Kingswood Prep School Magazine 2014-15

Kingswood 2014-2015

‘An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.’

John Wesley

Warmth, discovery and learning for life Kingswood Prep School in focus 2014-2015

‘Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.’

Henry James

Kingswood Preparatory School College Road Bath, BA1 5SD

01225 734460

www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Prep School in focus

Reception

8-9

contents KPS Head’s Introduction

1-3

KPS Reflections

3-5

Nursery

6-7

Reception 8-9 Year 1

10-11

Year 2

12-13

Year 3

14-15

Year 4

16-17

Year 5

18-19

Year 6

20-21

Year 3

14-15

Creative Arts

Year 6 - A Parent’s Perspective 22-24 Maths

25

Boarding at KPS

26-27

Creative Arts

28-32

Science

33

DT

34-35

Art

36-37

Drama

38-39

Music

40-41

Sport

42-44

KPS Remembers

45

International Day

46-47

Charity/Community 48-49 Activities 50-51 Challenge and Enrichment

52-53

Bath Literature Festival

54-55

Eco

55

Year 6 Leavers

56-57

KPS Active Club

58-59

28-32

DT

34-35

Art

36-37

Residential 60-61 Challenge & Enrichment

52-53

International Day

46-47

KPS Active Club

58-59

KPS Head’s Introduction

A word from the

Head at KPS T

he editor, the lovely Mrs Brearey, has been badgering me about my introduction to the School Magazine for some time and I have finally found a small window of opportunity in August to reflect on the past school year. We have just returned from France and have been sifting through over 50 postcards from KPS children from all over the South West, the British Isles and Europe, all well-written, chatty and upbeat.

In a world of email, text and Skype, what is the future of the old-fashioned postcard - answers on a postcard, please!

On the subject of technology, I have just returned from a two-week family holiday without iPad, wifi, email or internet.

It was good not always to be ‘attached’ to a device and I felt that I had the moral high ground over my teenage children, but at the same time I did worry about the backlog on my return.

Being good digital role models was a theme of our E-safety Evening and is something of which I am becoming increasingly conscious. I was recently on the No. 31 bus from the centre of Bath to Lansdown Park and Ride; a toddler was mis-behaving and being rather difficult. His parent did not correct the behaviour, but instinctively handed the little boy his phone. I wonder what the long-term effects of such an increasingly common response will be? As a school, this summer we have acquired a large number of portable devices to enhance our children’s learning; achieving the appropriate balance between traditional skills and the latest technology is crucial. It is something of which we are very mindful and which we are constantly reviewing.

It has been another fulfilling year in and out of the classroom.

In such a tightly-knit community, there are inevitable ‘ups and downs’, but it remains an utter privilege to lead Kingswood Prep School.

I have just been interviewed by a reporter from the Bath Chronicle. It was a somewhat nerve-racking experience, but it was good to talk about the progress of the school and the type of young children we are developing, children with positive attitudes, who understand the importance of teamwork and endeavour, but who, at the same time, have great fun and are extremely happy at school.

These are very exciting times at KPS with planning permission being sought for the next phase of our development, which comprises a new hall, a Music complex with practice rooms

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and a room for teaching and performance, and new classrooms for Years 5/6, Art, Technology, Science, all with a focus on the new skills needed for a rapidly-changing world. The aim is not to increase the numbers on the roll, but to create facilities that will match the excellence of our staff. As I have said many times before, it is teachers who make the difference, not classrooms.

You will not remember a teaching space, but you will remember an inspiring and dynamic teacher who leads a subject with enthusiasm and skill. The creation of a new Pre-School and Nursery is central to the development; with Louise Leah at the helm, we aim to make this the envy of all similar establishments in the Bath area. These are indeed exciting times, which I look forward to sharing with you in the future.

The past year has seen outstanding success in all areas: Year 6 gained an impressive haul of Scholarships, we have over 200 children playing individual musical instruments, our Music and Drama are the envy of many schools, we have 85 After-School Clubs and Karen Fox is doing an outstanding job with our Art. However, in this edition of ‘KPS in Focus’ I would like to shine the spotlight on Sport.

I have been really encouraged by the development of our sports provision in recent years. Competitive sport is important, as is providing a platform where all children have an opportunity to play sport at their own level. Our Games Department do a superb job stretching those who live for sport, while at the same time providing opportunity for all our children to put on the KPS jersey with pride. There are so many Monday and Wednesday afternoons when all our children are involved. All our Year groups are large enough to be competitive and we are putting out more teams and have added more schools to our fixture list.

The growth of Saturday sport has been a pleasing feature and has been really appreciated by those parents unable to attend fixtures in the week. We have also increased the number of staff who cannot wait for Games afternoons and the quality of the teaching and coaching is consistently high. We are entering major IAPS competitions, have been involved in mini-tours and have regularly been County winners. At this age, sport is not just about winning, it is more about working hard in training in order to put yourself in the best position to play superbly on match day, and acquiring the skills and a life-long love of the sport in question. In Years 5 & 6, places in teams are awarded on merit; those who have worked extremely hard on their game deserve the opportunity to play in the A team. The skill of Mr Shrubsole

Warmth, discovery, learning for life

1

KPS Head’s Introduction and Miss Newman is in getting so many children involved in sport, no matter what their ability; that inclusivity is something of which I am very proud. At the same time, it is our job to stretch those children who love their sport. As well as the more traditional sports, Mr Titley has done a tremendous job with the swimming, cycling, cross-country, aquathon and triathlon. All of these are well supported and have led some children all the way to the Olympic Stadium. Miss Birchall has led our horse riders with distinction and our first riding event was hugely enjoyable.

Mr Hull has also done a superb job adding canoeing, archery and climbing to our range of sporting opportunities. Mr Burke’s Football Club continues to flourish, although it still has too many Chelsea shirts for my liking! All of these provide children of a sporting disposition the opportunity to excel at their chosen sport. I am indebted to all the staff for their efforts each and every week of the term.

As we are all aware, when children feel good about their sport, music, art, design, technology or drama, the benefit in terms of increased confidence in the classroom can be immense - and confidence is essential for children’s development; they can achieve anything they wish if they work hard and adopt an ‘I can do’ attitude.

Last year’s Year 6 were a vintage Year and I would personally like to thank them for their unflagging energy and enthusiasm.

Whether as Heads of School, or as Monitors, or as Buddies, they were outstanding. Thank you, Year 6!

Mr and Mrs Ward and Mr and Mrs Hull continue to lead High Vinnalls, our boarding house, with aplomb. It remains the perfect start for young boarders in a kind, understanding and nurturing environment without the distraction of older children. The staff

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have been offering nightly and flexible boarding packages, together with Breakfast Clubs and Supper and Homework Clubs, which have been greatly appreciated by busy working parents. Please pop into the Boarding House and chat over options with Mr and Mrs Ward. We are here to help - no parent will be told off for being late!

The academic year 2015-2016 is very likely to be an Inspection year and we have been working very hard to ensure that all the paperwork is as it should be. Mrs Parry-Hearn has worked tirelessly leading this area of the school, as well as developing the assessment and tracking of academic progress. I am confident that any Inspection team will see the thoroughness of what we are doing in the academic ‘engine-room’ of the school.

You will see that we shall be welcoming some new staff to our school in September. As I have said to the parent body many times, my starting point for recruitment remains that, first and foremost, the candidates must be outstanding teachers; after that, they must have a passion for something beyond the classroom, whether it be Music, Sport, Drama, ICT etc. I want positive role models to inspire and motivate our children.

Communication is a key element of our school, whether it is a chat on the playground in the morning, a newsletter item, a parent-teacher meeting, an Introductory Evening, a Phonics or Maths Workshop for parents, a Forum point or an informal drop-in to my office. We are all here working for the greater good of the children and I feel that the level of communication at our school is excellent. We want you to share each step of the journey through the school, to work through difficult phases together, and to celebrate the milestones in the children’s progress together.

KPS Head’s Introduction At the time of writing, our eldest son, Ben, is awaiting his A-level results. As a parent, I naturally want only the best for him and throughout his schooling it has sometimes been tricky to manage my expectations. Not getting picked for teams or productions, an unsatisfactory report, getting into trouble and the inevitable friendship issues have all been dealt with by a mixture of trust and discussion, tempered by the realisation that setbacks build character and should enable the individual to become even hungrier to succeed. Yes, as a fee-paying parent I would like him to get excellent A-level results and go to the university of his choice, if that is what he wishes. But the older I get, the more I realise that the most important thing is for our children to be comfortable in their own skin, to be self-assured and confident, without being arrogant, and to be at ease with themselves. Negotiating the teenage years is not easy; it is our job as a prep school to ensure that our 11-yearolds are well-grounded academically, love learning, know that they can achieve if they work hard and have a passion for things outside the classroom. Then I feel they will have every chance of navigating the choppy waters of adolescence with greater ease.

The Prep School, as part of the Kingswood Foundation, is superbly supported by Mr Morris and the Governors, not just in terms of the new development, but in every aspect of school life. Their genuine interest in everything that we do is really appreciated by all of us.

We are a family school and, as such, are sympathetic to, and understanding of, the complexities of parenting. Mrs Brearey’s ‘Getting Better Bay’ is another layer of that pastoral care on which we pride ourselves. Family values and broad Christian principles are at the heart of our school. We celebrate each and every individual in our community and we love the fact that we have a rich variety of children, all with their own unique characters and personalities - that is what makes working at KPS such a treat!

Enjoy ‘KPS in Focus’!

Yours, Mark Brearey

KPS Reflections

TIM WESTBROOK

Chairman Of Governors

A

t the beginning of my second academic year as Chair of Governors of the Kingswood Foundation, I am delighted to have been asked by Mark Brearey to write something for ‘KPS In Focus’. My connection with Kingswood goes back over fifty years, first as a pupil in what was then an all-boys predominantly boarding school, then as a parent of three children who were at Kingswood in the 1990s, then as President of the Association, and since 2011 as a Governor. I feel immensely privileged now to be chairing the board of Governors of this wonderful school at a time of great progress and success in all aspects of school life, but also at a time of significant challenges. My background is running businesses together with a dash of volunteering in Sri Lanka after retirement, so I am on a fast learning curve as far as education is concerned and am extremely grateful that I have such good teachers as the Heads of Kingswood Senior and Prep schools!

The Governors are currently involved in a major strategic planning exercise involving all aspects of the Kingswood Foundation’s development over the next ten to fifteen years.

Some of the results of this are already evident with the new sports pavilion on the Upper, the refurbished theatre, the magnificent new Humanities classroom block and the new boarding house for Hall House. We recognise that in order to continue to attract pupils (and their parents) to Kingswood, we have to provide facilities which meet their expectations but, importantly, which will provide an appropriate and flexible environment for the developing needs of education in all its aspects, academic, including the use of IT, sporting and

cultural, over the next fifteen years. We are also very aware of the need to keep private education affordable for parents, and, working closely with the Heads and staff of the Senior and Prep schools, the Governors are rigorously controlling costs and exploring new revenue streams in order to achieve this objective.

As far as the Prep School is concerned, you will have received a letter from Mark Brearey and Simon Morris earlier this year setting out plans for the provision of new classroom facilities to replace those in 1 Sion Hill Place, which are not really suitable for the education of younger children, the building of a new hall and a new year-round Pre-school and Nursery. These new facilities are being designed to provide the sort of flexible facilities I mentioned earlier; we do not intend to increase the size of the Prep School significantly, it is critically important to the Governors that we retain the ethos of the Prep and Senior schools with its emphasis on the all-round development of every child as an individual, helping them to develop their talents to the full.

Thank you on behalf of all the Governors for this opportunity to tell you a little about our plans; I look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Tim Westbrook Chair of Governors

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KPS Reflections

Words out of retirement W

hen your guitar hero speaks your name from a large screen and offers a personal good wish for future retirement, it is not just humbling and exciting, it is also slightly surreal … a farewell never to be forgotten, for which gratitude to all at the Prep School comes in abundance.

There is a risk attached in me penning a few words just two months away from life in Bath. It could look so good that Mark finds staff of a certain vintage rushing to examine their pension plans. Well, so far, we certainly don’t regret having decided for change and what follows is simply the shape of life in a new context.

The days begin differently – tea and breakfast news, before donning walking boots and casuals instead of polished black shoes and a suit. The beard has gone, why not? I can now shave leisurely and spasmodically with hardly ever a nod to compulsion. Karen and I accompany a very excited dog to the lakeside just up the road and ‘Winnie’ shakes and bounces on all fours in anticipation of retrieving her special float from Kielder Water.

A bowl of cereal and a second cup of tea are followed by a change into gardening gear when the weather is fit. Mentally, I cannot get out of the habit of setting ‘work’ targets for the day.

As ever, I fall short, but a self-addressed “mañana” is now a realistic option. When it rains (and it does so quite frequently) there is time for small internal jobs, reading, listening to or playing music. I will also confess to having watched more cycling on Eurosport this summer than has ever been possible in the past. To my shame, the bike has had less time on the tarmac than should have been the case as ‘taming’ the garden has grabbed the good weather.

However, with the biggest hill of weeds ever seen slowly rotting away, there ought to be time for more outings. The caravan has already seen trips to the coasts of Lancashire and Dumfrieshire and it is a pleasurable pastime, scanning the pages of the Caravan Club Directory to see where we might discover next.

If Karen has been tied to a book, I have often been hammering a guitar. The local ceilidh band in the adjoining Tarset valley, an all-comers, all-abilities event, took me in and made me

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welcome. I don’t have much bother playing the music, but their insistence that my first gig of 21 tunes had to be memorised was a challenge for someone used to having dots/chords in front. I cheated with a little slip of paper sneakily attached to an instrument stand as we did our 30 minutes at the Bellingham All Acoustic Music Festival (BAAFest).

On Sundays, we two swell the local congregation from 8 to 10. Our contribution to the volume of the singing is significantly beyond 20%, though we ‘passed’ when they asked us to join the choir for the Harvest Festival – somebody needs to be left as the appreciative ‘audience’ sitting in the pew!

The best part of our time away has been gathering the family together – so keen to see our goods unpacked and us settled at the cottage in a way that they have never seen before. Days of re-visiting old haunts, walking on beaches and through woods that they hadn’t seen in 20 years allowed them a re-connect, which, we think, left them feeling less distanced from this little corner of Northumberland.

