Autumn term 2019
Dear Parents/teachers,
The government is currently running a consultation on the future of music education and is asking for responses from teachers, parents and students about current provision and possible future provision.
I’m sure that it would be very beneficial for them if as many people as possible completed the questionnaire.
If you are able to complete it, please be aware that any musical opportunities that are on offer to children in this area via DASP Music (instrumental lessons in schools, ensembles, workshops, performances etc), are not funded by the government (DASP Music is not a Music Hub), but are a result of the local schools forming a partnership which supports music education in this way.
The questionnaire can be found here. It will take about 15 mins to complete and needs to be completed by 13th March:
https://consult.education.gov.uk/curriculum-implementation-unit/music-education-call-for-evidence/
Kind regards,
Hanna Trevorrow
Head of DASP Music
Tuesday 11th February 2020
Internet Safety Day 2020
The children have been sharing their thoughts on safe internet use today in school.
Following an assembly led by Mr Young, all the children have had the opportunity to learn about how the internet and technology can be a great resource helping us find out about the world around us providing use it in a safe way and know how to look after ourselves.
CONGRATULATIONS PV SCHOOL COUNCIL
Following the New to You and Cake Sale held on Thursday 6th February 2020, I can proudly announce the team collected a total of £150. This is fantastic news!
A great effort by all the School Council as well as Emily, Amelia and Millie.
Thank you everyone for supporting the event...all the children had agreat afternoon selling and buying!
New to You and Cake Sale
The PV School Council have decided they would like to host a 'New to You' sale and invite pupils and parents to donate good quality toys and books which are no longer wanted at home.
The New to You sale will take place on Thursday 6th February 2020 from 2:00pm until 4:00pm. Any donations for the sale are being collected in the school hall from Monday 3rd February 2020.
Emily and Amelia have offered to set up a cake stall and sell cakes and biscuits during the afternoon and Millie has offered to paint pebbles to sell.
All profits will go towards developing resources for the school and for setting up a recycling station.
We are all really proud of the PV School Council...keep up the great work!
Many thanks to everyone for supporting this project.
Tuesday 21st January 2020
Our GTAT Pupil Voice members; Arthur and Rebecca (in Lily's absence) joined Mr. Chadwick and the other members of the GTAT Council at St Mary's Middle school today for their first meeting of the year. The main item on the agenda is to look at how as a group of schools we can reduce the amount of plastic we use. The children shared lots of great ideas about how they already 'Reuse, Reduce, Recycle' in their own schools. These included; recycling stations, holding assemblies to inform their peers, collecting and recycling crisp packets.
Arthur and Rebecca will now feedback to the PV School Council and I am sure they will have lots of ideas on how we can support this GTAT project!
Our football and gymnastic clubs start this week.
Football will take place on a Monday and gymnastics after school on a Tuesday.
Please see a copy of the letters below for further details.
Thursday 9th January 2020
Today Mr Young's class were joined by Sarah, a teacher from 'One World Education'.
One World Education is an educational programme for pupils that teaches them about being a Global Citizen. We are hoping the children will enjoy this opportunity over the next few weeks to learn about their own local community but how that fits into the wider world.
A really great start from the children today - lots of sharing about their own experiences and knowledge about, what it means to be globally aware.
Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2020...
It is with great sadness that we need to inform parents that Amy Quin (Hector’s mother) passed away at the weekend after a long, hard fought battle with a terminal illness. Our condolences and thoughts are with Lewis, Hector and all the family. Amy was a much loved member of our school family.
December 2019
We have had a great start to our Advent and festive time of year.
Many thanks to Father Roger for leading our first Advent celebration and for lighting the first candle of our advent wreath.
On Friday 6th December our Ocean class visited the United Church in Dorchester and took part in their 'Journey to the Stable' activities. All the children appeared to have had a great time.
On the same day the Amazon class were joined by Mr. Lindsay Wilson a former member of the military. He has recently been involved in the coordinating of the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. The children were very fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with him and ask him questions about the importance of D-Day.
Many thanks to the parents who supported the Early Years Phonic sessions for Year R and Year 1 on Monday 9th December 2019. Mrs. V gave a great presentation on how the children are taught 'Letters and Sounds' and the different strategies and stages the children experience. It was lovely to see actual footage of the children learning in class.
Today (Thursday 12th December 2019) the whole school has been exploring 'Incarnation' through our Understanding Christianity focus day. It has been exciting to see the different activities the children have taken part in and hear their discussions about 'What Christmas means to them'.
