Week Ending 28 September 2018

 

Applications for Secondary Schools to start in September 2019

Children born between 1st September 2007 and 31st August 2008 (inclusive) need to apply for a secondary school place for their children. You can now apply online for a secondary school place. If you are unable to apply online, you can complete a paper application form. The deadline for receipt of secondary school applications is 31 October 2018.

Please note that UID numbers no longer work for online applications. Applicants now have to manually enter all requested details. If your application is late, it will be processed later in the year, and you are far less likely to get a place at one of your preferred schools.

Flu Immunisations

Reminder: Children in Reception through to Year 5 who have been opted in for the NHS Flu Immunisation will receive this on Friday 5^th October during the morning.

Harvest Festival

Our annual Harvest Festival will take place in the Hall at 2.30pm on Friday 5^th October and families are most welcome to join us. Once again we will be supporting The Porch, (http://www.theporch.org.uk/)

an organisation which provides a stepping stone for homeless people in Oxford, with our Harvest Gifts. We hope that each child will be able to bring a small contribution into school before our service. The Porch prefer to receive non-perishable items such as packets of pasta, tins of beans, bars of chocolate, packets of biscuits, tins of tomatoes, tins of spaghetti, etc rather than fresh produce. Thank you.

Forest School Volunteers

As you know, as a school we are in the very fortunate position of being able to offer Forest School sessions to all children on a regular basis.  We do, however, need parent volunteers to allow these sessions to go ahead, as this year we have more sessions than we have had previously. We need volunteers for all year groups, on a Tuesday morning (Years 3-6 in rotation), on a Tuesday afternoon (Reception) and on a Thursday morning (Years 1 & 2 in rotation).

The attached guidelines for helping at Forest School should give you an idea of what is needed, so if you are interested in helping either on a regular or ad-hoc basis, or if you need any further information, please let Melanie Gravett know.

Please be aware that all volunteers at Forest School (as with any volunteers in school) need to read and sign the volunteer’s code of conduct and anyone willing to volunteer on a more regular basis will need to apply for a DBS check.

 Request from the Ladybirds (Reception Class)

If anyone has any blue PE t-shirts that are no longer being used we would be very pleased to give them a home. We use them to wear over our school uniform when we are playing in the mud kitchen, painting or any other activity that might leave us a bit messy! If you could bring them round to our classroom that would be great. Thank you.

Open Morning – Wednesday 10^th October

In conjunction with Little Bears, the school will be open to visitors from 09.00am to 11.30am families now making their decisions about their choice of primary school for September 2019 as well as for families and the local community. Please do come along and see the school at work between these times if you are able, whether you are a prospective parent or an existing one!

 Change to the normal menu on Thursday 4th October

A change has been made to the normal meals menu for Thursday 4th October. The menu for the day is now beef burger in a bun with tomato sauce or vegetarian Burger in a bun with tomato sauce. All served with potato wedges and corn on the cob; Chocolate fudge cake for dessert or fresh fruit.

Abacus Active Learn – Maths Activities at Home

All KS1 and KS2 pupils will have received a letter and log-in details for ‘Active Learn’ which is an internet resource that links to the maths teaching program and resources that are used in school, in all classes.

Your child’s teacher sets activities regularly (sometimes each week or every other week) that links to the learning in class. Your child can then practice their Maths skills in a fun and engaging way. They will also be able to continue their learning, as well as consolidating their learning. Please help your child by giving them time on a computer, as well as helping them with their initial first log-in. For pupils who are not able to complete homework tasks at home, their class teacher will find a suitable part of the day and week for them to access it at school.

 Storytelling Pumpkin

This week, our school grounds were home to the Storytelling Pumpkin from the Story Museum.  Each class took part in two workshops in which they developed their storytelling technique and took part in the oral retelling of some classic stories based on Dragons and The Hobbit. The children had fun dramatising parts of the story in character. Next week, some children will build on their ideas to plan their own writing based on what they learnt.

 Meerkat Champion of the Week

Class 1  Grace 

Class 2  Maggie           
Class 3  Olivia  

Congratulations to you all!

There are currently no ‘Meercat Champion of the Week’ awards for children in Reception (Ladybirds) as they are still settling into school routines and are gradually being introduced to learning characteristics and skills through our ELLI Project (i.e. characteristics of teamwork, curiosity, perseverance and creativity, resilience, planning ahead, changing ideas and making links).

