Newsletter 9 Spring Term 2021

I couldn't resist starting this week's newsletter with a bumper gallery to celebrate the fact that the school is fully open again and the children are back. It has been so lovely to once more hear the hum of busy classrooms and to see the children outside playing with each other. I'd like to thank every pupil for making such a positive start to life back in school and I'm sure you'll all join me in keeping everything crossed that we have all seen our last period of school closures. There have been so many smiley faces this week; well done to all children and staff who have once again risen beautifully to the situation. 

World Book Day Displays

Wonderful World Book Day displays are springing up in classrooms and corridors and I have just ordered a large batch of photos to be printed to supplement these. If you have any World Book Day books nooks or other creations at home that your children are willing to share, please bring them in.

Lockdown Art Work Wanted

I have received the message below from the editor of the Moorlander newspaper. If you have any lockdown art work at home which you are willing to be displayed in the newspaper, please send photos to me or your child's teacher and we will send it to the editor.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am the editor of The Moorlander newspaper and am writing to you with a request. During this past lockdown I was, as many others were, home schooling my two primary aged children. One of my daughter’s lessons was to find an artist she liked the work of and either copy one of their paintings or produce her own ‘in the style of’ that artist.
Other children in her class uploaded their work onto the central online classroom and I was absolutely amazed at how good some of their artwork was. One teacher even questioned whether one painting was the original – it wasn’t!

So this has led me to reach out to you to invite you and your staff to choose some of their favourite pieces of artwork produced during this last lockdown and send it to me so that I may publish the best in the paper. This isn’t a competition, it’s simply to showcase the wonderful talent in our children across the area and perhaps give something back to those children who have coped so magnificently with the upheaval that COVID-19 has brought about.

I would very much like to help the children feel proud of themselves and what they’ve achieved, so please do consider taking part. Please send any work with the name of the school, name of the child and their age, to this email address.
I’m afraid I do have to put a fairly tight deadline on this, so please make sure you have sent your pieces by 5pm, Wednesday 24th March to make sure they can be included in the paper which will be out on sale on Friday 2nd April.

Thank you for your time and I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Laura White
Editor
[email protected]

Year 1 Small World Garden

Well done Archie and Reggie

Archie and Reggie Guscott and their family are going 'sugar free' for Lent. Mum, Lorraine, says, 'We have now been 3.5 weeks without a drop of sugar (except naturally occurring). We've been collecting sponsorship for the food banks. The boys have been amazing, I am so proud of them. We've cut out all the obvious things (cake, biscuit, sweets, chocolate) but also those foods with sneaked in sugars, tomato ketchup, all crisps except ready salted, most white breads, beans... The list is endless, shopping has been a challenge at times!'

The link to the 'gofundme' page is gf.me/u/zh49au if you would like to donate to this excellent cause? Every pound donated will also buy a ticket for a family Easter egg basket!  ​

PTA news

Second Hand Uniform
I've been asked  to add a reminder  about the second hand uniform which is for sale on the PTA Facebook page. All items are just £1 each and there are some fantastic bargains to be had.

Crisp packets
Dear all, 
The PTA will no longer be collecting crisp packets at school for the Terracycle recycling scheme.  
However, we would still love to encourage the recycling of crisp packets and suggest the following: 

- Tesco are starting to roll out collection points for soft plastic packaging, like crisp packets (also pet food pouches, bread bags etc), so hold on to your crisp packets until you are able to drop them off at your nearest Tesco collection point. 
- There is a Terracycle crisp packet collection point at the Co-Op in Moretonhampstead. 

We'll let you know if we hear of any other drop-off points that might be even more local. 

Many thanks
The PTA

Easter Trail
The PTA are planning an Easter Trail for children to do during the Easter holidays. Participating houses will display an Easter-themed decoration which will have within it a letter of the alphabet. The trail will involve walking around, spotting the decoration and writing down the letter that they find at each house. The letters will form part of an anagram which the children then have to solve.

We are asking for volunteers to make and then display these Easter decorations in your house window or garden, so long as it is clearly visible from the road.  You can decide how simple or complicated you make it – from a basic paper egg, to a full window display! If you would like to host a display, please email Katie Wright ([email protected]) with your address by Friday 19th March. The PTA will then contact you with the alphabet letter which you need to incorporate within your display.  Displays will need to be put up on Good Friday and remain for the whole of the Easter holidays.

Please note that by providing these details to the PTA you consent for them to print your address on the South Tawton PTA Easter Trail sheet, which will be sent home with children at the end of term. The trail will not include anybody's name and the addresses will only be used for the purposes of the trail. 

Roots and Shoots

Hello
We're a small community group based in Chagford that has received National Lottery Covid-19 Community Support funding to create arts and crafts packs (with online tuition by local craftspeople) to send out to children in Devon during these challenging times. 

https://rootsandshootschagford.org.uk/nature-nurture-programme/509-2/

We've attached a flier and were wondering whether you could let parents know about the project.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you need any further information.

Kind Regards

Anna and Bella

Year 6 Likes and Loves