MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR
The Autumn Term has drawn to a close and we have nothing but admiration for the way the children have embraced and adapted to all changes. It's not been the easiest of terms, but there's been plenty to enjoy every day and excellent academic progress has been made in all classes too. Thank you to all families for all the support and encouragement you have given; I know that the staff will also wish to join me in thanking you for all the lovely Christmas gifts and cards.  Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year however you celebrate and here's to a safe and less complicated 2021!

As we approached the end of term, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to go to church for our annual Christingle service. The school hall was also not an option due to needing to maintain distance between class bubbles. Not daunted, we decided to hold an outdoor service on the playground on Friday morning. By Wednesday, it was obvious that the weather on Friday was very much against us, so we changed plans again and brought the service forward to Thursday. The whole school gathered in their bubbles on the playground for whole-school carol singing and readings from the year 6 pupils. Rev Mark also joined us and gave a short address. All the children then returned to their classrooms for the lighting of their Christingles and to sing Away in a Manger. The classes were all connected via a TEAMs meeting so they could see each other on the interactive screens in their classrooms. It was a very different service but very special and the unaccompanied singing of carols on the playground was particularly beautiful.

Our traditional KS1 nativity performance was another event which we refused to let Covid take away, so we had to adapt to the changes. Years R, 1 and 2 put on a spectacular show of Behind the Stable door which was shown to the KS2 children across two afternoons and recorded for parents to watch at home. Well done to all the children and staff for such a wonderful production. 

What's on at Okehampton Library?
Okehampton library will be open and holding some lovely events during the Christmas period:
Click here to find out more.

Support for Families experiencing financial hardship over Christmas period
A COVID Winter Grant Fund has been made available to local authorities and district councils to support families experiencing financial hardship over the 2020-21 winter. Children eligible for free school meals have been  issued with food vouchers and district councils are able to support families through their hardship grants. In addition, Early Help will be able to help families with a grant of up to £100 per family to support them to buy food and pay utility bills over the winter.

If you are experiencing financial hardship this winter, then please contact Early Help to receive this and other financial support to improve the situation. Hardship does not need to be COVID related or recently acquired.

The criteria set by Early Help is as follows:

• You are a family (at least 2 people where at least 1 person is either pre-birth or up to 18 yrs old)
• You are not eligible for hardship grant funding through your district council or you have not yet applied
• You are experiencing financial hardship linked to or independent of COVID (e.g. unemployed, furloughed, being made redundant)
• You need financial help to pay utility bills or buy food and essential items for your family

You can contact Early Help by contacting the following mailbox:
Southern Devon: [email protected] 

Food Bank Collections
A very big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the foodbank collections. These will now be dropped off at Okehampton foodbank. If you would still like to donate to the foodbank, there is a collection point at Co-op in Okehampton.

A message from the Three Hares Governors
The Local Academy Committee governors would like to wish all children, parents and staff a very happy, safe, joyful and peaceful festive break.  We would also like to thank all the staff for their extraordinary efforts to keep the schools as safe as possible.  Behind the scenes, they have been working under extreme pressure to ensure the children have been able to experience school life as normally as possible, and have had to respond quickly and efficiently when cases of Covid-19 have arisen.  Our thanks also go to parents and carers, who have worked with the schools so willingly to comply with the various measures that have been put in place to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.  Have a wonderful Christmas, and we look forward to continuing our work with each of the Three Hares schools in the new year. 
With our very best wishes, 
Three Hares Local Academy Committee governors   ​
​

A huge congratulations to everyone for making the fundraisers this term such a success despite the difficult circumstances. 

We've had great feedback about the Lockdown Recipe Collection, autumn trail, online wreath-making class, Christmas activity packs and the virtual balloon race. 

These fundraisers together with the Waitrose hamper raffle and non-uniform day have raised well over £3000 - a truly amazing achievement - thank you!!

Congratulations to Elsie in Year R who won the delicious hamper of Waitrose goodies. 

We will be in touch in the new year with details as to how this money will be given back to the school to benefit the children.

If anyone has some new fundraising ideas for 2021 then please let us know. 

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the PTA team! 

Please see link below for parents to book back onto the extracurricular  football clubs in the Spring Term.

