Please click here to read the letter to schools with a coronavirus update before the half term holiday.
​

To order please email: southtawtonpta@gmail.com with surname/class/number of books in the title line and how you would like to pay (either Cash or Paypal)
£10 for one / £18 for two / £28 for three / ​£36 for four.
Be part of something really awesome and help raise money for your school. 

Attendance
Following the period of school closures through the last academic year, it is now more important than ever that children attend school whenever they are well enough to do so. Obviously, if they or anyone in the household has Covid symptoms, then please self isolate as a family and get tested. The children can return to school as soon as evidence is received of a negative test. I'm delighted that our attendance for the academic year so far is 96.8%. However, we have a statutory duty to monitor attendance very carefully at this time. Through this week, all children with attendance levels which have dipped below the average will be receiving letters detailing their attendance so far. Please do get in touch if, having received one of these letters, you have further questions or would like any support in maximising your child's attendance. 

​PTA News
Proceeds from this term and next term's fundraisers will go towards some new playground markings! As we won't be able to pay for the usual trips, workshops and other events for the foreseeable future, we are contributing over £1500 towards some new markings for the Year 6 and main playgrounds. These will be for fun and fitness but also educational and can be used by the whole school during playtimes and as part of interactive lessons to enhance the children's outdoor experience when other play equipment is restricted. We are very excited that these will be in place really soon - either over half term or the following week!

The PTA are running an Autumn Trail this half term holiday. It takes in the villages of South Zeal, South Tawton and Sticklepath and you can purchase a trail sheet for £2 from PTA members or South Zeal and Sticklepath shops. The trail starts and finishes by the South Zeal shop and the questions on the sheet are about things you will see on a walk around the villages, so keep your eyes open!  There are three sections to the trail so you can do as much or as little walking as you feel able to. Hand your completed sheets in to a teacher by November 9th to receive a reward and a Team Point!

It's dress down day the last day of term on Friday 23 October!! Wear what you like but don't forget to bring £1 each to your classroom to go towards PTA funds. 

Did you know that the PTA have a Facebook page? Please search for South Tawton PTA and like our page. 

Finally, recipe books have arrived! You should have received information via email about how to make payment. Distribution will begin once payments are received.

A busy week!
As ever, the news stories behind each of the pictures above can be found in the class blog pages. Please visit them to find out more about our week in each class. Year R have had a baptism; year 1 explored their senses with some new tastes; year 2 dodged some very heavy showers when they took their maths learning outside the classroom; year 3 have made their own fossils, year 4 have been discussing some extraordinary women; year 5 have been finding out about Sir Francis Drake and year 6 have been investigating light and reflections in science. All in all, another excellent week!

​Christmas presents sorted for grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours, friends
You should have all received the sample pages of our amazing Lockdown Recipe book last week. As well as being packed full of recipes, poems and art work sent in by our pupils during lockdown, it is also a bright and positive memento and will make a thoughtful Christmas present for all. All profits made will go to the PTA and will be spent helping to improve the school experience for all pupils. Thank you to all contributors, helpers and particularly Miss Chalcraft who first thought of the idea and has worked tirelessly to bring it to print.

​If you'd like another look at the sample, please click here.

Order and Payments Steps:

• To pre-order, email us at SouthTawtonPTA@gmail.com with your child’s surname/year/number of books in the subject line of the email E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2 books
• Please also let us know how you would like to pay i.e. Cash or Paypal in your order email.
  
  Please wait to pay until you hear from us, especially important if paying by cash. There will be specific date TBC.

For your information:

• When can I have my copy (ies)? We aim to get the book to you before half term, print run allowing. 

• FOR CASH ORDERS: (only when we contact you to send it in)
   You will need to put exact money in a sealed envelope in your child’s book bag. Please write your child’s surname/year/number of books on the outside of the envelope  E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2books 

Once the CASH has come in to us via your child’s book bag, it will be quarantined and then checked. You will then get a confirmation email that it has been received.

