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AUTUMN TERM 2016

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A snapshot of work from this Term & our Enrichment Curriculum /06 Gifted & Talented: Art Stars /10 Technology: Coding Club /09 and more... Busy rehearsing for our Junior Production, ‘Stable Manners’ – Year 3, 4 and 5 ‘Stable Manners’ – Year for our Junior Production, Busy rehearsing AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016

WelcomeWelcome to the first issue of our new Junior School magazine.

With the advent of this came our first challenge, what to call our new publication! After much discussion, we decided on Aspire. This seemed fitting as not only does it link with our school motto, Nursery World famous A snapshot of work from this ‘Aspire not to have more, but to be more’, but this is what we & Pre-School 04 gymnast visits AESG! 05 Term & our Enrichment Curriculum 06/07 strive to develop in all our girls, a desire and drive to aspire to be the very best they can in whatever they do, both at this age and in the future.

As you know, each term at AESG is jam-packed with a multitude of events, more than we could probably fit into a termly publication. What we shall be aiming to do is to give you a termly snapshot of life in the Junior School at Alderley Edge School for Girls.

Our magazine will evolve each term, depending on the events in Technology: Gifted & Talented: school so it should always be kept fresh and exciting! Not all the Mindfulness 08 Coding Club 09 Art Stars 10 Sport 11 goings on at AESG are predictable or expected so these need to be captured too - who would have thought that we would have enjoyed a visit from this term? This is what makes our school so special and such a wonderful environment in which to have your daughter educated.

I hope you enjoy our first edition!

Enrichment: Celebration Bridget Howard Music 12 Creative Clubs 13 Board 14 School Vision 15 Junior School Headmistress

ASPIRE ASPIRE 02 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 03 AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016

We were thrilled when we heard that Nursery we had been selected as just one of two schools in the North West that Beth Tweddle was to visit at the start of this half term!

& Pre-School Renowned for her Olympic and Commonwealth successes, it was a great honour to be able to welcome Britain’s greatest Nursery got off to a wild start in ever gymnast to our school. Beth, who is used to impressing audiences around the world with her gymnastics, spoke to the September. They spent most of the Junior girls about the benefits of gymnastics, wellbeing and term investigating bugs and mini beasts. nutrition, and about her time on the TV show Dancing on Ice, which she won alongside in 2013.

Activities included putting on their investigative goggles and She also discussed her shyness whilst at school and how discovering types of bugs living in a huge pile of autumn gymnastics helped her to overcome this. Resilience is such an leaves, making play-doh bugs, using googly eyes to enhance important quality to acquire and Beth spoke to the girls about the appearance of the creations and exploring the skill of learning from disappointments in life. She also reiterated how papier-mâché whilst making shoes for a huge caterpillar! important it is to constantly strive to achieve your goals, no matter how big or small. Wow, what a great start to our new term for our Pre-School girls! She was an inspiration to us all!

All the girls have settled in quickly and have made the most precious friendships already. The girls have found their confidence within the room; they access our exciting resources happily, getting stuck into all manner of activities. World famous gymnast visits AESG!

ASPIRE ASPIRE 04 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 05 AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016

ption Ar ece t R sque visi Mo t – Y ea r eception 5 – R ox yb The Aztec Legend The Diary of la p l ta of Chocolate a Stone Age Child n e D One day there was a glamorous edge of a large I had the most bizarre dream last night! I dreamt lake. The sun god Nanahuatzin had hidden a tree that I was a 10 year old Stone Age child, I was of cacao pods and Nanahuazin thought that it called Squirrel because we were named after was only for the gods. Nearby Quetzacoatl the nature. We were nomads, which meant we moved god of delight came by and saw the cocoa pods around a lot. and said, “You should share the cacao pods We had just finished carving our new steam because the earth people need to have the cooker and I had been sent out to forage for some beauty not just you!” Nanahuazin said very angrily, berries, I was quite successful as the clay basket I mas CD – Y “Ha! Never will I share this, it is only for the gods.” had made was half full. rist ear Ch 1 r an “Ok then I will tell the people in the villages,” ou d This was the last night we were spending here as f 2 said Quetzacoatl very happily. o visit – Year 5 the seasons were moving on and we moved with g an in Suddenly Quetzacoatl turned into a frog, very r D the seasons because so did our foods. d e ell – Yea r g onn r 2 o like the glamorous edge of the large lake. n c a 5 I went to check if my brother Fox, had finished ’D R O e r y The little blue frog hopped on a field where some a is R e fishing yet. We had checked yesterday what kind a children were playing and the frog started to sing Y D – of animals were left, but there were only squirrels y t b “Rrrreeep. Rrrreeep. Sun god hides his treasure i is left and they were very, very skinny. – v ry ’ deep. By the pond, inside large pods he hides ke n Ro Ba i berts We had just eaten and were getting ready to a the secret food of Gods.” h sleep. c

