Daneshill Diary 10/06/16
Headmaster’s Notes
This week has been examination time for all of our pupils in Years 5 – 8 and there was an audible sense of relief on Thursday and Friday as the final set of papers were completed. The staff, who have prepared, invigilated and marked examination scripts will be off next week accompanying fieldwork trips. It is a busy time for teachers and our administrative team whose commitment is unwavering. Those of us left behind with the pupils from the Nursery to Year 4 will be able to take advantage of having all of the facilities to ourselves for five days.
Today was our New Children’s day and we have pupils joining us in every year group from Nursery to Year 7 in September. This is the changing face of Daneshill with the vast majority of pupils now staying on for 13+. Amidst the organised chaos of the day we also managed to celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday with a BBQ lunch.
Mr Spencer
News from the Pre-Prep
The Pre-Prep children returned from half-term well rested and enthusiastic to learn. There was great excitement on Friday morning as the children went on an adventure around the building travelling through the seven continents to their classrooms. They were greeted by a roaring red dragon in Asia and saw some stunning aboriginal art from Australasia. The journey continued into the depths of Africa where they went on safari to meet the wild animals. The temperature dropped as the children arrived in Antarctica and saw the whales and penguins swimming in the freezing ocean. Next they explored Inuits of the northern tip of North America following the Rocky Mountains down to the Andes in South America where they met an alpaca. Finally they headed back home to Europe where they stopped off for some pizza in Rome outside the Coliseum and croissants at the Eiffel Tower. The chimes of Big Ben signalled that their journey had come to an end. You are all welcome to jump on board the ‘Daneshill Airline’ and visit some of the wonders of the world with us.
Pre-Prep Teachers
Nursery Corner
We had a super, sunny start to our week, with the children coming back into Nursery with fabulous tales of trips to the beach and camping expeditions, as well as some relaxing down time at home with their families over half-term. With the weather significantly improved we have been enjoying our outside garden and in particular the water tray. Moving water between the vessels and allowing it to flow down into the main bucket has kept the children very busy and many remained focused on this activity for some time. It really proves rather mesmerising for them to watch.
Our theme of under the sea continues and we have some pretty fish in need of some sparkling scales which the children have been working with independently on the discovery table. Some excellent maths and problem solving skills have been witnessed as they work out how many each fish needs.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Mrs Beeching
Sporting Fixtures
Wednesday 8th June
CRICKET
U.13 A vs. St. Neot’s W by 60 runs
Colts A vs. St. Francis W by 3 Wkts
Colts B vs. St. Francis W by 36 runs
ROUNDERS
U.10 A vs. Daneshill T’ment 3rd
U.10 B vs. Daneshill T’ment 4th
Thursday 9th June
CRICKET
U.13 A vs. Bradfield U.14 W by 26 runs
Friday 10th June
CRICKET
U.9 A vs. Brockhurst L by 17 runs
U.8 A vs. Brockhurst W by 22 runs
U.8 B vs. Brockhurst W by 15 runs
On Wednesday 8th June Daneshill hosted their annual U.10 rounders tournament. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon and all the girls were looking forward to the matches. Daneshill hosted St Piran’s, The Abbey, The Oratory and Yateley Manor. All of the schools competed with great sportsmanship and excellent skill. The Daneshill teams played some great rounders and special mention must go to the Year 4 girls who played up a year (Jemima, Lily, Katie, Imogen and Lola).
The final standings were as follows:
1st Yateley Manor
2nd St. Piran’s
3rd Daneshill A
4th Daneshill B & The Abbey
Well done to all the teams who took part.
On Thursday 9th June the boys in Years 4 – 7 competed at the St. Andrew’s athletics meeting. All the boys who took part did very well and put in commendable performances after a long week of matches and exams. Special mention must go to Luke Zamoyski-Freitag, Joseph Kamkar-Diaz, Jake McGregor and Stanley Jiang who tried new events and did very well.
The results from the event were as follows:
Year 4
Nicholas Thomas 1st in 100m
Nicholas Thomas 1st in Long jump with a jump of 3.75m
Year 5
William Swart 3rd in Hurdles
Solomon Arbib 2nd 100m
Barnaby Calthorpe 2nd 200m
Alex Harker 2nd Long jump
William Swart 3rd Long jump
Nick Legh-Smith 1st High Jump
Relay team came 2nd
Year 6
Harry Burleton 1st 100m
Lucas Darragh 3rd 200m
Guy Stevens 1st 600m
Archie B-D 3rd Long Jump
Guy Stevens 1st High Jump
Year 7
Joseph Kamkar-Diaz 3rd
Relay team came 3rd
What a week it has been, on top of exams we have managed to play some very interesting and successful fixtures. It was great for all the boys to get outside and put in a big effort on top of their efforts in the classroom. The First XI managed to turn over their previous defeat to St Neot’s with a very pleasing performance and then go onto beat Bradfield too. The Colts looked very promising in their matches against St Francis. The Second’s looked to accelerate their progression by visiting the nets at Eversley and Colts C side had a very good training working on striking the ball and foot movement.
