THE QUAINTON HERALD Issue 114 – 4th March 2022
HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE Dear Parents, The highlight of what has been a very busy week was World Book Day. The children were a sea of colour as Mrs Ford led an assembly celebrating the children’s work. The children presented their work with passion and poise. It was quite simply a breath-taking morning. Following the assembly, the children in Year 5 and 6 were treated to a reenactment of the Second World War. There were air raid sirens, flashes and smoke to give the children a real impression of what life would have been like in a war setting. All who attended gave the workshop a huge thumbs up. On Thursday afternoon ‘Mr Dilly’ put on a performance of Robin Hood. This was certainly an interactive performance with a number of children and staff acting out the various roles of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, to name but a few. The performance saw the cast of children blossom on stage. On Wednesday Year 3 and 4 also had an inspiring English workshop with ‘Perform’. I must thank Mrs Ford for organising a wonderful week of World Book Day celebrations. On Friday, we were joined by Miss Haynes who joined us to watch the School LAMDA performances. Mr Haswell has been working with Years 3 to Year 6 on a variety of sketches and musical numbers and the School was treated to an extended assembly including sketches from Matilda, Oliver and songs from Queen. I can assure you they well and truly ‘rocked us’! Thank you for all your hard work Mr Haswell. Following the Thursday World Book Day assembly, our cross-country team headed off to Aldenham to represent the school. I would like to congratulate all the children for the efforts but, in particular, I mention Finn M (Year 6) who came second overall in the boys’ race, beating over 60 other children.
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HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE CONTINUED It is always nice to recognise achievements and, on a Monday morning, we celebrate all that the children have done in the previous week. If your child has achieved an award of note outside school, please let me know so that we can celebrate it together as a whole school. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Yug (Year 6) for being awarded his Platinum House Point Certificate. Our Chamber Choir go from strength to strength and are preparing hard for the Barnardo National Choir competition. Unfortunately, their performance at The Barbican has been cancelled and the competing schools will now have to record their performances for the judges. To this end, Mr Sheridan Coldstream came to school on Monday to spend a couple of hours with the Chamber Choir to sharpen their performance. Sheridan was the winning vocal coach on BBC1’s prime time Saturday night show ‘Can’t Sing Singers’ when he led the Birmingham group to victory in a spectacular Christmas live television final. He also prepares students for TV shows such as The Voice, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. This was a fabulous opportunity for our budding vocalists and I look forward to hearing them sing following the recording. Thank you, Mr Jones, for organising this. As we have had a small number of positive Covid cases in school this week, I would like to remind parents that we are adopting a ‘cautious’ approach at school. The School is continuing to limit access to parents without losing the ability to run a ‘normal’ school day. Can I ask parents that, where a child has had a positive test, you follow the Government advice, which is for the child to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least 5 full days and until they have received 2 negative test results on consecutive days (from Day 5 onwards). This helps protect the whole school community and makes sure that we are able to limit as much disruption to face-to-face teaching as possible. We will keep you updated on any major outbreaks so that the School can remain a safe environment for all.
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WORLD BOOK DAY World Book Day This week has been full of World Book Day fun! On Wednesday, to further support their studies of the class texts ‘Journey to Jo’burg’ and ‘Land of Snow’, Year 3 and 4 enjoyed an energetic drama workshop, presented by Perform. Year 3 pupils went on an imaginary trip around the world to the polar ice-caps, whilst Year 4 trekked through Africa. The workshop was packed with lots of fun drama techniques and the children were full of enthusiasm and excitement throughout.
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED On World Book Day itself, we enjoyed an extended assembly, where children from Nursery through to Year 6 had the opportunity to share much of the work they have written these past two terms in response to the texts they have studied in class. The Susan Milner Hall was awash with colourful costumes and it was fabulous to see the imagination and effort the children (and parents!) had put into all the super costumes.
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
As part of the celebration assembly, the English staff were delighted to share the completed QHS Story Relay for this year. This is a story that is written solely by the children in Nursery through to Year 6. Each year group is responsible for writing a particular section of the story to form a ‘story relay’ that travels throughout the School. The standard of the writing the children produced was, quite simply, exceptional and we are very excited to share the completed story with you here, complete with a handful of character illustrations drawn by the Nursery and Reception children....
