Issue 8 Friday 9 February 2018

Junior, Infant and Pre-School Newsletter Issue 8 Friday 9 February 2018 Dear Parents Our Year 6 pupils have breathed a collective sigh of relief this week as they have overcome the small matter of the entrance exam to the Senior School and I am guessing that parents are also breathing a little easier! The pupils have worked extremely hard and they have so much to look forward to in the remainder of their time at the Junior School.

I would like to thank Mrs Rowlands for organising a fabulous day of Mathematics last Thursday. The children were thoroughly engaged all day in a variety of mathematical challenges, whilst also raising money for the NSPCC. Our boys and girls have also been busy on the sports front and our musicians have been busily preparing for our much anticipated Cheese and Wine Performing Arts Evening and upcoming choir competitions.

The first weekend after half term sees a new initiative in our Disney-themed activity morning for 2 to 7 year olds. If you do have any family and friends who may be interested in coming along, please spread the word.

This week, the new Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, reminded us of the importance of what he describes as ‘Character Education’. This is something that we are keen to endorse, as our young people will need to be resilient, adaptable and multi-skilled as they embrace all future challenges. They will not always succeed and their response to adversity is even more important, in a world where automation and big data are increasingly significant.

Have a lovely half-term holiday.

Annette Roberts Mrs AS Roberts Headmistress

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”

J.K. Rowling

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It is always lovely to hear about the children’s achievements outside of school. The children have certainly been very busy over the last couple of weeks! Well done to Christian Taylor-Tomlinson, Lucie Wilson, Poppy Pickervance, Darcey Borrow, Lola Cooper, Amy Hodson, Phillipa Hancock, Zea Trend, Harvey Tennant, Harley Marginson, Joseph Mahoney, Samuel Morris, Sienna Misell, Sebastian Boughen, Sophie Noblett, Isla Sinclair, Hattie Walker, Freddie Butler, Isabelle Campbell and Sebastian Clarke (Doodle Maths Stars), Alice Nicholson, Eleanor Bullough and Henry Dawson-Gerrard (Doodle Maths Stars and Swimming), Fatimah Omer, Evie Mellon (Cheerleading) and Faris Amr (Football).

The J3 children have enjoyed performing on their ukuleles during their Music lessons with Mrs Shuttleworth, in readiness for the Cheese and Wine Performing Arts Evening in March.

Well done, J3!

Please could we remind all parents about the types of snacks that children should be bringing into school. These should only be fruit, vegetables, bread sticks and other non-sugary snacks.

The children recently learned about sugar content of a variety of foods and how they can make healthy choices!

Thank you to all parents for their support when sending healthy snacks into school for break times.

A few days ago, the Pre-School children received a message from Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook. They were told to be wary because any one of them could appear at any time. The children got so excited they helped Mrs Blanco-Bayo, Miss Blacow and Miss Richardson turn Pre-School into a land of fairies with an ‘Under the Sea’ area where they could build their own pirate ship. It has been fascinating for the children to lead their own learning as they dressed up as pirates, drew treasure maps and worked together to find the gold coins that were hidden in the most unexpected places.

There is more magic yet to be discovered all around Pre-School. They have seen fairies flying all over and are convinced they are planning something…

Yesterday, we welcomed Chris Cranham and Stewart Death from Travelling by Tuba into school. The day was a chance for the children to experience music-making using a variety of instruments that Chris and Stewart have collected on their travels around the world. Every child was given the opportunity to play an instrument and see how a piece of music is rehearsed and put together. Each session culminated in a performance! The workshops were a fantastic hands-on musical experience and the children (and staff!) thoroughly enjoyed the day!

Thank you to Chris and Stewart for visiting KGJS! A wonderful day was had by all!

KIRKHAM GRAMMAR JUNIOR SCHOOL & PRESTON HARRIERS BEAT THE WEATHER!!

On Saturday 20 January, KGJS hosted Preston Harriers for an U11 Indoor Athletics match. Whilst many sporting events across the region were cancelled due to the poor weather conditions, those who attended the fixture at Kirkham were treated to some fantastic performances from athletes of both teams. The match started off with the Team Speed Bounce and unbelievably in the boys event we had a tie and in the girls event Kirkham overcame Preston by a narrow margin. Next up were the field events which included long jump, triple jump, vertical jump and javelin.

