News from The King's School
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A message from the Head, Jude Lowson
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Ode to Joy: “Everything about it was a joy and every single performer gave it their all” – this is what one parent put to the school in an email following the recent performance of ‘Loveland’, our musical showcase at the Malthouse Theatre. It struck me when putting together this newsletter that ‘joy’ has been a theme of the term. We are often, quite rightly, consumed in schools with consideration of the next steps, of preparation for life beyond school or for the next set of assessments or examinations. We are excited as a school by the challenge of ensuring that our pupils have the skills that they need to thrive and succeed beyond school and that our academic and co-curricular programme serves to develop those skills.
But what I have seen so much of this term from pupils has been a wonderful engagement with the present and the joy of the here and now. Our pupils have found their rhythm or their ‘flow’ on the Malthouse Stage, or on the pitches at Birley’s. They’ve lost themselves in the music or got on a roll with a compelling speech at a debating competition.
And it strikes me that there is a lot to be said for ‘joy’. Joy isn’t just about fun – important and worthy as fun is. Joy is also about connecting to our experiences, immersing ourselves in them and giving our all, and perhaps with that letting go of a little of the fear of failure which sometimes holds us back. Joy helps us to flourish, it fills our cup and it builds our confidence, and it helps us to achieve more than we thought we could.
So I do hope you will enjoy reading more about all that our pupils have enjoyed this term and all that they have joyfully achieved. As ever, we do love to welcome parents to many of these events, and you can read more about our programme and forthcoming events here: Lent Term Weekends & Events brochure.
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Drama and Dance
Over 50 pupils took to the stage to perform Loveland, an eclectic range of the best love songs from musical theatre.
The cast and crew have been working since October, meeting regularly to rehearse the many different musical numbers. Pupils also took the lead on the technical side, with Joseph, (6b, MT) fully designing the staging for several of the performances. We are enormously proud of the cast for putting together what was an incredibly impressive showcase of singing and dancing, and it will surely go down as one of the most enjoyable and energetic performances in recent years.
One pupil said:
“I loved performing in Loveland, the cast, costumes and crowd were incredible! The group dances allowed each member of the talented cast to shine and the soloists were extremely impressive. The unique layout of the stage resembled a wedding cake and was something I have never witnessed at the Malthouse prior to this musical showcase. The backstage crew and teachers were the ones who enabled us to perform such a wonderful show”.
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Academic
We are delighted with the success so many King’s pupils have already achieved with their university applications. Our Sixth Formers have received offers for a wide range of disciplines, from filmmaking to finance, modern languages to mechanical engineering, along with a range of conservatoire and overseas applications. It is also a pleasure to support several OKS applicants who have chosen to apply post-qualification.
Congratulations to pupils who have received offers from Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Durham, Imperial, UCL, KCL, and Warwick, to name but a few, as well as a host of exciting international destinations. We are proud of the achievements of all our pupils and the bright futures that have started at King’s, and in particular of the diversity of the courses and pathways which our pupils are aiming for.
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Talks this term: Sir Anthony Seldon Visits King's
The History department were delighted to welcome Sir Anthony Seldon, eminent historian and current Head of Epsom College, who delivered a talk to our History and Politics pupils in the Sixth Form. This was the first time that Sir Anthony had given a preview of his forthcoming book on Liz Truss.
He spoke about the misfortunes of Liz Truss’s tenure as Prime Minister and then examined the reasons for her downfall. Our eager audience of pupils asked probing questions and Sir Anthony promised that he would make reference to this in the acknowledgements in his forthcoming book.
This term we have also hosted talks from artist, Toby Ward and from the Ambipar Response Team who specialise in responding to geographic hazards, and there is a busy programme of events in the half term ahead.
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Partnerships
It has been another busy half-term in Partnerships, continuing our close links with local schools. A highlight of this programme is our Saturday Smarties programme, where we welcome Year 5 and 6 pupils to our Science Centre to take part in experiments and activities. Recently, pupils have taken part in a ‘Forensic Science’ activity, tracking down the location of a missing dog through a series of imaginative experiments. Many of our older pupils are involved in guiding and supporting the programme and they do an excellent job of engaging with these younger budding scientists.
