Farewell to Revd. Stephen Waine

At a special celebration assembly on Thursday

25th March, our school community said farewell

to Reverend Stephen Waine, who is leaving St

Edward’s parish to become Archdeacon of

Dorset. Gifts and cards from children, parents

and staff were presented to Reverend and Mrs

Waine.

We all wish Reverend Waine and his family

happiness and success in their new lives in Dorset

and thank them for their hard work and support

to the school throughout their time in Romford.

St. Edward’s Link

57th Edition - Easter 2010

What a half-term! There is so much to share with

you from our 300th celebration events as well as

the many activities staff provide to make learning

enjoyable and motivating for our children. I am

indebted to a wonderful staff, enthusiastic and

well-motivated children coupled with the support

of parents, a warm thank you to you all. May I

take this opportunity to wish you and your families

a joyous Easter and a welcome rest during the

Easter holiday period.

STOP PRESS : At the Westminster Abbey service, £1,460.99 was collected for the Watoto charity in Uganda.

Visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury On Tuesday 9th March, the Most

Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan

Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury visited

the school, as part of his visit to Romford.

The theme of the assemblies was ’Making

Choices’ and after the children had

danced, played percussion instruments,

acted out Bible stories and sung, they had

opportunities to ask him questions about

the

choices

he had

made in

his life

and his

role as

leader of

the

Church

of

England.

At the

final

assembly

with children in Years 1 and 2,

Archbishop Rowan was presented with a framed prayer, written by Joshua Clover and decorated by Breanna Herring and a photo montage representing all the activities that take place at St Edward’s School, presented by Toby Iwobi and Amber Le Beau.

Cycling to school Twenty four more children in Years 5 and 6

completed their Bikeability training during

the week beginning Monday 22nd

February. Following a successful bid to

Transport for London for funding, we have

had some secure cycle storage erected at

the front of the school. This will begin to be

used after the Easter holidays.

FAST programme After the successful completion of the pilot

FAST (Families and Schools Together)

programme in school, we have received

funding for up to twenty families to take

part in a second programme during the

Summer Term.

As the FAST programme for greater liaison

between families and school staff is still very

new in the U.K., we organised a FAST ‘taster

session’ on Wednesday 31st March.

Parents and children were invited to try out

a range of the activities that will take place

during the sessions on Tuesday evenings,

including: charades, ‘scribbles’ and

‘special play’. There are still a few places

left for the summer programme - if you are

interested in being involved, please

contact Mrs Teresa Kemp or Mrs Stephanie

Ellner at the school as soon as possible.

The proposed dates for the sessions are

Tuesday 20th April, Monday 26th April,

Tuesday 4th May, Monday 10th May, then

Tuesdays 8th June, 15th June, 22nd June

and 29th June 2010.

Visit by Bishop David

The Right Revd. David Jennings and his

wife, Sally, made an informal visit to the

school on Wednesday 10th March.

After enjoying lunch on the ‘Captain’s

Table’ with Mrs Allen, Mrs Appleby and

some of our Year 6 House Captains, Bishop

David and Mrs Jennings made a tour of

the school.

Borough Swimming Gala On Tuesday 9th March, 12 children from up-

per school went to St. Edward’s

Secondary School to take place in the first

ever Emerson Park School Sports

Partnership swimming gala. The children

swam exceptionally well in both individual

and relay races. We had a child in the

final for each race and were the overall

gala champions - a great result. Well done

to all the team consisting of: Hannah

Okunwobi, Jack Whitehead, Eloise Dietz,

Thomas Kelly, Rosie Hopwood, Adam

Staggs, Maddie Webber, Luke Harris,

Jonathan Akerman, Ella Goldstein, Charlie

Illing and Brianna Cummins.

Our Senior Choir rehearsing for Revd Waine’s farewell

Please remind your children that envelopes containing money should be put in the black boxes in their year bay.

