STOP PRESS!! I was ust about to press 'go' on this newsletter when I received the published report from our Ofsted inspection last month. I am very pelased to share that we recieved 'Good' in all areas. I will share the report with all of you later today. Rainbow Day What a wonderful sight it was when all the children poured into the playgorund on Friday wearing their bright and beautoiful Rainbow colours. I saw children happily wearing favourite colours, children in facncy dress, children with face paint, children with head dresses and falgs - all to celebrate the wodnerful diversity of our worl and the people in it. Different faiths and cultures, different passions and abilities, different family structures, different ways of thinking. All special, all unique, all welcome. Classes took part in activities loking at celebrating diversity thoughout the day and came together to share their results in assemb ly at the end of the day. It was just wonderful to welcome more than thirty parents and carers into that assembly. We haven't been able to do that for so long now and it felt very special to be able to do so now. We will be invoting parents and carers into Friday assemblies very much more frequently next year and I do hope you will be able to join us some time. The assembly finished with a poem from poet Henry Normal - I thought I would share it here as it's very apposite indeed. 'This is not a House of War' by Henry Normal This is not a house of war Everything I want for my children I want for your children Everything I wish for me I wish for you This is not a house of fear This is a house of life How can I not see myself in you? If you look, how can you not see yourself in me? You are respected as much as I am You are of worth in equal measure You are family You are us This is not a house of intolerance This is a house of acceptance We are the house – you and I This is where you belong This is where we belong This is your home This is our home Summer Fayre Huge thanks to the whole team whjo made our SUmmer Fayre such a lovely event on Friday. It was organised and run by the whole PTFA and thanks go to every one of them but special thanks for a massive effort go to Sue Bifani, Lucy Clements and Chloe Brooks-Warner who made a Herculea\n effort to pull it toether then managed to look so serence on the dayt that no one would have guessed how hard they had worked. I don't yet have a ball park figure for the fundraising - Sue will tell me when everything has been counted up and the floats have been taken out. There is still time to buy more raffle tickets - we will pull the winners on Friday. There was so much to do - windmill making with Anna and Ed, the card game, tombola, welly wanging, rowing machine challenge, penalty shoot out, raffle, amazing face painting, swat the rat and much more. The samba band played, people enjoyed drinks in the shade - it was the very picture of a perfect Summer Fayre. Thank you to every single person who helped to make it happen, who came along and spent some money or got together with frineds anbd creAthat lovely, inclusive, friendly feeling. Well done to all the children who made their own games and activities for others to play - Charlie's sock pairing game was a real hit. Work Party/Ground Force Team There's a few jobs around the school that I would love to get taken care of before we all head off for our summer holidays. I am going to come in to school on Saturday 16th July at 9:30 a.m. and I would love to see any parents, carers and community members who are free and willing to come and give a hand. I expect to work until 12:30. If you can help out with any of these jobs do come along and give me a hand and bring any tools that might be useful.
Sports Day Sports Day is happening this Friday with an event for key Stage One in the morning and an event for key Stage Two in the afternoon and with a finale for everyone in the afternoon. Look out for comms from Mr Frewin, our sports lead, with greater detail and finalised timings. You are welcome to attend the morning, the afternoon or both - it should be a lot of fun. The finale will include the famous Chagford Primary Year Six Sepctacular which parents of our leaving children will not want to miss. With the weatehr forecast to be hot you will want to make sure that children are suncreamed up, are wearing tops that cover shoulders and upper arms and have a hat. If it really is much too hot we may opt to gaive the children a break or shorten the event. We would be very grateful indeed for the load of gazebos and event shelters to protect children when they are not competing - do let us know if you can help out with this. Leaver's Service Our service at the church for our leaving Year Sixes is in the morning of the last day of term, 22nd July at 10:30 a.m. All parents, carers and extended family of the children who are moving on to new things are very warmly welcomed to attend. Summer Holidays The school will break up at the nmormal time on Friday 22nd July. CHildren return to school on Wednesday 7th September. Punctuality and Absence We have noticed some 'drift' in the last couple of weeks and it does feel like some families are getting children to school a little later than they have been. This impacts on the effectiveness of the start of the day. Can I please encourage everyone to make sure children are on the playground ready to line up before the bell rrings at ten to nine. Of course we all get delayed sometimes but I think it would show respect to the school, to the other pupils and to the teachers if we could make puntuality a real habit across the school. Let's not let this slip in the last fortnight. A lot of families are requesting days of absence at the moment. As principal it is not in my gift to grant days off for holidays or visits to relatives. There is simply no protocol under which I am permitted to do this. Of course we understand that following the panemic the opportnities to see relatives that we have not seen for years are very important and we sympathise entirely. I do ask families to fill out an absence request, that way we know where you are and do not become concerned for the safeguarding of the children, however absence for these reasons is registeredas 'unauthorised' pon our system. When pupils have more than ten sessions of unauthorised absnce I am required to contact families to let them know that attendance has fallen below the required level. When necessary I may request the involvement of an education welfare officer to support improved attendance. Family Friendly Event at Exeter Library - Saturday 27th August Messages from OCRA OCRA is holding its annual sports week from Sunday 17th to Sunday 24th of July this year, we’d love for you and your family to be part of it. There are 3 simple ways to get involved:
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 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 marionsymes@icloud.com 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 :-) 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 marionsymes@icloud.com 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! Jubilee Tea Party On Friday we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee together with members of the community. CHildren came to school dressed as royalty which, of course, they could interpret as creatively as they wished. We had lots of fabolous dresses and smart suits, any number of crowns and tiaras, a good few people looking like a casula minor royal dressed for a day at the polo and at least two fervent republicans who insisted on wearing heri uniforms. The staff got into the spirit of the ocassion and there were lots of lovely summer dresses and fascinators around the school. Mr Finch dressed as Rock Royalty in his Slash style top hat. In the afternoon, friends from the memeory Cafe for senior citzens joined us for a 'garden party' on the field with scones with cream and jam for everyone. Someone remind me which is supposed to go on first? We had a game of Jubilee Bingo and the children sang some of their favouriote songs and a good time was generally had by all. For a,lot of us older people, the day brought back memories of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Many years have passed but the fun of a celebration and of spending time togethr is the same. I hope that some of the children will treasure their Jubilee Bookmarks (donated thanks to the PTFA) as much as we treasured those Jubilee mugs back in '77. Huge thanks to Miss Paddon whose project this party was and to members of the PTA, especially Chloe Brookes Warner, who coordianted scones, jam and cream to feed a multitude. Most especially, thanks to our guests from the memory Cafe and their supporters who helped to bring them - after the difficult pandemic years, it's lvoely to be getting back to the kind of intergenerational connection that helps make our links to our community feel properly three dimensional. > SAVE THE DATE - CELEBRATION OF BEES! As part of the ongoing monthly COP26 Celebration of the Earth events, we will be celebrating bees, and their extraordinary lives and fascinating habits. The church will be filled with the sound of honey bees buzzing, there will be music, and poetry performed by one of our pupils, and an extraordinary interactive bee pod will be installed as the centrepiece. Our