It's been another week of learning, smiles and sunshine at South Tawton. Little Beacons invited parents to join them for a Science Fair, YR have been learning all about patterns, Y3 have been sampling Chinese food, Y5 have been trained as Young Sports' Leaders and Y6 have enjoyed a fun packed week on their residential in Jersey (more on that to follow.)

Unfortunately I am getting reports that Covid cases are on the rise again. A few of the Y6 children felt unwell whilst in Jersey and at least one of these are now positive. Mrs Graham has also had a positive test today, so won't be in school for a few days. Just a reminder that you can view our latest risk assessment here. 

If your child experiences any vomiting or covid symptoms and you have any test kits, please test them before they return to school so that we can minimise any spread as much as possible. Current guidelines are that children should isolate for three days and adults for 5 where at all possible. 

Alongside all our other MAT schools, we will be holding a Rainbow Day on Friday 1st July.  Our whole school assembly will look at similarities, differences and inclusivity.  To support this, we ask children to wear brightly coloured 'rainbow' clothes or clothes of one colour of the rainbow to school for the day next Friday. ​

The year 6 children had a wonderful week of seaside and outdoor activities in Jersey this week. They enjoyed coasteering, paint-balling, team challenges, archery and a chance meeting with Romesh Ranganathan. They all returned happy and tired and have, hopefully, had a good rest over the weekend. A big thank you is due to all the staff who accompanied them and especially to Mrs Donovan who booked, arranged and led the trip so brilliantly. 

27/06/2022 Y3 Visit to Kent's Cavern
27/06/2022 Cricket Club trip to Somerset Cricket Club to watch Day 1 England vs South Africa
27/06/2022 Y3/4 Performance 6pm
28/06/2022 YR Visit to Paignton Zoo
30/06/2022 Y6 Taster Day at Okehampton College
30/06/2022 Whole School Moving Up Transition Morning
01/07/2022 Y4 Visit to Rosemoor
04/07/2022 - 08/07/2022 Festival of Hope (Trust Wide)
07/07/2022 Sports' Day
08/07/2022 PTA Summer Fayre
08/07/22 Y3 to OCRA Multi-Skills event
11/07/2022 - 15/07/2022 Y2 Wild Week
19/07/2022 Y5/6 Performance 4pm
20/07/2022 Y5/6 Performance 2pm and 6pm

Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust Festival of Hope
04/07/22 - Y5/6 to visit North Tawton Primary School for a French Theatre Production
04/07/22 - Y3/4 to Okehampton College for a Rounders Festival
05/07/22 - Y5/6 Netball Team to Holsworthy Community College for a Netball Tournament
06/07/22 - Y1/2 to Chagford Cricket Club for a Cricket Festival

Ground Force Day Round 2!
Following the success of our ground force day we would like to spend another couple of hours finishing off some jobs, especially painting the wall which was painstakingly power washed! We will meet this Tuesday 28th June after school. If you can make it because bring a paint brush!!!

Sports Day Thursday 7th July
 
We will be selling refreshments so please bring some cash with you!
If you are abe to bake any cakes or bakes for us to sell we’d be very grateful.
We also need volunteers to help us so if you are able to help for any part of the day please email us on [email protected]
​

Not long now till we hold our annual Summer Fair - Friday 8th July 2022! As we haven’t been able to hold one for the past 2 years, we’d like to make this one extra special! We will have a BBQ, delicious treats including candy floss, Taw River Dairy ice creams and cakes, and why not get your nails done or get a tattoo or hair feather?!
 
There will be entertainment from the fantastic school choir and some really exciting games with great prizes for you to try your hand at thanks to Year 6. You also will not want to miss the raffle !- Be in with a chance of winning a free hair cut, vouchers for Boden and Jojo Mama Bebe, some beautiful hampers and much more!
…..But none of this can happen without your help…….
 
