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Junior News 01 October 2021 |
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Starting a new academic year in a school seems to me rather like getting a steam train going from a standing start. It takes a huge amount of effort and energy from pupils and staff alike. So much is new for our pupils in September – learning spaces, teachers, classmates, curriculum, timetable, expectations, responsibilities… It feels to me though, like we are getting to that sweet spot where everything becomes familiar and normal, feelings of newness and the accompanying anxieties subside and learning begins to fly. The steam train is powering rhythmically along the track. Re-establishing live Junior School assemblies has been a particular highlight. It has been a complete joy to listen to the pupils singing together again, to welcome parents into school for class assemblies, to celebrate the European Day of Languages, to have solo performances from our Junior School musicians and to award our new Year 6 Leadership Team with their certificates and badges, to name but a few. Next week Year 5 are off to Grafham Water for their residential. Looking at the programme, I know they are going to have a fantastic time and Year 6 will be putting in some hard work at allotments in town, supporting the local charity Re:store. Do be sure to book your Parents’ Evening appointment for Wednesday 13 or Thursday 14 October, when we will be pleased to welcome you into school. During that week we will also have a Book Fair for the girls to visit. We are inviting prospective families into school tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am for our whole school Open Morning. It is a great opportunity to showcase our school, and we are grateful to our Year 5 and 6 students for offering their services as student ambassadors. In the meantime, have a lovely weekend! Mrs Purvey-Tyrer |
Meet the DFO - Monday 4 October |
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We announced our series of Parent Talks and Forums for 2021/22 in our Headlines publication sent to you at the beginning of September. The first of these events will take place on Monday 4 October, 6pm to 7pm in the Senior School foyer. ‘Parent Talks – Meet the DFO’ – will be an informal event with light refreshments and an opportunity to meet Mr Alex Hume, who joined us in the summer term, and to find out more about our new catering and transport initiatives, and to ask questions. This is also a super opportunity to meet with other parents and staff face-to-face, and to share in open conversations about this area of the school community. |
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Please would you express your interest in attending this event by booking here. Should you wish to see the full details of our Parent Talks programme, please click here. We look forward to welcoming you into school next Monday. Mrs O’Doherty |
Head's Commendations |
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This term, we have been delighted to honour the excellence of pupils by awarding them with a Head’s Commendation. Nominated by their teachers, pupils joined Mrs O’Doherty for a celebratory tea party ahead of recieving their certificates as a reward for their achievements. Mrs O’Doherty looks forward to awarding more Commendation’s throughout the year. Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Commendations this time:
Mr Nash |
Coffee Morning Update |
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Year 5 are delighted to announce the grand total raised at their coffee morning last week as a fantastic £585! This money will be used by the charity to provide physical and emotional support to people suffering with cancer, and their families. A massive thank you to everyone who helped us to help them. Miss Brandon-Jones |
Achievements |
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Each week in our assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Artemisia – Scout badges: 1-year scout, water sports, and raft building Grace B – new level in swimming, yellow hat Mya – filmed for an online advert Risara – came 2nd in Group Tap competition and 1st in a Solo Tap competition For our new Year 6 leadership roles please see Year 6 news. |
Messages for parents |
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Parents’ Evening: Please be reassured that appointments on Parents’ Evening will be 10 minutes. Once all appointments have been booked, class teachers will be in touch to confirm times. Clubs information: Computer Club at lunchtime on Monday 4 October is cancelled. All after school teacher-led clubs will not be running on the 13 and 14 October due to Parents’ Evenings. Therefore, on Wednesday 13 October these are: Junior Art Club, Book Club, Current Affairs. External Gymnastics will also be cancelled on Thursday 14 October. Should you have any queries about clubs or any general questions for us, please contact junioradmin@nhs.gdst.net in the first instance, and we will make sure that we respond to you with the information you need. Dates for your Diary:
Just as a reminder, the GAP Club phone number is 07816 751456; please do keep this number handy, so that you have direct access to the GAP team should you need it. |
Class Assemblies |
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We are pleased to welcome back parents and grandparents to our Wednesday Class Assemblies, 8.35am-8.55am. Refreshments will be served in the Community Room from 8.15am. We do hope you will be able to join us.