pupils will be making little bees on their first day back, so we are hoping for a little swarm of them to perform that evening, while Mr Finch plays and sings “Be More Kind”. We would love to see as many of you there as possible, so please put 5:30 pm 7th June in your diary. It’ll last about 30 minutes, so you’ll be home in time for tea! Concert for Midsummer Last Saturday, 22nd May, we had the most extraordinary evening in the Church of St Michael the Archangel. Amye Farrel and her accompanist Rupert Egerton-Smith played a beautiful selection of music from Beeethoven, Scarlatti, Chopin and Rachmaninov that filled the church with sound and our hearts with joy. It was lovely to see so many of the school community there and to share that experience with them and with the wider community. Amye and Rupert gave their time and taloent for free so that every penny raised could go to support the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that we are currently preparing at school. It was very moving to see the whole community come together to support this project and even more moving to hear that music in the beautiful interior of St Michael the Archangel. A Huge heartfelt thankyou to Amye and Rupert for giving this blessing and gift of an evening. School Closed Monday 6th Due to the Jubilee Bank Holiday being subsumed into the pre-existing half term break, schools were instructed to find a day in the year to give the pupils, families and staff that day's break. Along with the majority of other schools that I am aware of, Chagford Primary has opted to take that day on Monday 6th JUne which is the closest calandered day to the bank holiday. The school will not be open on that Monday. School Lunches Once again, huge thanks to every family who have been booking meals ahead of the day so that Marie can order mre accurtately and get on with preparing the food straight away in the morning. We are now instructing teachers not to check lunch registers in the morning as the vast, vast majorioty of meals are being ordered ahead of time. Marie is now creatinbg much less waste as she is not needing to figure in slack for un-ordered meals. Of course, if a child ends up without a meal ordered for them we don't let them go hungry - we can find a sandwich for them if need be but they may not be able to get their first choice which can disappoint. We are down to very, very few instances of this now. COuld be none soon! Swimming after Half Term Don't forget that pupils in years Three, Four, Five and Six will be swimming every Tuesday from half term to the end of term. Tey will need to bring their swimming kit and a towel with them. We need volunteers to walk to the pool and back with calsses. If you are able to help out on a Tuesday please let us know. Chagford Primary in the News
The Moorlander put us on the cover this week with a story about Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve's visit earlier this term. It's a nice piece and it's lovely to see student's work featured in the paper. Break the Rules Day Ordering Meals Thank you to everyone who has been makikng a new habit of remembering to order their child's meals in advance so that we can plan and get things ready in a more timely way. From next week I will ask teachers NOT to check the dinner registers in the morning. We will assume that every child who requires a meal will have had one ordered and that any children without a meal ordered are being provided a packed lunch from home. If your child is having a homje packed lunch, it is still very helpful to make sure that is entered on the system so there's no chance of confusion. Making this change to routine will save a few minutes of class time every day meaning we can get straight into something more interesting and useful. Fundraising Concert We are really looking forward to teh concert tomorrow night in the church. We'll be raising funds for the school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as celebrating our beautiful church and a chance to be together. I understand that some tickets are still available so do come along. It promises to be a beautiful evening. Dogs on Site Can I remind everyone that as a school we can't allow dogs on site. We have some children who are very scared of dogs and a couple with allergies. To make this school as kind and inclsuive as possible we need to protect all our pupils and make sure they can feel absolutely safe and helpful on the grounds. I have spotted that lots of families are already tying their dogs up on the fence before bringing children on to the site - I'd like to thank them and I'd like to see if we can encourage each other to make this a universal practice. Jubilee Tea Party We will be having a Jubilee Tea Party on Friday afternoon. We will have scones with jam and some games and fun together to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. We have invited some older people to come and join us and it will be lovely to see the younger and older people from the community clebrating and enjoying spending time together. The mamoth task of baking two hundred scones is being coordinated by the PTFA - if you could help out and provide a batch let us know and we will put you in touch with the organisers. We hope to be able to invite all of our parents and carers to stay behind for a cup of tea before too long! Bee Kind! Celebrating the Earth The next in the 'Celebrating the Earth' series of events - following on from the 'New Life/Beltane' Celebration last week - is a celebration of bees, their sense of community, their cooperation and everything they do to keep our planet running along. Children wil be making their own bees to take along to the event. The event will take palce after school on June 7th - we hope lots of families will want to be there with their children. A Flower Festival in Chagford Church
