Newsletter Friday 8th December 2023

Ditcham Newsletter - Friday 8th December 2023 Dear Parents Our fortnight of festive fun got under way this week with Carols in the Quad on Tuesday and then continued on Wednesday and Thursday with the Nativity. Huge congratulations to our youngest pupils from pre-school to Prep who gave an uninhibited and joyful performance of 'Shine Star Shine' this week. You can read all about it and see some photos in the Junior Section. A very big thank you to all the parents who ran stalls and stands for the hugely successful Christmas Fair this afternoon.

The Christmas festivities continue next week with the Carol Service on Thursday and our wholeschool Christmas lunch on Friday 15th. Just one week to go before the Christmas break!

Best wishes Graham Spawforth Headmaster

Junior Merit Winners Congratulations to all the Junior merit winners for this week!

Music Results Congratulations to all the children who have taken music exams - some very impressive scores!

Dragonflies

Super Stars of the Stage!

This week our little Dragonflies have been treading the boards (and stealing the show, some might say...!) with the Pre-school, Early Years and Key Stay 1 Nativity - Shine Star Shine. And shine they did!

We couldn't be more proud of them.

Away from the limelight, Dragonflies have had fun baking gingerbread cookies, making ice numbers and also visiting Father Christmas at the Christmas Market - take a look at our photos, its been a busy week!

Wishing you a restful weekend Kylie and Claire

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Juniors

Santa's Challenge for Middles!

What an exciting week for Middles! It all began with a letter from S.A.N.T.A (Special All-Night Transport Agency) - see the photo opposite. So Middles took on the challenge and worked with motivation, fascination and enjoyment to complete the mathematical challenges that had been set by the different departments in the organisation; the Loading Warehouse, the Purchasing Department, The Dining Room, The Stables, The Christmas Card Shop, The Scheduling Section, The Map Centre, the Decorations Area and the Main office. The tasks were complex and demanded a wide range of skills such as working together as part of a team, reading instructions carefully, persevering when the going got tough and sharing skills to solve problems. I am pleased to say that we were most impressed by all of the teams and we have been able to send a glowing report back to S.A.N.T.A. It’s a pleasure and a relief to be able to share with you that none of the Middles ended up on the ‘at risk of receiving coal’ list.

Jane O’Hara

The Nativity 2023 'Shine Star, Shine' We were full of seasonal cheer this week with high wattage performances from EYFS and KS1 children to the Junior School for their Dress Rehearsals, and then to Parents and Grandparents, wonderfully telling the story of Shine Star, Shine through amazing starry performances of storytelling, acting and song.

Shine Star, Shine is a heart-warming nativity about a big star, who must show the way to the stable where a special baby has been born. The problem is, she has lost her sparkle and just can’t shine.

How will the shepherds, sheep, kings and camels find their way to see the baby Jesus?

The other twinkly stars in the sky rallied round to help their friend get her sparkle back by telling her side-splitting jokes and then all sang her a special song, Shine Star, Shine but still she could not sparkle. They watched from the Heavens as Mary, Joseph and Donkey arrived in Bethlehem and were shown to the stable by the kind Innkeepers. The smallest stars in the sky were brilliant stars, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the cumulative effect of all this wonder from all the children enabled Big Star to finally find her shine.

All the children performed amazingly well, learning their lines, songs and most brilliantly having the confidence to stand on stage and deliver an excellent show, creating the most warming and joyous Christmassy feeling to all. All the staff of EYFS and KS1 are incredibly proud of all the children.

We were so grateful to Holly, Mia and Isla from Form 3 to helping with the lights, programmes and welcoming the parents to the performances – thank you so much girls!

STOP PRESS - we've just counted up the collection and you have all given so generously! We've raised £244 for Hannah's House appeal, this will go to helping terminally ill children have one final happy holiday together. Thank you #ditchamcommunity

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Hot off the Pompeii Press For the past two weeks Transition have been working on some cross-curricular writing linked with Topic. They have enjoyed learning about volcanoes so much that we decided to write a newspaper report about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii. Once they had got their heads around the features of a newspaper report and the layout, they set to work doing research and gathering facts and information. The reports took three days to write and complete but Mr Livingston and I have been so impressed by the quality of writing produced by the children. Please see the phots for some wonderful examples of writing and enjoy!

Spirit of Christmas Kindness Sky Park Farm were hosting a Xmas light turning on event last weekend with hundreds of people in attendance and all proceeds being donated to a local charity ‘chestnut tree house’. Theo P and Lawrence N (Year 5) both went along with Lawrence's family as Lawrence’s dad Pierce had recently

taken possession of an old open top US military jeep. Theo and Lawrence both being obsessed with all things military and both fully adorned in army fatigues despite it being a Xmas event, took it upon themselves to set up an antique army stall in the back of the jeep for all the passing children and were very keen and enthusiastic in their description of all of their items, including a genuine issue first gulf war gas mask, World War Two decommissioned grenade and World War One and two replica helmets.

