Newsletter 10th March

Flourishing
Well done to all our pupils for another busy and succesful week at Chagford Church of England Primary School.
A special well done this week to the pupils of Year Two who have dealt admirably with the absence  of their teacher Mrs Robertson. The children have had na very odd week learning alongside their friends in different classes and have done so with flexibility and good humour.
Well done also to the children and teachers in Year One and Year Three who have accomodated these guests!
Sadly, due to the weather and wisely cautious bus companies, the planned Cross Country competition to take place earlier this week was cancelled. We hope that will be rescheduled soon - our children love cross country and really excel at it.

Staffing
We are currently recruiting a teaching assistant for an important role in our school. If you know of anyone in the area who might be interested in working as a teaching assistant, do please let them know that we would be very interested in having a conversation. We are currently advertising one fixed term position but we would also be interested in hearing from people with availability in the near future who might be able to work with us through an agency to provide support in the short term.

Support Staff Vacancies | Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust (dartmoormat.org.uk)

World Book Day
Last week we didn't manage to share our photos from World Book Day with you, so here is a gallery of lovely costumes and brilliant faces filled with bookish glee. We really did have a lovely day - thanks to our friends from The Bookery and to Chloe Brooks-Warner for their help to make the day a success.

Celebrating the Earth
I hope that your children have come home from school singing 'Country Life', our new song for the next Celebrating the Earth event at the church of St Michael the Archangel on Tuesday 21st March. This event will celebrate wild flowers and all the ways they enrich and prolong our lives. Celebrating the Earth events are not too long and always aim to be family friendly. We shall be practicing our song every chance we get and, hopefully, lots of children will come along to sing with us, to raise the roof and welcome the spring.
Children might like to practice by singing along with the Waterson Family here.
There's an odd word in there, the small birds sing upon their 'laylum'. I think that's a Sussex version of 'leyland'. A meadow, perhaps by a river, 

Mobile Phones in School
Can we ask all parents and carers to keep to our 'no mobile phones' rule in school. There are a number of parents who, for very good reasons, ask that we do not share photographs of their children online and it is important that we respect those wishes. I know how much parents and carers would like to share photographs from special events and assemblies but we ask that you refrain from doing so. When we upload photos to class blogs and to the website, we do our utmost to make sure that we do not share photos of pupils for whom we do not have photo permission. If there's a reason that you would really like a photo of your child, for example receiving a certificate or performing in assembly, let us know and we will try to get a photo that we know we can share with you.

All Kinds of Minds
'All Kinds of Minds' is a week of celebration of neurodiversity. We are all different, with our own opinions, things we like and things we don't like. The concept of neurodioversity takes that a bit further - our minds can work in different ways. While we used to think of traits such as ADHD and autism as things that were 'wrong' with people - now we've learned to understand and celebrate them as differences. Some of our greatest scientists, artists, musicians and leaders have been neurodiverse - for them ADHD and autism have been things that made their brains more amazing.
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Creative challenge: What would your sustainable future look like?
In our video, we will set children a creative challenge inspired by the things the researchers have said about sustainability: to think about what children want their sustainable future to look like and create something that shares their thoughts. Responses can be anything creative, a picture, a photo, a poem, building something, writing a letter, making a model, etc.
Children can then take a photo of their response (or email a document or film) and submit it by 31st March using this Microsoft Form: https://forms.office.com/e/iBVTaqaiwi

Invitation to neurodivergent children: Join us on our Streatham campus (Exeter) on Saturday 15th April
We would like to invite any Key Stage 2 neurodivergent children known to your SENcos to join us on University of Exeter Streatham campus with their families on Saturday 15th April between 10am and 12pm. SENcos are also warmly invited.
We will create a relaxed environment with access to quiet spaces and outdoor areas. Children will be able to meet the team who put together the video they have watched, take part in a LEGO build, and hear a little bit about university life from Lily and Jack from the Student’s Guild, who are also neurodivergent. Children will be able to see an exhibition of responses received to the creative challenge and families can meet each other over refreshments.
Please would you discuss this opportunity with your children and their parents. It would help us plan refreshments if you could confirm numbers likely to attend by the end of term (31st March).

FAMILY BREAKFAST CHURCH - Sunday 12th March

As a Church of England school, we retain our longstanding links with St Michael's, not only through our collective worships, but by participating in many community events which are orchestrated or hosted by the church.  We value our relationship with St Michael's very much, and would like to encourage you to attend this family-friendly service on Sunday 12th March in the Jubilee Hall.  It is a great way for your children to explore their own spirituality in a gentle way,  Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and pastries are available free-of-charge too....! Family Breakfast Church is held on the second Sunday of every month, starting around 09:30.    

MED Theatre - Granite
Several pupils from Chagford Primary are taking part in this community theatre project with MED Theatre. Do go along if you can to support our young people and to learn a little about life on the moor in Victorian times.