Newsletter for week ending 13 September 2013

Starting School in 2014
Parents of children born between 01/09/2009 and 31/08/2010 must make an application for their child to start in Reception in September 2014. Please apply on-line at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissions. We have a few brochures containing application forms available from the school office, however last year over 90% of families made their application on-line. The closing date for on-time applications is 15 January 2014. Offer date is 16 April 2014.

Secondary Transfer in 2014
Parents of pupils in Year 6 should have already received a letter explaining the application process for transfer to secondary school. A few brochures are available from the school office for any families who have not received a letter. The closing date for on-time Secondary School applications is 31st October 2013. The offer date is 3 March 2014.

Application for Free School Meals
We would like to make you aware of the ‘Free School Meals’ scheme which operates in our school.

Pupils whose parents/guardians are in receipt of particular support payments and meet certain criteria may be eligible to receive free school meals. The relevant support payments include:

• Income Support (IS) or Employment Support Allowance (IR) (ESA(IR)) – proof of entitlement is in the form of a Job Centre plus letter or FF260 form or letter from the Department of Work & Pensions. ESA (C) is not eligible
• Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA) – proof of entitlement is in the form of a Job Centre plus letter.
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 – proof of entitlement is in the form of a Home Office letter.
• Child Tax Credit, provided that Working Tax Credit is not included, and that your ‘annual income for Tax Credit purposes’ does not exceed a threshold figure. – proof of entitlement is assessed by the ‘TC602 Award Notice’
• The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit will be an additional qualifying ‘benefit’ – proof of entitlement is assessed by the ‘Pension Credit M1000 Award Notice’.

Should you feel you might qualify, please contact the School Office in confidence, for an application form and return this with your proof of entitlement (original up to date copies must be produced; we are unable to authorise free school meals without the necessary paperwork).
Should you be entitled to the free school meals scheme you should be aware that you have a legal duty to inform your school of any changes to your support payment. Re-application to the scheme will be required on a six monthly basis. Please make contact with Mrs Hopkins if you think you may be entitled to claim for Free School Meals even if your child does not want to have them at the present time so that the school can benefit from additional Pupil Premium funding. (The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’).

Termly Outline Plans
Termly Outline Plans giving parents and carers an overview of the key areas of teaching and learning being covered in each class during Terms 1 and 2 have been sent home, via book bags, earlier this week. These have also been uploaded onto the school website.

School Council
The following pupils have been elected to the School Council this term: Owen Cove, Abby Wright, Sophie Hector, Oliver Lowman, James Lowman, Megan Green, Tende Amery, Tillie Moss-Black, Will Eaton and Isabella Kenny. Congratulations to them all.

Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons begin on Friday 20th September for participating pupils. Lessons take place on Friday lunchtimes and pupils are split into two groups. There are still spaces available within the ‘new starters’ group. Forms which clarify what is offered and the guitar teacher’s contact details are available from the school office if anyone is interested in finding out more about costs, etc.

Assembly with Mr Hunter, Headteacher of Icknield Community College
As you will be aware from last week’s newsletter, ICC are holding their Open Evening on Thursday 26 September. Mr Hunter, two prefects and Mrs Howden, the school’s Business Manager, will be leading an assembly here for Class 3 pupils and their parents/carers on Wednesday 18th September at 2.30pm. This is an ideal opportunity to ask our visitors any questions you have about life at Icknield Community College, so please put the date in your diary and come along if you can.

Nits
Thank you to a parent for letting the school know that they had found nits in their child’s hair this week. The outbreak has been treated and we respectfully request that all parents/carers should check their child/ren’s hair this weekend and treat if necessary.

Children’s Photographs
Children may sometimes be photographed during their school activities. Sometimes these photographs may appear in the local press, on the school web site or on other promotional documents to publicise the work of the school. These photographs do not usually have the names of any pupils included in any text; if pupils are identified by name parent/carers permission will be sought prior to any publication. If you do not wish your child to be photographed in any such photographs please advise the Headteacher in writing.

Additions to the School Website
This week we have added the school’s Homework Policy to the ‘Policies’ section of the School website and many diary events for September through to the end of November in the ‘School Calendar’ section. The new School Prospectus for this academic year is almost completed and will be uploaded to the website shortly.

PTA News

First meeting of the year - Tuesday 17th September, 7.45pm in the School Hall.
An invitation to come along to our first meeting of the year and help us plan our year of fundraising activities. We would love to welcome any Mums and Dads to our small and friendly team, so please come and join us. If you can't get along to the meeting, you can still have your say by emailing us on: stadhamptonpta@gmail.com, or just speak to any member of the PTA. As usual we will keep you informed of activities via the newsletter, so please keep a look out for dates and information on how you can support us.


Official notice of the PTA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Tuesday 8th October, 8pm in the School Hall - with wine & nibbles!
Our annual AGM is an opportunity to find out more about the PTA. At the AGM we will review the years fundraising efforts and what the money has been spent on. We also elect volunteers to the following positions - Chair, Secretary & Treasurer.

Both Rowena Dobson (as Secretary) and Diana Woodwards (as Chair) will not be putting themselves forward for re-election. Therefore we are looking for people to take on these roles; if you're interested have a chat with Diana or Rowena to find out more about what they involve.

Plant Orders
Eagle eyed people may have noticed the plant order forms in the Village Voice - just to say, we will be putting order forms into book bags next week with full details.

Clothes Recycling - Friday 11th October
Bags and full details will be in book bags next week.

Friday Cake Club
Good luck to everyone who has entered - fingers crossed! A reminder to Mrs Day that she is on the rota for the 20th September.

Oxford Active Sports Coach
We work with coaches from Oxford Active and are pleased to welcome Mr Paul Smith as our new PE coach for Thursday afternoons this term.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week we will be continuing with our ‘transport’ theme when we will be looking at air travel.
The ‘home corner’ is to become an airport and the Little Bears will be making hot air balloons.


DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 18 September Assembly with Mr Hunter, Head of ICC at 2.30pm. Class 3 parents welcome to attend.
Thursday 26 September School photographs taken today
ICC Open Evening
Monday 30 September Governing Body meeting at 7pm
Friday 4 October Harvest Festival service in school. Parents are welcome to attend.
Wednesday 9 October Open Morning 9.00-11.45am. Visitors welcome to pop in during this time to see the school at work
21 October Book Fair arrives

Attachments:
• Flyer attached about a Speech and Language Drop-In on Monday 30 September (10.15-12 noon) at Chalgrove Children’s Centre for parents who may have concerns about their child’s speech and language development.

Newsletter for week ending 6 September 2013

A warm welcome to everyone at the start of this new academic year!
We are very pleased to welcome fifteen new pupils to Stadhampton School this term: In Reception we welcome Oliver Bourne, Arun Davies, Ollie Eaton, George Evelyn, Peter Fegyveres-Nagy, Mia Gravett, Emily Hackett, Bella Jones, Nate Moss-Black, Casey Price, Harvey Saunders, Benjamin Walker and Nathaniel Watkins; in Year 5 we welcome Innis Robertson-Pinnell and in Year 6 we welcome Alexander Igmofose. We hope that they all enjoy their time at Stadhampton School.

Happy September Birthday to: Charlie Austin, Isabella Dickens, George Evelyn, Phoebe Hindmarch, Alfie Howard, Phoebe Watkins and Lawrence Wright.

During September we are focusing on the core-value of CO-OPERATION in our school assemblies and during PSHCE lessons.

International School Award
International education is a strong element within our curriculum and this has been recognised in the past by our accreditation with the British Council International School Award (ISA) which requires renewal every three years. Last July we submitted an application to the British Council to be reaccredited with the ISA; this involved submitting evidence of our international activities and an impact evaluation of these learning activities over the last three years. We are delighted to share with you the good news that our application was successful! We have been accredited for three years from 1st September 2013 – 31st August 2016. The British Council were clearly impressed with our application and an extract of the assessors comment follows:- “This shows how your whole school community has taken to, and fully embraced, internationalism. You have delivered some exciting and innovative activies such as your Anglo-Argentine Links, Lanaguage for Learning and International Sports and Games activities. These provided your students with real opportinties to learn about relevant international themes”.

We were first accredited with the International School Award in 2003 and, through reaccredition processes, have held it continuously since then. We understand that we are one of only a small number of schools in the UK to have achieved this, which reflects some of the special attributes of Stadhampton School. Our commitment to international education continues; our established links with schools in Argentina and Poland continue and we thank them for their contribution towards our award. We are currently planning collaborative activities with these schools for this year and are also pursuing other opportunities to further develop the international dimension to our curriculum, including funded opportunities available through the British Council.

Changes to Attendance Policy
We would like to remind parents and carers of the recent changes to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations as was mentioned in our newsletter of 5th July 2013. As from 1st September 2013 it became law across the country that no holiday in term time will be considered as authorised absence from school. Therefore, we will be unable to authorise any requests for holidays during term time; any such absence will be unauthorised. Authorisation for absence can now only be given in exceptional circumstances such as bereavement or serious family emergencies and for a very limited duration.
Holiday request forms are no longer available and any requests for absence due to exceptional circumstances during term time will now need to be made directly with Mrs Turner. An appointment will need to be made to discuss the request – parents will need to be aware that authorisation may not be granted. Requests for absence will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Registration takes place each morning and afternoon and, as for all Local Authority schools, our data is accessable by the Local Authority at any time. Unauthorised absence is, by law, regarded as truancy which the County Attendance and Engagement Team may pursue.

We thank the many families who always make their holiday bookings during school holidays. For further information families may refer to the County Attendance and Engagement Team who can be contacted on 01865 323513. Information is also available on the intranet at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

School Meals
School meals from 1st September will continue to be offered at a cost of £2 per day. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council please, with Stadhampton Primary School written on the back of the cheque. In order to reduce administration time spent on school meals we appreciate receiving orders and payments for school meals on the first morning of each school week. Thank you.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield
Class 2 will start their swimming sessions at the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield on Monday 9th September. They will have 7 sessions in Term 1. A letter explaining all about our swimming sessions at The Abbey Sports Centre was sent out to families in Classes 2 and 3 earlier this week. Please check book bags!
For families new to swimming sessions at Berinsfield, pupils need to bring their own swimming trunks or costume, a swimming hat and a towel on Monday mornings.
As always, we appreciate a £2 voluntary contribution towards the transportation costs. Thank you to the parents who make regular voluntary contributions towards the costs. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School. Thank you.

The BFG Storytelling
'On Wednesday 4th September pupils thoroughly enjoyed a special performance of Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG’ – the perfect start to a new school year! Next Friday is Roald Dahl Day and this was therefore an excellent opportunity to share one of his most popular works.

Anthony Pedley, an actor from the original stage production of The BFG, brought the character of the BFG, Sophie, the nasty giants and even the Queen to life. He used some exciting props to bring the tale to life – we particularly liked the giant ‘snozzcumber’ and the flashing 'Frobscottle' bottle! The humour of the story came out clearly, judging by the laughter echoing around the hall, from the youngest in Reception to the children in Year 6. Anthony was an inspiring storyteller who will remain in the minds of both the children and staff for a long time!

For pupils who were familiar with the book, this was a very pleasant reminder of the tale and there was a feeling of “I’d like to re-read this!” from several children. For the children whom the story was new it was an exciting introduction to Roald Dahl which will hopefully lead to many pupils reading more of his stories.'

