15th October 2021
It was lovely to see many parents at the Harvest Service this morning at St Mary's Church. The children sung and spoke so beautifully, clearly and confidently and they were most excited to have the opportunity to do so in front of an audience, at last. We also thought of those children, parents and staff who were not able to attend and we hope that, come the Carol Service at the end of term, everyone will be able to be present and to enjoy the gathering of the Rupert House community.
The Half Term holiday will come as a well-earned break for the children and staff alike. I have been impressed with their hard work, enthusiasm and willingness to carry on as normal, despite the various bugs which have been doing the rounds in addition to the C word. The Y5 and Y6 children have very-much enjoyed having their school devices and they have been much-used already, in many different areas of the curriculum. 4J moved seamlessly to remote learning this week, following a dialogue between ourselves and Public Health England and the Oxfordshire Local Health Protection Team. We were able to lend some of our new devices to those families in need, and the children have impressed those staff working with them enormously with their focus and enthusiasm, despite the challenges that working remotely inevitably bring.
Many thanks to everyone who provided cakes for the cake sale last Friday and to the Friends who so efficiently ran it. Over £500 was raised for the Oxfordshire Air Ambulance and I was most grateful for the delicious piece of coffee cake that I arrived just in the nick of time to buy! We were also most grateful for the foodstuffs and toiletries which were donated for NOMAD in advance of the Service today. Having heard both Sarah speaking on Monday and Jaco at the Service today, the children will, I hope, now feel a real link with the charity and it was super to hear that a number of the children were able to help their parents choose the items they would like to donate. With the Houses now finalising the local charities they are each going to support going forward, there will be an even greater emphasis on the children playing their part in helping others less fortunate than themselves.
I do hope you have a healthy and relaxing Half Term break and I look forward to welcoming your children back on Monday 1st November.
Best wishes,
Nick Armitage, Head