Godstowe News: Spring Term 10/3

A letter from the Headmistress

As this week's issue goes out today, I am about to head to the second night of our Lowers' Production, 'Project Planet'. What a wonderful show, with first class choreography, acting, dancing, costumes, set design, lighting and singing I am enormously proud of these girls and how they have come together to produce such an impressive display of energy and camaraderie It was lovely to see their smiling faces as they left to go home last night and I know we are in for another treat tonight. Our Lodge musicians gave such confident performances at their music recital on Wednesday, made even more magical with the snow falling outside Well done to our youngest musicians and to our Year 5 actresses- it really has been the week of the performer!

Our Middle Third girls are excitedly preparing for their Music Tour to Liverpool next week and I know Mrs Martin was proud to announce that the single from Young Voices, 'Proud' has reached the No 1 spot in the Amazon charts this week, which is something to be extremely proud about, as our Chamber Choir is featured in this track! With my very impressive time spent with Boarding Council last night, I am always impressed by the mature and eloquent way many of our girls communicate their opinions and requests for changes I am motivated ever further to help them, seeing as they know how to ask in just the right way! I am proud of Godstowe, and the last two weeks have seen so many aspects of our school excelling Have a good weekend, everyone!

Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery

It has been a very exciting week for Lodge, not least because of the snow! On Tuesday each year group had visits from Chef Adrian, who told us some very interesting facts about fruit and vegetables, and allowed us to try some different varieties of carrots, celeriac and berries That afternoon, we were also treated to the dress rehearsal of the Lowers production of 'Project Planet.' The singing, acting and dancing were all brilliant, and it was lovely to see how involved all the girls were

On Wednesday morning, we were very proud of the 18 members of Lodge who performed on the piano, and in one case, the violin, to their friends and parents at our first Recital Concert of the year. They all introduced themselves and played beautifully, including one pupil who had only had two piano lessons! Congratulations to them all.

This week Nursery have been exploring the story of The Three Little Pigs, including storytelling, story sequencing and exploring the materials used to make houses In Cookery the children made delicious vegan banana muffins. In our Maths sessions we have been learning to measure and have ordered objects from smallest to largest We have also been learning to combine two sets of objects to find a total. Finally we have really enjoyed learning some new songs with actions in our music and movement sessions It has been a very busy, fun-filled week!

This week in Beginners we have been very busy We have had lots of lovely experiences such as a visit from Chef Adrian, watching a Main School performance of 'Project Planet' and the Lodge Music Recital Then to top it all off - SNOW! We've had such fun. We've also learnt the ur and ow sounds and been writing all about the life cycle of a frog In Maths, we have been measuring using cubes.

Kindergarten children have thoroughly enjoyed all things Space this week In Science they completed their Planet zigzag booklets, learning to source information about each of the planets from books, leaflets and videos and were inspired by The Solar System rap! They learnt how to create their own storyboard, in preparation for writing their space adventure story next week and in Art, have launched themselves into a galaxy They were in awe of the "big girls" having been lucky enough to have a preview performance of the Lowers' production

Transition have been looking at playscripts in their Literacy lessons. They have been learning how to set out a playscript and have had great fun writing and performing interviews with fairy tale characters, such as Goldilocks and Cinderella. We are also very excited about our trip on Monday to the Chiltern Open Air Museum - don't forget to dress up warmly in PE kit and coats, and to bring some wellies!

MainSchool

On Monday, we welcomed Pete Gill into assembly. Pete updated us on the Godstowe Common Room at the SKSN school in India Pete and Mrs Lake launched the "Girl Power" poster competition and we can't wait to see what the girls come up with.

