28.01.22

Dear Parents and Carers

Next week, Year 6 children from Sapphire Class will be taking part in Bikeability sessions.  The course will run across four mornings.  Please make sure that your child's bike is roadworthy before they bring it into school on Monday.  If bikes need to be left in school overnight, they will be locked away securely.

Ruby Class will take part during the week beginning 7th Feb.

Dates for Topaz class are to be confirmed.  Parents from Sapphire and Ruby should have received an emailed letter confirming their childs place on the course.  Topaz parents will receive a letter, once we have a confirmed date.

Homework pages for this week have been uploaded to Google Classroom.  Please make sure your child checks which pages they need to complete and remind them to hand their maths homework to their maths teachers, not to their class teacher.

This week, Ruby welcomed a new member to their class.  Herbie the hamster arrived on Friday and has already settled in to his new home.  

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall 

21.01.22

Dear Parents/Carers

This afternoon, children in Year 5/6 took part in an online webinar with The 2 Johns.  The session entitled, Walk Online, is an annual event which we all thoroughly enjoy taking part in.  For those of you who do not know The 2 Johns; they are ex police officers who educate children and parents in online safety.  As always, their talk was entertaining and extremely informative for the children.

If you would like more information on what they do, please visit their web site https://esafetytraining.org/

On Thursday, children who had a school dinner were entered into a prize draw to win a tablet.  Congratulations to Isabelle from Ruby class who was the winner for our phase.

Please remind your children that homework page numbers can be found on their Google Classroom page.  Pages for this week have been set this afternoon.  

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

14.01.22

Dear Parents/Carers

This week in Year 5/6, children have been split across the three classes for reading and maths.  This is to prepare our Year 6 children for their SATs tests in May.

Homework pages have been posted on Google Classroom.  Children should hand their GPS books to their Class Teacher and their maths books to the teacher they have for that lesson.

Some children did not take their books home with them today.  They can take them on Monday.  We will not expect homework to be returned until Friday 21st January. 

On Friday 21st January, children in all three classes will be taking part in Walk Online.  This is an online safety session hosted by 'The Two Johns' who we know well here at Down Hall.  Their sessions are always interesting and informative and enjoyed by the children.

'The Two Johns' will be hosting a webinar for parents, to give you an insight into what they will be sharing with the children.  Please see details below:

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

Help keep your children safe online – free webinar Wednesday 19^th January 2022.

 

The Rochford District Community Safety Partnership, working alongside Sanctuary Housing, is pleased to offer a free online webinar that is taking place between 8.00 PM and 9.30 PM on Wednesday 19^th January 2022.

The webinar will be hosted by “The Two Johns” who have extensive knowledge of online safety issues affecting children, having previously worked in law enforcement investigating online grooming and exploitation of children.

The session is aimed at supporting parents and carers of Rochford District school children, and will reflect a similar programme that is being delivered by “The Two Johns” to Year 5, 6 and 7 pupils across the District during the week 17^th January to 21^st January 2022.

The session is run on Zoom and can be accessed via the following link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85677797432.  

 

Joining instructions:

• The session will be “live” 10 minutes before actual commencement at 8 PM.
• Click the link and a dialogue box will open – click “Allow”

 

• A Further dialogue box will open
• 

 

• In the “Your name” field, enter the name of the school your child attends and their year group e.g. Anytown Primary – Yr 5

 

• In the email field, enter your email address – this is required simply to access the session. Your email will not be visible to other participants and will not be stored or used for any purpose.

  

 

Further information regarding the Two Johns and the work they do can be found at Home - eSafety Training

07.01.22

Dear Parents and Carers

Happy New Year to you all!

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week.  They have settled quickly and worked hard.

Next week, Year 6 will be taught together for maths and reading.  This is to prepare Year 6 children for the SATs tests which they will take in May.  Therefore, we would ask that ALL homework books are now returned to school in order for teachers to set work over the coming weeks.  

Homework for this week:

Maths - A TTRS battle has been set up between the three classes.  The battle will run from today until next Wednesday.

Please make sure that your child is continuing to read and work on the Year 5 and 6 spellings which can be found in their reading record books.  

Homework from the CGP books will be set from next week.  Children will be able to bring their books to and from school from then on.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

Merry Christmas!

Dear Parents/Carers

So, here we are at the end of the first full term at school for what seems like forever.

The Year 5/6 staff would like to say a huge thank you for all your support this term.  Your children have worked hard and been a credit to you and the school.

We would also like to thank you for all the gifts and cards we have received this week.  Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated.  

Please have a safe, healthy Christmas with your children and families.  We look forward to welcoming you and the children back at Down Hall in the New Year.

If you are one of our families who do not celebrate Christmas, we wish you a lovely two week rest and best wishes for 2022.

All that is left to say is......

                                                   MERRY CHRISTMAS

                                                            AND

                                                    A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

10.12.21

 

Dear Parents/Carers

This week in Year 5/6, we have been completing our end of term assessments.  The children have all worked hard to show us the progress they have made this term.

Due to the assessments, homework will not be set this week.

In science, children have enjoyed making their own shadow puppets and preparing a show to perform for the class.

Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 10th December

All the children looked fab today in their Christmas jumpers. In class today, we read our latest letter from Thoko, the girl from Malawi which the money raised today will sponsor for another year's education. It is lovely to hear about the things that she can do and the hopes that she has for the future now that she is in full time education.

Next week, we will be continuing to work hard in lessons, as well as having some Christmas fun too.  

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

03.12.21

Happy Friday everyone!

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who sent their children into school today in non uniform.  The money raised will go towards the building of the 999 Cenotaph.  In school today, children wrote letters of thanks to the emergency services for their dedication and bravery.

In English this week, children have been preparing to present instrucitonal speeches.  We are looking forward to seeing their presentations next week.

In maths, we have been working on area and perimeter.  The children have learnt how to calculate areas and perimeters of a range of shapes, including triangles, parallelograms and compound shapes.

Don't forget that next Friday (10th) is Christmas jumper day.  Children are invited to come to school wearing a Christmas jumper with their normal uniform.  Ties should be worn under jumpers please.  

Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that "All children have a right to an education." We take this right very seriously at Down Hall and just over 3 years ago, the School Council chose to raise money to sponsor a child to go to school who currently did not have this right.

We are now in our 4th year of sponsoring Thoko, a girl from Malawi, to go to school. It is through wearing our Christmas jumpers and making a donation on this day that pays for Thoko's education for the whole year! 

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall