The School menu next week

Community Week 2024

Our fabulous, annual Community Week has provided pupils with numerous volunteering opportunities with local charities and organisations. These included Friends of The Hurtwood, Knowle Park Trust, Intergenerational Music Making, and Slow Ways. Additionally, pupils improved their own community and environment through projects around the School, such as restoring our herd of willow deer.

This opportunity to support and give back to the local community fosters collective responsibility, develops empathy, and allows pupils to experience the positive aspects of volunteering and supporting others. Pupils learnt new skills, shared moments of laughter, excitement and surprise, mixed and made friends across year groups – indeed across the generations at IMM!

In Knowle Park, pupils engaged in some "Tree-L-C", weeding around young saplings while newly born cygnets looked on from the pond. In Sayers Croft, they cleared brambles while planning future pond-dipping trips with their Biology teachers. On the Slow Ways walk, they got to know the local area while making the countryside more accessible to the community. With IMM, they performed music and joined in singing with the senior generation. Working alongside the Friends of The Hurtwood ranger, pupils improved the woodland for the public to enjoy, clearing litter and invasive plant species.

I would like to thank all the pupils who volunteered to take part in this positive and worthwhile event, as well as all the organisations and charities who helped us to facilitate these experiences. I look forward to an even bigger and better Community Week next year!

Mr Watson

Greenfield UN Sustainable Development Children’s Festival

On Thursday, six Year 6 children took on the challenge of representing the School at the Greenfield UN Sustainable Development Children’s Festival, focussing on the 14th UN sustainable development goal, “Life Below Water”. Arthur, Alexander, Harlyn, Hope, Jasper and Millie presented facts and interesting information about Seahorses to other local schools, creating octopus artwork from used plastic to highlight the plight of animals surrounded by non-recyclable items. During the afternoon, children had the chance to participate in a discussion with Jonathan Lord, Woking MP, followed by a children’s parliament focussed on sustainability discussion and ideas. A fun, but thought-provoking day for all involved.

Mrs Wilkinson

D-Day

As part of the D-Day 80th anniversary since the invasion of Normandy by the Allies, Mr Lodge interviewed Mrs Jean Edwardes in front of an audience in King's Worthy, Hampshire. Jean is the widow of one of the soldiers at the Royal British Legion. Her late husband, Bill, joined (underage) at 16 and served as a stretcher bearer with the 43rd Wessex Division. He did not mention the war until 50 years later at the 50th anniversary events. Also pictured is one of very few surviving WW2 soldiers, Charles Brooke, and Col Amanda Hassell, who pupils may remember delivered our last Remembrance assembly. We enjoy and learn from such company while we can!

Mr Lodge

There has been some fantastic writing going on in Prep and Pre-prep this week. Year 2 have done a great job transforming their diary entry plans into sound first drafts. They'll soon be self-editing and offering feedback to their peers to help each other make further improvements. In Year 6, inspired by T S Elliot's poem, Macavity the Mystery Cat, the children have written short story starters, putting his crimes into their own descriptive and highly-suspenseful prose. Year 5 took their writing outside, to find inspiration for a setting based on their class novel Goodnight Mr Tom and Reception played a bee-themed game in our grounds to explore pollination and “collect” nectar to make honey – they made terrific buzzy little bees!

Elsewhere in English lessons, Nursery have been developing their phonics skills, whilst Year 1 began their new class book, Monkey Puzzle, which helped them ponder things they've lost and how it makes them feel – a lovely tie-in with their PSHE discussions, too. Similarly, Year 3 used links across their PSHE and English curricula; they were discussing what makes them feel happy in order to write a poem about positive mindsets. "Happiness is stroking my dog" (Willow B) and "I feel happy when I'm with my family eating a big meal" (Finn H). Food wasn't only the focus for Finn; in Topic lessons, Year 3 have been learning about the sorts of things wealthy Romans would serve at their dinner parties to impress their guests. They then created their own menus, including delights such as jellyfish, flamingo brains and camels' feet.

All of this writing and reading will be put to the test on Thursday next week, when Years 1 to 4 have workshops with our visiting author, Zanna Davidson. Years 5 and 6 also have much to look forward to next week, as they head off towards the coast for activity-filled adventures on their residentials. Let's hope they have as much luck with the sunshine as Year 4 did this week on the Isle of Wight – about which you'll be able to read more in next week's bulletin.

Mr Wright

Stars of the week

Nursery – Angus T for his contributions in phonics, careful writing and for being so brave this week!

Reception – Flynn H for your positive contributions, great work and enthusiasm in maths.

