15th May 2015 Dear Parents

Staff News Following her maternity leave, Miss Laura Davies will return to teach in Nursery after half term to cover Miss Gordon.

Thank you to Mrs Victoria Jones for covering so far, her last day in Nursery will be Friday 22nd May. We are grateful for all her hard work.

Drumming Workshop Year 1 were excited to welcome Aaron Meli from ‘Slapping Skins’ on Tuesday and he entertained them with a wonderful African drumming display. They then enjoyed a workshop, and had the opportunity to play lots of different rhythms and some fabulous drumming games on a variety of hand drums collected on many visits to this amazing continent. The girls will now use the experience to make up their own drumming sequences and activities and we will incorporate these into our end of term presentation.

Senedd Trip Year Four were lucky enough to visit the on Tuesday. Firstly, they visited Siambr Hywel where they learned about the 's powers in . The girls were able to participate in an interesting debate and vote to discuss smoking in cars containing children under 18. They were encouraged to see both sides of the argument but voted in favour of a ban. Later, they toured the Senedd building and watched assembly members prepare for the afternoon's proceedings in the Siambr. A great day was had by all. Many thanks to Mrs Hamzelou and Mrs Earle for their help.

Sports News Rounders In the beautiful sunshine on Wednesday 13th May, teams from Year 5 and Year 6 played Rounders matches on the school field against The Cathedral School. All four games were very closely contested, with some great hitting and fielding on display! It was a real credit to the girls' commitment to Rounders clubs that have been running weekly since the Easter break. Year 6 performed particularly well, and were able to win both of their matches! Year 5 narrowly lost out in both of their matches, but are keen for revenge in the coming months!

Tennis On Thursday 14th May, two teams from Year 5 played in the Games Mini Green Tennis competition at David Lloyd Tennis Centre. With everything being played indoors due to the weather, the girls rattled through a number of matches, combining to defeat teams from Llysfaen Primary, Rumney Primary, Whitchurch Primary and Ysgol Pwll Coch. Team A, made up of Becky D, Becky L, Bella Mc and Aaya M won their group and went on to convincingly defeat Llysfaen A 6-0 in the final! Team B, made up of Olivia H, Lily B, Anna L and Caitlin E finished second in their group (behind Llysfaen A) and went on to capture third place by winning the remaining playoff game! This was a real achievement for Team B, many of which had never played a competitive tennis match before. Thanks to the success of both teams, Howell's School are now top of the Cardiff Games leaderboard heading into the final few sporting events of the season! This is a fantastic achievement for the girls!

Swimming Gala Next Week for Years 3 to 6

Our swimming gala for girls in Years 3 to 6 will take place at the Cardiff International Pool, on Thursday, 21st May. Parents are welcome to attend. All the girls will participate, competing in at least one race each.

The approximate timings of the races are as follows:

Year 4 9.30am - 10.10am Year 3 10.10am - 10.50am Year 5 11.00am - 11.40am Year 6 11.40am – 12.20pm

Girls should wear their swimming costumes under their PE kit and bring a t-shirt to wear at the poolside. As the girls will be competing for their house, they may like to wear a t-shirt of their house colour.

Infant Swimming Gala – Friday 22nd May The annual Swimming Gala for girls in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be held next Friday 22nd May at school. All the girls will participate throughout the day, competing in at least two races each. Each year group will take it in turn to spend time at the school pool. Girls should bring their usual swimming kit (including a swim hat and goggles if required) plus a t-shirt to wear at the poolside. As the girls will be competing for their house, they may like to wear a t-shirt of their house colour. Unfortunately, we do not have room for any parents to watch the races.

Junior Orchestra Open Rehearsals on Monday 18th May Would you like to know what goes on in a Junior Orchestra Rehearsal? On Monday the Junior Orchestra will be hosting two Open Rehearsals:

 The first from 12.45 to 1.15pm where any girls in Years 2-6 can experience the wonder of being part of an orchestra – the girls can just come along to the Music Room to see what goes on!

 And the second from 3.30 to 4.15pm where any parents and staff are welcome to join us at our final rehearsal of the year. You are very welcome to bring along an instrument to join in too or, if you prefer, you can just come to listen! We have parts for most instruments and abilities! You don’t have to have a daughter in the orchestra to come along! We look forward to seeing you and/or you daughter!

Mr Beckett

Nursery News This week we went to visit Ian the Gardener at his greenhouse. We helped him to plant the Christmas Orange seedlings into bigger pots ready for Christmas. He showed us the different parts of the plant and we had to be very careful as we re-potted them because the stems and roots were very fragile. We then chose our favourite colour begonia to plant back in Nursery. Guess which colour was the most popular – yes pink! Do you know it takes 800 begonias to fill the circular bed as you come into school – wow that’s a lot of plants! We had a look at the pond and saw some frog spawn, snails and pond skaters having a lovely time skating across the top of the pond.

