(sorry for the late update this week)

Walk to School 2009 is next week so let's make it a good one !

Even if you usually come to school by car, why not park a little way from the school and walk the rest.

Stickers will be given out and put on your classes chart - see how many you can get!!!

RM - Mrs Collison - The children have had another great and eventful week....the weeks just flies past!!  We have been thinking about sea creatures and the children have found it very funny that I have extreme difficulty saying 'anemones'!!  Choice Tuesday was fabulous and we now have a family of octopi and rainbow fish adorning the classroom!!!

 

 

Charlie said 'I enjoyed playing Guess Who with the picture of a sharks teeth'

Olivia R said 'I liked the story of the Rainbow Fish because she shared all her scales'

Shaun said 'I've enjoyed playing with my best friend Loius on the computer playing number games'

Holly said 'I enjoyed the role play area and cooking dinner for the bears.  Their favourite dinner was pizza.' Have a lovely weekend - Mrs Collison & Mrs Thomson

 

RW - Mrs Weston - RW started their 'Underwater' theme this week. We shared a range of fiction and non-fiction books to learn about the similarities and differences between a range of sea creatures and at the beginning of the week, focused on Marcus Pfister's 'The Rainbow Fish'. We discussed the theme of sharing and talked about and wrote about times when we have been able to share. Roman really enjoyed taking close up photographs of sea creatures ready for our 'Who am I?' sea creature writing. He said, "I love using the digital camera and taking photos". We also continued with our focus on pairs and the children went outside to see who could draw the most pairs of fish, then count them in twos. Kadie said "I liked drawing the fish outside - it was fun." We also made tissue paper sea creatures, wax crayon resist sea pictures and even took home octopuses after our 'Choice Tuesday' activities. Finally, we played a range of fish and sea creature related ICT games on CBeebies and used the 'crickweb' website and the 'Leap into language' literacy games in the ICT suite.

 

2/1D - Mrs Dutton - We have had fun in our writing time this week; some of us have been investigating facts about nocturnal animals and writing a report on our favourite one and we have all written a letter or postcard pretending to be a traditional story character writing to another story character. This was great fun!

Some of our Flat Stanley's have been posted back to us and we have been finding out about their adventures while they have been away.  “My  Flat  Stanley went  to  Cornwall. He sat on Mr Bean’s lap and he got buried in the sand on the beach. It was  fun to see the photo’s of what he did” written by Gram.

 

2/1B - Mrs Barrington - It's all been go in class 1/2B this week.  Year two worked very hard planning and putting together an informative text on nocturnal animals.  The children had a fun musical experience on Wednesday with Graham, when they made all sorts of interesting sounds.  When deciding what to write on our blog space some of the children came up with the following; Every Friday we do spellings. Lilly-Rose   This week we have been learning about Judaism and everyone made a Torah scroll.  Samuel Lewis   Every Tuesday we do P.E.  by Taylor . 

We are also looking forward to the puppet show next week.  We shall let you know all about it! 

 

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

Another busy week in Class 3/2B. The children have been working really hard, even though there are only 9 Yr2's in our class doing their SATs. The whole class took part in the long writing task which involved them writing about Night Time and Nocturnal Animals. I was very proud of the children because they were very grown up and focussed. They sat in virtual silence for nearly an hour which is not easy for children of their age. So far the results have been very encouraging.

 

Here are some of the children's comments about what they have enjoyed this week:

 

"I have enjoyed making oars for our Viking long boats"-Hannah

 

"Making oars for our boats has been funny because I kept making then too big or too small"- Charlotte

 

" I enjoyed putting soil in when we were planting seeds"- Evan

 

"The Science lesson was fun when we put lots of water on the seed and it overflowed"- Ben

 

"I have really enjoyed practising for the Borough Sports and now I can run much faster"- Scarlett

 

" I liked using the compass points when working on direction"- Alfie

 

"I enjoyed learning about North, South, East and West"- Josh

 

" I liked taking part in our Viking role plays about invading monasteries because it was fun"- Jack

 

As you can see we have had an exciting variety of activities going on.

 

Have a great weekend! - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - In Literacy this week we have done some non-fiction writing on some animals that come out at night. In Numeracy we have been looking at the points of the compass and making some maps and following directions on them. In Science we have been looking at plants and why some need to grow in greenhouses and why they don't grow under the stones by the pond, because it's too dark. In PE we tried to throw the javelin but it was a bit windy and they didn't go very far - By Jordan

 

4J - Mrs Johnston -This Blog has been written by Iona.

