Welcome back!
Hello and welcome back to the Dorchester Middle School Blog.
So, how is everyone? Did you all have a good week? Did you enjoy last week's Blog? I had a good meeting with the Blog Squad on Monday to look at how our Blog looks so, as warned, there are a few minor changes, we hope you like them.
Without further a do, let's crack on with this week's contribution.
Jack's Saying of the Week
I absolutely love this week's choice:
Some people are like candles.
They burn themselves out to create light for others.
How true is that?
Thank you Jack.
Let's see what our Blog Squad have been up to this week...
Year Five - Jessica and Lottie
Let's see what Jess has been up to this week:
There are two parkruns this weekend: one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This year, DMS will be raising awareness and money for the Space Youth Project.
The school had a strike day on Wednesday where you had to fill in a sheet to come ito school but the Year Six children had to come in as they are studying for their SATs.
Next week, is Children's Mental Health Week. The school is having a non uniform day. For £1 you are able to 'Dress to Express' and the money will go to our chosen charity that supports children's mental health.
The playground has been a fun place to be. The last couple of weeks have been very kind with the weather which makes such a difference.
Finally, there has been a green comet which was last seen over 50,000 years ago.
Year Six - Layla and Chloe
Layla very proudly presented me with her contribution on our deadline day which is Friday. Let's see what she has to report this week:
This week, we have been busy completing our Vocabulary Books.
Year Eight - Sophie and Annabel
This week in Year 8 some of our students went on an exciting trip to Dorset County Council. It was a very informative and inspiring session that we had with some of their workers and a big thank you to the whole of the Council for helping us become more educated in our local area. I definitely know a lot more about recycling bin schedules than I used to!
Whilst there we learned how to carry out some of the essential tasks that council workers have to do every day, such as finding postcodes and information on their website and keeping track of the call timetable to make sure that no one has to wait too long for help. I think I speak on behalf of all the pupils that attended when I say that it was an incredible experience.
In other news, the charity that we will be supporting during the 2023 children's mental health week has been decided! Mrs Ray and myself have discussed many possible options, but in the end the charity we think will suit our school's theme of diversity is The Space Youth Project.
The Space Youth Project is an
amazing local charity that empowers young LGBTQ+ up to the age of 25 who are
maybe not supported within their communities, and gives them a voice so they
can spread their sense of pride with other people like them. They are based in
Poole and run support groups all across Dorset, from Bournemouth to our town,
Dorchester! I'm very much looking forward to working with them to make our
school a better place for everyone, no matter who they are.
That's all from me this time, have a great week!
Over to Sophie:
I can't believe it's actually February already! We've only got four more days of school but it feels like it should still be Christmas.
Council
Trip
I think the topic of this week's post should be the local council Prefect trip. On Tuesday this week, your Year 8 Prefects (as well as a few others) were lucky enough to be given a fantastic insight into how the council works, their values, and what working there would entail. Yes, I did of course take a lot of notes and when I've written them up they'll be attached to the next post (maybe along with the ones from New Look in November).
It was a grizzly sort of morning with the threat of rain hovering in the air. Thirty of us, led by the wonderful Mr Palmer, Mrs Ritalik, Mr Sutton and Mrs Marsh, ventured out onto the streets of Dorchester, with the promise of a great day. We split up into two groups, the first heading to the Council Hall, the second (mine) to the library.
Once we arrived at the library, we were taken
behind the scenes, so to speak. It was eye-opening to see how much work goes
into keeping a public space like the library functioning. Often, when you visit
a place like a library, you'll only think about the front face - the staff
you're interacting with. In actual fact, so many other things need to happen.
There'll be someone organising rotas, planning and running clubs and
activities, keeping the space safe and clean, looking at budget, and so many
more I can't think of right now. Without the whole team, there wouldn't be a
library. I think this is a great example of the importance of teamwork.
Zooming in on the 'clubs and activities' part, I wasn't aware of how many clubs the library run! There's: comic club; games night; code club; Lego club; multiple reading groups; DnD club; and many more! If you're interested, maybe consider booking on and going along! Not to forget author visits, access to computers, and help/support for people of all ages. Here is the website for more info. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/libraries-history-culture/libraries/find-your-local-library/dorset-libraries/-/ddl_display/ddl/279415/432951/maximized
Back to the trip! We were then given a taste of
what it would be like to work at the library. We helped to find reserved books
to be delivered to this library, or others in the area. (Thank goodness for the
alphabetical system.) Oh yes! Did you know, you can reserve books from the
catalogue online, if you have an account with Libraries West? That way, if your
local library doesn't have the book you want, it can be brought in from another
in Dorset, Bath, Bristol, Poole, or South Gloucestershire.
