Friday, April 29, 2016


Newsletter for week ending 29 April 2016

 

PTA – Organised school clean-up weekend

A huge ‘thank you’ to all who gave up their time during last weekend to help spruce up the school and grounds. Parents, governors, staff and other volunteers all contributed to a range of spring-cleaning jobs which has made an obvious impact on the look of the school and for which we are very grateful.

Particular thanks go to Mr Khan and his team for the fantastic work they did transforming the area surrounding the swimming pool which included; replacing the changing area fencing sections, laying non-slip matting for accessing the changing areas, constructing a covered seating area (to protect children, who are not swimming, from the sun) and painting preservative on the inside of the fence panels. The pool is an area most parents and carers don’t see but the children do and they will be amazed!

Thank you to the PTA for organising this event, we do appreciate your commitment.

 

“Parenting Is An Interesting Journey” talk by Susie Mullin – 06.07.16

Parenting can be a very complex and challenging role in today’s world and we are delighted to be able to offer all parents and carers the opportunity to listen to Susie Mullin’s talk “Parenting Is An Interesting Journey”. Susie is well known to us at Stadhampton School and runs her own business, Red Balloon Training, which you can find out more about on www.rbtraining.org. Susie is a trained nurse, qualified primary school teacher and behaviour support specialist and brings a wealth of professional experience as well as an engaging personality to her talks.

Her talk will shed some light on this important topic and will take place in the Hall between 3.15 and 4.15 on Wednesday 6th July. We will be offering a crèche for Stadhampton School pupils. We do hope you will be able to come and, nearer the time, we will be sending out invitations and a reply slip to gain an idea of approximate numbers.

 

Reporting your child’s absence

If you need to notify school with regards to your child’s absence, either e-mail the school on office.2455@stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk or follow the new link on the school website under the Parent’s Section. Thank you.

 

UNICEF Day for Change

Thank you to everone who donated to the UNICEF Day for Change. So far we have collected £91.22 for UNICEF.

 

PTA NEWS

Clean up weekend- thank you to everyone who attended the clean up weekend, we completely transformed the swimming pool area in just 1 day. There were people there from 8am until 6pm and everything in between. A special thank you to Zia Khan who really took this project on and who donated materials, man power and ideas, we couldn't have done it without him. I hope everyone is pleased with the end result. Thank you to everyone who came on Sunday helping improve other parts of the school areas.

 

Bingo night- A great evening was had by all although I think some of the committee had a headache afterwards! Thank you again for supporting this popular evening and a special mention to Mel Gravett for organising.

 

Cake Club- After setting up and running cake club for a number of years Rowena is flying the nest. We can’t thank Rowena enough for all her hard work in making cake club such a success and the amount of money it has raised over the years. We are looking for someone to take over cake club, you don't have to be on the committee you would just need to be available on Friday mornings. Rowena is very happy to show whoever takes it over the ropes and to fully support them. Unless we get a volunteer to take it on we will unfortunately have to stop cake club, which none of us want to do. Please speak to a committee member if you are interested.

 

Clothes recycling- please keep filling those bags ready for Tuesday 10th May 9am, we accept clothes, shoes, good condition cuddly toys, hats, bags. All money raised goes towards the PTA and Little Bears.

 

Family Quiz Night- Friday 20th May 6pm- tickets are on sale for this fun evening, a family ticket is £10, there is a fully stocked bar, pizza and hotdogs for sale and a fantastic quiz for all the family to enjoy. Please see Georgina Wiggins for tickets.

 

Queen’s celebration- Saturday 18th June- the PTA are supporting the Queen’s birthday celebrations by holding a raffle on the day of the village fete. We are asking for donations from parents for hampers that we hope to raffle off. All the money raised from the raffle will go to the PTA. We have cancelled our summer fete so that we can support this event. Please start putting donations in the PTA box in the hall. Thank you.

 

Our next PTA meeting is Tuesday 10th May 8pm at The Crown in Stadhampton.

 

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA. 

 

Friday Cake Club

Congratulations to Leo Burnell, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Payne.  A reminder to Mrs Holmes that she is on the rota for 6th May.  We still have 2 gaps in the rota (see attached).  Please let Rowena know if you can fill one of them – dates are:  24th June and 1st July.  Thank you.

