This week we enjoyed a very successful day at the ISA Midlands Swimming Competition. Out of 29 races, I believe we were placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in 24 races. Well done to all involved. It is a very long day for our children, parents who were able to join us and staff involved. So, thank you to everyone and well done swimmers, a wonderful team effort. Our girls were the Midland ISA champions, winning the shield. Congratulations!
I would also like to congratulate all our runners who took part at the cross country event last week at Rutland Water. We achieved many excellent results with three first places. George, Hattie and Pippa.
This week in our whole school assembly we talked about "Body language". We all recognised that it is possible to change our body language to send out different messages to those around us. We can use our body language in a helpful rather than a hurtful way. Others around us will notice the difference, if we give out positive rather than negative signs. Negative body language can hurt as much as negative words. I hope we can all try hard to use our body language to speak positively to others.
Tomorrow night our clarinet choir and James from Class 6 will be performing at Grantham Music festival fundraising concert. Tickets are £5 for adults and £2 for children. There will be performances from past and present winners, and guest performers. It is always a very enjoyable eveing and we are very proud to be represented at this concert by our children. Join us if you can. The concert starts at 6.30pm, at Christchurch, Finkin Street, Grantham.
Enjoy the weekend.
Mrs Kathryn Korcz
Headmistress
Calendar & Events
Autumn Term 2018
Term Starts:
Tuesday 4/9/18
Half Term:
22/10/18 - 2/11/18
End of Term:
Friday 14/12/18
Spring Term 2019
Term Starts:
Monday 7/1/19
Half Term:
18/2/19 - 22/2/19
End of Term:
Friday 5/4/19
Summer Term 2019
Term Starts:
Tuesday 23/4/19
May Day:
Monday 6/5/19
Half Term:
27/5/19 - 31/5/19
End of Term: Wednesday 17/7/19
ISSUE: 349 11th October 2018
IMPORTANT PARENT INFORMATION
Cool Cats Uniform Supplier: TGPS website - Please access the Uniform & Equipment heading on the home page there is a direct link to the Cool Cats website.
WEEKLY EVENTS
Harvest Festival Donations to be brought in this week
Tuesday 16th October Pre-School visit to Brick Kiln Place, 11am - 11.40am "Friends" Halloween Party 4pm - 5.30pm
Wednesday 17th October Y3 & Y4 visit to Nene Valley Railway U11 Hockey v Lincoln Minster (a) 2.30pm
Items can be brought into school week commencing 15.10.18
Harvest Collection
Tinned meat or casserole sauces
Cereals
Tinned vegetables
Meat based sauces
Tinned fish
Tinned or powdered potatoes
Noodles or pasta sauces
Steamed puddings or custard
Tinned fruit
Coffee or tea
UHT long life milk, cordials
Children's treats or biscuits
Tinned tomatoes or beans
Jam or spreads
Deodorant or toilet paper
Salad cream, ketchup or sauces
Supernova World Championships - Miniature Horse Show
On Sunday 7th October, Mrs Dawson and Mrs Korcz spent the day representing Grantham Prep School at the "Supernova World Championships - Miniature Horse Show, at Arena UK in Allington. Grantham Prep were proud to sponsor the "Supreme Champion" class.
Participating in the show was our very own Michelle, our regular lunchtime catering assistant and her niece Kayleigh, who also used to work alongside her at school. Michelle came 1st in the sponsors Shetland Class, with her pony "Nathan"!
On Monday 8th October 2018, all of Year 6 headed off to Southwell on a coach. They had been given a ‘new’ name, a real child’s name from the census of 1841, and a sense of a reason why they might have been at the workhouse.
On arrival we were greeted by members of the Education team, who reminded the class that the Victorians believed that children should be seen and not heard! The group was segregated into boys and girls and walked separately up the paupers’ path; the guide explaining what their journey might have been like on the way here.
Each group was then ‘dressed up’ in appropriate workhouse clothing, shown how to be respectful to the Master and Matron and then had an insight into what their life would have been like. All the while, they were reminded that in fact at the age of 12 they would be eligible to find employment.
We met various workhouse characters, such as Miss Hough, who taught the children for 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week, Matron, who was not be crossed or you would not be able to visit your family on a Sunday, Ebenezer Figgis and able bodied worker who was picking oakum and Annie who worked in the kitchen. The children were told off for smirking, turning round, having their elbows on the table and not standing up to give their answer. It was definitely a different experience to their normal daily routine, but they enjoyed it. They were surprised that the children had lessons in the workhouse, especially the girls, and that life in the workhouse – though grim – was better than being really poor on the street.
The afternoon was a more modern day challenge. They worked in groups and considered what was a ‘need’ and what was a ‘want’ They had to decide which were the most important; in each round they had to take away more resources, finally ending up with just 5 that were more a case of life or death. This was a fantastic opportunity to consider life now around the world, linking in our work on Human Rights in History and PSHE, as well as thinking about the ‘needs’ that the workhouse offered people in the Victorian era.