During the event, they spotted a disabled child who had taken an interest in their display and so decided to very politely ask the father to lift his disabled son up from his wheelchair and allow him to sit inside the jeep. The boys handed him a (deactivated!) grenade and talked him through all of their items on board, how they worked and what they did. Both boys displayed entirely genuine kindness and care for a child less able-bodied than themselves without any adult direction. The father shook both their hands and told them they made his son’s day as he was also passionate about military history.

Well done boys!

Top Prize For Christmas Card Design!

Huge congratulations to Ben S (Y5) who has won the top prize in the Royal Academy of Engineering National Christmas Card design competition. This year, primary schools nationwide enthusiastically participated in the festive challenge, submitting designs from pupils aged 7-11 on the theme, ‘Santa's Robotic Christmas’, introduced by ‘This is Engineers’ robot maker and mechanical engineer, Halvard Grimstad.

Ben’s winning design for a high-tech sleigh with a digital interface and AI-controlled reindeer captured the imaginations of judges Halvard and Dr Hayaatun Silem, CEO of the Royal Academy of

Engineering. The image will be transformed into the official Christmas card for the Royal Academy of Engineering and sent to the Royal Family and Fellows of the Academy. In recognition of his outstanding efforts, Ben will receive a personalised set of Christmas cards featuring his design, whilst his school will receive £250 to enhance engineering education. Ditcham is particularly proud of its innovative STEAM curriculum which blends the creative arts with hands-on science and Ben’s fantastic creation really does showcase this!

Carols in the Quad To kick start our two weeks of Festive Fun, parents, children and staff gathered in the Junior Court for some wonderful renditions of Christmas tunes and carols. There was a lot of talented musicians with Mr Williamson leading them enthusiastically!

Many thanks to all who helped put on such a great event, we are definitely feeling very Christmassy now ho ho ho ho!

Seniors

Bookbuzz in the Seniors Every year the school subscribes to the Bookbuzz Reading scheme which is run by the Book Trust.

This year we are again absolutely delighted to be a part of this scheme which was set up a number of years ago now to encourage and promote a love of books for children who are at the beginning of their senior school journey. Reading is a key part of education and it is so important to engender a love of reading at the earliest possible opportunity.

Back in October, the pupils in Year 7 & 8 came down to the Library during an English lesson and listened to a synopsis of all sixteen books that form part of the scheme. After much deliberation they then, selected their favourite book and difficult choices had to be made as there were some great titles to choose from.

This week after much anticipation the books finally arrived in school and they were presented to the pupils in their year group assemblies on Monday for Year 7 and Tuesday for Year 8. Another great thing about this scheme is that we receive a complete set of the books here at school and so all the titles will be available to take out on loan from the Library in the new year.

I very much hope that the pupils enjoy reading their new books and maybe when they have finished reading them, they could start a book swap with their friends and classmates and read the other amazing titles that form part of the book scheme. Alternatively, it would be great to see them in the newly refurbished Library where they can now sit around the fire and relax and lose themselves in a wonderful story or find out amazing facts that will astonish them and spark their interest.

Gill Davies Librarian

FESTIVE CONCERT

in aid of SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND Friday 1st December at Churcher’s College Last Friday, 22 senior pupils took part in another key musical event outside of school, singing and playing to an audience of parents, staff and pupils from Ditcham Park, TPS and Churcher’s College, in the Churcher’s College Auditorium.

The concert began with TPS’s House Band and Folk Band performing a number of songs, getting the evening off to a great start. Then it was our turn and Ditcham Park pupils did themselves proud performing a varied programme involving the Senior Chamber Choir and three instrumentalists. The Senior Chamber Choir started the proceedings with a rendition of ‘Lion Sleeps Tonight’, featuring soloist Holly W. We then heard a beautiful rendition of ‘Until I Found You’ performed by Hester E and Eloise S accompanied by Cody D on the guitar, then Ajay G played a great Stevie Ray Vaughan song on the electric guitar and Henry M played a flamboyant Rudolph Rag on the xylophone – three performances so well executed and well received by an enthusiastic audience. The Senior Chamber Choir then finished our set performing Last Christmas, a performance devised by themselves. What a great way to end the first half! Once we had all had a mince pie during the interval, we then heard Churcher’s College’s set, their Jazz Band, junior Choir and Rock band. After each of the three schools had performed their programmes, we all joined forces to sing ‘Hark The Herald’ and ‘White Christmas’ accompanied by Churcher’s Jazz Band.

Supporting this fantastic cause is something we are proud to be a part of. It was a very enjoyable and entertaining evening - well done to all involved! My thanks go to the staff who helped make the evening possible, in particular to Mr Waine and the peri teachers. Thank you to all parents and staff who attended.

Mr Williamson

Sports News

11 Netball DPS vs PrebendalDPS 15 - 15 Prebendals Players of the match: Ruby (Middles) & Imogen (Uppers) On Wednesday, DPS played an indoor 7-a-side netball game against Prebendal. Unfortunately, due to a bus issue, Prebendal could only bring one team instead of two (this meant middles played against the year group above!). Uppers worked on their spacing and driving forwards to receive the ball. As a result, we had some good attacking play which resulted in Ruby scoring many of our goals. Middles focussed on marking their opposition and reducing their opponent's space to force an error. All the girls worked really hard - well done.

