Congratulations to the following children who have recently passed their music exams:

Summer P – Recorder Grade 1 Ben W – Piano Grade 1 Maddie D – Piano Grade 1

Danielle W – Piano Initial with merit Annie C – Violin Grade 1

Well done. Certificates will be presented next academic year.

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Dear Parents,

Danbury Park School – An Outstanding School (Ofsted 2013)

At Danbury Park we all aim… Be wise, be happy, belong

Website: www.danburypark.essex.sch.uk 21st July 2017

Newsletter

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Goodbye and Good luck

As we come to the end of another academic year, it is time to say goodbye to our present Year 6 children and wish them the very best for the bright futures ahead of them. In a special assembly today we were joined by families as we looked back over the children’s time at Danbury Park School. Each child was presented with a dictionary from the DPSA and a wonderful year book collated by parents which we hope will be a reminder of the happy times spent here. This week we also said goodbye to:

Mrs Stollery, who taught Class Hummingbird temporarily this summer term and who is now busy getting ready to join her new infant school in September;

Mr Lamb, Class Dove’s learning support assistant who is taking time next year to concentrate on his university studies and ambitions to become a primary school teacher;

Mrs Peacock, a member of our midday assistant team and also more recently a one-to-one learning support assistant, who is preparing to embark on a relocation with her family to America; and

Mrs Hayes, a valued member of the midday assistant team and dedicated volunteer helper who is taking up a new role as a learning support assistant at a local school.

We send everyone our best wishes and good luck.

Sports Day Again the weather was very good to us and with the right amount of sunshine and a cooling breeze, we had a fantastic morning. The children all enjoyed participating in the carousel of activities trying to beat their personal bests and also earning point for their houses. The races on the track gave the children the opportunity to compete against the best runners in the year group and they were awarded medals to acknowledge their achievements.

The results were: EYFS/KS1 - WATER KS2 Year 3 – WATER Highest scoring boy – Freddie B Highest scoring girl – Bronwen A Year 4 – EARTH Highest scoring boy – George S Highest scoring girl – Imogen S Year 5 – AIR Highest scoring boy – Angus B Highest scoring girl – Erin C Year 6 – EARTH Highest scoring boy – Louise M Highest scoring girl – Katie P KS2 OVERALL WINNER - EARTH

Well done to all the children and a special thank you to family, parents and governors who supported us with judging and running the refreshment stall.

Danbury Park’s Got Talent

Yesterday saw the 2nd Live Grand Final of Danbury Park's Got Talent. The whole school sat transfixed as two acts from each class battled it out for the much prized silver wear. In a closely fought contest which included gymnasts, singing, riddles, dancing, comedy, puppetry, mind reading, ballet, magicians, sketches, African beats, and a Bond Theme complete with air guitar not to mention a country ballad, there were two worthy winners:- Nadrah and Sarah from Class B with their lovely rendition of a song from Moanna, and a poised gymnastic routine from Class F in the shape of Emma.

Classes were so supportive of their acts and the afternoon was another fantastic success. Mrs Waring and myself would like to thank the teachers and our excellent judging panel for their contributions and support including Miss Chinery and Ethan for their technical support, which enhanced the performances tremendously. It has been a pleasure and an honour for us to work with The School Council of 2016 - 2017. The councillors chosen have represented the school tirelessly and have been a great credit. We cannot wait for the elections in September when the new school council will be chosen. They will have a hard act to follow.

Mrs Parkington and Mrs Waring

Changes for Next Year As ever we are always trying to improve whatever we do and refresh events and activities that have become routine and perhaps a little stale. From September we will be changing the way we celebrate birthdays and this will now take the format of the children being given their badges on the day of their birthdays by their class teachers in front of their classmates. Miss Bridge, Miss Tomlin and Mrs Crouch, our teachers in classes Jay and Hummingbird will inherit the birthday cake and candles so as part of their daily routines they can still invite the children to blow out the candles and enjoy a birthday treat of a jelly baby or chocolate buttons. The teachers will ensure that they take a photograph of this special occasion and upload it to Tapestry for every Reception child so that families can share the event. From September we will be using our assembly time on Wednesdays in our classes to think philosophically and to investigate big questions so that we can develop the children’s critical thinking skills and ability to delve deeper into their learning. We will still be holding special celebration assemblies throughout the year so that we can recognise the achievements of the children particularly in the KS2 Reading Awards, music exams and sporting events and parents will be invited to join us for these events. More details in September!

Class Dove’s and Class Cuckoo’s (Year 4) Trip to the Natural History Museum

On Tuesday 11th July we went to The Natural History Museum. This trip was because of our topic, the

human body. I was thrilled to go and really excited to find out many more facts.

The coach journey was almost 3 hours long! When we finally arrived we ate some of our lunch, because

we had our breakfast early we only ate snacks. I was in Chris’s group with Jessica and Charlotte. First,

we went to Human Biology and answered some questions. We learnt lots of new facts and had lots of fun.

Afterwards, we teamed up with Evie’s dad’s group and went to mammals. There were loads of sculpture

animals and facts about them. Then we went to the birds section and did questions about eggs.

Later on, we ate the rest of our lunch. Next, we went to the dinosaurs! We saw a dinosaur that had

sound effects and moved. We learnt amazing things. Also, we went to see pictures of animals and nature

in the picture gallery. We got to choose which one was our favourite. Then we went to the volcano and

earthquake display rooms. In the earthquake room the floor shook! We also learnt about the earth’s

crust and more! It was very interesting

When it was time to go home, we met each other and went out on to the coach. It took ages. On the way

there I sat with George P and Jessica sat in front and we played top trumps together. On the way back I

sat with Evie and we did top trumps and word search. I really enjoyed this trip and would love to go

again!