 

 

DIARY DATES:
 
Monday 2 May
Bank Holiday
Monday 9 May
Start of SATs week
Wednesday 11 May
Mobile Library visit
Monday 16 May
Book Fair in school
Tuesday 17 May
Class 2 Trip
Friday 20 May
PTA Family Quiz Evening
Friday 27 May
School finishes at 3.15pm for May Holiday
Monday 6 June
Start of Term 6 for staff and pupils
Friday 10 June (rearranged date)
Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

 

 

 

Text Box: LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears will be continuing with their growing and garden theme next week and learning all about the caterpillars which arrived in the post this week! So far the Little Bears are enjoying watching them grow and getting bigger every day. 
On Saturday, 14 May from 10 am in Little Bears garden we will be holding a tabletop sale -£5 per table (bring your own table).
Tea, coffee and cakes will be available during the morning with activities for children. Please see Debbie Bradford if you are interested in booking a table.

 

 

 

 
Community News:

SAVE THE DATE -  Queen's 90th Birthday - Saturday 18 June 2016, 2pm onwards

 

We will be holding a village tea party in June to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday, as well as those of members of the local community also reaching their 90th year - we'd like include anyone 80+, (please contact Sue White if you'd like to include someone at the birthday table  01865 890880). 

 

The Brook Race will go ahead - thank you to the Hopkins family for returning one of the shields for this event - there will be three races; men, ladies and 11-16 year olds with medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the latter race. 

 

More information will follow in these newsletters, the Village Voice and on the village website stadhampton.org - and if you'd like to be involved then please contact Sue on the number above. Thank you.  We'll keep updating you over the new few weeks but for now please make a note in your diaries. 

 

Thursday, April 21, 2016


Newsletter for week ending 22 April 2016

 

Mrs Vivien Freeman

We were very sorry to hear the sad news that Mrs Vivien (Viv) Freeman passed away earlier this week. Viv and Richard’s children are former pupils of Stadhampton School and Richard was Chair of Governors for a number of years. In the last two years Viv became a regular volunteer in Class 2 and staff and pupils greatly valued her quiet, friendly and unassuming support. We shall miss her and our thoughts and prayers are with her family.

 

 

Parents & Community Forum – 26th April at 7pm

The school has changed significantly over the past 5 years, numbers have almost doubled and yet we still occupy the same space, with the same number of teachers; the curriculum has changed, the method of assessment has changed, the LA is in demise and the spectre of academy status is now firmly on our agenda.

 

We would therefore encourage as many parents as possible to attend the Parents Forum, held by the Governing Body on 26th April, to hear what actions the school will be taking in response to the feedback, learn more about the school, what the Governing Body do and more importantly seek your views on academy status and the long term vision of the school. The main focus of the evening will be to seek views so that the Governing Body can create a vision that ensures our step towards academy status reflects the majority views of parents, as well as delivering a happy and caring environment in which the children can thrive. Please do come along if you can.

 

Tests for Pupils

End of KS1 Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) for Year 2 pupils will take place throughout May. End of KS2 SATs for Year 6 pupils follow a set national timetable and take place during the week beginning 9th May. Pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 also have assessment tests in May. We politely request that routine dentist or doctor appointments are not made during this time. Thank you.

 

Rocket Science Experiment

We received our ‘Rocket Science’ seeds by special delivery on Monday (Royal Mail rather than anything more exotic!) and the seeds are now safely planted in their designated seed trays. All pupils planted two seeds, one that was from the batch that had been in space and one that hadn’t. It is part of the experiment that we don’t know which batch was the one that had been in space; one of our tasks is to see if we can come to our own conclusion at the end of the experiment. All will be revealed to us by Tim Peake himself before the summer holidays.

 

The rocket seeds were, as one of the children commented, “miniscule” and I was both delighted and impressed with the approach of the children – every child took enormous care when planting their seeds and not a single seed was dropped! The seeds now need to be watered and observed over the duration of the experiment (35 days) and with key measurements made at specific stages. All pupils will continue to be involved and will keep you updated with our observations! For further information visit: https://schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk/home

Swimming Contributions

A reminder that it is most helpful if parents are willing to contribute £2 per child per swimming session towards the transport costs. This term (for Class 2 pupils) the cost is 6 weeks@£2 per week = £12. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you to those families who have already contributed to the cost of this term’s swimming.