My favourite part was tidying the nonfiction
section using the Dewey Decimal System. That's something else I found out:
there's a nonfiction floor upstairs which is perfect for getting away from
noisy family members and doing homework.
Time flies and before I knew it, it was time to leave to go to the Council Hall.
Which, it turns out, actually has an old
courtroom. I got to sit in the judge's seat.
How cool is that?
Unfortunately it's not in use any more (moved
to Poole), but if I remember correctly, it came into use just before WW2 and
became a council building instead around 2010.
After a couple of presentations about
leadership and what working in a council role would mean, led by Lisa Cotton
(Corporate Director) and Anthony Palumbo (Head of Service) - which involved the
strange mix of ping pong balls, long throws and screaming - we played manhunt
on the green outside. Not strictly essential to the experience but certainly
great fun!
During the afternoon the groups switched round,
with my group receiving an insight into working in Customer Services. When we
were settled and no less than six trays of Jaffa Cakes in, we were introduced
to Kelly Polley, Business Manager. Just like at the library, it struck me how
dependent the team was on every member, how important teamwork was to the
functioning of the council. It was nice to hear that no matter their place in
the hierarchy everyone would step in to help take calls and direct
customers.
Once again there were three activities to
complete. Firstly, we were given various examples of typical questions the team
receive on a regular basis and we were taught how to use the website to find
the answers. Being quite digitally-managed, the team ask that the website is
used whenever possible, and their number 221000 is used as a last resort, to
ease the pressure and workload. (Website: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/)
Next up we were given a tour of the building;
it was interesting to see how much establishments have changed from being
office-based to work-at-home. Also, it turns out the workers at the front desk
use Teams and WhatsApp to communicate! (It's slightly concerning that's the
main thing I remember.)
Finally, we were shown real-time data of the
customer calls being taken at that moment, and what topics they were about. I
can assure you that Dorset Direct certainly does cater for a wide range of
issues (20 different services as a first point of contact!), taking up to 725
calls a day!
Something one of the Operational Supervisors
said really got to me. It was about treating everyone with the same respect. Of
course, taking so many calls about so many things, these lovely people do speak
to a large number of people and sometimes it can be quite distressing. An
example would be of someone phoning in need of the Adult Social Care service,
someone who doesn't want to ask for help but knows they need it, someone
crying.
And then someone crying about the fact their
bin hasn't been emptied. That can seem quite self-centred, in comparison.
However, the point is, something will probably have happened, something much
worse, with the bin as the final trigger. Therefore, everyone should be shown
equal compassion.
It's really important we bring thoughts like that into our everyday lives because you can never know what someone is going through, behind a mask.
By the time we left, the sun had come out and
it had warmed up considerably. A great end to a great day!
Head Pupil Charity
Ivy and I will be presenting an assembly to each year group next week about the nominated charities and any other voting details and hopefully when we come back after half term the vote can begin. Then, there'll be non-school uniform days, cake sales and fundraisers. I can't wait!
This week I read a wonderful book called A Good
Day For Climbing Trees. It's a fun story of friendship and the power of small
acts, with a strong, poignant underlying message of hope, and belief, and never
giving up. I very much enjoyed it! If you're looking for your next book I'd
recommend giving it a shot.
That's everything for this week. Happy Sunday!
Sophie 8MP :)
Thank you Annabel and Sophie for such fantastic contributions to this week's Blog.
Worth a Mention Children
Huge congratulations to all of the children who have found their names on our Key Stage Two WAM Boards.
Let's start with Year Five:
Now for the Year Six children:
Just brilliant - well done one and all!
Children's Mental Health Week
I am so excited and proud that Dorchester Middle School is taking part in this year's Children's Mental Health Week.
Well, that's it for this week. I will be at both Parkruns next weekend so I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over the course of two days. Don't forget to wear your DMS PE T-Shirt, we really want to stand out in the crowd.
Have a good (four day) week and don't forget to look after your mental and physical health.
Mrs Ray
(who went to London at the weekend to take part in the London Winter 10km Run on Sunday. How many ways to wellbeing was I able to achieve?)
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