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I hope that you all had a fun half-term break and perhaps enjoyed platinum jubilee events. In assembly this week, we talked about the uniqueness of the jubilee and the children shared some very special events that they had been part of. Our own celebration on Friday 27th May was a great opportunity to showcase many talents and it was so lovely to welcome many of you into school to enjoy this. There is a gallery page on the school website and a video too showing drone footage as we created the Union Jack. The video is available on the gallery page of the website and you can also click here.
Many thanks to the PTA for buying all the children a commemorative jubilee badge and to the DfE for providing everyone with a special keepsake book to commemorate the special occasion.
At this event, we sadly said goodbye to our very talented music teacher, Miss Jess Hunting. Her talent and enthusiasm have just been phenomenal this year. Whilst we don’t have a specialist music teacher for this final term, we do have one ready to support us in September.
This final term is pretty action-packed and is notorious for absolutely flying by amidst a final term of strong teaching and learning, sports days, transition days, school photos, end-of-year events, leaving assemblies and celebrating the year’s learning. On Tuesday 21st June, you are invited into school between 3 pm and 4pm to share your child’s learning with our Open Book afternoon. Check out the calendar dates below for lots more information.
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Huge congratulation to the following Sunflower Award recipients
Reception - George Sutherland
Year 1 Georgia Dunne
Year 2 Poppy Smith
Year 3 Gharib Waqqaf
Year 4 Cooper Fellowes
Year 5 Euan Sharpe
Year 6 Benjamin Peel
You have all demonstrated extraordinary skills and qualities that we are exceptionally proud of
A special sunflower newsletter will be shared soon
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Saying goodbye to Mrs Sue Flannery yesterday (from the Fresh Start team) was very hard. Sue has been an incredible member of the team and the school and her endless smiles, hard work and delicious treats with be sorely missed. Thank you for everything that you have brought to our school, Sue.
With Sue leaving, we would like to give a very warm welcome to Victoria Hopkins who started with us on Monday. She brings lots of experience and expertise to the school.
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Your children are warmly invited to wear a splash of yellow with their school uniform or a lot of yellow, next Wednesday (15th June) as we recognise Cystic Fibrosis Day. £1 donations will be gratefully accepted to support a cystic fibrosis charity. They might choose to wear a yellow headband for example or a yellow pair of socks with their regular uniform, or wear a yellow t-shirt or jumper with their normal trousers or skirt, or come dressed from head to toe in yellow!
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LATEST NEWS JUST IN....
We have just heard that our journey to achieve the SEND Award has been achieved! Congratulations to our SENCo Mrs Natalie Parsonson and the team for demonstrating the progress and evidence to demonstrate excellence in SEND provision!
This is an accreditation that we are very proud of.
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We've been delighted to host two sporting events this week. QuadsKids athletics on Wednesday and a football match with Newton Longville school on Thursday. Both events gave our children a wonderful opportunity to showcase their skills and further develop their strong teamwork. Thank you for coming along to support these events.
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Cost of living and how the school can support
In recent weeks it's been difficult to avoid the news regarding the prices increases with our energy bills, food and petrol costs. It's also clear that this crisis is here to stay for the next 12 months and may cause some families in the school some difficulties.
Although we understand how hard it is to ask for help, we are keen to give you an easy pathway for support whenever you may need it. We have worked hard over the past few years to forge strong partnerships with St Marks Meals and have opened the community fridge. Please continue to use the fridge freely as there are always good stocks of various foods and you are supporting a reduction in food waste.
To be hungry as a child means your tummy hurts, which means you can’t focus on your lessons at school, or your body isn’t healthy enough to fight off illness, or you shiver a lot because you are cold, or you feel embarrassed when your friends snack or talk about dinner. Whatever the reason your family is struggling, when you are 6, there is not much you can do about it. That’s why the help has to be ready, and in place for the precise moment that someone finds out that you need help.
