|
|
Junior News 3 December 2021 |
|
As far as Music at Northampton High School is concerned, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! We are currently preparing for the festive celebrations across Junior and Senior Schools. Several whole-school rehearsals are scheduled to run the Christmas Carol Concert, which will take place in the Theatre at 7.30pm on 15 December. Tuesday 14 December is the big night for the upper Junior School, with the Key Stage 2 production of ‘A Midwife Crisis’ being staged at 6.30pm. This production will feature performances from the Junior Choir and poetry read by students from Year 5. Key Stage 1 are excited to be showcasing their annual Nativity, entitled ‘A Miracle in Town’. The performances will take place on Wednesday 8 December at 10.30am and Thursday 9 December at 2.15pm in the Junior School Hall. We are particularly excited to be able to hold our annual final day of term’s ‘Festive Celebration’ in the Theatre on Friday 17 December. This provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the year and to hear performances from the Senior String Quartet, Choir and Orchestra. The autumn term has included Scholarship auditions, which are always a pleasure to hear. These will continue in the new year. Looking ahead, the spring term will feature a Composition Recital and Piano Masterclass. Our Masterclass series was becoming a hardy perennial prior to the pandemic striking. We look forward to resuming this hugely enriching experience. The summer term is almost as busy as autumn, with the Senior Orchestra accompanying the stage cast for our highly anticipated, albeit delayed, staging of Stephen Flaherty’s ‘Seussical’. We hope to see you at as many of our events as possible. Best wishes for the festive period! Mr Nathan |
Head's Commendations |
|
Congratulations to the below students who have been awarded this week’s Head’s commendation awards by Mrs O’Doherty. These students have been nominated by their teachers for the reasons below, and we congratulate them on their well deserved awards: Adn 6H: Adn does not find Art easy but put a lot of effort into researching types of fish and sketching a design for the fish she is going to make in our clay project. Anushka 10S and Caitlin 10H: Anushka and Caitlin have made a sustained commitment to Book Club over the last two years and have an unstinting enthusiasm for teenage literature. Both students are always ready to contribute to lively discussions about reading trends in an informed and thoughtful manner. Lily 7N: Lily has made a really positive impact in PE and Games. Her motivation and commitment to sport, in particular Hockey, has been excellent. She never misses extracurricular clubs and gives 100% in all activities. Lily goes above and beyond: always the first one to offer to help with setting up and tidying away equipment. She has represented the school in both Hockey and Netball fixtures and is proving to be a valuable member of both teams. Mo 13D: Mo is commended for their positive attitude and willingness to pull together our Form assembly. Not only this, but Mo uses a lot of their own time to help in Junior School with Art lessons, as well as assisting Mrs Hill with Year 2 French. They have a wonderful manner about them when working with Key Stage 1 pupils. Naisha 10H: Naisha was given the instruction to make a mnemonic to learn the reactivity series – Naisha decided to bake a cake and add it on there. Well done! Tami 5N: We have just finished reading ‘Robot Girl’ by Malorie Blackman and the girls have written the start of a science fiction story inspired by the book. Tami’s story is stunning – beautifully written and incredibly frustrating that it ends! Mr Nash |
Achievements |
|
Each week in our assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week:
Rithika: Has passed Grade 3, with distinction, in Musical Theatre singing exam
Playground Stars: Year 4: Started a leap frog game leaping the whole width of the Astroturf and rounded off the end of one lunchtime with the Okey Cokey…because that’s what it’s all about! |
Junior Sports |
|
Friday 26 November: U8 and U9 Hockey vs Bedford Modern U8: The U8 squad prepared diligently for their match against Bedford Modern, with passing and running drills to prepare their skills and to keep warm on a very chilly day! The team started strongly, working well together, and quickly scored their first goal. The good teamwork continued and they dominated the possession. Eager to turn the ball over and score lots of goals, the team pressed Bedford high up the pitch and were rewarded with lots of goals. Well done to the whole team, a great win 4-0. U9: This week Bedford Modern brought their Year 3 Hockey teams to play Northampton High’s Year 3 and Year 4 teams. Year 4’s A team won their fixture 2-0 with an excellent performance by all. Year 4’s B team won their fixture 4-1 with a well-fought match by both teams. Artemisia was selected as Player of the Match. The Year 3 team also played and won 4-0 – well done! Mrs Littlewood |
Dates for your Diary |
|
There will be no class swimming on the last day of term (Friday 17 December)
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. |
Lost Property |
|
We have laid out a table in the Junior School Community Room with all of the lost property we have in Junior School. Please take a look at your earliest convenience and collect what belongs to you. Thank you. Tracey Knott |
Class Assemblies |
|
