Springing into action

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

We did it! We got to the end of the Spring Term relatively unscathed - well done Team DMS! 

I really can't believe that we have just finished a four day week, was it really only four days? It felt like a lot longer didn't it?

To say that it has been the most extraordinary of terms would be the understatement of the year wouldn't it? However, we have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes and continue to thrive as a school. However, here we are, having just started our Easter Holiday and a well deserved one it is too!

I have lots of lovely things to share with you this week so here goes...

Stripes all the way

We held two virtual assemblies this week - Key Stage Assemblies on Wednesday and Ms Pluck's Whole School Assembly on the Thursday.

I was very impressed with the speed that some of you got your stripes sewn on! Sophie sewed her on stripe onto her sweatshirt.

Ernie wasn't far behind her!

Huge congratulations to everyone who received stripes and apologies in advance to the parents/carers/grandparents who are roped into sewing them on. 

It'll be worth it, I promise!

Ms Pluck held her whole school assembly the next day and it was very exciting tuning in and seeing her on the big screen.

In the few days leading up to the assembly, Ms Pluck had asked the staff to nominate someone or a team who had made a difference to us as individuals. The winner was to be announced in the assembly which was all very exciting.

There were two winners in the end, the wonderful Mrs Schnorr and the equally wonderful Miss Sharpe. Here is Mrs Schnorr receiving her prize from Ms Pluck.

 

Both members of staff were so deserving of this acknowledgement, it was a great thing to do. 

Thank you Ms Pluck.

The Great Outdoors

As I have mentioned before, we have some fabulous outside spaces at Dorchester Middle School.

We have a pond area that has been frequented by some of our Year Six children recently.

 

I found the lesser spotted 5MW in the school garden on Thursday. They were planting, watering and enjoying the sun. 

It was a joy to behold!

The garden is looking really good - it's so lovely to see it being used, loved and looked after.

Slightly further up from the garden, it was good to see that the chickens had been released back into the Forest Schools area after their own Bird Flu lockdown. They were having a great time out in the sunshine. The girls are incredibly tame and if you call them, they come to you which is so sweet. 

I bent over the fence to say 'hello' and before I knew it, one of them was trying to tug my mask out of my hand! We suspected that she thought that it was a white worm and she was trying to eat it!

Cheeky! 

Finally, when we were by the Yellow Zone Gate the other day we spotted this rather cute little furry being...

Mrs Whiting made an instant beeline to this rather gorgeous pup who was only eight weeks old. So adorable - thank you for letting us invade the poor puppy's personal space but I think everyone would agree that it was a hard one to resist!

Excellent English

As you probably all know, I am passionate about the subject I teach (English) and am always striving to make my lessons as fun and as productive as possible. Here is something that 5MR and I did to try and understand the concept of complex sentences.

The different colour paper really helped to establish main and subordinate clauses.

I happened to be walking past 6TH when Mr Murray called me in to the classroom as he was super excited about the amazing writing that the children were producing.

I had a read of a few of the books and I could see why he was so excited. The descriptive writing was beyond impressive.

In 5MW, we were looking at homophones and trying to think of ways to remember how to use the correct one. There are so many homophones in the English language so we focused on the ones that I had identified from a recent piece of writing.

 Here are a few examples... 

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations (again!) to this week's marvellous Worth a Mention Children aka WAMS. I got in on the act this week and wrote up the names of a few children who had really stood out for me.

Let's start with our Super Year Sixes:

 

Now it's the turn of the Fantastic Year Fives:

Ms Pluck has also got her own WAM Board and has already got some impressive ICT work proudly displayed on it.

...and relax!

The end of the day at the end of a term always sees staff collapse in a small heap either on the premises or in the sanctity of their homes.

 

I managed to get this rare picture of Miss Clements. 'Why is it rare?' I hear you ask. It's because she is still and not rushing around like she usually does!

Meanwhile, on the playground, I seemed to have turned into the Easter Bunny!

...the Year Five Team didn't look terribly impressed did they? 

I don't blame them!

Well, that's it for another couple of weeks. This blogger is going to have a break and attempt to have a another bit of a digital detox as that worked well at half term even with the reluctant thirteen year old.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Easter break and that you too get to have a rest and the opportunity to recharge those batteries that I am always going on about.

A huge 'thank you' to the whole of the school community for being so incredibly supportive and positive this term - you are all amazing!

See you in a few weeks when we would have launched into the busy Summer Term with our usual gusto and enthusiasm.

Mrs Ray

(who had a 'shout out' in Morrison's on Saturday from the manager who knew me because I taught both of his fabulous boys, reunited with a few of her running chums and is now gradually turning into a mad bunny lady!)