Latest News from the Head
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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January News
Tue 31 Jan 2023We have had a busy January at Rushy!
This month has been filled with exciting trips and workshops as children begin their new learning journeys for Spring. This has included Year 1 and 2 pupils enjoying taster Yoga sessions, Year 4 experiencing a Roman workshop, Year 6 visiting the Horniman Museum, Year 1 heading to Hampton Court and the Choir representing Rushy in the Young Voices concert at the O2! We also had a number of staff take part in an Art Therapy session run by Miss Lim, who works with children at Rushy and other local schools.
I am delighted to share that over the last academic year, we have been awarded a number of school accreditations. These provide external validation of the hard work going on at Rushy and celebrate the achievements of our pupils and staff in certain curricular and school areas. Recently, we have been awarded a School Mental Health Bronze Award and the STARS TFL Community Project Bronze Award. Look out for these awards in our school entrance foyer and at the bottom of our official letterhead.
Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week (6th – 12th February). We will begin the week with an Assembly for pupils around this year’s theme, ‘Let's connect’, which is about making meaningful connections. There are some videos and ideas of how parents can connect with their children available here: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/ and I have also attached a tips sheet from Place2Be with this letter. I have shared a quote below that I often remind myself to bear in mind:
Children don’t say, “I had a hard day, can we talk?” They say, “Will you play with me?”
Coming up next week, we have Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 7th February. This year’s theme is, ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. The goal is to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. Children are growing up in a world with a lot more access to and reliance on technology than we experienced ourselves. I know that this can sometimes seem like a minefield to navigate. Below I have shared tips that will help to keep your child safe, you might already have some of these in place:
- Talk about device use and how much you all think is fair – what would you like to make other time for? Is there anything that must be done before devices can be used? When is the cut off time to stop using devices in the evening?
- Put phones/iPads in a shared charging space overnight– this can be for adults’ and kids’ devices and will encourage everyone not to stay up late using these.
- Ask children to explain the games they play to you and why they like them - this will give you a better understanding of the game and will also make your child more likely to share with you if the game goes wrong or something has upset them.
- Have a look at the parents’ section of the thinkuknow website to find out more - https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
Finally, I would like to thank you for your efforts to get children in on time. As I mentioned in my last letter, lateness has been something I am very keen to reduce. I am pleased to share that compared to the same period in January 2022, lateness has reduced by 9.3% in January 2023. We will continue to work with parents and children to make punctuality a priority!
Yours,
Mr Needham
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Start of Spring Term 2023
Fri 06 Jan 2023Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
We are delighted to see the children back at school this week and have enjoyed hearing tales of their Christmas holiday adventures. I would like to extend a warm welcome to pupils who have joined Rushy this term and in particular to our January nursery starters, who are just beginning their learning journey with us.The start of the year is typically a time for making resolutions. For those of you who have set yourself a goal for 2023, you will be pleased to hear that statistically people are more successful at achieving targets set as New Years’ resolutions than set at another time in the year.
This year, I am keen to ensure that our children at Rushy maximise all that school has to offer. For me, this starts with ensuring every child has access to as much schooling as possible by establishing good habits for attendance and punctuality.
With this in mind, I would like to remind parents of the following:
Attendance
All pupils are expected to attend school each day. Consistent, daily attendance supports children’s academic, social and emotional development.
If your child is unwell, please contact the school office by leaving a voicemail on the morning of the absence. Please state the child’s name, class and reason for absence. If your child is going to be absent for more than one school day, please ring again on the second morning of absence.
Punctuality
All pupils are expected to arrive at their classroom between 8.35 and 8.45am. Any pupil arriving after this time receives a late mark.
We contact parents to share concerns when lateness has led a pupil to lose a significant amount of learning time or where pupils are persistently late. Our aim is to work with parents to ensure children arrive to school on time each day.
Medical and changes to pick-up
We must be notified of any medical appointments at least 24 hours in advance. Please note that unless evidence of medical appointments is provided to the school office, these will be marked as ‘unauthorised’. In exceptional circumstances, permission for emergency medical appointments may be granted.
Please phone the office by 2.45pm if you are running late for pick-up or would like to inform us that a different adult will be collecting your child. This allows time for messages to be passed onto class teachers.
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In December, we were delighted to celebrate 62 pupils who finished the year with a 100% attendance record. We hope to have many pupils celebrating a similar achievement at the end of March.
I look forward to seeing our children shine during the Spring Term.
Yours,
Mr Needham
