The Holly Leaves - Hollygirt School

Issue 26 - 19th December 2012
The Holly Leaves
The Hollygirt School Newsletter
Message from the Headmistress
It is slightly odd when newsletters are printed
externally, that I am writing about Christmas with over
a week to go in the busiest term of the year.
So what I am not going to write about is how fantastic the Christmas
Fair was (but it will be. I can thank Santa for his guest appearance
for I am sure he will be there.) I know our Junior School will sing like
angels and their show will bring a tear to your eyes; I know our disco
for Years 3-8 (‘neon party’) will be a blast and that the Carol Service
will be serene and beautiful. I know we will eat much, sing much
and laugh a lot. And then we will all be ready for a fine rest.
What a busy term we have had. The newsletter has some lovely
picture stories celebrating our term so far. I wonder - are you
following us on Facebook or on Twitter yet? Did you see us on
You Tube singing at the Albert Hall? We are desperate to encourage
all our parents and friends to follow our antics and to get a regular catch up on what has been
happening here at Hollygirt. It seems a long time since Prize Giving, but it is only half a term. Last weekend when I
went to buy some bulbs I remembered my little DIY shop analogy:
“I used to instinctively pop in to the big multinationals. You know the ones - something and something... I assumed
that size meant they would provide everything I need and their shop floor workers would be able to understand my
layman’s terminology for widgets and thingymejigs. Then I discovered little independent traditional hardware stores
still existed. I was surprised that among the plethora of giants these little family shops were still there. From the
outside my little shop is unassuming. It has a small shop front, but is far more expansive than it first seems. Nothing
is too elaborate, nothing is just for show. There are no advertised bargains, they sell no fancy goods - just everything
you could possible want. They still sell things like my granny’s glass sugar bowl, fire grates and individual bits of
gubbins. But what set these independent hardware shops apart is their staff and their attitude to their product. The
staff, even those who work on a Saturday, are there to help, to serve, to help you negotiate the minefield of nuts
and bolts so you get exactly what you want. They give their time to explaining how to fit and fix. These are special
places, enduring in time.
Hollygirt is a little like this. We don’t stock homogenous items: all
similarly packaged and stacked high. My staff are not just wandering
around, passing the time to earn money. They are all highly skilled
professionals working as a team to provide a quality of care, of
education and of support that is second to none. My pupils are all
individuals, all different. All names, never numbers. Whatever their
ability, background or needs we are there for them. I hope all my
pupils and indeed their parents are not afraid of asking if they need
help, if they don’t understand what’s going on.”
Don’t you agree?
I wish all our readers a smashing festive period and all the happiness in the world for 2013.
Mrs Pam Hutley, Headmistress
HollygirtSchool
@HollygirtSchool
Message from Junior Headmistress
Tis the season to be jolly and how jolly we are in the Junior School! The tree is up, the fairy
lights are lighting up our entrance, classrooms are covered with glitter, various sheep and
donkeys have appeared and, yes, the cold and icy weather is upon us.
Talking of the cold, please could you ensure on these chilly days that your child comes to school equipped for the winter
weather. All children will be playing outside at playtime and lunchtime and will feel the cold if they don’t have coats,
gloves, hats and scarves in Hollygirt colours of course. The second hand uniform shop has a vast amount of gloves,
hats and scarves. Pop in and take a look.
This half term we have held “Twilight” sessions in Maths and Literacy to help parents understand how and what we teach
at Hollygirt so that children’s education can be supported at home as well as in school. Many thanks to Miss Carlin, Mrs
Keyworth and to the parents who attended.
Mrs Keyworth, as part of her role as Literacy co-ordinator, arranged for Mr Anthony Pedley to come in to talk to the
children. By single-handedly re-telling the story of The BFG complete with jars frobscottle, whizz poppers and troggle
humpers, he was able to ignite the imaginations of even some of our youngest children.
On a bleak Friday lunchtime the Friends Room at Villa Road was full of bright young things ready to perform to the public
for the very first time. A Junior School lunchtime recital had been arranged by Mrs Storey and it proved to be a huge
success with the children and their parents. I have to say that on occasion tears were seen rolling down parents’ faces.
