King’s Hall School

Prep Newsletter

Edition 146 09 March 2018

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HEADlines The snow has been well documented and whilst there are still some smatterings still lying around it seems like quite

a while ago now. There have certainly been some who want to see more but in general it seems that most are happy

to have enjoyed its arrival and very glad to see its departure.

Last night I went to the College as one of a number of Heads of Prep Schools that have children who join King’s

College and it was a treat to be amongst the very first to see the incredible new Sports Performance and Cricket

Centre being used. It is a remarkable facility and will serve many children across a range of uses.

After a look inside and an explanation from the Headmaster and Director of Sport, we were further treated to a lovely

dinner in some good company. Once all proceedings were complete there was a quick chance to join some of the

College staff for a small nightcap. Not as glamorous as it sounds, folks, as I was on soft drinks and I found myself

drinking Cherry Coke: I cannot remember if I have ever had the pleasure before and it is certainly not something I

will be seeking out anytime soon!

When I came to leave (and it wasn’t that late!) I found that I was unable to get out of the building and so had to go

to the Common Room to find a member of staff and say ‘Please, Sir, can you help me?’ It made me think back to the

last time I had to do that in exactly the same place during the 1980s!!

The Great Potato Challenge is coming on nicely here and with the musical successes before half term allied to the

news filtering through of terrific results from the Taunton Drama festival this week we have much to celebrate about

the creative and artistic activities of the children this week. There is more to come next week as Year 6 will regale us

with some stories of ‘Arabian Nights’ and so I may see some of you there.

Justin Chippendale

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Year 6 Production

Boarding

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Academic Life...

Religious Studies

Crosses around the World Year 5 have been studying different crosses and their meaning to people from all around the world. In particular, they enjoyed looking at the crosses from San Salvador and the vibrant colours and depiction of everyday life. The pupils also looked at the Gomez cross which celebrates the life of Maria Gomez, how she died for her beliefs and for helping the people in her community. It is especially significant as we are remembering the 100 year anniversary of the Suffragette movement.

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Design Technology

The DT workshop is a hive of activity at the moment with all the year groups trying to finish their

project work ready for the end of term. There has certainly been plenty of sawing, drilling, sanding

and hammering going on and we hope we haven’t disturbed Mr

Sprague too much!

Year 3 are working hard to complete their

moving bats and birds.

Year 4’s monsters are nearly ready!

Year 5 are now experts with the soldering

iron and I am so impressed by their very

creative ‘steady hand’ games.

The Year 6 aprons need a few finishing

touches!

The cams toys from Year 7 have been very

impressive.

8S have been designing some splendid kites and will

continue to work on this project as part of their post-

scholarship work next term.

8K/H have thoroughly enjoyed their joint DT/Art

project looking at multicultural textile printing. The

final cushions are impressive.

Well done to all year groups

for working so hard in

DT this term!

Maths With examinations largely out of the way, the Year 8 scholars have been expanding their horizons beyond the

usual curriculum. A major part of their studies over the past year and half have focused on using algebra to

solve problems and to arrive at generalised rules for complicated problems. The next few weeks presents an

excellent opportunity to investigate some open ended problems and demonstrate their understanding of

algebra.

During the summer term the scholars will also have the opportunity to look into the history and development

of Mathematics, and in particular at the lives and work of some renowned mathematicians such as Pythagoras

and Fibonacci. This is always an interesting project as the children begin to appreciate that the subject did

not suddenly ‘appear’ from nowhere, but has been developed (and is still being developed) over many

thousands of years.

Lower down the school, Year 6 have recently studied 3 dimensional shapes, have been constructing nets and

making solids such as cubes, cuboids, pyramids and (for the more ambitious) cylinders and cones. This

practical work is an excellent way to reinforce subject knowledge and understand the properties of solid

shapes.

Finally, for anyone who likes a gentle challenge, some of the Year 7 pupils have recently been wrestling with

this problem as part of their work on fractions, decimals and percentages:

A coat was sold in a sale for £96. This was with a 20% reduction. What was the original price of the coat?

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A view from the Rose Garden

4F had fun in the library conducting research on their chosen animal for English to write a non-chronological report. We are learning about reading for information, taking notes and not copying and pasting from the

internet! It's good to get out those ‘old-fashioned’ books and discover exciting facts and pictures!

4F also did some Skylanders research for a separate tutor group project!

This week in the Library....

