Newsletter - 24/02/08
24th February 2008
Dear Parents,
The second half of Spring Term appears to be happy and purposeful. We are delighted to welcome Luca Vendruscolo and Leonard Andersen to Caspian Class and hope they enjoy their time with us greatly. We have had a real surge in admissions recently, so much so that it is almost impossible for any staff to catch Mrs Greer between showing families around the school! We are particularly pleased to note the number of girls registering for the next school year. This will balance out some classes very nicely indeed.
We had great fun painting parts of the playground at the weekend. I was so pleased to work with such a sterling group of helpers and am most impressed with the results. All volunteers who came proved to be most creative and artistic and even my attempts do not look too crooked! We do need to hold another session, as we have a fair bit of space still to cover.  I am sure the children will enjoy these additions to the playground. We have been very pleased to watch some really nice playground games developing. One kind parent has donated several books on playground games and also come in to show the children some games, and these have already been adopted and are becoming favourites. Any parents who wish to come in to share some memories of their times at school break, please do!
I must reiterate our plea to parents of Upper School that they ensure their child brings in alternative shoes for playing in the park. It is very hard to keep on top of all the mud coming in and although a good number of students remember each day, there are enough who don’t which means the school is still very muddy after lunch.
We have become increasingly disappointed in the quality of lunches offered by our current supplier and have just signed a contract with Lunchtime UK, a local firm which provides food to several other schools in Cambridge. Their operations manager is a previous Sergeant Major and I am quite sure everything will run very smoothly. I am attaching a sample menu which you will note offers soup and sandwiches every day as well as very well balanced hot meals. There is some ambiguity as to who is having hot lunches and we may need to contact some parents to check whether they do wish their child to have a school meal.
You may be glad to see that Raven, Loopy and Chuckle are back! They are well rested from their holiday at Holme Court School where they had the run of many acres of land as well as the company of three other chickens. Our children seemed very pleased to see them back and I am very impressed with the diligence of those who ensure they have fresh water and food every day.
We had very closely fought elections to the Student Council this week. We had been amused to see slogans around the school promising to make break times longer and getting more outdoor toys and will be interested to see how Councillors set about achieving this. We will have a Meeting of the Council one Friday in every month and a member of staff will attend for the last ten minutes to listen to the ideas and proposals put forward. Congratulations to Adam, Marcos, Aniella, Zahra, Jean and Joshua in the Upper School and to Vincent, Olivia, Robin, Martha, Medina and Adara. I am sure all children will be pro-active and effective. It was interesting to see that children can gauge which children are good at campaigning and getting the opinions of their peers listened too.
I am also very pleased to appoint Eamon Ouali and Anna Krylander to the roles of Charities Officers. These two youngsters will be responsible for deciding which charities we support each term and for motivating their classmates to arrange and support fundraising events.
Med class are attending the Tutankhamun exhibition this week which is a real privilege. We hope very much that they learn a great deal from this once in a lifetime opportunity. Our other big event this week is our Mother’s Day Assembly which is this coming Friday at 9am. We do hope all mothers from the Infant and Junior sections are able to attend. We have not yet practised for this but in true CIPS style are sure that we can produce something very pleasing in one week! Our children are so talented and quick to learn that they will I am sure, charm all our mothers on Friday.
We will let you know shortly what events are booked for Science Week. A quick reminder that the Juniors and Caribbean will be off to the Science Museum on March 3rd and will need to be in School by 8.15 that day. Also, all Juniors will be attending a Science performance on March 6th put on for CIPS and Sancton Wood Juniors at Sancton Wood School. Upper School pupils will be attending lectures put on by the University of Cambridge. More information to follow.
Advance warning that we are running an Easter Egg competition again this year. So consider yourselves warned when your child comes home and tells you they have 24 hours to produce a masterpiece made up of eggs! Last year’s entries including a marvellous piano made of an eggbox and a pianist who was an egg, as well as a super representation of Easter Island, a football match and many other very creative efforts. Deadline for entries 17th March.
Although it is still very cold, it is worth turning your attention to Summer Uniform. It is very easy for the boys (Infant and Junior), who simply need to wear shorts in grey or navy blue. Girls need to buy a blue stripy dress which is available online at Marks and Spencer and is very durable and attractive. It is worth placing your order soon, as they are a very popular item. We did not go with John Lewis as our supplier for this item as the cost was three times as much! Please ask to see a copy of the dress from us at School before ordering, to ensure you get the right style and shade. The web address is http://www.marksandspencer.com and the product code is Product Code: T766408 £6.00 - £9.00 (Stain Defence Short sleeved stripe dress)
This comes with every best wish to all our parents, who seem to be as smiley and enthusiastic as our children and who are always a pleasure to see.
Kind regards
Harriet Sturdy
