February Half Term Newsletter
Dear Families,
We have had another successful start to the Lent Term and the pupils have been working very hard. Those with external examinations undertook their mock exams at the start of the term and now have clear targets and strategies in place to ensure that they achieve their best.
The Scholars’ lunch saw an excellent talk from Mr Scoins and discussion about conspiracy theories, and we have just received some excellent results from the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Yustina gained a certificate for the Best in 3rd Form, Mithura gained the Best in 4th Form and Seejan gained the Best in 5th Form and also a Gold certificate.
The House Singing was an excellent event, with the standard of all Houses appreciably rising. Many congratulations to Deacon for their victory in the House Song and to Bellerby for winning the Battle of the Bands.
Our Drama scholars participated in a workshop organised by the East Kent Schools Together Partnership at King’s College’s Malthouse Theatre, developing their improvisation skills and working with the actress Alice Orr-Ewing. A great deal of hard work has already gone into the rehearsals for ‘Oliver! The Musical’, and we are very much looking forward to the production on 22nd and 23rd March.
You will be aware of the talk that Dr Aric Sigman gave to pupils and parents on online safety and managing screen time, and we continue to reflect on how we can better support our pupils to make appropriate decisions.
Our boarders have had some fantastic trips so far this term, including paintballing at Quex Park, pancake-making with Holroyd Howe and a visit to the London Dungeons and the London Sealife Centre.
On the sports front, our U16 girls’ hockey team have been performing superbly. Having won the South region, they took a long road trip to The King’s School Chester to play the winners of the North, in the semi-final of the National Tier 2 Championships. They played another excellent match and won 5-1, which means they are now into the National Final to be played on Tuesday 5th March at Lee Valley (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park).
Our U16 boys’ team are also doing very well and are through to the 3rd Round of the National Championships, after beating Tonbridge 3-0. In individual performances, Mali (who is only 14) has been selected for the U18 Wales Hockey squad, Sophie has just played cricket for Hong Kong U18s against Malaysia and Miller came 7th/80 in the Kent Schools Cross-Country Championships.
Charlie has been selected for the Southeast Region Egg Chasers (Rugby) 7’s academy and Jack and Olly are currently on a 5-week cricket exchange programme with St Benedict’s College Johannesburg (our partner school in South Africa). Given the individual and team performances, we were also delighted to have received the accolade of being one of the Top 200 Sports Schools in the country (placing 158th).
I wish you all a happy and restful Half Term!
Barney Durrant MA
Head of College
