Newsletters

Newsletter 37 – Friday, 8th July 2022

Headteacher Message

Hello all,

We do not do things by halves in our house. (That would be tricky as there are 5 of us but I suppose you could count Blue). All five of us have tested positive in the last few days. Not much fun and extremely difficult yesterday when I could not be at school for an external review I spoke about last week. With both myself and Emma Claridge off, it was left to the capable hands of Paul Gilbert, Amanda Blunden and all the other leaders this school is lucky enough to have to showcase the school. It was an extremely useful process and further informs our planning for next Year. What it did highlight was the excellent teaching taking place across the school from Nursery all the way to Year 6. I mentioned last week that we had no responses to our OFSTED parent view page and I would like to thank all of you who navigated the faffy sign up procedure and logged on to share your thoughts. This is really useful feedback. What we will do is send out an internal parent questionnaire that is easier for you to work and gather more feedback as we look to next year. We always want to develop and improve and your feedback is invaluable in this process.

What we can reflect on is some quite incredible SATs results for Year 6. They are way, way above national averages and show the hard work that these children and all the staff that have taught them have put in this year and, throughout their journey at Darell School. We will be sharing these in more detail next week after reports have gone out and Year 6 parents are aware of their results. It really is something to celebrate and shout from the rooftops. You can be a warm welcoming and nurturing school and still achieve extremely well academically. These results will also show the value we add over time. Maybe this message is getting into the community like it should. Our Reception cohort is now expected to be 25, the highest since I have been at the school and a sign that we are going in the right direction. A chance to go full circle here. We know we are not perfect and need to improve in areas but we are moving rapidly in the right direction and your feedback will help us to further improve.

I will be back in on Monday to enjoy the last two weeks with your children. Take relevant sun precautions and have a lovely weekend.

Joe Porter

Office Updates

Hot Weather

As you are aware the temperature is going to soar into next week. Please can we ask you send your child into school with a water bottle, sun hat and with sun screen applied.

Clubs Update

All extra curricular clubs have now finished for the summer term. Please collect your child at their normal pick up time unless they are attending the after school club.

Outstanding Payments

Please can we ask all outstanding payments for school meals and past trips to be paid before the end of term. You can see any outstanding balances on your child's Arbor account.

Lost property

We have huge amounts of lost property accumulating in the office. If you are missing any items please come and have a look through. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to store items, so if items are not claimed by the end of term, they will be donated to a charity shop. Thank you.

Communication Sent home

Year 6 - Performance Tickets
Year 5 - Swimming Letter
Whole school - Medical information letter
Reception - Year 6 - Sports day information email

Diary Dates

Nursery, Reception , Walker and Newton - Trip to Kew Gardens

10:00am – 2:30pm

July

Little Curators - Kew Archives

12:30pm – 2:30pm

July

Year 4 Swimming (last session)

12:45pm – 2:30pm

July

Year 6 production

1:45pm – 2:45pm

July

Year 1 River Trip

9:00am – 3:00pm

July

Year 6 production

6:00pm – 7:00pm

July

Sports Day

9:15am – 3:15pm

July

Term Ends

All Day

July

Year 6 Leavers Assembly

9:00am – 9:30am

July

Inset Day

All Day

From 01 Sep until 02 Sep

September

Autumn Term Begins

All Day

September

Wellbeing

Relaxation Activity: Stress Balls

This exercise releases muscle tension and massages your hands. Make your own stress ball(s) by filling balloons with dry lentils or rice.

Take the ball(s) in one or both hands and squeeze and release.
Experiment with squeezing the ball. Find a way that is right for you, adjusting the speed, pressure and timing of your squeezes to whatever way you like.

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.

Wonder - What have you invented?

Peake - What would you do if you found a giant egg on your doorstep? How would you look after it? What would you hope to find inside when it hatches?

Weir - Do you think Floella and her family are going to like England? Why? Why not?

Walker - Why could the Bog Baby not fly?

Newton - What happened to Fox at the end of the story?

Thunberg - What do you think will happen to Roz and her new family?

Darwin - Macavity was a mystery cat. What sort of cat would you like to write a poem about?

Attenborough - Can you think of a better ending to the poem?

Parks - What have we learnt about the protagonist of our story so far?

What have we learnt about the mysterious boy at the back of the classroom?

Do you have any theories about how he has made his way to the class?

KS1 Star of the Week

Wonder Class

Louie- for always being a role model to other children through his exemplary behavior and positive attitude to learning!

Peake Class

Louisiana - for being a resilient learner and always trying her best. Well done, Louisiana!