First XI vs. St. Neot’s First XI: Won – DH 99/7, STN 39ao
St. Neot’s won the toss and put us in on what was undoubtedly the wettest wicket of the season to date. Having lost to St. Neot’s in our previous match, a very close affair, the boys were keen to see if they could apply the lessons from that match and improve their performance, notably to build partnerships and keep the extras down.
St. Neot’s struggled with their line and length early on due to the conditions but a slick catch by the wicket keeper, two ill-judged shots and the fact we weren’t getting any value for some good batting due to the wet and slow outfield gave them a good platform as the innings teetered on 23/3. Step up Sami Virji and Oli Beresford-Davies. The two ran hard between the wickets, picked the gaps between the fielders and placed the pressure on St. Neot’s in a fantastic partnership of 32 runs. This set the tone as the wicket began to flatten out and St Neot’s got frustrated as they couldn’t stop the runs flowing. As so often happens Oli was bowled after drinks but thankfully Harry Stevens carried on his good work. Sami took up the slack and accelerated as it was very difficult for any new batsmen coming in to score quickly. In the end Sami was out for a mature and well compiled 43. Harry Stevens and Jake McGregor finished off the innings to leave Daneshill on 99/7. A good score given the conditions but with the outfield now dry and the wicket much flatter we felt it was only par.
After a good match tea we were back out there again. Early wickets proved St. Neot’s achilles heel as Harry Stevens and Will Wyatt ripped through their top order causing chaos in the St. Neot’s ranks at 10/3. Resistance seemed futile as the game got away from St. Neot’s with some nice, accurate bowling creating scoreboard pressure and loose shots. With the run rate climbing Daneshill took full advantage of the inevitable mistakes, William Toosey taking two catches, the team creating two run outs and Virji, Munn, Wilson and Antelme all getting amongst the wickets. This was a very well-played game from the First XI, having been put under pressure and getting the worst of the conditions, they fought back well to secure a good victory.
Mr Baldwin
Colts A vs. St. Francis: Won – St. Francis 73/7 off 20 DH 73/7 off 16
St. Francis won the toss but put Daneshill into the field which skipper Thomas Dyer was happy about. It was a reasonably firm wicket, and some really strong bowling from the Daneshill openers, Arthur and Archie, saw St. Francis lose an early wicket. Thomas elected to have the whole team bowl 2 overs each which worked out admirably, and saw St. Francis players put under pressure with every change. Some strong fielding, impressive concentration and straight bowling had the opposition kept to 73 from 20 overs.
After tea we went into bat, with Thomas and Tommy opening. Thomas hit a nice shot for a single to get off strike, but then disaster struck in the form of a lovely ball from the opposition opener sending Tommy’s off stump flying. A shaky start for Daneshill. However, some solid batting from Thomas and the middle order, Harry, Lucas and Ollie, meant we were well within our comfort zone after 10 overs, and gently cruised to the finish.
A hot day’s cricket, and some things to be proud of.
Mr Champness
Colts B vs. St. Francis: Won – St. Francis 19 ao Daneshill 55-2 (8 overs)
Will Swart takes a five – for as Daneshill secure a comfortable victory over their St. Francis counterparts.
The first week back after half-term and the Colts Bs stepped straight back into some cricket action. After a disappointing result last time around, it was a chance for them to bounce back and get another victory under their belts. Whilst it was still overcast, Alex Harker won the toss and Daneshill chose to have a bowl first. With 3 wickets having fallen within the first 3 overs, the 4th over of the innings blew the St Francis middle order away. Will Swart was the bowler whom, after a wicket maiden first up, bowled a quadruple – wicket maiden on his 2nd, including taking a hat – trick, to leave the opposition 7 down after 4 overs. Will, extraordinarily, finished with 2 overs, 2 maidens, 0 runs, 5 wickets. The St Francis innings was wrapped up before 6 overs were bowled, with Freddie Cullen bowling a double wicket maiden (which in any other game would get prime billing on the score card), Solomon Arbib taking the final wicket, with the other wicket to fall going to Marios.
In reply, Daneshill gave a chance for some other players to stake a claim, and Harvey Kelling and William Beeching opened the batting. After 2 overs, the score was already 16-0; at which stage both coaches decided to give all the players a chance to either bat or bowl, so Daneshill batted in pairs for the next 6 overs. After 8 overs had been bowled, Daneshill were left on 55-2, on course for a very good total, with Solomon, Marios and Alex Harker all hitting a boundary each.
A very professional performance, demonstrating that if you bowl with a good line and length and put the batsmen under pressure, you are likely to reap the rewards. Let’s hope the boys can continue to perform at this level for the rest of term.
Mr King