Thank you!
Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding this week as we have dealt with a confluence of staff sickness and staff training days leading to some issues. On eof the biggest impactors has been the absence of our brilliant administrator, Elaine, who has been poorly at home for the last few days. We've certainly learned how hard she works and the myriad little things she does to keep the school open and operating effectively. Fingers crossed she'll be well enough to return on Monday.

A handful of the staff absences have been down to covid but by no means all. We've had a tummy bug going around which has effected staff as well as children and some staff have been attending necessary first aid training which ensures we can keep the children safe. It has been a challenging week but we have got through it with our smiles intact and with gratitude that it didn't happen last week when we needed all hands on deck to work on our wonderful show! The children have impressed me with their resilience and flexibility as they ahve behaved well for the supply teachers and other staff working with them. Change is not always easy for children and they have shown themselves well.

We are hoping very much that things will be back to normal on Monday.;

​We very much hope that you can join us for our School Summer Fayre next Friday after school. There will be games, stalls, music and refreshments on offer plus a special grand finale that may involve some teachers getting a bit soggy!

The PTFA are looking for donations of chocolates, bottles, jars, gifts etc for the ever popular Tombola. Items can be left in the box in school reception or The Fat Mouse Dairy. Thank you!

Rainbow Day
To add to the fun of next Friday, as well as the Summer fayre, we will be holding our first Chagford Primary School 'Rainbow Day'. Children in every calss in the school will be sharing books and taking part in activities to help us celebrate the wonderful diversity of the world and trhe people in it. Big people and small people. People of different races, reliions and philosophies. People with all manner of family shapes and sizes. People who are good at different things or face different challenges. People of different genders and sexualities. Each calss will approach the thme of diversity at a level which is appropraite to their own stage of development, the day will be fun and celebratory.
Children are invioted to wear bringht colours to represent the breadth of the rainbow.
We will have a special 'Rainbow Assembly' at the end of the day to celebrate what the children have done in class. parents are welcome to join us for this assembly if they would like to - just come to reception at twenty to three to get signed in before the assembly starts at ten to. The assembly will finish in good time for us all to be prepared for the Summer Fayre.

NITS NITS NITS
Yes, I'm sorry but it's that message again.
There's been a definite uptick in the number of children with headlice and nits in the school. Not just in one class alas.
Do check your children, comb through with a drop of conditioner on the comb. Use tea tree shampoo. Buy the nasty stuff from the chemist or go the whole hog and give them a buzz cut. IU remember from my years spent as a child how itchy, unpleasant and shaming the whole nit thing was so do please have a check and take some action if needed.

School Dinner Bookings
Thank you to everyone who is booking those school meals in advance. Letting us know what your child is having - whether it's a lunch packed at home or one of our options - really speeds up and streamlines the process for us meaning the kitchen staff can get going quicker and cook with less waste.
If you are stil struggling to get your head around the app pop in and ask Elaine for help - she'll be glad to give assistance.
We are very nearly there with only a very small proportion of children now not having a preference booked in advance. It would be great to get that to zero by the end of term.

Sports Day
As we said last week, Sports Day will be Friday 15th. There will be an event for the younger children in the morning and a sepearate event for the older children in the afternoon before all the children come together for the finale including the famous Year Six Spectacular. Parents are welocme to attend the morning, the afternoon or both. 
We would be enorously grateful for the loan of gazebos and event shelters so we can keep the children in the shade if the weather is hot.

Leavers' Assembly
Parents, carers, grandparents and all associated well wishers are very welcome to join us for the Year Six's Leavers Assembly at 10:30 on Friday 22nd July at the church of St Michael the Archangel in  Chagford. There will be songs, poems and a great graduation ceremony and a team including some of our own Year Six children will ring the bells in celebration. We do hope that some of you will be able to make it along. It will no doubt be a very special and moving occasion.  This is especially lovely as some of our year six pupils have been learning bell ringing in the tower at St Michael's this year and this will be a great opportunity for them to showcase what they have learned to their classmates. Well done!

