School Newsletter week ending 24th March 2016

 

Message from Governing Body

Parent Survey

Thank you to all those parents/carers who completed and returned the Parent Survey, the school and Governing Body appreciate the feedback. We had 31 responses in total; of those who completed the survey over 90% of responses scored Strongly Agree or Agree for the questions relating to ‘my child is happy’, ‘feels safe’, ‘is well looked after’, and ‘pupils are well behaved’.

Encouragingly the score that is a strong indicator of satisfaction in that parents would recommend the school, had 84% of parents agreeing, with 4 responses scoring don’t know.

 

The question relating to whether the school dealt effectively with bullying caused much debate amongst the Governing Body and teachers; 51% of responses agreed (strongly or agree), only 1 response disagreed whereas 45% ticked ‘Don’t know’. We debated whether this was because there had been no incidences of bullying for that child, thereby parents felt they couldn’t respond positively or negatively to it being dealt with effectively because they had never come across it. For those 14 respondents, if you can remember why you ticked ‘Don’t know’ we would very much appreciate having an insight into why you ticked it.

 

77% of responses agreed (strongly or agree) in relation to receiving valuable information about their child, whereas 19% disagreed. In terms of responding well to any concerns you raise, 65% responded positively, 16% disagreed and the remaining ticked ‘Don’t know’.

 

The free text comments very much reflected the survey responses. Some comments related to individual children, and in line with school policy we would again encourage parents to talk to the relevant teacher at the end of the day, not before school, in the first instance, or make an appointment to speak with Mrs Turner if you have any concerns. Some text comments related to ‘stories’ about isolated incidences; we acknowledge that with the small nature of the school, parents share stories relating to their child, this can make it difficult when seeing survey responses to understand if this was one story repeated many times or many different issues.

 

The parent survey is just one of the data points we use to measure the effectiveness of the school, we also measure the views and progress of pupils, benchmark against other schools, and gather both quantitative and qualitative information against key targets set as part of the School Improvement Plan.

 

Parents & Community Forum – 26^th April

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 on 26^th 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 GB 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.

 

Sports Relief

Thank you to everyone who supported our Sports Relief activities on Friday 18^th March. We are pleased to report that £102 was raised which has been donated to Sports Relief.

 

Forest School

A huge thank you to Phil Payne for sourcing the pallets and other materials to turn our donated sink into a mud kitchen at Forest School.  Both Phil and Paul Gravett spent a few hours building the mud kitchen, which the children are going to love! Thank you to both Phil and Paul for their efforts.

 

 

Chess Tournament 2016

Congratulations to Charlie A, Charlie B and Casey B who were joint winners of this year’s Stadhampton Primary Chess Tournament. The children had great fun! 2nd runners up were Lewis, Peter, Lawrence, Thomas and Will P; 3rd runner up was Tia K. Well done to all who gained enough points to enter this year’s Mega Final. Thank you to Mr Goddard for his time running the after school chess club. It was evident how much the children’s chess skills have improved from attending the Chess Club.

 

PTA NEWS

Earth Hour- thank you to the families that donated sponsor money for Earth hour, £33.33 was raised, we have decided to donate 100% to the WWF.

 

Easter Raffle- thank you to all the families that donated eggs to our Easter raffle , We had over 70 eggs which meant every child that bought a ticket won an egg.

 

Kids bingo evening-Friday 22nd April- 5.30-7pm- you should have received a consent form for the bingo evening in book-bags earlier in the week. We  sent them out in plenty of time to please make sure you circle which food choice your child/children would like. All forms to be handed to Melanie Gravett or any member of the committee .

 

School clean up day- we are going to hold a clean up day at the school on Saturday 23rd April and Sunday 24th April from 10am. We are hoping to improve the swimming pool area ready for the summer term. I am looking for volunteers from every family to help out as it is going to be a big project. I will be contacting every family to see if anyone could spare a few hours to help paint, weed etc. tea/coffee and bacon sandwiches will be provided. Thank you!

 

Friday Cake Club

Congratulations to Freya Clapton, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Smith.  A reminder to Kerri Jones that she is on the rota for Friday 15 April, the first Friday after Easter Holidays.

 

DIARY DATES:
Monday 11 April	Start of Term 5 for pupils and staff
Wednesday 13 April	Mobile Library
Friday 6 May	Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

  

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School

Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30^th March, Thursday 31^st March and Friday 1^st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com

 

Community News

SYC Youth Club Film Night -   We will be running one session in the holiday, for all children, on Wednesday 6th April, 7pm to 9pm with popcorn, pop and tuck shop. 

