Year 6 Latin Plays

On Wednesday, 20th of March, Year 6 performed their Latin plays in front of Yr 5, Yr 7, and Yr 8. The three plays were all fully in Latin and all the performers had been practising in lessons for weeks. 6KT performed Auromica et Tres Ursi, (Goldilocks and the Three Bears.) 6OS performed Tres Porci Parvi (Three Little Pigs) and 6LP performed Palla Rubra (Little Red Riding Hood). All the props and outfits were brought in by performers and off-stage crew, and all the plays were successful and funny performances.  

Olive, Year 6

World Maths Day

On Friday 22nd March, NHP celebrated International World Maths Day in style! ‘Maths around the world’ was the theme this year.

Reception explored tangrams, a Chinese puzzle consisting of a square cut into seven pieces, and used them to create a range of animals.

The children in the Lower and Middle School based their learning on the book ‘If the world were 100 people’ as a platform to apply their knowledge of number and statistics to real-life situations.

In the Upper School, we explored the philosophical question ‘Is maths a universal language?’ The children put their problem-solving skills to the test by working on number puzzles based around different scripts and playing a range of strategy-based games invented in different countries. We celebrated the diversity in our school by asking the children to teach each other how to count to ten in other languages.

I would like to thank all of the children for their enthusiasm and the fantastic work they produced, and to the teachers for delivering the sessions so passionately!

Mr Lee

Head of Maths

Year 3 Trip to the Roman Verulamium

Last Thursday, year 3 went on an exciting trip to the Verulamium Museum in St Albans. The museum is built on the site of one of the largest Roman cities in Britain and is filled with ancient treasures and mosaics. The children had a wonderful time taking part in a Market Day workshop; they dressed up like a Roman and had to shop in the market to find objects from the Roman times. They also walked around the museum to find out more about life in Roman times to support what we have been learning in history lessons.

Lower School French Day

On Thursday, we celebrated la Francophonie at NHP! Commencing with a petit dejeuner in the OB, where classrooms temporarily became chic Parisian cafés, pupils used their mots magiques, of s’il vous plait and merci, whilst being stylishly dressed to impress. Amongst some really creative costumes, we hosted bakers, artists, a gaggle of Coco Channels, musketeers, Napoléon, a few Marie Curies, La Dame de Fer (the Eiffel Tower) herself and even a few mini Mademoiselle Jamiesons!

In the workshops we arrived at the aeroport de NHP, and Reception travelled to a marché de fruits in Morocco, building on their Very Hungry Caterpillar work, Year 1 flew to Canada with le loup from the Je m’habille et je te croque story and Year 2 journeyed to Madagascar, using their understanding of weather, months of the year and more!

Pupils across the school enjoyed a délicieux lunch fit for Louis XVII et Marie Antoinette, of soupe à l’onion, boeuf bourguignon, croque monsieur et profiteroles! Merci beaucoup aux chefs!

Finally, OB pupils were visited by Secret Readers – French speaking family members – and enjoyed story time in French, truly sharing the experience of French language and culture. Merci beaucoup aux parents! Quelle journée celebrating the French language!

Year 7 Visit Parliament

Year 7 visited the Houses of Parliament yesterday! They had a tour of Westminster Palace, sat in the public gallery during a live debate and learnt a lot about how laws are made and how the government works. They were also lucky enough to have a question and answer session with two members of our local MP, Felicty Buchan’s team, one of whom, Ned Whitley, was an ex-NHP pupil and gappie! They were both very impressed with the quality of questions and enthusiasm shown by our NHP students!

Year 6 Fashion Week

In line with Paris (!) Year 6 had their own Fashion week, on 26^th February, as part of the post 11+programme. On Monday they were very fortunate to have a ‘Fashion panel Q and A’ with variety of experts from within the industry. They came up with some interesting questions to ask the panel such as ‘Why did you get into fashion? What did you have to do to achieve your goals? How do you deal with rejection of your ideas? What is the most exciting/challenging thing about your job?’ There were some interesting insights as well as a strong message across the panel: don’t be afraid to make mistakes, be kind and just keep going!

