Newsletter for week ending 21 March 2014

Goodbye and Good Luck!
We say ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ to Miss Chivers and Miss Evans, the two student teachers who have been working in Class 1 for the last eight weeks. We wish them both the best of luck in their future teaching careers.

Reporting Absence by E-Mail
We have set up a new e-mail account for parents/carers to use if they prefer to send an e-mail to report a child’s absence from school rather than telephoning. The new e-mail address for reporting absence is absence@stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk and this can be accessed by all members of staff. On the home page of the school website we have added a “Report an absence” link which parents/carers can use to let us know that their child will be absent and the reason for the absence.
Please endeavour to report an absence from school by e-mail or by telephone by 8.30am.

Outdoor Play Equipment
We have recently noticed a number of young children playing on the outdoor equipment and at times this appears to be unsupervised. The outdoor equipment is understandably attractive to small children but, at the expense of appearing to be killjoys, parents should be aware that our insurance policy only covers pupils of Stadhampton School during school hours. Use of the equipment by non- school children during school hours or any children outside of school hours is not covered by our insurance and therefore we would politely request that it is not used.

Commonwealth Games Event
Carl McNight from Kidzfit came to school yesterday to help us learn more about being active and healthy. The children (and some adults!) danced, jumped, jigged and exercised to music and competed with each other by hoola hooping, skipping and doing speed bounces. We also learnt about the Queen’s Baton and some of the different countries of the Commonwealth. Pupils really enjoyed the day and when asked what they thought of it said “I loved it”, “it was awesome”, “epic”, “brilliant” and “the most fun ever!”

Sports Relief
Today pupils generously brought in £1 to take part in running or walking a mile around the school grounds. Some pupils dressed up as a famous sports personality and many did more than a mile!
So far, we have collected £87 and would be pleased to receive any final contributions before we send the money raised to Sports Relief early next week. Thank you for your support.

Mrs Turner and her husband are planning to cycle from John O'Groats in northern Scotland as far south as they can towards Lands End in Cornwall during the Easter holidays. This will definitely be a challenge and they would like their ride to help raise money for Sport Relief. They have set up a Sport Relief Giving Page http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/johnandkathryncycleJohnOGroatstoBristol if anyone would like to sponsor them and raise funds for this worthwhile cause.

Headlice
We are grateful to a parent for letting us know that headlice have been detected and treated in their child’s hair. Please could all parents check their children’s hair this weekend and treat if necessary. Thank you.

PTA News

Quiz night- there are still tickets available for tomorrow’s quiz night, priced at £5 each including nibbles. If you would like to buy tickets, please see Georgina Wiggins or speak to any member of the PTA.

Cake Competition - we will be having an Easter cake decorating competition in the run up to Easter. More details to follow very soon.

A reminder that our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 25th March at 8pm in The Crown. New members are very welcome. If you are unable to make the meeting but have suggestions for fundraising events, please speak to any member of the PTA. A list of PTA members is on the notice board by the Class 1 outdoor area.


Cake Club
Congratulations to Katende Amery, the lucky winner of the cake kindly donated by Mrs Eaton. A reminder to Mrs Watkins that she is on the rota for 28th March.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 24 March Work viewing evening – teachers available for informal chat if required whilst you look at your child’s work - no appointments necessary - 3.15 to 6pm.
Friday 4 April Break up for Easter Holiday. End of term assembly at 9.00am. All welcome. School finishes at 1.30pm
Monday 14 – Thursday 17 April Sports course at Stadhampton School led by Mr Hopkins. See posters in each cloakroom entrance or book via Mrs Hopkins.
Tuesday 22 April Pupils and staff return to school for the start of Term 5

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week we will be continuing with our ‘growth and garden theme’ and learning about garden birds and birds that migrate and who will be making their way to Britain soon. We shall also be making bird feeders.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for supporting our cake sale. Donations are still coming in.

COMMUNITY NEWS:

Mothering Sunday Service
Everyone is welcome to attend the special Family Service for Mothering Sunday on 30th March at 9.30am at St John the Baptist Church (flyers in book bags tomorrow).


We are delighted to let you know that the Ffennell Skills and Culture Festival is confirmed again for 2014! After a fantastic inaugural event last year we are planning to run the event, which is free for all Oxfordshire Primary Schools, on Friday 13th June 2014.

The event will run similar to last year:
• Friday is Free for all Oxfordshire Schools
• Saturday 14th is open to the public and includes the Ffennell Soap Box Derby
• Hands on activities throughout
• Specialist STEM Zone (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)
Activities are being added all the time and are offered on a first come first served basis. We will send an email confirmation when booking opens.
In the meantime if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us:
rob@engineeringyourfuture.com or visit the website for latest information: http://ffennellfestival.org/

FUN CHILD ATTENTION AND MEMORY STUDY – LEARN ABOUT YOUR BRAIN!
Researchers from Oxford’s Experimental Psychology Department are carrying out a study on the development of attention and memory during childhood. Parents can bring their child (aged 6-7 or 10-11) to play fun Pokemon-themed memory games on a computer while we record brain activity. In addition to afternoons after school during school term, we can also book times during the Easter break and school half term. During the visit, we tell the children more about how our brain works and at the end of the visit children can take a picture of their brain waves! The whole activity will last approximately 1 hour. To express your interest in participating with your child, please email us at andria.shimi@psy.ox.ac.uk with your name, your child’s name, age, and birth date, and a phone number to contact you to arrange a visit. Alternatively you can fill in this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Dj4NA2mOsmcLcbuG-AuRVMKlpOWfRiX7TaqVDsRQ3LM/viewform
By expressing an interest now you are not bound to participate in the study. Attached you can find more information about the study and the researchers involved.
For more information please email (andria.shimi@psy.ox.ac.uk) or call (01865 271375).