Class 3 report from Abby and Alex: “On 4th September, our first day back at school we were surprised to find out that an actor was coming to school to do a production of the BFG. We think we speak for all the children when we say it was hilarious and great fun to watch. Some of the props were used in the original production of the BFG in the West End. One of our personal favourites about this was when the BFG ‘whizzpopped’ all the way through the amazing production! Overall everyone (including the adults) enjoyed the experience!

PTA News
Friday Cake Club
Millie Birtles won the last cake in the Friday Cake Club before the summer holidays, which she shared with the other Year 6 leavers at their camping party. Thank you to Mrs S Green for kindly donating it. A reminder to Mrs Madry that she is on the rota for 14 September.

If your child would like to take part in Friday Cake Club please bring in 20p on Fridays and see Rowena Dobson at the school gates before school. You can also pay up front for half a term or a term at a time. Cost per child up to half term would be £1.60, and from September to Christmas would be £3.00.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Welcome back to everyone at Little Bears. Our new Little Bears are settling very well.
Our topic for Term 1 is ‘transport’ and we will be starting with buses by making collage buses, a bus stop and enjoying lots of music sessions.


DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 4 September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year
Thursday 26 September School photographs taken today
Monday 30 September Governing Body meeting at 7pm

• Attachment: Flyer about Oxfordshire’s Children Read-a-Thon on Saturday 14 September 11-4pm at Milton Manor, Abingdon
• Attachment: Flyer about Icknield Community College Open Evening on 26 September
• Two attachments detailing events at the Chalgrove and Watlington Chilsdren’s Centre
• Notification of a speaker at the WI meeting in the school hall on Tuesday 10th September at 7.30pm about Autism. Anyone is welcome to attend this talk

Newsletter for week ending 19 July 2013

We say ‘good bye and good luck’ to our Year 6 pupils who leave us at the end of this school year. We are proud of all of them and wish them every success at Icknield Community College when they begin their secondary school journey in September.

SATs Explained
We have uploaded a letter entitled ‘SATs Explained’ onto the Curriculum section of the school website to assist parents’ understanding of SATs grades.

Maths Activity Homework Booklet
Following on from the successful visit from Linda Hull, Maths Advisory teacher, earlier this term, each family has been given an Active Maths ‘out and about’ homework booklet. We hope that all children (apart from Year 6 leavers!) will be able to complete some of the tasks during the summer holidays. If you do not have a booklet please ask your child’s teacher for one.

Cycling Safety Training
Congratulations to the following children who successfully passed their cycle safety training this term: Owen Cove, Jake Day, Ollie Jones, Lola Odell, Annabel Roe, Naomi Woodwards and Abby Wright. We are very grateful to Mrs Scragg, Mrs Green, Mrs Ellis, Mrs Birtles and to Mrs Leighfield, who no longer has a child at Stadhampton School, for organising this for us. Congratulations and thanks also to Mrs Cove, who has completed her qualification and is now a fully-fledged cycle safety instructor!

School Meals
School meals from 1st September will continue to be offered at a cost of £2 per day. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council please with Stadhampton Primary School written on the back of the cheque. In order to reduce administration time spent on school meals we appreciate receiving orders and payments for school meals on the first morning of each school week. Thank you.

Swimming at the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield
Class 2 will start their swimming sessions at the Abbey Sports Centre in Berinsfield on Monday 9th September. They will have 7 sessions in Term 1.

For families new to swimming sessions at Berinsfield, pupils need to bring their own swimming trunks or costume, a swimming hat and a towel on Monday mornings.

As always, we appreciate a £2 voluntary contribution towards the transportation costs. Thank you to the parents who make regular voluntary contributions towards the costs. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School. Thank you.

Bottle Tops for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance
Thank you to everyone for collecting bottle tops for us. Mrs Leiper has let us know that she will be passing on 23kg of them during the holidays from our school collection! She has also asked us to remind parents to please wash the tops before bringing them in and that fizzy drink bottle tops unfortunately cannot be recycled. Thank you.


Sports Evening
A big thank you to everyone – pupils, parents, staff, PTA, governors, Little Bears, former pupils and extended families for making this event the special occasion that it is.

PTA News

Friday Cake Club
Daniel Ellis was the lucky winner of the cake last week, kindly donated by Anna Harries. A long way off, but a reminder to Mrs Day that she is on the rota for Friday 6th September.

Sports Night BBQ
Wow, what a great sports night. Our thanks to Kerry's Dad, Mrs Leiper, Joy Hopkins & Alan Manzie for running the BBQ and bar.

Thank you from all the PTA
Just to say a huge thank you from all the PTA to everyone who has helped and supported our fund raising efforts throughout the year. Our first meeting back is on Tuesday 17th September at 7.45pm in the school hall. Happy holidays to everyone.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
All the Little Bears team would like to wish everyone an enjoyable summer. We return on Wednesday 4th September to the theme ‘Buildings and Transport.’


DIARY DATES:
Wednesday 4 September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year
Thursday 26 September School photographs taken today

Finally, we would like to convey our thanks as we come to the end of another school year. We are always very grateful for the support of all parents. Special thanks are due to Mrs Duke for auditing the Special Purposes and Hall Accounts, to the parents who help regularly with hearing readers, help with school trips and bake cakes for a variety of purposes, to the parents and Mrs Scragg who help with cycle safety training, to those who run lunchtime and after-school clubs, to those who have helped with jobs around the school and, of course, to the PTA committee who work tirelessly to fundraise so that pupils can enjoy excellent facilities, learn French and provide us with many additional resources and opportunities. Thank you to Miss Peet who has helped in Class 1 and to Mrs Drake for playing the piano in school assemblies. Thank you also to Mrs Hawley and Mrs Wells who still regularly return to school to help us. Finally, thank you to the Governing Body who give their time freely to both support the school and challenge the staff!

