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MOMENT Preparatory School Edition

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Edition 34 16. February 2018 @kingsley_school /thekingsleyschool www.thekingsleyschool.com

Headteacher’s Welcome On Valentine’s Day this Wednesday, the pupils of the Prep School were writing hearts about why they love Kingsley (please pop over to our Facebook page to have a look if you haven’t yet seen these) and it turns out that the reason pupils love coming here is the ‘teechers’. Dubious spellings aside, it was clear that the way the children feel when they are at school is at the core of why they love school. Since it is a truth universally acknowledged that children who are happy in school, learn better in school, I am proud that we have laid such a good foundation for our pupils to flourish. However, complacency is never the name of our game at Kingsley and so we are looking into new home learning opportunities to be shared with parents over the half term and considering our clubs provision through our student voice. I hope that you enjoy this issue of the Kingsley Moment and all the wonderful things that our children have packed into just a few short weeks. May I wish you and your families a restful and happy holiday, full of lasting memories. Mrs Rachel Whiting Head of Prep

Spreading the Love To celebrate Valentine’s Day, all of the Prep School have been meeting in their house families to discuss what they love most about Kingsley.

Jumping Jellyfish! In Reception Class the children placed measuring cylinders in the playground to collect rainfall over the course of a week. The group worked in pairs to choose the best location for their cylinders and then to take a measurement in millilitres.

Delightful Daffodils

Fruits of our Labour

The Reception children loved the happy, bright colours of the daffodils now coming in to the shops. They carried out observational drawings of the flowers looking at the shapes of the petals and the trumpet, as well as the long straight stalk.

To celebrate the delicious fruits which grow in the autumn time, Reception Class made a batch of blackberry jam. Each child also wrote out the recipe to be able to make the jam with their family at home. As a class they then weighed out the ingredients and put the jam on to cook.

Hide and Seek The children were taught a more challenging way to play hide and seek. They were given a small character and one child was asked to hide it whilst the other covered their eyes and counted. Once they returned, the hider had to use positional language to describe where they had hidden the character, allowing it to be found.

Year 1 and Year 2 Stars of the Week At the end of each week in Key Stage 1, the children look forward to finding out who will be awarded the special class award of ‘Star of the Week’. The achievement is awarded for high standards of learning, work ethic, behaviour around school and attitude towards different aspects of school life. The winner receives a special certificate and can choose a surprise treat from the treasure box. The Stars of the Week over the past weeks have been...

Tabea: for developing her independence in all areas of her learning. She is always determined to produce her best work, and ensures she arrives at the correct answer through perseverance and . the use of logical methods

Edward: for working hard to improve his understanding of different operations, and demonstrating his workings for solving more complex mathematical sums and word problems. He is also learning his times tables and how to apply this knowledge to solve division sums.

Ooo arr! It’s Phonics Time! Year One and Year Two worked in teams to recall as many words as they could containing the digraph they were given. The sounds included, ‘ow’, ‘igh’, ‘ar’, ‘oo’ and many more. The groups were timed and after each round, they moved on to the next table to see if they could add even more words to those already recorded by the other teams. There was an extraordinary amount of words recalled and the children demonstrated excellent team work!

Mariella: for always being a determined, hardworking and independent learner. Mariella often uses her initiative to solve learning problems and will always strive to be the best learner she can be.

Our Dream Garden On Monday 5th February, the Year One and Year Two children visited the Kingsley playing fields for their outdoor learning in the afternoon. They discussed their dreams and what they might see or imagine in their own dreams when they are asleep. Many children described the beautiful environments they had seen and their favourite people, animals and objects they had pictured. The class then went into the surrounding fields to use their imaginations to describe

Explore, Imagine, Create! On the morning of Thursday 25th January 2018, the Year One and Year Two children set off for their trip to the Royal Pump Rooms and Art Gallery in Leamington Spa. They enjoyed a crisp wintery walk along the way to their destination, and arrived excited and ready to begin their day of workshops in the gallery. The trip began with a story about the elephants of Leamington which used to perform in the local circus and bathe in the River Leam on the weekend. The children took part in an elephant march across the gallery and through the museum, where the 4

their own dream gardens. It was useful for the children to explore the grounds for inspiration, and some children even acted out what creatures and things they might find in their gardens. Some children imagined a swimming pool, wild animals, pebbles which turned into jewels, logs which became chairs for fairies, and even a dinosaur land! In their next lesson, the children will be designing and creating their gardens through the use of pictures and a range of materials.

children later explored the treatments used in the spa, and other artefacts which were used during the years following the baths being opened in 1814. They also saw the beautiful Hammam or Turkish bath with stained glass windows. The children learned that up until 1996, the Pump Rooms were the location for the local swimming pool. It would have been very different to the pool at Newbold Comyn, where the children have their swimming lessons!

