Ditcham Newsletter - Friday 23rd February 2024
Dear Parents
Welcome back from a well earned half term break! We've got some big events to look forward to over the next few weeks, including our ambitious Grease production. The staging is currently going up in the sports hall and Ditcham is beginning to take on a real 1950s vibe!
Today we were delighted to host Mayor of Petersfield JC Chrissey for lunch. He spent some time talking to our Junior and Senior pupil councils about what he does as Mayor and how local democracy works.
Wishing all families an enjoyable and restful weekend.
Best wishes
Graham Spawforth Headmaster
Headmaster Awards
Congratulations to the Seniors who have been given a Headmaster Award!
Junior Merit Awards
Congratulations to all the Juniors who have been awarded a merit this week - some excellent work to be seen!
Juniors
Pancake Race fun!
As pancake day fell over half term, we simply HAD to let our littlest members of the Ditcham Community have a race in the South Downs Hall. Much excitement and fun was had by all - some super wonderful hats also created for the occasion – we had pancakes, spring flowers, daffodils and even some Reception pancake eating dinosaurs! They ran, tossed and shared big smiles while everyone took part in the celebrations. It really is a lovely way to celebrate the beginning of Lent and we were so pleased to be able to do it, despite it being a week late due to half term. Well done to Pre-School, Reception, Pre-Prep and Prep for showing such good sportsmanship!
On Prep's return to the classroom, Eliza was so inspired by the fun that she wrote this lovely poem:
Pancakes, pancakes hot sticky and sweet, If you eat one, you are having a treat.
Cook them eat them the pattern goes, But the secret of the flavour, no one knows!
EYFS and KS1 Staff
https://sway.cloud.microsoft/WgvL02IpOX37bklj#content=jbRaV4c1J99tMV
High Flying Prep
Prep were very excited to get our History of Transport topic off to a flying start with a visit from Mr Duke, Teddy’s daddy, who is a pilot for British Airways. He told us about the very first aeroplanes and how these have evolved into the planes we use nowadays. He talked about a typical day in the life of a pilot and the challenges he faces when flying around the world. We then finished off the session thinking about all the different people involved in getting every aeroplane off the ground and passengers delivered to their destinations safely. I think there may be some budding pilots in the
class too who were very enthusiastic about travelling around the world at speeds faster than 500mph!
Huge thanks to Mr Duke for giving up his time to come and talk to us - we really enjoyed his visit!
Mrs Witte
Uppers ISA Poetry Competition
Pupils in Upper Juniors have been working hard to complete a poem for the ISA Poetry Competition. The poem title was, I Hope… and pupils thought hard about personal hopes as well as hopes for the world. Many of these poems were impactful and compelling. We will be sharing the top six poems over the next few weeks in this News Letter, so please enjoy.
Huge congratulations to Zac and Yasmin, as their poems will be submitted – we wish them luck!
Julie MotherseleI Hope…
By Josh SI hope that spring comes again, to watch the ice melt and see the frost disappear like a glass of beer on a cold winter's night
To gaze as the leaves regrow and the animals come back out to play. I hope that spring comes again, as we forget how to breath snow and take off our coats, For spring is coming, yes spring is coming.
As we see more and more people wearing t-shirts and shorts,
And mortals start to play sports,
Alas winter is still here.
I hope that spring comes again, to witness flowers see the world above, Blue skies return all the birds are soaring but my favorite is the dove
Poking through the soft snow new trees grow and grow, Spring will come
I hope that spring comes again, growing on the ground is lots and lots of grass
We all go back to school, I go back to maths class.
Thank the lord spring is here.
I Hope in the World
By Teddy CI hope in the world
A world with animals
That roam free
Poachers are our enemy hi this be so bad
They kill our animals for Accessories
There is one earth only.
Stop we can’t live
Soon we’ll all be extinct
So stop watching the world go by
You can make a difference
Between extinction and life
There is only one earth.
Climate change
Its summer all the time
We can’t live without the sweet, cold
Instead we have to live with chilly, hot
This we all have to face
There is only one earth
These are the things we must work on
It is a living crisis we must make a difference
There is only one earth
Uppers Reporting!
