1. Our value for this term is: Forgiveness
ISSUE 8
Our value for this term is: Forgiveness
Happy New Year ! It has been lovely to welcome everyone back for the start of Term 3. This is always a busy but short term so do keep your eye on the website for dates and any additional information which will posted on class pages. Text messages are sent as reminders for those of you who have registered for these. Throughout the Newsletter, please find photos from various curriculum activities.
January:
Sycamore Class Care and Share Assembly at 2.45pm
Elm Eye Tests
February:
Elm Class Parents Session at 2.40pm
End of Term 3
Start of Term 4
Scholastic Book Fayre Before and After School. Outside Ash Class
Book Character Dress Up Day Whole School
Life Education Bus
March:
Creation Theatre Workshop Years 1-6
Sycamore SkillForce Day off site
and Parent’s Evenings Whole School
Benson C of E School, Oxford Road, Benson, Wallingford, OX10 6LX. Tel:

2. BENSON C OF E PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 8
What Does Forgiveness Mean To You? …the children explain
Our value for Term 3 is Forgiveness, what does it mean?
To the school it means, if someone has done something mean to you, you should always accept their apology. It might not be easy to accept an apology, but always try your best to keep the anger inside of you. It is always very hard to forgive someone, especially if they have done something to hurt you and they are one of your best friends.
Like if your BFF punches you, in the end you have to except their apology even if you were hurt really badly.
By Sophie Jarvis and Jonty Walker 
Head boy and girl
Hawthorn Year 6
BBC Radio word story competition
Find out more at:
500-words-is-back-where-will-your-imagination-take-you
Closing date Please let school have a photocopy for us to display in our library.
GRAMMAR – HELP!
Need help with grammar? At school Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) are crucial to our everyday teaching. If you are unsure of what terminology we are currently using, why not visit our school website for a glossary of terms: Suggestions on how to help your Key Stage 2 child at home:
Suggestions on how to help your Reception and Key Stage one child at home:
There are further resources to support spelling and High Frequency Words (HFW) too.
Family outing - Star Gazing Live: Saturday 28th January from 2pm - see attached for details:
Benson C of E School, Oxford Road, Benson, Wallingford, OX10 6LX. Tel:

3. BENSON C OF E PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 8
Oxford Literary Festival – this amazing annual event on our doorstep is once again on. To see which children’s authors will be holding workshops please visit: This event runs from Saturday 25th March to Sunday 2nd April 2017.
Look out for: Jessica Ennis-Hill    Saturday 25th March at 12:00pm for 1 hour in the Sheldonian Theatre – see website for ticket prices.   Age recommendation: 6-11
Olympic and World champion track and field athlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill launches her new children’s book series, Evie’s Magic Bracelet. Inspired by her young family, Ennis-Hill’s magical new series will delight young readers. The books include a strong and important message that, with a bit of determination and friends by your side, anything is possible. Come and hear about the books, about Ennis-Hill’s own childhood, and ask her about her golden sporting career.
Korky Paul  Saturday 25th March at 12:00pm for 1 hour at Corpus Christi: Lecture Theatre at £8 per ticket.  Age recommendation: 6-9 years.
Come and meet one of the world’s top author/illustrators Korky Paul, and enjoy a special appearance from Winnie herself.
Join Paul for an energetic event full of speedy sketching, spellbinding storytelling and plenty of audience participation. He makes reading and drawing a magical and fun thing to do.
Rob Biddulph Saturday 25th March at 2:00pm for 1 hour at The Story Museum at £7 per ticket. Age recommendation: 3-6 years.
Ahoy there mateys! Come and meet Rob Biddulph, creator of favourite picture books Blown Away, Grrrrr! and Odd Dog Out.
This is a wonderful opportunity to inspire your children to read and write, perhaps even getting a book signed by the author themselves.
Happy reading,
Mrs Mottram
Reading scheme – colour banded books
We would like to remind you that although your children may read fluently, as teachers we assess their reading comprehension skills as part of their reading ability and from level 2 onwards (around the start of year 2), we do assess written responses as part of our overall judgements. This may appear to slow down your child's progression on to the next colour band, but it is all part of the evidence for assessment. Besides listening to your children read regularly and reading to them, the other most important contribution is that of discussing reading. Questions may range from; why did you enjoy this book, which character was your favourite, where does it tell you that e.g. the weather was cold, what do you think might happen next, what was puzzling, what other books / films does this remind you of, how is this book different to the last book you read by the same author, how can we work out what this word means etc.  We do ask for your support with making reading an enjoyable experience and valuing 'book talk' in the home.
Benson C of E School, Oxford Road, Benson, Wallingford, OX10 6LX. Tel:

4. BENSON C OF E PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 8
Happy New Year from everyone on the FoBS team
We still have 2 raffle prizes in the name of Emma Smith, can anyone help track Emma down so we can give her the prizes?  Please let the office know.
Events and activities planning meeting Tuesday 31st January at 24 Oxford Road, Benson, 7.45pm.  If you can give some time to help with our events calendar this year please come along to our meeting.   Without more help our events will need to be reduced in size and may not be able to go head - Your FoBS team need you!
Watch this space for Chocolate Bingo night, coming soon - a highlight in the family evening events
Benson C of E School, Oxford Road, Benson, Wallingford, OX10 6LX. Tel: