Value of the month ‘Caring’
School Dinners – This week we sent out a letter from Aspens, the school dinner provider, regarding the ability to
pre-book and pay for school lunches via their online system. The school will continue to take payments for dinners but would ask that families stick to one method of payment – either online or payment to the school. If you wish to order and pay for your meals online then please complete the slip on the end of the Aspens letter and return it to the office. If your child is ill and will not require the dinner that day it can be cancelled online up to 9.15am and you will not be charged.
If you wish to continue paying through the school office please send in your payment on a Monday morning in an envelope (an old one will do) clearly marked with your child’s name and the days they require dinner that week. You can pay for more than one week if you wish, any payment for dinners not taken will be carried forward.
Please do not send in loose money. The envelopes can be put through the letter box or given to your child’s teacher who will then send it through to the office with the dinner register.
Free School Meals –are available for children in families claiming Income Support, Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Child Tax Credit. If you think you would be entitled to free meals for your child (even if they do not usually have dinners or will only require a dinner occasionally) please ask in the school office for a form to complete so that your entitlement can be checked. It is important that we have this information since it affects school funding as we can claim extra Pupil Premium Grant which is used to help children who need more assistance in school.
Wildlife Area – The working party on Saturday achieved loads of back breaking digging with a huge amount of help from the Conservation group to whom we owe a great deal of thanks. We removed the remainder of the contents of the pond, lifted the liner, dug out some really compacted soil, re-laid the ‘underlay’ and the pond liner and then lined it again with more overlay and soil went back on top. The pond should start filling with water ready for some planting in January /early Feb so we will have a useable area by the spring. It doesn’t look great at the moment, some more ‘creating’ of various ‘areas of interest’ and different habitats are still to be done along with making the area where the children will be ‘dipping’ safe and durable. We are planning two further sessions to finish the work early in the New Year and we will advise of the dates as soon as possible.
We had a huge amount of support from children and parents. Many thanks go to Kathy Baldwin, Teigan and Charlotte Mansfield, Sam, Ian and Skye McDougall, Beth Wise, June McGinty and Iona Bielby, Catherine, Ben and Max Temple, Chris, Harry and Josie Hurst, Finlay McAuslin, Helena, Adam and Toby-Joe McBride, Steve and Samuel Bartlett.
We would like to thank Helena McBride for organising all this for us and all the hard work she has put into improving the wildlife area which will be a great asset for the children next year.
School Admissions – A reminder again that if any parents have pre-school children born between 1st Sept 2009 and 31st Aug 2010 who are due to start school in Sept 2014, applications for a school place must be made by 15th January 2014. Applications can be made online at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/admissions but if you are not able to do this, please ask in the school office for a booklet which includes a form to complete and send to Oxfordshire Admissions Department.
New Term – Spring Term begins on Tuesday 7th Jan. We look forward to seeing you all then. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Amy Fletcher,
Acting Headteacher
