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Junior News – 11 November 2022 |
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This week I journeyed down to Portsmouth High School for the annual GDST Junior Heads conference. It was a valuable experience to widen my knowledge and appreciation of the school’s within the Trust family of schools, to strengthen working relationships and to absorb the wealth of benefits of professional collaboration. Alexander Graham Bell said “Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” The conference provided a clear reminder of the power of collaboration in strengthening one’s own performance. Being part of the GDST is a fundamental factor in enabling Northampton High to achieve such high levels of performance. From Newcastle to Nottingham, Portsmouth to Putney and Birkenhead to Bromley the GDST have built a network of expertise, knowledge and skills that allow our 25 schools to rise together for our girls. Northampton High School and our offer to your daughter is much bigger than our immediate school team. 19,000 students across the GDST, each one unique but with fundamentally the same demands of their schools – to be educated, to reach their full potential, to be believed in and to be inspired. Your daughter’s educational experience benefits from a network of 4,000 staff and 75,000 alumnae. Each one committed to enabling her to reach her full potential. Each one believing in her. We are stronger as a school community for being part of the GDST and we will continue to contribute to, and benefit from, this network for the direct positive impact this has on your daughter. Miss Hair |
November and December in Junior School |
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Tea Towels |
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The deadline for ordering your Northampton High tea towels is Wednesday 23 November. To ensure you don’t miss out please make sure you place your order on Parent Pay before the deadline. A great memory and an easy Christmas present! |
Times Table Rock Stars National Competition |
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We are celebrating Maths Week England by taking part in a friendly times tables (and division) competition. The competition runs from 07:30 Monday 14 November to 19:30 Wednesday 16 November. It’s all done online via play.ttrockstars.com. Children can play in any game mode with every correct answer to a multiplication or division question, earning themselves, their class and the school a point. The Times Tables Rock Stars platform will calculate the class average and winning classes in the school, and in the competition as a whole, will be the ones with the highest average. To support player wellbeing, there is a daily time limit of 60 minutes per player. Each player can earn competition points for up to 60 minutes between 07:30 Monday 14 November and 19:30 Wednesday 16 November. Once any player goes beyond 60 minutes of play each day, they will still earn coins but will no longer earn points towards the competition. In the spirit of the competition, please don’t play on their behalf but encourage and support them. |
Children in Need |
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To celebrate Children in Need we will be having a non uniform day on Friday 18 November. There will also be a selection of games run by our sixth formers at break and lunchtime for the students to enjoy. To be able to play the games please make a donation of any size following the link below. A donation will gain children access to the games as well as supporting a fantastic cause. Donations to be made by clicking here. Many thanks for your support. |
Charity Competition |
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This academic year we are supporting the charity ‘Kids Aid’. This is a charity that helps support children who have suffered trauma and provides mental health support. Our Junior School children have been invited to take part in a creative competition that matches the charities current campaign of celebrating uniqueness. The girls have been invited to creatively respond to the question ‘What does unique mean to you?’ Pupils could submit photos, models, drawings, creative writing etc. There is a minimum entry donation of £1 which will be donated to Kids Aid. The charity fundraising lead will be organising for one of the charities creative therapists to come and judge the competition and award a prize to the winner. The deadline for entries is 30 November. Donations for submitted pieces can be made through this page here |
GDST Christmas Card Competition |
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This year, the GDST are running a competition that asks the girls to submit an A4 piece of artwork based on the theme, Festive Animals and Characters. This could be interpreted traditionally with designs of Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, polar bears, etc. or it could be an illustration of a family pet by the Christmas tree or even a character from a favourite Christmas film. Our Chief Executive, Cheryl Giovannoni will then select the winner and we will announce who this is on Monday 5 December. The winning student will receive a £50 gift voucher and the winning school awarded £450 for their chosen charity. The winning design will then be featured on the GDST website and available for all GDST schools to use as their season’s greetings email to their communities. For those who would like to take part, entries will need to be submitted to the Junior office by Thursday 24 November. |
Delapre Abbey Light Trail |
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Our girls have been asked to contribute art work which will be installed to the light trail event at Delapre Abbey this Winter. We feel very honoured to be able to showcase the girls’ art in this unique way. We have secured a discount on tickets to the event for families to see and celebrate our contributions. The code to use when booking your tickets is SchoolP15 and tickets can be booked through https://www.winterlighttrail.co.uk. |
Festive Wreath Workshops - Adults Only |