• PAYPAL: 
   If you request to pay via Paypal we will give you the instructions for paying via the PTA email.

Please note: when paying via Paypal make sure you select the Friends and Family option to avoid fees
Please include a note in the payment to tell us your child’s surname/year/number of books 
(E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2books) to help us track orders. 
 
For more information, please contact us via the PTA email: SouthTawtonPTA@gmail.com

Idling Car Engines
The residents of South Zeal have requested that I ask you all to ensure that you do not leave your car engines running when picking up or dropping off your children at school and pre-school. The particles present in exhaust fumes are well-proven to be damaging to health when inhaled, and the current climate crisis is well documented. Please help to keep our children, neighbours and the planet safe by ensuring that engines are turned off whilst you are waiting.

On the subject of cars, please drive extremely slowly in the villages and particularly on the cut-through lane between Sticklepath and South Zeal - the light is now fading and many of our families walk to and from school on this road. 
​

The South Tawton Primary School Lockdown Recipe Collection is ready to be consumed!
Before the summer holidays, we asked you to send us your recipes, poems and pictures to include in a school recipe book; we are delighted to finally be able to share it with you. 
There is a sample of the book, click here,  to help whet your appetites.  
The A4 book is an 88 page delight in full colour and is being professionally printed at this very moment, to make the most of your wonderful recipes, spectacular art and beautifully composed poetry. 
Copies will be available for £10 each or 2 for £18, payment is by Cash or Paypal only. 
Please pre-order a copy now by following the instructions below:
Order and Payments Steps:

• To pre-order, email us at SouthTawtonPTA@gmail.com with your child’s surname/year/number of books in the subject line of the email E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2 books
• Please also let us know how you would like to pay i.e. Cash or Paypal in your order email.
  
  Please wait to pay until you hear from us, especially important if paying by cash. There will be specific date TBC.

For your information:

• When can I have my copy (ies)? We aim to get the book to you before half term, print run allowing. 

• FOR CASH ORDERS: (only when we contact you to send it in)
   You will need to put exact money in a sealed envelope in your child’s book bag. Please write your child’s surname/year/number of books on the outside of the envelope  E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2books 

Once the CASH has come in to us via your child’s book bag, it will be quarantined and then checked. You will then get a confirmation email that it has been received.

• PAYPAL: 
   If you request to pay via Paypal we will give you the instructions for paying via the PTA email.

Please note: when paying via Paypal make sure you select the Friends and Family option to avoid fees
Please include a note in the payment to tell us your child’s surname/year/number of books 
(E.g. Chalcraft/year4/2books) to help us track orders. 
 
For more information, please contact us via the PTA email: SouthTawtonPTA@gmail.com
Thank you to Alex and Hannah Thomas who have gone above and beyond in helping us put this together. Funds raised to go to our super PTA who help us fund trips, buy resources etc… 
Kind regards,
The PTA, Staff and Pupils of South Tawton Primary School

Outdoor Education
Another week has whizzed by and we managed to make the most of our outside learning spaces before the weather changed. In the photos above, you will see year 5 enjoying outdoor learning in the outdoor education area, year 6 taking part in Quad Kids athletics and year 2 exploring the effect that exercise has on their heart rates. For more photos and information about any of these stories and more, please visit the class blog pages. 

SIMS Parent
As a MAT, we use SIMS Parent Lite to collect, manage and handle key information about your child and you as parents/ carers. This puts you in control and makes sure the data we hold is accurate and up to date. We also use SIMS Parent to allow you to provide consents where necessary. You can update these consents at any time. 

Later today, I will send an activation email to the home email address of anyone who has not already registered. This will come from noreply@sims.co.uk.  If you do not receive this email by the end of tomorrow, then please check that it has not been diverted into your SPAM folder. If you have already registered, you can log in using your existing details and won't receive the activation email.

Simply click on the link from your tablet, pc or smartphone to activate your account. You can then login using your normal Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft username and password.