We had an excellent experience at The Workhouse; one that will prepare the Year 6s for their work on Dickens and the Victorians after half term.
They wrote up their initial thoughts about the day, many recounting the activities they undertook, but also several spoke about what they thought about the visit.
They included words such as: loved it, interesting , fascinating, amazing, really enjoyable.
One even concluded by saying, “it was the best school visit I’ve ever been on.”
A sunny October afternoon was the perfect backdrop to this week’s STEAM activity. The children worked in small mixed year group teams, to try and identify the leaves on the school grounds, before sketching some of the beautiful views from the playground.
We have been discussing how we celebrate harvest and the many fruits and vegetables that we can find in hedgerows and fields. Talking of harvest Mrs Whinney brought in her bread machine to show the children how bread can be made by machine – an alternative to the hand and great for our learning in the technology area! The smells emitting from the machine were tantalising. Everyone had a go at eating some of the bread which we all agreed was delicious! We also made porridge with some sultanas as a tasty extra. Yummy!
As always another action packed week in Reception with lots of fun activities linked to the celebration of the Harvest. Towards the end of the week all the children in EYFS had the opportunity to bake some bread using a bread machine brought in by Mrs Whinney. The end results were amazing and the bread was so delicious that all the children were constantly asking for more! They were fascinated by all the changes that took place.
The U8 Tag Rugby team set off with great confidence to our friends at St Hugh’s, Woodhall Spa. A beautiful Summer's day in the middle of October was the perfect setting for a game of rugby. The first match against all U8 players produced a mixture of handling errors, offside situations, forward passes, but far more pleasing was wave after wave of attacking team rugby. We scored some tries from these waves, we missed opportunities to score from these attacks but encouragingly the team listened to their instructions and progress was being made. The scores were close. St Hugh’s finished victors by five tries to 3. In game two, opposition was a mixture of yr 3 and 4, but our team continued to play some entertaining and penetrating rugby. More tries were scored with great off load passing and some heroic, determined defending and counter attacking. St Hugh’s were again deserved victors but by a closer margin of 5 tries to 4. In the third match our team began to gel and create many scoring opportunities. Straight running and passing before tackling, allowing tag lives to be retained, gave our team a lead which lasted until the final minute, when a stronger host team scored twice with no reply to win 5 tries to 4. A wonderful afternoon of determined rugby was witnessed by our travelling supporters. Well done.
ISA Swimming Gala, Walsall
Not quite a year has passed since our last trip to Walsall to take part in the National qualifying gala for London in December. Our school usually struggles to compete with the larger schools in the ISA membership but this year was a little different. From 19 individual races, our swimmers won 9, were second in 3 and third in 2. From 10 relay races our teams won 2, were second in 4 and were third in 4. This was a very gutsy and pleasing performance from all our children and gave us a great chance of not just gaining some silverware on the day but potentially, three athletes may get the opportunity to qualify for the London gala. ( We must wait for the official results to come through later this week ) We were very proud of our children both in and out of the pool and we keep our fingers crossed for some future exciting news.
Brooke Priory Cross Country
There was a new venue for the Brooke Priory Cross Country event this year and for the first time in many years great weather. Rutland Water was the venue and there was a real spring in the step of our athletes from the off. Pippa (yr3) set off at a real pace in the U8 girls event and managed to continue this pace throughout the race and came home victorious. Inspired by her sister, Hattie(yr4) also led from the front and maintained her dominance right through the race and also finished first. Harry (yr4) was also in the mood to keep the silversmiths in business and he came in third in the U9 boys race after a tight tussle with the two boys who finished in front of him. The third champion of the day turned up in the U11 girls race where Georgie finished her race well ahead of her nearest rival after blasting into the front position from the off. There were some fantastic top ten finishers in all the races, Lily May (10), Theo (8), Christophe (10), Phoebe C (10), Georgina (7) and our U11 Girls team finished 2nd and the U8 girls team finished 3rd. In the U7 fun run three class 2 children had their first taste of competitive, team cross country. Kitty finished 4th, Ned finished 6th and Mya finished 8th which was a stunning performance by the trio. All our children should be congratulated on a fantastic afternoons competitive sport in a wonderful setting.
Hi 5 Netball League, Priory Ruskin
Gold Team
The year fives and sixes played in the local High five netball league at Priory Ruskin. The Gold team attacked well from the start and goals were into double figures by the time that the final whistle was blown.
It was good to see that the players hadn’t forgotten their skills over the Summer period. I’m sure with continued practice that they will progress their skills and hopefully make it to the next round of play.
Grantham v St. Sebastian - won
Grantham v Great Ponton - won
I look forward to the next league matches this Thursday.
