Hockey: U13 and U11 Hockey Tournament
On Friday afternoon, Duke of Kent School hosted the annual U11 and U13 hockey tournament. It was a brilliant afternoon with some great quality hockey on display!
We entered two teams into the U11 tournament, team blue and team orange! Both teams played some fantastic hockey throughout the afternoon. Team blue managed some excellent wins against Ripley Court, Duke of Kent School orange and Handcross Park to win the tournament! The highlight game was Team blue v. Handcross Park, it was a match of great quality with excellent passing and tackling on show from both teams.
Each team demonstrated a strong defence and so chances to score were few and far between so when Arthur H had a chance for a first time finish into the bottom corner, he took it! The blue team managed to hold onto their 1-0 lead despite multiple very close efforts from Handcross Park to level up the game! Team orange also showed great effort and determination in their matches and improved brilliantly throughout the afternoon with some particularly good defence from Arthur S and Hubert S. Duke of Kent School team blue were presented with goal medals after scoring 10 goals and not conceding a single goal, what a great achievement.
Similar to the U11 tournament, Duke of Kent School entered two teams in the U13 tournament. It was great to see the pupils applying their skills in a competitive situation against other schools. There was some brilliant team play shown by both teams as they developed so much from their 1st match to their last. They started to link up well from defence to midfield, passing it around with confidence and accuracy. The 'Duke' team managed to win all of their games, scoring 8 goals in 3 games, to win the compeition with good play in particular from Felix C and Alice B. The 'Kent' team played some competitive hockey with brilliant defence work from Will B and Edie H which was backed up by some attacking play from Sam R.
A huge well done to all the pupils involved in a fantastic afternoon of hockey.
Miss Vickers and Mr Green
Boys' Hockey: U12/13 v. Cottesmore
This Wednesday, the U12/13 D and E team played hockey matches back to back against Cottesmore. The U12/13 D team played the first match, this was a really evenly contested game, with some great teamwork and determination shown especially form Theo C this gave Duke of Kent School the advantage to go on and win the match. The U12/13 E team played the second match which was a tough game for Duke of Kent School in the first half. In the second half of the match Duke of Kent School played much better working as a team and putting some good passing moves together. Well played to everyone involved.
Mr Orme
Girls' Football: U8 and 9 v. Pennthorpe
On Thursday afternoon, the Year 3 and 4 girls were extremely excited to play their first football match of the term. We welcomed Pennthorpe to our pitches for some football on a wonderfully sunny but rather chilly afternoon. We decided to play two shorter matches and both games were full of enthusiasm and a lot of running!
Miss Arnolds team made a great start, with great teamwork between the girls. Ivy B made a great strike to score the first goal for the team. Florence A, Mila S and Norah C worked really well in the center to get the ball into the box to score 3 more goals! Pennthorpe then started to make a comeback with shots on target. Evelyn C and Evie B made some great tackles and Layla B in goal saving some great shots! The girls all worked really hard and had a great time playing some football!
The U8/9 team with Miss Vickers got off to a flying start with a fantastic goal from Violet W to take an early lead. Violet then had another great strike minutes later and the Pennthorpe goalie made an epic save to keep it out! The game continued with all of the girls getting stuck in making confident tackles. Eva W remained alert in goal and made some great saves towards the end of the game. Seren G worked really hard in defence and made some very important tackles, particularly in the second match. The Year 3s held their own with Elizabeth S and Beth F making some excellent runs and demonstrating great control when dribbling at pace. With great team work, Charlotte P and Eva W both got on the score sheet with some great goals! Violet W was a goal scoring machine and managed to score multiple goals in both matches to give Duke of Kent School the victory. Well done to all of the girls involved! We are looking forward to the rest of the football matches coming up this term!
Miss Vickers
What a fabulous day yesterday as we celebrated the world of books for World Book Day. We were joined by author Daniella Blechner, founder of Conscious Dreams Publishing company. She gave an inspirational talk to the pupils about her journey on becoming an author and the qualities and skills required as well as sharing stories about the authors she supports. The quiz at the end was a highlight, as always. Today, we celebrated House Music and I must congratulate all of the pupils who performed in front of the school. I am always blown away by their sheer bravery as well as incredible talent. Finally, House Song almost brought the house down and huge congratulations to all of our performers and teachers for a colourful, musical and entertaining finale! Good luck to our Debating Team who have made it to the finals of the Rotary Debating Competition on Sunday. I would also like to wish pupils running in the ISA Cross Country Finals tomorrow the best of luck and I look forward to hearing how you all got on.
