Simba Bablake Junior School Spring 2010
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.� Sun Tzu
YEAR 4 ART In Art lessons, Year 4 have been learning to paint in the style of the Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. We started by drawing pencil lines and selecting boxes to paint using the primary colours. We had to be extremely careful when painting over the black lines with a very thin paint brush. We enjoyed creating some lovely pieces of work and all of us have shown we have some artistic talent!
WEST MIDLANDS BIATHLON WINNERS “It was amazing.” “It was like we were competing in the Olympic Games.” “I really enjoyed learning how to fence and pistol shoot.” “It was a great experience, very hard but enjoyable.” Fifteen girls from Bablake Junior School competed in a recent biathlon event against 3 other schools. All competitors were timed individually over a 50m swim and 500m run. Times were converted to points and these were combined to determine the winners of both individual and team events. The afternoon commenced in our sports hall with pupils having the opportunity to experience pistol shooting, under the supervision of qualified coaches. The next stage in the proceedings was the 50m swim in the Olympic pool at Coventry Swimming Baths, followed by the 500m run at Warwick University Athletics Track. Finally, on our return to Bablake, the pupils watched a fencing demonstration by Georgie Harland, Olympic Bronze medallist in the Modern Pentathlon, and were then all given the opportunity to experience this sport. All Bablake pupils including those from the Senior School gave of their best and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The evening concluded with awards and presentations by Georgie Harland. A special mention must be given to the following pupils for their individual successes:
YEAR 5 ART
Inspired by the story of ‘Pandora’s Box’ which we studied in our work on Greek myths last term, we have created our own beautiful boxes.
Katerina Jackson (6N) recorded the fastest time and received a gold medal in the 500m run. She also finished in 2nd place in the 50m swim. Eleanor Bonas (6N) recorded the fastest time and received a gold medal in the 50m swim. She finished in 2nd place in the 500m run. The overall individual winner of the Year 6 event was Katerina, closely followed by Eleanor who was runner-up. Well done to both girls. U11 Team Event winners: Bablake Junior. Bablake won the overall tropy and this was collected by our very own Year 5 pupil, Sophie Hollinrake.
NETBALL
CROSS COUNTRY NEWS
Despite the poor weather, fixtures this term have been played whenever possible.
Congratulations to our girls for their double success at this terms Coventry Primary Schools Girls Championship and their victory in the recent relays.
Bablake U11A team drew their first match of this term with a 7-7 score line against a strong Warwick Prep side. The B team could not match the physical presence of the Warwick girls and lost their game 1-5. However in their next match both A and B teams defeated King Henry Prep 9-5 and 7-3 respectively. The teams continued in the same vein with a 17-5 and 6-3 defeat of Crescent School. A combined U11/10 team secured a fine 15-5 victory against Arnold Lodge. After one loss and one victory against Warwick Prep the U10 team recorded an 8-0 victory against local opposition Bournebrook. The next match saw Bablake U10A record a 6-3 win and Bablake U10B secure a 4-4 draw against The Croft. Our U9 team has improved throughout the season and enjoyed a 5-5 draw against a mixed U9/10 Bournebrook team and then recorded a fantastic 6-2 victory over Eversfield. Well done to the Bablake team who played their first ever game of ‘High Fives’ against Milverton House and emerged as winners by 5-3 goals. Good luck to the U11 netball team who have gained a wealth of experience playing in recent tournaments at both Foremarke Hall and Worksop College. They are competing in another tournament on Wednesday 10th March at Rugby School.
YEAR 6 INTER HOUSE NETBALL There was great talent and determination on display at the Year 6 Inter-House Netball this term. The girls organised their teams and played superbly, with terrific sportsmanship and team spirit. After some hotly contested matches, Eliot were victorious, closely followed by Churchill in second and Nelson in third place. Year 5 1st - Nelson, Churchill, Eliot Year 4 1st - Eliot, Nelson, Churchill
Both A and B teams were convincing winners of their respective events. Over 32 schools entered, with approximately 200 runners in the A team race and 150 runners in the B race. The following girls all received team gold medals:
A TEAM - Katerina Jackson, 2nd place and winner of the individual silver medal. Eleanor Bonas, 3rd place and winner of the individual bronze medal. Anna Price, Jasmine Hundal, Hannah Ledbrook, Sophie Hollinrake.
B TEAM - Caroline Smith, Hannah Smith, Jessica Blake, Isabelle Hemus, Remy McNamara,
Lalita Kakarala, Katie Davis, Hannah Yoland, Harkiran Hundal, Ellena Edmiston, Megan Rose, Jasmyn Leong, Rebecca Dodd, Lorna Williamson. Congratulations to the following Bablake relay teams who took part in the Coventry Schools Cross Country Championships.
GIRLS RELAY TEAM - Katerina Jackson, Eleanor Bonas, Anna Price and Jasmine Hundal who achieved 1st place and were gold medal winners.
BOYS RELAY TEAM - Thomas Morrell, George Bayliss, Lewis Faulkner and George Parker who
finished in 4th place.
