Issuu

REVIEW 2020/21

Bradbourne Vale Road Sevenoaks Kent TN13 3LE

KNOLE_REVIEW_20-21_COVER.indd 1

@KnoleAcademy @knoleacademy REVIEW 2020/21

01732 454608 www.knoleacademy.org

@KnoleAcademySevenoaks

20/09/2021 13:00

KNOLE_REVIEW_20-21_COVER.indd 2

20/09/2021 13:00

FOREWORD

David Collins

Welcome to our review of 2020/21. Despite the restrictions and constraints of covid we have succeeded in providing consistent and high-quality educational opportunities for all of our students. I would like to thank governors, support and teaching staff for their professionalism, and parents and students for their continued support.

CONTENTS

OVERVIEW Headteacher’s Review........................ 7 Head Student Review.........................9

HOUSES Attenborough....................................12 Khan....................................................13 Lee.......................................................13 Rudolph..............................................14

ACADEMIC REVIEW Academic Awards..............................16 Special Awards.................................. 17 Business Studies................................18 Catering & Hospitality......................19 Child Development..........................19 Computer Science............................19 Design & Technology...................... 20 English................................................21 Geography.........................................22 Hair & Beauty.....................................24

History................................................24 ICT.......................................................25 Mathematics......................................26 Media...................................................27 MFL......................................................27 Politics & Citizenship........................28 Psychology.........................................29 Science...............................................31 Social Sciences..................................34

CREATIVE KNOLE Art........................................................36 Dance..................................................38 Drama.................................................39 Music.................................................. 40

KNOLE SPORT Cross Country....................................43 Indoor Athletics................................ 44 Inter-house Strava Challenge.........45 Rounders and Softball.................... 46

Rowing................................................47 Sporting Stars................................... 48

KNOLE EXTRA CCF..................................................... 50 D of E.................................................. 51 Foodbank.......................................... 53 Gardening Club................................ 53

KCC Young Drivers........................... 54 Knole Interact................................... 54 Recycling House Competition...... 54 Simple + Fresh.................................. 55

42 49 12

OVERVIEW

HEADTEACHER’S REVIEW 2019/20 David Collins I started the 2019/20 review with the line “Hopefully a year never to be repeated.” Unfortunately, you don’t always get what you hope for. However, through the difficulties, restrictions, and closures, I was proud of the way that students, parents, and staff responded to the challenges. Results for 2019/20 were excellent and after the short-lived debacle of the “government algorithm” that was used to calculate A-level grades and then quickly abandoned, students received grades for GCSE and A-level that were commensurate with their work. Due to the way that these results were calculated we took the decision not to publicise the outcomes for the school, but this should not diminish the individual achievements of the students who fully deserve the grades they attained. We were able to welcome all students back into school in September and everyone adapted incredibly well to the new protocols, strict seating plans, cleaning of classrooms and year group areas for lunch and dining. What was clear through the attendance and attitude of students was that the thought of not being in school had lost its lustre after the first lockdown. Students immediately responded to the challenges of returning to classroom-based teaching and the effort and attainment from most was excellent. In previous reviews, I have been able to detail monthly the additional activities that take place at the Academy, but unfortunately the pandemic curtailed planned trips to Iceland, skiing, the battlefields of France and many other extracurricular activities. I would like to thank all the staff who provided activities in some form, even with the restrictions that the school was placed under. The work of the peripatetic music teachers, delivering lessons behind scenes, the pre-recorded music and dance shows that were denied a live audience,

extracurricular clubs defined within year group bubbles and the continuation of the Duke of Edinburgh award in restricted fashion. I appreciate that for many students it is the extracurricular opportunities that really make their education and I hope we shall see a return to something approaching normality next year. In December, we started to see an increase in positive cases as the “Kent (alpha) variant” started to sweep across the county. In the final week of term our attendance was the lowest I hope it will ever be and over the Christmas holidays the announcement was made of another lockdown. At the start of the pandemic many educational professionals predicted that the pandemic would lead to a new way of educating students with virtual learning becoming the norm. In my opinion the lockdowns confirmed one long held belief, that the best education takes place in classrooms with direct contact between teachers and pupils. I would like to thank everyone for their commitment to remote learning and it may be used in extreme circumstances in the future, such as extreme weather, but it is a very poor imitation of the classroom-based experience. In March, we returned after a bout of lateral flow tests and fully face-masked, and this again was dealt with by students and staff with incredible resilience. I assumed, incorrectly, that the testing of all consenting students and staff before their return to school would be a logistical nightmare, and it is on these occasions I realise what a great team I work with, as these new expectations are handled with minimum fuss and maximum efficiency. We also returned to the news that GCSE and A-level grades would be based on teacher assessment grades and not external examinations. 7

From March until the May half term students in Year 11 and 13 worked diligently to provide evidence to justify teachers grading decisions. In June, we received our first ever set of International Baccalaureate (IB) results, I would normally wait until next year’s review to talk about this year’s results but as the IB results arrived so early in the summer term I am including them now. Unlike the GCSE and A-level results, the IB moderated every single piece of work submitted to ensure global equality. The results for Knole Academy students were fantastic and every single subject exceeded the global average. When you consider that the IB is generally studied in the top independent schools, to produce results significantly higher than global averages is a testament to the hard work and resilience of all the students and staff involved. 8

Unfortunately, as we reached the end of the academic year, the delta variant started to sweep across the county, and we saw the number of positive cases go up amongst staff and students and the cancellation of our taster events and school sports day. It did not however prevent large cohorts of Duke of Edinburgh students completing Bronze expeditions in the Ashdown forest and Silver and Gold expeditions on Dartmoor. However, this should not be considered a year that was dominated by Covid, as much as it was in our thoughts and planning every single day. The students and staff at Knole worked incredibly hard all year to get as much out of their education as was possible, there is significant coverage in the media about lost generation and loss of learning, but I genuinely believe that the students at Knole are in an excellent place to move forward.

I seem to have spent most of the year dealing with one new expectation after another regarding factors often beyond our control. I hope that for most student’s life within school has felt normal and has provided some stability when they have been denied so many other opportunities. We ended the new with the Year 11 and 13 proms. I must admit that these are not events that I look forward to, however this year felt a little different. It was nice to be able to provide a prom to these students who have missed out on so many of the enrichment activities that we would normally offer. I hope all of those who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I finish by stating a new hope, that next year will be a bit more normal.

HEAD STUDENT REVIEW Sophie My name is Sophie and I was one of the most recent head students. Studying in the last year has been challenging but manageable with the right support. When I was working at home, the regular zoom classes were invaluable for keeping me on track. This was reinforced with frequent email exchanges between myself, other students and most importantly our teachers. Most of them were really great at supporting our learning, trying to keep it as normal as we could but also allowing us the breathing room required for the adjustments that come with working from home. For example, you could ask for extensions on projects if something stopped you from being able to complete the work- e.g. sharing a computer with siblings. This was also accompanied with a healthy dose of humour that made the whole thing more enjoyable, with us sharing our experiences of working from home. We then came back for the few months before Christmas which was a nice grace period where we were gently reintroduced to what it was like to see other humans in the flesh again. This was, however, one of the hardest periods academically and socially, with the step up from AS Levels to A Levels being obvious, and with the lockdowns continuing outside of the classroom meaning that we couldn’t have much of a distraction when we got home. The uncertainty surrounding examinations during these times was also emotionally exhausting as we didn’t know what we would be expected to do at the end of the year. There was also the threat of all our class work possibly being used as evidence for our grades, putting extreme pressure on us to perform constantly. This was eased somewhat by the school’s promise to do what was in our best interest, should it be left to the school to decide? I also want to mention the excellent communication between the head teacher, Mr Collins, and the parents. My parents and I would receive

an email the same day as any announcements which would usually summarise what the announcement meant for us and what Mr Collins and the staff intended to do to support us. This was very helpful for us both and put our minds at ease. It was eventually decided by the government that we would have the in-school testing and assessments. This came as somewhat of a relief as we would be tested by people with our best interests at heart, but it was also quite scary as it meant that there was no real room for error. The teachers would do their best, but this would mean taking a lot more assessments and earlier than in previous years. I was predicted an A in criminology, a grade 6 in anthropology, and a B in geography. This was above the requirements of my chosen course of Ancient History at the University of Reading which was reassuring, but also meant that the pressure was on for these exams. We went into these exams knowing that we had to provide the evidence that we were already at the grade level we were going for, as the school had

made it clear that they would not be able to give us grades that we had not already proved were the level we were currently at. Whilst I believe this was probably the fairest way for teachers to assign grades, I do feel that it didn’t consider the stress and pressure that this year had placed on all the students and didn’t reflect what many students may have been able to achieve if COVID hadn’t happened. However, I am currently awaiting my results and believe that I will achieve the grades necessary to go to university in September 2021. The skills I have picked up from attending Knole Academy and specifically being a Head Student here have already proved to be invaluable to me. I find speaking in public to be significantly less intimidating, my ability to communicate with others has improved massively, and my confidence in myself has become one of my biggest strengths. Not only has being head student taught me how to connect with my peers as a leader, but it has also enabled me to become confident in my ability to communicate all of our needs 9

to people in positions of authority as well. This is mostly down to the governor’s meetings my fellow head student Immer and I attended, where we were asked to relay our opinions on the running of the school and how we thought they had done at supporting us throughout this year.

kind of involvement I wanted to have with the school in the future. I signed up with Future First to take part in the Knole alumni network and am really looking forward to the opportunities I will be able to offer and receive from working with Knole academy in the future.

It was a honour and a pleasure for both of us to talk to them about this topic, as it was the main reason I had applied for the role in the first place- to make real change in the way students and staff worked together. It also gave me great insight into how schools and organisations like ours can be run and this was helpful for me in terms of deciding what

All in all, Knole academy has been an amazing experience for me. The staff have been so supportive for the last 7 years and especially raised their game over the course of the pandemic. The skills I have picked up from attending Knole academy will stay with me for the rest of my life and serve me well. The mentoring I received from some of the

senior staff at the school has been immeasurably useful and I am so grateful for having the chance to study with them. The opportunities offered to us by Knole have also been amazing, including NCS and taking us to the Sevenoaks District Youth conference. I was introduced to this in the beginning of year 12 and have since created a committee called Sevenoaks District Youth Assembly with my peers. We have already made a measurable impact on the young people in Sevenoaks, with us running our own virtual assembly at the end of last year. I really feel I have left my mark on both the academy and Sevenoaks itself.