The first workshop included a tour of the gallery and the new exhibition titled, “Lights of Leamington”, which was a festival celebrated in the 1950s, drawing over 300,000 visitors to the town. The children were split into two groups and set on a challenge to find all of the picture clues from snap shots taken of pieces across the gallery. The children had to find as many as they could with their partner and collect nine ticks altogether. The children then shared their findings with the rest of the group and settled to explore some of the paintings, photographs and artefacts in more detail. Later, the children were given a ‘story catcher’ to use with their partner. They used their multi-coloured torch to capture stories they could see, by using their imaginations when looking into a painting. One painting was named, “Fire”, and the children created numerous interpretations that the woman could see a fire in the distance or was burning a candle as she was afraid of the dark. The class learned that many artists wanted their paintings to be viewed and interpreted by the eyes of the beholder, therefore the paintings could be left to their imaginations to decipher. There was also the opportunity to explore the rest of the gallery and the children used magnifying glasses and special glasses with an assortment of coloured lenses, to change their view of paintings around the gallery. There was also a light box with coloured shapes to create patterns and numerous art activities for the children to access independently. In the afternoon, it was time to get creative and the children began by exploring a painting of a “dream world” where the children were each given a copy to decorate with their own interpretation of their dreams. The children used glitter glue, metallic pens and numerous utensils to add their own dreams to the picture. The class added mermaids, pirates, butterflies and other characters

and objects they had seen in their own dreams and imaginations. Once they had completed their activity, the class moved onto clay modelling and began by rolling their clay into snails which the children named; Lilly, Bart, Alice and many more! They then used their remaining clay to mould into pots, stars and other shapes and models. The afternoon finished with time to explore the dress up area and wear fairy tale and period costumes, as well as exploring the circus, a day in the life of a Victorian school child and traditional toys children used to play with. It was then time to say our goodbyes to the wonderful staff at the gallery and walk back to school. The children were talking about their day all the way back to school and they could not wait to receive their art work once it had dried. It was certainly a fun-filled and eventful day for all of the children, as well as the adults. It was exciting to reflect on the day again when the children received their artwork delivery and reminisced about what they did. Many of the children said that they definitely wanted to visit again in their own time outside of school, as they had loved their experiences and had so much fun!

Generations Come Together On Monday 29th January, the children in Key Stage One were invited to a fun-filled afternoon at Priors House care home in Old Milverton. The theme of the afternoon activities was related to birds, as part of the RSPB “Big Garden Bird Watch”. This is a national event helping to raise awareness of the beautiful and wide variety of birds we have in our local surroundings, and to communicate the importance of protecting their habitats. When the children arrived at Priors House, they were met with warm smiles and friendly greetings from residents. They were then led to their small groups, which included a resident and member of staff, to decorate bird wind chimes and bird houses. The children shared their ideas with their assigned adult and began adding an assortment of colours, patterns and shapes which they felt would attract birds to their homes. While they were busy creating their work, the children spoke to the residents about their learning topics, favourite activities and many other interests they shared. After a busy session of crafts, it was time for a break and the children were provided with drinks and there was time to meet other adults they had not yet worked with. The classes then began decorating shortbread biscuits freshly baked by the residents. The children used a variety of brightly coloured icing to add feathers, faces and other decorations to their biscuits. After all of their hard work, the children were invited to share their biscuits with each other, as well as tasting some of their own creations. The staff and residents of Priors House were very accommodating and welcoming to the Key Stage One children and staff, and the afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We hope to visit the residents and staff of Priors House again soon, as part of future events and opportunities to share our learning.

