Parent Newsletter 4 April 2019 Part of the CMAT family of Academies

Welcome to this week’s edition of the DFPA Newsletter

We would like to wish all parents, carers and children a very Happy Easter. We look forward to

welcoming the children back to school on Tuesday, 23rd April 2019 for the summer term.

CSI: Easter

On Tuesday, children from Year 3, 4 and 6 were invited to St Leonard’s Church to take part in a CSI investigation. The children were greeted with crime scenes including; the tomb of Jesus; fingerprints of people at the scene; litmus paper tests and files of evidence.

Their challenge was to become Forensic Scientists to help Reverend Matt work out what happened on what Christians believe was the very first Easter. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were excited to sort out what the evidence was telling them. Thank you to all the team who helped set up the day, what a unique experience.

Exciting News – DFPA Class Names Selected

During the spring term, the school council have worked extremely well together in order to research,

discuss and liaise with their classes, the staff and with members of DFPA’s Academy Council in order to

make informed choices and decisions about class names. The theme Artists was eventually selected.

The student councillors asked all students in their classes about the names of artists which they knew,

plus they researched other artists and added these to the discussions in order to broaden experience

and knowledge about the Arts. Pieces of artwork were looked at and discussed for all of the artists

who had been named. Following the gathering of information and discussion stage, which encom-

passed all views and opinions, the school council elected the following:

EYFS: O’Keefe Year 1: Delaunay Year 2: Van Gough Year 3: Hockney

Year 4: Monet Year 5: Da Vinci Year 6: Picasso

Finally, the school council met again and decided that each class will create a class display board in the

corridors to give information about their class artist and their work. We look forward to sharing their

work and displays with you during summer term 1.

Parent Newsletter 4 April 2019 Part of the CMAT family of Academies

Year 3: TASC Project — Art Exhibition and Cake Sale

Year 3 would like to say a big thank you to all of their friends and family members who came to their Art Exhibition and Cake Sale, which they had produced as their end of unit TASC project. Year 3 would also like to thank each class who visited, this allowed them the opportunity to share their work with many members of our school community.

A note from Miss Pullar:

It was a pleasure to watch Year 3 complete their exhibition for both children in school and the friends and family who attended school last Wednesday afternoon. Year 3 had worked really hard to produce this exhibition and did complete most of the organisation themselves which I believe really shone through as they become confident curators of their work. I was extremely proud of their confidence and knowledge that they used to complete the exhibition. Well done Year 3.

Year 6: Topic Work

Year 6 have been working hard this term investigating the problem of plastic pollution as part of their topic about explorers. They have studied the effect that plastic waste in the ocean can have on wildlife and the environment but also how the plastic problem is starting to spread.

As part of their writing in the summer term, Year 6 will continue to investigate the impact that our own, and others, actions can have on reducing plastic. They have already put forward some effective suggestions about how they can use less plastic in school and they will be sharing their ideas with other classes during the new term.

Year 6 would also like to thank all parents and carers who bought one of the Mother’s Day flow-er vases last week. All of the profit made from the sales will be going towards end of term activ-ities for the class. A huge thank you also goes to Mrs Scotting for giving up her time to help with the sales.

Year 1: Class Assembly

On Tuesday, Year 1 proudly welcomed their parents and other family members to their class assembly about ‘Pirates’. The children showcased all they had learned including facts about famous historical pirates (E.g., Blackbeard and Anne Bonny).

They explained how hundreds of years ago women were not allowed to be pirates, therefore they dressed as pirates in order to deceive the Captain. During the assembly, Year 1 shared their writing skills, they had innovated the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ into ‘The Big Brave Pirate’. The children retold the story with actions using the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach. Year 1 hope you enjoyed their performance.

Blackbeard by Emma T Anne Bonny by Ella

Parent Newsletter 4 April 2019 Part of the CMAT family of Academies

End of Spring Term 2019

Awards

Progress: Harry, Bertie, Raysa, Isabella, Riley, Grace, Trinity

Achievement: Marcas, Imogen, Esme, Shea, Clara, Caitlin, Tom

Positive Behaviour: Lewis, Chhaya, Cally, Lottie, Abbey-Rose, George, Cillian

Positive Growth Mindset: Jaden, William, William, Joshua, James, Morgan, Jessica

Arts Award: Grace, Ella, James, Willow, Aidan, Kaylee-Rae, Ruby

Well done to all children throughout the school; it has been a fun, productive term for all.