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED Following our assembly, Year 5 and 6 were fortunate enough to take part in an immersive performance presented by Mr Dilly on the theme of World War II. The performance was designed to reinforce the children’s understanding of World War II within the context of their class texts ‘Once’, ‘Friend or Foe’ and ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. Marcus Dilly is a creative educator and performer who has worked with over 90,000 children both in the UK and abroad. He transformed the Susan Milner Hall into a re-creation of London during the 1940s. The children learned all about what it would have been like to have been a child living during the war, explored the role of the air-raid wardens, the restrictions of rationing and experienced a re-enactment of an air-raid, complete with sirens, smoke, flashing lights and the sound of bombs. The children could not speak highly enough of their immersive experience and learned an enormous amount about life during the war and VE Day. Here are just a few of the comments the children made in response to the performance. …the best bit in the World War II experience was when we had to actually act out being a citizen of London during an air raid, rushing into shelters when the alarm went off and doing everything we could to survive. I also really liked the sound effects and the actual smoke that came with the air-raid in the way it would have done at the time. Param …I learnt that people couldn’t buy tropical fruits (such as bananas) because the enemy had bombed the harbours and these foods are shipped in from other countries. I learnt that most foods were rationed so people were only allowed to have a certain amount over a period of time. Everyone had to carry an identity card (which helped with finding spies) and a gas mask at all times. I also liked the fact that it was exceedingly interactive. Veera …Mr Dilly’s World War II production was really realistic. The most enjoyable part was when we participated in an air raid. I enjoyed this as it felt like I was really there because there were flashing lights and smoke everywhere. I felt as if I was really there because my heart was beating and I was really scared, even though I knew it was just a show. The best part was when three people had to audition for being a soldier. It was very amusing when Mr Dilly gave girls’, boys’ names to join the army. It was also really fun when we were dancing to the famous jazz artist, Glen Miller, who was alive during World War II. Bhakti
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED …My favourite part was when Mr Dilly taught us jazz dancing! We were put into partners and I was with Nidhi. (It was chuckle-some when Nidhi kept kicking me and when we couldn’t spin each other) At one point we got stuck as we were spinning and that was why it was my favourite part!!! I enjoyed it when smoke filled the air and we were pretending to go to the shelters because there was a lot of suspense and you didn’t know what would happen next!!! I learnt that the rationing was quite strict for clothes and food as people had to grow food and mend their clothes. This also shows the government tried very hard to keep the poor well and help the country survive!!! Arushi I learnt that a whistle had to be blown three times by the warden at the beginning and end of an air raid and also that there were huts known as Andersen shelters at the back of the garden for people to take cover in. Some people had a bed inside a cage which was 2m long and known as a Morrison shelter. The only problem was that when a bomb dropped down, even though the people were sheltered from the rubble, they were likely to breathe in the toxic gas. Aadam A
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED In the afternoon, Mr Dilly took on a completely different guise and presented an interactive performance of Robin Hood to the whole school, Reception to Year 6. The performance saw Mr Dilly enlisting the help of both the pupils and staff to play the various comical roles and the whole experience was an absolute riot of fun from start to finish.
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
The children in Years 3 to 6 also took part in a special House Creative Writing Competition on Tuesday and Wednesday, the results of which will be judged and decided by The Head of English at John Lyon School. These, and the World Book Day Art Competition results, will be announced in assembly and detailed in the Herald in due course. This week also saw the start of the first stage of our cross-key stage reading programme. The children in EYFS and Pre-Prep enjoyed listening to stories read to them by members of our Year 6 cohort, something that we plan to continue as a regular feature every Friday. Both the younger children and the Year 6 pupils got so much out of the experience and it was really special to see the children sharing their love of stories together. Stage two of the programme will involve the introduction of paired reading between Year 6 pupils and Year 1 and 2 pupils, as well as a special ‘reading together’ event that will take place between Year 6 and the EYFS on 18th March. We look forward to sharing more photographs of the children reading together across the key stages but, for now, here are a few shots from ‘story-time’ on Friday.
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED Nursery and Reception The Nursery children came to the Reception classroom to share some books. The Reception children found a friend in Nursery and read them their reading book.
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED Pre-Prep World Book Day Carousel As part of the world book day celebrations the pre-prep children enjoyed a wonderful carousel of activities. Each teacher did an activity based on a book under this year's theme of 'stories from around the world'. When visiting Miss Bhadresa's classroom the children enjoyed Elmer and decorated their own Elmer the Elephant. In Mrs Khan's classroom the children heard the story of 'The Snail and the Whale' and explored repeated patterns on the snail's shell. Mrs Rana treated the children to 'Handa's Surprise' and everyone enjoyed designing their own fruit basket. Mrs Sweeney's story was 'Anansi the Spider' and everyone made a 3D spider to dance around. It has been the most wonderful day - everyone looked fantastic and enjoyed the wealth of book day activities!
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WORLD BOOK DAY CONTINUED
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MATHS DEPARTMENT This week, the students in 3JC have had a practical Maths lesson on measuring the capacity of a range of containers using water. Working in small groups on a hands-on activity they had the opportunity to practice their numerical, problem solving as well as team working skills while having lots of fun!
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MATHS DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Y4 have been learning about adding and subtracting fractions using dominoes. The number on the top of the domino represented the numerator and the number on the bottom represented the denominator. The pupils played in pairs and supported each whilst reinforcing their learning.
