A Message from Mrs Knox

This week, we welcomed incredible storyteller, Danyah Miller. She spent a day with our Year 6 and new Year 6 children joining Duke of Kent School in September. It was a truly magical day with Danyah inspiring her audience to find their story-telling voice. It was wonderful seeing the children grow in confidence throughout the day culminating in a story telling performance. Danyah is performing Pippi Longstocking later in the year at Cranleigh Arts centre. A performance not to be missed! Huge congratulations to our debating teams who took part in the Rotary Youth Debating competition on Wednesday. Our Senior team won their round, and we look forward to hosting the semi-finals in a few weeks. Thank you to Mrs Punter for organising such a valuable opportunity for the pupils. Thank you also to Jenny Branson for a fantastic presentation to our Senior pupils on a career on interior design. Finally, I would like to advise you that Mr Michael Usher has left to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him well in his future career. Recruitment for a replacement DT teacher is well underway. Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Knox

Rotary Youth Debating Competition

On Wednesday, myself and Miss Anand had the absolute pleasure of taking two teams to represent Duke of Kent School at the Cranleigh Rotary Youth Debate Competition in Cranleigh. Our Intermediate team consisted of our proposer, Ariana Lani, our opposer, Mattie Read and our chairperson, James Breed; keenly assisted by Maggie Bates. Their motion, ‘Youth should invest in property over stocks’ impressed the judges immensely and they were praised with their mature and confident delivery of a topic that was well above the heads of most of the audience!

Debating for our Senior team were Johnny McMonigall, our chair, Ariane Lodge, our opposer and initially, our proposer, Pippa Simpson. Unfortunately, Pippa was unable to attend the actual debate, although she had worked long and hard in writing and formulating her arguments. Therefore, a huge thank you must go to Kai Gregory who stepped in on Wednesday morning to take on the responsibility of proposing that: ‘Technology is having a detrimental effect on society’. Once again, the judges were incredibly impressed, stating that they stood out clearly as being the most engaging team, therefore winning the Senior competition.

Thank you to all the staff and parents that attended to support the students; it was a wonderful afternoon and I am so proud of all of them.  We look forward to the semi- finals that will be held at Duke of Kent on Thursday 9th February.

Mrs Punter

Visiting Storyteller, Danyah Miller

On Thursday our Year 6 pupils and twenty-seven Year 6 pupils from other local schools joined us for a Storytelling for Literacy, Learning and Laughter Day.

We were very lucky to have the day led by Danyah Miller, a storyteller and writer, who engaged the pupils in games, craft and storytelling activities to stretch their imaginations. 

The children were amazing - creative and engaged throughout the day. They soon learnt to trust each other with ideas, building their characters both in clay, on paper and in words, which created a bond between the whole group.  Spoken stories are a vital tool in underpinning literacy and learning, strengthening the imagination muscles of memory and improving communication skills.

At the end of the day, groups of children performed an impromptu story based on random objects they had each chosen. When asked at the end of the day what their favourite parts of the day had been, it ranged from the Lemonade game to Disruptive Storytelling - throwing a word into the narrative then weaving it into the story.

Well done to everyone that took part - what a wonderfully creative day

Mrs Hopwood

Firstly, well done to everyone for making it into school despite the treacherous icy conditions this week. It's amazing how a change in temperature can change the landscape so fast and so drastically. From the Pre-prep pupils' perspective, their playground turned into a frozen wonderland overnight, and it has been fantastic watching how much pleasure they have had from ice in all its slippery, glassy, brittle forms. The children's resourcefulness and imagination never ceases to amaze when presented with new play things; we had ice skating on the wooden bridge, frost angels in the bark, some good old bashing and smashing with planks (!) as well as some beautiful and careful mosaic making using the resultant fragments. We may have to leave the ice sculpting masterclasses for another cold snap, now that most of the raw material has melted! 

Nursery have brought the Arctic environment indoors, continuing to relish all their wintery polar activities and creations, which are looking fantastic. So, too, are the oil pastel pictures of dinosaurs the Reception children have made. In Year 2, the pupils have been looking at the origins of food in their Science lessons, and also working on their writing skills to draft letters to their pen pals in Salima, Malawi. Other skills being developed in Prep School these first few weeks of term include calligraphy, Norwegian, animation, pottery, origami and sign language, to name a few as the Year 6s get to grips with their Skill Development projects in Endeavour Award lessons. We can't wait to see how much they've improved by half term. 

