Newsletter No 2 - 13th May 2011

Welcome
We welcome Mrs Anne Leslie, a PGCE student at Oxford Brookes University, who is on a placement at Stadhampton School for 8 weeks. Mrs Leslie will be working closely with Mrs Manzie throughout this time and is teaching in Class 1.

Storytelling Chair ‘Unveiling’
On the first day back after the Easter Holidays, we held a special event to ‘launch’ our unique storytelling chair. The event was attended by three generations of the Peers family, with Charles Peers cutting the ribbon, Simon Clements who carved the chair, Daylight Theatre and the Press. You may have seen the article and photo in the Oxford Mail of 30.04.11; it can also be found on the Oxford Mail website www.oxfordmail.co.uk. There was a celebration cake, shared by all, and storytelling by Daylight Theatre, retelling separate stories for Reception/Class 1 children and Class 2 & 3 children. Here are some recounts from pupils;

1) “On the 27th April the Peers family came to see the storytelling chair and cut the ribbon. After the chair was ‘opened’ one of the actors from Daylight Theatre sat in it and told a story. The story for Classes 2 and 3 was Macbeth. It was a very good story and he told it very enthusiastically. Overall I though it was a memorable occasion”. – Alice Madry C3
2) “We think that Wind in the Willows is a fantastic story. The storyteller made us laugh when he did the funny voices – sometimes squeaky and sometimes low. It had really good words in it like “poop, poop” when Toad was driving. He looked great in his dressing up clothes and Class 1 really enjoyed it”. Betsy and Oliver C1.

SATs
Congratulations to our Year 6 pupils who managed the challenges of SATs week very well!

Cycling Safely Training
Confirmation of those attending the cycle training which commences on Friday 20th May: Alice Madry, Amy Akers, Andrew Oakley, Chloe Brown, Benedict Diment, Tom Leighfield, Ben Drake, Amber Tomkins and Pola Onopiuk. Permission letters are in bookbags and will need to be returned before the first cycling lesson on Friday 20th May.

Spanish School Visit
We look forward to welcoming 35 pupils and 5 adults from the CEIP Maestro Juan Apresa School, Arcos in Spain when they visit Stadhampton on 20th May. We worked with this school previously as part of a Comenius project and look forward to catching up with them again.

P.T.A. News
Thank you to everyone who purchased items from the second hand uniform stall last Friday. The P.T.A. is pleased to report that we made £30.50 towards our funds. This amount, combined with the sales of new uniform that were available, has resulted in such a positive response that we will definitely be holding another uniform sale in the near future. A big thank you goes to Tracy Perring for organising the new uniform items and Eimer Fernie and Lucy Ellis for beautifully displaying the second-hand ones.

The clothes recycling bags were piled high on Tuesday, so thank you to all families who brought items into school. We will be able to inform you of how much money we have raised, once the items have been weighed and sorted by Bag2school.


Our Family Fun Day is promising to be a really good afternoon out for all members of the family. Everything will kick off at 1.30pm in the Community Hall this Saturday 14th May. We can confirm that there will be teas, coffees, juice and squash, cakes and biscuits, with cream teas as a special treat! Children can get their face painted, decorate a glass jar to make a night light, decorate a plant pot and sow some seeds and make a fantastic kite – that really flies! We will also have a Children’s Tombola. There will also be a very special competition for all children who enter the “Junk Heap Challenge” - Come and make a model out of our junk heap, have your photo taken with it and if your model is judged to be the best in show your photo will appear on the front cover of the Parish Magazine!
The afternoon will end at approx. 4pm when the winners of our Puzzle Trails will be announced! - Adults could win Tea for Two at The Crazy Bear and children could win Tickets to Beale Park. It’s not too late to buy the Puzzle Sheets. We are still offering our “buy one get one free offer” for both adult’s and children’s trails for £5.00. Puzzle sheets are available from Sarah Madry - 07749 224464 and Catherine Odell - 07917 696149.

This will be our last opportunity to make a request for donations of cakes and biscuits to sell on Saturday. We would be very grateful for any contributions, whether they are home made or shop bought. Please bring any treats into school on Friday 13th and leave in the school kitchen, or bring along on the day. We are also requesting donations of any items to do with children for the children’s tombola. They can include good quality, second hand or new books, toys, games, sweets etc. Please bring items into school no later than Friday morning and leave in the red P.T.A. box labelled donations in the school hall. Thank you!

Every child should have received a letter in their book bags from the P.T.A. and Mrs Turner, informing families of the development of the children’s new play equipment. The P.T.A. is very pleased to announce a contribution of £5,000 towards this project. The designs and plans will be on display for the first time at the Fun Day, so please feel free to come and have a look. Mrs Turner and members of the P.T.A. will be very happy to answer any queries you may have about the project. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!


A message from the Thames Valley Health Protection Unit
We have recently received a letter from the Thames valley HPU regarding advice and information about measles. There is a reported increase in the number of cases of measles locally and nationally in 2011 and in continental Europe. Children who have not received the MMR vaccine and who have recently returned from a visit to continental Europe are more vulnerable to infection and the Thames Valley HPU advice to parents/carers of such children is to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease. Further information can be found on www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Measles

Playground Developments
As you may have read in a recent newsletter from the PTA, we are delighted that we are, at last, in a position to replace the climbing equipment in the school grounds. The children, through the School Council, have been closely involved in the choice of new equipment and we hope that installation will take place in mid-June, giving all pupils an opportunity to play on it before the summer holidays. We are extremely grateful to the PTA for their support of this project; they have been involved in the planning and have made a very significant financial contribution. Without this support we would not be able to provide such facilities so, on behalf of all pupils, thank you!

Little Bears News
We will be finding out about healthy eating, making healthy food plates and talking about our senses. We will also be enjoying some exotic fruit kebabs and finding out about hygiene and why it’s important to wash those germs away!!

DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 18th May Y5 Students visiting ICC – PE lesson
Mobile library visit
Friday 20th May Cycle Training starts
Tuesday 24th May Mrs Elliott from Icknield Community College will be talking to our Y6 pupls about their transition into Secondary School.
Wednesday 25th May Weighing and measuring of Reception pupils and Year 6 by the school nurse (rearranged from 25th March)
Friday 27th May Break up at the end of Term 5 at 3.15pm

Monday 6th June INSET Day – teachers only at school
Tuesday 7th June Pupils return to school for the start of Term 6
Wednesday 22nd June Y5 Students visiting ICC – Creative Arts lesson
Mobile library visit
Friday 22nd July Term 6 ends at 1.30pm