Dear parents and carers,
Holidays
We finish today for the October half term holiday. I hope you and your children manage to get a good break, and I look forward to seeing everybody on Tuesday 5th November as the school will be closed for an Inset day on Monday 4th November.
Apples
A huge thank you to all those parents who have donated apples for our cookery sessions this term. Serinne will still be using fruit after half term, so if anyone still has fruit from their trees to donate it would be hugely appreciated.
Parent Consultations
Hopefully you managed to meet your child’s teacher this week, either in person or online. Of necessity these meetings are quite short as they are a quick start of year summary, but please remember that the teachers are always happy to meet to talk about your child’s progress should you wish.
Equalities Week
This week has been Equalities week. The children have enjoyed having a slightly different timetable and have learned a great deal about the challenges faced by some people. It was wonderful to hear the children sharing what they had learnt in our Friday assembly with the rest of the school. Do ask your child what they have found out during the week.
Secondary School Applications deadline
The deadline for receipt of completed applications for transfer to Year 7 is looming. Applications must be received by the Admissions Team no later than 31 October to be considered for secondary school places on National Offer Day. Applications can be made via this link : Year 7 – secondary school applications | Oxfordshire County Council
Staffing
Today we said a fond farewell to Inese Bumbere. Inese has worked alongside Mrs Jaggard at Forest School for the last two years and has also worked in classrooms and on premises projects. We will miss her enormously and wish her every success as she embarks on new projects.
This week, we have welcomed Nico Venables who has joined us to support Art across the school until Christmas. Nico is a talented artist and will be helping us with an Art Week that we are planning to hold in November. I am sure that you will make him very welcome.
ParentPay
Thank you to everybody who keeps their ParentPay accounts up to date and in credit. Please take the time to check that all the different pots are sorted over the break.
New school lunch menu
Please note there is a new school lunch menu which begins on Tuesday 5th November. The menu will be attached to the newsletter email and can be found on the website.
Yoga after school club
There are still some places in our after-school Yoga club on a Monday. If you would like to sign your child up, please contact the office.
Remembrance
We will be making an Act of Remembrance on Thursday 11th at 11.00am. This will be in the playground, so we will take the children to the memorial beforehand and talk about the significance of the event and to lay wreaths. Poppies are available from the school office and we will be selling these in the classrooms after half term. Suggested donation is 20p for a poppy.
100 Club
Thank you very much for supporting the Sparkle Fund by buying numbers for the Friends of Dr South’s 100 Club. The first draw of the year took place yesterday and the winners are as follows:
1st prize: £28.88 – Filiz McNamara (No 17)
2nd prize: £17.32 – Susan Sawyer (No 5)
3rd prize: £11.55 – Kim Wiles (No 91)
£57.75 will be going to the Sparkle Fund. You will see that the winning amounts are slightly strange; this is because we still have 23 numbers to sell. If you would like to buy more – or know someone else who would – please let us know. We will pass on the winnings at school after half term. The next draw will take place on Thursday 28 November. Good luck!
This week we congratulated:
Willow Class: Lucy, for playing nicely with her friends; Eva for fabulous skills at football club;
Ash Class: Arvin, for noticing different leaf patterns on our Autumn walk; Jovie, for making links with prior learning in maths;
Oak Class: Gaby, for showing great concentration and for writing a beautiful biography of Nelson Mandela; Maverick, for paying close attention to his work in Maths when using column addition and subtraction;
Beech Class: Zachary for incredible participation and talking thoughtfully about our Equalities Week’s topic; Anna for amazing effort in swimming races and showing determination and great technique.
Our Christian value for the term is courage. Ask your child about the owl who was afraid of the dark
Dates for the year
28/10/2024 Half term week
04/11/2024 INSET Day – school closed
04/12/2024 2pm Christingle Service
05/12/2024 Pantomime trip – Sleeping Beauty
12/12/2024 Willow Nativity performance
19/12/2024 2.00pm Carol Service and Ash Class nativity
19/12/2024 End of term
20/12/2024 INSET Day – school closed
06/01/2025 Start of term
14/02/2025 Soup Lunch and Talent Show
17/02/2025 Half term week
26/02/2025 Junior Citizen Trip Beech Class
03/03/2025 Parent Consultations
04/03/2025 Parent Consultations
06/03/2025 World Book Day
14/03/2025 Red Nose Day
04/04/2025 2pm Easter Service
04/04/2025 End of term
21/4/2025 Bank holiday – school closed
22/04/2025 Start of term
05/05/2025 Early May Bank Holiday – school closed
23/05/2025 May Day celebrations
26/05/2025 Half term week
19/06/2025 Sports Day
03/07/2025 Oak and Beech production, 1.30pm and 6.00pm
07/07/2025 Beech Residential
09/07/2025 Ash and Willow production, 2.00pm
18/07/2025 Leavers’ Service
18/07/2025 End of term
21/07/2025 INSET Day – school closed
22/07/2025 INSET Day – school closed
Don’t forget – you can always check term dates at: https://dr-souths.co.uk/term-dates/