DCPS Matters

Issue 9
27th January 2017

Headmaster's News

Middle School Play
This term’s middle school play will be “Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations” by Alan Ayckbourn. It will be directed by Hettie Beetham, who many parents will know through her LAMDA connections with the school. Hettie cast the play this week and rehearsals will start in earnest next week.

Modern Foreign Languages
At the end of this term we shall be saying goodbye to Madame Moran who leaves us to move back into the world of finance and to take up a full time job. This gives us an opportunity to re-evaluate modern foreign languages at DCPS and I am thinking of moving from French to Spanish. I have discussed this at length with Chris Sassi, Head of MFL at Denstone College. He is very happy either way, but interestingly far more students at Denstone study Spanish than French. I suspect that like me, most parents were taught French at school, but as I’m sure you know, Spanish is far more widely spoken and it seems to make sense to me that we offer this. Interestingly, Madame Moran is also in agreement with this. If demand is there we can always offer French as an after-school club as well. If you have any strong thoughts about this do please drop me an email jerry.gear@denstoneprep.co.uk

On the subject of MFL I am hoping to run an after school club for both adults and children in Mandarin Chinese next term. This is more about the culture than about learning the language, although there will be a bit of this, along with calligraphy, history and hopefully even a few traditional dishes to try! Further news will follow.

Congratulations Pippa!
Pippa Ball became our sixth pupil to be awarded a place in the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain last week. This is an outstanding achievement and I am sure that everyone would join me in congratulating her.

Late Collection in the Evening
Pre-prep & Pre-school children will be brought up to the Manor House at 1750 from Monday, so if you are collecting your children at the end of the day, please come to the Prep school rather than the Pre-prep.

Finance Office
Fran Harris is our Finance Clerk. Mark Longford will be starting as Finance Manager in mid-February. Any queries over fees should be referred to Jill Stone, the School Business Manager.

Book Bag
Please can you make sure that your child brings everything to school in the school book bag? Some are starting to use ruck sacks (a privilege just for Year 6) & claiming they have too much stuff for a book bag. This means they’re carrying too much unnecessary clutter & this can damage their backs!

Chapel News
The Provost, Father Brendan, has donated a Crucifix he has made, to benefit our Chapel. It is extremely ornate and quite beautiful. I am sure you will join me in thanking him for this kind gift.

With best wishes

Jerry Gear

Music News

The following pupils have succeeded in passing their music exams. Super news!

Faith McMahon - Singing Grade 3
Harry Fryer - Trumpet Grade 3 & Singing Grade 4
Max Webber - Singing Grade 2 & Piano Grade 2
Henry White - Singing Grade 4 & Alto Sax Grade 2
Will Brister - Singing Grade 3
Sophie Tweddle - Singing Grade 3 & Clarinet Grade 2
Izzy Warrilow - Violin Grade 2
Georgina Baggaley - Piano Prep Test
Oscar Marsden - Singing Grade 3
Amber Dunning - Singing Grade 4
Izzy Chester - Piano Grade 2
Esther Belcher - Singing Grade 1

National Children's Choir Success!
Congratulations must go to Sophie Tweddle, Will Brister, Pippa Ball and Isla Spencer for passing the auditions for The National Children's Choir of Great Britain! They go on to join Harry Fryer & Georgina Baggaley, who joined last year.

Pupil of the Week

Caught Badges! (where a pupil has been caught doing something good!)

Congratulations to Will Brister, Tom Cooper & Archie Rathband who all received Caught Badges this week.

Pre- School News

In Pre-School we have been looking at Winter for our topic and so the children were delighted to see some snow, even if it was only for one day! It was great fun to make lots of footprints in the snow and some children made several 'sit upon' prints! In the Squirrel's Room the children have been talking about keeping warm in winter and enjoyed making warm hats and scarfs for their teddies. In the Owl's Room they have been exploring how ice melts and the effect of heat and salt on the process.

This week we have been delighted to start dance lessons and the children were brilliant at listening to the teacher's instructions, I think they are all now experts at pointing their toes.

Pre-Prep News

Reception
Reception have been thinking about winter. We have found out about living in the Arctic and Antarctic. They have learnt facts about polar bears, penguins and "Global Warming". They enjoyed experimenting with melting ice, making clay animals and their habitats, using penguins for subtraction and writing factual books.