We are not quite fully integrated yet; there is still a lot of visiting and tea drinking under other people’s roofs still to be done.

Of course, in these parts, your dog is always more famous than you are. When son Peter was here with the twin girls, they were determined that Winnie should be in competition with other dogs at the local Falstone Border Shepherds’ Show.

The resulting triumph gives us some country bragging rights, which we might have to apply to our advantage… all in good time.

If you are ever lost in Northumberland…

Mike Wilkinson

KPS Reflections

Staff Hellos and Goodbyes In September we welcomed some new faces to KPS:

Catherine Faulkner joined our Learning Support Department. She is a highly skilled teacher who is able to bring the very best out of pupils.

Luke Hopwood joined us as a Year 5 teacher – Luke is a very gifted young teacher who loves Science, Sport, Music and has thrived in his first year at KPS. Luke Hopwood

n Ben Hooto

Sarah-Jane Maunder joined Year 4. She has thrown ‘heart and soul’ into all she does and is leading our Pom Pom club and Under 8 and Under 9 Girls’ teams.

Kelly Duncan

Sarah-Jane M aunder

Kelly Duncan is a product of Kingswood Senior School and wishes to become a teacher. She arrived as a graduate gap student but has quickly impressed us with her knowledge and dedication. She has been seen on the games fields of Bath leading Girls’ Games. There is little doubt in my mind that she will be an excellent addition to our profession.

Leaving staff: We said a sad farewell to Mike Wilkinson, who has been our School Chaplain for over 20 years. His contribution, pastoral skills and end-of-year sermons will be missed; he unerringly hit the right note. Mike and Karen head to Northumberland for some wellearned peace and quiet alongside plenty of Ralph McTell, guitar playing, sailing, walking and reading. Savour every second, Mike!

er Sue Butch

Mike Wilkinson

Sue Butcher has driven our Green and Sustainability groups with energy and passion. She is a skilled class teacher and Science teacher and a widely-respected colleague. Sue plans some serious travelling in her camper van and is looking forward to continuing her writing. I will personally miss her erudite thoughts and opinions. Enjoy your retirement!

Sue Caden will be a sad loss to our staff room. Always sartorially elegant and with a majestic poise, Sue has worked tirelessly in Nursery, Reception and leading the Early Years Foundation stage. Sue, as many of you are aware, is a talented singer and harpist and I am sure she will remain busy and active in her retirement. Thank you for all you have done for our youngest children over many years, Sue.

Sue Caden

Ben Hooton arrived to fill many roles at KPS. Supporting pupils, teaching games and covering break times. His affable nature and team ethic have already come to the fore. Ben’s aim is to become a teacher and we are facilitating this with some first-hand experience in school.

Chrissi Dowling joined us in many roles, but will predominantly be in Getting Better Bay helping Mrs Brearey. She leads the administration for KPS Active and is a regular Holiday Club Leader.

David Murphy

Chrissi Dowling

David Murphy joined us at a Year 6 teacher and also leads our ICT. David loves the great outdoors and is a real adventurer. David is a keen sportsman.

Sue French has been part of our Nursery team for many years. Her patience and kindness have shone through each and every day and we are going to really miss her in our Nursery. Always an encouraging and positive team-player, Sue deserves a happy and contented retirement and we all wish her every happiness in the future.

Thank you, Sue.

Julia Scott

Katherine Falk ner

Sue French

Julia Scott has such a wonderful energy and passion for our youngest children; I regularly see her running past my window playing games with the children at break times. She offers them love, time and eternal patience, but always sets the highest standards for them. We all wish Julia a very happy retirement.

Jane Dix has worn a number of hats since she first arrived at Kingswood Prep School; she has been a stalwart member of Year 3, has worked across a number of areas in the Pre-Prep and has led phonic groups. Jane has a wonderful sense of humour and we thank her for the love and commitment she has given to our children. Good luck in the future, Jane.

Jane Dix

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Nursery

Beginning at the beginning – Nurturing

‘warmth, discovery and learning for life’ in the Nursery It’s fun to explore!

I

t was almost the end of another day, another story time was drawing to a close and the children, some a little sleepy now, some still wideeyed, gazed in expectation, as the picture pages turned and the story-teller read…

“Now he wasn’t a hungry caterpillar any more. He was a big fat caterpillar. He built a small house called a cocoon around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed himself out and he was a … “ The story-teller paused and just for a few seconds … there was silence … as the children waited for the ‘surprising’, satisfying conclusion they knew would come.

In those short seconds the story-teller looked at the captivated faces and was fleetingly aware that, if time were ‘fastforwarded’ twenty, or thirty years, she would be gazing into the eyes of tomorrow’s artists, authors, poets, solicitors, doctors nurses, builders, engineers, landscape architects and, of course, entomologists (whose knowledge of ‘small caterpillar to butterfly transformation’ would be in microscopic detail).

“… a butterfly!”

One of the children (probably the budding entomologist) interrupted the pause, unable to wait any longer. The story-teller turned the page

“… a beautiful butterfly” she concluded … and the story … and the day was at an end.

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A big hug

In Book Week we chose the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and made a display for everyone to see. On World Book Day we dressed up as our favourite story characters and had our picture taken by the big caterpillar.

Solving problems altogether Most of the time, as Early Years’ teachers and Nursery staff, we are wholly absorbed in encouraging the next steps as we share in the children’s learning through play but, just occasionally, we allow ourselves to take a step back and pause to wonder ‘what they might become’, reflecting on what talents, gifts and graces are even now cocooned within these bundles of Early Years energy before us and we become aware of the privilege and responsibility of accompanying the children on their journey as they lay foundations for future learning. Occasionally, we think we catch a glimpse of what, even at this early stage, might indicate future potential – a child builds an amazing structure from a construction set; makes a perceptive comment; paints with a stunning use of colour; demonstrates a striking sense of rhythm; discovers an unusual bug in the playground and brings it in to be examined – and someone will comment ‘a future engineer/ artist/ musician/ scientist!’.

Nursery

r Wilkinson’s guitar

Singing together with M

It’s fun to explore!

We are a team Celebrating that goal!

Let me tell you a secret!

We three!

Mothers and babies group Yet, whatever their future career path, perhaps one of our most important roles is to help the children to become positive, happy individuals and to relate to others. It is in the Nursery in these early years that children begin to relate to a wider sphere of people (adults and other children) outside their own family.

We often see four recognised stages of play development side-by-side in the Nursery: solitary play – where a child is totally absorbed in his own activities;

Within the Nursery at Kingswood we seek to give opportunities for the children to develop and enjoy these early interactions, having fun together and developing the ability to form friendships that will, like the butterfly from the caterpillar, emerge to take flight and support them in their future life and learning.

Glynis Hull

parallel play – where children enjoy playing side-by-side, but are pursuing their own separate goals; associative play – where children, playing side-by-side, begin to influence each other’s play – and co-operative play – where children are learning to exchange and share ideas and collaborate in their play.

In the pink

In a recent research study, referring to “the tremendous growth in social and emotional development during the preschool years”, it was reported that: “The social skills children learn in childhood impact their future social and academic success.” (Dulak et al, 2011)

Altogether in the woodland glade we have made.

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Reception

A Journey through

Reception 2014-15

AS AN EARLY YEARS TEACHER IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME AS I SEE THE CHILDREN SETTING OFF ON THEIR GREAT EDUCATION JOURNEY. JOURNEY IS AN OFTEN OVERUSED WORD, BUT HERE IT IS COMPLETELY APPROPRIATE. RECEPTION IS THEIR FIRST TASTE OF A STRUCTURED SCHOOL LIFE, AND YET THEY SETTLE SO QUICKLY AND DEMONSTRATE SUCH ENTHUSIASM IN TACKLING ALL THE CHALLENGES THEY ENCOUNTER.

T

he Reception year always starts with our ever popular ‘Wonderful Marvellous Me’ topic, something which allows the children to look at something completely familiar – themselves – and understand more about who they are, how their bodies work, and how other people feel.

In turn, this helps us to bond as a Reception family. Projects start off with a life size self-portrait, but quickly move on to explore all of our senses, how our internal organs work, and what happens when we exercise. As is the case throughout the year, the topic is supported wonderfully by visits from various parents. We meet Mr Girdher’s Skelly, the life-sized skeleton, and the children make fantastic pictures using straws and chalk. Mrs Brown visited to teach us about hygiene, using glitter to show how infections are spread.

The children were fascinated!

Sam

Will

Beau

Hans

Max

Seb

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Our celebration of Poppy Day this year was particularly poignant as we commemorated the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, producing some truly wonderful pictures of poppies, and discussing with real insight the sacrifices which had been made.

Thomas

Emmy

Aine

Esme

Reception As soon as we got back from the Christmas holidays we were straight into our ‘Polar Explorers’ topic, something which never fails to fire the children’s imagination.

One of the children was very worried by taking my promise that we were going to visit the polar areas a little too literally and anxiously started sorting out his woolly pullies! We start off by looking at the polar regions and the life-cycles of penguins and polar bears at each pole, before looking at how the Inuit people survive and adapt in their environment, and examining the impact of climate change on these sensitive areas. After this scene setting, we then look at the history of polar explorers past and present, culminating in the truly epic tale of Shackleton and the Endurance. The awe and wonder the children show when hearing about this is a delight to see. We had a wonderful visit from Mr Williams, who came in to tell us about his mountaineering exploits climbing Mont Blanc. His presentation helped to inspire the children to produce wonderful models of the equipment which they would use on a polar expedition.

In amongst the arctic gales, we also took a day out to celebrate Chinese New Year, with Mrs Bennington from the Museum of East Asian Art visiting to provide us with a wonderful presentation about the Year of the Horse. The children produced beautiful watercolour pictures of Chinese fish and flowers.

We always try to make our topics appropriate to the time of year, so the second half of the term saw us tackle the wonders of spring, focusing particularly on the lifecycles of frogs and honey bees. We had an almost 100% conversion rate of tadpoles to froglets which were all released into Mrs Simpson’s pond.

The Summer term brought us to the fitting final topic of the year ‘To Infinity and Beyond’, dealing with space and the solar system.

It is wonderful to see how fascinated and involved the children are in this amazing subject, and we all worked together to produce some marvellous models of the planets. We grew some magnificent hairy aliens using grass seeds, and each of the children sketched and designed a super clay alien.

Our final trip of the year to @Bristol was the perfect way to round it off, involving the children in looking at many of the areas we had visited during the year – from being a life-size bee collecting pollen, to getting inside a human body, and experiencing the Space Dome and the Planetarium where we were sent to the far reaches of the solar system.

No summary of the year in Reception would be complete without mentioning the amazing progress all the children made with their literacy – including, for the first time, cursive writing.

Phonics enables the children to quickly recognise sounds and blend them together to form words and become confident readers. This progress is matched by the solid foundation which is built up in numeracy, with the children quickly learning to recognise, write and work with numbers and their values.

The speed with which they grasp new concepts and fearlessly embrace them always impresses me enormously. What a privilege it is to work with such inspirational children.

Kate Simpson For International Day, whilst the rest of the school looked at Commonwealth countries, Reception looked rather closer to home, and I suspect that it would come as news to both Holland (RC) and Ireland (RS) that they were included as part of the Commonwealth.

We were supported marvellously by parents from both countries and had a wonderful time.

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Life in Year 1

Year 1

It was good when my mum and dad came to make sushi and it was yummy - Hana

Beginning with ‘A Walk in the Woods’, travelling across the world and ending with a Mad Hatter’s tea party. Here are some of our highlights:

AUTUMN TERM

A Walk in the Woods

I really liked seeing a real hedgehog, it did smell though - Albert

SPRING TERM

Around the world Year 1 have been learning all about Japan, as part of their Around the World topic.

They have now become expert sushi makers after a visit from Mr and Mrs Lam, Chi- Hana’s parents, who run Yen Sushi in Bath. The children had a tasting session of all the ingredients they could use. There was so much to choose from, they even tried seaweed, bean curd and crab sticks. Mr Lam then showed the children how to make a sushi roll and then the children went back to their classrooms to make them all by themselves. The children had great fun and especially enjoyed eating what they had made at the end. We would like to thank Mr and Mrs Lam for the time they spent with Year 1 making it such an exciting afternoon.

I made a parachute and put Monkey in it. I threw it down but I couldn’t find him - Christopher

Rebecca Howe and Sian Higgins

Making paper planes was fun, but mine kept going backwards - Edward

It was such fun when my mum came in and talked about the USA - Ava

We made houses for toy hedgehogs at Westonbirt - Nefeli

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We tested the basket covers to cover our cakes to see if they got wet Baci

Year 1

SUMMER TERM

Under the Sea We went to a Chinese restaurant.

It was delicious Harry

I did a koala bear picture with dots like the Aboriginals - Luke

YEAR 1 TRIP TO BRISTOL AQUARIUM We went to Bristol Aquarium. We fed the piranhas and turtles. The piranhas were vegetarian. The leopard sharks were swimming with their eyes closed. There was a lobster called George, fishermen caught him. They had sea horses, there was a tunnel which led you into the tank and the sea horses tails were wrapped around some seaweed. We had a great time.

The clay was so sticky when I made a puffa fish – Tom G

Ava Shaw and Mathijs In der Reiden I loved singing our French song in assembly Mathijs

We went on a real aeroplane.

It was so exciting - Finnigan

I made a crazy sea creature Alex

We learned how people travelled to the seaside 100 years ago - Ciara

I really loved being a mermaid in our Pirates versus Mermaids play Florence B

I loved Year 1, its great! - Emily I liked telling people about Russia - Savva

I made a boat that floated – Tom N

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Year 2

What a busy time

we have been having in Year 2!

W

e have covered a wide range of interesting topics and learnt about everything from Motte and Bailey Castles to Brunel to the History of Canals to different groups of animals! It has been an action-packed adventure across three wonderful terms!

We decided to make a link between our Autumn Term topic ‘Turrets and Tiaras’ and the particularly special Remembrance Day marking one hundred years since World War 1. In Year 2, we commemorated this special anniversary by researching our family histories and sharing their remarkable stories. All the children completed incredible mixed media collages depicting The Tower of London surrounded by the ‘Seas of Red’ poppies.

