Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 14 Friday 26 May 2017 Dear Parents Incredibly, another half term has flown past and we are now very solidly into the latter half of the academic year. It has been just breathtaking to see how much has happened in our thriving Junior School even since our last newsletter, let alone a whole half term. You may have noticed that it is all the rage for children to bring fidget spinners into school! Please could I ask parents to ensure that these are not of a spiky design that may cause injury. The school rule is that fidget spinners may be played with at break time outside, however they must remain in the children’s pockets when inside the school building. May I also remind parents that registration is at 8.50am and all children should be in school promptly. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these matters. I will be writing to you in the two weeks after half term to outline the arrangements for the academic year 2017/18 including who your child’s form teacher will be next year. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents, grandparents and the wider family of KGJS who are so supportive of the school. I hope that you are all ready for an even more action-packed second half of term! Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress
Follow me on Twitter: Annette Roberts @KGJShead
Over the past few weeks we have explored Mathematics everywhere. We have looked at different 3D shapes and found ways to stack them up to build towers, bridges and all kinds of imaginary buildings. We even got our engineer heads on and built a real bridge outside! We worked as a team and talked to each other about the type of materials we could use and, after a lot of hard work, our Pre-School bridge became a resource to help us learn about positional language. We have also started our DIY Book and have some amazing ideas about exercises we can do with our fingers. Everyone at Pre-School will get to have a turn and we can’t wait to see the photographs of all the fun things the children do at home. We had two surprise visitors in our little play area recently and they were very impressed to hear us say hello in duck language!
As part of our J2 Humanities topic on Ancient Egypt, the children have enjoyed independently researching Tutankhamun. They have produced some fabulous leaflets that include information on how the tomb was discovered, the secret steps, the chamber’s different rooms and how the Mummy was unwrapped! Well done J2, on producing such interesting research!
The I1 children enjoyed a wonderful class trip to Martin Mere Wetlands Centre on Thursday 19 May. On arrival, we enjoyed a tour with Cathy, our guide, to see a variety of wildlife including ducks, geese, moorhens and flamingos. After this we went to a special outside ‘classroom’ to have an educational talk about the different ways birds move and find their food. We also acted out a little play about how swans make a nest and lay their eggs. It was exciting to watch the otters being fed in their enclosure and to learn more about their behaviour. This made us ready to eat our delicious picnic lunch! Next, we had a fantastic time on the extensive adventure playground which included big slides, rope ladders and the zip wire! Our perfect day ended by feeding bird seed to the ducks, ducklings, geese and goslings. All the staff were very proud of the I1 children who represented KGJS so well throughout the day. We would like to thank Mrs Hughes, who came to help and look after us.
As part of their Science topic on ‘Plants and Flowers’ the J1 children have been learning all about the parts of a flower and their names. The children worked in pairs to dissect plants and match each part to its name. They then enjoyed slicing into each part to see what was inside the flower and how each part contributes to the growth and life cycle of the flower. On Thursday they learned about the process of pollination. The children took on the roles of the ‘Stamen’, ‘Carpel’ and bees, to help them understand how the pollen is transported from flower to flower. They had lots of fun doing this in the sun! and when we got back to the classroom, everyone was able to perfectly describe how plants are pollenated.
It is always lovely to hear about the children’s achievements outside of school. The children have certainly been very busy over the last couple of weeks! Well done to Lucie Wilson (horse riding), Raia Trend (skiing), Isabelle Campbell (ice skating), Gabriella Wise (gymnastics) Freddie Butler (football), Alice Nicolson (running) and Jack Dawson-Gerrard, Oliver Kollard, Harry Ribchester and Ben Firth (rugby).
Last Friday, the Junior children took part in the annual House Singing Celebration. Each house performed a song of their choice to our adjudicators, Mr Berry and Simon Cox, the producer of the charity song, Golden Days. After this, the children recorded ‘Golden Days’, which has been produced to raise money for Brian House Children’s Hospice. Thank you to Simon for allowing us to be part of this fantastic experience, for a very worthwhile cause! The recording will be available to purchase in due course…..watch this space!
Mrs Rowlands is baking 100 biscuits for the KGJS Summer Fete. She becomes bored with decorating the biscuits, so she decides to vary the decoration. She tops every 3rd biscuit with a nut, ices every 4th and places a cherry on every 5th. When she has finished all 100 biscuits, how many biscuits will have all three decorations?
House
19.5.17
Total
Fylde
140
617
Kirkham
176
746
Preston
173
767
School
164
652
Mrs Simpson’s French Club enjoyed a game of ‘boules’ on Monday lunchtime!
Recently in I2, the children have been doing a lot of work on ‘Talk for Writing’. They have chosen a well-known story, ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and have read it a few times, so they know it even better. Some of their tasks have included hot seating the characters and writing their own story maps to show their understanding of the main events. The ducks, George and Mildred, even joined them for their lesson! All of this talking about the story will make them absolutely brilliant story tellers after half term! Watch this space!
On a gloriously sunny day, the J3 children enjoyed a fabulous day at Waddow Hall on an outdoor activity day. All the children completed an assault course, crawled through tunnels, competed in a crate challenge and whizzed down a huge hill on a grass sledge! It was a fantastic day out and everyone returned home full of smiles! Thank you to Mrs Hughes and Mrs Copplestone who accompanied us on our trip.
