9th December 2016 Dear Parents, Friends’ Christmas Fayre: What a fantastic Fayre we had on Saturday. There was a wide array of stalls and lots of fun activities taking place. Santa’s grotto was as popular as ever and the two cafes were buzzing. There was a lovely family atmosphere and thank you to everyone, parents, staff and children for your support. The total raised was a fantastic £4054.68. A montage of photos appears at the end of this newsletter. Also this week we have been treated to a wonderful Infant Nativity and a full report and pictures from this will appear in next week’s newsletter together with all of our other Christmas news. Pre-Prep Birdworld Trip Tuesday 29th November 2016: Pre-Prep had a fantastic time at Birdworld despite the cold weather! We all wrapped up warm and went straight into the Underwater World as soon as we arrived. Then we went to watch the penguins being fed. The Birdworld staff told us lots of interesting facts about the penguins and we really enjoyed seeing the enormous herons swooping down to steal the fish! Afterwards we walked through the rest of the park and saw some amazing birds. Our favourite bird was a parrot called Charlie who called out ‘hello’ to us as we walked past!

After stopping for our lunch, we went straight to the discovery theatre where we got to meet lots of different types of animals. We met a very clever parrot called Noddy and a beautiful owl called Mozart. We also got to stroke a very soft chinchilla and a rabbit. We all had great fun and learnt lots of new facts about a whole range of animals. Many thanks to Emma for driving the mini-bus and for helping us on the trip. Miss Dunleavy

Lower Juniors Chembakolli workshop: Lower juniors have been studying the Indian village of Chembakolli as part of their geography topic. This week, they were lucky enough to have a special visitor from Actionaid called Helen. Helen has travelled to India five times and had many interesting tales, including that of the Taj Mahal. We learnt all about the daily life of people who live in India, and Chembakolli in particular.

During the morning we looked at lots of interesting Indian artefacts and completed a quiz on them, tried on a variety of beautiful traditional Indian clothing and discovered the Tamil alphabet and wrote our names in Tamil too. Later in the afternoon we learnt about the stages of tea production from leaf growing to sampling the final product ourselves. We then designed our very own tea packaging. We think they looked really authentic – maybe you’ll find them in a supermarket near you! Miss Hamilton & Mrs Tanner

FESTIVE CONCERT in aid of SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND Friday 2nd December at Churcher’s College Last Friday, 25 senior pupils took part in another big musical event outside of school, singing to a large audience of parents, staff and pupils from Ditcham, TPS, Bedales and Churcher’s College in Churcher’s College Sports Hall.

As always, Ditcham Park pupils did themselves proud performing a varied programme involving the Chamber Choir and Girls’ Choir. There were some beautiful solos by Olivia Henderson, Sophie Fifield, Freya Solly, Emilia Curtis, Madeline Walker-Moffitt and James Curry, all of whom sang with confidence and charm, accompanied by the remaining boys and girls in these choirs. Finally at the end of the concert, all four schools joined forces to sing ‘Hark The Herald’ and ‘White Christmas’ accompanied by Churcher’s College Jazz Band conducted by Nick Gleed, Director of Music of Bedales.

It was a very enjoyable and entertaining evening and all for a fantastic cause. On the night a total of £2,390 was raised. Well done to all involved! My thanks go to Ms Cox for preparing the pupils for the choir performances and for the support of the parents and staff who attended. Mr Williamson

Shakespeare Schools Festival November 2016 ‘The Merchant of Venice’: I have just heard from Splatt! Media that the photographs taken of our Cast are now available to see online. I know that lots of you managed to order photos on the night, but if you didn’t manage to or where unable to attend either of the two performances, then please feel free to browse through the online gallery. The details are below and the photos are amazing so well worth a look! Mrs Dall’Omo Our online gallery can be found by going to: www.splaatmedia.co.uk/shop (password: SSF2016). Theatre Visit – ‘An Inspector Calls’: The Drama and English departments are running a theatre trip on 25th January, 2017 to see JB Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’. A letter was emailed to the parents of students in Forms 4 and 5 earlier this week. Please reply promptly if you would like your child to attend, as places are limited and this is a key text for both Drama and English. Thank you. Mrs Dall’Omo and Mrs Verghese

