Virtual World Book Day

Yesterday was a Duke of Kent School first - a Virtual World Book Day event! The English Department pulled out all the stops to ensure that the pupils and staff did not miss out on their usual World Book Day festivities. All the pupils, staff and parents were invited to dress up as characters from their favourite books so that we could share a love of books across our community - even if we weren’t all together in the school building!

The Pre-prep staff dressed up as Mr Men and Little Miss characters! The Pre-prep did an amazing job of organising fun-filled activities including an adventurous scavenger hunt and challenges such as ‘Guess the book?’. In the Prep and Senior School, there was a virtual costume parade in form time followed by the virtual House competition ‘The Masked Reader’ hosted by Mr Southee.

In their live lessons, the Senior and Prep pupils had the opportunity to engage with a range of book-related activities, carefully devised by their subject teachers. Throughout the day, the pupils and staff had the chance to take part in competitions such as ‘The Best Costume’ and Miss Vernon posted literature-based challenges on social media such as ‘The Emoji Code’ where the pupils had to guess the book title from the emojis using their decoding skills. We are delighted to announce that the winners of this competition were: Esme P, Harry D, Tilly C, Chester B and...Miss Francis! Well done to everyone who participated - the winners of ‘The Masked Reader’ competition and the ‘Best Costume’ for pupils and staff will be revealed over the next few weeks so watch this space! 

Overall, the day was a huge success, and we hope it has provided the pupils with a fresh sense of energy and enthusiasm as we look forward to welcoming them back to School next week. Whole School events cannot happen without the support of all our staff, parents and pupils so many thanks to every single person in our community who supported us with the delivery of World Book Day 2021 - the English Department is so grateful! Please continue forward any pictures of your day to Miss Vernon or Miss Anand - see you next week!

To see more pictures from World Book Day 2021 click here

Miss Anand

Travel to Tokyo challenge 

Here is the weekly update of our "Travel to Tokyo" challenge. 

 Since we launched the challenge last week, we have already made it to France, Greece, the USA,  Brazil. Australia and now China!

We are aiming to reach Toyko in time for the rescheduled 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games this Summer so the challenge will continue when we are back at school.

Keep going team, we are doing brilliantly so far! 

Remeber to keep an eye on our social media platforms for updates.

Miss Vernon

Senior School Updates

With new rules and regulations guiding our return to school it is hard not to approach next week with a little trepidation but nonetheless I am certain that pupils will quickly adapt to the demands and we will safely get back to the buzzing, vibrant school we all long for. Remote Learning has had a huge impact on all concerned but to continually experience such positivity and endeavour in the classroom, even six weeks into the process, really is a huge credit to you and to them for managing the situation so successfully. Fingers crossed we will not have to experience anything similar anytime soon.

Commendations this week go to Frankie M in Year 8 for her outstanding ongoing effort in Geography and for Isaac P in Year 7 for his excellent History presentation completed during the half-term break. These will be issued next week upon our return.

Mr Wilson

House Updates

Last week the Prep and Senior pupils had the chance to test their knowledge by taking part in the House General Knowledge Quizzes. All of the 58 pupils who took part earned 3 House points and their marks went towards the grand totals to decide which Houses won overall. Well done to Chichester who won the Prep and Senior quizzes!  However, the results were very close between second and third place in both quizzes. You can use this link (House Leaderboard- 5th March) to see the most up-to-date results and positions, which include all of the rewards earned so far this term and the results from House Music. 

Mrs Douglas and Miss Anand have been hard at work creating a House Wellbeing Challenge for the students to attempt when they return next week. More information will be posted on the House Classrooms when the competition begins. 

Whittle are still in pole position but Hillary is sneaking up on them to regain the lead. A strong two weeks for Armstrong and Chichester has seen the battle for third becoming even closer! 

