Junior News 7 February 2020

Dear Parents,

The week started with an amazing festival of sports; our year 5 and 6 community pulled together to run and host a multi-sports event for ourselves, Newcastle High School and Wimbledon High School. Not only was the sport of the highest calibre, the friendships formed will be long-lasting. Huge thanks must go to Mrs Littlewood, our Junior School teaching team and all of the parents who acted as host families for the weekend. This event exemplifies one of the many benefits of being part of the GDST.

Mrs Shaw’s Year 5 class led an extremely informative class assembly this week about how we can be good digital citizens, taking responsibility for the safety of ourselves and others. This ties in nicely with international Safer Internet Day on Monday 11th February. Find out more about how you can help your daughter stay safe online here: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk

This week during my learning walks I have seen Reception girls using tools to design a range of wooden toys and sculptures, the start of our Year 5 and 6 ‘Play in a Week’ rehearsals, clay modelling, watercolour birdlife artwork, a packed lunchtime library club and so much more besides. Today’s assembly will round off storytelling week, where the children will have the opportunity to listen to a modern literary classic.

I had the opportunity to work at GDST Head Office on Thursday alongside the 24 other Junior School head teachers. Having such a close network of colleagues to turn to for ideas, advice and guidance is invaluable and is another strength of being part of the Trust. It is always an opportunity to reflect on the high quality offer that Northampton High School is able to provide.

We had a great turn-out for our whole school parent forum last night where we discussed communication across the school. It was a positive and constructive session and an excellent example of how we can all work together as a community. It was exciting to be able to share our summer term plans for open classroom events and educationally-themed parent talks and to get feedback on school and GDST communications systems as well as parent information evenings.

A concern was raised at the parent forum about ongoing inconsiderate and dangerous parking on site. We will continue to monitor this and would urge you to be great role models for your daughters by driving slowly, leaving the disabled parking bays accessible and generally thinking of the safety of our whole community.

Next week is the final week of the half term. A reminder that Spring Term reports will be distributed digitally on Friday 14 February at 4pm. Friday is also a mufti-day; the girls can wear red in order to raise money for the amazing medical detection dogs: https://www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk

Have a lovely weekend,

Chris

Chris Bailey
Head of Junior School

Nursery and Junior School absence procedure

ABSENCE PROCEDURE

If your daughter is absent, please can you either:

• telephone the Junior School on: 01604-667979 extension 1 and leave a message on the absence line

or

• email: junioradmin@nhs.gdst.net 

with the reason for your daughters’ absence.

Thank you

Communication

Please be aware that all email communication for Junior School must be sent to junioradmin@nhs.gdst.net and not directly to the teacher.

Thank you.

Achievements

Each week in assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week:

Hockey
Matilda B – won all but 1 match in a tournament

Assemblies

Class Assemblies are held in the Junior School Hall at 8.35am on Wednesdays. Parents are most welcome to enjoy refreshments from 8.00am in the Community Room. Here are the dates for the Spring Term:

5N – Wednesday 26 February

2N – Wednesday 4 March

3N – Wednesday 11 March

Reception – Wednesday 18 March

1N – Wednesday 25 March

Dates for Diary

Friday 7 – Thursday 13 February – Year 5 and 6 Play-in-a-Week

Tuesday 11 February – UK Safer Internet Day

Tuesday 11 February – No Junior School teacher-led clubs (PE and external as normal)

Thursday 13 February – Play-in-a-Week production 6.30pm

w/c Monday 17 February – Half Term

Tuesday 25 February – Pre-School visit to Richmond Village 10.30am-11.45am

Wednesday 26 February – Looking forward to Senior School event for Year 5 4.30pm-5.30pm

