Newsletter No 8 / 12th March 2010

Book Fair
Thank you to everyone who bought books from the Book Fair which we had in school recently in conjunction with World Book Day. Although the Book Fair was very small, with only two cases of books, we sold books to the value of £150 (excluding WBD vouchers) which resulted in £150 worth of commission, taken in books for school pupils.

World Book Day, Friday 5th March
Many thanks to all the children (and staff!) who entered into the spirit of the day so enthusiastically and to all the parents who enabled this to happen! There were some very imaginative costumes for a wide range of book characters (ranging from Little Red Riding Hood to Horrid Henry!) and each “character” read an extract from their chosen book to the rest of their class. Other activities were carried out in each class, including character “hot seating”, creating character profiles and developing new stories involving curious character combinations. All pupils designed a bookmark and a selection of the best designs have been entered in a national “Design a Bookmark” competition linking with World Book Day.

Work Viewing Evening, Monday 15th March
A reminder that parents are invited to view their children’s work, in each class, between 3.30 and 6pm on Monday 15th March. Teaching staff will be available in the classroom for brief consultation, if required, but there is no appointment system on this occasion. In addition, several of our school governors will be serving tea/ coffee/squash in the Hall, enabling parents to meet them informally. The governors will also be providing parents with an opportunity to make suggestions which may shape the future of Stadhampton School. The governors will have a “suggestion box” in which parents are invited to post their responses to the question “How would you like the school to look in 3 years time?” Cards will be provided for parents to complete. Suggestions will be discussed at the next Governors’ Meeting with a view to being part of a wider consultation process.

PTA NEWS
Chocolate Easter Raffle –The raffle will take place on 1st April which is the last day of school before we break up for Easter. Please look out for the raffle ticket envelopes in your child’s reading folder today; there is one envelope per family. Please return all ticket stubs and money to school in the envelopes by Wednesday 31st March to be entered into the raffle as tickets will be drawn on the Thursday morning. We are also looking for donations which are chocolate related, i.e Easter eggs, biscuits, cakes, bars of chocolate, packets of chocolate or even chocolate drinks. All donations to be brought into school week commencing 29th March, thank you.

Clothes Recycling – 30th April is the date for collections so start clearing out your winter wardrobe now. Bags will be available from School or Sarah Madry.

Chiltern Chase 13th June – Start training now to run either the 5k or 10k race. Sponsorship forms will be available after Easter.

Summer Fete 12th June – We are open to ideas as to what to include in the summer fete this year so please either come along to the PTA meeting next Tuesday or let an active member of the PTA know. All ideas and help welcomed.

PTA meeting – Tuesday 16th March @8pm at School, all welcome.

Nit Alert
Thank you to a parent in Class 2 for letting us know that she has treated her child for head lice this week. In order to eradicate this problem quickly, please could all parents check, and treat their children’s hair this weekend if necessary.

Sports Relief Fun Run, Friday 19th March
The School Council, along with Miss Shah and Mrs Manzie, are planning to hold a Fun Run in support of Sports Relief on Friday 19th March (weather permitting!). This will take the same format as similar fun runs held in school over recent years. The run will take place entirely within the school grounds and will comprise of a number of circuits of our sports field. Mrs Manzie has measured the route and each “lap” of the grounds is half a mile! Pupils in Reception and Class 1 will be challenged to 2 circuits (1 mile), pupils in Class 2, 4 laps (2 miles) and pupils in Class 3, 6 laps (3 miles). We hope that everyone will complete a minimum of 1 mile – we aim to complete at least 100 miles between us all and will keep a “running” total. A minimum donation of 50p would be appreciated – this could be extended to 50p per lap for those who complete additional laps. Please bring donations in on the day. Pupils can wear school PE kit, or a Sports Relief T-shirt, or dress up as an Olympic athlete, just for the run. However pupils will need trainers whatever clothing is worn!
We appreciate that some pupils will need to walk some of the course and this is not a problem. We hope that all pupils will participate but please let your child’s teacher know if your child will not be taking part. Thank you.

Daffodils
We would like to say “thank you” to Mr and Mrs Birtles for very kindly donating, again this year, a bunch of daffodils for each child for Mother’s Day.


Little Bears News
Another busy week for the Little Bears, - unfortunately it's all a bit of a surprise. Mum's you'll find out on Sunday! We continue to enjoy our Thursday mornings with Miss Mould and her class. Our singing is really improving (I mean the staff of course, the children are fantastic!) We hope Mum's you have a wonderful day on Sunday and love your surprises as the children have put a great deal of care and concentration into them. Our Website is now live, please visit www.little-bears.co.uk

DIARY DATES:
Monday 15th March Work Viewing Evening 3.30 – 6pm
Tuesday 16th March Classes 2 and 3 visiting the Northmoor Trust, Little Wittenham
PTA Meeting at 8pm at school. All welcome.
Wednesday 17th March Mobile Library
Thursday 1st April 9.00am End of Term Assembly. Parents/carers welcome.
School finishes at 1.30pm for the April Holiday. No after –school football club.
Monday 19th April Start of Term 5