Nothampton High School
Junior News

Junior News 14 June 2019

Dear parents and girls

This week got off to a soggy start as the Nursery trip to Delapre Abbey was rained off and the GDST athletics rally went ahead in a very aptly-named ‘Bath’. Despite the deluge, the girls had a great day and there were some fantastic results for ‘Team NHS’, too, including a win for the Year 6 relay team and a personal triumph for Ella, who managed to jump higher than anyone else on the day.

Year 4 fared better with the weather, although water remained a feature as they went pond-dipping during their trip to Brixworth on Wednesday. That they were considering nature was unusual only in the sense of them being off-site, for this has been a particular focus of their learning recently as they have joined Year 3 in taking on the ‘30 Days Wild’ challenge. This event, organised by The Wildlife Trusts, was brought to life by Year 3 in their assembly this week as they explained the importance of connecting with nature on a daily basis. Ironically, given the weather, rainbows featured heavily, with a lovely poem by Esme and appropriately-coloured items found by Mollie. Ellie showed us the things that she had found and seen in her garden, Rianna created a beautiful peacock and Emily demonstrated how to beat the British weather by reading outdoors under the protection of her umbrella.

Under cover or not, it is eighty years since the first reading of T. S. Eliot’s ‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’ – the book of poetry that inspired the feline musical. This week, several members of Year 6 had the privilege of being a part of the Senior School production of ‘Cats’ and all of KS2 had the opportunity to see the dress rehearsal on Tuesday morning; well done to all involved.

Yesterday, five students from Year 4 travelled to Brunel University to take part in the GDST Techathon, and tales of their experiences can be found below. My thanks go to Mrs Shaw and Mr Loveday who accompanied them and to Miss Taylor, Mrs Luikinga and Mrs Bull for the Brixworth trip earlier in the week.

Over the coming days, Reception-Year 4 can look forward to a visit from author Pippa Goodhart, Years 5 and 6 will join with Senior School girls to hear a talk from Ross Welford and Nursery staff will work to reschedule the train trip at Delapre. Let’s hope for a drier weekend!

Caroline Petryszak
Interim Head of Junior School

 

Mrs Petryszak's availability

Mrs Petryszak’s days on site will vary over the coming weeks in order to align with school activities and events:

  • w/c 17 June: Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday
  • w/c 24 June: Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday
  • w/c 1 July: Monday/Wednesday/Thursday
  • w/c 8 July: Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday

She is, however, contactable on c.petryszak@nhs.gdst.net or via the school office on any day of the working week.

Year 4 Techathon

I was delighted to be able to take five girls from Year four to Brunel University on Thursday for an ‘Explorer and Engineer’ day organised by the GDST and attended by a large group of GDST schools.

We enjoyed workshops on coding and chocolate welding (what a wonderful smell!) and listened to the pharmacologist, Dr Julie Keeble, talk about the experiments she creates in her lab and sends to the space station. She spoke about people such as John Glen (the first American to orbit the Earth), Katherine Johnson (the mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics helped to get him there) and Helen Sherman (the first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the space station). Truly inspiring people! We learnt that going into orbit is very different from launching into space and the girls had a go at making rockets that could go up and over the end of the Earth, thereby dropping into orbit. She explained that although it may look like astronauts on the space station are floating in space, in fact they are ‘falling’ at the same speed as the space station.

Later in the day, a further session with Dr Keeble on ‘Living in Space’ gave us some interesting facts about life on the space station; how being in space affects the astronaut’s taste (ably demonstrated by eating skittles while holding our noses) and how they go to the toilet (always fascinating!).

A fun workshop with spheros (robotic toys which are propelled across the floor using an app) lead us to our final session which took place in the immersive dome. Here the girls lay on beanbags as they experienced the sounds and sights of launching into space then moving around the space station. It gave them a real sense of the size of the structure and how it would feel to be gazing back at the Earth.

