Junior News 18 March 2022

Playground Stars

We have been enjoying some lovely sunshine this week and the girls have had fun playing lots of games. It was even dry enough most days to play on the climbing frame!

Well done to Year 3 on your team talk to establish the ground rules of a game so everyone knows what they can and can’t do.

Holly – thank you for making sure all the games were tidied away.

Poppy – made a hopscotch game for her friends to play on.

Aiyana and Alice – made an obstacle course for Key Stage 1 girls, who enjoyed it very much.

Artemisia and Poppy – entertained us with their band.

Information from the School Nurse: Chicken Pox

Please see this link with reference to Chicken Pox. The information provided includes when a child can return to school, avoiding ibuprofen and the reason why and also tips to help.

If you would like any further information, please do get in touch.

Mrs Dunkley
School Nurse  

A Celebration of the Wonder of Books on World Book Day

World Book Day was a joyous celebration in Junior School, as characters came to life from a wealth of children’s books old and new.

It was a timely reminder not only that reading is an essential skill but also a skill that can give so much pleasure. This pleasure radiated throughout the Junior School as older students animatedly shared their stories with an enthralled younger audience.

Our Junior House Captains and Librarians faced a really hard task to choose the winners of our best dressed characters and class categories and the best book clever designs, but with the help of Mrs Fordham they eventually arrived at their final decisions:

Best dressed characters:

Reception: Emily as the Cat in the Hat
2N: Isabella as Daisy in the Trouble with Life
4H: Artemisia as Dumbledore

Best dressed class:

4H

Best book cover design:

Reception: Sophia – The Tiger Who Came for Tea
Year 1: Rayna – The Rainbow Fish
Year 6: Aiyana – War Horse

We would like to say a huge thank you to every girl in the Junior School for sharing their favourite characters and books with us. Please enjoy a small summary of each classes activities in the relevant sections of the newsletter below.

Keep on reading and sharing your good reads with your friends!

Mrs Fordham
Class 6 Teacher

Junior School Science Week 2022

On Monday, students in Years 1 to 4 took part in a workshop with Grace Webb from CBeebies’ Grace’s Amazing Machines.

The girls enjoyed looking at new machines and creating their own mini vehicles after watching a video to help them. They learnt that the shallower the car, the faster it travels, and this is because the force of the wind on the car slows it down. They also loved looking at a machine that was called the mini moto and the dirt bike. All of the girls had the opportunity to sit on the vehicles which added to the unique experience.

We interviewed some of the pupils lucky enough to spend the day with Grace Webb:

Year 3 said: “We really enjoyed our day with Grace Webb, because she taught us all about modern tech and making super-fast karts out of what we were given!”

Year 4 said: “We all really enjoyed seeing the cars and making them, as well as learning facts about them, holding the trophies and timing the karts we made. We also liked watching Grace ride the mini moto and beep the horn!”

Florence, Kara and Rianna
Year 6 Science Captains

World Maths Day

On Wednesday 23 March we will be taking part in World Maths Day through our subscription to Mathletics.

The girls will log in and play ‘Live Mathletics’ at different points throughout the day and we encourage them to continue participation at home too. This is a wonderful resource and a great opportunity for the girls to improve their Maths and have fun in the process.

Mrs S Dadge & Mrs E Shaw
Junior School Maths Subject Leaders  

Year 4 take part in Ceramics Workshop in Senior School

It was a pleasure to welcome Year 4 in to Senior School Art this week, as we hosted a welcome return to our Ceramics Workshop for our Junior School students.

Following on from the cats and owls of the past, we are now venturing forwards with our clay lizards! An excellent start was made by the girls as they carefully cut out their lizard shapes from their large clay slabs, smoothing out the edges for a professional finish.

Next week, we will focus on decorating – sculpting eyes, patterns and details around the feet. We can’t wait to see how their designs evolve.

Well done everybody and thanks also go to Rosie and Ana, our Year 12 A Level Art students, who helped the girls with their work and ably assisted staff in clearing up.

