Feliz Navidad with Health Poverty Action

Well done to the Christmas choir for joyful singing and proudly raising £141 today for health poverty action. They sang, accompanied by teachers, at Clapham North Tube.

Health Poverty Action does great work across the world to improve the health outcomes of those affected by poverty or not included in society.

International Sharing Afternoon

It was wonderful to see so many of you yesterday at our international food celebration. The PTA members and our governors did a superb job of inspiring you all to make and bake. As a result the food on sale was truly delicious.

Thank you if you cooked, donned blue gloves to serve, helped set up and importantly came along to buy and hang out. We are hoping to have raised in the region of £400 for our computer suite and we shall exact amounts by next week.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fareshare advent!

fareshare-volunteers-in-london-feature

On Wednesday we had a visit from Rachel from the charity Fareshare. She explained how Fareshare collect supermarket surplus and then distribute it to local charities to provide meals for vulnerable people. Some children from year six will be involved in making bread and soup to sell in Borough market using our garden produce. Money raised will be donated to Fareshare. Also, look out for our reverse advent calendar where children will be encouraged to bring in dry food in cans or packets to donate to Fareshare.
You can find out more about Fareshare here

fareshare_london

STOMP!

On Tuesday, we had a great time stomping around our local area to raise money and awareness for the charity Health Poverty Action! Every pupil brought in £1 which will be used to support health related projects in less developed areas of the world – have a look at the photos ( a bit blurry but these stompers move fast!) for our stomping!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The School Stomp is a sponsored walk for the whole school to raise money for the world’s poorest children to give them the essential health care and futures they deserve.

School Council Protest Parade @ WHY Festival – Celebrating Children’s Rights

Today, the School Council joined many other schools at the Southbank Centre to participate in the WHY? Protest Parade. This was part of a wider festival celebrating the rights of children and young people: ‘WHY? WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR THE YOUNG’. The School Council made their own placards and chanted songs on the demonstration.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Democracy in Action – Voting in the new house captains!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It has been democracy week here at Charles Dickens. The children have been learning about this important British Value through the democratic processes of voting for pupil representatives.

On Thursday the children split into their ‘houses’ for hustings and voting.

All the children belong to a school ‘house’ and these are ‘Lions’, ‘Unicorns’, ‘Dragons’ and ‘Falcons’. The children chose the house names themselves in 2009.

Each house listened to speeches from older children who wished to be House Captains. House Captains lead each house. They are responsible for organising and motivating their houses during inter-house competitions, collecting house points and making representations to the Staff leadership team on matters relating to sport and the arts.

After the hustings, all the children had the opportunity to choose their preferred girl and boy to represent their house in a secret ballot (except for those children who couldn’t read the names and here the teachers helped them find the names).

House Captains will be announced tomorrow

A letter from the Queen

Well done to Mia  (aged 5) in Little Dorrit class who received a letter from the Her Majesty the Queen  this week. Mia had written the Queen with some questions, congratulations about the birth of baby Charlotte and a beautiful picture.

IMG_1602

We expect the Queen was delighted to receive the letter  – Little Dorrit class were over the moon to receive a reply and learnt the value of writing for a purpose. Everyone is now very keen to write letters!   Thank you Buckingham Palace – you made our day!

UNICEF Day for Change 2015

On Friday, we held our first Unicef Day for Change. The School Council organised a series of fundraising activities including a Football match( parents versus teachers), a non uniform day and a ‘FAIR fair’ to help change children’s lives. Pupils joined thousands of schools across the country by taking part to raise money to help Unicef protect millions of vulnerable children around the world.

In 2015, Day for Change is all about protecting children in emergencies. Whenever or wherever disaster strikes, Unicef responds rapidly to deliver life-saving food, medicine and water so children in danger get the help they need.

As part of ‘Day for Change’, all the pupils learnt about the lives of children in countries hit by natural disasters such as The Philippines and that our role as responsible members of society is to help others less fortunate than ourselves

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cycling at CD

Thank you to Southwark for awarding us a grant to promote safe cycling in school. This money has been used to get bikes and helmets as well as secure lock up units for them. Our aim is to get children who may not have bikes at home, or who lack confidence on them, to learn to ride over lunch and after school. We will also be having a Dr Bike at the Summer Fair for children, parents and staff. We are delighted to have worked with Recylcing http://www.re-cycling.co.uk/ – a local business at the arches at Elephant and Castle. They provided us with bikes at a bargain price because they too believe in getting as many children as possible on bikes. Thank you to everyone who has helped with this!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Green Cross Code

Children across Year 2 and 3 were reminded today about the key safety messages of The Green Cross Code. Year 1 experienced the enjoyable interactive show for the first time. Two hedgehogs set up their stage and acted out different scenarios to reinforce:

1. First find the safest place to cross

2. Stop just before you get the kerb

3. Look all around for traffic and listen

4. If traffic is coming, let it pass

5. When it is safe, go straight across the road – do not run

This slideshow requires JavaScript.