KNOLE_REVIEW_19-20_WEB

REVIEW 2019/20

Bradbourne Vale Road Sevenoaks Kent TN13 3LE

@KnoleAcademy @knoleacademy REVIEW 2019 /20

01732 454608 www.knoleacademy.org

@KnoleAcademySevenoaks

FOREWORD

David Collins

Welcome to our second edition of Knole Review, albeit a truncated review. There have been numerous highlights to the academic year and I am always surprised and delighted by the amount we can achieve in a year.

I would like to express my thanks to both teaching and support staff who ensure that events run so successfully,

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CONTENTS

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OVERVIEW Headteacher’s Review........................ 7 Head Student Review.........................9

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HOUSES Attenborough.................................... 11 Khan....................................................12 Lee.......................................................13 Rudolph..............................................14

ACADEMIC REVIEW Academic Awards..............................16 Special Awards.................................. 17 Business Studies................................18 Child Development..........................18 Catering & Hospitality......................19 English............................................... 20 Food Technology..............................22 Geography.........................................24 Hair & Beauty.....................................25

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History................................................26 ICT.......................................................27 Mathematics......................................28 Media...................................................29 MFL......................................................29 Politics & Citizenship........................30 Psychology.........................................31 Science...............................................33 Sociology...........................................34

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CREATIVE KNOLE Art........................................................36 Dance..................................................38 Drama.................................................39 Music.................................................. 40

KNOLE SPORT Cross Country....................................42 Football.............................................. 44 Golf..................................................... 44 Handball.............................................45 Indoor Athletics................................ 46

Inter-house Sports Days................. 46 Knole Sports Leaders.......................47 Netball................................................47 Ski Trip.................................................47

KNOLE EXTRA CCF.....................................................49 D of E.................................................. 50 Knole Interact................................... 51

Pancake Day..................................... 52 Tree Planting..................................... 52

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OVERVIEW

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HEADTEACHER’S REVIEW 2019/20 David Collins Hopefully a year to never be repeated, but we shall get back to that later.

Knole Academy arrived back in September with record examinations results; Year 11 had achieved the best results in the history of the academy and the Sixth Form were the fifth highest performing post 16 provision in Kent.

In September, we welcomed the largest cohort of students into year 7 as a result of increased popularity and these students all arrived in the new school uniform replete with their house ties. Once again, the year group settled extremely well and were active participants in the open evening and mornings that took place in September and October. It is always a pleasure to hear students talk so eloquently and enthusiastically about the academy, it is the best piece of feedback that we receive in determining whether we are offering the right kind of provision.

In October, the academy organised its first ever Geography trip to Iceland, the pictures and the descriptions of the trip suggest it will be an adventure that none of the participants will ever forget.

The academy made the decision to offer an entirely International Baccalaureate (IB) programme of study for our Sixth Form from 2020 and therefore the Sixth Form open evening was undertaken with more trepidation than in previous years.

The academy believes whole heartedly that the IB is the best choice for students as it offers the academic integrity married to a social perspective that is missing from A-levels. However, we recognise that an unfamiliar programme of study may be a hurdle for some learners. We were delighted by the response we received on the evening and the academy has received a record number of applications for study next academic year.

In December, the highlight of the calendar was the Christmas concert. Once again, the music department produced a stunning mix of classic and modern music. One of the things I love about Knole Academy is that on certain occasions, I observe work so special that it is hard to imagine it could be produced any better elsewhere. In my humble opinion, the duet on La Vie en Rose was absolutely stunning.

The winter term saw Khan House win the overall house competition, wrestling the trophy from Attenborough house who had been successful in the summer term.

At the end of November and early December, the Year 11 students sat their mock examinations and their results were way ahead of previous year groups, I had a number of subject leaders visit me delighted with the students’ outcomes. As it turns out, these mocks obviously had a far greater importance than we would have predicted at the time…

In January, we had the annual dance show.

This was another stunning event and as well as the outstanding performances on stage, the back stage work connected to this and the Christmas concert was largely undertaken by the students, they were able to produce really professional shows that are a credit to the academy.

Once again, February saw the ski trip depart to Austria and continued Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. The academy has one of the largest cohorts of Duke of Edinburgh participants in the county and we genuinely believe that involvement in the scheme provides participants with invaluable experience. The academy’s lead sponsor Mr Gordon Phillips has donated generously to the Duke of Edinburgh scheme this year, purchasing two minibuses and a massive amount of kit for students.

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Lee house won the spring term overall house competition, their first success!

At this point in the year the world was becoming more aware of the scale of the Covid -19 issue and as we entered March it was clear that normal functioning would be impossible in the near future.

I would like to pay tribute to the staff who continued to attend and allow Knole Academy to remain open until the enforced governmental closures; this is something that many schools in the area were unable to manage and it provided an indication of the staff’s commitment to the academy.

The announcement that there will be no examinations this year was devastating and I have to admit that the kind messages that the academy and I received from parents tipped me over the edge.

I was genuinely upset that the Year 11 and 13 students would not have the opportunity to demonstrate what they had achieved on a level playing field in comparison to other schools. I want to state that there should be no asterisk next to their achievements, they have been awarded what they deserved and are an accurate reflection of their hard work.

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The move to virtual learning was a challenge and I would like to thank all the staff for their work in this area. I think it is fair to say it pushed everyone out of their comfort zone but the provision that was put in place is something I am proud of. The academy has lent over 170 computers to enable students to engage in the work, it has been open throughout Easter and the May half term for key worker and vulnerable students and provided food vouchers long before the government scheme came into operation.

They will not become illiterate or unable to use maths as a result of school closures. As many will remember from their time at school, all learning involves big topics followed by nuances and deeper understanding, we can easily catch up on the big topics and there will be no large gaps in knowledge. There may well be a greater need for students to be more self-sufficient when it comes to revision as there will be less time to do this in class but the academy will still support this.

In June, we welcomed back Year 10 and 12 for lessons and started Teams lessons for all year groups. I can honestly say that schools are much better places to work when students’ are present.

We have no plans to restrict the curriculum, the academy offers a diverse curriculum and I know that for a large number of students the variety in their studies is what makes their time at Knole enjoyable, this provision will continue as soon as it is safe to do so.

There has been a lot of coverage in the press about the impact of the missed schooling, and a lost generation of students.

I would like to reassure students and parents that there will be no lost generation. It is not advisable to lose 4 months of education but students start education at age 4 and most go through until they are 18.

Despite all the turmoil, Knole is still an amazing school and I am proud to be the Headteacher.

I wish everyone the very best of health.

HEAD STUDENT REVIEW Mae & Samuel In July 2019, after a rigorous selection process, Sam and I were ecstatic to be selected Head Students for the next academic year. It is a position that we were both delighted to be chosen for; it was somehow recognition for the work we had done over the previous six years at the Academy and something we knew we would always be proud of.

I am sincerely proud to be a part of a tremendous support system of teachers that Knole Academy offers, to help students to thrive in this positive school environment, to obtain the best possible results. Knole gives pupils the opportunity to pursue a number of different career paths as not every student aspires to attend university or be involved in dance shows.

It was our first time being compères as Head Students at the December 2019 Awards Ceremony. We were eager for the whole evening to run smoothly as we were presenting in front of parents, our fellow peers and even ex-students. The prospect was somewhat daunting but this feeling soon diminished; the tireless preparation on our speeches certainly helped. The evening was a huge success and it was then that we really felt confident in our esteemed roles.

Knole Academy acknowledges pupil’s individuality by offering a variety of unique clubs and activities including engineering and gardening club, while acting as an important stepping stone allowing pupils to experience career opportunities before adulthood. I genuinely believe that everyone has worked so hard to achieve their potential, not only the students, but also the staff and parents involved that work together to help make Knole the great school that it is.

It was inspiring to see other students’ achievements. The fact that both Sam and I collected our own individual awards was the icing on the cake.

It was encouraging to see ex-pupils, now at university, collect their awards and speak to them about life after Knole. I was on the verge of committing to a university application and it cemented that decision.

Sam and I presented at numerous events over the year and now standing and speaking in front of large audiences is something that we have become comfortable with. I’m certain that it will help us professionally in the years to come.

Despite not sitting our summer exams and at the time of writing and being unsure of our final grades, Sam and I have worked extremely hard throughout the entirety of sixth form to secure places to help better our future careers.

I have accepted a conditional offer at the University of Canterbury to undertake a Primary Education degree. In the near future, I wish to become a teacher and hopefully be able to achieve a TEFL to support underprivileged students in other countries. Sam has decided to join the Royal Engineers in September to become a surveyor.

Sam’s experiences and time being promoted through the cadet force while at Knole Academy has solidified his decision to undertake this career.

Even with our end of year prom celebrations not going ahead as planned and our year 13 being cut short, Sam and I both look forward to hopefully seeing everyone in Autumn for an assembly before entering the adult world and going our separate ways, which is something that we are all ready for.

We wish all the staff, our peers, and prospective students at Knole Academy the best of luck for the future.

Meeting the governors, being present at the careers event and helping out at the year 5 taster days are just a handful of highlights that I was privileged enough to experience during year 13.

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HOUSES

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ATTENBOROUGH HOUSE Tim White What a strange year it has been. We started the year as conquerors, overall house point winners and the team everybody else wanted to beat. House Attenborough were crowned Kings and Queens of Knole Academy at the start of the academic year but could we keep hold of the throne?

The year started well with Attenborough beating house Lee in the inter-house cross country competition. It was a close race but thanks to some incredible standout performances from our year 7 boys and year 8 girls Attenborough claimed the top spot overall.

Keeping to the sports theme Attenborough finished second in the new look football and rugby competitions to a strong Khan team.

It was amazing to watch our boys battle on the rugby pitch with years 7, 8 and 9 all finishing as winners of their leagues.

Everybody who played demonstrated real courage and resilience; two characteristics we value in House Attenborough.

Our year 10 and 11 teams had some really close games but sadly luck wasn’t on their side that day putting both teams into 3rd place dropping us into 2nd overall. I cannot wait to play again next year.

Although this year has been cut short we have managed to squeeze in some other fun competitions such as the ‘science throw down’ where our best physicians battled it out in what looked like an episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and a maths challenge where our year 7 students delivered a convincing win proving we have the brains to complement our sporting prowess.

Other competitions included, ‘I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here’, the pancake race, ‘Knole’s got Talent’ and our VE day celebration where students were asked to create bunting to commemorate 75 years since the end of WWII, a date Sir David Attenborough remembers well likening himself to Private Pike during his time serving in the Home Guard.

Sadly our house didn’t perform well in these competitions this year but all this has done is spur us on to do better next year.

Looking back over the 2019/20 season I cannot help but think, if House Attenborough were a football team then as the manager my head would be on the chopping block (eeek).

