A note from the Head…
I hope you enjoyed a restful half term break, the girls certainly seem to have returned refreshed and raring to go! As usual, we have plenty of activities and events over the rest of this term, so please do keep your eye on our diary, which is always included towards the end of the Newsletter.
A highlight of this week was World Book Day on Thursday. The girls dressed as book characters, shared their favourite books with each other and enjoyed lots of other book related activities. They also enjoyed visiting the Book Fair and charity book sale too – it’s lovely to see so many keen readers!
Finally, a reminder that the Spring Term Interim Reports will be coming home with the girls today. Please ask for it if it doesn’t appear! You will also be able to access the report in Parent Portal from 4.30pm.
Mrs C Laverick House Point Cup
On the last day before half term we announced the House Cup winners – congratulations this time to Rydal who had a good lead over everyone else, very well done!
Buttermere 1502
Grasmere 1467
Rydal 1902
Ullswater 1579
Windermere 1485
Malawi Support
Thank you to everyone who has sent in contributions for the stationery / toiletries packs we have made up to support orphans in Malawi. The level of support has, as always, been amazing!
Year 3 Trip to Tatton Park
Friday 17 February
Year 3 travelled back to the Neolithic time with a trip to Tatton Park. They had a great time learning how to create a spark to make a fire and built a Stone Age shelter. They made daub and tried to stick it to wattle, just as the early settlers would have done and looked at artefacts such as flint and arrow heads and used similar tools to the Stone Age people to try to plant wheat seeds. They thoroughly enjoyed their day, and now have a better understanding about how difficult life was for the people in Neolithic Britain!
EPSCA Chess Competition
Saturday 18 February
Team
Simar Chandhok
Noor Khunda
Stephanie Li
Vaani Malik
Naya Patel
Tulsi Patel
The girls enjoyed a full day of competition at the start of the holidays, against schools from across the northwest ofEngland.Results weremixed,but skills definitely improved across the day. Well done to all players!
She Plays To Win
She Plays To Win (SPTW) is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to encourage more girls to learn, play and benefit from chess. SPTW is run by the current England International Women’s Chess Coach Lorin D’Costa who has successfully been coaching girls’ chess nationally and internationally for over 11 years.
If your daughter is interested in finding our more, please click on the link below: https://www.sheplaystowin.co.uk/
Celebratory Concert
Wednesday 1 March, Arts Centre
Top musicians from our recent Music Festival were invited to take part in our Celebratory Concert this week. We were once again treated to some fabulous performances, thoroughly enjoyed by a very appreciative audience. Well done!
World Book Day 2023
Thursday 2 March
On World Book Day our playground was populated with a colourful array of book characters. The children relished dressing up and were keen to share the story of their character. In a celebratory assembly we watched and listened to the film version of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy’s wonderful story of friendship and courage, kindness and compassion. Each pupil received a little card with a mindful saying about Kindness, Bravery, Fear, Worry.
In contrast we then burst into song and the girls sang their hearts out to the World Book Day Song, “Pick up a book, take a look at the cover and the blurb, if you like itdive inside …” and throughout the day we dived into our shared books taking time to read and enjoy sharing stories.
In addition, the Book Fair provided the opportunity to purchase new books and for the girls to use their World Book Day tokens in part purchase. Their interest in reading was evident. The buzz at the Fair was positive with an air of excitement. Thank you to you all for your support at the Fair. Book orders placed this week will arrive on Monday at school and will be distributed to the girls during the course of the day.
Please follow us on twitter @BSPDJnrGirls.
Spring Term Parent Consultation Evenings
Year 3 Monday 6 March
Year 4 Tuesday 7 March
Year 5 Wednesday 8 March
Year 6 Thursday 9 March
Please note that the booking system is now live for the Spring Term Parents’ Evenings and will remain open until 12 noon on Saturday 4 March. Full information and the link for booking has been sent home in a recent email.
