The Coronet THE JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
MAY 2018
Welcome to the penultimate edition of ‘The Coronet’ for 2017-2018. We have made the most of our wonderful grounds over the last few weeks for lessons and activities and are enjoying being able to use the grassed area in front of Little St Margaret’s. I am delighted to inform you that next half-term will see work beginning on our new adventure play area and we are looking forward to having a special opening event for our girls and parents on its completion. A highlight this half term was the Year 5 and 6 production of Shakespeare Rocks! Our girls certainly showed the confidence that we value so highly and also the ability to work together to produce something of such a high standard - we are very proud of them all. Trips over recent weeks have included Year 5 going to Hudnall Park and Year 4 to Hampton Palace. I have particularly enjoyed our series of informal concerts throughout the year and have seen our girls show their increasing talents in this area of school life. In the next half of the Summer term we look forward to welcoming parents to the Junior School Concert in which all our Year 3 - 6 girls will be performing. A further highlight was the Interhouse Swimming Gala; the support and encouragement that the girls showed to each other was a spectacle of sportsmanship at its best. Please do remember to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as we will regularly be posting pictures and news. Mrs Norris
Stars of the week this half term Reception : Yahvi Gothi, Alexis Chris-Okafor, Sara Khan, Angela Zhu, Milly Auchincloss and Jessica Feier. Year 1
: Saachie Ahluwalia, Afrah Ameen, Grace Killick, Alara Erdil and Simran Shah.
Year 2
: Miaya Kumar, Mansi Patel, Navya Aggarwal, Tina Shen, Siana Lad, Emily Hooper, Isabella Militaru, Maya Morjaria and Roma Lakhaney.
LAMDA
Congratulations to all 105 LAMDA girls in Years 1 - 6 who took examinations at the end of last term. The results were outstanding with 88% achieving Distinctions and 12% Merit. Very well done on your success. Mrs Lester and Miss Muir
Year 5 Netball Tournament On Saturday 28th April, Year Five got together and formed a team to play against other schools for fun. The schools that we played were Stormont, St Hilda’s, Ashfield and Charlotte House. Our team included Florence, Shira, Zoey, Anqi, Masooma, Tia, Sumayya, Divine, Isabelle, and Isabella (our team captain). Every school got two breaks where they would be able to go to a little tent with lots of snacks and drinks, but I think Isabelle and I got a bit carried away and ate a sugar cube. While all the other schools were playing, St Margaret’s were singing along to our latest Year Five and Six play, Shakspeare Rocks. We tried our best against all the schools, but sadly we didn’t score any goals and lost all of the games. We weren’t that sad because we knew we had tried our hardest. Then right at the end, we all lined up and started shooting with a ball. Isabelle’s mum joined in. We ran in and caught the ball and then aimed for a goal. Surprisingly we nearly all scored! Mrs Donovan, Divine’s mum, said, “You didn’t score during the game but scored many goals after the game.” She agreed that the most important thing was that we all had fun. Medals were awarded to the winning teams and we all were given a certificate. I am sure we will be even better next time. By Isabella Stratis
Isabelle said, “Even though we did not score any goals we played really well!”
“I think we were good but I think we can do better next time.” Tia tttt t
Year 5 & 6 Play Performance On the 2nd and 3rd of May Year 5 and 6 performed their school play: Shakespeare Rocks. The play was about the life of one of the best writers of all time, William Shakespeare (whom we still study today). The role of William Shakespeare was awarded to Anaya Patel. Everybody worked very hard to make the production the very best they could. The teachers also deserve a lot of praise for using their time to put Shakespeare Rocks together. We auditioned for our play by performing a scene from the show. Some people sang, but singing was optional. We had many rehearsals to make sure that the play was done to perfection, it definitely was! The play ran over two nights and both performances were spectacular! Everyone was involved in the play, and everyone did a fantastic job! This was our last production in the junior school, and Shakespeare Rocks will never be forgotten. The last thing that we wanted to say was well done everyone and thank you to all the teachers involved. “ The thing that I liked the most about it was that everybody was included.” Tahira Bello-Osagie 6C “ I thought the most important part was that everyone enjoyed it!” Anaya Patel 6S “ I thought that this was an interesting production because it includes the history of William Shakespeare.” Lucy Jackson 6C
By Lucy Jackson & Anaya Patel, Year 6
Year 5 Visit to Hudnall Park On Tuesday 8 May 2018 Year 5 had a fabulous trip to Hudnall Park which is located in the countryside near Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. The day started when both Year 5 classes picked up their snack bags full of yummy snacks. Everybody had a great time and the staff at Hudnall Park was really kind. Their activities were amazingly tough but they were fun. My favourite was the first activity when my group were doing plank-skiing. We were separated into two teams during this activity. I was with three other girls: Imaan, Doris and Fatima. They were afraid we would fall off or put down a foot. But we did really well and almost made it to the end. The really challenging activities were the crocodile and the square shaped ones. The crocodile one was super hard, you had get through the crocodile swamp without using your