October 14th, 2022

 Dear Parents/ Carers,

We are at the end of our sixth week of this half term and hope that you have had another good week.

It has been a tough week of assessments, but the children have worked exceptionally hard to show their progress so far this year. 

Parent/Teacher Consultations

Thank you to those of you who have booked an appointment with us for next week's Parent/Teacher Consultations. The letter was available as a link in last week's newsletter. We are very much looking forward to seeing you either by Zoom on Monday or in the school hall on Tuesday between 3.30pm and 6pm. Links will have been emailed to you - please send us an email to notify us if you have not received this.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

On Wednesday 19th October Year 5/6 will be electing their representative for the School Council! Any child who was not a councillor last year is eligible to stand so we have asked the children to have a good think as to whether they can be a wonderful and inspiring representative for their class.

Over the weekend, if your child is thinking about standing for election, maybe they would like to make a poster and create a short speech that might help them convey their suitability to be a Class Councillor. Be creative - what might make people vote for you?

The new School Councillors will be announced in assembly on Thursday 20th October. Good luck!

Rayleigh Lights

The children have been invited to participate in this annual event. They have been informed that they are welcome to take part in the performance at Rayleigh High Street, singing songs to represent our school. There are still spaces available, so if you would like your child to take part, please encourage them to come along to the choir practices after half term. 

We hope that you have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing the children on Monday

Mrs Witherall, Mrs Devlin and Miss Sharman

 Dear Parents/Carers

Happy Friday! We hope that you have all had a good week. As we move into October, the weather is becoming more autumnal so please ensure that your child has a coat with them every day. 

Parent/Teacher Consultations

On Monday 17th October & Tuesday 18th October between 3:30-6:00pm we will be holding our Parent/Teacher Consultations. This will be an opportunity to meet and discuss how your child has settled into their new Year group. This meeting can be either via Zoom or an in person meeting. 

Please note, in the first instance if you wish this to be a Zoom meeting please book for the Monday and if you wish it to be in person please book for the Tuesday.

Bookings can be made from Monday 10th October from 9:00am and is via Scopay. If you are unsure of your Scopay login, please go and see the office as they will be able to issue you with your details. It is important to have these details as they will be used to book trips, dinner money and meetings throughout your child's time at Down Hall.

Harvest Collection

Just a reminder that this year we will continue to support Rochford Extended Services with our Harvest collection. Donations will be boxed up and distributed by them to the children and families that need them most within our own local community.

As a Gold Level Rights Respecting School, we do our best to advocate for Children's Rights and for sustainability. Articles 24 and 27 state that:

"Every child has the right to the best possible health and a good standard of living."

Massive thank you for those who have already made a donations but there is still plenty of time if you have not yet. If you can send in any non-perishable items before Wednesday 19th October that would be fabulous and you can find a full list of suggested items  here. In school we will celebrate Harvest during the week of 17th October with some learning in class and by singing our favourite Harvest song in assembly. Please enjoy having a go at the Harvest Samba here and thanks for any contributions you feel able to make.

NSPCC Speak Out, Stay Safe

On Tuesday 11th October, Year 5/6 children will have the opportunity to take part in some workshops run by volunteers from the NSPCC.

Homework

Homework pages for this week have been uploaded to Google Classroom. Please ensure that the children only do the pages set as this reinforces skills taught during the week. Homework is due in by Wednesday of the following week, in order for teachers to have time to mark it and return it to them on Fridays.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Devlin, Miss Sharman and Mrs Witherall

30.09.22

Dear Parents/Carers

Happy Friday everyone!

We've had an exciting week in Year 5 and 6, this week. As you may know, we had Happy's Circus on the field earlier in the week. We were fotunate enough to be invited inside the big top for a look around and a talk from the Ring Mistress on Wednesday. Luckily, no one decided to run away and join the circus, although a few children (and staff) seemed quite tempted!

In class, we have been continuing to learn about space. In science we discuss air resistance and the children enjoyed making parachutes as part of an investigation. Ruby and Topaz have already tested theirs out. Sapphire will give theirs a try next week.

In English, we have begun writing a Sci-fi story called 'Holiday In Space'. The children have come up with some lovely ideas for their stories and have worked hard to include a range of sentence types in their writing, as this has been our GPS focus for the past two weeks.

Homework pages for this week have been uploaded to Google Classroom. It has been great to see so many children submitting their homework. If your child has not handed their books in yet, this term, please ask them to do so next week. It is really helpful if they can hand homework in by Wednesday each week, in order for teachers to mark it in time to return it to them on Fridays.

As you can see, we have a jam packed blog this week. Please see the messages below from Mrs Hurley and Mrs Yuille.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

A couple of messages from Mrs Yuille

NSPCC’s Speak Out Stay Safe Programme 

RRS Article 19: Children have the right to be safe

As a Rights Respecting School we are committed to keeping children safe and we are happy to be taking part in the NSPCC’s safeguarding programme in school.  This programme helps children to recognise abuse in a child friendly way and encourages them to speak out to a trusted Duty Bearer.  

In school, children will watch an assembly delivered by Ant and Dec and then take part in follow up discussions in class. Please read the full details on the NSPCC letter here where you will find further links and resources that you can use at home to educate and support your child.  We urge you to take a look at these. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to pop in and see us.

Harvest Collection

This year we will continue to support Rochford Extended Services with our Harvest collection.  Donations will be boxed up and distributed by them to the children and families that need them most within our own local community. 