There were many excellent performances with each team recording victories. Following the field events, the many parents who came to support were treated to some excellent sprint and relay races with, again, honours being shared over the twelve races. After an hour of action packed athletics, in which the majority of athletes participated in five events, it was Kirkham who just edged out Preston. The emphasis, however, was all about participation and achieving personal bests.

Kirkham would like to thank Preston Harriers for a really enjoyable fixture and all the parents who came along to support. A fantastic morning of athletics!

U9 A & B BOYS HOCKEY V SEDBERGH KGJS U9 Boys Hockey teams travelled to Sedbergh last week for two great games which were both played in a fantastic spirit. Kirkham A won 5-4 and Kirkham B drew 1-1.

Thank you to Sedbergh for once again being excellent hosts and to all the parents who came along to support.

AJIS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018 On Tuesday 30 January, KGJS travelled to Wigan’s Robin Park Indoor Arena to take part in the Association of Junior Independent Schools Indoor Athletics Championships. Twenty seven schools from throughout the North West were taking part and this involved over 650 athletes. The U10 and U11 boys and girls teams had trained extremely hard in the build up to this annual event and had very competitive matches against Preston Harriers and Lytham Athletic Club in preparation. However, not in our wildest dreams did we expect to achieve such success and produce our best ever performance at these very prestigious championships. At the end of five hours of competition we had won 14 golds, 4 silver and 6 bronze medals and set, or equalled, three AJIS records!!!!!!!!

Listed below are the performances of the medal winning athletes:

Gold Evie Mellon Georgia Nicholls Louisa Seacy Evie Mellon, Lilly Jones, Megan Rollinson & Frankie Margerison Mason Wilkins James Shuttleworth Harvey Barber Ewan Huck Jensen Stott, Ben Firth, Ewan Huck & Mason Wilkins Leoma Gill Lola Sidani Nikita Murthy Joel Ashton William de Klerk, Tom Bloomfield, Jenson Crompton & Harry Marsh

U11 Girls Long Jump (New AJIS record) U11 Girls Speed Bounce U11 Girls Balance Test (=AJIS record) U11 Girls Obstacle Relay U11 Boys 3 Lap Race U11 Boys Balance Test U11 Boys Javelin U11 Boys Chest Push U11 Boys Obstacle Relay U10 Girls Speed Bounce U10 Girls Vertical Jump U10 Girls Balance Test (= AJIS Record) U10 Boys Javelin U10 Boys Obstacle Relay

Silver Sarah Chatwin Mason Wilkins Ben Firth Rowan Edwards

U11 Girls Javelin U11 Boys Triple Jump U11 Boys Long Jump U10 Boys Vertical Jump

Bronze Frankie Margerison Jensen Stott Harvey Barber & Harry Case William de Klerk Freddie Stott Jenson Crompton

U11 Girls Triple Jump U11 Boys Vertical Jump U11 Boys Paarlauf Relay U10 Boys One Lap Race U10 Boys Triple Jump U10 Boys Balance Test

As the above results show, the athletes performed superbly throughout the day and we are immensely proud of their achievements. Other members of the team were just outside the medals and produced many personal bests. As we were the organising school, our pupils, whilst also competing, acted as hurdle stewards, field event officials and helped out with the medal presentations! A truly great team effort!

ST PIUS INVITATIONAL SWIMMING GALA On Monday 29 January, the KGJS swimming team travelled to West View Leisure Centre to take part in the St Pius Invitational Gala along with five other schools; St Pius, St Mary’s Hall, Rossall, Hunter Hall and Altrincham Prep.

The gala was for the U9s, U10s and U11s, involving individual races and relays.

Mason Wilkins (U11 Breaststroke) and Isabel Tuck (U9 Butterfly) both finished first in their events.

In all the other races, the children performed very well and picked up lots of second and third place finishes.

At the end of the afternoon, KGJS finished a very pleasing second overall, which is our best result for many years. A huge thank you to St Pius for organising a very enjoyable gala and congratulations to Rossall School, who were the overall winners.

The following children represented the school: Ewan Huck, Oliver Kollard, Ben Firth, Mason Wilkins, Jake Pedley, Rowen Edwards, Jenson Crompton, Jack Short, Christian Taylor-Tomlinson, Isabel Tuck, Lola Huyton, Emily Greenwood and Oliver Littlechild.

Well done to all!

Can you work out where this photo was taken within the KGJS building?

The image to the right (from the last newsletter) can be found in the main entrance.

Well done to all who managed to locate it!!