Watch our video of the visit on Facebook! https://goo.gl/6RnQtJ

500 Words! The pupils in Year 3 have been busy writing exciting stories with less than 500 words. Their stories have been submitted to the BBC Radio 2 500 Word Story competition, with each pupil receiving a certificate from Chris Evans who started the competition in 2003. The winners will receive the height of Chris Evans in books, 500 books for their school and attend the prize giving presentation at Hampton Court Palace. We hope that one of the Year 3 stories will win the competition. Winners will be announced on 8th June. If you would like to write a story, it is not too late to do so as the competition ends on Thursday 22nd February. Get writing Kingsley!

Anglo Saxon Builders Year 3 have been finding out how the early Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain built simple wooden houses with wattle and daub walls and straw roofs. Their design technology project is to plan and make a model of an Anglo-Saxon house.

All About the Money On National Numbers Day, Year 3 worked on some exciting money related activities. The class found out that King Offa of Mercia was the first AngloSaxon king to put his head on metal coins. Using clay and salt dough Year 3 designed and made their own large coins. Each design featured a crown and Anglo-Saxon patterns. The pupils painted them gold, silver or bronze.

Challenge Map Year 3 were set a homework challenge to make a 3D map showing the invasion routes of the Anglo-Saxons in 410AD. The pupils certainly used their imagination to create colourful informative maps. Emily deserves particular mention for her gingerbread and biscuit maps – the class struggled not to eat some of this map!

What a Relief!

Staining Glass

Year 4 have been learning about relief printing in their art lessons this half term. Using a thick flour and water paste, inserted into syringes, the pupils have drawn their own designs. The next stage will be to use fabric paint to fill in the gaps with a variety of colours, before peeling off the dried paste. Watch this space for photos of the final products!

In other art news, Year 4 have also created a variety of other masterpieces. Using masking tape and water colours, pupils painted geometric designs before peeling off the tape to reveal striking, clear cut lines. Their stained glass windows, made from acetate and glass paint, look beautiful in the windows, especially when the sun shines through. Visitors to Year 4 are greeted with a Taj Mahal sunrise, created with marbled backgrounds and a Taj Mahal silhouette. A very busy half term of art indeed!

Cracking Contraptions

with writing explanations, To help Year 5 get to grips their own Cracking they had a go at inventing llace and Gromit. Contraptions courtesy of Wa

Preet, Lucy, Elka and Issy designed a very ingenious Maid and Spa Machine which combined the house cleaning with facials and massage. iously Liana, Lucy, Zena and Larissa obv their were feeling a little peckish during excellent design process as they created an led ‘The labour-saving device which was cal Autofood’!

Neave, Ana, Claudia and Lili created a very useful Foodbot 9000. As the name suggests, food is made as simply as entering a code into the keypad!

Betty, Tilly and Anna were in the mood for dancing as their invention was called ‘The Musicifier’, which combined both music playing and mood enhancing soundtracks that responded to the users’ own feelings!

Each group designed and presented their invention to show their skill with using the features of an explanation. Logical order, time connectives, causal connectives and present tense all happening at once! Just to make sure that everyone in Year 5 had become a TOP EXPERT in explaining the hows and the whys, each group presented their explanation to the rest of the class.

Cakes and Numbers On Friday 2nd February, the children in the Prep School took part in the annual ‘Number Day’, which is a nationwide mathematical fundraising event to support the NSPCC.

Plastic Fantastic? As ever, Year 5 were keeping their science as topical as possible. The class was exploring if plastic could still be considered fantastic, especially after David Attenborough’s plea in the last series of ‘Blue Planet’ to encourage plastic use to be reduced and to always ensure that it is recycled or disposed of carefully. The pupils compared a range of plastic products and discussed why they had been made out of the grade of plastic they had. They learned that some plastics can be very difficult to recycle, with grades 1 and 2 being the easiest. Plastics that are not recycled can take over 500 years to break down.

Orienteering Orientation Year 5 have been getting to grips with OS maps and seeing if they can improve their map reading skills in preparation of their residential trip to North Yorkshire next term. Are they going to be able to find their way around and complete an orienteering task?

