Daneshill Diary 17/11/17
Headmaster’s Notes
Today’s Celebration Assembly was as busy as ever with the children achieving so much, both in school and outside. It is always a highlight of the week because the children themselves describe the nature of their triumph. It works on two fronts as we celebrate their success to inspire others, but it also builds their confidence when speaking in public. Success of the week must surely go to the Daneshill Science Team who once again won their first round of the National Science Quiz. This is a success for the four children involved but also Mrs Blomfield who gave vital support.
If you have not yet seen him, Pudsey Bear has joined us for the day and is residing just outside the school office. Thanks to Mrs Lock for drawing him and the children for filling him with coins. He will be in place until 5:00m when he needs to join a picnic somewhere else.
Have a great weekend.
Mr Griffiths
Wellington College Chemistry Spectacular
On 9th November all of Year 5 attended a wonderful show full of loud bangs, exploding mixtures, glowing jars, and colour changing chemicals. We were taken on a tour through the ages with the Science team at the College experimenting with some of the first elements to appear on Earth. It was a privilege to see the joy on the children’s faces as they were wowed with some awesome experiments. The show has served as a great introduction to their new topic of chemical reactions, which we are studying until the end of term.
National Prep School Science Quiz
On 16th November four of our talented Scientists were taken to St John’s Beaumont School to compete in the first round of this event. We were up against seven other schools, most of which had entered two teams. After ten questions we were in the lead which the pupils managed to sustain for the entire competition. They worked fabulously as a team; listening to each other and at times voting tactically when they were unsure of the answer. The final ten questions of the quiz are worth between 80 – 100 points and the team played very skilfully ensuring that they managed to keep the points coming in and defending their position as leaders. By the 39th question Daneshill had worked up such a lead that we knew we had won. A truly impressive achievement and we now go through to the semi-finals, where the date will be announced shortly. We have worked hard on teamwork in school but the pupils have also spent countless hours at home with their heads stuck in science books trying to retain as many facts as possible. Thank you for the support from all the parents, present and past (Mrs Aldred), and huge congratulations go to Caitlin Manley, Ijoba Olopade, Freya Green and Dominic Wynne Williams.
Mrs Blomfield
Pre-Prep News
This week the Reception children have been focusing on using their sounds to write CVC words such as cat, dog and sit. They impressed their teacher by beginning to use the cursive writing script. Reception have also been working hard on their numbers. We enjoyed singing our number rhyming songs and practised writing numbers 0-10 correctly. Linking to our superhero topic we discussed who our ‘every day’ heroes are and we are looking forward to writing thank you cards next week to the superhero mums, dads, siblings and grandparents in our lives.
On your marks, get set, go! The Year 1’s took to their places to engage in some fun activities in Maths this week. The children were learning about ordinal numbers and had their own races which helped them record the different positions – first, second, third and so on. In English the children have begun to create pirate stories using a story mountain to help them in the planning stage. We look forward to using these plans next week to form our own creative writing pieces.
Year 2 have been seeing things from a ‘bird’s-eye-view’ perspective this week, which has opened their eyes to their surroundings and local area. We have been on a mapped adventure around Daneshill, using our new knowledge to navigate and discover parts of the school the children had never been to before, or noticed. It was a lovely lesson but also a reminder of how beautiful the school grounds are and how lucky the children are to live in this area. At one point, Miss Dolphin even joined us outside the Year 3 classrooms and the children were very excited to tell her what they were doing. Keep your eyes peeled this weekend and see what else you can discover around you.
