Head Master's Notices

Another week of remote learning, another week of obfuscation and dithering by the government, and another week of frustration.  How can it make sense for us to be allowed to visit giraffes in a zoo or take our children to a pub garden, but not to return to school?  It would be funny if it was not so sad and the teaching unions would do well to remember that the best interests of children should be at the heart of negotiations and thinking.

Next week sees a return of Lower Sixth and Fourth Form pupils for sport on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and we still hope that this will be extended to other year groups, possibly with other facilities open too.

Meanwhile, we have all seen racism in the news as events in America have spread to the UK and throughout the world.  A number of pupils have written to me, asking the school to look at what we teach and how we can use the platform that we have to raise the issue of racism, whether unconscious or deliberate, and to create more opportunity for discussion.  We promote equality, tolerance and mutual respect each and every day, and will be examining our curriculum and practices further to ensure that we deliver a diverse and representative education.  Please look out for an assembly from our pupils on this theme on Monday 22 June. 

I wish you all a good weekend and remind you that 19-21 June is an additional exeat weekend, with a lunch time finish on Friday.

Whole School Notices and Reminders

Exeat

A reminder that we have added an extra Exeat next weekend.

It will run from 12:45 on Friday 19 June until School restarts at 08:30 (and lessons from 08:55) on Monday 22 June

On the Friday morning, we will have Saturday morning lessons and timings (starting at 08:35 and ending at 12:45, when the Exeat commences)

Beware of Fraud Attempts

We have heard that a number of other independent schools have been targeted with phishing emails sent to parents asking them to make payments via a website.  We would like to remind you that Dauntsey’s School would never email you asking you to transfer funds to an account via a link contained in an email.  Our bank details are published on each termly bill and we will not alter them without giving parents advance notice. 

If you receive an email suggesting it is from Dauntsey’s School which contains a link to another site, asking you for money or is suspicious in any way, please delete it and then email the IT helpdesk at: help@dauntseys.wilts.sch.uk

Notice from the English Department

The English Department have been busy putting together a reading recommendation list for pupils in School. 

Please find here the recommended list for our Lower School pupils.

Please find here the recommended list for older pupils.

Dauntsey's Christian Union

A group of pupils have begun meeting together in the aim of encouraging one another in faith and offering support during our time away from school.

Please find attached the second edition of the Dauntsey’s School Christian Union bulletin. Written this week following about the importance of the Bible and how we apply its teachings in our lives today.

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

Impact Research

Researchers at the University of Bristol would like to speak to young people (aged 12 to 17 years) to find out their experiences of the coronavirus pandemic and how it has impacted them. Please click here for more information.

Lower School Notices and Reminders

Manor Matters

As remote learning starts to feel ‘normal’, we remain hugely impressed with how many of the Manorites continue to be engaged, enthusiastic and positive.  It is not easy!

Many of our lower school boarders enjoyed the baking challenge of Brownies last week, and Molly was crowned ‘star baker’ for the week.  This week, we’ve gone savoury and our bakers have been asked to bake a quiche; I’m hoping that some of the pupils may venture to cook it for supper for their family one evening.  On the subject of recipes, our recipe book, ‘Manor Lockdown Favourites’ is selling well, and we hope to raise as much money as we can for NHS Charities and the school charity, ‘The Virunga National Park’.  Whilst numbers of coronavirus cases continue to decrease, our NHS staff have been working extremely hard to fight the virus and I hope that you will help us in our efforts to raise funds as a way of saying ‘thank you’.  A pdf copy of the recipe book can be purchased for £5 (email: a.sampson@dauntseys.wilts.sch.uk).

With many of the recent headlines covering the death of George Floyd, some of us have been talking, in our remote tutor group meetings, about the treatment of minorities around the world.  One of our First Form pupils, Isla, wrote a poem.  It is published on our Remote Manor page here. I hope that you will all read it and reflect on her thoughts about the importance of combatting racism.
Anne Sampson, House Mistress.

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

Third Form Project Prize

The entries for this year's Third Form Project Prize are now available to view internally on Stream. Pupils will be able to access this by searching for Project Prize 2020. The recording is a mammoth hour and a half long, although Mrs Worrall has kindly created a short summary which features near the beginning and can be watched below.

Congratulations to all those who took part. Tuck shop vouchers will be waiting for all of you when the shop reopens and the prize winners will be announced at the end of term.
Mrs Hunter 

Lower School Maths and Photography Competition

We are holding a competition for Lower School pupils to merge their maths and photography skills! Take a photo of something mathematical and insert a caption describing the maths in the photo. Entries will be judged on both the quality of the photography and the mathematical explanation.
All entries to your maths teacher by Tuesday 23 June (Word or Powerpoint format).
You must take the photograph yourself (not taken from the internet, etc.).
Overall winner: £25 Amazon voucher
Best in year: £2𝜋 (£6.28) Tuck Shop voucher
Second and Third in year: £𝜋 (£3.14) Tuck Shop voucher
Please see attached poster for more information.

Good luck!

'Short Talks'

If you have a Junior Academic Scholar at home, you may already be aware of a series of mini-lectures and activities appearing on Stream, called 'Short Talks'. This is a growing resource that will be further added to over the coming weeks - and perhaps beyond...

Access to these talks is not limited to Junior Scholars, so if your child is looking for a little bit of something extra or different to do, they may like to search 'Short Talks' in Stream and enjoy Mr Sandell talking about Chaucer, for example, or take part in Mr Guille's design wall challenge.