Thursday June 2nd – Sunday June 5th 10.00 am – 5.30 pm daily. Around twenty different flower and plant displays will each depict an event or particular interest of Her Majesty’s, from throughout her long reign. This will be a real community event with many groups of people involved, including Chagford Primary School, flower arrangers and local organisations and businesses. We anticipate that people will visit Chagford from far and wide as we open our wonderful town, and all it has to offer, to visitors for this special event. Date: 2 June 2022 Location: Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel, Chagford, Devon, TQ13 8BN, United Kingdom Find out more: https://chagfordchurch.co.uk/ Thank you! Marie has been very happy this week as so many families have logged on and booked in their children's meals. She has been able to get on with preparing the meals much more promptly and classes have been able to get on with their learning much quicker. There is a very small number of children left without a confirmed meal on the register each day now and we are moving to a presumption that any children left without a meal chosen against their name is having a packed lunch brought from home. Thank you for making this change everyone - it's a real help to us. Please do keep it up. Break the Rules Day Thursday next week is our 'Break the Rules Day' raising funds for the PTFA. Children are very, very excited about this! There is a limited set of rules that pupils are invited to 'break' on the day - of course they will still be expected to be Safe, Ready to Learn and Respectful. We ask for fifty pence for each of the 'rules' that your child chooses to 'break' - if your child wants to break all five that would be a two pound fifty donation. Can donations come to school in an envelope and be given to the class teacher at the start of the day so it can't go missing. Pick Up Time It's funny that drop off in the morning always seems very cheery, calm and orderly while pick up time at the end of the day can seem crowded and at times a bit chaotic. I worry about this a bit - at the end of the day with lots of adults on the site and lots of children criss-crossing and hurtling about I worry that we could have an accident or that a child could go missing. These might sound like big worries but it's my job to think about the big worries and consider how we can make things safer. Parents can help us by standing a little way back from the classroom doors so we have a clearer transition and can see who has whom. Children can help me by staying calm and by staying with their parent or carer once they have been picked up. One area that gets especially busy is the side door where both Year Three and Four come out at the end of the day. With parents also waiting for EYFS this area gets really busy. As of next Monday we will organising Year Four to leave the school through the hall doors. We will pilot this for a week or two to see how it goes before making a firm decision. Parents for children in Year Four should wait a little way back from the hall doors nearer to the reception and children will be released one by one to their parents. Hopefully this can be a calmer and more orderly way to release them and make things calmer at the other end too. Year One Trip to the Chagford Memory Cafe On Thursday 12th May, Beech class walked up to the Jubilee Hall and joined in with the monthly Chagford Memory Café. This month’s memory café was celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The children took up their drawings of Queen Elizabeth II which were enjoyed by all. We heard from one of the guests about the day of the coronation and how they felt. We also saw photos of the coronation and street parties for past jubilees. There were lots of interesting stories to be heard. We performed our ‘Rocket Ship’ dance which we had learnt in PE and then were invited to join in with a drink and biscuit. Everyone had a lovely time; on the walk back, a child even asked if we could do it every day! The children were a real credit to Chagford school and excellent ambassadors. It was fantastic being able to go into the community and meet lots of new people; something we hope to do more of in the coming months. A huge thank you to Ann and Caroline for organising this and allowing us to visit and a huge thank you to Chloe for volunteering too – without you, this trip wouldn’t have been possible, thank you.
PTFA Meeting The PTFA would like to warmly welcome you to come along to a meeting on Tuesday 17th May in the Birdcage Cafe to discuss The Jubilee, A Midsummer Night's Dream and much, much more. Beltane 'Celebrating the Earth Children at Chagford Primary made leafy headbands over the last week so that they could take part in the celebration of the coming of summer and of new life up at O'er Hill on Thursday Night. Plenty of children from the school attended and a lot of fun was had. We loved to see these pictures with a lot of familiar faces - both adults and children! The children were able to tell me about the 'Obby 'Oss that was dead but came back to life and snapped it's jaws at them, the jack in the green and jumping over the stream (none of them got their shoes wet they said). Ut sounds like a great event and I hope it becomes an annual tradition that the children can take a part in. I'm vcery gald we were able to play our part. Competition Glory for Holly!
