Week ending 17 March 2017

 

 

MEERKAT Champion of the Week

We are delighted to share the names of our "MEERKAT Champion of the Week" award in each class last week as follows;

Reception – Imogen H

Class 1 – Maya J

Class 2 – Thomas W

Class 3 – Beau B

 

Well done to you all!

 

Cycling Safety Training

Will P has taken the final place on the cycle safety training course, which means that the course is now fully booked. Thank you all for your interest.

 

Communications

In order to improve communication links between school and parents we thought that it might be useful to clarify the ways we communicate in case not all parents are aware of all of the different ways there are to access information. We hope that you will find this useful:

 

School Newsletter	E-mailed out on a weekly basis to parents. Please let us know if you are not receiving this	Uploaded to the school website using this link http://stadhamptonprimaryschool.blogspot.co.uk/ Path to follow on the website: Parents/Newsletter Link
School Meals Menu	Currently awaiting hard copies of the menu from Food & More. There is also a copy of the menu on display outside the school office	Uploaded to the school website. Path to follow on the website Parents/School Meals
Recent Letters	Hard copies of letters are sent home via book bags. Some classes have a ‘spare copies drawer’ where they put additional copies of letters and home work	Uploaded to the school website. Path to follow is Parents/Recent Letters
After School Clubs	Hard copies of letters are sent home via book bags.	Uploaded to the school website as a reference point including a list of all the dates and times of all After School Clubs. Path to follow is  Parents/After School Clubs
School Calendar	We have made significant improvements to this section of the website during the last week or so. Path to follow is Parents/Calendar ·         The calendar is now colour-coded so that the activities for each class stand out more. ·         When you click on the item further information and detail about the item now appears. ·         Parents are now able to download the school calendars events into their personal calendar on their computer, tablet or phone. Instructions are attached to this Newsletter about Calendar Syncing for Parents. Mrs Ellis has tested this for us and reports that it was easy to do and works well!!

 

Chess Resource

Mr Goddard, who leads our Chess Club, would like to share this resource with other parents as it has some very useful basic training that would suit our level of children very well. This can be accessed at https://en.lichess.org/

 

Red Nose Day/Comic Relief on Friday 24 March

We would like to support Comic Relief by inviting children to come to school wearing their school uniform (or at least the top part of it!) “back to front” on Friday 24^th March. They can also wear a Red Nose or other red Comic Relief “accessory” during the day and we suggest £1 donation per child – all of which will go to Comic Relief. We appreciate that we have had two very successful “dressing-up” days for charity recently and that having a third one so soon could develop into “dressing-up fatigue”!

 

PTA News

Easter Fayre – Saturday 1 April

DONATIONS PLEASE – if parents are able to donate any Easter chocolate or sweets as prizes at the Easter Fayre, these would be gratefully received in the PTA box in the hall.

 

We will also need clean recycling items for the junk modelling – cardboard boxes, egg boxes, clean milk containers, kitchen rolls etc.  Please start to collect anything which you think may be useful.

 

HELPERS WANTED – if anyone can spare half an hour to help with a stall on the day, then please let Melanie Gravett know.

 

RAFFLE TICKETS - You should now have received raffle tickets via bookbags, so please look out for these and return to the office as soon as possible.

 

COMPETITIONS - we are also planning to have several Easter themed competitions for the children to be judged on the day of the Fayre.  If your children would like to enter any of the competitions, they will need to bring their entries to the hall on 1 April by 2.15pm, or alternatively if they are not able to come on the day itself, by the end of the school day on Friday 31  March.

 

The competitions are as follows and all cost £1 to enter or £3 to enter all five.

 

Easter Cupcake and Biscuits – any Easter themed cupcakes and biscuits (please note all entries will go to the cake stall for sale after judging).

Easter Shoebox – decorate a shoebox with an Easter theme

Decorate an umbrella – decorate an umbrella with a spring theme

Decorate a vegetable – decorate a vegetable in any way you like

Junk Modelling – make a model from junk.  Children can do this in advance or will be able to do this on the day during the Fayre.

 

 

 

Bags2School Clothes Recycling – Friday 5 May

Our next Bags2School recycling date is Friday 5 May, so please bear that in mind if you are having a clear out in the next few weeks or over the Easter holidays. For those who don’t know, we will receive cash from Bags2School based on the total weight of the bags collected, so the more we collect, the more we raise.

 

Bags2School collection bags will be in bookbags shortly, but you are able to use normal black bin bags if you are having a clear out before then. Please fill your Bags2School bag (or a normal bin bag) with any unwanted items from the list below: 

 

Men’s, Ladies and Children’s clothing


Paired shoes (tied together or elastic band around) 

Handbags/Hats/Bags/Scarves and ties/Socks/Belts

Jewellery


Lingerie


Soft toys


Household linen / Curtains/Towels

Bedding (bed sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers) 

 

Children’s Bingo Evening – Friday 19 May

We will be holding a children’s bingo evening on Friday 19  May.  More details to follow soon.

 

Easyfundraising

Easyfundraising.org.uk provides a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for the PTA. Simply access your chosen websites by using the links from the Easyfundraising.org.uk site or use the ‘Find and Remind’ toolbar on the website. There are over 3,000 retailers and online sites registered with Easyfundraising and each purchase you make will generate a cashback donation to the PTA. 

All you need to do is register at Easyfundraising.org.uk. 

 

It is very easy, you only need to register once, it costs you nothing and raises money for the PTA.  Please register on the site – it only takes a few minutes and really does raise money for the PTA just by shopping online.  If you need any help with registering, please ask any member of the PTA committee.

 

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 2 May, The Crown 8pm.  Please join us if you can.

 

Cake Club

Congratulations to Alana Hyde and family who were the lucky winners of the Cake Club draw last Friday! Thank you to Jane Marshall for providing the lovely cake.

 

 Leanne Kenny has kindly volunteered a cake for Friday 17 March and Rowena Dobson is next on the rota for 24 March.

 

Cake Club has been well supported this year and your donations and baking have helped to raise valuable extra funds for the school and our children. As the school year progresses, we

have some gaps in the rota that we need to fill. Thank you so much to those of you who have volunteered to bake or provide a cake for the children’s weekly draw for the second time! If you would be willing to provide a cake, or a second cake before the end of the school year, please let me know or get in touch via the PTA FB page or Mrs Hopkins in the school office.

 

 

 

Diary Dates:

 

Monday 20 March	Work Viewing Evening – 3:15pm to 6pm
Thursday 23 March	Year 6 Forest School
Friday 24 March	Comic Relief/Red Nose Day
Thursday 30 March	Year 6 Forest School
Saturday 1 April	PTA Easter Fayre (pm)
Monday 3 April	Governing Body meeting
Thursday 6 April	End of term assembly at 9.05am School finishes at 1.30pm for the Easter Holiday
Friday 7 April	INSET Day for teaching staff only
Monday 24 April	Return to school for the start of Term 3

 

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:

Next week's books are called ‘Dinosaurs Galore’ and ‘Dinosaurs Love Underpants.’ We look forward to looking at the rhyming patterns in the books as well as designing our own underpants!

 

Little Bears Ladies Supper Night

Friday 17 March, 7.30pm

Stadhampton Church Hall

Selection of curries and desserts. £12.00, contact Debbie on 07854 508417 to book your place. 

Please bring your own drinks. 

 

Advance Notice of an Easter Sports Club:

Michael Hopkins, who is well-known to the school as a PE teacher will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Monday 10^, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 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.

 

Community News:

• Cross Country Running Event at RAF Benson flyer on Saturday 25 March
• Safari Supper on Saturday 20 May

 

Lambing Weekends 25th-26th March and 1st-2nd April, 11am-4pm each day

Come and join Earth Trust for some baa-rilliant farmyard fun at our annual Lambing Weekends! You’ll have the opportunity to meet the new spring arrivals - lambs, piglets and goats – and try bale climbing, tractor and trailer rides (weather permitting), a sheep hunt and quiz, craft activities and more! Refreshments will be available from Poem Tree Café and a BBQ. It’s £4 per child, £6 per adult and £16 for a family of four and there’s a discount for online tickets; please visit http://www.earthtrust.org.uk/explore/lambingweekends for further details. We look forward to seeing ewe you there!

Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, OX14 4QZ

                              

Week ending 10 March 2017

 

MEERKAT Champion of the Week

We are delighted to share the names of our "MEERKAT Champion of the Week" award in each class last week as follows;

Reception – Harry T

Class 1 – Dixi B

Class 2 – Jem B

Class 3 – Billy B

 

Well done to you all!

