29 November 2024
Personal gifting between pupils 🎁
Mrs Fowler and the NGHS Juniors teaching team
With the festive season nearly upon us, we are asking pupils not to bring personal gifts to school for other children, and to refrain from organising 'Secret Santa' activities on school premises. In our experience, these well-meant initiatives can sometimes end in unintentional upset, with some children feeling left out or 'short-changed', and with gifts lost or damaged. An element of one-upmanship can also develop, and some families may not wish to spend as much as others.
We will continue our tradition of exchanging Christmas cards at school and our customary Christmas post box will open on Monday 2 December, however we would ask that these do not contain gifts or food items.
There will of course be occasions when families wish to exchange personal gifts. Please feel free to supervise this yourselves at the school gate, whilst ensuring any children's presents are taken straight home. Thank you.
Big Sister, Little Sister
Mrs Braud and Mr Cox
Transition to Senior School begins early at NGHS Juniors, with girls working with Key Stage 3 specialist practitioners from Year 4 onwards and increasingly being introduced to new places, different routines and added responsibilities (such as homework and following a timetable) as they progress towards Year 7.
One of the cornerstones of managing this important change is our Year 6 BIG SISTER, LITTLE SISTER programme - a series of informal workshops and visits led by empathetic students from Years 12 and 13. Commencing with icebreaker activities in the Autumn Term, these sessions run through the academic year and provide opportunities for girls to find out more about life at secondary school, so that September presents a much less daunting prospect.
Sports Desk 🏑
Miss Abbott
Wow, our Wall of Fame in the Rainbow Room is almost full of this term’s sporting achievements - and it’s not yet December! Well done to everyone who has made it on to the board so far. I wonder, how full will it be by the end of the year? 🤔
With darkening days, our floodlit on-site sporting facilities really came into their own this week, illuminating our creditable 0-0 draw against the Hollygirt girls' and boys' team. Matches will resume in the new year, so we have plenty of time for training and preparation!
Hot on the heels of last week’s inter-house Y3/Y4 netball, we finished our sporting week with Y5/Y6 inter-house hockey. Huge congratulations go to the winners, SKEEL, who played some excellent hockey and showed that they have developed their skills and learnt about the rules of the game. This marks the end of our current PE and games units in Years 3 to 6, with the girls changing to the following activities from next week:
Year 3 - gymnastics and hockey
Year 4 - gymnastics and hockey
Year 5 - dance and netball
Year 6 - gymnastics and netball
Girls in Years 3-4 must have shin pads, hockey socks and - most importantly - mouth guards in their PE bags at all times.
All girls are expected to have PE kit in school every day, as timetables are sometimes subject to change without notice.
🏃🏻♀️ 🏃🏼♀️ 🏃🏾♀️ 🏃🏻♀️
Good luck to all of our cross country runners in tomorrow’s final league race.
There have been some excellent results so far, so let’s finish the season on a high!
Below: The author of Diver's Daughter, Patrice Lawrence speaks about the inspiration behind her novels and working to make children's literature more inclusive.
Year 5 curriculum - a snapshot ✍🏼
Mrs Crawshaw
“Our aim is simple. We want all girls to be extraordinary and to grow into happy, confident, resilient and compassionate leaders of the future.”
In Year, 5 our cross-curricular learning approach develops skills in teamwork, creativity and critical thinking, with our class text of Rogues’ Gold by John Pilkington supporting the Autumn Term history topic The Golden Age: A study of Elizabethan England.
This action-packed mystery and adventure story explores themes of drama, death, intrigue and scandal, providing students with detailed glimpses into Tudor domestic life on a great estate and the trials and tribulations of travelling actors.
We also endeavour to provide our girls with a broad curriculum that inspires them in their thinking beyond the classroom. Our home study text, Diver’s Daughter by Patrice Lawrence, certainly does this as it explores diversity in the 1500s with a compelling narrative that reveals the achievements of Black Tudors alongside harsh realities such as enslavement, prejudice and discrimination. As well as being a thrilling tale of skullduggery tinged with sadness, this book also evokes the living conditions, architecture, superstitions and religious strife of those times.
Well done, Year 5 - you have engaged really well with these texts and are developing a passion and curiosity for history. You are certainly beginning to understand how and why people interpret the past in different ways, and I have seen some excellent creative writing in our English lessons!
Below: Summarising key events and creating vivid descriptions of characters and situations. This has included adding extra information through the use of parentheses (dashes, brackets and commas), as well as using a range of sentence starters and figurative language.