We were excited and proud to hear that Holly from Year One won the under 12’s 'design a postcard' competition at Exeter Phoenix arts centre. Holly made her design when she was 5 years old, of her own accord, The family liked her spatial awareness and use of colour, so shared it with family. There is a stained glass window after visiting church, alongside the keys that were on the family dining table, so it's a real mix of influences! Unbeknown to the rest of the family, Holly's Granny entered it into the competition and later announced Holly had won! The artwork will be on exhibition later in the year, so we might be able to show you a picture of Holly with her winning picture. Well done Holly - you're a proper #ChagfordChampion. School Dinner Bookings Have you met Marie - our on site cook? Many primary schools nowadays are bringing food in that has been cooked off site but here we still proudly cook from fresh each and every day. Marie needs to get to work as soon as she gets in to school in the morning - and if all the dinners have been booked up in advance, she can do just that. If, however, we don't have the bookings in she can't crack on and has to wait until teachers have laboriously gone through the list asking children what they want for lunch and marking it off. This is a waste of valuable time for Marie who genuinely needs to know how many people she is cooking for before she can start measuring out her ingredients. It's also a massive waste of time for all our children who are getting on with busywork rather than getting straight into something more interesting and useful. If it takes a teacher five minutes to check the missing meals from the register each morning then that's twenty five minutes for each child every day which is being wasted - over a term we are talking about hours of time listening to children deciding between a roast dinner and a tuna sandwich - it just isn't a good use of time. Can we say a big 'thank you' to all the families who do book their school meals in advance - it really helps Marie and it really helps us. Can we ask, gently but firmly, if the few families who are not booking in advance to get in the habit of doing so please? If your child has packed lunches prepared at home, it would still be immensely helpful to us if you could log in and book those in - it really streamlines things to know what children are having. From the middle of next week will be moving to an assumption that children who do not have a meal booked are having a home packed lunch. We will instruct teachers not to go through dinners with their classes each morning and we expect to win back quite a considerable chunk of learning time. If you are not sure how to book online please drop in and see Elaine who will be very happy to show you how to do it. Punctuality Can we remind families that the school day starts at ten to nine and that we expect that all children will be on site by that time so they can line up when the bell is rung and start the day together. of course anyone might get caught up in a queue behind a tractor once in a while, we absolutely understand that - however this really should be the exception rather than the rule! Elaine has some really specific jobs she has to crack on with in the morning and while she is always delighted to see the children she would like a bit less coming and going while she completes her tasks. We will be contacting families where this has become an issue to ask if there is any way we can support them with punctuality. Monday 6th June - School Closed You will be aware that the government called for an additional bank holiday to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. This bank holiday falls within the half term holiday so schools have been instructed to take that day elsewhere in the school year. Together with other schools in the trust we have decided to add it as an extra day immediately after the half term break to keep things as simple as possible. That means that school will be closed to all children on Monday 6th June, the Monday after the half term break. Year Six Sats Next week is the Year Six SATS week. Of course there is a degree of nervousness and tummy butterflies involved. The children are fully prepared to do the best that they can do and the teachers are all briefed on their roles to support the pupils. SATS exist primarily as a tool for the government to monitor the attainment and progress of cohorts of children. Secondary schools tend not to use the results of SATS to group or stream their Year Sevens - most prefer to use their own assessments so there really is no need to be worried that a child who has a hiccup on the day will be disadvantaged. Of course, as a school, we'd like the children to do as well as they possibly can - the success of our pupils is one of the ways that our effectiveness is judged - but far more than that, we want the children to be happy with how they have done. We're hoping that next week will be a really positive one for the children. We will be narrating success every day. The papers will be sent away to be marked and the results will come back in a few weeks by which time, I guarantee you, our minds will be so busy with sports day, leavers assembly, a