On Tuesday 27th RPS had its first Parent’s Information Evening of the year. Galiema (EHT) updated parents about successes that have occurred across the federation. This included a number of sporting successes across both RPS and DKH, including year 3 & 4 winning Bacon’s College football tournament. DKH also won PE lead of the year.
She talked to parents about the current challenges school leaders are facing in terms of budget cuts to schools, recruitment and retention challenges (as fewer graduates choose to enter teaching as a career pathway) as well as consideration of teacher workload.
Mary Henley (Vice chair of the governors) explained a bit about the work of governors and I presented an update in response to the parents suggestions at the last event.
Parents then split into groups. Margaret discussed music provision at RPS, Jennifer (Deputy Head) talked about how we teach reading and I talked about our work on moving towards becoming a sustainable school.
One aspect of this work is around air pollution. RPS sits in a triangle of busy roads and levels of Nitrogen Dioxide exceeded EU legal limits in 2013. The maximum limit is 40 micrograms per cubic square metre and RPS had 42.5 micrograms per cubic metre at that time. It is highly likely that that has risen.
We also shared with parents an article that was in the Guardian newspaper last Saturday that mentioned the work RPS is doing in trying to raise awareness of air pollution. Within the article they particularly focused on the idea of purchasing air purifying masks. We thank all staff for their hard work in organising this event and thank parents for their contribution.