News Events Photo Galleries Edition 3326. January 2018

@kingsley_school /thekingsleyschoolwww.thekingsleyschool.com

MOMENTKINGSLEYThe

Preparatory School Edition

Headteacher’s WelcomeI’m never entirely sure when it becomes unacceptably late in January to greet friends and acquaintances with “Happy New Year”, but given that we still have a few days, I’m willing to risk it. I hope that the Christmas break was filled with much fun, excitement and family time and that your wake up time on Christmas morning was acceptable. This weekend, I opened my Facebook feed and a memory I’d shared from the very first Kingsley Moment of 2017 popped up. That picture brought a moment of happy reminiscing and then utter bewilderment that the year had flown by so quickly; that old adage about time flying and having fun clearly rings true here. Likewise, I have always been impressed with the speed at which this community accepts new members; we welcomed ten new starters this January and at lunch this week I watched all of them laughing with new friends. They, and their families, are most welcome to our extended family.

The new year has also been an opportunity for current pupils to make a new start. They were asked to focus on the areas of learning that they are looking to improve, to challenge themselves with a new activity, or simply to remember their hats every morning! We have started with new Creative Curriculum topics in every year group and entries for the Art Prize have brought a wonderful splash of colour to the classrooms. Then, last Saturday, we opened our doors to the public for a very successful Open Morning, despite the good old British weather. Thankfully, this afternoon Foundation were able to go outside to spot rainbows, much to their very obvious delight, so perhaps Spring isn’t too far away after all.

2018 is the year that Kingsley Prep pupils will be a little more lion and a little less mouse (ask them about ‘The Lion Inside’…). I hope that you enjoy this first Kingsley Moment of 2018 and look forward, as always, to the fantastic things that the coming year holds in store for us.

Mrs Rachel WhitingHead of Prep

Weathering the SeasonThis term Foundation and Reception Class are learning about the seasons and the weather.

Kingsley Bear Dressed for WinterKingsley Bear has a Kingsley t-shirt but he is so cold in this freezing weather! Reception Class made some clothes to keep him warm, using a wide selection of different materials and different ways to fix materials together. The children rose to the challenge confidently, showing great concern for Kingsley Bear’s well being. They made a tremendous variety of different clothes from socks, gloves and scarves, to nighties and head scarves!

Rain GaugesIn Reception Class the children placed measuring cylinders in the playground to collect rainfall over the course of a week. The group worked in pairs to choose the best location for their cylinders and then to take a measurement in millilitres.

Snow BusinessThe Reception children practised their letter formation in the ‘snow’! They used paint brushes, dug up phonics cards and practised writing the letters they found.

Frosty Forest SchoolWhen we arrived at Forest School a lot of the ground was still covered in a blanket of frost. As the sun began to break through the clouds the frost quickly melted on the open, exposed ground. However, due to the time of year the sun was very low. This meant that long shadows were created by the pavilion and the trees and as the ground was still very cold the frost stayed in the shadows.

Foundation and Reception used canes to lay out an outline of the shadow made by the pavilion; it even included the chimney! The group then popped inside to have a snack. Once they returned the sun’s position had altered in the sky and the newly exposed frost had melted. The children were able to monitor just how quickly the sun’s position altered and the direct impact the small amount of heat given by the sunshine had upon the frosty ground.

Wind SpinnersThe Reception children had a fabulous time making wind spinners to watch them fly around in the wind when they stood on the top of the bridge in the playground.

Weather ForecastIn Reception the children have been using a camera to role-play forecasting the weather for the following day.

Year 1 and Year 2 Stars of the WeekAt the end of each week in Key Stage 1, the children look forward to finding out who will be awarded the special class award of ‘Star of the Week’. The achievement is awarded for high standards of learning, work ethic, behaviour around school and attitude towards different aspects of school life. The winner receives a special certificate and can choose a surprise treat from the treasure box. The Stars of the Week over the past weeks have been...

Christmas MemoriesIn our first English lesson of the New Year, Year 1 and Year 2 shared their news from the Christmas holidays and described all of the exciting activities they took part in. They practised taking turns in speaking and listening to others, and revised what the features of a recount are.

The class shared and compared what they all did on Christmas and New Year’s Day, including all of the wonderful gifts they had received. The children all loved their gifts, but they all agreed that they enjoyed spending time with friends and family most of all!

