It made me reflect on how times have changed and improved since my time at primary school, where we used to receive a red token for good work, a yellow token for a minor misdemeanour and a blue token for bad behaviour! Just the fact that there were two negative options and only one positive, shows me how times have changed for the better. I have to say that I never received a blue token, I was too scared to do anything wrong, but I did get a yellow token for 10 minutes once in a Maths lesson because I couldn’t tell the time! It was eventually taken away from me when I finally got an answer right but just the fact I remember it so vividly shows what an enormous impact it had on my self-esteem and confidence at the time. I was 7 years old.

At Northampton High School our Rewards and Positive Culture Policy states that: “The school values highly, good behaviour, kindness and service to others, which in turn support pupil learning. We promote these values in our pupils through a system of recognition and reward. The overarching principle of our rewards system centres on how rewards (and sanctions) can, and should, be used to positively reinforce appropriate student attitudes and behaviours, provide all pupils with the opportunity to make positive choices about their behaviour, and to discourage inappropriate attitudes and behaviours”.

We as staff in Junior School are constantly discussing and reassessing how we reward and praise our pupils. In September, we launched the use of Epraise, for pupils in Year 1 and above. This is an online system where we now log all house points and commendations. During the most recent coffee morning in Junior School this new system was discussed, and the views of the parents present were gathered. These very useful insights from a parent and pupil perspective have been shared with staff to enable us to develop our use of the system and inform us of the best way to help the pupils engage with, and understand, the process. Therefore, staff will be having a class discussion to gain pupil views and talk about how they feel the system is working, as well as making it clearer about how points are awarded and when they can check their status.

The Junior School Council have been tasked with the exciting job of gathering suggestions for the rewards shop. This is where pupils may spend their house points to gain privileges for themselves and their friends. We are in the process of finalising the shop and this will hopefully be available towards the end of term. We are keen that these items are exciting, inspiring, age appropriate and achievable for all. They may include 10 minutes extra playtime, time on the trim trail with friends, skip the lunch queue or lunch with Mrs Wilmot.

We want this system to be a positive experience for all pupils to inspire and motivate them to be the best they can be. I know, as a mother myself, that there is nothing more rewarding and satisfying than when your child manages to achieve their goals, and they are happy and excited about their learning journey. We will be asking the parent body for their feedback in the next few months but in the meantime if you have any feedback to share, as always, don’t hesitate to make contact.

I hope you have a happy and exciting weekend with your family.

Mrs Samantha Dadge
Junior School Assistant Head – Academic

We have been reading, We are Going on a Bear Hunt this week in Nursery and the children have really enjoyed the author reading the book on the screen as he provides an animated narrative.  

We loved having our parents and carers in to play with our children and we hope to make this a more regular event going forward.

At Forest School we have been exploring leaves, their textures and colours and we were desperate to hold some all the way back to school.  

Cooking continues to be really popular. Lots of skills are being learned such as, chopping, mixing and tipping. This week we have made a pasta salad using these skills.

This week in Preschool we started with a walk to the Remembrance Monument very close to school; the girls listened beautifully and enjoyed the experience of being out in the community. This led to art and craft back in the classroom. The girls made lovely poppies and we also made some poppies in Forest School with red leaves we had collected.

We have been reading the book, Monkey Puzzle and as the week has progressed the girls have been able to recall the animals that are coming up in the story. We also looked at the book called, Shine in our PSHE session which relays how everyone is different and unique and why this is special.

It was lovely to see so many parents attend our Stay and Play session this week, thank you all for coming and we hope to have more of these events in the future.

We had PE outside on the hill this week and the girls practised rolling, kicking and throwing a ball up and down the hill. The climbing frame proved to be very popular and the girls loved climbing in the tree. We also pretended to be Koala’s cuddling the tree whilst holding on tight.

Reception have been reading the story, Whatever Next by Jill Murphy. The girls were excited to explore the props linked to the story as they practiced their retelling skills. There was lots of fantastic collaborative teamwork taking place in the outdoor area as the girls worked together to build a moon surface from blocks and bricks.

We have also throughly enjoyed singing songs about the planets in our solar system; learning the names of each one. During one of our phonics sessions this week we learnt the sound ‘x’ and then excitedly took part in a planet treasure hunt around the outdoor area, carefully drawing an ‘x’ next to each planet that we found on our list.

They were then introduced to the words retrieve, predict and explain and used these reading skills to answer a series of questions about the story.

We will soon move on to retelling the story in our own words and then look at the features of instructional writing, following instructions to make our own pumpkin soup.

They have been putting into practise valuable skills of reading accurately, speaking clearly and listening to others, in order to follow the script.

Alongside our rehearsals, we have started our new literacy unit, A Walk in London. It was very exciting when a mysterious ‘visitor’ left everyone a letter to introduce the topic. The visitor appeared to have left some marmalade-sticky paw prints. Can you guess who it might have been?

Year 3 have begun reading a new text called, The First Drawing which links with our study of the Stone Age in Humanities lessons last half-term.

The girls have enjoyed role play activities based in our classroom ‘cave’ and were amazed to discover child-sized footprints from thirty thousand years ago!

This week’s writing has focused on inferring meaning from illustrations and using modal verbs to imagine what life might have been like for a child in Stone Age times.

In small groups, the students participated in a carousel activity, jotting down all the fascinating facts they remembered about various aspects of Roman life.