Mrs Beacroft, Mrs Bull, Mrs Fordham and Mrs Smith

Dates for your Diary

Just as a reminder, the GAP Club phone number is 07816 751456; please do keep this number handy so that you have direct access to the GAP team should you need it.

Class Assemblies

We are pleased to welcome back parents and grandparents/family members to our Wednesday Class Assemblies at 8.35am until 8.55am. Refreshments will be served in the Community Room from 8.15am. We do hope you will be able to join us.

Wednesday 23 March – 1N
Wednesday 30 March – Reception

Nursery - Kipper Room and Elmer Room

We have enjoyed the sunshine whilst riding on our bikes and going up and down the slide. The girls have been exploring the new mud kitchen that has been added to the garden.

Some more animal/jungle themed books have been added to our bookshelf to go along with our Animal Boogie display. This also relates to our Ballet lessons as we transformed into tall giraffes and prowling tigers. The children had their listening ears on throughout the lesson and their good toes showed themselves!

As it has been Science Week, we have been participating in different experiments with the theme of growing. We have enjoyed watching balloons grow on their own and have watched a rainbow grow using skittles and water. The girls were interested in what was going on in each of the experiments and were eager to have a turn themselves!

On Thursday we had some St. Patrick’s Day-themed activities including green arts and crafts, and green play dough with a variety of cutters.

At Forest School we made dens for ourselves and for the different animals that we might find at Forest School.

Nursery - Pre School

It has been Science Week this week and as the theme is ‘Growth’; we began the week with a lovely walk in the sunshine to find some early signs of springtime growth.

The girls have helped with some experiments such as finding out how vinegar and baking powder makes a balloon ‘grow’. We have examined log slices and counted the rings to see how old the tree was it came from.

“There’s a lot. This is old,” said Anaya.

There were some big puddles on the way to Forest School thanks to the deluge on Wednesday. Luckily, we got to enjoy splashing in them in Thursday’s glorious sunshine. The girls were still in a scientific mood as they took it upon themselves to find out just how deep the puddles were. Ishani used a stick to dip in the puddles.

Whilst at Forest School we discovered some frog spawn in the pond. We will continue to keep an eye on their growth over the coming weeks. “They will be tadpoles,” said Isabella.

St. Patrick’s Day was observed with all things green; shamrock sticking, glittery play dough and green water. The girls listened to Irish music and had a go at Irish dancing too. Many thanks to our resident Irish dancer, Isabella, who went to teach the Nursery class some steps.

We are looking forward next week to Mother’s Day, especially the Barn Dance, as well as the start of spring.

World Book Day:

During our PE session the girls took turns to lead their peers around the hall, moving as the character they were dressed as. The girls flew around on broomsticks, walked leaning back like The Cat in a Hat, fluttered like butterflies as well as lots of dainty princess movements.

Reception

This week for Science Week on the theme of ‘growth’, we have been thinking about how we have changed and grown since we were a baby. The girls have enjoyed seeing baby photos and talking about all the changes that have happened to them. We have also considered other baby animals and what they have grown into.

The Maths focus has been to learn the names and talk about the properties of 3D (solid) shapes. The shapes we have been learning about are; Cone, Sphere, Cube, Cuboid and Cylinder. On Monday, we all made a cone creature, on Tuesday a spherical Evil Pea, on Wednesday a cube dice, on Thursday a cuboid creation and on Friday a cylindrical telescope!

Our phonics this week have been ‘ou’ shout it out, and ‘oy’ toy for a boy.

On Thursday we had a visit from Mrs Dunkley, the School Nurse, who talked about her job and the nursing role. She showed us her stethoscope and explained what it was used for, her special watch, her first aid kit, a foil blanket and much more.

The girls were shown how to put on a triangular bandage as a sling and then had a go themselves. Mrs Dunkley showed some photos of her nursing career and it was exactly 22 years ago that she became a nurse. Happy Anniversary, Mrs Dunkley, and thank you very much for your fantastic talk.

