Get Your Motor Running

Published on: Friday, February 24, 2023

Assembly on Monday saw ‘Good Egg’ awards being handed out to one in each tutor group for making our school a better place in the first half of term.  Such a positive way to kick things off after the break and a reminder of how much we value kindness, consideration and collaboration.

We ended the last half of term with lots of music via the Taunton Music Festival and our own brilliant Lent Concert.  Also, in assembly on Monday, we unveiled, by drawing out at random, the song selections for the fun House Music competition that will take place on the last morning of term.  Mr DJ has gone for a theme of ‘Dance’ this year, so at home you may well find yourself subconsciously humming one of the following tunes more and more as the weeks go by: Shut Up and Dance With Me; Better When I’m Dancing; Can’t Stop The Feeling; Never Gonna, Not Dance Again.  As well as these songs, there will be Junior and Senior group performances from each House.

Many Year 8 children have been challenging themselves in the 13+ Scholarship arena this week. For those who wish to, it is a success to have put yourself forward, to expose yourself to the risks but give your best come what may.  It is always worth repeating that whilst there may well be varying degrees of momentary happiness and disappointment on hearing the outcomes down the line, we don’t want anyone to celebrate too heartily or to carry any temporary sadness too weightily. We wish for all children at all ages to be stretched and challenged as they develop and for some the scholarship framework provides this.  The Scholarship process is not a destination but just one of a variety of experiences along the route to explore your full potential and foster resilience.

There have also been Parents Evenings, Pancake Races, a full set of matches, play rehearsals for Year 6, Saturday Activities, Ash crosses on foreheads from Fr Mark in Chapel - so, no sense of easing back in: get your ‘Dance’ song playing, put the pedal to the metal and away we go.

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Fun! Fun! Fun!

Published on: Friday, February 10, 2023

At the start of the week, my point in assembly was to make sure that the children use their eyes and ears to the full when in lessons - basically concentrate! The active process of focus through our senses leading to absorption of information for future recall. I didn’t position it that way!   I put some close-up pictures of landmarks, food and sports equipment on the screen as well as playing some everyday sounds for identification.  It was good fun, I did relate it to the fact they must have retained that knowledge through eyes and ears and hopefully helped them see the significance in a playful way.

I then headed over to meet the Head of North Town Primary school, he’s a fun chap and was certainly upbeat despite expecting a visit from the Inspectors any week. As I made my way to the main office entrance I walked by a group of Early Years children splashing around and came relatively close to a good spraying myself - they naturally thought it very funny.

Tuesday evening saw more fun, and a good deal of apposite nervousness, as a huge number of talented children gave lovely age and stage performances at the Lent Concert.  Such a wonderful range to behold, all under Mr DJ’s benevolent guidance and founded on good, honest commitment and practice from the children. There’s a reward as a spectator on at least two levels at such events: the musical treat, obviously, but also the joy of seeing the sense of increasing achievement internally realised by each child.

There is more music fun to be had at the end of this term with the energetic House Music competition for all Prep children. I hope you have the morning of the 24th March locked away in your diaries and will join us at 10am for a toe-tapping, bouncy way to head into the Easter break.

Yesterday morning I had fun in Nursery 2, subitising numbers and sounding rhyming words – a good test for them at their age. Fun abounded last night at the Friends of King’s Hall quiz where adults also had a proper test for their age.  Lots of giggles, the usual frustration at near misses, the odd family disagreement, the delight of getting a difficult question correct, some questionable sit-down dancing to the music round and overall a brilliant shared evening of laughs and geniality. Huge thanks to the team for their background work and to the Chief Pelican for collating questions and compèring with his usual amiable aplomb.

Whilst writing about the Friends, the main purpose is to provide some social opportunities to meet under the banner of King’s, such as last night.  Alongside that, some funds might be raised either for an external charity or to support a ‘nice to have’ addition to the school itself.  On this subject, I don’t know if you’ve ever visited the Enhancing King’s page on our website where there are opportunities to support such items if they take your fancy.  Here’s the link – Enhancing King’s. Equally, if there’s something you don’t see there but wish to support then come and see me - don’t be shy!

Final ‘fun’ for Friday is to say have a fabulous week over the half term break. Please make sure the children get some rest as well as relaxing and having plenty of carefree laughs: tiredness is a key contributor to illness, poor mood and inefficiency – definitely NOT fun!

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What did you do at school today?

Published on: Friday, February 3, 2023

It cannot be 7 days since I last wrote one of these!!  I have that sense where it feels as if nothing has happened and yet so much has been across my desk and through my mind.

One of the best parts of this week has been my visits to some classes.  I was in Year 1 for a Supersonic Phonics session, remembering my actions for various sound combinations and decoding some CVCC words.  In Year 8 history we were considering whether country borders are set more by geography or history? A Year 3 session with Fr Mark about Candlemas was enlightening (thank you!) and in Year 7 maths we were converting between mixed numbers and top heavy fractions.

Another highlight was this morning’s Pre-Prep Open Day where the children in Year 2 were fabulous representatives through a group song and several older ones who have been with us from way back in the youngest years, took some parents around. It was a happy and upbeat event.

There has been a good amount of music this week with most of it being off site at the Taunton Music Festival. Well done to all who have been performing.  Next week we have a chance to listen to them ourselves as there is a concert on Tuesday night which will feature the orchestra, choirs, ensembles and several soloists.  Do come along if you can – 6pm in the Arts Centre.

Then on Thursday night we have the sold out Friends Quiz Night and I know the crew have been working hard to prepare. No doubt this will be another great fun evening where there is equally no doubt that unanticipated shortcomings in our knowledge will be exposed. There is a teachers’ team, I see, and one member was heard today saying: “I’ll be fine as long as there’s lots of Disney in there!” Let’s hope the Chief Pelican is reading this.

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