 

This week 4J have been watching a black and white film called ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and we are really enjoying it.  In Literacy we have written a biography about Walt Disney.

 

5B - Mr Bird - At the beginning of the week we did some miming for the rest of the class about a scary situation. Also on Wednesday we did some acting for an adventure.

 

On Friday the whole of year 5 attended Blenheim swimming pool for a swimming lesson. It was really fun and the water was absolutely boiling. Everybody enjoyed themselves so much that they can’t wait for the rest of the sessions - This entry was written by Molly.

 

5D - Mr Duff - Problem solving in maths has got our brains aching this week. I am very glad to say though you coped with the tasks and activities very well and even had some fun!!! In literacy we are building up to our narrative piece of writing, a story. I am looking forward to going over the fortune line next week and then finally getting to write them.

 

Friday was all about swimming. All of Year 5 went over to Blenheim and had a fantastic time. I will let the children finish this weeks blog with their comments about this:

 

I really enjoyed the swimming and I am looking forward to next week - Ed

 

It was a great experience for people that didn't know how to swim - Tom

 

I thought it was fun and wish we could do it every day - Jasmine

 

It was really warm and I thoroughly enjoyed it - Anna

 

6H - Mr Hautler - This week has been a tough but important week for us. It has all been focused on SATS. We had nine tests in 5 days, but we're really glad they're over. Now SATS are over we have many things to look forward to  including a BBQ which we have next week, the french trip, prom and leavers assembly.HORRAY!!!! SATS ARE OVER!!

 

6M - Mr Martin - This week in 6M, it has been a stressful due to the SATS!! We have had to do 9 tests!! That's loads!! We have had loads of free time due to the SATS, which included 3 films. We were also going to have an end of SATS BBQ but Mr Martin looked at the weather forecast and there wasn't very good responses!! Next week we will be back to lessons and we will be learning about Charles Dharwin. Finally the SATS is over and all that hard work has paid off!! By Jamie and Haleema

Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School meets.....

When watching the online version of Dragons Den the other day, I was was very taken by a product that I would have loved when I was a lad.

I used to love playing football over the park and we used to throw our jumpers, t-shirts, coats or whatever we were wearing to make goals. If this wasn't possible, we would try and find some sort of mark on the ground and say things like, "the goal is from that bald patch in the grass to that weed."

This was fine until the ball rolled over whatever clothing we had used or went across the bald patch or touch the weed. If I were in goal at the time I used to say, that wasn't a goal, it hit the post. It was a completely different matter if I was the striker though, and the word goooooooaaaaaaal would have been heard for miles away!!

Needless to say, this lead to quite a few arguements and it wasn't unusual for the whole game to come to a grinding halt.

That is why I am such a huge fan of the product I saw on Dragons Den called Qwikgoal

Basically it's a set of portable fold away goal posts that can be put up and taken down in seconds. They are made of a nigh on indestructible plastic, technical name Exxon 75003, which have a removeable base unit which itself has grass gripping teeth!!

Watch the inventor, Giles Bury, explain more here.

Anyway after seeing this product I emailed Giles to see if he was interested in sending our school 10 sets of goalposts free of charge and to cut a long story short he agreed.

Quikgoal is now the proud sponsor of Darlinghurst's school website!

The children have already been using them whilst playing football at lunchtime and during their P.E. lessons and the feedback has been great. So a huge thank you to Giles and we wish you the best of luck with your product.

Watch Giles ask the Dragons for £49,000 for a 20% of his company, does he get it? Click here to see.

If you would like to purchase a set of Quikgoals, they cost £19.99 plus P+P and you can order them online here

Borough Sports

Borough Sports

 

It's that time of year again where we start training for the Borough Sports, the highlight of the Primary Sports calendar. Children from across Southend compete in a variety of adapted track and field events. This year we have managed to make it to the 1st division which is an achievement in itself. We will be competing against the big schools from the Southend area on the afternoon of Wednesday 17th June at Garons. 

By now your child should know whether they have been selected for training and trials. The final team will be announced 2 weeks prior to the competition and programmes will be able to be purchased from the school office at a cost of 50p. Programmes will not be available at the event.

Below is a list of dates and times for training sessions. After school sessions will held between 3:30 - 4pm and you may collect your child from the field. If for some reason your child cannot attend a session, please let me know.

Regards

Mr Hautler

 

Monday 11th May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Afterschool - standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put.

Tuesday 12th May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Wednesday 13th May

Afterschool -standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put.

Thursday 14th May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Afterschool - standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put, relay teams.

 

Monday 18th May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Afterschool - standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put.

Tuesday 19th May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Wednesday 20th May

Afterschool - standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put.

Thursday 21st May

Lunchtime - all running events.

Afterschool - standing jump, long jump, javelin, ball throw, shot-put, relay teams.

 

 

 Parents Consultations

Super to see so many parents this week. Personally speaking I thoroughly enjoyed letting parents know the fantastic things that have been happening in and around school, the progress their children have been making but just as importantly how much fun we are having!! I know the other teachers in the school feel the same and even though it meant two late night for us this week, it was all worth it.

 

 

 

 Headlines from Mr Knight

Another busy week completed. This week I have been out of school quite a lot mainly attending to events organised by the National College for School Leadership which is based in Nottingham. Through these events and meetings I meet and mix with lots of other Headteachers and School Leaders from the rest of the country. Some of the stories that many of these colleagues tell about their schools are quite worrying - and I always feel very proud to be the Headteacher of Darlinghurst as a result. Our children are great - it would appear many of my Headteacher colleagues are nowhere near as lucky. Our staff members are great too - and it would appear that many of my Headteacher colleagues are again not so lucky. As for parents - well I know I'm very lucky as far as that is concerned! Have a great weekend!

 

 

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

 

 Nursery - We have been tasting different fruit in the Nursery, this week we tried melon it was lovely. We looked at the outside which was green and the inside which was orange, we also found out that if you plant the seeds they will grow into a new plant. We looked at different foods and sorted them into different groups like fruit, vegetables, bread, meat and fish, milk and yogurt, and foods we have as a treat like cake and crisps.

 

 RM - Mrs Collinson - I can't believe that another week has come and gone!!  We've had a busy week again.. I think by the end of this year there will be some fantastic mathematicians in our class.  We have been thinking about estimating and it has been wonderful to see how accurate the children are at estimating the number of bears in my secret sack!!

 

Here's what some of the children have enjoyed this week

 

Shaun said " I have enjoyed reading to my friend James."

Daniel said " I enjoyed colouring and cutting out my spiral snake."

Tyler  said " I have enjoyed drawing Jungle Animals on the computer in ICT."

Louis said " I have enjoyed playing in the sand with my friend Shaun."

 

Next week we're moving on from the jungle and travelling deep down under the sea!!  Have a lovely weekend and see you all safe and sound on Monday!

 

 1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Another short but busy week in class 1/2B.  The children have really enjoyed listening to The Gruffalo  by Julia Donaldson.  They created their own Gruffalo pictures and then wrote some very descriptive sentences.  The Gruffalo has sharp teeth.  By Max Macdonald year 1.  I have included the web site address which has lots of games and activities relating to the story.  www.thegruffalo.com   In numeracy the children have been learning place value, thousands, hundreds, tens and units.  Whilst this can be tricky the children worked hard making three digit numbers.  We are still finding out about The Great Fire of London and hope to visit a fire station in the near future. 

The children in class 1/2B would really like you to know that they are the best class in Darlinghurst!

 

 3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

We have had a short, but productive week. The children have been very positive and worked have very hard.We started our SATS writing this week and like with everything that we do they approached the activity with much enthusiasm.

I read the children a story during our Jeremy Strong author study week called "Giant Jim and the Hurricane. For their SATS short writing task they had to write a description of a character and I chose Giant Jim for them, which they were very happy about.

 

Charlotte said that she "enjoyed writing about Giant Jim and adding illustrations".

 

Next for our SATS long writing task next week the children have to write a fact file about night time. We chose some nocturnal animals to research and write notes on. The children have to study their notes and use the information to write their fact file.

