Godstowe News - Spring Term 2022 21/01

Godstowe news

Spring Term 21 January 2022

Key Dates for next week 24th January 13+ Common Entrance exams at Godstowe 11+ Godstowe Scholarship exams week 25th January 13+ Common Entrance exams at Godstowe Perform! workshops for Lodge and Nursery 26th January 13+ Common Entrance exams at Godstowe

Our U11 Netball Team

28th January Perform! workshops for Lodge and Nursery

A letter from the Headmistress

Sports Fixtures 24th January

Dear Parents, We have enjoyed a wonderful 7 days at Godstowe.

Last weekend it was such a pleasure on Saturday afternoon to watch the netball tournament at Hall Grove School. Our Middles team played brilliantly in spite of the cold weather. On Sunday our boarders had great fun skating and ten pin bowling at Guildford and I think that we are all starting to remember more and more about Godstowe pre-covid and to begin to enjoy school life as it really should be!

The Information Evening on Tuesday was very well attended with almost 200 parents joining us, either in person or remotely and the positive feedback received makes it clear just how useful that evening is.

/GodstoweSchool

This evening we are looking forward to seeing all of the Lowers’ parents for parents evening and then following that the whole school can enjoy a restful weekend for Exeat, although we do have a large number of girls taking part in Cross Country tomorrow and I wish them all the very best for that.

Our Fourths have undertaken some important exams at Senior Schools this week and they have managed the high expectations that these days present brilliantly, with true resilience and determination. As the girls left to go down the hill looking so smart and self-possessed in their uniforms I felt an overwhelming sense of pride: definitely something for our younger girls to aspire to!

4.30pm Netball U11A vs High March (away) 26th January U12/U13 Swimming at Wycombe Abbey invitational (away) U9, U10, U11 Division 10 Swimming Gala at St Helen's 27th January U13 A-B Netball vs Stowe (home) 29th January

I wish you all a very happy, safe and relaxing Exeat weekend.

@GodstoweSchool

@godstoweprepschool

9.00am U10 Netball Tournament at St George's Ascot 9.30am U13A-D Netball at St Albans 9.30am U12A Lacrosse at St Albans 10.30am U12A-D Netball at St Albans 10.30am U13A Lacrosse at St Albans

www.godstowe.org

Well Done to our Musicians

Weekly Awards Artwork of the Week Bella B

Four girls have passed their ABRSM Grade 5 Music Theory.

Congratulations to Sophie W, Ivy Z, Olivia I and Amelie S with both Olivia and Amelie received distinction in their exam. Well done girls!

Boarders of the Week Highlands Turner Walker

Mia S Jacqueline D Vera N

Typing Awards Beginner

Holly D Ava M

Intermediate Nia B Annabel P-W

Accelerated Readers

Bella B's Artwork of the Week

Boarders Corner The Boarder’s had another busy week at Godstowe, from zumba to bowling to ice skating, the girls tried their hand at lots of activities. On Thursday, the LIIIs in Walker joined the older girls in zumba for the first time. There were high kicks and swinging hips all the way back to the house; the girls really enjoyed themselves. On Friday, all the houses settled down to their movie nights, 'Clueless' in Highlands, 'Finding Ohana' in Turner and 'High School Musical' in Walker.

Georgina F

Friday Badges IC IH IM

Ai-Li C Sophia-Rose R Mollymay B

Sports Stars of the Week Arabella T Katie B Isabella C Leonor V Chimimanda I Leonor M-T

After finishing prep and music practice on Saturday morning, the three houses went out into town for their afternoon activities. Walker went to 'The Works' in High Wycombe, where they practised their ordering skills and ate ice cream and waffles. Unfortunately, as the last few tables were waiting for their ice cream, they witnessed a real fire in the kitchens. Luckily, the staff were excellent and promptly evacuated the restaurant. It wasn’t long before everyone was allowed back in and could finish their treats. Meanwhile, Highlands and Turner went to the Rye. The girls played in the park and then enjoyed some cheesy chips afterwards to warm themselves up. All the houses had exciting afternoons which once again concluded with movie nights.

Finally, Sunday arrived and everyone boarded the coach for Guildford. All of Walker and some of Highlands and Turner went bowling! Some of the girls scored strikes making excellent rivals for Ms Green who came to join in the fun. Meanwhile the remaining senior girls went ice skating where they refined their skills after our last trip on the ice in November. Then, everyone joined back together and we went to The Friary for a spot of lunch and some long-anticipated shopping!

Boarders' Video 15th - 16th January

Lots of the girls took the opportunity to have a rare fast food treat and chose to have McDonalds or KFC for their lunch, whilst others enjoyed a taste of home with some yummy noodles.

All the girls thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas sale shopping sprees; returning to the boarding houses with lots of new tuck, stationery and even some clothes.

All in all, it was yet again another very exciting weekend in Boarding. The girls are now looking forward to a restful exeat before we get right back to the fun in a few weeks time. That’s all for now!

/GodstoweSchool

@GodstoweSchool

@godstoweprepschool

www.godstowe.org

Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge

Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery

Nursery have continued to explore the topic of 'Space'. They have enjoyed creating moon and rocket collages as well as making papier-mâché planets in size order. They enjoyed learning about the different colours of the planets and some interesting facts about each one. Another important discussion we had this week was about how we can look after our planet and why this is important to us. In Maths we have been exploring repeating patterns using 2D shapes as well as recognising missing numbers in a number sequence. Some of the children have also been exploring the concept of adding two numbers together. Our sound of the week was ‘h’ for hair.

