Cross-country: ISA National Finals
On Saturday, six pupils from the Senior School represented London South at the ISA National Cross-country Finals at Worksop College. Henry O'B and Thibaut J ran in the Year 7 boys’ race of 2.7km finishing with an impressive time of 12 minutes and 26 seconds, finishing 33rd and 34th. Oscar V and Sam R then ran in the Year 8/9 boys’ 3.8km race finishing 21st (12 minutes and 47 seconds) and 40th (13 minutes and 40 seconds). The Year 10/11 boys’ race saw Isaac P and Charlie P run a very fast 4.5km finishing 28th (18.32) and 19th (17.51). Huge congratulations to everyone who took part, they should be very proud of their fantastic achievements.
Mr Green
Girls’ netball: U14-U16 A Team v Shoreham College
On Tuesday, the U14-U16 A Netball Team drove through the driving rain to the south coast to play Shoreham College. This was a significant match for the Year 11s as it was their last match representing Duke of Kent School. Spirits were slightly dampened by the weather, but it didn't take long for the team to rise to the challenge and start to dominate the game. Frankie M looked strong at C linking well with Bella S who fed the circle with confidence and accuracy. Jess I and Rose S shot consistently well, they moved fluently together to make space and get free from one of Shoreham's strongest players. It was good to have Izzy F at GK, her strong communications skills and ability to slow down the opposition's GS was invaluable to the team. Abi W and Ava W were also excellent in defence, effortlessly gliding in front of their attackers to make some superb interceptions. The final score was 18-11, a convincing victory and a great way to finish the netball season.
Mrs Dann
Girls’ netball: U14/15 B Team v Shoreham College
On Tuesday afternoon, the U14/15 B Netball Team travelled to Shoreham College for their final netball match of the term. Despite some rainy conditions, the girls cracked on with the game and soon got into their flow. It was beautiful to see the fluency of play from GK all the way up to GS with each member of the team playing their role. Clara H-S and Alice B were flawless as a shooting duo, giving the team a strong lead at half-time. We rotated shooters, and it was great to see Daisy R and Saoirse W also score goals for the team! Phoebe P and Tildy C both played brilliantly in centre and made some cracking interceptions. Josie M, Isla B and Francesca R all played out of position throughout the game and did fantastically, showing great versatility. Well done to all the girls for a convincing win and for showing great improvement throughout the term – what a brilliant season of netball!
Miss Vickers
Girls’ football: U10 Girls' Football Team
What an afternoon the U10 team had at the football tournament hosted by Pennthorpe School on Wednesday! After navigating our way through the group stage matches against Pennthorpe Bs (2-2), Pennthorpe As (0-1) and Cranleigh As (1-0), we faced Pennthorpe Bs again in the quarter-final. As full time concluded at a 0-0 draw, the girls were faced with a penalty shoot-out! Layla, Ivy and Elsa all stepped up to take a penalty and Florence did a fantastic job of facing the Pennthorpe penalty takers as goalkeeper. Despite losing the shoot-out we stepped forward to our next match against Pennthorpe Cs and our hard-working, determined team were rewarded with a 5-0 win. We then found ourselves in the final against Pennthorpe B’s, again! This time the girls were determined to get the win! We were able to maintain an early 1-0 lead following a super assist from Elsa, which was finished by Layla and saw the team win the match and emerge overall winners of our group! Each and every player put a phenomenal amount of effort into their game-play across the course of the afternoon. They should feel immensely proud of their final result, as well as the enthusiasm, sportsmanship and perseverance they showed – it was a long and physically demanding afternoon! Congratulations to the champions: Florence, Evelyn, Evie, Eva, Elsa, Charlotte, Ivy and Layla. Also to our devoted supporter, Seren!
Mrs Green
Girls’ football: U11 Girls' Football Team
What an incredible afternoon for the U11 girls’ football team! We arrived at Pennthorpe School in good time and soon the group matches got underway. The U11s first match was against Cranleigh B Team; it was a tight game and the two teams could only be decided by one goal, scored by Jasmine W! The team took great confidence from their first win and continued their winning ways against Pennthorpe C and Farlington A with 6-0 and 4-0 wins respectively, with epic goals from Halle S, Jasmine W, Ruby W and Hope N! These fantastic results put the U11s top of the group. Their next match was against the team that placed 2nd in the other group, Cranleigh A. It was a very tight game, but Cranleigh managed to get a goal within the first few minutes. The U11s fought back with Jasmine W hitting the post and the Cranleigh goalie making some epic saves. On this occasion, Cranleigh A came out on top but there was more to come!! The U11s then won their next game against Cranleigh B 1-0 and therefore went through to the final with their four wins and one loss (12 goals scored and one conceded – an impressive record!). The final was against Cranleigh A and it was amazing to see the determination from the whole team. Hope N and Charlotte C played fantastically in defence, making tackle after tackle! Meanwhile, Jasmine W, Bea T-R and Ruby W worked as a great team tracking back to defend and making some cracking passes forward to Halle S and Amelie C! The score at the end of the ten minutes was 0-0 in the final, so it was down to penalties! Millie W had played incredibly well in goal, making three crucial saves in the final and she continued to shine when saving a penalty! This saved penalty and one missed penalty from Cranleigh meant that the U11 Duke of Kent School team were champions!! A huge well done to Ruby W, Halle S and Hope N for bravely stepping up to take penalties – what superstars! A huge well done to the whole team for a fabulous afternoon of football.
