Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 9 Friday 3 March 2017 Dear Parents Children and staff have returned after half term refreshed and re-energised for a busy second half of term. Not only are we all looking forward to our production of Aladdin in 3 weeks’ time, but the next week also sees a plethora of sporting tournaments for our U11 Hockey and Rugby teams. On the academic front, all our pupils have been involved in Reading and Maths assessments this week and I have been impressed by the way in which the children have approached these tests. I am hopeful that, by the time I write my next newsletter, I will be able to share with you the results of the Independent Schools’ Inspection which took place the week prior to half-term. Finally, I have two polite requests. The first relates to the carpark once again. Please could I ask that at the end of the day (3.30pm onwards), when parents are waiting for the playground gates to open that they double park on the loop to alleviate a queue developing on Ribby Road. The second thing is to remind parents that girls’ ribbons and hair accessories should please be in school colours. With the days getting lighter and the occasional blue sky, it seems that spring might just be around the corner... I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress Follow me on Twitter: Annette Roberts @KGJShead
Thought for the week! Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.
On Sunday 26 February, six pupils from KGJS took part in the Fylde Primary Schools Cross Country event at Parkview in Lytham. Nikita ran in the Year 4 race, Harvey, Lily and Poppy in the Year 5 race and Alexander and Hennie the Year 6 race. All pupils ran brilliantly in muddy and cold conditions! Congratulations to J4 pupil, Alex, who went up on the podium for second place in the Year 6 boys’ race. Well done to all!
All the pupils enjoyed delicious cupcakes during afternoon break on Tuesday, kindly given to them by Mr Berry and Mrs Roberts as a thank you for their support during our inspection.
The J4 children went over to the Senior School yesterday for a History lesson with Mr Berry. The children had to imagine that they were trapped in the library for three weeks due to an airborne disease! They wrote letters to their parents to tell them what they needed from home to survive through this period! The children thoroughly enjoyed the lesson!
This year’s J3 and J4 Triathlon will take place on Saturday 22 April at Kirkham Baths and UCLAN Sports Arena to raise money for a local charity. Details will be out shortly...please save the date!
As part of J3’s Science Topic, Super Scientists, Caroline, a forensic scientist, came in to speak to the children about her role within the police. The morning was very interesting for the children (and staff!) and everyone was amazed by how the material evidence gathered from the crime scene, victim and/or suspect is used by the forensic scientists. Their role is to examine these materials to provide scientific evidence to assist in the investigation and court proceedings. All the children lifted fingerprints, swabbed for DNA, collected fibres and took an impression of their own footprint. Miss Evans even had a clay shoeprint made from her shoe which can be used as evidence! Thank you Caroline for coming into KGJS, the morning was not only educational, but fascinating and great fun, too!
On Thursday 23 February, the I3 children took part in a live stream with the Museum of London about the Great Fire of London. The Museum even answered the I3’s question, "Did they have a Fire Station in London during the Great Fire?" During the livestream, the children found out that the smoke and debris travelled as far as Windsor! The afternoon was a perfect end to their Great Fire of London topic!
At Pre-School we have been setting sail on a boat adventure. We began this journey during a Circle Time discussion about different types of boats and how they move in water. As a crew of sailors, we docked at various ports to build bridges using a variety of construction materials to get across the water. What an amazing way to listen to each other and work as a team! We also learned that sailors used to communicate by sending messages inside bottles. We wrote our own messages, put them inside bottles and let them float out to sea. Who knows who might find them! Cara told us all about her boat, ‘Sail Online Preston’ and how she has had exciting times with family and friends on board. We were all so curious about the way boats travel that we decided to make some using recyclable material and… guess what? We blew them across the water and they floated!! Shrove Tuesday came and we made delicious pancakes. Some of our favourite toppings were Nutella and syrup. Mmmmm, they were scrumptious!!!
