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Junior News 4 December 2020 |
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Monday heralded the end of an era when the Junior School said a fond farewell to Mrs Eggleton, who started her retirement this week. Mrs Eggleton, who worked at Northampton High School for nearly 15 years to the day, was a well-loved Teaching Assistant and a familiar friendly face for pupils in the Nursery, Junior School and Senior School. Joining the school originally as a Lunchtime Supervisor, Mrs Eggleton’s role grew as her (many) talents for connecting with the girls were discovered, and we witnessed her exceptionally caring attitude – whether listening to pupils’ stories or helping them with a tricky problem. |
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We know that our pupils will really miss reading with Mrs Eggleton and discussing their books with her. All staff will miss her helpful, cheery and positive personality. Due to the pandemic, our farewell was in part virtual; the whole Junior School participated in her presentation – Year 5 in person, and the rest of the pupils and staff via Teams! We all wish Mrs Eggleton a happy and healthy retirement and we hope to see her again very soon! Mrs Dadge Mrs Purvey-Tyrer |
Clubs |
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Please be aware that there are no teacher-led clubs during the last week of term, week commencing 14 December, this includes the Multi-Sports Clubs. GAP Club and Late Prep will be available as normal. Spring Term Clubs Multi-Sports Clubs will start again week commencing Monday 11 January (3.30pm – 4.45pm) as follows: Monday Year 4 Tuesday Year 5 Wednesday Year 6 Thursday Year 3 Teacher-led Clubs will start again week commencing Monday 18 January. |
Dates for your diary |
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Friday 11 December – All teacher-led clubs (including Multi-Sports Clubs) finish for the Autumn Term Friday 18 December – End of Autumn Term Monday 21 to Tuesday 22 December – Foundation + holiday club Tuesday 5 to Friday 8 January – Foundation + holiday club Friday 8 January – INSET Day Monday 11 January – Start of Spring Term Monday 11 January – Start of Multi-Sports Clubs Monday 18 January – Start of Spring Term teacher-led Clubs
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Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room |
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The girls in Nursery have been very busy. We have been getting into the Christmas spirit by doing some different activities such as handprint reindeers, painting some wreaths and practising our Christmas songs. The girls are getting very good with their singing; they get excited when they hear the songs playing. We have talked about our decorations at home, as the girls have seen some of the Christmas trees we have around the school when they walk in. The girls were asked what their Christmas trees looked like and one of them replied ‘it’s sparkly’. On Tuesday the girls showed their listening skills very well in Ballet; their favourite part was when they did firework hands. We also went on our regular walk to Forest School, where we jumped in muddy puddles and made an obstacle course with tyres and logs. Reminders: |
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Nursery Pre School |
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This week in Pre School we have been getting into the Christmas spirit. The girls have been doing a range of festive activities including making a Christmas tree with cardboard boxes. This tied in well with the story ‘A Gift of Christmas’, and got the girls thinking how and what we could add to our tree. The room looked like a sparkly explosion had happened when a provocation of paper plates, CDs, pipe cleaners and shimmering squares had been set up and some beautiful baubles were created in the process. We also have been practising our Christmas songs. The girls are very good at remembering the words – hopefully you have heard some of these at home! A favourite activity was dancing along to Christmas music with musical instruments, where some lovely moves were demonstrated. We used our imagination during PE using the tunnel to the words of the song ‘When Santa got stuck up the Chimney’, so it would be ‘When Santa got stuck in the tunnel!’ We have looked at a range of different Christmas books; there were too many nice ones to choose from so instead of a story of the week over the festive period we have decided to do a story of the day. Next week we will be continuing our Christmas activities. |
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Reception |
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It was lovely to see all the girls returning to school, happy to see their friends and (hopefully) their teachers! It has been very pleasing to see how quickly the girls have settled purposefully to the tasks on offer and with such enthusiasm. We have been finding missing numbers in a sequence, listening for initial letter sounds and being creative! |
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Year 1 |
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Highlights In our English lessons this week, we have completed some comprehension work on Samuel Pepys’ Diary and worked really hard with our reading to answer questions about what we had read. We then tried to write a part of Samuel Pepys’ Diary and we wrote from his point of view, about what he might have seen and how he may have felt. In Maths, we have finished our work 2D and 3D shape for now, and have started to look at place value with numbers to 20. In Gymnastics, we created a new sequence with our partner this week, which had to include a roll, a balance, high and low ways of travel, a jump, cannon and unison and a starting and finishing position. The girls all worked really well together and enjoying sharing their performance to the class. In our Computing lesson this week, we have been using the 2Count tool on Purple Mash to create a pictogram about 1N’s favourite fruit. In our Art lessons, we have been creating some silhouette pictures using chalks and collage to create ‘The Great Fire of London’ scenes. In RE this week, we started to look at Christmas and we focused on the Nativity story. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed rock painting.” Shanaya Looking ahead: Maths – place value to 20 |
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Year 2 |
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Highlights: This week in Maths, we have continued our work on money looking at pounds as well as pence, making different totals and playing some games to help us practise. In English we have been looking even more closely at Samuel Pepys’ Diary using our imagination to write our own diary entries from his perspective. In Gymnastics this week, we worked in small groups to create a sequence linking the different moves we have learned this term including balances and rolls. We also looked at performing our movements using unison and cannon techniques. In Art, we have created some pastel drawings of The Great Fire using existing artwork as inspiration and we have completed our Great Fire of London collage pictures too. What the girls have said: “We loved pebble painting for our indoor Forest School activity!” Thea, Kinara, Avani and Eloise Looking ahead: English – Christmas poetry |
