‘All children, with support from parents, staff, Governors and outside agencies, will be
provided with the best education possible at Robin Hood Junior School’.
Dear Parents/Carers
The summer holidays are a distant memory now as we approach the final few days before the Christmas holidays. This term has been full of achievements and activity. We won the best school in the Borough in Bloom competition; we were voted ‘green’ school of the borough against some very difficult competition. Leanne Marlow was voted the top environmentalist in Sutton and then went on to be crowned the top young environmentalist in Sutton, Merton, Kingston, Wandsworth and Croydon!
Our five-a-side football team are the champions in the borough and did not concede a goal throughout the competition. They go on to the Surrey competition in January. We wish them well.
The Healthy Snack Bar run by the school council is a very popular feature in school everyday and the profits have already bought a digital camera for every year group and they hope to buy one for every class.
The refurbishment of the hall is now complete! We have new lighting including a new control desk, thank you to the PFA for this, and the projector and DVD, CD, tape player which is already being used daily in assembly. Beautiful new blinds, stage curtains & pelmet, backstage curtains and a new pulley system for the stage curtains. The floor was re-sanded and sealed and the hall has been completely re-decorated. Apart from new ropes, a ladder and rings that has just about completed the whole project. It really looks magnificent and this week we have celebrated with our two carol concerts, which I am sure you would agree, were very enjoyable.
Two other refurbishments have got underway at the school with the Caretakers old store room and the new staff room which is due for completion very shortly.
Mrs. Douglas produced a beautiful baby boy called Joseph and we had a first introduction to him last week when she visited school. Mrs. Collings is currently on maternity leave awaiting the birth of her baby in the New Year. We wish them both all the very best of luck. Mrs. Jones is also expecting a baby but will remain with us next term before she goes on maternity leave after the Easter holidays.
In January we look forward to welcoming Mrs. Laura Hedges to our school. Mrs. Hedges will be working alongside Mrs. Jones in the school office. Mrs. Troke will be moving on to work in our SEN department.
We are saying a fond farewell to Mrs. Raco who has been a midday supervisor at Robin Hood for the past five years. She has also been running the allotment club once a week and is largely responsible for our wonderful crop of vegetables that she has supported the children with. She will be taking a well earned rest and spending more time with her family.
We are also saying goodbye to Miss Rose who has been supporting pupils this term. She is now going to concentrate on finishing her degree.
We welcomed Mrs Treadwell as a new midday supervisor and we hope she enjoys her time with us.
We are still looking for another midday supervisor so if you are able to work between 12pm and 1.15pm and enjoy being with young people, please contact the office for further details.
We are also looking for Parent Governors. If you want to know what this involves, please ask at the office to make an appointment to see me and I will be happy to discuss what commitment that will entail.
Our school has grown this year by an extra 45 pupils despite some families moving house and moving away during the first term. It is now a tight squeeze to get the whole school in the hall for assembly! Year 3 shared the meaning of harvest with us at Harvest time and Year 5 shared the meaning of Christmas Around the World this week. Sutton High Juniors, Homefield School and Robin Hood Infants joined us, as well as Year 5 parents. It was a very enjoyable production because pupils were so enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We look forward to Year 4 sharing the Easter story with us and the Year 6 production in the summer.
Mrs. M. Fisher
Head Teacher
BOOK WEEK
Our recent Book Week was a huge success. The children enjoyed the activities throughout the week and did some excellent literacy work which they shared in our celebration assembly. David Mason, our visiting poet and author entertained the children with performances of his work and also shared ideas on how to go about writing poetry. Again, we were delighted with the poems written by children in response. The production of Scrooge was enjoyed by all and got us thinking about Christmas. Year 6 visited Glenthorne and enjoyed a performance of Pinocchio. They were able to see previous Robin Hood Junior pupils immersing themselves in the Secondary curriculum.
The Book Fair raised £133.00 in commission. This has been spent on new books and will benefit all pupils. Thanks to all of you who bought books.
