U16 Girls triumph in National Plate Final
Winning on the pitch
In a stunning display of resilience and skill, the U16 girls triumphed 8-1 over Solihull in the National Plate Final The match began on a shaky note as Solihull struck first, taking an early 1-0 lead However, our girls quickly regrouped and responded with determination Just minutes later, Jo Tasker responded with a brilliantly executed short corner to level the scores Some fast-flowing hockey, determined defending and a flurry of goals from Imogen Cockerell and Izzy Tasker and a second for Jo saw us 4-1 up at half time
The second half saw our dominance continue, as goals came from Ayda Mandic, Olivia Klein, a third for Jo and a thunderous volley from Imogen As the final whistle blew, the score stood at an impressive 8-1, marking a memorable victory for the girls, who had saved their best performance of the season for the final They played some truly remarkable hockey, and I could not be more proud of what they have achieved this year We are all very excited to see their hockey journeys continue and are hoping for more silverware to come!
The winning squad: Iris Ottink, Connie Le Huray, Antonia Ridley, Amy Ng, Camille Delbe-Waldron, Jess Cornell, Olivia Klein, Allegra Kelly, Izzy Tasker, Zara Curtis, Chloe Verdult, Jo Tasker, Imogen Cockerell, Jemima Mack, Ayda Mandic and Sophia Foster
Mr J Hall, Hockey Coach
“I have watched a lot of school hockey over the years and the girls' performance today was outstanding Everyone at KGS should be very proud of them and hopefully they can continue to grow and develop ”
Mr B Edwards, Director of Sport
U13 Boys win Independent Schools' National Plate
The U13s were victorious in the Independent Schools' Hockey Cup National Plate Final with a 3-1 victory over Eltham College James Ho and Leo Whitfield scored early in the first half to give the team a 2-0 lead, before Rafe Chambers sealed the win with a cool finish
In the semi-final, Teddy Christie’s hat-trick and a late counterattack goal from James secured a dramatic 4-3 win over Warwick School
Goalkeeper Joshua Wellman was named Man of the Match for his crucial saves in the final Rafe and Teddy impressed with their technical ability, while Sam Barker, the only First Year player, stepped up admirably All the players represented KGS superbly well
Mr B Winter, Head of Boys’ Hockey
The winning squad:
Joshua Wellman (GK)
Rafe Chambers (C)
Teddy Christie
Noa Barkey
Christian Kelly
Kin Hui
Eddie Rowland
James Ho
Leo Whitfield
Sam Barker
Coach: Max Anderson
School news
Scoop!
We were delighted to host a ‘Scoop!’ languages and journalism challenge here at school in March 94 Lower Sixth linguists from 11 schools worked in teams to produce a front page for a foreign language newspaper They had to work under pressure, stopping for press conferences and bargaining on advertising space, as well as presenting their final piece to the judges!
There were lots of standout students on the day including our very own Jasper Simmons –who won a prize for enthusiasm – and Ava Dent – who won a prize for teamwork and leadership A team of KGS students of French (Charlotte Gillet, Iarina Nacu and Jasper Simmons) won overall, with the Spanish-speaking team of Yasmin King and Alec Holden coming third
“It was a great experience that pushed us to broaden our linguistic and journalistic skills while working as a team to achieve a common goal ”
“There were many fun activities and tasks given throughout the day, such as going to ' press conferences' and creating a commercial to advertise our newspaper, this not only aided my communication and presentation skills but made the whole experience much more enjoyable ”
“Working to tight deadlines with my team showed me how important collaboration and quick thinking is in journalism ”
Mrs A Evans, MFL
Voice in a Million
First Year student Emily Booth recently took part in the Voice in a Million concert at the Wembley Arena
“The Voice in a Million is a concert that raises awareness of children in care This year was my second time taking part and I performed as part of the stage choir to over 12,000 people, including 6,000 children singing in 200 school choirs I sang a solo as part of Dynamite by BTS I was nervous before the concert but once I was on the stage my nerves disappeared, and I enjoyed every minute of it I hope I can do it again next year!”
HansWoydavictory
KGS won the Hans Woyda Southern Plate Final 51-33 against Whitgift for the first time since 1980 in a stunning victory The squad of Seb Cockerell, Fraser De Rivaz, Moses Fung, Miguel Olalla-Manji, Pranshu Kashyap, Marcus Leung and Irene Hong worked hard all year, showing resilience, leadership and teamworking, and handled the pressure of their individual rounds very well
Mr I Chiew, Maths
UKLinguistic Olympiad
This term, two of our Sixth Form MFL students have been preparing for the UK Linguistics Olympiad advanced competition They took part in weekly sessions to learn how to analyse unfamiliar languages and apply the rules they spotted to a series of challenges
We are delighted that both Ryan Yan and Olu Koevoets were awarded a Bronze certificate Congratulations!
Mrs A Evans, MFL
Dubai Cricket Tour
Third and Fourth Year cricketers travelled to Dubai for a week of sport in the sunshine It was an action-packed week, with two girls’ teams and two boys’ teams playing four matches each, all whilst exploring some of the mesmerising sights that Dubai has to offer The touring group had the opportunity to play against some strong competition at famous grounds that included the Dubai Sevens Stadium and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium
A highlight was the evening, played under the lights, something that we don’t often experience in the UK Off the pitch, there were many memorable excursions including a desert safari, a guided tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a day at The Atlantis Waterpark and a breathtaking trip 125 floors up the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa Special mentions must go to Ellie Phillips, Daksh Ravendran and Jake Veichmanis for all scoring 50 runs in one of their games
Dubai 2025 – what an unforgettable experience!