 

Forest School Event

Due to unforeseen circumstances the school has agreed to change the date of the Supper Night to Friday 10th June.

 

UNICEF Day for Change

A reminder that on Wednesday 27th April, we will be collecting coins to support UNICEF. Please start collecting any loose change and bring it in on the 27th April, as it will be going towards this very worthwhile cause. Thank you.

 

Cycle Safety Training

The following pupils have secured a place on the cycle safety training sessions detailed below: Megan G, James L, Georgia D, Charlie B, Zara H, Leo B, Max J, Tia K, Charlie A and Megan H. The course is now full.

The training sessions will take place on 6th May, 13th May, 20th May, 27th May, 10th June, 17th June (written test) and the practical test will be on the afternoon of 24th June. Please remember to bring your cycle and safety helmet to school.

 

PTA NEWS

Clean up weekend- this Saturday and Sunday from 10am- if you are able to spare a few hours to help us improve the swimming pool area and others areas of the school then please speak to a committee member. We are hoping for lots of support. If you are able to make cakes to help feed our workforce then please speak to Georgina Wiggins.

 

Clothes recycling- Tuesday 10th May 9am- recycling bags have been handed out for you to start filling; please feel free to use normal black sacks. Acceptable items are clothes, good condition toys, shoes, bags, hats. The school receives money from the total weight of our school donation. Bags need to be dropped outside the school office by 9am on the 10th May.

 

Family quiz- Friday 20th May from 6pm- we are pleased to be hosting another family quiz, this really is one for all the family, tickets will be available from Georgina Wiggins from Monday, priced at £10 for a family of 6 which includes nibbles. Pizza and hot dogs will be available to buy and we will also have a fully stocked bar.  We hope that will be a great night for all the family.

 

Our next PTA meeting is Tuesday 10th May 8pm at The Crown. Everyone is welcome!

 

Friday Cake Club

Congratulations to Lorenzo Elliott, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Jones.  A reminder to Mrs Bradley that she is on the rota for 29th April.  We have 5 gaps in the rota left.  Please let Rowena know if you can fill one of them – dates are:  20th May, 27th May, 10th June, 24th June and 1st July.  Thank you.

 

 

DIARY DATES:
 
Saturday 23 April & Sunday 24 April
PTA Working Party in school
Monday 25 April
Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 26 April
Parents’ Forum at 7pm in the School Hall
Wednesday 27 April
UNICEF Day for Change 2016
Monday 2 May
Bank Holiday
Friday 10 June (rearranged date)
Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

 

 

Text Box: LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
The Little Bears topic for Term 5 is ‘growing and gardens’. This week we are going to be growing our own beanstalks and also talking about the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk.

 


 

Community News

SAVE THE DATE -  Queen's 90th Birthday - Saturday 18 June 2016 

Stadhampton will be holding a village tea party to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday on Saturday 18 June, from 2pm onwards. 

Everyone is invited - bring family and friends and your picnic hampers.  We're reinstating the village brook race plus there'll be lots of other activities for all the family; fun races, arts & crafts, food and drink stalls, music & dancing and lots more. We'll update you over the new few weeks but for now please make a note in your diaries. 

Thursday, April 14, 2016


Newsletter for week ending 15th April 2016

 

Welcome back to Term 5!

 

Happy APRIL Birthday to: Katende Amery, Oliver Bourne, Cianna Browning, Bobby Byrne, Isabel Holmes, Zachary Holmes and Samuel Sundberg .

 

During APRIL we are focusing on the core value of THOUGHTFULNESS

 

Mrs Humphries

We are delighted to confirm that Mrs Humphries (Miss Mould before her wedding on Easter Sunday) is expecting a baby. Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Humphries and thank you for sharing this happy news with us. Mrs Humphries will go on maternity leave when we break up for the summer holidays on 15th July and we will be advertising for a teacher to provide maternity cover for the Reception Class from the beginning of September.

 

Class Curriculum Overviews – ‘Jigsaws’

The new format of termly curriculum overviews for Terms 5 and 6, which comprises a coloured ‘jig-saw’, with each coloured ‘piece’ representing a subject area, have now been completed and uploaded to the school website under the ‘Classes’ section. Please also have a look at page 2 of each jigsaw which provides additional important curriculum information.

