Dear Parents and Carers,

The harsh reality of winter feels like it has arrived somewhat out of the blue this week and I am sure for those of you that drive, like me you have had to leave a little more time in the mornings to scrape the frost off of the windscreen!

Over the past two weeks, the leadership team have had the pleasure of being in some English lessons across the school. We have been so impressed with our children's engagement levels and their growing ability to be independent. English books across the school are always so enjoyable to peruse, especially when the children are clearly so proud of what they are achieving in lessons. I would like to thank all of our staff who work tirelessly to ensure children enjoy their learning as much as possible and of course our parents and carers, many of whom I know prioritise reading at home. The power of this cannot be stressed enough.

In this week's newsletter, I need to address an important issue regarding the school car park. We have noticed an increasing number of vehicles entering the car park at an unsuitable speed when dropping off children for breakfast club or collecting them outside normal school hours. Additionally, some drivers are accelerating towards the main entrance once inside the car park. While we have a separate pedestrian entrance to the school, children do occasionally walk through the car park, and their safety is our utmost priority. Therefore, I kindly ask all drivers to enter the car park with extreme caution and use the designated parking spaces provided. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there is no parking on-site for dropping off or picking up children, including those attending after-school clubs.

I wish you a very pleasant weekend. I understand the Hatfield Christmas lights switch on is taking place tomorrow afternoon so if you plan to be in attendance, make sure you soak in the early Christmas spirit and also, stay warm!

Mr. Bostock

Attendance This Week . . .

Whole School -

94.1%

Best Attendance by Class

Early Years - Ash - 96.9%

Key Stage 1 - Cherry - 95.5%

Key Stage 2 - Willow - 99.3%

Special Mentions Table

Early Years News

This week in Acorn Class, we have been busy exploring the number 2 in Maths, focusing on subitising with dots. The children had great fun playing a game of snap and creating beautiful ladybird crafts, focusing on the amount of dots and deepening their understanding. In Literacy, excitement filled the air when we spotted a bear on the school CCTV walking across the playground! Inspired by We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, we ventured outside to look for it but haven’t found it yet. To prepare for our next hunt, the children have been making bear masks, binoculars, maps, and even painted pictures of the bear we’re searching for. It’s been an adventurous and creative week!

This week in Reception, we received a very special (and very cheeky!) visitor. While we were fast asleep in our cozy beds, the Gingerbread Man danced all around our classroom! But before we could catch him, he vanished—nowhere to be found! The lovely old lady kindly baked each of us our very own gingerbread man to look after. We worked hard to create safe spaces and soft homes to keep them warm and happy. But when we returned to the classroom the next morning, all that remained were… crumbs!

The children loved investigating the mystery: Who was responsible for eating the gingerbread men? Could it have been Mr. Bostock, Miss Sorano, or that terrible, furry fox?

Messages from the office

Parent governor elections

In the coming days you will receive an email from Choice Voting - an online voting system. this will allow you to have a look at the nominations and vote for your parent governor to join the De Havilland School Board.

Children with longer hair

Please may we remind all parents that children with longer hair are advised that they

Flu Vaccination

Tuesday 26th November

Please make sure you register your child for the flu vaccination. Vaccination UK are visiting De Havilland in the morning of Tuesday 26th November. You are also able to sign your child up for the gelatin-free vaccination.

Key Stage 1 News

Year 1 really enjoyed the experience of 'No Pens' day this week. Initially the children had lots of questions as to how we would learn without writing down our ideas but throughout the day, we challenged ourselves to complete our learning in different ways. These included role play, sorting and ordering as well as singing and dancing. Although we were tempted to reach for the pens at times, we managed to communicate our ideas in lots of others ways all the way through until home time! Well done Year 1!

This week in Year 2 the children have been fantastic, coping with No Pens Day and the snow! No Pens Day was a success with the children in Cherry using their listening skills and explaining everything they wanted to say to all their peers in great detail and the children in Chestnut even learnt the alphabet in sign language! We want to say a massive well done to them all, we got to celebrate their filling of the gem jars by watching a movie and enjoying some popcorn. We hope you all enjoy the weekend and come back ready for the start of assessment week.