We are pleased to welcome back parents and grandparents/family members to our Wednesday Class Assemblies, 8.35am-8.55am. Refreshments will be served in the Community Room from 8.15am. Dates for the spring term will follow soon. We do hope you will be able to join us. |
Nursery - Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
|
We have been focusing on the colours ‘purple’ and ‘pink’ this week with different activities based on the girls’ preferences. Mark making seems to be a lead throughout from the girls, with many often sitting at the table creating wonderful writing and drawing lovely pictures. They may also be found painting or crayoning at the easels or using their fingers and a range of different writing tools to create marks in the coloured sand. Paint pens were a popular choice for the girls. A highlight was when they worked together to create a wonderful picture using the purple and pink pens. We also had a special visitor, Mrs O’Doherty, who visited the girls to share a story with them. We joined Pre School to listen to the story of the ‘Runaway Train’ by Benedict Blathwayt. The driver had forgotten to put on the brake and the train set off without him; he had some help from his friends to catch the runaway train. The girls got involved, answering questions and making a lovely train noise. She gifted us with a special Christmas train to join our train track that the girls were eager to have a turn with. Thank you, Mrs O’Doherty! |
|
|
|
|
|
The girls have been working hard practising songs for their Christmas performance. Well done, girls! Please can you help your daughter practise the words over the weekend ready for their performance? Also, please remember to bring in white knickers, if your daughter is not already wearing them on the day of their performance, thick white tights, a white t-shirt and a scarf and hat. Many thanks! What the girls have said: |
Nursery - Pre School |
|
Christmas has arrived in Pre School with most of the children’s role play being based on Santa delivering presents. “I want Santa to bring me an Elsa doll.” Ula. We have practised our concert on the stage in the hall which went really well – let’s hope it goes so well on the day. At Forest School, we had a little treat of hot chocolate to help warm us up on such a cold day. Can you please ensure you child has lots of layers, hat and gloves to put on while the weather is so cold. We had story time with Mrs O’Doherty, who read a story about a train who had lost its driver. We sat and listened attentively throughout. |
|
|
|
|
|
Reminders for next week: Tuesday 7 December – Christmas Nativity |
Reception |
|
The highlight of this week was the trip to West Lodge Farm. Although the weather wasn’t brilliant, it didn’t dampen our spirits or prevent us from doing all of the activities planned. We enjoyed the animals in the petting corner and got to stroke a rabbit, guinea pig and a chicken. |
|
|
|
|
|
In the Christmas experience, we all made some special reindeer food to be left out on Christmas Eve, went to Elf School, wrote a letter to Father Christmas, and then saw Father Christmas, who was having a sleep before we woke him up! He asked us all to be good in the lead up to the big day and gave us an early present to put under our tree. After our lovely packed lunch, we visited some of the other animals and saw goats, pigs with piglets, sheep, horses, turkeys, geese, and a peacock. We finished our visit by taking part in a Nativity in a stable. Well done, Reception class, you were a pleasure to take out for the day! |
Year 1 |
|
This week has flown by and it is hard to believe that next week is ‘performance week’. Our dress rehearsal in front of the Junior School is on Tuesday, so please can all additional items of costume requested in the planner be in school by Monday. We have been really impressed with how well the girls have learnt the song words – thank you for your support with this. It is mufti/Christmas Jumper day on Friday 10 December supporting Save the Children. It would be lovely if the girls could wear Christmas Jumpers even though they have swimming and the play on the same day. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I love practising the play because a like saying my line.” Evie. Looking ahead to next week: |
Year 2 |
|
This week we have been putting the finishing touches to the Christmas play and we are all very excited to show our families next week. In Maths, we have been comparing money and seeing how many different ways we can make amounts. In English, we have been finding out about different sentence types and learning what punctuation is needed. Science was very exciting, as we discovered which things floated and sank, then we made our own boats. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I enjoyed trying on my costume for the play.” Eve. Looking ahead to next week: Maths – continuing to learn about money by finding the total cost of various items Please can any outstanding pieces of costume be in school by Monday. We look forward to seeing you at our performances! |
Year 3 |
|
In Maths this week we have been studying the 3- and 4- times tables, including related facts and building fact families. In English, we have been exploring newspaper reports and their features. In Geography, we have looked at the Earth’s tectonic plates and we used Oreo biscuits to demonstrate the three different types of plate boundaries. In Science, we played with shadows, and we looked at how they can change. The girls were also very excited to share all their learning this week in their Class Assembly and they did a fantastic job. They worked extremely hard to learn their words and add some expression to their speech to really bring the ‘Stone Age Family Fortunes’ gameshow alive! Thank you so much for joining us and for your lovely feedback. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I have enjoyed learning to count in 4s in Maths.” Leah. Looking Ahead: Don’t forget… Friday 10 December is ‘Christmas Jumper Day’. Wear mufti with your Christmas jumper. |
