Newsletter for week ending 6 June 2014

Happy June Birthday to: Freya Clapton, Will Eaton, Betsy Elliott, Ella Gravett, Zara Hopkins, James Lowman, Josh Matthews, Elia Pistis, Casey Price and Ellie Wiggins.

During JUNE we are focusing on the core value of PATIENCE

We would also like to welcome Elia (Class 1) and Viola Pistis (Class 2) who have moved to Stadhampton from Italy.

Home to School Transport - Meeting 16th of June, 7PM, St John's Village Hall (the Church)
As you may be aware from previous communication regarding home to school transport, children will only receive free transport to their nearest school, not necessarily those schools that they are in the catchment area for. This means that those children wishing to go to Icknield will not in future receive free transport if they live in Stadhampton, Chiselhampton or Newington for example. This will be effective from September 2015.

Icknield Community College staff have held meetings with representatives from the LA and discussed how the changes will affect schools in their partnership and it appears that the impact to Stadhampton Primary School will be significant with the ‘nearest school rule’ applying.

They have therefore suggested a meeting be arranged for all relevant parties (parents, governors, parish councillors, headteachers, Philip Earnshaw (LA), Gary Appleton (LA), PTA members etc) to discuss alternative solutions. There is a government grant scheme available for community transport and we are hoping to have an expert who may be able to explain how to access the funding available.

The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss ideas and investigate possible solutions, we are not getting together to re-open the Oxfordshire County Council decision as that is not within our remit. Similarly this meeting is not an official consultation meeting as the decision has already been made and we would prefer to invest our energy in finding a solution for our children.

The Governing Body of Stadhampton School along with representatives from Icknield Community College will be chairing the meeting, it is not the responsibility of Stadhampton Primary School to solve or mitigate this issue on the behalf of local parents, however they have a keen interest in the solution and have offered to support with emails to parents and arranging meetings.

We therefore invite parents along to a meeting to be held on Monday 16th June at 7pm at St John's Village Hall (the Church) to share and discuss ways forward.

Please also pass this message onto parents you know of in the village who may also be affected.

Many thanks
Governing Body, Stadhampton Primary School

Food with Thought
Food with Thought have informed us this week that due to supply issues they will be replacing meals containing lamb mince with beef mince until further notice.

Festival of Voices Tickets
Tickets were distributed earlier this week for this event. Please check book bags if you ordered tickets and have not seen them as yet!

Pupil, Parent and Staff Visit to Hazlach School, Poland
Report by Sarah Madry:
On Saturday 24th May at 6.25am, a small group consisting of Mrs Turner, Miss Shah, three parents and three children found themselves on a plane at Stansted Airport taking off for Poland. I was lucky enough to have been one of those parents and was accompanying my son Greg on his very first flight. We landed at Katowice Airport at around 10.00am to be greeted by blue skies, sunshine and the host families and teachers from the school. They drove us to the small village of Hazlach and each group went our separate ways to meet other members of our host families and eat a hearty lunch with them. Their kindness and hospitality was obvious from the start. After trying some typically Polish food of borsch soup, dumplings and meat and a very tasty apple and chocolate cake, we met up again with our English group at the village hall for an arts festival performance, where our three representatives from England, Greg Madry, Owen Cove and Ella Perring, played their recorders beautifully, alongside their Polish counterparts. There were also some pupils from a nearby Czech school who joined in with the singing, dancing and playing of musical instruments. It was all very impressive and thoroughly enjoyable. We returned to our hosts’ houses to eat supper and then headed off to bed, after a very long day.

On the Sunday morning we were taken for a tour of the attractive historic town of Cieszyn, which is on the Czech border, and shown the sites. After a short drive to the mountains near Ustron on the Czech border, we began the afternoon by taking a ride in a ski lift up the mountainside. We continued to walk on up through the forest and crossed into the Czech Republic at the peak. Here we stopped for some lunch and a rest, before heading back down the mountain, pausing for a while to try out a summer luge run, which everyone agreed was brilliant fun! On our return to the valley, we were treated to a delicious barbeque at the house of one of the teachers from the school in Hazlach.

On Monday morning, the English families met at the school, with Mrs Turner and Miss Shah.
The English teacher, Ania Kawik showed us round the classrooms and introduced us to the pupils and teachers. The school was a lot bigger than Stadhampton and had many more pupils, but it was obvious that the children were all very happy and friendly, as some boldly said “Hello” in English to us with cheeky smiles on their faces! We experienced a planned fire drill, complete with a fire engine from the nearest fire station and had to evacuate the school, while they hosed down the sports hall and ‘rescued’ a child from the building – all very exciting! Then our Stadhampton pupils, Greg, Owen and Ella did a wonderful display of Double Dutch skipping in front of the school along with the Czech pupils watching too. Shortly after this, a football match and volley ball game took place on the pitches opposite the school, involving all pupils from the three schools. Our young students played a great game of football, proving that language is no barrier in sport. Once the children had rested and had a drink, we headed off on foot to the nearby woods. Here, one of the fathers and the school caretaker had set up a campfire for all the children from the three schools to cook sausages on long sticks. During the afternoon, we got the chance to sit with our hosts and chat to our new friends to find out a little more about each other. The host families had at least one member who was comfortable speaking English and coped very well with the fact that most of us couldn’t speak more than a few words of Polish!
In the evening, our host families drove us to another teacher’s house, where we had another wonderfully cooked barbeque. The Polish people were the most fantastic entertainers and everyone insisted that we should eat plenty of food. We wouldn’t be leaving Poland hungry!