Affordable Housing Survey
Do you live in Chagford, Throwleigh, Gidleigh and Drewsteignton Villages? Are you being priced out of your local housing market?


A high-quality and affordably priced community housing scheme is being brought forward on land at Lamb Park, Chagford - which is allocated for development in the Dartmoor Local Plan.


We have been commissioned to undertake an independent Housing Needs Survey, working with residents to determine the requirement for affordable housing in the area.


Please complete the survey online by 24th July 2022: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ChagfordHNS


All information will remain confidential.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Our production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was an absoolute joy from beginning to end. Parents, aunties, uncles, grandmothers and gramdfathers, friends of the family anf friends of the community thronged the school to see every child from Reception to Year Six performing on stage.
The weather was kinder than we had feared it might be and the first two shows went ahead in the amphitheatre - the big friday night show started off with all of us crammed into the hall as rain fell outside - and the children made an incredible effort in flexibility and resilience to adjust to that change - but then the sun came out and by the interval we decided we could safely head down to the amphitheatre to show off the play as we had intended it to be seen.

Our children had not had the opportunity to do anything like this for two and a half years so there was enormous weight for all of us watching this happen - to me school just isn't three dimentional if we can't fully embrace our community through the arts, performance and community involvement. This felt like a wonderful reset putting the school back in touch with what really, really matters.

Putting on a show isn't just about the fun of performance - it's about so much more. The children, especially the leads from Years Five and SIx, worked incredibly hard over several weeks and had to learn a lot about their responsibility to the each other and the shared respoinsibility of making sure the story is told. Lydia and Crispin worked many hours with them to help them reach the point where they could wow us all -natural talent is one thing but it has to be worked, hardnessed and guided and we owe a huge tdebt of thanks to Lydia and Crispin for helping the children to find out what they were capable of.
​
So many people from the community worked together on the show that it is impossible to thank them all here in this space. Crispin who wriote the adaptation for the children and who rehearsed the cast, Lydia who directed, Ben who played a hundred roles in the background including strimming the performance area with Chris, Phillipa who was amazing and coordinated costumes as well as making Titania's astonish costume, Izzy who dressed the stage and made Titania's head dress, eveyone who turned out at the weekend to sew and glue, mthe team who built our maypole, Ione for the stunning Oberon costume, Todd for the brilliant puppertry workshop, Elaine for all the work in the office getting permissions and selling tickets and more, the PTFA who sold snacks and drinks - I genuinely could go on much longer. If I have missed you out please know how hugely grateful we are.

At the start of this year we redefined our school's values settling on 'Community, Challenge and Care' - I like to think that all three of those values were clearly on display in our schow but it's especially true that Community was writ large. It made me very proiud to be the principal of this school so thank you to every one of you. Do enjoy the slideshow below which includes photos from Chris Evans, Lucy Loveday and more. I will add to it as more photos come in so if you have a good photo of a moment that isn't captured below please email it to me and I'll pop it on.

Covid
Please be aware that we currently seem to be having an uptick in hte number of covid cases in the school. We currently have four members of staff isolating at home after positive tests. This is not enough to have a major impact on the running of the shool but reminds us to take hadnwashing and ventilation seriously and to leave a little room between ourselves and others. If you have symptoms associated with v=covid or feel that your children may be infected it would be wise to take a test if you can. We are advsing those who test positive to isolate for five days before returning to work if they feel well enough.

Summer Fayre
The PTFA will be running a Summer Fayre directly after school on Friday 8th July. There will be refreshments, entertainment from the smaba band and, hopefully, a mass rendition of the Chagford Show song from last week's production. There will be some games to play and a chance to buy raffle tickets. If we have enough volunteers we might also have the second hand uniform stall out. The grand finale may well be a huge soak the teacher frenzy - depends if we can get some teachers to sign up! We hope to see you there.

