Following Mr Foreman's brilliant idea, our children have collectively run for more than 1, 400 miles in the last two weeks for the Laps to Lapland challenge. What a fabulous way to end the year. This achievement has reminded me of the strength of our school community, and of what we can do when we work together, even when faced with the most difficult challenges. 

​Thank you to everyone who took part in the Wreath Competition. Very creative! Congratulations to the three winners.

What a busy penultimate week! Full of surprises and joy. The week ended with another parade of children wearing colourful Christmassy accessories and jumpers. Well done everyone for joining in and making the end of term a little bit more special and adding a bit of much needed cheeriness.
Our last week is equally eventful...

We are making great strides towards Lapland. We have reached 700miles already! What an amazing achievement by all the children and staff. We are on target as we reach the half-way point! Keep it up. This fresh air and exercise is needed to prepare ourselves for all the over-indulgence to come!

Get busy crafting and make sure your entry arrives to school on Monday.

The adults and children in our Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two have been very busy over the past few weeks rehearsing and perfecting lines, learning new lyrics, singing and dancing to present the Story of Christmas. The restrictions have made things very different this year but we hope you will be happy with the final result. The many recordings are being spliced together and will be ready for our first airing on Tuesday at 2pm and we are all very much looking forward to seeing the final results. We will post out the invite for you to join us. After its premier airing, you may watch the recording at your leisure. Many thanks once again to the many adults who directed and managed to work so well in their respective bubbles to make this possible and for making sure that every child (where possible) was included. Thank you also to all those parents who provided the costumes and supported their children at home to perfect their performance. 

All booked and ready to go. Mandy and PJ are looking forward to providing a lovely Christmas lunch to all those who have booked one. We will still be following the restrictions but there will be a little treat waiting for the children in the hall. Children with home packed lunches will enjoy all the extra cheer alongside their friends. Thank you FONTS for the extra treats and please dress in festive wear.

FONTS have been really busy this year organising lots of lovely treats for the children who have endured a lot. They have organised the performance to be screened and every child in the school will be able to watch a virtual performance in their class bubble. This theatre company come highly recommended. We are all feeling very excited about this generous gift.

Our last Family Assembly this Autumn Term to celebrate the achievement in our school. Please see the link on the Dojo to join us at 2:30pm.

On Monday a very big box was handed to me. This wonderfully festive box was full of tasty goodies and was given to the team who make our school the special place it is! It was given to the teachers, support staff, the Foundation staff, the Meal Time Assistants, the cleaners, the kitchen staff the administrators and every adult employed to help run this school.
This particularly testing time has placed many, many extra pressures on us all. It was humbling to see that so many parents in our community are grateful and recognise the enormous efforts  made by these adults going over and above the duties of their 'job'.
The delicious treats were shared amongst the staff and were very much enjoyed.
​THANK YOU FROM US ALL

Have a lovely weekend
Miss Chauhan

FONTS were very excited to share the news that the school will be watching two fabulous online Christmas performances in the last week of term. Goldilocks and Best Christmas Ever will be shown on 17th December in class bubbles. Please see messages on Dojo for more information.

The Virtual Christmas Market is still open. Great local businesses are there, and have kindly donated raffle prizes. There’s only a couple of days to get raffle tickets, as the draw is on Monday 14th December. Please email [email protected].
 
A huge THANK YOU all for your kind contributions to the collection for all the staff at the school.  A large box of edible goodies went into school on Monday this week and there are more gifts to follow – pictures of all the gifts will be shared soon.

We hope everyone is busily decorating their wreaths for the competition... some great entries already on Dojo!  Please get them into school on Monday 14th December.
 
Thank you for your continued support,
FONTS Committee
email [email protected] / or message FONTS on Dojo
 
PS – Don’t forget that Easyfundraising is a great way to use online shopping to donate to FONTS, and we’re part of the SeaMoor Lottery where a percentage of every ticket bought goes to FONTS.

Contact Tracing during the Christmas Holidays
If your child has a positive test for COVID during the Christmas holidays, please inform me by email at [email protected] 
I will then follow the guidance as to whether I need to contact families of children in the same bubble. Where a child or staff member has tested positive for COVID, but has not been in school in the time period two days before the onset of symptoms to 10 days after, there is no requirement for any contact tracing to be carried out with the school. 

Free School Meals during the Christmas Holidays 
From Tuesday 8th December DCC will be sending a unique code per child to all families known to the Local Authority that are currently in receipt of Free School Meals.  The LA will provide us with a list of all their students that are being issued a voucher early next week. If there are children not on this list that we know to be receiving free school meals, we will notify the free school meals team immediately. Each code can be used once on a website called ‘Hawk Select’ to redeem vouchers to the value of £30 per child (£15 per week for the two weeks of school holidays) for Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrison’s, Asda, M&S Food and Waitrose.
 
The website requires families to provide an email address for the vouchers to be sent to once you have chosen your preferred supermarket. When received, you can save the vouchers to your phone or tablet to use online (depending on the supermarket) or show at the checkout in store. Alternatively, you can print the vouchers to give to the cashier.
 
We are conscious that some parents may not have access to the internet or a mobile device to receive and store the vouchers and so, in these exceptional cases, we can help you to complete the process on the Hawk Select website and print the vouchers for you. In this event, we would ask that parents come to school and provide us with your unique code in order for us to redeem the voucher on the Hawk Select website on your behalf. Please contact Miss Jackson (tel. 01647 432412) in the first instance in order to book a mutually convenient time.
 
The education helpline is available on 0345 155 1019 for any questions about the distribution of the unique codes. There are also some useful FAQs on the Hawk Select website along with contact details for any technical support about using the codes and vouchers.
 
If you think your child may now be eligible for free school meals due to a recent change in your family’s circumstances, please help us ensure you can access this holiday voucher support over Christmas by applying online through the Devon Citizen’s Portal to check if they are eligible as soon as possible. This is the quickest and easiest way for your eligibility to be assessed and you will get an instant decision.  Alternatively, you can call the education helpline on 0345 155 1019. To ensure that you receive the free school meals holiday vouchers for this Christmas period you must apply by Friday 18th December 2020.
 
Please go to the DCC website if you have any questions or ask myself or Mrs Adams.  
 
Finally, if you are worrying about money and struggling to pay for basic household essentials, you can also apply for help through funding made available via the District Council hardship funds. There’s more about what financial and food support is available for families in Devon on the DCC website.  ​

 What an absolute joy it was to see so many enter the spirit of Christmas and come suitably dressed for the first of our three Festive Fridays. The children made the most of the cold weather (and sometimes rather cold classrooms) by wearing cheery Christmas jumpers, socks, and an array of hats and glasses. Many more of these pictures can be seen on the School Dojo. Well done to everyone including the staff. I look forward to next Friday when we can find the next jumper to wear.

Here is a wonderful poem written by Finley from Hazel Class during some literacy work...

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Miss Chauhan

​​Don’t miss the chance to take a look at the Virtual Christmas Market, which is running until 24th December. Great local businesses are selling on there, and you can buy raffle tickets by emailing [email protected]. The tickets are £1 each and you can buy as many as you would like – please share with friends and family. The raffle will be drawn on 14th December.

The wreaths for the competition should have come home with the children today – if not, please let FONTS know. Have fun decorating them, please make sure names are visible on the back, and return them to school by 14th December for judging.