It really hasn’t been the most convincing championship defence and be assured that there will be a full steward’s inquiry into the areas we have fallen short this year. As nice as it is to see the trophy being shared around the school we want to make winning a habit and I believe we can still do that, we just need everybody in our house to play their part.

Bring on the 2020/21 season when we ALL hope “normality” shall resume and Attenborough will once again be at the top of the table.

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KHAN HOUSE Caroline Nimmo What an unusual year this has been. We have had lots of winners throughout a large range of competitions and activities. This year several of our form reps and Head Khan Boy visited the Imperial War Museum to gain more insight into the war and Noor InayatKhan’s input and to have a fun day out.

We have had another very successful year and Khan House has dominated in so many areas. Knole Academy’s house system is great way for students to become involved in the wider community. Students can take part in a whole host of competitions and challenges. We have Maths Challenges, Science Throw Downs, inter-house netball, football competitions along with my favourite ‘I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here’.

There are pancake races, art competitions, drone races and a yearly talent show.

The talent show was an amazing success and our joint entries gained 2nd place with Eiofe & Annabel performing an amazing song and dance routine. We were the only house to have a scientist performing chemistry along with musicians, singers, comedians and dancers from years 7, 8 & 9.

During this academic year Khan House won top prizes in year 9 for Science and year 8 for Maths. During our winter term Khan House logged the most house points and were rather brilliant with their continued enthusiasm.

Every form elects their own representative and all the reps meet up once a month, with Miss Nimmo to discuss how their class is performing and what we can do to continue our houses success.

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Knole Academy’s Head Boy, Sam Davis, has been in Khan House since Year 7 and he was rewarded for all of his service to the Academy. He was Khan Form Rep from Year 9-11, Khan Sports Rep in Year 12, Head Boy and our leading cadet in the Combined Cadet Force. We wish Sam every success in his future.

Thank you so much to all those who competed and supported our house. It is an honour to be the head of such an amazing House.

LEE HOUSE Stuart Ereaut The first term up saw Stan Lee House improve on the previous year’s 4th place by moving up into 3rd, only 100 points behind first and second. We had a significantly strong showing in the football and netball with almost full teams for all year groups.

Lee House had some incredible showings n the talent show with Sofia play the violin, Meltem singing, Sian and Shaya playing the piano also and Lily singing. The year 7’s also came away with the English award trophy for the most house points won in English.

During the spring terms students in all the houses competed in a number of house competitions. Students from Lee house successfully competed in boys’ football and girls’ netball, the harvest box festival, the talent show, ‘I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here’. This competition is always popular and this year was particularly fierce with students facing far more difficult challenges than in previous years.

I was immensely proud to lift the trophy in victory after the Easter term. Stan Lee House ended up over 150 points clear of any other house before the term was cut short. I was extremely proud at how students from all year groups answered the rallying cry and logged their house points. Every competition saw a significant number of Lee House students competing to the best of their abilities.

During this difficult time, I have been very proud of everybody not just from my house but every house. Knole Academy students have shown incredible resilience, kindness and compassion. The work I have received has been incredible and students have been engaged and giving everything their best shot. The online science quizzes have been a massive hit with hundreds of students competing for house points in each quiz.

There have been some truly incredible results with a number of year 7 students managing to come in the top 3 of the year 10 quizzes. I truly hope this sense of competition continues as it has been a pleasure to watch and engage with.

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RUDOLPH HOUSE Carolyn Walker This year has been an eventful, exciting and very different year for Rudolph House.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mrs Slade, Head of Rudolph House on the birth of her beautiful daughter Bethany. Mrs Slade went on maternity leave in February, I took over as acting Head of House and will hand back the reigns to her in October when she returns.

I hope that I have done Mrs Slade and Rudolph house justice, it certainly has been good fun and a pleasure.

We welcomed a very enthusiastic year 7 to Knole, who have made a fantastic contribution to the house over the year, exceptionally well done to Ciaran in 7K2 who was awarded the most house points overall in Key Stage 3.

In Key Stage 4, Amer 9R2 won this accolade for Rudolph, well done and congratulations.

Amazing work both of you. In the team awards for creativity, points awarded for noncore subjects, Rudolph house came second.

Well done everyone, keep being outstanding and logging those points, remember your house needs you.

The house competitions this year really have been excellent fun, in December we had the year 10 Science Show down. The whole of year 10 assembled in the auditorium and teams made up of volunteers from each tutor group were tested on their knowledge of physics.

After much cheering, foot stamping and clapping the overall winners were 10R2 and in second place 10R1; the year 10 Rudolphs doing us proud.

Continuing in the science theme there was also the ‘I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here’ challenge, where the bravest faced bug snacks, slime and other gruesome tasks, which were not for the faint hearted.

Rudolph house was well represented by the incredibly brave winner Danielle.

The Tree Project in January showcased year 7 and 8 student work, the quality and quantity of poster produced made judging exceptionally hard, again Rudolph house was well represented. ‘Knole’s Got Talent’ showcased the amazing skills and talents of many students, Evelyn and Daisy teamed up for Rudolph and shone out as superstars winning the event.

In February I hosted my first competition with the help of Mrs McGauley – Pancake races to mark Shrove Tuesday. We had entries from all years and it was hilarious watching students try to flip their pancakes and run as fast as they could and great to see such support. What made this competition extra special for me, was that Rudolph was the overall winning house.

At the end of March, school life as we know it changed dramatically as we went into lock-down but that didn’t stop House competitions.

We celebrated VE day with a VE Day bunting competition, out of the many entries, Amelia from 7R2 came in third place. Despite the fact we have sadly missed Sports Day, there have been various sporting events throughout the year and Rudolph has been well represented by enthusiastic and competitive students.

I would just like to finish, with a very big thank you to everyone in Rudolph House who has logged house points, participated in competitions and supported at events.

I’m really looking forward to next year, with such talented, enthusiastic students representing us it is sure to be another great year.

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ACADEMIC REVIEW

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2019 ACADEMIC AWARDS 2019 YEAR 11 ACADEMIC AWARDS

2019 YEAR 12 ACADEMIC AWARDS

Thomas Adamson

Attainment in ICT

Phoebe Bicknell

Progress in Health & Social Care

Tyrone Ady

Progress in Mathematics

Cheyenne Chapman

Progress in Graphic Communication

Sophie Allen

Attainment in Sociology

Cydney Cowleard

Attainment in Physical Education

Harry Cox

Progress In French

Willow Davis

Progress in French

Emily Drake

Progress in Fine Art

Mia Easton

Progress in Physical Education

Progress in Dance

Scott Fitzsimons

Attainment in Graphic Communication

Progress in English Language

Saul Golding

Progress in Finance

Progress in Drama

Hayley Harbour

Progress in Cutting & Styling

Jessica Drury

Attainment for Child Development

Mae Horlock

Attainment in Criminology

Phoebe Ecuyer-Dale

Attainment in Physcial Education

Beau French

Progress in Media Studies

Immer French-Moore

Progress in Music

Seif Jari

Lucy Heavens

Attainment in French

Lucy Johnson

Attainment in Sociology

Attainment in English Language

Megan Layton-Rees

Progress in Fine Art

Emilia Martell-Morgan

Progress in Textiles

Beth Miller

Progress in Criminology

Emma McNally

Attainment in Psychology

Sophie Medhurst

Progress in IT

Keeva Mowen

Attainment in Health & Social Care

Jack Murray

Attainment in Graphic Communication

Paige Parker

Attainment in Textile Design

Katie Naylor

Progress In Travel & Tourism

Poppy Rason

Progress in Sociology

Ella Osborn

Progress in Sociology

Megan Smithers

Attainment in Psychology

Hadley Ramskill

Attainment in Chemistry

Natalie Todd

Progress in Biology

Callum Richards

Attainment in Biology Progress in Economics

Samuel Richards

Attainment in Media Studies Progress in Graphic Communication

Shannon Rogers

Attainment in Drama Progress in Computer Science

Bethany Scott

Attainment in Economics

Hebe Sears

Progress in Biology

Elisha Sellmer

Progress in Child Development

Amrit Singh

Progress in Business Attainment in Food & Nutrition

Ethan Spencer

Progress in Physical Education

Abigail Stanton

Attainment in Geography

Jack Story

Progress in History

Katie Taylor

Attainment in Fine Art

Maryam Thabet

Progress in Chemistry Progress in Food & Nutrition

Leah Tormann

Progress in Textiles

Kyle Tremain

Progress in Geography

Charlie Wicks

Attainment in Music Attainment in Business

Eve Workman

Progress in Psychology

Callum Younger-Airey

Attainment in Mathematics

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Attainment in Biology Attainment in Finance Attainment in French

Progress in Psychology

Attainment in Fine Art

SPECIAL AWARDS 2019 YEAR 13 ACADEMIC AWARDS

Daniel Falvey

Independent Catering & Hospitality Award

Progress in Finance

Elliemay O’Flynn

Specialist Arts Award

Attainment in Business

Oliver Howe

Media Award

Fiona Allen

Progress in Chemistry

Daniel Birigwa Harrison Carter

Attainment in Chemistry Olivia Drysdale

Attainment in Fine Art

Sam Davis

CCF Cadet of the Year

Jamie-Leigh Duffield

Level 3 Technical Diploma in Hairdressing

Douglas Steele

KS5 Dux Award in Mathematics & Science

Grace Falvey

Progress in Politics

Ryan Gavin

Progress in Graphic Communication

Jodie Hobson

Information Technology Achievement Award

Progress in Media Studies Erin Herbert

Attainment in English Literature Attainment in Media Studies Rebecca Hill

Progress in Psychology Attainment in Sociology

Jodie Hobson

Attainment in ICT Attainment in Physical Education

Lewis King

Outstanding Sports Award

Progress in Textile Design

Harry Knowles

Drama Award

Ella Keene

Dance Achievement

Druhan Wilson

Music Award

Amy Wooding

Service to the School

Progress in Business

Head Girl

Progress in Mathematics

Callum Vick

Head Boy

Harry Knowles

Progress in Textile Design

Cameron Leonard

Attainment in Applied Law

Lauren Lucas

Attainment in Health & Social Care

Nathan Manning

Attainment in Marketing

Chloe Brown

Singing Quaich

Jae Marston

Attainment in Criminology

Lucy Heavens

KS4 Dux

Rosie Martin

Progress in Health & Social Care

Jodie Hartfield

KS3 Dux

Progress in History Kerrie Motton

Progress in Applied Law

Harriett Orchin

Attainment in Finance

Oliver Reynolds

Attainment in Politics Attainment in History

Harry Salliss

Attainment in Geography Progress in Biology

Anouska Sears

Progress in Fine Art

Aydon Smith

Attainment in Computer Science

Douglas Steele

Attainment in Biology Attainment in Psychology Attainment in Mathematics

Paige Stewart

Attainment in Graphic Communication

Isabelle Taylor

Progress in Marketing Progress In Criminology

DofE Gold Award

Knole Interact Sofia Pesic

DofE Gold Award

Alex Williams

DofE Gold Award

Lucy Lemon

DofE Silver Award

Jack Murray

DofE Bronze Award

Mae Horlock

LIBF Scholarship

Saul Golding

LIBF Scholarship

Daniel Birigwa

LIBF Scholarship

Morgan Theodore

LIBF Scholarship

Callum Vick

Progress in Geography

Harriett Orchin

LIBF Scholarship

Erin Vidler

Progress in Sociology

Andy Forrester

Sevenoaks Rugby FC Alumni Award

Nadhmi Jari

Sevenoaks Handball Club Alumni Award

Progress in English Literature Elizabeth Wilkins

Attainment in Music

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BUSINESS STUDIES Frank Toomey Well here we are again reviewing last year’s Business Studies Department highlights, achievements and milestones, and what a year it’s been. I don’t think anyone who’s lived through this year will forget it in a hurry.

