Author and illustrator visit
The Reception and Year 1 children were treated to a very special visit on Wednesday afternoon. We were lucky to welcome a very talented pair of sisters to NHP. Lisa Read and Kim Ansell created the magical picture book ‘Fredrick the Fox’. After a wonderful reading to each class, Lisa and Kim went through all the tricks of the trade on how to create a picture book. Lisa showed the children her water colour paints; her sketch book filled with the drawings which went on to create ‘Fredrick the Fox’. Kim talked about using the right words and helping the rhyme bounce along from beginning to end. They also talked about how they specially made their book environmentally friendly by having it printed in the UK and using vegetable based prints. The children learnt that both Lisa and Kim used many of the NHP habits to produce the book, such as persisting and persevering to get the pictures just right, and reflecting and evaluating to make sure their layout was the best it could be, to name a few.
Oxford University Computing Challenge
At the beginning of November all children in Year 4 to 8 took part in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge. We were extremely pleased that 12 children at NHP scored in the top 10% in the country and were therefore invited to take part in the next round, the Oxford University Computing Challenge.
The 12 pupils have been giving up their lunchbreaks once week to prepare with Ms Kirkland, and today our NHP students took a part in the challenge.
NHP Future Schools’ Presentation
The JCB Hall was buzzing on Monday evening with nearly a hundred Year 4 and 5 parents, gathered together to hear about the Senior School journey. NHP are committed to guiding parents through the (sometimes quite complicated and overwhelming) application process and ensuring that their children remain happy and thriving in the school that suits their needs.
Read MoreBasic Lunch
At NHP, our pupils are fortunate enough to be able to access nutritious and varied meals made up of a number of different ingredients and portions generous enough to power them through the day and keep their brains and bodies healthy and growing. Statistics show that a shocking 29% of children in Kensington and Chelsea are living in poverty, of which food poverty plays a huge part, and 33% of London adults have skipped meals to save money so that their children can eat. This winter, the rise in the cost of living continues to leave many of our local community struggling to put food on the table and keep their homes warm. Often, they will have to choose between the two – a situation which causes incredible stress and anxiety.
As winter and the cost of living crisis continues within our community, on Tuesday our pupils had the opportunity to play a vital part in supporting the work of the Kensington & Chelsea Foodbank through donating the saved costs from a ‘basic lunch’. With the aim of saving on food costs to donate to the foodbank, our Catering Team devised a reduced lunch menu for our pupils consisting of pasta with tomato sauce, soup, crudités, bread and a deliciously simple sweet treat; all basic staples (aside from the fresh produce) that are offered to those who seek support from our local foodbank at the Notting Hill Methodist Church, just down the road from NHP. The Kensington & Chelsea Foodbank is part of a London wide network providing three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food packages and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. All the food they are given is donated from local people and organisations. Sadly for far too many, the foodbank is a major lifeline and so it stands as a crucial part of our local community. From just one lunch, we were able to make an incredible saving of £299 to donate to the foodbank to support those in need locally and we look forward to introducing the ‘basic lunch’ again in the near future, as well as working more closely with the Kensington & Chelsea Foodbank.
The children really appreciated taking the time to hear some interesting information on the work of the charity, creating a greater awareness around food poverty within our borough, and feedback from the lunch was that it was a resounding success.
Read More“‘Could we do this every week?’”
“It’s nice to think that we are making a difference”
“I will really appreciate lunch tomorrow in a different way’”
“I do miss the salad bar a bit, but it’s worth it”
Nutrition Talk by Sodexo
Today, NHP were joined by Amy Teichman, the Quality and Nutrition Manager for Sodexo (the catering providers for NHP), for an informative talk on child nutrition, based on extensive research and experience within the schools’ sector. She discussed how the catering team at NHP creates varied and balanced meals that work on a three-week rota to provide our pupils with a wide range of options. We allow our children freedom to choose the food items on their plates in a controlled and monitored environment, encouraging them to add vegetables where needed.
