Newsletter for week ending 25th September 2015

Harvest Festival – Friday 2nd October
A final reminder that our annual Harvest Festival will take place in the Hall at 9.05am on Friday 2nd October and families are most welcome to join us. Once again we will be supporting Stepping Stones, an organisation for homeless people in Oxford, with our Harvest Gifts. We hope that each child will be able to bring a small contribution into school before our service. All Harvest gifts bought into school will be taken to the village church and put on display for the Harvest Service there on Sunday 4th October, before being taken on to Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones prefer to receive non-perishable items such as packets of pasta, tins of beans, bars of chocolate, packets of biscuits, tins of tomatoes, tins of spaghetti, etc rather than fresh produce. Thank you.

Pupil Premium Funding – Preparation for School Census on 1st October 2015
A final reminder that if you think your child may be eligible for free school meals please check with Mrs Hopkins, School Business Manager. It is a simple and confidential process to check your entitlement with Oxfordshire County Council. Under the current criteria, children who receive, or whose parents receive, one or more of the following support payments may be entitled to free school meals:
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit
We ask that you do this even if your child does not want to have a school meal at the present time so that the school can benefit from additional Pupil Premium funding. Thank you.

Schools are also able to claim Pupil Premium Funding for Looked After Children, Service Children and children who have been looked after for one day or more, including children who have been adopted from care or leave care under a special guardianship or residence order – now referred to as “Pupil Premium Plus”

Please let Mrs Hopkins know (in confidence) by the end of September if you think the school may be able to claim Pupil Premium Funding for your child. This will provide valuable funding which will be used to help support your child.

PTA News
Save the Children Cake sale- tomorrow (Friday) 3.15pm in the hall. Donations welcome, please come along and help us raise money for the Syrian refugee children. Thank you.

Quiz night with fish & chip supper on Saturday 10th October at 7.30pm in the School Hall. We are very excited to be holding another adult quiz night with a fully stocked bar and lots of great rounds to test everyone's knowledge. Tickets priced at £10 each for fish & chips or £5 without food. Tickets now on sale from Emma Fulker outside Class 1.

Dates for Diaries:
Quiz night- Saturday 10th October
AGM- Tuesday 13th October
Clothes recycling- Monday 19th October
Kids disco- Friday 23rd October

Official Notice of the PTA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Tuesday 13th October, 8pm in the School Hall
The PTA plays a vital part in the school community and all parents, as members of the PTA, are invited to support the AGM. This is your chance to hear and see how the funds you have helped to raise last year have been used for the benefit of the children at our school.
The AGM is also an opportunity for you to elect the PTA Officers (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary), to represent the association throughout the forthcoming academic year. Our current Secretary, Melanie Gravett, and current Treasurer, Charlotte Hector, will not be standing for re-election, so if you are interested in taking on one of these roles or the role of chair, please confirm your interest by email to the school office prior to the AGM meeting (formal nominations will take place at the meeting itself). If you would like any further information about any of theses roles or are just interested in joining the committee, please speak to Melanie or Charlotte or our current Chair, Georgina Wiggins. Or if you just want to come to the meeting to find out a bit more, everyone is most welcome.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Billy Bowerman, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Hackett. A reminder to Mrs Jones that she is on the rota for 2 October. Please find attached the rota so far this year. We have volunteers until just after Christmas, but more are welcome. Please see Rowena.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 28 September GB Meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 29 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 1 October Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Friday 2 October Harvest Festival in school; parents/carers welcome at 9.00am; please send your child in with a small ‘Harvest gift’. Thank you.
Tuesday 6 October Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 8 October Forest School – Year 3 pupils
Tuesday 13 October School Photographs
Thursday 15 October Open Morning 9.00-11.45am
Forest School – Year 3 pupils
Monday 19 October-Thursday 22 October Book Fair in school


Community News:
• Flyer attached – Protecting your child against flu – Information for Parents

• Flyer attached – A Mile for Migrants fundraising initiative at Dorchester Abbey

Newsletter for week ending 18th September 2015

School Prospectus
We have compiled a new School Prospectus for this academic year which has now been uploaded onto the school website under the ‘About Us’ section. We hope that families will take the time to have a look at it and find it an interesting and useful reference document. It contains a plethora of information about uniform, jewellery, medical matters, absence from school, term dates for this academic year and much, much more. We have also provided information about what pupils study in each subject and at each Key Stage, as well as lots of pictures of recent school trips and events.

School Website Update
The school website is now back up and working. Turn IT On, our website managers, are still trying to establish how our website was hacked along with the websites of a number of other Oxfordshire schools, so that we can be confident that this should not be able to happen again.

This week, we have added a Headteacher’s Blog to the school website. This will be updated at the start of each ‘old term’, i.e. about three times a year.

Pupil Premium Funding
If you think your child may be eligible for free school meals please check with Mrs Hopkins, School Business Manager. It is a simple and confidential process to check your entitlement with Oxfordshire County Council. Under the current criteria, children who receive, or whose parents receive, one or more of the following support payments may be entitled to free school meals:
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit
We ask that you do this even if your child does not want to have a school meal at the present time so that the school can benefit from additional Pupil Premium funding. Thank you.

Schools are also able to claim Pupil Premium Funding for Looked After Children, Service Children and children who have been looked after for one day or more, including children who have been adopted from care or leave care under a special guardianship or residence order – now referred to as “Pupil Premium Plus”

Please let Mrs Hopkins know (in confidence) if you think the school may be able to claim Pupil Premium Funding for your child. This will provide valuable funding which will be used to help support your child.

Membership of the Governing Body
Stadhampton Primary School is delighted to announce the appointment of William Jacobs (father of Maya Jacobs in Reception) as a Local Authority governor. William replaces Finbar McGaughey who resigned from the school Governing Body in July 2015. Stephen Dawson (a co-opted governor) also resigned from the Governing Body in July 2015.
We would like to thank Finbar and Stephen for their valued contribution to the Governing Body.
Finally a request: If anyone knows of a community person who might be suitable to fill the vacancy (not a parent) please let Mrs Hopkins know. Thank you.

Open Morning – Thursday 15 October
In conjunction with Little Bears, the school will be open to visitors from 9.00 to 11.45am for current families and the local community, as well as for the families now making their decisions about their choice of primary school for September 2016. Please do come along and see the school at work between these times if you are able, whether you are a prospective parent or an existing one!

Forest School Permission Forms
New Forest School permission forms were sent home to families at the beginning of this term which need to be completed before pupils will be able to attend Forest School sessions. There are currently 32 forms outstanding. Please complete the form if you have not already done so and return to the school office so that your child does not miss out on these valuable experiences.

Class Curriculum Overviews
This year we have updated our termly curriculum overviews for each class. Previously these were produced in the format of a letter with a list of topics covered in each curriculum area. The new format comprises a coloured ‘jig-saw’, each coloured ‘piece’ representing a subject area. We hope that this format is more visual than the previous format and better presents the integrated curriculum we plan for. Please be aware that there are two pages of information for all classes – the second page providing further key information. The curriculum over views have been uploaded to the school website under the ‘Classes’ section.

School Photographs
The School Photography Company will be in school on Tuesday 13 October and all pupils will have their photographs taken during the morning wearing their school uniform individually and also with any siblings in school. Year 6 pupils will also have an informal group photograph taken. Families are welcome to come into the Hall before school at 8.30am to have family groups photographed together if they so wish.

School Book Fair
We are holding a Children’s Book Fair in school just before the end of Term 1. The Fair will be open at the following times:

Monday 19 October 3.00 to 3.30pm
Tuesday 20 October 8.30 to 9.00am
3.00 to 3.30pm
Wednesday 21 October 8.30 to 9.00am
3.00 to 3.30pm
Thursday 22 October 8.30 to 9.00am

Parents are welcome to come in during these times to browse for books with or without their children! The commission from sales at the fair enables us to buy books to update our individual class libraries and our non-fiction library. There are hundreds of exciting books to choose from with prices from just £1. A leaflet showing some examples of the books available and an order form was put into book bags earlier this week.

PTA News
Quiz night with fish & chip supper on Saturday 10th October at 7.30pm in the School Hall. We are very excited to be holding another adult quiz night with a fully stocked bar and lots of great rounds to test everyone's knowledge. Tickets priced at £10 each for fish & chips or £5 without food. Tickets now on sale from Emma Fulker outside Class 1.

Dates for Diaries:
Quiz night- Saturday 10th October
AGM- Tuesday 13th October
Clothes recycling- Monday 19th October
Kids disco- Friday 23rd October
Official Notice of the PTA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Tuesday 13th October, 8pm in the School Hall
The PTA plays a vital part in the school community and all parents, as members of the PTA, are invited to support the AGM. This is your chance to hear and see how the funds you have helped to raise last year have been used for the benefit of the children at our school.
The AGM is also an opportunity for you to elect the PTA Officers (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary), to represent the association throughout the forthcoming academic year. Our current Secretary, Melanie Gravett, and current Treasurer, Charlotte Hector, will not be standing for re-election, so if you are interested in taking on one of these roles or the role of chair, please confirm your interest by email to the school office prior to the AGM meeting (formal nominations will take place at the meeting itself). If you would like any further information about any of theses roles or are just interested in joining the committee, please speak to Melanie or Charlotte or our current Chair, Georgina Wiggins. Or if you just want to come to the meeting to find out a bit more, everyone is most welcome.
Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Ella Gravett, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Ellis. A reminder to Ewa Klorek that she is on the rota for 25 September.

DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 22 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 24 September Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Monday 28 September GB Meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 29 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 1 October Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Friday 2 October Harvest Festival in school
Tuesday 6 October Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 8 October Forest School – Year 3 pupils
Tuesday 13 October School Photographs
Thursday 15 October Open Morning 9.00-11.45am.
Forest School – Year 3 pupils

Newsletter for week ending 11th September 2015

School Prospectus
The new School Prospectus for 2015 -16 is almost ready! We will upload it to the school website (when this is fixed – see note below).

