Spring Term 2017 – Newsletter 3. 10 February 2017

St John’s House Disco We enjoyed dressing up in our glittery disco outfits and dancing to our favourite music played by DJ Mike. We had fun playing Corners and Musical Bumps and enjoyed our supper of hotdogs and chocolate cookies. Thank you FOSJH for arranging a super evening.

Parking Notice – We have had a complaint from a local resident to say that vehicles are waiting in the ‘Residents Only’ parking area of St John's Square during drop off/pick up time. In one case this lead to a resident being unable to park his vehicle properly and getting a parking ticket. Please note this area is permit only parking between the hours of 8.00 and 9.30am and 3.00 and 4.30pm. Thank you for your cooperation and for your consideration to the local residents.

Safer Internet Day Tuesday 7

th February was Safer Internet Day. We marked this occasion with assemblies,

led by Miss Palmer, for both Mulberry House and St John’s as well as various activities with our class teachers. The theme this year was Be the change: unite for a better internet. Our discussions focussed on the use of photographs and videos online. We really enjoyed exploring the different resources and sharing our ideas. We feel we all know more about the questions we should be asking ourselves when we take photographs and post online and how to perceive the things we see on the internet.

Year 6 explored how photos shared on line can potentially stay there forever and may reach a wider audience than intended. We considered how photos create an impression of character and personality to develop a strategy to help us decide if a photo is okay to share on line.

YEAR 3 Year 3 have had an amazing time during their dance lessons recently! They had to plan and choreograph a dance with a cowboy “Wild West” theme. The girls said they loved the music and working with their partner. They thought carefully about moves that would reflect the theme of the dance and then planned different sequences of movements. The teachers came to watch the final productions and were very impressed with the dancing and the smiling faces during the performance!

YEAR 4

As part of our PSHE lesson 4CG thought about their dreams and hopes for the future. All the dreams were then put onto a dream catcher and are displayed in our classroom. Dreams included; becoming a journalist, working as a charity worker and becoming an Olympic gymnast. What wonderful dreams!

Year 4 visited Wakefield Cathedral to learn all about music. We learnt that the organ is a wind instrument and the piano a percussion instrument. Lucky Jessica Blake had the chance to play the grand piano.

In 4SS we have been learning about the properties of shapes. We have used geoboards to make some shapes with parallel lines. Did you know that a parallelogram has two pairs of parallel lines and no right angles?

YEAR 5

In PSHE, we have been thinking about how our home makes us feel. We enjoyed using Jem, the jigsaw piece, to take turns to speak. These are some of the words we thought of: safe, family, warmth, fun and laughter.

In English, we have been exploring how authors create fantastic, fictional worlds. We worked in groups to become the storyteller of an extract from 'Ice Fairies'. We then performed to the rest of the class.

YEAR 6

We enjoyed visiting the Chantry Chapel for our workshop. It is one of only four surviving medieval bridge chapels in the country and we learnt about its history. We were fascinated to find out about the history of highwaymen in Wakefield and we dramatized the story of highwayman Henry Walton. We listened to the narrative poem ‘The Highwayman‘ by Charles Noyes and enjoyed creating very atmospheric mood pictures based on the poem.

In Science Y6 have been learning about a healthy diet and the digestive system. We investigated how our food is broken down in our stomachs. We made some 'model stomachs' to find out how the movement of the stomach walls helps our digestion.

FRENCH

In Year 6, we have been learning items of furniture in the house. This will lead to a PowerPoint presentation describing our own house.

French sound of the week an - orange am - chambre en - trente em - septembre Notice how they are spelt differently, but make the same sound. Can you think of any other French words with these

letter strings?

In Spanish Club, we have been learning about Flamenco. In groups, we created our own Flamenco dance, thinking carefully about rhythm, footwork and arm movements. We enjoyed performing our routine, dressed in our own clothes.

In Linguistics Club, a selection of Year 5 girls worked

hard to work out the meanings of words, using hieroglyphics.

Bon Anniversaire to the following girls.

