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Junior News 25 September 2020 |
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Dear Parents and Guardians, This week saw the last of our Junior School Curriculum Information Evenings and it was a pleasure to speak with Reception parents and to hear their questions, as it has been with parents of girls in other year groups over the past few days. Sadly, though, although I would ordinarily plan to ‘attend’ as many of these meetings as possible, my hosting of these events has been as a result of Mr Bailey’s ongoing ill health. At the time of writing, I do not have any news as to when he will be well enough to return, but |
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he is in regular contact with me and – as you might imagine for someone who is ordinarily so fit and active – he is an impatient patient! Mr Bailey has asked me to share the following words with all of you: “I’m in really good spirits, getting plenty of rest and really looking forward to getting back on my feet and seeing you all very soon.” Over the past week, I have worked with Mrs Purvey-Tyrer and Mrs Dadge to further ensure the security of the bubble system across the Nursery and Junior School. For practical and social reasons, we have combined two pairs of year groups, which means that the girls are now in six tight bubbles (Nursery, Reception, Y1/2, Y3/4, Y5 and Y6), each with their own dedicated team of Nursery and Junior School staff. Senior specialists continue to maintain social distancing whilst teaching the girls, and staff supervising wraparound care are wearing masks. Mrs Duck has entered the Y3/4 bubble so that she can work closely with these girls, but she will continue to teach others, too, either in a socially-distanced manner or from behind a perspex screen. This may be the ‘new, new normal’ but the girls have adapted incredibly well, as they did at the start of the academic year. The atmosphere in the Junior School is peaceful and happy and all have been getting to know their Jigsaw characters in PSHE and enjoying activities related to high quality texts as they embrace the new Literary curriculum. Forest School continues for all, with hands-on help from ‘bubble’ staff under the expert and socially-distanced direction of Mrs Waters. I am sure that you will join me in wishing Mr Bailey a speedy recovery but, in the meantime, please be assured that the Nursery and Junior School are in safe hands under the leadership of Mrs Bing, Mrs Purvey-Tyrer and Mrs Dadge. I thank them for all that they are doing and wish them – and you – a restful weekend. Very best wishes Caroline Petryszak |
Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
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It has been another busy week in Nursery with new friends joining and the return of some more of our activities. We have a few promising ballerinas judging by our wonderful ballet session! On Wednesday we observed ‘National Fitness Day’ by running an obstacle course in our garden, followed by some balloon ‘keepy-uppy’. The girls enjoyed it so much that they did it again and again. Marine’s request for “Miss Cooke, go under the tunnel” was met with a lot of laughter. “You’re stuck” said Penelope. In the classroom, we have been colouring Autumn pictures. At Forest School, we found some of the things we have been colouring and used them to decorate our crowns. Reminder:
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Nursery Pre-School |
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This week the girls have been involved in lots of different activities. As promised we have done a range of different fitness activities where they have had the opportunity to practise their balancing skills, playing a dice and exercise game and getting physical in the garden in a range of ways. One of these was participating in an obstacle course involving tyres – climbing in and out of them proved to be popular. At Forest School the girls were all engaged, participating in a range of opportunities. Their imagination came to life when playing in the mud kitchen creating ‘soup’. A provocation of different shapes on the floor in masking tape was the starting point for many conversations. The shapes were used in many different ways, including building blocks placed on the shapes and jumping from one to another identifying which shapes they had chosen. We will be focusing on shapes more next week by going on a shape walk to look at different shapes in our environment, you could do this with your daughter too! We look forward to hearing which shapes you find.
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Reception |
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This week we have been investigating the rectangle shape, the colour yellow and the number 2. The girls have been making rectangles with two long and two short sides, looking at the number 2 formation and making ‘Rectangle Robots’. We have been finding out about one of our senses – our ears for listening. The girls enjoyed going on a listening walk around the school and were amazed at how many different sounds you can hear when you really try to listen! A very good skill which we will endeavour to develop throughout the year. All the girls have been finding out about the characters in one family of a reading scheme. They have made their own books and were thrilled to be able to read it themselves. The highlight of the week was the first ballet lesson and great excitement at wearing the ballet uniform. |
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Year 1 |
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Highlights We have had a busy week in Year 1 this week, with lots of excellent learning taking place. In our English work, we have been learning about adjectives and have had lots of fun creating an imaginary monster to describe and taking part in an adjective hunt around our classroom and outdoor area. Once we had practised describing objects with adjectives, we then described Paddington Bear. In Maths, we have been practising finding one more and one less than a number and have finished the week by looking at greater than and less than. We have looked at famous London landmarks in Geography this week and have started to create our model fire engine in Design and Technology. The whole class have worked really hard and they are becoming really confident with the class rules that they helped to create. What the girls have said: “I liked Forest School and writing about Paddington Bear.” Grace. Looking ahead to next week:
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Year 2 |