We also hosted a number of local pupils at our Malthouse Theatre for a series of masterclasses and workshops, engaging in acting activities as well as workshops focusing on artistic performance. These drama days enable talented pupils from local schools to have the opportunity to experience our wonderful theatre and to hone their talents with expert guidance.
It is our goal to offer more opportunities for our pupils to get involved in these partnership and outreach activities. In addition to Saturday Smarties, pupils visit local schools each week to assist in the delivery of language lessons or help with the visits of pupils to King’s. These partnership projects offer many mutual benefits, enabling our pupils to develop valuable leadership and organisational skills as they contribute to the smooth running of the events.
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Talks and trips
Pupils enjoyed some fantastic trips over the Christmas break, including a very successful and snowy ski trip to Les Deux Alpes, a photography and language trip to the bustling Christmas markets of Hamburg and a Religious Studies trip to Amsterdam.
We have taken advantage of the fast trains up to London this term, with pupils taking part in day trips to the capital including to the Houses of Parliament, The National Art Gallery, CCF Gurkha HQ, Cervantes Theatre Trip, an Art & Photography trip to London and a Music trip to see Wicked. Our CCF pupils enjoyed an exciting trip to a local skydiving experience centre, enjoying all of the thrill of a skydive without having to get into a plane.
During the half term break, there is a Geology trip to Northern Ireland and a science trip to Disneyland Paris. We wish our pupils well on their travels!
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Music
Tickets are now on sale for out choral concert on Friday 15th March 2024, when The King's School Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform Brahms Requiem, joined by internationally acclaimed soloists Fflur Wyn and Ben McAteer.
The box office link is: https://thekingsschool.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873601015
Whilst nothing can quite compare to being there in person, recent performances from our musicians can be viewed in full via the YouTube link here:: Kings Music Dept - YouTube
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Debating and Public Speaking
We have a great focus as a school in supporting oracy, confidence and public speaking, and The King’s Debating teams have had a busy and successful season with nine major external competitions and Celine, Olive, and Samantha (6b) have qualified as a team through two rounds of the English Speaking Union debating competition, to reach the regional finals after half-term.
Holly, Raf and Iggy (6b) have also qualified as a team through two rounds of the English Speaking Union public speaking competition, with subsequent rounds yet to be announced.
Closer to home, the interhouse debating competition is fiercely contested, and gives an opportunity for many of our younger debaters to hone their skills in front of an enthusiastic audience. Pupils have also been taking part in our annual general knowledge competition this term, which is hosted in a ‘university challenge’ style format.
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School Charity
Tradescant House raised £4,200 by sleeping out under the stars on the Dovecote Lawn at our St Augustine’s campus.
The whole house took part in the sleepout, raising money for Asthma and Lung UK. The pupils also enjoyed playing laser tag, having a firepit and roasting the odd marshmallow or two! Whilst they were blessed with mild weather, the project was a significant undertaking and we are delighted to be able to make such a sizeable donation to this important cause.
Sport round-up
This half-term has seen plenty of sports fixtures and lots of action at Birley’s. We have fielded ten Football sides, thirteen Netball teams, five Hockey sides as well as teams in Squash, Lacrosse, Fencing, Rowing and Sailing.
In Squash, the boys’ team won their National Two Division Tournament beating Marlborough College, Stowe School and Radley College.
In Fencing, Jack (Fifth) won the Kent U16 Fencing Senior Schools Championship at Tonbridge School. Oscar (6b) and Katie (6b) became South East Champions in their respective U18 categories and a further six pupils picked up medals.
Julie (Shell), competed in a European Tennis Evening in France, finishing as the top performer of any British player.
In Hockey, our 1stXI reached the semi-final in the Frank Mason tournament, losing out to The Harvey Grammar School. They had impressive wins against Sevenoaks and Skinners School.
Our first VII Netball side remain unbeaten, winning games against Benenden, Kent College and St Lawrence College. Our Swimming team also won their recent gala, putting in some outstanding performance across many categories.
