Newsletter

14^th October 2016

Karate club money £22 & Multi skills Club money £20 to be paid 8.30 Club money £10 due for Term 1 Please can all children now bring a coat to school everyday Year R children – Welly boots and P.E. Kit in school after half term please School photo proofs – complete online or return to school by Thursday 20th Oct
Monday 17th	International Day Fair 3pm – 4.30pm in hall – all parents/carers welcome
Thursday 20th	Birthday assembly – parent/carers of children with Birthdays in October are invited Parents evening 3.20pm – 8.30pm- you should have received your appointment time. A crèche is available in Puppies all evening Flu nasal immunisations – Years 1 & 2 Harvest dinner menu School photograph proofs to be returned to school if not completed online Last day for cake competition entries
Friday 21st	Inset Day – no children in school
Week 24th – 28th	Half Term
Week beginning 31st October	Children return to school Downs View is 40 years old! –This week will involve many exciting activities. A competition is being held – see below:
31st October	3pm- 3.45pm Biscuit Sale on playground- Mandy the Chair of the Friends with some volunteers will be selling Halloween biscuits for a coin donation.
Friday 4th Nov	Turtle assembly
From 7th	Maths workshops – more information will follow
Friday 11th	Seahorse assembly
Friday 18th	Polar Bear assembly Children in Need day Year 2 Indian Exhibition
Thursday 24th	Book Look – come in after school to see what we’ve been up to
Friday 25th	Birthday assembly – parent/carers of children with Birthdays in November are invited

 

 

 

	Reading award	Active award	Sunshine award	Feet on Friday	Star table
Penguin	Amber	Tia & Thomas L		Alex L-B	Elicia W
Polar Bear	Ellie	Lauren & William		Scarlett L	Ellie-Mae W
Snow Leopard	Frank	Lily & Andreus		Emma W	Frank W
Sea Horse	Joshua	James & Samuel		Lydia G	Sienna B-B
Star Fish	Scarlett	Skye & Jack F		J.J. E-L	James T
Turtle	Evie P	Harry P & Skye		Poppy M	Catalina K
Fox	–			Jimmy	–
Caterpillar	–			Harry	–
Owl	–			Frankie	–

 

 

	Weekly school attendance	Days missed across the school	Best class attendance for the week	Overall attendance for the year
	96.79%	39	Penguins 98.52%	98.16%

 

What we’ve been up to…..

This week in EYFS we have been fully engaged in our learning about America to fit in with International Day. We have explored in Literacy some of the landmarks and important places. One of our favourites was the Statue of Liberty which led us to make our own crowns like the one she is wearing. It was a bit tricky to cut the points with scissors so please help me with this at home! In Maths we began thinking about more and less. We found the best way to do this was to get involved in making the favourite food of American chips! We cut from our potato chip shapes and compared the number we had cut to our friends to see who had more and who had less! Please come and look at some of the photos and other things we have been up to on Monday during the International Exhibition!

Please, please, please send your child in with a coat every day! I know the sun has been shining but it can get bitterly cold in the outdoor area. Also if you have not sent in welly boots or a PE kit we would be grateful of these in school after half term or before if you have them! Thank you so much.

 

Year 1 have continued to look at the story of ‘Finding Nemo’. They have written sentences about key events in the story. The children have been focussing on looking closely at their sentences to make sure they have included capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. They have also corrected their sentences to include an adjective. In Maths they have been learning to subtract and use the part, part, whole model to represent this. Today during our International day, the children have been looking at the different countries that make up the United Kingdom. For Scotland they have been making shortbread and Miss Allen has taught the children to play a tune on the tin whistle as part of their learning about Ireland.

 

Year 2 were really excited to receive a letter from the author Roderick Hunt this week. He set us the challenge of creating our own imaginative Magic Key story adventure! In History we have collated our learning about Florence Nightingale by completing an informative fact file all about her life and influence on nursing. In Computing we have been practising our programming skills by exploring the Scratch programme and inputting our own algorithms and instructions for the characters to follow. During our International day today Year 2 enjoyed learning about China, Australia and Africa. We created our own boomerangs, painted silhouettes and Chinese kites with Chinese writing, please remember to come and see our work at the Exhibition on Monday!

 

Turtle class

We are very lucky that Mr Horne is a Maths Mastery Specialist for Kent. This means that he can support and facilitate outreach sessions in other schools. To be able to undertake this Mr Horne will be out of class on a number of occasions over the next few months. The majority of these days will be covered by very experienced teacher, Deputy Head Mrs Collins or Mrs Norman, an experienced teacher and Year 2 Leader. He has also been given the exciting opportunity to go to Shanghai for 2 weeks from 7^th November. During this time the class will be covered by Mrs Collins, Deputy Head and Mrs Norman, Year 2 team leader. These opportunities are going to expand Mr Horne’s expertise which will enable him to lead training for staff to improve teaching and learning in Maths mastery across the school. This training opportunity will benefit all children in Turtles Class and across the school. He introduced Maths Mastery to Reception and Year 1 last year and we have observed a significant difference in children’s knowledge of mathematical concepts and application of these skills to real-life situations and problem solving already.

 

Catching up with teachers

Please can we ask that parents do not come into school in the morning to speak with class teachers unless an appointment has been made. First thing in the morning is an extra busy time for teachers as they are preparing for the day ahead. Of course teachers are always happy to discuss any issues you have so please make an appointment with the teacher or speak to them after the school day has finished. If you wish to speak to the teacher as a matter of urgency then please come via the school office.

 

EYFS outside area

If you are waiting in the EYFS outside area to collect your child after school can you please supervise any other children with you. Staff will have tidied this area away for the day and we would therefore be grateful if you can tidy back away any toys which your younger children play with whist waiting. Thank you.

 

Competition to celebrate Downs View’s 40^th Birthday

No birthday celebration would be complete without a cake. Therefore we are holding a competition to design a cake. The winning design will be made into a cake for us to celebrate with. All entries need to be in school by Thursday 20^th October. Please remember to put on your child’s name and class.

Thank you to parents contributions of photographs for our exhibition this week. We have ex pupils some in their 80’s who are keen to come in and talk to the children. We will give more details about events throughout the week in next week’s newsletter.

 

Clowns in the news

I am aware that there is a nasty craze of people dressed up as clowns scaring people in the community.  Some parents have raised concern about this. Our advice would be to only talk it through with your child if they talk to you about it and reassure them that:

1. A) It’s a person dressed up and not real
2. B)  There isn’t one in the house /garden
3. C) They will always be with an adult when outside so will be kept safe.

 

First Class photos – Reception children

Don’t forget your children’s photo of their class is in this week’s Kentish Express.

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