Thursday, May 21, 2015

Newsletter for week ending 22nd May 2015

Congratulations
Congratulations to our former pupils at Icknield Community College; Benedict Diment for being elected as Deputy-Head Boy for 2015/16 and to Ben Drake, Andrew Oakley and Chloe Brown as prefects for the year. That’s 50% of the Year 6 pupils from Stadhampton School being elected to a responsible post! We wish them all well throughout the year.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre
Class 2 pupils will have ONE swimming session at the Abbey Sports Centre on Monday 8th June as Class 3 pupils are at Woodlands. Swimming sessions for Class 3 pupils will begin on Monday 15th June. They will have a further 4 sessions on 22nd & 29th June, and 6th & 13th July. As always, we are most grateful to receive a ‘voluntary contribution’ towards the cost of the swimming transport of £2 per swimming session. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School, please. Thank you.

Important information about swimming in the school pool – please get ready!

After the May Holiday, Mrs Shortman and Mrs Singleton will be preparing our school pool for use. We will be following OCC regulations which includes having our pool inspected and water samples taken by an external company which are then sent off for analysis. A clear result must be obtained before pupils are allowed in to the pool. The school pool, once ready, will be used by all pupils throughout the school (including Reception pupils). Please could all parents now start to prepare a ‘swimming bag’ so that it is ready for use. All pupils will need a towel, swimming hat (boys and girls), boys need tight fitting (not baggy) swimming trunks and girls need a one-piece swimming costume (no bikinis or tankinis please). It is much easier if each child has their own swimming hat rather than families try to share one between them. Once the pool comes into use, (we will let you know in the newsletter or by e-mail when this happens) the onus will be on families to ensure that swimming kit is in school each day, otherwise pupils will miss out on opportunities to swim. Pupils who do not have their swimming kit in school will sit in the pool area and read when their class has their turn in the school pool. Thank you.

School Council ‘Danceathon’
A reminder that the School Council are holding a ‘Danceathon’ to help raise money for the Nepal Earthquake appeal on Wednesday 3rd June. All children participating in the half an hour ‘Danceathon’ are asked to bring in a donation or alternatively seek sponsorship to raise money. Sponsorship forms are available from Miss Mould, if anyone would like one. All monies raised will be sent to the UNICEF Nepal appeal.
We collected £46 from the ‘UNICEF Bring a Pound Day.’ Thank you to everyone who contributed to this collection.


School Meals Menu
A reminder that we switch to the new Bronze Summer Menu on our return to school after the May Holiday (please find it attached to this Newsletter). It has already been uploaded to the School Website.

Class Trips this week:
On Wednesday the 20th May, Class 3 went on a fantastic school trip to Ewelme Park Estate – report by James, Alex and Leo
We had lots of fun and had a brilliant day. In the morning, we were taken round the farm by Philip. We were taken into the fields and we learnt lots about the different crops and what they were used for. We then went down to the stables and we learnt about horses, we took part in a quiz and it became competitive as the prize for the winning team was a horse shoe!! Everyone loved stroking Max the horse who was rather cuddly!
After that the estate owner Michael took us on a history trail and we learnt about Henry VIII’s connection with Ewelme Park.
Cathy taught us about Red Kites - how they build nests, hunt for prey and protect their babies all at once (now we know how parents feel!)
We spent the afternoon on a tractor with Ian the gamekeeper and his dog! He taught us about trees and we were shown a newly dug pond with tadpoles swimming around. We had a lovely time at Ewelme Park Estate and we are grateful we had the opportunity to go.

On Tuesday 19th May, Class 2 visited Sulgrave Manor - Report by Ellie W & Ella G
When we got there we got straight in to our Tudor costumes for the day. We acted out Henry VIII and his six wives. We then learnt about Tudor instruments. The English bagpipe was very interesting.
After lunch, we went outside and saw the blacksmith’s (where he works and sleeps and his family sleeps). We saw the front of the house belonging to Lawrence Washington. In the Dining Room, we found out that locked in the salt cupboard were spices, salt and sugar. In the kitchen the bottom of the bread was covered in ashes so the poor people got the nickname “upper crust”! The bed chamber was amazing because it had curtains for privacy and heat.

