10.07.26 - Newsletter

Summer Fair

A huge thank you to the Friends of Ravenswood for organising a fantastic Summer Fair for our children and families last week.

We are delighted to share that the fair raised a whopping £3,243.94 in profit! Thank you so much to everyone who supported the event. The money raised by the Friends of Ravenswood makes a huge difference and helps to provide lovely extras for our children (including ice lollies for everyone after those very hot sports days!).

Sports days

Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us this week for the four sports days we held. We thought the children competed brilliantly, showed great sportsmanship, and enjoyed fantastic support from their families.

Thank you also to the brave parents who put themselves forward for the parent races. As far as I'm aware, there were no injuries!

There was, however, some foul play in the teachers' race, and I was cruelly denied my gold medal. I will, of course, be appealing to the Olympic authorities.

On a more serious note, I would like to thank all of the staff for organising such successful, enjoyable, and well-run sports days.

Despite the extremely hot weather on Wednesday, all of our Reception children had hats, water bottles, and plenty to drink, and everyone finished the day with an ice lolly kindly provided by the Friends of Ravenswood. I was also on hand with a "hydration station" (water gun!) to help keep the children cool.

Next Week:

Monday and Thursday at 1.30pm
Parents of Nursery children are invited to join us for our Nursery end-of-year celebrations, which will begin in the KS1 Hall.

Tuesday at 2.00pm
Parents of Reception children are invited to attend our Reception Graduation in the KS1 Hall.

There will also be a Guitar and Drum Performance at 2.30pm for parents of children who have been receiving lessons from Charlie.

Thursday at 10.30am
We will hold our Year 6 Leavers' Assembly for parents in the KS2 Hall.

The assembly should finish at approximately 11.00am. Following the performance, parents and children will have some time together on the KS2 yard before returning inside and leaving school at around 11.30am.

Friday
Friday will be the final day of the school year.

Message from the Chair of Governors

As we approach the end of another successful academic year at Ravenswood, I wanted to thank all in our wonderful community for their ongoing support. 

Firstly, to the staff of the school, both teaching and non-teaching, who work so hard to ensure the best quality of education for our children every single day. Your commitment and effort for our children is second to none, thank you for all you do. 

I would also like to thank the Friends of Ravenswood for giving up their time so often during the year - the funds they have raised have been used for improvement in many different areas of the school. The summer fair was a huge triumph and if any parents would like to get involved in future events, please contact them; I know giving your time to FOR would be most welcome. 

Finally, to parents, carers, grandparents, siblings and relatives, thank you for helping your children to be prepared for school, for supporting the school in all the great things it does,  and for all the amazing attendance at our regular events showcasing the huge talents we have at Ravenswood. 

All that remains is to wish you all a fantastic summer break. I hope you enjoy time with family and friends and get to relax, hopefully in the sunshine!

Simon Mather

Chair of Governors 

Ravens’s Rabbit

We are delighted to announce the location of our wonderful 'Fluffle' sculpture, ‘Raven’s Rabbit’. Our beautiful sculpture was designed by our very own Miss Hines and was very generously funded by Blue Leaf Energy where one of our lovely parents works. It was then painted by children on our school council before every child was invited to add their own finger print. You can find Raven's Rabbit at The Space, Ouseburn.

Peter Rabbit: Tales on the Tyne is a free, family-friendly art trail taking place across Newcastle and North Tyneside from 15 July to 14 September. 43 big and 53 little Peter Rabbit sculptures will be located in parks, streets and public buildings – and one of the sculptures was designed by our talented young people! The trail is raising funds for St Oswald’s Hospice and looks set to be a great free family activity for the holidays.

The trail has a website, www.talesonthetyne.co.uk which will feature all of the rabbit designs. Here you will be able to see where they are located, but to get a paper map and sticker book, you can pop into trail HQ in Ouseburn, Newcastle. Trail HQ will be open daily from 10am–3pm throughout the trail, and here you’ll find trail maps, sticker books (which contain stickers of each Peter Rabbit, including ours!) and souvenir merchandise. The address is the space by St Oswald’s Hospice, Ouse St, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2AG. There will also be an app to help people navigate the trail, which will be available in time for the trail beginning.

The team from St Oswald’s Hospice will also be in the Community Quarter at Eldon Square, with lots of fun Peter Rabbit-themed activities from 18 to 24 July.

To find out more about the range of activities scheduled over the summer, please visit: https://talesonthetyne.co.uk/events/

Staff leavers

At the end of this academic year we will be saying goodbye to some very special staff members:

Mr Peggie – Has been an incredible and very dedicated support staff member. He’s consistently gone above and beyond in supporting children on residentials, always being willing to support in any extra curricular event and has led school clubs including the legendry school band. Mr Peggie is moving on in his career moving to teach music in London.

Mrs Collins – Mrs Collins has worked at Ravenswood for 14 years. She’s the first staff member in the building and often the last to leave showing her commitment to the children. She’s mentored so many students – some who are current teachers at Ravenswood (and has been fondly referred to as Nana) and we regularly see children in years 7,8,9 come back just to say hello to her.

Mr Jamieson – Back when everyone was worried about the Millenium bug, in 1999 a young Scotsman started his teaching career at Ravenswood and he’s been here ever since, entertaining children in many music videos, supporting school staff as a lead union rep and promoting great Ravenswood events and leading prolific speeches in the great get together. In his earlier days he took a very successful Ravenswood football team on to winning the city cup!

We wish Mr Peggie a successful career in teaching and Mr Jamieson and Mrs Collins all the best for a well-earned retirement.