Dear Parents
In this edition of Update I would like to challenge some commonly held myths.
You have to be fast to be a good mathematician.
If this were the case then I would not qualify as a good mathematician. My skills in this subject have always been based more around problem-solving and an understanding of techniques used. It is true that speed of recall helps to build confidence and improve basic number skills, but in order to become more advanced this needs to be balanced with an analytical consideration of the situation. We do not have to be the fastest in order to become excellent at mathematics. This is why a range of skills and techniques are included in our balanced curriculum.
Children should read challenging texts.
Reading is about far more than being able to decipher the words on the page. Children need to be able to comprehend and relate to what they are decoding. The written word should test their ability but it should be within their maturity level to understand the overall story and the context therein. Particularly at junior level we aim to foster enthusiasm for reading, rather than just a mechanical process that leads to an end.
My daughter is always well behaved; she will be the same online.
Children can often exhibit a completely different personality via social media, message boards or in chatrooms. The distance that is created by being behind a piece of technology can have implications that we would not recognise in our daughters. They can often be extremely naive in their actions and need to be monitored and helped in this complex digital world. My main pieces of advice for parents is to continually discuss agreed parameters and never allow phones/tablets/laptops in bedrooms overnight.
Paul Marshallsay
Headmaster of the Junior School
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Early Years' News
Nursery School
We have changed the role play area in our Pre-School classroom this week and it is now a flower shop, which the girls love. They have had a lot of fun playing with a variety of flowers, wrapping them and selling them. They have also planted seeds, as well as learning about how plants need water and how white flowers change colour if they are put in coloured water. We have had ‘j’ as our sound of the week, with the girls working together to complete jigsaw puzzles, making jelly and learning about cubes and other 3D shapes.
Reception Class
This week Reception have been thinking about all the ways to measure time, from calendars to clocks. They can name all parts of the clock and can explain how the hands work.
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Mathematics challenge celebrates National Pi day at Portsmouth High School
On Tuesday, Portsmouth High School hosted twelve local primary and junior schools for a Mathematics Challenge Day. The day was held on Einstein’s 138th birthday and on National Pi Day; the 14th day of the 3rd month is the day Pi is celebrated as the most recognized digits for Pi are 3.14.
The schools taking part were: Arundel Court Primary, Bosmere Juniors, Gatcombe Park Juniors, Great Ballard School, Milton Park Primary, Newbridge Primary, Oakwood School, Portsmouth High School Juniors, Rogate Primary, St Jude’s Primary, St Swithun’s Primary and Uplands Primary Schools.
The girls from Years 5 and 6 were faced with some stretching mathematics challenges covering numeracy, shape and space activities including group rounds where they had to collaboratively answer questions and relay rounds where basic algebra, amongst other skills, was required.
The day finished with a mathematics relay with a selection of puzzles involving shape, space and logic question, where speed was essential, and the ability to stay on your feet.
The winning team was Uplands Primary School with Portsmouth High School Juniors coming a close second. Many congratulations to all the girls who took part.
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SWISH event raises £320.40
The Junior School PSA held their “SWISH” event at Dovercourt last Friday and raised a fantastic £320.40. Donations were plentiful and of great quality and included clothes, handbags, fancy dress, footwear and jewellery. The bar and party music added to the atmosphere and the PSA would love to be able to make this an annual event as it is an easy way to raise funds and we all have a “clearout” at some stage during the year, so please bear this in mind.
The funds will go towards taking the entire Junior School to the Panto at Groundlings Theatre which has already been booked for exclusive use on Wednesday 13th December.
As promised, many of the leftover clothes were donated to a local charity (DEBRA) in Elm Grove which is a charity that supports individuals and families effected by Epidermolysis Bullosa – a rare genetic condition which causes the skin to blister and shear at the slightest touch.
A big thank you to all of you who donated and helped on the day.
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Musicians shine in spring concert
On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a stunning Spring Concert which was held jointly with St John’s College.
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Geography Association World Wise Quiz
We were delighted to host the Geographical Association’s World Wise Quiz last night with sixteen teams competing from across Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Our Portsmouth High School teams did really well with Team 2 coming in fourth place to the three top teams of PGS, Ryde and St John’s College. Well done to all our girls taking part.
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Geography competition
Congratulations to Faith Adams, Year 7, who has reached the second stage in the University of Birmingham’s ‘Food, Water and Energy' competition. Faith’s video is available to ‘Like’ on Youtube http://bit.ly/2mYFXFv titled ‘Food, Water and Energy’, if you have a YouTube or Google account. The video with the most 'Likes' by 12pm on Monday 24th April will be the winning entry for the public vote and the first prize for this competition will be judged by a panel of academics from the University of Birmingham. The winner and the public vote prize will be announced at the beginning of May. Well done Faith.