The winners of the Family Book Quiz were: Elisabeth Love (Larch) & Luca Di Salvo-Williams (Maple).
On Thursday we found ourselves in the company of many characters from books as the children dressed up as their favourites.
School Library Service Visitors
‘I thought it was good to have visitors reading stories to us so that we could really enjoy them.’
Melissa (Oak)
The Performance of Scrooge
‘I liked watching Scrooge, when he got angry it was funny’
William (Maple)
On working with David Mason:
‘I enjoyed putting all our ideas together & making excellent poems’
Eve (Rowan)
‘I was pleased with mine’ Sam (Rowan)
SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS
School Council continues to meet fortnightly and this term we have reorganised the Healthy Snack Bar so that it is open every break. This has proved to be a huge success with the children and funds are being raised to buy the next round of digital cameras for classes.
Some members of the School Council are now working with Mr. Jasper on the School Website, collecting items of information to be placed on there.
A reminder that the School Councillors for this year are:
Rowan – Harry (Vice Chair) & Jessica
Oak – Gena & Katie
Larch – Jean & Samantha (Chair)
Palm – Sam & Rebecca
Pine – Mohammed & Manisha
Willow – Marcus & Bethan
Redwood – Troy & Claudia
Elm – Joe & Emma
Sycamore – Neil & Alice
Maple – Lewis & Summah
Ash – JR & Megan
SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN UPDATE
A target from our STP is to increase the number of children using sustainable transport to travel to school. We encourage children to walk to school, or come by bicycle or public transport, at least once a week as part of the ‘WOW’ scheme.
During September, 335 children walked to school, or equivalent, at least once a week. In October 339 children took part and in November 320. Obviously the poor weather has had an effect on the number of families walking. We look forward to increasing the numbers again as the weather improves.
Many families also take advantage of the parking scheme run in conjunction with the UCI. The scheme gives you one hour of free parking at the start and the end of the school day. If you would be interested in joining, please see Mrs. Jones in the school office.
PLAYGROUND BUDDIES
The playground buddies have met to decide how we will operate next term. We shall be making badges to identify the buddy team in the playground and having a ‘drop in’ place for children to meet a buddy and discuss problems. The buddy team will meet each fortnight to discuss any issues that arise and decide on any further action that may need to be taken.
Mrs. Noble & Buddies
SPORTS NEWS
FOOTBALL
Greenshaw 5-a-side Tournament
All the boys played brilliantly in the 5-a-side tournament. Our A team was up against Westbourne A first and we managed to win 3-0 with two free kicks scored by our defender Charlie Matthews, plus a Daniel Finch special. Then our B team was up against Westbourne B but we lost 1-2 in a close game. Oliver King scored.
Our A team played Westbourne B and we managed to win 2-0. Joe Hunt scoring both goals. Then our B team played Westbourne A and we won 2-1. Daniel Scanlan scoring twice.
Finally our A team and B team had a tremendous no holds barred match in which Bradley Sexton scored for the A team and there was a great goal from Luke Marlow for the B team, hitting both the posts and going in.
We had an excellent afternoon with our A team coming first and our B team second.
Match report by Jesus Abreu
The football team have had a great term winning both their league cup & Borough cup matches.
League Cup v Dorchester Primary won 5-1
Borough Cup v High View won 7-1
In the League we beat Cheam Common 3-0, drew 2-2 with St Dunstan’s & lost 2-4 to The Avenue. We have a good football side who find it difficult to play in small school pitches and this contributed to our draw and loss.
Our highlight so far has been winning the Borough 7-aside Championship and going on to represent Sutton in the Surrey County Finals in January.
We would like to thank all the parents for their support this term and special thanks to Mr. Scanlan for his refereeing skills.