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SCIENCE DEPARTMENT In Year 3, we learnt about rocks and permeability. We began the lesson by looking at different objects around the classroom to check whether they were permeable. For a collaborative element, pupils worked in groups to understand the process of permeability by conducting an experiment on different sets of rocks, checking their results and completing their worksheet. The pupils explored and investigated a fair test in order to collect data, analyse and identify any patterns. They used a range of equipment to sort and group familiar living things and materials, according to observable features and properties. The pupils then had to evaluate their outcomes and offer explanations for their findings.
Anthony's worksheet
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Tiffany's worksheet
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 6 pupils identified and described the functions of different parts of flowering plants in their lessons They learnt about the floral structure and why flowers are important to pollination and reproduction. They dissected, drew and labelled parts of a fresh lily, in order to understand the structure of a plant's reproductive system. By end of the practical session, pupils were able to recall the parts of the plant that makes seeds, female and male parts, Seed Anatomy and Seed Transport. They were able to make connections to flowers that they might have growing in their house or in their gardens.
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ART AND DT DEPARTMENT Winners of the Young-Art RCA competition We are pleased and proud to announce this year's Young-Art competition results. We are very proud of this great achievement. Congrats to all our winners! The winners' artworks will be exhibited at the Royal College of Art in April. Details about the Exhibition will be emailed to parents shortly.
Mayan K Year 1
Ali N Year 4
Hanna A Year 2
Arnav K Year 4
Charlie C Year 2
Ishika D Year 5
Sara A Year 2
Keyan P Year 5
Inara A Year 2
Aarav R Year 5
Isaac H Year 3
Rishika J Year 6
Jena J Year 3
Clara B Year 6
Aashiana P Year 3
Veera S Year 6
Sebastian K Third Prize Year 3
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ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Artists of the month- March 2022
Year 1 Adam and Aarav Year 2 Yashvi and Aadya Year 3 Ayan and Aarav Year 4 Aida, Isa Year 5 Siddharth, Zynah Year 6 Eliza, Amelia and Ayaan
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ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 2 Art Year 2 are looking at Fairytales and in Art they made Rapunzel’s castle and used yarn to represent her long golden hair.
Eliana and Sara’s Rapunzel artwork
Aadya and Hanna’s Rapunzel artwork.
Year 3 For World Book Day, Year 3 are reading ‘The land of the snow’ in their English lessons. In Art, for World Book Day, they have drawn and painted a winter snowy landscape and added a Husky.
Jasmine’s Winter landscape with a Husky.
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Sebastian’s Winter landscape. A bright moon lights up the sky with an orange Venus.
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Aarav’s WBD art. He used watercolour paints for the background and has sketched winter trees and a Husky in the foreground.
Annabelle’s Winter landscape with a frozen lake and a Husky.
Year 3 Year 4 learnt about Onomatopoeia and as part of the World Book day celebrations, have created some amazing Onomatopoeias.
Shivani has used bubble writing and contrasting colours to create an explosive word!
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Summer’s colourful layering to create the word ZIP
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Adam Adam C’s KABOOM Onomatopoeia has used the colours of fire to create an explosive feel to the word.
Anush’s ZAP. He used bright colours and a lightning bolt in the background to add expression to his word.
Year 4 DT Year 4 completed their DT Musical instruments project. They have learnt to used recycled materials such as shoe boxes, lids, caps and so on, to make musical instruments.
Rishaan’s Xylophone made out of a shoe box and popsicle sticks.
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Kishan’s guitar made from a shoe box, rubber bands and popsicle sticks.
Anaya’s flute made using Popsicle sticks and bells.
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 5 Art Year 5 studied Claude Monet and Impressionism. One of Claude Monet’s iconic painting is the Impression sunrise. Claude Monet was called the father of Impressionism. Impressionists are artists who focus on the effect of light and shade and enjoy creating an impression of nature.
Aanya’s Claude Monet inspired watercolour painting.
Aadam A’s Impressionist sunrise filled with individual brush strokes and lots of colour.
Kirtan’s Impressionist sunrise with lots of colour. Page 31
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 6 Art Year 6 are reading ‘Wonder’ in their English lessons. They have been inspired by the book and as part of WBD activity, they have sketched their precepts and designed an artwork.
Lian’s Wonder inspired World Book Day artwork.
Elisa’s Wonder inspired World Book Day artwork
Thashini’s Wonder inspired World Book Day artwork.
Rishika’s wonder inspired artwork with her precepts.
Bhakti’s Wonder inspired artwork for World Book Day
Shreya’s Wonder inspired artwork for World Book Day
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ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Hobby Art
Tia’s sketch of a Gorilla.