Living History, Medieval Days

To end our Autumn Term Topic, we invited Peter Rochester from ‘Living History, Medieval Days’ to speak to the children about castle life. As part of the Medieval Experience, each child was able to strike their own coin using authentic equipment. They also had opportunities to spin wool, use a quill pen, make rubbings from old carvings and play with medieval toys. Peter brought a huge collection of stunning historical resources along to KPS, which the children were able to handle.

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Year 2

Fizz

Pop

During the Spring Term, our focus moved from History to Science.

We invited ‘Fizz Pop Science’ into school for a morning full of fun and memorable Science.

The children were fascinated by the topic ‘Transport - Marvellous Motion’ and got the opportunity to design paper aeroplanes, watch a mini hovercraft move across the classroom and launch their own pressure rocket! It was a truly magical workshop.

Science

COLOUR, TONE AND TEXTURE One of our topics in Art this year was ‘Colour, Tone and Texture.’ We decided to incorporate the children’s ICT skills into this lesson by using an App to create a collage showing these three areas.

We went up to the Adventure Playground and took a variety of different pictures and then merged them together to create a final collage.

Later on in the term, the children were set a DT challenge to design their own bridge made entirely of newspaper with a limited amount of tape. This proved both puzzling and exciting, with the children creating a variety of different designs. There were cheers and claps at the end of the afternoon when the bridges were tested for sturdiness with the use of a toy car.

In the Summer Term we studied ‘Tales of the Riverbank’.

This was a beautiful topic which allowed the children to explore nature and the world around them. We started off by studying flowers. This took the form of learning the names and roles of the different parts of a flower and then dissecting them. This was a super Science lesson! Following on from flowers, the children learnt about different groups of animals.

During ‘Fish Week’, we learnt an array of interesting facts and recorded them in some wonderful oil pastel and Brush-O pictures. Linking in with our trip to Gloucester Waterways Museum, we learnt about the history of British canals and painted our own canal boats.

The children have worked incredibly hard, shown great enthusiasm and have tackled their work in a mature and focused manner. It has been a great year with lots of laughter and learning throughout both Year 2 classrooms.

Emily Baumgardt and Jessica Anderson

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Year 3

N

AR! E Y d e -pack

WE HAVE HAD A

action

YEAR 3 IS A REAL TIME OF GROWTH AT KPS AS THE CHILDREN MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM PRE-PREP TO PREP. THEY ARE GIVEN MORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP INDEPENDENCE AND CHANGE AND GROW SO MUCH DURING THESE THREE TERMS. THE CHILDREN WANTED TO SHARE THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT BEING IN YEAR 3.

“In DT we used saws and made cars and steps.”

Ollie J “I loved maths because you got to challenge yourself.” George H “I liked Year 3 because I liked Mrs Gilmore’s funny songs she played at the end of term whilst we were working.” Ella k “I loved doing science because we did fun experiments. We turned plants red by putting their stems in coloured water.” Zara B

g “I loved learnin It .

II about WW or C ct Vi .” ol was co

“I came second in the 200m race on Sports Day. I loved my pare nts cheering me on. I was proud of myself.” Daisy B

“I loved Music and drama. We got to play different instruments and act parts of the Wizard of OZ.”Emelia J “I loved competing in a golf tournament. We didn’t win but I loved doing one of the things I like the best.

It was the first time I played 18 holes in a day.”Toby E “I loved sport, especially netball. I feel I have improved over the year. I really liked the riding event I was proud of myself.”Iona S “I enjoyed sports day because my Mummy and Daddy were cheering me on and I won the hurdles race.”Ella B “I loved going off with the golfers to Millfield because it was my first school competition.”Alfie B

14

, we toasted “I loved going to Hilston Park es on a high rope. crat ked stac and ws marshmallo sh!”Orla R I learnt to count to ten in Wel

“I love going to my singing less ons and my favourite thing about this year was doing maths.” Isabel G

it “I loved learning about WWII because B Alma ” uing. intrig and g was very interestin

Year 3

“I was really proud about winning my 200m race on sports day” Daniel

“My favourite thing in Year 3 was writing my own Chinese myth. It felt like it came alive.” Daniel R “I’m rea lly prou d o solving t he diffic f ult problem s in skills clu thinking b” Dom

“There are so many things I enjoyed, I can’t pick one.” Daniel A

“I really enjoyed writing my shape poem about cats!” Zoe “My favourite part of the trip to Hilston Park was when me, Ollie and Toby went on a ghost hunt.” Edward

It’s a hard task to pick the one moment that was special. The WWII topic had endless learning opportunities. The children became very active in their spring topic when looking after the environment and the Summer Term was full of dreams from Alice in Wonderland.

The teachers have really enjoyed this Year; they have been a special bunch and have often been the starting point for new learning adventures.

Sarah Gilmore “I really enjoyed making totem poles in Art” Charlie

en we built a car “My best memory was wh Danny.” Milo h wit in DT because it was

“My fa vourite memor was on y the res id trip wh en Elea ential no stuffe d her f r ace wit cake!” h Grace

15

Year 4

Adventures in Year 4 ling woke up at 7.05 am fee MONDAY “I ing my h wit to Hooke Court excited about go friends.

and talking on the coach After 3 hours of games to go fossil hunting. We we arrived at the beach which are creatures ites were looking for belem and that are now that look like mini squids s we were looking for wa extinct!! The other fossil had lunch on We ll. she il’s sna a ks like an ammonite which loo s a massive wa ich for Hooke Court wh the beach. We headed rules and the all to d s. We listene building with lovely ground went outside n the and tea us a delicio had fire practice. We had e to get tim s yed football. Soon it wa for a run around and pla lly well.” ready for bed. I slept rea

t TUESDAY “We woke up and had a delicious breakfas and split

it was toast, beans, cereal and fruit. We got dressed into 2 groups. The first activity was rafting. First we watched Dan build a raft and then we tied all of it together. We put them in the water and went on from there. Next we did a Time Team dig and found lots of cool stuff such as part of a toilet and some old pottery.

After dinner we played on the adventure playground and washed and sorted our Time Team findings.”

Year 4 enjoyed an action-packed day I enjoyed in the sunshine at Folly Farm. building a woven

TRIP TO HOOKE COURT

Year 4 pupils and staff had an exciting, if exhausting, time at Hooke Court in Dorset.

WEDNESDAY

“In the common room we were told we were going to Lyme Regis for the day, the coach was late so we talked about what sea defences Lyme Regis had and wha t they did to help protect the land. Lym e Regis has sea walls which are mas sive walls shaped like an arch. They also have stones on half the beach which takes away som e of the power of the crashing waves like the sea wall.

At the beach the sun was dazzling in the sky but there was a chilly breeze. We met a man who was going to show us the sea defences and take us on a walk. The first defence we saw was the sea wall. The sea wall was twice the size that I imagined it wou ld be. Next we went to the beach. We went to the peb bly part. When we got there it was time for lunch. We had our lunch sitting on a low wall about 2 feet high. It was tuna sandwiches, a packet of raisins and a bag of crip s. I was ravenous. As I was having lunch I looked at the ama zing view of the sea.

We headed for the coach in the after noon to go back to the Upper. I was exhausted. Finally we arrived back at the Upper, mums and dads were all wait ing outside. I had enjoyed the trip thoroughly.”

hurdle in the stable.

The countryside location in Pensford was a beautiful spot to find out about Viking life and Jake W crafts. The children spent the day learning how the Vikings used the I liked it when we made woodlands. The children did a pictures with mud, mixture of craft activities using berries and wild natural materials and enjoyed a garlic. I never knew picnic lunch followed by a Viking it was possible! tale. A very happy day!

I enjoyed Maddie R making fences, painting, going to the woods and everything else!

Leo P I liked it when we were painting the pictures because you used mud, berries and plants.

I painted a tiger.

Phoebe G

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I liked bashing the wrapped wool on the table to make felt.

Martha S I loved it when we went into the woods and made pictures with mud, sticks, berries and garlic leaves.

It was awesome!

Louis B

I liked that it was sunny all day and we had a picnic in the countryside.

Aoife T I like the stories but I didn’t like it......

I loved it! I like the way Vikings thought of their gods.

Oliver B

Year 4

The Beau Street Hoard Year 4 have been studying The Romans this term and have had some extra activities planned to bring their learning to life. Firstly, Heritage Services paid the year group a visit to talk about the incredible discovery known as ‘The Beau Street Hoard’. Sophie gave a presentation to the groups and explained how approximately 17,500 silver Roman coins, dating from between 32BC and 274AD were discovered in leather bags, buried in Beau Street in 2008. The site is 150 metres from the Roman Baths and was found by archaeologists during the excavation for the Thermal Spa. It is the largest hoard ever found in a British Roman Town. Although it is not known exactly why the coins were stored underground, it is likely that they were buried to keep them safe during a turbulent period. The intention would have been to recover the coins once the troubles had passed, but for whatever reason the owners were unable to do so.

The children had the opportunity to handle some of the coins and use magnifiers to take a closer look at the details on them. The children had a go at solving some Maths exercises based on the coins and the values.

OUR ROMAN EXPERIENCES The Roman Baths

“It was interesting when we saw the bath but it was green! We saw a stonemason and he said, “I need slaves!” Leo

Last Friday, the Year group took a walk into town to visit the Roman Baths and explore the site and museum. It was a busy morning but what a fascinating experience to have on our doorstep! Here are some snippets from the children’s reports, which sum up the trip:

“We were told to wear an audio guide. We went around and when we saw a number we typed it in and it would tell us what we were looking at.” Maisie

“Last Friday was the best day ever. First my group went in the Education Centre. We tried on Roman clothes. We looked so silly. You should have seen the boys!” Alexa

“When we went outside I really started to get a feel for what it would have been like to be a Roman.” Phoebe

“My favourite part of the morning was when we got to dress up in Roman dresses and the boys in togas. I looked so ridiculous in my outfit but some girls looked good in theirs!”

Maddie “We learnt that the Romans had under floor heating and we dressed up in togas and made mosaics.” Basti “Whilst we were walking around the main bath, we met a Roman. He fought in the army. He showed us his armour and the chest piece of armour could fold up so he could easily put it away.” Aoife

“Listening to our audio guides (in the museum) was fun! The guides asked us questions and told us what it would be like 2000 years ago.” Alex

“It would be amazing in the Roman times at the Baths” Louis “It would have been very busy 2000 years ago with servants running around and a priest giving sacrifices.

Also, people would get oiled massages.” Olly Barry We look forward to our Roman morning in February when the children will be doing Roman crafts.

Katy Elliott, Sarah-Jane Maunder and Marie Gibson

“I was very interested. We asked some questions. One of the questions was, “How many people have you killed?” Sophia “There was another bath and the Romans believed the goddess Sulis Minerva lived in it and the bubbles were her breath.” Arthur

17

Year 5

Mill on the Brue

T

he children in Year 5 started their year at the wonderful Mill On The Brue residential centre.

We are always so impressed by the range of activities that the centre provides for the children; the accommodation and catering are fantastic and mean this trip is a firm favourite of both the children and the staff!

Whilst the physical challenge and the opportunity to learn new skills are excellent, it is the progress the children make in their interpersonal and social skills which stands out. This year, it was lovely to see the children move forward in their empathy and understanding for others, their leadership skill-set and their ability to problem solve and think logically. A few of the children were glowing with pride after overcoming their fear of heights on what is the third longest zip-wire in the UK!

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Year 5

Tudor day has always been

a favourite for the children and was an enriching experience for them.

Henry VIII himself made an appearance and, together with Anne Boleyn, spent a day with the children guiding them through Tudor activities. This ranged from churning butter, Tudor cooking, armour dressing and finally culminating in an impressive musket shot on Summerhill Field!

The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children and they looked so impressive in their Tudor costumes.

During the Autumn Term they also had the opportunity to visit a replica ship of Giovanni Caboto, or as he is more familiarly known, John Cabot.

‘The Matthew’ was an eye-opening experience for our children who were captivated by the story of this famous Tudor explorer.

The music trip to the Abbey stands out as another example of the rich experience Year 5 had throughout the academic year. The children took part in some small-group rhythm and singing workshops before joining with a large number of schools from the area to perform the pieces they had learned during the morning. As always, our children showed how comfortable and confident they are to sing – they produced a wonderful sound!

Soon after this trip we visited the @Bristol Science Centre. If you have not had the chance to visit yet, please do take your children for a day there. It is a wonderful centre full of interactive and exciting learning opportunities. The pupils loved their day and were discussing the displays for weeks afterwards!

Year 5 had a fantastic time enjoying the sights and sounds of the Avon river as part of their Summer Term Geography topic. They were lucky enough to see herons and kingfishers and as always represented the school excellently. It was a valuable experience that gave them a lovely opportunity to see their learning outside of the classroom. We were lucky enough to have sunshine all day and enjoyed our school lunches playing in Victoria Park; a well-earned reward after a hard-working year for the children.

The success of the Water Aid fundraising event that Year 5 coordinated on Summerhill Field was a fitting conclusion to the year that showcased their strength as a Year group. The staff had the chance to relax in the sun whilst the children independently ran their own stalls, helping the Pre-Prep to get involved and giving everyone a brilliant morning. We hope that they can look back with pride and fond memories on what has been a stunning year!

Luke Hopwood

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Year 6 MR MURPHY ARRIVED IN SEPTEMBER AND FITTED SEAMLESSLY INTO THE YEAR 6 TEAM, ADDING NEW IDEAS, HUMOUR AND ENERGY. HE SOON MADE HIS MARK ON ICT AND CODING IS NOW A BIG FEATURE OF ICT LESSONS.

fantastic year

What a Year 6 has had!

T he school year began with a feast of Shakespeare. All the children were involved in the staging of two powerful productions: Macbeth and Richard III. It was inspiring to see how well they coped with Shakespearian language – this is surely the way to introduce children to Shakespeare.

Our residential trip to France was the highlight of the Summer Term and of the year. Everyone enjoyed it and had loads of fun – homesickness was minimal, sea sickness non-existent, participation in the activities 100%, French-speaking impressive and the learning of independence a key feature.

