We had a jam-packed final week ...
Year 7 trip to Morzine
Lily
Every morning we were woken up by the teachers at 7.30 and had breakfast. We normally had the choice of bread or cereals. Then we had three hours of French lessons; we learned about lots of things and all the lessons were very educational. We normally had a break in between the French lessons and outside there were lots of things to do. They provided us with fun equipment such as table football, ping pong, football, volleyball, netball and basketball but that was all optional or you could read and chat. There was a hard court with hoops for basketball and netball and also there was a net that was for volleyball. There was an area where most of us played football too. Lunches were yummy!! We had baguettes with tasty fillings with crisps fruit and chocolate. Then came our activities, which in my opinion were the best part of the day: we did hiking, rafting, kayaking and high ropes, which were all really fun.
Mason
My favourite activity by far was the whitewater rafting. It was so fun getting wet and falling out of the raft. I liked it when we jumped off the big rock and landed in the rapids and had to pull ourselves in by a rope that got thrown out to us.
Tamzin
We had three hours of French lessons on four of our days. In the afternoons we did fun outdoor activities like rafting and high ropes. On Thursday all of us went to the Chocolate Factory and bought some chocolate. There were many bags of chocolate to bring home!
Jacob
Every morning we would have cereals with bread and yummy Nutella - some of us had hot chocolate. My favourite activity was whitewater rafting, but I also loved the high ropes. For the rafting I was at the front, and I almost fell off the raft. The French lessons were really fun.
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats
Ratty
At the end of last week Year 3 embarked on a mini adventure.
We travelled to French Weir Park and arrived at Channel Adventure’s HQ to do some rafting and canoeing on the canal. The children had been so excited all morning and the weather did not disappoint.
Kitted up and ready for action, the children rafted and canoed with their instructors. The call of the water was too great and several jumped in voluntarily and within minutes of starting. The enormous inflatable raft was good at being a bumper boat and the canoes wobbled rather a lot. Mya did a great impression of a mermaid although her buoyancy aid precluded underwater acrobatics! Weight distribution and how to control the paddles while working as a team became very important lessons and this year the centre had a climbing wall which Adam particularly enjoyed.
Back at school a sausage roll and some yummy treats kept everyone warm after a busy time on the river. Later we played a rounders game with Year 2 then drunk hot chocolate and nibbled some flapjack. The Rose Garden classrooms morphed into dormitories and it was a night filled with giggling, whispering and the occasional snorer!
A big thank you to Mrs Hayden-Briffett for organising such a wonderful outdoor learning experience. Mrs Gompels and Mrs Willmott are so proud of everyone being brave and full of fun.
Year 8 Charity Fête
What a fabulous afternoon everyone had on Tuesday...
The Year 8 children prepared their stalls and set up with no help from the staff. Years 2-7 visited and all enjoyed the different activities laid on by the Year 8 team. The stalls ranged from lucky dips in baked beans, obstacle courses, penalty shoot outs, cricket bowling competitions, guess how many sweets in the jar, sponge throwing at the teachers (very popular!), toss the bean bag into the hoops, hair braiding and tattoos (my little mermaid one is destined to stay forever!), and a modern coconut shy. There were two inflatable dinosaurs running around, which the children loved. All in all, a very happy afternoon.
So far, the total raised during this event is over £1,600. This money is going to a local homeless charity and if you haven’t yet donated, please can I encourage you to give.
Mrs Andrea Murray
Year 8 Charity Justgiving
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Madame Murray's tutor group’s victory in the tutor tug of war at the leavers' BBQ. Madame Murray did not need any tricks of the trade, just her loyal, strong and brave group! Well done!
E.Nesbit, author of the ‘Five Children and IT’ and ‘The Railway Children’, once famously said “There is nothing more luxurious than eating while you read – unless it be reading while you eat”.
With this in mind, Year 8 popped to a café on the edge of the Quantocks for their book club this week.
Having read The Last Hawk by multi- award-winning Elizabeth Wein they had plenty to discuss even before the car had left King's Hall Car Park. Set in Nazi Germany the heroine has a stammer which, despite her father working for the Nazi regime, puts her in a perilous position. She is saved only by flying a jet in a secret propaganda tour – but knowledge of the reality of war puts her in even more danger. Year 8 certainly got their teeth stuck into things at the café. They chewed over a variety of topics inspired by the novella, from euthanasia and sterilization to having the courage to stand up for what you believe is right even if it puts your life at risk.
