Thursday, July 21, 2011

Newsletter No 7 - 22nd July 2011

We would like to say goodbye and good luck to our Year 6 leavers; Alice Madry, Amy Akers, Chloe Brown, Benedict Diment, Ben Drake, Tom Leighfield, Andrew Oakley, Pola Onopiuk and Amber Tomkins, who are all transferring to Icknield Community College. We wish them all every success in the future.

New School Prospectus
Our updated school prospectus for the new academic year beginning in September has been uploaded onto the school website. It contains lots of information and some lovely new pictures, please take the time to have a look at it during the summer break.

Premier Sports Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
The holiday course will take place at Stadhampton School from 25th – 29th July for those pupils who have already booked a place. It is also possible to register and pay on the day. If the weather is good the course will be mainly outdoors but it will take place indoors if the weather is wet.

School Meals
Reminder school meals will increase to £2.10 per day when we return in September. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council with Stadhampton Primary School written on the back of the cheque please.

Swimming at Berinsfield Pool
Class 2 will start their swimming sessions at the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield on Monday 12th September. They will have 6 sessions. For families new to these swimming sessions, pupils need to bring their own swimming trunks or costume, a swimming hat and a towel on Monday mornings. As always,we appreciate a “voluntary contribution” of £1, per child, per session towards the transport costs. Cheques for swimming should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School, please.

School Grounds Working Party
Many thanks to the group of volunteer dads who provided our own version of Groundforce earlier this week. They helped clear the ground where the old climbing frame was, in preparation for seeding with grass.

School Council Talent Show
On Thursday 20th July Stadhampton School held a talent show, which featured acts from all year groups! Acts included some impressive piano playing, singing and dancing and even some comedy! Mrs Wilkin, Mrs Shortman and Naomi Manzie kindly judged the acts and declared Ella Perring the winner, due to her lovely rendition of “Part of their World.” Georgia Valentine and Millie Birtles came second with their gymnastics/dance act. Thank you to all school council members this school year who were all involved in the development and organisation of the final show.

P.T.A.
We were fortunate that the rain held off for Sports Night last Friday! A HUGE THANK YOU to Mr Gerring for sourcing the most delicious sausages and burgers for the BBQ; Shirley Bateman, Denise Shortman and Nikki Howlett for cooking and serving them; And finally Alan Manzie and Joy Hopkins for serving drinks and refreshments at the bar. A very good time was had by all and next year the P.T.A. will try and make sure the bar doesn’t run out of alcohol quite so quickly!
The best news has to be that we made a staggering £661.56 profit towards P.T.A. funds on the night, which is a truly fantastic way to end the school year.


Thank you to everyone who purchased food and refreshments for our final event of the year – it makes the effort all worth while!

As this is the last newsletter of the school year, the P.T.A. would like to thank all families, relations, members of the community, staff and friends who have supported us. Without your help and backing our school would not be able to give the pupils those very special extras that make their time at Stadhampton School a really positive experience. This year has resulted in being a truly fantastic one for the children with the new play equipment being installed well before the year sixes leave for secondary school.
The P.T.A. is very pleased to announce we have donated over £8,000 towards the school this year, £5,000 of which went towards the play equipment. Other purchases have included contributions towards French lessons for all pupils, visits by the Daylight Theatre Company, contributions to school trips for pupils to museums, new benches and drape posts around the mosaic and some new rugby shirts for the children to wear on sports events when visiting other schools.
This means our fundraising has to begin again with great enthusiasm next September and we hope you will all continue to support us to help provide some more wonderful experiences for the children – you make it possible, so on behalf of the all the pupils – THANK YOU.


Little Bears News
Little Bears newsletter which contains dates parents need to know about for September, as well as goodbyes to our leavers and welcome to our new pupils are available from Little Bears if you have not received an electronic copy.