The year for the Business Studies Department started well, when we welcomed two new colleagues to our team, firstly Mr Mike Craigen, who had a wealth of business experience after a long career working at Sky TV, and who had also created a range of gourmet sausages in his spare time that are sold in supermarkets all over the UK. Mr Craigen decided to leave us at the start of the 2019 Christmas Holidays, but not before he had made a great impression on the classes he had taught. We all wished him great success and good luck in his renewed retirement.

We were also joined in September 2019 by an already well-known, and very well respected individual around the school Mr Magnus Spence who generously offers his precious time and experience to sit on the whole school governing body.

He also, over the last two years has arranged some very insightful speakers from various City of London institutions, to talk to our Sixth Formers in our ‘Classroom to the Boardroom’ sessions. Mr Spence claims in his short biography on the school website that he ‘wished he’d been brave enough to become a teacher!’ Well, in September 2019 Mr Spence tested himself to see if he could actually be that teacher, and using his years of successful business expertise, he volunteered to teach one lesson a week to our newly created year 12 IB Business cohort, and student feedback tells us that they thoroughly enjoyed Mr Spence’s individual teaching style and real world business wisdom.

One of the highlights of the year was the visit

by Mr Keith Abel, who is the owner of a company called ‘Abel & Cole’.

Abel & Cole, are an organic food supply business, which in today’s green and sustainability lead business world, is a very current and on trend industry to be in.

Mr Abel talked to the sixth formers about his personal business journey from selling potatoes door to door in Leeds, to becoming a hugely successful entrepreneur, who’s had the opportunity to welcome a past British Prime Minster, namely Mr Tony Blair to one of his sites in South East London.

Mr Abel talked about how to become an entrepreneur, and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur, but could not emphasise enough the importance of seeking advice from trustworthy people around you.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT Caroline Hurley There have been some fantastic academic achievements from the students this year, including Iona who achieved full marks in her GCSE exam last summer for Child Development, making her one of five students to achieve this in the country. Also Keeva in year 13 for Health and Social Care achieved Distinctions in every exam and coursework unit giving her full marks awarded for the qualification.

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Year 10 are currently working on coursework and it is pleasing to note the work that is being submitted is of a very high standard.

Year 9 have been working on the exam syllabus this year and one project was to create a baby book about their birth, their first words, and all the milestones they achieve when they are babies.

They also created salt dough reproductive systems to help them identify the parts and their functions, which the girls seemed to enjoy as it was a practical lesson. As part of learning about the menstrual cycle the girls also created menstrual bead wristbands to help them to remember the days of what happens in the cycle.

CATERING & HOSPITALITY Ken Arnott

Mange Tout Restaurant opened on the 14th November and it was quickly busy with the repeat business from local Woman’s Institute groups and a lot of regular clients.

Learning how to present food for hungry and sometimes demanding customers is a vital component of the course and it is good to see a lot of happy faces leave each Thursday after booking their next visit. Sevenoaks Council held their annual Awards Evening on Friday 13th September in The Oaks Theatre. It was pleasing to see that despite the date, no mishaps prevented the kitchen from delivering high quality food at breakneck speed!

Christmas lunches are a highlight for many staff and guests and it was lovely to welcome over 90 people this year in Mange Tout.

All were treated to a tasty meal and left full of festive spirit.

Throughout the year the many teachers from our local feeder primary schools have attended training days in Mange Tout.

They were impressed with the excellent facilities on offer and have booked to come back in the near future.

Community cooking classes started on 15th January when we welcomed the sixth form boarding students from Sevenoaks School.

Groups of pupils attended a crash course on how to impress at the House Valentine meals arranged by their teachers – unfortunately I never heard how these events went but chocolate fondant is always a winner.

We welcomed the Sevenoaks Chamber of Commerce for the first time on Wednesday 4th March when they held a networking breakfast in the Oaks. The local business owners enjoyed the hot bacon rolls and fresh ground coffee as they listened to various Knole staff explain what we can offer their employees.

They left full of praise and enthusiastic about a return later in the year.

During the lockdown the kitchen remained busy preparing lunches for staff as they delivered their online lessons to students.

I look forward to the new group of aspiring young chefs in September and reporting on their progress and experiences.

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ENGLISH Gareth Hughes Literature not only mirrors what is happening in society but is a source of ultimate escapism when it is most needed. If our recent collective experience has taught us anything beyond the importance of our responsibility to one another and a re-evaluation of who and what is important in society... it is that through periods of adversity little is more fundamental to our well-being than exercising our imaginations, our creativity and the catharsis offered by immersing ourselves in the pages of a book.

Furthermore, what happens in society tends to be cyclical, that which we experience nowadays has been experienced by others in the past, many of Shakespeare’s plays, for example, refer to periods of pandemic, contagion and plague in Elizabethan society.

Indeed the reason why the work of the likes of Shakespeare endures is because of his ability to bring to life the emotions of his characters, irrespective of their context… and it is this shared experience of generations of humanity wherein lies the fundamental importance of literature, for it possesses a didacticism, a purpose of informing us of not only what is happening but reassuring us of and guiding our feelings.

To cite my personal favourite answer to the question ‘Why read?’, ‘To know I am not alone.’ Someone has experienced what I am and has felt what I am feeling. Answers fundamental to life lie within.

Indeed with that idea of the ‘purpose’ of what we study ringing in our collective ears, back in the September of 2019, our Year 10 students embarked on their GCSE course texts: Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ and later J.B Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’... both with clear and simple messages of being aware of the consequences of one’s actions and the importance of taking responsibility for the well-being of other members of society; that the latter of these texts was written after a global catastrophe in 1946, urged people to consider that now was the time to make 22

change in the way we treat one another and re-evaluate who and what we should truly value in the world. All sounds rather, tragically, familiar? Nonetheless, it does reinforce the integral role literature should play in our lives. That the playwright was also one of the driving forces behind the creation of the NHS is a fitting detail too.

Dare we cast our minds back to last September, the English department’s academic year 2019 - 2020 started like most others ... eager to get started and hopeful for the future, eager to consolidate and even build on the 18% improvement of the GCSE results from last August.

a library of our favourite and most influential novels; some also made models.

The department’s Instagram platform, set up last year with a primary focus of helping our GCSE classes with revision, has evolved, particularly in light of recent events, to communicate insightful information and motivational pearls of wisdom; these have included posts on Litflix: what to watch of a literary note during lockdown; weekly shout-outs; words of the week and advertisements for literary events such as how to enter writing competitions, most recently one focusing on BLM.

When the reality of the global situation unfolded however, and the news came through that our Year 11s and Year 13s wouldn’t be taking their exams, the disappointment was all too evident, not simply because many students would be unable to finish their time at Knole as they might have wished but mainly because they wouldn’t be given the chance to demonstrate all they had learned, show the improvements they had made, exceed their predictions and in most cases see their efforts bear fruit. We had believed and accepted that while the improvement wouldn’t have been so statistically dramatic, the trend would nonetheless be an upward one.

Of course all year groups and all students, not simply those taking external examinations have been affected. The opportunity to plan, let alone going on school trips, seem a dim and distant memory but back in October a group of Year 7 students were taken to the Roald Dahl Museum complementing the study of the author’s autobiographical work ‘Boy’. A month later, Year 8 students had a timely visit to The Imperial War Museum contextualising their studies exploring the literature of World War I. Shortly before lockdown, the beginning of March marked World Book Day for which Year 7 and staff contributed illustrated book spines to create

The year also began by maintaining our close links with Sevenoaks School’s English Department; plans were laid for joint ventures including a poetry performance and series of workshops for our Year 10 students and, as part of the introduction of next year’s IB course, even a literary tour of the north of England for our sixth form students, taking in the home of the Bronte sisters, Haworth Parsonage. Year 7 have a Shakespeare performance and day of workshops booked in for early next year; obviously all of this, as with so many things, has had to be postponed but, one day… however far off that day might feel at times.

Of course, it is all members of our school community, the students, teachers and parents alike, who have been so dramatically impacted upon in recent months. But to quote from Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’, ‘I am a part of all I have met’; through the adversity of lockdown and the necessity of having to adapt the way we have had to work, has brought about some important lessons and life skills: whether that be alternative methods of both teaching and learning via YouTube, more recently now on Teams, the need for students to work more independently and organising themselves accordingly, to parents becoming more involved in the process and families coming together through education.

Necessity being the mother of invention, we have had to become more innovative, responsible and resilient in how we approach what we are all required to do; there are and will be positives to be found.

Yes, there is much we can learn from how to deal with the present by reading the literature of the past.

Photo by blazphoto on Unsplash

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FOOD TECHNOLOGY Mary McGauley We were extremely proud of Jimmy Smith in Year 11 who received a Gold Award from the judges in the first ever Game Stars competition. This was the first year that the competition had been run by Taste of Game and the Food Teachers Centre and the judges were overwhelmed by the quality and number of entries.

Students were asked to be creative with ingredients to meet the criteria of the brief ‘Game with a Modern Twist’.

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Jimmy was one of 8 winners shortlisted and his dish was cooked for the judging panel to taste at Northcote in Blackburn.

Three students received a Judges commendation and we were delighted that Jimmy was awarded the Gold award with commendation which was presented

by Lisa Goodwin Allen.

Winning the Gold Award prize was amazing!

Jimmy was invited for a masterclass tutorial with Lisa Goodwin-Allen and Bruno Birkbeck at the Northcote Cookery School.

Having been awarded the ‘Judges Commendation’ Jimmy was also offered the opportunity to cook with Lisa in her Michelin star kitchen and stay overnight and prepare lunch for his parents and teacher.