Immer Being a student over the past 18 months has definitely been a rollercoaster experience. Studying online during lockdown was very full on, but I definitely felt lucky to have had the support of the academy during that time. As someone who was having to do online classes as well as teaching both my younger sisters during the first lockdown, it was really useful for me to have that pastoral support and understanding from my teachers that I received. When we got back to school, I think my peers and I appreciated being back in the school learning environment, although the uncertainty of our A-level exams caused a lot of stress for pupils and teachers alike. It was announced that our grades would be based on evidence collated by teachers, through assessments (hard evidence) and in-class work (supporting, soft evidence). 10

Whilst this was useful as it meant we finally knew what we were working towards, there was also a pressure to constantly be performing at the grade that you were aiming for. My coursework was used for both Music and Photography, in Sociology and Geography we had three assessments for each. My current predicted grades are an A in Geography and Sociology, a Distinction in Music and a B in Photography. These grades should get me into Goldsmiths University to study Popular Music later this year. I am hoping to keep in touch via the Knole Academy Alumni Network, with the aim to continue to support the school and hopefully offer any career/education advice I can in the future. I am already working on coming into school from September to help with Knole’s Music Partnership with local primary schools.

I am very grateful to the academy for the opportunities that I have had over the past seven years. Not only have I taken part in NCS which has helped me develop my teamwork skills, but I have also been fortunate enough to be part of the Kent Academies Network over the past five years. The programme really helped me with my confidence and understanding of university life. Being a head student I have worked alongside Sophie to communicate with staff and take on public speaking and expressing the opinions of my peers confidently. The skills that I have gained from being a student at Knole have really helped me feel that I am ready to begin the next part of my life. I feel super grateful to the school and staff for such a positive secondary school experience and the support they have given me over the past seven years.

HOUSES

ATTENBOROUGH HOUSE Carolyn Walker I would like to start the review by congratulating Mr White on his promotion to Head of Year in May and thanking him for all his hard work in making Attenborough House so successful, and one that its members are proud to be a part of. We welcomed a very enthusiastic year 7 to Knole in September and they have made a fantastic contribution to the house over the year. Exceptionally well done to Ava and Daniel both in 7A1 with the joint highest house points in the year group for Attenborough. Attenborough has also been well represented by year 7s in sporting events, winning the Rounders competition in May. An excellent effort by all those who took part in both Rounders and Softball, overall Year 7 Attenborough came second in that interhouse competition. In year 8, Millie and Archie stand out as the house point super stars having the joint highest points in the house, amassing 61 points each. Many of these points coming from excellent academic work submitted in science and other subjects in January – so well done. Again, like year 7, good support from the sporty members of the year group in the May interhouse. It was a tough interhouse competition – it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts and it really does count as everyone who took part contributed to the overall house point total. I know you guys will come back stronger and more determined in year 9, so Go Attenborough. Well done to Kaylin in 9A2 for the highest points in year 9 and in year 10, Beatrice in 10A1. Year 9 and 10 both presented good teams for the Rounders and Softball events in the May interhouse which were tough games. Our year 9s were amazing, with an overall joint first place with Lee House.

There have been some fantastic non-sporty competitions this year too. The standard in the Portrait competition was immense, well done Kaylin (9A2) who came third. As a House, with all year groups working together as a team, we did brilliantly coming first place in both the Recycling competition and the Strava active challenge – fantastic effort. Thank you so much to everyone who has arranged competitions, competed in them, represented Attenborough in sporting events, brought-in recycling, worked hard in and out of class to earn academic points. It is the members of Attenborough House that make the House so amazing, your hard work and desire to do well has shone through.

I can honestly say it is an honour taking on the role of Head of Attenborough House for two reasons: the achievements of our members have been outstanding and secondly it is named after a personal hero of mine, Sir David Attenborough. Now aged 95, he continues to actively campaign for environmental change and has been appointed the People’s Advocate for the United Kingdom at the UN Climate Change Conference in the autumn and this year has written and published another best-selling book and has one of the most watched documentaries of the year. He has achieved in one year what many can only hope to achieve in a lifetime, Sir David Attenborough continues to inspire me and should be an inspiration to all of us. I am so excited for next year and what we can achieve together.

KHAN HOUSE Caroline Nimmo What a strange year. COVID has really had an impact on the house activities this year but we have struggled on and still managed to have some fun along the way.

I believe we had collectively walked to Azerbaijan within the first 4 weeks and our Year 8’s and Year 9’s really thrived with this challenge.

The PE department came up with a brilliant competition – by keeping active and virtually walking to the 2020 (but slightly delayed) Olympics in Tokyo. Khan House staff and students joined forces and did amazing.

It was rather tense between staff, but fun. The inter-house rounder’s and softball competitions were slightly tweaked, and didn’t KHAN do well, in fact, we smashed it. Our ‘Never Give Up – Never Surrender’ motto was tried and tested and you guys did not let me down. I look forward to embracing all of our House challenges and making 2021/22 the best KHAN year ever.

LEE HOUSE Stuart Ereaut This year marked a successful year for Lee House. Coming off two back-to-back wins in 2020 we started off strongly with the year 7’s doing incredibly well in the first house challenge. The house then went strength to strength with the majority of the year 7’s and 8’s getting involved in their Knole Passport and completing the various IB Characteristic sections. Special congratulations must go to Miss Hawkey’s form 8L1 for their incredible effort with the Knole Passport with the students achieving massive amounts of points for the form. With this in mind, Stan Lee House stormed to the lead winning the trophy with over 200 points. The house then started 2021 with momentum and kept pushing remaining in the lead throughout the Easter Term. With Lockdown on, we turned to a virtual event based off the sports app Strava.

The house and students that ran, walked or rode the furthest each week won points. It was an incredible effort from Lee House Students with over 60 getting involved in logging their exercise every week. Special congratulations to Amy Girling and Chloe Marlow for the massive distances they travelled each week, with the two of them leading a comeback. Going from third to second place and each week gaining on Attenborough House, in the end their lead was too great and we had to settle for third place. Even with the house competition Lee House managed to stay in first place up until the last 2 days before Easter, where Attenborough House came storming in from behind to squeeze passed us at the post and win by only 20 points.

It was a brilliant effort from all Lee House tutors and students. With renewed sense of vigour and a determination that we wouldn’t be pipped at the post again, Lee House charged into the house competition in the Summer term and remained leading throughout the whole term. It was amazing to go around to the form classes and see students joining in the house recycling competition and participating in the art competition. While it has been an up and down year for house competitions my house, Stan Lee House, has remained dedicated to the house competition and has without fail put their heart and soul in to winning. I am incredibly proud to be the House Leader for Lee House and cannot wait until next year to continue competing and winning as a house. 13

RUDOLPH HOUSE Isabel Slade I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to Mrs Walker who took on the role of Head of House for me whilst I was away on maternity leave. She made a brilliant start to the year in September allowing me a stress free transition back to Head of House in November when I returned. I would also like to congratulate her on becoming Head of House for Attenborough House and I know from experience that she will lead the house amazingly. It has been another fantastic year with a wealth of competitions and it has been great to see so many students rising up to some of the challenges. The first big competition was January 2021 when the 4 houses took part in the STRAVA challenge. Students were able to log any walking, running or cycling activity they did at home onto the STRAVA app with the aim of seeing how far collectively each house could go. Although we didn’t get too far as a house there were some key players for Rudolph that deserve a mention for their consistency and engagement with the event, so thank you to Edward K, Ethan H, Chloe C, Chloe S, Harry R and anyone who logged even a single activity. Our next Interhouse competition was the Softball and Rounders competition held in May. Congratulations to all who took part and a special well done to year 10 Rudolph who came 2nd for the year group in a very fiercely fought match. Overall for the whole school Rudolph came joint 2nd place with Lee so well done. This year’s Year 10 Science throwdown was a long awaited event, after being postponed multiple times throughout the year. When it finally came to it, Rudolph gave it a really good try but too much self- doubt crept in and we didn’t make the final. The trophy we had held for many years was finally relinquished to another house, but not to fear, we will win it back again one day. Our best competition of the year was won by Rudolph’s May S in year 11 who produced an absolutely stunning portrait for the Portrait 14

Artist of the year competition. May’s talent could not be matched and she took the well-deserved win. Thank you to all Rudolph students who take time to compete in the house competitions. Not only are you waving the flag for your house but you are also pushing your own limits and exploring your talents. Every good thing you do in form and in lessons does not go unnoticed. A huge well done to Giulia R in year 8 who gained the most house points in the spring term. Mentions also go to Amy T and Lily B who were runners up. Rudolph was the 2nd most engaged house in the spring term with house points logged for 66% of students. KS4 do need to up their game though as they were bottom for most house points logged out of the 4 houses. I am hoping that this year will end on a high and we can show that we are a strong house

as this is my last year of being Head of Rudolph. I am taking on a new role within the school as second in charge of science, so, from September, Miss Stock will be your new Head of Rudolph. It has been an absolute blast to have been head of house, from when we were Earth House and into the transition to Rudolph House. I have learnt about a new amazing woman from history who can be an inspiration to all of us to persevere in times of difficulty and that if you really want to do something, you can put in the work and achieve that dream. I hope to continue to be involved with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme where I can as it is something I have become passionate about and I wish Miss Stock all the best with taking on Rudolph House. Remember: You can’t have the triumph without the struggle.

ACADEMIC REVIEW

2020/21 ACADEMIC AWARDS 2020/21 YEAR 11 ACADEMIC AWARDS

2020/21 YEAR 12 ACADEMIC AWARDS

Danni Bridle

Graphic Communication

Bronze

Thomas Adamson

IB IT Global Society

Bronze

Charlie Collins

Combined science

Bronze

Sophie Allen

Geography

Bronze

Sophie Clapton

Fine Art

Bronze

Keiran Dawson

Finance

Bronze

Elissa Cook

Psychology

Bronze

Jessica Drury

Health & Social Care

Bronze

Gabriel Gagnebe-Marriott

French

Bronze

Beau French

Anthropology

Bronze

Eman Rizvi

Sociology

Bronze

Ewan Gavin

Textile Design

Bronze

Druhan Wilson

Music

Bronze

Lucy Heavens

Sociology

Bronze

Hetty Oakes

Food Technology

Bronze

Ella Keene

Criminology

Bronze

Hetty Oakes

Single sciences

Bronze

Katie Naylor

Cutting & Styling

Bronze

Oliver Sillett

History

Bronze

Lauren Osborne

BTEC Level 3 Applied Law

Bronze

Oliver Sillett

Geography

Bronze

Maria Simmons

Progress in Fine Art

Silver

Jagtara Singh Taak

Business

Bronze

Leah Tormann

English Literature

Silver

Jagtara Singh Taak

English

Bronze

Zoe Keys

Graphic Communication

Silver

Iona Keenan

Child Development

Bronze

Zoe Keys

Photography

Silver

Iona Keenan

Mathematics

Bronze

Maryam Thabet

Biology

Silver

Iona Keenan

Travel

Bronze

Maryam Thabet

Chemistry

Silver

Jagtara Singh Taak

Key Stage 4 Dux – Academic Award

Bronze

Fiona Brown

Singing Quaich

Silver

Sam Davis

Head Student

Silver

Emily Drake

Best CCF Cadet

Silver

Immer French-Moore

Music Award

Silver

SPECIAL AWARDS 2020/21 YEAR 13 ACADEMIC AWARDS

Aaron Muskett

Mathematics

Willow Davis

French

Silver

Olivia Paszkowski

Business

Scott Fitzsimons

Graphic Communication

Silver

Aaron Scott

Geography

Hannah Francis

Sociology

Silver

Mae Horlock

Finance

Hayley Harbour

Cutting & Styling

Silver

Mae Horlock

Criminology

Hannah Laker

Psychology

Gold

Natalie Todd

Fine Art

Fran Moore

Level 3 Tech Level in Business: Marketing

Gold

Natalie Todd

Biology

Keeva Mowen

Health & Social Care

Gold

Mae Horlock

Head Student

Leila Hussein

Media Award

Megan Layton-Rees

Key Stage 5 Dux – Arts & Humanities

Natalie Todd

Creativity Award

Kaiya Zeki

Vocational Award

BUSINESS STUDIES Frank Toomey This academic year has been a significant time for the Business Studies Department with heaps of successes, both amongst the students and the staff, and a few good byes to both long term students and a long running course. Year 13 students, this year saw the final AQA Level 3 in Marketing being completed as the exam body chose to withdraw it after our students had stated it in year 12. So we all had no other option but to continue on through years 12 and 13, a big slap on the back for all involved. Also our year 13 IB students completed the department’s first IB Diploma in Business Management, again this was down to the hard work of the individual students, but it must also be remembered that they were ably taught and encouraged by their teachers, led by Mr Bogan, aided by Mrs Blunden, and of course it cannot be underestimated how much Mr Spence, who is one of our school governors and once a week comes in to school and gives the IB students a real business world view of their business lessons. This enhances the IB students learning greatly, I know this personally as I sat in on a lesson he taught about crypto currencies, it was simply fascinating, is all I can humbly say. Our year 13 law students also left us after completing outstanding work, and we would all like to 18

wish all of year 13 success in whatever they may be going on to next, from university to apprenticeships, along with a traineeship in diamond assessing, and crew training for private yacht sailings. Good Luck All.

Moving on to year 12s in BTEC Applied Law, January saw them sit an externally set and stringently assessed exam, where 3 students scored clear distinctions in a class of 16 students, with the remainder logging mostly merits.

The same can be said for our department’s year 11s, who also rose to the occasion when asked to sit 4, yes 4 in class assessments, week after week. Alongside assessments in all of their other GCSE subjects, a truly exceptional effort, and well done team. We hope to see some of you in our sixth form, on our courses and in classes around school next year.

Over all in relation to our students performance we could not be happier, they soaked up the information given to them, they researched the questions asked of them, and completed the work set for them under any circumstance.

Moving on to this year’s, year 12s, in BTEC Applied Law, January saw them sit an externally set and assessed exam, where 3 students scored clear distinctions in a class of 16 students, with the remainder logging mostly merits. Going back to September 2020 we welcomed in to the Business Studies Department, our new groups of year 12s studying; IB Business (Second Cohort), London Institute of Banking and Finance Diploma, BTEC Applied Law, and welcomed back our Year 10 GCSE Business Studies students as they were continuing on with their old options, started in their (2019-2020) year 9.

Obviously Mr Bogan is overjoyed with the success of the students, but we cannot finish without mentioning the success within the Business Departments Staff. We now have a new (ish) Head of Year 9, after Mr White was successfully and rightfully appointed as a head of year earlier in the academic year, well done Sir we know you’ll advocate business studies courses to all your future year groups. He was also joined in a management role by Mrs Blunden, who was successfully and again rightfully chosen to take up the newly created second in the Business Studies Department role, and she will oversee the development of our IB teaching, and we all know she will skilfully aid Mr Bogan in generally guiding the department’s staff and students to an even better and brighter future.

CATERING & HOSPITALITY

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Ken Arnott

What an interesting year we have had. Firstly I must say I am extremely proud of how year 10-13 have handled themselves with the online lessons, coming in and sitting exams in January when in lockdown, and keeping up with the constant changes the exam board were making, well done to you all.

This year the Catering and Hospitality Diploma in Culinary Skills was chosen by 3 keen year 12 students. They have been working extremely hard each day in the kitchen, honing their basic knife skills and learning about the extensive range of cooking techniques and produce we cover on the course. The students quickly passed their Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate and after the October break found placements in local pubs and restaurants. The work experience days are essential for learning new tips of the trade while acting as great ambassadors for the Academy. This year students have produced some well-presented and seasoned food for staff lunches. The meals were purchased by the hungry diners and the donations tallied up at the start of the summer term. I am pleased to report that in conjunction with the Knole Interact, £1000 was presented to a representative from local bereavement charity ‘Holding on Letting Go’. Charity once again was the winner when the young chefs prepared and helped serve at a local golf fund raising day in aid of Make a Wish Foundation. They gained valuable experience in mass catering and were incredibly proud to hear that their hard work helped raise over £7000 for such a worthy cause. Mange Tout Restaurant opened briefly in the summer term. The students have started to deliver well-presented and seasoned food with great speed and accuracy. This should bode well for next year when we re-open our doors to our growing numbers of regular customers.

Caroline Hurley

There have been fantastic achievements from year 13 with Jessica, Emma and Amy achieving good grades and heading in to the health care profession to do nursing and midwifery. Sophie is off to university to do Primary school teaching, and I wish them every success in their careers. The year 11s finished and continued to push right till the end. Year 11 did 25% of their coursework remotely and the work they produced during remote learning was some of the best I have ever had the pleasure of reading, so well done to you all.

To celebrate we held a baby shower and lots of parents/carers sent in baby pictures of the girls (thank you) and it was a great last lesson. Well done to Emelia for winning ‘SPERM SPLAT’, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed (pictured right). The year 10s were due to sit their exam in June however this has now been postponed till January 2022. The work that is being handed in is of a very high standard, and this will contribute to your overall grade, keep up the good work.

It was a pleasure to teach you for the last 3 years and I am overjoyed that many of you are returning to study Health and Social Care next year.

COMPUTER SCIENCE Lance Challenor In only the second full year as a standalone subject for KS3, Computer Science at Knole Academy has gone from strength to strength. This year the year 8 students have been working on a wide variety of topics such as information systems, control algorithms and data representation where the students learned all about binary and how it is used on computer systems. Year 7 had a series of lessons on E-safety helping them to understand the ever-evolving dangers of being online and how to both protect themselves as well as knowing what to do should they make a mistake. We also looked at how computers work and did some code breaking in our cryptography unit.

Both year 7 and 8 completed various coding tasks using python and learned how to use code to solve problems, the year 7’s particular enjoyed our hour of code sessions where they used block coding. Year 9 did some graphical coding using both Turtle and Pygame allowing them to create some amazing programs some of the students even created their own games. This year our GCSE students were looking at how computers store both images and sound and how compression algorithms like Huffman coding work. They also learned about computer networks and cyber security, writing their own password authentications programs using python. 19

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY Phil Smith The Engineering department are pleased to announce that Year 10 students have successfully completed the first year of the new Btec Engineering course which was introduced in September 2020. The qualification has a greater focus on work experience in engineering sectors and it is hoped will encourage students to peruse an engineering career path. This qualification will also lead directly into the 6th form International Baccalaureate Career Path. Year 12 students have started level 3 Btec Engineering which forms part of their IBCP qualification.

Clockwise from top left: KS3 Side table made from recycled wood. KS3 Skateboard deck made from recycled wood. Skateboard deck graphics hand painted. KS3 Minecraft figures made from recycled wood. KS3 Dog basket made from recycled materials. 20

The Design and Technology department continues to focus on one lesson projects in wood, metal and plastic, giving students a grounding in basic skills and a knowledge of hand tools and materials, with an active bias towards using recycled materials when ever possible. A very popular project with many upper year students has been the skateboard. Students fabricate their own skateboard deck then use the laser cutter to add their own bespoke design. 2021 has seen an increased interest in KS3 extra curriculum projects with before school and lunchtime clubs being run by Mr Smith.

Projects include skateboards, dog furniture, garden furniture and card and metal work projects, made in many cases from recycled materials. The renovation of the sailing dingy kindly donated to Knole Academy by Chipstead Sailing club is nearly finished under the guidance of Mr Le Page. Online learning was very successful. Y7 students studied design movements in the 19th and 20th century. Y8 students reviewed the properties and benefits of resistant materials while Y9 students completed projects on design your own shopping trolley, mechanics and smart materials.

ENGLISH Gareth Hughes Throughout Key Stage 3 – that is Years 7, 8 and 9 – classes have undertaken some new units of work, all designed to provide them with the skills and knowledge required in later years of study, as well as each being enjoyable in their own right. Year 7 started the year with a novel, ‘A Monster Calls’ which both in content and style challenged them but nonetheless, offered a flavour of how to approach analysing a piece of prose and moreover, navigating some difficult themes and issues. Next came a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts which explored ‘Life in London’, tackled thematically: health in the city across the ages, crime and punishment, even London as a backdrop for fantasy novels such as those in the Harry Potter series. An ‘Introduction to Shakespeare’ offered students background knowledge to the work of English’s most famous playwright, using a variety of extracts from his plays. The ‘Poetry of Childhood’ module aimed to show students that many of their feelings and emotions, if not the actual experiences, were shared by poets – and most recently, Year 7 students have embarked on a unit focusing on improving those skills required to become effective creative writers, the idea being it is best to practise these skills over a number of years in preparation for this crucial element of the Language GCSE. Underpinning all students have done in English – but obviously essential across the whole curriculum – Year 7 students have been using an online platform to improve their literacy skills, an area which has become a primary focus for all students, in all year groups. Subject and unit specific vocabulary and spelling tests have become a weekly feature of lessons at Key Stage 3. Year 8 also began with a novel, Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, again requiring students to engage with some demanding issues, which although based almost a century ago in California, still holds relevance today. In the second half of the autumn term Year 8

appropriately studied ‘Literature of World War I’ forming an introduction to and better understanding of our Remembrance Day commemorations. Next up, and to lighten the tone somewhat, but important nonetheless to students’ study skills, was a Research Project based on zoos. This required both creative and analytical work in devising and presenting ideas on building the zoos of the future. This time building on the previous year’s work, another unit improving creative writing, then a module introducing Year 8 to Theatre Studies, which explored dramatic conventions and traditions, relevant to the study of both Shakespeare and other modern texts. Finally this year, students have been looking into the language of ‘Powerful and Inspirational People’, obviously a rich vein in this day and age. Using the work from the previous two years, Year 9 began the year studying an entire Shakespeare play, a challenge made considerably easier when applying the knowledge gathered from the past. Students then took on the role of reporters, researching and collating information before practising their transactional writing skills, in articles, letters and speeches. Another module focussing on ‘Poetry of Power’ before the final unit of the year exploring the writing of Conan Doyle and his most well-known literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, as an example of literature created during and set in, Victorian London. An appropriate end to Key Stage 3 with Year 10, and Key Stage 4, starting with Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, obviously able to apply some of their contextual knowledge from the previous term’s work. Then onto another GCSE Literature text in Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, both with clear and moreover, relevant, messages about social responsibility. A focus on preparing the students for the poetry element of their Literature GCSE has marked the end of the academic year, as has preparation for the

Speaking and Listening assessment, in which students both write and ultimately present a speech on a topic of choice. Faced with a month’s worth of assessments in both English Language and Literature, Year 11 conducted themselves superbly, rising to the challenge with enthusiasm and maturity, producing work of excellent quality. It goes without saying that we wish them all the best in the pursuit of their future objectives. This year has marked the introduction of the IB in English Language and Literature in Year 12. In keeping with this qualification’s key characteristic, a focus on global issues, the texts studied have taken on a truly international flavour ranging from ‘Purple Hibiscus’ a novel written by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to American playwright Arthur Miller’s 20th century masterpiece ‘Death of a Salesman’. The IB encourages students to read a variety and breadth of text types with an objective of identifying connections which cross boundaries of space and time, the human condition being the focus. Students have also studied linguistics and semiotics, exploring more conceptual concerns such as the nature of reading and what is meaning? It has been an interesting and stimulating year’s work which has tested our approaches to both teaching and learning. Through a time of change and adaptation, a constant has been the effort and application made by students in consolidating and improving their study of English. We all look forward to the challenges offered by the next academic year, building on the successes of the last twelve months. 21

GEOGRAPHY

Natalie Croucher During the summer term year 7 have been studying weather and climate, students made a range of different working weather instruments to demonstrate how the weather can be measured. All of the students produced exceptional work but after careful consideration Fleur and Aimee in 7G1 were crowned the winners. Fleur made a working barometer and Aimee made a working weather vane. 7H4 have been introduced to the idea of climate change this term and have been using blazers to demonstrate the difference between the natural greenhouse effect that we need to survive and the enhanced greenhouse effect which is accelerating the warming process.

The student representing the greenhouse effect wore one blazer experiencing an ambient temperature. With the student representing the enhanced greenhouse effect being covered by 5 blazers one to represent each polluter that contributes to climate change for example construction, industry and transport. The student could physically feel an increase in temperature which allowed them to understand the changes to the greenhouse effect and how humans are involved in the process of changing the climate. Students will then go on to examining the different effects of these changes and how we can begin to mitigate against this rise in greenhouse gases.

This term year 9 have been examining coastal processes and how the coastline can be managed. In 9G3 they have been completing a decision-making exercise where they must decide which type of coastal management is most appropriate for Lyme Regis. Once they have decided on the appropriate method then they have modelled this onto a satellite image of the coastline and then justified these decisions to the class.

This year our IB Geographers spent three days in different parts of London in order to examine the impacts and successes (or failures) of urban renewal and its associated gentrification, key elements of the IB Geography curriculum. London provides a rich and diverse environment in which to study these topics with numerous examples of successful redevelopment of previously run-down and undesirable areas. To provide appropriate contrast we visited the locations shown in the pictures – The Barbican Estate in the heart of the old City of London, The London docklands in what was formerly London’s centre of colonial trade and The London Olympics regeneration in Stratford, a superb example of integrated redevelopment of sport, leisure, retail, residential and culture. Our students carried out a range of fieldwork and research techniques to ascertain ‘To what extent has urban renewal led to gentrification in different areas of London?’. Day one involved a walking tour of the City of London passing Monument and the Bank of England en route to The Barbican Estate and Cheapside. The students were keen to understand brutalism and modernism, the dominant styles of architecture in the Barbican and interested in how influential

the old ‘Guilds’ of London were and some still are. They noted the contrast between old and new, appreciating the impact of the second world war blitz on urban renewal. The hottest day of the year welcomed us on day two and luckily, we were close to cooling water all day in the London Docklands. After an interesting visit to The Museum of the London Docklands to contextualise our visit, we explored Canary Wharf and all the associated developments then crossed (with great difficulty over the A1261) over to Poplar. Here the traditional community was in stark contrast to much of the Docklands indicating that gentrification has not occurred as a result of the Docklands. We even saw a Police chase as they tried to apprehend a suspect for an unknown crime. A rainy day saw us arrive at Stratford’s Westfield Centre on day three. Here the amazing Olympic park and all associated sports, retail, cultural and residential developments show what can be achieved on former brownfield sites. Evidence of the Olympic legacy abound in the area although just a mile from the Olympic park in Maryland it is much less visible. As ever our students were a credit to the academy and learned a great deal about London and how it is a dynamic entity.

At the end of September and the beginning of October year 13 Geography went on a series of fieldtrips to Hastings, Botany Bay and Reculver to collect data for there NEA’s which are worth 20% of their final grade. Students designed their own question, their own fieldwork, collected their data and then wrote up their findings enabling them to answer their individual question’s. The students produced some exceptional work both studying human geography and physical. Ella Keene produced a brilliant investigation into how and why the characteristics of the beach and sediment vary along the coastline at Hastings. To answer this question Ella collected a wide range of primary data at three different sites along the coast. She measured the beach profile using ranging poles and a clinometer, she examined the angularity of pebbles and measured the height of sediment deposited at the groynes. Along with secondary data this allowed Ella to conclude that the characteristics of the stretch of coastline vary greatly and this is due to a change in wave frequency, longshore drift direction and the use of a range of coastal management techniques.

HAIR & BEAUTY Debbie Webb The hair and beauty students have raised the bar this year. They have continued to demonstrate the professionalism expected of a salon environment, whilst continuing to improve their skills and have provided a much-needed service, to many, during these challenging times. The Summer Salon has been open each Wednesday 9-3pm throughout the summer holidays.

This gave the 6th form students opportunity to continue improving their skills whilst providing service to the community. This year we have been able to give the year 11 students opportunity to start their 6th form programme early. This will improve their chances of gaining higher achievement in exams next year. Our talented year 10 level 1 students have been working on nail art designs whilst level 2 year 10’s have been making lip balm to reinforce science aspects of their course.

HISTORY Miss Hawkey My highlight of the week is Friday at lunch time; like minded historians from year 9 and myself get to indulge in history on the big screen. For the past two years, since a lovely group of year 7s (now year 9) asked me to set up a film club we have been meeting weekly to indulge in a past time that has broadened this groups historical understanding.

During this time we have been able to discuss personal histories as we discuss the impact that WWII had on our families and the historians have also been able to ask questions of the past that come to mind when watching them with someone in the room who is able to explain the answer to their question.

Obsessed with “war films”, I have over the past two years, limited with certification ages, been able to diversify the viewing that these young historians have. As a result of our weekly meetings we have been able to discuss parts of history that we either can’t cover in curriculum time, or things that the students are yet to cover. We have looked at things like the Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s with ‘The Butler’, too many episodes in the early days of Horrible Histories (although I admit to loving some of the songs, my favourite has to be the boy-band parody when they are RAF fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain) and War Horse; to break up the historical interpretation, we also compliment our viewing with documentaries.

I am yet to persuade this group of historians that Renaissance history is the way to go, but in the meantime, I am very happy to humour this group of historians with the depths that modern history has to offer us.

“Newbie” to the group Zach says that “the club is… something to look forward to during the week and is just generally fun to watch with friends” We always welcome new members although this group will have to be year 10 and above from next year, but there is always scope to have a second historical film club for younger year groups.

