|
|
Junior News 18 June 2021 |
|
Dear Parents, While 2020 was, without doubt, the year when we all adapted to different ways of living, learning, working, socialising, exercising and holidaying, it will also be remembered as the year when it felt as though sport came to a juddering halt. There was no real surprise when the Boat Race and the Grand National were cancelled in the early months of the pandemic but when the Euros, Wimbledon and the Olympics were removed from our calendars, the summer began to look a little bleak. What a different ‘state of play’ this year as we, once again, have the option to enjoy a wide variety of annual events, alongside those originally scheduled for 2020 which have been shoehorned into 2021. Our pupils have had a similar experience with access to more sporting opportunities this summer term than last. The highlight, of course, was Sports Day on Friday 11 June. It was disappointing that we could not invite families to attend, as is the usual custom, but the event was enormously successful in every other respect. The weather played its part with a damp May, which meant the sports field was in fine condition, and there was some welcome cloud cover on the day itself. The first real hint of excitement was detected when pupils in Years 3-6 arrived for school, dressed in sports kit and T-shirts in house colours, carrying superbly creative house banners and wearing the widest of smiles! Our brief chats at the gate revealed that some were unsure as to how exactly the day would unfold but all seemed eager to be both participants and spectators. Shortly after 9am, a line of red, blue, green and yellow made its way to the sports field and settled into the allocated year group areas. The members of each house wasted no time in attracting attention to their fabulous banners. The Junior School track events were soon underway and we watched in admiration as competitors in Years 5 and 6 tackled their 600m races. These were followed by the obstacle, egg and spoon, and sack races, the sprint heats and finals, and finally the relays, for each year group in turn. The atmosphere was electric as Mrs Purvey-Tyrer and form staff guided a constant flow of pupils to the start line, and PE staff members, ably supported by Sixth Form volunteers, greeted them at the finishing line with well-deserved words of congratulation and stickers. The shouts of encouragement and squeals of success were infectious and, as the morning flew past, the scores were beginning to rise. These were added to the scores, which had already been awarded for the field events of long jump and rounders ball throw, and the 600m races for Year 3 and 4. We were very pleased to be joined by Years 1 and 2 for around half an hour. They took delight in showing us their house posters and cheering extremely loudly! Their visit provided ideal preparation for Key Stage 1 Sports next Friday and also for their involvement in future Junior/Senior Sports Days.
Just as energy levels were dropping, the word ‘lunch’ was heard and each year group made its way to the sports hall where members of the catering team waited behind long tables laden with a fantastic spread of picnic goodies. Everyone felt much better after refuelling and as Senior School students prepared for their track events, Year 6 settled down to watch and Years 3-5 returned to the Junior School for an hour and a half in their classrooms. As we made our way back to the field for the final few Senior School events and the presentations, predictions were aired as to which house would win. While the final results were being processed a stadium wave was achieved; a lovely symbol of the camaraderie and friendly competitiveness felt throughout the day. A huge cheer went up when Mrs Littlewood announced the winner of Junior School Sports and we were thrilled for Eloise, Junior House Captain of Artemis, as she crossed the track to receive the cup from Mrs Newham, Chair of Governors. Eloise said afterwards, “I was really excited when I found out Artemis had won because everyone in the entire school worked really hard and I know everyone gave their best and everyone had fun. I was kind of overwhelmed because I didn’t know it would happen but I was very, very happy”. The cup for Senior School Sports went to Selene and the cup for combined Junior and Senior Sports went to Hestia. What an exciting moment for Emily, Junior House Captain of Hestia, as she and the Senior Captain walked forward to receive the cup from Mrs Newham. Afterwards, Emily told us, “Everyone really enjoyed it even if they didn’t win a race, there was real House spirit, quite a few people didn’t win any races but there was always a sense of achievement and everyone was really happy with themselves. Some people made up songs which was nice. When Hestia was announced as the overall winner, I was shocked! I wasn’t expecting it and when we had the photo holding the trophy I felt really proud”. Anya and Lizzie also gave their comments, as Junior House Captains of Selene and Demeter respectively. Anya said, “I think that Sports Day was really fun and, although it wasn’t like it used to be, I felt we made a connection with all the other years because when we were coming back from our races they were really cheering us on, even if they didn’t know us”. And, Lizzie said, “I think that everybody in Demeter tried their best and that is all that matters. And, Year 2 and Year 1 came down to support us which was really lovely”. I have a feeling that Sports Day 2021 will live long in the memory as a shared experience of sporting endeavour and real joy in celebrating one another’s achievements; all the more special after months of restrictions. I should like to close by echoing Mrs O’Doherty’s words of thanks to Mrs Newham for her support and to the many, many staff members and Sixth Form volunteers who did so much to ensure Sports Day was such a very successful and happy event. With best wishes for an enjoyable weekend, Katie Milne |
