Year 10 Food Technology students from Dawlish Community College have been using apples to design and try out a selection of desserts for a competition organised by Sainsbury’s Dawlish to coincide with National Bramley Apple week.

During the last few weeks 60 students have been competing to get into the final, making lots of wonderful desserts using bramley apples.

12 students were chosen to be in the final where they had to prepare, cook and serve their desserts whilst being judged by 3 members of Sainsbury’s staff. After a lot of tasting and mmm sounds a winner and runner up were decided upon – Stephanie Blacklock won with her take on apple crumble, with a hint of lemon and topped with oats and runner up was Chloe Rabbage.

Westcliff Primary School are very pleased to have recently received a boost after cereal company Kellogg’s awarded a grant worth £450.00 to help fund the school’s Breakfast Club. The school is one of 500 schools from across the country to receive a grant after research by Kellogg’s revealed that one in eight breakfast clubs have been forced to close because of budget cuts.

The grant will really help the club with the money being spent on some new equipment including, crockery, cutlery and games for the children as well as a selection of the children’s favourite cereals.

For more information and to book places at Westcliff School’s Breakfast Club contact Julie on 01626 862444.

On Friday 10th February ten Year 9 students from Dawlish Community College travelled to the Flybe Academy at Exeter Airport to take part in the Flybe and Exeter College ’Up, Up & Away’ Challenge as part of National Apprenticeships Week.

At the new academy they were given a masterclass in the theory of Flight and then designed and built their own balsa model aircraft.

In the fly off competition the Dawlish teams competed against teams from Queen Elizabeth’s College – and produced the aircraft which flew the furthest.

Just before leaving they were taken to see the new simulators in action. This has been a most valuable experience for this ambitious group of students planning to join our BTEC Engineering course next year.

Children in Year 5 and 6 at Kenton Primary School are going to enter the Cook for the Queen competition where schools are invited to prepare a special menu for Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace in June.

The children have planned what they need to do for the project including finding out what foods the Queen likes, so have written letters to Buckingham Palace to ask her.

Fingers crossed for a response!

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/cooking-for-the-queen-what-does-she-like/feed/ 0 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/year-11-catering-trip-to-trago-mills/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/year-11-catering-trip-to-trago-mills/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:26:20 +0000 Jan http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=7820 14 Hospitality and Catering GCSE students visited the new restaurant at Trago Mills, Newton Abbot. The students from Dawlish Community College were given a tour of the self service restaurant, kitchens and the tea room by the Catering Manager and Head Chef. They observed how meals are made in large quantities...
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14 Hospitality and Catering GCSE students visited the new restaurant at Trago Mills, Newton Abbot. The students from Dawlish Community College were given a tour of the self service restaurant, kitchens and the tea room by the Catering Manager and Head Chef.

They observed how meals are made in large quantities and were able to sample some of the food and drink on site. The tour also included looking around the store rooms, fridge and freezer, which was large enough to fit all the students in at once!

Many thanks to Trago Mills for allowing Dawlish students to have this tour and for their excellent hospitality. All the students loved their time there and learnt lots more about the catering industry.

The National College is offering one-off grants for Chairs of school governors who would like to run facilitated workshops to share best practice within their local area. The grants aim to improve school leadership by:

• encouraging collaboration across governing bodies
• improving the sharing of best practice across governing bodies
• sharing examples of governing bodies’ contributions to school improvement

We will apply for this modest grant if there is sufficient interest. To do this we will need chairs of governors from at least 15 schools to be interested in participating. This could include DLP schools as well as those in neighbouring Learning Communities.

We need to apply by 25th February. Please indicate your interest using the ‘Leave a Reply’  box below. You will be sent a simple form to complete to confirm your post, contact details and school improvement areas of interest.

In addition we are happy to announce a local forthcoming free workshop by the National College also aimed at Chairs of Governors. It will provide delegates with:

• personal professional development in regards to the importance of school governance in the current and future educational landscapes
• an overview of the National College’s new leadership development training offer for chairs of governors.

This takes place at the Rougemenot Hotel, Exeter, on 15th March 2012, between 2.00pm and 6.30pm.

Further information and how to register from here.

A group of 16 Food and Catering students were invited to attend a Fine Dining Experience at the Michael Caines Academy, Exeter College. The group from Dawlish Community College joined over 70 pupils from schools across Devon and not only got the chance to meet the region’s two Michelin starred chef and his Academy students, but also were treated to a formal fine dining experience

A fabulous 4 course meal was prepared, cooked and served by the academy students including slow cooked rump, duck terrine and dark chocolate and hazelnut mousse.

Michael Caines MBE gave a welcome speech and introduced our students to the Academy, the opportunities available and how to apply for a place on the course. He then joined us for the meal, asking the students questions about what they liked to cook and what they would cook for him if they were given the opportunity. Everyone enjoyed the fine dining, trying all the food, some of which was an unusual taste to them.

We are delighted to offer this workshop by Kerry Yelland.

Kerry is an Educational Welfare Officer with the Devon Learning and Development Partnership.

Date. Wednesday 7th March 2012 from 3.45 for coffee for a 4.00pm start. Finish at 5.30/5.45.

Venue. Starcross Primary School.  Google Map here.

Cost. This is free of charge.

Intended for. All primary practitioners, anyone who works in a primary setting with responsibility for safeguarding children.

Key Stage/Phase. Primary

Workshop overview. This workshop will help primary practitioners to:

• Recognise their role in safeguarding children
• Define different categories of child abuse
• Know how to respond to child welfare concerns

We are delighted to offer this
workshop by Pam Bragagnolo.

Pam is an Advisory Teacher on behaviour with the Devon Learning and Development Partnership and is well know in DLP schools.

Date. Wednesday 7th March 2012 from 3.45 for coffee for a 4.00pm start. Finish at 5.30/5.45.

Venue. Westcliff Primary School.  Google Map here.

Cost. This is free of charge.

Intended for. All Teachers and support staff, volunteers, Governors.

Key Stage/Phase. All

Workshop overview. Pam will include:

• Introductions
• School policy
• What does bullying look like?
• Cyberbullying
• What are the effects of bullying?
• The  use and effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies in schools
• SEAL  resources
• Other useful resources
• Feedback and conclusion

“While it is pleasing to see Dawlish Community College doing well in the league tables we will continue to focus on meeting the needs of every individual student in the school.

By having high expectations, challenging all abilities of students to reach their potential and providing fantastic support to our students we have seen standards significantly and rapidly rise over the past few years, particularly in this critical measure of 5A*-C including English and Mathematics but without the GCSE equivalent courses. The same equivalent courses which are currently being cut by the Government.

Our high standards were once again recognised by OfSTED just before Christmas when we were awarded a “Good” grading for both sections of the inspection which follows another record breaking set of GCSE results last summer and a “Good” OfSTED for Modern Foreign Languages in June.”

DLP Gifted & Talented PE Workshops – every Wednesday  for six weeks at Westcliff Primary School, 1.00 pm – 2.15 pm starting on Wednesday 22nd February 2012.

These workshops will take place over six consecutive Wednesday afternoons and will be led by Marc Troman, coach from Sporting World who regularly works with Westcliff School.

The workshops will focus on multi skills and ball skills for Year 2 children.

4 children are invited to attend from each Dawlish Learning Partnership Primary School.

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

Fifteen more able Year 7 students recently attended a superlearning workshop at Dawlish Community College’s Red Rock Centre.

The workshops provided opportunities for students to demonstrate team building skills and a wide range of problem solving and lateral thinking techniques.

