KC News Round Up Friday 3rd May 2024

Saying goodbye to the Upper Sixth

After arriving early at school with some fairly questionable parking, our Upper Sixth said farewell to KC at their leaver's assembly. It was a wonderful way to celebrate them, their time at KC, their achievements and the amazing people they have become. We wish you all the very best.

Farewell Year 11

We said goodbye to Year 11 who, for their final day, came dressed as British icons for a quiz, assembly, leavers' photo and lunch. We wish you all the very best for your GCSE's.

Carnival of the Animals

This week, the Music department staged their first ever whole school music concert, The Carnival of the Animals. The aim was to create a completely inclusive performance, involving students from Nursery to Upper Sixth, as well as many other departments and staff members.

Practice and preparation began in September, with orchestras, musicians, soloists and choirs learning their various pieces of music. Year 7 and Prep School students wrote poetry and created beautiful artwork. Our Sixth Form dancers taught choreography to the Reception ballerinas, while French and Spanish teachers coached students on their poetry recital in different languages.

On the day, the students were confident, professional, and performed with such musicality and maturity. But they also had a huge amount of fun, which could be seen all the way from the bumblebees (Nursery) to our talented Sixth Formers. Well done everyone!

Whole School Photo

On Monday, the sun shone for the first whole school photo since 2019. We can't wait to see how it looks!

HALO Lecture

Mrs Walker gave AIM students a really interesting talk about the brain and neuroscience. She spoke about some of the myths that exist about the brain, Einstein's brain and how we have begun to learn so much about the brain with the aid of microscopy and brain scans.

She also spoke to students about memory and how learning works, demonstrating with a short game at the end. Students left with a brain biscuit which went down very well!

I really enjoyed the content of the lecture, there was a lot of variety. I especially enjoyed the last activity - it was interesting! I loved the biscuits. Judy, Year 9

Boarders' Trip to Lush

Last weekend, the boarders from Years 7 - 10 visited Lush in Tunbridge Wells. The students enjoyed their own private pamper session where they made face masks, had arm massages, tried lotions and various fragrances. At the end, they all received a goodie bag to take home with samples from their own face masks and lip scrubs.

Ice Hockey Achievement

Year 7's Elowen, together with her team Streatham YIHC, has qualified for the ice hockey National Playoff U12 Finals tournament. This is an enormous achievement, with only the top eight teams in the country qualifying.

In addition, the sport is mixed, and selection to the team is based purely on ability. Elowen is the only girl on her team and she will be one of less than 10 girls in the Finals. Well done Elowen and best of luck for the Finals in Sheffield in a couple of weeks.

Upper Sixth English Literature

As a fun revision lesson, students were given quotations from their studied Romantic Poetry. The poems all had missing words. They had to use their collective knowledge of the poems to remember the words, and then their brains to figure out where in school they might find this word! As well as hunting down a selection of flowers and trees from the poems, they had all sorts of laughter with a skull from art as Byron’s ‘Lines Inscribed upon a Cup Formed from a Skull’ and a ‘melon’ and a picture of a ‘Collie’ hidden in Food Tech for Keats’ ‘Ode on Melancholy’. It was lots of fun but very tiring zig-zagging around the beautiful school grounds.

Computer Science

Chloe, April (Year 7), Emelia, Summer (Year 8) Neve and Iona (Year 9) have achieved their Bronze iDEA Awards. So far 202 KC students have achieved their Bronze iDEA Award covering topics such as Online Safety, Cyber Security, Global Goals, E-commerce, the Cloud, Fake News, Digital Research, What is AI?, Problem Solving with AI, Virtual Reality, Making Websites, Growth Mindset and Innovation.

Eshika (Year 9) Nina, Erin, Lucy and Livvy (Year 8) have achieved their Silver iDEA Awards - making a total of 51 students to have achieved their Silver iDEA Award covering five main digital themes of Citizen, Worker, Maker, Entrepreneur and Gamer.

Congratulations to all - keep working hard developing the digital and entrepreneurial skills you will need for your bright futures!

Sport & Wellbeing Forest School

Years 7 - 10 had a great time this week in Forest School. This term for Sport & Well-being, we'll be outside learning about the natural world around us...and maybe toasting a marshmallow or two!

Catering Team Competition

Along with three Kent College chefs, this week Kitty Whiteley, our Head Pastry Chef, was judged by representatives from Lexingtons, our catering company, for her entry into the Lexingtons' Casual Dining Competition 2024. This is an annual competition for all Lexingtons' clients in schools and other businesses including Lloyds, BT and Rothschild. Last year the team was awarded second place in the grand final so we are keeping our fingers crossed that their entry is chosen to go through to the finals, to be held later in the year.

Save the Date

On Saturday 15th June, the KC Prep's Parents' Association (KCPPA) are hosting a Summer Fete. Ticket will be on sale soon but in the meantime if anyone would like to book a stall to sell their products, please contact Jo Kiely at kentcollegeppa@yahoo.com.

The Wellbeing Hub

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend!