Covid19 UpdateWe currently have one confirmed positive case of Covid19 in school. I’m happy to report that the individual has not been too unwell and is already feeling better. As you will be aware, schools are no longer required to take part in contact tracing; this is now done by NHS Test and Trace. We are closely following governmental advice which can be found here. All procedures and events in school are run in line with our risk assessment and contingency plan. Many children in school currently have symptoms of a heavy cold. As ever, if your child has a high temperature, a new continuous cough or a loss of taste or smell, please take them to a testing centre for a PCR test. Children with these symptoms should remain at home until a negative test result is received. However, their siblings may attend school as long as they themselves do not have any of the symptoms. Contacting SchoolAs you may remember, the staff email addresses changed during the summer term. Please could you use the email address admin@southtawton.org.uk or school gateway if you need to report that your child will be absent or to contact the office. Messages sent to the old email address (which does not have the .uk at the end) are no longer received. My email address is smarvin@dmatschools.org.uk On the subject of contact, please ensure that we have up to date contact details (phone numbers and emails) for your child. We need to have more than one point of each contact for each child and it is particularly useful to have details of a contact outside the family home. If for any reason you arrive at school when the gates are closed, please come up the ramp and ring the bell for the office. Please do not enter the school car park on foot or by car or block the entrance by parking in it. CLEAPSS PRIMARY SCIENCE CONSENT FOR THE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHSDear parents, We are very lucky to have developed a partnership with CLEAPSS Primary Science, who will be coming into school to work with some classes to trial investigative science activities. This will provide excellent enrichment in Science for the pupils. They would like consent to publish images of children or their work as detailed below. Permission to publish images of children or their work With more than 22,000 member primary schools nationwide, CLEAPSS is the nation’s leading advisory service for primary school practical work. As part of our commitment to ensuring high quality safe and exciting practical science, D&T and art we are currently trialling new resources and activities in your child’s school. The outcomes of this work will include journal articles, leaflets, other printable materials, and video clips available to our membership. These will be published on our password-protected website (www.cleapss.org.uk), and, possibly, in publicity materials and in the paper newsletter we send to schools. We are seeking permission to use photographs which include images of your child participating in educational practical work and/or copies of your child’s written materials. Such examples help bring our publications to life and play an important role in helping teachers visualise the activities we are describing. Note that we will never include the name of any individual child, and in most cases will not give the school name. If you are happy for us to include unnamed images of your child participating in school-based practical work in our publications please give consent through the payments section of your school gateway accounts. CLEAPSS has been supporting schools for over 50 years. It is a members-only, not-for-profit organisation restricted to educational establishments and suppliers, not the general public. By agreeing to let us use your child’s image and/or work you will be supporting the improvement of science, D&T and art in schools across the country. Thank you for your help. Steve Jones Director Thank you to all those of you who have already recorded your consent. If you have not yet done so, please could you give consent through the payments section of your school gateway accounts. There is no charge for this. Little Beacons PreschoolYou should all have received an email on Friday about a consultation meeting about the proposal to build a new preschool building on the school site. The meeting is on Thursday 30th at 3:45 and further details can be found here. We currently have a vacancy for a new teacher to lead our preschool. If you or anyone you know may be interested in this lovely opportunity, please find further details and an application form here. Drum LessonsWe're delighted that Ben Waring from Devon Drum School will soon be offering drumming lessons at South Tawton Primary. For further information and to contact Ben, please click here. Message from the Immunisation TeamDear parents and carers, We have had an unprecedented demand for our early community Flu vaccination clinics and these early clinics are now full. Most children and young people will be vaccinated in school as in other years and we will be visiting schools from now until January 2022. We will be arranging further community clinics for children who are clinically vulnerable or who have missed their immunisation in the school setting. As soon as we have more clinics available to book into we will send out further information to you, in the meantime please do not call into the Single Point of Access (SPA) to book a community clinic appointment. Thank you for your understanding and we will be in contact with you again as soon as there is an update. Best wishes Immunisation Team PTA NewsWe held our AGM this week and thank you to Liz Davidson and Hannah Passmore for taking on the role of Joint Chair. Plus a massive thanks to outgoing Chair Katie Wright for all her input and efforts over the past few years. We'd also like to send a huge thank you to all PTA supporters for their amazing contribution towards fundraising events over the past year. We raised over £8000 which is the highest total we've ever achieved, and that is despite Covid restrictions, home-school and many of our regular in-person events not being possible. Fantastic! In this new school year, we have already agreed to spend some of the money raised on 15 new Chromebooks at a cost of over £2200. We hope that you are able to continue to support us this coming year and can announce two fundraisers this term: - Non-uniform day Friday 22nd October for £1 donation per child. - An Autumn Safari Trail. Similar to previous Autumn and Easter trails, trail sheets will go on sale ahead of the half-term holiday, more details to follow... - This weekend is also the deadline for those who wish to sign-up to or renew their 100 Club membership - see below. PTA 100 Club - New Members Needed!