Midsummer Night's Dream and a hundred other things that the tests will seem like ancient history to the children whose sights will be increasingly set on Year Seven and beyond. It sounds silly but, as far as is possible, the best advice for you to give your Year Six children is to do their very best, remember all the help they've been given, try to enjoy it as much as they can and then to move on and think of greater things. PTFA Equipment for EYFS There's a lot more fun equipment in the Early Years area this week thanks to a generous donation from the PTFA. A trolley for pens, pencils and clipboards so we can always have a writing area outdoors, more shelves so children can access the things they need more easily, more play food for the home corner, brushes for sweeping (children love to sweep!) and much more. It's great to see the money that the PTFA raise being used to benefit the children. Thank you to everyone who has attended an event, bought a raffle ticket, organised something or played a part in this terrific work. Jubilee Tea Party On Friday 27th May we will be having an epic Jubilee Tea Party for all the children and invited guests. Plans are still being finalised but we hope to see lots of regal attire, we'll be hoping to treat everyone to a scone with jam and cream, there will be games, a visit from a VERY special guest and every child will take home a souvenir of the day. We will be asking fro some support with this soon - if you could come along to help, could bake a batch or two of scones, could supply some jam or know an older person who would really value an invitation - please do let us know. Break the Rules Day We want to raise some money to fund giving each child a memento of the Platinum Jubilee. To do this we are going to have a 'Break The Rules' Day. This was run very successfully at our sister school South Tawton Primary a couple of weeks ago. Children were reminded of a list of five very important rules and then invited to 'break' them creatively. The rules included;
Celebrating the Earth 'Beltane' Event Children have been busy making leafy headbands in preparation for the 'Celebrating the Earth' event next Thursday. The event will take place on O'er Hill on Thursday 12th May at 5:30. The organisers hope that children from the school will come along to join in the celebration of the coming of summer and of the power of nature and of new life. I am told there will be an 'Obby 'Oss and lots of fun. It would be lovely to see some of the children there with their beautiful leafy headbands. Of course, if your child has not made one at school (or if you think you can do better!) there's nothing at all to stop you making a headdress of foliage and blossom at home to wear along to the event. Chagford Primary in the News
Did you catch our appearance in the Mid Devon Advertiser? We were delighted that a photographer from the paper was able to come along and help us create memories of our brilliant day with Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve last week. They possibly didn't need a picture of Mr Finch but it's a shame to quibble. Sarah McIntyre 'Patron of Reading' Visit On Wednesday, author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre spent the day at the school in the first of her visits as our new Patron of Reading. Sarah brought her friend and co-author Philip Reeve along for the ride and together they gave us a very special day. In the morning Sarah and Philip ran a special assembly for all of Key Stage Two - they told us all about how they work together and how their books get made, they performed the start of their newest book for us, they taught us how to draw Kevin - the roly-poly flying pony - and together we made and played a brilliant 'Great Race' board game. The hall was full of engagement, interest and bookish fun. For Key Stage One Sarah ran another assembly where she focussed on the character of 'Grumpycorn' - she taught the children how to draw the character and and helped them to make him their own by tweaking him to their own interests - there were some great, great pictures and we had so much fun. Sarah visited the Foundation Unit and read the children her book 'Dinosaur Firefighters' which went down a storm then the children helped Sarah to do some amazing drawings of the dinosaur characters from the book - they gave her suggestions of funny things to add to the pictures and it was lovely to see their ideas coming to life on the paper. The children were fascinated and lots of them wanted to spend the rest of the day drawing and talking about the visit. Sarah and Philip visited every class and were happy to spend time chatting to every child and signing books and bits of paper everywhere they went. Huge thanks to Sarah and Philip for their time and energy and to Chagword for funding this project. A group of our keenest readers got together with Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve to interview them for the newsletter. This is what they said... Chagford Primary Reporters: How did you start making books with Philip Reeve? Sarah McIntyre: We met at a book festival in Scotland and we made friends. I told him I was trying to put a new drawing on my website every day, as a challenge to