An annual Year 6 event is the Maths Challenge at Red Maids School. Two teams of two children were very high in the rankings for their performance in this – a considerable feat involving skill and concentration

An innovation of this year has been to make each of the children a monitor for some aspect of school life. Most children have found this to be challenging and rewarding and it has been a great help for members of staff. PE monitors now check teams on a Wednesday morning, art monitors help with face painting for productions, playground monitors organise playground equipment, editorial assistants write reports for the newsletter… the list goes on.

The next event was the small matter of the entrance exam. The children had prepared for this, but not to the exclusion of a rich and varied curriculum. All the children were successful and should be very proud of their achievements.

The next event in a packed calendar was a concert at the O2 Arena, where keen singers (and not such keen singers alike) became part of a choir of 6000. It was a memorable day out for all.

A visit to the Bristol Life Skills Centre gave practical experience in what to do in a wide variety of emergency situations from house fires to dangers on railways.

Over the year, top level sport has been a constant feature with very successful teams in rugby, hockey, netball, cross country, swimming, cycling, biathlon, football, cricket, rounders and horse riding.

School trips have been fun and informative, and have contributed hugely to the children’s learning. Our trips this year were to Sevington Victorian School, The Museum of Bath at Work, The SS Great Britain, M J Church Recycling and Bath Abbey.

Visitors also enriched our curriculum. They have included popular author, Shane Hegarty; the Reverend Rachel Borgas who taught us about John Wesley and her role as a Methodist minister. Scientist, Andy Radford, who leads the Dwarf Mongoose Project at Bristol University and who told us about the work of a field biologist; Maxine Palmer, childbirth expert, who talked to the children about pregnancy and childbirth; and Sam Young, school nurse from the Senior School, who guided the girls through the changes they will experience in puberty.

As I write, the children are rehearsing for their summer musical, ‘Just So’. Their level of commitment is impressive; they are fully engaged not just in singing and acting but in directing and developing their own and each other’s roles and putting their all into what promises to be a memorable production.

Visits to the Senior School transfer have been a feature of the end of term with a range of activities on Moving Up Morning and Induction Evening and pond dipping in the KS pond followed by use of the Biology Lab to explore their finds. ‘Just So’ rehearsals (with a break for lunch in the KS dining hall) and performances will take place in the theatre. By the time the children arrive at KS in September, the Senior School will be quite a familiar place.

Not all our children are moving onto KS. Alejandra, who has spent the year with us learning English (and she really has learned English in that time!) will be returning to Spain and other children will be leaving for other schools around Bath and beyond. We wish them every success in their new schools and hope they keep in touch with their friends at KPS. This will be the last report I will ever write for a school magazine as retirement approaches after 20 years at KPS. Last week I found a photo of my first class here when the school was still situated in Hermitage House. It consisted of seven children: five girls and two boys! How things have changed! The photo shows them sitting by the canal where I had taken them for some field work.

I had simply walked out of school with the children – no other member of staff, no risk assessment, no mobile phone, no first aid kit or medications! Now we have sixty children in Year 6. Our trip to France required each of us to take a doorstep-sized block of risk assessments and all the staff backpacks were full of inhalers and epipens! However, more children bring more opportunities, especially to make friends, and the overwhelming impression I have as I leave this Year 6, is what good friends they all are – watching them play together on the Adventure Playground is a delight!

Susan Butcher

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Year Year6 6

IN MAY 2015, YEAR 6 WENT ON A TRIP OF A LIFETIME. ACCORDING TO YEAR 6, IT WAS THE MOST EXCITING TRIP EVER.

Un Voyage en Normandie The activities were the best part. The Parcours de Santé was the most muddy assault course known to man. The archery had arrows flying everywhere. The climbing had people hanging in a harness trying to reach the footholds. Canoeing was a challenge and left most of the children freezing cold!

We also did bread making, or fabrication du pain in French.

These tasted delicious and were made in lots of different shapes and sizes. The best part was that we got to sing in French – very loudly!

The mini farm was a bucketful of cuteness! We all got to hold baby bunnies and also fed goats and chickens. There was even a massive pig which looked as if it had a moustache.

We all learnt “I would like some more bread, please” off by heart in French, as well as other necessary kitchen phrases. Food was plentiful and delicious. We even tried snails!! Year 6 learnt so much French and had to listen completely in French as well!

No trip could match this one, and we want it all to happen all over again!

Matty Wylie, Year 6

Days Out On the morning of the second day, the Year 6 went to the D-day Landing museum. It was full of lots of interesting war mementos that included uniforms, deep-sea diving suits, and even the Kingswood School badge. They had a short talk about the floating Mulberry Harbour. An interesting fact to know is that the harbour was designed in Kingswood School! The talk showed lots of interesting facts with the help of a moving board. After visiting the gift shop the children stopped by the landing beaches to eat lunch and to admire the remains of the architecture of Mulberry Harbour.

The children then hiked up to the 360° cinema, where they saw a very moving film. There were people lying dead on the floor, people too shell-shocked to even comprehend what was going on around them, Hitler and Churchill giving speeches in their own native language, and the sounds of war blasting from the speakers.

On the morning of the fourth day, Year 6 went to the market. There were lots of interesting things to buy, if you had the money! There were magic wallets, their secret was magnets, orange juicers that with a few twists were squeezing out a refreshing juice, lavender

French Trip poem

we were all very tired, After a long day of travelling e we wondered if teachers We arrived at the chateau so tolatbe fired were going getting to sleep That night, it was no troublehad to count sheep And no-one, absolutely no-one, the best way Delicious breakfasts were always-filled day To start each and every fun muddy and wet In quite a few activities we sgot nie we all wanted one as a pet And when we held the baby bun d lots and had fun On every day trip we discovere beaches we were amazed at And when we went to the D-dveaymen had done what the bra ple we met We were inspired by all the peol never forget wil we The French trip was one Grace Stuart, Year 6 bags, shoes, clothes and watches! And of course there were the traditional French Crepes, without which no market is complete.

The children then went on a coach to an area they could eat their lunch before travelling to Mont St. Michel, a monastery on an island which had also been used as a defensive building.

It gave a good view of what it must have been like to be a monk, if you ignore the building work. It was very impressive to look at, and even more so when you knew how it was built. It was compared to a giant puzzle. If you didn’t know how each little piece would fit in, then the whole building would collapse. The stone masons were the people who built it, and they must have been incredible architects.

After viewing the whole of the monastery the children wove down into a mini-market. Lots more objects were bought and they included pictures, toys, sweets and snow globes. The children continued down the impressive island to the coach.

Naomi Waheed, Year 6

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Year 6 - A Parent’s Perspective

14 YEARS A KPS PARENT! My first visit to Kingswood Preparatory School remains crystal clear. We were new to Bath, naive to schooling and feeling frankly flustered by a visit to another wellknown Bath educational establishment.

14 years ago the school was smaller, the uniform blue and Miss Newbury was in charge. We were greeted by Mr Cornah (then deputy head) in full cricket whites. He conducted us around roomfuls of happy children, extracting the odd 50p from behind ears and giving them free rein to answer our questions, which they did with aplomb. We signed up on the spot and have never looked back.

Our 14 years in numbers looks something like this: • Headmistresses....................................

..

2

... 2 • Headmasters...........................................

• Sports days

...........................................

24

... 46 • Parents evenings...............................

• Number of times Mr Dixon ........ seen dancing The Macarena......

bless you just the once actually but for the memory.

100 • Number of nit letters ........... > at • Number of days grateful th 14 we have Mr Shrub.................. 365x ...........

• Total spent on school fees best not go there!

• Total number of days Bates 95 children spent at KPS.............. 37 • Total number of days they est 0 have not wanted to go....an hon

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We have watched as changes come and go, as the school continues to progress and develop whilst still producing happy, well-rounded, interested, emotionally robust and educated kids.

A mother from another school was overheard at a cross country saying “You can spot the Kingswood children – they’re the ones covered in mud!”. Long may this remain a school that truly champions childhood.

We are truly grateful to all who have taught and guided our children along the way and from those of us finally moving on – we will miss you.

Polly Bates

Year 6 - A Parent’s Perspective As the weeks race by and the summer term draws to a close, it seems hard to believe that our eldest son’s time at Kingswood Prep is drawing to a close. Where did those last seven years go? In some respects it has whizzed by in the blink of an eye, but when we stop to think about what has been achieved and how both Seb and Dominic have grown and matured since starting at KPS, we wonder how we managed it all in just 7 years!

Seb started in Reception and Dom in the Nursery. We had our hearts set on Kingswood from our very first visit. We were impressed with the facilities even then, before the playground was updated and the zip-wire was added, but more importantly we loved the nurturing, caring ethos which was evident throughout the school.

E

leanor joined KPS in Year 4 from a Cotswolds primary school because our circumstances changed. She settled in very quickly and was well supported by a ‘buddy’.

Eleanor has thrived in lessons taught by subject specialists and she has embraced the holistic nature of KPS. She had not played many of the sports on offer before, but she soon broke into the A teams across the board. She has loved weeks which have been peppered with a diverse mix of sports and her sporting highlight has been competing at the Olympic Park in the GB Schools’ Biathlon Championships which would not have been possible without KPS. As parents we have witnessed her develop new skills and passions in Art, DT, Drama and Music. We have been proud to see her tread the boards and perform in concerts at school, the Roman Baths, The Tobacco Factory and at the 02 Arena in London.

The wide variety of extra-curricular activities has been a huge plus for Eleanor and she has particularly enjoyed horse-riding, outdoor pursuits, cooking and various musical groups. Eleanor has achieved success thanks to staff encouragement in LAMDA, ESB, MSF and ABSM examinations.

Eleanor has thoroughly enjoyed the three residential trips she has undertaken and the gradual increase in the length of these stays over the three years was very well-planned.

The recent French trip will live long in her memory.

We as parents have very occasionally had queries and we have been listened to by the staff in question and the matters have been followed up effectively, which has been very reassuring. As both of us are working parents, we have found the flexibility of the School office and the wonderful staff in High Vinnalls very helpful at crux times.

We have watched as our boys have grown in confidence and been encouraged to take their own particular journey through their Kingswood years. They have been given opportunities far beyond those we could have hoped for, talents have been nurtured, lifelong interests have been sparked, and great friendships have been made. The Extra Curricular Activities have given the boys the opportunity to try fencing, archery, chess, cross-country, golf, ceramics and prop-making to name but a few. The exciting and well-planned residential trips have built up a growing independence and confidence in both boys. Seb’s recent week in France was a particular highlight and has left him with memories which will stay with him forever, even if his grasp of the French language doesn’t!

It has not all been plain sailing. There have been times when a request for another fancy dress costume has nearly pushed us over the edge.

We have created mini Romans, Vikings, Victorians, pirates, chefs and Oompa Loompas, costumes to be evacuated in and costumes to be transported away to another country or culture in. But all these experiences have brought learning to life. As a family when we have needed support and assistance it has always been forthcoming and challenges have been overcome in a caring and sensitive manner.

We will remember watching talented pupils performing Romeo and Juliet in the stunning surroundings of the Roman Baths with the Abbey as a backdrop, the nervous energy expended living every line with Seb as Richard III in the Tobacco Factory or when he introduced The Fonz to a packed audience in the Guildhall and the pride we felt as Dominic scored his first rugby try or recited his poem with confidence to a packed room of parents in the Poetry Cafe.

We are sure that more such memories will be formed in the years to come with Dominic. For now we are grateful that, although Seb’s KPS journey is nearing its end, we still have a few more opportunities to drive into the wonderful school grounds, admire the stunning views across Bath and make our boys groan by saying ‘You don’t know how lucky you are!’ We’re sure one day they will.

Juliet and Andrew Morley

Eleanor enjoyed being a buddy herself and she was pleased to have various responsibilities as a Head of House and a Sports Monitor in Year 6. Since Eleanor’s arrival there has not been a day when she has not wanted to attend school! We are most grateful to all the staff for helping to nurture such an inquisitive, happy and wellbalanced child.

Roderick and Satoko Duke

23

Year 6 - A Parent’s Perspective

G

race has grown up at Kingswood, and it has been like an extended family to her, and by extension for me, throughout her formative years.

Having arrived in Bath via Cheltenham and London, we were looking for a school that had a strong moral backbone, outstanding pastoral care and a solid academic record. A place where children could still be children and weren’t ‘hot housed’ or taught that what you had is more important than what you are.

There are of course several schools that fit the bill in Bath but, just like finding a home, there is always the indefinable but crucial element that makes you feel “I’m home” - and Kingswood had it.

From the moment we entered the gates, with that glorious pastoral and ever-changing view, a delight with every season, we knew we were somewhere special. Crossing the playground, we could see the children were happy, effervescent and bubbly, and we were greeted with a wryly smiling Mr Cornah, who asked Grace if he could have 50p with a grin on his face, something she delighted in him asking her every time he saw her.

Grace has been lucky enough to have had wonderful teachers all through her time at the school, who have looked after her when she felt nervous, a bit shy or out of her depth and have gently guided her. They gave her wings, confidence in her abilities, the chance to speak up in class. Miss Diaz was wonderful with her English, allowing her to see the pleasure in writing from her imagination. Miss Woolley and Mrs Briggs showed her how exciting Maths could be and taught her to think laterally and logically. Mrs Cross helped develop Grace’s love of singing (which when she was younger she used to do constantly, even when on the phone). Mrs Fox’s art lessons have opened Grace’s eyes to the delights of art and she has loved having the chance to take part in the hockey and netball tournaments.

The list could go on and on. All the children at Kingswood have been lucky enough to be surrounded by kind, caring and inspiring teachers, who have shared their love of learning and their knowledge of and enthusiasm for their subjects. Grace has loved all the school trips too, both residential and day trips, so much so, that she hasn’t wanted to come home. The icing on the cake was being made one of the Head Girls.

Both Grace and I were overjoyed when she was accepted into all three London day schools that we applied for, a testament to the solid foundation and exemplary teaching she has been given at Kingswood. We were very grateful for the kind advice and guidance that Mr Brearey gave us both throughout the process.

We have both made some wonderful friends at Kingswood, who I hope will continue to stay friends for many years to come.

So a big ‘thank you’ to everyone at Kingswood; it is a special and unique place and both Grace and I have been very lucky to be part of the Kingswood family.

Jacqueline Kannepalli

KPS was our first choice for schools when we moved to Bath; we loved the warmth and friendliness of the atmosphere, plus the fact that there is so much space for the children to play and run around.

First impressions proved to be right as this caring, individual approach has continued throughout the children’s time at KPS. The staff are unfailingly dedicated and generous with their time, and the happy, relaxed atmosphere means that the children can thrive on their own terms whilst learning and playing alongside their friends.

They have so many opportunities to discover something they love doing, both during lessons and in after-school clubs or at playtimes. The unofficial motto “Be Kind Be Kind Be Kind” seems to run through everything that happens at school and, as parents, we have always felt that if we need any support we can come and ask without feeling uncomfortable about it.

With two of our children now in Senior School, we only have a couple of years left to enjoy KPS – although it will be sad to leave, it’s great to know that the school has allowed our kids to develop their self-confidence, maturity and respect for other people so that they are ready for and excited about the move up to “Big School”.

Justin and Rachel Small

24

Maths

e have now come to the end of our first year of our new maths scheme and curriculum content. So the big question is have we raised the standard of maths at KPS?

W

After analysing the assessments I can definitely announce that more children at KPS are achieving scores above the national average than we have ever had before. Well done to pupils, staff and parents who support us so well.

To keep this momentum going, I have met with all the staff who teach maths and drawn up an action plan on how we can further improve the quality of lessons and assessment results.

Here are a few of the actions that will be in place for next year.

• Get additional text books and resources to extend the top and middle sets of each Year.

• Staff to add own resource activities that fit into the objective. If you love doing something, use it – be creative but cover objective.

• Boxes of maths packs permanently in each maths teaching room to include – pencils, rubbers, rulers, a white board and pen, compasses, protractor etc. This will reduce the time spent between lessons.

• Promotion of abacus games so all children are using them regularly.

One morning in June I asked my class if they would rather make sea creatures for their 3D boxes or have a Maths lesson. 11 out of 16 said they would like a Maths lesson! I had a smile on my face all day.

I look forward to being able to share with you our continued success in Maths.

Sian Higgins

MATHS CHALLENGE Despite the snowy start to the day, Mrs Alison Ward and 4 of our Year 4 mathematicians travelled to King Edward’s School on Wednesday to take part in an afternoon of maths challenges.

After 2 hours of problem solving, games, activities and a lot of fun, our KPS team came second overall and our girls’ team won their category.

Well done to Matthew Bacon, Charlie Ward, Aoife Targett and Emily Hersch.

25

Boarding at KPS

High Vinnalls an A to Z of Bath’s Best Boarding House A is for amazing children who live in the house, coping so

h is for homework! Yes, I know but we have to do this too!

b is for Bath’s Best Boarding House! (We like to brag a little!) c is for comfy bedrooms and cosy living accommodation.

I is for illness and medication! If the boarders are poorly

well with living away from home under the care of Mr and Mrs Ward and Mr and Mrs Hull.

d is for duty staff. Each weekend the staff at KPS take it

in turns to take the boarders for different activities. The boarders love having different staff visit and also get to benefit from their varying expertise!

e is for extraordinary care. The boarders receive the best

pastoral care from all of the house staff. There is always someone who will listen to the smallest of worries, as well as offer guidance when things might not go quite right. The house staff are in constant communication with parents and form tutors to ensure the happiness of all the children.

f is for friendly faces; there is always someone to talk to at High Vinnalls whether it be a worry or sharing some exciting news!

g is for wonderful grounds. The boarders get to play outside

daily (when the weather allows) and they all make the most of the wonderful facilities we have.

We offer a chance for day pupils to join us for supper and then do their prep (ensuring that time at home can be a lot more fun!) they are looked after by Mrs Ward at High Vinnalls. If need be, they go to the medical centre where they are helped

by Sister Skinner, Nurse Gillian or Nurse Sam. The doctor comes to visit too and we can easily make appointments for them.

J is for Jenny who cooks and serves our breakfast at HV

every day. There’s always cereals, porridge, yoghurts, toast, fruit and, of course, cooked breakfast. Day pupils are welcome to join us for breakfast if they need early morning care.

K is for kit bags. Mr and Mrs Ward and Mr Hull always help the boarders to be prepared for school. Kit bags and school bags are packed the night before to help ensure mornings run as smoothly as possible.

L is for Lucie who serves our supper. All the children adore

Lucie! Our supper is brought down from the Senior School and is always delicious. We get to choose from 3 options what we would like!

M is for movie night. Friday night is normally

the night that we snuggle under our duvets in the lounge watching a film. There’s also a chance to have tuck or popcorn!

26

Boarding at KPS N is for night time. The boarders sleep in one of four dorms

(2 boys’ dorms and 2 girls’ dorms). Lights out is normally 8.30pm. The boarders get to read before bed, after a shower, and there is more than likely a story to listen to on the CD player after lights out.

O is for Open house. We don’t hold open days at HV but

anyone is welcome to attend one of our coffee mornings to gain an insight as to what goes on here. There are always delicious pastries too!

P is for parties. The boarders get invited to, and attend,

lots of birthday parties throughout the year. They are also allowed to invite a friend from school for a sleepover if they would like to!

Q is for questions! There are always lots of questions at High

Vinnalls…”Am I in a fixture today?” “Where are my pants?”

“Can we have an audio book tonight?” Whatever the question, the staff will do their best to answer it.

W is for weekends. The weekends at High Vinnalls are

always filled with brilliant activities. There are trips to wonderful places such as Longleat, Cotswold Water Park or Salisbury Cathedral, but there are also some homebased activities like craft days, shopping for and designing our own supper, or archery. There are also opportunities for some ‘chill out’ time when the term gets busy and the boarders are tired.

X is for xtra special! HV

may be small but this lends itself brilliantly to ensuring the care of very young children.

The staff are always fully involved with what is going on with the boarders and there is a very special family atmosphere here.

R is for rest and relaxation. As well as having lots of fun and

taking part in exciting activities, there is always a chance to relax in our conservatory reading quietly or listening to music.

S is for Skype. The boarders have regular contact with

home. They can phone whenever they are free to do so.

Many choose to email or Skype so that they can see their parents whilst talking to them. Parents are also welcome to pop in whenever they are in Bath.

T is for Theme Night. This is often

the highlight of the term where the house gets transformed and amazing activities take place. There is a themed supper and, more often than not, some fancy dress! Recent theme nights have included ‘World of Books’, ‘Spanish Night’ and ‘Football World Cup’.

Y is for ‘Wacky Wednesdays’ (it wouldn’t have been ‘Wacky’

if I’d put this under ‘W’!) WW is the highlight of the week where the boarders enjoy a vast range of activities in order to have a complete break from their busy school lives. This year WW have included den building and campfire, quiz night, bingo night, indoor rock climbing, picnics in Victoria Park, making bird boxes, pub games night and so many more!

Z is for zzzzzzz! We are all feeling tired at the end of a very busy year at Bath’s Best Boarding House, but we are already looking forward to the next one!

Alison and Andrew Ward

U is for underwear and other dirty

clothes! We are lucky that our dirty laundry gets taken to the Senior School where it gets washed. It is delivered back to HV a couple of days later ready for Mrs Ward to sort out into piles.

V is for visitors! We love having visitors at High Vinnalls

whether they be coming for breakfast, supper or a sleepover. Overnight visitors are always made to feel very welcome and are assigned a buddy to look after them for their stay in the house.

27

Creative Arts

Many large-scale school events see the team of Mrs Cross and Mrs McGlynn working seamlessly together! Drama and Music fit together as subjects and one cannot easily exist without the other. Our Gala Concert and Summer Shows are great examples of this partnership in the performing arts at KPS.

It’s a Baby!

News

PUPILS IN NURSERY AND RECEPTION CLASSES TOOK CENTRE STAGE AS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS GOT UNDER WAY AT KINGSWOOD PREP SCHOOL. Nursery children performed in a play written especially for them by one of their teachers. They took to the stage with confidence and sang the much loved songs with gusto to a packed audience of proud Mums, Dads and Grandparents.

Children in the Reception classes also put on their very own production of ‘It’s a Baby!’ The play was narrated by one of the pupils and Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men, Mary and Joseph and a very tired Innkeeper took to the stage and sang and danced their way through the story of the very first Christmas.

‘Pirates Versus Mermaids’ was the Pre-Prep show this year.

It was a swashbuckling tale of Captain Scary Pants and his pirate crew, who have a real problem: they can’t swim and need to learn in order to graduate from the pirate academy. The mermaids come to the rescue but not before both pirates and mermaids have to learn to get on with each other. All of Year 1 and Year 2 were involved and great fun was had by all.

tes PiraVersus Mermaids

28

Creative Arts

Alice

the Musical

Just So

It was not the first time that Mrs Cross and Mrs McGlynn have produced ‘Alice the Musical’ at KPS, but it is such a great story with such wonderful music that it bears repeating every so often! This time, Years 3 and 4 were the stars, all singing and dancing to classic numbers such as ‘Down, Down, Down’, ‘I’m Late’ and ‘Off with Her Head’. Special thanks to Mrs Fox and the Props Club who produced an amazing backdrop and superb bottles, cakes, clocks and a gigantic mushroom for us.

‘Just So’ was the Year 5 and 6 production in the Kingswood Theatre, right at the end of the Summer Term. It was a very colourful tale, based around the ‘Just So’ stories by Rudyard Kipling. In our production, an Elephant’s Child set off to change the ways of the ferocious crab, and met the Kolokolo Bird, elephants, giraffes, zebras, jaguars, leopards, a kangaroo and dingo dog, wallabies and a scary crocodile along the way.

She also gets blown off course and lands on an altogether uninhabited island, inhabited by the Parsee Man, who is having a feud with an unloved Rhino, and his stove, many chefs and ingredients.

All the children helped to direct their scenes and choreograph the show. They performed superbly and there were too many excellent performances to pick out individuals. Suffice it to say that the show was very colourful and showed the tremendous achievements of so many talented children.

29

Creative Arts

NE

O MIT

AD

NE

ADMIT O

Gala concert Pupils took to the stage in the Kingswood Theatre to take part in our annual Gala Concert, a celebration of all aspects of the creative arts that they take part in over the school year.

In front of a packed auditorium the children played instruments, sang, danced, recited poetry and took part in drama extracts; both individually and in groups.

The school orchestra began the evening with a rousing rendition of Peer Gynt’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ and a selection of ensembles, choirs and individuals gave memorable performances. Throughout the show a huge range of instruments was played and a wide range of musical genres embraced.

Pupils performed in short extracts from Macbeth and Richard III, as well as giving performances from more contemporary drama and recitals of poetry.

30

Creative Arts

Poetry Out Loud 2014 The position of overall champion of this year’s Poetry Out Loud was hotly contested in our ‘Grand Finale’. Polished performances impressed adjudicator Mrs Lynne Barnes, Chair of the Mid-Somerset Festival, while the appreciative audience was entertained with a range of verse from classic to modern. After much deliberation, winners were announced.

Congratulations to all our finalists.

YEAR 3

YEAR 4

YEAR 5

YEAR 6

Max Kirkwood

Dom Morley Iona Stokes Alfie Bassett – Year 3 Winner

Dotty Hodge – Year 4 Winner; Poetry Out Loud Champion 2014 Jack Beveridge Phoebe Gilpin Basti Langkilde Imogen Hall Oscar Bankes

Louis Carfantan Sofia Ross Freddie Stockton Phoebe Hill Oliver Williams – Year 5 Winner Lola Gulotti

Rose Bates Rory Ferguson Ruby O’Mahony Ben Lockey Bella Shorten Finn Morris – Year 6 Winner

Mid-Somerset Festival What a great few days we had during the Speech and Drama section of the Mid-Somerset Festival! After a very busy term, some children still managed to squeeze in a class or two, whether in acting, mime, verse speaking or reading aloud. Their bravery in performing before an unfamiliar audience (let alone an adjudicator) was fantastic. Thankfully, all the hard work paid off and our children came away with super results, smart certificates, and even some trophies.

Special mention must go to Matty Wylie, whose acting performance made everyone proud. Also worthy of mention are Freddie Stockton who won his solo mime class and Charlie Stevens who won his acting class.

Second places for acting were earned

by Seb Morley and Freddie Stockton; third placings were gained by Mia Randolph, Olivia Taylor, Alice Small, George Hudson and Basti Langkilde.

During the Creative Writing morning, Alice Small was the delighted winner of the trophy for the Junior Poem (10 Years). Isabel Milborrow was second in the Junior Poem (Under 8 Years), while Phoebe Hill took second place for the Junior Short Story (9 and under), just pipping Oliver Barry who gained third place.

Congratulations to Charlie Stevens Following his success in the acting and reading aloud classes of the Mid-Somerset Festival, Charlie was one of only five people asked to perform his solo acting scene at a recent meeting held to thank the MSF volunteers for all their hard work. Needless to say, his performance went down a treat!

Freddie Stockton Meanwhile, Freddie is the first-ever current KPS pupil to be invited to compete for the prestigious Bath Young Actor (Junior) Award. Freddie took part in verse, solo acting, mime and memorised prose classes and clearly impressed the BYA panel as he is one of only three BYA (Junior) finalists picked from all the speech and drama classes. Freddie will perform a 10-minute themed recital in the competition in October. We wish him luck. Go, Freddie!

Not only did all our children perform well; they were first-rate ambassadors for the school, showing wonderful support for each other and excellent behaviour. We are very proud of every one of them. Thank you to all who took part – and well done!

Marie McGlynn

31

Creative Arts

Success with ESB Results In the Spring Term, thirty children from Years 2 – 5 sat their ESB exam. English Speaking Board gives children the opportunity to express themselves and to develop their oral communication. All children are required to present three prepared pieces: a poem, a reading and a presentation on a subject of personal interest. This year, the children worked very hard throughout two terms and always showed an excellent level of commitment to ESB. This year’s ESB results were brilliant! Twelve children achieved a distinction and eighteen children achieved a merit plus endorsed. In addition to this, Alfie Bassett in Year 3 was awarded an Outstanding Certificate for showing exceptional promise. All the children should be very proud of themselves.

