Happy Blogmas!

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog and the last one of the year!

Firstly, many apologies for not posting this Blog sooner but my word, I don't think I have actually stopped since we broke up on Friday! 

Despite the Mistry-Dyer's best efforts, I have struggled a bit to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I just don't seem to be as organised as I think I usually am but I suspect that I'm not alone on that one?

Anyway, the end of the Autumn term was as busy, hectic and joyous as usual. We managed to cram it all in didn't we? As a result of this, I have got LOADS to share with you this time so get yourselves comfortable and let the Christmas spirit flow...

Panto Day

Oh yes it was!

We all substituted a item of our uniform for something 'Christmassy' all for the bargain price of £1 to support two Year Seven girls with their 'Step Up Challenge' for Dorset Mind. Below is a picture of the two Year Seven girls (Hannah and Izzy) who, as you've probably read in the newsletter, have completed a phenomenal number of steps to raise money for this incredible charity. 

Any excuse to dress up, eh?

I was so impressed with the number of children who entered into the spirit of the day. 

I don't know how much money we have raised as yet but I am pretty confident that it will give the girl's funds a massive boost.

Thank you - you are such a generous bunch!

Performance Poetry

In Year Five, the children were asked to read, learn and perform a poem of their choice as part of their homework. 

We were blown away by the variety of poems that were chosen as well as the excellent performances that were given by the children.

Here are some of 5CWT performing their poems.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience - thank you and well done, one and all!

Whole School Assembly

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a whole school assembly. Normally, the whole school would transfer (like manoeuvres)  up to one of the Sports Halls at Thomas Hardye as that is the only place that can accommodate the sheer size of our school!

This year, Ms Pluck went 'virtual' and held a totally lovely assembly on line. It was great to see the whole school being involved in some shape or another.

Here are a few stills from the assembly...

Well done on such a fabulous celebration of the term Ms Pluck!

Virtual Celebration Assembly

After break, it was my turn! I had A LOT of stripes to present in a very short space of time.

We started with the Reading Stripes and my word, what an incredible improvement from when we did this just a few weeks ago!

Below is Sophie from 6TH who managed to get in excess of 500 Reads signed which is just mind blowing. We don't have a stripe to represent the incredible number of reads Sophie has completed so we are going to buy her a book of her choice after Christmas (so I don't duplicate her Christmas list!). 

We also had an impressive number of Spellzone Certificates to hand out...

Unfortunately, the internet in the Year Five Quiet Room went down mid Assembly so I wasn't able to read out all the Achievement Point Stripes. 

Mind you, we would have been there for hours as so many had been earned this half of the term.

Ms Pluck had to present a lot of Headteacher's Stripes to the children in Key Stage Two. She managed to catch up with them later in the day.

A HUGE well done to every single child who earned a stripe this term - you are amazing! 

Keep up the hard work and I can't wait to see what next term brings for you as far as stripes are concerned.

(PS Sorry to those who sew the stripes onto the sweatshirts...)

Spectacular Queen's Avenue

Every morning and evening on my way to and from work, I always admire the incredible Advent Calendar windows in Queens Avenue. 

I was so pleased that the children also got to see the windows for themselves when we went out, as a school, to see them.

The Year Seven children created our window which was simply stunning.

A huge thank you and well done to the residents of Queens Avenue. It was lovely to hear the children's reactions to the beautiful windows and we felt very honoured to be part of this fabulous project.

Buddy, the Kind Elf

That naughty elf came up trumps on the last day of term by presenting a selection of the children who guessed his name correctly with rather super prizes.

Buddy meets Buddy!

Well done to those children who won a selection box. 

Don't forget to share now!

Worth a Mention Children

When Miss Enever kindly sent me the pictures of the Worth a Mention Boards, my heart melted. 

This is absolutely spot on isn't it?

Well done super duper children of Key Stage Two - you are awesome!

Christmas Cheer

I just had to share these fabulous Christmas Trees from 5AD and 5CWT.

I LOVE the decorations that were made by the 5CWT children for their class Christmas tree. 

Gorgeous!

Mrs Daniel

As you may have read in the recent newsletter, our wonderful Mrs Daniel officially left Dorchester Middle School at the end of the term. 

I worked with her for twenty years and totally loved it! 

Her cracking sense of humour, her hard work and incredible relationships with the children, parents and staff were second to none and our lives are so much richer because of her.

 

Mrs Daniel, we cannot begin to thank you for all of your dedication to the school. We will miss you so, so much but you leave an incredible legacy of fun, laughter and happy memories. 

Generations of children will always look back at their time in your class with great fondness, knowing how lucky they were to have you as their teacher.

Here's to the next set of exciting adventures in your life!

Well, that's it for this week/term/year!

I am going to have a couple of weeks away from blogging so may I take this opportunity to wish you an extremely Happy Christmas and may 2021 be an improvement for us all!

Even though the majority of us may not be having the Christmas that we planned, may you all have a lovely time, regardless. 

Most of all, I hope that you all have the opportunity to recharge your batteries and have a well deserved rest.

See you next year!

Mrs Ray

(who spotted Buddy in a window in Blandford - that naughty Elf gets everywhere doesn't he?)