School Website Update
Our school website, along with the websites from a number of other Oxfordshire schools, was hacked this week resulting in automatic redirection to other sites. The issue has been with our IT consultants during the week and unfortunately, although the problem can be fixed, the site needs to be made even more secure in order to prevent this from happening again. We have now agreed to the costs involved and hope that the website will be up and running again in the very near future.

Harvest Festival – Friday 2nd October
Our annual Harvest Festival will take place in the Hall at 9.05am on Friday 2nd October and families are most welcome to join us. Once again we will be supporting Stepping Stones, an organisation for homeless people in Oxford, with our Harvest Gifts. We hope that each child will be able to bring a small contribution into school before our service. All Harvest gifts bought into school will be taken to the village church and put on display for the Harvest Service there on Sunday 4th October, before being taken on to Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones prefer to receive non-perishable items such as packets of pasta, tins of beans, bars of chocolate, packets of biscuits, tins of tomatoes, tins of spaghetti, etc rather than fresh produce. Thank you.

Starting School in 2016
Parents of children born between 01/09/2011 and 31/08/2012 must make an application now for their child to start Reception in September 2016. The closing date for on-time applications is 15th January 2016. The Primary offer date for on-time applications is 18th April 2016. Please apply on-line at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissions

Secondary Transfer in 2016
Parents of pupils in Year 6 have been sent a letter by the Local Authority to explain the application process for transfer to secondary school. The closing date for on-time applications is 2nd November 2015. The secondary offer date for on-time applications is 1st March 2016.

Request for Pearson Employees to nominate us
With the increased challenge and demands of the new National Curriculum, 2014; the school is hoping to invest in a reliable planning Maths resource from Abacus Evolve from ‘Pearson Education’. This publishing company very kindly offer a substantial discount to schools who have a family member working for them. Employees can nominate a school to receive a discount and can nominate a school linked to a friend if they don’t have family contacts. Please let us know if anyone has any possible connection with Pearson Education so that we might be able to benefit from this discount. Thank you in anticipation!

Healthy Lunch Boxes
Leaflets about what ideally constitutes a healthy lunch box have been put in book bags this week as a reminder for all parents.

Nut Allergy
We have a child in school who has a severe nut allergy. We respectfully ask parents to please ensure that lunchboxes do not contain any products containing nuts, eg peanut butter sandwiches, nuts in yoghurts, etc. Thank you to everyone for their co-operation in this matter.

PTA News
Thank you to everyone who attended the PTA meeting on Tuesday. We have lots of exciting events coming up!!!

Please look out in book-bags for a year plan of PTA events. It is laminated so it can be stuck on a fridge or noticeboard and is a great way to keep up to date with what is coming up whether this is a child or adult event.

We hope everyone enjoyed their bacon roll and tea/coffee on Thursday morning! Thank you to the parents who wrote down some ideas for possible events to hold in the future.

Quiz night with fish & chip supper- Saturday 10th October 7.30pm, school hall- we are very excited to hold another adult quiz night! We have a fully stocked bar and there will be lots of great rounds to test everyone's knowledge. Tickets priced at £10 each for fish & chips or £5 without food. Tickets on sale very soon.

Dates for diaries:
Quiz night- Saturday 10th October
AGM- Tuesday 13th October
Clothes recycling- Monday 19th October
Kids disco- Friday 23rd October
Official Notice of the PTA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Tuesday 13th October, 8pm in the School Hall .
The PTA plays a vital part in the school community and all parents, as members of the PTA, are invited to support the AGM. This is your chance to hear and see how the funds you have helped to raise last year have been used for the benefit of the children at our school.
The AGM is also an opportunity for you to elect the PTA Officers (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary), to represent the association throughout the forthcoming academic year. Our current Secretary, Melanie Gravett, and current Treasurer, Charlotte Hector, will not be standing for re-election, so if you are interested in taking on one of these roles or the role of chair, please confirm your interest by email to the school office prior to the AGM meeting (formal nominations will take place at the meeting itself). If you would like any further information about any of these roles or are just interested in joining the committee, please speak to Melanie or Charlotte or our current Chair, Georgina Wiggins. Or if you just want to come to the meeting to find out a bit more, come along-everyone is welcome.
Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Charlie Hackett, the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Holmes. A reminder to Mrs Hackett that she is on the rota for 18 September. If you would like to donate a cake for the Cake Club, please speak to Rowena Dobson and she will add you to the rota. It’s not too late to pay for the whole year and get 3 weeks free. Just £7 per child – see Rowena.


DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 15 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Wednesday 16 September Skipping Workshop
Tuesday 22 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 24 September Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Monday 28 September GB Meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 29 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 1 October Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Friday 2 October Harvest Festival in school (more details to follow)

Community News:

Flyer attached from Icknield Community College about their Open Evening on Thursday 17th September.

