The Devonshire Hill Times

CALL FOR DONATIONS

All families are encouraged to make a donation for the upcoming Jolly Jar Raffle. Last year we had a fantastic contribution from so many families and we were able to raise a total of £131 which was equally divided between Comic Relief and the Devonshire Hill FUNdraising collection. Simply collect, wash and decorate your used jars, fill them with goodies; stationary, sweets, accessories, anything that will fit inside and then donate them to the Office for the raffle table.
Tickets will be available from:
Friday 1 March to Friday 15 March (10am).
Your contributions are gratefully received and remember, the more donations we have the more prizes we can give.

In line with our eco schools ethos and to support efficient sales, we will use an electronic system which enters your name into the draw and therefore you will not receive a physical ticket. 

It was wonderful to see so many of our families join us for our annual Open Afternoon. There were lots of proud children showing their exercise books and the fantastic progression that they have made since September. In addition to this the children couldn’t wait to share their favourite activities with their families; the Main Hall was full of friendly competition playing pool, foosball and table tennis; the sound of steel pans, piano, ukulele, drums and xylophones from the Music & Performing Arts Studio caught the attention of many wanting to explore their musical talents; the STEAM Engine was powered by circuits containing cells, mini light bulbs, crocodile wires, motors, impellas and buzzers. In contrast our vibrant library was much quieter yet filled with enthusiasm for reading and learning through our incredible collection of books and home learning projects. Finally the rainy weather did not discourage families from visiting the fantastic March Wood Forest School. Families had a good look around and were able to spot signs of the trees and plants awakening from their wInter slumber. In all we had a very positive afternoon with lots of happy and very proud parents/carers, children and staff. Thank you to everyone who attended.

For further details about our upcoming events please see the the recent Calendar of events letter:

https://devonshirehill.com/letter/spring-2-calendar-of-events/

Children in Year 4 and Year 5 who are participating in the Tottenham University programme were recently invited to attend an exciting event with a very special guest. Children’s author Michael Rosen told the story of how he became an author, he read the all time favourite ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and then answered some questions from the audience about his career. Our young readers were so very excited to meet the writer behind some of their favourite books and even more excited to receive some signed copies to bring back to school. The new books will be well read in the classrooms for the whole class to enjoy.

All parents/carers are invited by 'Friends of Devonshire Hill' to attend their upcoming coffee morning for tea, coffee and conversation:

Friday 8 March | 9.30am

'Friends of Devonshire Hill' is a new parent/carer led group who are looking to reach out and build a connection between the families at our school.

They are looking to develop a strong network in order to support school activities, events and fundraising.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come along. We look forward to welcoming you.

Children were part of a special performance for Chinese New Year of the Dragon. They sang a song in Mandarin especially for the occasion. We also had many fantastic entries for our dragon competition which are now hung on display for everyone to celebrate. Congratulations to those who received a special award for the most impressive designs as chosen by Mr Lin. During the final day of term we also celebrated with a Chinese new year disco - all children were invited to come to school dressed in their favourite party clothes with a red accessory to acknowledge the lucky colour. Thankyou to everyone who donated to our FUNdraiser, a total of £167 was raised.

Following their recent pledge to raise awareness of single use plastics, the School Council have now submitted our school’s data to the Big Plastic Count and we have generated a plastic footprint.
You can work out your own Plastic footprint by visiting https://thebigplasticcount.com/how-it-works.

Our results are in and they demonstrate the portion of plastic usage across our school. We will continue to monitor our waste closely with the help of our Eco helpers who have been fantastic at encouraging children and staff to recycle and to produce less waste. The School Council will continue their work towards our Eco School’s focuses. Our next activity will involve a wildlife walk in support of biodiversity.

Spring 1 Home Learning Assembly was a sea of red accessories as it landed during our Chinese New Year celebrations making for double excitement! Each term the projects presented are unique and very creative, Spring 1 was no exception. The children told us about a variety of topics which included animals, telling the time, the Indus Valley, Florence Nightingale, and transport from the past to name a few. Fantastic efforts from everyone who showed us their projects, all children who returned a project will be awarded a star for the star chart.

Spring 2 Home Learning Passports are accessible via the school website and projects are due on Friday 15 March.  We can't wait to see what everyone has been working on in our Home Learning Assembly.