The class used their best handwriting and planned their sentences aloud before writing

them down. Before finishing their writing, they checked their sentences for full stops, capital letters and finger spaces. They even used a range of time connectives and conjunctions, to challenge themselves to add detail and further description to their writing too!

Kitty: for always having a positive attitude towards her learning and persevering to ensure she always does her best work each day. Kitty is also kind and respectful towards others, and an absolute pleasure to listen to when she shares her experiences and ideas.

Charlotte: for her great determination and perseverance to grasp more challenging concepts in her learning topics this half term. She is learning to solve missing number patterns and to tell the time to the nearest quarter of an hour in her mathematics lessons.

Elizabeth: for making excellent progress in her mathematics lessons and for always being a considerate and kind pupil to others in the school. She always aims to ensure everyone is happy and cared for.

4

The Three Little PigsThe children in Year 1 and Year 2 began their first look into the world of fairy tale stories, by reading and acting out the traditional version of the ‘Three Little Pigs’. The children compared the different versions they had previously read, but decided on using the most popular version of the story with the repetitive lines which we are all so familiar with.

After reading the story as a class, the children arranged themselves into groups of five and took on the roles of the Three

Little Pigs, Big Bad Wolf, Mummy Pig or the Narrator. The children had an excellent recollection of the story and used a variety of repeated story lines, along with actions, facial expressions and character speech. The children were able to work effectively in their groups and added more detail to their performances after rehearsing the scenes each time.

The class also learned to give a positive critique to their peers to compliment them on aspects of their performance which they had done well, as well as providing suggestions for what they could improve on next time.

Once upon a Time...The Year 1 and Year 2 children began exploring their new topic, ‘Once upon a time…’ by discussing the characters and settings we would find in a variety of fairy tales and traditional stories.

During their art lessons, the children have been creating and decorating their classroom into a magical role play and creative area, to help them to develop their imaginations even further.

The Year 1 and Year 2 classroom is being transformed into a combination of settings using the children’s ideas which includes an enchanted forest, princess tower and knight’s

castle. It is work in progress but the magic has begun to take shape and the classroom will soon be unrecognisable! Please do come along and have a look at our fairy tale world. Can you see some familiar fairy tale characters and symbols found in stories you have read?

New Year’s ResolutionsIn the second week of the new term, Year 1 and Year 2 discussed what a New Year’s resolution was, and set their own goals and targets for the rest of the academic year.

The class set targets based on areas they wanted to improve on including; gymnastics, swimming lessons, handwriting and reading. They tried to set realistic goals but also set great challenges to strive towards!

The children also reflected on their memories of 2017 and their favourite events and goals they achieved last year. It was useful to see how much they have achieved since then, but to also set new dreams to reach even higher for. Year 1 and Year 2 is filled with superstars so there is no doubt they will achieve many of their goals by the end of the year. Keep up the hard work Key Stage One!

Times New RomanIn Creative Curriculum, Year 3 have been finding out the reasons why the Romans left Britain in 450AD. They had to imagine being Caesar writing a letter ordering the Roman legions back to Italy. The pupils enjoyed using a stylus and ink to write their letters on old paper.

It’s all Greek!Year 3 completed their autumn Creative Curriculum topic by organising a Greek Day. They dressed in Greek chitons, learned a ‘Zorba’, a Greek dance, and used the new Cookery Corner to prepare a Greek feast.

In the afternoon, the pupils entertained each other with songs and musical items and they performed a Greek play called ‘Arachne the Weaver’, using Greek masks made in their art lessons. Mrs Adair even sang a song!

Sutton Who?Year 3 Roving Reporters have been find out about the Anglo Saxon helmet found at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. They have been making their own helmets out of card, string and foil.

Indian CorrespondentsTwo Year 4 Kingsley Roving Reporters, Claudia and Alex, joined the rest of the pupils in presenting some fascinating facts about India to Year 3 recently. In their Creative Curriculum lesson, Year 4 used a range of sources to find out specific information about India, their new topic for the spring term. They then decided how best to present this information to their younger audience. Mrs Divers was very impressed with their creativity and how they considered things such as audience participation and making the performance not only interesting to listen to but also visually pleasing. Year 3 agreed that they did a fantastic job of teaching so many fascinating facts in a memorable and enjoyable way.

Capacity CalculatorIn maths lessons, Year 4 have been learning about capacity. Using a variety of containers, along with funnels and measuring cylinders, the pupils had to first estimate and then calculate the different capacities. By the end of the lesson the estimations were far more accurate!