The visiting examiner was incredibly impressed with the children’s level of preparation and also commented on their good manners across the two days. The examiner felt the children spoke knowledgeably and confidently, making excellent use of the boards and problems to illustrate specific points.

As a teacher, it was fantastic to watch the children show real focus to ESB and to have prepared all three elements with such attention to detail. A fantastic set of results and very well done indeed to all who took part!

Emily Baumgardt

ESB Exam Results 2015 Sofia Aysan Ruby Bradbury Priya Girdher Connie Harding Beatrice Hersch Rory Targett Jack Williams Beatrix Willis Alfie Bassett Daisy Bassett Monty Coxen Toby Day Isabel Gilmore Zoe Lee Eleanor Hurley Land Dora Magill Scarlett Smith Milo Johnson Stefiuk Grace Weston Leyla Aysan Hayley Crowhurst Emmy Denman Amelie Girdher Sophia Heath Emily Hersch Imogen Isaac Aoife Targett Phoebe Hill Alexander Keogh Sophie Parobek

Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 2 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 3 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 4 Year 5 Year 5 Year 5

Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Distinction Distinction Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction Merit Plus (endorsed) Distinction

Drama Scholars SEB MORLEY, BELLA SHORTEN AND RUBY O’MAHONY Seb (Richard III), Bella (Lady Macbeth) and Ruby (the Elephant’s Child) impressed the staff of the Kingswood Drama department and were delighted to be awarded a Drama Scholarship to the Senior School. Seb was also offered a Drama Scholarship to Prior Park.

We wish them all luck as they move on and will look out for them in future productions.

AWARD

LAMDA Exam Results 2015 MIME Grade One Mime Tom Blezard Distinction Lucia Batters Merit ACTING Entry Acting Harry Walsh Distinction Rachel Bedding Distinction Elizabeth Wylie Distinction Florence Shanahan Merit Grade One Acting Leyla Aysan Distinction Olivia Watts Distinction Dillon Hodge Distinction Marnie Lister Distinction Rose Bates Merit Evie Vaid Merit Sophie Walsh Distinction Isabella Canham Distinction Alberta Fryer Merit Annabel Barry Merit Anna Rose Read Merit Sterling Smith Merit Basti Langkilde Distinction

32

Phoebe Gilpin Bea Harding Olivia Taylor George Hudson Tilly Bankes Aster Haydon Grace Horswell Sophia Jones Matty Wylie

Distinction Distinction Merit Distinction Distinction Merit Distinction Distinction Distinction

Grade Two Acting Lola Gulotti Merit Emily Bond Pass Ciara Newcastle Pass Charlie Stevens Distinction Cecilie Brooks Distinction Zillah Austin Merit Freddie Stockton Distinction Seren Johnson Stefiuk

Distinction Ruby O’Mahony Distinction Grade Three Acting Bella Shorten Distinction Alice Small Distinction Seb Morley Distinction

Science

e c e n g ie n

e c l S hal C

and

c i r En

t n e hm

ne of the innovations in Science this year has been the Enrichment and Challenge group. This has resulted in a couple of memorable afternoons of science plus an exciting trip to @Bristol. The small group included children from Years 2, 3 and 6, which was a wide age range to challenge, but the older children were able to help out with the younger, adding to the value of the days.

O

In the first session we made Gloop with PVA glue and Borax – an interesting chemical reaction which results in a material with strange properties to explore – pull it gently and it stretches, pull it quickly and it snaps, leave it alone and it flows like a liquid, throw it and it bounces like rubber ball. We also used red cabbage to make an indicator and tested different household acids and alkalis to watch the dramatic colour changes.

In the second session we explored the power of air pressure and the slowing effect of friction by making balloon rockets slide along different types of string and making mini hovercraft with CDs and balloons. Some of the younger children would have been happy playing with balloons and balloon pumps all afternoon with no further challenge! @Bristol was a fun day out for all. It was exciting to see the way the children interacted with the displays, flitting from one to another until they found one that really caught their attention, where they would stop and focus, ask questions and discover. The 3D Planetarium session gave added excitement and understanding of the night sky.

Another enrichment activity for all the children in Year 5 and 6 was a visit from Dr Andy Radford and one of his research assistants to talk about the Dwarf Mongoose Project. This is a long-running project at Bristol University which has been studying a colony of dwarf mongooses in South Africa. Dr Radford gave us a fascinating talk about the research methods used and his assistant, Charlotte, challenged the children to decide what she would need to put in her rucksack for a day in the field with the mongooses and then described her day.

Finally the children took part in an aural quiz in which they had to try to identify the meanings of the various calls made by the mongooses. We have several children whose burning ambition it is to become zoologists and this gave them valuable insight into the life of a real scientist.

Class science has been developing in interesting ways in the Pre-Prep using the Creative Curriculum. A Fizz Bang topic in Year 2 was particularly exciting, but as young children are naturally curious any activity can turn into science. Next year, in Year 3 and 4, Science will be an integrated part of the IPC and the new National Curriculum for Science will mean changes to the topics studied in Year 5 and Year 6 too, including a completely new module on Evolution and Inheritance.

Susan Butcher Science Co-ordinator

33

DT

Design

technology It has been another busy year in the Summerhill basement. The children get a real buzz out of their creative lessons, getting ‘hands-on’ with tools, wood, card, fabrics and, of course, too much glue!

ll Year groups have produced wonderful work, ranging from accurately measuring and cutting wood for the first time, to completing a fully researched model of a D-Day invention. It is a joy to see children succeed when undertaking a new skill and then go on to use it ever more successfully and confidently to make their ideas a reality.

A

One of the biggest projects this year involved Year 5 working on a combined arts project instigated by Wells Cathedral School. This involved many schools from across the region producing work inspired from the ‘jumbled’ medieval stained glass windows in the cathedral. For the DT strand on this theme, the children researched the wonderful world of hats, finally choosing a ‘beanie’ style hat to make.

All produced paper prototypes and accurate patterns before cutting black fleece material to size. It was then just a matter of learning to sew!

Brightly-coloured felt patches were then applied to represent the mixed up pieces of stained glass. The completed works were put on public display in the cathedral cloisters and were stunning and much admired.

Another big project was the pneumatic-powered vehicle challenge undertaken by Year 6, to demonstrate science in action.

34

DT

All had to design and make a small wooden vehicle incorporating a strong cardboard tube, sealed at one end, which would be the ‘motor’. After much designing, testing and problem solving, all were successfully fired across the playground after having compressed air blown into the tubes. Only one exploded, which in itself presented a unique learning opportunity as its dramatic demise was investigated. DT is never boring!

However ‘making stuff’, as the children describe it, is only a part of what we do in DT. Pride in the finished product is one thing, but it is the journey, the processes that lead to the finished article, that provides the learning. Throughout the year children explore materials and study in depth objects and inventions in the world around us, questioning the ‘what’, ‘how’, and ‘why’.

Their creativity and ideas are amazing and the subsequent whole-class discussions and questioning really are wideranging. In addition, all undertake construction challenges and practical problem solving activities which help to develop those all- important thinking skills.

DT at the Prep School continues to be a fun, hands-on, challenging subject for all of our pupils and provides a good foundation on which to build in later years.

Jeremy Chitson

35

Art

It is easy to maintain a love of art teaching in the Prep School as the children never fail to surprise and inspire me. Their limitless ideas and inquisitive nature result in vibrant colours and an adventurous use of media.

Artistic opportunities have been in abundance this year. Our annual Summer Art Competition, ‘Look At Me!’ resulted in some wonderful self-portraits displayed in our main hall. Pupils worked hard to create some beautiful ceramic poppies for Remembrance Day and we ran a very successful Christmas card project for the whole school during the Autumn Term. The Wells Cathedral exhibition forged a fantastic link with twelve other schools in the South West and gave our talented Year 5 students the chance to see some beautiful stained glass windows first hand. Our Year 6 art monitors also designed a mosaic egg for the Egg Theatre’s centenary celebrations.

Challenge and Enrichment classes have created a wonderful buzz and, with the help of Lorna Bode from the Bath Artists Studios, we have made a beautiful ceramic coral reef and some magnificent collaged peacocks. Our most recent visit was to the Victoria Art Gallery in which the children dressed up like the famous paintings and produced brightly coloured prints.

Teaching Year 2 in the Autumn Term, Year 1 in the Spring Term and Reception in the Summer

36

Art

Term has been a joy. Making ceramic dragons, Chinese mobiles, 3-dimensional planets and colourful aliens has kept me on my toes! Laughter and excitement always makes these lessons fun.

In Year 3, we learnt about colour theory by mixing in a wide range of media. In the Spring Term, we sculpted totem poles in papier-mâchÊ after learning about the symbolic meaning of the colours and icons. More recently, our focus has been on line drawing, learning how to fill the page with carefully observed detail.

Well done to all of our pupils for another year of stunning creations.

It is a real pleasure to look back at the range of work and celebrate the talented pupils of KPS!

Year 4 have studied how art can be used commercially, focusing initially on creating character illustrations for their favourite books. Pattern-making has allowed us to look at mass-produced printing and each child has designed their own part of a collaborative mobile.

With such an impressive display of portraiture, collage and ceramics in their exhibition, Year 5 have certainly shown their artistic versatility. Comments from other schools were extremely complimentary and they should feel very proud of their considerable achievement. Their recent Aboriginal designs have also seen them turn their hand to ink, learning about the origins of this spiritual art form.

Year 6 have made a huge impact, with their ceramic cakes being the most commented-on display we have had in the school. Children from as young as two years old have been attracted to the display case, choosing their favourite flavour!

Their acrylic paintings based on French Impressionists were also beautifully observed, followed by in-depth research into their lives and inspiration.

Karen Fox

37

Drama

EVERY CHILD IN THE SCHOOL HAS TAKEN PART IN A PRODUCTION OF SOME SORT AND THERE HAVE BEEN PLENTY MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE, PERFORM AND RESPOND TO DRAMA, WHETHER IN CLASS OR IN CLUBS. ABOVE ALL, EVERYONE HAS GROWN JUST THAT LITTLE BIT MORE IN CONFIDENCE... AND HAD SOME FUN TOO ALONG THE WAY.

SHAKESPEARE KPS pupils thrilled their audience in our first ever Shakespeare Evening. Every child in Year 6 was involved in acting in abridged productions of Macbeth and Richard III. The children tackled the scripts during their Drama lessons and brought them to life on the stage of Kingswood Theatre. The cast of Richard III also took their performance to the Tobacco Factory, Bristol as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. There they were praised for the maturity they brought to one of the Bard’s more complicated plots. Shakespeare’s original language was tackled with gusto and the range of murders and ghosts could not fail to captivate. The whole evening was an uplifting confidence boost for all involved. In fact, Year 6 is still buzzing!

My personal favourite was our first ever Year 6 Shakespeare Evening, held at Kingswood Theatre last November.

Every child in Year 6 was involved in one of two 30 minute productions – Richard III and Macbeth. (Richard III had already been staged with great success at The Tobacco Factory in Bristol.) The children worked extremely well as a team. They got to grips with the language and complicated plots and pulled off two amazing performances; it was very hard to imagine that most of the children were only 10 years old. I was extremely proud of them all.

A HUGE thank you to the ever-efficient and enthusiastic Drama Monitors and to the wonderfully supportive team of staff who have helped in so many ways.

Marie McGlynn

38

Drama

Costume-Making Project Update Thanks to the generosity of FoKPS, we have funds for the creation of a set of 30 Shakespearean Costumes for Year 6.

A team of volunteers, headed enthusiastically by Tracey Chalkey and Oksana Halligan, have sourced materials and patterns and have started to make up some beautiful costumes, the first of which can be seen in this photo.

Our upcoming Year 6 have just signed up for their chosen production and will start preparing abridged performances of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Autumn Term. They were delighted to be asked to model the designs.

If you think you would like to be involved in our costume project in any way at all, please contact Tracey, Oksana or Mrs McGlynn.

Thank you!

From the KPS Thespians

39

Music

What a W

Musical Year!

ith more children than ever learning instruments and having singing lessons, more music clubs and ensembles, and more concerts and special events, we really have become a school where music is heard all day every day, and where music is at the heart of what we do.

Concerts We started the year by taking one child from every class to sing to the elderly folk at Stratton House to celebrate Harvest. Every Year group in school has performed its own concert in the music room, when we have all played our favourite pieces to each other and to our families.

There have been 9 informal concerts on Friday afternoons when any children with pieces ready to perform can play, followed by tea and biscuits – a great way to finish the week.

We have also performed a concert for grandparents, when a selection of children who play every instrument we teach in school performed to thank our grandparents for all they do for us. We also performed in our huge annual Gala Concert in the Kingswood Theatre – for more about that see the pages about Performing Arts. Members of Year 6 also performed 2 mini concerts to the children in Reception, to introduce them to orchestral instruments. A very special concert near the end of the year was with the Brookes Trio, from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, who came to visit for the day, performed to us, led master classes with our more advanced musicians, then joined those musicians in a concert to parents and friends at the end of the day. We were inspired by their skill and artistry and their ideas for making scales more fun!

Ensembles and Clubs This was the year that School Orchestra grew! We had struggled with a small group of about 8 musicians each year

40

for a few years, who did their best and were all superb, but who were not really an orchestra. So our aim was to change that, and once the orchestra started to grow, it really grew‌.. to over 40 members! We are now so big we fill the music room and need the theatre to perform in properly, although we have performed in the school hall. We hope to perform every term next year. Special thanks go to Mia and Phoebe who have been there for the last 5 years and now go onto the Senior School to share their talents. The String Orchestra also grew to 16 members and has given some delightful, skilful performances at concerts through the year. We established a woodwind ensemble for clarinettists, flautists and saxophonists, and also have a recorder ensemble which is starting to flourish. Guitarists and drummers got together for a term and from September have a Band Club which meets once a week to enthuse our budding rock and pop musicians. Singers find their homes in choirs for Pre-Prep, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6, Chamber Choir, and Show Choir. Our theory clubs continue, for those that want to learn more about writing and reading music. Many of our advanced musicians attend these clubs and we were thrilled that Mia, Alex and Eleanor all passed their Grade 5 Music Theory Exams. This exam is seen as equivalent in difficulty to GCSE music, and nationally is usually taken by 15-year-olds!

