Daneshill Diary 06/03/15
Headmaster’s Notes
After the disappointment last week when the opposition failed to turn up, this week it was our boys who failed to appear with eight of our 1st XV being ruled off games with injuries and illness. In these instances it takes great character to honour these commitments; knowing that it is going to be a struggle against the odds. The boys played really well and demonstrated the sort of determination that has brought them success this term but, alas, on this occasion it was not enough to win the match.
The girls, on the other hand, had a remarkable day with all the A teams enjoying success against St Andrew’s.
The best news this week was that Stanley Jiang has been offered a place (subject to passing CE) to Westminster School. Stanley has been through a gruelling process that has involved a number of tests and interviews. From an initial list of 543 boys Stanley is one of the 130 who has been fortunate enough to be chosen. This is another milestone for Daneshill and a truly outstanding achievement by Stanley. Well done!
Mr Spencer
Daneshill Book Week
There were no Daneshill children or teachers to be seen on Thursday morning- instead there was an array of mystical figures, as well as weird and wonderful animals! The Daneshill Book Week has been spread over two weeks, starting with P&G Wells Books setting up a mobile book fair. Mr. James Carter visited the Pre-Prep reading his poems to the Nursery children, Reception, Year One and Year Two. Also Year One and Year Two wrote and performed their own group poem.
On World Book Day we started the day with a book assembly. Pupils from Year 3 to Year 8 presented fables, poems and even a rap. Then some of the teachers shared some of their favourite childhood books. Mr Webster demonstrated a very good grandma voice! Next we had a whole school inter-house book quiz in the sports hall! The children were full of enthusiasm and it was great to see Year 8 sat side by side with Reception.
Two trips have been out to the Harry Potter, Warner Brothers Studios- when I asked Year 3 about their favourite part they just said, “All of it!”
Finally, a huge thank you to all parents for your support with the book week events, everything from supporting the book fair to painting your children and creating some fantastic outfits!
Miss Clegg
Handwriting Competition
I am delighted with the efforts of all of our pupils in our first Daneshill handwriting competition. We aim to award both excellent effort and achievement, to encourage good presentation skills. The year group winners were as follows:
Science and Sport in the Spotlight
On 27th February, Dr Jolyon Medlock came to talk to Year 7 about his work as a professional scientist as Head of Medical Entomology at Public Health England. He explained how his team monitors the populations and lifecycles of mosquitoes and ticks, and their role in spreading diseases at home and abroard. The children looked at samples of mosquitoes and ticks through microscopes and hand lenses, and carried out a brief survey of ticks on the school grounds. Fortunately none were found but this may be because it was still very early in the year and it was a very cold, damp day. They will repeat the survey in the summer, and were advised how to avoid getting ticks on themselves and their pets.
On Monday 2nd March, Year 8 had a talk and practical lesson from Miss Rachel Poole from Winchester College. The subject was how our muscles get energy from food. She began with a video clip of one of the British cycling teams breaking a world record at the 2012 Olympics to highlight all the different energy changes involved. Then there was a spectacular demonstration to show the huge amount of chemical energy in a single jelly baby – which reacted explosively like a firework!
The pupils also took part in a practical demonstration of the human digestive system and then did some practical chemical testing for (insoluble) starch and soluble glucose in different mixtures using reagents. This was a very worthwhile revision session for Year 8 pupils in their final term before CE.
Mr Mikurenda
News from the Pre-Prep
Book Week started early for the children in the Pre-Prep with a visit from the poet James Carter last Friday. The children were treated to an interactive assembly with James, where they laughed, rhymed and learnt about some of his poems.
This week in Reception class we have focused on Science through a traditional children’s story. The three little pigs is an exciting and reliable topic because children never tire of the excitement of the wolf! The children were set the challenge of constructing three houses of different materials; one of sticks, one of bricks and one of straw. The houses were then tested for their strength! Imagine a hairdryer decorated with ears, eyes and sharp teeth used as a ‘Big Bad Wolf’ to blow down their houses! There were endless laughs and the fact that the science table was in constant use throughout the day made for memorable learning.
