Newsletter Issue 39 |
Friday 20th July 2012
|
Dear Parent/Carer,
James - Wish To Walk
The school community has raised a staggering £6795.77 towards James’ Wish To Walk Appeal. This magnificent effort shows the power of a community to mobilise around a cause that is dear to its heart and to make a difference together.
100% Attendance
We have twenty children in school who have achieved 100% attendance this year. This is a magnificent achievement for this 6% of our school population. Letters of congratulations have been sent in the post to: Laura Bond, Millie Booth, Jessica Charlesworth, Evan Dale, Lauren Dawson, Eleanor Dobson, Jack Gillings, Owen Godwin, Daisy Hutchinson, Harry Hutchinson, Jack Kreczmer, Lilly Mahon-Ingoldby, Amber Sharp, Jodi Smith, Charlie Thompson, Matthew Trueman, Videet Vadalia, Finlay Wade, Kian Wade, Emily Young.
Merit Prize Winners
Congratulations to Oban Padgett (Reception), Ben Brook (Key Stage One), Josh Driscoll (Year 3/4) and Phoebe Millard (Year 5/6), our Merit Prize Winners this year. Our Merit Prize is awarded to those children who have earned the most merits throughout the year, so it is a long-distance race. We paid a visit to Toys ‘R’ Us this week and the children all spent their £50 on toys of their choice.
Term 3 Merit Winners
Daniel Akintolu (Nursery), Ewan Molyneaux, Ellis Mason (Reception), Lauren Durkan, Taylor Davies, Ella Spence (Key Stage One), Stephi Lund, Amber Sharp, Josh Driscoll (Year 3/4), Laura Bond, Bethany Plews and Josh Lunn (Year 5/6) were this terms Merit Rosette winners. The Merit Rosettes are awarded to the child who earned most merits that term. Congratulations to them all for their magnificent effort.
Poetry Competition Winners
Congratulations to Alex Hopes, Maisie Kime, Jessica Siddons, Jessica Boak, Maddison Evans and Grace Allen – our Poetry Competition winners.
TES Awards
A team from Robin Hood attended the Headteacher of the Year Awards at the Park Lane Hilton, London
A personal message and thank you to all families
I am privileged to have worked at Robin Hood since January 2003. On arriving as Deputy Headteacher I felt that the school had a magic about it, and that is a feeling I have carried with me ever since. I leave the school one term short of my tenth anniversary at what I believe is a fitting time, one at which the school is thriving and is looking confidently forward towards the future.
I can reflect upon my period as Headteacher with great pride. During that time the school has gained a stronger and stronger reputation, further and further afield - to the point where I have recently been invited to Australia to talk to School Principal colleagues there about how we teach at Robin Hood (!) I have had the privilege of working with wonderful colleagues, children and families, have formed deep and lasting friendships and will carry many happy memories away with me. It is fair to say that there have been many, many changes at the school over the years. Great schools are dynamic places where exciting things happen.
I have been involved in three Ofsted inspections at Robin Hood, two HMI Subject Inspections, a visit from the President of Iceland, a visit to an assembly by the then Secretary of State for Education, and much more. Seeing Gordon Brown - the then Prime Minister - walk on stage at a World Education Conference in Westminster with a film of children from Robin Hood playing as the backdrop to his entry will remain in my memory for a long time. Our children have appeared on a Jonathan Ross BBC TV show, on Calendar News, on local radio and in print.
Children have always been, and are, at the core of what we do. They are our moral purpose. They are what drive us to be our best and to push beyond it.
My thanks to Mrs Smith, Mrs Wathen, Mrs Cookson, Mrs Comstive, Mr Reynolds, Mrs Holland, Mrs Beckwith, Mrs Friar, Miss Abbey, Mrs Hick, Mrs McGrail, Mrs Turpin, Mrs Mates and Mrs Whyman who have all been at Robin Hood throughout my time here. They are a very special group of people, the core of this outstanding school. And a very special thanks to Mrs June Wood. June recruited me as Deputy Head in 2002, appointed me as Headteacher in 2005 and was Chair of Governors for much of my Headship. I have much to thank June for. Without her support, advice and good old-fashioned common sense, very little of what we have achieved would have been possible and I am certain that my stay at Robin Hood would have been much shorter than it has been. I owe June an enormous and permanent debt of gratitude.
My best wishes for the future to every member of the school team, to Mrs Dale and to Miss Hinton who will be taking over as Acting Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher respectively, to the Governing Body and to you, the parents and community of Robin Hood.
My sincere thanks to those children and families who have been kind enough to take the time to wish me well, write cards and give gifts. I am very touched and very honoured, and very, very lucky. It is everything for an educator to know that you have influenced a life, inspired an idea or an attitude, and made a difference.
Have a fantastic weekend.
As we are in school for only one day next week, there will not be a further newsletter. What I would have been saying at the end of that newsletter, were there one, is:
Have a brilliant summer, and…. Kids… have fantastic futures. You can do anything that you want to do. You can be anything that you want to be. The only price is continuing to believe in yourself and in your infinite potential. You will always be able to say with great pride and with many happy memories that you went to Robin Hood Primary School.
If I don’t see you on Monday to say it in person… Goodbye and my very best wishes for the future,
Mark Wilson