If anybody would like to join this year's 100 Club, there is still time and there are plenty of numbers left. For the cost of £12 a year i.e. £1 per month, members are allocated a number between 1-100 that is entered into a monthly draw with three cash prizes to be won. The more members of the 100 Club, the higher the cash prizes and the greater the money raised for PTA funds. The Club is open to all parents, grandparents, carers, staff and friends of the School in the wider community. If you would like to join the 100 Club, please complete the sign up form attached to this newsletter and then email the completed form to marymacmillanscott@gmail.com. The £12 annual subscription fee should be paid by direct bank transfer to the PTA bank account, details of which can be found on the sign up form. The first draw is due to be carried out at School at the end of September, so please can all subscriptions be paid as soon as possible. A big thank you in advance for your support of our School's PTA. The sign up form can be found here Dear Stakeholder,
Proposal to build a 30 place nursery unit for Little Beacons at South Tawton Primary School We are writing to let you know that we are in the process of preparing a planning application for the construction of a nursery unit within the grounds of our primary school. Before submitting our application, we would like to invite you to a drop-in session at the school to explain our proposal in more detail and share our plans with you. We have linked a brief document explaining the rationale for this proposal, but if you have further questions, there will be an opportunity for you to ask these at the drop-in session. The drop in session for stakeholders has been arranged on: 30th September from 3:45 – 6:00pm South Tawton Primary School Hall Visitors and interested parties can drop in at any point during the session to view the plans and to ask questions. More information and initial pictures can be found here. We look forward to hearing your views. Yours sincerely, Sarah Marvin and Shirley Culverhouse The Autumn Term is now in full swing. Beautiful displays of children's work are appearing around the school and singing and laughter is frequently heard across the site. The new year R children had their first experience of getting changed for PE and managed brilliantly. Year 1 are studying the human body in science, year 2 made music and year 3 found a dragon's egg on the school field. Have a look at the class blog pages for more details and photos and to learn what the older children have been doing this week as well. in other news, we still have some copies of our amazing Lockdown Recipe Book for sale. If you would like to purchase one of these, please contact the office on 01837 840242 or email admin@southtawton.org.uk Medicines in School We are only able to administer medicines to children in school if we have a signed form from parents or guardians requesting that we do so. The form can be found in the Parents section of the newsletter here. If you need your child to receive medicine during the school day, please ensure that you fill in and bring in the form with the medicine. Uniform On the whole, the children are looking extremely smart and are all in correct uniform. However, there are one or two children wearing jumpers that are not navy and some shoes that are not black. Similarly, in P.E. lessons, whilst the vast majority of children are wearing white T-shirts with black or navy shorts, one or two are really standing out in coloured T-shirts. Please help your child to feel a part of their class groups and the school by following the uniform guidelines. Harvest FestivalThis year, for our Harvest Festival, we will be supporting Okehampton Foodbank. Donation collection days will be announced soon. Please find below a list of what is needed to help those in need. Any questions, please email mchalcraft@southtawton.org.uk Thank you. At this time the Okehampton foodbank particularly welcome donations of long-life milk, tinned tomatoes, tinned meat, tinned rice pudding. Other really helpful donations are as follows: (sealed please; not opened)
School MealsWe encourage all children to have a healthy and nutritional meal at lunchtime and a snack during morning break. Research shows that children who have a nutritionally balanced meal (rather than one that has too much sugar and fat) are better able to concentrate in lessons. We also encourage children to keep hydrated during the school day, preferably with water or other drinks without additives or added sugar. All meals prepared at a maintained school must comply with the government Standards for school food in England. Free school meals All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 at state schools in England automatically get free school meals. However, parents and guardians are encouraged to apply for free school meals when they enrol their child in school, as this can help their child’s school to attract additional ‘pupil premium‘ funding to support learning. From year 3 onwards, children whose parents are getting any of the following are entitled to free school meals:
How to apply Apply through the Devon Citizens Portal. This is the quickest and easiest way to apply and will result in you getting an instant decision. Alternatively, call the Education Helpline on 0345 155 1019. If you think you may be eligible for free school meals, please apply even if your child is in years R, 1 or 2. Breakfast Club now open on Fridays