Skype visit with award-winning children’s author, Katherine Rundell

On Thursday this week, Years 5, 6 and 7 were treated to a live Skype “Question and Answer” session with one of King’s Hall’s very favourite children’s authors, Katherine Rundell. There was great excitement as, through

the wonders of technology, Katherine joined us in the Woodard Room to chat about her books, the inspiration behind them and her top tips for young aspiring writers. The Year 6 Library Monitor team were splendid and

did a wonderful job of putting questions to our guest author.

Katherine explained how, as a child, she was a very keen reader (with eating and acrobatics being her other childhood passions!) She advised our budding writers to read all sorts of fiction, even trying out books that at

first sight they are sure they won’t like, as they might discover a gem along the way. She also suggested writing a diary, perhaps in the format of just a single sentence a day, and advised everyone to steal events

from our lives to put into our stories, making those events bigger and more extraordinary. Above all she said that writers are daydreamers: “If you can daydream, you can be a writer.” Lots of us in the audience decided

that we were excellent daydreamers so, who knows, perhaps there is a future author within our ranks!

The children were mesmerised by Katherine’s stories of her trip to the Amazon rainforest to research her Costa award-winning book, The Explorer. We heard about her experiences swimming with pink river dolphins,

fishing for (and even swimming with) piranhas and hunting tarantulas. We also heard how she spent time with real wolves in preparation for writing The Wolf Wilder, even riding on a dog sled to find out exactly how this would feel. The inspiration for Katherine’s book, Rooftoppers, came from a time when she crept through a trap door above the library in her Oxford college, emerging onto the roof and discovering a bottle that had

been left there some years before. This led her to wonder, what if someone was living there, undetected? Ultimately, she said, every story has a “what if” at its heart. We are all very excited about her

next book which will have a circus setting and will be about a heist performed by a group of children.

Finally, Katherine’s tips for King’s Hall writers were as follows:

Let yourself write badly. You can always make bad writing good, but no writing will always be no writing.

Start thinking, “What if?” and never let anyone tell you that your stories are too unlikely, as real life can be far more extraordinary than anyone would imagine.

Editing is very important so don’t be afraid to make changes to your work.

Sometimes writing is hard, so be persistent and never give up. (Sometimes, when she is struggling with her writing, Katherine ties herself to her chair with a skipping rope to remind herself to keep going!)

Thank you so much, Katherine, for chatting with our pupils; it was a very special morning that we will never

forget!

This term’s Deputy Head Girl is Jaime Page

Last week was great, especially Thursday and Friday as it was only the boarders

and a few day children who got snowed in at school. We all had great fun and

enjoyed exploring in the snow for four days in total.

Early this week the U12 and U13 girls had the IAPS Regionals at Milfield. Our U13

team did well coming 5th in the pool only a few points short of competing in the

play offs. The U12 team did very well and came 2nd overall meaning that on Friday

they will be competing at the Nationals. Good luck to them and well done to all

of the girls that took part.

Well done to all of the 8S pupils and others in Year 8 who had their scholarships

not too long ago and await their results. We are all looking forward to the Inter House cross country relay

which is taking place on Friday. It is always a good event and I particularly look forward to it.

Sport Action and News...

Netball

U13A at the Regional IAPS Competition

The U13 girls had a really good time at the IAPS Regionals, playing some super netball. Our first game proved to be the hardest, against Millfield, but we improved on our performance against them from last year with a 3-8 loss. All Hallows were next and having beaten them earlier in the term, we were quite confident and pulled away to win 11-4. Our 3rd game, against Dean Close St John's was a close affair and 0-0 at half time - when we upped our game to win 5-2. Against the Downs we started to make mistakes and several turnovers cost us the game 5-12. We then faced Taunton Prep and were leading at the half time whistle, only to again lose our heads a little and give away the ball, losing 6-9. Our final game, against Monkton was tough and we were outplayed, just missing out on a point for half the opponent's score yet again. A pleasing performance on the whole, lots of energy and positive spirits, the girls worked hard from start to finish.

U12A at the Regional IAPS Competition

A terrific day of high energy netball, showing how well the U12's work together as a unit. They worked tirelessly for each other and showed some outstanding ball handling skills. The shooters worked tremendously hard to get free and ensured that we scored well in each match. We were a dominant force and justly deserved our 2nd place overall and qualification for Nationals!

U13/12B against Wellington

Super shooting in the first half by Grace Fielder had us pulling ahead 12-6 at half time, we had already swapped around and finally substituted Annabel Wright and Elise Tritchard in to shoot in the last quarter - and my word they proved that they were amazing, pushing the score line further in our favour!