Events included transporting a ping pong ball for 50 metres without touching it and attempting to answer Fermi questions like; “How long would it take an ant to walk around the equator”.

The highlight of the morning was when the student teams built a domino rally where hundreds of dominos would collapse in sequence, climb a bridge and ring a bell.

Two Year 9 students, along with their teacher Mrs Emily Parr, Head of Art at Dawlish Community College were given a fantastic invitation to go along to The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter to work and learn from one of the major exhibitions ‘The Road to Rome’, with which the newly refurbished Museum will be re-opening. Focusing on the European Grand Tour, the key work is an Italian eighteenth century portrait of Exeter nobleman, John Rolle Walter by Pompeo Batoni.

Mrs Parr, Chantelle Brown and Jack Henderson were also joined for the day by some local Devon Schools, key curators from the museum and the artist Sara Dudman.

Mrs Parr reports:

Our day began with a personal tour of the exhibition; with some fascinatiting facts about Botoni’s painting of ‘John Rolle Walter’,  this was a real treat to find out so much information and facts about the artwork and the artist.     We were then taken to the educational work rooms where we were introduced to the artist Sara Dudman.  Sarah gave us a few demonstrations on using paint to create tone, form, texture and colour with particular focus on skin tones and draped fabric.  Both the students and I really enjoyed this process and produced some experimental pieces linked to the painting of ‘John Rolle Walter’ – photos of one of our experimental outcomes are below.

It is great to have the museum back for public use and the long awaited opening is well worth it,  I would advise anyone to go along and see the displays and exhibitions, all for free!

Thanks to Chantelle and Jack for their company on this workshop, it was a real pleasure spending a day with them.

For further information about the museum and future exhibitions  - The Royal Albert Memorial Museum

The DLP Orchestra for Gifted and Talented Musicians is starting on Thursday 19th January 2012.

The orchestra sessions will be led by Graham Pearson, a local peripatetic tutor and will take place every Thursday afternoon 4.15 – 5.15 pm at Exminster Primary School.

Cost – Parents/carers are asked to contribute £1.00 per week towards the costs of this opportunity.

Years 4, 5 & 6 Gifted and Talented musicians are invited to attend from Dawlish Learning Partnership schools to develop their talents and skills by playing as part of a larger group with other young musicians from our local schools.

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

Another successful Christmas cooking club took place at Dawlish Community College last term. 13 year 7 students and 1 year 8 student took part in the 6 week club, which included making their own Christmas cake and covering it with marzipan and icing. The students also had to decorate the cakes before they were judged by Mr Osborne, Year 7 Learning Manager.

The competition was the highest it has ever been and there were some outstanding pieces of ‘art work’.  Mr Osborne had the difficult task of judging all the cakes and after a lot of deliberation he decided on two runners up and first place, which went to Esme Barton.

The College hosted it’s third Specialism Awards ceremony where students from across the College received individual recognition for their performance within the specialism curriculum areas of Mathematics, Science & Design Technology.

The awards were presented by Dr Anna Nicholson, (a former student of the College), who also presented a brief overview of her own academic and career journey. Dr Nicholson is an excellent example of the calibre of gifted and talented students at the College and illustrates the great job the College can do in catering for students of all needs. Indeed she is one of a large number of our students who have very successful academic careers after their time at many good universities including most recently Ben Whitlock at Oxford University.

During her presentation, Dr Nicholson reinforced to the students, the importance of commitment, resilience and self-belief – all key attributes, which she believes significantly impact on personal success.

The thirty award recipients ranged from Year 7 to Year 11 students – all of which had been nominated by the College’s Faculty Team Leaders for their high performance within the Specialism curriculum areas over the 2011 Autumn Term.

During the ceremony the students received both a certificate and trophy, with an additional cup presented to the two students nominated for their overall Key Stage 3 & Key Stage 4 outstanding Specialism performance.

Lin Caunter, Assistant Principal and Director of College Specialism, not only praised the students for their excellent achievements, but also thanked them for being great ambassadors of the College. In addition, she also congratulated all students for their high performance across all curriculum areas; which is reflected in the continuing upward academic performance indicators of the college and the December 2011 ‘good’ rated Ofsted report.

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/dawlish-community-college-technology-specialism-student-performance-ceremony/feed/ 0 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/another-good-ofsted-grading-for-dawlish-community-college/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/another-good-ofsted-grading-for-dawlish-community-college/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:31:09 +0000 Jan http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=7412 Dawlish Community College is delighted to announce that in an inspection by OfSTED shortly before Christmas the College achieved a “Good” grading. The College was inspected in the two areas of Student Achievement and the College’s capacity to continue the recent significant improvements that we have made. The College is proud to report that we achieved a “Good” grading...
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Dawlish Community College is delighted to announce that in an inspection by OfSTED shortly before Christmas the College achieved a “Good” grading.

The College was inspected in the two areas of Student Achievement and the College’s capacity to continue the recent significant improvements that we have made. The College is proud to report that we achieved a “Good” grading in both categories. The inspector was full of praise for the College as indicated by the following quotes;

“Having considered all of the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the college has made good progress in making improvements and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

“There has been a rapid and sustained rise in the proportion of students achieving higher grades in GCSE examinations”

“Development of provision for students to practice and improve their literacy skills in subjects other than English is progressing well under the direction of the ‘literacy across the curriculum’ management group”

“… the review of the whole scope of the curriculum means it takes much better account of the learning strengths and preferences of this group of students, particularly for those in Key Stage 4”

“…… the college now provides an improved choice of subjects within four different pathways of study that can be highly personalised for individual students.  As part of the applied and vocational pathways, students can elect to participate in accredited courses that give them introductions to, for example, engineering, construction trades, hairdressing and catering”

“The college’s specialist status in technology has helped to ensure that students have access to a wide range of accredited courses.  For example, food technology and catering are also available as vocational qualifications as well as at GCSE and AS levels.”

The full report can be found on the school’s website alongside the College’s last inspection report for Modern Languages which was also graded as “Good” in July 2011.

Dawlish Community College Principal, Andrew Davis commented, “We are very pleased with another “Good” judgment on the College by OfSTED. We feel this reflects the hard work that students are putting in, alongside an incredibly skillful, dedicated and committed team of staff.

The College has made very impressive progress in the last two years, particularly with regard to examination results, and we are confident that this year will, once again, see our Year 11 students beat all previous GCSE records.

May I take this opportunity to thank our parents and carers for their continued support of the College and assure them that we will not become complacent but will continue to relentlessly strive to get the very best results possible for their children.”

The Countdown has started!

DLP Schools will be working closely to put on a range of exciting events during the build up to London 2012.

To start things off, teacher Kit Hardee and 6 Motions from Exminster Primary School have written and performed this fantastic song.

It was recorded and mixed in a professional studio and the whole school turned out to record the video. The experience was enjoyed by everyone and we are looking forward to London 2012.

Watch it and share it with family and friends on email, Facebook and Twitter!

You can also buy the track at The Schools Record Label, and support the participation in sports by local children in our Learning Community.

Lets make it number one!!

Teachers in DLP schools can download a HD version of the video by emailing David Carr here.

The Expressive Arts Department at Dawlish Community College welcomed students, parents and visitors to their annual Christmas showcase which included musical, dance and drama performances and featured an exhibition of  willow figurative sculptures.

