Godstowenews
FRIDAY 13th february 2015
www.godstowe.org I Parents’ Area Login I Upcoming Events I Upcoming Fixtures
Artwork of the week
Photograph: Godstowe presented a cheque for £1,000 to the Royal British Legion on Wednesday
What a busy half term. It is a time of year where there seems to be a disproportionate amount of activity being crammed into only a few weeks and consequently everyone has been frantically, and successfully, keeping up. Many congratulations indeed to a whole host of girls who have been receiving information relating to successful entries to senior schools.They are as delighted as we are and this news has often been met with tears of joy.They have also amassed no fewer than 15 senior school scholarships to date and we are very proud of their efforts - rightly so.Well done to everyone concerned and my sincere thanks to all of the staff for whatever hand they may have had in the whole process.There may be more to come. It is such a terrific time of year when I can pass on news which so clearly demonstrates the positive development the girls have enjoyed and how well prepared they have been. Needless to say they are excited on the one hand but the idea of leaving
Sculpture by: Hannah McGuinness and Kate Larard
Awards Boarders of the week:
Highlands: Annie Yang Walker: Cynthia Gomes Turner: Ellie Stopps AR reader:
Lydia Brearley Isabella Harris
Godstowe looms on the other! Thank you all for your continued support at the school, which is much appreciated. Please may I remind you of Open Morning at the end of our first week back, i.e. Saturday 28th February. Please do what you can (you have generally been so successful at this) to persuade others to come and see the school.They will be most welcome, as ever.You are also encouraged to look around once more, perhaps into areas of the school you haven’t seen for some time.The children also love to show off their work. Let them drag you here if necessary! I do hope you all have a very good half term.There is much to look forward to on the menu during the second half of term so please keep in touch with the school calendar and subsequent updates from the School Office. DG
Lodgenews
MONDAY BADGE:
Helena Winson COLOUR SHIELD:
Mrs Wylie
Nursery enjoyed a fantasy and fiction dress up day this week (see picture below). They made gingerbread men in cooking and learnt about the three stories The Gingerbread Men, Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk.
Red
This week Beginners have enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year. The children have learnt about the year they were born in from the Zodiac Calendar. Next half term we will be looking at ‘traditional tales’.
Sport Results
As part of their poetry topic, Kindergarten composed and wrote their own Acrostic poems using either animals or the season as their theme.
Netball 3rd Feb: The U12 C1 team defeated Sir William Borlase by an amazing 23-0. The U12 C3 also won, 5-1. The U12 B team unfortunately lost 11-6. 5th Feb: The U12 A team beat Pipers Corner 16-3. The U12 Bs won 16-2. Lacrosse 6th Feb: The U13 and U12 teams both won at Heathfield. U13 captain Georgie Mercer pictured below.
Thank you very much to Mr Donald who gave Transition a wonderful insight into the life of a bird of prey, in particular his goshawk Sam, which he brought in for the children to see close up (pictured below). They were fascinated to watch Sam eating his breakfast of a fresh pheasant wing. Please may we remind parents that at drop off and collection, the safest way for you to escort children from the tennis court to Lodge is through the picket gate by Nursery and onto the playground via the gravel.
Upcoming Fixtures 24th Feb (4.30am): U11 C & U10 C Netball v Dair House (home) 24th Feb (4.30pm): U13 B Netball v Pipers Corner (away) 24th Feb (5pm): U10 - U13 IAPS Swimming v Maltman’s Green (away) 26th Feb (4.15pm): U9 A, B & C High Five Netball v Highfield (home) 26th Feb (4.40pm): U11 A & B Netball v Maltman’s Green (away)
Friendsnews
friends@godstowe.org
Class Reps The focus this term has been for the class reps to organise social events for their year groups. Some have chosen to do it for the children, some for the parents and some are doing both! The Lowers had a disco a couple of weeks ago, which was very well attended and all the girls had a blast. Beginners have a coffee morning and parents’ soiree in the diary. The Fourths have a dinner after half term. Look out for your class reps’ updates with details on what your year group are up to this term.
Other useful dates
Second Hand Uniform Shop Do you know where the Second Hand Uniform shop is? And did you know the Second Hand Uniform shop has over 2000 items of good quality clothes for sale?
22nd Feb (6-7.30pm): Boarders return after Half Term 26th Feb: Activities Day for Main School 28th Feb (10am - 1pm): Open Day - all UIII and IVs required to attend
Anke, Fiona and Hannah are three Godstowe mums who dedicate many hours to running this facility on behalf of FOG and very shortly will be handing us a cheque for a massive £4,000! A huge thanks goes to them all for their continued hard work. This is a very successful little enterprise which needs your support. We know many parents like to combine buying some second
Charitynews
hand and some new uniform. We encourage parents to come and take a look at the shop as we have many great quality items for sale. We also need more support to help with the running and administration of the shop. The shop is open Monday from 8.30am - 9.15am and Fridays from 3.30pm - 4.30pm and can be found opposite the staff car park and Sports Hall. Please do contact us if you are able to offer any help, the odd half an hour could make all the difference, and of course do go along and see the stock currently for sale. They have plenty of summer uniforms that will be needed before you know it! Summer Ball Finally, planning for the Summer Ball on 4 July is well underway. Watch this space for your personal invitation after half term. Again, if you would like to get involved with this event, do come along to the next Ball Committee Meeting on Tuesday 24 February at 8.30am in Staff Dining Room - new faces are very welcome.
