Junior Newsletter 22 June 2018

Dates for your diary

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

• 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 2.00pm

Monday 25 June – No teacher-led clubs

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

Saturday 30 June – FoNHS Family Fun Day 1-4pm

Monday 2 July – Year 1 & 2 Sports Day 2.00pm

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

Friday 6 July – Welcome Day

Friday 13 July – End of term 11.45am

Clubs

There are no teacher-led clubs on Monday 25 June due to a staff meeting.

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 27 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

Sports days
We start with Nursery and Reception on Monday 25 June from 2.00 pm, followed by Year 1 and 2 on Monday 2 July. Please park and make your way directly to the field and bring a blanket or collapsible chairs if you have them. Refreshments will be provided at the end of the event and girls will be permitted to go home straight afterwards if you wish. Sensible footwear is advised if you would like to enter the parents’ race!

Athletics Rally

On Monday the 11th June, five girls from Year 6 went to the GDST athletics rally.  Everyone did at least two events.  Lois Beacroft on hurdles, Lizzie Tansley on the 80m sprint and high jump, Laura Charles on long jump, Charlotte Urban on 600m and Jane Sigobodhla on rounders ball throw and they all did the relay at the end.  Jane was successful at rounders ball throw and came an amazing second and the girls all qualified in their relay.  Well done to everybody who competed.

Charlotte Urban – Captain

Under 11 A team v Spratton

On the 20th June the U11 A cricket team had a match against Spratton Hall.  Everyone hit at least a four and most people hit a six.  Well done to Jess who was the only person who caught Spratton out.  In the overall result we won 314 to 214 runs which is 100 difference!!  Well done to everyone who played and well done especially to Jasmine Campion who was today’s man of the match.

Charlotte Urban – Captain

Under 11 C team v Spratton 

In our second game of the season, the C team remained unbeaten after a very exciting match against Spratton. We won by an innings of 274 runs to 266, meaning we only won by 8 runs.
In such a close game, special mentions go to Emma Bristow for scoring 3 fours, Ariana Baninoe and Abigail Waugh for both getting a wicket, although the win was a team effort with great play from everyone.

Caitlin McClurg – Captain

Car Park Safety

We politely request that all visitors to the school car park be aware of the 5 mph speed limit. The speed limit is for the safety of all children and adults using this site.
There have been a few incidents reported recently regarding safety, and, as you will understand, it is our priority is to make the school site as safe as possible for everyone.
May we please ask all drivers to give way to pedestrians using the designated crossing points. Children should be dropped off in the designated bays in the parking areas, and not on the crossings or in disabled parking spaces. Please be conscious of looking both ways when pulling out of the parking bays.
We thank you for taking care and keeping safety paramount.

Arts Festival

I hope that you take up the many opportunities provided next week by our Arts Festival, which is bigger and better than ever before. Many of our older girls will enjoy the literary event on Wednesday evening when celebrated Food historian and author, Annie Gray will be in school talking about her career and the interesting eating habits of Queen Victoria, as well as signing books and answering questions.  There will be some of our girl’s work on display along with poetry readings.

Arts Festival Invitational Day

As part of our School’s 140th birthday celebrations this year, we are hosting an Arts Festival week, from Wednesday 27 June to Saturday 30 June 2018.
There is a varied programme of events to showcase the School’s extensive array of performing and creative arts. Find more details here.
The Arts Festival Invitational Day will be held on Thursday 28 June from 5.30pm to 7.00pm and will be an evening of artist awe and wonder, with shows, music and activities spilling out of every corner of the School.
We would be delighted to welcome all pupils, families, friends and neighbours to participate in these celebrations and join us at any or all of the events.
There is no entry fee and all welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!

Mrs Beacroft, Head of Creative Arts

The Sound of Music Production

The set is in place, the costumes are here, the sound and lighting ready to go…it’s almost time for this year’s School Production of The Sound of Music.
The ever-youthful Sound of Music promises to entertain the whole family with a thrilling blend of drama, harmony and song, as the free-spirited Maria tries to outwit the Nazis.
The performances will be held as follows:
Community Performance – Thursday 28 June, 10.00am
Evening Performance – Friday 29 June, 7.00pm
Behind the Scenes – Saturday 30 June, 6.00pm (interview/film with the show Director)
Final Performance – Saturday 30 June, 7.00pm
Tickets are free of charge, however for capacity seating please book your tickets at https://www.trybooking.co.uk/book/event?eid=3406&
We look forward to sharing this superb, feel-good show.