Pupils in Uppers have been looking at the features and structure of a Newspaper Report. They have been understanding the importance of quality reporter questions to elicit quality responses, which has then been put into practise when creating their own questions for the role of a reporter at the senior Battle of The Bands.
All pupils went along armed with quality questions and a camera and they watched as the excitement grew with bands warming up and initially preparing for their ‘big moment’. Our Junior pupils were a delight to watch, as they asked sensible open questions and enjoyed some of the very best Ditcham has to offer.
A full report will be in the Newsletter, but until then, watch out Andrew Sorkin, DPS pupils are preparing for their new careers!
Julie Mothersele and Roly Ainsworth
Stretch and Challenge Success!
Huge congratulations to
• Lexi G
• Anabella B
• Florence H
• Margot H
• Wren P
• Olly H
• Piers T
for completing their Spring Term Stretch and Challenge activities. They were awarded their certificates in today's Celebration Assembly.
Freezing in Pre-Prep! (all in the name of science...)
In today’s Science lesson we thought about water and what happens when it freezes and melts. We first thought about the words, solid, liquid, melt, freezes and ice, the children gave good suggestions, and then we used a dictionary to help us with the definitions. The children then each held an ice cube in their hands and observed the ice melting. We looked at water and poured it between containers and discussed the difference between liquids and solids. We then looked at our toys which had been frozen in a tub of water. The children thought about and gave suggestions on how we could release the toys from the ice. We used hammers, paper towels as a blanket and a hairdryer. We saw that the hairdryer melted the ice the quickest but the most fun was using the hammers!
The children were all engaged and enthusiastic about this experiment – all enjoying the feeling of ice melting and having a turn at trying to release the toy animals. All wanted to try it at home and take some ice cubes to the bath to see how quickly they melted!
Mrs Somerville
Middle Junior Rainforest Dioramas
Making rainforest dioramas proved to be a fun way to learn about the life within the rainforests of the world. The children embraced this challenge wholeheartedly. They showed phenomenal creative ability and resourcefulness in their construction of scale models depicting a typical rainforest scene, and even managed to include some of the interesting animals that you would expect to see. Please enjoy viewing these.
Jane O’Hara
Let There Be Light!
This half term in Science, Transition are learning about Light and Shadows. We kicked off our first lesson by investigating light by putting a few items in a cardboard box, making holes in the box and looking through to see what we could identify. We also used the torches to see if these helped us to see the items inside better. Transition learned that light travels only in straight lines so the holes in the box did help but only when the torch was shining directly down from above onto the objects below.
Next we moved on to making light spinners which when still show all the colours of the visible spectrum but when spun around very quickly turn white! Both classes had great fun completing this task and showing off their spinners for the camera. We can’t wait for next week’s lesson!
Mrs Newton and Mr Livingston
Tuesday February 20th 2024
The enthusiasm of a warmly clad class of young volunteers, brought out a virtual sunshine with their smiles and dispelled the drizzle of a February morning.
On arriving at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, we were met by Lottie who works with the Hampshire Tree Partnership and was very keen to have our help planting tree whips around the perimeter of a field. We found out that we were going to plant Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Elderberry, Hazel and other types of brilliant hedging trees.
We worked in little teams to dig, plant and then protect the young trees with covers from being eaten by deer. We were very lucky to have so many adult helpers offering their time and digging expertise to get the job done.
What a wonderful sight it was; grown-ups digging, children choosing trees, planting them, discovering many worms and snails, then putting the tubes around the tree whips in a long line! One team even found a newt who was suddenly shot into stardom and wandered across a bridge of hands. A good two hours later and a double layer of tree whips were planted ready to become a nature corridor for hedgehogs, nesting sites for birds and homes for insects and small mammals.
Having built up a huge appetite, it was definitely time to stop for lunch. As a reward for all their hard work the children had an afternoon extravaganza of Den Building, each team had to build a den they
Lowers Hedge Planting Day at Queen Elizabeth II Country Parkcould all fit in and that was waterproof. I had no idea how strong the children were, they carried huge branches and built amazing Dens using a variety of materials to make them waterproof. It was the teamwork that was impressive though and I have to say the Dens were excellent.