Wednesday 26 – Friday 28 February – Year 3 and 4 Burwell Residential

Monday 2 March – Nursery Stay and Play 8am-9.30am

Wednesday 4 March – Joseph ‘Big Sing’ at the Derngate 6.30pm

Thursday 5 March – Year 5 day trip to Bletchley Park

Thursday 5 March – World Book Day

Thursday 5 March – Open Evening 4.30pm-6.30pm

Friday 6 March – Open Morning 9.30am-12pm

Friday 6 March – International Women’s Day

w/c Monday 9 March – Science Week

Tuesday 17 March – Pre-school Richmond Village 10.30am-11.45am

Wednesday 18 March – KS1 day trip to the National Space Centre

Thursday 19 March – Music Composition Evening 7pm-9pm

Tuesday 26 March – Pre-school transition event to Reception Class 9am-10am

Tuesday 31 March – Sports Presentation Evening 6pm

Wednesday 1 April – Whole School Photograph

Wednesday 1 April – Parents’ Evening from 6.00pm

Thursday 2 April – Parents’ Evening from 3.50pm

Friday 3 April – End of Term

Monday 20 April – INSET day

Tuesday 21 April – Start of Summer Term

Looking ahead: Sports Day for KS2 and Senior School is Friday 5 June

Music event

On Wednesday 4 March 2020 we shall be taking Year 5 and 6 girls to perform alongside ten other schools and become part of a massed choir performing ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.’ This will be a fantastic opportunity for our girls to be in a theatre environment and we have already undertaken the first of two vocal workshops to support us in learning this musical.

Tickets are selling really fast so I would urge any parents and families who would like to attend to purchase seats direct from the Derngate website as we anticipate they will sell out the evening performance.
https://tickets.royalandderngate.co.uk/66737/66738

Thank you
Mrs K Farrar

Clubs

The following clubs have been cancelled:

• Monday 10 February – Creative Board Games Year 5 and 6.
• Tuesday 11 February – Junior School teacher-led clubs (PE and external as normal)
• Wednesday 12 February – Science Club Year 3, 4 and 5
• Monday 24 February – Story Club Year 3 and 4
• Tuesday 25 February – Concertina Sketchbook Club Year 5
• Tuesday 25 February – Maths Games and Puzzles Year 3 and 4
• Tuesday 25 February – Digital Leaders Club Year 5 and 6

Sports

Sports News

What a fantastic start to our week of sport with the Under 11 Tour last weekend. We had an amazing time, playing hockey, netball, dodgeball and swimming. Thanks to all of the parents, children, Mrs Littlewood and the PE team for such a successful event. Northampton High finished in second place overall, behind Wimbledon.

We’ve had netball fixtures versus Pitsford, Quinton House, The Grove and Beachborough during the week. Our 2nd Team and Under 15s both won their fixtures against Pitsford, demonstrating the high standard of our netball. Our Under 13A, B and C teams mirrored this excellence in their defeats against Beachborough. The Under 14s and Under 15Bs took on Quinton House with some close games but Quinton took the wins.

Our Under 11A and Bs beat The Grove, with some lovely movement and spot-on shooting and our netball fixtures continue into the weekend with 5 teams playing Bablake on Saturday.

We also attended the Warwick 50s swimming during the week with our Under 13 and Under 12 team. We had some great performances and really enjoyed the competitive element of the gala.

Finally I want to wish Sophie C and Gerogina F-W the best of luck in their Loughborough Tour weekend having been selected for the GDST Select teams in Hockey and Netball. This is a fantastic achievement for the girls and we know they’ll do NHS proud. Well done!
Director of Sport – Emma Blake

MATCH REPORT

On Wednesday 5 February the Under 11A team played The Grove School. We did win 5-0. Everyone played their positions well. Bella and Rose worked together shooting. Me and Isla H got the ball down for GA and GS to try and shoot. There was great defending by Izzy, Moriah, Poppy, Isla N and Charlotte. Poppy and Isla N did attacking. Thank you to Miss Brown and Georgie for coaching.
Captain – Anna

On Wednesday, the Under 11B team played a netball match against The Grove School and it was a remarkably close game with a 4-3 result. In the end we won! We all played well and would like to thank all the amazing staff that made this match happen, it was fantastic. We would like to also thank the catering staff for the teas. A big well done to Lexi who got player of the match, but everyone did their best and improved massively. We are looking forward to another exciting match!
Captain – Emily M

SPRING TERM FIXTURES DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Under 10 and 11 Netball matches

Under 8 and 9 Netball Matches

Swimming

Cross Country

Charity

Calling all CALL THE MIDWIFE fans!

We are delighted to be hosting at Northampton High an exciting event in conjunction with 78 Derngate, former home of Northampton High School, on Friday 28 February from 7pm.

