King’s Hall School

Prep Newsletter

Edition 47 27th February 2015

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HEADlines

So, back into things after a quick break for Valentine’s and Pancakes! Two snippets from my week for you... On Monday I was at the DfE and two comments struck a chord with me. The Secretary of State for Education introduced the seminar and in her address included the hope that “children grow up as open and broadminded as possible as a result of their education” to be followed by Christine Ryan (Chief Inspector for ISI) asking “Please tell me that there is more to school than exams? Please tell me that getting a string of A*s is not seen as the pinnacle of human achievement?”. We, of course, support children in their (and our) aspirations to gain the very highest grades they can but it is just one important aspect of their development as they grow and ready themselves for life beyond school. Just last night I was part of a team at a Quiz held at the County Ground and the collective efforts left us a couple of points short of victory at the end of a fun evening. A sample of the questions would include which national flag is not rectangular, could you recognise the theme to Mr Benn, which Champions League manager had rampaged on the pitch in the final, which of Henry VIII’s wives was buried next to him, who killed Lucy Beale, could you name Sumac as the (unmarked) spice in the bowl on your table? Tomorrow marks the end of the second month of 2015 – how are the New Year’s resolutions going? Or your Lenten commitments, for that matter?

Justin Chippendale

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A view from the Rose Garden – 4T This week we have decided to focus on Golden Time and our favourite things to do

”I bring my kindle in because it always keeps me occupied”

“ I like my roller skates because they’re really fun to go on and you can do tricks“

“I bring my teddy in so I can dress him up and play with him with my other friends”

Lots of children bring in their iPods and iPads and some just enjoy playing with their friends outside.

On Tuesday we hosted Netball and Hockey matches v Queen’s. The girls U9A Won 6-5 U9B Drew 2-2.

The boys U9A won U9B won 2-0

In English through listening and looking at a short animation of “The Tightrope Walker” by A. Caminante, we have been studying plot, characterisation, setting, themes and creating a text. In Maths we have been looking at angles around the school:

Obtuse Acute Right angle Can you spot where we found them around the school?

. In Y3, Y4 and Y5 We have a Maths Olympics, A love heart investigation, A Smartie investigation, A Maths Trail around the school, Maths Arithmetic challenge and Daily Challenges .........

Academic Life...

Drama

What a busy week of Drama lessons!

Y3 thought seriously about what could happen if you had a fire in your home. They worked hard

to show very serious expressions and spoke with sad voices.

Y4 were acting as Rich Romans and Slaves training to be Gladiators.

Great facial expressions from all when they had to pretend to eat

porridge mixed with ash!

Y5 are working on a unit called 'It was Terrifying'. They created frozen pictures of children in a

playground and then brought them to life. They thought about how they would react if a new,

strange child entered the playground.

Y6 were extremely busy learning lines for their forthcoming play (see the poster!)

Y7 acted in role as Passport control, mistreating 'Solomon Green' as he entered a new country

where he thought he might find work. Some future job professions were spotted!

Y8 enacted what it was like to be in Ireland in 1845 during the Irish Potato famine.

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Latin

Recently Y6 have been looking at chariot racing in the Circus Maximus. Here is an excerpt from Oliver Luxton’s story... “The Emperor had the cloth in his hand, then he dropped it. The race had started. A great cheer went up of, ‘Yeah, come on!’ Flags were being waved, the circus arena was roaring. I cheered as loud as I could, ‘Come on!’

The charioteers were good, but the Veneti (the Blues) were amazing, Gutta Calpurnianus had 583 wins already. The Albati (the Whites) were in the lead with two laps to go. Suddenly the Prasini (the Greens) got in the way of the chariot of the Russati (the Reds). The charioteer was thrown off his chariot. The Russati were out of the race. The Albati and the Prasini were neck and neck, but on the final bend the Veneti stormed into the lead and crossed the line for another famous win.”

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Art

It has been another busy week in the Art department with pupils in Y7 getting into the final stages of their 3D structures project; painting on their chosen decorations and exploring the different paint qualities and effects.

The Specialist Art group have been exploring glass painting effects, creating line drawings of natural forms before using a Cern outliner to create a barrier between the different sections and applying their chosen colours.

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Maths Week

Next week, pupils throughout the school will be engaged in maths week activities. These activities will mainly take place in maths lessons and will involve the children exploring the mathematical properties all around them on the school site. Outside the classroom, the children will be solving problems, investigating properties of number and taking part in mathematical challenges. As in previous years in the prep department, maths week will take the form of a house competition, with a trophy at stake.

