Newsletter for week ending 26 April 2013

Staff Changes
Welcome to Mrs Shortman in her role as TA in the school, especially in Class 2, Mrs Sheridan our new school cook, and Mr Pearce, a PGCE student from Oxford Brookes who is completing his final (8 weeks) placement in Class 3. We hope they are all very happy as part of the Stadhampton School team.

“Helping Children with Reading” talk by Amanda King on Monday 13th May at 2.15pm
Parents are invited to this talk by literacy consultant Amanda King. Letters with the details went home in book bags earlier this week.

Termly Outline Plans
Termly Outline Plans giving parents and carers an overview of the key areas of teaching and learning being covered in each class during Terms 5 and 6, have been sent home, via book bags, earlier this week. These can also be found in your child’s classroom.

Term Dates
We have uploaded onto our website this week the new term dates for 2013/14. These are in the Parents information section. The current dates for 2012/13 are also on the website.

Burglary (non-dwelling)
Thames Valley Police have sent out messages this week which we feel we should pass on to parents about a spate of burglaries locally to outdoor sheds where locks have been forced and lawn mowers, chainsaws, strimmers, etc have been stolen.

PTA News

Cake Club
The lucky winner on the first week of Cake Club after Easter was Rhys Brown, the cake kindly donated by Mrs Hindmarch. A reminder to Mrs Drake that she is on the rota for 3 May.

Plant Orders - Monday 29th April
Don't forget to get your plant orders and payment into the School Office by Monday.

PTA Meeting - Tuesday 7th May
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 7th May at 7.45pm. Location to be confirmed. We will be discussing plans for fund raising activities during this summer term, and what we will be spending funds on. You are all welcome to come along and input ideas.

Clothes Recycling - Tuesday 14th May, 9am
Bags have been sent home in book bags this week. Extra bags are in the School Office if you did not receive one or need extra (black bin bags are also accepted)


Lost Sweatshirt
Charlie Ball’s size 32” named school sweatshirt is missing. Please could everyone check their children’s school bags this weekend in case it has got into the wrong bag. Thank you.


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week at Little Bears we will be enjoying the song “Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree”. We look forward to acting the song out too with a large crocodile. Well done to all our Little Bears who took part in our Pedal-Push.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 29th April Last day for Plant Orders
Thursday 2nd May School closed to pupils for County Council Elections
Monday 13th – Friday 17th May SATs week. Please avoid making dentist appointments etc this week.
Tuesday 14th May Clothes Recycling Collection

Chalgrove and Watlington Children’s Centre
Take 3 is a support and skills programme for parents of older children and teenagers. See attached flyer.

Vacancies at Icknield Community College
Please see attached flyers for a Cover Supervisor position and a Specific Learning Difficulties Co-ordinator.

Newsletter for week ending 19 April 2013

Welcome back to everyone! Let’s hope that Spring really is on it’s way!

Happy April Birthday to: Katende Amery, Thea Diment, Orla Fernie, Charlie Hackett, Isabella Homes, Oliver Jones, Jamie Lavene and Samuel Sundberg.

During APRIL we are focusing on the core value of HUMILITY

The Library Bus
Anyone who has been to school this week will have noticed that the Library Bus has arrived! The bus arrived during the Easter holidays and is currently being modified to provide much-needed new premises for our school library. We all look forward to using the bus in the near future.

Table Tennis Table
There has also been much excitement over the arrival of our new outdoor table-tennis table. This is now ready for pupils to use and there is already talk of a table-tennis tournament amongst them! We thank the PTA for their generous contribution towards this new facility which will be available for all pupils.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
A reminder that pupils in Class 2 are swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre this term. They will have a total of 5 visits and, as always, we appreciate donations from parents of £2 per session towards the cost of the swimming transport (£60 a week). Cheques for swimming should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you.

Message from Governing Body – Responses to questionnaire regarding after school clubs

Thank you to those parents who completed the online survey regarding breakfast and after school clubs. There were 17 responses in total. The main findings were:
• After school care seems to be more popular however there is a low need for breakfast club
• There is no clear day that is favoured
• There is a mix of regular and ad hoc need
• The need seems to be across all 3 terms
• The responses seem to be split 50:50 when informed that location would not be school
• Parents would be willing to pay £5 an hour per child for suitable care

The school does not have a responsibility to provide breakfast and after school care however we do acknowledge there is a need. We will therefore contact local providers to inform them of the results of the survey and ask if they are interested in providing such care. The Governing Body will not manage any contract nor have any responsibility for the quality of the provider. We will keep parents informed of any potential providers and subsequent decisions.

If you do know of any local providers that may be interested please contact Sara Wright via the School Office.
Many thanks.

PTA News
Friday Cake Club
The lucky winner of the last cake before Easter was Mya Khan, kindly donated by Mrs Sam Green. A reminder to Mrs Clair Lansley that she is on the rota for Friday 26 April. We raised £128 with the Friday Cake Club between Christmas and Easter, so thank you!

If you would like to pay for Friday Cake Club in advance, it is 20p per child per week, making it £1.20 up to May half term, or £2.60 to take us up to the end of the school year. Please see Rowena Dobson.

We have raised...
Last term we raised £694.20 (Kids bingo, Boogie bingo, Cake Club, Easter Chocolate Raffle, & donations via Giving Machine). This brings our total fundraising for this school year to an amazing £2872.53. A huge THANK YOU for all your support.

The funds have been spent on -£500 towards the table tennis table (arrived this week), and £44 to support Class 2's trip to Sulgrave Manor, enabling the pupils to dress in period costume for the day.

Plant Orders - 29th April
Now that spring finally seems to have arrived, can we tempt you with some lovely plants to put in your garden? CD Bell Plant order forms are in bookbags this week. All completed order forms and payment in full (cheques payable to Stadhampton Primary School PTA) need to be returned to the School Office by Monday 29th April. If you have any queries please speak to Sarah Madry.

We are anticipating that plant orders will be delivered to School on Tuesday 14th May.

Clothes Recycling - Tuesday 14th May, 9am
It's that time of year again to have a spring clean - we can help you with our usual textile recycling collection of: clothes; shoes; cuddly toys and bedding (not duvets/pillows).

Recycling bags will be sent out in book bags nearer the time.


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Our theme at Little Bears for Term 5 is number rhymes and we will be learning the song Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer, making a large flying saucer and miniature flying saucers to act out the song. It's also our sponsored Peddle-Push week. All the Little Bears children are welcome to bring in something they can either peddle or push around the garden to raise funds for Little Bears. On Monday we will be celebrating Earth Day 2013 by making bird feeders and on Tuesday, St George's Day, we will be making flags.
A huge thank you to the Gravett family for donating a much loved easel to the Little Bears.

DIARY DATES:
Thursday 2nd May School closed to pupils for County Council Elections
Monday 13th – Friday 17th May SATs week
Tuesday 14th May Clothes Recycling Collection

Vacancies at Icknield Community College
Cleaner x 2 (15hrs & 12½hrs per week - after school day)
£6.38 per hour
This position involves high standards of cleaning and the successful applicant must adhere to specific cleaning duties.

Food Technician (3hrs per week)
£7.64 per hour

All posts are Term-time only and on a Fixed Term Contract, initially to 20 July 2013
If you are interested in any of the above positions, please email Gill Ward, Headteacher’s PA (gillward@ocnmail.net) for an application form and further information or call 01491 612691, ext 255.
The successful applicant will be required to undertake an Enhanced CRB Disclosure. Icknield Community College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students.