St Birinus Open Evening – (Boys School)
Parents are warmly invited to attend our Open Evening on Tuesday 29 September 2015 between 5pm and 8pm. You will have the opportunity to meet staff and pupils, and have a look around the school. We are also hosting Open Mornings, starting at 9.15am on 6, 14, 16 and 19 October 2015. You will need to book a place to come along to one of these, which you can do by emailing admissions@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk or calling (01235) 814444.

River and Rowing Museum
Oxfordshire Goes Wild (and Wet!) on Saturday 19 September from 12-4pm. Free with normal admission costs. Telephone 01491 415600

Stadhampton Youth Club extends a warm invitation to all parents & volunteers to attend an information & training evening @ 19:30 hr in the Village Hall St Johns on Wed 30 Sep 2015.
We will explain all you need to know about helping out at and otherwise supporting your local youth club.

Please let us know whether or not you can attend, so that we can be sure to provide refreshments, by emailing stadhamptonyouthclub@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you,
Stadhampton Youth Club

Newsletter for week ending 4th September 2015

A warm welcome to our new Reception pupils and welcome back to everyone else for the start of this new academic year.

Happy AUGUST Birthday to: Adam Bourne, Jude Bradley and Morgan Denton

Happy SEPTEMBER Birthday to: Charlie Austin, Isabella Dickens, Dexter Elliott, George Evelyn, Phoebe Hindmarch, Harry Price, Harvey Saunders, Phoebe Watkins and Lawrence Wright.

We are pleased to welcome the following new Reception children to Stadhampton School: Adam Bourne, Dixi Burnell, Thomas Eaton, Anna Fegyveres-Nagy, Jack Fulker, Aisulu Goddard, Cara Gravett, Maya Jacobs, Natalia Kozlowska, Weronika Kozlowska, Oliver Parkes, Ellie Payne, Harry Price, Frankie Smith, Frederick Tarry and Leo Thornhill.

During SEPTEMBER we are focusing on the core value of CO-OPERATION

School Meals
A reminder that the cost of a school meal is £2.10 per day. In order to reduce administration time we politely request that orders for school meals are paid for on a Monday morning please (or the first morning of the school week). Money should be sent in an envelope and handed in at the school office by either the pupil or the parent on their way into school. Parents are most welcome to pay in advance for meals if they prefer. Pupils in Reception and Years 1 and 2 (Class 1) are entitled to a Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) if they so wish. The class teacher will ask each child each morning whether they are having a school meal or a packed lunch. The school meals menu may be found on the school website or please follow this link: http://www.stadhampton.oxon.sch.uk/images/FwT_Bronze_Summer_Menu_V1_06-15.pdf
Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Swimming at Berinsfield
Swimming will begin for Class 2 pupils on Monday 7th September. They will have a total of 7 sessions. The cost of the swimming transport to Berinsfield is £65 per visit, so we are particularly grateful to receive contributions of £2 per swimming session from parents towards this cost. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you.
Pupils need a one piece swimming costume and a hat (boys as well) and a towel. They don’t need shampoo or shower gel etc. If your child needs to wear goggles for a medical reason, please ask Mrs Turner for a form to complete. Thank you.

Celebrating Roald Dahl’s Birthday – Friday 11th September
As it is Roald Dahl’s birthday on 13th September we thought this would be a lovely opportunity to celebrate this wonderful authors’ life. Roald Dahl’s favourite colour was yellow and he always used yellow pencils with a pink rubber! We would therefore like all children and adults on Friday 11th September to bring something yellow to school or wear a yellow accessory. Normal school uniform still required!

Spanish Club
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Spanish Club on Wednesday lunchtimes between 12.30 and 1pm for pupils in Class 3 initially, starting next week. Mrs Gonzalez will be teaching the children some basic Spanish words and phrases including numbers, colours, greetings and songs. Please ask your child/ren to confirm their place with Mrs Gonzalez or with Mrs Hopkins if they wish to attend. Numbers are limited to approximately 15 pupils.

Gardening Club
Gardening Club will begin again for interested pupils in Classes 2 and 3. We are grateful to Mrs Burnell for running the club again between 12.30 and 1pm on Friday lunchtimes starting next week. Please ask your child/ren to let Mrs Hopkins know if they would like to attend this club. Numbers are limited to approximately 15 pupils.

After-School Multisports and Dance Clubs
Places are still available for the Multisports Club on Thursdays from 3.15pm to 4.15pm for pupils in Years 1-6 (£14 for 7 sessions) and also for the Dance Club on Tuesdays from 3.15 to 4.15pm for pupils in Years 1-6 (£27 for 6 sessions).

Skipping Workshop
As we like to be a healthy school, we are looking forward to holding a whole-school skipping workshop on Wednesday 16th September led by Lizzie Cox, a national skipping and games coach, from ‘Skipping Workshops’. There will be lots of fun challenges, demonstrations and activities taking place throughout the day. Parents are invited to join us at 2.45pm to see a skipping presentation by pupils.

Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons for pupils who have already begun guitar lessons at Stadhampton School will start again week beginning 14th September. Lessons will be either with Mr Payne or a different tutor (not Mr Evans). Guitar lessons are available for pupils in Years 3-6. If you would like details of costs etc please contact Mr Payne directly via goguitarmail@yahoo.co.uk or telephone him on 07921 087816.

Forest School Dates 2015/16 – Terms 1 & 2
Letters about Forest School sessions for Years 1-6 will be sent home in book bags this week. All parents will need to complete and return the permission slip on the letter before their child will be able to attend a Forest School session.

All sessions will take place in the morning and the planned dates for each year group are given below.

Forest School Leader: Mrs Poppy Elliott
Assistant Leader: Mrs Melanie Gravett
School Staff: Mrs Sarah Singleton *

Date Year Group
Thursday 10 Sept 2015 Year 1
Thursday 17 Sept Year 1
Thursday 24 Sept Year 2
Thursday 1 Oct Year 2
Thursday 8 Oct Year 3
Thursday 15 Oct Year 3
Thursday 22nd Oct Year 4
Thursday 29th Oct Half Term
Thursday 5th Nov Year 4
Thursday 12th Nov Year 6
Thursday 19th Nov Year 6
Thursday 26th Nov Year 5
Thursday 3rd Dec Year 5
Thursday 10th Dec No Forest School
Thursday 17th Dec No Forest School

* As a member of staff at Stadhampton School, Mrs Singleton is in overall charge of the group. On any occasion she is unable to attend, another member of staff will take her place.

Reception pupils have a separate letter detailing the arrangements for their Forest School sessions which begin on Tuesday 8th September. Please complete and return the permission slip to school on Monday morning so that your child may be able to attend the first session.

PTA News
The first PTA meeting of the new academic year will be held on Tuesday 8th September 8pm at the school. Please do come along if you are interested in getting involved in PTA events.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Oliver Eaton, the lucky winner of the cake on the last week before the summer, kindly donated by Mrs Kenny. A reminder to Mrs Ellis that she is on the rota for 11 September.
You can now pay for the whole of the school year if you wish. It's £7 per child if paid up front, which gives you 4 weeks free! You can still pay 20p a week if you prefer. See Rowena Dobson. Volunteers for cake donations also welcome.

DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 8 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Clarinet lessons begin for Year 5 pupils and participating Year 6 pupils
Thursday 10 September Forest School – Year 1 pupils
Friday 11 September Bring something yellow to school or wear a yellow accessory
Tuesday 15 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Wednesday 16 September Skipping Workshop
Tuesday 22 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 24 September Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Monday 28 September GB Meeting at 7pm
Tuesday 29 September Forest School – Reception pupils
Thursday 1 October Forest School – Year 2 pupils
Friday 2 October Harvest Festival in school (more details to follow)

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears would like to welcome everyone back to a new term and also a big welcome to all our new Little Bears. This term our topic will be transport. We will be making hot air balloons and trains whilst also learning about all different types of transport.

Newsletter for week ending 17 July 2015

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. The wonderful weather helped too! Thank you to everyone who bought their drinks from the PTA bar and to those who cooked and served the BBQ for us. Your hard work was very much appreciated.

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

Thank You
As always, there are many people that we need to thank as we come to the end of another school year. We are always very grateful for the support of all parents; we are extremely fortunate to have so many supportive families. Special thanks to Mrs Duke for auditing the Special Purposes and Hall Accounts again this year, to Mrs Bowerman, Mrs Dobson and Mrs Madry for their admin support, to the parents and other volunteers who regularly help with hearing readers, with school trips and bake cakes for a variety of purposes. Thank you also to the parents who helped with cycle safety training this year (and managed to get everyone through their test!), to Mrs Elliott and Mrs Gravett for leading Forest School sessions and to Mr and Mrs Burnell for running a very successful lunchtime Gardening Club. A huge thanks also to the PTA committee who work tirelessly to manage the sales of school uniform and fundraise so that pupils can enjoy excellent facilities and have many additional resources and opportunities. The PTA also contribute towards the cost of pupils learning French and the upkeep of the swimming pool. Finally, thank you to the Governing Body who give their time freely to both support the school and challenge the staff!

Swimming at Berinsfield
Swimming will begin for Class 2 pupils on Monday 7th September. They will have a total of 7 sessions. The cost of the swimming transport to Berinsfield is £65 per visit, so we are particularly grateful to receive contributions of £2 per swimming session from parents towards this cost. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School please. Thank you.

PTA NEWS:
The PTA committee would like to thank parents/carers for their amazing support this year. We hope everyone has a great summer and look forward to seeing you all in September.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Daniel Ellis, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Mrs Gravett. A reminder to Mrs Holmes that she is the first on the rota for the new school year – Friday 4 September.
Don't forget you can now pay for the whole of the next year if you wish. It's £7 per child if paid up front, which gives you 4 weeks free! See Rowena. Volunteers for cake donations also welcome.
Finally a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to Cake Club this school year, either by entering or donating a cake. We have raised just over £356.00 for the PTA funds. Well done!

DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 1 September INSET Day for school staff only
Wednesday 2 September Pupils return to school for the start of Term 1.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears would like to wish everyone a happy and restful summer break.

Summer Sports Courses at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins will be leading two sports courses here during the summer break. The courses will be on the following dates: Monday 20th July, Tuesday 21st July and Wednesday 22nd July, and also Monday 10th August, Tuesday 11th August and Wednesday 12th August. The cost is £10 per day from 9-3pm and the course is open to all pupils aged 4-11. Pupils may attend for any or all of the days. Bookings may be made directly to m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Please see attached poster.

Community News:
Rowena and Sarah would like to thank everyone who came to Boogie Bingo on Saturday 4th July, and to those who donated to the cause - we raised a phenomenal £1400 in aid of Sue Ryder Hospice in Nettlebed. The atmosphere at the Village Hall at St John's was fantastic and we hope everyone had a great evening.

Finally, we wish you all a very happy and safe summer break and look forward to welcoming back those who are returning to school on Wednesday 2nd September.

Newsletter for week ending 10 July 2015

End of School Year Reports
All parents and carers should have received their child’s end of year school reports this week. Please let us know if you have not received the report or accompanying documentation.
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. Thank you.

Sports Evening – tomorrow weather permitting!
Our Sports Evening is an annual school highlight. The date has been in the diary dates section of the newsletter for some time, the pupils have been practising, the PTA have all the refreshments organised, the governors are ready to adjudicate and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a dry evening. Here are a few final reminders to ensure that we all have an enjoyable and safe evening:

Pupils should arrive at school around 6pm and no later than 6.15pm so that the races may begin promptly at 6.30pm. Please remember to send them with a drink of water or squash!

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 a limited amount of parking. Please be mindful of the residents of Cratlands Close and avoid obstructing 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. Please bring a folding deckchair or rug if you would like to sit down.

Finishing line: is where the judges will be waiting to award stickers, update the scoreboard, etc.
It is important that everyone else keep this area clear, please.

Bar: the bar will be open from 6pm. Please support the PTA by buying your drinks from the bar.

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: for insurance purposes this area is not available for use during sports evening.

Young children: please 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.

Should there be any need to postpone we will send an e-mail tomorrow and post a message on the home page of the school website.

THANK YOU!



Meeting with Parents of new Reception pupils
A reminder that we are holding an informal meeting with parents/carers of the new Reception pupils to provide information they need to know about the school and how things work, answer questions, etc at 2.45pm tomorrow afternoon in the School Hall. Miss Mould, (the class teacher,) Mrs Turner (Headteacher), Mrs Hopkins (Business Manager) and Helen Moss-Black (representing the PTA) will be present and should, hopefully, be able to answer all questions between them!

Free School Meals
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 Mrs Hopkins, the School Business Manager (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 for free school meals without the necessary paperwork.
Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium is additional funding provided to schools for supporting disadvantaged pupils to ensure they benefit from the same opportunities as all other children.
There are three categories of children who qualify for pupil premium:
• Children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) see support list above,
• Looked-after children (LAC)
• Armed forces children (Service premium for children with parents in the Armed Forces)

If your family is eligible for the pupil premium, through one or more of the categories above, please could you let Mrs Hopkins, the School Business Manager, know, in confidence, so that we can check whether the school is able to receive this additional funding. Thank you.

Goodbye
We said goodbye and good luck at the end of last week to Miss Sophie Peet, a PGCE student from Oxford Brookes University, who has now completed her final teaching placement with Class 3. Miss Peet had several spells at Stadhampton School during her teacher training and we wish her every success in her new teaching position starting in September.

Henley Riverboat and Rowing Museum
Class 1 and Reception pupils visited the Henley Riverboat and Rowing Museum earlier this week. Focusing on the ‘Wind in the Willows’ story, the children enjoyed songs and dances, making bags and ducks and walking through the ‘caves’ which showed models of the characters. After enjoying a picnic lunch the children looked at boats from around the world. Everyone had a fantastic time and enjoyed all of the experiences.
Quotes from some pupils in Class 1:
“There were a lot of boats. They were very interesting and fun” (Mia); “The story trail was very exciting” (Arun); “It was fun and there were lots of exciting things to see” (Emily); “It was fun when we went in the tunnel” (Laila); “I liked it when we found a place for Teddy to sleep” (Honor).

Cycle Safety Training
Congratulations to Alfie Howard, Emily Drake, Greg Madry, Cora White, Betsy Elliott, Hannah Bradford, Sophie Hector, Amy Freeman and Oliver Lowman who all passed their cycle safety training test on Friday. It is most unusual to have 100% of pupils pass first time, so many congratulations to everyone.
A huge thank you to Mrs Cove, Mrs Green, Miss Moss-Black, Mrs Madry, Mrs White and Mrs Bowerman for organising and leading these sessions for pupils. A special thank you also to the adults who provided an additional session recently on a Saturday morning!

