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Junior News – 10 November 2023 |
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This week, each child has spent some time learning about Remembrance Day, and I have been impressed with their level of curiosity and engagement with this topic. It can be a challenging topic to discuss with children, and one that perhaps we’d prefer to protect them from in fear of upsetting them or raising more questions than it answers. We choose to help our pupils learn about Remembrance Day, as it holds several important values for children. Remembrance Day provides an opportunity for children to learn about significant historical events, like World War I and subsequent conflicts. Understanding the past helps children make sense of the present and future. By learning about the sacrifices made by soldiers and civilians during wars, children develop empathy and gratitude for the peaceful lives they lead today. It teaches them to appreciate the freedom and security they enjoy. Remembrance Day often involves learning about people from diverse backgrounds who served together. This can instill respect for diversity and foster a sense of unity among children. Reflecting on the consequences of war emphasizes the importance of peace. Children learn about the devastating effects of conflicts, encouraging them to become advocates for peace in their own lives. Understanding the sacrifices of those who served in the military can instill a sense of civic responsibility. It teaches children about the duties of citizens to maintain peace, engage in democratic processes, and work towards a just society. Remembrance Day often involves artistic activities like creating poppies or participating in ceremonies. These activities allow children to express their emotions and creativity while learning about the significance of symbols. Participating in Remembrance Day activities, whether at school or in the community, can strengthen family and community bonds. It provides an opportunity for shared experiences and discussions among generations. I would strongly encourage you to discuss this topic at home together over the next week. Using the BBC animation that can be found here to open the conversation could be a good starting point. The animation shows a World War I battlefield from the perspective of the animals, and is a gentle presentation of a challenging topic. Remembrance Day teaches important values like courage, sacrifice and honor. These values are crucial for personal development and can shape a child’s character positively. Learning about historical events encourages critical thinking. Children can analyze the causes and consequences of wars, fostering analytical skills and a deeper understanding of complex issues. By learning about Remembrance Day, children contribute to the preservation of historical memory. Understanding the stories of those who lived through wars ensures that their legacy endures. Incorporating lessons about Remembrance Day helps shape socially aware, empathetic and responsible citizens, fostering a future generation that values peace and understanding. For me, this means our decision to include Remembrance Day in our learning offer this half term is appropriate and imperative for our pupil’s development. I hope however you choose to mark Remembrance day on 11 November you are able to share this with your children. Miss Hair |
Upcoming Events |
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Save the Date: Christmas Fayre |
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You will have seen in recent editions of High and Junior News that we will be hosting our second annual Christmas Fayre event on Friday 1 December, from 4.30pm until 7pm. With preparations for the event in full swing, we would like to take this opportunity to formally invite you and your family and friends to this event to kick off the Christmas preparations.The Fayre will be free to enter, will support the Hope Centre, our school’s nominated charity for the year, and will include the following attractions: Christmas Market, with stalls run by our staff, students and parentsFestive Refreshments, including a Prosecco Bar and luxury hot chocolateSanta in his GrottoCharity Silent AuctionChristmas Carols and festive cheerCharity Raffle and TombolaChristmas-themed Junior School games and activitiesVisit from Santa’s reindeer Further information will follow, however we would like to ask for your support as follows: Our charity raffle promises to tempt with lots of wonderful prizes to be won! We would be most grateful for any raffle prizes you would like to donate. We will be hosting a charity bottle tombola and to help us with this we are holding a whole school mufti day on Thursday 23 November. We kindly ask for tombola prizes instead of the usual mufti day donations. Bottles in all shapes, sizes and forms are appreciated whether it be a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of ketchup or even a ship in a bottle! Donations can be dropped off at either our Senior or Junior School receptions and we would like to thank you in advance for your generosity. We respectfully request that if a bottle donation contains alcohol, parents bring this into school themselves (and leave at Senior or Junior School reception). There are a number of different sponsorship packages for local businesses who may be interested in sponsoring a portion of the event. We have packages available to suit all budgets and if this is of interest please do get in touch by emailing Amanda Wilmot at a.wilmot@nhs.gdst.net to discuss this further. We look forward to welcoming you to this community festive evening and thank you so much for your support. More details will follow but should you like additional information at this point, or wish to get involved, please feel free to get in touch. |
Parent Elf Workshop |
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On Monday 4 December, between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, Miss Hair is looking for some elf support with a secret wrapping project! If any parents can spare the time please sign in at the Junior School office where Miss Hair will meet you. If you can bring a pair of adult scissors with you that would be very helpful, and refreshments will be provided! Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like any more information. Thank you in advance. |
Christmas Jumpers at Swap Shop |
