Eggcellent Exper im ents

DamersNew s February 2017

N ews from the N ew Build

Cl ick here t o read t he lat est

in f orm at ion f rom our

Const ruct ion Com pany

Year 2 had a super Science day working out how to protect a fall ing egg. We looked at how Tim Peake returned to earth and how he

kept himself safe. We investigated the materials used in spaceships and designed our own contraptions to protect our fall ing eggs.

Which one do you think protected the egg best?

Dear Parents/Carers

This has been an action-packed half term and our journey through the Damers Decades is in full swing. This week has seen the return of Lawrence, the professional dancer who taught us all to shimmy, f il l ing the hall with the joyful sights and sounds of the 50s and 80s. It?s always a pleasure to watch the children working with Lawrence and responding to his level of expectation, but the staff in Year 2 were also an absolute joy to behold as they were transported back to the 80s this week!

If you have been into school recently you will have noticed that the boxes have arrived and the packing has begun in earnest. The activity that will be necessary to pack up our school over the next half term will mean that the building won?t lend itself to many gatherings or performances. We have therefore engaged a team of f ilm makers to document school l ife in our f inal few weeks at Damers Road and hope that we can welcome you in through f ilm to celebrate our farewell, rather than squeeze you in uncomfortably amongst the boxes.

In the meantime it?s business as usual and we will be coming back to events after half term such as World Book Day, our school book fair and the Fairtrade cafe. We try to keep things as simple as we can for you on days like World Book Day, whilst stil l ensuring that children see it as a

special opportunity to celebrate books. Thank you for your help in ensuring that the children have their ?blinged-up? reading glasses at the ready and we would also encourage you to have some fun over half term again taking some ?Extreme Reading? photographs.

We are looking forward to seeing all parents at our parent consultation evenings on the 28 February and the 1 March. These evenings provide a vital opportunity to meet with your child?s class teacher to discuss their current progress in school. As always if you are unable to attend for any reason, please let your class teacher know. Mrs Scott will also be making contact with families who are unable to attend to

arrange an alternative date or further support if needed.

After half term we will be sending out further details about our f inal farewell celebration which will take place in the evening of the 31 March in the school grounds. Now that we have a date to work with we will be f inalising plans with the PTA. We would love to welcome as many of you as possible to a ?Big Bang? send off so please save the date. I wish you all a restful half term break and look forward to seeing you back in school on the 20 February for the f inal half term at Damers Road.

Catherine SmithHeadteacher

This half term we have had some very interesting insights into maths and English. A new maths scheme is being integrated at Damers called Maths No Problem, this a new way to present maths by being taught lots of techniques to solve the same

problem, this enables all learners to become prof icient in a way that suits them, it also allows others to be extended and think deeper about maths, it is being rolled out in Year 1 at the moment, ask your child how they are liking it.

In English news, we were told about the boys? reading clubs which happen after school in four separate groups, one of the best things we heard from this was the feedback from the children themselves who thoroughly enjoy attending the group, reading books and maybe the occasional biscuit and hot chocolate. This is all about

Mat hs Mani a!All year groups have had an out of this world experience in the ?Space Science Dome? which visited out school. Our next destination in the human exploration of space will probably be Mars. The main challenge is that Mars is much farther away than the moon.

Your maths challenge is:

- How far away is Mars?- How many days in a Mars year?- How long is a Mars day?- How many moons does Mars

have?- How long would it take to get to

Mars? - If you and your crew could only

take a 1m cubed box for your journey, what would you take?

http:/ / spaceplace.nasa.gov/math-activit ies/en/

N ewspaper Club

GOVERNOR NEWS

with JoanneWibley

Here is the latest edition of Damers For You, written by a talented team of amazing Year 4 reporters. In it you'll f ind book reviews, Teacher Features, quizzes, jokes and ... Cheekster Kid! Click the page and enjoy a good read.

making life long readers, the group has access to new books specially chosen for the target audience, to inspire, motivate and engage. We hope the boys continue to enjoy this opportunity and inspire others to read.

The new school is now getting closer and closer, Mrs Smith has been working hard in the background to make the transition as smooth as possible, many children are excited about this, some a litt le nervous as change can be daunting. Students now have weekly updates to keep them informed and some will soon be visit ing the school to get themselves orientated and settled before the big move happens.The junior governors have been hard at work this term, in fact so much so that some things are having to wait until they f inish other projects. One thing they did was a pupil voice survey about how pupils feel about our school. They asked many questions and then collated the information. There were so many positives, such as most pupils said that their teacher cared about them and they felt they learned lots at school - superb!

Spor t s Leader s

SPORTS NEWSYear 8 Sport Leaders from Dorchester

Middle School have been working alongside many of our classes,

leading a range of dif ferent multi skil ls activit ies. Damers children have

had lots of fun taking part in these extra PE sessions.

A selection of children from Foundation took part in the DASP Foundation Dance Festival, held at Dorchester Middle School. The children have been developing a dance from their work on learning about the 'noughties decade' alongside Olympic legacy leader Steve Treble. They performed their dance with great confidence and enthusiasm to parents and other schools. Mrs Huelin and Mrs Thorpe would like to thank the parents who came along and supported the children.

