Godstowe News - Spring term 2021 12/03

Spring Term 12 March, 2021

back in 1900, when the school started on just five acres of land with 12 pupils - how things have changed!

Dear Parents, It has been wonderful to have all of the children back at school this week. We have hit the ground running and the enthusiasm and excitement has been palpable, as friendships have been rekindled and routines re-established.

The wonderful spring weather at the start of the week was an unexpected bonus, but even the gales and rain which followed did not dampen high spirits.

The Uppers and Fourths have risen to the challenge of the lateral flow tests and I hope they have now had enough practice to be able to carry these out at home.

Artwork Olivia C Caroline W Lili S

Boarder of the Week Highlands - Darbey P Walker - Michaela A Turner - Alba M

House Shield Seacole

It seemed fitting that our return to school day coincided with International Women’s Day. In assembly on Monday, I spoke to main school about the two women who were responsible for the founding of Godstowe

Accelerated Reader Honours Readers: Aliza K & Alexandra L Reader of Week: Last week: Emily S This week: Libby S .

Sports Stars

The Friends of Godstowe would like to invite all parents to an online event on Zoom on Wednesday 17th March at 8pm - ‘Hello & Introductions: An overview of Friends of Godstowe and introduction to the committee' We have not been able to hold normal events for over 12 months now and normally we would have cake sales, parent talks, FoG coffee mornings, and more to introduce you to our parent community, and have a chat!

I know we are all ‘onlined out’ but hopefully you can grab a cup of tea, coffee, beer, wine, .. whatever takes your fancy and join in! We do hope to see you on March 17th – please share amongst any parents you know who don’t regularly look at Classlist. Read more here....

Thank you, The FoG committee.

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Clemency D Amelie G Gracie B Amayah P Georgina P Katie H Leona W Annabel R Bella O Camillia U Emily W Paige, Macy & brother Max

Typing Certificates Leona W - Beginner Libby S - Intermediate Serena D - Intermediate Yuiko N - Advanced

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Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge

Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery

We have really enjoyed seeing all the children back in school this week, and they have appreciated playing with their friends again. We were very impressed with their great efforts today taking part in our Wellie Walk, in aid of the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering congratulations for some excellent efforts.

Thank you for all your donations to this cause, and there is still time to donate using via our JustGiving Page.

Nursery have so enjoyed having all their friends back together again this week. We have had a week focusing on friendship and social skills and it has been wonderful! The children also enjoyed making some very special cards to take home this weekend. On Tuesday, we baked scones with raisins and they tasted delicious.

The children also made 'f' for flower pictures for the sound of the week, as well as some collaged flowers to use in a display. Finally, we had lots of fun playing some great numbers games.

It has been such a delight welcoming the Kindergarten children back into the class this week. They have all settled back into school life with great enthusiasm! In Literacy, the children used the alien and planet that they created at home as inspiration for their very own space adventure stories. To continue our topic, they began to learn about the history of space travel, with a focus on Neil Armstrong. Kindergarten also had the opportunity to take a walk around the school grounds, searching for signs of Spring and they recorded the weather every day, as part of an ongoing Science investigation.

The Welly Walk on Friday rounded the week off nicely!

As we continue our learning about growing and changing in Beginners this week , we have been busy thinking about other things that grow and change over time. We listened to the lovely story of The teeny weeny tadpole and enjoyed seeing how the tadpole grew up on every page, and was eventually able to jump, just like his mum. We did some fantastic writing about the story and also some really beautiful pond pictures using different materials. We sequenced pictures of the frog lifecycle and we found other frog stories to read. It was brilliant having everyone back in school together and we made time to catch up with the friends we had missed. We also thought about the very important occasion of Mothers’ Day, making cards and thinking about what makes our mummies so special. The finale of the week was obviously the Wellie Walk which was an enjoyable wet walk in the woods. Thank you so much for supporting this worthy cause.

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Transition children have been enjoying their new Maths topic of 3D shapes. As well as revising the names for shapes, we have been investigating their properties, counting the number of faces, vertices, and edges. In Art this week, we have been looking carefully at the colours and shapes of tulips, drawing them in pencil, watercolour pencils, and pastels.

Please remember that we are planning an Easter Bonnet Parade on the last morning of term, so if you haven't yet, you may want to start making an Easter Bonnet or Springthemed hat this weekend! We are also looking forward to our parents' meetings next week.

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Congratulations to the winners of the World Book Day Potato Competition in Main School!

We had some wonderful videos from Beginners with the first prize going to Ellie W for her engaging portrayal of Little Red Riding Hood.

Ellie included a lovely introduction of her character and a wonderful dramatization of her favourite part of the story. We were very impressed with Ellie’s costume and the interaction with her little sister who played the big bad wolf. Special commendation to Tayma D for her wonderful Tinkerbell performance and also to Nathanael B for his fantastic reading of the Dinosaur Roar book.

Form I Runner Up - Amaya B Form I Winner - Valentina B Form II Runner Up - Hikari I Form II Winner - Elodie W Lower Thirds Winner - Amy C Middle Thirds Winner - Isabelle W Uppers & Fourths Winner - Amelia K

The winner in Kindergarten was Eloise Ross for her individual portrayal of a fairytale classic, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

UIIIL were Highly Commended for a class entry of all the characters of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Mrs Scragg was the winner of the staff competition.

We were so impressed by the entries in Transition that we decided to award two prizes! For her fantastic interpretation of The Gruffalo, first prize for a video goes to Annabelle T-P. We particularly enjoyed the special effects and the creative use of siblings, cuddly toys and sticks to retell the story. Special mention in this category goes also to Fifi D who made a fantastic Mr Fox.

Thank you to the 60+ girls who entered and to FOG for the prizes.

We also received some wonderful pictures, including ones of Harry Potter, Isadora Moon and JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The winner, however, was Sophia-Rose R for not only drawing an incredible picture of The Cat from The Cat in the Hat but also dressing up as her favourite character whilst holding the picture!

Answers to last week's questions: 1. International Women's Day 2. Nancy Astor

Lockdown and remote-schooling has meant lots of extra time on devices – now it’s time for a digital detox. Energy consumption related to our devices might seem ‘invisible’, but the entire IT sector – from manufacturing computers to running internet servers, from video gaming to downloading films, from powering the cloud to charging smartphones –

Cristiano Ronaldo, has over 250 million followers on Instagram. Every photo he posts consumes the same energy as 10 HOUSEHOLDS for a YEAR! Channel 4 – Dispatches. 4 Nov 2020

produces more than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than the aviation industry’s fuel emissions!

Please remind your children to HIT THE RED BUTTON and tell us what they got up to when they have switched off the electronics for a day.

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