A Message from Mrs Knox

The Christmas hampers are looking simply spectacular – thank you so much for your donations! A big thank you also to Lois Williams and the amazing team of PADoK reps for coordinating this brilliant annual Christmas event. See below in the PADoK section for how you can buy raffle tickets. I wanted to acknowledge Camilla Philips, and indeed everyone in PADoK, for their incredible efforts in "fun and fundraising" for the School. This year, a large percentage of the funds raised are going to Sarcoma UK, as well as other charitable causes in the area such as Peaslake School, Ewhurst Infant School and the Cranleigh Food Bank. Your kind donations are also enabling us to enhance the learning of the pupils above and beyond the usual curriculum. We are purchasing a telescope and running evening stargazing events for parents and pupils next term, a set of Virtual Reality headsets that will be used throughout the School providing pupils with memorable and immersive experiences, as well as cameras for the Art Department, bird feeders and Tonka Toys for the Pre-prep. PADoK also does an exceptional job of running numerous Duke of Kent School community events as well as the terrific social events. I thoroughly enjoyed the PADoK book club last night as we shared our love of books together. This important partnership between parents and School is what makes Duke of Kent School incredibly special and I feel very lucky to be part of it. Finally, good luck to the cast and crew of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" tonight – I know it will be a resounding success.

Mrs Knox

Window into Learning – English

Prep School hosted parents of pupils in Years 3 to 6 last Friday morning, to give them a “Window into Learning” – an insight into how English is being taught. Over 30 parents joined us, and feedback seems to have been very positive all round! How wonderful to see children working alongside their mums and dads on a range of tasks, including word snap, teacher riddles, charades, a linguistic scavenger hunt and more. We look forward to the next Window into Learning, focusing on science, in the Summer Term.

Mr Wright

Girls’ netball: U16 and U14/15 teams v Moon Hall School

On Tuesday afternoon, a mixture of girls in Years 9, 10 and 11 travelled to Moon Hall School for some netball matches. It was a dry but chilly day, so the girls got straight into a warm up and prepared well for their matches. The U16s played on one court whilst the U14/15 girls rotated teams each quarter v Moon Hall School's U14/15 team. The U16s match was end to end with the score remaining extremely tight in the first two quarters. The standard improved throughout the game with more goals being scored by both teams in the third and fourth quarter. It was 8-8 going into the final quarter and it was fantastic to see the whole team pull together and play their best quarter of netball. Ariane L and Rose S got into their flow and scored some fabulous goals to give the team a 13-10 victory – wonderful work! Meanwhile, the Year 9 and 10 girls were playing their match and coming out on top. The fluency and skill was fantastic to see. Both teams rotated their positions – a huge well done to all the girls that stepped in to try a new or different position – and the goals continued to come. Well done to both teams for a great win. A lovely afternoon of netball with a fantastic match tea provided by Moon Hall! Thank you to Mr Allen for coming with us and being so positive all afternoon.

Miss Vickers

Girls' hockey: U15/16 A Hockey v Downsend School

After a long journey to Epsom Hockey Club the team warmed up ready to face Downsend School. For some the game meant a lot as it was their last competitive fixture representing Duke of Kent School. The team started the match with purpose and energy and held much of the possession; it wasn't long before they won a penalty corner resulting in an awesome goal from Frankie M! Duke of Kent School put a lot of pressure on Downsend by stepping up as a unit and closing down their space to play. Helena K, Esme P, Ava W and Abi W were a force to be reckoned with across the back; they made countless interceptions between them. As a result, Maggie B had nothing to do at GK! The second goal was from another penalty corner where the ball was slipped right to Jess I who clinically and confidently scored. Frankie M seemed to be everywhere in this game and she got herself into a great position in the “D” to score the third goal before half time. During the second half, the team kept up their intensity and Emily B, Isla B and Ella S worked tirelessly to work the ball in to the “D” and create a number of goal-scoring opportunities which the team narrowly missed converting. However, with less than five minutes to go Alex K scored a fantastic goal from the top of the “D” to take the final score to a 4-0 victory. What a fantastic finish to the hockey season!

Mrs Dann

Girls' hockey: U14/15 A Team v Downsend School

On Tuesday, the U14/15 As took on Downsend School in a pacy and electrifying 9v9 match. With no subs, the Duke of Kent team knew that every move had to be well-measured and precise, but they still brought a whirlwind of energy to the pitch. Within the first minute, Issy F had already scored the team's first goal, setting the tone of success for the rest of the match. With the help of some brilliant passing towards the goal from Daisy R, Cesca R, Alice B, and Tildy C, Issy scored her second goal. This was closely followed by two cracking goals from Tildy. At this point the team knew they were on fire, and the spirits were high! Clara H-S, Sydney R, and Iona H were a fearsome trio in defence and quickly deterred any passes Downsend tried to make towards Edie H in goal. As the team regrouped to finish the match, Duke of Kent was down to eight players and Downsend had the number advantage. Position changes for Issy and Clara also threw some curveballs, but the team took it all in their stride. Iona's quick chasing of the ball meant that it rarely got near Edie, and Duke of Kent remained dominant. Tildy's great passing and aim aided Daisy in scoring a belter at 32 minutes. Alice B also got on the scoreboard with a great goal right before the whistle was blown. Downsend chose Daisy as their Player of the Match for her quick and nimble movement around the pitch. A smashing victory for the team!

