Newsletter for week ending 30 January 2015

Swimming Session on Monday 26th January
Unfortunately the coach did not arrive on Monday to take pupils to their swimming session at the Abbey Sports Centre and we were unable to find out the reason for this as no-one answered the telephone or responded to e-mails. We have now managed to speak with the company and they apologise unreservedly for their error. We now have an alternative means of communication to use which should prevent this happening again. Please accept our apologies. Contributions already made towards the cost of the transport will be carried forward to the next series of swimming sessions for Class 2 pupils.

Sports Hall Athletics for Year 5 and Year 6 Pupils
The Sports Hall athletics event has been rescheduled to take place on Friday 6th February and pupils will need to be aware that the coach will leave at 8.50am due to the roadworks in Watlington and everyone will need a packed lunch on that day. Thank you.

E-Safety
I hope all parents received our E-Safety letter which went out via bookbags earlier this week. As mentioned in the letter, pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 will take part in an anonymous online pupil cybersafety survey, during the week of 2nd-6th February, unless you have already let us know that you do not want your child to take part in this anonymous survey. The outcome of the survey will help us refine our e-safety education provision which we will be presenting to pupils and parents on Wednesday 25th February at 2.35pm.

PTA NEWS:
Did you know the PTA has a Facebook page? It's a closed group, only accessible if you are a member.
We put lots of useful information on there eg upcoming events, reminders and other information about what's happening in the village. If you would like to join then search- stadhampton primary school PTA on Facebook, request to join then we can add you on.

Our next meeting is Tuesday 24th February 8pm at The Crown

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Myles Dobson, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated Mrs Ellis. A reminder to Mrs Madry that she is on the rota for 6 February.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 2 February Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Wednesday 4 February Reception and Year 6 pupils see the school nurse for weighing and measuring
Friday 6 February Unicef Day for Change – please bring in some spare change to participate in today’s fundraising activities
Thursday 26 February Partnership 5-a-side football tournament at RAF Benson for Years 3&4 and 5&6. Letter to follow.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week at Little Bears we will be continuing with our ‘Elmer’ theme and enjoying the book ‘Elmer's Weather’. We will look at all different types of weather and the clothes you would need for different seasons. We will also be making rain makers and wind chimes and looking at weather around the world.

Newsletter for week ending 23 January 2015

Autism Talk for Parents
A reminder that Margaret King, Autism Advisory Teacher, will be giving a talk for parents on Thursday 29th January at 9.00am. It is hoped that as many people as possible will attend this information opportunity. Children in Years 1-6 will receive talks by Margaret King on Thursday 12th February.

World Book Day – Thursday 5th March
Every year we support World Book Day and this year we are going to celebrate the event by inviting all pupils to come to school dressed as their favourite book character and bring a copy of the book with them. We have done this in the past but, having been inspired by our visit to the 26 Characters Exhibition at The Story Museum in Oxford, we would like to raise the profile of this event. The exhibition, which is on until 22nd February, is the outcome of what happened when The Story Museum asked some of Britain’s most exciting children’s authors to name their favourite story character from their own childhoods. The authors have been photographed dressed as these characters, galleries created as settings for the stories and the authors recorded reading extracts from their chosen story. The authors and characters include; Terry Pratchett as ‘Just William’, Julia and Malcolm Donaldson as ‘The Owl and the Pussy-cat’, Cressida Cowell as ‘Peter Pan’, Terry Jones as ‘Rupert Bear’, Michael Rosen as ‘Till Eulenspiegel’, Katherine Rundell as ‘a Wild Thing’, Benjamin Zephaniah as ‘Anansi the Spider’ and Holly Smale as ‘the White Witch’.
We cannot replicate all this but we would like to photograph each child in costume and create a photographic display of our own. The display will then be available for all to see at our Work Viewing Evening on Monday 23rd March and at our end of term assembly on Friday 27th March. Children will also be asked to share an extract from their book with other children in their class and be able to explain their choice of character. Should anyone be interested in further details of the 26 Characters at The Story Museum, they can be found on www.storymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/26characters

Message from Food with Thought
If you haven’t already done so, please complete the reply slip on the form sent home last week to let us know whether your child will be taking up the offer of a free meal or not (Year 3 & 4 on Monday 26 January and Year 5 & 6 on Tuesday 27 January). Thank you.

Warm clothing for Forest School Sessions
Please could pupils have plenty of layers of warm clothing and spare socks, as well as gloves and a hat when they take part in Forest School sessions. Several children this week were feeling cold!

Sports Hall Athletics for Year 5 and Year 6 Pupils
The Sports Hall athletics event which was scheduled to take place last Friday (16th January) and which had to be postponed, due to the equipment for the event being stored at the SODC office when the fires were started, has now been rescheduled. The event will now take place on Friday 6th February and pupils will need to be aware that the coach will leave at 8.50am due to the roadworks in Watlington and everyone will need a packed lunch on that day. Thank you.

Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers
We are once again collecting the Active Kids vouchers which Sainsburys will be issuing between Wednesday 28th January and Tuesday 5th May. Please encourage your friends and family to collect vouchers for us and post them into the box in the Hall. We are able to exchange vouchers for an exciting range of active and cooking equipment, and experiences, so that we can support and encourage children to eat well, move well and live well. Thank you.

