Junior News – 13 June 2025

One of the highlights for our youngest pupils was Reception’s visit to Woburn Safari Park, an adventure that brought learning to life in the most captivating way. The pupils particularly enjoyed experiencing the monkeys climb onto the school minibus. The joy and awe on the girls’ faces as they encountered the animals up close was a true delight to witness for Mrs Perry, Miss Page and Mrs Hodgetts-Tate. 

As I write this, anticipation is building for not one but two special events taking place on Friday. First, we look forward to welcoming fathers, grandfathers, and other special guests to our much-loved Father’s Day Breakfast. The girls have taken great pride in preparing for the occasion, designing and creating beautiful bunting that will be displayed at the Junior School entrance. 

Later in the day, pupils in Years 3 to 6 will join the Senior School for Sports Day which is a wonderful opportunity to take part in a wide range of track and field events. From classic races like the sack race and egg and spoon to more technical challenges such as sprinting, hurdles, long jump, throwing, and even high jump for some of the older pupils. There will be plenty of chances for the girls to showcase their athletic talents, teamwork, and determination.

We will be sharing highlights and results from Sports Day in next week’s edition of Junior News, so do look out for that. For now, we hope you enjoy this week’s round-up of all that has been happening across the Junior School.

Mrs Saunders-Wall
Interim Director of Junior School Liaison

In Nursery this week we have focussed on developing our fine motor skills by strengthening small muscles in the hands, wrists, fingers and feet.

Proficiency with fine motor skills help children to navigate and explore the world with confidence and independence. It is also the first steps to having good pen control for writing and drawing when the children move through the school years.  We have participated in activities which have used pens and clipboards, chalks for the blackboard, stickers on sticker sheets, scissors, washing to peg out, paintbrushes with water and dressing babies with baby clothes.

This week in Preschool as the weather has been warming up we have been spending some time outside in the sunshine. However, as it was a little too windy for Forest School, we spent time playing on the hill instead with the hoops and balls, practicing our hand eye coordination. The girls also enjoyed playing on the climbing frame and playing hide and seek in the bushes.

As it is Father’s Day on Sunday the girls have been very creative making a special something for their fathers and role model figures. Our story this week explored how some family dynamics are different and how the male role model can come in the form of uncles and grandparents too.

The girls were very excited about the addition of sensory ice cream in our ice cream shop and all queued up acting as customers and they took turns to be the shop keeper. They were very grown up and understood this was not real ice cream to eat, even though it did look very tasty.

We have also been practicing for Sports Day races ahead of the real thing next week, we look forward to seeing you there!

This week Reception had a fantastic trip to Woburn Safari Park.

The girls enjoyed the road safari, spotting all of the animals from the story ‘Dear Zoo’.

They were fascinated in watching the lions being fed by the rangers and also the ostrich that came very close to the minibus!

The girls enjoyed exploring the foot safari, observing the sealions who followed the rangers instructions for a tasty fish snack as well as the macaws flying over our heads at the bird show.

We had a super day which ended with ice creams and a quick trip to the play area, as the girls were a joy to be with and represented Northampton High School brilliantly.

Year 1 are busy preparing and rehearsing for our class assembly which is consolidating last term’s PSHE topic; what makes a good friend?

The girls have made their own contributions to the script and are working collaboratively to ensure a great performance.

We have discussed how most modern-day buildings are different from the ones from 1666 and so the possibility of a fire that spreads in the same way is lower.

We also now have smoke detectors, sprinkler systems and fire alarms that help people detect fires and evacuate buildings quickly.

We have talked about what to do in the event of a fire in our homes and how to call the Emergency Services. We also practised saying our address in case we need to call for help. The whole class took part in the lesson very maturely, asking lots of insightful questions.

Well done girls!

Discussion questions included: What can’t a baby do for themselves? What must an adult do for a baby? How have you changed during your life so far? How might it feel like to have a new baby brother or sister?

Lots of ideas were shared and there were a range of responses to imagining what it would be like to have a new baby in the house. Some girls thought it would be fantastic whereas others weren’t so sure!

This week in Year 4, we have been busy reflecting on their journey throughout the year!

Pupils have shared their most memorable experiences, from enjoying immersive lessons to unforgettable trips to the Roman Villa, our exciting residential, and the spellbinding theatre outing!

As part of their reports, the children have identified the work they’re most proud of and celebrated their biggest achievements.

It’s heartwarming to see their growth and enthusiasm shine through! They have also set their sights on what they hope to achieve next year. Their curiosity and ambition is truly inspiring!

“During our recent PSHE lesson, Year 5 did the trial of Goldilocks with BPP Education Group. It was great fun, especially for us, because we got to say lots of lines… we were the defence and prosecution lawyers. We had to make the jury decide whether Goldilocks was innocent or guilty of breaking and entering, theft and damage to property. Afterwards, we were allowed to ask lots of questions, and it was really interesting finding out what would happen to people in different scenarios when they were sentenced.”

Aggie and Tabby

In PSHE, Year 6 have been looking at relationships and discussing key questions such as: what is a friend? and why do we need friends?