Mrs Care, Director of Theatre

Musical Talent Showcase

As part of the celebration of the School’s 140th Birthday, our Music Recital showcases the talents of our pupils, from girls in the Junior School to Sixth Form.
The Music Recital takes place on Thursday 28 June, from 7.00pm to 8.00pm, in the Theatre. The recital follows our Arts Festival Invitational event which starts earlier in the evening, at 5.30pm.
All welcome; please bring along family, friends and neighbours. We look forward to seeing you.

Mr Nathan, Director of Music

Literary Evening

Our Arts Festival this year aims to celebrate in style 140 years of the Arts at Northampton High.
You may have noticed that we are running a literary element in the Festival for the first time on Wednesday. Our guest speaker in the evening from 5:45pm is Dr Annie Gray, a food historian who appears regularly on the BBC’s Kitchen Cabinet programme. Her recent book, The Greedy Queen, lifts the lid on Queen Victoria’s eating habits and will be on sale at the event, priced £8.
As well as Dr Gray’s talk, there will also be a wide range of student work to enjoy from Junior and Senior school pupils, ranging from food (ice cream!) with a historical twist, to poetry and creative writing displays and readings. I very much hope you will be able to come along to the evening to celebrate the work of all the pupils involved and to hear Dr Gray speak, perhaps even to ask her a question about Queen Victoria’s eating habits!

Mr Rickman, Deputy Head – Academic

Summer Steam Extravaganza

On Monday and Tuesday the Outreach programme for Northampton High School, Queen’s Cross Connect, held a Summer Steam Extravaganza. Over 150 Year 5 students from local primary schools, along with our two Year 5 classes from Junior School, attended a two-day event focused on encouraging young women to engage with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).

The day started with a fantastic performance of ‘Commotion’ by Highly Sprung Theatre Company, demonstrating physical forces through dance and theatre. Next up was a carousel of workshops, including mixing up slime with Atomic Tom, making bath bombs with Lush, exploring sewage with Anglian Water.

Senior School students volunteered throughout the day, with U3S and U3H acting as hosts for the visitors, guiding the younger students with their enthusiasm for science. Two of the carousel workshops were delivered by L5 students: Café Sci created rainbow fizz, water bombs and gigantic bubbles, while GCSE Computing students posed problems to be solved through cryptography and coding. The experience of mentoring and volunteering is invaluable for our students, developing leadership skills within the community.

After a picnic lunch and a demonstration of a Mentoes rocket by Café Sci, the schools returned to the Senior Hall for a spectacular Chemistry show by Atomic Tom. The days ended with a Quiz and farewell to our visitors.

The Summer Steam Extravaganza is the first phase of our WHEW! (Women Helping to Empower Women) project, with the aim of positively impacting the futures of 140 young women in Northampton in our 140^th Anniversary year. These same Y5 students will be invited to attend follow-up Masterclasses in the Autumn, delivered by our Sixth Form. WHEW! has been made possible by a generous grant from the Northamptonshire Community Foundation through their Youth Social Action Fund. At the heart of Queen’s Cross Connect is the desire to form long-term connections with the local community and encourage volunteering.

Ms Heimfeld

Outreach Coordinator

Summer Fun Day/Mini Competition

Make sure you’re at the Summer Fun Day to find out if your entry has won the Mini competition!

FoNHS Summer Ball Fundraising for Cynthia Spencer Hospice

Northampton High’s Parent Association ‘Friends of Northampton High School’ (FoNHS) has raised £2,000 for local charity Cynthia Spencer Hospice.
Funds were raised at the recent 140th Birthday Charity Ball hosted at the Marriott Hotel, as part of the School’s 140th Birthday celebrations this year. Other FoNHS fundraising events organised through the year include The Spooktacular Party, The Sparkle Disco, The Fake It or Bake It sale and a Film Night.
This a very impressive total, and one that will that will be enhanced by the funds raised by our staff charity events, as Cynthia Spencer Hospice is also this year’s staff charity.
In recent years, the FoNHS committee has raised funds for other charities and for many projects in School, including the Forest School and a canopy for the sensory garden.
‘The ball was a wonderful evening and I would like to thank FoNHS for all of their time and energies in making this such an enjoyable event, as well as, of course, generating valuable funds for this important local charity,’ commented Dr Stringer.