On Friday 2 February, eighteen J4 children met Mr Lewis, Mrs Case and our tour rep, Nigel, at Preston Station ready for our trip. Matthew Weare’s mum gave us all an Edinburgh hoodie and we set off. When we arrived in Edinburgh, we walked for about half an hour to our Youth Hostel, where we had our lunch before walking to Dynamic Earth. On the way we saw Holyrood Palace, the government buildings, Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano) and the Queen’s Art Gallery. Inside Dynamic Earth, we learned about volcanos and different types of rock, before discovering about the history of the universe, looking at the animals of the rainforest and finally learning about astronomers inside a show dome. Our final stop in this amazing was, of course, the gift shop, where we bought some gift for us and our families. After a delicious roast chicken dinner back at the hostel, we took the bus to go bowling. We had a fun-filled hour here, before returning to the hostel to go to bed. The next morning, we got up and had a lovely breakfast but there was no time to waste as we set off, in the rain, towards the Harry Potter trail, where we learned about the important places and people that inspired J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. Next, we headed to Edinburgh Castle, where we looked at the Scottish Crown Jewels and the memorial for the soldiers who died in various wars. We also saw a demonstration about crime and punishment for minor stealing in the 1600s! After a quick visit to a Harry Potter souvenir shop, we reached our final destination; the Edinburgh Dungeons, which we all found really scary! Finally, we headed to the train station for our return journey. Thank you to Mrs Case, Mr Lewis and Nigel for a wonderful trip.

By Charlie Wiltshire (J4X)

On Friday 2 February, twenty five J4 pupils, accompanied by Mrs Farquharson, Mr Brookes and Mr Oddie met at KGJS to embark on their annual sports tour to the beautiful Isle of Man. After a 24 minute flight over the Irish Sea, they reached their destination. On day one the J4s played Football and Netball against The Buchan School which was a fantastic start to the tour. In the evening, they went to the swimming pool and experienced flying down the slides and swimming against the rapids. Day two involved Rugby against Ramsey Rugby Club U11s and Hockey against King William’s College U12s. Both matches were very competitive and were played in a fantastic spirit. In the afternoon they visited Castletown and took part in a quiz about the Isle of Man. The evening entertainment was a visit to Laser Blast in which all of the pupils and staff took part! Day three started off with a KGJS J4 World Cup Hockey Tournament and Australia won! The final fixtures of the tour were against the IoM Rugby and Hockey teams and yet again these matches were played in a fantastic spirit. During the tour the children were well supported by the largest ever contingent of Kirkham parents who made the journey over the water. This is a good opportunity to thank the following families/ companies who sponsored the tour kit, which enabled the group to look extremely smart in matching coats, hoodies, t-shirts, beanies and tour bags: BM Furniture (Margerison), Caffè Dolce (Barber), Napthens Solicitors (Allison), Firth Architects (Firth), Choice Hotels (Kollard), BMW Bowker (Bowker), FAB Home Interiors (Jones), TNT Fireworks (Ribchester), UK Acoustic System (Wilkins) and Whittaker Stott Packaging (Stott). All the pupils and staff really appreciate your generosity. The full set of results are as follows: Netball v Buchan School lost 16-12, Football v Buchan School A team lost 4-3, B team lost 4-1, Rugby v Ramsey won 45-15, Hockey v KWC U12s lost 8-5, Rugby v IOM lost 15-10 and Hockey v IOM won 5-2. We are very grateful to Ramsey Rugby Club and the Isle of Man Hockey and Rugby Teams for their involvement. Finally, we would like to thank everyone at King Williams College and The Buchan School for their hospitality and organisation in making this a fantastic tour which our pupils will never forget. Thank you to the parents who kindly presented Mr Oddie, Mrs Farquharson and Mr Brookes with a gift for taking their children to the IoM. It is very much appreciated...just doing their jobs!

What an exciting day it was for all the Pre-School children! Number day meant that the children were encouraged to use numbers all day long. They built high towers as they counted and grouped wooden blocks by colour, pretended to be fairies in a castle whilst guessing the number of people in the land of magic and counting prints and then attempted to write the number. The Pre-School children also had a visit from some of the J4 children who brought their very own robot to play with. They had lots of fun throwing the ball as far as they could so it would land on a number from 1 to 10. Everyone had a go and it was so much fun!

During Number day, I1 took part in baking biscuits. They concentrated on weighing out the correct ingredients and following the recipe. The children enjoyed mixing all the ingredients together and cutting out the biscuits so they looked like magical wands. During the afternoon, J4 came down with a Numberjack’s robot for the children to measure how far they could catapult a ball. Felix came first, followed by Jenson and third place went to Archie Corcoran. All the children had a fantastic day and were so enthusiastic with their learning.

