This week has been "anti-bullying week" and the children have been discussing what to do if they see bullying, if they are being bullied, the different types of bullying and how bullies make us feel.

We, and other local schools, wore blue on Thursday to show our awareness to this sensitive subject.

 The Schools Fantasy Football League update !!

Where are you in the league? Click here to find out.

Year 4 - Brendon
Year 5 - Tia
Year 6 - Jamie
Staff - Mrs Evans

Don't forget you get three transfers per month. I have used mine already but to be honest it didn't help me much !!!

It was also International Week this week and lots of classrooms were using books to find out interesting facts, speaking foreign languages and using their ICT and researching skills in order to gain more knowledge about their chosen country.

So what else has been happening at Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School this week?

French - Mrs Johnston

Reception have been learning a song about parts of their body.

Year 1/2 shared the story, ‘Aboie Georges’ about a dog who had trouble with his bark. 

Year 3/2 are still working on their classroom objects.

Year 4 have been thinking about which animals they like or don’t like and planning their animal books. 

Year 5 have started writing about their favourite school subjects.

Nursery - It was Italian week in the Nursery so we made Italian flags. We also played with some dried pasta shapes and had cooked pasta shapes for snack, they were green, red and cream coloured. We also made muffin pizzas which we cooked under the Nursery grill. We put tomato sauce on them and then put grated cheese on top before we cooked them. We had them for snack, they were yummy!!!

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have thoroughly enjoyed our International Week focusing on France. We have implemented many activities in the classroom: saying 'bonjour Madame Weston' during register, making French flags and comparing the similarities and differences to the Union Jack, handwriting French colours, singing French songs, sharing French books, sponge printing and ordering numbers whilst saying them in French, exploring French games on the computer in the ICT suite and eating 'French' snacks!  We are looking forward to starting rehearsals next week for our Christmas nativity.

RM - Mrs McIntosh - Christmas is nearly upon us and we have started to prepare for our Christmas nativity. If anyone has any questions about lines/costumes or performances, please come in and see me.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - This week we have been very busy! In our writing time we have been thinking about three stories from other countries and we really enjoyed them. In our number work we have been finding out about money; what different coins look like, how many pennies they are worth and how to go shopping and get the correct change. On Thursday we talked about what bullying is and how we can stop it happening. I must say that the children had really good ideas which we talked about sensibly. Well done everyone. We are also getting excited about our singing, our words and our dances for the Christmas play. Thank you to all parents who are able to help us with costumes for our Russian story.

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - It's all about the money in Class 1/2B.  We are beginning to recognise different coin values up to £2.00, some of us have been adding three different coin amounts and we have also just started using the £ sign as well.  We have made a very good start with our part in the school Christmas play.  I have been really impressed with how quickly the children are learning the words.  Next week we shall cover the famous Russian story Babushka in literacy.  In numeracy we shall continue with money, money, money.

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

Another week has flown by! Starting preparations for our Christmas performance, the children are getting very excited. I am too, they always do such a good job.

 

This week we have been experimenting with number through multiplication and division. The children have been exploring the relationship between the two operations and using their skills to solve word problems. I am very pleased with the progress they have made, generally they have shown good understanding. They will get the opportunity to develop their skills further as we are doing a whole week on multiplication and division again next week. On Friday there will be a 2 times tables test and some children will also be tested on dividing by 2.

 

This week we have also been doing activities in connection with Anti-bullying and International Week. The children have thought really carefully about what bullying means through discussion and role play. They have also thought about ways to combat bullying, they have expressed these ideas through creating poems and posters. 

 

We have focussed on Spain this week to extend our knowledge gained from our European Day of Languages.We are now learning to count up to 20, we have learned greetings and discussed Spanish traditions, comparing them with our own. The theme for our Christmas play is Christmas around the World and, yes you guessed it, our country is Spain.

 

So, hopefully, by the end of this term the children will be very knowledgeable about this part of Europe.

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have focussed on anti- bullying week and looked at Ireland as part of International week. what a busy time.

The children have produced an Anti-bullying poem and poster. the children found out about Irish traditions at Christmas , did a drawing of the Irish flag and found out about Leprechauns and shamrock.

Miss Bolton's class joined us for a read through of our part of the xmas play!!! So wait for the children to tell you what they will be doing.

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Somebody decided that we would have both Internation Week and Anti-bullying week at the same time for this week - so its been a week of real variety!