Year 1 – Theodora J for her perseverance in maths. This week you really applied yourself. Well done!

Eliza H for her kindness towards others in the classroom and the playground.

Year 2 – Archie H for showing such wonderful determination and focus during writing this week – you worked independently to transfer your plan into a sound first draft.

Mrs Henry

A busy week, incorporating a huge number of activities, started with an assembly looking at resilience, learning from mistakes, the importance of bouncing back and how to foster a positive mindset. With results from our summer exams going back to all pupils this week, it is important for them to realise the value of this experience and the opportunity to learn from mistakes and be proud of their successes. Community Week, with visits to Knowle Park, Friends of Hurtwood, Sayers Croft and the Intergenerational Music Making organisation, was blessed with fine weather and the chance for pupils to make a difference within their local area.

With GCSEs continuing at a good pace for the Year 11s, and a good number of sports matches taking place, it has certainly continued to be a full-on affair. Almost two-thirds of the Year 10 cohort have headed to the South Downs for their Silver Duke of Edinburgh expedition (taking place from Thursday to Saturday) and we wish them all the best with this adventure.

Congratulations this week go to Penny A, Jenson P, Jordan V (Year 7), and Harris H-H and Hugo S (Year 9) who have all achieved a multiple of 25 Merit Points and therefore received a lunch fastpass and stationery prize. A special mention goes to Felix C (Year 9) who has gained a multiple of 100 Merit Points and therefore also received a blazer bar badge this morning. Well done to them all.

Mr Wilson

Years 8 and 9 Production: rehearsals are ramping up. Please can I remind all parents and cast that it is paramount that they are at all remaining rehearsals. There is very little time left and even just one cast member being absent can impact the effectiveness of a rehearsal. Thank you!

Tickets for the production will be available via bookings@dokschool.org from Tuesday 11th June.

Our Evening of Original Works is next Friday 14th June at 18.30 in Old Hall – a lovely chance to come and see artwork, hear original writing and musical compositions from the GCSE pupils.

Finally, LAMDA exams are on Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th and Friday 21st June – get those words learnt!

Mr Rye

Girls’ cricket: U14/15 B Team v Box Hill School

On Tuesday, the U14/15 Team played Box Hill School at home in a soft ball pairs game. Duke of Kent School elected to bat first and faced some very strong bowling, but Maggie B hit a lovely four and Sydney R and Francesca R batted well. The opposition were very quick to stump runners out where quick singles looked on; unfortunately, the team lost 35 runs to stumpings. However, the team bowled well giving away very few wides; Em F bowled good line and length and Francesca R and Annabel O both took wickets! Duke of Kent School were often in the right place at the right time in the field but tended to stop balls using their feet instead of their hands, which gave them less chance of getting their runners out. Overall, a loss, but plenty of positives to take away from the match.

Mrs Dann

Girls’ cricket: U14/15 C Team v Box Hill School

On Tuesday, the U14/15 C Team welcomed Box Hill School to join us for an afternoon of cricket. The Box Hill team was slightly under on numbers, so our girls volunteered to help the opposing team in the field, which is a testament to their kind nature. Everybody in the team had an opportunity to bat, bowl and be wicket keeper, putting all the hard work from their PE lessons into practice. We were first to bat, with Mercy M hitting a lovely four within the first over. Grace S and Poppy K were the second pair to bat, communicating well as a team, and managed to achieve three runs due to taking the opportunity to run after a miss-field. Our highest scoring batting pair was Rose S and Phoebe A, with a total of 14 runs between them, including one four each. It was then our time to field, with a particular mention to Annie B, Florrie P and Iona H, who were attentive and constantly moving to maximise their effectiveness. Both Lucy M and Eva PR bowled particularly well, with only one wide ball each in their over. It was a fantastic match, with the final score being a win by one run! The batter of the match was Grace S, while the bowler was Eva PR. Well done.

Mrs Turnbull

Girls' cricket: U14/15 A Team v Box Hill School

On Tuesday afternoon, the U14/15 A Team were excited for their next hardball cricket game. We travelled to Box Hill and the game soon got underway. Duke of Kent School bowled first and showed some excellent consistency when bowling, giving away very few extras. Box Hill started slowly and it was great to see Tildy C working well as wicket keeper to minimise their ability to run on any byes. The girls remained alert in the field and some particularly strong overs came from Saoirse W, Clara H-S, Isla B and Jess I, with wickets picked up by Clara H-S, Isla B, Phoebe P, Alice B and Issy F – an amazing range of wicket takers! The team were excited to bat, with Jess I and Clara H-S happy to open. They both scored some great runs and, in order to get lots of the team having an experience to bat, each girl was retired after facing around four overs. Tildy C, Daisy R and Issy F played some great shots too! The team cruised to victory and enjoyed a delicious piece of cake at the end of the match whilst watching our U15 A boys’ team play!

