Newsletter for week ending 20th December 2013

End of Term Assembly
Everyone is welcome to our end of term assembly at 9.10am on Friday. We anticipate that this is likely to generate an increased number of vehicles and consequent pressure on suitable parking spaces. We respectfully request that families consider the needs of local residents and avoid parking in Cratlands Close. School and Little Bears staff will park on the netball court, freeing up a limited number of spaces in the school car park.

Thank you!
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to parents and carers, the PTA, our Governing Body and all other members of the local community who have given us so much support in so many different ways over the last term. The lead-up to Christmas is always a particularly busy time of year and we would like to thank everyone involved for their support in helping to make all our Christmas events so successful. Special thanks to Ms Cyprien for her amazing face-painting of many pupils in our KS2 production ‘Hoodwinked’, to Mrs Burnell for decorating cakes and making lots of wonderful cookies for the Christmas party on Tuesday, to Mr and Mrs Bowerman for their help in organising the Forest Schools fundraising disco and to Mrs Dobson, Mrs Madry and Mrs Elliott for their admin support over the last few months. We are very fortunate to have so many supportive parents.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all pupils and staff for their hard work and commitment to all our events. The Christmas season may be a very busy time of year for us but it is also a very special one!
Thank you to everyone who gave a £1 on “party day” to help with the fundraising for Forest Schools. This raised £56. We will let you know how much was raised at the Forest Schools disco in our assembly on Friday.

School Nativity Service
Thank you to all families who were able to join us for this service. It is always a special occasion and this year we received many comments on how wonderful the singing was – not to mention how angelic the Reception pupils looked! It was lovely to be able to hold our service in the atmospheric setting of the Church. Thank you to Mr Manzie for providing and operating the sound system which made such a difference and to the team of mums who helped put the furniture back and sweep the floor!

School Website Additions
We have uploaded the dates of the After School Clubs in Term 3 to our website, so that parents have access to them as a reference point. We have also added a link to CEOP, whose work is crucial in the protection of children from exploitation and the promotion of online protection. Finally, we have uploaded some photographs from the Christmas productions and school Christmas Party.

Reminder about consultation on Home to School transport
We would encourage all parents to complete the questionnaire as part of the consultation using the following link to ensure that your feelings are known:

https://myconsultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/transport2015/view?objectId=521987

The deadline for responding was 20th December 2013.
See article below explaining about the deadline extension. However, we would encourage all parents/carers to respond before Christmas, just in case you forget to do it!

www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxfordshire/10883177.Activists_angry_as_county_extends_debate_on_school_bus_charges?ref=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Young Mathematicians Competition
On Wednesday 27th November, Year 6 pupils Thea, Max, Owen and Ella were invited to the regional finals of the Young Mathematician competion at Explore Learning, Oxford, after successfully scoring highly enough to qualify in the first round of local finals. They had yet another tricky maths problem to work through as a team, involving swimming pools, ribbons and finding all the possibilities! The level of competition was extremely high and our pupils enjoyed the challenge and a chance to work in a different setting.

Whilst they did not score quite enough to qualify for the national final round of the competition they can all be very proud of their performance. The feedback from Explore Learning was that they 'continued to work extremely well as a team and showed great enthusiasm and focus for the task, well done!'

This is the first time we have taken part in this maths competition and we shall definitely be entering a team next year!

Primary Maths Challenge
Every year we take part in the Mathematical Association’s annual ‘Primary Maths Challenge’, a national competition, which aims to challenge children with a range of problem solving and logic-based questions.

Congratulations to Abby Wright, Ruby Dallimore, Max Lansley, Owen Cove, Ella Perring, Lola Odell and Thea Diment for competing in the Primary Maths Challenge 2013.

Here is what Abby and Ruby thought about the maths challenge “It was very hard and we struggled on some of the questions - the last five were not multiple choice so they were the hardest! However we enjoyed a chance to try some different types of questions and we felt confident enough to have a go after some practice sessions with Miss Shah. We are proud to say that every one of us got a certificate; 4 of us got silver and 3 of us got bronze!”

After School Clubs in Term 3
Spaces are still available on the Photography Course for pupils in Years 3-6 and the Cheerleading/Street Dance Club and Multisports Club which are open to all pupils. Archery and Art clubs will restart after the Easter holiday.

School Meals
A reminder that school meals cost £2 per day. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council please with Stadhampton Primary School written on the back of the cheque. In order to reduce administration time spent on school meals we appreciate receiving orders and payments for school meals on the first morning of each school week. Thank you.

Swimming at Berinsfield
Swimming will begin for Class 2 pupils on Monday 13th January. They will have a total of 5 sessions. As always, we hope that parents will be willing to help with the transport costs to Berinsfield with a contribution of £2 per swimming session. Thank you to the parents/carers of pupils in Class 3 who made a contribution last term. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School, please.

PTA News
Our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 14th January 8pm at The Crown, new members very much welcomed. We will be discussing events for next year so if you have any good ideas for different events and would like to get involved with the PTA, please do come along.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and staff at the school for a fantastic fundraising year and also the PTA members for all their continued hard work and support. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cake Club
Congratulations to Mia Gravett who was the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Diment. A reminder to Mrs Bourne that she is on the rota for 10th January, the first Friday back after Christmas. There are 6 weeks in the next half term, so if you would like to pay for Cake Club, the full amount will be £1.20, or if you would like to take it up to Easter £2.40. Please see Rowena Dobson.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 6 January Staff Inset Day
Tuesday 7 January Pupils return to school for the start of Term 3
Tuesday 14 January First After School – Cheer Leading/Street Dance Club
Wednesday 15 January First After School – Photography Club
Thursday 16 January First After School – Multisports Club

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
We return on Tuesday 7th January 2014.
A huge thank you to everyone who came and supported our Christmas nativity on Saturday.
I think we will all agree that the Little Bears were truly amazing.


Happy Christmas from everyone at Stadhampton School!

We look forward to seeing everyone again in the New Year.