Date 9th December 2016

The Head’s update Dear Parents What a busy week! Our youngest girls in our school community performed the Brightest Star to packed audiences, Year 5 have sung at John Lewis and many trips have happened. I hope you enjoying reading about all the activities below.

The Snowman inspires the orchestra! The Junior School Orchestra enjoyed a trip to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, click here to read more.

Crucial Crew On Monday, Year 6 went to ‘Crucial Crew’ at Boulders. There were lots of different stations for us to visit including: Rail Safety, Western Electricity Board, Self-Defence and Food Hygiene. We learnt a lot about keeping safe in our day to day lives such as how careful we need to be when we travel by train. Did you know that electricity travels faster than the speed of light and can travel around the world 7 times in 1 second! We had a fabulous morning and would like to thank Mr Del Amo, Mr Jones and Mrs Da Gama for joining us.

Plantasia Year 6 finished off their autumn term topic with an exciting trip to a rainforest this week! They visited Plantasia in Swansea and took part in an art workshop, studying the different shapes and textures that can be found within the plant life of the rainforest and developing their sketches in a range of media. The girls were also able to explore the Hot House, giving them a real sense of the sounds, atmosphere, plants and even animals that would be found in the Tropical Rainforest.

Year 5 perform at John Lewis The Evening of Glamour and Glitz at John Lewis is one of the highlights of the Christmas season at

Howell’s and this year it took place on Wednesday 7th December form 5pm to 7pm. Click here for more

information.

Year 3 - Bridges to Schools Engineering was the focus of the day in the Sports Hall at Howell’s on Tuesday 6th December as we

welcomed Costain Construction to lead our annual Bridges to Schools event. Click here for more

information.

The Brightest Star Girls from Nursery to Year 2 performed exceptionally this week in the production of ‘The Brightest Star’. Stars, Angels, Marys and Josephs, Kings, Innkeepers, Narrators, Shepherds and our little smiley sheep sang and danced their way through the Christmas Nativity. Well done girls, we are so proud of you!

Junior Christmas Music on the Bandstand 2016! Once again, there will be music in the Pavilion in the car park during the final full week of term! Parents are very welcome to come along and listen (or even sing!) at the times listed below. Many of our Junior instrumental and vocal ensembles will be appearing. If the weather is particularly inclement, we will perform in the Junior Music Room!

Christmas Parties Girls may wear their party clothes to school for the class Christmas party on the following day. Please wear sensible shoes and have a waterproof coat. Monday 12th Year 1 and 2 Tuesday 13th Year 3 and 4 Wednesday 14th Nursery and Reception Thursday 15th Year 6 Friday 16th Year 5

Monday 12th December From 3pm to 3.20pm Year 1 and 2 Choir Junior Flute Choir Beginners’ Flute Choir Shake, Rattle & Roll Percussion Group

Wednesday 14th December From 3pm to 3.20pm 4S Class Brass Polished Brass Guitar Stars Junior Rock Band Skills

Friday 16th December From 3pm to 3.20pm Junior Orchestra String Machine

Urdd Regional Swimming Gala On Wednesday November 30th the Urdd held their annual regional swimming gala at Penarth Leisure Centre, where 18 schools from all over Cardiff competed for a place in the National Urdd Finals. Only the fastest overall swimmer in an individual event or school team relay event are eligible to represent the region in the finals, so congratulations to our Years 5/6 team who made a clean sweep, qualifying for both the freestyle and medley relays. A special mention for those swimmers who, against stiff opposition, swam so well in their individual races, Daisy B and Eleni S in the 50m Butterfly, Honor F and Amber P in the 50m Freestyle, Ella H and Amber P in the 50m Backstroke, Carys H and Abigail M in the 50m Breaststroke and finally Emilia W and Daisy B in the 100m Individual Medley, these swimmers all came so close to qualifying for the final. Good luck to our relay teams who will be competing against the rest of the Welsh regions at the National Finals on Saturday 21st January at Cardiff International Pool.

Breakfast Club and After School Care From Monday, 12th December, Breakfast Club and After School Care will be back in the Junior School Hall. Thank you for you co-operation this week whilst it was in the Nursery.

Year 5 and 6 Performing at the Carol Service Years 5 and 6 will be singing on Tuesday 13th December at 1.45pm in Llandaff Cathedral, please can the girls wear full winter uniform (tartan skirts, not trousers) and a school coat must be worn. Thank you for your co-operation. There are no tickets required and we would recommend parents arrive early in order to get a good seat.

Junior School Clubs As we are approaching the end of term, many of our extra-curricular clubs are finishing for the holiday. Please check the list below to see which date each club ends for this term. The information regarding Spring term clubs will be published before the end of term.

Clubs finishing week ending Friday 16th December

Newspaper Infant choir Computer club Football Speech and Drama

Ballet Jazz Chess Cookery Resolve It Superhero Academy

Group Final Rehearsal Final Performance

Junior Flute Choir Monday 12th December Monday 12th December - Bandstand

Y1&2 Choir Monday 12th December Monday 12th December - Bandstand

Junior Radio Finished for the term Recording to be played in classrooms w/b 12th December

Shake Rattle & Roll Finished for the term Monday 12th December - Bandstand

Junior Rock 1 Additional rehearsal session on Wednesday 14th

Wednesday 14th December – Bandstand for those groups ready to perform

String Machine Additional rehearsal session on Wednesday 14th

Friday 16th December - Bandstand

Polished Brass Wednesday 14th December Wednesday 14th December - Bandstand

Guitar Stars Wednesday 14th December Wednesday 14th December - Bandstand

JCC Final JCC on Friday 9th Thursday 15th December – performance to Junior School in assembly

Band Skills Additional rehearsal session on Wednesday 14th

Wednesday 14th December - Bandstand

Junior Orchestra Finished for the term Friday 16th December - Bandstand

Beginners’ Flute Choir Friday 9th December & Monday 12th December

Monday 12th December - Bandstand

JCC Final JCC on Friday 9th December

Thursday 15th December – performance to Junior School in assembly

Christmas Jumper Day We are taking part in ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ on Friday 16th December, please wear your Christmas jumper over your school uniform. Donations can be brought in for the Save the Children charity if you wish.

