Godstowe news
Autumn Term 4th November 2022
Key Dates for next week 8th November U9 Netball v Maltman's Green (away) 9th November Upper School Coffee Morning Student Recital U9-U11 Swimming v High March (home) U12 E&F Netball v Wycombe Abbey (away)
Our Dove Wings Diploma launched this week
A letter from the Headmistress The first week back from Half Term has been full of events and hard work. Going forward, I shall be on the gate at Main School on Monday and Wednesdays and at Lodge on Tuesdays and Fridays to welcome you all to school. These early morning opportunities are a very good chance to touch base with you and the children as they arrive and they certainly get the day off to a good start. Thank you to all parents in Form I and II who came to our Open Library session in Main School to meet with Mrs Harris yesterday. This was a real success and it was a good chance to showcase our reading system and our commitment to promoting a love of reading amongst all girls in Form I to Fourths. I know there will be further invitations extended in the coming weeks.
10th November Main School Mufti Day U10 BEE Netball Masterclass v Bloxham School (away) U13 A&B Netball v Pipers Corner (away) 11th November Godstowe's Remembrance Service 12th November U12 and U13 Lacrosse Invitational Tournament at Abbott's Hill (away) U11 A&B Netball Tournament at Berkhamsted
Tomorrow we have our first Open Day and I’m really looking forward to welcoming new families and to showcasing us at our very best. Thank you for bringing your daughters in early to help with our visitor experience – the girls are the key to building our future and we have lots on offer and on show first thing this Saturday! We are also looking forward to taking part in the Independent Schools Show in Battersea, London on 12th - 13th November and will be on Stand 653. Do encourage any friends or relatives to come and visit us if they are looking to move schools or if they need any advice. We shall all be there! It was a pleasure to be visited by our Fourths Monitors on Tuesday who have created a new Student Magazine, called the ‘Godstowe Swan’. The content and articles for a first edition are impressive and I was very taken with the new Logo of a Godstowe swan, complete with cloak and boater! This a magazine written by students for the students and I know they won’t be disappointed – well done! Have a good weekend everyone and if you are off to watch the fireworks, stay safe and well as you enjoy them together.
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Claire Gillett, Head of Lodge
Hannah Smart, Head of Nursery
It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week and they have settled back in quickly. We are very excited to see our new playground equipment and are especially looking forward to trying out the slide! Thank you to FOG for helping to fund this. This week Nursery has started our celebration topic. We have been looking at Diwali and Bonfire Night. The children enjoyed retelling stories and making very sparkly firework paintings. We have also discussed how to keep safe around fireworks and bonfires and have also thought about the sounds that fireworks make. Our sound of the week was n and we made nests. Our number of the week was 5 and the Number Zoo character was a Kangaroo, called Frisky Five. Please remember to help your child learn their line for the Nativity play. It is wonderful to be back at school after Half Term. This week in Beginners we are embracing the darker evenings and have been learning all about Bonfire Night! We’ve written some firework sounds, made stunning fireworks paintings and completed some firework number ordering. We’ve also been learning about one more and one less and exploring number lines. In preparation for our Nativity performance we have talked about our assigned roles and rehearsed our songs. Thank you for practising lines at home and for bringing in your costumes, we appreciate it.
Kindergarten have started the second half of term with a story study of The Gruffalo. In Literacy they completed a description of the Gruffalo character and went on to construct a story map consolidating their understanding of story sequencing. Having constructed their Gruffalo puppet theatres in Art an DT, the children are looking forward to using these a part of their own story telling next week. This week, Transition pupils have been learning about Firework safety in preparation for Bonfire Night on Saturday. In their Art lesson, they had great fun using straws to blow paint and create some firework paintings. They made silhouettes by cutting out shapes of buildings to stick in front. In our Science lessons, we have been learning more about the process of recycling and why it is so important to recycle as much as possible. Next Friday, on Remembrance Day, we will be observing the two minute silence at 11am and poppies are available in school for a donation.