PLANT SALE – TOMORROW at 3.15pm
The Gardening Club will have a stall outside school at 3.15pm tomorrow for the sale of their surplus plants. Donations would be welcomed in order to help with the cost of buying potting compost, seeds, etc. Thank you.

PTA NEWS:

The sponsored Family Fun Run is on Saturday 13th June from 2-4pm and sponsorship forms have been put into book-bags. If you are taking part please return the slip at the bottom of the letter to the office by Friday 5th June. Please speak to a committee member if you have any questions.

A PTA coffee morning will be held on Thursday 9th July between 9-10am in the school hall. We are delighted to be holding another coffee morning and all parents/carers are invited to come along. If you are interested in joining the PTA committee, members will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. New reception class and other new parents are also invited so it will be a good chance for them to get to know a few faces before September. We hope to see you there.


The Giving Machine
This is a great opportunity to raise extra money for the school without costing you anymore, please read the link below or visitthegivingmachine.co.uk to sign up, our cause is stadhampton primary school, an easy way to raise extra money without costing you a penny
https://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Acrobat-Document2.pdf

Dates for your diaries:
Sports Night is on Friday 10th July and the End of Term Disco is on Thursday 16th July.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Jemima O'Brien, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Mrs Hackett. A reminder to Mrs Drake that she is on the rota for 5 June, the first Friday after half term.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 1 June INSET DAY – Teachers and Mrs Hopkins only in school
Tuesday 2 June Pupils return to school for the start of Term 6
Wednesday 3 June First ‘Buddying’ session for Y6 pupils after school
W/C 8th June Class 3 at Woodlands
Monday 15 June Mobile Library visit
Tuesday 30 June African Dance Workshop
Friday 10th July Whole School Sports Evening

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:

The Little Bears have enjoyed exploring the topic of ‘Space’ and creating lots of wonderful spaceships. Our favourite was definitely the life-size craft which we enjoyed decorating.
Little Bears hope everyone enjoys the half term break. We return on Monday 1 June to the topic of ‘Seasides and Holidays’.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Newsletter for week ending 15th May 2015



We are pleased to welcome Mrs Baker who joined the staff team at Stadhampton School this week.

SATs Tests
Congratulations to our Year 6 pupils who seem to have coped with their SATs very well during this week. A reminder that tests continue into next week for many other year groups.

URGENT Request for help with Cycle Safety Training
Unfortunately there were no offers of help from our Newsletter request on 24th April about help with cycle safety training for our Year 6 pupils, so we are repeating the request in the hope that one or two parents will now offer help. The current band of volunteers can manage the first session on Friday as this session will only take place in the school grounds and in Cratlands Close, but there is now an URGENT need for more help when pupils go out onto the main road next week:

Cycle Safety Training will be taking place for nine Year 6 pupils on the following dates: 15th, 22nd May, 5th, 19th, 26th June and 3rd July. We already have in place a small group of experienced leaders of this activity but we urgently need to recruit one or two more volunteers to help when pupils go out on the busy main road to practise. Please let Mrs Hopkins know if you could help with this training or would like more information about what is required. Thank you.

Host Families for Polish guests 19th -23rd June
Thank you to the families who have generously offered to be host families for our Polish guests next month. We now have enough hosts. We are now planning the itinerary which will include opportunities for non-host families to be involved if they wish. Further details to follow.

Change to School Meals Menu for Tuesday 19th May

Food with Thought have decided to change the school meals menu for Tuesday 19th May to a ‘May Madness’ menu. The choices for that day only will be Chicken Sausages and Chips or Veggie Sausages and Chips, with baked beans or sweetcorn and tomato ketchup. The pudding will be either Strawberry Ice Cream or Seasonal Fruit Platter. The flyer from Food with Thought is on display outside the serving hatch as a reminder.