A Behind-the-Scenes Audience with TV series creator, Heidi Thomas, and actor, Stephen McGann (Dr Turner in the hit series), promises to be an evening not to be missed for all Call The Midwife fans.

The fundraising event is to help the 78 Derngate trust’s efforts in reaching a target of £200,000, to match council funding to  build an atrium extension at the popular visitor attraction.

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.

Mrs Wilmot
Director of Marketing & Admissions

Upcoming Open Events

Nursery Kipper Room and Elmer Room

Kipper Room:

In Kipper Room this week, we have been exploring outside in the school grounds.  We went on a nature walk and looked at the different leaves, sticks and flowers growing in the grass. “A daisy!” shouted Annabel. “Look a stick!” said Anne. We collected some of the leaves and sticks to bring back to the classroom and are using them within our craft area.
We have had a variety of activities within the exploration area, such as flour, shaving foam, sand and paint dabbers. Whilst in the exploration area we had lots of different toys in the materials, including ‘arctic animals’ and ‘people that help us’. “A firefighter!” said Bonetta.
In the playroom, the children have continued to explore the climbing frame; working out different ways to get over the frame, using their bodies in different ways and building on their confidence to master the steps.
We have also been exploring Duplo, Peppa Pig houses, the train set and so much more besides.

Next week we are looking forward to further new girls starting.

Elmer Room:

Elmer Room have continued to explore our senses with this week’s focus being on listening. We went on a listening walk around the school grounds. “I can hear voices,” said Lily as we looked into a classroom. “I can hear music,“ said Yana as we passed the Junior hall. The dining hall was very loud in comparison to the sports hall where we had to be very quiet to try to hear the shuttlecock being hit in a game of badminton.
We used the musical instruments and the white board this week during Music and we shared the instruments really well saying “time to swap” at the end of each song.
We have made some more sound boxes – filling small cereal boxes, with items the girls chose, to listen to the different sounds.  Pasta and shells made the loudest noise and were the most popular, pom-poms were almost silent, sand came out of the sides of the box and jelly made the box go all soggy.

Next week will be our final week on senses and we will look at our display and decide which activities we enjoyed the most and repeat them.

Nursery Pre-School

Highlights:

This week we have been exploring the sound ‘b’. We have made buzzing bee puppets, butterfly biscuits and birds. We have also matched buttons to a given number and painted our clay leaves. At Forest School we made bees using fir cones and looked out for different birds.

What the girls have enjoyed:

Isabel, “painting my leaf.”
Hope, “I made biscuits.”

Looking ahead to next week:

• Our letter sound is ‘f’.
• Our sense is taste.
• Tasting different foods blindfolded.
• Name writing.
• Making faces.
• Mark-making in flour.

Reception

Highlights:

This week the girls have followed on from the story ‘Kipper’s Party’, by having a go at writing their own version. The plan included pictures of what they would put into a fun cake, followed by writing the story. There were some very interesting ideas! Our ‘materials’ learning has continued with ‘plastic’. The girls have made a plastic picture, found plastic items around the classroom and were only allowed to play with a toy if it was made from plastic. This didn’t prove to be a problem because we discovered that plastic was in abundance. The girls have experienced cutting some wood with a saw and now they know how to cut and join pieces of wood, each girl will be given the opportunity to make a wooden model.

What the girls have said:

“I enjoyed making the cake picture on the computer.” Caoimhe.
“I really enjoyed making a wooden train.” Emily.
“I have liked making cards.” Shanaya.
“Everything, I have enjoyed it all.” Isabella.
“I liked looking carefully and drawing a picture of a plastic truck.” Elouise.

Year 1

Highlights:

This week, Year 1 have been busy looking at different types of words in English. We have looked at nouns, verbs and adjectives and have been sorting different words into the correct groups. We then used this and what we know about punctuation to ‘crack the code’ in a piece of writing, identifying different word groups and punctuation we found. We have worked really hard in Maths, solving addition and subtraction calculations to then compare these using greater than, less than and equal to symbols. In Science, we have been looking at the suitability of materials to carry out certain jobs. In Geography, we have been finding out about hot and cold places around the world and what the equator is. We had to place aliens from different planets on our own map of the world, depending on whether they were accustomed to hot, cold, wet or dry places.

