A Foreword From Mrs Parpworth
We hope that all our lovely mums and grandmothers had a fantastic Mother’s Day. Thank you for everything you do for our children!
Science week at WHD has kicked off this week with children preparing experiments in readiness for the Science Fair. We look forward to welcoming parents from Years 4 to 8 to our Science Fair between 9.00am and 10.00am on Wednesday morning where the children will be showcasing their projects in the Old Hall. Aside from a broad range of activities for our children to enjoy, arranged by Mrs Lear, our senior students will venture to the Natural History Museum in London.
What’s more, we have arranged for all year groups to be involved in the “Great Big School Clean Challenge” where we hope to smash our target of collecting 40 bags of litter (we do hope everyone gets on board at home too).
Alongside Science Week we have a huge range of activities going on from the Elocution Cup on Thursday and the Music Soiree on Friday evening. Please note it is Comic Relief on Friday so we are allowing a non-school uniform on that day. The link to give a voluntary donation is in the newsletter below.
Parent consultations are taking place this week and we hope you find these highly informative in reviewing your child’s progress to date and their next steps.
Please note that I am enforcing a school wide ban on ‘Smart Watches’. This is for safeguarding reasons and to ensure that expensive equipment such as this is not lost or damaged at school. We are happy for children to wear Fitbit watches that count steps but these should not have a messaging facility. We thank you for your understanding on this matter.
You may have seen our art installation project taking shape in the ‘cold corridor’ leading to the Old Hall. Mr Parfitt has been working with the senior students to design a range of stained glass windows, kindly sponsored by our PFA. We are delighted by the impact these pieces of art are having on the ‘feel’ of the school and it might be time for a rebrand to ‘warm corridor’ from now on.
We wanted to say goodbye and good luck to Madame Ryder who is set to commence her maternity leave at the end of this term. We are very excited about the little one’s arrival and can’t wait to meet them.
Finally, we hope you have a brilliant Easter holiday and we look forward to welcoming boarders back on the evening of Monday 15th April and day students on Tuesday 16th April.
Mrs Jo Parpworth
School Last Week
Georgie Qualifies for the Nationals!
Congratulations to Georgie Crompton in Year 4 who has qualified for the National Modern Schools Biathlon Finals in a few months’ time. He will join Lyndon to compete against the very best talent in the country. We are so proud of Georgie for his resilience and perseverance in reaching this top accolade. We wish him all the luck!
Year 8 Mock exams
Well done to Year 8 for completing their mock exams with such resilience and positivity. The results will be discussed with you at the parent consultation sessions.
World Book Day (Little Denes to Year 3)
What a fabulous mix of characters walked into our Pre-Prep school on Thursday! We celebrated World Book Day with the likes of Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, The Fantastic Mr Fox, William Shakespeare and Elsa, to name but a few. The staff also joined in the fun and dressed up to the delight of the children!
Classes completed WBD activities, including art, craft and quizzes. Others enjoyed videos and storytime with their favourite books and characters. Each child has been given a Book Token to mark this special day. Tokens can be used as part payment of a book purchase or used to swap for one of the official WBD books (available from most bookstores).
Our Spud-alike competition is now closed and judging will take place over the next few days. I am amazed at the quality of the entries received and it’s going to be a hard decision- luckily I’ve asked all the staff to help! Winners will be notified next Friday in assembly.
Thank you to everyone for making WBD at Wellesley Haddon Dene a success!
Year 2 Hula Hoop Festival
Well done to all the children who represented us at the competition on Thursday. Mrs Crompton said the behaviour was impeccable and the teamwork/camaraderie between the children was apparent. Fantastic effort!
Year 2 and 3 Trip to the Palace of Westminster
Our children enjoyed an unforgettable learning experience with a tour of the Palace of Westminster and a curricula-linked workshop inside UK Parliament on Friday. They ventured into London by coach and once there, were mesmerised by the architecture of the buildings. This was an ambitious trip for children so young but we are delighted that they now understand the inner workings of our government. Maybe one day, they may even have been inspired to work in government themselves! Thank you to Ms Jefferies for organising this brilliant trip.
Ms Jefferies reports: After a bit of a detour due to traffic, we finally arrived. We were led through airport style security which was followed by a series of doors through to the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster which has been here for over 1000 years. The structure was just amazing and a highlight was a stained glass window which changes with the flow of the Thames. We visited the hall between the two houses which is famously used for television interviews. We were able to view both the House of Commons and the House of Lords where we were able to witness a debate pertaining to International Women’s Day. Year 3 then took part in their own debate deciding whether cigarettes should be banned. They then switched to debating whether homework should be banned…funnily enough, they all agreed on that one! Many people commented on the smart appearance and impeccable behaviour of the children. A new experience for us visiting here; very interesting.
School This Week
Big Plastic Count – begins this week
As you know, we are supporting this very important initiative so that we can contribute towards data being collected about plastic consumption which will hopefully force a change in government policy.
In preparation for starting the count from today onwards, now is the perfect time to download the digital pack. This includes your Tally Sheet and a How-To Guide:
You may also find our Plastic ID Tool useful to familiarise yourself with, for guidance on how to categorise your plastic, and the FAQs page also has lots of useful info.
Parent Consultation Evenings – begin this week
Pre-Prep Parents
Please see Dojo for appointments.
Year 4, 5, & 6
Parents of children in years 4, 5, & 6 will be able to meet with their children’s English and Maths teachers and with their form tutor. Timings of the meetings are as follows:
Monday 11th 15:00 – 16:30
Tuesday 12th 15:00 – 16:30
Wednesday 13th 14:00 – 16:30
You will soon receive a notification from the school portal asking you to book your slots and you will need to log into the portal to do this. Should you have any problems, please contact the Office.
Year 7 & 8
Parents of children in years 7 & 8 will be able to meet with teachers of examined subjects. These meetings will take place on Saturday 16th March between 9am and 12pm and will be online. You will soon receive a notification from the school portal asking you to book your slots. Nearer the time you will receive your timetable with links to the online meetings. Should you have any problems, please contact the Office.
Natural History Museum Trip – Tuesday 12th March
As part of our British Science Week activities this year, the Seniors will spend a day in London at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday. They will take part in a special ‘Mission to Mars’ Workshop in the morning followed by a fun-packed afternoon exploring the rest of the museum.
During the Workshop pupils will follow a basic prototype to build a rover, which they will then learn to code using LEGO WeDo 2.0 robotic sets. In an exciting finale, they will see how their rovers perform on a large-scale realistic Martian surface.
Science Fair – Wednesday 13th March
We are looking forward to celebrating Science Week this week. We will be holding a range of cross-curricular activities around the theme of ‘Time’. On Wednesday 13th March we will be holding a Science Fair in the Old Hall from 9am, parents are most welcome to attend so please save this date in your diaries. We are also looking forward to taking the senior pupils to the Natural History Museum on Tuesday 12th March for a ‘Mission to Mars’ workshop.
Elocution Cup – Thursday 14th March
We are looking forward to welcoming you to this prestigious event where the children will be able to demonstrate the progress they have made in public speaking. Lead adjudicator for the sessions is Mrs Kim Bourne and she will be joined by Mr Michael Wheatley-Ward (Sarah Thorne Theatre) for the morning sessions and in the evening Emily Dickinson (Head of English at St Lawrence College) and Mrs Sue Flory. We thank Kim and her team for giving up their time to support the children.
Please join us at the relevant time slot below in the Old Hall where refreshments will be served.
For parents in Year 1 to Year 8, there will be three sessions:
Year 1 & 2 – 9am (All children to perform)
Year 3 & 4 – 10.30am (All children to perform)
Year 5 to 8 – 6.15pm (Finalists will perform having being chosen from their performance in class – you form tutor will notify you if your child has been selected)
Great Big School Clean 15th – 31st March
Keep Britain Tidy are running their campaign ‘Great Big School Clean’ between the 15th – 31st March. Last year the campaign encouraged 400,000 bags of litter to be collected across the UK. You may remember that we took part and we managed to smash our target of 40 bags.
