|
|
Junior News 12 March 2021 |
|
Dear Parents, This has been a week of magical moments as the girls, and everyone in our school community, returned to Northampton High Junior School. Mrs Purvey-Tyrer’s words that she shared with staff, (having merrily greeted the girls at the gate bright and early on Monday morning), said it all, and I quote: ‘I have NEVER seen such broad smiles from our girls and such tangible excitement about coming back to school’. It is such an uplifting feeling with the buzz and heartbeat of the school ringing loudly again and there is so much to look forward to during the months ahead. We will be sharing all our exciting news and events with you as we go along. While we are all focussed on looking forward, I do think this is also an important time for reflection on all the many great things achieved during England’s third national lockdown. I also want to take this opportunity to give my deepest thanks to each girl in our Junior School family, as well as every member of staff, parent and person in our wider school family. Everyone has worked tirelessly whilst living, teaching and learning in completely different ways during lockdown, and I cannot thank you all enough for the care and compassion that has been shown all round. In reality, this has been challenging at times but the positive and proactive approach and that strong resilience ‘to carry on’ has shone throughout. I feel proud to belong to our High School family. So, as we move forward, let’s walk together, steadily and strongly, yet remaining excited about our regrouping in the physical world again. As I always say, remember to be kind to yourself and to each other, let’s ensure we value the qualities that each girl and adult person brings, and celebrate every positive moment. See you all next week, |
Dates for your diary |
|
Wednesday 17 March – Year 6 Forest School w/c Monday 22 March – no teacher led clubs (Multi-Sports club, GAP club and late prep will go ahead as normal) Tuesday 23 March – Parents Evening online Thursday 25 March – Parents Evening online Friday 26 March – end of Spring Term Thursday 15 April – start of Summer Term Monday 31 May – Friday 4 June – Half Term |
Achievements |
|
Each week in our virtual assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Cycling Competition Varnikha – hospital art competition for staff children depicting a Covid-related scene. Varnikha’ s painting was selected, and she has won the competition representing Bedford Hospital. She has been awarded with a certificate, a personal letter from the CEO and a prize of £30 National Book Tokens. Her artwork will be published in the Bedfordshire Hospital Trust magazine this month and her photo will be published in the following month. |
|
|
|
|
Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
|
This week in Nursery we have been doing some Science experiments for National Science Week, making a rainbow with skittles, watching how items float and sink, exploring which items stick to a magnet and which ones do not. We also looked at how soap repels pepper to encourage good hand hygiene. We have followed the girls’ interests in making dens around the Nursery and building train tracks. We have played our ‘What’s in the Box?’ sound game, looking at different letters and the items that begin with that sound. We also played a listening game where we listened to the different sounds and guessed what we could hear. “It’s a dog!” Isabella said. We ended the week with World Book Day celebrations dressing up as our favourite characters from a book; this caused lots of excitement around the Nursery. |
|
|
|
|
Nursery Pre School |
|
This week we have shared a story about a special Mum and we have thought about all the special things our Mums do, and how they help us. Aleya said her Mum reads her stories in her bed. Anne said her Mum buys everyone presents. We have extended Science Week to start this week, looking at reactions and mixing different ingredients to have different outcomes. The girls have all been eager to take part in our daily experiments. We also linked PE to Science by playing games such as magnetic tag and sticky glue. Next week we shall be exploring sinking and floating and using magnets. Children’s comments: At home you could try mixing ingredients and solutions together: This could be by making a cake or playing with cornflour and talking about what happens to the mixture at different stages. |
|
|
|
|
Reception |
|
It has been lovely to see everyone in the class back at school and smiling. There was great excitement at seeing friends and being able to play together again. The girls have yet again amazed us with their resilience and willingness to get straight back to business as usual. A real credit to you all for your support with the Guided Home Learning. This week’s activities have included learning about ‘opticians’ and what they do, and then using our role play opticians. Making and being creative for Mother’s Day, thinking about healthy foods and foods for a treat, and investigating the number 18. The girls enjoyed ending a busy first week back by dressing up and celebrating World Book Day.
