Daneshill Diary 23/01/15
Headmaster’s Notes
On Tuesday 20th January, Daneshill welcomed Mr Jonathan Taylor, a reputable social media and safety consultant, to discuss with our pupils in Y6 – 8, and their parents, the dangers and the opportunities that the online world poses. Mr Taylor began the evening by sharing some startling facts which clearly highlighted how children are gaining access to social media sites from a younger age than many would think. This is exposing them to content, people or situations that are out of their depth and which they’re not emotionally prepared for. From a parental point of view the key message was that adults can no longer protect children by simply trying to limit their online experiences. Instead parents need to maintain an open dialogue and encourage children to share both good and bad online experiences, talk openly and straightforwardly about the risks they may encounter online without scaring them, and make sure they keep up with the latest social media crazes and work with their children rather than trying to control them. The feedback from pupils and parents has been very positive and it has certainly sparked debate amongst the children, which is invaluable.
Mr Spencer
News from the Pre-Prep
The pupils in Reception have been immersed in books and stories this term. We began with ‘Hairy Maclary’ which the children thoroughly enjoyed. This week we have been reading the ‘Little Red Hen’ to which the children can use actions and re-tell the whole story in sequence. We have a puppet theatre and it is so encouraging to see the children performing their stories. Baking bread has also been high on the agenda as well as following a recipe. Seeing the results of our baking has certainly brought much joy and excitement.
In Year 1 the children have been making treasure maps in our topic work this week. The children have enjoyed learning about coordinates and have been challenging their friends to locate objects on their map, using grid references and remembering to “go along the corridor and up the stairs”.
It has been an exciting time in Year 2 as we are starting to explore our new topics this term. The children have been learning about life in 1666 and how it must have felt to live through the Great Fire of London. They have then been shooting off into Space and finding out fascinating facts about the Sun and Moon. This has certainly got us in the mood for our trip to Winchester Science Museum next week.
ICT has caused great excitement this week too as the children have been learning how to programme ‘Beebots’, which are small electronic bees that move around the classroom. Have fun at home programming a robot with your child this weekend!
Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqnc4wx#zsrmxnb and see if you can help the robot deliver the parcel.
Miss Bull
Nursery Corner
Our autumn trees in the entrance hall have now been replaced with glittering winter ones, which all the children have enjoyed doing – the magical frosty mornings we have had this week must have inspired them! We have also made ‘Jack’ our Dinosaur who has a BIG tummy, SMALL head, SHORT legs and a LONG tail and the children who joined us in gathering photographs of big, small, short and long things around the grounds certainly had lots of fun. By complete luck the winds the evening before had brought down an extremely ‘long’ tree branch which caused much excitement.
Each child has now made the four main characters in the Rainbow Fish story and our role play has turned into a theatre for them to perform their shows at. Tickets are being made, and sold, and the children are queueing up to get an opportunity to act, direct or view the performances! It has encouraged such special conversations between the children and their friends and has shown how capable they are at communicating with one another and working together.
We have introduced the ‘g’ sound this week and the children continue to enjoy the stories and songs around their Jolly Phonics letters.
Have a super weekend.
Mrs Beeching
Weekly Sports Reports
The U.9 teams played incredibly well in their netball fixtures against Holme Grange last Friday (16th January). Both teams started well and took the early goals, which boosted their confidence immensely. The A & B teams switched players and positions every quarter so it was a good opportunity to demonstrate the squad’s versatility as defenders turned attackers and vice versa. The final scores of 5-3 and 6-0 reflected the game play and I was thoroughly pleased with their performance.
The U.8 A & B teams once again produced outstanding results winning their netball matches 9-0 and 14-0 in their matches against Holme Grange. The girls dominated from the first whistle, demonstrating excellent attacking skills and goal scoring. Our training sessions focused on defending skills prior to the match and I was delighted to see the girls use these newly acquired skills during their match.
The U.8 C team was unlucky against a strong St Mary’s side who had snuck in a couple of Year 4 players unbeknown to us! The girls did not let this faze them and worked hard throughout the game giving a good performance. The D & E teams played incredibly well in their fixtures and despite the dismal weather managed to maintain a good work rate, showing lots of energy right to end. Well done, girls.
Years 5 – 8 have really enjoyed their first week of training with hockey coach, Kevin Pereira. The U.13’s were disappointed after their gutsy performance against Dolphin having dominated game play throughout. Despite losing the match, Mr Pereira was delighted with the girls after watching them in action for the first time and had nothing but praise for the team. The U.13 B team played brilliantly in their fixture and registered a brilliant win.
The U.11 A hockey team were ‘amazing’ this week, in the words of Mrs Fevrier, who travelled to Dolphin with them on Wednesday for their fixture. Daneshill enjoyed the majority of possession in a fiercely contested game and were very strong in attack. The U.11 B team also enjoyed a successful afternoon after drawing 1-1 with Alton Convent in their fixture.
The U.10 A’s were very unlucky in their fixture against Dolphin in a match which could have gone either way. The girls worked hard to maintain possession and made several attacks on goal, but unfortunately they struggled to find the back of the goal to take the score level. Overall, a good match, so the girls should be pleased with their performance. The U.10 B’s showed a good work rate in their fixture and got better and better as the game went on. They were unlucky to lose the game 1-2 as Alton Convent took advantage of their open goal. Something to work on next week!
Miss O’Neill
It has been an exciting week on the rugby front with the senior boys having their first matches. On Wednesday we played Holme Grange and the boys performed as we thought they would. They were technically sound, hungry and determined. Both games for the U.13s saw some one-sided score lines as our boys were simply too strong for their opposition. From a coaches point of view the boys maintained their skill level and execution throughout. Both games were managed well with steps taken to try and alleviate the difference in ability but in the end Daneshill ran out convincing winners.
It was a different story at Colts level. The A’s came up against a big, fast skilful side and were two tries down before they realised they could compete. Once they sorted out their defence from the second phase it became an even game and we entered the break trailing 22-15. Holme Grange started the second half stronger and three quick tries took the game away from us but we scored last, showing our determination not to give up and the goal line defence in the last seven minutes was fantastic, displaying good technique and desire. It was the same in the Colts B match although thankfully our boys fought back from a deficit to claim the win. Again, great technique and slick handling saw some lovely phases put together and tries scored. The Colts C side benefitted from a practice match with Holme Grange which allowed them to be coached within a match situation. All of our boys scored tries and Mr Webster stated that not only were they the standout players, but that he had never seen them so thoroughly enthused about the game.
Mr Baldwin