Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 5 Friday 2 December 2016 Dear Parents This half term is simply flying by! We are looking forward to beginning our preparations for the festive season, although the Christmas production rehearsals are already in full swing! This week has seen the start of Advent, and our tree has arrived. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Friends of Kirkham Grammar School for organising the Christmas Fair tonight, in particular, Mrs Thompson for taking the helm in the organisation. We are endeavouring to return as many items of lost property as possible to their owners. We do however, still have a number of children whose lost property has not yet turned up. Please could I ask everyone to check at home for items which may have come home by mistake. We will put a rail of unnamed items at the front of school for parents to look at when they are collecting children, each Friday evening. Finally, may I remind parents about courteous use of our car park. On Wednesday evening one of our parents reported a bump to their car where sadly the driver of the other car had just driven off! Whilst it is appreciated that the car park is a tight squeeze at peak times, could I please ask that everyone takes great care for the safety of our pupils and show courtesy to other drivers. Thank you. I am very much looking forward to seeing many of you during the last two weeks of term at our various Christmas events. Have a lovely weekend. Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress
Follow me on Twitter: Annette Roberts @KGJShead
There is a Christingle Service at St Michael’s Church, Kirkham Sunday 11 December at 6pm The money raised goes to The Children’s Society
KGJS Carol Concert
Everyone welcome!
Wednesday 14 December in Summerlee Hall 7pm All welcome! Sport/Event Photographs If parents take photographs at school events/sports fixtures we would love to see them! They may even get used in school newsletters, on the website and in press releases. Please email them to Michelle Tickle at m.tickle@kirkhamgrammarjnr.co.uk Thank you
Kirkham Grammar Junior School Facebook news is now on the Kirkham Grammar School Facebook page….we hope this will make the ‘whole school news’ easier to follow! Please visit and ‘LIKE’ the KGS page for all the latest news, photographs and information. The Facebook page name is ‘Kirkham Grammar School’ and can be easily identified from our KGS logo above.
Please follow us on Twitter for the latest news at KGJS! twitter.com/kgjs_
House
Sub-total
18.11.16
25.11.16
2.12.16
Total
Fylde
1788
199
122
195
2304
149
199
2392
151
258
2505
166
241
2290
Please could we kindly ask parents/carers not to park on Kirkham 1846keep these 198 the yellow lines within the school car park and clear at all times in case of an emergency. Preston 1898 198 Thank you
School
1705
178
On Thursday 17 November, the J2 children went to Castle Head in Grange-over-Sands. Our first challenge was to make our own beds. We did an orienteering game to learn our way around the building, then took part in some team building games outside in the rain. Next, we tackled a muddy obstacle course. To make sure we were really dirty we went down the mud slide. By the end of the activity, we had to be hosed down! After tea, we made lanterns that lit up beautifully! After an action-packed day we were all very tired and we went to bed. Some of us slept more than others! The following morning, we enjoyed breakfast and made our lunch, some of us thought we were in Subway! Afterwards, we set mammal traps and the J2X children caught a bank vole! We also looked at barn owl pellets using microscopes to see what they had eaten. We had a wonderful two days and would love to go back again! By J2Y
Pre-School have been trying very hard to listen to each other during carpet time and are learning to tidy up as soon as they hear their ‘tidy up’ music. As the excitement of Christmas begins we are learning about the story of Christmas and baby Jesus. We have started building a stable ready for when He is born and all the animals are patiently waiting so they can keep him warm. We have also started making a selection of Christmas goodies in preparation for the stall at our Christmas Craft morning. We can’t wait to spend the morning with our families singing Christmas Carols and making decorations.
Thursday 15 December Pre-School Christmas Craft Morning in the Junior School Hall 9.30am
KGJS went to Westholme for a swimming match on Thursday 24 November. Forty nine children took part, making up six teams in total! Westholme won 295 - Kirkham 251. Well done to all who took part, a very enjoyable afternoon was had by all.
On Friday 25 November, KGS had a special visit from award winning author, Gareth P Jones. We arrived at Summerlee Hall to some very welcoming music, played by the author himself! Mr Jones talked about his books, some of which are about robot pirates, and we all found it extremely interesting and funny. He has written songs for each of his books and we had fun joining in, too! He is a very good pianist and also sounds good on his ukulele. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and we are looking forward to reading some of his books. Thank you Gareth for a very exciting and fun afternoon!!! by Anya Kiely & Grace Livesey
The Eco Committee have had a fantastic start to the school year and have just achieved the bronze award. This is the first of three awards they need in order to gain the national Green Flag Award. We are hoping to apply for this by the end of the year. The children have come up with some excellent ideas for saving energy, reducing litter and expanding our biodiversity within school. They are soon to be taking part in the National Switch Off Fortnight Campaign, and in March will be creating some beautiful ‘Junk Art’ during waste week to encourage upcycling and recycling at home. The children are determined to create a cleaner and eco-friendlier future for themselves.
On Friday 25 November, almost a hundred Junior children arrived in school in their pyjamas, onesies and slippers along with a magic carpet for the very first KGJS Movie Night! The children watched the Disney film ‘Aladdin’ and enjoyed popcorn and sweets. Many parents asked if it was an 8am pick up the following morning! This was a superb evening and the children have been asking when we can do it again! Thank you to all the children who came and supported this fundraiser for our school production.
On Thursday 1 December, the U11 Girls A and B Hockey teams travelled to Westholme. The A team won 8-0 with four goals from Alexa Anderson, three from Lilly Jones and one from Emily Marsh. Excellent defending was seen from Frankie Margerison and Rachel Watson with all girls playing well as a team. The B team won 3-1 with a hat trick from Grace Livesey. Again the girls demonstrated good team work during the match. Player of the Match for the A team was Maisie Bailey and for the B team, Grace Livesey. Well done to all who represented KGJS.
On Wednesday 23 November, the J3 children went over to the Senior School to see what it may have been like to be a soldier in the Second World War. They saw real guns and parachutes and tried on helmets, which were very heavy and felt like having a tortoise shell on their head! Everyone had a go at making “bashas�- shelters made out of tarpaulin, six tent pegs and bungee cords and they even put camouflage face paint on, whilst making them in the woods, to hide them from the enemy! They regrouped and marched back to the Junior School, just in time for lunch! Thank you to everyone who helped to bring the experience to life!
The next newsletter will be our Christmas edition and will be issued on Friday 16 December
Monday 5 December - Indoor Athletics v Lytham AC (A) Thursday 8 December - U11 A & B Girls Hockey v Lancaster GGS (A) 4pm Monday 12 December - Infant Production Dress Rehearsal, Summerlee Hall 2pm Tuesday 13 December - Infant Production, Summerlee Hall 2pm Junior Christmas Party Wednesday 14 December - Infant Christmas Party Junior School Carol Concert, Summerlee Hall 7pm Thursday 15 December - Pre-School Christmas Craft Morning, Junior School Hall 9.30am KGJS visit to the pantomime (am) Friday 16 December - Term ends 12 noon. Coaches depart 12.15pm. NO LATE ROOM Pre-School remains open. Spring Term begins Monday 9 January 2017