The audience were treated to a wide range of soloist performances by Key Stage 3 and 4 students followed by GCSE drama students who performed a powerful piece entitled ‘Them and Us.’  Year 9 students from the College’s Expressive Dance Movement group also performed two dances.  The evening finished with christmas songs and carols from the College Choir.

Festive refreshments of mulled wine and mince pies were kindly provided by the Dawlish Community College Association.

Visitors also had a chance to see a display of willow sculptures with the theme ‘Figure and Form.’  The starting point for the art students, was looking at a range of different artists approach to documenting the figure either through drawing or in a 3D sense.  Each student was given the freedom to interoperate the figure in any sense or pose, which then lead onto the making process.  The students went through a range of materials using wire, straws, wool, clay and willow to create some Marquette’s for ideas for their final willow piece.

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/expressive-arts-christmas-showcase-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/students-get-on-their-bikes-to-take-on-the-haldon-trails/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/students-get-on-their-bikes-to-take-on-the-haldon-trails/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:06:08 +0000 Jan http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=7305 Year 9 Foundation Learning students braved the chilly elements to tackle the 6 mile blue cycle challenge trail at Haldon Forest. The young riders were made up of students from Teign School, Teignmouth Community School, Ratcliffe School and Dawlish Community College. This bike project involves understanding bike safety, riding skills...
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Year 9 Foundation Learning students braved the chilly elements to tackle the 6 mile blue cycle challenge trail at Haldon Forest.

The young riders were made up of students from Teign School, Teignmouth Community School, Ratcliffe School and Dawlish Community College. This bike project involves understanding bike safety, riding skills and opportunities to tackle level 1 and 2 bike trails.

Cycles, Helmets and gloves were kindly loaned by Forest Cycle hire.

DLP Gifted & Talented 3D Dance Project.  All the schools within Dawlish Learning Partnership have a fantastic opportunity to be involved with the DAISI 3D dance project for 2012.

Matt Macklin, an inspiring local Break Dance Artist will be running an after school dance project aiming to promote high quality dance and to provide performance opportunities within our local community.

The project will consist of 8 sessions starting on January 11th 2012 with a performance on Sunday 11th March at the 3D Dance event being held at the Exeter Northcott Theatre.   As places are limited this workshop is available to 3 gifted and talented primary aged children from each DLP school.

Sessions to take place on 11th, 18th and 25th January, 1st, 8th and 22nd  and 29th February and 7th March from 4.00 pm – 5.00 pm at Kenton Primary School.

The cost for this project is £2 per session.  Children need to commit to attending all the sessions and the performance date.

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/gifted-and-talented-3d-dance-project/feed/ 5 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/ready-steady-cook/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/ready-steady-cook/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:17:20 +0000 Jan http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=7292 Last year the DCCA, Dawlish Community College Association (the College’s Parent Teacher Association) kindly agreed to fund a stand alone hob which could be used for both our disabled students as well as an additional cooking area within our very popular Food Technology classes. The College is delighted to report that...
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Last year the DCCA, Dawlish Community College Association (the College’s Parent Teacher Association) kindly agreed to fund a stand alone hob which could be used for both our disabled students as well as an additional cooking area within our very popular Food Technology classes.

The College is delighted to report that following several modifications by our fantastic Technology Technician, Mr Parnell, the hob is now fully operational and in use by students within their lessons.

As you can see from the photographs this has totally transformed the way in which students with mobility difficulties can learn how to prepare and cook their own food.

Under the expert guidance of Mrs Hillyard and Mrs Boyne students have been preparing a wide range of foods including some fantastic bread which the College Principal, Mr Davis, watched being made and tasted absolutely fantastic!

The staff and students would really like to thank DCCA for their generosity and Mr Davis would like to congratulate and thank Ben, Mrs Hillyard and Mr Bird alongside the other staff who have helped on this project for making it such a great success!

Key Stage 2 children from Westcliff, Gatehouse and Kenton Primary Schools have enjoyed some friendly High 5 netball matches against each other over the past couple of weeks.

The teams were getting in some additional match play and practice in preparation for further matches which are planned for early next term before a regular competitive fixture begins.

Well done to all the teams!

At the end of their first year, the current Year 11 vocational hairdressers were entered into a competition hosted by South Devon College.

They were competing against in a group of 21 students aged between 14-16 who are also completing their VRQ level 2 based at South Devon College.  Over a number of weeks the girls designed hair styles, make-up and outfits to be applied to a model on competition day.

The top three awards all went to students from Dawlish Community College, studying at the Red Rock Skills Centre with Beth James (third), Laura Tate (second) and Chloe Foster taking first prize.  The girls were pleased to receive their prizes!

Chloe’s Winning Design!

Dawlish Community College have a fantastic opportunity to be involved with the DAISI 3D dance project for 2012.

Anna Leatherdale, a local Dance Artist will be running an after-college dance project aiming to promote high quality dance and to provide performance opportunities within our local community.

The project will consist of 8 sessions starting on January 11^th 2012 to develop quality Dance in preparation for the performance in March 2012. The project is limited to 16 KS3 students.

It is a brilliant opportunity for the College’s KS3 students to develop their understanding and ability within creating this dance and performing at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre in March.

The cost for this project is £18, which includes 8 sessions and the performance.

Please print and complete a consent form and return to Mrs Dempsey at the College who is helping organise and run the project.  Consent form available here

If you wish to contact Mrs Dempsey, please do not hesitate to call the College on 01626 862318.

Our new Incredible Years  Programme starts on the 4th January.

The first workshops will take place in Dawlish, details below.

They are being provided by Penny West and Liz Edwards.

Places on these workshops will be limited, but if you think you might be interested please contact Penny and she will be very happy to answer your questions.

The Co-operative  is offering schools with pupils aged between 5 and 16 a number of free Green Schools Revolution resources.

Put together by leading educationalists, they focus on the hot sustainability topics of energy, water and healthy living. They also cover a broad range of curriculum subjects, from science, geography and maths to literacy and art.

Resources are curriculum focused and carefully put together so you get the best in lesson plans, whole school activities, trips, games, puzzles, quizzes and the chance to show off your green credentials in their  Green Schools Revolution Week in March 2012.

More information here.

Your children can participate in the Dawlish Art Hub whilst you do your Christmas shopping ……….
Go along to the next art hub to create your own fantastic willow lanterns (in a choice of shapes), and decorations for Christmas!
Lanterns to decorate will be available for younger children.
Hope to see you there!

Visit the DHA Website Here

Students, parents, staff and visitors enjoyed an excellent evening at Dawlish Community College to celebrate the achievement of Year 11 students from last year.

The guest speaker was Mr Bruce Henderson, Business Development Manager at Exeter City FC.  Mr Henderson spoke about the importance of education and the role it can play in shaping the future for young people. He went on to talk about how Exeter City FC helped support young players in their education as well as their playing careers. He congratulated the Year 11 leavers on their achievements and wished them the very best for the future.

Over 60 awards were presented with the following students gaining special recognition:

The Helen Foundation Award was presented by Roger and Annie Kirk to Beth Porch

The Mayor’s Award was presented to Lauren Welsh by the Mayor and Mayoress of Dawlish, Councillors John and Linda Petherick

The Evelyn Connett Shield for Modern Foreign Languages was presented to Kellie-Ann Bond by Mr Alan Connett

An award in memory of two former students who tragically died was donated by Mrs Kathleen Whaling, Chair of Governors. The Richard Cridge and Kathryn Dunn award was presented to Rowan Ford by the families of Richard and Kathryn.

The closing address was made by the Mayor of Dawlish, Councillor John Petherick.