Y6 McDermott

Y6 have had a busy time at the moment. The highs and lows of 11+ ‘challenges’ has quickly subsided and rehearsals for their play are in full swing with the performance only 25 days away! Half term was a chance for Freddie, Lara and Anna to test their equestrian skills with an Inter-School Show Jumping competition held at Conquest, with others finding plenty of activities to fill their holiday. Science lessons have been really exciting, learning about a healthy diet, by burning crisps to heat up water and testing foods for starch and glucose. In Geography, the European Union has come under scrutiny and in History – Heaven and Hell. Maths has seen them looking at Algebra – simplifying expressions and substituting values. The visit by Gill Lewis has really been a highlight of the week and English lessons have involved much creative writing inspired by Gill. Writing their own songs in Music, with instrumental accompaniment has been great fun, as has the making of hats and gloves in DT and mandalas in Art. Phew! What busy children!

This week in the Library....

A visit from children’s author, Gill Lewis There was great excitement on Tuesday as well-known children’s author Gill Lewis joined us for a full day of story-related fun! Gill is the author of a number of wonderful books for children including Scarlet Ibis, Sky Hawk, Moon Bear and White Dolphin and there was a very long queue of eager pupils snaking out of the Library at morning break as Gill kindly signed the children’s own copies of her books, embellishing them with her animal stamps – much to the children’s delight! Gill treated the pupils in Y5 to Y8 to a hugely entertaining and informative presentation in the Arts Centre where she spoke about her work as an author (she spends her working day writing in a tree-house at the bottom of her garden), her previous career as a vet, her love of nature and her desire to protect the environment and the creatures that have inspired her work. One highlight was when Freddie Clayton was transformed into an osprey, complete with wings, feathers and talons! She went on to show us (in a very interactive way) how modern fishing methods have led to the destruction of marine life – a theme from her book, White Dolphin.

Later in the day, Gill led some wonderful creative writing workshops for our Y6 pupils. Gill encouraged the children to free their imaginations and let their creativity spill out onto the page. Gill explained how she brings her ideas together for a new story and told the children about her own struggles with spelling and handwriting, requesting that pupils forget about such matters for the duration of the session! There was no shortage of inspiration as pupils came up with some fantastic ideas for stories in response to Gill’s thought-provoking story starters. Their huge sheets of paper were transformed into complex webs of words and pictures as they explored the creative processes behind story writing. When thinking about character, for example, they were asked to imagine what their central character might keep in his or her pockets and what their most closely-guarded secret might be. Gill will be providing the pupils with feedback on their finished stories; perhaps there are some future authors among them...?

Out of the classroom...

Speech and Drama

I hope that everyone has had a restful half-term break and have returned to school feeling recharged and fresh.

In King’s Hall Speech & Drama, pupils have a very busy couple of weeks coming up.

The Taunton Drama Festival starts in just over one week, running from Monday 9th March until Friday 13th March.

So make sure that you have your Drama classes written in your diaries, keep practising your poems, readings and scenes at home and make sure that all words are

learnt so that we can finish the Drama Festival week having had some real successes.

The Taunton Drama Festival will take place at the following venue:

Temple Methodist Church Upper High Street

Taunton TA1 3PY

Parents are more than welcome to come along and support the

King’s Hall pupils in each of their classes, and I certainly hope that we can get a good crowd to support our extremely

talented students.

The children have been working incredibly hard choosing and rehearsing the perfect pieces for this, whether a poem, prepared reading or short scene, the King’s Hall pupils

are all sure to be fantastic.

Should you wish for any more information on the Taunton Drama Festival, Speech & Drama lessons or our Speech & Drama café, please feel free to contact me.

My email address is:

AKirby@kingshalltaunton.co.uk

This term’s Head Boy – still George Small!

Welcome back everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely half term break and have come back fully rested and ready for a busy few weeks. This week we were fortunate enough to have a visit from the author Gill Lewis. I know many pupils are great fans of her books and she spread inspiration throughout the school with workshops and talks. Many of the Y8’s have scholarship assessments coming up and I would like to wish those sitting exams next week good luck and hope all the hard work pays off, and for those who have just completed the sport assessments hopefully it was an enjoyable experience, fingers crossed for the results. Finally I would like to remind you that Red Nose Day is looming. Don't forget to bring yours!

Best wishes for the rest of term.

George Small

Sport Action and News...

