Nothampton High School
Junior News

Junior News 2 October 2020

As you know, we love hosting our whole school Open Morning in October each year. We love opening our doors to prospective families, welcoming them into our community to see our lovely campus, meet our staff and enjoy tours with our students. However, given the current Covid-climate and because the health and safety of our pupils and staff is paramount, we have taken the difficult decision to close our physical doors to external visitors at this time, and to offer a virtual event.

Therefore, we are excited to be hosting a special Virtual Open Day tomorrow, Saturday 3 October, giving any parent or student an interactive experience of what a Northampton High School education can offer, from the comfort of their own homes. The event will comprise live Zoom meetings with Mrs Petryszak and senior staff, providing an insight into school life and answering any questions families have, films featuring our students in Junior and Senior School as they talk about what life is like for a student at Northampton High, and a plethora of other information and materials including prospectuses, campus tours and maps, and much more.

It is not too late to join us tomorrow for this special event, and if you, or a friend or relative, would like to visit our Virtual Open Day we would love to see you. We will be posting a link to the Open Day on our Facebook page when the event is live tomorrow at 10am, with the information remaining on our website to be viewed after the event has closed.

We look forward to welcoming families current and new to our special virtual event!

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Admissions and Marketing

Black History Month

In the Senior School, a team of students and staff have a full programme of activity for Black History Month.

Miss Robinson and her team have arranged a programme Guest Speakers (via Zoom) and we are delighted to extend an invitation to families to attend these virtual events, as follows:

Monday 5 October, 13:45           
Sharna Jackson
Author and Artistic Director
Particular interest: Year 6/KS3
Time: Oct 5, 2020 13:45 London
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 935 0703 3736
Passcode: 1ZX4sX

 

Friday 9 October, 13:45 – Valerie Vaz
MP www.valerievazmp.co.uk/ Particular interest: Sixth Form, Politics, Humanities
Time: Oct 9, 2020 13:45 London
Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 952 1123 1811 Passcode: 9xtCPM

Friday 16 October, 13:45 – June-Elizabeth
Presents Black History. Particular Interest: Sixth Form, History, Humanities
Time: Oct 16, 2020 13:45 London
Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 946 1560 9102 Passcode: 2G0MRX

Morning drop off procedure

Please be reminded that all pupils from Reception to Year 6 should be in their classroom by 8.30am ready to begin lessons.

Breakfast club in the dining room is available for drop off from 7.30-8.20am (using the Google booking form sent out each Wednesday for the following week).

After this time, do make your way directly to your daughter’s external classroom door ready for the start of registration at 8.30am.

Many thanks for your co-operation with this.

Achievements

Rotary Club: Emilly S – took part in the Rotary Club Young Artist of the Year competition.  

Tennis: Sophia P – 4th place in a tournament at Nether Heyford Tennis Club.
Tennis: Frankie B  2nd place in her first ‘green’ tennis tournament at her club.  

Swimming: Fern A – 2000m swim. 

Scout badges: Fern A – 4-year attendance, Astronomy, Camping and Communications. 

LAMDA: Eloise K – Level 3 Distinction.  

Running: Isla H – 10K run and 1st place in Blakesley Hill Run.

Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room

This week in Nursery we had a visit from a furry guest, Betty our school dog, who was very popular and raised a few smiles and giggles from the girls.

Our book this week was ‘Dear Zoo’. The girls have had fun joining in with the story and sharing the animal props. Some remembered the story through the week and recalled it to their friends.

Shredded paper has been popular with many girls, especially in the home corner, using this as pretend food to feed the dolls.

We have been talking about Autumn and have introduced autumnal activities such as leaf finding. Next week we will continue with our autumnal activities and exploring the girls’ interests.

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Nursery Pre School

This week we have continued to look at shapes and have been on a shape walk around the school grounds.  We were surprised how many shapes we found “I can see a hexagon”, said Davina, “there’s an oval”, said Emily. We also spotted circles, triangles and rectangles.

When you are out and about do talk with your daughter about the shapes that she can see within the environment.  You can share photos on ParentZone.  We can then talk about the shapes you find in our key groups.

The girls have been creative with their cardboard box play, making transport and castles and using the long tubes to look through as well as talk through. We have been very lucky to have had a visit from Betty, which made the girls very excited. One of the girls shared with Miss Hillery that she has a dog at home which she takes on long walks with her Mum and Dad.

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Reception

This week we have been investigating the triangle shape, the colour red and the number 3. The girls have been making triangles in three different sizes, looking at the number 3 formation and printing with triangles. They have also looked at the work of Kandinsky, producing their own circle and triangle masterpiece. We have been finding out about one of our senses – our nose for smelling.

The girls enjoyed individually smelling drops of essence on cotton wool balls and came up with some great ideas being remarkably accurate in deciding what each one was; peppermint, caramel, orange and vanilla. They could also tell it was pizza for lunch before we reached the lunch hall, by the smell in the air!

We have been reading the story ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and encouraging some great story re-tells, often containing a twist. Our phonics this week has focused on the letter sounds ‘m’, ‘a’, ‘s’ and ‘d’.

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Year 1

Highlights

In English this week, we have learnt more about nouns and adjectives and used these to help with our descriptive writing about Paddington Station. In Maths, the girls have been working really hard to order objects and numbers, learn about ordinal numbers, practise filling in number lines and estimating where numbers should be. In Science, we have continued our work on materials.

This week, we have been learning about the properties of materials, which we will be developing further next week in an experiment. In Geography, the girls practised using compass directions to navigate from one landmark in London to another. They are now getting very familiar with London landmarks and are beginning to do some excellent creative work at home, which they are proudly bringing in to share with the class.

What the girls have said:

“I have enjoyed learning about ghost letters in phonics.” Emily
“I liked learning about the crocodile mouths in maths for greater than and less than.” Shanaya
“I really love dancing to ‘Never Eat Soggy Waffles’ to remind us about North, East, South and West.” Caoimhe

Looking ahead to next week:

  • Science – investigating the properties of materials
  • English – letter writing
  • Geography – geographical features
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Year 2

Highlights:

In Maths this week we have been practising counting in 2s, 5s and 10s using Numicon and filling in blank number tracks. In English we have continued working on expanded noun phrases and we’ll be putting them to use next week when we start letter writing. We completed a Science investigation this week too, exploring different objects and whether we can change their shape.

In Geography, we studied a map of London looking closely at different London landmarks. We then refreshed our knowledge on compass directions and moved around the map from one landmark to another recording our movement.

What the girls have said:

“I liked Forest School this week and building a house for my alien.” Lucy
“I loved computing and coding and debugging the fish and bubbles.” Amelia
“I liked doing partner balances in PE.” Kinara and Cristina
“I liked decorating our fire engine models.” Eloise

Looking ahead to next week:

  • English – letter writing
  • Maths – counting in 3s
  • DT – evaluating a product
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Year 3

Highlights:

This week in Maths we have been looking at adding and subtracting 1 digit numbers with 2 and 3 digit numbers. We have used number lines, base ten, place value counters and number bonds to 10 to help us.

In English, we have started to write our own versions of our class story, ‘Leon and the Place Between‘.

In Humanities, we have looked at the similarities and differences between England and India.

What the girls have said:

“I enjoyed making tissue flowers in Art Club. The folding was hard but worth it.” Cordelia
“I love singing in Music. It’s nice to use my voice to sing.” Angelie
“In Maths club we did Sudoku. I’m really good at it!” Shanaya

Looking ahead to next week:

Next week we are continuing to look at methods to add and subtract 2 and 3 digit numbers. In Science, we shall be looking at how we can record information, from last week’s investigation on shadows in different ways.

Dates for your diary:

On Wednesday 14 October, Year 3 will be visiting Forest School in the afternoon. I will send out more information next week about the clothes they will need to bring on that day, but a waterproof coat and trousers are essential, as we shall still be going if it rains.

