The weather has been ever changing this week but Mrs Bartlett managed to capture the moment an amazing rainbow surrounded our beautiful school!
As ever the school has been a hive of activity both in school and on trips.
Mrs Johnstone took her Form 3 children to Marwell Zoo this week and she tells me that they had the most fantastic time last Thursday. They took part in two expert workshops, one in the Tropical Plant and Animal House and the other at the Evolution Centre. The children were amazed that Marwell creates its own power using the animal poo through anaerobic digesters! The firm favourite animals visited were rhino, zebra and giraffes.
On Friday it was also Form 3’s turn to host Assembly. They had us all in the Christmas spirit as they reflected on the many traditions we have within our own families and across different cultures around the world.
Also in Assembly, we celebrated our first Academic Excellence winners. Each Friday we will be presenting children with a certificate and a cup to award children for their outstanding pieces of work during the week. This is followed up by hot chocolate for the lucky winners who will be bringing their work home to share. Well done to all of today’s winners. There were a lot of winners from the maths department this week which is, no doubt, a reflection of all the exciting things that have been going on for Maths Week.
We had lots of activities for Maths Week organised by Mrs Salisbury, including F7 helping F3 & F4 with maths quizzes, Mrs Wilson and Mr Willemse had the children orienteering in their PE lessons with timed maths problems to solve, in teams, before they could move onto the next control and Kerry laid on a great maths themed lunch menu including pie!
Mrs Evans took the F7’s (& Alex, Science Prefect) to the Winchester Science Centre on Tuesday. They had a brilliant time exploring everything including their trip around the solar system in the planetarium followed by a workshop on Matter. They recapped and shared their learning on the 3 States of Matter and then went on to look at ‘Slime’ a Non-Newtonian fluid which does not fit into one category. After a quick lunch and trip to the shop, they got to explore the wonderful hands-on exhibits on the two floors of the museum. Mrs Evans said it was hard to tear them away!
Monday lunchtime football – Kerry provided takeaway lunches and the children took them into the languages and sports classrooms to enjoy England play in the World Cup. The cheers could be heard all around the school each time there was a goal! They were sad to leave the game at half time and miss all the second half goals but they were all pleased with the result in the end.
Our Poppy Appeal donations in church and our collection box raised an impressive £479.83, thank you.
The Junior Informal Music Concert took place yesterday evening in the Community Hall. It was a lovely opportunity to show the children’s musical talent. They enjoyed an encore from Tabitha B playing Jingle Bells on the piano, which resulted in everyone getting out of their seats and into the festive spirit! Congratulations to all those who took part.
Form 2’s trip to Shire Hall – the children learnt all about the Great Fire of Dorchester in 1613. We looked at artefacts from the time including a map of Dorchester, candles and a drinking bottle. The children went on a walk to see where the fire started and then did some role play, pretending to be the prisoners who took the barrels of gunpowder out of the Guildhall to make sure it didn’t catch fire. The children went down to the cells and had a tour of the courtroom. This was a great trip as we have been learning about the Great Fire of London and they used their knowledge to help them understand how The Great Fire of Dorchester started and spread through the town.
The final two weeks of term are going to be very busy with lots of exciting things going on, including the Christmas Fayre next Thursday 1st December. If you or anyone you know would be able to donate the main raffle prize for this please let either myself or a member of the PTFA know. Lydia has sent a reminder of all these events out on a Ping, so please do check that for timings and details.
I do hope to see many of you at a festive event or two over the coming weeks.
It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…
David Newberry
