Godstowe News: Spring Term 3/3

3 March 2023

Godstowenews Spring Term

A letter from the Headmistress

A busy week is a good week, and this one has been no exception! I was so pleased to see so many of you at our Senior Schools Fair on Tuesday afternoon, where we hosted 24 chosen senior schools for your review.

At the same time, Godstowe Book Week has been nothing short of great fun, and my thanks to the English Department and Mrs Harris who have gone over and beyond to create a week filled with activities, visitors, costumes and good old-fashioned fun I was delighted to welcome the author Abi Elphinstone to Main School, and Lodge were absolutely captivated by their workshop with Chris Connaughton, writer, actor and storyteller and author of the fantasy thriller, ‘The Beltheron Sequence’. The Year 8 girls went to Lodge to share their reading and favourite books with the Transition girls, which was a hit today and a perfect end to Book Week The array of costumes on Thursday was incredible – everyone had gone to such an effort and the JK Theatre parade was a sight to behold I hope you also managed to see Mrs Lee-Metcalfe’s beautiful dress design made from book covers and book sheets – incredible!

Then the girls in Main School took part in our termly Activities Day on Wednesday What an industrious and happy atmosphere as the girls in Form I to Fourths excitedly departed on day trips or activities around the building Thank you to the staff team who ended up as far as RAF Northolt, Bletchley Park and the Jewish Museum and to those who stayed at home to run Egyptian Day and a full spa day with sound bars and yoga! This is what learning and engagement is all about and it has been so good to see the girls and boys across Nursery to Fourths loving the Godstowe opportunities and experience!

Our amazing artwork of the week

Kindergarten G took Assembly this week and their theme was “Celebrating our differences” The children performed the story of Pip the Penguin whose enormous flippers were initially scorned but then came to the aid of the other penguins, when he could flap and scare away a hungry seal

We have really enjoyed our book themed week at Lodge We were very excited to have a visit from Chris Connaughton on Wednesday, who told each year group a story - Transition enjoyed The Tinder Box; Kindergarten, The Firebird; Beginners had an original retelling of The Elves and The Shoemaker and Nursery Little Red Riding Hood. On Thursday, it was lovely to see the variety of book characters who arrived at our assembly!

World Book Day has been a highlight this week in Nursery We have loved dressing up as our favourite book characters and sharing stories with the class! The children enjoyed some Jack and the Beanstalk themed counting activities which then lead onto a great conversation about what we would like to find at the top of our beanstalk For Cookery this week, the children were excited about making two different foods - fruit tarts from the story 'Each Peach, Pear, Plum' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' fruit kebabs. This week, we enjoyed learning about the sound 'l' and made colourful lollipops to take home With the increase in sunshine, we have loved spending time outdoors and exploring our new resources What fun!

We've had a fantastic week in Beginners! We have loved all the book-related activities and especially our visiting storyteller and dressing up for World Book Day! We have also been very excited to watch some of our beanstalks start to grow, and we have been learning more about what plants need and how they change as they grow. We also took delivery of our new Beginners pets, some stick insects! We have been closely observing them and learning about how to look after them. What a busy and exciting week!

Kindergarten have been busy inventing their own planets and aliens in Literacy, in preparation for creative writing next week Maths has been particularly practical as the children get to grips with height, length and rulers!

Transition have been enjoying their Geography lessons this half term They have been working on their map skills and have been locating continents and oceans on a map of the world.

Transition and Kindergarten enjoyed visits from some IV Form girls on Friday, who read some stories to them, and many classes have also been sharing their favourite books with their peers. We feel very lucky to have so many amazing stories to enjoy

Thank you in advance for your donations of Spring flowers on Monday to decorate Lodge and celebrate the arrival of Spring

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

MainSchool

Well, what a "World Book" week at Godstowe

There wasn't a better way to kick off the week than inviting the incredible author Abi Elphinstone into our Monday assembly Abi gave an inspiring assembly challenging the girls to ask "What If". She spoke about her challenges with being dyslexic and how she overcame those to become an author Some of the girls were then able to meet her and get a book signed. How exciting!

On Tuesday, we hosted our annual Senior Schools Fair After the Seniors Schools information presentation and our "What Lies Ahead for Years 7 and 8" events last week, we were looking forward to this last event in the trio 24 senior schools descended upon our JK Theatre and we hope you found this useful and inspiring.

