Children's Mental Health Week 2025
Mrs Braud
During Children’s Mental Health week, we have been encouraging the girls to discover how getting to know who they are can help to build resilience, grow and develop - especially by identifying and normalising emotions. We have also been learning how to develop our 'inner coach', whilst suppressing our 'inner critic' through positive affirmation.
Positive self-talk provides us with courage and strength in challenging situations; it reminds us to use strategies that help us to feel calm, and it helps us to keep positive thoughts in our heads.
Thank you to Miss Wall for sending us these pictures of POSITIVE hearts from this week's Outdoor Learning lessons!
Giving girls a voice
Giving girls a voice
Mr Rolfe
Click on the GALLERY below for highlights:
On Tuesday, we hosted an entire day of activities for in-house taught vocalists, along with opportunities to perform solos in the evening. Professional opera singer Louise Collett worked with the attendees over two workshops, developing performance skills and adding confidence which were subsequently very evident on stage. We are most grateful to Louise for taking time out of her busy schedule to visit our school, and for the care, expertise and commitment of our own voice tutors Mrs Keys, Mrs Hales and Miss Brackenbury.
What a privilege to witness such a fabulous demonstration of musical excellence and passion for singing!
WORLD BOOK DAY
BE IN IT TO WIN IT!
Mrs Crawshaw is on the lookout for a strong pair of men's braces. Mr Cox is experimenting with Brylcreem - thus far unsuccessfully. Mrs Braud is feeling passionate about a cause. And Mrs Bailey's not giving away any clues.
Who will YOU be on World Book Day? ...
* REMINDER *
World Book Day will be on Thursday 6 March, and we would love the girls to come to school dressed as a character from a children's book that was published between 1875 and 1950. Prizes - especially for characters from titles published during this period - will be awarded for the best costumes in different age groups - so start thinking about your costumes now, girls!
Year 6 informal concert
Mr Rolfe
This week's informal concert was an absolute triumph of teamwork with roadies, front of house staff, ushers, microphone operators and sound desk operators all collaborating to support polished performances from our talented instrumentalists and vocalists.
The concert showcased a variety of musical items and styles, demonstrating our commitment to diversity and breaking down stereotypes, and the girls' finale medley from My Son Pinocchio gave the audience an excellent preview of the 2025 end-of-year production.
It was especially lovely to catch up with so many parents afterwards, and to have the chance to speak about the boundless musical opportunities that will follow in Senior School. Well done, 6B and 6C!
Full footage from this event will follow in this term's edition of Tuning Up.
The minds of others
Mr Cox
As well as speaking about the importance of articulating our own state of mental wellbeing, girls in Year 6 have been looking at the impact of crime on victims as part of their History of Crime and Punishment topic.
Having recently reenacted the famous 20th century court case of the real-life Emmeline Pankhurst, the girls have studied the classic narrative poem of The Highwayman, and how a character from that tragic love story set in the 17th century might have composed a Victim Personal Statement in a modern day trial. There are very strict rules about what can and cannot be written in such documents, which are read out in court prior to sentencing.
Well done, girls - your victim statements demonstrate great empathy for those who bear the consequences of crime, even after justice has been served:
'The anxiety this has caused me is forever lasting; I stay up every night, hoping I will never hear the sound of marching militia again. I wait for my beloved daughter at the dining table, even preparing food for her, but no answers follow. I swear sometimes I can still hear her distant voice, but I know it is impossible ...'
(By Mimi, 6C - awarded this week's certificate for CREATIVITY)
Your honour,
'Since my daughter died, I've had an emotional breakdown ... I now suffer from a great depression. She made me feel joy, and now this crime has taken that away from me.
My business will most likely fail, because who would want to come to a pub that had a shooting? My anxiety has risen; I am afraid that more people will invade my home, and that will remind me of that day of terror ... I would be too scared to defend myself.'
Your honour,
'Ever since that night, I've had bad dreams about the militia coming into my pub and damaging it. I still wake up at night and check every room.
This crime has affected me because when they stormed in, they tied me to a chair and slapped me hard so I would be quiet. And look, I still have a mark on my arm.
I miss my daughter so much; I should have protected her from that highwayman who came to her window at night.
I am too upset to read this aloud, so I have asked a good friend to read it to the court for me.'
Your honour,
'For countless nights, I have not been able to sleep due to horrible nightmares. This has resulted in me sleeping during the day and not being able to serve my very few customers. Broke and lonely, my wife and I have to survive on the very little we now have.
But that's not all ... I am now stuck with severe memory loss, sometimes even forgetting that my very own daughter is gone and causing my wife the pain of having to explain it to me.
Will I ever see my little Bessie again?'
Learning through storytelling
Miss Duce, Mrs Brown, Mrs Garton, Mrs Crabtree
On Tuesday, girls from Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 all enjoyed a series of interactive storytelling and drama workshops linked to their current topics. Led by a visiting practitioner from Perform for Schools, the high octane afternoon included educational quests to uncover the mysteries of the deep, learn about oceans and marine life, hunt for the elusive 'Pearl of the Ocean', and meet Smelly Fish Jelly Fish in a fun rap!
Mr Cox goes to town
On Wednesday, Mr Cox joined other Key Stage 2 teachers from our GDST family of schools at London's Centre for Literacy in Primary Education for a truly inspiring poetry workshop. Collaboration with practitioners from other Trust schools and continuous investment in personal development opportunities hosted by experts are just two of the benefits of being part of a network of progressive girls-first schools. In this particular case, our teachers were privileged to work with Charlotte Hacking who recently edited the much-acclaimed Final Year by Matt Goodfellow (a book that we are happy to recommend for Years 5 and 6).
This was a very thought-provoking course which presented lots of great ideas that will help us to further develop our engaging, relevant and stretching English curriculum - especially through the use of performance poetry to enhance girls' vocabulary and confidence in public speaking, and through tapping into relatable personal childhood experiences to inspire composition:
Great (dashed) expectation 🍨
By Mr C, aged 7-ish, whose school lunches were nothing like the delicacies served up at NGHS ...
Oh, the disappointment
Of the ice cream scoop of dread
That clicks and deposits
Lumpy potato instead
Sadly, none of our staff can enter this prestigious GDST competition, however we do urge girls from Years 1 to 6 to channel their inner poet and HAVE A GO:
Poetry, please
The GDST Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize was established in memory of Laurie Magnus by his widow. Laurie Magnus was a GDST Council member from 1907, and Chairman from 1929 until his death in 1933. He also wrote The Jubilee Book of the Girls’ Day School Trust (1923).
Entries for NGHS Juniors Years 1-6 should be emailed to Mrs Sail l.sail@not.gdst.net no later than 9am on Friday 7 March.
SPORTING SUCCESS 🏃♀️
Miss Abbott
Huge congratulations to Elsie from 6B who won the U11 County Cross Country Championships at the weekend; she is now City and County Champion. WHAT A RESULT!
Well done also to Magdalena, Maya and Tilly who came 11th, 24th and 64th respectively in the same event. These are all great achievements, competing against the best runners from across Nottinghamshire and up against over 150 other girls.
Our Year 6 netball teams were out in force again this week, as we hosted our friends from Northampton High School GDST. The games were tense affairs, with our A team coming back from 6-9 down to draw the game 10-10. Well done, girls - plenty of resilience on show! The NGHS B team also demonstrated plenty of positivity in a close match, ultimately losing 3-4 in a game that the neutrals thought we deserved to win. Congratulations to Lacey and Georgia who were players of the match for their respective teams.
We visit Sheffield next week and are making good improvements week-on-week as we strive to perform our best at the upcoming GDST Condover residential weekend.
PE kit reminder
Thank you to those parents who have covered the old school crest with the sew-on patches that are available from Senior School reception. Please can we remind you that uniform is no longer sold second hand with the old crest - all kit should bear the current crest.
Outside of school, congratulations also go to badminton superstars Sophia (5C) and her sister, Michelle in Year 7, who were selected to represent England in the U13 and U11 categories respectively, playing at the European Youth Games in December. They both performed absolutely brilliantly, and helped England to become champions in both the U13 and U11 age groups.
On top of that, Sophia also demonstrated her resilience in the individual games, winning Bronze in the U11 Girls' Singles, Silver in the U11 Girls' Doubles and Gold in the U11 Mixed Doubles 🥉🥈🥇 - well done indeed!
Thank you, Mrs Webster!
Mrs Fowler
We will be saying a huge thank you and a truly fond farewell to Mrs Webster - one of our amazing teaching assistants - next week, after five and a half years at NGHS Juniors.
Mrs Webster has welcomed hundreds of girls and families to the playground every morning, supported girls in class and on study visits, and most recently has also worked in After School Club. She will be very much missed by the girls and staff alike, and we wish her all the best as she takes up an exciting new role with Life Skills Education.
Across the school, we have been learning that BIG FEELINGS can affect our mental health, and it sometimes helps to talk to someone about these feelings:
Words of wisdom from 5C and 6B
Mrs Crawshaw and Mrs Braud
Positive self talk:
Today is a new day
I am amazing
I am loved
You can do this
I can be whatever I want to be
You've got this!
You're the best version of yourself
You’re awesome!
Click on the GALLERY below to see more examples of who we can speak with about our feelings:
Social media update
We are in the process of closing down our school X (formerly Twitter) accounts. As a school that prides itself on providing a positive and supportive environment in which everyone is respected, we no longer feel that X fits with our ethos and values.
Please follow us on our established Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, and join us on Threads and BlueSky too!
Music Makers return! 🎻🎺
Week 1 - Monday 14 to Friday 18 July
Week 2 - Monday 21 to Friday 25 July
Music Makers has delivered inspirational courses at NGHS for the past eighteen years, aimed at children from a range of ages in a secure and exciting environment. This is all about enriching attendees' experience of music with new ideas.
The course - developed and run by Mark Rolfe - is one of the few music summer schools that welcomes both absolute beginners and more experienced musicians. Beginners are enthused by starter instrumental lessons and workshops, and more advanced musicians are challenged with innovative activities. Each weekly course concludes with a concert, where everyone can showcase their talents to family and friends. All activities are led by a highly experienced and fully DBS-checked team of professionals, including visiting musicians and student volunteers.
Bring your sibling to Nursery
THURSDAY 8 MAY
Miss Duce and Mrs Astill
If you have another daughter aged 2-3 years, we warmly invite you to our Bring your Sibling to Nursery Day in May - cousins and friends are of course welcome too! This will take place in our Nursery classroom from 8.30-11.30am, and parents are welcome to either leave their daughters with our Nursery team or stay to watch them exploring.
There will be lots to do, including painting, messy play and a dance session - a fun-packed morning, full of learning opportunities and a great way to make new friends.