KS1 After School Club; https://saints-southwest.class4kids.co.uk/info/506
KS2 After School Club; https://saints-southwest.class4kids.co.uk/info/515

I wanted to thank you all so much for supporting our Lockdown Recipe Book so well! The feedback has been incredible! A huge thank you to Sue and family at Sticklepath Stores for selling over 10 copies for us too! We have sold 187 copies making a profit of over £720 (so far) for the school.  Huge festive & foodie thanks, Peggy Chalcraft

Santa Dash
The children fully embraced the challenges of rain, sunshine, mud and tarmac to take part in our Santa Dash today. There were Christmas jumpers, Santa hats, baubles, bells, antlers  and tinsel and we all enjoyed some lovely, festive activity. If you'd like to join in the Santa Selfie competition, please click here.

What's On Next Week?
On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, KS1 will be presenting their wonderful festive performance to the children in KS2. Two classes will view it each afternoon to ensure that we can maintain social distancing. The performance will be recorded and made available to parents later in the week.

Wednesday 16th December will be our Christmas dinner and Christmas jumper day. Please let us know if you have not yet ordered a dinner for your child, but want one so that we can adjust our numbers accordingly.

On Friday morning, we we hold our annual Christingle service. Unfortunately, we will not be able to visit the church as usual, but will do our best to maintain some important South Tawton traditions by sharing some carols and readings and lighting the Christingle candles. We will use TEAMs to help each class to see the others and feel part of a whole school celebration. 

Friday will be the last day of school before the Christmas holidays.

More information from Devon County Council can be found here.

Waitrose Hamper PTA raffle
Waitrose have kindly donated a wonderful Christmas hamper to the school. This is presented in a lovely wooden box and includes biscuits, chocolates, mince pies etc. The PTA are selling raffle tickets to win this hamper for £1 a strip. Children can give the money to their teacher who will then give them the raffle tickets. The raffle will be held during the school Christmas Dinner on Wednesday 16th December. ​

Three Hares Update
Please click here or visit the Three Hares blog to read an update from Mrs Underwood.

Virtual Balloon Race
The report from eco racing has been received and we are very proud to announce the winners of our first virtual balloon race!

1st Carolyn George - King Louie - 227.5 km
2nd Beth Burton - Go go Bobby - 206.2 km
3rd Louise Watts - Matthew - 193.1 km

We will be in touch to arrange your prizes getting to you!

The overall winner travelled 335.7km having travelled over Wales and into the Irish Sea (where it popped!)
The distribution of balloons is fascinating and a great reason for making balloon races virtual rather than spreading plastic waste so far and wide

Thank you so much for your support

​Virtual Festive Family Activity Challenge HO, HO, HO! Active Devon and the Devon School Games Organisers are hosting a FREE Virtual Festive Family Activity Challenge. The challenge will open at 10.00am on Monday 14th December 2020 and will close at 10.00am on Monday 4th January 2021. Taking part in this fun challenge is a great way to keep your family active, moving and motivated over the festive season. This will help towards the whole family feeling happier and healthier. The main challenge is made up of three separate challenges: the 7 Days Challenge; 14 Days Challenge or 21 Days Challenge. As a family you can choose which one you would like to do. Plus, which Certificate Award you would like to go for, either Bronze, Silver or Gold, For full details or watch the promotion video here: https://www.activedevon.org/festivefamily-activity-challenge/
​

On Friday 11th December, we shall be teaming up with OCRA to have a Santa Dash for all classes. It definitely feels like time for some festive fun this year, so we invite all children to dress up as Santa or to come to school in their Christmas jumpers and most festive clothes. Look out for some special photos in next week's newsletter. There is no charge for this non-uniform event. 

Please don't feel you have to buy a Santa suit or other Christmas outfit - add some tinsels and baubles to existing clothes if necessary. 

On the subject of baubles, we have many, many boxes of these in school. If you would like some or know someone who would, please let me know!

Please also see the information below about a photography competition. 

The packs cost £3 - please put the money in a clearly marked envelope, and ask your children to give them to their teachers. They will then be given a pack to take home and enjoy!

I'm very happy to tell you that Year 6 have now finished their period of self-isolation and will be back in school tomorrow morning. Happily, we have not had any further cases in this or any other year group. Year 6 have worked hard from home whilst they've been off and you can see some lovely examples of their work on the year 6 blog here.

