In honour of Jane Austen's 245th birthday and the first of our school-wide literary birthday celebrations this year, Mrs Munns from the English department provided some fun and fascinating activities for students, on the attached sheet. As well as the whole school activities, GCSE and A Level students who are studying Austen’s novels also enjoyed seminars on the social and cultural contexts of Jane Austen.
On profiling day, one of our activities was to go to the library and look at some of the career’s resources. I hadn’t looked at them much before, but the library has a wide range of books about choosing careers, what qualifications you need and what careers relate to specific subjects at school.
On Thursday 10th December, Year 7 crafters got to enjoy the fun and fascinating craft of origami. We made Father Christmas decorations, which were quite easy, once we had mastered the art of sharp folds and points. But the results were very effective, and we ended up with quite a family of Father Christmases! Thank you to Mrs Glaister for sharing her skills and expertise.
Well done to all the participants of the School Council's Christmas Bake off, we received photos of some amazing bakes. There were beautifully decorated cakes, gingerbread houses, yule logs and lots more festive treats! It was delightful to see so many excellent entries, especially during these challenging times.
During this unusual festive season, our Year 10 Drama students at Kendrick have tried to maintain their ‘normal’ routine of putting on a pantomime for students to watch, and this year it is no different! They have worked tirelessly to put on this show for everyone to enjoy and we hope that you do.
Thank you to everyone for entering the competition; the librarians thoroughly enjoyed reading the accounts of what our students thought the character Lyra would do if faced with a pandemic as we are now.
The standard of writing was incredible and it was a tough decision choosing a winner. With the help of Ms. Fieldsend, our Head of English, Tvishi in year 8 came out on top with her excellent narrative, imaginative ideas as well as the pace and energy of her piece of writing. Congratulations Tvishi!
In a year that has seen many cancellations and challenges, it is lovely that we can still have positive events. The annual Inter-form Dance is always a joy: the teamworking that it encourages, the fun for the students in working to the set theme and the excitement of the competition sessions. It is a privilege to be able to be involved in the judging process, although often this is quite a challenge. This year the standard has been incredible, as good as entrants in Festival Competitions who spend months preparing under the guidance of dance teachers. There were also some very good solos, duets and trios and I really commend those students on their talents and their confidence in presenting them.
On Tuesday, 1st December, 32 German GCSE students from years 10 and 11 had the unique opportunity to take part in a virtual German Poetry Workshop with World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker, organised and financed by the Goethe Institut. It felt like the German Department had won the lottery when the Goethe Institut told us that they would put on a special session of the workshop, just for Kendrick School, as so many of our German students were interested in taking part.
On 19th November, the Chineke! Chamber Ensemble performed to a live stream at Wigmore Hall in London. The Chineke! Foundation was created by Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE in 2015 to provide outstanding career opportunities to established and up-and-coming Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe.
Here is a wonderful opportunity for you to support your House & gain loads of valuable House Points!
Are the Sidmouth Squids the best readers? Or will the Palmer Llamas win this one? Can the Cedar Seals top the score board?
YOU could make the difference!
On Friday 20th November, a group of 84 students from across years 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 came together to perform a COVID safe version of 'As You Like It' as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival 2020.
We'd been working on the play for 3 months, working with five different casts that would each perform 3-4 scenes, eventually coming together to perform the full play in order.
Could you tell a well-crafted story, with a beginning, middle and end, entitled ‘Trapped’ in just 100 words? This was the challenge taken up enthusiastically by the large number of students who entered this competition. They gave the judges an extremely difficult but extremely enjoyable task.