PTA NEWS:
Please note the date of our next meeting, which is Tuesday 24th February 8 pm at The Crown. Hope to see you there!

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Zac Holmes, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Day. A reminder to Jason Hursey that he is on the rota for Friday 30 January.

DIARY DATES:
Thursday 29 January Year 3 Forest School session
Monday 2 February Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Wednesday 4 February Reception and Year 6 pupils see the school nurse for weighing and measuring
Friday 6 February Unicef Day for Change – please bring in some spare change to participate in today’s fundraising activities

Massive cardboard boxes!
Miss Mould would like to create a pirate ship in her classroom, so if anyone has access to any very large cardboard boxes, we would appreciate them being donated to school. Thank you.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week we will be enjoying the book ‘Elmer on Stilts’ and practicing our balancing skills on our own stilts. We will also be celebrating Australia Day and Burns Night.

Community Information:
• Flyer attached detailing a Cover Supervisor vacancy at Icknield Community College
• 4 flyers attached detailing events at the Chalgrove and Watlington Children’s Centre
• INVITATION to RAF Benson Community Primary School Annual Cross Country Event
John William Stacey Memorial Races – please see below:

The School will be hosting its 11th Annual Cross Country event on Saturday, 7th February 2015.

The event is held on the fields adjacent to the School and the races are open to all pupils in Years 1 to 6. The first race will start at 10am and registration will be from 9.30am. In previous years we have welcomed over 200 runners participating from 16 local schools.

All runners from your school are warmly invited to this event and are eligible to run in one race appropriate to their age. To qualify for points in the team event (ALL Years) you will need at least 3 pupils per race.

There is NO entry fee and the children just need to wear their PE kit and training shoes and bring a bottle of water. Other refreshments will be available for spectators and racers. The presentations will commence as soon as the results have been verified at the end of the last race.

Visitors are kindly requested not to bring dogs to the races.

We very much look forward to seeing you there.
Year Distance (M) Approximate Start Time
Approximate
1G 640 1000am
1B 640
2G 640 1015am
2B 640
3G 1100 1030am
3B 1100
4G 1100 1045am
4B 1100
5G 1300 1100am
5B 1300
6G 1700 1130am
6B 1700

All visitors will need to check-in at the RAF Guardroom before joining the event so please allow extra time for these formalities. All adults will require photo ID to enter RAF Benson, a photo card driving licence or passport is ideal. To ease traffic onto the Station we ask parents to car share where possible and also stagger their arrival times for the later age groups. Cars are to be moved from the entrance car park to one of the designated event car parks.

The normal entrance to the School Site will be closed. After collecting a vehicle pass drivers will need to enter and exit via the sign posted Temporary Gate.

Newsletter for week ending 16 January 2015

Term dates
The term and holiday dates for the new academic year beginning on 1st September 2015 have now been agreed and uploaded onto the school website for your information. An electronic copy of them is also attached to this newsletter.


Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
Unfortunately swimming sessions could not start at the Abbey Sport s Centre on Monday 12th January as the refurbished pool had not reached the correct temperature. Many parents have already paid in advance for this cost and this refund will be carried forward to the next set of sessions for those pupils. We expect the swimming pool to be fully operational by 19th January when Class 2 are due to swim again. For those parents who have not yet made a ‘voluntary contribution’, we are very grateful to receive a 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.

Autism Talk for Parents
Margaret King, Autism Advisory Teacher, will be giving a talk for parents on Thursday 29th January at 9.00am. It is hoped that as many people as possible will attend this information opportunity. Please check book bags for letters with further information. Children in Years 1-6 will receive talks by Margaret King on Thursday 12th February.

Message from Food with Thought
The launch of Universal Infant Free School Meals for all Key Stage 1 children has been very successful across the county. Uptake is good and many more children are now benefiting from a nutritious, healthy meal in school. One of our aims at Food with Thought is to work with schools in increasing the school meal update for Key Stage 2 children.
With this in mind, we at Food with Thought will be providing a complimentary school meal for all Key Stage 2 children during the week commencing Monday 26th January. (Years 3 & 4 on Monday 26th January and Years 5 & 6 on Tuesday 27th January).

PLEASE COMPLETE THE REPLY SLIP ON THE FORM SENT HOME EARLIER THIS WEEK IN BOOK BAGS TO LET US KNOW WHETHER YOUR CHILD WILL BE TAKING UP THE OFFER OF A FREE MEAL OR NOT. Thank you.

UNICEF Day for Change – Friday 6th February 2015
Each year we support Unicef Day for Change which this year is focusing on protecting children caught in emergencies, such as the recent Phillipines typhoon and the Syria conflict. Whenever or wherever disaster strikes, Unicef responds rapidly to deliver life-saving food, medicine and water so children in danger get the help they need. During the week leading up to Friday 6th February our pupils will learn, and reflect, on what life is like for children caught up in such emergencies and will be encouraged to bring in any spare change on Friday 6th February to form our collection for Day for Change. To quote Unicef, “your fundraising efforts and donations will make a huge difference to the most vulnerable children around the world”. We will be happy to collect all contributions! Thank you.

