7th November 2025

In assembly, I talked to the children about the Gunpowder Plot and the history behind bonfire night. I wonder if you knew that at the opening of Parliament, a ceremonial check is still done of the building to ensure there is no modern-day Guy Fawkes planning to blow the place up!

 

Act of Remembrance

We will be holding our annual Act of Remembrance on Tuesday 11th November at 10:45am on the Astroturf.  This will include short readings from staff and pupils and will be officiated by Father Jeremy from St Mary’s Church. The traditional two-minute silence at 11am will be observed and we are fortunate to have one of our parents, George Lamb, to play The Last Post. All children must be in school uniform with blazers please. The children will be given poppies in their form time that morning to wear. There will be coffee for parents in the Hall afterwards. 

 

Children in Need 2025

We are really looking forward to supporting Children in Need next Friday! You may remember that last year we took part in a 24-hour Sportathon involving staff, parents and children - together we raised an incredible £4,000 for the charity, thanks to the support and generosity of the Rupert House community.

This year’s theme is ‘Challenge Yourself to 25’, and once again, everyone will be getting involved. Before half term, I asked the children to start practising something they could almost do 25 times, but not quite — to see if, with a bit of effort, they can achieve it on the big day!

Today, the children should have brought home their sponsorship forms, which can be completed over the weekend and throughout next week. Alternatively, you can download the form here.

On Friday 14th November, we will be having a non-uniform day, and we are encouraging everyone to come to school in silly sportswear - the brighter and more colourful, the better! We will kick things off with a special Running Club at 7.55am, meeting outside the front of the school before heading to the Rugby Club playing fields to begin our activities. A 2.5km loop will be marked out and some of the children may also be keen to undertake this as part of their sponsorship challenge. Everyone is welcome to join (Pre-Prep children will need to be accompanied by an adult please). We are also hopeful that the Mayor will join us - and perhaps even run a few kilometres alongside us!

Throughout the day, the Sports Department will be running various ‘25’-themed activities. A number of the enthusiastic staff members and parents will also be taking on a challenge - and we would love you to join us in running up to 25km in and around Henley, continuing on our route after Running Club returns from the Rugby pitches at around 8.35am! If you’d like to join us, you can run one of our suggested routes with us (for example, we will start with a 5km loop and there will be groups running at different paces) or at your own pace - or why not form a team of five and complete a 25km relay, with each person running 5km? If you are interested, please contact jenny.ovstedal@ruperthouse.co.uk.

During the morning, the sports department and Year 6 pupils will be organising sporting activities on the astro for the children on the theme of ‘25’. There will be an opportunity for the children who have set themselves a challenge to complete it during this time.

Mrs Newman would also like to get a team of at least five walkers together to do a 5km walk (5 walkers each doing 5km = 25km!) to meet at the Big Blue Door at 9am. Dogs welcome! Again, please email jenny.ovstedal@ruperthouse.co.uk if you’d like to join in.

Please return all completed sponsorship forms to school on Thursday 13th November, so that we can see what they are planning to do.

Adults taking part can also share our JustGiving page to help boost donations:
👉 www.justgiving.com/page/rupert-house-school-2025

Together we can hopefully raise as much money as possible for Children in Need!

 

Odd Socks Day

Next week is Anti-Bullying Week and staff and children will be marking this by wearing odd socks with our uniform on Thursday (not Monday which is the official Odd Socks Day) to celebrate individuality and raise awareness of bullying, following an assembly on that theme.

 

Rupert's Troopers

Rupert's Troopers is a group of Rupert House parents and staff who like to challenge themselves to attempt different sporting activities. It started when we got a team together for the Tough Mudder a few years ago. Since then, we have taken part in numerous local races and events and have shared stories of our various ongoing achievements. If you’d like to be part of our team, please get in touch with jenny.ovstedal@ruperthouse.co.uk to be added to the WhatsApp group. There is no requirement to take part in anything outside your comfort zone!

 

Enrichment tasks

There are new enrichment task sheets for the Prep children for the remainder of this term which can be found below. These are optional, but we encourage your child to complete at least one or two if they can. Please do bring or send in your child’s completed tasks so they can share them with their teacher and form.

 

Hairdryer still needed!

The Art Department is still on the lookout for a spare hairdryer to assist with pottery and painting projects. If you have an old one at home that you no longer use, we would be very grateful for your donation.

 

Countdown to Christmas

The remainder of this term is always busy with lots going on around the school. To make it easier for parents, we have put together a calendar of events which involve you in the run up to Christmas which can be found here. Please be sure to add any relevant dates to you to your diaries to avoid missing out. All these dates are also on My School Portal.

Please don’t forget to bring in any Christmas Fair donations on Monday morning and also any festive clothing or accessories for the ‘Christmas Jumper’ sale on 14^th November. There are boxes in the hallway for both. Also, a reminder to purchase your ticket for the Christmas Bingo event which takes place on 20th November at The Bottle and Glass Inn. Please see the FoRH section below for more information.

 

Christmas Half Term Activity Camps

Bookings for the Discover Camps over the Christmas holidays are now open. If you book before 16th November there is an earlybird booking discount of 10%.

Discover Activity Camps is part of Wishford Education and Discover Activity Camps are open to all children from both the school and local community so your child can invite their local friends and make memories. Book here: Christmas Activity Camp – Rupert House - Discover Activity Camps

 

Best of luck to all those running in the Chiltern Edge Cross Country tomorrow. This event is open to all children in Years 1 to 6 so please do go along if your child fancies giving it a go. More details can be found here.

Best wishes,

Nick Armitage