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If you have any Christmas jumpers at home that your daughter has now grown out of, please would you consider donating them by passing them to the Junior School office to be added to our stock in Swap Shop? Please also consider checking our stock to see if we have any appropriate jumpers in your daughter’s size that you may wish to buy for her this year, to save buying a new jumper from the shops. Parents often find that these are items of clothing that are worn only on a few occasions and then the children grow out of them, so we wanted to see if we can assist with this by adding them in to the Swap Shop service! Thank you for your support. |
New Event: Christmas Craft Workshop |
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We will be holding a Christmas Craft Workshop on Thursday 7 December, for all pupils in Year 1 to Year 6. We would like all pupils to attend, so that they can enjoy this time together being creative. We are also encouraging the classes to invite guests of similar ages to join them for this experience. Friends from Rainbows, Brownies, outside of school sports clubs and neighbours are all welcome! |
Advent Calendar Collection |
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We will be collecting advent calendars to donate to our local food bank, from Monday 20 November to Friday 1 December. We would love it if you would consider buying some extra advent calendars when you are shopping to support this cause, if you are able too. Every child should have an advent calendar if they want one and with many families relying on foodbanks this is a wonderful cause to support as a school community. Thank you in advance for your support. |
Children in Need Non Uniform Day |
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Next Friday we are supporting Children in Need. We are excited to help raise money for this wonderful cause. This year, as part of our fundraising efforts, we have a special guest in school who we would like to rehome! Pudsey Bear is looking for a new home – and that could be with you! By clicking this link, you can help our fundraising cause by donating the sum of £2 for a raffle ticket, and if your number is pulled out on the Friday 17 November, Pudsey will be yours! Friday 17 November will also be a whole school mufti day, so please make a donation (a minimum of £1 is suggested) to wear your ‘home clothes’ on this national Children In Need day. We love doing what we can to support this wonderful cause. Together, we can help support children and young people across the UK to rebuild their lives. |
Parent Quiz Night |
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Are you a whizz at general knowledge? Do you have a competitive streak? Would you enjoy a relaxed, fun evening with friends? If so, please join us at our first Parents’ and Staff Quiz Night on Thursday 16 November, 7.00pm – 9.00pm. Come along as a team (up to eight members) or join a team on arrival. The full adult price is £12 which includes a welcome drink and a delicious fish and chip supper; gluten free and vegetarian options will be available. A bar will also be available and there is a prize for the winning team! To book your tickets, please follow this link. Good luck! |
Book Fair Update |
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Thank you so much to all parents and guardians who supported the pupils to purchase books from the Book Fair before half term. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the pupils so engaged with choosing new reading material. We sold almost £1,000 worth of books and earnt £470 in commission to spend on new books for the library. Our Year 6 reading champions will now work alongside Mrs Farrar on choosing an excellent selection of new books for the library. Thank you for your support. |
Music theory and composition tuition available |
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We are delighted to be able to offer one-to-one music theory and composition tuition. Lessons can involve covering the grade 5 music theory syllabus, focus on composition skills using technology, or a mixture of the two disciplines. This is an exciting addition to our peripatetic music offering. These lessons can take place before and after school as well as during school hours, and are taught by our newly appointed specialist self-employed teacher. Pupils considering GCSE and A Level Music may find these lessons particularly useful. Junior students are also very welcome to take these lessons. Please contact Mr Nathan at p.nathan@nhs.gdst.net if you would like to find out more about composition and music theory lessons, or to arrange a trial lesson. |
Wraparound Care this half term |
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There are three dates this half term that wrap around care timings will differ. Please see below:
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News from our classrooms: Nursery and Preschool |
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It has been an eventful week in Nursery! We started the week with lots of fun on the way to Forest School, splashing in the puddles. We also talked about firework experiences and recreated these using shaving foam and paint. We have looked at a book about Diwali, and some girls have chosen to make candles. We have also offered a poppy craft activity. |
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It was nice to have everyone back this week at Preschool, and we have been busy talking about fireworks and creating firework pictures with paint. Our Monday trip to Forest School provided an opportunity for everyone who wanted to jump in muddy puddles as well as soak up the wonderful colours the autumn leaves provided us with. We continue to work with the girls to develop their early phonic skills and we have been listening to short audio only recordings of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The girls have been listening out for sounds like footsteps, door knocking and different voices in the story. Our Maths continues to focus on looking at different ways to get to 3, then recognising 1,2,3,4,5 circles in a 5 frame. Outside, we have extended our mark making area and provided some role play props to follow on from the children’s ongoing interests in being doctors. We can’t wait to see where these two new areas take the girls’ imaginations! |
Reception |