What the girls have said:

“I liked following the algorithm to colour the bird in computing.” Thea and Holly GS.
“I enjoyed learning about materials in Science.” Amelia.
“I liked learning about the equator.” Avani.
“I enjoyed playing hockey in Games.” Holly H.

Looking ahead to some of next week’s learning:

• English – continuing work on grammar and looking at the story ‘How to Catch a Star’.
• Maths – place value of numbers within 50.
• Geography – identifying key physical features of different places in the UK.
• Science – reversible and irreversible changes to materials.

Year 2

Highlights:

We have continued our work in Maths on statistics and this week the focus has been block diagrams. The girls have worked really hard to carry out surveys and carefully collect their data to then present it in a different format. They all remembered their work on how to form a tally and record the totals too. In English we have looked at different word classes in more detail and have been trying to ‘crack the code’ in a piece of writing. In Geography we looked at the different climates in different countries across our planet. We had some alien visitors who told us about the climate on their planet so we had to decide where on Earth they’d be best suited to live.

What the girls have said:

“I’ve loved making tallys and block diagrams this week.” Leilana and Cora.
“I liked Music because we made sounds with instruments and our feet.” Sakinah.
“I’ve enjoyed Art and making a spaceship.” Asmi, Maya, Jemima and Artemisia.

Looking ahead to some of next week’s learning:

• Maths – shape.
• English – vocabulary and grammar.
• Art and Design – Valentines.

Year 3

Highlights:

This week the girls have been assessing their own understanding of money and looking at how they can use known multiplication facts to work out multiplications that are ten times bigger. We joined Year 4 on Tuesday afternoon to choose our menu for the residential trip and carry out a team-building exercise of building the most eye-catching sculpture; look at the photographs in the Year 3 and 4 combined Flickr folder to see what the girls created.

What the girls have said:

“I have enjoyed working with money in Maths.” Harriet.
“I liked drawing our batik designs ready for our residential trip to Burwell House.” Ishani.
“I enjoyed making eye-catching sculptures with Year 4.” Risara.

Looking ahead to some of next week’s learning:

Next week we are continuing to work with our multiplication tables and look at dividing. We also have a trip to Forest School on Wednesday afternoon with Year 4 for more team-building ahead of our residential after Half Term. Please can the girls remember to bring the correct warm clothing and footwear for this activity, as set out in the letter. In DT, we will be making the sandwiches that we have designed, tasting and evaluating them. In English we will be writing up our final reports ‘The Magic of Tea’.

Year 4

Highlights:

In Maths this week we have measured the perimeter of classroom objects and calculated the perimeter of shapes from diagrams. In English we have written the resolution and ending to complete our stories set in an imaginary world. We have also used scientific vocabulary to explain what happened when water and ice cubes were heated in a pan.

What the girls have said:

“I really liked Computing this week because we made line graphs.” Lydia.
“I enjoyed Art because I really like doing collage and I am using some different colours and techniques.” Rianna.
“I loved doing the walk because we had lovely weather and I really liked exploring Hardingstone.” Esme.

Looking ahead to some of next week’s learning:

• English – we will be re-drafting a paragraph of our stories to make them more descriptive and enjoyable for the reader.
• Maths – work will focus on classifying 2D shapes by identifying their properties.
• Computing – we will be taking part in activities about ‘Identity’ and ‘Freedom of Expression’ as part of Safer Internet Day.

Year 5

Highlights:

This week in English we wrote our ‘Just So’ stories; the girls really enjoyed thinking of reasons why some animals might have developed the features they have. We also joined in with the BBC 500 Words Live Lesson before starting our own 500 word story. In Maths we deepened our understanding of multiplication. In RE we learnt about some of the beliefs and practices of Muslims.