 

"I liked finding out about nocturnal animals and learning something new"- Scarlett

 

"I liked finding out what different animals do"- Josh

 

"Learning about nocturnal animals was interesting because I learned that foxes are the cleverest animals"- Hannah

 

" I enjoyed the work about nocturnal animals because animals are my favourite thing"- Ella

 

"Finding out about nocturnal animals was really fun"- Ryan

 

We are also continuing to learn about The Vikings:

 

"I liked working in my Viking topic book because I enjoyed labelling the map"- Emma

 

"I found doing the map about where the Vikings came from fun"- Alfie

 

And Thomas enjoyed doing multiplication and division because "it was easy!"

 

Have really enjoyed our short week, looking forward to reading your fact files on nocturnal animals next week.

 

Enjoy your weekend - Miss Bernard

 

 3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have been doing about the Vikings and some of us got to pretend that we were a Viking while the others asked us questions. We have also been doing some more work on our Viking longboats. In Literacy we have carried on looking at one of the characters from one of the authors we were looking at last week.In numeracy we have been doing dividing as well as odds and evens. In French we are starting to look at families. In science we did an experiment with celery and food colouring and the test worked really quickly, even before we could write it down - By Niall

 

 4J - Mrs Johnston - This Blog was written by Sam 4J

 

It has been a great week learning about films.  We have learnt how silent film became talkies.  We have made our own silent movies and they were really funny.  Thank you to Mr Lloyd for helping us.  Now we are trying to put sound with them.

We tested out putting bones in vinegar and a few weeks later the one in white vinegar

went all bendy .Last week we wrote a biography about Charlie Chaplin now we are

learning about Laurel and Hardy.

 

 4B - Miss Bolton - This week 4B have been learning about sound effects and how they were used in film.We have been using the 'easy speaks' and we are going to record some sound effects to put into our silent movie.When we watched our silent movie we all thought it was very funny.We have also been learning about 'talkies' and about all of the machinery they used to make sound effects.We all thank Mr Lloyd for putting our film together and making it look really old fashioned!We can't wait to do some more filming! - By Elliott and Joshua 4B

 

 5D - Mr Duff - Only a short week but it was a very important one. With parent consultations on both Wednesday and Thursday, it was great to let all the parents that attended know how well their children had have been doing.

 

As a class you have really grown up and matured, I am very proud of you all. It was also very nice to hear the feedback from the parents as well, and I would to take this opportunity to thank you again for the collaborative learning you have been doing at home as well this year. Your support has been vital in your child's progress.

 

But Year 5 is far from over and there is a lot of learning and fun to be had yet, starting with swimming next Friday. A note be coming out on Monday but every child will need a swimming costume/trucks, towel and a swimming hat. A voluntary contribution of £2 per lesson will also asked for to cover the costs. The note will have all the details on there but if you have any questions, please let me know.

 

What else have we covered this week? Fractions and percentages, subordinate clauses, music workshops, Borough sports trials, football, French and lots more to besides! Not bad for a short week!!

 

Keep it going as the Summer term is going very quickly, two week left before half term. Frightening  

 

Have a good weekend and I will see you all on Monday.

 

 5B - Mr Bird - Unfortunately the gremlins have struck this week and the first class blog which had been written by one of the children has disappeared into the cyberspace!

 

I have produced a condensed version for you here, starting with a mention about all the hard work the children have done during the selection process for the Borough Sports. Every child participated and dealt with the results of the selection in a very mature way. The level of enthusiasm indicated just how important they see this event and the opportunity of representing the school.

 

Our second music session was eagerly recieved and there is no doubt that we have a few budding session musicians in the class.

 

5B demonstrated a dance to the rest of Key Stage 2 and following that invited everyone to join in. I must say the resulting performance was enjoyed by the children and it may just be repeated during our 40th. anniversary celebrations.

 

I would like to end by thanking everyone for their kind words after the unusual conclusion to the school day on Tuesday, I was just pleased to be able to make it back the next day.

 

 6H - Mr Hautler - Hello readers of the Darlinghurst Blog

6H have been revising for there sats for the entire term! And next week we will be sitting our sats.

Moving on,  Mr.H has been gathering up the children for Bourough sports training although the weather hasn't been great.

That's all for our blog this week, so we'll be going until next time.

Ben and Zara

This week saw Mark and Graham from Creative Partnerships come into our school and hold music workshops with our children. Mark worked with Year 5 and Graham worked with Year 3/2.

As they are here for the whole Summer term all of the children within our school will get a chance to work with them and experience the fantastic activities they have to offer.

