Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Here we are at the end of an amazing year! In assembly I asked the children what their highlights have been, two of our year six pupils wrote down everything they said: My highlights have been the last few weeks when we have had parents in for our wonderful music concert, sports day, EYFS learning celebrations, Y6 leavers assembly and of course our amazing Summer Fair. It has been so lovely to have families in and feel part of the wider North Tawton community. Following on from Nick Bryant’s message last week about the North Tawton Community event at the Town Hall, I was delighted to receive an email from the organiser Billie Burnett at West Devon Community and Voluntary Services together with Julie Matthews of Navigate Charity, as partners within the Transitions Project thanking Miss Boyce. …our huge thanks and appreciation for everything you did to make our event in North Tawton so successful. We thought the children were simply outstanding, so proud and keen in showing their work and so curious and interested in the other stallholders’ displays and games (and very skilful in those!) The choir’s performance was just fantastic and clearly enjoyed by everyone in the Hall. Altogether the children gave us hope and inspiration for the future - they are a great credit to you and all the staff at the school. Well done to Miss Boyce, our music tutors, school choir and Year 4, this is a well deserved compliment! I am very much looking forward to next year and lots more community events and involvement. OFSTED Report I was really hoping I’d be able to share the Ofsted report before the end of term. Unfortunately, the draft has not yet been published so I am not able to. We should have it for the new school year. Final Farewells We had a lovely farewell assembly and cream tea with Year Six and their families this morning. We all wish our Year Six pupils all the very best at college and their exciting futures ahead. Brian came from the British Legion and told us about his role and presented the prestigious awards. It is lovely for me to learn about the traditions of North Tawton and honour these. It is so important for us all to know who and what has gone before us, paving the way and making the world the place it is today. Yesterday we bid Mrs Jelley and Mrs Squires our farewells, both of whom have given above and beyond of their time, expertise and kindness to our school for many years. Mrs Jelley and Mrs Squires have taught many parents and staff too, they are fountains of local knowledge and are valued and valuable to our community. They are our colleagues and friends, don’t worry, we won’t let them become strangers! We wish them both a very exciting and fulfilling retirement, focusing on family, hobbies and new adventures. We also bid farewell to Miss Prince who has been teaching reception class and leading on developing our outdoor learning environment. Over the year she has worked with all classes developing their skills through forest school activities. We wish her all the best in her new school. We also say Farewell (sort of) to Emma Neath. She has been the Chair of our Governors / Local Stakeholder Board since the Three Hares were formed. She was a local governor before then, and is now going to become a Trustee for the Trust. I am delighted that she has been recruited for this this very important position as she will still be with the Trust, just in a very different role, however I will miss her as our chair hugely. She has been of great support to the Three Hares Schools, doing lots of behind the scenes work. She is incredibly knowledgeable about school policy, finance and HR and has played the leadership role of a ‘critical friend’ by holding the Three Hares Principals to account, while also being hugely supportive. She has been extremely generous of her time, supporting the three schools with our recruitment, Ofsted preparations and during the pandemic with all of the additional policy and risk assessments we needed to do. She has aided us in gathering parent and pupil views to inform our priorities and progress. I am sure you join me in thanking her for her dedication to our school and wish her all the best in her new role. Breakfast Club and After School Club In follow up to our discussions and survey, I have been in negotiations regarding how to provide the right wrap around care for the right cost and quality of provision. I am hoping we will be able to set up provision for after October half term. Watch this space… Kids Eat Free Here is a list of places children can eat free, or for just £1 this summer: .