Week ending Friday 29th November 2019
Congratulations to Mr. Dailey and his wife on the safe arrival of their baby daughter this week. Mr. Dailey sent the children a message and a photograph to share, we are all very excited.
It was great having Ms. Paula Stanley back in school. Welcome back from everyone!
Mr. Chadwick our Exec. Head from the Greenwood Tree Academy trust (GTAT) joined us on Tuesday morning for an assembly. He showed the children a very special 'short film' that has been created by the pupils at St. Mary's Middle School about having a 'green' Christmas and reducing the amount of plastic we have. If you are interested in watching the film please go to the St. Mary's website.
The GTAT pupil voice are now going to lead a project about how we might use recycling to create new Christmas decorations - if you have any great ideas we would love to hear about them.
On the evening of Friday 13th December from 3:15 to 5:30pm the school and 'Friends of PV' would like to invite you to a Christmas craft evening. The children will have an opportunity to have a go at making a number of different decorations or crafts. Parents will be pleased to know that the 'Friends of PV' will be serving hot drinks and perhaps even a mince pie during the event. We do hope you will join us.
It was great to see the creativity of five of our Year 3/4 pupils this week - using the Knex construction to work collaboratively to build a fantastic car/buggy and then went on to make it move using a motor. They were all keen to use their knowledge of circuits to make the car/buggy work. Great team work...I think they have just created the Piddle Valley Robot games! Well done.
Can I just say a big thank you to the Year R and 1 class for the delicious fruit and marshmallow rocket I was given to eat...delicious! I do enjoy our Friday afternoons when our young chefs are being creative in the kitchen!
Christmas is coming...
Our Christmas tree will be arriving on Tuesday 26th November 2019 - many thanks to Mr Gould for the generous donation. We look forward to decorating it with the children.
Week Ending Friday 22nd November 2019
Congratulations to our Year 4 netball team.
On Thursday afternoon 8 of our pupils attended the DASP netball festival at St. Mary's Middle School led by Mr. Dailey and the Year 8 sport leaders.
Our pupils had the opportunity to learn some of the skills in netball as well as take part in a couple short games. All the children showed skill and enthusiasm - a great team!
Mrs Miles the Chair of the GTAT Board and our current Chair for the local Governing Committee visited the early years on Tuesday to see all the great work the staff and children are doing. She was very impressed with the learning environment, especially the Piddle Space station - a firm favourite with all the children. The children enjoyed sharing their learning including their writing and space stories.
Staff attended the second twilight session at St. Mary's Middle School with Gary Wilson. Once again the focus was on engaging boys with their writing but the session offered lots of top tips that can be used to inspire all our pupils.
Congratulations to Ms. Briony Simpson and Mr Bevis on the great news that they are expecting their first baby in May 2020...such wonderful news for our Piddle Community.
Friday 15th November, 2019
A fun day in school today with both staff and children dressed in their pyjamas for Children In Need.
Thank you to everyone who contributed towards this great charity.
We were also joined by Mr Dailey in school today with Inky his dog.
Some of the children got to take Inky for a walk and focus on mindfulness and wellbeing.
A really great day!
11th November 2019
The children all celebrated Remembrance Day in school today with an assembly. The Preschool children each hung a poppy they'd made on the memory tree.
Welcome back to the autumn term - I hope you all had a great half term break!
Many thanks to the Friends of PV for their amazing efforts with the organisation and running of the Firework & Bonfire night. Despite the weather, a brave decision was made to go ahead and well done … a great decision...the rain and wind held off and the bonfire was lit followed by a fantastic firework display.
Thank you to everyone who braved the evening but especially to all the helpers who came and helped to set up and be there during the event.
Week Ending Friday 4th October 2019
The week started with much excitement as the school was keen to find out who had been elected for the School Council 2019/2020. Following our day of voting I am pleased to announce that the following children were voted in as our new council;
Year 1 - Georgie and Mollie
Year 2 - Gregor and Millie
Year 3 - Elodie and Rebecca
Year 4 - Sophie and Dom
The Greenwood Tree Academy Pupil Voice will be represented by Arthur and Lily.
Congratulations everyone!
It was lovely to see so many parents/families in the hall on Friday during the Harvest Celebration. I would like to thank everyone for their generous contributions of tinned food. We had a great display of tins and fresh fruit and vegetables. The tins have now been delivered to the foodbank based at the Dorford Church in Dorchester.
Looking ahead...we have been invited to take part in a Year 2 Tag Rugby festival next week with Mr. Dailey so anyone interested in taking part 'look out for your letter'.