The whole day was Out of this World! Special thanks go to Mr Loveday for joining us and to the girls, who were a credit to the school as always.

Mrs Sarah Shaw
Digital Leader Junior School and 5N Class Teacher

Achievements

Each week in assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week:

Tennis
Frankie B – 1st in tournament
Mollie M – won a tennis tournament

Gymnastics
Safiya C – Level 4 award
Sophie H – Level 5 award
Ishani S – Proficiency award level 7

Swimming
Cora S – Intensive swimming course
Sophia P – Level 7

Piano
Arna K – Grade 2

Publication in a book
Arna K

Skiing
Evie A – Came 4th in race

Orchestra
Eloise K – Strings competition highly recommended

The British Astronomical Association
Matilda B – Wrote a letter and received a reply

Horse Riding
Felicity L – Show jumping 1st in 60 and 70, 2nd in 60 clear round in 60

Sports Day 
Harini S – Won the Year 2 competition for the Sports Day poster design

Announcement

We happy to announce the safe arrival of Sophia-Mae born on Sunday 9 June weighing 7lb 13oz. Congratulations to Lindsay Hillery a member of our Nursery team.

Assemblies

Class Assemblies are held in the Junior School Hall at 8.35 am on Wednesdays and parents are most welcome to enjoy refreshments from 8.00 am. Here are the dates for the Summer Term:

Year 4N – 19 June

Year 5H – 26 June

Year 5N – 3 July

Year 6 – Thursday 11 July evening Valedictory Event

Dates for Diary

Tues 18 June – 11:45 am Reception Open Ballet

Weds 19 June – Author visit Pippa Goodhart

Thurs 20 June – Year 5 trip to Everdon

Mon 1 July – LAMDA exams

Mon 1 July – 3.30pm Maths Parents’ Workshop

Fri 5 July – Welcome Day

Weds 10 July – KS1 trip to Castle Ashby Gardens

Thurs 11 July – Year 6 – Valedictory Event

Cancelled Clubs

Tuesday 18 June – all teacher led clubs

Wednesday 19 June –  Design a Game Club

Monday 1 July – Year 3 to 6 Patchwork Club

Monday 1 July – Year 2 to 4 Lego Club

Tuesday 2 July – Recorder Club and Board Games Club

w/c Monday 8 July – All teacher-led clubs in the last week of term

Sport

SPORTS DAYS

Nursery
Wednesday 26 June – 2 pm to 3 pm

Reception to Year 2
Monday 24 June – 2 pm to 3 pm

SWIMMING GALAS

The dates and times for each year group are shown in the tables below.

Years 3 upwards the girls compete in a swimming gala with a variety of different races from the competitive strokes to the traditional High School float races. Each girl will take part in a number of races, representing her house in the hope of winning the swimming competition for her year group and overall in the Junior School. The viewing gallery will be open for spectators and there will be refreshments after each event.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Sonia Fraser
Head of Swimming

SWIMMING GALA OVERVIEW 2019

Year Date Start Time Approximate Finish Time
Three Monday 17 June 10.45 am 11.45 am
Four Monday 17 June 11.25 am 12:25 pm
Five Tuesday 18 June 9.10 am 10.15 am
Six Thursday 4 July 2:30 pm 3:10 pm


GDST ATHLETICS RALLY 

10 girls from Year 5 and 6 traveled to Bath on Monday to compete in the annual GDST Athletics Rally. The weather held up until lunchtime allowing the teams to complete the majority of events and heats. From lunchtime the weather steadily worsened but failed to deflate the teams enthusiasm. Notable performances came from Ella D who won the high jump with a jump of 1.22 m and the Year 6 relay team who won with narrowest of margins, thanks to a dip finish by Ella.

Well done to the following girls who represented the school: Year 5 Ammara Z, Isabelle S, Moriah H, Rose N and Isla H.  Year 6 Ella D, Abigail W, Gemma S, Roja L, Eryn C.

