In our entrance area you may recently have noticed a new ‘golden sign’ on the

wall. The sign has a quotation from Plato, a Greek philosopher, it reads:

“The body is perishable but the soul is immortal. Some people have gold in their souls others have iron and bronze.”

At Dale our aim is to create golden moments in children’s souls- looking through the newsletter, I think we managed it this term. I hope you think so too.

Have a good Easter break. See you all next term.

Mrs L Sullivan - Head Teacher

Term dates for 2010

Break up for EasterThursday 1st April

Back to SchoolMonday 19th AprilBank HolidayMonday 3rd May

Break up for Half TermFriday 28th May

Inset DayMonday 7th June

Back to SchoolTuesday 8th June

Break up for SummerFriday 23rd July

Bank to SchoolMonday 6th September

APRIL 2010

HEAD’S

SPOT

Year 4’s Katie in front of the cress earth in the playground during Science & Engineering Week.

DALE NEWS

Science & Engineering WeekSee back page for full story!

Let’s Get Cooking

We had a fantastic start to our new cooking club, ‘Dale Delights’. Well done to 5MT who won the smoothie tasting challenge and got to make smoothies in their classroom.We launched our club with pupils and parents from Year 5 who have had a great time learning to cook healthy meals and snacks; and have shown great team work.

It was lovely to see mothers and daughters cooking together, maybe next time we can have some male participants!

Our cooking club involves people from the local community and we are delighted that PAK Foods have supported us by supplying all the ingredients.

We are always interested in hearing from local businesses that might be interested in supporting our club. If you are interested, please contact the school.

Foundation Stage News What a wonderful world! We have been from the African plains to under the sea, learning about different animals and where they live. We had a busy time sorting them out after they had got lost. The Petting Zoo was very exciting and scary! We had a good look and feel of all the animals. We learnt about how to care for animals and all the food that they like to eat.

Year One News

Year 1 started this half term by reading the story “aaaarrgghh spider!” Spider wants to be a family pet. The children though that they would like a pet, so we visited “Pets at Home”. 1R came back with two gerbils! We have all learned what animals and people need to stay healthy. In our classroom we have been growing seeds (we even planted the budgie seed). Now we are having a competition to see whose potatoes grow the best. Then we will cook and eat them.

Year Two News

Year 2 had a lovely trip to Darley Abbey where we

compared Darley Abbey to Normanton. We visited the park, saw a weir and walked along the Toll Bridge. The village is beautiful! Well done to the Year 2 children who took part in the gymnastics competition at Springwood Leisure Centre. They worked so hard.For our next topic we will be learning about the history of Derby and Florence Nightingale.

Year Three News

Imagine you could spend money to improve our local area in some way. What would you do? Year 3 are having great fun redesigning Normanton Park! Skateboard ramps, fountains, youth clubs, theme parks, or a handbag shop? See what we decide is needed!Science week has been a real buzz, as we learned everything you need to know about bees and honey!

Learning Mentors

Please check your child’s hair for head lice at least once a week. Combs are available from the Learning Mentors.

Sports News

• Speedmark football challenge raised approximately £1350- half of which goes to school PE funds. Thank you to all who made the effort to get sponsors. • We have had 6

weeks of Dance from Derby Moor.• Cycle club has been

running for the past 6 weeks.• The Year 5/6 girls

had their 5-a-side indoor football competition, we entered 2 teams. Both teams performed really well!• We entered 5 teams

to the cross-country relays held at Derby Moor this year, with 4 runners to a team each running 750m. All competitors gave it their best and we managed two 4th places, a 5th, and two 7ths in the city• We entered a team in

the Year 5/6 tag rugby festival at Derby Rugby Club after 7 matches we finished a creditable 4th place and only losing 3-4 to the winners. Dray had the top score with 9 tries and Amanjot Kaur was the team player of the festival.

