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DCPS Matters
​Issue 27
19th January 2018

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Headmaster's News

Term has started as we mean to go on.  Already things have been incredibly busy and I thought it might be interesting to share some facts with you.

This term there will be 39 football and netball fixtures for children aged 7 – 11, ensuring that they will all have the chance to represent the school.  There are also three cross country meetings, 11 trips or visits from speakers, five class assemblies, a PTA film & pizza night, a family camping evening, two family breakfasts, an activities-based sleepover and the Middle School performance of “The Railway Children” at the end of term.  

World Book Day will have a Harry Potter theme this year, we have a poetry festival and a house music competition. Some of the children will also be taking lessons with Father Brendan, the Provost of the Woodard Association, prior to having their first communion in March.

No fewer than 30 after-school clubs are available to the children.  You can see the enormous variety in your school calendar and we really are delighted to be able to offer such a wide range of choices to the children. 

On top of all of this, Year 6 will be taking their entrance exams to senior schools next week and I am sure that everyone would join me in wishing them well for this.

Inevitably one or two other events will be added to the above and it is great to be back at school and to see the children so excited and so committed to everything that they are doing.  It is going to be a very busy term, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

JG

Pupils of the Week

Week 2

Year 3 - Finley J
Year 4 - Aidan T
Year 5 - Louis Ch, Nathan T, Su Shan W, Cleo N, William H,
Year 6 - Isabelle G and Archie E

Pre-School News

This week’s 'Story of the Week' in the Squirrels is “Penguin”. The children have enjoyed making a rocket penguin and cheesy cracker penguins.

The Owls would like to say a big Thank you to Waitrose, Loxley Hall School, Bear Café and all the Parents and Teachers that have donated their empty milk cartons, helping them to start making an igloo in the Pre-School. They have also been exploring Ice and trying to free the trapped penguins.  Wilf even bought some tools in from home.

Pre-Prep News

Reception

Reception have settled well into this term.  Our Topic this half term is Winter.  We have been making our own winter scenes in the Smallworld play, using different materials, ice, arctic and antarctic animals.  We also have a Travel Agents in our role play area.  The children have been looking at cold countries and the different activities you can do.  

Reception enjoyed experimenting with different materials to find out which ones were the best insulators for keeping the ice cold.  They predicted the result, then carried out the experiment to find the result.   

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Pre-Prep 1 - Dinosaurs

PP1 are very excited about their new topic - Dinosaurs.  This week they have been sorting dinosaurs into different groups. The children worked together and thought about how they could sort the dinosaurs. They thought about colour, size and also whether they were herbivores or carnivores. The children worked really well looking carefully at the different characteristics of the dinosaurs. Well done PP1.

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Pre-Prep 2 - Queen Elizabeth I

Pre Prep 2 have started their new topic ‘Famous People from the Past’ and have so far researched Queen Elizabeth 1st. The children have enjoyed using a range of research techniques to find out facts about the life and times of this particular Monarch. These have included observational drawing and sketching, creating fact files, exploring the internet, watching documentary clips and reading books. All this has helped the children to examine how she became queen and what troubles she encountered.

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Main Prep News

Year 3 - Magnets

What is attracted to a magnet? Metal? Are all metals attracted to magnets? These are some of the questions that Year 3 have been investigating in their Science lessons. We’ve had lots of fun learning about magnetism this week. The children have learnt about magnetic poles; working out which poles attract and which repel. They predicted which objects would be attracted to a magnet and thoroughly enjoyed testing out their ideas.

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Year 4 - Skeletons in the Classroom!

Year 4 have started their new topic on skeletons this week and have watched an informative video on bones.  The video showed a variety of animals in full form and then showed the animal as a skeleton. It was fascinating watching a cheetah running then watching it running as a skeleton.

The children have learned the three main functions of skeletons; to protect vital organs; to enable movement; and to support the body.  They have also been comparing human skeletons with animals looking at similarities and differences.  There was a very interesting discussion about the fact that dogs have a humerus bone (obviously found in the arms of humans) so why don't we say that a dog has two arms and two legs?  We had some really thought provoking conversations!

They are currently setting up a test to find out what will happen to a chicken bone when it's submerged in vinegar, providing predictions, and once they have the results, they will be writing up the scientific experiment.  There are more exciting discoveries in this topic to come over the next few weeks!

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Year 5 - Working Hard!

Sebastian and Henry have advised us that this week Year 5 have been learning about the sun and moon in Science, WW2 in History, and Plate Tectonics in Geography.  They have been working on decimals, multiplications by 10, 100s and 1000s and unit conversions, so please feel to test your children at home!  In English they're learning about the story of Osiris and trying to recount the story. 