FoNHS Summer Ball photos

If you took photos of the event, would you be so kind as to forward them to the office so they can be shared with Cynthia Spencer for their newsletter and added to the school’s gallery of photos.

Many thanks

Photos in Flickr

To view the Flickr photo albums please click here:

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

Nursery

Kipper Room

In Kipper room this week the girls have enjoyed practicing our races for Sports Day. They have planted our tomato plants and have had lots of fun popping the bubbles in the garden. We have also enjoyed playing with our new kitchen and role playing with our friends.

Elmer Room

The girls have enjoyed making traffic light kebabs using a variety of fruit for the different colours. Outside we have been using different skills to help with our Sports afternoon on Monday.

On Friday morning we joined with Reception and all enjoyed the outdoors, we planted sunflowers and painted them as well as enjoying lots of other activities in the afternoon
we had fun at Forest School with Reception and Year 6.

General Information

Next week we are looking forward to our Sports afternoon on Monday.

Reception

We hope that you enjoyed our Class Assembly and were rightfully proud of the achievements of all the girls who showed great confidence and an awareness of being part of a class group.

This week we have been putting the finishing touches to our art work to be displayed at the Art Festival and the finishing touches to our class dance for the Gym and Dance Extravaganza performance.

We look forward to welcoming you to our Sports Day on Monday afternoon.

Year 1

“Yesterday we went on a trip to Milton Keynes Museum. The fun bit was the Victorian school because the teacher wrote something on the board for you to copy so you didn’t have to spell it out. Avleen got told off because she was using her left hand and you’re supposed to use your right hand. And Zoe needed to put her hands through some things behind her back and sit on the string because she was wiggling.” Jessica

“In the afternoon we went inside and outside and we spoke on the telephones. All the phones were old phones that had wires and to call your friend you had to do a number by spinning the circle number round. I liked it when I was speaking to Avleen and Melodee and we were talking about going to London.” Deborah

Year 2

2N really enjoyed watching the Year 5 & 6 performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“I thought that Bottom was the funniest performer”.
“We also had lots of fun measuring and weighing food from our pretend shop”.  Diandra

“I have learned to compare the weight of food from our shop. Pasta, which weighed 1kg was heavier than a tin of soup that weighed 400g”.  Alice

Year 3

“In Maths this week I have enjoyed symmetry and making symmetrical rangoli patterns”. Natalie 

“This week I have enjoyed rehearsing our gymnastics and dance routine for the performance next week”. Beatrice 

Year 4

“This week I enjoyed Science because we made string telephones”. Lucy

“I liked doing Year 4 Dance because we finished the dance”. Rose

“DT is my highlight because we are doing circuits and designing”. Tobi

“My highlight of the week is when we were doing the light-up signs because it was fun painting the tissue box and getting messy”. Moriah

Year 5

“Yesterday in our Science lesson we went outside and tried to catch insects, most of us got some and I was running around the playground to find insects! Also we had fun when our Big Bears (Senior school girls) came to visit us and we were playing tag”. Tara

“The highlight of this week was the cricket match. The A, B, C teams all won and I played in the B team. The B team played against Spratton Hall and we won 321 against 239 and we started on 200”. Manha

Year 6

” I found researching DNA for our science homework really interesting as it was lots of fun and there were lots of different facts to learn. We also had fun in our cricket match against Spratton- it was a good practice for the GDST rally!”
Freya, 6N

” I really enjoyed creating our own songs in music because it helps us to work better with different people that we may not usually play with! I really enjoyed the GDST rally for tennis and cricket; it was lots of fun!
Annie, 6N

GAP Club

Highlights:

“Going on the bikes.”  Emily, Year 2

“I like playing with Nafisa and Bella.”  Amari, Nursery