thelion - The Portsmouth Grammar School

thelion
The Newsletter of The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School Issue No.97
22nd November 2013
To The Parents
Bright Sparks
Rory’s Story of the Week
Christmas is Coming
Last
week,
over
80
children from
14
schools
across
Portsmouth
and beyond,
joined
together for
a day of curiosity and learning. This was
the first time we had held such an event
and it was an enormous success.
Rory loved reading all about Sahib’s
exciting trip to India and was impressed
with how resplendent he looked in his
turban and formal dress.
The new John Lewis advert is already
out (can’t get the tune out of my head!),
the tree is in the quad, the choir sang at
the Gunwharf lights switch on, and local
shops have been inundated with mums
(and dads?) trying to find items for the
ABC Stall…Christmas must be coming!!!
In fact, next Friday is our eagerly
anticipated Christmas Fayre, which will
be preceded by carols in the playground,
for the first time including all of our
children. You are, of course, warmly Inspired by the physical achievements of
our Olympic and Paralympic athletes
welcome to join us for both.
last year, this was an event aimed at
Christmas parties for our Infants take
stretching the minds of young children;
st
place on Sunday 1 December and their
an academic Olympiad. Pupils from
Nativity performance will be on
Years Two and Four took part in science,
Wednesday 11th. The Juniors meanwhile
maths and English sessions aimed at
are already practising for their Carol
igniting curiosity and challenging the
Service to which all parents are invited,
brightest minds.
on Wednesday 11th at 1830 in the
Cathedral. Our musicians are also
getting into the festive spirit and are
busy rehearsing for the Mince Pie
Concert on Tuesday 3rd. Keep up to date
with dates and times of all our events on
MyPGS in the week-ahead section.
Photo Gallery
Also via MyPGS you will find our photo
gallery, where you are able to purchase
photos from our many trips and events.
The latest galleries to be uploaded are:
JS Picnic on Governors Green, Reception
Visit to the Cathedral, Year 2 Marwell
Trip, Year 1 Toy Workshop, Year 4 Mary
Rose Museum Trip and Children In
Need.
Portsmouth University opened up the
solar system and the possibility of aliens
with their amazing astrodome for our
Year Four scientists, while the Year Twos
made lava lamps with Miss Watkins and
marvelled at the chemical reactions
taking place. Mrs Minall set Year Four
mathematicians the challenge of
cracking an alien code and Year Two
I hope that you have been able to rise to children worked out how old they would
the challenge of finding a suitable gift be if they walked to the moon.
for the ABC stall. Donations need to be In English the children were inspired by
sent to your child’s Form Teacher by Mr Evans and local author Chris
next Wednesday so that they can be Connaughton, and asked to use their
priced up ready for the Fayre on Friday. creative intellect to describe and make
The ABC stall will be located in the Willis up their own alien creatures.
Room and will be strictly ‘children
The day was further enhanced by fish
only’!!
and chips for lunch and a play on the
back playground, and was summed up
PS Hopkinson
by one of the children who described it
Headmaster
as ‘astonishingly cool’
Trip to India
I went to India
with my Mom and
Dad
for
my
Uncle's wedding.
We flew from
Heathrow to New
Delhi and then
drove in the car to
Chandigarh. I was
very excited as I
got to wear a
turban and dress
just like my Uncle
in very special clothes on his wedding
day, everyone else was also dressed in
very colourful clothes. I had lots of fun
dancing, learning about a Sikh wedding
and playing with my cousins. There was
lots of yummy food and the celebrations
went on for days. After that we travelled
to Amritsar for Diwali and we visited the
Golden Temple. We stayed at my
Grandma's farm in the village where I
saw fruit orchids, the harvest of basmati
rice and lots of cows.
Sahib Kullar 2G
Year Four ‘Bright Sparks’
Year Two ‘Bright Sparks’
Nursery News
Nursery staff and children went spotty
mad on Friday 15th November in aid of
Children In Need.
We all ‘Showed our spots and raised
lots’. We had our very own Pudsey, a
Minnie Mouse, a super hero with a
spotty cape, a spotty dinosaur and spots
just about everywhere!
There were lots of Pudsey activities in
the Nursery and we had a special visit
from Mr Priory who helped to fill a large
Pudsey with the pennies collected by the
children. A big thank you must go to the
families of the Nursery who raised a
whopping £107!!
Animal Comparison
This week in their science lessons, Year
Two have been naming the body parts of
humans and African animals. They then
spent some time making accurate
drawings of the animals, which they
coloured appropriately. The children
labelled the body parts, noting the
similarities and differences.
A Super Day for Super
Heroes
Children
In
Need day is
always great
fun and this
year saw the
Junior School
invaded
by
Super Heroes,
meaning that
we
would
certainly be in
safe hands, no
matter what.
The children and teachers enjoyed dressing
up, taking part in Pudsey activities and of
course raising money for Children in Need.
More photos from the day are available to
view and purchase via MyPGS.
Bubble Fun!
Reception
To link with
our topic
'It's
a
Colourful
World', the
Reception
children are enjoying making colourful
Christmas biscuits. They are learning to
listen carefully to instructions and to
measure and mix the ingredients,
colouring the dough with food colouring.
The dough is then rolled, cut out into
festive shapes and decorated. The
children are very excited to taste and
share their produce at home.
He’s Behind You!!
Year Four have been working very hard
this week in preparation for their
pantomime performance on Thursday
21st November and Friday 22nd
November. They have learnt their words,
practised the songs and have their
costumes ready! The pantomime is
‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The story has
suspense, humour, lots of drama, dance
and some great songs! It tells the story
of a little girl’s adventure as she journeys
through the dark, creepy forest to visit
her sick grandma. Her friends help her
and she meets a few characters along
the way! We hope you enjoyed our
performance as much as we did
performing it!
Poetry Personified
Year 6 have been discovering how to
personify their poetry to great effect:
In Year One we have been investigating
bubbles. We talked about the shape of
bubbles and then we made our own
bubble blowers. We thought about
whether the shape of the bubble blower
will change the shape of the bubble. We
asked the question: Will a square shape
make a square bubble? What do you think
the answer was?
Inverse Operations
Year 3 have been looking at the inverse
operations this week. They have
discovered that from one calculation you
can often make up to 3 more. Such as 2 x
4=8 can link to become:
4 x 2=8 or
8 divided by 2 = 4 or
8 divided by 4 = 2.
Year 3 have also discovered that by using
the inverse operation it is easy to check
their arithmetic calculations.
I awoke and
Slowly stretched my beautiful petals.
My fear melted away,
Like creamy chocolate in a saucepan.
My heart was a black night
Surrounded by crying blood.
Silently they laid,
Like lambs in a butcher’s shop.
My growing, green stem
Became crushed, like their hopeful faces.
I still stayed strong, like the soldiers in the
battlefield,
Still quietly sprouting leaves upon leaves,
While the world around was one massive
quarrel.
I began to cry crippling tears.
I was a mother, sobbing tears of death.
I curled up, like a baby in its cot,
Desperately pulling in my courage,
As my petals flew to the ground like an
We have also done lots of speed times aeroplane,
tables well in advance for the House times Pirouetting peacefully, then lying limply.
tables competition next year!
Soon I became a lonely widow.
