Daneshill Diary 13/05/16
Headmaster’s Notes
Our adventurous pupils from Year 3 to Year 8 turned up in their numbers for the Bradfield Triathlon in aid of the Restless Earth Charity. The pupils’ determination to compete in all three of the disciplines was impressive on what was the hottest day of the year so far. Our pupils contributed significantly to the collective efforts of all those who took part and the current amount raised by Daneshill pupils stands at £ 10,360.00, which is quite remarkable.
On Monday our senior pupils returned to Bradfield College for our annual Inter-house Swimming Competition. After some close individual races and relays, Calthorpe (Red) were crowned this year’s victors.
I am delighted to report that two of our Year 8 boys, Sami Virji and William Wyatt, have been selected for the U.13 Hampshire Cricket squad. Sami has been appointed as captain, which I am sure is a challenge that he will relish. Well done boys!
To cap another memorable week off, Amelia Ralls (Y5) and Georgie Brooks Ward (Y8) had the great privilege of riding in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Parade at Windsor on Thursday. What an honour for them both!
Mr Spencer
Maths Challenge
Years 3 – 8
What angle do you turn through when you face North and then turn to face South-East? (Please draw the compass points to show how you got your answer)
Years 6 – 8
What is your bearing if you are going in the direction ESE?
Solution to last week’s Maths Challenge
Years 3 – 8
If 1cm represents 100 m then 20 cm represents 20 x 100 which is 2000m
There are 1000 m in 1km so the answer is 2km.
Years 6 – 8
The scale 1:5000 means 1cm represents 5000cm.
1m = 100cm
Therefore 1cm represents 50m
20cm represent 50 x 20 = 1000m
This is 1km!!
Mrs Caratelli
News from the Pre-Prep
In Reception we have been learning about our eight legged friends; spiders! We couldn’t believe they had up to eight eyes and how they suck a fly empty. We looked at similarities and differences between spiders, ladybirds and butterflies. We enjoyed completing our star job; writing spider facts all by ourselves. We then looked at ‘The Very Busy Spider’ story by Eric Carle. We also made pompom spiders attached to our drain pipe so that the spider can hide and climb up the water spout. We have also enjoyed watching our tadpoles grow. They now have back legs! When they are frogs we will take them to the pond.
The journey into the rainforest continued this week for the Year 1 children as they studied the work of the famous French artist Henri Rousseau. This gave them inspiration and helped develop their artistic flair as they sketched and coloured their own scenes. The children were asked to think about the ‘story’ behind their pictures and include bright colours and exciting animals in their work. We were impressed with the cheeky monkeys and wild tigers which had been drawn amongst the thick, green leaves and trees of the tropical rainforest.
It has been extremely rewarding to see all the Year 2 children really start to enjoy their reading and it is pleasing when in ‘Golden Time’ the children choose to free read. They have all made considerable progress since the start of the academic year and now it is time to encourage them all to work on their comprehension skills and understanding. Who is your favourite character and why? If you met one character from the story, what would you say to him/her? What title would you give the book? Would you like to read another book by this author?
We are supporting this learning by exploring a text in English this term, ‘The Man Who Wore All His Clothes’ by Allan Ahlberg. This week the children have read up to chapter 7 and were asked to track the main characters through each chapter.
In Maths we are constantly working on using varied terminology and have turned the teaching to the children. They have been asking mathematical questions to their peers and explaining how they reached an answer in a Maths quiz.
Pre-Prep Teachers
Nursery Corner
We have introduced a new method of self-registration this week which has proved a huge success. The children have to identify their photograph and then those that can ‘sign in’ by writing their name before everyone hang their picture on the wall. We have also talked with the children about being independent in the morning and sorting their own snacks and folders too. We are in position to have the time to allow the children to carry out these tasks without support and are more than happy to go at their pace in order to complete them. It is amazing how helpful and capable they all are and even our new friends have been quick to learn the morning routine.
During our Maths activities this week we have been doing both practical and written work. We have been reinforcing numeral recognition to 5 and 10 and also been working on adding ‘1 more ’. Our Welly boots have still unfortunately been needed this week but our stamping of feet at the end of our outside play is now brilliant as we jump and count in 2’s to ten!
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Beeching
Sporting Fixtures
Friday 13th May
CRICKET
U.9 A vs. Horris Hill
U.8 A vs. Horris Hill W by 74 runs
ROUNDERS
U.9 A vs. St. Piran’s L 9.5 – 10.5
U.9 B vs. St. Piran’s W 14.5 – 5
U.9 C vs. St. Piran’s W 10 – 8.5
U.8 A vs. St. Piran’s L 11 – 11.5
U.8 B vs. St. Piran’s W 10.5 – 6
Unfortunately the weather played its part this week and all of our cricket and rounders was called off on Wednesday. We did, however, have a busy week away from the main sports. A couple of months ago Jessica Bettesworth qualified for the National IAPS swimming finals, which were held in Crawley last Saturday. Jessica took part in the 50 metre Breast Stroke and improved her personal best by over a second, finishing in ninth place nationally and narrowly missing the final race. A fantastic achievement!
As previously mentioned, on Sunday twenty three teams of four took part in the Restless Development Triathlon held at Bradfield College. After some very close swimming races the children had to cycle and run. All the teams successfully completed the course with great determination and fantastic support from their team mates and family. Team Girls Lightening; Isla Lock, Imogen Dyer, Lola Goor and Emma Salter were 6th out of 53 teams. Team Dangerous Daneshill Boys; Oliver Antelme, Harry Burleton, Lucas Darragh and Archie Beresford Davies were 2nd out of 59 teams and Team Daneshill: Harry Stevens, Harry Hare, Max Antelme and Tom Swart were 4th out of 24 teams. Elsie Lock and Henry Arnold are already selecting their teams and training for the future!
It was a busy week in the pool with over one hundred pupils competing in our Inter-House Gala at Bradfield on Monday. The final positions and scores were as follows: 1st Calthorpe (183), 2nd Austen (171), 3rd Wellesley (161) and 4th Nightingale (155).
On Thursday, pupils in Year 6 to 8 took part in a Swimming Gala against Eagle House. All of the pupils competed admirably with some notable performances. A special mention has to go to Harrison Clever though who swam in a significant number of races and was acknowledged for his great sportsmanship by Eagle House. Overall, Daneshill finished on 85 points with Eagle House finishing ahead on 119 points. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and should be proud of their achievements.
Mrs Barnes & Mrs Fevrier