Well done Lowers for embracing the conservation project with such enthusiasm, hopefully you will be able to go back and watch how the hedge grows. A huge thank you to Mrs Tanner and her sister as well as the parents and Bertie who gave up their time and came to help.
Mrs Atkinson
Seniors
Create a Logo Competition!
Calling all creative Seniors!! The Friends of Ditcham Park play a hugely important role in our school community. They raise money throughout the year for a range of activities and equipment for the whole school. These activities help to develop a closer relationship between parents and staff and also service to generate our amazing #ditchamcommunity spirit.
But the Friends are looking for a new logo to represent the work they do in supporting our school. Here is the existing logo - its time for a new one!
To enter, you must create a logo on A4 paper and include (separate to your logo) an explanation of why you feel it best represents the work of the friends of Ditcham Park School. You could:
• Include the DPS logo
• Use a selection of colours or patterns
• Different types of faces
• Use graphic design software such as Canva or create it by hand.
The winning logo will feature in newsletters, posters, banners and anywhere that the FDPS want to show their support. This logo will hopefully last for a good few years! So what are you waiting for?
Get designing and send in your ideas to Mr Hoad by Friday 8th March. Please make sure you provide a paper copy of your work.
Good Luck!
RE and Philosophy YEAR 9 GCSE
Does God Exist: Thinking more deeply about the world around us.
As part of their GCSE work Year 9 are embarking on understanding and extending their ideas on religion and science. Recently we have been studying the complexities of the existence of God using St Thomas Aquinas’ ideas about the First Cause (God creating the world around us) and William Paley’s ideas on how everything is so perfect then it must be designed – and that designer is indeed God. We then extended and pushed our discussions into Science and how that is key to the world we live in now. For this we have studied Darwin, The Big Bang Theory (and Stephen Hawkins’ ideas on the origins of the Universe), as well as philosophers such as David Hume and Descartes. We even created our own first cause experiment with dominoes in the lesson!
One weekend, for homework, the pupils were asked to take picture of beautiful view as they were out and about and look at it through the two different perspectives: one as though God has created all around you and the other more practical scientific point of view. Here are some of the pictures and thoughts in the pages that follow.
Mrs Browning
Sunset by Freddie B
From a scientific standpoint:
Sunsets produce a red and orange light spectrum. From a sense of well-being, this can help balance your circadian rhythm, also known as your body's internal clock. This can lead to a more restful and rejuvenating night's sleep and can also boost your overall mood. A circadian rhythm is the physical, mental, and behavioural changes a human experiences over a day’s cycle. However, if we take a scientist’s point of view of a sunset, it doesn’t really rise and set because it only appears to due to the earth’s rotation on its axis. It makes one complete turn every 24 hours. As the earth rotates different locations on Earth pass through the sun’s light.
From a religious standpoint:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)
A sunrise and sunset is an invitation to join God in the closing of one day and experience hope at the beginning of the next. It gives us the chance to be grateful for the gift of light and dark and see the changing beauty of each moment. In the creation story, the day ends at sunset and a new day dawns with us going to sleep and God beginning the work of a new day. A sunset is one of God’s miracles he has created for us to appreciate that even an ending can be beautiful.
Sunset by Emily B
Religious viewpoint:
The silhouette of the tree branches are placed perfectly in front of the orangey-pink, sunset sky, therefore suggesting that a higher being must have created this picturesque scene.
Scientific viewpoint:
The tree on the right hand side, has lost all it’s leaves and is therefore showing its bare branches. The camera had to be angled and placed correctly to capture both the sunset and the tree. The colourful sky is the result of the sun setting, and will be the same everyday.
Beautiful View
Religious viewpoint:
The dark colour of the sand, and the grey colour of the sky are so different to the streak of blue’s in the middle. The clear blue section in the middle is a perfect straight line almost as if the photo has been edited. The only way something as perfect as this can happen is if God has crafted it to be in this exact position with these specific colours which contrast so well.
Scientific viewpoint:
The sky is naturally the clear blue colour you can see in the photo and the clouds are just covering majority of it The colour is also reflecting onto the sand - hence why it may seem as if only a section is like that.