What the girls have said:

“I liked doing the 500 words because we got to use our imagination and write whatever kind of story we wanted. I also really enjoyed writing my ‘Just So’ story called ‘How the Flamingo became Pink’. Doing our assembly about internet safety was fun too.” Anya.
“In Humanities I enjoyed learning about the 5 Pillars of Islam and looking at things from the religion, like the prayer mat and the Qur’an. It was very interesting reading books about what happens in the religion – I found out that Muslims pray in four different positions and the pillars represent different things.” Verity.
“At the weekend we did a Sports Tour and we were hosting with Year 6. It was really fun and the girls from Newcastle and Wimbledon were extremely nice. Overall, Newcastle came 3rd, we came 2nd (and the A team won the hockey) and Wimbledon came 1st. It was a great weekend!” Bea and Elizabeth.

Looking ahead to some of next week’s learning: 

• We will be rehearsing for our ‘Play in a Week’ performance of Scheherazade.
• PE, Games and Swimming will continue as normal.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Scheherazade performance – Thursday 13 February 6.30pm
5N Class Assembly – Wednesday 26 February
Joseph ‘Big Sing’ performance at the Derngate Theatre – Wednesday 4 March (tickets going very fast!)
Trip to Bletchley Park – Thursday 5 March

Year 6

Week 5 – Another great week!
The girls have fully immersed themselves in the curriculum once again this week and have learnt so much. They have investigated volume and surface area in Maths, explored biomes in Geography, created group animations in English, and have produced leaflets in Science promoting a healthy lifestyle for Year 6 pupils, showing that they have been listening and engaging in all of the activities they have carried out this term on the human body.
Friday saw the first rehearsals for Scheherazade and it promises to be both magical and entertaining. We cannot wait to welcome you to the performance on Thursday 13 February.  Refreshments will be served in the Dining Hall from 6pm and the performance will begin at 6.30pm. We will be finished by approximately 7.30pm.
Remember to let the office know who is attending so that we can provide adequate refreshments. Also, don’t forget to order your Big Sing tickets from the Derngate Theatre as they are selling fast!
Have a great weekend!
Mrs Fordham and Mr Loveday

Student Voices
“I really enjoyed producing a leaflet on healthy lifestyles for Year 6 pupils – it really helped me to remember all of the work we have done this term. I will definitely be trying to get more sleep!”
“We helped Mrs Fordham choreograph a dance for Scheherazade based on the theme 1001 tales – it was great fun, and we cannot wait to share it with you next week!”
“Word processing our argument on ‘Are humans cruel or kind to animals’ was really satisfying – I really like being able to edit my work in this way because it is so easy to make changes!”
“Tumbling in PE was great fun – I love making up routines!”
“I loved Science because we got to make leaflets and when we finished ours, I felt really proud of myself and read it to my family!”
“This week in Humanities, we were looking at different biomes. I really enjoyed the challenge of thinking about how we can protect our different biomes and enjoyed writing a letter to the Prime Minister telling him that he needs to take action!”
“I was really pleased with the watercolour bird that I created in Enrichment. We all did really well and Mrs Fordham was really pleased with the results! You can see some of them on our Twitter feed!”
“In Computing we are doing i-Stop Motion. We used plasticine to build models and characters. We had to build a set using cardboard boxes and decorate them.”
“In English we did free writing. Some people did poems, stories, diaries and more. It was really fun! Someone did the aftermath of Cinderella! Other people finished off their circus debate about whether we should have animals in circuses or not.”
“In Humanities we have been learning about economics and business for our project next half term.”
“In Enrichment we were sketching and watercolouring native birds from all around the world. We worked in pairs and found a bird we liked. We had a very good mixture of ideas and birds. People did a toucan, parrot, flamingos, blue tits and lots more. It was really nice to see the different techniques; people were brushing their finger over the brush making the paint on the brush more ‘splat-y’ with dots over the page.”

GAP Club

Highlights:

The girls have explored Hama Beads this week using the base boards to make various designs. They also used beads and pipe cleaners to design decorative snowflakes.

What the girls have enjoyed:

“Making the love heart with loads of Hama Beads.” Keziah, Reception.
“Pulling Rhoda and Isabella wherever they want to in a sleigh.” Amelia, Year 1.
“I liked making a star out of Hama Beads because I found all the patterns interesting.” Amelie, Year 5.

Looking ahead:

• The girls will be continuing to explore Hama Beads.

Term Dates

Northampton High School
Newport Pagnell Road, Hardingstone Northampton NN4 6UU
T: 01604 765765 nhsadmin@nhs.Gdst.Net