Our Music Tech Club remains popular with children in the Prep learning to use composition apps to create their own music, both with pre-recorded sounds and their own recordings.

Class lessons Children from Reception upwards have explored orchestral instruments this year. Year 6 have demonstrated their instruments to Reception, the Brookes Trio have shared their instruments with Nursery children, children in Years 4 and 5 have taught each other to play the instruments they are learning. Although many of us play piano, violin, flute and guitar, we really love trying out the harp, ukulele, trombone and keyboard!

O2 This year we decided that the O2 Young Voices Choir was such a great event that the whole of Year 6 should participate.

We spent several weeks learning songs and memorising dance moves and then, in the January cold, we set out for our day in London.

We had an amazing time singing with 8000 other children, to a

Music

packed audience of around 24000 at the O2 Arena. Everyone loved the experience and several children who would not have chosen this as a club activity, remarked just how much they had loved doing it. So on to next year….

Abbey Choral Project Pupils at KPS now make up a fifth of the Bath Melody Makers Choir at Bath Abbey, and we also have a few boys who are members of the main Abbey Choir. So this year we started a choral project with the Abbey, led by Mr Shean Bowers. Each week he and Mrs Cross led choral singing workshops with all the pupils in Year 5. We commissioned a carol which was written for us to perform, by Paul Williamson and Thomas Hewitt Jones, which received its world premiere in our Christmas Carol Service. Entitled ‘Come to the Stable’ it will be published in a collection of modern carols and will always be attributed to the children in Year 5 at Kingswood Prep School! We continued our choral project in the Spring Term and were able to attend special events connected to the BBC Ten Piece initiative at Bath Abbey, as well as performing several songs in the Gala Concert.

Music Scholars Three of our most advanced musicians, Mia Randolph, Alex Sedcole and Eleanor Duke, were awarded music scholarships to Kingswood Senior School. They are all exceptional musicians, amongst a Year group of outstanding musicians, where Grade 4 on an instrument or in singing has become commonplace! Mia is a violinist and pianist who has passed Grade 5 violin and grade 4 piano. She is a member of the Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Alex is a pianist and trumpeter who has passed Grade 5 piano and Grade 3 trumpet.

Eleanor is a pianist, flautist and singer, who has followed the Suzuki teaching methods and reached a very high standard of performance in all she does. Congratulations to you all!

Jackie Cross

Christmas At Christmas the Reception classes presented their own nativity, ‘It’s a Baby!’, the Christmas story with a difference, told from the perspective of the innkeeper who finds he is in for a restless night. The Pre-Prep sang in a Christingle service at the chapel and told us the Christmas story in carols and poems. The Prep pupils also had a carol service in the chapel with readings, carols, solos and prayers, including the first performance of ‘Come to the Stable’, a carol commissioned especially for us.

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Sport THERE ARE VARIOUS ARTICLES IN THE NEWS FROM TIME TO TIME ABOUT PE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS. SCHOOLS ARE ENCOURAGED TO TRY TO FIND 2 HOURS PER WEEK FOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR THEIR CHILDREN – OFTEN WITHOUT MUCH SPACE, LET ALONE GENUINE FACILITIES, A LIMITED AMOUNT OF EQUIPMENT AND TEACHERS WHO ARE SO SNOWED UNDER WITH OTHER PRESSURES THAT GETTING OUTSIDE MUST BE ONE OF THE LAST THINGS ON THEIR MINDS.

hose sorts of arguments make me realise how lucky I am and how lucky the children are at KPS! Two hours a week doesn’t seem to be much of a target when we think that our children in Years 3-6 get at least that amount in a single afternoon more often than not! We have amazing facilities available to us, a teaching team which has real PE/Games specialisms, as well as the time to provide lots of opportunities for the children to reap all the benefits of physical exercise and the chance to really work out what suits them best. We all, teachers, children and parents alike, must remember how lucky we are and take every opportunity to make the most of all the chances we are given and be grateful for them; whilst also realising the need for balance between academic and other subjects.

T

We want the children to enjoy taking part in a wide variety of physical activity. We want to lay the foundations for future and long-lasting activity. We want them to work alone and as part of a team to achieve the best they possibly can. We want them to understand the need to follow the requisite rules and etiquettes involved. We want them to learn to win and lose and to develop appropriate emotional responses to success and failure. We want them to leave KPS eager to stay involved in sport and exercise of one kind or another.

Here is a (by no means exhaustive) list of the activities which the children of KPS may have been involved in during the last year:

Fencing Football

Swimming

Golf

Cricket Archery

Horse- riding

Gymnastics Netball Ultimate Frisbee

Athletics

Rugby

Tennis

Thank you to all who have helped make this possible for our children at KPS. I, for one, know exactly how lucky I am!

Ian Shrubsole

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Sport

KPS Rugby On a day that was perfect for rugby (as well as cricket!) over 100 Kingswood boys had the opportunity to play some rugby whilst performing on camera! The RFU’s Education and Kids First department came in to video elements of the New Rules of Play that will be implemented for the junior game this September.

The boys – from Year 2 all the way up to Year 8 – put on a show and the RFU staff were very impressed with their playing ability as well as their listening skills. Once edited, the video footage will appear on the RFU website and will be used as a refereeing and coaching resource for all schools and clubs across the country.

Watch this space for further details of when this will happen!

Andrew Ward

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Sport

KPS Aquathon Our annual KPS Aquathon held at Kingswood Senior School saw around one hundred children, from Years 3 to 6, turn up to compete in our swim, run event. Although the weather had been sunny all week, I had managed to book the clouds and rain for this year’s event.

In the Year 3 girls’ race Daisy Bassett was the highest KPS finisher in 4th place. In the boys’ race Toby Day came home two places higher in 2nd place. Daisy’s brother, Alfie, matched his sister’s effort and also came home in 4th place. In the Year 4 races the following all placed well up in the field; Will Shardlow (2nd), Olly Day (3rd), Alice Wilson (4th) and Dotty Hodge (5th). For our younger competitors it was all about fun and giving it a go, so well done to all who took part.

The Year 5 and 6 races were a little more competitive. For the Year 5 boys three of the top five places were secured by KPS; Fraser Riddoch (3rd), Raff Weston (4th) and Will Rawlins (5th). Two of our top runners moved through the field to take high placings in the Year 6 boys’ race. Seb Crow pushed on to take 4th place, with Rob Wilson finishing two places higher in 2nd. In the Year 5 girls’ races Evelyn Pilcher was the first KPS racer home in 5th place.

The Year 6 girls’ race attracted the largest field and was the most hotly contested. Eleanor Duke held on to her advantage from the pool to come home in 1st place, closely followed by her buddy Jasmine Harvey in 2nd.

Well done to you all.

Philip Titley

Golf at KPS Trying to hit a small ball several hundred yards, in a straight line, with a steel club and trying to get it into a small hole in the ground can sometimes be the most rewarding of accomplishments. It can also be the most frustrating!

I have seen the game of golf bring grown men to tears of joy as well as frustration (in my case definitely the latter!) but the game itself has some kind of hold over me and I just want to keep going back for more and more in the hope that some day I will swing the club like Rory McIlroy or putt like Jordan Spieth.

The response to golf starting up in the Prep School has been fabulous. There were 6 boys involved last year in our inaugural coaching sessions at Lansdown Golf Club with Bev New, a fully qualified PGA coach and ex-professional golfer. Bring that forward 12 months and we have had 19 children wanting to be involved. Many of those are in Years 3, 4 & 5, which bodes well for the future.

From one after-school activity last year we have grown and have had to organise an extra activity to accommodate the interest.

We have had a mix of experiences from those that have never picked up a club before, to those that play regularly and have been involved in competitions.

We have also experienced a competition, attending the Millfield Prep Schools’ Tournament for the second time. If anything challenged and enriched the boys, this event did, because it

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made them think about their game on the course as well as show them the type of standard to aspire to if they want to carry on with their golfing lives.

Golf is a sport that can be played from 8 to 100 years old and everyone who plays it can feel a sense of achievement - despite the deep-lying frustration at times! However, it is also a tool for learning important life skills that we can take into our daily lives – patience, team-work, co-operation, etiquette, calmness, to name just a few – and that is what the boys have learnt the most in our sessions this year.

Here’s to a summer of more challenges and frustrations on the golf course – but hopefully some pars and birdies to make everything all right again!

Andrew Ward

Remembrance Day 2014

KPS Remembers…

Pupils and staff at Kingswood Prep School came together this year for a special Remembrance Day Assembly to remember and commemorate all those who have lost their lives in the service of their country since the outbreak of World War I. After the Assembly children in the Prep School planted 174 wooden crosses around a centrepiece of handmade ceramic poppies. Each cross represents a former pupil or member of staff of Kingswood School who has died in conflict since 1914.

On each cross was the name of an individual, together with a short message written by a pupil.

They shall grow not old They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow ol d: Age shall not weary them , nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

As part of Kingswood Prep School’s Remembrance Day Commemorations we were delighted to welcome The History Squad back to KPS.

From Laurence Binyon ’s poem For the Falle n, written in September 19 14

Children in the Prep School were given a taste of how life was for the Blitz children and evacuees during WWII. Dressed as a Military Policeman in an authentic uniform, Kevin Hicks brought the experiences of WWII to life for the children. His compelling story telling and use of interactive activities and humour ensured that every child was engaged and involved in an energetic, exciting presentation of history.

At the end of the school day we were delighted to welcome parents and grandparents to join their children for a glimpse of life in the trenches of WWI. After a quick change of uniform Mr Hicks gave a presentation to a packed hall based on real life experiences of a British soldier fighting on the Western Front. With both humour and pathos Kevin combined vivid descriptions of battle and life in the trenches to convey the terrible plight and conditions faced by soldiers.

It was wonderful for our pupils to share such a valuable learning experience with their parents and hopefully this will be the first of many such opportunities.

Yvonne Brearey

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International Day

A Commonwealth Experience!

International Day at Kingswood Prep School

“I enjoyed researching countries using QR codes and the iPads.”

Alexander

“I really enjoyed International Day and learning new facts and playing the drums.”

Emma “I absolutely loved the drums!”

Lucia

In March, Kingswood Prep School celebrated our 11th annual International Day. This year the theme was ‘The Commonwealth’.

The aim of this day is to help promote respect and tolerance in our children of other countries, races, religions and cultures by giving our children an insight into, and understanding of, other parts of the world. The KPS International Day also helps us as a school community to value the backgrounds of the various nationalities we have represented within the Kingswood Community.

KPS was delighted to welcome The Right Worshipful The Mayor of Bath, Councillor Cherry Beath, Chair of BANES District Council Councillor Martin Veal and Mr Godfrey Hall, Chair of the Local Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Our special guests toured 10 workshops which ran throughout the day and represented a range of Commonwealth countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Cameroon in Africa, Malaysia and New Zealand. The interactive workshops were organised by parents, friends and staff from both the Prep School as well as staff and pupils from Kingswood Senior School.

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“It was interesting to find out about other countries.”

Maddie

International Day

“I enjoyed finding out loads of new facts.”

Bea

“International Day was really fun and my favourite was Ghana.”

Charlie

“International Day was fun. I most enjoyed the drums.”

Can

Trip to Westminster Abbey for The Commonwealth Observance Service.

In the Spring Term eight lucky Year 6 children (whose names had been pulled out of a hat) joined 1,000 young people from all corners of the UK for a very special service at Westminster Abbey.

The Commonwealth Observance Service is Britain’s largest annual inter-faith gathering and was attended by Her Majesty The Queen and Their Royal Highnesses The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Duke and The Duchess of Cambridge.

“I loved the drums and Uganda because you got to make masks and do dances.”

Louis

We arrived at a packed Westminster Abbey and admired the beautiful interior of the building. The walls were lined with stunning statues, and tombs of famous people were dotted around the Abbey. These included Isaac Newton’s grave and many others. The service began with the Royal Family members joining a procession, along with the flags of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

The service was filled with many interesting readings and the first performance of an anthem composed by Judith Weir, the Master of the Queen’s Music. It ended with a procession of the members of the Royal Family back out of the Abbey.

After a few photographs with the flag bearers (who also featured in the procession), we were picked up and driven back to school.

It was a long day but a once in a lifetime opportunity and one we will never forget!

Alex Sedcole, Year 6

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Charity/Community

Charity and Community at KPS FRIENDS of KINGSWOOD PREPARATORY SCHOOL YEAR 2014/2015 The Kingswood brolly has continued with steady sales throughout the year totalling £400.

I am happy to report that, we have been able to fund the following:-

FoKPS have enjoyed another successful year with a wide variety of fundraising events:The first big funding raising evening of the year was the Annual Fireworks night which was held in November. The evening was well attended and raised a total of £2030.

usic for the M s s a B le b • Dou ent Departm oxes

• Reading b McGlynn’s rs M o t n io t • Contribu tume making s o c a m dra t n e m t r a dep ing es for sew in h c a m g • Sewin nt departme High WIFI for d n a p o t p a • L y play Vinnalls or Nurser f n io t u ib • Contr nt equipme

The Christmas Fayre in December saw the launch of The Kingswood Prep Christmas Market, which, thanks to the weather, seemed to be thriving all afternoon. The Fayre, which included Santa’s grotto, Christmas café, traditional games and stalls plus, of course the grand raffle, was a hugely fun afternoon and raised £4350.68.

The New Year brought glamour and murder at our Oscarthemed Murder Mystery night. Mrs Nash and the Year 10 Drama students worked so hard to bring us a fantastic night of twists, turns and tantrums and FoKPS raised £1105.58.

The popular KPS Quiz night took place in March, and raised over £1200.

The Second-Hand Uniform shop continues to prove very lucrative with sales of over £2,000.

Our final event of the year was the Kingswood Prep School Summer Ball. The balmy evening we were hoping for never materialized but we had a fabulous evening with delicious food and drink and a wide variety of music from Sue Caden, Graham Miller’s band and a juke box playing anything you wanted. So far we have raised nearly £4000 from ticket sales, but await our bar takings total and costs.

