|
|
Junior News 27 November 2020 |
|
When I was a little girl, one of my favourite winter pastimes with my family was doing a jigsaw together. I used to love sorting the pieces into different ways, looking at colour, shape, which pieces had straight edges and trying to guess where a piece might fit by looking at the picture on the front of the box. This pleasurable pastime remains with me to this day, and I still feel the same excitement as I tip out all of the pieces of a new picture to make.
I often think that a jigsaw is like our school family and, indeed, the greater GDST family to which we all belong. Each girl, member of staff, parent/carer and members of our wider school community is a unique and absolutely essential part of the jigsaw. Every piece is different; each of us brings our individual talents, attributes and qualities to make the picture complete. If one piece is missing, it just doesn’t work – and so the value of each and every person, slotting together, is what truly makes the amazing whole. Likewise, each school in the GDST family represents a piece of the larger jigsaw, and we all have one thing in common – our passion and belief in girls’ only education and the importance we place of nurturing each individual girl. I cherish all of the differences we all bring and the similar values and goals for your daughter(s). It’s time to get my first winter jigsaw out……. Have a lovely weekend. Marissa Davis |
Maisie features in BBC Philharmonic's ‘You Will Be Found’ song for BBC Children in Need |
|
We are so very proud of our amazing student Maisie, who features in this wonderful video produced by BBC Philharmonic, to help raise money and awareness for this year’s recent BBC Children in Need appeal.
Maisie, who is bravely battling her own illness, features in the heart warming song titled ‘You Will Be Found’, which includes other amazing singers from 17 music projects funded by Children in Need. Maisie has also featured on BBC Radio Northampton to promote the song and to share her story, as she continues to help fundraise for a fantastic cause. Well done Maisie, we are all so proud of you! To view the video, please click here, and to donate to this year’s BBC Children in Need efforts, please click here. Mr Nash |
GDST Talks: Next two events announced |
|
Our GDST Talks series continues with two presentations taking place in December, and we would be delighted if you were able to join us. Our second event, How to Raise Bold, Courageous and Resilient Women, will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 2 December at 7pm. For this presentation, we welcome Dr Marisa Porges author of What Girls Need: How to Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women (Viking Press, 2020). This talk is suitable for students in years 3 to 13.
Our third speaker is Destine Lord, an anti-racism consultant who will be presenting on How To Speak to Your Child about Racism. This will take place via zoom on Thursday 10 December at 6pm. Destine is currently working with GDST teachers and students and her talk ties in with GDST Undivided, our commitment to diversity, inclusion and real change. For full information about each talk and the fantastic speakers, please click here. We look forward to welcoming you to the events. Mr Nash |
Mrs Hopley's Sweet Cones help raise money to support My Bailey |
|
A huge thank you to everybody who bought a sweet cone last week! Along with a ‘Guess how many purple sweets are in the jar?’ competition with my U3 class, we raised a total of £47.20 to help our fundraising efforts supporting Mr Bailey. Thank you all again for your continued support. To visit our fundraising team page, please click here Mrs Hopley |
Dates for your diary |
|
Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
|
It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas! This week we have been practicing a selection of songs that we intend to share with you before the end of term. It has been lovely to hear that some of the girls have been doing extra practice at home. In PE this week, we have been working on ball skills, kicking it to and catching it from a partner. This exercise proved beneficial in both developing social as well as physical skills. The girls took turns well and communicated with each other to be as accurate as they could. There has been a lot of interest in mark-making this week. The girls have experimented using pegged pom-poms, paintbrushes and have been drawing around shapes. This has been complemented by fine finger activities, such as threading pipe cleaners through colanders and play dough, which serves to help develop their tripod grip. As we head into December, we will start to look at Wintertime. |
|
|
|
|
Nursery Pre School |
|
Our story this week has been ‘The Journey Home from Grandpa’s’; this is a singalong story which can be found on YouTube. Our activities have been based around travelling and transport. The girls tried out different ways of travelling around the equipment during PE, they made transport models and have sung transport songs; our favourite ones were ‘Big Red Bus’, and ‘I’m driving very fast’ which included singing very fast too! They have engaged in role play which was based on bus and train rides. This involved matching and writing numbers and making tickets. We also made our own version of the story, ‘The Journey Home from Forest School’. Next week the festivities will begin with Christmas stories, songs and activities. |
|
|
|
|
Reception |
|
This week we are super proud of the Reception girls and parents for continuing learning from home. Our letter sounds have been: ‘y’, ‘l’, ‘qu’ and ‘z’. The girls have investigated the number 9 and found one more and one less than a given number. They have thought about and made a story board for their own version of ‘Whatever Next!’ by Jill Murphy. The word of the week was ‘my’ and the shape, a cuboid. Some spectacular models of rockets have been made as well as some moon dust. |
|
|
|
|
Year 1 |
|
Highlights In our English lessons this week, we have been thinking about Samuel Pepys and what it would have been like to witness the Great Fire of London. We have explored this using role play, hot seating and using adjectives in descriptive writing when thinking about our senses. In maths, we have finished our work on addition and subtraction for now and have moved on to looking at naming and sorting 3D shapes. In gymnastics, we have progressed to sequencing movements and shapes with a partner this week. We also explored cannon and unison and performed our short partner sequence to the class. In our art lessons, we have had great fun creating different models of baked goods to use in our role play area, which is now the ‘Pudding Lane Bakery’. In RE this week, we have continued to look at Hanukkah and how this festival is celebrated. In our history lesson, we learnt more about how the Great Fire of London spread so far and so quickly. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed making the food for the role play area.” Shanaya Looking ahead: Maths – 2D and 3D shapes |
