Rutherford News “JACK PETCHEY AWARD” Winner

Our Jack Petchey Award Winner for this grant period was won by Rose Hadlum. We are very proud of her! Well done!

Rosie recently went into hospital for routine day

surgery but due to complications she ended up

staying for 3 months. During this time she was

seriously ill and underwent a lot of medical

intervention.

When Rosie returned to school it was as though she’d never been away. The door opened and there was Rosie with a huge smile ready to catch up on all the gossip and to continue to work hard and learn. Rosie is a little fighter and we are very Proud of her.

You can read more about the scheme and the wonderful work they do by visiting: www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk

Rutherford School, 1A Melville Avenue, CR2 7HZ. Tel: 02086887560, Email: rutherford@garwoodfoundation.org.uk

Turn to page 5 read about our very first

Jack Petchey Leader Award Winner.

In This Issue:

Phoenix Motorcycle Toy Run.

News from the Classes.

Aiming High Saturday Club

London Marathon

Book Bags Interactive Story Telling

Rosie Hadlum—Winner Jack Petchey Award

Caring First, Respect Always.

The Head writes…

We were delighted to welcome Ben our associate

vicar to Rutherford this week to join our children with

our nativity play on the theme “Christmas around the

World”. This performance was the combination of

classes to understand how different cultures celebrate

Christmas. We are grateful to all our parents who was

able to attend and would like to thank Jean, Jo,

Emma, Lindi and Maliha for organising this event.

On Tuesday 13th December, Cumnor House school for girls' Chamber choir came to sing at

Rutherford School. The choir cf 18 girls from years 4-6 entertained us with beautiful carols

and Christmas songs. Everyone at Rutherford got involved by playing percussion instruments

and the choir finished off with a beautiful rendition of Hark the Herald.

Elizabeth Davison,Head of Music at Cumnor House School for Grls said “The girls were delighted to meet everyone at Rutherford and are eager to come again to learn a little more about what goes on at the school.”

Well done to all involved, not only did our students talents shine but this was a brilliant

example of partnership across schools and two schools coming together to achieve

something special. Here at Rutherford we place real value on additional learning experiences

gained both inside and outside of the classroom. These occasions aid development and social

experience and are just as important as their educational targets. Cumnor House School for

Girls’ choir was a great demonstration of this which I hope will inspire more events and partic-

ipation in future.

On Saturday 10th, we welcomed the Phoenix Motor cycle training group to our Christmas Fair.

Thank you to all the parents for attending and supporting this event, particularly those that

managed a stall. The toy run was a great success and we would like to thank everybody who

made donations and delivered items on our wish lists for their generosity.

On Thursday 8th December our students had the amazing opportunity to be part of the Magi-

cal Quest sensory production by the Polka theatre entertainment. The pupils had a great time

and we hope to have Magical Quest visit us again.

Students have enjoyed a very successful first term and I hope that the activities planned will

support and further their progress throughout the year. Transition meetings have begun this

term with parents and will continue next term for those students moving into sixth form.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that Yogi (Sunshine class), has given birth to a baby boy,

last week. Mother and baby are both doing well.

I hope that everyone has a great break over the Christmas and my best wishes for the New Year.

2

PHOENIX MOTORCYLCE TOY RUN

There are no word to express our gratitude towards Ruth, Mark and their team from Phoenix

Motorcycle training.

Phoenix has chosen to support us for the 3rd year running. We organised the toy run to coincide with

the school’s annual Christmas fair.

Bikers from across the country rode through Croydon waving at and entertaining the public. We await-

ed their arrival with great anticipation!

Nothing can quite prepare you for the sound of 66 bikes roaring up the road, hooting and waving as

they arrive! It is a sight to behold. 66 Motorcycle riders in convoy, dressed up, carrying loads of gifts on

their bikes. Who said bikers were hairy, scary baddies!

The kindness and generosity of Ruth and Mark (owners of Phoenix), their team, friends and supporters

is astounding. Among the hundreds of items that were donated from our wish list there were dozens of

toys, cd’s, a surround sound blue ray home entertainment system and a huge 43” smart TV.