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Highlights: In English, we used Paddington Bear as the focus for our writing and created some super sentences. We reminded ourselves of adjectives and nouns and with these, we wrote some expanded noun phrases. In Design and Technology, we have been busy designing our fire engine; carefully investigating the features of modern fire engines to ensure we capture as much detail as possible. What the girls have said: “We loved swimming this week and jumping in at the deep end!” Eloise and Amelia. Looking ahead to next week:
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Year 3 |
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Highlights: In English, reading to the end of ‘Leon and the Place Between’ and finding out what happened to Leon when he entered the box! What the girls have said: “I liked working out the Sudoku in Maths Club.” Varnikha. Looking ahead to next week:
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Year 4 |
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Highlights: In Maths the girls continued building their confidence with 4-digit numbers; comparing and ordering them and rounding to the nearest 1,000. They particularly enjoyed our place value investigation on Friday and they came up with some great strategies. Forest School on Friday afternoon was great fun – although a rather damp experience! Our first activity was hunting for clues about animal teeth and their functions. Then girls were able to choose an activity. They chose to build shelters, model with clay and work together to move a giant tractor tyre around the site. Many thanks to Mrs Waters who plans the activities in Forest School with such expertise. In English we tried to stick to the facts and use formal language in our newspaper reports. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed using the chromebooks in Computing Skills club. I learned how to use the track pad and how to change the font in a Word document.” Avleen. Looking ahead to next week:
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Year 5 |
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Highlights: This week in English the girls have enjoyed writing in role as policemen and as Philippe Petit – ‘The Man Who Walked Between the Towers’. Unfortunately, once he had finished his tightrope walk, Philippe was arrested. The girls have written some fabulous New York cop conversations and some persuasive speeches (as Philippe) to try and stay out of jail. In Maths we have been exploring some huge numbers, consolidating our understanding of place value, and in Science the girls dissected a flower in order to find out more about its anatomy. What the girls have said: “I really enjoyed learning about the different parts of a flower and watching the video. I also liked sketching the apples because I liked using the different pencils and looking at all the details on an apple that I have never really noticed before.” Safiya. Looking ahead to next week: • English – looking at biographies and autobiographies before writing one of each. Dates for your diary: Tuesday 29 September – Swimming |
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Year 6 |
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Another great week has ended and this week we would like to emphasise how impressed we have been with the probing questions that the girls have been asking, and the detailed explanations they have been giving when explaining their responses in Maths. This week we have explored an array of topics including negative numbers, life in Ancient Greece, using verbs to create shades of meaning in our writing, exploring patterns in nature and finding out about how the circulatory system works. Some of the activities we will be carrying out next week include a scientific experiment to establish the effect of exercise on the circulatory system and using acrylic paints to create tropical fish. Some of the girls’ highlights this week have included: “I really enjoyed the enrichment hockey lesson. It was pouring it down with rain, but we all had an amazing time. We practised moving the ball around the defender and then passing. We had time for a few mini games. To start with, you couldn’t tackle in the game. It was great fun and it didn’t matter whether we won or lost, as we all had a great time.” Lois. “I really enjoyed dissecting the pig’s heart because it was very interesting learning about how the heart works and seeing inside the four chambers in the pig’s heart.” Florence. “This week I enjoyed doing Maths. We did -1 and +1. We had to search up 5 different countries and find out what temperature they were in the different months” Frankie. “My highlight of the week was when we played hockey in Enrichment. It was raining and very cold but we played matches and worked as a team.” Georgia. Have a lovely weekend! Karen Fordham and Nicola Taylor |
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Virtual Open Day - Saturday 3 October 2020 |
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As you know, we would usually have a whole school Open Morning in early October each year. 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. We will therefore be hosting our Open Morning online this year. Prospective parents are most welcome to register their interest to ‘attend’ this event; should you have any friends and family who would like to get to know the school, please do encourage them to book a place. To make a booking please click here. We do hope to be able to host personal tours of our school soon. In the meantime, we would ask that families register their interest for a personal tour on the booking form, or contact our Admissions team at nhs.admissions@nhs.gdst.net or 01604 765765 (option 2).
The Virtual Open Morning will comprise: * Presentations from our Headmistress and senior staff, providing insight into life at the High School * Films from our students and Student Leadership Team * A virtual tour of our fabulous facilities on our 27-acre site, as well as * Lots of information about our school On the morning, we will be hosting live Q&A sessions (via Zoom) with our senior team, inviting you to ask any questions you may have about your daughter joining us as follows: Nursery and Junior School Admissions Please join us at 11.00am for a live Zoom meeting with our Headmistress, Mrs Caroline Petryszak, Mrs Clare Bing, Nursery Manager, Mrs Jo Purvey-Pyrer, Deputy Head of Junior School and other senior colleagues. Senior School and Sixth Form Admissions Please join us at 11.45am for a live Zoom meeting with our Headmistress, Mrs Caroline Petryszak, Deputy Head – Academic, Mr Henry Rickman, Deputy Head – Pastoral Care and Guidance, Mrs Adele O’Doherty, and Head of Sixth Form, Mrs Julia Cantwell. We look forward to welcoming families to our virtual event. Mrs Wilmot |
Term Dates 20/21 |
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Term Dates 21/22 |
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Northampton High School |
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