We started the week though by counting all the pennies we got from our Children in Need penny trail. I thought it would only take an hour - but 2 hours later, we were still going! It turned into some good learning though with maths as we counted and weighed all the different coins. Myself and Mr Lloyd took a grand total of £266.86 down to Nat West to pay into the Children in Need account. Thank you all so much for your generous donations. There is a couple of picture of us counting in the Gallery.

The other highlight of the week was beginning to introduce the children to our Christmas play - Christmas Around The World. We have paired up with Mrs Chattertons class and have chosen to do Ireland. The children have been given song words for Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody' and further details of cast, scripts and costumes will follow shortly - get practicing the Irish dancing!!

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - Class 4P have had a special week this week with Anti-Bullying week and International week. Each child in  the class chose a country that they would like to research at the start of the week and they have been using the internet to carry out their research. They each found out the countries flag, population, landscape, wildlife, capital city and language including how to say hello. We had countries as close as Wales and as far flung as Senegal and Libya. They have been using skin colour paints to match to the people from their chosen countries. We will put all of their work together on a display. For anti-bullying week we made friendship posters to be displayed in the classroom and out in the playground. We also wrote poems from the point of view of either the bully or the victim. Well done to our new addition Alexia who wrote a particularly good poem.

 

 5B - Mr Bird - Our focus this week has been divided between International Week and Anti-bullying Week. Both of these areas have provided the children with numerous opportunities to explore these important topics from several different perspectives.

 

International Week was encompassed in our work on myths and legends, PE and music, with Thursday giving the children the chance to try out some Greek language and an introduction to traditional Greek dancing. They really entered into the spirit of the day and clearly enjoyed demonstrating their new found knowledge. We hope the children have not been too traumatised by watching their teachers demonstrate Zorba's dance !

 

The ever important task of exploring, recognising and discussing the issue of bullying was tackled in a variety of ways. It was refreshing to see that our children take this matter seriously and show a level of awareness that should certainly reduce their chances of becoming a victim, or indeed them being involved with any act which could be construed as bullying. 

 

This week ended with the first reading of our contribution for the end of term performance. Everyone was keen to participate and with the invaluable help given by Mrs Johnston, copies of the children's lines have already been given to them. I suppose now would be the time to say to all the adults at home who will be listening to their children practising, enjoy every performance. I am sure you will be hearing it several times during the next couple of weeks but it will be worth it, honestly.

 

 5D - Mr Duff - Greece is the word!!! Being International Week, we dedicated a whole day to find out about our chosen country, Greece. This even linked into our P.E. lesson with the dance Zorba the Greek. With Mr Bird, Mrs Evans and myself demonstrating to the children they couldn't wrong (yeah right)!!! 

 

Another topic this week has been around anti-bullying. I must say the children were very sensible when approaching this subject and very grown up discussions were had.

 

The parts for the play have been given out, so please learn you lines as the performances are only just around the corner.

Next week we will be writing our myths. Please remember how you build suspense and tension and the rest we will go over again before you write.

 

6M - Mr Martin - Which surfaces cause the most friction? This is the question we have been pondering this week. As scientists, we have been devising our own investigations to test our predictions. With our results, we were able to draw scientific conclusions which we could apply to everyday circumstances such as safety in the home.

 

As the Festive Season hurtles towards us, we have begun  rehearsing for our contribution to the schools'  Christmas production. It's been fun singing rocking around the Christmas even though it's only mid November!

 

6H - Mr Hautler - Another exciting week has come to an end. The parts for the Christmas play, which is the Christmas Tree Story from Germany, have been cast and the actors are busy learning their lines. Our work on Eastern Europe has continued, we are being Travel Agents advertising a Country. In I.C.T we made a powerpoint presentation on Forces. We will evaluate these next week. The week has been great fun and we are looking forward to coming back on Monday!

Guess what we have been doing today !! You have guessed it - "Children in Need" !!!

Most children and staff have come dressed in something beginning with the letter "p". I myself was fitted for my pirates hat last night. My wife had a big black sheet of paper, cellotape, a stapler and a scull and cross bone. I sat there patiently, whilst she conjured her magic and voila, Pirate Duff was born !!

My wife was definitely not the only one with her Blue Peter head on. There were some fantastic costumes in and around the school, ranging from painters to plumbers, policemen to paramedics, princes to princesses. My personal favourite was Sonny in 4B who came dressed as a Phoenix, superb.