My second “newbie” to historical film club, Zaine said that ‘I joined because of my friends… We watch loads of different films and documentaries’. Seasoned historical film aficionados Matthew, Mark and Sam, who have been at the club since its beginning say that they enjoy the space to talk and watch the films and documentaries with their friends. I think I will end on Sam’s comment that he goes to historical film club ‘because it’s a fun and a pleasant change from regular lunch’. As historical film becomes a more common place venture for TV and film companies, it is a brilliant point at which we can also discuss the diversity that a history qualification can have in your future career pathway. We can also discuss one of the more challenging historical skills of interpretation, as we delve into the past through the looking glass of someone else’s perspective. I am very much looking forward to the next few years with this group of history fans and hopefully starting a new group in September 2021.

ICT Caroline Shea We have enjoyed welcoming year 7 to the school and enjoyed delivering our new KS3 curriculum. We have studied a variety of different topics which will aid the students as they progress through the academy and also in other subjects. Some of the highlights include broadening their knowledge of E Safety ensuring students are safe when online and we have also developed their knowledge of programming using both Scratch and Python. Year 8 have been developing their knowledge of video and animations as well as spreadsheet modelling. They have also compiled and used the skills they have learnt throughout the year to complete the Theme Park Project. In year 9 we have introduced a wide range of topics and new skills which will assist students in the future and if they chose ICT for GCSE study.

They have developed a multimedia project, a website and studied a game design unit. Students were amazed to discover just how much planning goes into developing an app for their phone / computer. Year 10 students have been working on multiple units towards their GCSE examinations. They have completed their first piece of coursework where they have to developed a website for a travel blogger. In addition to this, they have completed their examination unit, leaving them in good stead to complete the remaining coursework unit in year 11.

Year 12 have started their IB A level and are enjoying looking at how ICT impacts all sectors of our lives including health, home and leisure, government and politics. We have studied how constantly improving technology has changed our lives. For example, smart homes and Alexa / Google Home assist everyday lives. In Year 13 the students have successfully completed the ITGS course, including developing a product for a unique purpose for example a spreadsheets to help a dance teacher run her business and a website for a small business.

Year 11 have completed their graphics unit of coursework this year and produced some exceptional posters utilising photography in the local area – the aim of this is to get people to enjoy the countryside and to photograph their scenic walks. 25

MATHEMATICS Jonathan Cason We have spent a lot of time this year perfecting our mastery scheme of work which all students follow from year 7 to year 9. The department has looked at the latest ideas in “atomising” which involves breaking processes down to very distinct steps and ensuring understanding before moving on and finally bringing the steps together. This aids understanding and gives students a sense of achievement throughout each process.

Each year the maths department teachers take on the role of tutor to year 11 students in order to allow extra sessions of maths to be taught to targeted groups. This year we adapted our year 11 booster sessions to take account of the changing circumstances by keeping teaching groups together with their class teacher as opposed to breaking them up into new groups thus mitigating against further mixing. This appeared to work quite well and we will look in to trying this in the future.

We have also looked at ideas around quality control and quality assurance in teaching. The difference being quality control is about controlling misunderstandings with further support and quality assurance, the process of predicting misunderstanding and insuring it does not happen in the first place. We strive to be a quality assured department.

The Maths department recently ran training for the LSAs covering support in end of term testing and final exams to ensure consistency across all groups. Supporting a student in a maths exam is and extremely difficult job and requires a particular set of skills, the LSAs are to be congratulated for their effort and professionalism with this.

The department continues to present lessons using the full suite of interactive tools on the smart white boards in each teaching room as the subject is particularly suitable to this type of resource. (it’s also cheaper and better for the environment than board pens!) We are particularly proud of the three year 11 students who took up the offer of free afterschool lessons, ran virtually by Dr Strabic from Sevenoaks school, which enabled them to achieve and Addition Maths qualification. We will be offering the same chance to next years’ top students.

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Stephanie Beaumont At the beginning of the academic year, the MFL Department celebrated the European day of Languages on the 26 September with all of our classes. Our students completed various activities focusing on the many benefits of learning different languages and it was a very successful day for both students and staff.

MEDIA Kieran Kyle This year was harder than previous years but the students rose to the challenge. The coursework gets better and better each year, with another year split between those picking the magazine option and those picking the film marketing option.

The Department continued with its pen pal exchange with our French counterpart in Le Vesinet, near Paris: this year some of our year 7 and year 8 students had the chance to exchange letters with French students from College Le Bon Sauveur and enjoyed writing about their school, family and how they spend Christmas. The exchange is always very popular and we aim to increase the number of classes involved in this enjoyable way of developing our language skills.

When we returned to school in March after lockdown, we celebrated ‘La journée de la Francophonie’ when students discovered a range of French-speaking countries and their culture through varied activities including research and presentations. More recently, we remembered D-Day and some of our classes produced work and presentations on the different stages of D-Day, casualties and the Mulberry Harbours. ‘Un grand merci’ to all students who worked on their D-Day project, it was our way of remembering the soldier’s ultimate sacrifice. Remember, you can follow us on Instagram, MFLKnoleAcademy to check out ‘le mot du jour’, vocabulary and phrases or any tips to improve your language skills.

Thriller was the genre this year and the students came up with suitably thrilling results. The magazine option was ‘special interest’ which produced a lot of pleasingly surprising work with topics as diverse as golfing, humour, pets etc. The Y11s undertook mini-assessments in lieu of the exams, and the results were pleasing. The Y13s submitted the required units in time, and the results were good given they were the first year group to do it. The Y12s are currently doing their short films and they continue to be very gripping. We have had westerns and horrors so far, which have been very entertaining to assess. Bring on 2022.

POLITICS & CITIZENSHIP Jonna Stevens As tradition dictates, we will start by saying a farewell to last year’s Politics cohort. The small but perfect in every way group of year 13s gained excellent grades and went on to gaining places at their first choice of universities. This was a huge achievement given the backdrop of the final two terms of 2020 and we wish them well.

treatment of the Uighur ethnic population and many other events. The examination requirements for next year includes a filmed presentation and an extended essay and students have worked hard to prepare for these through collaborative working to analyse and evaluate case studies of events from around the world.

This year has seen several changes in the Politics and Citizenship Department. We have welcomed a new member of staff, Jennifer Robins, who has taken on KS3 Citizenship teaching with energy and enthusiasm, and we have expanded Citizenship KS3 from a two to three year curriculum. We have also introduced the IB Global Politics to the department and with that seen the final cohort of Politics A-Level.

The Year 10 Citizenship GCSE class have enjoyed learning about Politics and Participation this year and are currently busy planning their Active Citizenship engagement project with some exciting ideas of how to improve school democracy and environmental projects in the pipeline, which we look forward to being implemented and evaluated at the start of next year.

The final year of year 13 Politics A-level students worked hard throughout the year whether at home or at school. Students enjoying grappling with political ideologies, studying feminism and the continuing political struggle for women to enjoy equal rights in all aspects of life. Students then moved on to studying the structure and contradictions of US Politics and comparisons with the UK which are, whatever your political views, arguably getting narrower. The students had worked so hard, and it is with deep regret that they were not able to sit their external exams. However, they did well in our internal assessments and the knowledge that they have gained and the enquiring mind that you acquire from studying Politics will benefit them far beyond sitting an exam.

After one year’s hiatus with no new KS4 Citizenship GCSE option class, we are looking forward to welcoming a new GCSE group starting in September. We have seen an increase in the uptake of Citizenship at KS4, perhaps because of increased interest and engagement in current affairs because of the pandemic and Brexit.

The new group of Year 12 students studying for a IB Global Politics qualification have had a busy start to the course looking at power and sovereignty, human rights, development and peace and violence. Plenty to get our teeth into as we are following events around the world such as the change in power in the US and the actions of China in regard to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and the increasing concern of the Chinese 28

As a department we are relishing the opportunity to have discussions with our students about how society operates, what equality and fairness looks like and how citizens can be empowered to change their communities for the better. Our KS3 Citizenship lessons see students thinking about rights and responsibilities, how communities can get along better and how to manage your money and how the British justice system operates. Year 9 students have studied British Politics and Government and we had a UK Parliament virtual workshop for the year group hosted by the Parliamentary Education Service which was well received. We wish all our students and their families well and look forward to seeing them all for another busy year.

PSYCHOLOGY Di Long Year 10 students continued to promote the importance of scientific rigour within psychological investigations by creating and implementing their own research on fellow Year 10 Knole Academy students. Students operationalised their independent and dependent variables through two-tailed hypothesis and used the self-report method to gather their data on a wide variety of topics; from the effects of social media on mental health, to possible conflicts arising due to the Covid restrictions. This highlighted the need for clear standardised instructions, objectivity when producing the questions and running the procedure, appropriate statistical analysis and careful evaluative reflection with regards what had been discovered and potential improvements that could improve the validity and reliability of their studies. Students were required to write-up their research in the formal scientific manner, creating raw data sheets, standardised instruction, descriptive

statistics tables, graphical representations of their findings and recommendations for future investigations. Some students successfully navigated excellent computer packages for their analysis and graphical representations. As Year 12 IB students are required to conduct, analyse, evaluate and formally present their own research study and have a high degree of critical thinking and evaluation within their work. Therefore, students have focused their research methods studies on finding creative but objective and scientific ways of improving key studies. Split-half technique, counterbalancing and test-retest have all been implemented to enhance the internal validity, while cross-cultural meta-analysis, gender and age diverse target populations have all been recommended for greater external validity; in the form of ecological, population and face validity.

In addition, students have now mastered Harvard Referencing for the purposes of writing up their study. The Biological Approach to human behaviour plays a huge part in psychological content; both within the IB and GCSE syllable, which is why the IB course started with numerous investigations of localisation and functions of brain lobes, the limbic system, the nervous and endocrine systems. Students put together a 3D model of the key brain areas and attempted to match key terms, functions and results of damage or infection, through the Shower-Cap activity. Thankfully, initial confusion and misplacements, which had auditory stimuli being processed by the occipital lobe (the visual area) and displays of empathy popping up in the parietal lobe (responsible for spatial orientation), all got clarified and students are now well prepared for the forth-coming dissection activity on a pig’s brain, which had to be initially postponed. 29

The GCSE Language and Communication topic investigates both animal and human, verbal and non-verbal communication; focusing on the reasons for such actions as bottom sniffing by dogs, scent spraying an area by moose during the mating season or elaborate figure eight dances to indicate food sources by bees. Some students found the restrictions of only being able to communicate using eye contact quite challenging and there were a multitude of humorous and embarrassing miscommunications by both Year 10 and Year 11 students. Student role play creations around personal space, also generated much discussion about cultural differences and application of this knowledge to the real world. Year 11 students in particular were surprised to discover that many of the highly successful, global companies have specialised trainers and programmes to promote effective non-verbal communication in order to enhance business transactions.