World Book Day:

Reception class enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book characters and having Year 5 come and read their book to them. It was lovely to see the girls asking questions and chatting about the story, characters and the setting.

The class all made a bookmark and thought about how much their own reading skills have improved.

To view more photos please click here

Year 1

Wow, what a week! On Monday we were treated to a whole morning of activities with ‘actual’ Grace from CBeebies and her Amazing Machines. A great start to Science Week! On the same day our trolley of Chromebooks arrived and Miss John has carefully named each device.

On Tuesday we had a fantastic day out at Rockingham Castle, spending time touring the castle and learning so much about life in the past as well as having the freedom to explore the beautiful grounds.

This morning, Mrs Hodgetts-Tate from the Science Department treated us to an assembly about how to ‘grow our brains’ using Growth Mindset and the special word ‘yet’. As I write we are about to visit the Year 6 Allotment Fayre dressed as gardeners, helping to raise funds for the impressive local charity Re:Store.

We have not yet had time to start practising our class assembly to which you are warmly invited on Wednesday morning, but as they say, “it will be alright on the night!”

What the girls have said: 

“I enjoyed going up the spiral staircase at Rockingham Castle. I could see for miles and miles at the top of the tower.” Isabel

“I really liked dressing up as a gardener and I really liked seeing my friends dress up as well.” Aurelia

World Book Day:

We loved getting dressed up as our favourite characters and talking about our books. We also really enjoyed drawing our book cover, with us on the front!

Next week:

English – preparing to perform our class assembly and write our own version of the Naughty Bus story.

Maths – Comparing & ordering numbers within 50. Counting in 2’s and 5’s.

Year 2

This has been a very exciting week! We kicked it off with a visit from Grace Webb. The girls loved hearing about her machines and asking her questions, we then got to sit on a quad bike and her mini moto. This was followed by a workshop where they designed and made a car; thinking about what parts it needed and how they could make it aerodynamic, so it could go faster.

On Tuesday we went to Rockingham Castle and the girls were a credit to the School with their excellent behaviour and enthusiasm to investigate the buildings and grounds. We were very lucky to have super weather, which helped during our afternoon trail through the grounds of the castle. Wednesday and Thursday we were back to timetabled lessons.

As I write this we are looking forward to wearing mufti or dressing up as a gardener and going to the Year 6 Allotment Fayre to join in with the exciting activities they have prepared. An excellent end to an energetic week!

We also had time to complete our shape topic in Maths and the girls can now identify many different 2D and 3D shapes and their properties.

In our English lessons we looked at possessive apostrophes to show when something belongs to someone or something, and we wrote about our trip to the castle.

What the girls have said: 

“I particularly enjoyed learning about shapes this week.” Pixie

“I liked trying the naan bread in our DT lesson.” Shanaya

“I enjoyed the tour round Rockingham Castle and trying on the helmets, they were very heavy!” Grace B

World Book Day:

There was a real buzz in the air on World Book Day in Year Two. We had a wide variation of creative costumes, and it was evident that each girl in the class had shown a great effort in their outfit.

We had a lovely afternoon welcoming some special visitors into the class to read with us, the older girls from Year 6, and they shared their stories in pairs. We are already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Next week:

Maths – fractions.

English – sequencing a story.

Science – looking at materials used in everyday life.

Year 3 visit the Year 6 Allotment Fayre

Year 4

In Maths we have been recognising tenths and hundredths as fractions and decimals. We have represented them with diagrams, on a place value grid and on a number line.

In English we took part in the GDST Shakespeare workshop on Tuesday. A fantastic storyteller recreated the characters and plot of ‘As You Like It’, a wonderful opportunity to introduce Shakespeare to girls of this age. We also worked on subordinating conjunctions and words through our text; Odd and the Frost Giants.

In Science we researched Alexander Graham Bell and his inventions.

