Newsletters

Newsletter 27 – Friday, 22nd April 2022

Headteacher Message

Welcome back one and all.

The Summer term. The Summer term. I will say it again, the Summer term. This is undoubtedly the best term of the year (prepare for me saying this at the beginning of the Autumn term!). The sun shines, the days are longer and the smiles are broader. It has been lovely to welcome back all of your children this week. We had an INSET day on Tuesday and while I always enjoy meeting the staff, the school only truly comes to life when the children return. Each and every one of them adds a bit of magic to the school.

So, this term. I am going to get the reminders out the way as quick as I can. Be happy, Be on time, follow coronavirus guidelines, read or support your child to read every night, park and drive responsibility around the school, be nice. There, I think that covers it. I have been the recipient of newsletters that spend an inordinate time telling me what I need to do and I don’t find this helpful. The vast majority of parents behave responsibly in and around this school and when this is not the case, it is better to tackle this on an individual level rather than the equivalent of a group email.

This term we are going to increase the amount of in person interaction we are going to have. Tomorrow sees the Darell family garden work party and we look forward to seeing families in attendance. We also have ambitious plans lined up and for large scale summer events which I will share with you next week. There is even talk of a Bingo night! Please take every opportunity to interact with the school. As I have previously said, please let me know if you would like a tour of the school. Some of you will have never been inside the school and I would love to show you round on a 1:1 basis. The school continues to grow in terms of numbers and our nursery is now full!

Make sure you and your children get adequate sleep this weekend. If you are anything like my family, the return to school hits hard. I am going to have a cocoa and an early night to ensure I am firing on all cylinders next week.

Have the loveliest of weekends.

Mr Porter

Artist in Residence

We are so pleased to welcome our Artist-in-Residence Lucy Brett who is joining the team at Darell. We’re really looking forward to the amazing creativity she’s going to bring to the school community. Children and teachers watch out as you may find yourselves depicted!

Reading Books for Year 1

We are excited to announce that our new reading books for year 1 children have arrived. These books have been purchased with money from the PSA. We wouldn't have been able to do this without the fantastic support from the parental community. Thank you to all of you who have supported the school, from running the events to buying cakes at bake sales. You have made a difference!

The reason for the purchase is because the way we are teaching our children to read has changed slightly this year and we have adopted the Little Wandle approach. With this, the most exciting part is the high quality texts. There are quite a few and we would love help to organise the new books into sets so we can get them into book bags as quickly as possible. If you have a spare hour on Monday or Tuesday next week, please email parents@darell.richmond.sch.uk. or speak to Emma Claridge

Help out in the Darell Garden

Office Updates

Plea for boys and girls underwear

If you have any spare underwear, knickers, pants or socks, please could you donate them to school as our supplies are depleting. Thank you

Clubs

All clubs commence next week, Monday, 25th April. if you haven't already please log into your Arbor account to sign up!

Summer Term Clubs

The new clubs list is available on the website and was emailed out to all parents on Wednesday. All clubs are now bookable and will commence week beginning Monday, 25th April.

Communication Sent Home

Whole School - Covid Update
Year 4 - Thames Young Mariners
Whole school - Darell Garden work party
Whole school - Are your children safe online workshop

Diary Dates

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

Y6 SATs - Maths Paper 1 (Arithmetic) Paper 2 (Reasoning)

9:00am – 12:00pm

May

Y6 SATs - Maths Paper 3 (Reasoning)

9:00am – 12:00pm

May

Half Term

All Day

From 30 May until 03 Jun

May

Year 6 Cycling Proficiency

9:00am – 12:15pm

June

Year 6 Cycling Proficiency

9:00am – 12:15pm

June

Year 6 Cycling Proficiency

9:00am – 12:15pm

June

Year 6 Cycling Proficiency

9:00am – 12:15pm

June

Year 6 Leavers Disco

6:00pm – 7:30pm

June

Wellbeing

Supporting a young person

Being a parent of a young person who seems to be struggling can be really worrying, and you might be feeling overwhelmed or unsure what you should do. But you're not alone, and there are places both you and your child can turn to for help.

We're still developing our information for parents, but you'll find ideas of help that's available in our Useful contacts section.

You can also look at our information for children and young people, which could help you talk to your child about how they can understand their feelings, find support or visit their doctor.

Looking after yourself

Supporting someone else can be tough and stressful. It's important to look after yourself too.

Our information on supporting someone else and helping someone else seek help will give you ideas of how to look after yourself.