Thank you to the members of Year 8 Book Club this year who have been brilliant ambassadors for the library and reading. They have taken time out to help keep the library in order, assisted in promoting and devising reading challenges, made book recommendations to peers who need a little help finding a book they love and been on hand to offer plenty of encouragement to our younger pupils. They have been an inspiration – a big thank you from Mrs Lowery and all those you have enthused!
Years 5 and 6 run wild at Book Club!
Years 5 and 6 went wild at their respective Book Clubs this term after reading Run Wild penned by international award winner, and local lass, Gill Lewis. This very readable novella tells the story of a group of children who, whilst playing at a derelict gasworks, discover a wilderness they never expected and an injured wolf that desperately needs their help.
The book inspired the children to think about the benefits of their local environment and how lucky we are in Somerset and at King’s to be surrounded by so much nature. We looked at satellite pictures of how Taunton has changed over the past few decades and considered areas the children would like to rewild. We certainly have a few budding conservationists in our midst – even the next David Attenborough perhaps!
Fascinated by the way in which the book portrays wolf language, the pupils tried their hand at modelling both human and wolf body language. They were set the challenge of guessing the message being conveyed. Both year groups were surprisingly good at identifying the wolf talk – move over Dr Dolittle Years 5 and 6 have this one covered!
The book also touches on the themes of friendship and our perception of others. It was heart-warming to hear the children’s perspectives on this. As they move towards the end of one academic year towards the next it is clear they do so with the determination to support each other, be caretakers of their environment and have fun along the way.
Guess where I am reading?
King's Hall Summer Photo Reading Challenge 2023
It has been nearly five years since we ran our hugely popular Summer Reading Photo Challenge where our book-loving pupils send in photos of themselves reading a book in an unusual or imaginative location or situation.
All photos should be emailed to RLowery@kingshalltaunton.co.uk and there will be a small prize for the winning entries.
Happy reading!!
Boarding Blog
Goodbye and Good Luck!
Where has this year gone! We have some very fond farewells to say at the end of this term to both staff and pupils.
We will be saying goodbye to a total of 15 full time boarders – most of these are Year 8, whilst some have joined us for this term as ‘short stays’, where they have very quickly become integrated into the ‘gang’. On Sunday we all celebrated our last weekend together in style, visiting North Devon Aqua Park, where we all had so much fun and it was lovely way to end the year. There were 28 full time boarders at supper on Sunday night and as I looked around the table I felt incredibly grateful to have been able to look after such an amazing group of children. Boarding can be tough, but these kiddies make it look easy, they find fun in all they do and every day I am blown away by their thoughtfulness and how well they all get on.
On Wednesday evening, those children who had won the most credits this term and another six drawn from the ‘credit raffle’ were taken to McDonalds for supper as a reward.
We also say goodbye and a massive THANK YOU to a few staff - Katie Beale and Eliza Chippendale. They have both been a breath of fresh air, working so incredibly hard and bringing so much energy and fun to the boarding house. They will be missed and we wish them all the very best in all they do in the future.
Finally, Sarah Lewis has been my ‘assistant’ this term and she has been AMAZING! She will return as ‘day matron’ next year and will continue to be a very important member of the team, but we will miss her living on site and being on tap 24-7. It has become a Mrs Hardy tradition to write a leaving poem and here is an extract from Mrs Lewis’:
I will always be eternally grateful for all she has done,
And working with her has been so much fun.
She works so incredibly hard all hours of the day and night,
Just to make sure your PE socks come back looking white!
This term she has done way more than ‘just the washing’,
In her brain a million things have been a sloshing!!
All that is left to say is a massive THANK YOU to everyone else that makes my life easier – from the continual support I get from all of my colleagues to the office staff who put up with all my demands, the kitchen staff who feed us so fabulously, Sister for keeping us fit and well, Martin for mending ‘stuff’ and the cleaning team for keeping everywhere looking so tidy!
Have a great summer everyone – see you in September!
A few words from this term's Deputy Head Boys...
Hello, we are Shea Ferguson and Nick Watson, the Deputy Head Boys for this term.
