To the Parents It has been an excellent start to the School year and the place is absolutely buzzing as the children and teachers commence their studies. The introduction of the Connected Curriculum means that all pupils will be learning within a thematic approach that will enable them to gain a much deeper understanding of what they are learning. It also means that they are experiencing exciting activities and trips as their topics are launched. Year One for example have encountered aliens on the back playground, Year 3 have visited Butser Farm, Year 5 the Dockyard and Year 6 the Imperial War Museum. Exciting stuff aimed at inspiring the children to want to learn more.

The children will also be taking their annual start of year assessments over the next two weeks, which enable us to track progress and plan for the new school year.

The New School Year Assembly at the Cathedral was a special event and I would like to thank you for supporting this in such large numbers. The strength of our school community is never more evident than at such occasions when pupils, parents, family members and staff celebrate together.

Our information evenings are taking place this week and next and I hope that you find them both informative and enjoyable; please let me know if there is anything more we might add to these events.

We also managed to fit in House Picnics last week so all in all an exciting and dynamic start to the year; it’s good to be back.

Peter Hopkinson (Headmaster)

Year Six visit to Imperial War

Museum London

On Tuesday the Year Six pupils enjoyed a workshop at the Imperial War Museum. The curator explained that they have thousands of artefacts, images and information about World War One to share with the public. One of their jobs is to decide what should be out on display. Each group was given two objects to research then they had to decide which one they would keep out on a display and why. The children learnt about communication, young people in the War effort and the Navy. It was an excellent way of introducing our topic for the term- The Great War.

My Trip to the Imperial

War Museum On Tuesday 8th September, Year Six went to the Imperial War Museum. After a two hour coach journey, we arrived. When we entered the museum, we noticed above us war planes. Then our half of the year went to a workshop. We were split into three groups and given a theme. Our theme was the Royal Navy. We were given two objects to find out about and then choose which one we wanted to display – a choice between a pig’s head and a model of a ship.

My favourite part of the trip was the trench. It seemed to be a mini cave with silhouettes of soldiers at war. There were periscopes which allow you to look over tall things and I cannot wait to make them in science. I had a lot of fun and want to say thank you to all the teachers that allowed us lucky children to go on this trip.

By Verity M (6J)

Rory’s Story of the Week

Rocksteady Summer Camp

I love drumming and playing the guitar. I love making different beats, rhythms and tunes. At home I have got my own drum kit and acoustic guitar. Almost every day I play on them.

In the summer holidays I went to the Rocksteady Summer Camp for a week. You got to form your own band. There were eight people in my band and I played the drums and electric guitar. Our name was The Mystical Hedgehogs.

During the week we made a music video, a recording, designed our own logo and poster and at the end we all did a concert. We played two songs. One was called Shine and the other was called Riptide.

It was extremely good fun. I am going to go back again next year!

By Ben R (3P)

The Lion

The Newsletter of The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School Issue No.159 11th September 2015

Nursery News Nursery has had a lovely start to the new term. Home Visits for the new children are

well underway

and the families seem to be excited

about starting Nursery. We would also like to welcome back our existing families. The children have all settled in really well and are enjoying all the exciting activities around Nursery.

Settling In

The new Reception pupils have had an exciting first few days in school, making new friends and learning new routines. All of the children have settled in very well and have especially enjoyed playing in the playground at lunchtimes. They have been amazing at trying a wide range of new activities from using the interactive whiteboard to having PE, learning their songs to sing in the Cathedral and using the iPads.

House Picnics

Last Friday, all of the Junior pupils made their way down to Governors Green for the very first House picnic of the year. The green was soon busy with activity, as the Year Threes and new starters were welcomed and introduced to their Housemates.

After tucking into their picnics, House bonding began with gusto. House Captains set their vision for the year, and monitors were introduced. A fun-filled hour soon passed with team games from tunnel ball to the human knot being enjoyed by all.

All the children then gathered together as the House Captains announced their wishes for the year, and bubbles were released to the delight of the watching staff and children. Excited chatter about when the next House picnic would be filled the air on the way back to School. It was a great afternoon to round off the first two days back.

Welcome To My World

This week an intriguing envelope was sent to Year 1 and inside we discovered a map with numbers and a large X. We soon realised that the map was of the back playground but had no idea who had sent it! We decided to follow the number clues and there were puzzle pieces to collect along the way. The puzzle revealed our new topic ‘Welcome to My World!’ and with the very last piece was a strange alien creature that had landed on Earth! He had left us the clues and wanted to learn all about our World.

Year Five and Six

Guitar Group Please come along and join our guitar group, whether or not you have guitar lessons. You will need to bring your own guitar and lots of enthusiasm!

