Newsletter for week ending 1st May 2015

Happy MAY Birthday to: Billy Bowerman, Hannah Bradford, Leo Burnell, Lorenzo Elliott, Gene Green, Isabel Hector, Megan Hutchence, Miriam Hutchence, Joshua Hursey, Olivia Kenny, Jack Smith and Freddie Webber

During MAY we are focusing on the core value of UNDERSTANDING

Woodlands Residential
Thank you to those families in Class 3 who have now paid their outstanding balance for the residential visit to Woodlands in June. Please may we remind everyone else that the final balance is due by no later than 15th May 2015. Thank you. We’re really looking forward to this visit!

Forest School Sessions
• Reception pupils will have Forest School sessions on the afternoons of Thursday 25th June and Thursday 2nd July. Please could parents ensure that pupils have suitable old clothing in school for those two dates.
• The Year 1 Forest School session scheduled for Thursday 21st May will change to Thursday 18th June as Class 1 will be attending a ‘Bookfeast’ session on that day. (More details about Bookfeast are to follow shortly).
• The session for Year 6 pupils scheduled for 18th June will now take place on Thursday 21st May instead.

Student in Class 3
Miss Sophie Peet, a PGCE student at Oxford Brookes, will be completing her final school placement with us from 5th May to 3rd July and will mainly be working with Miss Raval and Class 3.

Young Leaders Training Day – by Leo Burnell, Class 3
The ‘Young Leaders’ training day led by Mrs Manzie, was lots of fun. We used the new Fit 4 Life kit bag and organised games for each other using the new equipment. Games included ‘Not in My Backyard’ and ‘Target Golf’. Next week, we will be running Clubs for the younger children. At the end of the day, instead of a certificate, we were given a fitness wristband to show that we are Young Leaders and to make sure we are physically fit enough to run clubs!

Hosts Required!
We have a group of 12 people from our partner school in Hazlach, Poland, visiting from Friday 19th to Tuesday 23rd June. There are 4 pupils, each with a parent, and 4 members of the teaching staff. Parents and members of staff have generously offered to host families, providing transport and hospitality, however we are still looking for someone willing to offer accommodation for 2 of the teachers. They are both female and would be willing to share the same bedroom. One of them is an English teacher at the school, has very good English and visited us before but the other has limited English so it would be best to keep the two together. There is no obligation to become involved in all the planned activities (although you would be very welcome to be!), the main priority is to provide somewhere to sleep. If anyone could help, please contact Mrs Turner. Thank you.

Clarinet Lessons
Unfortunately the letter which went home to families earlier this week about Clarinet lessons for pupils in Years 5 and 6 in the next school year did not contain details of who to make the cheque payable to. To clarify, cheques for clarinet tuition should be made payable to OCC. Thank you and apologies for the omission.

Nepalese Earthquake
Our thoughts go out to the people of Nepal, and the many visitors there, following last weekend’s devastating earthquake. It is hard for us to imagine what people there are having to cope with but our newly elected School Council are keen to do something to help and are looking into fundraising options to best help the Nepalese people. We hope to be able to give you further details of their plans very soon.

Booking Clerk for the School (Community) Hall
Sarah Massey, the bookings secretary and treasurer for the Hall Management Committee, takes bookings for the school 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. Thank you.

PTA NEWS:
Clothes recycling is on Tuesday 19th May and bags have now been put into book-bags. This is a great opportunity to get rid of all unwanted clothes! You may use additional black sacks if needed. All money raised from clothes recycling goes to PTA funds. The collection will be at 9am from the school.

Family Quiz Night is on Friday 15th May from 6-8pm. This promises to be a fabulous evening for the whole family to enjoy. Tickets cost £10 for the family of up to 6 people. Please order your tickets from Sue Bowerman. Tickets are limited so be quick!

Date for your diary
Sponsored Family Fun Run will be on Saturday 13th June- more details to follow nearer the time!

Our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 12th May at 8pm in The Crown.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Jem Burnell, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Debbi Purchon, Bobby Byrne's Mum. A reminder to Mrs Fegyveres that she is on the rota for 8 May.
DIARY DATES:
Thursday 7 May Forest School for Year 4 pupils
Monday 11 May SATs week – please ensure no routine appointments such as for the doctor or dentist are made for this week for Year 6 pupils and Year 2 pupils in particular. Thank you.
Tuesday 30 June African Dance Workshop – details to be confirmed
Friday 10th July Whole School Sports Evening – details to be confirmed

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week the Little Bears will continue learning all about the solar system, enjoy experimenting with marble inks and learning lots of facts about planets. We will also be enjoying some group book times together with the book "Everyone Loves the Moon"
Last chance to get your tickets for the Ladies Supper night on Friday 8th May at the Village Hall at St Johns Church - 7.30 till 11.30pm.
Tickets are £12 each - Everyone is welcome for nibbles, cold buffet, choice of desserts.... come along and bring your own drinks.
Please see Debbie to order your tickets.