Achievements |
|
Each week in our virtual assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Asmi – achieved her 25m swimming award. Matilda – on Saturday, Matilda took part in a sailing day at Sea Cadets. The leader was very impressed with her lack of fear and willingness to get stuck in, considering she had done neither sailing or kayaking before. Risara – Highly Commended in the GSA Creative Writing competition. |
|
|
|
|
Dates for your diary |
|
Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June – Virtual Arts Festival week Friday 2 July – Welcome Day Friday 9 July – Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Sports Morning (unfortunately no spectators are allowed due to our Covid risk assessment) Monday 12 July – Friday 16 July – No teacher-led clubs Thursday 15 July – Year 6 Valedictory Event Friday 16 July 12.00 noon – End of term |
Virtual Arts Festival - Monday 21 to Friday 25 June 2021 |
|
On Monday, we are delighted to bring you one of our premier events of the academic year – the Northampton High School Arts Festival. In an event that spans the course of a week, we delight in showcasing the world of the Arts at the High School. Our students all across the school have completed some excellent work this year, and we can’t wait to share with you what they have produced in the workshops, on the stage, in the kitchen, and everything in between. In a ‘normal’ year, like in 2019, we host lots of exciting internal events during the week, such as author visits, opera vocal masterclasses, and interactive workshops, but unfortunately, this has not been possible this year due to current restrictions. However, in true performance fashion, the show must go on and we are pleased to share with you our plans for this year’s Virtual Arts Festival. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
On each day of the week, we will be focusing on a different area of the Arts, and we will share examples of exemplary work in that particular field on our social media channels throughout the day. We will also be sharing the latest editions of our High Arts and Portfolio publications, ahead of the showcase event of the week, or Virtual Arts Invitational, taking place on Friday. Normally an ‘in person’ event, the Invitational will delve into the Creative Arts world and will look in depth at the outstanding work our students have completed over the last year. We will be sharing pieces of drama, wonderful artwork, culinary excellence, passionate monologues, and lots more in a feature-length video that will be broadcast on YouTube at 7pm on Friday 25 June (link to follow). We can’t wait to bring the beginning of the Festival to you on Monday, and we hope you enjoy this showcase. Mr Nash |
The Girls' Schools Association Creative Writing Competition |
|
Congratulations to Harriet F, who came 3rd in the Key Stage 3/4 Prose category of the GSA Creative Writing Competition, and Risara S, who was highly commended for her entry in the KS2 Competition. We hope you enjoy their entries below:
It’s morning again and I wake up unenthusiastic. I pull back the colourless curtains and frown as I discover it is dark and drizzly outside. It’s just a repeat, over and over, I hate it. School begins and I listen silently to the random glitching of the voices of my friends who I so long to hear in real life, the faint tapping of my fingers on the keyboard trying to finish work quickly and the little voice in my head telling me to give up. My head is torn in two; I am angry and hurt, but also fearful for none of us are sure what’s going to happen. What did we do to deserve this harrowing silence that is keeping us all from actually living? Lunch comes and I eat alone, and then more work and no one else around to help. My head pounds, I cannot bear to stare at an unworthy screen for any longer, yet I am unable to look away for even when I am not working it is an escape from reality, an excuse to stop socialising, an excuse to hide away. The end of the day comes. I shudder in fear at the thought of going back to real school the next day, not because I do not want to but because I have forgotten how to make good conversation, I have forgotten the joy of being part of a team. Evening comes, enveloping me in darkness and I stare at the white washed ceiling, a blank expression on my face, until with blinding clarity it suddenly all makes sense- I realise, I am weak and vulnerable by myself, my strength lies in being part of a community and that should never be left behind. Alone there is little we can do; together there are a 1000 more possibilities. ‘Shine Light in the Darkness’ by Risara S, 4N In these deep, dark days, we have learnt to be strong even though this pandemic feels like it’s stayed for too long. The clouds keep going so we can too, even though sometimes it feels like we are stuck with glue. Darkness will stay if we don’t make it light so we must flip the switch and make everything bright. If everyone one is happy the day will shine and all the invisible strings will tug, even mine. Everyday may seem to get more and more boring but you shouldn’t think negative or your happiness may stop calling. Each day should be made bold and you shouldn’t need to be told and told that… Only light shines in the darkness so always bring in light not dark. Mrs Fordham |