Poppy Herbert
thelion’s
HEADMASTER’S AWARDS
The following Headmaster’s Awards
were awarded:
Toby Foord for working extremely well in
mathematics, Verity McStay for working
extremely well in English, Edward James
for consistently putting in lots of effort
during the Year Four play rehearsals,
Oscar Hung for fantastic acting and
expression during the Year Four play
rehearsals, Harvey Hill, Giordano
Avondo, Tom Shahran, Lily Gibbs,
Gabriel Appleby-Mell, Kristian Fraser,
Stephanie Wade, Jed Hazzard and
Isabelle Powell for a wonderful Magic
Box poem, Narina Dalali for writing
numbers to 100 independently
ROLL OF HONOUR KS2
The following pupils signed the Honours
Book this week:
English: Verity McStay (x2), Mei-Ling
Reader (x2), Themis Orfanidis (x2),
Susannah Starkey (x2), Sophie Gale (x2),
Charlotte Howard, Lucinda Hawdon,
Matthew Pidden, George Summerskill,
Sam Tran, Thomas Lockyer, Arya Patel,
Andrew Davis, Arthur Guillo, Callum
Mackenzie, Lilly-Ella Beardsley, Joseph
Smitherman,
Evie
Abrams-Wilson,
Ashnah Elanchcheliyan, Chailea Harvey,
Tom Chamberlain, Abhyuday Singh, Alex
Ly, William Moore, Maddy Oliver, Ashwin
Elanchcheliyan, Caleb Hillier, Oliver
Durrant, Syed Chowdhury, Meha Patel,
Kirav Behari, Dan Sherburn, Charlie
Watts, Raulf Berry
English Homework: Michael Stylianou
(x2), Christian Sim (x2), Dan Sherburn
(x2), Tom Shahran, James Reynolds,
Isabella Devereux, Daisy Crane, Alice
Hudson, Toby Foord, Edward James,
William Moore, Caleb Hillier, Oliver
Durrant, Harriet Millar, William Hartridge,
Lauren-Lilly Prentice, Charlie Watts,
Hannah Millerchip
Maths: Susannah Starkey (x4), Clara
Matthews (x3), Joseph Smitherman (x2),
Thomas Lockyer (x2), Kirav Behari, Alia
Alayyan, Ashwin Elanchcheliyan, Ethne
Leaver, Matthew Pidden, Alice Collins,
Emma Hale, Solomon Haba, Thomas
Moore, Alice Hudson, Edward James,
Noah Renton, Themis Orfanidis, Isabelle
Durrant, Callum Mackenzie, William
Moore
Maths Homework: Kian Souhani,
Alexander Barker, Jake Jordan, Alice
Hudson
Science: Matthew Pidden (x2), Maddy Oliver,
Alexander Barker, Charlotte Howard, Emily
Parekh, Ewan Fleming, Ethne Leaver, Manas
Harish
History: Grace Beardsley, Matthew Pidden
Geography: Matthew Pidden, Charlotte
Howard, Sophie Hamer
RS: Isabelle Pearce (x2), Amir Choudhury,
Kirav Behari, Ethan Hards, Charlotte Howard,
Douglas Henderson, Edward James, Verity
McStay, Mei-Ling Reader, Sam Tran, Thomas
Lockyer
ICT: Henry Buckle
Reading: Matthew Pidden (x2), George
Keiditsch (x2), Susannah Starkey (x2), Emily
Nelson, Jake Jordan, Joseph Hopkinson,
Sophie Gale, Caleb Hillier
Spelling: William Hartridge, Susannah
Starkey
Drama: Meha Patel, Giordano Avondo, Tess
Matheson, Gabriel Appleby-Mell, Kristian
Fraser, Stephanie Wade, Jed Hazzard, Harriet
Barca
Spy Story: Joseph Hopkinson
Book Review: Emily Nelson
Comprehension: Grace Alexander
KS1 HONOURS
The following pupils signed the Honours
Book this week:
Ella Trise (x2), Meru Shrivastva (x2), Gia Patel
(x2), Estelle Schouller (x2), Nikhil Sen (x2),
Buster Rothwell, Frederick Bostock, Max
Broomfield, George Haywood, Rehan
Ahmed, Phoebe Gallop, Kitty Fowler, Peter
Hewitt, Aphaia Sillett, Ryan Wiseman, Lucy
Powlesland, Henry Parnell, Raphael Gamble,
Maximillian Scott Robinson, Poppy Annison,
Elias Clediere, Kyan Ahmed, Narina Dalali,
Dillon King, Piers Webb, Archie Simmons,
Jimmy Cathie-Kirby, Charlie Hill, Henry
Watts, Jacob Foster, Chi-Yee Lim, Charlie
Wilkie, Henry Hutchings, William Parker,
Sahib Kullar, Yelisey Hodell, Jayden
Sasikaran, Vidhyabhushan Balaji, Luke
Hargreaves, Robin Guillo, Adam CookBenaissa, Edward Gasser, Eden Grace Hillier,
Evie Howard, Matteo Doutel-Haghighi,
George Cuthbert, Christian Appleby-Mell,
Lexi Gould, Chandhana Iravindranath, Archie
Digby, James Carlin, Mihail Blagoev, Shyun
Patel, Oliver Bridle, Annabel Wainwright,
Emilia Deighan, Owen Richards-Kellett, Zoe
McCauley, Max Higgins, Alex Brine-Howe,
William Brine-Howe, Rafferty Lloyd
Year 3/4 Choir
There is no Year 3 /4 or 5/ 6 choir club on
Monday 25th November due to Parents'
Evening.
pride
PUPILS’ ACHIEVEMENTS
Congratulations to:
Jed Hazzard (5G) for coming second in the
swing, blues and jazz under 10 category at the
Gosport Music Festival.
Caleb Hillier (5P) who has been awarded the
Chief Scout’s Silver Award, which is the highest
award available within the Cubs.
Badges
RED BADGE – Congratulations to Hannah
Richards-Kellett, Omar Chowdhury and Emily
Parekh for gaining their Red Badge.
BLUE BADGE – Congratulations to Elsa Hares,
Amber Bradley, Miles Webb and Julien
Schouller for gaining their Blue Badge.
GREEN BADGE – Congratulations to George
Keiditsch, Callum Mackenzie and Abi-Mae
Budgen for gaining their Green Badge.
3P & 3J String
Scheme Concert
We would like to welcome parents to
concerts celebrating the String Scheme
classes this term. These will take place in the
Rotunda, starting at 1500.
3P - Monday 2nd December
3J - Wednesday 4th December
All pupils who have been taking part in the
String Scheme this term will be performing.
JSA Christmas Parties
Come and join in the fun on Sunday 1st
December 2013 (full listings in the Red Book).
Payment to the Junior School Office.
Mrs Budgen’s App of
the Fortnight
Hopscotch: Introduce your child to coding
using intuitive programming language in this
visual programme for kids of all ages. Free to
download.
Mrs Budgen’s
Brain Boggler:
This Week: What has hands but cannot clap?
Answers from last time: Smiles, because there
is a mile between each ‘s’.
Clubs
Board games, sign language and construction
clubs will not take place on Thursday 5th
December due to the Infants Parents’ Evening.
Results
U9A
U9B
U9C
U9D
U8 Rhinos
U8 Sharks
U8 Lions
U8 Eagles
U11A
U11B
U8A
U8B
U8C
U9A
U9B
U9C
U10A
U10B
U10C
U11A
U11B
U11C
U11D
U10A
U10B
U9A
U9
U8A
U8B
U11A
U11B
thelion
Boys’ Football
Oakwood
Oakwood
Oakwood
Oakwood
Brookham
Brookham
Brookham
Brookham
Churchers 7 a side
Tournament
Churchers 7 a side
Tournament
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Twyford
Stroud
Stroud
Girls’ Netball
West Hill Park
Tournament
Barrow Hills
Barrow Hills
Twyford
Tournament
Cranleigh
Tournament
Cranleigh
Tournament
Girls’ Hockey
Barrow Hills
Barrow Hills
Drew 0-0
Lost 0-1
Won 1-0
Won 4-1
Won 1-0
Lost 1-6
Lost 0-7
Lost 0-6
Winners
sport
U8 Cranleigh Netball
Tournament
Our A team was Emily Gibb, Amelie Parker, Elsa
Hares, Maya Kendall, Louisa McKay, Susie Taylor,
Bea Oliver, Isabella Devereux, and Daisy Crane.
By Daisy Crane 4P
Champions!
th
4 in
group
Lost 0-12
Lost 0-3
Lost 0-5
Lost 0-12
Lost 2-3
Lost 1-4
Lost 3-6
Lost 1-2
Lost 0-5
Won 4-3
Won 5-1
Won 2-1
Won 4-1
th
5 overall
Lost 0-11
Won 10-0
Runners
up
Won their
section
Won their
section
Won 11-0
Won 4-0
Fixtures
Sat 23 Nov
1000: U8A & B, U9A & B Netball v Stroud (a)
1000: U10 PGS Netball Tournament (h)
Wed 27 Nov
1430: U10A, B & C Netball v Cranleigh (h)
1430: U11A, B & C Hockey v Cranleigh (a)
Thu 28 Nov
1330: U8A, B & C Netball v Twyford (a)
HILSEA GAMES
There will be NO games sessions
for KEY STAGE 2 girls at Hilsea this
Saturday due to an U10 netball
tournament. There will be House
football for the boys.
