St Christopher’s C E School
Email: office.3555@st-christophers.oxon.sch.uk
www.st-christophers.oxon.sch.uk
Newsletter
No 2: Friday 24th September 2010
Dear Parents
Yet another busy week has passed by in a flash! Children started clubs this week and it was
lovely to see the children enjoying such a great variety of activities both inside and outside.
The building at the back of the art bay is nearly complete and we are all really looking
forward to using our fabulous new outdoor area.
Sarah Nisbett – Headteacher
Quick Reminders
Now the weather is turning autumnal, please could
the children bring in to school their coats as
wherever possible we like the children to play
outside at morning break and lunchtimes – thank you.
THURSDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2010
Tuesdays from 9.30am to 11.30am We will be holding our annual Open Day to all
prospective parents and pupils from 9.30am to
At St Christopher’s School, Langford
2.30pm. Current parents are also welcome to join in
Everyone Welcome! and see what their children get up to!
SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
SEPTEMBER 2011
BREAKFAST CLUB - 8.15am daily The admissions process for children due to start
50p per day school or move to secondary school in September
Everyone welcome – for a registration form 2011 is upon us!
please call in the school office.
If you have a child born between 1st September
2006 and 31st August 2007, Starting School
booklets are available from the office explaining the
procedure for starting school. Please call in and
Emergency School Closures pick one up – the deadline for applications is 17th
In addition to our text system, school closures will be broadcast January 2011.
on:
HEART FM – 102.6 FM GWR – 96.3 FM If you have a child currently in Year 6, Moving On
BBC Radio Oxford – 95.2 FM booklets are available also from the office. The
Or check local radio station websites deadline for secondary school places is 1st
November 2010.
Missed a Newsletter? If you submit a late application you are far less
likely to obtain a place for your child at one of your
If you have missed a newsletter, they are available on our
website www.st-christophers.oxon.sch.uk preferred schools.
School Lunch Menus!
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
th
Week Commencing 27 September 2010
Chicken in Breadcrumb
Jacket Potato with Roast Chicken breast Cowboy Hotpot(V)
Pork Patties with onion Fish Fillet
cheese and coleslaw with stuffing, Yorkshire Creamed Potatoes
gravy Chunky Chips
Seasonal Vegetables pudding, roast potatoes Seasonal Vegetables
Potato wedges Seasonal Vegetables
Seasonal Vegetables
Seasonal Vegetables
Apple and banana crunch
Fruit Ice Cream
with custard Cherry Krispie Cake Iced Bun
Fruit Muffin
th
Week Commencing 4 October 2010
Roast Turkey Cheese & Tomato
Chicken Pie Pork Sausage
Spaghetti Bolognaise Yorkshire Pudding Pizza (V)
Creamed potatoes Chunky Chips
Roast Potatoes Jacket Potato
Seasonal Vegetables Seasonal Vegetables
Seasonal Vegetables
Flapjack Chocolate & Mandarin
Gingerbread Man Chelsea Bun
Strawberry Dessert Brownie
th
Week Commencing 11 October 2010
Macaroni Cheese Jacket Potato with Roast Pork with apple Chicken & sweet pepper Breaded small fry fish,
Cheese and Baked Beans sauce, Yorkshire pudding, pasta Chunky chips
Seasonal Vegetables roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables
Seasonal vegetables seasonal vegetables Salad
Chocolate sponge with Ice cream tub with orange
chocolate sauce Jelly with yogurt Cornflake cookies Viennese apple tart wedge
Also available every day: Yoghurt, Fresh Fruit & Water - £2.05 per meal.
Any cheques for dinners please make payable to Oxfordshire County Council.
Thank you to everyone who remembered that dinner money has increased to £2.05 per day from September.
Dinners should be paid in advance on a Monday of the week in which dinners are taken. As usual, the correct
money in a named envelope is very much appreciated.
