‘All children, with support from parents, staff, Governors and outside agencies, will be

provided with the best education possible at RobinHoodJuniorSchool’.

Dear Parents/Carers

The Easter holidays are nearly upon us and the hope of returning to the glorious weather we had a week ago. I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable Easter break.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who returned my questionnaire on communication. The results will be published after Easter.

The Music and Drama Suite has been refurbished. The kitchen area has been refitted with new units, a dishwasher and a refrigerator. This is used every morning for breakfast club. The instrument cupboard has been reshelved to enable instruments to be stored more efficiently. A purpose built bookcase stores books and music equipment and an interactive whiteboard has been installed. We hope this will allow the use of the room to be more flexible and efficient.

Work on the ‘Global Awareness’ garden starts after Easter. This will be located at the front of the school where the quiet area is presently sited. This has been designed by Mr Phillip Wing who is currently a parent at school and he will also be building it. We are hoping to enter this garden, which will also be a multi-sensory garden, into several competitions, the first being ‘Take Care, Take Pride’ which is run by the Borough of Sutton.

New Governors:

Mrs Peggy Murphy – Special Needs Governor

Mrs Farhana Damda – Parent Governor

We are still looking for another Parent Governor. If you would be interested, please contact me to find out what is involved.

School Uniform

We have begun the consultation process regarding the proposed changes to the school uniform. The staff and Governors have been consulted. Today all pupils will fill in a questionnaire and have the opportunity to see the blazer, ties and jumpers. We will collate the results and publish them after Easter. Parents will all have an opportunity to see the new uniform and make comments next Monday when they arrive for Parent Consultations. There will be a member of staff on duty in the reception area from 1.30 – 7.30 to allow everyone to see and comment upon the proposed changes. These results will also be published after Easter. The final decision will remain with the Governors of the school and they will make an informed decision based on the results of our consultation with all of the school community.

This week we have all been entertained by Year 4 with their wonderful Easter Production ‘Resurrection Rock’. All of the school saw the dress rehearsal on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon parents from Year 4 and Year 4 boys from HomefieldSchool were entertained. Finally on Wednesday evening we had a fantastic turn out of parents (over 170) to watch the final performance. It was really brilliant. It is wonderful to see how talented young children are, even in front of a large audience! A huge thank you needs to go to Mrs Kinch, who is our music co-ordinator, Mrs. Wyatt, Mrs Needham, Miss Turner, Miss Ricketts, Mrs Touati and Mrs Hall for their team effort.

Many Year 5 parents expressed their disappointment at Christmas when they were not invited into school to see the Year 5 entertainment ‘Christmas around the World’. There was no evening performance because of the Carol Concert and we thought that parents would not want to come into school two evenings in one week! However, we will make sure that next year, parents in Year 5 are invited to an afternoon and an evening performance. I apologise to all Year 5 parents as my intention was that it was to be an extended assembly about Christmas, but it became a really wonderful production. In the summer, Year 6 will be performing for us and we look forward to the same high standards of music and drama.

PFA

The PFA is holding an Easter raffle. Tickets are on sale from Mrs Mead, costing £1.00 a strip. First prize is an Easter Basket, packed with goodies, and there are also several Easter eggs. The raffle will be drawn on the last day of term during assembly.

Private Tuition

Are you looking for a private tutor to help your child with Maths or Literacy? Additional help for entrance exams? Revision and reinforcement are key tools to learning and can be provided by an experienced teacher who is known to Robin Hood parents. For details please phone: 07861 219251.

Recycling your Mobile Phone

We hope you have had some success collecting old/unused mobile phones. Please send them into school from Monday 26th March and we will then count them all up. If we succeed in getting our target of 200 phones we will raise £300 for Robin Hood.

Textiles and Shoes

We recently sent home a flyer about March being an important month for recycling textiles and shoes. The Borough is running a competition and the school which collects the most textiles and shoes will receive a £200 prize! Until the end of term, our collection bins will be in the playground outside the main entrance to make it easier for you to bring in the donations. Many thanks for your help.

Sports News

Cross Country

The final meeting of the Cross Country League was run in fairly kind weather but with a lot of mud! Most runners finished far dirtier than when they started! 458 children ran – 1424 in total this season. There were some very exciting races and a number of our children ran their best race.

Final results:

Year 4 girls – 11th on the day, 10th over all

Year 4 boys – 2nd on the day, 2nd over all

Year 5 girls – 4th on the day, 7th over all

Year 5 boys – 3rd on the day (did not compete as a whole team in all races)

Year 6 girls – 5th on the day, (did not compete as a whole team in all races)

Year 6 boys – 8th on the day, 8th over all

Over all, the school came 7th.

