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KEW LIFE<br />

Issue <strong>107</strong><br />

July 2022<br />

The Newsletter of Kew Green Preparatory School<br />

<br />

SPORTS DAY FEVER AT KEW GREEN<br />

On Friday, 1 st July, the whole school made their way out onto the green <strong>for</strong> our sports day. Our team’s first event was the Javelin. Although we<br />

lacked confidence at this event, we all tried our best and got a few more points than we expected. Next up was the long jump. Max and<br />

Edward got our team’s joint highest score of 1.65m. Then we had the cricket bowling station. Our year 5s and 6s did brilliantly in this event<br />

and we moved on to the 400m full of confidence as we had some great runners! After that was the shot put. Edward was our best shot putter<br />

but most managed to achieve a high score on this event. Next up was the triple jump. The year 3s in our team were incredible at this event!<br />

Finally, we had the 60m s<strong>print</strong>. Everyone ran their legs off but the Year 4s deserve a special mention as they were rapid! As we gathered<br />

around the results table, we waited in anticipation to hear the winning scores. We really did not expect much but when we heard the winning<br />

team announced by Mr Harrington, it was us! We had won by just 7 points! We were all so happy and proud of each other, we couldn’t stop<br />

smiling when we went to collect our medals and the school trophy! Well done again to everyone in the red team <strong>for</strong> an amazing ef<strong>for</strong>t on the<br />

day! Max M & Amy B Year 6


PIRATES LIFE FOR RECEPTION<br />

The Reception children loved learning about pirates and the pirate’s way of life this last term. The children went to the Polka Theatre to watch<br />

the play ‘The Pirate, the Princess and the Platypus’. It is about a princess who wants to be a pirate and a pirate who wants to be a princess. Their<br />

friend, the platypus, is a confident and witty character who made us laugh from beginning to end. The moral of the story was lovely, and it goes<br />

along with what children have been learning this year. ‘It is good to be different and we can all be whoever we want to be’. On our return, some<br />

children shared the things they liked about the play. They loved the songs and dances. They also liked that the characters could be whatever<br />

they wanted, a princess or a pirate, as well as how the characters worked together to build a boat. A few of them also mentioned funny parts<br />

such as the different animal names the platypus kept being called and the time when the pirate got its foot stuck in a wooden box when<br />

climbing through a window to save the princess. All in all, it was a great success and closure to a fantastic topic. The Reception Team<br />

BUTTERFLY SEASON<br />

<br />

IN YEAR 5<br />

Year 5 have been looking at the metamorphosis of<br />

caterpillars into butterflies. When the caterpillars<br />

first arrived, they were thin like threads and in tiny<br />

pots. The caterpillars grew rapidly to about 2cm<br />

and became thickly covered in fur and spikes.<br />

They slowly lumbered to the top of the pot where<br />

they hung in a J shape. In no time, they had<br />

trans<strong>for</strong>med into chrysalises. Shortly afterwards,<br />

we put these in a large net enclosure. As soon as<br />

one turned into a butterfly, we put sugar water,<br />

fruit and leaves inside. After they had all<br />

trans<strong>for</strong>med, it was time to release them into the<br />

wild. It was harder than we thought as they<br />

wouldn’t come out and so we had to encourage<br />

them by moving the net or fishing them out. As<br />

the butterflies began to swoop out, we made up<br />

names <strong>for</strong> them such as Justin Bieber and cheered<br />

when they flew up into the air. One even landed<br />

on Tilly’s face! Some of them weren’t so lucky. One<br />

fell out of a tree and another’s wings didn’t grow<br />

properly but most survived. By Tilly and Milla-Jane


PETER PAN PRODUCTION SOARS<br />

Second turn on the right and straight round the green led you to Neverland on Thursday 23 rd June. Lost boys, pirates, Bohemians and, of<br />

course, all the classic Darlings, Tink and Peter Pan exploded onto the marquee stage with gusto. The children surpassed expectations and blew<br />

us all away with, not only their amazing per<strong>for</strong>mances on the night, but their resilience, energy and collaboration when working on the<br />

production. Each character brought a unique element to the show and we were delighted to see so many shine on the night. Singing, dancing<br />

and acting with purpose, they entertained their audiences in both the dress rehearsal and the final per<strong>for</strong>mance. We are incredibly proud of<br />

you and hope to see some of you up on stage again soon. Mr Reed


FRENCH DONATION TO HELP THE WORLD<br />

If you had to leave home tonight in a hurry because your life was in danger which three things, would you take with you? After many innovative<br />

suggestions from the children, our special guest speaker, Josh Rosenthal from Doctors without borders or Les Médecins Sans Frontières, told<br />

the children that it boiled down to these essentials; - water, shelter and healthcare. Josh explained that the mission of Les Médecins Sans<br />