To top it all Miss Bolton and 4B did a fantastic penny trial in the hall - see their photos here

Morrisons Vouchers

Please keep these coming in. The offer is over so no more vouchers will be given out in the shops. Please check your coats, handbags and pockets for any vouchers and send them into school so Mrs Johnston can make her shopping list.

What else has been happening this week at Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School?

French - Mrs Johnston

Reception have been learning some instruction words to go with an action song.

Years 1/2 have been revising their colours and learning an action song.

Years 3/2 have been learning about items in their pencil case.

Year 4 have started to make books about their pets.

Year 5 have compared French and English school timetables.

Year 6 have been playing a clothes shopping game.

 

Nursery - This week the Nursery children have been sticking squares on to their Elmer pictures. We also made firework pictures at the beginning of the week. We all dressed up in something beginning with 'P' so had lots of pirates and pink princesses.

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have continued with our toy theme using bears as a stimulus this week. We have focused on the traditional tale 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', re-telling the story to an adult, making moveable bears, writing an apology letter from Goldilocks to the three bears and discussing the similarities and differences between our own versions of the book that we brought in independently and the three bowls, chairs, spoons etc that we used to re-enact the story. We are looking forward to making porridge on Monday and then taking part in International week where we will be studying France.

RM - Mrs McIntosh - This week RM have been continuing the theme of bears, particularly Goldilocks and the 3 bears, and have encorporated lots of maths, literacy and creativity.

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Class1/2B have had another enjoyable week learning about the Island of Struay.  We made clay islands and have almost finished painting them.  We also made our own sunset pictures with some pleasing results.  Our numeracy involved doubling and halving the children can now double money.  This could come in very handy!  Next week will have an international feel and then on Thursday our learning we be centred around anti bullying.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - We have been thinking about  what it is like 'Living On An Island'  with our Katie Morag stories and have been looking closely at the important illustrations and writing about our favourite part of the story  In Numeracy we have been working hard to double 2 digit numbers and some of us have been halving numbers as well! We have also been thinking about  how plants and animals are both similar and different.

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

I cannot believe that another week has gone by. We seem to be so busy and it's not even Christmas yet! The children have worked really hard on telling the time, but they know that they need to practise more. So children, remember to practise telling the time at home whenever you can! We have also been writing recounts of our trip to Colchester Castle. The children had to think carefully about what makes a good and interesting recount. I have not read them all, but so far they seem to have made a very good effort.

 

Next week is Antibullying and International Week, we will be doing lots of interesting activities connected within these themes. The country that we will be looking at will be Spain to expand on what we learned on International Day of Languages. So children, could you find out what you can about the city of Barcelona and anything about Spanish Christmas customs. 

 

Thanks! Have a great weekend - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - We have been wriitng about our trip to Colchester castle in the form of a recount. They all said they enjoyed the trip and not just their lunch!

We have been working on time this week- please talk to the children about time as much as possible as it is really helpful if they have some input at home.

Many children completed their materials homework- well done. We have been looking at why certain materials are used to make various objects around the school. Quite ahrd for them to grasp.

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Today has been a fab day. I can't remember how many penny trails I've done over the years I've been here...but its been quite a few. I was a little worried yesterday that the credit crunch had hit us and the half box of pennies we had wouldn't have completed any kind of trail But after a day of plugging and shaking buckets outside, we got more pennies than ever! The class really enjoyed themselves going 4 times round the hall in pennies, filling the school badge in the middle and then becoming penny artists by creating picture of Pudsey Bear of their own - all in pennies!

Just got the task of counting them now!!!

Thanks to everyone for their donations and support - Pudsey and the Children say THANKS!

Here's a link to the Gallery to see some pictures of our fab Penny Trail.

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - This week 4P have been writing playscripts based around either Madagascar or Finding Nemo, which links to our science project on habitats. Our ICT this week also linked to habitats and may I say that Mrs Reeve commented on how impressed she was with the children's ICT skills. Well done everybody, keep up the good work! We had lots of interesting costumes for 'p' day today. I particularly enjoyed Libby's panda bear with bamboo stick snack! I am totally worn out from changing my costume everytime someone entered the classroom. I have been a puss cat, pirate, princess and pink lady. It has left me a little confused so I am going home for a cup of tea and to watch Pudsey! Have a nice weekend!

 

5B - Mr Bird - Week two of the Ziggy challenge has been well supported by the class with the majority of children walking or cycling to school. Their actions have been reinforced by the partially created traffic calming measure which is taking shape outside our school. I know the children were very pleased that the artwork for the 20 mph signs in the area came from one of the year 5 children from last year, it certainly gave them an incentive to produce some nice pieces of art this week.

