Issue 8 10 February 2017

Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 8 Friday 10 February 2017 Dear Parents First and foremost, I would like to begin by congratulating our J4s for their well-deserved success in the Senior School Entrance Examination. The pupils have worked extremely hard and they have so much to look forward to during the remainder of their time with us.

Notwithstanding the grey skies and dark weather, the atmosphere in school has been lightened by a stream of visitors over the last two weeks. I would like to thank all of our parents who have been into our I1 classes to talk, and give demonstrations on food from a variety of different countries. We have also had Anya Kiely’s grandfather in school to talk about WWII. As I am sure you know, this week we have had a visit from the Independent School’s Inspectorate. The inspection process is of great importance to us and we have been proud to welcome the team into school to meet all of our lovely children and see our wonderful school. The report from this inspection process will be available to parents towards the end of March.

We are sad to say goodbye to Mrs Liz Hamilton today. Mrs Hamilton has been with us at KGJS for 15 years and has been a loyal and dedicated member of the team. We wish her well for the future.

I hope that you enjoy a peaceful half term holiday and that the children return with their batteries recharged for the next half term. I look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 20 February 2017.

Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress Follow me on Twitter: Annette Roberts @KGJShead

Norway

South Africa

Scotland

Tanzania

Scotland

Spain

As part of the I1’s topic ‘Food Around The World’, the children have had a number of visitors into school. On Friday 20 January, Mrs Thompson and Mrs Taylor came in to talk to the children about Norwegian and South African food. The children were able to try waffles, brown cheese and South African meat, to name just a few! It was an extremely interesting and informative visit! The following week, Mrs Watson visited to talk to them about African food and cultures. The children were able to sample some 'Tanzanian' food and have a go at playing some of the African musical instruments! The children had a truly wonderful afternoon. The next day, they celebrated Burns Night by making Scottish biscuits, tasting haggis and oat biscuits and even had a go at Scottish Dancing!! The children experienced the tradition of 'Piping in The Haggis' when Mrs Knowles brought the Haggis into the classroom! Two days later the children experienced a wide selection of Thai food and cultures when Mrs Holmes came in. On Monday, Mr Vavoso and Felix from Spagó in Lytham came in to show the children how to make pizzas!

They had a wonderful time learning how to roll the dough and enjoyed adding lots of different toppings to their pizzas! On Wednesday morning, the I1 children visited Poppy Remtulla’s family factory to learn about, and sample, cuisine from Italy, India, China, Mexico and England! The children had an amazing time...thank you. Thank you to all our visitors for coming into KGJS and making the children’s learning a hands on experience and so much fun!

Italy

Thailand

Italy

India

Once again, this week, we have had a small bump on the car park when parents have been bringing their children to school. May we please ask that when you are exiting the Junior School playground car park that you drive to the top of the playground and follow the loop round as some parents are cutting through the middle of the parking spaces which causes a tailback of traffic. This will help to ease the congestion around the rest of school and on the main road. Thank you.

A huge thank you to Anya’s grandad, Mr Alan Preston, for coming into J3’s History lesson to talk to the children about what life was like growing up during World War Two. The children were fascinated to hear about his dad, who was dropped behind enemy lines by parachute as part of the elite paratroopers. He wowed them with tales of just how little people of wartime were able to receive, not just through food rationing, but with clothing, too. Even underpants were rationed! Thank you Mr Preston for giving up your time to share your memories, medals and ration books.

A super afternoon of Hockey and Netball was had at Sedbergh on Wednesday 25 January.

The boys U11, U10A & B and U9 Hockey teams all had pleasing wins and Sedbergh were excellent hosts. The U9 and U11 girls enjoyed some fantastic Netball matches and these were ideal preparation for their Isle of Man tour which took place last weekend and features later in this newsletter.

Well done to all!

On Monday 30 January, the KGJS Swimming team travelled to West View Leisure Centre in Preston to take part in the annual St Pius Swim Gala. This involved our U9s, U10s and U11s. We managed to win three races in total; U10 Breaststroke (Mason Wilkins), U10 Medley Relay (Oliver Kollard, Mason Wilkins, Ben Firth and Harvey Barber) and U9 Freestyle Relay (Lola Sidani, Freddie Stott, Jenson Crompton and Harry Marsh). There were 19 races and everyone swam really well and the team finished third overall. Well done and thank you to all the parents who came to support.

The I3 children have been busy making Tudor Houses as part of their History topic on the Great Fire of London. The children have learned all about the fire and how it spread so quickly because the houses were made of wood. They used a variety of skills to construct their houses and have really enjoyed finding out about this topic! Well done, I3!

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Tapas night to raise money for our forthcoming Junior Production, Aladdin.

Guests enjoyed a range of tapas and a glass or two of Rioja. A wonderful evening was had by all!! Thank you also to Mr Vevers and the catering staff for their help with this event.

Aladdin rehearsals are well underway and the children are busy learning their songs, dances and the script. I felt it would be useful to send you advanced notice of some key dates for the production in order for you to plan ahead.