What a Relief!Year 4 pupils enjoyed an afternoon of relief printing using polystyrene tiles, rollers and printing inks. Using blunt pencils, the pupils indented Indian themed patterns and designs, before rolling on printing ink and pressing into a variety of designs. It was a very messy but extremely fun activity!

Rice, Sand and DyeFor their Creative Curriculum launch, Year 4 learned about Rangoli patterns and how they are used. We found out that it is customary to use food dye to make brightly coloured rice or sand and make decorative patterns that are displayed on people’s front porches to welcome gods and goddesses into their homes during Diwali. The Year 4 pupils had a go at making their own coloured sand Rangoli patterns on paper. They also tried using food colouring to dye rice and made a large Rangoli pattern to go outside the front door of the Prep School, just like people do during Diwali.

The Hard SellIn English, Miss Miller set Year 4 the challenge of writing a persuasive speech to sell a ridiculous item to Mrs Parker and convince her that she desperately needs it!

Items included:

• Spray hair in a can• Shoes with umbrellas on• Cleaning slippers and cleaning baby suits• Cutlery with weights in

The group recorded notes and ideas in their pairs. We’ll see if the persuavive speeches work on Mrs Parker in a later issue!

A Walk in WinterTo really get a sense of how to put together a poem about winter, Year 5 went on a sensory walk around school so that they could record ideas about what they saw, what they felt, what they could smell and what they could hear. Back in the class room, the pupils used their ideas to generate similes and metaphors before choosing their best idea which was added to a class list. As a challenge, Year 5 had a go at creating a poem using the list of similes and metaphors by re-ordering the list.

As I look around the fields,

The snow is as sparkly as a disco ball.

The trees glisten with frost,

The frost bites the end of my fingers.

Freezing snow swirls all around me like a cheetah chasing its tail.

The leaves are a pack of wolves as they swarm in the wind.

The Kingsley NewsTo set the scene for their new topic, Year 5 needed to change their classroom into a news room. The first job was to create a logo for our very own Kingsley News programme and design a news desk. Here are a selection of Year 5’s ideas for our logo. The pupils will be using their designs to create artwork on Publisher so that we can start to set-up the Year 5 Newsroom in preparation for our first news broadcast.

Body PumpedFor Year 6’s final task at the end of their first Creative Curriculum topic, the pupils were asked to design and develop a nutritionally balanced food product. This involved many stages including research, design and budgeting. They went on a local trip to Tesco on the Parade to buy ingredients and make sure they were within budget. The group then cooked up their dishes in the Cookery Corner.

Speak EasyAt the end of last term, Year 4 and Year 6 shared poems they had been writing in their lessons. Individually the pupils recited their poem to the group. It was a lovely way to celebrate their work.

Outbreak of WARTo launch Year 6’s new Creative Curriculum topic - The Outbreak of War - the group listened to Neville Chamberlain’s ‘Declaration of War’ speech. They worked together in groups to re-create a news bulletin in modern day format. The class are busy writing newspaper articles explaining the key events of early World War 2.

Gimme ShelterYear 6 had an experience of what

it would have been like inside an

air-raid shelter. Miss Knight-Adams

played an air-raid siren warning and

stepped into role as a 1940s teacher.

She gave the class some squash and a

biscuit and calmly hurried them into

the shelter (underneath the desks!)

with lanterns for some light.

Whilst inside, the class listened to

Churchill’s ‘Finest Hour’ speech and

the pupils wrote some diary entries

or letters to a friend to record how

they were feeling.

The group also decorated memory boxes

and considered what items they would

place inside to keep them happy and

entertained when they could be in an

air-raid shelter for hours.

Art ExhibitorsCongratulations to Olly (Foundation), Emily (Year 3) and Emily (Year 6) for having their art work chosen to represent The Kingsley Prep School at the Exhibition of Young Artists, which is being held at Warwick School from 3rd to 8th February.

Kingsley Art Prize 2018Mr Lax and Mrs Adair would like to thank all the pupils in the Prep School who entered the Kingsley Art Prize competition this year. The entries were amazing and the winners will be announced in February.