The I2s had a fantastic time learning all about Mathematics while raising money for the NSPCC through selling lots of delicious cakes at their cake sale. The children had been learning all about money so they used their knowledge of coins to count the money into the pot. A lot of the activities were linked to Harry Potter and what a fun time they had in the classroom as well, making Gringott’s currency, spider lollies to count in 8s, playing games and making Harry Potter wands to use for some Magical Maths! The day after, the I2s took their pennies to the Candy Bar in Kirkham to buy some sweet treats!

Well done, I2!

The I3 children had a busy number day that consisted of Harry Potter Code Breaking where they had to carefully work out the calculations in order to discover the missing letters; a Maths Magic board game, a fun game that involved addition, subtraction and multiplication which was great when the invisible ink revealed the answers and Maths Tricks and Number Magic, using their magic wands to help them. Later in the morning, they also made a potion using spiders, lizards and bats’ legs…and practised counting in 4s and 8s. After lunch, they did circuit-training in the hall. This tied-in with their Science topic, ‘Healthy Me!’ They all completed eight exercises which included skipping, squats, star-jumps, leg-lifts and press-ups. The day was lots of fun!

Well done, I3!

What a wonderful day the children had for their NSPCC Number Day last Thursday. The children have learnt so much about working with numbers through all the exciting activities that have gone on in the classrooms. There was a truly wonderful atmosphere around school. A fantastic £340 was raised for the NSPCC. Thank you for all your support.

J1 took part in a potion-making master class! The children designed their own magical potion by choosing from a range of magical ingredients such as mermaid hair, dragon’s blood and crushed unicorn horns. The children used their knowledge of units by deciding on how many grams, millilitres or centimetres they would need for their particular ingredients. Next, they priced up their ingredients, calculating the total cost of their potion and the cost of more than one.

In the afternoon, the children used their ingredients to create their potion, following their careful potion plans.

To finish off the day they crafted a witches hat and decorated them with dusty cobwebs. A wonderful day was had by all.

J2 learned how to do Sudoko puzzles and also tried to complete dingbat puzzles. They all competed in teams at Fraction Frenzy, having to solve the fractions problems as quickly as possible and then had a game of Mathionaire (similar to ‘Who Wants to Be A Millionaire’, using Maths questions). They spent the afternoon working out how much it would cost to send Harry Potter to Hogwarts for a term. The children had to work out what expenses he would have, for example, boarding fees and buying a broomstick, and then had to solve the Maths problems to work out the costs of each item.

Finally, they were given a budget and had to see if Harry could afford to go to Hogwarts or not.

They had great fun and many of the children have asked to play these games again.

The J3s worked with the J4s on their measuring/number robot and the skills associated with this. They then enjoyed their planned Harry Potter themed activity where the children were designated a group and had to find word / number problems to solve within their group. This not only promoted thinking skills but also their ability to work and communicate as a team. They were given the opportunity to buy clues using their Golden Galleons. Once they had solved the problems this earned them a picture part which they assembled into their group’s grid to reveal a Harry Potter poster. Well done, J3!

After spending three weeks working extremely hard in preparation for the KGS Entrance Exam, the J4 children extended Number Day to Number ‘Week’! Having been split into seven teams, one team to represent each year group from Pre-School through to J3, the J4 children were set the task of creating a robot. This robot had to include a catapult mechanism to fire a polystyrene ball. Each team also had to prepare a brief lesson plan on how to teach ‘measuring’ to the particular age group that they were working with. Armed with their robots and measuring equipment, the J4 children visited their ‘pupils’ and delivered the lesson, with every child having the opportunity to fire a ball from the robot and measure the distance it travelled. Some teams added extra activities for the children, including worksheets and mini games with prizes. Each team awarded one winner to their group for the furthest throw before the final showdown between the seven robots. ‘George’ was crowned ‘Ultimate Robot’ with a throw of nearly four metres! Congratulations to the winning team of Dotty Hackett, Teddy Bowker, Bella Wiggins, Evie Mellon, Raphael Ikram and Oliver Ganley (not pictured). Well done to all the J4 children for some excellent teamwork and fantastic teaching skills!

The Winning Team!

In Science, KGJS I3s have started a new topic called ‘Healthy Me’, about keeping themselves healthy, and they have been looking at food.

