Nothampton High School
Junior News

Junior News 04 February 2022

When applying to become a UCL Beacon school for Holocaust Education, we realised early on in the process that Northampton High School had an amazing opportunity to bring together the fantastic range of lessons and personal experiences already being shared with the students. From studying human rights in Geography, to life in Berlin under the National Socialists, in German lessons, students were gaining an understanding of how the legacy of the Holocaust still has an impact on the world to this day.  

It therefore made perfect sense to bring the school together for a week of focused education and reflection, rather than just one day’s remembrance on the official date of January 27. 

Theology and Philosophy and History lessons were an obvious starting point, but very quickly we were able to assemble a week-long series of focused assemblies, lessons and events involving staff from Psychology, Drama, Film, Food, and English, to name but a few, as well as a team of student volunteers from Year 8 to 13. 

Reflecting on the week’s events with the volunteer student team, the Sixth Formers overwhelmingly agreed that Ms Heimfeld’s assembly and lunchtime session had the most impact on them, hearing about  how her parents survived Auschwitz in very different ways. Georgie expressed how hearing about it from a child of survivors brought a different perspective that she hadn’t considered before. They were all fascinated and moved to hear how life continues after such experiences.

To read the blog in its entirety, please click here

Miss Robinson & Ms Eldridge
Theology & Philosophy Department

Achievements

Each week in our assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week:

Eve – achieved a Level 6 in Gymnastics.

Annabelle – became a Seconder in Brownies.

Hester – climbed 312 steps of the Monument in London.

See all photos

Playground Stars

We have had another very active week on the playground. With the weather improving the girls were able to use the climbing frame.

Avani – always offers and gets out the toys and play equipment.

Angelie, Diya, Priscilla, Anna H, and Artemisia –  leap-frogged across the playground. Great teamwork, girls!

Artemisia and Priscilla –  made fairy houses using twigs, stones, and leaves they found.

Luisa, Hester, Cora, Eliza, and Cordelia – had lots of fun playing Grandma’s Footsteps.

Sophia, Darcy and Poppy – used playground equipment to make a hotel and booked in the other girls to stay and play.

Kara and Adn – supervised the big games cupboard tidy up.

Lucy, Tendo and Mollie – entertained us with their dance rehearsal.

Iman– used different pieces of playground toys to make musical instruments. She also made the hippo into an angel using one of the quoits.

Year 5 and Year 6 Play-In-A-Week

A reminder that the Play-In-A-Week , ‘Treachery at Traitors’ Quay’ performance date has changed. The revised date for the performance will be Wednesday 9 February at 6.30pm.

As previously arranged, refreshments will be served from 6.00pm in the Dining Hall and the performance will run from 6.30pm – 7.30pm in the Senior Hall/Theatre.

Dates for your Diary

07 February  Year 6 Play-In-A-Week begins
09 February  18.30 – Year 6 Play-In-A-Week Performance
11 February  Junior School Report to Parents
14 February  Half Term
23 February  14.30 – U10A and U11A Netball v Broughton Manor Preparatory School
23 February  16.30-17.30 – Year 5 Looking Forward to Senior School
25 February  10.30 – U11A Netball v IAPS

 

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

We are pleased to welcome back parents and grandparents/family members to our Wednesday Class Assemblies at 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.

Wednesday 9 February 4H
Wednesday 23 February 6N
Wednesday 2 March 6H
Wednesday 16 March 5N
Wednesday 23 March 1N
Wednesday 30 March Reception

 

U11 Netball vs Broughton Manor/MK Prep - Wednesday 2 March

U11 BlueTeam

I think the match was really exciting and entertaining. It really challenged the players and I felt that we really improved as a team throughout the game. 

The match was split into fifths. BMS (Broughton Manor School), scored 3 goals in the first fifth. Then they scored 1 goal in the next fifth, which really proved that we had got better at defending. After that, in the third fifth they didn’t score any at all. In the next fifth, BMS scored 1 goal. And finally, in the final fifth Northampton High scored 2 goals – this made Mrs Littlewood really impressed.

