In Junior School, each Monday starts with uplifting music and shared songs in our singing assembly. Our thanks to Anushka in Year 6, who played her violin with aplomb, kicking off another action-packed week. This singing assembly brings a sense of community and shared expression, while helping to improve physical and mental wellbeing and developing musicality. Supported by Mrs Farrar, Reception teacher, and Mr Nathan, Director of Music, this musical time is always a highlight of the week.

On Tuesday we were fortunate to have two of our local Police Support Community Officers come into school – Lee and Becky – to talk to us about general safety around Halloween and Fireworks, and also to talk about career opportunities in the police force. The girls posed lots of thoughtful questions for our visitors about safety, routes into policing and their working patterns. There were many more insightful questions from each of the year groups as they spent some time with the police officers and staff outside; the pupils also got to explore the police van and try out the internal seating! We are arranging a return visit for the police next term.

Huge congratulations to Year 5 for their assembly on Wednesday morning. Thank you to Miss Brandon-Jones for supporting the girls in preparing this assembly, and well done to all pupils for their professional and entertaining delivery. I was so sorry to miss it and have heard only wonderful things about it.

It has been a big week for sport. With a football tournament today and hockey fixtures on Wednesday and this afternoon, our girls have represented the school with pride and determination. Please do read the match reports from Wednesday and we look forward to reading the reviews of today’s tournament and matches next week. We are proud of you all!

This morning we had another Open Morning where we welcomed more families keen to join our school. It was a debut for our Year 4 pupils to be Junior ambassadors, and once again they were incredibly impressive as tour guides and experts in all things Junior School; it was such a pleasure to see them enthusiastically showing visitors around the school and answering all the questions they have. 

Hoping that the autumnal sunshine continues and all families have a restful and sun-lit weekend.

Mrs Wilmot
Acting Head of Junior School

Lots of tigers have come to visit us this week in Nursery as we are looking at the story of ‘The Tiger that came to Tea’. The girls have engaged well with the story and the props in the story box.  We have also made sandwiches for snack and had a jungle small world play outside to provide the children with different sensory experiences.  

At Forest School we went on a worm hunt and we were all fascinated with how they moved and the different sizes of the worms that we have found.

We had a special visit from the police this week and we safely explored the police vehicles in our car park.

This week in Preschool we have been focusing on number recognition and counting up to 10.

We have read a different number book each day including ‘10 little robots’ and ‘There were 10 in the bed’, recognising the numbers on each page. The girl’s have had the chance to make marks to represent numbers in the shaving foam, play-dough and on paper with pencils. We have also been recognising numbers in the environment and singing lots of number songs.

At Forest School we went on a worm hunt, digging in mud and rolling over logs to find lots of different length worms. At the end we had a race to see which was the fastest and which was the longest. We also hid from the rain in the den and played a copy me game.

We had some exciting visitors this week. The local police came in to see us and we got to explore their police van and try on their police hats.

In PE we played ‘what’s the time Mr Wolf’ which the girls requested to play again from last week.

Out in the garden we have been using the large blocks, tyres, planks and sea saw to help develop our gross motor and balancing skills.

Another really busy week has taken place in the Reception class!

We have started to work on our new text ‘The Little Red Hen’ and have been delighted with the way everyone is becoming so confident in orally re-telling this story with just a few prompts from the text map.

We have linked this text to making puppets of the characters, building a new home for them using loose parts and making our own bread in our Cookery session.

Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed learning about our school in our humanities lessons.

We have looked at where our school is located in the local area, learnt how to write our school address and have created a class frequency table to show how we travel from home to school.

The girls have also been learning the four points of a compass, and have even come up with their own rhyme to help them remember, Never Eat Slimy Worms!

Our humanities topic is ‘What a Wonderful World’ and we have really enjoyed finding out all about the features of the globe.

We can now name the continents and use words such as equator, Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere to describe position on the earth. We have learnt that the equator is the hottest part of the Earth because this is the area closest to the sun.

Ask your Year 2 child to sing you the ‘Continents’ song, it’s very catchy!

We are loving our Stone Age topic and we like being able to link it to other curriculum subjects. For example, we have created cave paintings in Art, studied information texts about the period to improve our comprehension skills and we are working in teams to design a pneumatic toy based on a prehistoric animal in our DT lessons.

We have looked at some fascinating images of the buildings at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands and handled replica artefacts in school to help our understanding of how people lived at the time.

This term, our Year 4 pupils have been on an exciting journey across the United States of America!

They’ve delved into the diverse landscapes of the different states and uncovered the unique terrains that make each one special.

As we wrap up our studies, this week our talented students are putting their research skills to the test by exploring American cities as potential holiday destinations! Working in small groups, they are crafting compelling adverts for their assigned cities, highlighting key aspects such as: Famous landmarks, local delicacies, weather wonders, fun activities.

In addition, the students are using Google Slides to present their findings and have created engaging scripts packed with persuasive language and vivid noun phrases!

They can’t wait to perform their adverts to their classmates next week—it’s bound to be a lively showcase of creativity and knowledge!

Year 5 are thoroughly enjoying learning about maps, grid references and compass directions in their Geography lessons.

“I really enjoyed writing about a UK city because I wrote about the different places that I have been and things that I liked about Bristol, and it was great fun doing research on the internet.” Orla

“I liked using 6-figure grid references and having to follow the co-ordinates to find different places on a map. It was a bit challenging because you couldn’t see all the lines and squares, you had to imagine where they were!” Eve

“I thought the compass lesson was really fun. My favourite bit was when we got to go outside and choose a partner. We took it in turns to draw something on our whiteboard and tell the other person the directions so they could draw it too.” Mayura

Year 6 have been studying the Ancient Greeks this half term.