From soldiers to Roman baths, their enthusiasm was infectious! Next, we turned our attention to the structure of a non-chronological report. By examining an example together, the children identified key features that would enhance their own writing.

Finally, it was time for some independent writing! Students crafted their very own non-chronological reports, referring back to the large sheets around the room for fact-checking and inspiration.

“My favourite character was Claire because she has a lot of emotions. When we finished the book to get on with the lesson I got sad… I loved the story and hope there is another book.” Amariah

“Claire is desperate to find out what her dad is making, and I love the part when she got really annoyed. My favourite part of the book is when she sneaks into her dad’s lab and finds out… [spoiler!]” Annie

“My favourite character was Maisie because she is very kind to Claire and is good at keeping secrets. I really liked this book. Every time Miss Brandon-Jones closed the book I got really annoyed and wanted her to keep on reading it. I was disappointed that the book ended on a cliff-hanger and I can’t wait for more!” Olivia

Year 6 have been studying a short film, ‘For the Birds’ which focuses on the issue of bullying.

The girls have been exploring the impact bullying can have on individuals through role play, research and discussion. These issues are particularly relevant this week as it is Anti-bullying week and we will be sharing our thoughts and findings in our class assembly next week.

“I like how we are learning about how to treat people as you would want to be treated, in a very unique way.” Cristina

“I like how it is indicated not to bully people by their looks and I thought it was quite funny when the smaller birds lost their feathers!” Avani

“I really enjoyed the acting in English, it was really fun when the bird fell over. I liked watching a film for a change rather than reading a book.” Leah

As part of our Christmas Fayre preparations, we are hosting a Junior School non-uniform day on Friday 22 November. Instead of asking for a charitable donation, we would like to ask your daughter to bring in a bottle on this day to contribute to the Charity Bottle Tombola at the Fayre.

Bottles of all shapes, sizes and forms are appreciated – this could be a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of ketchup, a bottle of squash, or even a ship in a bottle!

May we please ask pupils to bring their bottles into school on Friday 22 November. We politely request that if the bottle donation contains alcohol, parents bring this to Junior School Reception on behalf of the pupil.

This competition is open to all students in Nursery to Year 6 and there are two categories for entry: EYFS (Nursery, Preschool and Reception) and KS1 (Years 1 and 2) and KS2 (Years 3 to 6).

The task is to create an A4 Christmas card design keeping in line with the Christmas theme, but the design is completely up to you!

Hand your design to your class teacher or key worker on or before Monday 25 November with your first name and year group written on the back.

The winning design will be chosen by our CEO Cheryl Giovannoni and the winning artists will be given a £50 gift voucher. The winning designs will be featured on the GDST website, and will also be chosen for our schools Christmas card design. Good luck!

What an incredible day Year 4 had at Piddington Roman Villa! They behaved brilliantly and displayed exemplary manners throughout the trip.

The children had a wonderful time delving into the everyday life of Romans. They engaged with fascinating artefacts unearthed from the site, and had a go at guessing their uses – some creative interpretations emerged!

Split into small groups, the students tackled four amazing activities:

Herbal Remedies: They learned about the various herbs used by Roman doctors, even role-playing as doctor and patient using some rather gruesome remedies!

Exploring Life in the Villa: Investigating skeletons and pottery, they then crafted their very own colourful mosaics, showcasing their artistic flair!

Roman Soldiers: Trying on historical armour was a hit, and they even got to create their very own cuff guards to take home!

Fashion and Craft: Dressing up as Roman ladies of different societal ranks, the children made colourful beaded bracelets to reflect their styles!

As a bonus, we incorporated some maths by buying items from the shop and calculating the change needed – learning has never been this fun!

A huge thank you to the staff at Piddington Roman Villa for providing such an enriching experience that our children will remember fondly. We are so proud of our Year 4 students and their enthusiasm for learning!

U10A
The A team had a lovely match with attacking play from both teams. Spratton initially had the better start with strong play in the first half resulting in two goals in the first half; but with grit and determination the High School bossed the second half to earn a draw. Great saves from keeper Eve kept us in the game and fab finishes from Olivia got us a well earned 2-2 draw. Alice, Caoimhe, Flora and Isabella put in a shift in midfield while Emily was strong in defence. Olivia was a well deserved player of the match. Well done team!
Result: Drew 2:2

U10B
The B team demonstrated some good defending skills with Orla making some excellent tackles.  Dia was goalie for the first time and she made some good saves in the second half. Amariah was a well deserved player of the match. 

U11A 
The team demonstrated more confidence in their play through moving with the ball and passing with power and into space against Spratton on Wednesday afternoon.

Avani was an excellent injector at attacking short corners. Eloise narrowly missed scoring on numerous occasions and hit the post with the closest chance of the match. Annabel showed discipline in her positioning and also had goal scoring opportunities and demonstrated strength in her channelling of players.

Thea and Olivia were solid defending and were able to drive the ball wide and feed the ball into the attacking goal area.

Our aim was to protect Elizabeth in goal, which the team did well and she was agile in stopping shots and vocal in telling the team where to go when the ball did penetrate the D.

Olivia T played up an age group and was given player of the match by the opposition for her strength in the centre of the pitch. Eloise was given the team’s player of the match vote. 

The best performance from the team this season, well done!
Result: Loss 0:3 

U11B
The team played well against a strong Spratton team. 

The girls have been working on maintaining their shape, being confident to dribble with the ball and not to dive into tackles.

They worked hard to implement these and notable mention goes to Amber who was voted player of the match.
Result: Loss 0:7