​DCPS Matters

Headmaster's News

Parents’ Evening for Main Prep
Parents evening for Years 3 – 5 will take place on Tuesday 27^th June from 1610 – 2000 hrs.  Year 6’s will take place on Monday 26^th June from 1610 - 1900 hrs.  Sheets will be going up next week.

Recent Events
I wrote a blog last week about the value of residential trips and I really do want to put on record my thanks to Mr Bettaney and Mrs Emmerson-Friend for organising two such super trips for our children and also to Mrs Lea, Miss Bennett, Miss Winfield, Mrs Wilson, Ms Hart and Miss Emma for giving up their time to accompany the children and for all the help that they provided.  Taking children away on overnight trips is an enormous responsibility and these sort of experiences simply could not happen without the support of so many members of staff.  I am really grateful to all of them.

I should also add that when your children are away please do not expect a blog.  We always try to get these done, but our priority is always to make sure that the children are safe, happy and busy.  Furthermore residential trips frequently take place on sites where signals are weak and sometimes almost non-existent!

We had a fantastic maths day today which included input from staff from Denstone College.  Many thanks to Mrs Lea for organising such a super day.

At the time of writing the weather has got the better of us in terms of sports fixtures and we are keeping everything firmly crossed for forthcoming events, including the inaugural Woodard 6-a-side cricket and rounders tournament and sports days.

No TV Week
This kicks off this weekend and the challenge is to find something else to do other than watching television or playing on computers, tablets or other electronic devices.  Here are a few ideas that we have used in the past:

• Make up your own game
• Write your family tree
• Write a story
• Make a junk model
• Go for a walk
• Go for a bike ride
• Play sport
• Trace a river to its source
• Play a board game
• Build a den
• Do some gardening
• Write a letter to someone
• Listen to the radio
• Paint or draw a picture
• Read a story to a younger brother or sister
• Make your own toy - could you make your own fidget spinner?
• Bake a cake
• Plan and cook a meal – including buying the ingredients

The list is endless and this initiative tends to work best when the whole family subscribe to a week without using the television or computer for pleasure. It is a challenge – see if you can do it and there will be a prize for the person who comes up with the most interesting alternative!

Congratulations
To Isabella Furness whose Christmas stamp design has got through to the final 20, from which two will be chosen as the stamps for Christmas cards and letter across the whole country in December.  There were over 205,000 entries for this competition, so to get to the final 20 is a remarkable achievement.

Leo Waterfield, Alex Greenwood & Zach Ireland were all placed in the top 4% for Radio 2’s 500 words competition.  This again is an outstanding feat – very well done to all three of them.

Woodard U11 Sports Tournament
Next Friday sees the very first Woodard U11 Sports Tournament taking place here at DCPS.  This will start at 1000 and will feature pupils from Years 5 & 6 and possibly a very small number from Year 4.  We will have a Eucharist service before this in the chapel at 0830.   Both cricket and rounders will be played and the first matches will start at 1030, with the finals concluding by 1430.  Spectators are very welcome.  Please bring your own lunch if you are staying for the whole tournament.

Ball Boys & Girls at Denstone
Denstone College are looking for six ball boys or girls for the 1stXV rugby match against Solihull School on the 16th September.  You would need to be there from 1400 -1630, in smart tracksuits.  Please see JG if you are interested.

Fidget Spinners
This craze has really taken off over the past few weeks and not surprisingly plenty of our children have one.  They tend to end up getting banned at schools, but for the moment I am happy for children to bring them in.  The exception to this are any with sharp edges.  I have seen some that are actually star shaped and really sharp.  Please do not allow your children to bring these into school.  If they fell with one of these in a pocket the consequences could be very serious indeed. 

School Umbrellas
You may have seen that we have school branded golf umbrellas for sale.  They are priced at £25 and you should see Mrs Warrilow if you would like one.

Our Values for June are empathy and independence.  Please help your children to work on these qualities.

REMINDER for Spanish Evening on Tuesday 20^th June 7-8pm

We will be having an evening of cava & tapas to introduce parents to our new modern foreign languages teacher, Amanda Greene.  Please note that this is for parents only and will run from 1900 – 2000 hrs and will be held in the School Room.  Everyone is welcome, but do please let Mrs Shanley know if you are coming so we know how many to cater for.

