Newsletter

A frosty week has brought the beauty of winter and the hazards of living rurally with icy conditions in equal measure. Well done to those combatting tricky commutes to keep normal routines going.  Many of you, along with some staff, have had their journeys doubled in length.

I am going on a journey very early tomorrow morning myself as I head off to visit our schools in Doha and Riyadh.  We haven’t visited since late 2019 for covid reasons so it will be good to catch up in Doha and see in Riyadh a school in action from what was just a concept back then.

There are now 720 children at King’s College, Doha up to Year 10: those who started in Year 4 are now into their GCSE programme.  King’s College, Riyadh has 350 children up to Year 4 having been open for four terms.

Simon Worthy, our DFO, is joining me for the Riyadh visit and Jonty Lawford, Deputy Head Academic at our College here, is with me for the Doha leg.  As well as a major thrust being to provide and benefit from peer support and review in the schools, there are several engagements with parents, naturally, and with the likes of sponsors, Embassies as well as government officials including the UK DiT and DfE.  The second site in Doha is due to open soon as construction completes meaning there is also a launch event about this exciting development while I am there. This new campus will be for Years 3 to 13 children with the current site becoming a Pre-Prep.

Finally, now we are through covid and able to re-engage properly, we are looking to rekindle and fan to flames the first sparks of collaboration between the schools we began a few years ago. There are plenty of shared opportunities to grasp.

A busy few days lie in wait, with every hour put to good use in the programme, so I am hoping to get an early night –  but I find that never works for me.

We started the week on ‘Blue Monday’ and then slipped, slid, and skidded through the rest of the week but have arrived at Friday in good spirits...phew!  One of the many joys of working with little humans is that they do not allow you to be ‘blue’ but do allow you to see the awe and wonder of ice through their eyes and learn again to appreciate the beauty of a frozen spider’s web or the excitement of discovering a frozen puddle.

If you require day prep provision for your child next week please book them in using the link below. The booking form will close at 9.15 am on Monday; if you need to make a late booking or make any changes after this time please let us know by emailing SchoolOffice@kingshalltaunton.co.uk.   

If your child uses School transport and you need to make any changes next week please email Transport@kingshalltaunton.co.uk to let us know.

Hi everyone, my name is Ffion and I am this term’s Head Girl. 

We have already completed the first two weeks back at school and everyone has really hit the ground running. I know in 8S we are all working hard in preparing for our 13+ exams in February. In sport, the first few hockey and netball fixtures have gone really well. Despite chilly weather, matches ended up with great results across the year groups. On Wednesday in the netball team, we went to Millfield to play a Tournament, we had lots of match play and played really well. 

On Saturday the Somerset Schools Cross Country fixtures are taking place, good luck to all those who are running.   

We also have some children, who are preparing for the Taunton Festival of Arts in the next few weeks with music as well as speech and drama pieces, good luck! 

I also want to say a big well done and congratulations to all Year 6 candidates who have participated in the 11+ scholarship tests in the last week and hope that everyone did their best. Year 6 are also busy with lots of drama rehearsals for their end of term play. I can’t wait to watch it!  

Hope everyone has a great start to the term! 

This week saw the Year 4 children building stick houses for Eeyore as part of our celebration of Winnie the Pooh day.  Having reminded the children of the characters in the book and re-read some of this delightful story, we then headed into the woods to create homes for the gloomy Eeyore.  Much fun was had by all and much learned about the best ways to construct a structure to try and keep a grumpy donkey happy! 

The Lent term is now well underway and the tutor group have returned with enthusiasm and stories from their Christmas holidays.   

We have discovered that several of my tutor are exceptional at solving riddles and Rubik cubes and others are budding magicians or engineers. We have a weekly show and tell slot during tutor time on a Friday and I am very much enjoying watching the students' presentations and listening to their hobbies and interests. We have super scientists, cracking chefs, outstanding readers, and A1 athletes, but most of all I have been pleased to see that the tutor group support each other and are kind to one another - who could ask for more?    

Wishing you happy new year from Mr Stannett's tutor group. 

It has been a busy first two weeks for the history department and as always there has been lots to do!  

Year 3

Year 3 have been investigating how Iron Age Britain was divided into tribes.  They have been looking at some in more detail, finding out the sorts of things they were known for.  For example the Coritani were largely an agricultural tribe and were one of the first tribes to use coins, whereas the Iceni were good metal workers, making lots of jewellery and decorative items from gold, silver and bronze.  

Year 4

Year 4 are learning about life in Roman Britain. They have read about the life of children and adults and watched cartoon video clips following the life of families in Roman Britain. 4F have looked at similarities and differences of ancient Roman towns and modern British towns. Very interesting! The pictures below show the children taking a creative approach, imagining a young Roman visiting his friend in one of the towns. Notice they have to visit the different places within the city walls, in the order of the time on the clocks. Cross curricular links with Maths, History and English! Good fun! 

Year 5

In Year 5 this term we are moving from the Viking era onto the Norman Conquest.  We are looking forward to learning about The Battle of Hastings and having our very own election campaign to vote in the best King of England. 

Year 6

Year 6 have finished investigating justice in the Middle Ages. Most agree that the Manorial court and the Jury represent justice, but that being thrown in a lake with your hands and feet tied, to find out if you are innocent or guilty does not! They are moving on to study how Medieval Kings’ managed the Church and their Barons. This started with the famous ‘who dun it’ of Henry II and Thomas Becket role play and the pictures below show an upset Henry (Jinesh) shouting the immortal words ‘who will rid me of this turbulent priest’ and Archbishop Becket (Sam) getting attacked by the knights. 

Year 7

Year 7 have continued their studies on the Tudor dynasty and this term’s focus has been on Henry’s children beginning with Edward VI. With the religious roller-coaster that is the Tudor family there will be numerous interesting rebellions and plots to investigate. The debate on whether Mary Tudor deserves the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ will no doubt split opinion. After half term we will be looking at the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the ever-popular planned invasion by the Spanish. 

Year 8

Year 8’s preparation has been focused on the scholarship exams, which take place after half term, and preparation for the essay section of Common Entrance. This work has entailed the revision of content from Year 7 as well as the development of the skills needed for a successful essay. I am sure all of Year 8 will do themselves proud in the next few weeks. 

Again what a challenging week of weather we have had but as always the children battled through the cold to get some excellent acheievements. This week also saw the infamous King's Loop return, the grounds are looking amazing thanks to our wonderful grounds team, the children felt very lucky "It felt like running in Center Parcs!"

All this cold weather certainly makes for some beautiful starts to the day!

Well done everyone on another great week!

Please click below to see more sporting updates via our King's Hall Sport Twitter feed.

Thank you to those parents that have completed the consent via Somerset SAINT for the HPV vaccinations.

If you have not yet completed the form, this is required whether or not you wish for your son/daughter to have the vaccine administered. Deadline for completion is is midday on the 25th January.

You will need to enter our unique code for King's Hall which is SM123934 

Further information can be found below as well as the consent form for completion.

If you have any queries or your son or daughter has already receieved the vaccine, please contact Somerset SAINT directly