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Headteacher Message

Hello all,

I hope you are well and somehow managing to stay afloat in more ways than one! We received some excellent news this morning. I have been asking you all to be Darell advocates and spread the word about our lovely school, and it is working. The local context is challenging. Birth rates are declining, and many schools have falling rolls, as a result. We, however, are bucking the trend. For 2026/27, we have received 23 first choice applications for our Reception and a significant number of second choice selections. We are very pleased to see that again a good number of these are coming directly from our nursery, but we will also have over 10 new families beginning their Darell journey next year. I have shared the news with the staff team because it is down to each one of them that we can offer what we do at Darell School. The sun is shining and we are smiling. I hope that our positivity can feed into your weekends, and you have a lovely couple of days with your families.

Thank you,

Joe Porter

Kitchen Cupboard Clear-Outs!

Do you have any flour, oats, or cereal lurking at the back of your cupboards? Before you bin them, our SRP (Walker Class) would love to take them off your hands!

We use these items to create fun, messy, and engaging sensory invitations to play. These materials provide wonderful tactile learning opportunities to aid sensory development and help support focus and regulation.

We are looking for:

Flour (plain, self-raising, cornflour)
Expired cereal (any nut free kind)
Old oats or dried pasta/rice
Unused grains and pulses

We kindly ask for no nut-based products, please

Items can be dropped off at the main office or sent in with your child. Thank you so much for helping us stock up our sensory bins!

Office Updates

Communications Sent Home

Year 2 - Trip time update
Years 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 – Running club
Selected students – Additional netball practice

Diary Dates

Year 3 & 4 Swimming

9:00am – 11:00am

from 09 Jan and on Friday each week until 21 Mar

Darell v Kings Football Match

1:30pm – 2:45pm

16
January

Mastering Number at Home - Reception

9:00am – 10:00am

20
January

Y6 Trip National Army Museum

9:00am – 3:20pm

21
January

Mastering Number at Home - Year 1

9:00am – 10:00am

21
January

Mastering Number at Home - Year 2

9:00am – 10:00am

22
January

Y5 & 6 Tag Rugby Round Robin

from 09 Jan and on Friday each week until 21 Mar

The Reading Corner

Welcome to our weekly section of the newsletter all about reading. Every week, we will share a question (or two) with you about the book your child is reading in school. Please use these questions to help you find out a little more about what your child has been reading in school and continue to develop their love of reading.

Reception - From our learning about owls this week, can you remember why they are amazing hunters? (they have excellent eyesight and hearing, their head can swivel, they have sharp claws or talons) Can you remember the different places that they can live? (in other birds' nests, in holes in trees, on ledges on rocks, on the ground, in old buildings, in cactus) What else can you remember about owls? (what they eat, how they look after their owlets)

Year 1 – Why did the Terrible Beast take Billy and Fatcat? (He wanted ingredients for his terrible soup.) Can you explain how Billy saved Fatcat and and all the other animals from being eaten?

Year 2 - What has happened so far in our class book (The Fox and the Star)?

Year 3 - What three words would you use to describe Bad Nana? Would you like a nana like Bad Nana? Why? Why not?

Year 4 - In ‘Mama Miti’ How did Wangari Maathai help the women who saw her with the problems they had?

Year 5 - ‘A Clock of Stars’ – What are your first impressions of the prince of Castle Yaroslav?

Year 6 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis: What was your first impression of Mr Tumnus? What made you think that?

SRP 2 - If the Lion came to Darell, can you think of good places we could hide him?

Attendance

Overall, school attendance this week was 93%. Our target is 97%.

Well done to Reception for the highest attendance of 97.6% this week.

Let's do our best for next week!

EYFS Star of the Week

Reception

Cam - for living our school value of aspiration. You always try your best and this week made a fantastic owl out of clay.

KS1 Star of the Week

Year 1

Alex – for using good mathematical vocabulary talk about 2D shapes, writing fantastic sentences with clear finger spaces and building brilliant magnetic tile creations that inspire his friends. What a fantastic week, Alex – well done!

Year 2

Abbie – for helping others in maths by clearly modelling your methodology and explaining your reasoning this week.

SRP 1

Ru - for working really hard on his pencil grip and letter formation when writing the sounds in his name. Well done, Ru!

Nurture Star

Layla - for continuing to challenge yourself and becoming more confident in working independently. We are proud of you!

KS2 Star of the Week

SRP 2

Rasim and Caleb - for supportive and collaborative paired work in maths. Well done!

Year 3

Jake - for the kindness you have shown to your classmates, being a supportive learning partner, celebrating the achievements of others AND being ambitious and aspirational in your writing! There are so many reasons this week, Jake! Well done!

Year 4

Mason - for showing a great improvement in listening and participating in the classroom. Keep it up!

Year 5

Andrei - for his enjoyment and participation in our netball lesson in P.E. Well done, Andrei!

Year 6

Freya - for her beautifully crafted setting description, inspired by C. S. Lewis’s literary techniques. I can’t wait to read the next section!

What's going on in the community?

Useful Links

darell.school

darell.richmond.sch.uk

Arbor Parent Portal - darell-primary.uk.arbor

School Uniform Shop - The Shoe Station

Newsletters

Newsletter 17 – Friday, 16th January 2026