Newsletter for week ending 27th January 2012

Stadhampton School Term and Holiday Dates for 2012-2013
Please find attached to this newsletter a calendar of our term and holiday dates for the new academic year which will begin for pupils on 5th September 2012. A copy of this has also been loaded onto the Learning Platform and School Web-Site.

School Absence Targets
We respectfully remind parents that they should not take pupils out of school for holidays during term time unless there is an exceptional reason. Before making a request for an additional holiday, please consider carefully why being out of school is more beneficial to your child than attending lessons. The attendance and engagement team at Oxfordshire County Council provide guidance to parents and to schools on taking holidays during school terms. The following exerpts are from this guidance :
• “Research has shown that there is a close link between attendance at school and a child’s achievement”
• “All time out of school affects learning and achievement for both primary and secondary pupils”
• “By arranging holidays outside of term time, you will be giving your child the best chance to succeed”
The Local Authority have issued us with a target to reduce our absence figures for sickness and holidays taken during term time by a further 5% this year, i.e. to 2.86% and we seek parents support in achieving this target. Thank you in anticipation of your understanding and cooperation.


National Storytelling Week – 28.01.2012 – 04.02.2012
You may like to know that the coming week is National Storytelling Week. Rather than concentrate our attention to this in one particular week we are focusing on storytelling through the recent storytelling workshops held at school, the visit by the Roald Dahl Museum working with Class 2 and a visit by author Peter Davidson on 1st February during which he will give a talk to pupils on his books about fossils and dinosaurs. After school there will be an opportunity for parents to buy signed and dedicated copies of his books, priced at £6.99 and £7.99. Our on-going Literacy work uses a range of storytelling techniques and Year 6 pupils are currently taking it in turns, once a week, to re-tell stories to Class 1. I’m sure many families will have their own favourite stories to share at home and the Story Museum website www.storymuseum.org.uk is well worth a look at.

French Student Teacher
Monsieur Marc Flageul, a trainee teacher from France working in partnership with Oxford Brookes University, will be joining us for 2 weeks starting on Monday 30th January. Monsieur Flageul will mainly be working in Class 2.

UNICEF Day 4 Change on 3rd February 2012
Friday 3rd February we hope that pupils will be able to bring in some loose change towards helping support UNICEF’s programme to support vunerable children in Uganda by bringing sport into their lives. This week Class 3 pupils gave an assembly about Uganda to help all pupils have an understanding of the context of this programme. We hope to cover a map of Uganda as well as a number of pictorial representations of Uganda with coins – please help us to cover them all!

PTA News

Fundraising
Since joining The Giving Machine we’ve received donations of £99.67 (some of which we have already received a cheque for) as a result of just a handful of people shopping online after visiting their website. With the involvement of everyone who shops online we could raise far more, without having to donate any money ourselves. Here are some examples:

All those who get groceries online with Sainsburys - 1.5% of your spend will be donated. For example if your monthly spend was £280.00, the school would get a donation of £4.20 - and it hasn't cost you anything. And if you buy clothes from Boden - 3.75% of your spend will get donated.
Amazon will donate 3.75% of your spend - so for every £20, the school will get 75p. Doesn't sound a lot? Look how much we've raised from just a few people using the website - now think how much more we could raise if we all did it. So please, please have a look at thegivingmachine.co.uk
and join in. Please ask Rowena Dobson, Diane Woodwards or Charlotte Hector if you are unsure how to do it.

Friday 2nd March - Quiz Night with Fish & Chip Supper
Now that the excitement of Christmas is well and truly over, and it’s back to the humdrum of daily life, how about a night out for just £7 at our fantastic TV and Film Quiz Night, with a Fish & Chip supper, and of course the usual bar!

Tickets for Quiz and Fish & Chip supper - £7, or tickets for Quiz only - £2.50. More details on where you can get tickets to follow.


Little Bears News
Next week we are going to be looking at the very largest things in the sea. We will also continue to collage our giant octopus and be learning all about variations in size. We will also be introducing the snail and the whale.


DIARY DATES:

Monday 30th January After school Hockey Club starts for 8 weeks for participating pupils
Friday 3rd February UNICEF Day for Change – please start collecting your small change to bring change to the lives of Ugandan children
Friday 10th February Term 3 finishes at 3.15pm

Monday 20th February Pupils return to school for the start of Term 4
Monday 12th March Work-viewing evening


Attachments to this newsletter:
• School Term and Holiday Dates for 2012-2013
• Letter from Icknield Community College about Academy status
• Advert for “bank staff” for the Children’s Centre

Community Parish Plan Launch -invite from the Parish Council

We have been asked by the Parish Council to let parents know about a meeting on Tuesday 21st February at 7.30pm in the Hall to discuss how we can make our parish a better place. This meeting will enable parents to be involved in the launch of a Community Plan.
The invitation says "Come and join us for a glass of wine or beer and share your views.
Many thanks and hope to see you there!"

Stadhampton Parish Council
http://www.stadhampton.com/