Newsletter

Help your children celebrate reading by encouraging them to choose a book at the fair. 

Thank you to those who have already registered for this Autumn’s Book Fair. If you would like your child to have the opportunity to purchase a book and haven’t signed up for the cost to be added to your school bill your child may bring a small amount of cash with them to school on Monday if they wish to participate. 

Scholastic are kindly funding a raffle this year. The names of each child purchasing a book at the fair will be entered and a winner from both Prep and Pre-prep will receive the chance to choose a free book.   

Pupils will have the opportunity to visit the Book Fair during the day to select and purchase books. Book fairs are the perfect occasion to instil excitement about books and reading. There is a growing body of evidence illustrating that reading for pleasure has an enormous effect on children’s attainment and wellbeing; the opportunity to choose their own book plays a role in this. 

Remember every purchase provides commission which we reinvest to enhance the King’s Hall Library for the benefit of all pupils. So, it’s the perfect opportunity to stock up in readiness for Christmas. 

We are excited to once again be bringing The Rural Living Show to King's Hall School on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th of November this year. 

After taking over the show last year, this year we have really focused on enhancing the customer experience, hoping to nurture the interests of our local community, whilst also continuing the family friendly ethos developed over the last 29 years. 

Additions to the show this year include brand new courses, workshops and activities: 

• An early winter foraging course is being offered by UK Wild Adventures throughout the weekend. Participants will learn how to identify key plants as well as all about their history and medicinal uses. At just £20 for a 90 minute session. Pre-booking is highly recommended as spaces are limited - click here to find out more and book yours.
• Craft sessions are being run by Sew Together with Charlotte, a local teacher who runs her own workshops to support people wanting to expand their knowledge and skills around sewing. Visitors will be able to attend drop in sessions to make and take home a range of products including mini bunting and fabric Christmas decorations.
• The University Centre Somerset are attending the event with their UCS Creative Arts provision. They will have 3rd year degree students showcasing their creations, and running taster sessions to promote how visitors can take their creative passions forwards into a more formal study route here in the heart of Somerset.

We have also designed a FREE festive treasure trail for the children visiting the show. Younger visitors will be able to collect a bunting flag from key stations around the show, and end up at our new Christmas craft grotto to assemble and decorate with a sweet treat on offer for those that complete it. 

Another aspect of the show we have expanded is the food marquee. We have increased food and drink exhibitors this year, and moved to a ‘Food and drink village’ utilising additional space for some hot food and drink vans. 

Lastly we are super excited to have ‘Colmer, Solo and Orion’ from Alpha Alpacas attending the show this year. We are sure they will be a real highlight! 

We would be delighted if you would join us at some point over the weekend to support the fantastic array of local designers, makers, craftspeople and producers across our region, not to mention enjoy the start of the festive season with us! As usual we will also be aiming to raise as much money as possible for the wonderful Children's Hospice South West. 

As a sponsor of Somerset Cricket Club we are pleased to share a link for next summer’s Women’s Ashes match to be played at the County Ground which is likely to be a sell out.  

We have crammed so much into this week, last Sunday feels like a distant memory.  We headed towards Exeter and into a remote village to have a go at Laser Tag. I have never done this before and was thoroughly impressed with not only the location but the guns and the games we played. We were kept busy for 2 hours playing out different scenarios and it was like we in in our own game of ‘Fortnite’. The guns were brilliant and made a noise every time we got lasered, as well as showed us how many lives we had left before announcing our game was over once we got hit 20 times. It was great fun and something we’d definitely do again. This week we have also had 2 birthdays – Happy Birthday Leon and Lily, so lots of Pizza and cake have been consumed. On Wednesday the whole school was treated to the amazing Moana production, and I have had the catchy songs stuck in my head ever since.  

Excitement is growing within the group as the performances of the Year 8 production of Moana are upon us. As ever, it is a pleasure to observe the commitment and team work that goes into this event, as well as the positive impact on the self-confidence of those pupils for whom the stage is not their natural environment.  

Our recent PHSE discussions have centred around important topics such as Remembrance and the forthcoming men’s football World Cup in Qatar. I am always delighted with the pupils’ understanding of the issues around Remembrance and why it is so important that we honour the occasion appropriately. It was very pleasing to see them lead by example during the prep school service on Friday 11th. 

Whilst there is some excitement about the start of the World Cup (including from the Welsh form tutor!), I have also been impressed with the maturity shown during our discussions around Qatar as a venue and the issues associated with this.  

Looking beyond the euphoria of the drama production, I’m sure the academic scholars will quickly focus their attention on the imminent mock examinations and things will return to normal prior to the impending excitement of Christmas. 

French

In French we have been using Sentence Builders from Year 5-8 to help us structure our work more effectively and independently. We have also used technology to enhance our learning with individual online assignments. We are very fortunate to have class sets of learnpads which mean that your children can access them as necessary during our lessons. Year 6  have now written at length about where they live, using the Sentence Builders to assist and are now ready to finish their little houses so lovingly designed. We also subscribe to linguascope.com, another excellent resource for the basics with lots of fun listening, reading and writing games and activities. Languages online org.uk is great for grammar exercises. I know many of you encourage your children to use these sites regularly. Indeed, many parents have commented to me that their digital natives can be easily encouraged to do some work when it is on their tablet or computer! 

Spanish

In our classes in Year 5 this term, we have been learning the basics and enjoying learning about various cultural events in Spain and South America.  We all enjoyed learning about “El día de los muertos” and learning some vocabulary around that theme.  We learnt that “el día de los muertos” is a day where people in South America celebrate the lives of loved ones in a bright, joyful and celebratory manner.