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I was pleased to welcome parents to a virtual meeting last Wednesday evening, where we shared our continuing aims for school improvement at North Tawton Primary School. Having met with parents at Chagford and South Tawton, we have now met with all parents within the Three Hares. I am delighted that our Chair and Vice Chair of our Three Hares Local Academy Committee (governors) joined us, along with Dan Morrow, (new CEO of DMAT, as from January 2021), Hazel Fox (DMAT Interim CEO) and our link Trustee, Morgen Witzel all available to take questions.
If you would like to view the presentation, please refer to the presentation on the ‘Three Hares’ blog. We are very pleased that due to the hard work of our staff, the children have made a happy and settled return to school since September. Current School Improvement Focus: Vision Over recent weeks, within our Three Hares leaders’ meetings, we have been discussing our Three Hares vision. We are keen to share our thinking with all stakeholders over the coming weeks in order that everyone’s views are reflected. Fundamentally, we aim to craft a statement which describes our goals for every child who makes the journey through one of our schools. Three Hares Curriculum Having introduced all of our children to the ‘Three Hares’ theme last academic year, lockdown gave us the opportunity to take a fresh look at our curriculum, together as a Three Hares staff. We have launched into teaching and learning this year, with some new themes which deliver a broad and enriching learning journey, as children make their way through our schools. Teachers and subject leaders are able to share good practice through our monthly Three Hares staff meetings, where over time, teachers will benefit from systems which will reduce their workload, enabling them to share, modify and develop plans and projects across the schools. We have shared training opportunities for leaders, teachers and support staff, providing not only value for money, but also the benefits of collaboration and shared discussion across a broader context. Partnerships North Tawton already enjoys a good relationship with its parents and local community. We hope to continue to build upon this, extending our communications to ensure that we are able to welcome parents from beyond this town and local villages to sustain and grow our current number of pupils to ensure we can keep single-age classes in the future. Remote Learning One of our focus areas this term, is to develop our capacity for delivering remote learning. Staff are currently being trained in the use of Google Classroom, which will enable children to login with a Google email address allocated to them, from a device in school or at home. The aim is for children to be able to access projects set for them and submit their completed work and receive feedback. We are also working on enabling teachers’ face-to-face online contact, should we need to close a bubble or even close the school at any point in the future. Catch-up Since our return in September, teachers have been carefully assessing children’s knowledge and understanding of key concepts. We have identified some gaps in spelling, grammar and maths. Our catch-up plan is already being implemented and with the benefit of government funding, we will be able to deliver individual and small group interventions. We have also purchased a variety of resources which will ensure any gaps in learning will be quickly and efficiently filled. Read Write Inc. Training in the delivery of our new phonics scheme is ongoing and the huge array of resources is being organised in order that our children can benefit fully from this highly acclaimed programme. As soon as possible, we will hold a workshop for KS1 parents to help you to support your children with early reading. Premises We are pleased that improvements to the fabric of our old building will be underway soon. Following the replacement of gates and fences over the summer holidays, we are now looking forward to a long awaited extension and refurbishment to our Early Years unit, next summer. Thanks to the success of grant applications made by the DMAT, the school will benefit from improvements to its energy efficiency with installation of a new building management system, controlling the heating system and also LED lighting. Repairs to the flat roof happening soon, will mean we will be able to develop a much-needed interventions/sensory room. I am delighted to say, we have been able to appoint a Three Hares Site Officer, Mr Steve Kiff, who will work across our schools to specifically support premises projects, repairs and maintenance. The swimming pool remains a key feature in the life of the school. We need to think carefully about its future, as the building structure comes nearer to the end of its life towards the end of this academic year. We will work in partnership with parents to consider a variety of solutions. Three Hares Partnership In addition to the aforementioned benefits of working as a trio of schools, we continue to plan ahead for the time when we can physically bring our children together. We still aspire to have children working with their peers in other schools, getting to know new friends as they move up through primary school and into secondary education as a larger cohort. Other opportunities could include: joint day visits, residentials, inter-school events, festivals, music, clubs, competitions and matches, both sporting and other themed events. As our partnerships grow, we are keen to bring our communities closer