 

·         Flyer attached about Abbey Sports Centre Sport Relief Aquathlon

 

Newsletter week ending 18th March 2016

 

 

New School Website

As notified to parents by e-mail on Tuesday, we are pleased to report that our brand new school website was launched this week. Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback about the new website. The address of the school website remains unchanged and can be found at  www.stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk

You will find a copy of the Newsletter, School Meals Menu, Forest School dates, After School Club information and much, much more so it is definitely worth a look! We have also added a ‘Kids’ Zone’ with some fun activities and games to play (Classes Section). We hope you like it!

 

Rocket Science

We are very pleased to let you know that we are one of the schools that successfully applied to take part in the UK Space Agency and Royal Horticultural Society ‘Rocket Science’ project. This involves growing rocket seeds that have been up in space with Tim Peake, along with seeds that haven’t been in space, in controlled conditions to investigate any effect that microgravity might have on seed germination and growth. The seeds will be with us in April and we look forward to taking part in such an exciting and high profile national science investigation. There will be enough seeds for every child in school to take part and we are very excited about taking part. As you can imagine, we are under the strict orders of mission control!

 

Abacus Maths

We apologise for the glitch in the system which meant that some pupils were unable to access their Abacus Active Learning account. The situation has now been rectified and we hope everyone has had a chance to logon and access the site. We have had a number of very favourable reports from pupils and parents about the new facility, thank you.

 

Gardening Club

We are pleased to let you know that Gardening Club led by Mrs Burnell will recommence on Friday lunchtimes after the Easter break. The club is open to pupils in Years 3-6. Please ask your child to put their name down with Mrs Hopkins if they would like to attend this popular Club.

 

School Lunch Menu Change for Easter

On Wednesday 23^rd March there will be a slight change to our normal school lunch for Easter. Instead of pork there will be chicken and instead of the shortbread, there will be a chocolate mini egg birds nest.

 

Class 3 Greek Feast!

It was lovely to see the effort children had made to prepare the Greek Cuisine menus in C lass 3. As some of the menus and recipes were so interesting we have decided to have our own Greek Feast! This will take place the first Wednesday back after the Easter holidays 13^th April. I would be very grateful if parents would help us to make this happen by providing small contributions of Greek style food.

There will be a tick sheet in the Class 3 cloakroom during next week to ensure that there is a variety of food. Of course, if children would like to make the recipe of their Greek choice that would be even better! 

As we do have children with allergies please may I request that any recipes containing dairy are clearly labelled and that recipes must be NUT FREE.

Thanking you in advance for your support.

Miss Raval

 

Update on After School Clubs beginning after the Easter Holiday

Archery – 2 spaces available for pupils aged 8 or over

Multisports Club is now full

Ball Games – spaces available

Singing Club – spaces available.

 

PTA NEWS

 

Earth Hour- on Saturday 19th March earth hour is held worldwide encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn their non essential lights for 1 hour, from 8.30-9.30

(this can be done earlier for younger children) as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It can be celebrated any way you like;  maybe have a dinner party in candle light or go for a walk with lanterns. On Friday 18th March we will be putting envelopes into book-bags (1 per family) for your child or your family to be sponsored to turn all lights off for an hour, however your child/family may wish to make it longer then an hour or maybe turn off televisions, consoles or mobile phones. 10% of all sponsor money will be donated to WWF with all other sponsor money going towards the PTA. All envelopes to be handed into a box in the office from Monday 21st March.

 

Kids bingo evening-Friday 22nd April- 5.30-7pm- you should have received a consent form for the bingo evening in book-bags earlier in the week We have sent them out in plenty of time so please make sure you circle which food choice your child/children would like. All forms to be handed to Melanie Gravett or a committee member.

 

Easter Chocolate raffle- thank you to everyone who has already donated Easter eggs. We still need lots more!!!! If you could donate an Easter egg or chocolates then that would be hugely appreciated, we had 28 Easter eggs last year, it would be great if we could have even more this year. Please put all donations into the PTA box in the hall or give to a committee member. A list of all committee members is on the notice board outside Class 1.

Raffle tickets are 50p each, with one ticket per child to make it fairer. Please get your raffle tickets from Georgina Wiggins outside Class 1 from Friday morning until Tuesday morning. Easter raffle will be drawn in the school hall after school.

 

School clean up day- we are going to hold a clean up day at the school the weekend of  23rd April. We are hoping to improve the swimming pool area ready for the summer term, I am looking for volunteers from every family to help out as it is going to be a big project. I will be contacting every family to see if anyone could spare a few hours to help paint, weed etc. tea/coffee and bacon sandwiches will be provided.

 

Friday Cake Club

Congratulations to Phoebe Hindmarch, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Lansley.  A reminder to Debbie Purchon that she is on the rota for THURSDAY 24th March.  We are doing Cake Club on Thursday because Friday is Good Friday and there is no school.

