Newsletters

Newsletters 2023-2024  no. 16 14th  March 2024

This week has been assessment week for all children in the school. This is an invaluable opportunity to assess where they currently are and what needs to be put in place to support their next steps.  All classes have coped very well with this, and they should be very proud of their achievements and resilience.

Making the Invisible Visible: Neurodiversity and the Workplace – AASLH

Next week will be a 'regular' week in class, but we will also be recognising Neurodiversity Week. The children are very aware that we are all built differently and think and behave in different ways.  Continuing to build upon our understanding and support for each other is very important. Neurodiversity Week focuses on the that there's no “correct” way for the brain to work. Instead, there is a wide range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world, and these differences are to be embraced and encouraged.

Thank you for being so supportive of Red Nose Day today. We haven't yet totalled up the money, but we do know that there have been a lot of generous donations - thank you.

We've also had a lot of fun sharing a plethora of jokes. Here are a few of the favourite that were gathered by the BNTO committee this week:

Joke Time - YouTube

On the weekend I bought 15 bees but the man who was selling them gave me 16. So I called him and said," I think you accidentally gave me one more than I was meant to get. Then he replied,"It’s a free bee". 

What does Santa do to know the weather? He asks the reindeer, "is it going to rain deer?"

What do you call a smelly fairy? Stinkerbell

What do you call a magic dog? A lab-ra-ca-da-bador

What do you give a lemon when it is sick? Lemon aid!

           

          

If you've got any school socks at home that your child has outgrown, feel free to drop them off at the office - these are always very helpful to have when children get wet and muddy. Thank you            

Top Table Lunch 

Congratulations to the children selected for the Top Table Lunch this week. This special lunch is a way to celebrate wonderful manners and kindness consistently shown over lunchtime (and perhaps a very special birthday!). 

           

  

                                      International Women's Day 

With resources from the Co-op, thank you, we took the opportunity to share thoughts about inspirational women on our Mother's Day lunch day. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We are keen, as always, that our children have strong role models and recognise that anything is possible. 

       

Mother's Day Lunch 

Thank you very much for joining us for lunch last week and to the Fresh Start and DPS team for working hard to provide this. It was an extremely busy lunch but so lovely to see so many of you come in. Not only was this event thoroughly enjoyed, it helped us to raise some funds for school projects across the school.

A full gallery is on the school website. 

    

 

                       

This week, children from Years 2-6 took part in a target sports festival at John Hellins Primary School. There were lots of fun activities linked to golf, dodgeball, archery, kurling, cricket and boccia. Special thank you to the staff at John Hellins who ran the activities and David Hanson from Northamptonshire Sport for putting it all together. Please see the gallery for more photos: 

World Maths Day 

World Maths Day was recognised in a new way this year as we joined up with others schools in the Grand Union Partnership on Zoom.  We practised our maths skills by joining up in year groups and completing maths quizzes just for fun. 

  

 

Sunflower newsletter 

Our latest Sunflower newsletter is now on the school website. Congratulations to the most recent and all previous Sunflower Award recipients. 

Parent Action Group

The date for the third Parent Action Group will be Wednesday 20th March and will take place at 14:30 in the School Library. 

The theme for our next discussion will be 'Home/School Agreement' - where we currently are with it, what it stands for, and how we can further improve it. 

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in attendance. 

Many thanks

Mike Pennington

    Parents' Evening 

If you haven't already, please head over to Arbor (or call the school office) to book your slot for the forthcoming meetings. These are the perfect opportunity to ask any questions that you have about the curriculum, your child's progress, how to support at home and anything else. Please note that the meetings are only 10 minutes long, and we will try extremely hard to keep to the selected time. Should you need longer, we can schedule this with you for a later date.

The children's books will be outside the classes ready for you to have a look before or after the meetings.

All the meetings are in person in school. 

Building Project Updates

We are pleased to be in the final stages of the heating upgrade project. The team are working extremely hard to complete the work by the end of the Easter break. When you visit the school next week (or the week after for Y4 parents), you'll see that we are not looking our best with lots of exposed pipework and holes in the wall etc, but we are nearing the end and the project will provide an efficient heating system for many years to come. 

Shortly after completion, we will be starting another large-scale project as our electricity system is fully updated.

Bookings for holiday club are now open. The team has lots of eggciting plans ready and we hope to have many children attend. 

Our next school discos are on Tuesday 26th March

3.30pm - 4.30pm for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2  with DJ Mr Larcombe

The cost is £3. Squash and pom bears will be provided. Children can bring in a change of clothes if they would like. 

5.30pm - 7.00pm for Year 3,4,5 and 6. This disco will be a silent disco! 

The cost is £5. Squash and hot dogs (meat and veggie) will be served. Places are limited to 120. First come first served. 

You can book places on Arbor now

Thank you to the PTA for organising this event

Verve Lei Terracotta Plastic Circular Grow Pot (Dia)7.6Cm, Pack Of 10

Our forest school team have been busy getting the growing area ready for the spring sowing season.  If you have any small plastic plant pots that you no longer use, we would love to reuse them. Please drop them off at the school office. Thank you

Did you know that there is a PTA lottery? Since it started, it has raised £998.40 ! Lottery tickets are £1 a week.

For a chance to win (and support PTA fundraising), click here - DPS Lottery

Safeguarding

The NSPCC website is a valuable resource for us as a school, but they also have very supportive materials for families.  Using their words completely -

There's no such thing as a perfect parent. One day all's calm, the next it's chaos. However it's going, we're here with advice and support for parents and carers.

For lots of great advice and support, click here.

 

If you have any safeguarding concerns at any time, please be sure to pass them on.

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) - Mrs Rachel Rice 

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs) - Mrs. Lynn Mildren, Mrs. Natalie Parsonson, Miss. Steph Forward and Mr. Mike Pennington

Save the date

PTA Family Bingo Night

Friday 26th April 

More details to follow shortly

The next three weeks @DPS

St Patrick’s Day acknowledged
2:45pm – 3:20pm
15
March
St Patrick’s Day
2:45pm – 3:20pm
17
March
Neurodiversity Week acknowledged
All Day
18
March
Parents’ Evening Reception to Year 6 (3:30 pm – 7 pm) NOT YEAR 4
3:30pm – 7:00pm
19
March
Year 4 residential trip to Rock UK departs
9:30am – 9:30am
From 20 Mar until 22 Mar
20
March
Parent Action Group (PAG) - focus on the home/school agreement
2:30pm – 3:15pm
20
March
Parents’ Evening: Reception to Year 6 (3:30 – 5 pm) NOT YEAR 4
3:30pm – 5:00pm
20
March
World Poetry Day Acknowledged
All Day
21
March
World Water Day
All Day
21
March
KS2 Cross-Country Afternoon (4 Laps)
3:25pm – 4:30pm
21
March
Year 2 Iguadon Class Assembly
2:45pm – 3:25pm
22
March
Year 4 Parents' Evening (instead of last week)
3:30pm – 6:00pm
25
March
School discos 3.30-4.30 for Rec, Y1 and Y2; 5.30-7.00pm for KS2 - this one will be silent disco
All Day
26
March
Year 4 Parents' Evening (instead of last week)
3:30pm – 5:00pm
26
March
Last day of term 4
2:45pm – 3:25pm
28
March

Please be reminded that our Community Fridge continues to be open from 10 am - 5.30 pm Monday to Friday for you to come and help yourself and reduce food waste.  With collections from three different Co-ops, Waitrose and Tescos each week, there is always a plentiful supply of items to help yourself to!

Huge thanks to Lisa, Winnie and Kathy, for doing the pick-ups.

The door is kept closed during the day, but it is unlocked and ready for you to pop in. Please ensure the door is closed behind you after leaving. Thank you 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

 

Rachel Rice

 head@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk