Message from the Head It has been a busy and exciting start to 2022 in the Junior School, with the buzz of enthusiasm evident both in and out of the classroom. It is fantastic to see Junior School children taking full advantage of our wide-ranging extra-curricular programme and staff continue to be impressed by the high rates of participation in clubs and activities. I am also very grateful to our Sixth Formers who have, this year, supported the running of clubs, bringing a new dimension to our extra-curricular offering. I very much hope you enjoy reading this edition of the Messenger and finding out about some of the children’s successes and achievements in January.
Peter Doyle, Head of Junior School
National Choral Competition Finalists
Hymers Junior School Year 6 Choir were delighted to discover that they had qualified for the Barnardo’s National Choral Competition Finals. To reach the final, the choir submitted two recordings: ‘Whenever the Wind is High’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ which were judged by Douglas Coombes, MBE. Only 18 junior choirs were selected to go through to the final, due to be held at the Barbican, London, in March, from hundreds of entries. This is a great achievement as it is the 10th year a choir from the school has qualified and, having been crowned the winners in 2020, the choir were very keen to retain the title of National Champions. The live event has, unfortunately, been cancelled and the choir will now not have the wonderful opportunity of singing at the prestigious Barbican. This is disappointing not only for the children but also for Barnardo’s as the evening concert was a major fundraising event for the charity. However, the organisers are keen to continue with the competition itself and the choir will submit a new recording of the songs which reflects the hard work they have done in the last few weeks which will be judged by an expert panel. The winning choir will receive a trophy and be asked to sing at a live Young Supporters Concert later in the year. The choir are now busy preparing for this recording and will also be entering the Llangollen International Eisteddfod Competition due to be held in Wales on Thursday 7th July. We wish the choir good luck!
Headteacher’s Commendations Well done to Frank, Sophia, Francesca, Shivani, William, Stanley, Isabel, Owen, Dashenka, Rayan, Ruby, Thomas, Harry, Sarah-Jane, Tom, Jasmine, Misha, Aryan, Eileen and Olivia who received Headteacher’s Commendations at the end of last term for outstanding achievement, effort and kindness.
GarageBand Project In Music this term, Year 6 have been learning how to use GarageBand on iPads. Having mastered some basic skills, they are now composing their own soundtracks using both the instruments and loops on the app as well as recording live instruments and voices.
5N Class Assembly
A big thank you to 5N and Mr Newton for their super Class Assembly this month. They taught the rest of the Junior School many interesting facts and showed us lots of examples of their fantastic work based on space.
In January, we said good bye and good luck to Mrs Sedman, our Admin Manager.
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Goodbye Mrs Sedman
History in the Making! Class 4O have been studying Ancient Egypt this term. They have been finding out about the River Nile and have worked really hard on making a model of an Egyptian shaduf which is a hand-operated device for lifting water.
Pupil Voice All the Junior School children engaged in a Pupil Voice session led by members of Year 6 Leadership Club. There were lots of brilliant, creative ideas for developing our Quiet Garden.
Creative Writing I could hear faint snoring from the dingy cabin below. All of a sudden the grey, gloomy ghouls above drifted as slow as a snail, covering the luminous moon and the gleaming stars. The reprehensible wind cackled callously. Before I had time to act, a preposterous sized wave chased the boat, precipitating it with fear. Bursting with despondent tears, the vile rain punched and pounded; they were boxers in the regional finals. My heart sank! Congested with fear, I tried to steer the ancient boat but it was hopeless; it wouldn’t turn! Malevolently, the blistering cold knife tore into my sopping skin. I was wet. So wet. My clothes, which were once parched, were now saturated and unfortunately it seemed like it had no hope of ever drying out. The thunder taunted me monstrously, as it crashed into the dismal ocean and, for a dismal bout of time, danced across the vexatious ocean. Then the taunting waves got closer and I got paler. Closer. Paler. Closer. Paler. Closer. Paler. Until I was practically falling over with trepidation. Then it crashed. It was as cold as the arctic in winter. I know, I’ve been there. The icy blue took over. I was cold. Too cold. Like a skyscraper towering above me, the depraved waves hurtled at me. Then I blacked out. By Rayan, 6TR
Class 6TR have been studying the book ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo. They have produced some amazing descriptive writing about a storm at sea which included adventurous vocabulary, use of imagery and a variety of different types of sentence structures designed to engage the reader. Fantastic work everyone!
January 2022
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Sport We have had our first Junior School Boys' Hockey match this month. Our U9A and U9B boys took on Pocklington at home after having had just 4 sessions of hockey and played incredibly well. Our A team won 3-2 and our B team won 9-2. This is a tremendous set of results, especially given how little time they have had on the AstroTurf. This year has been the first year of doing Boys' Hockey as a main sport alongside Football and it seems to have gone down very well. It is great to see the boys playing a variety of sports at a young age and, with specialist coaching from Mr Tapley and Mrs Taylor, the boys in all three year groups are visibly making excellent progress. With the football, led by Mr O'Hara, going from strength to strength, combined with ongoing lunchtime rugby practices with the help of Mr Bloomfield and Mr Newton, Boys' Games is in a strong position. A total of 58 boys have been attending Y5/6 football club, which is an incredible statistic. Thank you to all involved in this excellent provision. Meanwhile, the Year 4 girls have also been involved in fixtures against Pocklington. All the girls were involved within the four teams that played High 5 Netball. It was their first netball fixture and the girls were a credit to the school, putting up a great battle, picking up one win in the process. The addition of Miss Annis and Miss Clark to the Girls' Games department has added another burst of energy and enthusiasm. The children are fully involved, keen and are working hard, with a good proportion of girls coming to sports clubs. My thanks to Mrs Fillingham and the Girls' Games staff for their continued effort.
Sports Awards
Matthew Hodsdon, Head of Junior School Sport Well done to all our Junior Sports Award winners from the Autumn Term. Their effort and attitude, as well as commitment and pure ability, has shone through. We have all loved coaching all our children this year. Keep it up!
MFL Joke of the Month What did the baguette say whilst it was being sliced? 'Ouch, le pain!'
Editor– Mrs T. J. Redhead