Congratulations to Ava in Year 5 and Alyssa in Year 4 for their recent show jumping success at Felbridge.

Ava won 1st in the 70cm and Alyssa was hot on her heels taking 2nd place!

It was a double win for Alyssa, who also won the 40cm round.

Well done girls!

It was a pleasure to welcome so many new faces to the Art department this week, as visiting pupils joined our current Year 6 students to experience life as a Year 7 for the day.

In the Art studio our Year 7 Taster pupils designed their very own Babington House puffer fish, using acrylic paint pens to bring their colourful creations to life. We loved seeing their imagination shine as they put their own unique spin on this spiky little sea creature!

Whole School Informal Concert

On Wednesday evening, we were delighted to host the first Informal Concert of the year. The programme contained an impressive range of music from Offenbach’s Can Can to Adele!

It was also a delight to see so many new performers taking to the stage for the very first time with confidence and enthusiasm. Some of our youngest pianists had only had three piano lessons, but their enthusiasm and confidence were truly inspiring.

The programme numbers were introduced in a very professional manner by our Year 7 Music Scholar Darcey, just returned from the Year 7 residential an hour earlier, and our Music Prefect, Lottie, in Year 11.

It was also wonderful to see some of our Senior students, Arman, Matilda and Anina showcase their musical talents – the Informal Concerts bring together pupils of all ages and skill levels and is a great opportunity for the younger performers to see where hard work and dedication on your instrument can take you. 

GCSE Music visit to Music@Malling 

Earlier this term, our GCSE Music students had a chance to visit a local music festival, Music@Malling, to experience a live concert by the vibrant and highly virtuosic ensemble, Apollo’s Jukebox. The ensemble specialises in early music, which is very relevant to the GCSE course, as it contains set works by Henry Purcell and J.S. Bach.

It was also fantastic to see some less common instruments, like the theorbo with its massively long neck, or to witness close up how incredibly fast it is possible to play the recorder! The historic surroundings of Malling Abbey – founded by Bishop Gundulf (not to be mistaken for Gandalf) of Rochester in 1090, was indeed the perfect backdrop for the musical experience.

After the concert, our students were invited to a short Q&A session with the musicians, who were happy to chat and share their thoughts and tips about early music and the music industry.  

Year 7 Basketball vs Eden Park

Gala result: Babington 13 – 31 Eden Park

Gala statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: Monty
– Opposition Player of the match: Sidney

Year 10 Basketball vs Harris Beckenham

Match result: Babington 49 – 35 Harris Beckenham

Match statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: Jonathan
– Opposition Player of the match: Cristian

Year 9 Basketball vs Hayes School

Match result: Babington 56 – 8 Hayes

Match statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: William
– Opposition Player of the match: Alfie

Year 10 Basketball vs Ravens Wood

Match result: Babington 43 – 32 Ravens Wood

Match statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: Jason
– Opposition Player of the match: Ethan

Year 8 Basketball vs Hayes

Gala result: Babington 25 – 23 Hayes

Gala statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: Tano
– Opposition Player of the match: Zane

Year 9 Basketball vs Farringtons

Match result: Babington 42 – 10 Farringtons

Match statistics:
– Mr Janes Player of the match: James
– Opposition Player of the match: Daniel

Year 5 Netball vs Breaside

Match 1 result: Babington 0 – 7 Breaside
Match 2 result: Babington 1 – 0 Breaside

Match statistics:
– Year 5 Player of the matches: Ela
– Year 5 most improved Players of the matches: Willow and Arabella

Year 6 Netball vs Breaside

Match 1 result: Babington 4 – 4 Breaside
Match 2 result: Babington 3 – 0 Breaside

Match statistics:
– Year 6 Player of the matches: Elsbeth
– Most improved Players of the matches: Isla and Olivia Ba

Year 9/10 Netball vs Harris Beckenham

Match 1 result: Babington 4 – 8 Harris Beckenham
Match statistics:
– Mrs Green Player of the match: Annabelle
– Opposition Player of the match: Eleni and Elena T

PE Clubs – Autumn 1

Upcoming Senior Fixtures and Events – Autumn 2

Upcoming Prep Fixtures and Events – Autumn 2

This week in the Nursery, we have been enjoying the story Rapunzel and observing the colour purple.  