Miss Vickers

Girls' cricket: U12/13 A Team v St Edmund's

On Wednesday afternoon, the U12/13 A Team had their first hardball game of the year after being unlucky with some rain before half-term. The girls were super excited to get started and completed a good warm-up before the game. Duke of Kent School batted first, with Willow D and Norah H opening. Norah H showed her experience of hardball cricket with some brilliant batting, including two fours and plenty of ones. She retired at 15 runs in order to give everyone a chance to bat. Other strong batting performances came from Erin C, Holly R and Tansy B – all scoring fours for the team. It was wonderful to see all the girls embrace the challenges that come with batting in hardball, and it was great to see such good communication between partnerships. The team scored 91 runs in their 50 minutes’ worth of overs. The sun continued to shine as the U12/13 A Team went out to field. Erin C opened the bowling with a great over, gaining a wicket on her second delivery! St Edmund's were steady and continued to chip away at Duke of Kent School's total. Some great bowling performances from Sascha H, Mytrille M and Issy N. Poppy F did a great job as wicket keeper and Edith S made some cracking stops in the field! However, St Edmund's managed to push on and reach our total with three overs to spare. A really great first experience of hardball cricket and an enjoyable game for all. A huge well done to all the girls involved for their excellent attitude towards the game and enthusiasm for cricket!

Miss Vickers

Girls' Cricket: U12/13 B Team v St. Edmund's School

On Wednesday, the U12/13 B Team travelled away to play soft ball pairs cricket against St. Edmund's School. The match was on Astro and Duke of Kent School elected to field first. Highlights of the innings were Penny N's maiden over and wicket, plus two further wickets from Millie B and Elfie G! It was great to see a better understanding of the game with fielders looking to get the runners out and achieving this – well done Molly F on your stumping. Going into bat the team had 184 to chase. Lola C and Lois M began the innings with some great communication and quick running between the wickets. Overall, it was such a great team performance with Molly F, Penny N, Elfie G, Holly B, Isla W, Penny A and Millie B hitting 14 fours between them to finish on 208, 24 runs ahead of their opposition. Well done to all involved!

Mrs Dann

Year 5 House cricket

Year 5 were in House cricket action on Wednesday afternoon. Peregrine and Hawk joined together to play Kestrel and Buzzard. The game was a pairs cricket match that saw every batting duo bat four overs between them and everyone bowled two overs each. Peregrine and Hawk batted first and started strongly with a few boundaries in the first two batting partnerships and only having three wickets taken, leading to 46 being scored. The scoring kept up fairly consistently until the fifth pairing when the bowlers applied good pressure and Felix B and Evie B took four wickets between the two of them. A strong showing by Sonny C and Rowan B with the bat added 40 runs onto their team’s total, leading to a final score of 121.

Kestrel and Buzzard then started their innings, with a good partnership by Evelyn C and Charlotte P, who rotated the strike well with well-placed shots for singles. After this, the bowlers came into their own, bowling well, picking up a handful of wickets and only bowling wides or no balls rarely. In the last pairings, Oliver T and George S batted against the bowling of Sonny C and Rowan B. It was a great matchup between batters and bowlers, with both pairs having success within the overs played, and the batting side managed to score 19, leading to Kestrel and Buzzard scoring 73 overall. This means that Peregrine and Hawk won the close-fought match. Well done to all of those that played and a big thank you to the great turnout of parents supporting everyone there!

Mr Clayton

This week saw World Environment Day on Wednesday and tomorrow (Saturday 8th) is World Oceans Day. In celebration of this, six of our Year 6 children represented the School at Greenfield School’s Sustainability Childrens’ Festival, this year focussed on “Life Below Water”. Read more about that on our trip report above…

This week also saw the most recent meeting of our sustainability council. The council has now introduced sustainability merits, available in the Senior School, and sustainability stars, available to the Prep School for excellent efforts such as litter picking or recycling. Four stars had already been awarded just 30 mins after being introduced! The council’s next project is to survey how our pupils get to School, and can we do so in a more sustainable way. Stay tuned for a parental survey on car sharing and minibus use!

Did you know? By cutting Schools’ carbon emissions, we can remove a huge 625,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere? We have the opportunity to have a huge impact, so let’s do our bit.