We would like to take part this year and your child’s teacher will be keeping you up to date on Dojo with our progress during beach cleans and litter picks.
We would also like to encourage you to take part during the Easter holiday, collecting as many bags as you can – sending photos into us so that we can share with the community.
As a point of interest, a bottle was collected during a beach clean – it dates back to 1954 and it is still intact. This goes to show, plastic is being thrown away but it doesn’t disappear and it is having a detrimental effect on ecosystems, wildlife and our own food sources/drinking water.
Let’s work together to make Thanet a cleaner and more environmentally friendly place to live for people and animals.
Comic Relief – Friday 15th March
We will be supporting this important charity by wearing non-school uniform in exchange for a voluntary £2 donation.
Year 3 and 4 Show – Friday 15th March
Year 3 and 4 are nearly performance ready! The songs are sung, the dances danced and the lines learned. We had a brilliant run through last week and can’t wait to show you what we’ve achieved later this week.
We are so looking forward to seeing you on Friday at 2.30pm to watch our all singing and dancing version of Pandora’s Box.
Music Soiree – Friday 15th March
Selected students will be performing a range of songs and musical instruments for parents during this wonderful evening of talent celebration! Everyone is welcome to come and watch, starting at 6pm. Refreshments will be served.
Denne Hill Cross Country – Saturday 16th March – 1pm – 2pm
Mrs Lorder-Symonds has once again kindly invited us to the spectacular Denne Hill grounds, to compete in the Wellesley Haddon Dene cross country competition. All age groups are welcome to participate, with a short course (approx. 1.5km) and long course (approx. 2.5km) available. Parents are also more than welcome to join the race, or simply to enjoy the drinks and cakes which are kindly supplied by the Year 8 parents.
Denne Hill, Farm/Dennehill, Canterbury CT4 6HD
Kent Primary School Swimming Championships – Saturday 16th March 1.30pm
We are very excited to be taking a number of our students to the Kent Championships held at Hartsdown Leisure Centre on Saturday. Darcey O, Felix, Nicholas and Suri will make up our Year 5&6 relay team and Elodie, Georgie, Langa, Lyndon and Oliver will make up the Year 3&4 team. We wish them all the very best and thank them for representing our school.
Future Events
Easter Bonnet Workshops – Monday 18th March
Thank you to our generous PFA for their time and efforts in running the bonnet making workshops for our pre-prep children in readiness for the parade on Wednesday. We cannot wait to see the results!
Lenten Service – Tuesday 19th March
Please join us for our special service between 4-5pm in the Chapel.
Term ends – Wednesday 20th March
Please note that term ends at 12pm and there will be no after school provision on this day.
Easter Fair – Wednesday 20th March
On the last day of term, we will hold our annual Easter Fair with lots of fun and refreshments on offer. The Easter Bonnet parade will take place in school time at 11.30am on the school field. Once term has finished at 12pm, the Fair will begin with an Easter egg hunt, daffodil picking and games.
Reminders
Calling all Parents – A message from Ms Elliott!
As the PSHE lead for the school, I am in the process of developing the school curriculum to include careers advice and talks for the children up in KS2, especially the seniors. With that in mind I am asking all parents to think about their job roles/businesses etc and get in contact with me if it is something you would be able to come in a talk to the children about or give advice on what qualifications etc..they would need to achieve this. This would either be in the form of an assembly if that is something you would be interested in delivering to an extended group or as simple as a small classroom environment with each class individually. It would be great if we could get a diverse range of careers to be introduced to the children and information to give them to further their knowledge and development.
Please message me directly or email me: ae@wellesleyhaddondene.co.uk for any queries or to set something up. Many thanks, Anna Elliott, PSHE Lead.
Multi-Sports Holiday Camp
We are delighted to announce that we are running a Multi-Sports Holiday Camp in conjunction with Thanet Sports during the Easter holiday. This is in addition to the internal club we run, led by Mrs McBride.