The production involves all our children from J1–J4. Our J1 and J2 children are part of our choir and the J3 and J4 children make up our main cast who appear on stage.

Weekend and Evening Rehearsals Sunday 5 March Saturday 11 March

12pm-4pm Principals, Dance Captain, Dancers 12pm-4pm Principals, Dance Captain, Dancers 2pm-4pm All J3 and J4 children 4pm-5.30pm Technical Rehearsal Principals 10am-4pm All J3 & J4 1pm-4pm All J1 & J2

Tuesday 14 March Sunday 19 March

Week Beginning 20 March 2017 Monday 20 March Wednesday 22 March Wednesday 22 March Thursday 23 March

Aladdin Dress Rehearsal 7pm Aladdin Performance Matinee 1.30pm (please note new time) Aladdin Performance 7pm Aladdin Performance 7pm

If any parents would be willing to help with the ironing and preparation of costumes, please contact Debbie Cooper (J1Y) or with hair or make up on the show nights please contact Jill Knowles (I1Y) Thank you in advance for your support.

Aladdin Programme Just a reminder that we will shortly be producing the programme for our Aladdin production in March 2017. If you would like to take this opportunity to advertise your business within the programme please contact Lindsey Case (J3Y) to enquire about this further. The programme will be an A5 full colour publication and we can offer full and half page adverts.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Sport/Event Photographs If parents take photographs at school events/sports fixtures we would love to see them! They may even get used in school newsletters, on the website and in press releases. Please email them to Michelle Tickle at m.tickle@kirkhamgrammarjnr.co.uk Thank you

Kirkham Grammar Junior School Facebook news is now on the Kirkham Grammar School Facebook page….we hope this will make the ‘whole school news’ easier to follow! Please visit and ‘LIKE’ the KGS page for all the latest news, photographs and information. The Facebook page name is ‘Kirkham Grammar School’ and can be easily identified from our KGS logo.

A number of pupils have items of uniform missing and have been unable to locate them in school. Over half term please could we ask that all uniform and coats are checked and any items not belonging to your child are returned to school.

Please follow us on Twitter for the latest news at KGJS! twitter.com/kgjs_

House

27.01.17

03.02.17

Total

Fylde

218

216

686

Kirkham

194

191

636

Preston

201

187

713

School

207

176

621

It is always lovely to hear about what the children have achieved outside of school. Well done to Sophie Rawlinson, Katie Townsend, Jasmine Stirrup and Gabriella Pearson who have been awarded certificates in Dance and Swimming!

The I2 children have been researching ‘Space’ as part of their Science lessons and homework and have learned so many amazing facts.

Thank you to all parents and families who have helped.

Please come and see their wonderful display at the front of school!

Our topic on ‘Transport’ has taken us to very exciting places in the past couple of weeks. We have travelled on the ‘Hundred Decker Bus’ and gone ‘Up, Up, Up’ in a balloon so high we can touch the moon. We are so interested in flying that we have decided to explore how other vehicles that fly can go all the way up. We have also been enjoying our Music lessons with Mrs Knowles and Mrs Riley and we are becoming very good at listening to instructions so we can reproduce sounds made by different types of instruments.

Pupils and staff enjoyed a delicious ‘Chinese’ lunch on Monday 30 January to celebrate Chinese New Year 2017, The Year of the Rooster! The children even had a visit from a Chinese Dragon!!

This year’s J3 and J4 Triathlon will take place on Saturday 22 April at Kirkham Baths and UCLAN Sports Arena to raise money for a local charity.

Details will be out shortly...please save the date!

The I2s had a wonderful time at Lou-Shang Chinese Restaurant, which was organised as part of their Chinese New Year topic! They experienced lots of different Chinese food including spare ribs, noodles, prawn crackers and toast, crispy chicken and rice and finished off with jelly and ice cream! The children were an absolute credit to KGJS! Thank you for having us!! The photographs from the trip are available to view on our KGS Flickr page.

The J1 children have been researching Vikings and AngloSaxons during their History lessons recently and they discovered the Viking language of Rune Stones. Each pupil made their own family crest rune stone. This included their family name and a pattern they had chosen, to wish them good luck, good fortune or prosperity. Well done, J1!

On Tuesday 31 January, Kirkham took part in the AJIS Indoor Athletics Championships which was held at the excellent facilities at Robin Park in Wigan. 26 schools from throughout the North West took part and the atmosphere was electric! The competition was always going to be tough but the team had prepared well and were highly motivated to represent KGJS with pride. We were not to be disappointed and yet again we exceeded expectations. Listed below are the performances which achieved Gold, Silver or Bronze but there were many excellent performances which only just missed out in what is a very competitive event.

