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Junior News – 10 February 2023 |
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Food fight at lunchtime, a ball pit in the Late Prep room, an inflatable slide into the swimming pool, getting rid of all school rules and a new school pet giraffe called Gerald. These are just some of the ideas our friends gave us when they learnt that we were to be Heads of Junior School for a day. On this final day before half-term we, Cordelia and Rosie, were in charge of Junior School. Sadly we weren’t able to implement our friends’ suggestions but we have really enjoyed running the school today. As part of our roles being Miss Hair today we have met Parents and girls at the gate . We also were able to lead assembly. Even teach year 1 PSHE and Art. We even had access to the staff room at break. Here is our round up of the term so far. In classes the girls visit Richmond Village Retirement home. This Tuesday Years 1 and 2 went to visit the residents. They took a chosen book from home to read to them. The girls had a lovely visit and we hope the residents enjoyed their visit as well. In their English lessons, the girls have been assigned a resident at the retirement village to write a letter to. This week Year 6 have had an amazing time doing their play in a week. A play in a week is a week when the Year 6 girls, assisted by Year 5, have a week of rehearsing for a play they will perform at the end of the week for their parents. This year’s play was Alice in Wonderland. This week Year 4 entertained us with their class assembly. It was lovely to hear what the girls would like to be when they are older. It is lovely every week to watch the classes perform an assembly they have prepared for us. In Year 2 we have been learning about electricity in Science. It has been fun actually seeing what circuits are and I enjoyed trying to make a light bulb light up. We feel very ready for the half term break and we wish you all a relaxing week too. When you return to school be assured Miss Hair will be back in charge and we will return to our classrooms! Miss Hair |
Dates for your diary |
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KS2 Outdoor Learning Monday 20 February – Year 3 Class Assemblies – Please join us from 8.20am for your child’s assembly Wednesday 1 March – Year 2 Forest School open sessions for parents/family members to attend Nursery – 9 March 10-11.30am |
Other dates to remember Games Night – Monday 27 February 3.30-5pm |
Mental Health Awareness: Connections |
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The theme for Mental Health Week this year on behalf of Place to Be, has been connection, “encouraging people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways.” Brené Brown defines connection as, “The energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued. When they can give and receive without judgement.” Research shows that when we feel connected to others, we can benefit from improved mental wellbeing, better physical health, quicker recovery from disease and even potential positive effects on our longevity. However, without this social connection and support, we can experience loneliness and detrimental effects to our long-term mental and physical health. To shine a light on Mental Health Week throughout the school we have enjoyed connecting with each other and our local community with morning meditations, uplifting music echoing down the corridors, kindness notes to each other, a Junior School visit and letters to the local care home and in Senior School our dress to express mufti day. At the heart of connection is compassion and kindness, in fact our brain is naturally wired to empathise with others. We have been encouraging students to be aware of the quality of their connections, not the quantity, and to consider ways to nurture these relationships whilst also noticing those around us who may need a friend. You may wish to consider:
Family connection: As children grow, there can be periods where it feels more challenging to connect with each other but adapting along this journey can foster secure connections that aid the development of your child. Here are 5 ideas of ways to connect:
Books to enhance connection: ‘You don’t understand me’ by Dr Tara Porter, ,‘Get out of my life’ by Suzanne Franks and Tony Wolf, ‘Blame my brain’ by Nicola Morgan. We hope this half term provides you all with many opportunities to find those precious moments to connect in rewarding and meaningful ways. Mrs Giordano |
World Book Day |
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Do you have lots of pre-loved children’s books, but don’t know what to do with them? We would like them! We are looking forward to World Book Day, which we will be celebrating in the Junior School on Thursday 2 March 2023, after half term. Pupils have been invited to come to school dressed in pyjamas (with sensible footwear please!) and engage in a number of activities to support our love of reading. |
