Message from the Head Teacher
When our children talk to visitors on tours of the Junior School, it is very pleasing to hear how supported they feel by their teachers and peers, that they find their learning fun and appreciate the multitude of opportunities on offer in and out of the classroom.
Staff in the Junior School are passionate about building the children’s selfesteem and confidence; one key way this is achieved is through providing a range of inclusive performance opportunities. In recent weeks, our younger children performed brilliantly in the Christmas Production of Superstar!, and all years contributed to a wonderful Christmas Concert whilst also enjoying performing in a sporting context in a range of settings. We have had an exciting end to the term and I wish everyone a happy and restful Christmas break.
Peter Doyle | Headteacher of Junior School
Junior School Christmas Concert
On Tuesday 3 December, the Main Hall was filled with the sound of music, created by our wonderful Junior School musicians and choirs.
Over 100 children performed with pride to a very appreciative audience. The evening began with the Junior Strings who played a Christmas favourite, Carol of the Bells The orchestra followed with Strictly Hymers Tango and Cha-Cha and then the Wind
Band who played Twinkling Twilight and Kim’s Christmas Ballad. With a dramatic change of mood, the percussion group performed a lively rendition of Ode to Joy All three choirs then took to the stage beginning with the youngest children, the Year 3/4 Choir, who sang The Pirate Ship, Whisper, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and This Christmas Time. The Year 5 Choir confidently performed Drunken
Sailor, Walking in the Air, All is Found and Cantamos!
Finally, our most experienced choir, the Year 6s, sang Wind, It Don’t Mean a Thing and When Children Rule the World. It was a lovely evening of high-quality music making. A huge thank you to all the music staff including Mrs England, Ms Pearson, Mr Hayton, Mr Bartlett and Mrs Redhead.
T J Redhead
My Happy Mind Children in Need
We are delighted to have introduced myHappymind to the Junior School curriculum this term. myHappymind is an award-winning, NHS backed whole school and nursery curriculum. It teaches children preventative habits that support positive mental health, resilience and self-esteem. Taught to every child in the school, myHappymind is delivered via an innovative technology platform making learning easy and fun. All of the concepts taught are based in science and research and grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology.
We have just come to the end of the first module - ‘Meet Your Brain’ in the myHappymind programme.
We have learnt:
➔ The different parts of our brain and how they help us.
➔ How to use ‘happy breathing’ to help us when we feel sad, stressed or worried.
➔ What happens in our brain when we learn something new and how we can look after our brain.
The Junior School pupils celebrated Children in Need by wearing Pudsey accessories and creating a coin snail trail around the building.
We managed to raise a grand total of £310.40
Primary Maths Challenge
Every
in
single child
Year 6 took part in the Primary Maths Challenge. We are proud of their attitude and can’t wait for the results!
Year 3 and 4 perform Superstar!
Children in Year 3 and 4 presented their Christmas nativity Superstar on 10 and 11 December in the theatre. With celestial angels, shepherds who grumbled about the fact they were not washing their
socks and wise men from lands afar, Stella the star managed to guide everyone to the baby Jesus – the true superstar of Christmas.
There was some fabulous acting, singing and dancing from the children. Many thanks go to Mr Newton, Miss Clark, Mrs Walmsley, Mrs Griffith and Mrs Redhead for all their hard work putting the production together.
I have loved this play, Superstar. My favourite part was my big solo and I also liked the dancing led by Mrs Walmsley.
I enjoyed every moment of it! It felt comfortable doing it in front of loads of people, which was fun!
My favourite bit is when we sing Rock-a-bye Baby Rock. I mostly enjoyed it when Riya said Frankenstein when it was supposed to be Frankincense!
I really enjoyed the rehearsals and the songs because it was fun and were catchy.
Jenishka
Harriet
Hallie
Sebastian
Year 6 Trip to Ferens Art Gallery
Year 6 enjoyed a visit to Ferens Art Gallery in December. Using their sketchbooks to record observations, ideas and recreate their favourite paintings, they were so engaged with the works that they could have stayed much longer. They talked about the work of a variety of artists from the Renaissance to modern and contemporary.
Hands on History Trips
Year 4 visited the Hands-on History Museum as part of their Ancient Egyptian topic.
The children explored replicas of Ancient Egyptian objects with magnifying glasses, learned how to dry our organs and came face to face with a real mummy! They learned how the mummification process worked and took part in mummifying the class ‘pharoah’.
