KC News Round Up Friday 8th March 2024

Like many history books, women are not the heroes people remember in the Bible. However, they play an important role throughout the history of Israel and are even named as disciples in the New Testament. In honour of International Women's Day, Chaplain Katie spoke about the 'Obscure Women of the Bible' at the lecture for AIMS pupils and focused on four women whose roles have either been misrepresented or downplayed. It was a fascinating talk about the lesser known but important women who feature in the bible.

I really enjoyed Chaplain Katie's enthusiasm when telling us stories about women from the Bible and engaging with us during those stories. Isla, Year 9

I found the HALO lecture on Obscure Women of the Bible really interesting, particularly as I'd forgotten about some of the female characters involved in the stories and their significance. Emily, Lower Sixth

The piece of information that I recall the most from this morning was definitely Tabatha. She was an inspiration to all women, being the first known woman disciple of Jesus. Also many people are inspired by her because of her altruistic lifestyle of always putting other people's needs before her own. We did this as we were learning about women for International Women's Day. We looked deeply into how men were more dominant than women in the stories of the bible. Eve, Year 7

I found this very inspiring because women are changing the world right before our eyes but yet we didn't know that in the past. It is devastating that women were not recognised for doing amazing things. Violet, Year 7

Careers Week

We were delighted to welcome KC alumni, Maisee, on Wednesday to talk to Years 7 and 8 about reading Media Studies at university and help them start work on a storyboard for their short films about "Dreams and Ambitions" for the KC Filmmaking competition.

International Women's Day Event

As part of the IWD celebrations this week and supporting National Careers Week, Year 9, 10 and Lower Sixth students attended a fantastic afternoon called "Find your Voice, Hear their Stories."

For the first part of the talk, we were joined by Hannah and Dan from Word Up who gave a fantastic interactive workshop. Word Up are a local open mic organisation helping teenagers find an outlet for self-expression and creativity through poetry and the spoken word. Whether it’s a form of escapism or mindfulness, writing poetry is known to help young people to process their emotions and express themselves by putting their feelings into words.

Following this, we heard from a panel of inspirational women about their careers, journeys and experiences. The speakers were Jo Dartnell - Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, Katie Frodsham - Head of Digital Investigations, Emma Pears - Conductor, Author and Coach, Cate Hall - Hair and Make Up Designer, and Beth Pettet - Head of Fashion and Brands at John Lewis. We are extremely grateful to have had such fantastic speakers sharing hugely fascinating career insights and advice.

We had the pleasure of listening to five inspiring women today. It was so interesting to hear their different stories and walks through life. The highlight for me was listening to Katie talk to us about her experiences as a Corporate Investigator. She was so passionate and brave and had a big impact on everyone. We also enjoyed listening to Hannah and Dan from Word Up who gave us an interactive and exciting talk about spoken word. Hannah spoke to us about the excitement but also the importance of spoken word, whilst Dan gave us a performance of spoken word using our own words we picked. All in all, it was a great event! Sophie, Lower Sixth

IWD Poetry and Poster Competition

Also supporting IWD, Chaplain Katie ran a poetry and poster competition. The brief was to create a poem or poster illustrating women who inspire them. Well done to all of the students who entered. The winning entries are below:

Sixth Form Model United Nations

This week, ten of our Sixth Formers participated in two online international Model United Nations sessions. In pairs, they were allocated a country and represented that country’s perspective on Ethical Standards for the Use of Artificial Intelligence. They were joined online by two schools from Turkey and one from Poland. Our students put a lot of effort into detailed research and really demonstrated independent learning.

