It's been a very strange term so far, but we're delighted that we'll be welcoming all the children back to school on Monday March 8th. Our risk assessment has been revised and can be found here.
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We're working hard to ensure that we have everything in place for a smooth and safe transition back to school. Please help us to avoid crowds at drop off and pick-up times by only arriving for your children's designated slot and leaving school lane promptly after. All timings will revert to those in place last term: Years 1, 3 and 6 will begin at 8:40 and be collected at 3:20. Years R, 2, 4 and 5 will begin at 8:50 and be collected at 3:30. Children will not be allowed on site before their allocated times and we will ask parents to wait well clear of the school gates if they arrive early. This is for the safety of the whole community.

Please remember that, if you have children  who have different start or finish times, you should arrive at school for the later of the two times. 

Hot dinners will be served from the 8th. The current menu can be viewed here.  Please book all meals as soon as possible through your school gateway accounts.

Bookings for breakfast club and the school bus are also now open and can be accessed through school gateway.

World Book Day will be on Thursday 4th March and we will also be celebrating it on Friday 5th March. There will be a dedicated blog post with lots more information, but here are three things you need to know in advance:
1. We will not be dressing up this year as so many children are learning at home. Instead, we would like all children to make a 'book nook.' More details will follow but, in the meantime, please save any cereal (or similar size) boxes. Every child will need one.
2. Remote learning on these two days will be different to the past few weeks. There may be some class live lessons, but most of the time will be spent on World Book Day activities that siblings and families can do together.
3. There will be virtual whole school assemblies on Thursday and Friday mornings at 9am. Links to these will be sent out via email. 

Our World Book Day blog post full of ideas and activities can be found here. 

Read the latest Devon Count Council update here.

Please help us to keep our pupils, staff, parents and extended families safe, by following the lockdown rules for each stage of the government's 'roadmap.' I'm receiving reports from some local residents that they are concerned that children and families from the school are not following the rules around families and children mixing. Please remember that, at the moment, individuals are only allowed to meet one other individual outside for exercise. A reminder of the current rules can be found here.

We will be celebrating World Book day at home and in school on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th March. We will have live, virtual assemblies on both these days and World Book Day activities will replace all or most of your classwork for these two days. Assembly links will be sent out via email later this week. 

We will not be dressing up this year, but will ask all children to produce a 'book nook' (more details below) to show in assembly on Friday and bring into school with them on Monday 8th March. 

We have a new display board in the main reception area and I'd like to fill this board with photos, drawing, book nooks and other creations from World Book Day. Please email me your pictures ([email protected]) and bring anything else you make into school with you on 8th March. 

The rest of this blog post contains many, many ideas of things to do and enjoy on Thursday and Friday. You can choose the activities that you'd like to do, except for my top three items which I'd like as may people as possible to have a go at.

There are lots of guides to how to make a book nook on the internet and lots of different materials you could use. You will need a box roughly the size of a cereal box and an idea for how to decorate the inside of the box to show a scene or theme from one of your favourite books. You may use cardboard cut-outs to create characters and 3D textures; you may prefer to use small items such a Lego or Playmobil characters. The aim is for your finished book nook to look like an open doorway right into your favourite book. Good luck!

Where's the most extreme place you can read a book? There's no better day to do some reading than World Book Day, so please send me photos of yourself reading in usual locations or positions. Keep it safe and check with an adult first, please. We don't want any accidents!

Do you have a pet or toy who likes to be read to? I'd love to see your photos of them reading or you reading to them. Please email them to me ([email protected]) and look forward to seeing them feature on next week's newsletter. 

In the rest of the blog, you'll find lots more ideas of things to do on World Book Day. There are videos to watch, stories to listen to, things to make, books to read. Have a look through the blog and choose your activities. Later in the week, I'll produce another blog with even more ideas of things to do. 

Have a wonderful two days getting really involved in books and reading. Your £1 vouchers will be with you soon. 

The first place you should look is the World Book Day website which has many, many lovely ideas. 

Events for World Book Day, 4 March 2021  
Here is a selection of uplifting Hay Festival events for pupils in KS 2, 3 and 4 chosen for you by Julia Eccleshare, the festival’s Director of Children’s Programming. Why not watch as part of your World Book Day celebrations to inspire reading for pleasure.

 KS2 
Pamela Butchart
Julian Clary & David Roberts
Cressida Cowell
John Dougherty
Daniel Morden
Onjali Q Rauf
Andy Stanton
Kate Dicamillo

World Book Day Competition - Coram Beanstalk & Very.co.uk
Enter our World Book Day competition for a chance to win over £300 worth of Crayola arts and crafts goodies! 
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With restricted opening for schools, World Book Day on Thursday 4th March 2021 is going to be a little different this year. Coram Life Education’s sister charity, Coram Beanstalk, is working in partnership with Very.co.uk to launch a new activity to engage and bring together children across the country on World Book Day.
 
Rather than dressing up as their favourite book character we’re encouraging children to draw or make (using arts and crafts) their favourite book character.
 