myself, and he decided to start doing the same. I was very impressed by his landscape drawings of Dartmoor and the way he drew its interesting twisty trees. After many months of comparing our drawings, he invited my husband and me to see these twisty trees in real life and we stayed with him. After awhile, we decided that it would be fun to do a book together and came up with Oliver and the Seawigs. Chagford Primary Reporters: When you were writing your books how did you get your ideas? Sarah McIntyre: When I did Grumpycorn I couldn’t think of an idea for a book so I did a story about a unicorn who couldn’t think of a story! That was easy. An editor asked me to do a story that had dinosaurs and police in it as her child really liked Dinosaurs and the police, so I did a book called Dinosaur Police! Chagford Primary Reporters: When you create a series like the Kevin books, how do you come up with lots of different characters for the different books? Sarah McIntyre: We based Kevin on a painting that Philip had painted years ago. We knew he needed a human friend so we invented Max and Daisy. Then we wanted to make it a little bit spooky so we introduced some characters that were a little bit spooky and interesting based on lots of different characters we’d met in different books and people we know. Chagford Primary Reporters: Did you make a story map and plan stories before you start writing them? Sarah McIntyre: For the stories we do together, Philip makes up the stories mostly by just starting to write and finding out what happens. Philip Reeve: I don’t really plan it much – I start writing and make it up as I go along. Sometimes you have to go back and change things to make it look like you knew what was going on on from the start! Chagford Primary Reporters: What characters are fun to write? What bits of books do you like doing? Sarah McIntyre: I really enjoy writing all the fun little characters - I like doing Beyonce and Neville, the guinea pig characters in the Kevin books. I really enjoy making the big spreads with no words on them, like the end papers in the Grumpycorn books. I love collecting fabrics and I based those spreads on that. A Midsummer Night's Dream We are beyond excited and delighted that preparation for our whole school production o A Midsummer Night's Dream are now firmly underway under the watchful eye of our director Lydia Frater. The children have been having an absolute ball and it has been a pleasure to see it happening. The parts for the main characters will be cast next week and rehearsals will get underway in earnest. We are just SO EXCITED to share this with you all. Huge thanks to Crispin and to Ben who have been the moving force behind this project. ‘Music for a Midsummer’s Dream’ Concert We are thrilled to announce a very special concert, ‘Music for a Midsummer’s Dream’, taking place in the church on Saturday 21stMay at 7.30pm. Two highly acclaimed musicians, the professional pianist Rupert Egerton-Smith and local cellist Amye Farrell (see below for more information) will treat us to an evening of music guaranteed to enchant, playing Rachmaninov Sonata in G Minor for cello and piano, Beethoven Sonata in A Major for cello, Chopin Ballade No. 3 in A flat Major and Scarlatti Sonatas for piano k96 and k27. All proceeds will go towards funding Chagford CE Primary School’s ambitious summer production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play has been specially adapted and re-written for our school by acclaimed playwright Crispin Whittell and is being directed by experienced director Lydia Frater. It is a wonderful and unique opportunity for our children, every one of whom will have the chance to take part. Anything remaining will go to the School’s Art Fund which supports and encourages a variety of artistic and musical opportunities for the children. Tickets are £10 to include a glass of wine and are available to buy in Sally’s Newsagent or reply to me (chloebw@hotmail.com) to purchase online. Celebration of the Earth – Beltane May 12th
On 12th May, we are holding our monthly event following on from COP26. This month’s theme is Beltane, or the Welcoming in of Spring. We are having a couple of people dressed up as an Obby Oss and Jack In The Green, and there will be music and singing and some dancing at O’er Hill (where we had the Wassailing event) from 17:30 that afternoon. We hope to get families and their children involved in this and to have a wonderful time together celebrating our wonderful world and the fun we can have together in it. Unite and unite, and let us all unite For summer is a-comin today. And whither we are going we all will unite, In the merry morning of may! Celebration of the Earth – Bees (June) This celebration is all about bees, the beautiful mystery of their lives and communication and the wonderful work they do for us all by pollinating so many of the plants we rely on for our food, our fabrics, our oxygen and the beauty of our world. We are thinking of creating some sort of hive right here at school that the children go go into to feel bee-ish. What fun! If you are a bee afficionado, why not get in touch and see if we could get you involved. |
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