feet. You could use the lily pads but you had to get onto them quickly without the crocodile (played by Mr Hislam) stealing them and taking them away. I thought the squares were much harder because even if it looks easy it is actually really tricky, it took so long to find all of the correct squares from the blue hoop to the yellow hoop at the end. After eating our snacks we had more activities. This time it was in the woods. We had to make our own safety shelter by using sticks and logs. The difficult part was that it had to be sturdy and waterproof. Mr Hislam chose two volunteers, he tried getting all the water into the shelters to soak the volunteers from either class. They only chose two girls and both of them got soaked. Mr Hislam went into my group’s shelter and Mrs Joyce tested it by pouring water. Mr Hislam went underneath the shelter roof and he got soaked by Mrs Joyce! Our next activity was hunting for tiny insects. We found many tiny and fast creatures. Before we began our activity we discussed where the best place to find them. It was all a very exciting trip and we all enjoyed it. By Pippa Willoughby (5J)
Year 5 Visit to Hudnall Park On Tuesday 8th May, we visited Hudnall Park Activity Centre, Berkhamsted. In the morning we took part in lots of activities.
The first was ‘Plank Skiing’, which is where you get two planks with two ropes on the side, in groups of four you have to work as a team to walk around a course.
Another activity was called the ‘Crocodile Swamp’. We had lots of equipment; a tyre, a plank of wood, two crates and two mats that acted as lily pads. In our team of eight we had to work out how to get across the swamp without the crocodile (Mr Hislam) taking one of the lily pads away. A third activity was ‘Dinosaur eggs’, where you had to get ten eggs along tubing to the other side without dropping them (it was harder than it sounds!). The final activity was ‘Vortex’ in which you had to complete a patterned sequence and if you got it wrong you had to start again. In the afternoon we were set the task of building an emergency shelter out of the braches, twigs and leaves in the woodland. These had to be tested for how good they were, including whether they were waterproof or not. Mr Hislam was responsible for pouring the water over the shelter whilst two of the team where sitting underneath. We got out own back when Mr Hislam had to test out his groups shelter, Mrs Joyce had great pleasure in soaking Mr Hislam whilst we all laughed.
We had a great day working together as a team and learnt lots of new skills. Issey Ingarfield 5H
Year 4 Visit to Hampton Court Palace On Friday the 18th of May, Year 4 made their trip to Hampton Court Palace, the home of Henry VIII. Firstly, we had a workshop about the ladder of importance. The ladder of importance isn’t a real ladder that you can just climb on to be important, it is an imaginary ladder to help you picture how things were set out depending on how important you were. At dinner time you would go to a large room where the servants and gentry would sit. At the very bottom of the room, the servants would sit. The gentry would sit further on into the room. Then you would step up into another room, where the nobles would sit. At the side of the room there would be a door. In this door the king has his own private chamber where people would stare at him while he eats his food. The people would be there to amuse him and talk to him. In one of the rooms the ceiling was covered in symbols so we got to lie on the floor and stare up at the ceiling. Afterwards we went to a darker, gloomy room which reminded me of an escape tunnel. Then we went to the wine cellar which was even darker and even gloomier. There were some steps on the side of the room which we used as our own ladder of importance. On the top step was Mr Roche (pretending to be God). On the next step Lily stood pretending to be King Lily. Underneath King Lily stood the nobles and then the gentry, followed by the servants. We learnt about Thomas Cromwell and how he jumped up the ladder of importance but then got executed for treason. Then it was time for lunch. We had a picnic on the grass. For lunch we had sandwiches, crisps, a biscuit and an orange. After lunch it was time for another workshop. We first thought about what we knew about the Tudors and how hard it must be to be in such tight clothing. We tried walking around like Tudors. We couldn’t smile or laugh. Instead of saying hello, the Tudors gave a little curtsy with their eyes looking a little down. Then we learnt that Henry VIII was the size of two big men next to each other. We also learnt that the great house of easement was where the Tudors went to the toilet. They would sit right next to each other whilst doing their business! Afterwards we had a quick role play on the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. Then we had to get into groups and create a frozen image of one part of the story but the group that I was in had to do something different. Everyone had to close their eyes whilst we made sounds to make them picture the story. We had a great trip! Anjali Ganguly ~ 4R
Science
In Science this term, Year 3 have been learning about Forces and Magnets. We have explored the effects of pushes and pulls, and learned about how friction can affect movement. The topic of Magnets was very exciting, learning the names of the North pole and South pole. We also learned the terms repel and attract to describe what the magnets do to the different poles. In this experiment we tested the strength of magnets by counting the number of paper clips they would attract; we were very surprised by our results. Our paper clip chains were so long, we had to stand on a chair! One magnet attracted 80 paper clips and we even had to ask Mr Hislam to help us!