Last half term we had a Girls on Board session with Mrs Kneen to explore these concepts. The girls decided that a friend is someone you can rely on, is trustworthy, kind and someone who makes you laugh and smile. They thought that without a friend they would be sad and lonely. We asked ourselves, who is responsible for ensuring everyone has a friend? The girls unanimously agreed it was everyones responsibility.

This led nicely into our residential trip to Osmington Bay where I am pleased to report they were all kind to each other and made everyone feel welcome and part of the group, as well as being very encouraging and supportive to each other when completing the activities.

We were delighted to welcome Dave Shelton into school on Wednesday afternoon.

Dave, who is an author, illustrator and cartoonist, led a wonderful comic strip workshop. He talked to us about silhouettes and speed drawing, before giving the girls the opportunity to create their own ‘double act’ of two distinctive characters who could be easily identified in a cartoon strip. They certainly followed the first rule of the session (‘be original’), generating characters that ranged from a dragon (called Mouse) to aliens, an evil chicken and the intriguing duo of Squash and Kevin #8.

When it came to creative writing, the girls came up with some fabulously imaginative ideas, rising brilliantly to the challenge of trapping their ‘double act’ together in a situation from which they could not escape.

Dave was able to offer individual feedback to the students on their pieces and we are very grateful to him, and to Miss Kilby the Reach Co-ordinator, for facilitating this fantastic opportunity for the girls to develop their creative skills through writing and drawing.

Thank you so much to all the parents and family members for coming to support all the students in today’s Sports Day! It was lovely to welcome you all into school to cheer on the competitors and even participate in some of the races! More photos of the day to come on our social media, so be sure to follow us there to see those.

Our U8 and U9 Cricket team played a spirited fixture against Pitsford School on Friday afternoon.

Batting first, our young team showed great promise, hitting some excellent fours from the tee.

Despite a strong start, the match proved to be a tight contest. Unfortunately, Pitsford ultimately secured the win, triumphing by a narrow margin of 9 runs.

It was a valuable learning experience for the team, showcasing their developing skills and teamwork.

On Monday 9 June, ten students from Year 5 and Year 6 went to Nottingham for the GDST Athletics Rally. Both teams did amazingly well with Year 6 coming 3rd in their relay, putting them into the final.

Evie and Annabel qualified for the finals in the 150m and 80m sprints. Olivia did really well coming 1st in throwing and Eloise beat the school record of 3.35m getting 3.38m in long jump.

Annabel (Athletics Captain)

Year 3 had a lesson in how to jump the hurdles in preparation for Sports Day.

Good effort Year 3!

The Pizza Pop-up will run from 4.30pm to 7.30pm and is open to everyone in the local area. For Northampton High School parents, we are offering exclusive early access from 3.30pm, making it the perfect opportunity to enjoy an end-of-week treat at pick-up time.

Guests will be able to enjoy freshly prepared, hand-stretched sourdough pizzas and indulgent, gooey brownies in a relaxed and welcoming setting. Whether you’re popping by for a quick bite or collecting dinner for the whole family, we’ll be offering options by the slice to enjoy on the spot, or whole pizzas to take away and share at home.

This event reflects our commitment to reinvesting commercial revenue directly into the school, helping to maintain and enhance our facilities and ultimately support the delivery of an outstanding, premium education for our students.

For further details, please contact Alice Afford at lettings@nhs.gdst.net, or follow us on Instagram at @NH.Spaces for the latest updates and future announcements.

We very much look forward to welcoming you.

This year, we are delighted that Junior School will be taking over the space in the Senior School Foyer with their Art Exhibition.

Their work is always delightful and highly creative. The Art and Textiles exhibitions across all year groups are being prepared by staff. GCSE and A Level students, through their original and sophisticated pieces, have yet again reached exceptionally high standards, so please do come and see for yourself.

Additionally, we are running two informal and fun opportunities for our students to draw or paint live!

‘Draw Your Pet’ – Open to all age groups from Nursery-Year 13. Come and grab some pencils and sit in our beautiful gardens to draw your pet using your chosen photograph.

‘At The Easel’ – Landscape Painting – Open to Year 6-Year 13. – Come and paint your landscape in the grounds or classrooms – there will be easels set up with brushes and paints ready for you to select from. Students can come and discuss their composition and chosen photograph with the Art Department.

There will be prizes awarded to works that particularly impress the judges but the most important point is to enjoy the experience. A warm welcome awaits you with delicious refreshments from our amazing catering team and summer bakes and pastries will be served in the Food Department.

Mrs Beacroft
Head of Creative Arts

We are very excited to share the news of our brand new girls-only toddler group!

Girls aged 1-3 and their parents, grandparents and guardians are all welcome to come along and delve into a wide variety of toys, crafts and ‘surprise play stations’ created to spark imagination and fun times. Always remember ‘dress to get messy!’.

This toddler group will be held fortnightly on Tuesdays, 9.15am – 10am, a full list of dates and the online booking form can be found on the school website https://www.northamptonhigh.co.uk/admissions/open-events/

Please feel free to share this with any friends who may be interested, and come and join us with your little ones too. These will be returning after the half term break, details coming soon.