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Have you booked your spaces for this workshop yet? We have arranged for an excellent florist (Bouquet Chic) to deliver Wreath Making Workshops for any interested parents and members of the community. Why not book a place to enjoy making a festive creation with friendly people and a supportive and talented instructor? Spaces are £65 per person which includes everything you’ll need to make a fantastic, impressive wreath and refreshments during the workshop. There is also now an option to bring your daughters for an additional £3. These events are on Tuesday 6 December 5.30 to 7pm or Wednesday 7 December 12.15 to 1.45pm. To book please contact the school office junioradmin@nhs.gdst.net. |
Flu Immunisations - Tuesday 29 November |
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We kindly remind parents that flu immunisations for students in Reception to Year 9 will be taking place on Tuesday 29 November. Please can we ask that you sign and return the sent out consent form, being mindful that the consent period closes 72 hours before the date of immunisation. If you have any questions, please do get in touch. Mrs Dunkley |
News from our classrooms: Nursery and Pre School |
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We hope you all had an enjoyable Bonfire Night weekend. We have loved hearing all about the girl’s experiences and excitement. During the week in Nursery we have engaged in lots of different bonfire and firework activities to compliment their experiences. We have created firework pictures using different techniques; by flicking paint and dipping snipped cardboard tubes. In cooking, the girls made some edible sparklers. We have listened to firework themed stories at story time, created firework sounds with musical instruments and, in phonics, we used our new found
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knowledge and listening skills to identify different bonfire night sounds in a sound quiz. Phoebe particularly liked the crackling bonfire sound. In Maths, we are focusing on shapes and patterns this half-term. The girls have enjoyed using the interactive whiteboard to play shape games and create their own shapes. In Pre School we took our theme of light into the sky, providing opportunities centred around ‘fireworks’. This has proven to be very popular – from pretending we are fireworks in our PE lesson to using our own imagination with a range of resources to create our own unique versions of rockets. The glitter, string and paint activity transformed the classroom into an actual firework as lots of us were covered in glitter by the end of the day! The edible sparklers were hard to resist with some girls trying to take a sneaky nibble when they thought their teachers weren’t looking. Name writing galore, at every opportunity we have been encouraging your daughter to create marks to represent their name. Some are able to create recognisable letters which is a brilliant start for those important stepping stones for Reception! Showing their kindness has been a highlight of the week where the girls have took the new starters under their wing to help them settle in. It’s been wonderful to see the girls displaying these traits. |
Reception |
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It was lovely to see the class back at school, hopefully rested and ready for a busy term ahead. The girls have been excited to share their news and keen to engage with all of the new activities. Our role play has changed to become a ‘Space Station’, with dressing up and lights to explore. |
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This week we have been using the book ‘Whatever Next?’ by Jill Murphy to base some of our learning on. We have used props to act out the story and have made a wonderful rocket to carry ‘Baby Bear’ to the moon. The class have followed a text map to retell the story and have thought about the things that they would like to take to the moon and why. We have looked at the differences and similarities between day and night and made a comparison picture. In Maths we have been investigating the composition of the numbers 4 and 5, sorting items showing these numbers and trying to subitise before counting. A busy first week back, well done Reception class. |
Year 1 - Reading Focus |
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Reading is one of our favourite activities in Year 1 especially since our book corner has turned into a castle! We love curling up on the beanbags with a friend, reading to each other, as well as reading aloud to adults to show how much our reading is improving. This week began with Mrs Purvey-Tyrer asking us to help her find her lost hat. We had to think up great questions about the hat which she answered. We know lots about the hat now but haven’t found it yet! Later in the week we were introduced to our new class text ‘I want my hat back’ and had fun and lots of giggles trying on different hats and describing them to our partner. We are looking forward to sharing the rest of the story next week. |
Year 2 - Reading Focus |
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This week Year 2 have been very excited to find that a beanstalk has suddenly sprouted in our classroom! They have been thinking about how it got there and what its purpose might be. Their imaginative ideas have been written onto leaves and attached to the beanstalk. I wonder what book we are about to read? |
Year 3 - Reading Focus |
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In Year 3 we have been studying the text, ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’. Through the text, we have looked in detail at the features of instructions including the use of imperative verbs and prepositions. We have compared different sets of instructions to see if they include the correct features and we have even practised carefully reading and following a set of instructions to make a Woolly Mammoth model. |
Year 4 - Reading Focus |
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Year 4’s class read is ‘The Last Bear’. It tells the story of April and her father who go to live on Bear Island for six months, an Artic outpost. There are no polar bears left on Bear Island, or so they believe, due to the melting ice caps but April is certain that she has seen one. |
