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A belated Happy Diwali to all the families that celebrated last weekend.
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We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting lots of prospective families during individual visits and open mornings. Although we haven't got any more open mornings in the calendar, individual family meetings can continue to be set up as needed. Please make contact with the school office or send an email - head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk or head@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk
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Dear Parents
Earlier this week, the governors met for their second full meeting of the term. At this meeting we discussed and approved the School Self-Evaluation Form (SEF) and the School Development Plan (SDP). These are important documents; the SEF identifies how well the school is doing matched against the OFSTED criteria. The SDP is the plan that is written taking account of the judgements in the SEF in order to ensure that the school continuously improves. One of our roles as governors is to monitor the progress of the plan against the targets agreed. Each governor is allocated an area within the plan to monitor. We do this by visiting the school to observe the pupils’ learning. We speak to teachers and the pupils and look at the progress the pupils are making. I particularly enjoy my visits to school especially as I am impressed with the positive attitudes and behaviour shown by very nearly all the pupils.
Also at the meeting, we were interested to hear of the success of the arrangements for swimming. The new arrangements were cost-effective and less time was spent in getting to and from the pool, but more importantly, the pupils enjoyed the activity.
We are always impressed with the wide range of experiences and activities the school provides for its pupils in order to enhance their learning. The governors welcome this and thank all the school staff for their commitment to ensuring that learning is fun.
Peter Nickoll
Chair of Governors
PNGovernor@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk
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We have all become increasingly used to seeing signs in different places of work and shops reminding us to be kind and to not tolerate any form of abuse. On behalf of the amazing staff team, a team who go above and beyond to support your children, keep them happy and safe, provide multiple enrichment opportunities for their learning, and their openness to all forms of communication, I would like to remind you to be kind to us too.
There will be times when you have questions to ask us, or events to better understand, but we would really appreciate it if you could openly share these with us respectfully. As the teachers all have school email addresses, this direct contact is very easy - contact in this way is not available in all schools. Although we know that many of you use Facebook and WhatsApp groups, these are unlikely to solve school-related issues, so please come directly to us instead.
We work extremely hard to communicate with you, but there will be times when we don't get it quite right. Please remember we are all people with feelings, and we all want to provide the very best for your lovely little people.
Occasionally, we send messages (particularly myself) outside what might be considered traditional school hours, but these are sent to remind you of school events or purely to fit in with our working schedules. There is never an expectation for you to read these at the time that they are sent unless it works for you.
We completely understand the massive pressures on everyone and the challenging situations that we all find ourselves in at times, so spreading kindness will hopefully benefit us all.
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We try hard to be a healthy school by encouraging lots of physical fitness, supporting healthy minds with mindfulness and well-being opportunities, and encouraging healthy eating. Our lunchtime provider, Fresh Start, provides freshly cooked delicious meals daily and we continue to be very pleased with the quality of this. In Reception and KS1, healthy snacks are provided daily and funded by the government. Although these are not funded centrally for KS2 children, we order fruits and vegetables every day for their snacks.
Whilst children can bring a snack from home in KS2 if they prefer, please ensure that it is similarly healthy, and definitely not chocolate and highly sugared items.
The same is true for lunchtime; if your child brings their lunch, could you please ensure that it avoids high-sugary items, Thank you
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On Wednesday, we had the pleasure of accepting a cheque for £1579.58 from the Co-op as part of their community fund!
We are extremely grateful to the Co-op and everyone who chose us as their chosen charity whilst shopping.
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Huge thanks to Akeley Wood Junior School for donating boxes of store cupboard items to our community fridge from their harvest festival collection. It is very much appreciated.
Please be reminded that the community fridge is unlocked daily, Monday - Friday, and is available for all families to help themselves and support a reduction in food waste.
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The latest updates on the Reception kitchen area are very exciting!
On Tuesday next week (21st November), we will be taking delivery of a beautiful new kitchen from Wickes completely free of charge! Mrs. Jacobs and Mrs. Watson have been working with the Community Project Team at Wickes and we are delighted that we have now got to this point. We are extremely grateful for their support – it will make such a difference to the learning opportunities open to this age group.
In readiness for the installation, we have got a big team of volunteers coming from Santander on Wednesday next week (22nd November) to paint the area and make it smart enough for its sleek new kitchen.
Again, we are extremely fortunate to have a day’s worth of labour from multiple Santander staff to allow this revamp – it is another incredibly kind gesture.
After these stages are complete, we will be putting plans in place for the actual installation. Wooohoooo!
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On a regular basis, we are committed to listening to pupil voices and sharing their thoughts and ideas about multiple aspects of school life. The School Council is one such example and the BNTO committee _ -Be Nice to Others (children self-choose to join this), is another.