Miss Vickers
Girls’ football: U12/13 B Team v Pennthorpe School
On Wednesday, the U12/13 B Team donned their football boots for a match against Pennthorpe. Despite all the rain from the last few days, the sun finally made an appearance and spirits were high! The pace of the game started high and they were all doing a great job bringing the ball to the box, putting pressure on their defence. Molly F worked tirelessly to get the ball upfront, and Sascha H and Holly B provided great support and made some important interceptions and passes. When Pennthorpe were on the attack, Holly R made countless tackles to stop them in their tracks, and Isla W made some important saves as goalkeeper. Special mention must also go to Lola C who showed brilliant versatility, making great passes in midfield as well as trying her hand in goal, with great success! They all showed great resilience and were very unlucky not to score. Well done all!
Mrs Vermeulen
Girls’ football: U12/13 A Team Football v Pennthorpe School
On Wednesday, the U12/13 A Team enjoyed their first football match this term. Pennthorpe were an extremely confident team who had some very skilful and experienced players. However, Duke of Kent School were not perturbed by this. Everyone threw themselves into the match, playing with enthusiasm and determination. Willow D played brilliantly at centre midfield demonstrating her pace and strength on the ball. Myrtle M was great in defence, closing down the opposition quickly and stealing possession through her effective tackling. There were moments where the team strung some lovely passes together, aided by Esme W's skilful first touch and vision on the ball; they were unlucky not to score. There were lots of positives to take from this match and with continued practice the team is bound to go from strength to strength in their tournament next week.
Mrs Dann
Boys’ rugby: U15 v Shoreham College
It felt a little like Groundhog Day from the World Cup with several sad faces after getting out of the mini bus as we all realised it wasn't that sunny down by the coast. Mr Herbert told us that we were playing in his home county and that we would have to up our game today. Despite the weather we realised we had a big game against Shoreham College who looked eager to win. The heavens were open and the pitch was waterlogged and muddy.
Both teams huddled for a pre-match talk, and Duke of Kent School was certainly up for the game today. We won the coin toss and decided to receive at the start at the kick-off. The first five minutes led to mistakes on both sides, this was going to happen in such muddy conditions. Early possession allowed some nice runs by our great wingers and fly half and there was some good tackling by Dante D, Henry Y and Jamie P. We were able to win the ball out of a ruck and a mazy little run was made by our scrum half with a good finishing pass to Jamie P. Jamie P was able to draw their defence in and pop it off to Josh W-D who finished it with a try in the corner. Josh W-D managed to get the conversion, 7-0 up!
Shoreham College attacked and it was up to our big guys alongside Jack D and Matt A to hold their attack up and win the mall. After good work from the forwards to win the ball it was suddenly lost again, but we carried on and blamed it on the weather! We managed to win the ball back in the scrum and give it to our fly half, who placed an amazing kick back into their half. There were more big tackles by Henry Y as the opposition were still hitting our line hard – they notably had a big second row. There was a great run by Jamie P, half the length of the pitch, but at this point we were struggling to get our hands on the ball. The game became scrappy with lots of penalties and knock-ons and both teams were guilty of trying to kick too much. However, suddenly, against the run of play the Duke of Kent School team did what they do best and spun it down the line in front of our 22 through Matt A and Dante D to Jamie P, who did an amazing run all the way to their 22. As we won another ruck we passed it down the wing to Jamie P for a try and Josh finished it once again,14-0.
Straight from the kick-off, we came back at them with another good run from Isaac P, Matt A and Dante D. There was good work from Troy K going straight and taking out a few players, he was also finding his form as well. However, there was another turnover and the opposition came back strongly with their number 8 sprinting down the side-line but stopped by our defence. A lovely turnaround for Duke of Kent School and Jamie P was off running with the ball for another try. After another successful conversion for Josh W-D the score was 21-0 to us just before half-time. With the half-time whistle imminent, Duke of Kent School made a lovely run down the wing, a pass to our inside center, and Matt A was in to score. Unfortunately, the conversion by Matt failed, we finished the half 26-0 up.
