Animation magic.

Have you every wondered what it takes to create an animation movie like Wallace and Gromit or Toy Story? Well, some pupils from Year 3 and 4 had the exciting opportunity to use some computer programmes that help create stop action animation movies. Light Bot was used to practise writing precise computer code using protocol procedures.( This could be frustrating at times when the robot didn't behave as you thought it might!). Hollie showed an excellent programming approach in ensuring she tested out each stage  before moving on. Working alongside other able pupils from the Rushmoreable cluster, Newport's ICT wizards used both Pivot and Zimmer Twins  to create their own  exciting, action packed animated movie. " It was a fantastic morning", commented Krish . A big thank you to Hawley Primary for hosting this half term's  Rushmoreable workshop co-ordinated by Mrs Fieldgate.

Mad as a Hatter

Mad as a Hatter!

We have been very creative in year 3, following our own instructions to give the Mad Hatter a tea party to remember.

We created the food following our own instructions and we even made the Mad Hatter some new tea cups.

Our parents joined us for the tea-party and we all wore our maddest hat!

Christmas 1914

Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat, but at Newport, we are a little more interested in the Christmas productions, which are just a week or so away!  While Years 4, 5 and 6 are putting on a performance of "Christmas 1914", Year 3 will be giving a concert on the Friday of the same week as the show.

"I've got mud... everywhere!"

Year Five's rehearsals are now going full steam ahead, as these photos show.  








It's going to be even better when the children are actually in costume!

"I wish that I could come back home..."

"War's a dirty business..."

"Stoke the boilers, oil the wheels..."

"Just as good as men, we're proving..."

"And as soon as I'm back in Blighty..."

"Cross my heart, I think of you a lot..."

Tickets will be available soon, so look out for the letter with all the details.

Year Five Trip to Hampton Court.

After weeks of anticipation, Thursday 20th November arrived at last, and Year Five set off on their trip to Hampton Court Palace in London in great excitement.

Upon our arrival, while 5P and 5A were visiting the Royal Apartments, 5M were whisked away to visit King Henry's kitchens.  They have now been restored to a little of their former glory, and the children saw the old ovens with examples of the kitchen equipment of the time:

the kinds of foods that would have been eaten at the time of Henry VIII:

and the tableware!

 
















5A had brought their own personal spit-boy with them, as we can see, but after a very short time, he decided that he wouldn't have fancied roasting cuts of meat all day, as it was far too much like hard work - and very, very warm.

 















We were very lucky that Mark was there to tell us all about the kitchens and Tudor Cookery.  At weekends, he actually does the cooking for the tourists, and you can buy the meats he cooks at the Palace Cafe!
 

 














After lunch, in the old buttery, it was time to play some games.  But these ones were found in the Great Watching Chamber, where nobles kicked their heels waiting for Henry to invite them into the Royal Apartments to discuss matters.  Clearly our girls were not going to waste their time doing nothing!

Although we saw a number of people dressed as Tudor folk, from the King and his courtiers, to the kitchen workers, none of them were as determined not to talk as this chap!  Clearly, his silence intrigued the children!

After a long, but very enjoyable day, it was time to set off home.  The children were inspired by the visit, so look out for our display next to the office!  It'll be going up in the next couple of weeks!

MPs for the future?

This week, Year Five participated in a debate based upon their work on Alfred Noyes' poem, "The Highwayman".  They had to deliberate whether the deaths of the two main characters were justified or not.

After a few days preparation in class, the whole year group divided into those who were to debate on the side of those who felt the Highwayman and his love, Bess, should die, and those who did not.

The debate was a roaring success, with the children showing great politeness and respect for those whose opinion differed from their own.  They listened carefully to each others' points, and responded using the language of debate that they had learned in class.

As the debate continued, more and more of the children wished to present their point of view.   While the teachers watched their good manners and polite behaviour, they were reminded of the Youth Parliament, which took over the House of Commons just a few weeks ago.  Looks like we have some children with strong views who could be representing the NE of Hampshire at Westminster in six or seven years time.  Perhaps we are looking at a future Prime Minister here!

Clearly their powers of persuasion were phenomenal, as the majority of the children had changed their viewpoints to those of the opposing side by the end of the debate!  (With such fantastic persuasive powers, I worry for their parents as Christmas comes our way!)

Midsummer Night's Dream

On Wednesday 9th July 2014, our school hall was taken over with nobles from Ancient Athens, and mischievous fairies, as Y6 put on their final performance of their Newport Junior School career.  It was a wonderful afternoon, and even better evening, and the children really put their hearts and souls into the show.

 Puck and the fairies find themselves in a pickle, as Oberon and Titania are minutes away from being in the same place, at the same time...

 The local townsfolk decide to put on a play to entertain the nobility at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta.  Are they, possibly, the worst set of actors in the town?

 The fairies have succeeded in chasing away Puck.

 Oberon shows just how angry he is with Puck, as his hench-elves look on.

Titania falls headlong in love with a donkey, after some moonlit magic on the part of Oberon.





















Titania's and the fairies' costumes were made by Mrs Wiseman, who made sure that each costume was beautifully designed around their names - Mustardseed, Moth, Ladybird for example.  The children were certainly delighted with them!  Oberon's head-dress was a wonder to behold!

After such a success in the summer, we are delighted to inform you that the Christmas production will be on the 10th and 11th of December this year, and is from the same creative team.  It will be part of our 1914 commemoration of the start of WW1, 100 years ago.  The children are looking forward to presenting it to their parents, as there are some terrific songs - as usual.