The evening concluded with a vote of thanks from the Principal, Mr Andrew Davis.

Photographs from the event are kindly contributed by Blackboard Associates Ltd. Additional photographs are available – view here

Kenton Primary School have a vacancy for a Mealtime Assistant (Grade A) for 5 hours per week.  This is a temporary contract to start as soon as possible.

This role will include the supervision, care and management of children in the playground and dining hall and supporting their play, in conjunction with our lunchtime play leader. We are looking to appoint someone who is enthusiastic and caring towards the children in our school.

A CRB disclosure is required for this post.

Hours – 1 hour per day Monday-Friday 12.00-1.00pm, during term time

Pay – £6.30 to £6.47 per hour (depending on experience).

You should:

-       Be able to build a strong, appropriate rapport with children.

-       Demonstrate the aptitude to work as part of a successful team.

-       Have good communication skills.

-       Be able to support children in their play, while maintaining the children’s safety and following the school’s behaviour guidelines.

-       Be able to demonstrate good food hygiene practices and adhere to school health and safety policies.

“We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.”

Application form available from the Headteacher, Mrs Amanda Somerwill, email admin@kenton-primary.devon.sch.uk , by collection from the School office or by sending a large A4 size SAE please to Kenton Primary School, Mamhead Road, Kenton, Exeter, EX6 8LX.

Closing Date: Monday 5^th December 2011   Interview Date: Monday 12^th December 2011.

Kenton Primary School have a vacancy for a Breakfast Club Play Worker (Grade B) for 3 1/4 hours per week, a temporary contract to start on 4th January 2012.

This role will include the supervision, care and management of children while at Breakfast Club, serving their breakfast and supporting their play. We are looking to appoint someone who is enthusiastic and caring towards the children in our school.

A CRB disclosure is required for this post.

Hours – 1 hour per day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, during term time, 7.45 – 8.45am, plus ¾hour weekly to compile bills and receipts.

Pay – £6.63 to £7.64 per hour (depending on experience).

You should:

-       Be able to build a strong, appropriate rapport with children.

-       Demonstrate the aptitude to work as part of a successful team.

-       Have good communication skills.

-       Be able to support children in their play, while maintaining the children’s safety and following the school’s behaviour guidelines.

-       Be able to demonstrate good food hygiene practices and adhere to school health and safety policies.

“We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.”

Application form available from the Headteacher, Mrs Amanda Somerwill, email admin@kenton-primary.devon.sch.uk , by collection from the School office or by sending a large A4 size SAE please to Kenton Primary School, Mamhead Road, Kenton, Exeter, EX6 8LX.

Closing Date: Monday 5^th December 2011   Interview Date: Monday 12^th December 2011.

Kenton Primary School are looking to appoint a 15 hours per week Teaching Assistant,  5 hours per week Mealtime Assistant.

To start 4th January 2012 this is a vacancy for a temporary post – Grade B or C Teaching Assistant (depending on experience) with Grade A Mealtime Assistant.

This role will include the supervision, care and support of a child with Special Educational  Needs in Key Stage 1. We are looking to appoint someone with experience, who is enthusiastic and caring towards the children in our school.

The Mealtime Assistant role will involve maintaining the health and safety of children and supporting their play in the playground and in the dining hall.

This post is temporary due to the secondment of the current post holder.

A CRB disclosure is required for this post.

Teaching Assistant hours -

• Mon – Fri – 9.00am – 12.00

Mealtime Assistant hours –

• Mon – Fri 12.00 – 1.00pm

Pay – Teaching Assistant £6.63 to £8.72 per hour (depending on experience). Mealtime Assistant £6.30 to £6.47 per hour (depending on experience).

You should:

-       Be able to build a strong, appropriate rapport with children.

-       Demonstrate the aptitude to work as part of a successful team.

-       Prepare for, supervise and work with individuals and groups of children, following the instructions given by the Class Teacher.

-       Have a sound working knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)/ Key Stage 1 and ideally a relevant level 2 qualification.

-       Have a strong commitment to team working and a willingness to become a member of a highly motivated whole school team.

-       Have a commitment to child led learning.

“We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.”

Application form available from the Headteacher, Mrs Amanda Somerwill, email admin@kenton-primary.devon.sch.uk , by collection from the School office or by sending a large A4 size SAE please to Kenton Primary School, Mamhead Road, Kenton, Exeter, EX6 8LX.

Closing Date: Monday 5^th December 2011   Interview Date: Monday 12^th December 2011.

Over the first half of this term teams from Year 7, 8, 9 and 11 have represented Dawlish Community College at rugby.  Each of the year groups has entered a South Devon area competition with teams ranging from 7’ a side to 12’ a side.  Sam Rose, who took part in the Year 7 tournament reports on his experience:

Earlier this term, Year 7 had a rugby tournament at Churston Ferrers Grammar School and despite only training twice before as a team, we came second in the plate competition. We travelled to the competition in the school minibus in the morning – everyone was excited and looking forward to it. With everyone ready, we arrived about 20minutes before our game, just enough time to warm-up and pick a team!

It was great to play our first game, for it was the first time we had played a match as a team – it was amazing. Unfortunately we lost the first game but by only one try, the score 2-1 and despite this everyone was very pleased.  After that we played another game, same result, 2-1. The last game we played in the group stages was against Churston Ferrers Grammar School but we lost by 4 tries!

However we still managed to get into the quarter finals of the plate competition due to the points difference so this meant we had to play Paignton. We started off the game really well bagging 2 tries in the opening half. The second half didn’t go our way, Paignton hadn’t lost a game and they scored 3 tries, another narrow defeat.

Next time we hope to do even better. The tag rugby tournament was really good fun which everyone enjoyed. It was brilliant!

Samba is coming to DLP Schools.

Teacher Faye Hill from Ratcliffe School has begun a series of workshops that will introduce children from schools across the Dawlish Learning Partnership to SAMBA.

The aim is to develop an after school Samba Band that can perform at a major Olympiad event that we have planned for next year, but more of that to follow.

In the meantime take a look at this video, it only lasts for 7 minutes and it will give you an idea of how we encourage children to try Samba!

The final performance was produced after just one workshop.

St Peter’s School 0-9 Dawlish Community College

The U14 boy’s hockey team played their first game of the year away to St Peter’s on Thursday 24^th November. The team travelled there not knowing a lot about their opponents, but felt confident in them selves.

With many of the team playing their first ever competitive match, the experience of Captain and International player Tom Brooks would be needed.

The first half was a one way affair with Dawlish dominating.  Excellent midfield and forward work from Jack Henderson, Mika Morgan and Reuben Ward, saw Henderson scoring a hat trick within the first 15 minutes.  Solid defending from Dan Fox, Jono Fell and Dyllon Martin kept any St Peter’s attack at bay.  At half time the Dawlish boys were 5-0 up.

The second half once again was all Dawlish.  Isaac Kelly scored two goals from close quarters and Brooks scored a spectacular undercut that shocked the keeper.  Year 8 players of Justin Tonge, Jack Parfitt and James Bolt made a telling contribution in their first match.

St Peter’s did improve as the game proceeded and had a handful of chances.  Mo Scholey in goal was solid and dealt easily with any shots.

The final score reflects Dawlish’s dominance and the team now look forward to their next two matches in the New Year.

Goal scorers: Jack Henderson 3, Mika Morgan 2, Isaac Kelly 2, Rueben Ward 1 and Tom Brooks 1.

Children from Years 5 and 6 at Kenton Primary School have been experiencing life in a Victorian classroom.