 

World Book Day Events

A huge thank you for your support in transforming all the pupils into book characters for World Book Day. Here is a report from Class 3 pupils:-

 

“On Friday 3^rd March, everyone came as a book character from one of their favourite books. We all paid £1; half of the money will go to the Roald Dahl Marvellous Charity for Children and half to our School Council.

We had lots of fun guessing who was who and from which book. Everyone put lots of effort into their costumes. There were wizards, superheroes, gods, secret agents and animals and many more! In most classes Harry Potter was around; also Greg Heffly, Gangsta Granny, Alice in Wonderland, Pippi Longstocking (with giant stockings!) and Luke Thorpe.” Juliana B and Jake J.

 

We raised a total of £81.50. Thank you! It is not too late to offer to read a short story, or extract from a favourite story, to the children in your child’s class – you would be very welcome! If you would like to be involved, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

 

Gardening Club

We are pleased to let you know that Gardening Club led by Mrs Burnell and Mrs Green will recommence on Friday lunchtimes from Friday 17 March. The topics this term will include fertilising and preparing the seed beds and greenhouse; chitting and planting potatoes; trialling different methods of germinating seeds; planting garlic; making a strawberry plant tower plus lots more! 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.  Thank you.

 

Chess Club

Mr Goddard has confirmed that he would be happy to extend the finishing time for the 3 remaining chess club sessions to 4.15pm in order to give pupils an hour of chess time.

 

Pedestrian Access to Little Bears

Little Bears staff have asked us to remind parents about parking near their entrance which makes access to and from Little Bears difficult for parents with pushchairs.

 

Please could parents only use the designated parking bays and NOT PARK in front of the large gate which leads onto the netball court. Not only is this the access point for grounds maintenance and emergency vehicles but it also causes a significant problem for pedestrians with pushchairs entering and exiting Little Bears. It would be acceptable for one car to park briefly on the left hand side nearest to the school but the main problem arises when two cars park in that area as parents with pushchairs are being forced onto the muddy grassed area rather than being able to use the path or dropped-kerb access point. Thank you.

 

Parking and Driving in Cratlands Close

We have also received complaints from parents this week about the speed at which some cars are driven down Cratlands Close. The safety of children is of paramount importance to us all. We respectfully remind parents and carers to exercise particular caution regarding driving speed and to avoid the need to drive up onto the pavement particularly when they are in close proximity to the school. Please could parents and carers also show consideration to others, including local residents, when they park in close proximity to the school. Thank you.

 

Cycling Safety Training

Places on the cycle safety training course starting on 5 May are confirmed for Ella G, Tillie MB, Lawrence W, Myles D, Daniel E, Thomas C, Isabella D, Ben W and Tende A. This leaves one space currently available which will be offered to Year 6 pupils on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Food and More

Please find attached to this newsletter information from Food and More about their use of free range eggs.

 

PTA News

Thank you to everyone who came to the PTA meeting on Tuesday. 

 

Easter Fayre – Saturday 1^st April

We have made a great start at planning the Easter Fayre – there will be lots of activities for the children, an Easter Egg hunt, a raffle and a bar and refreshments.

 

Raffle tickets will be going into bookbags next week, so please look out for these.

 

We are also planning to have several Easter themed competitions for the children to be judged on the day of the Fayre.  If your children would like to enter any of the competitions, they will need to bring their entries to the hall on 1^st April by 2.15pm, or alternatively if they are not able to come on the day itself, by the end of the school day on Friday 31^st March.

 

The competitions are as follows and all cost £1 to enter or £3 to enter all five.

 

Easter Cupcake and Biscuits – any Easter themed cupcakes and biscuits (please note all entries will go to the cake stall for sale after judging).

Easter Shoebox – decorate a shoebox with an Easter theme

Decorate an umbrella – decorate an umbrella with a spring theme

Decorate a vegetable – decorate a vegetable in any way you like

Junk Modelling – make a model from junk.  Children can do this in advance or will be able to do this on the day during the Fayre.

 

DONATIONS PLEASE – if parents are able to donate any Easter chocolate or sweets as prizes, these would be greatly appreciated.  Any donations gratefully received in the PTA box in the hall.

 

We will also need clean recycling items for the junk modelling – cardboard boxes, egg boxes, clean milk containers, kitchen rolls etc.  Please start to collect anything which you think may be useful.

 

Bags2School Clothes Recycling – Friday 5^th May

Our next Bags2School recycling date is Friday 5^th May, so please bear that in mind if you are having a clear out in the next few weeks or over the Easter holidays. For those who don’t know, we will receive cash from Bags2School based on the total weight of the bags collected, so the more we collect, the more we raise.

