Newsletter 13th May

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.

KS1 Bug Hotel
Over the last few weeks, KS1 have been attending weekly outdoor learning sessions with Paul from the Devon Wildlife Trust. The lessons have been linked to our Science learning about animals and their habitats. To complete our term of learning we have created a wonderful bug hotel (named ‘The Bonnie Bug Hotel’) in our forest school.
A huge thank you to the team at Proper Job who very kindly donated vital materials we needed to make this possible. An extra big thank you for delivering the pallets to school (turns out they don’t fit in Miss Coleman’s small car). The children had great fun choosing natural resources from the forest school to add to the hotel, such as pine cones which ladybirds love.
Here are some photos of the children at work and our finished product:

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.