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.