Newsletter for week ending 30th March 2012

Sport Relief
We were pleased to raise £55.50 for Sports Relief from donations made by people dressing up last Friday. Thank you.

Health and Safety Audit
Local Authority Health and Safety auditors recently visited the school to carry out an annual audit of our health and safety policies and procedures, including checking risk assessments, first aid procedures, fire safety and critical incident action plans. Health and Safety, along with ensuring that we have robust Safeguarding procedures in place is something which Ofsted scrutinise in detail when they visit the school and we are pleased to report that we were awarded “Outstanding” in this audit by the Local Authority.

Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins will once again be leading a Holiday Course at Stadhampton School in the second week of the Easter Holidays, i.e from Tuesday 10th April to Friday 13th April inclusive. The course will run from 9am-3pm each day and the cost will be £6 a day. If you have not booked in advance, it is possible to arrive a few minutes early and pay on the day.
A reminder that the course finishes promptly at 3pm each day.

School Council Decorated Egg Competition
What fantastically creative entries we have had! Thank you to everyone who has entered – they make a stunning display. The entries will be judged during the day on Friday 30th March and the winners will be announced in our afternoon assembly. We will inform everyone of the winners in our next newsletter.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
Swimming begins for Class 2 pupils on Monday 16th April. They will have 6 swimming sessions and, as always, we hope that parents are willing to contribute to the cost of the transport to the pool by paying £1 per pupil per week.
At present the school significantly subsidises the cost of the transport to Berinsfield and it is likely that, in line with other schools in the Partnership who have charged between £2.50 and £3 per week for the last two years, we will review the cost we ask parents to contribute from the beginning of the new academic year in September 2012.

School Meals
Please may we respectfully remind parents that payment for school meals (£2.10 a day) should be made on the first morning of the school week. In order to reduce administration time and save parents remembering to write a cheque each week, we are very willing to accept payment for as many days in advance that parents wish to pay for, eg for the whole term, for a month, etc. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council with Stadhampton School written on the back of the cheque. Thank you.

Plastic Bottles for the Greenhouse
Thank you for all recent donations of plastic 2 litre bottles and 6’ garden bamboo canes. Please continue to collect bottles for us over the Easter holidays. Thank you.

PTA News
Bingo Night
What a fantastic evening for the children and thanks to all the mums who stayed and helped. A big thanks also to Shirley our bingo caller for the evening - she did a fantastic job and the children really got into the spirit - lots of groans or cheers as the numbers were called. The children showed their appreciation by presenting Shirley with some beautiful potted mini daffodils very kindly donated by Eileen Birtles.

Clothes Recycling - Wed 9th May
Ready for spring cleaning? You can donate all of the following - clothes, shoes, belts, sheets, duvet covers (no duvets or pillows), towels and cuddly toys.

Plants for Spring
There is spring in the air and some of you may be keen to get out in the garden over Easter. The PTA are once again offering the opportunity to purchase hanging baskets, bedding plants and patio vegetables via the school. Plant order forms will be in book bags at the end of this week and we ask that you take a look at the plant supplier’s web site at www.cdbell.co.uk . The Company will donate 30% of all sales, with a further 5% on orders totalling £250, so this is a fantastic way of helping the P.T.A. Please return completed order forms with your payment to Stadhampton Primary School PTA in a sealed envelope to the school office, no later than Monday 23 April. The plants will be delivered at the beginning of May. NB: Please place your order through the school and not on the supplier’s website – thank you!

“Spring in the Woods” – Harcourt Arboretum
Flyer attached to this newsletter about an event at the Harcourt Arboretum on Saturday 21st April.


Little Bears News
Little Bears return on 16th April to the topic of “Weather”. They would like to welcome Freddie Watts and Cianna Browning who start at Little Bears in Term 5 and wish a belated Happy Birthday to Oliver Bourne and Jem Burnell.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 16th April Pupils and staff return to school for the start of Term 5
Swimming starts for Class 2 pupils today.
Wednesday 18th April Mobile Library visit
Thursday 26th April Eye tests in the Hall for Reception pupils
Monday 7th May Bank Holiday – school closed
Monday 14th May KS2 SATs week
Friday 1st June School finishes at 3.15pm
Monday 11th June Return to school for the start of Term 6


We wish everyone a Happy Easter and a good holiday. We look forward to seeing everyone again on Monday 16th April.