DOFE SILVER/GOLD PRACTICE EXPEDITION
BACK TO KINGSLEY NEWSLETTER FRIDAY 14TH MAY 2021
EDITION 22
#BACKTOSCHOOL
WELCOME Another fascinating week here in school! I would like to thank Year 6 for inviting me to their VE day celebrations where I could see how much hard work they had put into making medals and learning about why we celebrate this day. Year 9 pupils joined a virtual Round Square conference held by UWC South East Asia; there were more than 200 pupils in attendance from 11 different countries. The discussions focussed on ‘The Future of our Cities’ with particular reference to the environmental, economic and social pressures that increased city life brings and raised valuable questions about the challenges that may lie ahead. As well as these events, we have also seen the return of our intrepid Duke of Edinburgh Silver and Gold practice expeditioners (many thanks to Mrs Laubscher and First4Adventure for all of their support), an engaging Senior School assembly led by Mrs Hawthorn for Mental Health Awareness Week, Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch inspired storytelling by Year 1, Isabel in Year 8’s artwork being featured on Blue Peter and a very excited Year 11 on their last ‘normal’ school day in their GCSE year. I do hope you enjoy reading this issue. Wishing you all a lovely weekend, Mrs Christina McCullough Acting Headteacher
FIREFIGHTERS IN TRAINING! Continuing our theme of people who help us, the Pre-school children have been learning about firefighters this week! We have shared stories, made our own fire engines, completed huge puzzles and painted pictures. Alongside this the children have been exploring what happens when they mix colours. They have had a mixing station all week to pump out colours into smaller pots to experiment mixing them together.
L E T T E R S
This week in drama, Reception class were using their bodies to recreate the letter forms they were shown. Without prompting, there were fabulous collaborations with children negotiating how to use two bodies to create the letters. This was especially challenging as some of the letters were uppercase and some lowercase. Can you tell which they are?
Spring at Forest School We were blessed with incredible spring sunshine for last weeks Forest school which offered an excellent opportunity for appreciating the wonderful spring sights, sounds, smells and of course spring jobs to do! We created some dangling cat toys to add to our vets and pet supplies back at school and the children noticed how the ribbons waved in the wind. Two of the children worked together to carry a length of pallet over to the trees and climbed to reach the blossom. After collecting blossom some of the children enjoyed climbing to wave their ribbon toys like the flag on top of The Kingsley School. Young plants needed watering and the beds needed weeding and the children are always so eager to help and rightly proud of their achievements. It will be so rewarding when we have beautiful flowers come the summer. Some children were using water to add to their pots of mud in the mud kitchen. Some then decided this mixture was cement and used the mixture to spread onto bricks and pebbles as they were creating a home for mini beasts and needed to “stick everything together!” Days like this really do make us all feel so lucky and proud to share these experiences and make the cold, windy, dreary days in the winter all worthwhile!
THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S LUNCH As part of their 'Under-the Sea' topic, Year 1 have been learning about 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch' by Ronda and David Armitage. In the story, poor Mr Grinling's lunch is stolen by three scavenging Seagulls and Mr and Mrs Grinling have to come up with a plan to stop them! Year 1 spent their English lesson today sharing their wonderful Mr Grinling inspired stories and their shape poetry with PreSchool and Reception. The children were a super audience and gave great feedback about what they liked and how the stories and poems could be further improved.
Mr Singh's Noctural Adventure By Ashwin Once there was a man called Mr Singh. He worked in the City. He was very hard-working and he lived in the middle of a dark and scary forest.
Miss Rosie and the Pig By Alisha Once there was a lady called Miss Rosie. She lived in a two levelled house in the Forest. It was very hot. Miss Rosie’s job was an animal rescuer. She took care of animals. Every day, Miss Rosie made a yummy lunch and put it inside her snack box. She made a cheese sandwich on brown bread. One Sunday morning, something terrible happened! That day, three scavenging pigs stole the lunch! She said “Clear off, you varmints!” Miss Rosie put her dog to guard the lunch, but that didn’t work because the dog was scared of pigs. Miss Rosie locked the snack box but it didn’t work. Miss Rosie struck an idea. She put a toilet in a large box, behind the snack box. The pig was scared of toilets because they were big and scary and he ran away. Miss Rosie ate her salad for lunch happily and she lived happily ever after.