Mr Gritton

Duke of Kent School Facebook

The Duke of Kent School Facebook has now launched. It is a public account which is accessible without having to follow however, we encourage you to like and follow the account to receive push notifications with news, updates, educational articles, interactions with other schools, communities and public figures.  The content shared is more formal and focused on showcasing the educational strengths within the school. The Facebook handle is Duke of Kent School, please click the link below to visit the page directly.

www.facebook.com/Duke-of-Kent-School

Miss Vernon

Weekly Wellbeing

In recognition of World Book Day this week, I thought I would focus on the words of this year’s reading manifesto: Knowledge, Choice, Power, Growth.

To me, they resonate the incredible gifts that reading can give us and they also apply to ways we can view our own mental health.

My own career to this point has focused on Literature and the joy of reading. I have found reading an incredible source of comfort, escape and occupation throughout all three lockdowns. I wanted to combine my love of literature with my passion for improving mental wellbeing. The World Book Day 2021 manifesto words link beautifully to conditions for good mental health.

Knowledge - In books, we can read of others’ lives, hopes, dreams, adventures and feelings, it is vital, however, that we don’t remain a closed book to ourselves. Knowing what is important to us; our own values, beliefs, behaviours and emotions is an important step to acknowledging patterns we want to change.

Choice - We cannot control everything or everyone but we do have opportunity to make choices about the way we behave and react. We can choose to accept others’ criticism or not. We can choose to do what we feel is right rather than what we feel we should. We can choose whether we change or not.

Power - Only we have the power to make changes to the things that are damaging to ourselves. Once we have knowledge and recognise we have choice, we are empowered to be who we want to be. Voicing what our needs are, gives us the power to have them met.

Growth - We are constantly changing and growing, striving to become the best that we can be. As a plant needs water and light to grow, so we need to reflect and learn in order for personal growth to happen. Knowledge gives us power and choice to keep growing.

Mrs Douglas, Wellbeing Coordinator 

E-Safety Tips

Are YOU smartphone secure?

PRIVACY CHECK: Are you keeping things private? Social media privacy policies and settings change regularly, so check them every term! 

LOCATION CHECK: Have you turned off location sharing functions? Only leave location related services on when you need them, and only for those who need them. Otherwise, turn off! 

BLOCKING CHECK: Do you know how to spot trolls and effectively block them? People won’t be told you’ve blocked them, so don’t worry about making someone feel bad or angry. 

REPORTING CHECK: Do you know how to take appropriate action? Tell the platform you’re using or an adult you trust if something is upsetting you online.

Mr Boden

A Message from the Medical Room

Last Sunday, the Government announced that household members who live with school-aged children can now access twice-weekly lateral flow device (asymptomatic) coronavirus testing.  This can either be booked at your local testing centre, or you can collect home test kits from the test centre, or there is a limited supply that can be posted out to you....see the links below.  (Please be aware that the school does not have any kits available for household members).  I would encourage as many parents/household members as possible to take up this offer, as on top of pupil and staff testing,  this gives us an extra layer of reassurance that we are doing everything possible to keep Covid-19 away from Duke of Kent School.  (Please be aware that Pre-Prep and Prep School children are still not required to take part in asymptomatic testing).

https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

or try the Surrey County Council website:

surreycc.gov.uk/symptomfreecovidtesting

Meanwhile, the testing clinic in Ness Hall is all set to welcome the senior school children from Monday morning.  The testing team had a successful "dry run" this week, testing some staff on site, and we are confident that we are ready to assist your children with the testing process.  Unsurprisingly, we've heard form a number of you that your children are quite nervous about the testing.  This is entirely understandable, and I'm sure a lot of the children are feeling the same way, but please be assured, that in true Duke of Kent School style, we will meet this challenge with professionalism and above all with kindness. 

Mrs Sarjant

Latest update from our School uniform provider Stevenson's:

School Social Media

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

Our Twitter and Facebook accounts are public however, our Instagram account is private to keep it strictly for the Duke of Kent School community only. To follow the School Instagram account you will need to request to follow the account. 

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

Miss Vernon