Godstowe News: 11th February 2022

Godstowe news

Spring Term 11 February 2022

Our U13 Regional IAPS Netball Champions

Key Dates for next week

A letter from the Headmistress

14th February Mock Examinations week for Fourths

Dear Parents, It really has been a week to celebrate achievements.

15th February

This morning in assembly we were treated to the Boarding pupils’ performances to celebrate Chinese and Korean New Year. The celebrations actually took place last Sunday but the performances were so good that we wanted the whole school to see them. Girls from Form I to Fourths were held entranced by the singing, dancing, speaking and musical performances and it was a great reminder of how lucky we all are to be a part of this wonderfully inclusive and multi-cultural school.

Wednesday and Thursday saw a really good number of prospective parents attend our Open Days and many thanks to our fabulous Admissions Team for organising two such successful events which showcased Godstowe at its very best.

Transition visit to All Saints' Parish Church 18th February Half Term - please see staggered collection times on page 19 of the Spring Term calendar

Sports Fixtures 14th February

The Fourths have been busy revising and their mock examinations will take place next week.

The girls have been working incredibly hard and I do hope that they can find time to relax and enjoy some activities this week.

U9-U11 Swimming at Maltman's Green 15th February U10 3 teams Netball vs High March (home)

I am looking forward to this afternoon’s Recital Concert and also to tomorrow morning’s training session for our Lacrosse Squad with some England and Wales players.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy and enjoyable weekend.

17th February U9 3 teams Netball vs High March (home)

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Godstowe's Tractor Appeal On Friday we had our food themed mufti-day, raising money for SKSN children to be able to have a tractor to help with their vegetables. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, if you would like to donate, please click here. Outfits have included Heinz Beanz and Ketchup duo, a hotdog, Lodge's fruits, Mr Adams' taco, a brussel sprout, a colourful hymn practice and Walker's t-shirts.

Book Review from Miss Bennett Book Name: Persuasion Book Author: Jane Austen My rating:

"I've been really enjoying reading 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen. I chose to read it because there's a new film coming out this year, and I am a believer that you have to read the book before you watch the film!

I particularly enjoyed the comical and ironic portrayal of female characters; I think Austen is very pointedly showing what the female stereotype is by making fun of it. There are also quite a lot of misunderstandings between the characters, which drives the narrative on because you want to see them all resolved.

I've been listening to the audiobook as well as reading it, which is a fantastic way of getting through a longer read."

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Boarders Corner

Turner House

Children‘s Mental Health Week As I am sure you are aware, in schools across the country this past week, there has been a focus upon children’s mental health and wellbeing.

Here at Godstowe, the timing is apt as our Fourths prepare to sit their mock Common Entrance exams next week. The job of boarding house staff at this time is to encourage – and on occasion enforce – a healthy balance between time spent revising and that all important ‘down time’ spent relaxing with their friends. The overriding aim is to help the girls maintain a positive, driven approach towards their studies, whilst at the same time seeing these exams for what they are, in the wider context of their lives...continue reading

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Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge

Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery

It was lovely to see so many visitors at our Open Morning on Wednesday and well done to Lodge children for behaving so wonderfully during the morning. Lodge have also been very excited to wear their Mufti clothes today, and thank you for your generous donations for this cause.

This week has been a superhero-filled week in Nursery. We have explored our superhero powers that we each have, such as kindness or sharing powers. The children made superhero masks and also took part in superhero counting and measuring activities. On Tuesday, we baked Hulk cupcakes, which were great fun to make. We have also been developing our communication and language skills through lots of superhero role play activities. Our final favourite superhero activity of the week was making our very own Supertato characters, allowing the children to be creative and imaginative whilst also developing cutting skills.

With much excitement, we have immersed ourselves in our Dinosaur topic this week in Beginners. We are focusing on describing dinosaurs this week and making our own little information books featuring our four favourite dinosaurs. We have learnt their names, discussed what they enjoy eating and have looked at how big some of these creatures were compared to double decker buses. We have painted our own imaginary dinosaurs and created paper plate dinosaur models to take for a walk. We have even had a visit from a friendly dinosaur who left us in charge of some real dinosaur eggs. How amazing is that! It is our job to keep them safe and also make predictions as to what kind of dinosaur may hatch out of the eggs. Will it be a stegosaurus, a diplodocus or a Godstoweasuarus? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Kindergarten have had a brilliant time this week, measuring length and height using non-standard units of measurement, such as cubes, paper clips and even hands and feet. In Literacy, the children brought our focus on Chinese New Year to a close by writing the story of the Great Race in their own words. In History, Kindergarten have started to study polar explorers. After learning about Ernest Shackleton's legendary expedition to Antarctica last week, the children were inspired to create multimedia artworks depicting Shackleton's boat being tossed about by furious waves under an ominous sky! They are thrilled that Shackleton is back in the news following the start of an expedition to locate his missing ship, The Endurance, and Kindergarten will be following its progress.

