Newsletter No 1 - 4th November 2011

During NOVEMBER we are focusing on the core value of UNITY


Happy NOVEMBER Birthday to: Juliana Browning, Beau Burnell, Jacob Day, Amy Freeman, Max Jones, Max Lansley, Lola Odell and Ella Perring.

We are pleased to welcome Tiffany Bullock to Stadhampton School. Tiffany has joined Class 2 as a new Year 4 pupil. We are also pleased to welcome Miss Sally Evans, a PGCE student from Oxford Brookes University, who joins us for a 4-week placement mainly based in Class 1.

Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Booking forms are now available from the school office for the Holiday Course at Stadhampton School for school-aged pupils (from any school) from Monday 19th to Friday 23rd December inclusive. The course will run each day from 9-3pm.

Free Booktime Book Packs
Pupils in the Reception class have been given a free Booktime book pack this week, courtesy of Booktrust and Pearson, to encourage a lifelong love of reading.

Book Fair
Thank you to everyone who has purchased books and stationery items from the school Book Fair this week. We shall let you know in next week’s newsletter the value of the books that the school was able to choose for class libraries by way of commission.

New School Meals Menu
A copy of the Winter/Spring School Meals Menu has been uploaded onto the Learning Platform and the school website.

Parents’ Consultation Evenings
Slips giving details of the date and time of consultations have been put in book bags today.

Woodstock Museum Trip – Report by Ella, Lola and Abby
“On Wednesday 2nd November Class 2 went on a school trip to the Woodstock Museum to find out about the Romans. First we had a presentation in which we dressed up as rich and poor Roman people. We split up into two groups and went off to do different activities. We were able to touch real old Roman artefacts. We also visited the Roman gallery to do rubbings and drawings of some of the artefacts. It was a really great day.”

School Council and Children in Need “Show your spots, let’s raise lots!”
Friday 18th November is “Children in Need” day and this year the School Council are planning the findraising for this charity. Pupils can pay £1 to wear non-uniform but should wear “something spotty” eg. spotty socks! The School Council have also organised a competition which is open to all pupils; it is “Design a form of transport for Pudsey Bear.” Children need to design a form of transport for Pudsey Bear to travel in to help children everywhere. This can simply be a picture (eg. drawing, painting, diagram, collage) or could be an actual working model! Entrants are responsible for supplying their own Pudsey – this could be an existing miniature Pudsey, a dressed-up teddy, a model or a pcture. There will be a prize for one entry in each of the four classes. Entries will be judged by the School Council, on their originality and attractiveness. The competition will cost 50p to enter and all entries should be brought in on Friday 18th November. Good luck!


P.T.A. News
Winter Fair: It's full steam ahead for the Winter Fair on Friday 25 November. Every family should have received raffle tickets in the book bags this week, please speak to Diana Woodwards or Rowena Dobson if you have not received yours, or would like more to sell on to family and friends.

We would also be grateful for any donations of the following:
• Anything to do with chocolates & sweets for the ever popular chocolate tombola!
• Bottles & jars for the Bottle Tombola
• Books, DVD's and CD's
• Good condition/new toys for School Council Toy Tombola
• Suitable items for the Craft stall
• Small items like pencils, erasers, stickers etc for a lucky dip
• Good quality gifts/items for the raffle
• Cakes & biscuits to compliment our bar and drinks
• Your time - we will need help with running the stalls on the night, please let us know if you can spare half an hour to run a stall.
You can put any donations in our red PTA box in the school hall, or give them to a PTA committee member.

Clothes Recycling: All bags need to be in school by 9am on 16 November.

The Giving Machine: Here's a really easy way to help raise funds for the School whilst you are doing your online Christmas shopping, and it won't cost you anything.
6 easy steps that take less than 5 minutes:-
1. www.thegivingmachine.co.uk
2. enter Stadhampton (where it says search for school)
3. choose our school & save.
4. enter your details & create your account
5. bookmark this website as a favourite
6. now go shopping as you normally do by clicking on the logo for your shop.
Shops include, Amazon, ebay, Boots, Next, John Lewis, Argos, play.com, Boden... and there's another 346 shops on the list! It even tells you how much they will donate, based on your spend.
How does it work - shops on the list pay The Giving Machine for directing shoppers to them, they then send this to the school as a cash donation.

So far we have received £71 from the Giving Machine, and that is with just 6 people using it - just think how much more we could get to spend on the children if more of us used it when buying our Christmas presents, and you can even get the rest of your family and friends to use it as well!
The Stadhampton Village Summer Fete is coming back next year, and the PTA have a fantastic opportunity to be involved in the Fete and raise funds for our school. Is there anybody out there who would like to get involved with this? For a no obligation chat please speak to Diana Woodwards.

Little Bears News
Next week Little Bears are reading “One Winter’s Day” and “The Old Man’s Mitten”. They will also be looking at animal footprints and their own footprints.


DIARY DATES:
Sunday 6th November Final Year 6 rehearsal for Youth Proms 2-4.30pm
Wednesday 9th November Year 6 pupils performing at the Royal Albert Hall!
Mobile Library
Monday 14th November Foundation Class & Class 1 visit the Oxford Museum of Natural History
Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 16th November PTA Clothes Recycling Collection
Parents’ Evening
Friday 25th November Winter Fair

Monday 5th December KS2 children and Little Bears will form the audience of the Class R/KS1 dress rehearsal
Tuesday 6th December Class R/KS1 children and Little Bears will form the audience of the KS2 dress rehearsal

Tuesday 6th December
Class R & Class 1 Performance 2.30pm, in the Hall All welcome,but tickets will be required
Class 2 & Class 3 Performance 6.30pm, in the Hall (Ticket only – no babies or young children please at this performance)

Wednesday 7th December Class 2 & Class 3 Performance 1.45pm, in the Hall All welcome,but tickets will be required

Monday 12th December PTA wreath making
Tuesday 13th December Whole School Party
1.45pm in the Hall
Wednesday 14th December Whole school Nativity Service
2.15pm at St John’s Church
Friday 16th December End of Term Assembly
9.05am, in the Hall
School finishes at 1.30pm

Tuesday 3rd January INSET Day – teachers only in school
Wednesday 4th January Pupils return to school