School Council ‘Danceathon’
The School Council are holding a ‘Danceathon’ to help raise money for the Nepal Earthquake appeal. This will be held on Wednesday 3rd June during assembly. All children participating in the half an hour ‘Danceathon’ are asked to bring in a donation or alternatively seek sponsorship to raise money. Sponsorship forms are available from Miss Mould, if anyone would like one. All monies raised will be sent to UNICEF so that they can use it to help support the people and communities who have been affected by the earthquake. Thank you.


Clarinet Lessons for Term 6
Pupils in Class 3 will not have their usual clarinet lesson on the 2nd June or the 23rd June as the clarinet teacher will not be available on those dates. Class 3 will also be away at Woodlands on 9th June. However pupils will still receive at least the 30 lessons they signed up for as all of the missed lessons will be added back on later in the term.
Parents are invited to a clarinet performance by Class 3 pupils on Tuesday 7th July at 2.45pm.

PTA NEWS:
The Family Quiz Night is this Friday from 6 -10pm. It promises to be a fun filled evening for all the family. A few tickets are still available from Sue Bowerman priced at £10 for a family ticket, with lots of questions for the children to answer. Hope to see you there!

Clothes Recycling collection is on Tuesday 19th May at 9am. This is a great opportunity to get rid of all unwanted clothes. Please use additional black sacks if needed. All money raised from recycling our old clothes goes to PTA funds.

Sponsored family fun run, Saturday 13th June 2-4pm sponsorship forms will be appearing in book-bags next week.

Dates for your diaries:
Sports Night is on Friday 10th July and End of Term Disco is on Thursday 16th July.

The giving machine
This is a great opportunity to raise extra money for the school without costing you anymore, please read the link below or visit thegivingmachine.co.uk to sign up, our cause is Stadhampton Primary School, an easy way to raise extra money without costing you a penny.
https://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Acrobat-Document2.pdf

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Beau Burnell, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Annett Fegyveres. A reminder to Mrs Bradley that she is on the rota for 22 May.

DIARY DATES:
Friday 15 May PTA Event – Family Fun Quiz
Tuesday 19 May PTA Clothes Recycling Collection at 9am
Sulgrave Manor visit for Class 2
Wednesday 20 May Ewelme Estate visit for Class 3
Thursday 21 May Bookfeast visit for Class 1
Year 6 Forest School session
Friday 22 May Cycle Safety Training for participating Year 6 pupils
Break up for the May Holiday at 3.15pm
Monday 1 June INSET DAY – Teachers and Mrs Hopkins only in school
Tuesday 2 June Pupils return to school for the start of Term 6
Tuesday 30 June African Dance Workshop – further details to follow
Friday 10th July Whole School Sports Evening – details to be confirmed


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Thank you to everyone who supported our recent Ladies Supper Night. I think we would all agree that the evening was a huge success!
The Little Bears will be making some junk model spaceships. Next week our book of the week will be ‘Are the Aliens Coming?’

Community News
• Attachment – Flyer from Little Masters – Workshop Offer

Friday, May 8, 2015

Newsletter for week ending 8th May 2015



We are pleased to welcome Sophy Mercer who joined Class 3 this week. We now have 96 pupils on roll and expect to have 101 in September!

Teaching Assistant Appointment
Five candidates for a TA post were shortlisted and interviewed on Thursday. It was a unanimous decision to offer the position to Mrs Lucy Baker who is a very well qualified TA with experience in a neighbouring school where she was highly regarded. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Baker onto the staff team on Monday 11th May. Mrs Baker will predominantly work in the Reception class alongside Miss Mould and will also cover library sessions for other pupils on Thursday afternoons.

New School Meals Menu
The new school meals menu which begins on 1st June and goes though until October half –term has been uploaded onto the school website as a reference point for parents. An electronic copy of the menu is attached to this newsletter.

