Newsletter No 4 / 26th June 2009

Congratulations to:

Kezia Lawson for coming 2nd in the recent Oxfordshire ICT News Reporter Competition;


Mair Amery, Daniel Green, Peter Roe, Oliver Perring, Kezia Lawson, Aimee Parkes, Rory Pattisson and Lucy Banting who have come first and second in their respective groups in the first stage of judging of the “Oxfordshire Big Science Event” out of 6 schools. The group whose entry will go through to the county final is Mair, Daniel, Peter and Oliver. Final judging takes place on 1st July at Science Oxford. Good luck!

Alex Birtles and Robbie Scragg who were the winners of the Watlington and Icknield Tennis Tournament 2009, earlier this week.

Learning Platform
We have been advised by the ICT Team at Cricket Road that parent data views have been turned off due to an intermittent countywide problem. The LEA is currently working on this fault and will let us know when the problem has been resolved.

After School Club Update
We are pleased that the After School Club will continue following the trial over the last two terms and will be available to parents on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons starting from Monday September 7th from 3.15pm to 5.00pm. It will continue to be run by Nikki Howlett with help from Joy Hopkins.

The club is non profit making, and whilst it lost £107 in the start up phase we are almost at breakeven. In order to make the club sustainable we need to make a small change; from the 1st September 2009 the price will stay at £5 per session when sessions are paid for in advance at the beginning of the week. Paying on the day will cost slightly more, at £6 per session. This will help the club to plan, and we hope that by encouraging parents to take advantage of the cheaper rate by paying in advance that we can achieve the average of 9 pupils per day to allow us to break even. The club is also currently being registered for Busy Bee vouchers, which offer savings to some parents: http://www.busybeesvouchers.com/ The school is responding to the needs of parents by facilitating a valuable support setting where children can play amongst friends in a familiar environment. If you have any questions or would like to try it out please contact either Nikki Howlett or Joy Hopkins.


Watlington Partnership
Earlier this week we sent a paper copy of the Summer Activity Sheet for the Watlington Partnership of Schools to each family.

Message from the PTA Committee
Sports Night BBQ – There will be a BBQ & bar run by PTA at the Sports Evening. The bar will sell Pimms, bottled beers, wine, crisps and soft drinks. Sausages & burgers can be pre-ordered from the BBQ at £2 each. Tickets are available from PTA members or Mrs Hopkins at school from Monday 22nd June until Wednesday 8th July. Tickets must be purchased in advance as there will be no cash sales of food on the night.

Chiltern Chase – final chance to bring in any sponsorship money for the Chiltern Chase on Monday please.

Sainsbury and Tesco Vouchers
Many thanks to everyone for collecting these vouchers for us. They really do make a difference, enabling us to improve resources. Please could any further vouchers be sent in on Monday so that we can complete our count and dispatch our order.

Premier Sports Basketball Event
Thank you to everyone for sending in the sponsorship money collected for this fundraising event. We are pleased to announce that the school raised £220 from this event, which will be used to purchase some new outdoor play equipment for breaktimes.

The Big Lunch
Although not a school function, you may like to know about The Big Lunch which is a nationwide campaign to get neighbours to meet. The idea is to have a “Big Lunch” on Stadhampton Green – the perfect venue: playground, shade under a big oak tree, mown grass and hopefully sunshine! All you have to do is bring a rug and a picnic. Other ideas are suggested on the website (http://www.thebiglunch.com) but the main aim is to encourage villagers to turn up and share a lunch-time. No fundraising, no pressure, just fun!

Little Bears News
This week Little Bears have enjoyed making gingerbread shapes and also spending time outdoors playing with water, doing chalking and playing games with our new parachute. We have also been talking about the seaside. We said a sad goodbye to Helen Buckley who has now completed her work placement with us. Race Night has been cancelled due to lack of ticket sales; however, a “Race Afternoon” is planned for this Saturday beginning at 12 noon. Everyone is most welcome to come along.

DIARY DATES:

Tuesday 30th June Class 1 visit to Beale Park
Class 2 visit to the Reading Museum
Wednesday 1st July Mobile Library
Tuesday 7th July Concert for Classes 2 & 3 at Harris Manchester College
Friday 10th July Sports Evening – weather permitting!
Tuesday 14th July Daylight Theatre performance
Friday 17th July End of school year assembly at 9.00am
School finishes at 1.30pm for the summer break
1st & 2nd September Staff INSET Days
Thursday 3rd September Pupils return to school
Price of a school meal increases to £2 per day