Year Four News

This half term Year 4 had a chilly time at the Winter Olympics. We have met two players from the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team who showed us their kit and equipment. We studied forces and friction, invented our own versions of winter sports and undertook Olympic training exercises. During Science Week we had visitors from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and we walked to PearTree Library where Derby University involved us in scientific processes used in real jobs.

Year Five NewsThis half term we have been studying a history topic about the Tudors. We are putting together a museum and we have a special guest, who knows a lot about the Tudors, to see how well we have done. Who could it be?We have enjoyed National Science and Engineering Week! We look at which fruit and vegetables are used for snack and how much is thrown away. We were shocked at the amount that is wasted!Some of us have been on the residential trip to Kingswood and taken part in lots of different activities. It was

great fun!We are really looking forward to our trip to Eyam in April. We will be looking to see what a village is like and how different it is to living in the city of Derby.

Year Six NewsEarlier this month, in the pouring rain, Year 6 had a visit from Derby Cycle Club. We learned how to mend a puncture and stay safe on our bikes. We even had the opportunity to ride some very unusual cycles including a penny farthing and a tandem. Everyone was given a free repair kit and a map of Derby Cycle paths so no excuse now not to get out and about with your family as the weather improves.The Year 6 newspaper club have been preparing their special edition of the Dale Express. Make sure you grab yourself a copy.

Charity Walk

Mr McMahon will be doing the Coast to Coast walk (191 miles) during the Easter Holidays; donations to the school for the Macmillan Nurses would be gratefully accepted.

Key Stage 2 Reading JournalAfter the Easter holidays, children from Year 3 to Year 6 will be coming home with a Reading Journal to help support and extend their reading at home. Children will be expected to complete comprehension activities related to the books they have read. If parents would like any further information about this, there will be a drop-in session from 9:00-9:30am on Wednesday 21st April (Dining Hall) in which our literacy co-ordinator, Sarah Coxson, will be available to answer queries.

Get online at homeThere are posters around school advising low-income families on how to access a free computer and a year’s free internet service. Leaflets are available from the Learning Mentors.

For more information please call 0333 200 1004.

How to contact us:Telephone 01332 760070 Emailadmin@dale.derby.sch.uk

AddressDale Community Primary SchoolPorter Road, Derby.DE23 6NL

Head TeacherMrs L. Sullivan

Please do not park in front of school gates!I have noticed some parents have

started to park their cars on the zig zag lines outside the school gates. This creates a major risk of an accident for our

children especially as the vast majority are not tall enough to see oncoming traffic over the parked cars.

Dale is one of the largest primary schools in the city with around 549 pupils therefore the entrances get very busy during collection times. Having parked cars outside the entrances increases the congestion. It is only a few years ago when a similar situation resulted in someone getting injured by a vehicle whilst she was crossing in between parked cars. Therefore please do not park in front of the gates and if travelling by car drop your children well away from entrances. Better still, walk to school as this is not only healthy but will also give you an opportunity to talk to your child about what he/she is doing at school. Mahroof HussainChair of Governors

Governors’

Spot

Well, what a week we had for National Science and Engineering Week…

action packed doesn’t quite describe it!

The build up began with assemblies, a count down to growing and a trip for Year 5/6 to The Big Bang in Manchester. We

held workshops for parents on Plants, which were well attended and good fun! Michael, our gardener, worked in the Reception courtyard planting with parents. It now looks wonderful.Over the next week each class in school carefully tended and grew their cress and over 350 cress packets/pots were sent home for families to grow. The Earth created on the playground out of cress, compost and sand looked amazing and was a real sign of our partnership with parents. In total over 450 pots were distributed and 394 pots were returned!The work completed by pupils in school is going to be published in the form of a book and this will also include the winning entries from the family homework. The Science Team would like to say a special thank you to the following for their involvement and support in our Science Week: W.S. Atkin, Rolls Royce, RSPB, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Swadlincote Garden Centre, PearTree Library and Michael Lemon.The staff have been overwhelmed by the response from the homework and the care and effort put into each piece by families. A big thank you and well done to you all!

Science &

Engineering

Week