UNICEF Nepal Earthquake – Bring a Pound Day
To support the people of Nepal we will be participating in the UNICEF ‘Nepal Earthquake Bring a Pound Day’ campaign. If we raise £55 this could provide five families in Nepal with clean water kits. Please bring your donation to school by Friday 15th May. Our collection will be sent to UNICEF soon after the 15th May and we will, of course, let you know how much we collected in the Newsletter. In addition, the School Council will be organising a ‘Danceathon’ during the school day on Wednesday 3rd June. Details of sponsorship for this event will follow next week.

Ghana Week – 29th June -3rd July
As part of our focus on Ghana we have a number of activities already planned for this special week:
• A dance and drumming day on Tuesday 30th June, including a demonstration for parents towards the end of the school day – more details to follow.
• Fair Trade activities and an assembly followed by an after school Fair Trade stall on Wednesday 1st July.

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.

Tests for Year 2 Pupils

Following a mention in last week’s newsletter about SATs tests, Mrs Manzie has confirmed that Year 2 pupils will have their SATs tests spread over a two-week period from Monday 11th May until Friday 22nd May. We would be grateful if parents would not make routine dental /doctor appointments for those pupils during this time. Thank you.

Clarinet Lessons

Thank you to the families who have already completed the reply slips for clarinet lessons for 2015 -16 and paid the initial deposit. The deadline date for return of forms was 1st May. We would therefore be grateful for any outstanding forms to be completed and returned to school as soon as possible for all pupils in Years 5 and 6 in the next school year. Thank you.

Swimming Voluntary Contributions

A reminder that we would still be very happy to receive ‘voluntary contributions’ towards the cost of the swimming transport to the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield from any families in Class 2 who have not made a contribution as yet for this term. Thank you.

Chess Megafinals – Report by Greg
The chess megafinals was held at Spires Oxford Academy. Greg Madry, Oliver Lowman, Charlie
Austin, Lawrence Wright and Izzy Kenny took part in the tournament. We had to play six chess matches against other children from other schools.
All the chess games were held in a huge hall. There were approximately 200 children at the tournament.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the day, had a brilliant experience and will definitely go again!
We got the following points:
Charlie: 3 points
Lawrence: 3 points
Greg: 2 points
Oliver: 1.5 points
Izzy: 1.5 points
We all did well considering 4 points were needed to qualify for the next round.

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

Family Quiz Night is being held on Friday 15th May from 6-8pm. There are only a few tickets remaining for this event which promises to be a fabulous evening for the whole family to enjoy. Tickets cost £10 for a family of up to 6 people. Please see Sue Bowerman for tickets.

A Sponsored Family Fun Run is being held on Saturday 13th June from 2-4pm. Sponsorship forms will be appearing in book-bags soon.

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

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Ruby Clark, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Ewa Klorek (Oliver Lemon's Mum). A reminder to Mrs Hackett that she is on the rota for 17th May.

DIARY DATES:
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 – further details to follow
Friday 10th July Whole School Sports Evening – details to be confirmed

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:

Next week the Little Bears will be learning about space travel and astronauts. The children will be making a very large spaceship and some miniature flying saucers. They will also be talking and looking at astronauts who travel in space.

Community News – Message from Rowena Dobson – Flyer attached
I am hosting an evening of Boogie Bingo on 4th July at the Church (Hall) in Stadhampton on Saturday 4th July, in aid of the Sue Ryder Hospice, where Gareth spent his last few days. Please find attached the poster about it. It would be lovely to see you all there. If you need any explanation of what Boogie Bingo is I'm happy to explain!

Hot Potato Syncopators – Flyer attached
At Stadhampton Church – Saturday 9th May, 7pm for 7.30pm start
Running Time: 1 hour 15 minutes + interval
Age Suitability: All ages
Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9U_fMHyUPU
Why we have selected this show: Musicalablity, showmanship and comedy in equal measure = a great night out
Performances
To reserve your tickets contact Stephen Dawson on 01865 890079 or email s.dawson78@yahoo.co.uk

Sat, 09/05/2015 St John the Baptist, Stadhampton Doors open at 7pm, Show at 7.30pm
Tickets: £10, under 16s £6