We wish you all a very happy and safe summer break and look forward to welcoming those who are coming back to school on Wednesday 4th September.

Newsletter for week ending 12 July 2013

End of Year School Reports
Year 6 pupils received their annual reports and end of Key Stage 2 SATs results on Tuesday this week. All other pupils received their reports on Thursday. Please let us know if you have not received your child’s report.
We would appreciate parents/carers completing the Acknowledgement/Returns sheet and returning it to school so that we have feedback from parents on this annual report.

SATs Results – Message from the Governing Body
The KS2 SATs results are in and make pleasing reading. We have sustained our very high attainment in Literacy and improved our Mathematics attainment over last year’s results. The full results will be published in our Prospectus next year and on the Ofsted Data Dashboard.
The Staff and Governing Body would like to take this opportunity to thank our Year 6 pupils for their hard work this year, and wish them well as they take their next step.

Partnership Sports Hall Athletics Event – 05.07.2013
Class 3 competed in the annual Year 3 and 4 indoor athletics event, enjoyoying a wide range of team and individual track and field athletics. This year we came second with 131 points, Watlington being the winners with 160 points. Everyone tried their best, there was a great team spirit and several individuals really stood out as able athletes.

Guitar and Clarinet Concert – 09.07.2013
Thank you to all who attended our guitar and clarinet concert on Tuesday. Our musicians gave a fine performance which was enjoyed by all and provided inspiration to a number of our younger pupils. A collection was made at the end of the concert to support the good work of the NSPCC and we are very pleased to let you know that we raised £64.96. Thank you for your generous donations.
If you are interested in your child receiving piano or guitar lessons next school year, please ask in the office for a contact form for Mr Payne (guitars) or see Mrs Drake for piano. Clarinet lessons are only available to Years 5 and 6 through an arrangement with the County Music Service.

Consultation on the provision of home to school transport
A petition for parents to sign, if they would like to, will be available at Sports Evening on Friday.

Books for Sale at Sports Evening
We have a number of new books which were donated to the school but are not quite suitable for class libraries. However, families may wish to purchase some for children to read at home. They will be on sale at Sports Evening (next to the bar!) and may be purchased for 25p each. Mrs Hopkins, who is helping on the bar, will have a separate container to collect money in from the sale of these books.

MMR Vaccinations
Letters were sent home to each family earlier this week from Oxfordshire County Council Public Health Directorate about current outbreaks of measles.

Oxford Festival of Nature
Oxford Festival of Nature is taking place in Botley Park on 12-13 July 2013. There is an exciting range of wildlife activities taking place, including falconry, bug hunting, worm charming, wildlife talks and much more! From 1pm-5pm on the Saturday we’ll be running alongside the West Oxford Fun Day,where lots of local natural history organisations will be holding stalls and running even more wildlife activities, including giant insects with Oxford University Museum of Natural History, bird, bat and bug box building with Low Carbon West Oxford, and pond dipping with Berks Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust.
It’s completely free of charge, so for more details visit www.oxfordfestivalofnature.org.

Nits
Thank you to a parent for letting the school know that they had found nits in their child’s hair this week. The outbreak has been treated and we politely request that all parents/carers should check their children’s hair this weekend and treat if necessary.

PTA News

Friday Cake Club
Charlie Ball was the lucky winner of the cake last week, kindly donated by Mrs Buckner. A reminder to Mrs Sarah Green that she is on the rota for 19 July, the last day of term.

As the Cake Club has proved so popular - we will be running it again next school year, starting on Friday 6th September. The cost per child is 20p per week. The cost up to October half term will be: £1.60 per child. The cost for the whole term up to Christmas will be £3.00 per child.

We are also signing up volunteers for cake donations after the summer, please see Rowena if interested.

End of Year Disco - Thursday 18th July, 6 - 7.30pm
We need a permission slip for all children coming to the Disco. If you have not already returned your child's permission slip, please could you hand them in to Diana or Rowena before next Thursday. Spare copies are available from the office.

To keep children safe, they will need to be signed in and out of the disco by parents, via Class 1. Mini torch rings will be on sale for 50p each, you can buy them before coming into the disco outside Class 1.

AGM - Tuesday 8th October 2013
Our annual AGM is an opportunity to find out more about the PTA. At the AGM we will review the years fundraising efforts and what the money has been spent on. We also elect people to the following positions - Chair, Secretary & Treasurer.

Both Rowena Dobson (as Secretary) and Diana Woodwards (as Chair) have decided that they will not be putting themselves forward for re-election at the AGM. Therefore we are looking for people who would be interested in taking on these roles, if you would be interested in them please feel free to have a (no obligation) chat with Rowena or Diana.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week Little Bears will be practising for our sports afternoon to start at 11am on Friday 12th July. Please could parents arrive at 10.45 for a 11am start and also bring a picnic for after the races. Little Bears finish on 19th July at 3pm and return on Wednesday 4th September when our topic will be ‘Buildings and Transport’.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 15th – Friday 19th July No afterschool clubs in the final week of the school term
Tuesday 16th July Daylight Theatre performance
Thursday 18 July School disco 6 – 7.30pm
Friday 19th July Leavers assembly 09.05am
School finishes for Summer holidays at 1.30pm
Wednesday 4th September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year



LAST MINUTE REMINDERS TO ENSURE WE HAVE AN ENJOYABLE AND SAFE SPORTS EVENING:

PARKING – IF YOU ARE ABLE TO WALK TO SPORTS EVENING IT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED AND REALLY HELP THE CONGESTION IN CRATLANDS CLOSE. THE NETBALL COURT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PARKING. PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE RESIDENTS IN CRATLANDS CLOSE AND DO NOT OBSTRUCT ACCESS IN AND OUT OF DRIVEWAYS.