Year 6 Leavers
If any of the Year 6 leavers (those without younger siblings in school) would like to donate their school PE T-shirts to us, they would be useful to have as spares for pupils who have forgotten their PE kit. Thank you.

Piano Tuition
After the summer holiday, piano lessons will continue to be available during the school day on Thursday afternoons for any child in Class 2 or 3. These will be given by Mrs Trudy Drake, who already provides piano tuition for some children in school. If you are interested in your child learning to play the piano, please contact Mrs Drake directly (mobile 07918188519).
Comments from Lawrence and Tia: “It’s an amazing skill to learn and you can just sit down and play a tune that everyone will enjoy. You learn a new piece every week and learn how to play ‘Happy Birthday’ so that you can play it to a family member on their birthday. Mrs Drake is patient, kind and a brilliant teacher who will help you go from grade to grade until you are outstanding!”

PTA NEWS:
Sports night BBQ and PTA bar- a selected number of BBQ tickets may still be available tomorrow evening. Please support the PTA bar which is fully stocked with beer, cider, ale, Pimms, wine and soft drinks. All money raised goes to the PTA.

End of Term Disco, Thursday 16th July 6pm-7.30pm- if you haven't already please return the consent form along with £3 to Anna Harries by Wednesday 15th. We will be holding a small raffle for the children so please bring £1 for a ticket if your child wishes to take part.

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Tia Khan, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Mrs O'Brien. A reminder to Mrs Kenny that she is on the rota for 17 July.
You can now pay for the whole of the next year if you wish. It's £7 per child if paid up front, which gives you 4 weeks free! See Rowena Dobson. Volunteers for cake donations also welcome.

DIARY DATES:
Tuesday 14 July Daylight Theatre performance of ‘Treasure in the Sand’ for all pupils
Wednesday 15 July Mobile Library visit – book returns only
End of Term Disco. Tickets on sale now directly from the PTA outside Class 1 each morning and afternoon.
Friday 17 July End of school year assembly and say goodbye to Year 6 pupils. Everyone welcome. 9.05am start
School finishes at 1.30pm for pupils
Tuesday 1 September INSET Day for school staff only
Wednesday 2 September Pupils return to school for the start of Term 1.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
It’s hard to believe that we are nearing the end of our academic year and that many of our children will be moving on to primary school. It has been a busy term with some of the Little Bears having some taster sessions with Miss Mould and practising for sports day.

Sports Day
The children have been practicing in sessions and it promises to be great fun on the day!. All parent/carers, grandparents and siblings are invited to watch our Sports Day on Friday 17th July from 11.30. Please see the Pre-school notice board for the children's teams. Children who do not attend pre-school on a Friday are invited to join in with our sports session which will also be followed by a picnic.

Summer Sports Courses at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins will be leading two sports courses here during the summer break. The courses will be on the following dates: Monday 20th July, Tuesday 21st July and Wednesday 22nd July, and also Monday 10th August, Tuesday 11th August and Wednesday 12th August. The cost is £10 per day from 9-3pm and the course is open to all pupils aged 4-11. Pupils may attend for any or all of the days. Bookings may be made directly to m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Please see attached poster.

Community News:
• Cover Supervisor vacancy at Icknield Community College

Newsletter for week ending 3 July 2015

Happy JULY Birthday to: Jack Austin, Georgia Day, Archie Dickens, Mya Khan, Oliver Lemon, Nate Moss-Black, Harry Waters and Nathaniel Watkins.


During JULY we are focusing on the core value of FREEDOM

Congratulations to Izzy Kenny
Many congratulations to Izzy Kenny who entered a national competition, organised by Warwick Castle, to design a model castle. Izzy came an amazing 2nd and was the only primary school pupil to be a prize winner – the rest were all KS3! Her prize is free entry for the whole school to visit Warwick Castle during the next school year! What an amazing prize; we shall be planning this opportunity into our curriculum arrangements for next year. Well done and thank you Izzy!

Sports Week – Summary for Last Week
Thank you again to Mr Hopkins and Mr Piper for a fantastic day of sport last Wednesday. All children did at least 5 hours of sport during ‘Sports Week’ which involved at least 5 different sporting activities. Well done to everyone!
Congratulations to the following pupils who did very well in our school competitions:
Ping Pong Rally: Jude and Laila; Harvey and Ben; Ella and Lewis.
Skipping: Peter (55 forwards); Olivia (65 forwards); Elizabeth (65 forwards); Billy (72 forwards); Lawrence (87 forwards); Megan G. (83 forwards); Sam (50 backwards); Lawrence (54 backwards); Megan G. (39 backwards).
Well done also to Class 2 who showcased their breadth of skipping skills with pretzels, crossovers and double pairs!