I look forward to hearing the children’s musical talents on a more regular basis. Well done everyone.
Mrs Stephanie Payne
Year 3 played
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Senior School
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
On Friday 12th October Years 10 and 11 Art groups
visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
It was an amazing and varied day. The park covers several square
miles of the Yorkshire Pennine area. In the morning we walked around
the whole perimeter of the park seeing sculptures by Henry Moore, Andy
Goldsworthy and many others. After climbing a steep hill overlooking the
whole park we came across
“Basket#7” by two German
artists, Winter and Hörbelt.
The installation was described
as a ‘shelter’ but was made
entirely of metal mesh. We
climbed up and through the
maze-like structure whilst
the wind whistled through.
We then went into one
of the galleries and saw
some fantastic sculptures
by Anish Kapoor. But the
best thing of all was the
activity in the afternoon
when we had the chance
to make our own open air
sculptures.
Mrs Standing
Meeting Dippy at the
Natural History Museum
In November Years 7 and 8 went to visit the Natural
History Museum in London and met a dinosaur or
two. Áine Diamond (7W) tells us about her trip.
We were all very excited about going. After several hours of waiting
and listening to “One Direction” on our phones, we finally arrived in
London and everyone cheered. At this point, Miss Allen became our
tour guide – showing us endless shops, famous landmarks and the
beautiful Christmas lights.
We walked up to the Natural History Museum. It was an amazing
building to look at, but we weren’t just sightseers, we were
explorers! But as soon as we stepped inside, we were greeted
by an unexpected guest: a humungous Diplodocus called Dippy.
Thankfully it wasn’t real and was just a skeleton like many other
dinosaurs in the exhibit. Except one: towards the end of the exhibit,
a roaring dinosaur that stared at us and moved around made us
jump out of our skins!
We walked through a passageway to a very large room holding the
mammals. There were tall giraffes, elephants with large ears, a
scary sharp-toothed polar bear and (one of my favourites…) a giant
blue whale. It took up half the exhibit due to its size and it was very
interesting to look at.
After measuring our weight in comparison to a blue whale, we
entered the next room including much smaller animals such as
the koala and duck-billed platypus. Before leaving the museum,
we went to the gift shop and bought some beautiful souvenirs and
started to head home. Our heads were full of new memories but
sadly our phone and camera batteries were dead!
Meghan Hens
this picture fohaw 8H created
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Festive Food
The Year 8 Food group had a Masterchef competition
in producing the most creative Yule Log.
It was tough to judge the very professional outcomes. Well done!
1st prize
Amy Simmons
2nd Krysten Ramjas
3rd Kimrun Johal
Food Award
The Year 10 GCSE Food and Nutrition group have all
passed the Level 2 Award in Food Safety and Catering.
Well done to the following girls:
Jasmin Butler
Jay Digva
Lucy Leverton
Jessica May
Liza Patnick
Maira Tehseen
Finley Fielder
Jasmine Musgrove
Anushka Vasudevan
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Extra-Curricular Activities
Hollygirt continues to offer a varied programme
of extra-curricular activities. Included this term
were: Quiz club, Environment club, Statistics
GCSE, Music Theory, Latin for Beginners and
many more.
As we are going to press, the Hollygirt Christmas Fair is
set to be an exciting and festive event this year. We have
scheduled carol singing performed by a variety of girls from
both the Junior and Senior school, Santa’s grotto and a wide
variety of activities and stalls from each form. Each form
led by their captain has arranged fun affordable games and
crafts. A small selection of these include: the traditional
Friends of Hollygirt raffle, dressing up for Santa photo booth,
handmade goods from Enterprise club, reindeer food, hook
the bauble and bauble decorating, a scheduled quiz, mask
painting and many more. A big “thank you” to all parents
who contributed to making the Fair a success this year.
Handmade cra
fts in the Ente
rprise
Club.
Christmas Cra
fts club.
r prints
Taking finge cience.
in Mad S
Fencing
Music
Junior School
Prize Giving. choir at
chool
Senior Secital.
