News

Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Avon Dassett Road Closure

  Wed 27 Feb 2013
  On Tuesday 5th for 1 day (although they have said up to 5) the Avon Dassett Road is subject to closure. Please find attached below the C.C. letter and diversion map.

• Update on Beef Provision in School Meals

  Fri 22 Feb 2013

  We have received the following statement from County Caterers:
   

  Following the recent media headlines about food products containing horse meat, Warwickshire County Caterers are assuring parents, guardians and school pupils about the meat used in their primary and special school menus.
  
  County Caterers provide school meals to 178 schools in Warwickshire and have in place practices to safeguard standards and ensure traceability on all their school food suppliers.
  
  They have also sought reassurances from their suppliers Lower Hurst Organic Farm in Derbyshire, who supply County Caters’ minced beef, and The UK Foodhall Ltd in Shrewsbury, who supply other beef products, namely sliced Scottish beef and British meatballs.
  
  Nicky Stonebridge of Lower Hurst Organic Farm said: “All of Lower Hurst’s beef products are fully certified as organic. This certification confirms the UK origin of all the beef we use, the farm of origin, the organic status of the individual livestock and the production process here at Lower Hurst Farm. There is no more traceable produce in the UK than certified organic produce.”
  
  Karen McQuade from The UK Foodhall Ltd said: “All of our beef is British Red Tractor, so our supply chain for provenance is assured. However, a food industry scare like this needs everyone to be extra vigilant, so to that aim, we have had all of our beef products DNA tested by a third party laboratory and our beef products only tested positive for beef, no other animal DNA was found in our beef products.”
  
  Sandra Rusell, Head of Catering at County Caterers, said: “We hope that these reassurances from our suppliers also provide reassurance to parents, guardians and pupils whose school meals are supplied by County Caterers. We are still serving beef in our schools based upon the controlled purchase chain from these suppliers.
  
  “We would urge parents and guardians not to panic or seek to remove children from the school meals service and want them to retain confidence in school meal safety.
  
  “We buy food to a very high standard and have put quality measures in place to make sure that the food suppliers we use conform to all food safety standards, nutritional standards, hygiene regulations and follow all food standards set by Government bodies, such as the Food Standards Agency.”
  
  School food in local authority schools must comply to strict standards. These standards mean that the meal served as part of a school lunch is nutritionally balanced and, that wherever possible, the meal is freshly cooked on the school site using fresh produce. The standards restrict processed foods, which often contain a lot of fat, salt and sugar from going onto school menus.
  
  Sandra Russell concluded: “We are in contact with our suppliers to ensure the continuing safety of the products used in our school meals. Parents who are worried about school meals should rest assured that County Caters are committed to the highest standards in school food and nutrition.”
  
  We hope that if any of you have concerns then this will reassure you of the quality and provenance of the supplies used in school meals here at The Dassett.

• Some Worthwhile Disruption

  Fri 22 Feb 2013
  We are giving advanced warning of some major work that we are having done commencing w/c 4th March and lasting for the rest of the term and Easter holiday (approx 5 weeks). Every flat roof in the school is being resurfaced and every skylight replaced to ensure that we are enlightened, warm, waterproofed and safe for many years to come.
  Unfortunately, this will cause some parking problems at school drop off and pick up as all the teachers cars will have to be relocated due to the workers' compound and skips being sited in the school car park, but all of the main entrances will still be accessible and it is very much essential work in safeguarding the wellbeing of the children and taking the school forward.

• New Reading Game

  Fri 22 Feb 2013
  Along with many of the other games and links featured in our Educational and Fun pages in the Useful Links/ Community section of our website we now have the Teach Your Monster To Read game. Designed as a fabulous resource for early readers, and from The Usbourne Foundation, it is fully compatible with phases 2 & 3 of Letters and Sounds and it works with other phonics programmes. www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

• Year 2 Lunch

  Wed 13 Feb 2013
  It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Year 2 lunch today. As always, the food was absolutely delicious, all the children were delighted to see you here and our thanks go to the fabulous kitchen team for their stirling efforts.

  

• The 2013 'Multi Cultural' Dassett Art Exhibition

  Sat 09 Feb 2013

  The 2013 Dassett Arts Exhibition had both an exotic and dramatic feel to it with the multi-cultural theme really bringing the best out of the children. We had Nazca sand designs, Chinese dancing dragons, Aboriginal art, Indian Mendhi designs, Adinkra printing, astonishingly vibrant silhouettes of the Taj Mahal, Tlinget blankets, Totem poles, etc. etc. etc. Phew, it seemed that at every corner there was another slice of magic from around the world. One visitor thanked the children for enlightening him to the vast array of natural art that exists and for showing the incredible goodness that this art can bring. It was a delightful way of rounding off our highly entertaining and enjoyable arts week. Once again, a huge thank you to all of the teachers, teaching assistants, visiting professionals and voluntary helpers who all contributed to an amazing few days at The Dassett – so many of the children have expressed so much pleasure and been so enthused at the many events that took place.
   
  
  
  
  

  We were delighted to see so many of you throughout both the Friday evening and Saturday morning and we know that the children were all absolutely thrilled to have their best efforts put on display for you all to see. It is so important that both they, and their superb work, can be given maximum exposure at this age, see how important it is to take pride in their abilities, hone their presentation skills and have a platform to really express themselves through their work.
   
  
  
  
  

  Our massive thanks go to The Friends for making refreshments available as, whether people were enjoying a glass of wine on the Friday evening or a nice cup of tea on Saturday morning, the atmosphere was very much enhanced and people felt they could linger and fully experience the art on offer.
   
  
  
  
  

  We have put a few photos from the exhibition below but there are 100+ selected images available in the Exhibition review in Art in the Curriculum section of the website. Our apologies if you can’t find your work on there but we featured as much as possible.
   
  
  
  
  

  Thank you to all those involved for putting on such a professional and well received event, including all of the many willing helpers involved in setting up the hall on the Friday, it is hugely appreciated.
   
  
  
  
  

  Some of the many comments from our visitors:
   
  
  
  
  

  What an amazing display of artwork and crafts.
   
  
  
  
  

  Fantastic exhibition!!

  
  Wow – the students have worked well to produce such stunning work.
  
  
  
  

  
  It is a wonderful exhibition.
  
  
  
  

  
  Lovely to see so much talent.
  
  
  
  

  
  The quality of the artwork was amazing.
  
  
  
  

  
  Very impressive. A very talented bunch indeed!
  
  
  
  

  
  Absolutely fantastic.
  
  
  
  

  
  The children have been buzzing with enthusiasm!
  
  
  
  

  
  Wow, what amazing effort, thought and talent.
  
  
  
  

  
  Really lovely to see all this amazing work.
  
  
  
  

  
  Fab-u-lous!
  
  
  
  

  

• Mad Science Club

  Fri 08 Feb 2013
  We are delighted to be able to announce the start of the Mad Science Club from Friday 1st March. Initially it is going to be open to Year 1,2 and 3 for the next half term and then in the first half of the Summer term Year 4, 5 and 6. Learn about science in a fun and exciting way with mad experiments and much more. Forms to follow next week.

• Chinese New Year Lunch Menu

  Thu 07 Feb 2013
  On Friday 8th Fenruary, to celebrate Chinese New Year on Sunday 10th, we are having a special Chinese Menu.

• Maths Information Evening

  Mon 04 Feb 2013
  Thank you to those of you who attended the information evening on 4th February. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are some handouts on Addition and Subtraction that were available on the evening. We hope you find them helpful. If you have any questions about your child's maths please do not hesitate to pop in and speak with your child's classteacher.

• It just is Cricket

  Mon 04 Feb 2013

  We were inspired and entertained by the guys from Complete Cricket cricket coaching company, who came to school today and gave at talk about the sport. They are running a course during half term (21st and 22nd) at Kineton High School and details are attached below.
  Also, we are thrilled to be able to offer, from the start of the summer term, a weekly cricket club here at the Dassett. Initial information in school clubs and more details to follow.