One Thursday he made himself a special lunch of a beef-burger, two pies, sandwiches and twenty packets of chocolate buttons! He put it all into a container. A hairy, mean, beastly wolf stole Mr Singh’s lunch, by jumping on the basket until it opened. The next day, Mr Singh hatched a plan, to scare the wolf by putting a quiet fox, who had no table manners and was very rude, into the basket. The wolf got really scared by the fox and was worried that he would be surprised again, so he ran away! Then 100 doves flew past and the wolf ran away and never came back. Mr Singh was happy because he got his lunch all to himself. “This is lovely!” Mr Singh shouted really loudly.
Mr Hat's Lunch By Hanna Once there was man called Mr Hat. Every day, he cleaned his light house. They lived inside a pink flower in a field of grass. They were surrounded by other flowers. Their flower was warm and cosy and they were happy there. Every day, they picked flowers and Mrs Hat made lunch. She made watermelon and chocolate cake. Mrs Hat locked the lunch in a metal box. Some hungry bees made a key and stole the lunch! “Clear off you varmints!” Mr Hat shouted. The next day, they put a bluebird in the box, because bees are scared of birds. But the bird was too tired and fell asleep, so the bees stole the lunch anyway. Finally, Mr Hat got into the lunch box because he wanted to scare the bees. It worked because the bees flew away! The bees flew to a new hive. Mr Hat felt good and said “This is the life!” whilst eating delicious tuna sandwiches.
Mr and Mrs Marble's Lunch By Isabella Once there was a man called Mr Marble. He lived with Mrs Marble in a giant hole in a forest. The hole was cosy and had a very bouncy bed. Mr Marble loved the kitchen because it was very clean. Every day she concocted a lunch for Mr Marble. She made yummy banana and honey sandwiches. One Sunday morning something terrible happened! Mrs Marble had made a particularly appetising lunch. She had made honey and banana sandwiches. Nine ants slid into the hole and devoured Mr Marble’s lunch with gusto. “Clear off you varmints!” he shouted angrily. Mrs Marble made a plan. She put the lunch inside a wicker basket which had a green and white napkin on top to keep it shut, but the ants found a hole. The next day Mrs Marble decided to put their pet bird in the basket but the bird ate the lunch inside the basket so the plan did not work. Finally on Tuesday Mrs Marble picked some grass and made sandwiches. The ants spat it out. The naughty ants were so sick! They found another lunch. Mr Marble was relieved and he chuckled to himself “All’s well that ends well!”
SENDING WELL WISHES
In their English lessons this week, the Year 2 children have been listening to stories from Sunny the Meerkat's travels. He lives in the African desert but has been travelling all around the world and sharing his experiences through post cards and letters sent to the class.
The children learned about the features of post cards and letters before writing their own to reply to Sunny. They also wrote a letter on behalf of Sunny's parents to persuade him to come home to enjoy family comforts and help with preparing new burrows to live in. The children had lots of excellent ideas and included a wide range of writing features in their work. Sunny was very impressed with the presentation and cursive handwriting the children used!
The Big Clean Up! The Year 1, 2 and 3 children had so much fun working together in teams to clean up our school playing fields and forest areas by litter picking in their outdoor learning lesson. The children began by learning about the importance of safety when collecting rubbish and once put into groups, they took turns carrying out different roles of collecting the rubbish using bin bags, tweezers and litter pickers. It was an extremely beneficial experience for the children and they were surprised to discover how many items could not be recycled and could have a negative impact on the environment. The children also listed ways they would help to keep the environment clean and safe in their school community and the world around them.
IN YEAR 3... Our learning journey is certainly picking up pace as we move through to midway through the half-term.
Year 3 have been testing their times table knowledge in preparation for going for their next certificates! So as well as become expert in the use of the grid and expanded methods of multiplication, they also earned their bronze certificates. Here is the class feeling very proud of their achieivements. The next step is going for silver!
This week in English (and in any other spare moment!) we have been reading for pleasure and for meaning as we really wanted to raise the profile of reading. The class have worked hard on their inference and deduction skills and have completed a range of comprehension questions to test out their skills as well as enjoying spending a moment with their favourite books!
In Art, our theme of rainforests is coming to the fore as this was the inspiration for our compositions. Not only is the class being imaginative but they are continuing to develop observational and pastel blending skills as they work on compositions that have been inspired by the French painter Henri Rousseau. The class haven't quite finished their compositions but they wanted to share a taster of what they have been doing, especially as they have been very busy creating a range of rainforest creatures to decorate our classroom with. Here are all the class working on snakes!
En garde!
Selen makes the
Charlotte in Year 4 has recently taken up fencing. We just love this photo of her in her equipment!