 

DIARY DATES:
Monday 21 March	Work Viewing Evening 3.15 to 6pm.
Wednesday 23 March	Vision checks for Reception pupils
Thursday 24 March	End of term assembly at 9.05am. Parents welcome to attend. School finishes for pupils at 1.30pm. No after school clubs.
Monday 11 April	Start of Term 5 for pupils and staff
Friday 6 May	Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

 

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School

Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30^th March, Thursday 31^st March and Friday 1^st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular!

 

 

Newsletter for week ending 11th March 2016

Mother’s Day Flowers
We are very grateful to Mr and Mrs Birtles for their generosity in continuing to provide us with bunches of flowers for Mother’s Day, even though it is a long time since their children were at Stadhampton School!

Abacus – Maths
We are no longer using “MyMaths” to support maths homework and maths learning. We have replaced it with Abacus on-line pupil world which links to our Abacus planning and teaching resource. Children will have seen and used Abacus interactive activities in their maths lessons, they will now be able to access the activities set by their teacher, at home. Please check your child’s book bag for your ‘Welcome to Abacus’ letter. This will have your child’s login details on it and provide further information.
Mrs Manzie

Science Day
All pupils experienced a variety of fantastic and mesmerising science activities led by Dr Sarah Bearchell on Wednesday. Dry ice was used to make ‘clouds’, full of different smells and sounds which captivated every child and promoted just how fun science can be. Dry ice was added to a bowl of hot water, then Dr Sarah Bearchell made a bubble on top. As it grew bigger and bigger, and a drum roll was played, the suspense was unbearable. When it popped, everyone cheered! It was very exciting. A show was performed at the end of the day where parents, carers and siblings were also involved this included having clouds ‘snowed’ on them. This was an excellent demonstration of what the children had been involved in as part of their workshops. Thank you to everyone who supported this event, I think you will agree that this was an event that we will all remember for a long time.
Miss Mould

World Book Day
It was great to see so many children bring in props from their favourite books for World Book Day. During the course of the morning, props from each class were displayed and all the children took it in turns to guess which books the props were associated with. Class 2 and 3 had to guess the character as well as books. The children had great fun taking part!
Well done to the following children who were the (Guess the Book) competition winners:
Reception Jack Faulker
Year 1 Zac Holmes,
Year 2 Emily Hackett
Year 3 Olivia Kenney
Year 4 Will Eaton
Year 5 Daniel Ellis
Year 6 Max Jones
Miss Raval

“The Adventures of Rabbit”– Les Adventures de Lapin – Théâtre Sans Frontières
On the 3rd of March, Year 5 and 6 went to Icknield Community College to watch a French performance of “The Adventures of Rabbit”. The play had a moral: cheating never gets you anywhere. It was a great experience and Year 5 and 6 learnt a lot of new French.
The children enjoyed watching all of the characters perform their pieces, but a particular favourite was Zoblac the Zombie. When we were on the trip Madame Church joined us to watch the fun.
There were several songs that we had practiced so we could join in the singing. Some of the Partnership Schools joined us: Chalgrove, Ewelme and RAF Benson. It was a very enjoyable experience.
Megan Hutchence and Georgia Day

Forest School
We are delighted to share the good news that Mrs Mel Gravett has been awarded the Level 3 Certificate in Forest School Programme Leadership. As always, we are grateful to Mel for enabling us to provide Forest School sessions for all pupils at Stadhampton School. Next term sessions for pupils in Reception will continue to take place on Tuesday afternoons and for pupils in all other year groups on Thursday mornings. Dates for the Thursday sessions are as follows:-
Date Year Group
Thursday 14th April 6
Thursday 21st April 3
Thursday 28th April 3
Thursday 5th May 1
Thursday 12th May 1
Thursday 19th May 4
Thursday 26th May 4
Thursday 2nd June Half Term
Thursday 9th June 2
Thursday 16th June 2
Thursday 23rd June 5
Thursday 30th June 5
Thursday 7th July 6
Thursday 14th July 6

International Jian-zi Tournament
Our annual Jian-zi Tournament, which this year was won by Thomas Cove with a record-breaking score of 333, is also an international tournament. Each year we compete with pupils at our partner school in Hazlach, Poland. Now that they are back from their winter break they have sent the results of their tournament. Their top scorer was Jakub Suchanek with a total score of 32 so Thomas is also our international winner! We look forward to having the trophy returned to us with Thomas’ name on.

Cycle Safety Training
Thank you to Mrs Cove, Mrs Green and Miss Moss-Black (Helen) for offering to provide cycle safety training in the summer term for any Year 6 pupils who would like to have a go. Please could those pupils confirm with Mrs Hopkins whether they would like to do this, by Monday next week. In order for pupils to put their names forward it is essential that they have an appropriately sized roadworthy cycle and a cycle helmet which conforms to British Standards and fits correctly. Spaces are limited to ten pupils who must be confident on their bikes and able to cycle in a straight line with one hand out as if indicating. 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.

