DCPS Matters
Issue 31
23rd March 2018

Headmaster's News

Staff News
We say goodbye to Roger Harrison, Year 5’s teacher’s assistant today. Roger has been working with us on a voluntary basis since retiring as deputy headmaster from Aldwickbury Prep School in Hertfordshire. It has been wonderful to have him helping us and we wish him a very happy and long second retirement.

Astro Update
Planning permission for our Astroturf surface went in some time ago. The local planning officer has visited the school and was happy with everything that we have done. Unfortunately Sports England has objected to the loss of a grass playing surface and we are now addressing this.

Exams & Revision Week
Next term Years 3 – 5 will have a revision week directly after half term, which is when Year 6 will be taking exams in history, geography, RE and French. The week after that will be exam week for Years 3 - 5. We do try to keep this process very low key, particularly for Years 3 and 4. Each year things do become a little more demanding, but the children’s maturity reflects this. When they start in Year 5, we look on the whole of that year and the Michaelmas term in Year 6 as a four term period to prepare them for their entrance exams to senior schools. The exams in the top two years are set in the same style as the Denstone exams to give the children every assistance in their preparation.

Children Sleeping in the Manor House Again!
Last week for the first time in over 20 years we had children sleeping in the Manor House. There was a wonderful atmosphere on Thursday evening as more than half of the pupils in Years 5 & 6 came together to enjoy a ghost hunt in the dark, a movie night and a sleepover. The original intention was to accommodate everyone from Years 3 - 6 who were interested in attending the sleepover together, but so many children wanted to be involved that we added an extra night the day before we broke up for Years 3 & 4. I would like to thank Karen Wason, James Hollins and Peter Cook for their hard work and support on the night. Every child that I spoke to confirmed that they had a great time and will definitely do it again next term!

April’s values are tolerance and risk. Please talk to your children about these during the holidays.

I would like to thank everyone for your efforts and support over the course of this term. Have a wonderful Easter, travel safely and enjoy some time relaxing. We’ll see you for the start of the summer term, when hopefully we shall be free from snow and the mini beast from the East will have gone into hibernation!

Creative Writing Success
Congratulations to Isabel Chester, who has been awarded a prize in the Rotary Young Writers’ Competition. Isabel will receive her award from the Mayor at a ceremony in Uttoxeter in April.

Gymnastics News

Congratulations go to our Year 6 pupil Georgina for winning two Gold medals in the U13 West Midlands George Finney Championships at Fenton Manor last weekend. What an achievement!

Caught Badges for Oscar for kindly giving a friend a cupcake and Henry for rescuing a pile of plates at dinner time!

Pupils of the Week

Week 9

Yr 3 - Sammy
Yr 4 - Leo
Yr 5 - Cleo & Verity, Billy
Yr 6 - Max & Archie, Tom & Oscar

Week 10

Yr 3 - Finley
Yr 4 - Seb
Yr 5 - Cleo
Yr 6 - Hannah & Joe

Week 10 - the whole of 5M!!

Squirrels Room

This week the Squirrels have been looking at Easter and Peter Rabbit! Solomon kindly brought in his huge Peter Rabbit to play with which they all enjoyed! We've also been making chocolate eggs and had a visit from a sheep which we all decided to call 'Stephen'!

Pre-Prep & Pre-School Easter Assembly

Here are some photos of our Easter Assembly. There are some videos of our lovely singing on our Facebook Page.

Pre-School Easter Fun Day

We had a fabulous turnout for our annual Easter Fun Day at Smallwood Pre-School yesterday. There was an Easter Bonnet Parade, which was won by Mason, with Rosie winning second prize. We had a sing-along with Miss Helen, as well as fun on the bouncy castles and some hotcross buns and tea. Thank you to everyone who came along to make it a success!

Pre-Prep 2

Some of our Pre-Prep 2 Children have been successful in a Design-a-House competition organised by Abode Estate Agents.

Ruby came 1st, Jemima 2nd, and Pippa 3rd.

They each won a prize. Well done girls!

Playing with Fire!

This term’s Outdoor Adventure Club finished last Friday with a fire-building activity. Read Mr Gear's blog here.

Main Prep News

Year 3

Year 3 have had fun developing their engineering skills this half term. The task was to design, build and test an elastic band propelled car, which is precisely what they have managed to do! From the beginnings of the design stage, through to the final stages of designing a fair test to see whose car travels the furthest, the children have taken charge of their projects. The highlight, for me, was seeing how thrilled the children were when they figured out how to propel their cars without pushing, pulling or catapulting them! Congratulations goes to Jacob whose car went 6.12m!

Year 4

Well done to Aidan and Bruce who are the finalists from year 4 for the handwriting competition that the Rotary Club of Uttoxeter invited the school to join. Our winners were judged by Father Brendan and Mrs Gear.

Year 5

Last week was a very busy week for Year 5. We visited the Think Tank on Tuesday to reinforce our learning about the Earth, Moon and Sun in Science. We first explored “The Future” floor and looked at how technology is changing and how space travel is possible. We interacted with the games and activities and looked at photographs taken by Tim Peake at the International Space Station. After, we visited the planetarium and watched images and videos of the night sky and planets and stars on a huge domed screen above our heads. Finally we explored the rest of the museum at our leisure, playing in the outside science garden and looking at how the huge steam engine of the industrial era worked.

In addition to the trip, 5Mc had their class assembly. We wanted to convey the message of how important it is to be kind and how kindness is infectious. Many thanks to the children for learning their lines and speaking so loudly and clearly. A huge well done to you all!

Year 6

Our school treehouse is being built very quickly by a group of Year 6 pupils. Parent Dave Cooper is very kindly providing the wood and tools, as well as the knowhow!

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

House Music Competition 2018
Congratulations to our year 6 pupil Max who has won this year's house music competition on his violin.

A huge thank you to Mr Parrans-Smith for adjudicating this year and to Mrs O'Brien and the peripatetic staff for their organisation.

Beeches House won the house song, which was, as I'm sure we all know it by heart, "Consider Yourself" from Oliver!

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Dates for the Diary

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