Electricians at Work
Grade Selen in Year 4 passed her Grade 4 clarinet exam this week - well done Selen!
Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed using the electrical equipment. They made predictions as to whether a circuit diagram was complete or incomplete and then tested their predictions by making the circuits.
M A K I N G A D I N G ! Year 5's creative juices have been flowing as they were set the task of designing and creating their very own Chinese Ding (cauldron). Dings were traditionally made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four, the latter often called fangding. They were used for cooking, storage, and ritual offerings to the gods or to ancestors. Pupils were free to choose their materials and some opted for house hold items whilst others worked with clay. All of the designs were marvellous and each demonstrated design ingenuity! Well done Year 5.
y n a o i t D a r VE Celeb Year 6 had a very exciting start to the week when they transformed their form room for their VE Day party. Here are some comments from the girls in Year 6 about their day:
"We made clay VE Day medals and my favourite part of the day was playing games that children "On Monday 10th May my class had a VE Day
played during VE Day parties like musical chairs
celebration. We had it in our form room which we
and musical statues. I learned the words to the
set up by putting up Union Jack bunting and red,
Vera Lynn song 'We’ll meet Again'”
white and blue paper chains. Mrs Adair brought
Emily
luminous balloons. During the day we had a 'Make Do and Mend' fashion show. In our CC lessons we made clothes from a white T-Shirt. I
"I was asked to have my legs painted with gravy
made a blue rainbow sports top and a pink
browning! This is not something I would choose to
bandana. We made these because during World
have done again, even if I was a glamorous girl in
War II people couldn’t buy new clothes because
the 1940s. It felt like a dog was licking my legs. I
most of the fabric was used for parachutes. It
hope our next topic theme day is just as much
was great fun. I loved the day and loved the Lindy
fun."
Hop and now I feel like I know how everyone felt
India
at the end of the war."
Ayla
We had a fashion parade to show off our amazing WWII costumes. We had so much fun parading to the Strictly Come Dancing theme tune and posing for the camera. The costumes were amazing; Ayla and I were Rosie the Riveter, Evie, Amy and Ella were evacuees, Georgia, Emily and India were land girls, Ruby was a WWII school girl with amazing hat!’.
Angie
"The second last activity we did was the best; we painted India’s legs with gravy browning! During the war ladies couldn’t buy stockings so they painted their legs brown and to finish the look they used eyebrow pencil lines down the back of their legs. By the end it looked very messy indeed! I thought that the VE Day was amazing. It was one of the best days in Year 6 and I learnt that they saved all their paper and card to make decorations’
Evie
"Before lunch we learned to do a dance called the Lindy Hop. The Lindy Hop was a swing dance a bit like the Jive, that people did during WWII. It was done at very high speed but the one we did was much slower and easier to follow. I loved the whole day but my favourite part was learning the
"We had delicious food like biscuits, crisps and
Lindy Hop. I also learned that the world has
cakes but then we tasted sandwiches that had
changed so much since 1945 and we are so
corned beef, spam and mushed up parsnip with
lucky.”
banana essence (NO ONE ATE THEM!). In WWII
Georgia
they couldn’t get their hands on bananas because the Germans were bombing the food ships. We decorated cup cakes with chocolate swirly icing and unicorn icing; it was blue and pink. Once we had decorated all of them we put edible Union Jack decorations on them and put them on a beautiful cupcake stand. I really, really enjoyed the day; it was by far the best day in Year 6. The Year 5s have something fun and fantastic to look forward to".
Amy
"We made VE Day paper hats from a paper plate and Amy won the prize for the best decorated "We had a fashion show to show off our WWII costumes. Ayla’s was very impressive; she came as Rosie the Riveter. A little later we learned the song ‘We’ll Meet Again’ by Vera Lynn. We were very out of pitch, but we had lots of fun. I really enjoyed the day; it taught me about how people celebrated VE Day and although the sandwiches were disgusting, I loved the dancing".
Ruby
hat; it had a cute tall banana on the top. We all wanted to play musical chairs (Georgia and I won). The day was amazing. I loved EVERYTHING but the highlight was me winning the musical chairs and getting a GIANT chocolate medal as a prize! I am so grateful and I would definitely recommend doing this again."
Ella
Easter Cooking Competition Mrs Shephard would like to say a huge well done to everyone who took part in the Easter Cooking Competition! There was a superb effort and level of skill from all pupils. Congratulations to...
