News Dear Parents and Carers If I haven’t seen you in school since the start of this new term, a belated Happy New Year. I recognise that the Christmas break may now be a distant memory but I hope that you all enjoyed a happy and peaceful break with your families. The children have welcomed the dawn of a new decade with open arms and we have enjoyed sharing their hopes and dreams for the future during the last few weeks, with a particular focus on interdependence. Mrs Bearwish has provided you with an overview of our curriculum plans for the spring on page 2 of the newsletter and has outlined some of the ways in which we will further develop our connections with nature as our teacher this term. You may have heard the word ‘Harmony’ used when talking about our curriculum and we would very much like to share a greater insight into our curriculum design

with you this term, explaining how this term is used and the importance that it now has within our curriculum. In order to do this you will be invited in to school to hear a little bit from me about the theory behind our planning, but probably most importantly to join your children to see ‘Harmony’ in action. We will be sharing some of the ‘Great Works’ that will have evolved this term on the following dates ...

Please remember that if you would like to talk to me about any aspect of your child’s learning or their school day, I am on the gate most mornings. Cold winter mornings warm up significantly with a smile and a good news story. We also look forward to seeing you all at our parent / teacher meetings just before half term. We look forward to sharing whatever 2020 holds in store for us all and thank you in advance for your continuous support in the coming year. Catherine Smith Headteacher

January 2020

Going Round in Circles!

Year 1 have enjoyed

their recent Harmony

sessions exploring

concentric circles in

nature. We saw them

in cut tree trunks,

butterfly wings, in

water and beautiful

geodes.

We then looked at a

wonderful painting by

the artist Kandinsky

who used concentric

circles. All the classes

had a go at making

their own collaborative

piece of art work.

Year 2

Display of Work

27th March

2.15pm

Year 1

Singing , Story Telling & Art

25th March

9.00am

Year 4

The Eclectic Emporium of the

Jurassic Coast

31st March

2.15pm

Year 3

Display of Work

30th March

2.15pm

Foundation

Art Display

1st April

2.30pm

Harmony in Action Time to stand and stare and realise how lucky we are ... look where we live! The Jurassic Coast is

one of the most spectacular and magical coastlines in England, and has been given World Heritage

status in recognition of its geological importance. It extends for 95 miles and takes in dramatic cliffs,

spectacular arches and sea stacks. What better way to learn from nature than to immerse ourselves

in this amazing and dramatic story of the richest 185 million

years, living and breathing the Earth’s history. Whether studying

magnificent beasts that roamed our planet millions of years ago,

taking a walk through time or discovering the stomping ground of

the most famous fossil hunters, the nature surrounding us will

teach us how to live in Harmony with each other and with nature

now and into the future.

Our learning will also tackle the challenges that nature faces

helping us to rethink how we live in relation to the world around

us, to heal and restore nature and ourselves.

The key questions that we will be asking will include …

How can our growing generation protect and nurture this stunning part of their lives?

How can we inspire our children to create and implement more sustainable practices and

solutions to the challenges which we face?

How do we offer our children opportunities to

engage meaningfully in the issues of our time -

showing care, compassion, respect and

responsibility?

In order to answer these questions we will learn that

Nature’s 7 key principles of Harmony are a good

place to start.

These principles remain at the heart of our curriculum

design so watch this space to find out more

about each principle as the term unfolds.

Year 2

Display of Work

27th March

2.15pm

Year 1

Singing , Story Telling & Art

25th March

9.00am

Year 4

The Eclectic Emporium of the

Jurassic Coast

31st March

2.15pm

Year 3

Display of Work

30th March

2.15pm

Foundation

Art Display

1st April

2.30pm

Any Harry Potter fans? Why not go along to the Harry Potter Night at Dorchester Library

on Thursday 6th February from

4pm to 5pm. There will be board games,

crafts and a whole lot more. Children under 8 must be accompanied by

an adult.

Year 3 came back to a break in to the bird

hide. There were lots of items scattered across

the floor including an expensive silver watch,

mobile phone and many different tools. The

children investigated the crime scene drawing

up a list of people of interest. They interviewed

Mrs Smith, Mr Tims and Miss Stretton to help

them with their enquiries. The children then

used what they had found out to write a

newspaper article about the crime scene.

We are delighted to

welcome Mr Andy

Baker to the team at

Damers. Mr Baker will be working

with us during the spring and summer terms to

further develop our music provision. Mr Baker

was, for over 20 years, the ‘Community

Musician’ for Bournemouth Symphony

Orchestra, a role that took him into many

schools and communities all over the country,

creating and performing all kinds of music with

all kinds of people.

"I am very excited to be given the chance to

further develop music at Damers. Music is the

perfect cross-curricular subject which informs

and teaches important life-skills such as

decision-making, communication skills and

team-work, and I know that working with the

children and fantastic staff at Damers will

provide me with a wonderful opportunity to

prove this. I am particularly interested in

children creating and performing their own

music and am really looking forward to that”.

Year 4 have started working on a new science topic this term, sound! We have been learning all about sound waves, pitch and volume. Why don't you ask your child what they can remember from their learning so far?

