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Junior News
Junior Newsletter 28 September 2018
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Dear Parents and girls,
On a personal level, this week has proved to be everything I hoped that it would be, having had the time and opportunity to get to know the girls a little better and to meet more of the parents. The warmth that I felt on first entering the Junior School was very evident today as the community came together to have fun in a good cause at the MacMillan Coffee Morning. I would like to thank all involved in this wonderful event, from the organisers and the bakers to those who just came along to give a donation and to fill their tummies!
It has certainly been a week of celebration, starting with Year 6’s assembly on Monday, where we learnt more about their positions of responsibility and the importance of leadership. We were also joined by members of the Eco Team from the Senior School, who told us about the new eco-friendly and compostable ‘plastic’ that is being used in the Dining Room. Members of our Eco Council will now join the older girls in their meetings and we are proud of all that they – and the rest of the Year 6 leaders – are doing. Today we celebrated the achievements of individuals, which included the awarding of two much-coveted Blue Peter badges.
A memory that will be etched onto all of our minds for some time to come was Wednesday’s assembly, led by Mr Attwood, Subject Leader of Biology. The theme was ‘Pumpkins’, and Mr Attwood had plenty of his hand-grown vegetables on show. These included the traditional as well as the more unusual: ‘Crown Prince’; ‘Blue Banana’; ‘Pink Banana’ and a highly impressive ‘Tromboncio’. He explained that in order to successfully grow his vegetables he needs to prevent poppies from growing on his land and to think about the weather. In doing so he took us on a journey from the snow of last winter, through the scorching summer and into the autumn harvest via John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, the place of Moina Michael and Anna Guerin in the history of the poppy as a symbol and into the science and practicalities of mulching. His grand finale was three songs, for which he was ably accompanied by Teni in the Sixth Form and significant audience participation. It was an assembly that was poignant, interesting and entertaining in equal measure and I certainly wasn’t the only one wiping tears of laughter from my cheeks by the end!
The subject of ‘Seasons’ is very much on our minds at present as we plan for a themed Open Morning on Saturday 6 October. The girls and their teachers are busy preparing their rooms and it is wonderful to see the obvious celebration of their work and their day-to-day activities.
It looks as though autumn will be kind to us this weekend, so I very much hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine.
Caroline Petryszak
Interim Head of Junior School
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Mrs Petryszak's availability
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Mrs Petryszak will be on site Monday, Tuesday and Friday this term, with the exception of week commencing 15 October and 5 November, when she will be in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. She is, however, contactable on c.petryszak@nhs.gdst.net or via the school office on any day of the working week.
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A Welcome Event will be held from 5-6 pm on Wednesday 17 October to which all parents and their daughters are welcome. More information to follow.
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Achievements
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Each week in Friday’s assembly, girls are invited to share their achievements in activities outside of school. They are listed below for this week:
LAMDA Distinction
Fern Almond
Amy Ayris
Frankie Beale
Safiya Clayson
Emily Gates
Mollie Molloy
Tanya Murugan
Sophia Pang
Sienna Patel
Chanan Sehmi
Esme Seymour
Verity Smith
Millie Taylor
Beatrice Thorpe
Swimming Gala
Emily Moore – came 5th, 6th and 8th against older girls
Blue Peter Badge
Isla Allen – sports
Emily Gates – collage
Violin
Chanan Sehmi Grade 1 Distinction
Gymnastics
Lily Ashton – Bars 1st
Isla Howard – Bars 2nd, Vault 3rd, Floor 1st
Theatre
Eloise Kirkwood – Stage Academy Certificate
Scouts
Verity Smith -Scout blanket with badges eg one for camping
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General messages
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Class Assemblies are held in the Junior School hall at 8.35 am on Wednesdays, and parents are most welcome to enjoy refreshments from 8.00 am. Here are the dates for this term:
Year 4 – 3 October
Year 3 – 17 October
Year 2 – 14 November
Year 5N – 28 November
Year 5H – 5 December
Year 1 – 12 December
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The Junior School post box is situated next to the Junior School office in reception. Please put any forms or correspondence in the post box as this will be emptied regularly.
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Well done to everyone who donated so generously to our cake sale and helped us raise over £400 for Macmillan, the official total will be in Junior News next week.
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“Hello, my name is Nicola and I am the Creative Therapist based in the Junior School. I work with children on a one to one and sometimes group basis. Sessions are offered for children to explore their inner and outer worlds in a creative, non directive and non judgmental way. Having this time can be a valuable resource for children to understand themselves, their feelings and anything else they may choose to bring. In my toolkit I have drawing, painting, talking, games, puppets, sand tray with small world figures, music, and lots more. If you would like to know more about the Creative Therapy service please do let me know via Mrs Purvey-Tyrer. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
Warm wishes”
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After being a superstar at ‘All About Dogs’ Y4 Enrichment on Wednesday afternoon (see photo), Betty has now got herself into trouble. Miss Trevorrow had been saving her delicious carrot cake on the staffroom table to eat later but unfortunately a cheeky 8 month old Labradoodle got there first! Needless to say not a crumb was left on the staffroom carpet!
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Maisie had a fantastic day with CLIC Sargent Children’s Charity, presenting a 30,000 strong petition to the Minister of Health and Social Care, campaigning for financial support for travel costs for families with seriously ill children.
Here she is demonstrating in Parliament Square!
