Daneshill Diary 31/10/14
Headmaster’s Notes
More families seem to be taking advantage of the half-term break to travel abroad. Known destinations include South Africa, Uganda, Mauritius and Brazil. Quite considerable distances for a short holiday but did anyone travel further?
Congratulations for accomplishments during half-term go to Guy Stevens who won his individual age group at the Southern Region Biathalon Championships. An excellent achievement – well done Guy! Grace Ruffell won a cup at the Upton Grey produce show for the best decorated Gourd. This serendipitous moment means that more pupils now know what a Gourd is, albeit that they may be less clear about the other uses that it may have (other than to be decorated of course). Answers on a post card.
The team of the week were the Colts A who demonstrated how impressive they can be when they combine all their collective abilities as a team. Their 4-3 victory against Horris Hill was all the more memorable because of the high quality of their opponents.
The wet weather on Wednesday morning meant that indoor break was inevitable. My morning tour with prospective parents took me into areas where senior pupils were supervising younger ones. There were notable examples of calm control; particularly from our Head of School Ella Heffner. The most amusing experience was our visit to 6C where Bella Bullen and Holly Smith were demonstrating the virtues of eating chocolate cake in a civilised and refined manner (chocolate cake provided by birthday girl Poppy Burnyeat).The visitors were most impressed by the fact that etiquette still featured strongly amongst the Daneshill pupils education. We did, however, leave hastily before the normal cake eating carnage ensued!
This week’s History in the spotlight has featured two full school photographs from 1985 and 2005 respectively. Some pupils were overheard discussing the conundrum as to how Mr Spencer looked much older in 1985 than he did in 2005.There is clearly a very simple and obvious explanation why (with apologises to George Ames RIP). At least one existing parent can be seen as a pupil in that particular photograph but are their others as yet unidentified?
News also reached us this week that out of all of the boys in Year 9 at Bradfield College only two were awarded top commendation for effort and attitude from the Headmaster. I am pleased to report that these were both ex Daneshill pupils (Matthew Elphick and Sam Steele). The Housemaster was overheard saying ‘I don’t know what they do to these pupils at Daneshill but it certainly works!’
Enjoy your weekend.
History in the Spotlight
History in the spotlight is continuing for the remainder of the term. It is not too late to get your family histories in! If you get a chance to peruse the board in the main school foyer you will find a presentation of old School Photos. They are particularly interesting and different photos will be going up over the next few days so see if you can spot some familiar faces! Coming events include Murder Week, Invention week and we will be remembering the fallen on 11th November. It should be a great few weeks so please do get involved and keep up the fantastic enthusiasm thus far as it really rubs off on the children!
News from the Pre-Prep
It was great to see so many happy, refreshed faces return to us in the Pre-Prep. Both staff and children enjoyed the break and we are all set for the weeks ahead.
Exciting new topics have been introduced and discussed, and already the children are engaged with new ideas and looking forward to exploring them further.
This time next week we hope to see you all at the Daneshill Fireworks display, which is always a huge success.
Miss Bull
Nursery Corner
It has been a great start to the second half of term. The children have all arrived back in good health and spirits, and seem to be set for the exciting weeks ahead. We have introduced ‘c’ and ‘k’ this week and the children have been happily flying ‘kites’ and clicking ‘castanets’. Many managed to come up with their own words without support which was fantastic to see and shows what little minds can do! Next week we will be looking forward to the Fireworks on Friday and doing creative activities and exciting 1:1 work about colours, sounds, patterns and all the delights that fireworks have to offer! We look forward to seeing you all then.
Mrs Beeching
Sporting Fixtures
Weekly Sports Reports
On Sunday 31st October, ten of Daneshill’s finest athletes took part in the Pentathlon UK, South Region Biathlon Championships, held at Aldershot Garrison. Over 300 athletes took part in the competition which required competitors to run a distance of 800m or 1600m with a swim of 50m or 100m. Competitors were classed by age group instead of school year so some of our pupils found themselves competing up a year, which was a challenge.
Despite this the Daneshill athletes did incredibly well and many personal bests were achieved. Special mention must go to Guy Stevens in Year 5 who won the U.10 competition. This outstanding achievement guarantees Guy a qualifying place for the British Modern Biathlon Championships in January 2015. Team members were: Guy Stevens (1st U.10), Tilly Scott Knight (10th U.10), Poppy Evans (17th U.11), Katrina McNair Scott (23rd U.11), Isabel Heffner (27th U.11), Sam Jefferson (6th U.12), Tom Swart (9th U.13), Harry Stevens (14th U.13, only completed the swim due to injury), Holly Smith (10th U.14) and Ella Heffner (17th U.14). Huge congratulations to all involved.
We were delighted to welcome back, ex ‘Daneshillian’, Milly MacManus on Wednesday afternoon. Milly assisted the girl’s PE department with netball coaching during the Michaelmas term last year before moving onto her new role at Lord Wandsworth College as Head of Netball. Milly led a Master Class session for the girls which was energetic, fun and enjoyed by all. We hope to see Milly return for further sessions in the near future.
Miss O’Neill
On Wednesday the senior boys played against Horris Hill who provided some stiff competition. The U.13 A’s played a very competitive match against a strong side. Horris Hill scored early with a couple of lovely strikes. It was obvious the opposition were quality and with the pressure on, Daneshill stepped up their efforts and nearly scored. What followed was a motivated and enthusiastic effort in which the side displayed great skill and determination. The final score was 4-0 to Horris Hill. The B’s had to work really hard as they were struck with illness and absences. With each member of the team stepping up in a reduced numbers match, they held the opposition to three goals which was a very worthy effort.
The Colts A won a very tight match. With the scores tied 1-1 at half time, Horris Hill came out with the intention of increasing their physicality and pressure. The Colts A matched their intensity and really stood up under pressure, selecting the right passes and coming away with a 4-3 win. It was a similar trend in the C’s and D’s where Horris Hill were very physical. The Daneshill boys worked really hard against this threat and held both Horris Hill sides to small margins, which is a testament to their determination. Both coaches felt that the boys did enough to win but just couldn’t score. Horris Hill managed to win both games. The D’s had a challenging match being outclassed by a superior Horris Hill side but to their credit they never stopped competing.
Mr Baldwin