Please feel free to ask your children what they have learned at school as well as checking that they know all their times tables!

Year 5  Drama Workshop

Over the past two Mondays, Year 5 have enjoyed a Drama workshop at Denstone College, kindly run by Mrs Abson.

The boys and girls were reminded about how to vary their voice pitch, tone, volume and facial expressions when acting and were given the opportunity to work in small groups and pairs to practise these. They were also encouraged to use their body as a prop and be as creative as possible.

The whole group were also asked to ‘freeze frame’ a Church scene, with some choosing to play one or two dubious members of the congregation!

Most fun was had, however, when they worked in pairs and had to create mirror imaging in 6-8 moves. Synchronicity wasn’t too far away in most performances and they certainly enjoyed a creative afternoon.

Year 5 and 6 Outdoor Play

As well as working hard in lessons, Year 5 and 6 have been enjoying the Cedars during their lunch breaks, here are some photos to share with you.

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Year 6 Exams

Everyone at Denstone College Prep School would like to wish all the Year 6 children sitting their entrance exams over the next few days the very best of luck.

The children have very been working very hard these past few months and studiously applying themselves to their revision and extra-curricular work to ensure that they are fully prepared to give their best showing at the entrance exams and interviews.

At times, revision can be hard going and a little laborious, however, the Y6 teachers have tried to keep up the enthusiasm wherever possible. Have a look at the photos of Mr Bettaney's maths class revising negative numbers by dressing in either winter clothes with scarves and hats, or shorts and t-shirts. Mrs Lea also organised a revision based treasure hunt that kept the pupils entertained and focused.

We wish them all the very best of luck!

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Sports News

U9 Netball v Twycross House

The Under 9 netball term got off to a victorious start for both the Under 9A and B teams in the new indoor netball court at DCPS. The new posts had arrived and were set at 8ft to give the little under 9 Goal Attackers and Goal Shooters a chance when in the D. 

DCPS U9A – 4
Twycross House U9A – 3

New Under 9 netball captain Beatrice lost the toss and Twycross chose first centre pass. Despite Twycross getting off to a good start, DCPS kept their composure and a combination of excellent teamwork and passing soon saw Denstone Prep making some successful attacks. Right from the back our defensive team of Josephine playing Goal Keeper, Charlotte (Goal Defence), and Emily (Wing Defence) through Katie at Centre to our attackers Ellen (Wing Attack), Tilly M (Goal Attack) and Beatrice (Goal Shooter) every player gave their all, thinking about their passing and moving to get free for passes. This saw Emily getting free from her marker brilliantly well and making accurate passes to the attackers. Good movement led to Tilly M receiving the ball and some brilliant shots from close to the post and from distance led to her scoring three goals to counteract Twycross’s 3 goals, giving a half-time score of 3-3.

The second half saw an equally competitive match and it took a superb defensive performance and interceptions from Charlotte and Isabella F to keep the Twycross attackers at bay.  Katie was fantastic with some precision passing as Denstone calmly worked the ball out of the defensive third, through the centre third and into the attacking third where a well-placed shot from Tilly M saw her record her fourth goal of the match to finish the fixture with a narrow 4-3 victory for Denstone Prep on their first competitive fixture of the season. A fantastic start to the term.

Girl of the Game: Emily for her movement and ability to lose her marker as well as some of her fantastic interceptions and precision passes.

DCPS U9B – 5
​Twycross House U9B – 2

Our U9 Vice Captain made a great start to the term, winning the toss and giving Denstone Prep the ball. She continued into the game showing some wonderful interception play to cut out several Twycross attacks. Imogen was very busy, and Rosie played superbly well losing her marker to ensure she was free to receive passes from Lydia off the backline and help the team quickly turn defence into attack. Evie, our outstanding Year 3 utility player was always busy first as Centre to ensure that she was putting in the effort all over the court. Emilia settled in very quickly and Holly and Isabella F started the game superbly with Holly scoring her first ever goals in netball. As a result of her two goals and later Evie (who moved to Goal Attack) scoring a great shot too, the first half ended DCPS – 3, Twycross House – 1.

The second half saw Isabella and Lydia combining brilliantly to ensure DCPS were defensively solid and Heidi who had taken over the position of Centre made crucial quick, clean passes. That along with her work to scramble for any lose ball gave Denstone Prep the advantage in the second half as Holly scored her third and then fourth goals of the game to ensure a 5 – 2 victory for Denstone Prep.

