Denstone Preparatory School Newsletter
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Headmaster's Blog
Swimming the Channel!
This term we are going to raise money for Operation Orphan by swimming the channel! I should stress that this will take place in the school pool and in order to achieve this we will have to cover at least 1,408 lengths. The children will be playing their part in...
GB Hockey Player to Open Astro
On Wednesday 18th December, current GB international and Olympic gold medal winner Shona McCallin will be opening our new Astroturf pitch. Shona has over 50 caps for Great Britain and is almost certain to retain her place in the squad for the Tokyo Olympics next year,...
Operation Orphan
Last Friday we held our first fundraising day of the term for “Operation Orphan”. This is a charity that was very close to the heart of our much loved deputy head, Helen Griffith who died earlier this term and it is the charity that we are supporting over the course...
School News & PTFA
Smallwood Pre-School Closure
Dear Parents, It is with great sadness, I refer you to the attached statement from the Custos, regarding the closure of our Smallwood Pre-School provision from September 2020. I would like to thank all the staff and parents for their support over the years. Yours...
Trinity Term 2020 Dates
Dear Parent / Guardian, As I hope you will understand, we are not able to publish our full calendar of events for next term at the present time. However, we thought you might appreciate some key dates, as they stand at the moment. Please be aware that the dates are...
Corona Virus Update 17th March 2020
17th March 2020 Dear Parents, Thank you for your continued support. We are aware that we now have a number of children and staff self-isolating as a precaution and that this number may increase. Currently, expectations are that schools remain open, if at any point...
Pre-Prep Blog
The Great Fire of London
It has been a very busy few weeks down in PP2 this term, with the children developing their historical knowledge. We have investigated Queen Elizabeth’s rise to the throne and have now moved on in time to find out all about the Great Fire of London and the people who...
PP2 – Outdoor Learning
PP2 have been working on shelter building skills over the last few weeks. They started by building a new home for the Elves. They had to make sure the new home had a bedroom with beds, a kitchen with pots and pans, a garage big enough to fit a snail car inside and a...
PP1 – Maths & Geography
PP1 have been busy measuring in Maths this week. They were finding different ways of measuring including using their hands and feet, strides, cubes and rulers. The children have also been estimating and are now really good at making sensible guesses. The children...
Year 3 Blog
Magnetic Madness!
What is attracted to a magnet? Metal? Is all metal attracted to a magnet? These are some of the questions that Year 3 have been investigating in their science lessons. We’ve had lots of fun starting to learn about our new topic of magnetism this week. The children...
Year 3 Poetry Festival
Year 3 have been busy this week practising their poem for the Poetry Festival. This is a big thing for Year 3, they are performing as individuals in front of the class whilst being assessed so there are quite a few nervous children. They have been brilliant whilst...
Year 3 Midnight Man
Year 3 have been working on their letters to the Midnight Man (an imaginary mysterious character who “visited” the classroom leaving a box containing stars, a horse shoe, a cloak and an explanatory letter.) They have been considering how to improve their letter...
Year 4 Blog
Science – Owl Pellets
In Science Year 4 are learning about the jobs that the skeleton does, how it is structured and how it moves. We studied some fascinating skeletons in miniature that we found inside an owl pellet. Owl pellets are the regurgitated remains of mice, voles and shrews. They...
Climate Change Assembly
Year 4 Climate Change Assembly ‘No one is too small to make a difference’ was the message we were conveying during our year 4 assembly last Wednesday. We hope it gave everyone something to think about and ideas about how they can act to make a difference to climate...
Diwali
This term Year 4 have been finding out about winter festivals in R.E.. We have been looking at the Hindu celebration -Diwali and the story behind it. Diva lamps are used to guide Rama and Sita home. We enjoyed making our own lamps out of clay and then painting...
Year 5 Blog
Prince and the Pauper – Review
Our school went to the New Vic theatre to see our yearly play. We enjoyed it deeply. Here are our thoughts: We adored the maypole dancing and were pleased to see their inclusion of young actors and actresses. The thing we weren’t expecting from the play was...
Dramatic Language!
The Year 5 community was in awe this week when they learnt how to use dramatic language in their newspaper reports. It is alleged that all children have made great steps of progress and are now using fantastic journalistic descriptions in their writing. According to...
Denstone Drama Workshop
A huge thank you to Mrs. Abson, who ran an amazing drama workshop at Denstone College for the children in 5Mc on Monday. The children enjoyed doing a variety of activities which included: body as prop, freeze frames, miming, slow motion, and improvisation. The...
Year 6 Blog
Levers and Pulleys
As well as exciting excursions outside school, Y6 have been busy building levers and pulleys in science using K'Nex. The science behind it is all to do with forces and how simple machines can multiply forces to make shifting a load easier. Next week we are looking...
Year 6 Lifesaving
As part of our work on the School Swimming and Water Safety Charter, we had a clothes/pyjama session. The children were split into three groups and completed three different activities. All the activities were designed with falling into open water in mind. After a...
Year 6 Round Up
Year 6 Round Up Mr. Bettaney, Mrs. Wilson and I would like to say thank you and well done to each and every pupil in Year six for a fantastic term of learning and, to those who took the entrance exam, congratulations on all securing a well earned place at Denstone...