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Year 4

Highlights:

In Maths we finished our Place Value unit and particularly enjoyed learning about Roman Numerals. In English we planned and wrote our suspense story based on ‘The Iron Man’. In Science we learnt about the types and functions of teeth.

What the girls have said:

“I enjoyed reading ‘The Iron Man’. I liked it when the space being came down and they had a challenge”. Shreya
“I enjoyed learning about Place Value and thousands in maths.” Tami

Looking ahead to next week:

  • English – exploring the themes of our new text: Tar Beach. Writing a persuasive letter
  • Maths – adding and subtracting 3 and 4-digit numbers
  • Science – tooth decay enquiry

Message to parents: Please could the girls bring in their school coat every day (and hats and gloves when the weather gets colder) including on the days they come in PE kit. They will need their coats at playtime and lunchtime.
Thank you. Mrs Shaw

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Year 5

Highlights:

This week in English the girls completed their work on ‘The Man Who Walked Between the Towers’ by writing a detailed biography of Philippe Petit. We had a very successful couple of lessons using Google Classrooms; if you would like to see your daughter’s finished piece and talk to her about it, please do ask her to show it to you. In maths we completed our Place Value unit and had a great time doing some Roman Numeral challenges in our investigation lesson.

Our Science lesson was also great fun. We learned about asexual reproduction in plants and have started an experiment to see whether we can reproduce an African Violet from a single leaf cutting. In our last Geography lesson of the half term the girls worked collaboratively to debate whether 525 new homes should be built just along the road at Brackmills – lots of opinions and spirited reasoning from everyone. Of course, the lessons in the classroom fade into insignificance next to the real highlight of the week, which was going down to Forest School with Betty… but I suspect the girls might want to say something about that!

What the girls have said:

“This week we did Forest School and I had an amazing time. I love the outdoors and looking at nature. It was my first time down at Forest School and I didn’t know what it would be like, but it was really fun. Also this week we did a science experiment and I liked that too.” Lottie
“My favourite bit of the week was going down to Forest School. We ran with Betty all of the way there and sometimes had a bit of trouble keeping up. When we got down there we did some awesome Autumn activities. I really enjoyed den building with my friends and holding Betty while we were doing a scavenger hunt.” Lydia

Looking ahead to next week:

  • English – starting a new science fiction book ‘Robot Girl’ and discussing the ethics of data collection and artificial intelligence
  • Maths – column addition and subtraction
  • Science – setting up a fair test to explore germination
  • Religious Studies (Christianity) – learning about the Trinity and the Apostles’ Creed

Dates for your diary:

Wednesday 7 October – Enrichment Hockey
Tuesday 13 October – Swimming

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Year 6

Another exciting week has drawn to a close and the girls in Year 6 have continued to work hard to improve their skills in all areas.

The girls have enjoyed a variety of activities including solving multi-step problems in Maths, learning about the effect of exercise on their pulse rate in Science, creating acrylic tropical fish in Art and using their research and presentation skills to research the life of an Athenian in humanities. We have also spent valuable time discussing the importance of staying safe online and were very impressed with the girls’ knowledge and understanding about this important area of life.

Some of the girls highlights for the week have included:

“My favourite lesson was when we painted a seascape. We used watercolours and I painted the sun setting.” Sienna.
“My highlight of the week was writing the short story about ‘The Arrival’. We wrote about the perilous journey the man was about to face from his perspective, using shades of meaning.” Ameyal.
“My favourite part of the week was French when we played the four counters game. I liked this game because it made us think about the French words.” Odelia.

Next week we look forward to visiting Forest School on Wednesday and ask that girls bring in suitable clothes, including wellies or walking boots and waterproofs, as we will be spending the afternoon there come rain or shine!

Have a lovely weekend!

Karen Fordham and Nicola Taylor

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Term Dates 20/21

Term Dates 21/22

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