Mrs. Boyman and Mr. Pinnock
NETBALL
Our first term of netball matches was a very exciting one. Our first match was a bit of a shock, we played against Westbourne who have an experienced team, and our A team lost 0-10 (oops!). The B team came up trumps however, with a 1-0 win. Our second game was against a new team like ourselves and the A team won 3-2, the B team losing 1-2 this time. Our third game was against Abbey and was very close. Unfortunately the A team just lost 3-4 but the B team had a very exciting 5-2 win. We are now waiting for confirmation of which division we are in for the spring term and details of our next matches. Well done everyone for their enthusiasm and commitment.
Mrs. Burridge and Mrs. Ruiz.
CROSS COUNTRY
On Wednesday 8th November 518 children ran in the first league meeting! Some of the running was of a very high standard and some of the team races were very close.
We had 3 children with a top 10 position – well done!
Maddie Hough 7th Year 4 girls race
Tiago Paulino 10th Year 4 boys race
Joe Fox 10th Year 5 boys race
Harry Freeman, Neil Gawthrop, Naomi Westlake and Luke Marlow, all had top 20 places. The Year 4 boys’ team are currently lying 4th.
Well done to all our runners. The next race is on Wednesday 7th February. We hope for another large turnout!
Mrs. Burridge and Mrs. Boyman
HEAD TEACHERS AWARDS
ASH – Monique Dulieu
JR Graham
Billy Chambers
Zainab Arshad
Elliott Morgan
Kyra Lewis-Monto
BEECH - Sara Aaga
Romaie Simpson
Eve Holcombe
Alexander Middleton
Kirsten Smith
Maaria Qureshi
MAPLE - Coral Sexton
Tommy Hicks
Harry Spencer
George Morbey
Millie Haggard
Ellis Bassom
ELM - Soumia Baker
Harry Freeman
Joe Withersby
Joe Ellis
Matthew Martin
REDWOOD - April Green x 2
Bronte Leek
Hannah Case
Eric Sims
Claudia Costa
SYCAMORE - Charlotte Barthrope
Bobby Cornell
Daniel Walker
Michael Lu
Harry Smart
Hasnain Arshad
PALM - Grace Mageean
Ulvi Nasiri
Jack Diamond
Emily Flett
Rachael Smith
Joseph Gough
PINE - Courtney Laws
Amanda Ngwenya
Rakshana Raguraman
Sam Hitchmough
Natalie Painter
WILLOW - Dana Millard
Charlie Jones
Georgia Collender
Summah Longley
Naomi Westlake
Emma Pereira
LARCH - Alan Abad
Jean Green
Laura Barfield
Amy Connelly
Cody Nelson
Isidora Sandulovska
ROWAN - Eve Tidy
Nathan Day-Brown
Billy Guiney
Jessica Taylor
Praveen Emmanuel
OAK - Adam Wing
Evie Thompson
Harry Roberts
Keziah Doh
Melissa Biswamber
Marisa Kemp
STAMPS & CHRISTMAS CARDS
We are hoping to start a mini-enterprise in every year group to enable pupils to establish management, financial and organisational skills. Please could you send in all your old Christmas cards and save all your stamps? Thank you.
CHRISTMAS FAIR
Thank you to all parents who came in to help with the Christmas Fair, it was a successful event and all the children enjoyed themselves.
REMINDERS
Lateness
Please be reminded that if your child is consistently late after registration closes you may be liable for a fixed penalty fine. Please make sure your child arrives no later than 8.50 am.
Breakfast Club
We still have places available at our Breakfast Club. The cost is £3.00 per day which includes breakfast. The club runs from 7.30am-8.40am. If you would like to take advantage of this service please come to the office for further information.
Irish Dancing
The very successful Irish Dancing lessons held after school on a Tuesday at 3.30pm will be continuing in the spring term. The next 6 week session begins on Tuesday January 8th. The cost of the 6 lessons is £30 (£5 per lesson) and payment for the course must be made in advance. Cheques are to be made payable to the dance teacher Amelia Kelly. A letter will be sent out to all children with a reply slip to be completed however, please come to the office if you would like more information.