SPECTATOR LINE: A LINE HAS BEEN MARKED FOR PARENTS/CARERS/VISITORS TO POSITION THEMSELVES BEHIND SO THAT PUPILS ARE ABLE TO RUN SAFELY IN THE OUTSIDE LANES.

FINISHING LINE: IS WHERE THE JUDGES WILL BE WAITING TO AWARD STICKERS, UPDATE THE SCOREBOARD, ETC. PLEASE COULD EVERYONE ELSE KEEP THIS AREA CLEAR

BAR: THE BAR WILL BE OPEN FROM 6PM

BBQ: BBQ FOOD WILL BE AVAILABLE DURING THE RACES FOR SPECTATORS WISHING TO EXCHANGE THEIR FOOD TICKETS AT THIS TIME AND AVOID THE BIG QUEUE AFTER THE RACES

PLAY EQUIPMENT: THIS AREA IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR USE DURING SPORTS EVENING

YOUNG CHILDREN: PLEASE TRY TO KEEP YOUNGER SIBLINGS AWAY FROM THE RACETRACK WHILST THE RACES ARE ON TO AVOID POTENTIAL COLLISIONS!

FOOTBALL/BALL GAMES: WE POLITELY REQUEST THAT NO BALL GAMES ARE PLAYED WHILST THE RACES ARE TAKING PLACE.

THANK YOU

Newsletter for week ending 5 July 2013

Consultation on the provision of home to school transport
An e-mail was sent on Tuesday of this week to all parents in order to provide them with an update of the action that the Governing Body of Stadhampton School have taken to respond to the Consultation Documents. Several members of our Governing Body have also been in contact directly with John Howell MP, to express our concern at the proposed changes. A copy of the letter submitted to OCC was also attached to the e-mail for further information. We understand that the closing date for responses to the consultation has been extended until 15th July 2013, so please do respond if possible.

Changes to Attendance Policy
As a result of recent changes to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances (eg family bereavement and events of a similar importance). It will be impossible, therefore, to support any requests for holidays during term time. Please support us and your child(ren) by making all holiday bookings during school holidays. Thank you.

Maths Talk for Parents – 01.07.2013
A very successful talk from Mrs Linda Hull, Maths Advisory Teacher, was held in school this week for parents. Pupils explained how they tackle maths problems and investigations and there were discussions about how to get started, as well as suggestions of different ideas and strategies to use for more complicated maths questions! For those of you who were unable to attend the meeting here are a few pointers to help your child with their “Active Maths” homework:
How can you help at home?
 Help your child read and understand what is needed – where might they start?
 Asking questions to probe and secure learning – “What if...?” is a good starter.
 Encouraging your child to see links with other learning – what calculation might you use? Can you use a number line?
 Help them to learn and use mathematical language
 Encourage to explain their methods and check their answers
 Talk about the task to find out what they have learned
Further information:
 www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/ (also KS2 site and many others)
 http://primarygames.co.uk
 http://nrich.maths.org/public/
 http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/
 http://www.northwood.org.uk/numeracy.htm
 How to do maths so your children can too – the essential parents guide by Naomi Sani
 Maths for Mums and Dads by Rob Eastaway
 Parents Survival Guide to Maths Homework – Make sense of your kid’s maths by Andrew Brodie
 Maths booklets which are distributed annually and are uploaded on the school website

National Sports Week
Some snippets from Class 1 reports about last week’s National Sports Week:
Thomas: “On Tuesday we did skipping. I’m not that good at skipping but you can’t be good at everything you know”; Lawrence: “On Monday, Reception and Class 1 did table tennis. Thomas and I got 40 points but Lorenzo and Will E got 43. It was astonishing!”; Tillie: “On Wednesday the class was excited because Mrs Manzie told us that the older children in Class 3 were doing some games from Africa. The games were great and I cannot wait to play them again”; Edision: “ The next day we did international games with Class 3. We played three games and they were fun”; Ella: “The very next day which was Wednesday, we did a mile fun run and most of the Little Bears were supporting us when we ran past the Little Bears garden that was under the plastic cover. We had to run round our field and Little Bears garden three times. Finally we finished but Mrs Manzie said “Would you like to do another lap?” I shouted “Yes” even though I was very tired. I finally finished that and I was even more tired!”.

Class 3 Pond Dipping
This week Class 3 walked to Chiselhampton House where they took part in pond dipping activities led by staff from Pond Conservation: The Water Habitats Trust. Many thanks to Mr Stephen Dawson, one of our school governors, who arranged the visit, and to Mr and Mrs Rowlands who allowed us to access their ponds.
Report by Joshua and Ollie: “On Wednesday Class 3 went to Chiselhampton House to go pond dipping. Some of us held frogs and they were slimey, but we washed our hands afterwards. It was amazing how far they jump. We put water in a sieve with very small holes and then into a tray so that we could look at the mini beasts we had captured. It was very interesting and one of the best trips we have had this year.”

Sports Evening – 12 July 2013
In the last two newsletters parents/carers have received information about Sports Evening explaining the format of the evening and suggested arrival time of between 6 and 6.15pm in readiness for the races to begin promptly at 6.30pm. Tickets are now on sale for the BBQ as detailed in last week’s newsletter. A reminder that the closing date for food orders is Monday 8th July. Pupils will have been told this week which colour team they will be in so that they can wear the appropriate colour T-shirt. Bibs will be available to borrow from Mrs Manzie if pupils have not got the particular colour T-shirt required for their team. If you are not sure which team your child is in please ask Mrs Manzie. All pupils need to bring a drink. Parents need to bring folding seats/rugs to sit on. If any child will not be participating in Sports Evening please could parents let us know on Monday 8 July so that we can ensure that the teams remain evenly balanced. All we need to do now is pray for good weather! Thank you.