This week we have had a Dragon theme in Transition! In Literacy, we have been looking at several different stories about dragons and have been describing what we think Dragon Land would look like. In our Art lessons, we drew and painted our own dragons, adding glitter to make them sparkle.

We then wrote descriptions of our dragons, adding similes to our work. In Maths, as well as revising our addition number work, we have been investigating 2D shapes, learning correct shape names and counting sides and vertices. On Tuesday next week, we are going to visit All Saints' Church in High Wycombe and we are very much looking forward to our visit.

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We are going to include updates each week of our girls' lessons in Main School.

This week in DT...

Harmony and Ariella are on a bear hunt

Marina and her Robot "For the first term we were making bunting and for this term we have been drawing robots in the size that we want them. I have been making holes and cutting it in the right size to hold up a device. I have been using a saw and wearing special goggles. I'm really excited to start putting it together when the wooden blocks arrive."

Lexi's Lamp

"We have been making a pop-up book on the "You're going on a Bear Hunt" story. We read it together as a class and then Mrs Lee-Metcalfe gave us sections that we can make. We are using paper, card, paint and colours. Some of us have printed things to colour in and others have been drawing them. When we are done, we will have our own Bear Hunt story."

Talitha's passion for sewing

"We have just finished making our lamps in DT. We used acrylic that we heated up and then moulded into a shape. I have done two hands making a heart shape and it was really fun to create it."

"We're currently making dresses as our long-term project for the Fashion Show.

They are based on a celebratory event and I chose New Year. I designed my dress and bought transfers to iron on. I have also hand-sewn some sequins onto my dress, which takes a lot of time, but I've really enjoyed becoming a lot more independent with my sewing. I like getting to be more inventive and creative; it's a real passion of mine."

Annabelle's excited to tie-dye "We have been making skirts for the fashion show. We started with measuring ourselves and cutting out white fabric to make our skirt. I have to iron mine quite often as it gets quite creased.

We have been using sewing machines and handsewing zips on. The hand-sewing has been my favourite part so far. I'm also looking forward to tie-dying my skirt, i'm hoping for a green or blue."

Platinum Pudding Competition We are holding a school house competition to design a pudding for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Over the next couple of weeks, and half term, you can try out your recipes and submit your favourite. Your design must be original, easy and fit for the Queen.

Round 1: Vote in Houses for a representative to cook their pudding Round 2: House finalists will cook their puddings which will be tested by a panel of judges To enter, please submit your recipe to Mrs Lee-Metcalfe with your school house written at the top. You can enter in pairs if you would like.

You'll need to include: Number of servings (1-10) Ingredients (metric, g and ml) Method Serving Instructions Up to 150 words on why it is perfect for the Queen A picture Please remember that your pudding must not contain any nuts.

Closing date is 28th February, Good Luck Everyone!

The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II is being celebrated in 2022 in the Commonwealth to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.

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"One only eats seasonal, loca l produce.

Therefore plea se think abou t what ingredients ar e in season, fo r example, gooseberries, elderflower, ra spberries, rhubarb, beetr oot and cherr ies."

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Sports Results

Rachel Hearnshaw, Director of Sport

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It has been a very busy time in the PE department with some great results to show for it. At the end of last month the U10A netball team travelled to St George's, Ascot to take part in their Prep Schools Netball Tournament, where they played some great opposition and benefitted from the experience. The U11A netball team were then back at St George's the following Friday for the IAPS Regional Qualifying Tournament. Against some very strong competition the girls played some fantastic netball and narrowly missed out on qualification to the Nationals, finishing 4th in the Cup Competition, out of the 20 schools taking part.

Last weekend the Upper School were in action, with four netball and two lacrosse teams travelling to Haileybury, and the U13A netball team back at St George's for their IAPS Regional Qualifying Tournament. Some great netball and lacrosse was played by the UIII's and IV's at Haileybury, and it was clear how much the girls enjoyed being able to play away fixtures again.

Huge congratulations to the U13A Netball Team who won their IAPS Regional Qualifying Tournament, beating 14 schools to gain their place at the National Finals which are taking place in Ipswich next month. Good luck girls!

On Wednesday, the U11 A-D teams went to Lambrook School for a friendly triangular tournament against St Pirans, Cranleigh and Lambrook. All four teams played at least 2 matches and the girls showed great maturity managing their rotations.

We are so proud of every single girl who has taken part in a fixture and also worked hard and attended training.

Please return your athletic vests from the Cross Country fixture to Mrs Sloggett on Monday

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