News Round Up 7th February 2025

We were thrilled to welcome so many prospective Year 7 students to our Big Dig event last weekend. Pupils from KC Prep and other primary and Prep schools took part in three activities: metal detecting to find parts of a WWII aircraft, code breaking in different locations to reveal clues and hidden messages and creating electrical circuits to send Morse Code signals - all under the watchful eye of Wing Officer Payne, Flight Officer Handford and Flight Commander Mossman. Huge thanks to our Sixth Form and Year 10 helpers who did an absolutely brilliant job!

Gymnastics Success

Our U14 gymnasts competed at Staines Prep School on Sunday in the BSGA Acro and Tumbling regionals competition, alongside 10 other schools in the South East region. Our Years 7, 8 and 9 students performed a series of tumbles and pair sequences.

In Tumbling, Chloe finished second in the regional category, Zarina finished second in the national category with Amelia in third. Amelia will also be the reserve for the Year 9 competition and Zarina will be representing the South East region in the U14 Tumbling. Sadhbh, Emily and Emilia all performed brilliantly too.

In the Acro pairs, Amelia and Ava finished in first place with Chloe and Sadhbh second and Zarina and Emily in third. Amelia and Ava, Sadhbh and Chloe will also take their pair sequences to Stoke for the nationals in May.

A fantastic result! Well done to all!

Boarders' Lantern Making

Our boarders had a very creative weekend making lanterns ahead of the Winter Lantern Parade in Tunbridge Wells on 8th February. From a kit which included LED lights, glue and paper, students made their lanterns out of willow, which they made into different shape frames and then covered them in tissue paper. They have been adding some decorations whilst in the boarding house this week.

We look forward to seeing them next week during the parade.

CREST Gold Award

Huge congratulations to Lexi in the Upper Sixth, who has been awarded the CREST Gold Award for her STEM project entitled "How do Maths and Physics Influence Music and Impact the Industry?" Achieving the CREST Gold Award is a huge achievement and takes an enormous amount of research and hard work. We are very proud of you, Lexi.

Young Fashion Designer UK

Calling all budding fashion designers! We are delighted to announce that this year's Young Fashion Designer UK competition is now open! The competition is open to all students from Year 7 to Upper Sixth.

Two of our previous participants commented:

On the day of the competition, I was so excited. I really loved looking at all the other people's boards. Then when we started the upcycling challenge, I made a dress with a corset top, laced with the ties provided. All the other girls' designs were amazing! It was such a wonderful experience, and I would love to do it again! Florence, Year 10. Highly Commended in the submission category.

Last year’s Young Fashion Designer competition was based on the theme: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. To enter I submitted 3 x A3 pages surrounding a specific topic inside of the 3 R’s. I chose to focus on ‘what makes denim so unsustainable’. After submitting these boards, I was selected to go through to the final round, which is an in-person event. To prepare for the day I did a deep dive into the background of denim, made an upcycled garment out of an old pair of jeans to display with my boards and made a video to submit alongside the design showing the process. The day itself was split into 2 sections, an upcycling challenge where we had to create a new garment using a shirt, tie, knitwear, denim and dress. We had 2 hours to do this. The second part of the day was an interview with the 4 judges where they would ask about your topic and the research you have carried out. Then we moved on to the judging. There were 3 sections of judging, the Upcycle challenge, the 3-page submission and the video entry, and the prizes consisted of textiles supplies. I really enjoyed the day, especially being surrounded by like-minded people who share the same interests. I particularly liked the upcycling challenge and seeing all the different outcomes which everyone came up with. It gave me inspiration for my own upcycled garment and for my A-level project. Piper, Upper Sixth, Highly Commended in the submission category and 2nd place in the Upcycling Challenge.

For full details on how to enter, please click on the link below.

Year 8 Masked Ball

Year 8 English students took part in their own "masked ball" this week. Tying into their study of Shakespeare's play, "Much Ado About Nothing," students had to ask each other questions whilst in character, depending on their mask. They then tried some traditional 16th Century dancing and a game involving wit and intrigue to guess each other's identities, before enjoying a (non traditional) 16th Century feast!

Year 7 Art

Year 7 Art students have been exploring the theme, Still Life, studying the Italian artist Felice Casorati, a print maker who was known for his geometric and visionary style. This week, the students have been analysing his paintings, helping them to understand how many shades of chiaroscuro can be found in black and white images. They then traced one of his paintings, colouring in the tones and shadows using only one or two pencils.

Science Club

This week students made various crystals in Science Club. Some students made these using saturated sodium chloride, creative folding of filter paper and coloured felt-tips. Other students made their own crystal gardens using sodium silicate solution and various metal salts. We were able to watch the crystals develop minute by minute which was very exciting!

Year 7 Flexi Boarding Night