NSPCC Talks
On Tuesday 2nd July pupils may have come home wearing NSPCC stickers. They had all attended talks given by Mr Ian Stevens, NSPCC schools organiser for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, on the subject of ‘Keeping Safe’. Mr Stevens was accompanied by his ‘assistant’ Buddy Bubble and told pupils in Key Stage 2 about the work and availablility of Childline.

Summer Concert
A reminder that on Tuesday 9th July we shall be holding a concert to celebrate the musical progress of the Year 5 & 6 clarinet players and the Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 guitar players. All parents/carers are welcome to attend and details of this event were circulated in a separate Summer Concert letter as well as in the newsletter dated 14 June. Thank you to the parents who have already returned the reply slip to confirm details of how many seats they require. At the end of the concert, at the children’s request, a retiring collection will be made for the NSPCC and Mr Stevens and Buddy Bubble will be present at the event. We hope you will be able to be generous with your support. It is not too late to still request seats.

Mobile Library Visit on Wednesday 10th July
The last visit of the mobile library to school will be on Wednesday 10th July. Would all pupils please ensure that they have their books in school to return to the library. Thank you.


PTA News

Friday Cake club
Tillie Moss-Black was the eventual lucky winner of the cake last week, after a number of previous winners came out of the bag, and who were happy to dip again. Thank you all for being so generous. A reminder to Anna Harries that she is on the rota for 12 July.

Sports Night BBQ - Friday 12th July
HELP - has anyone got a gas BBQ that they would be willing to lend us for Sports Night to cook approx 200 sausages/burgers? Also does anyone know of a willing volunteer from the wider community that could cook said sausages/burgers (ideally not a parent, as we try to ensure that all parents are free to watch their children race.

Don't forget to get your BBQ tickets - last orders is Monday 8th July.

End of Year Disco - Thursday 18th July
Tickets are still available at £3.50 per child. Please see Diana or Rowena with your completed permission slip.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week with our new Little Bears visiting we will be enjoying a mini topic of “All About Me”. We will be talking about ourselves and our families and making self portraits.


DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 9 July Summer Concert
Wednesday 10th, Thursday 11th & Friday 12th July Moving up days; Reception pupils starting in September join us in school; Year 6 pupils spend three days at ICC; all other pupils move up to the year group/class they will be in from September.
Friday 12th July EYFS/Reception meeting with parents in School Hall at 2.50pm
Sports Evening – races begin at 6.30pm. Pupils to arrive between 6 and 6.15pm. Bar open from 6pm until the end of the event.
Monday 15th – Friday 19th July No afterschool clubs in the final week of the school term
Tuesday 16th July Daylight Theatre performance
Thursday 18 July School disco 6 – 7.30pm
Friday 19th July Leavers assembly 09.05am
School finishes for Summer holidays at 1.30pm
Wednesday 4th September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year

• Flyer attached “Incredible Years” Programme promoting positive behaviours, starts on Tuesday 24 September
• Flyer attached “Become a Young Rock Detective” – Friday 26th July from 10 to 12.30 at the Earth Trust, Little Wittenham. £3 per child. Booking required.

Newsletter for week ending 28 June 2013

Consultation on the provision of home to school transport
We would like to bring to your attention the consultation that Oxfordshire is conducting regarding the provision of home to school transport. Families with pupils in Years 3-6 received this information earlier this week, however we feel that we should also share this important information with all parents via the newsletter. Currently if a child lives over 3 miles from Icknield Community College and is within their official catchment area, they receive free travel.

The proposal states that from September 2014 students will only get free transport to the secondary school which is nearest to their home address. They will not necessarily get free transport to Icknield Community College even though for most parents, it is their catchment school. Attached to this newsletter are three documents from Icknield Community College about this. Some of the parents from Stadhampton School will be asking parents to sign a petition at the school gate, the petition will then be sent to OCC.

Big Science Event
Yesterday Jake, Hannah, Owen, Ruby and Amy went to the Big Science Event final at Science Oxford. They had to present their investigation to four judges (as well as the other groups) and answer questions about their investigations. You can find out more about our investigation and the other schools’ experiments here:
http://www.playforce.co.uk/#the-big-science-event-the-final-presentations/

Unfortunately we didn’t win but we all feel pleased about how far we got in the competition. This year 6000 children, from over 40 different schools took part and we did extremely well to get into the final 12 groups. West Oxford School won and we all agreed that their investigation into popping bubbles with sound was fascinating. The standard of investigations was high this year and we are even more inspired about entering next year! We also got the opportunity to explore the Discovery Zone at Science Oxford and watch an exciting Science Show involving dynamite!

Bus Opening Event and Summer Fete
We understand that an article about the bus, and accompanying photos, is in the Oxford Mail today, Friday 28th June.

Mr Jason Pearce
Congratulations to Mr Pearce, an Oxford Brookes PGCE student who this week completed his final placement with us. Mr Pearce has been offered a teaching post at a primary school in Oxford and we wish him well there.

Maths Talk for Parents – 01.07.2013
A reminder that we are holding an information session for parents entitled “Playing with Numbers” from 2.15 to 3.15 next Monday. Details were sent out by letter last week. The session, which is suitable for parents/carers of pupils across the primary age-range, will be led by Mrs Linda Hull. All parents/carers are welcome but, if you haven’t already returned a reply slip, it would be helpful to let the office know your intentions so that we can provide sufficient seating.


Swimming Matters:

Class 3 Swimming Sessions at Berinsfield:
As part of the lifesaving element of their swimming sessions all pupils in Class 3 will require a pair of old pyjamas, as well as their normal swimming kit, to take with them on Monday.

Swimming Contributions:
We are most grateful to those families who have already made a contribution towards the cost of the swimming transport to the Abbey Sports Centre. Any further contributions of £14 per child for Term 6 would be appreciated. Cheques to be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you.