Donations
If you have any of the following items to donate Please bring them in to the school office where there is a box waiting! Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Bottles
Pre-loved toys and games
Pre-loved books
Cuddly toys
Filled jam jars - Your family may find this one fun – Fill a jam Jar with anything you think would be nice to win – lego, sweets, little toys, hair bands, Playmobil – anything!
 
Volunteers Needed
 
We really want to make sure no one is on a stall for too long so the more volunteers the better! If you can help at all, either to set up from 1.30pm, during the fair 3.30pm-5.30pm or to tidy up afterwards we would love to hear from you. Speak to your child's class teacher, message us on facebook or email [email protected].
Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to help make this a really fun afternoon!
 
Pet Competition
If you have a furry or scaly friend you may like to enter them into the pet competition. Please bring in a picture of your pet labelled with the pets name, your name and the £1 entrance fee by Monday 4th July to our esteemed judge, Mrs Marvin. If your pet is small and will be happy to be in a pet carrier or their cage, an adult may bring them along to the Fair for everyone to admire, alongside the display of photos.
 
On the day
The day of the fair will be a non uniform day, please bring a donation of cakes, bottles or plants on this day rather than the usual £1.
 
You will need to collect your child from your child’s teacher as usual, I’m afraid they will not be able to attend the Fair without an adult.
 
Don’t forget to bring CASH on the day! The more change the better!!

To read this special edition newsletter, please click the link. View it as a Web page.

Please see the screenshots below of the first edition of our new Reading Round-up newsletter. You can read the whole newsletter as a PDF here.

I'm still glowing from the absolute joy of our music festival. What a glorious afternoon of song, solos and sunshine! Thank you to everyone who took part, helped in any way, or came and watched, danced and sang. Our school field became a remarkable cross between Glastonbury and Glyndebourne for an afternoon and I couldn't be happier or prouder. What an incredible depth of talent we have in our pupils and what a performance they put on. 

Thank you to Lucy Wilson for the photos, and once more to Mrs Dunn who conceived of the idea and brought it to its remarkable conclusion. If your children are inspired and would like to learn an instrument, please contact the school office. We have peripatetic teachers for piano, drums, guitar and woodwind. 

A big thank you and well done to the preschool pupils who have made a beautiful display for the shop window to advertise the South Zeal open gardens. 

On Wednesday, we went to Meeth Quarry for a wildlife champions day with all of the other schools. There were four activities that we did throughout the day.
​
Our first activity was The Deep and it showed us how deep animals lived and which zones they lived in underwater.

Our second activity was bushcraft where we used flint and steels to light little fires in tins and shells.

The third activity was water world and we had nets and trays and we had to find little bugs in the swamp. I found a dragonfly!

Our last activity of the day was a nature walk. We had nets and Petri dishes and we used our clip boards and paper to tick off the bugs we had found. We went on a walk and looked down to where they were digging in the quarry.

It was a really fun day and we’re looking forward to using some of the ideas back at school.

Jack Dennis, Y4.

Thanks to those of you who have already logged onto and filled in the Ofsted Parent View Survey. Please click here to access the survey if you have not already done so. Thank you. 

​We hope you all have had a restful half term. The last week flew by; it's hard to believe that we're now in the final half term of the academic year. 

We've begun to think about classes for September and thought you would like to know which teachers will be in each class. We are still finalising which classes our excellent teaching assistants will support in, but the class teachers for each class can be seen below:

YR Mrs Culverhouse
Y1 Miss Rowe
Y2 Mrs Dennis
Y3 Mrs Everett
Y4 Mrs Graham/Mr Wilkins
Y5 Mrs Leslie/Mrs Bonnett
Y6 Mrs Donovan

Mrs Dunn and Mrs Snell will continue cover classes to release teachers for PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time. On Thursday 30th June, all classes will have a transition morning and will spend the morning in their new classrooms with their new teachers and teaching assistants. Year 6 will spend the day at Okehampton College. On this morning, please could all children go directly to their new teachers when they arrive. Further information will follow soon. 