Jerry Gear

Pupil of the Week​
​This week there were only a few Pupil's of the Week. Isabella F for her Christmas Stamp Design, as it has got through to the final of the Royal Mail Stamp Competition, Louis C and Ben K for their fabulous descriptive writing about Storm's in English.

Reminder:
​Parents’ & Grandparents’ Golf Day at Denstone College - Friday 23^rd June

• Start play 9.30am - Denstone College venue
• Stableford Rules
• Nearest the pin and longest drive competition
• The cost of the whole day is £15 including lunch at the Tavern pub.

To attend please let Mrs Shanley or Mr Bettaney know by completing the emailed letter/slip.

Pre- School News

The annual Teddy Bear's Picnic was held on Friday 26th May at our pre-school and it was a beautiful day for it. The children enjoyed a classic Teddy story, made Teddy Bear Hats and played some parachute games in the cool of the Cedar's. Afterwards, a drink and a picnic was much needed!

Pre-Prep News

Pre-Prep 1​
​Pre-Prep 1 have been learning about Symmetry.  They have had lots of fun designing and making a range of butterflies.  They have used shapes for printing symmetrical patterns and mirrors to find the line of symmetry.  Good work PP1.

​Pre-Prep 2​
​As part of our topic on Pirates PP2 have undertaken a science challenge to create a pirate boat out of different materials. We came up with our criteria together as a class: we decided that our boats needed to look like a pirate ship, it had to have sails and a flag and I also had to float and carry pirates.  With this in mind PP2 set to work in pairs to create the ultimate pirate galleon using an array of materials of their choice.

Well done to Tommy Dalton for gaining his Gold Certificate, we are all very proud of you.

Main Prep News

Year 3​ ​
​Photos of Year 3 enjoying their Maths Day Challenge using compasses.

Year 4 - John Muir Award - Planning Stages

The Year 4 children have been signed up to the John Muir Award scheme which is so exciting for them.  Today they learnt more about what the initiative is all about and hopefully they will be able to tell you about what they have learnt and what an influence John Muir has been in the conservation process.  In short the John Muir scheme helps individuals discover areas of wildlife, explore the area,  protect and conserve these areas and share what they have been doing.

Today was the children’s planning stage where they took a short walk (in the pouring rain) and explored some of the areas surrounding our school so that they can plan a longer walk for next week (using their orienteering skills).  Year 4 are planning which area to discover and explore and how they can enjoy these wildlife areas, they will look at what part they can play in the conservation process and will be sharing their discoveries with some children in Pre-Prep.

As you can see from the various photos, today was wet, fun and the children showed a very positive attitude in the wet weather conditions.  Please can you continue to ensure that your child has appropriate clothing/equipment for these walks e.g. waterproofs (tops and bottoms), walking boots (or wellingtons), sunhats, sun cream (although the latter was definitely not needed today!).

Year 5 
​It's Revision Week for our Year 5's this week, so unfortunately there is no news except for the fact they have been working very hard!

Year 6 PGL
​Year 6 spent an absolutely fabulous week at PGL, Boreatton Park in Shropshire. The weather was amazing and so were our pupils. They threw themselves into every activity which ranged from abseiling, canoeing, jumping from a 20ft pole to a trapeze and many more! The pupils showed incredible teamwork and they really looked after each other. We’re very proud of our Year 6!

Sport's News

​The U11 ‘A’ team played a thoroughly entertaining and extremely close game against Wolverhampton Grammar Junior School.

Captain Will Brister lost the toss and we were asked to bat. Will’s choice of John and Henry to open looked an inspired decision as John smashed the first and fifth balls of the game for four. In the second over, however, three wickets fell and we were in trouble at 13 for 3. Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals and there were actually six ducks in our innings. The bowling from WGJS was excellent and the fact that they only bowled three wides in the whole of our innings highlights how well they bowled. Despite all of this, we actually managed to put up a respectable total. This was largely due to George hitting a brilliant thirty and he was ably assisted with some valuable runs from Charles and Will.

Our total of 84 all out may have looked a little light, however, Charlie and Max both opened their spells with a wicket each. Every time they hit the ball in the air we held onto our catches and the fielding was excellent. Every outfield player had a bowl and every bowler should be proud of their performance. Louis gained a wicket and further success for Charlie and Max meant we kept their scoring under control.

We managed to win this entertaining game by just two runs. This highlights how every piece of fielding, every time a fielder backs up, every time a batsmen calls for a quick single, is so important to a team victory.

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

Future Dates

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