This experiment demonstrates how hormones and genes link to our dance moves and potential reproductive success. Students got to discuss, evaluate and analyse the nightclub experiment in relation to the methods and technology used, possible variables that could invalidate the findings and whether they felt his conclusions about a woman’s menstrual cycle; monthly hormone levels affecting particular hip movements being correlated to corresponding gyration and effort levels in men, were valid. This also allowed us to delve into the nature v nurture debate, with some students taking a staunch evolutionary approach, while others felt learning theory played a greater role in the dance experiment findings. This in turn led us to consider cross-cultural variations of dance and its purposes, which produced fantastic eclectic explanations for human communication and behaviour, moreover, it help students develop their long mark exam answers.

Although students were not able to attend this year’s Science and Psychology conference, we still analysed Ex-Dancer and Principle Psychology Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, Dr Peter Lovatt’s dance experiment in relation to both the biological approach and research methods.

The Psychology Clinic has continued throughout the year to provide revision support and exam practice for key stage 4 and 5 students; developing their understanding of the key terms, concepts and research methods but this year with additional focus on the structuring of 9 mark evaluation and

12 mark long answer questions, as well as any content gaps due to the lockdown periods. Students were guided to develop initiative revision resources using new technology and are now much more open to using Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp or simply their mobile phones to guide their preferred learning technique, making the sessions much more personalised and interactive; utilising the best revision resource of all – each other. These interactive activities and worksheets, in addition to replication of experiments and the analysis of the data continued during the lock-down period. Students were surprised to discover that family members have better memory recall when working without music (interference), contrary to a wealth of existing psychological research that suggest productivity increases with music. They also tested Loftus & Pickrell’s study on false memories, attempting to implant a made up event into their family members’ memories. Students were quite shocked at how easy it was, which generated discussions about real world application in the form of eye witness testimony and advertising techniques. However, it became imperative to address the ethical issues surrounding such research, as some students saw themselves as the next Darren Brown or master manipulator.

SCIENCE

Sean Deighton - Subject Leader

Mrs Kalis

It has been another year showing us the importance of the scientific process and the need for future scientists to tackle the next issue that we may face.

Science is all about innovation and working to create a better future for all. Year 7 students spent a week of science lessons designing and building an apple annihilator for the British Science Week 2021. All of the students engaged well, developed team spirit, shared their knowledge with their peers, and have learned a lot about Newton’s Law of Motion (Physics).

The science department at Knole Academy have been working hard showing students how science shapes future technologies from a visit by England’s first hydrogen bus, to building demolition machines in science week. Here are a few highlights from the Science department this year, written by some of the hard-working science team.

Mr Collins and Mrs McGauley came to judge the best three designs based on creativity, the number of glue sticks knocked over and stability. The students were extremely enthusiastic on the final day of the competition and participated really well with their models. Out of 10 designs from each Year 7 class the top 3 winners for Year 7 British Science Week 2021 at Knole were: 1st - Milly 7G3 (Rudolph) 2nd - Syed 7H1 (Khan) 3rd - Sofia and Phillipa - 7G4 (Rudolph) Well done to all of them who have participated in creating the apple annihilator.

Mrs Odeyemi British Science Week occurs yearly in Springtime with the aim of developing creative skills in young budding scientists. Our year 8 students were involved in designing roller coasters with every class taking part to reflect the physics topics they had learnt at the time. The raw materials given were: A4 card, art straws, masking tape, marble, and cardboard for mounting. Using their skills and working in their teams, they had to fulfil the following criteria:

The best creative and technical designs were put forward by each class teacher for the final competition. Mr Collins, Mrs Noble and Miss Whitlock were the judges and the winners were: 1. Oliver and Zach 2. Ciaran and Aoife 3. Ewan, Charlie and Guila The other designs were also impressive, but there could be only 3 winning groups. Well done to the rest of the teams who put in a lot of effort into their work.

• design their roller coaster to stand without external support • be a continuous structure with the marble travelling through from start to finish without being obstructed • designs had to be creative and portable.

Mrs Corbett Dissections The year 10 separate science option class have been using dissections to cement some of their lockdown learning on coordination of the nervous and endocrine systems. Below are some highlights: Brains – We were fortunate to have some fully intact brains to be able to identify the 3 key areas we learn about at GCSE: The cerebellum, for movement and balance, the cerebral cortex for memory and language

and the medulla, the most primal part of the brain, responsible for involuntary behaviours such as breathing or the flight or fight response. Eyes – The eye dissection showed us the key structures of the lens, cornea, pupils and the retina. As seen in the pictures the retina looks beautifully iridescent, due to the photoreceptor cells. These cells contain photopigments that change shape when light is upon them, which is detected by the optic nerve, sending a signal to the brain to indicate we have seen.

Hydrogen Bus Our triple students were fortunate enough to have a ride on one of the first hydrogen cell vehicles in the county. The managing director of Go Coach contacted us as they were able to trial the bus and were keen to use its presence to help educate students on the potential future of travel. The bus used hydrogen as fuel and electrolysis to create energy to power the bus. The marvellous thing about hydrogen as a fuel is that the waste product is water, which drips from the back of the bus. 32

Students were also able to use the lens to magnify words on a page. Kidneys – Students did excellent dissections of kidneys in relation to the hormonal control topic of their GCSE, they have learnt about how waste products such as urea are formed in the liver are filtered from the blood in the kidney along with additional water. The water concentration of the blood is controlled by the Hormone ADH, if water concentration in the blood is too low the kidneys will reabsorb more water back into the blood from the nephrons.

This means that as an alternative to fuel it produces no carbon dioxide and so doesn’t contribute to global warming. The bus had 2 fuel cells, 5 hydrogen tanks and a lithium-titanate-oxide (LTO) battery. We also learnt about the common misconceptions about the safety of storing hydrogen and considered ‘greener’ methods to extract hydrogen to use as a fuel as currently it still requires fossil fuels. 5% of hydrogen can be produced from electrolysis of water but this still requires a lot of energy. Students declared that they will be able work out how to get greener hydrogen without such an energy demand, watch this space.

Miss Franklin This year in Science Club, year 8 students have been having loads of fun carrying out lots of experiments for all three sciences. For biology, they have been identifying species of plants and animals, improving microscopy skills, and analysing swabs under the microscope. In chemistry, students have been investigating density by using skittles rainbow water and making their own geodes from eggs. Students have also carried out physics practicals, such as drawing a graphite circuit, creating the best design to protect an egg in the egg drop challenge, investigating centre of mass using balancing birds, and experimenting with aerodynamics in the form of hoop gliders. Our next segment for science in Knole review is some science that you and the family are able to do at home. In this edition you can make your own amazing geodes with some instructions from Miss Moore. Please send any pictures of your creations to the science department at Knole Academy.

Miss Moore Hello science-enthusiasts, thank you for joining me to partake in some science at home. We will be making some sparkling eggshell geodes, using salt crystals. To do this you will need: - Eggs and an egg carton - Salt - Saucepan - Wooden spoon for stirring - Food colouring (optional) 1. Crack your eggs and remove the top, as though you are eating dippy eggs and toast. Carefully using a knife can help with this. Discard the inner egg, or save it in a bowl to cook. 2. Gently run warm water in the inside of the egg, until the thin white membrane cooks and can be peeled out and removed. Be sure to remove all the membrane, or your geode will grow mould. 3. Stand the empty egg shells upright in your egg carton. 4. With adult supervision, heat very salty water in a saucepan. For geodes with impressive crystals, you should use half as much salt as you use water. For example if you use 2 cups of water you should use 1 cup of salt.

5. Heat and stir the salty solution until most of the salt has dissolved. This may take a few minutes. 6. Take off the heat, and if you would like to add food colouring, do this now. Add drops of food colouring until your solution is the desired colour. 7. Carefully pour your solution into your egg shells. Be mindful that the water will be hot. Fill the egg shells as much as possible, without making them overflow. 8. Now leave the egg carton in a safe place for the solution to evaporate. As the salty water evaporates, salt crystals will form, creating egg geodes. If you want small crystals, leave in a sunny, warm place so it will evaporate quickly. If you want larger crystals, leave out of direct sunlight, so it will evaporate more slowly. Be patient, this can take a few weeks. 9. Admire your egg geodes. Finally, I would like to say a massive thank you to all the members of the science team, the students and parents who have supported the learning of all our students. The science team also wishes the year 11 and 13 students of 2021 the best of luck for the future, it has been a pleasure teaching you science and watching you develop into the young adults you have become. In your honour we have created a display using upcycled corks and bungs that some of you may recognise. 33

SOCIAL SCIENCES CRIMINOLOGY Charlie Foreman Year 12 have had a fantastic first year in learning criminology and have really excelled, despite the challenges of learning during lockdown. For the first half of the year the students were introduced to the language and study of criminology. This included different types of crime, reasons why crimes might go under-reported, how the media presents criminal behaviour and how certain horrific crimes can lead to campaigns for change in laws and policies. Most students did well in their controlled assessment at Christmas. In the second half of the year the classes learned many different theories about why someone might become criminal from psychological, sociological and biological viewpoints, as well as different policies for the prevention of crime that have stemmed from these theories, some more shocking than others. Year 12 were particularly interested to learn about eugenics, chemical castration and aversion therapy although most agreed that these more controversial crime prevention strategies were not very effective. Year 13 have also successfully navigated their way through lockdown to complete their last year of criminology to a high standard. During the first half of the year they learned about what happens through the Criminal Justice System, from when a crime is first discovered, all the way through to when a person is convicted of a crime. Students really enjoyed studying crime scene forensic processes, as well as the ‘prison experience’ of what happens when a suspect is remanded into custody. Throughout this unit the pupils analysed the validity of many different case studies, from local cases like the Stephen Lawrence murder to well publicised global cases, such as OJ Simpson. In the last 5 months year 13 have been taught about what happens to a perpetrator after conviction.

