Assemblies this week have been led by Mr Mathys who has spoken about World Children’s Day. World Children’s Day is UNICEF’s annual day of action for children, by children. This year the key messages are: ‘For every child, peace; for every child, a liveable planet and for every child, a voice’. Mr Mathys challenged our students to make this year’s Christmas food drive the biggest and best we have ever had, so that as a school we can take comfort in the fact that all the children in our community will have a good festive season. A house collection for The Shrublands Food Bank will start next week. It is important to us that we contribute to our community and we encourage acts of charity. Students are invited to bring in non-perishable food items with an expiry date of at least six months or toiletries (such as toothpaste, soap). The house which collects the most donations will also receive 500 house points.

On the theme of charity, Rosa Parks House ran their second charity fundraising bake sale on Thursday. Across their two bake sales, they have raised £140 for The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation. A huge thank you to Jay in Year 7 and Zach in Year 9 for their valued help and baking skills, and to everyone in the school who supported these events. We are also launching our House Christmas tree competition next week. There will be 500 points on offer for the best tree, and they will be on display in the foyer. 

Our under 15 girls played in a Croydon schools football tournament and although they did not go on to win, they performed well and enjoyed the experience. Our Year 8 boys won their football match against Sedgehill 5-1. Alex was selected as the player of the game. Year 8 sadly lost their netball match to Coloma, although they won the first quarter, drew in the third and fourth and only went down on goals in the last minutes of the game. Amara was selected as the player of the game.

A reminder that Year 11 parents’ evening is on Thursday 7th December at 4.00pm. Parents will be issued PPE results for their child and have an opportunity to speak about their child’s progress with subject teachers. 

Ms C Moran, Headteacher