Newsletter for week ending 12 December 2014

This will be the last newsletter for 2014!

Christmas Productions
Congratulations to all pupils on their fantastic performances in the KS1 and KS2 Christmas productions this week. We received many compliments about each performance and pupils should be very proud of themselves. Thank you to school staff for preparing pupils for the performances, creating the scenery, making props and organising the music and the lighting; thank you to parents for helping with costumes, learning of lines and buying tickets to come along and watch. Special thanks also to Mrs Bowerman, Miss Moss-Black and Mrs Wilkin for helping with the face painting, Mrs White for helping with rehearsals and to the PTA for serving refreshments on Tuesday evening. The total raised from ticket sales was an amazing £460 which, this year, will be donated to MacMillan Cancer Support.

School Meals Menu
Food with Thought have written to us about the menu which was introduced just over three weeks ago and report that it has met with mixed reviews. There were two or three dishes which attracted particular comment. As a result of this review, a number of changes have been made and families should have received a paper copy of the revised menu this week in book bags. The menu is also available for download on the Primary School page of the Food with Thought website http://www.foodwiththought.org.uk/primary/ or on our school website.

Forest School during Terms 3 and 4
As you will know from the school newsletter dated 7 November, Mr Short is leaving Stadhampton School at the end of term as he and his family are relocating to Cambridgeshire. We wish Mr Short well in the future and will be saying ‘goodbye’ to him during our End of Term Assembly next Friday. Mr Short has been instrumental in establishing our Forest School sessions and we are indebted to him. We are delighted to have secured staffing to enable Forest School sessions to continue for all pupils at Stadhampton School. We are grateful for the continued commitment of Mrs Poppy Elliott and Mrs Mel Gravett who will be organising the sessions and to Mr Montgomery who will be the dedicated member of school staff accompanying the sessions. Poppy Elliott is fully qualified as a Forest School leader (Level 3) and Mrs Gravett has completed a Level 1 course. During the school year Mrs Gravett and Mr Montgomery are aiming to undertake further appropriate training. Forest School sessions will continue to take place on Thursday mornings for pupils in Years 1 to 6, and for next term are as follows:

15 January Year 1 22 January Year 2
29 January Year 3 5 February Year 3
12 February Year 4 26 February Year 4
5 March Year 5 12 March Year 5
19 March Year 6 26 March Year 6

Dates for pupils in Reception will be agreed and circulated in the new year.
Forest School sessions are expected to take place in all weathers, unless the conditions are considered a Health and Safety risk. Please ensure your child has appropriate clothing for their session – i.e. warm clothes, including a warm coat, hat or hood and gloves, wellies or boots with thick socks and water proofs. Thank you.

School Vision Screening for Foundation Stage Pupils
We are still waiting to be advised of the new date for the vision testing and will let you know as soon as we receive notification of it.

Swimming at Berinsfield Pool
Swimming lessons at the Abbey Sports Centre will begin on Monday 12th January for Class 2 pupils. They will have 5 sessions in total on Monday 12th, 19th, 26th January and 2nd, 9th February. As always, we are very grateful to receive a ‘voluntary contribution’ from parents/carers of £2 per week towards the cost of the transport to Berinsfield. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you.

Christmas Forest School Disco
Tickets for the School Disco on Thursday 18th December (6pm start) are on sale priced at £3 each. Pupils may like to bring 50p or more to buy raffle tickets which will be drawn on the night. There are at least 25 prizes! The disco will finish promptly at 7.15pm. Please could parents note the new finishing time and ensure that pupils are collected promptly at 7.15pm so that Zumba can start as normal afterwards. Thank you.

Class Postboxes
As usual, class postboxes for Christmas cards to school pupils/staff will be set up in the Hall and these will be available from Monday 15 December.

PTA NEWS:
Wreath evening Tuesday 16th December 7.30-10 - sold out! Thank you to everyone who has bought tickets.