Pupils came to school dressed as they would have been during the Victorian era and received lessons in handwriting, arithmatic, learning the Kings and Queens of Britain, and capital cities of the Empire.

Discipline and behaviour was also discussed, with inspections for clean hands before being allowed into class.

Nine vocational educational students attending the catering course at Red Rock Skills Centre showed their culinary talents in a big way last Thursday to a group of South Devon Head teachers.

The students from Dawlish Community College and Ratcliffe School are currently studying for an NVQ qualification in catering and are taught by South Devon College lecturer Mr David Wills at the Red Rock Skills Centre in Sandy Lane.  Although the students have only been on the course since September they were able to provide an imaginative and healthy 3 course lunch for the Head teachers who were using the conference facilities at Red Rock for their termly meeting.

Head of Vocational Courses at Dawlish Community College, Andrew Woodward commented,

“The students produced an excellent three course meal under tough deadlines for a demanding audience.  This is definitely a case of the proof being in the pudding!”

A number of Primary Schools in the Dawlish Learning Partnership are looking for a suitably qualified contractor to provide School Meals services from the 2nd April 2012.

The DLP schools involved are Cockwood Primary School, Exminster Primary School, Kenn Primary School, Starcross Primary School, Gatehouse Primary School and Westcliff Primary School.

Full details are posted at Tenet Education Services.

You may need to register to view the details.

Please note the closing date for Expression of Interest is 2nd December 2011 at 12 noon.

On Wednesday 9th November, four Year 10 pupils from Dawlish Community College were invited to attend a Gifted & Talented Maths Day at Exeter University.  The day was run by the Further Maths Support Programme and Plymouth University, with the aim of encouraging pupils to study maths at A Level and beyond.

The students Jacob Adams, Ellis Armstrong, Beth Perriton-Branch and Amy Yarde were introduced to topics from both the ‘Pure Maths’ and ‘Mechanics’ strands of the A Level syllabus.  All four quickly grasped the concepts related to ‘Matrices and Transformations’ and ‘Projectiles’ coping admirably when tackling questions.

The afternoon session focused on using maths to explain how certain ‘magical tricks’ work.  Again, the students performed well, impressing the course organiser with how they solved the hardest of these problem solving tasks.

Well done to all four students, a great success!

Dawlish Community College students from tutor group 10DCS and their form tutor Mr Clemens, spent 3 hours on Thursday night baking over 400 fairy cakes.  The students were creative in their designs aiming to sell all of the cakes for the Children in Need appeal on Friday 18th November.

The student’s sold the cakes at morning break and have made over £130.00 which will be added to the College total.  The students also supported a non-uniform day.

Mr Clemens would like to thank the students for giving up their time and thank the parents for contributing ingredients.

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/cake-sale-for-pudsey-and-children-in-need/feed/ 0 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/making-sense-of-key-stage-4/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/making-sense-of-key-stage-4/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:17:53 +0000 David http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=7005 Over 90 parents of year 10 and 11 children together with students, recently attended a special parents evening at Dawlish Community College entitled ” Making Sense of Key Stage 4″. The evening was introduced by the Principal Mr Davis and was followed by an extensive presentation by Mr Simon, Senior...
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Over 90 parents of year 10 and 11 children together with students, recently attended a special parents evening at Dawlish Community College entitled ” Making Sense of Key Stage 4″.

The evening was introduced by the Principal Mr Davis and was followed by an extensive presentation by Mr Simon, Senior Assistant Principal for Key Stage 4. The topics covered included coursework, assessment, types of courses being followed by the students and a closer look at the core subjects of English, Maths and Science.

At the end of the evening parents received a free copy of the booklet “GCSEs – What a can a parent do? 101 tips to ensure success.

Parents also had time to answer any further questions with senior staff.

For parents and carers who could not attend the evening the presentation is shown below and will be available in the year 10 and 11 pages on the Dawlish Community College website.

Over the past 10 weeks Year 7 Students at Dawlish Community College have been learning basic hand skills in a ‘Key Skills’ module in Resistant Materials as part of the Design and Technology subject.

Students have designed by hand the components for a pen, then using computers designed the graphics and manufactured the nib holders for the pen on a CNC lathe. They have used traditional woodworking skills to manufacture a wooden pencil box to contain the pen once manufactured. The pencil box has a laser etched ruler on the sliding top and the students also get given a free pencil.

Mr Dave Clemens, their class teacher, believes there is no excuse for not having a pen, pencil or ruler for their studies!

Children from each of the Dawlish Learning Partnership Primary and Special Schools  experienced the Samba rhythm when they joined together to take part in two Samba workshops.

The drumming workshops which were led by Miss Faye Hill, a teacher at Ratcliffe School, are part of the DLP learning initiatives programme which gives children the opportunity to work together with their peers from other schools.  Both the workshops were also attended by a member of staff from each school as part of the DLP Continuing Professional Development.

Students from Westcliff, Gatehouse, Cockwood, Ratcliffe and Oaklands Park Schools joined together at Dawlish Community College on Tuesday afternoon to create a Samba band producing some fantastic rhythms.  The workshop culminated in an outside performance watched by Dawlish Community College students and staff.

The second workshop took place on Wednesday morning at Kenn Primary School where pupils from Kenn, Kenton, Exminster and Starcross Schools joined together to create a second band again producing some amazing Samba drumming!  This group finished with a performance to the whole of Kenn School.

Miss Hill who led the workshop said,

“It was so lovely to see students from different schools performing and being musicians together as well as give the groups an opportunity to perform to the rest of the school, a routine that they picked up in 2 hours.  I was amazed at the high levels of concentration and effort each student put in.  I hope that these performances inspired and motivated audience members to give it a try, as well as open their mind and ears to a style of music they may have never heard before.  I’m really excited about the potential opportunities that we can offer students from all our schools within the Partnership and I cannot wait to do it again!”

Congratulations to all the children who took part in the workshops and produced some fantastic rhythms in a very short space of time!

We hope that the children will be able to continue to develop their drumming skills as we plan to set up a DLP Samba band, which will then perform at our sports and performing arts Olympic themed event planned for the Summer Term.

A number of  Schools in the Dawlish Learning Partnership and Newton Abbot Learning Community are looking for a suitably qualified cleaning contractor to provide cleaning services from the 2nd April 2012.

Full details are posted at PublicTenders.net which provides details of the latest public sector tender announcements.

You may need to register to view the details.

Next Wednesday 16th November sees a great range of after school INSET opportunities for all DLP Schools Staff and Governors.

Please bring this information to the attention of colleagues and ensure that we get the maximum benefit from them. For further information just click on the blue ‘CPD’ box at the top of this page, and choose your workshop.

We are delighted to be able to invite parents to join our new Incredible Years Parenting Programme.

This course will take place in the new year in two venues, one in Dawlish and the other in Exminster.

They are being provided by our Parent Support Adviser Penny West together with our previous Parent Support Adviser Liz Edwards.

Places on these workshops will be limited, but if you think you might be interested please contact Penny and she will be very happy to answer your questions.

We are pleased to announce an INSET workshop in Good Classroom Management Practice: Understanding and Supporting Behaviour Management and Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties in the mainstream environment.

Date. Wednesday 16th November 2011 from 3.45 for coffee for a 4.00pm start. Finish at 5.30/6.00.