Frontières was to provide humanitarian help and healthcare to all people. They pride themselves in being independent, impartial and neutral.<br />

Many of the children couldn’t comprehend how he could go into conflict zones unarmed. Josh explained that the only protection they had<br />

was their MSF armband and although it was<br />

dangerous, rarely did people target any of the<br />

humanitarian workers. The children were so impressed<br />

by the way Les Médecins Sans Frontières do not take<br />

sides in wars. Josh showed pictures of a village in<br />

South Sudan where there were fighting factions. Here<br />

they had set up field hospitals and treated sick people<br />

who would otherwise have had no healthcare. He<br />

played voice recordings of women singing in a<br />

maternity ward and conversations between the people<br />

and the helpers. The children thought that working <strong>for</strong><br />

the charity looked ‘cool’ and challenging and they<br />

liked the idea of travelling around the globe on<br />

exciting missions helping people. If they intend to do<br />

that in the future, they will need two languages – the<br />

vital ones being English and French. Josh handed<br />

around some beautiful, beaded jewellery that he was<br />

given by some of the tribesmen as tokens of their<br />

appreciation. As a token of our appreciation, using<br />

money from the French Fayre, we gave a generous<br />

donation to this worthy humanitarian charity with the<br />

French name. Madame Thorpe-Woods<br />

<br />

HOME IS WHERE THE FUN IS<br />

It is easy to <strong>for</strong>get how lucky we are to have one of the world’s most well-known rivers right on our doorstep. As we discovered on our<br />

incredibly exciting Thames Explorers trip, the Thames is not only full of history, mystery, and a place of boundless adventure, it is very much a<br />

part of what makes us Londoners! We learned about (the amazingly named) Joseph Bazalgette (pronounced Baziljet!) and his trans<strong>for</strong>mative<br />

sewerage system and how city planners need to balance environmental factors with the needs of London’s citizens. We also measured the<br />

speed of the river and learned about tides and water pollution. As soon as low tide was upon us, we eagerly squelched out onto the riverbed<br />

to discover leeches, crabs, fish and even a few historical artefacts! Socks did not stay clean and dry <strong>for</strong> long! What a joy to be 8 years old,<br />

stomping around in muddy water and discovering all sorts of creep-crawlies while the warn sun shone down from a cloudless sky! “This is the<br />

best day of my life” – Orlando 3G. “Can we come down here every day?” – Myla 3K. “What’s the point of wearing wellies when you go stand in<br />

waist deep in water!” – Mr Searle and Miss Powell


START YOUR ENGINES…<br />

Last term 8 Year 5 children embarked on the second part of the ‘Formula One in Schools’ journey. The task this time was to create a car to take<br />

part in a Regional Competition which will be shown live on YouTube later in the year. We now had to design an improved, faster car…The<br />

children worked on three elements of the project; the portfolio, a verbal presentation and making a newly designed body shell <strong>for</strong> the car. Both<br />

teams (Serpents of Doom and Dogs of Flame) came up with a new team logo, adapted from earlier designs from projects last year. They also<br />

designed a new front wing and a curved aerodynamic body. The last element of the project included making a 5-minute verbal presentation<br />

where the children had to take one of the project elements (initial ideas, design development, manufacturing, testing and team graphics) to<br />

talk about. The children had to present <strong>for</strong> one minute each and worked on their confidence and delivery through collaboration. We look<br />

<strong>for</strong>ward to the Regional Competition later in the year! Well done to Freddie, Jasmin, David and Alva <strong>for</strong> the Dogs of Flame; to Idris, Amelia,<br />

Emilia and Sebastian <strong>for</strong> the Serpents of Doom. Let the race begin! Mr Bennett<br />

<br />

SWIM SQUAD SUCCESS<br />

Swim squad have been really dedicated this past term and have started to show their true grit and determination in the galas we have<br />

entered this term. We took ten swimmers from Years 4, 5 and 6 to represent Kew Green in the Richmond Borough gala gaining 3 first places,<br />

4 second places and 5 third places in the heats! Particular mention should go to the girls’ mixed free style relay <strong>for</strong> winning their heat and<br />

achieving bronze in the final, and the boys’ medley relay – they caught up an entire length to come second in their heat! At the London<br />

Schools North gala, we showed our competitive spirit with high standards too. Max T came first in the 25m boy’s butterfly. All our swimmers<br />

gave an excellent account of themselves. The Harrodian Gala was an exciting spectacle, swum in the idyllic outdoor pool at the Harrodian<br />

