Did you have a good Christmas?

Thank-you to everyone who engaged in our first ever Santa discussion on SWGfL Merlin, despite being very busy Father Christmas managed to reply to every child who wrote, sketched or filmed a message to him in the run up to Christmas. He would now like to know if you had a good Christmas? Father Christmas' new discussion on SWGfL Merlin reads: 'Ho Ho Ho! It has been a busy time but I am back safe in the North pole and the Elves have already started preparing for next Christmas. Did you have a good Christmas? Why not use this discussion board to tell others what I bought you in my sleigh and what you did over the Christmas holiday. Did you visit family? Did you play games? Did anyone see snow? I look forward to reading your replies!' Login to SWGfL Merlin now to join in. #

Prince of Wales School Calendar for 2012

The Prince of Wales School Calendars for 2012 have now arrived! Come and collect the calendars that you have pre-ordered at the School performances (in the main hall) or after school by the Office.  If you haven't managed to order one and you would like one, please come and speak to us as soon as possible.

Christmas Puddings - last chance!

Do you need a tasty pudding for Christmas? Hold off on that supermarket shop..... POWSA will be selling super tasty Plum puddings and Chocolate puddings from the 'Ulitmate Plum Pudding Company'. All proceeds will go directly to The Prince of Wales School. Buy them at the Christmas Performances on Tuesday 13th, Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th December 2011 in the main school hall.

POWSA Christmas Fair 2011

A big thank you to everyone that attended (and especially those that helped at)
the school fair. We had a great time and managed to raise a fantastic £721.55!

Fri 16th Dec - School Carols

This year we have decided to end the term with 'Carols in the School hall' as we tried out last year. This is a lovely opportunity for all children, staff and parents to squeeze in and sing together!
If you wish to join us then 2.45pm is the beginning of the Carols, please bear in mind that there might not be chairs due to numbers but we will gladly hand over a carol sheet and place words onto the screen!
Lastly, if you are a musician and would like to come and play along please let me know as we love the opportunity for children to see people playing instruments.

Many thanks

Mrs Mewett

Volunteers

Ria Mitcham, a past pupil of Prince of Wales School has been volunteering in our classroom this term.  She has really enjoyed getting to know the children and staff (again) and finding out more about working in a school.  Last time I saw Ria, I rescued her from the school pond on my interview for my teaching post.  Its great to see her again!

Party Food

There is a list on display in the cloakroom for you to sign up for Party Food for our piratical party on the last day of term.  Please come and write down what you will be bringing so that we have a good variety of food.

Swimming

Swimming dates for next term will be.
January 4th and 18th
February 22nd
March 7th and 21st
Please note that the first date is the first day back after Christmas and that we will miss a week in February as we have a trip planned.

Plastic Bag Fridays

Please bring in a named plastic bag on Friday 9th and Friday 16th December so that you can carry home all of your wonderful booty from Technology Day and The Pirate Party.

Celebrate!

To celebrate the class achieving their first 50 praise points for super behaviour, we plan to have a pirate themed Christmas party on the last day of term.  We thought it might be fun to dress up for the occasion (if your child would like to)!  We already have a list up for party food (as usual), there will be plenty of fun activities and games planned for the whole day.  So hunt out those pirate costumes for a fun Pirate Christmas Party on Friday 16th December.

Song for Dorchester

As a school, we are keen to support the 'Song for Dorchester' project currently being run by the Mayor of Dorchester. One plan to do this is to send a tag cloud to the mayor with our thoughts in and we would love you to help us with this. To add to the tag cloud, simply click the 'Song for Dorchester - Contribute Now' button at the top of school website homepage. This should take you to a form where you can give us your one word that describes Dorchester. The more popular a word is, the bigger it will appear in the tag cloud. Before sending the tag cloud to the mayor, I will share this with you all through our whole school blog. Thank-you for your help in advance. Mr. Spracklen

“Ho Ho Ho!” - Father Christmas is now on SWGfL Merlin

Pupils can now join a discussion started by Father Christmas using SWGfL Merlin. To access the special Father Christmas page, log in to SWGfL Merlin and click the ‘Father Christmas comes to Merlin’ title. On this page you will find a Christmas countdown, Christmas games and even a ‘Santa Tracker’. At the very bottom of the page you will see  a ‘Father Christmas’ discussion board’. He has already posted his first question asking you: “What you are doing to prepare for Christmas? Have you put up your Christmas tree yet? Have you started your Christmas shopping? Have you written me a letter telling me what you want for Christmas?”. Log in now to join the discussion.

