Keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment.

• News from Dovedale Day 4

  Thu 21 May 2015
  We have had a fantastic day visiting Abraham Heights. We all started the morning with a ride on a cable car up to the top of Masson Hill, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. After a quick gift shop stop, we were taken around an old coal mine where we saw lots of fossils, gems and different type of stone. They also found lots of calcite stone on the top of the hill. After lunch we visited another cavern and the children had some down time on the adventure playground and had an ice cream. The day was finished off with a BBQ in the beautiful sunshine and a walk up Bunster hill. 

  

• News from Dovedale - Day 3

  Wed 20 May 2015
  We've just arrived back at Dovedale House after another cracking day out!

  We drove to Buxton to Poole's Caverns and had a very interesting tour through the show caves. We saw stalagmites and stalactites and lots of rock formations and learned all about the history of the place. We learned a bit more about river systems - part of our geography topic and the children could remember quite a lot from their lessons. 

  Then we had lunch - indoors as it was still raining - before getting back on the bus to Alsop. Then we walked down to Milldale, and then along the Dovedale valley to the Stepping Stones. The children had a lovely time to-ing and fro -ing across the stones.  After that, we walked down to have an ice cream and then back through the meadows full of sheep and lambs to the house. We walked 5 miles altogether- and we are all still smiling!

  The children are all in the garden now - it's dry and the sun is trying to come out but it's still rather chilly!

  It's been another good day and the children have been fantastic!!

   

   We also popped to tissington to see the Well Dressing last night.
  Later this evening, after the film, we are going on a bat walk with Mark, the house warden. He's kindly offered to take  us bat spotting! 
  All the walk was dry today, but cold. The sun is out now, which is good.

   

   

  

• News from Dovedale - Day 2

  Tue 19 May 2015

  We are just settling on the coach from Chatsworth after a really fun-packed day! First we visited the house which was spectacular- so many treasures! Paintings, fossils, sculptures, beautiful rooms with frescoes and tapestries - just splendid! The children loved looking around. There was also an amazing chair exhibition which doesn't sound exciting but the children saw all kinds of weird and wonderful pieces of modern art which they could sit on and admire. One of our musical pupils was allowed to play on a Steinway grand piano which was very special.

  We lunched in a Greek style temple before heading to the farm. We had a great tour and met goats, sheep, calves, donkeys and lots of rare breed chickens. We finished the afternoon with time to play on the adventure playground and an ice cream.

  The children are singing as I'm writing this!! We escaped with light rain showers again. We'll decide the evenings activities a bit later, depending on our energy levels!

  It's been a great day out!! 

  

• Greetings from Dovedale -Day 1

  Mon 18 May 2015
  Well, the house is finally quiet - it's 10.30 - and the adults are having a quiet sit down before bed.

  We have had a good first day.  The journey went very smoothly and the children were very happy on the way to the ice rink.  We only had a few "are we there yet?s  Skating was a success and a big hit, with all children completing at least one circuit on the ice and no injuries apart from a few bruises.

  We continued our journey, feeling a little despondent about the rain, but on our arrival, the sun came out and shone for us. The descent into the village is beautiful and always exciting when you have the first glimpse of the house - today was no different.  Lambs were bouncing around the fields and everywhere is very lush and green.

  Mark greeted the children and gave them a talk and then we carried cases up to our rooms, chose beds and had a look around. We had a short walk to Ilam Hall and the River before tea. The meal went down pretty well - chicken nuggets and chips followed by chocolate cake and custard.

  After tea, we went for quite a long walk along the river, up a big hill (only a few groans!), through the pastures and back down to the house.  We had a couple of light showers but escaped getting too wet.  The children were brilliant on the walk, and really enjoyed looking around.  We got back around 9.20, in time for a drink and then they changed for bed.  Most of the  children are asleep now and we are looking forward to a quiet night!

  We are off to Chatsworth tomorrow and looking forward to exploring the house, park and farm.