Dear Parents

I am sure many of you saw the announcement in the Croydon Advertiser about our recent achievement that was announced nationally on Friday. 432 schools across the country were awarded Artsmark Silver this year. The Artsmark award recognises schools that demonstrate a commitment to providing opportunities across all artforms from drama to music, design to literature, dance to sculpture. The scheme also encourages schools to work in partnership with artists and arts organisations. Ms Jarrott has worked with all the staff, and especially teachers involved with art and music, in collecting the evidence to show the range of arts provision at Atwood. Our award is being presented at an awards ceremony at the end of June in London.

Our sports days are this week. Although Tuesday’s weather looks fine, rain is expected on Wednesday. We will make a decision each morning whether or not to proceed. If you are coming to support your child, please check the emergency information line for updates.

The Parents’ Association has organised a mufti day this Thursday – the children may wear clothes of their choice in return for bringing a bottle of something for the Summer Fair (which is on Saturday). Please bring the bottles straight to the junior hall at the beginning of school on Thursday morning, where parents will receive them.

Now that our builders have been appointed for the building work, I can give you further information.

As any parent that has been into school during the day to help out will be able to tell you, we are very short of space at Atwood. There are few areas in the school where individuals or small groups of children can work, and also no spaces for teachers to work outside of their own classroom.

Music has always been a strong feature at this school. When Miss Breeze was the music teacher here, there were choirs, orchestra, recorder groups, and other music activities, and there have always been opportunities for children to learn to play instruments. We are, once again, in this enviable position of having several members of staff who are music specialists, and many children involved in music outside the curriculum. Our recent Artsmark Silver award recognised the opportunities for music at school, but also within the curriculum for all children.

Most of our instrumental music lessons have to take place in resource rooms and in the very few spaces we have for small groups to work. Reading takes place in corridors and on staircases, simply because we do not have the facilities for accommodating groups of children.

We have a music room for teaching music, and this is important. However, the current room is rotten and will not survive another winter. The heating cannot be used as the rain is entering onto the heaters. The floor is uneven and slopes.

Every year a sum of money is given to every school for capital building projects. This money cannot be spent on staff costs or curriculum materials, and has to be used for building projects. We are in a position of being able to allocate £65,000 towards a new building, and the project is costing £90,000.

Our Parents’ Association has committed to raising the additional £25,000 over these two years, which means that we will not have to use other school money to complete the work. However, the PA is still keen to continue to provide the same opportunities it has done recently for the children, such as the end of year and Christmas entertainment, and providing playground games and benches. This is why your support at school events, such as the Summer Fair, is so crucial. The Sponsored Walk at the end of June, if it is a success, will be both fun and raise a significant sum of money towards this goal.

Work is due to start on Monday 27th June. The builders are Valley Construction, and they will construct their compound in the small playground at the beginning of that week. For most of the time, they believe there will still be space for staff cars around the edge. During that week a digger will dig the foundations, which will be noisy (especially for 3M and 4HK). Within a few weeks you should see the walls being built.

The majority of the work will take place during the summer holiday. When the children return in September, work will be almost complete. We hope to be using the facilities by the end of September or early October.

From Monday 27th June, and until further notice, the small playground will be out of bounds for all parents and pupils. When arriving at school from the front entrance, ALL pupils must enter via the gate leading through the nursery, reception, and infant playgrounds. Those of you who enter from Tandridge Gardens are unaffected. At the end of school, pupils should leave by the same route. This is all as a precaution against accidents. We have asked that deliveries and machinery are not delivered from 8.30 - 9.00am or from 3.00 - 3.30pm, but this cannot be guaranteed.

I hope that the children will take an interest in the construction of the new building. There will be a ‘webcam’ watching the build, which will be accessible from the button on our website marked

Thank you!