All change!

At last!

The Key Stage Two Blog is up and running!

Please find it at:

https://keystagetwo.blogspot.com

I'll try and work out how to make the new Blog easier to access via the webiste so please hang on in there whilst I test my limited ICT skills to the max!

Enjoy!

Mrs Ray

Settling in very nicely indeed!

Hello and welcome back to the Year Five Blog!

What a week! It went really quickly didn't it? Our Year Five Gang grew with two new recruits joining us (they are totally lovely) and we continue to go from strength to strength. The children are really getting the hang of their new routines and although we have the occasional lost soul wandering the corridors, everyone seems to know the direction they are heading in!

Well done Year Five, you are all doing a grand job!

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to all of the children who found themselves on this week's Worth a Mention Board.

 

It's good to see you are working hard in English, being  enthusiastic learners and demonstrating kindness to your fellow humans!

Well done one and all!

Flu Vaccinations

Next week, an important letter will be winging its way to you as the children in Year Five have the opportunity to have a flu vaccination. The related paperwork will be heading your way in the next few days. The date of the vaccination will be 30th October. 

Buddens Trip

Hopefully, the letter with regards to our first trip of the year to Buddens Farm near Wareham made its way to you.

To clarify, 5MW and 5AD will be going on Wednesday 10th October and 5KD, 5CW and 5PC will be going on Thursday 11th October.

Please be aware that we can only take parents who have a current Dorchester Middle School DBS certificate on any of our trips so if you would like to come with us (and it would be terrific to take you) then please get in touch with the school office to complete the relevant paperwork.

I will be attending both trips so I can't wait to see the children out and about, enjoying the beauty and wonder that is Buddens. 

Golden Time 

Year Five did extremely well and most of the year group earned their Golden Time this week. Please don't worry if you didn't get it this time, coming to Middle School is an enormous learning curve so if you didn't quite get everything you needed - it's not the end of the world. 

Now that Homework has been added to the mix, organisation is key! If you struggle to get your Homework completed at home then please do remember that we run a daily Study Group session in ICT3/4 starting at 1.30pm.

Parent Consultations

Our first round of Parent Consultations will be held the week before we break up for half term.

The dates are:

Monday 15th October 4pm - 6pm

Wednesday 17th October 5pm - 7pm

The aim of our first round of Consultations is to give you an opportunity to meet with your child's Homebase Tutor to discuss how their first half at DMS has gone and has very much a pastoral focus. However, please don't wait until this meeting if there are any issues you would like to discuss - please don't hesitate to, in the first instance, contact your child's Homebase Tutor with any concerns or queries.

A letter with an appointment slip will be heading its way towards you in the next few days.

 There will be an opportunity to meet with your child's English and Maths Teachers in the new year. 

Coming to a Blog near you...

The next Blog will be a different as we will be welcoming Year Six  creating, in the process, the school's first ever Key Stage Two Blog! How exciting!

Well, that's it for next week. I hope you all have/had a super weekend and that those batteries have had a chance to recharge even if it's just a little bit.

I'll see you back here for the all new and rather bumper edition of the the new Key Stage Two Blog!

Mrs Ray

(who had a lovely weekend as we (me, my brother and sister) got the four grandchildren together for the very first time! )

My Dad with his growing brood of Grandchildren!

Mrs Ray's Marvellous Year Group!

Hello and welcome back to the Year Five Blog!

Well, can you believe it, our new recruits now have thirteen school days under their belt. How quickly has that gone? The children are doing well: settling into their new routines and getting the hang of a whole new set of rules and expectations. I am delighted to report that 5PC are finally getting the hang of getting changed for Games - we achieved a lot more this week - hoorah!

Needless to say, we have had a terrific week full of fun, the definite highlight being our DMS Roald Dahl Day on Thursday. 

Roald Dahl Day

So, it was a week later than the 'official' version but this is did not dampen anyone's enthusiasm towards the event.

Miss Hobern was the mastermind behind the day along with key members of the English Team including Mrs James, Mrs Hyde and Miss Homer along with Mr Baker and Mrs Retallick who made the library look simply spectacular!

There were also some rather incredible costumes on the day! A huge thank you to everyone who dressed up - you all looked amazing! Here are a few members of staff who embraced the weird and wonderful world of Roald Dahl...

