It has been lovely to welcome all the children back after the 2 week half term holiday. This week we celebrated Halloween, with pumpkin carving in Reception and Form 1 and enjoyed spooky biscuits at lunch! Storm Ciaran was a most unwelcome guest at Sunninghill this week – but thankfully left our grounds clear of flooding, and our trees in tact, albeit a little barer! Thank you to the grounds staff who have been clearing up after the storm today – there are a lot of fallen leaves!
This morning we were treated to a wonderful assembly from Form 4 who gave us all a presentation about their residential to Brenscombe. It was fabulous to see all their photos, hear about what they learnt on the trip and hear them describe their favourite parts of it. I was really pleased to see how they applied the schools 4 C’s to their trip – showing us how the trip helped them develop their creativity, commitment, courage and compassion. It was a super presentation, and the children all spoke with tremendous confidence. Thank you too to Heidi who started the assembly with a beautiful piece on the piano.
Congratulations to all our ‘Well Done’ winners this week – Orlando, Remi, Tabitha and all of Form 4. Our Academic Excellence winners today were Grace, Frank, Martha, Lilia, Harry and Albi. Mr Rich presented the winners of the TT Rockstars who were Daisy, Ellis and Heidi. We also congratulated Rosie for her dance success and Matilda for her gymnastics success.
Over the holidays we had a our fabulous, spooktactular, October Holiday Club, organised by Mr Holland:
‘On the first day, Mr Moss delivered a variety of arts and craft sessions creating ghost plates, skeleton pictures and spider drawings. On Thursday the children arrived to a pleasant surprise, as the low ropes had temporarily changed into a pumpkin farm. Individually they had to pick their own pumpkin, scoop them out and carve their own designs. The last day of the holiday club ended with a Halloween party, where the children appeared in their own fancy dress costumes.
Other activities included baking scrumptious gingerbread mummies, conjuring up witch potions and knitting pumpkins.
There were plenty of sporting opportunities during the week, which included football, multi-skills and crazy golf. The groups returned to Seal’s Cove and they had a super time.’
Thank you to Mr Holland and all the staff who worked extremely hard over the week, ensuring the children had a wonderful time. Our Christmas Holiday Club will run from Monday 18th December – Friday 22nd December. More details will be on our website next week.
There was much excitement in school on Monday when the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service came to visit Nursery, Reception, Form 1, Form 2 and Form 5 to give them a talk on fire safety.
The children were shown around the fire engine and looked at all the equipment needed to put out fires, rescue people and keep the fire service safe. The children each had a go with the fire hose which they absolutely loved!
In class the children tried on some firefighter uniform to understand how it protects and learnt about how a fire can start around the home and how to prevent this. They were also taught about what to do if there is a fire in their home or in school.
A brilliantly informative morning, and we are so grateful to the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service who gave up their time for us.
Form 5 visited The Shire Hall Museum learning about two children who were tried in the courts there.
I am told the activities were great fun and very informative. Mrs Thomasson says; ‘The staff at the museum were very impressed with the children’s breadth of knowledge and understanding of vocabulary and it was a real pleasure for me to see their enthusiasm for history. We certainly have some inquisitive minds in Form 5!’
On Tuesday we were delighted to run our first sports festival for the Dorchester First schools. Pupils attended from Frome Valley, Damers, St Mary’s Catholic, Manor Park and Cheselbourne and I must congratulate them all on their fine performances. There was a real buzz around the place and it was great to see almost 60 pupils develop their skills in Rugby, Football, Hockey and Netball. Each Sunninghill team joined with other schools, completing drills and challenges in a fun manner. We managed to conquer the adverse weather conditions and finished with a scrumptious match tea! Huge thank you to Mr Willemse for organising the event and to everyone involved!
On Wednesday the Form 5-8 boys played some friendly Inter-house matches. Houses paired up so that we could have contact games in Forms 5-6 and Forms 7-8.
The Forms 5-6 girls played hockey on the astro, working hard to prepare for next weeks game against Bryanston Prep. The Forms 7-8 girls played hockey v Colfox. They enjoyed a very close and hard fought game, edging them 4-3 in the end! A fantastic afternoon in tricky weather conditions. Great character displayed by all.
This week we were delighted to welcome visitors back to our Parent and Toddler group. My thanks to Karen, the Nursery Team and the Maintenance Team for getting the new room ready over the October break. It was very warm and welcoming and a lovely morning was had by all.
As many of you know, I have challenged myself to do 100 press ups a day for the whole of November to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support – a wonderful charity very close to my heart. The children have permission to tell me to ‘Drop and give me 20!’ – provided they join me in doing the press ups! If anyone would like to sponsor, or laugh at me, as I attempt this challenge you are most welcome! 3 days in and my arms are already very sore…
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
David