The dates are as follows:
Week 1 – Tuesday 2nd April – Friday 5th April 9am – 3pm each day
Week 2 – Monday 8th April – Thursday 11th April 9am – 3pm each day
Please click on the link to book sessions.
School Values Awards
Pre-Prep
| Reception | Kaia Hughes for her marvellous progress in writing and her wonderfully creative ideas. |
| Year 1 | Harriett Piper for her wonderful work in English this week especially writing a poem about the colour green. Harriett used her imagination and knowledge to write about what green looks, smells, sounds, tastes and feels like. She also then helped other children in the class complete their poem without being asked. Leika Weymouth for her excellence in her work across the board this week, writing independently in English, completing all activities in Maths to a very high standard and tackling the challenges, as well as making strides in her reading. Very well done. |
| Year 2 | Hannah Nelson- It is lovely to see Hannah’s increased engagement in home reading this term, she is devouring books at an incredible rate. It’s a real pleasure to listen to Hannah recall the things she has been reading both in school and at home- her love of reading is truly infectious!! Roland Dilkes- I could write a list of reasons why Roly deserves this certificate this week, he has had an all round brilliant week. He has been focussed in lessons, he is motivated to improve his own work both in content and presentation but the biggest standout for Roly this week is how kind and thoughtful he has been to both his friends and the adults in class. Reggie Smith for his excellent work across all lessons. He is making excellent progress and is always focused, producing work he is rightly proud of. Keep up this amazing effort. Coco Smith for the phenomenal improvement in her reading skills. She is engaged in her books and is able to discuss the plot, characters and setting. Her enjoyment of reading is now extending to home and she is able to discuss books read with her family. |
| Year 3 | Lucas Alifrangis for his superb use of vocabulary in his Big Write Cold task activity for a transformation tale. His good use of language really emphasises the impact of his writing on the reader. Emilia Foster for her effort and positivity across all subjects. She strives to put her best effort into everything she achieves. |
Seniors
| Year 4 | Florence Smith and Albie Stansfield for their excellent effort in their recent Maths assessment. |
| Year 5 | Izzy James and Emmy Dobbs for their very positive attitude towards the school refill shop and their efforts to reduce plastic in general. |
| Year 6 | Olivia Ross for the maturity she is showing in well thought out ideas and problem solving. She thinks things through logically and expresses questions and answers clearly and confidently. |
| Seniors | Melody Flowers for her help and support during the Yr11 Netball Tournament. From warming up the girls to doing the score table. A great ambassador for WHD. |
Team of the Week:
Year 8 for their resilience, hard work and good humour through a gruelling week of exams.
School Calendar
Please click here and scroll through for the most up to date calendar of events for the term.
Matches This Week
2.00pm start unless otherwise stated
Monday
Hockey v St Lawrence: U13 A Boys (a)
Wednesday
Rugby v Northbourne Park: U13 A Boys (h)
Rugby v Northbourne Park: U11 A Boys (a)
Netball v Northbourne Park: U11 A Girls (a)
Netball v Northbourne Park: U11 B Girls (a)
Thursday
Squash v King’s School: U13 A (a)
Saturday
Denne Hill 1pm
Kent Primary Schools Swimming Gala 1.30pm
Please always refer to the website calendar as it is the most up-to-date place to check for fixture changes and locations.
If your child has been selected for a fixture, we will communicate with you prior to the fixture with information regarding the recommended pick up time from Wellesley HD.
Matches Last Week
| Thanet Netball Festival U11 A Thanet Netball Festival U11 B | Won 3, Lost 1 Won 3, Lost 1 |
| Hockey v Kent College: U11 A Boys | Lost 0-6 |
| Hockey v Kent College: U11 B Boys | Lost 1-8 |
| Wellesley Haddon Dene U11 Netball Tournament | A:7th B:8th |
| Rugby v Northbourne Park: U9 A Boys | Lost 6-8 |
| Hockey v St Lawrence: U9 A Boys | Lost 0-4 |
| Hockey v St Lawrence: U9 B Boys | Lost 1-5 |