PTA AGMThe PTA raised over £8000 last year and this money goes towards paying for equipment and events to enhance our children's school experience. We couldn't do this without your help and support! The PTA are having their AGM on Monday 20th September at 8pm. This will be held virtually on Zoom so if you would like to attend, please email southtawtonpta@gmail.com and we will send you the link. Please come along as we can't run without your support! Also, Katie will be standing down as chair so, if anyone is interested in becoming chair or a general volunteer, please do get in touch for for more information! Thank you Hannah Healthy Start Scheme – for eligible families with children under 4 and pregnant women Get a Healthy Start! - scheme for eligible families with children under 4 and pregnant women Devon Public Health are running a promotional initiative to raise awareness of the government’s national Healthy Start scheme, which provides eligible pregnant women and families with children under 4 with financial support towards fruit & veg, pulses, cows’ milk, and infant formula, as well as free vitamins. The Get a Healthy Start! promotion will provide the following, for FREE to eligible residents in the Devon County Council area: Box of seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables; booklet containing recipes, information on Healthy Start, and signposting; Healthy Start vitamins; fun 10 minute shake-up games for children; breastfeeding support information. Boxes can be ordered directly by families themselves from devon.cc/getahealthystart and will be delivered in October. Eligibility will be assessed by the sign-up form. More information about the initiative, including eligibility and how to order can be found here or in the attached document. Orders are being taken until 24th September or until all boxes are allocated. Only 50% of eligible families currently receive Healthy Start – please promote and share this information with families to help more get the support they are entitled to! For any enquiries please contact Ruby (ruby.entwistle@devon.gov.uk) or Harriet (harriet.kretowicz@devon.gov.uk) in the Public Health Team Okehampton LibraryThe LIBRARY
It’s easy and free to use your library You can borrow books, take part in activities and use our computers or Wi-Fi. It's free to become a member of the library, either join online or by visiting staff in the library. · A huge range of stories from the classics through to popular series, the latest bestsellers, and graphic novels within our Junior and Teen library. · Easy Reads for children learning or struggling to read. · Information books to help with learning, homework and hobbies/interests · All of these books are free to borrow and reserving of stock is free for children. · We have stories on CD's which are free to borrow and films and TV programmes on DVD which may be hired by adults. Our online resources We have a range of free resources that all library members can access online: · A large selection of eBooks to download or stream on Libby. Ranging from junior ‘beginner reads’ for children learning through to read to teen reads. · A range of eAudiobooks to download or stream via BorrowBox and Libby. · A selection of eMagazines and eNewspapers are available on Libby · Online reference resources at Devon Libraries. Book Amnesty 8 September – 8 October Got an overdue book on your conscience? 📚 Couldn't face returning that DVD after losing it down the back of the sofa three years ago? Return your horribly overdue items to your library during our Book Amnesty, and your fine will be waived, no questions asked Saturday 2nd October ~ Okehampton Fun Palace 09:30-12:00 Fun Palaces is a national campaign to put culture in the heart of local communities. It is an annual weekend of action - arts, science, craft, tech, digital, heritage and sports. We are offering a creative community morning of free taster activities. If you would like to take part, sharing a skill or learning a new one, please contact Okehampton Library. Current activities include ukulele and patchwork. For more info about Fun Palaces visit their website. funpalaces.co.uk For more information from the library, please click here. Welcome Back!What a lovely first week it's been! I'm so proud of all of our children and staff for the fantastic, positive start made to the new academic year. Walking around the classes on Wednesday morning, it was hard to believe that it was only the first morning. Everyone has settled straight back into routines and all of our new starters seem to have adapted immediately to the new structures and challenges. Highlights for me were the Wednesday playtimes where the children could mix with other year groups for the first time since March 2019. There was a lot of hugging! It was also so special to have most classes together in the hall for our celebration assembly on Friday. Thank you to everyone for ensuring such a smooth and positive start to the year. New StartersAlongside all the new children in year R and other age groups, we're also delighted to welcome some new staff. Lindsey Graham will be teaching in Y4 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Kellie Budworth has made a big change to her preschool role and accepted a full-time position as teaching assistant in Y6. (A very big thank you to Sharon Cooper who has agreed to cover Kellie's hours at preschool while we recruit to fill the preschool role.) Kayleigh Anderson has joined us as a teaching assistant in YR. Safeguarding at South TawtonNeed someone to talk to? At South Tawton Primary School, pupils and parents can talk to any adult about anything that is worrying them. However, there are three adults who have special responsibility for safeguarding. Sarah Marvin is designated safeguarding lead, Shirley Culverhouse and Peggy Chalcraft are deputy designated safe-guarding leads. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns. More information can be found on our safeguarding pages here. Did you know?More information and photos about what is happening in each class each week can be found in the class blog pages on our website. The website also contains information about the curriculum, our policies, term dates and much more. If you need any information which you can't find, please let us know. School Gateway School gateway accounts should now be set up for all pupils. If you haven't yet registered for an account, please click here. Your gateway account should show meal bookings, clubs and any payments. If you are having any trouble with your account, please let us know. After-School ClubsWe are in the process of planning after school clubs and these will begin in a few weeks time. We are very proud of our offer which provisionally has the following clubs (but may be subject to small changes.) When club bookings are available for your child, you will receive an email inviting you to book through your gateway accounts. Many of the clubs will run for three weeks before and three weeks after half term and start in the week beginning 4th October. I am, as ever, enormously grateful to our staff who provide these clubs voluntarily and in their own time. Please note that the SAINTs SW clubs are payable and bookable through their site.