They also examined the various different types of punishment we use in the UK, and whether those punishments work effectively to reduce crime rates and criminal behaviour. Finally, students gained a solid understanding of all the agencies involved in rehabilitating offenders, from the police though to probation, and how funding cuts have changed the purpose of these over time.

SOCIOLOGY Natalie Croucher Year 10 sociologists have been studying the education unit examining what factors influence a student’s examination success. They have studied different social groups in order to compare whether educational success is due to internal factors, external factors or a combination of the two. Year 11 sociologists spent the year consolidating their understanding in sociology, the particularly enjoyed revising the crime and deviance unit. They enjoyed studying the different sociological motivations for crime including subcultures, strain theory and status frustration. Many of our sociologists are planning to study Criminology in year 12 to explore these theories further. Year 13 have had a fantastic year producing exception extended answers demonstrating their analytical and critical thinking skills. Their conceptual knowledge is extensive and they can apply these difficult ideas to aspects of modern UK society. Many of our students are going on to university to study law, criminology and criminology and sociology as a direct result of studying sociology.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Natalie Coucher Year 12 have had an excellent year in Anthropology examining the area of inquiry conflict, students have been reading the ethnography In Search of Respect by Phillip Bourgois. Students have enjoyed examining different types of conflict across a range of communities. They are now working on their research for their IAs where they have designed their own research question we are really excited to read their findings. In September year 13 completed their IAs which involved students creating their own research question that linked to one of the four areas of inquiry that we study at Knole. The most popular areas of inquiry was the body. Students really enjoyed studying the ethnography Pretty Modern by Alexander Edmonds and wanted to complete their own research into people’s perception of the body. Phoebe created an excellent investigation into beauty ideals in the 21st century and whether they have become unobtainable in our society. To answer this Phoebe completed questionnaires and interviews with a range of women, she concluded that due to social media and plastic surgery women are no longer happy with natural beauty and that this is having a negative impact upon the mental and physical health of women in our society. The class have worked hard over the last two years and have produced excellent thought-provoking work. The class have done exceptionally well in Social and Cultural Anthropology with 4 students achieving the a top grade 7, we are so proud of them all.

CREATIVE KNOLE

Photograph by Sam Richards.

ART Tanya Sarton It has been a very productive year in the Art department, with students across all year groups, and subjects producing wonderful work. As a result, we have had multiple exhibitions throughout the year, to showcase everything from print block patterns and light trails, to oil pastel food drawings and still life paintings. Our students have really enjoyed seeing their work up in the galley and also on Instagram which we have made use of as a way of sharing what different students have been creating this year while in bubbles. The Art department has been busy as ever during lunchtimes, with many GCSE and Post 16 students choosing to use these times to develop their work. Year 7 students have also had the chance to join our and creativity club on lunchtime a week, which is designed to be a space where students can explore their ideas and have fun making artwork outside of lessons. They have made some fascinating pieces, and seem particularly fond of glitter! A particular highlight this year, with the rise in working online, has been the amount of students who have embraced digital media. Many of our students have utilised remote access to the student portal to use editing software outside of lessons. We have loved seeing students’ exploration of digital art, from drawing using tablets, to creating their own gifs. We really hope this is something they will continue with in future. This year we have run our first ever Knole Portrait Artist of the Year competition. In the spring term our students were tasked with submitting a portrait in a media of their choice, any size up to A1, and they did not disappoint. The standard of the submissions was extremely high and it was a tough decision for our judge Mr Massey. The winner after much deliberation was May in year 11, with her exceptional portrait “Countervail”.

Whilst we could not have our usual summer exhibition, we have still had the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our Year 13 students.

Miss Sarton also presented certificates to the students with the highest attainment and achievement in each specialism, which was a lovely way to end the course.

We have displayed work by each of our Fine Art, Graphic Communication, Photography and Textile Design students in the Gallery, showcasing their talents and the varied work they have produced this year.

Clockwise from top right: Portrait – May Smith, Textile – Kyle Tremain, Photograph – Sam Richards, Pear – Andrei Cioroaba, Blue Tower – Ewan Gavin

DANCE Holly Page This year the dance department has steadily been working towards the end of year production. Year group lunch clubs have been working on contemporary and street pieces for the show in July. The year 8 lunch club has particularly been busy and packed full of eager dancers who have gone on to also compete in a competition this July. I look forward to welcoming many of these dancers into the year 9 dance option subject. It has been a real joy to see students embracing the extra-curricular in the afterschool clubs too. The contemporary Cascade companies have continued to grow after 2 successful auditions this year. The street dance Friday club is always filled with lots of energy! Well done to everyone attending either the lunch clubs, the Cascade companies or street dance. The Dance Platform ‘Dance Express 2021’ showcased the best of student and teacher led choreography. There were around 100 students involved, and the variety of dances was fantastic. We truly have some very talented and enthusiastic dancers at Knole. The event itself, was filmed as a show in full costume and lighting. I am very proud of all the students involved and always look forward to the yearly productions. If you missed the usb order deadline, videos of some of the dances can also be found on the dance department Instagram; @dancemisspage This year, for the second time, I took around 20 students to a Dance Championships in Kent. For the dance department this event was a real highlight of the year and I hope to keep competing as a school. The students were amazing and thrived off the competition. It is wonderful to see the students receiving medals and recognition from professional judges. It goes to show the standard of dance at Knole is something special to be celebrated. 38

Students Placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 8 out of their 10 dances with some students even competing against other competitors 2 years older. Brilliant work dancers! I think the students will agree that as a dancer it is these performance opportunities and events that stick with us and hold a special place in our memories. It helps us to remember the hard work put into honing our dance skills, but it also helps to build confidence, make friends and of course be ready for the dance performances to follow. On a separate note, and as a curriculum highlight, let me just say that I am very proud of the year 11s. There were some fantastic and truly deserved grades this year with 3 students high within the grade 9 boundary. Again, the standard of dance is very special, and the students demonstrate a passion for the subject.

FINAL THOUGHTS There is no doubt that dance makes an enormous contribution to our physical, social, and creative health and well-being. At Knole Academy, we wholeheartedly value the Arts, seeing its importance in culture and in the workplace. For me, it is wonderful to see the exploration and progress our students make from their first lessons in year 7 right to their chosen Dance in year 9 and then some continuing for GCSE. They develop a range of transferable skills and an appreciation of Dance. I look forward to welcoming new students next year as they start their journey at Knole Academy and hope to see them embrace the chances to be open-minded and creative.

DRAMA Tor Hollidge Would you be brave enough to spend a night in a spooky house? Well, that’s what our Year 7 students have done; all within the magic bubble of theatre, where we suspend our disbelief, of course. I have really enjoyed seeing students’ complete engagement during the tour of the old house, eagerly learning about its unsettling history and still bravely accepting the challenge of staying overnight. Creativity has blown the roof off the auditorium. Not to be outdone, the Year 8 students have immersed themselves in the cyclical drama, “The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty” by David Calcut. An impressive level of empathy has been shown for the victim of bullying and the views and opinions of this subject have been intelligently shared. Our explorations into what makes someone bully others has been eye opening for many. For our exam students, this year has seen a resurgence of the 80’s and the impact of Thatcher’s Britain through a number of live theatre productions by our GCSE and Post 16 students. Firstly, our Year 12 BTEC Performing Arts students have toiled away in rehearsal to bring us a fantastic rendition of “Teechers” by John Godber. Exposing the class divide and its impact on education, “Teechers” seems as relevant today as it did when first staged and our students were able to expose this through the eyes of Salty, Gail and Hobby with great aplomb. Next up, the Year 10 GCSE drama students have taken on the mantle of responsibility for the annual school production and have been busily rehearsing their set text, Willie Russell’s wonderful “Blood Brothers”. The students have enjoyed exploring a practical understanding of staging the text as well as an exploration of poverty and the working classes in 80’s Britain from a performance and technical perspective.

These productions not only announce the academy’s long awaited return to the stage, albeit in digital form as opposed to live audiences, but the finished products will serve as a useful tools for future drama GCSE drama candidates. LAMDA candidates have been busy preparing for their exams with Allison Dawson examining for us this year. LAMDA is a universally recognised performance award, offering candidates the opportunity to prepare for solo, duologue or group exams in mime, devised drama, acting with scripts and more. If your daughter or son would like to know more, please speak to Mrs Hollidge. Bringing us to the end of our year, the Drama department have been fortunate to welcome a number of Theatre Arts professionals to Knole Academy, through the magic of Zoom! Lexie Lambert and Rob Spillet have both graciously shared a wealth of experiences with our Post 16 Performing Arts students, opening our eyes to the rigors and successes of life in the world of a theatre and film. It’s not all fun and games, but hard work and toil for little reward. However, as Lexie put it; “Acting isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life. It’s not a “normal” life, but I never live the same day twice.” As we come to the end of our academic year, I am reminded of the power of theatre. Theatre is therapy. Theatre offers an escape, a chance to connect, to feel, to find meaning. At Knole, we have been most fortunate to have brought theatre into the classroom through the year through the Digital Theatre + streaming site. Students in every year group had the opportunity to experience a live theatre production either in the comfort of their own home or in class. For many, it has been their first glimpse into staged drama and I hope it will not be their last. 39

MUSIC Abbey Sanders Technology has allowed music to continue to thrive this year at Knole Academy. From online teaching and learning, to livestream concerts and zoom instrumental lessons, the music department has not slowed down. The teaching staff, as well as the large team of peripatetic instrumental teachers have embraced the chance to explore these new opportunities. During online learning, students from Year 7 through to Year 13 have developed and honed their aural listening and analysis skills. Online teaching has allowed time to focus on listening to music more closely and to evaluate music in more complex detail. Students have also developed their music technology skills by using programmes such as BandLab and GarageBand from home. 40

It has been reassuring to see that despite the strange first year at secondary school, the new Year 7 cohort have been fully engaged with joining musical extracurricular clubs and have been eager to be involved in all performance opportunities, demonstrating a new wealth of musical talent joining the school.