The Pre-Prep Teachers
Sports
Weds 15th November
FOOTBALL
U.13 A vs. Brockhurst L 1 – 2
U.13 B vs. Brockhurst L 1 – 2
Colts A vs. St. Andrew’s L 2 – 6
Colts B vs. St Andrew’s L 0 – 5
Colts C vs. St Andrew’s L
HOCKEY
U.13 A vs. Eagle House L 0 – 5
U.13 B vs. Eagle House L 3 – 5
U.13 C vs. Eagle House L 0 – 5
U.11 A vs. Eagle House L 1 – 4
U.11 B vs. Eagle House W 4 – 1
U.11 C vs Eagle House D 3 – 3
U.10 A vs. Eagle House W 6 – 0
U.10 B vs. Eagle House L 3 – 4
Friday 17th November
HOCKEY
U.9 A vs. St. Piran’s D 4 – 4
U.9 B vs. St. Piran’s L 1 – 4
U.8 A vs. St. Piran’s D 0 – 0
U.8 B vs. St. Piran’s L 1 – 4
U.8 C vs. St. Piran’s L 1 – 2
U.11 C
The U.11 C’s started tentatively, during the first half much of the play was dominated by the opposition. By half time we had managed to scrape 1 goal against Eagle House’s confident 2. The second half was much more competitive, it was pleasing to see the girls using the wings and passing the ball positively with much more communication. The girls showed their determination and ended the game with 2 excellent goals, a great come back, well done!
U.10 B
What an exciting match. Both sides played excellent hockey and the scores were close throughout the match with neither side taking a strong lead. At half time we discussed passing more confidently and taking early shots at the goal. During the second half it was great to see the girls looking up and using the strong wing to drive the ball into the D. Hedi and Alaya played brilliantly at the front and scored some great goals. The end result was a shame but overall an extremely close match.
Miss Jones
U.13 A
It was a very scrappy match with both being fully committed throughout. Brockhurst were the more physically developed of the two sides and they had the majority of the chances in the first half. They took advantage of this and scored a goal late in the first half after some valiant defending from the back line and some great saves from Thomas Dyer. The second half was a more even affair and after conceding the second from a long range effort the boys fought back and scored late on to make the last 10 minutes very entertaining. The goal was scored by Harry from a corner, and we had enough chances to get an equaliser but it wasn’t to be on the day. A very good performance from the boys in difficult conditions.
Mr Morgan
U.13 B
This was a hard-fought game and the Daneshill team can perhaps feel a little unfortunate not to come away with a draw.
Despite the game’s scrappy nature, both sides had plenty of opportunities to create chances in front of goal. Although Brockhurst showed more poise and control when in possession, Daneshill were the more combative and physical of the two teams.
Freddie C, in particular, made several fantastic sliding tackles in the midfield; Alex W scored a superb goal just before half-time – the ball cannoning in off the apex of the goal frame; and William B and Arthur T worked well in tandem at the heart of the Daneshill defence. However, all the boys should be very proud of their efforts. They all worked tirelessly until the final whistle to score a deserved equaliser, but sadly came up just short.
Mr Kinsey
Colts A
This was a fantastic game to watch. Brockhurst scored after around 30 seconds and then pitched a tent in our box. We were committed and got our bodies behind the ball, frustrating their many shots as Charlie and the defenders made some great saves. It was beginning to look like we may not get out of our own half but then, from a good ball from Dominic, Nicholas Thomas scorched down the line and put a perfect through ball behind the Brockhurst defenders for William Brooks to take a touch and put in the back of the net. The game began to even up as we wrestled possession our way, still frustrating the Brockhurst attempts on goal, and with two very good chances to score we could have been 3-1 up. Alas, we could not convert and Brockhurst made the most of some uncharacteristically sloppy work at the back to score 3 quick goals. Down 4-1 at the break we had a job on our hands.
A Brockhurst goal straight after the break saw us go 5-1 down and something needed to change. We bought Rupert and Daniel back into defence and Ben Kellard shifted to right midfield. This resulted in some good possession and better field position, William Brook was the benefactor as he scored to make it 5-2. From here we had our chances but couldn’t quite take them. Brockhurst finished with another goal to win 6-2. We played very well and created a lot of chances but in the end, some loose work at the back meant Brockhurst were able to take their chances and so we must take the positives and look for more improvement next week.
Mr Baldwin
The Colts Bs lost 5-0 against a very strong Brockhurst side. We started well, forcing an early save from the Brockhurst keeper before the away side got their big players into the game. The pressure started to build on us with a corner headed against the post, but we held them off until another corner was unfortunately deflected into our own goal by Charlie.
After this Brockhurst gained confidence and rapidly added three more before half time, taking advantage of slack marking outside the box to use their greater size and strength to full effect.
The boys regrouped at half time and kept fighting, with Henry C in particular posing a threat, but the Brockhurst keeper made some good saves to hold us off right to the end.
Mr Collins