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Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! The decorations are up, the children are practicing their nativity and carols, and there is a definite winter bite in the air. Will we have snow before the 16th? Thank you to everyone for making our Christmas Fair so much fun! As always, our FONTS team organised a great event. The children enjoyed selling their wares and our choir sang beautifully to the crowds. Please make sure you sign up for the Santa Dash, or sponsor someone who has!  There is so much happening at school over the next two weeks, please keep an eye on dojo for specific details. Wednesday 6th December 4pm - Y1 & Y2 Nativity for families Friday 8th December 1.45pm - Y1 & 2 Nativity for families Thursday 7th December 2pm - Y6 Christingle at the church Sunday 10th December 6.30pm – Carols at the church Wednesday 13th December - Christmas Lunch wear Christmas Jumpers! 2.30pm - Nursery & Reception Christmas show Thursday 14th December 2.30pm – Christmas Carol sing a long – all welcome! Friday 15th December – last day Sunday 17th December - Santa Dash Wednesday 3rd January - Welcome back to school Class News As always, please click on the links below for class news · Sycamore Class · Hazel Class · Ash Class · Willow Class · Beech Class · Chestnut Class · Oak Class · Acorn Class Parents and Carers can access Dojo for communicating with teachers and for reminders about events and class news All the very best Tara Penny  Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
Lest We Forget Rev Spence led an assembly for the children to learn about the meaning of Remembrance Day. Children wrote beautiful prayers which are displayed in school in our reflection area by my office. Thank you to all who contributed to The British Legion. Parent Forum Thank you to the parents who came to our Parent Forum last week. I shared curriculum updates and priorities for the year ahead and I listened to parent views and ideas. Parents said they would like more information and workshops to understand how we teach maths, more opportunities for children to pursue their own interests, and we agreed that we really want a minibus! I will be following up all the suggestions made and getting back to you on progress. Book Fair Thank you to all who came to our Usborne school book fair last week. Your purchases earnt the school excellence commission and we were able to buy books for the school. The books have now been delivered so please collect from classes if you didn’t get them on Friday. Happy reading! Wreath Making The school hall was transformed into a wreath making workshop on Friday evening! Thank you to all who came and especially to all who organised this. The wreaths looked amazing. North Tawton will have the best dressed doors in Devon this Christmas! As always, a huge shout out to our wonderful parent group who organise events throughout the year and raise much appreciated funds for the school. Christmas Fair Our next FONTS event is our Christmas Fair straight after school on Friday. There will be stalls in the school hall, and up the stairs left to Year 4 (Ash Class) and right to Year 3 (Willow) and the rooms next-door. Children have been making Christmas themed items in their Design and Technology lessons this term. Please come and collect them for a voluntary contribution of £1 to go towards FONTS funds. As our Christmas Fair is this week, we will be decorating the school a bit earlier than usual! Class News As always, please click on the links below for class specific news · Sycamore Class · Hazel Class · Ash Class · Willow Class · Beech Class · Chestnut Class · Oak Class · Acorn Class And parents can access Dojo for communicating with teachers and event specific news. Best wishes as always to our friends and families, Tara Penny Principal Dates for your Diary Friday 24th November - Christmas Fair, straight after school in the hall and Y3 & 4 classrooms Monday 4th December 2pm Y1 & 2 Nativity Dress Rehearsal for school children Wednesday 6th December 4pm Y1 & 2 Nativity for families Friday 8th December 1.45 Y1 & 2 Nativity for families Thursday 7th December – Y6 Christingle at the church 2pm Sunday 10th December – Carols at the church 6.30pm Wednesday 13th December 2.30 N&R Christmas show Thursday 14th December – Christmas Carol sing a long – all welcome! Friday 15th December – last day  Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Thank you for your support and understanding regarding the school closure. I hope everyone was safe and well yesterday. Considering the reports of local flooding and trees in the roads, it certainly was the right decision to minimise travel and ‘batten down the hatches’ to keep our children safe. Our school was checked by our estates team to make sure it was safe for us today. Staffing news I am delighted to let you know we have Katie Curnow Clarke and Lizzy Squires joining our staff team. I know you will join me and the staff in welcoming them to our school community as staff (they are already part of the community as parents!) they will become familiar faces to our children in Reception and Y2 initially. I do have sad news too. Sarah Keen will be leaving at Christmas. She has been successful in being appointed to a new role and promotion which we are extremely happy for, but we will miss her greatly. I will let you know as soon as we have recruited both her class teacher and SEND role. Remembrance Day Poppies will be on sale for a charitable donation from Monday. We will hold a silence at school on Thursday in our assembly led by Rev Spence. Attendance In assembly this week we thought about what we love about our school and the importance of having good attendance. Not only do we want all of our children to have a good education and every learning experience, we also what them to build and maintain friendships and develop resilience. This will help them foster good habits for the future. Many of the children admitted to sometimes not wanting to come to school, but when they get here that feel fine. Of course, if they are ill, we don’t want them here! We will always send children home if they are too poorly to be here. Attendance at North Tawton is low compared to other schools across the trust and nationally. Time off for holidays is not authorised and may result in a fine from the authority. Reflective clothing As the nights get darker, please consider what you and your children are wearing to be safe. This picture was shared with me and is a shocking illustration of how important it is to be seen.  Reach Out
Life can be hard, particularly this time of year. If you are struggling financially, emotionally or health wise; please, please seek support. There should be no shame attached to asking for help. We encourage the children all the time to tell us if they are worried, say if they don’t understand something and ask for help. We adults need to be better at this! Here are some links you may find supportive: Legal support Home - Citizens Advice Devon (cabdevon.org.uk) Mental health support Devon Mind, leading the fight for mental health in Devon TALKWORKS | Mental Health Support for Devon (dpt.nhs.uk) Lots of other services can be found here: Pinpoint thousands of services and community groups across Devon (pinpointdevon.co.uk) Class News As always, please click on the links below for class specific news · Sycamore Class · Hazel Class · Ash Class · Willow Class · Beech Class · Chestnut Class · Oak Class · Acorn Class Parents can access Dojo for event specific news. Parent Forum To find out more about our plans for the future, and to have your views and ideas heard, please come to a Parent Forum on Thursday 9th November at 9am. Best wishes as always to our friends and families, Tara Penny Principal Dates for your Diary Friday 3rd November Usborne book fair in the school hall after school Week of 6th November – Parent meetings; please sign up with teachers Sunday 12th November 10.35am Remembrance Parade, 10.50am Church Service. Thursday 16th November - 9 - 10 Parent Forum Friday 17th November - Non-school uniform, please bring donation for our Christmas raffle. Friday 24th November - Christmas Fair, straight after school in the hall and classrooms Monday 4th December 2pm Y1 & 2 Nativity Dress Rehearsal for school children Wednesday 6th December 4pm Y1 & 2 Nativity for families Friday 8th December 1.45 Y1 & 2 Nativity for families Thursday 7th December – Y6 Christingle at the church 2pm Sunday 10th December – Carols at the church 6.30pm Wednesday 13th December 2.30 N&R Christmas show Thursday 14th December – Christmas Carol singalong – all welcome! Friday 15th December – Last day of Autumn Term |
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