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Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Sharing Assembly It was lovely to see so many of you at the Sharing Assembly today. After our on line sharing assemblies last year, the children really do benefit from speaking to a live audience to build their confidence in oracy and presentation skills. Black History Month Answers to the quiz from last week:
We specifically focus on learning about Black history during October as it is a part of our history which has been underrepresented. Our Trust and our school staff are working hard to make sure our children learn about a whole range of people, countries and cultures throughout the year. Photo day arrangements If you have nursery children who are not at our school on Wednesday, or pre-nursery age children, you are welcome to come at 8am for a family photo. We will arrange for individual and group photos throughout the day. Anti Bullying Workshop What is bullying? Why does it happen? What do we do about it in school? How can we work together? Tara Penny will be leading a workshop about this on Monday 14th November 9am – 10am in the school hall. All parents and carers welcome. Upcoming Dates Lots to look forward to! Wednesday 2nd November – photo day Thursday 3rd November – 9am FONTS meeting – all welcome Friday 4 November – Netball tournament and after school Fireworks Sparkler & Sweet Sale Monday 14th November Anti Bullying Week Parent Workshop 9 – 10 in the school hall Friday 18th November – Odd Socks Day! Friday 2 December Christmas Market –– after school in the hall and playground Monday 12th December 2pm Magic Martin treat from FONTS Wednesday 7th December –Christmas Jumper Day (raising funds for Save the children) and Christmas dinner (date changed to accommodate swimming) Friday 9th December – 2pm Carol Service at the church – parents welcome Tuesday 13th December 2pm – Christingle at church – parents welcome Nativity performances: Wednesday 14th December at 2pm and 4pm and Thursday 15th Dec at 5pm – details about this to come As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. With very best wishes for the holiday Look out for the scarecrows in North Tawton! Tara Penny Principal  Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Today was a first for me; in all my years of celebrating Harvest at different schools and churches, this was my first Dingle Dangle Scarecrow! The school was full of farmers, scarecrows and farm animals. We had a great time at the church singing This Little Light of Mine, Harvest Samba and my favourite; Cauliflowers Fluffy! Thank you for all of the Harvest donations. We had a very generous harvest of fresh food as well as cans and packets. FONTS are working had to organise and distribute hampers to people in the community. Black History Month In assembly this week we had our North Tawton Black History Month Quiz. Can you answer these questions? Hopefully your children can remember some of them!
9. Queen Nefatari was queen of which country? 10. What is the next line in this Bob Marley song? ‘Don’t worry about a thing… Toys Please be aware that toys are not allowed in school, unless the staff have made a specific request for an activity. Toys in school cause all sorts of distractions and problems. Thank you for your understanding. Dogs I think you all know that I love dogs! Please make sure they are on a lead and are not blocking the entrance to the school. We do have some children at our school who are very anxious around dogs and have been uncomfortable coming into school. I am organising a visit from The Dogs Trust so children know how to keep safe around dogs. Upcoming Dates Lots of events for us to look forward to! Sunday 16th October – Harvest Service at St Peters Church Friday 21st October – 2.30pm R – Y6 sharing assembly –parents welcome Wednesday 2nd November – photo day Friday 4 November – Netball tournament and after school Fireworks Sparkler & Sweet Sale Friday 2 December Christmas Market –– after school in the hall and playground Monday 5th December 2pm Magic Martin treat from FONTS Wednesday 7th December –Christmas Jumper Day (raising funds for Save the children) and Christmas dinner (date changed to accommodate swimming) Friday 9th December – 2pm Carol Service at the church – parents welcome Tuesday 13th December 2pm – Christingle at church – parents welcome Nativity performances: Wednesday 14th December at 2pm and 4pm and Thursday 15th Dec at 5pm 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  This week, we would like to introduce James Warner. James, who has seen two generations passing through Chagford Primary (sorry James!) is the most experienced governor on our LSB, having been a member of the Board in its various guises for about eight years. He is the Safeguarding Lead, and this role is key to understanding the effectiveness of safeguarding for everyone in the schools. He has to understand the requirements of safeguarding guidance and legislation and is ‘confident in his challenge to executive leaders on strategies for monitoring and improving the behaviour and safety of pupils.' He supports the work of the Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), reports back to the LSB about how effective safeguarding is, and ensures that the school is compliant with statutory guidance, with all the appropriate policies in place and reviewed in a timely way. He also checks whether there is a consistency in safeguarding across the whole school (approach and reporting),and ensures that there are effective systems in place to keep vulnerable children safe.