Damers Eco Crew were asked by Dorset Council to come up with some ideas to help tackle Climate Emergency across Dorset. These ideas will be presented to the panel that has been set up. Damers Eco Crew came up with the following ideas; more electric chargers, one day a month where there is no transport in town, electric public transport or transport that runs off compost. The children also thought there should be hire schemes for bikes and scooters as this has been successful in other countries across the world in reducing the amount of vehicles on our roads.

news A member of the Dorset Youth Voice, Oliver Cullis, came to interview the Eco Crew about their Plastic Free Dorchester

campaign. This is for a film that will be shown to the Climate Change Panel and the Dorset Council on the day of the

Dorset Youth Voice Summit which is taking place at the end of January. Oliver is running for Youth Parliament this year and has kindly volunteered to support Damers Eco Crew on a Thursday after school.

In Foundation we have been learning about the seasons. We have been thinking about winter and what it feels and looks like. As part of our winter work we have enjoyed reading the story of The Mitten by Jan Brett and learning to retell it through story mapping. We've loved creating our own

story maps too.

January is a time when we are all thinking about setting New Year Resolutions. Why not give yours a maths focus?

Count to ...

Learn your times tables

Find out about a famous mathematician every month

Learn your addition and subtraction facts of …

Learn a new fact every week eg a nine sided shape is called a nonagon

Year 2 have enjoyed looking at a range of poetry over the last couple of weeks and practising rhyming

and using adjectives for description. They have also

had a go at writing a couple of poems; here is an example about a

witch.

One of our Meadow 3 children wrote an amazing story called the Sloth and Moth for a national book writing competition.

He came second in the competition where he had to write a story about nature. Author Neal Layton was the judge and he awarded three signed books to our talented prizewinner.

News From the PTA The first PTA meeting was held last week along with the Annual General Meeting (AGM). New

officers for this year were voted in at the AGM. Natalie Hirst was re-elected as Chair, Abby Johnson re

-elected as Treasurer, Sarah Collins re-elected Secretary and Andrea Wright was voted in as Vice

Chair. Thank you to Sophie Duke who has served as Vice Chair for several years and has now

stepped down to concentrate on her role as Chair of Governors. In 2018 Sophie led our Auction of

Promises event that raised over £5,000 for the school!

Our core interest continues to be raising funds for our school and bringing families together for some

fun at our events. At the same time, we continue to work with staff to support school activities and

events and work on fundraising and finding grants for specific projects. Last year, PTA activities raised

nearly £14,000 that feeds directly back into school to improve facilities and support the curriculum.

Here are a few of the items we have used this money for:

Reading diaries & Year 4 leavers books, Action Van (3 visits), library books & magazine subscriptions,

a new PA system, playground equipment & planters, Foundation playground equipment, Year 3

classroom equipment, wildlife camera, National Trust membership, sports day stickers, ELSA Trip,

food tech ingredients, class gifts (year-end & Christmas), KS2 Production costs, puddle suits and

wildlife pond equipment.

Damers is a large school and organising events can be logistically challenging because of its

size. The core PTA committee is made up of four people so it is vital that we have more people attend

meetings to give new ideas and volunteers to support organising and running events. We hope that

through the new Class Representative system we can boost numbers and encourage parents and

carers to contribute in whatever way they can. We would be delighted to welcome you to our

meetings, please look out for details in parentmails, newsletters and the school website. If you would

like to join our list of helpers please email damerspta@gmail.com so you can hear about upcoming

events and any help needed such as helping to organise events, baking cakes, running refreshment

stands etc.

Thank you for your continued support and all the money you helped raise for Damers last year.

Junior Governors News

Happy New Year from the Junior Governors!

We are thinking about how we keep our brains and bodies healthy. This year we will be working on creating a poster so that children know what we do to keep these both healthy and what a happy place is. We will also be spending time in our pond area and with the chickens - just some of our happy places.

Parking

Please remember that the piece of land that sits adjacent to the Foundation Gate belongs to our neighbours (Melrose Court) and should not be used for parking at any time during the school day.

Thurs 30th Jan 9.30-12.00pm - Foundation Whiz Bang at THS

Thurs 13th Feb 9.30-12.00pm - Foundation Whiz Bang at THS

Mon 10th Feb Foundation Dance Festival

Fri 14th Feb INSET day - no school

Mon 17th Feb First day of Half Term

Mon 24th Feb Back to school

Thurs 5th Mar 9.30-12.00pm - Foundation Whiz Bang at THS

Mon 9th Mar Year 1 Charmouth trip

Mon 23rd Mar Year 3 Lulworth trip

Wed 25th Mar 9.00-9.45am - Year 1 ‘Great Works’ display

Fri 27th Mar 2.15-3.00pm - Year 2 ‘Great Works’ display

Mon 30th Mar 2.15-3.00pm - Year 3 ‘Great Works’ display

Tues 31st Mar 2.15-3.00pm - Year 4 ‘Great Works’ display

Wed 1st Apr 2.30-3.00pm - Foundation ‘Great Works’ display

Fri 3rd Apr Last day of term

Mon 20th Apr Back to school

Mon 11th to 15th May Leeson House

Copper Base News We have kick

started our year

with

learning about

animals in

Winter and

hibernation. We

have been in the sensory

room investigating winter and meeting

different winter animals. We are

creating books to present to younger

children,

animal

crafts and

enjoying

lots of fun

activities

outside.

We are looking for a group of volunteers who are able to spare an hour or two at a time (during or after the school day or at weekends) helping to care for our school grounds. We are all incredibly proud of our school grounds but sadly, current funding levels mean that we no longer have the means to employ a grounds maintenance team as regularly as we need to.

If you feel that you may be able to help in some way, please contact the

school office and we will get in touch.