Miss Allsop

Girls' hockey: U12/13 A Hockey v Downsend School

The U12/13 A Hockey Team played Downsend School at home on Wednesday. The opposition looked very strong at the start and it took a bit of time to adjust to the way they carried the ball at speed into the “D” and attempted to whack the ball at the goal! However, Erin C and Sascha H stepped up bravely for the fight and made some super tackles in defence. Willow D worked tirelessly at CM and Esme W made some well-timed passes to Issy N, who put their backs under a lot of pressure and got very close to scoring. It was exciting to score in the first half; Esme W fed Tansy T a great ball and she effortlessly pushed it into the corner of the goal. The second half was close and the team continued to string some lovely passes together. They kept their shape and made a lot of good interceptions through the use of their well set press. The final score was a 1-0 victory which was a fantastic result. Poppy F deserves a special mention for being voted player of the match – she made some crucial saves and played brilliantly.

Mrs Dann

Boys' football: Year 7 and 8 House Football

On Wednesday afternoon the Years 7 and 8 House football action began. All the matches in the afternoon were very close games, with great skill and lovely passion shown by all the boys from both year groups! Each team worked brilliantly together as a House, uplifting each other and playing as a team, making sure all were involved. There was an initial group stage-style round of games where each team played one another. Using the results from this, there were two games (first place v second place and third place v fourth place). These games followed the theme of the day as they were also very tightly contested. Fourth place went to Hawk, who put up a good display against Kestrel. Kestrel earned third place with a close 2-1 win. The top two were Buzzard and Peregrine, which was the closest game of the whole afternoon. Many chances were had by both sides until Buzzard managed to score a goal. They held onto this lead as they came out 1-0 victors, meaning that Peregrine finished in second place and the winners of the afternoon were Buzzard. Very well done to all the boys for taking part and a huge thank you to all the parents that came along to support everybody!

Mr Clayton

Girls’ netball: U8/9 Green and Blue Teams v Dorset House School

On Thursday afternoon, the Year 3 girls welcomed Dorset House for an afternoon of netball! Duke of Kent School's Year 3 girls were split into team Green and team Blue! Team Green were up first for their match whilst Team Blue practised their skills with Mr Clayton on the other court. Dorset House started extremely well demonstrating some brilliant passing and movement skills. Team Green took a bit of time to get into the game, but once they were reminded of the importance of marking their players when defending, they managed to get a lot more possession and showed some great skills. Elsie S worked tirelessly in centre and Annabelle T showed some great defending skills. Dorset House were clinical in front of goal but Team Green remained focused and showed excellent determination throughout the match. Next up were Team Blue. They were ready and raring to go and started brilliantly with some smooth passing connections and some excellent defending from Siena N and Obi M. Pia S scored both goals for Team Blue and demonstrated some great power when passing. Dorset House continued to fight hard and also scored a goal within the match. It was fantastic to see how much the Year 3 girls have improved in their netball this term, and it was wonderful to watch such high quality netball for pupils of such a young age. Well done to all the girls involved and to Elsa H and Obi M for being awarded players of the game. 

Miss Vickers

I have been busy supporting the Performing Arts Department with rehearsals for our production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, with the first performance taking place tonight. Pupils have dedicated huge amounts of time to rehearsals, learning lines, mastering dance moves and practising songs – they are all understandably very tired but also nervous and excited with hopes that they can all bring what is required of them to create a fantastic show. Physically it is a demanding event to be involved with, but the rewards of the experience for the pupils is incredible.

The educational psychologist, Michele Borba established five main building blocks for the creation and maintenance of self esteem; the third of these is affiliation (or belonging).

By being involved in a dramatic production, or sports team, School Council, orchestra, book club, trip etc our pupils are able to build that sense of affiliation to a group or body of others working toward a common goal. The sense of being needed and accepted by others in that group is important to an individual’s creation of self worth.

The innate drive to belong is strong, which can lead to negative behaviours as well as positive – we see this in peer pressure and anti-social subcultural groups. This often happens when young people have not found that sense of belonging previously. Therefore, directing children and young people toward positive social groups and activities is so important.

If your child is struggling to find their sense of belonging, I would suggest encouraging them to join or volunteer toward one of the many groups or activities on offer at School (or equally a club or society outside of School). This can be so beneficial to establishing a sense of affiliation and hence esteem and mood.
In my ten years working to support our School productions, I have been witness to the heart-warming sense of belonging that comes from being a part of the group, which stays with the pupils way beyond the performances. We have had friendships develop and pupils returning over many years to support their successors, either in the audience or directly helping with hair, make up or costumes. I’m sure those involved in this year's production will feel the same benefits (once they have had a long lie-in on Sunday!).

Break a leg everybody!

Mrs Douglas