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Deanshanger Primary School - Newsletter - 14-02-2020

Welcome to another very busy week @ DPS 

This week has been very wet and windy, but this hasn't stopped us from having a wonderful one!

It's been assessment time for some classes and we've been really impressed with the children's 'yes, I can' attitude. The forthcoming parents' meetings will give you the opportunity to hear how your child got on and the areas that we can collectively support going forward. 

We've also had assembly visits from NSPCC, great assemblies from Mrs. Ritchie and our digital Leaders regarding internet safety, a focus on mental health, a boccia tournament at Paulerspury School (where we came a very proud 2nd place) an assembly from Rev Pennington at Holy Trinity Church, a whole school buddy read, house events and a beautiful letter from NSW Rural Fire Service! As if this isn't enough, this afternoon, straight after school, a small group of girls in Y5 will be holding a tabletop sale for Alzheimer's Society. Please support them if you can. 

Coming soon....a video from the digital leaders about keeping safe using the internet

Mental Health has been a focus for the latter part of the week as we joined in Northamptonshire's 'Talk Out Loud' programme. We have encouraged the children to talk to friends, family and any adults at school that they feel comfortable with if they feel sad, anxious, worried, scared, angry...at any time. 

We used this video link to support our growing understanding.  If there are any worries outside school that could be affecting your child, please share these in confidence with us, so that we can support your child further. Mrs Lynn Mildren, our learner mentor, has great listener ears as we all do. 

Wow! It has been an amazing time with our reading challenges. We now have one ‘Word Multi-Millionaire’ and several ‘Word Millionaires’ across the school. To date we have read 3,961 books and 36, 895,834 words!

Our ‘Word Multi-Millionaire’ is Milo Marks-Eden, Year 5 Beijing Class with 2,016,006 words.

Our ‘Word Millionaires’ are currently Sienna Keswani, Year 3 Cairo Class with 1,288,277 words, Ava-Mae Baker, Year 6 Colombo Class with 1,680,514 words, Alex England, Year 6 Colombo Class with 1,161,903 words, Lily Chapman, Year 5 Rome Class with 1,238,767 words, Caelan Kumar, Year 5 Rome Class with 1,229,702 words, Harry Hibberd, Year 5 Rome Class with 1,216,118 words, Matys Lajux, Year 5 Rome Class with 1,037,620 words and Charlie Tolputt, Year 5 Rome Class with 1,025,923 words.

We have a number of children who are near or have reached 500,000 words. They are:

Drew Bramwell, Year 5 Beijing Class, 594,278 words, Casper Potter, Year 6 Brasilia Class, 524,632 words, Harlie Beck, Year 6 Brasilia Class, 497,058 words, Sophie Fleming, Year 6 Colombo Class,667,869 words, Charlotte Smith, Year 6 Colombo Class, 643,470 words, Albert Garnham, Year 6 Colombo Class, 550,857 words, Lewis Turkington, Year 6 Colombo Class, 541,814 words, Kian Johnstone, Year 4 Dhaka Class 454,916 words, Chiara Cope, Year 4 New Delhi Class 480,424 words and David Williams, Year 5 Rome Class 691,756 words.

Please go to our school website to see more details of our ‘Word Millionaires’ and our reading challenge.

Our Book Week will be from Monday 2nd March. Within school we’ll be undertaking all sorts of book activities. Here are a few reminders of what will be happening. There are some things that you can do with your child over half term. This also includes reading with them!

A reminder that our Book Character Parade will be on Friday 6th March 2020. Please spend some time over half term with your child considering or making a costume for this. There are some fabulous ideas at: https://www.worldbookday.com/dressing-up-ideas-2019/

The theme of this year’s World Book Day is ‘Share a Million Stories’. We would like to invite all carers/parents into school on Thursday 5th March to ‘Share a Story’ with your child. We’d also like you to watch the videos at: https://www.worldbookday.com/ideas/share-a-story/

Our school book fair will be running from Thursday 27th February 2020.

We are also delighted to reveal that Mitch Johnson, author of ‘Kick’ will be visiting school on Tuesday 3rd March. Copies of Mitch’s book ‘Kick’ will be on sale for £6. Mitch will be available to sign copies of his book.

Governors update from Mr David Aaronson, Chair of Governors

Email: Chair of Governors@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk

Firstly, I hope you like the school's new format for the newsletter; the School and Governors are always looking for ways to increase communication and engagement with parents. As Chair, I believe  it is so important to build a strong dialogue that enables everyone to feel that they have a strong voice that helps move the school community forward.

We are planning for our next round of Committee meetings after half term and also welcoming a new Governor to our existing body.

Can I take this chance to wish you all a great half term and that its filled with plenty of fun and that your children return refreshed and energised.

David Aaronson

13 Feb 2020
Arbor
In the past week the school have been working hard on making the transition from parent mail to Arbor. So far this has been fairly easy to sign up with a few problems resolved around logining in for the first time. 
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12 Feb 2020
Top Table Lunch 12th February 2020
Congratulations to the children selected for the Top Table lunch this week. They were selected to be part of this special school celebration for demonstrating school values over the lunchtime period - this includes being extra kind and respectful and trying new foods. Well done to you all. Thank...
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11 Feb 2020
Smart Watches
We are aware that the advances in technology are a real positive and that children and adults are now able to access tools to support communication and  learning at their fingertips. Whilst this is largely a huge positive, we are concerned about the growing popularity of some Smart watches and...
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08 Feb 2020
Artsmark Excitement
We were thrilled to receive the  news on Friday 7th February that we have been awarded a silver award from Arts Council England. We started the award two years ago (with Mrs Claire Ely), as a way to ensure that the opportunities for our children were always rich and broad. From that point, we...
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Please note that the 2020-21 school calendar is now confirmed and is on the school website on the 'News and Events' page. You'll also see that two PTA disco dates have been added to this year's calendar - Friday 20th March and Friday 22nd May.