Ruth and the ladies of Croydon Woman's Institute created a beautiful quilt. They used art work from

our pupils to create the quilt. It features finger / hand print designs in fabric paint. It is truly a work of

art. We will be raffling this very special quilt at our next big occasion.

Next year we hope to see 100 Bikes and you the reader at this very special event!

Thank You to:

Just Mo

Luxury Hampers!

Just Mo have kindly

donated a hamper with

delectable treats to use

as a Rutherford School

Grand Draw Prize.

We are local charity

partner of the year

with TSB Croydon

and Tadworth!!!

Thank you to MyPT

Studio in Croydon

for donating 2 prizes

for the Rutherford

Grand Draw!

4

DONATIONS

We would like to thank you, the friends and families of Rutherford School, for

all your support and generous giving during the last term.

Money donated and raised together helps to advance the children’s education

and improve the quality of their school life. All the events we hold and so

many of the donations that are made to us are used to purchase equipment

and fund activities that enrich our pupils lives.

This is only possible with your continued help and support.

We always appreciate any offers of help, time or donations of goods or ser-

vices. Please get in touch if you’re able to contribute.

We would like to thank the following people:

Mrs Carol Jewell ; Waitrose George Street ; The Baily Thomas Charitable

Fund; Striders of Croydon; Persimmons community Fund; Heathfield News

Agent; Totstars; The Sundarama Trust; Olga Ketley ; Vanessa Manlow; Se-

cret Donar, MyPT Studio Croydon; Phoenix Motorcycle Training,;

Croydon Womans Insitute.

CHRISTMAS FAIR

On the 10th December we had our Annu-

al Christmas Fair supported by Phoenix

Motorcycle Training Toy run .

We had stalls, delicious hot food and

drinks to keep us and the Santa Bikers

warm.

The high light of the day was by far the

arrival of the Bikers with their decorated

motorcycles!

THANK YOU to everybody who

donated, volunteered and worked on

the day.

DONATING MADE

EASY:

We have set up a Givey Page to make donating to us easier!

If you would like to make an online dona-tion please copy this link into your browser.

https://www.givey.com/

rutherfordschool

5

Aiming High Saturday Club Greetings to all. Well let’s get this newsletter started by announcing the results from our referendum which took place in July asking the students, parents and staff 3 vital questions regarding Saturday club:

Saturday club every week (Term time)

Saturday club 3 times a month (Term Time)

Saturday club whenever they want it. The results were unanimous and the people have spoken. Saturday club weekly. Yippeeeee. Before everyone gets excited unfortunately we will now have to trigger article 50 of the Saturday club European union. Booooooo. This could take up to two years to complete. Sounds familiar? However we are taking steps to put forward a plan to try and achieve this goal. We are also looking into increasing the numbers of staff and students for Satur-day club and further down the line having a dedicated 6

th form club for the older students

to have more opportunities to socialise in the community. Watch this space. So what have we been doing since the last time we had our little chit chat? Well, we had a fabulous day out at Croydon Heritage day and all the students enjoyed the bustling atmosphere. Our Halloween and firework parties went down with a bang and we just had an amazing visit to see Santa at Woodcote garden centre. There were actually two Santas there so we divided into two groups. Apparently one was a grumpy Santa and the other a Happy Santa. We all know that feeling after too much sherry and mince pies.

JACK PETCHEY

LEADERSHIP AWARD.

We are very proud of our first

Jack Petchey Leadership Award winner:

Wendy Curnow

Wendy is an outstanding member of the therapy

team. She goes out of her way to ensure the needs

of the children are met". She is always willing to

work around the child and will fit in therapy ses-

sions around children's attendance and schedule to

ensure they do not miss out on vital parts of their

therapy programmes. The children in our school

respond really well to Wendy. She often pops

around to say "Hello". Wendy is very efficient at her

job and her communication with families is excel-

lent. "We'd be lost without Wendy”

Congratulations from all of us!