|
|
|
|
|
Year 1 |
|
Highlights We have had a great first week back in Year 1. The whole class returned with big smiles on their faces and excitement to be back in school, seeing their friends again. They have been so eager and enthusiastic in all of their lessons this week and have quickly settled back into our routines. The girls have particularly enjoyed using the role play area and small world activities focused on our Awesome Australia topic. In English this week, we have been focusing on nouns and adjectives and have used these to help us create a shape poem. In Maths, we have continued to focus on measurement and have been using rulers to measure lots of different objects and pictures in our classroom. In Science, we have been exploring microhabitats and looking at the different layers of the sea. In our Geography this week, we have looked at South America and have looked at maps to find the different countries in this continent and wrote about what we had learned. A big highlight of this week has been our World Book Day celebrations. We all loved dressing up and taking part in lots of school and class activities to celebrate the books we love. Thank you to everyone for helping to create a wonderful, memorable day! What the girls have said: “I liked making a shape poem on fish”. Rhoda |
|
|
|
|
Year 2 |
|
Highlights: It has been wonderful to be back in school with the girls this week. They have settled in well and have been really focused in all their work. In Maths, we have continued with shape, exploring the features of 2D and 3D shapes and making patterns. As we continue with our Awesome Australia topic, in English we have followed the theme of under the sea and this week we have explored the use of nouns, adjectives and using commas in a list to describe different under water scenes. We used our vocabulary and writing skills to create a shape poem and even included the use of some alliteration. In Science, we investigated microhabitats under the sea, we looked at the layers of the ocean and the different animals that inhabit each one. In Geography, we have learned all about the continent of South America and in Art we have looked at the work of Australian artist, Pete Cromer. We have started to create our own versions of his work and we can’t wait to share our pictures once they’re finished! World Book Day has been a great highlight of this week too. The girls looked great in their costumes and enjoyed completing the different activities. What the girls have said: “I liked Pete Cromer’s art and copying it”. Cristina |
|
|
|
|
Year 3 |
|
Highlights: This week in Year 3 we have been finishing our Black Dog-style stories and sharing our favourite books by reading out an extract to the class. In Maths, we have had fun measuring the perimeter of the playground and other objects outside. We have also been challenging ourselves answering Roald Dahl-themed worded problems. During Science, we have found out the names of many of the 206 bones in our body. We have also enjoyed reconstructing a skeleton. In Humanities, we have been thinking about ways to help our environment and have designed posters to remind people to recycle and turn off lights. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed going outside to measure the perimeter of our playground. Also, in Art I liked modelling things out of salt dough. I made a cake for my rag doll”. Artemisia Looking ahead to next week: Maths – we will be looking at fractions and finding halves, quarters and thirds |
|
|
|
|
Year 4 |
|
Highlights: In Maths, we have been building on our knowledge of fractions over the past few weeks and deepening our understanding of tenths as decimals. We have used place value grids, ten frames, bar models and number lines to really embed our understanding in different contexts. In English we enjoyed World Book Day activities. In Science we learnt about grouping living things, and in RE we explored different text types in the Bible. We had great fun at Forest School; the rain held off until the very end and it was fantastic to see the girls enjoying playing with each other and reconnecting in such a wonderful environment (as well as learning about vertebrates and invertebrates). Year 4 are so pleased to be back in school together! What the girls have said: Looking ahead to next week: |
|
|
|
|
Year 5 |
|
Highlights: It’s been a week of mixed emotions here at school. We are thrilled to be back in the classroom, but we’d be lying if we said Monday morning didn’t arrive with a bucket load of butterflies in our Year 5 tummies. Fortunately we’ve had lots of fabulousness to get stuck into… What the girls have said: “On Monday we had the last session of our GDST Opera Project. I really enjoyed learning different songs with other GDST schools and it was nice to see other people, not just the people in my class. I liked learning the songs which we had written and directed, with the music from the opera ‘Carmen’, and I liked the grand finale when we sang all the songs together like a performance. In our Creative Writing Club, we have started re-writing the last song in our own words about our class, which is going to be great!” Safiya “I enjoyed doing the Royal Institution workshop on physical and chemical changes in Science because I got to participate in what they had set up for us. We watched all the experiments happen and some of them were really funny and I didn’t think it would be that fun to watch, but it was! We all had some vinegar and baking soda and we had a cup, we had to add the soda to the vinegar and it all bubbled up to the top because there was a chemical reaction and it created a gas”. Sophia “I really liked doing quilling in our Enrichment lesson on Wednesday afternoon. I have heard about it, and we’d learned a little bit about it in Year 4, but I’d never actually made something before and it was fun to see the result. I’m really pleased with how my Mother’s Day card turned out”. Matilda Dates for your diary: Week commencing 15 March – PE on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday |
|
|
|
|
Year 6 |
|
It has been so wonderful to be back in school communicating with each other face-to-face rather than in the virtual world! The girls greeted us with smiling faces and an amazingly positive attitude towards their work – it is as if we have never been away. As always, our week has been extremely busy and we have enjoyed meeting with our Head Girl Team on Teams, continuing with our virtual Drama lessons with Mo and taking part in a Chemical Changes workshop with the Royal Institute. We look forward to another busy week next week and in particular, our Forest School session on Wednesday afternoon! Highlights of the week: “My highlight of the week was coming back to school and seeing all my friends. Although we can’t do all the things we used to do I still enjoyed it very much. I missed my friends during Guided Home Learning because we couldn’t see each other in person, chat at lunch or play at break”. Ameyal “My highlight of this week has been our very first netball lesson. I really enjoyed it because we got to make up drills and show the other groups for them to have a go. My group did a 2 v 2match and you had to do 5 throws to each other without being intercepted to get a point”. Verity “My highlight of the week was the Drama session with Mo; I really liked it because we got to do lots of different activities including Wink Murder and Buzzy Bees. My favourite game is Buzzy Bees because we go around the room like bees and then Mo will tell us a letter and we must try and make ourselves look like something that starts with that letter. I really like the Drama sessions and I hope we will still be able to continue them throughout Covid-19”. Isla H “I loved finding out about an inspirational woman, Margaret Thatcher, and creating a Powerpoint slide about her and presenting it to the class as part of International Women’s Day”. Isla M Have a good weekend. Mrs Fordham and Miss Taylor |
|
|
|
|
Kirsten and Aiyven feature in The Week Junior Magazine! |
|
We were delighted to see our student authors Kirsten and Aiyven feature in The Week Junior Magazine last weekend! Kirsten and Aiyven have set up ‘Happier Every Chapter’ a book subscription service, and we are delighted to hear of their success! Recently, the girls have appeared on ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’, and you can read all about their experiences here. Mr Nash |
GDST Talks |
|
We are delighted to announce the our next GDST Talks event, takes place on Thursday 18 March at 6pm with Emma Gleadhill.
We are also excited to share with you a recording from a recent Talk which took place on Thursday 4 March with Dr Nihara Krause, on the subject of ‘The Science of Motivation – Helping your Children to keep going’. This recording can be viewed here. Mrs Wilmot |
Term Dates 20/21 |
|
|
Term Dates 21/22 |
|
|
|
Northampton High School |
|