Pre-Prep 1
Pre-Prep 1 have been finding out about famous inventors. Last week they were looking at Leonardo Da Vinci and all of his amazing inventions. They enjoyed looking at his parachute invention and had a go at designing and inventing their own. Great team work PP1 – well done!

Pre-Prep 2
Pre-Prep 2 have been enjoying the seasonal winter weather, playing out in the snow and constructing snow houses and snow sculptures. We also had the chance to make and throw snowballs and create the traditional snowmen.

The Fresh Water Theatre Company paid PP2 a visit last week to help introduce the character of Samuel Pepys as part of our current topic on Famous People. Dawn, an actress and drama coach with the company, had the children developing their knowledge and understanding of ‘The Great Fire Of London’ by using their imagination to recreate the bustling Pudding Lane of London’s yesteryear; interweaving the key points and dates throughout the activities. The Children had a fantastic experience and learnt about where the fire started and visited Thomas Farriner in his Bakery. They learnt songs and played games and tried hard to extinguish the ‘Great Fire’ itself. Finally they acted out several scenes within Samuel Pepy’s own home using expression and improvisation.

Also this week Samuel Emmerson gained his Gold Certificate and Reuben Anderson-Dixon gained his Silver Certificate for their amazing effort and hard work. Well done Sammy and Reuben!

Main Prep News

Year 3
In our Geography lessons, Year 3 have discovered the continents and oceans of the world. With our learning partners, we explored the globes and an atlas to locate and record our findings. For fun, each group then used the interactive whiteboard to identify a continent. Top marks for Year 3 who successful completed the challenge! Well Done! What will we discover in our next Geography lesson?

Year 3 enjoyed a fantastic forest school lesson in the snow. First they explored the snowy Cedars looking for animal tracks. Then, of course, a snowman had to be built. Year 3 enjoyed having lots of fun in the snow.

Year 4
It’s only been a few weeks since we’ve been back at school since our Christmas break and there’s been so much that we’ve covered already!

In English we have been looking at Newspaper articles and how journalists catch our attention by using various techniques to keep us reading. Catchy headlines, quotations, facts and figures, the 5 W’s (ask someone in Year 4 child if you don’t know what these are) and even photos, all help retain the reader’s interest in an article. The children have been practising using quotations to include inverted commas through classwork and their homework, having to remember to put the correct punctuation and starting new lines when necessary.

In Science, we’ve started a new topic this term about “Moving and Growing” and the children have already looked at vertebrates, invertebrates, skeletons, exoskeletons, comparing humans with animals and identifying bones in the human body. Year 4 have been able to identify and label bones within the human body, sticking their labels to our own class volunteer! The children have had some hands on experience looking at real bones and skulls, large and small, and have enjoyed talking about the properties of them giving some good guesses about which animal each bone or skull may have come from, along with their reasoning behind their conjectures.

We would like to thank Mrs. Cross who gave up her time to come and visit us on Tuesday to talk about the tiny bones in our ears. As an audiologist she was able to help us understand how these tiny bones in the ear work in conjunction with the eardrum. The sound vibrates on the eardrum against the small bones, which translate these vibrations into energy sending messages to the brain via the auditory nerve. Mrs Cross went into much more detail about the outer, middle and inner ear providing, not only the pupils with new knowledge, but staff too! Now we know why we lose our balance when we spin round and round, and why it takes a short time for the sensation of spinning to stop (all to do with fluid in the inner ear sloshing around!)

We love having family and friends coming along to share their knowledge and expertise with us, so please contact us should you wish to come in.

Year 5

Denstone College Drama Workshop
Last week, Year 5 pupils enjoyed a Drama workshop at Denstone College run by Mrs Derbyshire. She gave them an insight into the productions that the older pupils take part in and also allowed them up into the lighting and sound centre, explaining how productions are put together from a technical aspect.

The workshop itself was very much focused on each person having a prop, and from there creating and developing their own character and personality as the session went on. The scenario was a New Year's Eve party in a tower block! Some strange and wonderful characters emerged during the session to give all of the boys and girls many laughs and lots of enjoyment creating them.

Science
This term Year 5 are studying the solar system in science. We have learnt how the Earth orbits the Sun and how the Moon orbits the Earth. The children have explored how light travels in straight lines and how this causes day and night. This week the children have created a shadow map to show how the sun appears to move its position in the sky and what effect this has on the shadows cast by opaque objects. In the following weeks we will be looking at the other planets in the solar system and learning how massive our solar system is. Your child has been set a mini project to research one of the planets in the solar system. They can present their findings how they choose, e.g. poster, fact file, power-point etc. Please note this will be due in on Wednesday 8^th February.

Year 6

Rockets!
This half term we are starting a new unit on reversible and irreversible changes.
The exams are over...yes! So we can now have a greater focus on the practical and exciting aspect of investigative science and this week we have taken our learning outside and made rockets! We used film cases (now rare in this age of digital filming and photography), Vitamin C tablets and water to create our rockets and investigated how the amount of tablet will determine how high the rocket went after launch. There were film cases flying everywhere with some spectacular launches taking place. We discovered that the more Vitamin C tablets that are placed inside the film case with water, the greater the pressure inside became and the higher the rocket went.

Sports News

Netball

Superb start to netball term for Under 9's - 17th January

Old Vicarage School U9’s – 7
Denstone Prep U9’s – 13

The Under 9 girls played their first game of the netball term against Old Vicarage School, making a superb start to the term with a 13 – 7 victory. Newly appointed captain of Under 9 netball, Phoebe A won the toss and elected to start with the ball. Darcie W at Centre got the term under way with the first competitive centre pass of the term and straight away Denstone Prep were in control of the game. Link up play between Darcie, Verity H at Wing Attack, Daisy H at Goal Attack and Phoebe as Goal Shooter soon saw the ball in Denstone Prep’s attacking D and although it took 2-3 shots off target, it didn’t take long before Denstone Prep were on the scoreboard when Daisy H scored the first goal of the game. Five more goals from Daisy soon followed giving Denstone Prep a 6-0 lead after the first 10 minute quarter.

The second quarter saw more dominance from Denstone Prep. Three further goals from Daisy and Phoebe, growing in confidence to take shots herself, found the net with her first goal of the term. By half time Denstone Prep had scored 10 unanswered goals.

The third and fourth quarters saw Denstone Prep girls put into positions they were very unfamiliar with. Phoebe now as Goal Attack added two more goals including a sublime shot from 5 feet away and 1 from Darcie now playing as a shooter as well as seven goals from OVS left the final score 13 – 7 to Denstone Prep.

Girl of the Game: Daisy H for her 9 goals on her shooting debut.

Denstone Prep U11A’s victorious over St Bedes U11A’s - 18th January

St Bedes U11A’s – 0
Denstone Prep U11A’s – 4

The Under 11A girls started their netball term away at St Bedes School. Amelia L, newly appointed captain of netball immediately had her team making timely interceptions to win possession of the ball and go on the attack. Fine passing from Imogen V at Goal Keeper, Lola B at Goal Defence, and Jessica B as Wing Defence along with sublime movement from Sophie H at Centre, Lexie B at Wing Attack and Amelia at Goal Attack as well as effective communication throughout from all of the girls saw Denstone Prep take the lead through two goals from Sophie T at Goal Shooter. Amelia soon added two more to give Denstone Prep Under 11A’s a 4 – 0 victory over their St Bedes counterparts.

Girl of the Game: Lexie B for her movement to find the attackers in the D.

Denstone Prep U11B’s defeat St Bedes U11B’s

St Bedes U11B’s – 3
Denstone Prep U11B’s – 8

Denstone Prep U11B’s played against a very eclectic mix of girls from St Bedes, however, a game of possession over a team still very much learning the game saw Denstone Prep score 8 goals to St Bedes 3. Two first third goals from Pippa B along with 6 goals from Hannah W throughout the game against 3 goals from St Bedes showed just how much control of the game Denstone Prep had. Denstone Prep used their possession and control of the game well and only conceded goals when instructed to play in a certain manner. The attitude and empathy from all Denstone Prep girls was superb throughout and showed just what thoughtful and caring girls we have at Denstone Prep.

Girl of the Game: Hannah W for her 6 goals.