Parents, carers or schools can enter their children’s pictures into the competition via social media. There are some wonderful prizes for children up for grabs, thanks to support from Crayola.
  
To enter the Coram Beanstalk and Very ‘World Book Day’ competition, just:

• Draw, paint or craft a favourite book character
• Post a picture of the masterpiece on social media on Thursday 4th March
• Don’t forget to use #VeryWBD and tag @beanstalkreads so we can find every entry for the World Book Day competition and share as part of our virtual gallery!

 
Harold the giraffe will be joining in with his school friends too – he just needs to decide which character to do! Remember to follow Harold's daily diary for updates. 

  

• Share A Story Live - join us at 10.30am on the 3rd, 4th and 5th March for our exciting digital events programme, beaming our £1 book authors and illustrators straight into your school.
  
  
• Show Your Shares competition – fantastic weekly prizes to be won for your school in our competition from 22nd Feb! See our website for more details from next week.
  
  
• Author & Illustrator Academy – choose one of our video lessons, press play and let our brilliant authors & illustrators lead your class. Each one is a complete package with downloadable activities, creative challenges and extracts.
  
  
• FREE audiobooks – encourage families to enjoy one of our free audiobooks available from 18th February or listen to them together in class.
  
  
• Share A Story Corner video stories – perfect for Reception and Years 1 & 2, our video stories have fun downloadable activities to go with them.
  
  
• World Book Day Book Club – Encourage pupils to join our book club where we’ll share our monthly read, invite children to submit questions to the author and join in on YouTube.
  
  
• Help us to change lives – from buying a World Book Day badge to hosting a fun Big Booky Breaktime, we’ve got fundraising ideas that can work at home too! No amount of money is too small with every £1 raised helping us to change lives.

Anyone can be the author or star of a story...

This March we’re inviting school children across the UK to take part in our new project to celebrate and promote diversity in children’s books.

With #StepInsideYourStory children can explore their identities, make concertina books, and place themselves at the heart of their own stories. They can start with reality and add a sprinkle of magic. 
 
Send us your creations on Twitter @BL_Learning, and together we'll create a virtual library of All Our Stories. We have fantastic videos from much-loved authors and illustrators and free online resources to help you get involved. The project is perfect for World Book Day and beyond. 

Join our campaign
Make your own concertina book
Mara the storyteller shares her step-by-step bookmaking tips. 

Watch video
Life as a storyteller
Jump over crocodiles with Sandra Agard in this wonderful tale illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan.

Watch video
Where do you belong?
Children’s writer S F Said explores his identity and reveals his answers to some of life’s tricky questions.
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Dear parents,
I am writing an initial letter to you all regarding Boris Johnson’s ‘roadmap out of lockdown’ as announced yesterday evening.
We are very pleased that we will be able to open to all pupils from 8th March.  Whilst we think that parents have done an amazing job at home schooling, we are longing to see all the children back in school, to spend time with their friends and learn together in classes once more.
Although we are delighted to get back to face-to-face teaching because we know the benefits to children’s education and mental and physical health, we fully understand that there are children, parents and staff who will be feeling anxious. Please be assured that we will be working continuously on measures to ensure all of our community are kept safe. These will include continuing with the staff twice weekly testing process, enhanced cleaning procedures, very regular handwashing and sanitisation, keeping the children in year-group bubbles and having separate drop off and collection times for children to reduce crowding. 
I will be in touch with further details before Monday 8th March.
On returning to school, our number one priority will be to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the pupils after another lengthy lockdown. We will be making the most of our SCARF PSHE programme as well as allowing time for the children to reconnect with their friends and experience plenty of physical activity.
Over the next two weeks, please help your children to engage fully with the remote learning offered and to join as many live lessons as possible.
We look forward to seeing you all on the 8th March. 
With very best wishes,
​Sarah Marvin

Half term has arrived! When the school closures were first announced on January 4th, I didn't predict that the six weeks of this half term could possibly go as well as they have. I'm so pleased that the pupils have managed to embrace the challenges and log into live lessons so that they can stay in touch with their teachers and classmates so well. It's wonderful for us as staff to 'see' the children each day and to be able to continue to cover the curriculum even though school is closed to the majority of pupils. Credit is also due to those pupils who are attending school, for navigating the social distancing rules, hand sanitising stations, cold classrooms and single desks with such enthusiasm and eagerness.

A very big thank you all children, parents and staff for all you have achieved over the last six weeks. Have a lovely rest over the half term break and fingers crossed it won't be too long before school is fully open again. 

Please visit the class blogs to see what each year group have been covering. The photos below are some wonderful examples of Year 4's Carnival celebration and Year 3's day t o mark the end of their topic on the Ancient Greeks.

The wonderful video above is of Will completing the Cosdon Spring walk. The link to the PDF containing all the walks can be found here. See how many you can walk over the half term break. 

