20th January 2017 News
At Downs View altogether we learn, love, respect and have fun!
| Key dates up until the end of March 2017 | |
| January | |
| Monday 23rd | Book Look – parents/carers invited in after school to see what your child has been learning (NOT Owl class, theirs is 24th) |
| Tuesday 24th | No Coffee Morning this week
Owl class only Book Look |
| Friday 27th | Birthday assembly – parents of children with birthdays in January invited to attend |
| Tuesday 31st | Writing workshop in class – parents invited (see below) |
| February | |
| Wednesday 1st | Writing workshop in class – parents invited (see below) |
| Thursday 2nd | Class photo to be taken by Stanley Baker Studios |
| Friday 3rd | Snow Leopards Assembly from 9.05am |
| Friday 10th | Seahorse Assembly from 9.05am
Non Uniform Day – donation to the Friends of Downs View Last day of term |
| Monday 20th | Children return to school |
| Friday 24th | Birthday assembly – parents of children with birthdays in February invited to attend |
| From Monday 27th | Book Week |
| Tuesday 28th | Parents Evening 3.15pm – 6pm |
| March | |
| Thursday 2nd | Parents Evening 5.30pm – 8pm
World Book Day – dress up day for children and staff |
| Friday 3rd | Starfish Assembly from 9.05am |
| Friday 10th | Turtle Assembly from 9.05am |
| Friday 17th | Penguin Assembly from 9.05am |
| Friday 24th | Polar Bear Assembly from 9.05am
Comic Relief Day |
| From Monday 27th | Parent writing workshops drop in this week |
| Friday 31st | Birthday assembly – parents of children with birthdays in March invited to attend
Last day of term |
| April | |
| Tuesday 18th | Children return to school |
| Weekly school attendance | Days missed across the school
this week |
Best class attendance for the week | Overall attendance for the year | |
|
95.43% |
50.5 days |
99.28%
Caterpillars
|
96.78% |
| Reading award | Active award | Sunshine award | Feet on Friday | Star table | |
| Penguin | Numa | Elicia & Daisy | Sophie | Jessica | |
| Polar Bear | Rebecca | Aarav & Scarlett | Noah & Ede | Alfie | Katy Mae |
| Snow Leopard | Emma | Isaac & Mia K | Jacob | Cara | |
| Sea Horse | Faith | May & Tegen | James | Henry | |
| Star Fish | Lily | Sienna & Rayna | James W | Calesha | |
| Turtle | Sarah | Poppy & Alfie | Maryssa | Sarah | |
| Fox | Laceigh | Noah & Theo | Leo | Chanise | |
| Caterpillar | Cleo | Benjamin & Sophia G | Charlie O | Benjamin | |
| Owl | Charlie F | Anna & Amelia | Scarlett E | Daisy | |
| Bonus card winners this week – Starfish | |||||
Writing workshop
Following the success of our Phonics and Maths workshops and your requests, we would like to invite you in to learn alongside your child in class within a writing session. Unfortunately there will not be a crèche facility and we cannot accommodate younger siblings within the classroom setting. The sessions are on Tuesday 31st Jan and Wednesday 1st Feb between 9am and 9.30am. We hope you will be able to join us!
Our underwater cabin
The School Council are busy asking their classes to vote on a suitable name for our new room/cabin on the playground. The room is beginning to be used for play therapy on Thursdays and Fridays but will be officially opened with the children when the name has been chosen and the access completely finished. The last soft furnishings have been ordered and should be with us this week. The room will be used for a range of quiet activities for small groups or individuals. It is split with a meeting room facility too so we are delighted to have extra space which will be used regularly. It will also be used as an extra room for after school club. The railings will be removed soon. Watch this space…..
Downs View’s Got Talent
Does your child have a special talent they would like to share with their class? This could be playing an instrument, singing, dancing, performing magic or reading poetry . This celebration of talent will take place on Monday 30th January so make sure they bring everything they need on the day. Once child from each class will be chosen to perform again in a final to the whole school on Monday 6th February.
Sainsbury’s Active Kids
Sainsbury will soon start giving out their Active Kids vouchers again. Please can you collect as many of these as possible and bring them in to school. Last year we were able to get lots of great free sports equipment for the school.
What we’ve been up to……..
Wow what an exciting week in EYFS this week! We have been learning about Police Officers and how they help us within our community. We were even lucky enough to have some wonderful Police Officer Dads who gave up their time to come and share what they do. Thank you so so much. The children asked amazing questions and learnt so much they were buzzing! They even helped transmit a message to officers around Ashford to help us find our lost class mascot and Floppy the dog! We have also been learning to recognise numbers and learnt the importance of the number 999 and when we should use it. P.S. If there are any other parents who have any skills that they could share please come and chat to us as the children are all so keen to have real hands on experience.
A little plea…. Do you have any spare paving slabs lying around that you do not want? We are in desperate need for some to make our mud kitchen area less slippery! If you are able to help supply these please speak to your child’s class teacher.