Children across the school took part in mathematical challenges and problem solving activities during their mathematics lessons in the morning. This was then followed by a cake sale held at break time and led by the Year 6 Charity Reps. There was an enormous amount of delicious cakes, cookies and other sweet treats beautifully decorated for children to purchase at break time. These were created by the Year 4 and Year 6 children who were given the task of bringing in treats which were decorated using a number theme. Thanks to all of the donations made at the cake sale, the Prep School raised a total of £110.90. This was an impressive amount raised and we were fortunate to have so many cakes to offer the children to purchase and enjoy at snack time. We would like to thank all parents and children for their hard work and contributions, providing cakes or donations for the sale, and to all of those children and staff members who helped to make it a funfilled day of fundraising and mathematical activities.

Year 6 World War 2 Visit to Coventry Year 6 visited the Transport Museum, Herbert Gallery and Cathedral in Coventry to learn more about World War 2, their Creative Curriculum topic, and the Coventry Blitz. The class have written their own accounts of the trip...

“First we went to the Transport Museum, where we saw Queen Mary’s car (limousine) and looked at cars before the Second World War and after. Our tour guide taught us more about evacuees. After a nice packed lunch we walked to the Herbert Museum. First we went in the teaching room where we learned about the BLACKOUT and about gasmasks. Our instructor, Brian, asked us if we would like to see an Anderson Shelter and we all said “YES PLEASE”, so Brian showed us a garden shelter and then an underground shelter which was very cold.“ By Angi “I arrived at Kingsley in the day’s optional dress code (a World War Two style outfit, preferably comfortable and designed for transportation) ready to participate in the assigned activities. After assembly, we strapped ourselves into the means of transportation for the day - The Kingsley School Minibus. “I was ever so excited to learn more about our Creative Curriculum topic, World War Two. The museum had extremely enjoyable interactive exhibitions, which I think is a great way to learn. We were shown the way to the Blitz Experience, a representation of what life was like living in Coventry at the time of the Coventry Blitz. Judging from what we were shown it must have been rather scary! “We were shown a model exhibition of an unexploded bomb, and a man trapped underneath being helped out by a Warden!” By Clara

s a bit scary; it The Blitz Experience wa air-raid sirens were was very dark and the w a bomb that sounding loudly. We sa ntry Blitz! I can’t was actually in the Cove ernight, I would be so imagine being in it ov to the classroom and scared. Next we went acuees and Scarlett learned more about ev as them! and Clara dressed up

ed lunch we walked “After our WW2 them , where we learned to the Herbert museum Germans were most about what places the ing a game where likely to bomb by play Maya was a Fireman Leah was the warden, e carried the water and Grace was ‘Bob’ (h e he was too old to put out fires becaus o looked at baby to join the army). We als laid in, adult and gas masks which they went to the ruins toddler masks. Next we We looked around, of Coventry Cathedral. mage it had done.” and saw how much da By Rasna

We learned about all th e jobs the wardens, firemen and home guar ds did through an interactive role-play. Th e wardens’ job was to inspect houses in a blackout to make sure no light was peep ing through. The firemen were to put ou t the fires that the bombs made, and the home guard were to refill buckets of wate r for the firemen. It was really fun to watch my friends have a go at performing the ro les. A fact I learned was that if an unexplod ed bomb was on the street, the warden had to pick up the bomb with a ‘bomb sc oop’. I had a go. It was really fun, howeve r you had to do it in 10 seconds. “After, the class and I go t to go in an Anderson Shelter, only six people were allowed in at a time. I could not imagine being in there for twelv e hours, like people did in the Coventry Blitz . The Coventry Blitz began 14th Novembe r 1940 and ended the day after.“ By Emily

3D Shapes Year 6 Maths has been very practical this week. The children have been learning how to recognise, describe and build 3D shapes. They have had many challenges including: building 3D shapes from 2D pictures; investigating which nets would make a cube; and constructing nets to make cubes, cuboids, tetrahedrons, octahedrons and square based pyramids.

Blackout! During World War II, everyone had to cover their windows and doors at night with heavy blackout curtains, cardboard or paint. They had to prevent any glimmer of light from escaping and helping enemy aircraft during the bombing raids. As part of Year 6’s topic, ‘The Outbreak of War’, the pupils designed their own investigation to find out which materials would make the best blackout. Everyone had a role, from ‘Equipment Manager’ to ‘Results Recorder’.

