Headteacher's Blog

27th September 2019
Welcome to Mrs Browne's Blog
 
Thank you for joining me. I hope you will enjoy reading about Piddle Valley CE First School.
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, so we are all very excited.
 
It's been great having Ms. Paula Stanley back in school...Welcome back from everyone!
 
Mr. Chadwick the Exec. Head from the Greenwood Tree Academy Trust (GTAT) joined us on Tuesday morning for an assembly. He showed a very special 'short film' that has been created by 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 the St Mary's website.
The GTAT Pupil Voice are now going to lead a project across all the schools about how we can reduce and reuse plastic. We would like to start by thinking 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 2020 from 3:15 to 5:30 pm the school and 'Friends of PV' would like to host a Christmas craft evening. It will be an opportunity for the children to have a go at making a number of different decorations. Parents will be pleased to know that the 'Friends' will be serving hot drinks and perhaps even a mince pie during the event. We do hope you will join us. Further details will follow next week.
 
It was great to see the creativity of five of our Year 3/4 pupils this afternoon - using the Knex construction set, they work collaboratively to build a fantastic car/buggy but 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 thank you to the Year r and 1 class for the delicious fruit and marshmallow rocket I was given this afternoon. I do enjoy Friday afternoons when our young chefs are being creative in the kitchen! Delicious!
 
Week Ending Friday 22nd November 2019
 
Congratulations to our Year 4 Netball team.
On Thursday afternoon 8 of our pupils; Sophie, Milly, Emily, Bethany, Dom, Austin, Hector and Ben took part in a DASP netball festival at St Mary's Middle school led by Mr Dailey and the Year 8 sport leaders.
They 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 in the setting. She was very impressed with the environment the children and staff have created especially the Piddle Space station - a firm favourite of the children! The children took great delight in 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.
 
We are hoping that Ms Paula Stanley will be back in school this week following a period of absence. We all wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to having her back in school soon. A massive thank you to Miss Briony Simpson during Paula's absence for stepping up as supervisor in the preschool and continuing to provide the high standard of provision and continuity for the children - thank you!
I would also like to extend congratulations to Miss Simpson and Mr Bevis as they have announced that they will be having their first baby in May! Wonderful news for our Piddle community.
 
Week Ending Friday 4th October 2019
 
The week started with much excitement as the school was keen to find out who had been successful in the voting for the school council 2019/2020.
I am pleased to announce that the following children were voted in as our new school council for this year;
 
Year 1 - Georgie and Mollie
Year 2 - Gregor and Millie
Year 3 - Elodie and Rebecca
Year 4 - Sophie and Dom
 
Greenwood Tree Pupil Voice will be represented by; Arthur and Lily and will meet with Mr Paul Chadwick soon.
 
Congratulations everyone!
 
It was lovely to see so many parents/families in the hall on Friday during our Harvest Celebration. I would like to thank everyone for their generous contributions of tinned food. We had a great display of tins and some fresh produce. The tins will now be delivered to the foodbank based at the Dorford Church in Dorchester. It really is great that we are able to support and help many families across Dorchester.
The children once again did themselves proud with their singing and performances. The 'Fabulous Forest' class shared their storytelling of the 'Little Red Hen', followed by a great upbeat harvest song sung and performed by our 'Outstanding Ocean' class. The finale of our harvest celebration saw our Year 3 and 4 class; Amazing Amazon class samba dance their way across the hall to the Samba Harvest.
Many thanks to Mr Neades for his blessing. 
 
It really has been a busy week.
Looking ahead... we have been invited to take part in a Year 2 Tag Rugby festival next week with Mr Dailey so Year 2 look out for your letter if you would like to take part.
Welcome back to the autumn term - I hope you all had a great half term break!
 
I would like to start by thanking the Friends of Piddle Valley for their amazing efforts with the organisation and running of the Firework & Bonfire night.
Despite the awful weather conditions, a very brave decision was made by the Chair and committee to go ahead and well done...a great decision...the rain and wind held off and the bonfire was lit followed by a great firework display.
Many thanks to everyone who came to help set up and support the evening. We really do appreciate all your support and the time you give so generously to the school.
 
Many thanks to Karen Harris for the photographs.
 
Week Ending Friday 27th September 2019
 
The week started with a wonderful celebration with staff, children, parents and families across the school during our 'Welcome Assembly'. It was an opportunity for us to say 'hello' to our new children in the Reception class as well as welcome their families to our school.
Following the singing of two of our favourite songs, the children in the Reception class were invited to ring the school bell. This is a tradition at Piddle Valley CE First School. When a new pupil or member of staff join the school we invite them to ring the school bell for everyone in the valley to hear.
The Reception children all did extremely well and I think Mr Young and Mrs Van Der Eyken equally enjoyed themselves. Mrs V was very enthusiastic at ringing the bell...several times!
 
Tuesday evening the staff and parents joined a national speaker Gary Wilson at St Mary's Middle school. The focus for the evening was on raising boys achievements. The staff all felt the session was great and were able to bring back to school lots of ideas to engage and support boys learning.
We are looking forward to the second session later in the autumn term when Gary will share further practical tips and ideas on how we can support and raise boys achievements.
 
Thursday was a very exciting day in school as it was 'School Council Election Day'. The candidates had their final opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas to the school during our 'Democracy assembly' and hopefully win some extra votes.
The morning was then full of anticipation as each class lined up outside the polling station to vote. Once voting had taken place the children posted their voting slip into the boxes which were later sealed until counting could begin.
Many thanks to Sophie and Oscar for their help in looking after the voters and making sure everyone voted in a fair manner.
It was great to be supported by two of our Governors who were keeping a watchful eye on proceedings!
Once the votes have been counted the successful candidates for each year group will be announced in collective worship on Monday.