21st April 2023
I hope you had a wonderful Easter and that your children enjoyed the break.
It was lovely to see them all bounding back into school on Wednesday with big smiles on their faces and pure excitement at seeing their friends again after a few weeks away. We’ve hit the ground running this term, with lots of activity already taking place during and after school this first week.
During the holidays it was a real privilege to meet Sister Mary Killeen, who is the Director of the Mukuru Promotion Centre in Nairobi, where our old school uniform has been sent. The Mukuru slums are home to over 700,000 people who live in squalid conditions without even basic sanitation in most cases. The Mukuru Promotion Centre provides for over 6000 children and young people across 5 different sites, from schools to maternity units to centres for mentally and physically handicapped people. We took more uniform with us and visited the Mukuru Rehabilitation Centre, which brings boys off the streets and gives them the opportunity to have a formal education. The boys (and girls from the next-door primary school) sung and danced for us, showed us their woodworking facilities, their dormitories, introduced us to their pets, and even asked me to coach a rugby session.
I spoke to the staff during INSET and also to the children in Assembly on Wednesday about the extraordinary work that Sister Mary and her team do in Nairobi, but also about the children, who demonstrate our values of courage, creativity, respect and resilience on a daily basis there. We bought a painting by one of the boys which I look forward to putting up in school for the children to see and to remind them of this. I am very keen for us to support the Mukuru Promotion Centre in other ways going forward, but for the time being, we are continuing to collect old school uniform in the front office for transportation to Nairobi. Please do drop in any old uniform if you have any still lurking about at home.
Fun running
The Rupert’s Troopers staff and parent group are looking for more parents to join us in running both the Henley Half Marathon or 10km on 8th October and the Oxford Half Marathon on 15th October. We shall be running the Oxford Half to raise money for the Mukuru Promotion Centre in Nairobi – the charity I mentioned above, to which we have been donating old school uniform. Please let us know if you register so that we can add you to the Rupert’s Troopers WhatsApp group.
Also, a reminder that the second inaugural Great School Run of Henley is taking place next Sunday, 30th April, at Stonor Park. It is a series of fun cross-country races for all ages from 3 upwards (including parents). You can register via the event website: thegreatschoolrun.org. It is a really fun event for both the children and the adults. Children and parents from all schools in and around Henley are invited to attend. There is more information on this in the new stories below.
Trips
There is much excitement about the upcoming Year 6 French trip next week. We are looking forward to following their journey and seeing what they get up to. There are also residential trips coming up for Years 4 and 5 so please make sure you fill in all the relevant forms and read any associated letters.
I am sure your children are tired after their first week back after Easter so I hope you have a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend!
With best wishes,
Nick Armitage