On the Tuesday, Greg, Owen and Ella, spent the morning at the school with Mrs Turner and Miss Shah and got to experience what it would be like to be Polish pupils. Dave Cove got the opportunity to visit Auschwitz the prisoner of war camp, while Tracy Perring and I visited the nearby town of Bielsko Biala to look round the museum with our guide Peter, the father of Tracy’s host family. After lunch, we met back at the school and then all of us took a trip to the curiously named Twin Pigs theme park. It turned out to be an American Wild West adventure park, with rides and actors playing parts in a pretend shoot out! All very good fun – but most bizarre!

On the sunny, hot, Wednesday morning it was time to say goodbye to our host families and head back home to England. It was very clear that they were very sad at our departure and we all found it difficult to bid our farewells to everyone, including the teachers and pupils too. Agnieszka Pilch, the head of Hazlach School, accompanied us on the minibus to Krakow and joined us on our tour of the beautiful city along with a guide who took us into the castle and the cathedral. She then walked us through the old Jewish quarter of the city and managed to find us a restaurant where we could take shelter and eat lunch while a fierce thunderstorm raged overhead. It was very atmospheric! Once the rain had stopped, we walked back to the large city square and bought gifts in the Cloth Market, before heading back to the bus that would take us to Krakow Airport. It had been a very interesting, culturally stimulating day, but our three, young explorers continued to behave perfectly, as we bid a final farewell to Agnieszka at the airport and begin the long journey home. We safely arrived back at Stansted Airport on Wednesday night at 11.30pm. The children appeared to have grown up a lot in the five days we had been away and we all agreed that it had been a life experience that we would never forget, thanks to the kind, generous people who had welcomed us to their country and into their homes.

Report from Greg, Owen and Ella:
“When we were travelling to Poland we were all excited because we were looking forward to meeting our host families, and staying in Poland for a week, but we were all tired from waking up at 1:30AM!
Our families were extremely hospitable and treated us with great kindness, and they always made us feel like we were more than at home. We couldn’t have wished to stay with nicer families. Just being with them was very enjoyable.
We particularly enjoyed going up the Czantoria Mountain on a chair lift and going on a summer luge down the mountain because it was exhilarating and thrilling! We also loved the BBQs and playing badminton in someone’s garden. The food was delicious especially the sausages we roasted on the glowing bonfire.
At Hazlach School we enjoyed going in their gym and loved showing them the skipping Double Dutch and how to skip with a long rope. It was interesting seeing how big the school was compare to ours and how many children went to the school. We both enjoy doing sports and they also have school dinners. But they have amazing facilities like a giant football pitch and their own basketball court!
From this trip we’ve learnt what Poland is like and how to speak a little bit of Polish. We also saw how Polish families live. We all agree that if we had the chance to go again we would because we thoroughly enjoyed it”.

Plant Sale
The Gardening Club on Friday lunchtimes is proving extremely popular and we are most grateful to Mr and Mrs Burnell for inspiring and encouraging pupils to learn about gardening in a very practical ‘hands on’ way. The Gardening Club has some surplus plants which they would like to offer for sale in the covered area outside Class 1 on Friday 13th June at 3.15pm. Monies raised will be used to buy seeds and equipment for the school Gardening Club. Thank you, in advance, for your support.

Requests for help:
As a school community we often ask families for help in supporting our school, but this week we have two unusual requests. We hope someone will be able to help with the following;

Stadhampton School’s 40th Anniversary
As many of you may know, the present school building in Stadhampton opened its doors to pupils in September 1974 and early in the next school year we plan to carry out a series of events to celebrate our 40th anniversary. One of the things we would like to do is compile a booklet of photographs and pupil memories from that time. We know that a number of current families have links with the school at that time, indeed some families may have members who were pupils themselves in 1974. We would love to hear from you if you can supply any photographs, memoires or other memorabilia. If there are any parents who would be interested in helping to compile such a booklet, we would also be very happy to hear from you. Thank you.

Milk Bottle Tops
Many thanks to everyone who has been collecting plastic milk bottle tops for us. For the last few years we have been collecting them in support of the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Unfortunately the collection point in Swindon has now been withdrawn and this method of raising funds for them is no longer possible. As so many people have become ardent bottle-top collectors, we are happy to continue to collect the bottle tops, as long as we can find a suitable cause to support and a local centre to take them to! If any parent, or other family member, knows of a worthy cause and can locate a nearby collection point, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Thank you.

Missing Cardigan
Please could everyone who attended Art Club on Tuesday 20 May check to see if they picked up Isabel Holmes’s cardigan by mistake at the end of the session? It has her name in it. Thank you.