Parents’ Association Meeting
Monday 13 March 5pm Hesketh House
The next meeting will take place on Monday 13 March at 5.00pm. Any interested parents are welcome to join us, and in particular it would be good to get a few Year 6 parents if possible as one of the events to be discussed is the Year 6 Leavers’ Celebration. Please note that children are not able to attend as there is no supervision available for them at this time and it is not appropriate for them to be in the meeting.
Bridgewater Hall Gala Concert
Thursday 16 March
The Bolton School Foundation Gala Concert will be taking place on Thursday 16 March at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. This promises to be an exciting evening of musical entertainment, with the chance for pupils from every part of the Foundation to showcase their talents at one of the most prestigious concert halls in the country.
For Hesketh House, our Year 5 and Year 6 Choir are taking part alongside Beech House and Park Road Choirs, and some of our individual instrumentalists are also involved. Parents of all these pupils should have received additional information by email. If you wish to attend the performance, tickets are free but must be obtained from the Box Office using this link https://www.bridgewaterhall.co.uk/conferencesevents/boltonschoolgala160323/
Comic Relief
Friday 17 March
In support of Comic Relief, we will be letting the girls wear their own clothes – with as much red as possible! Please make sure clothing is warm andsuitable for a busy day in school. We suggest that the girls give a donation of £2 towards this worthy cause, which will be collected on the day.
Kids’ Book Club
Ebb and Flo Bookshop
Saturday 15 April
We have been told about a new and exciting opportunity coming up at Ebb and Flo Bookshop, with a new Kids' Book Club starting on Saturday 15 April. Ifyoulive in oraroundChorley and have a 9-11 year old who loves to read and wants to chat about books, you can email them to find out more info@ebbandflobookshop.co.uk or call in and leave your contact details. More information can be found here https://ebbandflobookshop.co.uk.
Year 6 Bikeability
6G Tuesday 9 May, Wednesday 10 May
6F Thursday 11 May, Friday 12 May
Year 6 girls will have the opportunity to take part in Bolton Council’s Bikeability programme early in the summer term. More information has been sent home, a copy of the letter can be found here and the consent form is here Consent forms must be returned to school by Friday 17 March if you wish your daughter to take part.
Learn to Ride One to One Lessons
A current parent has recommended Bikewithemma, for anyone who may wish to organise individual tuition in advance of these group sessions. More information can be found here http://bookwhen.com/bikewithemma.
Patterdale Hall Trips – Summer Term 2023
The dates of our visits are as follows:
Year 3 Tuesday 2 May – Wednesday 3 May
Year 4 Monday 22 May – Wednesday 24 May
Year 5 Wednesday 24 May – Friday 26 May
Year 6 Monday 15 May – Friday 19 May All pupils are expected to take part in these trips.
It is very important that the girls do not have access to phones in their bedrooms and they should allow you access to devices to help keep them safe. The charity Internet Matters is a good starting point for further information and support. You just enter all of your provider and device details, and they draft up a personalised safety checklist so you can take charge of the content your daughter is accessing.
It is also worth noting that social media apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and Tiktok have an age rating of 13+ and WhatsApp users are supposed to be over 16. This means that no pupils in Hesketh House should be using these, though we are very aware that this is sadly not the case. More information about social media can be found here:https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keepingchildren-safe/online-safety/social-media/
There will be anInformation Evening on Thursday 23 March when we will be giving pupils and parents more details about what to expect. We would particularly recommend that you attend if your child has not been to Patterdale Hall before.
Online Safety – Managing Settings
The NSPCC published a study last month which showed the national average age at which children are searching for inappropriate materials online has dropped to 9 years old. The age at which children chance upon it has dropped to just 7 years old. Therefore, it is important that we all have the right parental controls in place to restrict content children have access to.
They also need to be prevented from downloading a VPN (virtual private network) on their devices so they can avoid the parental controls you set. To stop your daughter downloading a VPN you need to remove permission for her to download software on her device. An app like Google Family Link will allow you to curate which software they are downloading. This is suitable for U13s. A whole host of other free apps are available in Google Play Store/ App Store to enable you to monitor screen time, have oversight of what they are downloading, and to see if your daughter is already using a VPN.