REMINDER - POWSA CHRISTMAS FAIR! (TONIGHT)

Just a short reminder to say that the POWSA Christmas Fair is tonight (Friday 2nd December, 2011). The Christmas Fair will take place in the school hall from 3.30pm until 6.00pm. Teas and cakes will be available from the pre-school stall from 3.00pm onwards. We hope to see you all their supporting POWSA (The Prince of Wales School Association) and their fundraising for the school. Mr. Spracklen

Fri 9th December

All musicians who learn an instrument at The Prince of Wales School have been invited to play a Christmas piece in this informal assembly if they wish to. The main purpose of this is to give all the opportunity to play in front of an audience, work towards a goal and hopefully enjoy themselves and give them confidence for the year ahead!
The assembly will begin at 10.10am, if you and your child are happy for you to come along then of course you’re welcome to sit on a bench along the side of the hall and watch the performance.


Any questions please see me. The music teachers should have made clear to children if they are performing or not.


Mrs Mewett

Christmas Games for all on SWGfL Merlin

The '12 Games of Christmas Game' is now available for all pupils to play through SWGfL Merlin. This features 12 educational games and activities for children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The games have a value of £29.99 and we hope that you will enjoy playing them free through SWGfL Merlin. P.S - If you have forgotten your login details, please see Mrs. Dukes in the Library or Mr. Spracklen who will happily get you a fresh copy.

OLYMPIC TORCH HAND OVER

On Monday 28th November 2011, pupils from our school took the DASP Olympic Torch to Manor Park. Carrying banners proclaiming the Olympic values, we walked across town to deliver the Torch. As we passed Dorchester Middle School, we were cheered on by all the pupils who had come out of lesson to see us. On our walk we were accompanied by members of the Thomas Hardye Student Voice. A large number of Manor Park children welcomed us on our arrival and watched the handover of the Torch.

The Olympic Torch

Year 4 received the DASP Olympic torch from Year 4 St Mary's children today.  We have also been very busy preparing our own Olympic Banners to accompany the torch to its next destination.  We have also enjoyed hearing from Mark Newton, a real paralympian who actually attended our school.  A true inspiration!

DASP Olympic Torch Arrives

Today (23/11/11) we received the DASP Olympic torch which is making its way around all the schools in the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership. Today children from St Mary’s Dorchester shared with us some of their learning about the Olympics. On Monday (28/11/11) November some of our children will be making their way across town to Manor Park. We shall be working with some of their classes and passing on the work we have done in making our banners. All of this will be filmed by students from Thomas Hardye School. For more information on the torch relay visit the dedicated page on the DASP website: http://www.dasp.org.uk/daspolympictorch.htm. Mr. Spracklen

MARK NEWTON - PARALYMPIC MEDALIST VISITS

Today Mark Newton, former pupil of Maiden Castle School visited us. Mark competed at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, winning a bronze medal in the 4 X 100m relay. Mark, who has cerebral palsy, led an assembly with Mr. Spracklen and unveiled a special piece of art work that the pupils in Year 2 have created. The work includes a picture of mark made of all the images of pupils in Year 2 using a mosaic effect. Mark inspired us to think about what we could become if we are determined enough. Following the assembly, Mark worked with unit roll and other pupils on a special PE session led by Mrs. Hibberd. Mark also visited each class and had a picture taken. We now all very inspired! Mr. Spracklen

Home learning

Homework – Year 4 – 18th November 2011


This week I would like you to read your words for the Christmas performance. I have also copied the words to some of the songs, so you can practise those at home too.
Next week is our Olympic Dreams week. We will be receiving the DASP Olympic Torch from St Mary’s First School, making banners and discussing the Olympic Values below. I would like you to design an Olympic Flag to celebrate one of the Olympic Values, which are:

Respect

Excellence

Friendship

Courage

Determination

Inspiration

Equality

You might like to include your own Olympic mascot. This website will let you design your own.

http://mascot-games.london2012.com/

The flag should be A4 paper size and can be created on the computer or by hand. Please decorate both sides. We will be waving these flags when the torch is sent on to the next school on Monday 28th November.



I will be checking the 4 and 8 times tables this week, so get practising!

Design Technology

Over the last term the children have been designing torches.  We are now ready to make them.  Your child will need to bring in a tube or bottle for the main body of their torch.  Please bring them in next week.

Ofsted Parent View

As you know at the Prince of Wales First School we are always looking for feedback and encourage you to provide this in a variety of ways. Whether this is through face-to-face conversation, comments on our class blogs or through our annual parents questionnaire, we always welcome your feedback. Building on this, we would now encourage you to go online and express your views using the new ‘Parent View’ website from Ofsted. This 12-question survey will help other parents as they make important choices about their child’s education and provide Ofsted with information about our school that will help them inform their priorities for inspection. The questionnaire does not allow free text comments but invites responses to a series of closed questions. To express your view, please visit our school website now and click on the parent tab and look for the link to the Parent View website. Alternatively, visit: http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/.