Our School Chaplain, Reverend Bunday, took a wonderful assembly on Wednesday morning. He spoke to the children about Lent before making pancakes, ably assisted by Mrs Knowles! Later that day, the I1 children followed up Reverend Bunday’s assembly and discussed the meaning of Lent and then enjoyed making their own pancakes in class. Thank you to Reverend Bunday for coming into KGJS!
On Wednesday 22 February, the U11 Girls and Boys Hockey teams travelled to UCLAN Sports Arena in Preston to play in the Lancashire Hockey Tournament. The day was a great success with the Kirkham boys being crowned Lancashire Champions and the girls Lancashire runners up. The boys will now go through to the North of England Hockey Finals in Leeds on Tuesday 21 March, while the girls will go forward to the North West Hockey Finals next Tuesday.
Prior to this, on Wednesday 8 February, the U11 Girls Hockey A team travelled to Rossall for a Hockey tournament. The girls were very strong and managed to win three of their first four games; 3-0, 1-0 and 2-0. These results took them through to the semi-finals where they unfortunately lost 2-0. Overall in the tournament the girls came third and were presented with bronze medals. Well done to all who played and thank you to all the parents for coming along to support. On Thursday 24 February, KGJS U9 Boys Hockey team travelled to Ashbridge for what turned out to be a fantastic game of Hockey. The U9s played really well but unfortunately lost 2-0. Well done to all who played and thank you to Ashbridge for hosting! On Saturday 25 February, Kirkham U9 and U10 Girls achieved two pleasing wins against St Mary’s Hall at home. On Thursday 2 March, the U11 Girls took part in the AJIS Hockey Tournament at UCLAN. They came second in their group, winning two and losing two. They then progressed to the quarter final where they played Kings School Chester and this saw their best Hockey of the day being played. Unfortunately, the girls lost the match 1-0. Thank you to AKS for organising an excellent tournament and to all of the parents who came along to support.
On Friday 20 January, the J2 Rugby team won 10-5 against AKS. Both teams played excellent Rugby and we look forward to further entertaining games in the future. On Saturday 25 February, the U11 Rugby team played Preston Grasshoppers on the new artificial 3G pitch. The conditions were wet, with the odd shower, but despite this they played really well with some good tackles and rucks. The final score was 30-5 to Hoppers. Thank you to Preston Grasshoppers for being excellent hosts!
Mrs Anyon’s Baking Club had a wonderful time celebrating Shrove Tuesday. They made pancakes using lots of different fillings including; bananas, blueberries, raspberries, syrup, cream and a little sprinkle of chocolate. They made traditional pancakes and also American Blueberry pancakes and compared the different ingredients and results! The highlight was being able to taste them at the end!! They even had a couple of extra taste testers from J3!!
After the Easter holidays, the children will be in their summer uniform which mean summer dresses for the girls and short sleeved shirts for the boys. These can be purchased from the Uniform Shop.
J4 have been learning all about Victorian Britain during their History lessons. They have each completed a project about daily life for children during this period. The research was mostly based on the following topics; clothes, religion, houses, food, money and family life. They have all beautifully presented their projects as an information booklet. Everybody has thoroughly enjoyed this and they have all found out many fascinating facts about what life used to be like. Learning about the Victorian era has been an eye-opener. What was considered a comfortable life then is very different from what we class as simply comfortable today. In other words, we should feel fortunate to have all the amazing opportunities that nobody would have ever had the chance to experience in the Victorian times. By SiĂ´ned Jones-Blanco
On Tuesday 21 February, the J1 children travelled to Tatton Park for a Viking Day. The children were split into two groups and experienced a number of activities during the day. The sessions focused on the Anglo-Saxon and the Viking Invasion. In the 10th century AD, the Vikings were continuing their raids of the Anglo-Saxon people who had colonised England. The children learned about these two groups of people, looking at their home life, religion, work, trade, food, language and geography. They arrived just after a Viking raid had taken place and, through activities such as threshing and winnowing, baking, pottery and runes, saw the effects these had on the AngloSaxon community. The highlight of the day was definitely the weaponry session! J1 had a wonderful day!
