SPRING TERM 2017 – NEWSLETTER No.6 Friday 7 April 2017

SCHOOL UNIFORM – Summer uniform is optional next half term. Please note blue shoes are no longer part of our summer uniform, only black shoes. Slip-ons, ankle straps, shoes with flashing lights and suede are not allowed.

EASTER BONNET PARADE – We have had a wonderful Easter Bonnet Parade which the children have thoroughly enjoyed. There are lots of great photographs on the website. May I take the opportunity to wish you a Happy Easter and a lovely holiday. Best Wishes. Mrs R Edwards.

The winners from each form were:-

Nursery Kasper Bevan RBW Sophia Muckenhuber RLW Elizabeth Bowett 1AR Evie Walton 1KT Jessica Darby 2GH Riya Bhagat 2GW Lily Kitson

Many Congratulations to Miss Rawlings who will be jetting off this holiday for her Wedding. We look forward to welcoming back Miss Rawlings as Mrs Moffatt next term. We wish her and her future husband our very best wishes for a wonderful wedding day and a happy life together.

EASTER HOLIDAY CLUB - We are all looking forward to our Easter Holiday Club next week. Don’t forget your packed lunch each day (except Friday) and your snacks.

NURSERY – There was lots of anticipation during the course of the week with the children finding various clues in their playground, which finally led to the arrival of the Easter Bunny. Many, many chocolate eggs were to be found which the children looked high and low to find and filled their Easter baskets. Please visit the website to see these photographs. Happy Easter from all the children in Nursery.

RECEPTION - It has been a busy three weeks! We hope that you liked the mother’s day gifts. The girls all enjoyed baking the buns for you. The girls had a lovely afternoon last Friday, they were so excited to perform for you. We had a lot of fun preparing for the performances. I’m sure it was a memorable afternoon for you as well as for them. Thank you to everybody who came. The girls have planted their own seeds. They wrote instructions about how to plant a seed. The girls have taken their plants home to continue looking after them over the holidays. We are looking forward to seeing pictures of how the plants are growing. Have a lovely Easter holiday! YEAR 1 - We had a brilliant theme week learning about Castles, including our trip to Skipton Castle. We sang songs in the banquet hall and enjoyed finding out about how people in the castle used to live. We continued our problem solving skills with lots of castles maths challenges. We built castles using biscuits and icing too! We enjoyed celebrating the end of our theme week with our Look and Learn Afternoon on Friday. We enjoyed performing for our special guests and impressing them with our Coding and French work.

YEAR 2 have been thinking about the Easter Story. We have found out about some of the traditional Easter customs. We really enjoyed sharing the chocolate Easter egg with our milk! We have talked about hot cross buns and made some Easter cards to celebrate Easter time. I'm sure you'll be impressed to know that we even customised the Easter card insert in ICT.

Congratulations to the Year 2 Choir who won their class at the Harrogate Music Festival last Saturday. We have a lovely trophy to put in our display cabinet! The adjudicator (Mr Stephen Roberts) awarded them a certificate of Commendation and commented that they sang with a ‘confident sound’ and with ‘lots of energy.’ He particularly enjoyed their lively rendition of ‘Jellyfish’ and he liked their fun actions. Mrs Browning is very proud of all the girls.

Year 2 Suzuki Violins are mastering 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' using a variety of rhythms. Ms Goddard is impressed with their bow holds and the sound they are producing. Well done, girls!

Stars of the Week (Week commencing Monday 20 March 2017)

Stars of the Week (Week commencing Monday 27 March 2017)

Hana Azaer (RBW) For writing some fantastic instructions on how to plant a seed

Rebecca Trout (RBW) For doing some brilliant Maths work finding out number bonds to 5, 6, 7, 10 and 20!

Esme Hill (RLW) For writing some lovely sentences independently.

Emilia Callaghan (RLW) For always trying very hard with her spellings and getting eight out of eight every week.

Isobelle Lamb (1KT) Writing a super set of instructions about how to be a princess.

Zahraa Bala (1KT) Writing a super recount about her visit to Skipton Castle.

Elodie Prior-Smith (1AR) Writing a great description of Cinderella.

Elia Abbatiello-Crosthwaite (1AR)

Asking lots of interesting questions on our trip to Skipton Castle.

Annabel Grafton (2GH) Great maths! Quick mental recall - amazing!

Riya Bhagat (2GH) Careful presentation of work

Zarina Richards (2GW) For working so hard and making super progress. Well done. Keep up the hard work.

Navya Gutta (2GW) For fantastic general knowledge and making super contributions to our discussions.

Bella Edge (RBW) For trying really hard with her spellings in Read, Write, Inc

Tilly Cunliffe (RBW) For doing a lovely piece of writing about 'The Hungry Caterpillar'

Elizabeth Bowett (RLW) For trying so hard to make her handwriting so much neater and learning to sit the letters on the line.

Olohi Iyoko (RLW) For always trying so hard with her reading both at school and at home.

Isabel Pesterfield (1KT) Super coding in ICT.

Terri-Marie Whittaker (1KT) Always being kind and thoughtful to the other girls in the class.

Shona Arnold (1AR) Thinking carefully about the design criteria when designing a moving picture.

Amaya Khan (1AR) Carefully selecting the correct coins needed to make different amounts.

Lily May Heathcote (2GH) Working hard to understand multiplication and division!

Ann Austin (2GH) Making such great improvement in her maths. Keep up the hard work!

Mia Bellhouse (2GW) For always working hard and trying her best in everything she does. Well done!

Sophie May (2GW) For always being a happy and helpful member of the class.

Year 2 girls Well done to everyone for being so creative and being fantastic ambassadors for the school on our trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Stars of the Week (Week commencing Monday 3 April 2017)

Ophelia Campbell (RBW) For trying really hard to sit her letters on the lines

Anna-Maria Jayarajasingam (RBW)

For doing a lovely piece of writing about our performance

Maia Plahay-Goldsbrough (RLW)

For working very hard in maths making amounts of money to 20p

Beth Callacher (RLW) For very grown up behaviour this week

Darcie Brammah (1KT) Always following instructions carefully and working hard.

Issy King (1KT) Working hard on her front crawl during swimming.

Olivia Chen (1AR) For making a super moving picture in DT.

Millie Booth (1AR) Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s carefully.

Anisha Barmade (2GH) Always being organised and ready for action!! Well done.

Savannah Ramsden-Clark (2GH)

Working with a positive attitude in maths. Keep it up!

Miriam Vasey-Saunders (2GW)

For trying so hard with her handwriting and making super progress. Keep up the hard work!

Lily Kitson (2GW) For really speeding up with all her work. Keep it up!

DATES TO NOTE - A list of dates for your diary can be found on our website www.wgsf.org.uk. I would, however, like to draw your attention to the following forthcoming events during this half term.

Friday 7 April end of term (usual finishing time)

Monday 10 April – Easter Holiday Club (1 week)

Tuesday 25 April – Start of Summer Term

Wednesday 17 May – Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 Sports’ Day

Thursday 25 May – Reserve Sports’ Day Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

Monday 29 May – Half Term (1 week)

Monday 5 June – Back to school

Tuesday 13 June – Nursery Sports’ Day

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 nicolaamwilliams@gmail.com

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.

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.

To celebrate the official opening of the WILD Explorer Nature Trail on Saturday 15th 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 minibeasts 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.