Nursing News The nursing team at Rutherford continue to

meet your child’s medical needs while in

school. We have recruited more nurses

over the year, and so are now fully staffed.

The team now consists of:-

Rachael Hickman – Nurse Manager Karen Anderson, Princess Goba, Claire Green, Teri Kerr, Jane Westcott-White – School nurses Mary Arthur – Healthcare Assistant This means that there should always be a minimum of 4 people in the team on a daily basis. The nurses are always available during school hours if you have any queries. We aim for you to be happy with the care we give your child, but if you have any con-cerns, please feel free to talk to us.

Last month, we held a parent forum, where we introduced all the team to parents. This was a great success, and a good time for discussion. We presented a power point, giving details of the work we do, and the parameters within which we work. If you were unable to attend the forum but would like a copy of the presentation, please get in touch with the nurses.

Thank you very much to all parents

and carers who gave us feedback in

regards to the summer club. We

used it in the monitoring reports

for the funders that gave us money

and will use it in our funding

application for the years to come.

Along with our Hydrotherapy, Sensory jour-neys, arts and craft activities, relaxing mas-sage sessions and much more it has been an outstanding end to the year. Once again a massive thank you to all the staff and nurses who participate in making our Saturday club run smoothly and so wel-coming to all. They have worked their socks off and maybe Santa will visit them with a little prezzie. As for me? I would like to take this opportuni-ty to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a hap-py new and have a good one with family and friends. David Orlebar Saturday Club Coordinator

Ladybirds McMillan Coffee Morning.

Ladybirds hosted a very successful coffee morning on the 30th Septem-ber 2016. They raised £208.00 for this very worthy cause. We would like to thank everybody who supported this event.

The return back to school after the

summer break has been exciting looking

at a new topic ‘Culture’. Rainbows have

experienced the Ugandan culture,

through sensory journeys, art and craft

and sensory stories. All of which have

encountered a new experience for each

pupil such as smells and music.

Alongside this, Rainbows continue to

create the best tasty toast in Croydon!

The 6th formers in class are enjoying the

responsibility of taking everyone’s

orders and collecting the money while

the remaining Rainbows show off their

cooking skills.

Rainbows are very busy getting ready for

Christmas, creating craft items and

preparing for a trip at the Holly Lodge

Centre for a Victorian Christmas.

Rainbows wish you all a Merry Christ-

mas and a Happy New Year!

7

Rainbow News

Ladybird News! Ladybirds have had yet another busy term. Adam has been preparing for 6th form by hav-ing sessions at Bramley Hill and going to the library as well as taster sessions in rainbow class. The rest of the pupils have been working very hard but also have been having some fun with our topic, cultures. They have been to Pizza Express and made their own pizza’s which were enjoyed by the pupils and their families, some pupils also enjoyed the free film festival. The pupils have been very busy making cakes for the Christmas Fair and lots of other things Christmas! We are now all looking forward to having a good rest over the Christmas holiday! Merry Christmas Everyone!!

8

This term Sunshine’s have been

participating in virtual travel.

We got our passports and set off

to exciting destinations around

the world. We sampled food,

listened to cultural music and

folk stories. We have been

keeping a journal in class

recording our cooking and our

creative sessions in each

country.

We have been looking at the

different art periods. This time

we replicated our own versions

of the Stone Age, Egyptian

Period, Mesopotamian, Greek

and Hellenic as well as Indian art

periods. We had great fun

reproducing our own art work

for each period. Pop into class

to come see the exhibits of our

art!

Sunnies had some great trips

out. We have been to the

cinema, pottery painting with

Rhea, and shopping in Croydon.

We loved going to Chessington

Garden centre to see the

Christmas displays and

decorations!

Merry Christmas!

Sunnies Travel

Adventure

Lollipops Lollipop Class have been working hard this term….we’ve had a snowman visit us during our

sensory story about ‘The Snowman,’ which we have all really enjoyed. This term we have

focused on two different countries – Italy and America. We cooked dishes we might expe-

rience when visiting these countries, and explored a range of sensory items through stories

and journeys.