Charitable Fund Raising: Ewan Meehan, a pupil in Year 6 (Upper Juniors) has been raising money this year for Help for Heroes, On Friday evening last week, Ewan and his twin sister Brogan, had a Birthday Disco to celebrate their 11th Birthdays and selflessly asked that everyone made donations to Help for Heroes rather than receive presents. All of their class mates in Uppers were invited and they enjoyed an

evening of dancing, food and a visit from the Hero Bear. They would both like to thank everyone for their kind donations which totalled £565.00. Ewan’s target was to raise £1,000 and he has managed to hit £995 to date. Well done Ewan. East Hants District Council Annual Youth Quiz: On Wednesday 7th, EHDC Petersfield held the Annual Youth Quiz at their Penn’s Place Debating Chambers, and I can say that a lot of debating did occur; even before the quiz, there was debating amongst some of the more knowledgeable councillors as to whether it was the 19th or 20th Youth Quiz! Ditcham Park was one of six teams at the event, which consisted of other local schools and also Petersfield's own Youth Council, who provided tough competition. Our 'all-star' team consisted of: The Music Man Himself, Luca Davidson, Alec 'International' O'Loughlin, Ben Isachsen, the living sports almanac, Niamh Robinson, Drama and Media Extraordinaire, Luca's mum Danny, who very kindly stepped in last minute and gave us a great education in culture! the ever enthusiastic Mrs Browning, expert on all things Literature and Film, the two kind councillors, Bob and Hillary, who assisted us massively, myself, modestly, self-proclaimed, resident pointless knowledge expert and finally, Mr Harris, who although not with us physically (as he was catching up on marking), was with us spiritually, providing us with a much needed morale boost and Luca’ mum dressed as a nun, giving us spiritual guidance! The quiz comprised of six rounds: Sport, History, General Knowledge, Occupations, Where are they now? and finally Music. The general theme this year was careers and so each round was related to this, with each song in the music round titled after an occupation (i.e. Coldplay-The Scientist). We did well on the sport, thanks to a combined team effort and helping hand from Ben. The history round was extremely difficult, with the highest score from any team being 2/10. General Knowledge encompassed a huge spectrum from Scooby-Doo to the Olympic Games and we somehow scored well.

A half-time performance from Luca and Niamh in the form of a song (for the talent round), and the arrival of huge quantities of pizza, gave a much needed energy boost for the second half. Occupations and 'Where are they now?' were both obscure and difficult and we lost a few points. Music was one of our stronger rounds, We won the fancy dress prize, the theme for which was 'what I want(ed) to be when I grow up'. Alec and Ben went as Cyclists, Mrs Browning and Niamh as Teachers, Luca as a glam-rock star/discount Ronnie Wood

tribute, Danny (Luca Davidson’s mum) as a Nun and myself as a racing driver.

The Petersfield School were overall winners and congratulations to them. In conclusion, a great event that we all thoroughly enjoyed and I hope that the lucky few of the 3rd Form look forward to the opportunity next year! A huge thanks to Mrs Browning for organising the quiz with the help of Mr Harris. Matt Bryan

