Celebrating Poundbury Magazine Issue 6: The bright thinkers and entrepreneurs | Page 10

NEWS ECO WORK RECOGNISED IN TES AWARDS SHORTLIST Teacher Edd Moore and his class tend the garden Damers First School has been shortlisted for the prestigious Times Educational Supplement’s School Awards (TESSAs), which recognises excellence in teaching and schools D amers is up against seven other schools in the category of Sustainable School, a new award for 2018 to find a school that has raised the bar in educating children on environmental issues. Headteacher Catherine Smith said: “It is great to hear that our sustainability work has once again been recognised at a national level. We are incredibly proud of what happens within our school and the impact that this has on our children’s understanding of and care for the environment. We are both honoured and delighted to be nominated within this category.” Earlier this year, Damers First School was one of just 12 educational groups to receive a Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Award, which recognises outstanding environmental work by schools, at a ceremony in London. The Damers children spoke to primatologist Dame Jane Goodall about the work they have done in the last year including Refill Poundbury, where pupils signed up over 20 businesses to fill customers’ water bottles to reduce plastic waste, their success as winners of the Young Enterprise Fiver Challenge in both 2016 and 2017 and their work towards making Damers a plastic-free school. The school’s eco work recently featured on Newsround. Pupils were interviewed at the Poundbury school by presenter Martin Dougan about their campaign to reduce single-use plastic at school and their local community. Dame Jane Goodall meets pupils and staff at Damers DAMERS DANCERS ROCK SOUTHAMPTON A troupe of 35 dancers and crew from Damers First School took part in this year’s national JRock competition in Southampton’s Guildhall Emma Teasdale at Bonjour Café and Christina Hammond (right) T POUNDBURY WI IN FULL SWING New for 2018, Poundbury now has its own branch of the Women’s Institute (WI) W ith more than 50 members, Poundbury WI has hit the ground running after it held its first meeting in January this year to appoint a committee and register the first batch of members. Since then, it has held a meeting every month and has a varied schedule of guest speakers and activities. Poundbury WI is now creating its own logo, working alongside Poundbury Quilters to design a unique banner. President Christina Hammond says: “We are going from strength to strength. We started the group to have fun, educate and meet new friends, this we believe is happening. We are starting up mid- monthly groups which are going well and it’s a great opportunity for our ladies in Poundbury and Dorchester to meet up and share an interest and make new friends.” Deputy president Emma Teasdale says so far the WI has held a ‘meet, eat and greet’ where new members got to know one another while guest speakers have included local make-up artist Kirsten Sare, who spoke about her career and shared top tips, and representatives from the campaign for a National Park for Dorset. Emma, who is also owner of local café Bonjour, says current world events have made WI very relevant for today’s women. “WI is solely 10 WWW.CELEBRATINGPOUNDBURY.CO.UK for the purpose of bringing women together, inspiring them and campaigning on behalf of women’s issues,” she said. Meetings are held every fourth Wednesday of every month, currently at Brownsword Hall. If you are interested in joining the Poundbury WI or want to try a free taster session, contact Christina at [email protected] or see the Poundbury WI Facebook page for more information. Annual subscriptions are £41 pro rata. PROGRAMME OF MEETINGS 27 June – Fanny Charles, founder of Dorset Food & Arts Festival, talks about her life and career 25 July – Volunteers from the Shire Hall Museum will speak about the new Dorchester attraction Meetings are held every fourth Wednesday of every month. The children get ready foir their performance eacher Nikki Simmonds, who worked with the children on their performance, said she was incredibly proud of the team of Year 4 pupils, who won eight certificates of excellence from the judges for their performance ‘Dare to Dream’. The team organised fundraising events, including a crazy hair day, to fund costumes and scenery for a professional production. Magna Housing Association kindly covered the costs of the coach to travel to Southampton. Parents came to the evening to support the team. “What a truly fantastic and memorable day. I was so proud of every single performer on that stage and immensely proud of the stage crew,” said teaching assistant Sally Campbell. Mrs Simmonds said: “The children were totally professional from start to finish, danced beautifully and were a joy to be with. All of their hard work paid off and they deserved every single award.” LOCAL SCHOOLS RUN THE DAILY MILE C hildren and staff at Damers First School and The Prince of Wales First School have signed up to national campaign The Daily Mile, which encourages children to improve their physical fitness and wellbeing by leaving the classroom for a run around the playground or playing fields. Teachers said they have seen a positive impact on children’s concentration and behavi our since starting the activity. WWW.CELEBRATINGPOUNDBURY.CO.UK 11