If you have any of the following items they would also come in very handy for school:
Chinese rice bowls/spoons
Padlocks/Keys
Stainless steel toaster (doesn’t have work)
Garden sieve
Nurse/Doctor/Paramedic dress up
Cork bottle tops
Super hero capes, masks and costume
Shells
Out of date rice
Chinese celebration decorations
Wood pallets x 3 (good quality)
Metal bathroom stand/shelf
Wooden kitchen utensils
If you have any of these items please bring them to the school office. Thank you.
In Year 1 this week we have been learning about animals which can be found in our local area. The children learnt the skills of making a list and writing notes from information given. They then learnt about the different types of habitats that the animals live in. In Maths the children have been learning about time. This has included learning how to tell the time using o’clock and half past. The children even learnt how to order events using what time of day the events took place.
Year 2 We have had another exciting week with letters from the Secret Author Agency again. This week they wanted us to write our own version of the Gingerbread Man story. We wrote some amazing stories and even included speech! In Maths we have moved on to learning about shape, naming them and describing their properties. In History we thought about how houses were built before the Great Fire and how they were built after to ensure a fire wouldn’t spread so quickly. In Music we have created our own composition linked to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk thinking about pitch.
Snow Leopards class
Unfortunately Miss Stanley is still unwell. The class will be covered next week (23rd onwardds) by Mrs Collins and Mrs Kennedy until Miss Stanley is well enough to return to work.
NSPCC – Speak out, stay safe programme
At the beginning of February the NSPCC Schools Service will be coming into school to lead an assembly for year 1 and 2 children. This will cover children’s rights, their right to be safe, dealing with when their feelings being hurt, the underwear rule, being looked after properly and dealing with situations when others are mean to them. The adults leading this assembly are very skilled in delivering assemblies around some sensitive issues in a child-friendly and engaging style with a softness that enables children to feel safe and empowered. Staff will be in the hall with the children. The full details of this can be found on our website as a link to this newsletter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to Mrs Kent.
Half Term Activities
Ashford School Swim Team – Learn to Swim
Ashford School are offering a number of crash courses and technique courses in the half term. The courses run for 5 mornings from Monday 13th – Friday 17th at 9am, 9.30am, 10am and 10.30am. The 30 minute sessions are progressive through the week and all swimmers would be expected to attend every day. If you are not sure which stage your child is swimming at the Ashford School will advise you. The course cost £27.50 and payment will be required in advance at time of booking.
For further information contact Lorraine Mullaly, mullalyl@ashfordschool.co.uk or phone 01233 739039. Courses cater for Ducklings 1 & 2 and 3 & 4, stages 1,2 and 3 aquatic skills and stages 4,5 & 6 – Butterfly and Diving.
Elite Community Coaching
Elite are holding Multi Sports sessions at Lympne Primary School from Monday 13th Feb until Wednesday 15th February.
There are also dance sessions, gymnastics and an inflatables day at Saltwood Primary School
Football sessions are being held all week at Three Hills Sports Park.
If you are interested in any of these you can contact Elite on email elite_office@aol.co.uk or phone them on 07885 982598
Flyers with more information has gone out in book bags.
Happy New Year To You All
We, the Friends of Downs view School, would like to say a huge thank you for all help that we received to make the Christmas fete a success.
We raised £125.00 for Halloween
Christmas Cards £90.00
Christmas Fayre £1,513 profit & takings £1,979
Christmas Donations £332
We have many people to thank for their support through giving items for the Raffle’ like local companies Kennington fish bar, Cinnamon Spice, Essentials Faversham Road, Sainsbury’s & Premier Foods. This is just a few off the top of my head.
Oops, nearly forgot that our team in the kitchen made all our Christmas cookies for us to decorate & taste test afterwards, seriously the list goes on .
We had a lovely lady who was the School’ Bursar for many years who comes to our Christmas fete with her Mum who both knit away throughout the year making items to sell, they then donate money back to our school so a huge thank you to Mrs Joan Reynolds & her daughter Ruby Hamilton.
We would love to meet more parents with the view to helping with future events even if you can only help out for 20 minutes or half an hour it all helps.
I can hear some people say well why is the school doing all this Fund Raising & I can answer that easily because of the continuous cuts from government happening year on year.
We want to ensure that our school can provide each child with extra opportunities to learn through school trips, extra i-pads, book & theatre visits from Authors, workshops, leavers medals, Downs View bears for all new children starting school & oh so many more things!
We have set dates for the coming year which we will keep you posted about. The first event will be non-school uniform on Friday 10th February, the theme will be set by the school council which gives them the opportunity to make decisions, think about money & think of ideas as a group. We will let you know what they have decided next week!
We will be holding a spring event/ Easter where the children can make some buns to decorate which will be entered into a competition & then sold at the event.
We have a GREEN suggestion box in the shelter should you wish to contact us.
Looking forward to more fun in the coming year!
Maureen Francesca Mandy