Charlton-on-Otmoor CE Primary School

Dear Parents,

I would like to begin the final newsletter of the year by sharing with you some of our plans for the full opening of Charlton on Thursday 3^rd September.

A full risk assessment will be made available to you on the school website at a later date. This will include additional information about the full opening and any important changes to the normal daily routine.

All children are to return in September and will be in their normal class groups. These are as follows:

• Nursery and Reception to be led by Mrs Wells, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Ling
• Year 1 and 2 to be taught by Mrs Bending
• Year 3 and 4 will be led by our new teacher Miss Sandford
• Year 5 and 6 to be led by Mrs Ellam

Breakfast Club and CAST will return led by Mrs Walters, Mrs Buckley, Mrs Ling, Mrs Gaisford and Mrs Hatwell. CAST will return with a new name (to be decided), themed session on Thursdays and a new range of activities to excite and engage your child. We are also changing the pricing:

• Breakfast club will be available from 07:50 to 08:50 at a cost of £4.50 with Drop and Play just £1 from 08:30 – 08:45.
• The new CAST will be £6.00 from 15:15 to 16:15 (not 16:30) or £10 up until 17:30 Monday to Thursdays.

The prices reflect the need for the club to be sustainable moving forward.

Start and collection times will be confirmed at a later date although we are still planning on staggering these to support families with social distancing. The front playground will be marked out as it is now to support pupils in knowing where to stand and in helping everyone to remember the two-metre rule.

Within the classroom, we are planning on keeping desks facing forward in key stage one two and will be making every effort to keep classes separate so that groups do not congregate in the hallways or in corridors.

At break and lunchtimes, we are intending to keep children in separate groups. Hot dinners will be returning and children will sit with their class groups to eat. Plans have been put in place to ensure that children are spaced out in the lunch hall and do not move apart from when they are collecting their food.

The teachers will be following the national curriculum as normal, however there may be adjustments made to the timetable to reflect any learning missed over the past few months. Home Learning has been incredibly successful and we will be looking at ways to continue with this from September. 

Thank you to all the families who responded to the survey regarding home learning. The feedback received was incredibly helpful and will be used by the school to improve the quality of remote learning. It was great to read all of the positive comments knowing that you were able to engage and join in with your child's learning. 

Mrs Lambert and Mrs Towler will be on hand to answer any questions you have; they will be implementing a letter box outside of the entrance door for you to leave any letters. We would encourage all families to email or call the school office to avoid having to enter the building.

Before we end for the summer, I would like to say a final thank you to everyone for all your support during my first year as your headteacher. Being a Headteacher is an incredibly rewarding job and a great privilege. The success of any school relies upon a team and I would like to thank everyone from the office team, to the teaching assistants, Nikki our cleaner, the teachers and the PTA for their amazing ongoing support. I would also like to thank the governing board for their dedication and commitment in leading the school.

Today we said goodbye to our year sixes. During the leavers’ assembly, they put on a range of performances to show case some of their many talents and spoke about their favourite memories from their time at Charlton. We will miss them greatly as they move onto secondary school, however I am sure they will thrive and succeed as they continue their education.

Finally, I would like to wish a fond farewell to Mrs Styler. Mrs Styler has been a fundamental part of the school community for over a decade and has been integral to so much that has happened at Charlton. We wish her all the best as she moves onto the next stage of her career.

I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Have a great summer.

A very big thank you to all who took the time to complete the feedback form about home learning.  We were delighted to receive so many positive comments and some useful suggestions too.   

A few we’d like to share a few of your thoughts:

“The school as a whole has been amazing”

“Fantastic support from the teachers”

“Video chats were a great way to stay in touch with class friends”

“…I think the staff have worked incredibly hard to provide content online and I feel they have kept up an excellent contact with both children and parents.”

“…the videos (from Mrs Wells and Mrs Clarke) were excellent and xxx… would often chat back to them.”

“We have had a very good range of work.”

Several of you made the suggestion that we set homework on Google Classroom in the future -  we agree and aim to do this wherever possible.

Mrs Ellam.

I think the picture of George and Daisy's homemade blue board epitomises perfectly what happened after 20th March at Charlton-on-Otmoor School.

A very big thank you to parents for all the kind and thoughtful gifts that we have received and for all the support we received this year- during lockdown and beyond.  We wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer break.

Mrs Bending and Mrs Ellam have enjoyed learning how to splice, cut, edit, export and upload the sports day video on to the school's youtube channel, which will be on your child's Google Classroom stream and Tapestry by the end of today (hopefully!).  As always, please can we ask you not to share these on social media or publicly.  

Farewell to all the fabulous year 6s (and Hannah, who was on line). The videos of the Assembly and the Production is on Google Classroom Stream.

A few photos from the Play the children put on yesterday.

A lot of fun was had by all... There were some very wet teachers too!

Please can you ensure that you settle your child's account before the weekend (you would have received a reminder email yesterday from ParentPay), especially if your child is leaving Charlton-on-Otmoor today. 

The CAST, Drop & Play and Breakfast clubs which are invoiced are the sessions that were taken by your child before the lockdown and need to be paid in full. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

With the summer holidays approaching children will have more time with their parents to follow this programme, while parents of Year 6 children can use it to help prepare their child for the walk to their new Secondary School. The programme will not only help the children to be safer road users but will also be getting them outside taking exercise. Encouraging children to walk to school will benefit their health and help towards reducing pollution and parking problems around our schools.

See PDF doc below.

Please see PDF doc below.

Please go to FORMS/Other Events/Breakfast and After School Club to see the letter regarding the possibility of us being able to re-open Breakfast club and CAST.

Please can you fill out the form (if you haven't already done so) before Tuesday 14th July so we have a clear idea of who is interested. Thank you.

