To the Parents

Parental Involvement

One of our aims is to ensure that you as parents have access to the School and are involved in its provision and future development. Next week, I will be meeting with the Parents’ Forum to discuss the findings of the recent Parents’ and Pupils’ Surveys. Shortly after you will all receive a summary of the findings of the Parents’ Survey. In addition, if there are any whole school issues you would like discussed at the Forum please contact one of the Reps (full list available on MyPGS). Unfortunately, we are not able to discuss individual concerns or specific questions about your own children but I would be more than happy to meet with you individually if you do have such questions or concerns.

Our Junior School Association (JSA) also met this week and as always the agenda was dominated by arrangements for the calendar of exciting events the JSA run; from the immediacy of tonight’s Masquerade Ball to plans for the Christmas Fayre. There was also agreement that a re-launching of the group would be beneficial from September so that we can attract more parents to the meetings and to be involved with organising and running events. This will include increased JSA presence at Open events, inclusion of JSA at our new parents’ induction evenings, social media presence and a logo to give the JSA a more distinct identity.

Open Events

Next week is Open Week, when we invite families to look around the School who may be considering PGS for their children. The vast majority of parents who do look around do so on your recommendation and I would like to thank you for this.

On Saturday 16th we have our Nursery and Infants Open Morning, which provides an opportunity for you to come and look at what the children have been doing in their classrooms. There will be lots of activities taking place and we also welcome new families. PS Hopkinson, Headmaster

Rory’s Stories of

The Week

Rory loves to read about the exciting places the children visit during the school holidays. Matthew has written about his trip France and Mariia went to Ukraine.

Red Runs

During the Easter holidays, I went to France with my family. First we went on the ferry and visited Paris, Euro Disney and Annecy before going skiing.

It snowed a lot when we arrived, and on Easter Sunday, after my first day in French ski school, Mum and Dad got me a Creme Egg to eat on the slopes. I was one of the only English children in my ski group. In the mornings we went up on the magic carpet lifts a few times and skiied down the nursery slopes, but in the afternoons we went up the mountains in chairlifts which I loved.

By the end of the week I could do snowplough turns and parallel turns. I got my ESF Flocon level award. When I went out skiing with my family we could all ski down green, blue and even red runs together. I really liked skiing fast down the red runs with Dad.

My other favourite things about skiing are having hot chocolate and waffles in the mountain restaurants.

We played French Monopoly in our apartment and it was fun to learn some new words in French. I also practised my French by ordering food in the restaurants. I really liked going to France and can’t wait to go skiing again. By Will G (2J)

Viennese Waltz

During my Easter break, I had lots of fun. I went back home to Kiev, Ukraine to see my grandmother. I had lots of fun, and did many exciting things. One of my favourite memories was going to watch the” Viennese Waltz” presented by the Kiev state ballet company.

This Ballet was presented at the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera House. This Ballet is about a love story and was accompanied by an orchestra. My favourite section was a violin solo, which had a lovely tune.

I usually visit the Ballet twice a year when I return to Ukraine. This was my first visit of the year and my grandmother had to buy tickets three months in advance, as the show is so popular. Many foreigners come to see the show and a great number were English.

The ballerinas danced gracefully and it was beautiful to watch. The Opera House is amazing with gold painted ceilings, chandeliers, balconies and red carpets. I normally go with my grandmother, but this time Yelisey and my mum joined us. We sat very close to the front and the show was amazing! I cannot wait to watch again, when I next visit Ukraine in the summer. Mariia H (Masha) 3P

thelion

The Newsletter of The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School Issue No.149 8th May 2015

Nursery News

The children have been experimenting with different ways of painting. This week they have had a chance at painting using a scooter on a large sheet of card. The children have loved it. Lots of colourful patterns created.

Fruit Kebabs

This week the children have really enjoyed sharing the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. We have been busy talking about healthy and unhealthy foods. The children were very excited to make their own fruit kebabs and especially enjoyed tasting a variety of different fruits first.

Our Visit from Space

On Friday the first of May we had a visit out of this world. No, I’m serious, we actually had a visit from the Institute of Cosmology and

Gravitation at Portsmouth University. We started the morning with a presentation about the universe and how stars are born. Did you know that there are 100 billion stars in every universe and there are 100 billion universes? After that interesting PowerPoint introduction, we split into three groups. One group went down to the ICT suite, another group went to the science lab and the last group stayed in the hall.

In the science lab we put our faces in front of an infrared camera and saw what temperature our faces were at. In the ICT suite we observed and classified different galaxies. Lastly in the hall we ordered planets from Pluto to the Sun. I remember the order by saying this rhyme, Many (Mercury), Vile (Venus), Earthlings (Earth), Munch (Mars), Jam (Jupiter), Sandwiches (Saturn), Under (Uranus), Newspapers (Neptune) as Pluto is not a planet. We ended a fantastic morning with a question and answer session. By Michael S and Liberty M-B (5P)

Bug Stew!

