Spring Term 2017 – Newsletter 6.
07 April 2017
Astronaut visit to WGHS
Some Year 5 and 6 girls were fortunate enough to attend a
talk given by Scott Altman (NASA astronaut and fighter
pilot) at the Senior School. The girls learnt many interesting
facts about his career including his four space shuttle
missions, two of which were to service and repair the
Hubble Space Telescope. His inspirational talk gave the
message ' Reach for the stars. Follow your dreams. You
never know what you can achieve.'
Verse Speaking Competition
On Tuesday 21st March the Junior School enjoyed a lovely morning at
our annual Verse Speaking Competition with the four finalists from each
year group performing a poem which they had learned.
This year our thanks go to Mr Shaw and Mrs Besford from the Senior
School who very kindly judged our competition. The girls all performed to
a high standard and gave the judges some very difficult decisions. Whilst
they were deciding on the winner for each year group, the audience were
entertained by our very talented musicians.
Congratulations to all the girls in the St. John’s House who took part in
this year’s Verse Speaking Competition.
Congratulations to the winners, who were as follows:
Y3 Amelie Williams (3VH)
Y4 Frankie Heaton (4SS)
Y5 Annabel Simpson (5LR)
Y6 Imogen Williams (6AW)
Well done to Imogen Williams who was awarded the very prestigious, Mrs. Langham Verse Speaking Cup.
Easter School Shop
The Easter School Shop was very well supported and it gave girls an opportunity to handle
money, work out what they could afford to buy and check their change. Year 6 shopkeepers had
to total up sales quickly and give change accurately. Easter decorations, craft kits and
stationery items were very popular.
Comic Relief
We had fun wearing our red noses on Red Nose Day supporting
the charity Comic Relief.
The Comic Relief charity is UK based and aims to free the world
from poverty. It spends the money that is raises through Red
Nose Day on people living in the UK and Africa. It gave
us the opportunity to think about how fortunate we are.
Cancer Research Cake Sale
Sophie Lister, Amelie Cresswell and Lily-Anna Thorpe in 5APW held
very successful sale for girls in Y3 and Y5 to raise money for Cancer
Research. Selling their delicious homemade buns, tray bakes and
brownies raised £90 for a very worthy cause. Thank you to everyone
who supported the charity event.
Uniform for the Summer Term
Don’t forget…..For the first half of the Summer Term, summer uniform is optional and the Year 6 girls may wear the
Senior School short sleeved blouse.
a
Easter Bonnet Parade
We had an egg-citing morning taking part in our Easter Parade wearing our eggquisitely designed Easter bonnets.
We enjoyed parading in the playground to show our parents our lovely bonnets
and then took part in the Easter Parade in Hartley Pavilion to parade music. We
loved looking at each other’s bonnets and the judges, Mrs Callacher and Mr
Richards from FOSJH, had a difficult job choosing the winners.
Well done to everyone for making it an egg-ceptional Easter
Parade.
Congratulations to the Easter Bonnet Competition winners
Lucy Pesterfield
Kaitlyn Fernandez
Eleanor Bridgman
Abbi Riddiough
Gabriella Vickers
Bella Boswell
3JB
3JC
3VH
4EB
4CG
4SS
Maya Langley
Olivia Kelly
Lilly-Anna Thorpe
Milly Wood
Ruby Kirton
Isabelle Whittaker
5TP
5LR
5APW
6JB
6HJ
6AMW
YSP WILD with Wakefield Grammar School Foundation – Saturday 15 April 2017
Wakefield Grammar School Foundation has partnered with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to support the extension of
their existing WILD (Wildlife Information, Learning and Discovery) provision to families with young children.
