Hi students & parents,

Gosh… there are so many topics to cram into this newsletter I am going to be as brief as possible in each section in the hope you will all read this to the end.

I’ve also left out any non urgent topics for future newsletters such as the launch of our Karate Parties, the launch of our new Woodley Academy, the rescheduled Mitt Master seminar and the launch of our Ninjas class for 3 year olds.

This means this newsletter only contains information you really need to know so please read this all the way through.

Parents Spectating

Although the Government have removed the restrictions we’ve all been living with, we don’t yet have written confirmation from the schools that they will allow adults into the building.  As soon as I have confirmation from the schools I will make an announcement.

However, and please don’t take this the wrong way… your kids are doing much better on their own.  They are more focused, growing in independence, have less distractions and we have more space and less background noise in the room.  So, whilst you will soon be welcome back into the room we would, politely, encourage you to carry on dropping off and collecting instead.

Grading Weekend

The next grading for all students will be Sept 18^th (adults) and 19^th (Kids).  The grading event will be held at our Bracknell location (Sandy Lane School) as it has the biggest hall with plenty of room for spectators.   I cannot give you exact times until everyone has registered.  Registration will open early August and close 31^stAugust as we need a couple of weeks to plan the event as we have potentially 270 gradings to process over 2 days.

Summer Break

Storm is closed from Monday 23^rd August to Saturday 4^th September (inclusive) to allow your instructors and coaches to spend time with their families and get some rest.   Feel free to attend any classes before / after this period at any location if you want to get some extra training in.

New (old) Timetable

We’re going back to our original timetable from Monday.  So that means a return to 45 minute Tiger classes.  From Monday we’re back to:

Weekdays at all locations

Dragons 5:30pm for 30 minutes

Tigers     6:10pm for 45 minutes

Adults     7pm for 50 minutes

Saturdays

Dragons 9:15am for 30 minutes

Tigers     10am for 45 minutes

Pads / Gloves / Sparring Gear

From Monday…

Dragons need to bring their gloves to every class.  They can leave their focus pads at home as these are for home practice.  The A-Team will be given pads to hold for the Dragons.

All Tigers need to bring gloves and focus pads.

All Tigers who are purple belt (or above) must bring full set of sparring gear

Adults – bring everything you have to every class

A-Team

The A-Team is back in action !!!   An email was sent this morning to all existing and new A-Team members advising them to report for duty at 5:15pm starting next week.

Parent Night

We will be announcing a ‘parent training night’ soon.  This will be a one off 90 minute class so we can show you some of the basics so you can help your child at home.  It will also give you a better understanding of what your child experiences every week.

Family Picnic

The Storm Family Picnic is Sunday August 15^th.  Noon until 3pm.  Drop in anytime.  Its in St Marys (Maidenhead location) school field so bring a blanket and your own food / drink / games / balls / bats etc.   An ice cream van will pop in half way through the afternoon.

Student Make Up Classes & Squad Training

We only had 1 or 2 people interested per programme (Dragons / Tigers / Adults) so we’re not able to run these classes.  We will try again for Squad Training next year once people are back into the swing of regular sparring.

Instructors On Phones

Lastly, if you see me (or Dan) on our phones at the start of the class…. we are not messing around.  We are recording students attendance on a Nest Management app as we record attendance carefully as regular attendance is a requirement to be eligible for gradings.

Thank you for reading this all the way through.  I’ll do another newsletter soon as we have so many wonderful things planned over the next 12 months.

Best wishes,

Digs