Activity Day for this term fell on Wednesday 1st March It's a great opportunity for the girls to get out of the classroom. They visited RAF Northolt, the Jewish Museum, Bletchley Park and Egypt (albeit via the Recital Hall) The Lowers were able to practise for their production and the Fourths enjoyed a well-earned "Wellbeing Day". All the staff work so hard to organise these events and we ' re so pleased the children enjoy them

The fun didn't stop there Thursday was World Book Day With the theme of sustainability and recycling our outfits, the girls did not disappoint. The parade through the JK was incredible. Marg Simpson, Charlotte from Charlotte's web, the Smurfs and Willy Wonka were just some of the amazing outfits on display There was even the whole crew from "Room on the Broom" and almost a whole packet of Crayola crayons. Even the staff got involved. There was more than one Miss Trunchbull, a couple "Where's Wally" and even a mermaid Mrs Harris also ran a bookmark competition and all the girls were sent home with a special Godstowe bookmark designed by Lilly E on one side and Nari S on the other Well done girls, it looks great!

Friday was a calmer day with our celebration assembly, fish and chips and an exeat Just a typical Friday at Godstowe!

Key Dates for next week

6th March

Careers Week

4 10pm Lodge Parents' Meeting (by appointment)

4 15pm U8-U11 Swimming at Maltman's Green (away)

7th March

ABRSM exams

1-4pm U12 Netball tournament at Queen Anne's (away)

U13A&B Netball District

Tournament at Wycombe Abbey (away)

4 10pm Lodge Parents' Meetings (by appointment)

8th March

am Lodge Recital Concert

pm LIII production rehearsal to Main School

2-4pm U11A BEE Netball

tournament at Pipers Corner (away)

4 30pm U12 A-B District Netball at Wycombe Abbey (away)

4 10pm Lodge Parents' Meetings (by appointment)

9th March

4 10pm Lodge Parents' Meetings (by appointment)

7pm Project Planet! LIII's production all day U12 (6-a-side) Lacrosse at Cheltenham Ladies' College (away)

4 15pm U9-U11 Swimming Div 10 (home)

10th March

2.45pm Yrs 5-8 IAPS Swimming qualifiers at St John's Beaumont (away)

7pm Project Planet! LIII's production

11th March

11.30am U13A Lacrosse vs Wycombe Abbey (away)

2.30pm U12 and U13A-C Netball vs Cheam (away)

U10 and U11 football tournament at Godstowe (home)

Boarders'Corner

On Saturday, we were all lucky enough to have a late morning, waking up at 8am. Followed by having some beautiful breakfast cooked by Chef Adrian Then we were able to spend some time finishing off our prep before having the opportunity to enjoy some play time with the other houses

Later on, during the day we met in the JK theatre to do some fun challenges Mr Scriven put us in mixed groups for ‘Terrific Towers’ where we saw who could make the tallest tower out of newspaper, who could create the best costume out of toilet paper and finally had a race to find words linked to Godstowe in the newspapers We had a great time showcasing our costume designs on the stage

On Sunday, we were woken up to the smell of hot chocolate and pastries in house We got dressed into our smart outfits to visit Milton Keynes Theatre to watch the West End production of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. The special effects were incredible and the actors were really talented Our eyes were glued to the stage in awe and we all came out of the theatre with smiles on our faces.

Back at school we had a delicious roast and spent the evening writing letters to friends and family before heading off to bed.

We are all happy to get a well earned rest with exeat this weekend and can’t wait to be energised for the exciting weekend activities planned for the rest of term

SportsSnippets

On Saturday our U12 and U13 Lacrosse Teams travelled to Marlborough College. The U12’s were in for a treat receiving coaching from Heidi Marvin, Marlborough’s Head of Lacrosse, and some players from their 1st X Our girls loved this experience and were grateful to have specific positional coaching from the older girls

Our U13 team, meanwhile, played first against Marlborough’s U14B, beating them by one goal, and then played their U14A’s who showed us how important it is to have strong stickwork Marlborough, with two ex-Godstowe girls playing for them, won that match. A great afternoon of lacrosse!

On Monday our U13 football team played their first match. We hosted Free Reach School in a Cup game with excitement and a little bit of nervousness! Despite a fairly even start, the experience of the opposition showed and by halftime they were clearly ahead The Second half was more even, as our confidence grew and we understood how to play better as individuals and a team Osara managed to score our first U13s goal, Leonor (our POM) made some great saves and all of our players improved their skills. Although it was not the result we wanted, it was great to see the girls in competitive action Well done to our Fourths footballers!

On Monday three U9 teams travelled to the Royal Masonic School to play 7-a-side netball matches. The girls rotated around positions and learnt more about the rules of the game It was fun for everyone and was a good opportunity for the girls to learn in a friendly competition. Well done U9s!