U13/12C against Wellington

The girls played really well and it was pleasing to see a lot of effort and determination throughout. Samia Sidhu shot well, Lexie Wallace was very busy in Centre and Yoyo Fang showed a great deal of energy and enthusiasm. Lots to work on in training, but with this positive attitude they will undoubtedly improve.

U11A against Knightsbridge The girls were brilliant at hosting a touring side from London, who arrived before lunch and ate with our girls, before changing and then playing a match. King's Hall started very well and it is great to see all their hard work paying off and they are now consistently playing some great netball and scoring more goals. Tessa Davis showed great tenacity as usual and along with Raffaella Cook shot very well. We dominated in the middle of the court with Tilly Fuller, Eve Rowe and Elisa Clayton all reacting very quickly and winning lots of loose balls. Daisy Rundell played brilliantly and some of her leaping interceptions were fantastic and along with Poppy Chedzoy, they formed a formidable defence. At half time we were only winning 5-4, but a renewed focus on getting free and simple passing meant we streaked ahead in the second half. Well done girls a great team performance and a well-deserved comfortable victory.

U10A against Tatworth

The teams all played in a mini-tournament style series of short games today - a great way to keep everyone rotating and warm, especially with remnants of snow still evident around the court edges! The games were very even in possession, with both teams putting up a feisty performance. Well done girls!

U10B against Tatworth

What a close game, with the deciding goal being scored in the last minute! Again, feisty performances seen from both teams, but special mention this week to Arabella who appeared to have springs in her legs, jumping up and winning possession from her taller opposition throughout the match!

Hockey

U13B against Clifton The score line was perhaps a little unkind to Clifton as they probably had more of the ball than we did. However, man of the match and goalkeeper Tom Day was in confident form and he was able to make a string of important saves. Our 2 goals were, in very different ways, stunners. Johnnie Drysdale scored with a spectacular shot from the edge of the D and George Bolland, anticipating superbly, rounded off a splendid passing move involving William Moulden, Johnnie Drysdale and Adam Craig.

U11A against Clifton A really good performance from the U11s saw us dominate the game. We played the ball wide and around, and it worked! Goals came from Arthur Webster (3), Oscar Mack (2) and Matthew Candfield. Eugene Louw had a good game as sweeper, so Terrence Chen was seldom troubled in goal and Ciaran McSwiggan had one of the best games I have seen him play as left half. Well done boys, it was a gutsy team performance.

U10A against Clifton The score line flatters our performance and doesn't reflect some of the good play Clifton had. For our U10s it was a slightly scrappy performance compared to other matches, however we were able to capitalise on our chances and goals came from: Jago Barclay (2) in his first outing for the As; Thomas Rew (2) and Charlie Sidhu (1). Edward Luxton was also making his debut for the U10As in goal, with Zhie Li and Wilf Gostling making up the rest of the defence. The line-up was completed with Xander Robinson as left half.

Results round up ...

Netball Monday/Tuesday 5/6 March Regional IAPS

U13A 5th in Pool U12A 2nd Overall

Wednesday 7 March

v Wellington U13A Won 10 - 3 U12A Won 12 - 5

U13/12B Won 22 - 7 U13/12C Lost 6 – 16 U13/12D Won 17 - 0 v Knightsbridge U11A Won 9 - 5 U11B Lost 6 - 7 v Tatworth U10A Won 4 – 1 U10B Won 2 - 1

The Boarders’ World... A Winter Wonderland

A Winter Wonderland in March! What excitement we have had this week in the boarding house. It could be

most children’s and staff’s nightmare to be snowed in at school, but not for the Boarders, what a weekend we

have had. The excitement of snow affects us all but even more so if you have never seen it before! It was all

hands on deck as all non-resident staff and day children left on Thursday to get home. The Websters,

Chippendales and Gaps became the entertainers, Mrs Willmott and Mrs Masters became the kitchen staff, and

we all had a hand in to do the laundry, washing up, clearing tables, looking after the sick - in fact the list is

endless. So a huge thank you to everyone, but I won’t lie it was a great few days and the children had a blast.

Lie-ins every morning, baking cookies and scones, movie fest, late nights, different and delicious food and so

much snow play: who wouldn’t have enjoyed it. But I’m happy to say by Monday it was back to our normal

routine and snow seems a million miles away now.

