8 November 2024
BBC Children in Need
Our annual sponsored BBC Countryfile Ramble will take place on Friday 15 November, with tram travel to and from the start and finish points for most girls and staff once again generously provided by NET.
(The venues for this year's walk have changed from Attenborough Nature Reserve to Highfields Park and Wollaton Park, due to a path closure and unavailability of WCs at Attenborough.)
* * CHECKLIST * *
Girls should come to school in NGHS PE kit, with trainers or walking boots (no bare arms or legs, please)
NGHS school coats and rucksacks
Morning AND afternoon treat or fruit snacks (no nuts, no jumbo sharing packs)
Nursery-Y2 - one full water bottle
Y3 - Y6 - two full water bottles
Inhaler and/or epipen, if applicable
Optional 'Pudsey Bear' accessories (click below for examples):
Sporting resilience! 💪🏼
Miss Abbott
A huge well done to the cross country team who had a very long Thursday this week, travelling all the way to Croydon High School for the GDST Rally. It was a great course, and a very worthwhile experience to compete against other teams in our family of girls-first schools. Everyone ran hard and to the best of their abilities, acquitting themselves well in a highly competitive field.
NGHS Juniors also entered the Under 11 GDST football tournament on the same day, and played very well against a number of our sister schools. A long and tiring day for all of us, but we made memories to last a lifetime!
Mountain challenge fitness sheets
Girls in Years 3-5 should now return their sheets to me, so that we can celebrate achievements and award house points. I hope that pupils and parents have enjoyed the challenge of daily exercise, and that many of you will carry on with this as part of your daily routine. There will be a new and super exciting ADVENT CALENDAR CHALLENGE to look forward to over the Christmas holiday!
POPPY APPEAL 2024
Year 6 Sisters of Charity
Thank you to everyone who has supported this year's Poppy Appeal in aid of The Royal British Legion. Our pop-up shop will open for the last time on Monday morning - Armistice Day - when we will observe the national two-minute silence at 11 o'clock. By then, we hope to have raised around £300!
At our annual Remembrance assembly on Friday this week, Mrs Fowler read the poem In Flanders Fields by the Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John MacCrae, and Mr Cox talked to us about traditions on Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. We then sang Poppies, written and composed by our very own Mrs Keys.
Here are just two examples of the clips which we've been watching and discussing with our teachers this week:
Calling all aspiring artists!
Mrs Crawshaw
I am pleased to launch the GDST Junior Christmas Card Competition for 2024! This year, we would like students to submit an A4 piece of artwork based on a festive theme - you can use paint, pastel, felt tip, pencil or collage.
Entries should be given to class teachers by 09:00 on WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER, with first name and class stated clearly on the reverse.
One winner from EYFS and KS1 and one winner from KS2 will be submitted to GDST, with our Chief Executive Cheryl Giovannoni then selecting the overall winner.
The winner will receive a £50 gift voucher, with her design then featuring on the GDST website used trust-wide as a festive email sign-off.
Above: In 2021, our very own Emily Dewar was the overall winner, with her wonderful picture of a snowman. Fingers crossed for this year, NGHS - and remember ...
You have to be in it to win it!
SPORTS LEADERS EXCEL
Mrs Fowler
Our six Sports Leaders attended a conference this week where they learnt how to run and adapt games for younger children, with the aim of keeping all participants as active as possible. The leaders have already returned to school and taught a lesson to their Year 6 peers on improving personal bests through sport-based challenges, and now are keen to get started on improving physical activity provision at lunchtime for all Nursery, Infant and Junior School pupils. We cannot wait to see this in action - well done for hitting the ground running, girls!
Year 6 are inspired! ✍🏼
Mr Cox and Mrs Braud
Fresh back from Half Term, 6B and 6C hit the ground running on Monday morning when they joined Year 7 in the Squire Performing Arts Centre for a talk by the hugely successful children's writer, Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
This author visit and book signing - organised by our Head Librarian, Mrs Whitty - gave the girls an insight to the creative writing process, which in Kiran's case is often inspired by real-life places and natural phenomena, or 'nature-led magic' such as the volcanic lava tubes which she visited on the Canary Islands and the zombie fungus which she read about in wildlife journals.
Well done to Aggy for fielding such a good question for Year 6, and to everyone for spotting that Kiran's search for inspiration in nature and imagined worlds mirror those of the creator of The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis.
Hedgehog bread! 🦔
Miss Duce
In Nursery this week, our girls have been learning about autumn and hedgehogs, looking at hibernation, adaptation, habitats and seasonal changes. The icing on the cake was trying out a hands-on activity to see how bread is kneaded and then rises as it is baked, with some lovely hedgehog-shaped loaves to take home. 🍞
Year 5 study visit to the Harley Foundation
Mrs Crawshaw
As part of our progressive and cross-curricular approach to Art & Design and History, Year 5 visited the Portland Collection at Welbeck Abbey on Tuesday.
This guided gallery tour and hands-on workshop was all about identifying the symbolism and subtle messages to be found in Tudor and Stuart portraiture, with opportunities to then explore heraldic printing techniques with paint on fabric.
Well done, Year 5 - you were excellent ambassadors for our school, you applied and showcase your learning from the classroom, and you engaged imaginatively and thoughtfully with the activities and challenges set. 👍
Heads up! ⚽
Miss Abbott
In partnership with This Girl Can and the Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network, these sports and football sessions are aimed at engaging women and girls from South Asian backgrounds, with inclusive opportunities that encourage physical activity and sports participation.
Sessions are for girls aged 5-14 and women aged 18+. Girls in the 14-18 age bracket can also attend, and will be assigned to the group that best suits their needs. All activities are female-only and run by women, providing a safe and supportive environment where participants can freely be themselves.
