Dear Parents,

This happy busy term has just flown by! We have had a really great term with many exciting trips and an impressive amount of hard work too. As always CIS children and parents have been very generous in their support of fund-raising for the charities we have promoted this term. We have raised just over £1000 this term for the two events which really will make a difference. Thankyou for this support.

Thankyou too, for your diligence in fulfilling your Promises made at the Auction. We have had a wonderful time spending the money raised and have invested in, among other things, some great new technological equipment which the children are already benefiting from.

Newsletters

I have enjoyed producing the colourful newsletters and hope you like reading them. I was very pleased to hear that some young children are picking them up and trying very hard to read the text! Please continue to send in any interesting stories and achievements for future editions.

After School Clubs

After school clubs continue to run with a fairly small take-up. This can jeapordise the future of a club, so do please sign up if your child wishes to do multi sports, dance, art or chess. Next term, we will also be running a handball club after school, run by our new German teaching assistant as well as a German conversation club. We have 12 children who have been selected to represent the school at a regional Chess Mega Final event on May 9^th. Congratulations to all who have been selected, this is a real achievement. Particular congratulations to Anouk van Beurden who has become the School Champion.

Uniform

Summer uniform may be worn from the first day of next term, please ensure it is all named! Junior and Infant boys may wear the white crested polo shirts that they wear for sports. On that note, I must warn that we cannot keep in school the mounds of discarded un-named uniform we currently have. We regularly ask the children to check for their belongings but there continues to be a lot of uniform with no identification at all. If it is unclaimed by the first day of next term, we will send all the uniform to charity shops.

Equipment

Please ensure that you send your child in to school next term with all the equipment required. Precious lesson time is regularly lost in the search for calculators, glue sticks and scissors. Although we do have a stock of spare, these too, get used and seldom returned! Your help in this would be greatly appreciated.

Examinations

Exam season is soon upon us! Children in the Upper school will sit end of year exams in all the subjects they have studied. Ionian pupils will be taking University of Cambridge Checkpoint exams the week after we return to school. IGCSE exams start in May. We will also be testing our Year 6 pupils, to provide a useful frame of reference for Upper school staff as the children move up the school. These tests will be very low-key and we do not want children or parents to worry about them. They are very much in order to provide summative information as the children reach the end of Key Stage 2.

Important dates to remember

The termly calendar will be issued on the first day of next term. Can I give advance notification of some dates to ensure you are able to plan ahead for these:

Transition to Upper School, parents meeting for current Year 6’s, 6^th May, 7pm

Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, 5^th June (Adriatic to Tyr)

Summer Fair, 7^th June

Sports Day, 1^st July

More space!

We have been waiting patiently for the Council to respond to our appeal for more playground or classroom space where the former Council Greenhouses were. This space lies empty and is now derelict. We look longingly at this space and are becoming frustrated by the lack of response from the Council. We have planning permission for a log cabin, we are happy to pay increased rent, but still have no solution. We think if parents email or write to David Prinsep, Head of Property Services, Guildhall, Cambridge appealing for the use of part of this space for playground provision, this may move things along!

School year 2009-10

As you know, it is our policy to ask for a term’s notice if you are moving from the School. While of course we become very fond of all our children and hope that they stay until they are 16, I am aware that particularly in an International School we have some mobility. For next academic year, we have waiting lists for Years 1 and 2 in the infants, for years 3, 5 and 6 in the Juniors and for Years 9 and 11 in the seniors. If you are likely to move away and have a child in these classes, please do let me know so that we can inform parents who are waiting to hear.

Goodbye

We are very sad to say goodbye to Mrs Chellew, our Upper School maths teacher. She has been with us right from our very first term and has overseen some amazing improvements in the mathematical knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. Mrs Chellew is moving with her family to Glasgow and we wish her every happiness.

Goodbye too, to Naomi Cox of Med class whose family are relocating to Canterbury. We will miss her smiley enthusiasm around the school.

We hope you all have a lovely Easter break and that your children have a well deserved rest. They have all worked very hard this term!

With every best wish

Harriet Sturdy

Principal