February 7, 2020

Weekly News – Friday 7th February

Message from the Headmistress

Dear Parents,

This has been a busy week with our Conference Days for Year 8 (Monday) and Year 10 (Tuesday), the Intermediate Maths Challenge on Thursday, and Parents’ Evening for Year 10 yesterday.

One thing that came out of Parents’ Evening  was that some are still a little confused about the new GCSE grading and struggling to interpret the data underpinning their child’s performance. I wonder if any Year 9, 10 or indeed 11 parents would be interested in us running a twilight session to explain this to you or whether you would prefer some documents online or sent home to clarify further? Let me know if you would be interested in a training sessions so we can get one booked in.

Congratulations this week to our Year 7 and 8  basketball team who took home Bronze medals from the Nottingham City Basketball Tournament. Well done! Fantastic achievement.

Last Friday, we had an incredibly positive Parents’ Forum meeting, discussing some key subjects. [Meeting minutes can be viewed on our website here]. We assessed the proposed new sports uniform and are seeking further information about this as well as asking Pupil Forum/School Council to look at it and see what they think…

Thank you to all parents (and staff) for submitting their Green Travel questionnaires. There were some fabulous suggestions made which we will consider in full as we write our strategy. Clearly we have no working magic wand and we fully appreciate the complexities of travel situations for individuals. We will be consulting with the council and with neighbours as well.

Next week is our final week before our half term break. We finish our cycle of Conference Days on Monday with Year 9’s special off-timetable day focussing on PSHE and other topical matters with our external provider.

Tuesday is Safer Internet Day and pupils in both Junior and Senior School will be exploring this year’s topic of ‘Free to Be’ and online identity. Tuesday will also see the Year 7 Parents’ Evening.

On Wednesday, Year 10 and Year 11 are off to Science Live in Sheffield to support their GCSE work and on Thursday the Year 9 to 11 are off to see An Inspector Calls at the Theatre Royal (I am very excited about this)!

On Friday, it is not only Valentine’s Day where pupils in Senior School will be selling cakes (Welbeck house) and roses but it is also POP MIME. Pop Mime is an annual Hollygirt tradition where pupils from Years 7 to 11 can put themselves forward in groups or as a solo act to mime to a song of their choice. Pupils not taking part in the performance pay £1 to watch their peers and all money raised goes to charity. After school on Friday, there is an ice skating trip. [Letter can be viewed on our website here]. If your child would like to attend, the reply slip should be returned to Miss Nisan by Monday.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hutley
Headmistress

 

Message from the Head of Juniors

Please click here to view this week’s Stars of the Week

Dear Parents,

Another busy week in Juniors. I would like to begin by thanking Year 3 girls who have taken it upon themselves to write messages of kindness to teachers; they have certainly brightened up our days!

On Tuesday, our football team competed in a tournament hosted by Nottingham Forest. The children were very excited to meet Nuno da Costa, Nottingham Forest’s new signing! [Photographs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our website].

Yesterday Dr Alvarez joined us to deliver some fantastic workshops on Wellbeing and Design. The Year 3 and 4 children looked at places of beauty and designed a city to meets everyone’s needs whilst Year 1 and 2 talked about places that make them happy. Thank you Dr Alvarez for giving up your time to do this; the children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and learnt a lot. [Photographs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our website].

During the afternoon, our football team visited Plumtree School and won the match 7-0!  Well done boys; this is so impressive and we are all very proud of you. On Tuesday, they travel to Seely Primary and we wish them all the best of luck. Cross country time trials will also begin on Tuesday in preparation for forthcoming events. [Photographs on our website].

On Wednesday, Year 6 are participating in an Orienteering Festival at Wollaton Park; this sounds like great fun.  In the afternoon, Year 3 have invited their parents into school; please remember to sign in at Reception for this.

On Thursday, some pupils will be taking part in a Gifted and Talented STEM day at NGHS. I look forward to hearing all about this.

Friday is, of course, the last day of this half term and it is Valentine’s Day. The School Council will be hosting a bake sale; please could all cakes and other goods be delivered to Miss Cooper on Friday morning.  Please make sure these are all NUT FREE.  Children may wear red or pink clothes and if doing so, need to bring £1 in additional to money to purchase cakes at break time.  Also on Friday, Notts County begin their Move and Learn programme with Years 4 and 5.

Please could I remind parents to bring children into school in the mornings and sign them in with a teacher; this is particularly important if children are, on occasion, late, and classes may be in different buildings. For their health and safety, children are not permitted to enter through the kitchen area.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Wright
Head of Juniors