On Thursday 17^th November these children from UIV took part in the Bradford Girls’ Grammar School Speaking Competition.  This was a new venture for The Gleddings’ pupils and our pioneers spoke with clarity, intelligence and confidence on a range of subjects including what makes a good school and what they would like to see happen in the world.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would like to thank all those involved in making it possible.

This weeks winners are the ‘Green’ team

Nursery person of the week - Isabelle Hancox

YOU CHOOSE BADGE WINNERS:

LI – Scarlett Dickinson (11)

FI – Harrison Allen (16)

FII – Ellis Milner (13)

FIII – Jemima Evans (18)

LIV – Alice Hutchings (12)

MIV – Anna Hayward (14)

UIV – Jasmine Greenwood (19)

Sports person:

Ben Wheeler

Musician of the week:

Victoria Levery

On Friday 25^th November, we welcomed The Reverend Martin Russell, the vicar at St. Jude’s Church, into school.  In a special assembly, he told us all about the significance of the Christingle and invited everyone to a special Christingle service at St. Jude’s at 4pm on Sunday 4^th December.

Children who would like to go to this lovely peaceful service are asked to take with them some money in a small candle-shaped container(available in school), as their contribution towards the work of The Children’s Society, a charity which works with vulnerable and disadvantaged children in this country who are in desperate need of help.

Reverend Russell explained to us about the symbolism of the Christingle:

The orange represents the world

The red ribbon indicates the love and blood of Christ

The dried fruits and sweets are symbols of God’s creations

The lit candle symbolises Jesus, the light of the world.

These two girls kindly brought along some of the items from home which they use to help them to practise their faith, Islam.  Their classmates were fascinated to learn about Islamic traditions and to hear the girls reciting confidently in Arabic.

In Middle IV, we enjoy learning about one another’s beliefs and agree that everyone should be free to follow their faith joyously.

Examining Arabic script

This is a prayer mat which children use.  Adults need a bigger one!

This is the special headwear I wear when I go to the mosque.

We read Arabic script from right to left across the page.

These are special prayer beads which help us to say our prayers.

The Quran is a holy book.  This one is digital!  Press a button to hear a translation in the language of your choice.

We are very proud of this young lady from Upper IV who did a fantastic job representing The Gleddings at London’s Olympia in the final round of The Junior Language Challenge.  It was an amazing achievement to reach the final of a national competition, and learning three languages is no mean feat!

On Tuesday 22nd November, we were all delighted to welcome Craig Bradley, ‘that poetry bloke’, back into school.  Great fun was had by all who were lucky enough to have a session with him on this occasion.  It is lovely when poetry makes children ‘as high as kites’!

Everywhere you look, there are huddles of children reading Craig’s new collection of poems and being inspired to use their own imaginations and ‘let words dance’.

This weeks winners are the ‘Green’ team

Nursery person of the week - Oliver O’Connor

YOU CHOOSE BADGE WINNERS:

LI – Olivia Ackroyd (10)

FI – Claudia Cattell (13)

FII – Lucy Bingham (14)

FIII – Emily Lack (18)

LIV – Harriett Dalby (13)

MIV – Evie King (6)
Rory Evans (10)
BANKING: Sean Gan (6)

UIV – Fizah Hasan (23)

Kindness cup:

Henry Hirst

We knew you could do it:

Lydia Depledge-Miller

Sports person:

Luke Bates

Musician of the week:

Georgia Davies

School Council Award:

Marisa Turner (UIV)
Marmaduke Hall (UIV)
Anna Hayward (MIV)
Elliot Lack (MIV)
Harriett Dalby (LIV)
Dominic Hawes (LIV)
Catherine Shaw (FIII)
Isabella O’Toole (FIII)
Max Duffy (FIII)
Mae Wadsworth (FII)
Kassim Zaman (FII)

On 10^th November, we were delighted to welcome 25 children and 6 teachers from The Experimental Primary School of Beijing Normal University. The Gleddings children greeted the visitors with a chorus of huānyĭng (欢迎) – welcome.

Upper IV performed their favourite bi-lingual song for their guests – the ‘Jelly Bean Song’. It is a song to learn about colours in Mandarin. A boy from Middle IV sang a children’s song in Mandarin named Xiāo (箫), meaning Flute. The Chinese children who know this traditional song were delighted to join in with the singing.

The children asked questions about each other’s school life. We found out that school days last from 8.00am until 3.40pm at the Beijing school and there are six lessons a day. Morning exercises for the body and mind as well as eye massage sessions to cure tired eyes are also included in the daily routine.

Although it was a short visit, all the boys and girls have found the whole experience really useful and wonderful as they have learned so much linguistically, musically and socially.

The Gleddings School hosted a special performance given by the young musicians of The Experimental Primary School of Beijing Normal University. The free performance was held at Square Chapel Centre for the Arts on 10^th November. Children from local schools were invited to attend this performance of high quality along with the children from The Gleddings.

There are 25 children in the group and they have been preparing their debut UK repertoire for some time. This is their first trip to the UK, though they have been playing to audiences in China and overseas (e.g. USA, Japan, Singapore etc) for many years.

The performance began with rousing marching music from the wind ensemble. They delighted the audience and set the mood for the rest of the hour. The performance continued with a programme of traditional Chinese music and Western music on various instruments such as trumpet, saxophone and piano as well as Tai Chi performance and diabolo (Chinese yo-yo) performance.

The audience had a wonderful afternoon as the venue was filled with deafening applause for these talented children from Beijing.

Here are some photographs which show just how wonderful the performance was!

In dance lessons this term, MIV children are studying different styles of dance.  We have started with a flamenco dance where the children have used clapping rhythms, stamping feet, sweeping turns and arms arching over their heads.