Summer 2008

General Letter Number 15

General Letter Number 16

General Letter Number 17

General Letter Number 18

General Letter Number 19

General Letter Number 20

General Letter Number 21

General Letter Number 22

General Letter Number 23

General Letter Number 24

General Letter Number 15

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Dear Parents                                                         

Summer Term News

Welcome back to the summer term. Children should now be wearing their summer uniform. Polo shirts for the boys at £7.50 and dresses for the girls at £12.50 are available from the school office. Girls’ dresses must be striped, and not checked.

Next week is Book Week, and on the Friday (18 April) there will be a dressing up day, where children are invited to come as their favourite book character. There will be a showing assembly, related to the Book Week, for infants on Wednesday and for juniors on Thursday, both at 2.45pm , to which parents are invited.  Other events before half term include KS2 SATs for year 6 (all week 12 – 16 May) and our International Evening on 20 May (details to follow later.)

If you have not yet returned your Catholic Children’s Society collecting box, please send it in by the end of the week. The Royal British legion Poppy Appeal also raised £75, not £25 as previously reported.

NUT Strike

As you may have heard in the news, the National Union of Teachers is calling a one day strike for Thursday 24 April. This will affect our school, and those classes which are normally taught by striking NUT teachers will be closed on that day. At present, it appears that most of the junior classes will be closed, but most of the infant classes will remain open. I will confirm the exact situation next week, but in the meantime I thought I would make you aware that you may need to make provisional arrangements for alternative childcare on that day.

Packed Lunches 

We have been concerned at the amount of food some children are throwing away from their packed lunches. We always ask children to take uneaten food home with them so that you can monitor what your child has eaten and does or doesn’t like. However food has been ending up in the bin, along with the wrappers, yogurt pots and drink cartons. For a fixed period therefore, we are going to take the bins out of the hall and ask children to take all their rubbish as well as their uneaten food home with them. I hope this will help you see what your child eats and cut down on waste. Please try and encourage your children to eat healthily. Sweets and chocolate are not allowed in packed lunches, and we recommend that crisps and similar snacks should not be given every day, but perhaps once or twice a week at most. We will review the situation at half term. 

Clothing Bank

We have a clothing bank near the bike shelter in the junior playground. You can bring old clean dry clothing, curtains, fabric or paired shoes (but not wellingtons or slippers) for recycling, or for reuse in developing countries. Please put the items in a carrier bag before depositing in the bin.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher

General Letter Number 16

Thursday 17 April 2008  

Dear Parents                                                                                                     

Teachers’ Strike - 24 April

I can now confirm which classes will be affected by the strike next Thursday.  The following classes will be closed all day: IG, JP, JPr, JBr, JB and JOD.

There will be school for JJ in the morning only, but they may stay for lunch and need to be collected at 1.30pm . There is school all day as normal for RG, RH, IE and IM. Please note we cannot look after children whose class teachers are on strike.

Packed Lunches

We have an infant child who has severe allergic reactions to a number of substances, particularly nuts. She had a severe reaction, resulting in a trip to hospital, earlier this week due to a child sitting next to her with a nut bar in her packed lunch. We would be very grateful if infant parents could avoid any nut products (eg peanut butter sandwiches, nutty bars) in their children’s packed lunches so that this does not happen again. Thank you also for your co-operation in children taking their rubbish and wrappings home.

Parking in

As drivers are aware, there is limited parking in

Book Week

Tomorrow is our dressing up day for Book Week – children are invited to dress as their favourite book character. This is not an opportunity just to dress up in football kit. Children should know which character they are, and which book they come from.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher

General Letter Number 17

Monday 28 April 2008  

Dear Parents                                                                           

Nursery

At long last construction work has begun on the Early Years Unit, which will give us our nursery. Work should be completed in December, for a January start. If you have not yet paid your contribution to the Diocesan Building Fund (£30 per year, or £10 for this term) please do so as soon as possible. This money pays for the building work to our school. Without the Diocese to advance us money, we would not be able to undertake all the building improvements to the school that we have over the last few years.