UNDER 11 CRICKET V SPRATTON HALL Wednesday 13 June

Under 11 A team report
On Wednesday the under 11 A, C and D Cricket teams played against Spratton Hall. In the A team we played very well and had so much fun. In the end we lost by only 3 points. The Player of the Match was Eryn C. It was a great afternoon and I look forward to our next matches.
Ella D – Captain

Under 11 C team report
On Wednesday the under 11’s played Spratton Hall. It was a really close match with Spratton getting 258 runs and us earning 256 runs. It was a fantastic game and the C team fought to the end. Vice-captain, Sonya M and myself (Tess H) are immensely proud of everyone involved and we hope that we can learn from this match. We are so thrilled with the level of support and performance shown by every player. Well done!
Tess H and Sonya M – Captain and Vice-captain

Under 11 D team report
This week we played a cricket match against Spratton Hall. The D team did really well even though we lost. Amara got chosen to be Player of the Match as she batted very well. I am proud of my team because they tried their hardest and batted extremely well. I hope my team performs as well as this in the matches to come.
Moriah – Captain 

 

Ski Trip 2020

The annual ski trip has been a collaboration between a number of GDST schools and currently nobody is able to commit to organising it for 2020, so there is a question mark over it taking place next academic year. Mr Bailey will be looking at the possibilities for continuing the trip when he takes up his position in September.

Lost Property

There is a table in Reception area with lost property on.  Please have a good look to see if anything belongs to you as this will go in the recycling bin at the end of term.

Nursery

Kipper Room
This week we have been playing in our role play bus and talking about where we are going on our journey. We have also been painting tracks using a variety of transport. This got very messy with lots of girls having fun covering themselves in paint.

Due to the bad weather we have spent lots of time in the Hall playing ring and ball games or using the apparatus.

Elmer Room
This week in Elmer room the girls have continued to learn about the different types of transport and they have had fun creating hot air balloons using a variety of resources, making a boat painting using potatoes and colourful paint, copying actions, dancing and singing to transport songs. They have enjoyed using their imagination when playing with a big cardboard box that turned into a stage, house, boat and much more. They also liked participating in a range of games using the parachute to develop their listening and physical skills.

Pre-School
This week the girls have been busy making elephants and recognising objects beginning with our sound of the week ‘e’. They have also made junk model vehicles and matched the correct colour on their train to the correct number. Outside the girls have been using dressing up to enhance their role play and also exploring clay.

Next week your daughter may experience the following activities:

  • Our sound of the week is ‘l’
  • Making a survey of the different types of vehicles that drive past school
  • Deciding what we need to take on holiday
  • Playing a variety of different games

 

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Reception

Our exciting news on the caterpillars is that they have all now made cocoons and are hanging down from the lid, waiting to be transferred into their net home. All seem to have successfully moved on to the next stage of their life cycle. We continue to watch and observe changes; patience is a virtue!

We hope that you enjoyed watching our swimming lesson and appreciate how far all of the girls have come in being independent with their changing, their confidence and ability in the water and having fun with their friends.

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Year 1

“I liked learning fractions and making number sandwiches in Maths.” Eva

“I like English and drawing a magic door and writing what the door was like.” Rebecca

“I enjoyed practising for Sports Day in PE.” Asmi

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Year 2

In Maths, we have started to look at more ways of measuring and this week we have been exploring mass. We found objects in the classroom and weighed them using the balance scales and weights to measure their mass; we recorded our results and used mathematical language to compare the weights of the different objects.

In English, we have started to explore fantasy stories and we are reading the story ‘Where The Wild Things Are’. We have discussed the text in detail and created our own storyboards to retell the story. Our art work is still very much focused on the work of Andy Warhol and we have started to create our own pop art pictures using flowers. In Science we continue our study of plants and have created a fantastic Father’s Day gift linked to our topic – we hope you like it Dads!