More information about SIMs parent and information we would like from you, can be found here.

Please could parents of all children in year 1 visit the page and update their consents ASAP. 

When updating your contact details or consents on SIMS parent, please ensure you scroll down and press the SAVE button before logging out. 

If you have any difficulties in using the service, please let me know via smarvin@southtawton.org

PTA 100 Club
Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who has signed up for this year's 100 Club. Your support is really appreciated.  The first draw has taken place with the help of Year 3 and the following numbers/people won

1st    80    Nan Passmore
2nd   25    Sally Whiteley
3rd    50    Duncan Coventry

New members are welcome to join the 100 Club at any time throughout the year. Please email the school office for a sign up form and confirmation of the subscription payable if you are interested.

Crisp packet recycling
Crisp packet recycling has now started again. There is a collection box in every classroom and these are coordinated by our school councillors.

Meal Time Assistant Vacancy
We currently have vacancy for a meal time assistant (MTA). Please use the links below for more information
advert_sept_2020.pdf
MTA job description
Application form
The vacancy closes on 16th October.
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Hot dinners for KS1
Thank you all for your patience as we began the term with packed lunches. We are now in a position to begin rolling out hot lunches to all KS1 children in the first instance. 
 
We will be offering hot meals at lunchtime as from Monday 28th September (tomorrow!) with the menu options detailed below.

We would be grateful if you would book your child's lunches as soon as possible in order that we can order appropriately. Please note, any existing bookings for next week for KS1 have all been cancelled and need to be re-made using the new menu options.
 
Please be assured that appropriate hygiene practices will be in place for children using the school hall for dining, and bubbles (classes) of children will continue to be kept separate.
 
It is our intention to provide hot meals for KS2 children, after half term, but in the meantime, provision of packed lunches will continue for these children as per the previous menu.

Parents' Evenings
Parents' evening meetings will take place over the phone this term and will be scheduled between the 5th and 16th October. Further details and information on booking a time will follow during the week. 

Sharing of cakes and sweets in school
I emailed you all last week to ask that you help us by not sending your children to school with cakes or sweets to share on their birthdays. Thank you to all of you who understood the importance of this and acted accordingly. However, I discovered on Friday that a parent had attempted to send cakes in for KS1 staff without my knowledge. This shows complete disregard for our risk assessments and overriding intention to keep our staff and pupils safe. Please help us by ensuring that there are no further incidents of this nature so that we can continue with our efforts to keep the school open and infection free.

Dial 111
Click here for a poster about dialing 111. Although the poster relates to Cornwall, the process is exactly the same for Devon. 
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Letter for parents about COVID-19 symptoms
Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. 
The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.
You can view the letter here.

PTA News
We started the new school year with our AGM via Zoom. There was a great turnout (thank you all!) and the formal committee now includes joint Chairs Katie Wright and Jo Parker-Groom, Ali Vallance as Treasurer and we're pleased to welcome Hannah Passmore as our new Secretary. 

Fundraising this year is going to be more challenging but watch this space for some virtual events coming soon...

Our funds usually go towards school trips and workshops within the school. As these can't take place for a while, our autumn fundraising will be focused towards installing fun, new, interactive playground markings for all classes to enjoy at breaktimes and during PE. We'll send more info on this soon too. 

At this time, our regular non-event fundraisers are more important that ever before, so please do sign-up for the 100 Club, do your shopping via the Easyfundraising link and continue to bring in your crisp packets

Easyfundraising; there are just 3 easy steps: 

1. Open the following link:  You shop. South Tawton Primary School PTA gets money. For free. And click the button 'Support this cause'. Create an account/login or download the app. 
​2. Use the website or app to choose the retailer you'd like to buy from - there are over 4000 including Amazon, ebay, Sainsburys, John Lewis, Argos, etc.
3. Just shop as normal and when you check out, the retailer gives your cause a donation. 