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PLUS We are currently in the process of making a substantial donation to the Development of the School Grounds project. Work will commence on this in July.

• A Donation to the RUH We are looking forward to September, when we will launch the Kingswood Christmas Pudding in conjunction with Lucknam Park Hotel.

Thank you to everyone who has attended and supported FoKPS this year.

Issy Blackburn and Jackie Canham

Charity/Community

In the Autumn Term Greg Blezard, from the charity,

‘BIG BRIGHT FUTURE’ spoke at a school Assembly about the work that the charity does, supporting some of the world’s poorest regions. ‘Big Bright Future’ is a unique programme which redistributes office equipment, IT and other items from the business sector and supports building and equipping schools in an evergrowing number of countries around the world.

BIKE BATH Through the rain forty stalwarts of Kingswood Prep School cycling community meandered their way from Bath to Bradford upon Avon through the two tunnels.

Considering this was the first day of the holiday, it was great to see so many keen cyclists. All returned safely, even the Headmaster with his dodgy knees! Thank you all for taking part and well done to those children in the Pre-Prep for completing the 25-mile course without a moan and far quicker than me!

Mark Brearey

Mr Blezard asked if KPS could support the charity by providing Christmas boxes that would be hand-delivered to children in Romania.

The KPS Charity Committee rose to the challenge and immediately set about encouraging pupils to fill a shoebox with donations that would go directly to children who are most in need.

Over one hundred boxes were collected from school and taken over to the community of Tarlungeni, Romania by lorry, just in time for Christmas.

Red N• se Day The boarders at High Vinnalls had a great time celebrating Red Nose Day this year, joining in with the theme of ‘Do something funny with your face’. With faces painted and red noses adorned they couldn’t wait to get to school. Mr Ward was a little less keen to show off the result of Mrs Ward’s makeover on him! The rest of the school joined in too and we managed to raise over £300 towards the Comic Relief Charity.

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Activities

THE EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROGRAMME HAS CONTINUED TO GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH WITH 85 CLUBS ON OFFER PER WEEK, OVER DOUBLE WHAT IT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO.

T

he rationale for creating a strong and broad ECA programme is to provide enrichment and extension activities for the children as well as to provide opportunities for them to be exposed to new experiences to spark their interest and imagination and thus sow seeds for the future. It is always rewarding to see and hear when former students achieve their goals which were partly born through the ECA programme. Most recently Elliott Hawtin (16), a protégé of Peter Thatcher, was awarded his black belt in Judo and Oli Gardner played Billy Elliott for 2 seasons in the West End.

The latest additions to the programme this year have included Pom Dance, French Drama, Woodwind Orchestra, Horse Riding, Code Club, Music Tech Club and Yoga. Next year we will be adding an additional choir led by Mr Shean Bowers, assistant organist of Bath Abbey, Musical Theatre, Sewing, Young Enterprise and Recorder Ensembles.

It was with immense pride that I showed around an educational advisor one afternoon to visit the clubs that were on offer in both the Prep and the Pre-Prep departments. It was not just the range of opportunities that impressed her, but also the quality of the children’s experiences.

The children are very lucky indeed to have such a mammoth range of opportunities provided by high-quality instructors, a significant number of whom have achieved top level in their own field. Small wonder that at the last two school inspections it has been identified as one of the school’s many strengths.

The new on-line bookings system appears to be popular with parents and has helped to speed up the whole booking process and make it more efficient.

Philip Dixon

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Activities

After our team’s success in the competition last year Kingswood Prep School was delighted to host an Area Heat of the National Key Stage 2 General Knowledge Championship at Kingswood this year.

In front of a packed audience of parents and supporters at the Kingswood Sports Pavilion, two teams of children from KPS joined eight other teams of children from The Paragon, Westonbirt, Trinity and St Margaret’s schools. Each team was vying for a hotly contested place in the Semi Finals of the competition.

Each team of four had a representative from Year 3 – Year 6 and each child’s input was of equal importance. The quiz requires competitors to demonstrate teamwork and strategic thinking just as much as it requires a broad general knowledge.

Semi Finals held at Wells Cathedral School in June.

The team battled fiercely against some tough opposition and finished in a commendable second place behind a well drilled team from Sherborne House, Hampshire who went through to the finals at Dulwich College.

Well done to all of the teams that competed in both heats of the competition; it was wonderful to see both your excellent teamwork and extensive general knowledge.

Mark Brearey

The Quiz Club National Championships currently involve more than 400,000 children across the UK, making them the largest Inter-School competitions in the country. Each Championship runs through three rounds and culminates in a prestigious National Final annually.

After a closely fought competition, with forty questions that tested the children’s knowledge outside the Key Stage 2 curriculum, we were delighted that the KPS teams finished in first and third place.

The first place position ensured that KPS went through to the

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Challenge & Enrichment

Thinking

‘outside the box’ was very much the order of the day at Kingswood Prep School, as the staff and children stepped away from our usual timetable and form structure to embark on an afternoon of ‘Challenge and Enrichment’.

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Challenge & Enrichment

A

s part of a project that has been developing over a number of months, all of the children from Year 2 to Year 6 have been identified for their areas of significant strength and interest. Today, for the first time, they met as groups, with members of staff who share their strengths and passions.

Mathematicians met arithmetical challenges (and clay monsters), Geographers went orienteering, and Historians explored the events in Pompeii following the eruption of Vesuvius. Athletes carried out agility and team-building games, Linguists shared stories and made gingerbread men, and English specialists became journalists for the afternoon. Artists created ceramic coral reefs or multi-media peacocks, Thinkers solved nearimpossible puzzles and Designers created towering structures from a range of materials. Scientists explored aspects of Chemistry (and concocted gooey slime in the process) whilst children showing strength in Drama, Music, Citizenship, ICT and Outdoor Pursuits were all challenged and inspired to explore their own skills and potential.

Whilst meeting and working with, children from a range of Year groups, all sharing a key strength, they were developing confidence, identity, ability and a deepening interest in their subject area. At the same time, they were having a lot of fun, in what we intend will be the first of many opportunities to challenge, and to further enrich the broad education on offer at KPS. Anna Parry-Hearn

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Bath Literature Festival

K

ingswood Prep School is very proud to be involved with and sponsor the Bath Children’s Literature Festival. This year we sponsored two events, the first one by American actor, producer, director and author Henry Winkler.

Pupils were thrilled to meet and chat with Henry before his fantastic presentation at The Guildhall. He was warm, friendly and genuinely interested in each child, happily signing books and delighted to pose for photographs.

Speaking to a packed room at The Guildhall, Henry engaged with children and adults alike as he confided how hard it had been to be a boy with dyslexia in a New York schoolroom.

However, what shone through was his positive attitude and his message that how you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are and how you learn has nothing to do with how wonderful your imagination is. This inspiring comment clearly resonated with his captivated audience and is something we whole-heartedly agree with at KPS.

Happy days FOR KPS PUPILS! Award-winning children’s author Jennifer Gray visited Kingswood Prep School in the Spring Term and gave pupils an insight into what inspires her characters and writing.

Henry, Jennifer’s spirited tabby cat, provided the inspiration for her popular Atticus Claw books. She confided that she wrote a lot of rubbish to begin with, but said her perseverance has paid off. She told the children that, just like swimming or learning to play an instrument, practice is the key to becoming better at writing.

We thoroughly enjoyed welcoming Jennifer to KPS and the children could not wait to read some of her wonderful stories.

Children’s Author Launches National Book Tour at KPS Pupils from Kingswood Prep School were delighted to welcome author Shane Hegarty to school this week to launch his UK book tour.

Shane, a weekly columnist and former Arts Editor of the Irish Times, gave a presentation to Years 5 & 6 on his debut children’s novel, Darkmouth. The talk was an entertaining reflection on the process of writing and on what it means to be a true hero; the children were keen to share their own experiences and ideas.

Harper Collins Children’s Books acquired rights to the series after a hotly-contested auction at Bologna Book Fair in 2013. Last week, excitement rose even further when it was announced that a Hollywood company had secured the film rights.

Head of Creative Arts, Marie McGlynn said, “The visit was a huge success. Shane inspired us all. Not only do we want to read his book, but many of the children are now keen to have a go at writing one too!”

Shane told the children that he was struck by the beauty of Bath on his first visit and was thrilled to experience his first ever school lunch in the Kingswood Prep School dining room.

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Yvonne Brearey

Bath Literature Festival

Daniel in Year 4 said

The second event we sponsored at the Children’s Literature Festival was by popular children’s author Philip Ardagh. Philip wrote ‘The Grunts’ and his presentation at the Literature Festival really brought the characters to life for his audience.

‘I thought he was very funny and I would love to go again! He was massive; he had size 16 feet and is 2 metres tall!’

Daniel’s brother, Jack was particularly impressed by Philip’s beard and the funny cooing noise he made when he stroked it!

Eco

ALL THINGS ECO! This year has seen the formation of an Eco Committee with representatives from each Prep class. The committee has met each half-term to discuss Eco matters and has generated some great ideas and interesting debate! The Year 6 Eco monitors have done a stirling job promoting all things Eco and organising and managing the weekly litter pick rota, ensuring that each class takes their turn to help keep the grounds tidy. The Pre-Prep classes have been particularly enthusiastic in this task and are shocked by the amount of plastic “snack” rubbish that continues to collect in the greenery around the school.

Building on suggestions and plans from the Eco Committee a keen group of pupils have been part of a weekly Eco Club. This team has worked hard on a variety of projects throughout the year, including: carrying out detailed habitat surveys of the grounds, invertebrate sampling, paper recycling, looking at pond design, and energy awareness.

They also worked together to make some excellent greenthemed board games which proved to be hugely popular!

Following on from last year’s Eco/DT Bird Box competition, this year we challenged the school to use recycled materials to make a bug house. We received truly excellent contributions from the youngest to oldest members of the school - look out for the bug homes around the grounds!

Another excellent year on the Eco front, as always the pupils’ passion for keeping KPS ‘green’ has been inspiring!

Eleanor Watts

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Year 6 Leavers

I

t is always very sad to see a Year group come to the end of their time at a Prep School and this year’s Year 6 have been a special group of children. All have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and part of the Kingswood family.

We had a wonderful Leavers’ Service in the Kingswood Chapel to mark the end of the Year 6 children’s time at the Prep School. I was able to thank all the staff who had made such a difference to the Leavers’ learning with their love and all the extra-curricular activities which they offered. Our Leavers are part of a new century, a changing and fast-moving workplace, where they will need to be equipped with a host of skills in order to flourish and be happy. I was able to wish them all every success and happiness in the future at their new schools and beyond.

‘I have been so impressed by your kindness and warmth, your enthusiasm and your listening skills. Your new schools will be looking for one thing above all else - a positive attitude. Believe that you can achieve anything and even when things get difficult (and they will!) - it is your attitude that will get you through. Oscar Wilde is alleged to have said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” You all have special and different gifts; my advice to you is - be yourself, believe in yourself, celebrate difference, face all challenges with an “I can do” philosophy, believe that you can make a difference, continue to be kind, and avoid dullness!

All of you are welcome back at any time in the future - we would love to see you and hear about your future successes.

Good luck and God bless,

Mark Brearey

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Year 6 Leavers

Let no one steal your dreams

By Paul Cookson

Let no one steal your dreams Let no one tear apart The burning of ambition That fires the drive inside your heart Let Let Let Let

no no no no

one one one one

steal your dreams tell you that you can’t hold you back tell you that you won’t

Set your sights and keep them fixed Set your sights on high Let no one steal your dreams Your only limit is the sky Let no one steal your dreams Follow your heart Follow your soul For only when you follow them Will you feel truly whole Set your sights and keep them fixed Set your sights high Let no one steal your dreams Your only limit is the sky 57

KPS Active Club

KPS Active club O

ur KPS Active Holiday club has been running very successfully for two years and we are continuing to expand the variety of activities on offer for all ages of children who attend. This summer the club was a great way for new children who would be starting in September to come and meet others in their Year group and also to get to know the school and grounds.

We are so lucky to be able to take advantage of the beautiful campus and its many facilities.

Some of the activities we offered were: swimming, kayaking, archery, orienteering, outdoor and indoor games, art and craft activities. Movie making was very popular with some talented and creative future film directors and performers.

The children spent as much time as possible outdoors, whatever the weather, building dens, campfires, orienteering and so much more! The popular Bushcraft and Survival course saw the children discovering different ways to find and collect water, building natural shelters, hiking, lighting fires and cooking outdoors.

We also ran specialist courses in hockey, cricket and

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KPS Active Club

netball, where the children had opportunities to build on skills already learnt or have a go at a new sport in preparation for the new term’s Games lessons at KPS. The Science, Drama and Art weeks were also a great success, offering opportunities for children to explore new ventures in areas they were really passionate about.

On the final day of the club we held a KPS ‘Olympics’ where the teams were made up of children of all ages from Nursery to Year 6.

Many different games were played in the fashion of relay races and all the children had a great time supporting each other to help their team win!

James Hull

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residentials

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Reception

8-9

contents KPS Head’s Introduction

1-3

KPS Reflections

3-5

Nursery

6-7

Reception 8-9 Year 1

10-11

Year 2

12-13

Year 3

14-15

Year 4

16-17

Year 5

18-19

Year 6

20-21

Year 3

14-15

Creative Arts

Year 6 - A Parent’s Perspective 22-24 Maths

25

Boarding at KPS

26-27

Creative Arts

28-32

Science

33

DT

34-35

Art

36-37

Drama

38-39

Music

40-41

Sport

42-44

KPS Remembers

45

International Day

46-47

Charity/Community 48-49 Activities 50-51 Challenge and Enrichment

52-53

Bath Literature Festival

54-55

Eco

55

Year 6 Leavers

56-57

KPS Active Club

58-59

28-32

DT

34-35

Art

36-37

Residential 60-61 Challenge & Enrichment

52-53

International Day

46-47

KPS Active Club

58-59

Kingswood 2014-2015

‘An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.’

John Wesley

Warmth, discovery and learning for life Kingswood Prep School in focus 2014-2015

‘Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.’

Henry James

Kingswood Preparatory School College Road Bath, BA1 5SD

01225 734460

www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Prep School in focus