SIR JOHN CASS’S FOUNDATION

PRIMARY SCHOOL

A voluntary aided Church of England primary school in the heart of the City of London

Headteacher: Mr T Wilson

Friday 17th July, 2015

It’s holiday time What a busy year we’ve enjoyed at Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School? At times there have been so many events and exciting opportunities for the children– it has been difficult to keep up! As my first year as Headteacher draws to a close, it’s a good time to say a hearty thank-you for your support and the warm welcome you have given me this year. The children have had a remarkable year in school and have made many achievements in no small part due to the way in which you work in partnership with the school and support your children to learn and do their very best. Thank you for your contribution this year! I couldn’t let the year close without informing you about some of the superb achievements of our Year 6 leavers. Firstly, we marked the end of their time at Sir John Cass with a special leavers ceremony where we awarded gifts. A scientific calculators – so they can cope with any maths challenge thrown at

them in Secondary School! A red feather– a reminder of our benevolent founder without who’s charity

our school would not exist. A psalm and a new testament— a gift from the Gideon's Society to treasure

and a resource to seek comfort and advice when in need. An engraved glass– so every day when you take a drink you can remember

your friends and teachers here at Sir John Cass! We also presented special awards for excellent achievements in different areas: Heather James Sports Award: Mahidyat Hilary Chalk Performing Arts Award: Hanif Choristers of the Year: Caitlin and Melissa Joseph Williams Art Award: Asma Philip Bradbury Academic Achievement Award: Nabeel Sir John Cass’s Foundation Award – voted by the Teaching Team: Azra and Abu Saif Sir John Cass Medal – voted by the children of Class 6: Azra and Hamza Class 6 also achieved outstanding results in the Statutory Assessment Tests (SATS). Every child made excellent progress from their starting points in school and we achieved some of the best results at the end of Year 6 in the school’s his-tory. We will be publishing a full report on our achievements in the different areas of the school early next year. Well done to all the staff, children and families for showing such dedication to their work this year. I wish every one a restful and refreshing summer holiday. I look forward to wel-coming most of you back to school on Thursday 3rd September, 2015. Mr T Wilson | Headteacher

Building works in the summer holi-days There will be quite a lot of building work and activity over the summer holiday. The roof is being repaired

so there will be some scaf-folding around the build-ing.

The Family Learning Room is being moved and we are creating a new multi-purpose space

The toilets in the Nursery are being refurbished.

We are creating a new classroom in the Children’s Centre for our 2-3 year olds.

While the work is going on the Children’s Centre and the Play Centre will still be open for much of the holiday. We obvi-ously follow the strictest safety procedures and all contractors are fully checked and vetted. There may be some disruption to the location of groups and events around the school. Most of the children in the Children’s Centre will be based in Class 1 and 2 during the hol-iday period, although The Sp@ce and early years play-ground will remain open throughout. We look forward to enjoying the refurbished spaces in September!

Rt Hon Mr David Lammy MP visiting

school listen to enjoy our Strings Concert

Concerts and Performances

A big well done to all of our performers this year in the end of term per-formances and concerts. We had two special visitors at our Stings concert this year– our previous Headteacher, Mr Gerry Loughran and the Rt Hon Mr David Lammy MP. Both came along to hear our performers and they addressed the children at the end. Mr Loughran presented the Strings Award– for the most outstanding musician this year. The award of a violin was presented to Hamza. Avni and Eugene also joined Hamza and wowed the audience with their per-formance of Brahms Symphony No 1. Mr Loughran thanked the chil-dren for their performance and the Strings teaching team who have helped the children to achieve excellent results this year. David Lammy MP caught the end of the performance and spoke about the importance of Music in the curriculum at school. He told the chil-dren about his own upbringing in Tottenham and the opportunities that had arisen for him through his talents and commitment to learning in music. Mr Lammy was very impressed by the outstanding music provi-sion at our school. Senior Performing Arts also knocked our socks off last week with their impressive talents! We enjoyed a drumming performance first from a group of children in Year 5. This was followed by the musical, Move It. It featured a story about friendship and the fractious relationship between a brother and sister. Through excellent music, singing and dancing the group gave us a lesson about how love and forgiveness conquers all. There are clips of this performance and all the other recent achievements by our talented children on our website music section: www.sirjohncassprimary.org/music.html