Diary Dates
th th
27 Sept 28 Sept 29th Sept 30th Sept 1st Oct
Mobile Library 2.30pm Besom Charity
Swimming Assembly
9.30am Toddlers 12.30pm Garden Club 3.15pm Nature Club
Basketball Festival
3.15pm Hockey Club 3.15pm Orienteering 3.15pm Recorders
3.15pm Photography
3.30pm Tennis at 33.15pm Football Club
Colston Maple Cook 4 Books
7.30pm Cotswold Voices
4th Oct 5th Oct 6th Oct 7th Oct 8th Oct
Swimming
9.30am Toddlers Open Day
2.45pm Celebration
Y6 Witney Hospital Visit 3.15pm Orienteering 12.30pm Garden Club
3.15pm Photography Assembly
3.15pm Hockey Club 3.30pm Tennis at 3.15pm Recorders
3.15pm Nature Club
Colston 3.15pm Football Club
7.30pm Cotswold Voices
11th Oct 12th Oct 13th Oct 14th Oct 15th Oct
Swimming
9.30am Toddlers
12.30pm Garden Club 2.45pm Celebration
3.15pm Orienteering
3.15pm Hockey Club 3.15pm Photography 3.15pm Recorders Assembly
3.30pm Tennis at
3.15pm Football Club 3.15pm Nature Club
Colston
7.30pm Cotswold Voices
All those who came to our Ghana update assembly on Friday will already know that we were honoured to
receive two special visitors. Humphrey Barclay, from Friends of Tafo, came to update us on news from our
link school in Ghana, Presbyterian Primary A. It is always a pleasure to see Humphrey who is an honouree
chief of Tafo! He had brought with him the son of the chief of Tafo, known as Boat. Boat wanted to thank
St.Christopher’s for the donation of stationary items we sent out last year. He also told us more about
where he lives and what life is like in Tafo. Boat donated a beautiful wooden carving to the school which
shows someone climbing a tree and someone below giving them a push up. Boat said this was symbolic of what
St.Christopher’s was doing for the children attending Presby A Primary; we are helping to push them up by
supporting their education. It is a lovely reminder of how important it is to think of others and do whatever
we can, however small, to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Humphrey showed us a video he had made where a young girl introduced us to her family and showed us
around her home. She talked about her day, including getting up at 5a.m. to collect water from the well and
doing other chores before she went to school at 7a.m. The children were visibly disgusted by the sight of
the well and the state of the water which was being collected. Afterwards I spoke to Humphrey and he told
me how he had observed children at school drinking this dirty water from a water butt. When he asked the
teacher if it made the children ill his response was “God looks after them”. Humphrey is trying to get Water
Aid on board to help Friends of Tafo improve the wells and make the water cleaner and therefore safer. I
think we were all moved enough by what we saw on the video to want to help our friends with this mission so
I hope to involve the children across the school in fundraising with a watery theme. I hope you will want to
support us in this.
Humphrey has taken with him letters and portraits from the children here and is taking a selection of the
Key stage two “design a game” projects along with Little Ted, so maybe he will teach the children at Presby
A some of our games! Humphrey has also left some Christmas cards which we will be selling to raise funds
for Tafo and he will return in the New Year to bring us more news from all our friends there.
Carol Phillips - Deputy Head and link teacher
Text Messaging / Data Sheet/ Internet Code of Practice/Home School
Agreement/Local Visits & Plasters – Many thanks to all those parents who have returned the above
forms.
However, we are still waiting for a few to be returned. If this applies to you then please return to the
school office as soon as possible – thank you. ☺
are
recruiting new members, aged 6 – 19
years old, for its choirs which meet on Carterton FC Mini Soccer Centre
Saturday mornings in Burford - for a
Sundays (term time only) 11am – 12pm
free two week trial and for further
At Carterton FC, Kilkenny Lane, Carterton
details please contact the Musical
Ages 3-4 yrs (Tiny Tots - £1.00)
Director, Jacki Pattenden on:
01793 764802 Ages 5-11 yrs (Mini Soccer - £2.00)
or email jacki.pat@btinternet.com. For further details and to book a place contact
Tel: Dave Brown on 07786867230
If you are interested in any of the following courses being run by WOSSP then please call in the school office
for further details and/or a form. Please note that places are limited.
Family Climbing Club
Mon 4 October – Monday 15th November 2010
th
7pm-8.30pm at Carterton Community College
Hockey Club
For children who have tried Hockey Club and think they would like to further their hockey ability then Year 5 &
6 WOSSP Hockey Club is running on Mondays from 4pm – 5pm at Witney ATP
Family Badminton Club
Monday 4 October – Monday 15th November 2010
th
7pm – 8pm at Carterton Community College
Family Golf Afternoon
An opportunity to go round a mini course with your family and use the driving range with PGA professional
tuition at hand.