Straight into the second half, Isaac P caught the ball just in front of our try line and passed it down the wing with our scrum half passing it to Tom B, who made a lovely run, but just got tackled before he could break through. More runs were made by Leo T-R who must have been inspired by watching Duhan van der Merwe the great Scottish player (South African really!). Leo T-R made another lovely break through their line and nearly scored a try but sadly dropped it on. With a scrum being awarded to the opposition, they were able to keep possession in the scrum and then kicked the ball down our wing with our winger catching it. With a few nice passes down the line Moxon K was able to finish the lovely move with a try. Josh W-D was yet again able to smash the conversion right down the middle, 33-0. As Matt A shouted again “in positions to receive boys”, we got in the W formation to receive the ball. Our winger caught the ball and decided to kick it. A returned kick from the opposition was knocked on right in front of our try line; a scrum was awarded. Shoreham College passed the ball out of the scrum only for Henry Y to put in a tackle (we’re still not sure if it was legal or not!!). Another scrum was awarded and we were able to win the ball back and kick it back into their half. After a few rucks, Troy K and Jack D were able to win us the ball back. A penalty was awarded and the ball was passed straight to Jack D who ran through their defence to finish it with a great try. Josh W-D managed to get the conversion again making it 40-0. Leo T-R collected the kick and was able to get the ball to Matt A, who made a little run then passed it to Jamie P. Jamie P, yet again, was able to make more distance and tried to pass the ball to Tom B, but sadly the ball went into touch to finish the game with a 40-0 win against Shoreham College.
Even though it was a wet and muddy game, the Duke of Kent School U15 team were able to finish the season undefeated with a nice win! Well done to all who played this season.
Matt A, Under 15 Rugby Captain
On Friday, Year 3 visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. This was to support our learning in Topic lessons on rainforests. Each group attended a fascinating workshop and had the opportunity to explore a number of artefacts from rainforests. They were also able to examine, smell and taste some rainforest food and tried to identify various spices. We then had a role-play activity, whereby we packed our essential equipment, flew to the rainforest in the Palm House and then searched for useful resources amongst the plants, looking for those that would be able to provide food, shelter, construction materials and medicine. It was a wonderful day out, filled with learning opportunities. We were very impressed with the children’s knowledge and behaviour that they demonstrated throughout the day.
To kick-start the week on Monday morning, senior pupils enjoyed an assembly which focussed on the theme of career change. During the assembly, pupils learnt that, while some individuals have a clear vision of their future career, it's perfectly normal for many to be uncertain about their path. The pupils discovered that most of their teachers, despite their passion for their current roles, had originally envisioned themselves in completely different professions. They were introduced to stories of notable figures, such as Michelle Obama, who transitioned from a successful legal career to impactful work with a non-profit organisation focussing on apprenticeships and training for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Their aim was to help prepare them for public service careers.
This year, we were delighted to invite back former secondary school teacher, children’s author and founder of Conscious Dreams Publishing, Daniella Blechner to spend the day with the children, and reiterate the importance of reading. Daniella’s love for reading developed early on in her school career, where she decided to write her own stories when she found lots of book characters didn’t look like her. Daniella’s morning assembly was based on her new children’s book 9 Days of Piper Snow; a beautiful story about losing someone dear and how an unexpected friendship can have the power to create lasting memories. Strangely, it was actually based on a real pigeon that has decided to visit her after her father passed away and who has made himself at home!
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 pupils skipped through and paraded their costumes. There were Harry Potters, Oompa Loompas, and even a couple of dinosaurs! The staff excelled again this year in their themes and ideas: the Science Department were from The Lord of The Rings, PE were all characters from the Winnie the Pooh books and the Performing Arts Department stunned us all with their incredible Greek characters. (Don’t look at Mrs Honey!) A special mention has to go to Mr Wright who, as Cruella Deville, had his 101 Dalmatians in tow and the Maths Department whose three bears were harangued by a cheeky Mr Monk as Goldilocks.
After the morning assembly, Daniella was treated to a “show and tell” session with Years 3 and 4. She was introduced to wonderful characters and enthusiastic stories about why these characters meant so much to them. “George’s Marvellous Medicine” was a particular favourite. Throughout the day, Year 7 and 8 had an exciting “Storytelling” workshop with Daniella, where they looked at creating characters, plot, setting and blurbs. During lunchtime, Daniella held a writing workshop for those pupils that wanted to learn more. There, Daniella shared some top tips with the pupils. It was amazing to see her ignite some of the creative minds of the children and even commented how some of the pupils were authors in the making!
I promised a busy one when I wrote in last week's Bulletin, and it has not disappointed! Rehearsals for the Prep Production – The Tree of Time – ramped up, and lots of people around the School have commented on how nice it's been seeing glimpses of costumes – even in the Dining Room at lunchtime! We also took some significant steps forward on Wednesday in putting the Wilder Schools Action Plan into practice, starting with the redevelopment of the area between the Prep classrooms and Pre-prep playground to encourage more biodiversity. Well done everyone for getting your hands dirty and putting in a real shift! There's no room here to do justice to World Book Day, but I had a wonderful day meeting several of my childhood heroes, such as Sherlock Holmes, Fantastic Mr Fox and Willy Wonka, plus a host of more recent literary characters, including Fing, Hermione Grainger and Percy Jackson!