Swimming in the School Pool:
With the possibility of drier and warmer weather we hope to make use of the school pool when circumstances allow. We would like to remind parents/carers that it would be helpful if all parents have their swimming kit in school. In order to comply with OCC regulations this comprises a one-piece swimming costume for girls, close-fitting trunks for boys (these can be cycling short style), a swimming hat and a swimming towel. Goggles are not required in the school pool.

School Gardening Club Needs You!
As our girls are moving on to secondary school in September, we need a group of willing volunteers to take up the running of the school's weekly gardening club (currently one lunchtime a week). We have an extremely enthusiastic group of young gardeners who are keen to plant, weed, collect bugs and make compost! They have all the necessary tools, a super new greenhouse to start off seedlings and raised beds to plant into. The children get so much enjoyment from it and love to see their efforts rewarded with the flowers and vegetables they harvest. If you are interested in taking on this incredibly rewarding club, please speak to Mrs Tombling or Mrs Birtles who can give you further information.

PTA News

Friday Cake Club
Mrs Hopkins and Archie Dickens were joint winners of the cakes last week, kindly provided by Mrs Tombling. A reminder to Mrs Buckner that she is on the rota for 5 July.

Sports Night BBQ & Bar - Friday 12th July
As usual we will be running a BBQ and Bar at Sports Night. We will be selling good quality handmade burgers and sausages at the BBQ, as per previous years you will need to buy any food tickets in advance of Sports Night. Burger and Sausage tickets will be £2.50 each, and will go on sale next week, all orders will need to be in by Mon 8th July. Please see Diana Woodwards in the School Hall in the mornings to get yours.

End of Year Disco - Thursday 18th July, 6 - 7.30pm
Get your glad rags and dancing shoes on - it's time to celebrate the end of the School Year with a Disco! Permission slips will be in book bags next week - look out for yours and and bring it in with £3 to get your name down for the disco. Please see Diana Woodwards & Rowena Dobson in the School Hall.


LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week at Little Bears we will be making a holiday art gallery, so please send in some of your holiday snaps. Please feel free to bring in some books to support out topic of ‘Holidays.’A flyer is attached to this newsletter about the Little Bears Fair on Friday.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 1st July Playing with Numbers talk 2.15-3.15pm
Tuesday 2nd July Class 2 visit to the Ashmolean Museum
Tuesday 9 July Summer Concert
Wednesday 10th, Thursday 11th & Friday 12th July Moving up days; Reception pupils starting in September join us in school; Year 6 pupils spend three days at ICC; all other pupils move up to the year group/class they will be in from September.
Friday 12th July EYFS/Reception meeting with parents in School Hall at 2.50pm
Sports Evening
Monday 15th – Friday 19th July No afterschool clubs in the final week of the school term
Tuesday 16th July Daylight Theatre performance
Thursday 18 July School disco 6 – 7.30pm
Friday 19th July Leavers assembly 09.05am
School finishes for Summer holidays at 1.30pm
Wednesday 4th September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year

Newsletter for week ending 21 June 2013

Big Science Event Final
Each year our Class 3 pupils enter the Big Science Event organised by Science Oxford which involves pupils in primary schools in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire planning, carrying-out, analysing and presenting their own science investigation. The investigations are conducted in teams of four to five pupils and are initially judged in school, using criteria provided by Science Oxford. One team is then selected to present their investigation in school, to a judge from Science Oxford who then selects school teams to enter the grand final held at Science Oxford. The quality of the investigations that our pupils conduct has meant that we have had a team representing Stadhampton School in the grand final every year for the last seven years. Once again we have a team in the final which will be held in Oxford on Thursday 27 June. We wish Jake Day, Hannah Tombling, Owen Cove, Ruby Dallimore and Amy Matthews every success with their investigation “Does Listening to Music Improve Your Memory?”

School Council News

• We have made an exciting purchase! We have bought a special birdbox with some of the money raised last year. It has a small camera in it which we can link up to a computer in school and watch any nest-building or other activity going on inside the bird box. Next year we might have our own ‘Springwatch!’
• We are organising a table tennis tournament to take place during National Sports Week. Pupils in Classes 1, 2 and 3 are invited to sign up. Reception pupils are, unfortunately, not quite tall enough for the tournament but we will have a table tennis challenge for them. Please look out for the ‘sign up sheets’ which will be put up on Monday.
• We are also holding an Eco-art poster competition. Entries need to be on paper sized 27cm by 38cm (available from school), so they fit into existing frames, and the deadline for entries is Thursday 4th July. The poster should include a slogan or rhyme and give an eco-friendly message (eg save water, stop littering, save electricity). Be as creative as you can; you can use pencils, crayons, tissue paper and/or ICT but please don’t make it too 3D! We ask for a £1 entry fee which will be used to help develop other projects around school. Please ask Miss Shah for an entry form. We look forward to your entries!

Class 1 and Reception Visit to Oxford Science Live
Here are some exerpts from the children’s write-ups of the visit:
“ Class 1 and Reception went on an amazing, fabulous and enjoyable trip to Science Oxford Live. There were all sorts of things there that helped us find out more about science. We saw a shadow wall and a water whirlpool and an air cannon” – Ella G; “We spent the last hour upstairs in a room called Inventing Isabel” – Thomas and Tillie; “We really liked the funny mirrors” – Juliana.

Skipping Workshops
Throughout the day on Wednesday 19th June all pupils participated in class skipping workshops and learnt a range of skipping techniques and activities including face to face partner skips, Double Dutch and continuous crossovers. There were a lot of tired looking children at the end of the day! Thank you to the families who came to watch the skipping presentation at the end of the school day and to those who participated in the after-school workshop. Some of the manoevers seemed somewhat of a challenge but practice makes perfect! Hopefully, following these workshops, a number of children, and their families, will choose to continue to skip for pleasure and fitness. We have bought some skipping ropes for use at playtimes and a small number of child-length ropes are still available from school. These are at a cost of £4 each. If you wish to buy one of these please see Mrs Manzie. Further ropes are available from Ken Barry on 01737 843111 or e-mail Kenbarry911@gmail.com but postage costs for ropes increase the cost significantly.