If you have a mental health problem, our guide to parenting with a mental health problem will give you some ideas of how to look after yourself and find support if you and your family need it.

Support, should you need it:

KS1 Star of the Week

Wonder Class

Daisy - for always trying her best and for her amazing home learning!

Peake Class

Mariam - for showing enjoyment in exploring colour mixing and creating a beautiful colour wheel. Well done, Mariam!

Weir Class

Leon - for showing great resilience in his writing and in our maths quizzes this week. Well done, Leon!

Walker Class

Jessica - for coming back to school with a huge smile and being ready to learn. Well done, Jessica!

KS2 Star of the Week

Newton Class

Arian - for working really hard in Maths to learn new concepts

Thunberg Class

Amelia - for settling straight into a new school and is already a valued member of our class!

Darwin Class

Liana - for working hard on raising her profile in the classroom by speaking loudly and clearly

Attenboough Class

Elikyah - for her enthusiasm and focus, diving straight into the new learning and making connections

Parks class

Rayyaan - for his focused and positive attitude towards all learning

E Safety News

Does your child want to be a YouTuber?

YouTube is intended for users over the age of 13, however the App store rates YouTube as 17+ due to the content that can be found on there.

Have you heard of Ryan Kaji? He is the face behind the YouTube channel Ryan’s World, which in 2021, earned a staggering £19m!! (Source:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59987711). Lots of YouTube channels centre around children so is it any wonder that many children aspire to

have their own channel? How can we support and keep them safe though?

Posting videos

You should be over 13 years of age to post videos on YouTube. Talk to your child about posting videos, do they understand what information they should keep private and what to do if they receive negative comments? YouTube have produced these tips:

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802244

Select an appropriate setting for their videos

There are three different settings for videos published on YouTube:

Public: anyone can view the video
Private: video can only be viewed by users that you select
?Unlisted: only people who have the link to the video can view it.

Other tips:

Explore comment settings – comments can be held for review, specific words can be blocked and ensure your child knows how to remove and report comments if necessary: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9483359

Visit your child’s channel to see what videos they are posting.

Ensure your child knows how to block and report users if necessary.

How can I make YouTube safer?

Turn on Restricted mode as this restricts the availability of mature content. You will need to set up a Google account to do this.
xplore YouTube together and see what they like to watch. Make sure your child understands that they can talk to you if they see anything that makesthem feel uncomfortable online.
Ensure your child knows how to report inappropriate content.

Darell Primary & Nursery School Follow

Y5 are continuing their exploration of tree paintings in different seasons, inspired by Hockney's The Arrival of Spring paintings https://t.co/zAX8RU6gBB

18 minutes ago

Attendance

Overall school attendance this week was 93.2% our target is 96.8%.

Well done to Thunberg class for the highest attendance of 95.6% this week.

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

Let's do our best for next week!

Cooking and

Craft Corner

Ingredients

For the meatballs

4 cream crackers
500g/1lb 2oz lean beef mince
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 free-range egg
1 tbsp olive oil

For the tomato sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 small carrot, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
500g/1lb 2oz spaghetti, cooked according to packet instructions
salt and pepper

Method

Put the cream crackers in a plastic bag. Wrap the bag in a tea towel and bash with a rolling pin until crushed.
Put the mince in a large bowl, add the mixed herbs and crushed cream crackers. Tap the egg gently on the side of the bowl and crack the egg into the bowl. Mix the mince mixture together with your hands, wet hands are best for this job. Really get squished in so all the ingredients are mixed together.
To shape the meatballs take a spoonful of the mince mixture and place in the palm of your hands. Cup your other hand over the mince and roll to make perfectly round meatballs. Make 16 meatballs, put the meatballs on a large plate and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Wash your hands before the next step, it is very important to always wash your hands after handling raw meat and fish.
To make the tomato sauce, heat a large pan and add the oil. Add the onion, carrots and garlic and fry for 6 minutes, or until soft but not browned. Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée. Season with salt and pepper and allow to simmer for 15 minutes on a low heat.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in another shallow pan, add the meatballs and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes until browned on the outside. To keep your meatballs round when frying, hold the handle of the pan and shake the pan in a round action so that the meatballs never have a chance to settle and flatten and remain round.
When the meatballs are evenly browned and cooked through, add them to the tomato sauce and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Serve the meatball sauce with spaghetti.

Useful Links

Arbor Parent Portal - darell-primary.uk.arbor

Follow us on twitter - twitter.com/darellschool

School Uniform Shop - The Shoe Station