12514 QEGS Infant_Junior Newsletter May_Jan 2015

12514 QEGS Infant_Junior Newsletter May_Jan 2015

January 2015
JUNIOR
Junior News
Meet the team
As part of a lunchtime club with Miss Trafford, some of the children in Year 6 are creating a school newspaper ‘The QJS Times’.
The team comprises of:
Editors
Publishers
Photographers
Reyah Kazi and Thomas Buckle
Aahil Jouher and Alex Bateson
Hamza Khan and Priya Morjaria
Reporters
School Life
Local News
National News
World News
Entertainment
Sport
Puzzles
Ella Hardman and Rowan Abbott
Esme Wilcox and Aleena Illyas
Gabriella Sandham and Maya Pendlebury
Leah George and Reece Millington
News Hafsah Sidat and Hira Karimi
Omar Almitwally and Safwaan Jogee
Madison Roberts
The children are very much looking forward to issuing the first edition later this term.
1509
Reception News The Great Reception Bake-off
It’s been an exciting start to the New Year, our master bakers
have been busy demonstrating their marvellous culinary skills.
The Reception children have spent time reading the story of
the Gingerbread Man which they have thoroughly enjoyed. The
children were excited to make their very own Gingerbread man
character. They have excelled in their listening skills by
following a very difficult recipe. The children enjoyed getting
stuck in and messy, there was no dough left in the bowl for the
teachers!
This was followed by the children decorating their Gingerbread
men in a variety of ways showing their flair for design. Watch
out Mary Berry! We were very fortunate that none of the
biscuits ran away and were enjoyed by all. It looks like we have
some budding young chefs in our midst.
Snow much fun!
When we woke one Tuesday
morning earlier this term there
was snow on the ground.
Many children thought the snow
simply disappeared when the sun
came out– a perfect opportunity
for an investigation! We put on our
wellies, hats, scarves, gloves and
warm coats and ventured into the
cold. Outside we made 2
snowballs and put them in 2 trays.
The teachers left one outside and
brought one into the classroom to
see what would happen. Ismail
even suggested putting one in the
fridge! We found out that the
snowballs inside turned to water
very quickly whilst the ones left
outside were exactly how we left
them. Meanwhile we all decided to
get creative and had a competition
to see who could build the biggest
snowman! I think Miss Byrne
enjoyed it the most!
Healthy Animals and I
Year 2 this term are focusing on healthy living and
our role in ensuring animals and pets stay healthy
and happy. The children have been eager to learn
about the 5 food groups and the roles that different
foods play in making our bodies work and grow.
We have been thinking about pets and the types of
homes they require, and are designing and making
pet homes using boxes and other materials. We
are extremely excited about our upcoming visits
over the next couple of weeks, of a few animals,
allowing us to get a real insight into how to look
after them and all everything their owners need to
do to keep them happy and healthy!
INFANTS
Winter walk
Despite the very cold weather over the last few weeks,
Year 2 have been Winter nature detectives.
We braved the cold and went to observe the wildlife and
plants to see if there were any changes from our Autumn
walk. The children were very observant and spotted many
changes. Some of their observations were, bulb shoots
appearing in our planters, different coloured berries on
some of the plants around the school, deciduous trees
without leaves and evergreen plant still green with leaves.
The children were extremely excited to spot some
strawberry plants and 1 tiny little strawberry still attached to
the plant. Once back in the warmth the children were able
to discuss reasons for the changes and wrote their ideas up
for our nature journals.
JUNIORS
The following information highlights
what is happening in some of the Junior clubs
Drama Club
Drama club is running for Year 4 this
term in the Music room on a Monday
lunch time. We have started with
Drama games which require quite a
bit of concentration and listening
skills, something that some of the
group are finding challenging! The
children tell me they are enjoying it
and their skills are slowly improving.
We have worked on Magic Chairs,
Shazam, Change the Action and the
children’s favourite so far- Zoom
Eek. We are hoping to introduce
some role play and mime in the next
few weeks but the aim is to have a
little fun too.
Miniature Indoor Garden
Club
This term, on a Monday lunchtime,
Year 3 pupils have the option to
attend ‘Miniature Indoor Garden’
club. Over half a term, children will
be designing and making their own
miniature gardens. They have
chosen themes such as ‘Ancient
Egypt’, ‘Lego World’ and ‘Fairyland’
and are looking for items from nature
to help with their landscaping
project! We’re looking forward to the
finished products!
Football Club
Football Club takes place on Tuesday lunchtimes in the school gym.
This half term it is the turn of Year 3.
So far we have worked on: controlling a moving ball, passing in a
Chess Club
straight line and running with the
ball, keeping it under control. I have
Chess in the Junior School continues been very impressed with the children so far, they have a good attito be very popular and a pathway
into the chess squad has been creat- tude and maybe we could have a
ed by inviting aspiring chess players future star at our school. We have
from Years 3 and 4 to join the chess even tried controlling a tennis ball;
squad sessions and be mentored by it’s not easy to do, but the children
gave it a good try and had some fun.
the current squad. It is hoped that
this arrangement will develop the
skills and strategies of all the chess
Running Club
players and raise standards in the
Junior School chess squad as we
This term, years 5 and 6 will take
enter into the Blackburn School’s
Chess League and other local school part in a running club held each
Tuesday lunchtime. Participants will
chess tournaments. A special mention must go to Alex Bateson (year 6) develop effective running technique
whilst working on speed intervals
who remains unbeaten so far this
academic year, winning all seven of and longer distance endurance
training. The flat, open space of East
the matches he has played - well
Lancs Cricket Club provides the
done Alex.
perfect surface on which to develop
QEGS future running stars.
JUNIORS
Football Squad
The football squad are training hard for
a busy spring, there’s lots of fixtures to
be played in the Blackburn with Darwen
League, so watch this space for
upcoming fixtures. With the team
performing superbly in the Jubilee
Shield, we look forward to some exciting
fixtures and a highly competitive
season.
Super Science Club
This term, children in year 5 have the
opportunity to join Super Science club,
where they will be making something
different each week. This includes:
zappy zoomers, catapult planes,
fishbowl spinners and fantastic flingers.
The children will also be creating their
own bubbling wizards brew and layering
various liquids. They will investigate a
variety of scientific concepts, such as
simple chemical reactions, streamlining,
density and the storing of energy.
Dance Club
Twenty Year 5 & 6 girls and one boy,
have joined the after school dance
club. Claire Hardy a qualified dance
teacher is working with the children
putting together a street dance that will
be performed at the Borough’s Dance
Festival on the 3rd of March 2015. They
have chosen the theme of space
through a telescope and their dance
will reflect this. Tickets for this show go
on sale on the 4th February and are
available King George’s Hall Box Office
priced at £3.75:for an Adult , £3.00 for
OAPs and 13 – 16 year olds, £1.50:for
2 – 12 year olds, £10:for a Family of 4.
We are reliably informed tickets sell out
very quickly as there are 20 schools
participating.
February
05/02/15 Year 3 trip to Museum of Science and
Industry
06/02/15 Chinese New Year celebrations
10/02/15 Year 1 and 2 Internet Safety Day
13/02/15 Pancake Day
16th–20th February Half Term Holidays
21/02/15 INSET Day No pupils in school this day
24th–27th February Parental Workshops – more
information to follow
20/03/15 Easter challenge for pupils – Guide Dogs for
the Blind
26/03/15 Easter challenge Cake Sale
27/03/15 Rainbow Activity Day – Easter Bonnet Parade
and Egg Hunt
30th March – 14th April Easter Holidays
15/04/15 School begins for Trinity Term
Indoor Athletics
This has been the first year that
QEGS Junior School have been
able to compete in the Blackburn
with Darwen’s indoor athletics
competition. Our heat was held at
Pleckgate School last week and
the snowy conditions meant some
late changes to the team, but with
plenty of budding athletes willing to
fill the events we nervously made
our way to Pleckgate. The team
consisted of 9 boys and 9 girls
from Years 5 and 6. Athletes were
able to compete in a maximum of
two field events and two track
events. The competition started
well with many QEGS athletes
winning their races, but not
knowing how the field events were
going we were kept in suspense to
the very end. QEGS had won their
first competition and were now into
the Borough final.
The final took place this Monday
evening at Darwen Vale, 8 schools
had qualified for the final out of 33
schools competing. The
competition took on the same
format and the athletes all
competed excellently, with
exceptional performances from
Ella Hardman and Jessica Mathew
who won all their events. We
finished in a very respectable 6th
place.
Well done QEGS Athletics Team.
20 CREDITS
Zakariyah Sajid, Jibran Karolia, Ali Shaan Malik, Alex Jones,
Thomas Pearson, Elizabeth Case, Aymaan Ali, Lily Spurr,
David Clare, Zain Ali
50 CREDITS
Thomas Roberts, Assia El Sakka, Reyah Kazi, Abdul Ghafoor,
Hafsah Satia, Matthew Dutton, Sami Hussain, Madison
Roberts, Nathaniel Charnock, Mohammed Bavla, Leah George,
Esme Wilcock, Moiz Al Hassan, Yahya Congress, Hira Karimi,
Zakariyya Sharief, Charlie Wood
75 CREDITS
Alayana Ahmed, Rayhan Motara, Reyah Kazi, Khadijah Debar,
Mohammed Mulla