 

Art featured in more than one form, with the children creating some poppies from paper plates for the backdrop to our two minutes silence. There were sufficient poppies to produce a large ' 90 ', in recognition of the importance of this year to the three remaining British ex servicemen who served in WW1. The children coped very well with our school Act of Remembrance and clearly had a better understanding of how this fits in with other community events.

 

Our work on myths has moved on and the children have enjoyed exploring aspects of this area through drama. This approach had the desired outcome of focusing them on the central aspects of an interesting myth, a point which will

be of great assistance to them when they create their own piece of writing.

 

With the week ending on a very positive note of heightening everybody's awareness of  the 'Children in Need' charity, we entered into the spirit of raising money by taking part in a sponsored dressing up day. The fun had will hopefully go some way to providing help to many children in the future.

 

5D - Mr Duff - We have the Ziggy Challenge up and running and our monitors are in place. Well done Daniel, Tom and Callum you are doing a great job.

 

The discussion work on our myths is coming on very well and next week will be starting to plan how this will link into our writing.

 

In maths we were finding the difference by counting on to the next multiple of 10, 100, 1000 and beyond. You were visualising number lines really well. Next week we will be looking at doubling and halving.

 

Our soft area (book corner) will be ready Monday, so we will have a nice chilled out place to read books within the classroom !!

 

6H - Mr Hautler - This week we have been looking at the different types of triangles in maths and we've been writing non-chronological reports in literacy. We have started preparing for the up and coming Christmas Production. We have very little homework this week as we need to prepare ourselves for the 11 plus tests next saturday.

 

6M - Mr Martin - We have been investigating the forces all around us and divising our own experiments to see how friction affects the journey of the vehicle.  In addition to this, our Eastern European topic is ticking along nicely as we have been able to learn about it through many subjects such as art, music and literacy.  We have really enjoyed making biscuits to support the Children in Need and dressing up as something beginning with 'P'.  We wait with baited breath to find out the grand total - we hope its alot!

That's it, the half term is over, 8 weeks gone !! Wow, that was quick !!

Another week closer to Christmas, ummm that's a bit frightening !! Anyway moving quickly on !!

Introducing the Gallery !!

VIPs  French VIPs visit Darlinghurst

French VIP visitors!

We were very pleased to welcome three very important visitors from France to Darlinghurst today.  They were Jean-Jacques Mandirac, an Inspecteur d'Education Nationale, whose role is more or less be a Headteacher to 40 primary schools, Yvon Deverre, a retired Adjoint de l'Inspecteur d'Académie who was in charge of over 300 primary schools in the Nice area and Anne Villeneuve, an MFL (Modern Foreign Language) adviser for Nice primary schools.

They very much enjoyed their tour round the school and commented on how bright and colourful it is.  They were very envious of our interactive whiteboards and large outside playing areas.

Gardening Club

Gardening Club have been busy again, this time planing daffodil bulbs under the trees near the front of the school.  They'll look lovely in Spring.

 

Thank you Mrs Johnston

 

 

Update from the School's Fantasy Football League

 

After the first week Mr Bird and Caleb (year 4) are top of the league but please remember it's a long season!

 

Tia is the Year 5 leader and Jamie is the leading the way in Year 6

 

 

So we now have a week off. I am sure the children and the teachers alike need the rest!! I know I am looking forward to it and hopefully it doesn't pass too quickly.

 

Anyway, we will see you back in school, bright and breezy on Monday 3rd November. Enjoy your break

What else has been happening this week at Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School this week?

 

Mrs Johnston

What a busy week, I seem to have been here, there and everywhere just for a change!

Year 6 have been continuing their work on adjectives.  They can now describe clothes with colours, size and length matching singular, plural, masculine and feminine!

Year 5 have been learning about school subjects and finding out that French children learn the same subjects as they do.

Year 4 are learning numbers up to 40.

Year 2/3 are learning numbers up to 20.

Reception and 1/2 have been practising their colours and numbers to 10.

 

Numbers seem to be our theme at the moment and the dedicated group of parents that come on Fridays are learning scary numbers up to 100!  We will continue this after half-term.  New members are welcome to join us.

 

If you are going abroard during the holiday, especially France or Spain, I would be grateful if you could bring me any packaging from your foreign food shopping eg biscuit boxes, food packets etc.  They could be folded flat and I will reassemble them.  They will be of great value when we play shopping games.  Merci.