Robin on a Spade by
Design Argument: I believe that god designed this image to start my day off with something positive and fill me with joy.
Henry PAs god, the lord undoubtedly wishes the best for all his subjects. He has brought me joy and happiness to remind me to never give up.
Scientific Argument: I believe that this robin randomly landed on the shovel and that is all there is to it.
God doesn’t exist as there is no proof. Life, whilst it is an amazing and complex phenomenon the whole thing is a series of rather fortunate events for us.
The first cause(The Big Bang) caused everything else and that is it.
Beautiful View by Lewis H
Religious perspective
This view is so unique that no one can experience this again. No one can ever fully replicate this picture because this view cannot happen again. This proves that god created things to only ever be experienced once. God made things so they are unique for each person. No two people can ever experience the same thing. This proved that god wanted to make every person's life personal and unique
Science perspective
This is a picture of a sunny day somewhere in Clanfield it cannot be experienced again because the sun will have moved and time will have moved on. Time moves in a continuous line so experiences cannot be repeated because something will always be different. This is due to a bunch of different factors like rain wind the sun's position and if anything had been moved in the view.
Religious View
by Katie BI took this image the evening of the first of February - 01/02/24.
I think that looking through a religious perspective that this is no coincidence and that this is a sign sent from heaven, a sign that this will be the best month ever to enjoy and love.
A mesmerizing sunset like this isnt a daily occurance and the fact it was the start of a new month makes it even more fascinating, a sign of new life and a fresh start, god sent a beautiful sunset to represent the great month ahead of us.
Scientific View
by Katie BI took this image the evening of the first of February - 01/02/24.
I think that looking at this through a scientific perspective really is just a beautiful sunset that has landed on the first of February, but the fact that it has steams of a feeling of hope and good energy for the new oncoming month.
Year 9 Portraits in Art
This week, our Year 9 students have been producing some incredible pieces of work - here are a few photos for you to enjoy!
Nikki Rose
Fixtures for next week
We have a lot of matches to squeeze into next week. Please see the tables for information of where they will be, who is playing and what time collection is. Do come along and support your child(ren) if you can, we love having our community around us!
James WaltonPE Department
Sports News
U15 & U14 Hockey at Frensham
The weather has not been our friend this week so many matches have been cancelled, however we did make it to a few!
The U15 match started at a high pace and although dominating possession Ditcham went behind by two goals. The girls played some excellent hockey and really focused on using the width and stretching play and utilising Megan's pace on the right side. Kiera and Charlotte linked up well ad eventually Ditcham got some good reward for all the hard work. Megan and Bella scored to make the scores level at half time. The girls were in complete control but again Frensham caught the team on the break and scored another two goals. The team knuckled down again and more goals from Kiera and Megan meant the game finished 4-4. It was certainly a game that we should have won however the team played some excellent hockey and worked well as a team. All the girls worked hard and each player impacted the game. Megan H Was nominated as player of the match.
In the second match Ditcham dominated form start to finish at the score finished 9-1 to Ditcham. Joe OD and Arabella H ran the game from midfield and with the attacking threat of Gracie L the opposition didn't stand a chance. Rose and Isla S used their pace and Kitty and Molly made sure Frensham didn't get a sniff at goal. Again the team played some excellent hockey and transferred the ball really well and at speed. The team also drove well with the ball and it was great to watch.
Well done to all the players for a great afternoon of hockey
Mr Walton
Gymnastics with Y7
This half term in PE the Year 7 students have been focusing on gymnastics. To finish the module students had to put a routine together that focused on forms of travel, balances, synchronization and different levels. Arabella, Phoebe, Gracie and Sarah produced an excellent piece which incorporated all these key aspects. Well done to all the groups for there hard work
Mr Walton
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Notices and Events
Climbing and Coasteering Trip - Sunday 23rd June
Exciting news! There will be a trip to the limestone cliffs of the Jurassic coast on Sunday 23rd June. The trip is open to all pupils from Uppers to Year 11, but I will have a maximum of twelve places available.
Our intention is to enjoy a climbing session in the morning followed by coasteering in the afternoon, although the exact nature of the sessions is weather dependent.
