Daneshill Diary 03/02/17
Chess Success
On Sunday 22nd January, the Daneshill chess team travelled to Horris Hill School to participate in the National Schools’ Chess Championship. In a close and keenly contested Under 11 event involving 5 game rounds, we are delighted to report that our team were successful in qualifying for the semi-finals to be played during May and June. Many congratulations to Daniel Yu, Percy Zhang, Ciaran Churcher, Manny Lumsden, Nicholas Legh-Smith, Hedy Jiang.
We look forward to another competitive encounter in the Spring.
Science Week 2017
British Science Week 2017 is fast approaching and the pupils throughout the School have been busy adopting animals in preparation!
The theme for this year’s British Science Week is “Change”. It aims to encourage young people to think about and investigate the changes happening in the world all around them. Mrs Blomfield and Mrs Pursell have encouraged the pupils to think about how our world has changed over the years and how we, as humans, have impacted on the environment.
Each year group has adopted an animal that has been affected by human activities on the Earth.
| Pre-Prep | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 |
| Adélie Penguin
|
Cheetah | Orang-utan | Polar Bear | Turtle | Otter | Elephant |
It is a wonderful opportunity to explore and enrich the pupils experience and to help them to further understand why different animals are endangered or vulnerable.
During British Science Week, March 13th – 18th, there will be lots more exciting and thought provoking activities taking place in Science for example; poster competitions, Wacky Professors Science Day, quizzes and some special visitors that will hopefully hatch with us at school!
Mrs Pursell
Pre-Prep News
This week in Reception we completed our topic ‘Chinese New Year’. Dragons were a main theme as we began to count forwards and backwards into their ‘den’. We used data that we had gathered to produce a bar graph to show our results. It is wonderful to see the progress that the children have made this term.
A key highlight in any child’s academic year is their school trip and Year 1’s day out to The Lookout Discovery Centre did not disappoint. Our workshop ‘Splash, Bubbles and Balloons’ provided the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into how the world around us works. Areas such as the ‘Construction Zone’ and ‘Water World’ allowed inquisitive hands to explore and we were particularly impressed with how many children were brave enough to climb to the top of the Lookout Tower! The trip concluded with a chance to play in the huge adventure playground in the forest outside; a perfect way to burn off any remaining energy before home time. Needless to say, after all that excitement, the coach was a lot quieter on the journey home… ZZzz. A big ‘thank you’ to our parent helpers for giving up their time on Tuesday.
Year 2 put their creative minds to work this week and wrote stories, from the point of view of a character who was caught in ‘The Great Fire of London’! There was focus on adjectives, what they saw, smelt and felt. They have also been learning how to extend their fabulous sentences using different connectives. Reading how well the children were able to put both their English and History knowledge together was a delight. There have also been chants of times tables conga around the classrooms as they continue to do well and are now earning some gold stickers on their tables and division cards. Keep up the good work.
The Pre-Prep Teachers
Nursery Corner
This week, in line with the Science department’s bird watching campaign, the Nursery children have been immersed in the world of our feathered friends. At the start of the week, we constructed a bird spotting hut and, armed with homemade binoculars, we spotted an array of British birds feeding at our seed feeder. I was mightily impressed with how still and quiet the children were as they took on the role of bird spotters. Next, we got crafty and made our own paper Robins and Blue Tits, as well as colourful masks which the children loved wearing.
Finally, fully waterproofed, we ventured out to our digging plots and dug for colourful worms (already magically buried!), which they then had to match them to the same coloured birds so the birds could have their worm feast!