First Place: Elora (Year 3)
Second Place: Tia (Year 7)
Third Place: Lisa (Year 8)
Fourth Place: Lily (Year 9)
Helena (Year 7)
Libby (Year 7)
Emily (Year 13)
Harriet (Year 3)
Emily (Year 2)
Yasmin (Reception)
Sophie (Year 9)
ISABEL ON BLUE PETER Isabel in Year 8 designed a video game character, along with a piece of writing and presentation, for a competition on Blue Peter. Her character, Harry the Blue Cheese Mouse (named after Harry Styles) was selected as one of the top 10 in the 12-16 age category! Not only did Isabel's design feature on Blue Peter this Thursday, but she has received a letter and rare orange Blue Peter badge as a prize. A huge congratulations Isabel, an incredible achievement!
We invite all pupils and students and their families to take part in the project ‘Foundation Stones’; a commemorative project run by Big Ideas and the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. We would like our Kingsley community to paint stones in remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of Nazi persecution and those murdered in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. All Foundation Stones will become part of the new UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre when it is built. The Learning Centre will educate visitors on the Holocaust, Britain’s response and subsequent genocides. Each painted stone is a commitment to remember the past and to build a future free from all forms of prejudice, discrimination and hatred.
WHAT TO DO 1. Find a stone which fits in the palm of your hand. If you are able to go outside, try looking in your street or local park. If this is not possible, try your garden or maybe even your fish tank! 2. Think about what you want to say on your stone. Are you remembering a particular person, group or genocide? Are you saying something about your hopes for the future? 3. Decorate your Foundation Stones. For this, you can use anything you have in the house. Paints, pens, collage, even nail varnish will work. 4. You can, if you want to, share photos of your stones on social media if you have permission from your parents/guardians using #FoundationStones 5. If you would like to you can email a picture of your stone to marketing@kingsleyschool .co.uk
Drop your stones off to the LRC!
Once you have painted your stones wait for more information and keep them safe. They will most likely be collected from school when we reopen.
SKI COURSES
It was wonderful to have pupils of all ages on the slopes for the ESSKIA training day at Swadlincote a few weeks ago.
Limited places are now available for the next training day at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre on Sunday 23rd May – book your slot at www.esskia.org if you would like to take part!
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK This week in the Senior School, Mrs Hawthorn presented a special assembly for Mental Health Awareness week, in which the theme was 'Connect to Nature'. Connecting with nature is about building a relationship by noticing and becoming sensitive to the environment around us. This has benefits for our physical and mental health. We can all look after nature and nature can look after us. Mrs Hawthorn shared lots of ideas of ways we can connect with nature, as well as ways we can take action to improve our connection.
HOW CAN WE CONNECT WITH NATURE?
Eat breakfast in front of a window, observing the nature outside.
Grow vegetables from your windowsill.
Go for a walk, run or cycle.
Open a window and listen to the different sounds.
Stretch or practice yoga outside.
Watch a wildlife programme.
Play outdoor sport with your friends.
TAKE A MOMENT TO BE MINDFUL Mindfulness is the skill of paying attention to what is happening in your mind and body right now, without judgement. You could take a mindful moment as you:
Walk in your local natural space.
Water indoor or outdoor plants.
Draw or paint the view from your window.
GET CREATIVE! Find your own space in nature with some creative activities...
Take photos of landscapes and natural objects.
Write some creative sentences.
Do a quick sketch of a natural object.
Write a poem or song lyrics.
Collect natural objects and make a handmade card.
Play music outside.
CONNECTING FROM HOME
Follow a naturefocussed Instagram account like @bbcountryfile.
Visit Kew Gardens online or watch live webcams from zoos across the UK, all from the comfort of your home!
Run a competition with your friends - who can grow the tallest sunflower or the most tomatoes?
TAKING ACTION We can be part of something bigger and take action by: Grow flowers on your windowsill that are good for bees.
Using reusable drink bottles. Recycle as much as possible. Turn off lights when you leave a room. Donate old clothes to charity or the clothing bank.
Pick up litter when you are out for a walk. Sign up and share a petition or campaign about protecting our environment.
WHAT IMPACTS OUR CONNECTION? There are many circumstances that can limit people’s level of access and opportunities to connect with nature in a meaningful way. Some of these include:
Health conditions or disabilities.
Living in an urban location where the air is more polluted.
Limited or no access to green (garden, park, woods) or blue (river, sea, lake) spaces.
Feeling unsafe in the local outdoor spaces.
The cost of taking part in different activities.
HOW CAN WE HELP TO IMPROVE ACCESS? Listen to people’s experiences, work together to come up with new ideas and campaign for changes, such as:
Improving lighting in public spaces such as parks.