Periscope View Year 6 are studying light this half term and discovering how it travels in straight lines. The children worked together to make periscopes and had lots of fun testing these out.

Evacuation of Dunkirk Year 6 have been learning all about the Dunkirk Evacuation and Winston Churchill in their lessons this week. Winston Churchill famously ordered any ship or boat available to head across the English Channel to rescue British and French soldiers from the port of Dunkirk. Over 900 ships helped with the evacuation of over 340,000 soldiers from the beaches. Year 6 worked collaboratively to write a poem from two different perspectives: one from a soldier’s point of view and one from the rescuers. The pupils then illustrated their verse using watercolours (Winston Churchill’s favourite art material). Please come and see our work soon to be displayed in the Year 6 classroom. This is the beginning, I secure the netting, as I do I notice black clouds up ahead. “I am brave, I am strong” I say to myself but I am not. As I look to the horizon I wonder if my brother will ever return. Waiting worriedly for a ride back home. Tired, hungry and thirsty we wait. Anxious, unhopeful and frightened we see boats leave Will it ever be my turn? Arriving at Dunkirk, Seeing smoke, Hearing gunshots, Don’t know how to feel. Waiting upon end for days and days. Frustrated, traumatised, tired, when will it stop? Over the sunset I see a miracle, A silent sigh of relief, I will finally get to see my family. The soldiers came to the boat, feeble and weak, With broken arms and bleeding knees. Thirsty, hungry and wounded, limping to their getaway. I pulled and pulled whilst overhead were German planes… It feels impossible as I climb, I am hurting bad, but I am too tired to whine. Slowly and painfully, everyone comes on board. I see I am free and will finally see my family. Sailing, sailing, soldiers wailing Worried men on the way back home Weary strangers here and there No sign of my brother anywhere. Sea sick soldiers sail the sea Into Britain on the southern coast. I smell the salty, blue sea air, And feel relieved I am home!

Kingsley Art Prize Winners 2018

Congratulations to the Prep School winners of the Kingsley Art Prize competition. Holly won the Key Stage 1 prize for her wonderful lolly stick Big Ben. Daisy won the Lower Key Stage 2 prize for her colourful all-things-British collage and Scarlett won the Upper Key Stage 2 prize for her card model of Big Ben.

Dates for the Diary... February 2018 Monday 19th February to Friday 23rd February inclusive - Half Term Holiday - have fun! 26th - Second Half of Spring Term Resumes 26th - Key Stage 1 Magical Maths Club starts 3.30pm to 4.30pm (subject to sufficient numbers)

Well done to all Prep pupils who created artwork for the competition - there were some truly fantastic and creative designs which are presented in a fabulous gallery in the Senior School Hall Foyer.

9th - Mothering Sunday Event at Holy Trinity Church, Royal Leamington Spa - 9am - all mothers, grandmothers, aunts and female role models most welcome! Please join us for light refreshments served from 8.15am in the Prep School Hall 10th - (Saturday) Taster Morning - for current Year 5 pupils (Entry September 2019) ‘The Kingsley Blue Planet’ - 8.45am to 1pm. Please contact the Registrar for further details

27th - Key Stage 2 Magical Maths Club starts - 4pm to 5pm (subject to sufficient numbers)

13th - LAMDA Examinations - all day

March 2018

15th - Last VP Tennis for this term

1st - World Book Day

22nd - (new date) Second Hand Uniform Sale in Basement of Prep School - 3.30pm to 5pm 22nd - Last Spanish Club for this term 22nd - Last Rock Climbing Club for this term 22nd - Whole School Easter Concert - 7pm - Senior School Hall - all most welcome!

2nd - Year 1 and Year 2 Gymnastics Event at Trinity School, Royal Leamington Spa - 9.30am to 12noon 5th - School Photography Company visit Year 6 to take Photographs for their Year 6 Memory Book am 5th - Last Mad Science Session for Key Stage 2

14th - LAMDA Examinations - all day

27th - ‘The Tales of Matilda’ KS3 Production 28th - ‘The Tales of Matilda’ KS3 Production

Featuring SENIOR SCHOOL GIRLS AND Lily from Year 6 as Young Eponine on ay Thursday 8th and Saturd 10th March matinee performance!