A Junior Merit Badge has been presented to the following pupils: Harry Soden-Bridger For using paragraphs correctly in “The Boy” Chapter 9 of Street Child. Ella Ponsonby For his understanding of literary devices for reader effect. Jemima Butler For her excellent use of literary devices in “Home” Chapter 9 of Street Child. Harriet Wood For her enthusiasm when invited to deliver a reading at the Carol Service. A Merit Certificate for achieving 25 merits has been presented to: Ella Bedford, Sophie Bond, Ellie Guthrie, Jack Waterworth, Matilda Wright and Hebe Parrott. A Head Teacher’s Award has been presented to the following pupils for consistently excellent homework and hard work on their clay mask in Art: William Palmer-Cowell, Lucy Stewart, Ella Bedford, Sophie Landauer and Isabella Crispin. A Head Teacher’s Award has been presented to the following pupils for their performance at the NSPCC Christmas Fayre in Rowlands Castle: Leon Poulton, Angue Bluestone, Sophie Fifield, Ellie Farrow and Isabelle Bluestone. And …. Last, but by no means least, a Head Teacher’s Award has been presented to Nelly Bryan for her outstanding commitment and consideration in organising her Form’s Assembly.

Match Results U14 Hockey v. Bohunt Won 5-0 U11 Football v. Churcher’s Drew 0-0 U8 + U9 Netball v. Meoncross Drew 3-3 U8 Football v. Meoncross Lost 0-8 U9 Football v. Meoncross Won 12-0 U10 Football v. Meoncross Won 4-0 U15 Netball v. TPS Won 17-4 Under 10s V Meoncross, Wednesday 7th December, Home The under 10 team performed exceptionally well against a good Meoncross team. We started brightly putting pressure on the opposition goal but it was only when we broke from an Alex Renney save after a Meoncorss corner did we open the scoring. Harrison Barnard broke down the left and calmly finished in the far corner after turning his defender inside out. The score became 2 nil after a Ruhi Makin tackle fell to Sam Dunkley who switched the play Harrison Barnard who played a smart one two with Alex Prince before finishing well. The score was 3 nil at the break when Harrison completed his hat trick with a top corner effort from 20 yards out. In the second half Xander Greenman went in goal and made some good saves and preserving the clean sheet with Sikander Suhail Baluch playing as an effective sweeper keeping those Meoncross shots to a minimum. The game was one in Midfield where Mackenzie Van Laun broke up play all match and launched many Ditcham attacks. We could have scored more with Jamie Guthrie and Sam both seeing efforts go wide of the post before Jamie Tessem-Cotton finished the scoring with a well taken goal after bursting through the Meoncross defence driving the ball in to the corner. A well-deserved 4-0 victory. Mr Heffernan Hockey Hampshire Boys’ JDC: Ben Rowley, Sam Chapman and Tom Gorringe Hampshire Hockey: Congratulations to: Elsa Rymer, Izzy Wilson and Ben Rowley who have been nominated by JDC to have their final Hampshire Trial in December. U14 festive girls match v Bohunt won 5-0.

Forthcoming Christmas Events Next week is a very busy one with lots of activities going. All parents have been emailed a letter from the Head Teacher giving details of what is going on every day for the children. Please make sure that you familiarise yourself with this to avoid unnecessary telephone calls to the office. In particular if you need transport home for your child after the Carol Service on Friday, please make sure your request is with the office by Monday. The school arranges a door-to-door taxi service for anyone who is unable to make an arrangement to be collected or to go home with a friend.

Please also note the days on which your child will need to bring a packed lunch next week. The school has Christmas lunch across two days, so when Seniors have their lunch Juniors must bring a packed lunch, and when Juniors have their lunch Seniors must bring a packed lunch. It is important that you are aware of this as the catering staff will not be able to provide sandwiches on these days.

REMINDERS If you have a raffle prize or a panoramic photograph that you have not yet collected from the school office, please would you do so before the end of term, so that we

can clear up and get ready for the Spring term over the holiday. Thank you.

ACTIVE8 HOLIDAY CLUB FOR 5-11 YEAR OLDS There are still some places available on the Active8 Holiday Club.

If you want to get an extra day’s Christmas Shopping in, this is the perfect opportunity. Please see the flyer at the end of this newsletter

for more details and to book.

Mrs Parrott and I wish you all an enjoyable weekend. Rob Connolly Helen Parrott Head Teacher Head of Juniors