Primary School April Highlights

A literacy-rich Book Week caps this month's activities

Dear DCIS Parents amd Guardians,

This news piece comes at the end of a super-exciting and literacy-rich week in our primary school! Book week has been a great success will all year groups taking part in aspects of our school wide theme – ‘The Tempest’ by the mighty William Shakespeare. There have been spells and ship building, poems, pirates, play scripts, puppets, pyjamas and posters! Here is an insight into what the primary students have been up to:

The children in Nursery and Reception had a fantastic Book Week where the theme of pirates was evident throughout every classroom. The children spent the week being creative and really enjoyed making pirate hats, treasure maps and telescopes. They joined up with children from other classes and shared lots of paired reading time. The week ended on a high with all the children and teachers dressed as their favourite book characters.

Year 1 discovered a treasure chest in the playground on Monday morning. There was lots of discussion about it, especially after hearing about Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Maybe it had washed up after the storm? The children wrote fantastic poems about what they would like to put in a magic treasure box. Everyone enjoyed dressing in their pyjamas for a ‘Midnight Read’ session in the library, and ended the week with showing off fantastic book character costumes.

Year 2 were fascinated by the start of William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and how the storm was being controlled by the wizard, Prospero. This led them to think about what spells they would like to cast and what their spells would do. The students wrote their own rhyming spells and performed them to their friends. The week ended with the students showing off their wonderful book character costumes. Throughout the week Mr. Neeson’s class were roving reporters. They gathered news stories from all around the lower primary classes, finding out what the other year groups were doing for book week to share with us in the Book Week assembly. 

For book week, Year 3 also linked their learning with ‘The Tempest’ in their English lessons, and designed and made ships from the play in their PBL lessons.  The classes were paired up and the children took part in various activities such as paired reading, making wanted posters and even some Tudor dancing! Some children swapped unwanted books with their classmates and some of the secondary teachers popped by to read a story or two. It was a fantastic week which has ended with students dressed up as their favourite characters!   

Year 4 have also linked their work to The Tempest, watching films and animations, reading books, playing games and reading parts of the play. The students showed off their skills as playwrites, producing their own versions of the story, using the conventions of a play script to do so. We seem to have some of our very own budding William Shakespears in Year 4! The students also made puppets and performed their plays to other students – great fun was certainly had in Year 4! 

It has been a great pleasure to see the dioramas arriving at school in the lead up to book week and I have had many a preview reach morning at the buses pulled in and students carried their creations to class. I was delighted (and terrified!) to be asked to judge the entries – certainly no easy job. My verdict was that everybody deserved a prize! The winners were all awarded a book in assembly for their wonderful efforts. Well done to Jasmine (Nursery), Jesse (Reception), Gaia (Year 1), Tara (Year 2), Oliver (Year 3), Giulia (Year 4) for your award winning work.

Our dress up day on Friday was a great success. There were a great many costumes which included dozens of Happy Potters, Hermiones and Dumbledores, a great many a ‘Where’s Wally’ characters and many, many more. Well done everybody to everybody who donned a costume – teachers and students alike. 

I must end with a thank you note to the team of teachers who worked tirelessly to pull the week together. Thanks you to Mr Neeson, Mrs Evetts, Ms Frewin, Miss Boysen, Miss Goswell and Miss Newton who came up with the theme, provided the resources and put together a comprehensive programme of activities for the week that truly brought the school together in a celebration of books and reading. Thanks also to our dedicated librarians, Mrs Rama and Mrs Sawhney who set up the book fair. And thank you finally to the parents who have supported the students throughout the week!

As ever, do call in if you have any questions about the primary school and don’t forget to check out this term’s events on out school calendar on the website.

Wishing you all well,

Ms Kara Lebihan 
Head of Primary