Autumn Term 2016 – Newsletter 5. 02 December 2016 Anti-Bullying Week and Children in Need

Anti-Bullying Week (14th-18

th November) raised awareness of bullying including cyber-bullying. The theme this year

was ‘Power for Good’. This initiative was used in assemblies, PSHE, English and drama and IT lessons to support the girls to use their power for good. They learnt and understood the ways in which they are powerful and how individual and collective action can prevent bullying and create happy, safe environments.

On Friday, we enjoyed dressing up as ‘superheroes’ to remind us that we have the power to do good. We had characters ranging from Superwoman to Catwoman and Batman to Superman. We also did good and thought about others by bringing a donation for ‘Children in Need’, and we raised £317. It was a very successful week spotlighting bullying, encouraging girls to take action against bullying throughout the year.

We had delicious ‘spotty buns’ for our dessert at lunchtime to support ‘Children in Need’. The girls love Christmas shopping! It was a very busy Christmas Shop on Wednesday. The girls enjoyed buying Christmas decorations and Christmas crafts to make. Christmas stationery was very popular too. A big thank you to the Y6 girls from 6JB and 6HJ who ran the shop and the Y6 School Council reps who helped to order the stock.

Librarians The Y6 librarians enjoyed making star decorations for the library and ballerina snowflakes for the stairwell in St John’s House. They were very good at following instructions and St John’s House looks very pretty.

Primary Maths Challenge 2016 Well done to the girls who took part in the Primary Maths Challenge 2016. Special congratulations go to the following girls;

YEAR 3

The girls in Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed practising their design and technology skills last week during our themed topic, ‘Making a Healthy Sandwich’. They saw the project through from planning the packaging, designing and making their sandwiches and finally evaluating their handiwork. There was even time to practise their chopping and slicing skills! We were really pleased that parents were impressed too and enjoyed reading your comments. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the practical side of their project and created some very interesting sandwiches indeed. We definitely have some budding chefs here!

YEAR 4

Year 4 have had a variety of data and measuring activities to complete this week in their maths lessons. These have included designing and drawing their own graph. Choices included favourite leotard design, flowers and chocolate bars. Everyday objects were used for the weighing activity, comparing them and then converting their weight from g to kg. The final activity was investigating capacity. Different drinks were measured and compared for their volume. The results were then converted from ml to l using a decimal point.

YEAR 5 In Year 5 we have been measuring circles in maths, using a piece of string and a ruler. We have also been finding out about the circumference, diameter and radius. In English, we have been looking at extracts from Robinson Crusoe. Through storytelling, we have further developed our ideas about the viewpoint and perspective of the main character.

Victoria Parkes Gold Nina Smith Silver

Serena Andani Silver Lucy Tillotson Silver

Holly Bestwick Silver Isobel Skinner Bronze

Charlie May Grant Silver Sarina Kaur Bronze

Megan Rees Silver Annabel Simpson Bronze

Aarya Shenoy Silver

5LR have been finding out about the absorbency of different materials as part of their science topic of ‘properties of materials’. They carried out their own investigation to see which materials out of kitchen roll, blotting paper, tissue paper, toilet roll, printer paper and filter paper absorbed the most water. They also looked at the thickness and composition of each material. After detailed analysis they concluded that kitchen roll was the most absorbent and tissue paper the least absorbent.

In science 5TP have been learning how water is able to travel through other materials using a process called capillary action. We enjoyed setting up our celery investigations The coloured water travelled all the way to the top of the plant! YEAR 6

As part of their topic on persuasive writing, Year 6 have been using drama to act out scenes from a theme park to help describe the emotions they experience. Can you work out which ride they are on?

ECO COMMITTEE NEWS The Eco-Committee met to discuss ideas about how to make the school more eco-friendly and then went round school at lunchtime on an energy-saving mission to find out which lights and devices waste energy. The audit showed that most electrical devices were off but some lights had been left on. As a result, we decided to organise a competition to design a logo to be placed by switches to remind us to switch the lights off. Entries to be handed in by Wednesday 7

th December.

FRENCH

We have enjoyed writing to a pen pal in Year 7, telling them about where we live. We look forward to getting a reply!

In Spanish Club, we have enjoyed the role plays set at the cafe. We feel confident that we could order items of food and drink in Spain.

Joyeux Anniversaire to the following girls.

Kate Lawrenson 07 Décembre Claudia Holmes 13 Décembre

Ellie Burrows 11 Décembre Hema Nair 18 Décembre

Grace Earnshaw 13 Décembre

MUSIC On Saturday 19

th November the Mulberry Singers and Year 2 Choir gave a

fabulous performance in the Ridings as part of the switching on of the Christmas Lights. They drew an enormous crowd, clearly delighting the passing shoppers. They all performed like stars and seemed to love meeting Dixie and Emma from Heart FM’s morning show.

This week a number of our girls took their Associated Board Music Exams, we await the results – I am sure they performed well. On Monday 21

st November the

girls filled the music room with beautiful sounds as they gave an informal concert to their friends in preparation for the big day. The girls performed beautifully and with such confidence, really cheering up what was a very rainy Monday. It is wonderful to see such a variety of instruments being learnt in school.

