Latest News | Drapers Mills Primary Academy

Children's Christmas Choirs for Pilgrims Charity

Mon 30 Nov 2015

Its Christmas time – and local schools have been singing their hearts out to celebrate the festive season and raise money for the Pilgrims Hospices.

Recordings of seasonal songs are being played on two internet radio stations (from Monday, November 30) – Seaside Radio East Kent and Coastal Radio.

To vote for your favourite, visit the Seaside Radio website and click on the carol competition button. You can also vote on the Pilgrims Hospices Facebook site.

The songs will be played during the Johnny Lewis breakfast show every weekday after 8am and throughout the programme schedule until voting finishes on December 16. The winners will be announced on the breakfast show on December 17.

All of the songs will be compiled on a festive CD available via each of the schools taking part, and through the Pilgrims Hospice.

Choirs taking part are from Newington Community Primary School, Hartsdown Academy, Chartfield School, Holy Trinity and St John’s School, Garlinge Primary School and Nursery, Drapers Mills Primary School, Sandown School, Kingsdown and Ringwould School, Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School, King Ethelbert School.

To vote for Drapers Mills Primary Academy, click here and then make your vote.

Coffee Mornings

Sun 29 Nov 2015

Our Family Team hold coffee mornings every Thursday morning in our Community Cabin from 9am. They do different activities every week. Last week, they were getting 'festive'.

Feel free to pop along.

Make it in on Mondays

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Congratulations to Abigail, for winning a £10 High Street voucher as part of our 'Make it in on Monday' attendance initiative. The names of all children who come in to school on time on Mondays are placed into a hat when one lucky winner is drawn.

Abigail wants to treat her Mummy to a coffee and cake at Costa!

Weave the Magic

Fri 27 Nov 2015

The children and parents in our Reception classes took part in a 'Weave the Magic' afternoon today linked to the story of Alice in Wonderland. They took part in exciting activities including writing in invisible ink and making hats for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Our staff dressed up for the occasion. Can you tell who they are?

'En garde'

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Children in years 4, 5 and 6 were fortunate to have the opportunity to try out the sport of fencing on Friday. Thank you to Premier Sports who were kind enough to run the sessions for us. There were many smiling faces (although you couldn't tell because of the masks the children were wearing).

You can watch a video of the efforts from year 6 HERE.

Attendance Awards

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Congratulations to the children in Parrotts (year 5) who had the best attendance this week.

Mini Maths Ninjas

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Children in KS1 have got the opportunity to become Mini Maths Ninjas. They have to complete number bonds and times tables tasks in 4 minutes in order to earn the coloured badges. A different coloured badge goes with each task and the tasks get progressively harder until you reach 'Black Belt' level which means you get a black badge to wear. Mr Comber has his black badge! There are more details on the KS1 Lead Learner Blog.

Parents who have been concerned about recent international events in the news

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Dear Parents and Carers, I know some of you have concerns around recent events in the news regarding Radicalisation and Extremism.

As a school, we have duty to be very aware of how radicalisation and extremism can impact on our children and families. Therefore, with this in mind, I would like to make you aware of some of the measures the school takes to help educate children around areas such as 'tolerance' and 'respect.'

Those with extremist views will often try and express their views through social networking and the internet, such as YouTube clips etc. We have a firewall in school which is recommended by Kent Education Authority which helps prevent social networking sites being accessed in school and limits websites and images.

We have an Extremism and Radicalisation Policy which helps set out how staff should deal with concerns and there are a number of signs identified which can sometimes be associated with those who are becoming radicalised, which staff can be aware of and alert to.

Our school strongly promote British Values, one of which is Tolerance. We bring this into assemblies, Circle times, When dealing with inappropriate behaviour and any other opportunities within our curriculum to ensure children understand tolerance and respect for others. RESPECT is also one of our School Values.

Staff have had some training relating to Radicalisation and Extremism and are aware of what to look out for.

The school has lockdown procedures for any such relevant emergencies.

How can you help?

Be aware of what your child is accessing on the internet and with gaming as extremists can often try and get their message across through this media. Check games, websites and social networking sites are age appropriate and give children the confidence to share their worries if they see something inappropriate.

Model Tolerance in your own lives as much as possible. Children are significantly influenced by their families so if you are modelling respect and tolerance, this will help them to understand these concepts and build on what we teach them in school.

Inform our Child Protection lead, Mr Scott Wilson if you have any worries or concerns. We are always happy to talk. If you are unsure about parental Settings on computers and tablets, or firewalls for devices, then please feel free to ask the school for advice.

I hope this helps.

House Points

Fri 27 Nov 2015

Congratulations to Wales who were the 'house point winners' for the second week running with 359 house points! Well done to all of the children in Wales!

New ALUMNI page

Wed 25 Nov 2015

If you are an ex-pupil or member of staff and would like to share your experiences, memories or photos of your time with us here at Drapers Mills, please e-mail your comments to Alumini@dmpa-tkat.org and they will be published on the website.