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Junior News – 17 March 2023 |
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On Wednesday evening, 55 of our children confidently represented Northampton High School at the OVO Arena in London as they performed at the ‘Voice in a Million’ concert. Their commitment to learning the repertoire of songs ahead of the event was characteristic of our learners, and this enabled them to be able to positively contribute to the collaborative performance with true skill and confidence. I had the privilege of leading the trip and to therefore witness first hand the children’s enjoyment during the experience.
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I have always enjoyed singing myself and whilst I may not be the next Adele, I have always recognised the impact singing, and specifically singing with a group, has on me emotionally. There are many different benefits that arise from engaging in singing activities. These apply to all ages, from childhood into adolescence and through into retirement age and beyond. With appropriately nurturing experiences, singing competency will develop. Almost without exception, everyone has the potential to sing competently and enjoy singing across their lifespan. Childhood provides a crucial opportunity to lay the foundations of a positive lifelong singing (and musical) identity. Within the various research literatures, there are five main areas of reported benefit from singing. Benefits are physical, psychological, social, musical and educational – and are often overlapping. For the parents who were in the audience on Wednesday this week, the energy from the large group of singers was palpable and infectious. Personally, I found myself on several occasions throughout the concert looking across at our children and staff, then scanning the entire stadium and experiencing an overwhelming feeling of appreciation. The experience was unique and memorable for all involved and I truly hope it will have contributed to our children having a lifelong relationship with singing. Miss Hair |
Dates for your diary |
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KS2 Outdoor Learning: Monday 20 March – Year 3 Class Assemblies – Please join us from 8.20am: Wednesday 22 March – Year 3 Forest School open sessions for parents/family members to attend: Year 3 – 20 March (1.45-3.15pm) Other dates to remember Easter Craft Workshop – Monday 27 March (3.30-5pm) |
Swimming Watching Weeks and Galas Year 6 Gala – Friday 19 May (10.30am) |
Northampton High School Dance Festival |
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We are looking forward to hosting our annual Dance Festival before Easter. The event will run from 5:30pm to 7:45pm on Wednesday 29 March 2023, with an interval at approximately 6:30pm.The doors will open at 5:15pm. Junior School pupils will be dismissed to their parents/guardians at the end of the interval from their classrooms. If you haven’t already done so, please book your tickets here. If you would like your daughter to join you to watch the second half of the show, we would ask you to book a ticket for her, as this event will include designated seating. |
News from our classrooms: Nursery and Pre School |
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This week, the girls have been busy and a little secretive; making gifts and cards for their Mummies. We have talked about how special our Mummies are what they do for us. Our story of the week has been ‘Keith the Cat with the Magic Hat’. The girls have become familiar with the story over the week, being able to join in with parts of it. “Oops!” said Radnya, at the right part of the story as the hat fell off Keith’s head! Just a quick reminder, we visit the library every Wednesday so if your daughter attends on this day, please bring in her library book so that she can exchange it for a new one. |
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In French, we had a magic box rather than a magic hat. The girls produced ‘une pomme’, ‘un orange’, ‘un dinosaure’ and ‘Minou mouse’ from ‘La Boîte Magique’. To practice their pre-writing skills this week, the girls have been mark making in cornflour. To compliment this, they have been stretching elastic bands around tubes to exercise and develop their hand muscles. We have welcomed a couple of new friends this week into Pre School and the welcome given by the current girls fills me with pride. They demonstrated friendly behaviour, helping and demonstrating what we have to do. If they are a little upset they eagerly display comfort and reassuring words to settle their new friends. It is lovely to see what they have observed put into practise! The girls continued to display caring qualities when we got to stroke the chicks. They waited beautifully and carefully gave them a stroke. When we observe the chicks on our many wonders around the school, they carefully go past reminding each other to be quiet and not scare the chicks. They observed them to make sure they are happy. Creativeness has filled the air with arts and crafts, to make their all important surprises for Mother’s Day! Please remember our Forest School Open Afternoon on Friday 24 March, 1.45pm to 3.15pm, for Pre School. |
News from our classrooms: Reception |
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In Literacy this week, we have been listening for rhyming words and trying to continue a rhyming string. There are lots of stories with rhyming words and the class are becoming better at hearing them. We also sang a new song; ‘We’re off to Rhyming Land’. We have been recapping some of our phonic sounds and using them to write sentences. In Maths, we have been focusing on repeating patterns, using instruments, movement and shapes to create them. We have also been doing some time challenges. How many times can you write your name in one minute? For Science Week we enjoyed a lesson with Mrs Hodgetts-Tate on the theme of ‘connections’. The activity involved learning about the field to fork journey of vegetables, planting seeds and sequencing pictures to make a book. |
Years 1 to 4 Science Focus |
