Team Awesome

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

I hope you have all had a terrific week and that you are in the process of having a great weekend.

We have had a very busy week in school and as I am out and about in the school, I have been really impressed with the learning and the strong work ethic that the children are demonstrating. 

It really does feel like they have never been away!

Anyway, I have lots to report this week so on with the Blog...

Victorious!

You may well have noticed that on Monday, Ms Pluck was walking around the school with a green cape on? 

I thought she might have got her dates confused as Superhero Day was on Friday. When I questioned her, she gave me a confused look. Now I was the one who was confused. The penny then dropped - Ireland won the Rugby on Sunday didn't they? 

Silly me!

School Field Trip

OK, so we can't go out and about at the moment but that didn't stop Mrs Whiting taking her lovely class out to the school garden for a 'school trip'.

Quite a few of our Key Stage Two children have been out and about in the school grounds which has been glorious to see. We do have fabulous school grounds so it's great to see it being used alongside the curriculum.

Smart and Secure

As you might have seen on our school Facebook page, our school is sporting a rather smart new security system in the form of new gates and fencing. Not only has it really tidied up the front of the school, it has also made it a lot more secure which has always been a priority for Ms Pluck.

The people who installed the new security system were superb. They were quick, efficient, polite and mindful of the children at all times.

The results are fabulous aren't they?

Our Hero

As you may know, our amazing Mr Roberts is training hard to participate in the London to Brighton Challenge which is an Ultra-Marathon (100km) in May. He is doing this for a charity that is close to the hearts of his family as well as the staff at DMS, Target Ovarian Cancer.

The commitment that Mr Roberts has shown to his training and fundraising has been and continues to be second to none and it would be amazing if you could sponsor him.

This is the link to his fundraising page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Matt-Roberts23Target?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_launched&utm_content=2bd5fec0-7d80-4cec-b0be-b4968576f876&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1596621969117

Go Mr Roberts, go!

Strides Against Stress

There is no doubt that this has been, without doubt, a tough year for us all.

As exercise is a powerful tool to have in your mental health toolkit, Mr Roberts and I are promoting this amongst our staff and quite a few people have already sighed up to take part in this challenge.

A letter explaining more about it and how you can support us will be coming your way next week.

You've got to be joking!

Well, not only did you enter into the spirit of Comic Relief, you were also extremely generous in the process!

As a school, we raised an incredibly impressive £526.27

Well done and Thank You!

The 'Share a Smile' joke competition proved to be very popular indeed as you saw in last week's Blog. I had many enquiries as to when the winners would be announced.

My fantastic judging panel ploughed their way through over 800 jokes but we finally came up with our winners on Thursday. 

As mentioned in Ms Pluck's letter, we had great fun and took great delight in delivering the prizes to our various winners.

Before I go any further, I would like to thank all of the Year Six children who helped me to reduce the short list and to choose the winners - you were awesome.

Here are the winners along with their winning jokes.

Year Five

Congratulations to Samantha who won the Year Five prize for her joke:

One day, a policeman saw a man driving past with three penguins on the back seat.

The policeman stopped him and asked, "Why don't you take them to the Zoo?"

"That's a good idea," said the man.

The next day, the policeman saw the man again but this time the penguins had sunglasses on. 

The policeman stopped him and said, "I thought you were taking them to the zoo?"

The man said, "I did. Now I'm taking them to the beach."

Molly and Leah were our runners up.

Molly's joke was:

We went to the zoo, there was a baguette in a cage.

They said it was bread in captivity!

Leah's joke was:

I tried to sue the airport for misplacing my luggage.

I lost my case.

 

Year Six

Alex was our Year Six winner.

Here is his wining joke:

Why do Golf Players wear two pairs of underpants?

In case they get a hole in one!

Our runners up were Freya and Heath.

This is Heath's joke:

What do you buy a dog for a present?

A mobile bone.

This is Freya's joke:

Why do bicycles fall over?

Because they're two tired!

Year Seven

Congratulations to Eliza for her winning joke:

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis and ten year old school boy are on a plane that's going down.

There are only four parachutes.

Trump declares, "I am the smartest person in the USA, the country needs me."

He grabs one and jumps.

Johnson declares, "Britain can't survive Brexit without me," as he grabs one and jumps.

The Pope declares, "More than a billion Catholics need me," as he grabs one and jumps.

Merkel looks at the boy and says, "You take the last one, you have your whole life ahead of you."

The boy replies, "It's OK, there are two parachutes left; the smartest man in the USA took my backpack!"

Jack, Ruby and Callum were the runners up.

Jack's joke:

Why should you never trust stairs?

They are always up to something!

Ruby's joke:

What type of sandals do frogs wear?

Open-toad!

Callum's Joke:

Where do you find a cow with no legs?

Where you left it!

Year Eight

We had two winners in Year Eight: Abi and Tyler.

Here's Abi's winning joke:

Q: What is an astronaut's favourite key on a keyboard?

A: The space bar!

This is Tyler's winning joke:

I started reading this book about helium. 

I really couldn't put it down!

I am delighted with the uptake we had with this competition and with how supportive everyone has been.

Well done Team DMS!

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations and well done to the children who found their names on this week's Worth a Mention Boards.

This week, we are going to start with Year Five...

Now for Year Six:

 

Well done everyone - the reasons for you being on the board are incredibly impressive.

I am proud of each and everyone of you!

Time for Reflection

On Wednesday, the whole school held a minute's silence to mark a whole year since we went into our first Lockdown. During that time, we reflected on those who we have lost and to be grateful to those who have made unimaginable sacrifices to look after us, support us and keep us safe.

As a family, we lit a couple of candles and put them on our doorstep.

This has certainly been a year that we will remember to a long time to come.

Well, that's it for this week!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and that you are all able to recharge your batteries ready for a busy four days next week.

See you back here next week.

Mrs Ray

(who ran with Mrs Whiting again on Friday but we were so busy chatting that we forgot to take a picture! Inspired by our run, I went out with my husband on Saturday morning - it was a struggle to keep up with him I can tell you!)