The children have built towers with number sequences and ordered the story using role–play props.  We have also read The Enormous Turnip and learnt a rhyme to help us reenact it.  The children mixed red and blue to make purple to paint their own turnips.   

In Understanding the World, the children have used their senses when making lavender pots and we have also made simple maps showing our route to school.  We have played many games relating to Foundations in Phonics with Bertha the Bus being our favourite!

We were very proud of the children and their performances for their Grandparents and special people this week.   We thought you were all fantastic!  

This week in Tiger Class, something very exciting happened! We arrived on Monday to discover that the Wild Things had taken over our role-play corner and a magical forest had grown! The children were thrilled. After enjoying the story together, we became Wild Things ourselves and let loose with a wild rumpus, copying and repeating actions as part of our maths learning.

Continuing our topic, Inside, Outside, we explored different types of maps and thought about what they are used for. The children then put their ideas into practice by creating their very own maps of the Wild Thing Island. We also headed outdoors as Autumn Detectives, searching for signs of the changing season. Leaves, acorns, seeds and pine cones proved particularly popular, inspiring lots of wonderful exploration and creativity in our creative area.

In maths, we have been weighing parcels and exploring capacity, using lots of fantastic mathematical vocabulary through our play. We have also begun exploring subitising recognising how many objects there are without needing to count them one by one.

Of course, we have made the most of our lovely new outdoor area, too! The children have loved exploring their surroundings, and it has been wonderful to see the imaginative games they are inventing and playing together.

As always, we have been working hard to be kind and thoughtful friends. We have been thinking about how we can help everyone feel welcome and included in Tiger Class. This even extended to welcoming Mrs Channon, who joined us for our fabulous Friday disco at 3pm!

What a wonderful week full of imagination, exploration, mathematical discoveries and friendship!

Well done, Tiger Class! 

It has been a pleasure to meet with parents recently and share how wonderfully the children in Year 1 are getting on. We are so pleased with how well they have settled into their new routines and are incredibly proud of how much progress they have made in just a few weeks. We look forward to watching them continue to grow, learn and flourish throughout the academic year.

In Literacy, we have continued to have lots of fun with Naughty Bus! This week, the children used their imaginations to think of some naughty adventures that Naughty Bus could get up to around our school. He was spotted hiding in the photocopier, jumping on the PE teacher’s head and even making his way into Mrs Channon’s office! The children have also been learning the days of the week and used their knowledge to write a diary recording all of Naughty Bus’s mischievous adventures.

In Maths, we have been exploring the language we use to compare groups of objects and numbers. We have practised ordering numbers from greatest to smallest and from smallest to greatest. Lots of practical and engaging games helped us to consolidate our understanding of one more, one less, greater than and less than.

In Geography, we travelled across the Atlantic to North America, where we explored some of the famous landmarks of USA. The children worked collaboratively to create our very own class fact book, sharing all the interesting facts they discovered.

In Art, we have been inspired by the portraits of Pablo Picasso. The children carefully looked at their own facial features and had a go at creating their own self-portraits. They then designed colourful backgrounds using the different patterns, lines, shapes and marks we have been practising over the past few weeks.
Another fantastic week of learning, creativity and fun!

Well done, Year 1!

In English, Year 2 have been writing own stories inspired by The Bear and the Piano, before editing and improving our work. The children came up with some great titles such as the salamander and the ukulele, and the tiger and the cello. In Maths, we explored related facts and practised adding by making 10.

We brought our Florence Nightingale topic to a close in History by investigating nurses’ uniforms today and comparing them with those worn by Florence Nightingale. In Science, we explored the properties of different materials, including their absorbency, and considered why these properties make materials suitable for particular uses.

In RE, we explored the message of The Boy Who Threw Stones at Trees, continuing our half-term theme of how different religions teach us to interact with and care for nature.

In Computing, we developed our coding skills using ScratchJr, creating, debugging and sharing our own programs.

We also enjoyed performing You’ve Got a Friend in Me for our Grandparents and Special People, sharing our musical learning with our special visitors.

What a brilliant first half-term in Year 3! We have been so impressed with how both classes have settled in and hit the ground running.

In our Literacy Writing Unit, we have been focusing on the book The Zebra’s Great Escape. Through our exploration of this text we have written a wanted poster to describe our villain, written a letter to ask for help locating missing animals and focussed on adverbials, expanded noun phrases, adding dialogue for characters and established the purpose of possessive apostrophes. All these skills were drawn upon this week, when the classes used them as the basis for writing their own stories. This was their opportunity to demonstrate what they have remembered from this unit and they did not disappoint.