Sports Relief Reminder- Friday 18th March
Dress up as a funny character and help raise money for Sport Relief. Pay £1 to dress up and join others running a 1 mile run around the school grounds. Please remember to bring your trainers for the run!
Miss Mould

PTA NEWS
Earth Hour- on Saturday 19th March earth hour is held worldwide encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn their non-essential lights for 1 hour, from 8.30-9.30
(this can be done earlier for younger children) as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It can be celebrated any way you like; maybe have a dinner party in candle light or go for a walk with lanterns. On Friday 18th March we will be putting envelopes into book-bags (1 per family) for your child or your family to be sponsored to turn all lights off for an hour, however your child/family may wish to make it longer than an hour or maybe turn off televisions, consoles or mobile phones. 10% of all sponsor money will be donated to WWF with all other sponsor money going towards the PTA. All envelopes to be handed into a box in the office from Monday 21st March.

Kid’s bingo evening-Friday 22nd April- 5.30-7pm- you should have received a consent form for the bingo evening in book-bags earlier in the week. We have sent them out in plenty of time please make sure you circle which food choice your child/children would like. All forms to be handed into the school office or Melanie Gravett.

Easter Chocolate raffle- We will be holding another Easter egg raffle on the last week of term. I wanted to start asking for donations towards this, if you could donate an Easter egg or chocolates then that would be hugely appreciated, we had 28 Easter eggs last year, it would be great if we could have even more this year. Please put all donations into the PTA box in the hall or alternatively to a committee member. a list of all committee members is on the notice board outside Class 1.

School clean up day- we are going to hold a clean up day at the school the weekend of 16th April. We are hoping to improve the swimming pool area ready for the summer term. I am looking for volunteers from every family to help out as it is going to be a big project. I will be contacting every family to see if anyone could spare a few hours to help paint, weed etc. tea/coffee and bacon sandwiches will be provided.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Ivy Odell, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Khan. A reminder to Mrs Kylie Smith that she is on the rota for Friday 17th March.

We have almost got a complete rota – just 6 weeks with gaps until the end of the school year – please see attached. If you would like to donate a cake please contact Rowena Dobson.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 14 March Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Friday 18 March Sport Relief – Dress as a clown for £1 and take part in a one mile fun run.
Monday 21 March Work Viewing Evening 3.15 to 6pm.
Wednesday 23 March Vision checks for Reception pupils
Thursday 24 March End of term assembly at 9.05am. Parents welcome to attend.
School finishes for pupils at 1.30pm. No after school clubs.
Monday 11 April Start of Term 5 for pupils and staff
Friday 6 May Forest School fundraising supper event at the Church – please see Mrs Hopkins to book.

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is
advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular!


Community News
• Abingdon Air and Country Show Poster for event on 1st May 2016
• Dorchester Sailing Club poster
• Grease Production at ICC poster
• Children’s Centre Staff Bank Advert

STADHAMPTON YOUTH CLUB
Please note that on Wednesday 16th March we have organised through Oxfordshire Youth someone to come in and do a street dance class with the children. They will do two sessions, which the times will remain the same, yrs 5 & 6 - 6.30pm to 7.30pm and yrs 7,8,9 - 7.45pm to 8.45pm, the subs will still be £1.50. This should be a great activity for all, so please come along and join in the fun!

Newsletter for week ending 4th March 2016

Happy MARCH Birthday to: Dixi Burnell, Jem Burnell, Darcy Crook, Daniel Ellis, Cara Gravett, Alana Hyde, Hannah Lansley, Freddie Tarry and Benjamin Walker.

During MARCH we are focusing on the core value of TRUST

New School Website
Turn IT On, our IT support company, have recently transferred their website services to PrimarySite who are the UK’s leading primary school website provider. We have been working with PrimarySite to create a new school website and, once it is up and running, would appreciate any feedback on how you find it and suggestions for how we can make it even better! Please keep us informed of any access issues you have once the transition process has been completed, which we expect to be within the next few days. Thank you.

Staff Changes!
We look forward to welcoming a new teacher after Easter when Miss Mould will return to school after her wedding in the Easter Holidays as Mrs Humphries! A card is available for parents to sign if they would like to.

Work Viewing Evening
A reminder that Work Viewing Evening for parents/carers and pupils takes place between 3.15 and 6pm on Monday 21st March in each classroom. Teachers will be present from 3.30pm and will be available for brief conversations but there is no appointment system and privacy cannot be guaranteed. It is an opportunity to look at your child’s work with them and to share an understanding of their learning. We look forward to seeing you!

Science Day - Wednesday 9th March 2016
We are extremely excited to be holding a science day next week. Dr Sarah Bearchell will lead the day. In 2015 Dr Bearchell contributed to the science activities for the CBeebies Big Day Out at Weston Super Mare and has plans to work at the Big Bang Fair 2016 using the Mischievous Matter workshop. You can find out more about Dr Sarah Bearchell and the projects she is involved with at www.bearchell.co.uk
She will be carrying out workshops with all classes, showing a wide range of science based skills and fantastic, ‘hands-on’, experiments.
Both workshops below link with both the National Curriculum and the Foundation Stage Curriculum.
Mischievous Matter (Classes 2 & 3): This session explores the states of matter and how they change. Dry ice is used to help understand changes in a very visual way and then some experiments are conducted to explore the ideas further.
Cloud Factory-(Reception & Class 1): This is a fabulous sensory session which borrows elements from Mischievous Matter, tailored for younger children.
Parents and carers are welcome to watch a special show that the children will perform at 2.45pm. Children from each year group will be demonstrating what they have learnt throughout the day. Please come along and see what your child experienced.

Forest Schools Fundraising
Tickets are now available 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! See attached flyer for more details and how to book.
We look forward to your support which will help to secure our continued Forest School provision.

Kitchen Sinks
Thank you to Kevin Bowerman for sourcing a kitchen sink for use at Forest School. We have had a couple of further offers, so many thanks to those families who have spoken to Mrs Hopkins already. We would be pleased to have those as well! We don’t need any more sinks at this stage, but this could well change, so please do let Mrs Hopkins or Melanie Gravett know if you are thinking of throwing one away in the future! Thank you.

Yonex
Thank you to the Yonex video team who have kindly donated some additional sports equipment to the school in return for the use of our sports field in their production of their Yonex Legends videos. You will be able to view the finished videos that feature our school grounds on http://legends.yonex.com/ once they are completed later in March. Thank you to Mrs Shortman for facilitating this opportunity.

PTA NEWS
Earth Hour on Saturday 19th March earth hour is held worldwide encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non essential lights for 1 hour, from 8.30-9.30
(this can be done earlier for younger children) as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It can be celebrated any way you like; maybe have a dinner party in candle light or go for a walk with lanterns. On Friday 18th March we will be putting envelopes into book-bags (1 per family) for your child or your family to be sponsored to turn all lights off for an hour, however your child/family may wish to make it longer than an hour or maybe turn off televisions, consoles or mobile phones. 10% of all sponsor money will be donated to WWF with all other sponsor money going towards the PTA. All envelopes to be handed into a box in the office from Monday 21st March. Thank you.

Easter Chocolate raffle - we will be holding another Easter egg raffle on the last week of term. I wanted to start asking for donations towards this, if you could donate an Easter egg or chocolates then that would be hugely appreciated. We had 28 Easter eggs last year, it would be great if we could have even more this year. Please put all donations into the PTA box in the hall or alternatively give to a committee member. A list of all committee members is on the notice board outside Class 1. Thank you.

Summer fete - we are very excited to be holding a summer fete this year and we would like to make it one to remember. Does your child attend a choir? dance group? Please speak to their teachers to see if they would be interested in performing. Parents have you any contacts through work etc to help with stalls or entertainment for the day? Any help is very much appreciated.

Facebook - did you know the PTA has a facebook page? it is a closed group, if you search Stadhampton primary school pta and ask to join then I can add you. it is for reminders, information and a just a point of call for parents.

School clean up day- a date has not been set for this yet but we are hoping to do it after the Easter holidays. Our aim is to tidy and improve the swimming pool area ready for the summer term. We will be asking for volunteers once a date has been set.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Jude Bradley, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Kenny. A reminder to Mrs Lansley that she is on the rota for 11th March.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 7 March Class 3 pupils attend French Theatre performance at ICC – coaches leave Stadhampton School at 9am. No costs involved for parents. Permission letter sent home last week.
Wednesday 9 March Whole –School Science Day (details above)
Thursday 10 March Year 5 Forest School session
Monday 14 March Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Friday 18 March Sport Relief – Dress as a clown for £1 and take part in a one mile fun run.
Monday 21 March Work Viewing Evening 3.15 to 6pm.
Wednesday 23 March Vision checks for Reception pupils
Thursday 24 March End of term assembly at 9.05am. Parents welcome to attend.
School finishes for pupils at 1.30pm. No after school clubs.
Monday 11 April Start of Term 5 for pupils and staff

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is
advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular.

Newsletter for week ending 26th February 2016

Swimming for Class 3 Pupils
Swimming began at the Abbey Sports Centre for Class 3 pupils on Monday 22nd February (first day back). As always, we are very appreciative to receive a ‘voluntary contribution’ of £2 per session per pupil towards the transport costs. Cash or cheque welcomed, with cheques made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please (£10 for the 5 sessions). Thank you.

After School Clubs
Please note that both the Art and Multisports Clubs are now full. There are still one or two spaces available for the Monday Chess Club and a number of places for the Monday Ball Games club (D of E students from ICC) for pupils in Years 3-6.

New School Meals Menu
A copy of the new schools meals menu has now been uploaded to the school website as a reference point for families.

Elli Project
The next character to be introduced to represent one of the 7 learning characteristics will be ‘Stickability Tortoise’. Class 3 have been working on different scenarios to present in our Elli Project assembly on 29th February. One idea will be presented by the pupils who wrote it, using the puppets in school. We are very much looking forward to their presentation.

Forest Schools
If anyone has an old kitchen sink they no longer need and would be willing to donate for use at Forest School, please speak to Mrs Hopkins or Melanie Gravett.

Forest Schools Fundraising
On the subject of Forest Schools we will be planning a number of Forest School fundraising events during the year, as we have done in the past. We are committed to offering FS sessions to all pupils but the costs are not inconsiderable and this year our costs have doubled as we now hold two FS sessions a week. Budget constraints mean that we need to raise additional funds for both resources and staffing. Our very active and supportive PTA have recently generously paid for a set of waterproofs to ensure that all pupils are dry and comfortable even in the wettest of weathers, for which, on behalf of the pupils, we are very grateful. We cannot, however, expect the PTA to cover the full costs of our FS sessions, so from time to time the school will continue to organise specific FS events to raise funds.
The next event to raise funds is
A 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!
See attached flyer for more details and how to book.
We look forward to your support which will help to secure our continued Forest School provision.

Sporting Achievements

Jian-Zi Competition Results
Pupils took part in our annual Jian-Zi competition on the Friday afternoon just before we finished for the February Holiday as part of our Chinese New Year activities. The competition took place with 3 finalists participating from each year group performing in front of the whole school! The results were as follows:

Year Group Highest Result Runners up:
Reception Winner: Ollie (2) Harry (1); Aisulu (1)
Year 1 Winner: Jack (2) Bobby (1); Cianna (1); Zac (1)
Year 2 Winner: Casey (4) Oliver (2); Ollie E (2); Nate (1)
Year 3 Winner: Joshua (2) Jack A (1); Daniel (1)
Year 4 Winner: Lorenzo (32) Will E (10); Billy (4)
Year 5 Winner: Thomas C (333) Will P (30); Lawrence (12)
Year 6 Winner: Max (20) Charlie A (7); James (6)
Congratulations to Thomas Cove in Year 5 who scored an amazing 333!

CLOSER Partnership of Schools Football Tournament Winners!
During the last week of term the following pupils from Years 5 and 6 represented Stadhampton Primary School at a football tournament at RAF Benson: Lawrence, Tillie, Daniel, Tia, Will, Charlie, Max, Thomas and James.
Four other schools participated, Watlington, RAF Benson, Chalgrove and Ewelme. We played four games and won the whole tournament. Well done Stadhampton! Thank you to the parents who helped to transport and support us.

World Book Day – Thursday 3rd March 2016
For World Book Day this year we are doing something a little different! We are asking children and adults to bring in a prop from their favourite story book. The prop can be ready made or you can be creative and make the prop adding your own artistic flair to it! During the morning we will be holding a competition throughout the school where we ‘guess the book’ from the props brought in.
£1 Book tokens have been distributed to all pupils this week which enable pupils to exchange their token for either a £1 World Book Day book or receive £1 off a book worth £2.99 or more in all participating bookshops.

PTA NEWS
Here is a list of all the winners of the Harry Potter competition

Ellie Payne (Reception)
Honor White (Year 1)
Arun Davies (Year 2)
Elizabeth Marshall (Year 3)
Wyatt Bullock (Year 4)
Lizzie Bowerman (Year 5)

Thank you to everyone who took part

Disco night at The Crown- thank you for your donations towards the raffle. We raised a disappointing £55.45. If anyone has any ideas on what events we could hold for adults which would be better supported then please see a committee member. Thank you.

Earth Hour- on Saturday 19th March ‘Earth Hour’ is held worldwide encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn their non essential lights off for 1 hour, from 8.30-9.30pm (this can be done earlier for younger children) as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It can be celebrated any way you like maybe have a dinner party in candle light or go for a walk with lanterns. On Friday 18th March we will be putting envelopes into book-bags (1 per family) for your child or your family to be sponsored to turn all lights off for an hour, however your child/family may wish to make it longer than an hour or maybe turn off televisions, consoles or mobile phones. 10% of all sponsor money will be donated to WWF with all other sponsor money going towards the PTA. Al envelopes to be handed into a box in the office from Monday 21st March.

Easter Chocolate raffle- we will be holding another Easter egg raffle on the last week of term. I wanted to start asking for donations towards this, if you could donate an Easter egg or chocolates then that would be hugely appreciated. We had 28 Easter eggs last year, it would be great if we could have even more this year. Please put all donations into the PTA box in the hall or alternatively give to a committee member. A list of all committee members is on the notice board outside Class 1.

Summer fete- we are very excited to be holding a summer fete this year and we would like to make it one to remember. Does your child attend a choir? dance group? Parents have you any contacts through work etc to help with stalls or entertainment for the day? Any help is very much appreciated.

Facebook- did you know the PTA has a facebook page? it is a closed group, if you search Stadhampton primary school pta and ask to join then I can add you. it is for reminders, information and a just a point of contact for parents.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Ruby Clark, the lucky winner of the last cake before half term, kindly donated by Mrs Hackett. A reminder to Mrs Khan that she is on the rota for 4th March. We still need cake donators from 29 April to 1st July. See Rowena if you would like to be added to the rota.


DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 2 March Mobile Library visit
Thursday 3 March World Book Day
Year 2 Forest School session
Monday 7 March Class 3 pupils attend French Theatre performance at ICC – coaches leave Stadhampton School at 9am. No costs involved for parents. Permission letter sent home this week.
Wednesday 9 March Whole –School Science Day (more details to follow)
Thursday 10 March Year 5 Forest School session
Friday 18 March Sport Relief – Dress as a clown for £1 and take part in the one mile fun run.

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular.

Newsletter for week ending 12th February 2016

Happy FEBRUARY Birthday to: Charlie Ball, Casey Bromell, Tilly Moss-Black, Jemima O’Brien, Will Parkes, Alexandra Robinson and Daniel Robinson.

During FEBRUARY we are focusing on the core value of QUALITY

After School Clubs
We recently circulated information about the After School Clubs for Term 4. We endeavour to provide a variety of opportunities over the year and are always on the look-out for fresh opportunities!

We compile a register of pupils attending each after school club, to which class teachers and the after school club leaders refer, to ensure the right children are in the right place.

We know when a child is absent due to illness or when parents inform class teachers that their child is not attending due to other reasons. However, there are occasions when a child does not attend for reasons that we are unaware of. To ensure the safety of all pupils attending after school clubs, from Term 4, all pupils on the register for that activity will be sent to the hall for registration unless class teachers have received information directly from parents advising us of other arrangements.

Parents or carers will be able to collect their child from the hall and liaise directly with the after school club leader. Hopefully this will avoid any misunderstandings and ensure the safety of your children. Thank you.

Swimming for Class 3 Pupils
Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre will begin for Class 3 pupils on Monday 22nd February (first day back). They will have a total of five sessions in Term 4. As always, we are very appreciative to receive a ‘voluntary contribution’ of £2 per session per pupil towards the transport costs. Cash or cheque welcomed, with cheques made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please (£10 for the 5 sessions).
Thank you.

New School Meals Menu
Food & More (previously Food with Thought) have provided us with a copy of the new lunch menu which will start on Monday 22nd February. Please find an electronic copy of it attached to this newsletter. Parents should also receive a paper copy via book bags. The new menu will also be uploaded to the school website after half-term.

Robotscool and the Computing Curriculum
A huge thank you to the PTA, who have very generously donated funds to help provide the school with new laptops for the laptop trolley. The laptops in the trolley were 7 years old and struggling to work sufficiently well to allow all children access to the new Computing Curriculum. The new laptops are a great resource for the school and will benefit childrens’ learning.

The PTA have also contributed to funding a fantastic and exciting opportunity for KS2 pupils which will begin next term. ROBOTSCOOL will start in Class 2 and then Class 3 after Easter. The children will learn a wide range of skills such as engineering, reporting, managing and programming, all involving robots, and led by Mr Barry Grehan from Robotscool.

Chinese New Year Celebrations
We have celebrated Chinese New Year (the year of the monkey!) in various ways in each class this week (see below for details.) The celebrations will be concluded on Friday afternoon with our annual Jian-Zi tournament. As we send this newsletter to parents before the tournament, we will share details of the winners with you in our next newsletter.

Reception
Made lanterns; traced and painted ‘monkey’ word; made Chinese opera masks; cut out pictures of monkeys; wrote Chinese numbers to 10; learnt about dragon dances and Chinese music.

Class 1
Made paper lanterns; learnt ordinal numbers through the New Year story and painted Chinese numbers.

Class 2
We listened to a traditional story – Lin Yi’s Lantern – A Moon Festival Tale; made lanterns and Tangrams, "seven pieces of cleverness" - an ancient Chinese puzzle which is still mind-bending and intriguing today!

Class 3
Class 3 pupils created their own horoscopes and identified what Chinese animal they were. They made fortune cookies and even wrote fortunes of our own to put in the cookies. Some examples of the fortunes we wrote are:
“warmth will come when you give”
“be somebody who makes you feel like a somebody”
“a simple smile will make your troubles float away”
“expect the unexpected”
We look forward to eating our fortune cookies!

Highclere Castle Visit
Report by Jemima and Phoebe: “Class Two went on an amazing trip to Highclere Castle! Year 3 and Year 4 split into two different groups. We all saw the same things but in a different order. We saw Tutankhamun’s tomb. There was a brown rusty old door with black bars and when you look through them there was a light that turned on and off showing Egyptian Pharaohs. It made most of us jump! We found out that there was a mummy’s curse after the tomb was opened. A very interesting day!”

Sainsbury's Vouchers
We are collecting Sainsburys’s Active Kids vouchers again this year. The scheme launched on 27th January and we hope that everyone will ask their families and friends to also collect vouchers for us. There is a box in the Hall to put them in. We are able to exchange our vouchers for new sports equipment which is always very exciting!

Sport Relief
GET FUNNY and dress up as a funny character or clown and pay £1 to help raise money for Sport Relief on Friday 18th March 2016. Pupils will wear their funny costumes to run or walk for one mile around the school grounds. Pupils will also need their plimsolls or trainers in school for this event.


PTA NEWS
Harry Potter night: Thank you to everyone who entered our Harry Potter competition. The winners will be announced shortly.

Fundraising Disco Saturday, 730pm at The Crown: Thank you to everyone who has donated raffle prizes for this event. We would love to see you all there for what promises to be a fun filled evening. Whether you come with friends, partner or by yourself a warm welcome awaits you!
There is free entry, DJ, cocktail bar, photo booth and a raffle.

All money raised from the raffle goes to helping the school. Thank you for your support.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Jack Fulker, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Cove. A reminder to Mrs Kenny that she is on the rota for 26 February, the first Friday after half term.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 22 February Start of Term 4 for pupils and staff
Class 3 Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre, Berinsfield
Thursday 25 February Year 2 Forest School
Wednesday 2 March Mobile Library visit
Thursday 3 March World Book Day
Year 2 Forest School session
Monday 7 March Class 3 pupils attend French Theatre performance at ICC – coaches leave Stadhampton School at 9am. No costs involved for parents.
Wednesday 9 March Whole –School Science Day (more details to follow)
Thursday 10 March Year 5 Forest School session

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is
advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular!

Newsletter for week ending 5th February 2016

Message from the Governing Body - Parent Feedback
Thank you to everyone who has already returned their completed questionnaire recently sent to parents by the Governing Body. We hope that as many families as possible will complete the questionnaire and return it to school as soon as possible. Parents were sent one form per family but additional forms are available in the school office for parents who have children in different classes and would like a separate form for each child. Thank you.

Catering Vacancy to assist Mrs Sheridan
We are pleased to announce that Carillion, who manage our School Meals provision, have appointed Mrs Emma Fulker to assist Mrs Sheridan for two hours each day. Mrs Fulker will set up the hall ready for lunchtime service and clear and tidy the hall afterwards. She will also assist Mrs Sheridan with serving lunch which should mean less waiting time for pupils! We are very grateful to Carillion for providing this additional support. The average uptake of a hot school meal at our school is now between 60-70 pupils per day.

Let’s Get Sugar Smart
Each family should receive via book bags this week an information pack from Change4Life about how to get ‘sugar smart’. We hope you find this of interest.

PTA News
Harry Potter Night- Thursday 4th February
You should all have received your activity packs to fill in; your child/children can illustrate the pictures in the pack or if they would prefer they can do their own picture. All packs and pictures to be returned on Monday 8th February to a special Harry Potter box in the office. All children will receive a sweet and the winner of the picture competition will win a Harry Potter prize.

Valentine Disco-Saturday 13th February
Come and join us at The Crown in Stadhampton from 7.30pm. There will be a cocktail bar serving all your favourite cocktails, DJ playing lots of great music, photo booth where you can take lots of silly photos.
Free entry.
Please come and support this night which promises to be a fun filled evening!

We are looking for donations of alcohol for the raffle we are doing on the evening. Please give whatever you can to a committee member.

Thank you for your support of the PTA

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Izzy Kenny, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly provided by Mrs Ellis. A reminder to Mrs Hackett that she is on the rota for 12 February.


DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 9 February Class 2 visit to Highclere Castle
Thursday 11 February Year 1 Forest School
Friday 12 February Annual Jian-Zi tournament
Break up for February Holiday at 3.15pm
Monday 22 February Start of Term 4 for pupils and staff
Class 3 Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre, Berinsfield
Thursday 25 February Year 2 Forest School

Easter Holiday Sports Course at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins, a qualified PE teacher, will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April at Stadhampton Primary School. The course runs from 9-3pm each day and is open to all pupils (not necessarily just Stadhampton School) aged 4-11. The cost is £10 for the day and bookings can be made directly by e-mailing m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Early booking is advised as the Christmas Sports Course was very popular!

Community News:

• Flyer attached about an U12 Girls Football Team in Horspath