MIXED RELAY TEAM - Lewis Carroll, Hannah Ledbrook, Xander Bennett and Sophie Hollinrake who finished in 5th place.
As the cross country team competitions draw to a close a special thanks must go to Mrs Price. This season has been the most successful ever due to her dedication and enthusiasm. Thank you also to our Year 6 pupils who have been committed to practices and competitions over the past 4 years. They have been an inspiration to our new Year 3 and 4 recruits. We will certainly miss them next year but know they will continue their success in the Senior School.
Brooke’s Marvellous Medicine
Rhea’s Marvellous Medicine
(This medicine is for my mum to make her stop telling me off.)
(This medicine is for my sister Ashni to make her stop singing a dreadful song!)
Give me a trumpet to blow in her ear, Give me a zip and a squiggler out here. Give me a bottle of mouldy old wine And a bat’s mouldy old spine, Give me a long tall hat Made out of a long tall rat. Then give it a quick stir It makes such a blur. Give me a bug and A jumping flea, Give me the fruit Of an apple tree. Give me the poison sting Of a bee, Give me the powdered bone Of a flea. One hundred other things as well, Each with a rather nasty smell,
Will she go pop? Will she explode? Will she go flying down the road? Will she shut up? I don’t know. We’ll just have to try it though!
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And then WHOOSH down it goes, A great big spoonful, Hold your nose! Will she go pop? Will she explode? Will she go flying down the road? Will she go puff in a puff of smoke? Oh mother dear, if you only knew What Brooke has in store for you!!! By Brooke Walton 4F
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Now it’s time to take a taste, Ugh! It’s the flavour of toothpaste. I think I’m going to whisk and boil, Help! I’m turning into soil. By Shannon Maguire 4H
Just gush it down and have no fear. “Because you’ll like it oh Hari dear,” Will he go swizzle? Or will he go Boom? I hope that he’ll go out of the room Will he go poof in a puff of smoke? Will this start to be a marvellous joke? Who knows what will happen, neither me nor you. I’m so glad its not me or you. Oh Hari, if you only knew, What Amrit has got in store for you!
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By Amrit Singh Gill 4F
!’
I’m making this for my brother, It may also help my mother. So add in some dirty frogs, With a pile of broken logs. Make sure it tastes like rot, Otherwise he’ll want a lot. Find some horrible-smelling bleach, Then get some sand from the beach. Next dig up a worm from the garden, Please don’t burp, I beg your pardon! Will he go ping? Will he go pong? Will he be sick? Will it take long? Run to the loo? Or catch the flu? That may be the end of you!
ry b
So give me a snail and a flying pea, Give me two heads and bees three, And a slimy starfish from the sea, And the poisonous bite of a terrible flea, And the powered bone of an alien’s knee. And a billion other things as well, Each with a rather horrid smell. I’ll stir it up; I’ll boil it till its strong, A mixture rough, a mixture wrong. And then heigh-ho and down it goes, A disgusting massive tablespoon so hold your nose
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I will do this medicine for myself; Now go get me a tiny elf. Take a bowl, I need that too, Also add the tail of a kangaroo.
‘Fi
Please just try some, Ashni dear, It’s not as bad as you may fear. Oh Ashni dear, if you only knew, What Rhea has in store for you!!! By Rhea Hindocha 4F
Amrit’s Marvellous Medicine
Now chuck in a pinch of spice, Be careful it may taste really nice. Drop in an ugly, horrible watch, Then pour in a lovely drink called Scotch.
th i r ea Megan’s Marvellous Medicine
I’ll stir them up, I’ll boil them long, A mixture tough, A mixture strong.
‘Fie
So give me some earplugs so I can’t hear, Give me a saxaphone to blow in her ear. Give me a smelly foot to shove up her nose, Give me a rotten gag to make her mouth close. A biting flea from a bamboo tree, And a spiky starfish from the bottom of the sea.
