#ICT2inspire…what our children thought!

Inspired to write...

After their writing workshops with Mr Rylands, I asked the children for their feedback. These are some of the comments received…they are all genuine quotes from the children and I'm both delighted and proud of them all!

"What an amazing experience! It was such good fun. We learnt to just throw out our ideas and go for it!" Kaitlin & Sinead

"I've never done that much writing before." Alexus

"We have learnt that cliffhangers hold the readers attention and makes them want to read on…" Isha, Shoniwa & India

"We went on an adventure and it was great!" David

"We've learnt to recognise and use effective similes and metaphors." Harry & Clarease

"I loved it when we found out where the squeaky voice was coming from"    Tristan

"I enjoyed the part where we spoke poshly...and then, like pirates!" Connor

"Mr Rylands gave me the encouragement and confidence to write more." Keira

"We've learnt to use commas correctly." Aliyyah & Lewis B

"Mr Rylands is a man of laughter!" Jack & Sophie

"Our imaginations are explorable!" Alfie & Daniel

"Interesting vocabulary creates better writing." Oliver & Hanna

"Thanks to Mr Rylands modelling, I can now use punctuation better." Lewis F

"The ideas just crawled into my head and out on to the page!" Kaitlin

"What a humorous and entertaining lesson." Dilip

"We learnt how to open and finish sentences in different ways. It makes your writing more interesting." Marshal & Elisa

"I am going to re-phrase my wording to create better sentences. I'm going to translate my writing by using different words that mean the same." Ben

"It was a brilliant learning experience!" Emily P, Izzy & Charlie

Thanks for an 'awesome' day!

#ICT2inspire with Tim Rylands & Sarah Neild

Everyone at Downsview Primary School was extremely proud and excited to welcome Tim Rylands  & Sarah Neild recently for a two day exploration of inspirational ICT and technology. 

Arriving on 23rd October 2014, Tim worked with children and staff alike in some 'myst'erious writing workshops. Following these, Tim and Sarah then led a day of staff development training and shared many fantastic online resources and tools that could be used to enhance learning and truly engage our children.

"Mr Rylands made learning fun and exciting!"

"I just had to write my ideas down."

"Writing is fun!"

Engaged children - keen to share ideas!

Mr Rylands in action…involving children in their learning.

"Mr Rylands was really funny!"

Tim's work is mainly focused around writing and how to become a better writer, but he goes way beyond just writing. Tim is about developing children's thinking and imagination…he is passionate about developing children's curiosity…he is about engaging children in their learning and inspiring them to be the best that they can be. To help him do this, he mixes brilliant teaching with a computer gaming programme.

The two day event, funded through The Swanley Collaboration, was a huge success and I'm very proud of our school for organising and hosting it. Our next step is to use some of the incredible technology and online resources available to further our children's enjoyment of learning and success. 

A belated welcome back!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of blog posts recently. 

Term 1 began positively and we were soon so busy with good teaching and learning that we've forgotten to get the blog up and running again. 

Apologies! This will be rectified now with an exciting blog about our recent visit from Tim Rylands to follow...

On Friday 11th July 2014, thirteen Year Four and Five Downsview pupils travelled to Benenden School for the Music Plus Kent Music Experience…

It was a very busy and tiring day, but well worth it! On arrival, it was straight on to the stage for rehearsal time. There were six local schools involved in the concert and a large audience was expected…

Following the music, ready to go!

Practising is hard work!

Everyone working together...

Ready for show time!

The children were fantastic! After rehearsals there was time to swim, take part in a percussion workshop and listen to other groups of musicians performing.

At 7:00p.m, it was show time…and a brilliant performance it was too! Well done to all of the children involved.

Thanks to Mrs Jarvis for organising the event and to school staff for their support.

Downsview's Got Talent

On Tuesday 25th March we had our Downsview's Got Talent show. This is where children performed their talents. We had lots of acts performing this afternoon in the hall. Everyone was so brilliant it nearly brought tears to our eyes and everyone was cheering. Most of the acts were singers, dancers or joke tellers. Courtney & Katie in year 6 and David & Tristan in year 1 performed some gymnastics which included handstands and cartwheels.
In our class we had Vienna who skipped with a hula-hoop, Toby who sang an Olly Murs song and Abi, Abbie, Becky, Tieghan, Tiffany and Keeley who sung and danced to Carly Rae Jepsen.
On Friday we will perform again to all of the parents and visitors who come to see us. We will be bringing in costumes and dressing up clothes to wear.

by Cherry Class

Science Week in Key Stage 1 and EYFS

Apple class have been doing a science experiment to see how many straws they could join together and still drink water.  They have been leaning about sharing . They listened to the story Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson.


Birch class stuff;

They had to get straws and sellotape on the straws and put it in a cup.
They have also been doing  poems and singing. They have been learning to tell the time with clocks .
When they have been doing art they have been making monsters.
Also they  been practising their assembly .


Cherry class have been learning lots about Science. They have described what it would be like to go on a journey to Mars. They have also had a go at using chromatography to split colours. In art they used acids and alkalis to make rainbow fish and they have been testing parachutes.

Key Stage 1 this week

This week Apple class have been travelling along a bench in P.E. and also balancing and also made animal puppets. They played the bus stop game and some number games.

This week in Cherry class we have practicing our assembly and getting stuff sorted for it. Also we have been practicing  our ocarina  for our assembly. We have been reading African stories such as the rain goddess, Mamo on the Mountain, Grace and family, Amazing Grace and Almaz and the lion.
We have been learning about the Seychelles islands. They are made up of 130 islands. The Seychelles are the smallest parts of Africa. There is a big one of them and one is so small that you can't see it on a map that has all the parts of Africa. We have been using mod rock and improving our models. In our phonics we have been learning about tip top: T and I stand for time and p stands for person  and in top T and o stands for topic and action  and p stands for place.  

A beach in The Seychelles

In Birch class they have been leaning 2 digit numbers and in English they are reading and writing  rhymes and learning about castles.


by Vienna, Abbie, Finley and Liam