Coming soon...

Bags 2 school

Please keep an eye out for a Bag 2 School collection bag due to come home with your child very soon. This is the ideal time to have a pre-Christmas clear out!

Please fill the bag with any unwanted clothes, shoes (tied together), hats, belts and handbags. NO toys, games or any other household item. If you want, you may use any other large bag to donate items.

The collection day with be

Friday 6th December

Please only bring the bags to your child's classroom on the MORNING of Friday 6th December. You will be asked to take them home on any other day. There will only be ONE collection so please take any items to your local recycling centre after this time.

Sports News

Football results

Girls football

Birchwood 0

De Havilland 1

Boys football

St Marys 1

De Havilland 5

House points

1st Comet - 201

2nd Hercules - 160

3rd Trident - 156

4th Mosquito - 135

Lower Key Stage 2 News

The highlight this week in year 4 was our fabulous Viking Day. Our young Vikings (the children, of course!) arrived at school in their costumes and chose Viking names for themselves. Then we were off to the lower hall, transported to village life in the year 878, where everyone contributed to life in the village by taking part in a number of activities such as making ink and writing messages in runes, making candles, metal-working, pottery, illumination and sewing rune bags. A battle between the Danes and the Saxons followed,using shields and making human formations. In the afternoon, the children took on the roles of archaeologists to explore artefacts. We are so proud of how all of the children engaged 100% in all of the learning, throughout the whole day.

Our Sponsor of Sport at De Havilland

We are very excited to announce the partnership between De Havilland and Diamond Gymnastics Club.

Diamond Gymnastics Club have generously agreed to become our sponsor of sport. Their contribution will make a huge difference towards furthering the opportunities and development of sport provision here at De Havilland.

No pens day

This year De Havilland joined in with a national campaign called No Pens Day run Speech and Language UK. It is a day of raising awareness of the challenges that some children/adults face every day in school, at home, everywhere they go. All classes put down their pens and pencils and spent the day using their communication skills to complete their learning. There was lots of drama, practical maths, PSHE discussions, movement breaks amongst other strategies that the adults devised in order to continue a broad provision of learning opportunities. Please visit the website for more information:

https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/get-involved/no-pens-day/

Upper Key Stage 2 News

In PE this week, the children practised their reactive speeds and played multi sports. In Science, we learnt how the rotation of the Sun causes our daytime and night time whilst we considered the use of alliteration and movement verbs in English. In puppets, the children continued to sew their puppet costumes together. Thank you once again for the helpers who attended this week. In maths, we looked at cube numbers and revised arithmetic strategies for quiz week. We read deeper into 'The Jamie Drake Equation' and we are enjoying the links between our class reader and our Science topic.

We have had another busy week in Year 6 this week, with a range of different activities. We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from the University of Hertfordshire, in which our speaker ,Shannon, provided a workshop for the children, discussing the prospects of future studies such as going to college and/or university. The children had lots of wonderful questions and ideas to share and were keen to find out more about higher education opportunities. We also took part in 'No Pens Day' and learnt the importance of communication using other routes as opposed to writing. These games and activities helped us to develop our teamwork and problem solving skills (see photos of 6 Willow creative art work). In maths, we have continued our work with fractions and have learnt to multiply mixed numbers by an integer as well as continuing to develop our confidence with converting improper fractions to mixed numbers.

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Cian shines in his kickboxing debut at

TMA fight night

On Saturday 16th November Cian took part in his first TMA fight night. Cian’s first-ever fight night in kickboxing was a remarkable debut. Despite the pressure of competing for the first time, he showcased impressive skill, determination, and composure in the ring. His strikes were sharp, his defense solid, and he demonstrated excellent technique throughout the match. Cian’s training paid off as he delivered a strong performance, leaving the crowd and his coaches proud. Whether he claimed victory or gained valuable experience, it was a significant milestone in his kickboxing journey.