Leavers' Service
Our leavers service will take place in the church of St Michael the Archangel in the morning on Friday 22nd July - the last day of term. We hope to start a little after 10:30 and we will be done by 11:30. parents, carers and supporters of children in Year Six are warmly welcomeed to come along to celebrate their children's time at Chagford Primary and to mark their 'graduation' onwards to even greater things.

Sports Day
Parents are very welocme to attend our Sports Day on Friday 15th July. We will have a Key Stage One only sports event in the morning and a seperate Key Stage Two event in the afternoon before we welcome the younger children back out at the end of the day to join in the grand finale - not forgetting the Year Six Spectacular. Parents are welcome to come for the Key Stage One Event, The Key Stage Two Event or both. There will be a break between the two events.

Key Stage One event 9:30 till 11:30
Key Stage Two Event 1:30 till 2:45
Grand Finale 3:00 p.m. till 3:25

After last year's baking heat, we would be very grateful indeed for the loan of any gazebos or event shelters so children can sit in the shade when they aren't competing.

Government Assistance with the Cost of Living
The Department for Education have sent this through, please click on the link below to find out what government help there is available currently.   
​The government has now announced ‘cost of living support’ and any families struggling can contact their relevant LA. Parents and families can see what support is available, including information on the HAF programme, on the link that can be found here

After School Art Club in Moretonhampstead.

Ages – 7-9ish BUT children 4+ very welcome with a parent/carer present. STARTING IN SEPT 2022.
Term time, 7 weekly, 1 hour creative club at Green Hill.  Likely be a Wednesday from 3.45-4.45pm
£3 per child per week - FULL BLOCK BOOKING REQUIRED

Creative Carboard Sculpting Workshop for Kiddies
Saturday, August 13, 202210:00am – 12:00pm
A FUN two hour workshop with Sculptor James Lake. The session has been designed to give access to cardboard sculpting techniques for a range of abilities and ages and for those who want to explore a new medium.
Participants can make flowers/trees or whatever comes!  £8.00 pp
All materials provided. Session will run from Green Hill Arts. Age 7+. Parents/Carers welcome

All info at www.greenhillarts.co.uk​

Wildlife Champions Trip to Meeth Quarry

On Tuesday eight of our Wildlife Champions joined a hundred other children from right across the trust to get together for a day of learning and activities at Meeth Quarry, the Deveon Wildlife Trust nature reserve near Hatherleigh. This was a Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust wildlife conference organised for us by Devon Wildlife Trust. We've been working with Paul from the trust right through this year and it was lovely to get together with so many othger schools and get to know each other and to find out about what they've been up to.

Our children enjoyed pond dipping, a bug safari, exploration of the beautiful site at meeth - an old clay quarry - leaerned about the creatures of the deep sea and tried making fire using a striking rod. It was just a great day - one child even gave it the ultimate accolade and said 'it's better than Creally Park!'.

Lots of children said the pond dipping was a real highlight - they were excited to find water scrpions, dragonfly larvae, great diving beetles, frogs and newtpoles. SOme of us were very excited to see the Wood White butterfly - one of the UK's most endangered butterfly species but astonishingly common at Meeth - what a privilege to see this distinctive butterfly with it's odd laboured flight.

​Huge thanks to Paul and to everyone at Devon Wildlife Trust who made this day possible.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
The show is really coming together now. I have been SO impressed with the children who have learned lines, remembered their blocking, supported each other and - amongst the most important parts - managed to stay quiet off stage while other children were practicing on stage. It's going to be a fabulous show. I hope that peoplke have been able to book the tickets they want  - it has been a logistical nightmare making this happen but hopefully all is well now. The children are definitely very, very excited for this show and, if I'm honest, I am too!

Pool concessions for the 2022 season


The Swimming Pool Committee recognise that many households are facing increased financial pressures at the moment and they want Chagford Pool to remain accessible to all. Please find below more detail on our concessions for this season.