 

Nursery - We were very busy in the Nursery this week making cakes. We measured out the ingredients, mixed them together, put the mixture in cake cases and then cooked them in the oven. The next day we decorated them with yellow and green icing and then counted out 5 jelly beans to put on top.

 

We also played with the cornflour and water mixture, it made a terrible mess but we did have fun.

Click here to see our photos

 

RM - Mrs McIntosh - What a long.....but very good half term. The children have settled in so well and have worked extremely hard. We have covered an awful lot and the children have coped with the new routines and pressures very well. I hope they have a good rest and come back with just as much enthusiasm and drive as they have had this half term.

Next half term, our topics are Toys/Christmas.......a very exciting time of the year. I love Christmas and will be encouraging lots of mess and singing in the classroom from 1st December!! (if not earlier!)

It was great to see so many of you at Parents meetings this week and was encouraged by how much you are supporting your children's learning at home. Please continue this over the half term holiday.

The homework I have set for the holiday is to make a number book - to see how many different numbers we can see as we travel around our environment - Writing, photos, pictures, cuttings will all be welcome! I hope you enjoy sharing this experience with your child.

Have a great week and see you on Monday 3rd November! Mrs M

 

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have really put their phonics knowledge into practise this week by starting to read captions such as 'a cat in a hat' and 'socks on a mat' and matching them to pictures. We have read and used the tricky words 'to', 'the' ,'no', 'go' and 'I' (tricky as they cannot be blended using our phonemes) and written them into sentences in our handwriting books.We have made hand prints continuing on our bigger/smaller theme and compared their sizes, and also brought in and shared photographs of us when we were babies. We played a game of 'guess who?' with the photos and spoke about the things we used to do when we were smaller. Mrs Weston is looking forward to seeing everyone's number books after half term and hopes everybody has a safe and happy holiday.

 

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - This week we have enjoyed naming shapes and counting how many sides and corners each one has. We have also looked at some shapes to find their lines of symmetry. We have been listening to, following and writing instructions: some of us wrote instructions to an English speaking alien to tell him how to clean his teeth. We did remember to tell him to clean his mouth afterwards!

On Thursday we had an interesting visitor. Nurse Becky came to tell us about her important job caring for children who are in hospital on Neptune Ward. She showed us her instruments and how to use them carefully. We then practised on each other.

After the holiday we will be doing Show and Tell on Thursday afternoons and PE on Monday afternoons. Have a lovely week everyone.

 

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hi everybody!

 

Have had a lovely week of looking at poetry. The children have been writing poems based on a Roman chariot race. They also had to try and include adjectives and rhyme, which they made a really brilliant effort with. The children read each other's and made some very positive comments.

 

In Numeracy we have been interpreting data using, tally & bar charts and also pictograms. The children enjoyed recording the data.The have  decided that they need more practise interpreting it. We will also be doing data analysis in Science so that the children can get more practise. 

 

After Half Term we will be looking at instructions and the children will be writing instructions for their talk partners to follow to dress a Roman Soldier. They will be seeing how easy the instructions are for them to follow. In Numeracy the children will be building on their addition and subtraction skills.

 

I hope that you all enjoy your Half Term holiday. I know that I will! - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - I can't believe it is half term already. Our topic on Romans has gone down so well that we will continue it until we go into Christmas mode. It was so nice to see so many parents turn up on Wednesday. Mrs Grant and I we pleased to tell you all about your Childs successes.

We have been busy writing poems about chariot races this week. Some of the poems are fantastic.

In maths we have looked at tally charts and pictograms.

Sorry if in the holidays the children keep asking about Roman roads. they were told some still exist and they are straight. so if you go along a straight road wait for the voice in the back!!!

Have a lovely half term with the children - Mrs Chatterton

 

4B - Miss Bolton - So here we are at the end of our first half term already! So much work completed already and a lot of successes had by the majority of the class. We've come to the end of our World War 2 topic and its amazing how knowledgable the children are about that era after just 6 weeks.

Some of our topics for after half term will be; geography based - Village Settlers, Science - Habitats, Art - Dreams and in Literacy we will be starting to look at play writing.

The first day back too will be an exciting one as we will be celebrating World Games Day. Each class will have a workshop with some international visitors teaching the children games from around the world - in particular, French skipping. The children will be given the opportunity to buy some colourful French skipping ropes that week too.