PTA NEWS:
Spring Cleaning Day - Saturday 14th June from 10am - it's time to start asking family and friends if they would be willing to spare a few hours for painting, weeding, planting and doing general maintenance of the school grounds. It's an event which, if popular, we will run twice a year as with school budgets ever being tightened, everything we can do as parents and as a community will benefit the school. Please let's get behind this and help to keep our school looking as beautiful as it can be! Please use the sign up sheet in the office or speak to a member of the PTA for more info.

Please note it won't be possible to bring children into the school grounds on the day. However, Little Bears has offered to open its grounds should families wish to coordinate childcare there, while other family members volunteer at the school. Parents will remain responsible for their children and will need to ensure they are supervised at all times.

Summertime Funtime - Saturday 21st June 2-4pm - a fun filled afternoon for all the family with a summer theme and lots of competitions to enter. Entry forms will be appearing in book bags soon and there will be extra copies in the office. We will need volunteers for stalls on the day so please speak to a member of the PTA if you would like to help.

We are in need of donations for the event - bottles (of any sort) chocolate, smellies, wine, beer, sweets so please start putting things in the PTA box in the hall. Cake donations nearer the time would also be very welcome.

Parent Survey – as we are nearing the end of another school year, the PTA would like to take this opportunity to ask parents and carers a few questions to see where we have been successful this year and where we can try and make some improvements going forward.

The link below should take you to a short survey, which we would ask as many families as possible to complete. It should only take a few minutes and it really will help the PTA decide where we should concentrate our fundraising efforts next year.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5PKFLCJ

If anyone has any problems accessing the survey online, please speak to Georgina Wiggins or Melanie Gravett who should be able to help.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA. Our next meeting is on Tuesday 1st July 8pm at The Crown. Please do come along.

Cake Club
Congratulations to Greg Madry, the lucky winner of the last cake before half term, kindly donated by Mrs Crook. A reminder to Mrs Bowerman that she is on the rota for 13 June.

DIARY DATES:
Thursday 12th June School Lunch - Brazilian World Cup Feast – Brazilian chicken or sticky quorn (v) with salsa and rice, followed by coconut and pineapple glazed sponge - £2. Please order on Monday 9th June if your child would like to have this lunch.
Saturday 14 June PTA Spring Cleaning Event
Wednesday 18 June Year 5 Visit to ICC for Humanities, Science and PE lessons – please remember to take PE kit!
Mobile Library visit
Saturday 21 June PTA Summer Event
Wednesday 25 June Festival of Voices Concert at Dorchester Abbey
Friday 13 June
Friday 20 June Cycle Theory Test
Cycle Test
Tuesday 8 July Clarinet Concert for parents
Wednesday – Friday 9, 10, 11 July ‘Moving –up days’ for all pupils. Reception pupils due to join in September 2014 also invited into school for 3 days.
Sports Evening – Friday 11 July- All welcome.
Friday 18 July End of school year assembly at 9.05am.
School finishes at 1.30pm.
Monday 11 – Friday 15 August Summer Sports Course at Stadhampton School. Please see posters on each classroom door and in the entrance foyer for details of how to book.
1st, 2nd September Staff INSET Days
Wednesday 3 September Start of Term 1 for all new and returning pupils

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Welcome back to Term 6! We are hoping for some finer weather to enjoy our circus theme; we will be making an outdoor circus ring and also practising for Little Bears sports day at the end of term.
Please could all parents ensure hats and water bottles are brought to preschool daily. Thank you.
Please note due to the severe weather forecast this Saturday, we feel that is is necessary to postpone our summer BBQ and 10 year anniversary to Friday 18th July 1.30-4.30pm.


Community News:
• Catherine Roe and Karen Amery are holding an auction of original art work, prints, jewellery, vintage goods and more, in aid of the Families for Children’s work in Uganda. There will be posters up around the village and catalogues are available from this weekend:

Vintage Village Summer Auction
Distilling the spirit of the summer fete over a glass of prosecco on a summers eve
~~
From 6pm on 14th JUNE 2014
Village Hall at St John’s, Stadhampton
~~
For further details or a catalogue, contact Catherine on 07432 126 514
A small sample can be viewed on:
http://imgur.com/a/KBbZp


• What’s on at the Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, OX14 4QZ

Grow Your Own Festival
Sunday 22nd June, 11am-4pm

Head down to the Earth Trust Farm for a fun day of food, planting, and growing! With children’s planting and a storyteller, plus talks on growing tasty veg and how to keep chickens, there’s something for the whole family to enjoy. Don’t forget to bring your own plants for swapping and to sample some of the delicious local food on offer. Entry is £5 for adults and £2 for children.

See our website for full details: www.earthtrust.org.uk or contact us on 01865 407792 / admin@earthtrust.org.uk.




• A New Singing Opportunity for Children aged 8-13.
Come and Sing Vivaldi’s Gloria and Britten’s Friday Afternoons
with
THE OXFORD & CAMBRIDGE SINGING SCHOOL, at
WORCESTER COLLEGE, Oxford.
11th – 15th August 2014

See attached flyer