Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 5 Tuesday 5 December 2017 Dear Parents Winter has ‘officially’ begun and the season of Advent is upon us. The children (and at least one adult I know!) have enjoyed starting their advent calendar countdown, Christmas trees have started appearing around the school and Nativity rehearsals and the distant sounds of carols being prepared, can be heard around the school. There is a definite sense of entering the season of goodwill which means so much to us all. Although there is still much work to be done in the classroom, Christmas treats are being lined up everywhere, the weather is doing its bit to be Jack Frost and the level of good cheer (despite the increasing busyness) is high! This time next week we will be putting finishing touches to the Junior Carol Service and our Infant Nativity, ‘Christmas with the Aliens’, and I look forward to seeing all of our parents at these events for what is always a highlight of this term, full of warm-heartedness and affirmations. Whilst on the Christmas theme, I would like to express my thanks to the Friends of Kirkham Grammar School for their hard work in organising a wonderful Christmas Fair last Friday.
In conclusion, don’t forget to keep your eyes open for our resident Christmas Elf! Best wishes as always Annette Roberts Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress
Thought for the week! ‘It always seems impossible, until it is done.’ Nelson Mandela
Follow me on Twitter: Annette Roberts @KGJShead
Pre-School’s ‘Space and Aliens’ topic has made their learning opportunities very exciting! They made vegetable aliens, sweet green goo aliens and craft aliens while they learned about the different planets in the Solar system. This theme has made it possible for them to start thinking about counting and how numbers are everywhere. The children used them at the Alien restaurant, on their trip to the Moon and even when asking for a piece of fruit at Snack time. Some children were digging in the garden this week when they found a very old piece of paper. They called everyone over quickly, “We’ve found something! Come here everyone!!” Everyone at Pre-School was amazed when Mrs BlancoBayo opened the box and found a very old letter in it. It was a letter from 1987 written by Mavis and Norman. The letter explained how Mavis and Norman’s grandchildren used to play hockey on the fields known as “The Triangle”. This is where KGJS now stands. The most exciting news was that Mavis and Norman became friends with an alien who visited Kirkham sometime then. Does this mean aliens are still around KGJS? Well, nobody really knows, but a glitter jar and many other strange things have been found around school!
The newly elected School Council have worked incredibly hard throughout the Autumn Term. They organised a very popular Halloween-themed tuck shop, as well as initiating ideas for raising money for ‘Classrooms in the Clouds’ and reinstating Fruity Friday. They are doing a superb job at being class representatives and ensuring that ideas from pupils are being discussed. It has been impressive to see how quickly they have structured their meetings with agendas, minutes and actions! Well done to the School Council; an excellent example of teamwork and leadership skills.
I1 have had a very magical few weeks, with a visit from ‘Silvestor’, a Wizard from Hogwarts. The children made their own wands so they could be wizards and witches, too, and they were asked to plan their own magical spells and follow the instructions to make a laughter potion! To make the laughing potion the children had to add; trolls’ bogies, glitter magic and vericas and wartcap powder. Once it was all mixed together and the children said the magic wizard words, “Hocus Pocus”, everything all bubbled over and everyone got the giggles. I1 hope to hear from Silvestor again soon!
The children in J1 have been studying about Prehistoric life in their History lessons. They have been inspired by the incredible cave paintings they have been learning about and have created their own. They turned their classrooms into a prehistoric cave, plunging them into darkness and listening to the sounds of a subterranean cave. While learning about life in the Mesolithic period of the Stone Age, J1 have been trying their hand at replicating the bone and antler carvings from that period.
Last week, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Shuttleworth invited two year groups into the hall each day and reminded the children about good table manners.
There is a Christingle Service at St Michael’s Church, Kirkham, Sunday 10 December at 6pm. The money raised goes to The Children’s Society. Everyone welcome!
KGJS Carol Concert Thursday 14 December
in Summerlee Hall 7pm All welcome!
Please could all library books be returned to school from Monday, ready for the end of term. The Junior children can keep their Reading Pro book! Thank you.