Parking in

Sadly, despite my recent request for car drivers to park legally and considerately when collecting children from school, there has been another complaint from a neighbour in

International Evening

Our International Evening this year will be on Tuesday 20 May from 5.30pm , ending at 8.00pm . This will be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the many cultures and backgrounds of our school community. We are hoping that as many families as possible will be able to take part. There will be entertainment throughout the evening. The steel pans will play at 5.30 as everyone starts coming into the hall. If you or your children would like to present a dance, song or traditional story, please complete the attached slip.

Food will also feature highly and anyone coming to the evening is asked to bring a dish to share. Please indicate on the slip below what you intend to bring. We have the facilities to keep food warm, but no cooking facilities are available.

We hope that as many people as possible will be able to join us for the evening. Tickets are £2 for adults. Children are free but may not attend without an adult. Tickets will be on sale from the office from next Monday. The PTFA is holding a planning meeting next  week on Tuesday, (6 May), at 2.45pm in the back of the hall. All interested parents are welcome. It would be good if class reps and at least one representative from each of our ethnic communities were there. 

Flute

A flute (long, silver, in 3 pieces) has been taken from the studio without its case. This has caused great distress to the child to whom it had been loaned and means she cannot practise for her coming exam. If you know of its whereabouts, please let us know and/or return it to the school.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

I/we will attend the International Evening. We will bring ………………………………..(food).

I/we would like to perform a dance/song/ story (delete if not applicable).

General Letter Number 18

Dear Parents

International Evening

Plans are well in hand for the International Evening next Tuesday, 20 May, and it promises to be a splendid evening. It begins at 5.30pm with the steel pans and ends at 8.00pm . Don’t forget to get your tickets from the office (£2 per adult and secondary school child – children at our school free) and to bring a dish for people to share. If the food does not require refrigeration, perhaps you could send it in with your child in the morning. We can put food in the fridge from 3.30pm , but hot food needs to be brought with you in the evening. Finger food is easiest but we will organise some plates and forks. Children may not return without an adult. If you haven’t yet returned a slip to say how many of you are coming, please do so by the end of the week, so we know how many we are catering before. The newly formed staff choir is singing, the orchestra are playing and there will be displays of Irish, Albanian and Portuguese dancing, as well as singing and other entertainment from around the world. We also invite you to send your child in with a flag from your country, or to colour one in on a sheet of paper that we can use to decorate the hall.

Dates for the Term

This is an exciting term, with a number of themed weeks coming up, including:

Week beginning 19 May – Science Week

Week beginning 26 May – Half term holiday, children back Monday 2 June

Week beginning 9 June – Victorian Week

Week beginning 16 June  - Maths Week

Week beginning 30 June – Performing Arts Week

There will be different events happening during these weeks. There will be a separate letter about Science and Maths Weeks, but a few important dates to put in your diaries follow:

Monday 9 June, 9.30am – Mass led by Class IM and with Bishop Alan Hopes at St Thomas ’s church will launch our Victorian week and celebrate our school’s 160^th birthday!

Friday 13 June – a Victorian dressing up day will complete the week along with a Victorian themed

Summer Fair in the afternoon

Tuesday 17 June, 2.30pm – Mrs Harman will lead another of her successful maths workshops for parents during Maths Week

Friday 27 June, 9.30am – our First Holy Communion children will lead Mass at the church for the whole school, to be followed by a party for them and their families

Thursday 3 July, 9.30am – Leavers’ Mass in the church led by Year 6 from JOD and JB

         4.00pm – Instrumental Concert in the hall, given by all our instrumentalists from reception to year 6

Friday 4 July – Infant Sports Day in the junior playground

Tuesday 8 July – Junior Sports Day at Hurlingham   Park

Monday & Tuesday 14 & 15 July – Year 6 production – a review show

Friday 18 July – the summer term ends at  2.00pm . Back to school on Tuesday 2 September! 

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher

General Letter Number 19

Dear Parents

Victorian Week 9 – 13 June

Next week is Victorian week, when we are celebrating our school’s 160^th birthday! The week will start on Monday with Mass for the whole school at St Thomas ’s Church at 9.30am , led by class IM with Bishop Alan Hopes as celebrant. This will be followed by refreshments in the school hall. All parents, parishioners and friends are invited to the Mass and to the hall afterwards.

