Harvest Festival Collection

This year we will continue to support Rochford Extended Services with our Harvest collection.  Donations distributed by them to the children and families that need them most within our own local community.  Our year 5 Eco-Councillors have contacted Extended Services to find out the type of things that are most needed:

• Toiletries and detergents, ie; shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toilet rolls, clothes washing powder/ liquid and dishwashing liquid.
• Non-perishable food items, ie; pasta, rice, spaghetti, boxed cereal, tinned foods (tomatoes, sweetcorn, tuna, baked beans etc), jars of cooking sauces, crisps and biscuits.

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”

By supporting our Harvest collection you are helping your child learn the importance of looking after those around us, so that children and families in our local community can achieve their rights.  Extended Services will be attending our Harvest Assembly before the half term holiday in which we will be celebrating with a song, 'The Harvest Samba'.

Every item that you send will make a difference so many thanks in advance for your support in what we hope will be a fantastic collection for Extended Services to distribute.

Mrs Yuille and the Eco-Councillors

Welcome to the week!

Homework
Just a reminder to clarify homework.  This week year 1 have maths homework, and year 2 have maths and comprehension.  Please bring completed homework in by Wednesday each week.  On Friday this week when homework is given out again, it will also include a phonic task for all children, which will currently be given on a fortnightly basis.  Reading should be completed every day if possible and every read noted in the diary so that we can reward and praise where appropriate.

Eco-Councillors
Thank you all for helping your children to make such excellent Eco-Councillor applications.  It is a tricky task to select only one pupil for each class, but watch this space as names will be announced soon.

House Photo
Thank you all for sending in the photograph of your house.  If you have not sent it in then please do so as soon as possible, so that we can use it this week in our project work.  Remember you can send by email to:  office@downhall.essex.sch.uk.

Parent Evenings 21st and 22nd October
Appointments are live on the Scopay site so if you have yet to make one please do so!

Happy Monday everyone!

KS1 Team

SHOESHARE SUCCESS!

Thank you to everyone from Down Hall Primary School who took part in Shoeshare

in conjunction with Clarks of Rayleigh. 

Together we collected this huge tower of shoes to be sent for re-use.  

For every tonne of shoes collected, a donation is made to UNICEF which goes

towards education programmes around the world, helping children to enjoy their rights wherever they are.

Article 27: Every child has the right to an adequate standard of living to meet 

their needs. 

Article 28: Every child has a right to an education.

Article 1 & 2: Everyone under 18 has these rights, regardless of ethnicity, 

gender and religion.

Shoe Share

If your child's school shoes are getting a little snug and you plan to replace for September, please donate them to help other children around the world to access their right to an education.

Please send children in on the last day of school with alternative footwear for the journey home and we will deliver our total collection to Clarks of Rayleigh.

Last year we collected 145 pairs of shoes. Help us
to beat that total!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAaEIXDVxqU&t=5s

Kind Regards 

The KS1 Team

The Playground Challenge with Key Stage 1

At school today we all had a fabulous time celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Down Hall Primary School and completing the Playground Challenge for UNICEF.  Everyone had a go at the obstacle course... even the Duty Bearers! 

Monies raised will be shared between global charity UNICEF and local charity Little Havens.  Well done and thank you to everybody that took part and made the day such fun.

Cutting The Cake in Amethyst Class

We all had a fabulous afternoon in Key Stage 1 where we played party games to celebrate our 50th Anniversary - the PTA even brought us an ice lolly halfway through! Here we are in Amethyst Class, with our Class Councillor "cutting" the cake. What a special day!

Sports day

A reminder that this Friday 5th is sports day. If you have not filled out a picnic form your child will not be able to be collected for a picnic. If you have not already completed a form, you can find them on the school website or you can collect one from the office. 

Your child will need to wear their PE kit all day and can wear a top which is their house colour (same colour as water bottle lids). Please remember sun cream as it is likely to be a hot day.

If you are having a picnic you will need to collect your child outside their classrooms at 12pm when the gates open. The teachers will then be on the field at the end of lunch time to bring the children back to class. 

If you are just attending sports day and not having a picnic  the gates will open at 12pm and you will need to arrive no later than 12:15pm as this is when the gates will be closed and not reopened. 

At the end of sports day children will go back to their classes and will be ready to get collected at 3:15. 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

The KS1 Team 

Swimming Lessons

We hope you have all had a lovely half term.

A reminder that swimming lessons will begin week commencing 10th June. 

Tuesday - Diamond

Wednesday - Emerald

Friday - Amethyst

Please ensure children have labelled swim wear and hats as there will be lots of children getting changed at the same time. It would also be extremely helpful if all uniform is labelled as this will make getting changed a lot quicker and will prevent clothing getting mixed up. 

If you have any questions regarding swimming please ask! 

Thank you 

The KS1 Team 

We are GOLD!

We are absolutely thrilled to tell you that following our assessment visit from Mr Paul Harris of UNICEF, we have been awarded the GOLD LEVEL Rights Respecting School Award!  This award is the most prestigious available on the programme and we are very proud to say that we are the first and only Primary School in Essex to achieve this.

