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Junior News – 20 January 2023 |
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Mrs Cartlidge opened the week for us with an assembly focused on our PSHE topic for this half term of dreams and goals. We considered the motivating influence of goal setting and how this can often keep us on track to achieve our dreams by breaking it down into more manageable chunks. Using an obstacle course, we explored together how working towards a goal is rarely without a challenge. Together we reflected on how we can overcome these challenges by seeking help from others, remaining resilient and focused and practising as much as needed. It was a powerful message that focused us all on our current goals and motivated us to tackling the journey to achieving these goals with confidence. Our next assembly this week was led by our Sixth Form Leadership Team and it was a complete joy. The assembly was based on the author A.A. Milne and we reflected together on what makes us unique, the differences we all bring to our group and the importance of celebrating these individualities. The Leadership Team talked through the characteristics of each of the main characters in ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and our Junior School pupils considered how each character contributes positively to the friendship group. The girls were encouraged to consider which of the identified characteristics they would be refocusing on to develop and strengthen their individual contributions to our school community. Many pupils were keen to “be more Tigger” and instead of this meaning the Junior School corridors would be filled with pupils bouncing off the walls it was inspired by the compelling characteristic of having a positive outlook as Tigger often does.
We can all appreciate as adults, the infectious impact that having positive people around us can have, and the girls understanding of how they can positively influence others deepend through this dynamically delivered assembly. Our connections with the Sixth Form are of great value to our pupils and are utilised in multiple ways – from Business Studies students acting as business mentors in Enterprise Club to Art and DT weekly support in KS1 lessons and face painting at our Junior school events – our Junior School pupils can learn so much from these positive role models. There are many opportunities over the spring term for parents to visit school for a snippet of the experience the pupils benefit from. We are looking forward to welcoming parents to the two open classroom events, the open Forest School sessions and parents evening. All of these will provide us with excellent opportunities to celebrate and nurture each pupil’s individual characteristics to support their self confidence, to celebrate who they are and embrace being unique and different. Perhaps you could talk to your daughter about the characteristics of the Winnie the Pooh characters and consider what they could learn from each one. Developing a strong, confident skill set to be able to operate with a range of personalities is a very important trait for the pupils’ future. We ended this week with our typical celebration assembly which consistently ranks in my top highlights of the week. To take time to publicly celebrate the many, many achievements of our girls is an important feature in our weekly timetable and one I feel very privileged to facilitate. I hope you have a wonderful weekend together and I look forward to a slightly warmer week ahead! Miss Hair |
School Photos - Discount Extended |
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For any parents yet to purchase photos from last term, Pret-a-Portrait would like to extend the discount until Tuesday 31st January! Head to their website https://www.pret-a-portrait.net/ and enter your sitting ID, the discount will automatically be applied If you’ve misplaced your sitting ID, please contact Pret-a-Portrait directly on 0800 021 7626 or customerservice@pret-a-portrait.net |
Parents Evening |
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If you haven’t yet booked your parents evening appointment for 25 or 27 March, please do so at your earliest convenience so as not to miss out. Many of you have already booked and we will remind you nearer the date of your appointment time. |
Dates For Your Diary |
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KS2 Outdoor Learning Monday 23 January – Year 6 Class Assemblies – parents are invited to join us from 8.20am for their child’s class assembly Wednesday 25 January – Year 5H Events Cinema Event – Monday 30 January 3.30-5pm Forest School open sessions for parents/family members to attend Nursery- Open Forest School Session – 9 March 10-11.30am |
Hope Centre Donation Box |
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News from our classrooms: Nursery and Pre School |
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Christmas seems like such a long time ago as we are already full swing into the new term in Nursery. Since our return, it has been great to notice just how far the girls have come since the start of the school year, settling back in like they had not been away and also taking more autonomy over their learning. The girls have been working collaboratively to create interesting patterns with the building blocks and have self selected the wool found in the creative area to practice their cutting skills, for example. This week, we have continued with our theme for this half term ‘Superheroes’. We are encouraging the girls to try to be superheroes themselves; trying to get their own coats on and making their own sandwiches for example. Our PE session has involved learning some super moves. The girls pretended to be a climbing Spiderman, using the gym tables, a stomping Hulk and a prowling Catwoman among other heroes. In the garden, strength and control have been exercised as the girls have been working together to roll the tyres using their new ‘powers’ they have rescued toys frozen in ice and trapped in a (jelly) swamp. |