Together they have investigated the importance of having a balanced diet and, as part of this, they decided to make soup. After carefully washing their hands and disinfecting their work surfaces, the children did an excellent job chopping up vegetables to go into the soup. I3 left it to simmer over break and then tucked in. Most of the children came back for seconds and between them they finished the entire pan! To celebrate Burns’ Night, Mrs Brown also brought in a haggis for the children to try with mashed potatoes. The children enjoyed finding out about the life of Robert Burns!

Well done, I3!

For more information please visit; http:// www.lancashiresafeguardin g.org.uk/onlinesafeguarding/parents-andcarers.aspx

We were really excited on the morning of Monday 5 February, and we soon found ourselves on the bus. After a short journey, we were at Samlesbury Hall. We settled into the Chapel and met Mistress Marjorie. We went into the Great Hall to learn about the food that the Tudors ate. She also told us about rats and peasants. In the entrance hall she showed us the priest hole and let Father Ethan try it out! Next, we went to the Confession Room and she told us the story of the Priest who was killed in that very room. Mistress Marjorie told us about a servant girl who told King Henry VIII’s soldiers that a Catholic Priest had been hidden in Samlesbury Hall. King Henry VIII had of course banned Catholicism during his reign. Gaby, Hannah and Alex were picked to perform a number of role plays which were very funny! She taught us a rhyme to turn people into a witch, but nobody could memorise it! Next, we had lunch in the Chapel and visited the Rosearium. We designed our own shields and gargoyles. After that, we visited the animals; there were Pygmy goats, chickens and bees. Unfortunately, we couldn’t look at the bees because they were all hiding. We had a great day at Samlesbury Hall!!!

By Evelyn So, with a little help from J2X!

When we arrived at Samlesbury Hall, we went straight to the Chapel to drop our bags off. A Tudor lady called Mistress Marjorie came in and started to tell us lots of stories. One was about a Catholic Priest who came to Samlesbury Hall, which was against King Henry VIII’s rules, as he had banned Catholicism in England. She told us that one day, King Henry VIII’s soldiers came to search Samlesbury Hall as they heard that the Priest was there and they would kill him if they found him. Mistress Marjorie asked Ethan to act this out and he was called Father Ethan, it was very funny! One of the scariest parts of the day was when we went into a room and had to look under the hood of the dead Priest. Some of us did not like that! Then we listened to stories about Mistress Marjorie’s husband. She did not like her husband so she put a slug in his pie and served it to him for tea! We also heard about Mistress Marjorie’s step-daughter, Dorothy, who fell in love with a man called Richard. Her father did not approve of this relationship as Richard’s religious beliefs were different to his. Dorothy and Richard sometimes met after dark and when one of the servants found out, they deliberately told Dorothy’s father. When her father sent his guards to watch over them from a distance, they saw Richard propose to Dorothy and did not like this, so they stabbed Richard. Blood was everywhere! Mistress Marjorie picked Alex to pretend to be Richard and marry lady Dorothy, it was a lot of fun! Before coming back to school we designed our own gargoyles and coats of arms and had to remember a funny witch’s poem. On our way back to the bus, we walked through the animal farm and saw two goats charging at each other, they looked a little angry! We had a lovely day and learned lots.

It was a great school trip!

By Alex Fuller and Lola Huyton J2Y

During their English lessons last week, and as part of their work looking at news articles, the J2 children have been practising their interview techniques. Working in pairs, with one acting as a reporter and one as a sports person, they used open questions to find out more detail about the unusual sports they have been looking at in their literacy e-book. Well done, J2!

Monday 19 February - School re-opens 8.50am Wednesday 21 February - U10 & U11 Rugby v AKS (A) 2pm Thursday 22 February - U11 A & B Boys Hockey v Sedbergh (A) 3.45pm Pre-School Parents Evening 4pm - 5.30pm Friday 23 February - FKGS Gin Tasting Evening 7pm (Sold Out!) U9 Boys Football v Ashbridge (A) 3.15pm Saturday 24 February - Disney Activity Morning for 2 - 7 year olds 10am - 12 noon

Monday 26 February - AJIS U11 Boys Hockey, Preston Sports Arena 12 noon - 3pm Thursday 1 March - World Book Day AJIS U11 Girls Hockey, Preston Sports Arena 10am - 4pm Friday 2 March - Parents Tag Rugby (H) 4pm - 5.30pm Charity Movie Night I2 - J2 (details to follow)