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One way we would like to ask for your help is to donate pre-loved, good condition children’s books (fiction / picture / board and non-fiction) so that we can hold a ‘Recycled Book Shop.’ More details will follow about how these can be purchased on the day, but we hope that you can find some books over the weekend and half term break that can be enjoyed by others and have a new home. Books can be donated between Monday 6 and Monday 27 February, by placing them in the boxes in the Junior School entrance hall. Money we raise from this venture with go directly back into purchasing quality reading materials for our Junior School pupils. You will find a payment item on your daughters ParentPay account where they can pay for 1, 2 or 3 book tokens that will allow your child to choose a book from the pre-loved book selection. |
NSPCC Rocks - Times Tables Competition |
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We joined 2,904 schools across the country last Friday to compete in the ‘NSPCC Rocks’ competition that enabled 466,721 pupils to compete on ‘Times Tables Rockstars’. A staggering 64,193,200 questions were correctly answered during the time period. Our Year 2 to Year 6 classes all took part, and whilst we were impressed with all of their efforts, a special mention must go to Year 3 who answered 13,233 questions correctly. The three highest scoring pupils across our classes were: Varnikha Year 5 (3,750) Well done to all of our students who engaged with this opportunity which in turn, will have improved their skills in this important area of Mathematics. |
GDST Creative Writing Prize Update |
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After the lovely task of reading all the Junior School entries to the GDST writing competition, themed ‘Our Planet’, our three entries were chosen and sent to GDST Head Office on Monday. Our submissions for each category are: Years 1 and 2 – Amari in 2 A big well done to those pupils for being chosen but also to all the girls who worked so hard on their pieces of writing. It was a difficult choice to make. We must now wait to see if any of our entries are winners! |
Webchat with Dr Alex George |
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As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, Years 5 and 6, along with other schools across the GDST, participated in a webchat with, Dr Alex George. Not only is Dr Alex an A&E doctor and TV personality, he is the Government’s Ambassador for Youth Mental Health, who strives to make mental health education more accessible for all. In our webchat, he talked to the GDST’s Lead Teacher for PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) about the challenges facing young people today and some strategies we can all use to help promote and enhance positive mental health. He also answered some of the questions submitted by our Year 5 and 6 pupils, based on work completed in our PSHE lessons, around Dr Alex’s new children’s book ‘A Better Day’. |
Girl Guiding World Thinking Day |
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Some of our pupils are proud members of the girl guiding groups locally. The girl guiding community will be celebrating ‘World thinking day’ during the week beginning 20 February. To support this occasion any of our pupils who are a Rainbow, Brownie or Guide are invited to wear their uniform to school for the day on Tuesday 21 February. |
Miss Hair's Whereabouts |
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For the four weeks after half term Miss Hair will be spending more of her time than usual in Year 1 as Mrs Purvey-Tyrer will be on long service leave. This will mean that you are unlikely to see her on the gate for this period and will instead see a range of other SLT members from Senior School. Miss Hair can be contacted as normal via email or Junior Admin. |
Enterprise Club |
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Our three businesses have now submitted their business plans and video pitches to the Tycoon Enterprise Foundation. The teams have worked very hard on their business plans, and we are very proud of their efforts and the progress they have made in their knowledge and understanding of businesses. We will now have to wait and see if their loans will be granted! They certainly deserve to be, so we are hopeful! |
News from our classrooms: Nursery and Pre School |
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This last week of term has been as busy as ever. In Nursery, the girls have been exercising their fingers using pipettes to transfer water as well as arranging pegs in pegboards; activities that will contribute towards the development of their writing skills. Our focus for the girl’s gross motor skills this week has been them gaining more independence by using a step to reach their coats on their pegs and trying to put them on by themselves. In PE, we decided to make the most of the sunshine and practiced balancing and jumping from the climbing apparatus in the garden. Building confidence and independence has continued in our cooking lesson in which the girls made their own delicious savoury pinwheels for their afternoon snack. Developing play around favourite stories, using props, has been a central theme to the week; Felicity made Superworm with playdough. “Baby toad hopped on to a major road!” she exclaimed. Also, a huge cardboard box has been transformed into a house for the three little pigs. “Not by my chinny chin chin” replied Phoebe when the Big Bad Miss Cooke tried to get in! |