Please be advised that the following changes have been made to the school menu:
Week one : Wednesday: Roast Chicken
Week Two : Thursday : Main Macaroni Cheese , 
                                         Veggi Macaroni Cheese, 
                                         Salad, and Garlic bread 
                                         Dessert Jam and Coconut Sponge 
Week Three : Wednesday: Roast Chicken

We have a very busy half term ahead of us and thought it would be useful to give you some key dates. These will be added to and will appear in the newsletter each week.

14/06/2022 Dartmoor Cup Cricket Finals
15/06/2022 Wildlife Champions Conference
16/06/2022 Y4 Triple Row Walk
16/06/2022 Whole School Music Concert
20/06/2022 Y6 Residential to Jersey
27/06/2022 Y3 Visit to Kent's Cavern
28/06/2022 YR Visit to Paignton Zoo
29/06/2022 Y3/4 Performance 6pm
30/06/2022 Y6 Taster Day at Okehampton College
30/06/2022 While School Moving Up Transition Morning
01/07/2022 Y4 Visit to Rosemoor
07/07/2022 Sports' Day
08/07/2022 PTA Summer Fayre
19/07/2022 Y5/6 Performance 4pm
20/07/2022 Y5/6 Performance 2pm and 6pm

​Thank you for all of your bottle contributions. They have spurred us on to get planning a brilliant Summer Fair!! 
 
Come along to our virtual meeting this Monday 13th June at 8pm, where we will be planning the fair in more detail. We are a small, friendly bunch and would welcome anyone who would like to join us. If you would like to receive the link please email us at [email protected].

We are getting very excited about this year's Summer Fair. To make the Fair a success we need volunteers on the day to help us set up and run stalls. We understand everyone would also like to spend time at the Fair with their children so are planning on having short slots for people to help us. We also need some willing and able volunteers to help set up the stalls and man the BBQs. If anyone has a truck/trailer and is able to help collect the BBQs please get in touch. If you are able to help in any way please let us know at [email protected] 
 
We can’t run the fair without your kind donations! We will be asking for the following items the week before the fair. If you are planning a sort out please bear us in mind!
 
Pre loved books, games and toys
Pre loved soft toys
Nail polishes 
Bottles for the tombola 
 
On the day of the fair we would be very grateful for donations of cakes and plants. 
 
If anyone has or works for a business that is able to donate a raffle prize we would be very grateful. We understand that times are very tough for everyone, especially small businesses but would ensure any donations were well advertised. This could be anything from money off a meal, a haircut or other beauty treatments, a cake, to a free coffee. 
 
Thank you all so much for your ongoing support. We have raised a staggering amount of money this year so far and are always amazed by your generosity. Every penny goes straight back to our children to enrich the wonderful experiences they have at school.   
 
Ground Force Day Round 2!
Following the success of our ground force day we would like to spend another couple of hours finishing off some jobs, especially painting the wall which was painstakingly power washed! We will meet on Tuesday 28th June after school

The Get Ahead programme provides free online and interactive tutoring sessions with qualified teachers working across Bridgwater and Taunton College Trust.  We are here Monday to Thursday to help you catch up, keep up and get ahead with your learning.
Join us for extra learning opportunities in a variety of subjects and you will benefit from expert tuition covering essential curriculum knowledge and skills required for progress in the subjects. This is a fantastic opportunity to build your confidence, improve your understanding and raise your attainment.
All sessions are available to everyone. Whilst they are targeted towards specific year groups, you may join any session of any level, whether you want to go back over the basics, keep up with current schoolwork or to stretch yourself and get ahead with something new.             Click here for the timetable of sessions available this year.
Sessions are run online as live Microsoft Teams events and we encourage you to interact with us by typing your questions via the Q&A ‘chat’ feature.  All sessions are recorded and may be viewed at different times using the same links, although live interaction is not possible on recordings.  Please click here for more details on how to join a live session.
If you would like notifications to remind you of the session times, please download our app and sign up for the sessions you would like to attend.  We will send a reminder to your phone 15 minutes before a session starts. Click here for details about the Get Ahead app.
We look forward to you joining us this term.
The Get Ahead Team