Since we started the school year, we have had two subject elevation groups - PSHCE and geography. These meetings invite six children from each year group at a time, to come and talk about a particular subject so that we can better understand what they have been learning and what they can recall. These groups are a great way for us to make small changes to teaching and learning.
 
 
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PAG Meeting One – Wednesday 22nd November at 2.30pm
Our first Parent Action Group meeting of the academic year will be held in the school library. The focal point of this meeting will be behaviour including how it is viewed and how it is managed. It is my aim to keep the meeting positive and constructive and whilst all opinions are welcome, I want to use your input and ideas to help continue moving the school forward. Everyone is welcome to attend, and I hope many of you are able to attend.
Mr. Mike Pennington
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Stay connected newsletter from Northampton Children's Trust - November addition.
This newsletter focusses on all the amazing events, clubs and groups that families, children and young people can access across the county that are free or affordable to attend.
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Thank you very much for supporting Children in Need today. With your donations at the gate and your bring-and-buy items we raised £404.87!
As there are some items left, we will display these in the meeting room on Monday and children who would like to bring in 50p or a £1, will be allocated a slot to go and have a final look.
Thank you to Miss Stanley and the school council for running the sale and to you all for supporting it.
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In addition to signing up your child for their Christmas lunch, please help us spread the word about the free Christmas lunch we would like to provide to older members of our school community on Friday 15th December at 12.30pm.
Booking must be made in advance via the school office.
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Safeguarding
The week started with odd socks and then conversations about how to be good friends and support each other with kindness - bullying is not tolerated in school. We also encourage you to carefully monitor your child's communication online, as we are increasingly aware of concerns shared in this way.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance and its members have an agreed shared definition of bullying based on research from across the world over the last 30 years.
The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online’.
https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/tools-information/all-about-bullying/understanding-bullying/definition
https://www.ronitbaras.com/emotional-intelligence/personal-development/what-is-not-bullying/
As always, please report any concerns to our safeguarding team:
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) - Mrs Rachel Rice
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs) - Mrs. Lynn Mildren, Mrs. Natalie Parsonson, Miss. Steph Forward and Mr. Mike Pennington
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 | 18 Nov 2023 At the MacMillan Coffee Morning on 29th September, there was the opportunity to win a cake made by Mrs Gordon, the head chef for our school and Fresh Start Catering. The Sutherland family were the lucky winners and, true to her word, this beautiful cake was made by Mrs Gordon to recognise Millie'... |
.jpg) | 03 Nov 2023 With the wetter and muddier definitely making a presence, we encourage all children in the school to slip off their shoes inside their classroom door and either put on slippers, or stay in their socks. As we have shared in assemblies, we wouldn't want to wear muddy shoes in our homes, so we'... |
.jpg) | 03 Nov 2023 Does anyone have contact with a vending machine company? We would like to have one in school and stock it with books as an incentive for reading. Thank you for all and any possible contacts. |
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We are delighted to see that 170 children have already been signed up to see Snow White as a whole school trip! If you would like to talk about the finances involved in this trip, please don't hesitate to pop in or send an email. We would love to be able to take every child in the school.
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The next three weeks @DPS
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Thank you very much for supporting the Remembrance Day event in the village, and at Holy Trinity Church, and for supporting the sale of poppies for the British Legion.
With Mrs Tolley-Goodger leading the sales, you helped us raise a staggering £400.78 this year!
Thank you very much to the children shown for laying the wreath so respectfully.
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Rocksteady concert - Tuesday 12th December at 9.15 am
Year 2 and 3 concert - Wednesday 13th December at 1.30 pm and 4.30 pm
Reception and Year 1 concert - Thursday 14th December at 10 am and 4 pm
Year 4,5 6 concert (@Holy Trinity Church) - Wednesday 20th December at 1.30 pm and 4.30 pm
Tickets are not needed for any of these concerts. We will put out as much seating as possible, but please keep in mind that you may need to stand.
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Uniform reminders
Please be reminded that full forest school kits need to be in school every day, ie, waterproofs and wellies. As the weather is getting colder and wetter, hats and scarves are suggested too as well as possible extra layers underneath waterproofs.
Forest school kits will be used, as needed, if your child chooses to play on the field over the winter months.
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As always, please continue to be very considerate and careful when parking off and dropping off in the vicinity of the school. With Mrs. Johnstone's support every morning, we are committed to trying as hard as possible to keep everything safe and calm. Please ensure that you do not park on the zig-zags or drive down the small road to the car park unless you are a disabled badge holder. Thank you
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Have a wonderful weekend.
Rachel Rice
head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk or head@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk
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