Values Certificates: Effort for Evie B and Norah C

Rising Readers: Henry H (Year 3), Ivan K (Year 4), Ruby W (Year 5) and Lois M (Year 6)

Reading Certificates: Bronze for Arthur H, Norah C, Beth F, Mac Y; Silver for Freddie G; Gold for George S and Platinum for Ben Wr

Mr Wright

Stars of the Week

Nursery - Annabelle S for super tidying, creativity and focus during activities

Reception - Oli T for great progress in reading and a positive attitude to everything he does!

Year 1 - Lottie F for wonderful focus and super descriptive writing.

Year 2 - Charlie S or your continual positive attitude towards your learning and showing kindness and patience to the younger children in Pre-Prep 

Mrs Henry

An important week saw the year 11s getting their Mock GCSE Results and hopefully learn a few lessons in preparation for the real thing later in the school year. It was wonderful also to hear of the successes in the Rotary Youth Debating Competition on Wednesday, with one team winning their category (and moving on to the semi-finals of the competition) whilst the other team were highly commended. I do hope all the participants learnt from the experience; public speaking is an incredibly difficult skill that can be learnt and improved with practice!

At Celebration Snack Break this week we had the opportunity to celebrate a huge number of pupils who have gained 25 merit points through their hard work and manners. These were; Eddie C, Poppy F, Harvey R, George S, Jasper T (Year 7),  Jamie C, Humph G, Wilfred K, Harry L, Chester S, Tom S (Year 8), Chester B, James B, CHarlie H, Oscar M, Daisy N, Annabel O, Bella S, Zac W, Saoirse W (Year 9), Oscar D-K, Helena K, Ariane L, Johnny M, Esme P, Will R, Annabelle R, Pippa S, Rose S (Year 10). Congratulations to you all for earning your lunch fast pass and stationary prize!

Mr Wilson

Global Canvas 2023 (Ages 4-16)

The Global Canvas competition is free to enter and open to groups or individuals aged 4-16 years with judging split 4-7 years, 8-11 years and 12-16 years. Group and individual entries will be judged separately.

2023 Theme: “Biodiversity – the complex web of life”

Closing date for entries 10th February 2023

For more details visit - https://davidshepherd.org/enter-global-canvas-2023/

The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition

The three age groups are:
Junior – 5-10 years old
Intermediate – 11-14 years old
Senior – 15-18 years old

Choose ONE of the following:

1.   A poem or story about a broken promise
2.   A poem or story about keeping promises
3.   A description of a character that makes promises

Your writing should invoke the spirit of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Closing Date for entries is 28th February 2023

For more details visit - http://chaucer.org.uk/the-canterbury-tales-writing-competition-2022-23-promises-promises/

Mr Wyllie

Netball: U13 A v. Farlington 

On Wednesday afternoon, the U13 A team travelled to Farlington. It was extremely cold but the girls were in good spirits and raring to go. The girls took a comfortable lead in the first quarter so we moved our positions around and worked on implementing particular set play. All the girls did extremely well adapting to new positions and working together as a team to keep the flow, passing and defending to a high standard. The final score was 15-2 to Duke of Kent School. There was such a brilliant sportsmanship amongst the team and an extra thank you goes to Erin C, who started the first quarter of the match with this team. 

Mrs Woolgar

Netball: U12/13 B v. Farlington 

On Wednesday afternoon, the U12/13 B team made the short journey to Farlington School for their first netball match of the term. It was a very chilly day but with the sun out it meant the courts were in good condition and the girls were raring to go! The match was end to end in the first few quarters, with both teams displaying good team work and a high percentage success rate when shooting. The U12/13 B team worked hard to give themselves a 3 goal lead after the 1st quarter with some great shooting from Izzy N and Iona H. Annie B performed well in C, with the great support of Lucy P in WA, creating opportunities and feeding accurate balls into the circle. The second quarter remained close and Farlington began their comeback, only 2 goals behind. The third quarter was when it all came together for the Duke of Kent School girls, Rose S, Eva P-R and Erin C worked brilliantly together to intercept almost every opportunity that Farlington created. The U12/13 B team stretched their lead to 12-5 and continued giving brilliant energy in the 4th quarter to secure the win, 13-7. A great first performance from all members of the team, well done! 

