Summer Term 11 June, 2021
Weekly Awards
Artwork of the week Aisha A Osara D Luella D Getting as many runs as possible in after-school cricket this week!
Headmistress' Letter Dear Parents, The girls have returned after half term with renewed vigour and energy and are most definitely back on track with real school! The week has flown by and there has been ample opportunity to reflect on and action our theme of ‘glass half full, not half empty’! Today has been a joy as I attended the Form II performances and there was great excitement about performing in front of a camera. The girls did brilliantly and I would like to congratulate them on pulling off such polished performances in such a short time. This afternoon I thoroughly enjoyed attending the fantastic fashion show given by the Uppers and Fourths. Not only was it a great pleasure to be able to see this event take
place with a socially distanced audience of pupils, but I was so impressed with the skill and creativity that was on show in the designs and the confidence and assurance of all who presented their outfits. Well done to all who took part and to our amazing staff who helped the girls prepare. What a great first taste of a live performance after the unlocking. I would also like to congratulate the Fourths on the completion of their Common Entrance Exams. After such as challenging year they approached their exams with a real maturity and whatever the results they should feel proud of themselves and definitely now ready and able to relax and enjoy the Leavers’ Programme. Wishing you all a restful weekend
Mrs McQuaid's Memory Garden Over the past couple of years, plans have been steadily developing to create a memory garden outside Nursery in honour of a dear colleague and teacher at Godstowe Nursery, Mrs McQuaid. Mrs McQuaid sadly passed away in 2019, after a long battle with breast cancer. Unfortunately, due to Covid, it has taken until this term to be able to really enjoy planting some flowers, plants and vegetables in the beds with the children and Mrs McQauid's Memory Garden is now bursting with colour, smells and memories. It is a wonderful place of reflection and we hope that over time, once restrictions relax more, that all the members of our school community that knew Mrs McQuaid can visit and think of her.
Accelerated Reader Reader of the Week: Caroline W Honours reader: Alayna K Boarders of the Week Highlands - Grace Walker - Michelle Turner - Nina Sports Stars FI Mia Harris MIII Charlotte B FII Lydia M (this week) UIII Adeline S FII Alayna K (last week) LIII Ruby J
Friday Badge Anna C Annabel PW Melissa W School House Shield Franklin Music Certificates Yuiko N - Grade 5 Piano merit Emily H - Grade 3 Singing
A Garden in Summer
A poem written by Form I using personification Slowly and gently, the silky summer breeze peeled off the soft, fluffy cloud duvet to reveal the vast electric blue sky. High in the clear blue sky, the scorching, sizzling sun smiled down joyfully on to the rainbow carpet of colour beneath its gaze. Behind the tumbledown wooden shed, fragrant flowers danced delicately in the warm summer breeze. Under the dazzling sun, the swaying arms of the weeping willow bowed down lazily to tickle the glistening surface of the flowing stream with the tips of its spidery fingers.
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Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery It has been lovely to see the sunshine this week and for the children to play outside. Please could all children bring in their sunhats and have sun cream applied before coming to school. This week both Nursery and Beginners have been thinking about how we can care for others. We discussed what being caring means and why it is important to think of others. Both year groups have been focusing on the story of the Rainbow Fish, finding out how he learnt to share and be kind to his friends in the sea. Nursery joined in with a Rainbow Fish dance and had to share their last shiny scale with someone special in the class. During our cookery lessons this week the children made heart shaped cookies to share with someone else that they care for. It was interesting to hear who they thought they may give their biscuits to. Our sound of the week was y for yellow and the children enjoyed some yellow threading tasks.
Meanwhile, in Beginners, our new topic of 'exciting journeys' has started swimmingly as our classrooms are transported to an under the sea kingdom! We have also started our new Maths topic of doubling this week, talking all about the patterns we can see when we double numbers. We have been making the most of the sunshine and doing lots of learning outside too - what a great week! Kindergarten children have returned from the half term break with their usual enthusiasm. In Literacy we have started our topic on Fairy Tales, comparing different versions of Cinderella. We have also enjoyed some really interesting and well-presented Show and Tells, an important part of the Listening and Speaking curriculum. In Maths, we have moved on from Multiplication to Division, learning all about fair sharing. In Science, having carefully planted their sunflower seeds, the children have learnt the important lesson that in Nature, not all seeds become plants but have been very kind to each other, with lots of offers to share!
This week, Transition has been using money in their Maths lessons. The children have been learning to count up various coins and make different amounts of money in more than one way. In our Literacy lessons we have been studying the author and illustrator, Anthony Browne. The children have been reading the stories in groups, writing their own blurbs and expressing preferences. We have been finishing our History topic on the Great Fire of London, and have been really impressed with how much the children have remembered. Thank you to Norah’s mummy for supplying the special glasses for us to look at the annular eclipse on Thursday, we really enjoyed it!
Library Books wanted As we approach the end of the school year, please could everyone look at home for any library books which need to be returned? Please look in unlikely places as well as bedrooms and bookshelves. There are still over 40 books outstanding from before lockdown, and it is particularly important to bring these back to avoid a bill. Thank you!
