Daneshill Diary 24/02/17

Headmaster’s Notes

I hope everyone enjoyed the half-term break. It is good to see the children back in school for the second half of term. Hopefully most of the coughs and colds are now behind us.

This week there have been a number of significant events. Year 3 really enjoyed their morning studying what life is like in an Indian village. They learnt about meditation and Indian dance, and in Art they made a variety of Indian artefacts.

Twenty five children took part in the regional round of the IAPS Swimming competition at Brockhurst on Thursday. We will know before too long if any of our swimmers have qualified for the National finals.

Finally, many congratulations to Lilias Hoare Nairne on her award of an Academic Scholarship to Downe House. A fantastic achievement. Well done!

I do wish everyone a relaxing weekend.

Mr Wansey

Pre-Prep News

Reception completed our ‘Traditional Tales’ with the story of The Three Little Pigs, very apt with the arrival of the mighty Storm Dorris huffing and puffing this week! Who could have guessed that the story could be so easily adapted!  The Little pigs visited different countries and built a variety of different houses including an igloo and a house on stilts. We looked at reasons for these types of homes and discussed which one we would like to live in. We then compared it to the third dwelling, a Bedouin tent in a desert. One budding architect suggested shifting sand dunes would not make a stable base for a brick house! This learning was shared with the rest of Pre-Prep in our Friday assembly. They used their written work and sang a song accompanied by pupils who played the beat. We have now put the work up on display in the classroom for you all to see.

What a wonderful experience it is for us as teachers to witness learning as we do!  In Year 1 this week we have been exploring the Story Mountain approach to writing and have allowed the children to really run wild with their imaginations in order to develop their creative writing.  With the excitement of the famous children’s author Chloe Inkpen visiting us soon, we have all been busy writing our own ‘books’. Some of the stories are based around a spooky farm and a golden coin whilst others invite you to meet a magical Dragon and his Gecko friend!  As we build on each area of the stories it is fantastic to see how the children are able to put their ideas onto paper and we look forward to you reading them once they are finished.

Minds have been growing this week in Year 2, as have the seeds they have planted.  Each child has their own pot with seeds for either baby carrots, runner beans or watercress, to which they have been given sole responsibility to look after with water, sunlight (when it appears!) and care.  The children have been very excited about this venture which has opened up scientific and health discussions.  The aim is that in the near future, their produce can be harvested and taken home for you all to eat with your Sunday roasts. Yummy! There is lots of work ahead for our young gardeners and we are looking forward to updating you with our ‘Sow and Grow’ developments.

The Pre-Prep Teachers

Sports

Wednesday 22^nd February

NETBALL

U.13 A vs. Pangbourne                       L 5 – 13

U.13 B vs. Pangbourne                       W 8 – 0

U.13 C vs. Pangbourne                       W 12 – 6

U.11 A vs. Rupert House                     W 12 – 1

U.11 B vs. Rupert House                     L 2 – 4

U.10 A vs. Rupert House                     W 13 – 5

U.10 B vs. Rupert House                     W 8 – 0

U.10 C vs. Rupert House                     D 1 – 1