23rd January 2015 Dear Parents, We have seen some beautiful

23rd January 2015
Dear Parents,
We have seen some beautiful winter frosts and sunshine this week enabling us to enjoy our
lovely surroundings. School is settling down and as always I am pleased to update you on
our activities this week, as well as providing information on forthcoming events.
Firstly an apology: in last week’s Newsletter I reported on the end of term Carol Service but
Chloe Smith, our Drama Captain, who did one of the readings was omitted. Apologies to
Chloe.
CONGRATULATIONS
A Merit Certificate has been presented to Sophie Fifield.
A Bronze Merit Certificate and Badge has been presented to Sophie Landauer.
Head Teacher’s Awards have been presented to:
Emma Harris and Cleodie Sellick for an outstanding literary essay.
Margaux Jones-Crampette, Jackson Smith, Sophie Turner, Lobke Wevers, Edward
Braithwaite, Scarlett Clough, Ryan Cooke and Leah Rymer for outstanding sketchbook
work.
Year Five Mathematics Challenge: On Monday four children from Middle Juniors (Hebe
Parrott, Issy Bluestone, Wilf Moore and Frankie Powell) were invited to Portsmouth
Grammar school to take part in a Primary Maths Challenge; this particular challenge was just
open for children in Year 5.
We were ushered into the theatre at PGS where we saw it was filled
with lots of other children. 27 other schools in the area were also
asked to take part. In pairs we joined up with three other pairs of
children and over the course of the afternoon, we had to complete
eight challenges. They ranged from reading train timetables,
completing tangrams and even playing dominoes! They were pretty
hard and we were marked after each section. The scores were
collected after each challenge.
At the end of the afternoon, the scores were announced; we didn’t
win, but we didn’t embarrass ourselves either!
We had a really good time, but by the end of the afternoon our brains were hurting! The
children represented Ditcham Park very well and I was very proud of them. Miss Blackey
Duke of Edinburgh Award:
Bronze Awards: Amy Braithwaite, Rebecca Ingall-Tombs, Lewis Knott
Silver Awards: Hannah Fearn, George Clare, Kai Rogers
Gold Award: Jaspar Rogers
Silver DofE Night Navigation Challenge. On Friday evening Form 5 pupils braved the cold
and used their compasses and maps to navigate round a remote common in the dark to find
10 checkpoints! The exercise is meant to mimic poor visibility and to force dependence on
the use of pacings and compass bearings. With a moon-less sky, the teams certainly
experienced poor visibility! Not only did each team have to work together to find the
checkpoints, but they also had to answer multiple choice questions about navigation and
then put the answer letters together to solve the anagram. Mid-way through the evening,
the teams cooked a meal on a Trangia stove by torchlight.
Congratulations to: Poppy Beaumont, Ellie Marks, Hannah Sellick, Olivia Bicknell, Olivia
Sprackling, Floss Willcocks, India Eastwood, Indi Rowley, Lauren Soden-Bridger, Izzy
Gordon, Molly Bowles, Ella Guimaraens, Clarisse Murphy, Holly Symonds, Millie
Clough, Sorcha Smith, Stuart Levitt, Dan May, Matthew Fifield, Adam Dixon, Myles
Reiss-Bidmead, Michael Farrell, Lewis Knott, Will Prior, George Roland, Sebby
Bluestone, James Shirley, Joe Chapman, Simon Main, and Ollie Stockley.
Our thanks go to Ditcham DofE Instructors Richard Rainbow (ML) who devised the course,
Paul Flint (ML), John Mottershead and Paul Milner (both Silver DofE Instructors) for giving
up their time to set out the course and supervise the teams.
New Arrangements for School Trips
With effect from next Monday 26th January, we are introducing a new way for parents
to give permission for children to take part in school trips. You will still be emailed a
letter for every trip that is planned giving details of the arrangements, but instead of
having a slip at the bottom for you to sign and return, you will need to log on to the
school website Parent Information\Parents’ Area where you will see a link in Red
called “DPS Trip Authorisation Form” which will take you to a screen like the one
below. From here you will simply need to select the appropriate trip, type in your
child’s name followed by your name and the date, and then press Submit. We believe
this will simplify matters for you and reduce the need for paper copies coming back to
school. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
Sports News
Match Results:
U13 Netball v. Meoncross School
U11 Boys’ Hockey v. Churcher’s A
U11 Boys’ Hockey v. Churcher’s B
U11 Boys’ Hockey v. Dunhurst
Lost
Drew
Won
Won
4-6
1-1
2-0
3-0
U15 Netball v. Frensham Heights
U11 Rugby v. Mayville
U11 Netball v.Meoncross
U9 Mixed Hockey v. Dunhurst
U14/U15 Table Tennis v. Meoncross
U13 Netball v. Bohunt
Won
Lost
Lost
Won
Won
Lost
24-13
1-6
4-6
39-9
10-33
Next Week’s Fixtures:
26th January U9 Rugby v. Alton Convent (H)
U12 Netball v. TPS (H)
27th January U14 & U15 Football v. Frensham Heights (A)
28th January U12 & U13 Girls’ Hockey v. Dunhurst (A)
U12 Football v. Dunhurst (H)
29th January U12 & U13 Netball v. Frensham Heights (H)
U12 & U13 Football v. Frensham Heights (H)
U14 Indoor Football v. Meoncross (H)
th
30 January U16 Tabletennis v. Meoncross (H)
Senior Hockey Club : Please note that the start time of the Seniors’ Hockey Club at
Bedales has been changed from next Monday and will now run between 6:15-7:15pm on the
astro pitch.
Hockey News – County Players JAC U13-U16: We have 5 senior girls who have reached
the final assessment for Hampshire JAC squad this weekend: Ella Saunders (U13), Ella
Welch (U14), Lobke Wever (U15), Christine Roberts (U15) and Indi Rowley (U16). The
girls have all done so well to get this far, selected from over 300 girls in their age groups
from all over Hampshire. The final County team will be chosen this weekend from the
remaining 30 girls in each age group. Good luck to all our girls involved. Mrs Rowley
Congratulations to Harry Sage who recently competed in a
race organised by the Hampshire Schools’ Athletics
Association finishing 27th out of 90 (4th for South East Hants)
and with his team finishing 4th overall.
Forthcoming Events:
Bronze DofE Day Hike: Good luck to all pupils who are
taking part in the Day Hike on Saturday 24th January.
Burns Night Ceilidh: The Friends’ Burns Night celebrations
are on Saturday 24th January at The Tithe Barn. I look
forward to seeing you there.
Form 2 Parents’ Evening: This is on Tuesday 27th January,
6:00-9:00pm. Please make sure that your child has
completed an appointments sheet for you.
Form 1 Entrance Exam
This is taking place on Wednesday 28th January. Please note that there will be a lot of
extra traffic on site at the beginning and end of the day. The whole of the front area of the
school will be kept clear for visitors and we would ask that you respect this arrangement and
drop off/pick up children in other areas on this day. Thank you for your co-operation
Lower Juniors visit: On Wednesday 28th January our Lower Juniors will be enjoying a
trip to the Search Museum in Gosport.
Battle of the Bands: On Friday 30th January the Seniors will be holding the hotly
contested, and much anticipated, Battle of the Bands competition. This will run in school
from 1:30-3:00pm with pupils returning to normal lessons in Period 8.
I hope that you and your families will have an enjoyable weekend.
Andrew Rowley
Head Teacher