Newsletter for week ending 20 September 2013

School Prospectus for 2013-14
We are very proud of our new School Prospectus for this academic year which has been uploaded onto the school website this week. It has been completely revamped by the Governing Body and provides a wealth of information about the school, contains lots of photographs of activities and events from the last school year, comparative reports of KS1 and KS2 SATs tests, as well as term and holiday dates for 2013-14 academic year and lots, lots more. Please do have a look at it and use it as a reference point for what to do if your child is ill, how to find out if the school might be closed in the event of heavy snow, what to do if your child requires medicine during the school day, etc.

School Photographs
The School Photography Company will be in school on Thursday 26 September and all pupils will have their photographs taken during the morning wearing their school uniform. Each child will be photographed individually and also with any siblings in school. Families are welcome to come into the Hall before school at 8.30am to have family groups photographed together if they so wish.

Within a week or two, proof photographs will arrive at school and parents will decide whether or not they wish to purchase them. If you do not wish to purchase the photographs you do not need to return the proof pack back to school. If you do wish to purchase photographs please follow the instructions on the proof pack. The school simply collects the orders ready for the School Photography Company to collect from the School Office on a given date (this will be advised in the newsletter when known).

Recorders and Recorder Books
Recorder lessons will restart after Half Term. Recorders are available from the school office, priced at £6.50. Recorder Books 1 and 2 are also available at £4.85 each. The school makes no profit from selling these items.

Harvest Gifts
Our annual Harvest Festival will take place in the Hall at 9.05am on Friday 4th October and families are most welcome to join us. Once again we will be supporting Stepping Stones, an organisation for homeless people in Oxford, with our Harvest Gifts. We hope that each child will be able to bring a small contribution into school before our service. All Harvest gifts bought into school will be taken to the village church and put on display for the Harvest Service there on Sunday 6th October, before being taken on to Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones prefer to receive non-perishable items such as packets of pasta, tins of beans, bars of chocolate, packets of biscuits, tins of tomatoes, tins of spaghetti, etc rather than fresh produce. Thank you.

Advance Notice of Parents and Carers Consultation Evening Dates
Our annual Parents and Carers Consultation Evenings with teachers will take place in November as follows:

Monday 18th November: 4.00 - 7.00pm
Wednesday 20th November: 4.00 – 6.00pm

We hope that by giving advanced notice of these arrangements that parents and carers will be able to arrange to attend one or other of these dates. Slips offering appointments on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis will be in book bags soon after the October Holiday.

Reusable Drinks Bottles
There are a number of unnamed reusable drinks bottles in the Hall. Please have a look to see if any of these belong to your child. Any unclaimed bottles will be disposed of in the next couple of weeks. Thank you.

Supporting/Helping Your Child with Maths Booklets
Maths booklets for supporting/helping your child with maths at home for each year group were put into book bags over the last few days. Please let your child’s teacher know if you did not receive one.

PTA News

Friday Cake Club
Jamie Lavene was the lucky winner of the first cake of the new term, kindly provided by Mrs Madry. A reminder to Mrs Burnell that she is on the rota for 27th September.

For those who want to pay for half a term or a whole term at a time, it is now £1.20 up to Half Term or £2.60 up to Christmas. If you would like to donate a cake please see Rowena Dobson. We have volunteers up to the first week back after Christmas, but it would be nice to fill the rota as soon as possible for as much of the year as we can. Don’t forget, it doesn’t need to be homemade.

Bags2School
Bags for recycling clothes have been sent home via book bags earlier this week. The collection date for this is Friday 11th October.


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week we will be looking at the Railways and traveling by rail. We will also be looking at how steam engines work and making our own train designs for bee bot and using shapes.


DIARY DATES:
Thursday 26 September School photographs taken today. See details in this week’s newsletter.
ICC Open Evening from 6-8pm
Monday 30 September Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Friday 4 October Harvest Festival service in school. Parents are welcome to attend.See details in this week’s newsletter.
Wednesday 9 October Open Morning 9.00-11.45am. Visitors welcome to pop in during this time to see the school at work
Mobile Library visit pm
Friday 11th October Bag2School collection
Monday 21 October Book Fair arrives
Friday 25 October School breaks up at 3.15pm for October Holiday
Monday 4 November School resumes for the start of Term 2
Thursday 7 November Year 5 pupils visit ICC for Science, Maths & English lessons
Wednesday 13 November Mobile Library visit pm
Monday 18 November Parents Evening 4.00-7.00pm
Wednesday 20 November Parents Evening 4.00-6.00pm