St Andrew's News
Christingle Service
On Friday 15th January we held a special Christingle service.
With the help of Revd. Joan DeVal and Revd. Helen O’Sullivan, each child made a Christingle with oranges kindly donated by our local Co-op. It was a lovely start to a term which has been disrupted by the severe weather.
Revd. John Kinchin-Smith blessed our Christingles.
These are symbolic :
The orange stands for the world which God has created.
The four sticks represent the four seasons – spring, summer,
autumn and winter.
The fruit stand for the food which God provides.
The red ribbon reminds us that Jesus died to save the world.
And the candle is a symbol for the coming of Jesus who is the Light of the World.
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Happy New Year to Everyone! We got off to a rather cold and snowy start this term! Thank you to all our parents and carers for being so understanding regarding the adverse weather conditions. Fewer members of staff now live in Chinnor or in the immediate area, therefore, difficult decisions about closing the school had to be made, bearing in mind the health and safety of all adults and children. Once back in school however, the fun started ......
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Appointment of Headteacher for St. Andrew's School As you know, Gill Copsey will be retiring at the end of the Easter term after 12 years as Headteacher. I am very pleased to tell you that the Governing Body has appointed Wendy Heritage as Headteacher of St. Andrew's with effect from 1 April 2010, subject to the usual checks. The Selection Panel, consisting of seven Governors and representatives of the LEA and the Diocese, oversaw a rigorous set of activities and interviews for the candidates, which involved: 1 - A presentation to Staff and Governors entitled: "What I would bring to this 'Good' 2 - Presenting a whole School Assembly 3 - An interview with the School Council 4 - Taking a Foundation Stage class 5 - Completing an In-Tray exercise 6 - A full Selection Panel interview Throughout the two days of the selection process, Wendy excelled in all of the activities and showed that she has all the qualities we are looking for in a Headteacher to take St. Andrew's forward. I would like to thank all the children for their help with the process. Their behaviour and professionalism was outstanding as always. We know you will want to join us in congratulating Wendy on her appointment and wish her all the best in her new role. Gillian Ambridge Chair of Governors |
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St. Andrew's Open Mornings It was wonderful to meet so many visitors and friends of St. Andrew's on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th October for our annual Open Mornings. Our Year 6 ambassadors took our visitors for a guided tour of the school, followed by coffee in Manser Hall. Our visitors commented on our newly painted buildings and were extremely impressed by all that they saw and heard. Here are some of their comments:- "A lovely school with very happy and polite children!" Thank you. "Florence and Sadia were most informative and clearly very passionate about their school! Thank you for a very good tour. You should be very proud of your pupils." Liz Ramage "A lovely school with confident and happy children. Thanks for the great show-round." Stephanie Johns "We enjoyed our look around the school - the chance to get an overall view and see our own children at work and play. Luke and Sophie were engaging, informative, friendly, confident tour guides and it was a privilege to spend time with them." Bob and Cindy Sluka Our Year 6 ambassadors also enjoyed their morning. "It was a good experience for the adults to come because they could see where children started their education and where they finished." Luke W-H "I enjoyed representing the school and I was able to give our visitors lots of information." Luke M
"When I told our visitors that most classes had 20 children in them, they said "that's brilliant". " Thomas
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At the end of the Easter term 2010 our Headteacher, Mrs Gill Copsey, will be retiring. Mrs Copsey has worked at St. Andrew's School over a period of 40 years, including the last 12 years as Headteacher. She has led the school through many major challenges and developments, including an excellent Ofsted report in June 2007. Thanks to Mrs Copsey's hard work and dedication, as well as the commitment of our superb teaching staff, the new Headteacher will have a secure foundation on which to build at a very exciting time in the school's development. Gillian Ambridge - Chair of Governors on behalf of the Governing Body |
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Welcome! The new academic year at St. Andrew’s has got off to an excellent start!
We would like to extend a special welcome to the new children in Foundation Stage and those children across the school who joined us this term. They have all settled in remarkably well and once again, St. Andrew’s is bustling with enthusiasm and exciting learning opportunities.
We would also like to welcome our new members of staff; Ben Gibson has joined Tim Nixon in Year 4 and Zoë Illes is teaching in Year 5 with Steve Dunn. At the end of July three new teaching assistants were appointed:- Gemma Guthrie – James (Year 2), Tracy Sareen (Year 3) and Kerina Broughton (Year 4). We wish them all well in their new posts.
For your information, the new curriculum plans for terms one and two are now on the website along with the Key Stage Brochures for this academic year. (Click here for Term 1/2 curriculum plans) We are looking forward to an exciting and productive year ahead! |
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SASA has had another successful year and has presented the school with a cheque for £8,000 raised from the varied events organised by the committee. SASA has, in addition, given £2,000 to the swimming pool. We would like to thank Karen Scarborough as Chair, the committee members and all parents who have supported the events and contributed to this success.
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The Art Show raised £1,700 this year which was better than expected, given the current economic climate. The event was well attended and was enjoyed by the visitors who commented very favourably on the quality of the exhibition. Thank you to parents who helped in any way - we are very grateful. |
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Shop and make a difference! - You can generate funds for our school by carrying out your internet shopping via the following website: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/sasa-oxon. By shopping through this website you can shop at over 600 well known retailers. With every purchase you make, it will generate a free cash donation for us. The cost of your shopping doesn’t change and there are no hidden costs. The website just takes a percentage (sometimes up to 15%) of the price of the item you are buying and donates it to our school. |
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There is now a compulsory P. E. kit which consists of:
(A kit with the school logo embroidered on to it can be obtained from our school uniform provider if you prefer. Please ask at the school office) |
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Parking - parents are reminded that they are not allowed to bring cars into the school grounds unless they have been given specific permission. An increasing number of parents are leaving their cars in staff parking spaces, while they drop off children, thus blocking the way of the Resource Base staff arriving for work. |
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St Andrew's is officially a 'good' school with 'outstanding' features - please click here to read the recent OFSTED report. |