Friday 8th September
Welcome back everybody, the start of a new academic year and for some the start of a new journey.
As I returned to school last Thursday it was a hive of activity as contractors were busily finishing off the projects that we had organised for the holidays. I was a little concerned that we’d be ready on Tuesday for the return of the children but Mr Verderame snr and his site team worked wonders and it was all ready. The Computing Suite has had a complete overhaul with 32 new machines and a set of portable Chrome books as we move over to become a Google school. Classrooms and corridors have had a fresh coat of paint – we thank Mr Giles for all his hard work. The final piece of the upgrade to be completed is the transformation of the Library into our new Learning Resource Centre – this will happen in the coming weeks.
It is an exciting time to be a part of Ralph Sadleir and we hope it will be the beginning of a bright future with our big plans. It is always brilliant to see the excited new faces of our Year 5s as their energy and enthusiasm fills the school – and this year there are 118 of them!! With our increase in numbers there have also had to be some changes to the school day and routines that everyone is getting used to, not least the finger print payment system for lunches – this will make it a lot easier for parents to pay and monitor what their children are eating. Our whole school assembly asked the children to challenge themselves and make their own ‘to-do’ list for the year of what they want to achieve.
As well as all of our new year 5s we had 6 new children throughout the other year groups and 5 new teaching staff. They join our special community, based on our values and mutual respect and will benefit from becoming Ralphies. Can you ensure, that, as parents and carers you put a great value on school and education. Explain to your child that treating everyone with respect, being on time and in school everyday, wearing the correct uniform and working hard in school is important to you. These are also important life skills. The value you place on these will be the value your child holds. I was reminded this week how lucky I am to be the Headteacher of this school when I was told of a story of how one of our Year 6s went out of her way to help a parent get her child, who was having a second morning wobble, into school.
With the increase in numbers I must stress the importance of safety at drop off and collection times, please be mindful of how you drive and considerate of our neighbours when parking – especially in Perowne Way.
Please remember that there is an opportunity to come in and meet your child’s Tutor next week. I know you will continue to work with us, so your child can grow in confidence, with a love of learning, and a determination to be the best person they can be.