'Looming ominously ahead of them, the ramshackle cottages stood frozen ...'
Charlotte
'Ben and Lady Sarah were trembling with fear - they did not know if Master Bullen and Sir Ralph were following them.'
Aleesha
'As exhausted as a hunting dog after it's ill, the two fugitives edged on as fast as their feet could take them to reach the vast open countryside, ...’
Junli
‘Their hearts were beating like drums, as Ben felt a cold shiver up his spine, …’
Evie
'An eerie silence wandered the streets of Cobham, …’
Jaime
''As they tiptoed down the winding lane, the smell of woodsmoke drifted towards them (making them hungry) on the gentle breeze ...'
Emily
Mrs Whitty recommends ... 📚
It is often said that the past is full of the best stories ever told, and I believe this is why historical fiction continues to be one of the most popular genres chosen from the Junior Library - its ability to transport the reader to another time or place in an instant provides endless possibilities.
Whilst non-fiction is an excellent resource of information – and we have some fantastic information books in the library – I believe the way in which a well-told story can engage and move us is special. Like pulling back the curtain on another period of history, it gives us the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes and see their world through their eyes - all without leaving the comforts of our own times.
Here are the top historical fiction picks from the Junior Library which chime with current and imminent topics in Years 3 to 6:
INCREDIBLE INDIA (Y3)
The Girl Who Stole an Elephant
by Nizrana Farook
Chaya, a no-nonsense, outspoken hero, leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on a noisy, fraught, joyous adventure through the jungle where revolution is stirring, and leeches lurk.
THE VIKINGS (Y3)
The Secret Viking Adventure
by Ally Kennen
A brilliantly original and dazzling novel for younger readers. Coffin-stealing, boat-burning, telling lies - Carla's crazy plan includes them all.
ANCIENT EGYPT (Y4)
The Mummy’s Curse
by M.A. Bennett
A time travelling adventure to discover the secrets of Tutankhamun. Three children are given an impossible task: travel to 1922 and uncover the mummy first. Would you risk the future to change the past?
ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND (Y5)
To Kill a Queen
by Valerie Wilding
It's the1580s. Queen Elizabeth's enemies plot against her and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne. While Kitty's father works on secret projects for Elizabeth, Mary's supporters edge closer by the minute and Kitty fears the worst.
WORLD WAR TWO (Y5)
Mohinder’s War
by Bali Rai
A thrilling wartime adventure set in occupied France, featuring an Indian RAF pilot. Great for fans of Michael Morpurgo and John Boyne, and for those who enjoy historical fiction with diverse viewpoints.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE (Y6)
The Royal Rebel
by Bali Rai
Also by Leicester-based author Bali Rai, this tells the incredible true story of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of the last Sikh ruler of Punjab and goddaughter to Queen Victoria. Sensitive to injustice, she fought hard for a woman's right to vote.
❄️ Christmas craft fair ❄️
Junior School pupils will be able to attend this event on Thursday afternoon with their teachers; there is no obligation to make a purchase. Girls wishing to buy items to take home may bring a maximum of £15 to school in a named purse or envelope, handed to their class teacher at 08:30 for safekeeping. They should also bring a reusable bag for any purchases.
🎄 Parents may visit the craft fair from 15:45, via the playground 🎄
GDST Christmas card competition
Mrs Fowler
Well done to everyone who entered this year's competition. Winners and recipients of highly commended awards will be announced next week. For now, enjoy our two galleries - click on the images, left and below! 😀
Dealing with the enemy ♟️
Mr Cox
Well done to our intrepid A team comprising Alana P, Olivia K, Junli C and Aleesha G who played in round one of the Nottingham Primary Schools Chess Association league on Tuesday evening. This was a tough and well-attended match against six other schools, ending with us in 7th position out of a field of 12 teams.
The girls put up a valiant fight; special congratulations go to Olivia and Alana for notching up two wins each, and again to Olivia for defeating a very experienced and confident opponent in under nine minutes.
We can now look forward to fielding two teams and notching up more points in the next round after Christmas, with the prospect of competitions for beginners and more intermediate players later in the Spring and Summer Terms. In the meantime, we're going to work on being even more aggressive in dealing with the enemy!
The Nottinghamshire Primary Schools Chess Association is hosting another another chess course on Saturday 4th January 2025 at Nottingham High School - for boys and girls of all abilities. Information can be obtained from their website: www.notsprimarychess.uk
