Newsletters

Newsletter 23– Friday, 11th March 2022

Headteacher Message

Hello all,

The weather has defeated us today but we will win eventually. After an extremely mild week with sunshine on most days, pick up was a washout. What I am really enjoying is the longer days and the promise of summer being on its way. We have had a very productive week at Darell. My personal highlight has been accompanying the Year 5 and 6 team in their debate mate competition. I say accompany because basically I was not needed and herein lies the moral of this story. We have two Debate Mate teams and they competed against teams from other pan London schools. Their first debate was regarding the motion ‘All children should be sent to boarding schools’ . The teams do not know whether they are to support or oppose this motion and take turns arguing their points. I spent 45 minutes watching these teams,discuss, take notes and construct coherent, powerful arguments. My point is that I was there but pretty useless and invisible. They owned the process and eventually their opponents! My point is these are children coming to the end of their journey at Darell and they exemplify the characteristics I would like all our children to have. Confident, articulate, collaborative and competitive. I do like a bit of competition.

On another note we will shortly be advertising for a TA position at the school. The reason I am mentioning it in the newsletter is because I would really like to be able to recruit from within our wonderful community. You may have some questions about this. Why? I believe that there is an untapped talent pool in our parent body and excellent candidates who could fill this role. The candidate would already know the school and the staff and would quickly become a part of the excellent team here. Do I need experience? Not necessarily, you need positivity and a willingness to learn. Please phone the office if you would like an informal chat with me. I will send a link to the job adverts next week. Go for it.

Have a lovely weekend with your wonderful families

Joe Porter

Curriculum

This week I would like to talk about the Maths curriculum at Darell. In particular about the importance of securing numerical fluency - the ability to complete calculations quickly using taught mathematical facts. This year, we have been participating in the Mastering Number program with the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM) to help children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 develop their early number skill. Having taught a number of these sessions in Year 2, I am hugely impressed with the quality of the materials the children have access too and the depth of their knowledge. Knowing number facts to 10, within 10, across 10 and to 20 really help children develop their fluency as mathematicians. I would like to finish by talking about one of the key skills we are embedding with our children - 'subitising'. What this term means is looking at a group of objects and knowing how many there are without counting. This skill is a vital foundation in developing children's early number sense and something that we have been working on in Year 1 & 2. To see subitising in action, look at the groups of objects below. Can you tell how many there are without counting? How? How could that help you as a mathematician!

Parent online workshop: Anxiety

What is the workshop about?

The workshop aims to provide parents/carers with an understanding of anxiety and strategies to manage anxiety and worries.

The workshop will run online, on Tuesday 22nd March, at 9.30am - 10.30am. Parents/carers will have the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback at the end of the session.

The workshop will be facilitated by Education Wellbeing Practitioner Sarah Burrell from the school based Mental Health Support Team.

Workshop overview:

Understanding anxiety
The Cognitive Behavioural Model
How we can help - intervening at the level of thoughts, emotions, physical responses and behaviour.
Creating an emotional wellbeing toolbox
The importance of parent wellbeing
Others’ reactions being maintenance factors in anxiety
Tips on how we can respond
Seeking further support

How to sign up:

If you would like to attend this workshop, please book your ticket using the Eventbrite link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mhst-workshop-anxiety-tickets-264282304487

You will then be emailed a Google Meet invite with instructions on how to join.

Please note that this event is space limited therefore please register as soon as possible should you want to guarantee yourself a place.

Office Updates

Lost property

The lost property trolley, located in the front office is overflowing with unclaimed items. Please come and have a look through for anything you may be missing. Thank you.

Summer Term Clubs

Currently, we are in the process of updating our clubs list for the summer term. This will be coming out to you soon and will be bookable before the Easter break. We will keep you updated.

Diary Dates

Parents Consultation Evening

3:30pm – 5:30pm

March

Year 6 Junior Citizen trip

12:30pm – 4:00pm

March

Parents Consultation Evening

4:00pm – 7:00pm

March

Year 2 Kew Archives trip

9:00am – 3:00pm

March

Year 2 Scooter Training

1:00pm – 3:00pm

March

Year 2 St Paul's Cathedral Trip

9:00am – 3:00pm

March

Easter Holiday

All Day

From 04 Apr until 19 Apr

April

Inset Day - children do not attend

All Day

April

Y4 - Thames Young Mariners Residential Trip

9:00am – 4:00pm

From 25 Apr until 26 Apr

April

Y6 SATs - SPaG

9:00am – 12:00pm

May

Y6 SATs - English reading

9:00am – 12:00pm

May

Wellbeing

Children's Mental Health Week

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 object is precious to you?

