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Friday 6 March 2020 |
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The New York Times named 2012 ‘The Year of the MOOC’ or Massive Open Online Course. MOOCs moved online learning right away from the hour-long videos of classes uploaded to secure web spaces so students who missed the lesson could catch up. Eight years on and MOOCs continue to go from strength to strength with arguably the most successful being FutureLearn, backed by longstanding experts in online learning, the Open University. Educational technology, or EdTech, has been through a variety of stages in schools. In the 1990s and early 2000s we were teaching students how to use software in the world of work. The last decade has mostly been about the tech itself. Do we want iPads, Chromebooks, Microsoft? Do we want Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) or class-sets? Should we have smartboards or not? These questions have dominated many school discussions. I am pleased to be part of the GDST community where innovation is valued and shaping EdTech pedagogy is high on the agenda. I believe it doesn’t matter what the platform or software; the main thing is that EdTech should bring the teaching and learning to life, offer choices and give flexibility in the curriculum. Read more here Mrs O’Doherty |
Week Ahead |
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Monday 9 March Tuesday 10 March |
Wednesday 11 March Thursday 12 March Friday 13 March |
Northampton High School hosts 78 Derngate fundraiser with ‘Call the Midwife’ creator |
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Smash hit TV series Call the Midwife creator, Heidi Thomas, and actor, Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Turner in the programme, entertained a capacity audience at Northampton High School on Friday 28 February. The 78 Derngate fundraising event offered an exclusive behind-the-scenes audience opportunity with one of the show’s actors and the series creator, in a bid to raise funds for the Northampton attraction’s extension project. Heidi and Stephen gave a lively and engaging insight into the events on and off screen of the award-winning series, providing a candid view on the exacting |
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attention to detail required to accurately reflect how society and attitudes are presented in the (to date) nine series, with series ten to hit screens at the end of 2020. Followed by a guest Q&A session, Heidi and Stephen spent time signing autographs, having photographs taken and chatting to members of the audience, some of whom had travelled several hours to attend. The 78 Derngate Trust has already raised £150,000 of the £200,000 target to match fund the sum already offered by Northampton Borough Council. The appeal will finance an extension delivering a new, larger mezzanine flexible use space, visitor viewing of the Pantry in number 78, independent disabled access, a new tea room and larger shop amongst other notable benefits. Co-Founder and Secretary to 78 Derngate Northampton Trust, Les Patterson, was thrilled to see the 400 guests at Friday evening’s event. “Northampton High School proved to be the perfect host for our fundraiser and this collaboration has strengthened our unique ties with the school. The facilities and staff were superb and our feedback indicates that the audience thoroughly enjoyed an entertaining evening; over £4,000 was raised for our extension appeal.” Friends and supporters of 78 Derngate are asked to donate units of £100 to the fund, for which they will be recognised on engraved glass panelling of the new atrium. Mrs Wilmot |
Students travel to Sutton to participate in GDST Languages Festival |
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Every year, Northampton High competes in the GDST Languages Festival, and this year was no exception. On Friday 28 February, teams of budding linguists from U3 to 6:1 (excluding U5) took part in the festival held at Sutton High School. Each year group has a different competition, with an U3 team entered for the French Spelling Bee; a L4 team for the Culture Quiz with a representative for German, Latin, French and Spanish; an U4 Foreign Language play in Latin; and two debate teams: French and German with a L5 girl and a 6:1 girl partnered together. Not only this, but following the U3 and L4 |
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competitions, girls were treated to a song session, which was performed at the end of the day, and a Linguistics workshop, which was also showcased later. The day offered a fabulous opportunity to work alongside and compete against other girls from the GDST, celebrating languages and all the benefits that learning a language provides. Girls always look forward to this competition and it was a great way to extend MFL and Latin studies beyond the classroom. |
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Our participation was not without noteworthy success: The U3 French Spelling Bee girls were runners up in their competition, and congratulations to Deborah O, Roja L and Sonya M are truly deserved. A big thank you also to Daria A-S who coached the girls for this event. The L4 Culture Quiz team performed extremely well with some really tough rounds of questions and Ariana B, Anika K, Leona R and Tevini D can be proud of their performances. The girls from the U4 Latin play won their competition, which is a fantastic achievement. A huge well done to Janice H, Rebecca R, Megan D and Yinuo Z. Finally, the girls who competed in the L5 and 6:1 debate came runners up in their competitions; congratulations to Daria A-S and Abhi C for French and Hannah S and Sophie C for German. Debating is an art form and to perform at this level in a foreign language is an immense achievement! It is safe to say that we were incredibly successful in this festival once again, and the achievements of all the girls today are a credit to the language teaching we receive in school. Well done to every girl who to took part, and it will be exciting to see what next year’s competition brings. Thank you to Mrs Hill and Miss Monks for preparing the students for the festival, and for taking the time out of their day to give us this opportunity. Sophie C |
Creative Arts Spotlight |
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This week, the Creative Arts spotlight falls onto the U5 GCSE Food class, who completed their NEA 2 three hour cooking exam on Wednesday. Cooking three dishes of GCSE standards in three hours is definitely not easy, but they all did a fantastic job of serving great quality and well-presented food. Really well done girls! Miss Knight |
High School Sport |
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It was great to see our girls in action at Onley last weekend, as we hosted our first ever Equestrian Eventer Challenge. We would like to thank all of the staff, parents and friends of the school who worked tirelessly to make this marquee event a success. Congratulations to all of our U10, U11, U12 and U13 Swimmers who attended the IAPs Swimming qualifiers at Repton School on Monday. We swam some excellent races with many second place finishers in the heats. The girls did extremely well against some very tough opposition. |
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Our U16 Netballers secured a fantastic victory over Quinton House on Thursday, and we wish our teams heading off to Condover Hall this weekend good luck for what should be a fun and exciting weekend of Netball and outdoor adventure activities. Mrs Blake |
World Book Day |
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On Thursday 5 March, we celebrated World Book Day in school by ‘Dropping Everything and Reading’ during form time. A very peaceful start to the day! All girls will have received their World Book Day token during form time and these may be swapped for one of the fifteen exclusive and completely free World Book Day books, which should be available through your local bookseller. Alternatively, the token can be used to get £1 off any full price book instead. The World Book Day tokens are valid until Sunday 29 March 2020. Miss Buxton |
Book Review |
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Asha & the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan – Asha WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2019 lives in the foothills of the Himalayas. Money is tight and she misses her papa who works in the city. When he suddenly stops sending his wages, a ruthless moneylender ransacks their home and her mother talks of leaving. From her den in the mango tree, Asha makes a pact with her best friend, Jeevan, to find her father and make things right. But the journey is dangerous: they must cross the world’s highest mountains and face hunger, tiredness – even snow leopards. |
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And yet, Asha has the unshakeable sense that the spirit bird of her grandmother – her nanijee – will be watching over her. Miss Buxton |
Open Day - Friday 1 May 2020 |
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Friends of Hardingstone present: 'Live Band Cheap Thrills' |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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