Top tip:

Next week is Great Big Green Week, this year encouraging people to make easy sustainable swaps. What easy swap could you make to make a difference? Plastic bottles for reusable? Maybe you could swap outgrown clothes with a friend or even start a class book swap!

Don’t forget – wear a splash of green for our Environmental Green Day on Monday!

Mrs Wilkinson and Mr Gritton

Mr Boden

It has been an eventful week at the start of the last half-term of this academic year. Many pupils will have received results from the progress tests taken in exam week. This can be an emotionally difficult time, particularly for pupils who may not have received the results they expected or possibly hoped for. While for many there will be joy, there are also those who may be disappointed – it is necessary they are given the opportunity to voice and reflect on those feelings.

As parents, you can aim to listen without judgement or expectation and focus on future goals with your children rather than focusing on what is perceived as “lost”. For those who are disappointed with their own results, reassuring words of encouragement and praise for what they have achieved is important to validate their efforts. Those who feel they didn’t prepare adequately will already be aware, and those that prepared, but nonetheless struggle in this exam context will need reassurance, particularly with the tendency to compare results with others’.

With reference to my previous article on external locus of evaluation – it is so important for pupils to be seen for their personal achievements and not compared to others. To talk to them in terms of what they feel they are proud of and what they would like to improve on during the next academic year. Advice for older pupils and parents supporting pupils who may be feeling disappointed can be found here.

It has also been a week of trips, expeditions and volunteering, with many pupils facing personal challenges as well as opportunities to boost their wellbeing by exploring outside the classroom and engaging in the wider community. I was lucky enough to accompany groups to support: Friends of the Hurtwood, where pupils valiantly donned gloves and collected rubbish carelessly left by visitors; and also Knowle Park, where pupils cleared weeds from young trees planted as part of Surrey’s commitment to plant 1.2 million trees by 2030.

Both groups were amazing and hard-working. My hope is that they felt the wonderful benefits of volunteering their time, not only for the benefit of others, but for their own wellbeing. Being outside, learning about their local environment, protecting and appreciating the wildlife existing alongside them (including feeding the swans and five-day-old cygnets at Knowle Park), is also hugely beneficial to our wellbeing. If you have the opportunity, please do investigate what you can do in terms of volunteering for our local community. A Surrey County Council guide can be found here.

Mrs Douglas

There have been some pupils experiencing abdominal symptoms this week, and I hear word of possible norovirus in nearby educational establishments. Please be warned, and encourage your child to perform regular and thorough hand hygiene.

A reminder that pupils with vomiting or diarrhoea should stay away from school for 48 hours after the last episode.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/norovirus/

Tick season has also most definitely arrived – we would advise all pupils to be vigilant for "visitors" on legs, arms, necks etc after spending time outdoors. See below for advice.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/injuries/skin-injuries/tick-bites/

Residential trip season is here, and so far so good; lots of fun and happy memories being made. When packing for your child's trip, please remember that Prep School pupils should not be carrying medication in their luggage or on their person for the Year 5 and 6 trips next week (unless inhalers/adrenaline). All medication should be delivered in advance of the trip to Mrs Sarjant for checking and packing in the first aid bag. A completed consent form is needed for each medication. Thank you!

Have a lovely weekend.

The School Nurses

PADoK

PADoK Second Hand Uniform shop – grand opening  

On Wednesday 5th June we celebrated the new uniform shop – thank you to those who came along. It was an honour to welcome back Yazmine Wilkinson, who officially opened the shop by cutting the ribbon!

Yaz was a parent who started the uniform shop many years ago and yesterday she told the story of how it was initially run from cardboard boxes. It has come a long way from those early years!

We also welcomed back Kate Weston, who ran the shop for four years until her son finished at the school two years ago. Both Yaz and Kate were so impressed with the new shop. It was lovely to see them both.

A huge thanks must go to Emma Lowe and Cathy Williams for working so hard to move the stock to the new shop and for making it what it is today. It really looks like a proper shop! Thanks must also go to Donna L, Louise C and Sabine J for all their help this week.

To Jenny, thank you for your help, Dean for the refreshments, Karen for taking the photographs and to Mr Seeley for coming to support us. We would also like to thank the Duke of Kent School, Mrs Knox and Mr Stacey for supporting PADoK with this project.

A Midsummer Night – Saturday 8^th June

Charity event to raise funds for Sarcoma UK

We are so looking forward to the A Midsummer Night charity event this weekend. Those attending should have received two emails with all the information you need. It is going to be a great night so dust off those dancing shoes and get ready to party!