The other schools gave extremely positive feedback to Mrs Field:

Thank you so much for partnering up with us. I congratulate you and your students on all the efforts that you put in. My students really enjoyed it and learnt a lot from your students. They say that next time we should be more like them. Turkish School

We also would like to thank you for the meeting. Your students were very competent, especially the chair, who had a really hard task to coordinate the whole event and did a great job. It was a good idea to have the delegations in separate rooms. We could see them and hear them more clearly. Thank you once more. Polish School

And our students' feedback was equally as positive:

I thought that MUN was really enjoyable. It was particularly interesting to research into legislation surrounding AI alongside the other delegates. Although it was a relatively new experience for most of us, as it was our first time participating, it is an experience that I would definitely like to be involved in again! Megan, Lower Sixth

MUN was a great experience - I thoroughly enjoyed being able to simulate a political environment and take part in such an engaging debate. Charlotte, Chair, Upper Sixth

Year 11 Business Studies Trip

Year 11 GCSE Business Studies pupils visited Chelsea Football Club on Friday 1st March and took part in the Business of Football tour. The tour and activities were specifically designed to improve the knowledge and understanding of GCSE Business Studies pupils and give an exciting insight into match day and non-match day operations. They focused on the merchandising, finance and marketing involved in running a successful Premier League football club.

Year 7 Fun Friday

This morning the Year 7's took part in lots of different activities for Fun Friday - We had 7 Saxons visiting junior boarding, drinking hot chocolate and relaxing in the common room, we had birthday celebrations for Olivia, plus we had bench ball and some gymnastic/acro fun too.

Starting the day in a variety of ways hopefully helped everyone relax and have fun the way that makes them happy. Have a good weekend Year 7's!

Music News

There is a lot to celebrate from the Music department this week!

Choir Success

Last Sunday morning, the Lower School Chamber Choir and Senior Chamber Choir entered the Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival and performed beautifully. In fact, Kent College won both choir categories out of 30 schools that entered! The Lower School Chamber Choir sang an American folk song and “Joyful, Joyful” and comments included: “the evident enjoyment of the singers was infectious”.

The Senior Chamber Choir sang a Bond medley and “O Radiant Dawn” and their comments included: “so much variety and skill on show here in this very clever and entertaining programme. Well done!” KC were even invited to perform at the prestigious GEMS concert due to their success. Well done to all.

Opera Success

Year 9's Keira has begun rehearsals for Garsington Opera’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Benjamin Britten. She has also auditioned for a role and is understudying Peaseblossom! Congratulations Keira.

Music Theatre Success

Addi in Year 10 has successfully auditioned for the role of Wednesday in the Addams Family! She will be going to the Edinburgh Fringe in August to perform. Congratulations Addi!

National Youth Music Theatre

Congratulations to Neve in Year 9 who has secured a place in the National Youth Music Theatre workshop this summer!

Mozart Requiem

And finally, good luck to Genevieve in Year 10, who will be singing in Mozart’s Requiem in Canterbury Cathedral next weekend, as part of the Canterbury Choral Society, whose patron is Gareth Malone.

Year 9 Computer Science

Harriet, Emily and Poppy took part in the Cyber Explorers Cup Competition on Thursday.

The mission was:

H10 have left Malware on a system somewhere in Cyber City which will activate when a specific member of the Cyber Squad logs on to it. Can you work out the who, where, when and what? Solve the clues and help put a stop to H10's devious plan.

As the Mission Impossible soundtrack played, 60 minutes flew by and the girls showed real resilience and determination to crack the tough challenges and cryptic puzzles. They worked incredibly well as a team and thoroughly enjoyed the cryptic challenges and being able to convert binary numbers to decimal, using Caesar and Atbash cyphers against the clock to put a stop to H10's devious plan.

Just for Fun!

As part of World Book Day 2024, students have been tasked by Mrs Waller to try and find the 28 favourite children's picture books hidden in the below image. For anyone that wants to have a go, answers will be published next week! Good luck!

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Booking is now open for our latest whole school musical production, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, taking place from 13th - 16th March.

Featuring over 100 pupils from across the Prep and Senior Schools, both on and off stage, the show promises to be a real highlight of the academic year. Please do come along and support the students and staff who have worked tirelessly on this fantastic production.

Dance Showcase

Come along and support the students and the KC charities at this year's Dance Showcase. Please find details and booking link below.

Upcoming Workshop for Parents