Crisp packet recycling - please continue to send crisp packets into school with your children. Rather than the previous central collecting box that was outside the hall, there will be a collecting box in each classroom. As well as recycling thousands of crisp packet rather than sending them to landfill, for each kg collected, the recycling company gives money to our cause.

Please remember: 
- Any brand of crisp and including the larger outer bag of multipacks
- Please do not fold into triangles 
- No popcorn bags, meat snack bags, nut packets or any other food packaging

Don't forget to check out our PTA Facebook site for regular news and links.

https://m.facebook.com/SouthTawtonPTA/
​

Beware of Scams
The Dartmoor MAT have received reports of parents of being called on the phone, allegedly by their school, to say their child has been involved in an incident or taken ill. An example has been where a parent was called to say the child was ill and asked to dial 1 to be connected to right person to speak to. This child was at home that day so they knew it could not be correct so they attempted to ring the school but discovered the phone line had been held open reportedly to a high cost phone line. In another example the parents were asked to contact the school on the number provided, which again turned out to be a high cost phone line. If we call you, we will only ask you to call us back on our school number 01837 840242.

‘Test and trace’ scam
Devon County Council are warning everyone to be aware of scammers looking to exploit the NHS Test and Trace service. 
They are concerned that some people, particularly the vulnerable or elderly, could be susceptible to fake calls or messages from criminals looking to get access to personal information or trick them into handing over money.
Remember, the NHS Test and Trace service is completely free, so they will never ask you for any form of payment or financial information or to provide any passwords, bank account details or PIN numbers.
It's a good idea to familiarise yourself with how the system works and know what you will and won’t be asked by the contact tracers so you can spot these scams.

PTA 100 Club
A reminder for anyone wishing to be included in this year's PTA 100 Club, to please submit their sign up form and pay their subscription no later than Friday 25 September please.

Welcome Back
Welcome back to the beginning of a new school year! I know that every member of school staff will wish to join me in expressing how delighted we are to be fully open again and how immensely proud and impressed we are with the attitude and behaviour of all the children. From our new 4 year olds who have started school having to leave their parents at the gate and carry all their own bags and equipment in, to our year 6 pupils many of whom haven’t been in school since March, every pupil has demonstrated remarkable resilience and good humour in the face of all the the challenges and changes. Thank you and well done to you all!

Class Blogs
The class blogs will be updated each week. Please visit them all to see some of the lovely activities and work that have been undertaken this week.

After School Clubs
In order to maintain the integrity of class ‘bubbles,’ we have made the decision not to start any after-school clubs in September. (SAINTS football clubs will still go ahead.) This will give us time to embed our systems within school and establish what clubs might be possible to run safely. Further information about this will follow towards the end of the month.

Road Safety
On a related note, I have had complaints from residents of both Sticklepath and South Zeal of parents driving very fast through the villages at the start and end of the day. Please be aware that there are many children walking on the pavements and lanes at these times and drive with extreme caution. ​

Absence
If your child is going to be absent from school, please let us know ASAP by ringing or emailing the office. Admin@southtawton.org

If your child or anyone in your household has a temperature, a new continuous cough or loses their sense of smell or taste, the whole family needs to self-isolate for 14 days and not come to school. In this situation, we strongly recommend that the person displaying symptoms is tested for COVID-19. Please let us know the outcome of any tests. In the event of a negative test of a family member, children can return tO school. If the child is displaying symptoms but has a negative test, they can return as soon as the symptoms are fully gone.

Request for absence for medical appointments
If your child has a medical or dental appointment, please let us know by filling in a Request for Absence form and returning this to the office wth a copy of the appointment letter.

School Gateway
For those of you who are new to the school, your school gateway account is where you can book your child’s lunches and book into breakfast club. If you have not yet signed up for an account, please visit https://login.schoolgateway.com/0/auth/register and register for an account using your child’s date of birth and your contact details.

Please could everyone ensure that they have booked either a school or a home packed lunch on gateway for each day at least one week in advance.