The Year 1 children were captivated during their visit from James Carter. They were so keen to share their ideas when creating their year group poem The Amazing Animal Menagerie. James taught the children about syllables in words and introduced some of the building blocks of verse. The children’s poem included rhythm, assonance and alliteration. To celebrate Book Week in Year 1 the children adapted the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and went on a pirate hunt instead. Some great ideas were shared and the children showed excellent creative writing skills, applying what they had learnt with James Carter. A fantastically fun filled week focused on brilliant books.
What an inspirational time Year 2 had with the poet James Carter. When Year 2 took part in their own workshop, they created a Kenning poem (poems that originated with the Vikings) about a tiger, before embarking on their own individual poem about various animals across the globe. The children enjoyed performing their poems to their class and have hopefully developed a taste for exploring the world of poetry. One child said: “I love using words” to which Mr Carter replied with a smile: “So do I.”
If you would like to read more about James Carter please enjoy exploring his website at http://www.jamescarterpoet.co.uk/
Pre-Prep Teachers
Nursery Corner
What a fabulous array of outfits we had on Thursday! From Dorothy to Iron Man, Pooh Bear to The Rainbow Fish! We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and each child got an opportunity to really show off their costume in the glorious sunshine – what creative parents we have in the Nursery too!
The sound of the week was a great hit with some beautiful, busy, bouncing, butterflies being made and it also allowed the children to showcase some of their best written work to date. Some of the Viking children managed to sound out ‘big bug Ben’ for themselves – we continue to see fantastic progress from all and it is a real joy to see them coming on so well.
Mrs Beeching
Weekly Sports Reports
The U.8 A Netball team attended their first tournament at St Piran’s School on Friday 6th March. It was the first time the squad had played a fixture as a seven a side team so it was a big challenge for them. The girls started a little out of sorts in their first game against Yateley Manor and were three goals down at half time. In the second half everything started to click and they pulled back the score line to finish the match with a three all draw. The girls continued their run of brilliance, winning six matches and drawing two against very tough opposition. Daneshill were drawing on points with Yateley Manor after their final game and the winning position went down to goal difference. Daneshill finished with a silver medal in second place which is an incredible achievement for their first tournament experience. Well done to all the girls.
The U.9 Hockey girls also had a successful match against St Mary’s on Friday afternoon, winning their game in convincing style. Mr Pereira was delighted to see the team drawing on their training this week to dominate the match from the start. It was an excellent squad effort.
More superb results for the hockey girls this week as our U.13, U.11 and U.10 A teams beat St Andrews in a series of outstanding games on Wednesday. The girls really impressed with their confident and assertive game play. Defence was strong in all games and we attacked hard all the way up the pitch. The B teams also played exceptionally well with very close results which they should be very proud of.
Miss O’Neill
This week saw some very hard fought matches with our local rivals, St Neot’s. We have had the wood over them in recent years and I know all the boys were looking forward to a challenging and tough match on Wednesday. They say timing is everything and unfortunately for us we had to participate in a sizeable revamp of the teams on Wednesday morning as the absences came flooding in. Before the matches were played we spoke about the importance of taking our opportunities. This included not only execution on the pitch but also stepping up into the shoes of those who were not there and making our presence felt.
We lost all matches played and sometimes you can learn the most important lessons in these situations. The 1st XV were missing seven boys and these absences were felt from the off with the boys 12-0 down within 5 minutes. The boys rallied and showed real grit and determination against a strong St Neot’s side. First they clawed back the points difference to 7 and then, when St Neot’s scored again to go in leading 19-5 at the break, they worked supremely hard to draw the second half 7-7. It was a real ‘goose bump’ match and I’m sure all those watching on saw a motivated side who never took a step back.
The Colts A’s suffered a similar fate, going down early and having to come back and show some fight. Mr Soper was extremely pleased at the resilience shown as all players worked together to get into the game and inch by inch take back the points they had already given up. The Colts B/C’s worked hard for the duration of their match. They came up against some quick boys, which can make a difference at this level. In the tight however we tackled our hearts out and ensured we were no walkovers. We scored some lovely tries and made it very hard for St Neot’s to cross our line. Despite the losses I was very proud of all of our pupils for never giving up and playing hard for their friends and their school.
Mr Baldwin