Facilitator. Ian Jones. In 1998 Ian co-founded the Hillingdon Behaviour Support Team, developing  Systems and Service Level Agreements across 96 Schools in the Local Authority. He was seconded in 2002 to establish a Learning Mentor and Learning Support Unit for the Hillingdon Excellence Cluster.  His team had a huge impact on standards of behaviour, attendance figures and support for vulnerable pupils and families and was acknowledged on both local and National Levels.

In 2009, Ian joined an ethnically diverse Secondary School in a socially deprived area of West London working in the Inclusion Department and with a broader remit to support teachers and pupils across 3 secondary and 7 primary schools.

Venue. Starcross Primary School, New Road, Starcross, Exeter, EX6 8QD. View Map here.

Cost. This is free of charge.

Intended for. Teachers / Support staff and any other staff members interested in broadening their knowledge of Behaviour Management and Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties.

Key Stage/Phase. Foundation, KS1, KS2

Ian will cover;

Managing Behaviour in the School Setting: An overview of  Best Practice in regard of managing pupil behaviour in the mainstream setting.

Self Evaluation: Examining a model of Self Evaluation in regard of Classroom Management.

Understanding and Supporting Pupils who exhibit Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties.

Sharing good practice between schools: An opportunity to share good practice and experiences of dealing with challenging behaviour.

If you wish to attend this training please Leave a Reply below, adding your name (or names) and School.

Years 3 and 4 students from Kenton Primary School recently visited the Library at Dawlish Community College to experience a day in the life of a Librarian.

As part of their Enterprise Week, Kenton School was learning about the World of Work. This included visits to the school by parents explaining what their jobs entail and visits out of school to parents’ places of employment. Lisa di Giuseppe, mother of one of the children, is a Librarian at the College and the children visited there to see what her job involved.

She showed them the resources available in the Library which contains approximately 10,000 books and how to use the Dewy Decimal System. Each child got to use the electronic scanner to issue a book and to date stamp it. This was the favourite activity of the day with a very long queue at the issue desk. The children were all very enthusiastic and a parent who accompanied the class commented that her son thought the Library was “a cool place to work”.

Westcliff Primary School is providing an informal opportunity to ask questions, discuss ideas and share good practice when working with children on the Autistic Spectrum.

Date. Wednesday 16th November 2011 from 3.45 for coffee for a 4.00pm start. Finish at 5.30.

Facilitator. Susan Desborough

Venue. Westcliff Primary School, First Avenue, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9RA.  Google Map here.

Cost. This is free of charge.

Intended for. Teachers and/or TAs who work (or might be working in the future) with children on the Autistic Spectrum Continuum (ASC), sometimes known as ASD.

Key Stage/Phase. Primary

Susan will share practical examples of how Westcliff support children in accessing the curriculum.

There will be plenty of opportunity for open discussion about the issues you face. Please bring any questions that you might have, as well as your ideas or resources that have worked to share with others.

If you wish to attend this training please Leave a Reply below, adding your name (or names) and School.

At the end of their first year of study, our current Year 11 vocational hairdressers were entered into a competition hosted by South Devon College where they were competing against a group of students aged between 14-16 who are also completing their VRQ level 2.

Over a number of weeks the girls designed hair styles, make-up and outfits to be applied to a model on competition day.  Some of the themes were colour, animal and prom night with twenty one entries in total.

Last week the girls were informed of the results with all 7 Dawlish Community College students, studying at the Red Rock Skills Centre, being placed within the top ten.  Dawlish student Chloe Foster took first place, with Laura Tate (second), Bethany James (third) and Teshawna Furler (fourth).  A fantastic result for all the girls!

Chloe’s winning design!

Today 25 year 10 students from Dawlish Community College visited Exeter City Football Club. The visit, a follow up to a presentation at the College, highlighted to the students the systems and organisational structures that exist within a football club. John Simon, Senior Assistant Principal and Head of Business Studies at the College, organised the trip as part of the OCR Nationals course. For the first unit, Investigating Business, the students have to choose a case study and explain how the business is organised, who the key stakeholders and competitors are, as well as looking at location factors and suggesting a possible new location for the business.

“This has been an excellent visit and has put the course into reality for the students. Exeter City FC have been very generous in setting up the visit and also coming into College to meet the students and describe the history, ownership and aims of  the club. The students will now have an excellent example to use in their coursework and this will motivate them to achieve their best” said Mr Simon.

The students had a tour of the ground and looked at various departments, including finance and marketing.

Bruce Henderson, Business Development Manager at Exeter City FC was full of praise for the students, saying,

“I hope that this visit will help the students with their coursework and make it relevant. Over the course of the two visits we have covered a number of topics and it has been a worthwhile experience to make a new link with Dawlish Community College. The students will also be involved in a small business venture of promoting and selling match day tickets, which will further enhance their entrepreneurial skills. We are a community owned club and it has been a genuine pleasure to be able to help with the students project. It is a very pleasant, well behaved group and the club wishes every one of them the very best for their futures.”

Click Hear to visit the Poddely website

On Wednesday 19 October we took a group of Key Stage 3 students from Dawlish Community College to the Autumn Devon Ability Games to Inspire at the Tarka Tennis Centre in Barnstaple.

The day was a great success with a number of sports on offer, including Boccia, Frisbee Golf and Indoor Rowing, which our students really enjoyed.

The day ended with an awards ceremony and an inspirational talk from Ryan Scott, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the 4×100m relay, and Keryn Seal from the England Blind Football Team.

The students got to meet the two athletes, get their autographs and have their pictures taken with them.

Aller class at Westcliff Primary School have been learning how to use similes in poems.

Teacher Mr. Owens has sent in some of the finished work and said;

“Here are some brilliant examples of the children’s space poems. They even painted their own backgrounds”.

Take your time to read them, together with the paintings they really capture something special about Saturn and Jupiter.

We are always pleased to show special work produced in our schools, so teachers, please send us details.

We think they’re great, well done Aller Class!

Two DLP Samba workshops are taking place on

Tuesday 1st November 2011 at Dawlish Community College 12.30 pm – 4.00 pm and

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 at Kenn Primary School 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

6 Key Stage 2 children from each Dawlish Learning Partnership School are invited to attend a workshop  supported by a teacher from their school.

Please book places using the ‘Leave a reply’ box at the bottom of this page, with the name of your school, the number of children taking part and which venue you would like to attend.

DLP Gifted & Talented Maths Project.

This maths project is being led by Philip Watson who has taught Mathematics at Dawlish Community College since 2008.

For the past two years, he has led the College’s one-to-one and small group tuition for Mathematics and English, providing additional support to students in both KS3 and KS4 who have the potential achieve good passes at GCSE. Philip’s background prior to teaching was in Engineering, which included running an apprentice training scheme. This prompted an increasing interest in the field of education and resulted in him going back to university in 2003, to retrain as a teacher, originally specialising in primary mathematics.

He brings a unique expertise into working with students at all levels, but particularly in explaining how Math (and English) are relevant in the world of work.

Dates of First Sessions. Group 1.

Group 1: Thursdays 3, 10, 17 & 24 November; 1 & 8 December.

Group 2: Thursdays 19 & 26 January; 2, 9 & 23 February; 1 March

Dates of Second Sessions. Group 1.

Group 1: Thursdays 8, 15, 22 & 29 March; 19 & 26 April.

Group 2: Thursdays, dates to be confirmed to accommodate SATS.

Times. All sessions 1.45 – 3.15pm

Venue. Group1. Dawlish Community College, Room 44.  Group 2. Starcross Primary School.

Children are invited to attend from each Dawlish Learning Partnership Primary and Special School.