On Wednesday 1 March, J3 had a WWII VE Celebration Day! They came to school dressed in WWII costume and hairstyles! Some children also brought in tasty treats they had created using WWII recipes. They spent the morning preparing for their afternoon of fun; making bunting, colouring and painting Great Britain flags. They also made sandwiches, which were delicious! The children listened to Winston Churchill’s declaration that marked the end of the war to complete their WWII topic. In the afternoon, Shelly Stott taught them how to Waltz and Jive. J3 spent the afternoon dancing, singing WWII songs and eating lots of wonderful wartime food. Well done, J3...you all looked fantastic!!
The I3 Science topic has been ‘Materials Monster’. The children have been learning about natural and man -made materials. Firstly, they discussed the different kinds of material such as wood, clay, plastic, fabric etc. They formulated their own investigations that they wanted to find out about the materials; this included seeing if the materials would float with the help of a hairdryer! They looked at the properties of materials and why they would use them for different purposes. I3 had a wonderful talk from Mrs Bell-Carr (Buster’s mummy) about the fabrics that she uses to make her clothing and explained to the children about the difference between weaving and knitting. As a follow up from this, the children researched where cotton comes from and have been very interested to find out what their clothes are made from. They have also been very fortunate that Mrs Thompson, (Isabelle’s grandma) has also visited us in school to talk about glass making. She taught us about the terms transparent, translucent and opaque and she demonstrated how to cut glass using specialist equipment. We also looked at some of her own pieces of ‘glass art’ which were amazing. Thank you to all our visitors. The children have also done a materials hunt around the home to see what materials they could find in each room of the house. I think that we can firmly say that I3 are materials crazy!! Well done everyone for such enthusiasm!!
On Tuesday 1 March, the J4 children learned about the water cycle. We made our own small water cycles, putting about an inch of wet soil in a cup and sealing it so that no air could get in or escape. By the end of the lesson we could see water condensation and it precipitating down back into the soil. The water represents the rain, the soil represents the earth and the cling film represents the atmosphere forming a protective layer around the earth. This never-ending loop of evaporation from the ground, due to the sun’s heat, and condensation in the cold atmosphere, is how clouds are formed and how rain falls on this planet. The photograph shows our life-giving water cycle. By Emily Marsh J4X
It is always lovely to hear about what the children have achieved outside of s cho ol. Wel l don e to Siô ned Jones-Blanco, Gabriella Wise who have been awarded certificates for skiing, swimming and service to the church.
On Thursday 2 March, Pre-School and I1 children had a very special visitor! Captain Sumner (Raurie’s daddy) came in to talk to them about his job as a pilot! He spoke to them about aeroplane safety and they were able to watch a video showing Captain Sumner’s recent flight from the UK to Paris which had been filmed at fast speed! The children were fascinated by this and all very interested in what Captain Sumner told them! Thank you very much for coming into school!
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
Please follow us on Twitter for the latest news at KGJS! twitter.com/kgjs_
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.
House
24.2.17
3.3.17
Total
Fylde
82
167
1213
Kirkham
88
161
1159
Preston
129
213
1415
School
97
140
1171
Please find below details for the rehearsals/performances of Aladdin.
