Downsend Times - 16th September 2011

Young Writer’s Competition

In July, a number of Year 6 pupils were entered for a Young Writer’s competition, with the theme ‘Once Upon A Rhyme’. The task was to write an imaginative, expressive poem on any topic.  Pupils wrote about a range of subjects from colours, food, seasons, animals and even a member of the Downsend teaching staff!

I am delighted that over 40 Downsend pupils had their poems selected from the competition to appear in a new anthology, which will be printed in October.

The following pupils will have the pleasure of seeing their poem in print in the publication, ‘Once Upon A Rhyme 2011 – The South and the West Counties’. The book is scheduled for publication on 31st October 2011 and will be available in libraries across the UK. We will have our own copy in the school library. The pupils’ work was praised by the judging panel for being perceptive, imaginative and expressive, with excellent use of language.

I would like to say huge congratulations to all the children chosen to be published. What an achievement!

Winner’s Names:

Miss Khodabuccus

National Athletics Title for Downsend School

A very high standard was set once again by pupils of Downsend School at the IAPS National Athletics Finals. Independent Prep Schools from all around the country competed at the event, which was held at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

Seventeen Downsend athletes (nine girls and eight boys) competed in the Shot Putt, Discus, Long Jump, High Jump, 200m, 800m and the Relay. Downsend School came away with a national title and three other medals.

Megan McCormack ran an outstanding 800m race and finished in second place with a personal best time of 2.34m. Megan McInnes finished fourth in the Long Jump (personal best 4.44m) and managed to clinch a podium position in the High Jump with another personal best jump of 1.51m.

The boys performed equally well. With one throw remaining, Nick Long was certainly not in first position, but a huge final throw of 28.70m resulted in him winning the National Title for Discus.
In what was a very high standard event, David Webster, competing in the U14 boys Long Jump, just failed to take the gold, coming second place with a massive 5.31m.

A massive well done to all of those who qualified for the event and performed so professionally.

Janet Woodward

News from the Junior School

We would like to say a very big well done to all the boys & girls in the Junior School who have made a great start to the new term.  We are particularly proud of all our new pupils who have settled in with real enthusiasm and beaming smiles.

Early-Bird Playtime

There are options for morning play before the start of the school day.  All children are allowed to play outside on the playgrounds.  However, if they would prefer, there is also the option of indoor play:  on the carpet area outside the classrooms for Year 2, or in the Peterborough Hall for Years 3 & 4.

Birthdays

If your child is having a birthday, please feel free to send in a cake or a small celebratory treat, remembering that we are a nut-free school.

Toys

We would like to encourage the children to bring a toy with them for playtimes, though we do offer a variety of outdoor toys.  If all toys could be named, it makes it much easier for us to return them to their rightful owners.  Toys should ideally be pocket-sized, so that they can sit easily in the class’s toy basket.

Afternoon Tea

We have recently been in touch with invitations to parents to come for afternoon tea with their child’s new form teacher. We look forward to seeing you all then.

If you would like to see some of the pictures from the Junior School’s first week back then please click here.

DPA Summer Fun Day

• School Playing Fields (Sports Hall if raining)   
• All welcome, no admission charge (donations welcome).  Please feel free to bring a camping chair/picnic rug to sit and relax/eat/drink etc.
• Children's Entertainer, Bouncy Bungee Run, Bouncy Castle, Inflatable Obstacle Course, Kiddi Karts (for under 9’s), Treasure Hunt,  Football Goal Competition (for Junior School children from 12.15 pm), and other games.

Hope to see you all there and keep fingers crossed for good weather!

Green Fingers’ Gardening News

Mrs Ellis-Barrett’s Strawberry & Champagne Jam

1. Pick plenty of strawberries from your garden, weigh them to check you have 2¼lb then hull & halve them.
2. Add them to a preserving or heavy based saucepan and cook them very gently for 5-10 minutes until the berries are soft.
3. Add to the pan 2lb of jam sugar & 50ml champagne or Prosecco, stirring the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved.  Now turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Cook at a rolling boil for 15 minutes or until setting point is reached.
   (To test for a set, put a small saucer into the fridge as the jam is cooking. Drop1tsp jam onto it and push gently with your finger to see if it wrinkles. If it does, it is set).
4. When a set has been reached, allow the jam to cool for a few minutes before ladling into warm jars covering with wax discs and sealing.

This jam will last for a year if kept in a cool dark place.  Remember to refrigerate after use.

Downsend+

Downsend+ Summer Fun

Our days out this summer included trips to Bocketts Farm where we fed the animals, had a tractor ride, ate ice creams and watched pig racing!  Mountain biking, which was hard work but great fun, with much needed milk shakes at Rykas Café at the end! On water sports’ days, the children tried their hand at windsurfing, kayaking and sailing, followed by raft building – which was less successful due to a number of rafts sinking before reaching the other side of the lake! Our horse riding sessions continued to be very popular and all were rewarded with rosettes on the Gymkhana days.

New courses this summer included Mr Newland’s ‘Crash Bang Wallop’ science day, which was a terrific hit with the children. Judo and Paintballing were equally popular with both boys and girls, and Cheerleading and Body Shop proved a huge success. The older children this year had their own home room, complete with comfy chairs and a new Nintendo Wii, and many of them continued to improve their driving skills at Mercedes Benz World. Those staying on site enjoyed cooking, and art & craft sessions; with computer sessions being restricted, which was not always popular with some!  We painted faces and nails, played on the trampoline and rode bikes, scooters & skateboards. There were also numerous sports’ sessions including table tennis, badminton, netball and rounders, but as always the most popular were dodge ball and football.  The pool was used every morning with scuba diving sessions continuing across the weeks. Downsend Lodges+ also visited us every Wednesday afternoon for a swimming session, with older siblings joining in. 

Our Wednesday ‘Summer Special’ days proved to be a huge hit, with the staff dressing up in a variety of weird and wonderful costumes and included themed activities during the day and special themed lunches.  Our ‘Summer Specials’ included a Wild West Day, complete with a bucking bronco; an ‘Out of Africa’ Day, where our mini safari encountered wild gorillas, and we played African drums and danced. On Harry Potter Day, the children lunched in the great hall and made cauldron cakes and Bertie Bott’s jellie beans. Carnival Day and Shipwreck Day also featured this summer, as well as Alice in Wonderland, with a large tea party hosted by the Mad Hatter for those students who first braved the mad queen! The Hawaiian restaurant, on Hawaiian Day, had friends booking dining tables and riding surf boards. The colourful outfits and cocktails added to a real summer atmosphere; culminating in staff and children surf dancing together!

Our final ‘Summer Special’ day had a Fun Fair theme, which transformed the field with many stalls including coconut shies, hook-a-duck, tombola, beat the goalie and many others.  We climbed the bouncy assault course and spun around on the teacup ride, (so much so some of us felt quite ill!) before eating popcorn on our way home. 

Our Friday BBQ’s went ahead each Friday despite the typically English weather except one, when even we had to admit defeat. Our tea menu also seemed to go down well, with the children tucking into beans or spaghetti on toast, wraps, croissants and pizzas at the end of the day.

The children took part in all activities with great enthusiasm and many of the outside coaches praised their manners and behaviour and stated ‘what a nice bunch they were’.

We have enjoyed many laughs over the weeks and I would like to say a huge thank you to the many staff involved who have worked tirelessly with great humour and energy, and have fully entered into the spirit to make this summer’s Downsend+ such a great success. Click here for more photos from our summer. >>

Rebecca Peek and Elaine Cooper, Downsend+

Safe Drop off and Collection Information

We are unable to offer supervision on the playgrounds at the end of the day, and must make the safety of the children our primary concern.

If Middle and Senior School children have not been collected by 4.30 pm, they must be supervised after that time.  In practical terms, they should either be at a club, a sports practice or in Extended Day.  They are not allowed to wander around the campus waiting for you to arrive and should only be collected from the agreed collection place after clubs and sports fixtures.

Last year we used our newsletter to convey to parents some of our worries concerning the collection of children at the end of the school day, the most important of which included:

• encouraging parents to park in the main car park and to go into the school via the Turret to collect their children
• the speed with which some parents drove through the site
• the importance of keeping clear areas where double yellow lines are in force

I am grateful to the vast majority of parents who responded to these requests. The car parks have become safer as a consequence. However, there are still one or two activities that concern us, the most important of which are:

• the increasing tendency of parents to park at the Administration Block when collecting their children after school.  As a result, this area becomes over-congested and becomes a hazard to pupils who are using this exit and to parents who are attempting to drive through to the Grange Road exit.
• the continuing use of the road adjacent to the Grange Road exit to park.  This not only contributes to the congestion around this exit but also obscures the line of sight of drivers attempting to leave through this exit.  With so many children from various schools walking along Grange Road at this time of day, an accident could very easily occur.
• a growing number of parents are stopping on the double yellow lines outside the Turret in order to drop their child off in the morning.  Not only is this area used by buses in the morning, but very often the car almost causes an accident as it rejoins the main flow of traffic.    PLEASE PARK IN A DESIGNATED SPACE.

We continue to be concerned that some parents are sending their children into the school before 8.00 am, sometimes as early as 7.45 am.  The school is unable to supervise any children before 8.00 am and we must insist therefore that the children do not come on site until that time.

Thank you for your help in these matters.

Seb Watts