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FAMILIARISATION DAY AT JOHN LYON Year 5 and 6 had the opportunity to visit John Lyon School for a Familiarisation Day on two occasions, to partake in a carousel of activities including Art, STEAM, Science and Dance. As part of their Art activities, the the pupils used clay to mould out their names which they got to complete, by painting them. In the STEAM lesson, they used computers to illustrate graphic designs, which were then printed out in wood and then cut using a laser cutter. They explored the use of a bunsen burner in the Science lesson. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed dancing to the song 'Levitating' and were divided into two teams to compete with each other at the end of the Dance session.
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FAMILIARISATION DAY AT JOHN LYON
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ST DAVID'S DAY Y3JC showing off their daffodil drawings celebrating St. David’s Day.
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DRAMA
We are happy to announce that there will be two performances of the Musical Mashup Show, at the Trinity Church (Hindes Road, next to the school) on Monday 21st March and Tuesday 22nd March. Both shows will commence at 7pm. Pupils involved in BOTH shows include all of Year 3, 4, 5, Bhakti and Sanskruti, Drama and Bollywood Club. I understand your child may have other commitments after school, however they have worked extremely hard towards this performance therefore, I am hoping these two dates can take priority. If there are any issues with your child attending these performances, please let me know as soon as possible. For the shows, pupils will need to wear plain bright coloured top (do not worry if it has patterns but no big logos), dark trousers/leggings (something the children can move easily in- especially if performing in Bollywood) and dark shoes/trainers. Further information will be sent out via an email next week where confirmation regarding the evening of your attendance will be required. All details regarding arrival time for the pupils will be sent out nearer the time. *DRAMA CLUB EXTENDED SESSIONS* Drama club will be finishing at 5.30pm on Wednesday 9th March and Wednesday 16th March the extra half an hour will be at no charge to parents. Please email jo.shah@quaintonhall.org.uk if your child cannot attend the extra 30 minutes. Miss Shah
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NOTICE
After School Care: Pupils in Year 3 to 6 who attend after school club between 5 and 6pm will now be sent to the EYFS building if they have not been collected by 5pm. Commencing from 7th March could parents arriving after 5pm please collect their child/ren from the Nursery entrance at No: 6 Radnor Road.
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QUIZ - WHO AM I? This week's Quiz Huge congratulations to all the pupils who successfully guessed Jeff Bezos as the answer to last week’s quiz. Special congratulations to Adam (5AA) who was the first to email me with the correct answer and a certificate will be awarded to him.
One of her famous quotes is “You can be true to the character all you want but you’ve got to go home with yourself”. She was born on October the 28, 1967, in the United States. She runs the production company Red Om Films with her sister. She was the highest-paid actress in the world throughout most of the 1990s. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding Supporting Actress. She has won three Golden Globe Awards out of eight nominations.
Please send your answer by Monday via email to Mrs Alwaheidi at arwa.alwaheidi@edu.quaintonhall.org.uk
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UPCOMING EVENTS U9 Football v Norbury
Tuesday 8th March
PM
Royal Academy of Music Choral Masterclass (Chamber Choir)
Tuesday 8th March
PM
Form 3ZS Parents' Evening
Tuesday 8th March
16:30
Year 5 - Science Museum Trip
Wednesday 9th March
All Day
U11 Tag Rugby v Buckingham Prep (Harrow Town)
Thursday 10th March
PM
U11 Girls Netball Tournament (Reddiford)
Thursday 10th March
PM
Year 1 and Year 2 Parents' Evening
Thursday 10th March
16:00-19:00
Fun Choir Performance Assembly
Friday 11th March
08:40-09:00
Chamber Choir Recording Session (for Competition)
Friday 11th March
11:00-12:30
School Council Meeting
Friday 11th March
12:30-13:00
U9 Boys Unihoc v Alpha Prep (Home)
Tuesday 15th March
PM
U9 Girls Unihoc v Alpha Prep (Alpha)
Tuesday 15th March
PM
Reception Parents' Evening
Tuesday 15th March
16:00
Year 4 Parents' Evening
Tuesday 15th March
16:30
Mother Nature Science Day (Year 1 to Year 6)
Wednesday 16th March
All Day
Year 2 trip to Kidzania (Westfield)
Thursday 17th March
All Day
U11 Boys Unihoc v Alpha Prep (Home)
Thursday 17th March
PM
U11 Girls Unihoc v Alpha Prep (Alpha)
Thursday 17th March
PM
Reception Parents' Evening
Thursday 17th March
16:00
Year 4 - Science Museum Trip
Friday 18th March
All Day
Reception - Bedtime Story Day
Friday 18th March
All Day
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BIRTHDAYS
We wish the following children, who will be celebrating their birthday this coming week, a very Happy Birthday!
Eeshan S Reception Ello H Year 2 Saif Q Year 4 Ottilie F Year 4 Anya P Year 4
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