I know for a fact that Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their time this week and having spoke to Miss Bernard I know that Year 3/2 did.

This leads me nicely into the new zone that is now on the school's the website - The Music Zone !!! Take a look, click on the links and let us know what you think. More will be added very soon.

Isle of Wight
I had a fantastic time at the Isle of Wight with Year 5.  The sun shone until the last day but the children were brilliantly behaved and smiled all week.  I would like to say some extra words of praise for the girls who were super at bedtime.  They may not have been the quietest group (as one child said, “Mrs Johnston, there are nine girls in one room, of course we’re going to talk!”) but they worked as a team all week, helping each other with showers, hair, duvets etc.

Everyone achieved things they had never managed before – abseiling for me, the zip wire for Mrs Day archery for Mr Bird and I suspect packing for some of the boys!

It was a real pleasure to be part of such a wonderful group.

 Parents consultations

Next week is parents consulations. They are on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th. It's not to late to book an appointment and it would be great to see as many parents as possible.

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

Nursery - We have been very busy in the Nursery this week making chocolate muffins, they are not as big as the ones in the shops because we are only little people (see gallery photos). We have played in the garden for the whole session nearly all week because the weather has been so nice.

RM - Mrs Collinson - Another fantastic week!! The children have been so responsive and are loving all the exciting experiences we have had this week learning about jungle habitats.  We  have been thinking about alliteration and making silly sentences that start with the same letter.  We have had some fantastic tongue twisters such as 'the moody monkey mashes mushy mushrooms' and  'the enormous elephant eats enormous eggs'!!

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have enjoyed a further range of Jungle related activities this week. Tia said 'I liked playing the Jungle pairs matching game with Mrs Hawkins' and John liked going to the ICT suite to print off jungle animal pictures from clip art. We also typed alliterative phrases to match our jungle animal pictures (e.g. terrible tiger), did jungle animal jigsaw puzzles, and made animals from plasticine. We have also shared a range of fiction and non-fiction books.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - We had a very enjoyable visit to a Christian church this week and we took our American Flat Stanley with us to meet the minister. We were able to look at the features of the church and ask lots of interesting questions. Thank you to the parents who came with us, we really appreciate it. We have enjoyed making our own Flat Stanleys to post to different places in this country or another country if we know someone who lives abroard. We are looking forward to finding out where they have all been posted to!

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Another busy week in class 1/2B.  Traditional stories have been our focus in literacy and the children have had the opportunity to listen to different traditional stories during their computer time.  We also started our Great Fire of London topic and this is really capturing the children's imagination.  We shall have lots of work relating to the fire on display in our class over the next few weeks and would welcome your visits after school.

On Wednesday we had a trip to Chalkwell Methodist church.  It is a deceptive building from the outside but once inside it is huge with beautiful windows and an amazing timber ceiling.  The children were well behaved and had an interesting time.

 

 

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

We have had a lovely week, the children have been taking part in some fun activities. They have been studying several children's author's in groups for a presentation, they worked hard and their presentations were brilliant. They researched Dick King-Smith, Julia Donaldson, John Burningham, Lauren Child, Jill Murphy and Nick Butterworth.They really enjoyed learning about the different authors, finding out about their lives and why they chose to became writers.

 

"I enjoyed finding out about Dick King-Smith"- Natasha

 

We also began Peer Massage last week which children are finding very calming and relaxing.

 

"Peer massage was relaxing"- Bethany

 

"Peer massage was relaxing and very nice"- Holly

 

We were also lucky enough to have an interesting Music lesson from Graham who works for Creative Partnerships.The children used circuit boards to create noises and they absolutely loved it. 

 

"I really enjoyed making funny noises with electricity"- Aaliyah

 

"I liked making the noises with Graham because it was funny"- Jack

 

"Making electronic noises with Graham was fun. We made noises using a human circuit"- Alfie

 

Here are some more things that children have enjoyed this week:

 

"I enjoyed playing outside with my friends"- Liam

 

"Making the Viking Longboats is fun"- Phoebe

 

I know that I have certainly enjoyed teaching the children this week.