In addition, Jimmy’s recipe was so good that it featured in the Top 20 winners’ recipe booklet that was created of the top entries (Silver and Gold Awards).

A massive achievement, well done, Jimmy!

The academic year began with excitement as four new GCSE food groups in Year 9 started their course.

Their initial task was to research seasonality and buying local ingredients.

Their first challenge was to source local ingredients and produce a main course of their choice followed by a dessert.

This showcased all their skills learnt in year 8. The results were amazing and foreshadowed exciting times for some outstanding future practicals.

Year 10 were challenged with the second year of their GCSE course and started the term with food styling and presentation.

The Tunnock tea cake challenge enabled the students to practise chocolate tempering, sugar crafting and making edible chocolate soil.

Year 11 were introduced to their 10 hour NEA 1 task which was based on a food science brief. This involved lots of experiments taking place in the food department.

In November, Year 11 started their NEA2 task which resulted in a three hour practical examination in January which was worth 50% of their final grade. Their performance was outstanding and they certainly impressed everyone with their skills and endeavour.

Year 7 and 8 groups started their rotation timetables and began practical tasks with enthusiasm and lots of success.

With Christmas festivities approaching the students were busy making Gingerbread men and mince pies. Year 9 designed and created yule logs whilst Year 10 made Christmas Star bread.

Year 9 were invited to the Hospitality Kitchen Where Mr Arnott the resident Chef lecturer gave them a tour and explanation of a professional kitchen and also entertained them with a fish filleting demonstration.

Then lock down came upon us, a sad time in the food department with Aprons hung up with no idea when they would be used again.

However, we evolved and tackled online learning issuing recipes and methods which students were able to make at home.

It was amazing how under the circumstances of limited ingredients and panic buying the students amazed us with their commitment. Daily we received wonderful photos and evaluations, again making us teachers immensely proud. This prompted us to set up and Instagram account to be able to share such remarkable achievements under such strange times.

We look forward to the start of next year and working alongside the students rather than over computer screens.

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GEOGRAPHY

Natalie Croucher During October half term 30 students from years 11-13 visited Iceland for 5 days on a Geography fieldtrip. We travelled around the South East of Iceland visiting numerous geographical sights including waterfalls of Skogarfoss and Gullfoss and the Solheimjokull glacier as well as a visit to the erupting Geysir of Strokkur.

One of the highlights of the trip was a morning monster truck drive along the Thorsmork valley exploring the area affected the most by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption of 2010. Students also had the opportunity to swim in a natural geothermally heated swimming pool and also explore lava tunnels created by past volcanic eruptions.

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Everyone had a great time and we were even treated to a showing of the Northern lights on the last night in Reykjavik. We are looking forward to returning to Iceland this October with 20 year 11-13 students who are very excited to be visiting Husafell where we will be going inside the Glacier, Deildatunguhver.

The year 12 geographers visited Stratford in London to investigate how successful the regeneration and rebranding of this area has been. The students completed a range of qualitative research techniques including a place check to assess the qualities of the place and quantitative research techniques including undertaking a shopping quality and appearance survey.

They brought this primary research home to analyse alongside secondary research they had collected.

During the summer term year 8 have been investigating topic issues across the globe in their Environmental change and sustainability topic. Starting with the use of resources in particular water and food and how some countries experience food and water insecurity. They questioned what this can mean for the future of our ever growing population and how we can make a more sustainable future.

HAIR & BEAUTY Debbie Webb Our students have shown exceptional levels of commitment this year and it has been a pleasure to teach them.

The 6th form students continue to be supported by local industry in the way of work placement, for which we are extremely grateful. This enables them to appreciate and learn workplace skills which is fundamental in their development towards employability.

They attended a trade show in the autumn which broadened their horizon in regards to products and looks currently trending.

The salon, whilst having to close during the Covid-19 outbreak, is now open and provides a wide range of hairdressing services.

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HISTORY Miss Hawkey Today we are living history and with each passing day we are being shown that everyone and anyone can influence the writing of history. We are in a period of complete change, and despite the circumstances this year, the history department at Knole Academy has also been driven to change, and strives with each year to develop itself further.

The department has managed to get one trip out this academic year. In December we were able to take students to Hampton Court Palace. With its close proximity to Knole Academy it is a perfect palace for the GCSE students to understand the relationship between Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. Part of the students’ GCSE study affords them the opportunity to look at the impact Wolsey had on the rule of Henry VIII, and our trip to Hampton Court brings that study to life. We also looked at, whilst on our visit, the early life of Henry VIII allowing students, and staff alike to understand who Henry was as a man and monarch. The attending students were able to explore the palace complex at Christmas time and thoroughly enjoyed putting their knowledge into practise in discussion about the life of Henry VIII. Something new for the department this academic year, following from our new scheme of work on revolutionary Britain in year 8, was a visiting historian. We were lucky enough for Jennifer Godfrey, author of ‘Suffragettes of Kent’, to come in and discuss with our year 8 historians about the goings on of the Suffragettes in our locality. Often when you think of the Suffragettes, the image of Mrs Winifred Banks, from Mary Poppins, springs to mind; Ms Godfrey, during her talk, was skilfully able to move everyone away from any preconceptions that they might have on the subject of the Suffragette movement, and enlightened us to the efforts that the Suffragettes went to on a local and national level to help get women the vote, something that we are fortunate enough to have today due to their actions.

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It was one of the biggest moments of scholarship that the year 8s have faced, and is something that the history department at Knole Academy are keen to continue.

Yes, we study the past, but our understanding of it is still developing and new theories and interpretations of the past are still coming to light; this is something that we want our historians at Knole Academy to foster. Hopefully we will able to invite Ms Godfrey back for further lectures and discussions with our students.

Students have been able to create their own interpretations of the past. Most recently, students have created their own commemorative plates of the Industrial period in Britain.

This was work completed at home and was a homage to Queen Victoria’s jubilee plate; this particular plate celebrated the Empire in the year of her jubilee in 1887 and something that we had looked at during our study of Empire. Students were tasked to summarise a part of their study of Industrial Britain.

Some students looked at the whole period and others took case studies of particular parts of the unit.

We have a fantastic display of plates and my classroom is starting to look like Dolores Umbridge’s office, except my plates don’t move. Hopefully we will continue to add to the display over the years as it is a great way for students to summarise what they have learnt in one place.

Moving forward for the history department, we are hopeful that we will be able to visit the Imperial War Museum next academic year, and to Canterbury Cathedral.

We also want to introduce our students to more scholarly works, so that they are exposed to current theories in history.

We are also pleased to introduce two new members of staff to the department and are really excited to see what ideas they have to help the department go from strength to strength.

ICT Caroline Shea & Lance Challenor This year in the ICT department we have introduced a new course to our 6th Form provision, ‘Information in a Global Society’.

It has been interesting taking time to consider the legal and ethical issues facing technology. We have looked at a case study linked to driverless cars and debated whose fault it would be if there were a crash.

We also completed a unit linked with models and simulations; we looked at a traffic and a disease model and spent time adding a variety of different variables to see how the model would change in different circumstances.

COMPUTER SCIENCE With the introduction of Computer Science as a separate subject for year 7 and 8 the students have been able to sharpen their coding skills using programs like scratch and python and even try a bit of web development, with the year 8 students creating webpages using html code.

The year 7’s had a go at creating a chat bot using python and found the task both fun and challenging.

In Key stage 4 the Computer Science option groups were writing text adventures in python, looking at how networks send data and worked in groups to research the components for a budget build PC. The students then submitted their budget builds, which they will be building next year. Year 11 students were able to practice their exam technique using the AQA tool ‘exampro’ which allows the students access to exam questions and model answers from home.

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MATHEMATICS Jonathan Cason Over the last year the maths department have been rolling out a maths for mastery approach to maths teaching for year 7 and 8.

This approach has allowed our students to master maths by developing their mathematical fluency without resorting to rote learning. We have seen a growth in the number of students who are able to solve non-routine maths problems without having to memorise procedures. The results so far have been very promising and we plan to continue this approach into year 9.

The department paid their respects during the 101 year anniversary of the 1918 armistice with another spectacular display of poppies made by students whilst learning circle areas and circumferences. This display spilled over in the whole school with pop up versions appearing in other department and corridors. Many thanks to Mrs Barham for organising this annual event.

UK Intermediate Maths Challenge: Year 10 students took part in the UK Intermediate Maths Challenge on the 6th February 2020. We are very pleased with the results as most students undertook a great deal of extra work to prepare for the challenge.

Gold Rhys Silver Hannah Robert Bronze Jorja Alex Lily Melis Bronte

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Sevenoaks Maths Booster The purpose of these weekly classes is to help our highest performing mathematicians achieve a level 9 GCSE results. Talented students in year 10 and year 8 students who have a positive attitude to maths had the benefit of tuition and guidance from Dr Strabic and Miss Jouas-Yasano from Sevenoaks School. In these sessions students enhanced their problem solving skills as they worked through challenging tasks that required lateral thinking, logic, perseverance and application of principles. They were taught a variety of strategies and also shown how to move from particular to general solutions using algebra.

Regional Finals of The Mathematics Trust Team Challenge On the 25th February 2020 four year 8 students, Zoe, Matthew, Harry Tate and Xavier took part in the Team Maths Challenge Regional Final at Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls. It was thoroughly enjoyable and our students held their own against teams of year 8 and year 9 students from Grammar schools from across Kent.

House Competitions The maths department has run several house competitions this year with teams of four students from each house competing against each other in problem solving tasks, maths games, and demonstrations of clear understanding of the subject, all in front of a cheering partisan crowd. Much noise and lots of fun!

MEDIA Kieran Kyle Year 9 have been exploring TV Crime Drama and learning about famous examples such as ‘The Sweeney’ and ‘Luther’.

This drew on all the theory and practical skills they have been learning throughout the year. The students have also learned a lot about historical instances of sexism in society as reflected in the media.

Year 10 have been doing their coursework, with very pleasing results. There was a choice between lifestyle magazines or making a DVD film sleeve and poster for a thriller.

Year 12 were the first year group to undertake the new IB in Film Studies, and the course has gone remarkably well so far.

They have submitted very pleasing assessments and we are all looking forward to the filming practical work currently underway.

This will prepare them for the final unit next academic year: A completed short film.

Year 13 were, like Year 11, poised for victory and have succeeded in being the best Year 13 group for results this year.

MFL Stephanie Beaumont At the beginning of the academic year, the MFL Department celebrated the European day of Languages on the 26 September with all of our classes. Our students completed various activities focusing on the many benefits of learning different languages and it was a very successful day for both students and staff.

Ms Sanford, our Spanish teacher, ran a Spanish Dance club which took place once a week and which was attended by many: not only did the participants dance and listen to Spanish music, but they also shared Spanish tapas and delicacies brought in by Ms Sanford.