DIARY DATES:

25th – 29th July Holiday course run by Premier Sports Group


Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th September Teacher INSET Days
Wednesday 7th September Pupils return to school
Wednesday 21st September School photographs



We wish everyone a great summer break!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Newsletter No 6 - 15th July 2011

Absence in this school year
Thank you to all parents for their support in trying to reduce the number of days pupils are absent from school. Absence figures relate to both sickness and holidays taken during term-time. In the present academic year, which is almost at an end, we have managed to reduce our absence figures from 3.3% to 3.2%. Our target for the academic year beginning in September is to reduce absence to 3% in total.

Fruit and Vegetables for breaktime
Just a general reminder that all pupils are welcome to have some fruit or vegetable at morning break. Pupils in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 (Class 1) currently have fruit already available at school through a government funded scheme. Unfortunately this does not extend to pupils in Years 3-6 but pupils are welcome to bring their own in from home and keep it in their lunch bag or their drawer. As a health issue we request that other forms of snacks at breaktime (ie chewy bars/biscuits) are avoided.

Class 3 involvement in reading research for the University of Oxford PhD
Year 5 and Year 6 pupils were recently due to work with a PhD student from the University of Oxford. Unfortunately this has not been able to go ahead at this time due to reasons out of our control. There are plans for this to take place with Year 6 pupils next year.

Cycling Safely Training

Congratulations to the following pupils who have successfully passed their cycle training test: Alice Madry, Amy Akers, Andrew Oakley, Chloe Brown, Benedict Diment, Tom Leighfield, Ben Drake, Amber Tomkins and Pola Onopiuk. We are extremely grateful to Eileen Birtles, Sarah Green, Elaine Leighfield, Lisa Scragg and Emma Vale for giving up their time to provide pupils with their training.

Tuesday 19th July
All pupils are going to be treated to a day off timetable next Tuesday. There will be a morning of PE/outdoor activities after assembly followed by a Daylight Theatre performance of Robin Hood in the afternoon. Please ensure that all pupils have PE kit and plimsolls or trainers in school.

Premier Sports Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Booking forms are now available for the sports course being held at Stadhampton School from 25th – 29th July from the school office. Please note that the cost of the course is now £6 a day for 9-3pm.

P.T.A.

Thank you so much to all families who have purchased food tickets in advance of tonight’s sports night. If the rain can hold off until at least 8.00pm then it should promise to be a great, fun filled evening! The P.T.A. would like to remind everyone to bring their food tickets along tonight to claim their burgers or hotdogs please. You will need them for proof of purchase and it will help us to give you the correct orders. Thank you! We look forward to seeing you on the school field from 6.00pm, when the bar should be open and the food ready to serve from this time onwards. Races will start promptly at 6.30pm.

Our collection of CD’s, DVD’s and computer games has grown to 70 plus! Thanks go to everyone who has already donated. Keep collecting over the holidays and the P.T.A. will remind you again in the new school year to bring any items into school to help raise extra funds and to get a free football kit for the school.

This is a plea from the P.T.A. to all strong, willing volunteers, who would like to do “their bit” for their child’s school! We have now managed to clear the site where the old equipment used to stand and are desperately in need of just a few more helping hands to rake, clear roots and weeds and make good the ground for sowing some grass seed. Bob Stewart has very kindly offered to lead a working party of willing volunteers for a couple of hours on Saturday 16th July from 10am–12pm. In the interest of health and safety, it would be easier if pupils were not on the school site at this time.

Chalgrove and Watlington Children’s Centre
“Promoting positive behaviour in children 0-12 years” at the Chalgrove Site on Tuesday 27th September 9.15-11.30am. For more information contact Jane Bellars on 07719 736673.

New After-School Club at Stadhampton School
Mrs Shortman has kindly offered to run an after-school cooking club from September 2011. The opportunity will be offered to a year group at a time and will run for 5 weeks. Places will be limited to ten pupils, offered on a first come-first served basis. The cost for the 5 sessions will be £20 in total which will also cover the cost of the ingredients. The emphasis of the club is to have fun and share in the enjoyment of preparing, cooking and presenting good home-made food whilst learning the importance of food and personal hygiene, basic knife skills, i.e. chopping, slicing and peeling. Pupils will learn some simple cooking techniques relating to pastries, cakes, soups and sauces.