10 children from DLP schools of over 200 children
6 children from DLP schools below 200 children
On needs basis from DLP Special Schools

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

DLP Gifted & Talented Sculpture Workshop on 14th and 21st November 2011 at Kenn Primary School.

This workshop will take place over two consecutive Monday afternoons and is being led by Rachel Erangey, Teacher at Kenn Primary School for Year 5 and 6 talented artists.

3 children are invited to attend from each Dawlish Learning Partnership Primary and Special School.

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

DLP Gifted & Talented Singing Workshop on Wednesday 2nd November 2011 at Westcliff Primary School, 9.30 am – 11.30 am.

This workshop is being led by Yvonne Mugford, Teacher at Westcliff Primary School for Years 2, 3 or 4 talented singers.

2 children are invited to attend from each Dawlish Learning Partnership Primary and Special School.

Please register places for children from your school using the ‘Leave a reply’ box below with the name of your school and the number of children attending.

Olympics Art INSET on Thursday 3rd November at Great Moor House, Exeter 4.30 – 6.30pm.

This INSET has very kindly been funded by our friends at the Helen Foundation.

All DLP Schools are working together throughout this year to celebrate the Olympic Spirit culminating in a major sports and cultural performance in 2012.

As part of this we are working with daisi to enable each school to create a high profile banner on the theme of the Olympic and Paralympic values. The banners will be shown at an exhibition in Exeter Cathedral to coincide with the Olympic Torch relay through Exeter in May 2012 and will also be used at the DLP performance.

Each school is invited to an INSET, led by Sadie Medway (Art Specialist and Devon Associate Tutor) and Daisi. This will include;

• Suggestions of inspiring starting points and ways of artistically exploring the Values
• A talk-through by Sadie of a specially created Olympic and Paralympic Art and Design  scheme of work, which will be available for you to use in your school.

You will share information and ideas on Daisi artists who will then work with your school on this project as well as agreeing clear Banner design guidelines and all project dates, deadlines etc.

In order to ensure that we are able to use the generous support of the helen foundation it is essential that schools/staff book their place on this INSET event immediately.

Please register for a place using the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below.

Great Moor House is the location of the Devon Records Office, view a map here.

Dawlish Community College students studying GCSE Product Design in Year 10 were invited by the Chair of Governors, Mrs Kath Whaling and College Principal, Mr Andrew Davis along with Speedwell Honda’s Operations Manager, Nick Bagnall, to present their concepts for the Honda School of Dreams car parts seating project.

This is the second phase to the project.  Students at the College have made a student’s dream come true.  Over the past 5 weeks these GCSE students have designed and modelled unique, innovative seating that will be situated around the College.  The students presented their creative drawings and models in a professional manner and Mr Bagnall said,

“It is fantastic that in 5 weeks the students have produced such high quality and innovative work”.

Mr Dave Clemens, Class Teacher and College Governor said,

“I am extremely proud of the students, the effort that they have put into their work has been excellent.  They will learn many new skills with this initiative that they can adapt and use within their GCSE controlled assessment in Year 11″.

The project is Sponsored by Honda as part of the School of Dreams initiative. Visit the Honda School of Dreams website here.

Mrs Linda Lane, Parent Governor said,

“I just wanted to thank your students for the presentation they gave us at the Stakeholders Committee yesterday afternoon.  It was great to see the work they have done so far.”

Dawlish Community College Year 10 and 11 art students visited the British Art Show 7 ‘In the Days of the Comet’ currently being held in Plymouth.  The show is organised every five years by Hayward Touring and this year they have chosen to exhibit in the South West.  The British Art Show is widely recognised as the most ambitious and influential exhibition of contemporary British art.

50 students accompanied by staff from the College visited the exhibition.

Our trip began at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, where we were met by the Museum’s curator Adam Milford, who took us through the show and selected certain Art works to discuss and gain a better understanding of Contemporary Art.  The students were blown away with some of the pieces and really began to connect with conceptual art describing their experiences as  ‘weird’, ‘new and different’, ‘being in the gallery you really get a sense of how big these arts works are’, ‘Modern art is puzzling and challenging’, ‘unique, I have a much better understanding of modern art now’, ‘great fun, beautiful pieces, it has really opened my eyes to modern art’, ‘thought some pieces were strange but it’s made me think more about art and the ideas behind the pieces’.

Some of our Year 11 students, who are keen on go on to study A level Art were given the opportunity to visit the Plymouth University Art campus, where they were given a tour of the degree courses they run and to have a look at some of the students work.

The British Art Show 7 is spread around 5 different venues in Plymouth, so our next place to visit was The Slaughterhouse, at the Royal William Yard. Here we saw some amazing installations and a most fascinating Film called ‘The Clock’. Everyone was completely hooked to this film and we were all disappointed to find out it was time to leave and return to Dawlish.

Mrs Emily Parr, Head of Art at the College said,

“We all had a brilliant day, so thank you to all the students for their great company and the staff who helped out on the day.”

The British Art Show 7 exhibition runs until the 4^th December 2011 and is free to view.

Visit the British Art Show 7 website here

Dawlish Arts Hub are holding their next workshop on Thursday 27th October.

Come along to the Manor House and celebrate Mexico’s Day of the Dead,  designing your own Halloween Masks and Costumes.

Send us photos of your sculptures and we will post them on the Dawlish Learning Partnership website!

Visit the DHA Website Here

‘How we can help children keep safe’.  You are invited to join us at our free information session about keeping children safe.

The presentation will take about an hour and a half and will include information about internet safety and keeping children safe from sexual abuse and is being offered to parents, grandparents and carers of children of all ages.

We look forward to seeing you on the 9th November!

To reserve your place at this information session please leave us a reply below with your name and how many places you would like by 1st November 2011.

‘How we can help children keep safe’.  This CPD opportunity is being offered to all teaching and support staff and governors with the main focus being internet safety.

This session is delivered by Parents Protect! – child sexual abuse awareness, created by the child sexual abuse prevention campaign, Stop it Now and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF).

Their main aims are:

to help parents and carers better protect children from child sexual abuse. Our most important task is to prevent sexual abuse from taking place in the first place. We believe we can do this by:

• Helping to dispel some of the common myths around child sexual abuse
• Giving parents and carers practical information that will help them keep youngsters safe from harm.

We understand that child sexual abuse is something we’d rather not think and talk about – but we believe the best way of protecting children is for adults to do just that!  By not being afraid to talk about the issues, we become much better able to understand the steps we can take to keep our children as safe as possible.

Visit Parents Protect! website here

This CPD opportunity is kindly being offered by Kenn Primary School

Date:  Wednesday 9th November 2011

Time: 3.45 pm – 5.00 pm

Venue:  Kenn Primary School, Kennford, Exeter  EX6 7TX

Cost:  FREE

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

This will be followed by a session for all parents, grandparents and carers at 6.30 pm – 8.00 pm

Please circulate this information to as many of your staff, governors, parents, grandparents and carers as possible.

All the staff at Kenn Primary School hope that you can join us for this shared training opportunity and look forward to seeing you on the 9th.

To reserve your place at this session please leave us a reply below with your name and school by 1st November 2011.

The Coastal School Nursing Team are now making Auto injector training available to all members of staff who require it.

This is free of charge.

The session will be in the main hall at Dawlish Community College on Wednesday 16th November 2011, from 4.00pm to 6.00pm.

Alongside the auto injector training they will be inviting the Diabetes, Asthma and Epilepsy nurse specialist’s to deliver additional training.

This training is being offered to all schools for their annual update and therefore no additional training will be offered.