Sunday 17th October 2010 – 1pm – 3pm
To book a place contact Tom Field on 01993 831841 or tommyfield@hotmail.co.uk
YEAR 5 & 6 RESIDENTIAL VISIT TO THE PIONEER CENTRE
MONDAY 28TH MARCH 2011 – FRIDAY 1ST APRIL 2011
The school is delighted to announce that we have provisionally booked the Pioneer Centre again as our
residential visit for 2011 for children who are in Years 5 and 6. If you were unable to make the presentation
evening last term, the visit this year was a great success and the children who attended would be the first to
agree that it was a fabulous experience and opportunity.
The Pioneer Centre is an Activity Centre in Shropshire. This year, the children enjoyed activities such as
abseiling, archery, high ropes, and fencing. All the activities take place on the extensive site and are fully
supervised by trained instructors.
If you would like your child to participate in this visit then please return the slip attached, along with a £30 non
refundable deposit. If you signed up on the evening, please complete the slip below with your deposit.
If you would like further details or have any questions then please speak with Ms Nisbett, Mr Cornish or Mrs
Brownjohn.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………….…………….
REPLY SLIP –
YEAR 5/6 RESIDENTIAL TRIP TO THE PIONEER CENTRE 28TH MARCH – 1ST APRIL 2011
My child …………………………………………………………………….. in …………………………………. Class can participate in the residential
trip to the Pioneer Centre.
I enclose a £30.00 non refundable deposit (cash or cheques payable to St Christopher’s CE School)
Signed ………………………………………………………………………….. Date ……………………………………………………………..
Actually… your school needs you!
If you are motivated, hard working and want to make a difference to your school we need you on the School
Council!
St Christopher’s School Council meets every two weeks to think about how we can make our school even
better.
If you would like to be considered for this role please prepare a short presentation on why you would make
a good School Councillor. Bring your presentation to school next Friday where the elections will be held in
your classes. We are looking for two representatives for each class.
Good Luck!
We have now formed our Action Team to help us to work towards achieving “Green Flag Status” for Eco-
Schools.
The Eco-Warriors include 2 children from each class and we will meet three times each term. The team
are looking for a parent or governor to join us and support our Action Plan for 2010-2011. If you’re
interested and could attend at least four meetings in the school year, please contact me.
This term we are aiming to review and renew our Bronze & Silver status; keep your eyes out for the Eco-
Warrior Notice Board in the hall which will keep you up-dated with current issued.
Laura Sumner – Maple Class/Eco Warrior
We are delighted to announce the
Cherry Maple Ginkgo Oak Willow
Katie Astle Shashonie Garrad Hawthorn Hartley Luke Curtis Deryn Campbell
Cameron Cutmore Jonathan Peach Daisy Keen Eleanor Daft Robin Disbrey
Cook 4 Books is all about cooking, buying (and eating) cakes to raise money for books for the
school. Each month pupils from each class take it in turns to bring in cakes (home-made or bought)
to sell to pupils and parents. A paper plate will be sent home in book bags as a reminder. The SCPA
has decided to add a competitive element to this round of Cook 4 Books – we’re hoping that this will
encourage more cake making. There will be a treat for the class that raises the most money from
their cake sale – the SCPA will provide the winning class with a special tea party.
On average, each class raises around £30 per sale – sometimes more, sometimes quite a bit less.
So think about how many cakes you have donated each time it has been your class Cook 4 Books.
Now ... do you think you could double it? More cakes = more money so the challenge is on!
Cook 4 Books dates for the diary are as follows:
This year:
Friday 1st October – Maple
Friday 5th November – Gingko
Friday 3rd December – Oak
2011:
Friday 14th January – Willow
Friday 11th February – Cherry
The winning class will be announced on Monday 14th February.
(Look on Blackboard outside school.)
Winner’s Tea Party - Friday 18th February
For new parents, very approximately, the average donation is around 12 cupcakes or biscuits or one
whole cake. We put a paper plate in book bags at the beginning of the week of each sale. You can
either full the plate – stack it as high as you like! Or bring a box, which can be collected after sale. All
cakes should be brought to school on the Friday morning of the sale and left in the Rainbow room, or
in time for the sale itself after Friday Assembly. We sell each portion for 20p. We will try to sell large
cakes as a whole but if there are fewer donations, we will sell them in slices. It can, quite literally, be
a bit of a bun fight, so helpers are welcome! If you fancy helping to sell cakes from the Cook 4 Books
stall, please let an SCPA member know in advance or turn up on the day of your child’s class case
cake sale and volunteer. If the weather allows, we set up under the parent shelter under the trees. If
it’s heavy rain however, we put a table up in the Hall after assembly.
