Junior School news - 29 Sept 2017
Dear Parents and Guardians
We were delighted to welcome both returning and new pupils to the Junior School at the beginning of term and it is pleasing to report that we have enjoyed an excellent start to 2017-18.
As well as talking with the children about how they spent the long summer holiday, we have enjoyed hearing what their hopes are for the new school year and how they might contribute to our community.
News - quick links
- Warm welcomes and new staff
- A Roman invasion
- House news - responsibility and creativity
- Global Outlook - Collaboration with GG International School, India
- Making waves in Norfolk
- European Day of Languages
Open Event
We are very grateful to the many pupils who have agreed to help us, in a variety of ways, at Junior School and City Pre-Prep Open Morning on Saturday 30 September. Although the event is principally for prospective pupils and their parents, you are most welcome to join us at any time during the morning. We look forward to seeing you and please do bring along friends and relatives.
Best wishes,
Katie Milne
Head of Junior School
Warm welcomes
It was wonderful to see families of pupils who have recently joined the Foundation schools at the Welcome Lunch on 10 September.
The rain held off and everyone made the most of their time at our Latham Road site, which has much to offer throughout the week as well as for special events.
Our pupils all have sports lessons and clubs there, Years 3-5 have already had their first outdoor learning sessions of the term and the Year 6 classes are looking forward to their autumn visits to the Nature Reserve.
New staff
In addition to welcoming many new pupils this term, we have welcomed several members of staff.
- Miss Bluck has joined us as Deputy Head and class teacher of 4A
- Mrs Richardson is now class teacher of 3Alpha and is also teaching Art and Science to other classes
- Miss Stevens has taken on responsibility for 6Aleph, as well as RS in Year 5 and Drama in Year 3
- Mrs Watkins-Marks is teaching Design Engineering
- Miss Clark is our new Gap Year Assistant
Pupils and teachers in every year group have spent time getting to know each other during lessons, clubs and break times since term began and it has been a pleasure to show visitors round the classrooms where new working relationships are being forged.
Through a great variety of activities and displays it is clear to see real engagement in learning and respect for one another’s differences.
A Roman invasion
While some lessons are reasonably predictable, we like to include surprises as part of our approach to learning in Junior School. This term began with an invasion of the 'Roman kind' for our Year 4 pupils, to discover more about the Roman invasion of Britain.
House news - responsibility and creativity
As well as belonging to a class and a year group, everyone is a member of one of our six School Houses. There was great excitement when our newcomers were each allocated to a house and attended their first house meeting.
It was not long before Year 6 pupils who decided to stand for election, as House or Sports Captain, were displaying their posters and preparing their speeches.
We also enjoyed a collaborative House Art Event ...
Making waves in Norfolk
Last week saw our Year 6 pupils set out on the first major Junior School expedition of 2017-18. As part of their study of coastlines, they made their way to Brancaster and Hunstanton in Norfolk.
European Day of Languages
This week has seen us marking European Day of Languages (EDL) and National Poetry Day.
EDL is a well-established date in our Junior School calendar and following the success of Language Talks, our integrated learning project in March, it was exciting to see so many pupils joining in with activities during morning registration, modern language lessons and even during break time when Mme Neely attempted to ensure that we created the longest possible paper chain of ‘hello’ in different languages!
We are looking forward to Miss Bluck’s assembly on National Poetry Day when she will share thoughts on this year’s theme, Freedom, and invite everyone to write a poem – either linked to the theme or on a topic of one’s choice.