The Department continued with its pen pal exchange with our French counterpart in Saint-Germain en Laye, near Paris: this year some of our year 7 and year 8 students had the chance to exchange letters with French students from College Saint Erembert and enjoyed writing about their school, family and how they spend Christmas.

The exchange is always very popular and we aim to increase the number of classes involved in this enjoyable way of developing our language skills.

Just before the start of lockdown, we celebrated “La journée de la Francophonie” when students discovered a range of Frenchspeaking countries and their culture through varied activities including research and presentations.

More recently, we remembered D-Day and the work that Knole Academy students produced on D-Day was remarkable: we have had wonderful presentations and fact files on the different stages of D-Day, the casualties, the Mulberry Harbours and the legacy of D-Day. ‘Un grand merci’ to all students who worked on their D-Day project, it was our way of remembering the soldiers’ ultimate sacrifice.

Finally, the Great Languages Challenge proved to also be a very successful project and the feedback we have had from our students has clearly been very positive.

We have received videos of students making “Tarte Tatin“, “Croquemonsieur”, “crêpes au chocolat” as well as students watching Peppa Pig in French and Spanish and learning the basics in Mandarin, Italian and German.

Remember, you can follow us on Instagram, @MFLKnoleAcademy to check out ‘le mot du jour’, vocabulary and phrases or any tips to improve your language skills.

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POLITICS & CITIZENSHIP Jonna Stevens Before we even started the new academic year the Politics Department was off to a flying start celebrating the results of the first Politics cohort. As a teacher it is very special to see students flourish in a new academic discipline and this group certainly delivered.

The result of their dedication, natural curiosity, ability and hard work was amply rewarded with excellent grades which enabled every single student to go onto the university of choice. A huge achievement for all of them and we wish them the very best of luck.

With the farewell of one group we said hello to another and in September we had a new group of Politics students to welcome to the department. They had a busy start to the course looking at issues in UK Politics such as the history of the main political parties, the cases for reform of the electoral system and issues surrounding the use of referendums (very pertinent). Plenty to get our teeth into with the back drop of Brexit and a general election campaign for an unusual December election.

Photo by32 Hugo Sousa on Unsplash

Whilst Parliament was in recess for the election campaign we were provided with an opportunity to visit. We had a guided tour and learnt many interesting facts not only about the procedure of Parliament but also the wonderful building itself.

The small but perfect in every way group of Year 13 students completed their course and enjoyed grappling with political ideologies, especially feminism and the continuing political struggle for women to enjoy equal rights in all aspects of life.

Students then moved onto studying the structure and contradictions of US politics and comparisons with the UK which are, whatever your political views, arguably getting narrower.

We had just finished the course and were set to embark on exam preparation when events overtook us and schools were forced to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Y13 students had worked so hard and it is with deep regret that they were not able to sit their exams as I know they would have excelled, however the knowledge that they have gained and the inquiring mind that you acquire from studying politics will benefit them far beyond sitting an exam.

This year has also seen the launch of a KS4 Citizenship GCSE option where students look at how the citizen is enabled by society to play a full and active part in their community and how citizens are empowered to affect change within society.

Students have been challenged to think beyond what is obvious and to consider competing arguments about a range of issues.

In addition to this we have introduced Citizenship lessons in KS3 where students have had an opportunity to think about rights and responsibilities, how communities can get along better and how to manage your money, and be a clever consumer.

PSYCHOLOGY Di Long Although we continued to promote the importance of scientific rigour within psychological investigations, this year saw students focus more heavily on the evaluation and application of said studies and experiments.

Year 12 and 11 students, upheld our traditional trip to London Zoo and contemplated the strengths and limitations of animal studies to explain human behaviour. In addition to grappling with the intricacies of observational content analysis, when the subjects of your study either refuse to move due to the cold weather (Asiatic Lions) or will not stop moving because it is feeding time (Squirrel Monkeys).

Students had a fantastic, in depth discussion with the Zoological Society staff, about what their data suggested, the ethics of using participants that cannot give consent, as well as the usefulness of such studies for understanding human behaviour and their contribution to conservation, farming policies and developments that have aided the human race.

For example, bats sonar navigation has inspired government surveillance devices and the Ultracane, which warns blind users of objects in their path. Of course one of the most famous applications of the Zoo’s studies is the world renowned Friendly Spider Programme and students had the opportunity to experience the combination therapy (re-conditioning + hypnosis) and attempt to get over their own phobias if they had them.

This part of the trip was ideal for students to revise and apply their ethics content and evaluate the technique used; comparing them with equally successful therapies such as CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) and Systematic Desensitisation.

The Year 10 students also had the opportunity to discover the usefulness of psychological research when they attended the Science & Psychology Conference at Friends House, London.

Andrew Newton of The Royal Society of Medicine and the world’s leading authority on hypnosis, duly demonstrated the power of the unconscious mind by bringing together total strangers and helping them get up close and semi-personal (cuddling one another) while under his control. His recent appointment to advise the Home Office on stage hypnosis helped students recognise the contribution psychology makes to real life. Ex-Dancer, Dr Peter Lovatt, Principle Psychology Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, got everyone up and moving to the old classic by S -Club 7: ‘Don’t Stop Moving’ to demonstrate how hormones and genes link to our dance moves.

When back in the classroom, students got to discuss, evaluate and analyse Dr Lovatt’s nightclub experiment in relation to the methods and technology used, possible variables that could invalidate the findings and whether they felt his conclusions about a woman’s menstrual cycle (monthly hormone levels) could initiate particular hip movements in women and corresponding gyration and effort levels in men.

This also allowed us to delve into the nature versus nurture debate, with the students surprisingly taking a rather evolutionary approach to the dance experiment findings.

Magic Circle member, psychology student of Oxford University and author of Amazing Brains: The Psychology of Magic, Oliver Meech, showed our Year 10s how magicians can offer eye-opening insights into the way we think and act, through some tradition conjuring tricks.

Clever misdirection, sleight of hand and quick deception were all linked to various sales, advertising and public speaking situation as well as criminal activities.

Professors: Phil Baynard, Mike Cardwell and Cara Flangan helped to illuminate the difference between scientific research and pseudoscience, drawing particular attention to what makes good science, in terms of reliability and validity.

This element was really useful as our students often struggle to explain the difference between reliability and the various types of validity in the exam.

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SCIENCE Sean Deighton The Science Department was a hive of activity this year. After the high of last year’s year 11 and 13 results we have continued to build up the passion in science across the key stages thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of staff. Next year we are on track to have the largest number of students choosing to continue their study in the sciences, allowing us to also offer IB physics alongside biology and chemistry. We are both proud and excited to help these students begin a career in science.

For the first time we dedicated the initial term of year 7 to teaching them about science skills and the scientific process.

This has helped students throughout the year in questioning the world around them and working out how to test their own ideas and hypotheses. Students investigated which type of ball bounces highest, the best conditions for sharks sensing blood in the ocean, and how long candles burn in different sized containers. We will be continuing this with next year’s year 7 cohort.

Mrs Walker has continued her passion in botany with the expansion of her gardening club. The gardening club has been operating since the beginning of September, firstly by planting up and maintaining the large pots outside The Place and planting daffodil, tulip and lily bulbs in the quiet picnic area between The Place and Science block.

Over the winter months, it was too cold and wet to do much outside, so with the help of the DT department we produced bat and bird boxes. Next year we are planning on scaling-up, we will be building and planting-up 3 raised vegetable beds and aim to establish large planters in the quiet picnic area and make this into a sensory garden, with aromatic plants with different colours and textures.

The science and nature club continued this year for KS3 students. There we do lots of fun and exciting things to promote learning and love towards Science.

We encourage our students in the self-learning process and science clubs play an important role to incorporate better understanding of the nature of science.

Two of the most exciting things that we did this year was making a ‘bang’ with hydrogen and oxygen gases using balloons; under the supervision of science teachers, students had the opportunity to do this experiment and experience the different intensities of sound emitted when water was made.

Another experiment involved the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using potassium iodide as a catalyst to make elephant ‘toothpaste’. Whilst working on these fun and engaging activities students are also encouraged in the critical thinking processes to develop their scientific and rational outlook.

The Science Department organised a trip to Science Live at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London for 30 students in years 9-11 on 6th December 2019. They went to see five of Britain’s top scientists, all working at the cutting edge of their specialisms, as well as receiving top tips from an examiner to help improve their results in science and went through some useful examples.

The scientists they saw were: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock who enthusiastically spoke about earth’s satellite – The Moon – and why it appears as different colours in the sky.

Professor Lord Robert Winston spoke on the progress in fertility treatments and about the number of eggs a girl is born with, their decline as they age and what happens when the eggs are fertilised; this gave more insight into the genetics and reproduction topic in biology. Professor Andrea Sella performed chemistry experiments including one that unexpectedly made most people jump; Professor Steve Jones: Jones’ presentation on obesity in the nation and type II diabetes linked well to one of the topics taught in lessons and Professor Jim Al-Khalili talked about whether time travel was really possible, black holes and how gravity can bend space.

It was an ideal trip for anyone considering sciences in the Sixth Form, a career in science or how to achieve top grades at GCSE. Feedback from the students showed that they enjoyed the trip and would go again.

Selected year 10 students were treated to a day out at the pictures to see ‘Radioactive’ a film about Marie Curie’s contributions to science. Students were identified for their hard work and interest in science. Unfortunately, on arrival, we learnt there were problems with the planned showing of ‘Radioactive’ but we were able to watch the new film ‘Misbehaviour’ which followed the events of the Miss World protests in the 70’s.

Even though we did not learn about the great work and scientific discoveries of Marie Curie, we did learn about the women’s rights activism of the past, which we can all agree is also incredibly important.

Knole Academy Tree project, teamed up with the Woodland Trust to take part in National tree planting week.

This event aimed at bringing individuals, communities and schools together, to plant 1 million trees throughout the UK, to reduce global warming. Students from all year groups, took part in the planting of 10 trees around the school field and produced plaques to commemorate each tree, after winning a house competition. The Knole Tree project aims to improve the school environment, encourage biodiversity and play a small part in the global action campaign to reduce the effects of climate change. Emmy and Erin were the winners for year 8 with Christopher, Danny, Ameilia and Ethan taking the top year 7 prizes.

In December the Science Department led a House competition version of “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”. The activity involved participation in various trials, involving our school python Monty and various other critters. As well as a final “Bush tucker” eating challenge.

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The winners received house points and prizes and the respect of the whole school.

After several gruesome challenges faced by students Danielle in year 11 took the top prize, with Taylor in year 8, Zac in year 11 and Sophia in year 10 as runners up.