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Year 3 |
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Highlights: In Maths we have been continuing with multiplication and division, looking at the 4 and 8 times tables. In English we have started our new book, ‘The Pied Piper’, a version written by Michael Morpurgo. We have been finding out about rats and discussing how we would feel if they invaded our house! In Science we had great excitement finding things in the classroom that were magnetic. In Humanities we learnt about Christian beliefs and discussed Advent. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed finding things in the classroom that were magnetic; it was exciting when the paper clips all joined together.” Eva Looking ahead: Maths – continuing with multiplication and division but also some investigating number activities |
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Year 4 |
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Highlights: In Maths we have been multiplying and dividing by 3 and 6 and understanding what it means to multiply by 1 and zero. Lots of brilliant problem solving this week to really embed our understanding of multiplication before we start multiplying with much bigger numbers in the spring term. In English the girls produced some beautiful writing with real depth of feeling as they wrote in role. In Science we enjoyed another fun afternoon investigating circuits; this time we introduced buzzers, motors and switches. What the girls have said: “I enjoyed Gymnastics this week. We did jumps and added them into our routine. In my routine I have a jump, a roll and spins to travel.” Zoe English – stories with historical settings – Thieves of Ostia |
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Year 5 |
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Highlights: It has been absolutely brilliant being back in school this week, but it has been exhausting! The girls have coped so well with the change and it has been wonderful having them all in the same room, although I have missed the ‘Mute All’ option. Our lessons have carried on a pace and highlighted some really great examples of collaborative discussion; most notably, the girls have thrown themselves into their English, working through ‘The Highwayman’ – a narrative poem written with some beautiful figurative language. What the girls have said: “My favourite thing this week will be Art and DT this afternoon because we are making our photo frames. I have been looking forward to it from the moment Miss Brandon-Jones told us about it. I am excited because I never had the opportunity to have an art room before I came to this school and I think my favourite bit will be the sawing. When we did the practice sawing I didn’t do too bad, but I think I’m going to do amazingly today!” Evelyn “I really liked that we started learning about Brazil and finding out how poorer Brazilian live in the favelas (shanty towns). The most interesting thing that I found out is that instead of having a toilet they have a bucket in the middle of their house. I enjoyed looking at the images on my device and working with my friends.” Emilly S “I enjoyed learning about the Highwayman in English and highlighting words that we didn’t understand and finding out what they meant, and finding similes and metaphors and words where it sounds the same at the beginning – alliteration. I also liked making a Wanted Poster for the Highwayman…we had to look really carefully at the second verse of the poem and use it to think about what he would have looked like.” Esme Looking ahead: English – continuing to look at figurative language in ‘The Highwayman’ and writing using similes and metaphors Dates for your diary: Tuesday 8 December – swimming |
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Year 6 |
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In Year 6 it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! The tree in the blue corridor looks beautiful and awaits the Christmas stockings we intend to sew next week, and the girls are all super excited about the countdown to the big day! That said, we have, of course, been working really hard this week. Maths has required the girls to apply their knowledge and understanding of fractions to some complex problems and in English the girls have made a superb effort to write in the style of William Blake having been inspired by the famous poem ‘Tyger’ that asks some very deep philosophical questions about life; we have been delighted with the observations the girls have made about this poem proving once again that they have lively and enquiring minds. The highlight of the week for most was the construction of our 3D clay fish and although this task was fun and creative it also required resilience as it was very challenging at times – our girls should be congratulated on not giving up when the going got tough and showing excellent perseverance! Highlights of the week for the girls include: “I really enjoyed writing my poem inspired by ‘Tyger’ by William Blake. My poem explored the existence of the vulture and why it was created. I enjoyed thinking about the purpose of the vulture and how people perceive it. I am really pleased with the poem I have created but think William Blake would be confused by the modern language I use!” Eloise “My highlight of the week was when we worked in groups and made notes for a report about an endangered species.” Natalie “I really liked designing and modelling my clay fish because it was fun to create lots of designs and I also learnt to use different techniques including how to attach my tail to make sure that it doesn’t fall off. My fish is based on a catfish and it has whiskers. I cannot wait to see the finished product and hope my fish doesn’t explode in the kiln!” Isla H “My highlight of this week was writing a poem about a vulture in the style of William Blake’s ‘The Tyger’. I really enjoyed this because it was a challenge to get everything to match the tiger. We had to try to put in things like old language and rhythm.” Sophia Next week we are looking forward to writing our short stories for the GDST Creative Writing Competition, sewing our Christmas stockings for the Christmas tree and much, much more! Have a good weekend. Karen Fordham and Nicola Taylor |
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Car Park Safety |
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We would like to politely remind staff, parents and visitors to be mindful of the 5 mph speed limit in the school car park. Pedestrians have right of way, so please continue to remain vigilant of people crossing the roads at the crossings and other points. When driving from the Senior School side towards the exit, please be mindful of cars exiting the Junior School car park. Thank you for your continued assistance in this matter. Mr Stubbs |
Term Dates 20/21 |
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Term Dates 21/22 |
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Northampton High School |
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