This week in Year 1 we have been busy bees, cooking up a 'delicious' bug stew! The children worked together to prepare the ingredients, peeling, chopping and slicing a variety of vegetables to represent different minibeasts. They added wiggly worms, slimy slugs and crunchy cockroaches to name a few. The children then enjoyed tasting the stew for their snack.

Working Together This week, the Year 2 children were really lucky because they had a visit from Year 6 who taught us about Sikhism. We were told stories, shown posters, looked

at iPad presentations and there was even a sock puppet show. All of the groups worked well together and it was lovely for the teachers to see the collaborative learning. The children said the experience developed their confidence and they believed the experience made their learning more exciting.

Music Week 11th – 15th May

All of our musicians will be playing their pieces to their classmates as part of Music Week and we are also looking forward to the Strawberries and Cream Concert at 4pm on Monday featuring our music ensembles. The Cathedral service on Thursday at 9.15am will be a celebration of all the music in the Junior School, so please do come along – it promises to be a wonderful occasion.

Invaders

Year 3 have continued to learn about the Anglo-Saxons. Having had a super residential to Ufton Court, we have been learning about where they came from and why they decided to invade. The Angles and the Saxons decided that Britain had good trading routes, fertile soil for growing crops and would make a comfortable place to live. We found out that once they settled here, they divided the country into Kingdoms. We are looking forward to seeing how they lived and how they settled down in Britain.

thelion sport

Results

Boys’ Cricket U11A Stroud Lost by 9 wickets

U10A Stroud Won by 4 wickets

U9A Stroud Won by 21 runs

U9B Stroud Won by 41 runs

U11A Stroud Lost by 9 wickets

Girls’ Rounders U11A Stroud Lost 7.5-10

U11B Stroud Lost 12-18

U10A Stroud Won 6.5-4

U10B Stroud Won 10.5-7

U9A Stroud Won 12-10

U9B Stroud Won 12-10

Fixtures Sat 9 May 0900: Highfield Triathlon (a)

Wed 13 May

1430: U10A & B Cricket v Amesbury (a) 1430: U10A, B & C Rounders v St Swithuns (a) 1430: U11A & B Cricket v Amesbury (h) 1430: U11A, B & C Rounders v St Swithuns (h)

Thu 14 May 1430: U8 Cricket v Amesbury (a) 1430: U9A & B Cricket v Amesbury (h)

SASA Ski Competition

I had the pleasure, on Bank Holiday Monday, of joining 18 skiers and their families at the Southampton dry ski slope to watch our two teams take part in the area competition for all schools. Ranging from Izzy in Reception to Cameron and James in Year 11, this really was an event where the School was represented as a whole. Enthusiasm was key, with no less than seven Year One children experiencing inter-school competition, mostly for the first time. Using the new gazebo, funded by the JSA, everyone gathered together and helped each other out - Patrick C should receive a special mention for his patience and the practical help he gave to our youngest team members. Our skiers performed very well and I was impressed by the courage and tenacity of the KS1 pupils, as well as our three KS2 children who brought in the times to achieve a third place in the competition – well done! The Senior School participants, most of whom have come up through the Juniors, came a very close second in their race, with the fastest and third fastest girls and second fastest boy in the whole event. Thank you to all who took part on Monday, with special thanks to Dr Caldwell and Mrs Broomfield for their organisation and also to all the photographers and encouragement during the day. If you are interested in joining our skiers, please contact me at p.giles@pgs.org.uk for further details.

Practice Interviews

The Careers Department is very grateful for the generosity of PGS parents (Senior and Junior School) who give up their time and expertise to offer practice interviews to our Year 12s as they plan their university and career choices. If you would like to join our team of interviewers on June 15th and/or 16th, we would love to hear from you. Please do contact us at 023 92364261 or careers@pgs.org.uk.

Join the Beach Cleaners

Walk along a UK beach and, on average, you’ll find 2000 pieces of litter per kilometre. Beach litter is now a problem on a global scale and has major impact on wildlife.

We will be meeting at 9.45am on Sunday 10th May at the public car park on the beach between Gunner Point and the Ferry on Hayling Island, but not in the Ferry Boat Inn pub car park. The pick will begin at 10.00am after we have had a health and safety briefing; clear instructions will also be given on exactly how the ‘pick’ is to be carried out. The event will be finished by 11.00 and pupils can be picked up from the car park where they were dropped off.

HILSEA GAMES

There will be games sessions for KS2 at Hilsea this Saturday from 0900 to 1000. Saturday morning games are voluntary.

There will be cricket for the boys and rounders for the girls.