In Maths we have been looking at Addition and Subtraction and after practising adding or subtracting individual ones, tens or hundreds to a specified number, we started to focus on the patterns e.g. Take the number 444 and add 2, or 20 and finally 200. Spot how the answer differs 446 464 644 depending on whether you were changing the ones, tens or hundreds value.

In History, we were making persuasive adverts to convince Early Man that they needed to ditch their basic stone, bone, spear or hand axe type tools and get themselves the ingenious bow and arrow. “No more bitten off arms, shoot your prey from 50 meters away”.

Enjoy your break and we look forward to welcoming you back for a festive and forest-filled half-term.

This week in English, we have been writing newspaper reports about the crew of the Endurance and their remarkable survival during the extraordinary expedition led by Ernest Shackleton. We explored the key features of newspaper reports, including headlines, formal language and eyewitness accounts, and used these successfully in our own writing.

In Maths, we have been focusing on rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000. We have used our understanding of place value to help us decide which digit to look at and explain our reasoning.

In Geography, we reviewed the stages of a river and developed our understanding of flooding. We discussed how floods can affect communities and considered both the immediate and long-term impacts on people and places.

Additionally, in History, we have been learning about the ancient Maya civilisation. We found out some of the major Mayan city states, investigated how Maya society was organised and discovered the different roles and responsibilities of people within their communities.

Well done to everyone for your hard work and determination this half term. We hope you have a restful and enjoyable half-term holiday!

As we come to the end of our first half term, we would like to congratulate all of the children for what they have achieved so far. It’s been a busy six weeks and we’ve been impressed with the high levels of energy and enthusiasm the children have displayed.

In English, we have come to the end of our unit based on the Hidden Figures book. The children have completed some excellent writing and have practised a great deal of skills, with this culminating in an excellent non-chronological report. They were given the choice to focus on any number of the women we encountered and it’s been fantastic to see the attention that’s been given to celebrating the important history of what these women achieved. On a side note, we love that some of you have started watching the film – if you haven’t already, we highly recommend Hidden Figures (and it’s only a PG!).

In Maths, we have consolidated our addition and subtraction skills and have spent the last week identifying common multiples and common factors and exploring the relationship between these numbers. Next up are prime, square and cube numbers!

In Science, we thoroughly enjoyed testing our parachutes and investigating the effect that size of parachute has on air resistance. We found that the bigger the parachute, the slower it descended; there is more surface area for air resistance to act upon.

Have a wonderful half term everyone. See you in November!

This week Year 6 had a wonderful time becoming Year 7 pupils for the day and getting a feel for Senior School life in their Taster Days.

They followed a timetable of exciting lessons, including Art where they designed their own puffer fish; observed cells and developed their understanding of biology in the Science labs; enjoyed games and team building activities in PE and practised greetings and food vocabulary using role play and props in Spanish.

Our Year 6 pupils were absolute superstars, helping our visiting pupils feel welcome and confidently navigating the Senior School timetable together. Well done, Year 6, for being such wonderful ambassadors for Babington!

Click and scroll through the gallery to see how they got on!

We have had another incredibly productive week in the maths department, with students demonstrating excellent focus and determination. All students have had a significant week of progression and reflection balancing additional concepts with reflective learning.

Alongside new learning, students dedicated some time to reviewing their recent assessments. Across Key stage 3 and Key Stage 4, each student completed their assessment feedback sheet. The exercise allowed them to identify exact knowledge gaps and establish actionable steps on how to move forward and close the gaps ahead of future topics.

Some highlights of the week included our Year 11s completing a comprehensive recap of Circle Theorems. As they approach their mock exams revisiting these foundational geometric properties is vital. These sessions focussed on unpacking the core rules, including angles at the centre, angles in the same segment, and cyclic quadrilaterals. The focus then moved onto complex multistep exam problems. Our students showed fantastic resilience in breaking down these tricky questions and improving on articulating their geometric reasoning.

Year 9 students explored different ways numbers are represented. They learned to express very large and very small numbers using standard form while also stepping up to more advanced radical notation by learning how to simplify, add and subtract surds.

A huge shoutout to all students who pushed through challenging topics this week. Your proactive attitude toward acting on feedback and tackling complex numerical operations is highly commendable. Keep up the spectacular work!

Year 8 Explore Revenge and Justice Through Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down

This half term, Year 8 have been studying Jason Reynolds’ powerful verse novel Long Way Down, exploring its themes of revenge, grief, violence and the difficult choices we make.

The novel follows Will, a teenager who enters a lift carrying a gun, determined to avenge his brother’s death. During the sixty-second journey, he encounters a series of unexpected visitors who challenge his understanding of revenge and justice.

Pupils have also been making connections between Reynolds’ contemporary novel and the tradition of revenge tragedy, particularly Shakespeare’s Hamlet. They have considered how both protagonists struggle with expectations of revenge, moral uncertainty and the consequences of violence.

Through discussion and close analysis, Year 8 have explored how writers separated by centuries tackle remarkably similar questions. They have also examined Reynolds’ distinctive use of verse, considering how poetic form and structure communicate powerful emotions and create tension.

It has been a thought-provoking introduction to contemporary literature and Shakespearean tragedy.

There’s been lots going on in science this half term, with students having the opportunity to carry out a wide range of practicals – from using microscopes to looking at the reactivity of metals – carrying out experiments is always a highlight for students (and teachers!).

In year 8 and year 10, students have been looking at displacement reactions, this is when a more reactive elements takes the place of a less reactive element in a compound during a chemical reaction.

In year 10, students have been able to extract copper metal from copper oxide through a displacement reaction.

In year 8 students have been able to observe displacement reactions of group 7 elements and then rank them in order from most reactive to least reactive.

Year 8 Spanish holiday postcard project

Our Year 8 Spanish students have been developing their language skills through an exciting holiday postcard project. Using their knowledge of the preterite tense (past tense), students have been writing about a holiday they have already been on, describing where they went, what they did, and what they enjoyed during their trip.

Many students have gone even further by challenging themselves to incorporate the present tense to describe their usual holiday habits and the simple future tense to explain what they will do on future holidays. This allows them to communicate across different time frames and create more sophisticated and engaging pieces of writing.

Being able to use the past, present and future tenses accurately in the same piece of writing is an essential GCSE skill. This concept, often referred to as the use of three time frames, is a key indicator of strong linguistic development and helps students achieve greater success in GCSE Spanish. Mastering this skill now will provide a solid foundation for future learning and enable students to express themselves with greater confidence and complexity.

We have been particularly impressed by the creativity and ambition shown by our students, who have combined colourful postcard designs with increasingly advanced Spanish. ¡Buen trabajo, Year 8!

Legal Eagles Law Club: Exploring the World of Law

This term, our Law Club has been busy exploring the fascinating world of law and justice. Meeting every Tuesday after school in T3 (3.40-4.45pm), the club offers pupils an exciting opportunity to develop their legal knowledge, debating skills and confidence.

So far this term, pupils have investigated the differences between civil and criminal law, discovering how the legal system deals with different types of disputes and offences. Members have also watched a trial, gaining valuable insight into courtroom procedures and the roles of legal professionals.

One of the highlights has been taking part in a mock civil law case, where pupils stepped into the roles of lawyers, witnesses and judges, presenting arguments and examining evidence. The fictitious case of Okafor v Volt Drinks Ltd involved a social media post, a promise to pay £1,000 and a very keen influencer who managed to get over 1 million views on social media. The scenario drew parallels with the famous contract law case of Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company and participants did a great job of identifying the relevant evidence and coming to a reasonable conclusion; don’t make promises via an advertisement if you can’t pay out the reward!

With more exciting cases, trips (Witness for the Prosecution theatre show and Bromley Magistrates Court), debates and legal challenges planned, Law Club promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking club for aspiring lawyers, and anyone interested in justice.

New members are always welcome!

Mud, laughter and teamwork! 

Our Year 7 pupils had a fantastic time on their residential to Hindleap Warren this week, taking on climbing challenges, tackling obstacle courses and getting stuck into a whole host of fun team-building activities.

There were plenty of opportunities to challenge themselves, support one another and build friendships along the way. And as for the mud… let’s just say there was a lot of it!

A brilliant experience filled with teamwork, laughter and memories that will last long after the muddy clothes have been washed!

Click and scroll the gallery to see what they got up to!