Shannon’s Marvellous Medicine
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By Megan Rose 4H
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‘Watch it sloshing, swashing, sploshing’
Dear Mr Price, I am writing to protest against the idea of extending the school day from 7:30am to 5:30pm. This idea, in my opinion, has drawbacks which will have a vast effect on the pupils attending the school. Many of them may find it difficult to adjust to these new times, which will have a heavy impact on their school life. My first argument is regarding rest. Rest is a key factor of a child’s wellbeing. Overworked children, on average, have an attention span of less than half of those who are well rested. Is this really the torture that children should endure? Are parents willingly going to balance stress and exhaustion on the shoulders of their own offspring? 10 hours of solid work, not to mention two hours of homework per night, is not what children are for. They are not a sort of machine that has no personality. As now we are in a new millennium, surely we have become more civilised towards children. Sleep deprivation is not a civilised thing! Performance would suffer greatly, as will the health of the students! This brings me on to my next point: safety. As many parents and teachers will say, “The safety of our children is paramount.” This may not always be the case. At 7:00am, the streets are dark and full of unsavoury characters lurking in the shadows. Children who walk to school, in the dark, are in danger of being hit by a car or kidnapped. You may say, “Give the children reflective material for their coats!” But that will not always work. The “unsavoury characters” I pointed out earlier are a good example. Also, children may have clubs on, and not get there in time in the dark! This links adequately into my next argument: leisure time. Children are forever looking for fun “goings-on” in life. They are ready to jump at any obstacle and enjoy it. Consider this: will children be able to attend before-andafter-school clubs with the school hours being 7:30-5:30?! Is any one harsh enough to take away the free time belonging solely to the children?! Children have lives to live, things to see, games to play and people to meet. They cannot spend half their life crammed into a classroom! Leisure time is a time to unwind, and slowly absorb the facts they have learnt that day; sucking it in and storing it in their young minds. Any child that has to work 600 minutes solid will not be a child long. They will turn robotic, lose their childhood personalities and become machines. Yes, machines. In conclusion, we must keep our children as children. We cannot immediately set them to work. We must give them time, Be patient, let them live life as kids. Then, as teens, they can buckle down for GCSE’s and A-Levels. Yours sincerely, Amelia Noble 6N
Pupils in Year 6 have been learning about how to write a persuasive letter. The pupils imagined what it would be like if Mr Price wanted to lengthen the school day. Can you imagine coming to school at 7.30 a.m. and staying until 5.30p.m.?
YEAR 4 WEAVING Year 4 have been learning to weave in our Art lessons. We have used a variety of materials, including paper, felt and wool. Here are a few of our examples.
JUNIOR SCHOOL TEACHER TO RUN THE LONDON MARATHON Miss Harrison is running the London Marathon on 25th April! She has been training hard for the last six months and is raising money for the Countess Mountbatten Hospice, a charity very close to her heart. This is a very special hospice, which provides specialist palliative care for patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. If you would like to find out more about the charity or would like to sponsor Miss Harrison please visit her website www.justgiving.com/ lydiagharrison. Look out for Miss Harrison on race day on the television!
MY VISIT TO NARNIA I stood there in the forest, it was a snowy place. Suddenly I realised a woman, a strange woman, was looking at me. She spoke with a posh voice, sounding sophisticated. She had a dwarf with her who did everything for her, and as I looked at her more carefully I saw she wore a crown! A white gown flew down to her feet. Her face was as icy as her smile. She eventually spoke, “Dear boy why are you standing there in my land?” It came to my head. A crown, posh voice and “my land”, she was a queen! “How do you do my lady?” I announced with a shiver to my voice. “I beg your pardon, how do you do?” “What are you an overgrown dwarf who has cut off your beard?” “NO my lady I am a boy.” I was very offended by being called a dwarf. “So a son of Adam?” “No a boy!” I had no idea what a son of Adam was anyway. At first I thought she would be a nasty queen… but all of a sudden she offered me a seat in to her sleigh which was being drawn by two horses. When I got into her sleigh she wrapped her shawl around me so I kept warm. After a while she started to ask me a lot of questions. She was very interested in the fact that I had two sisters and one brother. She offered me a drink and something to eat. Being me, obviously I asked for a warm drink and some Turkish delight. The Turkish delight was wrapped in a box with a green satin ribbon. When the warm Turkish delight ran down my throat I forgot mostly everything. I forgot that the queen was sitting next to me and that I should not give my personal information to strangers. Once the box was empty I stared at it hoping that she would offer some more to me. A while went past and still no more Turkish delight. I bravely asked again but she said no and promised me some more if I brought my brother and sisters next time. She told me that she lived between these two hills. The scenery was beautiful. She and I would keep it a secret between us so the others won’t know. I was walking slowly away after I waved to the queen and I heard my name being called by a familiar voice. Until I met the voice I did not know who it was. I found out it was Lucy. We walked along talking about the others and how exciting it would be to tell them. By Mi Kelly 5M
YEAR 3 SCIENCE
As part of our Year 3 Science work on Teeth, Mrs Clewlow from Park Road Dental Practice spent the morning in school. The children used disclosing liquid to observe the plaque on their teeth. The red teeth and lips transformed both classes. Luckily, with two minutes of careful brushing, another look in the mirror revealed a dazzling white smile from everyone. We are all trying to make sure that we now brush our teeth for two minutes, twice a day and of course eat all the correct things too. The children loved their activity packs that they took home.
SAFETY CENTRE TRIP Year 3 went on a trip to The Safety Centre, in Milton Keynes, to learn about keeping safe and what to do in an emergency. Volunteers and Community Support Officers made us aware of the dangers we face in the home and on the streets. The children were given different scenarios to deal with and had to use a telephone box to report different emergencies. Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed this invaluable experience.
Excellence through care....
BABLAKE JUNIOR SCHOOL COUNDON ROAD COVENTRY CV1 4AU TEL: 024 7627 1260 www.bablakejuniorschool.co.uk
FUN IN THE SNOW January 2010