Peake - What do you think the bird is thinking as she watches the children explore the house? Explain why you think this.

Weir - Would you rather find a tiger in the garden or a mermaid in the bath? Why?

Walker - Would you help the Little Red Hen make bread?

Newton -What things did they see as they sailed down the Nile?

Thunberg - How did Perseus meet Andromeda?

Darwin - Do you think that Paul Erdosh would have been happier if he did less maths and spent his time learning life skills, like learning how to butter his bread?

Attenborough - Who was Tutankhamun? Was that the name that he was born with?

Parks - How is the heart organised? What is the difference between veins and arteries? What can you tell me about the geography of the different Japanese islands? What is pop art?

KS1 Star of the Week

Wonder Class

Sienna Mae - for following instructions and doing great listening in the afternoons. You have done great work with Miss Hedia this week and we are so proud!

Peake Class

Samir - for persevering with his work and creating a fantastic collage street scene. Well done Samir!

Weir Class

Lily - for taking great responsibility with her writing this week and working incredibly hard! Well done, Lily!

Walker Class

Jessica - for always trying her best and being a positive learner. Well done, Jessica!

Rashford

Adriana - for having a positive attitude and always being ready to learn. You are a fabulous role model.Well done, Adriana!

KS2 Star of the Week

Newton Class

Sanveer - for working hard on having kind hands and kind feet every day

Thunberg Class

Nevaeh - for aspiring to be a wonderful and creative writer in the role of Perseus

Darwin Class

Hania - for making a huge effort in maths to understand fractions and not giving up!

Attenborough Class

Nina - for how well she has settled in and has already made new friends!

Parks class

Isaac - for a riveting piece of creative writing that will hook any reader!

E Safety News

Darell Primary & Nursery School Follow

Reception loved their visit to Richmond Fire Station! They had a great time sitting in the fire engines and spraying the hoses. If there are any emergencies we call 999! @lfb_richmond https://t.co/Vbgz3eU6s8

23 hours ago

Attendance

Overall school attendance this week was 94.1% our target is 96.8%.

Well done to Thunberg class for the highest attendance of 99% this week.

Best for punctuality was Darwin and Mozart class with 0 late!

Let's do our best for next week!

Cooking and

Craft Corner

Chocolate cornflake cakes

Chocolate cornflake cakes in pretty paper cases

Everyone loves crispy cornflake cakes, whatever their age. Get the whole family in the kitchen to make these simple bites

Ingredients

50g butter
100g milk or dark chocolate, broken into chunks
3 tbs golden syrup
100g cornflakes

Method

1. Weigh out the ingredients. Older children can do this by themselves with supervision and little ones can help to pour or spoon ingredients into the weighing scales. Put 50g butter, 100g milk or dark chocolate, broken into chunks and 3 tbs golden syrup in a saucepan or microwavable bowl. Put 100g cornflakes in another large bowl.

2 . Melt the weighed butter, chocolate and golden syrup in the saucepan over a low heat or briefly in the microwave. Allow to cool a little before pouring over the cornflakes.

3. Stir the ingredients together gently using a wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases arranged on a muffin tray (or baking sheet, if you don’t have one). Grown-ups will need to do this for younger children or simply arrange on a tray and let the mess happen. Put in the fridge to set.

Playdough recipe

his super-easy playdough recipe is the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon inside. It's quick enough to hold a young child's attention and you only need a few storecupboard ingredients. Little hands can play with the results straightaway, so there's immediate gratification for all involved!

You will need

8 tbs plain flour
2 tbs table salt
60ml warm water
Food colouring
1 tbs vegetable oil

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the water, a few drops of food colouring and the oil.

2. Pour the coloured water into the flour mix and bring together with a spoon.

3. Dust a work surface with a little flour and turn out the dough. Knead together for a few minutes to form a smooth, pliable dough. If you want a more intense colour you can work in a few extra drops of food colouring.

4. Store in a plastic sandwich bag (squeeze out the air) in the fridge to keep it fresh. You can make a batch of colours and give away as kids’ party bag favours or hold a play dough party for your child’s next birthday.

Community News

Useful Links

Arbor Parent Portal - darell-primary.uk.arbor

Follow us on twitter - twitter.com/darellschool

School Uniform Shop - The Shoe Station