PTA NEWS:
Thank you to everyone who attended the PTA meeting on Tuesday evening, we have some great events planned over the next few months.

Our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 24th February.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Charlie Ball, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs O’Brien. A reminder to Mrs Ellis that she is on the rota for Friday 23 January.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 12 January Swimming sessions begin for Class 2 pupils
Tuesday 13 January Science Club begins for participating pupils
Thursday 15 January Year 1 Forest School session
Tuesday 20 January Booster maths sessions begin for participating pupils
Thursday 22 January Year 2 Forest School session
Thursday 29 January Year 3 Forest School session
Monday 2 February Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Wednesday 4 February Reception and Year 6 pupils see the school nurse for weighing and measuring (letters distributed before the Christmas Holiday)

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
The Little Bears are enjoying our topic ‘Elmer the Patchwork Elephant’ making and designing their own patchwork elephants and colouring by numbers. Next week we hope to make a life size collaged Elmer the Elephant! We will also be experimenting with marbling inks and looking at our own reflections to make some self portraits.
Little Bears would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the Dickens family for donating a much loved book and also the Moss-Black family for some wonderful puzzles, toys and books - thank you from all of us.

Newsletter for week ending 9 January 2015

Welcome back to everyone and a Happy New Year!

Happy JANUARY Birthday to: Elizabeth Bowerman, Thomas Cove, Myles Dobson, Oliver Eaton, Peter Fegyveres-Nagy, Megan Green, Isabella Kenny, Tia Khan, Benjamin West, Thomas West and Honor White.

During JANUARY we are focusing on the core value of FRIENDSHIP

Complaints from Parents
We have received several complaints this week from parents and children who walk to school and get splashed from puddles of rain water as some parents/carers drive too fast in Cratlands Close. We really appreciate the fact that many families try to ease the congestion in Cratlands Close by walking to school and it is unfair that they then get soaked by other parents who are driving past them. We would ask everyone to please show consideration to the people who are walking and observe the 5mph speed limit in the school access area. Thank you.

E-Safety
Children are more ‘tech-savvy’ than ever but may not have the experience and discernment necessary to stay safe on-line. We have added a link to a ‘Parents Guide to Internet Safety’ on our school website under the ‘About Us’ Links Section, which we hope may be useful. On Friday, we are also distributing, via bookbags, a hard copy e-safety information sheet compiled by the UK Safer Internet Centre which we hope you will also find helpful.

Topics/Areas of Study
Termly Outline Plans giving parents and carers an overview of the key areas of teaching and learning in each class have been uploaded onto the school website. If anyone would like a paper copy please ask in the school office for one.

Forest School Dates
The dates of the Forest School sessions were given to parents in the last school newsletter dated 12th December 2014. The dates have also now been uploaded onto the school website so that parents can ensure that their child comes into school with the appropriate clothing and footwear to change into.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
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.

PTA NEWS:

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.

Cake club- if any parent/carer is interested in signing up to make a cake for cake club then please see Rowena Dobson who would be happy to put you on the rota. If your child would like to go into the draw to stand a chance of winning a donated cake, the cost is 20p a week and the winner gets drawn in Friday’s assembly. All monies raised go to PTA funds.

PTA meeting Tuesday 13th January, at The Crown 8pm- It’s a new year with lots of exciting events to plan. We are always looking for new members to come and support the committee and hope to see you there.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA.


Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Nate Moss-Black, the lucky winner of the last cake before Christmas, kindly donated by Mrs Burnell. A reminder to Mrs Marshall that she is on the rota for 16 January.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 12 January Swimming sessions begin for Class 2 pupils
Tuesday 13 January Science Club begins for participating pupils
Thursday 15 January Year 1 Forest School session
Tuesday 20 January Booster maths sessions begin for participating pupils
Thursday 22 January Year 2 Forest School session
Thursday 29 January Year 3 Forest School session
Monday 2 February Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Wednesday 4 February Reception and Year 6 pupils see the school nurse for weighing and measuring (letters distributed before the Christmas Holiday)

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears would like to wish everyone a happy new year and a big welcome back to Term 3. This term our topic is Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and we have lots of exciting colourful mini topics coming up within this topic as well as learning all about elephants in the wild.

Community News:
1. Flyer attached from Oxford City Football Club about the Recruitment of Girl Players – New Under 9s and 10s
2. A new Oasis (Oxfordshire Autism Society) coffee and chat support group is starting in Tetsworth Village hall on the second Wednesday of each month from 9.30 till 11am. Any parents with children with autism, SPD, developmental delay, aspergers or related conditions are welcome to come along to meet like-minded parents who are facing the same challenges as themselves. The group is a place to relax, have a coffee and chat with others. It is very informal and everyone is welcome. They will be meeting in the front meeting room of the hall which is on the main A40 that goes through Tetsworth.
3. Flyer from the Watlington and Chalgrove Children’s Centre about WEBSTER-STRATTON “INCREDIBLE YEARS” PROGRAMME starting on 13 January.