Hockey Wednesday 7 March v Clifton

U13A Lost 3 - 9 U13B Won 2 - 1

U13C Lost 1 - 4 U12A Lost 3 - 5

U12B Lost 0 - 9 U12/13C Lost 0 - 6 U11A Won 6 - 1 U11B Lost 2 - 5 U10A Won 5 - 0 U10B Lost 1 - 2

Things you didn’t know about ...

Fane Hamilton Y8 pupil

Ralph Hutchins Y8 pupil

How long have you been at King’s Hall School? Tell us more about your arrival.

I have been at King’s Hall since I was four years old,

when we moved to Somerset from London. My first

teacher was Mrs Masters when I was in the Nursery.

I don’t remember much apart from it being great fun.

I have been at King’s Hall for almost 2 years now and when I joined I was very scared as I didn’t

know if I was going to fit in or if I would like it here. It’s been fantastic!

If you were going to appear in a book, which character would you play and what would be the plot?

If I was going to be in a book I would be a hero fighter

during a zombie apocalypse with lots of action and

war. I have chosen this because I simply love zombie

films and books and I would like to experience being a

hero.

If I were to appear in a book I would appear in a detective story as I really like those type of books. I would play the detective and solve mysteries with

an assistant to help me.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I love to play football, which everyone probably

knows, it is my favourite sport! I play for a Taunton

club called Staplegrove, we train on Thursdays and

play matches on Saturdays. I also practice goal

scoring in my garden. I enjoy skateboarding but

recently I have not been doing as much because of

exams. When I am inside I love to play on my Xbox.

In my free time I like practicing my athletics. I like running and I am also really good at long jump. Every Thursday night I go to an athletics club in

Taunton.

If you could try out any job for a day, what would you like to try?

I would be an astronaut. I want to be able to look

down on the earth, just once would be enough. I

think it would be life changing.

If I could try any job in the world I would try becoming a professional athlete as I really like sport and I would enjoy this experience a lot.

If you could appear on ‘Mastermind’ what would be your chosen field of knowledge?

If I was on Mastermind I would want to be asked questions about my books, I love to read and have devoured books from quite a young age. I would

have Football as a second subject as something I’m more than comfortable answering questions about.

If I appeared on mastermind I would choose Geography as my field of knowledge as I did quite

well in my recent exam and I like it.

Which three people, dead or alive, would you have to a dinner party if you could? Why?

I would have Elon Musk, David Attenborough and

Didier Drogba, and if I had a choice of one more I

would invite David Bowie! Elon Musk is my true life

hero, he is an inspirational man who sets out to

achieve the impossible and has a great sense of fun.

David Attenborough because he is such an amazing

man and understands the natural world and Didier

Drogba so that he could explain the feeling of scoring

the winning penalty in the Champion’s League final!

If I were to have a dinner party with three people I would have it with my Grandpa as I never got to

meet him before he died, Steve Jobs as I would like to talk to him about how he came up with concept

of the iPhone and Albert Einstein to talk to him about how he got so good at Maths.

What is your favourite possession? Why?

My favourite possession at the moment is my Rubik’s

cube. This was given to me by my cousin Toby and

this week I finally completed it after hours and hours

of attempts, it was very satisfying.

My favourite possession is a small box that I have at home and it contains all my photos of my family

and friends and other special items.

If you could meet and talk with anyone in the world, who would it be and what would you speak about?

It would have to be Elon Musk as I have so much to

ask him. I was really inspired by his mission to send

his Tesla car orbiting around Mars. I want to ask him

everything about his next project, the BFR, a fully

reusable rocket that he hopes will be able to take

over 100 people to Mars. We also share the same

taste in music so we would chill listening to David

Bowie!

I would speak with the Prime Minster and discuss what the main plans are for the future.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?

I would go to Sri Lanka. Sunshine, surf and wildlife –

everything I enjoy!

If I could go anywhere in the world it would be Rio de Janeiro as I would like to see what their culture

is like.

What has been the most unusual or extravagant food you have ever eaten?

The most unusual food I have ever eaten were

pancakes made by my mum– she had accidentally

used Polyfilla instead of flour.

The most unusual food I have ever eaten was Chilli Crabs in Singapore. They were very odd but nice!

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

I would like to try ski-diving – just for the thrill.

The one thing that I want to do that I haven’t done

already is to go scuba diving with fish.

Would you rather travel back in time or into the future? Why?

I would definitely want to travel to the future so that I

could see how far we had got with exploring space

and answering the questions about the universe and

beyond.

I would rather travel back in time and advance our technology so when I come back to the present the

technology would be even better.

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