This week in Beginners we continue to follow our Winter theme and we have spent time talking about the kind of things that we like to do in the winter months. We are working really hard on writing in sentences and using our phonics to sound out more complicated words. We have observed frosty, foggy days and although we haven't had any snow this week we have re-created some of the fun activities you can do in the snow in our continuous provision opportunities. We have also talked about how to stay safe when it's very cold outside. In Maths we have been introduced to 5 frames and 10 frames and are learning to problem solve when counting by adding or taking away. We continue to focus on embedding our Golden Rules into our daily learning, especially the ones that say ‘Do good listening’ and ‘Do have fun’.

Kindergarten children have continued to work hard and with enthusiasm this week. They concluded their book review of "Handa's Surprise", with a focus on how to construct longer sentences by using simple conjunctions. The story has also been their inspiration during the Art and DT lessons, when the children designed and made replicas of Handa's fruit basket. In Maths, they have concentrated on subtraction, ending the week with learning about Addition and Subtraction Family Facts. The cold weather has fitted well with our current Science topic, Animals in Winter, about how animals survive either by hibernating, migrating or adapting. Thank you for sending in the shoeboxes - watch this space to find out what the children are going to do with them!

Transition and Kindergarten had an assembly on Friendship this week, thinking about what makes a good friend and how to make friends with other children. In Literacy, Transition have been continuing their work on non-fiction books, and have been working in pairs to create their own information pages about unusual pets, including budgies, owls, pigs and sheep. After their very successful dog paintings last week, this week Transition children have created some lovely cat drawings, and have added colour using water colour pencils.

In Maths, we have started a new topic on length. We have been comparing lengths of objects in the hall and classroom, measuring in centimetres and metres. We have been revising the symbols for greater than and less than when comparing the length of objects with a metre. On Fridays, we are now doing times tables tests and as well as revising x2, x5 and x10 tables, we will now start to move on to the x 4 table. Transition's Science topic this term is 'Living things and their habitats.' Today we enjoyed a walk around the school grounds, identifying whether objects are living, dead, or have never been alive, and we have also been thinking about the seven processes which are common to all living things.

Next week on either Tuesday and Friday all classes in Lodge will have a Drama workshop with Perform!, which we are really looking forward to.

Book Review from Scout C Book Name: Life on the Refrigerator Door Book Author: Alice Kuipers A.R Level: 3.6 My rating:

/GodstoweSchool

@GodstoweSchool

"A book about compassion. An endless story about making time for the ones you love. I found this book a heart-racing story that ended up making me cry. As soon as I finished this amazing book, I ran to my mum and gave her a huge hug.

This book is absolutely heartbreaking but at the same time uplifting and it make me feel grateful for what I have. 5 amazing stars from me! I would recommend it!"

@godstoweprepschool

www.godstowe.org

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

This week in Science...

Grace N is loving practicals "We've been doing physics this term and learning about light. Physics isn't my favourite subject but I've been really enjoying this topic. We used a raybox and a light source to produce light rays and then used mirrors to create angles which we then measured. I really enjoy practicals and Mrs Pana, my teacher, makes me want to learn more about science. "

Ingrid and Elise were scraping rocks We were testing rocks and their permeability. We had 9 rocks and chalk was most permeable as it absorbed the water drop and slate was impermeable because the water rolled off. We also scraped some rocks with nails to see how hard they were. Chalk was very soft as lots came off when we scraped it but granite was really hard and nothing came off. Our favourite bit was scraping with the nails; it was really fun!"

Emilia P's busy week "This week I have mainly been revising for my scholarship exams.

In Science we have been looking at circuits and how all the parts work together and how the electricity flows around the circuit. I've been really enjoying learning about electricity."

Book Review from Eleanor C Book Name: My Story/The Trenches Book Author: Jim Eldridge A.R Level: 5.8 My rating:

/GodstoweSchool

@GodstoweSchool

Sports Results On Saturday 15th January, the U11s took part in their first every 5-a-side rotational netball tournament at Hall Grove School. They played really well winning 3 out of 4 matches in their group.

Well done to Amy, Sienna, Emily, Isla, Ava and Bella who qualified and swam for their respective clubs at the County Championships last weekend. What an amazing achievement for them!

Isabella C and Honor D have been filtering...

"This week we have been learning about liquids and solids. We were separating them using magnets and a sieve. Our solids were sand, rice and paperclips. The sand went through the sieve but the rice and paperclips didn't. Then we separated water, salt and sand using filter paper. We also looked at what liquids can turn into solids by freezing them. We have really enjoyed it especially the separating with filter paper. "

Tiffany Y and the light bulb "This week in science, we started with a little exam and then started our new topic in Biology. We have watched a video on how the light bulb was invented. The first light bulb wasn't very good and couldn't stay lit for very long. We also learnt that the main light source is the sun and that light travels in straight lines.

I'm enjoying it so far and looking forward to learning more."

"Based on the famous WWI football match, this was a really good book based on a teenage boy who wanted to go and fight in WWI. He makes friends and then loses them all the way through the story. This book is about dying in the way, so I wouldn't recommend if you don't like war stories.

Something that I didn't like was the abrupt ending, but other than that, the story was great. "

@godstoweprepschool

www.godstowe.org