By including a twice-weekly sweet treat, she spoke about how this enables pupils to understand that all food types can be enjoyed in moderation; thus building the foundations for a healthy and happy life both in and out of school.
Amy gave some great tips to our attending parents on how to how to incorporate healthier ingredients into regular meals, which even the fussiest of children will enjoy! We finished the session with a demonstration of recommended portion sizes and how our catering team measures each portion when preparing food for the children, finishing off with a Q&A, which covered points in the answers such as how it is very normal for children to be hungry and wanting a snack around 3pm after a good lunch, how portion sizes vary from lower down the school to higher up and and how student voice is important to the school through feedback on the food discussed at School Council.
It was an incredibly informative talk and one which highlighted the pivotal role that schools take in creating a healthy relationship with eating.
Read MoreThe Sugar Plum Fairy visits NHP
The children in the Lower School enjoyed a visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy on Monday. They watched quite entranced as she danced a ballet solo up on her pointe shoes. Then, she taught them a dance from The Land of Sweets, which they performed with great confidence. Wonderful dancing, Lower School!
Read MoreChristmas Book Drive for Oxford Gardens Primary
In true NHP style, our parents came out in full force to support our annual Christmas Book Drive as part of the NHP Foundation’s Radius Programme. This year, we were collecting books for the children at Oxford Gardens Primary School. Thanks to the generosity of our parents, each one of their 302 pupils from Nursery to Year 6 received an age-appropriate, wrapped book, in time for Christmas. And to top it all off, Santa made a special stop-off at the school to hand the books out to the children, with the help of three very important NHP Pupil Leadership Team elves: Ludo, Shiden and Louis.
A special thank you to NHP parent Jo Benians for once again so successfully leading the drive for the second year in a row, certainly no small feat. And for the support from our Heads of the PA, Susie Comish and Lauren Jarrett, NHP Librarian Arabella Chase and Head of the Foundation, Kirsty Murdoch.
Read MoreSpreading Literary Christmas Cheer!
Inspired by the holiday-themed towns in Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, 7KP have been writing richly descriptive pieces of work on the theme of ‘Christmas Town’. Their stories were written to interest and delight Year 3 pupils, and on Tuesday they had the opportunity to share their stories with 3K and 3E. They had a rapt audience, and Year 3 asked some very insightful questions. One pupil commented ‘I hope I can write like that when I’m in Year 7’! 7KP were fantastic role models throughout.
5JW have also created work for other year groups this week, rehearsing and recording an audio book version of Dr Suess’s ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ for pupils in the Lower School. They have been learning about the work of Foley artists, and made some of their own effects to accompany the recording. Many a brave understudy was called upon on our recording day: pupils were thinking flexibly and read unseen passages with bravery and panache. Lower School pupils and teachers have enjoyed listening to 5JW’s expressive poetry in their classes this week; it has certainly spread some Christmas cheer.
Read MoreNHP Christmas Fair!
On Saturday, our wonderful Parents’ Association transformed NHP into a Winter Wonderland for our first Christmas fair since the pandemic! All items from the stalls and activities went directly to the NHP Foundation, raising a huge £9,070.
The organising team of Evie B, Lisette VP, Clodagh B, Lauren J, Susie C, Elizabeth C, Delphine R, Deborah B, Mariya J, Jilly P and Taryn B were completely amazing and worked like Santa’s own elves to weave magic and possibly a little mayhem around the JCB – it was indeed a spectacular event.
Huge thanks from everyone at NHP for the PA’s hard work in the lead up to the actual event, and on the day itself, to make it such a great success and thanks too, to our very own Mr Gee, Gaggi and Mr Thomas for all the support they gave last weekend.
Year 3’s Whipsnade Zoo Trip
Our Year 3s had a blast today at Whipsnade Zoo. They discovered more about how to conserve the habitat of their favourite animals and the importance of environmental awareness.