Head Master's Notices

I hope that the first week back has been a positive one in terms of the remote learning.  We are aware that it is very demanding, on both pupils and staff, and I do ask you to keep the feedback coming.  We are committed to improving the experience for everyone on a week-to-week basis and do need to know how it is going from your perspective.  Breaks, exercise and fresh air are also particularly important, especially with such glorious weather, and pupils should not feel guilty on escaping from their screens!

On Monday morning, Sam Moore will be taking the assembly and talking on the theme ‘What behaviours make expeditions successful, and why that’s important now’.  This talk will be sent out just before 8.30am to all pupils.

Lastly, I wish you all a very good weekend and the Upper Sixth and Fifth Form the best of luck with their assessments next week.

Whole School Notices and Reminders

Careers

Lower Sixth Parents Webinar: Higher Education and Alternative Pathways.

From Monday 27 April, an updated  Webinar will be available for parents. This covers the content given to the Lower Sixth before Half Term at the Post Dauntsey's Planning - Day 1 event. Further information can be obtained by contacting Head of Careers, James O'Hanlon j.ohanlon@dauntseys.org

Free Audible Books 

For as long as schools are closed, Audible is open to children to access books for free. Books are also available in six languages so pupils could practice their language listening skills as well.

Visit Audible Here

All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.

Remote Learning Tips from the Learning Support Department 

Organisation

• Create a visual timetable for the week and have this on display (Children who are anxious often respond very well to having a clear timetable.) Please find attached example timetable
• Include on their timetable in different colours: live lessons, when they will do set work, exercise breaks, time for hobbies e.g. playing consoles

Focus and Attention

• Encourage mini breaks from the screen. 
• Allow fiddle toys to help with focus.   If the camera is off, your child might learn more actively by standing up, for example.
• Lessons are recorded so if your child is struggling to maintain focus, they can watch parts of the lesson again.

Mental Health

• Encourage pupils to meet up with their friends online and chat after school or in break times.
• Help pupils to think about how they can aim for 60 minutes of exercise a day, as encouraged by the PE department.
• Social Story about Coronavirus – useful for any child who is anxious. Please see here.

Upper Sixth Enrichment Programmes

Once the Upper Sixth additional assessments are over, we have created a series of enrichment programmes for them to take part in. They are designed to interest, challenge, and to give them a head start on life beyond Dauntsey’s, whether that is in the world of professional work, University or a GAP year. 

I have sent details about these programmes to the Upper Sixth by email, including how to apply for a place and a deadline for applications. Please do talk to your child about the courses, and if you think a programme would be of particular benefit to them, please do encourage them to apply. 
Sam Moore, Head of Adventure Education

Complementary Curriculum

In the absence of CC and PSHE Lessons, the Complementary Curriculum area on Firefly has been updated and contains a wealth of information for the pupils to access. Each week I will be setting a task on Firefly connected to one of the CC pages and pupils are invited to take part. Hopefully these pages will provide pupils with information, support and something fun to do whilst schools are closed and CC lessons are on pause. 

If pupils have any suggestions for the CC pages, please email me at a.seager2@dauntseys.org 

You will also see a new page on Firefly that is called... 'Take a look...' 

Over the Easter holidays, the Lower School were asked to set themselves daily challenges and record these in whichever way they wished. As I receive their challenges I am uploading a selection to this page for you to browse and see what others have been up to! If you haven't submitted them, don't worry! Please just email them over to me and I will upload them. 

Parents: 

I have collated all CC parent information in to one page on Firefly in the Complementary Curriculum area called 'For Parents'. Here you will find information about CC and PSHE as well as the support information that has been shared with pupils and other useful hints, tips and guides for parents. I will be updating this weekly with new information for you; I hope you find it useful. 'For Parents' area can be accessed here.

Creativity in Captivity

I would like to thank everyone who has already sent an entry for the ‘Creativity in Captivity’ initiative. We have received a variety of wonderful artistic works from renovated dressing tables to painted eggs. Many have successfully turned their hand to interior design by creating spontaneous wall murals inside and out! However big, however small keep the creative ideas flowing! Please have a look at our gallery page here. 

Please continue to send entries in to v.rose@dauntseys.org so your talent can be celebrated in our online gallery on the school website.

You are welcome to send new images over the next couple of months as you create new things!

Many Thanks
Victoria Rose, Director of Art

Dance Notices

Weekly dance challenges are being set on the Dauntsey’s Dance Instagram page for pupils to get involved in. There will soon be a timetable of Dance Clubs taught through Teams for pupils to participate in. These will happen during Long Break and Prep times.

Cookery Course Notice

Congratulations to the 18 Sixth Form pupils, and one member of staff, who completed their Level 2 Award in Culinary Skills, validated by the Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH), and  taught by professionals from Vaughan’s Cookery School over the autumn and spring terms. 

For further information please visit our News Page here.

Well done!