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In our English lessons, we watched the beautiful animation of ‘Varmints’ based on the book by the same name. The film contains no words, and the girls wrote their own narrative to it before reading the book. One of the main themes running through this story was change and how the peaceful countryside became a concrete jungle. This inspired girls to write a poem based on change using metaphors and expanded noun phrases. Next week the girls will be introduced to the book ‘Farther’, a multi-layered picture book based on a world of impossible dreams. |
Year 5 - Reading Focus |
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In Year 5 we have created freeze frames to understand characters’ moods, facial expressions and body language, prior to writing reported clauses to add extra information to direct speech. Well done everyone! |
Year 6 - Reading Focus |
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Year 6 have been studying ‘The Arrival’ by Shaun Tan. We were first introduced to this book by being shown a hat, a leather suitcase with strange symbols on and a picture of a family. From looking at the clues we were given we had to try and work out what ‘The Arrival’ was about. Some of us thought that ‘The Arrival’ was about someone who had to leave their family because they were going on a holiday, others thought that the man shown in the family picture might be a spy. Through studying ‘The Arrival’ we have realised that our predictions were not accurate. The man featured in the book has to leave his family to find a better life for them all. |
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Both the book and the video we have been using have made us realise how difficult it is for some people to make a good life for their families and that they have to make great sacrifices. It also made us realise that this could happen to anybody. This book has made us think carefully about the lives of others, particularly the current situation families are facing in Ukraine. It has helped us to recognise how difficult the lives of families in the Ukraine have become and we can empathise with their situation. Overall, we have really enjoyed studying ‘The Arrival’ and learning more about the true meaning of migration and how other peoples’ lives can be so different. |
News from our extracurricular offer: GAP Club |
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The GAP Team would like to welcome everyone back after half term. Just to make you aware we now have a new QR code to book your Gap Club sessions. This one will last until the end of this academic year. This half term the girls will have access to a variety of activities including helping to develop role play and with the run up to Christmas we have planned lots of activities for the girls to explore. We are looking forward to supporting their development and celebrating their achievements. |
News from outside of our classrooms: Year 4 trip to Piddington Roman Villa Museum |
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Year 4 had a wonderful day at Piddington Roman Villa Museum finding out how the Romans lived. The museum displays tell the story of the Piddington site, based on the evidence from the excavations. It shows how people lived – what their houses were like, what they ate, the animals they kept, the crops they grew and the games they played. |
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As soon as we arrived the girls were dressed as Roman children and given new Roman names. The girls quickly became history detectives and investigated artefacts and hypothesised what they thought the items were. We were all surprised with the Roman equivalent to toilet paper! The girls then created mosaics; had a scavenger hunt; learnt about armour and created wrist shields. One of their favourite experiences was when they roleplayed being Roman doctors prescribing cures. They smelt different herbs and learnt about their properties before making their own medicines. A great time was had by all, there are more photos in the Humanities area in google classroom. |
Awards for this week |
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Star Learners of the Week – Anaya, Pearl, Iman, Amari, Zoe Z, Poppy, Varnikha, Emily C, Shreya S Ballet Dancers of the Week – Georgina P, Lily C, Luna Each week girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Siena-Louise – attended the West Midlands Dance Competition and was awarded 2nd in Modern, 2nd in Trio and 2nd in a Ballet Solo. Siena-Louise was also awarded a Classical Greek Dance Celebration Certificate |
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: Penelope J, Evie I, Emily C, Amari, Eve C, Georgina P, Emily T, Priyana
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Christmas Fayre - Friday 2 December |
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New look for parent FireFly dashboard! |
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The school’s FireFly dashboard for parents has recently undergone a revamp and an upgrade! We hope that our parents will find the information platform to be user-friendly and accessible. If you have any questions or have any feedback on the upgraded portal, please do get in touch. Mr Rittler |
Raise Her Up |
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The new episode of ‘Raise Her Up’ is here, and this week the GDST are joined by Amanda Owen aka the @YorkshireShepherdess. Amanda shot to fame when she and her family appeared in Channel 5’s ‘Our Yorkshire Farm’ in 2018. She is also a best-selling author, presenter, photographer and mother of 9. Airing to coincide with #COP27, this episode includes Amanda discussing her relationship with nature, and the need for us to see ourselves as ‘custodians of the land’, protecting it and passing it on to future generations – as well as some great Ravenseat Farm anecdotes which you won’t want to miss! To listen to this brilliant edition, please click here, or download from wherever you get your podcasts. Mr Nash |
Community Sessions |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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