Mrs Buckland
On Monday we were honoured to welcome Prince Nicholas of Romania to Godstowe (pictured right) He came in to speak to the girls in Main School about his initiative to improve the lives of children living in Romania. Following his visit, I am pleased to announce that our next charity event is the Prince Nicholas Challenge and this afternoon all children in Main School and Lodge will be bringing home an envelope explaining the challenge so please do read it through. Main School’s challenge consists of a Readathon. Fourths will keep a list of the books that they read during our three week period, and be sponsored per book. All other year groups, who use Accelerated Reader, will be collecting AR points from the quizzes they take. The longer the book, the more points will be earned, eg. Rainbow Magic Fairies is 1 point, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is 3 points, the first Harry Potter is 12 points. In their library lessons this week the girls have been given a target number of points, based on the amount of reading they normally do. They will bring home a printout at the end of the challenge showing how many points they have earned, so that they can collect their sponsorship money. Quizzes cannot be taken at home, but we will allow plenty of time after Half Term for them to be done in school. All children have been given a wristband to wear, in the colours of the Romanian flag, as a reminder of this special event, and we hope as many as possible will take up the challenge to raise funds for this very worthy cause. I, personally, cannot imagine a home - or school - where books are unavailable and applaud Prince Nicholas for this initiative.
Godstowe donates £1,000 cheque to Royal British Legion Godstowe visited the Royal British Legion’s shop in High Wycombe on Wednesday to present a cheque to the charity.Through the sales of ceramic poppies made by pupils for Remembrance Day in November,a total of £1,000 was raised for the Poppy Appeal.
own display on one of the wallls in the High Wycombe shop. Do drop by and have a look the next time you are passing.
More than 200 girls made their own ceramic poppy during their art classes in the Autumn Term, which were then planted in the flowerbeds during the months of October and November. A special Remembrance Day service was held around the school’s impressive display. Charity monitors Ella Mabon and Kate Larard presented the cheque to the charity on Wednesday. The Deputy Mayor of High Wycombe, Councillor Mohammed Hanif, Godstowe Headmaster David Gainer and Kevin Taylor, Chairman of The High Wycombe Branch of The Royal British Legion were also in attendance, as well as other representatives from the school and The Royal British Legion. Our thanks go to everyone that made donations to the appeal.The Royal British Legion were thrilled to receive the cheque and Godstowe has its
Jasmine Adams scoops Strings Prize at music festival in Oxford Jasmine Adams played violin at the Oxford Music Festival on Saturday 31st January, finishing first in her class and was awarded Outstanding for her recital of Handel and Dvorak. Not only that, but she was also awarded the Strings Prize at the Festival.This is the cup given for the highest mark achieved in all of the string classes. As a result, Jasmine has been invited to play at the Oxford Music Festival prize winners concert this Saturday when she will receive the Rohan de Saram Cup. In addition to her accomplishments in Oxford, Jasmine also played at the Royal Festival Hall in London on the Sunday evening. She was invited to play in a National Children’s Orchestra concert to celebrate the life of the founder of the NCO,Vivienne Price, who conducted Jasmine last summer. This was another enormous occasion for Jasmine, and rounded off a very busy and rewarding weekend. Well done Jasmine!
Has your child achieved something outstanding outside school? Please let us know by emailing gmay@godstowe.org.
Parents Prayer Group
Gift voucher found
LIII Languages Day
If you would like go come along to the Parents Prayer Group or have any prayer requests, please email parentsprayergroup@gmail.com.
A gift voucher has been found in Main School. If you or your daughter has lost a gift voucher, please collect it from the School Office.
A reminder that the Lower Thirds will be taking part in Languages Day on Thursday 26th February. They are encouraged to come into school in a Spanish, Italian or German costume.
Girls in Fourths put together parody Three girls in the Fourths recently put together a parody, along with an accompanying video. The parody, sung to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “I knew you were trouble”, is about a cake that was past its sell by date, which consequently didn’t end very well.... For those of you that may be interested in watching the video, please click here. Starring in the video (Jojo Millen) Singing in the video (Annabel Parkin) Editing and filming the video (Abbie Leaver) Writing the parody (All)
Quiz of the week Week Four 1. What is the name given to any animal without a backbone? 2. In which year was the
Berlin Wall demolished?
Week Five 1. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of which Asian country?
3. Which country is situate d between Norway and Finland?
2. From which European country does gruyere che ese come from?
4. What is meant by the
3. What is a punt: a type
5. What does it mean if
musical expression ‘legato
’?
a volcano is extinct?
6. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, wh o is the headmaster of Hogwart s?
of sport, a boat or a sto
ne?
4. Which planet lies betw een Venus and Mars?
5. What is the name for 6. What is the capital cit
a pattern of stars in the
sky?
y of Austria?
7. What is 2³? 8. What type of creature
is a gecko? 9. Which system of writin g developed for the blin d by a French teacher, uses cha racters made up of raised dots? 10. Which political party recently won a historica l vote in Greece?
Answers: 1. Invertebrate; 2. November 9, 1989; 3. Swed en; 4. Smoothly; 5. It cannot eru pt anymore; 6. Professor Dumbledore; 7. Eight; 8. Liz ard/Reptile; 9. Braille; 10.Th e Syriza party
7. Through which English city does the Greenwich Meridian run? 8. On a right angled tria ngle, what is the side op posite the right angle called? 9. Who was the sixth wif e of King Henry VIII of En
gland?
10. What is the capital cit
y of Romania?
Answers revealed after ha
lf term!
Godstowe Preparatory School, Shrubbery Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP13 6PR. UK. Tel: +44 (0)1494 529273 Registrar Tel: +44 (0)1494 429006 Email: schooloffice@godstowe.org Registered Charity Number 310637. Company Number 68471.