Issue 11

June 29th 2010

‘Free Schools’
You may have heard of a brand new government initiative: ‘Free Schools’ – Schools ‘free’ of local authority influence. Let me be clear, there are no plans to investigate this or the Academy proposals at EMS. Indeed there are occasions when we would have liked more support from our Local Authority – not less! The concern, when the initiative was announced, was the anticipated reduction in funding to ‘ordinary’ schools diverted to set-up ‘Free’ Schools. I have already received a warning that at least 25% of an IT grant, already in our budget, will need to be clawed back by government towards the cost of setting up these ‘Free Schools!.’ Research from Sweden, where they were introduced some time ago, is not entirely positive.

Punctuality
As well as being a good habit to adopt, children who arrive late often have their learning disrupted. Time is precious in schools and teaching starts immediately after registration. If a child has missed the vital introduction to the work they may experience difficulties or the rest of the class may be delayed as the teacher has to repeat what she has already said.

End of Year Assembly
Our end of Year Assembly will be held in the School Hall at 10am on Friday July 23rd. Space will be limited but everyone is very welcome. Our guest of honour this year is Rugby’s new Member of Parliament, Mark Pawsey.

Harry Smith, inspired by his class’s work on Citizenship and the General Election (Newsletter 9), resulted in an invitation for Harry and two friends, to meet Mark Pawsey at The Houses of Parliament in early July. Fantastic!

School phone number
Remember if you need to contact the school by phone only use 543423. The Fax number line, 570193, allows us to phone out on two lines but only 543423 is used to receive calls.

First Holy Communion
First Holy Communion was another great success but made much more difficult trying to operate in another parish several miles away. Even covering the cost of the coach transfers (£150) for the rehearsals was an issue. I have invited Fr Malcolm to make a donation from the parish of English Martyrs to St Marie’s in appreciation of their generosity allowing us to use their facilities.

Thank you for those parents who helped on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning – many are called, but few .....

I have no idea what will happen in 2011 for the reception of the Sacrament of First Holy Communion if the parish church repairs have not been completed. However, this may be the time to reflect on every aspect of FHC preparation and for us all to focus again on the spirituality of the moment and less on the presentation. This is a view shared by some governors.

School colleagues always support these events as they see it as part of their service to our community. However, I hope parents remember that they are giving of their personal time – and this they do year after year. I have been to twenty-three FHCs at English Martyrs alone! If parents were aware of the level of service and commitment shown by our staff they might be surprised. The combined number of meetings, events or courses attended by all the teaching staff from April 2009 to April 2010 amounted to 490! Many take place outside the school day. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support and commitment.

Building Fund
Aided schools in England (the majority of which are Catholic) must always find 10% of any capital projects unlike County Schools. We invite parents to make annual / termly / monthly donations direct to a charitable fund held on behalf of the school by the Archdiocese. These donations can be Gift-Aided which results in each £10 donated benefitting the school to the equivalent of about £12.28. This building fund means that at long last the urgent roof repairs can proceed. The fund cannot be used by any other school – just EMS.

Details and a Direct Debit form are available from the school office.
Ofsted note that nationally Catholic Aided Schools (such as ours) consistently achieve better results than the national average despite our reduced funding – interesting.

Your wonderful PTFA have promised to raise £5000 by the Spring towards the 10% cost of the roof replacement.

Year 5 Class visit…

As one of the organisers at last week's education event '2010 & Beyond' at Coombe Country Park, I am currently going through all the feedback forms received. I thought you might like to see the comments from the Group Leader who was leading your school:

"Third year in assisting, general comment:- Possibly the best school (behaviour) and participation I have had the privilege of escorting as a group leader. Main teacher, Ms Liz Petras, had control at all times and the pupils were well disciplined. English Martyrs, Rugby next year please!!"

I hope that you enjoyed the event and the children had a good time.

Hannah Collett

Good Deed Week Charity Fund-raiser.
There was a disappointing response to our charity fundraising effort this year. The project was modelled on the old boy scout ‘Bob-a-Job’ idea. In total just £127 was raised. In the autumn term I will arrange a more traditional sponsored event.

Rugby Operatic Society and EMS
A few weeks ago our school choir joined forces with Rugby Operatic Society and held a concert in our school hall. ROS treated the audience to excerpts from a number of Gilbert & Sullivan musicals. The finale involved two joint presentations one of which was an ABBA song. Donations were sent to Rugby Myton Hospice.

School & Parish Fete
A total of £2,515 was raised which is shared between the School and the Parish. The School’s share has gone into the Building Fund. Thank you.

If your child was presented with a trophy last July, or a smaller Term Trophy at Easter, please return them to the school office as soon as possible. Please ensure they are in a condition to allow them to be presented again this year.