Mr Gerry Loughran presenting Hamza with

his special award

New start times and charges in September The Children's Centre and the Play Centre will be Open from 7.45am each day from September, 2015 and both will close at 6.00pm with the final collection being 5.55pm. We have made these changes to better support working families who use the service and need to get away early in the morning. There will be a small increase in charges in the Children's Centre from September, 2015 of around 2%. If you wish to speak about your bills or any finance matter, please contact Mr Mark Paddon– our School Business Manager.

Goodbye and thank you Some staff will be moving on today to different challenges. We thank them all for their service and dedication to the school over many years. Carol Sykes is departing Cass after 36 years of

service! Thank you for your dedication, Carol. Fateha Begum has a new job at Pheonix Special

School. Good luck Fateha! Hannah Harries is relocating to Warwickshire. Alice-Taylor Rugman is moving on to new chal-

lenges. Bradley Waller is moving back to Australia. Mrs Tahmina Hussain is retiring from school. Rukshana Gani, Razia Begum, Val Polden are

leaving their roles at Cass. Afia Khanom is leaving Cass after many years of

service. Deimante Baradinskiene will not be returning

after her maternity leave. Anisa Alom is starting her PGCE in September. Andrea William and Yasmin Allen will be mov-

ing on from EYFS after the summer holidays.

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Term and holiday dates

Autumn Term 2015 If your child is in the Children’s Centre we will let you

know your child’s start date individually.

Tuesday 1st September: School closed for INSET day Wednesday 2nd September: School closed for INSET day

Thursday 3rd September: School reopens Monday 26th October to Friday 30th October: School closed

for half term Monday 2nd November: School reopens

Friday 18th December: School closes at 1.30pm for the Christmas holidays

Monday 21st December to Friday 1st January: School closed

Spring Term 2016 Monday 4th January: School closed for INSET day Tuesday 5th January: School closed for INSET day

Wednesday 6th January: School reopens Monday 15th February to Friday 19th February: School

closed for half term Monday 22nd February: School reopens

Wednesday 23rd March: School closes at 1.30pm for the Easter holidays

Thursday 24th March to Friday 8th April: School closed for the Easter holidays

Summer Term 2016 Monday 11th April: School closed for INSET day

Tuesday 12th April: School reopens Friday 27th May: School closed for half term

Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd May: School closed for half term

Monday 6th June: School reopens Friday 22nd July: School closes at 1.30pm for the summer

holidays

Please note: term time holidays will not be authorised. You must always seek permission if you wish to take your child out of school in term time. Please see the office for details.

Learning about a

dairy farm on our

trip to Caunton

Dean Hole school

All new breakfast club! We are re-launching our Breakfast

Club from September with an all

new menu.

The food will be provided by our catering

team and each day there will be:

A range of fresh juices Toast, jam and butter

Fresh fruit and yoghurt Cereal and fresh milk.

On some days there will also be a selec-tion of pastries. We want to ensure that children have the best possible start to the day and at just £2 per ses-sion Breakfast Club is great val-ue for money.

Adult Learning A reminder for all parents / carers wishing to do ESOL, Maths or English courses in the Family Learning Room in September. There

will be two assessment days to check you are on the right level course for your ability with ad-

vice and guidance about career and qualification requirements.

Assessment days: 9th & 16th September 9.30 – 12.00 The Family Learning Room

All courses start again the week beginning 14th September. If you require a crèche place while on any of the courses, could you please arrange to bring your child in to The Sp@ce the week beginning 7th September to start the settling in process and for your child to get to know their

crèche worker.