The J2 children were very excited to be going to Castle Head on their first overnight school trip on Thursday 16 November. Their first challenge was to make their own beds, which some of them found more difficult than others! They all enjoyed the orienteering activity around the building to find where everything was located. Next, they used their map skills to find controls around the grounds; this was so much fun! Evelyn, Meesha, Tom, Bertie, Jack and Henry all proved to be experts at finding the correct places on the map and so won the event. After lunch, everyone went back outside to try out the low ropes and obstacle courses, working as part of a team. Unfortunately, it was a little bit wet and some of the children were quite muddy by the end! This was a definite highlight though! They all enjoyed their evening meal before making lanterns from tissue paper and twigs and leaves that they had collected during the afternoon. They looked amazing all lit up. Most of the children were surprised, but very pleased, to see that their lanterns did not go up in flames as they had expected! After a story and hot chocolate, the children (and staff!) were ready for bed. On Friday they were up bright and early, ready to pack up their belongings. They enjoyed a lovely breakfast, with some children having second and third helpings! Next, they made their own packed lunches before spending the morning looking for mini beasts, learning to identify them and setting mammal traps, in which they managed to catch two bank voles! They were really cute and did not seem bothered about being caught for everyone to look at. With their torches at the ready, the children also went into a cave to look for more creatures. Some of the children were a little shocked to find that they were looking for cave spiders, the largest species in Britain! They were certainly glad to get out of there, as visions of ‘I’m a Celebrity’ were swimming through their heads! After eating their lunch they headed back to Kirkham, tired, but having thoroughly enjoyed their visit!
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), Rosa and Leoma Gill (running), Evie Mellon (gymnastics), Oliver Shackleton (golf), Olivia Noblett (dancing), Jack Dawson-Gerrard (rugby), Jasmine Stirrup, Henry Dawson-Gerrard, Lucas Tuck, Theia Chesworth, Sophie Rawlinson, Emily Greenwood, Isabel Tuck, Sebastian Boughen (swimming) and Imi Osborne (tennis).
The annual Primary Maths Challenge took place on Wednesday 15 November over lunchtime. Eighteen pupils took part, whereby they had to answer 20 multiple choice questions, and 5 more that they had to calculate themselves. Here are some of the questions they had to answer‌ I am twice the age of each of my twin sons, Barry and Larry. Our three ages have a total of 76. How old is Barry? a) 9.5 b) 18 c) 19 d) 36 e) 38 I wish to make a list that includes each of the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 exactly once so that at least one pair of numbers next to each other in the list has a product that is a multiple of 6. How many different such lists can I make? Congratulations to all of the children who took part. It was certainly a challenge!
On Wednesday 29 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 putting camouflage face paint on, while trying to spot a selection of soldier objects in the woods! The children learned all about the food rations that a World War II soldier would have carried with him! They regrouped and marched back to the Junior School, just in time for lunch!
U10 Hockey v AKS On Friday 17 November, the U10 girls played Hockey against AKS. Although AKS won the game, KGJS played some good Hockey. Player of the match was Rosie Helliwell. Well done to all who played and thank you to the parents who came along to support.
U11 Rugby v Richmond House, Leeds & St Mary’s Hall On Saturday 18 November, the U11 boys travelled to St Mary’s Hall to play three games of Rugby against Richmond House from Leeds and St Mary’s Hall A and B teams. There were lots of positives from all three games in which Kirkham won two and lost one. Thank you to St Mary’s Hall for hosting and to all the parents who came along to support. U9, U10 & U11 Swimming v Westholme On Thursday 23 November, the U9, U10 and U11 boys and girls represented the school in a Swimming against Westholme School. Over forty children represented the school with everyone giving 100%. There were some excellent races throughout the match and the final results were as follows: U11 boys Kirkham 55 pts Westholme 33pts U11 girls Kirkham 30pts Westholme 58pts U10 boys Kirkham 51pts Westholme 37pts U10 girls Kirkham 32pts Westholme 56pts U9s Kirkham 39pts Westholme 49pts Overall scores: Kirkham 207 - Westholme 233 Thank you to Westholme for hosting a fantastic gala and well done to all our swimmers.
U9 & U11 Hockey v St Mary’s Hall On Saturday 25 November, the U9 and U11 girls played Hockey v St Mary’s Hall U10 and U11 girls. It was a bitterly cold morning at UCLAN with the girls also experiencing some extreme hockey weather; hail and rain! The U9s drew 0-0 which was an excellent result against girls a year older and the player of the match was Emily Greenwood. The U11s won 3-1 (goal scorers Alexa Anderson 2 & Evie Mellon). Well done to everyone who played and thank you as always to all the parents who came along to watch and support the girls.