Sports Results We are proud of all the girls for taking part so enthusiastically in our Field Finals this week. The top three results in each category are below. Congratulations to everyone who took part! See the results here!
Swimming Galas cancelled We have reluctantly cancelled the following swimming galas. This was decided having looked at Swim England advice as well as the rising number of variant cases. The swim squads will be having practice galas during their training times and we will be running some inter-house swimming galas during Workshop Week. U12 & 13 v Dr Challoner's on 14/06/21 U8 - U11 v Maltman's Green on 16/06/21 U8 - U10 v Piper's Corner on 21/06/21 - virtual timings to be shared based upon next two week's timings during squad training
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Boarders' Corner written this week by Turner House
Turner House - The Beginning of the End! The Beginning of... Godstowe was set up in 1900 to feed children to three senior schools at the age of thirteen - Wycombe Abbey, Benenden and St Leonard’s. Turner House was itself named after the school’s founding Headmistress, Mrs May Turner, whose tenure at the top lasted an amazing 35 years! Over the past 121 years, Godstowe has very successfully educated thousands of boys and girls until They were ready and prepared to move on to the next phase in their education. Which brings us quite nicely to… This morning, Turner House witnessed the last Common Entrance exams for all of its girls. It marked a seminal moment in their journey through the school. For many, these exams were the reason they joined the school in the first place, as a means of securing their place at public schools
around the country. For others, they helped to maintain an academic focus once they had been successful in gaining senior school places via scholarships or other entry routes. So what happens next? Well, we feel that the girls deserve a reward or two, after demonstrating months of parent-free (full boarding only this year) lockdown endeavour, determination and industry. Tonight will see the arrival of a surprise Chinese takeaway, to watch in front of Mr Scriven‘s Classic Film choice – reflecting upon ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’ or perhaps ‘Dead Poet’s Society’. Either film will steer the girls’ thoughts towards the adults at Godstowe who encouraged, inspired, and at times cajoled them into reaching this point in time. Tomorrow, the girls will wake up to a 4m diameter paddling pool which will have appeared overnight on the lawn, to allow them to cool down over the weekend, as the weather hots up. Then there are the homemade mango, guava and passionfruit ice lollies, lovingly juiced by our Gap Assistant this afternoon. And to complete Saturday afternoon, something that can only be really done at present as part of a larger community, a private screening of ‘Cruella’ for 50 guests at the Eden Centre cinema. Sunday will be a more low-key affair, with a gentle walk along the river Thames with the dogs and a picnic on Winter Hill in Cookham. Next week marks the start of the Post-CE Leavers’ Programme with the girls out of uniform and enjoying a whole raft of off-site activities, visiting speakers and workshops, all geared towards preparing them for an impending entry into senior school this September.
The G7 countries will lose 8.5% of GDP a year, or have nearly $5tn wiped off their economies within 30 years if temperatures rise by 2.60C Drawn from Swiss Re Institute and Oxfam Report ‘ The economics of climate change: no action not an option’. April 2021.
And finally, it will be Speech Day in July. These girls will undoubtedly receive high praise from the great and the good. A mixture of plaudits from the arts, music, sport and academia will be presented on the day, to recognise their various and valued contributions to school life over a number of years. There will be speeches from the girls, their memories bringing a lump to one’s throat. Lastly, there will be the hysteria which signals the end of proceedings – shirt signings and tearful goodbyes aplenty. An inspirational teacher once told the assembled group of parents at Speech Day that leaving a prep school before the end of Year 8 was very much like putting down a good thriller a few chapters before the end, in so much as one would never know the final outcome, or what really happened. Godstowe is like a wily and cunning author: the twists and turns of the final two chapters in the Uppers and Fourths often result in the most incredible and unforeseen finale to a child’s journey, one that so many parents were never expecting when their child was a Middle. We would urge you to read those final chapters. With your daughter as a boarder, you might even find the time and peace to enjoy the read. THE END!
WEEKLY QUIZ! 1. What international event is taking place in Cornwall from 11th - 13th June? 2. What is the name of the Chancellor of Germany?
Last week's answers: 1. World Oceans Young Climate Day 2. The Arctic Ocean Warriors is a small piece in an enormous jigsaw. G7 countries, meeting this weekend in Cornwall, have it within their power to help bring about a greener and fairer future for our planet. The corollary, as highlighted in the Swiss Re Institute report, is that they, and all the other nations around the world, could have much to lose – ‘no action is not an option’.
The YCW challenge this week hopes to inspire children to think about how we can make the most of our finite resources – by encouraging upcycling. They are asked to climb inside a story – set on a desert island or sailing around the world – and think how they can make the most of what they already have – rather than buying ‘new’. To tie in with the G7 Summit Young Climate Warriors are encouraged to participate in the #waveofhope campaign – by making ‘hands’ or colouring in ‘waving characters’ provided by famous illustrators – calling the G7 leaders to help ‘Crack the Crises’ – covid, injustice, climate change and nature loss.
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