Newsletter No 5 / 12th February 2010

UNICEF Charity Day – Friday 5th February
Many thanks for your generous contributions to and support of our two charity events held in school last Friday. In the morning we raised £169.77 for UNICEF’s Day for Change appeal, which this year focuses on developing education and health facilities for children in Mozambique. The School Council’s after-school cake sale was very popular, with a huge selection of cakes and many enthusiastic buyers! As a result of the cake sale, and the sale of books and dolls, we raised a total of £197.40 for the people of Haiti. In total that comes to the magnificent sum of £367.17 for UNICEF. Thank you all.

PTA Message – BINGO NIGHT 26th February.
We are running this hugely popular and great fun event on Feb 26th at the school in the evening. There will be an optional fish and chip supper and a PTA bar so please pass the word around to friends and neighbours as this promises to be an entertaining evening. If you have never taken part in Bingo before then this is the opportunity to have a go in the safety of a village event; so why not get a group of friends together and have a good laugh as you try to spot the numbers. Tickets are on sale from the school office or Sarah Madry. If you have any unwanted Christmas presents going spare, or the odd bottle of wine, we would appreciate a few donations as prizes for the evening.
Date of next PTA Meeting – March 16th @ 8pm at school – all welcome.

Administration of medicines to pupils in school
The school staff and governing body have recently reviewed the school Medicine Policy. In compliance with this policy, and in the best interests of your children, parents wishing to request that school staff administer essential medicine during school time to their child/ren now need to complete an “Administration of Medicine at Stadhampton School” parent request form. This form now replaces the need for parents to write a letter and ensures school staff receive all the necessary information regarding dosage, timings, etc. Forms are available from each class teacher. A reference copy of the Medicine Policy is available, upon request, in the school office.

Cyberbullying and Internet “grooming”You may have been aware of recent media attention highlighting the risk of children’s vulnerability to the misuse/abuse of the internet by adults. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), a government organisation, focused public attention with a Safer Internet Day on 9th February. They have developed a cartoon to raise awareness, and help children protect themselves from, internet abuse. This can be accessed on www.ceop.gov.uk. At school our internet system is filtered by OCC and pupils do not have unsupervised access to the Internet.


Unnamed Lost Property
There is a variety of unnamed small size school sweatshirts and cardigans in the lost property box. Please have a look through the box if you have lost any school uniform items recently.

Storytelling Workshops with the Creation Theatre Company
On Tuesday 9th February all pupils took part in a series of dramatised story-telling activities and workshops led by Richard Kidd (actor) and Helen Morley (education assistant) from the Creation Theatre Company. Foundation Stage pupils were treated to animated re-telling of some of Grimm’s Fairy Tales; pupils in Years 1-3 took part in workshops dramatising a story from the Arabian Nights culminating in a presentation to other pupils; pupils in
Years 4 -6 took park in workshops dramatising the Ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, also culminating in a presentation to other pupils. We were very lucky to be allowed to use the head of ‘the beast’, from the Creation Theatre Company’s most recent production of Beauty and the Beast, as the head of the Minotaur.
It was a very successful day; pupils participated enthusiastically and both Richard and Helen praised the behaviour and attitude of our pupils – they clearly enjoyed their day too. This day, whilst fun, also helps develop pupils speaking and listening skills which are fundamental to developing good literacy skills.

Key Stage 1 Drama Workshops by the Creation Theatre Company
The series of after-school drama workshops for pupils in Year 1 and 2, run by the Creation Theatre Company, have now, sadly, finished. The children presented a performance of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to their families as a ‘grand finale’. This was much enjoyed by everyone present – thank you to all who were able to attend. This opportunity was made possible through the financial support of Extended Services.

Haiti Singing
On Saturday, 30th January over 100 singers, including Mrs Wilkin, came together to learn and record the Haitian folk song Fey-O – a Creole song about suffering and relief. The choir, consisting of students and members of local choirs, came together on the day under the directorship of David Crown, and the solo was provided by the baritone, Christopher Purves. The local media have been supportive in covering this endeavour and now the song is available for download. If you would like to make a donation to the Haiti Appeal – please visit the following site which will allow you to download the track www.haitisinging.com

Book Fair – 4 March 2010
We are looking forward to holding a Book Fair in the school hall from Thursday 4th March until Wednesday 10th March, both before and after school, in association with World Book Day. The commission from the fair allows us to buy books for each classroom and the non-fiction library, so every purchase helps us to get new books for school. This Book Fair is from a new company which we are trialling and we are assured there will be hundreds of exciting books to choose from. We would be interested to receive feedback from parents and pupils on the quality of this Book Fair.

Little Bears News
"Love is in the air this week at Little Bears" - we have made decorative hearts using salt dough to represent St. Valentine’s Day. The children made them for the people they love. We have also made Tiger masks to support Chinese New Year. We really enjoyed assembly with FS1& Class 1 on Monday afternoon. The Little Bears were impeccably behaved, joined in beautifully with the singing and made Little Bears staff very proud!
We hope you have a very relaxing half term & look forward to seeing you on our return.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 22nd February Return to school after the February Holiday
Swimming sessions begin for Class 3 pupils (6 sessions in total)
After-school Hockey club
Tuesday 23rd February First “Little Cooks” session for participating pupils
Wednesday 24th February Year 5 pupils visit ICC for an English lesson
Mobile Library
After school Netball and Multisports clubs
Thursday 25th February After-school football club
Friday 26th February PTA – Bingo Event – evening
Wednesday 3rd March Maths Master Class at ICC for participating pupils
Thursday 4th March BOOK FAIR in school in association with World Book Day. New company being trialled.
Friday 5th March Parents receive Mid-Year Summary Reports
Monday 15th March Work viewing evening 3.30 – 6pm