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It was lovely to see everyone again after the half term break, and hear with excitement about what they had all been doing. Our theme for this half term is ‘Light and Dark’, and our first focus book is ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy, where baby bear finds a rocket, makes friends with an owl and has a picnic on the moon. We drew pictures of the characters and rocket, and thought about the things that we would take to the moon. |
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We have been investigating circles and triangles, and have taken inspiration from ‘Kandinsky’s Circles’ to have a go at our own. We also enjoyed going on a shape walk to identify circles and triangles in the environment, it was amazing how many circles we could find, but not so many triangles! If you have a chance, perhaps you can look around your house and see if you can find any circles or triangles. Our role play is now a dark den with lights and colours to inspire imagination of trips into Space. This week, we have also been learning ‘f’ for fireworks and writing our own sound poem. We have also been thinking about Remembrance Day with a walk to the memorial, poppy making and painting. |
Year 1 and Year 2 PE Focus |
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Year 1 and Year 2 had a wonderful hockey lesson, where they continued to develop their passing and dribbling skills in a fun game of Robin Hood. They then had the opportunity to have a go at some 2v2 small sided games. For their first attempt at some more competitive hockey they played very well, respecting each other and the rules of the sport. |
Year 3 PE Focus |
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Year 4 PE Focus |
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Year 4 had a surprise when they turned up to their PE lesson this week – they were joined by Year 7 pupils! The session involved relay races and a huge game of Robin Hood. Team work was developed alongside the opportunity to work with pupils in the Senior School. All the girls got really involved with the games, and it was excellent to see the team cohesion in all 4 teams. |
Year 5 PE Focus |
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Year 5 started a badminton unit of work this week. As part of this, they played a fun warm up game where they had to clear their side of the court of shuttles whilst the opposition did the same! The session focussed on grip and movement and the pupils practised hard to maintain rallies. |
Year 6 PE Focus |
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6N began a new unit of work in badminton this week. They focussed on developing their technique in the backhand and forehand serve. They have learnt about the importance of the serve being the only shot that they have complete control over. Progress was seen by the whole class, and their enthusiasm and enjoyment in playing is great! 6H began a fitness unit of work this week. They looked at cardiovascular endurance by participating in a circuit. All the pupils worked very hard, and enjoyed the extra motivation from some loud music! |
PE Focus |
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It has been great to update you on our sporting endeavours throughout this week! Our U8, U9, U10 and U11 hockey teams have all had the opportunity to play in a fixture versus other schools this week, and we continue to provide our superb weekly swimming lessons alongside our PE and Games lessons for all year groups in the Junior School. We hope you enjoyed the updates from the classroom! |
News from outside of the classroom: Year 3 Mandir Trip |
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On Monday, Year 3 went to the Hindu Temple in Wellingborough as part of our work about the celebration of Diwali. We had a tour of the temple and a talk about the different Gods and the animals they travelled on. It was very interesting. We also had a turn at ringing the special bell that signals everyone to be calm and prepare for prayers. I also took part in a Rangoli competition. Priyana |
News from outside of the classroom: Year 6 Richmond Village Visit |
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On Tuesday, Year 6 went to Richmond Village to visit some of the residents to mark Remembrance Day. We presented a wordle (a collection of words on a theme) about ‘despair’, to convey the feelings that soldiers might have during a war. This was followed by a performance of ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae. We then presented the class poems we had written about the sacrifice of war, and how it has given us the freedom we enjoy today.
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We finished with a verse from ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon and another wordle, this time focusing on our optimism and hope for the future. It was a bit nerve wracking, but we tried to use clear voices so that everyone could hear. Afterwards, we enjoyed chatting to our audience and had some very interesting conversations about their wartime experiences, as well as discussing the interests that we have in common. Cordelia, Sakinah, Amelie and Aurelia |
Spotlight Achievement |
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We are very proud to share with you that Shanaya (Year 4) and Ishani (Year 1) took part at the Town Centre Diwali lights celebrations last Saturday! They confidently and skillfully performed Hindu prayers, a Bollywood dance mix and a traditional Indian dance form called Bharat Natiyam. This is a wonderful opportunity and we are very proud of the positive contribution the girls made to this celebration in our local community. Well done girls! |
Awards This Week |
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Star Learners of the Week – Marine A, Grace R, Emily T, Eloise A, Olivia T, Annie T, Lily C, Hazel G and Daneka S External Achievements: Marine A – awarded Star of the Week at Top Hat Theatre School |
Birthdays This Week |
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This week, we wish a very Happy Birthday to the following members of our Junior School family: Evie I, Penelope J, Eve C, Georgina P, Maia S, Emily T, Priyana T |
Christmas Community Session |
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Diversity and Inclusion Calendar 23/24: November |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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