Notable performances from:

Year 4:

Tiago Paulino – 6th

Harry Freeman 7th

Daniel Knopp 20th

Year 5:

Joe Fox – 4th

Daniel Scanlon – 15th

Naomi Westlake – 8th

Rebecca Smith – 19th

Year 6:

Elisabeth Love – 11th

Eve Tidy – 17th

Tiago Paulino was 6th Year 4 boy over all 3 races and Joe Fox got the bronze medal for Year 5 boys – 2 excellent performances.

School Council News

Members of the School Council continue to run the Healthy Snack Bar, selling dried fruit snacks. We are pleased to announce that we have raised enough money to buy 8 more digital cameras, bringing the total that we have bought to 12 – one for each class. We plan to present them in assembly on the last day of term. Thank you to everyone who supports the Healthy Snack Bar.

Two teachers came to visit us from TweedalePrimary School today to find out about the Healthy Snack Bar as they are hoping to start something similar in their school. Councillors explained how the Bar is run: how they keep a check of the stock and how much is sold. The visitors enjoyed meeting the children and have taken lots of ideas back to their own school.

At our meeting this week, we had a discussion about the proposed changes to the School Uniform. Councillors tried on blazers, jumpers and ties and shared their views. They said they felt very smart and grown up and felt that children might be more likely to look after these clothes than the sweatshirts they wear at the moment. They liked the fact that the tie was visible under the jumper. Councillors asked if they would have to throw away their old sweatshirts if they were in good condition. Mrs Rose explained that if the new uniform were to be adopted, it would be phased in over the course of a year, so that parents would just buy the new items when their sweatshirts were worn out or too small. We then discussed and agreed the questionnaire that all children will be filling in. At the end of the meeting, Mrs Rose asked if anyone felt that they would like to wear the proposed uniform. All Councillors replied that they would.

Sutton Youth Music Service

Sutton Youth Music Service run a scheme where instruments can be bought at discounted rates if the child’s circumstances fit the necessary criteria, that is that they are at school in Sutton, receive tuition from a Sutton Music Service approved teacher and that the instrument is appropriate to the child’s needs and portable. If you would like a leaflet to find out more, please collect one from the office.

House for rent

We have been asked by a local teacher to inform you of a 4 bedroom house for rent in Hulverstone Close. If anyone is interested, please contact the office.

Head Teacher Awards

Head Teacher Awards for this half term have been awarded to:

Ash

Tammy Breen

Niyoosha Parvizi

Megan Rogers

Beech

Edward Auld

Jenny Powell

Mason Dann

Maple

Haflan Haleem

Harry Spencer

Summar Gartell

Elm

Jessica Murray

Evangeline Ratnaventhan

Daniel Knopp

Redwood

Mark Marshall

Miluja Sohan

Isabel Meacher

Sycamore

Leigh Potter

Louise Chapman

Elycca De Vera

Palm

Lauren Neilsen

Rebecca Smith

Jack Diamond

Pine

Alex Kerr

Liam Holmes

Megan Lennon

Willow

Jamie Prenderville

Marcus Ferguson

Georgina Collins

Larch

Amy Connelly

Samantha Easton

Laura Barfield

Oak

Alex Lane

Zara Jadran

Sam Burgess

Rowan

Domenic Calina

Douglas McMullen

Chloe Sedgwick

Congratulations to all of those children.

Lost Property

Any lost property remaining at the end of the term will be recycled. Please come in and check all items if your child has lost any uniform. The reversible fleece jackets in lost property are all in excellent condition and will be re-sold as second hand for £7.50, original price £15.00.

Reporting a Pupil Absence

Please can you make sure that you call the school office on the first morning of absence to let us know if your child is unable to attend school for any reason? In the event that you are unable to call us, please ensure that your child brings an absence note in with them on their first day back. If you receive an absence letter from the office on your child’s return, we would be grateful if you could complete this and return it as soon as possible otherwise we are legally required to mark your child’s absence as unauthorised. Many thanks.

Lateness

Please be reminded that if your child is consistently late after registration closes you may be liable for a fixed penalty fine. Please make sure your child arrives no later than 8.50 am. The Education Welfare Officer is obliged to visit the school twice every half term to check on attendance records. Thank you.

Breakfast Club

We still have places available at our Breakfast Club. The cost is £3.00 per day which includes breakfast. The club runs from 7.30am-8.40am. If you would like to take advantage of this service please come to the office for further information. If you are claiming Working Tax Credit you may be entitled to help with payment. Please contact 08453 003900.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. We are always happy to talk to you about your child or anything that may affect your child’s education at school. Just come and talk to us. We are also pleased to receive your suggestions.

With very best wishes,

Mrs. M. Fisher

‘All children, with support from parents, staff, Governors and outside agencies, will be

provided with the best education possible at RobinHoodJuniorSchool’.