Sunday 5 March 12 noon-4pm All principals/dancers 12 noon-4pm All children can wear their own comfortable clothes and are to be brought directly to the SLH (Summerlee Hall). Saturday 11 March 11am-3pm Please note the change of times for this rehearsal, due to the many requests received re the England v Scotland 6 Nations Rugby game. All children can wear their own comfortable clothes and are to be brought directly to the SLH (Summerlee Hall). 11am-1pm All principals & principal dancers 1pm-3pm All J3 & J4 Tuesday 14 March: Additional Technical Rehearsal - SLH 4pm-6pm All children with solo singing/speaking roles required. This rehearsal will give the children chance to rehearse with the microphones/sound system for the first time. Please collect your child from the SLH at 6pm. A light snack and drink will be provided. Sunday 19 March: Costumed run-through - SLH 9.45am-4pm 9.45am All J3 and J4 children are to be brought directly to the SLH (Summerlee Hall). They must wear school track suits with their Aladdin t-shirt or normal white top. 10am-12 noon Full run through without costume. 12 noon Lunch break. Please ensure your child brings a packed lunch and a snack and a drink. 12.30pm-1.15pm Change into costumes/photographs being taken. 1.00pm J1 and J2 chorus to arrive in Aladdin t-shirts, black trousers or black leggings and black pumps or black school shoes. Please meet in the Recital Room at KGS. T-shirts will be sent home in advance. The costume run-through will start at 1.30pm and will finish at approximately 4pm. Please collect your child from the following places: J3 and J4 from the Sixth Form Centre J1 and J2 from the Recital Room
Monday 20, Wednesday 22 & Thursday 23 March The dress rehearsal on Monday and the two evening performances will all begin at 7pm and finish at approximately 9pm. 5.45pm Main Principals - please meet in the Sixth Form Centre 6.15pm J3 and J4 - please meet in the Sixth Form Centre 6.40pm J1 and J2 - please meet in the Recital Room All J3 and J4 children need to arrive in their school track suits with their Aladdin T-shirt or normal white top. J1 and J2 chorus to arrive in their Aladdin t-shirts, black trousers or long black leggings, black socks and smart black school shoes or black pumps. For the matinee performance on Wednesday 22 March the J1 & J2 children need to arrive in school in the morning dressed in their Aladdin t-shirts, black trousers or long black leggings, black socks and smart black school shoes or black pumps. All J1 and J2 girls with long hair to have their hair tied in a bobble to match their Aladdin t-shirts. Prior to the two evening performances we will be offering pre-show drinks and canapes. Further details will follow but the tickets can be obtained from the school office. I know that this is a lot of information. If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to get in touch. Thank you very much for your continued support.
Raffle Prizes
If any parents are able to donate raffle prizes for the Aladdin productions these would be greatly received. Thank you in advance for your support.
Sunday 5 March - Aladdin Rehearsal 12 noon-4pm Tuesday 7 March - U11 Girls North West Hockey Finals Doncaster 12 noon Wednesday 8 March - U11 Girls Hockey St Mary’s Hall Tournament (A) 1.30pm U11 Boys Budge Rugby 7s Rossall (A) 12 noon Thursday 9 March - U11 Rugby v Buchan School (A) Preston Grasshoppers 1pm Friday 10 March - U11 Daniel Davies Rugby 7s St Mary’s Crosby (A) 12 noon U11B & U10A Boys Hockey v Manchester Grammar School (H) 4pm Saturday 11 March - Aladdin Rehearsals 11am-3pm (please note change of time) Tuesday 14 March - FKGS Meeting 7.30pm Aladdin Additional Technical Rehearsal 4pm-6pm Wednesday 15 March - U11 Rugby 7s v St Mary’s Hall (A) 12 noon Sunday 19 March - Aladdin Rehearsals 10am-4pm Monday 20 March - AJIS Rugby 7s Merchant Taylors 12 noon Aladdin Dress Rehearsal 7pm Tuesday 21 March - North of England Hockey Finals Leeds 10am start Wednesday 22 March - Aladdin Matinee Performance 1.30pm Aladdin 7pm Summerlee Hall Thursday 23 March - Aladdin 7pm Summerlee Hall Monday 27 March - U10 KGJS Hockey Tournament (H) 11.30am start No After School Activities this week Tuesday 28 March - Pre-School & I1 Egg Hunt 2.30pm Thursday 30 March - U11 AJIS Netball (A) Bury Grammar School time tbc Friday 31 March - End of Term 12 noon Pre-School remains open Coaches depart 12.15pm Saturday 1 April - Ski Trip departs Saturday 8 April - Ski Trip returns Summer Term begins Wednesday 19 April 2017