On Tuesday the children visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Natural History Museum to take part in a workshop at each museum, as well as gather research sketches for the ‘biomorphic garments’ they would be making later in the week. At the V and A they became designers and made machettes in small groups. Their problem to solve: sustainability within the clothing industry. There were some fantastic inventions and ideas: extendible fabric which grows as you grow, a t-shirt which features solar panels on the fabric so you can charge your phone whilst you wear it, or selling parts of garments which are detachable so that your clothes are constantly changing depending on which collar/sleeve/cuff you decide!

On Wednesday the children were extremely lucky to have an assembly session with Sarah Burton. It was incredibly inspiring for the children to be able to touch garments she had made as well as be talked through her mood boards, inspiration and references for each of the piece. Sarah highlighted to the children the importance of the process and working with a team which set them up very well for the design project for the rest of the week.

On Friday in the Serbian Hall, the children exhibited their own processes and displayed the garments that they had designed and made in small groups from recycled materials. There was some exceptional examples where groups had reflected and evaluated to develop their pieces from research to design to final piece. All teams collaborated brilliantly and we were very impressed with their creativity to produce biomorphic garments from such unnatural materials such as plastic and bottle tops! One staff member commented that celebrities such as Bjork would love all of these outfits for her music videos, a Year 6 replied that they see them more on Billie Eilish! Thank you to all those who collected and donated their recycling. Well done Year 6… Paris would be lucky!

World Book Day 2024

A glorious World Book Day was had on Thursday at NHP. The day was filled with reading and writing activities across the school, inspired by the array of wonderful animal-themed books we have in the library. From political anthropomorphism in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory, to unlikely friendships in Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale, pupils explored, created, and enjoyed all sorts of exciting literature. 6OS started our day on the right note with an assembly about the magic and power of reading. Throughout the day, pupils shared literary video messages across all buildings: re-enactments, rhymes, quizzes and recommendations were shared between our youngest and oldest pupils. Competitive spirits were ignited over lunch with a book-themed quiz which delighted all. Teachers carefully wove the magic of reading into their lessons and celebrated the spell of reading that all have fallen under at NHP. 

NHP was also delighted to welcome the much-loved author, Helen Peters. Helen engaged with all the children, sharing stories from her beloved books and introducing some exciting new ones. Helen thrilled the OB children with tales of life on the farm, surrounded by animals. She discussed the inspiration behind each of her Jasmine Green stories, weaving in real-life anecdotes and captivating images. We met the real pig, sheep, otter and many more, all of  whom you can find in her wonderful animal series.

The JCB group also delved into farm life. Helen’s father, a brilliant farmer who couldn’t brew a cup of tea, took centre stage. Her brother, now a farmer himself, even “farmed” the house using his toy tractor, inspiring ideas for The Secret Hen House. She also revealed that it took many marvellous mistakes and lots of persistence and perseverance to write this book (12 years in fact!).

A mysterious and intriguing tale transported the PGB children back to World War II. They solved clues and learned about an extraordinary woman with a passion for fast cars who was the inspiration for her book Friends and Traitors. The children hung on to her every word, posing excellent questions. Helen was impressed by their focus and creativity. She also marvelled at the “kaleidoscope of creatures” she encountered. A truly wonderful author visit that we hope will inspire the authors of tomorrow.

Thank you to Susie Comish and the PA volunteers who decorated the JCB and PGB, and to NHP’s teachers who worked so hard to bring World Book Day to life.

Year 6 Visit the NHM and the V&A

On Tuesday, Year 6 visited the NHM and the V&A. They took part in workshops at both museums and were able to do some research drawings of anything that inspired them in preparation for their biomorphic fashion creations this week. We were blown away by what they came up with at the Year 6 fashion showcase!