What the girls have said: 

“I liked drawing the lizards and practising the patterns in Art this week.” Poppy

“I liked building the cars and designing them with Grace Webb on Monday.” Asmi

“I enjoyed listening and watching Shakespeare, the lady was funny but I did get a little confused.” Hester 

“I enjoyed building the racing cars with Grace Webb because it was fun and a great experience.” Annabelle

World Book Day: 

4N loved dressing up on World Book Day and talking about our favourite books. We also enjoyed making a class scrap book about our favourite books. We enjoyed posing as our characters to enter the class photo competition too.

Looking ahead to next week:

English – creating character descriptions, using adverbs and adverbials to enhance the quality of writing.

Maths – we will be dividing one digit or two-digits numbers by 10 and 100 using a place value grid and counters to support our learning.  

Science – exploring the discovery of oxygen.

Dates for your diary:

Forest School – Wednesday 30 March

Year 5

This week has felt quite gentle compared to the frenetic pace of last week, but we’ve still managed to pack a lot in! Shakespeare, a class assembly, multiplying fractions, politically motivated abstract art and biscuit testing – it’s been a good week!

What the girls have said:

“I really enjoyed doing our assembly because when we went to Bletchley Park we learned lots of interesting things. I was nervous and excited on Wednesday, but I liked sharing all the facts with other people.” Jessica

“It was really fun learning about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ in our English lessons this week. I liked watching parts of the movie and writing a magazine article. My favourite activity was when we were doing the hot-seating and we had to write questions for Miss Brandon-Jones to ask and then we took turns to answer them as different characters from the play, like in a chat show.” Avleen

“In Science we did an investigation to find out which biscuit had the most friction and which one had the least. We had to put the biscuits down a surface and see how steep it got before the biscuit slipped…in my group the rice cake had the most friction because (like tyres) they are quite bumpy.” Preesha

World Book Day:

Year 5 really enjoyed World Book Day and entering all the competitions – we particularly liked dressing up and some of us did a collaborative costume and dressed as the Midnight Gang. We still have our fingers crossed that we will win the best dressed class!

In the morning we went to the Reception class and read their favourite books with them. They also told us about the super hero stories that they were in the middle of writing and we coloured in bookmarks with them. It was a super fun day!

Dates for your Diary:

Wednesday 23 March – Forest School (come in Forest School clothes and bring PE kit to change in to; no uniform needed).

Year 6

Highlights of the week:

This week the girls have been thinking about how to solve 1-step and 2-step equations in algebra, continuing their exploration of the Suffrage Movement in English, learning about the role of women from Ancient times to the Renaissance period and trying to construct a burglar alarm in Science to stop Mrs Fordham from stealing their precious chocolate!

We have also enjoyed creating stalls for our Allotment Fayre, to raise money for the local charity Re:Store, and we would like to thank everybody for their support on the day. So far, we have raised over £200!

What the girls have said: 

“I really enjoyed going to Forest School because my group made the highest tower with marshmallows and cocktail sticks. We also worked out how old and tall some of the trees are.” Ellie

“In Science, we tried to build a burglar alarm to stop Mrs Fordham from stealing our chocolate. Unfortunately for us we did not succeed so now Mrs Fordham has eaten our chocolate. Outrageous!” Lydia

“I enjoyed working on the Allotment Fayre project because it was fun to create posters and plan how things are going to look. My stall is ‘Hook a Duck’!”  Aiyana

“In Humanities, we have been finding out about the life of women from Ancient times to the Renaissance period. I think it is very unfair that women were treated unfairly. I was shocked to find out that women were not paid as much money as men for the same job and that they were not educated as well as men.” Darcy

World Book Day:

World Book Day was great fun. Everyone was dressed up as different characters from a huge selection of children’s stories. Year 6 and Year 5 read to the younger years including Pre School.