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In Pre School this week our focussed book is ‘Monsters Love Underpants’ which has led to conversations about the different coloured pants in the book. Information on how to talk to your children about ‘pants are private’ can be found here if you want to discuss this topic with your children. We have also spoken at length about people who help us in hospitals such as doctors and we read a story about a doctor called Madeline, which the girls were very interested in. Along with our regular scheduled weekly events which include Ballet, Forest School, Cooking and PE, we went on a Pre School and Nursery trip to the church in Hardingstone. All of the girls walked really well to the church and were given an I-spy sheet by the vicar and as a result we introduced new words, like font, organ, pew and alter. The children also heard the church bell chime. We have all been looking for items that belong with “I” outside as well as developing our gross motor skills on the bikes and the climbing equipment. In Maths we continue to look at number recognition through play and planned activities, this is enhanced by a Maths lesson with Mrs Shaw our Reception teacher. |
News from our classrooms: Reception |
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This week we have been learning about measuring height and length. After identifying objects that were the tallest and shortest and the longest and shortest, we then used cubes to measure how long or tall some objects were. This involved very accurate positioning of the cubes and counting. To continue with ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, the class all planted their own bean and then sequenced instructions on how to plant a seed. We are now waiting for the first signs of a shoot to appear |
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Our phonics this week has been the sounds ‘ar’ and ‘or’. Our material focus was metal and using the metal detectors and magnets to find metal objects was a very noisy but enjoyable activity! Wishing you all a lovely half term break and hopefully some better weather! |
Year 1 Reading Focus |
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Year 1 have all made good progress this term in their journey to becoming confident readers. It was delightful to see this in action on Tuesday afternoon when they shared their favorite stories with residents from Richmond Village. |
Year 2 Reading Focus |
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Year 2 have been making great progress with their reading. They love reading to the adults in school but they also enjoy having some quiet time in our class reading area. This week we visited Richmond Village Care Home and the girls were excited to share their favourite books with the residents. |
Year 3 Reading Focus |
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Year 3 have been reading ‘Tamarind and the Star of Ishta’ to link with our India topic. We have been inferring how the characters feel, as well as picking out the adjectives and we have used them to write descriptions of one of the settings. |
Year 4 Reading Focus |
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Year 4 have been introduced to their new class book ‘Cinnamon’ this week by Neil Gaiman. Before reading the book, the girls discussed in small groups what they knew, what they thought they knew and what they would like to know. They have also enjoyed choosing books from the library and sharing with each other what they are reading. |
Year 5 Reading Focus |
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Year 5 are currently reading Michael Morpurgo’s fantastic retelling of the epic Anglo-Saxon tale ‘Beowulf’. They are loving the old-fashioned style, figurative language and graphic descriptions of battle scenes, such as when the hero Beowulf defeats the monster Grendel. The girls have been inspired to write their own battle scenes using noun phrases of horror! |
Year 6 Reading Focus |
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This week Year 6 have fully immersed themselves in bringing to life Lewis Carroll’s much loved book, ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The girls have worked hard to understand this challenging text and to successfully interpret Alice’s journey through the complex world of adolescence. Their analytical skills have led to a sensitive interpretation of a story that continues to delight generations of children and adults alike. We hope you enjoyed the show! |
Junior School Sports Netball v Quinton School |
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The U9’s played against Quinton School on 3 February. They played extremely well with some excellent drives into space by Avani and Eloise in the center court. All the team experienced playing different positions in attack and defence and were proudly putting their skills learnt into a competitive game situation. We were delighted to wing the game 3-2. Thanks to Quinton for visiting us and bringing their team. |
News from outside of our classrooms: Alice The Musical |