Yesterday was Duke of Kent School’s annual celebration of World Book Day. 
The day started with the usual procession of the pupils’ costumes with the Senior pupils assembling in a magical tunnel as the Pre-prep and Prep School pupils waltz through and parade their costumes. There were Harry Potters, Oompa Loompas, and even a mini Greg Heffley! As usual the Science Department relished the opportunity of dressing up and wowed the school with ‘Alice in Wonderland’ costumes. Mr Wyllie as the ‘The Mad Hatter’ was particularly exceptional! 
In the afternoon, Daniella spent time with the Prep School children (Years 3 to 6) and found out all about their favourite genres - Beth F even won a prize for her contributions! Year 8 created their own board game based on their favourite children’s book with Mrs Southee and Mrs Punter. 
It was lovely to see so many Pre-prep parents on Tuesday afternoon; I really do hope you found the meetings with your child's teacher informative and productive. Needless to say there has been much excitement in both Pre-prep and Prep School departments all week, most notably with the arrival of World Book Day on Thursday. What a truly spectacular effort our pupils (and kind parents!) all made to kit themselves out in costumes, resembling their favourite literary characters. They showed resourcefulness and a wicked sense of humour, no little creativity where things had been self-made and - in some cases - serious ambition! The look on the faces of Senior pupils and staff as we paraded excitedly along their guard of honour was proof indeed of how much their costumes were appreciated. It was especially lovely to have Pre-prep pupils enjoying some shared reading with Prep and Senior pupils - wide eyes and wider smiles, for sure! The week has been rounded off with House Music - for which we applaud every Prep School participant, whether they reached the first round or won today's final; you should all be very proud of taking part and doing your very best. 
Next week, we look forward to hosting a Book Fair (about which an email has gone out to all parents today) and, of course, the much-anticipated G-Live performance on Wednesday. My final words go to the pupils and staff involved in the Prep Production. We have reached the last week of rehearsals, and it is clear just how much effort is going into the performance. Keep up the focus and energy levels, and we cannot wait to see the end results on 13th and 14th March. If you haven't already, do please book your tickets ASAP!
We started the week with a hugely entertaining visit from Nicola Porter who presented in an optional assembly for Years 7-11 regarding her career in Physics and more specifically designing airports and airspaces whilst considering the science of acoustics. We were also lucky enough to get the Year 11 together on Monday to discuss their upcoming exams, focusing on various revision and stress management techniques, as they enter a critical period in their education. Whilst we want them to work hard we also believe they need to look after their mental health, be conscious of their stress levels and take steps to work effectively without compromising their wellbeing.
On Thursday World Book Day was in full swing, with an inspirational talk from author Daniella Blechner kicking off proceedings along with our annual parade, where the quality of costumes was higher than ever. Today we also have the House Music Finals, one of the most enjoyable events of the year when everyone gets involved presenting their House song as well as witnessing the talents of those individuals/ensembles who have qualified for this late stage of the competition. I cannot wait. 
As part of our Stretch and Challenge talk programme on Monday morning we welcomed Nicole Porter a local Physicist and Environmental Acoustician to give a talk to interested senior school pupils. It was fantastic to hear Nicole talk so passionately about her role as a Stem ambassador and all the work she has done to develop an enthusiasm and love of learning in these areas.
Last Sunday Harley B, Ozzie H and Tom B represented the school in a Battle of the Bands competition, hosted by Prior's Field School and featuring eight bands from local schools. In spite of injuries (broken collar-bones!) and illness in the band, and in the face of some serious competition from the other bands, who were all fab, the boys were victorious and won the competition overall. Special mention must be made to Bobby F, who also broke his collarbone(!) the week before but so badly he couldn't actually play! He came along to support and it was lovely that he was able to receive the award with his bandmates. 
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.