January 2018 26th - A Wine Evening Event for Parents of Pupils Entering Year 7 September 2018 - 7pm - LRC 29th - Year 1 & Year 2 Visit Priors House Residential Home, Royal Leamington Spa - to share in craft activities with the residents - in association with RSBP - pm29th - Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 the Mad Science five week course commences at 4pm - pick up at 5pm 31st - Final Day for Year 3 September 2018 Entry Scholarship Applications

February 2018 2nd - NSPCC Number Day and Cake Sale 9th - Year 6 to Visit Coventry Transport and Herbert Museums, Coventry as part of their World War 2 Studies - all day 12th - Scholarship Morning for Pupils Entering Year 3 September 2018 13th - Last Mad Science Session for Key Stage 1 15th - Second Hand Uniform Sale - 3.30pm to 5pm - Basement of Prep School Monday 19th February to Friday 23rd February inclusive - Half Term Holiday - have fun! 26th - Second Half of Spring Term Resumes

Dates for the Diary...

Our first netball matches of the season were played at St Nicholas Park against Crackley Hall on Wednesday 24th January 2018.

Despite the strong opposition, Kingsley played with determination and enthusiasm. All the pupils rose to the challenge presented to them, but Crackley came out as victors in all three matches.

The U11 team started a little slowly, not quite managing to set up a series of successful passes to move up the court. However, as they warmed up and got into the rhythm of the game, they were more consistent in their spacing and their centre court play. In lessons, we will be focussing on moving towards the ball for faster paced play.Izzy M was nominated as player of the match for her excellent defensive play as Goal Defence.

The Under 10 teams brought their customary enthusiasm to the courts, but again were met by strong offensive play. The Kingsley defence players were pushed hard and rose to the occasion, forcing Crackley to work hard for their marginal win.

Lucy L was nominated player of the match for the U10A team for her impressive efforts in Goal Defence. Liana G was nominated as player of the match for the U10Bs for her fast paced and agile Centre position play.

U11 and U10 Netball vs Crackley HallWednesday 24th January 2018

The task is simple – your pupils need to share with us a short news report on:

• What the future might look like if we take action on climate change;or• What the future might look like if we choose not to take action;

At the end of their reports, please ask pupils to finish the sentence:• My promise to the planet is….

Young people aged 7-14, and attending a UK school, are eligible to enter the competition. The school will also need to be registered for Earth Hour. To enter, young people will need to produce a written or filmed climate change news report on one of the above options, and share with us their promise to the planet.

Please download a copy of the Facing the Future competition entry form at wwf.org.uk/ehschoolsresources and ensure that a copy of the entry form accompanies all entries to the competition.

Earth Hour – Saturday 24 March @ 8.30pmEarth Hour is the world’s biggest movement for climate action and has produced global and political results. In the UK around 9 million people took part in Earth Hour last year to show support for climate action.

Climate change affects us all, and that’s why WWF and First News are looking for 2 young climate change champions who understand what needs to be done and can help inspire others to take action to help protect the places, animals and things we all love.

COMPETITION DETAILS:

THE TASK:

WHO CAN APPLY?

FACING THEFUTURENEWS REPORT COMPETITIONWWF and First News are looking for two young climate change champions who understand what needs to be done and who can help inspire others to take action to help protect the places, animals and things we all love. To enter the competition, 7 - 14 year olds must share a written news report on what the future might look like if we take action on climate change, or what the future might look like if we choose not to take action, along with their promise to the planet.

The winners will have an opportunity to record their report for a professional TV advertisement for WWF, as well as receiving an iPad for the school!

More details can be found by following this link, and all entries are to be handed to Ms Harper by Monday 5th February.

Also, watch this space for further information on this year’s WWF Earth Hour!

Prep SchoolOpen Morning

Saturday 20th January 2018, 10am - 12pm

Royal Leamington Spa

www.thekingsleyschool.com @kingsley_school /thekingsleyschool

For more information please contact the School Registrar on 01926 421368 or email registrar@kingsleyschool.co.uk.

Year 3/7+Scholarship

Monday 12th February 2018, 9am - 12pm

Our co-educational Prep School aims to discover and develop each child’s unique talents. Alongside a well-established core curriculum, our pupils have the opportunity to explore their own solutions to real-world problems in our Innovation Station, Cookery Corner, Forest School and

Outdoor Classroom.

The Kingsley School offers Year 3/7+ scholarships to both internal and external candidates who show a high standard in

both mathematics and English.

To register interest, please notify the Registrar by Wednesday 31st

January 2018.

Find out more at www.thekingsleyschool.com/

year3scholarships