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Acting, singing and dancing have filled the week for Years 5 and 6, as they have transformed themselves into a range of extraordinary characters, ready for their much-anticipated performance of ‘Alice The Musical’. On Thursday evening, the audience was transported to a quiet riverbank and a warm summer’s day long ago. As they accompanied Alice on her journey through Wonderland, they met a rushing rabbit, a mock turtle, a very angry duchess and a host of other weird and wonderful creatures. A fantastic time was had by all involved and we would like to thank Mr Campling on the piano, Mr Rose in the lighting box and Deeya in Year 10 for choreographing the Year 5 dances. Please click here for all the photos from the play, and if you would like to purchase any of the professional photography, please click here, and use password: NHSFeb23 |
Awards for this week |
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Star Learners of the Week – Luna D, Elodie K, Aadya R, Eloise A, Elouise S, Kinara B, The whole of Year 6 Linguist of the Week – Mia A Each week girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Marine A – achieved her Family Tree badge in Rainbows |
Birthdays for this week |
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This week, we wish a very Happy Birthday to the following members of our Junior School family: Marine A, Anaya V |
The Knight Frank Schools Triathlon Series |
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We are delighted to have been invited to take part in the The Knight Frank Schools Triathlon series, hosted by Oundle School and organised by Restless Development, on Sunday 14 May. 7 events ran last May, with over 6,000 children taking part from 120 prep schools such as Cheam, Cothill House, Dulwich Prep, Farleigh, Feltonfleet, Port Regis, St Hughs, The Dragon and Thomas’ Battersea. The children raised an incredible £1.2 million for both the organising charity and each prep school’s chosen charity. The events are for Senior and Junior School pupils in Years 3 to 8 and there has been a fantastic response from schools to date, with both the pupils and parents really enjoying the day. It is first and foremost a fun event, with a team element rather than the normal individual triathlon format. The children form teams of 4, come up with suitably amusing team names, with all 4 teammates performing all 3 disciplines as a relay. This has really appealed, not just to the keen sporting pupils, but also to those who want to give a triathlon a go with their friends in a safe and fun environment. Maya, from Restless Development delivered an assembly for our pupils in Years 3 to 8 on Tuesday 7 February to inform pupils about this fun opportunity. This is a parent-led event, with parents registering the children directly and taking them on the day. Any questions from parents can be sent directly to schoolstriathlon@restlessdevelopment.org. We hope that many of our students will choose to be involved in this fun, physical, charity event. Miss Hair |
Junior Bake Off |
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Save the Date: Parents Afternoon Tea - Friday 7 July |
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We invite you to save the date for this summer’s Parent Afternoon Tea event, which will be taking place on Friday 7 July, from 2 – 3.30pm. The cost for this event will be £15pp, and bookings can be made via ParentPay, with a deadline of Wednesday 31 May. More information will follow over the coming weeks and months, but we do hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be a lovely afternoon. Miss Hair |
Turning 'can we?' into 'we can!' - Spring Open Mornings at Northampton High |
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We look forward to welcoming so many lovely families to our upcoming Spring Open Mornings on Friday 3 March and Friday 28 April. The events promise to be a superb showcase of life at Northampton High School. 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! Mr Nash |
Dance Festival - Wedensday 29 March 2023 |
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We warmly invite you to save the date for our annual Dance Festival, which will take place on Wednesday 29 March. This year our show will take you ‘Through the Decades’ and include performances from students across the school from Reception to Sixth Form. Pupils have also been invited to attend auditions should they wish to perform a solo, duet or group dance with their peers. Our PE Staff will be working with Junior School classes, as part of the curriculum, to create and rehearse an exciting display of class dances. |
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We are also incorporating our House System into the Festival, to showcase a House Dance and involve pupils from Year 5 upwards to collaborate and work together. We have some superb Dance Leaders choreographing the House Dances and I am positive the evening will be an inspiring performance of talent and expertise in the Arts. Mrs Blake |
Community Sessions |
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Home Start Northampton: Volunteers needed! |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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