The children will also be enjoying special events with a Victorian theme next week. Class JBr is having a Victorian tour around the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday and Freshwater Theatre Company are recreating a Victorian classroom experience for classes JBr, JB and JOD on Thursday. On Friday, everyone is encouraged to dress up as a Victorian, Some costumes can be made quite simply – high necked blouses, long skirts, shawls and mob caps for the girls, and cloth caps, shirts, waistcoats and dark trousers for boys. Any children could come as urchins, in ragged clothes. Take ideas from the Oliver Twist film and musical!

The Summer Fair will have a Victorian theme and will take place on Friday afternoon from 3.00pm . Help in setting up will be required earlier in the day. There will be a PTFA meeting on Wednesday 11 June at 2.45pm in the back hall to plan the fair – all are welcome.

Maths Week 16 – 20 June

This will start on the Monday with a balloon launch from the playground. There will be a parents’ mental maths workshop on the Tuesday at 2.30pm in the hall. Bubbles the number clown will come in for the infant children and there will be lots of hands on investigations and a maths competition. If you have not already sent in a contribution (£2 suggested) to cover some of the costs of Science week and Maths week, please do so.

Maternity News

Mrs Hartnett has now gone on maternity leave, with her baby due yesterday. Miss Lewis is taking the class to the end of term with Mrs Headd. Mrs Hartnett will return to school next year.

Class Photographs

The last day for ordering class photos – which must be accompanied by the payment – is Friday of this week.

Angela Rundle

Headteacher

General Letter Number 20

Dear Parents

Staffing News

We are very sorry that Miss Mooney will be leaving us at the end of term as she is getting married in the summer and moving to Hampshire. We are very grateful for all she has done for our children, both as a classteacher and more recently in her role of SENCO (Special Educational needs Co-ordinator). Mrs Harman will take over the SENCO role from September, and we have made a new appointment, Mrs Warde, to the year 2 classteacher post. Mrs Warde will be in to meet the children before the end of term.

Mrs Hartnett has had her baby, a boy called James.

Summer Holiday Play Schemes

In addition to the play centre, which will be running at Sir John Lillie as usual, we have been given information on holiday play projects at

Summer Fair and Nursery

Thank you for your support for the Summer Fair, which raised nearly £500. A good time was had by the children, especially on the bouncy castle, and the money raised will go towards the nursery. If you have not yet paid the Diocesan Governors’ Fund contribution for the year (£30 per year or £10 per term), please send to the office, cheques made payable to the school. This money goes directly towards our building projects, and we have to find 10% of the nursery cost, which is £100,000 of the £1,000,000 project.  The nursery is still due to open in January, with two brand new reception classrooms in the same building.

Head’s Leaving Celebration

This takes place next Tuesday at 6.00pm (to 8.30pm ) in the hall. If you would like to come, please get a ticket from the office. As this is primarily for adults, the only children able to come are those involved in the music, who have been invited separately. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Victorian and Maths Weeks

These have gone splendidly well. We had a wonderful mass in the church with the bishop a week last Monday, and last Friday most of the children dressed up as Victorian children. Having studied the lives of Victorian children, our pupils all agreed that they were pleased that they were alive today and not a hundred years ago. Our balloon launch on Monday for Maths week has already returned the first balloon label – from Twickenham! Everyone enjoyed “Bubblz” the number clown yesterday.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher   

General Letter Number 21

Dear Parents

Leaving Celebration

Thank you so much for your kind wishes and contributions to the cheque for my leaving present. I had a wonderful time at my leaving celebration on Tuesday evening. It was lovely to see many of you there, and the talent of the children playing and singing really shone through. My other guests from the diocese, the local authority and other heads were very impressed with the musical standards reached by the children. Just a reminder that I am here till the end of the term however! We had my party early because as most of you will know, Fr Norbert is sadly leaving the parish next week. He has been at St Thomas’s for 10 years and has enabled the school and church to work very closely together. He has been a very supportive governor for all 10 years and an excellent chair of the Governing Body in recent years. We wish all the best for the future. He is going to be parish priest in Welwyn Garden City. The new Chair of Governors is John Price, our former Vice Chair. Dr Jim King, who is known to our junior children for his dental health talks and free samples, is our new Vice Chair.

