Newsletters

Reading Updates 

Across this term, and school, we have read an amazing 23, 864, 403 words! This is a fantastic team achievement! Well done to all our readers!

Individual Reader Leaders:

Year 2: Archie Fox, Dorothy Foulkes (Year 2 Gruffalo Class) and Zara Kumar (Year 2 Peter Rabbit).

Year 3: Jacob Herman (Year 3 BFG Class) Poppy Bailey and Kamran Miah (Year 3 Clifford Class).

Year 4: Harrison Fox, Jameson Burgess (Year 4 Manny Heffley) Emile Muretti Robinson and Tiago Edwards (Year 4 Rodrick Heffley).

Year 5: Solenn Ruff (Year 5 Hedwig Class) and Ilyaz Lajux (Year 5 Where's Wally Class).

Year 6: Mia McLeod (Year 6 Bear Class) and Izzie Heap (Year 6 Sherlock Holmes Class).

Class Reading Leaders:

Year 2: Year 2 Gruffalo Class

Year 3: Year 3 Clifford Class

Year 4: Year 4 Manny Heffley Class

Year 5: Year 5 Where's Wally Class

Year 6: Year 6 Bear Class

Overall reading class for this term is Year 6 Bear Class.

Please keep encouraging your child to read over Christmas. This could be recipes, sports reports, comics...

For book ideas, please go to:

https://www.waterstones.com/category/childrens-teenage

There are plenty of ideas about books to read including one recently released by Mr Larcombe, 'Where's Bear at Christmas?'.

From Monday 5^th December to Friday 9^th December, 20 Year 6 children participated in Level 1 and Level 2 Bikeability training. It has been a couple of years since we have participated in this training. As a school, we feel this training is extremely valuable as it teaches the children to ride their bike safely to school and within the village. The types of things the children have to do include the following:

Level 1 Bikeability 

Through fun, progressive games, pupils must demonstrate the following to progress onto on-road training: 

• Apply brakes to bring the cycle to a smooth and quick stop 

• Look behind over each shoulder while pedalling in a straight line 

• Pedal one-handed in a straight line 

• Use gears (if present) 

• Avoid hazards in this training. 

Level 2 Bikeability

Riders will be taken onto residential roads to experience ‘real’ road cycling covering: 

• Starting and stopping journeys 
• Passing stationary vehicles 
• Understanding road signals, signs and markings 
• Negotiate junctions 
• Sharing the road with others 

We are delighted to share that all children who took part in the training, passed! The instructors who took the course were impressed with the resilience and attitude of our learners.

We now have a Level 1 and 2 Bikeability course running for our Year 5 children in February and hope to be able to offer a Level 1 Bikeability course for Years 3 and 4 in 2023!  Details to follow. All Bikeability courses are free of charge.

Over this Christmas and new year period, there is an optional activity that you can consider with your child/ren in readiness for our Invention Convention on 10th January. Working on their own, or as a family, the children are encouraged to consider a real life problem and then invent something that solves it. The children are encouraged to record their ideas and plans and then, if at all possible, create a model to demonstrate the invention - it is not expected that the model will work. 

The event on 10th January, is an opportunity for all children in the school to share their invention with the school in true Dragon's Den style! Tables will be set up around the hall for the children to showcase their models on. They should be ready to talk about their invention, why they made it and how it works. 

If your child is showcasing their invention on 10th January, you are welcome to come along from 2.30pm to see the inventions. 

The week after our internal Invention Convention, we will be hosting a Grand Union Partnership one here @DPS for some of the contestants from our school and the other schools in the partnership.