Year 6 pupils will have the first opportunity, so look out for the letters in the first week of September.

Banbury Museum Visit – Report by Alice
“On Wednesday 11th July Class 3 went to Banbury Museum. When we first got there we went in to a room and talked about the Civil War. After that we all went upstairs and looked at the Civil War artefacts and then did some acting. It was quite strange pretending to be people back in those times! We then had lunch and had one last look around the museum before we left.”


Little Bears News
We are busy practicing for our sports day on Friday 22nd July at 11am. All parents are reminded to bring something to sit on and a picnic. We are also looking forward to having our reward from Elmer the Elephant!


DIARY DATES:

Wednesday 20th July Mobile Library. All books to be returned please.
Friday 22nd July End of school year assembly at 9.05am in hall. All welcome.
Term 6 ends at 1.30pm
25th – 29th July Holiday course run by Premier Sports Group


Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th September Teacher INSET Days
Wednesday 7th September Pupils return to school
Wednesday 21st September School photographs

Friday, July 8, 2011

Newsletter No 5 - 8th July 2011

Three Transition Days
It has been a pleasure to welcome our new Foundation stage pupils into school for three days this week. We look forward to them joining us full-time in September. All other pupils enjoyed spending three days this week practising being the year group that they will be in September.

Welcome to Charlie Austin
We were pleased to welcome Charlie Austin this week into Class 1. Charlie has now permanently transferred to Stadhampton School.

Home/School Agreement Consultation
A reminder that any responses to our recent letter regarding the Home/School Agreement should be returned to the office by Monday 11th July.

New Play Equipment and suitable footwear
Please could all pupils have trainers in school every day, both for outdoor PE and for accessing the new play equipment. Neither sandals nor wellies are suitable for wearing on the climbing equipment and we don’t want anyone to miss out! Thank you.

Premier Sports Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Booking forms are now available for the sports course being held at Stadhampton School from 25th – 29th July from the school office. Please note that the cost of the course is now £6 a day for 9-3pm.

P.T.A. News
With only three weeks left of the school year the P.T.A. are looking forward to a very well earned rest. But before we put our feet up with a glass of something cold and refreshing, we are putting the final plans in place for the Sports Night next Friday 15th July 6.00pm onwards, on the school field. Today (Friday 8th) is your last chance to purchase food tickets for Hot dogs and Burgers, both at £2.00 each. You can still buy tickets from Joy Hopkins in the school office during today and Sarah Madry will be at the school gates with tickets from 3.00–3.30pm. (Cheques made payable to Stadhampton Primary School P.T.A. please.) There will be a Bar at the sports night selling alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and all proceeds from the Bar and the BBQ will go towards P.T.A. funds. Do please support us for our last event of the year where we can all meet up and socialise, whilst cheering on our children in the races.

Our CD/DVD/computer game collection is off to a brilliant start - we already have over 50 items! This means that we are well on the way of reaching our goal to obtain 250 discs to claim a free five-a-side football kit for the school and raise extra funds for the P.T.A. at the same time. To receive payment from musicMagpie (who will give the P.T.A. 50p per item) we need to collect CDs and DVDs that have their original notes and sleeves as well as a bar code on the reverse. Unfortunately we can’t send CDs or DVDs that have been given free in newspapers or magazines as these do not have a barcode. Also musicMagpie will only take CD albums, not singles. Computer games discs must be compatible with Playstation3, Xbox and Xbox360 consoles. WE CAN NOT SEND VHS VIDEOS! Please look through your CD and DVD collection, raid the unwanted computer games, ask relatives, neighbours and friends as well and bring any unwanted films, music and games into school and place in the red P.T.A. box in the hall. You can keep collecting over the summer holidays and bring them to school in September. If each family donates just five CDs, DVDs or computer games, we will raise £150.00 towards P.T.A. funds and get the free kit too! Thank you for giving.