Please ensure the training is made available to all those that require it.

If you wish to attend this training please reply below, adding your name (or names) and School.

Wow, what a trip!

This year we were blessed with fantastic weather and a wonderful group of students. We visited all the sights of the city including Notre-Dame, Musée Pompidou, Sacré-Coeur, La Tour Eiffel and Musée du Louvre as well as a gorgeous boat trip along the Seine on the famous “Bateaux-Mouches” and a morning in a typical Parisian market.

On Sunday evening we enjoyed a fabulous meal in a restaurant on the Champs Elysées and we even saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle!!

Our students also visited a French school and there was lots of “entente cordiale” as they chatted with the French students “speed-dating style” and eventually swapped Facebook addresses.

We also met up with Aurore, last year’s French assistant, in the Louvre whom the students were keen to share their Paris experiences with.

We finished off our trip with an evening of Bowling in the Latin Quarter which was great fun!

All the 37 students and staff Lisa Noble, Valerie Marc, Lorna McCombe and Matt Thomas had a wonderful time and we are looking forward to the next one in 2012!

]]> http://www.mydlp.org.uk/dawlish-community-college-paris-trip-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.mydlp.org.uk/kenton-children-enjoy-skipping-at-school/ http://www.mydlp.org.uk/kenton-children-enjoy-skipping-at-school/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:54:45 +0000 Jan http://www.mydlp.org.uk/?p=6407 Children at Kenton Primary School recently had a fantastic day developing their skipping skills with Skipping Workshops. They learnt lots of new games and found out how skipping speeds up our heart rate and helps to keep us fit, as well as being fun. The younger children were helped by the...
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Children at Kenton Primary School recently had a fantastic day developing their skipping skills with Skipping Workshops.

They learnt lots of new games and found out how skipping speeds up our heart rate and helps to keep us fit, as well as being fun.

The younger children were helped by the older ones, turning the ropes for them, and tried to increase the number of jumps they could do. Our Year 3s and 4s worked on speed skipping, cross-overs and even ‘the pretzel’, a very complicated skip!  Our oldest children learnt lots of team games using the long ropes and some even managed the Double Dutch, skipping with two ropes!

Skipping is now a favourite playtime activity for all of our children, with lots of the games being practiced and developed into new ones.

Thursday evening saw the culmination of an Open Week at Dawlish Community College.

Each day the College has invited in parents and carers from the local partner primary schools to tour the College with senior staff, prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl. Over 60 people have joined the tours each morning where they visited a range of areas across the College, including Technology to see the industry standard equipment which includes plasma and laser cutters as well as computer controlled lathes. Many parents and carers commented both on the fantastic levels of technology that the College now has, in particular the nine ICT suites including a full suite of Apple  iMac Computers. They were also really impressed by the calm atmosphere in the College and the great work ethos that they saw in all the classrooms that they visited.

Of particular interest was the College’s Gifted and Talented programme which focuses on subject tutorials to extend and broaden student understanding as well as the 1:1 tuition which is available for any student of whatever ability who is significantly behind in their English or Mathematics.  Assistant Principal Mrs George who oversees transition from Primary to Secondary  said,

“Seeing the school during the day actually at work is vital  and we are so proud and confident about the quality of teaching and support we are providing that we welcomed the opportunity to show off the work of the College throughout the week of tours”

The Open Evening attracted over 200 parents, carers and young people to the College who experienced a wide range of activities and games across every subject area. This included a wide range of Science experiments, viewing Drama rehearsals, tasting sessions at the French cafe and making bags in the Textiles department.

College Principal Andrew Davis added,

“Given our great results this Summer which  is in line with the top 25% of schools nationally for progress we were expecting increased interest from parents and carers in sending their children to us, however, we have been amazed by the response this year. Just in the last few weeks we have seen 16 new students join the College and with a very successful week of Open Days we are expecting to continue to see demand for places at the College go up. I think the reason for this is not just about the improved levels of achievement across all levels of ability, but it is also to do with the fact that the College is small enough to be able to know and understand the needs of individual students, while still being big enough to be able to provide the full range of courses to meet each students needs. For instance we offer accelerated separate Science GCSEs to our most academic students in Year 9 who are thinking about a career as a vet or doctor through to offering catering, construction and hair and beauty to students over at our multi – million pound skills centre. It is this ability to construct individual programmes to meet the needs of each student which is both raising standards and attracting more children to join the College.”

If there are any parents who have not yet had a chance to visit the College, then they are very welcome to contact Mrs George to arrange an appointment.

Y11 Geography students from Dawlish Community College have recently undertaken some fieldwork as part of their GCSE coursework at the new Sainsbury’s superstore in Dawlish.  The new store is Sainsbury’s flagship store for sustainability and the Y11 students were given a tour by PR manager Jo Lewis.

Dawlish students were able to view the biomass boiler which powers the new store using wood pellets and also the rainwater storage which is used to flush the toilets in the store.  There were many other facets of sustainabilty that the students discovered including a bee hotel.

The Dawlish store has also chosen to support ‘Richards Wish’, a local charity and close to the heart of Dawlish Community College as Richard Cridge was a student at the College from 2002 – 2007.

Visit Richards Wish website here

Dawlish Parish Neighbourhood Plan.

Along with a steering group of local people, we have been working with Teignbridge Planners to shape the Vision and projects in a draft Neighbourhood Plan for Dawlish Parish.

It is now your opportunity to tell us if the projects are the right ones to make that Vision happen.

As your Dawlish Learning Partnership we have focussed on schools, adult education and vocational training. These are essentail factors in making Dawlish Parish a place where people can afford to live, work and enjoy a high quality environment now and for future generations.

You can see the plan below, just click on the bottom right hand corner of the picture to view in full screen.

On Thursday 22nd September 12 BTEC Engineering students from Dawlish Community College took part in a Future Engineers event run by Flybe and Exeter University for 210 students from 21 Schools across the Southwest.

Faculty Team Leader Fred Woodhead who accompanied the group said that,

“The day, which was packed with tours and aerospace themed activities, started at the new Flybe Academy at Exeter Airport which opened in March this year. The Manager of the New Walker hanger took us on a guided tour where we ventured close to two Embracer 195s and a Q400 DASH 8 which were being serviced and repaired.”

“For me, this was the best bit of the whole day” said Ryan Proud.

702 ‘Black Cat’ Squadron were exhibiting one of their Lynx helicopters. RN pilots and aircraft engineers were on hand to answer students’ questions. The component quiz challenge was next and several of our students managed to workout all of the parts correctly. Then we toured the engineering workshops where Flybe apprentices were demonstrating how to make and rivet panels on an aircraft wing.

Next to the workshops, in another room, a four cylinder and a Rolls Royce jet engine were on display. Here, Ollie Halsey impressed the demonstrating engineer with his in depth subject knowledge and understanding. Staff from the Fleet Air Arm Museum ran an exciting activity where the students built balsa aircraft and then launched them from a moving model of the Ark Royal to land on another carrier.

We are very happy to add details of Kennford Playbox at Kennford to our list of local pre school provision.

Playbox is located at The Kenn Centre in Kennford and provides both daily pre school provision and once a week tots (under 3’s) provision.

Futher details and a link to the Playbox website on our Childcare page.

If your child is starting pre-school this term then you will find this information leaflet useful.

It has been produced by Jo Riley from Dawlish and Teignmouth Children’s Centre and staff from the early years settings and Reception classes.

Click on the bottom right of the leaflet to view it in full screen.