Newsletter No 3 / 17th September 2010

Clarinet Lessons for Class 3 pupils
Clarinet lessons began this week for all pupils in Class 3. Each child has been lent a clarinet by the County Music Service and benefits from 30 x 1hour lessons over this academic year. This one-year free programme has been running at a number of schools, throughout the county, and has proved to be very successful. We welcome Mrs Debbie Rose, the clarinet teacher, to our school and look forward to discovering more musical talent!

Learning Platform update
Emma Stinga, from the ICT team, has recently been working with each class to assist staff and pupils in accessing the Learning Platform and showing them its capabilities. This week we have issued letters to the new families who joined the school in September, explaining what the Learning Platform is and providing those new parents with their user names and passwords. If any other parent is struggling to access the Learning Platform and would like to be given their user name and password again, please e-mail Mrs Hopkins at office.2455@stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk and she will try to assist. The address to access the LP is www.klp.rm.com

Madame Church
We are pleased to welcome Madame Church as a new member of staff. Madame Church is a language specialist and will be teaching French to all pupils on Thursday afternoons.

SSCO Programme
As part of our involvement in the SSCO programme, we are pleased to welcome Andrew Highton, a community rugby coach, into school to lead a tag rugby session with Classes 2 and 3. Pupils in the Foundation Stage and Class 1 are also benefitting from a session each week led by Debbie Saw, an SODC schools support coach.

Moving On Booklets
All Year 6 pupils who need to apply for a place at secondary school for September 2011 were given a booklet entitled “Moving On” on Tuesday. Applications for places may be made using the form in the booklet or by applying on-line at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissions The closing date for applications is 31st October 2010.

Admissions into Primary School Booklets
Starting School booklets are available in the school office for parents with children born between 1st September 2006 and 31st August 2007. Applications for places may be made using the form in the booklet or by applying on-line at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissions The closing date for applications is 17th January 2011.

Coats for Breaktimes
Several children have felt cold this week when playing outside in the cooler weather. Please remember to send your child with a coat, if necessary.

Little Bears News
The Little Bears, new and old have settled into the new term very well indeed. We would like to welcome Cohen Brassill to Little Bears this week; we hope he enjoys his time with us. We are making spiders this week to support the nursery rhyme “Incy Wincey Spider” except our spiders are not so Insey Wincey! The children attended assembly with FS1 and Class 1 on Monday. For some of these children it was their very first time at the school, they appeared to enjoy the singing and behaved impeccably.

PTA Message
A big thank you to all new mums who came to the meeting on Tuesday. We should have a good team of volunteers to help organise some great events of the year. New members are still always welcome!

The first dates for your diary are:
Friday 15 October – 7pm – Quiz Night and Pudding Club - at the Community (School) Hall. Come and have an evening of fun with some delicious puddings to sample and judge in the interval. Tickets are £4.00 per person to include entry for the quiz, a selection of puddings to eat and a cup of tea or coffee. There will be a raffle and a bar selling alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Tickets will be available from the school office, Sarah Madry and Eimer Fernie. If you would like to enter a dessert for the Pudding Club then please talk to Sarah. There will be a prize for the pudding judged to be the best. (There is no charge for entering).

We would be very grateful for your donations of wine, toiletries, chocolates, unwanted gifts etc for the raffle. There will be a cardboard box labelled “PTA DONATIONS” in the school hall where you can leave your donations. Thank you!

Monday 1 November (morning) – Clothes Recycling Collection - It will be a perfect opportunity to have a good clear out over the Autumn holiday of all your unwanted clothes, shoes, towels, curtains, bedding (no duvets or pillows), bags etc. Please note that the collection date is the first Monday back after the holidays! PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR BAGS IN!! We cannot accept any bags before the holidays because we will be unable to store them in the school.

Plant Order Forms – In the not-too-distant future we will be sending home, via book bags, the order forms for plants and hanging baskets. There will be an accompanying letter to explain how it works. The order forms and your payment need to be returned to Eimer Fernie or Sarah Madry by Friday 8 October. Plants will be delivered to school. Please take a look at the website for some great ideas to brighten up your tubs over winter! www.cdbell.co.uk (Please do not place your order online!)

Friday 26 November – early evening – Winter Fair – come and have a great evening at the Community (School) Hall! There will be games, face painting, craft stalls, cards and wrapping paper, gifts, cakes, books, DVDs, CDs and a bar selling alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. There will also be a very special guest – Santa! More information to follow (start saving, sorting and collecting contributions for raffle prizes, tombolas and stalls now).

PTA EVENTS OVER THE YEAR MAY INCLUDE:
Mid December – PTA run bar after Christmas school play.
February – Bingo for children with pizza after school.
March – Possible pamper evening for Mother’s Day
Spring – Possible village treasure hunt followed by coffee morning with raffle
Spring – Plant orders – new stock of spring bulbs etc
May – Clothes recycling
July – Sports Evening, BBQ and Bar

Some other fundraising events may occur – we will keep you up-to-date via the school newsletter. Thank you for your support.

Gardening Club – request for help!
Mrs Tombling and Mrs Birtles plan to carry on Mrs Pattisson’s sterling work in running a gardening club for the school on Friday lunchtimes. They are happy to plan and co-ordinate activities but need a few other willing parents on Fridays to help to weed, dig over the plot, etc. If you would like to help on a regular basis, please let Mrs Tombling or Mrs Birtles know.

Visitors from Hazlach School in Poland
On Friday 24th September we will welcome a group of pupils, teachers and parents from Hazlach School. They will spend the day in school, experiencing a typical school day and will spend much of the time with Class 3 pupils. Further opportunities to meet our guests were detailed in a letter sent out earlier in the week.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 20th September
Assembly at 2.30pm for Year 5 and 6 pupils and their parents
Wednesday 22nd September
Year 5 pupils visit Icknield Community College for a science lesson
Wednesday 29th September
All pupils will have their school photographs taken
Friday 1st October
Harvest Festival in Church
Wednesday 6th October
Mobile Library
Wednesday 13th October
Open Morning at school and at Little Bears