Cross Country: ISA London South Regional Competition
On Tuesday, 13 pupils from Duke of Kent School travelled with Mr Orme and Miss Arnold to Radnor House for the ISA London South Regional Junior Cross Country. There were four races on the day; U9 Girls' ace, U9 Boys Race, U11 Girls' Race and U11 Boys' Race. It was a great course for the runners where a quick start was important. All the Duke of Kent School runners were fantastic, doing their best while running and cheering on the others from the side lines to give their support. With 60 plus runners in each race from 15 different schools, it was fantastic to see some top 20 finishes in the U11 Girls and Boys races from Bea T-R, Holly B, Thibaut J, Rommy B and Henry W. Well done to everyone involved, it was great see you all representing the school with such great enthusiasm.
Mr Orme and Miss Arnold
Cross Country: ISA London South Senior Regionals
Duke of Kent School hosted the ISA London South Senior Cross Country on Friday 10th February. This was a fabulous afternoon of competitive running with schools taking part from all over the south east of England. The top ten runners from each age group were selected to represent the London south Team on the Saturday 4th M at Worksop College. Congratulations to all who took part from Duke of Kent School and congratulations to Alex S and Rosie S for winning their races. Both Rosie and Alex are also joined by Ollie K, Ollie C, Jess I, Daisy R, Isaac P, Jack B, Emily B, Ava W, Charlie G, Rufus B, Francesca R, Clara H-S, Helena K and William R for also qualifying to the National Finals. We look forward to seeing how those, who can take part, will run next weekend. Good Luck!!
Mr Herbert
Netball: U15/16 v. King Edward's Witley
On Tuesday afternoon, the girls had a great match against King Edward's. The team played really well, Abi W, Imogen C, Ava W and Frankie M worked well using a diamond formation to close down space and work the ball out of the defensive half to the attackers. Frankie M, Tilly C, Maddie I and Alex K communicated well and Tilly C and Frankie M mastered their loopy passes into the circle for Maddie I and Alex K to hold their space and shoot from great positions. Well done girls, it was a brilliant win (20-10) and I look forward to your next match.
Mrs Woolgar
Girls' Football: U10/11 B v. Cottesmore
On Wednesday afternoon, the U10/11 B team welcomed Cottesmore to Duke of Kent School for their football match. The girls were very excited, and couldn’t wait to get going! It was a fantastic start, with the first goal scored by Halle within the first 5 minutes, quickly followed by a second goal by Rebekah. Our deference worked brilliantly together, with Penny and Amelie supporting Millie in goal, meaning our half time score was 2-0. By the second half the rain had begun, but this didn't dampen their spirits. Hope, Rebekah and Bea worked enthusiastically in the midfield, helping Bea to score a further two goals. The final score was 4-2 to Duke a Kent, leaving our girls happy with their performance, well done!
Mrs Turnbull
Boys' Hockey: U14/15 v. Frensham Heights.
Both sides started the game very cautiously, trying to get a foot hold in the game. Frensham struck first after strong defending from Josh WD, Sam S and Jack B. This ignited Duke of Kent School into action with Jamie P, Rufus B, Isaac P linking up well in midfield to pass the ball around.
Oscar H ran tirelessly upfront, applying pressure on the opposition defenders. In the end Duke of Kent School won 3-2 with some brilliant play and work rate. Well done to all those involved.
Mr Green
Boys' Hockey: U10/11A v. Frensham Heights
This Wednesday, the U10/11 A team played a hockey match against Frensham Heights. The game started quickly with some good fast paced passing and movement from Duke of Kent School. Henry O'B and Henry S were both very solid in defense, allowing the others to focus on their attacking play. During the match a couple of great team goals were scored for Duke of Kent School. This was fantastic to see, the boys putting the skills that they have been practising on show during the match. Well played to everyone involved.