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To celebrate the official opening of the WILD Explorer Nature Trail on Saturday 15 April, family activities will be
running throughout the day by the WGSF Marketing Team. From making a hedgehog home out of Lego to searching
for minibeast and bugs … oh and you could win your very own Lego Easter Bunny! We are also delighted that Anna
and Linda from local Speech and Language Therapy provider 'Interactions' will be working alongside us providing fun,
interactive story telling sessions at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm. So come along and let your little ones explore the
natural environment, learn some new vocabulary and create their own stories all in a session that promises to be
engaging, educational and stimulating! There will also be activities that draw inspiration from the natural environment
for the children to engage in such as craft and treasure hunts.
So rally your friends and family and enjoy a day exploring the great outdoors on Easter Saturday. Please pop in on
your way to or from the WILD Explorer Nature Trail, have a chat and let your children enjoy the activities while you
take a breather!
The walk is perfectly suited for picnics or alternatively refreshments will be available from the Learning Centre Café.
Please note, whilst the YSP welcomes dogs, due to the close interaction with nature they are not allowed in the
immediate area of the WILD Explorer Nature Trail.
Holiday Club
I am sure all the children attending Holiday Club will have an exciting time. Don’t forget your packed
lunch each day (except Friday) and your snacks.
Booking forms for Summer Holiday Club will be sent out straight after the Easter break Please note this
is extremely popular so please book early to avoid disappointment.
UK School Chess Challenge 2017
Congratulations to all who competed in the Chess Challenge and a big thank you to Mr Denison for running the
competition. Over the course of the Spring Term 30 girls have each played 7 games, accumulating points. The girls
were divided into the Monday Challenge Group and the Wednesday Challenge Group. School Champions in the
Monday Group were Amelie Cresswell and Josie Wagner. Marella Akhgar was School Champion in the Wednesday
Group. The three School Champions each received a 2017 Chess Challenge Trophy and qualified for the Mega Finals
Competition. The following girls also qualified for the Megafinals Competition as a result of points accumulated during
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the competition. The Megafinal will take place in York on Saturday 27 May. Well done to all.
Sara Sarlak-Chiva
Rebecca Haigh
Alice Morrison
Molly Robinson
Anastasiya Barclay
Madison Ducker
Aaliyah Syeda
Victoria Richardson
Jessica Blake
YEAR 3
The sleepover with my
friends was great, we
were so tired that we all
fell asleep straight away
though!
I was excited to find
out who I would be
sharing a room with.
The funniest part of the trip was
when the Vikings poured water all
over their slave, Mrs Mc Grath!
I loved dressing up as a
Viking boy and
charging at the AngloSaxon invader!
We enjoyed making
Viking bread, the
dough was very
sticky and gooey!
It was fun at the
banquet when we
told jokes to
entertain M'Lord.
YEAR 4
4CG have been learning about sound as part of their Science lessons. After learning how to make a string
telephone, we tested them outside. They worked brilliantly. The final test was to see if we could send messages from
one end of the playground to the other. We had to make sure the string was as tight as possible, that one cup
covered the speaker’s mouth and the other cup covered the listener’s ear. To our delight, the telephone was 100%
successful.
In 4SS we have been learning all about sound. Madison Atkin held a ping pong ball on a
piece of thread. Bella Boswell hit the tuning fork with a beater and this made the tuning
fork vibrate creating sound waves. The vibrations caused the ping pong ball to bounce!
YEAR 5
In PSHE, we have worked in groups and used the iPads to identify a job that we would like to do when we grow up.
We had to research the main duties, qualifications, salary and the steps we need to take in order to achieve our
dreams and goals.
In English, we have been analysing the poem, 'From a Railway
Carriage' by Robert Louis Stevenson. In groups, we rehearsed and
performed the poem to deepen our understanding.
YEAR 6
Year 6 have been learning how to use bar modelling diagrams to solve ratio problems. Using the
iPads, we were able to solve these problems at an amazing speed. (We also enjoyed the sound
effects!)
As part of the Biology work in Year 6, we have been investigating
our breathing rate during different activities, from lying down, to
running around the playground. We have drawn conclusions from
our results and produced a graph. Having previously explored the
effects of pulse rates during activities, we have identified how the
patterns are the same.
