Newsletter 12.02.21

Dear Chagford Families,
 
Well done everyone! We have made it through another six weeks of a national lockdown. 

'​Parents at home; we salute you! We know it has been a challenge for so many families to home educate, especially where there are limited devices or patchy internet, more than one child at home and where parents are also working from home.  Well done for doing what you can do and for keeping the children safe and happy too.  I am so proud of the children who have been flexible and accepted that life is not as they would ideally want it to be right now. I hope that form this they will be a generation of people with remarkable resilience!  Also, well done to our school staff have had to navigate new ways of working at school and at home and take on lots of additional roles.  We have all had to learn new technology. It has certainly been a steep learning curve for us all and I am proud we have done this together as a community. However, I am really looking forward to us all being safely back at school together!
 
Lockdown Reflections
I would like to compile a book of reflections about lockdown. We will one day look back on this as part of our Chagford history. It will be interesting for us to reflect upon, and for others to learn about the lived experiences of our school community during this time, the challenges, the positives and the unexpected outcomes. I want to include all voices, children, parents, staff and the wider community. Please respond in anyway which works for you, this might be a paragraph, poem, sentence or interview. Please email your contributions, however long or short to me.  tpenny@chagford-primary.devon.sch.uk
 
Free School meals
If your child is entitled to free school meals, please check your inbox and redeem your codes.  If you have any queries or issues relating to the vouchers, please contact the free school meals team on 01392 383829 or email freeschoolmeals@devon.gov.uk
 
Parent Gateway
We are still waiting on 59 permissions! Please check Parent Gateway as this will really help us with our online offer.  Parents of children attending school bubbles need to book children in for the days they need for the week after half term. 
 
Ethos Meeting
We had an Ethos Forum meeting this week and talked about our school and Trust vision and values. I am feeling very excited about the direction of the Trust, and how this is going to benefit our school community. We would like to hold a meeting at a time convenient to more parents so we can share these developments with you. We hope to do this once lockdown is lifted and we can have a meeting with parents both in person and online.

Staff News
We are delighted that Sara Halsey will be returning after half term. I would like to extend our great thanks to Kaydee Prince who has covered for Sara during her during her absence. We wish Kaydee all the very best and hope she keeps in touch with us.
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Please read Mrs Underwood's Three Hares Update

Happy Half Term everyone and also Happy Valentine's Day!

Please keep up the ‘hands, face, space’ routines over the week, avoid busy places and mixing households so we can all keep safe.
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With very best wishes
Tara Penny
Head of School
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