Artsmark

We were thrilled to hear that our school has been awarded an Artsmark in recognition of our commitment to the arts. This included our instrumental music teaching, choir, arts clubs, trips to galleries and having professional artists visit us, such as theatre groups and musicians. Few schools achieve this standard. We will be able to display the Artsmark logo on our headed paper.

Thanksgiving Mass and Leavers’ Mass

Thank you to everyone who came to our Thanksgiving Mass for the First Holy Communion children this morning. It was a lovely occasion and the children looked splendid and led the mass very prayerfully. Next Thursday morning is our Leavers’ Mass – at 9.30am in the church. This will be a special celebration for the year 6 children, but everyone is welcome to attend.

Concert 3 July

Also next Thursday, at 4.00pm in the hall, is the concert given by all our instrumentalists, from reception recorders up to the very talented year 6 children. The orchestra and steel pans will also be playing and our newly formed Singing Club will be singing, as well as our staff choir. Everyone is welcome – tickets not required, but there will be a collection at the end for new instruments. If your child sings or plays an instrument, you should have already had a letter about this. Please return the slip if you have not already done so, so that I can put the programme together. 

Year 5 Parents

Don’t forget the meeting to tell you all about secondary transfer – next Friday at 3.45pm in the hall. Fr Anthony will explain about the priest’s reference and I will go through the application form procedures. We will also be able to tell and show you more about the school journey.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle, Headteacher

General Letter Number 22

Dear Parents                                                                        

Reports and Parents’ Evening

Your child’s annual report will be given to him/her to bring home this evening. The reports contain a comprehensive account of what the class has been studying this year as well as your child’s individual progress. If you are happy with the content of the report and have no questions, then I would suggest there is no need to make an appointment to see your child’s teacher at parents’ evening. If however, you have any concerns or queries, please make an appointment to see your child’s teacher. The time we have set aside for this is next Monday, 7 July, between 3.45 and 5.30pm. Either return the slip at the end of the report requesting an appointment, or ring the office, and you will be given an appointment time. There will not be separate letters sent out inviting you to make an appointment, as is the case in the Autumn and Spring terms. Your child will be told who his/her teacher for next year is in the last week of term. Mrs Hartnett wrote the reports for RH just before half term when she went on maternity leave. RH parents are very welcome to make an appointment to see Miss Lewis to discuss their child’s progress in the last 6 weeks if they wish. KS2 SATs results will not be available to the school until after parents’ evening.

Vacancy for a Midday Supervisor

We require a midday supervisor, to assist with the supervision of the children in the playground at lunchtime. The work involves encouraging children to play games, resolving minor arguments, lining children up for lunch, some supervision in the dining hall and minor first aid. When wet, children are supervised in their classrooms. A willingness to undertake training is necessary.

Hours Monday – Friday 12.30 – 1.30 term time only

 

Rate of pay –approx £10.00 per hour

Please ask at the office for an application form. The closing date is Wednesday 9 July, noon.

Term Dates and Addresses

Summer term ends on Friday 18 July at 2.00pm and the Autumn term begins on Tuesday 2 September.

Please let the office know if your child is not going to be back on 2 September, and/or if you have changed your address or any other contact details. We have a waiting list for places throughout the infants and will have many approaches from parents seeking places for their children in September. If your child is not back and we have no working contact details for you, then we do not know whether we can offer your child’s place to someone else if you no longer need it.

Dates…

Leavers’ Mass 9.30am and concert 4.00pm tomorrow, Infant Sports Day Friday, Junior Sports Day Tuesday, Year 6 production Monday & Tuesday 15 & 16 July at 6.00pm.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher 

General Letter Number 23

Dear Parents

Instrumental Players

If your child has borrowed a school instrument, please leave it in school after their last lesson as the school instruments need to be checked over the summer holiday. If your child is continuing with lessons next term, they will be given back the same instrument and are assured of having a place in the lessons.