Miss I Robson, Marketing Assistant & Sports Coach
British Science Week
Students celebrated British Science Week, a ten-day national celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, by immersing themselves in a range of activities. Science continues to be one of the most popular choices at A Level so this year we were delighted to be able to run various activities in school to celebrate the beauty and importance of science.
Physics
The Physics Department kicked things off with a session on how to build high but safely This year,the theme at KGS was ‘Tall Structure’ Structures are any system that resists vertical or horizontalloads, including large items such as skyscrapers, bridges,and dams, as well as small items such as bookshelves,chairs and windows
Teams were given the task of building a tall structure using a very limitedselection of straws, toothpicks, barbecue skewers, marshmallows and the ever-popular jelly babies Theyconsidered means of strengthening their design so that it could be both tall and sturdy using the materials, all completed in a short timeframe
STEAM
Lower School students had a unique opportunity to send their code into space to run on the International Space Station (ISS) They took part in Astro Pi Mission Zero, an initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) that allows students to program the Astro Pi, a specially adapted Raspberry Pi aboard the ISS They did an excellent job, not only coding an image to display on the Astro Pi’s LED matrix but also using an onboard sensor to change the image based on the colour it detected After successfully meeting the project’s coding requirements, we submitted their program to the ESA for deployment to space We’re now excited to hear when their code will be run on the ISS for real!
Biology
Biology students stepped into the shoes of Charles Darwin to explore how finch beak shapes evolved to suit different food sources on the Galapagos Islands For the activity, they tested different ‘beaks’, ranging from forceps to chopsticks to spoons, to pick up a variety of sweets, each representing a different type of food With just ten seconds to collect as many as possible, they quickly discovered that some ‘beaks’ were much better suited to certain sweets than others! Students brought Darwin’s observations to life, sparking plenty of excitement, especially as some sweets were eaten by students rather than birds along the way!
Chemistry
In Chemistry, students had the opportunity to learn about how the purity of medicines can be checked by spectroscopy and were introduced to the importance of being able to identify counterfeit drugs The experiment involved making a series of solutions of a dye, with known concentrations, and measuring the amount of light transmitted through a standard volume of each A digitally plotted graph enabled the concentration of a sample solution of unknown concentration to be determined
Mr I Deepchand, Head of Physics
Musical interlude
The Annual KGS Choral Society Concert took place at St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton earlier this month
It was heartening to have a mix of curren and past parents taking part in this and t choir performed two pieces, Dvorak’s Mass in D and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb During the Britten, the choir were joined by members of the KGS Chamber Choir, who gave an excellent account o themselves in this interesting, and quirky piece
The Spring Concert also took place in March with many wonderful performances Highlights included the Symphony Orchestra, chamber groups and both Guitar Ensembles, in addition to contributions from Junior Choir and Senior A Capella group Well done to all the students involved for such a polished and varied evening of music making
Mr M Laflin, Director of Music
Antigone
by Jean Anouilh
“This performance was a testament to the incredible talent, dedication, and teamwork of the cast and crew, making it an unforgettable theatrical experience and an absolute privilege to watch.” *
“This production presented many challenges, but the young cast met them brilliantly ”
“A gripping and poignant retelling of a classic tragedy ”
“Each cast member projected their lines with excellent diction, and their use of unison to highlight key parts of the text was particularly effective Their careful positioning and synchronised movements added depth to the storytelling ”
“This thought-provoking and intense interpretation, brought to life by a dedicated cast and creative team, was a powerful exploration of defiance, duty, and destiny ”
Monthly Focus
Our Monthly Focus themes this term began with Religion, Identity and Freedom.
With the Religion and Philosophy Department taking the lead, we ran several events across the month, celebrating the many wonderful religions represented at KGS Our opening event was the Multi-Faith Forum which saw 10 religious leaders from across the borough talk to students about their religions and practices It was a wonderfully engaging event
During our commemoration of
Holocaust Memorial Day,
we fondly remembered Bob and Ann Kirk, who died recently, and welcomed Peter Kammerling from Generation 2 Generation to talk about the persecution that takes place around the world through the story of his parents’ suffering
Mrs S Humphrey, Deputy Head
Equalities Month,
which incorporated International Women’s Day, saw a focus on collecting toiletries for local residents via Britebox and The Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness Thank you to everyone who has donated and to those students who gave up their time to help put the packages together
We welcomed Mary-Rose Rurangirwa from the who spoke with senior students about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda Her personal testimony was incredibly powerful Ishami Foundation
As we look forward to the summer months, we are engaging in Global Awareness Day and are running a cable recycling drive that prevents waste cables going into landfill
Bob and Ann Kirk remembered
Bob and Ann Kirk, who were very great friends of the school, died in December and February respectively, at the ages of 99 and 96 They visited KGS regularly over the last 10 years, telling their story of escaping Nazi Germany on the 'Kindertransport', to come and live in Britain They never saw their parents again
They touched many hearts and were an integral part of our commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day has become an important event in our school calendar Their sweet nature, determination to tell their story and fondness for each other was enchanting for all who were fortunate enough to meet them.
We will miss Bob and Ann and will remember them as special people who not only taught us about the Holocaust, with great bravery and courage, but showed us how to live a kind and happy life together and make the most of the time you have been given.
Mr H Lawrence, Head of Stanley, RP Department
“We will miss Bob and Ann and will remember them as special people”
Work Well and Be Happy
Schools’ Head of the River
Congratulations to our Senior Girls for winning the Girls’ School 1st Eights
The crew: Georgia Land, Izzy Harper, Anne Thevenon, Amy Fraser, Ileana Murphy, Sophie Kelly, Clem Holloway, Hana Wood, Indy Catford Coach: Miss Thomas
Fifth Year student, Alexandria Coen, took this fantastic image by the KGS Boathouse
Work Well and Be Happy