Weir Class

Maja - for taking great enjoyment in our D.T. and art projects, and for helping others with kindness and patience. Well done, Maja!

Walker Class

Scarlett - for participating in whole class activities and trying new things with a smile on her face. Well done, Scarlett!

Rashford

Adriana - for arriving promptly at school and for always being kind and polite. Well done Adriana!

KS2 Star of the Week

Newton Class

Neil - for being an excellent role model both in Newton & Thunberg class. Well done Neil!

Thunberg Class

Frankie - for hbeing a responsible leader for the whole day at Kew Gardens.

Darwin Class

Isla - for impeccable learning behaviour in class. You have listened intently to the teaching, asked great questions and have always been a superb learning partner

Attenborough Class

Tommy - for his commitment to his learning, joining us remotely from home

Parks class

Sophia - for being an attentive class member and always modelling perfect behaviour for learning

E Safety News

Smartwatches / Fitness trackers

Check what the smartwatch allows your child to do and if
available, set appropriate restrictions. Talk to your child
about the different settings and if you have, why you have
set up the restrictions.

What are the risks?

Some smartwatches allow you to take photos. It is important to talk to your child about appropriate behaviour when taking and sharing photos. Once a photo is shared, they lose control of it.
Some smartwatches have internet access with the ability to download

apps. You need to be aware of the potential of in app purchases and viewing
upsetting content.
Depending on the brand of smartwatch, you may be able to set up parental
controls for example to restrict content and prevent purchases. More
information about Apple Watch parental controls can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/watch/apd54d0a51fb/watchos

As always, ensure your child knows to talk to you or another trusted adult should they see anything inappropriate or that worries them whilst using their device.

Further information

https://parentzone.org.uk/article/digital-family-basics-smartwatches- fitness-trackers
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/techguide/ smart-toys-and-wearable-gadgets/#smart

Darell Primary & Nursery School Follow

Walker Class have been absolutely loving reading 'The Snail & The Whale'. Today they got creative and made some delicious wraps inspired by the story. Can you guess which character they're modelled after? https://t.co/tRt5zMbiZq

1 week ago

Attendance

Overall school attendance this week was 87% our target is 96.8%.

Well done to Thunberg class for the highest attendance of 98.3% this week.

Best for punctuality was Walker class with 0 late!

Let's do our best for next week!

Community News

Week 1 - July Camp – 27^th, 28^th and 29th July

https://www.brentfordfccst.com/event/gunnersbury-park-camp-july22-2-2/

Week 2 - August Camp – 17^th, 18^th and 19th August

https://www.brentfordfccst.com/event/gunnersbury-park-camp-july22/

Week 3 - August Camp - 31st August 1st & 2nd September

https://www.brentfordfccst.com/event/gunnersbury-park-camp-july22-2/

Welcome to Mum-Dance Richmond

https://mum-dance.co.uk/

Diego

The 80's Dance Fitness class

Mum-Dance is the low impact, high sweat, dance fitness workout with hilarious, simple and effective routines to all your best 80's songs.
Join the thousands of women every week getting their fitness results like Kids from Fame.

Routines include

Everybody Dance Now - Dirty Dancing - It's Raining Men - Fame - Bust a Move - Let's Get Physical - When Will I Be Famous - Vogue - Pump Up The Jam - Hot Stuff - I Need A Hero - Dirty Cash - Footloose - Flashdance - Rhythm Is A Dancer - You Can't Touch This - Mamma Mia - Relax - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Footloose - Respectable and more!!

Thursdays 19:30 - 20:30 at Darell School
Niton Road, Richmond, TW9 4LH

Useful Links

Arbor Parent Portal - darell-primary.uk.arbor

Follow us on twitter - twitter.com/darellschool

School Uniform Shop - The Shoe Station

Headteacher Message

Office Updates

Hot Weather

Clubs Update

Outstanding Payments

Lost property

Communication Sent home

Wellbeing

Relaxation Activity: Stress Balls

The Reading Corner

KS1 Star of the Week

Wonder Class

Peake Class

Weir Class

Walker Class

KS2 Star of the Week

Newton Class

Thunberg Class

Darwin Class

Attenborough Class

E Safety News

Smartwatches / Fitness trackers

What are the risks?

Further information

Attendance

Community News

Welcome to Mum-Dance Richmond

https://mum-dance.co.uk/

The 80's Dance Fitness class

Thursdays 19:30 - 20:30 at Darell School Niton Road, Richmond, TW9 4LH

Useful Links

Thursdays 19:30 - 20:30 at Darell School
Niton Road, Richmond, TW9 4LH