Newsletter No 5 / 27th March 2009

SATs Week
Year 6 pupils will have their statutory end of key stage 2 tests during week beginning 11th May and parents are respectfully requested not to book holidays, dental appointments, etc at this time. Pupils in Years 2-5 will also have tests at this time.

Pupils Work-Viewing Evening
It was good to see so many families take up this opportunity and we hope you found it a beneficial development.

Learning Platform
As we prepare to introduce the Learning Platform, we feel it is important to keep you updated regarding how it will affect home/school communication and your involvement with your child’s education. Once it is fully operational you, as parents, will be able to access school information at any time and see computer based home/class work that your child is working on. By accessing your unique “parent space” you will be able to read news that is posted, relevant to the class your child is in, and you will receive the weekly newsletter by this means. In time the paper format of the newsletter will be phased out. In preparation for these changes it is important that we receive e-mail addresses from parents as soon as possible. Please e-mail the school office at office.2455@stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk and put “Newsletter” in the subject line and your e-mail address in the body so that we can enter as many parents as possible onto the school information system. Please also see the Learning Platform posters in school for more information. Thank you.

“Notes of Harmony” Comenius Project Visit 27.03.09-01.04.09
Ten teachers from our Comenius partner schools in Poland, Germany and Turkey, including all three headteachers, will be arriving this weekend to participate in the project meeting hosted by Stadhampton School. Their visit includes project meetings, trips to Oxford, Cheltenham (Gustav Holst’s birthplace) and, of course, Stadhampton. On Monday 30th March our guests will spend the day in school, be entertained by our pupils in a concert and have opportunities to talk to the pupils about their schools as well as finding out what it is like to be a pupil at Stadhampton School! The concert will include a variety of singing, dancing, recorder playing, piano-playing and drama. Please would all pupils in Years 3-6 remember to bring in their recorder and school PE kit. Thank you.

Energy Mosaic
During the warm weather at the end of last week Mrs Pattisson painted the sun detail in the centre of our energy mosaic recently established in the school grounds. Although further painting is required (and warmer weather!) before the mosaic can be used as a circular stage by our pupil, it is an exciting development which we look forward to using. Please do go and look at it, if you have the opportunity, after school. Many thanks to Mrs Pattisson for her artistic talents, time and dedication in supporting this project.

Notes about next week:•
After school clubs for hockey, netball and multi-sports all finished this week. Football club will continue on Thursday 2nd April.
• No Booster Maths class on Tuesday. School Council Cake Sale at 3.15pm.
• Parents/carers are invited to join us for the end of term assembly on Friday 3rd April at 9.05am.
• School finishes at 1.30pm on Friday 3rd April.

Work Experience Students
We say a sad goodbye this week to Helen Buckley and Sarah Hunston, two students who have completed work experience programmes with us. We shall miss them both and wish them well as they continue with their studies.

News from the School Council
There will be a cake sale on Tuesday 31st March from 3.15pm to 4pm. There will also be a “Guess the name of the Bunny” competition and “Where is the Easter Egg?” All cakes to be brought into school on Tuesday morning, please. Thank you to everyone who bought an Easter Puzzle Page – we will let you know next week how much we made. Prizes will be given out on Friday 3rd April.

PTA News
PTA Message – please remember to bring in chocolate for the Easter Chocolate Raffle by Thursday next week. All
kinds of chocolate accepted including Easter eggs, slabs of chocolate, cakes or even brownies. Please give to any PTA member or Mrs Hopkins in the school office.
Also please bring in your raffle tickets by THURSDAY to be included in the raffle to be drawn on Friday 3rd April at 1.30pm. More tickets are available if required.

Little Bears News
This week we have made pasta salad. We have also been looking at “Spring” words i.e. grow, chick, bud, blossom, lamb etc and have made a lovely display of the words and created some lovely pictures of baby lambs etc to go with the words. Please call in and have a go on our Easter Egg Treasure Map – 50p per square. The draw is on Wednesday 1st April and the prize is a large Easter egg. This week’s shape is a Star.

DIARY DATES:

Monday 30th March Comenius visitors in school
Tuesday 31st March School Council Cake Sale 3.15pm
No Booster Maths Class today
Friday 3rd April End of Term Assembly at 9.05am. All welcome. PTA Easter Raffle Draw.
School finishes at 1.30pm.
Monday 20th April Term 5 starts.
Swimming begins for pupils in Class 2.
Friday 24th April Black bags clothes collection
Thursday 4th June School closed for Parliamentary and County Council Elections