together. Already, due to this partnership, we have seen children in Chagford and North Tawton benefit from the generosity of two sets of Chagford parents who have sponsored the first of year of a three year subscription to the school library service. This means that all three schools once again enjoy delivery of quality books each half term. We are currently looking into developing partnerships with schools in contrasting parts of the UK, as well as investigating more far-reaching links with schools in other parts of the world in the future. Fundraising Strategy Mel Holyoak, our Vice Chair of Governors has been instrumental in developing a strategy to provide additional financial support for our Three Hares primary schools. We are excited to launch a brand new fundraising initiative, asking for support from parents, carers, local businesses and communities to provide the children of our schools with access to the best possible school learning experiences. This initiative is being undertaken collaboratively with the PTAs of the trio of schools that make up the Three Hares. We also hope to forge stronger relationships between the schools and their local communities, not just for the children of today, but for those of the future. Within the Three Hares, we focus on providing local children with the best possible start in life, both from an academic and lifestyle perspective, to ensure that they are all given the tools and resources they need to be prepared to move into further education and their future workplace as well-rounded, skilled, confident and unique individuals. Our hope is that, as a result, they will grow up and continue to contribute to our community as adults. As you may already know, government funding for schools has been substantially reduced over the years, to the point that our schools are now spending up to 90% of their budget on staff alone. Historically, a school would have expected to spend up to 75% of its budget on staff. This is not bad budgeting on the part of the schools – it is the sad truth of the public purse, and the cuts that have been made in education. We have developed a wish-list has been separated into several categories that could be supported by our communities and businesses, as well as a legacy project, designed to be long-lasting for the school with a “Yours Today, Theirs Tomorrow” sentiment. Each category provides several examples of how donations would be used, together with a target fundraising goal. The final decision in relation to how those funds will be spent (but strictly adhering to their specified category) would be made by school leaders, in conjunction with the Local Academy Committee. Donations can be made which will support projects within 5 categories:
Amazon Wish List In addition to our fundraising website and in collaboration with FONTS, we have also created an Amazon wish list, which has been populated by the staff of the school, with all sorts of items to support and enhance teaching and learning. This will be updated regularly and ranges from the smallest of items to much bigger aspirational items. Whilst we recognise the obvious convenience and vast range of Amazon, we are committed to supporting our local community so, wherever feasible, please be assured that the school will endeavour to use monies raised to make purchases locally and use local businesses and trades. ANY improvements we are able to make enriches the children’s school experience, and adds value to the school environment, making them attractive to potential new pupils and families. In turn, this generates additional funding for the schools – the amount of funding the school receives from the government is dependent on the number of pupils. So the more pupils that are attracted to the schools, the better funded the schools become. The schools' leadership and staff are also eager to forge stronger relationships between the school and local communities and would love to hear from you with any ideas you may have about ways we might do this together. Our wish is to create a school where the saying, “It takes a community to raise a child” really holds true. Finally, it is really important that we stress that we appreciate that many families may not be in a position to offer anything. We would never ask or expect anyone to put themselves under any kind of strain to contribute. Three Hares Governance Emma Neath, our Chair of Governors will soon be contacting parents about two vacancies within our committee for the role of parent governor. There are vacancies for two Parent Governors to serve on the Three Hares Academy Committee, which is the governing body across Chagford, South Tawton and North Tawton Primary Schools, and part of the Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust. We are very keen to encourage parents and carers of registered pupils to nominate themselves to become part of our Academy Committee. More details and nomination forms will be issued shortly. Thank you We are grateful to all the parents who were able to attend the meeting last week; whilst we look forward to meeting with parents face-to-face in school again one day soon, we hope that meeting virtually using ‘Teams’ invites was helpful means of keeping in touch with school leaders in the meantime; it also provided a great opportunity for a ‘Q&A’ session. Thank you for supporting the school as we continue to drive improvement for the benefit of our current and future pupils. With kind regards, Elizabeth Underwood Executive Headteacher The Three Hares Primary Schools Comments are closed.
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