Mr Vickers  

What Parents and Carers Need to Know about World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft originally launched way back in 2004, and since then the game has blossomed into a major entertainment property. It’s spawned spin-off novels, merchandise and even a Hollywood movie adaptation … but why are we still talking about it in 2023? World of Warcraft’s most recent iteration, Dragonflight, launched last November and marks the game’s ninth major expansion. This latest addition has attracted a whole host of lapsed players back to the game – as well as newcomers jumping into the realm of Azeroth for the first time.

In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as the potential for online addiction, in-game purchases and simulated violence.

Click on the link to find out more information about "What Parents and Carers Need to Know about World of Warcraft".

Mr Boden

A reminder that on Monday the 23rd, is ‘Dress Wacky for Wellbeing Day' at Duke of Kent School. Pupils should come to school in their wacky mufti outfits, which should be seen as an opportunity not to worry about what to wear, rather to try to make others laugh - or look ridiculous and laugh at yourself.

Having the opportunity to express themselves in a fun way when everyone is doing the same should give pupils less anxiety about their clothing being deemed ‘uncool’ or ‘weird’ - it will be the norm that day.

Spending too much time consumed by others’ opinions of us stifles our own freedom of expression and the ability to be our authentic selves. Our locus of evaluation becomes externalised, when it is preferable to look internally for the acceptance of self and recognise we are enough. When we are able to accept ourselves, it is less important what others’ opinions of us may be; this is not to say we don’t care but if the opinion is negative it won’t change how we see ourselves - it is just a different opinion.

I am looking forward to seeing an array of wacky and wonderful outfits on Monday, from pupils and staff!

Mrs Douglas

This week Mrs Sarjant led a PSHE lesson on cancer with the Year 10 girls.  The boys will have the same session in two weeks. According to the NHS, 1 in 2 people will get some form of cancer in their lifetime, making this a hugely important and relevant topic for our whole school community.  

In our Year 10 lesson we learned about what cancer is, what risk factors either increase or lower risk, and what signs and symptoms to look out for.  The following "LUMPS" acronym is quite useful to remember signs and symptoms to check for:

L: Lumps, bumps or swellings
U: Unexplained tiredness
M: Mole changes
P: Pain (persistent, extreme)
S: Significant weight change (loss or gain)

Remember: if it’s unexplained, persistent, or extreme; get it checked out by a doctor!

We can all make informed decisions about lifestyle choices which may either increase our risk of cancer or help protect against it.  Maybe your New Years' resolutions at home may include eating more healthily, losing weight, or cutting down on smoking or drinking alcohol?  All of these changes would lower your risk of getting cancer.

For more information on cancer, our senior pupils can go to the Teenage Cancer Trust website which gives easy to digest and understand information aimed at a teenage audience:

https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/

Wishing you all a healthy and happy weekend.

The School Nurses

PADoK News

A Taste of Burns – Friday 27^th January 2023

There will be a card only bar to provide you with refreshments throughout the evening.

If you have any allergies then please let us know as soon as possible, so we can inform the catering team.

Please note that we can no longer accept cancellations for this event due to costs.  Thank you for your understanding.

PADoK Book Club

Our next PADoK book will be “Snow Country” the Sunday Times Best Seller, by Sebastian Faulks.  Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and awaits the coming of another, SNOW COUNTRY is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, Sebastian Faulks has produced an epic love story of timeless resonance.  We are looking forward to reading it and hope you can join us when we meet up again when we meet later this term to discuss the book.

Duke of Kent School Singers - Thursday 08:20

PADoK Running Technique – Friday morning 08.30 at Ness Hall

Wow, what a window of sunshine we had. While the GCSE mocks were in the Sports Hall we were braving the very cold temperatures out on the astroturf. We started with foot activation exercises, running analysis, learning about core muscles that stabilise our pelvis and spine which are crucial for running and then some work to help practice those exercises. We stayed in the bright sunshine so got a good boost of vitamin D as well. 

Any Spring Marathon training parents are very much encouraged to come and join us to help reduce the risk of injury which over training can lead to and to learn to be as efficient as possible. 

PADoK Walk

Last Friday we met for a walk around Pitch Hill.  We had some new faces in the group so it was good to welcome them and their four legged friends.  Next walk will be Friday 27^th January.  08.30 at Car Park 3, Hurtwood Control, Pitch Hill.  Everyone welcome.

Mrs Phillips

Senior School Optional Hoodie

The Senior School hoodies have redesigned by members of the School Council and the finished product can be seen above.  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 to see me and have a look at the new hoodie.

Mrs Woolgar

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.

Mrs Woolgar