Current News

Pupils at Ditcham Park School have been busy raising funds for Naomi Children’s Hospice all year by collecting recyclable items such as printer cartridges, old mobile phones, used stamps and foreign currency; by selling cards in conjunction with Phoenix Cards; and by running a toy stall at the Ditcham Summer Fete.
Naomi House children’s hospice is a charity that provides support to children and young people with conditions that mean they are unlikely to live to become adults. The charity provides care to families living in communities across the seven counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire.

The pupils have been inspired to raise funds for Naomi House because of the school’s long-term connections with Naomi House and because of the requirements of the volunteering section of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The pupils have been supporting the building of Jack’s Place, a hospice designed specifically for teenagers, and were delighted to learn that it is now completed.

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Another successful camp, this time for the transition (year 3), who spent the night under canvas on the school field. Putting up the tents was hard work but rewarded with hot dogs followed by ice cream. Activities included parachute games, a camp fire and natural sculptures.

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Middle Junior pupils performed a series of short presentations to a full house in The Court Theatre on Wednesday 7th July 2010.

Their varied and creative performances successfully demonstrated some aspects of everyday life for men and women in the Aztec civilization.

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It was a wonderfully balmy summer’s evening as the class of 2010 from Ditcham Park School celebrated the end of their GCSE examinations with a party at the school, whose beautiful location on top of the South Downs near Petersfield, provided the perfect backdrop for the glamorous occasion. The pupils, who all wore formal evening dress, arrived looking stunning in a variety of vehicles including an open top bus, a tractor, a tricycle, an expensive sports car and even in the back of a bright pink hearse!

The pupils, who had spent the afternoon decorating the school, played hosts to the staff in an extremely enjoyable evening when the stress of exams could be put behind them.

In her speech, Head Teacher Kathryn Morton, spoke warmly of the pupils, many of whom had been together since the age of 4, and whose friendships and camaraderie were indicative of the ethos of the school, and which she felt would endure for a very long time. In response, Head Boy, Toby Megeney and Head Girl, Emma Hartley, thanked the staff for all the opportunities that had been afforded to them during their time at the school and for the wonderful experiences they had been able to enjoy. They particularly paid tribute to Mr Colin Cooke, Senior Master and Head of English and Mr Will Stretch, Teacher of English, who were both retiring at the end of term after a combined 40 years of teaching at the school.

After many fond farewells, some tears and promises to keep in touch, the evening ended with good wishes to all for the future.

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Pupils at Ditcham Park School recently had a Mufti Day to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The charity was suggested for the fund raising initiative by Year 3 pupil, Ben Lloyd-Jones, a keen member of the Institution, who presented a cheque for £384.41 to Kevin Jones, the Local Education Volunteer for the RNLI.

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Funny feet; fabulous feet; frilly feet were in evidence at the Ditcham Park Dinosaur Stomp as part of the Junior School Book Week. Imagination let fly as the children, no doubt assisted by their parents designed, adapted boxes, flippers and slippers into dinosaur feet. This ended with a parade for their parents and classmates; their ungainly gait, as they tried to control their outsized feet causing much merriment.

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Year 7 Science Club pupils at Ditcham Park School have been looking at propulsion systems and experimenting with water rockets this term, but one member of the Club, Joe Hunt, has had an interest in building solid fuel rockets since being in the Junior School. Last week Joe launched his latest rocket from the school grounds, the `Saturn 1B`, which accelerated to over 700mph before it reached an altitude of over 1000 feet in a few seconds. It was a spectacular sight, but all over too quickly before the control module parachuted safely back into the school fields.

Pupils are now looking forward to meeting some real, live astronauts when the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis visit Portsmouth on 28th June.

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To OSCAR O’HARA (FENCING), awarded for personal achievement and also as captain of the Chichester Fencing Club’s Under 14 Junior Foil Team which won the Sussex Junior Team Foil Championship 2010.

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“Awesome!” was the judgement of Year 6 pupils from Ditcham Park School who had an action-packed day visiting the D-Day Museum. After handling objects from the period, the children acted their way through an air-raid in the city as messenger, ARP, fire warden, medic and police. They were ably assisted by a bucket chain gang and took cover in a Morrison Shelter, keeping their spirits up by singing “Run Rabbit, Run!”. This broadened their understanding of what it was like to live in Portsmouth during the war years and proved a fascinating contrast to their school which was used as a respite centre for serving dockyard workers.

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Blood curdling screams were heard echoing around Ditcham Park School when the Lower Junior pupils were visited by David McDermott an Anglo-Saxon re-enactor. The children sat spellbound, as he entertained them with chilling stories and mystified them with fascinating artefacts. The visit supported both the history and science curriculum with the pupils using their expertise in hydraulics to make pop-up Anglo-Saxon warriors.

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Congratulations to the three Silver teams who passed the Silver Final Assessed DofE Expeditions by hiking from Abergavenny through the Black Mountains to Hay-on-Wye over three days.

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As part of National Science and Engineering Week on Wednesday May 5th, The Royal Navy invited the year 10 Ditcham Park School Physics pupils to visit the Royal Navy School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at HMS Sultan in Gosport. This event both enthused and engaged our students with a host of interactive events provided by some of the biggest names in UK engineering. Participants were shown how science and engineering are vital in every aspect of life and how exciting engineering can be as a future career at all levels of skill and knowledge, from the maintenance of diesel engines to nuclear chemistry and engineering.

Interactive games and puzzles, a hands-on science and technology fair, practical competitions and engineering exhibits all contributed to a full and exciting visit. The Royal Navy also showed engineering in practice with trainee engineers and helicopters from the Fleet Air Arm.

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At the end of the spring term, the children in the Junior School at Ditcham Park celebrated Easter by continuing the ancient custom of egg rolling. This tradition is thought to be symbolic of rolling away the rock from Christ’s tomb before his resurrection. This annual event usually sees the pupils pushing a carefully decorated hard-boiled egg down the slope of the school’s playing field.

Due to stormy weather, hilarity reigned as the children made a bed for their eggs on a bean bag which was then propelled across the floor of the school’s new sports hall, the Martin Pryce Building.

The winners of the various sections, who managed to reach the finishing line without their egg rolling off, were rewarded with a chocolate version. The event got the ‘thumbs up’ from the children who thought that it was ‘eggcellent’ fun.

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Forget the ‘X’ Factor and move over Simon Cowell. Now it’s the ‘D’ Factor – ‘D’ for Ditcham Park School where the pupils in the Junior Department have been taking part in their annual talent competition. The wide variety of acts included items such as conjurors, dancers, singers, instrumentalists and even an indoboarder.

The hotly contested event was divided into three categories; Key Stage 1 and upper and lower Key Stage 2 with points going towards the highly prized House Cup.

Mrs Pam Richards and Mr Patrick Daley, a patron of the school, enjoyed their morning, judging the performances and encouraging the children with their comments. It was not an easy task due to the very high standard of all the acts.

Then followed a celebration of music talent form the Junior School pupils. They sang and played, classics to pop, entertaining their audience with confidence. The Steggall Cup for Musical Talent was awarded to Chloe Smith for her singing of “Castle on a Cloud”

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Fundraising and recycling for Naomi House Children's Hospice