Coasteering, for those of you not certain, is a combination swimming, jumping, cave exploring, scrambling and swell surfing. It is exceptionally good fun! The water will still be cool in June but good quality wetsuits are provided.
Our Provider for these activities is a company called Land and Wave. They are holders of the relevant licences for outdoor provision to young people from AALA and the HSE.
The precise details of the trip will be confirmed once we have a clear sense of numbers but are unlikely to change much from these:
• Leave Ditcham Park at 6:30am in the school minibus on 23rd June
• Return at approx. 7:00pm on the same day.
• A maximum group of twelve pupils from any year group from Uppers and Seniors
• Cost of approximately £55 per person
• Packed lunch and snacks to be provided by parents
• Kit list to be provided but no specialist equipment required.
We will look to take numbers from across the age range, and if over-subscribed we will resort to the time -honoured solution of pulling names from a hat.
Please complete this short form if you would like your child to take part.
Mark Philips Adventure Sports Coordinator
Music Music Music!!
We have a lot of events coming up over the next few weeks. Please come along and support our students and enjoy the fruits of their labours.
• Wednesday 28th Feb - Saturday 2nd March‘GREASE’ featuring DPS Jazz Group in MPB
• Tuesday 5th March - Lunchtime Concert 1pm at St Peter's Church Petersfield featuring soloists (Y7-Y11)
• Thursday 7th March - SENIOR CONCERT 6.30pm in MPB featuring all Ditcham 'musical ensembles' and many soloists/duettists etc
• Thursday 14th March - ABRSM practical exams ALL DAY in Solent Suite
• Monday 18th March - Petersfield Musical Festival Youth Concert #1 7.00pm (Petersfield Festival Hall) featuring Uppers Junior pupils and senior musicians - book tickets here: https://petersfieldmusicalfestival.org.uk/event/youth-concert-1-2/
• Wednesday 20th March - Petersfield Musical Festival Youth Concert #2 7.00pm (Petersfield Festival Hall) featuring Uppers Junior pupils and senior musicians - book tickets here: https://petersfieldmusicalfestival.org.uk/event/youth-concert-2-2/
LAMDA Exam information
Just as a reminder, if your child(ren) is taking part in a LAMDA exam this term, here are the dates you need to know:
• Pupils in Y6-Y11 will have their LAMDA exam on Friday 15th March
• Pupils in Y3-Y5 will have their LAMDA exam on Monday 18th March in the morning
Many thanks
Winter Wellbeing Evening Workshop
We had to reschedule our planned January evening workshop due to ill-health but are now taking bookings for the new date of Wednesday 6th March. Running at 7.30pm again, this workshop will provide parents of junior and senior pupils with an insight into the teenage and pre-teen brain works and what we can do to best support them through challenging periods or transitional phases. This interactive workshop is open to all of our Ditcham Community and you are welcome to being guests from outside the school too. Please book in with this short form so that we know how many to expect.
There will be light refreshments from 7pm and the workshop will last approximately one hour. We look forward to seeing you there!
Grease is THE Word!
There is still time to buy tickets for Grease - we were able to release some more for the evenings and there are space for our Friday and Saturday matinee. There is also time to pre-order a traditional American Diner meal of burger, fries and a milkshake from our Ditcham Diner before the weekday evening shows - there will be a pay bar and a tuck shop available too for each performance.
If you have pre-booked your burgers and haven't yet let us know whether you require Veggie options, please complete this short form to ensure that we have your orders ready on the night.
We are really looking forward to welcoming you to our production, not long now until our Opening Night!
We would like to encourage you all to come along in your 1950s-inspired High School clothes to really get into the feel of our production. Please do enter into the spirit of it with us!
World Book Day - Shout Out!
CALLING ALL PARENTS!!
Across the school plans are being made for World Book Day on Wednesday 6th March. We are looking for parent volunteers who would be interested in participating in a podcast celebrating out favourite books and why they mean the world to us! If you would like to be involved and are prepared to be interviewed and recorded as part of the podcast by a couple of lovely pupils about your favourite book, then please get in touch with Ms Roberts, Head of English. We can’t wait to hear from you!
