DOG KENNEL HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL Dog Kennel Hill Executive Headteacher: East Dulwich Head of School: London SE22 8AB Deputy Head Teacher: Telephone: 020 7274 1829 Email: [email protected] Mrs Galiema Amien-Cloete Mr. Wayne Cooper Mr Ross Orton Fax: 020 7924 0735 website: dkh.org.uk Leadership Update 27th March 2015 Dear Parents / Carers, As discussed in our letter to you last week, we are now able to inform you of the following developments. After several meetings and discussions the governors of both schools have reached an agreement and we am pleased to inform you that the soft federation with Rotherhithe Primary will continue for a further 2 years. We will now be recruiting for a new Head of School for September 2015. This process will conclude by the end of May at which time parents will be informed. We are also pleased to announce that we have successfully recruited two new Deputy Head Teachers. Please join me in welcoming Mr Ross Orton and Ms Natalie Melehi. Mr Orton will have responsibility for Data and ICT and Ms Melehi will lead on Inclusion from September 2015. Have a great Easter Break. Kind Regards, Galiema Amien - Cloete Executive Head Teacher Martin Finn Chair of Governors Spring Term: 27 March 2015 This Week This week both key stages 1 and 2 enjoyed a performance of Twelfth Night by the Infinite Jest Company. For many of the children it was the first time they had watched a Shakespeare play. The company did a great job in entertaining the children as well as educating them. The children have asked for the company to come in again. Spanish Day Our Spanish Day last Friday was a success! It coincided with International Day of Happiness which was very befitting, as everyone at school was happy and had a fantastic time! Each class adopted a Spanish speaking country for the day and there were plenty of cross-curricular activities. Thank you to Jo McNeill for doing the Spanish art activities with years 2 and 3. We had two lovely Spanish singing assemblies, and the guitar club also played a special piece with Daniel and Owen. KS1 pupils enjoyed their Fiesta dance workshops with Carlos Cortes and KS2 loved the Flamenco workshops with Anita and Ramón. The children loved the typically Spanish lunch menu which including Paella, Tortilla, Albondigas and Natillas . Year 6 ran the Spanish café very successfully. It was great to see so many children (and staff) dressed up for the occasion. ¡Viva el Día español! A big thank you to the PDKHA for funding such a great event and for running the after school Spanish Café. Everyone enjoyed the Churros, Jamón and Sangría! Let's not forget the Piñatas... ¡Muchas gracias! Fátima News from Friends DKH Committee Discos – thanks for your support and fabulous dancing, which raised £820 for the school. Sponsored read – Well done to all pupils who took part. They each received book tokens and together raised over £1000. Including the donation from Usborne the school will receive over £1,200 worth of new books. Participants: If you haven't received your tokens, please email friends@dk h.southwark.sch.uk Please order your own books from Usborne by Friday 17th April by emailing the details to Deborah Montgomery at [email protected] k, you will then receive your books by the end of April. AGM – Congratulations to the new committee, who were elected at the AGM last week. Details will be displayed on the Friends’ notice board (outside lower hall) and be available in the Parents’ handbook after Easter. Huge thanks to last year’s committee, under whose stewardship £14,700 was raised. The funds were largely spent on providing valuable Dog Kennel Hill School, East Dulwich, London, SE22 8AB • 020 7274 1829 • © 2012 Dog Kennel Hill • All rights reserved. experiences for pupils, such as: Spanish Day workshops, music workshops, theatre visits, Christmas pantomime and subsidising school trips across the years. Additionally, we contributed over £700 to the Ebola crisis appeal. A big thank you to all those who helped across the year. And Finally… Happy Easter holiday to you all! What's next? Car Boot Sale - Sat 16th May & Summer Fair - Sat 20th June Sports News Well done to both the Year 5 and Year 6 netball teams who despite losing their matches, demonstrated great team spirit and determination. I have every confidence that they will win a match very soon. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Tuesday 14th April – Back to School 22nd May – End of Half Term Goodbye Mrs Lea Sadly Mrs Lea is leaving DKH today. Mrs Lea started at the school as a parent, then taught dance and covered classes for many years. Her last role has been teaching class 1H on Thursday afternoons and Fridays. We would like to thank you Mrs Lea for your hard work, support and flexibility. The school wishes you every success in the future. Goodbye Yvonne Fernandez Thank you to Yvonne Fernandez from Place 2Be who is also leaving today. She has worked with some of our most vulnerable children and families. Quote of the week 'Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.' (Quote from Twelfth Night) Dog Kennel Hill School, East Dulwich, London, SE22 8AB • 020 7274 1829 • © 2012 Dog Kennel Hill • All rights reserved. Dear Parents Many of you have given us feedback wanting a bit more detail about what governors actually do. In response we thought it would be a good idea to give you a regular brief summary of what we have been doing each half term. You can find more information about us and detailed minutes of our activities on the school website: http://dkh.org.uk/our-school/governors . Our main areas of focus for this term have been to: Budget: At the beginning of this academic year we made the decision to use all the money available to focus on rapidly improving the school and the outcomes for our children. We are delighted with the myriad of changes and improvements that Galiema Cloete and Wayne Cooper have led within the school and that the results are demonstrating the effectiveness of those measures. We are well placed to start the new financial year in good shape and our bursar is confident that we can deliver on the school development plan despite some of the usual uncertainties of school funding. Leadership The other core area for us has been to ensure that we have a strong leadership team to help us stay on the path of rapid improvement in all areas. We were all very sorry to learn that Wayne Cooper was leaving us but we wish him every success for his new life in Cambridgeshire and want to thank him for leading the school through a very difficult time. He stepped up to the challenge and has worked incredibly hard to support all the children at DKH. As you know we tried very hard to find a new Headteacher but without success. You will have seen on the reverse of this letter that our alternative plan has been confirmed ie the continuation of the Soft Federation. The Federation has been working very well and the new plan will allow us to develop a leadership team under Mrs Cloete and to reap the benefits of the close association with another very successful school. You will also have seen the news overleaf of the appointment of our two new deputy heads and the plans to appoint a Head of School. We would also like to give our sincere thanks to the Governors and all the school community at Rotherhithe School. Their decision to enter the Soft Federation with DKH and free Galiema to support the school has been the key to getting us to where we are now. Reconstitution of the Governing Body (GB) All GBs were obliged to undergo reconstitution. This process is almost complete but we have agreed to have a GB of 15 members; five from the school staff including the Headteacher, five elected parent governors and five co-opted members including one appointment by the Local Authority. These final five can come from anywhere but will be chosen on the basis of their skills and experience to help the GB be as effective as possible. Following a suggestion from parents, we would like in future to hold an open evening when there is apparent governor election. Parents considering whether to stand can ask questions of existing governors. We hope this will enable those who might be unsure about what’s involved or what they might contribute to explore the demands and the functions of the governor role. Finally we would like to thank Galiema Cloete for the incredible amount work, energy, time and commitment she has given us – always putting our children’s wellbeing and learning at the heart of everything she does. We wish you all a very happy Easter break. Zahid Malik Chair of the Resources Committee Parent Governor Martin Finn Chair of Governors
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