Pupil perspective on the skipping workshop from some Year 5 boys:
“It was a great experience and everyone loved it. Ken was from a record breaking team who are in the Guiness Book of World Records and was an inspiration showing us new tips and tricks. One Year 6 pupil said that “she would never forget the fun she had”. Some of the tricks were quite difficult such as ‘Double Dutch’ because you needed to time your jump carefully”.

National Sports Week 24th -28th June 2013
Each year we participate in National Sports Week, promoted by Lloyds Bank, and this year the event takes place next week. Our popular skipping workshops, held this week, also link with National Sports Week. Next week all pupils will be participating in a range of sporting events including skipping, a fun-run and other games. Ignite Sports will lead some athletics and team games and sports leaders will lead some international games. We hope that a representative from Lloyds Bank will join us on Friday 28 June. Some events are arranged for specific days whilst others will be weather dependent so we ask that all pupils have their PE kit (including socks and hair ties for long hair) as well as swimming kit in school every day next week. Thank you.
Sports Evening, Friday 12th July 2013
As usual, our annual Sports Evening will take place on the penultimate Friday of Term 6 which this year is Friday 12th July. For new parents this is an evening when, weather permitting, pupils participate in a number of races and events, earning points for their team. It is a highlight of the school year and the vast majority of pupils join in, cheered on by their families, and the event is supported by the PTA with a bar and a BBQ. Races will begin at 6:30pm promptly and pupils are requested to arrive back at schoolboy 6:15pm. Further details, including which team each child is in, will be circulated nearer the time.

International Week – 1st to 5th July 2013
Our annual International Week will take place during the week of 1st to 5th July and, this year, our focus will be on Australia. During the week all pupils will be involved in activities to develop their understanding of Australian history, geography, natural history, traditions and culture. Some activities will be class specific but others will involve the pupils working in teams of mixed age groups. We are also planning to have an Australian display in the Hall if any families have any items or artefacts they are willing to share for this, please talk to your child’s class teacher. No live kangaroos please!

Summer Fete and Big Bus Opening Event
An enormous thank you to the PTA for organising such a great event and to all families and other members of our school community for the huge support you gave this event. We won’t dwell on the weather! James Carter involved pupils, parents and staff in the official opening of the bus and I hope an enjoyable and entertaining afternoon was had by all. Everyone’s participation contributed to the success of the event. Thank you. One or two photographs from the event have been uploaded into the Events section of the school website. More from the PTA:

PTA News

Friday Cake Club
Lewis Payne was the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Gonzales. A reminder to Mrs Marianne Matthews that she is on the rota for 28 June.

Summer Fair & Bus Opening
A huge thank you to everyone who attended and helped out at our fantastic, if a little soggy, afternoon at the school. We've counted the pennies and we've managed to raise an amazing £1,000. We couldn't have done it without you, so thank you for all being so supportive.

We have some left over plants which can be bought for 50p each.

Competition winners at the Fair were:

Bus Quiz
Cove Family

Bus Competition
Category A (Reception-Yr 2) Lizzie Bowerman
Category B (Yr 3-6) Megan Green
Overall winner Lizzie Bowerman
Special mention by judges Myles Dobson

Children’s Cake Adult's Cake
Megan Green Anna Harries

Miniature Garden
Tia Khan


PTA Meeting - 2nd July, 8pm at Rowena Dobson’s house
The next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 7 May at 7.45pm at Rowena Dobson’s house (Coppers, Cat Lane). Everyone is welcome to come along and join in discussions about our upcoming End of Term Disco, Sports Night BBQ. We will also be discussing spending some of our funds on drapes and benches for the Outdoor Theatre area.

There are a number of unclaimed plastic containers, tins, etc in school so if you are missing anything, please collect them from school as soon as possible. Thank you.

Playing with Numbers talk for parents/carers on 01.07.2013
Following our recent parents’ talk on reading, we have also arranged a talk for parents/carers relating to Maths. This will be led by Mrs Linda Hull, a Maths Advisory Support teacher and will take place from 2.15-3.15pm on Monday 1st July. Further details will be circulated by letter later today.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week at Little Bears we will be continuing to look at out theme Holidays and looking at things we like to do on holiday. We'll be making sandcastles, ice cream pictures and putting up tents in the garden.

The Little Bears Fair is on Friday 28 June from 3pm in the Little Bears garden. A fun afternoon with lots of stalls and activities for the children and a variety of refreshments (including Pimms!). We hope lots of Little Bears and children from the school and their families are able to come – please feel free to bring grandparents, aunties, uncles, friends etc. Everyone welcome!


DIARY DATES:
Thursday 27th June Big Science Event for some pupils in Class 3
Tuesday 2nd July Class 2 visit to the Ashmolean Museum
Tuesday 9 July Summer Concert
Wednesday 10th, Thursday 11th & Friday 12th July Moving up days; Reception pupils starting in September join us in school; Year 6 pupils spend three days at ICC; all other pupils move up to the year group/class they will be in from September.
Friday 12th July EYFS/Reception meeting with parents in School Hall at 2.50pm
Sports Evening
Monday 15th – Friday 19th July No afterschool clubs in the final week of the school term
Tuesday 16th July Daylight Theatre performance
Thursday 18 July School disco 6 – 7.30pm
Friday 19th July Leavers assembly 09.05am
School finishes for Summer holidays at 1.30pm
Wednesday 4th September Pupils return to school for the start of the new academic year