22 November 2024
R E S P E C T 👍🏽
Riding hot on the heels of last week's Respect Day, we open this week's Spark with three lovely examples of pop art from Year 5. Nice work, girls!
Final reminder for aspiring artists ...
Mrs Crawshaw
The deadline for the 2024 GDST Junior Christmas Card Competition is fast approaching! 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 Desk 🏏🏑
Miss Abbott
The weather has played havoc with our PE and sport this week, leading to the cancellation of hockey matches, however it has meant that many girls have been able to access the fitness suite in their lessons and start on a series of challenges upon which they can improve as the year progresses. These include include rowing 300m for time, running as far as possible in 5 minutes, or the 'hang challenge' for as long as possible.
Looking ahead, we have Y5/Y6 hockey matches next week, as well as Y5/Y6 inter-house hockey on Friday afternoon, so please do ensure that your daughter has her PE kit and house t shirt in school, as well as her mouth guard, shin pads and hockey socks.
We held our Y3/Y4 inter-house netball tournament this week, and saw plenty of POSITIVITY and RESILIENCE on display. Congratulations to LUXTON on their overall victory.
In other news, KS1 cricketing girls were able to attend coaching sessions at Harvey Hadden sports stadium recently, with instruction delivered by Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club coaches. Their positive approach and enthusiasm were noted!
Finally, a reminder that sports kit should now only show the current school crest. Kit with the former logo which included ‘NGHS’ lettering in the design can be covered with a replacement sew-on badge; these are available to purchase from Mrs Haddow in Senior School reception.
Botanical Birthdays 🌿
A reminder about our ongoing green initiative for girls' birthdays
Bringing in sweets and cakes for birthday treats is becoming more difficult with food intolerances, allergies and our healthy eating agenda.
Please consider donating a potted house plant to the school instead. These indoor plants will be labelled with birthday girls' names and cared for by their classes, whilst also making their classroom more environmentally friendly places.
*** Alternatively, you can still donate spring bulbs (e.g. daffodils, allium) which can be planted during your daughter's Outdoor Learning or Science lessons, and which will last into the future. ***
Below: As well as looking good, indoor and outdoor plants support human health in homes and workplaces, improving both wellbeing and productivity!
Incredible India!
Mrs Bailey
As part of their Incredible India topic, Year 3 enjoyed a Indian dance workshop last week, with Vina Ladwa of the Manushi Dance company. They learnt a story about Krishna, complete with a Hindi commentary and dance moves.
The girls also rehearsed and performed a traditional stick dance with complicated moves that involved changing partners, and this creative session ended with a demonstration from Mrs Ladwa that included some very fast and impressive spinning!
Fancy yourself as a budding writer? ✍🏻
Mrs Crabtree
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! We hope that lots of RESILIENT girls from NGHS Juniors will enter this annual GDST competition, both for the challenge of taking part and - fingers crossed - for the glory of winning.
Entries should be emailed to class teachers in WORD or pdf format, and we would suggest doing this ahead of the competition deadline - by Monday 3 February.
Reptile makes guest appearance 🦎
Mrs Fowler
I had the great pleasure of leading a Year 6 science lesson this week, all about evolutionary adaptation. This focused primarily on the unique and sometimes shared characteristics of primates, such as prehensile tails, gripping hands and cognitive abilities.
There were also opportunities to draw on the girls' recent learning about the likely adaptations to be found in contrasting environments, such as camouflaged fur on the African savannah and insulating fat in colder climes. So, you can imagine our delight when Loki the bearded dragon - who resides in our Senior School biology laboratory - made a surprise appearance so that we could see her reptilian adaptations for ourselves.
These include scaly skin which make her a less appetizing meal for predators, a parietal 'third eye' that senses shadows behind her, a 'beard' which can be puffed up to make her look bigger in the face of a threat, and a tongue - which we saw for ourselves - that darts out to catch insects. Thank you to Mrs Deamer for bringing Loki to see us!
New for Year 6!
Mrs Braud and Mr Cox
A progressive and relevant curriculum is one which moves with the times and evolves as educational priorities, children's needs and societal interests change. With this in mind, Year 6 are now well into an in-depth study of The Magician's Nephew, written in 1955 by C.S. Lewis as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This scheme of work is bespoke, academically stretching, and linked to other subjects such as RE, geography and PSHE.
The topic delves into the author's mindset when he devised a plot that includes ...
links to the Cold War, with a tyrant who is willing to use a superweapon to achieve world dominance
a once-mighty civilisation which derived wealth from slavery and repressed its people with a caste system
themes of creation, temptation and salvation, echoed in the stories which we have read recently in Religious Education
Well done, Year 6. You have engaged really well with this brand new topic, identifying meanings, messages and subtexts that are not always immediately evident, and we have seen some excellent creative writing outcomes in our English lessons!
Below: Excerpts from recent Year 6 writing assignments. Some are written in the role of a vain, foolish magician who has fallen head over heels in love with a villainous queen, others are inspired by the idea of a world frozen in time - in this case, the NGHS Juniors staff room!
She is simply marvellous, utterly magnificent - my other half! She's stunning, elegant and gorgeous ... It must be magic - called to London by my powers ... What a splendid creature she is!
I will put on my best frock coat and tall hat. "What a handsome dog!" she'll say delightedly, as I feed her the dearest caviar off a silver spoon. My friends will admire my gorgeous wife, dripping in diamonds ...
Mimi
Oh my, her lips and her height - you know I've always wanted someone taller than me, and such a fine specimen ... She's the real deal, the apple of my eye. I say, what a fine filly! And her clothes, by gum, simply marvellous.
What on God's green earth am I going to wear? I know. I will wear a white waistcoat, with my most expensive gold watch chain, my best frock coat and - for the cherry on top - my finest top hat.
Georgia
I glanced at the empty chairs, then the desks; they were invaded with cobwebs ...
I was overflowing with fright, brimming desperately with apprehension. Immediately, I looked at the other teachers, their bodies completely still. I inspected Mrs Braud; she had her hand on her mouth, her eyes full of intensity. Dust was crawling up the walls and lay on the battered carpet ...
Ruqaya
By Jove! I have met the woman of my dreams and she is incredibly beautiful ... When we rule the world together, ... everyone will bow down and praise us, finally getting the respect we deserve.
I know just the way to impress her! I shall take her on a romantic walk in Hyde Park and show her off to all those peasants ...
Maddie
There, Mrs Braud was wearing her sparkly tights, talking about how amazing her class was. But then there was the opposite - Mr Cox in his fibrant John Lewis trousers and furious because his class didn't get 100% on their homework. Mrs Fowler was there too, making sure that they were marking and not arguing over who was oldest; it was Mr Cox, of course.
Alana
Artistic endeavour - and a commission! 🎨
Mrs Crawshaw
At Art Club, our girls have recently been printing on clay using autumn leaves. This has involved cutting out carefully, using tools to make marks, and curving the clay around a bowl so that it dries in the correct shape. The next step will be mixing and blending acrylic paints to create autumn hues for decoration.
In other artistic news, we have been invited to create decorations for the Christmas tree at St Mary’s Church in the Lace Market. For our designs, we're using cinnamon sticks, buttons and ribbon in our designs - it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Below: Examples of our work in a range of media, both at Art Club and in weekly lessons - including the beginnings of an illuminated letter from Year 5.
