End of Term News Letter

School re-opens on 3rd January 2017

Welcome to the end the Autumn term’s news letter

Attendance

The following pupils have been in school every day since the

beginning of the Autumn Term

Chloe Alexander Ciaran Armitt Anya Bancroft-Rimmer Brandon Beanland

Adam Brett Katie Bowring Kieran Brown Daniel Cawley

Muadh Chowdhury Guy Delbridge-Mills Babak Ebrahimi Jack Graham

Alanna Grufferty Jordan Gunn Jay Khera-Silchenstedt Kiefer Lindberg

Jack Macaulay Louise Marchant Jolie Marshall Nkosi Mpofu

Zachary Nye Isaac Oliviero Jimmy Palmer Luke Sayers

Morgan Thompson Adam Tobli

Well done to all the above!

Our attendance for the whole school for the past term is 94%

Individual attendance records will be sent home with the children

We have presented the Student of the Week cup 9 times this term.

Well done to Liam S, Ciaran, Elle, Asa, Ali, Jimmy, Kieran B, Joseph M and

Daniel C. All these pupils were awarded the cup for being good, hard-working or

achieving a difficult target.

New Staff this term

This term we have welcomed Sarah Pillar into Holly Class as a teaching

assistant and Rory Heffernan into Year 11 also as a teaching assistant.

Chantalle Wookey has joined us as our new music teacher and was thrown in the

deep end with Downs Park Christmas Shows and the Schools Concert this term!

We hope they will all be very happy here.

New Children this term

In September we welcomed the following pupils to Downs Park -

Jay G, Dora, Neha, Niels, Bethany, Louise, Asha, Cedric, Daniel B, Zeph,

Freddy, Anton, Oliwia, Hayden, Richard!! They have all settled into the Downs

Park routine very well and all seem very happy. They are all working hard.

End of Term News Letter

School re-opens on 3rd January 2017

Here are some of the highlights from the last half term’s diary

20th September The pupils in Year 10 who are doing an art qualification went on

a trip to see the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.

The work they have produced from this trip is stunning.

Jolie Billy

Jack M

September 27th Some very lucky pupils went fishing for the day. This was

organised by the Masons who provided all the equipment and a fantastic lunch.

Everybody caught at least one fish (they were all put back into the lake!).

A great day was had by all.

September 30th We held a Macmillan cake sale in school and raised £278.52

10th October Boys went to a football tournament at the Triangle in Burgess Hill

Thank you to all who sent cakes in to be sold and

for providing your children with money to buy the

cakes. Also thank you to everybody who joined us

for tea and cake

End of Term News Letter

School re-opens on 3rd January 2017

20th October Carousel came into school for a film making sessions as part of

Drama exam work

31st October Maple and Willow classes went to the Titanic Museum in

Southampton as part of their English topic work. They went by train and had an

interesting journey there and back due to the disruption on Southern Rail,

taking 5 trains instead of 2! The trip to the museum was very interesting and

all were extremely well behaved.

2nd November Year 11 started at South Downs College in Lewes, they are

attending for 12 Wednesdays. They go with a member of DP staff but are

taught by lecturers from the college. This is a great introduction into college

life.

24th November we had our Children in Need day and raised £76.80.

29th November The staff turned into elves and decorated the school for

Christmas. The downstairs corridor looks particularly stunning.

1st December Parents’ Evening- thank you to all those who came. Some staff

were absent due to the nasty stomach bug that did the rounds here and their

meetings are to be rescheduled for the second Thursday of the Spring term.

New letters have gone home for you to book your appointments.

5th December Children in the school choir took part in the school’s Christmas

concert at the Brighton Centre. They were part of a choir of many hundreds of

children. It was a lovely evening and they all sang really well.

End of Term News Letter

School re-opens on 3rd January 2017

7th December We were again really lucky to have tickets bought for us to go

and see the Pantomime Peter Pan at Worthing Pavilion Theatre. The tickets

were bought for us by Mr and Mrs Stoner. We all had a great time with lots

and lots of audience participation!!!

8th December Years 8 and 9’s Christmas treat trip. This year they went to Out

of Bounds where they clipped and climbed and did tenpin bowling. The highlight

for many was buying their lunch from the café!

9th December Years 10 and 11 went on their Christmas treat trip and they went

ice skating and ten pin bowling.

End of Term News Letter

School re-opens on 3rd January 2017

13th December A very hectic day! The lower school performed their Christmas

show at 9.30, the upper school did theirs at 10.30 and then at 1.15 the upper

school had their Christmas party! Thank you to all of you who attended the

performances, it means a great deal to the children to see faces in the

audience they recognise.

14th December Santa made his annual visit to the lower school Christmas party

where he gave out lots of presents!

15th December Christmas jumper day, raising £54.30 for Save the Children I

was also our school Christmas dinner- a big thank you to our cook Christina for

preparing another delicious meal, she made 102 Christmas dinners!

16th December We held our big end of term assembly and prizes were given out

to pupils who had been at school every day this term and to those who had

worked consistently hard over the term, one pupil is picked by class teachers

from each class. This term the following pupils were awarded this.

Class Pupil

Apple Kiefer

Ash Rahim

Holly Luca

Pine Max

Oak Sophie

Beech Neha

Maple Melissa

Willow Ali

Year10 Jay

Year11 Autumn

Next term we will send you information about the consultation that is going to

take place about the amalgamation of Downs Park and Hillside. We will need you

to give your opinions when the consultation goes live in the Spring. We will keep

you updated with dates and meetings.

It now only leaves me to say I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and a

peaceful and happy New Year.

Jackie Brooks

Headteacher