We hope everyone enjoyed the Year 8 Fête on Tuesday afternoon and had lots of fun. The Year 8s worked hard to provide a variety of activities for the rest of the school, such as sponge throwing, football, rugby and cricket games, tattoos and hair glitter, and much more. Most importantly, it was all for a good cause with lots of money raised for the Taunton based ARC charity.
We have all really enjoyed the cricket season. It has been a very good one, and all age groups have played lots of matches. Congratulations to the U13 girls who won the County Cup final last Thursday and the U13 boys who emulated the girls and won the County Cup on Monday.
There were lots of awards given out during Prize Day and the term finished with a Year 8 dads v lads cricket game in the afternoon.
We hope the Year 8s are excited for the Ball this evening, as it will undoubtedly be a wonderful and memorable occasion.
We are sure you are all excited about the summer holidays and hope you all have had a wonderful year at school. Best wishes to those returning to King’s Hall in September, and especially to all our Year 8 friends who are moving on to the next chapter in their lives.
Nick Watson and Shea Ferguson
Snoops' Diary
by Snoops the Dog
Hey Folks,
Well, what a grandiose finale to round off what has been, a fabulous academic year! All those prizes and musical talents on display. And, in addition, an equal number of awards were presented in the final assembly, yesterday. My paws are still aching from all the clapping! And that’s without mentioning all the merits, plus points, arts awards and sporting achievements that were all components of this eclectic mix of things to celebrate. We really are a community of clever, good eggs, and that’s what makes us the happy community that is, King’s Hall School.
Apart from ending the year on a very happy note, there isn’t much else for me to say, other than, ‘happy holibobs everyone!’.
You can probably guess where I’m going on holiday! Yes, it’s my annual camping trip to Cornwall, and you may well have noticed today that I’m totally beach ready! My fur is clipped, my ears are trimmed and by the time you go to bed this evening, I’ll already be installed in my tent, having had an evening walk on the beach and a BBQ’d sausage. I ask you; can life actually get any better? I think not.
I’m just hoping that my bag fits in the car. I have accumulated an increasing number of beach essentials, as well as a few luxurious non-essentials. My usual luggage consists of my bed, blanket, collapsible food bowls, leads, poop bags and my treat box. In addition, I now have a beach shelter, a shaded doggy sun lounger, a Saltrock dry robe, a towelling coat, and a life jacket!
If your holiday itineraries measure up to my Cornwall plans, I’ve got a few weeks spare in the summer, if you’d like to consider taking me along! Just make sure you have enough space in your car for all my luggage!
And finally, just to get you into the holiday mood, I’ve included a couple of my favourite photos from past trips to Cornwall.
Bye, bye all. I’ll see some of you at Woodlands Adventures during the holidays, but as for the rest of you, I’ll see you in September. Oh, and Year 8s, please pop back and see me sometime. In the same way that you won’t forget my lovely fluffy face, I won’t forget your individual smells, and considering you’re all now teenagers, they weren’t too bad!
Bye zee Bye
Snoops X
Sports News
#U13CountyChampions!
This time it is the turn of the boys - a nail-biting game against Taunton Prep hosted by King's College. Well done, boys - a brilliant finish under lots of pressure!
#Years3&4Cricket
The children have shown so much progress over the term.
Summer Camps
Cricket
Hockey
Netball
Pro-Coaching
Rugby
Swimming Lessons
Walker's Academy
Woodland Adventures
One to One Swimming Lessons in King's College Pool
7 -11 AugustWednesday afternoon sailing group (first half of the Michaelmas term)
There are still a few places left so please contact Mr Hands (DHands@kingshalltaunton.co.uk) if your child is interested. The cost per session will be £15 to £20 depending on numbers; this goes towards covering the cost of the hire of the power boat and dinghy fleet at Wimbleball Lake each week.
Mr Hands is an RYA senior instructor and will take the sessions on the water. Any children working through an RYA award can have items ticked off in their log book. Total beginners will be taught how to sail.
King's Hall School Shop
Our school shop will be open over for the first two weeks and the last three weeks of the Summer holidays.
To make an appointment please phone the School Office: 01823 285920
The shop stocks all the uniform items your child needs and includes some second-hand clothing.
For a list of uniform items, please click here
If you prefer to order online, please click here to visit the website.
Do you Have a Story? Get in Touch!
Has your child achieved something that you'd like to share with us? Email our marketing department: khsnews@kingshalltaunton.co.uk with your news and photos!