It is an extremely important role, and with his impending retirement from the Board (having served two full terms), we are seeking to replace him. If you have an interest in exploring this governor role further, please do contact me or Liz (details below). We have recently welcomed a couple of new governors to the LSB and will introduce you to them, once all the mandatory training has been completed. All governors annually revisit their training needs to identify any gaps that could be filled. For example, we have all recently ensured our Safeguarding Young People, The Prevent Duty, and Data Protection training is up to date. We are looking forward to seeing you all at our impending Community Forums, and the principals of each school will let you know when those are to be held. Parent voice is incredibly important to the schools, so please do try and attend if you are able! It is an important opportunity to let your voice be heard. Best wishes, Mel & Liz [email protected] [email protected] Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Have you been watching the sunflowers bloom? I love our sunflowers and really enjoy seeing them each morning!  Ilness and attendance As you may well be aware, we do have a horrible sickness bug and Covid ‘doing the rounds’ at school again. To all who are poorly, I wish you a speedy recovery. Having had both recently, I can completely empathise! Of course, if our staff or your children are unwell, we do not expect them to be in school. I do have to monitor attendance, whether it be authorised absence or not, and I do have to make parents aware of their children’s attendance percentage if it drops below 95%, so please do not be alarmed if you receive a letter next week. As far as possible, please make routine medical appointments out of school time so children miss as little as possible. I urge you not to take children out of school for holidays, these are not authorised and may well result in a fine. FONTS AGM We had a very productive Friends of North Tawton Annual General Meeting meeting on Tuesday. Thank you to all who came along to support this vital part of school life. I am delighted that we have a full committee. Thank you to Philippa Kenny Crisp who is our Chair and Vanessa Peri -Khoo our Vice Chair, Katie Hillier who is our Secretary and a welcome to Evie Compton who is our new Treasurer. Julie Steward has kindly agreed to support Evie as she gets to grips with the role. We have lots of plans for the year ahead and I am excited to have such a dedicated, creative and enthusiastic group to work with. Book Fair Our Book Fair was buzzing after school! Thank you to all who came. I hope the children enjoy their new books. The teachers are looking forward to finding out how much commission was made as they have their wish lists of books for their classes! Thank you to FONTS who organised this for us. Harvest Next week Friday we have our Dingle Dangle Scarecrow Harvest Celebration! Children can come to school dressed up as farmers, scarecrows and other inventive costumes to celebrate Harvest. Please bring your harvest donations to school where we will collect them in the school hall. FONTS are organising sensitive ways in which to distribute our harvest gifts to people in North Tawton who will appreciate them. Please come to the church for 9.30 am where we will share a harvest celebration. Reverend Spence and I will welcome you, talk about Harvest and share a prayer of thanks. Miss Boyce will lead the children in singing three songs. I anticipate it will be about 30 minutes long. We will then head back to school. If you are able to attend, we look forward to seeing you there! Football’s Coming Home to North Tawton! Congratulations to our KS2 football teams who gained 2nd and 3rd places today at the Football Tournament. Coach Edwards was incredibly proud of the children’s attitudes as well as their football skills. Well done Team North Tawton! Defibrillator A huge thank you to the Town Council who have approved our request for having a defibrillator situated near to the school. We are lucky to have defibrillators in North Tawton, but unfortunately, they are not within the needed distance from the school. We are currently looking to see where it can be placed so it can be easily accessible to the school and community. Upcoming Dates Lots to look forward to! Friday 14 October Dingle Dangle Scarecrow: dress up day Friday 14th October – 9.30 am Harvest Celebration at the church – parents welcome Sunday 16th October – Harvest Service at St Peters Church Friday 21st October – 2.30pm R – Y6 sharing assembly –parents welcome Friday 4 November after school Fireworks Sparkler & Sweet Sale Friday 2 December Christmas Market –– after school in the hall and playground Monday 5th December 2pm Magic Martin treat from FONTS Wednesday 7th December –Christmas Jumper Day (raising funds for Save the children) and Christmas dinner (date changed to accommodate swimming) Friday 9th December – 2pm Carol Service at the church – parents welcome Tuesday 13th December 2pm – Christingle at church – parents welcome Nativity performances: Wednesday 14th December at 2pm and 4pm and Thursday 15th Dec at 5pm As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. I love this display of portraits of The Queen by Willow Class.  With very best wishes
Tara Penny Principal |
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