KING’S HOUSE NEWSLETTER
1 February 2013
By Will
Dear Parents
At the end of last week we had an inspiring assembly from our friend David Chaplin, who
runs the Rwanda Aid charity, which the school and parents have supported so well over the
last few years. David talked to us about the new project that we are going to be supporting
this year – a new classroom for the disabled children’s village, which we helped with the
building of. Our own Joseph in Year 7 also talked to the boys about his experiences during
his trip and we saw a wonderful film made by the children in the village about disabled
children’s rights called “Disabled Children have Rights too” (available on YouTube). More
to follow soon about our fund-raising efforts.
Last Sunday the school was very proud to host the regional qualifiers for the Prep School
Rugby Nationals. Considering the weather we have had the grounds were in excellent
condition and some twenty teams turned up on the day. Our 1st XV were in a tough group
but played some wonderful attacking rugby with a strong, aggressive defence producing
their best performances of the year so far. They beat Danes Hill (5-0) and Hurstpierpoint
(12-7) to win their groups. Well done to all the boys who played – and good luck for the
finals. This weekend we have more teams playing in the qualifiers for the Nationals so good
luck them.
Well done also to Ollie for his role in “Oliver!”, which our Year 5’s all enjoyed seeing on
Wednesday.
Parking – concern has been raised by both our neighbours and some parents about parking
on the corner of Spring Grove Road and King’s Road. Please do not park on the yellow
lines on the corner – it is a busy crossing point for children.
Mark Turner
Year 6 Trip to Baitful Futuh Mosque
By Max
Last week Year 6 visited the Baitful Futuh Mosque. On arrival we had to take off our shoes so
that the mosque wouldn’t get dirty and then had a quick question and answer session. We learnt
that every Friday there was a special prayer said at lunch which started the sermon.
We then walked through the reception hall which had 7 clocks; one clock was the regular time, 5
clocks were the times of prayer and the sixth clock as the Friday prayer clock. The reception led
to the women’s prayer hall which had a striped carpet and a Mihrab pointing to Mekkah. The
room could hold 2000 women. We then learnt about fasting. Each year you fast for 30 days but
you can eat at night. If your sick, pregnant or old you can’t fast. If a Muslim breaks their fast they
must apologise to God (Allah).
Finally we visited the men’s prayer room which could hold 4000 peopole. The mihrab in the room
was grand. Apparently the dome was 20m high and 16m wide. The special Friday prayer is held
in this room. We then went outside the building to see the minaret. The minaret is a traditional
part of a mosque. It is generally used by the muezzin, who calls people to prayer by chanting from
the top. We then got on the coach back to school.
NOTES FROM THE NURSERY DEPARTMENT
The Butterfly class are continuing their topic “Animals from Around the World” and this week
Mrs O’Brien has transported us all to Africa to meet the lions, giraffes, zebras and monkeys from
this colourful continent. The children have enjoyed our book of the week “Handa’s Surprise” and
they retold the story, exploring the exotic African fruits and giggling as each animal stole a piece of
fruit from Handa’s basket.
We were delighted to have the help of Toby Quarendon, our gap student, in the Nursery this week,
the children were thrilled to show him around and were all impressed with his knowledge of
African animals.
We say farewell to Miss Barlow this week as she goes off on maternity leave, we wish her all the
best for the next few weeks and look forward to some exciting news before the end of term.
Handa’s surprise display by the Butterfly class
Mrs Sally Crawley
Mr Quarendon and friends recreate an African safari
NOTES FROM THE JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
It was lovely to see 3B and 3L parents at our first class assemblies of the year; we enjoyed being
entertained by some traditional fables and space antics. In assembly on Monday Mrs Badhe got National
Storytelling Week off to a flying start with a tale, to which the boys contributed, about a hat maker called
Pedro! Some of the Year 2 boys really impressed me with their knowledge of the Bayeux Tapestry when I
popped into a lesson this week; their oil pastel drawings are fantastic and I am sure we shall see them
displayed around the school. A personal highlight of mine every week is having lunch with a small group
of boys. It is a great way for us to get to know each other and for me to get some feedback on what they
think about school. I have now dined with the whole of Year 3 and look forward to chatting with some of
the Year 2 boys in the coming weeks.