Mrs Webster
Sports
Wednesday 1st February
NETBALL
U.13 A vs. Bishopsgate & LWC W 5 – 4, L 5 – 10
U.13 B vs. LWC L 6 – 22
U.13 C vs. LWC L 7 – 21
U.11 A vs. Bishopsgate L 2 – 10
U.11 B vs. Bishopsgate L 1 – 2
U.10 A vs. Bishopsgate L 7 – 11
U.10 B vs. Bishopsgate L 5 – 12
U.10 C vs. Bishopsgate L 2 – 15
Reports
Netball
U.13 A vs Bishopsgate
Daneshill were dominant from the start in their match against Bishopsgate. The girls’ focus this week was on movement particularly the ‘clear and drive’ and they executed this brilliantly throughout their game. We were always in control; moving the ball at speed, losing our defenders and identifying suitable space. By the end of the first quarter the girls were winning 3-0 and by the end of the second, we were 4-1 up due to some excellent shooting and attacking play. Bishopsgate managed to creep towards us in the third but the Daneshill team held strong and remained controlled and disciplined throughout, winning the match 5-4. It was a brilliant game for the U13’s and a well-deserved win against a notably strong Bishopsgate side. Well done!
Mrs Cowd
U.13 B
The girls should be commended for their courageous performance against a formidable LWC side. They worked tirelessly until the end to defend their goal despite numerous attacking advances from the other side. The girls listened well after each quarter and worked on jumping more to intercept the ball whilst also improving the precision of their passes. In the fourth quarter the girls showed real promise, beginning to anticipate the game and hence becoming more effective defensive players. The girls showed tenacity and fierce determination to keep going. Jemima Beard played well at centre as did Grace Ruffell on the wing who both made some impressive interceptions enabling us to feed the ball to our shooters who actually had an impressive success rate on goal.
Mrs Blomfield
U.13 C
With a slow start and disheartening score of 11-0 during the first quarter we had a lot of catching up to do. However, after an optimistic team chat and discussing what we could work on, the girls decided to head back to the court with positivity and open minds. They did exactly this, and their game play improved dramatically! There was some great defensive play from Olivia Froom and really encouraging teamwork in the attacking end from Honor Macdonald and Olyvia Howe, overall the girls did really well to come back against a very tough team – Well done!
Miss Jones
U.11A
A great start by Daneshill, scoring in the first thirty seconds. Very slick and organised. But then Bishopsgate got going too. We defended closely and were determined with some well observed interceptions by Eliza and Lilias. Saskia was a great link from defence to attack. Our shooters, Grace and Fechi, created space by dropping back and timed their forward dodge well, scoring again. Bishopsgate only scored three in the second half, so the final score was 2-10.
U.11 B
With two of the team away unwell the rest were going to have to work hard all afternoon, and they did. Daneshill scored first and were delighted. Amelia and Siena defended well, fully aware of the players around them. The ball was end to end with Emily and Keilah determined in the middle. Bishopsgate scored two quick goals at the end of the match, not giving us chance to fight back. A super game though!
Mrs Barnes
U.10s
The U10 ‘s knew the Bishopsgate team would be well drilled as they were on their second term of netball. The girls went out strong on the first whistle and contested the Bishopsgate passes exceptionally well. The Bishopsgate attackers were very accurate but our defenders should be commended for their high work rate, intercepting many passes. After well fought games with lots of contested play, the Bishopsgate teams proved themselves the stronger side, winning the fixtures by executing well-rehearsed set plays and displaying consistent self-discipline. Some things to work on for next week!
Mrs Cowd
Rugby
U.11 B
There was so much to be pleased with in the boys’ performances. In spite of the regrettable lack of practice sessions or competitive fixtures so far this term, the boys showed real promise with their direct attacking play and their dogged defense. Alex W and Barnaby tirelessly carried the ball up through the midfield; Cameron S, Marios and Freddie C made some ferocious tackles, particularly whilst camped upon their own try line; and Luca and Harrison often appeared at the vital moment to slow down opposition ball, disrupt the play or cause a turn-over.
But it was the ‘Daneshill spirit’ that really shone through, even on the gloomiest and muddiest of days. The boys were combative, competitive on all fronts, and truly committed to showing their own, their team’s and their school’s best efforts. Very well done.
Mr Kinsey