Cake club- Are you willing to make a cake for the cake club? If you are please speak to Rowena Dobson about putting your name on the rota. A list of names and dates are on the noticeboard in the waiting area.

Winter Fair- A huge thank you to everyone for supporting this very popular evening, where we raised over £1100 on the night.

Would you like to join the PTA committee? We are always looking for new volunteers to help plan events and fundraising ideas or maybe you would be willing to help at the events? If this is something that interests you, please speak to a PTA committee member.

Our next PTA meeting is Tuesday 13th January 8pm at The Crown, Stadhampton.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA this year

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Sam Sundberg, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Hutchence. A reminder to Mrs Burnell that she is on the rota for 19 December, the last day of term.

After School Clubs for Term 3
Letters were given out this week to pupils in Classes 1, 2 and 3 about the After School Clubs beginning in January 2015 (Term 3). The dates, times and costs of these clubs have also been uploaded to the ‘Parents Section’ of the school website as a reference point.


DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 16 December Nativity Performance at St John’s Church from 2pm (2.15pm start). Everyone is welcome to join us for this special service.
PTA Wreath Making Evening. Tickets are £15 each.
Wednesday 17 December School Christmas Party at 1.30pm. School/packed lunch required as normal. School & PTA will supply party food, drink & prizes. Children may bring party clothes to change into after lunch if they wish.
Thursday 18 December Whole-school Christmas Lunch. £2.10 and free for pupils in Reception, Class 1 and for those who are able to claim a Free School Meal. We hope all pupils will join in this very special lunch and are happy to accommodate requests such as ‘no gravy’ or sprouts! Please see Mrs Hopkins, who is in charge of the special requests!!
Forest School disco – 6.00-7.15pm. Tickets on sale now as well as raffle tickets @50p each
Friday 19 December End of term assembly. Everyone is welcome to join us for this event.
School finishes at 1.30pm.
Monday 22 December & Tuesday 23 December Two day Christmas Sports Course at Stadhampton School led by Michael Hopkins and supported by Jordan Piper. Please see attached flyer for details.
Monday 5 January INSET Day – teaching staff and Mrs Hopkins only
Tuesday 6 January Pupils return to school for the start of Term 3


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
The Little Bears are busy preparing for their Christmas nativity which will take place at Stadhampton Church on Saturday from 11am. The Little Bears are all welcome to come to our Christmas party on Tuesday 16th December from 1pm where a special someone will be taking time out of his busy schedule to visit us!
The last day of term is Friday 19th December at 3pm and we return on Tuesday 6th January 2015!
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas break and New Year. May your Christmas be Happy and Bright!!

Community News:
• Please find attached 4 flyers from the Chalgrove and Watlington Children’s Centre.

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and fulfilling New Year! We look forward to seeing everyone on 6th January.

Newsletter for week ending 5 December 2014

Happy DECEMBER Birthday to: Ruby Clark, Arun Davies, Thomas Dover, Emily Hackett
and Elizabeth Marshall.

During DECEMBER we are focusing on the core value of CARING

Annual Questionnaire for Parents/Carers from the Governing Body
Thank you to everyone who has completed and returned the recent questionnaire from the Governing Body. The responses will be summarised by the Governing Body, who will provide an evaluation of the findings for parents in a school newsletter, after the Christmas Holiday.

Registering your child for Free School Meals
Did you know that registering your child for Free School Meals, even if they would receive them anyway or don’t take them up, means that our school gets extra money from the Government? You can register your child if you get any of these benefits: Income Support, Income-based Job Seekers Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Child Tax Credit (provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit), Working Tax Credit ‘run-on’, the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit , Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and Universal Credit. Please talk to Mrs Hopkins in confidence if you are not sure. For every child registered, the school receives £1300 of extra funding which will benefit all pupils.

E-Safety Information
We recently distributed e-safety information to parents and carers. If you have not received a copy of this, please contact your child’s class teacher. Thank you.