We have lots of lovely raffle prizes, a barrow of booze and some very special prizes, so plenty of chances to win something exciting.

Our aim for this PADoK event is to raise as much money as possible for Sarcoma UK, which is the School charity this year. A charity so closely linked to our School community. If you are not attending but would like to donate, please do so via the JustGiving link here or the QR code below.

Please see details of the summer event below:

Where: Hurtwood Polo Club

Raffle with amazing prizes.

Ticket price: £35 which includes a welcome drink, Thai bowl food, The Accidentals (Mr Rye’s fabulous band)

Book tickets by emailing padok@dokschool.org with your child’s name and year group.

PADoK Walk 

This morning we had a great turn out, with nine parents setting out for a walk around Pitch Hill. It felt chilly when we started but we soon warmed up. We had ten dogs between us and they had a great time, particularly enjoying the ditch swimming resulting in some very muddy legs! I think they will all be tired now! It was a lovely way to head into half-term and celebrate the end of exam week!

Duke of Kent School Flyers

Mondays 17.30-18.30, Wednesdays 08.30-09.30 (Tara Coles and Lois Williams)

Well, it’s been a very busy week for our Duke of Kent School Flyers – on Monday we headed over to Pennthorpe for another game.

The first quarter we drew, then the second quarter, after Pennthorpe put their A team up, they managed to claw back more goals. We were unfortunately without some of our players, which meant we had one team throughout and, although we put up a great fight, with some amazing intercepts, passes and goals, Pennthorpe were victorious. We really enjoyed the friendly game and look forward to taking part in a tournament at Longacre next week!

Also, good luck to all our mums who are also taking part in a Wednesday night netball league at St Catherines!! Go Flyers!

If you’re looking for a fantastic way to stay active, make friends, and be a part of an exciting team, join us on a Monday afternoon and/or Wednesday morning and be a part of the Duke of Kent School Flyers!

Come and join us. So much fun to be had and so good for the soul.

Duke of Kent School Singers

Thursdays 08.20-09.00 (Cathy Williams)

A fun and uplifting start to this half-term of Duke of Kent Singers. We started with some exercises to get our vocal cords warmed up. Work then continued on the three-part harmony of Eleanor Rigby. Mr Rye did an exercise with us to make it easier to find the right note when starting certain sections of the song, as this can be challenging with a three-part harmony. Thank you Mr Rye and Mrs Williams, it is great to see so many happy faces leaving to start their day after a choir session.

Please do come along at any time for a listen or a sing. No pressure to perform just enjoy it week-on-week. Hope to see you there!

Any questions, please do contact Cathy Williams rhodricathy@sky.com/07813 282910 or please just come along!

A relaxed singing group run by our Director of Music, Mr Rye, who kindly gives up his time to teach us how to sing. It is always fun and uplifting rather than a pressured environment. Our focus is always on enjoying singing and getting the most out of our time together.

PADoK Core Control

Strengthen your body, improve your health with our physio-led stability group. Friday mornings 08.30, Astroturf

A good session the week leading into half-term. The summer months help as we can be outside at every opportunity by the Astroturf.

For new joiners to the group, please hit us up on the WhatsApp group.

PADoK Book Club – Thursday 20^th June 20.00

(Claire Newman)

This term we will be reading a new book called The Household written by Stacey Halls. We hope you enjoy it. We will be meeting to discuss the book on Thursday 20^th June at 20.00. Please save the date.

London, 1847. In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold. Her stalker of ten years has been released from prison, and she knows it's only a matter of time before their nightmarish game resumes once more.

As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price …

The Household is the new novel from the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars, The Foundling and Mrs England. Set against Charles Dickens' home for fallen women and inspired by real figures from history, it is Stacey Halls' most ambitious and captivating novel yet.

Senior School optional hoodie

The Senior School hoodies have been redesigned by members of the School Council and the finished product can be seen below. They have done a fantastic job at putting this design together and now finally getting to see the finished product.

This new hoodie is available from Stevenson's on their website: https://www.stevensons.co.uk/.  There is also the option to have your child's initials printed onto the front of the hoodie for a slight additional cost, something we would advise, to avoid mixing up tops with other pupils. This hoodie is not an essential item of School uniform, so there is no expectation for pupils to have it.

If you wish to see the sample, please pop into the Main Office and have a look.

School social media

At Duke of Kent School we have three social media platforms; Instagram (dukeofkentschool), Twitter (@DoKSchool) and Facebook (Duke of Kent School). All of our social media accounts are public.

We recommend following all three accounts to receive push notifications with news, updates, educational articles, interactions with other schools, communities and public figures.