 

As a Gold Level Rights Respecting School, we do our best to advocate for Children’s Rights and for sustainability.  Articles 24 and 27 state that:

“Every child has the right to the best possible health and a good standard of living”

If you can send in any non-perishable items before Wednesday 19th October that would be fabulous and you can find a full list of suggested items here.  In school we will celebrate Harvest during the week of 17th October with some learning in class and by singing our favourite Harvest song in assembly.  Please enjoy having a go at the Harvest Samba here and thanks for any contributions you feel able to make.

And, last but not least...... a message from Mrs Hurley

WHOLE SCHOOL SUMDOG ESSEX COMPETITION

Calling all of you amazing mathematicians! 

You have been entered into the Sumdog Essex Competition. Taking place 30 September - 7 October

I will be monitoring how well each class is doing. The winning class will be announced in the school newsletter.

Let's show our Down Hall community what great mathematicians we are!

Good luck.

Mrs Hurley 

23.09.22

Dear Parents/Carers

Happy Friday folks!

This week, in Year 5 and 6 we completed our work honouring the late Queen Elizabeth II.  Children have produced some lovely work and written some thoughtful letters in her memory.  We are both impressed and proud of the respectful way they have behaved during this time.

In English this week, we have been working on improving our sentences and learning the technical terms for sentence types of ways to link them together.

In maths, we have continued working on all four number operations.  Year 5 will continue with place value and negative numbers next week and Year 6 will begin working with fractions.

Homework pages have been posted to Google Classroom this afternoon.  Please ask you child to log onto their classroom page and check the timetable carefully.

It would be helpful, for teacher, if you could make sure that your child hands their homework in by Wednesday, each week.  This makes it easier for us to get the books marked and returned to the children in time for them to bring them home again on Fridays.

HAPPY'S CIRCUS - A Message from the PTA

The circus is coming to Down Hall NEXT WEEK (Wednesday 28th).  This was a huge hit when it visited last time and we cannot wait to welcome it back.  Happy's is a professional, all human, touring circus.  They bring the Big Top and fill it with magic, acrobatics, aerialists and so much more!  Plus, there will be hot food and refreshments on the night too, with both alcoholic and soft beverages available.  So why not get there early and make a whole evening of it (it will save you cooking dinner!)?!

By attending the circus, not only will you be getting an evening of entertainment for the whole family, you will also be helping to raise funds for your child's school. 

Tickets available on the door or in advance from the PTA.

Don't forget that if you ever have any questions for your child's teacher, we can be contacted via the Year 5/6 email address at:

year5_6@downhallprimary.com 

Have a fab weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

Welcome back!

 Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back.  We hope that you all had a lovely summer and managed to enjoy the sunshine.

It has been wonderful to see the children return to Year 5 and 6 with such positive attitudes to their learning and with huge smiles on their faces.  We hope that they have enjoyed their first week.  We certainly have!

Next Wednesday, we have our Parent Overview Meeting.  It is an opportunity for parents to come into school and receive information on life in Year 5 and 6.  If you would like to attend, please come to the car park entrance at 2:30pm on Wednsday 14th.  Someone will be there to greet you and bring you along to Sapphire Class.

Homework books have been delivered and will be sent out next week.  You will receive information regarding homework in the meeting on Wednesday.  In the meantime, please ask your child to check their school gmail account and join the invitation to their new Google Classroom page.  This will be where details of homework will be posted from next week.

Please can we request that you make sure all clothing and water bottles are labelled with your child's name. Children are bringing 'Air Up' bottles to school, which are rather expensive and often look the same.  We would hate for parents to have spent money on them over the holidays only for them to become lost or taken home by the wrong child.

Today, in Year 5 and 6, we spent some time marking the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.  The children were extremely respectful and made sensible, and often heartfelt contributions to our discussions.  They are in the process of producing some work which we hope they will look back on in the future as a reminder of the sad, yet historic time we are currently living in.  

Have a restful weekend

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

20.07.22

Happy last day of the school year everyone!

So, here we are, the day has arrived that we have said a fond farewell to our lovely Year 6 children.  We have had a lovely day celebrating with them.  This afternoon, they had pizza, lollies, music and an extra surprise....... mini golf on the field.

The children have been a pleasure to teach and we will miss them all.  We would like to wish them every success and happiness as they head off to make new memories at Secondary School.

We would also like to wish the wonderful Year 5 children a happy summer holidays and let them all know that we are excited to see them return as Year 6s in September.

A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who sent in gifts, flowers and cards.  We were touched by your kindness.

All that is left to say is, have a fab summer.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

08.07.22

Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you to all of our lovely parents who atteneded our Sports Day today.  Apologies that we ran out of time to award KS2 with their medals.  We will blame the KS2 teachers for taking too long with their silly novelty race!

On Monday at 3pm the school gates will be open for parents to come onto the field to watch the KS2 children receive their medals and take photographs.  We will also take photos and email them to parents who are unable to attend.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

Message from Mrs Yuille

Unicef Shoeshare Appeal

Once again, on the last day of term, we are collecting shoes in partnership with Unicef and Clarks, who will cleverly turn our old shoes into money that will help fulfil the rights of children around the world. You can send your child with a spare pair of shoes on the final day this term so that they can place their unwanted school shoes into our collection box. If you have any other unwanted pairs you can send these in too and if you want to get started early with a big shoe clear out, we will have a box ready to take them from Monday 11th July. Shoes must be in a wearable condition with no holes or broken soles and paired together with an elastic band. You can find out more about Shoeshare here; UNICEF & CLARKS SHOESHARE APPEAL.  Our last collection total was 145 pairs of shoes, let's see if together we can smash this total!

Article 28 & 29:  Every child has the right to an education

Attachments area

Preview YouTube video ShoeShare – Clarks & UNICEF

ShoeShare – Clarks & UNICEF