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This week, years 1 to 4 were treated to a visit from Grace Webb from CBeebies’, ‘Grace’s Amazing Machines’. Grace brought with her a small quad bike and mini motorbike. The girls asked lots of questions about the machines and found out how they work. The girls then collaborated in groups to design and make their own cart, using some of the ideas they had learnt from the discussion. |
Year 5 Science Focus |
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The week began with a chick handling session and we all agreed that spending time with our feathery friends was a very calming experience! On Tuesday, a group of girls were lucky enough to spend the day at the Royal Institution in London, where extracting their own DNA and preserving it in a necklace was a particular highlight. Activities in school included joining the BBC Live Lesson for Science Week and we used our knowledge of gravity, friction and air resistance to design a landing module to bring an astronaut safely back to Earth, before having lots of fun playing with paper planes and helicopters! We rounded off our week with a visit to the Senior School Science labs and an ‘Escape Room’ session with Mrs Hodgetts-Tate. Fortunately, we managed to escape! |
Year 6 Science Focus |
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Year 6 visited Mrs Hodgetts-Tate in the Senior School Science department and took part in an exciting science-themed ‘Escape Room’ this week! The class had to solve various challenges to find the keys to a locked box containing the ‘master key’, in order to ‘escape’ the room. The puzzles incorporated clues from various aspects of science, for example, the periodic table. You’ll be pleased to know (with a bit of help from Mrs Hodgetts-Tate), we solved the clues and escaped the room! |
News from outside of our classrooms: Year 1 and 2 Trip to Cadbury World |
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On Tuesday, years 1 and 2 had a very exciting trip to Cadbury World. We left early with a buzz of excitement due to the prospect of chocolate! Upon arrival we entered the Cadbury World adventure beginning in the Rainforest and learning about where the cocoa beans came from and the ingredients of maya chocolate, which contained chilli. This then moved us towards a street where we saw what the first Cadbury chocolate shop looked like and we learnt how they first started their chocolate making. Next we sat down to watch how chocolate was made. As they were showing us how the beans were shaken to remove the husks, our seats also shook us, which we found very funny! The chocolate rooms were great fun because we had to write our names in chocolate and then move it around to stop it going hard on the cold marble using spatulas. Some of us were covered in chocolate and we all needed to wash our hands. It was a little disappointing that we were not allowed to eat this chocolate but it was short lived as we were then given a cup of melted chocolate that we could add different chocolate delights to and eat! |
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The Cadbury Adventure then ended with a ride through Cadbury Land and a group photograph. After our pack lunches we had a very interesting talk about how chocolate went from the bean to a bar, the different varieties of chocolate products they make and the history of Cadbury. We were shown what the chocolate makers had to wear in the factory and Rayna tried the uniform on! Many of us were keen to work in the factory because they are allowed to eat as much chocolate as they like – what a great job! We left there with smiley faces and chocolate bars to take home. |
External Achievements for this week |
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Anne A – awarded Gymnast of the Term |
Birthdays for this week |
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This week, we wish a very Happy Birthday to the following members of our Junior School family: Anna H, Lydia C, Tami S, Sakinah S, Shanaya S, Annabelle R, Leah W |
The Knight Frank Schools Triathlon Series |
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We are delighted to have been invited to take part in the The Knight Frank Schools Triathlon series, hosted by Oundle School and organised by Restless Development, on Sunday 14 May. 7 events ran last May, with over 6,000 children taking part from 120 prep schools such as Cheam, Cothill House, Dulwich Prep, Farleigh, Feltonfleet, Port Regis, St Hughs, The Dragon and Thomas’ Battersea. The children raised an incredible £1.2 million for both the organising charity and each prep school’s chosen charity. The events are for Senior and Junior School pupils in Years 3 to 8 and there has been a fantastic response from schools to date, with both the pupils and parents really enjoying the day. It is first and foremost a fun event, with a team element rather than the normal individual triathlon format. The children form teams of 4, come up with suitably amusing team names, with all 4 teammates performing all 3 disciplines as a relay. This has really appealed, not just to the keen sporting pupils, but also to those who want to give a triathlon a go with their friends in a safe and fun environment. Maya, from Restless Development delivered an assembly for our pupils in Years 3 to 8 on Tuesday 7 February to inform pupils about this fun opportunity. This is a parent-led event, with parents registering the children directly and taking them on the day. Any questions from parents can be sent directly to schoolstriathlon@restlessdevelopment.org. We hope that many of our students will choose to be involved in this fun, physical, charity event. Miss Hair |
Turning 'can we?' into 'we can!' - Open Morning, Friday 28 April |
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We look forward to welcoming so many lovely families to our upcoming Open Morning on Friday 28 April. The event promises to be a superb showcase of life at Northampton High School. If you would like to come along, please do feel most welcome, and should you have family, friends, or neighbours keen to visit us, please encourage them to book their place here and join us! Mr Nash |
Community Sessions |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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