I have been asked again by Sticklepath Parish council to raise the ongoing issue of vehicles travelling along the back lane between Sticklepath and South Zeal (Reddaways) and the dangers these present to parents and children walking to and from school. Please could all drivers use the route between Ford Cross and Zeal Head as an alternative, as this is a much wider road and has pavements for pedestrians.
Thank you.

Welcome to the Virtual School Library, brought you by Oak National Academy in partnership with the National Literacy Trust.

Every week a popular children's author or illustrator will provide you with free books, exclusive videos and their top three recommended reads.
Having access to a school library is really important for children. School libraries nurture a love of reading that can enrich children’s literacy skills, academic achievements and mental wellbeing. Our Virtual School Library will complement existing school libraries and will ensure that children have access to the magical world of stories all year round, whether they are learning at school or at home.
We’ve worked with brilliant publishers and inspiring authors and illustrators to ensure that the books and activities in our Virtual School Library will support children’s wellbeing through reading

Dear Headteacher,
 
I recently contacted you about Blue Peter & we’d like to inform you, we’ve also made an exciting revamp to the CBBC YouTube Channel.
We think your pupils and parents may be interested in this for entertainment at half term and outside of home-schooling hours now we’re in lockdown.
 
We are uploading videos to it daily that are suitable for 5-11 year olds. We have all the top CBBC brands on here, with a wide range of genres from factual shows, news, dramas, comedy to entertainment. Programmes like Horrible Histories, Blue Peter, Newsround, The Next Step, Saturday Mash-Up, Operation Ouch, the Playlist, the Dumping Ground, Heirs of the Night and Jamie Johnson. We are also welcoming back Dani Harmer in the brilliant new programme My Mum Tracy Beaker.  
 
If you think your pupils would be interested in this, please do send this out to your parents and ask them to subscribe to www.youtube.com/cbbc - (it’s obviously completely free to subscribe!) and don’t forget to watch the CBBC live daily and on the BBC iPlayer.
 
Thanks so much for your time,
The CBBC team

There have been some lovely discussions and work completed this week inspired by a focus on children's Mental Health Week. Year 1 had a story focus on Ruby's Worry; Year 4 discussed the best ways to unwind and destress. Year 5 also looked at relaxation with children in school really enjoying skipping together to aid this, while Year 6 have created some lovely pieces of work based on Shaun Tan's book, The Lost Thing. Hopefully, we shall have some brighter, warmer weather soon so we can all get outdoors more!

Please could you help us by reminding your children of three basic online etiquette rules for all live lessons and registrations:
1. Cameras should be on.
2. Pupils should be fully dressed.
3. Pupils should not eat during the live lessons.

Please see below some pie-charts showing the results of our Remote Learning survey last week. Thank you to everyone who responded for your excellent suggestions and messages of support and thanks. On the whole, I feel that staff and parents are very pleased with the curriculum opportunities the children are receiving and progress they are making.

There are more worries on both sides about the social implications of the school closures, although the live lessons and opportunities for children to meet their classmates online are helping with this. Some parents would like more freedom during the day to go for a walk or for siblings to do something together. Please do feel free as parents to create opportunities to do this: we will continue to provide the full curriculum offer, but understand if life gets in the way and you wish to make time for something different. Teachers will continue to make lessons as interactive and fun as possible, but I'm afraid we will not be able to arrange online breaktimes and play dates as some parents have requested. The staff in school are essentially now doing two full time jobs at once: teaching the children in class and also teaching the children at home. I'm immensely proud of how well both staff and children have adapted to this difficult situation and thoroughly look forward to a time when all children can return to school.

If you feel your child is in great need of more social time with their peers, please do give me a ring to discuss this. I'm very happy to 'introduce' parents so that you can exchange details and possibly set up online meetings for your children. 

Mrs Everett, with the help of some Year 6 pupils, carried out January's draw at school last week.

The winning numbers/people are:-
1st       56    Lizz Williams
2nd      11    Mark Neville
3rd       31    Mark Everett

I will make contact with all the winners to distribute prizes once School has fully reopened.

Many thanks.

Mary MacMillan-Scott
PTA Member

Spring Walks
Getting fresh air and exercise is important for looking after our physical and mental health. We have decided to share our favourite local walks with you so you can get out and enjoy a happy healthy half term! 

You can download this PDF to your computer and print it out or download it to your smartphone or tablet and take it on the walks with you!

Click here for our favourite spring walks or see the document below.

It is very hard to fundraise right now but if you enjoy these walks and feel you can, please donate via  PayPal at [email protected] (remembering to choose the 'friends and family' or 'known seller' option)

Wild Activities for all the family!
Devon Wildlife Trust's Education team have created a Wild Learning hub to help assist learning at home with lots of nature inspired activities and ideas.  Lots of these activities can help fulfil curriculum criteria but there's also lots of great wild learning for all ages to be had. Lesson plans, identification guides, nature inspired crafts and 'how to help' ideas can be found here - scroll down to undertake our quizzes and also to play some online wildlife games.
More information can be found on their website here.