The most exciting thing to happen this term happened on Tuesday SNOW! Some flurries at lunchtime called for screams all around...including from our Fourths

We then came to school on Wednesday with even more snow! Lots of snowgirls were made with lots of happy, smiling faces all around. Our Uppers and Fourths were treated to a morning of Careers in STEM, thank you to those of you that gave up your time to come and talk to the girls

Thursday saw the first performance of Project Planet! And what a display it was A fantastic achievement all around that involved every member of Lower Thirds. A big thank you to all the staff that have directed, choreographed, designed staging, sorted costumes and provided backstage help This really couldn't have happened without you

Key Dates for next week

13th March

Maths Week

Middles' trip to Liverpool departs

Transition trip to Chiltern Open Air Museum

Kindergarten Swimming observations

U10 5-a-side Netball tournament at Maltman's (away)

14th March

Beginners Swimming observations

FI and FII Parent's evening

U13A lacrosse tournament (away)

U9A BEE Netball tournament at Pipers Corner (away)

15th March

U13A-D Netball vs Wycombe Abbey (away)

16th March

Transition Swimming observations

Middles' trip returns

U12 IAPS Netball (away)

U8-U11 Swimming vs Crosfields (home)

17th March

8 15am Positive Parenting, Sports Hall Gallery

Mufti day in Main School and Lodge

Lodge Wellie Walk for Comic Relief

Inter-house Talent Show

U11 IAPS Netball at Rugby School (away)

18th March

U10 football tournament at Berkhamsted (away)

FoG'sMother'sDayEvent

FoG will be in the Sports Hall Gallery on Friday 17th March selling plants, flowers, cupcakes and cards that can be personalised for girls to spoil their mums for Mother’s Day. Everything is £3.50 each and it would be lovely if the girls and boys brought along their pocket money to spend on their mums

SportsSnippets

On Saturday 4th March, Godstowe had a Cross Country match at Lowndes Park against 10 other schools Each race had approximately 70 runners. All the Godstowe girls ran brilliantly and all the staff who were there to support were really proud of their amazing running

Medals were awarded to the girls in the top 10. Medal winners are as follows…

In the Under 8’s race the form 1 girls ran really well with lots of girls racing for the first time, Grace came 2nd and Nicole who came 4th. In the Under 9s race the girls ran brilliantly with lots of girls in the top ten. Ingrid came 1st, Elodie 2nd, Marina 3rd, Coco 7th, Oli 8th and Isla 10th This meant that we had 6 runners in the top 10 In the Under 10’s race the girls were very impressive, Honor came 2nd, Hattie came 3rd, Xanthe 4th, Anna 5th, Saskia 6th and Lucy 7th Again we had 6 runners in the top 10. In the Under 11’s race the girls did brilliantly. Juliette came 1st, Ella 2nd, Theodora 6th, Elsie 8th and Osara was 9th. Again this meant we had 5 girls in the top 10.

We also achieved many excellent team medals which were awarded to the top 3 runners in each year

In the Under 8’s - Grace, Nicole and Jessica won the Gold team medal. In the Under 9’s, Ingrid, Elodie and Marina won the Gold team medal In the Under 10’s, Honor, Hattie and Xanthe won the Gold Team medal In the Under 11’s, Julliette, Ella and Theodora won the Gold Team medal This meant that we were the winning team in every age group

On Monday 6th March Godstowe were welcomed by Maltmans Green to take part in a friendly triangular gala along with Highmarch It was a vibrant occasion with all teams giving a very good account of themselves The sportsmanship was clear to see and credit to all involved. With the races completed and girls giving the customary 3 cheers to the opposition the scores were announced with Godstowe narrowly placing second behind Highmarch Well done to all the girls involved it was a great gala and learning process for all

On Tuesday 7th March, we sent a strong U12 team to a mixed U12/13 tournament hosted at Queen Anne’s, as the U13’s were playing a rearranged District Tournament

They played against some strong opposition and all learnt lots from the experience They all made a positive contribution with some moments of outstanding team play and they should all be very proud of themselves

The U13A and B team took part in the District Tournament held at Wycombe Abbey on Tuesday 7th March. The A's came 3rd and the Bs won! The girls played fantastically together and the U13B’s won all of their knockout matches, securing them a place in the semi-final in which they beat Pipers Corner This put them in the final against Wycombe Abbey and after a tough fight, the girls were victorious and crowned District winners! Despite the snowy weather and some frozen fingers, the girls worked extremely hard and allowed the ball to flow nicely down the court and straight into the net Very well done girls!