Mr Orme
What a busy week for the pupils and, for you, our parents! It has been really lovely at the parent teacher events this week to discuss the progress of your children and to observe the senior children engaging well with these conversations about their learning. The Open Morning was really well attended and our Year 9 guides were brilliant ambassadors. We received a number of emails to say what a credit they were to the school. Well done Year 9! Thank you also to PADoK for joining us to talk to the new parents who were genuinely appreciative of their insight. Thank you also to Holroyd Howe, our caterer, who joined us this morning to talk to PADoK reps about the food provision at the school. Your feedback has been invaluable and they wil be pulling together a "you said, we did" document with areas of focus. One quick fix is a link to the weekly menu below in the bulletin. Finally, the mixed Hockey tournament this afternoon was a fabulous way to end the week with our pupils competing against 4 other schools. Next week, is ……World Book Day…….. a day we all look forward to! Have a lovely weekend.
What a fantastic day we had on Friday 10th February, listening to all the incredible motions in our House Debating Competition. Under the adjudication of the Cranleigh Rotary Youth Debating judge, Andrew Kolmar, together with Mrs Southee and Miss Francis, the Houses in Year 7, 8 and 9 persuaded, pondered and perfected their arguments, much to the awe of the audience. A special thank you must go to Molly F and Josh W-D, who stepped in at the last moment to represent their House due to one of their team members being unwell.The winning Houses were as follows: Year 7, Kestrel (Alex W, Orson A and Elliott S) with their motion: ‘The school bus is better than being picked up by your parents’; Year 8, Peregrine (Annie B, Mercy M and George C), their motion being: ‘Being an only child is more rewarding than having siblings’ and finally Year 9, Kestrel (Saoirse W, Daisy R and Josh W-D) arguing whether prisoners should be allowed the vote. Huge congratulations to the winning Houses and to everyone who took part. 
Year 11 pupils at Duke of Kent School had the opportunity to participate in an exciting Virtual Reality workshop. The workshop aimed to provide a brief introduction to virtual reality and showcase how it can be used for training purposes.
For some of our Year 4 pupils, the week started with an exciting afternoon at Longacre School, who hosted the second "Spell It!" competition we have now attended. There were several other schools participating, and we were hugely proud of how Oliver T, Layla B, George S and Ivan K conducted themselves as they tackled a range of treicky and unfamiliar spelling tasks. Year 4 have also been interpreting how different poems present a similar theme. They've worked hard to write persuasively and created two poems of their own about spiders; one describing them negatively, the other positively. The latter proved a harder challenge! 
Lastly, Year 3 loved their Science experiment this week, making metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rock out of...Starburst sweets! And Year 6 had just as much fun finally getting to play a game of Top Trumps with the cards they have been painstakingly developing in their recent Maths lessons. Well done, everyone - what an action-packed week! 
School was straight back into the swing of things after the half-term with a busy mix of school council meetings, hockey, netball and rugby matches, an Open Morning and a Parents' Meeting. A real feature of the Open Morning was the conduct of the pupils, who spoke honestly and openly to our visitors, when questioned, and were a real credit to the school.
The Year 10 Parents' Meeting was a really enjoyable experience; the atmosphere was hugely positive and the value of pupils attending alongside their parents and being able to discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and therefore take some ownership of their learning, cannot be underestimated. This weekend Mr Southee, Mrs Southee and Mr Seeley are taking a group of Year 9 pupils down to Brighton for an optional trip focusing on various food cultures and I wish them all the best for an enjoyable and exciting trip whilst this afternoon the school hosts an U11 and U13 Duke of Kent School Hockey Tournament - good luck to all those taking part.
We would love you to join the PADoK Book Club next month on Thursday 23rd March. We are currently reading “Snow Country” the new novel from the bestselling author Sebastian Faulks. “Snow Country” moves from doomed love to post-war Vienna, and The Times described the book as 'Fascinating... A rich, dark story'. It has also been described as “a superb novel, a love story of enormous emotional weight and a portrait of Europe torn apart”. If you are not free to join us when we get together on 23rd March but want to be part of the Book Club, we would love for you to read the book and send in your comments to us to share on the night.