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A Team Hockey Report
On Wednesday we played in the IAPS Hockey Tournament. We lost 3 matches and won one. It was pleasing to win our last match as the team we beat went through to the final rounds, proving that we have got what it takes to do even better next time. I am very proud of my team and was very impressed by the goals scored by Ella Darby and Charlotte Fordham. Well done team!
Roja Lakshman
Captain of the A team
B Team Hockey Report
On Wednesday the B team played against Broughton Manor Prep. We sadly lost but worked our hardest. The Player of the Match was Charlotte Evans-Hillman.
Charlotte Evans-Hillman
Captain of the B Team
C Team Hockey Report
On Wednesday we played a match against Broughton Manor Prep. We played very well and won 3-0! Goals were scored by Indiana Ransley, Gemma Stowey and Imogen Coppard. The Player of the Match was Tara Etemadi.
Imogen Coppard
Captain of the C Team
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To view the Flickr photo albums please click here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/northamptonhigh/albums
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Our week
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Elmer Room
This week the girls have been continuing to look at themselves by making paper plate collages and using the touch screen to draw self portraits. They have also enjoyed the sunshine. At Forest School the girls made bark rubbings and homes for the toy animals. In the garden we have planted spring bulbs and pansies. We are now waiting for them to grow!!
Next week your daughter may experience the following activities:
Cooking fruit faces
Cleaning teeth
Ordering routines – getting ready for bed.
Kipper Room
In Kipper Room this week we have enjoyed going for a walk on the field to collect leaves to create our pictures. The girls have experienced conker rolling which they liked. We have also played in the garden pushing the dolls, travelling around in the cars and climbing on the climbing frame.
General information
The sheet to sign up for your Parents’ Evening appointment will be on the Parents Information board next week.
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This week we have been thinking about the number 3, the colour red and the triangle shape. We have introduced our ‘sound corner’ to the girls and have looked at the sounds m, s, a ,d. Please ask your daughter to tell you the phrase to go with each sound and think of some things in your house that start with the same sound.
Using our sense of smell, the girls enjoyed playing ‘What can you smell?’, trying to decide what was in the pots just by smell – some very interesting answers!
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Year 1 have had a wonderful week learning about instruction writing, counting backwards and making homes for a hedgehog. The big red bus role play area is now a London Café and we have been practising our newly learned handwriting skills to create signs and menus. In computing, we searched for London landmarks on the child-friendly search engine ‘Kiddle’ and we are getting better at logging on and off the school computers independently.
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“I have loved Maths this week. I liked the work as it got harder and harder because I can learn more.” Harriet Seymour
“I have liked Computing this week and finding out about The Great Fire of London. I used Kiddle to look for pictures and information.” Sophie Hammond
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“I liked getting challenged in Maths this week.” Millie
“I enjoyed making up words like Roald Dahl used in the BFG.” Ellie
Next week we are designing packaging for our made up chocolate bars. Can we invent chocolate as exciting as Mr Willy Wonka?
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“I liked handball in PE because it was fun.” Frankie
“My highlight of the week was the walk when we had to read a map. We had a playtime in a big field and we went for a two hour walk. I had lots of fun reading the map.” Ella-May
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“On Wednesday evening Dr Suzie Imber came to see us and she told us about her life. She was asked to do a show called ‘Astronauts – do you have what it takes?’ and she won! She had to do lots of difficult challenges and one of them was when she was in a spinning thing that made 15 times more gravity on her and they had to spell out Russian words at the same time… and they had only seen the Russian alphabet the night before! They had to go to an underwater house that was at the bottom of the ocean, and when they got there they had a call to say that the air was poisonous and they only had 30 minutes to figure out what to do. The judges were looking for who would step forward and take the lead. We really enjoyed Dr Suzie’s talk and the pictures and videos. We thought her message was really inspirational – try lots of different things, challenge yourself and enjoy your life!” Charlotte, Poppy, Anna, Lilybella & Niamh
“My highlight of the week was the Maths lesson. In Maths we did taking away and I found it really fun.” Rose
“In Humanities we looked at Google Maps and we found our school on satellite mode. We all found our homes and saw lots of people frozen like statues, and cars too. We enjoyed this a lot and we liked the man that we could drag and drop to zoom in.” Emily
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This week has been another busy week for Year 6. We have led an assembly on leadership, had the opportunity to decide whether we have what it takes to become an astronaut at Cafe Sci, been amazed by Mr Attwood and his amazing pumpkins and songs as well as being extremely hard working in class!
“I had a lot of fun at hockey and even scored a goal!” Gemma
“In English I really enjoyed performing the Kraken by Tennyson!” Charlotte E-H
“I really enjoyed learning how to create a Mind Map!” Lola
“In Maths I really enjoyed the challenge of rounding numbers in the billions!” Imogen
“I had an amazing time at The IAPs tournament. I scored one goal and set-up another!” Ella
“In Science I have really enjoyed the challenge of creating classification keys!” Arna
Charlotte Evans-Hillman and Arna Kar
House and Vice Captain of Hestia
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This week in GAP Club we have been thinking about Autumn. The girls have enjoyed making autumn leaves, conker rolling, making Autumn crowns and playing and having fun.
Two girls from Nursery have shared their highlight of the week in GAP Club.
“Making a Autumn crown.” Harriet, Nursery.
“Playing.” Isabella, Nursery.
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Northampton High School
Newport Pagnell Road, Hardingstone Northampton NN4 6UU
T: 01604 765765 nhsadmin@nhs.Gdst.Net
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