Y6 enjoyed participating in the Easter Story Workshop at Wakefield Cathedral. We took part in drama activities
retelling the story in different parts of the Cathedral to give us a deeper understanding of what happened on Palm
Sunday, at the Last Supper and on Easter Day. We found an Easter egg which we enjoyed too and learnt about the
symbolism of Easter eggs.
Year 6 Creative Craft Club have enjoyed drawing a
design for a t-shirt. We used fabric pens to transfer
the design to their t-shirt. Look out for the finished
designs!
ECO-COMMITTEE
The Eco-committee had a busy lunchtime in the sunshine
weeding and preparing the raised bed in the school garden for
spring planting.
FRENCH
In Year 6 French, we have been decoding a French text about WWII and we sorted the
unfamiliar words into nouns, adjectives and verbs. This has helped with our work in
Humanities.
Some girls in Years 5 and 6 enjoyed another Linguistics
session, led by QEGS student Gautam Mahapatra. They
investigated the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Bon Anniversaire to the following girls.
Amber Woodhead
07 avril
Evie Brown
14 avril
Bella Boswell
26 avril
Fatima Hayat
09 avril
Madison Atkin
15 avril
Molly Robinson
27 avril
Abigail Burrows
11 avril
Jess Thornton
18 avril
Rebecca Haigh
02 mai
Salina Khan
11 avril
Sara Sarlak-Chiva
19 avril
Schyler Edwards
05 mai
Isabella Robinson
12 avril
Maya Langley
25 avril
Megan Woodhead
05 mai
MUSIC
Music Festival Success
Pontefract Music Festival
On Friday 24th March the Under 9 Choir wowed the audience and the
adjudicator at the Pontefract Music Festival winning the splendid
Hutchinson Trophy with an outstanding mark of honours. This mark is
seldom awarded and is reserved for performances that are exceptional
both technically and artistically .... well done, girls!! The adjudicator, Sam
Dunkley, praised them on their energy and focus, their precise diction,
dynamic range, the well-blended and balanced tone they produced as
well as the ease at which they switched from unison to part singing.
Bravo!
Barnsley Music Festival
On Friday 31st March the Under 11 Choir set off for their first
ever visit to the Barnsley Music Festival and what a fantastic
time they had. We knew were we competing against QEGS
and so competition would be stiff. The girls performed to a
fantastic standard. Their opening number 'Roller Ghoster'
received high praise from the adjudicator, with comments
about their enthusiastic delivery, good movement, crisp
staccato and clear diction. Their second piece 'Just A Single
Voice' was praised for the girls beautiful dynamic variation,
especially the delicate and well projected pianissimos and
beautiful tonal colours. I was so proud of the girls, they achieved a distinction - an excellent performance both
technically and artistically and as winners came home with the stunning Colin Leach Trophy. Well done, girls.
Individual Music Success
Leina Tordoff won 2 classes at the Rothwell Music Festival, the Under 13 Solo String Class and the Under 13 Duet
Class.
Antonia Wallis, a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral received her Surplice from Wakefield Cathedral in a special
Mother’s Day service.
Music Exam Results
We are still awaiting the results from the exams taken in school, however we are delighted to report that Antonia
Wallis achieved a merit in her grade 2 violin exam, and Jemima Otter was awarded a distinction in her grade 1 piano
exam. Well done, girls. Please do let Mrs White know when you receive your results so that we can celebrate your
success.
Music Evening
What an amazing evening our musicians and verse speakers treated us
to on Wednesday. The standard was phenomenally high, and included
over 130 girls from all year groups in a tantalising mix of musical styles
and moods. We blasted off into space with orchestra playing ‘Star Wars’;
the saxophonists demonstrated how ‘cool’ they were donning shades for
their performance of ‘Mr Cool’; the choirs as always wowed the audience;
Flute group took us on a trip round Yorkshire with some delightful pieces;
Wind in the Willows impressed us with ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!’;
Brass group took us down memory lane with ‘A Groovy Kind of Love’; and
the Suzuki violins delighted us with pieces from around the world. The
verse speakers spoke with such confidence, adding an extra dimension to
the evening.
