Junior Newsletter 15 June 2018

Dates for your diary

Class Assemblies will take place on a Wednesday at 8.40am:

• Wednesday 20 June – Reception
• Wednesday 27 June – 3N
• Wednesday 4 July – 2N
• Wednesday 11 July – Year 6 Final Assembly (2pm)

Parents and other family members are invited to join us for refreshments in the library from 8.30am.

Parents information meetings to prepare for transition into the next year group will take place on:

• Friday 6 July 12.00 – 1.00 pm for new Reception parents
• Monday 9 July 5.00 – 5.30 pm for new Year 1 and 2 parents
• Tuesday 10 July 5.00 – 5.30 pm for new Year 3 and 6 parents
• Tuesday 10 July 5.30 – 6.00 pm for new Year 4 and 5 parents

More useful dates:

Monday 25 June – EYFS Sports Day 2pm

Arts Festival Week – Wednesday 27 June to Saturday 30 June 2018

Monday 2 July – Year 1 & 2 Sports Day 2pm

Tuesday 3 July – Gymnastics and Dance Extravaganza 6.00pm – 8.00pm.

Friday 6 July – Welcome Day

Friday 13 July – End of term 11.45am

Mini roof competition

The winner will be announced on 30 June 2018 at the FoNHS Family Fun Day.

Music

Mrs Miller is planning to hold a Breakfast Concert for girls taking music exams this term. It will be at 8.00 in the morning of Wednesday 27th June. Any girl who would like to perform is very welcome – please can they let her know and she will give them more details.

Sport

GDST Athletics Rally

As you might know five Year 5 girls travelled to Bath on Monday for the GDST Athletics Rally.  The conditions were challenging as it was extremely hot.  We showed real team spirit in the relay.  Abigail Waugh, Monpriya Dhaliwal, Eryn Currie, Roja Lakshman and Ella Darby qualified for the final and came 4th overall.

Captain’s report by Ella Darby

Outdoor Learning Day

On Friday 22 June we are having an Outdoor Learning Day in the Junior School, where we are taking the curriculum out of the classroom environment. All the girls from Nursery to Year 6 need to come to school in clothes suitable for messy outdoor activities. Please ensure your daughter has her water bottle, a cap and sun cream on, as hopefully, weather permitting, we will be outside for the day. At lunchtime we are continuing the theme and the kitchen staff are providing us with a delicious picnic, which we will eat together on the back play area.

Betty meets BBC Radio Northampton!

What an exciting morning!
On Friday 15 June we were absolutely delighted to welcome Tom Percival, a radio journalist from BBC Radio Northampton, into school to talk to us all about or resident Labradoodle, Betty.
Tom and the team were fascinated to learn more about Betty, and were eager to speak to us about how Betty has fitted in with us and the impact she has had on staff and students like since her arrival.
Tom was absolutely besotted by Betty, and kicked off the first of our interviews with Dr Stringer. Dr Stringer spoke passionately about the benefits of having Betty in our school environment, and how her presence helps to support the young people in the school, especially during stressful periods such as exam season.
Mrs Purvey-Tyrer, who is Betty’s owner, spoke next and told Tom all about Betty’s routines and how she has affected her life inside and outside of the classroom. She has found that a lot of the younger girls find it easier to open up in the presence of Betty, and having her around can act as an important release at breaks and lunch times when girls need to talk.
Next it was the turn of Evie, Molly, Tanya and Lily from Senior School to chat to Tom about their excitement when they learnt of Betty’s arrival, and how having her here has had such a positive effect on school life. Although school can sometimes come with its stresses and pressures, all of the girls were in agreement that Betty is a fantastic stress relief for them, and they really feel they can open up in her presence.
Finally, we were delighted to welcome Charlotte, Ella and Harriet from the Junior School. The girls spoke superbly, explaining to Tom that when girls are feeling upset they can go and visit Betty to make them feel better. Harriet also explained that having Betty around is a huge help to girls who perhaps don’t have pets at home to get familiar with animals and their needs.
What a super occasion and a fantastic experience for our girls, and we give huge thanks to BBC Radio Northampton and to Tom who joined us throughout the morning. All of the girls spoke brilliantly about their experiences with Betty and how she has helped them, and we are delighted to see what such a positive impact she is having on our school community. We are looking forward to seeing this continue as both our girls and Betty grow in the future.
The broadcast is available below, along with the photos taking throughout the morning, with the times during the broadcast you can hear us speak also listed below.

Broadcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p067j4cb#play
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/northamptonhigh/albums/72157670138826238

Dr Stringer: 1 hour 24 mins 29 secs in
Mrs Purvey-Tyrer: 1 hour 57 mins 30 secs in
Senior Girls: 2 hours 24 mins 58 secs in
Junior Girls: 2 hours 54 mins 40 secs in

Photos in Flickr

To view the Flickr photo albums please click here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/northamptonhigh/albums

Nursery

Kipper Room

This week our planning has focused on summer and holidays. We have experimented with flying paper aeroplanes from the balcony in Senior School Reception. We have also made paper lollies and an ice cream display for our room identifying the numbers 1 to 5. On Wednesday we had an outing to buy some ice lollies developing the girls’ ability to make decisions. We also visited the Garden Centre to look at the fish and collect some soil for the tomatoes we planted last term. On Thursday we all took a dolly in the pushchair for a walk to the field and practiced running races in preparation for Sports Day.

This week we have been practicing identifying our names.

Elmer Room

This week in Elmer Room the girls have had fun learning about different kinds of transport and we have spoken about how we get to different places and went on a transport walk. We have also been creating boats where the girls had the opportunity to learn about floating and sinking.

At Forest School the girls initiated the Stickman theme where we read a story and created our own different versions of Stick Man.

General Information

Please remember it is Outdoor Learning Day on Friday 22nd June 2018 so please could all girls come in suitable clothes to spend the day outside, ideally a long-sleeved top and long trousers.

Reception

This week we have been preparing for our assembly and look forward to presenting it to you on Wednesday. We have also been practising for our sports day, thinking about the different uses of technology and revisiting the operation of subtraction.

Year 1

“This week in Maths we did measuring and we had a metre stick and a crocodile ruler. We went outside and we did some measuring of stuff. You had to make sure that you started on zero because otherwise the answer wouldn’t be right. We had to measure one thing 4 times!” Zoe

“We learned about the Vikings. They stole things, like shiny things and gold and treasure and money and food and land from other people. They travelled on a boat that had a sail and some oars. I enjoyed making a Viking boat using card and blu-tac and felt.” Harini

Year 2

“I had such fun teaching my grandparents how to make a forest eye”  Safiya

“My grandparent’s forest eye was the neatest”  Mya

“We did a good job together”  Millie

Year 3

“My favourite part of this week was definitely going to Grendon! I really enjoyed the archery. I shot just outside of the blue colour”.  Emily S

“My favourite part of the week was going to Grendon and doing the low ropes because there was lots of activities you had to do. You had lots of challenges.
I also enjoyed learning about coordinates in Maths”.  Verity

Year 4

“My highlight of the week was the Starburst tasting and the describing activity”. Tanya

“My highlight of the week was in Gym when we had to guide another person through an obstacle course and then they would guide you through”. Sherain

“I liked the school trip on Monday because we learnt about habitats”. Lydia

Year 5

Please note we have changed the date of the Fashion/Food Taster day, which was originally 20th June, to Wednesday 4th July because of a sports fixture clash. You may see in your daughters planner a request to bring in ingredients on 20th June so please be aware that ingredients will be required on 4th July instead.

“My highlight of the week was going to the athletics competition in Bath and I did the relay and rounders ball throwing. We got into the final of the relay and came 4th out of 8”. Monpriya

“My highlight of this week was doing our school play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was a fox and I really liked the dance we did, it was lots of fun”. Abigail

Year 6

As Year 6 teachers we are so proud of our girls this week. Not only have they consolidated and deepened their understanding of percentages, presented professional critical evaluations of the Greenaway shortlist and investigated the wonders of DNA but they have also delivered amazing performances of none other than ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Well done girls! You are certainly reaching for the stars!

More news from Selene next week.

GAP Club

This week one girl from Year Six and one girl from Year Four shared their highlight of the week in GAP Club:

“I would like to do more free choice poster painting on cardboard as I really enjoyed this activity.” Fleur, Year Six

“I enjoying playing with the Polly Pockets, they were one of my favourites when I was younger.” Charlotte, Year Four.