Uniform Girls should wear navy hats, scarves and gloves to school. Please ensure all your daughters’ accessories are clearly identifiable with a name label. Thank you.

GDST Postcard Art Earlier this term Howell’s took part in the GDST’s Postcard Art Competition. Winning entries from students and Hywelians were exhibited in an art gallery in London in October and an online exhibition of the cards has been created which can be seen by clicking here.

Christmas Fair 2016 On Friday 2nd December, we kicked off the festive season in style with the Howell’s Christmas Fair which

took place in the Sports Hall, Dining Room and Day Room. Click here for more information.

Parent Blog The latest instalment of our Parent Blog is available to read by clicking here.

Junior School Dates

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Judith Ashill Head of Howell’s Junior School Deputy Principal

Tuesday 13th December Year 5 and 6 singing at the whole school carol service at Llandaff Cathedral at 1.45pm

Friday 16th December Christmas Jumper Day

Monday 19th December Christmas Lunch

Tuesday 20th December School finishes at 1pm – There will be NO After School Care

Diary Dates! Carol Services Our annual carol services will take place in the stunning surroundings of Llandaff Cathedral on Tuesday

13th December. There will be two services, one at 1.45pm and another at 7.00pm, which will include

performances from the Junior School Choir (afternoon only) Senior Choir, College Choir, Youth Choir, Jazz

Group and Orchestra. The services will also incorporate readings from students, staff and governors. There

are no tickets required and we recommend arriving early in order to get a good seat.

Volvo Presents: An Evening with Hannah Mills We are delighted to let you know that following her gold medal winning performance at the Rio Olympics in

the summer, Hywelian sailor Hannah Mills will be returning to Howell’s as part of our Hywelians Return to

Howell’s initiative. Howell’s will host an exclusive evening, sponsored by Volvo, with Hannah, who was

recently voted World Sailor of the Year, at 7pm on Friday 20th January, and we would love it if you could

join us for this exciting evening. Tickets cost £25 and include drinks on arrival, live entertainment from Lee

Gilbert, canapés, a charity auction and, of course, an inspirational talk from Hannah. Her London 2012

silver and Rio 2016 gold medals will be in the room to hold and get a picture with and you will have time to

chat with Hannah and ask about her experiences. The evening will raise funds for the RNLI Penarth

Lifeboat Appeal and The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. Click here to buy tickets.

Parent Pyramid – Save the Dates! The next Parent Pyramid Drop In sessions will take place in the hub@howells on the following dates:

Friday 3rd Feb at 9am

Wednesday 29th March at 7pm

TOOT over the Christmas Holidays

The TOOT Holiday Club will be open during the third week of the Christmas holidays

from Tuesday 3rd – Friday 6th January 2017 (4 days). It is open to 3 – 9 year olds, Nursery to Year 4, and their siblings both male and female.

The theme will be ‘Frosty the Snowman’.

TOOT is open from 8am until 6pm and will be based in the Nursery rooms.

The cost is £40 per day to include all meals and snacks, a wide range of activities such as

swimming, yoga, art, craft and cookery, a trip out on Thursdays and indoor and outdoor creative

play in the extensive school grounds and gardens.

For more information or to make a booking, email TOOT@how.gdst.net as soon as possible.

9th December 2016 Dear Girls

GDST CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION

Following the success of the Creative Writing Competition over the last few years, the GDST is very pleased to offer

girls the chance to take part in another writing competition this year during the Christmas holidays.

Your story/creative writing piece can be fictional or factual and should be based around the theme of ‘Courage’. This

should allow you space to express your thoughts, feelings, experiences and demonstrate your creativity through

words.

The entries will be adjudicated by author, Harriet Goodwin (a GDST alumna) and the finalists for each age group will be featured on the GDST website.

The word limit for each piece is 1,000 words (not including the title) and each girl may put forward one entry to the competition.

Process

Students from all year groups will be able to submit an entry of up to 1,000 words (not including the title) to their school.

Each school can submit one short story or creative writing piece for each of the following age group categories:

Years 1 and 2 Years 3 and 4 Years 5 and 6

Each entry should be typed on a Word document with the following information clearly indicated on the document:

§ The pupil’s name, school and year group

§ The title of the story

§ Number of words used (not including the title)

§ Confirmation that permission is granted to publicise the piece and in particular post it onto the GDST website

together with the pupil’s name

By entering, you are giving the GDST permission to publicise the piece and in particular post it onto the GDST website together with your name, if you are a finalist. Please return your finished story to Miss Kenyon by emailing it to: junsec@how.gdst.net using ‘GDST Writing Competition’ as the subject. Entries should be emailed to school by Tuesday, 10th January 2017 at the latest. We are sure you’ll agree this is a very exciting competition, and we hope that as many of you as possible will demonstrate your creative flair by entering! Good Luck! Miss Kenyon