Monkey Fun

On our first day in Year Two, we came into the classroom after lunch, to find banana skins everywhere! It was a bit of a mess and after some hunting we found the culprit, a baby monkey! We then decided that because he was alone we would practise our sketching skills to make him some new friends. We are now becoming experts at drawing monkeys and also have learnt how to mix different shades of brown.

Year 5 Explorers To launch our history topic, Year 5 went to the Historic Dockyard. We were in Group 2 which was 5J and 5S.

When we got there, we were led into a classroom and sat down at 5 tables. Gareth started talking to us about Francis Drake and the Golden Hind. We then moved on to find out about how sailors navigated their way around the vast oceans. They used a tool called a cross-staff which would tell them how far north or south of the Equator they were. He talked about how horrible it was aboard the ship. The sailors’ clothes were so dirty and infested by lice; they washed their clothes in wee! To finish off the fab trip, we had to work out latitude and longitude to find out where our group was in the world. My table had India and we had fun with dressing-up Sophia in a sari!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye and leave, but thanks to the historic dockyard, we will do well in history this term. By Elliot H and Emilia T

The Lion’s Pride From next week this page will be packed with the names of children who have received awards from their Teachers. We reward children for lots of different things; effort, endeavour, attainment, achievement, good manners, being helpful reading, House tests, etc. etc. and most awards are handed out in assemblies.

Clubs for the Autumn Term On Monday 14th September your child will receive club information for this term. Please read the covering letter carefully as it explains many of the questions you may have. Clubs are allocated to pupils on a first come, first served basis so it is important to return the completed application form as soon as possible, but by the morning of Thursday 17th at the latest. After this time no more applications can be taken as the allocation process takes place that day.

Please ensure that forms are returned to the Main Office (Reception to Year 4) and to the Playground Supervisors on the Upper Junior School Site (Years 5 and 6). Slips confirming places will be coming home during the week beginning 21st.

Help Required As we start the new school year, would anyone be interested in helping out with a Food Technology lesson in KS2? If you are interested we have vacancies during

three of the lessons. The Year 3 lesson on Wednesday afternoons from 2:20 to 3:20 pm. The Year 4 lesson on Wednesday afternoons from 1:20 to 2:20 pm. Also during the Year 5 lesson on Thursday afternoons from 1:20 to 2:20 p.m.

We cover the theme of British Regional Cookery in Year 3 and develop skills required to complete a range of traditional recipes. In Year 4 we study “Science in the Kitchen”. Year 5 covers French cuisine. All sessions are practical and I am sure that whoever volunteers will gain a great deal of enjoyment from working with the children. If you feel that you would like to help please do contact me on l.budd@pgs.org.uk

Refugee Appeal In response to the growing refugee crisis, a couple of parents, Kyrie Wallis (Rafferty 4G) & Helen Wilson (Milly 4J, Beaulah 1G & Cameron, Nursery) are arranging for emergency supplies to be taken to those in need in camps across northern France. Currently, only items for MEN are needed. Only small amounts of items for women & children are needed in France.

They urgently need items listed below. No donation is too small! All items can be dropped off at a private address (or by handing over in the playground) by MONDAY 28th SEPTEMBER so please call either Helen (07795 561716) or Kyrie (07941 379257) to arrange. They are also happy to accept donations of money to allow the purchase of more of the items listed and also bulk supplies of fresh food when they arrive in France. (All costs of van hire & travel have already been met by White Recruitment Ltd.) If you would like to donate money, please put in a marked, sealed envelope and pass to Helen or Kyrie.

ITEMS NEEDED

Plastic storage boxes with lids

MENS Shoes/trainers/hiking shoes (UK size 7-9), Jackets (S/M), Tracksuit trousers, Jeans (size 28"-32"), Pants & Socks, Belts, Woolly hats, Camping equipment (tents, including incomplete, tarpaulins & covers), Pots & Pans, Blankets, Sleeping Bags, Candles (or other lighting), Toiletries (soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste), Travelling bags, Smartphones (with simcard)

Junior School Choir

The Junior School choir is now on Tuesdays. All past members are welcome

to attend our rehearsals in preparation for open morning. If you would like to join, speak to Mr Webber or Mrs Nash ASAP.

Pupils’ Achievements

Congratulations to:

Alice K (2G) for achieving her 250m and Stage 5 swim award.

Dillon K (2P) for achieving his 250m and Stage 5 swim award.

Daniel P (5G) for achieving his RYA Seamanship Sailing award.

Evie AW (5P) for completing the Record Breakers Reading Challenge at her local library.

James C (5P) and Joseph S (5G) for being awarded Best Batsman for Portsmouth Cricket Club 2015 season and both representing South East Hampshire U9 Cricket team.

