School Charity Update

For the last few weeks, we’ve been growing and selling plants and seedlings outside the School to raise money for our partner charity Access Adventures.

Thank you so much to everybody who donated and bought seedlings in support of Access Adventures this week. We are so, so grateful to everyone who helped in any way. In particular, a big shoutout to Miss Barnes and Mrs Knox for watering our precious seedling over Easter! And not forgetting Tash B as the senior member of the team for her mature guidance and organisational skills.

We grew a variety- climbing french beans, hot red chilli peppers, basil, tomatoes, different kinds of squashes and some others as well. 

We had a lovely time in the sun and Annabelle had an interesting time in the rain. Thank you to The Performing Arts Department for the loan of their umbrella!

Thank you to all of you, we raised over £190 for Access Adventures. The charity provides fun activities and opportunities for disabled people. We are so grateful to them and to you. 

Thank you again, we will see you at our next event.

The Charity committee

Written by Ariane L, Rose S, Fleur S and Annabelle R, Year 8

The Charity Committee is always looking for new recruits. If you are interested in getting involved please see Mr Watson.

Careers Resources

InvestIN are running a series of free on-line seminars designed to help parents guide their children  to a successful career. They are aimed at parents of children aged 12-18.

Please click the link below to access seminars on 'Own The Room' (Tuesday 11th May, 7:00-8:00pm) and 'Success in the City' (Wednesday 9th June, 7:00-8:00pm)

https://investin.org/pages/parent-series?mc_cid=656ff762ed&mc_eid=2336366d5e

Mrs LaCroix

Stars of the Week

Nursery - Harry R for demonstrating brilliant listening skills and a very enthusiastic and motivated attitude throughout each day.

Reception - Charlie S for improved effort in handwriting and careful painting of his symmetrical butterfly.

Year 1 - Elizabeth S for her amazing details to her drawing of a howler monkey in art.

Joey S for  his effort and enthusiasm in every piece of work he does.  He always wants more!

Year 2 - Rufus S-C for exemplary writing in English lessons this week.  You're a superstar!

Mrs Henry

Senior School News

Commendations this week have been awarded to Kora W, Lucy P and Aoife W in Year 10 for their outstanding ongoing efforts in Geography, particularly their excellent notes and explanations in their current GCSE topic, and also to Alfie C, Tom H, Harley B and Maddie I, all in Year 9, who stepped in at late notice to perform a quite wonderful version of 'Love Story' by Sarah Barrelis in the The Duke of Edinburgh Assembly last Friday. In this assembly Mr Lodge and Mr Wyllie did a fantastic job of highlighting the life of the late Prince Philip and reflecting, in particular, upon his role in establishing the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the positive effects this has had on so many people. Commendations were also awarded to Daisy R, Jack D and Jess I, in Year 7, for their outstanding written plans relating to how to rebuild the Caribbean island of Montserrat after their devastating volcanic eruption.

May I also take this opportunity to draw your eye to the upcoming Hill Running 3 Peaks Challenge Event, scheduled in the diary for the 17th May. As we continue to promote good health and mental wellbeing at school we would love as many as possible to take part in this voluntary after-school event, open not only to those in the Hill Running Club but to anyone in senior school who is brave enough to take on this 10km challenge (at any pace!). After a hugely successful inaugural event in 2019 we cannot wait to tackle the three hills of Leith Hill , Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill - more information will be sent out in email form soon after the Bank Holiday Weekend.

Mr Wilson

Match Reports

Matches are back!

It was amazing to finally have some inter-school fixtures back this week. The pupils involved were extremely excited and all showed a great amount of sportsmanship and determination! Although matches have been placed in the calendar, these are all subject to confirmation from other schools. We hope to play as many matches as possible but please refer to the team sheets when they are posted on the Parent Portal as there is a good chance that the fixtures might not go ahead, or the venues might change. When playing in matches this term, it is important that the pupils have the correct kit, this includes a water bottle, sun cream and a hat. Boys from Year 5 and above will need cricket whites, a cricket jumper and a cricket box.