Coincidentally, we have recently been sent information about free online safety workshops being run by Fortalice. More information can be found here.
Well-Good
Well-Good is a website created by Mr Heppleston in the Girls’ Division, and they are currently looking for some new sponsors. Well-Good encourages children to answer Maths questions by rewarding them with the knowledge that they are providing clean water for the developing world. Ten correct answers equates to a day’s water for one person! Well-Good, has committed to join our fundraising campaign to build a school in Malawi, by helping provide the water, therefore there are more reasons than ever to support their work!
Over the past seven years, the Well-Good website www.well-good.org has received over two and a half million hits and over 6 million Maths questions have been answered by more than 5000 children. Sponsorship packages are available online at www.well-good.org or by contacting Mr Hepplestonvia wellgoodinfo@gmail.com. This is a great opportunity for individuals or businesses to engage with corporate social responsibility and charitable giving.
SPORT REPORT
Year 6 v Year 7 Netball Match
Wednesday 1 March
Our Year 6 girls enjoyed a lunchtime fixture against the Year 7 girls on Wednesday and were delighted to come away with a win, 7 – 3. Very well done!
Year 5 Netball v Scarisbrick
Wenesday 1 March
A Team
Annabelle Hutchinson
Alice Lomas
Charlotte McCarren
Izzy Owen
Alexia Pattle
Jessica Shannon
Sienna Shum
Bronwen Soper
B Team
Sahana Jacobs
Francesca Longton
Tullah Maher
Avni Patel
Molly Scales
Isabelle Tunstall
Sabrinah Warren
Orla Wilson
Well done to our Year 5 netball players who had a fixture with Scarisbrick on Wednesday. There was some excellent netball on show from all girls, with the A Team winning 16 – 4 and the B Team drawing 5 – 5. Well played!
Swimming v Westholme
Thursday 2 March
Year 5
Charlotte Buchanan
Annabelle Hutchinson
Isabelle Jackson
Alice Lomas
Francesca Longton
Charlotte McCarren
Izzy Owen
Alexia Pattle
Jessica Shannon
Darcey Tomlinson
Isabelle Tunstall
Sabrinah Warren
Orla Wilson
Westholme yesterday. There were some excellent individual performances and fantastic relay results; very well done to all swimmers!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Monday 6 March Parents’ Evenings this week (online)
Tuesday 7 March Y5 Netball v Manchester High (A) Y6 Netball v Clevelands (H)
Wednesday 8 March Dance Festival (Street Dance Club) Bolton Albert Halls 6.00pm
Thursday 9 March 6G Sailing pm
Friday 10 March Y6 AJIS Netball
Monday 13 March PA Meeting 5.00pm
Wednesday 15 March Y6 Netball v Manchester High (H)
Thursday 16 March Y5 AJIS Netball
Bridgewater Hall Rehearsal – am Bridgewater Hall Gala Concert (Choir, Strings, Woodwind) 7.00pm
Friday 17 March Comic Relief
Tuesday 21 March House Day Swimming Match v Park Road (H)
Wednesday 22 March Author Visit – Stephanie Sorrell
Thursday 23 March Y6 Trip to Stockport Air Raid Shelter Patterdale Hall Meeting 7.00pm
Friday 24 March Y5 / Y6 House Netball
Y3 / Y4 House Dodgeball
Year 6
Petra Critchley
Taliah Dean
Hattie Drake
Layla Jones
Ava Lafferty
Ariella Manivannan
Anna Ross
Brooke Shum
Beau Strange
Molly Wilkinson
Congratulations to our Year 5 and Year 6 girls who managed a fantastic 135 – 101 win against
ESSA Swimming
Saturday 25 March AJIS Quiz
Tuesday 28 March Y5 Viking Day
Wednesday 29 March Y5 Architecture Workshop TERM ENDS 4.00PM
Summer Term 2023
Start of Term – Monday 17 April
Bank Holiday – Monday 1 May
Half Term – Monday 29 May to Friday 2 June
End of Term – Friday 7 July 3.25pm