Year 4 |
|
In Maths, we have been learning what happens when we multiply and divide by 1 or 0 using new terminology in our work. We have also focused on our 6 times tables using ray models to help our understanding. In English, we wrote letters in character based on our current text. We used a drama technique to stimulate ideas and remembered our learning from last week about abstract nouns to convey feelings. In Science, we learnt about the 5 different types of human teeth and their functions and how this links to our diet. We had fun looking at our own teeth with mirrors and then comparing them with animal teeth. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: Looking ahead to next week: Dates for your diary: Friday 10 December – mufti and Christmas Jumper Day |
Year 5 |
|
This week Year 5 have started an exciting new book in English…actually, we haven’t started reading the book yet, we’ve been too caught up with finding out all about NASA! The girls thought about different NASA jobs and were fascinated to discover a little bit more about segregation in the workplace. We have also had fun creating a poem for the KS2 Christmas Celebration. I asked the girls in my Current Affairs Club, “What’s Christmas all about?” – and we used their interesting answers to write a seasonal secular poem. |
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I have really enjoyed doing our Science unit this half term. I especially enjoyed making a diagram of the sun, the Earth and the moon, showing the way that the moon and the Earth are orbiting. I also enjoyed doing the phases of the moon activity, when we had to put a white ball on a toothpick (representing the moon) and spin it around us (the Earth) with a light shining (the sun).” Shreya. Dates for your diary: Monday 6 December – ‘Flu jabs |
Year 6 |
|
As we approach the festive season the excitement is building in Year 6. This week we have continued grappling with fractions, writing a well-structured balanced argument, analysing results in Science and identifying the pros and cons of different mapping styles. |
|
|
|
|
|
Highlights of the week include: “I am really enjoying House Singing as all of our House get together and it is great fun trying to help everybody sing the right things at the right time!” Lydia. Next week we look forward to developing further mastery of our understanding of fractions, writing our competition entries for the GDST and Rotary Writing Competitions and furthering our understanding of the components of a healthy lifestyle. |
GAP Club |
|
It is beginning to feel like Christmas this week in GAP Club! The girls helped to decorate the GAP Club Christmas trees and created angels using Barbie dolls for the top. They have made snowmen, reindeer, and lots of Christmas crafts – a lot of glitter and sparkly things. The younger girls have sewed Elsa stockings and the older girls have been sewing with Binca.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What the girls have said: “I love the fireplace and the snowy area.” Isabella, Year 2 |
Raise Her Up - Creativity and Curriculum |
|
This week on Raise Her Up, we are talking about creativity. Covid showed us how to do many things differently, and one example has been fresh and creative approaches to learning. In the midst of lockdown, free from the confines of the exam specification, the GDST launched Guided Home Learning, and teachers across the GDST Family were asked to contribute to a Masterclasses Programme not tied to exam syllabi. We got creative at home too, incorporating learning into our daily statutory hour of exercise, baking banana bread, and developing new skills from not being bound to SATs, GCSEs and A Levels. So, should we be prioritising creativity over exams when it comes to learning? Episode 8’s expert guest is Dr Cathy Rogers. The breadth and success of her career may make it impossible to categorise her, but certainly embodies her creative and diverse approach. Channel 4 presenter, TV executive, food entrepreneur, writer, and most recently, neuroscientist. Cathy’s research is concerned with children’s creativity – what can get in its way and what can really make it fly? And why should we even care about it? How can we, as educators, parents, and carers help to nurture our children’s creativity at home and in school – and how can this help them to learn and develop? Listen to the discussion here or search ‘Raise Her Up’ on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mrs Wilmot |
Christmas Chemistree Lecture - Thursday 9 December - please come along! |
|
|
Christmas Carol Concert - Wednesday 15 December |
|
|
Join Our Team - Minibus Drivers Wanted |
|
At Northampton High, we are proud to have a pristine fleet of school minibuses, and we are very excited that this will be expanding in 2022. We are therefore looking to appoint several drivers for transporting pupils on morning and afternoon school runs, Monday to Friday. If you are interested in joining our team we would love to hear from you.
For more information and to apply please click here. Mr Nash |
Term Dates 21/22 |
|
|
Term Dates 22/23 |
|
|
|
Northampton High School |
|
