Newsletter for week ending 1 February 2013

Happy FEBRUARY Birthday to: Charlie Ball, Tillie Moss-Black, Jemima O’Brien, Will Parkes Alexandra Robinson and Daniel Robinson.

During FEBRUARY we are focusing on the core value of SIMPLICITY

We are pleased to welcome Miss Emma Brandon, a student from Henley College undertaking a Level 3 Childcare qualification, into the Foundation Stage Class for some time each week until the end of March. We are also pleased to welcome Miss Helen Berrow and Miss Stephanie Mansell, two PGCE students from Oxford Brookes University, into Class 1 for their second school teaching experience.

Staffing Changes
We are very fortunate to generally have low staff turnover, however, from time to time other opportunities and factors outside school mean that there are inevitable changes. During the next few months there will be some changes to support staff arrangements in school and these are as follows:-
After three and a half years working as a Teaching Assistant here, Mrs Leiper has decided to take up an opportunity to return to her former career in the hotel business and will be leaving us at the February half term holiday. Mrs Leiper has supported teachers across the school and was closely involved in the early stages of developing our dedicated Reception class. We will miss Mrs Leiper and wish her well in her new venture. She is still planning to maintain links with the school by continuing to organise the bottle top collections for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance and we look forward to seeing her then. We will have a card for Mrs Leiper in the school office and anyone wishing to sign it would be very welcome to do so.
After the February holiday, Mrs Catherine Roe, who is a qualified teacher, will temporarily fulfil Mrs Leiper’s role for six weeks until the Easter Holidays. After the Easter Holidays Mrs Shortman, who currently works in school both as our cook and as a part-time Teaching Assistant , will no longer be our school cook and will extend her TA hours to fulfil Mrs Leiper’s role on a permanent basis. This means that Food With Thought, who oversee catering for Oxfordshire County Council and currently employ Mrs Shortman as a cook, will be recruiting a new cook for us. Whilst we will be very sorry that Mrs Shortman will no longer cook our school meals after Easter, we are delighted to secure her additional hours as a well-established Teaching Assistant.
In addition, Mrs Shortman will be supporting Miss Mould and the children in Reception on Friday afternoons after the February half term holiday, on a regular basis instead of Mrs Wilkin who has other commitments outside of school on Friday afternoons.

Road Closure
We have been advised that Oxfordshire County Council have programmed to carry out some carriageway maintenance works on two stretches of the B480 road a) between 75m north and 60m south of the B4015 junction in Chiselhampton village, b) a 220m length west of Brookhampton Close in Stadhampton. Due to the narrowness of the carriageway and the nature of the works to be undertaken it will be necessary to close the B480 and by default, as there will be no access to the B480 for through traffic, the B4015 back to the A4074. The road closures will be for a week commencing 4th February 2013 however this timescale may change or be extended should inclement weather or unforeseen issues arise during the works. For those who live or work along the B4015, access will be available from the A4074 to Chiselhampton, but not onto the B480.

The Watlington Partnership of Schools Swimming Gala, 28.01.2013
Yet again we are very proud of our pupils who did so well at this week’s Swimming Gala. Here is a report from some of the team:
“On Monday 28th January 2013, three Year 6 and three Year 5s were chosen to go to the Swimming Gala. We were: Ben, Ella, Owen, Thea, Matthew and Millie. We all did very well in most races. First of all we all had heats, where we had to do either; front crawl, breast stroke or back stroke – or even all three! There were also relay races. Stadhampton were taking part against, Watlington, Lewknor, Chalgrove and Ewelme Schools. We felt surprisingly excited and nervous at the same time; some members of the team hadn’t taken part before, whereas Matthew and Ben had the previous year. After an exhausting one and a half hours we found out who had won! In 5th place was Lewknor, 4th place Chalgrove, 3rd place Ewelme (17 points), 2nd Stadhampton (26 points) and in 1st place was Watlington (33 points)! Thank you to Mrs Perring and Mrs Duke for their support and helping with transport. We’ll be aiming to reclaim the trophy next year!”

Waiting Area development
We are very aware that, with all the recent wet weather combined with the heavy foot-fall, the condition of the grass in the Waiting Area is far from ideal. Our intention is to replace the grass with an all-weather surface and we are currently seeking quotes from several companies to provide the best solution.

Green Energy Bus
Last week the children enjoyed a visit from the Green School Bus which offered workshops and activities for KS1 and KS2. These workshops are aimed to challenge the way the children think about energy and waste and enable them to take action in the school and local community. Here are the activities the children carried out and some of their comments:
Class 1 carried out an activity about compost.“We got to feel the soil and to talk about recycling”. “I liked the question-which one looks more firm for the animals?” “It was good. We got to see the fly move if there were any creatures in the compost” (Myles, Ellie and Tillie).

Class 2 had a debate about energy.“I really enjoyed going on the bike and the things in the bus. When we blew into a fan, it turned it around and made electricity to turn on a light” (Alfie).

Class 3 looked at electricity. “It shouldn’t have run on diesel but solar panels”.“It was great fun. Only a few people managed to start the radio by peddling the bike” (Bryce and Rhys).

Holiday Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, will be running a 5-day Easter Holiday sports course here at Stadhampton School commencing Monday 8th April between 9am and 3pm. All pupils of primary school age are welcome to attend. The cost will be £10 for the day or £40 for the full 5 days. The emphasis is on having fun and will include playing a variety of sports, games and mini-tournaments, mainly outdoors if the weather permits. Bookings may be made directly with Mr Hopkins (see flyer attached) or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office.

Letter from Icknield Community College
Please find attached to this newsletter a letter to parents from ICC relating to their possible conversion to Academy status in the future.

Missing Coat
Amy Freeman’s black wool full length coat from Next is missing. Apparently other pupils have the same coat. Please could everyone check that it has not been taken home by another pupil by mistake. Thank you.

PTA News
Apologies for all the errors that crept into our calender sheet we sent out last week - the details in the newsletter are the correct version!

Our last Clothes Recycling collection (last October) has raised £234.50. Thank you to everyone who donated items. The next clothes recycling collection will be in May 2013.

Children's Bingo & Hotdog Night - Friday 22nd February, 5.30 until 7pm
Bingo tickets are all sold out! If anyone has any 'good as new' toys or items that could be used as prizes, please put them in the red PTA box in the hall. Thank you.

Friday Cake Club
Mrs Gonzales was the lucky winner of the cake last week, kindly donated by Mrs Hector. A reminder to Mrs Fernie that she is on the rota for Friday 8 February.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week we are looking at the book ‘Elmers’ again. We are talking about reflections, looking at our own reflections so that we can make self portraits. We will also be making elephant trunks out of pasta and starting to make our Elmer milk carton elephants.
A huge thank you to Catherine and Annabel Roe who donated a beautiful cradle and babies; the Little Bears are really enjoying using it.

Item found on the Green
A valuable item has been handed into the School office which was found on the Green at the weekend. Please contact the school office if you believe the item may be yours.

DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 5 February Class 2 visit to Sulgrave Manor.
Friday 8 February Break up for the February Holiday at 3.15pm
Monday 18 February Return to school for the start of Term 4
Tuesday 19 February Reception pupils eye checks
Friday 22 February Children’s Bingo 5.30 to 7pm
Monday 25 February – Friday 1 March Class 3 Residential Visit to Woodlands Outdoor Education Centre accompanied by Miss Shah, Mrs Scragg and Mr Hazeldine.
Extra swimming opportunity at Abbey Sports Centre for Class 2 pupils on Monday 25 February.
Friday 8 March Adult Boogie Bingo at 7.30pm
Thursday 2 May School closed to pupils for County Council Elections