Netball U9’s against Queen’s and Wellington A real nail biter for the A’s! A very even game, with both teams having to play well to keep possession. The Queen's GA and GS were way taller than any of our girls and Hettie and Elise worked really hard to keep the ball away from them. Emily Ogle played fantastically as Centre. The score was 3-4 going into the last quarter and our desire to win certainly showed as we turned the game around in our favour. Spacing improved as the game progressed. Well done! A lovely game for the B’s where these players are beginning to show their growing skills and knowledge of Netball match play. After being 2 goals down at the first quarter, the team marked opponents more than just ball watching and Phoebe Millard and Daisy Kamsner were our heroes getting a goal each into those tall hoops to gain a thrilling draw! The A’s were very much stronger than Wellington. Our footwork, passing and movement on court looked very practised. After going 7-0 up in the first half, I completely swapped the team around, taking off the strongest player. We scored 2 more, so for the last quarter, another change. A great game with good work from Peyton Broke-Smith.

U12A’s against Taunton Junior

This was a tightly fought game, scoring 3-3 at half time. Endless energy for marking from the King's defence really put the Taunton opposition under great pressure and forced them to make so many errors from the moment we went ahead, which we capitalised on. Our mantra was keep calm, keep possession and importantly set our own pace for the game which the girls played brilliantly - the best win to date! POM = Olivia Highton playing out of position as Centre fantastically!

U10A’s against Taunton Junior

This was a fiercely contested and close match, with play moving from end to end of the court but without either side actually putting it in the net resulting in a 0-0 score line by half time. I have to say our girls looked half asleep in the first two quarters but started to wake up in the third and played some good flowing netball in the final quarter. A draw would have been a fair score, but we were able to put away more of the chances to leave a final score of 3-1. Jemima Rundell was player of the match.

Hockey

U9’s against Queen’s and Wellington Queen’s at home was always going to be a tough way to start the season, for both the A and B teams. Both teams however played extremely well and King’s Hall won both matches. In the B team Thomas Herbert and Kamal Tskiri Collins were exceptionally determined in defence and midfield. They provided the base for the attacking threats of Cameron Wallace and Arthur Webster to grab the headlines with the goals. An excellent team performance and a clean sheet form Magnus Larsen in goal resulted in a 2 – 0 victory. The A team were quite outstanding ending up 10-0 winners. A cool 6 goals form Reef Simpson the end product of an excellent team performance. Vincent Yates was a constant threat down the right and the team was led extremely well by Hector Banton who was pulling the strings in midfield. Two days later the A team travelled to Wellington. We were 1-0 up at half time and Wellington had not entered the King’s Hall ‘D’. The goals began to come and some darting runs from defenders Tom Kittow and Jonty Heard often left King’s Hall a little light at the back but the extra numbers in attack made the difference for the goals. Charlie Stephens worked tirelessly on the left wing and again Vincent and Reef provided the goal threat in attack. Played 3 and won 3 then for the U9s with a tough test against Taunton School for A and B teams on Tuesday. With 17 goals for and 0 against the boys should be confident but not complacent!

1st XI against Wellington This was, by far, the most convincing performance of the season. The boys played with real flair, great understanding and passion. There were some outstanding individual performances across the team, when considering there were new faces and people experiencing new roles, the team can be really proud of their efforts. Well done.

2nd XI against Wellington

This was a plucky effort from the seconds who did very well to hang on to their victory. 2 stunning goals (from Reuben Lindsay Smith and Ben Luxton) were well supported by good defending and excellent goal keeping from Thomas Daniel, well done!

Results round up ...

Netball Tuesday 24th February v Queen’s

U9 A Won 6 - 5 U9 B Drew 2 - 2

Wednesday 25th February

v Taunton U13 A Lost 7 - 11 U13 B Won 5 - 3

U12 A Won 6 - 4 U12 B Won 9 - 4 U12/13 C Won 5 - 3 U11 A Lost 6 - 20 U11 B Won 5 - 3 U10 A Won 3 - 1 U10 B Won 10 - 1

Hockey Wednesday 25th February

v Wellington Prep 1st XI Won 4 - 2 2nd XI Won 2 - 1

3rd XI Drew 1 - 1

Cross - Country

Tuesday 24th February Somerset Championships

U13 Boys 2nd U13 Girls 2nd

U12 Boys 4th U12 Girls 4th

Cross-Country Four teams represented King’s Hall School at the Somerset Cross Country Championship this week with all of the runners performing exceptionally well. It was most pleasing to see the children working in teams and finishing in places that were close to each other. All of our U13 children finished in the top twenty runners with Joe Messenger and Ben Luxton leading the boys and Karis Chambers and Matilda Webster the girls. The U12 runners did equally well with all of the children finishing in the top twenty five runners. In two very competitive races, Russell Yates and Charlie Spurr ran very well for the boys as did Sophie Minchin and Lizzie Chetwode for the girls. Well done to all runners!