Summer Sports Menu – change of menu for Thursday 9th July
Wimbledon Special – Umpire’s Special (Tuna Pasta Bake) or Murray Margherita Tart (Cheese and Tomato Pastry) with Wimbledon Potato Wedges, Mini Corn on the Cob and Champions Salad (seasonal salad with cherry tomatoes); Strawberries and Cream or Courtside Yoghurt Pots (copy of menu attached).

Ghana Week 29th June to 3rd July
This week we had a whole-school focus on Ghana, in West Africa. Our activities have included; a West African dance workshop (see below), a visit by a local couple who have spent some time living in Ghana, a Fairtrade assembly and follow-up Fairtrade awareness game for pupils in KS2 provided by Mrs Amanda Griffin from Just Trading in Wallingford, exploring and using a variety of authentic artefacts from RISC in Reading, the use of a fabulous ‘Global Kidz’ storytelling tent, also on loan from RISC (it would be wonderful to create our own!), a variety of weaving and printing activities (based on Ghanaian traditions) in each class, and a very popular chocolate tasting session – Ghanaian of course! It has been a great week and even the weather gave us an insight into the Ghanaian climate!

Report by Alex Robinson:
“Mrs Turner had planned for us a very special day of African dancing and singing with Gaspar from the Ivory Coast and Niiboy from Ghana. Niiboy had an amazing African drum and played fantastic tunes for the dances which Gaspar taught us. We all had a very enjoyable time and performed in front of some parents and our teachers at the end of the day. Finally, we finished the day with parents and teachers performing a dance for us to watch! We all enjoyed our fantastic day and thank you to Gaspar and Niiboy and to Mrs Turner for organising the day”.

Festival of Voices
Families who were involved in this inspiring event may remember that a collection was made each evening for Save the Children. On Wednesday, the evening Stadhampton attended, a total of £518.93 was collected and the collection from the whole week raised £2656.62. Thank you to all.

Head Lice
We are grateful to a parent for letting us know that they have treated their children for head lice this week. Please could everyone check their own children’s hair this weekend and treat if necessary.

PTA NEWS:
Sports night on Friday 10th July- Tickets are still available for this evening at present, priced at £2.50 for a sausage, burger or veggie, please see Anna Harries for tickets as they are limited. No more orders will be taken once the limit has been reached.

End of term disco on Thursday 16th July 6-7.30pm- Tickets are priced at £3.00 each, please see Anna Harries who is outside Class 1 every morning and afternoon pickup/drop off. If any parents can help on the evening please let a committee member know.

Our next PTA meeting is Tuesday 7th July 8pm at The Crown.

Friday Cake Club
Congratulations to Jemima O'Brien, the lucky winner of last week's cake, kindly donated by Mrs Freeman. A reminder to Mrs Gravett that she is on the rota on 10th July.

DIARY DATES:
Monday 6 July Reception & Class 1 visit to Henley River and Rowing Museum. Permission slip and contribution required please if you have not sent in already
Tuesday 7 July Clarinet concert performed by Class 3 pupils at 2.45pm. All parents/carers welcome
Wednesday 8, Thursday 9 & Friday 10 July Moving Up days. New Reception pupils starting in September attend for 3 full days. Year 6 pupils go to ICC. All other pupils move up to the year group/class they will be in at the start of the new academic year in September. Topic letters were sent home last week.
Friday 10 July Whole School Sports Evening. Pupils arrive at 6pm. Bar open from 6pm. BBQ tickets from the PTA are on sale now and must be purchased in advance. They will not be available to purchase at the event itself.
Tuesday 14 July Daylight Theatre performance of ‘Treasure in the Sand’ for all pupils
Wednesday 15 July Mobile Library visit – book returns only
End of Term Disco. Tickets on sale now directly from the PTA outside Class 1 each morning and afternoon.
Friday 17 July End of school year assembly and say goodbye to Year 6 pupils. Everyone welcome. 9.05am start
School finishes at 1.30pm
Tuesday 1 September INSET Day for school staff only
Wednesday 2 September Pupils return to school for the start of Term 1.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week some of our Little Bears will be going up to ‘big school’ to enjoy the transition days. We will also be welcoming some new little ones and enjoying a mini topic "All About Me".

Summer Sports Courses at Stadhampton School
Michael Hopkins will be leading two sports courses here during the summer break. The courses will be on the following dates: Monday 20th July, Tuesday 21st July and Wednesday 22nd July, and also Monday 10th August, Tuesday 11th August and Wednesday 12th August. The cost is £10 per day from 9-3pm and the course is open to all pupils aged 4-11. Pupils may attend for any or all of the days. Bookings may be made directly to m.hopkins07@hotmail.com or via Mrs Hopkins in the school office. Please see attached poster.

Community News:
• Poster attached about the Stadhampton Youth Club Family BBQ and Games event on 15th July
• Poster attached of Summer Update from Stadhampton Youth Club