Dear Parent / Carer,
I’ve had the pleasure of shaking many hands and distributing many Head teacher Stickers throughout this week, as every week. Please do make a big fuss of your child if s/he comes home with a Head teacher, or Deputy Head teacher, Sticker – it is just reward for a sterling effort. Rewarding with stickers means that 99.9% of both mine and Mrs Bailey’s contacts with our pupils are for highly positive reasons. These rewards are a key part of the culture of celebrating success at Robin Hood.
Year 56 Mining Topic
We again welcomed Tony Banks into school this week. Tony is an ex-miner who came into school to give a first hand account to our pupils about their local history. Tony and his ex-mining colleague Mike Dooley talked about life down the pit and the Lofthouse Pit Disaster.
Year 4 Residential
I’m delighted to say that our Year 4 residential to East Barmby was a fabulous success again this year. Well done to the children… and to the parents of our intrepid travellers – I saw only a few tears as the coach pulled away on Wednesday morning. On behalf of everyone, my sincere thanks to Miss Thackeray, Miss Nicholls, Mrs Charlesworth and Mr Thurlow for planning, risk assessing, leading and managing the trip. Without the dedication of staff who give willing of their time we would be unable to offer such fabulous learning opportunities to our children. Having two residential opportunities during Primary years is just one of the distinctive features of our school. Once pupils are in Year 6, of course, they have exciting adventures at Robinwood to look forward to…
Nursery Nature Trail
You may have noticed the work that is currently being carried out at the front of school, facing Leeds Road. We are using the funds raised by you and donated by our PTA to create a Nature Trail next to the Nursery building, which will be used by both the Nursery children and pupils throughout school. The initial phase of the work will create a pathway and add new planting into the area. Subsequent phases of the project will hopefully include seating, observation and working areas for children. Funds donated by you, via our PTA, are put to good use in school to provide features that we would otherwise have to do without. Many thanks for your efforts and thanks to our PTA.
Christmas Appeals
Our children are once again raising money at Christmas for our Uganda Appeal – our charitable work with our partner school in Uganda. The staff and students at Gayaza CU Primary School have been delighted to receive Christmas gifts, friendship tokens and learning resources from us during the past year. Please buy our Christmas CD or donate your old CD’s and DVD’s to our appeal to raise funds for another DHL parcel to be shipped out to Uganda. It is important for us all that we remember those less fortunate than ourselves at Christmas. The same sentiment applies to our Operation Christmas Child Appeal, which is running for the fourth successive year. This is a wonderful way to share a joyous Christmas with a child in another part of the world who might otherwise have had a less special Christmas.
Christmas Fair
If you haven’t already, please pencil our Christmas Fair into your diary. Jenny Curgenven and our loyal and hard-working PTA team are striving to put on a Fair that is better than ever. Come along, have fun, and give to a few good causes along the way.
Fancy Dress
We seem to be seeing increasingly elaborate decoration in school, particularly among our girls. Jewellery, rings, nail varnish and false nails, multi-coloured elastic bands, etc. Please remember that these are young children and we ask that parents observe school uniform rules. I have no objection to very discreet and appropriate decoration, if parents deem it absolutely essential, and as long as it is safe for the wearer and everyone else. Jewellery, dangly earrings, rings and false nails are not safe to wear in school. Could I also please remind parents about our black shoes or trainers rule. Our school dress rules are deliberately broad. That should mean that everyone is able to observe them easily.
Safety in the Car Park
I must once again ask that parents do not use the school Car Park for their own convenience. We have had two ‘near misses’ within the last week both before and after school with children and staff cars. Staff are not anticipating children running across the Car Park and exit gate before 8.00am and after 5.00pm – the times at which these incidents occurred. Parents who use the Car Park for the sake of a few metres walk are putting their child’s safety at risk, which is not acceptable under any circumstances. We have invested a great deal of our budget over a number of years in making the Car Park area safer for our children. It requires everyone’s co-operation to keep it safe. All parents, including those who use Friendly Faces and/or who have children at Extra-Curricular Clubs please respect this polite request and park safely by the Main Road, even if it is raining.
Have a safe Bonfire Night – I’ll be amongst the seventy thousand sparkler-holding souls at Roundhay Park tonight…
Mr Wilson