 

Its that time of year again when the Children in Need appeal begins. As it is now become traditional, I will be completing a penny trail with my class again this year. Please start collecting and bringing in as many 1p and 2p coins as possible ready for November 14th. Thank you.

Have a good half term break!

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - Well hasn't the last seven and a half weeks just flown by! Class 4P have completed their World War II projects this week. I was particularly pleased with some of their work including Danny and Charlie's spitfire drawings in ICT and Dean's Colin Carrot poster! The children will bring the projects home shortly to show you what they have learnt. We made some great horrifying halloween cards and wrote up the instructions as part of our literacy project. I have provided the children with the materials so that they can teach someone else, over the half term, how to make one too. We also finished reading our class novel today, The Demon Headmaster. Look out for the sequels kids, 'The Prime Ministers Brain', 'The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster' and 'The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again'. Enjoy your half term holiday!

 

5B - Mr Bird - Class 5B

This week has provided the children with the opportunity to put finishing touches to their instruments and to evaluate the design and construction. It was good to hear how frank they were regarding any improvements that they would make, as this demonstrated their ability to gain the optimum benefit from the experience.

 

With the end of this half term also marking the conclusion of our Victorian work, it was fitting that they were able to review some of the facts that they had researched. I was very pleased to hear many of the children say that some of the areas examined, covered information that other members of their families were unfamiliar with. They really do enjoy taking on the role of teacher at times and love to share their new found knowledge.

 

Having researched a number of Victorian personalities, they completed their written work by writing a short biography on Mary Seacole and I look forward to reading these later. This person's life acted as a stimulus for us to examine a number of social areas. The children's sense of fairness led to some very powerful contributions about aknowledging people's worth. 

 

PE with the team from ASSA ended today. I know the children have really enjoyed these sessions and would like me to record their thanks to this very professional group.

 

This is a reminder for parents regarding the children's first day back, they will need their PE kit on Monday as there will be a chance for them to show off their skills at French skipping.

 

Thank you to all those parents who either attended the consultations this week, or have met with me recently to discuss their child's progress. 

 

I would like to finish by saying that I, together with Mrs Amran and Mrs Day, hope that everyone in 5B will have a really good holiday and make the most of not having to complete any homework.

 

5D - Mr Duff - Bon Jovi get your heart out, the 5D rock band is now formed. We did an outside performance to a crowd of over 50,000. OK, so we took a few photos on the outside stage in the rain but it felt just as good!! Your guitars looked great and I am very pleased with the outcome. Well done

 

We have now written our biography about Mary Seacole and I will be assessing these over the half term. I have throughly enjoyed watching you research, share your information and generally absorb yourself in this topic. Superb work.

 

In maths I am confident you have a good understanding of bar charts and how to interept data from these. We are looking at fractions on your return.

 

This half term has been fantastic, not only have you settled in quickly it looks like you are all enjoying what's happening in the classroom. I know me and Mrs Evans are. Enjoy your half term and see you all on the 3rd Nov.

 

p.s. Thank you to all the parents that I saw recently, don't forget my door is always open if you need to pop in and have a chat.

 

6H - Mr Haulter - Another exciting week has gone by us! In maths we learnt how to do the column method to solve multiplication problems. We have finally finished our topic on food and are looking forward to our next topic on...?  We learnt about squabbling and designed a board game about it. We also got a think book each and took them home to design the front cover. These books are private as they contain all our thoughts, so if you see one (most of them are decorated with stickers) NO PEEKING!!!

 

6M - Mr Martin - Half term already? It's a wonder we packed it all in. With the closing of our topic on food- we made bread and cheese and evaluated our results. And weren't they just delicious! Next term, our focus will be on Eastern Europe and we will be looking at this fascinating corner of the globe and investiagating its rich history, culture and people.

 

Note for the diary P.E. is on Friday until further noice.

The new School's Fanstay Football League season starts tomorrow and this year we have opened it up to even more children !! Not only are Years 5 and 6 competing but Year 4 are as well !!

This is not to mention the numerous staff that have taken part in the hope of knocking Mrs Chatterton off top spot. The very large silver trophy that she won last season still takes pride of place in her home and Mrs Chatterton will not be giving up her title lightly.

If you have not registed your teams and used your voucher yet, you have until midday tomorrow (Saturday) to do it. Click here to go straight to the website.

As the league's chairman, all I will say is good luck to everyone involved. Don't forget there are many prizes to be won, such as Manager of the Month certificates, FA cup medals and the end of seaon trophy. So even if your team doesn't make the perfect of starts, don't give up, there is plently of time to climb up the table. Remember it's a marathon , not a sprint !!

