Latest News Page Updates | 30 January

Student Leadership

During Year 11 Parents’ Evening, we had the opportunity to sell cakes to raise money for Mind, a charity that supports mental health.

We would like to thank parents, carers and teachers for purchasing the delicious cakes, the student representatives who helped with selling on the evening, and a huge thank you to the staff who generously donated the cakes.

We are proud to share that we raised over £125 for this important cause.

Jaya Shiyani  |  Head of Knole College

Overall, it was a memorable trip and a powerful performance that our extremely well behaved Year 10 loved!

Mrs Forbes-Bareham  |  Coordinator of Learning For Visual and Performing Arts

Bridging the gap: The power of Geography intervention

As we prepare the Year Eleven pupils for the second round of mock exams, we have been able to offer Geography intervention as part of the tutor programme.  This has really focused on bridging the gaps identified from the question level analysis from the first round of mock exams. The small group setting has allowed us to build pupils’ confidence and the highlight last week has been pupil-led presentations.

It was brilliant to see pupils take ownership of their learning, teaching their peers about complex topics like plate tectonics and urban change. There’s a unique “aha!” moment that happens when a pupil explains a concept to a friend; it reinforces their own understanding while making the content more relatable for the listener.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) Learner Profile

In an IB World School environment, our pedagogical approach is built on intentionality and self-reflection. We explicitly teach the Learner Profile, ensuring students don’t just recognize the attributes but deeply understand how being “Inquirers” or “Reflective” directly impacts their academic success. To make this connection visible, students record their Learner Profile goals in green in their books, creating a clear, color-coded thread of personal growth throughout their work.

Beyond character traits, we provide direct instruction on the Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills, equipping students with the “how-to-learn” tools—such as research, communication, and self-management—necessary to navigate complex tasks. This rigorous foundation culminates in our MYP assessment framework for Years 7, 8, and 9, where students are evaluated against IB criteria that value both the process of learning and the mastery of content.

Our Core MYP Components

Component	Classroom Practice
Learner Profile	Explicitly taught and recorded in green ink for visibility and reflection.
ATL Skills	Taught as a standalone toolkit to improve student autonomy and efficiency.
MYP Assessment	Applied across Years 7–9 to prepare students for high-level analytical thinking.

Here is an example of where students have considered which learner profile they will be using within a mathematics lesson:

MYP Languages and Acquisition 

Overview This term, the Language Acquisition department has focused on deepening the integration of the MYP framework by connecting linguistic proficiency with cultural competency and the IB Learner Profile.

Spanish students explored the Global Context of Personal and Cultural Expression.

• Students scripted presentations regarding their own holiday traditions, transitioning from personal reflection to public speaking in the target language. By presenting in front of their peers, students developed Communication Skills and built confidence. The activity successfully balanced rigorous language production with high student engagement.

French students utilized the Global Context of Identities and Relationships to conduct a comparative study between their own daily lives and those of students in France.

• Through multimedia resources and “Turn and Talk” collaborative protocols, students analyzed cultural nuances, specifically focusing on the French school system.

In addition, students identified how profiles like Risk-taker and Open-minded manifest specifically within language acquisition.

Library Book Amnesty

For the remainder of this module, any overdue school library books can be returned with no questions asked.

Whether the book is a week late or a year late, our aim is to get back all the overdue library books. A missing book is a story another student can’t read, so we appreciate your help in refreshing our collection.

Please contact the library if you have any questions about books that your child has borrowed.

Thank you in advance.

Ms Allen  |  Library Manager

Year 11 and 13 Mock Cycle 2

Year 11 and Year 13 students commenced their second series of mock exams on Monday, 26th January 2026. These assessments build upon their first set of mocks and provide vital preparation for the final exams this summer.

Our students showed exceptional discipline and resilience last week, and external invigilators were notably impressed by their conduct. We wish all our students the very best of luck for the remainder of the mocks and their upcoming summer examinations.

Assembly foci

As we continue to focus on Kindness as our LABex Value this module the assemblies have been supporting students to reflect on this.

Miss Rafferty led last week’s assembly starting with Literacy: Your superpower for Life! The students were asked several questions linked to different scenarios, such as how earnings are affected by literacy skills.

Holocaust Memorial Day 27th January 2026

To commemorate this annual event, Mrs Turner led a virtual assembly on this year’s theme, ‘Bridging Generations’, a call-to-action. A reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn’t end with the survivors – it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us. This theme encourages us all to engage actively with the past – to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward. By doing so, we build a bridge between memory and action, between history and hope for the future.