The ‘Science Showdown’ continued with the success of last year with tutor groups and houses competing for the coveted science trophy. With our very own impartial Mrs Corbett overseeing the event, students in year 10 competed by pitting their knowledge gained in afternoon science sessions against each other.

Although all the competitions could not take place we left with an intense showdown between two houses with 10R2 taking the prize, much to the disappointment of Mr Deighton’s reining Attenborough house.

We are excited to make these termly in the future for year 10 students who have tutor time in the science department.

During the remote learning the science teachers were working hard preparing and making daily lessons for all year groups to help continue their studies at home. We were inundated with fantastic work made by students at home, showing the dedication and enthusiasm to the subject. Year 7 took part in several projects as big as space to as small as cells. They were able to showcase their creativity in science with many fantastic pieces sent in to the teachers.

The year 8 science team decided to take science away from the computer, and set up some experiments to be completed at home by all. Ms Nixon, Miss Moore, and Mrs Haughney sent each year 8 student a science pack, containing instructions for experiments, app suggestions, and even some equipment to use. So far, just to name a few, year 8 have been on a bug hunt, tested their own lung capacities, set up a decay experiment, created their own salt crystals, investigated the centre of mass by making a balancing bird, creating a working pinhole

camera, and using balloons to demonstrate laminar flow. Year 8 have demonstrated amazing efforts in their home working.

They enjoyed studying the different sociological motivations for crime including subcultures, strain theory and status frustration.

CRIMINOLOGY

Science joined forces with the Design and Technology department to create a large amount of Personal Protective Equipment for the local community. The staff all banded together and managed to create around 1000 face shields.

Receivers of the PPE included Darent Valley Hospital, Sevenoaks Hospital as well as a number of nursing homes. Working with the D&T department was a valuable experience for the science teachers. The department also donated vast amounts of safety glasses, gloves and aprons to various local organisations.

We continue to be impressed by the hard work and dedication of students throughout the years and we would like to say thank you and well done to students for your continued efforts.

SOCIOLOGY Natalie Croucher Year 9 sociologists have been investigating family life completing their own research projects to investigate family diversity across Knole Academy. The students designed their own research projects considering the practical, ethical and theoretical factors when making each decision. The students then completed a pilot study before fine tuning their design and commencing with the research. This enabled the students to put into practice their research methods unit combining this with theoretical knowledge.

Year 10 have been studying the education unit examining what factors influence a student’s educational success. They have studied different social groups in order to compare whether educational success is due to internal factors, external factors or a combination of the two.

Year 11 sociologists spent the year consolidating their understanding in sociology, they particularly enjoyed revising the crime and deviance unit.

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Year 12 have had a fantastic year with many students studying sociology for the first time.

They have overcome many challenges in order to develop their analytical and critical thinking skills. They have also grasped some conceptually difficult ideas and can apply them to aspects of modern UK society.

Year 13 students have been very engrossed in the crime and deviance unit that discusses topical issues such as how far gender ethnicity and class influence criminal behaviour.

Many of our students are going on to university to study law, criminology, criminology and sociology as a direct result of studying sociology

Year 12 and year 13 have undertaken study of the criminal justice system from the crimes that some may commit through the process of investigating crimes and the finality of convicting criminals. This course has inspired many students to commence further studies of criminology at university.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY This year has seen the inception of this course in the pilot year for the IBCP, students have very much enjoyed exploring this new subject particularly because it allows them to follow their social interests. They have broadly studied two topics the first being conflict in which they have considered different wars, prejudices and oppression in different cultures. Secondly they have studied the body which looks at different perceptions of over physical bodies across different cultures.

CREATIVE KNOLE

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ART Tanya Sarton The year started off with a bang, with our post 16 Art and Graphics students getting the chance to take part in a workshop with artist Carne Griffith. He visited us in September, bringing along examples of his stunning portraiture. Our students were then taught some of Carne’s drawing and painting techniques using ink and tea, and given a chance to experiment and create their own images with his help. This was a brilliant experience and not only gave the students a chance to learn a new technique, but also gave them an insight into the life of a working artist.

Also, in the Autumn term, our Post 16 Textiles students visited the V&A to gather primary research for their new coursework projects.

They were able to see a range of art and design in situ and each of them found several key pieces that they have gone on to develop responses to, giving them the opportunity to develop a wider body of sources for their personal projects.

As one student commented “The V&A trip was an amazing trip where we could experience an unlimited variety of art developed in different cultures all around the world. It helped me understand how art can come in so many more forms than I recognised such as pottery and glass sculptures. As well as how taking influence from your own culture can be just as impactful and insightful than any other source.”

In October our year 11 students kicked off their new project with a visit to Kew Gardens.

We had torrential rain for the first half of the day, and brilliant sunshine for the second half, but despite the erratic weather, we had a great time and the students took an amazing number of photographs to use as starting points for their projects. This is the first year we have introduced Photography GCSE and Post 16 students.

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Our students have explored a range of projects from street and landscape photography, to photojournalism and portraiture. Year 9 have enjoyed learning how to use a Canon DSLR along with lighting and compositional techniques, and will use this knowledge throughout their next topic ‘Nightmares’. Year 12 students have been able to work closely with local photographer and tutor Paul Burgess who ran a workshop using professional studio lighting to create stunning portraits, as well as a number of tutorials on their coursework projects.

Paul also runs fantastic photography courses here at Knole Academy on weekends for adults, see www.paulburgess.photography.

All students have used our dark room facilities to create photograms and we’ve even had students venturing into developing black and white film; in a time when everything is so digital it has been so refreshing to slow down the process of capturing an image from start to finish.

To keep up to date with students’ photography work, follow on Instagram @knole_photography.

We have continued to run a selection of clubs for Key Stage 3 students, giving them access to materials, and the space to allow them to be creative outside of lessons.

As always Year 7 Clay Club has been popular, with students creating pots, tiles and sculptures using different clays and glazes, all fired in our kiln ready to take home.

It’s a lovely end to the school week where students have fun, socialise and get creative!

Our students were lucky to be able to participate in Chartwell’s community project again this year, and year 9 Art students proudly exhibited their work at Chartwell in the Spring term. They explored the joy of painting through visits and workshops with artists Mary Hooper and Jane Bruce.

This is the first time they had painted with oil paints, which take weeks to dry, especially when applied thickly. Work was loosely inspired by the grounds of Chartwell, with a focus on painting for mindfulness and pure enjoyment as Churchill himself did.

As we approached the end of this highly unusual academic year, our students have continued to excel themselves with the work they have been producing at home.

Miss Meadway set up a YouTube channel and has been making videos to demonstrate some of the practical task, which have proved very useful. From intricately detailed trainer designs from KS3 graphics, to beautiful oil paintings from year 11 art, we have been inundated with fantastic drawings and painting from our young artists and designers, and are incredibly proud of them.

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DANCE Holly Page

This year I am very happy to say that we have actually managed to squeeze in a lot of dance. There have been some new exciting events which have provided a real buzz in the dance department. As usual, the dance clubs this year have been packed full of students continuing their chosen extra-curricular and also lots of new eager faces. The clubs have steadily grown over the year showing a real enjoyment of dance.

Well done to everyone attending either the lunch clubs, the Cascade companies or the popular Street Dance. I would also like to mention how brilliant the Dance Captains have been this year.

In November a professional dancer from ‘James Wilton Dance Company’ came to Knole and delivered a day of Contemporary Dance workshops. The morning workshop focused on exclusively boy’s dance for Key Stage 3 up to GCSE exploring the contemporary dance style and contact work. The afternoon workshop focused on contemporary technique and improvisation for the GCSE classes. It was a real treat seeing all of the students embrace new challenges and brilliant to see a boys dance group forming.

The Annual Dance Production in January was called ‘What is Home’ and through 40

a variety of dances we explored what home means to each of us. Around 100 students were preparing for this from term 1 and worked extremely hard within their classes and extra-curricular to put on a show of professional standard. Choreographies ranged from students’ own pieces, lunch clubs, GCSE classes and from the professional Cascade Dance companies. I am very proud of all of the students involved and always look forward to the next productions.

This year, for the first time, I took around 30 students to a schools only Dance Championships in Kent. For the dance department this event was a real highlight of 2020.

The students were amazing and for our first competition it was a real moment of recognition when multiple 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies were won. I think the students will agree that as a dancer it is these performance opportunities and events that stick with us and hold a special place in our memories.

It helps us to remember the hard work put into honing our dance skills but it also helps to build confidence for life and of course the dance shows to follow.

There is no doubt that dance makes an enormous contribution to our physical, social and creative health and well-being.

At Knole Academy, we wholeheartedly value the Arts, seeing its importance in culture and in the workplace. For me, it is wonderful to see the exploration and progress our students make from their first lessons in year 7 right to their chosen Dance GCSE in year 11. They develop a range of transferable skills and an appreciation of Dance.

I look forward to welcoming new students next year as they start their journey at Knole Academy and embrace the chances to be open-minded and creative.

DRAMA Tor Hollidge

Within the Drama department, Knole has seen a wealth of hard work and success from year 7 up to year 11.

We engaged with the GCSE live theatre component with an early theatre trip to the Churchill theatre, Bromley to see a live production of “An Inspector Calls”.

The play not only offers suitable examples of live theatre performance but is also a visual support to English literature.

Our GCSE students enjoyed the production and the opportunity of an early trip out.

We have had a successful start to the year in terms of drama events at Knole Academy with our Year 9 GCSE students being the first to step foot in front of an audience. These opportunities are of great importance for drama students and we strive to give them a platform to practice and refine stagecraft.

Our year 9 GCSE students presented their interpretation of “D.N.A” by Dennis Kelly and delivered some outstanding emotional performances. To reach an audience on an emotional level requires emotional intelligence. To commit and sustain that emotion in performance is inspiring. This year 9 company surpassed themselves, as the positive buzz and supportive comments from parents and students accounted for, and are surely destined for bigger and better things.

The spring term saw the performances of scripted work by our year 11 drama students for their GCSE exam. Some fantastic work was shown and there were many proud and relieved faces. The year 10 students chose their dramatic stimuli to begin creating devised performances, working closely to explore a number of interesting and inspiring starting points including kidnapping, mental health, class divide and the modern world.

It was towards the end of this term that our LAMDA students took their exams. All achieved high merits and distinctions for their efforts. For the majority of our candidates, this marked their first LAMDA exam and so they should feel suitably proud.

Rehearsals for our school production, “Macbeth”, were well underway and, once again, looked to be a very promising production. Leaning on mental health and the two personalities of our lead character plus the deranged manipulation of a strong female, we had reached Act 5 when the West end went dark.

The focus now is on bringing live theatre back into theatres; Broadway and the West end and, ultimately, the Oaks Theatre. In the meantime, harnessing the skills of digital live theatre recording, our show will go on.

