We would like to thank everyone for helping to make Science Week a

successful and enjoyable experience for all. The children embraced our chosen theme of ‘Homes for the Future’ and were

tasked to produce either a plan for their future room, make a model or write an explanation text. Many pupils produced some exceptional pieces of work and the winning groups presented their work in the hall during our Science Open Morning. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Open Morning, sharing your child’s learning with them and having a go at some experiments in Dale’s very own ‘Kitchen Chemistry Laboratory’!Thank you for all your efforts with the family homework, which took over our school gallery! After hours of deliberation the winners are: Family Winner: Isma and Aleena Akhtar KS1: Haaris Ali KS2: Jamaal Saleem

Mr Zafar Iqbal - Science Co-ordinator

Term Dates for 2014 Break up for Easter Friday 11 April

Back to School Monday 28 April

Bank Holiday Monday 05 May

Break up for half term Friday 23 May

INSET Day Monday 02 June

INSET Day *NEW DATE* Monday 16 June

Back to School Wednesday 04 June !Break up for Summer Wednesday 23 July

Back to School! Thursday 04 September !

APRIL 2014

DALE NEWS

This is our ‘Home for the Future’. All the children recorded their ideas for what they would like to see in their future home on the walls.

SCIENCE

WEEK

!Learning Mentors !We would like to remind all families that Dale School does not authorise holidays during term time. If you would like to discuss the Extended Leave Policy, please come and see the us in the Community Room.PE Kit Routine: Please ensure that PE Kits are brought into school every Monday and kept in school until Friday. Kits must be washed over the weekend and be ready for the next Monday.

After School Club

Children must be collected from school at 3:20pm. If your child is not collected on time, they will be sent into the After School Club where you will be charged £2.00 per child. If you are running late, please inform the School Office on 01332 760070.

Foundation Stage NewsAaarrgghh and Roarr! This half term we have landed on some strange islands and met some pirates and dinosaurs! We have been learning about the world around us. We found an egg on a hunt one day and out popped a dinosaur! We know that some animals come from eggs and we have even been looking after pet Tadpoles. New life and Spring is all around us, look out for it in the holidays and we’ll look forward to seeing it on our visit to Happy Hens after the holiday. Year One News We have had a fantastic half term! We have been learning about the history of toys and went on a visit to Sudbury Hall Toy Museum. It was an action packed day, where we played with many old fashioned toys, had a fun time in the adventure playground and even climbed chimneys to sweep them! In literacy we have been reading and writing stories, and we enjoyed following Traction Man’s adventures. Next half term we will be learning about growing plants and mini-beasts.Year Two NewsThis half term we have been learning all about life on a different island! We learnt about what an island is, how it is different to where we live and

we even thought about what our perfect island would look like.We have also been very busy having fun learning a gymnastics sequence! It has been a good challenge.Over the holidays it would be fantastic if children could continue to keep reading lots and be asked questions about what they have read. Year 3 NewsWe have been learning about light. We used mirrors and torches to help us to try and understand how light travels and the way that it is reflected. In ICT we have learnt PowerPoint presentation skills and we are constructing a presentation to do with the weather. In Geography we have been examining weather charts. We are trying to work out a range of methods of connecting things together in our Design Technology work so that we can eventually make a shelter. Mondays are still swimming days for most of us and we have been awarded Water Safety, Grade 1 and now some Grade 2 certificates. Well done! In Maths we have been drawing and reading graphs. We have been focusing on our calculation steps in addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions and we are continuing to learn our times tables. Some of us have been awarded special badges from Mrs Sullivan.