Never let it be said that DMS doesn't embrace a chance to dress up for the day!

The children's costumes were incredible. I will put a selection of the pictures on next week's Blog as I just have to double-check that I have permissions so but here is a taster for you courtesy of Year Six...

Watch this space!

Fabulous Football 

On Wednesday, our Year Five boys played against St Osmund's Middle School. The words below are written by our fabulous Mr Roberts:

It was an audacious Year 5 DMS team that romped home this afternoon.George C was a 'complete player'with raw skills and consummate enterprise. He ghosted through the Ozzies defenders,scoring a brace with ease.

The DMS result was undeniable and for the opponents-unavoidable.

Won 3-1. and Lost 2-0

Well done boys, you did us proud on so many levels.

Golden Time

As anticipated, quite a few of our lovely Year Five children missed their Golden Time on Wednesday. The main reason for this was the fact that the children hadn't completed the necessary five reads for the week. A few children didn't have their diaries signed so I completed a bit of 'Diary Signing' training which involved the diary being open, a pen in hand and modelling how to politely ask a parent to sign the correct page. There was role play and everything!

Hopefully I won't have such a packed room next Wednesday. Make sure you get those five reads signed off by an adult before your diary is checked!

Please do contact us if you're not 100% sure of what to do - we are always happy to help.

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to all of the children who found themselves on this week's Worth a Mention Board in the Year Five corridor. It's good to see how many of you embraced the Roald Dahl Day, well done one and all!

Coming to a Year Six near you...

It's in the pipeline Year Six - the first ever Key Stage Two Blog is heading your way this October so brace yourselves!!!!

Well, that's it for this week. I hope you all have a totally fabulous weekend and that you don't get too soaked - the forecast isn't looking great is it? I am meant to be participating in the Trust 10km at Studland on Sunday so wish me luck on that one!

See you back here next week!

Mrs Ray

(who attended an Open Evening at her daughter's new Secondary School on the same day as our Roald Dahl Day. Now, the question is, did I keep wearing my Mr Fox outfit or not? What do you reckon?!)

Heading in the right direction

Hello and welcome back to the Year Five Blog!

What a crazy week that was! A full week on timetable is no mean feat in Year Five! Now that we have that under our belts, we can really crack on with our learning. There will still be confusion from time to time and getting lost is a constant possibility but now that we have run through a week, at least everyone knows what to expect now.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, let's crack on with the Blog.

Worth a Mention Children

As mentioned in last week's Blog, we have our first Worth a Mention children on the board in the Year Five corridor.

Huge congratulations to the ten children whose names are on the board! As a result of this, you should get a sticker in your Home/School Diary and TWO citizenship credits.

It's lovely to see the reasons why the children are on the board. I could have put a hundred of you up there so it's a good job that it's the choice of your Homebase Tutors!

Golden Time

This Wednesday will be  our first 'official' Golden Time so please make sure you have your diary signed, that your reads have been signed in and if you have had homework - please make sure it's handed in on time.

If you miss your Golden Time this week it is not the end of the world! I will catch up with you to see what went wrong and help you come up with a plan so that it doesn't happen next week.

There is so much to take in and remember, we totally understand that so don't panic if you don't get the hang of it straight away.

Drop in Sessions

As mentioned in the letter that should have come home this week (!), we offer Drop In Sessions on a Monday after school from 3.30pm to 3.45pm. As your child's Homebase Tutor should be your first point of contact, this will give you an opportunity to see them to discuss any issues or to see how your child is getting on. Please be mindful that the designated time slot is quite brief so you may need to arrange another day and time to see the teacher.

Snacks

At Dorchester Middle School, our lunchtime is at 1.10pm which we appreciate is later than the children's previous schools. We recommend that the children have a substantial snack at break time to get them through the couple of hours before lunch. However, please do remember that we are a Healthy School so snacks should consist of fruit etc.

So, that's it for this week!

I hope you have had a lovely weekend and that the children aren't too exhausted after a very busy week.

See you next week!

Mrs Ray

(who came across this rather lovely sight whilst out running this morning...)

The lovely Blandford aka 'Blanners'!