Godstowe News: Summer Term 19/5

Last week’s Fashion Show and Art and Design Exhibition was another triumph at Godstowe! What a wealth of talent and I was impressed to see every boy and girl represented with artwork from across the school The JK Theatre took on its new gallery and exhibition mantle and hosted a range of audiences over the three days it was open The Fashion Show was a fun addition, with the Year 7 and 8 girls confidently displaying their sustainable fashion items and thoroughly enjoying the event I must salute the dedication of the team behind the scenes here Mrs Sloggett, Mrs Lee-Metcalfe and Mrs Mushtaq worked their customary magic, but the hours invested into the launch are not to be underestimated and it was lovely to see their relieved smiles behind stage when the girls paraded into the first catwalk show on Friday night last week This event is a wonderful talking point and our new families visiting us at the Open Day on Saturday were naturally really impressed!

It was lovely to see our Form I, Form II and Lowers families at our Coffee Morning on Monday last week and we look forward to welcoming our Lodge parents for afternoon tea on Wednesday at 3-4pm I hear that Chef Adrian is making scones and cakes, so do come along. We enjoy sharing your company and Adrian loves showcasing his latest cakes and stories! I wish our boarders a wonderful trip to Brighton on Sunday and I do hope that your girls can find some time to relax over the weekend amidst their revision for exam week from Monday Whilst working hard is key, so too, is that chance to find rest, fun and balance. Have a super weekend, everyone.

A letter from the Headmistress

Our green-fingered boarders

Nursery have had a great week exploring the importance of looking after the world around us We have been learning how to sort materials for recycling and all about global warming We have had some great discussions about we can do at Godstowe or at home to make the world a better place Our sound of the week was v so we have been printing with home grown vegetables. In Maths we have been looking at number ordering, 1 more than a number and positional language

This week Beginners have enjoyed having a full week together at last! We have based our learning around The Very Busy Spider and created fact books about spiders. We have discovered that they are not as scary as some of us had thought! We have also been recapping the phase three tricky words and created paper chains with the tricky words written on them. In Maths, we have continued doubling and begun looking at halving and sharing On Thursday we had an exciting Art workshop and followed a story whilst making characters out of clay. We also designed some beautiful spider webs using glitter Phew, what a busy week!

Kindergarten and Transition were thinking about being selfconfident and resilient in their assembly on Tuesday They looked at examples of famous people who had persevered before achieving success, such as Walt Disney, Thomas Edison and Julie Andrews

Having been introduced to instruction writing last week, Kindergarten has started to apply their learning to ‘How to Cook a Rainbow’. In Science, the children tried a variety of raw fruit and vegetables, identifying which part of the plant – root, stalk, leaf, flower – they were eating The plant theme has continued into art with the focus being the artist Georgia O’Keefe. Using pastels the children created their own compositions of close up views of flowers.

Transition pupils have been studying the topic of Animals including Humans in their Science lessons this term. So far, we have compared the life cycles of humans, frogs and chickens, and have been sorting animals according to whether they lay eggs or give birth to live young This week we have carried out a survey as to the different pets that Transition children have, and we have presented the information as a tally chart In Maths, we have been revising how to divide using our 2,3 and 4 times tables, in order to find a half, third or quarter of a quantity Any times tables practice at home would be very useful!

We are looking forward to welcoming Lodge parents for refreshments before pick up, next Wednesday at 3pm in Lodge Hall.

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

Boarders'Corner

"Flower Power"

Much was written during the pandemic about the benefits of being outdoors One of the nicer things about the summer term for our 100 or so boarders is being able to engage with nature. Over two weekends, the girls in all three houses have been designing and planting out their respective gardens.

In Highlands, the target audience for their garden designs were fairies Thus, girls have designed miniature gardens, fit for the aforementioned creatures and including fairy lights, miniature garden furniture and tiny plants!

Walker painted their garden troughs last weekend and are planting them out on Saturday, whilst Turner visited a local garden centre to buy their plants When they returned, girls went to the Art Room to paint individual terracotta pots, before planting them with geraniums, petunias, lobelia et al. Garden Monitors have been hastily appointed to oversee the nightly watering programme!

