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Dear North Tawton Families,
I hope you have all had a good holiday and are ready for the new school year! A special welcome to our new families we look forward to getting to know you! Building Update The Nursery and Reception building work has started but unfortunately the project is not completed due to the national lack of availability of building materials. The new extension for outdoor learning and the side entrance will be built later this term. In the meantime, we will be using the old Nursery and Reception space for safe outdoor learning and play. We are looking forward to the arrival of lots of new resources thanks to Friends of North Tawton fundraising. Year One and Year Two have newly decorated rooms to move in to, and Year Three have a break out space as we now have a partition dividing that long room (the original hall) Year Four, Five and Six are also in new classrooms this year, so as you can imagine we are busy moving furniture and resources across the school buildings so everything is ready for the children on Wednesday. Staffing Update I am sad to let you know that Debbie Stoneman, one of our brilliant teaching assistants, will be leaving at the end of the week. Those of you who have had children in her groups and classes will agree she is an excellent educator; calm, patient and incredibly knowledgeable. We wish her all the very best in her future endeavors. Also, our administrator Lyndsay Adams will be leaving in three weeks’ time. She has a new job which is a wonderful career move for her, but obviously will be a great loss for us. We are very sad to say farewell to both of these staff. I am in the process of recruitment for both posts and will let you know as soon as we have new staff in place. In the meantime, Danielle Day will move up with Reception in to Year 1 and Verity Heffier from Year 1 to Year 2. Lyndsay will be with us until 23rd September, I aim to have recruited before then for a handover of all her knowledge and skills. Curriculum Update We are introducing a new curriculum in Early Years and in Key Stage 1 and 2. The staff have been busy looking at the new resources and planning for the children. We are still teaching the same subjects, just in a different way. Our INSET days and staff meeting times will be devoted to working together with our other DMAT schools to make our curriculum exciting, challenging and progressive across the year groups. We (and the children!) will tell you more about this as we introduce this. New Uniform If you have ordered new uniform, please ring the school office on Monday afternoon to arrange collection. Covid While Covid 19 is still a concern, we are now able to make some changes which will make school life more ‘normal.’ We are able to have children together for play times and assemblies (with ventilated rooms and sensible distance) We will continue to have hand hygiene as a priority and make sure we are all following the ‘Catch it, Kill it, Bin it’ regime. Staff will continue to test twice weekly and we will wear masks when in close proximity with others. If staff or children have symptoms, we send them home for testing. People are still being infected, but with sensible hand washing and sanitizing, vaccines available for staff and testing we should prevent spread. There is more detail on the school website in our current risk assessment and contingency plan. Arrival and Collection On Wednesday, please be patient as we welcome in new children and families. Parents please walk with Nursery and Reception children to the entrance of the building on the left of the carpark (where year 5 and 6 were last year) Parents can walk Year One and Year Two children to the entrance on the right of the playground by the ramp. (where Nursery and Reception were last year) Key stage two children (Year 3,4, 5 &6) will walk up past Year 1 and Year 2 to the infant playground where they can walk in to classes with their class mates. There will be plenty of staff around to help direct children. If you have more than one child, please drop off older children first. At the end of the day, Year 6 children can go home unaccompanied only if we have written consent from a carer or parent. Parents to collect Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 from the infant playground where they will be with their teachers, Year 1 and 2 from the area by the ramp outside their rooms and Nursery and Reception from the main entrance to their building. (Nursery will have their own entrance when the work is finished) Please collect KS2 children first as they will be waiting outside. Children who go home by bus or taxi will be collected by a member of staff and will wait together in the shelter in the playground until the bus and taxi arrive when the will be walked down by a member of staff. If you need to collect or drop off a child at a different time, please ring the office staff and we will arrange to meet them at the gate. We ask parents to please wear masks at drop off and collection, and no parents to enter the buildings. We will keep reviewing our plans and let you know of any changes. As far as possible, please call or email any questions or messages to our office staff, they will make sure important messages are passed on tot he relevant staff. The office email is [email protected] If you need to go to the office, please enter one at a time so the area is not congested. On behalf of all the staff, we look forward to seeing all of the children on Wednesday and starting an exciting new year. All the best Tara Penny Principal Comments are closed.
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