29th September 2023

The children came up with some excellent ideas which you can read about below. Also, the children spent lots of time outside, making the most of the early autumn sunshine. Years 5 and 6 went on wellbeing walks with Mrs Harris to stretch their legs with friends in the fresh air, others went to Forest School and there were numerous outdoor games and PE lessons, as well as hockey fixtures for the Prep children.

 

IAPS Annual Heads' Conference

Earlier this week, I attended the IAPS Annual Heads' Conference in Liverpool,  which was both fascinating and thought-provoking. The theme was 'Venture Out' and amongst many other important messages, we were challenged to consider how we embrace new technology, how problem-solving should be a key component of children's education and how strong communication skills will continue to be of vital importance for the next generation. One of my favourite talks was by Ben Edmonds, the former principal engineer at Dyson, who had a room full of us Heads on our hands and knees designing and building mechanisms for transporting balls across a 3-metre space! He said that instilling a Groth Mindset in our children is absolutely key, as we firmly believe at Rupert House. One quote from the conference that really stuck with me was from the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said "whatever the question, education is always the answer", which is so true.

 

Everest house charity day

On Thursday, Everest held their house charity day, ‘Rupert House has got Talent’, which was organized by the children together with Mr Dwinell and Miss Gibbon. We enjoyed performances from pupils across the school and, whether singing, dancing, playing an instrument or telling jokes, all the children showed great courage and confidence. Thank you to everyone who performed and donated. We raised almost £100 for Everest’s chosen charity, ‘Assisted Reading for Children in Oxfordshire’.

 

Wellbeing

Mrs Sheriff and I would like to thank all parents and staff who attended the Mental Health webinar with Dr Meinou Simmons this week. She reinforced the importance of healthy connection, physical activity, mindfulness, healthy eating, sleep routine and stress management to support children’s mental health. She also provided some helpful self-care tips for children and adults and talked about the importance of us being good role models. 

Mrs Sheriff has also documented an informative overview of the Mental Health provision at Rupert House which you can read here

 

Run for the Kids

Ms Nicholson is organizing a run on 6^th October for children in Years 1 to 6 to support the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Everyone, not just those who do Running Club, is welcome to come along and enjoy exercising together whilst raising money for a good cause. If your child is below Year 3 you will need to accompany them please, but we hope that many of you will be keen to do so with your older children as well.  You can find out more about the charity here and details of the run can be found in this poster. All runners are invited to wear blue – either clothing or accessories – for the run. Not only is this the colour associated with the Great Ormond Street Hospital, but also because 6^th October is the day of former Rupert House pupil, Susannah Brodie’s Memorial Service, and blue was her favourite colour. We will be talking with the children about what an extraordinary young lady Susannah was and I hope the children will be inspired by all that she achieved in her short life.

Please remember to bring cash donations with you on the day.

 

School suggestions form

Thank you to those who have taken the time to complete our school suggestions form. We appreciate all feedback. Whilst it is not mandatory, please could we ask you to leave a contact name or email address, so that we can respond to your suggestions going forward.

 

Harvest Offerings

We will again be supporting NOMAD, the local foodbank and youth counselling service, with our Harvest offerings. I will talk to the children about the work they do in Assembly on Monday and they will also be hearing from one of the NOMAD team in advance of the Harvest Service. It would be super for the children to be involved in choosing the items you wish to donate if at all possible, and more details of the items they are keen to receive are detailed below. Many thanks in advance for your generosity in supporting such a worthy cause. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Best wishes,

Nick Armitage