In October we trialled a new idea, the livestream concert. This was a huge success for our students, allowing them to put on music performance for one hour on Instagram, meaning that in the absence of a live audience people could watch them from their own homes instead.

At KS4, Year 11 Music GCSE students produced excellent composition coursework. The final portfolio included an eclectic mix of compositions ranging from a string quintet to club dance tracks, and from pop songs to flute trios.

In December the students recorded a Christmas concert video, and in June we repeated this with our summer concert video, in the Oaks Theatre. The programme for these included performance from the Choir, Chamber Choir, Orchestra, Woodwind Group, soloists and bands.

The current Year 13 students have been the first cohort to sit the BTEC Level 3 Music Performance course, and their hard work and dedication means that they will finish with Merits and Distinctions.

Despite not having a live audience, the students still used the opportunity to develop their performance and musicianship skills and to support one another.

These videos were edited by our music technician, Mr Wait, and then distributed on a Knole Academy USB, for parents, family members and friends to enjoy watching the student performances at home. The video filming was a fantastic team effort between music students and staff, with students helping to man cameras and set up audio recording equipment. In order to maintain links between the Music department and the local community this year, instead of going to sing Christmas carols at local care homes, the students recorded a video of Christmas musical entertainment for the residents at Alpine, Lavender Fields and Rivermere to watch. The video included traditional carols from the school Chamber Choir as well as festive favourites performed by soloists, both vocal and instrumental. In February the Music department hosted another successful livestream concert, with many family members and friends joining us online to support the students for another evening of entertainment. We are concluding the academic year by preparing for an outdoor performance on the Sevenoaks Bandstand, where we hope parents will be able to come along and watch our students perform live for the first time in over a year.

KNOLE SPORT

CROSS COUNTRY - INTERHOUSE

ESAA

Jeremy Major

Caroline Hurley

In October 2020 our year 7, 8 and 9 students took part in the annual inter house cross country event. The run was approximately two kilometres in distance and took students around 8 minutes to complete. It was a highly competitive sporting event with some outstanding performances from many.

VIRTUAL CROSS COUNTRY

Most of the competitors completed the race both exhausted and proud of their achievements. It was clear to see the benefits to those students that had continued to be active during lockdown and our Strava challenge! Below is a snap shot of the winning participants in each year group.

In early March the English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA) announced their intention of running a virtual cross-country race across the country. The brief was simple. Run 2km as fast as you can and track your distance and time using GPS. Following the successful ‘Race to Tokyo’ Strava competition during the lockdown, Knole Academy invited year 8 and 9 students to take part.

Position

Points

Year 7

House

Time

Lois

8.36

Isabelle

9.02

Freya

9.06

Oliver

10.23

Sam

12.31

Austin

13.4

Position

Points

Year 8

House

Time

Kyla

7.36

Chloe

8.29

Dolcie

8.48

Position

Points

Year 9

House

Time

GIRLS

Daisy

8.09

• Kyla 7m 28sec (45th place)

Rosie

9.21

Alex

9.41

Harrison

12.01

Harrison

13.05

Aaron

13.42

2km racing is associated with guts, determination and pain. To our delight, 16 students decided to test themselves against the country. Nationally, there were over 500 runners for both the girls and boys competition with valid times submitted via a GPS tracking tool. The times were impressive as well. To place in the top 50 girls a runner had to complete the distance in under 7 minutes and 30 seconds. A top 50 place for the boys was just over 7 minutes. To put this into perspective this pace would complete the 5km Parkrun in around 17 minutes 30 seconds or the London Marathon in an elite time of 2 hours and 25 minutes. A huge congratulations to all those who put themselves to the test and gave this a go. Special mention to the top 3 girls and top 3 boys

• Mille 8m 03sec • Daisy 8m 05sec

BOYS • Lewis 7m 01sec (47th place) • Jude 7m 31sec • Harrison 7m 34sec All participants; Kyla, Mille, Daisy, Matilda, Alex, Caitlin, Chloe, Tilly, Summer, Dolcie, Emmy, Megan, Lewis, Jude, Harrison, Harrison, Felix, 43

INDOOR ATHLETICS Caroline Hurley

This year due to restrictions, Knole Academy took part in the Indoor Athletics Virtual Competition, where students competed in after school sessions to record the best sprints and jumps.

In year 7 Eme took home the Silver award with 252 points and the Daniel pipped his brother Oliver to top year 7 boys with 267 points. Overall year 7 combined finished 7th overall in Kent.

Competing with the other top schools around the county, there were some exceptional performances including Tilly who received the Gold award with 270 points for year 8 girls and Reggie taking home the Silver award with 266 points for the year 8 boys. Year 8 combined finished 4th overall in Kent.

Hopefully next year we will be able to compete face to face.

INTER-HOUSE STRAVA CHALLENGE Rachel Laker The January Lockdown presented many challenges. One we wanted to overcome was to maintain a healthy mind and active lifestyle. So, between January and February the PE department launched the first Knole Active Inter-House Challenge. The challenge was open to all staff and students – and there was a great uptake from the whole school community. One simple objective – to promote active engagement by getting outside, enjoying the benefits of physical activity during the difficult period. The task was simple – to walk, run or cycle as far as possible, submitting results and distances each week. Mrs Laker tracked the data each week and the scoreboard was updated. In an Olympic year, could each House cover the distance and make it to the host city, Tokyo… a distance of 13,053km? Each week, prizes were awarded to the furthest-travelling students. This required staff and students to join their House on the Strava App to take part in the Knole House Competition, in addition to the individual awards and achievements.

In the House Competition, it was Attenborough House who came out on top, finishing well clear at the head of the leader-board. Their total of nearly 6,300km was nearly 1,000km further than the second-placed House, Lee, whose total of 5,300km, was still very impressive. Congratulations to Attenborough House on their collective achievement. At the end of the competition, the staff and students had covered a total distance of more than 19,000km – a great achievement.

In the individual competition, Josh H in Year 11 accumulated the furthest distance, travelling more than 1100km across the six-week challenge. The top three places were completed by Chloe in Year 12, and Amy in Year 10. The table below shows the Top-10 performers in the individual competition. Josh was presented with a £100 Amazon voucher. Chloe received an Amazon voucher worth £50 and Amy, a £25 voucher – incredible prizes.

Overall Top 10 Competitors 1

Josh

11A1

1127 km

Chloe

12L

866 km

Amy

10L1

572 km

Archie

8A2

570 km

Chloe

8L2

514 km

Felix

8A2

505 km

Kyla

8K2

353 km

Tilly

8K1

295 km

Millie

8A1

265 km

Lewis

9L1

257 km

Total Distance 1st

Attenborough

6260 km

1127 km

2nd

Lee

5361 km

866 km

3rd

Khan

4639 km

572 km

4th

Rudolph

3071 km

570 km

Importantly, there was great engagement by staff and students, alike. We got out and we got active, and there was some impressive personal achievement.

‘Thank you’ and ‘well done’ to everyone in the school community who took part. Next year is a World Cup year… we’re busy planning that challenge already.

So, we arrived in Tokyo as a school, even if the 13,000km wasn’t reached as a House.

ROUNDERS AND SOFTBALL Tim White Back in May Knole students really got into the swing of things as they battled to see which house would strike out first. The weather held beautifully and we had a great day competing. Here are just a few of the highlights… Year 7 Many of the year 7 students hadn’t played much softball before so it was great to see how quickly the picked it up and you could tell that rounders was popular in their primary schools as competition on the other half of the field was fierce. Rounders Winners were Attenborough. Player of the match was awarded to Sam. Softball Winners were Khan. Player of the match was awarded to Ewan. Year 8 Year 8 are arguably the ‘sportiest’ year group we currently have at Knole which led to some fantastic matchups. The rivalry between players was epic to watch, it is clear that students are proud to play for their houses namesake. Rounders winners were Khan. Player of the match was Dolcie. Softball winners were Lee and the player of the match was Charlie.

Year 9 With a few years of experience under their belts the year 9 tournament stepped the technical ability up a notch. It was a perfect opportunity for students to flex a little hitting some huge home runs in the process and it was a team of 3 who eventually came out on top in the softball. Somehow, even without a full team, they managed to always be in the right place at the right time, unbelievable! Rounders winners were Khan. Player of the match was awarded to Reece. Softball Winners were Rudolph. Player of the match was awarded to Jimmy. Year 10 Here it was all about bragging rights on the playground. Winning was a must to all of those who participated. Every game was high tempo and the ball flew around like a laser guided missile. You could tell the pressure was getting to a few, catches started to be dropped and the patience of a few eager teammates were definitely tested. Rounders winners were Khan. Player of the match was awarded to Caitlyn. Softball Winners were Khan. Player of the match was awarded to Lewis D.

What a fantastic day! After some tough competition the final results were as follows:

Winners

Khan

2nd

Rudolph

3rd

Attenborough

4th

Lee

Both the rounders and softball competitions were played in good spirits, congratulations to Khan on their victory. I know students cannot wait to go again next year.

ROWING Tim White With the lack of rowing boats available, unfortunately our talented Knole students couldn’t compete against the Oxford and Cambridge boat race this year… However, we did have great fun and see numerous KS3 pupils take part in the first Kent School Games Virtual Rowing Competition.

A special mention to the Year 7 boys and the Year 8 girls team who ranked highest out of all the year groups that took part at Knole, but yet again, stupendous effort from everyone, well done.

The trials took place back in the Autumn term, where the top four performers from each year group were put forward to compete in the final row against several other schools. The battle for these positions intensified as the gap between distances became closer and closer. It was great to see the determination and resilience from all the pupils involved. There were some brilliant performances on competition day, and not only were the furthest distances submitted individually, but their results were combined to create an overall team distance as part of a relay.