Chagford Pool Loyalty card
This is aimed at rewarding local people who swim regularly. Pick up a Chagford Pool Loyalty Card at the gate (each card will be designated either adult or child). Collect a stamp for each swim and get your fifth swim free.


Discount Swim for Lower Income Households
If your household is in receipt of state benefits, you and your family will be able to swim at half price. You will not need to fill out a form but will need to show us documental evidence of your current Benefit Status (e.g. an Award Letter for Universal Credit or Housing Benefit). This could be a screenshot from your device or a paper copy and will need to show your name, address and the benefit you are receiving. All claims for this discount will be dealt with in strict confidence and will be highly discreet when paying at the gate. To apply please email Marion at [email protected] with your request and we will forward further instructions to grant you this discount.


GDPR regulations require us to keep all details secure. Your information will be stored
securely on the Pool icloud database and deleted at the end of the 2022 season.


We're very aware that the discontinuation of Season Tickets may be unpopular but we have not made this decision lightly. The costs of running the pool are soaring and we are facing a very uncertain financial future. We ask you to bear with us at this time.


Many thanks,
Chagford Pool Committee :-)

Chagford Primary at the Chagford Show

One of our parents had the briallint idea of asking the organisers of the Chagfrod Show if our children could perform 'This Is The Chagford Show' from our production live on stage at the Chagford Show on August Eighteenth. The lovely people from the show are very keen to include us so, hopefully, lots of us who aren't on holiday that week will pitch up to perform on the main stage - what a treat! We will circulate a form soon to ask people to indicate if they will be able to come along.
The school will be manning a stand opn the day so do come along and say hello. We mihgt even be a sensible palce for a rendezvous for any lost or mislaid children as the stand will be manned with familiar faces from school.

Ofsted Visit Chagford Primary
A huge, huge thank you to everyone who was in any way involved with our visit from the inspectors this week.
We have been expecting this visit for weeks and months and it was no great surprise when the call came in on Tuesday letting us know that the tem would be with us on Wednesday and Thursday.
The inspection was hard work, as it should be, but the two inspectors were very warm and genuine people, both with a background in leading schools so staff and children were put at their ease and were able to show the school off as it really is, and as we would wish it to be seen.

The rules around these things say that we are not allowed to share the judgement of the inspection until the report has been written and checked very thoroughly. We can't tell you what judgement was made but we can tell you that we are happy that the inspection was conducted very fairly and that we are pleased that the inspectors saw the school the way that we do. The report will likely be finilsed and published in four to six weeks and we will let you know the findings absolutely as soon as we are able to.

The lead inspector, Mrs Marie Thomas, made me promise to thank the children for thier warm welcoime to the school, she said they were a delight to work with that their openess and willingness to share their experiences at school had made her job a great deal easier. That's a lovely tribute to the children.

Thanks to all the parents who took time to fill out the Ofsted 'parentView' surveys. The information was read with real attention by the ispectors and it helped them to form thier views and come to their judgements. Thanks also to Governors Emma Neatha dn Mel Holyoak who played an important part in the inspection. Every school is a real team effort and I was very proud of the way that we all worked together to show our school off as we would wish it to be seen.

Log Circles
Over half term a very kind member of the community came into school and created two log circles for us to use, one on the field and one in the forest school area. This means that a class of children can sit comfortably in a circle to share a story, have a class discussion, meet a special guest or play a game. The circle in the forest school area will have a fire pit to allow for marchmallow toasting and stories around the fire. 
Thank you so much to our benefactor for this generosity of time and expertise. These will be very well used.

Celebrating the Earth - Bee Event
June’s 'Celebrating the Earth Event - the latest in the serioes that has been running since the COP24 confrence last year - was truly heart-warming.  Six little bees, with faces painted, swarmed up to the front of church to open and close the half-hour event, singing an ever-so-catchy couple of bee-related songs and receiving great applause from the audience. An absolute joy to behold! The children sand at the event in church then perfomred in our assembly on Wednesday - what superstars!