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Nursery - Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
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This week in Nursery we have been focusing on the features of our faces. We have looked in mirrors and painted our own self portraits, looking closely at the colour of our eyes and hair. We have named the parts of our faces and talked about what each body part does. The girls made pizza faces by adding vegetables onto their pizzas, which were cooked and enjoyed at snack time. In PE this week we were using balls. We practised rolling the ball to our friends, kicking the ball and throwing and catching. These games involved lots of running around the hall to get our ball, which also linked to us practising looking which way we ran, and avoiding running into our friends. |
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When we were at Forest School, we collected some conkers. We used the conkers in our creative area to roll them in paint. There were a lot of patterns made as the conkers rolled in all different directions around the tray. This week, there are lots of a changes happening outside. When you are out and about, look at the changes in the trees, talk about the colours changing and how the weather has changed. Can you collect any interesting items to bring in to Nursery: Leaves, fir cones, conkers, etc. Please ensure you send your child in with a warm coat every day; the children use the outside areas in all weathers. |
Nursery - Pre School |
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This week in Pre School the girls have been very creative making some lovely patterns using the conker rolling technique. They really seemed to like this. Our book of the week has been ‘It’s your turn Roger’, this got us all talking about our families, who is in our families, how families can be different and how families in different cultures eat different things in different ways. We have also talked about what we like doing with our families. The outdoor area has been a popular choice this week. The girls enjoyed spending their time outside and they have shown us they have very good lower body strength to ride the bikes around, with or without a friend on the back. They have also shown how their upper body strength is improving with their attempts to complete the climbing wall. Well done girls! |
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Through their discussions the girls spoke about their family members: “Mummy, Daddy, Hugo, Iris and Monty.” Iris Next week in our ‘All about me‘ topic our focus will be on our homes. |
Reception |
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This week the class have been thinking about the special people in their family, drawing them, and talking about why they are special. In Maths, we have been focussing on the language associated with comparisons and using practical tasks to show, big/little, more/fewer, taller than/shorter than, and longer than/shorter than. We have been learning some more letter sounds and practising letter formation, whilst linking this with practical tasks, such as making ‘iiii’ instruments and mixing ‘ppp’ pink paint to paint the letter ‘p’. We enjoyed finding out about the taste buds on our tongue and using them to taste something sweet, salty, and sour.
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Year 1 |
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It is lovely to watch Year 1 grow in confidence as they become familiar with their new classroom and routines. The expectations have stepped up and they are all responding so well to this. Our week began with a mystery rucksack appearing in the classroom labelled ‘Astrid’s bag’ which contained, among other things, a space helmet, dried space food, and information and maps about the stars and space. The girls had great fun predicting what Astrid might be interested in and what the story ‘Astro girl’ might be about. We all feel proud that we have finished our first unit in Maths ‘Place Value’ and have learnt so much already. |
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What the girls have said: “I enjoyed painting my fish in Art club.” Eloise Looking ahead to next week: Introducing part whole models in Maths |
Year 2 |
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This week we have been reading different versions of ‘Goldilocks’ and planning our own stories. We have also been practising our public speaking in preparation for our Class Assembly on Wednesday morning. In Maths, we have started to look at addition and subtraction and how we can use the inverse operation to check our calculations. During Science, we organised items into opaque, translucent, and transparent and discussed the meaning of each word. |
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What the girls have said: “I have enjoyed planning my Goldilocks.” Eve Looking ahead to next week: Year 2 warmly invite you to join us for our Class Assembly on Wednesday morning at 8:40am. There will be tea and coffee available in the Community Room before the assembly. Maths – checking knowledge of number bonds to 10, 20 and 100 and adding and subtracting 1s and 10s |
Year 3 |
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This week in Maths we finished our work on Place Value. All the girls have worked so hard to understand and work with ‘hundreds’ numbers and we finished the week learning to count in 50s. In English, we have applied all the writing skills we have been studying over the past few weeks to retell the story of ‘The First Drawing’. In Science, we investigated the layers of the Earth and the layers of the different soils too. We had lots of fun making a ‘dirt pudding’ to show what we had learned. In Art, we created some Stonehenge masterpieces which have turned out fantastically. We created the drawing step-by-step and then used watercolours to add some colour. |
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What the girls have said: “I liked writing our stories with all the work we have done.” Cristina Looking ahead to next week: |
Year 4 |
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In Maths, we finished off the last of our place value work with rounding to 1000, negative numbers, and Roman numerals. In English, we edited and improved our writing and produced a piece of work to be published on our display boards. We used dictionaries to investigate and practise spelling words from Tar Beach and practised the join for the letter ‘a’ in handwriting. In Science, we tested materials in our circuits and decided whether they were conductors or insulators. |
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What the girls have said: Looking ahead to next week: Dates for your diary: |
Year 5 |
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This was meant to be a ‘Rest, Recover and Get Ready’ week…but you know what it’s like! There are just too many exciting things to get into a half term, and so Year 5 have been busily writing their 1 Page Profiles, debating whether 525 new homes should be built at Brackmills, setting up Science experiments, and enjoying themselves at Forest School. |
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What the girls have said: “I liked going to Forest School and I liked building the dens, and I also liked making sure the duck was safe and waterproof. We took Betty with us, and we made an obstacle course and it was really fun making her jump over the bamboo sticks.” Shreya “I am really enjoying our Science lessons at the moment because we are learning about plants and how they reproduce. Last week we started an experiment to see if we get a leaf to grown roots in water. This week we were testing what seeds need to germinate. I have put my seeds outside on the window ledge because I think the seeds need sunlight to grow.” Zoe Dates for you Diary: Tuesday 5 October – swimming and PE kits needed Have a rest over the weekend because it’s Grafham next week! |
Year 6 |
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As always, we have had a busy week in Year 6, and although the girls have enjoyed a number of exciting and challenging activities, the highlight of the week for all was the announcement of the leadership roles. We are really proud of all our girls and know that they will carry out their roles with enthusiasm and the determination to be the best role models that they can be. Already, they are planning lots of exciting ways to involve the Junior School in planned events and they are also keen to forge links with the Senior School, a valuable part of their personal development and transition to Senior School. |
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Leadership Roles: Eco Captains House and Vice Captains Learning Leaders Librarians Music Captains Science Captains Sport Captains We would like to wish our girls every success in their new roles! Next week we look forward to visiting the allotments, as part of our community project initiative, where the girls learn the importance of supporting a local charity. The charity the girls will be supporting is Re:store who seek to support vulnerable people in the borough of Northampton. Wishing you all a good weekend. |
GAP Club |
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The girls have continued keeping busy in GAP Club. On Monday, they made their own sandwiches for a snack, with a choice of ham, cheese, tuna, cucumber, and lettuce for their filling. They have created puppets and bracelets and had fun playing games, particularly Twister. If you need to contact GAP Club after 4.30pm please call 07816 751456. |
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What the girls have said: “I liked making faces with puppets.” Emily T |
Medical Notices |
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Please can we remind parents/carers that all medication needs to be given to reception staff in either Junior School or Senior School, where they will be asked to sign a consent form for the specific medication to be administered. Medication will then be taken to the medical room and stored safely so students know where they can access their medication. Students are not allowed to carry their own medication unless emergency medication (or if discussed with the School Nurse) e.g. adrenaline and asthma medication. We also kindly remind parents/carers of new starters to please complete the medical health form. Date for your diary: Covid vaccination – Thursday 14 October for 12-15 (letter to follow) Any issues, please feel free to email me at medical@nhs.gdst.net and I would be happy to help. Mrs Dunkley |
Whole School Open Morning - Saturday 2 October 2021 |
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Sincere thanks to all families who have offered the support of their daughters for our Open Morning on Saturday 2 October, from 10am to 1pm. The day promises to be a superb showcase of life at Northampton High, our students, and our staff. If you would like to come along, please do feel most welcome, and should you have family, friends, or neighbours keen to visit us, please encourage them to book their place here and join us! Mrs Wilmot |
Book Fair |
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Term Dates 21/22 |
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Term Dates 22/23 |
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Northampton High School |
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