|
|
|
|
Year 2 |
|
Highlights: This week in maths we looked at money and we started by looking at the British coins and ordering them by their value. We’ve since been using our addition skills to add different amounts of money together. In English, we have been using our imagination to take us back in time to the Great Fire of London. We used our senses to help describe the event, thinking carefully about the different things we may have seen, heard, and even smelt. We have also learned more about Samuel Pepys and his famous diary. We read some extracts which explained how the fire spread over the four days and we used drama to act out the different stages. In history, we learned and discussed reasons as to why the fire spread so quickly and the changes that were put in place afterwards to avoid such an event repeating itself. In art and design this week, we used salt dough to make some models of different bread products for our Pudding Lane Bakery role play area! What the girls have said: “I liked swimming and practising to dive!” Amelia Looking ahead: English – diary writing |
|
|
|
|
Year 3 |
|
Highlights: Maths – multiplication and division and looking at different ways to show the calculations. What the girls have said: “I have enjoyed singing our Christmas lullaby in music.” Maya Looking ahead: Maths – studying the 8 times table |
|
|
|
|
Year 4 |
|
Highlights: In maths, we have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. We have enjoyed using manipulatives to really understand what is happening and continued solving lots of worded problems. In English, we have been creating multi-clause sentences and writing a letter in role using words about abstract feelings. We have also been writing for the school magazine. In science, we learnt why some materials conduct electrical currents and why others do not. The girls really enjoyed testing materials to check if they are conductors or insulators. Our history lesson was also a highlight this week. The girls loved getting into role as a character from Roman Britain to understand how that person would have felt during events surrounding Boudicca’s rebellion. They stayed in character all through lunchtime which was entertaining…and lead to some rather noisy discussion in the dining room! What the girls have said: “I have enjoyed learning about Romans in humanities and I liked playing the role of Milo, a Roman soldier in our last lesson. The fight against Queen Boudicca was Milo’s first proper fight.” Harriet English – planning and writing a story based on a known structure – FArTHER |
|
|
|
|
Year 5 |
|
Highlights: Year 5 have really thrived at home, but we are all really looking forward to being back in school on Monday morning. The girls have worked so hard during live lessons and with their independent research and writing. The engagement and enthusiasm they have shown has been wonderful. Thank you so much to everyone at home who has helped support and encourage the girls during the last 2 weeks. What the girls have said: “I really enjoyed doing the Enrichment PE lesson. I liked doing all the stretches and the dance moves and running around. It was my first PE lesson during home schooling and doing active stuff that isn’t writing or on the screen was really good.” Lucy “In English we have been doing all about a very inspirational book called ‘Hidden Figures’. I like writing about these four women because it gives me a nice vocabulary and I like the story because those women were fighting for freedom and justice. I have enjoyed it so much and I heard there is a film, so I have bought the DVD and I can’t wait to watch it.” Rithika “My highlight of the week has been our topic. We are learning about Brazil in humanities and I have thoroughly enjoyed researching and compiling my fact file. The most interesting fact I found out was that although Brazil is a rather rich country, about one fifth of the country is living in poverty.” Phoebe Looking ahead: • English – starting a short Narrative Poetry unit Dates for your diary: Tuesday 1 December – computing |
|
|
|
|
Year 6 |
|
The girls in Year 6 have continued to work hard this week and have shown resilience in every challenge they have met. In maths they have successfully applied their knowledge of fractions to answer some quite challenging problems, they have completed an in-depth analysis of ‘Tyger’ by William Blake in English, created their own classification keys in science, analysed the effectiveness of a variety of maps in geography and started planning their clay fish project just to name a few! Highlights of the week have included: “I really enjoyed doing the how wild is your garden. I really enjoyed it because it was fun to test out all the different techniques and use all the different equipment to create different styles and colours.” Isla H “My highlight of the week is sports because it was fun and at the end we got to do dodgeball.” Daisy “My highlight of the week was when we did the 24 challenge. It was lots fun and I enjoyed it a lot. My favourite was balancing a bean bag on your head; I did a bridge and balanced it on my chin! My least favourite was push-ups because it was very hard, but I managed to do 13!” Ameyal “My highlight of the week is when we did dodgeball as I found it is my new talent. I really liked that everyone was working together to defeat 6N!” “My highlight was when we did English and we made a table on our devices and put facts about the bison and the vulture.” Frankie “My highlight of the week was dance on Monday because we got to do the Charleston, and we got to create our own Charleston themed dance!” Fern “My highlight of the week was when we did a full intensity workout and then played a game of dodgeball. Both classes got extremely competitive, but that didn’t stop us having fun. The workout contained crunches, step ups, push ups and many more difficult activities but it was definitely worth it!” Eloise Next week we look forward to continuing our work on fractions in maths, writing our own poems in the style of William Blake, starting the construction of our clay fish in art and much, much more. |
|
|
|
|
Term Dates 20/21 |
|
|
Term Dates 21/22 |
|
|
|
Northampton High School |
|
