Downsview Primary prepares for Christmas!

Downsview Primary prepares for Christmas!

1^st December 2015

With the beginning of Advent and the festive season commencing, preparations are now underway for our Christmas Performances! Our EYFS & Key Stage 1 children will be performing ‘Christmas around the World’ and our Key Stage 2 children will be performing a traditional carol service with special readings.

The performances will be held in the school hall at 2:00p.m on the following days:

 EYFS & KS1: Monday 14^th & Wednesday 16^th December

KS2: Tuesday 15^th & Thursday 17^th December

Entry to each performance will be by ticket only – letters have been sent home (Tuesday 1^st December) with details of how to obtain tickets. Due to limited seating and capacity in the hall, we can only allocate two tickets per family per performance.

 Following parental feedback, we will ensure that we make different arrangements for next year. I would like to offer my apologies to all those parents/carers who have had some difficulty in arranging time off work to come and see the productions. Next year, we will reconsider the timings and try to make it easier for working parents.

 

 

 

11.11.15

Armistice Day: 11th November 2015

Today is a very important day and to commemorate Armistice Day, we held a special assembly giving everyone a chance to 'remember'.

During the assembly, we listened to the cannons fire in the town and fell silent to think about, pay respect and honour those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom today.

The children were asked to think about the significance of the poppy and why we wear them at this time of the year. We also watched a short video made by The Royal British Legion to show the children how all of the money raised by the Poppy Appeal is spent, supporting ex-servicemen and woman and families affected by war.

Our assembly today, like last year, was calm, peaceful and full of thought. Afterwards, the children were given time to reflect, ask questions and discuss Remembrance Day in their classroom with their teacher.

Thank you to everyone who donated some money towards the Poppy Appeal. Lest we forget.

 

Term 2 is underway...

Term 2 @ Downsview Primary School

 
After a week off, I hope that everyone is refreshed and ready for another busy term of learning. Term 2 is really important – there was lots of good progress made in the first term of the year and we need to maintain this momentum and continue to improve.
 
Teaching staff have been busy planning their topics for Term 2 using our recently introduced Cornerstones Curriculum. There are four phases within the Cornerstones work that we do in school; engage, develop, innovate and express. When starting a new topic, we want to motivate and engage the children so they are fired up about their learning. This is done in the ‘engage’ phase. The ‘develop’ phase gives lots of time for new learning and knowledge whilst the ‘innovate’ phase allows children a chance to apply their newly acquired skills and knowledge. Finishing with the ‘express’ phase, children prepare to share their learning and show just how much they have learnt or improved. The implementation of the new curriculum has really helped us to link concepts in a meaningful and effective manner.
 
Term 2 topics for each year group can be seen below:

Year Group:	Topic Title & Theme:
Year R (Apple Class)	‘Are we nearly there yet?’ Children will be starting with a journey into space and then thinking about other journeys closer to home.
Year 1 (Birch Class)	‘Dinosaur Planet’ History based project focusing on dinosaurs and life long ago.
Year 2 (Cherry Class)	‘Muck, Mess and Mixtures’ An art and design based project focusing on different materials including clay and other messy materials.
Year 3 (Elm Class)	‘Scrumdiddlyumptious!’ A design technology based project based on different foods and recipes.
Year 4 (Fir Class)	‘Traders and Raiders’ History based project focusing mainly on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking life.
Year 5 (Holly Class)	‘Stargazers’ Science based project focusing on our solar system, the sun, moon and stars.
Year 6 (Oak Class)	‘A child’s war’ History based project focusing on WWII and what young children experienced.

 Each topic has a subject theme or focus (e.g: Science, Music, Art, PE) with other subjects and skills creatively linked. Over the year, the school carefully plans to ensure all subjects and skills in the National Curriculum are covered.

Year 3 visit Shorne Country Park

Year 3 visit Shorne Country Park
At the end of Term 1, Elm Class spent a day in the great outdoors to further develop their knowledge and skills. It was an action packed day at Shorne Country Park.The children became:
* Nature Detectives
* Historians
* Archaeologists
* 3D Art Sculptors
An excellent day of outdoor learning. The children were highly engaged and the level of discussion and teamwork was great to observe.

As Nature Detectives the children had to classify materials carefully and justify their decisions.

We met a real archaeologist to discuss the Stone Age. The children handled artefacts that were 10,000years old!

Teamwork in action! As artists, the children had to create 3D sculptures using the nature around them.

 

Friday 16th October 2015: Weekly Review of Learning

Recently, Year 2 visited Swanley Fire Station. As you can see from just a few of the photos, it was an action packed experience. More photos are available in the 'gallery' section of our website.

Putting the fire out...

We explored the fire engine...

Friday 16th October: Weekly Review of Learning
Our Year 6 pupils solved a cyber-bullying crime (set up by Swanley Police) using forensic analysis and fingerprinting technology this week. Not only was it highly engaging and interesting, it was also packed with great science and important e-safety reminders.