The Boarders’ World...

Feeling nicely relaxed after a week off, the children are straight back in to a busy, fun packed 5 weeks. We welcome Monty Lyall to King’s Hall who has joined the Y8 boarders, and has all ready made a great impression. We also welcome Bowie our new resident rabbit who has stolen the hearts of all the junior boys and girls. With a day at Art to Art, a day in the woods, an Easter Egg hunt and picnic on the Quantocks planned, we have a lot to look forward to.

Things you didn’t know about ...

Mrs Wright

Head of Religious Studies

Reuben Lindsay-Smith Y8 pupil

How long have you been at King’s Hall School? Tell us more about your arrival.

I have been here for eleven years. I was working in

London as a teacher, married and later had my two

children. Five years later, I decided to return to

teaching and saw a job for an RS teacher at King’s

Hall. I had taught RS and the West Country seemed

very appealing. I got the job and so we all moved to

Taunton.

I have been at Kings Hall for 2 and half years now as I started the school at the very beginning of Year 6. I came to this school while I was living in Virginia, America because my Dad was posted there to work

in NATO at Norfolk.

If you were going to write a book, what would you call it and what would it be about?

Quite a challenging question because it seems a

daunting task but I think it may be a book about

people’s encounters with God through miracles. It

would be fascinating speaking to people about their

experiences.

It would be called ‘Life Around the Globe’ and it would be based on all the wonderful places that I

have travelled to and I would explain all the different cultures that I have experienced.

What do you like most in a friend?

Honesty, sense of humour and dependability. My

sister has been a great friend to me over the years.

In a friend I look for loyalty and someone who has mastered the art of fun.

If you could try out any job for a day, what would you like to try?

As I love animals and the environment, spending a

day with a wildlife film crew would be fantastic;

Alaska: Earth’s Frozen Kingdom has stunning footage.

Obviously, I would love to play football professionally, captaining Chelsea to great success and helping England to victory in the World Cup.

What is / was your favourite subject at school?

I liked Biology at school and especially using the

microscope.

I have many favourite subjects at school and I enjoy the PE/sports and the academic side of

learning but I really do enjoy Geography because Mr Coupland somehow makes coastlines and river

fun!

Which three people, dead or alive, would you have to a dinner party if you could? Why?

Dame Dr Cicely Saunders; I once saw her in the

corridors of St Christopher’s Hospice in South London;

the hospice she founded in 1967, the start of the

hospice movement and her legacy to us today. Jackie

Pullinger; she is a significant 21st century missionary

currently working in Hong Kong. She started life as

music teacher at Dulwich College, London but felt

God’s call to leave on the boat to Hong Kong in 1966.

Daniel (as in Lion’s den); it would be fascinating

listening to his stories about advising different kings -

maybe he could help out with any recent dreams! He

was a man who stood up for what was right and for

his faith in God. What a dinner party!

I would like to have dinner with Winston Churchill to discuss his way of leading Britain through a

tough time; also I would invite Albert Einstein to talk about his famous relativity theory and then I

would invite Mario Gotze to talk about the brilliant goal he scored to win the World Cup for Germany.

What takes up most of your time in the day?

When I am not at work - it seems to be the laundry! – otherwise the dogs love their walks and I help my

daughter with horse chores.

Probably fiddling as my Mum tells me off repeatedly for it!

If someone asked you for a random piece of advice, what would you say?

One of our Chapel blessings says it well: ’Live every

day as if it were your last’.

An eye for an eye makes the world blind.

What is the first thing you do when you get home after school?

Greet the dogs because they are so excited I have

returned!

Recover from a stressful day at school then do my Homework.

Do you like to plan things out in detail or be spontaneous? Why?

I can be spontaneous because I think life can become

predictable if it is totally organised; although there is

also a place for planning. Overall, I am probably a

mixture of both!

Spontaneity, because I like to think of things on the spot.

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

I would love to go on a safari and see the wild animals in their natural habitats; seeing the Mountain Gorillas

of Rwanda would be an enormous privilege.

I would really like to be able to go to university and get a degree in biology then go on to dental school

so that I could become a dentist.

Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible? Why?

I would love to fly. I would have fantastic views of the

landscape; I could travel anywhere in the world

(would I need a Passport?); I might need a warm coat

and a good pair of goggles so I could see where I was

going!

I would prefer to fly because then I could be able to go anywhere I want whenever I want.

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