Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Update
Sun 09 Jul 2023Hello all,
I thought I'd do a little round up of all the amazing activities that have been going on in school and a few reminders of what's coming in the last couple of weeks!
Firstly of course the carnival. We won best children's float which was very much down to the excellent work of the PTA who gave up lots of time and effort to decorate the float with the children's artwork and their own creations. The children had a great day and it was lovely for the school to be visible in the community. We were once again the only school taking part.
We have once again been awarded Gold Sport's Mark in recognition of all the different activities the children take part in as well as their weekly PE sessions.
A big thank you to Miss Barrett who has been coordinating PE for us and ensuring that the children get to experience activities ranging from Zorbing to Tai Chi.
Miss Barrett was also responsible for organising our sport's day on Friday which was a great day for all. The weather was of course very hot but we have now invested in some gazebos which gave shelter and will be used for in school events or lunch times for extra shade when needed. The children participated in good sporting spirits and supported each other.
This term we have seen excellent assemblys from Mrs Ganguly's, Mrs Norton's and Miss Barrett's classes. The children love to showcase their hard work and it is lovely to see them so confident.
On the subject of showcasing talent we were treated to a real spectacle in the shape of the year 6 performance - The Pirates of the Curry Bean. They were ably supported by the year 5s and I can honestly say it was very impressive with some real talent on show. The children were excellent both in their acting and singing skills and behaviours. Well done year 6 and year 5 we were very proud of you!
Coming up on Monday 10th we have Dovedale's got Talent. The children have chosen their class representatives after auditions and we look forward to seeing what they have to offer!
On Tuesday it is the PTA AGM at 7.30. Interested parents can find details on the PTA page.
Wednesday is the Meet the Teacher sessions. Please join your child's new class teacher for information on the coming year.
On Friday we have a career's fair planned for our year 5 and 6s. A huge thank you to those parents and friends who have offered their time and energy to showcase their working life. It really is an excellent opportunity for the children to get an insight into the options out their for their future working lives.
We have noticed a very sharp increase in children being taken on holiday during term time. We understand that financially it very often makes sense as
we all know that prices rise ridiculously once the holidays start However we will continue to decline holiday requests and refer to fines where appropriate. It is our duty to do all we can to keep the children in school during term time.
I hope you all have a lovely week.
S Houseman
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Friday update
Thu 18 May 2023Happy Friday all,
The last few weeks here in school have been very busy with the Coronation celebrations, class assemblies and SATS.
A huge well done to our year 6s who sat their standardised tests and showed resilience and positivity. The croissant breakfasts seemed to work wonders and they all did their very best. We know there has been a lot of news around how difficult/confusing some of the papers were, but we felt the children used their coping strategies well to enable them to get through without too much stress.
On Friday 12th we had a visit in assembly from PCSO Danielle Bryant who is our local police liaison officer. She spoke to the children about a variety of road safety topics.
On this topic I must again point out that there have been some dangerously parked cars at drop off. I am looking at the possibility of a crossing patrol but really feel that parents need to play their part in keeping our children safe.
We have a parent Governor vacancy and applications close on Thursday 25th May. All details are on the Governor page on this website. the box for applications is in the school corridor.
The PTA are organising our Carnival entry for this year on the 17th June. We didn't participate last year so would love as many children and parents as possible to take part this year. The theme is nature and the PTA will be getting details out to you soon. The event is always a lovely celebration as well as a great showcase for the school.
Next week the school council have organised an animal day to raise funds towards their library plans. Children can dress as an animal on Thursday 25th for a £1 donation.
Don't forget Friday 26th is an INSET day. School will be closed for children on this day.
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Updates
Fri 17 Mar 2023Happy Monday all,
I hope you have had a good weekend.
It was a lovely week here in school last week celebrating British Science week. The children have completed some exciting investigations and assemblies and we hope we have inspired some budding scientists.
Thank you to Mrs Ganguly-our Science lead for organising.
A quick reminder about all things uniform and school policy. Children should wear uniform including school type shoes and have plain-PE kits. Jewellery should be limited to a watch and stud earrings. No makeup or nail varnish, no temporary tattoos on show and hair cuts should be school appropriate. As the year progresses we often see a slight slip as the children forget so a little check and reminder would be appreciated.
Again a reminder that dogs should not be brought onto the school site unless as part of an activity day or pre-arranged visit.
Do check the school calendar for upcoming dates including an expert group evening, inset days and sport's afternoon.
Parent's evening is next week. If you have not managed to book a slot please message you child's teacher and they will arrange an appropriate time for you.
We will be sharing our OFSTED report with you this week and will let you know when we have uploaded it to the website.
You raised £190 on Friday through your kind donations for Red Nose day. Thank you.
Have a good week all.
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Friday update
Fri 17 Feb 2023Happy Friday all!
