Denstone Preparatory School Newsletter
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Headmaster's Blog
The Importance of a Good Walk
No one is going to read the title of this blog and disagree with the sentiment, but I was reading an article in “Private Eye” this week which really brought this home to me. “Private Eye” is a satirical magazine that comes out every fortnight. I have been subscribing...
Living Through Isolation
With one of our Critical Workers’ children confirmed as positive for Covid last Monday, a number of us have found ourselves isolating at home until midnight tonight (1/2/21). I feel that I am incredibly lucky, because my method of dealing with the stress and pressure...
You Are Never Too Old To Learn!
You Are Never Too Old To Learn! I took my grade one saxophone exam this week. Apart from Merlin’s bronze dog training award (which I might add he passed with flying colours!), this was the first exam I have taken since I took my finals in 1989. I was inspired to take...
School News & PTFA
U11 Cricket Team Sheets – Mon 28th June
U11A Team Sheet U11B Team Sheet
Prep Head Announcement
We are delighted to announce that Tracey Davies will be accepting the role of Head of Prep at The Prep at Denstone College (TPDC). Tracey has been working hard with the retiring Headmaster of DCPS, Mr Jerry Gear, throughout the last year to ensure a safe transfer of...
Letter from the Headmaster
14th May 2021 Dear Parents, By the end of this term I will have been a headmaster for over 24 years. I will also be 60 in April next year. It has always been my intention to retire when I reached the age of 60, while I am still in good health and “young enough” to...
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...