Leina Tordoff took part in the Haydn Wood Music Festival on November 19

th, performing in a

number of classes, most notably wining the Under 13 class with a highly polished performance of

Take 5 and the adjudicator complimenting her on the dynamic range and articulation.

SPORT

Netball – The Under 11 netball teams played their first matches of the season against GSAL and came away with two narrow defeats. Despite getting off to a slow start, the A team managed to pull things back with some accurate passing and shooting. They went into the final quarter with a slender lead but eventually lost by 5 goals. The B team got off to a good start & were linking well from defence through the centre court area to attack. After half time, with a 3 goal lead, they allowed basic mistakes to creep into their game and finished up with a disappointing loss by 11 goals to 14. Final scores: A team lost by 15 goals to 20 & the B team lost by 11 goals to 14

Player of the Match Lucy Crook. Outstanding Play from Lucy Dimbylow, Megan Rees & Lilly King Girls in the Year 5 & 6 netball squads enjoyed a Christmas tournament where they wore their own sports kit & adorned themselves with festive headwear. In six hard fought matches the Santas were victorious with Snowmen second, Reindeer third and Robins fourth!

Swimming trials - Girls in Year 5 and 6 competed in swimming time trials to select a team for the match at Bootham School in York and the galas that will take place after Christmas. They swam 25 metres in backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Following the trials 20 girls have been selected to swim at Bootham and we wish them the best of luck!

Hockey practice for club and extended club has now finished for the year. We will resume practice on 9th January

with club only training, no extended training, therefore training will finish at 5.15pm.

Gymnastics Club is growing from strength to strength. The girls are making excellent progress and are really working hard to perfect their vaults. Well done girls.

STARS OF THE WEEK – 18.11.2016

Isobel Bott 3JB Approaching all lessons with a positive attitude.

Ruhika Deb 3JB Excellent comprehension completed for homework.

Amber Barker 3JC A super story about a unicorn appearing in Sandal-or did it?

Annabel Massey 3JC A super story about a unicorn appearing in Sandal-or did it?

Eleanor Bridgeman 3VH Fantastic answers during our English comprehension lesson.

Jennifer Pang 3VH Always working hard with a cheerful attitude and confidently participating in class activities.

Edie Lewis 4EB Trying very hard and always rising to challenges.

Holly Biggin–Wilcox 4CG Listening carefully in PE and putting into practice what she has learned.

Zainab Shahzad 5TP Huge improvements in her organisation and readiness to learn.

Isobel McAndrew 5LR Drawing an effective winter tree.

Alessia Newman 5APW Settling into her new class / new school well.

Holly Bestwick 6JB Successfully carrying out a scientific investigation.

Olivia Fulton 6JB Successfully carrying out a scientific investigation.

Parmita Achari 6HJ Creating an effective misty winter scene.

Schyler Edwards 6HJ Creating an effective misty winter scene.

Emily Northern 6AW Excellent attitude to work and a willingness to learn.

Anna Reynolds 6AW Working hard with enthusiasm in all subjects but particularly in English.

STARS OF THE WEEK – 25.11.2016

Addison Bruce 3JB Continuing her excellent efforts in Maths

Nellie Amunugama 3JC Answering with enthusiasm

Martha Speight 3VH Always working with a super positive attitude and always trying her best

Sara Sarlak-Chiva 4EB Seeing how much more she can do with extra effort

Gabriella Vickers 4CG An excellent poem about a winter tiger

Fatimah Hyatt 4SS Excellent work in English, Maths and Science

Jemima Otter 5LR Good start in ‘Message in a Bottle’ creative writing task

Maddie Bennett 5TP Writing a super version of the story ‘Chicken Dippy’

Serina Kaur 5APW Excelllent work in comprehension

Rebecca Haigh 6HJ An excellent scientific investigation

Ruby Shone 6JB Using imagination and creative skills to create atmospheric silhouette of winter landscape

Nina Smith 6AW Writing a thought provoking poem about bullying

MATHLETES OF THE WEEK

For work completed: 7

th to 13

th November 14

th to 20

th November

FOSJH Update We hope that you enjoy reading our new design FOSJH Newsletter which has been sent home this week. It is full of useful information and dates for your diary.

Year 3

Kimiya Yousefi Ruhika Deb

Kaitlin Fernandez

Kimiya Yousefi Zara Azear

Harriet Middleton-Hart

Year 4

Zahra Sharif Ishani Kundu Jessica Blake

Frankie Heaton Hareem Ghouri

Year 5

Lily-Anna Thorpe Kareena Sekhon

Vienna Taylor

Eleanor Turner Grace Hyett

Thea Speight

Year 6

Isabelle Worrell Hannah Jessop

Ruby Kirton

Lucy Rushby Ruby Kirton

Emily Beasley

Mathletics Trophy

Winners

Zahra Sharif

Hareem Ghouri

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:

Saturday 03 December – U11 Choir concert with Skelmanthorpe MVC Monday 05 December – Year 5 & 6 concert for Wakefield Hospice Friday 9 December – 'Bags to School' recycling event Wednesday 14 December – Christmas parties Friday 16 December 12.00 noon – End of Term Wednesday 4 January – Start of Spring Term

Friday 6th

January – Theatre trip to Bradford Alhambra