May 2012

Dear Parents and Carers

Well Done to Ruth Courton, teacher in Bronze class who ran in this year’s London Marathon.  She achieved a personal best time of 4 hours 48 minutes.  Ruth raised £2320 to support Kith and Kids.  Michele Beadle, teaching assistant in Rainbow 2 and Clare Sawyer, teacher in Rainbow 1 and their daughters participated in a sponsored swim in support of Sports Aid on April 29th.  Well done!

Cheeky Monkey Challenge
This fund raising event for the school will now be held on Tuesday June 19th at 10.00 am when hopefully the weather will be kinder to us.  We hope you can join us.

No more cash in school
We’re pleased to announce that we will be launching ParentPay as our preferred method of payment to school for meals, uniform etc from  September 2012.  Parents will have a secure online account, activated using a unique username and password (these will be sent to you nearer the time).  Making a payment with your credit or debit card is straightforward and ParentPay holds an electronic record of your payments for you to view at a later date.  We are holding a Parent Consultation day  about this on Tuesday June 19th , the same day as the Cheeky Monkey Challenge.  Wendy Togher from Catering Services will be in school all day to answer any questions about the new system.  She will be in the Parents’ room and so you are free to pop in at any time to talk to her.  We look forward to your support in using ParentPay as it will help us further support teaching and learning by reducing the burden of income collection in the classroom and school office whilst improving school-home communication.

Staffing
Welcome to Maciek Falkiewicz, teacher in Green class.  We hope he enjoys his time at Russet House School.

Diamond Jubilee
On Friday June 1st, we will be having a special assembly at 11.00 am to talk about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and how things in Britain have changed during the past 60 years.  This will be followed by a party in the hall in the afternoon.

Olympics
Mark Shuttlewood is busily planning more intra-class sporting competitions and each class has been allocated a different country to learn about.  Class teachers will let you know which country is linked to your child’s class in this term’s class newsletter.

Friends of Russet House
A big thank you to the parents who answered our appeal by attending the last meeting of the FORHS or have made generous donations and helped with fund raising.  Thanks also to Louise Butcher for agreeing to take on the role of Treasurer and to Jenny Mansfield for having fulfilled this role so well for the last 7 years. We are always looking for new ideas for ways to raise funds and so if you would like to become involved or attend future meetings please contact Andrew Miller.

Paradise Park
Once again the Edmonton Rotary Club are arranging for all our pupils to have a fun day out at Paradise Park.  This is an annual event and this year it will take place on Wednesday June 13th.

London Zoo

Land Snails
We said goodbye to the land snails on Friday April 20th.  They have been re-housed in the Reptile Centre at Crews Hill.

Recycling Campaign
Rachel (Assistant Headteacher) is collecting items for the Terracycle recycling campaign (see www.terracycle.co.uk for more information).  Each item collected raises money for the FORHS.  So far she has raised £8.22.  Please contribute by sending in any of the following items to be recycled:-
Johnson’s Baby Wipes packets, Kenco refill packets, Used or broken pens/writing instruments

Building Works
Although we are now seeing rapid changes to the outside of the building, recent changes in our weather are causing slight delays.  In addition, as the workmen can no longer park inside the site due to lack of space and health and safety regulations, access to and from school and parking is becoming even more difficult.  We are constantly thinking about how we can reduce the congestion for both yourselves and the residents of Autumn Close but none of the solutions are easy.  Please be patient and liaise with Robert or Tony, our Site Managers when you experience difficulty.

 

DIARY DATES
1.5.12	Dental Screening
2.5.12	Governors Resources Committee Meeting	3.30 pm
7.5.12	BANK HOLIDAY - SCHOOL CLOSE
16.5.12	Parent Workshop : Using and making visual supports for your home	9.45 - 11.45
21.5.12	Intra-class sporting competition
22.5.12	Wizard of Oz - M & M Theatrical Production visit and picnic lunch	1.00 pm
22.5.12	Full Governing Body Meeting	7.00 pm
29.5.12	Visitors from Ne Zealand and Hong Kong
31.5.12	Health and Safety Inspection
1.6.12	Queen's Diamond Jubilee Assembly and party
HALF TERM HOLIDAYS 4TH - 8TH JUNE
11-15.6.12	Meetings with Speech and Language therapists via appointments
13.6.12	Whole school outing to Paradise Park
19.6.12	Cheeky Monkey Challenge	10.00 - 11.30 am
	ParentPay consultation in Parents' Room	All day
20.6.12	Governors Resources Committee Meeting	3.30 pm
25.6.12	INSET FOR SCHOOL STAFF - NO SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN
25.6.12	Curriculum and Pastoral Committee Meeting	2.30 pm
2.7.12	Multi-disciplinary Liaison Meeting	12.00 pm
5.7.12	Open Evening	6.00 - 8.00 pm
10.7.12	Full Governing Body Meeting	7.00 pm
12.7.12	Sports Day and whole school picnic	10.00 am
13.7.12	Olympic event at QEII Stadium
17.7.12	Children visit new class rooms
20.7.12	Leavers' assembly and disco and last day of term
3/4.9.12	INSET DAY FOR SCHOOL STAFF - NO SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN
5.9.12	CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL	9.10 am