Newport pupils work with celebrated children's writer,G.P Taylor.

Talented writers from Newport had the wonderful opportunity to spend the day working with the celebrated children's writer G.P Taylor. Critics have proclaimed this talented author as the next C.S Lewis (The lion, the witch and the wardrobe ) and a worthy successor to J.K Rowling (Harry Potter ) so it was fabulous for Jonny, Thea and Arthur to work with Graham on getting to grips with creating new and exciting characters. A master of suspense , this New York Times acclaimed author shared his tips on how to quickly get started writing. Reading extracts his own work, Graham gave an insight into how he gained inspiration for intriguing situations that are full of twists and turns as well as creating  interesting characters from the world around you. A big thank you to Mrs Brierley, Newport's English curriculum governor, who accompanied the children on this memorable day. GP Taylor signed several copies of his latest book, Mariah Mundi The Midas Box which are now available for all pupils to borrow from the school library.

Maths is everywhere!

Have you ever wondered what hurricanes, the galaxy and the number of petals on a flower have in common?  Well, some mathematicians in Year 4 spend an extremely interesting and practical afternoon finding out the link between maths and the world around us.  As part of our regular Rushmoreable workshops organised by Mrs Fieldgate, Newport children worked alongside pupils from six other schools to examine number patterns. Using the playground as a giant piece of paper, the patterns were represented in a series of golden rectangles-expertly linked together by Alfie using brightly coloured chalk. Everyone was amazed at the wonders of the Fibonacci sequence and everyone agreed that “maths is everywhere!”.  A  very big thank you to Cranford Park for hosting the workshop and more events are planned for the coming year.

We do like Mondays....

Monday was a little bit different for Newport's Year Six pupils this week as they had the wonderful opportunity to  experience  drama, music and modern foreign language workshops at The Connaught school. Leaving Newport shortly after assembly time, pupils walked  the short distance to our local secondary school. The whole day was spent enjoying the delights of drama which included a variety of great games including "What are you doing? "and "Animal antics" that really helped listening, concentration and performance skills. Miss Clements led two great sessions that enabled every pupil to become more confident in their  own performance. ( Ideal timing for Newport pupils as the play scripts for the Christmas extravaganza have just been issued by Mrs Austin).

 
 
 
 
 
 
Miss Hardiman, from Connaught's music department, led an African  themed  workshop in which  pupils learnt  that over 54 countries make up  this  amazing continent! Focussing on South Africa, pupils  warmed  up  with a  variety  of  fun musical  games including" The musical lift" and  "Clap that one out"  before performing close harmonies to  the folk song, Wimoweh.

The afternoon was spend with the modern foreign languages department where pupils had great opportunity to practise their French and German in a carousel of activities that helped widen vocabulary in both these important languages.

Further workshops have been planned for the 2015 Spring term and both pupils and staff had a great time working together on this project.

 

Brilliant book week

As part  book week celebrations, Newport warmly welcomed back Bigfoot theatre productions to help springboard their creative writing ideas. Every class had a specially tailored drama workshop with the actress, Miss Sanderson; pupils in years 3 /4  examined imaginary/fantasy settings for their stories whilst years 5/6 were looking back in time with stories in a historical setting. Using drama games and the powerful technique of freeze framing, every child created their own story.

Back in class, Newport pupils eagerly mapped out their story plans . Letting their imaginations fly, the children  wrote an  amazing range of stories. On Friday, many pupils shared their stories with the rest of the class. Some of the historical settings chosen by year  six pupils included Tudors, World War II , Victorians and  the 1950s was popular. One Year six pupil wrote a story about how our greatest playwright, William Shakespeare overcame writer's block (when you can't think what to write next). Well done to everyone involved and a special thank you to Mrs Shuttleworth for organising such a wonderful week of activities.

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Fabulous fun with forces.

This half term's topic for Year 6 is the excitingly titled  "What goes up!". Pupils have been getting to grips with all the different types of forces we encounter in everyday life- gravity, friction, air resistance and up thrust to name but a few in their science lessons. However at Newport we like to make learning active and fun so what better way than a visit to Chessington World of Adventure.

During the visit, all the pupils participated in an interactive workshop on forces held in the Education Centre. The importance of forces in the design of a thrilling ride were highlighted using the actual rides in the park. Throughout the morning, pupils  participated in quizzes, carried out experiments and learnt about other types of forces such as centripetal which keeps the water in a beaker when you spin it at high speed!
After lunch pupils were split into small groups to explore the rides that were appropriate to their height. It was an afternoon of firsts for many, including the staff, not just having their first ride at an adventure park but also overcoming their fears. Encouraged by their fellow pupils, in a very kind and caring way, many of Newport's pupils found they actually enjoyed rides that they might not had had the courage to go on alone. Mrs Wiseman's group loved the  Bubble Works ride so much they had four goes on it during the day! Vampire, Kobra and Dragon's fury were sampled by our more confident thrill seekers including Mrs Fry however Scorpion Express was a favourite with Mrs Fieldgate's group. Some  pupils also  managed to visit the Sea Life centre with fish of all shapes and sizes including stingrays and sharks.

Getting ready to move on...

The year is quickly drawing to an end and year 3 have spent some time with their new year 4 techers to get to know them better.

The year 2 children that will be moving to Newport have spent some time getting to know their teachers and have had the chance to attend an art club after school so they get used to being in a new building!

Here are some of the robots they created on their last session...

 

Year 3 also spent a lovely day at Kew Gardens the other week admiring the beautiful plants & fantastic scenery. The behaviour was beautiful and all the children should be proud of themselves!