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MUSIC Abbey Sanders Year 7 have their own dedicated concert every year, forming a choir in their music lessons, and singing Count On Me by Bruno Mars this year, as well as a three-tune medley. A number of individuals showed great confidence and performed solos, including songs, piano pieces and a violin performance. Parents and family filled the Recital Room in the music department for this wonderful event.

The Christmas Concert was a fabulous concert featuring students from all age groups, with GCSE music students playing a major role in performing and stage-management. As well as great performances from the school orchestra and choirs, the Woodwind Group (saxophones) performed.

Multiple student bands and soloists performed to a high standard to a packed Oaks Theatre. There were many highlights, including Fairytale Of New York featuring students and staff, and a Christmas Medley performed on the French Horn by Oliver Whitehead, a piece of music arranged by his dad!

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Each year Key Stage 3 students have the chance to perform solos in the Carol Concert at St Luke’s Church in Riverhead.

The Chamber Choir, including some older students, performed beautifully without any accompaniment, followed by numerous soloists, including Calum Tully singing a solo, without a microphone, in front of the whole church. Phoebe O’Donovan stepped in at the last minute to play a super piano piece.

The event was attended by Year 7 students, with a good number of family members showing up to give their support, and enjoy the music and warm welcome given by St Lukes. Members of the school Chamber Choir also came along to perform at the Community Carol Service at St. Luke’s Church, Eardley Road, Sevenoaks at the start of December. It was a lovely event, where, in addition to performing, we also got to enjoy festive performances from other local music groups and ensembles.

This is the third year in a row that we have taken the school Chamber Choir to the Alpine Care Home in Sevenoaks to perform a selection of Christmas carols and festive songs to the residents.

We were warmly welcomed back by residents and staff, and we performed a short festive concert that was very well received by the audience. The Chamber Choir performed a capella harmony arrangements of well-known Christmas songs and carols, and several of our students also performed solo items and duets.

The year 11 Recital was a wonderful evening, allowing an extremely talented year 11 cohort to perform their solo and ensemble GCSE performance pieces to an audience of friends and family in the Recital Room.

The students had spent many hours of rehearsal preparing solo performances, as well as band items, for their GCSE Music coursework. It was wonderful to see how far these students have progressed musically during their time at the school.

The programme incorporated an eclectic mix of musical styles, from vocal solos to jazz ensembles and drum solos to saxophone duets, allowing the students to demonstrate their musical strengths.

KNOLE SPORT

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CROSS COUNTRY - COMPETITIONS Jedd Lloyd Cross Country at Knole Academy developed again this year. With more schools participating there were multiple opportunities for the students to run, have fun and succeed this year. Knole Run, the annual South England Schools event, was held again by Sevenoaks School in Knole Park.

We took an elite group of year 7 and 8 cross country runners who raced against a field of more than 200 runners and included age group national champions. The weather was typical Cross Country; cold, wet and windy.

All runners represented the Academy with distinction. The boys team finished 7th in a field of more than 50 schools.

Our boys also finished 2nd in the FH Taylor cross country relay hosted by Judd School.

Each runner had 1500m to run before passing the baton to the next. Our team represented the school with distinction and certainly turned the heads of the other grammar schools with their impressive performance.

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Interspersed between these events were more low key, but equally competitive races at Bennett School. Knole Academy’s team, comprised of boys and girls from year 7 to 9, were in 2nd place with the last race of season unfortunately cancelled due to school closures.

All the signs are there for a top season next year with more participation and hopefully some more impressive results along the way.

CROSS COUNTRY - INTERHOUSE Jedd LLoyd Rudolph had a much stronger team in year 8 and finished well in 2nd place. However, Attenborough fought back and had some top performances in year 8 and dominated the year 8 score board.

There were some outstanding performances across both year groups and the support and encouragement for one another to cross the line was commendable. Initially, year 7 Lee house dominated the score board and for Rudolph it was looking a little bleak. The year 8 students really needed to fight for their place to make their points count for their house if they were to change the leader board.

October saw the return of the annual inter-house cross country competition for year 7 and year 8. In addition to the inter-house competition, results were also used to select the Knole Run U13 cross country squad, in which only 10 boys and 10 girls could compete across both year groups in one of the biggest cross country events in the South East.

Points

Position

Yr7 Girls

House Time

Yr7 Boys

House Time

10

1

Kayla D

K

7.33

Harrison L B

9

2

Chloe C

L

7.47

Teddy H

8

3

Matilda N

K

8.54

7

4

Nea W

L

6

5

Katie F

5

6

4

After a very close finish, Attenborough narrowly took the title and finished 1st overall.

Yr8 Girls House

Time

Yr8 Boys House Time

11.46

Daisy S

A

8.08

Lewis J

L

11.50

A

11.52

Honey A A

8.40

Louis N

A

12.05

Milo S

K

12.52

Caitlin M

R

8.55

Ethan T

R

13.30

8.58

Archie K

A

13.08

Amy W

R

9.15

Kit G

R

13.47

L

8.59

Jack I

L

13.33

Bella A-R

L

9.25

Theo S

K

13.51

Bella M

L

9.00

Jude L

K

13.53

Maddy H

A

9.27

Harrison L E

13.53

7

Millie K

A

9.26

Reggie D

A

14.01

Emmy L

A

9.38

Ollie N

R

14.40

3

8

Aoife R

K

9.27

Oliver B

R

14.02

Alex S

A

9.45

Santiago L D

15.03

2

9

Ayla B

L

9.30

Alfie N

A

14.04

Isabelle S

K

9.46

Taylor N

K

15.13

1

10

Megan C

L

9.46

Jack W

R

14.31

Jessica H

K

9.47

Jason R

R

15.22

Yr7 Results

Yr8 Results

Overall Winners

1st - Lee - 46

1st - Attenborough - 46

1st - Attenborough - 72

2nd - Khan - 34

2nd - Rudolph - 35

2nd - Lee - 70

3rd - Atttenborough - 26

3rd - Lee - 24

3rd - Khan - 45

4th - Rudolph - 4

4th - Khan - 11

4th - Rudolph - 39

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FOOTBALL Rachel Laker YEAR 7 AND 8 GIRLS FOOTBALL The year 7 and 8 girls league was hugely popular in West Kent this year with some schools entering A and B teams. There were a record number of teams entering which is great for girls’ football. The girls throughout enjoyed themselves and progressed well as a new team, even if it did rain every Wednesday.

Currently, the girls sit in 3rd position out of a possible 9. I am looking forward to seeing the team develop over the next few years. Great effort girls, let’s keep the training up for next year’s competitions.

YEAR 9 WEST KENT LEAGUE FOOTBALL The year nine team made it to this year’s West Kent Football final. It was fantastic to watch the determination and skill level on display each week. The squad was growing and progressing with each performance. They finished the league only being defeated once.

Photo by Travis Jones on Unsplash

GOLF Tim White Sadly our golf season was a non-starter this year but it was great to squeeze in a couple of sessions with our friends at Knole Park Golf Club where a selection of students had the opportunity to use their amazing practice facilities to hone their skills. Many thanks to Andrew Butterfield and Knole Park Golf Club for allowing us to play and to Andy for his continued support and patience teaching our students.

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The final was scheduled to be played in May this year. It was set up to be a great game, as the league match between the two teams finished in a very tense 1-1 draw.

YEAR 9 AND 10 GIRLS FOOTBALL The 2019/2020 Football season for the Yr9/10 girls was once again a huge success.

I would expect nothing less from these girls.

They are simply unstoppable. The girls competed in the West Kent Football league and were up against seven other Secondary Schools. Needless to say, they finished the season unbeaten, winning every game and only conceding 1 goal. This is remarkable.

The team were due to play runners up St. Gregory’s in the final in early May at the Tonbridge Angles Football ground. We are hoping the finals may take place early next year. We want to bring the silverware home!

Well done girls, another stonking season.

HANDBALL Rachel Laker FIVE KNOLE ACADEMY HANDBALL SUPERSTARS SELECTED FOR ENGLAND/GB Five talented Knole Academy students began playing handball less than 5 years ago, after being introduced to the sport in Year 7.

After the popularity and success of the school team, a Sevenoaks handball club was set up by Nadhmi, the school handball coach. The club enabled the girls to take part in more competitions and it gave them more time to develop and refine their skills.

A year later after successfully winning the league, the girls were selected to attend trials for the South East Regional Team along with others from their school team. Six students in total were selected and the girls began competing and training at the England Handball National training centre at Stoke Mandeville. They were now beginning their journey on the England pathway.

The girls were really beginning to find a true love for the sport and wanted to train more frequently with the potential of representing their country, something the girls had their eyes on for a long time. Five of the girls went to train for Medway Falcons and one trained for Essex. After making great impressions at their cubs, and due to their dedication, commitment, resilience and expert coaching, five of the girls; Lucy, Tori, Isla, Syrine and Daiz’a proceeded to have a variety of different trials over the following year.

Last summer Daiz’a and Tori were initially selected to represent the U17 England team in the Generation Handball tournament in Denmark. Unfortunately, Tori was unable to attend after an emergency operation, which left her feeling distraught, missing out on such an incredible opportunity. Daiz’a flew to Denmark with the rest of the team and had an incredible experience, one she will never forget.

In November the five girls were selected for GB trials and had to endure a full day of gruelling drills and competitions.

In December, after an intense selection process, Lucy, Tori, Isla and Syrine were all selected for the U18 GB Handball team.

An unbelievable achievement. After a series of training camps, Lucy was selected to travel with the GB squad to compete in Madeira over the summer. Unfortunately, the competition was cancelled, but will be rescheduled in the near future. A real disappointment for Lucy who was looking forward to this incredible opportunity.

I am incredibly proud of them all. I look forward to following their success over the next few years and hope to welcome them back to Knole in the near future to tell their stories and inspire the future generation.

Good luck to them all in their sporting careers.

Thanks once again to Nadhmi for his hard work training the girls.

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INDOOR ATHLETICS Tim White On Wednesday 5th February the boys and girls in year 7 represented the Sevenoaks district at the Kent School Games Finals at Medway Park, after qualifying earlier on in the year.

There were some excellent performances especially from Kyla, Chloe and Jude coming third overall in their respective races out of 14 schools.

Overall the girls finished 10th and the boys finished 12th, well done to all who took part.

INTER-HOUSE SPORTS DAYS Tim White 2020 saw the introduction of the new termly Inter-house sports days in which combined year groups would battle to be crowned champions in a variety of sports. We began the year with competitions in football and rugby.

The scores were incredibly close throughout the day, but the pressure was on for year 7 at the end of day to give the final push towards the overall scores. Could Khan hold onto 1st place? It took a turn for the worse when Rudolph slipped from 2nd to 4th place, but a great come back from the year 7 Attenborough teams.