Music R
Year 9 CA
Babysitting CHE
club
practice ba
thing and
meeting the
needs of ba care
bies.
Charity
BBC Children in Need
An astonishing £423.09 was raised in
total across both Seniors & Juniors.
The children paid for their teddies to come to school
for the day and baked cakes and biscuits to be
sold.
Selling poppies for
Remembrance Sunday
raised £60.64.
Pop
Mime
Day
9P with “W One winner
itch Docto
r”
Day Two winn
10S with “Tita er
nic”
Sport
A Bit of Bronze Aspiration?
Year 10 Inter house Netball Results
November 2012
Emily LeMottée (Year 6) and Emily Twells (Year 5)
took part in a hockey fun day at West Bridgford
Monarchs Hockey Club in October.
1st 2nd
3rd 4th They were lucky enough to talk to Helen Richardson (who used
to play for the Monarchs) and Kate Walsh (see photo) whose
hockey team won Bronze at the 2012 Olympics.
Clumber Welbeck Thoresby Rufford 22 points
16 points
7 points
1 point
Year 11 Inter house Basketball Results
November 2012
Joint 1st
Joint 1st 3rd 4th Clumber Welbeck Rufford Thoresby 21 points
21 points
15 points
12 points
Year 11 Inter house Badminton Results
December 2012
A closely fought competition, well done to all!
Joint 1st
Joint 3rd Clumber
Welbeck Rufford Thoresby 15 points
15 points
12 points
12 points
Pupils’ Success
Christmas Cards
Many congratulations to the following girls:
Iona Saint in Year 4 performed in 4 classes in the
Nottingham Dance Studios Show at Nottingham Arts
Theatre on Sunday 18th November.
Victoria Reckless (9A) and Rosie Barrett-Tuxford (7W)
have performed in the Oxton pantomime Hook’s Revenge.
Victoria has also been successful in auditioning for
Puss in Boots at the Arts Theatre and taken part in six
performances during December.
Many thanks to all who coloured in Christmas Cards
and supported the raffle at Frank Innes estate agents
on Wheeler Gate, Nottingham. The Frank Innes shop
window was full of Hollygirt coloured cards which will
now be posted to some of their clients. Nottinghamshire
Hospice will gain from the raffle proceeds.
If your child has recently achieved success then please
let us know so that this can be mentioned in the next
edition of Holly Leaves. Please email to: wendynuttall@
hollygirt.notts.sch.uk
Former Pupil News
Ellie Henshaw (currently studying for her English/Drama
degree at Lincoln University) appeared in a production of
Shakespeare’s “King Lear” at LPAC (Lincoln Performing
Arts Centre). She played the role of Gloucester (a major –
and very complex role).
Friends of Hollygirt
We think that the Junior School
tea towels look fantastic and
hope that you like them too.
Pupils have designed some
wonderful Christmas cards and
raised over £217.50 for the
school. Many thanks to parents
for your support and to the
Chair of Friends of Hollygirt,
Karen Robinson, for organising.
Congratulations to Amélie
Hornsby (Year 2) for her lovely
design which was chosen for
Hollygirt’s Christmas card this
year.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS...
Wednesday 9th January 2013
Start of Spring Term
Mock GCSEs Examinations start
7.15pm Friends of Hollygirt Meeting
Wednesday 23rd January 2013
2.15pm Year 9 Options Afternoon for girls
and parents
Parents’ Evenings for Spring Term
Nursery, Reception & Year 4
Tuesday 12th March
Years 1, 2 & 3 Tuesday 5th March
Years 5 & 6
Thursday 28th February
Year 7
Thursday 14th March
Year 8
Tuesday 22nd January
Year 9
Thursday 31st January
Year 10
Monday 11th February
Second Hand Uniform Shop at 9 Villa Road
Tuesday 15th January 2.30-4.15pm
Tuesday 5th February 2.30-5.00pm
HollygirtSchool
@HollygirtSchool
Elm Avenue | Nottingham | NG3 4GF | t: 0115 958 0596
e: [email protected] | w: www.hollygirt.co.uk