Dear Parents/Carers,

HARVEST COLLECTION: Thank you for your generosity in donating items for Spires Homeless project in Streatham. Mary Hargreaves will take the mugs, trainers etc. over to Spires next week.

PTA AUTUMN TEA/BOOK SWAP: Many thanks to all the PTA stalwarts for their hard work organising Wednesday’s feast of cakes and biscuits. Everything was consumed ridiculously quickly and we raised over £380! Thanks to Matthew Friday, Alison Bolton and Ty Van Brown for the inaugural book exchange which was a roaring success too: 145 books swapped by 82 children!

SPORTS NEWS: a) SWIMMING: The refurbishment of the swimming pool has been delayed and so all classes will continue to swim this half term. b) FOOTBALL: We have been playing our usual matches in the local league and have had many encouraging results. In addition we entered two teams of Y4/5 in a tournament on 19/10/10 and they both acquitted themselves well against mainly Y6 teams. Mr Huie reports that over 28 children have so far represented the school c) TENNIS: I am delighted to report that Sam S (Reception) was identified by Wimbledon Lawn Tennis when they visited us in April as having outstanding ability. He is now training regularly at the All England Club on Friday afternoons. Andy Murray watch out!

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY: Mr Van Brown’s Y3 were the top class for Attendance and Punctuality last half term. Many congratulations to them and also Fiona Hamilton’s Y5 who were second. Ty’s class were treated to a French meal at local restaurant yesterday. Attendance for the first half term was a very good 95.9%. Let’s see if we can edge over 96%. (It was 96.2% coming into the last week, but holidays and illness affected the figures)

RAVENSTONE WEBSITE: The new website is now up and running and the
address is the same: www.ravenstoneschool.co.uk. Please be aware that there will almost certainly be some ‘teething’ problems and also the Year pages have photos of last year’s classes e.g. Y5 is current Y6. Teachers will update the photos before the end of term. I hope you find the new website informative and useful. It will constantly develop and improve. (We are still investigating ways for parents/carers to pay dinner money etc. online)

MATHS SURGERIES: Mrs Furnell’s Maths Surgeries will start again on alternate Fridays (19/11/10) 9:00-10:00. These are for parents/carers who have any queries about the maths strategies we use and how you can support your child’s learning at home. Appointments can be made in the main office. In addition, Max and Dan Russell (Parent Governor) will be running workshops for parents details tba. Maths strategies/information is featured on the website under Parent Information and in separate year pages.

CAROL CONCERT, Monday 13th December 2:15pm: Our annual carol concert featuring all children from Y 1-6 is always a very special occasion and we are again holding it in the afternoon at St Mary’s Church, the venue for our recent concert in aid of the Pakistan Flood disaster. All are welcome to join us.

JEFF DAVIDSON: Many parents have recently asked me about Jeff Davidson. For those of you who don’t know him, Jeff has worked at Ravenstone for nearly ten years, as an invaluable member of staff, governor, managing the stock and doing many admin tasks as well as supervising children at lunchtimes, accompanying swimming classes, counting you in on Fridays etc. He is battling with cancer at the moment and is having a very tough time. We are doing all we can to support him at this very difficult period.

FRIDAY ASSEMBLIES: We are all delighted that so many of you come in to Friday assemblies but can I again please respectfully remind you all to leave the playground by 10:25am at the very latest, for obvious safety and security reasons. We count you in and we need to count you out.
Looking forward to a very productive and enjoyable half term in the run up to the end of term and Christmas.

With Best Wishes

Alan Millington