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to 1 t r h a ASPIRE e e ASPIRE M Y 06 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS em s – ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 07 orial Garden AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016 Technology:

The teaching of mindfulness in schools gives children a toolkit that they can use as they go through life. It has been described as ‘the WD40 of education’, helping

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to introduce the girls to this concept. The aim of n r o d l ‘myHappymind’ is to help schools ‘develop resilient F M children who celebrate themselves and others, build r d E n a a positive relationships and thrive’. r r n lo sh y a Ta w h Congratulations to Mrs Williams who completed a 3 day with Susanna ‘Paws b’ mindfulness training course run by the Mindfulness in Schools Project, over the October half term. This means that she is now qualified to teach mindfulness to children in Years 3 to 6.

During the course the girls will learn about many things, including: With the arrival of the computing curriculum changes and the increasing • Specific areas of the brain and how these affect our ability to focus, make good choices, recognise when we need to steady ourselves when our body or mind is demand for skilled programmers in the busy or out of balance. business world, it is the perfect time to • Ways that mindfulness can support them in many day-to-day activities, including excite our children about the delights concentration and memory, behavioural self- management, and in relationships of coding. with family and friends.

• Ways to respond rather than react – and therefore make better choices and take Year 5 and 6 have experienced block coding when using best care of ourselves. ‘Scratch’ in lessons and the coding club offers them an opportunity to see what goes on ‘behind the scenes’. We have already begun to introduce mindfulness to our Year 6 girls, in the run up to Working with the technology expertise from UK Fast, their entrance exams. the girls have enjoyed learning how to code using Python (programming software) – not a snake in sight! The initial lessons have gone really well, with girls saying: Each week, the girls have developed their skills so that, by half term, they were able to write the code for a game.

I felt really relaxed.” I loved feeling my I felt as though I This term, they are using these skills to program messages breathing.” was in a bubble and games onto BBC Micro:bits and learning to understand all of my own a little about the hardware of a computer and how it works. Mindf lness Mindf and I liked it.” The enthusiasm each Monday is infectious and the girls are We intend to extend the programme to the other Junior classes as the year progresses, thoroughly enjoying the club, as well as developing excellent and Mrs Williams will be running lunchtime drop-in sessions in the New Year too! skills for the future.

ASPIRE ASPIRE 08 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 09 AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016 Gifted & Sport Talented: Art St rs In our Art Stars club, the girls constantly try to improve their skills in the main media for art. This term they have been using acrylics to create Sport continues to develop as the seaside-themed canvases. term progresses and it has been fantastic to see so many girls taking The girls researched seaside artists and paintings, to get some part. Cross country is going from ideas and inspiration. They then started to plan out their art on large canvases, choosing colours and carefully painting strength to strength with great results their scenes. The end results are stunning; full of colour and across all age groups. vibrancy, they would grace any wall. Netball and Hockey fixtures have been fast and furious in the latter few weeks, with some excellent match results being achieved.

ASPIRE ASPIRE 10 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 11 AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016

In any busy day it is important to find something relaxing to do, stop for a chat and simply enjoy one another’s company with no other agenda than usic to enjoy being together! The girls who have chosen to do Knit ‘n’ Natter and What’s new in Music? Music in Craft Club do just this every week. the Junior School has focused on developing the instrumental Our very capable knitters and crafters are proving to be most opportunities available to our girls. competent with knitting needles, templates, scissors and glue and it is wonderful to see the look of pride on their faces each time they learn something new or manage to do something Everyone receives class tuition on an instrument and this that at first they thought too difficult. term we have introduced the use of trombones in Year 5 and ukuleles in Years 3 and 4. The girls have made a fantastic start on these instruments and are managing to produce plenty of loud sounds - especially from the trombones!

The girls have also used steel pan drums in both their class compositions and the new Junior Band, giving a very tropical and upbeat feeling across the department!