The girls are really enjoying their interactions with nature, be they meeting worms, snails and slugs for the first time, or simply tending to their areas, ensuring that their plants survive long into the summer They have learnt for the need for patience - the plants haven't yet burst into flower - and boarding staff hope that they are fostering in the girls a sense of environmental stewardship in the process Plus, there will be loads of strawberries to eat in due course!

Key Dates for next week

22nd May

Exam and Assessment week for FI-UIII

4 30pm U12 and U13

Swimming vs Crosfields (away)

24th May

Kindness Workshop to Transition, FI and FII

3pm Lodge Parents' Afternoon

Tea with Miss Bailey

3pm U11 Cricket vs Pipers Corner (away)

26th May

Class photos

HALF TERM - no enrichment curriculum for Lodge or Main School

UpperswenttoCranedale

Cranedale was so much fun! I loved it, from fishing in the river, to chatting with my friends, from sitting down for supper or prepping the team on our orienteering When my sister came back 6 years ago and said it was the best time of her life I definitely did not believe her. How I was wrong! I have to admit, when I was told I had to do a lesson after supper, I groaned, but had no idea that we would be dissecting owl pellets and finding shrew skeletons, or making a stop motion animation film about limpets! I managed to spend 9-5 out and about, and learn so many geographical and biological skills! Please, Mrs MacDougall, take me again next year!!!Thisbe

M-J

From table football to wading through rivers, Cranedale was so much fun! From breakfast time to dinner time we were always entertained. At breakfast the Belgium Waffle with syrup was a particular favourite on our table - maybe on other tables as well! Each day it was like we were in a completely different country and climate, one day we were wearing hats, scarfs and gloves and then the next it was t-shirts One day we went to Bempton cliffs where we saw puffins, shags, gannets and many other species of birds We also went to the beach and studied rock pools and estimated how many limpets there were in the bay. We explored caves, walked through arches and saw stacks and stumps We went into many rivers, studied them and found lots of wildlife - and we also got very wet! Overall Crandale was an awesome trip and was so much fun. I would definitely go back again! - Florence M

FriendsofGodstowe

Godstowe Ball is on 1st July and we are getting very excited There are still some tickets available to please click on the image to purchase. Ticket sales close on 5th June so make sure to get yours!

The birds cry as the seals bathe

The ants search and the bees buzz

The grouse hide and the foxes hunt

The fish swim and the limpets cling

The spiders swing and the rabbits burrow

The pheasants run and the kites circle

The owls rest by day and wake by night

The mice scurry and the frogs hop

The sun beams and the clouds cover

The grass shakes and the dew drops twinkle

The trees grow and the heather pricks

The rain pours and the earth provides

The river flows and the rocks erode

The puddles dry out and the flowers bloom

The fossils grow older and stick in the mud

The stars shine and the memories linger

Cranedale Sonnet - Sage K

With the weather picking up, we ' ve had the perfect opportunity to get outside and practise for Sports Day. Lodge have been working hard on their sack race skills, as well as their running on the athletics track Main School have been hurdling and passing batons ready for the relays on Sports Day We hope to see lots of Main School parents at the field finals after half term.

Tuesday 16th May Athletics at RMS

We had a wonderful afternoon out at RMS on Tuesday with some of our athletes from the Lower Third and Middle Third. The girls competed in a whole athletics spectrum with some doing events like the shot put, javelin and the hurdles for the first time competitively. Our older girls came away with team gold and our younger girls, team silver A special shout out to Duchess who really excelled in the high jump and Elsie and Eleanor who were amazing in the long jump but overall, we were so proud of every one of our amazing girls

Wednesday 17th May Tennis at Maltmans and RMS

Wednesday was filled with tennis with our Middle Thirds and Form Two taking part in tennis tournaments with Maltmans and RMS respectively Great tennis was played by both year groups with new pairings being tested and some girls competing for the first time. Both teams lost out, but only marginally, and it was fantastic to play such lovely schools. Our girls were fantastic ambassadors for Godstowe