We are truly grateful for the wonderful welcome we have received at the start of this term in our new roles. It’s been a pleasure to see the children excited to learn and connect with one another, and we are reminded each day of what a special community we are part of here at Northampton High School.

There are so many things to enjoy about school, and one of the things we appreciate most is the creativity and enthusiasm with which our teachers approach their lessons. If there’s a fun way to teach a concept, you can bet our teachers will find it. This week has been a perfect example of that spirit, with lessons full of energy and imagination. For instance, the Preschool children have been discussing conflict resolution through the timeless tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, helping them to understand how to solve problems with empathy and understanding. Meanwhile, Year 4 were energetically engaged whilst demonstrating their knowledge of multiplication and division by dancing the ‘Cha Cha Slide’, combining movement with learning in a truly memorable way.

In this week’s Junior News, we shine a spotlight on Maths, a subject that lays the foundation for critical thinking and logical reasoning. Early engagement with Maths not only nurtures problem-solving abilities but also enhances the skill to recognise patterns which is essential for understanding the world and navigating real-life challenges. 

I hope you enjoy reading about the engaging lessons our pupils have experienced as much as they’ve enjoyed participating in them. Additionally, I’m thrilled to share the many achievements of our girls, which reflect their hard work and enthusiasm.

Mrs Saunders-Wall
Interim Director of Junior School Liaison

What a great start to the new term Nursery have had, it has been wonderful to see everyone after the Christmas break.

We have been talking about emotions and demonstrating kindness, whether that has been through reading our books of the week;  “lost and found” and “be kind” or modelling this through play or at our short group times.

We have taken advantage of our wonderful school site and used the hall to practice jumping and landing on two feet. We have also walked to the Sports Centre to see the swimming pool and practiced going up and down the stairs safely.  

In Maths we have been subitising up to three, by playing finger games and using our ‘loose parts’ to focus in on the skill.  

This week in Preschool we have continued our book ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. We have been exploring what would happen after the end of the story. We started thinking about how Goldilocks could apologise by offering to help fix the broken chair or come back to the cottage and make some more porridge or change the beds.

To support these ideas the girls have written shopping lists for cooking ingredients, derived apology letters in small groups by sharing idea’s for an adult to scribe. We have enjoyed role play in the home corner with dinners being made and sleepovers in the three beds.

In the construction area many buildings have been built with the ‘loose parts’ including a castle and a house for some camels. This required teamwork and communication between the girls. These interactions and this level of collaboration has also been demonstrated outside whilst playing on the bikes and a game of bat and ball.

During our Forest School session we explored the woods behind our forest area. We took a walk and imagined what the bears would have been seeing or hearing whilst they went on their walk.

We have continued to enjoy using our story focus of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ to engage in a lot of different activities around the classroom.  

Our Music session this week involved creating a composition about the little pigs setting out on a big adventure, building their houses and then the wolf blowing them down.  Reception class always enjoy using musical instruments and are becoming very good at controlling them when performing.

We have constructed strong walls and began to design and make our own houses using lots of different resources.

Next week we shall be learning how to create our own version of this traditional tale. 

We can read teen number words and numerals but understanding the value of each digit is harder.

We have had lots of fun with ten frames, bead strings, base 10 ‘sticks and bricks’ and part whole models and are gradually becoming more confident with this concept.

We can’t wait to start understanding numbers up to 50 !

Year 2 are enjoying their current Maths topic: money where they have been learning how to identify and count coins and notes.

The pupils applied this knowledge to solve puzzles and problems linked to our ‘China’ topic, successfully counting the contents of Chinese-inspired ‘lucky’ red envelopes. This was great fun!

We have also been focusing on arithmetic, using our knowledge of number bonds to efficiently add three 1-digit numbers and identify missing numbers in addition calculations, using number lines to ‘count on’.

Year 3 have begun a new unit of work to further their understanding of multiplication and division. So far they have added multiples of 10 to number tracks, counted along number lines, used arrays for multiplication, compared the answers to calculations and started to tackle word problems.

They are also practising the 3, 4 and 8 times tables in class and on Times Tables Rock Stars at home.

Our budding mathematicians in Year 4 have been dancing their way through numbers with the Cha Cha Slide, practising their multiplying and dividing skills by both 10 and 100!

In addition, we’ve been mastering the art of multiplying two-digit numbers using both informal and formal methods and applying them to problems. The determination and enthusiasm shown by our girls have truly impressed me!

Let’s continue to make Maths fun!

We can do it, but there are just so very many calculation you have to do to get one answer… and if you don’t stay focused you have to remember where you’re up to and that can be very tricky.

In other Maths-related news, we have been thinking about jobs in PSHE, and finding out how much different people get paid. That was much more fun and led to some really interesting and lively discussions.

Year 6 have started a new Maths topic this week about ratio.

We understand that ratio represents a multiplicative relationship between a set of values. The girls have enjoyed using the cubes to show the relationship between different coloured blocks.

Quotes from the class
Ratio is fun! – Zoe
I like using cubes to visualise the questions. – Elizabeth

Books can be brought in from Monday to Thursday next week and placed on a table in the entrance hall. Each class will have a slot on Friday to collect a new book that someone else has brought in. Only good condition books please. Remember: the more books the better!

Elizabeth, School Council Chair