At the end of an action packed five weeks, we salute you all on another brilliant term.
As you will see below, it has been another busy but fabulous week in Prep School. A special congratulations to those who received certificates during our Celebration Assembly – your hard work and dedication have really paid off. I wish each and every one of you a very happy holiday and a well deserved rest!
Safer Internet Day
This week we talked about Safer Internet Day, an initiative promoting a safer and more responsible use of online spaces. It is becoming increasingly crucial to prioritise internet safety for ourselves and our families. To help celebrate Safer Internet day a presentation was given to parents for children in Year 5 and above discussing digital resilience and how to help support children staying safe online.
During our assembly on Tuesday, our new digital champions came down from the Senior School to talk to us about staying safe online. They focused on the theme 'Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.
Reception and KS1 have read a story about Smartie the Penguin and discussed what to do when something happens on a device that they are unsure about . They then sung the internet safety song and all knew that they need to tell an adult to help keep them safe online. Key Stage 2 learnt how to reframe negative comments online into more positive comments and continued their learning by playing the Interland game where they explored being Sharp, Alert, Secure, Kind and Brave!
Prep School Notices
- Curriculum Information has been uploaded onto the iSAMS Parent Portal for each Year Group. This can be accessed under the Documents folder.
- We kindly ask parents to mark all items of clothing that come to school and to make sure your little one only brings home their own clothing.
BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!
We are excited to announce a whole school performance of Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals”. This will take place on Wednesday 1st May at 2:00pm and 6:00pm in the Theatre and will feature original poems, orchestral music, dancing and singing. All pupils from Reception to Year 6 will participate in the 2:00pm concert and we invite all parents to come to this exciting event. For the evening concert we invite our Choir and Instrumental Pupils from Key Stage 2 to participate along with the Senior School students and Parents are welcome to attend both concerts. It is not too late for your child to join a choir/instrumental group if they are very keen to participate in the 6pm concert! Please get in touch with Helen Bruce @ bruceh@kentcollege.kent.sch.uk
What happened in school this week?
Celebration Assembly
Congratulations to all our recipients this morning during our Celebration Assembly. It is truly wonderful to celebrate our students at the end of tern and reward all their hard work and dedication. You can be very proud of yourselves.
A special congratulations to the Speech and Drama students, who took their Vanguard exams on the 30th January, in either Poetry Speaking or Acting. Everyone achieved 80% or higher, gaining a range of Merits, Distinctions and Honours. All students worked so hard to learn their pieces and the theory for their exams. We are immensely proud of them all. Well Done. If your child is interested in Private Speech and Drama lessons please complete the online form.
We also celebrated our lovely Sister Barwick who will be leaving us today. We wish you only the best for your new adventure and you will be so missed by everyone in the Prep School. Thank you for all that you have done for our pupils and parents.
I have had a wonderful time working at KC, it has been a real privilege to care for and support the KC community. I will miss the relationships I have built with the wonderful students and colleagues and will miss both immensely. It’s with a heavy heart but with excitement that I leave to join the new Palliative Care Children’s service at Hospice in the Weald. There is no place like KC and I will carry all the happy memories with me on to my next chapter. Sr Tors
We welcome Sister Olivia Cottrell, a Registered Mental Health Nurse who joins the KC family from Caterham School. Before becoming a School Nurse at Caterham, Liv worked in CAMHS Inpatient Services looking after children and adolescents suffering from various mental health disorders.
Forest Explorers
We have been enjoying Julia Donaldson books this week and a particular favourite was ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’. We made dens in the forest and tried to squeeze us all in, including our teachers! It certainly was a squash and a squeeze.
Reception
We have been learning about two different celebrations in Reception this week, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. The children have learnt about how Chinese New Year is celebrated and Sophie told the children how she celebrates at home. The children have made fans and money envelopes and are hoping the envelopes will be filled! We have also talked about Valentine's Day and made cards for the people we love. With both these celebrations the children have talked about the similarities and differences between them and compared them to other celebrations that they have experienced throughout the year.
