Daneshill Diary 12/09/14
Headmaster’s Notes
The first full week has flown by with the pupils having hit the ground running. I am delighted to welcome back a former pupil; Alice Rowse, who having gained three A grades at ‘A-Level’ from St Mary’s Calne, is spending part of her GAP year with us helping in the Pre-Preparatory and Nursery before taking up a place at Bristol University to read Ancient History.
All of our new staff have made a positive impact in their first week and I would like to thank you all for already making them feel part of the Daneshill community. The tea parties have once again proved to be a successful forum for the start of the academic year and will hopefully form the basis of improved communications moving forward. On this front, I would like to apologise to any parents who have been affected in a negative way by the ‘gremlins’ in our new e-mail system. Rest assured the company who manage our IT are working tirelessly to resolve the problems that have been experienced by a few individuals.
The new Science block is progressing well and with the roof going on next week we are optimistic that work will proceed without any interruptions.
Mr Spencer
Year 3 Teambuilding Trip to Gordon Brown Centre
“Amazing!”, “Best day ever!”, “We love Year 3!”
These were just some of the comments from the children who spent an adventurous day with their classmates at the Gordon Brown Centre in Rotherwick on Thursday. The aim of the day was to build friendships, encourage co-operation and develop teamwork at the beginning of Year 3. Activities included low ropes, an assault course, shelter building, fire setting and cooking popcorn. The children also enjoyed feeding the resident pigs – Thelma and Louise!
Year 3 Tutors
News from the Pre-Prep
A very warm welcome to all the children new and old to the Pre-Prep for the start of yet another action packed academic year. The children have all had a great start to the term and are settling well into their new classes. It has been wonderful to have so many sunny playtimes allowing the children to relax and play in the fresh air.
Thank you to all the parents who managed to come and join us for our ‘Year Group’ tea parties. It is always nice to chat and share information face to face rather than send out notes. Please make sure you check the Year Group whiteboards in the corridor to see what the children are doing each week.
Miss Bull
Nursery Corner
The children have all settled in very well and are beginning to develop new friendships. They have been painting pictures of their faces and looking at their features in a mirror. They have then told us who is in their family. The children have also been discussing what they like to play with. We will continue with these themes about ourselves and our families next week.
There was great excitement when we returned to school to see our lovely new outdoor classroom – thank you Mr Spencer for this great addition to the EYFS department. The children have done some work at the tables and played with the cars inside this outdoor space.
Next week will we will be looking at the story of ‘The Gruffalo’ and making a display to capture this fabulous story. We will also continue our ‘sound journey’ with the introduction of /a/.
Miss Flood
Weekly Sports Reports
Daneshill netballers had an exciting start to the season as we welcomed Surrey Storm netballer, Kate Murphy and England U.21’s player, Sophia Candappa, for a netball master class last Wednesday. Years 5-8 enjoyed a thrilling session with the two professional netballers and responded brilliantly. I am pleased to report that the girls demonstrated an eagerness to impress and a willingness to learn. We received lots of positive feedback from the girls so we hope to see the coaches return later in the season.
Fixtures wise, our netball teams had a fairly tough start to the season in their training games against St Gabriels and Bishopsgate on Wednesday. On the plus side we have a lot to work on and our focus in training next week will be on positional responsibility and timing. It’s great to see the girl’s passion for netball return in their lessons and during after-school clubs and we’re all looking forward to the season ahead.
Miss O’Neill
The boys’ games department has had a great start to the year. Mr Thorne and Mr Jeffrey have been focusing on skill development and the progression of touch and movement within lessons. They have fitted in very well and the boys have responded accordingly. On Wednesday we played our first fixtures in the senior school which saw some great results against Eagle House and Elstree. The Colts performed well with the A’s drawing the tournament, the B’s and C’s winning all their fixtures and the D’s coming a close second. The effort was there for all to see and it is great to think that we can play to that standard and yet still improve in many areas such as keeping our shape, movement off the ball and of course, playing in the strikers! It is the first time we have fielded a 1st and 2nd side in Year 7/8 so it was a landmark occasion as we competed very well against Eagle House and Elstree with some extremely close matches. Unfortunately we lost these fixtures but the boys can be proud of their efforts. There remains much to build on and I look forward to seeing the progression throughout the year. Overall, a great start!
Mr Baldwin