Electricity games 6C! 6C are making games that have electricity involved. We have all these different games: buckaroo, animal order, the perfect hearts match, question and answer, football flick and lots more. Mr Hislam (the 5H teacher and our Science teacher), asked us to bring in different materials for our games. We get the wires and connect them to our games. They may contain light bulbs, buzzers and many other forms of electricity. We use cardboard boxes and wood to make the board. We are still making the games. Most people have done decoration but we have cleverly done most of the electricity elements (meaning we have connected the wires together). It is extremely fun and it gives us a better understanding of electricity. By Milly Metcalfe and Isabel Lewis
Year 1 Year 1 this term have been learning about ‘Peculiar Plants and Amazing Animals’. Every girl has planted their own runner bean plant and made egg heads with cress. We have made our own egg cress sandwiches using an algorithm we made and followed like a recipe.
In science we have learnt about food from around the world. We brought in the packing that comes on our food. We found out quite a lot of the food we eat does not come from England. Some of our fruit travels from as far as Chile! We have learnt about silhouettes and made some colourful artwork using this as inspiration.
Fantastical Friday Every Friday Year 1 do a creative piece of writing based upon a picture given to them. They plan their stories in partners and share their ideas with the rest of the class.
They sometimes like to
‘magpie’ other people’s ideas that are very good. By Amara Here are some examples of the stories that have been written:
By Joline
By Anaya
Reception
‘We had caterpillars in our classroom and watched them make their chrysalises and then hatch into butterflies.’ Yahvi
‘We went on minibeast hunt and found a bumble bee, a worm, a caterpillar and a spider.’ Milly
‘We learnt to double numbers using different minibeasts.’ Angela
RESULTS 1st place ~ St Johns 2nd place ~ Southwark 3rd place ~ Windsor 4th place ~ Waterhouse
On Monday 21st of May we had our inter-house swimming gala! Four houses competed they were; Southwark (red), St Johns (green), Windsor (blue) and Waterhouse (yellow). All of the KS2 students were gathered in our school swimming pool block. The strokes that we all swam were front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and widths. Some were with floats, others swam lengths. Everyone tried their best, especially in the relays. As well as the students, the teachers also deserve some credit for organising this fun event. Everyone persevered during the gala to secure the winning spot. As well as it being competitive, there was lots of sportsmanship and cheers from the poolside. We are all very proud of the winning team St Johns. Thank you to all the staff involved we are all very grateful to have this opportunity and show off all of St Margaret’s talent. Thank you again to the PE department and well done! By Lucy Jackson and Riana Patel
Lunchtime Concert The lunch time concert was amazing because we had pianists, guitars, violins and flutes. We had a duet by two Year 5’s and I played the electric guitar. I was the first person who has ever played the electric guitar in any lunch time concert. Aisha in Year 6 played Habanera on the violin and Priya, who is also in Year 6, played Hedwigs theme on the flute. We also had the first Year 1 play in any of the lunch time concert on the piano. We had three Year 4’s playing. Two played the piano and the other one played the guitar. By Lily Johns ~ 6C
Charity donations this half term
On the 8th of May - World Ovarian Cancer Day - we had a bake sale in which over £400 was raised. As the colour of Ovarian Cancer is teal, lots of girls brought in teal accessories and we had an afternoon of sweet treats. I was raising money for the Eve Appeal who do amazing work in supporting research into cancers that affect women. I also organised a bake sale 2 years ago in which we raised £250 so this year we definitely beat our goal. I have a special connection with Ovarian Cancer. 4 years ago, my mummy was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. It was a difficult time for my family. Luckily she survived and that gave me hope that cancer doesn't always end badly. I would like to thank all the girls that helped me leading up to the bake sale and on the day. I would also like to thank Mrs Norris for supporting me. I really hope that this has raised awareness for Cancer. Iman Mirza ~ 6S
In aid of Children’s Mental Health Week, we raised an amount of £262.70 for Place2Be. A big THANK YOU to everyone for their support.