Year 4 Opera North Project
On Thursday our Year 4 girls started work on A Little Book of Monsters in preparation
for a performance in Wakefield Cathedral in June. The girls worked on the songs with
two of the musicians from Opera North and had a fantastically entertaining and
rewarding afternoon. James and Jonathan were so impressed with how quickly the girls
picked up the songs and are looking forward to
their next visit after Easter.
SPORT
Netball
Congratulations to the Under 10 netball squad! The squad won the inaugural
Independent Schools’ Invitational Netball Tournament held at Mylnhurst School in
Sheffield. In atrocious rain and wind the squad won all 6 matches, scoring 21 goals and
only conceding 2 goals.
Well done to all the players in the squad – Molly Robinson (captain), Ellie Tingle (vicecaptain), Madison Ducker (vice-captain), Alice Morrison, Yvie Prior-Smith, Olivia Kelly,
Isobel Cox, Lillie Wightman & Maddy Patel
House Netball
Girls in Year 5 and 6 have all taken part in the House netball
tournaments. The standard of netball was very high in both the
A and B teams for each House and it was evident that the girls
have made enormous progress with their skills and match play
during the year. Congratulations go to Mackie, winners of the
Year 5 competition, and Lee, winners of the Year 6 competition.
Dance Competition
Congratulations to the winners of the Strictly Dance Competition. Each group choreographed a routine to a set piece
of music. Year 3 performed to ‘Country As A Boy Can Be’ by Brady Seals, Year 4 to ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’
by Wham!, Year 5 to ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ by Tight Fit and Year 6 to ‘Stitches’ by Shawn Mendes. The overall
winners were 3VH, 4CG, 5TP and 6JB.
Sports Day Cups
Please could all cups won at last year’s Sports Day be returned to Miss Fear in the PE office as soon as possible.
Cups should be cleaned before returning.
Sports Colours
Sports colours for hockey, netball and gymnastics have recently been awarded. The criteria for colours are an
outstanding level of performance in every area of the activity, an excellent knowledge of the activity including rules,
tactics, techniques and choreography, a commitment to all practices, training sessions and matches, an excellent level
of sportsmanship, a high level of motivation and some leadership qualities. Colours have been awarded to the
following girls:
HOCKEY
Niamh Barrett
Lucy Crook
Ruby Kirton
Emily Northern
NETBALL
Holly Bestwick
Mia Crecraft
Lucy Crook
Lucy Dimbylow
Emily Northern
Megan Rees
Lucy Rushby
Ruby Shone
GYMNASTICS
Abbie Grafton
Victoria Parkes
Lucy Rushby
Ruby Shone
PE Kit
Please could any PE kit that has been borrowed from school be returned as soon as possible as our supply is very
limited.
Could we also ask that any unwanted PE kit is donated to school so that we continue to have items to loan to girls
when they have forgotten their kit.
STAR OF THE WEEK – 17/03/2017
Georgia Staveley 4EB
Settling so well into her new school.
Ellie Burrows 4CG
Working very hard and asking questions.
Isabella Robinson 4SS
Trying really hard in all subjects.
Aishu Ragu 5TP
Excellent work ethic in all subjects.
Salina Khan 5LR
Trying to give evidence from the text to support her comprehension.
Madison Day 5LR
Trying hard in Maths particularly in a Maths investigation.
Zara Akhtar 5APW
Being ‘Little Miss Helpful’ at all times.
Isabelle Gaskell 6JB
Working with enthusiasm in Maths.