St Marks Meals Boxes are stored in the school office and easy to access. If you do feel they may be needed to get you through the tricky week, please come into the office at any time, both Mr Peel and Mrs Hodge will be there to assist. We will handle any pick-up with sensitivity and try and support as best we can. We could offer to deliver some boxes if you feel a collection from school isn't for you.
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Racism Workshops at DPS
On 19th May, we had the pleasure of inviting Paul Crofts and Tre Ventour from Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council into school to deliver powerful workshops and assemblies about racism. Your children have hopefully come home and told you all about them. Having sat in on one of the workshops in Y4 Flamingo class, I must say that I was incredibly impressed and proud with the information that the group contributed and their strong desire for an end to racism.
Paul and Tre are leading a session for you, the parents and carers on Thursday 16th June at 6 pm on Zoom.
We really hope that you will be able to join us to share your thoughts, listen to the work that went on in school and help us all work together to stop outdated language and racist attitudes. With your support, this could be an extremely powerful meeting and remember, it’s on Zoom so you can join us from the comfort of our home without the need for a babysitter!
Please try to join us
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As we are constantly alternating between very hot days and wet ones, it is hard to judge what your children should be wearing! Please keep the sunscreen and sun hats close at hand though as it can be deceptively hot at times.
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Assemblies in the hall are back!
It was with great excitement that after twenty seven months, we had our first whole school assembly in the hall on Wednesday! Whilst assemblies are always a special time of the week, this one was particularly magical. After such a long time of having assemblies on Zoom, it was odd but wonderful to be all back together and see more than just faces. Going forward, we will have all of our assemblies in the hall except for the final class assemblies. As the rest of our class assemblies have been on Zoom, we will continue this year’s class assemblies in the same way.
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Chair of Governor Updates
This week we held a personnel and curriculum meeting, and we will have a finance and full governors' meeting on Monday 13th June.
Mr Peter Nickoll is currently deputising as our Chair as Mr David Aaronson is unwell.
To contact Mr Nickolls about any time, please note the following email address PNGovernor@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk
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Class photos will be taken on Monday 13th June. For Year 6, there will also be individual leaver photos. Please send your children to school in their regular uniform even if they ordinarily have PE on this day. Their PE kit can come into school in a bag to change into. Thank you
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Father’s Day Event
12.30pm – 1.30pm on Friday 17th June
Father’s and father figures are warmly invited to join us for a BBQ lunch – A chance to spend some time with your children and have a tasty lunch.
This is always a very popular event, so please be mindful that there might be a queue. Please ensure that you book your place by sending in £5 in a named envelope to the school office by Wednesday 15th June. If you would like a vegetarian burger, please put a large V on your envelope.
Plans for this year have ramped up somewhat from previous events, and we are delighted that one of our dads, Dan Conroy (owner of The Shack in Bletchley), will be supporting us with his expertise and BBQ equipment – this is just brilliant.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theshackmk/
Instagram: @theshack.mk
Website: www.buyabbq.com
We are also very thrilled that Michael Robins, also a dad at DPS, will be helping Dan, Mrs Gordon and myself with cooking and service. After a couple of years with no BBQ, it promises to be a very special one!
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Watch out for more Freezer Pop Fridays coming up. Huge thanks to the PTA for arranging these. The PTA are also busy arranging a summer raffle. You will have the chance to purchase tickets soon and at the two sports days.
If you have any contacts for raffle prizes, we would love to hear from you.
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School disco tickets for Friday 24th June will be on sale soon!
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The community fridge continues to be supported by a large group of fabulous volunteers and the local community. If you'd like to join us, please make contact.
Please continue to be food heroes by helping us reduce food waste.
The fridge is open at the following times:
Mondays - 8.30 am - 9.30am
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - 3.30 pm - 4.30 pm
Fridays - 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm
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If you have any questions about school life at any time, whether small or large, please make contact with us. Mrs. Hodge and Mr. Peel in the office are contactable daily, and you can also email the class teacher or myself at any time. We are always keen to listen to you and help in any way that we can. You might have also seen that the information screen is back in the school office keeping you up to date with upcoming events and relevant information.
Join us @DeanshangerS
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Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend.
Rachel Rice
head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk
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