MUSIC Class Concerts: During the week of the 6th of March girls will get a chance to perform on their instruments in their music lessons. Teachers of all girls who learn an instrument in school are aware of this, if your daughter learns outside school I would love her to perform as well. Please pass on the date to their teacher who will advise her on which piece to perform. Instrument Cases: Please could you use the half term break as an opportunity to check that your daughter’s instrument is CLEARLY labelled on the outside of the case. Please could you attach a luggage label in a suitable place to enable easy identification by pupils and staff. Thank you. Music teaser: Something to ponder over the half term. The National Anthem of which country contains 158 verses? Girls can put their answers in the plastic wallet in the well under the music board. Stars will be given out for correct answers during the next hymn singing session. Deadline for entries is the end of school on the Monday after half term. Good luck!

SPORT Hockey

On February 7th 2017 our U11 Hockey Squad travelled to GSAL to

compete in the West Yorkshire county round of the In2 Hockey tournament. The girls made a strong start beating Gateways School 2-0 with goals from Niamh Barrett and Henny Gibson. The girls continued on their great form into the next match to beat Bradford Grammar School 2-0, with goals from Madison Ducker and Henny Gibson. Next to play were old rivals GSAL. Alice Morrison made some fantastic saves to keep the game at 0-0 at half time. Despite a very strong performance, GSAL scored a very late goal meaning we lost 1-0. We needed just a draw from the next game against Moorfields to secure our place in the next round of the competition. After a nervous start the girls defended well and made some excellent interlinking play

down the wings and were unlucky not to score. The game finished 0-0, meaning we qualified as runners up for the North East regional round of the competition. Well done girls, some fantastic hockey played throughout the day. Gymnastics On Saturday 27

th January 2017, the Wakefield Girls’ High

School Junior School Gymnastics team attended their first competition at Sheffield High School - The Milano Team Gymnastics Competition. The team comprised of Lucy Rushby, Abbie Grafton, Ruby Shone and Victoria Parks. The girls had dedicated many hours to practise their individual and group performances and produced some fantastic results. Lucy Rushby finished 3

rd on vault with a score of

14.30 (maximum was 16.0) and 3rd

individually overall with a score of 28.0 (maximum of 32.0). Abbie Grafton finished 3

rd

on a very competitive floor with a score of 14.15 (maximum 16.0) and 4

th overall with a score of 27.95 (maximum 32.0).

After a very tough competition the team finished in a very respectable 9

th place, a great achievement for our first

competition. Well done to all the girls involved.

Sophie Duerden-Brown

14 février Maya Aziz 23 février Aaliyah Syeda 04 mars

Jemima Otter 14 février Tara Glennan 23 février Amelie Williams 04 mars

Sophie Lister 15 février Victoria Parkes 23 février Nancy Tidy 05 mars

Sophia Hilton 16 février Widad Abubakar

26 février Bayan Yousif 05 mars

Evie Pickles 16 février Victoria Richardson

28 février Freya Sheahan 06 mars

Hareem Ghouri 19 février Abbie Grafton 03 mars Phoebe Vincent 08 mars

Netball The Under 10 and Under 11 netball teams enjoyed a high-scoring afternoon of netball at Bradford Grammar School. Under 10 B team won 18 - 0 Under 10 A team won 18 - 0 Under 11 B team won 10 - 0 Under 11 A team won 14 - 0 The 4 teams scored a total of 60 goals and did not concede any goals at all, a superb team effort from every player. Excellent play from: Isobel Cox, Charlie Grant, Marella Akhgar, Aaliyah Syeda, Maddy Patel, Emily Northern, Leina Tordoff and Ruby Shone. Cross Country 21 girls from Year 6 took part in cross country trials which were held over a mile long course at the Games Field. The trials were held in preparation for the selection of a team to compete at a cross country event at Worksop College at the beginning of March. Stop press! The Under 9 and Under 11 Netball teams had 2 excellent wins at Mylnhurst School in Sheffield. A full match report will be in the next newsletter.

Coming soon Thursday 23 February – Under 10 and Under 11 IAPS Swimming, regional time trials, at St. Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst near Clitheroe. Tuesday 28 February – Under 11 IAPS Netball, north regional round, at Stonyhurst College neat Clitheroe.

EASTER HOLIDAY CLUB (week commencing Monday 10 April)

This is proving very popular and numbers are limited so please book early. The final day for booking this club is Friday 10 March,

unless all places go beforehand.

FOSJH Update Thank you to all the parents who supported our first aid night which was a great success. We have had various

comments such as "brilliant night", "informative yet fun", "very impressed" and "can we have it annually"?