Oxfordshire County Music Service

Oxfordshire County Music Service have worked with Stadhampton School for many years and continue to offer instrument tuition for pupils in Years 3 – 6. If you would like to know more about what they can offer, please visit www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/musicinterest or phone 01865 816990.

PTA News:

Film Night

Thank you to everyone who supported our Film Night last week.  We raised £240.

PTA Committee AGM - Wednesday 3rd October, 8pm

Just a reminder about the PTA committee AGM on Wednesday 3rd October at 8pm.  Please come along if you can - all welcome.

 Book Swap - Friday 12th October, after school
We will be holding a book swap on Friday 12th October after school.  If you or your children have any books you no longer need, then please bring them along to the book swap.  For £1.50 per person, you can bring up to 20 books and then choose the same number of books to take away with you.

Bag2School Clothes Recycling - Tuesday 30th October 

By getting involved in our next Bag2School collection, you have an opportunity to sort through your cupboards and wardrobes and donate unwanted textiles in the bag provided – this can include anything from the list below;

Men’s, Ladies and Children’s clothing
Paired shoes (tied together or elastic band around)
Handbags/Hats/Bags/Scarves/Ties
Jewellery/Lingerie 

Socks/Belts 

Household linen /Curtains 

Towels 


Soft Toys
Bedding (bed sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers)

Collection bags will be delivered to school shortly, but you can use normal black bin bags as well. Funds paid to the PTA by Bag2School are based on weight so the more bags collected the more we raise!

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Christmas Fundraising

We know…..it is too early in the year to be talking about Christmas! However, we want to give everyone advance notice of changes to our plans for PTA fundraising this year.  

At our PTA committee meeting last week, we had a long discussion about the annual Winter Fair and other Christmas events at school in December and following that discussion, we have decided to give the Winter Fair a well deserved rest for 2018.

This year we will have a children’s Christmas disco (with Santa hopefully!) and a raffle for adults / families, as well as a Christmas Film Night for the children.  As ever, the PTA will run a bar at the evening performance of the KS2 Christmas play and we are also hoping our popular Wreath Evening will go ahead.  We are also trialling a new Christmas card company, with a more varied product range, so look out for your children’s artwork soon!

Further details will follow as we progress through the year.  We look forward to your ongoing support.

 
Cake Club
Well done Finlay for winning Friday’s cake, very kindly made by Rosie – thank you. This week’s cake is being provided by Becca K-B. Thank you all for your support.

 Diary Dates:

October 2018

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
01 Swimming for Class 2 pupils	02 Y4 Forest School session am; Reception FS session pm.   Afterschool Karate Club	03 PTA Annual General Meeting (AGM) 8pm School Hall	04 Y1 Forest School session am     Afterschool Multisports Club	05 Flu Immunisations Years R to 5     Harvest Festival 2.30pm School Hall
08 Swimming for Class 2 pupils	09 Y4 Forest School session am; Reception FS session pm.   Afterschool Karate Club	10 Open Morning 9am to 1130am All Welcome	11 Y1 Forest School session am     Afterschool Multisports Club	12 Book Swap After school

 

Advanced Warning of Key Dates
Wednesday 17 October	Reception Class Parents’ Evening (more details to follow)
Thursday 18 October	Reception Class Parents’ Evening (more details to follow)
Wednesday 31 October	Application deadline date for Year 6 Secondary School Applications
Monday 12 November	KS1 and KS2 (Classes 1 to 3) Parents’ Evening (more details to follow)
Wednesday 14 November	KS1 and KS2 (Classes 1 to 3) Parents’ Evening (more details to follow)
Tuesday 11 December	KS2 matinee performance – pm (more details to follow) KS2 evening performance – (more details to follow)
Wednesday 12 December	KS1 matinee performance – pm (more details to follow)
Monday 18 December	Nativity/Carol Service – pm (more details to follow)
Tuesday 21 December	End of Term Assembly 09.05am Break up at 1.30pm for the Christmas Holiday

 

Community News

St John the Baptist Stadhampton Church are holiding their Harvest Festival on Sunday 7^th October at 9.30am.