 

Forest School Fundraising

Bookings are now being taken for the Supper Night on Friday 6th May from 7.30 to 11.30pm at the Village Hall at St John’s Church Stadhampton. Tickets cost £12.50 and include a buffet and desserts. Bring your own drinks!

We look forward to your support which will help to secure our continued Forest School provision.

 

Class 3’s Greek Feast

Wow! It was lovely to see the school hall transformed into a Greek Taverna yesterday afternoon as Class 3 enjoyed their Greek feast. We had lots of fun investigating and trying new foods. We also had Greek music played with some of the class dancing along to music. We enjoyed it so much that everyone had at least a second portion washed down by a glass or two of Greek wine aka Shloer! Some of the other teachers got involved too. We had heaps of fun and it was a day to remember for all of us.

Ella and Isabella

A big thank you to all class 3 parents for the exquisite contributions.

I would also like to thank Mrs Wilkin for working hard behind the scenes to ensure the children had a great Greek experience.

Miss Raval

  

Rocket Science

As mentioned in a previous newsletter, we are one of the schools who successfully applied to participate in the Royal Horticultural Society and UK Space Agency national Rocket Science experiment. You may have seen reference to the experiment on the television recently.

We are looking forward to taking part in this experiment and are awaiting the delivery of our seeds on Monday 18th April. We will receive 100 rocket seeds that have been in space, under the watchful eye of astronaut Tim Peake, and 100 similar rocket seeds that have been restricted to Earth! All children in school will be involved, growing the seeds in controlled conditions and recording observations to input on a national database. We will update you with our progress later during the summer term. Exciting!

 

UNICEF Day for Change

On Wednesday 27th April, we will be collecting coins to support UNICEF. UNICEF work is carried out in 192 countries and they work around the clock to protect children. A current focus for UNICEF is to collect money to help children in Syria. After five years of conflict, Syria remains one of the most dangerous places to be a child. Your donations will contribute to helping these children to remain safe and have food and water to survive. Please start collecting any loose change and bring it in on the 27th April, as it will be going towards this very important cause. Thank you.

 

Piano Tuition

Mrs Trudy Drake is offering piano lessons during the school day on Thursday afternoons for any child in Class 2 or Class 3. If you are interested in your child/ren learning to play the piano in school, please contact Mrs Drake directly (mob. 07918188519) for more details.

 

Food & More

We have been notified that Food & More will be putting on an Indoor Summer BBQ themed lunch on Thursday 19th May. Options include Beef Burger in a bun or Hot Dog or a Vegetarian Burger, all served with baked sweet potato wedges and salad. Followed by Strawberry Shortcake or fruit.

 

PTA NEWS

Bingo night Friday 22nd April 5.30-7pm- consent forms and £3.50 for each child need to be returned to Melanie Gravett no later the Tuesday 19th April please. It should be a very enjoyable evening.

 

Clothes recycling Tuesday 10th May 9am-  look out for recycling bags in your childs book-bags soon.  Please fill the bag with clothes, good condition toys, hats, shoes, bags. All money raised goes to the PTA and Little Bears. Black sacks of clothes are also welcome.

 

Clean up weekend Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th April 10am- we are significantly improving the swimming pool area ready for the summer term as well as doing other jobs around the school. Please see a committee member if you are able to help.

 

Please note the summer fete advertised as being held on Saturday 25th June has now been cancelled.

 

 

Friday Cake Club

Congratulations to the THREE lucky winners of cakes generously donated by Debbie Purchon on the last day of term – Megan Hutchence (1st Prize), Zachary Holmes and Isabel Hector (Joint 2nd Prize).  A reminder to Mrs Payne that she is on the rota for 22nd April.

 

DIARY DATES:
 
Friday 22 April
PTA Children’s Bingo event
Saturday 23 April & Sunday 24 April
PTA Working Party in school
Monday 25 April
Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 26 April
Parents’ Forum at 7pm in the School Hall
Wednesday 27 April
UNICEF Day for Change 2016
Monday 2 May
Bank Holiday
Friday 6 May
Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

 

 

 

 

Text Box: LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Welcome back to Term 5. We hope everyone had a restful break. 
This term the Little Bears topic will be ‘growth and gardens’ and we are looking forward to getting a preschool pet - five little caterpillars!!
If anyone has any jam jars they would like to kindly donate to Little Bears please see Gemma. We would be very grateful.