On Wednesday 29 November, KGJS attended the annual AJIS Swimming Gala which was held at Darwen Leisure Centre and hosted by Oldham Hulme School. This is always a very competitive AJIS event and is often dominated by schools who have their own pools. We knew we would have to be at our very best to just make the finals but by the end of the gala we had reached five individual finals and four relay finals which was way beyond our expectations! Out of the nine finals we managed to secure three medals. These were achieved by the following: Ewan Huck 2nd U11 Boys Freestyle Harry Marsh 3rd U10 Boys Freestyle Isabel Tuck 3rd U10 Girls Freestyle Jenson Crompton and Lola Sidani also reached individual finals in the backstroke. A great afternoon of swimming and once again a huge thanks to Oldham Hulme for organising the gala. The school was represented by the following: U11s Ewan Huck, Jake Pedley, Mason Wilkins, Oliver Kollard, Lilly Jones, Evie Mellon, Alexa Anderson and Eva Berry. U10s Harry Marsh, Jenson Crompton, James Singleton, Christian Taylor-Tomlinson, Lola Sidani, Hattie Brooks, Rosie Helliwell and Isabel Tuck. Well done to you all! 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 m.tickle@kirkhamgrammarjnr.co.uk
Tickle
at:
We received a wonderful array of decorated baubles for our ‘Friends of KGS’ Christmas Fair Decorated Bauble Competition. Well done to all of our winners; Jasmine Stirrup, Josie Trow, Harry Glanfield, Jason Soar, Tom Bloomfield, Lola Huyton, Lily Whalley, Esme Whalley, William Coward, Sam Asquith, Jasmine Rose and Cara Chesworth.
The Friends of Kirkham Grammar School are now on Twitter and Facebook. Please follow them at;
@friendsofkgs
Friends of Kirkham Grammar School
The image below (from the last newsletter) can be found in the school hall. Well done to all who managed to locate it!!
For more information please visit;
http:// www.lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/ online-safeguarding/parents-andcarers.aspx
Can you work out where this photo was taken within the KGJS building?
Former Kirkham Grammar School pupil, James Cartmell, visited school on Wednesday 29 November to do a live reading of the manuscript, ‘Little George and The Christmas Socks’. James narrated the audiobook version, which is out soon across multiple platforms! Thank you James!
As part of their PSHE lesson yesterday, J1 discussed significant changes that can happen during their lives. Miss Knowles brought her dog, Arthur, into school to meet the children and explained to them how much of a difference Arthur has made to her life. Kirkham Grammar School have had a very special visitor who has come to board with us! Until Christmas Eve we will be posting regular ‘Elf’ updates on both our Twitter and Facebook pages! Where will the Elf appear next?
Wednesday 6 December - U9, U10 & U11 Swimming v Bolton (A) 4pm Vocal Ensemble - Carol Singing in the Community, Booths Lytham 12.45pm Thursday 7 December - U11 Boys Hockey v Ashbridge (A) 3.15pm Friday 8 December - U9 Boys Hockey v Ashbridge (A) 3.15pm
Vocal Ensemble - Carol Singing in the Community, Booths Poulton 12.30pm Monday 11 December - U10 Boys & Girls Indoor Athletics v Lytham AC (A) 5pm Tuesday 12 December - Infant Production Dress Rehearsal, Summerlee Hall 1.30pm Wednesday 13 December - Infant Production, Summerlee Hall 2pm Thursday 14 December - Pre-School Christmas Craft Morning 9.30am-10.30am Junior School Carol Concert, Summerlee Hall 7pm Friday 15 December - Whole School visit to the Pantomime Monday 18 December - Infant Christmas Party 1.30pm-3.30pm Tuesday 19 December - Junior Christmas Party 1.30pm-3.30pm Wednesday 20 December - Term ends 12 noon, coaches depart 12.15pm No late room. Pre-School remains open. School reopens on Tuesday 9 January 2018
The next and final newsletter for this term will be published on Wednesday 20 December!