PC Kemsley and PC Garfield joined Oak Class on Wednesday lunchtime to discover a crime scene that required investigating...

Oh no! What's happened?

It needed careful attention and detail...

CSI (Crime Scene Investigator) fingerprinting...

Police presence was required and the crime was successfully solved!

After their success, the pupils explored a patrol vehicle (and found out how to operate the 'blues and two's!'. An excellent afternoon of learning.

Exploring the police car - lights and sirens blaring!

Harvest Festival

On Thursday 15th October, we celebrated our Harvest Festival. To make it special, we asked everyone to bring in either a tin or packet of food that could be shared with those less fortunate or in greater need than us. Thank you to everyone who donated a gift...our display looked fabulous!

Our wonderful harvest collection - thank you for your generosity.

Mrs Shah led our assembly and focused the theme on 'Harvest Around the World'. Lots of countries celebrate the harvest and do so in many different ways. It was great to see the children thinking about other cultures and discussing why the harvest is important to everyone throughout the world.

We finished assembly with a beautiful harvest song, led by Mr Harris. Our children sing incredibly well and it is lovely to hear their voices in unison.

Thank you again for your generosity and making our Harvest Festival really special. All of the food donations will be shared with senior citizens in the local community via Age Concern. As last year, we are also sharing our gifts with 16+ youngsters who have recently left care or in need.

Summer Holidays August 2015

It has been quite a long time since I last wrote a blog - apologies for this. It is my intention to be a more regular 'blogger' in the forthcoming academic year.

Firstly, I hope that you have been and are still enjoying your break (despite the weather!). Frankly, there has been very little sunshine to enjoy but I'm sure that hasn't stopped you having fun with the family!

During my final assembly of the year on the last day of school in July, I did ask the children to make sure that they 'exercised their brains' regularly over the holiday...it is so important to keep the key skills of reading, writing and number going over such a lengthy break from school. In just two weeks, a child can forget skills and concepts learnt so it is crucial that over a five week period your child has done something to keep their brain alive.

What have you done to maintain your brain power?!

How many books has your child read this holiday? Perhaps they could come and tell me about their favourites when they return to school! Has anyone written a book review?

Has your child kept a holiday diary or had a chance to do some writing? If not, why not ask them to write a recount about their favourite day or favourite moments of the holiday so far?

Number games and puzzles are always great fun! Has your child played with number this holiday, or spotted patterns or different shapes around them? Dare I mention...times-tables?! If they've not done any yet, it isn't too late - the quicker and more confident they are with their tables the easier they find their Mathematics...go on - go for it! Just 5 minutes a day until we return to school will really help!

I am looking forward to the year ahead and September in particular. The school comes alive when it is filled with smiling, positive and hard working bodies (children and staff alike!)...remember school for children in Years 1 to 6 begins on Monday 7th September. The gates will open at 8:40a.m with registration at 8:55a.m sharp!

Year R children join us a week later on 14th September after Miss Page and the EYFS Team have completed 'home visits'.

See you soon - for lots of learning, hard work and success!

Mr Edwards :)

Year 4

Friday 12th March 

Today it was Red Nose Day, all day we've  been doing activities in little booklets with fun things. At the end of the day it was Downviews' got talent, a talent show with jokes,street dances and more!
Max

Year 6

Red Nose Day

Red nose day was a big hit!! Everybody in school enjoyed it. There were all different talents like: dancing; singing; hula hooping; gymnastics; Irish dancing and street dancing. All the talents were so amazing!!!!

There were: duets; singles and groups. We also had a surprise act which were all the teachers and teacher assistants dancing and singing. it was an amazing event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mathematics

In maths this week we have been learning division. In Mr Edwards math group we have been learning how to work out Pi. We did an experiment in Mr Edwards maths group which was investigating different sized circles.

Kaitlin

Year 4

Tuesday 31 March

In maths this week we have been doing measuring. In English we are all learning about Judaism and today we are writing up Easter stories on laptops.
Max

Term 4 Week 2: Already!!

Year 4 

In Maths we have been learning about money. In English we have been going on the laptops and going on ELC zone 33. We have also been  reading Raven Steals the Light, Sedra the Sea Goddess.

Max

Year 6

Cyber Bulling Posters

Every Friday we get taught by Mrs Carter because her class has to go swimming. This week and last week she has been teaching us about e-safety. We created e-safety posters and on the posters it is explaining what e-safety is. We did the poster for anyone who does not understand what e-safety is. 

At this moment in time, the posters are being judged by Mr Edwards. We will hopefully be finding out who the winners are next week.

Magical World Of Myst

In our class we have been using a game called Myst to inspire our imagination and improve our English. We created adverts about why you should buy Myst. This week we have been writing diary entries to do with Myst. We have been having an amazing time playing in the world of Myst.

Kaitlin

Year 5

This week in Science we have been investigating the most absorbent material. The materials that we used were: kitchen roll, toilet paper and cloth in water. We have been having an amazing time in Science. In English we have been writing our own newspaper reports about The Great Fire of London and the Gunpowder Plot!

Luke