Miss Small and Mrs V-C

Hockey Tournament On Wednesday our hockey girls took part in a tournament at local rivals Dunhurst. There were six teams in the group and we started the tournament with a tough game against Boundary Oak. The girls played fantastically well and had the majority of possession but just couldn't score. This was the real theme of the afternoon. The girls finished unbeaten and didn't concede a goal. However we failed to score meaning we came in 3rd place. This was a fantastic achievement and the girls really gelled as a team. Well done to all and I look forward to seeing you build on these performances.

Player of the tournament- Gracie L Jumping Juniors!

Last week in PE we have really been focusing on gymnastics with prep and pre-prep. The students have looked at different types of jumps and how to get into the right body position. They have mastered the tuck, straddle and pike jump and can also incorporate a roll. A great effort from all of our students!

Mr Walton Junior PE

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U9s Football The U9s travelled to Princes Mead for a mini football tournament on Thursday. Princes Mead are notoriously a very good footballing side so Ditcham would have to play well.In horrendous conditions the boys acquitted themselves really well and although they didn't win they pushed the Princes Mead side all the way. Kamdi Ogbu scored a Ronaldo like free kick and Jacob McInnes scored a real poachers goal to emulate Pompey legend Brett Pitman. It was a fantastic afternoon and the boys loved the mud. Thanks to the parents that travelled and watched in the torrential rain.

Well played all Mr Walton Junior PE

U11 Football On Wednesday the u11 boys hosted Dunhurst on a lovely afternoon. In the first five minutes Dunhurst came out all guns blazing and had two chances that could have easily been put away. The early press from Dunhurst eventually meant they got tired, which created gaps for Ditcham to start playing how they know how. Piers T and George W started to spray the ball around and Kobe O was a constant threat. The deadlock was broken early by Kobe and this was followed up by George W and Piers T. A slightly unflattering scoreline of 3-0 to Ditcham at half time and more hard work was needed. Ditcham cam out firing and Kobe quickly scored his hattrick which consisted of three types of finish. Defenders Rupert C and Arlo W also got in ok the act to help us win 7-0. The boys played some lovely football and adapted well after being out under pressure early. Well done boys it was a pleasure to watch Mr Walton Junior PE

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Meoncross Mixed Football Tournament On Thursday we took a mixed age group team down to Meoncross for two games of football. It was Baltic conditions and all the Ditcham players did a fantastic job and dint moan once. In the first game Ditcham came out on the wrong side to a 5-2 defeat. Rupert Dennis scored a cracker to put Ditcham 1-0 but Meoncross started to play and scored some great goals. Rupert ended with the player of the

match as well. In the second game it was an end to end classic with both teams having lots of chances. Lucas Bohea hit the post and Lucy Shine had a beautiful curling effort tipped around the post by the goalie. The game ended 0-0 but Ditcham deserved to win the game. Lara LD was chosen as player of the match for her superb display in midfield. She sprayed the ball around and made some massive tackles. It was a great afternoon despite the cold and everyone should be proud of their efforts Mr Walton Junior PE

Notices and Events

Giant Christmas Charity Market Saturday 9th December, Giant Christmas Charity Market, 9.30am – 3pm, The Petersfield School Hall, Cranford Road, the Causeway. Many festive stalls- artwork, crochet and knitted baby hats, cakes, jams, chutneys, books, puzzles, cards, craft, spring bulbs, bath & skin products, jewellery, toys, collectables, wreaths and gifts.

Refreshments with bacon butties. Free admission & free parking. Charity raffle.

The event will support Portsmouth Hospitals Charity cancer services fund. Other local charity stalls will include Petersfield Musical Festival and the Rosemary Foundation hospice at home nurses.

Enquiries 07798 753836.

A Magical Christmas with PYT Bedales school plays host to the Petersfield Youth Theatre from 20th to 22nd December for an immersive, fun and festive event for all the family. Refreshments will be on sale and bringing your festive cheer is a must for this event! Please do come along and support - many of our talent children are involved.

Carol Service - Thursday 14th December Just a reminder that you need to let us know if you would like to take your child(ren) home from the Cathedral on Thursday or would like them to come back to school on the return bus. We need to know numbers so that we have the right number of buses ready to transport the children back.

Complete this very short form to let us know your plans.

Thank you!

After School Care is Changing!

From January, we will be using CM Sports for our after school care provision. You child(ren) will come home with a couple of flyers with booking details on and what activities are available. There will still be care until 6pm if you need it so rest assured there are plenty of options if you rely on wrap-around support.

For more information, head to the CM Sports website

Christmas Tennis Camps!

The Ditcham Park Tennis Academy is holding three days of their popular camp from 18th to 20th December. Spaces are limited so please make sure you book your place quickly! £60 for one day or £150 for all three. The camp is suitable for Year 3 to Year 7 children.