They have been learning about what life was like in Athens and Sparta and this week have debated whether they would have preferred to live in Sparta or Athens.

The choice is a hard one for our independent girls because they would have had more freedom in Sparta, being able to compete in sports, be educated and work. However, they would not have much comfort and would be expected to fight. Whereas in Athens they would be have a more comfortable lifestyle but not be educated or allowed to work or vote. Instead they would be taught to run a household and only be allowed into the courtyard to get fresh air, not walk around Athens.

An interesting debate.

We would like to introduce you to our House Captains and Deputy House Captains for Junior School.

Congratulations to Holly, Hesali, Evie, Zoe, Constance, Sylvia, Amber and Sophia on your new roles.

Artemis

I am Holly, and I am the House Captain of Artemis. I enjoy art, swimming, piano and spotting exotic birds. I also enjoy writing stories, and reading. Some of my favourite books include, The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and The Wheel of Time series. I draw in my free time, and enjoy painting tigers and other cats. I like spending time by the sea, and frequently visit Devon, Cornwall and Oxford. I am funny, sometimes serious, kind, and I enjoy time with friends.  

My name is Hesali and I am the Deputy House Captain of Artemis. I will be helping the House Captain, Holly, to organise events and encourage everyone in Artemis to make more points for our House . My hobbies are: swimming, hockey and tennis. My favourite lessons are either PE or games. I am very glad that I have been selected to be the Deputy House Captain and I will try my very best to be an exceptional Deputy House Captain. I have always loved inspiring and organising stuff. I can inspire girls by speaking to them and being a good role model to the younger girls, plus I have always loved helping girls to improve. I am delighted to be receiving this role and I hope in the future that I will be doing a stunning job as the Deputy House Captain of Artemis.

Demeter

Hello, my name is Evie and I am the Demeter House Captain. I am a good leader and I always work as hard as possible. I love animals and everything to do with the environment. I particularly love dogs and pandas since I have a small little dog called Bob with a cute little mustache. Most importantly I am very determined and competitive (I can also be quite persuasive too). With all the new and wonderful additions to our school (and Demeter) I am confident that this year will bring more than just new opportunities.

Hi, I’m Zoe and I’m Deputy House Captain for Demeter. I’m 10 years old, I love dogs and I’m very social towards people. I am positive and very funny. I always want to show the best of myself. I’m really good at music and I love art! I play the piano and sing. I like anything to do with arts & crafts and I like to play video games and draw in my spare time. I’m good at cheering people up and making them laugh (especially my friends and family).

Hestia

Hello I’m Constance and I’m the Hestia House Captain. I’m really excited for the year ahead. I’ve always wanted to be House Captain. I’m almost 11 years old and I’m part English, French, Mauritian and American. My favourite colour is red and my favourite animal is an owl. I’m on grade 4 piano and grade 1 saxophone.  I really like music and sport and I’m really excited to help Hestia be the best that they can be.

Hi, I’m Sylvia and I’m really happy about my role as Deputy House Captain of Hestia. I hope that the people in Hestia can count on me as their Vice Captain making ourselves the best we can! 

I’m also part of the School Council in Year 6 with some other pupils around Junior School and we think about so much stuff and clubs that we can add for everyone to use or do. Most times I would come out with my note book and ask questions like, ‘What clubs do you like?’ ‘What club should be brought back?’ 

On Tuesday I go to help out in the library to sort some things that might be in a mess or mixed up. Sometimes when you finish your lunch on Tuesday you can see me sorting out the books. When the little ones come to read in the library I recommend some books that would be really good for their age or I think they might be interested in. 

Selene

My name is Amber. I’m 11 and I am Selene House Captain for this year. I like helping people and I’m very friendly and funny. I like sports because it’s a fun way to get active and you get to learn new techniques. I am really grateful for this role this year. I like doing art at home in peace. I have 3 pets, two of them are cats and I have a bunny. I have a younger sister. I am looking forward to meeting you all and doing lots of activities with you. Once Nelson Mandela said “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

Hi my name is Sophia and I am the Deputy House Captain of Selene. I like singing and drawing. I am a huge Harry Potter and Pokemon fan. I have a 6 year old sister who is going to be 7 in a month, Lara. She is soooooo cute! I am very competitive and I love to spend time with little kids. I am a great listener. I think I am good for this role because I am always trying to help people.

U10A, U10B, U11A and U11B Hockey v Winchester House – 9 October 2024

U10A
On Wednesday afternoon we played against Winchester House. We didn’t have a strong start in the first half, conceding 3 goals, but in the second half I scored a goal, which lifted our spirits a little bit. Unfortunately, we lost 1:5. I received player of the match. Next time, we need to do better with strong tackles and running with the ball more.
Olivia 

U10B
Our match was very challenging because Wincester House were very good. We didn’t get any goals, but they didn’t either! Orla was our goal keeper and she saved a lot of goals. Our player of the match was Alice because she did lots of tackling and stayed on the entire time. There was lots of tackling and we got the ball a lot. Next time we will try to dodge the other players when they are trying to tackle us and we will try to get to the goal so we can get more goals. We all enjoyed it and had lots of fun!
Tabby 

U11A
The A team played a tough game against a well polished team from Winchester House. The first half saw Constance in goal being tested, however by the second half she was making incredible saves. Eloise C was outstanding on the right and along with Annabel and Thea we were close to scoring a last minute goal. Well done for the whole of Year 6 in their resilience and never giving up attitude.

U11B
On Wednesday 9 October, the U11B team played against Winchester House. We had a good game even though we lost by 6 goals. In goal, we had Amber and she saved many goals and tried her best. The player of the match was Kinara who we all agreed played very well. We all had a fun time playing the match and we all participated and worked very well together. We were lucky that we didn’t play in the rain because apparently the A team did. We finished the match with some nice tea and headed home.
Kinara