Mrs Klimes
High 5 Netball League, Priory Ruskin
Blue Team
Due to some tournament re scheduling, the Blue team had 2 friendly games to use as a warm up for their league starting next week.
Huntingtower won the first 3-0 although we also had chances to score. In our second games it was a much closer competition, TGPS 1 - 2 Marston. Very well tried to Annabella, Marianna, Georgina M, Georgie, Isla, Iniya, Georgina S and Leah.
U9 Hockey v St Hughes - 10th October 2018
The Golds
The Golds and Blues travelled to Woodhall Spa to play hockey on what was a beautifully hot
Autumnal Wednesday afternoon.
After a brief warm up and introduction to dribbling and hitting the ball on grass, which was a lot different to the The Meres Sports-hall, the girls got stuck into the game.
Both teams played quarters of six minutes, which enabled the players to have a quick drink, rest and team chat, before carrying on with the game.
The Golds improved with every subsequent quarter by pressuring the Attackers when they entered their shooting circle. This was proven by the majority of the opposition’s goals being scored in the first half of the game play.
Our girls managed to score a well deserved goal during the last quarter of play, as their confidence on playing on the pitch improved.
Final Score: 5-1 loss
Captain: Hattie
The Blues
The Blues took the lead of their match, just before the half time whistle. Sophia was strong up front, managing to win possession of the ball and keep it as she charged her way through the opposition’s defence to score.
Felicity managed a great goal by running the length of the pitch without losing possession.
The two defenders worked together well, with one pressuring the ball holder and one backing up and defending the space.
On Friday 12th October our school clarinet group and James in class 6 will be performing at the Grantham Festival Fundraising Concert. This is an amazing opportunity for our children to perform and also a wonderful chance to enjoy a wonderful chance to enjoy a wealth of musical talent. a polite reminder that the children need to be Christchurch at 6.00pm in full uniform with their clarinet and music.
Band in the morning,
Band in the morning,
Band in the morning.
Whoop, Whoop!!!!!!!!
Mr Giles's top tip …. “Practice the Rhythm Studies regularly to learn “Blocks” of rhythms. Be really accurate and count as you play. This will help you to become great sight readers!”
During our "Mother Tongue" activity, we were honored to have Dr. Maria Padilla Bezares, Dr. Erskin Bezares and Mrs. Luz Noelia. They visited our PYP 1 classroom during our "Mother Tongue" event. The Bezares family all shared quality time by presenting many interesting facts about the beautiful island of Puerto Rico where they are from. They graciously brought in goodies/treats, beautiful Island photos, the Puertorican flag, and the famous Coqui, (stuffed animal), which is a native miniature frog. They taught the first graders more about the celebration of "Hispanic Heritage." This was a wonderful experience for all. We even danced to some Puertorican music. Overall we had a fun and educational time celebrating the Puertorican culture. Ms. Alba Karaduman is Puertorican as well, and enjoyed this lovely exhibit. We want to extend a big "THANK YOU" to Erskin and his family for this amazing presentation.
Boca Prep International School USA
Megan Romano at SEK Las Américas
Megan Romano, an American swimmer with six world titles to her credit, came to the Dominican Republic to teach children and young people fundamental swimming techniques such as the Olympic lap, outings and underwater swimming, the SEK International School, was the Official headquarters of the clinics, offering its semi-Olympic swimming pool for the accomplishment of four training sessions.
The coaches were also able to receive clinics to expand their formative level, priority was given to the need to acquire a good technique in the teaching of this sport discipline, as well as to the healthy eating habits. In addition, the athlete took the opportunity to detail the training performed on the American Olympic team.
Her visit included a solidarity event in favor of the youngest, visiting the preschool Aunt Erika of the Dominican-German foundation, and together with students of the SEK delivered school material and toys.
Ann Marie Fernández
Head of admissions
Colegio Internacional SEK Las Américas SANTO DOMINGO - REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA
If you are selecting your child's lunches on a weekly basis, it must be done by midnight Thursday of the previous week. Once you have made your choices, unfortunately, you are unable to change them. However, if your child would like to change a meal, please email the school office (contact.grantham@iesmail.com) with the date and meal choice that you would like changing and we will make the changes for you.
The Wise pay booking system for hot lunches is available through the TGPS website.
Thank you.
School Bus Collection Points & Times
Bookings for this week:
Please contact the school office to book a place for your child.
8.10am Normanton on Cliffe
8.20am Ancaster
8.25am Wilsford
On Fridays the bus will run 15 minutes earlier to ensure pupils arrive in time for the *Music Machine" School Band rehearsal.
Access to the School Building after 4.30pm
As you are all aware there is now a gate which has a key code access to the Creche in the evening. If you do not have the code, please call 01476 593293 and your call will be answered by Creche.
