Dear Parents
Thank you for all your wonderful support of our Sports Day today. It was great to see so many parents, grandparents, relatives and friends here to support the children. It created a lovely atmosphere and the children were thrilled to have such a supportive audience! The sporting performances were great fun to watch, both the skill of the serious races and the fun of the novelty events, and the children were a great credit to themselves and to their families, celebrating not only the victors but also those who picked themselves up after falling over and came across the line smiling! The sportsmanship and community atmosphere was really wonderful. Given the warm weather, we were very glad to have kept the activities to the morning again and it was lovely to see so many families enjoying a picnic in the shade – or in the sunshine! – afterwards. Thank you for helping us to make this day such a success.
In addition to the sporting successes on the field today, Cardinal Newman is proud to hear about the recent success of one of our Year 5 children in the London Omnium. John-Joe Highet was inspired to compete in cycling after meeting Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins. John-Joe completed a 3km time trial, 200m sprint, a skills course and an elimination race to win Gold at this prestigious event! Well done John-Joe! Perhaps you will soon be following in the footsteps of your sporting heroes!
Congratulations too to our Year 4 children who performed so well at the Elmbridge Schools Choir Festival last night. This was a fantastic opportunity for all children to perform in a real theatre singing both as a year group and in an impressive choir with children from other schools. They even had a chance to perform alongside professional musicians – an African Drumming band who have performed nationally and internationally. Smiling faces and the buzz of excitement told the whole story. Well done to all who represented our school – we are very proud of you!
As the end of the school year comes into view, it is gratifying to see the culmination of so much hard work as our efforts begin to bear fruit. Staff preparing end of year reports are describing so much progress from our children: academic, physical, spiritual, social and emotional. Next week we will see the children make their first steps into the next academic year: YR to Y5 will have their “Move Up Day” on Friday, while most of Y6 will be at Salesians on Tuesday and Wednesday. This year we also have one child going to St George’s, one to Three Rivers, one to Philip Southcote and two to Tiffin, so we have a range of transition arrangements to field! Whatever their destination, we know that our Cardinal Newman children have been well-prepared for the next stage of their education and we wish them all every success on their exciting transition days!
At the other end of the school, we will also be welcoming our new Reception children on Tuesday and Wednesday next week for their taster sessions. It hardly seems two minutes since we were welcoming our current Reception children, but watching them at Sports Day, it is clear that they have grown up so much and are ready to move into Y1! As always, I know that you will make our new Reception children and their parents feel very welcome in our lovely community of families.
We have lots to look forward to next week, but before that, enjoy a scorching weekend!
Catherine Burnham