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We have now introduced swimming lessons with some of the Pre School girls. This has been a huge success and the girls and staff all return with big smiles on their faces full of excitement and information to share with their friends and family members. Swimming is a life skill but not only do they get the opportunity of the focused swimming lesson, they acquire so many more skills including road safety, dressing and undressing, moving to a different area, turn taking and participating in a different social event, all whilst building their confidence. Well done girls, we are so proud of you all! If your child does attend the swimming class please remember a swimming hat. We will not be using goggles at present so these are not required. We have seen the first signs of life with the daffodils in the garden springing to life. We will continue to watch and assist them to grow. Superheroes are a running theme through Pre School where the girls have participated in many activities including potion making, learning new songs and turning into their own superhero. It’s amazing what a piece of material can be used for! If your daughter has a superhero she is particularly fond of please share this with us and we can make sure it is implemented into our planning. Reminders: Please make sure all of your daughter’s belongings are clearly labelled as they are gaining their independence some things may get muddled up. Also please check at home that you do not have anything that does not belong to your daughter. We try very hard to encourage the girls to put things in their bags or on their pegs (giving support if needed) but as you can appreciate this does not always happen. Please make sure you take your daughter’s reading folder and write any reading comments in the planner. Please support you child in their independence of undressing and dressing independently from clothes, to shoes, to coat. This is an essential skill they require as they grow and develop. Please can we ask that your daughters drink bottle contains water and not juice. Thank you as always for your cooperation. |
Reception |
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It has been lovely to welcome the class back after the holiday and fantastic to see how they have settled straight into the routine and learning. For our literacy this half term we are basing our activities around ‘Traditional Tales’. Our first one being ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We have used this story to think about feelings, speaking in character, story sequencing and descriptions of the wolf. This week we have been changing parts of the story to make our own version. |
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In our topic we have been learning about different types of materials. This week ‘wood’ was the focus. The girls enjoyed using a hammer to safely knock a nail into a piece of wood. Phonics has involved the digraphs ‘ch’, ‘sh’, and ‘th’. In Maths the girls have been focussing on combining numbers to find a total. Other activities have included making salt dough characters, our new role play brick cottage and chopping vegetables to make our own soup. |
Year 1 Writing Focus |
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Year 1 returned from playtime on Tuesday to find an unhappy, lonely penguin in the classroom, searching for a place to call home. It stimulated lots of curiosity and we spent the rest of the morning formulating questions to ask the penguin and recording them in our books. We are looking forward to finding out more about the penguin as we read the story ‘Lost and Found’ over the next few weeks. |
Year 2 Writing Focus |
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Year 2 have started a new book this term and it began with a strange object appearing in our classroom covered in fake fur! There were numerous questions, statements and warnings attached to the object. We had a discussion about what questions we wanted to ask and what things we already knew. In the next lesson a suitcase appeared containing honey, a picture of a bear and a letter, triggering more questions. Finally, we started to read ‘The Bear Under the Stairs’ by Helen Cooper and discussed and wrote about our own experiences of when something had scared or worried us. |
Year 3 Writing Focus |
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On Year 3’s first day together with our new teacher, Mrs Latimer, we talked about what makes us unique and our ‘identity’. We then created an ‘I Am’ poem as well as a mini self-portrait. |
Year 4 Writing Focus |
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In Year 4 we have been reading ‘A Winter’s Child’ by Angela McAllister. The children have used the text to inspire a conversation between Tom and a Winter’s Child. Firstly, they created speech bubbles between the two characters and then turned these into direct speech focusing on their punctuation and the reporting clause. |
Year 5 Writing Focus |
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Year 5 have been studying ‘The Highwayman’ – a wonderful narrative poem by Alfred Noyes. The girls worked collaboratively to rewrite different stanzas in modern English. |
Year 6 Writing Focus |
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This week, Year 6 have risen to the challenge of writing their own short stories based on the theme, ‘Our World’. They were challenged to write in a creative, engaging and surprising way and all have worked hard and shown true grit and resilience to meet these goals. Mr Williams, our Faculty Head of English, is looking forward to reading these stories. He will be selecting the best writing from Year 5 and 6 and sending these to Trust Office to be entered into the GDST Creative Writing Competition – a prize of £100 in Waterstones vouchers will be awarded to the winner. |