 A huge thank you for all the Tesco computer vouchers you sent in. It was a record year yet again (28,488 vouchers) which enabled us to buy even more ICT equipment. We bought 15 sets of headphones, 2 scanners, 10 recordable mircophones, one head camera and 5 chatterbox machines. All children in the school will benefit from this, so thank you.

Bags 2 School is back !! The bags have gone home tonight and any contributions will be greatly received. if you would like to read more about this scheme click here.

 

Thank you to everyone that turned out ro see the circus !!! The evening was a great success. The PTA worked very heard to organise this, so another thank you goes to you. Also Neil Davey and Sid Osbourn of South Eastern Electrical PLC sponsored the Big Top at the circus to the tune of £1,000 !!! A fantastic gesture which is hugely appreciated. Thank you.

 

        Two important dates for your diary for next week -Tuesday (21st) is individual and family photographs. Say cheese !! Parent consultation meetings on Wednesday (22nd)  - Notes have gone home in regards to both of these.

 

 Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to have had an African drumming workshop visit our school today. After a superb assembly the children were then put into groups and the drums were shared out between them. They were then transformed into African drummers !!! A great workshop were a lot of fun was had by all !!

 

A new phenomena is happening on the Darlinghurst School Blog. It's called the Blog Hog !!! If I were to make a dictionary definition for this it would read something like.... One that tries to publish as many of their things in on the weekly blog as possible. This weeks winner of this prestigious award goes to......drum roll......yes, you have guessed it Mrs Johnston !!!

Mrs Johnston would like to say......

 SAY IT WITH FLOWERS! - HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO US!

and....

As you know we are celebrating our 40th birthday this year, as part of the celebrations we have a floral display with a 40 inside the Darlinghurst shield. The PTA have kindly supplied the money to buy the flowers and gardening club supplied the child labour!

 

Please take the time to have a look at the flowers near the gate by the brook and admire our efforts.  We hope the plants will last all the way through the winter so we need to take good care of them and ask that children stay on the path side of the fence.

 

    This week PC Sawyer and Ziggy the cat visited the school.  PC Sawyer reminded everyone how to cross the road safely, using crossings, looking and listening carefully for traffic.  Ziggy the cat hates people parking on the zigzag lines outside school.  This is against the law.  All children have been asked to remind drivers to park somewhere else.  PC Sawyer and Ziggy were also promoting walking to school.  Apart from helping to keep us fit, being good for the environment, it also keeps the roads safer.

 

Thank you Mrs Johnson. The flowers look great and I know you have spent a lot of time trying to organise this

 

Wow !! What a week we have had. We are coming into the last week of half term and I just don't know where the last 7 weeks have gone but you know what they say about time flying when you are having fun. Well there is plenty of that happening in and around the school as the first part of the blog shows !!

 

Now to find out what has been happening in the classrooms of Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School.

 

Nursery (welcome to the blog) -  All of the new children are now in the Nursery and have generally settled really well.

 

Our topic this term is ‘Colours, Shapes and Numbers’ so we have played colour games and made red, yellow and blue paintings. We also sorted the puppies into colours and made shape people using the magnetic shapes. Miss Porter gave us a great big box; we have had lots of fun climbing in and out of it.

 

Maisie completed a big floor puzzle which had 56 pieces with just a little help from Miss Watkins.

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have continued with our 'All About Me' theme this week, looking at our heights. We have measured and compared ourselves to our friends writing and drawing who is taller and who is shorter than us. Some of us produced ICT pictures of ourselves and our friends in height order. We also sorted ourselves into groups of boys and girls and then looked closer at our hair colour and eye colour and sorted ourselves again. We really enjoyed Wednesday's road safety assembly and meeting 'Ziggy,' who encouraged us to try to walk to school.  

 

RM - Mrs McIntosh - This week RM have been finding things in and out of the classroom that are taller and shorter than them. We have found lots! We have also been doing lots of work for a display telling people how much we enjoy doing our morning and afternoon exercises "Activate"! We made bendy men, drew pictures of us doing our exercises and cut out healthy food from magazines.

Many children have been writing words that begin with our phonics for this week (u,l,f,b) and they did a great job.