Girls' U13 Cricket v. Belmont

On Wednesday afternoon, despite the pouring rain, Year 8 had their first match in over a year against Belmont.  There was great excitement with a pinch of nerves too, but the girls were keen to get stuck in to what would be a fantastic match. Alex K won the toss for the team and we started the match bowling. There was some fantastic bowling from all the girls and some close wickets from a few. Our fielding was strong and the team worked hard to stop the ball reaching the boundaries and worked quickly to stop Belmont adding to their runs. 

When Duke of Kent School came in to bat, they were focused and managed to avoid hitting the ball high for catches. A number of the girls hit 4's and 6's and there was great decision-making for when to run and when to stay. The final score was 306 – 299 to Belmont. It was such a close match and they all gave 100%. We have some areas to work on as a team but I am looking forward to seeing them all improve in their next match. Well done everyone.

Miss Vernon

Girls' U11 Cricket v. Belmont

On Wednesday afternoon, some girls from Years 5 & 6 travelled to Belmont for their first cricket match against another school in over a year. Unsurprisingly, the team were extremely excited despite the unfortunate weather (constant rain!!) As if by magic, as the team arrived at Belmont School, the rain stopped so the game could begin. The U11s fielded first and demonstrated some great bowling technique and accuracy after just a few cricket lessons. In particular, well done to Edie H for getting a wicket, Clara H-S for super fielding and Annabelle B for receiving girl of the game bowler! After a short drinks and sanitising break, Duke of Kent School were ready to bat. Each pair faced multiple overs and showed great determination and focus when running between the wickets and making good decisions. Well done to Eve M for scoring multiple 4s during her batting over to help contribute to Duke of Kent School's overall score. Excitingly, the U11s girls managed to win by 3 runs!! Well done to all the girls involved for their efforts and most importantly their fantastic enthusiasm throughout the afternoon! We can't wait for more matches! 

Miss Vickers

Boys' U11 A Cricket v. Belmont

On Wednesday saw the U11A's have their first cricket match of the year against Belmont. It was due to be their first hard ball match but unfortunately due to the rain that couldn't happen, but we managed to get a game of cricket played on the Wilsons' pitch. Duke of Kent school batted first and scored 75 off their 16 overs, with a good partnership between Chester S and Kit B holding the innings together. Felix C bowled well to start the innings, and this was backed up by Sam R bowling some accurate left arm swing. Unfortunately, we couldn't stop Belmont reaching our total but credit to the boys who stuck at it in inclement weather.

Mr Green 

Boys' Cricket U13 v. Belmont

On a very wet day, it was fantastic that we were able to go ahead with the U13 cricket match at Holmbury St. Mary's CC against Belmont. Toby T won the toss and decided to field. All of the Duke of Kent School bowlers showed a good level of skill and accuracy and were very unfortunate not to take more wickets, often beating the outside edge. Belmont opening batsmen batted well and managed to post a score of 101 for 4 in their 16 overs. Knowing the run rate, the Duke of Kent School boys aimed to score at about 7 an over. We lost a couple of early wickets but Harry F and Toby T steadied the ship with the Toby top scoring (29). Jack B helped Toby get the team over the line with 3 overs to spare. It was great to be playing again and amazing to register our first win! Well done to all who played.

Mr Herbert

Weekly Wellbeing

The past year has definitely been a challenge for everybody. For children and young people, the uncertainty, change and disruption to their routines, relationships and feeling of security has been profound and has come during a time of rapid development when behavioural habits are forming.

Encouraging your children to talk about their concerns is vital for them to be able to work through any residual feelings of fear, anxiety, frustration, disappointment or other emotions. When children are confused about how they are feeling or find their emotions overwhelming  they may behave in a way that challenges all their relationships. This could be angry outbursts, low level aggression to others, destructive treatment of belongings/surroundings, unkindness to others (including yourselves) or rule-breaking behaviour that leads to punishment at school or home.