News from outside of our classrooms: House Captains Update |
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Artemis – So far this year we have really enjoyed being the House Captains for Artemis. We are really happy we have been given this opportunity to be good role models. All of the House Captains have suggested we could run a club for our Houses next term. Another idea we had was to get to know the Senior School House Captains and talk to them. We are really thankful for being House Captain and Deputy House Captain, thank you for this opportunity. Maya and Ishani Hestia – Next term all of the Houses would like to suggest running a club for our Houses. We would like to get to know the Senior School House Captains to share ideas for our House. I (Avleen) am happy to be House Captain because I enjoy leading a team to victory. I hope I am a good role model around school. I am grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime. Next term I am looking forward to doing more House Captain duties and I would love to help Miss Hair with her teaching. Avleen and Emily Selene – So far this year, we have really enjoyed our roles as House and Deputy House Captains of Selene. As Captains, we have had the privilege to decorate the Junior School Christmas tree and design our House display board. We have had mixed feelings about this huge role since it is such an immense responsibility, however we feel it is also a great opportunity to develop our leadership skills and help us become more confident in our decision making. In the future, we would both like to be role models for the rest of our House so that we can all be the best that we can. This year we would really like to earn a lot of House points for Selene as it proves that our house is made up of hard working, friendly and fabulous people. Shreya and Grace Demeter – We really enjoy being House Captains and hope that we are role models to younger students. All of the House and Vice Captains would like to suggest running a club next term for our House (subject to be confirmed). We would like to get to know the Senior School House Captains as they could help us think of ideas for the Junior pupils. But apart from all of our suggestions, we are really grateful to have been given the opportunity to be House and Deputy House Captains. We would also be delighted to help out with teachers’ jobs and maybe even some tours. Zoe and Harriet |
Gardening, Nature and Eco Club |
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Congratulations to our Junior School Gardening, Nature and Eco club members, who have been awarded the RHS level 2 school gardening award. Our gardening activities alone in the second half term have included planting a bulb lasagne in a pot and narcissi and tulips in the ground, looking at roots/stem growth and depth for planting using trowels and compost, as well as seed coats/method of dissemination. We sowed radish and marigold seeds in different types of containers for comparison, discussing what plants needs to grow; students made furrows, tamped down soil and watered in with recycled watering cans made from milk bottles. We also experimented with making our own seed bombs, and installed a log pile for overwintering insects and a shallow pond made from a recycled bin as a water source. Well done to all, and we look forward to moving forwards with our planting plans. |
Awards for this week |
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Star Learners of the Week – Penelope J, Pearl P, Ishani S, Anaya V, Annabel W, Isabelle L, Sophia R-N, Amelia K, Dulcie S, Millicent S, Eve C, Mayura G, Amber K, Olivia H, Annabel P, Thea S, Zara J, Maya R, Asmi S, Aurelia T, Artemisia U, Mia A, Haiqa B Linguist of the Week – Amari A Each week girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week: Pearl P – awarded a Gold Medal at Top Hat Theatre School in Mini Drama and also took part in the Nutcracker Repertoire at the Royal Academy of Dance |
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: Aadya R, Eloise C, Annabel W, Risara S, Amber K, Ishani S, Cora S, Grace R, Pearl P, Lily C |
Turning 'can we?' into 'we can!' - Spring Open Mornings at Northampton High |
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We look forward to welcoming so many lovely families to our upcoming Spring Open Mornings on Friday 3 March and Friday 28 April. The events promise 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 |
Support Staff Recruitment Event |
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We are excited to be hosting a Staff Recruitment Event on Friday 27 January, to give interested candidates the opportunity to discuss our current vacancies with members of staff. We have a number of exciting vacancies currently available which you will find details of below, which include permanent and casual roles to suit all types of flexibility, age ranges* and experience. (*must be over the age of 16 and have finished Year 11 schooling). If you would like to find out more, we would be delighted to welcome you to Northampton High on Friday 27 January. |
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To register your interest, or for more information on any of these vacancies, please email nhsadmin@nhs.gdst.net or phone 01604 765765. Mr Hume |
New look for parent FireFly dashboard! |
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The school’s FireFly dashboard for parents has recently undergone a revamp and an upgrade! We hope that our parents will find the information platform to be user-friendly and accessible. If you have any questions or have any feedback on the upgraded portal, please do get in touch. Mr Rittler |
Community Sessions |
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Term Dates |
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Northampton High School |
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