Daneshill Diary 27/04/18

Headmaster’s Notes

After the highs of last week, it was always likely that the temperatures were going to fall away and sadly that has been followed by the rain today. Nevertheless, it has been an excellent week at school. Year 4 had an outstanding visit to The Hawk Conservatory on Tuesday and the Year 8 enjoyed the Bear Grylls Survival Academy on Thursday. Year 7 were glad of the extra wind yesterday as it made their sailing all the more exciting. I have been away inspecting another school for the past two days but was delighted to return to school today to open a letter from Wellington College stating that another of our children has been offered a place for 2019 entry. What an excellent way to round off the week! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Mr Griffiths

Year 7 Spanish Exchange

Towards the end of the Easter holidays, six of our Year 7 pupils headed to Madrid for the return leg of their Spanish Exchange. The children spent ten days living with their host families and attended Santa Maria del Camino School where they took part in lessons and sampled a Spanish curriculum. The school very kindly arranged trips to central Madrid and Segovia as well as introducing the pupils to the local delicacies. By all accounts the children are now experts at making an authentic gazpacho and an array of tapas! Outside of school they spent time with their hosts who immersed them in Madrid life. Eliza even made the pilgrimage to Sevilla where she attended communion. The exchange continues to be a huge success and we are extremely proud of the pupils who take part. Well done Arthur, Jude, Eliza, Emily, Grace and Saskia! We would also like to thank the parents who support this initiative and very much hope that future friendships are formed for them as well as the children.

Mr Spencer

Year 8 Three Peaks Challenge

On Wednesday we lead an assembly to the whole school about our Three Peaks Challenge in June. This year we are hoping to raise £3,345.00 in aid of three charities, one charity for each summit we reach. £1,345.00 for Alzheimers UK and £1,000.00 for both Young minds and Water Aid. We hope to raise this much money as it roughly matches the height of each peak.  You will hear shortly from our fundraising committee with a number of ideas to help reach our target for these amazing charities. We have set up a JustGiving page for each charity and would be hugely grateful if you are able to kindly donate and support us in this challenge. To donate, simply type in ‘Three peaks Daneshill’ in the search box on the JustGiving home page.

Year 8 Pupils

Year 4 Trip to Hawk Conservancy

On Tuesday, Year 4 headed to The Hawk Conservancy. The aim of the day was to learn about birds; their adaptations to their environment, food chains and food webs, and of course to have lots of fun. The children had the most exciting time watching the displays, especially when we were told to duck as the birds would literally fly over the top of our heads and wow did they! We met a variety of birds from Vultures to Sea Eagles, Great Grey Owls to Peregrin Falcons. It was a super day out with some incredible close encounters that will stay with us forever.

Cake Sale

A huge thank you to all the parents and the children for their support with last Friday’s cake sale. As a school we raised a whopping £387.91 which will be split between Clic Sargent and Macmillan. This gave me a huge boost for the London marathon on Sunday and thank you also for the overwhelming number of you who sent me good luck messages through Sunday. There is no escaping the fact it was a huge challenge with the scorching heat but it really did prove to me that the body will do whatever the mind tells it to. An overwhelming experience and one I shall never forget.

Mrs Blomfield

 Pre-Prep News

It was wonderful to see the children returning from their Easter break so enthusiastic and excited to learn!

Reception were delighted to discover their new topics and find a ‘Vet’s Corner’ had arrived in their classroom! Our topic ‘It’s Time to Rhyme’ grabbed the children’s attention straight away and we have been looking at Julia Donaldson’s book The Smartest Giant in Town as our stimulus. The children wrote their own ‘Thank You’ letters which linked perfectly to our PSHE topic all about being thankful. We have been busy checking and watering our cress which we decided to grow as part of our ‘Forest Friday’ activity. They have thoroughly enjoyed discovering how plants grow and are looking forward to making egg and cress sandwiches soon!

This week Year 1 packed their bags, put on their binoculars and explorer hats and set off on a virtual field trip to the Amazon rainforest. They discovered were the world’s rainforests are located and why they are found in these places, along with many more interesting and exciting facts. Having experienced the sounds and visuals of the Amazon, the children then wrote some incredible setting descriptions using some super adjectives and similes.  Year 1 are well on their way to becoming rainforest experts!

‘To be, or not to be; that is the question.’ However, that was not the only question that our Year 2 thespians had this week! This term we will be looking at the work of William Shakespeare and putting on a performance of one of his famous plays ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The children have really enjoyed learning facts about the famous writer and are developing an understanding of how his work has had a lasting impact on our language today; why not ask your child where the phrase ‘sleep tight’ comes from this weekend? We look forward to welcoming parents to watch our outside performance later in the term.

The Pre-Prep Teachers

Sports

Weds 25th April

CRICKET

U.13 A vs. Thorngrove                        W by 50 runs

U.13 B vs. Thorngrove                        W by 2 runs

Colts A vs. Thorngrove                        L

Colts B vs. Thorngrove                        L by 28 runs

ROUNDERS

U.13 A vs. The Oratory                       L 9.5 – 11

U.13 B vs. The Oratory                       W 10 – 5

U.13 C vs The Oratory                        W 15 – 10

U.11 A vs. The Oratory                       L 4.5 – 8

U.11 A vs. Thorngrove                        W 9.5 – 4

U.11 B vs. The Oratory                        L 3 – 4

U.11 B vs. Thorngrove                        W 9 – 2.5

U.11 C vs. The Oratory                       W 5 – 2

U.11 C vs. Cranford House                 W 4 – 3.5

U.10 A vs. The Oratory                       W 5 – 4

U.10 A vs. Thorngrove                        W 7 – 6

U.10 B vs. Thorngrove                        W 5 – 4

U.11C v Cranford House

The Daneshill team played careful rounders and managed to prevent their opponents from scoring. Some excellent bowling gave nothing away and our girls took every opportunity to run and put the opposition under fielding pressure.

POM: Milla Horniman

U.11C v Oratory

Every member of this team made a contribution towards the score in this match, once again either by bowling accurately or by taking their chances to run hard. Sensible decisions when fielding ensured the win.

POM: Milla Horniman

Mrs Gill