On Thursday 7th November, PGS travelled
to Cranleigh School to play in a netball
tournament. The Year 3 B-team – (Evie,
Grace, Isabelle, Lexi, Sophie, Lola, Arya
and Phoebe) played 3 matches against
Cranleigh, Brookham and Farlington
Schools. It was a bright chilly day but we
soon warmed up as play started. The
three matches were very close and we all
worked hard to win them all, especially
against the Farlington team who were
very good. We were winners of our
round and were presented with a box of
Celebrations YUMMY!!! It was a great
afternoon.
The
final
scores
were:
PGS
2
–
Brookham
1
PGS
3
–
Farlington
2
PGS 4 – Cranleigh 2
By Evie Abrams-Wilson 3P
U9 Football v Farleigh
The Under 9 squad faced three very talented
Farleigh teams. Although the three results
went the wrong way 2-6, 0-5 and 0-5. The
attitude and commitment was definitely the
right one on the day. Mr Griffin’s team showed
the most spirited display of their season so far.
At half-time the game seemed lost at 0-4.
However the boys defended like lions in the
second half, with Ciaran Hards pulling off some
fantastic saves, whilst up the other end Toby
Foord scored two deserved goals. Mr
Sheldrick’s team worked tirelessly to try and
close down a very good attacking Farleigh side,
with Harry Jones almost getting on the score
sheet a few times. Mr James’ team had to play
5-a-side on a very big pitch with a lot of ground
to cover, but the boys all came off exhausted
which was a sign they had given 100% and
could hold their heads up high.
U9A Netball
On a chilly Thursday 14th November 2013 we
travelled up to play Barrow Hills school near
Milford. We started well and scored almost
straight away, then again and again and again.
Unfortunately for Barrow Hills, nothing was
going right for them and one of the few shots
they had rolled around the inside of the hoop
and came back out again. The game finished
11-0 to us but Barrow Hills remained a very
friendly team and gave us a nice tea including
hot bacon rolls for the adults.
PGJS took an U11A and U11B team to the
Churchers College Football Tournament. This
was the first time we have taken part and the
boys were very excited. The teams were split
into two groups of 6 teams with each team
playing 5 group games. The top 2 teams from
each group qualified for the semi-finals. The
U11B team were drawn against Churchers A,
Mayville, Princes Mead, Bentley A, and
Liphook. It was an extremely tough group to
be in and the boys battled hard. They didn’t
manage to make it out of the group stages
but they enjoyed their afternoon.
The U11A team were drawn against
Churchers B, Barfield, St Johns, Oakwood, and
Bentley B. They managed to win all 5 matches
without conceding a goal. They performed
extremely well and showed they have really
developed as a team. They finished top of the
group and played Mayville in the Semi-finals.
Mayville played some great football but our
boys managed to win 2-0 to set up a decider
against Churchers A team. The crowds has
built, our U11B team were giving our A team
fantastic support but the match finished 0-0
after extra time. It went down to the dreaded
penalties. We managed win 5-4 on penalties.
It was a great achievement for the boys and I
was very proud of their humble attitude in
victory.
U11 Football v Craneswater
In a PGS football match it’s not unusual for
there to be a flood of goals, but in the U11
Portsmouth Schools Cup Match against
th
Craneswater on Tuesday 12 November it
was more like a tidal wave. One by one
Henry, Seth, Will, Tom and Fraser scored one
goal each and Alex grabbed an impressive hat
trick to finish the match with an 8-2 win.
Craneswater could have got more but James’s
clearance off the line showed our great
defending and Ben in goal made some strong
saves. Craneswater worked hard but it was
the combination of our great defensive and
attacking play that got us through to the
semi-finals – just one more step to Fratton
Park!