By Lucy

.

Class Jay’s Assembly The children in Class Jay completed our series of class assemblies last week sharing with us their learning about the seaside. They also told us about their ambitions for the future which caused more than a few parents to shed a tear. Well done Class Jay, a fantastic end to your first year at school.

SCHOOL MEALS

Infant Parent lunches with Children

We were pleased that yet again we were able to offer parents an opportunity to join their infant children for lunch and it was lovely to see how excited the children were to see their families and for parents and carers to not only experience the wonderful food that our kitchen serve on a daily basis but also to join in the odd game in the playground afterwards. Thank you to everyone who completed the feedback form supplied. We will look very carefully at every suggestion but here are a few of the highlights:

94% of responses said that the meal was excellent and 6% good.

75% of responses said that the midday assistants were excellent and 25% good.

90% of responses said that the servery was excellent and 10% good.

92% of responses said that the overall experience was excellent and 8% good. “Lovely! Staff also very helpful” “Really enjoyed it”

“MDAs unsung heroes – what a great job they do.” “A lovely opportunity to see how school lunches work and taste the food my children talk about so passionately.”

“A lovely lunch we always look forward to it.”

“I really enjoyed eating lunch with my child and love the fact all the servery and midday assistants know all the children and such a friendly atmosphere.”

Our school dinners are always popular and it was good to hear the positive feedback from the parents who joined the infants for lunch this term. Mrs Hind, our cook, and her team try incredibly hard to keep costs down and quality high and they appreciate your kind comments. Suggestions for the future: “Could we have lunchtime clubs?” “More parent child lunches.” “Napkins or wipes please”

Owl’s Barn School Meals

Week commencing Tuesday 5th September

Week 1

TUESDAY

Local Butchers pork sausage or Vegetarian Quorn Sausage

Creamy Mashed Potato Fresh Sliced Carrots & Peas/ Green Salad

Jacket Potato with a choice of filling

Marble Cake Served with Custard Organic Fruit Yoghurt Selection of Fresh Fruit

WEDNESDAY

Local Butchers Roast Beef served with Yorkshire pudding and gravy or Cheesy Stack Wrap

Roast Potatoes Cauliflower florets Fresh carrots Green salad

Jacket Potato with a choice of filling

Ice Cream Pot Organic Fruit Yoghurt Selection of Fresh Fruit

THURSDAY

Chicken in Homemade Rustic Tomato Sauce or Quorn pieces in Rustic Tomato Sauce

White and Wholegrain Rice Sweetcorn / Cucumber

Jacket Potato with a choice of filling

Apple Crumble and Custard Organic Fruit Yoghurt Selection of Fresh Fruit

FRIDAY

Bubble crumb coated Fish Portion

Chips Baked Beans / Peas Green Salad

Jacket Potato with a choice of filling

Flapjack Organic Fruit Yoghurt Selection of Fresh Fruit

Notices and Reminders PE Kits – It is essential that the children participate in their PE lessons and therefore have their full kits in school at all times as we do not hold large stocks of spare uniform. Please ensure these are washed and brought back into school on the first day back in September. Earrings have to be removed for all PE lessons and we are not allowed to cover pupils’ ears with tape, so if you are considering having your child’s ears pierced, please do this at the beginning of the summer holiday.

Class J – Please could you send in any unwanted baby doll clothes for class J please? No prams or toys just clothes thank you.

Vacancies for Midday Assistants - Sadly at the end of this term we are saying goodbye to some of our

Midday Assistants so we are busy recruiting for September. If you think you have the qualities needed to support the children in their play and to help our lunchtimes run smoothly, please call in to the school office for an application pack.

Letters sent home this week:

Class Cuckoo trip to Colchester Castle September 2017

DPSA news

What a year!! We’ve raised over £11,500.00

Thank you to everyone for your support this year. Below are figures from this year’s

fundraising:

Christmas Fayre £3,100 Quiz £320.00

Jumble Sales x 2 £891.00 Easter egg hunt £1298.00

Discos x 3 £1,513 Summer Fayre £4,277.87

PLUS bag2school, ice cream sales and easyfundraising

This money is a huge boost to the school budget so please consider helping the DPSA when

you can. Obviously each year as children move up to new schools so do some of our parents

so it is vital new parents get involved to ensure the continued success of our PTA. It’s your

chance to contribute and have a say in what we buy to benefit the children.

What have we bought this year?

New wooden gazebo for the KS2 playground and extension of the all-weather surface

Annual subscription to the Mathletics programme for all school pupils

3 clever-touch class room computer screens to replace interactive white boards

Leaver’s gifts

We hope to contribute towards drainage works on the playground and Class Dove

project.

Do you shop online? easyfundraising.org.uk

Easyfundraising has raised £2600.00 since we registered a few years ago. If you aren’t

already signed up please visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk .It’s the easiest way to raise

money for the school. If you are looking to buy insurance, mobile contracts or utilities

online these pay generous donations for all purchases and does not cost you a penny more.

We would like to wish all the year 6 pupils

good luck at their new schools and everyone a

wonderful summer holiday.

Dates for the Diary

Week beginning 5th September 2017

Tues 5th September

9.00am School reopen for the Autumn Term

New Entrants start in Class J (1/2)

Weds 6th September

New Entrants start in Class H

Thurs 7th September

New Entrants start in Class J (2/2)

Fri 8th September

Full term dates for the next academic year 2017-18

and for 2018-19 are available on the school website.

Yours sincerely

Carol Gooding

Headteacher