And here's a great reminder of top tips for healthy eating at home: top_tips_for_kids_leaflet_2018.pdf Thank Yous! As always, there are so many thank yous to say! Thank you to FONTS for raising an amazing £2,169.52 at our Summer Fair! That's an amazing amount of money and will be spent wisely. Thank you to all parents for their support over this year, to the amazing staff team who go above and beyond every day for our children, and to the children themselves for always striving to 'be the best they can be.' The children here make me feel very proud and privileged to be their principal. I hope you all have a wonderful summer holiday, have fun, keep safe and make lots of precious memories. School starts again on Wednesday 7th September at 8.45am With very best wishes Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
And so we reach the end of our penultimate week of the school year! Do have a look at Dojo and the class blogs to find out about some prickly visitors, a trip to Rosemoor and meet our local celebrity; Waddle! Reports Parents should have received their child’s report this afternoon. If you have not, please let us know. We have included the attendance certificates for the year. Attendance this year has been very low. While a lot of it is due to Covid and other unavoidable illness, we do have some children with sporadic attendance and some families taking holidays during term time. Holidays are not authorised absences. We do ask families to fill out an absence request from for appointments and any planned time off so that we know where you are and do not become concerned for the safeguarding of the children. When pupils have more than ten sessions of unauthorised absence, I am required to contact families to let them know that attendance has fallen below the required level. When necessary, I may request the involvement of an education welfare officer to support improved attendance. Fines can be issues if attendance does not improve. Next year we are aiming for at least 95% attendance. Year Six SATs We finally got the results of our Year Six SATs papers! Unlike the assessments we do in other year groups which we mark ourselves, Year Six papers are sent off to be graded by external markers. You many have read in the press that many papers were not marked in time. We did not have all of ours returned by the deadline last week, but we did just in time for the reports! We are very proud of our Year Six results, well done! Each child has met their target, and some have exceeded. We are proud of their achievements and hope they continue to work hard into Year 7 and beyond. Hot Weather Warning! Please remember that all children need to come to school with a water bottle, hat and applied sunscreen. Please send them with cream to apply at playtimes if they need it. If it is too hot, we will keep the children in at playtimes or go out in small groups to the shaded areas only. Children can wear PE kits of they will would prefer. Children are not to wear jumpers! I have been encouraging a few today to take them off, and keep them off. We know some children are body conscious, and we are sensitive to this, but wearing jumpers in this hear is really not healthy. Class Photos On Monday we have class photos kindly organised by FONTS. Children will need to come to school in uniform so they look smart for the photos, but can then all change into PE kits so they are cooler once they have been photographed. We will do the photos straight away, so they are done before it gets too hot. A message from Nick Bryant – Music Tutor On Monday 11th July, the school choir gave a performance at the Town Hall at a community event to raise awareness of Wellbeing in the community. We walked down together after a warm up in the school hall and made our way onto the stage for our second performance in four days. As choir leader, I have been blown away by the enthusiasm and hard work of our 20-strong singers of all ages. After their performance I was approached by many locals in the audience who were delighted and thrilled that we had shared our music with them and it was clear we had reached many people who would not normally have the opportunity to hear the school choir sing. Every member should feel very proud of their contribution. I'd like to especially recognise our soloists Grayson, Jade, Mia, Lily-Rose and Sophie and our reception singers Louie and Ruben, but a huge well done to everyone who took part. Thank you too to Juliet and our volunteer helpers. This Monday was the last choir of the term, but I'm very much looking forward to restarting next term and welcoming any newcomers who want to give it a try. More information to follow. Nick Bryant - strings, piano and singing teacher. Uniform During the colder months, we were allowing children to wear warm clothes as windows were open to reduce covid spread. Since then, uniform has got very lax here! In September we are going to be focusing on this and cracking down! I am forewarning parents now, so you have time to get organised for September. This is our uniform policy (taken from the website) UNIFORM We want children to feel proud of their school and wear our school uniform as it helps to give a sense of identity. Children can wear: a white or green polo shirt, a green sweatshirt or cardigan with school logo, with grey or black trousers, or grey or black shorts. A grey skirt or pinafore dress or green and white check dress. Grey or white socks or tights with black shoes. Black, low-heeled boots may also be worn in Winter/adverse weather conditions. Green baseball caps with our school logo on are also available from the office. The school keeps a stock of sweatshirts in various sizes and these can be obtained from the school office. New parents will receive a copy of the current uniform requirements with prices attached. Further copies are available from the office. PE Kit The PE kit is a white T shirt, black or navy shorts, white sports socks, and trainers or pumps. You can purchase a t shirt in the colour of the house they are in. KS2 children will have swimming lessons at the pool in Okehampton. For this they also require a swimming costume and hat. We would prefer these to be a one – piece swimsuit for girls and trunks or swimming shorts of a sensible length for boys. Swimming hats can be purchased from the school office. Please ensure that all your child’s school uniform is labelled with their name. Jewellery/Hair styles/Fashion In the interests of safety, we do not allow children to wear jewellery in school. If ears have been pierced, studs may be worn. These should be removed/taped over before swimming. We encourage children to be independent individuals, however we request parents to consider the impact of fashion on their child’s learning and social development and ask parents to ensure their children do not wear inappropriate hairstyles or fashion items to school. Long hair should be tied back for both safety and hygiene reasons. Farewells and celebrations Next week will be a busy and emotional one. We have lots of farewells to say next week, but also celebrations too! Please support us to keep our children calm and balanced. The hot weather and building emotions of moving on to new classes and new schools can be unsettling for adults and children. Please don’t let tempers get frayed - if there is an issue, please talk to us so we can sort it out together. Wishing you a great weekend, Keep hydrated! Tara Penny Principal A fantastic day was had by all! A huge thank you to FONTS for organising the fair, to our local businesses who donated prizes and to all the parents and staff who made it a tremendous success.
Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
We have waited for so long to get together as a community, and like buses (a very London term!) they all come at once! Thank you to all who have support us by organising and attending our Sports Day and our Music Concert this week. The children have been superb and a credit to us all. It was lovely to share with you their sporting prowess and their musical talents. And thank you for your generosity today, we raised £95.71 to go towards tuning our piano! Please look at class blogs and Dojo for lots of photos. Tomorrow we have the Summer Fair and we really need lots of help to run stalls, games and particularly the BBQ and refreshments. Please email [email protected] if you can help. See you tomorrow! With very best wishes, Tara Penny ☀️☀️Summer Fair ☀️☀️
Saturday 9th July 11am-2pm We have lots of exciting things for all the family… inflatables, local craft stalls, face painting, BBQ and refreshments, cakes, seed swap, Paint pots Of Devon, pre-loved uniform, 100 club, ice lollies, sweets, hampers and games galore!! 🤩 Everyone should have received a letter about the raffle. We have the most amazing prizes this year and they could be yours for just £1 a ticket!! Pre order your tickets by returning your slip to school or buy some on the day. This is our biggest event of the year and, after the last couple of years of restrictions, we really want it to be a huge success so we can continue to help fund things for the children, including school trips, theatre visits, and equipment that a school budget doesn’t allow for. But, we do need your help, we can’t do it without your support. If you can spare just half an hour at the summer fair to enable another parent/carer/teacher to go and have a look around or get a cup of tea please do let us know, sign up on the board (on the drive) or just ask on the day. It really is appreciated. 🧁🍰🍪🍩 We would like to ask for donations of some cakes and bakes to sell at the summer fair. Could we have a list of allergens/ingredients for home baked goodies please. Shop bought items also very welcome. Any donations can be brought into school on Friday 8th July at the end of the day or on Saturday 9th July in the morning. Thank you in advance. ⛺️ We also need to borrow some gazebos for the summer fair, if anyone has a gazebo they could please lend us, that would be great. Please message FONTS or speak to one of the team. We hope you can all make it next Saturday Thank you for your continued support FONTS committee. Email [email protected] Or message FONTS on Class Dojo Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
Thank you to all who were able to come to the Community Forum on Tuesday. Please find the minutes here. While we still have three weeks until the end of term we are looking towards the new year and planning ahead. You will have received an email this week about staffing. This term we sadly say farewell to Mrs Squires and Mrs Jelley. Both have worked at the school for many years supporting children with their learning. They have both decided it is now time for them to spend more time with their families and focusing on other things. We will say our goodbyes properly later this term. We also say goodbye to Miss Prince who has covered maternity leave in reception class and provided lots of outdoor adventures for children across the whole school. We wish her all the best in her future career ahead. Our staffing plan for September: Nursery Mrs Karen Tingle, Miss Lucy Lamb, Mrs Sophie Maxam Reception Mrs Jess Nuthall, Mrs Emma MacDonald, Mrs Rachel Grant Year 1 Mrs Becky Budiman, Miss Abbie Luxton, Miss Lauren Bond, Mrs Gemma Cooper Year 2 Mrs Hannah Ahmad, Mrs Natasha Birnie, Mrs Verity Moffatt Year 3 Mrs Sarah Keen, Miss Juliet Boyce, Miss Jessica Westcott Year 4 Miss Beth Radbourne, Miss Kerry Davies, Mrs Penny Bowles Year 5 Mr Jason Foreman, Mrs Danielle Day Year 6 Mrs Jo Ware, Miss Gina Ruby, Mrs Nicola Shaw We have spoken with children about staffing for next year and started the transition process so the children are ready for the new year. Mrs MacDonald and Mrs Nuthall were planning together this week and were able to say hello to many parents at the end of the day. Our Year Six children who are going to Okehampton College went to visit on Thursday. Thursday 14th July will be Move Up morning so the children get to spend time in their new rooms with their staff. Rainbow day It was great to see so many children wearing bright colours for Rainbow Day today. For me, any excuse to wear my rainbow skirt and pink wig! The children have been learning about inclusion and why bullying is not OK in our school or society. I am very proud of how thoughtful and mature they have been. Quad Kids Our team of 16 went to Tavistock Arena today to take part in the final! They competed in long jump, vortex (throwing a torpedo), a sprint and cross country run. We are waiting for the results. Mrs Ware and Mrs Jelley said they were a pleasure to be with and represented our school brilliantly. Well done Team NT - we are proud of you! Next week Thursday 7th July Sports Day - KS2 in the morning, KS1 in the afternoon Friday 8th July - Music Concert at 1.45pm Saturday 9th July - Summer Fayre Please keep an eye on Dojo for timings and details. With very best wishes, Tara Penny |
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