Pupils from 1974
Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming two former pupils of Stadhampton Primary School ‘back to school’ after 40 years! They were given a guided tour of the school, were entertained by the children singing a selection of songs from the Christmas productions and were treated to tea and cakes. Pupils were given an opportunity to ask our guests about the school 40 years ago and our guests asked current pupils about the school now. It was fascinating to discover which things had changed and which were largely similar – some items of furniture were recognised as being ‘original’! We were able to build up a good picture of school life in 1974 and are grateful to our guests, Mr Stuart Green and Mrs Rachel Mannering (nee Walker), for finding the time to join us.

School Vision Screening for Foundation Stage Pupils
We are still waiting to be advised of the new date for the vision testing and will let you know as soon as we receive notification of it.


Christmas Productions
KS2 pupils should arrive at 6pm to be ready for the evening performance on Tuesday 9th December to start promptly at 6.30pm. A reminder that tickets for all performances of the school plays are on sale from the school office. Profits from ticket sales are being donated to MacMillan Cancer Support this year. The netball court will be opened up to provide additional parking for the evening performance and the PTA will be serving refreshments afterwards.

Christmas Forest School Disco
Ooops! We have realised that there is also a Zumba class scheduled for the evening of Thursday 18th December. The school disco can still go ahead, but we must finish at 7.15pm (instead of 7.30pm). Please could parents note the new finishing time and ensure that pupils are collected promptly so that Zumba can start as normal at 7.30pm. Thank you.

Class Postboxes
As usual, class postboxes for Christmas cards to school pupils/staff will be set up in the Hall and these will be available from Monday 15 December.

PTA NEWS:
A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Winter Fair last Friday – whether you came along, donated items, helped on one of the stalls or stayed to clear up, it was very much appreciated. A big thank you to all PTA committee members who did a great job organising everything and in particular to Sue Bowerman, Melanie Gravett and Anna Harries for overseeing things.

Watch this space for details of how much we raised!

Wreath Evening – Tuesday 16th December – 7.30pm – if you would like to come along to the Wreath Evening please see a PTA committee member as soon as possible. Tickets are £15 each.

Our next PTA meeting will be Tuesday 13th January, 8pm, The Crown.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Mrs Hopkins, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Harriet Fletcher. A reminder to Melanie Saunders that she is on the rota for Friday 12 December.


DIARY DATES:
Sunday 7 December Christingle Service at 9.30am at St John the Baptist Church, Stadhampton
Tuesday 9 December KS2 Christmas Play performances at 1.45pm & 6.30pm – tickets now on sale.
Wednesday 10 December KS1 & FS Christmas Play performance at 2.15pm – tickets on sale.
Mobile Library
Tuesday 16 December Nativity Performance at St John’s Church from 2pm (2.15pm start). Everyone is welcome to join us for this special service.
PTA Wreath Making Evening. Tickets are £15 each.
Wednesday 17 December School Christmas Party at 1.30pm. School/packed lunch required as normal. School & PTA will supply party food, drink & prizes. Children may bring party clothes to change into after lunch if they wish.
Thursday 18 December Whole-school Christmas Lunch. £2.10 and free for pupils in Reception, Class 1 and for those who are able to claim a Free School Meal. We hope all pupils will join in this very special lunch.
Forest School disco – 6.00-7.15pm. Tickets on sale now as well as raffle tickets @50p each
Friday 19 December End of term assembly. Everyone is welcome to join us for this event.
School finishes at 1.30pm.
Monday 22 December & Tuesday 23 December Two day Christmas Sports Course at Stadhampton School led by Michael Hopkins and supported by Jordan Piper. Please see attached flyer for details.
Monday 5 January INSET Day – teaching staff and Mrs Hopkins only
Tuesday 6 January Pupils return to school for the start of Term 3


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
The Little Bears are busy practising their preschool play which will take place in the Church on Saturday 13th December. With the children’ current interest in maps, we will be looking where Santa lives and how different countries celebrate Christmas.

Community News:
• Flyer attached about the Opening Party of the new Youth Club