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JUNE 2010
Dear Parents,
I am pleased to enclose with the summer mailshot the following items:
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Letter to all parents regarding Prize Day on 20th June
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Letter to Year 8 parents regarding Prize Day seating
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Letter to parents regarding music at Prize Day
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Parents Association Flyer regarding the Summer Ball
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Invitation to Year 8 parents to our Leavers’ Mass and Black Tie Dinner
on 25th June
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Letter to all parents regarding music tuition from September 2010
GDPA News
The Grace Dieu Parents’ Association has been amazingly busy this term,
and our sincere thanks go to Mrs
Jo Ellis and her committee for promoting various activities with
such energy and commitment.
The outing to Bicester was
great fun for all involved and despite extreme temperatures, the mothers
who took part, as well as having fun shopping, raised £134 for the
school through the trip and the raffle – brilliant, and thank you!
Prior to that, the style and
fashion evening was a great success, and very many thanks to all
those parents and friends who entered into the spirit of the evening
with such gusto! The amazing sum of
£923.60 was raised, and this
has been shared between the school and the chosen charity for the year,
DePaul UK, which devotes its money and energy towards helping the young
homeless in our cities. Very many thanks to the GDPA!
Please find enclosed a flyer from the GDPA regarding the forthcoming
Summer Ball, and please note that you can assist this highlight of the
GDPA fundraising year even if you cannot attend the ball itself. Please
read the flyer carefully and thank you.
Academic Life and other news
It is inevitable that the opening weeks of the summer term are, at least
for some, a period of intense focus upon examinations, and rightly so.
Certainly this has been the case for Year 6 who now have the tense wait
until early July when they will receive the results of their Key Stage
testing in Mathematics, English and Science.
Staff ensured that Year 2 took their Key Stage 1 tests very much
in their stride, but with a sense of purpose as well, and we look
forward to learning of their successes.
For pupils in Years 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, there was no escape either, and
there will be some helpful feedback on those in the written reports that
will become available to parents at the end of term.
I find that parents who come to visit the school are invariably
impressed by the fact that we do strive to blend very careful attention
to academic life with a zest for sport, music and all the other
extra-curricular activities that are on offer.
The many activities this term already have included Year 4 enjoying
their theatre trip to the “Gruffalo” and their visit to the Sealife
Centre in Birmingham.
Year 1 welcomed beasts of various sizes and shapes when Tropical Inc
arrived in late April;
Year 8 were impressed by the northern world of LS Lowry when they
arrived in Salford Quays recently, and there is more to come for them in
due course, in June...;
Mrs Maher has been leading her Maths department into interesting and
stimulating territory this term, with the UKMT Junior & Senior Maths
challenges (Grace Dieu hosted 22 other schools for the latter event),
and on the final day of the half-term, a lecturer from Loughborough
University led a stunning Maths workshop for years 7 and 8.
Mrs Kewell (Head of RE and PSHCE) kindly arranged a visit from “Warning
Zone” for Year 6 – always an interesting series of presentations
designed to highlight the dangers hidden in the world around us.
For musicians among us, seeking a little more challenge, Mrs Burrough
arranged for a good number of Grace Dieu talented children to attend the
Repton School Strings Day in late April.
My thanks to all these and many other staff who so willingly give of
their time and effort to ensure that our pupils get that little
something extra!
We were also delighted to welcome Year 4 parents to an open evening
earlier in May, and this provided us with a welcome chance to give them
an insight into life at the top of the school for pupils and parents
alike. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Parental Questionnaire
Many thanks to the parents who have recently sent back the questionnaire
that was distributed during the Easter vacation. Approximately 40% of
parents replied and we are currently analysing the feedback that came to
us. This I will pass back to you in July, and thank you again, in the
meantime, for the trouble you took.
Holiday Activities in Cygnets and Swans
Please support these if you can and make your applications to Activate
Sport as soon as possible. My hope is that this facility in the holidays
will be of immense support to you as families. Activate Sport has been
operating for some time in Year 1 and above (and that will continue),
but the initiative to provide for the youngest at Grace Dieu is
relatively new. My hope is that it will be successful.
School Uniform
If you have any views about the
current school uniform, I would be interested to hear those. Please
email Mrs Iley on
registrar@gracedieu.com, and thank you.
Charity Walk
Your children walking just before half-term raised the princely sum of
£654.34 for... a) de Paul UK, b) Cancer Research and c) The Sarcoma
Trust. Thank you as parents for helping to support these fine charities
and for allowing us to open the
eyes of the children here to those in need. Compassion has to be
taught, just like anything else.
Classes in September
You will be accustomed to the fact that I hold discussions with relevant
staff in the latter part of this term regarding the make-up of classes
in September, and then the new
class groupings are announced in my July letter. This format will be
followed again this year, and please be aware that the overriding
consideration that goes into that process is “what is best for the
child?”
Clarion Call
If, for some reason, you are not receiving information from the school
via Clarion Call (text and email service), please let Mrs Bivins know
via bursar@gracedieu.com –
thank you.
Parents’ Teas on Sports Afternoons
One of the great pleasures for me of sports afternoons (often
Wednesdays) is to be able to meet and chat with parents and visitors in
the de Lisle room. May I politely remind parents that these teas are
only for those, whose children have been taking part that day in
fixtures against other schools, and that pupils themselves should not
appear in the de Lisle room area – it is for guests and parents only.
Many thanks for your help in this.
The term ahead is packed with many events, but please note the
following:
We shall look forward to seeing you and the pupils on Monday 7th June.
With all good wishes,
Charles Foulds
Headmaster |