DSPA

DSPA Noticeboard

Please have a look at our digital noticeboard here. It is our own online community to connect Dauntsey's parents and businesses in order to buy, sell and advertise to each other in one trusted place. If you'd like to place an advert here, please email dspacontact@gmail.com

If you have not yet signed up to join the DSPA then please do so here.
If you are not sure if you have already joined then please contact Pip Wall, Membership Rep at pipsjwall@gmail.com

Please follow us on Twitter here @DauntseyDspa

Medical Centre

The Medical Centre is closed for the duration of the School closure and our nursing staff are currently on furlough.  Consequently they are not able to respond to emails from parents or pupils for the time being. The School’s counselling service continues to operate and is accessible to all pupils. 

Lower School Notices and Reminders

Manor Matters

It has been a very strange start to the Summer Term, and whilst The Manor is looking beautiful amongst the blossom and the sunshine, it is feeling decidedly empty and quiet in the House.  We are all missing the laughter and sound of chatter that normally fills our home, and it has been wonderful for tutors to be able to catch up with the Manorites via Teams Meetings and email correspondence.  The tutors also enjoyed putting together a video of ‘Sweet Caroline’, which hopefully brought back many happy memories for the Manorites of singing together in the Lower School Music Festival.  Watch out for more videos, which will amuse and entertain, over the next few weeks!  Many of the lower school boarders took part in a virtual ‘Easter Bunny Hunt’ around The Manor, and small prizes will be sent, in the post next week, to the winners – enjoy!

As a community, we recognise the outstanding work that is being carried out by the NHS at the moment, and we are keen to raise money for NHS Charities Together, and the school charity, through selling a pdf ‘Recipe Book’.  All of our lower school boarders are contributing their favourite recipes, and when the recipes have been collated, we will produce a pdf ‘book’ which will be available for parents to buy; I do hope that many of you will support our efforts to raise money for such worthwhile causes. 

Finally, I hope that this week’s image from Charlie Mackesy’s book, ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse', will gently remind you all how important it is to be kind to each other and, especially at times when the world seems a little ‘upside down’, to be kind to yourself. 

I hope that you and your families remain safe and well, and thank you for your kind emails and continued support at this time.
Anne Sampson, House Mistress.

Please do follow us on Twitter @ManorDauntseys to keep up to date.

Third Form Project Prize

Entries to be submitted by Tuesday 19 May

The Third Form Project Prize has been running throughout the Easter break; its deadline of Tuesday 19 May is fast approaching. If any members of the Third Form would still like to take part, there is still - just - time to do so! It is worth noting that the weekend before the deadline is the VE Day exeat weekend.

Submissions this year will be via OneNote. It is essential, therefore, that all participants signify their intention to take part, in order for a folder to be prepared for their project.

If your Third Former intends to submit a project to this year's competition, please email their name to me, Mrs Hunter c.hunter@dauntseys.org by Tuesday 12 May. Entrants will then be able to upload images, text or recordings to OneNote between Friday 15 May and the closing date of Tuesday 19 May.

I am very much looking forward to seeing a bumper crop of entries to the competition in this very unusual year and will make these available in an online gallery after half term. The winners will be announced at the end of the summer term.
Mrs Hunter

For more information please read the attached document. First prize is a choice of an iPad or Apple watch and the trophy. 

Classics Notices

Ballistas Club Sessions

Ballistas club sessions remain running during Thursday Prep, weekly

This week, participants will dial-in to their TEAMS session with a coded message, using Julius Caesar’s cipher (two revolving alphabet wheels, one outer, one inner), and the other participants have to decode each message

Next week, hieroglyphs!

All are welcome.

Odyssey Storytime Club

Odyssey Storytime Club sessions remain running Friday Prep, weekly

Story so far: Odysseus has returned home, after a voyage of ten years, hell-bent on vengeance against all the aristocratic young men who are in his house, courting his wife; he has just seen his old hound dog, Argos, who died the moment he saw his old master, from too much emotion.

To be continued…(by dialing-in to TEAMS session).

All are welcome.

Classics Lecture

Classics Lecture: Week 3, Tuesday 5/5, Long Break

Ben Kane, the Legionary Lecturer, and author of at least ten books of Classical historical fiction, will be presenting his awesome Roman army lecture to any Lower School pupils currently doing Latin (volunteers only, entire optional) via a Microsoft TEAMS session. Expect a series of gruesome slides, including the answer to the question, why was the Roman legionary taught to thrust his sword at his enemy in an upward motion, rather than bring it swinging down on his head?

Religious Studies Notice

To finish our work on wealth and poverty in Religious Studies, Second Form pupils considered what it means to live in a meritocracy and they were asked: what do people value most?

Perhaps we’ve all had time to consider this question over that last few weeks.

Thank you 2E for your answers, which included:
Volunteers
Kindness
Generosity
The NHS
Music

They gave examples from Bill Gates, Pep Guardiola, Oxfam, and people making meals for those self-isolating.
Mrs K Pratt