Often this challenging behaviour is an indicator of unresolved difficult emotions and a request for their confusion to be noted and acted upon. Still waters may run deep, but angry/choppy waters have a lot going on under the surface too and this is what needs to be addressed. It is important that this behaviour is not ignored but addressed, and an explanation of why it is not acceptable is given. Equally, importantly, your child needs to know that you are open to hearing them and can demonstrate empathy without judgement. This may be better explored at an agreed suitable time when both parties are calmer and allocating a time for this is a good idea.

Often it is this reassurance and demonstration that they are heard and understood is what they really require.

For more advice on dealing with children’s challenging behaviour click on the link below:

https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/parents-guide-to-support-a-z/#challenging-behaviour

Mrs Douglas, Wellbeing Coordinator

The Performing Arts News

Combined Schools Choir

We are delighted to announce that we have currently raised £1885 for the Challengers Charity through the combined schools choir. However, the campaign is still active and I would love us to reach £2000! If you would like to hear Mr Rye being interviewed about the campaign on the Nicky Patrick Show on BBC Surrey/Sussex please follow the link below and jump to 1hr19mins into the show. If you would like to donate please visit the Crowdfunder page below. Thank you!

BBC Interview:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09dmhvw

Crowdfunder Page:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/schoolsvirtualchoir

Mr Rye

E-Safety Tips

Tech Tips to bring you together!

GET ACTIVE WITH TECHNOLOGY

Do the housework - Apps like ChoreMonster provide fun incentives for younger children to tidy rooms, while planners like Mothershp help set schedules for older ones. 

Explore augmented reality - Get outdoors and see the world a different way with augmented reality apps. Whether on a prehistoric hunt (Dinosaurs Everywhere, iOS only) or catching outlandish creatures (Pokémon Go!), these apps make moving and exploring more fun. 

Go on a nature hunt - Explore your inner David Attenborough with UK conservation apps like Wildlife Trust: Nature Finder, Great British Bee Count and BirdTrack.

Mr Boden

House Updates

This week the Prep and Senior School pupils put their logical thinking to the test in the House Riddle competition; each quiz contained 12 riddles set at an appropriate level for the pupils. The results (and answers!) will be published next week. The Motivational Poster competition begins on Tuesday 4th May and all of the necessary information will be published in the House Google Classrooms. There is still time to enter House Photography competition as well. You can use this link to see the most up to date leaderboards (Leaderboard- Summer wk 2)

The first round of voting in the House renaming process closes at 4:40pm this afternoon! The results will be collated and announced next week. Following that, the House Leaders and House Captains will meet to create a shortlist of 6 names to put forward for the final round of voting to decide what the four new names will be. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to cast their votes and share their opinions, all the feedback we have received will inform the process as it progresses. 

Mr Gritton

PADoK News

Last Friday we had our first PADoK Walk.  We met in the Hurtwood Control Car Park 3 at Pitch Hill, and we had a bumper number of 13 and we think about 10 dogs, they were running around, so it was tricky to count!   

Once we had spread out into socially distanced groups of 6 we all enjoyed a good walk around PItch HIll. It was a beautiful day for our first walk and despite a chilly start we soon warmed up in the sun. It was great to see some new faces and we hope they enjoyed meeting others from the School community and finally, a big thank you to Mrs Hogan-Smith for leading our PADoK Walk.  

The next PADoK walk is on Friday 7th May, 08.30 at Car Park 3, hope to see you there.

PADoK Book Club

PADoK Book Club is on Thursday 6th May at 8pm via Zoom to discuss The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.  Zoom details will be sent out at the beginning of that week. 

We look forward to seeing you all at one or both of these events.  Have a great start o the Summer Term everyone.

PADoK Team

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