!!!Year Four News We took lots of inspiration from Science Week’s Home of the Future this half term and designed a ‘vehicle for the future’. We designed and made buggies which were a great inspiration for our future engineers. Some Year 4 students took part in Sing Up, a singing festival at Derby High School. The children sang their hearts out. It was a lovely day. We have been learning about Christianity and the significance of Easter. We visited St Augustine’s Church and learnt about the Easter story.Year Five News !Year 5 have had a very busy, hardworking term, been on lots of trips / visits and proved ourselves to be a super positive example for the children of Dale. We visited Derby Moor and experienced a day in the life of a secondary student. We learned how to move around school for every lesson and were taught by a different teacher each lesson. During our topic we learned how to model clay and show texture to make a clay tile house. We enjoyed learning how to do this and were proud of our work. The term finished with a sponsored skip for the British Heart Foundation. It was hard work, but we enjoyed the chance to dress up and work

in teams to raise money. We visited Tutbury Castle and got to meet some very important historical figures who helped us to make our learning real. Thank you to all parents and carers for supporting their children with reading and learning logs. It really does make a difference!Year Six News Year 6 have had an incredibly busy half term. Not only have we continued to work hard in preparation for our SATs tests in May but we have also enjoyed visits from Rolls Royce and Project Inspire. During Science Week, the children took part in activities, arranged by engineers from Rolls Royce. Our visit from Project Inspire focused on the problems of peer pressure and bullying. The children have used their learning from this to design a t-shirt, which will be entered into a competition. We have had some exciting news! We would like to share the outstanding achievement of two of our pupils in their writing. Zayna Hussain and Abu-Bakr Ali's stories have been selected for the second round of judging in the BBC Radio 2, 500 Word story competition. This is astonishing as out of a total of 118,000 entries, only 3,400 have been chosen for this stage in the competition. !

Sports News !• Table Tennis – girls

runners up in Regional Final

• Tag Rugby Festival Winners at Derby Moor

• Tag Rugby Festival Semi Finalists at City Championships

• Quick Sticks Hockey City Championships Winners

• 7-a-side Football v St James, Holmefields and St Werburghs

• Girls 7-a-side Football Festival Winners

• Year 3 / 4 Football Festival Winners at Derby Moor

• Celebration of Dance Festival

• Cycle Cross Day Year 5 /6

• Super Hero Day Cycling - £100 raised

• Cross Country Championships – Taymur came 3rd!

• Basketball Festival

• Hockey v Chad Park – 2 wins

• Trampolining at Bemrose

• Year 1 / 2 Gymnastics Competition

• Year 5 /6 Cricket Festival

I'm writing this the morning after our main Governors'

meeting for the term. We had a good meeting last night, and I want

to pay tribute to the Governor team. There was a real sense of

togetherness as we grappled with some of the joys and difficulties that the school, and individuals within the school, are facing. There is a strong commitment to doing the best we can for the school and all within it.

Would you like to serve as part of the Governor team? Come and talk to one of us for more information. It is a great way to serve the community and make a difference. We need people who know the locality, who know finances, who love children, and who are prepared to learn as they go - none of us know it all. 

We work closely with the School Leadership, who continue to work extremely hard to guide the school forward on its journey.

Thanks to all for their ongoing hard work this term. Have a good break. Mr Anthony Adams - Chair of Governors

!!!GOVERNOR’S

SPOT

School Information !•School meals

continue to cost £2.00 per day / £10.00 per week. Money must be paid on Monday morning. !

•Please remember if your child brings a packed lunch to school it must be brought to school at 9:00am. We will not accept late lunchboxes. Packed lunches must NOT contain ANY hot food! !

•Please look at the school website: http://dale.derby.sch.uk for more information and pictures of school life.!

•Lost Property is kept outside class 1S.!

How to contact us:

Telephone 01332 760070 !Email admin@dale.derby.sch.uk !Address Dale Community Primary School Porter Road, Derby. DE23 6NL !Head Teacher Mrs L. Sullivan

This half term has been full of Science! I have given my ‘front page’ to Mr Iqbal because I wanted to let you know all about Science Week!Science Week was a real opportunity for us to work with the community and other local schools. The experience of working with and learning from others offers our children such opportunities to shine. Lots of pictures from our activities are on our school website. Please have a look! http://dale.derby.sch.ukEnjoy the Easter Holiday!Mrs L Sullivan - Head Teacher

!!!HEAD’S SPOT