Nature and Nurture

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

I hope that you have all had a good week?

 We've been as busy as always at DMS this week but that won't be any surprise to you.

We have been working hard behind the scenes on Transition for both Year Four into Year Five and Year Eight into Year Nine with lots of meetings being held and organised over the next few weeks. 

For those who are transferring into Year Four, our lovely Miss Easton will start to be visiting the feeder first schools and I won't be far behind her in the non feeder schools. A letter will go out to the Year Four parents after half term with dates for the diary and our 2021 Transition Timeline. 

It's all very exciting!

Right, on with the Blog...

Mental Health Awareness Week

We held our Children's Mental Health Week at the beginning of February which was fabulous and although looking our Mental Health is continuous, it's always good to have a refresher isn't it?  

The theme of the week has been nature so I made a conscious effort to get outdoors and to connect with the beautiful area that we live in.

 On Thursday, I went for a 'run' with a small group of friends outside Blandford to see the spectacular bluebells.

Aren't they amazing?

Miss Clements and I delivered a virtual whole school assembly to mark this important week and talked about how vital it is to look after our mental health. We were incredibly impressed with the responses the children gave us in the Chat Box. It was a really enjoyable experience.

 It clearly struck a chord with many of our children to the point where Evelyn and Sofia in 5MR created a poster to promote the importance of looking after our mental health.

As a parent, I am always very conscious of my teenage daughter's mental health and wellbeing. Like many parents, I am always looking at ways that I can help her but also at strategies that she can use to enable her to navigate her way through life.

During the first Lockdown, over a year ago, I bought her this journal. She doesn't use it every day but she dips into now and again, especially when she is struggling. I also receive fortnightly emails that give me really useful tips on how to, as a parent, support her through certain scenarios e.g 'I'm useless at everything' or 'everyone hates me' to name a couple.

I'm not on commission (promise) but sometimes it's good to share tips and strategies that are helpful when trying to help your child deal with situations that you may not instantly have at your finger tips. 

If there is anything that you use that has been helpful, please do share it with me and I will include it in the Blog.

fray01@dmsschool.co.uk

 

Non Uniform Day

In support of our incredible Mr Roberts and his Ultra Marathon from London to Brighton, we will be holding a Non Uniform Day on Friday 21st May. 

In exchange for wearing your (appropriate) home clothes you will need to pay £1 to your Homebase Tutor during morning registration on the day. 

Mr Roberts has already raised an impressive amount of money for this amazing charity so I am delighted that we will be able to add to it. If you would like to donate to Mr Roberts' Just Giving page, here is the link:

 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/matt-roberts23target?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=matt-roberts23target&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=19fb254fa56b4b22b32b2b2ca6575633&fbclid=IwAR3nMq6M_l7SKR0Tv78lLYFDXd3HtW5MCnBEjNiDobcaET_lawgEIAVYvHw

It's not long now before the big day so it would be great to give Mr Roberts' sponsorship a big boost!

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to this week's Worth a Mention children - you are all officially superstars!

Let's start with Year Five this week:

Now for Year Six:

Well done one and all!

Funny business

I thought I would share this cracker that I found on 6PC's board the other morning...

It really made me chuckle although I'm not entirely convinced that all of the children got it!

Art Attack!

I spied this beauty on the 6TH display board in the Year Six corridor and had to share it.

So clever and effective - well done 6TH.

Thank you!

In Ms Pluck's weekly letter , she proudly wrote about the conversations that she had been having this week with children about their learning. These are the Year Five children that I chose to speak to Ms Pluck and they were AMAZING! I was incredibly proud of the way they answered the questions they were given and how they were able to talk about the progress that they have made this year.

Brilliant!

Well, that's it for this week. I hope that you all have a good weekend and an even better week.

See you back here next week!

Mrs Ray

(who had a great run with Mrs Whiting on Friday but they were so busy chatting that she didn't take any photos!)