Dear Parents,

2020 class group pictures have been a challenge for obvious reasons. However, I have compiled group pictures from the individual portraits that were taken last autumn to create a truly unique class group picture to commemorate the lockdown of 2020 and your child’s school journey.

These pictures are only available to purchase online, no proof cards or ‘return to school’ options are available so everything can be done remotely and safely for all. Additional sizes or framed options can be quoted for by request. Kind regards, Ian Taylor. Access to the ordering page is via the link at www.itphoto.co.uk/galleries/school-portraits/ and using the specific access code for the relevant class.”

Codes as follows:

Reception use 235185-26700

Yr 1/2 use 235185-71748

Yr 3/4 use 235185-98401

Yr 5/6 use 235185-85584

Blue House oldest child receiving the sports day trophy for the winning team - Blue House

The Mental Health Support Team:

• We are offering some free Webinars on parenting and mental health topics. These are designed to support with a range of topics and are free for parents to sign up to and join remotely.
• We have created a Summer Challenge of wellbeing activities for families and young people to do to help look after their wellbeing. 
• A document on Peer Pressure during lockdown and some Top Tips from students at Cherwell School. 
• Our final newsletter of resources. 

See PDF doc below.

Final reading record milestones of the year.  Brilliant reading by the whole school this year.  Well done.  Keep reading in the holidays.

            Winner of the Lockdown Sunflower Competition 2020

Amber Royer     Height 215cm

Congratulations to Amber who won a £10 book voucher and to everyone who entered the competition, we hope you enjoyed growing the sunflowers and they are brightening up your gardens.

As another academic year ends (probably the strangest one on record), we would like to thank everyone for helping to raise money for the school which benefits all our children.  Since September, the PTA have raised just under £4,500.  Through fundraising events such as Bingo, the Christmas Fair, Mufti days, cake sales, tuck shops and raffles we have been able to fund the following this year:

• Memory Journals which chart the progress of your child through the school
• Reading Records
• Hazard Alley e-safety and drugs awareness learning day
• Read Write inc
• Korky Paul visit
• Skipping ropes
• Subsidizing of school trips
• Christmas present for every child
• Christmas crackers
• Marquee – making an extra classroom allowing more children to return to school this summer

School Uniform

If you have any good quality outgrown uniform that you would like to donate, please could you leave outside the Percy Collett room on Monday 20^th July for collection.  We are not taking plain white polo shirts only logo ones.

Summer Holiday Competition using the Fit4Change App – see the poster for details, competition starts on Saturday 18^th July through to Friday 28^th August.  (see PDF file below)

The prize is a “Hamper of Drinks” for the person who covers the most miles during that time.  Download the App your progress will be monitored, and leader boards posted on Facebook over the holidays.  Here is a chance to keep fit, raise money for the school and win a great prize.  Anyone who downloads the app and chooses Charlton on Otmoor School as their charity can enter the competition. Good Luck!

Winner to be announce at the beginning of next term.

Just as a reminder here are the links for fundraising sites, we are signed up to

Everyone can get involved, with these schemes you do not have to be a parent of a child at the school.  So please spread the word, ask family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues etc to consider supporting the school.

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/charltononotmoor/

https://www.smile.amazon.co.uk

https://www.CherwellLottery.co.uk 

If you would like to speak to a committee member, find out more about the PTA, would like to join the committee or have any questions about the above please contact us via the office or mailto:Charltonschoolassociation@gmail.com%20%20%20 or face book https://www.facebook.com/groups/149362305695629/

Thank you to everyone for your continued support, keep well, stay safe and Happy Holidays

Dear parent,

Now that the focus is shifting to schools returning in September we urge you to consider your uniform requirements now to avoid delay.

We predict a large bottleneck of last minute uniform orders from parents so we recommend you start planning any uniform requirements you may have sooner rather than later, allowing yourself enough time to re-order different sizes if needed. In the interest of fairness orders will be processed on a first come first served basis.

Like most other businesses, the COVID/Lockdown situation is having an effect on our lead times. Our current cut-off date for orders to be delivered before the new term (Sep 2020) is 7th Aug 2020. Where in previous years we have managed to process orders well after the deadline this will not be possible this Summer due to the current situation. We urge you to place your uniform order asap.

If you want to know more about us, please subscribe to our Newsletter using the link below:

https://com.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fadaa46bc4e7acf83980fc736&id=3ab8098519&e=b86dc5d22b

Thank you for your continued custom.

The Brigade Team.

Yr1

Ask for an application form from your child’s school (see link below), complete it and return to the school together with proof of benefit so that your school can assess eligibility.

Link to application form:

http://schools.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/sites/schools/files/folders/folders/documents/schoolmeals/appendixB.pdf

Proof of benefit cannot be demonstrated by a bank statement or photocopies, only by an original of the following:

- Income Support - letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)/Jobcentre Plus dated within one month of application showing breakdown of income support payment.

- Income Based Employment & Support Allowance - letter from DWP/Jobcentre Plus dated within one month of application.

- Child Tax Credit (without Working Tax Credit and 'annual income as assessed by the Inland Revenue' of below the threshold figure for the year) - All pages of the TC602 Inland Revenue tax credit award notice for the current tax year.

- State pension credit - Pension Credit M1000 Award Notice.

Asylum seekers will need to provide a National Asylum and Support Service (NASS) support notice or IS96 document including details of authority providing support under part IV of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. You will be required to supply:

* NASS reference number
* Port reference number
* Name of authority

When to apply?
You should apply to your school when you first start to receive benefit as claims are not backdated. Your eligibility will be reviewed at least every six months by the school.

You should notify the school immediately if any changes occur to your benefits.