We are already at half-term and are looking forward to our events later in the term.

Friday 24th February 6pm: We have our talent night "Stars of St John's" in Jubilee Hall - your chance to see your child on stage or support their friends! There will be a donation bar and some light snacks and sweets

available for the children. Tickets available soon. Friday 24th March: The next 'bags to school' day - please have a clear out at half term and bring any unwanted clothing/material items on this day. We would also be grateful for any used good condition school uniform that

your child may have grown out of. Thursday 6th April: Back by popular demand, our annual Easter Egg and Cake sale in Mulberry House Hall -

stock up on your chocolate! Saturday 13th May: family night with music and dancing- details to be announced shortly - please save the date!

Have a lovely half term holiday

Regards Rob Arnold (Chair) and Nicki Williams (secretary)

Dates to note A list of dates for your diary can be found on our website www.wgsf.org.uk. and in the Junior School Events Diary. I would, however, like to draw your attention to the following forthcoming events:

13 February Half Term 20 February Back to school 06, 13 & 20 March Y6 Visit to Wakefield Cathedral 09 & 10 March Y4 Residential visit to Malham 14 March Y6 Residential – Parents’ Information Evening 16 & 17 March Y3 Residential visit to York 21 & 30 March Y3, Y4, Y5 & Y6 Parents’ Evening

STAR OF THE WEEK – 27/01/2017

STARS OF THE WEEK – 03/02/2017

Ameya Shenoy 3JB Writing a lovely description of a mythical creature.

Kaitlin Fernandez 3JC A super description of your mythical creature in creative writing.

Maisie Cunliffe 3VH Making a fantastic effort with her money work.

Jessica Blake 4EB Her enthusiasm in science.

Bella Boswell 4SS Making an excellent effort to improve her handwriting.

Jessica Danforth-

Johnstone 4CG

Super participation in all maths lessons this week.

Amelie Cresswell 5APW Showing a keen interest in science and completing her own science topic on earth and

space.

Maddy Bennett 5TP A super performance of a poem about a dangerous animal.

Annabelle Scott 5LR Her participation in the story telling activity of “Ice Fairies”.

Jahaan Raza 6AW A very good description of a highwayman including vivid similes and metaphors.

Neha Vemula 6HJ Working hard in all areas of the curriculum and producing work of a consistently high

standard.

Bayan Yousif 6JB Always working sensibly and conscientiously.

MATHLETES OF THE WEEK

For work completed: 23

rd to 29

th January 30

th Jan to 5

th Feb

Victoria Richardson 3JC Persevering with your fraction work, even though it can be a bit of a challenge!

Hema Nair 3JC Being so keen and enthusiastic in every lesson.

Matilda Bowser 3JB Excellent detailed reading comprehension work.

Grace Hunt 3JB Producing some lovely work in history.

Ella Gregg Teale 3VH Always working hard with a super attitude and asking sensible questions during

lessons.

Amaya Patel 4CG Being consistently kind and thoughtful to everyone.

Abbi Riddiough 4EB Fantastic perseverance in maths.

Haimee Ahir 4SS Trying very hard in all lessons.

Eleanor Bree Ojomaikre

5TP

A big improvement in her attitude to both her classmates and, more importantly, her

learning!

Alina Abbas 5LR Improving her work rate in English.

Grace Whitfield 5APW Writing an excellent description about a ‘poisonous spider’.

Alyssa Boylin 6AW Participating with interest and enthusiasm in ‘The Highwayman’ workshop at Chantry

Chapel.

Mia Crecraft 6JB Being helpful and caring and working hard.

Eve Townend 6HJ

For her enthusiastic approach towards comprehension and improving her skills through

hard work and determination.

Year 3

Zara Azaer Ellie Gilbert

Kimiya Yousefi

Kimiya Yousefi Grace Hunt

Annabel Massey

Year 4

Hareem Ghouri Ishani Kundu Lucy Thornton

Ishani Kundu Hareem Ghouri

Evelyn Crompton

Year 5

Annabel Simpson Vienna Taylor Zara Akhtar

Sarina Kaur Vienna Taylor Zara Akhtar

Year 6

Olivia Fulton Ingrid Nyman Bayan Yousif

Bailey Potter Serena Andani Hannah Jessop

Mathletics Trophy

Winners

Hareem Ghouri

Hareem Ghouri