Developing wheelchair accessible paths in natural spaces.
Encouraging the use of public transport to limit air pollution from vehicles.
A leader of the future? Be a leader of now! Join the #iwill campaign and see what a different you can make!
A COMPETITION! Mrs Hawthorn finished her assembly with a competition for her favourite treat (chocolate!) pupils needed to identify the locations shown in the photos below.
The results are still coming in and will be announced soon - but feel free to have a go yourselves too! The first is Mrs Hawthorn's garden...
A ROUND SQUARE POSTCARD It has been a busy couple of weeks for global Round Square events, with opportunities for both Year 8 and Year 9 pupils to interact with students from all over the world...
Year 8 pupils Neave, Millie, Ffion, Charlotte and Scarlet had a brilliant time representing Kingsley at a Round Square postcard event hosted by St. Constantine's International School in Tanzania. The pupils discussed what they consider to be the most important tourist attractions in the UK (The Roman Baths, Shakespeare's Globe, Tower of London, Natural History Museum, London and The Giant's Causeway were all under discussion in the group's planning meeting!) as well as tourism, animals and the global pandemic.
Another fantastic Round Square opportunity to interact with pupils from all over the world!
THINKING ABOUT SUSTAINABLE CITIES Year 9 students at a global Round Square conference...
On Tuesday, six of our Year 9 pupils joined a virtual conference held by UWC South East Asia and Round Square. There were 15 schools from over 11 different countries in attendance, with more than 200 pupil and teacher delegates. The theme for the conference was ‘The Future of our Cities’. With over 68% of the world’s (growing) population forecast to live in an urban environment by 2050, it made us think about the political, environmental, economic and social pressures these changes will bring. Each school presented an infographic they had prepared about a city in their own country, considering its future challenges. The conference raised valuable questions over the best political regime suited to solve these challenges, social reorganisation, housing the vulnerable, planning for green spaces and making housing, transport and consumption more environmentally friendly. It also looked at the role of changing technology and AI. Our pupils played an active role in this global collaboration and presented their own research into some of the challenges their chosen city (Birmingham) will face, while developing their critical thinking skills around what our cities might look like in the future. Many thanks to UWC South East Asia and Round Square for giving our students the opportunity to take place in this excellent event.
Here's to Year 11! The Senior School was full of excited noises today as Year 11 had their last 'normal' school day in their GCSE year before assessments and transition events. Well done to you all!
Thinking about careers... Year 12 have recently taken part in a series of careers lessons looking at strengths and interests (and how understanding these can help decision making going forward), employability skills (linking skills developed in school with those required in the workplace) and understanding the importance of labour market information (LMI). They later reflected on their own top strengths and are secure in the knowledge they know where to find accurate and robust LMI information and sound careers information online. We are all looking forward to a brilliant couple of days next half term (2223 June) with our Year 12 Next Steps event which will cover post-18 pathways, the value of a gap year, UCAS advice, student finance and budgeting and more.
L L E W ! E N O D
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CONGRATULATIONS THANKS
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AND
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AND
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FOR
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FLASHBACK FRIDAY Our #throwbackthursdays. On a Friday.
A BIT OF KINGSLEY RIDING HISTORY THIS WEEK. OUR FOUNDER, ROSE KINGSLEY, WAS A KEEN AND COMPETENT RIDER AND THE TRADITION HAS VERY MUCH CONTINUED. HERE IS AN EARLY SCHOOL GYMKHANA HELD AT STONELEIGH ABBEY (1960) AND THREE SETS OF HICKSTEAD WINNERS (1976, 1988 AND 1996). OUR INCREDIBLE MRS JESSETT HAS BEEN MASTERMINDING THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF OUR RIDING SQUADS FOR DECADES - SHE HAS TRULY BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO SO MANY!
Friday 14th May 2021
KEEPING IN TOUCH subject instagram channels
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@thekingsleyschool philosophy
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@thekingsleyschool sixthform
@thekingsleyschool earlyyears
@thekingsleyschoolmaths
@scoobythetherapydog
to all who celebrated over the past two weeks and will be celebrating over the weekend...
Happy birthday! harleena g y2 lily s kitty h emily s
y7
y8
kitty b
y10
lucy l lulu r
y4
annabel k annabelle w lucy l
y12
lucy l
selen k
y9
y13
molly-may g
maia g
UNTIL NEXT TIME... SEND US YOUR UPDATES! MARKETING@KINGSLEYSCHOOL.CO.UK
#BACKTOGETHER