 

Enjoy your weekend - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have been looking at different authors and learning about them in groups. My group looked at Roald Dahl and we were surprised to learn that he had written only 39  books. We looked at some web sites to check but they all said the same. In numeracy we have been adding 2 and 3 digit numbers. I found that adding 100s and 10s wasn't too difficult, adding 1000s was more difficult. In history we have been looking at Vikings. We have done the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and are following a time-line. In science we have been doing lots of experiments to do with plants - by Tom

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Just a short one this week to say thank you to all the parents/carers who have made appointments for next weeks consultations. There are still spaces free for those yet to make one. I'm also happy to see parents/carers at any other time after school. This is a valuable time to come in to review the whole of year 4 and look forward to year 5.

You should have also got a letter today about our planned trip to Kentwell Hall. As the letter says, we will do everything we can in terms of fundraising to get the cost down for you. It really is a worth while trip.

Have a good extra long weekend!

 

4J - Mrs Johnston - This blog was written by George,Cai and Lauren.

This we have been learning about Charlie Chaplin and how he became a famous silent movie star and we wrote a biography about him and his life.

 

I was very pleased to hear such good reports about 4J on my return from the Isle of Wight.  Mrs Chatterton and Miss Bolton thought you were all lovely and are still singing your praises.

 

5D - Mr Duff - This week you have really impressed me with your short and timed stories. We have spoken about story openings, the fortune line and also keeping an eye on the clock! Maths, I am happy we are all pretty confident on our four operations and our problem solving skills and really coming on, well done.

 

Borough sports year group trials were held this week. We have to finish them off on Tuesday and, as you know, Mr Bird was trialling the boys and I was trialling the girls. Good luck to you all.

 

Long weekend ahead now - enjoy yourselves and make sure your use lots of suncream !!!!

 

Mr Bird - 5B - Most of the blog this week has been written by Molly as she has been working on her journalism skills this year and this has given her the opportunity to put some of what she has learnt into practise.

 

Molly's report:

From the 20th. to the 24th. of April, Year 5 took part in going to the Isle of Wight for a week. The children and teachers enjoyed every second of being there. They also enjoyed the ferry ride, especially the people whose first time it was on a ship! The children also rejoiced at the fact of there being so many activities. There were a number of things to do including; Quad-biking, abseiling (30 feet high), archery, orienteering, caving, climbing, nightline and the zip line! The children who weren't able to come, also had a good time with Mr Duff.

Georgina's recount: Wee made a pizza on Tuesday, we also made clay models. We watched Space Buddies which I thought was very good and I would give it 9/10. We also watched Stardust and ate popcorn, sweets and chocolate the day after. For the whole day on Wednesday it was P.E. day. On Thursday we had an egg and spoon race and on Friday we had a mini BBQ and played on the adventure trail. I really enjoyed it!

Leon's recount: On Tuesday we made clay models, I liked that very much! On Wednesday we watched Stardust and I give it 10/10. On Thursday we had races against each other and made P.E games. On Friday we had a mini BBQ and ran on the racing track.  

 

Thank you Molly for your report.

 

On a personal note I wanted to take this opportunity to say a few things about our trip last week. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to have a brilliant time on the Isle of Wight and that the children who were staying at Darlinghurst would discover just how enjoyable their activity week would be also.

 

The weather was excellent throughout and the range of activities at Kingswood ensured that everyone was able to satisfy a personal challenge, or conquer a fear, at some stage. It is hard to explain just how rewarding it is to see the broad smiles when the children achieve their goals but it would be fair to say it makes organising it so worthwhile.

 

I was extremely proud of the way all the children behaved, both during the journey ( I did loose count of the times I heard -"Are we there yet ?") and for the entire time they were at the centre. On several occasions members of the public and the instructional staff commented on their good manners and cheerfulness.

 

I would like to thank all of you for the kind remarks we received from you on our return. Mrs Johnston, Mrs Day and I, thoroughly enjoyed being able to share in each and every success that your children experienced. Additionally, just in case they weren't doing this before, they are now all able to make their own beds. Please put this knowledge to good use.  

 

This week has provided the children with a chance to participate in a music activity which enthralled most of them and I know they are keen to take part in the next session. They also marked International Dance Day with an excellent interpretation of the Macarana. Some of the Year 6 children who were watching couldn't help but join in on the sidelines!

 

We have started our new topic which will give them all a terrific opportunity to explore numerous aspects of their local community. I am really looking forward to seeing the results of the children's projects.

 

I hope to see you next Wednesday or Thursday during parent consultations.