 Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
Welcome back! We have lots to look forward to in this short term ahead including our Trust wide Festival of Hope which will include music, sports and art events, World Book Day and our school Science Week. These are going to be great experiences for our children, please keep an eye out for emails and dojos for details. School Grounds During the half term week, Gary and Jamie from our Estates team swept and power washed the decking outside Y5 & Y6, the tables and area outside N & R and the playgrounds. They have done a great job and it really makes a difference to the look of the school. The daffodils are blooming and I am hopeful the new bulbs we planted last year will start coming through soon. We have had a donation of frogspawn in our pond so we will be on the look out for frogs! We have lots of plans in the pipeline for the memorial garden and the forest school, if you have an interest in gardening, or reading with children, please come along to the volunteers meeting on Monday at 9am. Lent In our assemblies this week we have learnt and thought about Lent, why Christians give things up, or take things up during the 40 day period and why many people enjoy pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. On Thursday, Mr Cutler led a pancake tossing competition! Fustal Year 3 and Year 4 took part in OCRA futsal games on Thursday – apologise they came home so muddy, I am sure washing machines were spinning across North Tawton! Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Tara Penny Principal Key Dates for your diary Mon 27th Feb – 9 am Volunteer meeting in hall Wednesday 1st March – Book Day – dress up as a book character Thursday 2nd March - Strike day, school open for Nursery and Y6 only Wednesday 8th March – Cross Country at Chagford Thursday 9th March - 6pm Local Stakeholders Board Monday 13th March – R, Y1, Y2, Y3 & Y4 Zoo visit Tuesday 14th March – World Wildlife day – dress up as an animal *Wednesday 15th March – Strike day *Thursday 16th March – Strike day Monday 20th March – Fun Fitness 2 – 3pm Friday 24th March– Author Visit Tuesday 28th March – Y6 SATs meeting 5pm Thursday 30th March – Y6 football team at Okehampton Friday 31st March 1.30 – 2pm Normandy Meeting for Y6 Friday 31st March - Parent Assembly / Art show time TBA 8th May – Bank Holiday following King’s Coronation Friday 30th June - Rainbow Day 11th July – 15th July - Y6 Residential to France 23rd July - Carnival Friday *not confirmed yet Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, The end of this term marks halfway through our school year! We have certainly achieved a lot so far: making progress with improving our outdoor areas; further developing our curriculum and working with FONTS to put on great events. In terms of pupil achievement, we are working hard as a school and with others in our Trust to ensure all children are supported and challenged to be the best that they can be academically and personally. We have so many plans for the coming months, including: The Festival of Hope; a KS1 and lower KS2 zoo visit; further developing our outdoor areas; music concert; Rainbow Day; Y5 day at Escot; Y6 residential to France; lots more sporting events and of course further developing our curriculum which we are building and improving all the time. I am also looking forward to the longer days and warmer weather Spring and Summer promise! This week, as every week has been packed with exciting events including: Reception Phonics Meeting A group of parents came to school to join our reception class to learn more about our phonics programme Read Write Inc. Thank you Mrs MacDonald – parents said it was really helpful and supportive. Volunteer Meetings I held two Volunteer Welcome Meetings where parents and members of our local community came to find out more about roles they can play in our school, how to ensure children are safe and our relevant policies. I am so excited that so many people are passionate about supporting us and I look forward to thus building more and more. I’ll hold another meeting on Monday 27th Feb at 9.00 for people who could not make one of the meetings this week. Do come along, and / or nudge someone else to! Sports Events We had children represent our school at OCRA cross country and swimming events. As always their efforts and attitudes were commendable. Tiverton Museum Year 4 went to Tiverton Museum to learn more about their history topic Anglo Saxons. Leadership Conference On Thursday I had a really encouraging and productive day working with Trust leaders. We are working hard to be the best leaders of our services and schools so that our children have the greatest opportunities to thrive. School Disco What a fabulous end to the half term! A huge thank you to Rob Holmes for providing the music and light and our FONTS team for organising decorations and refreshments. A great time was had by all. Apologies that my photos are dark and blurry! Farewells
Miss Wallis and Mr Hunt have been working in Y4 over the past three months as an essential part of their course to qualify as teachers. Today we had to say goodbye ☹ We wish them all the very best in their careers ahead and thank them both for all their hard work. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Wishing all of our families a very happy half term Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Thank you for the support you have given us regarding the industrial action. As you know, the staff are passionately committed to the education of our pupils and taking strike action was not an easy decision to make. Some parents have asked why North Tawton was closed while other schools were not. The reason is that education staff across the country belong to one of several unions, or none at all. While all unions have been asking for fairer funding, only one union voted for industrial action, the National Education Union (NEU) Unlike some schools, all of our teaching staff are in the NEU, therefore there would not be any teachers or safeguarding leads on site. Some parents were not aware that teachers do not get pad if on strike, and also that they did not have to give notice of their intentions (I am very grateful that they did.) The NEU is not just a union for teachers; principals, including myself, and CEOs including our Trust leader are also NEU members. I will write more about this in the March edition of Roundabout. It looks like the strikes on Thursday March 2nd will be going ahead, so school will again be closed. I will be in touch regarding this straight after the holiday. Developing our Outdoor Education Area Last week we had an incredibly generous delivery of donated slate chippings. At the weekend, our school pond was bordered with the chippings and looks amazing! Huge thanks to Evie and David again for their hard work and connections. After half term, I will organise a number of ‘Ground Force’ days to continue this great work.  Volunteers
I will be holding two volunteer meetings next week on Wednesday 8th February at 10.30am and Friday 10th February in the school hall. We have invited people who have already applied to volunteer, but his is open to those who have not yet. I will talk about:
There will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion. It will take no longer than 1 hour, and there will be biscuits! Please do come along if you have time to volunteer, particularly to read with children. Do encourage locals to attend. Dress to Impress! For Children's Mental Health week, the children can wear their favourite clothes on Friday 10th February. It should be whatever they like to wear. If you have PE and the clothes aren't suitable for PE, please send PE kit in as well so they can get changed. School Disco The children are very excited about the disco on Friday! Please collect your tickets from our FONTs reps at the gate before or after school. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. With very best wishes, Tara Penny Principal |
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