The other staff who have been isolating and I will also be very happy to be back in the morning and we are all hopeful for a lovely couple of weeks run up to Christmas and the end of term.

We will be having our Christmas dinner and Christmas jumper day on Wednesday 16th. More information on how to book a Christmas meal will be emailed out this week.

Free School Meals over the Christmas Holidays
DCC have now put in place arrangements to provide supermarket vouchers to nearly 15,000 children across Devon who currently receive free school meals, to help their families buy groceries over the Christmas holidays.

They have asked me to share the message below which is relevant to families in receipt of free school meals, but not those in years R,1 and 2 who receive universal infant free school meals. 
 
We don’t want anyone to miss out on this vital support so we are asking for your help in ensuring  parents and carers know about the scheme and ensure they look out for a letter or email from us next week for details about how to access their vouchers or an alternative food box.  Further details are provided below:
 
From Tuesday 8 December we will be sending a unique code per child to all families known to the Local Authority, that are currently in receipt of Free School Meals.  The LA will provide every school with a list of all their students that are being issued a voucher early next week via Anycomms.  If there are children not on this list that the school know to be receiving free school meals, please will you notify the free school meals team immediately by emailing them at  [email protected]. Each code can be used once on a website called ‘Hawk Select’ to redeem vouchers to the value of £30 per child (£15 per week for the two weeks of school holidays) for Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrison’s, Asda, M&S Food and Waitrose.
 
The website requires families to provide an email address for the vouchers to be sent to once they have chosen their preferred supermarket. When received, they can save the vouchers to their phone or tablet to use online (depending on the supermarket) or show at the checkout in store. Alternatively, they can print the vouchers off to give to the cashier.
 
We are conscious that a few parents may not have access to the internet or a mobile device to receive and store the vouchers on and so we are hoping that, in these exceptional cases, schools will be prepared to complete the process for the parents on the Hawk Select website and print off the vouchers for them. Parents will need to provide the school with their unique code in order for you to redeem the voucher on the Hawk Select website on their behalf.
 
Our education helpline is available on 0345 155 1019 for any questions about the distribution of the unique codes, and can be used by schools or parents. There are also some useful FAQs on the Hawk Select website along with contact details for any technical support about using the codes and vouchers.
I will share with you a copy of the letter we will be sending to parents next week for your information, as it also provides details about the vouchers and an alternative food box should they not be able to access the supermarkets listed.
In addition to the letter, we also have information about the scheme on our website.
 
If you think a child may now be eligible for free school meals due to a recent change in their family’s circumstances, please help us ensure they can access this holiday voucher support over Christmas by encouraging them to apply online through the Devon Citizen’s Portal to check if they are eligible as soon as possible. This is the quickest and easiest way for their eligibility to be assessed and they will get an instant decision.  Alternatively, they can call our education helpline on 0345 155 1019.  To ensure that they receive the free school meals holiday vouchers for this Christmas period they must apply by Friday 18 December 2020.
 
We would be grateful for your help in promoting the scheme to parents and carers as soon as possible, so they know to look out for our detailed letter or email next week, and please direct them to our website if they have any questions in the meantime. 
 
Finally, if you are aware of a family who are worrying about money and struggling to pay for basic household essentials, please let them know that they can also apply for help through funding that we have made available via the District Council hardship funds. There’s more about what financial and food support is available for families in Devon on our website. ​

PTA News
Bag2School: 
Thank you to all those who had a chance to clear out cupboards and wardrobes. We collected 320kgs worth of unwanted clothes and textiles which converted to £96 for PTA funds! 

As it was so successful, we plan to do another collection again next year but will aim to get a later collection time (drop off by 9am was difficult for some) and have the collection point somewhere else in the village that is more accessible. 

Virtual Balloon Race:
A huge thanks for making this race such a success! 148 balloons were purchased for our cause which has raised £444! 

The balloons were virtually launched from Harrods on 1 December and the race will finish at midday on Tuesday. At first the balloons travelled south of London to Crawley before heading west to Lyme Bay and are now near Glastonbury, some having travelled nearly 200km!

We will announce the 3 winning balloons mid week. 

Cinderella Pantomime:
The PTA have paid for a 'virtual pantomime' of Cinderella as a Christmas treat for the children. This will be screened in classes during the last week of term.