In the next edition, we will be telling you all about our Christmas productions.

Pre-School and Nursery – ‘Hip Hip Hooray, a baby King is Born’ Reception – ‘Whoops-a-Daisy Angel’ Infants – ‘Born in a Barn’ Juniors – ‘Stable Manners’

We have also recorded our first ever Junior School Christmas CD. The CD is available to purchase for £10.00 by emailing [email protected].

J u D ni C or s S ma chool Christ Enrichment: Creative Clubs

ASPIRE ASPIRE 12 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 13 AUTUMN TERM 2016 AUTUMN TERM 2016

Celebrati n School Board Vision This term saw the launch of our very own Celebration Board, celebrating #1. DREAM To be loved and trusted as an academic school that successes that our girls have had both in School and outside. Here are a few! nurtures girls to be happy, confident and resilient and who reach their potential in whichever field they choose.

rns s n-Hall d Ava B rs-McC #2. CHARACTER Bu urn do k an yg be affr a B ed ar lle rav am ey tin lle S l be e h Happy Dynamic n e ia C a C e b v ia n l a li l n ly Academic United a s a i V I O T A L Nurturing Ambitious Fun Committed Inclusive Friendly Aspirational

#3. BELIEFS Providing an outstanding, educational journey to girls from the age of two to eighteen

Inspiring girls to achieve and to be the very best Dancing - Ballroom Gymnastics Fell Running they can be Isabelle and Valentina Burns love ballroom dancing and regularly Olivia Seddon-Hall and Talia Clark, competed at the Milano Annabelle and Ava Bygrave ran The Dovedale Dash! experience great success on the ballroom dancing circuit. invitational in Preston. They both did brilliantly! This is a famous Peak District fell run and around 1700 Giving every individual girl a truly holistic people took part! educational experience Their latest success was at the North West Supadance League Within her age category Olivia won gold on the vault, silver on the competition where Valentina came 3rd in the Under 8s Waltz floor and bronze on the beam. Overall she was placed second – Ava came first in the Under 8 Junior race which was Embracing the very best in technology to provide and Isabelle came first in both the Under 12s Waltz and fantastic! 2km long. a personalised approach to learning Quickstep, and the Under 12s Samba and Jive. Talia won the cup for Best Overall Gymnast along with gold Annabelle came second in the Under 14 Senior race Welcoming girls of all faiths in a school with a Dancing - Ballet medals for her performance on the bars, beam and vault. She which was 7km long. strong Christian ethos Charlotte Stanley danced at the World Dance Competition in also won the Artist Cup for Performance. Great work Talia! Jersey. She was in a ballet troupe performing the Ugly Duckling. Wow! Well done! Producing successful citizens for the future with Charlotte’s troupe dance came 5th in the world! Olivia also went to Liverpool to compete in the Cheshire global awareness, empathy and a strong moral and Merseyside competition. She said it was very tough but Remembrance Day compass enjoyable! She came 1st on the bars, 5th on the beam, 5th on Lily Chambers-McCaffrey took part in her local the floor and 1st in the vault. She also came 1st overall winning Remembrance Day parade and proudly wore her Supporting girls with superb pastoral care; one a beautiful trophy and three gold medals! great-grandfather’s medals. which develops girls’ resilience, self-confidence ey g Stanl atien ridin and self-belief te on am ot D Chess Art H rl la ie a y tt h a Kayla and Rhianna Donatien took part in the ‘Megafinals’, the Hattie Hamriding has a Working in partnership with parents to guide C K county stage of the prestigious UK Chess Challenge which was completed, with distinction, H girls throughout their school life held at Cheadle Hulme School. They were competing against the the first stage of an advanced top girls in Cheshire and North Wales. Junior Master Class course. #4. SPIRIT She has been learning the “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” The girls dealt well with the pressure, even when they technical side of painting with had to play with a chess clock. Both girls played brilliantly oils on canvas. Her teacher is #5. FOCUS and Kayla came first in the Under 7 Girls’ Section and Janice Sylvia Brock. Confidence and self-belief won a trophy.

ASPIRE ASPIRE 14 ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS ALDERLEY EDGE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 15 Alderley Edge School for Girls, Wilmslow Road, Cheshire, SK9 7QE T. 01625 583028 E. [email protected] www.aesg.co.uk @schoolforgirls /Alderley-Edge-School-For-Girls

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