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Big Bang Young Scientist of the Year
We are delighted to let you know that Christine Addae-Kyereme, Year 13, was a runner up in the Big Bang Competition’s Young Scientist of the Year 2017. Christine was chosen from thousands who had entered and came runner up for her Nuffield Project An investigation into whether Fgf plays a role in restricting neurogenesis in the midbrain. Congratulations to our other competition finalists Isabel Boden, Maleha Khan, Jade Cutler, Tasnia Mahmood and Hannah Burford who exhibited their engineering and science projects at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham this week.
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Success in WTF Taekwondo grading examination
Congratulations to Hope Glew and Juliette Phillips who recently successfully passed their WTF taekwondo martial art grading examination. Hope has been training for over two years and is now a red belt. Juliette has also been training for over two years and is now a red tag belt.
Hope and Juliette train at the Taekwondo self defence after school club on Monday evenings, from 4pm to 5.30pm. Please contact Mr Graeme Oliver if you would like more information on this club, which is open to the Junior and the Senior School students.
The learning of a martial art teaches a student self-confidence and provides the ability to defend themselves if they ever need to. If you would like more information on WTF taekwondo and the out of school Portsmouth High School club (Tuesday and Friday evenings), please ring Paul Barker on 07554 369197.
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Sport opportunities across the country
The U13 GDST netball weekend tournament at Condover Hall was a great success. Both teams enjoyed a wide variety of adventurous activities and challenged themselves to overcome their fears and try new things. On the netball court they faced strong opposition but experienced success against Royal High School Bath and Norwich and as a team they really improved and saw their planned strategies and tactics come to life.
On the football pitch the U12 and U13 teams played Meoncross and, after 5 games, all finished in a draw so we had a penalty shoot-out. The U12s drew 2-2 and the U13s lost 1-2 but great fun was had by all.
At the U12 netball tournament at Churcher's College, all the games could not have been closer and in 3 matches we lost by just 1 goal and against Alton Convent we won by 1 goal.
We have had super weather for cross country. At the Hampshire Schools cross country in Basingstoke last week Emily Gibb, Bea Oliver and Maddy Oliver finished in the top 6 for Portsmouth and the U14 team placed 4th in Hampshire.
In Bromley at the GDST cross country we enjoyed our best results yet. Freya Hampshire from Dovercourt finished 5th out of 159 runners. Emily Gibb came home first for the U12s in 19th place out of 123 runners, Jessie Balch was first home for PHS U13s, 33rd out of 133 runners and the in senior team Mia Billins and Flo Smith placed 10th and 11th and the team finished 5th out of all the Trust schools.
The senior netball team have also had a super string of successes. Against Bedales they won 22-2 and at the GDST rally in Bromley they achieved our greatest senior success to date. They beat Streatham, Brighton, Newcastle, Sheffield, Ipswich, Wimbledon, South Hampstead, Croydon and Shrewsbury to win their pool and finish with the most points at the end of the morning. In the semi-final they faced Nottingham and narrowly lost 6-8 and then faced Croydon again for the 3rd place play off. With every last ounce of energy they held on to win again and were placed 3rd overall out of all the Trust schools. Players of the Tournament were awarded to Alex Pugh, Tilly Mae Elliott and Chloe Wildsmith. Excellent play! The senior netball team also went on to beat Ryde by 16-13.
At Bromley we entered a Dovercourt gymnastics team for the first time and also an U14 team. Maisie Lloyd-Jones finished 4th on the floor out of 86 competitors and the team was placed 6th overall out of all the Trust teams – again, our best performance to date!
There have been several other netball matches played over the week with players of the match awarded to Hannah Foord, Tavie Laitt, Nell Newport Spiers, Maddy Oliver, Alfreda Collier, Sophie Elliott, Alex Cells, Grace Glynn-Fish and Annie Caddle.
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Dates for the diary
Sunday 19 March
Cultural trips for Chinese students: Cambridge Science Festival.
Monday 20 March
Winter sports and music photographs.
U14 and U15 Netball v Ryde 3.30-6.30pm.
Tuesday 21 March
Y11 IGCSE French & Spanish orals.
U12/13 PSSP Football 3.20-5.30.
Wednesday 22 March
GCSE English Oral Assessments.
U18 Netball v King Edwards Southampton 3.45-6.30pm.
Thursday 23 March
U15 and U18 Netball v Churchers 3.45-6.30pm.
Year 8 drama performance for parents 6.00-8.00pm.
Friday 24 March
Group of Year 7 to visit Care Home 1.45-3.15pm.
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