We made it!

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

As I write the last blog of the academic year, I cannot believe that we are finally about to embark on our very well deserved summer holiday. There are so may clichés that I could use to sum up the year that we have just had but I will refrain, we've heard and said them all before (and probably all from me!). 

The last week in particular was quite emotional. Although change is on the horizon, it was so important that we acknowledged, embraced and celebrated the present and I really do think we did so with bells on. The Leaver's Service was incredibly moving and the Whole School Assembly was an absolute triumph. 

For me, the picture below sums it all up beautifully. This is Mary receiving her Caroline Dearden 'Hello Sunshine' award and yes, I did cry! 

Worth a Mention Children

Year Six came up trumps with their WAM Board. As I reached the top of the stairs, I was really touched by what I saw.

Perfect!

Story Time

Not only did we make it to the end of term, we also made it to the end of Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. As it was so hot in the classrooms, a couple of classes decided they wanted to go outside and read the rest of the book.

5MR

5CWT

5CWT

Yes, I did cry when I read the last chapter. I tried to explain that I was hot and tired but that didn't seem to wash with our savvy Year Fives. It was so emotional! It's a wonderful book and I thoroughly recommend it to our Key Stage Two children.

Stripy Children - the return!

On Monday, Mrs Ettling, Miss Easton and I held a virtual  Assembly to celebrate the many achievements of our Key Stage Two children. 

We read out the top three children Achievement Point earners from each class and then we repeated this for the top three children with the most number of reads. We also celebrated the children who had excelled on Spellzone and in Accelerated Reader.

After the assembly, Miss Easton came round to the classes to hand out the stripes. She also took the photographs so it was all very hectic!

It was so lovely to celebrate these children's successes - words cannot express how incredibly proud we are of every single child who has earned stripes this year. Here is a selection of pictures of the children in Year Five who have received stripes this term.

Well done one and all!

Super Readers

Mrs Travers has been listening to a variety of children read on a regular basis since March. The amount of progress that they have made is impressive to say the least. 

To recognise this fantastic achievement, Mrs Travers presented the children with beautiful certificates.

Fab-u-lous!

Polish Lesson

I am convinced that 5CWT are THE luckiest class when it comes to foreign languages. Not only have they had a Welsh lesson from April but this week, they had a Polish lesson from Sophie.

I so wanted to stay as it looked incredibly interesting. I am going to test the new 6JH (Mrs James and Miss Homer) on their knowledge of Polish words when they return to school in September. 

You have been warned...

Nice to meet you...

Mr Haigh came and spent some time with his new class - the current 5AD. He was in full flow when I came in and took this picture. 

I think they're both in for a treat next year!

Year Eight's Leavers' Service

It wasn't only the sun that shone on Thursday morning, our brilliant Year Eights were looking smart and shiny ready for their fond farewells and for the presentation of numerous awards.

Miss Clements had Secret Squirrels to deliver a rather lovely surprise to the Year Eight Homebase Tutors.

 

    

Mrs Young had disappeared before I had the chance to take her picture!

I felt extremely honoured to present some of the awards to the children and yes, I did cry.

Whole School Assembly

On Friday morning, we gathered together as a school for the first time in many, many months. We had music, drama, awards and yes, I did cry!

Here are a few of my pictures from the assembly:

Mrs Ettling keeping an every watchful eye!

Marvellous Music

DMS DASP Citizens of the Year 

Year Five Winners - Harriet and Reece

Year Six Winners - Olivia and Will

Year Seven Winners - George and Lilia

Year Eight Winners - Ben and Thea

Poetry Reading

DASP Competition Finalists

DASP Competition Winners

Ms Pluck made the winners go on a fashion show parade so they could share their winning entries.

Did Ms Pluck mention that DMS won all the categories?! 

Ms Pluck reading out Mary's winning entry.

Year Eight Peer Mentors

Thank you and well done to all of those who were involved. It was definitely an assembly to remember.

New Recruit?

Look who was found in the school premises on Friday! Mrs Whiting is a dab hand at rescuing hedgehogs isn't she?

I think this youngster has been named 'Prickles' but I thought 'Spike' was a perfect name!

I have never seen a hedgehog up so close. This one was so cute, whenever Mrs Whiting gave it water it would gobble it all up. It was ever so active considering that technically it should have been fast asleep.

Well done Mrs Whiting - another successful rescue. 

At the end of the day...

We all came outside to wish our Year Eights all the best by giving them three almighty cheers and yes, I did cry.

Keeping it in the family

Our fabulous and much-missed Mrs Gaffney returned to school on Friday to visit us all and to wish the staff who were leaving well. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her with her lovely son, Mr Gaffney.

We very sadly said  'goodbye' to a few members of staff who are all off to do new and exciting things next term. One of them is our lovely Mrs Shutts pictured here with her equally lovely daughter, Miss Shutts.

Thank You!

As I near the end of the Blog, I would like to say a HUGE 'Thank You' to ALL of the amazing staff in the school. 

They are an incredible group of people and as a collective, they are what makes the school work. The Site Team, Office Staff, Teaching Assistants, Mentors, Teachers and the Senior Leadership Team are all here for one reason and one reason alone - to make sure that our children get the very best deal possible. 

Well, that's it for this week. This Blogger is going to sign off for a few weeks to recharge her very worn down batteries but I hope that you all have a fabulous summer holiday and enjoy whatever you may or may not have planned!

See you in September!

Mrs Ray

(who thought that this picture summarised the end of term perfectly!)