Daneshill Diary 10/10/14

Headmaster’s Notes

The Harvest Festival service on Thursday morning was the first opportunity this term for the whole school to hold an assembly in the sports hall.

The biodiversity of modern farming methods means that it is far removed from the simplicity of “we plough the fields and scatter”.  Today’s Harvest Festival is still, however, an acknowledgment of all the good things that have come to us and a further reminder that the seasons are changing.

A colourful and exuberant Tara Hellings returned in her own inimitable fashion to demonstrate how, like the many fruits and vegetables that we enjoy, we as people also come in different shapes and sizes.  The things we do collectively give greater credibility to the talents that we possess as individuals and we should continue to use this approach for the benefit of others.

It was another enthralling demonstration of how a poignant message can be delivered in a service of worship that was great fun and thoroughly enjoyed by pupils of all ages from every level of the school.

The colourful leaves in the trees are another indication of the changing seasons.  Soon the leaves will be on the ground and in the lanes, which should be a reminder for us to moderate our speed levels when driving to and from the school and to be courteous to all the others who use the lanes.

Mr Spencer

News from the Pre-Prep

The Pre-Prep has been transformed this week and thanks to the children we have been able to travel through time. With History in mind, a timeline starting in the 1800’s all the way up to the present day has found itself winding through our halls. It has been fascinating to see a child show a picture of their ancestors and watch them beam with pride as they talked about their lives. This project has inspired a hunger for knowledge of the past and we are sure that it will create many exciting conversations as the children explore a little more of it every day.

As we looked back in time, comparisons of old and new were made. This gave way to the idea of black and white art. Using various techniques such as printing, drawing, painting, weaving, cutting and gluing, as well as painting ourselves, every single child in the Pre-Prep has created a monochrome work of art. The building has been a wash with questioning and creativity. 

So without further ado, you are cordially invited to ‘The Pre-Prep Monochrome Gallery’ where Art has brought our own History back to life.

Miss Bull
 

Nursery Corner

The Nursery has been buzzing with Doctors and Nurses this week. We have been counting fingers and toes, arms and legs, heads and noses and using numbers in our songs and games. We have also provided the children with medical outfits in order to really act the parts. We have some fantastic medics amongst us. They are polite, caring, gentle…the list goes on, and as for the patients, having been given the relevant prescriptions; they seem to make speedy and remarkable recoveries, which is a huge relief to all! 

By chance the sound for this week is ‘p’. The story is all about a little boy who gets a Pink Pig cake with relighting candles on for his birthday. Fortunately on Wednesday, when we introduced the sound for the first time, the children and staff all enjoyed the most incredible, delicious and nutritious Blue, Scuba cake! What a complete treat for all, and the children happily blew out the pretend candle on each piece of cake with a ‘p’ ‘p’ ’p’ sound.

Apologies if the children’s feet have been a little colourful this week, we have been painting hands and feet in order to create personalised little characters for a new wall display – do come and take a look!

Have a relaxing weekend and see you all next weekend.

Mrs Beeching

Sporting Fixtures

Boys:                                                                           Girls:
FOOTBALL TERM                                                         NETBALL TERM
Tuesday 7th October                                                   Tuesday 7th October
Papplewick Tournament
U.9 A vs. St Edward’s                W 2 – 1                        U.9 A vs. The Abbey                 W 14 – 1
           vs. Papplewick                W 4 – 0                        U.9 B vs. The Abbey                 W 7 – 0
           vs. Ludgrove                   W 5 – 3
 
Won Tournament                                                
 
U.9 B vs. Eaton House              W 5 – 0
          vs. Papplewick                 W 1 – 0
          vs. Ludgrove                   D 1 – 1
 