Year 1
Year 1 have continued their work on London and have enjoyed finding out about the Tower of London this week. They found it very funny that the King's soldiers are not allowed to smile and had a go at being soldiers themselves with the rest of the class trying to make them laugh! They then all produced beautifully presented fact files about what we had found out; some of our favourite facts included finding out that there used to be a zoo there, that there are seven ravens and if they don't behave they can be fired and that Beefeaters are so called because Henry V11 allowed them to eat as much beef from his table as they wanted!
In other news "Do the Right Thing" Dolphin has arrived in Year 1 and is choosing children to sit with who he spots following all the instructions. So far he is having a lovely time with his new friends!
Year 2 were exploring kindness and celebrating others when suddenly a tree of kindness began to grow...
In Year 2's room, beneath the sky so blue,
Stands a Tree of Kindness, fresh and true.
Children gather 'round with words to share,
Each leaf a message, showing they care.
"Friend," "Helper," "Brave," and "Sweet," Kindness blossoms at their feet. In this classroom, love takes flight, In the Tree of Kindness, shining bright.
Year 3
This week in science we have been learning about the bones in the human skeleton. Working in teams, and using a skeleton model, we were able to name each bone and place them in the correct places.
Year 4
In response to our study of the Stone Age Boy, Year 4 made some wonderful collages based around their paintings of The Woolly Mammoth. Looking at landscapes and pastimes they captured the scenery and characters very well indeed. They also went on to produce some interesting creative writing based on life during the Stone Age phase.
Year 5
During Outdoor Learning, Year Five have been learning about fires, fire building, lighting fires and fire safety. On learning that a fire needs fuel, oxygen and heat, the starting point was to build fires that would burn successfully. The children learned how to start fires, using a flint and steel, cotton wool and a touch of Vaseline. Persistence was required as using a flint and steel isn't as easy at it looks. Safety was priority so the cotton wool was placed on a inflammable shell when it was being lit. Pupils also learned and followed the green and red dragon system for fire safety. This Friday, Year Five plan to light a fire and toast marshmallows on home made toasting sticks. A delicious end to the half term.
Year 6
Year 6 have tied up this half of the term by having to do lots of recall and reasoning! The children have survived a maths assessment, science assessment AND a ‘Hot Write’! However, in between, they have been busy improving their ukulele skills in music, their food vocabulary in French, working in groups in drama to develop a script and playing hard in a tournament on Wednesday. Well done to them all for their resilience during a cold afternoon! They have been thinking about the terms for the different features of a river basin, and were extremely excited to discover the next part of their guided reading text: ‘Clockwork’ by Philip Pullman. As they had concluded last week on a cliff hanger, they had waited patiently to discover what happened next……..
This week some of the Year 6 students attended the HALO lecture about the Ancient Olympics given by Mrs Hayes. It was an absolutely fascinating talk, packed with amazing but true facts. Here are some of the points that struck the children:
I never knew that if you got a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, your town would be allowed to paint a post box gold in your honour – Josie
It was amazing to discover that a woman – a princess – has her name on the Spartan memorial as a winner – twice! – Shona
I really enjoyed learning about the rules the athletes had to compete by and that if you cheated, you had to pay a fine for a Zane! – Sophie
I never knew that to win in boxing in the Ancient Olympics, you HAD to knock your opponent out! - Iris
Sport News
Mr.George visited us on Monday to enthuse us with his love of football! We are getting very excited about the forthcoming football fixtures after half term. There was some fantastic footwork on display in assembly so we should be looking forward to some wins!
Gymnastic News
Congratulations to Harriet (1st Place)and Amelie (2nd Place). They participated in their first tumbling gymnastics competition over the weekend and did extremely well. We are so proud of you!
Competition Time!
Attached to the email where you found the link for this Newsletter, you will find three PDFs. Thanks to our fabulous Humanities Captains, Shona and Ally for designing a Humanities Competition for Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Thank you, girls, for championing these great subjects.
Attention everyone from Year 1 to Year 6! Our Art Captain, Ella, has produced a fun competition to complete over half term. There are prizes for those children in Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and 4) and Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and 6) who can produce an original comic strip, based on any story and produced in any medium other than digital - e.g. paint, pencils or pens. Three or four frames would be ideal.
The Wellbeing Hub
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