On Monday in our whole school assembly we lit a candle to remember Auschwitz Memorial Day, 75 years since the liberation of the camp. It is a difficult subject to discuss with primary children and those of you that have made a journey to Auschwitz will know exactly what I mean.
However, there are thoughts we can share. Auschwitz was a cruel place and we talked in our assembly about the importance of never being cruel to one another. Survivors remind us that very ordinary people behaved with tremendous cruelty in that place. However, out of despair in WW2 there was still the kindness of strangers. There is a delightful 9 minute BBC radio story for children called "The Last train from Prague". Milena Fleishman was a ten year old child on the train leaving Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. The train was arranged by Nicholas Winton, later remembered as "Kinder transport". Many brave, kind people risked their lives to save others.
One of the famous quotes we have been reminded of this week is "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". It is an important reminder and message for us all and one that we can share with our young children.
We encourage our children to be brave and courageous and have the confidence to speak out when necessary; and not stand by and watch others suffer.
There have been so many humbling, incredible stories of survival this week and a reminder of the strength and determination within the human spirit. How grateful we all are to be living free in 2020.
It has been a very international week. Chinese New Year started on January 25th and the festival will last until the 8th February, fifteen days in total. We have enjoyed celebrating the Year of the Rat in School this week and we wish you all a very Happy Chinese New Year.
Enjoy the weekend.
Mrs K.A Korcz
Calendar & Events
Spring Term 2020
Term Starts:
Tuesday 7/1/20
Half Term:
17/2/20 - 21/2/20
End of Term: Friday 3/4/20
Summer Term 2020
Term Starts:
Monday 20/4/20
May Day:
8/5/20
Half Term:
25/5/20 - 29/5/20
End of Term: Wednesday 15/7/20
SCHOOL YEAR
2020-2021
Autumn Term 2020
Term Starts:
Wednesday 2/9/20
Half Term:
19/10/20 - 30/10/20
End of Term: Friday 11/12/20
Spring Term 2021
Term Starts:
Tuesday 5/1/21
Half Term:
15/2/21 - 19/2/21
End of Term: Thursday 1/4/21
Summer Term 2021
Term Starts:
Monday 19/4/21
May Day:
3/5/21
Half Term:
31/5/21 - 4/6/21
End of Term: Wednesday 16/7/21
ISSUE: 397 30th January 2020
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
Monday 3rd February 1.Young Shakespeare Company performs "The Tempest"
Wednesday 5th February 1. U11 A & B Football v Witham (a)
Sunday 9th February 1. Swimarathon, Meres Leisure Centre
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
25.2.2020 Open Day
28.2.2020 Colsterworth Festival
3.3.2020 Bag 2 School Drop Off
5.3.2020 World Book Day
10.3.2020 Parents' Evening
12.3.2020 Parents' Evening
3.4.2020 Last Day of Term
Rotary Club of Grantham Swimarathon
The two teams from Grantham Prep, Dolphins and Piranhas are busy preparing themselves for their up and coming challenge on Sunday 9th February when they take part in the annual Swimarathon at the Meres. The 10 students need your help. Please try to sponsor them in their efforts and if your child would like to help then they could wear their own swimming costume on Monday 3rd during their school swimming lesson for a small donation of 50p - or even more if they wish.
Grantham Prep. not only enjoys this challenge every year but we really enjoy being able to help the local community where the money raised will be distributed. Please give generously.
Everyone has had a fun and busy week with doing all sorts of activities. We have finished our ‘Exploration’ display board having completed our final point of focus which was on Germany. The children painted a German flag and learnt about some of the foods you might eat in Germany.
Playing in the sand was a favourite activity whenever the children played outside and also playing in the Pirate ship ‘Ah har me hearties’!
We have also discussed Chinese New Year and how it can be celebrated. The children will be taking part in an exciting dragon dance next week!
Chinese New Year
During this week the children in the Reception class have all researched into Chinese New Year and have enjoyed lots of activities planned around the Chinese celebrations.
The children have been writing about Chinese New Year and how the years are named after the twelve animals. This year is the Year of the Rat. They have been acting out the animal race with animal puppets, using different voices for each of the animals. They have also been reading non-fiction books about Chinese customs and watched clips of the lion dance and the dragon dance. The children also learned about the special colours of red and gold which bring good luck and fortune. The children have even made their own lanterns, dragon masks and some Chinese New Year celebration cards. In PE the children in Reception worked with Pre-school and made up their own dragon dance and had a chance to show off their excellent team skills. It was challenging but fun for the children, in particular, playing drums to the beat.
Class One have been finding out all about the Chinese New Year. The children have been listening to the story behind all the animal names which are used within a twelve year cycle and thinking about which Chinese zodiac sign represents their year of birth. They have also been watching videos of dragon dancing and celebrations before making colourful masks. In Numeracy, the children have made lucky red envelopes to give to a classmate. The challenge was to count out exactly 30p, using different coins...to phrase it correctly 'same value/different appearance'. The children enjoyed the activity and the recipients of each envelope were drawn from a lucky dip containing everyone's name. The topic has generated lots of conversation, some excellent counting and very careful cutting and assembly skills.
Class 5 this week have been busy admiring their narrative writing display. The children worked exceptionally well; creating poignant stories about a WWI soldier and their journey from the excitement of signing up, to their more horrific reality of life and experiences in the trenches on the front line. The children have really used their imagination to create pieces that are thought provoking and realistic. We hope you will stop and read them when you come into school.
We took the opportunity to put our STEAM skills into action combined with marking the lunar new year. We learned about the story behind the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac and talked about the cycle and order. We had lots of fun creating our own chinese dragons and other paper crafts. It was great to see the older children supporting the younger ones and taking a lead in the activities. Great team work!
