Newsletter for week ending 4 April 2014

Happy April Birthday to: Katende Amery, Oliver Bourne, Thea Diment, Charlie Hackett, Isabel Holmes, Ollie Jones, Jamie Lavene & Sam Sundberg.


During APRIL we are focusing on the core value of THOUGHTFULNESS

New School Meals Menu
Hard copies of the new Summer/Autumn menu were sent home to families earlier this week. A copy has also been uploaded onto the school website.

Website Additions
As well as the new Summer/Autumn meals menu, this week we have also uploaded to the school website details of the after school clubs for Term 5 and 6 (Archery), Term 5 (Art) and Term 5 (Multisports) as well as pictures of Sports Relief activities and the Kidzfit workshop in the ‘Events section’.

Internet E-Safety
With the Easter holidays approaching, many children will be keen to explore modern technology in more depth as a way of entertaining themselves. The Internet and devices such as tablets, games consoles and phones have many exciting things to offer children and there are many positives to be gained from experiencing these things. We would, however like to give a timely reminder that some of the content that can be accessed on the Internet (e.g. on YouTube or on game servers) is not always age-appropriate and occasionally can be offensive or upsetting. In school we have a filtering system blocking access to such sites.
Despite some protection/parental controls being available for you to set up on these different resources, they are not always effective in filtering the content to make it ‘child-safe’. Please continue to support your child by showing interest in what they are accessing via technology, to make sure they enjoy the experiences they have!
These websites below provide helpful, age-appropriate information about online safety, with tips for children and for families.
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/

‘Speaking and Listening’ Leaflet
This week every family should have received a copy of a leaflet entitled ‘Speaking and Listening: A short guide for parents’. Speech and language are key aspects of child development and we hope that you find the information useful. The leaflets were sent home via book bags but if you are unable to locate your copy, please ask for another one from the office.


UK Chess Challenge
This year children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 have enjoyed taking part in the UK Chess Challenge; a national competition that we have participated in for a number of years. The lunch time club was fully subscribed and it was lovely to see the enthusiasm of all the children. The skill varied from chess novices (who hopefully have gained confidence in their abilities over the 7 weeks of tournaments) to more experienced players.

In the end there could only be one champion...or...possibly two! Owen Cove and Greg Madry won all of their first six games in the tournament and then were pitted against each other for the final match. The game wasn't finished within the time limit so their points (for pieces taken) were added up. And the result was that they both drew! The boys decided that they are both happy to share this accolade and the trophy. Well done to both of them!

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
Class 2 will begin their swimming sessions at the Abbey Sports Centre on Monday 28th April. They will have a total of 5 sessions (28 April, 12, 19 May, 2, 9 June). As always, we hope that parents/carers will be willing to pay £2 per child per swimming session towards the cost of the transport. Cash (£10 for all 5 sessions) or cheques for swimming should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. We are also very happy to receive payment on a weekly basis. Thank you.

Headlice
The presence of headlice continues to be a problem and parents/carers are asked to please check their children’s hair during the Easter break. This website seems to provide a great deal of information which may be useful: www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice/pages/treatment.aspx

Bookings Clerk
Sarah Massey, the bookings secretary and treasurer for the Hall Management Committee, who takes bookings for the school community hall, organises the keys and payments for hirers and balances the accounts each year, is looking for someone to take over from her so that she may step down. Would anyone be willing to take it on? It is not too onerous a task as only a handful of hirers now use the community hall regularly and for the occasional party. Please let Mrs Hopkins know if you might consider it and need any further information.

PTA News

Easter Cake Competition - what fabulous cakes we had enter the cake competition! Thank you to Shirley Bateman for being our judge. The winners in each year group were Casey Price, Jack Austin, Will Eaton, Ellie Walker, Charlie Austin, Hannah Bradford and Ella Perring. We had a fantastic cake sale after school and raised over £100 so thank you to everyone involved.

Boogie Bingo - Friday 16th May - tickets will be available after the holidays for this popular event so remember to keep the date free.

Clothes Recycling - as you may already know, the PTA organises regular collections of unwanted textiles through Bag2School. Bag2School is a free fundraising scheme that works in partnership with schools and businesses to help us raise money from your donations. It specialises in collecting unwanted textiles in good condition which are then sold to export markets worldwide where they are sorted and then sold to the general public

Our next collection will be at 9am on Thursday 22nd May so if you’re having a good sort out at home over the holidays, please save your unwanted adult and/or children’s clothes, paired shoes, cuddly toys, bags, scarves, hats.

For more details about the company and what you can give, please see their website www.bag2school.com.

Just a reminder the next PTA meeting will be on Tuesday 29th April at The Crown at 8pm. Thank you for your continued support of the PTA.


Plant Orders
Order forms for plant orders should be in book bags this week. Please have a look to see if you would like to place an order and, if so, return the order form and payment to school by Friday 25 April. Thank you.

Cake Club
Congratulations to Jamie Lavene, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Watkins. A reminder to Mrs Gravett that she is on the rota for 25 April, the first Friday after Easter. If you would like to pay for a few weeks at a time, it is £1 up to May Half Term, or £2.40 up to the end of the school year per child. Please see Rowena Dobson. Thank you.


School Council
• Please see Flyer attached about the Easter Egg Competition

DIARY DATES:
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
Thursday 24 April Forest School session for Year 2 pupils

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears will be enjoying a sponsored obstacle course and a Easter bonnet parade on the last day of term and will be open until 3 pm.
We hope everyone has a restful and enjoyable 2 weeks with some sunshine hopefully!!
We return on Tuesday 22nd April to the topic of ‘weather’.

Community News:

• Easter holiday activities at the Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, OX14 4QZ – see www.earthtrust.org.uk for more details.
Our ever popular ‘Clumps Club’ for children aged 8 to 12 will be running on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th April, from 10am to 4pm (£25 per day, booking essential). We will be building dens, cooking on fires and rolling eggs on the Wittenham Clumps hills! There is plenty for the whole family in April too, including ‘Family Bushcraft’, ‘Newts, Frogs and Toads’ guided walk, ‘Forest School’ for pre-school children, ‘Woodland Adventure’ for 5 to 8 year olds, and a sensory buggy walk for babies and toddlers! See our website for full details or call us on 01865 407792.

• Flyers attached from Hill End about Bushcraft Days and Open Day