It was great to watch high level, competitive sport played with great resilience, determination and passion. We look forward to returning to the competitions next year.

OVERALL RESULTS 1st - Khan - 170 points 2nd - Attenborough - 160 points 3rd - Lee - 150 points 4th - Rudolph - 120 points

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KNOLE SPORTS LEADERS Tim White A HUGE thank you to all of our sports leaders this year who have given up their time to support Mrs Strange in running various primary school events.

There were two stand out events for our leaders this year. The first was a ‘Change for Life’ event where our leaders worked with external sports providers to experience alternative sports such as boxer size and fencing. This session was targeted at those who don’t particularly take to the traditional sports of football, netball and rugby.

Everybody had a great time and I hope everybody left feeling encouraged to be more active.

Later in the year our leaders teamed up with Valence School in presenting alternative sports to young people with special educational needs including fun games such as goal ball and table cricket.

Everybody had fun and I believe it was an eye opening event for the Knole Students.

NETBALL Rachel Laker What a season the girls have had this year.

The training every Monday after school has paid off and the girls should be proud of their achievements.

This year we had 2 squads in the U16 league with year 10 versus year 11. With some strong performances throughout the year against Skinners and Mascalls, the year 10s drew with Bennett whilst the year 11s lost.

The year 10 squad are still unbeaten since they debuted in year 7.

Our U14 squad has gone from strength to strength this year with the addition of new players coming into the squad this year.

The girls came 3rd in the league due to not being able to play 2 games due to clash of fixtures with football. The U14 squad went to Hugh Christie with only 6 players and came out winners 18-2.

Our U13 with the addition of new players have also gone from strength to strength after not winning one game last year,

they got 2 wins under their belts. We cannot wait to see what the girls can do next year.

Our U12 squad are a force to be reckoned with. They made an extremely strong start to the season and this is shown by the commitment to their training every Monday.

The girls were beaten in second place in the league by Bennett, and Bennett played their ‘elite’ squad against our girls which was a good game to watch.

SKI TRIP Russell Turner The famous resort of Salzburger Sportwelt, one of Europe’s premier ski destinations, played host to the 2020 Knole Academy Ski extravaganza.

The “Mr/Miss Snow” trophy, awarded for a combination of great skiing, consideration of others, being courteous of nature and affable of character, went to Year 11 student Tori who thoroughly deserved the ultimate Knole Academy skiing accolade.

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KNOLE EXTRA

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COMBINED CADET FORCE Jonathan Cason Our year was, of course cut short and the Army suspended all face to face training.

We had planned two overnight exercises on military training grounds which we have had to postpone until next year.

The Knole Academy Combined Cadet Force has built on the initial success of its first standalone year and is now 30 strong.

With students from year 10 to year 13 the contingent is an interesting mix of ages and abilities with all students working together to improve their skills and confidence.

With Cadet Sergeant Major Sam Davis (head boy) leading them the contingent has a great role model.

The Cadet training team from Longmoor continue to help the Knole staff to run sessions every Thursday with activities including archery, first aid, camouflage, section attacks, air rifle target practice, orienteering, obstacle course and problem solving.

We have been given a talk by Lieutenant Colonel Adams of the Royal Engineers, our adopted camp badge, in which he described his tours of duty and the rewarding work he had done supporting communities in other countries. He also brought lots of equipment and “goodies” for the cadets.

Twenty four students from the contingent had planned to come on the summer camp in July to take part in paintballing, kayaking, using shotguns and rifles on a range, trying to get out of an escape room and training with serving soldiers but this has of course been cancelled.

We plan to run some similar experiences ourselves in the coming year and of course look forward to next years’ summer camp with renewed excitement.

Cadets from year 11 took part in a range weekend where they fired live rounds at targets over a variety of distances and terrains before being given survival training and learning new skills for living off the grid.

The training team from Longmoor also brought in the latest radio and communication equipment and the cadets were trained in its use before being allowed to try their skills out around the school grounds.

In November the contingent lead the school’s two minutes silence on 11th November with a respectful service conducted by Sergeant Major Toomey and supported by honouree cadet Oliver Whitehead whose rendition of The Last Post was very moving.

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DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD Stuart Ereaut

This year the Duke of Edinburgh main expedition season was obviously limited, however there was a successful Silver DofE practice expedition to Dartmoor. This was Knole Academy’s first trip to the region and a deliberate increase in difficulty for the students to prepare them for possible future Gold Expeditions.

The expedition took place in October which meant the students faced cold conditions.

The area had undergone flooding in the weeks prior to the trip which meant students had to make a significant number of route changes and battle muddy conditions.

They also faced heavy fog and rain which meant reading the topography became an immense challenge. All the students dealt with the challenges with good humor and tenacity and all teams completed their designated routes.

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Even though there has been a significant time since their practice expedition the Knole Academy DofE staff believe that when their assessed expedition takes place the students will be ready.

The Duke of Edinburgh association responded to the difficulties of the Coronavirus crisis by allowing family members to sign off students volunteering, physical and skills sections. It was fantastic to see numerous students use this opportunity to sign off these three sections. Over the last academic year Knole Academy students donated over 1200hours of service to the community. This is a fantastic achievement for the students of Knole. The whole Knole Academy Duke of Edinburgh team look forward to delivering the expeditions as soon as it becomes safe to do so.

KNOLE INTERACT Kelly Noble I wanted to explain what Knole Interact is for the Year 7 parents that aren’t aware of what we do. We are a fund-raising club run by our students who organise events for selected charities. We are affiliated with the Rotary Club of Sevenoaks Amherst. Each year we vote in a President, Secretary and Treasurer from the students who attend the club regularly. We also hold an annual general meeting with members of the Rotary Club in attendance.

We had our first Committee meeting of the year on 12 November 2019 where Mr Ridout from the Rotary Club of Sevenoaks Amherst attended along with Mr Collins and Mrs Noble. We were pleased to report we had a successful year and raised over £4,000.

During the meeting we appointed new committee members as follows: Alex – President Xavier – Treasurer Devon – Secretary

The Committee members have been fantastic and extremely dedicated with their approach. They have enjoyed supporting the rest of the Interact team and guiding the new year 7 joiners. We also received great support from year 12 students Sophie and Jess.

Altogether a very solid team.

At the beginning of the term the team were very busy, during September the Knole Interact team supported the Macmillan Coffee morning and sold a variety of cakes and made a profit of £71. The staff also produced their own fundraising for this event and made £175 from their delicious mix of homemade and shop bought cakes.

In October we supported ‘Children’s Hospital Pyjamas’, a charity that was recommended by a parent. We asked for students and staff to donate new pyjamas. We collected a fantastic amount with some lovely designs, people were incredibly generous. They were delivered to children who were facing Christmas in hospital.

The team also worked hard for the Poppy Appeal in November by selling poppies during Tutor time for two weeks and successfully raised £98. We then continued to support Children in Need by selling sweet treats during our Friday tuck shop.

The Interact team decided to raise money for Sheltersuit in the Netherlands as recommended by Sophie. We felt it only right to support the homeless and an International charity during the winter months.

We produced Christmas bagged sweets and personalised candy canes that the students delivered during Tutor time. The Interact team took the entry fees from the ‘House Talent Shows’ and the highly entertaining ‘I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here’!

From January the team wanted to support an animal charity and with the support of Mr Collins, who absolutely loves cats, we chose The Big Cat Sanctuary who are based in Smarden, Kent. We raised money through tuck shops and held a valentine themed shop which was most popular.

Sadly due to COVID-19 our fund-raising for the Big Cat Sanctuary came to a grinding halt. We raised £500 just before lockdown.

Our hard-working Interact students will be given the opportunity to visit the Sanctuary (which is an amazing day out and most certainly worth a visit).

On behalf of the team we would like to thank everyone for their continued support this year. In particular a big thank you to Mrs Green who allows us to use her room and continues to be a great supporter of Knole Interact and to Mr Andrews who helps with student supervision when the queue gets rather long.

A special mention to thank Mr Ridout at the Rotary Club of Sevenoaks Amherst as they kindly donated £300 for PE materials in order for our amazing Science and Design Tech team to produce the face shields that were distributed to local hospitals, key workers and care homes.

In March, just before lockdown, we raised money for Sports Relief and held staff versus student matches which were highly charged (when Mr Turner was involved!) in handball, netball and basketball. Students had to pay 50p to watch and the atmosphere was fantastic! Many thanks to the Sports Department for helping and to the students and staff who took part.

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PANCAKE DAY Carolyn Walker Tuesday, 25th February was Shrove Tuesday or as it is affectionately known by many, Pancake day. In Christian cultures, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, the 40 day period before Easter. During Lent Christians reflect and try to replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.

Lent was traditionally marked by fasting from ‘rich’ foods and festivities. In the past, the ‘rich’ foods would have included eggs and butter, in the UK it became tradition to use up these ingredients by making pancakes.

You will often hear people say they have given something up for Lent.

Pancake races form a part of many Shrove Tuesday celebrations and Knole Academy did not miss out on the fun. Pancake races were run by all years and was great fun as students dashed to the finishing line with frying pans in their hands, flipping their pancakes at least 6 times. A big thank you to Mrs McGauley and all the year 9 and 10 students who made pancakes for the race.

Well done to everyone who participated and congratulations to the winners and to Rudolph the overall winning house.

Lee came second, Khan third and Attenborough fourth.

RESULTS

Year 7 1st Connor 7R2 2nd Thomas 7K2 Year 8 1st Luke 8R1 2nd Sam 8K1 Year 9 1st Ian 9L1 2nd Harry 9R2 Year 10 1st Rowan P10R1 2nd Ryan 10A1 Year 13 Archie (Rudolf) and Sam (Khan)

TREE PLANTING Kirsten Nixon This year Knole Academy, teamed up with the Woodland Trust to take part in National Tree planting week in November 2019.

This event aimed at bringing the community and schools together to plant 1 million trees throughout the UK and to reduce the effects of climate change.

Students from across the whole school, took part in the planting of 10 trees, including a British Oak, Beech, Maple and Sweet Chestnut trees.

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The Science and Design and Technology departments, produced plaques from recyclable materials, to commemorate each tree and used student information fact sheets to label each tree planted. A house competition was used to encourage students to learn about the diversity of trees and then winners were selected by Mr Collins to mark each type of tree around the school field.

The Knole Tree project has worked alongside the Science and nature club, gardening club and Eco Club to improve the school environment, encourage biodiversity and enable the Academy to play its part in the UK action campaign to reduce the effects of climate change and global warming.

REVIEW 2019/20

Bradbourne Vale Road Sevenoaks Kent TN13 3LE

@KnoleAcademy @knoleacademy REVIEW 2019 /20

01732 454608 www.knoleacademy.org

@KnoleAcademySevenoaks