7 minute read
Prep & Senior School News
THE ASSOCIATION CAFÉ
Kingswood School is delighted to officially open it’s ‘Association Café’ to its Sixth Formers, located in their dedicated Sixth Form Centre.
Understanding the need for independence and preparing themselves for university life, students in Year 12 and 13 have had the benefit of having their own dining room for some time but the new addition of this café, with large windows overlooking the beautiful city of Bath provides a quiet space for pupils to concentrate on their studies, whilst enjoying freshly-baked cakes made by the very talented Daisy in our catering team, or a choice of savoury snacks, along with a choice of hot or cold drinks. “The Association Café is a great addition to our sixth form facilities”, explains Mr Craig Woodgate, Head of Sixth Form at Kingswood School. “We wanted to create a space similar to the coffee shops our students will experience on campus at university, a place where at one table you might find someone working at their laptop on an essay, whilst at the next there is a group relaxing over a coffee and a pastry before heading off to their next lesson. Our Sixth Formers have fully embraced this, and already the café has established itself as a focal point of sixth form life. Our Catering Department have pulled out all the stops in terms of the food and drink on offer, and we’re looking forward to working with our students to develop the facility still further in the coming months.”
The Kingswood Association has helped to make this possible by providing very generous contribution to the Café, which is the first stage in the planned re-development of the much-loved Dixon Sixth Form Centre.
Pupils are already reaping the benefits of this facility and sharing their views. Some comments from our Sixth Formers include, “I don’t feel like I’m still in school” and “The hot chocolate is amazing!”
It is clear that this has created an added benefit to their School life already and Kingswood is looking forward to sharing further development plans of the Sixth Form Centre soon.
THE WILSHIRE WAY
The path itself has been a memorial for many years.
David Wilshire made the donation to allow us to lay out the path to Burton House and plant the trees as a memorial to his daughter. Sarah’s short life is permanently celebrated in the glory of the flowering cherry trees.
MEMORIAL GARDEN
Where the old Observatory once stood, the Memorial Garden was created in 2004.
The photo right shows the day of dedication. The families of those remembered gathered together in the gentle warmth of a Kingswood summer day. Rev. Ray Lansley spoke of each of those lives whose passing is marked on the stone in the garden.
As the Garden had began to not look it’s best, the Old Kingswoodian Association kindly supported the reconstruction in April 2022. The original stone created by David Brown, to which plaques are added, has remained in place.
THE PREP SCHOOL
It is a great privilege to write an article for the Old Kingswoodian magazine and to be able to give you just a small flavour of our Prep School.
Many of you will remember it opening in 1995 with the merger of Prior’s Court in Newbury and Hermitage House in Bath. It was a single-form entry Prep School in one building, which opened with 80 children. Thanks to the excellent efforts of Lucy Marshall, Meg Newbery, Anita Gleave, Marcus Cornah and the present Management Team, KPS has grown and evolved into what we believe is now the finest prep school in the South West of England. We are now a 3-form entry school in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, and 2-form entry in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The Garden at Kingswood is our new Nursery, and we now take infants from 9 months up to our Pre-School, where the children enjoy a rich Kingswood experience in readiness for their first year in Reception. Thanks to significant investment by the Foundation and some incredibly generous benefactors - in particular, two Old Kingswoodians! - we now have the most wonderful physical environment for the children to learn in. Surrounded by woodland and countryside, the children are incredibly fortunate to be able to enjoy such a cornucopia of nature.
However, as I am sure you are all aware, it is the quality of the staff and the strength of the teaching and the management team that define a school. The dynamic, personable, relaxed but respectful interaction between staff and pupils which I observe on my many ‘walk rounds’ is something very special and is fundamental to the character of KPS. Our key aims are to bring out the very best in every single child, to encourage each child to be proud of who they are, and to inspire them to follow their passions. “Do all the good you can; By all the means you can; In all the ways you can; At all the places you can; At all the times you can; To all the people you can; As long as ever you can.”
…is etched on the windows of our buildings. This philosophy, combined with a fundamental ethos of kindness, ensures that our children really look out for each other and makes school such a great place to be for a pupil and for the staff.
Our new facilities have given us the Association Hall, which is used for assemblies, plays, musical evenings and PE, and
hosts some of our 50+ activities at the end of the day, which include gymnastics, fencing, judo and musical theatre. Attached to the Hall is our Music Room and music practice rooms. We have hundreds of children playing musical instruments and there is allocated time for singing, music, orchestras and choirs before school starts. We want our children to grow up being able to perform on stage, love their sport and art, play a musical instrument or sing in a choir, and to be able to stand in front of larger groups of people and be themselves, unique and filled with inner confidence.
We have worked really hard on all aspects of our curriculum. Upstairs in the New Build, above the Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms, we have our STEAM area. It is a dynamic and key part of our school. This is where we challenge our pupils to be creative problem solvers. We tap into their curiosity and develop their communication skills, teamwork and resilience. The children benefit from one and a half hours of Science a week, mostly practical, with our new Head of Science, Dr Torrance Jenkins. Mr Murphy leads our engineering, programming, robotics and coding, and Mrs Fox inspires our artists. At KPS, we never pigeonhole our children; they can be musicians, actors and artists at the same time as being scientists, mathematicians and engineers. We firmly believe that, with a positive attitude and determination, anything is achievable.
We now have the Katie Pillinger Drama Studio (which was the old Hall for those familiar with our site). Drama, Music and Sport continue to thrive. All our children enjoy the variety of sports on offer, and those who excel regularly head off to IAPS tournaments and regional and national finals.
Our aim is to ensure that the children have rock-solid foundations for their learning before they move to the Senior School. They really understand what they can do and they have the self-confidence and positive attitude to enable them to continue their success.
Throughout two years of disrupted education during the pandemic, KPS delivered online lessons and the children, despite trying circumstances, continued to thrive. Teaching Reception-aged children online is NOT easy, but our staff rose to that challenge. Our children have been resourceful and have learned to work in a different way. Throughout they have been self-motivated, humble and aware of those less fortunate than themselves.
To live and work alongside our children and talented colleagues remains a privilege. Please come and see the school in action if you can; we would love to see you. Our beautiful grounds have now been supplemented with a yurt and an outside learning experience which is second-to-none. Our youngest children can spend the whole day outdoors - and they love it! Summerhill Mansion, which, for all you Old Kingswoodians who remember, was a boarding house, is now two beautiful dining rooms, with the flexibility to host events and meetings.
Mark showing Old Kingswoodian David Lane CBE around KPS - January 2022
It is always a delight to welcome back old boys and girls. We know that you will be just as proud as we are of the Prep School’s evolution into one of the leading schools of its type.