We all definitely improved so much by the end of the match! The only thing was that we sometimes threw the ball over someone’s head that probably didn’t help! We were all so proud of ourselves at the end even though we had not one.

It was certainly a team effort and it clearly helped our team-building skills. In conclusion, this match was really fun for all of us because it was our first netball match this year and we did the best we could! Safiya

U11 Red Team

On Wednesday 2 February, Northampton High School played against Broughton Manor, and it was a 2 all draw. It was a very close game and both teams played extremely well, with good defence and attack. Our Player of the Match was Kara for her excellent support play when we were trying to score. Rithika

U11 Yellow

I think the match went really well because we all worked as a team and we all supported each other throughout the match. It was a nil-nil score, and the other team were really good at marking people. Vivienne was our Player of the Match and she did very well at intercepting passes at the right time and also catching the ball. Sophia

 

Nursery - Kipper Room and Elmer Room

Highlights:

This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year in more detail. The girls have been engrossed in different activities to help develop their understanding of the world.

During our library time we incorporated ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ story to link in with the Year Of The Tiger. The girls displayed very good listening skills, retelling their own versions.

A highlight of the week has been joining up with Pre School and Reception to have a big Chinese New Year Celebration. The girls tried different Chinese food, pretended they were tigers, practised their dance moves to the Chinese music and much more.

Exploring the Reception class garden seemed to be a favourite amongst the girls.

They have created a colourful dragon out of a variety of resources and displayed good teamwork techniques, taking it in turns to help make the dragons head.

Well done, girls!

See all photos

It was lovely to see so many parents at our Breakfast Morning. The girls shared just how independent they are when coming into Nursery, putting their bags and coats onto their pegs, getting their own individual water bottles out, selecting their breakfast, self-serving themselves, and choosing activities to participate in.

It was nice to watch the parents see them in action.

 

Nursery - Pre School

Highlights:

What a fun week we have had celebrating Chinese New Year. Some girls worked together and made a fantastic dragon head which they have continued to add to throughout the week. Noodles and chopsticks were available and I was very impressed with some of their skills. Reception came to join us and we had a special Chinese snack.

We have continued to read ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’, and, as extensions, I have asked the girls which creature they would like to come to their house. Annabel said a kind dinosaur, Marine suggested a magic owl, Amelia would like a Pegasus, and Elodie is hoping a big elephant will visit her house. Next, I asked the girls what things they have delivered to their house. Ishani said pizza and Amelia, keeping with her theme, said she had a Pegasus delivered.

See all photos

A big thank you to all the parents who came to play during Breakfast Stay and Play; the girls loved showing you what they have been doing and where they belong.

Next week we will be thinking about love to link to Valentine’s Day.

Reception

Highlights:

Our book focus for this week is ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’ by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen.  This has led to thinking about the days of the week and ordering them. We have also used the words ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’.  If you have some time at home, please discuss ‘what day of the week is it?’, ‘what day it will be tomorrow?’ and ‘what day was it yesterday?’.

The girls have sequenced the story and retold it to a friend. At Forest School, we looked for slugs and snails!

We have also followed instructions and planted our own bean, and are now waiting patiently to see what happens!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Chinese New Year, enjoying a variety of activities, including writing Chinese numbers, making lanterns, dressing up and role play Chinese cooking.  In the afternoon we joined with Nursery to celebrate to enjoy more activities and a Chinese snack.

See all photos

This week we have been learning about weight and using bucket scales to find the heavier and lighter object. Before trying the objects in the scales, the girls had to hold one object in each hand and see if they could feel which one was the heaviest, then check by using the scales.

Phonics this week has introduced ‘ay’: May I play? and ‘ee’: What can you see?

Year 1

Highlights:

Our week began with reading information books and watching film clips about Antarctic animals. Not many thrive in such a hostile environment. Year 1 then went on to write their own non-chronological reports about seals, whales, albatrosses, and penguins. I was so impressed with the quality of their writing which will have been one of their very first experiences of ‘research’. It was important that we found out about the South Pole because that is where the penguin in our story ‘Lost and Found’ needs to return to…

Not a week goes by without a member of staff telling me what a lovely class Year 1 are and they should rightly feel very proud of that. It is great to see them working collaboratively and supporting each other, both with their work and socially.

