20th April 2009

Welcome back…

to everyone who has been off over Easter. Today is the first day of the school summer term in Islington and we have plenty going on for the next few weeks at Kate Greenaway.

The Tree House is nearly complete in the garden, and we expect children to be able to play on it later in the week as a reward for all the sawing, shaving and sanding they did last month. Our approach to outdoor play was recently featured in The Guardian and on Play England’s website .

We’re also delighted that we have been shortlisted for an architecture award (the RIBA award) for the recent refurbishment at the front.

The kitchen

If you’ve been here a few years you will know about the Community Kitchen Campaign when parents got together to get us our of the Scolarest catering contract and to raise money for a new kitchen. We currently get our meals from Thornhill Primary School, but by the end of this term cooking should move on-site. We will be distributing a survey about nursery meals soon to catch up on parents’ views.

The 175th Anniversary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Demonstration: music, stalls and children’s entertainment in Edward Square this Saturday

175 years ago, over 100,000 people gathered for the start of a march in Copenhagen Fields to defend Trade Union Rights – the six Tolpuddle Martyrs from Dorset had been sentenced to seven years transportation into slavery in Australia for forming a Trade Union.

On Saturday, this great demonstration will be commemorated in Edward Square (just around the corner from here on Copenhagen Street) with stalls, music and celebrations from 1.30pm. Kate Greenaway is organising children’s entertainment and we hope you will stop by and enjoy the day as well as remembering the people who took a stand all those year ago. Read more here.