300th Anniversary Exhibition

Children, parents, staff and visitors enjoyed looking at the 300th anniversary exhibition of St Edward’s Schools. The exhibition was taken to the Queen’s Theatre for the anniversary concert and is now being displayed at Harold Hill Library. From there it will move to St Edward’s Secondary School, other Havering libraries and St Edward’s Church before returning to us in the Autumn. We are very grateful to Mrs Margaret Appleby, our Vice Chair of Governors, and Mrs Annie Bryden, Director of St Edward’s Language College for their hard work and dedication in assembling the exhibition. We also wish to thank Mr Simon Donoghue, Local Historian from Romford Library, for his support in making additional resources held in the library available to the schools.

Dance Festival

The Havering Primary Dance Festival took

place at St Edward’s Secondary School on

24th March. The theme of the festival was

’Strictly a World of Dance’ and our team of

Year 5 dancers, led by Miss Morris,

performed an impressive Irish dance, which

they had helped to choreograph. Other

schools taking part included St Mary’s,

Parklands, St Peter’s, Crowlands, Rise Park,

Squirrels Heath, Broadford and St Patrick’s.

Concert at Queen’s Theatre As part of our 300th Anniversary

Celebrations, the Queen’s Theatre

provided the venue for a concert of music

performed by pupils from both St Edward’s

Schools. Our Year 2 pupils sang songs from

around the world, completing their

programme with, ‘I’d like to teach the

world to sing’. They sang beautifully and

made us all very proud! The Senior School

musicians from the Junior and Senior Jazz

Bands, Senior Orchestra, Barbershop

Quartet, choirs, instrumental ensembles

and soloists sang and played for our

entertainment and it was lovely to see so

many of our ex-pupils. It was a wonderful

evening and a great tribute to 300 years of

education at St Edward’s.

Tag Rugby On Thursday 11th March, our tag rugby

team took part in the final round of the

Emerson Park School Sports Partnership at

Abbs Cross School. The team, consisting

of Henry Beckett (captain), Moyin

Oladapo, Marlin Manduakila, Rachel

Marks, Elisra Bourne, Owen Taylor, Connor

Gear, Max Doman, Katie Maher and

Lestine Manduakila played 5 games.

They won 4 and lost only 1 meaning that

they were awarded second place. Well

done, we are very proud of you. Year 2 children rehearsing for the concert

Our

new

Junior

Road

Safety

Officers

helping

to plan

999

Day

PTA

Many thanks to everyone who has been

bringing their supermarket vouchers into

school, we are very grateful and know

that the school makes very good use of

all the equipment they receive as a result.

The winner of the Easter Quiz was Joshua

Garraway in 4S - thank you to everyone

who took

part.

We are all

looking

forward to

the Ladies’

Pamper

Evening on

Tuesday 27th April. This event will take

place from 7.00 - 10.00 p.m. A large

number of pampering therapies will be

on offer, as well as items for sale and

refreshment. All ladies welcome.

999 Day

On Wednesday 24th March, our police

community support officer, Shirley Hibbs,

helped us to organise a 999 Day for the

school. Members of the local police, fire

fighters and St John’s Ambulance spent the

day in school, providing opportunities for the

children to find out more about their jobs,

look at their vehicles and learn about how

scene of crime officers gather evidence.

The children’s enjoyment of the day was

increased further by it being a non-uniform

day. A total of £683.70 was raised for the

charity, Breast Cancer Campaign, to support

Mr and Mrs Parnell’s aim of raising £4 000 by

running in the 2010 London Marathan.

Infant Music Festival Year 2 took part in this years infant music

festival hosted by St Peter's school. We

participated alongside St Peter's, Parkside

and St Patrick's schools. Together the

children had a musical tour of the world as

each school sang a song from their

chosen country.

Our pupils chose

a song that was

set in China.

They also learnt

to say hello in

different

languages. All

the children had

a lovely time

and used their

singing voices

beautifully.

Well done, Year

2 children.

Easter Saturday at St Edward’s Church On Saturday 3rd April, Reverend Sally

Lynch will be leading a fun filled,

interactive service for all ages on the

Saving Stories of the Old Testament,

including the stories of the creation,

Noah, Moses, Jonah and the fiery

furnace. The stories, accompanied by

masks, bubbles and songs, will be

followed by tea, juice and cake. A fun

afternoon. All are welcome.