We’ve been on lots of educational visits this term, which we have all thoroughly enjoyed.

We visited the Horniman Museum, to play the instruments in their ‘Sound Garden.’ We

played the drums, xylophone and the pipes. We listened to the sounds the different in-

struments made. We also had a workshop to prepare us for our Polka Theatre visit to see

a performance of ‘Babe.’ This was thoroughly enjoyable. Other visits have included the

local library and cinema.

We’ve also had lots of fun with taking part in Christmas activities.

Cumnor Girls Chamber

Choir. We were delighted when Cumnor Girls

Chamber Choir came to our school to sing to

the pupils and staff. The girls did a fantastic

job and the pupils and staff thoroughly

enjoyed their performance. We were

treated to hand made cards and mince pies.

In return we gave them a card made from

the kids art work and little bags of candy.

We hope to see the girls again soon!

Bag Books

Interactive Story Telling.

Thank you to Nadia from Bag Books who came in and carried out

interactive story telling with our pupils. The pupils had a great time. We are looking forward to their re-

turn!

Diary Dates January 2017

Parents Coffee Morning date

TBC

February 2017

Friday 10th – 10.30am -

Valentines Ball – ILATuesday

28th-Shrove Tuesday–

Parents invited for Pancakes

& Coffee/tasters 10.30am

March 2017

Friday 24th – Tea Party for

Mums (Mothering Sunday 6th)

CONGRATULATIONS!

Yogi, Ravi and Teyana welcomed their new

addition to the family on the 8th December

2016!

LONDON MARATHON!

We recently had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Garret. Andrew came to visit the school, meet the pupils and see what we are about. A short planned visit turned into a long pleasurable occasion and we are happy to say that Rutherford School has made a great new friend.

This is what Andrew had to say about the school and his motivation for training and raising money for the school.

“Feeling motivated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I visited Rutherford School in South Croydon today and was blown away with the care given to Children with disabilities. I was a little nervous and unsure how I would handle it but Sarah Hanmer and Karin Schnabel made me feel very wel-come. Sarah took me on a tour and it opened my eyes to bespoke care they give.They are unique in the services and quality of care they provide. Some chil-dren have genetic conditions whereas other children were perfectly normal until struct down by disease or trauma, to change their lives and their parents lives forever. What struck me most was the dedication of staff to provide the best care possible. It's not a job but a way of life. You don't often see this sort of dedication in other occupation. The result is making lives better. Better for parents but more importantly the Children. With equipment, expensive equipment that stimulates all their senses. Many are visually impaired but the specialist equipment and rooms help to improve their cognitive abilities. All this extends the Children's life expectancy and quality of life! What more can you ask for?! I am so proud to be able to Run in the London Marathon for the Garwood Foundation and in particular Rutherford School for their Charity. I feel very hum-ble to be able to run in this event when only one or two children can weight bare with assistance. We take so much for granted. I was especially glad to See Georgia, Lisa Strudwick and Jeff Strudwick. I've known Lisa since I was about 6 so not that long ago ;-) Georgia was very tired after a recent serious illness and physio before her arrival but boy she is a fighter!

A great day with great people!”

AXA Garden Project 2016 Once again we were honoured that the volunteers from AXA Investment Managers gave their time

and a wonderful financial donation to support our school.

Having heard of the Rutherford School AXA garden days from their colleagues, many more people

volunteered this year, meaning that we were able to extend our garden project to 2 whole days. We

decided to spread these days over 2 weeks allowing for the specific activities and projects which were

selected this year.

By identifying the garden project for the Autumn

Term, we escaped any possibility of extremely hot

summer weather!

But we were amazingly lucky; late summer

sunshine on the first day; 28th September and

cooler but bright weather on 5th October.

We started our planning after Easter by asking all

staff for their ideas pertaining to ‘garden design’. I

was pleased to receive so many great and varied

suggestions – proving we are such an imaginary

and visionary staff team I asked for staff to

volunteer to join the working party which I created

to take the ideas forward.