GOLD U11 Boys Balance U10 Boys Triple Jump U10 Boys 3 Lap Race U10 Boys Balance U10 Boys Obstacle Relay SILVER U11 Boys Speed Bounce U10 Boys Javelin U10 Boys Speed Bounce U10 Girls Balance U10 Girls Vertical Jump BRONZE U11 Boys Javelin U11 Girls Balance U10 Boys Paarlauf Relay U10 Girls Speed Bounce

NEW RECORD Owain Heathcote-Jones Mason Wilkins Mason Wilkins NEW RECORD James Shuttleworth NEW RECORD Harry Marsh, Ben Firth, Jenson Stott, Mason Wilkins Wills Gut Ben Firth Harry Marsh Anya Kiely Lilly Jones James Stacey Rachel Watson Harry Case, Harvey Barber Claudia Allison

As you can see, these are outstanding results and I am immensely proud of what our athletes have achieved against many larger schools. Throughout the day our pupils were a credit to the school as they also had to fulfil roles in the organisation as we were running the event which involved over 650 athletes.

On Friday 3 February, 22 KGJS U11s set off early on a three day Sports Tour to the Isle of Man. Their first destination was Liverpool Airport for their 11am flight. 23 minutes and 51 seconds later they landed in the beautiful IOM! The tour party were based at King Williams College in Castletown where, once again, they were really well looked after as they have been for the last 10 years. During the 3 day tour they played Rugby, Hockey, Netball and Football. They experienced wins, losses and draws against The Buchan School, King Williams College and the Isle of Man teams. Away from the fixtures, the pupils took part in Laser Blast, Swimming and a local quiz which was based in Castletown. All the children had a wonderful time and, even though they were playing away, almost 30 travelling supporters also made the journey over! The tour party would like to thank the following parents for providing sponsorship for the purchase of our tour kit which enabled us to look extremely smart; Mr and Mrs Maude, Mr and Mrs Gut, Mr and Mrs Jones, Mr and Mrs Margerison, Mr and Mrs Thompson, Mr and Mrs Kane and Mr and Mrs Cole. Finally, all the pupils were an absolute credit to the school on and off the sports field with many favourable comments made from everyone we met. Well done, you all made KGJS very proud.

On the same day, J4 pupils travelled to Manchester for an amazing day out at the Chill Factore and Media City.

When they arrived at their first stop, the Chill Factore, they went to the Snow Park. They had a brilliant time, slipping and sliding in the freezing cold snow. They had a go on the downhill doughnuts, the Sledge ‘O’ Mania and Slip n’ Slide. Once their hour of snowy awesomeness was over, they enjoyed lunch at Pizza Hut which, of course, included a trip to the Ice Cream Factory to flood their ice creams with sprinkles!! After lunch, they travelled to Media City, where they had a personalised tour to show them what it was like for the presenters, producers and actors. The children met Karim and Hacker from CBBC and even managed to get their autographs/paw prints! The J4s were then split into two groups with one group having a go at vlogging and the other watching Karim and Hacker perform live. They then swapped activities. They all thought it was an amazing experience! As always, the children were a credit to the school.

Monday 20 February - School re-opens 8.50am Wednesday 22 February - Lancashire Girls & Boys Hockey Finals UCLAN (A) 1.30pm (also includes the North of England Qualifier) Friday 24 February - U9 Boys Hockey v Ashbridge (A) 3.15pm Saturday 25 February - U9 & U10 Girls Hockey v St Mary’s Hall (H) U11 Boys Rugby v Preston Grasshoppers (A) 12 noon U9 & U10 Boys Rugby v Preston Grasshoppers TBC

Thursday 2 March - AJIS Girls Hockey (A) 10am Sunday 5 March - Aladdin Rehearsals 12 noon-4pm Wednesday 8 March - U11 Girls Hockey St Mary’s Hall Tournament (A) time tbc U11 Boys Budge Rugby 7s Rossall (A) time tbc Thursday 9 March - U11 Rugby/Football v Buchan School (H) time tbc Friday 10 March - U11 Daniel Davies Rugby 7s St Mary’s Crosby (A) time tbc U11B & U10A Boys Hockey v Manchester Grammar School (H) 4pm Saturday 11 March - Aladdin Rehearsals 10am-4pm Tuesday 14 March - FKGS Meeting 7.30pm Wednesday 15 March - U11 Rugby 7s v St Mary’s Hall (A) time tbc Sunday 19 March - Aladdin Rehearsals 10am-4pm Monday 20 March - AJIS Rugby time Merchant Taylors time tbc Aladdin Dress Rehearsal 7pm Tuesday 21 March - North of England Hockey Finals Leeds Wednesday 22 March - Aladdin Matinee Performance 1.30pm Aladdin 7pm Summerlee Hall Thursday 23 March - Aladdin 7pm Summerlee Hall Monday 27 March - U10 KGJS Hockey Tournament (H) 3.15pm No After School Activities this week Tuesday 28 March - Pre-School & I1 Egg Hunt 2.30pm Thursday 30 March - U11 AJIS Netball (A) Kings Macclesfield time tbc Friday 31 March - End of Term 12 noon Pre-School remains open Coaches depart 12.15pm Saturday 1 April - Ski Trip departs Saturday 8 April - Ski Trip returns Summer Term begins Wednesday 19 April 2017