Coming together

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

A full, five day week took a bit of readjusting didn't it? On Thursday, everyone kept asking each other if it was Friday! It was good to have a full run this week, lots of super learning was delivered across the school and our children continued to the absorb it like a sponge!

So, without further a do, let's crack on with this week's news...

Community Spirit

On Saturday morning, intrepid members of the school community united to spruce up the outdoor areas of the school. Not only did they have a lot of fun, they made incredible progress.

I can't wait to see the fruits of their labour on Monday morning!

This is just the start. 

There will be many other occasions where we will be needing the muscle power of our school community on a Saturday morning. 

You have been warned!

PTFA Meeting

Just a quick reminder that the PTFA will be meeting on Wednesday 5th October at The Duchess of Cornwall at 5.30pm. 

We look forward to seeing existing and new members!

Welcome, welcome, welcome...

This Tuesday and Thursday morning, between the 9am and 11am, we are throwing open the doors of the school for our annual School at Work mornings.

 The purpose of these mornings is to give the parents/carers of Year Four children to have a look around the school in action.

For those of you who are unable to attend, there will be an opportunity to come into school to have a look around on Monday 10th October 5pm - 6.30pm.

We look forward to welcoming you into our school.

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to the marvellous children whose names are proudly on display in the Year Five and Six corridors. 

This week, we are going to start with the Year Six superstars...

Now for the turn of the Year Five Superstars...

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic!

United we stand

On a very rainy Friday afternoon, I (eventually) made my way to St Osmunds Middle School to meet with the lovely Mr Biddle and the equally lovely Miss Bartlett to talk about the Five Ways to Wellbeing and how we integrate them in our school community.

It was so good to chat about what our respective schools are doing - we are definitely on the same page!

I will look forward to our next meeting!

Mrs James is a busy bee. Fact.

Well, we already knew that but look at the fabulous display that she created for her class. Mrs James had some super helpers to and I have to say I absolutely love it!

It's so clever isn't it?

Mrs James sent me this picture the other day. It's her cat Flitwick who is, without doubt, trying to get her attention.

It's impressive that she manages to get so much done. I would definitely class that cat as a distraction, wouldn't you?!

Black History Month

October is Black History Month and I was delighted to see the arrival of this display in the foyer. Mr Greetham, our Faculty Lead for Humanities, was adding to this magnificent display whilst I just happened to have my camera in my hand.

This is such an important month in the school year and I look forward to exploring it in more detail. 

STEM

This year, the school has totally embraced the concept of STEM. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and all of the children in the school will have the opportunity to participate in this over the course of the year.

Last week, a group of Year Eight children were visiting a variety of rooms around the school making observations linked to energy use. They had a questionnaire to complete and I am pleased to report that they were very focused and thorough. It was lovely to see hear the children discussing their findings.

Mrs Whiting very kindly took the picture below. Unfortunately, the camera ran out of power before she was able to take any more. Oh, the irony!

Well, that's it for this week. I hope that you all have a terrific week and I will be looking forward to seeing you back here next week.

Mrs Ray

(who managed to hit all the Five Ways of Wellbeing this weekend. Dressing up as a Pirate to run an Aid Station for the Old Harry Ultra Marathon in the pouring rain was a first but I guess it comes under the heading of 'learning', right?)