Having a look at the plants in Ian the Gardener green Miss Jenkins the biology teacher showing us the house. different pond creatures.

Re-potting the Christmas Orange plants

Welsh phrase of the week Mae ... tost 'da fi My ... is hurting

Party Invites Please note if your daughter is handing out party invitations at school they need to be inclusive of the whole class. Otherwise please arrange outside of school. Thank you for your co-operation.

Howell’s Herald The next exciting edition of the Howell’s Herald produced by our girls at Newspaper Club will be on sale next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday priced at 50p.

Snack Morning snack for the girls should consist of fresh fruit or a plain biscuit.

Charity Day It is Charity day next Friday. This is when a selection of KS2 girls volunteer to run a stall during an extended breaktime. All girls from Reception to Year 6 are given the opportunity to purchase items such as sweets and cakes from the stalls and so are welcome to bring in up to £1 in small change. All money raised this time will be donated to ‘Latch’.

Learning Train The links to the class learning trains are as follows:

Nursery Click Here Reception Click Here Year 1 Click Here Year 2 Click Here Inset Day Please remember that the school is closed to pupils on Monday 1st June as it is an Inset Day.

Sports Day Sports Day at Howell’s will be held on Tuesday 14th July at 12 noon for a picnic lunch, if you would like to note the date on your calendar.

Last Sunday the sun shone for our Parents’ Association’s summer car boot sale in the grounds of Howell’s. It was another wonderful occasion and I am extremely grateful to the Parents’ Association for their hard work and commitment to Howell’s. Thank you also to everyone who joined us on the day.

Mock Election A close mock election was held at school on Thursday 7th May, the date of the General Election. Click here for more information.

Music Matters We are delighted that the spring edition of our Music department’s newsletter, Music Matters, is available to read by clicking here. I hope you enjoy reading all about the musical achievements of students throughout the entire school and college.

Sports Successes This week has been another successful sporting week at Howell’s. Click here for more information.

Senior School Ski Trip – Easter 2015 57 excited students from Years 8 and 9 set off for the beautiful ski resort of St Anton in Austria on the last day of the Spring Term. Click here to find out more about their trip.

Congratulations Congratulations to Year 13’s Annabel Curle for completing her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Girls qualify for Wales Chess Megafinal 2015 Well done to all the girls who qualified for the Wales Finals in Cardiff on Saturday 9th May. Click here for more information.

Hywelians are interviewed for Oral History Project 2015 On Wednesday 13th May we welcomed to school Hywelians Dr Judith Foy, Mrs Sue Rayner and Mrs Liz Williams, who had willingly volunteered to be interviewed by four Year 8 girls, Martha H, Aya K, Ellie M and Morwenna B, about their schooldays. Click here for more information.

Charity Golf Day We are keeping our fingers crossed that the sun shines for our third Charity Golf Day which is taking place this coming Tuesday, 19th May, at the Vale Resort. We very much look forward to welcoming our golfers and dinner guests. There are limited places available at the drinks reception and dinner in the evening at the cost of £45 per person. If you’re not a golfer but would like to join us for dinner and drinks you would be very welcome. Please email [email protected] for details.

Champagne Cycle Challenge – Sunday 5th July Don’t forget that the time has come to think about digging out your Lycra and dusting off your bikes as the date has been set for our third Champagne Cycle Challenge and barbecue. The event will take place on Sunday 5th July and there will be routes for cyclists of all abilities. Even if you don’t cycle you are welcome to join us for the barbecue to welcome back the cyclists. Details will be sent out in the next couple of weeks.

Toot

May half term TOOT week 26 – 29th May 2015

Last call for bookings for the May Half term week. Completed booking forms need to be returned to school with the payment by 4pm Monday 18th May to order to secure a place.

Summer Holiday TOOT dates for your diary Toot will be open for the first 4 weeks of the 6 week summer holiday. Dates are 20 – 24th July, 27 – 31 July, 3-7th August and 10-14th August

Dates for the Summer Term Thur 21st May Swimming Gala at Cardiff International Pool (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6) Mon 25th May to Friday 29th May inclusive – Half Term Mon 1st June 2015 – Inset Day Mon 29th June to Fri 3rd July – Year 6 residential trip Mon 8th June GDST Day of Athletics & Dance Wed 24th June Year 5 and 6 Show 7pm Thur 25th June Year 5 and 6 Show 7pm Sun 5th July Champagne Cycle Challenge Fri 10th July Nursery Celebration with parents 2-3pm Mon 13th July Induction afternoon for new girls and ‘moving up afternoon’ Tue 14th July Sports Day pm Arrive at noon with a picnic lunch Thur 16th July 1.30 – 3pm PA Summer Disco Thur 16th July - End of Summer Term

Have a lovely weekend.

Judith Ashill Head of Howell’s Junior School Deputy Principal