U11A netballers suffer loss at OVS - Weds 25th January

Old Vicarage School – 13
Denstone Prep – 3

On a day when DCPS were simply beaten by a better team, the U11A girls rightly claimed they were proud of their efforts. The scoreline failed to reflect the effort, skill, support, all-round teamwork, and ability of the 10 girls who never stopped trying and cheering each other along throughout the match.

The Under 11A netball team travelled to Old Vicarage School for a hard fought loss to OVS. Captain Amelia won the toss and elected to take the centre pass. OVS were quick to intercept passes and scored 2 quick goals, however, just before the end of the first quarter Amelia was able to pull a goal back for Denstone Prep. Some positional changes in the second quarter led to four unanswered goals from OVS. The third quarter started brightly with some strong passing and moving from DCPS but OVS were quick to use their speed to add three more unanswered goals. The final quarter saw four goals from OVS and two goals from DCPS by way of Pippa B.

The team of defenders – Imogen, Lola, Faith, Amber, and Jess worked tirelessly throughout and had it not been for so many timely interceptions the score line could have been far worse. Sophie H at Centre never stopped running the entirety of the court and was constantly leaping to receive the ball in the air and attackers Lexie, Amelia, Sophie T and Pippa worked in rotations to get numerous attacks into the ‘D’. The entire team impressed with their signals and moving, but the delayed pass cost the team dearly as OVS intercepted. DCPS also need to ensure that the scorers are more clinical in their shots as far more goals were missed than scored, however, every girl did their job well and cannot be disappointed by the result.

Captain Amelia at GA, Imogen at GK, Lola at GD, Faith at WD, Sophie H at C, Lexie at WA and Sophie T at GS, ably supported by Pippa at GS, Jess at GK and Amber.

Girl of the Game: Amelia Lee

Football

U11's v The Elms - 11th January

The first fixtures of the new football season saw two U11 teams travel to The Elms for an ‘A’ and ‘B’ game. The Elms always put out very competitive teams and the boys were slightly nervous as we had only had one coaching session. The captains for the day were Evan for the ‘A’ team and Dan for the ‘B’ team. Both boys led by example and they literally did cover every blade of grass.

The score line for the ‘A’ team was a very harsh 3-0 loss. We played very well and passed the ball confidently. During the second half The Elms pegged the boys back into our own half, and the strong wind and heavy pitch made it difficult to advance. The third goal was an extremely unlucky deflection which resulted in an own goal. George’s barnstorming run from the back nearly resulted in a goal and he defended really well with Will. Oliver looked strong between the sticks and Charlie protected him well through the centre. Archie and Max both held the ball up well and on another day the team could have had a couple of goals.

The ‘B’ team had never played before as a side and it took a few minutes for the boys to settle into their positions. During the first few minutes Harry was under considerable pressure and made a couple of fine saves. Seb tackled brilliantly and Austin was throwing himself into every challenge and somehow managed to pick up a knock with every collision. Slowly and surely the boys found more confidence and James along with Jake in midfield started to get a grip of the game. John’s pace on the wing was a real outlet and we were starting to cause the home side to panic. Just as it looked like we were getting on top, The Elms scored a well-taken goal to snatch a win.

U10's v the Elms – Weds 18^th January

U10A's - Won 0-5
The boys played extremely well and the one aspect that was noticeable was the shape of the team, and how well that was maintained throughout both halves.

We moved the ball around very well and when we didn't have possession, closed them down very quickly. Constant pressing saw us score three well deserved first half goals, which really ended the game. The Elms boys continued to work hard but we had much of the second half possession, and added a further two goals to seal a well-deserved win against a big, strong team.

U10B's - Lost 7-0
We were a little unlucky not to score ourselves on three occasions during the opening minutes of the first half as we had an even amount of early possession. Unfortunately, The Elms scored two in very quick succession and that deflated the boys somewhat. We continued to work hard but they seemed to break very quickly and they scored twice more before half time. The second half saw us pegged back deeper but to be fair, the boys really started to chase and close them down more and we pleasingly had more of the ball as the half went on. Unfortunately some moments of hesitancy in defence saw us concede another three goals, which I think was harsh on the boys! Onwards and upwards!

PTFA Notices

Don't forget to book your tickets for the Family Barn Dance on Friday 3rd February!