Foundat ion Dance Fest ival

For m ore i n form a t i on on wh a t h appen s i n th e even t of ext rem e

wea th er, cl i ck h ere!

Jum p!Year 1 have been helping Tim Peake to f ind the best material to use for a parachute. We

used dif ferent papers, fabrics and plastics and sent him (Lego man) fall ing from the sky. We timed his descent and we think he is glad to

be back safely on the ground.

Aliens H ave Landed!

In Foundation this term we had some unexpected visitors! We have been busy investigating and discussing what we thought had happened. We have been writ ing reports for Mrs Smith and also made walkie-talkies to speak to Tim Peake and tell him what we had discovered. We have also enjoyed learning about space shuttles, planets, and life in space.

Bike N ewsThank you to everyone who entered last month's challenge! Your posters and leaf lets are great! Remember to keep staying safe on your bikes, scooters and when you're out walking by wearing bright and ref lective clothing. Thank you to Olivia for this great poster!

Bike and scooter Event rem inders:March 20th - Dr Bike Day Receive a free check up for your child's bike from Jonathan Dixon from Sustrans (aka Dr Bike).

March 20th to March 31st - Big Pedal Get on your bike and scooter for your journey to and from school. More details will follow nearer the time.

O u r cu rren t bi cycl e

sh el ters wi l l be i n sta l l ed

i n th e grou n d s of ou r

n ew sch ool d u ri n g th e

h a l f term break so th ere

wi l l be n o sh el ters on

ou r cu rren t si te over th e

n ext h a l f term .

E x t r e m e R e a d in g !

As part of our World Book Day celebrations we will, once again, be running our Extreme Reading Challenge. Last year this was incredibly successful and the children were photographed reading in some extremely extreme places!  

If your child would like to enter this year please email a photo (one per child) to extreme-read@damers.dorset.sch.uk by Wednesday 22nd February, we are unable to accept any late entries. Please write the name and year group of your child in the subject box. There is also a grown up category so why not enter yourself too! Please write parent entry and your child's name in the subject box.

Good Luck! 

Unfortunately a valuable and rare soil sample from Mars was carelessly mixed up with Earth samples. It was tasked to the Space Scientists in Year 4 to determine which was the all important sample so that we can further our knowledge of the 'Red Planet'.

We looked at colour, particle sizes, texture, acidity, porosity and salt content.

Our scientists were successful. Next we need to determine whether there are signs

of l ife in any of the samples!?

Soil Science! Space D ayYear 3 spent space day shooting rockets across the classroom. They were investigating air resistance through a rocket test and had some surprising results.

They also concentrated very hard on drawing self portraits in an astronauts helmet!

D a tes

for you r

d ia ry

Mon 13th Feb Half Term

Mon 20th Feb Back to School

w/c Mon 20th Feb Artist in Residence - Des Alner

Fri 24th Feb 6.00 - 7.00pm - PTA Disco

Mon 27th Feb Roving Bookshop

Tues 28th Feb 10.30am - Base Coffee Morning

3.30 - 6.30pm - Parent/Teacher Meetings

Wed 1st Mar 3.30 - 5.30pm - Parent/Teacher Meetings

Thurs 2nd Mar World Book Day - Blinged Up Glasses

Sat 4th Mar Past Pupils Celebration

Tues 7th Mar Fairtrade Cafe

Fri 10th Mar Year 4 Orienteering

Thurs 16th Mar DASP Year 4 Concert at St Osmund's

Mon 20th Mar Dr Bike Day & the start of The Big Pedal

Wed 22nd Mar Online Safety Day

Fri 31st Mar Proposed End of Term

6.30pm - Community Farewell Event (details to follow after half term)

Mon 24th Apri l Damers, Liscombe Street opens!

W e a re col l ect i n g Sa in sbu ry's A ct i ve K id s vou ch ers for a Ku rl i n g Set for u se d u ri n g i n d oor PE l esson s an d for th i s we n eed a m assi ve 10 ,9 74 vou ch ers! Pl ease h el p u s reach ou r ta rget - ei th er sen d th em in wi th you r ch i l d or post th em in to th e col l ect i on box i n th e offi ce.

PTA D a tes for you r d ia ry Monday 20th February ? PTA meeting at 3.30pm in the school staff room. Everyone welcome! Supervision will be available for Damers pupils but please email us damerspta@gmail.com to let us know so we can make arrangements.

Friday 24th February ? Farewell disco at Damers Road! Come along for the last dance at Damers Road. 6pm-7pm tickets £2 per child. Soft drinks, water, sweets, crisps, popcorn and raisins plus glowsticks for sale in Foundation classrooms. Tickets on sale after half term at the off ice.

Dur ing the next hal f term we m ay be look ing for volunteers for a var iety of ?pack ing? act ivi t ies. I f we have any gardeners out there we would very m uch welcom e

som e help in pott ing up the contents of our school garden beds before the plants are tr anspor ted to Liscom be St. I f you are able to spare a couple of hours over the next hal f term then please contact M r M oore via the school off ice.

Plant packers wanted!