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Appointments for the next parents' evening on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th March will be ready to book very soon.  Bookings will be via Arbor. 

The week we return to school, after the half-term break, will be 'STEAM Week' at Deanshanger Primary School.

STEAM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Maths. It is an integrated approach to learning that encourage students to think more broadly about real-world problems. This interdisciplinary approach has helped create innovations like the iPhone, the original laptop computer, and is even revolutionising cooking in third world countries, and improving air quality as a result. It helps Children ask questions, connect the dots, problem solve, think creatively, and be innovative. 

Our STEAM learning will look different throughout the school, but each year group will be carrying out activities to develop the children's skills, knowledge and understanding in all of these key areas. You are warmly invited into school on Friday morning from 8.40 - 9.05 (approximately) to share your child's learning with them.


On Monday 23rd March 'Mums' (significant female figures), are invited into school to have a delicious ploughman's lunch from 12.30pm. By this time, the children will have eaten their lunch, so it will be all about 'Mum'. This year the lunches will be served in  the classroom so that there is more space and more time. Weather permitting, 'Mums' are warmly invited to go outside and play with their children after lunch until the afternoon session which restarts at 1.15pm.

Booking information will follow (using Arbor) after the half term break. 


Coming up in the next three weeks

Start of Term 4
All Day
24
February
Launch of STEAM Week - Science, technology, engineering, Arts and maths.
All Day
24
February
Phonics meeting for Y1 parents/carers at 2.30pm
2:30pm – 3:15pm
25
February
Year 5/6 girls football tournament at Akeley Wood - invitation only
All Day
27
February

Attendance last week

Foundation Stage -  95.3%; Year 1 - 97.7%; Year 2 - 96.2%;  Year 3 - 97.3%;  Year 4 -  95.1%; Year 5 - 97.2%; Year 6 - 95.6%

Wherever possible, we would like to see your child/ren in school every day and in on time for the register at 8.50am. Lateness and absence impact on your child's learning and progress and can also impact on the learning of other children.

 This Sunday, 16th February, sees MK Dons Women play the biggest game in their history. They are hosting Stoke City in the National League Cup Semi-Final, with the winners playing against either Sunderland or Southampton in the Final. Entry to Stadium MK is completely free for all spectators, with entry at Gate 7 (to the right of the Box Office) from 1.15pm. Kick-off is at 2.00pm.

What a great opportunity!

The Boccia tournament

On Wednesday 12th February 2020, four Year 3  children, Annie, Ethan, Adam and Ava took part in a Boccia Tournament at Paulerspury Primary School. We were all very excited to participate in the Boccia competition. 


 

The Boccia tournament consisted of sitting down on chairs and throwing a white ball, called a ‘jack’, in between red and green cones.

We then took it in turns with the other team to throw a red or blue ball and we had to try and get it as close to the ‘jack’ as possible. But it also had to stay in between the red and green cones to score a point. The balls closest to the ‘jack’ scored a point for our team.

We competed against 7 teams. We scored one extra point than the team that came third to make it into the final.
 

We came second overall. We had lots of fun and are very proud of ourselves.

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Thrilled to receive a beautiful letter @DeanshangerS today from NSW Fire Service @NSWRFS. Thank you to everyone involved. #kindness https://t.co/xADF3TpOoS
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Wrap Club will be busy next week running their holiday club. Thank you to the Wrap Club team for providing this fun opportunity. If you'd like to know more about Wrap Club please refer to the information on our website and/or contact our Wrap Club Lead - Emilie Stevenson 

PTA school lottery update

The DPS PTA signed up to be part of the national "Your School Lottery" in Feb 2018.  Since then we have had 95 draws with 95 winners! 

A ticket costs £1 per week and all funds raised go directly to our school. 

Each ticket you sign up for will also enter you into TWO draws:

1. A jackpot prize draw for £25,000.00.

2. A local draw with a GUARANTEED prize for one of the supporters of our school EVERY WEEK. The size of the prize will depend on the number of tickets bought for the school that week. 

The lottery is a fun and effective way to raise money to improve our school but we need your help to make the lottery the best it can be, so please support the lottery today - and who knows maybe you'll be the next £25,000 winner!

How does this work? 

It takes less than 3 minutes to sign up online via www.yourschoollottery.co.uk

Extra prizes can be won this half term so sign up for your tickets if you don't have any yet! See the poster below.   This can be shared with family and friends too as anyone can join in! 

Open-door communication is really important to us. We can't explain, tweak or change things if we don't know about them. Please always make contact with the class teacher in the first instance if it involves something that has happened in class (all of the email addresses are in the home/school diary) and make contact openly with myself if it is regarding a different suggestion or issue.

Many thanks,

Rachel Rice  head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk 

Wishing you all a great half term break.

See you all refreshed and raring to go on Monday 24th February