21st March 2025
save the date
Every Thursday in term time – Tiny Tiddlers - 8.50am – 10.30am
Wednesday 26th March - Tea & Talk: Year 1 Phonics – 8.50am
Friday 28th March – Year 6 cake and jumble sale – 3.10pm
Thursday 3rd April – Year 6 SATs revision information evening – 5.30pm
Friday 4th April – Last day of term - 1.15pm collection – no after school provision. As always, we welcome families into the academy to celebrate children’s work. The school will be open until 2:00pm so that you can look at your child’s books and see the progress they have made so far.
Tuesday 22nd April – Academy open
Friday 2nd May – Preloved uniform sale
message
Dear parents and carers,
This half terms learning and life skill is called – ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You.’ Whilst that makes us think of ABBA and tempted to say ‘ah haaaaa,’ it is actually a focus on knowing things about ourselves and others. The objective of the Learning Unit is to help our children build their skills. The children should have an understanding that these skills are important in understanding themselves, not just in the classroom, but also in everyday life in and out of the school.
This week we have raised awareness and deepened understanding on understanding ourselves and others. Engagement in two annual events has meant that this has been a focus, not only in school, but also around the world.
Rio and Noah from year 6, Albie and Abe from year 4 and Blossom and Teddy from year 1 were keen to share their best jokes with us!
Some of our children have also engaged in some extra-curricular activities. A group of children went to a national bowling competition against 128 schools of which we came 11th! Special mention to Zara in year 5 who got the highest number of strikes in the competition and was awarded her very own pin! Well done everyone!
This morning, I joined Mr Felton, along with Mia, Lenny, Summer and Clark, at the KS1 Physical Education, Sport and Activity Awards Ceremony in Chelmsford for which we were being presented an award! During the event, the children took part in games and activities and also met the Move It mascot.
Year 3 enjoyed a special visit from Mr Bird. Mr Bird worked at the academy for 15 years and is a font of knowledge in the local area. He has been a police officer, lifeguard, St John’s ambulance responder, teacher and is a longstanding active member of Leigh community. As year 3 are studying the local area - he was the perfect visitor to tell them about the geography of Leigh and the changes that have occurred. A great mix of geography and history facts were shared and the children were enthralled. Thank you, Mr Bird!
Our penguin has arrived. Not a real penguin, although Mrs Arnold would love that! And Penguin class of course. We are participating in the Waddle-on-Sea, raising money and awareness for Haven’s hospice. Our penguin design will be linked to the important message of climate change.
Next term, children will be studying their climate change units following their geographical studies from this term. This highlights the impact of influences, actions and change to our world.
During a governors visit this week, children shared their knowledge of the world and spoke eloquently about what they know and also the importance of human actions to make a change. They engaged in a knowledge organiser quiz and showed their excellent knowledge of geographical terms and definitions. The governors were very impressed with their knowledge alongside their extended writing linked to their studies.
As always, enjoy your family time together.
Mrs Nicholls
in the spotlight
Neurodivergent week
At the academy we pride ourselves on the equality we show to all children and the level of understanding that they have around neurodivergence. During this week, children in Dolphin Bay have explored various aspects of neurodivergence and how they use their own personal attributes to help them. We focussed on personality traits that they see in each other and the children came up with lovely descriptions of each other.
These included: cuddly, playful, giggly, energetic, generous, kind, thoughtful and respectful.
Celebrating Together – Friday 4th April 1:15pm to 2.00pm
This is a wonderful way to end the Spring Term by celebrating your child’s work with them. Please come to your child’s class on the last day of term to share books and reflect on the learning experiences your child has had so far this year.
Tea & Talk
Every year in June, as part of our summative assessments, Year 1 engage in a phonics screening check. They are assessed on their reading of 40 words, 20 of which are real and 20 of which are nonsense ‘pseudo’ or ‘alien’ words. Alien words test your child’s ability to decode words without the support of any memory of words that they may have come across in reading. Mrs Richards will be running a Tea and Talk on Wednesday 26th March, specifically about the Year 1 phonics screen.
Mrs Hahn will be holding an information evening ahead of the Year 6 SATs on Thursday 3rd April at 5.30pm. In this session, Mrs Hahn will be sharing revision materials and guides to use with your child in preparing for the SATS. We look forward to seeing you there.
Donations
Our children tell us that they would like to have more games and puzzles to keep them busy during wet play sessions. A number of years ago, our wonderful PTA provided each class with a PALS Wet Play Box. These were filled with puzzles, games, card games etc. However, over time, these resources have needed refreshing and replacing.
We would therefore like to ask our families to donate any suitable and age-appropriate puzzles, games, cards sets etc. to your child’s class during the next few weeks. Children can bring things into school and class teachers will then be able to re-stock their wet play boxes.
Thank you for your support.
The Class Teachers
Darlinghurst Academy
Pavilion Drive
Leigh on Sea
Essex
SS9 3JS
Contact Us
T. 01702 478379