As we reach the end of the first Spring term we certainly have lots to celebrate.
Firstly the KS1 performance this week which has been amazing. The children's acting, singing and speaking all shone through as well as their behaviours. Well done to all of them. Also a huge thank you to the adults who have worked hard to support the children and make this happen. Next term will be the lower KS2 performance which we are sure will be just as great.
We must also congratulate all the children on their behaviours during our OFSTED visit. The 2 days were quite disrupted as we had 4 inspectors around school, teachers were out of class and usual routines were a little upended. The children however took this all in their stride and showed their Dovedale values. They also came out with some wonderful quotes about their school. I have included a few below:
- Teachers care for us and solve any issues
- Everyone should be treated equally
- School is my happy place
- We are upstanders not bystanders
- Everyone has a talent and this school will help you find it.
I'm sure you agree that these are lovely things that the children feel about themselves and their school.
Can I ask parents to remind their children not to ride bikes or scooters on school grounds and wheel out of the gates before getting on and setting off. Some children are racing across the paths and grass and I fear this is an accident in the making. We have spoken in school too.
This week we said goodbye to Mrs Halford who has retired. She will be greatly missed for everything she has done for all the children at Dovedale and her support as a friend and colleague . She will be popping in though and will also be covering in WRAP club sometimes so we will be able to keep up with all her adventures. We wish her the very best.
Thinking of Wrap club please contact Berny if you need a space at club over Easter or summer half term. They fill up quickly so be sure to secure a place early if you need one.
Don't forget we have an INSET day on the Monday after half term, staff will be in but children are not.
I hope you all have a lovely half term. Emergency contact is the head teacher email as usual, staff will have their dojos turned off.
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Friday updates
Mon 23 Jan 2023Happy Friday all,
I hope the spring term has started well for you all, it certainly has for us in school. We are now half way through this term and it has been very busy so far!
Last week we celebrated Chinese New Year with the Year 2s creating a wonderful Rabbit with Erewash Arts and celebrating with a Lion dance after school. See the pictures below. A big thank you to Mrs Norton for organising all of this.
Proud to mention that 4 of our girls have progressed from the regional table tennis championships to the North / South stage. They have shown great skill and camaraderie. Well done Isabelle, Jessica, Isabelle and Isla!
Parking
Once again there has been a problem outside of school with traffic On this occasion a collision occurred between 2 cars. I will state again that cars are not to park on or opposite the zig zag lines during drop off and pick up, don't park irresponsibly on corners or swerve onto the pavements where you can see there are pedestrians. There is plenty of parking further down the road and it is the responsibility of those who need to drive to the school to make sure they are not putting our children at risk.
We are fortunate and grateful that we have such a supportive parent body but this is an area which seems to be impossible to address so I would ask for your support with this.
Miss Bestwick's class started off our spring term class assemblies in style, showcasing their Ancient Egyptian knowledge, their writing and reading skills as well as some great singing. They also showed us all how to 'walk like an Egyptian.' Well done Tutankhamun class!
Please look out for your child's interim data report. If you have any questions with regard to your child please dojo the class teacher to make an appointment.
Information for parents
A recent report by the internet watch foundation has reported a 1000% increase in child online abuse since lockdown. This includes the 7 to 10 age range. This is shocking news and we need to be aware and vigilant to protect our children from this very real threat.
Online awareness programme for parents from the parent project. This is a site for parents only and not children and is for information about exploitation, understanding risks and inappropriate adult behaviours as well as information about how to access support.
Support for domestic abuse
https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/
Please remember you can always contact me for any confidential, non judgemental support around any issues.
I hope you all have a lovely, safe weekend.
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Baby self feed pillows
Thu 01 Dec 2022Please follow the link below to read information and guidance on the use of baby self feed pillows. These have been determined as unsafe and parents have been recommended to stop using them immediately.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/urgent-safety-alert-issued-for-baby-self-feeding-pillows
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Friday update
Wed 09 Nov 2022Happy Friday all!
What a very busy week we have had.
This week we have celebrated all things Remembrance with the children showcasing their work in assembly Thursday and a visit from 3 members of the Long Eaton Branch of the Royal British Legion visiting today to share some artefacts and hold our 2 minutes silence. This was framed by a piper playing the Reverie on the bagpipes. A very special experience.
The children were captivated and showed off their excellent behaviours and respectful attitudes.
A big thank you to Miss Nadin and Miss Bestwick for organising these events.
Safeguarding
I have put a web link for parents under safeguarding with information for parents on keeping children safe whilst using Whatsapp.
Attendance
As a school we recognise that it is not always easy for children to attend every day. Illnesses or exceptional circumstances can impact on children's attendance and we understand this. As a school however we need to be doing all we can to raise the percentage for groups of children and individuals. This also includes children who are frequently late to school.
