Message from the Head I very much hope that you enjoy reading this latest edition of the Junior Monthly Messenger. I am delighted to announce that Mrs Iveson has joined the Junior School staff team as Personal Assistant to the Head. Mrs Iveson will work alongside Mrs Holtby, our Administrative Assistant, in the office and will also support the running of Homework Club. Together, Mrs Iveson and Mrs Holtby form a first-class office team, whilst providing excellent pastoral care for the children through their administration functions. In addition, Mrs Iveson has a strong background in Drama and will be contributing to our extra-curricular offering in this area. I am very grateful, also, to Miss Butler-Parr who has covered the office so ably in recent weeks. On a related theme, our Lead Nurse, Mrs James, and our Welfare Nurse, Mrs Picton, have recently begun to base themselves in the Junior School for part of each week. We are fortunate to have such an excellent, supportive and kind nursing team at Hymers and this move will further enhance the links between Junior School children and the Nurses.
Peter Doyle, Head of Junior School
Cross Country Champions! Hymers Junior School has had some super success in this year’s Cross Country season. We entered our usual two events: the HMC event at Barlborough Hall and the Terrington Hall event. We brought teams of boys and girls from each year group to Barlborough and an U9 and U11 team for Terrington. The Year 5 girls team came home with the U10 Girls’ HMC Cross Country trophy and at Terrington Hall, Lily won the U9 girls race with Oscar coming 2nd and Freddie coming 3rd in the U9 boys race. A fantastic achievement! A full report of these events can be found inside.
Sports News HMC Cross Country The Barlborough Hall event was fiercely contested and there were some tremendous performances. The Under 9s started us off and Lily came a superb 8th place in the girls’ race. The U9 boys are a talented team of runners but they were up against some incredibly strong opposition. Oscar finished 15 th and Freddie and Barnaby finished particularly strongly, both finishing just outside the top 20. The U10s also performed superbly. Sophia achieved the strongest finish of all our competitors, finishing in 4 th. With Emily in 13th and Pippa in 14th, this put us top of the leader board and we came home with the U10 Girls’ HMC Cross Country trophy. This is a superb achievement. The boys were in another strong field, but Frank’s 11th place and Maxwell’s 13th were brilliant results of which they should be proud. The U11s represented the school superbly. All five of our girls finished in or just outside the top 20. Our boys performed incredibly well, with four of our runners finishing in the top 20: Zachary 13 th, Toby 14th, Elliot 17th and Aidan 18th. This resulted in us coming 3rd in this category, just one point behind GSAL in 2nd. Terrington Hall The Terrington Hall Cross-Country event always throws a challenge to our pupils. The scenic but challenging course tests the stamina and the course is the longest the children will take part in over the year. Coming straight after the HMC Cross Country, our children were warmed up and ready to go and some of the results we achieved were outstanding. Particularly outstanding was the performance of Lily, who followed up her strong showing at the HMC championship to win the U9 girls race outright and by quite a distance. This is an incredible achievement! This was then followed up by Oscar and Freddie who came 2nd and 3rd respectively in the U9 boys race, earning them a medal. Ismael’s 7th place is also a great result, showing real tenacity and progress after his HMC performance. In the U11 race, Summer performed best of our girls, finishing in a highly impressive 7 th place with Chiara and Anoushka in 11th and 12th. Elliot finished 7th in the boys race, with Ben 11th, Toby 12th and Frank 15th. We have all been very impressed with the efforts of our cross-country runners this year and my thanks to all the Games staff, as well as Mr Newton, for their enthusiasm and help with getting our children ready for these events. Mr Hodsdon
5J’s Class Assembly
Class 5J led an assembly all about the history behind St. Valentine’s Day. Well done to all the children for performing so confidently, entertaining us and also reminding us what love should really be about.
Junior School Disco
MFL Joke of the Month What do French athletes have for breakfast? Mushrooms, because it's the food of champignons!
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Thank you to the HCA for organising this fantastic event. The children had a great time!
Music News
Cottingham Music Festival Some of our students were successful at the recent Cottingham Methodist Church Music Festival. Back after a two year break, the festival saw an increase of entrants in the solo categories. A huge well done to Evelyn in Year 4 who won two singing classes: the Under 10 solo performance and the Under 9 Hymn Singing Class. Also, Alfie in Year 6 won the Under 11 Woodwind trophy which is also a fantastic achievement. Congratulations as well to Nathaniel in Year 4 who came 2nd in the pre Grade 1 Piano class.
Year 4 Strings Initiative Children in Year 4 have had the opportunity to be introduced to the string family. This term, 4C have been taught to play some basic notes on the violin, viola, cello or double bass by Mr Quick as a whole class. 4W and 4O will get their turn this month.
Coding Club The Coding Club is run every Thursday lunchtime by Mr Bloomfield for our Year 6 students. They are currently learning to create a dodgeball game using the Scratch software programme. Scratch is a high-level block-based visual programming language and website targeted primarily at children aged 8–16. Coding club compliments and in some cases extends what the children learn in lessons. As well as Scratch, we have used some Year 13 students to come in and show them how to use Python which is the software they use in senior school. This has helped to broaden the children's knowledge and understanding of coding as a whole.
February 2022
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Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week As part of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, a Year 4 pupil asked if the children and staff could play some outdoor games together. So we came off timetable for two lessons and did just that!
Headteacher’s Commendations
Dates For Your Diary Thursday 3rd March
World Book Day 6B and 6W Parents’ Evening
Saturday 5th March
New Year 3 Open Morning (Year 6 Choir performing)
Wednesday 9th March
6M and 6TR Parents’ Evening
Thursday 17th March
Year 5 Choir, Year 6 Choir and Junior Strings at the Music for Youth Festival in Hull
Monday 21st March
Great Big Dance Off, Halifax. Year 6 dancers
Saturday 26th March
Year 5 Production Technical Rehearsal
Wednesday 30th March
Year 5 Production Dress Rehearsal and Performance 1
Thursday 31st March
Year 5 Production Performance 2
Friday 8th April
Well done to Pippa, Oliver, William, Gabrielle, Rayan, Ram, Dashenka, Rayan, Sam, Ben, Annabel, Atul, Oscar, Gulmehr, Sarina, Lily and Harry who received Headteacher’s Commendations for fantastic work in school as well as for demonstrating kindness.
House Music Competition
Editor– Mrs T. J. Redhead