Nursery - Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
|
This week in Nursery we have used coloured plastics to look through and discover what happens to colours when they are mixed, observing the changes that are made. This has been very popular with the girls, “It’s turned green!” Penelope said as she held a yellow piece up to a blue box. We have been talking about our Daddies and Grandads and have made cards for them for their special day on Sunday. We have discussed the importance of keeping hydrated during the hot weather and encouraging the girls to drink plenty at snack and lunchtimes as well as throughout the day. |
|
|
|
|
|
Last week at Forest School the girls were very excited as they had the opportunity to make Teepees and tents to hide in and shade from the sun, using natural materials and big sheets. This week we had a complete contrast in the weather as it was very wet. We tried to keep dry in our wet suits, but we did enjoy jumping in the muddy puddles. |
Nursery - Pre School |
|
In Pre School this week the girls have continued to enjoy many physical activities, including practising ball skills in the hall during their PE lesson, displaying different movements in Ballet, and moving during a playdough disco. We then took this outside where the girls played in the glorious sunshine and were fully engaged in the different activities they chose. They have displayed good teamwork skills when making a balancing course out of the wooden blocks for the other children in the class to balance on. Some girls have been attempting to do the climbing wall independently after normally asking for help and have completed it on their own showing good progression. They also showed us that they were able to keep their balance when trying to move on the stilts. Well done, girls! This week we have been using our own individual creative skills to create some lovely cards for Father’s Day. We have been talking about what our Daddy means to us which led to many conversations and wonderful answers. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “He plays with me and my brother and makes dinner for me and my brother.” Sehrish. “Daddy plays with my lookout tower with me. He’s a boy.” Isabelle. “He gives me kisses and hugs and he also makes me breakfast and plays with ‘Mr’ and we go to the shop and buy chocolate.” Yana. |
Reception |
|
Our story stimulus this week has been ‘Handa’s Hen’. In our own version, we thought about the animals that we would like to see and two describing words for the animals. The final piece of writing was a well-written and unique version. In Maths, we have been learning about odd and even numbers and counting in twos. The activity with pairing socks was really fun and engaging, clearly showing if there was a sock left over then it was an odd number of socks. |
|
|
|
|
|
This week we have been looking at the countries that make up the United Kingdom and where Northampton would be on the map. The new construction area role play is a big success with plans and buildings of all shapes and sizes being built. |
Year 1 |
|
This week in English we have continued to look at poetry and different poetic devices. We have learnt about similes, alliteration and rhyme and had a go at using these in our own writing. In Maths, we have been looking at place value and numbers to 100. We have been looking at how many tens and ones are in a number and then using this to compare and order these numbers. In Science, we have been learning about clouds and what they are made from. We have learnt how rain falls and have found out more about evaporation. In our Computing lesson this week, we have continued to develop our coding skills and have been practising debugging, to try to fix problems within the code. In RE, we have learnt about Raksha Bandhan and what this festival celebrates. We have found out that this festival focuses on the special bond of love between brothers and sisters and we learnt what the Rakhi bracelet symbolises. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I liked toasting marshmallows on the fire in Forest School.” Eve and Isabella. Looking ahead: Maths – money |
Year 2 |
|
This week in Maths we have finished our work on learning to tell the time. Everyone has worked so hard to practise and understand telling the time to 5 minutes. In English, we have continued our work on poetry and as well as exploring similes this week, we have looked at rhyme and we created some funny nonsense rhyming poems. In Science, we learned all about rain and clouds and how they are formed. We even touched on the water cycle and discussed the process of evaporation. In our Forest School session this week we were lucky that the rain stayed away as we worked together to make a fire and toast some marshmallows. What a lovely treat! |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “We enjoyed telling the time in Maths.” Kinara. Looking ahead: English – fantasy stories |
