12th May 2023
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I hope everyone has recovered from the long weekend of celebrations.
Many thanks again to the staff and the FoRH for organising such a wonderful day on Friday. You will find some lovely photos and a summary of the day featured in the Henley Standard this week. I also spied a number of familiar faces enjoying various street parties across the local area! Well done to Oscar in Year 6 who took part in the celebrations at St Mary’s Church at the weekend as part of the Scouting community. Oscar did a fine job of flying the flag and representing the Scouts groups from across Henley.
Step into Others' Shoes Day
Your children may have remarked that they were taught by a different teacher for part of the day on Tuesday. This was intentional as a number of staff swapped classes with colleagues in other parts of the school, in order to experience the children and teaching from their perspectives. The staff seemed to very much enjoy doing this and it gave them the first-hand perspectives of their colleagues, which is a useful exercise as part of our whole-school approach to teaching and supporting the children.
Muddy Stilettos
It was wonderful to learn today that Rupert House has been highly commended in the Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards 2023 in the category of ‘Inventive Sports Initiative’. Our Move2Think programme has been a great success since we started it in September. The sports staff and teachers have done a great job in keeping the momentum going, come rain or shine, and as a result we are seeing a positive effect on the children from the moment lessons begin at the start of each day.
The great outdoors
Talking of being outdoors, the Year 4 children have been away at PGL this week and they look like they have been having a fantastic time paddleboarding, swinging, fencing, den building, zip wiring and learning useful survival skills to take with them on their journey through life, all whilst making some wonderful memories with friends. I look forward to hearing all about it next week.
Also, next week is Walk to School Week. I know lots of our pupils do this already, but it is a great opportunity for even more people to give it a go. Please do send in any photos of you walking to or from school to the Office so that we can share them towards the end of the week. Hopefully, the sun will shine a little more than it has done this week!
Well done to the staff and parents who took part in the Tough Mudder on Sunday. I hear it was quite tough and extremely muddy! I must also mention all the pupils who took part in the Lidl Mudder – the child’s version of the event. I have seen some photos and everyone looks like they thoroughly enjoyed themselves!
Rupert House Pony Club
The Rupert House Pony Club will be holding a pony care day on Sunday 18th June 2.30-4.30pm at a venue near Henley. This will be a non-ridden, all-inclusive fun day for children from Reception to Year 6 who have some riding experience already (but who do not necessarily have their own pony). Please fill out this form by Monday to register your interest in this event or future activities.
Summer ball
Tuesday 16th May is the last day to buy tickets for the Summer Ball. With over 130 people already signed up it promises to be a fabulous evening in the grounds of the school. You can catch FoRH reps selling them outside the front of the school at morning drop off and afternoon collection.
Open Morning
Friday 19th May is our next Open Morning. Please can you ensure that children come into school in correct summer uniform and Year 6 will need their blazers for taking prospective parents on tours. Please do spread the word to any parents you may know who are interested in joining Rupert House, in addition to those who are already joining every year group in September, as there is still time to register. Details can be found on our website.
Henley Royal Regatta - Stewards' Enclosure tickets
In addition to the 16 who are taking part in the Rowing Activity this term, all the Year 6 children are again going to try rowing this year and we are planning to take them to the Regatta on Thursday 29th June. We would like to take them into the Stewards' Enclosure as part of the experience and would be most grateful if you would be willing to donate any spare tickets you have for that day. Please do contact the Office if you might be in a position to support us in this way.
The week ahead
As well as being Walk to School Week, it is also Mental Health Awareness Week next week. Madame Sheriff and Mrs Newman have a number of activities planned for the children and my assembly on Monday will focus on Mental Health. It is also Amazon House charity day on Tuesday. Please can all pupils wear an orange accessory with their school uniform and bring in a £1 donation to Helen & Douglas House and/or items to donate to their charity shop. The children and Mrs Poulter will be dressing the shop window during the morning and I do hope you will be keen to join me in visiting the shop to view their creation at some point that day. There is more information on this and all the events happening next week in the reminders and calendar sections below – please make sure you add everything to your diaries!
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
Nick Armitage