Happy Days

 Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog!

As another eventful week draws to an end, I know that the next two are going to be as eventful if not more so.

There are so many lovely things going on in school but it is impossible to report them all to you. Here is a snapshot of the week that was along with a few things that are on the horizon.

Is there a giraffe in the house?

This week, we were delighted to welcome Lucy from SCARF into school. 

SCARF stands for Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship.

Lucy worked will all of the classes in Key Stage Two and I was lucky enough to sit in on a couple of her sessions. I was particularly impressed with the focus on mental health and wellbeing as well as guiding the children on how to be assertive.

I think the absolute highlight of the session was when the children got to meet Harold the Giraffe. A lot of the children remembered him from the Life Education Van visits in their first schools.

On Lucy's last day, I was able too introduce Harold to Pete the Penguin. It was definitely love at first sight. 

One of the children in 5CWT was rather concerned that Ms Pluck (who Pete adores) might get jealous. There was a suggestion that maybe she could get a giraffe costume!

However, Lucy came to the rescue and gave me a gorgeous little giraffe to give to Ms Pluck to show that there weren't any hard feelings.

Ms Pluck was delighted! Her favourite animal in the whole world just happens to be a giraffe. Her new acquisition now sits proudly on top of her PC monitor.

Forgiveness is a beautiful thing!

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to all the children who have appeared on this week's Worth a Mention boards. 

Here are the Year Five superstars...

Here are the Year Six superstars so far...

Well done one and all!

Christmas Jumper Day

Don't forget that this Thursday (8th December) is Christmas Jumper Day. Please remember that this is not a non uniform day, the children will be substituting just their school jumper for the day.

 

Here are few examples from last year. Can you spot that each teacher is wearing a mask? Mask wearing seems like such a distant memory now doesn't it?

Christmas Concert

On Tuesday (6th December) Mrs Hammonds will be hosting a Christmas Concert in our Drama Hall. The concert starts at 6.30pm and there will be tea and coffee in the interval courtesy of the PTFA. 

We look forward to seeing you!

Christmas Carol Service

This time of year is, without doubt, incredibly busy  so please spare a thought for Mrs Hammonds. Along with the concert in Portsmouth last week, and another DASP concert in the pipeline, I don't think her feet have actually touched the ground!

The week after the Christmas Concert, there will be a Carol Service at St Mary's Church at 7pm.

I know that the Year Five children have been working hard on the songs in their Music lessons. Our Carol Services are always fabulous so I am really looking forward to seeing all the hard work pay off.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope that you all have a terrific week and I will look forward to seeing some of you at our concert. 

If you are the proud owner of a Year Five child then keep an eye out for a very exciting announcement at the beginning of the week...

Mrs Ray

(who continues to strive towards her Five Ways to Wellbeing. The weekend started with our DMS Christmas Gathering and then she was off to Christchurch to connect with her University friend which was enormous fun!)