Girl of the Game: Lydia for her interceptions.   

U10 Netball v The Elms

The Elms A - 5
DCPS A - 8

Under 10 captain Cleo won the toss and chose the first centre pass to get the game started. The girls, battling the elements of the bitter cold, wind and sun struggled to get into the match initially as The Elms took an early lead but Daisy soon levelled the score with a cool and calm shot at goal. Great work from the defensive trio of Esther, Verity and Cleo who worked tirelessly to try and keep The Elms at bay, but The Elms were able to get 2 more goals. Darcie was full of movement over the court and Tilly D worked well to feed the shooters, Daisy and Caoimhe, leading to 2 more goals from Daisy to level the score 3-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Katie come on to add her defensive ability and the team, now much more willing to fight for the ball and not give up possession so easily, soon took advantage of their quick reactions to gather the ball from 50/50s and pass to Daisy who was on target twice more in the second quarter as Denstone Prep started to show their dominance winning the second quarter 2-0 and giving an overall 5-3 lead.

The third quarter saw more of the same with Emily introduced who gave Denstone Prep some of the fight they much needed to continue on the same vein. Her Rottweiler spirit saw her snatching and stealing balls and her immensely quick reactions led to more chances for Denstone Prep and more goals as the third quarter finished 2 - 1 (7 - 4) to Denstone, thanks to two more goals from Daisy and one from The Elms.

The final quarter saw more dogged determination from the entire team who fought to maintain and extend their lead as they combined passing and moving superbly well and a great team ethic despite the awful conditions and tiring legs and bodies to end the game with a goal for Phoebe and a goal for The Elms to end the match with an 8-5 victory to Denstone Prep.

Girl of the Game: Daisy for her movement, effort and teamwork.

The Elms B - 0
DCPS B - 6

The U10B team shone on a cold, drab day over at The Elms to play outstandingly well together and despite a last minute drafting of Under 9 players and movement of positions, the combination of Eloise (Goal Keeper); SuShan (Goal Defence); Charlotte (Wing Defence); Uma (Centre); Emily and Tilly D (Wing Attack); Phoebe (Goal Attack) and Tilly M (Goal Shooter) played so superbly well. The passing and movement of players was so lively and every player was alert to their position and marker and ensured the full space of the court was used. The defenders were always lively and skipping in front of the opposition to snatch the ball and use the space to make precision passes and get the team moving forward. The passing and moving remained slick further up the court as the team were able to find Tilly M again and again. Despite her having shot at 8ft posts the day before and moving to the senior 10ft posts for the senior years match she was equally on target on the taller posts as she scored 5 times and Phoebe once, as the team dominated throughout.

Girl of the Game: Tilly M for stepping up to the senior team and scoring 5 goals on her debut.

U11 Boy's Football v The Elms - Match Report

A team 5-0 win and 0-3 loss

The recent bad weather gave a welcome respite as the first fixtures of the new football season saw two U11 teams travel to The Elms for ‘A’ and ‘B’ games with matches also against Nottingham. The captains for the day were Ben for the ‘A’ team and Joe for the ‘B’ team. Both boys led by example and they literally did cover every blade of grass.

In the first match, the score line for the ‘A’ team was a well-deserved 5-0 victory. We played extremely well and passed the ball confidently. Great goals from Oscar, Louis (2), Charles and Archie capped off a fine performance. In the second match against The Elms, we kicked off immediately after the first game and the heavy pitch made it hard work. Great saves from Alfie, with one outstanding effort that he pushed onto the bar, kept us in the game. Despite some fine defending from Ben and Jonathan, we lost 3-0.

B team 1-0 win and a draw

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 Tom was under considerable pressure and made a couple of fine saves. Harry tackled brilliantly and Max 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 Freddie along with Harry in midfield started to get a grip of the game. Joe’s pace on the wing was a real outlet and we were starting to cause the home side to panic. We won the first game 1-0 and the second resulted in a creditable draw.

Please don't forget to show your children this newsletter, so that they can see the photos and news too.

Facebook and Twitter
Please 'Like' and 'Follow' our school Facebook account and Twitter account if you haven't already. We do utilise these apps regularly in order to communicate with our school community. Also, if any of you would be able to leave us a review on Facebook that would be brilliant. Thank you.

www.facebook.com/denstonecollegeprep
www.twitter.com/denstone_prep

Many thanks

Mrs Warrilow

Dates for the Diary

The school calendar is available at http://www.denstoneprep.co.uk/calendar/

 
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