See all photos

What the girls have said: 

“I feel really relaxed when I play with my friends at school.” Eloise 

I liked making a spaceship in art. I put some jewels on it and added antennae.” Evie 

Next week:

Maths – beginning to look at subtraction crossing 10.

English – to write and sequence a story.

Year 1 will not need to bring their Forest School kit on Thursday.

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 2

See all photos

 

 

Year 3

Highlights:

This week in Maths we have been learning more about money. We have been adding and subtracting different amounts and learning to give change too. It has been quite challenging for some of us, especially as we aren’t used to using money, but we have certainly made some great progress, with some of the girls even going home to count how much money they have in their piggy banks!

In English, we have focused on prepositions, and we have worked on including a range of prepositions in a piece of writing.

In Geography, we made comparisons between the UK and India, thinking about location, landscape, and culture.

In Science, we learned about the magnetic poles. We made our own compasses and put them to the test.

In Art, we have started to design our elephants, just as real elephants would be decorated for the Indian Elephant Festival.

Thank you for coming along to watch our second Class Assembly of the year – the girls really love sharing their learning with you.

See all photos

What the girls have said: 

“We loved our assembly.” – Kinara, Leah and Amber

“I enjoyed Art and creating our elephants.” – Thea

“In Music we played the drums!” – Cristina

Looking Ahead:

Maths – statistics

English – non-chronological reports

Art – working with oil pastels

Year 4

Highlights:

In Maths we learnt about unit and non-unit fractions and revised our understanding of tenths using lots of different representations.

In English we spent lots of time getting into the roles of different characters from our new text. We used emotive language to write a letter and a diary entry.

In Science we enjoyed investigating whether temperature affects the rate of evaporation.

 

See all photos

What the girls have said: 

“I enjoyed French when we used our devices to help us say words.” Cora

“I enjoyed doing party planning spreadsheets in Computing. Spreadsheets are useful for calculations and budgeting.” Angelie

“I have enjoyed everything we have done, but I particularly enjoyed making our popups in DT.”  Varnikha

“I have loved researching Whitby in small groups and creating the presentation and leaflet.”  Zara

Looking ahead to next week:

English – using our senses to write descriptions and dialogue.

Maths – equivalent Fractions.

Science – the Water Cycle

Dates for your diary:

Tuesday 8 February – Please come to school already in PE kit (and bring uniform to change into later).

Wednesday 9 February – Forest School (come to school wearing Forest School clothes and bring your uniform to change into afterwards).

Wednesday 9 February – 4H Class Assembly

Year 5

Highlights:

It’s been another busy week for Year 5, starting off with some spectacular independent bread-making on Tuesday. I was so pleased with the determination shown…especially when things didn’t seem to be going well! The girls should have been very proud of themselves and hopefully enjoyed the results.

The rehearsals for our Year 5 and Year 6 Play-in-a-Week have just started and I am already delighted with my class. The girls have worked really hard on the songs and are now learning when and where they have to be during the scenes. The Year 6 cast is doing an amazing job and Year 5 are fulfilling their role of supporting brilliantly. We can’t wait for next Wednesday!

 

See all photos

What the girls have said:

“I really enjoyed planning my own Anglo-Saxon legend and then actually writing it on Google Docs. We have finished the story of Beowulf, and the setup for our own story is like Beowulf and his battle with Grendel. In my legend, my heroine is called Tate of Barbaria and she battles a monster called Rigen.” Ellie

“For our last bread-making session I really enjoyed making the bread by myself and Miss Brandon-Jones was very proud of me. I made a dried fruit loaf…I hadn’t practised it at home but it turned out really good. I was surprised that all my friends were in shock at how amazing it was, and one of them said it looked like it was bought from a shop!” Grace

“Today we started doing our rehearsals for Treachery at Traitors’ Quay – I really enjoyed it, especially when we did the Jitterbug dance because we got to move around a lot and it was really fun. The Year 6’s are really good for remembering their lines and they are getting better at speaking louder.” Harini

Dates for your Diary:

‘Treachery at Traitors’ Quay’ – performance at 6:30pm (girls need to be back in school at 6pm in order to put on their costumes); refreshments will be available for audience members in the Dining Hall from 6pm.