“I enjoyed Art and making our own pop art pictures of flowers. I liked Science too and planting seeds for our Dads!” Harini

“I liked weighing things in Maths.” Ishani

“I enjoyed reading fantasy stories in English.” Ellie

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Year 3

“I liked writing the alliteration nature poems during our 30 Days Wild with Year 4.” Safiya 

“I liked typing up our Kidnapped stories and sharing them on OneDrive with our partners.” Ellie 

“I have enjoyed our Art lessons this week and drawing in the style of Modigliani.” Lydia 

We all enjoyed our Class Assembly, thank you for supporting us.

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Year 4

“My highlight of the week was going to Brixworth and catching and looking at all the insects.” Miraya

“I enjoyed Cricket Club and it was challenging working in a pair to try to throw the ball and get it to bounce back to your partner.” Emily S

“I liked Rugby Club because we had to work as a team to try and score a try.” Daisy

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Year 5

“In PSHE I liked learning about laws and what would happen if there were no laws. I didn’t know that children have 40 rights, for example the right to think and believe what you want and the right to be well fed. In this country the government have done a good job for children’s laws because in some countries children can’t be heard or aren’t treated well.” Schechinah

“This week we have been discussing a short film called ‘The Piano’. It is a little bit sad because the man is remembering his relatives who died. There are no words in the film and the first activity we did was guess the character’s feelings. Today we acted out some of the scenes with words and freeze frames to show emotions.” Millie

“I enjoyed Science this week. We were testing some materials on surfaces to see what surface would be the easiest to pull along. I also enjoyed making origami Father’s Day cards. I found it fun but a little bit challenging.” Shireen

“This week I had fun learning about rivers in Humanities and doing some drama in English where we had to act out a scene from a video. We also did freeze frames which was really fun.” Vheneka

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Year 6

“We have had another exciting and extremely fast-paced week in Year 6. Taking part in the Senior Production of Cats has been thrilling and learning about coastal defenses and long shore drift with Mr Earp really interesting. We have also enjoyed analysing the characteristics of a variety of animals through the eyes of various poets, creating flowers inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe for the Arts Festival and investigating the world of negative numbers.” Manha and Maisie, House and Vice Captain Demeter

“We have really enjoyed working with the Senior School girls as part of the cast for the musical, Cats. Our poem, ‘The naming of cats’, was received really well by our audience and we have loved being a part of the music, dance, make-up, lights and amazing set.” Eryn

“On Wednesday we continued to work on our Georgia O’Keeffe inspired flowers using acrylic paint. To add to the excitement a professional camera crew came and filmed us in action!” Phoebe

“Who knew that investigating negative numbers could be so challenging and such fun? This week I have really enjoyed deepening my understanding of negative numbers through the challenging work we have been set, it has generated lots of interesting debates!” Maisie

“This week we were really lucky to be taught more about coasts by Mr Earp, Head of Humanities in Senior School. we really enjoyed using pebbles in the corridor to demonstrate long shore drift. Mr Earp was really impressed with our prior knowledge of coasts and the quality of work that we produced! Thank you, Mr Earp!” Ashana

“In English, we have studied a variety of animal poems and thought hard about the characteristics of these animals. It has been a great activity and has made us think really carefully about the animal kingdom. What animal could you describe as a builder? A musician? A cleaner?” Isobel

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GAP Club

We have had a busy week in GAP Club. The younger girls have enjoyed choosing equipment and playing outside, despite the rain. The older girls have been creating their own version of Britain’s Got Talent, with Mrs Howell as Simon and a guest parent judge being Amanda. We discovered lots of exciting talents including a very authentic horse impression by our very own Tess H in Year 6, which won her the ‘golden buzzer’!

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Term Dates

Northampton High School
Newport Pagnell Road, Hardingstone Northampton NN4 6UU
T: 01604 765765 nhsadmin@nhs.Gdst.Net