Being late to school impacts on the child's settling into class, disrupts the other children's routines and means they are missing valuable time for lesson input or phonics.
We do however love to celebrate those children who do have great attendance.
We therefore run a whole class competition each half term and will also be issuing certificates for children who have 100% attendance each term.
All children who have received a 100% certificate for any term over the year will be entered into a prize draw at the end of the year.
The winners of our whole class attendance for last half term was Miss Bestwick's class at 97.89%. These will be able to choose a whole class treat.
The top 5 classes are all in the lower school.
The ranking for all classes from lowest to highest %s are:
Mr Almeida
Miss Berrington
Miss Barrett
Mrs Ganguly
Miss Nadin
Mr McCarthy
Mrs Kelly
Mrs McGowan
Mrs Thorpe
Miss Blake
Mrs Potter
Mrs Norton
Miss Keating
Miss Bestwick
Let's get competitive and see who wins next term!
8th May has been announced as a Bank holiday and school will be closed on this day.
Next week is odd socks day on Monday to kick off our anti bullying week.
On Friday it is Children in Need and children are welcome to come to school in spots or non school uniform. Miss Nadin, (Our school council lead) will be sharing information around this. There will also be a cake sale after school.
I have asked teachers to turn off Dojos this weekend so in an emergency please email the head teacher email.
Have a lovely weekend.
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Warm Spaces
Wed 26 Oct 2022Good Morning all,
I have attached a picture below of an initiative by the long Eaton and Sawley Churches to offer warm spaces and warm drinks to anyone in the community who may need it over the winter.
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Friday update
Fri 14 Oct 2022Happy Friday all.
What a great week we have had here at Dovedale.
The year 3/4 team continued our excellent football season by coming 2nd in their tournament. A huge well done and thank you to the staff and children for representing our school so positively.
Year 3 children were treated to a Diwali workshop yesterday, creating some lovely artwork and working around the story of Diwali as part of our work with Erewash arts.
Mrs Kelly's class presented an excellent class assembly on Thursday. The children presented confidently showcasing their writing, dance, oratory and acting skills. Well done to all in Richard Arkwright class.
The parent's eve slots have been sent out and we are aware that we can't fit everyone in at the times they wish. Unfortunately the hours only stretch so far for those more sought after times. If you can't get the time slot you need contact your child's class teacher and they will arrange a mutually convenient time.
This afternoon the children attended their Expert group workshops. These are the groups that the children selected as areas of interest. We will be inviting parents to attend a session on these later in the year so that you can see some of the activities your child has been experiencing.
Following on from my request for parent supervision in the morning prior to the gates being opened by staff, can I add that children should not be racing around the car park or paths on their scooters or climbing the tree. I understand children may want to hide under the tree but it is a hazard for them to be climbing it as the branches are breaking. Please talk to your children about this.
We are advertising a midday post under vacancies on our website.
A big thank you to the PTA who have supplied us with new chairs and work tables for some of the class spaces that were in need of a refresh. Also for our lovely new benches. See photos below.
All staff have been incredibly busy again this week and I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for stepping up and supporting each other. The team spirit at Dovedale really helps us get through tricky moments and makes it a positive learning environment for the children.
I have asked teachers to turn dojos off for space at the weekend. In case of an emergency please contact the headteacher's email.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
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Black History Month
Mon 10 Oct 2022Good afternoon all,
Last week we kicked off black history month in school with an assembly explaining how we could not possibly celebrate all of black history in a month, but that we need to raise awareness of some of the amazing black people in history as black people's history has been under represented or misrepresented over time. We took some time to look at some individuals who the children may not have heard of.
It is important to remember that statistics from the world economic forum show that the vast majority of young black British people have experienced racism at school, with one in two feeling that racial stereotypes hinder their academic achievement, research shows.
• 95% of young Black British people have witnessed racist language in education
• More than half of males said they hear racist language in school ‘all the time.’
We do not want this to be our school or our children.
In our school we follow the value of respect and the British value of equality.
We will challenge racist language or stereotyping.
It is important for us to discuss with children how everyone should be equal but still celebrate our differences. Difference is an amazing thing which should be celebrated because it is what makes us human.
At Dovedale Primary School we will not tolerate racism or discrimination. We believe that discussing race and educating our children about differences will support them in supporting each other and celebrating diversity.
I have attached a couple of links for you to share with your children if you so wish. Please view them first to determine if they are appropriate for your individual child.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/joinin/black-history-month
https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/
We will continue to celebrate black history not only this month especially but every month.
I have also uploaded the assembly schedule under the children's tab so that you can see the different areas we cover in our assemblies in case you wish to discuss these with your children.
I will post some of our recorded assemblies or power points in here also.
Have a good week.
