|
Dear North Tawton Families and Friends, Thank you to all parents and families who have been saying hello to me at the beginning and end of the day. I am at the gate most mornings and after school. Please do speak to me and introduce yourselves. And please forgive me if it takes a while for me to remember names and match you to your children! Community is so important to me, and I am looking forward to getting to know you all properly. I love the vibrant buzz of North Tawton and I try to get out at lunch time at least once a week. This week I have popped in to the brilliant Merry Go Round – what a superb collection of quality clothes and toys! We are so lucky to have this in our town. In a quest for some cards and cleaning products, and I have met Sandy who runs the shop on the corner. She sells just about anything you could want! I also discovered our Spar has a coffee machine (I love coffee!) Please do support our local shops and businesses. I shall be visiting more places at lunch time next week! I have written my first article for the Roundabout magazine – it will be in the June edition. Covid Update We were really hoping to begin to relax our covid procedures and begin to mix bubbles and let parents on site unfortunately, with the rise in numbers of the new variant, we need to keep our current risk assessment in place. This means we cannot plan trips off site, however we can go ahead with plans for our outdoor events. We will keep reviewing this each month with the government advice and updates. I know this is frustrating, but hope all parents and families understand this is for the safety of the whole community. Please can I remind all parents to wear masks at drop off and collection and to help us with staggering, arrive to collect youngest children first and leave as soon as you have them. Similarly in the morning, there is no need to crowd at the gates before 8.45am – however keen they children are to be in school! Buildings Update The swimming pool has been a wonderful asset to the community for many years, unfortunately as you are aware it is no longer fit for purpose. I have reviewed the conditions survey with Alan King, our lead for properties and estates. The building needs: a new roof, recladding, a new floor, repointing and windows replaced. If we are to keep the a swimming pool we will need to remodel so that there is better access from the changing rooms to the fire exit, laminate the floor, reduce the step depth, add plinths around the pool and, ideally, also have a toilet. Until this work is done, we are not able to use the building or the pool. We would be looking at near on £90,000 to do this work. We do not have funds in the DMAT to prioritise this and FONTS do not have the capacity to raise this kind of money. I understand from the community that there are a lot of people who would love to have a pool on site for all children to enjoy and gain water confidence. I am therefor asking if there is anyone who knows a local company or donor who will fund this for us. In the meantime, we will arrange provision for swimming off site for KS2. In cheerier news, we do have the plans for the refurbishment of our current nursery and reception part of the building and the adaptations to the Werneck building (where Y5 and Y6 are currently) FONTS have already raised funds for this and we are delighted that these funds will be used towards the building costs and to buy new resources. We have a final meeting with the architect next week and we hope to see the work start this summer holiday. Congratulations Ashton I am so proud (and I have to admit a little bit jealous) of Ashton! She has something I always wanted… a Blue Peter badge! She has been helping her neighbour by doing jobs for her. Her neighbour’s daughter wrote to the TV program and they were so impressed, they send her a badge. Congratulations Ashton, this is so well deserved!  Staffing News
We are delighted to welcome Mrs Budiman back! We are very grateful to Mrs Doyle and Mrs Dennie for teaching Chestnut Class in her absence. Mrs Heffer has of course been brilliant in the transition and we are really thankful for her hard work. FONTS Update We’re really looking forward to bringing the school community together before the summer holidays, and plans are coming along nicely! Please keep Saturday 10th July as free as possible so that you can join us. We will need some help on the day so if you could spare some time, please let us know. Thank you for your continued support, FONTS Committee [email protected]/ or msg FONTS on Dojo Class news Do look at the class blogs to see what the children have been learning this week. Sycamore Class Okehampton & District Tennis Club WHERE ? OKEHAMPTON TENNIS COURTS WHEN? SATURDAY 12 JUNE 2021 (last session 17 July) TIME? 9.00 - 10.00 am. (10.00 - 11.00 am) WHAT AGE? 6 - 10 Years old (11 - 15 Years old) COST? £30 for 6 week course TO BOOK Telephone 07813 315376 or AND PAY. Email [email protected] Course run by Okehampton & District Tennis Club With LTA level 3 accredited coach - Nick Bond Dates for your diary Friday 28th May 2pm Sharing Assembly Online invite to be shared in the morning by email and Dojo Friday 9th July - Sports Day Details and contingency plan to be shared nearer the time. Saturday 10th July - FONTS event. With best wishes Tara Penny Principal Comments are closed.
|
Categories |
RSS Feed