Home Learning

We have had some super responses to the last two week's home learning activities.  The children are really enthusiastic about their online Zoos on the BBC website, and many are so successful they are even breeding their own virtual animals!  I'm also very pleased to see some super Firework safety homework, which is now on the wall of the classroom.  Well done year 4.  Those of you who have not yet returned your work, please have it ready by Friday at the latest, there is still space on my wall!

Auditions!

We will be encouraging children in year 4 to come along and audition for the main parts in this year's KS2 christmas performance this week.  We will ask children to read parts and do a spot of singing.  There are lots of parts, so if you have a budding thespian encourage them to come along and have a go!
Thursday Lunchtime 1pm.

Pirate Costumes

The children will need their Pirate Costumes at the ready for the class assembly on Friday 4th November.  Please bring in a named bag.  Thank you.

Wonderful Zoo Keepers

We have had some fantastic homework in this week.  The children were asked to design their own zoo or wildlife park.  Many children have gone that extra mile, we have 3D models, large posters, maps and some children have even logged on to the BBC Roar website and created their own virtual zoos.  Fantastic!

Class Assembly

We are looking forward to seeing you all at our class assembly this Friday at 9.20am.

Can you help? (Cheese Boxes - Year 2)

Can you help? Miss. Mertens in Year 2 is on the hunt for circular cheese boxes like the one pictured above. If you have any of these boxes we would be very grateful to receive them.

Discussion - What have you been up to this half-term?

A big thank you to Jack in Year 2 who started a discussion in the whole-school area of our SWGfL Merlin pages asking: 'What are you doing this holiday?'. Why not share with Jack and others what you have been up to this half-term through adding text, an image, a video or a sketch? We would all love to hear what people have been doing as well as see the pupils practising their SWGfL Merlin skills. Mr. Spracklen

Can you embed?

In I.C.T today the pupils worked at improving their video game from last week using PurpleMash's 2DIY 3D through SWGfL Merlin. The pupils thought about increasing the complexity of the game by making their 'apples' and 'aliens' move. Following time to improve the game, pupils were encouraged to embed their games (using the embed code provided by PurpleMash) into their SWGfL Merlin e-portfolio. A video of me modelling this process to the class is now available on SWGfL Merlin, to access this video click Year 4 and then the ICT image in the curriculum gallery. I would expect all pupils to attempt doing at home through the half-term holiday so that their games can be evaluated by their class-mates on their return to school. Mr. Spracklen

POW on the BBC!

On Sunday 30th October at 6pm, BBC2 will showcase excellence in education when it broadcasts the 2011 UK Pearson Teaching Awards ceremony – held at the Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus in London. As you may know, pupils from our school made a film at the end of last term about our school and it has since been made a finalist in the National Teaching Awards, ‘Film my School’ competition. Pupils and staff will be traveling up to London for the awards ceremony and will be joined by host Lenny Henry at the event. Other stars presenting awards include Minnie Driver, Al Murray, David Morrissey and Beverley Knight. More information on the competition and other finalists can be seen at: http://www.teachingawards.com/film_my_school

Drunken Sailors

Today in ICT we have been storyboarding videos to accompany our “Drunken Sailor” song for class assembly in November. We will be filming the video next Wednesday afternoon and your child may need to bring in props and/or costumes if they haven't already. Please talk to them about this before next week. A few ideas involved people getting wet or messy (shaving foam was mentioned!). I have explained to the class that this can only happen if these pupils bring in a towel and a change of clothes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me or Miss Johnson.

We do hope you’ll be able to join us in November for the assembly.

Mr Hopkins

Year 4 Game Designing (ICT)

In I.C.T, Year 4 have been creating their own video games using Purple Mash and 2DIY 3D. We completed these games in small response to the following news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9503255.stm. Pupils in Year 4 can access each others games and play them using the links within a Year 4 discussion board. Two games you may particularly enjoy at home are Matthew's 'RED GAME':http://www.purplemash.com/members/programs/2diy3d/?play=3969 and Kai's 'INVISABLE ALIENS GAME': http://www.purplemash.com/members/programs/2diy3d/?play=4074. Comments welcome.

Organisation Success

I have had one parent to come to report that their child had a super organised week last week!  Well done you!  I'm sure there are more awesome organised people out there, so if your child is trying particularly hard to organise their home learning, school bags, etc please don't hesitate to let us know.