Schyler Edwards 6HJ
Working thoughtfully to write the opening paragraph to a science fiction story creating
suspense and excitement.
Writing a very good science fiction story which built up suspense and tension for the
reader.
Beth Farrar 6AW
STARS OF THE WEEK – 31/03/2017
Amie O’Donell 3JB
Writing an interesting recount of her day at Danelaw.
Abigail Lane 3JB
Excellent shading on her still life work in art.
Amber Barker 3JC
Always having such a happy positive attitude to school.
Poppy Crabtree 3JC
Always being so kind and helpful.
Martha Speight 3VH
Fantastic fractions work! Well done!
Jessica Blake 4EB
Wonderful piano playing.
Eiliyah Pervaiz 4EB
Very good research on peregrine falcons for 4EB class assembly.
Mallory Wigglesworth 4CG Completing extra homework; counting in German.
Izza Aamir 4SS
Listening carefully in lessons.
Shamaail Hashmi 4SS
Working hard in all lessons.
Annabelle Scott 5LR
A fantastic observational drawing of a spider.
Henny Gibson 5TP
Reading a whopping 25 books so far this term!
Maya Langley 5TP
Reading a whopping 25 books so far this term!
Eleanor-Bree Ojomaikre
5TP
Abbey O’Donnell 5APW
Being extremely helpful to others when using the ipads (i-movie)
Olivia Fulton 6JB
A superb performance of ‘Shut Your Mouth When You’re Eating’.
Megan Rees 6JB
A superb performance of ‘Shut Your Mouth When You’re Eating’.
Harriet Trueman 6JB
Working really hard in English producing detailed pieces of work.
Imogen Williams 6AW
Isabelle Worrall 6AW
Working with interest and enthusiasm in history and writing detailed account of
evacuation.
Working hard and trying her best in all lessons.
Evie Pickles 6HJ
Always working with enthusiasm on all tasks set.
Ava Dunn 6HJ
Writing a super science fiction story using techniques to build up suspense and
excitement
For kindness and being a good friend to everyone.
Dates to note
A list of dates for your diary can be found on our website www.wgsf.org.uk. and in the Junior School Events
Diary. I would, however, like to draw your attention to the following forthcoming events:
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Monday 10 April
Tuesday 25 April
Wednesday 26 April
02 & 03 May
Monday 8 May
Monday 29 May
Monday 5 June
Easter Holiday Club (1 week)
Start of Summer Term
We Will Sing IV
Dance Show
Y6 Residential to Blencathra
Half Term (1 week)
Back to school
FOSJH Update
Do you shop online? Do it through easyfundraising.org.uk and raise a free donation for Friends of St.John's
House - Wakefield every time you shop! https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/fosjhw/
We currently have 16 supporters and have raised £143.22 over the past 12 months. These funds have been
used to purchase playground games and equipment for our daughters. Imagine the potential if we could increase
the numbers of supporters. There are no catches or hidden charges and Friends of St. John’s House - Wakefield
will be really grateful for your donations. Thanking you for your support.
Thank you to everyone who attended the committee meeting on the 28th March.
Due to everyone’s hard work & generosity we were able to fund requests from the school,
which we’re sure the girls will enjoy.
Thanks also to all those who helped at the Easter Egg & Cake Sale.
We’re looking forward now to our family event of the year after Easter.
The Barn Dance on 13th May, featuring the Year 2 Choir with dancing displays by the girls.
Look out for the WGHSJS Bake off in June. A chance to show off the girls baking skills.
Our next committee meeting is the 20th June. If you wish to get involved, please email Nicki.
Have a great Easter break!
Rob Arnold (Chair) Nicki Williams (Secretary) & Mike Richards (Treasurer)
P.S. We’re getting spookily excited about our Halloween event in October! Look out for the details
[email protected]
“We enjoyed spending our pocket money on delicious buns, cakes and Easter eggs at the FOSJH Easter Egg Sale –
Thank-you FOSJH!”