Next week is the last week before half term (phew!!) and I have parent consultations  on Wednesday and Thursday - I still have some slots available if you would like to come and see me. Mrs M

 

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - We have been busy learning all about the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons.  Because we did so well we were able to show the rest of the school in assembly.  Everyone liked our days of the week paper chains.  This is good because even grown ups forget what the day it is sometimes.  We also got rather messy making our vegetable print pictures but at least we had good fun.  One more week till half term!

 

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

We have had a very busy week in our class, as always.In Numeracy we have been having lots of fun measuring things around the classroom. Using rulers, metre sticks and tape measures. The children had to make estimations then measure to see how accurate their estimates were. They have had great fun, they always love doing practical activities. In literacy they have been learning more about Gladiators and writing descriptive stories about a Gladiator fighting in the arena. Some children have written in such graphic detail that you get transported back in time reading them! This is great because they were focussing on using adjectives in their writing.

 

Next week is a poetry week. The children are going to be writing a poem about racing a chariot in the arena. So please bring your favourite poems in children, that would be great!

 

Have a lovely weekend! - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have been building up to writing a story about a Gladiator entering the arena. The stories are very impressive with the children using lots of descriptive language. They were told to make it a happy ending, so that the Emperor saved everyone.

We have looked at sundials and in particular Roman sundials.

In maths we have been measuring in cm and m - So if the children start getting out tape measures you will know why.

For Geography we have looked at Roman towns on a map. Test the children to see what they remember!

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Its been another busy week in 4B. In Literacy we have been learning the characteristics of good instructional writing which we will carry on with next week. In Numeracy we have been looking at frequency tables and pictograms. We are coming towards the end of our World War 2 topic too which all the class have really got into.Next week we will be finishing all the work off completely and putting it into folders.

 

Friday held a couple of treats. As Mrs Johnston was unable to take the lesson, we had a French teacher in from SHSB to take our French session. The children were brilliant and responded really well to hearing a real French voice. Some of the class are really showing a flare for languages!

We also had a visiting African drummer in to do a demonstration. Much fun was had as he got children involved in playing the big drums and had them all chanting African songs and rhythms.

I can't believe next week is our final week before half term - and even more scary, the staff are currently talking Christmas activities and plays!!

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - Class 4P have had an extremley busy week this week. We have cooked wartime ration food, corned beef fritters. Aswell as this we have carried out a science experiment, looked after our new pupils (teddies) for the day, designed and built alarmed boxes (well done Abbey and Tayla) and written instructions. I am absolutely exhausted and I am sure the kids are too!!

 

5B - Mr Bird - With the half term holiday fast approaching, our musical instrument production line has gone into overdrive. The children have been working to transform various food containers into operational instruments. We will do our best to have them completed in time for all of you at home to enjoy the mellow tones from their creations over the week long break!

 

Our Victorian topic has again provided the children with the opportunity to use skills from across the curriculum to stimulate a better understanding of that time.  Their ability to research personalities has helped them to prepare for writing a very interesting biography on an incredible lady from that era.

We were lucky to have a presentation from the road safety team this week and the message was well received by all. The level of excitement went up with the arrival of Ziggy the cat.This colourful feline provided an enjoyable side to the important message, so be prepared to hear the odd reminder about road safety.  

 

The week literally ended with a bang when the children were treated to a demonstration of African drumming. It got even better when they then attended a workshop in our hall and all got an opportunity to play the instruments. I was very impressed with the result and I know that they all thoroughly enjoyed this experience. 

 

5D - Mr Duff - First of all I would like to say a huge well done to all the children for setting an excellent example this week. I was in and out of the classroom quite a bit but this didn't effect your learning at all. In fact Mrs Amran thoroughly enjoyed spending more time than normal in our class !!

 

Your maths skills are progressing well, your investigation in to 3D shapes went very well. Ask someone at home if they know what a polyhedron, a tetrahedron or a octahedron is. If they don't, let them know !!

 

You now know how to write the middle part of a biography. We have now completed the introduction and the next three paragrpahs, next week we will be looking at the summary paragraph.

 

The African drummers today were great, plus being taught French by a native French speaker was a good experience as well.

 

Lastly, we are going to decorate our guitars next week and complete the evalation. After that we can play air guiter to our hearts content !!

 

6H - Mr Hautler - Yet another exciting week for 6H! As we were learning about microbes, we decided to make something with yeast so we made bread from all around the world and evaluated the taste, texture, smell and appearance. We also made cheese and butter because we were learning about irriversable changes and we then spread them on some toast. In maths we learnt about prime numbers and factor trees and how to identify prime factors of a number. It's been really fun this week and we hope we can say the same about next week too!