Daneshill Diary 11/05/18

Headmaster’s Notes

I think it is safe to say that the summer has now arrived and is here to stay. It has been lovely to see the children using the site to its potential in this sunny weather. There is something charming about them wearing wellies at breaktime through the winter months, but there is an extra spring in their steps as they run out to play cricket and rounders or to just make daisy chains. It has been a busy week at school with the Pre-Prep Theatre Company visit and yesterday saw success again at the Biathlon Championships. The children are gearing up towards their summer exams and revision notes for Years 6&7 will be on the website shortly.  I hope that all of our families have a lovely weekend.

Mr Griffiths

Salter’s Festival of Chemistry

Four students from Year 7 & 8 visited Reading University on Thursday to take part in the Salter’s Festival of Chemistry. The children were amazed at the scale of the University campus with the Chemistry department alone being bigger than Daneshill! They carried out two challenges in the University laboratories working as a team to mix chemicals together to give them answers to help solve the problems. In addition they had to fill out lab reports with their results and conclusions and all under a strict time limit. At the end of the day there were ‘wowed’ with some exciting chemical demonstrations to enthuse them further and spark that love of Chemistry that I most certainly have. The children were a credit to themselves and the school, and hopefully got an enormous amount out of the experience.

Daneshill Zoo

The caterpillars were busy over the bank holiday weekend and when we arrived at school on Tuesday morning three of them had gone into the chrysalis stage dangling precariously from the top of their temporary home. We are awaiting one more of the caterpillars to go through metamorphosis and then hopefully in a week or so we will be bringing you news of some beautiful painted ladies that have emerged – watch this space! The tadpoles meanwhile are continuing to swim furiously in their tank and it will be a few weeks yet before we see some little leg stumps! Our eggs arrive on Monday to complete the Daneshill Science zoo for this term. Please do stop in and see all the animals.

Mrs Blomfield

Nightingale Charity Initiative

Nightingale House chose a new charity for their fundraising this term.  The David Hoyle Foundation was launched earlier this year following the tragic death of David Hoyle, a family man who lived in Crondall and was known to many families at Daneshill.  His whole working life was dedicated to conservation and protecting African forests. After his first trip to Malawi as a volunteer aged 17, he pledged to support and help educate communities in Africa.  He worked in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Cameroon where he met his wife, Marceline.

Marceline came to Daneshill to explain how and why the David Hoyle Foundation was launched. She and her husband had worked tirelessly to provide financial support to her small village in Cameroon; they fundraised to sponsor village children through school and sought to better young people’s lives through improvements in medical care and education. The Foundation hopes to be able to continue their wonderful work.

We asked all our children to come dressed in “Mufti” and to donate £2 per child; they were encouraged to bring in crocs and football boots that were no longer needed at home.  The response has been extraordinary. The shoes were arranged in a beautiful tree shape, every branch a different colour, and every single pair (over 100) will be taken to Cameroon – local children will have shoes to wear to school and boots to help them develop their skills in a game they love to play. To date we have raised over £450! Marceline explained to the Prep school and Pre-Prep children that the cost of registering a child to attend school for a year was often prohibitive and that there are many, many children who do not go to school due to financial hardship.  Ask your child to tell you how many Cameroonian children we will be supporting through school next year based on the donations we have collected.

Thank you so much for supporting us with such enthusiasm and generosity.

Mrs Passmore and Mrs Barnes

Pre-Prep News

Reception have been busy monkeying around this week! We have immersed ourselves in our topic ‘Julia Donaldson’ and focused on one of our favourite books ‘Monkey Puzzle’. The children enjoyed learning all about how to use adjectives and are now going to aim to use WOW words in their own writing. We enjoyed working with a partner to play ‘guess the animal’ using our describing words. The children also made their own animal puzzles and enjoyed collecting sticks outside to make homes for the jungle animals in our classroom. We spent our circle time focusing on one of the important messages in our book, all about what we should do if we ever get lost. Reception are looking forward to next week when we will begin to prepare for our first assembly to parents before half term!

Year 1 became real explorers this week, setting off in their jeeps into the darkest depths of the rainforest with the Perform Theatre Company.  The children encountered all sorts of fierce and noisy creatures and took on the roles of these animals themselves. A lot of fun was had by all, with the children using their super imagination skills and lovely singing voices.  Setting off on a journey to become authors also began this week with the children carefully planning their own adaptations of Cyril’s Big Adventure, sending all sorts of rainforest animals to different and interesting destinations around the world. I can’t wait to read their stories next week.

We have been around the world with Year 2 this week as the Geography talks have continued. A few highlight so far have been visiting The Channel Islands where we stopped off for some delicious fudge, a flamenco lesson from a Spanish senorita and an epic safari adventure in Africa. We have been blown away by the confidence and maturity shown by the children in their undertaking of a project of this size. We can’t wait to get our passports stamped once again next week!

The Pre-Prep Teachers

Sports

Weds 9th May

CRICKET

U.13 A vs. Horris Hill                         L by 58 runs

U.13 B vs. Horris Hill                         L by 10 Wkts

Colts A vs. Horris Hill                         L

Colts B vs. Horris Hill                         L

ROUNDERS

U.13 A vs. Edgeborough                     L 8.5 – 18

U.13 A vs. Barrow Hill                         W 22.5 – 2.5

U.13 B vs. Edgeborough                     L 16 – 16.5

U.13 C vs. Crosfields                          D 12 – 12

U.11 A vs. Crosfields                          W 15.5 – 6.5

U.11 B vs. Crosfields                           W 19 – 13

U.11 C vs. Crosfields                          W 12 – 8

U.10 A vs. Edgeborough                     W 12 – 7.5

U.10 A vs Barrow Hill                         W 18 – 4.5

U.10 B vs. Edgeborough                     L 13.5 – 16.5

Thursday 10th May

BIATHLON

U.9 Girls vs. The Marist                      2nd / 9 schools

U.8 Girls vs. The Marist                      1st / 9 schools

Friday 11th May

CRICKET

U.9 A vs Brockhurst                            W by 142 runs

U.9 B vs. Brockhurst                           Tbc

U.8 A vs. Brockhurst                           W by 60 runs

U.8 B vs. Brockhurst                           Tbc

ROUNDERS

U.9 A vs. Marlston House                   W 19 – 11.5

U.9 B vs. Marlston House                    W 13 – 10

U.8 A vs. Marlston House                   L 10.5 – 11.5

U.8 B vs. Marlston House                    W 12.5 – 12

U.11 B

This was a game of two halves. At half-time our girls were leading 6.5 – 3.5  having fielded very successfully and prevented any high scoring against them. A surge in batting power by Crosfields combined with several errors and lapses of judgement by Daneshill suddenly allowed 9.5 additional rounders to be accumulated by the opposition. The Daneshill team had to show more determination when batting and be prepared to run some risks in order to put pressure on the Crosfields fielders. Fortunately the U11B’s rose to the challenge and took advantage of numerous miss-fielding opportunities to eventually add a further 12.5 rounders to their total and secure victory.

POM: Batting – Octavia Hoare Nairne     Fielding – Eloise Henwood

U.9 A

This is a very talented Daneshill team who can bat and field equally well. Numerous rounders were hit outright but in the second innings, in particular, it was courageous running which made the difference. The team seized on every opportunity; each slip or moment of hesitation by their opponents was converted into scoring at least a half rounder. They outplayed their opponents and deserved the 19 – 11.5 win.

POM: Batter – Dinobi Okafor    Fielder – Antonia Froom

Mrs Gill