School, on one of the hottest afternoons of the school year! Children from Year 2 to Year 6 took part including a 12 x 1 length Squadron Relay<br />

to finish. It was a great competitive experience <strong>for</strong> all the children involved. I think I shouted myself hoarse. Our last outing was a pupils v<br />

parents and teachers gala. Nine children from Years 5 and 6 swam against Mr Ward, Ms Chandler and several parents. It was a great way to<br />

start a Wednesday morning. There were individual events in all four strokes and an 8 x 33m Squadron relay to end with. Thank you to the<br />

brave parents who volunteered to take part and particular thanks to the Year 6 swimmers <strong>for</strong> their commitment to school swimming. This<br />

year, many children have achieved personal best times (PBs) and Max T (5K) has spectacularly broken 3 very long-standing school records.<br />

Well done swimmers! Keep practising during the Summer holidays. Mr Ward and Ms Chandler


MATHS MANIA<br />

Maths is always high profile and it was great to be able to indulge even further <strong>for</strong><br />

London Maths Week! To celebrate we held two competitions. First was London Rocks,<br />

with Times Tables Rock Stars. 125 children took up the Times Table Challenge, which<br />

was amazing! Well done Rockstars! They achieved some very impressive scores and<br />

all received certificates and prizes in assembly. We mustn’t <strong>for</strong>get that knowing our<br />

tables is the corner stone <strong>for</strong> almost every aspect of maths! Second, we took on the<br />

London Maths week Challenge. This was similar to our Friday Maths Challenge and<br />

Puzzle but contained several challenges <strong>for</strong> each group from Reception through to<br />

Year 6. Children from each year group entered showing fantastic problem solving<br />

skills. Well done to all who took part! <br />

We have also entered the ‘First Maths Challenge’ recently. It is just like the Primary<br />

Maths Challenge, taken by Years 5 and 6 children each November, but this challenge<br />

is <strong>for</strong> Year 3 and 4 children each June. This year, gold certificates were awarded to:<br />

Penri P C, Charlie B, Ella T J in Year 4. An excellent per<strong>for</strong>mance and well done to all<br />

who took part! Sarah Chandler <br />

OUR BUDDING WRITERS<br />

Earlier this year, some students in Years 4 and 5 entered the Wimbledon Book Fest Young Writers’ Competition, in which they had to write a<br />

story or a poem on the theme of trees. Amazingly, we had five winners – either being Commended or Highly Commended <strong>for</strong> their beautiful<br />

poetry. Please find their poems below. <br />

My tree is my soul, <br />

My tree is my life, <br />

Until you came to this world, <br />

I was exiled from my dreams, <br />

But then I found you, <br />

I was saved from a life of misery, <br />

A life without hope, without light, <br />

A life not worth loving, <br />

When you rose from the ground, <br />

We became like brothers, <br />

Our voices were ripped from our bodies, <br />

But our love spoke <strong>for</strong> us, <br />

Remember that day, <br />

When we first met, <br />

When my sadness crumbled away, <br />

Do you remember that day? <br />

Love by Amelia WM<br />

The winds whipped on the day we first met,<br />

You were bare, cold and shivering.<br />

The howling storm snapping your majestic branches,<br />

My heart beating faster when I stood beneath you.<br />

Your beautiful leaves were blown away,<br />

Your bark crumbled like my heart when I couldn’t look at you.<br />

Your voice was silenced when you were stripped down to the bone,<br />

And you stood, melancholy and miserable <br />

When you had once been so mighty and proud. The tree by Alva<br />

The redwood stretches into the sky<br />

further than I can see.<br />

Branches shaped like reaching arms<br />

which are holding on to me.<br />

<br />

All the other tiny trees<br />

are bowing be<strong>for</strong>e their leader,<br />

<strong>for</strong> the redwood dominates all it sees<br />

and the redwood sees the world. Redwood by Ben<br />

AND FINALLY…<br />

What an excellent half term that was and a fabulous end to another successful Kew Green year. It felt like the first proper summer term in a<br />

long time and I am glad that, <strong>for</strong> my last summer at Kew, we could host the full breadth of sporting events, <strong>for</strong>mal occasions, per<strong>for</strong>mances<br />

and productions that help to celebrate everyone’s <strong>for</strong>ward journey be it moving up a year group, to senior school, or even on to new<br />

ventures. I must acknowledge all those, past and present, who have committed themselves to making Kew Green such a special place of<br />

learning. For the vast majority of children, parents and staff, Kew Green will be an eternal and positive reference point throughout the years<br />

to come. For me, my years here will be highlighted by much fondness and laughter, great characters and a myriad of situations that are<br />

beyond explanation unless you could witness them yourself. Therein lies the excitement of working with the best people in the world …<br />

children! So, it is a final farewell from me. I wish everyone the best of luck <strong>for</strong> the coming year and truly hope that you have a wonderful<br />

summer of sunshine, freedom and laughter. Until our paths cross again … Jem Peck, editor<br />

www.kgps.co.uk

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