The project was aimed to re-establish the lower

back garden for pupils’ use. Additional activities

were required in revamping the sensory garden

and improving / increasing pupils’ access to it by

creating a side entrance for pupils with larger

wheelchairs as Dorothy’s cottage is now too small

for some of our older pupils.

Pupils took part in painting tyres in bright colours

for use in the new tyre rockeries. These were

planted up, with the help of some pupils, in the

second week.

Pupils from each class helped to ‘fill’ the Savoy

standard insect hotel (!) which Finn and Mark

designed and built before the day.

Some pupils visited and helped the volunteers in

the Sensory Garden, getting it ready for winter and

washing and painting all the woodwork. Dorothy’s

cottage also had a makeover; Mark mended the

floor in advance of the days and AXA volunteers

worked tirelessly to paint the cottage inside and

out.

Mark and 2 volunteers worked exceptionally hard

on creating a robust side entrance pathway,

around the side of Dorothy’s cottage and into the

Sensory Garden.

The lower garden has been transformed!

Previously, the summer house had been repositioned and repainted to house our

new residents; Honey and Mustard.

The insect hotel is now in place beside it and in vicinity of the pupils’ access to the rabbit run,

stands the tyre rockery.

The terraced rockery on the other side of the rabbits’ home has been cleared and re-planted

and the surrounding trees and shrubbery have been severely cut back. This allows for far more

light to reach the lower garden.

A large flower bed has been established across the lawn and many different tall perennials

have been planted. We hope that if the plants do well they will grow to a height to make a grass

and plant corridor for the pupils.

Flowerbeds were created to plant Black Bamboo to provide a grass wall near the classes’ ramp

and in front of the newly erected cane fencing to hide the unsightly wire fence.

Our AXA volunteer friends supplied ‘seed pencils’ which the pupils planted up in their own

flower pots during the second week. If they grow, we will be able to provide the kitchen with a

medley of herbs next spring and summer!

All the pupils had a lovely time over the 2 days and some were able to spend a lot of time

outside, in the garden.

We had really lovely feedback from our AXA friends who, despite all the hard work they were

asked to do, expressed their heartfelt enjoyment of our AXA Garden Projects days and voiced

their intent to return next year in even greater numbers!

THANK YOU everybody who worked so hard to ensure this year’s project was such a

success!!!

Finn

TRINITY SCHOOL: WORK EXPERIENCE STUDENTS.

Every Autumn and Spring Term, Rutherford hosts work experience students from Trinity School. The students

come for 1 afternoon a week and are each attached to a class for the duration of the term, which gives them the

opportunity to really get to know the pupils and staff. Where a work experience student is considering entering a

career in medicine or as a therapist, they can also benefit from an attachment to those departments during their

time here.

This term, our Trinity students really immersed themselves in the school and the staff were full of praise for them.

The student, for their part, enjoyed their placements immensely and two have asked for the opportunity to volun-

teer at the school in the New Year. Here are some of the things they had to say in their exit questionnaires:

I have honestly found all of my experience here so enjoyable and fulfilling, but being able to have a combination of

not only seeing pastoral care, but also the medical side, has given me such a wide variety of skills.

The only thing I can say is how much I have found this experience truly inspiring and valuable. I am truly sad to say

goodbye as it is one of the best experiences I have ever had.

JG (attached to Sunshines and Nurses)

It’s been lovely to meet the children and staff and learn what its like at this school. I would really like to understand

more about the children’s day to day lives and what they do outside of school.

SL (attached to Lollipops)

I’ve learnt that no matter what a person may appear to be or look like, you must always look at the person and

who they are. I have loved working with the students and will miss them.

I believe that Rutherford should put their name toward more schools for more placements. This is because it is a

brilliant school with excellent facilities and staff

UJ (attached to Rainbows)

We would like to wish you all

A Merry Christmas

And a

Prosperous New Year!