“I dressed up as Phoebe from ‘The Primrose Railway Children’. I enjoyed seeing everyone else’s outfits.” Lottie

“I enjoyed reading to the Nursery, Year 2 and Year 4. The children in the Nursery really enjoyed my book, ‘The Perfect Square.’ I also enjoyed seeing everybody running around in their costumes in the playground having a good time.” Safiya

“I liked my costume because it was very imaginative and puzzled a lot of people as no one knew who I was. I was Slime from ‘Slime’ by David Walliams. I didn’t really like my costume that much because it was uncomfortable!” Ellie

“I really enjoyed being Matilda because it was great fun to create my costume and try to stay in character all day!” Rianna

“I really enjoyed reading to Year 1, but I didn’t like the tail on my costume because every time I sat down, I had to take it off because it was getting in the way!” Esme

Next Week: 

Next week we particularly look forward to visiting Hardingstone Church to work on a collaborative transition project on Tuesday and taking part in the Barn Dance Disco after school on Friday.

GAP Club

Mooranda the First sadly burst, so we have been busy making Mooranda the Second to join Terry Trotter and Gary Baaaarlow on the farm.

We also created flowers using plastic cups, straws and tissue paper and we made amazing sunglasses.

On Thursday we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by collaging Shamrocks and decorating book marks.

What the girls have said: 

“ I made a sheep.” Miya Year 1

“ I made loads of stuff that I like.” Amariah Year 2.

“ I like the snacks.” Tami Year 5

Parent Talks: Dealing with self-harm, Thursday 24 March

The next event in our Parent Talks series is ‘Dealing with self-harm’ on Thursday 24 March from 6pm.

For parents of pupils in Year 5 and above, this event will give an insight into why young people may self-harm and how we can support them. It can be a terrifying thought for a parent, and we know that there is an increasing trend for young people to hurt themselves on purpose, as a way of trying to manage distressing or overwhelming emotions and experiences. It can affect anyone at any time, and does not discriminate between gender, ethnicity or social background. Offering opportunities for open discussion is therefore our best strategy for supporting those who need it.

We are delighted to be welcoming Satveer Nijjar into school for this event. Satveer is a public speaker and trainer, experienced in working with professionals, students and parents to not only provide knowledge around this subject, but to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and self-harm.

The event will be held in the Theatre; please arrive at 5.45pm for a 6pm start. Light refreshments will be served and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session. Please book a place to attend by clicking here.

The May event in our Parent Talks programme will take place on Monday 9 May at 6pm. This event will feature (Tanya Goodin on the subject of Teens and Screens and is for all parents. Tanya is a trailblazing author, pioneering thinker and campaigner on digital wellbeing and tech ethics, and founder of the digital detox movement, Time to Log Off.

To book a place for the Teens and Screens event, please click here.

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

Autism Awareness Coffee Morning

We are pleased to be hosting an event to support Autism Awareness later this term. On Friday 1 April from 9am until 10am, Lesley Lock from East Midlands Autism will be hosting a coffee morning exclusively for the parents of Northampton High School pupils. Parents will have the opportunity to meet with Lesley and hear about how the charity supports young people and their families.

Lesley has told us a little about what she does for this charity: “I run 3 autism family support hubs, which are open to children under 11 with or without an ASD diagnosis, and their parents/carers and siblings. These are located in Northampton, Leicester and Loughborough. As part of this service, I also chat to parents/carers about ASD and where to find support, how to manage behaviour they find difficult, how best to fill out benefits forms, and any other ASD related topic that comes up!

I also manage our Northamptonshire Children and Young People’s Service, which runs trips, holiday and youth clubs for ages 8-18 and who must have a diagnosis, as this is the criteria set by our funders. These are for the young people to attend without a parent carer, and my fabulous team and I do our best to make sure that the young people have a wonderful time when they are with us, and can access the same age appropriate activities that their neurotypical peers can. In the last year we have been paddleboarding and raft building, visited theme parks, LEGOLAND, and the Think Tank museum, taken part in a Laser Maze evening, and solved some escape rooms!”

If you would like to attend this event, please would you complete the form here.

We look forward to an informative and supportive event.

Mrs Beezley
Learning Enhancement Co-ordinator

Saturday Track Club

Term Dates 21/22

Term Dates 22/23

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