Wednesday 8th October                                               Wednesday 8th October
U.13 A vs. Papplewick               D 1 – 1                         U.13 A vs. Amesbury                 L 3 – 10           
U.13 B vs. Papplewick                L 1 – 4                         U.13 B vs. Amesbury                 L 2 – 9 
Colts A vs. Dolphin                     L 1 – 4                          U.11 A vs St Joseph’s                    W 8 – 0
Colts B vs. Dolphin                     L 2 – 5                          U.10 A vs. Rookwood                   W 6 – 1
Colts C vs. Dolphin                     W 1 – 0                         U.10 B vs. Rookwood                     L 0 – 5
Colts D vs. Dolphin                     L 0 – 1
 
Thursday 9th October
St Neot’s Tournament
U.13 A vs. Leighton Park           L 0 – 1
            vs. Bearwood                W 2 – 0
            vs. St Andrew’s             L 0 – 1
            vs. St George’s              W 1 – 0
            vs. Holme Grange          W 2 – 0
 
Won Plate
 
Friday 10th October                                                           Friday 10th October                                  
U.9 A vs. Papplewick                 W 5 – 0                            U.9 A vs. St Andrew’s                L 2 – 7             
U.9 B vs. Papplewick                 L 1 – 2                              U.9 A vs. Dolphin                         W 5 – 0            
U.9 C vs. Papplewick                 W 3 – 1                            U.9 B vs. St Andrew’s                W 5 – 0
U.8 A vs. Papplewick                 L 1 – 2                             U.9 B vs. Dolphin                         W 5 – 3             
U.8 B vs. Papplewick                 L 1 – 2                             U.8 A vs. St Andrew’s                W 5 – 2
                                                                                          U.8 A vs. Dolphin                          W 10 – 0
                                                                                          U.8 B vs. St Andrew’s                W 4 – 0
                                                                                          U.8 B vs. Dolphin                         W 9 – 0
                                                                                          U.8 C vs. St Neot’s                       W 3 – 0
                                                                                          U.8 D vs. St Neot’s                       W 2 – 1
                                                                                          U.8 E vs. St Neot’s                       W 2 – 0
                                                                                                                                               

Weekly Sports Reports

The Year 4 netball teams had two fantastic games against The Abbey on Tuesday afternoon with winning scores of 14 – 1 and 7 – 0. The Daneshill girls demonstrated their versatility by changing positions every quarter. It was encouraging to see how easily and quickly the girls adapted to their new roles as defenders turn shooters and shooters turned defenders.   It really was an inspiring game to watch as every player worked tremendously hard and there were some outstanding goals. The Year 4 girls are a superb year group. They are incredibly disciplined and dedicated to their team; demonstrating excellent team spirit in every match. They really are such a delight to teach.

Other great results this week include the U.10’s in their home game against Rookwood School. The girls dominated from the start and won the match 6 -1. Special mention to the U.11 teams too for braving torrential rain and gales at St Joseph School on Wednesday. Despite the weather the girls won their match 7 – 0. 

Miss O’Neill

The week started with some sterling performances from our U.9s at the Papplewick tournament. Both the A and B teams played some fantastic football. The A’s won their tournament whilst the B’s were just pipped to first place by Ludgrove who scored one more goal than them. Well done boys!

Our Colts came up against some tough competition in the games against Dolphin. The A’s and B’s were both on the wrong end of the results and will need to demonstrate better attitudes if they are going to progress as teams. The Colts C put in a great performance to win their game 1- 0 whilst special mention must go to the Colts D who were so close to registering their first point of the season.

On Thursday the U.13s entered the St Neot’s 6-aside tournament. The first match saw them coming up against an accomplished Leighton Park side. We were in the game until the final whistle when a freak goal finished us off. The second game against Bearwood saw a far better performance and we finished worthy winners. In the final group game we came up against a powerful St Andrew’s side who were better equipped for the deteriorating conditions that were prevalent at this stage of proceedings. Into the plate tournament we went and after a fantastic performance against St George’s we faced Holme Grange in the final. Our class showed and we eventually overcame them with a 2 nil victory to claim the Plate.

It has been a great week and onto the Colts A tournament at Bradfield on Sunday we go. I hope to see some of you there!

Mr Baldwin