Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News - 21st April 2017
Apr 21, 2017
21 April 2017
Dear Parents
Welcome back! What a beautiful morning on Tuesday to start the first day of the Summer term. The school looked fantastic bathed in sunshine with a wonderful array of flowers in front of the school. The children were refreshed from their break and raring to go, full of stories of what they had been doing in the holidays and excited about the term ahead.
Preston Schools’ Cross-Country
Congratulations to all our runners who competed in the Year Six Preston Schools’ Cross-Country on the last Thursday of the spring term in very wet and muddy conditions! All our runners performed very well with our girls’ team taking second place out of twenty schools.
The individual results were:
Girls: Olivia D - 2nd Isabelle - 9th Katie - 14th
Boys: Alexander - 5th Oliver - 10th Alfie (Year 5) - 42nd
Outdoor Cricket Nets –Thank You PTA!
We would like to thank our hard-working PTA and everyone who has supported them in raising funds for this term’s new arrival: outdoor cricket nets!
The children are looking forward to trying them out in cricket and rounders practice this term.
Reception Trip to Windmill Farm
On Wednesday, Reception went to Windmill Farm as part of their spring topic on Growth and New Life. Lyla thought “It was an amazing place!” and Georgia said “There were lots of farm animals too!”
We started the day by meeting farmer Britt. She showed us around the farmyard and sheds. We first went into the lambing pen and fed the baby lambs. Eloise said, “I liked playing with the lambs and feeding the lambs too.” We met Daisy the cow; Lola liked Daisy, “Daisy was really nice, she was 30 years old.” Naina liked Daisy the cow as well, “She wrapped her tongue around my arm!”
We were lucky as the Critters2You man was there with his great selection of critters! Hanna was very brave and held a tarantula: “I liked the spider, I held it on my hand.” Aibhlin went home and told her daddy, “There was a big snake called Custard and I held him.” She said, “He didn’t believe me!”
After lunch we nearly missed our train trip around the farm. Ayesha said “We were told by the man to look out for a camel, but he was kidding us! I saw white reindeer and a brown deer. It was a nice train ride.”
Once we got off the train, we walked around the farm playing ‘Eye Spy’; we had good fun spotting the shed, sheep and listening to the quietness of the beautiful countryside. Far too soon it was time to go home where Aarnav thought, “Our coach driver was really nice!” and he gave him a big hug as we arrived back at school. We thoroughly enjoyed our educational trip! Mrs Diston
Summer Uniform, Jewellery and Smart Watches
A reminder to parents that all children should now be wearing summer uniform.
Girls: blue and white striped dress, white ankle socks or white tights.
Boys: grey shorts (not cargo shorts), grey ankle socks.
No jewellery should be worn in school, including earrings. Smart watches or watches with big faces should not be used in school. They are a distraction in class and can be dangerous in the playground.
Out and About with PSHEE in 1D
I was back in 1D yesterday watching a PSHEE lesson which focused on feelings. Mrs Davidson had a bag which contained lots of faces. She pulled out one at a time for the children to guess what the expression was on the face. Joseph said the first face was a very sad face. Moin said the face was bending down showing that he was sad. All the children then demonstrated a sad face. Mrs Davidson asked the class when they felt sad. Diya said that she feels said when she is alone. The other children agreed that they feel sad when they are alone. Hugo said the next face was someone who was bored. Manavi said she was bored when she had no games to play. Anoush said the last face was an angry one. The children loved standing up and doing an angry expression, stamping their feet and making an angry noise! Hiba particularly caught my attention, with super facial expressions. Luca said he feels angry when people are mean. Leo said he feels angry when people don’t want to play. Mrs Davidson said she doesn’t like litter bugs and they make her really angry. The children then looked at examples on the whiteboards. The first picture was a girl’s happy face and Yusuf said she might be happy because a new baby may have been born in her family. Evie said the next picture was of someone who is sad and Frank said they could be upset. Haya said the next picture was someone who is smiling and very happy. Lily said that another word you can use is overjoyed. Joseph thought they were happy because they had just had an ice cream! The final picture was someone who looked very sad. Mrs Davidson asked how we could cheer them up. Diya said we could find their mum, Evie said we could give them a cuddle and Haya said their friends could cheer them up. The children had a really good understanding about feelings and could determine the feeling from the expression on a person’s face. I left the class as they were just starting to work on a group play in which they had to act out a situation which would make them happy. I am sure that with the excellent answers she received during the class discussion, Mrs Davidson was going to be watching some very interesting and well thought-out plays. Well done, 1D!
Merit Awards
RD: Heba-Noor 1D: Hiba 1W: Thomas P
2F: Ibraheem 2M: Ahmad
3M: Brooke 4H: Aditi 4S: Joshua D 5D: James 5M: Ivan 6H: Aditya 6J: Amelia
Thought for the Week
I’ve always been very hopeful but I also know that as long as you’ve got a good work ethic, almost anything is achievable. Simon Weston
Yours sincerely
J M Duke
Headmaster