Calling all Dads! - This is a plea from the P.T.A. to all strong, willing fathers, who would like to do “their bit” for their child’s school! As you know, the School and P.T.A. have managed to achieve their goal of replacing the old play equipment with some fantastic new apparatus that has made a huge difference to the children’s playtime. With the help of Ian Burnell (thank you!) we have now managed to clear the site where the old equipment used to stand and are desperately in need of just a few more helping hands to rake, clear roots and weeds and make good the ground for sowing some grass seed. Bob Stewart has very kindly offered to lead a working party of willing volunteers for a couple of hours on Saturday 16th July from 10am–12pm. We would also be very grateful for some volunteers to clean up the picnic benches and maybe give them a new coat of wood preserver. If you fancy helping and are free on the above date, please could you contact the school office for more information. Thank You!

Rounders Tournament
Well done to our rounders team who played really well at the recent tournament. Here is a tournament report by one of the pupils:

Report by Ella Mae (Year 5)
On the 6th July a group of 9 pupils from Stadhampton School participated in a rounders tournament at Icknield Community College. We played 4 matches and got through to the final. In the first rounds we won two games and lost one. In the end we lost to RAF Benson in the final by only half a rounder!

Healthy Snack Competition
Pupils will be bringing home today a poster about a healthy snack competition which will take place on Friday 15th July.

Little Bears News
We are looking forward next week to our “Dino Cave” and “Dino Dig” in the garden. We can’t wait to hear how our Little Bears got on in Reception Class this week! Happy Birthday to Archie Dickens and Freya Clapton who both turned 3 and to Mya Khan who will be 3 soon.



DIARY DATES:


Wednesday 13th July Class 3 visit to Banbury Museum
Friday 15th July Sports evening (weather permitting)
Wednesday 20th July Mobile Library. All books to be returned please.
Friday 22nd July End of school year assembly at 9.05am in hall. All welcome.
Term 6 ends at 1.30pm
25th – 29th July Holiday course run by Premier Sports Group



Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th September Teacher INSET Days
Wednesday 7th September Pupils return to school
Wednesday 21st September School photographs

Friday, July 1, 2011

Newsletter No 4 - 1st July 2011

Happy JULY Birthday to: Georgia Day, Benjamin Drake, Ayisha Hall and Andrew Oakley.

During July we are focusing on the core value of FREEDOM

School Meal Price Increase
We have been advised that the price of a school meal will rise to £2.10 per day from 1st September. We should remind everyone that school meals need to be ordered and paid for, please, on the first morning of the school week or in advance for the term. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council with Stadhampton School written on the back of the cheque. The school’s financial accounting package (SAP), requires payment for school meals to be kept entirely separate from payments for swimming, after-school clubs or trips. Thank you to all parents for their co-operation in this matter.

Premier Sports Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Booking forms are now available for the sports course being held at Stadhampton School from 25th – 29th July from the school office. Please note that the cost of the course is now £6 a day for 9-3pm.

Samba Drumming Workshops
On Friday 24th June you may have heard the unmistakeable sounds of Notting Hill Carnival emenating from school. All pupils participated in a series of Samba drumming workshops which, as the weather was dry, we were able to hold in our new outdoor classroom. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed this event and a number of parents were able to come to the short presentation at the end of the afternoon. This event was funded by Extended Services to tie in with the Watlington Partnership of Schools link with schools in Argentina. The drumming was much louder than any of us had anticipated and I apologise if the noise inconvenienced anyone – it will not be a regular event!

Partnership Tennis Tournament – Report by Class 3
On Monday 27th June, 9 pupils from Stadhampton School attended the Icknield Partnership Tennis Tournament. The final was all Stadhampton pupils with Andrew and Tom finishing as runners-up and the winners were Ben and Benedict. Congratulations to all who took part.

