News Archive
News from the Headmaster
23 September 2008
Dear Parents
Our second week of the school year has been blessed with warm autumn sunshine; enabling younger pupils to use our outdoor classroom to its full potential.
Activities started on Saturday and it was great to see pupils making use of this time to pursue interests in a relaxed atmosphere. Our usual huge range of activities has continued this week enriching our children's education. Inevitably there will be a few changes now that the programme has run for a full week and Mr Sutherland will make sure these are communicated to those concerned. Please note that pupils attending activities should not arrive before 10:00am and that pupil and parent keys will be programmed in the coming days to open the school from that time.
New children receive their initial assessments and there is a New Parents' Meeting at 4:30pm on Friday 26 September, in the Theatre, at the start of our first Leave-out weekend (when there are no activities or fixtures and boarders all go home). Please note that Friday collection is at 4:00pm with buses leaving at 4:15pm. There are also no activities for Years 3 and 4.
This morning, instead of assembly, we conducted a full kit check for every member of the Prep School, in response to some pupils' kit already having gone astray. The changing rooms should always be locked apart from when staff are present inside on duty. This is not fool-proof, however, as a duty member of staff cannot easily tell if all children in a changing room have actually put on their own kit. Equally, it is not practical to check the contents of all bags as pupils leave. For these reasons, it is vital that games clothes are clearly marked, as well as being labelled on the inside with an indelible marker. Parents can help by ensuring the kit their children bring home is all theirs and returning quickly, if not. Lastly, pupils should never borrow kit from anyone else other than when a teacher or matron is making the specific arrangements (i.e. a teacher should never tell a pupil to ‘borrow someone else's' but may arrange a swap and subsequent return between two individuals). There is kit available to borrow from the matrons, which from now on will be registered out on the understanding that families are liable for the cost of items not returned. Ultimately we are strongly encouraging pupils to look after their possessions and respect other people's - parental support in reinforcing this message is much appreciated. In the longer term, we are looking at improving changing facilities as part of the third stage of our current building development.
- Open Morning at the Senior School
A reminder to all parents that there is an Open Morning, at the Senior School, on Saturday 27 September, at 9.30am.
- Macmillan - The World's Biggest Coffee Morning!
Year 4 is proud to be hosting this event on Friday 26th September, in the Theatre. Family and friends of the whole school are invited to join us for coffee, delicious cakes and friendly company from 10.00-11.00am.
If pupils would like to purchase cakes at first break they may bring money in on the day (maximum of £1/student). We would welcome any contributions of cakes and/or biscuits from you all. Please send them into school on Friday 26th (they should be brought to the Year 4 classrooms).
- Rock Group Day
One very exciting event next week for fifteen of our budding musicians is our Rock Group Day, which will involve three bands being given a kick start in their development in readiness for future practice sessions, recordings and performances.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. I wish you all a pleasant weekend.
Yours sincerely
Nicholas Bevington
Headmaster