The J3 children have been studying 'Mountains' in their Geography lessons, looking at how they are formed and the different mountain ranges around the world. For the last three weeks the children have been researching a particular mountain and this week they showed their research in the shape of a model, poster, PowerPoint presentation or even a mountain cake to the rest of their class. Each child talked about their mountain for 3 to 5 minutes, telling us about the climate, flora, fauna, tourism and general facts. The children's creations are on display at the front door...please come and take a look! Well done, J3. An incredible amount of hard work has gone into your presentations.
The I3 children have all thoroughly enjoyed ‘Scooter Club’ this half term. They have loved using the vast area of the playground to practise their skills and even had a go on a small ramp which was lots of fun! Mr Berry has also enjoyed having a go on the I3 scooter! We look forward to being able to offer the same experience to our I2 children next half term!
Well done to the U11 & U10 Girls Rounders teams who have had a very busy couple of weeks. The U11s took part in the St Pius Rounders Tournament last Friday playing 6 games in total, winning two, drawing one and losing three. The previous day, the U11 girls had travelled to Westholme, where they won both their games, 8-3 and 6-5 ½. Players of the Match were Evie Mellon and Mia Carmichael. The week before that they travelled to St Mary’s Hall, where the U10s won 23-16 and the U11s lost 14-21. Thank you to all the parents for coming along to support!
The U11 Boys Cricket team have been very busy over the last fortnight. On Friday 12 May, they beat Bury Grammar School in the AJIS Cup 97-72. This was a great result against a strong side. The following day, the U11s travelled to St Mary’s Hall. It was a good game where we were beaten by a better side 203-265. Every boy bowled and batted. On Thursday 18 May, the boys travelled to Westholme where some good bowling was seen but they struggled in the bat. Westholme scored 79 to our 18. On Wednesday 24 May, the U10s had a narrow win against St Pius winning by just one run in a very entertaining game. Thank you to all our opponents for being excellent hosts. Well done to all who have played over the last couple of weeks and thank you to the parents for coming along to support.
If any parents/friends are interested in having a food or craft stall at our forthcoming Summer Fete on Sunday 25 June, please contact Michelle Tickle at m.tickle@kirkhamgrammarjnr.co.uk We will be holding a Chocolate Tombola at the Summer Fete and would appreciate it if each child could kindly bring in a ‘chocolate’ donation, week beginning Monday 12 June. Thank you in advance for your support with this.
Well done to the following children who were awarded a Merit Certificate at the end of this half term: I1X Mia Rowland, Raurie Sumner I1Y Sebastian Boughen, Isla Sinclair, Alexia Trachillis I2X Kyle Addison, Charlie Hawe, Lois So I2Y Evie Dunne, Hamish Gilchrist, Gabriella Wise I3X Jack Gillett, Malsa Moosa I3Y Anna Vavoso, Isabelle Thompson, William Thompson J1X Oliver Littlechild, Poppy Pickervance J1Y Jay Dawson, Evelyn So, Isabel Tuck J2X Henry Dignan, Lillijae Moulding, James Singleton, Christian Taylor-Tomlinson J2Y Zachary Barker, Harry Marsh, Ronnie Nixon J3X Poppy Hunt, Eva Nixon, Jensen Stott J3Y Oliver Ganley, Evie Mellon J4X Sam Dunnington, Edward Thompson J4Y Saif Amr, Owain Heathcote-Jones, Alex Maude
Congratulations to you all!
The Quiet Zone is proving very popular! The children are enjoying being able to read and have quiet conversations with their friends! Thank you to Mr Eagle for making our lovely wooden sign!
Monday 5 June - School re-opens J4 Trip departs to Abernant Outdoor Pursuit Centre, Wales 9am J2 & J3 Sports Photographs (lunchtime) Winter & Summer kit required Wednesday 7 June - U11 AJIS Rounders, at AKS School (J3 girls) J2 & J3 Sports Photographs (lunchtime) Winter & Summer kit required Thursday 8 June - Pre-School Trip to Blackpool Zoo Friday 9 June - J4 Trip returns from Wales at 6pm approx. U9 Boys Cricket v St Marys Hall (A) 3.45pm Monday 12 June - U11 Boys & Girls Athletics v AKS (H) 4pm Tuesday 13 June - New Reception Intake Parents’ Afternoon 2pm-3.15pm Wednesday 14 June - St Pius U11 Cricket (A) 1.30pm Thursday 15 June - U11 & U10 Boys & Girls AJIS Athletics at Stanley Park Sports Arena 11am Wednesday 21 June - House Challenge Day Thursday 22 June - U11 & U10 Rounders v Lancaster Royal Grammar School (A) 3.30pm Friday 23 June - Mums v U11 Girls Rounders Match 4pm Dads v U11 Boys Cricket Match 4pm Saturday 24 June - Pre-School Production & Sports Day/Lunch 11.30am FKGS Summer Ball 7pm Sunday 25 June - Summer Fete, Summerlee Hall Monday 26 June - Infant Sports Day Practice 9am-12 noon Tuesday 27 June - Junior Sports Day Practice 9am-12 noon Friday 30 June - Prizegiving 1.30pm Tuesday 4 July - Junior Sports Day 12.50pm-3.30pm Wednesday 5 July - Infant Sports Day 1.30pm-3.30pm Thursday 6 July - Sports Day Reserve Date Friday 7 July - End of Term 12 noon (no late room but Pre school remains open) New Term begins Tuesday 5 September