Recommended Apps

Disco Fingers

Disco Fingers is an easier and more fun way of making music. You don’t need musical

experience—only fingers!

Share your compositions with your friends or publish them to Disco Fingers FM radio, where you’ll interact with listeners from all over the world. Give it a try! There’s always room for more radio stars on Disco Fingers FM.

Quiz Corner:

This Week: 1. What is the largest island in the Mediterranean sea? 2. Which artist painted a number of pictures of sunflowers? 3. What is the name of the lion in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? Answers from last time: 1. The White House. 2. 48 hours. 3. Bird.

The L ion’s Pride

Fixtures Wed 16 Sep: 1330: U10A Westbourne House

Netball Tournament (a) 1430: U10B Netball v Oakwood (a) 1430: U11A & B Football v Haslemere (a) 1430: U11C & D Football v Sherfield (h)

Thu 17 Sep: 1430: U9A, B & C Football v

Haslemere (a) 1430: U9A, B & C Netball v Farleigh (h)

Junior School Sport Welcome back to Junior School Sport 2015-16.

I would like to share our departmental philosophy with all pupils and parents:

Our aim is to instill a love of sport in our pupils so that they continue to take part in physical activity beyond PGS.

With this as our corner stone we aim to encourage all pupils to become good decision makers and develop a deeper understanding of the sports they play. Pupils will be encouraged to try out new ideas and formulate solutions to challenges in match play. All these skills are not only valuable on the sporting pitch but in life generally. We want pupils to be brave enough to take risks and try out their ideas in the supportive environment of school sports.

We are keen to encourage and develop the wonderful support offered by parents to pupils when playing sport. As a whole school department, we have created a list of questions we feel parents, grandparents and staff should all use to encourage a positive approach to sport.

10 questions we should ask our children:

1. Are you enjoying yourself? 2. What do coaches/parents do

that makes sport more enjoyable for you? Or less enjoyable for you?

3. How would you like me to cheer for you in Games? Should I say nothing, cheer positively, cheer equally for everyone?

4. In the coach/car on the way home do you like to talk about the game or would you rather wait until the next day?

5. What other sports do you want to play?

6. What are your individual goals for the season?

7. How do you plan to achieve those goals?

8. What are your goals for your team this season?

9. How do you plan to achieve your team goals?

10. What is your role in the team? Are you happy with it?

The best piece of advice I have been given as a coach or a parent is to tell the children “I love watching you play”. I genuinely enjoy watching all our pupils play sport-I will be making the effort to make sure I tell as many as them as possible this year.

Saturday Sport

Many of you may have noticed a slight adjustment to fixtures in the red book. Over the past few years there has been a reduction in the number of schools wanting to play Saturday fixtures (many no longer do any form of Saturday sport) Most day schools are focusing on mid-week fixtures as children are increasingly involved in other activities at weekends. We have all been aware of this situation when fielding teams on Saturdays, finding it increasingly difficult to field full strength teams from A-D in these large fixtures. We inevitably end up having to cancel some matches and field understrength teams in others. Schools still wishing to play are the few large boarding schools who want to play a large block fixture catering to whole year groups.

To counter this we aim to encourage greater levels of participation in Saturday morning sports sessions. These run from 9-10am and give pupils the opportunity to further develop their skills and match play. The programme will be largely Netball and Football this term but there are some Cross country sessions leading up to the inter house cross country in the last week of term.

Year 6 girls will also enjoy two weeks of hockey training (the next two weeks). In the event of poor weather, after half term, the girls’ netball will be held in the school sports hall. Updates to arrangements will be communicated via Twitter @PGJSSport.

Twitter Posts

All information regarding fixture cancellations, updates and changes in collection (running late or early) will now only be available via twitter on @PGJSSport.

Games Kit

It is wonderful to see smartly dressed pupils proudly wearing their new games kit. I am aware that there are some supply issues in the shop. These are being dealt with a stocks should be replenished soon. Meanwhile, pupils are welcome to wear whatever kit they have available. It is not essential to have the new kit until this time next year.

School Sports Website

We are delighted with the success of the School Sports Website. www.pgssport.uk All team sheets and information will be posted here and details of how to access the site is on MyPGS in the Junior School Sports Handbook.

Parking at Hilsea

Unfortunately, there is not enough space at Hilsea to allow supporters to park on site safely. Supporters are requested to park at the Hilsea Lido and walk to the playing fields.

Thank you for all your continued support and as a department, we look forward to seeing many of you on the side lines of a court, pitch or field.

Mrs Evans : Director of Junior School Sport

HILSEA GAMES

There will be games sessions for Juniors (Y3-Y6) at Hilsea this Saturday from 0900 to 1000. Saturday morning games are

voluntary. There will be football for the boys and netball for the girls.

The Lion Sport