Year 2: TASC Project

Year 2 have started their fundraising project and are pleased to announce that they have already raised enough money to adopt a jaguar in the Amazon Rainforest. Jaguars are losing their home due to deforestation. An area the size of three football pitches is chopped down every minute. This means that jaguars are losing their home and the prey that they need to survive. Jaguars in the rainforest are also poached for trophies. Adopting a jaguar means that communities local to the rainforest can be trained to monitor, track and protect them. This was the first of the Year 2 fundraising events.

Further donations will be used to fund the purchase of Rainforest land to prevent the trees from being demolished.

Drawing competition: Remember to submit your artwork themed 'The Rainforest' by 25th April. 50p per entry.

Sponsored event: Year 2 will take part in a sponsored sing. All children contributing can raise money for the cause. The children can take turns to sing individually, or in groups, and will fill a full 30 minutes with non-stop singing. This will take place after Easter; further details to follow at the start of the summer term 2019.

Bronze PLACE Award

Well done to Freya for gaining her DFPA Bronze PLACE award this week.

Open the Book

This week, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 visited St Leonard's Church to watch the 'Open the Book' performance of the Easter Story.

Open the Book is always enjoyed by the children; being able to watch this community group in the local church was a lovely treat for the last week of term.

Attendance

1st April to

4th April 2019

Lates

Whole School

Target 96%

Whole

School

96.6% 2

EYFS 91.67% 1

Year 1 98.79% 0

Year 2 96.74% 0

Year 3 97.92% 0

Year 4 98.21% 0

Year 5 93.97% 0

Year 6 98.91% 1

Parent Newsletter 4 April 2019 Part of the CMAT family of Academies

FODA Disco, Non-Uniform Day

and Easter Raffle

Thank you to all parents and carers for the non-uniform donations received on Wednesday.

The children really enjoyed the discos. Thank you to all who were able to help at this event.

Kind thanks also for the great response to the Easter Raffle which took place today.

Whole School Curriculum Evening

All parents and carers are invited to attend our Curriculum Evening being held on Wednesday, 1st May, 3:30pm until 5:00pm.

The first session will take place at 3:30pm in the hall. Parents and carers will then be invited to attend a session in the classroom with your child’s teacher. There will be two sessions available, so you may alternate between classes if you have more than one child at school. We look forward to welcoming you.

Safeguarding Safety and Welfare

NSPCC Online Safety Workshops (Speak out, Stay Safe)

We are pleased to announce, we have arranged for the NSPCC to come in to school, during the summer term 2019, to talk to the whole school community about Online Safety.

We should like to invite all parents and carers to attend school on Tuesday, 11th June from 9:00am – 10:00am, for a Parents / Carers NSPCC Online Safety Workshop in the school hall.

Afterwards, there will be two NSPCC Assemblies (Speak out, Stay Safe) for the children: one Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), followed by one for the Key Stage (Year 3 to Year 6).

In addition to this, there will be two NSPCC workshops re online safety: one for Year 5 and one for Year 6.

Farewell Wishes

Throughout the day, we wished Mrs Badcock (Midday Supervisor and Teaching Assistant) and Mrs Mills (Midday Supervisor) good luck and our very best wishes with their new ventures in the exciting next chapters of their lives.

During lunch time, several children presented Mrs Badcock and Mrs Mills with bouquets of tulips and carnations, and wished them well.

This afternoon, at the start of the End of Spring Term 2019 Celebration Assembly, all of the children and staff sang one of Mrs Badcock’s favourite school songs to her. Afterwards, the Head Girl and the Head Boy presented her with a bouquet of roses and a personalised frame from the children, plus a card and gifts from the staff, which were opened later.

A rousing ‘Hip, Hip, Hurray!’ resonated around the school hall, as everyone joined together to sincerely thank Mrs Badcock for all of her hard work, dedication and support to Downham Feoffees over the years.

Thank you both, best wishes from all at DFPA.

Diary Dates

April 2019

Friday, 5th April School closed for students: Staff Training Day Tuesday, 23rd April School opens for students and staff

May 2019 Wednesday, 1st May Curriculum Evening 3:30pm-4.55pm School closed: Monday, 6th May May Day: School closed for students and staff Monday, 27th May — Friday 31st May Half-Term

June 2019

Monday, 3rd June School opens for students and staff Tuesday, 11th June NSPCC Workshops Wednesday, 12th June Year 3 Class Assembly, 2:40pm

July 2019 Tuesday, 23rd July Last day of the Summer Term for students and staff Year 6 Production for parents / carers, 2:00pm.

Academic Year 2019 / 2020

September 2019

Monday, 2nd September Tuesday, 3rd September