Grantham and District Indoor Athletics Competition
The annual Athletics competition took place at the Meres Leisure Centre with 8 schools taking part. Each athlete was able to take part in two track events and two field events with the boys and girls scores being added together to create the final overall placement. The Field Events were Standing Long, Triple and High Jumps; Speed Bounce, Medicine Ball Chest Pass and Javelin. On the track races were 1 and 2 lap relays, 4 x 1 lap relay and 4 x 1 lap obstacle relay. Our team performed extremely well scoring highly in the Boys and Girls 2 x lap relay, the Girls 1 x lap relay, the Girls Speed Bounce and both the Triple and High Jumps for the girls. Due to complicated system of heats, accurate scoring at this stage is not available apart from the final result which placed us Third overall. Congratulations to all 12 athletes who performed.
Mr Park
U11 Football v Highfields - Blues
The Under 11 Boys Football team travelled to Highfields on Wednesday afternoon for their second competitive game of the season. A glorious afternoon with conditions ideal for playing football meant the team were eager to get on and start the game positively.
Both teams started brightly with periods of excellent football. It wasn’t until halfway through the first half that the deadlock was broken by the hosts, a seconds lapse of concentration from the Grantham defence allowed the Highfields striker too much time to place his shot past the goalkeeper. The game was evenly balanced and it was important for Grantham to get to half time without conceding again. Unfortunately after some resolute defending a chance fell to Highfields, which was clinically dispatched.
The second half started well with Grantham creating some solid opportunities producing some excellent goalkeeping from the Highfields goalkeeper. The game was still close, Highfields managed to grab another goal before Grantham finally managed to make one of their opportunities count. Was this the start of a comeback? This was immediately answered by the hosts who managed to kill the game off in the dying minutes after the Grantham goalkeeper had made a string of excellent saves. In all a good afternoon with lots of positives to take out for the next game.
Mr Tranter
U11 Football v Highfields - Golds
Two early goals for Highfields knocked our confidence and resulted in us backing off and allowing Highfields to pass the ball around with ease. Without the last ditch defending by Yuvan and repeated saves by Harry K, the score would have been much larger than 3-0 at half time.
Second half saw a more committed Grantham team, despite playing uphill, they pressed forward and mounted attacks into the opposition half. Once we stopped chasing the ball around the pitch and looked up to pass to a team mate, we showed more promise. Theo settled into his role as left back, reading the game well and putting in the challenges. However, Highfields were the stronger team and finished the match 5-0 up.
The players must be commended on not letting their heads drop and competing to the end in a sporting manner. Keep working hard on the training pitch and the results will improve.
Mrs Clegg
U10 Netball v Lincoln Minster
We played hosts to Lincoln Minster this week AND the weather was dry for a change. In the first two quarters of the game although possession was fairly even we just couldn’t find the net for one of our many chances created to go in. Lincoln converted 4 of their many chances to be in a strong position going in to the second half off the game. Our shooters suddenly found their aim and Isobel managed to bag a couple of goals to bring us right back into the match. Too many defensive lapses and lack of penetrating passes allowed our visitors to score two more goals in the last quarter to our one goal, leaving the final score as 6 goals to 3 against us. We must get out onto the courts and practise our shooting at break, lunch or after school and give ourselves more chances of competing closely with our opponents.
Mr Park
U11 Netball v Lincoln Minster
The U11 girls played netball against Lincoln Minster on Wednesday 29th January.
The opposition got off to a flying start scoring four goals in the first quarter. However, after that the girls fought back with some great defensive play.
It was a feisty game and three of our girls received some hard knocks which occasionally happens, even though it’s meant to be a non contact sport.
Just remember to keep marking the opponents to close down their passing opportunities and to yell if contact is made, as sometimes the umpires don’t always see it, unless it’s obvious.
The Grantham girls should be proud of their performance and grit.
The final score was 7-3 to Lincoln Minster. So well done to them.
Harrowby Singers are performing Oliver! At St. Wulfram’s Church during the October half-term and we are looking for boys and girls to audition for the children’s chorus. We particularly want to encourage boys so that we have a good balance of voices.
We are holding an information evening at St.John’s Church, London Road, Monday 3rd February at 7.30pm for anyone who may be interested in taking part and would be delighted to welcome any pupils from TGPS!
In a diverse world and with a wonderful diversity, our senses are an essential part of our lives. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, the perfect combination to enjoy every detail that is around us.
This experiment named, "The Guessing Game", allowed us to know the way the five senses work together. The perfect relationship between the senses permitted us to have a fabulous class, full of experiences.
Nayeli Ureña - Science Teacher
Colegio Internacional SEK Las Américas SANTO DOMINGO – REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA
Year 5 Goals 2020!
The Year 5’s started off the term by thinking about how we wanted this year to go. We realised that a good way to check if we are making progress in the year is to set goals and try and achieve them.
We decided that there are a few steps to setting a good goal:
Pick a goal. This must be something you want to achieve and that you can work towards.
Break your goal down into steps. How are you going to go about achieving that goal?
Ask yourself if you need to ask for help with achieving your goal. Remember that goals are something you need to work on for yourself, but you can always ask for help achieving them.
Get started, do your best and keep trying!
With this in mind, the Year 5 classes set some goals for 2020.
We are all excited about being together in Year 5, and helping each other achieve our goals! We wish the rest of the school a wonderful year!
Hannah Kirkaldy
Year 5 Teacher
Blouberg International School SOUTH AFRICA
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.
