Page 11 - Abberley Adventures - June 2021

ABBERLEY ADVENTURES
11
Important Dates for your Diaries
Assessment Week for the Prep School. Common Entrance begins on
Tuesday 8th.
Whole school photograph (Nursery to Year 8). Prep children will need to have their Chapel Suits at School please. For Pre-Prep children please ensure they are in their Summer Uniform.
Move Up Sessions and New Pupils’ Morning for Pre-Prep children.
Exeat begins for the Prep School at 12.30pm or 1.00pm
Year 8 will be in Polzeath and the rest of the Prep School will enjoy our Co-Curricular week.
Tea and Talk event for Pre-Prep parents (information about new classes for
next term)
Leavers’ Service for Year 8. Following the service, all families are invited to our traditional Family Picnic and Parent/ Pupil Sports Day. This year we are planning a small Summer Fair, which will run alongside the other activities.
Opening of the newly refurbished Summer House at 6.30pm as well as
a Leavers’ Art & DT Exhibition and Performing Arts Showcase. Whilst the evening is primarily for our Leavers, it would be a great opportunity to come along (subject to continued easing of covid restrictions) and see what our Top Year have achieved in all areas of their school journey.
Pre-Prep Summer Concert, Prize Giving and Sports Day.
Prep school Speech Day followed by picnic lunches and Sports Day
Please note that our School Calendar is available on our website by going to the Parent Zone. This calendar is reviewed regularly and updated as required. An alternative, and more effective, way to access this information is via the parent portal on iSAMS. Please also note that term dates for the next academic year are also within the ‘Parent Zone’. You will see that there is a two-week Half Term in October to bring us in line with the majority of independent schools.
Uniform notice
Could parents please ensure that children are furnished with presentable school shoes. Increasingly we have seen children wearing trainers around school. Whilst we do understand that children grow out of shoes and there may be occasions where they are waiting for replacements, we would like to maintain standards and to ensure that children look smart.
On this theme, we would like to clarify the situation regarding polo shirts / shirts. Ideally, boys would wear smart looking shirts and girls would wear smart looking blouses. The fact that they can choose their own shirts is lovely and it helps to create our unique and relaxed atmosphere. Some parents of girls have expressed a frustration that it is difficult to find short-sleeved blouses for their daughters in the Summer and so we have said that girls are allowed to choose smart looking, plain polo shirts instead. Boys should wear short or long- sleeved shirts as always. Polo shirts for girls in the Summer are an alternative option if short-sleeved blouses are hard to find!
Goodbye and Welcome
Lesley Beesley Has decided to retire from the Learning Support department after many years of dedicated service to the school. Lesley has supported countless children over the years and she will be sorely missed. We wish her a very happy retirement. She will continue to live nearby and so we look forward to staying in touch.
Milada Tarka After 21 years of dedicated service at Abberley Hall, Milada Tarka has bid us a very fond adieu. Her wonderful piano teaching and beautiful organ playing has influenced hundreds of children over the years. She has been a true friend, wonderful colleague and musical inspiration to us all and we wish her the very best for her impending move to Australia this Summer. She has already started planning the Abberley Hall choir (and cricket/rugby) tour down under!
We are delighted that Charlotte Dunham has agreed to take on much of Milada’s piano teaching alongside Andrew Kristy.
Claire Kennedy has worked at Abberley as a part time teacher since 2008 and has made a huge impact on the children she has taught. Claire joined us as a Maths teacher and has also taught on a 1:1 basis as part of our Learning Support department. Claire has been a Personal Tutor to many children over the years, she began teaching PSHE in 2014 and has recently coordinated our new subject LIFE. Claire will be leaving us at the end of this term to join her husband, Mark as he starts a new job teaching at Spratton Hall prep school in Northamptonshire. We wish Claire, Mark and Bella all the very best as they move on to pastures new.
Monday 7th June
Tuesday 15th June
Tuesday 15th June
Friday 18th June
Week Commencing Monday 21st June
Monday 21st June
Saturday 26th June
Wednesday 30th June
Thursday 1st July
Friday 2nd July