13th January 2023

As I sit at my desk in the dark, attempting to conserve energy in aid of the One Week initiative, I realise just what a gloomy, wet and windy week we have had!

Fortunately the sun is now out and the weather hasn’t stopped us from getting on with day-to-day life here at Rupert House.

One Week Challenge

Miss Gibbon and the Year 6 pupils have been championing the One Week initiative which was set up by a GP at the Hart Surgery in Henley. The idea is to conserve as much energy as we can over one week and for us to then consider changes we can make to our everyday power usage going forward. At Rupert House we have been encouraging pupils and teachers to conserve energy wherever possible. Today, the whole school had an ‘hour without power’ at 11am and a no photocopying day. You can read more about this and see some pictures in the news section below.

Anti-bullying

On Wednesday, the School Council met with Mrs Newman and Mrs Harris to talk about the subject of bullying. Following on from this, we shall be producing a leaflet on the subject which will be made up of a culmination of ideas from pupils across the school. The School Council members will be leading form time sessions, engaging their peers and making sure everyone who would like to has input. Mrs Newman will collate the information into a leaflet which will then be readily available to all pupils.

Upcoming events

Next week, on 18^th and 19^th January, we are holding a series of forums to discuss the future development of the school with current and former members of the Rupert House community. If you would like to join, but have not yet let us know, please complete this form. It will be open for submissions until 11:59pm on Sunday 15^th January. If you have signed up but can no longer make it, we would appreciate if you could let us know via office@ruperthouse.oxon.sch.uk
Next Friday 20^th January is Movie Night which is being organised by FoRH. There is much excitement about this amongst the children! Please see the poster below for more information.
On Thursday 26th January we have Rebecca Dougall from St Helen & St Katharine coming in to talk to parents as part of our 'Meet the Head' coffee morning series. If you haven’t yet done so, please let Penny Gibson know if you would like to attend. We also have Thomas Garnier, Head of Pangbourne College and Will Le Fleming, Head of The Abbey in Reading, coming in soon. If you would like to attend, please complete this short form.
On Friday 27^th January at 8.45am, Julia Kidd is coming into school to talk about Speech and Language Development. Julia is a state registered Speech & Language therapist with over 30 years' experience of working with children who have speech, language and communication difficulties. This will be particularly relevant to parents of children up to and including Year 1. There will be a limited number of seats so please do register your attendance here.
On Friday 3^rd February we are holding an Open Morning from 9am to noon and are inviting prospective parents to come and see Rupert House in action. Please do share this information with anyone you may know who may be interested in joining the school.
A number of Rupert House parents and staff members have once again signed up to take part in the Tough Mudder in Henley on 7^th May at 10am. This is a great team event which is lots of fun. Anyone is welcome to join. If you would like to be part of the Rupert’s Troopers team, please get in touch with Jenny Ovstedal to find out more.

I hope that you have a restful weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Best wishes,

Nick Armitage