The Godstowe Swan
Tabitha L has designed a logo for the "Godstowe Swan", a newsletter written by students for students. We can't wait to read the first edition.
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Weekly Awards Boarders of the Week
Friday Badges
Highlands Turner Walker
IC IH IM
Karisse W Clementine W Apple S
Artwork of the Week
Graciela F Maria L Nicole T
Sports Stars
A.R
House Points
Siana S Isabella B Reese N Shukee W Angelina S Morife M
Alexandra L
1st: Adlington 2nd: Pankhurst 3rd: Franklin 4th: Seacole
Typing Lucille D Lara C Lana L-S Beatrix M Gracie B Yasmin S
Annabel N, Arabella B and Pretty W
Boarders' Corner My name is Miss Doble, I'm 18 and I'm a Residential Boarding Assistant in Highlands House. I started at Godstowe in September 2022 and have loved working here so far. I'm hoping to have a career with young children so working in a Junior Boarding House seemed like the ideal opportunity. It's been really good and so much fun. It took a few mornings to understand how to motivate the girls to get up for school but now we have a really good routine going that involves a lot of random dancing in their rooms. I'm loving every part of the job but especially sitting in the common room with the girls after school and just hearing about their day and their interests. It's possibly one of the most rewarding jobs you could do and it's a fantastic community to be part of. It's a well rounded job role and I've gained a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. It's amazing!
Dove Wings Diploma
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Click here to watch the Boarders' Video from 15th and 16th October
Mrs Lee-Metcalfe launched the Dove Wings Diploma in Wednesday’s Main School Assembly. There are three levels of this ‘Wings’ Programme and all begin in the November of any year from Middles to Fourths. The aim of this three year programme is for girls to earn their Bronze, Silver and Gold Badges whilst undertaking new activities, learning different skills and demonstrating resilience. We are really proud of this opportunity for our older girls and this is such an asset to our offering as our girls move into Uppers and Fourths. The levels have a sporting, charity, new skill, house point and co-curricular element and a collaborative research project. The Gold Programme has a Leavers’ Expedition challenge to go ‘out of their comfort zone’ which is really inspiring and good fun. We wish all the girls good luck as they start this worthwhile Godstowe tradition.
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Sports Snippets
Rebecca Turner, Director of Sport
Before we broke for half term our U10 netball squad travelled to High March. We had a lovely afternoon in the sunshine with one win and one loss. We were so impressed with the girls' performance as they are taking on and applying the feedback given to them. Well done! Saturday, 15th October, our U12 and U13 lacrosse teams travelled to Berkhamsted to face their next opposition. It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone was excited to be playing another match. Both teams played some strong lacrosse, the U12’s showed an amazing amount of progress since their first match. Both games were end to end with even scores throughout. The final scores were: the U13’s drew 5-5 and the U12’s lost 5-4. The players of the match were: India B and Anushka B. Well done girls! It has been wonderful to have our netball courts back in action this week! They look fantastic and we are really grateful to the Bursar for sorting this out for us. We hit the ground running on Wednesday with our U11 girls playing The Marist and High March. Despite the weather the girls had a fabulous afternoon and as always were great ambassadors for the school. On Thursday afternoon, eleven girls from Middles and Lowers travelled to Tyler’s Green Middle School to take part in three football league fixtures. The first match was very close, until the second half when the opposing team managed to score and beat us. We had some great chances, but were unlucky not to convert them into goals. The second match was a lot harder, with the opposition playing some fantastic football. A lot of running was required to keep in the game and the score could have been a lot higher had it not been for some great saves from Rosie, our goalkeeper for the afternoon. In the third and final match, we managed to up our game, turn on the style and press the opposition, and soon the goals were flying in, which were celebrated with enthusiasm. A dominant performance gave us an 8-0 victory. Well Done Girls! You represented the school very well and we are all very proud of you.
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