 

Bags2School collection bags will be in bookbags shortly, but you are able to use normal black bin bags if you are having a clear out before then. Please fill your Bags2School bag (or a normal bin bag) with any unwanted items from the list below:

 

Men’s, Ladies and Children’s clothing


Paired shoes (tied together or elastic band around)

Handbags


Hats


Bags


Scarves and ties


Jewellery


Lingerie


Socks


Belts


Soft toys


Household linen / Curtains


Towels


Bedding (bed sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers)

 

Children’s Bingo Evening – Friday 19^th May

We will be holding a children’s bingo evening on Friday 19^th May.  More details to follow soon.

 

Easyfundraising

Easyfundraising.org.uk provides a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for the PTA. Simply access your chosen websites by using the links from the Easyfundraising.org.uk site or use the ‘Find and Remind’ toolbar on the website. There are over 3,000 retailers and online sites registered with Easyfundraising and each purchase you make will generate a cashback donation to the PTA.

All you need to do is register at Easyfundraising.org.uk.

 

It is very easy, you only need to register once, it costs you nothing and raises money for the PTA.  Please register on the site – it only takes a few minutes and really does raise money for the PTA just by shopping online.  If you need any help with registering, please ask any member of the PTA committee.

 

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 2^nd May, The Crown 8pm.  Please join us if you can.

 

Cake Club

Congratulations to Alana Hyde and family who were the winners of the Cake Club draw on Friday March 3rd. Many thanks to Anna Harries for providing the goodies. The next volunteers on the rota are Jane Marshall (Friday March 10th) and then Leanne Kenny (Friday March 17th). Thank you all for your ongoing support!

 

Diary Dates:

 

Monday 20 March	Work Viewing Evening – 3:15pm to 6pm
Friday 24 March	Comic Relief/Red Nose Day – details of what will be happening in school on that day will be shared shortly. Watch this space!
Saturday 1 April	PTA Easter Fayre (pm)

 

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:

Little Bears are really enjoying our topic this term which is ‘Dinosaurs’. Our book for next week is ‘Bumpus Jumpus Dinosaurumpus’ and we look forward to lots of music and movement activities as well as making our own role-play masks to stomp around the garden! 

 

Little Bears Ladies Supper Night

Friday 17 March, 7.30pm

Stadhampton Church Hall

Selection of curries and desserts. £12.00, contact Debbie on 07854 508417 to book your place. 

Please bring your own drinks. 

 

Advance Notice of an Easter Sports Club:

Michael Hopkins, who is well-known to the school as a PE teacher will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Monday 10^, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 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.

 

Community News:

 

• Flyer attached from the River Thame Conservation Trust with the correct postcode
• CHAS Youth Club Flyer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newsletter week ending 3rd March 2017

 

 

Happy March Birthday to: Jem Burnell, Dixi Burnell, Daniel Ellis, Cara Gravett, Alana Hyde, Hannah Lansley, Frederick Tarry, Joel Venner and Benjamin Walker.

 

During MARCH we are focusing on the core value of HOPE

 

Note from Governing Body

Thank you to every parent/carer who completed the Parent Survey; we had 32 responses in total. I have read every response and collated the tick responses to help us analyse the results and see the trends. Every member of the Governing Body will receive the survey results along with the comments this week and the results will be discussed at the next Governing Body meeting on 3 April. Mrs Turner will go through the results with the staff. It is envisaged that we will have an action plan based on the feedback, the content of which will be determined post the GB meeting in early April.

 

As with any survey we received some wonderfully heart-warming comments and some less so. It was evident, however, that there was a real effort put in to the responses, and almost every response was written in a constructive manner with a positive intent in mind, and for that I thank you. It is pleasing to know that you as parents care so deeply about the school and have such great suggestions to make things even better.

 

The summary results will be published for parents in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

MEERKAT Champion of the Week

We are delighted to share the names of our "MEERKAT Champion of the Week" award in each class last week as follows;

Reception – Joel V

Class 1 – Bobby B

Class 2 – Ellie W

Class 3 – Isabel H

 

Well done to you all!