Reception - have been enjoying their book of the week, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They have
discussed the elements of the story and made story boards, painted some beautiful caterpillar pictures
and discussed the life cycle of the butterfly.
Year 1 - boys have been baking more bread rolls this week and predicting whether or not they can see in
the dark in Science. We had a very muddy session at the games field on Monday so please clean their
boots for next week. There were some very cold little hands too so please do not forget gloves. We have
also been making clay ’falukahs’ as part of our Ancient Egyptian topic. Ask the boys for an explanation!
Year 2 - have been getting dizzy learning about turning in Maths! They have found out about half turns,
quarter turns, clockwise, anticlockwise and have even been exploring different types of angles. Science
has involved an exciting investigation to see which materials are the best conductors of heat.
Year 3- Alongside the excitement of preparing for the class assemblies, the boys in Year 3 have been
completing the writing of their very own myths, writing up the results of the Science investigation about
the effects of different drinks on teeth, and furthering their knowledge about 3D shapes in Maths. It’s
been another busy week!
3L Assembly
3B Assembly
Parents Evening will take place on Tuesday 26th February and Thursday 28th February from 6pm to
8pm. Lists will go up in the lobby on Monday 4th February. Please sign up for an appointment. If your
son goes to Mrs Hellyer please make an appointment.
Dates: Thursday 7th February 3S Class Assembly to Parents at 08.50 in the Junior School Hall.
Friday 15th February the school will be closed for staff inset day
House points this week are: 1st Nelson 3609, 2nd Drake 3580, 3rd Churchill 3561. Raleigh 3542
Mr Simon Gower
INSET DAY
The school will be closed on Friday 15 February for a staff inset day.
Year 4 & 5 Future Schools Evening
Tuesday 12 February at 7pm in the Senior Department Theatre.
THE NATIONALS
On Sunday 27th of January the 1st XV attended the Nationals South East Regional Festival,
hosted at the King’s House Sports Ground. 17 teams were registered to play, split into 4 groups,
with the top 2 teams from each going through to the Nationals final competition held at Epsom
College. King’s House were drawn in a group along with Danes Hill, Hurstpierpoint and New
Hall. Unfortunately New Hall were unable to make it on the day, leaving the remaining 3 teams
to battle it out for a top two spot. Danes Hill were our first opponents on what was an extremely
windy day. The match started evenly with King’s House holding out well into the wind. In the
second half the team produced an excellent performance in defence, allowing Danes Hill no time
on the ball, and forcing them into mistakes. The pressure paid off when a fumble from the Danes
Hill backs was pounced on by Tom, who then headed towards the corner to dive over the line for
the only score of the match meaning a 5 – 0 victory. In the second match, against Hurst, the boys
started well. Again an excellent defence and good pressure at the break down meant quick ball
for the backs. The ball found its way to Matthew on the wing who showed good pace to run it in
from the half way line. Soon after, a mistake in our own 22 cost us, as Hurst got on the front foot
and used the momentum to score a converted try under the posts, meaning we trailed 7 – 5 at the
break. In the second half King’s House kept their performance levels up, and continued to play
the better rugby. They showed good line speed and pressure in defence which lead to hesitation
and mistakes from the opposition. A great break from Nils was supported well by Max, who took
the ball in space, then powered over for King’s Houses second try. With the conversion that
followed it meant that King’s House came out deserved winners, 12 – 7 the score.
An excellent performance from the team in both matches meant we qualified top of our group for
the Nationals Finals on the 3rd of March. Well done to all those who played, hopefully we will
continue this great form in the coming weeks. Mr A Austin
THIS WEEKS QUIZ - With many celebrating Burns’ Night last weekend, this week’s questions
are on Scotland…….
1 Which two colours feature on Scotland’s flag?
2 Who is the patron saint of Scotland?
3 What is the highest mountain in Scotland?
4 Who is Scotland’s First Minister?
5 Who wrote the words to the song Auld Lang Syne?
Please email your answers in – three credits for any pupils who emails in 5 correct answers!
[email protected]
ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S QUIZ ON SNOW:
1 Snowman. 2 Snowy. 3 In the bleak midwinter. 4 Narnia. 5 Snow Patrol.
Well done to Nurse Jo and Mrs Bullough, Hugo, Connor, Tarun, Jamie, Arjun, Max, Banjo, Alex
and Marcus.