We received the Silver Award in March 2017 and have been working towards the Gold Award since then.  We could not have reached this point without the hard work of all the staff at Down Hall who have shown great commitment to bringing RRS into the heart of everything we do.  The willingness of pupils to take Children's Rights as a frame for learning has been absolutely brilliant, and considering Children's Rights has definitely proved some deeper thinking and understanding from pupils.  The support of parents and the wider school community is key and we thank you all for your continued commitment.

The report states that we are, "An outward looking school community where children are engaged in the wider world"

Please take a proud moment to read the full report by following the link below;

UNICEF report

SPECIAL EVENT - Super Splash Heroes

On Tuesday we were visited by Essex & Suffolk with their Water Wise campaign.  Years 1 - 6 were treated to a pantomime... "Oh yes they were!"  The panto was packed with information about why it is important for us to work together to save water, showing lots of simple ways that we can do it!

   

Conserving water is an important part of working towards the Global Goals for 2030 so we would  encourage you to do whatever you can at home, as small changes together can make a big difference!

 If we use less water we are also using less energy in water processing, which is a double whammy for the environment.  Article 29 of the UNCRC states that education must encourage a child's respect for the environment.  Ask your child about being 'Water Wise' and see what they can remember.

You can also follow the link below to the Essex & Suffolk website where you can order a FREE WATER SAVING KIT.   You are able to select whichever water saving products that are suitable for your own home.  They will be sent to you free of charge and are simple to fit, making your own water bill cheaper too!

https://esw.watersavingkit.com/

Mothers day sale Friday

A reminder that this Friday 29th will be the Mothers Day sale. If you wish your child to visit and buy something from the sale, please ensure they come to school with a named carrier bag and money in a purse, wallet or envelope. 

Thank you, 

The KS1 Team

All Children Have Rights!

In class our learning is often linked to children's rights and the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).  We have been looking at the Duty Bearers in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story and talking about whether they are doing a good job or not.

Please ask your child about the parents of  Veruca Salt, Mike TV, Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde and Charlie Bucket.  Ask them if they think these Duty Bearers are helping the children to achieve their rights.  Your children should be able to explain their answer to you using some of the rights that we have learnt about from the UNCRC.

We have also been learning about the ABCDE of Children's Rights.

The rights are for:

All children, from

Birth, they 

Cannot be taken away,

Do not have to be earned and are all

Equally important!

If you would like to look at a summary of the UNCRC, please follow the link below to take you to the UNICEF website. 

https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/

Many thanks

Year 1/2 Teaching Team

 

KS1 Movie night & Homework

A reminder that the last opportunity to book a place for the KS1 movie night this Friday is tomorrow 12th March. 

The movie KS1 is the greatest showman. 

Maths and comprehension homework will now be coming home weekly and phonics homework still on alternate weeks. 

Kind regards 

The KS1 team 

11th February 2019 - Global Map and Wear it Red

Our Place in the World

Thank you to all of you who took the time to talk about your family histories at home and send this information into school. 

We have begun to add the children's initials to our map which details our connections to other places around the world, helping us to realise that the world is not such a big place after all!  This is helping us to learn about global issues and to think about how we are all connected and should work together towards the Global Goals for 2030.  You can find out more about the Global Goals here:

https://www.globalgoals.org/

There is still time to send in your completed letter as we will continue to share family stories in our assemblies. 

Wear it Red Day

On Thursday this week the children are invited to bring in a donation and come into school wearing something red as a PTA fundraiser.  Uniform is still expected but they may choose to wear an item that is red in addition to their usual uniform, perhaps a red top, jumper or socks for example.  The PTA will also be putting on a 'coin run' activity on this day.  Each class will spend time placing their coins in a long line, so ideally lots of copper coins, and the class with the longest line will win the prize supplied by the PTA!

Map to show our global community

Look out for a letter coming home this week for updates for our global map. In light of the global goals for sustainable development for 2030 it is important that our children develop a  strong sense of global community. Please read the letter carefully, if there are any family connections to be celebrated on the map then please complete the form and return it to school. 

Article 29-Education must develop the child's respect for their own and other cultures and the environment. 

If you haven't already signed up for parent consultations on Scopay please do ASAP. 

Thank you 

The KS1 team  

Notices

This week the children will be bringing home Maths and Phonics homework. Please can the homework be returned to school by Wednesday. 

Please remember to make an appointment for parent consultations using scopay. Any problems accessing your scopay account, please ask at the office. Parent consultations will be held on the 24th and 25th February. 

Thank you 

The KS1 team 

Happy New Year

We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and a chilled out new year!

All the children have taken home a letter regarding our new topic, Charlie and the chocolate factory. 

As part of the project we will be taste testing some of the ingredients for our chocolate bars, if you have any concerns about your child eating any particular food, it will be available to look at Tuesday after school. 

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to come and ask.

Thank you

The KS1 team