 

Individual Pupil Target Cards

Following recent routine mid-term assessments, teachers have updated the individual pupil target cards. These documents, along with an accompanying explanatory letter, will be sent home via bookbags today for pupils in Reception, Class 1 and Class 2. Due to Miss Raval’s recent absence (due to illness) there will be an unfortunate but unavoidable delay in the distribution of the target cards for pupils in Class 3. We plan to provide an update next week and apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

 

Cycling Safety Training

We are very grateful to Mrs Cove and her team of trained tutors and other parent volunteers for offering pupil cycle safety training again this year. Cycle safety training sessions will take place on 5 May, 12 May, 19 May, 26 May, 9 June, 16 June and 30 June. The cycling practical test will be on 14 July at 1pm. Please could any interested Year 6 pupils confirm with Mrs Hopkins if 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.

 

Sports Hall Athletics 2017

“On Friday 24 of February Class 3 went to the second round of the County Wide Sports Hall Athletics Tournament. It was the first time we had ever got to this stage! We all tried out best and finished 12^th out of 12. But we did take our whole class whereas other schools had trials! We were lucky to take part in the second round because one of the teams dropped out so we took their place. The school that came first was Kidmore End Primary School.

We all did very well and look forward to next year’s tournament.”

By Thomas and May

 

Forest School Clothing

Just a reminder that all children need to bring warm clothes to wear for their Forest School sessions.  Until the weather gets better, please could all children also bring hats and in particular gloves and spare socks.

 

It would also be very much appreciated if parents could check that their children have wellies in school which still fit and do not have holes!

 

Visit to Compton Verney

On the 1 March Classes 2 & 3 went to Compton Verney art gallery. If you are interested in finding out more about Compton Verney at home, then the following website is very helpful; http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/  

 

“Class 3 learned about landscape paintings, it was an amazing experience. The first one was a folk art painting based in the Victorian times showing J.Botts pub, shop and tea gardens. It was painted by J. Chalmers in 1857 and it was called “The Eagle Tavern”. The second was called “An Eruption of Vesuvius by Moonlight” by Pierre-Jacques Volaire, painted in 1774. Finally the last one was called “A storm off a Rocky Coast” by the artist Carlo Bonavia, painted in 1757.

We drew something out of each painting then cut them out and stuck them on A3 using composition (placing something somewhere) then coloured them in with oil pastels, water pastels, charcoal, graphite sticks and art pens. Thanks to Mrs Wilkin, Mrs Turner, Mrs Garrard, Mrs Shortman and Mrs Ellis all for taking us and organising the trip and to Mrs Green (Gene Green’s mum) and Mrs Hackett (Emily Hackett’s mum).

We all had an amazing time!”

By Gene and Billy

 

“Class 2 looked at work by an artist called Enid Marx and also looked at some folk art. We then did some sketching of interesting shapes that we saw.

We used our sketches to design a shape template that we used to print a repeating pattern. After lunch we did some screen printing in groups which was great fun.”

By Daniel and Oliver

 

 

 

PTA News

Our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 7 March, The Crown at 8pm, where we will be planning our Easter Fayre for Saturday 1 April.  Any ideas for stalls or activities would be appreciated, so please speak to any member of the PTA committee if you have any suggestions.

 

Cake Club

Many congratulations to Emily and her family who won the Cake Club draw last week. Many thanks to Hollee Mason-Cook for providing such a splendid cake. Anna Harries is on the rota for this Friday 3 March and Jane Marshall has volunteered for Friday 10 March. 

 

Diary Dates:

 

Tuesday 7 March	PTA Meeting – 8pm at The Crown
Monday 20 March	Work Viewing Evening – 3:15pm to 6pm
Saturday 1 April	PTA Easter Fayre (pm)

 

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:

Little Bears topic is based around the theme of ‘Dinosaurs’. We will be focusing on investigating how they moved, lived and their habitats. We hope to take part in a fossil hunt and experience looking after a ‘dinosaur egg’ as well as investigating dinosaurs frozen in ice. Our book for next week is "How to grow a Dinosaur" and we will also be talking about things that grow and looking at the roots of a plant. 

 

Little Bears Ladies Supper Night

Friday 17 March, 7.30pm

Stadhampton Church Hall

Selection of curries and desserts. £12.00, contact Debbie on 07854 508417 to book your place. 

Please bring your own drinks. 

 

 

Advance Notice of an Easter Sports Club:

Michael Hopkins, who is well-known to the school as a PE teacher will be leading an Easter Sports Course on Monday 10^, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 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.

 

Community News:

• Safari Supper Flyer attached

 

• River Thame Conservation Trust

ANNUAL OPEN MEETING