Railway SafetyWith the new railway line between Okehampton and Exeter opening soon, please click here to read an important safety letter from Network Rail. PTA Summer NewsletterPlease click here to read the latest newsletter from our wonderful PTA. PTA 100 ClubThe PTA will once again be running the 100 Club this school year.
For anyone not aware of what the 100 Club is, for the cost of £12 a year i.e. £1 per month, members are allocated a number between 1-100 that is entered into a monthly draw with three cash prizes to be won. The more members of the 100 Club, the higher the cash prizes and the greater the money raised for PTA funds. The Club is open to all parents, grandparents, carers, staff and friends of the School in the wider community. If you would like to join the 100 Club, please complete the sign up form attached to this newsletter and then email the completed form to marymacmillanscott@gmail.com. Please can the £12 annual subscription fee be paid by direct bank transfer to the PTA bank account, details of which are:- Bank: Nat West Account Name: Friends of South Tawton County Primary School Account number: 24427764 Sort Code: 54-21-14 Reference: Please state your name Please ensure when paying that you put your name as a reference. Please could existing members who are renewing their membership also email marymacmillanscott@gmail.com with confirmation they wish to continue their membership. If anyone is unable to pay their subscription by direct bank transfer, please email marymacmillanscott@gmail.com who will be able to assist. The first draw will be carried out at School at the end of September, so please can all subscriptions be paid no later than Friday 24 September. Please click here for sign-up form. Please click here for 100 Club rules. Thank you in advance for your support. Dear parents,
I hope you've all had a thoroughly lovely and healthy summer. We are looking forward to welcoming all children back to school on Wednesday 8th September. This year, we will not be staggering arrival and departure times, so arrival will be at 8:40 and departure at 3:30 for all children. Please help us to keep everyone safe by trying to limit crowding as far as possible and leaving the lane as soon as you have dropped your child off or collected them. We will not be using the entrance through the car park this year, so years 3,4 and 5 will all enter the playground through the gate off the lane. The staff and I will be outside on Wednesday morning to welcome everyone and show them where to go. Bookings for breakfast club and the school bus are now live but may not yet show for children in Year R or new starters. On Monday and Tuesday, we will be ensuring that all new starters are fully enrolled and school gateway accounts set up. We shall also ensure that lunch bookings can be made. The menu will be the same as last term and can be found in the Parent Information section of the website or by clicking the following link: https://www.southtawton.co.uk/uploads/8/0/6/1/80615962/south_tawton_primary_menu__autumn_2021.pdf Uniform guidelines remain unchanged and can be found here: https://www.southtawton.co.uk/parent-information-hub.html Please particularly note that shoes should be plain black and jewellery other than plain ear studs should not be worn. Hair dye and any make-up or nail varnish are also not permitted. The Covid19 risk assessment has been updated and can be found on the website here: https://www.southtawton.co.uk/uploads/8/0/6/1/80615962/stps_covid-19_risk_assessment_september_2021.pdf If your child shows any symptoms of Covid19, please do not send them to school. They will need to take a PCR test https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test and receive a negative result before they can come back to school. All staff will be in school on Monday and Tuesday for training and to prepare to welcome the children on Wednesday. If you have any questions about starting back or require any help, please do get in touch by emailing me on smarvin@dmatschools.org.uk, the office on admin@southtawton.org.uk or by ringing 01837 840242 on Monday or Tuesday. Enjoy the lovely weather this weekend, Best wishes, Sarah Marvin |
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