Mathletics Competition

Mr Spracklen and I have been thinking about how we can retain the glory days of Mathletics!  We have started a competition on Merlin where each class' weekly certificates will be totalised and shown on a bar chart.  Come on year 4, let's see how many certificates you can get!

DT project

After half term we will begin constructing our torches.  The children have enjoyed refining their designs for these this afternoon, they are all very imaginative.  Your child has a particular size and shape in mind for their torch.  Please can you help them resource an empty bottle or tube that they can use to make the main body of the torch?  They will need it for the week beginning 31st October.

Football club

Football club will be cancelled tomorrow due to year 3 being on a trip in the afternoon. Mrs Hibberd

Getting Organised

As we endeavour to get ourselves organised in year 4 I would like to know about any children who are showing signs of organisation and independence at home.  If your child consistently remembers things, is able to organise themselves for school, remembers to relay messages or is particularly conscientious with their home learning please let me know!  Praise points will be awarded to awesome organisors for the rest of this term.  Can you impress us with your organisation year 4?

Super Home Learning

Well done year 4, I've been so impressed by your homework so far this year.  Many of you have returned your work promptly and it is also of a very high standard.  Pirate rules, harvest art and character portraits are going up on the walls in the classroom and in the corridors and I will shortly be sending some of your work along to the Kingston Maurward Art Competition.

P.O.W.S.A Blog

P.O.W.S.A (The Prince of Wales School Association), now has it’s own section of the school website which includes a blog detailing all their latest news and events. To access the P.O.W.S.A page simply click the link labelled ‘POWSA’, at the top of any page within  the school website.

Mathletics Warning!!

As you know, the children have really enjoyed the mathletics programme through year 3.  Now the children are starting on the year 4 programme, there are a couple of activities that have been wrongly placed.  For example in the Something Easier section in block B there are some activites on Surface Area of Prisms, this is definately not year 4 work, but year 6 upwards.  The division is also different to the way in which we teach it.  I have reported this to Mathletics, but they have yet to change the activites in question.  I hopethe children continue to enjoy the activities, games and speed maths as they did last year.

Recent Trips

We have had some lovely trips this week to Maiden Castle Farm and Weymouth Harbour.  The children really enjoyed both of these trips.  I have been particularly impressed at how they have retained what they've learned and their ability to share this with others.  Well done year 4!

Water and Snacks

We are continuing our effort to get the children to drink plenty of water during the day, especially during this hot weather.  We are however finding that many children are choosing lesson time to ask to refill their water bottles.  We are currently trying to train the year 4 children to remember to drink and refill thier bottles at play time and lunch time breaks where there will be a drinks whistle five minutes before the end of play.  No child will be denied a drink, but we need to ensure that children aren't opting out of valuable lesson time for strategic drinks breaks!
Many children are coming to school without a morning snack.  The school provide fruit for children in Reception, year 1 and year 2, there is occasionally extra to share with the older children, however there isn't always fruit available for all children.  Please could you ensure your child has a healthy snack for break time in order to fuel thier brains until lunch?
Many Thanks

Harvest Festival reminder...

Just to remind all of our community that Harvest Festival is taking place this Friday (30^th Sept) in the school hall. KS 1 begins at 9.15am with produce sold afterwards. Then KS2 begins at 9.50am again with produce being sold afterwards. All produce for Harvest please take to the Servery in the morning; we will be awaiting you to begin placing onto our display areas.

If you are bringing in cakes, etc for the Harvest Café please take this to the classrooms; we will then collect this later on in the day when the hall is prepared for the afternoon. Harvest Café is open to parents, friends from 2.30pm and will close at 4pm, this is so hopefully pre-school children and parents can come over and join us. Children will be able to buy two cakes and a drink for 20p.

We very much look forward to seeing you, thank you for your help and support.

Vist the Bounty

I've heard that the replica ship of HMS Bounty will be visiting Weymouth harbour from 29th September to 2nd October.  Unfortunately these times do not fit in with our trip to Weymouth next week, but if you are in the area you might like to go and have a look!

WOW WOW WOW! Year 4 I.C.T!

Today in I.C.T we explored Google SketchUp for the first time and I was amazed (truly amazed!) with how quickly Year 4 picked up using this professional application. We followed a number of instructional videos (available in the Year 4 Merlin area - click on the I.C.T logo) to get us started and then we were off! We all managed to create something with a focus on furniture with some of us making chairs, sofas and even a bed! These will now be displayed in the I.C.T suite and next week we will move onto making a ship linking in with the Year 4 topic on ships and seafarers. If you want to have a go with Google Sketchup at home you can download it for free at: http://sketchup.google.com/.