Year 6

Highlights:

An exciting week of activity has been enjoyed by all in Year 6. As always, Forest School was a huge success and great fun was had working together to create a treasure hunt and inventing a useful tool, culminating in a Dragon’s Den-style finale. Well done to the winning groups who created a musical instrument using a tyre and saucepans, and a bug gym!

For us, the most rewarding part of the week was reading the girl’s legacy stories inspired by ‘The Promise’, written by Nicola Davies. These stories were well-crafted, engaging and something all of the girls should feel really proud of.

Next week we look forward to seeing you all at the long-awaited Year 5 and 6 production of ‘Treachery at Traitor’s Quay’, on Wednesday 9 February. Girls need to return to their form rooms at 6.00pm to get changed into their costumes. Refreshments will be available from 6.00 to 6.30pm in the Dining Hall. The performance will start at 6.30pm and is expected to finish at around 7.30pm. It goes without saying that we are all very excited!

See all photos

What the girls have said: 

“I enjoyed making up our stories based on ‘The Promise’. I really liked playing with long and short sentences to create a really effective piece of writing. In particular, I was really proud of the descriptive vocabulary I used to make the place and people I was writing about sound cold and alone.” Safiya

“I enjoyed learning how to dance the Jitterbug for our play. It was great fun to do this as a whole year group and we all smiled and laughed a lot. I cannot wait for everyone to see this next Wednesday!” Sophia

“I liked learning and practising the Jitterbug dance for our play because it is really fun to do!”  Alice

“My highlight of the week was the netball match because we haven’t played a match for quite a long time and it was our first time playing 5-a-side netball. It was different because there was no Wing Attack or Wing Defence and every round we had to swap positions in a certain order!” Mollie

Have a lovely weekend!

GAP Club

Highlights:

We have continued to enjoy our Chinese Restaurant. On Tuesday, we celebrated the start of Chinese New Year by taking part in lots of creative activities including making banners, colouring, and working together to create a Chinese dragon for our restaurant.

We have used recyclable waste to create. We have had a variety of creations including flamingos, robots, boats at sea, and houses, to name a few.

See all photos

What the girls have said: 

“I enjoyed playing the dinosaur race game and having my tuna and cheese sandwich.”- Eve Year 2

“I liked playing with the My Little Pony with Millie.” Aurelia Year 1.

“I like making models.” Grace Reception

“I enjoyed making the dragon head as it was Chinese New.” Isabel Year 1.

Next week we shall be completing our activity with our dough beads and exploring Hama Beads.

The ECR transforms for the Harry Potter party!

Raise Her Up Podcast - Conversations On Love

It’s Valentine’s Day this month, so this week on Raise Her Up we’re talking all about love with our guest, Natasha Lunn.

Natasha is a journalist and Features Director at Red Magazine. She is also creator and author of Conversations on Love, an email newsletter with over 11,000 subscribers, which was turned into a book published last summer, quickly becoming a Sunday Times’ bestseller. In this episode, she shares what she has learned about love from talking to psychologists, writers, academics, actors, and more, including Susie Orbach, Greg Wise, Esther Perel, and Candice Carty-Williams, amongst others.

This will be an episode for parents, lovers, friends, children, and anyone else interested in and grappling with love, which you can find here.

Mr Nash
Marketing & Communications Manager

Junior Bake Off

School Blazer Sale

Term Dates 21/22

Term Dates 22/23

Northampton High School
Newport Pagnell Road, Hardingstone Northampton NN4 6UU
T: 01604 765765 nhsadmin@nhs.Gdst.Net