Volume No: 2004-05/19

Date: 4 March 2005

Dear Parents

 

As Charity Week draws to a close, I am pleased to report a resounding success. School “leisure time” has been filled with meaningful activity as breaktimes and lunchtimes have become busy fundraising events. I am also pleased that the impact on curriculum time has been extremely limited. We will publish actual figures next week when all sponsorship monies have been collected.

 

The biggest single event of the week was Monday’s Futsal competition. Billed as a Futsal Marathon, it certainly lived up to its name. In the bowels of the Futsal stadium, four weary but spirited teams battled for four hours, only to be separated at the end by … almost nothing. The money raised, however, was anything but negligible. Sponsorship is still being collected so a final figure is not yet available – but it will be several thousand ringgit. This was a magnificent and generous result and sincere thanks go to the participants and their sponsors, as well as to Mr Leak and Cikgu Mutang for their inspirational organisation.

 

The primary cake sale was also a huge success. Rarely have I seen so many cakes outside of a cake shop! They came in all sizes, shapes and colours but they all met the same fate: being ravenously and delightedly eaten! Memories of Healthy Eating Week faded quickly as some of our hungrier students returned to the cake stall for more than one light snack… but it was all in a good cause.

Within primary, excitement and expectations ran high as the football competition approached. More than one young man was reported as having a sleepless night before the big day. With carefully balanced teams, the competition went down to the wire and the final was played out before a big crowd in the heat of Wednesday afternoon. After a tense battle, Red Ducklings beat Red Eagles by 3 goals to 2.

On Thursday afternoon a deep silence fell over the school and heads were scratched in an attempt to recall the correct spellings of the tortuous lists that teachers had assembled. It is too early to predict the amount of money raised by the Sponsored Spell but we are hopeful that it will be substantial. And a welcome side-effect is that our children will have learned some useful spellings!

It was a week, too, in which individual initiative thrived. Chris Law ran PS2 sessions in the library that commanded a determined following and raised a steady daily income. Franziska Klauser cornered the secondary cake market and a group of boys from Year 5/6 spent their lunchtimes washing staff cars.

The week’s final event is the ever-popular throwing of wet sponges at teachers, due to take place at lunchtime today. Personally, I didn’t like the cheer that went up in assembly this morning when it was announced that I would also be taking part! I wonder why? Oh well, as with the whole week, it’s all for a good cause …

Year 1/2 Sleepover

The Year 1/2 classroom was transformed into a dormitory last Friday night as students, parents and teachers snuggled down for the Year 1/2 sleepover. There were a lot of excited children playing football by torchlight when I visited on Friday evening and a lot of rather tired looking children when I visited on Saturday morning. They all went home “happy campers”. It was a very exciting event for the children and our thanks to Ms Dennis and her team of helpers for giving Year 1/2 such a positive experience.

 

FOBISSEA Games

 

This is the last call for participants in the 2005 Primary Games. Please let Mrs Wickham know on Monday, if you have not done so already, if you wish your children to join the team. Flights are now going to be booked. This is a great opportunity and our teams would still benefit from the addition of a few more members, so if you haven’t signed up yet, please consider doing so over the weekend.

 

Year 11 Lessons

 

Next Friday morning, 11 March, Year 11 will have academic lessons rather than sports for the first two lessons. This is a good opportunity for them to make up some of the curriculum time missed because of Sports Day.

Sports Day

 

A separate letter has already gone out about Sports Day but as a further reminder, Sports Day takes place on Tuesday, 8 March at Likas Stadium. Students need to be there at 7.45 and we intend to start promptly at 8.00. The early start is a bid to catch some of the slightly cooler morning air. Events should be over by 11.30, so please arrange to collect your children promptly then. There will be no further school that day.

 

Hats, Bags and Purses

 

Foundation Stage are on the scrounge again! If anyone has any old hats, bags or purses for the children to use in class, Miss Fox would be very grateful.

 

 

My thanks for all your efforts in supporting Charity Week and I look forward to seeing you at Sports Day,