22 March 2024
* REMINDER *
The Spring Term ends at 15:45 this coming Wednesday, with After School Club open as usual
The Summer Term starts at 08:00 on Tuesday 16 April
GDST SKI TRIP ⛷
Miss Abbott, Mrs Fowler, Mrs Braud
Our annual ski trip returned to Les Menuires in France this year, where we joined up with our sister GDST schools from Norwich, Kensington Prep and Northwood. Despite all schools having issues with delayed luggage, we managed to kit out three of our students with ski wear whilst we waited for their bags to arrive - a true case of CREATIVITY, RESILIENCE and POSITIVITY being demonstrated by everyone!
Two days of snow followed by three days of glorious sunshine allowed our girls to showcase their talents on the pistes, with everyone making great progress and having lots of fun along the way. From snow ploughs to parallel turns and jumps in the snow park, we did it all! Shopping, discos, firework displays and quizzes also meant that we all made new friends across our schools. The week finished with presentations on the slopes by our instructors, and then an early night for the 4am alarm call to return home. A great time was had by all, and many of us are already looking forward to next year’s trip.
We interviewed members of the ski party, and this is what they had to say:
"I learnt how to do parallel turns, and now I'm much better at skiing!" Coco, Y5
"The mountains were the most extraordinary sight I have ever seen." Penelope, Y6
"I now feel even more confident on skis, and I'd love to go again!" Tala, Y5
"As well as the skiing, I loved meeting girls from other GDST schools." Ellie, Y6
"The food was amazing, and it was fun when our instructor took us over jumps" Olivia, Y5
"I picked up so many more skills such as parallel stops; it's made me want to ski much more often." Minnie, Y6
"I can now ski over bumps (such fun!), and learning how to jump was great because I didn't fall over!" Amelia, Y5
A puzzling time for Year 5 🤔
Year 5's busy week started with a challenging puzzle workshop, hosted by Year 8 mathematicians in the Senior School. It was lovely to see our girls collaborating with and learning from such great role models. Thank you to Year 8 and Mrs Cooper for investing your time and creativity, and well done to 5JC and 5MC for solving so many of the problems!
Can you move two matchsticks to make this number sentence correct?
And can you do it in more than one way?
(This was just one of the challenges faced by Year 5 on Monday. Can you solve it?)
Swimming update 🏊🏽♀️
Miss Abbott
Our Year 3 and 4 swimming programme drew to a close this week with an inter-house gala, and a big cheer goes to LUXTON (below) who won a closely contested event. Congratulations to everyone who took part and demonstrated POSITIVITY by supporting their teams, RESILIENCE by competing in events that were out of their comfort zones, or EXCELLENCE by participating in a two-length (50m) race. Wow! A special mention also goes to the girls in Nina's group, where Johanna and Hamna have made excellent progress - well done!
Next term, Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will begin their swimming adventures, with some of them already having enjoyed a taster session last week and met our fabulous instructors, Nina, Ellie and Kev. It's great that we can move the pool floor up and down so that everyone can feel confident in the water - and our girls really enjoy having some of our own NGHS staff in the water with them, ensuring that everyone can make progress and have fun.
I'm looking forward to another term of helping young swimmers to learn a vital life skill in a safe and comfortable swimming environment.
An interview with Mrs Whitty 📚
Mrs Whitty is the Senior Librarian here at Nottingham Girls’ High School, overseeing both the Senior and Junior Libraries and assisted by Miss Taylor and Miss Sannerhaugen:
"I've been a school librarian for twelve years and I've worked at NGHS for over six years now, AND I LOVE IT! Being a librarian is one of the best jobs you can have, especially if you love reading and books - which I do, very much! No two days are ever the same; I enjoy the fact that I can be helping sixth form students with university applications one minute, before heading off to read picture books with our Nursery girls.
It's no big surprise that I am a very keen reader and I keep a diary of all the books that I read over the year. I'm also in three reading groups, including one that I run for staff here at school.
I visit the Junior Library at some point every day, and I also help the Year 6 teachers with their Library lessons - this is a great way for me to get to know students before they join the Senior School, providing them with another friendly face when they arrive in September to start Year 7. I also help Mrs Braud to run the Junior School's knitting club with Years 5 and 6.
One of the best parts of my job is choosing new books for our libraries. I love receiving recommendations from pupils, as well as finding inspiration in book prizes such as the Waterstones Book of the Year and the Carnegie Award.
This has been an extremely busy half term with World Book Week, one day never seems enough in our Junior School! We've enjoyed creating our own picture books - something which involved every class - we're now looking forward to the Summer Term and our ever-popular Scholastic Book Fair, which will run from Friday 17th to Wednesday 22nd May."
Congratulations to the winners of our World Book Week picture book competition! Prizes were awarded to 1G for the brilliant Where's Delilah?, to 4E's imaginative Volcano, and to Bob’s Space Adventure by a team from 5JC.
Unnamed and unclaimed 😔
Thank you to everyone who has ensured that clothing, footwear and equipment are labelled. Unfortunately, we still have a number of items in lost property which are unnamed and unclaimed in the Rainbow Room - including jumpers, PE mid-layers, a number of expensive-looking water bottles, plastic snack boxes, hats and gloves. We even have a guitar practice book and a pair of wellies that have been here for weeks!
Please note that lost property will be CLEARED at the end of term, with any remaining unnamed items being donated to a charity shop or made available to purchase at our next preloved uniform sale. ♻️
New life in Nursery 🐸
Miss Duce
Our youngest pupils in Nursery have shown great delight and excitement in their most recent additions to the class - frogspawn, kindly donated by Mr Aspley from the Senior School's Science department! These eggs support our current topics of Spring and New Life.
The girls have enjoyed taking care of the tadpole embryos, observing change over time and predicting when they will enter their next life stage. This is just one of our many projects that promote language development, awe and wonder.
A taste of things to come 😋
Year 5 girls from NGHS and external schools enjoyed a sample of Year 7 Senior School life at our Taster Day last Friday.
After a fun and NOISY icebreaker percussion session, it was straight into lessons with the girls taking to the stage in the Squire Performing Arts Centre for some expressive drama around a theme of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Science lessons then provided opportunities to conduct experiments. including testing soil samples and 'fairy potions', and in Design Technology the girls had a creative time making their own working clocks.
Rain didn't completely stop play at the end of the day; there was outdoor learning fun to be had, including marshmallows toasted over the firepit before the heavens opened again and the girls headed into the Sports Hall for team activities.
This was a wonderful day for Year 5 to step into Year 7 shoes - Taster Days are a great way to experience the Senior School and all of the inspirational academic, artistic and creative activities on offer there.
Another Senior School taster day for girls currently in Year 5 will take place on 5th July. Please feel free to share this link with friends who might be interested!
Bikeability 🚲
Bikeability cycle training equips children with vital life skills that can help them to develop a greater sense of independence, responsibility and personal safety and fitness. This course with expert instruction - which is open to Year 6 pupils - teaches cyclists how to respond to risks, and boosts their confidence on the road. This in turn increases their options for travel and exercise as they become teenagers.
Well done to the many girls who completed this year's course and who are now even better equipped for life on two wheels!
This advertisement is not an endorsement by Nottingham Girls' High School or the GDST. Information about the provider's safeguarding policy, safer recruitment practices and code of conduct should be sought from Rattle & Roll.