Big Science Event
Yet again Stadhampton School pupils have reached the final of the Oxfordshire Big Science Event. This is an annual event which, this year, involved over 3000 children in Oxfordshire. Pupils work in small groups over a period of a few months to independently conduct a science investigation of their own design. Then they need to create a poster displaying all their findings. These are then judged in school against a detailed criteria and then the school winners are judged by a representative from Science Oxford. Here is a report from our team:
“On 30th June 2011 Chloe Hindmarch, Chloe Scragg, Matty Green and Ewan Madry went to the Big Science Event final. Out of 3000 children across Oxfordshire who entered, only ten groups got to the final. We didn’t win but we enjoyed the day anyway. We also learnt a lot.”

P.E. Kits in School
Please could all pupils have their PE kits in school every day. As Sports Evening approaches we will be taking advantage of additional opportunities to practice! Also pupils in Reception will need to have their PE kit in on Thursday as they will be taking part in a Premier Sports
led PE session as part of their Transition Day. Thank you.

Thank you
We are very grateful to Mr Burnell and to Mr Leighfield for their recent help with our on-going school grounds improvements.

P.T.A. News
A reminder that food tickets are available from the school office for Sports Evening on 15th July and are on sale until Friday 8th July. Please note: We will not be able to offer any tickets for sale after Friday the 8th July. You can purchase a Hot dog or a burger for the very reasonable price of £2.00 each and there is no limit as to how many you may wish to buy. This is the perfect way to end the school year – so order your food now and don’t miss out!

The P.T.A. is hoping that you will be able to support our last fundraising venture of the school year by donating any unwanted CDs and DVDs. If we can manage to collect a minimum of 250 discs, we can claim a free five-a-side football kit for the school! The P.T.A. has worked out if each family donates just five CDs or DVDs we will reach our goal easily and also raise £150.00 towards P.T.A. funds. If we exceed this amount the P.T.A. will obviously receive more money – plus the free kit!
To receive payment we need to collect CDs and DVDs that have their original notes and sleeves as well as a bar code on the reverse. Unfortunately we can’t send CDs or DVDs that have been given free in newspapers or magazines as these do not have a barcode. Also musicMagpie will only take CD albums, not singles.

Many thanks once again to all who entered cakes for The Great Stadhampton Bake Off 2011, it was a lovely event and the standard of the entries was extremely high! Extra special thanks must go to Miss Mould and Mrs Leiper for their help with refreshments and to former pupils Conall Fernie and Jessica Tombling for their help in setting up and clearing up after the event.

We are delighted to announce that the PTA will be producing a booklet with cake recipes and pictures very shortly so you and your families can try baking some of the entries yourselves over the summer holidays. There are still some Tupperware cake boxes left so if you are missing one please get in touch with Eimer Fernie or Diana Woodwards.

If you’re shopping online please remember to consider using The Giving Machine, the more money spent through The Giving Machine the more money the school receives! Their retailer list is huge and includes names such as, M&S, Early Learning Centre, Boots, Carphone Warehouse, Clarks, Matalan and Debenhams, link is below. You can set The Giving Machine as your homepage or add it to your bookmarks by clicking in the top right hand corner on their website.
http://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/

Little Bears News
Little Bears Pre-school will be holding their hugely popular Strawberry Fair once again on THURSDAY 7 JULY from 3pm onwards. There will be lots to do - tombola, lucky dip, craft stalls and more, plus lots to eat and drink as well as goodies to win.
Please join us and support Little Bears in the process - we're fundraising towards improvements for our garden area too!

DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 6th July, Thursday 7th July, Friday 8th July Transition days for all pupils. Reception Class mini-topic will be “All About Me”, Class 1 mini-topic will be “The Seaside”, Class 2 mini-topic will be “Cats” and Class 3 mini-topic will be “Pinocchio.”
Wednesday 13th June Class 3 visit to Banbury Museum
Friday 15th July Sports evening (weather permitting)
Wednesday 20th July Mobile Library
Friday 22nd July End of school year assembly at 9.05am in hall. All welcome.
Term 6 ends at 1.30pm
25th – 29th July Holiday course run by Premier Sports Group

Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th September Teacher INSET Days
Wednesday 7th September Pupils return to school
Wednesday 21st September School photographs