Super Homework

The year 4 team have been very impressed with this weeks returned homework.  We have a range of ships rules going up on display in the classroom.  The children have been very creative and suitably piratical!  Well done everyone.  Thos' land lubbers who still 'aven't returned their work be Friday will 'ave to walk the plank!

An Art Project

Later this term we will be making our own ships in bottles!  We need clear plastic 2litre drinks bottles.  If you have any in the recycling bag, please bring them in.

Our first two trips

We will be going to Maiden Castle Farm on the morning of Monday 26th September to lead up to our harvest celebration.  Please ensure that your child brings some suitable footwear (wellies or walking boots) and a warm waterproof coat.
On Tuesday 27th September we are off to Weymouth to find out more about the area's seafaring history.  We will be touring the harbour, finding out more about how it is used today and how it was used in the past.  We will also have the opportunity to visit the Nothe fort again where we will tour the outside of the fort, have our lunch and see the views across the sea.

Swimming Dates

Dates for swimming this term will be
Wednesday 21st September
Wednesday 5th October
Wednesday 19th October
Wednesday 2nd November
Wednesday 16th November
Wednesday 30th November
For those of you who are unable to drop your child off at the THLC, Mrs Scott and Mrs Bernard will be leaving school 8.30 prompt.

Year 4 I.C.T

We had an excellent Year 4 I.C.T lesson today where we considered the importance of being S.M.A.R.T when using the Internet. We discussed password safety and all changed our SWGfL Merlin password to something unique. We finished the lesson by watching a video which encouraged us to think about e-safety. This video can be seen at home by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8auwnJtqE. As parents, I encourage you sit down with your child/children to watch this video and discuss the powerful message which is conveyed. Mr. Spracklen

DT and Science Topic

This term we will be looking in detail at Electrical Circuits and how they can be used to light bulbs and power motors.  We will be building our own torches and hopefully our own working models of a lighthouse.  In order to construct our torches we will need 1 pint plastic milk bottles and small plastic bottles, if you have any at home that you need to recycle we would be happy to use them.  Thank you.

The year 4 team

Miss Johnson, Mrs Scott and Mrs Bernard are pleased to welcome Mr Justyn Hopkins, our graduate teacher to the class for this half term.  All of the team are looking forward to the next year and welcome any questions or queries.  Please drop in and see us!

Trips

We are in the process of planning the following trips this term (dates to be confirmed):
1. Weymouth harbour / Weymouth Sailing Academy / Portland Light House - To link to our Ships and Seafarers topic.
2. Poole Lighthouse - Horrible Histories - Rotten Romans (Links to our summer term Romans and Celts topic, a bit early, but not to be missed).
3. National Film Week - Weymouth Cinema - The Zoo Keeper - This will link in with a mini-topic we plan to run relating to art, french and literacy.
4. Buckler's Hard (History in action).  A chance to see where Nelson's Flagship was built.

Spellings

This term I will be giving out spelling lists on Monday to be checked on the following Monday.  These will be linked to Spellodrome activites so that the children have the option to practise at home and at school using the computer.

Class Assembly

Our Autumn term class assembly will be on Friday 4th November at 9.20am in the school hall.  Please come along and see what we've been learning so far this term.

Our new timetable

We will send a more detailed timetable home at the end of the week with the children's homework, it will describe in more detail what we have been learning in each of the lessons.

Welcome Back

We are looking forward to an inspiring start to year 4, so we hope you have all had a relaxing break and are ready for a fun year!

SUMMER HOLIDAY NEWS!

Well done to Mr. MacBean and Mrs. Howell who are the first to respond to our discussion on SWGfL Merlin asking what has been your highlight of the summer holidays. Log on to SWGfL Merlin now by clicking the logo on our school website (www.princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk).

New SWGfL Merlin!

SWGfL Merlin has received a big update and now looks very different with lots of new features and extra functionality. Over the coming weeks Mr. Spracklen will be working hard to prepare our VLE (virtual learning environment) for the new academic year. In the meantime, why not log on to SWGfL Merlin in the usual way and check out what’s new? As one suggestion why not have a go on the V-Me editor which now includes new items like a space suit (see picture) or a pirate costume. To access the V-Me editor simply click the ‘Home’ tab followed by the ‘My Account’ button on the left hand side. For pupils in Years 3 and 4 (or 4 and 5 depending on how you now see yourself) click the ‘My Place’ tab to see you e-portfolio instantly. While you are on it why not update your blog with your latest holiday news? More ideas to follow, Mr. Spracklen.