The last trumpet lesson for this term will be next Monday, the last violin lesson will be on Tuesday and the last flute and clarinet lessons will be on Wednesday. Tuesday’s violin lessons are to make up the lesson missed earlier in the term and will take the form of a short progress test. There will be the usual lesson this Friday.

Next Wednesday is also the day of the Associated Board music exams. Children who are entered know who they are! It is very important that they practise daily till the exam.

Reminders

Start of the School Day

There is no supervision for children until 8.50am. We are aware that some children arrive very early for school and rather than wait on the road have been allowed into the playground before this time. This policy may be reviewed, but in the meantime, please be aware that we do not accept responsibility before 8.50am. If your child comes to school on their own, please do not allow them to leave the house too early.

Expectations of Parents and Visitors

Parents are welcome partners in their children’s learning but are required to follow rules of appropriate behaviour on school premises.

·        Parents should make appointments to see teaching staff if they need to discuss something – only very quick messages can be given at the start of the day.

·         If there has been an incident between your child and someone else’s child, do not remonstrate with the other child. Allow the school to deal with the matter.

·        Shouting at members of staff is never acceptable under any circumstances and could lead to a parent being banned from the playground.

Events to the End of Term

After School Clubs

This is the last week for After School Clubs.

Year 6 Leavers’ Production

Year 6 will be performing “ St Thomas’s Time Warp” as their musical production, next Monday and Tuesday at 6.00pm. Tickets are £2 and will be available from the office from tomorrow. It looks to be a splendid show, and I do hope many of you will be able to come.

Friday 18 July is our last day and school ends at 2.00pm.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher

General Letter Number 24

Dear Parents

SATs Results

As you will have heard in the news, results at KS2 were delayed this year. Fortunately, we have received our children’s results, and are pleased that at level 4+, maths results were on target at 74%, science was on target at 85% and in line with national averages and English was ahead of target and above national averages at 85%. There was a particular improvement in the quality of writing. Congratulations to the children and their teachers, especially Ms O’Donnell and Mrs Bianchi, who have all worked so hard.

At KS1, SATs testing is more informal and includes teacher assessment, which is moderated by the borough. Year 2 children did well, with a rise to 91% of children reading at level 2+, above the national average. 88% were level 2+ in maths and 79% level 2+ in writing. 86% were level 2+ in science. Well done to the children and thanks to Miss Mooney and Miss Eaglesham, who were well supported by Mrs Caamano and Mrs Dean, for all their hard work.

Classes for September

Your child was told today of his/her class for September. We continue to operate our timetable on a 2 year cycle of topics, with years 1 and 2, years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6 each having their own cycle of topics. In addition, in the juniors there are 2 maths and English sets for each year group, so that English and maths are not taught to mixed age year groups.

The class teachers and group teachers are as follows:

Reception – Miss Lewis and Miss Garner

Years 1 and 2 – Miss Gallagher, Miss Eaglesham and Mrs Warde

Years 3 and 4 – Miss Jaggers, Miss Prosser and Miss Preisner (plus Miss Hall for maths/English)

Years 5 and 6 -  Miss Breslin, Mrs Bianchi and Ms O’Donnell (plus Mrs Harman for maths/ English)

Staffing News

Miss Waller is leaving her post as teaching assistant at our school in order to train as a teacher. She will start her one year PGCE course at Roehampton in September. We are grateful for all she has done for our children and wish her all the best for her teaching career. Who knows – she may even join St Thomas’s as a teacher in the future!

My Farewell

It has been a real privilege to be the headteacher of this school for 12 happy years. Thank you to all of you for your support and your kind wishes, cards and gifts. I bought a clarinet with some of the money in the cheque given to me at my leaving evening, and I will look forward to keeping up my musical learning with it and thinking of you while I’m playing it! I wish your children every success in their future education and will remember my years here with great fondness. They have been the most rewarding of my professional career.

Yours sincerely

Angela Rundle

Headteacher