of their sprint events and Arthur H missed out on qualification to the National Finals by one second in his 600m run. Ruby W finished third in her long jump and Arthur S jumped really well and won the Year 4 long jump; he will now join our Senior School finalists who will represent London South at the National Finals in Manchester next Monday. Well done to all who took part.
On Wednesday, Years 7 and 8 girls enjoyed an afternoon of House Cricket on the Wilsons' Pitch and the sun even made an appearance to make it the ultimate cricket experience! There were some brilliant matches played by all teams and it was fantastic to see the huge progress that the girls have made with their cricket this year. Some particular areas of improvement were communication when running between the wickets and the bowling accuracy. Each house played the other three houses in a box format with Kestrel coming out on top winning all three of their matches! Hawk were close behind with a win, a draw and a loss earning them second place. Peregrine played some great cricket but narrowly lost to Hawk putting them in 3rd place with Buzzard getting a brilliant draw against Hawk but finishing in 4th. Congratulations to all the girls involved and particularly: Niamh A, Jess I, Sydney R, Emma F, Annabel O, Anna S and Maggie B for scoring multiple boundaries for their teams often including 6s! There was also some wonderful bowling with Clara H-S, Bella S, Phoebe A, Mercy M and Francesca R demonstrating some very accurate bowling with good technique! As always, all the girls showed great team spirit and sportsmanship when encourage their team. Well done to you all for a great afternoon of cricket. 