Year 6 went to the Hands On History Museum as part of their History topic of ‘The Victorians’.
They dressed up and were given Victorian names to really immerse themselves in the experience. They learnt how to write with a fountain pen as well as on slate and also found out about the different jobs Victorian servants had to do. They were all well behaved under the strict rules of Miss Trottwood and everyone thankfully avoided the cane and the dunce’s hat!
Sports News
HMC Cross Country
Well done to all our boys and girls who took part in the U9-11 HMC Cross Country race at Barlborough Hall. There were some amazing performances from all the children involved. A special well done to our U10 boys who came third and our U11 girls who are now HMC Champions! Fantastic!
Year 6 Sports Tour
Day 1…
Our exciting adventure to Worcester began as we boarded the bus, bright and early! After a short stop for lunch, we arrived at King’s St Alban’s School for our first rugby and netball fixture of the Sports Tour. We had great fun playing with the other team, and even managed our first win of the tour for Hymers scoring lots of tries!!
We headed off to our hotel to get changed and then went out for a well-deserved tea, but the best was yet to come! To end the perfect day, we had the best time ever as we went bowling and the teachers joined in some of the games too.
Day 2…
Tigers Trust 7-a-side
The Year 6 Hymers girls marched to the final of the Hull Active Schools futsal competition, which will be played in March. Well done all!
We are proud of our U11 team who competed in the Tigers Trust 7-a-side tournament and qualified for the finals. Well done!
Day 3…
After a late night of laughter (and not a lot of sleep!) we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the hotel. The best part of this day was an amazing trip to Cadbury World where we enjoyed lots of sweet treats and we were even greeted by the frog himself, Freddo! We had a fabulous experience on a virtual roller coaster and got to visit the mini museum. It was then time to play some more great rugby and hockey against RGS Worcester. After the games, we really looked forward to as much pizza as we could eat at Benedicto’s, and we were not disappointed - it was super delicious!
We woke up early and packed, ready to enjoy our last day of the Sports Tour.
Our last game was against King’s Hawford, a team that Mr Hodsdon used to coach!
We played fantastically and enjoyed another brilliant time - it was lots of fun!
We had strong results on the tour against some excellent teams and it was a great feeling coming back home.
This was the best Sports Tour ever, and we had an amazing time!
by Veer K
The Junior School children have enjoyed taking part in a variety of Christmas activities throughout December. Christmas!
Walk n Talk
Mrs Eagle and Mrs Nowaczyk take a happy group of children on a Walk n Talk through the grounds of the school every Tuesday lunchtime.
Much fun is had crunching through the leaves and jumping in the puddles through the woods. We even have a song and dance in the stone circle at the far end of the senior school field. Bring your wellies and a packed lunch!
New Year in Spain
New Year’s Eve in Spain is called la Nochevieja (the old night).
In Spain at New Year, it is the tradition to eat twelve grapes at midnight - one grape for each stroke of the clock and for each month of the year to come. Those who eat the
Key Dates
January
Tuesday 7
Tuesday 14
Friday 17
Thursday 23
Tuesday 28
February
Wednesday 12
Friday 14
Friday 14
Monday 24
Tuesday 25
Friday 28
March
Tuesday 4
Thursday 6
Tuesday 11
Thursday 13
Friday 14
Wednesday 26
Thursday 27
Thursday 27 OR Friday 28
April
Tuesday 1
Friday 4
twelve grapes believe they will have twelve months of good luck.
The grapes are known as las uvas de la suerte (the lucky grapes) or las doce uvas (the twelve grapes.)
Give it a try - it’s harder than it looks!
Return to school
Year 5 Sports Tour
HMC Swimming
5W & 5M Parents’ Evening
5H & 6TR Parents’ Evening
HMC Netball and Football hosted by Hymers
The Year 6 Choir are through to the Barnardo’s National Choral Competition Finals to be held in Birmingham Symphony Hall on 4 March!
Year 5 and Year 6 Choirs Mrs Sunderland Festival, Huddersfield
Finish for Half Term
Return to school
6J and 6O Parents’ Evening
Cottingham Music Festival, all Junior Choirs, held at Hymers
Year 6 Choir in Barnardo’s Choral Competition Finals, Birmingham
World Book Day
HMC Rugby Sevens
Year 5 and Year 6 Choirs, Music for Youth, Hull
HMC Hockey
Year 5 Production
Rosslyn Park Sevens
Year 3/4 Choir Hull Music Festival
Great Big Dance Off regional heats, Halifax
House Music Competition