Year 3 |
|
This week we have continued studying the Stone Age and thought about a day in the life of a Stone Age boy or girl. In English, we wrote a description about meeting a Woolly Mammoth for the first time! Our Maths lessons have been looking at the language associated with shape and the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. In Science, we were looking at the different parts of a plant and what they do. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I enjoyed Art because we were making our Stone Age huts and weaving straw through poles. I am looking forward to doing the messy part next!” Kyla. Looking ahead: |
Year 4 |
|
In Maths, we have compared and ordered angles and learnt about the properties of triangles. In English, we have practised using relative clauses, worked together to create a timeline of events from our text then began to write our recount by setting the scene. In Humanities, we enjoyed learning about longitude and latitude. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “In PSHEE we did the chime bar and we were learning about genes. We put photos of mother cats on the floor and we had to put the baby cats next to their mother. I learnt that we get our skin and hair colour from our Mum and Dad.” Harini. Looking ahead: English – writing a recount of Odd’s adventures using all of the strategies we have been learning, e.g. expanded noun phrases and relative clauses |
Year 5 |
|
This week has flown by and the girls have, as ever, been working their socks off. In Maths, they have been learning about the angles in different polygons, and in English, we have been debating whether an origami version of a fictional Star Wars character in a book can give real advice…thinking back to my time at university, the latter seems like the more useful life skill! In French, students have just finished a topic on planets, and they designed their own planet and wrote about it in French with super detail! |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I did my first cricket match this week and I loved it! I loved doing batting and fielding and just having fun. We had to go in the minibus to Broughton Manor, which was amazing because it felt like we were going on a school trip. They also gave us snack which was really nice and kept our energy up. Even though we did lose, it was really great fun and I enjoyed just getting out and going to a different school and meeting new people.” Lucy. “On Wednesday afternoon I really enjoyed being in a smaller class and everybody was really happy. We were just chatting and making Father’s Day cards. Some people used a YouTube video to make a shirt card with a tie, but I just used my creativity. We also went for a walk with Betty in the sunshine which was really fun.” Darcy. “I enjoyed doing the debating because it’s something that I know how to do, but I need to do some work on. We were debating whether Origami Yoda from our book is real or not, and I was against, mainly because he is made of paper so can’t have a voice and the character of Yoda isn’t real anyway. I won my debate because I spotted a mistake made by the opposition.” Matilda. Dates for your Diary: Tuesday 22 June – Swimming Monday 28 June – bunting due in |
Year 6 |
|
As we prepare for the final weeks of your daughter’s time in Junior School the excitement is building. In English, we have enjoyed reflecting on the happy times spent in Junior School and collaborated, with enthusiasm, to produce our final entries for the much awaited Year Book. In Maths, we have explored the importance of infographics to display data and in Humanities we have continued our studies of two contrasting regions in France. Our topic of electricity in Science, has challenged the girls to build on their circuit skills learnt in Year 4 and we have been really impressed with their perseverance when building circuits, using a variety of components. |
|
|
|
|
|
Highlights of the week: “Our highlight of the week was creating our circuits and experimenting in groups. It was really fun to make our circuits from scratch and connecting our own wires. We are looking forward to making our own burglar alarms next week!” Anya and Ameyal. “We really enjoyed going down to Forest School when everyone else was at the cricket match. We made friendship bracelets by throwing pieces of string to our partner, had s’mores and we even saw a grass snake swimming through the pond! Our favourite part was when we made slingshots and we had to try and launch an egg using them. We loved it because there were only a few of us, so it was even more fun.” Eloise, Florence, Natalie and Isla M. “I have really enjoyed learning about circles and pie charts in Maths. I have learnt lots of new vocabulary including diameter, radius and centre point.” Verity. Next week we look forward to preparing for our Valedictory Assembly in English, constructing burglar alarms to stop Mrs Fordham and Miss Taylor from stealing the girls’ chocolate bars and so much more. Have a lovely weekend. Karen Fordham and Nicola Taylor |
Term Dates 20/21 |
|
|
Term Dates 21/22 |
|
|
Term Dates 22/23 |
|
|
|
Northampton High School |
|
